Australia catching up again

[Airspeed]

You guys had better lift your game.
We've been watching the rest of the World suffer.
Well, now OUR dollar has tumbled several cents against the US thingy.
WAIT! There's more! Ford Australia finds that having been bailed out to the tune of $1,000,000,000s from our taxes, it cannot survive even with more hand-outs, so it's closing its two manufacturing plants in Victoria. I have the sneaking suspicion that this represents approximately 100% of its Australian operations. Future for components manufacturers, repairers etc = BLPPPPPPH (I think that's how one spells it).
Moreover, there's talk that if Ford goes, GMH and Toyota might follow suit, leaving us without any vehicle production.
We'll still have 400 airports, 567,000 coffee shops, 890,000 hair and beauty salons, 38,000 casinos, 1,002,000 telephone cleaning providers and of course, 3,892,000 management consultants. It's probably time to start running that bath as per "The Hitchiker's Guide...." I haven't included organised crime in the above, because they'll continue running the place anyway.
To add to our fun, we have been told off about our offshore processing of asylum seekers - a) for doing it offshore; b) because those facilities aren't up to scratch; c) because we're not allowed to say that they can't land here. [That's odd, because our Labour government is to be replaced by the Liberals at the next election, and one of the Lib's policies is "We'll stop the boats"]

Just thought I'd let you know that we're catching up.

[DaveB]

TBH Mike.. I think your asylum policy is spot on down under. Pity we don't have a policy at all here

ATB
DaveB

[Tomliner]

C'mon Dave,we do have an asylum policy here.It's called let'em all in,no questions asked.I'll make no comments re recent events in London.EricT

[airboatr]

our President is delusional
Yeah .. he told all the bankers and wall street folk
"We all have to play by the same rules". being all righteous and indignant
And then lets the (over 12 million) undocumented fence jumpers they can have a free pass.

And then promises when they fix the broken immigration policy those who are still coming will follow the rules.
and not jump the fence

I bet he allows one of his daughters get away with whatever she wants to do to have the things she wants for a better life.
And makes the other follow the rules and give a lot of her money to her sister so she can get free food and phones and stuff.

yeah .. .. He knows nothing of the human condition and how people work ..
Or he's a LIAR..
OHH ..and then he brags about how his momma brought him up to do the right thing...


Guess how ticked off I am... yeah..

He is a coward and I hope some day to tell him that to his face.

[Airspeed]

I understand the resentment when home is overrun.
I cannot imagine any motive for this week's London savagery.
I can't understand the filmed apology about sorry you have to see this, but it happens all the time in our homeland. Isn't that why they left - to lead a better life?
I feel deeply for the victim's family and friends.
All the same, there are people (and I use the term loosely) born here, with pale skin, who send chills through me. (hence my comment about organised crime running the place)

[airboatr]

I cannot imagine any motive for this week's London savagery.

A reckoning for being born.


No firm numbers the illegals have killed here drinking and driving robbing murdering raping identity theft drug dealing gang banging tax money thieving ... (( Ben hurry and change the rules for tourret outburst.. I feel one coming over me.))

but hey they work hard and help our economy.

Don't think they'll ever add enough money into the tax base to cover the guards at the boarder.

not to mention driving down the wages because they'll work for .. aahhhhhhhh!1!!

[speedbird591]

Mike. Just a quick comment before getting back to your original subject of Australia's economy. Don't you white Aussies consider it fortunate that the Aboriginals didn't have such a strict immigration policy when Captain Cook's boat rolled up? You'd all still be living in a permanent queue on Christmas Island waiting to be processed. Several generations later

Only kidding. Every Country is in the same situation when you start rolling the clock back. The United Nations needs to draw a time-line behind which no land claims can be made. I guess it would have to be fairly recent or the Palestine situation would be difficult to solve. Not that it's ever likely to be solved

So. Oz. I'd read newspaper articles explaining how Oz had escaped the worst of the world economic recession, what with not being tied to Europe or the States and being more aligned to Asia. Of course, Asia is now slowing so I guess you're feeling the effects of that. I have two very good friends who escaped the violence and crime of Johannesburg a few years back and relocated to the Gold Coast in Queensland and being entrepreneurial made comfortable lives for themselves. They now tell me that it's all gone wrong and their business has collapsed and they can barely manage because people don't have the money to spend. They're now thinking of moving to the UK and buying a small cottage in Shropshire - as if that's the answer

But I've seen a couple of programmes recently about how Perth is bucking the trend and is a boom town - mainly because of the mining. They can't build houses fast enough and disposable incomes are rising quite rapidly. Truck drivers are apparently earning $140k a year and they can't get enough of them. I've always loved Perth as the first Mrs Speedbird was a WA sheila and I had family there so I spent a lot of time there. It's such a beautiful place. Maybe you should all move over there and become obscenely rich?

Ian

[Airspeed]

Ian,
Good to see your comments. I don't have the brain power to become obscenely rich, regrettably, though I loved our year in Perth 1971.
Interesting to read your mention of experiences with Taureans. This bit of bull has always found your posts very palatable.
I was going to include something along the lines of various nations (including Australia) which would not have been happy about the influx of British explorers, developers and slave traders, especially once their natural resources were exported for the benefit of Great Britain. It's very uncomfortable to have a conscience, and it's also uncomfortable when the wheel turns a bit, and those who were "invited" into the Commonwealth ask for a slice of that wealth. Then I thought about tripping over all those out of joint noses, and excluded it previously.
They're probably writing my "DCM" as we speak. [in Australia, that's a "Don't come Monday"]

[speedbird591]

Sorry Mike - the game's up, mate! Trying to gain sympathy from us over the state of Australia's economy!

The truth is now out - officially. Despite all your whinging, Oz is once again at the top of the chart of the happiest developed nation. Another trophy for the shelf, sure, but don't come round here telling us how bad things are

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22685260

So chuck another prawn on the barbie and a few more stubbies in the ice box. Looks like you've still got a long way to go before you fall as far as the rest of the world!

Ian

[Tomliner]

Yeah that's telling 'em Ian.We went to a lot of trouble here to get the politicians and bankers best qualified to screw up the economy and I don't think that we should share the rewards. EricT