Hey Aussies...

[4est_4est_Gump]

Ready for Aussterity?

After accounting for about half of Australia's economic growth in the past two years, the contribution of resource extraction industries such as coal and iron ore mining would fall to one third, Australian Treasurer Chris Brown told the National Press Club last month.

"We have reached a cross road," he said. "This is not a crisis, but it is a challenge."

To maintain economic growth at its long-term average of 3 percent, Australia must turn to industries other than mining and gas, Bowen said.

It is a shift that will take time and won't be without pain.

The government expects the unemployment rate to rise to 6.25 percent by the middle of next year from about 5.7 percent at present. Its own finances are rapidly deteriorating as slowing economic growth weighs on tax revenues. In May it forecast a budget deficit of AU$18 billion. Last week it announced the shortfall would be nearly twice that.

A euphemistic government order for a bigger "efficiency dividend" will require all government departments and agencies to cut spending.

On Tuesday, the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low of 2.5 percent.

"We thought we could see it coming," said Howard, owner of the heavy equipment business. "We didn't know whether it was a year away, whether it was two years away or it could have been five years away. We just had a feeling we had to pull back eventually."
He now fears wages in Australia have become too high for the mining industry to compete internationally.

"I travel around the world everywhere buying and selling gear and I think we've become a bit complacent. We need to have a good hard look at what it costs us to get coal into a train compared to other countries," Howard said.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130806/DA80A6LO1.html

Whaddaya think?

Chinese finger puzzle?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

"Australia's dilemma underscores that China's long run of supercharged growth has given it enough weight in the world economy to create not only winners, but losers too when its own fortunes change.

"Trade between Australia and China equaled 7.6 percent of Australia's $1.5 trillion economy last year, a dramatic threefold increase from a decade earlier, according to an Associated Press analysis of trade data. During that time, mining companies gushed multibillion dollar profits while jobs as mundane as maintenance commanded salaries above $120,000."

 

[girlsmiley]

We've seen it all before.

Be afraid, Australia. Be very afraid.

No.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

So in terms of what is happening world-wide, Australia will continue to be an outlier?

 

[Hosebloke]

Just bring the price of just about everything down and I'd be happy with that. Boom and bust is no good long term

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

But are not boom and bust part of free economies?

 

[girlsmiley]

So in terms of what is happening world-wide, Australia will continue to be an outlier?

Australia will crumble, fall and kiss the feet of the U.S. because that's the way it's supposed to be. God, Freedom and Jesus. And you can all cheer and celebrate and drink horrible beer like buds or whatever. Oh what a wonderful life it would be.

/generalisations slash stereotypes.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Australia will crumble, fall and kiss the feet of the U.S. because that's the way it's supposed to be. God, Freedom and Jesus. And you can all cheer and celebrate and drink horrible beer like buds or whatever. Oh what a wonderful life it would be.

/generalisations slash stereotypes.

In other words?

I'm guessing that you think your future is secure, happy and unlike what has befallen the rest of the West?

Do you really 'hate' the US? envy it?

What has KANSAS ever done to you?

 

[Hosebloke]

But are not boom and bust part of free economies?

Yes of course they are , look what it did to the uk . Not everyone works for the mining sector so I feel when and if it goes bust it will go with a bang

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

A nation of burger flippers?

"The Australian economy is dominated by its service sector, comprising 68% of GDP. The mining sector represents 10% of GDP; the "mining-related economy" represents 9% of GDP – the total mining sector is 19% of GDP.[27] Economic growth is largely dependent on the mining sector and agricultural sector with the products to be exported mainly to the East Asian market.[28]"
Wiki

 

[girlsmiley]

In other words?

I'm guessing that you think your future is secure, happy and unlike what has befallen the rest of the West?

Do you really 'hate' the US? envy it?

What has KANSAS ever done to you?

Our future? Our future is looking a damn sides better than yours, champ.

You're the one screaming "Hey Aussies", like we don't know what's going on in our own damn country.

Mate, THIS is what's wrong with America.

Nevermind what's going on over here. Worry about what's happening in your own backyard, oi.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Yes of course they are , look what it did to the uk . Not everyone works for the mining sector so I feel when and if it goes bust it will go with a bang

Is not the proclivity of Western Social Democracies to Interventionism to prevent market corrections (thus influencing votes) and in such manner, in the long run, exacerbate the problem?

For example, in the US (proving at once that we are no paragon of nations, economically), we went from OMG! they are too big to fail to OWS! omg, look at the profits they are making! In the former, the correction was to have killed the economy in one fell swoop, but in the latter, ostensibly, the economy is being strangled by slow theft. And not to make straw-man arguments, but in most cases, it is the same people imbued with the economic polity of a beggar; I need the handouts of the rich, my gawd, what a niggardly lot the rich are!



"Nothing is free in politics, but there is some question when you pay the price.

