Big business, feeds medium business, which in turn feeds small business.

It's when big business is uncertain about the outcome, due to unstable government policies, that the wheels become wobbly, and these wobbles pass down the entire chain.

Imagine yourself thinking about buying a house, then, you get word that you may loose your job, or your hours may be cut. Guess what, most would pull their heads in, you know, sit on your hands for a while.

Well, big business does not borrow hundreds of thousands, they borrow tens of billions and uncertainty makes them think twice.

A simply exercise.

Take Qantas, a large fuel user.

Find out their bottom line for say 2009, then find out their total fuel usage for that year.

Now, impose an additional 4 cents per litre on their total fuel bill and see what this does to their bottom line.

Now mining is even riskier than Qantas.

There in lies the problem.

We need stable government and that is something we don't have. As without it, big business is less likely to invest, therefore less likely to borrow and less likely to keep those wheels turning. At least on future projects.

when things go bad
its usaully from the head down

in this case the title is the error

anything the board decides
nust be done by the workers
without workers,nothing gets done

if the worse came to the worst
govt could run any business
it still needs the workers to get the job done

you say business uncertainty
meaning you need govt to subsidise the certainty
business will necver be cetain..if govt is subsidising a select few

we hear of let capital decide
but then polute capitalism with coorperate welfare..[bailouts]

govt hasnt supported the right business..]
there from comes the uncertainty

govt funding solar cells...
has put electricty supply in great danger
[solar cells will last at best 30 years..and then will need more bailouts]

heck the cure
is only a temporary fix
and of no use at all in peak times

dito wind [it never hits its peak productions]
mainly because we mostly dont have cyclonic winds
to push the blades around everyday we need it to supply its power

none of these expensive patchup jobs
have..anywhere near the certainty we consumers require
there is your uncertainty

govt could find and mine its own minerals
workers will still do the 'work'
and then govt [ie all of us
recieve's the proffits..

now going to bankers and organisers
who know how to borrow others funds..for all the proffits
while others do all the work

even this need to insure peoples assets
[where insurance underwriters get paid]
and those paying get told
it wasnt a flood

all govt should pool their funds..insure themselves
should insure its own people..that way even business
KNOW they are coverd..no matter what..

either let capitalsts..do it THEMSELVES*
or let govt do the lot

who needs a private pension[that goes bust]

if govt pays all of us the same...
and shares its proffits with all of us

the capitalists dream [nightmare]
has gone badly wrong..[it will be clear to all before too long]

heck even bankers
needed to get GOVT to bail-em out

I have to agree with rehctub on this; the more perceived stability we have, the more confident business becomes. Not many businesses welcome uncertainty and we seem to have plenty of that around at the moment.

At the risk of making this sound either political or personal, which I promise I am not, I can't help thinking that we have lost confidence in our government's "leadership" i.e. Julia speaks softly, slowly and without much conviction I feel. Kevin was at least articulate and quite firm in his views and I think that was part of the reason for some of the business confidence that was shown at the time.

World events change everything and we don't control them, we simply have to live with the consequences. Our government can't control them either, and they have to cope with them in their own political way.

Back to the point; business confidence is directly responsible for, and linked to, the level of consumer confidence. Consumer confidence fuels the economy (feeds business) and the growth and prosperity follow. That's the thoery anyway. I hope it works!

One of Governemnts primary responsibilities is to provide as much certainty, clarity and consistency of policy as it can reasonably be expected to provide in order that business can plan and invest with confidence and thrive for the benefit of us all.
Thanks

up in qld...'someone' [wanting a big business] wanted certainty
thus govt privatised the water
created a franchise

a distribution franchise
govt built billion dollar desalination plants[that dont work]

created an open market for electricity/water
with mandated price increases..its a great cash cow
[of that business is certain]

lets look at the water distributer
[they dont own the 'water' only the pipes
[and importantly the meters]..councils must do the reading
so minimal wages etc..minimal costs..[council still does all that]

first govt mandated councils install water meters
next it 'created ' ...allconex..ceo's/shareholders boards business plans cetainty..etc

mandated water rate hikes
way abouve real cost..or indeed inflation
the ceo has refitted his office costing millions
and the acces base fee really has given allconex certainty

now the ratepayers are revolting
indeed have formed an online petition
www.disconex.com.au
they are pushing for dismanteling allconects

so tell me
how much certainty..
will we end up with?

no doudt govt will buy it back
[the sharholders will clean up]
thats for certain

do we feel ripped off
certainly

will the petition change any thing
certainly not

of that you may be certain
businesss knows how to set-up win/win
[for itself]

the taxplayer's.. ALLWAYS loose
they never get certainty
why should you?

OUG, without businesses taking huge risks, there would be no jobs. Full stop!

Now while I accept that without staff, business would fail, I ask you to remember that for every job provided in the public arena, some one, or many have taken a risk.

Without the risk takers, there would be no jobs.

It is also said that we have the highest minimum wage in the western world, so I don't know what you are complaining about.

Now many people adopt this 'tall poppy' attitude when it comes to CEO's salaries. Now although I must admit they do sometimes appear somewhat 'over the top', just remember, they all commenced life just like you and I, so we to could have become one of them.

This brings me to one of the problems we have in governments, 'under payment'.

You see we pay peanuts and get the monkeys we deserve, in most cases.

At the end of the day this crazy woman is playing russian rulet with our future, only she and her advisers don't really know the potential damage they may cause if it is allowed to continue.

Take the proposed 3% increase in super.

A medium company (500 staff) with a payroll of say $22.5 million. This increase would result in over half a million off the bottom line.

Say they borrow 100 million @ 8%. A 1% increase results in another $8 million off the bottom line.

Say qantas used 500 million Liters of fuel per year and paid another 4c p/l, courtesy of the carbon tax, that's $20 million off the bottom line.

That is what uncertainty creates. That is what unstable governments create, and that's the risk we take with unstable, reckless leaders.

Big business will simply do their business elsewhere.

clubbers business is about minimising risk
only fools bet on risk

here is how it goes
we see an oppertuinity or need or want
we do research
we apply for a loan
the bank takes the risk

we go to our local member
guift him her a few hundred
[polies return no less than 100 fold]

become a main supporter..get their ear
get a subsidy lease or other govt grant or licence
send-out a worker to do the tests with the first loan

use the results to get a second loan...[go overseas if needed with a 'trademission',with govt members..to secure financing]

and the result is clive palmer
investing only a few pennies of his own money
gets a loan of twenty billion

..to reap in 65 billion

that any idiot public savant
could have gotten direct for govt ..to make the insane gain
and that is only one of the many miners refusing to pay their new tax

look at who is willing to spend 25 million..[on adverts]
to save 60 billion of tax

buy a political party
thats how you get certainty

the only sure certainty is owning both
then subverting the minor paries and independants

its not to complicated
business likes certainty

as well as stacked odds
govt licence and others bearing the burden

tax the people
not the coorperation
just look at the many subsidies big busness gets
12 billion just for coal and alumina

heck remember the magnesium plant
[that never got built in gladstione

peter beatup beaty kicked in half a billion
howard kicked in another half billion
just so shareholders could get return

stuff the people

let them get uncertainty
and a new tax