kporte

Doesn't cost 500 quid for an ex army blanket!

JackTheLad

Sorry I edited my above post. What do you think of that theory?

JTL

slapphead_otool

I used to have this very simplistic theory that a country is either:

• Poor but full of rich people
• Rich but full of poor people.

Marxism stuffed the theory, by managing to produce poor countries full of even poorer citizens, but to some extent the theory still holds true.

China right now is a rich country full of poor people. In theory if the people become affluent they will demand a lifestyle that will reduce the wealth of the country. Overseas holidays, taking wealth back out of the country, cars, with overseas oil taking away money. That sort of thing.

The problem is China is a new phenomenon. In the past there has been trade between nations. Americans bought German cars, Germans bought Japanese stereos, and Japanese bought American jeans. A trade merry go round.

China isn’t like that. Because it is the first true global economy nation, It makes just about everything.

German car? The bloody thing is made in China.
Japanese stereo? Chinese made.
Levi jeans? Yep – made in China.

So the newly affluent Chinese aren’t going to reinvest in the wealth of the deposed nations. They are going to buy local goods.

This isn’t something economists thought of when all this open tariff trade started.

What will happen is – we will hit the skids, and they will have a bloody good lifestyle. When the manufacturing price goes up THEY will increase pro rata and the good will remain in sync with their earnings. But to us the price will skyrocket. Of course we will then start to rebuild our manufacturing base, but it will have to be cheaper than China, so they will be the big rich nation.

slapphead_otool

You paid $500 for one?

Twice I could have had one for nothing, and didn’t take up the offer.

Grandfather was in the Black Watch. As a kid I remember his kilt hanging behind a door in the junk room of his house. One day he asked me if I wanted it. I said no. Apparently he threw it out that day.

Years later I was in a regiment that had pipes and drums. As 2IC of the support company (to which the band was a part) I had the right to wear a kilt, and the QMS told me to go and get one out of the pile in the stores. I never bothered.

I regret both, but naturally regret my Grandfathers the most.

slapphead_otool

The 10% tax increase comment was based upon this:

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8521587.stm

Tax receipts dropped 11.8% compared with January last year, when the government was able to repay £5.3bn.

Hence my comment about needing to lift taxation by 10%.

kevin747

No bitterness. I had a house to return to in a lovely part of Scotland. I got to do a fair comparison. I found Australia very inferior to the UK at its best.
I do miss a couple of things, but found it second rate.
It's only my opinion-I find too many to be deluded.

creepycrawley

I think Australia is often quite scruffy looking & run down (people from 'modern' Perth always contest this - clearly have never been anywhere else) - certainly unless you are in a Westfield complex in Victoria you are likely to be in a very old and tatty shop. It's very clear that an awful lot of buildings have had literally NO money spent on them since 1956.

The medicare system is not that great and prescriptions are expensive here - as someone with a chronic condition I know. A lot of great treatments aren't even available here because the low population and government bureacracy means that drugs companies simply don't bother with a lot of stuff here. I have that from a healthcare professional, by the way.

The beaches where I am are okay but nothing spectacular - and that's meant to be one of Australia's big bonuses.

Melbourne and it's suburbs are nothing amazing - just another urban area. Fail to see why living here is better than living in Bath or York.

Each to their unfathomable own, I guess.

ABCDiamond

Absolutely....

iamthecreaturefromuranus

A more valid comparison would surely be something like Birmingham or Glasgow?

creepycrawley

Didn't want to go too far as the Aussie lovers can't cope when you even hint that you might think that Australia is slightly overrated, let alone when you come out and say ''it's no better than Birmingham''.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

For God sake don't say that... there would be a mad rush to the oxygen cylinders to cope with a mass attack of hyperventilation

slapphead_otool

I think Melbourne and Birmingham is a pretty fair comparison city for city.

Until you look at the financial state of the country each city resides in.

Until the tide goes out you don’t know who is wearing underwear.

creepycrawley

I love the way that the UK bashers just move from one thing to another depending on what seems to befit the moment.

It might be the EU one month, then we can move on to immigration being the big evil when we get bored of the EU thing, afterwards we can progress onto the economy when that's the issue of the moment and then recycle them forever more, one at a time. It's great!

I wonder which one of the old chestnuts it will be next for slapphead a tool, doomandgloom and friends? High population, perhaps? Or will they just go for the perennial favourite the weather?

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Arrrrghhhh.. my eyes !!

I've just had a vision of hundreds of naked, pasty, Brummies down at
Weston-super-Mare.

slapphead_otool

Mate, fair is fair.

you think Melbourne is run down and the shops have had no money spent on them. That’s called wise spending. It’s the opposite to the UK, where they are living on the lamb, And borrowing to do so.

Someone is going to have to pay that debt. When they do, that shiny shop doesnt look quite so good.