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Australia Annoys Microsoft

Microsoft is unhappy about a country that does not like government data stored overseas. It is jumping up and down about this policy in Australia. The question that must be asked is - Why is the big data giant so miffed about it? The loss in income for Microsoft cannot be that great. There must be another reason.

Like Google, is Microsoft collecting data to use for its own ends? It is so upset it refuses to launch the Office 365 service in Australia. Microsoft is aggressively lobbying the Coalition government to change the rules and open up the market. It must be after something more than profit.

Everything put into the cloud can be accessed by the cloud's owner. These services already hold data from many countries. If say a major government could get its hands on such data think of the power they would have. It seems only reasonable that countries should consider national security to be more important than reducing costs.

Internet by Ty Buchanan

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Cat Luxury

"I am entitled to the best."

Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Blog★
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Privatization Is Not the Answer for Government

Australia is going down the same road as the British by privatizing public resources. There is a major problem with this economic theory. That is, that once resource are sold and the money is used to pay off debt it cannot be sold again. When railways, electricity and water are privatized they are no longer under public control. Ordinary people are at the mercy of private enterprise who have been shown to continually increase charges beyond what citizens can bear.

This is the cold reality of what the future will be like. Politicians of the right have put faith in private enterprise for a century or more. The trickle down benefits of wealth are shown to be completely wrong. The riches of nations is still being consolidated into fewer hands. The poorer are poorer still. Despite consumer goods being widespread, very few can afford a Ferrari. Millionaires have been superseded by billionaires. And the these consumers of all things monetary still want more.

When services are outsourced to the private sector there is one significant effect - wages and conditions get worse for lower-paid workers. Casual and part-time employment becomes the norm. The Premier of Queensland is stripping the public sector of "unneeded" departments. This has personally affected me. My son was dismissed after more than ten years of loyal service when his department was closed. Now the state government has to pay enormous costs to private industry to obtain these necessary service and the debt has not been reduced.

Like the nonexistent trickle down effect it is faith not economics. Some things still need to be kept in public hands. Are we going to have toll roads everywhere with road taxes payable to private companies? This will definitely not happen. Water supply is too important to be privatised. It is best handled by councils as local monopolies. The present experiment of having separate bodies manage water will fail in the end. It will go back to councils.

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Politics by Ty Buchanan

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Neither Labor Nor Liberal Understand the Needs of Education

With fewer students choosing not to maths and science, or even worse doing badly in the subjects, there is a real shortage of people who can work in big data tech. Research scientists for universities are simply not there. Business pays twice as much as universities. Basically, universities need more money. The government is doing nothing about this commercial reality.

Labor took a big chunk out of university funding with its educational reforms. The Liberal national government has promised less for both universities and schools, despite the Abbott back down. Just what the government plans to do is unknown at present. The Gonsky reforms are up in the air. Some states are not yet on board and states who have signed want the money promised by Labor.

Universities are in the wings waiting for some kind of positive action by the government. If the Gonsky funding goes ahead there will very little left for the tertiary sector. Robbing tertiary to fund schools does not make any sense. Both should have got a larger slice of the money pie. This is like taking money out of high schools and giving it to kindergartens. It is not rational. Education is a complete working body, from top to bottom. Maybe Chrisopher Pyne was right in his claim that we need a new start, but his version announced as cutting future spending in all educational sectors is not on.

Education by Ty Buchanan

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Education by Ty Buchanan

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The NBN Needs Private Enterprise Not Bureaucracy

If the National Broadband Network ever gets finished health care for rural Australians will improve. The Abbott Government has sacked the NBN board. It has also began an inquiry. When will this end and real completion goals be set? The previous government made the mistake of not having goals. This is what led to its demise in the last election - it had lost its way on most issues.

An inquiry is seen as more "pussy-footing around". We need a clearly defined schedule. All major construction projects have dates set out for finalization of each stage. Why does the NBN have to be any different? Surely they know how much time it takes to lay "X" amount of fiber optic cable. This is the problem with monopolies: they consume time and money. Why not put stages out for competitive tenders? Surely real competition can get things moving.

The inquiry must come up with positive workable solutions. We cannot have another government mess up. Get rid of the bureaucrats. These are the expensive hangers on. Get private enterprise in on the job. Of course, the problem is - Has the Labor government locked us into unbreakable contracts? Getting out of these contracts could prove to be very expensive. However, something needs to be done, and fast!

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Economics by Ty Buchanan

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Pensioners Will Be Denied Income

Pensioners have gray hair. They are also entering a gray area, politically, socially and economically. Most people reaching pension age have never paid superannuation and others have only been paying it for a few years of their working lives. The amount saved by super is certainly not enough to live on. This group relies on the government to provide them with an income.

Calls are coming from all sides for an increase in the pension to a "livable" level. Basic costs like council rates, rents, electricity, gas, water and sewerage have gone through the roof in the last decade. There is no solid reason why this should be so. Electricity companies keep saying the old infrastructure has to be renewed. Surveys show they have actually over-spent, pushing the cost onto consumers.

