Buying your own produce and manufactures

Should Australians buy Australian-grown produce? The answer has been a loud No, if it is not the cheapest or the nicest looking. Now farmers seek to sell their floods-damaged stock and co-ops try to take over foreign owned industries. For the sake of their survival, we are being asked to buy Australian products.

The more Australian jobs there are, the more money there is to buy what we ourselves produce or do.

The more Australian industries are supported by Australians, the more chance they have to thrive and export.  If you have a job, support the jobs of others.

The more Australian products are exported, the less we must import, because the cheaper Australian goods can be on the Australian market, with greater turnover.

The less we import, the less we must depend upon exporting our heritage without leaving any for our children – that is, the less we must exporting all the minerals in the ground, that others may use them to make the goods that we do not make ourselves.

The Western debt-ridden nations have by and large managed to get by, but now there are signs that the lenders may seek their money back, as in Ireland. This debt is largely not government debt, but the results of the imbalance of exports and imports, and it is Western nations such as the United States and Australia that can find their featherless chickens don’t come home to roost. The interest on their debt alone is hard to pay annually – it piles up.

The success of Australian products depend upon the actions of manufacturers, retailers, the media and consumers as well as governments.

Self-harm

Governments have been making taxes and imposts on Australian products and manufacturers, but not on imports or overseas makers.  Tariffs are down to 5% or less, whereas we export to countries with tariffs of 20% or more.

Manufacturers and producers let all Australians down, when they do not give of their best but seek to get away with scams and as high prices as possible, as in the recent government embarrassments of some home insulation and school buildings programs.

Retailers and the media that usually give all their publicity and prominent space to overseas owners and products also let all Australians down.  More people are unable to buy Australian-owned products even when they wish to. Supermarkets have specials which are foreign-made. They do not have Australian specials.   An example is confectionary at Christmas-time, when fine Australian chocolates are neglected so that everyone buys fine imported chocolates. Over the last forty years I have seen excellent companies disappear – either bought up by multinationals and their products made overseas or not at all, or excellent products relegated to corners of shops, and dropped out of sight – and out of existence. An example is the best lawnmower for the average lawn, the Flymo model H33.  I can run this manual mower, Australian-made over twenty years ago, over my lawn in five minutes although I am 83 and have had a stroke, while my neighbors haul heavy power-motors out of the shed and get them going – which I could not do.  Everyone  automatically thinks power-mowers are better for pocket-handkerchief size lawns!  But even the Australian-made power Victor is rivalled by imports.  My old manual lawn-mower saves fuel, money to buy, money to run, noise, and carbon emissions – as well as being durable, mendable and light exercise for everyone including children. But Bunnings has brummy later manual- models on sale, mostly imported, so that people buy power-models. The old Australian-made Electrolux vacuum-cleaners never needed a bag-change. Now we have imported cleaners which can be good but need bag-changes, or are brummy if they don’t.

The magazine ‘Choice’ rarely lists ‘Australian-made’ as an advantage, and indeed, does not often include these products in its choices tested.

As far as I know, no small efficient car is made in Australia, but the car industry struggles on with government support making large cars.

More jobs kept in Australia are desirable for making possible increasing turnover in manufactures and produce. This is better than the present dangerous policy of increasing population to increase wealth. Even before the natural disasters of winds and floods, 1,000 Australian family farm businesses were disappearing annually, another source of our diminishing ‘useful jobs’. Australian manufactures could mean the revival of Port Kembla steel-works.

Imports bring profits to importers, middlemen and financial dealers. But imports cost more in peak-oil, reducing resources, and more carbon emissions than what can be made at home.

It is in our own best interests to support our own when we can. The height of the Australian dollar may mean we pay a little more, but it is money that will circulate back to us.

Not only in buying flood-affected produce, but in supporting Australian enterprise and products in the work of recovery after floods and cyclones.  Rebuilding and replacement will need an enormous amount of manufactures. We cannot make everything; few countries can.

But for future equilibrium, countries will have to balance imports and exports, and where they can, make their own. Regional currencies that complement but do not mesh with national currencies can help provide the capital and should be trialed.

< http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/ecopol.htm

http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/bank/idea.php?ideaId=904

http://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap17.htm >

The warning of the Titanic

The interest in the centenary of the Titanic is timely.  We are on a Titanic ourselves.  The lights shine, our luxuries are beyond previous generations’ imaginations, we believe ourselves safe because technology and science protect us, and the rich and poor are segregated.  The iceberg and darkness loom.

