Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts

Tariff Protection Will Return - Globalization Has Failed!

More jobs for the US economy.
Globalization has failed. Countries are distinct cultures. Working life may be the same, but the values people live by are much different, particularly in regards to religion. Jobs have been lost in developed countries as so called developing countries keep labor costs down by manipulating their currencies and not giving their workers social welfare support.
Americans want jobs
Americans want jobs
A case in point is Australia's compulsory superannuation. This was a silly idea to begin with as companies went to the wall and workers lost all their super. This is a cost burden on wage costs. Employees must live now, so wages rose to leave enough current spending after paying in superannuation. This is seldom mentioned by economists let alone governments. Developing countries do not have this cost burden.

No wonder Donald Trump is supported by a large slice of the American population. He promises to put up trade barriers to create jobs at home. His revolutionary tax cuts would see the US plunged into a state much like developing countries, where people would have to pay the full cost of medical treatment. While health care is held to be mainly privately funded it receives more cash help from the government per head of population than "free" systems such as the UK and Australia.

Because of lower tax revenue, funding for schools would also be reduced. Trump's system would obviously favor the already wealthy who choose to pay private anyway. However, the ordinary person wants work. Missing out on social benefits is an afterthought.
 
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Guaranteed Minimum Income is Fairyland Stuff

SOCIOLOGY
Many in Australia are calling for a guaranteed minimum wage whether a person earns it or not. If a low paid job for say 30 hours a week is below this minimum then the state will top it up. This sounds fair at first instance, but there is the problem of government income to pay for this and the world economic environment that thrives on low wages.
Guaranteed income in Australia
If every country in the world did it, the system would be viable. Unfortunately, humans are greed driven. We are nice to each other. This in only to a degree, however. Man is torn between egalitarianism and competition. The Star Trek world where only those who want to work abandon their sloth and actually go to work is far off in the future.

When I was young the dole was quite high. It was meant for times between jobs to maintain family income. Indeed, in England those who paid more tax got a higher rate of unemployment. This was definitely not egalitarian. The Australian benefit has fallen way behind the cost of living - the lowest in the OECD. It is only food money now. Forget putting a roof over you're head. It can't be done, unless you are female with eight dependent children.

The question has also been made about voting rights. If you have no abode you do not have the right to receive unemployment benefits nor can you vote in elections. The marginalized get more marginalized.

Paul Keating, ironically a Labor politician, brought in compulsory superannuation with the aim of virtually eliminating the old age pension. This concept has gone by the board now with a series of conservative governments messing around with the rules to reduce accumulation of capital for retirement. The idea of allowing drawing of superannuation to purchase houses was an idea to 'feel the waters". It was quietly dumped.

There has always been a pool of very poor people to fuel economic growth. They are essentially needed for manual or repetitive tasks to generate income for the already rich. The poor do drive the world economy even today. If this pool did not exist, consumers would have to pay a higher price for goods. It would make for a better world to live in.
◆ Sociology by Ty Buchanan ◆
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equal pay for all everyone dole unemployment benefits income old age pension superannuation articles news politics economics society anthropology historiography history sociology people nations country asia europe africa u.s. south america central Mediterranean eastern western interesting funny technology free news sex
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Politicans Made Australia Wealthy - They Certainly Did Not!

Australia is a lucky country. Its citizens have become much wealthier over the past 30 years. We have to thank the politicians for this. What? We most certainly do not owe it to politicians. Australia is richer because China has become richer and Australia is the main source of the minerals China needs to make all the exports which have been leaving that country in increasing amounts, by the year.

The Labor Government had the money from tax collections horded by the Howard Government to bail Australia out of the impending recession. We don't have to thank Howard for this. The money should have been spent on hospitals and schools. The Coalition Government held the economy back even though it was doing very well. And Labor should not take all the credit for Australia not going into recession. The money was there and it spent it. The Coalition somehow lost the plot of governing. It most definitely should not have kept on blaming the states for the hospital crisis. The Coalition spat the dummy and refused to reform the medical system.