"That’s been a saying of mine for many years, though I may have unconsciously plagiarized it from someone else."
Michael Barone, NRO

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Our future? Our future is looking a damn sides better than yours, champ.

You're the one screaming "Hey Aussies", like we don't know what's going on in our own damn country.

Mate, THIS is what's wrong with America.

Nevermind what's going on over here. Worry about what's happening in your own backyard, oi.

I am asking a question in order to learn, it is you that have gone all armadillo...,

maybe porcupine.

Are we not a global economy? an interlinked world? or perhaps you are saying, our economy and country are of so little import (pun) that it can have no effect upon you?

Are we not from the same background, or has language and history become a delinking aspect of our common culture? Certainly courtesy has done a nose dive and is taking the count...

 

[girlsmiley]

I am asking a question in order to learn, it is you that have gone all armadillo...,

maybe porcupine.

Are we not a global economy? an interlinked world? or perhaps you are saying, our economy and country are of so little import (pun) that it can have no effect upon you?

Are we not from the same background, or has language and history become a delinking aspect of our common culture? Certainly courtesy has done a nose dive and is taking the count...

Get to the point already.

Quit carrying on. I've asked nothing. It seems to me like you're the one craving answers.

Ask away!

Go ahead.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Get to the point already.

Quit carrying on. I've asked nothing. It seems to me like you're the one craving answers.

Ask away!

Go ahead.

Seeing that you have a service-based economy with little manufacturing and now the loss of mining income (that came from Chinese expansion based largely upon American dollars) will the standard of living start to go down (or was it on the average, even that high to begin with) and is your government going to embark upon some political corrections in order to assist the transition to higher unemployment?

Is your personal purview that of someone who did not partake in the boom and hence will not be "hurt" by the bust and what is this animus aimed at the United States that you have put upon display? I am in no way trying to dictate, interfere or even advise. I am merely interested in economics and how others perceive the economic events that shape their lives.

For example, the higher salaries of the boom had to be a boon to the service economy, so I imagine that service workers will be affected...

Are you in the service industry? Are you immune to a bust, either personally, or nationally?

Are not these the questions the entire Western world is asking itself?

 

[girlsmiley]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1-nhCR2V6U

Why are we waiting....



Great song.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Thank you, but as KANSANS living in rural Missouri, our data plans are so limited as to preclude a lot of Utoob streaming.

I saw also this morning that France, ignoring the changes in its workers habits, are making laws to protect the integrity of French Cuisine...

Very interesting in the way different peoples react to change:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130806/DA809ICO1.html

They're turning "American," for lack of a better word off the top of my head...

 

[girlsmiley]

Seeing that you have a service-based economy with little manufacturing and now the loss of mining income (that came from Chinese expansion based largely upon American dollars) will the standard of living start to go down (or was it on the average, even that high to begin with) and is your government going to embark upon some political corrections in order to assist the transition to higher unemployment?

Is your personal purview that of someone who did not partake in the boom and hence will not be "hurt" by the bust and what is this animus aimed at the United States that you have put upon display? I am in no way trying to dictate, interfere or even advise. I am merely interested in economics and how others perceive the economic events that shape their lives.

For example, the higher salaries of the boom had to be a boon to the service economy, so I imagine that service workers will be affected...

Are you in the service industry? Are you immune to a bust, either personally, or nationally?

Are not these the questions the entire Western world is asking itself?

You are merely interested in the economics?

If you were merely interested in the economics you wouldn't be trying to figure out what the interest rates were on literotica.

Come on.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

You are merely interested in the economics?

If you were merely interested in the economics you wouldn't be trying to figure out what the interest rates were on literotica.

Come on.

Yes. Economics is the backbone of all Social Science Studies and of Politics. It defines who we are as peoples and what forms our governments take. By asking for reactions to this story I learn more about the people than asking them for personal anecdotes or opinions upon who they are, for you may lie to yourself as to what you are, and I do not mean lie in the negative but more as, to borrow a phrase from The Matrix, residual self image, but how you react to economic changes as a person, as a nation, speak greater volumes.

If your attitude is to be as originally presented to me, no big deal, quit meddling, go away, well then that tells me all that I need to know and then some.

 

[girlsmiley]

Yes. Economics is the backbone of all Social Science Studies and of Politics. It defines who we are as peoples and what forms our governments take. By asking for reactions to this story I learn more about the people than asking them for personal anecdotes or opinions upon who they are, for you may lie to yourself as to what you are, and I do not mean lie in the negative but more as, to borrow a phrase from The Matrix, residual self image, but how you react to economic changes as a person, as a nation, speak greater volumes.

If your attitude is to be as originally presented to me, no big deal, quit meddling, go away, well then that tells me all that I need to know and then some.

Mate.

You're the one screaming, "Hey Aussies"

I don't speak for other Australians - but to me - you're all shit. You're all OPINION.

