Dana factory shut down in western sydney

[Falc&Send]

the bw diffs have always been shit from what i can tell, everyone complains on the ba falcoons, hell we were complaining in r31 days when they were noisy because they couldn't shim the correctly or whatever the issues were.

holden have always had trouble with them making weird noises and shit.

i don't reckon it's a bad thing that they are now fucked off for good?

BW just make the diffs to Holden/Ford specification and price, don't they? They could probably make a diff that didn't have excessive backlash etc but that would cost twice as much and Folden don't want to pay that.

[Falc&Send]

In the long-term you cannot have cheap consumer goods and highly-paid, unskilled workers.

It takes skill of sorts to do any job. Lets see an office worker put together a TV (or a Commodore). Bet he/she couldn't until they had heaps of training and even then they might not be able to do it properly. Some people are good working with their hands and some people are good working with their minds. I've never understood why clerical jobs pay more than manual labour jobs (most anyway, building trades seem to be the exception).

[oldcorollas]

you've done some of those jobs? circuit board here, screw there, aint exactly rocket surgery and farkin repetitive... but to get paid $30 an hour to do it plus overtime.... easy as....

easy.. secretarys have boobs...

[Beavis]

It takes skill of sorts to do any job. Lets see an office worker put together a TV (or a Commodore). Bet he/she couldn't until they had heaps of training and even then they might not be able to do it properly. Some people are good working with their hands and some people are good working with their minds. I've never understood why clerical jobs pay more than manual labour jobs (most anyway, building trades seem to be the exception).

Yeah, I agree, but the way economists use the words skilled/unskilled is different to what you and I think.

[Dave]

It takes skill of sorts to do any job. Lets see an office worker put together a TV (or a Commodore). Bet he/she couldn't until they had heaps of training and even then they might not be able to do it properly. Some people are good working with their hands and some people are good working with their minds. I've never understood why clerical jobs pay more than manual labour jobs (most anyway, building trades seem to be the exception).

skilled = degree or apprenticeship

unskilled = any job where you are trained on the job

skilled jobs pay more because of scarcity, who would go and do 3 years + of uni or an apprenticeship without getting paid more.

Also, most skilled labour could do unskilled jobs but not vice versa

[Captain_Slow]

Yeah, this is what I have posted a few times in the past. The "price" of cheaper goods domestically is that, almost certainly, some of your labor will move offshore. You can't have 42" $500 LCD TVs for sale at Harvey Norman's one hand but have them be built by some guy in Maroochydore making $30/hr. In the long-term you cannot have cheap consumer goods and highly-paid, unskilled workers.

Yep. And the reality of it is that people seem to have decided that they are comfortable with this and are happy to see it go on. Much as people complain when companies move overseas, they'd complain a lot more if their $500 TVs suddenly shot up to $2k because the plant moved to Maroochydore and they wouldn't buy them (in much the same way that they didn't buy $23k Australian made Corollas when they could get Japanese hatchbacks for $20k not that long ago).

[Ze]

What we need to do stop exporting raw materials , and instead do the processing/manufacturing ourselves.

If the world needs the goods they'll pay the price. Otherwise when our raw materials run out we'll be fucked.

Heck Japan has more forest than us but we are still exporting old growth forests to them for wood chips / paper etc.

When it comes to carbon tax , I've always thought it's fucking stupid not to to tax it at the raw material level.

The fact is we need to do something about our import/export imbalance otherwise we'll just get more and more into debt. I dunno bout you but eventually the foreigners are going to call in their loans. We want to be the ones with the strength otherwise we are going to be fucked.

Of course a reasonable policy simply won't work because it doesn't pander to the short term interests.

Then of course we've got the short term disposable goods....Companies don't want to make a quality product that lasts or can be repaired, they want you buy lower quality products , and then buy another one when it dies... Even though in the long run it's cheaper for the better quality product.

[Dave]

you're an idiot

[Captain_Slow]

What we need to do stop exporting raw materials , and instead do the processing/manufacturing ourselves.

Let me make sure I've understood this - we stop exporting raw materials, and instead use those raw materials to make stuff for export?

Wouldn't that just leave us with (a) our overseas customers buying their raw materials elsewhere and (b) Australia making lots of stuff that costs more than other countries can make it for, leading to no customers?

[jampac]

What we need to do stop exporting raw materials , and instead do the processing/manufacturing ourselves.

Why we would build goods when there is 1.3 billion Chinese available compared to 22 million here who'll work for next to nothing 7 days a week, 12-16 hours a day making shit that sells for next to nothing. Wake up man, it's never ever going to happen.

Also there is other raw material suppliers in the world. Vale out of Brazil is the no1 mining company in the world. Granted Australia does have the no2 and no3.

The profit margin on selling raw materials is also way way higher than making goods and selling them back on the market (especially in the current environment). Have a look at BHPs annual profit.

Countries are always going to need raw materials, countries are not always going to need ipods, they do eventually move to other goods. What i've seen Australia really excel in is the development of IP and patents. That combined with selling raw materials is where it's going, not making plastic figurines for macdonalds by the million for worldwide market, let the chinese do that.

[jampac]

If the world needs the goods they'll pay the price. Otherwise when our raw materials run out we'll be fucked.

You might want to read up on the actual proven reserves of raw materials Australia has. It's no peak oil. Put it this way, your childrens, childrens, childrens, childrens, childrens, childrens, childrens, childrens, childrens, childrens, childrens well be still living off this.

[jampac]

The fact is we need to do something about our import/export imbalance otherwise we'll just get more and more into debt. I dunno bout you but eventually the foreigners are going to call in their loans. We want to be the ones with the strength otherwise we are going to be fucked.

Call in their loans, wtf, have you been reading LaRouche? If you have, turn it off right now, the guy is a convicted criminal (15 years for mail fraud and tax violations).

Have a look around at debt ratios of countries around the world. You'll be surprised, Australia isn't that bad. You probably remember the black trucks the libs use to drive around in the early 90's with how much debt labor put Australia in (was a big fucken number). There are far far worst countries out there. Have a look at the euro zone countries. Some fucked up credit ratings in there. Now have a look at Australias credit rating, looks like the best you can get. Now sit down and shut the fuck up.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news...0513-b36m.html

[Captain_Slow]

Speaking of LaRouche, for some reason my work email address has ended up on the local LaRouche nutters' mailing list! I would unsubscribe, but the frothing at the mouth conspiracy theories about the global banking cartel etc are just too entertaining

[Dave]

I can't believe you're responding to the moron.

[TonyJZX]

that's straight from the Pauline Hanson School of Economics (at Bond University on the Gold Coast)