Energy Efficiency

Prime Minister Kevin (in 07) Rudd has come out in 2009 what most feared wouldn’t happen, as a failure; but it’s the same for Obama and to a lesser degree Brown (in the UK).

Why mention the leaders of America and England in the same sentence with Rudd and the answer is simple, three blokes who really were good in ‘winning’ their position, but pretty much rely on experts who aren’t really experts in much at all apart from spin-doctoring and employing people who agree with them rather have a alternative point of view.

Leaving aside the doomed solution of supporting a financial system that got us into this mess, it’s the continued borrowing from the future that is the problem.

Keeping it local, Kevin Rudd claims that the Treasury has worked out that any money the federal government borrows today will be paid off within 6 years (provided – no doubt – we vote Kevin in 11) to complete the masterpiece; however (and it’s a big however) the game plan has changed dramatically. We Australians are easy going and somewhat apathetic, but we do recognize the writing on the wall and it says ‘enough is enough’. We who have toiled for wealth and soil can see the negative results of making more than a Quid, that our air is less clear, our water drying up and the great Australian Dream of homeownership is no longer guaranteed for our kids; we’ve seen corporations strive for profitability – to pay big dividends on improving share values – drive about a half a million jobs overseas.

Prices are coming down from artificial highs, shop-keepers, small business and self-employed are reviewing their margins and are prepared to earn less as they pay less, greed may have appeared to be good, but in the end someone has to pay, and the banking industry and their anointed ones (corporations who access preferential rates and conditions) have refused to, so the Buck stopped with the man in the street, but its worth less than a $ these days due to the bankers shenanigans over the preceding 30 years.

So what are the stimuli that governments consider and rally points of patriotic pride, what can be done to bridge the gap between natural ebb and flow of any region ? Different regions have ‘seasonal work’, of a crop or harvesting the sea or sheering or mineral extraction, more demand happens at various times and – as an example – the new terminology ‘food miles’ became a catch phrase for fruit (grapes and oranges) out of season here coming from as far away as America.

War is ‘good’ for governments, patriotism, doing the right thing, helping those out less fortunate and so on; war requires spending (which could go directly to our own people) to buy equipment, munitions even uniforms (unfortunately pretty much all of what we buy is made overseas, boosting another country’s economy, but hey, think of how you’re helping them out…)

Public Works is another good one as it means ‘thousands of jobs’ (you know, like Queensland’s Premier Anna Bligh’s one hour a week’s work equates to a new job); this is where we build a road for future use when pretty much fuel prices (pre or post 8 cents subsidy) is on the decline as people plan trips better. The beneficiaries primarily are corporations who charge outlandish fees for doing the work (because the government promised it) and then make the usual financial donations to the political parties to ‘grease the wheels’ and open doors.

The banks were hitting the wall world-wide, so the government guaranteed them and started injecting funds in non-banks to ‘prevent the banks from totalling monopolizing the market place. This ‘stimulation’ of the banking industry (which was going belly-up) and the fact that the banks held onto the money and started exercised restrictive lending practices that they themselves would never countenance on themselves, showed the government what it was up against. And banks have listed some of their losses, but the rest are still hidden, not to concern the market place (yer right …)

Personal income and spending is trending down, the CPI reflects people holding onto their money longer, so the government decided to give away money to stimulate the retail industry ‘to protect jobs’. Imagine this parallel; you and your partner are at the shops, your partner gets some money off you, buys you a present and gives ti to you in the store and then as you pass through the check-out, you have to pay ! And that my friend is what the government’s stimulus package amounts to; ooh, plus interest please.

Banking deregulation around the world has bankrupted the world and we will never reverse the trend / make back the money. The ripple effect will continue to be felt in every facet of our lives, from taxes, to investment returns, property rates and government services, local, state and federal.

As property values in residential and commercial come down (due to a lack of demand) many businesses and homeowners will have loan balances greater than their property. There is a growing number of foreclosures that even the UCCC can’t protect, given that most small business owners (and also the largest employers in the country) have un-coded loans, so their home is not protected.

Unemployment numbers is a rubbery figure, but Australia has about 10% unemployment which will hit about 12% by the end of 2009 and it doesn’t matter how much Rudd or Swan or the Reserve Bank or Treasury try to talk up the market.

Car sales are down about 40% over the peak of 2007, so job losses in manufacturing both here and overseas and the support industries is biting and car yards don’t need the sales staff they did two years ago.

The pension has been boosted, its just you have to wait another two years to get it (what is the actuarial survival rate of those working from 65 – 67, nearing their 70th birthday ?) and the Rudd government is looking at ways to squander (yes I know they call it invest) Superannuation Funds on public works; but that’s what they said about our pensions and they’ve spent all that money.

Even consumer credit is in decline, as people take a stock of what is happening. We have gone into the negative, Prime Minister believes growth will be that huge that it will go from a negative to a positive of about 4.5% in about two years. I bet it never happens and I would prefer to lose the bet, but the reality is that over-priced everything has come to an end, people are learning to do more with less; priorities are changing and corporate grip and monopoly is slipping. Malcolm Turnball may be opposition leader, but I’m sure he understands far better than Rudd does, the economic hole we will not get out of.

The solution is relatively simple really, forgive all interest on all borrowings to June 30th 2009 and set a ceiling on interest payable on any monies borrowed; have salaries equally tied to real productivity, not inflated prices. If the CPI is 2% then let that be the interest rate, if it’s in the negative, then no interest applies. Set ceilings on margins of all goods and services sold within Australia and with seasonal fluctuations, let business plan reflect access to earnings. Whatever we can sell overseas surplus to our own needs can be sold at the market rate or on contras, to weed out the exploitative middleman.

In research done in England and the EU (European Union) with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of meat moving backwards and forwards across the English Channel in a year, the net result was a gain by the EU of less than about 1,000 tonnes of meat; in other words, all those ‘food miles’ and extra transport costs could have been saved, just keeping local. even in Australia there are stories of truck drivers bringing potatoes to Queensland and then taking a load of Qld potatoes down to Victoria.

Tell your pollie that you want some straight talk and action, that more and more independents are getting in and that change is inevitable or move over.