The social value of middle-aged spread

 

My theory about the middle-aged spread (10 March, p 48) is that it has a world-wide social purpose, in imparting gravitas and importance to the wise elders and warm cuddliness to grandparents for the grandchildren.  The size of the middle-aged is important to society. Our modern age forgets this because it emphasises youth and slimness.

 

Articles on political and social issues

 

The future of fire in Australia Environment – 28/02/2012 – 14 comments

Rapid obsolescence as a form of waste Economics – 3/02/2012 – 6 comments

The effects of violent video games Media – 19/01/2012 – 7 comments

The curse of the McMansion Economics – 24/11/2011 – 7 comments

Free trade and fair trade September 2011 Feature – 19/09/2011 – 11 comments

Bias on ABC Radio National Media – 6/09/2011 – 38 comments

Climate change at Radio National Media – 12/08/2011 – 39 comments

Ageing populations need not be disastrous for Western governments Society – 27/07/2011 – 29 comments

Our age of paradoxes Society – 31/05/2011 – 5 comments

The Arabian Nights and Muslim beliefs and practices Religion & Spirituality – 4/05/2011

How puny are you? Environment – 8/04/2011 – 19 comments

Unnecessary costs of the elderly Society – 31/03/2011 – 13 comments

Australian consumers, and our floods and cyclones Economics – 9/02/2011

Challenges and responses to disasters Nation Building – 19/01/2011 – 1 comment

Spare that tree: the arithmetic of supply and demand Environment – 23/12/2010 – 5 comments

Nothing over a million dollars Society – 14/12/2010 – 37 comments

The cost of elections Domestic Politics – 12/10/2010 – 5 comments

Don’t waste the Murray River! Environment – 1/07/2010 – 3 comments

Ballyhoo and balloons: political elections Domestic Politics – 23/02/2010 – 3 comments

We’ve never had it so good Society – 9/02/2010 – 7 comments

What a difference a lot of humans make Society – 21/01/2010 – 6 comments

Combatting prejudice: African Australian refugee youth Society – 19/08/2009 – 6 comments

The Internet at home – a member of the family August 2009 Feature – 5/08/2009

A stitch in time … Society – 25/06/2009 – 9 comments

Damage control – a greater problem than climate change Environment – 14/05/2009 – 34 comments

Carbon trading has problems Environment – 5/03/2009 – 7 comments

Housing for our changing climates Environment – 23/02/2009 – 17 comments

ABC TV for children Media – 22/12/2008 – 4 comments

Rupert Murdoch on education for the disadvantaged Education – 4/12/2008 – 1 comment

Manufacturing, jobs and low technology Science & Technology – 9/10/2008 – 12 comments

Language and literacy Education – 8/09/2008 – 2 comments

Could the Olympic Games become fair sport? Sport – 27/08/2008 – 7 comments

An audit for educational disadvantage Education – 15/08/2008 – 9 comments

Cardinal Pell’s babies – quantity or quality Society – 31/07/2008 – 18 comments

Marriages for the modern world Society – 16/07/2008 – 7 comments

Who owns your sewage? Environment – 3/07/2008 – 8 comments

The case for an Australian-made small second car Environment – 5/06/2008 – 29 comments

Rubbishing on about plastic bags Environment – 30/04/2008 – 12 comments

An ambit claim for the Ruddfest 2020 March 2008 Feature – 11/03/2008 – 2 comments

Revolutionary change in education February 2008 Feature – 20/02/2008 – 10 comments

Cutting waste – saving the planet without destroying economies Environment – 7/02/2008 – 19 comments

Australian citizenship and human rights Law & Liberties – 17/01/2008 – 12 comments

Population is not a front page issue Environment – 17/12/2007 – 43 comments

Improving politicians’ behaviour Domestic Politics – 5/12/2007 – 11 comments

The big election myth – is the economy strong? Economics – 24/10/2007 – 62 comments

Compensation as a right? Health – 8/10/2007 – 10 comments

Differences between religions are seen as differences in theology and religious practices. People of different faiths come to argue about these differences and similarities, in order to reach some unity, or to emphasise their own singularity.

However, the basic difference between them is not discussed.  That is, people on the whole believe what their family believes.  Then their arguments are to support what they have been taught.  Even humanists and atheists are part of this.  And in discussing religion they forget this.  It would be a great advance in thinking if we constantly recollected it.

It would make a great difference in the world’s thinking and clarify conflicts if a person’s religion was stated in terms of his family.  If he held the religion of his family, then he would be called Family-Christian, Family-Muslin, Family-Buddhist, Family-Agnostic, Family-Atheist or whatever.  If he had converted to some other religion or none, he would be called Convert-Christian, Convert-Humanist, or Convert-Muslim, or whatever.  Children at school would of course be called Family-(whatever) and not treated as tho they had thought things out themselves.