Labor tried to reform the medical system. So it hit the Coalition over the head with missed opportunities when the Coalition lost power. A new revamped medical system would have been well set up by now if change had taken place when it should have.  The Coalition government is now abandoning Labor's hard fought revamping of health care

People worry over the debt the Labor Government has run up. Remember the colossal amount of money the Coalition Government got from boom times. When the recession is over, which won't be long now, that debt will be paid off quite quickly. The Coalition looks lost in the wilderness at the moment. Members of both Coalition parties know Labor will have all good news for many years to come.  The Coalition knows that Labor will be looked upon as a positive government in history as spending cuts must be done - now.  This will push the economy into a short recession while the rest of the world booms.  You can be sure that when Labor wins again they will start spending again.  This is what happens in Britain and the rest of the ex-colonies.
Economics by Ty Buchanan
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Economic Theory No Longer Applies

For the first time economic theory is being challenged by the Internet. Economics has always put forward the premise that the consumer was all-knowing, in that the "going price" for products was known. Of course, in the past this has been a lie. The demand curve was absolutely false. Buyers did not know where they could get the best price.

Now, potential buyers can go to a store, try on a particular brand of clothing to find the correct size, then go and buy it on the Internet. Some shops are charging for such browsing. This will only drive consumers away to another store.

There isn't much doubt that there are too many stores in the market selling the same goods. This is a problem caused by local councils allowing shopping center development even when it is contrary to local planning laws. Councils are too easily influenced by cashed-up big business.

As chain stores move into populated centers of rural areas the future looks bleak for the corner store. The days of local monopolies of one grocery store, one fruit shop, a chemist and a fishmonger are well and truly gone. It is no wonder the majority of small startups fail.

We cannot turn back the clock. The consumer is currently very informed about price if not quality. Economics never did include quality into its theories. It cannot easily be defined.  With oligopolies taking over small rivals economics is no longer relevant. It cannot be applied any more. The idea that prices fall to clear the market of "surplus" products was never real world practice. Shops have always operated on a percentage mark-up.
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Economics
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Australian Saving Means a Change in the Retail Structure

Why is Australia in such a bad way? The country is exporting at record levels. China is paying up front for these exports. Interest rates are not too high. Remember the Keating days of 14 per cent? We do have a "dual" economy with manufacturing doing it tough due to the high dollar, but Australia never has been a strong exporter of manufactured goods.

Retailers are saying people aren't spending. You would think that people can only spend what they earn and no more. However, due to the multiplier effect, according to economic theory, when a person spends a dollar that one dollars turns over about five times. In other words the money supply, the real paper dollars out there, is actually only about a fifth of the money on the books in an economy. So what happens when a consumer saves? Think about it. The money in circulation "shrinks" by four more dollars. This is what is happening in Australia. We all envied Japan in its good years when they had very high rates of saving per head of population. Now Australians are adopting this way of living.

Australians are doing the right thing and being told by retailers that they are doing the wrong thing. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You either spend now or you don't. The real problem of course is that there are far too many retailers in Australia. Particularly today where many shops sell broad lines of goods. Years ago shops really specialised. Each town had one grocer, one greengrocer, a chemist shop, fish shop selling fresh and fried fish, butcher, Garage and so on. When you are in a shopping centre today you pass several shops selling the same thing while walking.

Australians were in personal debt for decades. Many warned about the lingering debt levels. It is a good thing that people are changing their ways. Unfortunately, the whole retail structure must change as well. This will only occur reluctantly and with great hardship. Many buy businesses and think their future is made. The reality is different. Owning a business is now very tough. Not only do you have local rivals, many Australians buy from oversees on the Internet. Gerry Harvey of Harvey Norman may be calling for GST to be placed on Internet purchases. What he really wants is a ban on buying in this way. Things will change. More businesses will go bankrupt.


Australia's future lies in commodity exports. It always has; it always will. Manufacturing motor vehicles in this country was a mistake. Sell iron ore and coal then buy cheaper imports. This has always been the way to go. The main question for us all now is whether we should abandon food production and import most of it? Australia is a major exporter of wheat. This is a commodity. Perhaps Australia should continue. Growing food generally, however, is an important issue for the future. We cannot keep out cheap, high quality food imports from New Zealand for ever with questionable import barriers. Just why Australians still bother producing poor quality sheep is a mystery. The wool is good. The meat is inedible.
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Economics
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