I don’t wear Blundstones. The only boots I have are Doc Martens and Julius Marlow. I don’t mind Bundy rum though.
From ABC: It markets itself as being “Australian for boot”, but it won’t be soon. The iconic Tasmanian bootmaker, Blundstone, says it can’t compete with cheap imports, so it’s moving its manufacturing operations to Asia. Three hundred and fifty people will lose their jobs at its factories in Hobart and Auckland.
As usual, the rednecks are making an undue fuss about the whole issue just like they did about Vegemite, Qantas and all the other things that got “sold out”. You could imagine the likes of Sam Kekovich getting multiple cardiac arrests all across Australia.
I think John Howard has done a very commendable job trying to transform this pathetic, backward, inefficient, socialist, welfare economy of Australia to something a tad more free and modern, right under the noses of his ever whinging battlers. WorkChoices was a courageous change that would help the economy immensely. The next hurdle to cross should be the welfare system that punishes hard working people, and rewards beer swilling, crummidore driving, incessantly complaining dole bludgers.
Globalisation is not something that any country could stop. Australia cannot compete against the cheap labour and economies of scale in China and India. I don’t understand what these whiners expect the government to do. They cannot stop imports from other countries and make this a closed economy. That would turn Australia into something like North Korea. If Blundstone doesn’t move its production to Asia, it would not be able to compete with cheap quality imports and the workers would lose their jobs when the company goes bankrupt.
Australia is the biggest provider of education to hundreds of thousands of students from all across Asia, many of them from China and India. Millions of tourists visit Australia every year, pouring billions of dollars into the economy. This is where Australia’s economic future lies.
The truth is, most people would care more about value for money and quality rather than petty nationalistic convictions when they buy boots. Almost everyone I know has Asian owned Optus or 3, and only a moronic fuckwit would go for Telstra just because it’s Australian. How many people would choose to fly Qantas to LA when Singapore Airlines would be $500 cheaper (had the government taken off the barriers).
From a libertarian viewpoint, I would support more outsourcing, abolition of protectionist barriers and tariffs, substantially less welfare, less taxes, a comprehensive adoption of the user-pays approach to infrastructure and services and more international trade. Australia has a lot to give to the world, and boots just isn’t one of them. Instead of restricting foreign imports, countries such as China, India and Brazil must be pressured to further liberalise their economies and open them to exports from Australia.
So please shut up all of you ignorant, flag waving, xenophobic, insular bogans. You cannot swim against the tide tsunami even with a cork brimmed hat.
No Comments Yet
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
