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The Forum > General Discussion > The level playing field is just a vacuous illusions that is destroying our quality of life

The level playing field is just a vacuous illusions that is destroying our quality of life

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With the lowering of tarrifs by the Hawke/Keating Govts,there was a supposition that as we lowered our barriers to foreign imports,living standards would rise in third world countries to meet ours and thus people all around the world would benefit.

There are two very basic flaws in the proponents of free trade ideology.Firstly countries like China and India have so many poor that they will have access to a cheap labour source for many decades to come.Secondly with diminishing energy and resources only a select few in the world will be able to experience the standards of living we all take for granted now.

With the lowering of tarrif barriers we are all working harder and longer just to maintain living standards we enjoyed ten yrs ago.Most of our manufacturing jobs have moved off shore and now we in the land of OZ are fighting over fewer options in the job market,thus working harder for less.

Small business in this country is being destroyed and the multinationals just take up the slack in China or India and sell back to Aussies with profits of over 1000%.

When the mineral boom ends,we will have no industries or technologies to provide a future for our children.

Manufacturing is not a troglodyte activity,it needs a lot of genius/tenacity from individuals and our universities to make it flourish.We are the gutless,stupid country in serious decay.

The energy/minerals boom is our poisoned chalice.
Posted by Arjay, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 7:48:52 PM
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Yes. All we are doing is gradually lowering our own living standards closer to those of the countries we are helping by allowing them to take away our jobs and industries. Not very clever, but not unsurprising given the vicious, self-serving creeps we have for politicians.

Australia will only ever have a strong manufacturing sector again when, like the workers in Third World countries, our workers cannot afford to buy the products they are producing for export.
Posted by Leigh, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 10:32:36 AM
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You are confusing the standard of living with quality of life.

What we can show is that overall, Australians have benefitted largely
through the global economy, with a better standard of living.
They are richer then they ever were and the money they earn buys
them more. If the clothes, electronic equipment, power tools and
many other imports were made in Australia, many consumers could
simply not afford them, especially the poor.

Quality of life is another story all together, thats not the same
as standard of living. But then go down to your local Lotto kiosk
and see what people are really dreaming about. They mostly seem to
focus on becoming rich as their future source of happiness. So
they usually vote through their wallets, as many an election result
shows.
Posted by Yabby, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 2:49:57 PM
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Arjay
You say “countries like China and India have so many poor that they will have access to a cheap labour source for many decades to come.” That’s exactly what we said about Hong Kong and Japan a 40 years ago. But trade raised their living standards from third world to first world in a generation. Trade is not the sole panacea for world poverty, but it is an important and indispensable part of the solution.

You also say “We are working harder and longer to maintain living standards of 10 years ago”. This is wrong.

Average weekly hours worked were 33.1 in 1996 in the year to March 2007, 34.3 in the year to March 1997. Average full-time hours fell from 40.7 to 39.9 over the same period.

Between November 1996 and November 2006 average weekly earnings (seasonally adjusted) of all employees (part time and full time) rose from $570.40 to $846, or 48.3%. Full-time earnings rose from $728.5 to $1,105.10, or by 51.7%. The Consumer Price Index by 29.3% over the same period. So earnings growth outstripped inflation by 14-17% over the period.

We are not “fighting over fewer job opportunities” – there are more Australians in employment now than at any time in history, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the population. The unemployment rate is at its lowest since the 1970s.

It’s true that the minerals boom is a boon for our economy, but these positive trends were evident through the 1990s, before it happened. And they will continue once the boom ends, as long as our governments don’t try to turn the clocks back and undo the benefits of economic reform and reduced protectionism we’ve enjoyed in the past 20 years.
Posted by Rhian, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 3:17:39 PM
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If we had tariffs and import restrictions, the countries to whom we export would impose more of their own on us. Most people think of standard of living in terms of life style and that includes everything from cars, TV sets, air conditioning, holidays overseas, large houses with granite bench tops, the latest in medical and therapeutic medicines, eating out, latest fashions etc. I would suggest that a lot more people either enjoy many of these things or aspire to them (as they are a lot cheaper comparatively except land prices which are constrained by availability), than they were 10 years ago because we all want to import them, so we accept that others can do it more cheaply and we benefit as a result. In return we dig things out of the ground, offer tourism, educate people and offer financial services, farm produce etc. We are in a constant state of flux and it is interesting to note that South Korea, once the cheap manufacturer of Asia, is now outsourcing a lot of its manufacturing such as cars, to other countries in order to compete.

If you think that imposing sanctions on cheap imports and doing all the manufacturing here, think again. It would create a high level of inflation. It would also have the side effect of making Australia even more expensive a place to live and make us even more uncompetitive. We are an innovative country that can't live in the past and we have to constantly reinvent ourselves. We are only held back by our out of date labour practices, tax laws and discrimination. The important things like broadband, water conservation, education, research and development are the things that provide employment rather than living in a past era like the Luddites, who smashed the textile industry in England because they felt the industrial revolution threatened their existence. Change is part of life. China and India are certainly lifting themselves out of poverty. There are also a lot more small businesses in Oz than there were 10 years ago. Just look at all those self employed people.
Posted by snake, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 3:29:11 PM
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Rhian in the manufacturing sector the reality is longer hours for less pay.Even in the Building industry contractors are quoting prices that haven't changed much in 10yrs.Overheads and wages have gone up and there are almost no margins for profit,that is why we see a proliferation of micro business which is really another term for buying yourself a job.

Quality of life is measured in terms of return for hourly endeavour and the time spent servicing the bottom line.In small business most people are working more for less.

Perhaps this is just a NSW disease that other states are not experiencing.

The bottom line is this,how low do wages have to go to stop the bleeding of our industries to third world countries?We cannot compete with $1.00 per hr wages with no OH&S regulation or our litigation mad society,so all our industry will eventually move off shore and the knowledge and skills will be gone forever.

Can we all work for the public service generating regulation and laws for industries that don't exist?
Posted by Arjay, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 9:05:27 PM
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