rehctub - we are, without doubt, way over regulated, no more so than in our tourism industry, where doing the simple things that we used to do, are now more often than not, illegal.

Hard to find fault with that statement, but then given the voracious hunger for power & control by those we appoint to run stuff without demanding proper checks & balances, isn't much of the fault with the people / sheeple ?? I keep harking back to the situation in Queensland because without an opposition of consequence, no upper house and a perpetually AWOL governor, what can we do to bring General Disaster to heel ?? As far as the federal scene is concerned, we are marginally better off (well hopefully so if there is an opposition left after September) with an upper house, same goes for the governor-general however, there is no indication she would jump on an out of order government and risk the flack that descended on Kerr.

.....Simple maths.
If wages fall by 10 percent.
So too will the economy.
Small business will feel the brunt.
Sorry but 0nly post for me I am no fan of DILLARD but find PS offensive.

Great news Belly, as I assume this means despite all the negativity of late about our economy detracting, it's actually going to increase by about 3.6%.

Thanks for the heads up!

Some good comments above.

My real beef is that many people look to the poorest paid workers to bear the brunt of the burden of competition and globalisation. If we are to be competitive, wages should fall across all sectors to ensure that the quality of life for all people are preserved.

It will also have a positive impact on prices. Australia is at very real risk of losing it's industrial base. And it has nothing to do with higher wages. It is completely to do with playing into the free trade game which benefits a minority of the population and exploits cheap labour in the developing world.

The real problem is greed. Greed of consumers to want to continually pay cheaper prices (even if only perceived) on the back of exploitation, greed of big corporations to exploit cheap labour and charge the same prices to their richer consumers back home (happens with all designer label products), greed of governments currying favour with the corporates for donations and support at election time.

Reducing worker wages whilst cost of living is increasing infinitely faster than CPI simply isn't on. Politicians expecting 33% increases when they claim the country can't afford 2% for others would be the trigger for a revolution in 'funny' countries, unfortunately we are too civilized here.

Politicians' hypocrisy regarding wages is hardly new. Fraser famously told us to tighten our belts and “y'know, life wasn't meant to be easy” when rejecting an ACTU claim for a 4% wage claim, while in the same month approving a 9% wage hike for himself and his mates.
This thread is essentially about the rationale for Globalisation; the problem of separating producers (who Retchtub and his ilk want to keep poor, in order to keep prices down) from consumers, who need sufficient income to buy things and support the retail sector.
Globalisation makes this easy. Buy from countries with lower standards of living (lower wages) and sell to -relatively- rich consumers.
The fatal flaw, of course, is that to become rich you need to produce something. Japan provides stark evidence for the weakness of the Global scam.
As Pelican points out, the problem is Greed; -and it certainly isn't wage earners who exhibit the most egregious levels.
Witness butchers who can make $400k a year from selling the poorest and cheapest quality meat, without even having to employ anyone.
Retchtub, you do know the Sheriff of Nottingham wasn't the hero of the piece, don't you?
Meanwhile, back at the farm... Heavy steers today are struggling to make 200cents a kilo. In 1991, I was selling heavy mixed breed steers for 240cents/kilo.
I guess we can't blame butchers wages, since ol' mate doesn't need any to make as much money as doctors, or even politicians do.

I think the question we always need to ask ourselves is: “then what?”
We give our money for cheap goods “made in Japan” which makes them rich and us incapable of supporting a domestic manufacturing industry.
Then what?
We swap to buying cheap goods from China.
Then what?
We do away with government oversight and regulation; say of the banking industry. Then what?
The Great Recession of '08.
We make wages as flexible as prices. When the economy contracts, lower wages. Then what?
The Great Depression.
We curb the power of the unions. Then what?
We witness the greatest acceleration of salary increases for the bosses, while workers wages stagnate; the gap between the richest and poorest grows to the highest levels ever.
Retchtub needs to count how many wage earners are behind his counter, then count how many are in front of his counter, then ask himself seriously whether he -and every other retailer- wants wage earners to have less money.