A society that consumes rubbish products cannot understand quality and therefore be unable to produce it.
A society that stands back and allows whatever trade expertise it had, to degenerate to non existence deserves no better.
A society that complains about what it doesn't have, only knows how to complain.
Those that know what to do, do it elsewhere, those that remain complain.
Nope...there's only one way...brain transplants./...find those looking for brand new, hardly used brains and exchange them for well worn, tested and true, to replace them......and that's only the beginning.
Australia....a nation of spectators on credit!

Bazz, Monday, 16 July 2018 3:35:36 PM said- "China I suspect is now reaching the stage where it will own all the
technological facilities of the world and the majority of the manufacturing
capability. Along with that they seem to be accumulating most of the
debt holding of the world."

Answer- The message that I got from Bazz's comment- "China will own world manufacturing and lending." (both low and high tech)

Hasbeen, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 2:56:43 PM- Wednesday, 18 July 2018 2:56:58 PM
Said- "By paying semi skilled process workers building cars at least twice what the work was worth, we destroyed our car industry. Workers were not paid what their labour was worth, but by how much withdrawing their labour could cost their employer, or disrupt the community."

Answer- Hasbeen- You have a wealth of experience and have told the story effectively. My assumptions were challenged but I'm stronger. Non-university educated are often better paid than university educated despite potentially putting more effort into their careers. That's not to say that uni grads should get higher wages necessarily- countries need to reward effort and value if the country/ business values these attributes.

ttbn, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 4:36:56 PM- Wednesday, 18 July 2018 4:29:09 PM

Australians have priced themselves out of the market with a higher minimum wage than than the UK, NZ. France, Germany, Canada and the US. Measured in Australian dollars, it is some 30% above the German national minimum wage, 50% above the UK’s, and 80% above Japan’s.

Answer- Great succinct stats.

Armchair Critic, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 5:35:36 PM- Wednesday, 18 July 2018 9:47:38 PM
Said- "In order to save manufacturing we'd need a dictator to make hard decisions and invest in nuclear to reduce the cost of energy, and even then we still have expensive and inefficient freight. Were on a one way debt train to destruction and rule by bankers, by design. "
...there's 3 ways to increase... manufacturing… return.
That would be: Lower cost of wages/ Lower energy costs/ Lower transportation costs.

continued...

Answer- Great bullet points.
AC said "We need a dictator"- I understand that "democracy isn't always decisive". There are ways of addressing that.
I think you are saying- Low "Input" Costs = Low "Output" Price
Wages, Energy, Logistics, Finance- are "common inputs" to all manufacturing businesses.
If government economic policy keeps "common inputs efficient and at wholesale prices" the manufacturing economy is "strong"- I generally agree that this is "good for business as usual".

This is "a required but not sufficient" condition- In addition to this "innovation" enables new markets to be created and new sectors of supply and demand. Often it's hard for Australian businesses to invest in serious innovation due to a number of industry factors but given its critical nature the government need to investigate its options. Often this can be done through agencies such as the CSIRO. There has been some criticism of government interference (big gov, etc) some are valid sometimes it needs to be balanced by other factors. Innovation can threaten established businesses- it's hard- just like employees need retraining- so do businesses. Sometimes there are reasons why individual businesses can't make high value goods, mechanise, or other measures- we need to try to find ways of addressing these broad industry issues.

Investing in nuclear?- Well ... I understand the need for cheap energy... I think that Tidal and Geothermal are equal and better options. I agree Tidal and Deep Geothermal need more testing- lets get started on the testing!

Tidal- Need to put 2000x 3 metre turbines (1 MW each) around Sydney Harbour= 6 GW of power (enough power for 6 Million people)- store the power by damming and pumping the water somewhere up the Parramatta River or maybe we could create some artificial lakes around elevated Hornsby for this purpose and get double benefit- improved energy and increased land value.

Geothermal- Step1- Erect big drill. Step2- Drill hole about 2 km deep. Step3- throw water down the hole and use the steam to run turbine

Bad Dog,

Geothermal - yes, just pump water down a hole and use the steam coming up to drive turbines to pump more water down the hole. x = x

Brain surgery - just shave the head, cut the top off, fiddle around a bit as necessary, and sew the top back on. Simples.

Well, energy is the key to everything. Nothing happens without energy.
The cheaper the better.
Tidal, another source demanding storage twice a day.
Hasn't the cost of storage sunk in yet. Admitably storage for tidal
does not suffer from wx problems but would be VERY LARGE.
Geothermal has been tried but they ran into trouble with corrosion.

Well I am interested in all the responses that are here.
To sum up, the situation is dire, our industry has collapsed together
with our power industry.

Our only future lies in agriculture and we must only allow in migrants
who are farmers. Anyone who does not want to farm or work in support
industries will need to migrate to India, Bangladesh or Africa.
You could convert to Islam and migrate to Eurabia.
Think I am joking ?

Hey fellers, trying to put re down won't change the facts. Pay ourselves too much, & the industry closes down. The dole is much lower than a reasonable wage for the job. We have lost so many industries, we are left with taking in each other's washing. Too high wages has done nothing but put our industry out of business & force the price of housing to ridiculous levels. Workers are no better off for the numbers on their pay packet.

We once had the cheapest power in the world, & on much lower notional wages, a family could buy or rent a house on a single wage earners income, something many can no longer do on high notional wages, & 2 wages. Just what good have those ridiculous wage increases started by Whitlam, done anyone?

Yes transport is a problem. I spent some months in the early 80s localising production of water saving brass products imported from the USA. By the mid 90s they had me to source those products from Asia to stay in business. I could import the same bit of brass, machined, chrome plated & assembled from Taiwan for about half the price of the brass stock in Oz to machine the thing from.

This is ridiculous when it was our zinc & copper used for the brass no matter where it was machined. Example, an item manufactured in & shipped from Taiwan landed in our store in SE Qld. for $3. It cost $6 to send one to Brisbane. $9 to Melbourne & $15 to Perth. Our transport costs are ridiculous.

I don't suggest I have the answer, & just lower wages would never fix the problem, but we have most certainly gone off the rails somewhere. We will not survive much longer doing what we are doing. As China increasingly gets its raw materials from Africa, we are going to find ourselves left out in the cold, & it is going to get very cold when the crutch of mining is gone.