By Viv Forbes
In order to kill Corona-wasps in the ceiling, politicians have knocked our economic house down. Now they dream of rebuilding the house by driving at full speed into the borrow-and-spend swamp.
National Cabinet will soon find that Australia-after-Corona can’t afford a bloated public service, an overmanned and overpaid academia, throngs of able-bodied people on long-term welfare, too many tax-exempt foundations, endless donations to worthless UN fiefdoms and talk-fests, and a huge import bill to pay for all the things we once made here.
Nor can we afford all the resources being wasted on dysfunctional submarines designed in Canberra, power systems mandated by the UN, Snowy 2 Green elephants, climate alarmism, emissions targets and green energy molly-coddling.
We must re-build economic muscle not flab.
Start with a couple of clean, modern reliable coal-fired power stations. This cheap reliable electricity may restart some defunct processing and manufacturing industries. Then build our submarines as they were designed – nuclear powered.
Already there are no surpluses to spend on subsidising every struggling consumer and failing business. And a tidal wave of borrow-and-spend will just destroy the currency.
As in post-war Germany, recovery can only come if governments slash taxes, repeal useless red and green tape, remove all barriers to new dams, railways, roads, power stations, mines and exploration, and encourage science and engineering education. They must doze the road blocks and then keep out of the way.
Since the days of the First Fleet, Australia has relied on our great primary industries – farming, mining, forestry and fishing. The pioneers started exporting wool, hides, tallow and timber; then came the gold rushes and great finds of silver, copper, lead-zinc and tin; our meat, cereals, sugar, butter and eggs fed allied soldiers through two world wars; and a bonanza of coal, oil, gas, iron and aluminium financed the baby boomers and the extravagant politicians of that era. When mining had a recession, farmers came to the rescue and vice versa. They also helped finance a continent of roads, railways, power stations, and dams and provided productive jobs for a growing population and a flood of migrants.
If they were not so hampered by taxes, regulations and employment barriers, our farmers, foresters, fishers, engineers, explorers, miners, metallurgists, tradesmen and workers can pull us out of this hole too. They could even rebuild some of the great secondary industries lost because of our uncompetitive electricity and overheads.
Lessons from the West German Economic Miracle:
https://saltbushclub.com/2020/04/21/west-german-miracle-lessons/
“Don’t let this crisis go to waste.” UN Spokesman sees Corona economic destruction as a blueprint for the Climate Emergency:
https://www.climatedepot.com/2020/04/21/fantastic-for-the-climate-activists-see-coronavirus-lockdowns-as-dress-rehearsal-for-climate-emergency-special-report/
PDF version: https://saltbushclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/muscle-not-flab.pdf [402 KB]
Not with the politicians of all persuasions aligned with United Nations, WHO, communist greens and of course China. It beggars belief on how these politicians have blinkered vision and some conservatives have fallen for the ideologies of the new world order; and there’s Greta ! How dare you…….We need a revolution, return all our industries back from especially china and stop the sell off……
All true, Viv!
An additional vital aspect would be replacing the current horrendous taxation system. I don’t mean tweaking; I mean total replacement. I spent years restructuring government departments and major corporations in NZ. One lesson I learnt was that when an organisation is broken, as the Australian system of government is, the last thing you want to do is try to fix the problems that arose from the mess. The only way is to stop and start again; understand the nature of the issue, search the world for options, then design a new structure with an underpinning set of principles, values and a high-level strategy that is suited to the future – not the past. I was so fed up with the Australian government I wrote a report some 10 years ago on how to restructure it – http://better-management.org/government-silent-majority/ . Whilst I would change some parts of the report now, including the taxation system I proposed then (my preference now would be a financial transaction tax to replace all other taxes), the rest provides a sound foundation. Problem is, no existing politicians would have the guts to drive this approach. So, yes, we need a new set of brave thinking politicians who are not tied to the establishment. But your proposals would be a very good start.
The response of the government to the pandemic is the very reason why your outline of what is needed will never be attempted, let alone achieved.
We are now condemned to eternal federal government debt exceeding 1 trillion dollars. It will never be repaid but will continue to grow even faster than before when Frydenberg hid behind the cloak of liberalism.
The method that will be used to “rebuild” will be to keep growing the bureaucracy, keep people on welfare and steal more from the lifters to support the leaners.
I have lost all confidence in government. It is instructive to note just how far to the left both major parties have lurched when Mark Latham is now considered to be “right wing”.
God help us.