 | The Bullroarer - Sunday 21 September 2008 | The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand | The Bullroarer - Wednesday 24 September 2008 |  |
11 comments on Solving Climate Change without Pain
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
| Show without comments | PDF version
11 comments on Solving Climate Change without Pain
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
| Show without comments | PDF version
User login
Contact
- anz at theoildrum dot com
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Archives
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
GAIA Host Collective
Termoil- With regard to the super funds - I suspect that a lot of them have been investing in some very questionable areas.Now that TSHHF we are going to see a lot of very pissed off people when they realize that their fund is not only not making them money but their principal is disappearing as well.
The current privately operated super schemes are a Hawke/Keating invention - the sort of rubbish one would expect from a Tory government - Tweedle Dee,Tweedle Dum,Tweedle Dumber.
In the first place,a single national super scheme should have been set up and been required to invest in Australian industry and infrastructure.It is not too late for that to happen.That wouldn't please the financial community of course but,what the f'ing hell do we owe them anyway.
I am not a socialist by any means but it seems to me that when natural monopolies are privatized (eg Telstra)and vital infrastructure is sold off to merchant banks then the Australian community is being set up for a monumental ripoff.At least with government ownership there is some chance of accountability through the parliament.
To recap what I said in the previous post - We do not need fancy accounting schemes with their associated hangers on.We do not need complicated carbon trading schemes with all their loopholes and opportunity for ripoffs.We need a public recognition by all goverments that they are going to have to act very promtly in a targeted way to turn Australia from an environmental basket case into something resembling a nation with a future.And none of this is dependent on what China or the USA or whoever are doing.We also need to QUIT right now exporting our manufacturing jobs overseas.If this means protection then so be it.Australia comes first and last for Australians.If we don't look after ourselves then nobody else will and the world is not going to get any more friendly.
End of pissed off rant.
Can't support you on the natioanl monopolized super sorry. If there is one group of people I trust less than the bankers with my money it's the politicians. besides that if you really want to you can set up a self managed fund and then invest it in whatever you like, renewables or whatever.
As far as manufacturing jobs goes, they are antithetical to a low energy post consumer society. Mass manufacturing is a never ending chore to squeeze out more units of production at ever decreasing costs and then selling the goods cheaper than you did yesterday to tak up the expanded volume. It has a limited life anyway. Waht we do need to start doing is training everyone to have a journeyman trade and to own their own tools of trade and not be dependent on a large employer to have full control over their fate. I know it must sound like paradise for some manufacturing nobs to stand at a machine all day and press the red button when the green light goes on, only to return to his castle each night to be enthralled by the magic plasma mirror on the wall, rinse, and repeat ad infinitum. But most of waht is manufactured these days is unecessary crap that used to be produced in industrious homes in quantities no greater than waht is truly required. How many varities of shampoo do we really need? Why do I need a choice of 75 different biros that take up 6 metres of air conditioned shelf space at Officeworks? No manufacturing generally is no panacae unless there is a purpose to it.
I have argued that Australians should have three areas of technical engineering endevour that we should concentrate on and forget everything else. They are long distance transport systems, long distance communications and energy harvesting and distribution. (Water could be another area that might make my list but I'm pissed off with what I see happening there at the moment with Brumby and his band of thieves from Melbourne, raiding the Goulburn River. Another reason I don't trust politicians.) Within those three areas are some pretty big opportunites for the engineering community to get stuck into ut it requires focused leadership from governemtn and business to seize those opportunities.