You don't have any questions at all. You're just the be-all and end-all of the argument.

There's no discussing with you.

Good day, Sir.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I found this interesting...

Message to 5.7 Million Truck Drivers "No Drivers Needed" Your Job is About to Vanish; Time Marches On, Fed Resistance is Futile

Over the next two decades, machines will drive themselves and 5.7 million truck driving jobs will vanish.

Many pooh-pooh that idea for insurance reasons, but costs savings and improved technology suggest the trend is inevitable.

Please consider the Wall Street Journal report Daddy, What Was a Truck Driver?

Ubiquitous, autonomous trucks are "close to inevitable," says Ted Scott, director of engineering and safety policy for the American Trucking Associations. "We are going to have a driverless truck because there will be money in it," adds James Barrett, president of 105-rig Road Scholar Transport Inc. in Scranton, Pa.

Economic theory holds that such basic changes will, over time, improve standards of living by making us more productive and less wasteful. An idle truck with a sleeping driver is, after all, just a depreciating asset.

"Holy s—," exclaims Kevin Mullen, the safety director at ADS Logistics Co., a 300-truck firm in Chesterton, Ind. "If I didn't have to deal with drivers, and I could just program a truck and send it?"

Roughly speaking, a full-time driver with benefits will cost $65,000 to $100,000 or more a year. Even if the costs of automating a truck were an additional $400,000, most owners would leap at the chance, they say.

"There would be no workers' compensation, no payroll tax, no health-care benefits. You keep going down the checklist and it becomes pretty cheap," adds Mr. Barrett of Scranton, who says he can't find enough drivers.

Safety is why so-called "closed-course" uses, which keep automated trucks away from the public, are happening first.

In an Australian mine, in a scorched, wretched area called The Pilbara, Caterpillar is today running six automated model 793f mining trucks. Stuffed with 2,650 horsepower and more than 25 million lines of software code, they haul away layers of rock and dirt, up and down steep grades. Traditionally, these trucks would require four drivers to operate 24 hours a day.

Today the trucks use guidance systems to run on their own, only monitored by "technical specialists" in a control room miles away. If an obstacle appears in its path, the trucks have enough onboard brain power to decide whether to drive over or around it....

Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/#tdL48egji4gGhJ7E.99

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Mate.

You're the one screaming, "Hey Aussies"

I don't speak for other Australians - but to me - you're all shit. You're all OPINION.

You don't have any questions at all. You're just the be-all and end-all of the argument.

There's no discussing with you.

Good day, Sir.

*chuckle*

That is not the way anyone else is going to read this exchange.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Is "Hey Aussies..." screaming?

Would that not be at least HEY AUSSIES! and at worst:

HEY AUSSIES!!!​

At any rate, continuing on the heels of my last post about the loss of truck driving jobs (cabbies too!) I next see this:

After toy manufacturers Hasbro and Mattel posted below-expected profits for the second quarter of 2013 this month, many placed blame on the same phenomenon: the rise of smartphones and tablets. The Wall Street Journal attributed Hasbro’s tough times to “the threat of mobile devices that are competing with physical toys and changing how kids play.” The Associated Press said the toy industry as a whole had been hurt by “increased demand for electronic gadgets like smartphones and tablets.”

Hasbro is taking steps to adjust: it recently bought a 70% stake in a Colorado video-game studio and signed an eight-year agreement with Electronic Arts to distribute digital versions of its board games, which has been one of the companies’ more successful endeavors. “Both of these steps ensure consumers can experience our brands anytime and anywhere,” said Debbie Hancock, Hasbro vice president of investor relations, during the company’s Q2 earnings call on July 22.

Toys are far from the only industry being disrupted by the latest digital devices. Canon’s compact-digital-camera sales are slipping because of smartphone sales, while GPS-device manufacturer Garmin’s sales have fallen, according to its latest quarterly report. Blu-ray sales are doing well in the post-DVD era — up nearly 30% in the first quarter of 2013 — but while portable DVD players once thrived, it’s almost impossible to find a portable Blu-ray player on store shelves. And Apple’s newest innovations are even obsolescing their older siblings: sales of its iconic iPod music player were down 32% this past quarter compared with the same period last year, while the iPhone is up 20%.

Read more: http://business.time.com/2013/08/05/smartphones-other-industries/#ixzz2bBpuvcX0

 

[warrior queen]

Hate to point this out, but....
There is no way in hell Australia won't have truckies.
For a start, we have umpteem miles of roads that don't exist on either GPS or any map other than paper but that lead to actual places and towns that need provisioning.
Secondly, the costs would simply exceed any potential savings, given that almost everything consumable is trucked around the country.

Even if it were possible, it's a generation or two away from being a reality here.

As for the mining 'bust' ... I'm wondering if you're reading Murdoch-owned press?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

So, if I read the 'right' sources, then there is no ongoing drop-off in mining...



That is very interesting to know.