Key point: Exports are for the sale of surplus goods, produced for internal consumption. Exporting is not an end unto itself. I don't agree with everything these guys say week-to-week, but this one resonated with me. Starts at 10min25secs, and goes for just over 8 mins. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDWVmwhq-lU[/youtube]
He's right - the problem is free trade. But is protectionism the answer? Do we live in a global society, or does each country need to replicate the exact same industries, make their own cars, food, etc, and only import luxuries? Perhaps they don't realise that tariffs work both ways. Getting into a trade war is not my idea of a fun time. It's my idea of instant inflation. So our options: - pay heaps more for cars, but keep some people in jobs - subsidise the unprofitable car industry - give up on the car industry As stupid as it might sound, I think the second option is best for now, because it's a good idea to keep some manufacturing capacity for when things change - like if the AUD gets screwed, which it will no doubt. IMO, the real demon in this case is the car exporters, who are selling cars so cheaply, not doubt spurred on by American consumerism. If Americans weren't buying all these cars, would Toyota make so much money? How about Mitsubishi? So i think the problem is bigger than Australia, but it will also solve itself within a decade. The question is - will we have any manufacturing capacity left when we need it?
Dogmatix aren't your options 1 and 2 really the same thing though? If you add a tax/tariff to an import (making it more expensive), or if you subsidise your unprofitable industries (making their products cheaper), isn't the net result the same?
mmmmm... Free trade has everything to do with lining the pockets of multinational companies?? Obama is trying to start a war with China?? I can understand why you don't always agree with these guys.
If you watched every one of their stories, week in, week out, you will see why Every second story of theirs is spoonfed by La Rouche in the US. Some examples that they rehash over and over: * Trans-Atlantic financial meltdown is only weeks away (been saying this for almost 12 months) * Obama is "clinically insane" and must be impeached * Thermonuclear war is imminent (been saying this for around 9 months) I do however like their local stories and fighting for local issues, they are anti-Greens too which is a plus in my book.
I agree, it is. But there are differences to how we're perceived by our neighbours and the impact on society in general. You can regulate subsidies easier than you can regulate tariffs in my opinion. And the actual cost of those options likely varies in huge degrees. Plus one is born directly by the public through prices, the other is born by the Govt, which is slightly indirectly. Although on the plus side tariffs give the Govt money, but that's a problem because they spend it. But I do think that both of those options just kick-the-can-down-the-road.
FREE TRADE Yeah sure ,that's like saying Communism works What a oxymoron ,everything the gov has done towards FREE TRADE ,has always screwd this country into the ground Automotive manufacturing has been moving to China for nearly 30 years ,since the 80's We've made some great developments here in the auto industry We've been screwd with copyright laws The guy from W.A with the orbital engine How can we compete with Korea pooping out driving accessories I remember hearing somewhere that in the UK the aftermarket accessories industry spends $4 billion on BS accessories That actually devalue your car
I don't see why slamming tariffs isn't an option, many first world countries still put it on certain industries. Why can't we?
Because Australian leaders like to do the bidding of their globalist masters. * We removed tarrifs in the 80s and 90s, when others didn't. This killed our manufacturing base. Also famously we removed subsidies for wheat, and the US did NOT do the same. WHO BENEFITS? * We are chafing at the bit to introduce a Carbon Tax. WHO BENEFITS?
Not as a single item, he had to split it all up into different parts ,Toyota bought the multipoint injection That's all I can remember
Oh wait, I have this one... it's not collusion on the part of our politicians. They are just a little slow and dont realise that they have been conned by the other countries in the world to think that Australia is a "world leader" and needs to "set an example". And like any kid with a desperate NEED to be popular, they took the bait and ran with it. Look, I love this country, but at some point our politicians have to realise that while we might have one of the highest GDP's per capita we only have 0.33% of the worlds population. We have problems in our health care system, our transport systems and in our education systems (just to mention a few) that are only getting worse over time. In my opinion we need to get our own affairs in order before we tell the other 99.67% of the world how they should do things. I could be wrong, but that's how I see it.
This is the most accurate representation to date of Australian politicians. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nULFMp4jKBo[/youtube]
Or (4), reconfigure our manufacturing capacity to import automotive components where they are cheaper to source from overseas and keep some manufacturing and assembly of the components into a finished car here. Some things are produced cheaper and more efficiently in large quantities, so its silly to have a factory here producing small volumes of door panels when there is another factory in Japan or China or Korea that produces 10s of thousands of them with much better economies of scale. If we had an auto industry based on configuring existing components in the best possible way, we'd actually have a lot more flexibility to innovate and take advantage of new technologies like electric power plants and battery packs. It would also mean we'd have more competition since "getting into the Australian car industry" wouldn't require billions of dollars in investment in heavy manufacturing equipment - you could have a dozen companies starting out with the same chassis and creating their own styling and finishing, so one model might turn out as a high efficiency diesel with a retro plastic interior and another might be full of Li-ion batteries and finished with recycled Tasmanian hardwood from a local artisan. You could go out now and customize your own car to get those types of vehicles but it wouldn't be a viable industry while those smaller companies are competing against foreign-owned mega corporations with hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies in their back pockets.
Big A.D, that's a fair compromise, although I'd think our would still require tariffs or subsidies to be viable. I don't really want to steer the conversation in this direction, but we simply can't compete on wages. And dropping wages, ala workchoices, is not the answer a our cost of living is almost at the point of breaking us as it is. Lower private debt levels and a lower AUD would go a long way towards rectifying the issue, but getting there would hurt a lot.
Not being xenophobic, but I think China started an economic war against the west, using the labour of it's population as a weapon, instead of guns. No-one can compete with someone who doesn't care about price our profits. Japan does it too.
Protectionism is the only option for Australia. I say this because of the obvious - Wages here are 30 times those of China and India, and costs of doing business and compliance are 45-50 times those of China and India. Just like Portugal should never have been shackled to Germany economically, Australia cannot compete in an unbalanced system, and we will fall as an economy if we do not protect our own industries. The equation is too unbalanced otherwise, basically a flood of capital, cash and jobs from Australia to the 3rd world until Australia becomes 3rd world also. No employers = no jobs = no economy. The only other option is a hard core partnership with a country such as China. I don't see that working any time soon.
