The 'we can't afford the wages did is obsolete, IMO for 2 reasons: (a) the type of manufacturing that I suggest is capital intensive (Cad-Cam)
And of course if you are a nay-sayer you could have added: -too high tax rates -too much red tape -too far away from global markets -too small a domestic market And the list goes on and on and on.
In summary, these negatives are directly symptoms of a lack of self-confidence.......just can't do it.
Well there is a solution but it has to be Government driven as was Singapore Japan, S./Korea and Japan. none of this stupid neo-Liberalism shite.
So the above list of weaknesses have to be matched with our strengths which are: -oodles of raw materials at globally competitive pricing -oodles of Green Electricity -low sovereign risk -forget the well educated workforce.....we don't need them for this project as follows:
Set up a Special Economic Zone Manufacturing Hub as if it were in a 3rd world country overseas. -minimal red tape ...just normative safety protocols -no tax -like Singapore & Saudi Arabia employ 3rd world workers in guest worker visas (never can become permanent residents) -manufacture exclusively for export (no competitive impact on the domestic market -distribute the proceeds equally among all Aussie workers eg reduce income tax 9Saudi Arabia has no personal . income tax . -exclusively Aus owned so that all the profits remain onshore and not subject to shenanigans such as transfer pricing , cash boxing or debt loading -Use exclusively green electricity and the greenest possible mining practices to give the products a competitive edge in world markets (given the current trend in that direction)
This in essence would be like having a factory (s) in the 3rd World with the benefits of keeping the profits at home and distributing them equitably among all workers (wouldn't it be nice to have 20% cap on PAYE tax rather than the current 46%!!!) Of course there would always be a "dog in the manger" response from the non-taxpayers but thankfully they are in the minority.
We have talked about Strengths and weaknesses and IMO the above SEZ solves all that from an economic perspective ...keep in mind the objective of capitalism is to make as much money as you can within the limits of the law... extraenous issues such as 'its not right to have guest workers" or its unfair to have Government SOEs etc etc etc.
my answer to that is both Saudi Arabia and Singapore who were 3rd world colonies have passed us out economically by any measure and we are not shy in lining up at the bowser and filling our set of wheels with Saudi or Singaporean fuel......no worries at all....eh?
If we had the same attitude towards sport as we have towards business and particuluarly manufacturing then we'd never get a sniff of the Olympics .
But of course sport is a distraction and we're not walking on any Multinationals toes (yet) by being in sport whether as a consumer or a participant.
And lets face it, the systems and mega businesses in Aus are set up by Multinationals to milk us dry ...We are still Colonials in our own country, IMO.