Giving those who could afford solar power a massive discount for feeding electricity back into the grid is appalling political decision making. Pensioners could not afford solar. They are subsidizing the wealthy.

We are entering a tough period for older Australians. As time passes retiring workers will have full superannuation cover. What happens about those already on the government pension? When Paul Keating introduced compulsory superannuation it was with the intention of phasing out state funded pensions. Both sides of politics are pushing toward this. They are not planning to increase the pension by the needed $4,000 a year.

In the past the wandering tramp was common and this wasn't only during the depression. Nearly all of these were elderly. They could not afford to put a roof over their heads. Within a decade, such a social class will return. This time though they will join the homeless young who exist on unemployment benefit that it much lower than the pension.

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Society by Ty Buchanan

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High Wage Rate a Problem for Australia

The overseas economic crisis is changing the perception of wage rates in Australia. Over recent months the Aussie dollar has fallen in value. It helps exporters. The retail sector has also been calling for the dollar to be intentionally weakened. This is odd considering Australian consumers are heavily "addicted' to imports, so prices will probably rise in the shops.

There will be an election in September. Any color of government will have to cut back on spending. This will mean higher unemployment. Therefore, despite inflation steadily rising there will be downward pressure on wages. There is already a glut of people seeking employment in the vegetable and fruit picking industry.

When you go shopping a distinct feel of recession is in the air. With many buying online, the shops are almost devoid of shoppers. The lowest income earners have just been given a 2.6 per cent pay rise. This was done to redistribute income. Higher unemployment will prevent future artificial tinkering with the economy.

Australian wages are already too high when compared internationally. We have the highest rates of any developed country. The minimum wage is more than twice that of the US. Within Australia things have been much worse. The minimum wage today is 44 per cent of average full-time earnings. This compares to 50 per cent a decade ago. However, it is still very high.

It has been claimed that letting wages fall and redistributing wealth via welfare payments is a better idea. This of course depends on whether government can collect enough in taxes to have the money to do this. Even this though has been "damned" by some saying welfare reduces the drive to find work.

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History

Australian Blog★
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Government Spending Has to Be Reduced

Many people in developed countries rely on welfare to live their lives. The welfare state has been accepted as the only way for government to go - until now. Britain where the welfare state began is making major cutbacks in government payments.

Even in the US, where government support is perceived as low by non-US citizens, middle class welfare is rife. The term middle class is a widely misused term. Everyone knows it means the rich. It seems everyone has the their hands in the government feed trough.

In Australia the baby bonus was introduced by a right wing Howard government. It is ironic that it has been virtually abolished by a left wing government. It was available to all, rich and poor. No means testing was ever done.

The problem is political parties keep giving in order to be elected. This happens until a major deficit occurs and cutbacks are forced onto prevailing government.

If redistribution of income was not done the rich would get richer and the poor would be used as "serf" labor. Unfortunately, political parties "look after their own" when they are elected to government. Right wing governments do have a heart and do redistribute mainly to the poor. However, middle class welfare tends to creep up over time.

It is now accepted by the average voter in developed countries that the time has come for significant cuts in government spending. People do "squeal" when spending is cut specifically to them. There are immediate consequences when recipients no longer receive benefits. The Salvation Army has had a major increase in single mothers wanting food assistance. This is due to single mothers being forced onto the dole by recent government changes.

A direct problem to hard government cutbacks, when public servants are dismissed, is an increase in unemployment. Of course, this means a higher demand for unemployment benefit support. There is always the danger of pushing the economy into recession. If this is the consequence of spending cuts voters soon change their tune and blame a government. Rationally, continuous priming of an economy by more spending must ultimately end. The piper must eventually be paid.

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Economics

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The Aged Are Not Employed

Developed country are heading toward a crisis of not enough people to do the work. Baby boomers have reached retirement age and with such a large section of society no longer contributing there will be fewer taxpayers to fund economies. Government revenues will fall. Workers can only pay so much tax. Beyond a certain level incentive to work decreases.

Despite the problem, employers still persist in seeking young employees when there are plenty of elderly people who can hold down jobs. Old legislation covering those in public service force retirement on perfectly capable workers. Some Australian states are planning to change this.

The private sector has no restrictions. Many doctors, for example, work into their 80s. This is because they are self-employed, so they can decided when to stop. Fewer retirees are offering their service free in voluntary work. This means their lives just slow down and they spend their time doing very little. Their lives would be more interesting if they were given the opportunity to work.

Life expectancy has improved. There is no rational reason to refuse work to those who want it. The retirement age will be raised to 67, but this is ten years away. Governments are now heading into a funding crises. Australian businesses are bringing in skilled workers from overseas to fill vacancies that are really are not there. Government needs to give real incentives to businesses to encourage them to offer employment to mature workers.

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Society