The ugly face of capitalism

[basilio]

I went to buy three pint of beer and a schooner of cider, sounds good, yeh $90Aus I nearly fainted, I thought I was in Sydney. lol

Not quite fair here SP. Norway tax levels are higher than ours (to support their welfare state) but the reason for the eye watering cost of beer is the very high specific taxes they put on alcoholic beverages to reduce alcoholism. Certainly a very discouraging cost..

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2013/08/norway-considers-5-booze-tax-increase/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Norway

 

[sptrawler]

Not quite fair here SP. Norway tax levels are higher than ours (to support their welfare state) but the reason for the eye watering cost of beer is the very high specific taxes they put on alcoholic beverages to reduce alcoholism. Certainly a very discouraging cost..

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2013/08/norway-considers-5-booze-tax-increase/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Norway

I was just saying compare apples with apples, their welfare system is in some way better than our's, but those on the street may not think so.
I certainly don't think the homeless there, would think life is better than here.
We have this propensity to believe that the poor, live the way they do, because they haven't a choice.
I know from life's experience, they do in Australia, the problem here is we give them an attractive option. I know people will shout that down, but I know from the source that is reality. Sadly

 

[SirRumpole]

Yes it is really funny how the EU tells everyone what should be done, yet allow a situation like this to exist, they want a deal with Australia on their terms.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...alia-but-there-s-a-catch-20180425-p4zbjf.html

This where it all gets fuzzy, we want everything green, clean and absolutely conscious free and we want it cheap. lol
We are the weird ones. IMO
We don't want to buy from Asia, because they exploit their workers, we don't want to buy from the EU because they exploit their workers, we don't want to buy U.S because it is too expensive, we don't buy Australian because it is too expensive.
But we do have a reason, because we are self righteous and we don't do the wrong thing, well not knowingly.
We really are a weird bunch, we seem to be doing ever decreasing circles and we all know where that ends up. lol

Probably the worst thing you can do is to push hard for FTA's because other countries know it is so important to you that they can beat you down to their own advantage.

Better just to slap high tariffs on anything that other countries export to us and let them make the advances.

 

[sptrawler]

Probably the worst thing you can do is to push hard for FTA's because other countries know it is so important to you that they can beat you down to their own advantage.

Better just to slap high tariffs on anything that other countries export to us and let them make the advances.

It is a difficult balance IMO, the World has limited resources, so it make sense to extract and develop them in the most efficient way.
The problem with that is there is winners and losers, the losers get a lower living standard, the winners get a higher living standard.
The only thing that doesn't remain constant is birth rate.
Our manufacturing is being offshored to lower wage Countries, also those from lower wage Countries are coming here for our welfare, which was supported by our manufacturing industry.
So we now are starting to canibalise our wealth, to support our welfare system, that was supported by our industries.
It isn't a good scenario.

 

[sptrawler]

Not quite fair here SP. Norway tax levels are higher than ours (to support their welfare state) but the reason for the eye watering cost of beer is the very high specific taxes they put on alcoholic beverages to reduce alcoholism. Certainly a very discouraging cost..

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2013/08/norway-considers-5-booze-tax-increase/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Norway

Well to put it another way, check out how hard it is to qualify for Norway's or any other European welfare system, as opposed to ours.
I know quite a few Aussie's that are married to Thai lady's, they aren't investing in Australia, they are buying land etc in Thailand and waiting to qualify for an Australian pension.
The problem with that is, those of us which chose to live and grow old in Australia, have to sacrifice our retirement to support others that chose a different path. As was shown at the last election, by the Labor platform and it was nothing to do with the excise on alcohol.

 

[Humid]

Ever wondered how you could gets cans of tomatoes for SFA ? This story exposes the ruthlessness of a corrupt state and a sociopathic economic system.

Are your tinned tomatoes picked by slave labour?
Illustration: Christophe Gowans/Guardian Design
How the Italian mafia makes millions by exploiting migrants. By Tobias Jones and Ayo Awokoya

Thu 20 Jun 2019 06.00 BST Last modified on Thu 20 Jun 2019 16.50 BST

Shares
941

On 6 August last year, 14 immigrant farmhands in Foggia, on the ankle of the Italian boot, were coming home from a 12-hour shift picking tomatoes in 40C heat. The minibus carrying them was registered in Bulgaria; the driver didn’t have a licence or insurance. The seats inside were wooden planks, and it was so crowded that passengers couldn’t even see out. The vehicle was travelling at speed when it collided head-on with a truck loaded with tomatoes.

After the crash, you could see contorted limbs through the smashed windows. The entire front third of the vehicle was concertinaed and the roof was ripped open. Bags and clothing spilled out on to the road, and there were large patches of blood on the asphalt. Twelve of the 14 labourers died. Only two days before, also in Foggia, four labourers had died in a similar accident: 16 dead in 48 hours.

In the Italian south, the lives of foreign agricultural labourers are so cheap that many NGOs have described their conditions as a modern form of slavery. They live in isolated rural ruins or shanty towns. Some have Italian residency permits, but many don’t. A few have work contracts, although union organisers often find they are fake. Desperate for work, these labourers will accept any job in the fields even if the wages are far below, and the hours far above, union standards. The produce they pick regularly ends up on the shelves of Italian, and international, supermarkets, bought by consumers who have no idea of the suffering involved.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/20/tomatoes-italy-mafia-migrant-labour-modern-slavery

Do vegans eat tinned tomatoes?
Can you post some graphic footage of the accident?

 

[sptrawler]

Not quite fair here SP. Norway tax levels are higher than ours (to support their welfare state) but the reason for the eye watering cost of beer is the very high specific taxes they put on alcoholic beverages to reduce alcoholism. Certainly a very discouraging cost..

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2013/08/norway-considers-5-booze-tax-increase/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Norway

I'll tell you what Bas, when I came to Australia as an eight year old kid, in the mid 60's it was a hard place, there wasn't much money around.
I went to school with a bread and sugar sandwich and we were all bare foot.
Then things picked up in the late 60's, and things have improved a lot, but trust me, it wouldn't take much to go back to the 60's.
We were manufacturing more, were were more productive and we wanted for less.
I think most now, think that we are somewhat invincible, how foolish we are.
All we do now, is take everything we have, for granted.

 

[Smurf1976]

Why are Conservatives obsessed with a surplus ?

It all comes from about 30 years ago when debt came to be seen as universally bad and this was then the justification for mass privatisation of utilities and so on.

I remember a lot of those debates very well. You could talk all day about having $10 billion in assets but no Smurf, it's that $1.5 billion debt that's the problem and which simply must go you see.

Some years later that degenerated even further into assets literally being given away. Plenty of examples there from the Tote (Tas equivalent of the TAB) through to power stations in NSW being either sold for a token sum or in some cases literally $ zero.

Victoria had an actual debt crisis (Labor government) and Tasmania was well on its way to one (Liberal government) 30 years ago but beyond that the rest was just a convenient reason to sell things.

 

[Humid]

I'll tell you what Bas, when I came to Australia as an eight year old kid, in the mid 60's it was a hard place, there wasn't much money around.
I went to school with a bread and sugar sandwich and we were all bare foot.
Then things picked up in the late 60's, and things have improved a lot, but trust me, it wouldn't take much to go back to the 60's.
We were manufacturing more, were were more productive and we wanted for less.
I think most now, think that we are somewhat invincible, how foolish we are.
All we do now, is take everything we have, for granted.

I think West Australia's natural resources wil keep us in shape......god help the rest of you