I've known Scotty for 8 yrs who runs a tool making business in Sydney.He has several computerised machines that make widgets to order and competes internationally with China and Taiwan.Scotty had just one employee last yr and now works alone running these machines 24/7.He prices out his labour at $35 per hr with all overheads included.These machines bought new are worth over $ million.He only makes money because they run 24/7 when he has the work.

In the last couple of yrs his electrical bill has trebled and it is now $24,000 pa.When the CO2 tax kicks in,Scotty says it is all over for him.How many other businesses will suffer the same fate under these lunatic Labor Ludites.There is no more fat to cut from the bone.

Govt does not create wealth.It sucks wealth from the productive population and mostly wastes it.

The Gillard Govt led by Bob Brown is criminally insane! We should be all in the streets insisting that these morons resign.

I think he needs to look into why his power bill has trebled in three years. From $ 8,000 to $24,000 That is 32,000 kwh to 96,000 kwh / yr
Or .08 c / kwh to .25 c / kwh. Hardly correct.

579,Just yesterday he told me that his quarterly bill was $6000 per quarter.Perhaps this was partly due to the purchase of a new machine and running machines longer .He did say that is bill has trebled.The facts still remain that many business will just shut down or go off shore.

There will be be less tax collected since there will be less productive industry.We will spiral into more debt.The service industry jobs will shrink because people will do their own lawns,cleaning, pooch washing,cooking etc.Labor wants to create thousands of more jobs in the PS to regulate us into grinding poverty.

My power bills have more than doubled.Are you trying to defend the policies of these lunatics?

I do not know what state you are living in, but my cost / kwh has gone up from 21 c / kwh to 25 c/kwh in 12 months. But the off peak power has come down from 21 c / kwh to 10 c / kwh in the same time. Try another state.

Look, the business environment changes all the time.
A bit more than a hundred years ago there were howls of fury at the then government when all the buggy whip manufacturers went bust. Those dratted cars should have been banned.
There are hundreds of possible reasons why your friend's business is struggling.
In a capitalist system you pay your money and you take your chances.
I dont hear anybody rushing to congratulate the government for all the profitable businesses in the country.
Yet when a business fails, somehow it has to be the government's fault.
I'm sorry for your friend's plight, but to borrow a redneck phrase, "That dog just won't hunt."
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au

$ 8,000 for power in 12 months is .25 c/ kwh = 32,000 kwh
$ 24,000 for power in 12 months is .75 c / kwh = 96,000 kwh.