Corporate greed
Rob Canoe
*. It is slightly beyond the topic of this thread so I respond briefly. *
I was actually addressing Corporate greed Rob as in your title.

As I said I was addressing both economy & clean air – people are getting sick due to clamping in small city areas.

*The country towns revival and renewal is something we all should be pushing hard.*

I was-

*The problem is again climate change and water.*
The problem worldwide is water – as history shows us 7 we should NOT take on people in droves & have a sensible population suitable for the driest C on earth.Nor should our water be SOLD off to offshore ownership.

*This is a chance for the regional Australia, both economically and environmentally.* Yes and *our *aboriginal people are number *one priority & sure some happy migrants as well.

*I understand that when it is suggested that migrants should be sent to the country towns, they would be fully aware of where they are going and what they will be doing.*

Your kidding are you? Offered I said . No Rob I am going to grab them and toss a blanket over their heads & cart- em off in the night ( kidding)
Good heavens what sort of a question is that.?

*If you send refugees there on the compulsory basis, their trauma will continue. Hope it is not based on the gulag model from the ex-Soviet Union ? Mostly FARMERS should be sent there, people who enjoy doing it.*

:) your hilarious

I should hope most would be delighted to walk into a HOME with food and wages and running water!

Rob there are many jobs in the industry such as teachers elections IT persons Drs nurses tractor drivers & on .. plumbers and training!

What I WONT support is people on welfare not working all stuck in around the city. My grandfather & father worked with a pick and shovel to make Australia what it is & drove bullock teams. Thats how countries are built. I still have some old yokes here we can sure for lessons:)
Seriously Rob -Many remain on welfare that could work- not on.

*inhospitable areas*

Nothing inhospitable about Australia's country towns our - with schools medical centers hospitals and hills of rolling pastures.

you might be preaching (?).

Certainly not. I wasn’t preaching.

*The problem is how to retain people in the country towns and make these places inhospitable areas attractive also.* ah not a country girl i see:)

What do you mean areas culturally attractive?

Of course it is Its AUSTRALIA the best country on earth. We have culture & Slim dusty.

You know Rob Canoe there are thousands of Aussies sleeping in the cold in a park- ever thought about that?

* My view is that it is rather unlikely they might ever compete with the vibrant coastal cities.*

Yes we all like to live near the beach - - but most worked their lives to get there .

No problem if they can get work there too sure. Mind you many like the country also. But its ok Rob because climate change will ensure plenty of work in the city too with bullock teams instead of cars.

Your lots of fun & if you open a thread on Immigration spending - i will post in a serious manner.

Cheers for now.

SM is correct,

Well that would be a first but you will never argue Landmark etc with me--
Nor did i say Tony had all the answers- I said the tariffs are unfair.
You know darn well that makes the red meat trade 30% more expensive- while live exports get away with the unfair distortion.
You have said so yourself in the past.
Nor did I say he had all the answers & hes not from the Gold Coast as I understood rather the sunshine coast. To be quite honest I find him a bit odd but thats just my perception- however he has first hand knowledge of Indonesia plants.

Sure go back to climate change& ignore me i am happy with that.


Speaking of climate change you I should ask some farmers to contribute their comments on that topic.

Reckon it would make a best seller:)

Yabby,

"What do you think is a fair return on your hard earned savings, given that you could lose the lot, if things go wrong? Or do you just intend to bleed the taxpayer in your old age?"

There is nothing wrong with the above statement, but the issue is "who" and "how". Who does it concern and how is the return earned ?

Unless you are multimillioner, not a mum and dad investor, your savings will rarely give you enough comfort for your old age. You need the government safety net as a backup anyway, e.g. readily available and free health system. Without it, your savings are likely to be gone soon and you are on the street (as it happens often the U.S.). We follow closely what the U.S. is doing with its neo-liberalism policy. Therefore, we can not expect too much in our old age.

The current U.S. example. Obama plans to considerably cut the social security / health system expenditures, but he does not even touch taxes for the rich - as part of his measures to reduce the budget deficit. (Citibank called such social polarisation in the U.S. as plutocracy several years ago. Now is being called 'socialism for the rich'. Not too much has been left from the old good democracy.)

The second issue is "how" your savings have been invested to give you a fair return. I normally want to know how my money are are being invested. "Socially responsible investing" would be a good idea (Arms trade is not on my preference list though it should give me a better return :-) ) Hope I am not the only one.

Ludwig

>> Definitely some immigration, but no onshore asylum seeking. An increased refugee intake via our offshore programs instead. <<

1. Our offshore programs aren't working, are very expensive for assessing a small number of people.

2. We still have on-shore detention centres.

3. Terrorists prefer the safety of air-travel to that of leaky boats (if that's what you're concerned about).

>> Hmmm, coal yes. Uranium? Not so sure about that. <<

If we have to start somewhere why do so with a fossil fuel that?:

1. Is expensive and polluting to extract.

2. Requires building of large number of reactors no-one wants anywhere (far more so than wind-farms).

3. Results in toxic-waste for which we still don't have an effective solution and no-one wants anywhere.

4. Nuclear industry, despite being active for many years, still requires government subsidy and would be requiring more which could be diverted to renewables.

>> As I’ve said, I think we’re screwed when it comes to untempered (or insufficiently tempered) corporate greed, especially in relation to the push for continuous growth.

I asked: what can we do about it? <<

Jeez Looeez, thought I'd made a fair stab at this and I never claimed to be god.

Have suggested first steps starting with the renewable technology we already have with government subsidy regulated to keep the bastards honest (no more unregulated pink bat schemes). For the government to spend our taxes, private enterprise need to earn it; being honest would be a good start, hence regulation.

As in the past, when we start with a new technology we improve and find brilliant new stuff along the way, did you miss my JFK reference?

And stop arguing and DO something. We ARE polluting our environment, we ARE going to run out of oil and minerals - one doesn't need to be a scientist to figure that. And transitioning to sustainable technology will take COOPERATION between government, private business, universities and the average citizen - all of which is a paradigm shift that extreme capitalists and communists find near impossible to make.

*Unless you are multimillioner, not a mum and dad investor, your savings will rarely give you enough comfort for your old age.*

Rob,there are plenty of grey nomads, financing their own retirement.
People who bought real estae or shares decades ago as they saved,
or did well in small business. My point is that calling shareholders
greedy is hardly fair, if you can't name what a fair return on
investment is. Returns from the share market tend to average out.
Some companies do a bit better then others, but a good many
companies pay no dividends at all or go broke eventually. They
seemingly exist for the sole benefit of employees and customers.

There are also alot of people who could finance their own retirement,
but they prefer to put assets in their kids names and then live
off the Govt purse. Greed really.

Greed exists at every level of society, including plenty who rip
off the Govt for every cent that they can get, when they could
easily help themselves