Wednesday 30 May 2012

Can you eat the dollar?

We live in interesting times. It would appear that the austerity measures put in place by European countries is not going down well with the people. "Why should we have to pay for the bank's stupidity?" is a cry heard often, and needs to be answered really. The people are also to blame for being sucked into the scam of the banks to make more money, but ultimately it is the banks greed to lending irresponsibly and they need to step up and put thing right. The current economic policies will fail - yep, you heard it hear first folks! The policies are flawed, why, because it is still based on the old system of constant growth. You HAVE to make MORE and MORE money to SURVIVE! Imagine, a company employing 1000's, with a turnover of $millions and it profits are $millions but year on year the increase in profits remain in line with inflation, and therefore would be classified by the market as stagnating, its share price would fall and the company could even go bust because of what it is SEEN to be doing rather than what it IS doing. Amazing! How can you have constant growth in a finite world? What happens when the world is full? And now there is talk of Greece leaving the Eurozone. We will know in late June after the new elections. Can Europe survive if Greece leave? I really don't know, but I am sure that either way its not looking good for Europe. Spain isn't in a good situation either and its economy is bigger than that of Greece. When I was a child my parents taught me that if I wanted something then I had to save up for it, to make sure I could afford it. Now I know my parents had a mortgage on their house (our home) but they could manage it even with rising interest rates of the time (late '60 early '70). Some weeks it was a little tight but we never went without because the finances were managed well. It seems bazaar that banks, who you would think would lead by example, would also manage their finances well, but I think its because of the "its a big company" syndrome made the managers complacent, irresponsible, and dare I say it - greedy. This attitude and 'need' for greater wealth, for themselves and their shareholders, not for the business and it customers that lead to this sorry state. Some of the most successful companies were successful because it focused on the customer, not the shareholder. A company is nothing without its workers and its customers.

So what's gong to happen? I hear you ask. Its a good question and well presented. No-one really knows except God of course, but I think there will be another financial bust because there has not been a correction in the financial thinking from the last bust, and this one will be bigger than all of them put together. Oh doom and gloom! One thing that will come out of all of this and that is a realisation that you can not eat the dollar!

Thursday 17 May 2012

The Australian Budget and Government


Well, well, well. I have heard a lot in my time but this has to be quite high as a political budget, not really a budget for the people or the country of Australia. I'm not going to dissect this budget and show how the figures have been fiddled (if they have) but I'm going to discuss government and what is it all about because I think it is about time all the people that have been voted in by the people take some responsibility for their actions. They seem to play by their own rules and when they don't like it they shout "Ah, but...". This has to stop!
First I'm going to have a swipe at the Australian Government in particular and all politicians in general, then I'm going to suggest some remedies.
Lying. This government had lied on more than one occasion, and even lied to get elected. They changed leadership on what would seem to be pressure from big industry - may be the mining industry, this is only a possibility as I have no concrete proof. They seem to suggest that a successful government is one that can push through as many laws as possible in a short space of time - production of legislation. Wouldn't be so bad if it helped at all, but as I once heard, the more laws you create, the more criminals there will be, cause and effect.
Another problem is the two party preferred voting system, which is not democratic and is not representative of the population, but would appear to be designed to keep in "power" those already there, and possibly wipe out the opposition as like what happened in Queensland in recent months. It also has the effect that people will vote for the party rather than the candidate, which means they might get a great party into power but a useless parliamentarian to represent them. Seeing as democracy was originally intended to distribute power, surely the voting system should be geared to encourage the voters to vote for the best representative for their area rather than the party, which really only has it own self interests at heart. A better system would be proportional representation. this also can cause problems, but is better, I think, overall.
Now comes the subject of power and those in government do have power and with great power come great responsibility. Should it be called "power"? Those elected to government are elected as servant of the people, are they not?
So the question I ask is what is government for?  If you had to write a job specification for the government, what would it include? Where would you draw the line?

Monday 14 May 2012

Welcome and Introduction

Welcome! Welcome to my world! I've started this blog to separate out some of my writings and here I will write about my views on the world, what's going on, or not as the case may be. It will be mainly based about things here in Australia, where I now live, but will include places like the UK, where I lived for a long time and have fond memories, and other places I have visited and have a interest in.
Some of the things I write will be controversial and might well annoy some people. The comments section will be open and I welcome comments. There are some comment rules: 1 every comment will be moderated. 2 No rudeness. 3 No foul language or swaring. 4 Politeness to be adhered to at all time. 5 I reserve to right to bar/ban anyone who contravenes any of these rules.
I little be about me. I was born at a young age in London, England and grew up in a Jewish and Anglican community. I uses these terms lightly. Educated at a private school and in the British Army. Electrical and electronic engineer by trade but fortunate enough to be taught how to learn and apply what I have to other things. This I hope to pass on to my children first and then others. I now live just outside on Melbourne, Australia and love it. In many ways it is very similar to the UK and in many ways very, very different.
I hope you enjoy reading my ramblings and I look forward to your comments.