Often the Family-Religion is that of the nation also, or a religion derives its status or qualities from national pride.

Top dogs like to be top dog in religion too, and satraps follow suit. National religions include British Israelite (beards and more like lost ten tribes than Mormon pairs in suits).  If US had not trumped Brits as top dog, the world might now be taking to British Israelites rather than Mormons proselytising across the world. Nazis invented their own semi-Wagnerian Aryan religion which they dated way way back.  Romans liked to have deep classical roots too, c.f Virgil’s Aeneid, which linked them with Homer’s Troy.

And of course the C of E is deeply a part of the English nation, and Judaism part of the Jewish people. Islam is spreading partly as anti-Americanism.

Think about it.

Victorian Humanist  March 2012 p 6

Family-Religion and Convert-Religion

Differences between religions are seen as differences in theology and religious practices. People of different faiths come to argue about these differences and similarities, in order to reach some unity, or to emphasise their own singularity.

 

However, the basic difference between them is not discussed.  That is, people on the whole believe what their family believes.  Then their arguments are to support what they have been taught.  Even humanists and atheists are part of this.  And in discussing religion they forget this.  It would be a great advance in thinking if we constantly recollected it.

 

It would make a great difference in the world’s thinking and clarify conflicts if a person’s religion was stated in terms of his family.  If he held the religion of his family, then he would be called Family-Christian, Family-Muslin, Family-Buddhist, Family-Agnostic, Family-Atheist or whatever.  If he had converted to some other religion or none, he would be called Convert-Christian, Convert-Humanist, or Convert-Muslim, or whatever.  Childlren at school would of course be called Family-(whatever) and not treated as tho they had thought things out themselves.

 

Often the Family-Religion is that of the nation also, or a religion derives its status or qualities from national pride.

Top dogs like to be top dog in religion too, and satraps follow suit. National religions include British Israelite (beards and more like lost ten tribes than Mormon pairs in suits).  If US had not trumped Brits as top dog, the world might now be taking to British Israelites rather than Mormons proselytising across the world. Nazis invented their own semi-Wagnerian Aryan religion which they dated way way back.  Romans liked to have deep classical roots too, c.f Virgil’s Aeneid, which linked them with Homer’s Troy.

And of course the C of E is deeply a part of the English nation, and Judaism part of the Jewish people. Islam is spreading partly as anti-Americanism.

 

Think about it.

Victorian Humanist  March 2012 p 6

Every bike can be one less car on the road

 

Give each bike the same road space as a small car. This should be taught to every learner – and every road user. For fewer cars on the road, encourage bikes.

Drivers should welcome bikes on the road, because each one means fewer cars competing for parking space and less crowded traffic.

 Courtesy is for all drivers and cyclists.  The discourteous and thoughtless help fill the hospitals – but  drivers are more responsible than the cyclists.

Rapid obsolescence as a form of waste

Rapid obsolescence as a form of waste

I have a fantasy that Stonehenge is all that remains today of an electronic civilisation.  The rest is lost.

Half of all my life’s work is lost on obsolete technology – three forms of tape recording, Deskmate word processing, Amiga animation, floppies, Betacam, microfiche, old editions of modern programs. . All that remains is what I put on paper.  And today schools are throwing out books and relying on electronic technology!

Today I want to put irreplaceable tape recordings of oral history onto CDs or DVDs, but cannot find the technology to do so.

Putting everything into paper archives is unsatisfactory unless we have a means of finding material.  There is much dross.

We need the equivalent of a Rosetta stone for modern knowledge and culture.

Planned obsolescence in electronic technology makes the situation worse. What is good is thrown out as well as what is passe.

Planned Obsolescence and Climate Change

 

Too many products these days are created and bought with the expectation that they’ll soon be replaced. The consequences are serious.

‘Sometime very soon, we need to start talking about an economy that improves quality of life while reducing the quantity of material resources it devours and excretes,’ That time is now.

My lovely daughter gave me an expensive Olympus digital camera in 2003. I enjoyed using it occasionally. Now, less than four years later, it must be thrown away plus its box of bits and brochures because the camera’s memory card is obsolete. So says the Olympus shop, charging $60 for cleaning the camera before telling us the card cannot be replaced: ‘Try ringing around shops or eBay.’

We live in an era of planned obsolescence.

Planned obsolescence is a decision on the part of a manufacturer to design products to become unusable quickly. This stimulates marketplace demand because customers must buy again, sooner than they would if the product lasted longer. It happens with cars, light bulbs, software, clothing and buildings.

