Adventure Ausrama Blog

Some countries are moving toward other fuels such as coal gas. However, public opinion about it polluting the environment could bring an end to the trend of companies running roughshod over properties belonging to others. The search is driven by potential profit not for any long-term goal. People are complacent. Australia is dependent on fuel from mainly Middle Eastern countries. If a major conflagration occurred there the Australian economy would come to a standstill in a matter of weeks. Rationing would have to be introduced immediately. Health and food would be the main priorities. Distribution would be hit hard as it uses most of the oil imported, apart from private use of motor vehicles. Australia does not keep an oil reserve. Even though some countries have reserves. It would put off the economic hit for a few months. What is shocking is that even dried food in this country would last only nine days. Using solar power for transport is not possible. If such a scenari...

Negotiation between Thailand and the EU for a Free Trade Agreement in isolation from other Asian countries seems odd to say the least. What possible gain could there be for the EU? Yes, Thailand could flood the EU with cheap products thus helping European consumers, but the EU needs more jobs now to lift their economies out of recession. It seems counter-productive. Another thing is Thailand will have to abide by EU rules which are very draconian and arbitrary in some respects. The EU is a bureaucracy out of control. Microsoft had to pay millions of dollars in compensation for not pushing rival search engines enough. This really doesn't make sense, with Google shipping its Chrome only Android. Thailand allows cheap generic drugs to be sold to its citizens. If it wins a Free Trade Agreement this will have to end as medications fall under the umbrella of EU intellectual property rights. Paying more for drugs will reverse all the gains made in Thailand's health system. ...

Why is Australia in such a bad way? The country is exporting at record levels. China is paying up front for these exports. Interest rates are not too high. Remember the Keating days of 14 per cent? We do have a "dual" economy with manufacturing doing it tough due to the high dollar, but Australia never has been a strong exporter of manufactured goods. Retailers are saying people aren't spending. You would think that people can only spend what they earn and no more. However, due to the multiplier effect, according to economic theory, when a person spends a dollar that one dollars turns over about five times. In other words the money supply, the real paper dollars out there, is actually only about a fifth of the money on the books in an economy. So what happens when a consumer saves? Think about it. The money in circulation "shrinks" by four more dollars. This is what is happening in Australia. We all envied Japan in its good years when they had very h...

It fails me the means people will go to in order to maintain something of benefit. The courts have recently made a decision in favor of New Zealand importing apples into Australia. For decades Australian growers have been crying wolf about the danger of diseases from New Zealand apples. This is despite the fact that all requirements asked of New Zealand growers have been met. Now it is claimed that the new antibiotic resistant infection can be spread this way. Fair shake of the sauce bottle mate! This is a silly supposition. There isn't much doubt that superbug infection can occur with people having plastic surgery in Asia. But how do you prevent this by toughening quarantine regulations? It is impossible to stop people travelling. The real danger is consumption of meat injected with antibiotics to improve growth rates. Even with this it will take many years of food intake to detrimentally affect a human being. Just a mention to New Zealand to stop spraying antibiotics on apples fo...