jantimot said: "We are doing absolutely nothing to prepare for the rainy day, but are just lounging in the sun"
well, we tried to introduce a super profits mining tax but everyone complained
how is Australia going to prepare for a rainy day if it is not willing to tax its major & most exploitive & most finite & most high margin industry?
Australia cannot sustain manufacturing industries, not due to wages, but due to its low population & thus low domestic competition and low domestic economies of scale
historically, Australia was only able to sustain manufacturing industries due to a tariff system
reducing worker wages is not the solution to making Australian manufacturing competitive
the solution is economies of scale & competition driven efficiency, which Australia cannot produce
Australia is a desert nation that can only sustain a small population
but as a desert/semi arid nation, Australia has an abundance of mining & primary industries to sustain its exports
Australia will always be linked to the growth engines of the world, whilst they exist, so currently Australia can maximise its (finite) export income and can only prepare for a rainy day by taxing the mining industry more and taxing investment profits more (by eliminating the 50% CGT discount)
as for building manufacturing factories, these do not take long to do thus building a manufacturing base is not really preparing for the future
100% of Norways oil revenue for decades has gone into a future fund
yet Australia cannot even manage placing a little of its mining revenue into a future fund
