Sound comments Anthony, although, may I remark on the” well regulated free enterprise economy” you suggest we enjoy here in Australia.

Let me begin by stating that there were more “Pty Ltd” registered businesses in Australia in the 1970’s than there are today. This means that either the company’s consolidated, went public, or went out of business. I suggest the “out of business option” as the winning answer.

Because of the shift of wealth to the top 10% particularly from the mid 80’s the opportunity to grow a business has almost disappeared. By local example I give you Wesfarmers and Woolworths. Between them they capture the vast majority of retail sales in;
packaged food, seafood, fruit and veg, bakery, florist, clothing, footwear, toys and entertainment, packaged liquor, hardware, telecommunications(mobiles), photography, electrical products and the automotive accessory and tyre market. They also are gaining major market share of fuel.

We in Australia have reacted to these two monopolists by starting a load of coffee shops, and trained our young to look forward to becoming baristas, or at least to serve in a corporate take away.

Sorry Anthony I do not think all is well, or that we have policies that protect us, it is obvious they did not mate.

Sorry David, my initial comment about the intelligencia and corporate was an example of just how slightly elevated a human has to become before they get clannish and insular to those outside the circle. Yeah I’ve seen, hundreds of times, comes from a lengthy career.

God mate if I came close to interacting with the 1% do you think I would ever have heard of OLO? You did not understand the context, no worries.

Hasbeen,
Not sure it's really true that the Greens have in mind for Australia to become like North Korea.
Russia is an interesting case because to me it's a perfect example of what Sonofgloin is talking about. We see the rise of the Russian Oligarchs who are gobsmackingly rich while at the same time rising unemployment and poverty in Russia.
It's off topic a bit, but I'd be interested to know exactly what you mean when you say, 'Green', as in "... still think green is good...". Are you talking about the Greens as a party or are you talking about people who believe that the environment should be protected even if it sometimes means we forgo a bit of profit?
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au

Sonofgloin,
That's true.
I see a real problem in the unwillingness of successive governments to face the rising monopolies.
In the UK, when Tesco and Carrefours reached 50% market share between them, there was an inquiry.
Here's we have Coles and Woolworths at some 70+% market share and we're told all is well.
One thing that can destroy both a democracy and a well functioning free enterprise based economy is unfettered lobbying.
I have a suspicion that we are facing exactly that in this case
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au

Dear sonofgloin:

You wrote:

"If you mix with top end corporate or academia you will readily notice that there is a definite “them and us” mentality within the group."

You were claiming knowledge of what one would notice if one mixed with top end corporate or academia. Since you do not claim to have mixed with them where do you get the knowledge of what you would notice?

David, did you not read my reply to you on your last similar enquiry. I said that I obviously did not interact closely with the one percent. But I certainly interacted with the intelligencia and corporate cowboys for a lengthy period of my being. At uni it was governed by which clubs you were a member of. Later I sat at charity events and academic awards, I sat in board rooms and lived my life in first class hotels. It was and is a means to an end and there is an insulating nature at the top of both academia and corporate.

If you aint seen it, climb a bit higher mate, it's there.