I know it sounds a little weird, but I can't get rid of this feeling that we (Australia), is being played.
It's as if we are being used for some social experiment, or similar.
I have had the feeling that we are being brought down to a level which will require us to ask for help, and in doing so we will be selling our soul to the devil.
I can't think of another country that has fallen from financial and social grace, so fast as we have.
I keep feeling that this decline or demise has been created with the obvious agenda in mind.
Are we part of some socio-economic experiment?
Is there some kind of conspiracy at play here, and I just can't see it?
Whatever the case, it's too obvious and too quick, a transformation of fortunes, for the worse, and it is not clear as to why it has happened.
I think I know how, but it seems all to simplistic and easy.
But if I'm right then we can begin to believe that the conspiracy theories have substance.
But just like trying to identify who is a terrorist amongst a crowd of people,I don't know which of these conspiracies are the right ones.

I'm not sure who could be doing the "playing", ALTRAV, and I think that the dropping to a lower level is more noticeable because we have been doing much better than other countries for a long time. I think that the current government is resting on the laurels of the Howard era. They still think 'she'll be right' when she obviously ain't any more.

I think the main problem is the lack of distinction between the Coalition and Labor these days. I think that we have two lefty parties. Morrison is a social conservative, but not a political conservative; and he will not or cannot discipline the left-leaning members of his government; he also spends too much time defending himself from Opposition criticism, rather than leading. I'm buggered if I can work out what he even believes or stands for.

ttbn,

There's a lot more to manufacturing than fabrication. I know fabrication used to be a high value activity in your day, but automation and globalization have taken most of the value out of it. Nowadays the design is much more valuable.

And it's all very well saying we should focus on the production side, but have you noticed what's holding it back? Lack of demand is one of the biggest factors.

There is more to it than that, of course. The single biggest factor in the demise of our car industry was the RBA setting interest rates needlessly high in the Gillard era, which in turn sent our dollar unsustainably high. It's lost 40% of its value since then, but the damage was done.

Nevertheless, the car industry was in decline; had it not gone already I think it would probably be shutting down now.

And I make no apologies for being one of those libertarians who regard free trade as a good thing. Why should our economy favour certain low value activities at the expense of our more competitive industries?

"Big tech has long promised near-miraculous accomplishments. But other than making a few people very rich and life more convenient for consumers, it has failed to deliver." ('Financial Review')

"Decades from now, historians will likely look back on the beginning of the 21st century as a period when the smartest minds in the world’s richest country sank their talent, time and capital into a narrow band of human endeavour – digital technology.

Their efforts have given us frictionless access to media, information, consumer goods, and chauffeurs. But software has hardly remade the physical world. We were promised an industrial revolution. What we got was a revolution in consumer convenience."

Too much glamourous stuff (which we don't even make here) and not enough hard work, like making things. Manufacturing, not consumer spending, is where the wealth is.

The Australian government is not the only one to have made desperate promises in the region to fool the punters, knowing full well that they were lying - or were they just too stupid to know what is possible. Either way, they have no right to be trying to run a country's economy.

In New Zealand, the you-beaut, trust us policy, was called Kiwibuild. This monster was 'guaranteed' to build 100,000 high quality, low cost houses in 10 years.

The whole thing fell apart as unachievable after only 47 houses were completed. I'll bet the geniuses who thought that one up aren't out of pocket - just another hit on the economy by desperados in government, who still have a 50-50 chance of being elected no matter what they stuff up. They wouldn't risk their own money, but they make free with ours.

ttbn,
There doesn't seem to be any evidence of deception regarding KiwiBuild, nor any great stupidity. It seems like a simple case of overestimating their capability then pulling the plug when they realised it wasn't working as planned. What they thought would be a big success ended up as a small failure.

Am I correct in surmising you're of the opinion that the risk of failure means governments should never try anything?

It's amazing how blind you are to the benefits of digital technology. It has improved, and in many cases revolutionised, the way things are done in almost every industry. And of those that it hasn't impacted yet, it's only a matter of time before it does.

>Too much glamourous stuff (which we don't even make here) and not enough hard work, like making things.
Hard work is no longer where much value lies. Far better to opt for smart work instead.

>Manufacturing, not consumer spending, is where the wealth is.
Please tell me you don't subscribe to the labour theory of value :-)