Our GDP figures prove that this works. There is growth in the economy when people are forced to keep buying replacements. But it is false growth in view of its environmental consequences, and it is false economics because it diverts customer buying power from more sustainable ways of improving our quality of life.

Planned obsolescence increases pollution and environmentally damaging emissions through the production of goods that would not otherwise need to be created. It exacerbates the problems of landfill and waste disposal, because most obsolescing products are not designed to be recyclable. It also wastes materials and workers’ lives that could be spent more profitably and more usefully.

It is difficult if not impossible to find replacement parts for electronic goods even a few years old. Cheap printers may evolve rapidly as technology improves, but cartridge availability for older models is liable to disappear. ‘No more parts made. You’ll have to buy a new printer,’ they say.

And it’s not just the hardware that becomes obsolete. Microsoft’s new Vista operating system, for example, is rumoured to force users to abandon old software and computers and buy new ones, even more than already happens.

This is not to say that continued advances in products aren’t essential despite improvements in technology, we still do not have ideal refrigerators, cars, houses, or almost anything. We still need new inventions and breakthroughs to make lives better.

But customers deserve some idea of how long a product is expected to be repairable or parts available.

A number of factors make this difficult. Companies that guarantee availability and long-term repairability may be located overseas; they may go out of business, or evade responsibility by metamorphosing into another business name. Liability may discourage companies from making too many promises although many products do have guarantees over 10 years, with repair and replacement warranties.

It would be good if products with planned or inbuilt obsolescence could be taxed or otherwise penalised, but this may be too invidious to be possible.

Customer power and public boycotting is probably the strongest and simplest weapon. More customer information about durability, mendability, updateability and availability of parts should be available and sufficiently publicised. (Note that I use the word ‘customers’ and not ‘consumers’ horrible word with destructive implications.)

At present, advertising goes for what is proven to work which is emotional and aesthetic appeal and minimum practical information about a product. Educators today boast that they train students in ‘multiliteracy.’ A major literacy needed by students is purchasing-savvy.

Goods on sale now bear stars for their expected energy and water efficiency, use-by-dates, and logos indicating whether they were made in Australia or by an Australian-owned company. Dangerous products bear warnings.

Perhaps optional logos could carry information about expected durability, mendability, updateability and availability of parts. A bright little rectangle with a time estimate inside it say, ’10 years.’ How long should a new house last before it needs to be pulled down? Fifteen years, one builder told me. Fifty years might be fairer, even if we expect vast changes in the way houses are built over the next few years. A hundred years for large, solid, public buildings seems fair.

If anyone jibs that without planned obsolescence jobs will disappear and capitalism won’t work properly, let us remember that our present economic system is not divinely ordained or necessarily static. We created it. We can improve it to prosper without planned waste.

About half of all production is wasted at some stage or another. Cutting the production of almost-instant waste is a faster and more efficient way of reducing carbon emissions than carbon trading, which assumes emissions can continue as before so long as we plant trees (while other forests are felled).

Far too many jobs are invested in producing waste. The alternative approach is that if everything that needed to be done was being done, there would be no unemployment.

We have to start to take this seriously, because planned obsolescence helps to promote the unplanned obsolescence of us and our planet.

 

See also Planned obsolescence and climate change New Matilda. 143. 23 May. 2007 http://www.newmatilda.com/home/articledetailmagazine.asp?ArticleID=2256&CategoryID=202

One way to reduce the road toll

For a trial period, all hospitals in a region could record and report all non-fatal admissions for car accidents.  No detail is required. The findings are publicised by the media.

Many horrendous traffic accidents are due to dare-devils and suicides, who do not fear death.  Therefore the present reporting of ‘road toll statistics’ as deaths only does not deter them.

They would take more care if they realised that mutilation or paralysis was (four?) times more likely than a quick death.

It would also make a difference if one road toll report added to, say, nine deaths, say 15 paraplegics, 12 facial injuries, 16 broken bones, 13 chest injuries . . .    This one report could be reported everywhere.

Horrific videos tend to excite the accident-prone, not warn them off. They are like horror-films.

An Australian car industry

An Australian car industry is essential as insurance for the future – as Essington Lewis saved the steel industry before World War II.

But it can only survive if Australians buy Australian cars.

What sort would they buy?

 

If all our two‑car homes had one of their cars a small car for single-­person trips, such as commuting or shopping,many problems would be solved ‑ such as waste of petrol, carbon emissions, traffic congestion and parking. It could be a two-seater, the first car many young people could afford.

Drivers would also be more careful of cyclists – Sixty per cent of drivers have big cars thinking they are safer in our traffic, and so they make the problem worse.

This cheap car should be able to be designed and tooled quickly