-Shutdown of the Port Kembla blast furnace No. 6 and metal coating line No. 5 at Western Port -BlueScope Steel to let go 1000 workers -Gillard advances steel maker $100m -AWU chief says high dollar, low Yen to blame "This announcement is principally because of the dollar" http://www.news.com.au/business/job...is/story-e6frfm1i-1226119302217#ixzz1VjCAa5i6 "Privatise the gains, socialise the loses" right? Blame it on the high aussie dollar after sitting on your hands doing nothing Excuses excuses >_> Probably gonna covertly move into asia, but that's my tin foil hat speaking @_@
Is is the one announced recently (rumoured to be 100) or a new round of cuts? 100 jobs at risk in ABC outsourcing drive
And of course all Labour knows how to do is throw money at the problem, they are so inexperienced and unsophisticated at economic management that they cannot understand the underlying causes and what a functional government would do to deal with those root issues. Port Kembla is a great source of pride for Australia, it would be sad indeed to see it founder.
So 100,000 per staff member effectively,it would have been cheaper to let them go. Will she bailout everything when the carbon tax comes in? What a mess. 1 billion loss and there total market cap is 1.3 billion. First to call chapter 11?
$100million bailout. This appears to be a bandaid measure to a much more deeply seated problem. Unfortunately this government has now got significant experience in making knee-jerk decisions off the cuff without investigating the deeper issue correctly. Carbon tax.... Beef exports anyone? The worst thing about this bailout is that it has set a precedent. Everyone out there is struggling (exempt mining) and now they see a government prepared to cash away the problem with very little analysis of the reasons that caused the issue to start with. In the next month I now expect to see a number of similar announcements, moreso than previously and now not all due to economic problems but free government handouts.
From $1.6 Billion in exports in 2006/07 to a $1.054Billion dollar loss now is a massive fall from grace. Over 93% share price drop in a little over 2 years is a sure sign there is something structurally wrong with BlueScope and this 100 million is a bandaid that will do absolutely nothing to fix the core of the problem (what ever it is). Another $100 million thrown out the window from a government so incompetent it belies belief.
Once again socialising the losses.... That 100million would be far better being spent retraining the laid off workers and finding them new jobs instead of being put in the company coffers.
Ha 100 million, wait till banks start asking for some moolah, 100 million is gonna look like a drop in the ocean when that happens. It looks like every single government has their finger on the panic button - avoid recession at all costs.
So Gillard and Swan are giving a $100 million dollar "advance" to "someone" and the money is coming from the carbon tax fund. Except that the carbon tax has not even been voted into legislation yet. Overstepping on a grand scale.
This is the tip of the iceberg, the start of the avalanche, where the lemmings meet the cliff, the . . . I heard on the radio yesterday a "software entrepreneur" arguing that the high aussie dollar was killing exporters like himself (not to mention education exporters!) and that Gillard needs to re-introduce the Resource Rent Tax (on top of the Carbon Tax) to fund export businesses so they can compete. Can you hear that noise? Is that a stampede of destroyed businesses running to Canberra to suck at the teat of an over-taxing, off the rails government, drunk with its power to redistribute other people's money? No? OK, it's just that I was thinking maybe we have effectively destroyed our exporters already, even before the Breathing Tax. Glad to know Commsec says were all good. Another glass of Kool-Aid , er, clear medicated tap water anyone? Ah, that's better. Time for a song [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7F2X3rSSCU[/youtube]
Bluescope bosses have funnelled $3M directly into their bonuses....Xenophon has hit the roof! http://www.smh.com.au/business/bluescope-boss-bonuses-an-outrage-says-xenophon-20110823-1j7qt.html
It is not economical to throw good money after bad money - bailouts are an example of faulty logic and also an example of the Government taking responsability for something they have no business sticking their nose in.