Gittins in the SMH Quote: Sometimes I wonder whether the economy is being managed for our benefit or for the benefit of the big businesses that dominate it. The two big supermarket chains we get to choose between, the two domestic airlines and privately owned airports, the three foreign mining giants that were allowed to redesign the mining tax they didn’t like, and the four big banks that control so much of our superannuation and the investment advice we get, not to mention our savings accounts and mortgages. I’m old enough to remember when economic life seemed to be dominated by big unions. Hardly a month passed without our lives being disrupted by some strike. We’d be walking miles to work or finding someone to mind the kids while the teachers were out.s I remember finishing a holiday in New Zealand with our young family, only to find the baggage handlers in Sydney were on strike and being stuck in Christchurch for an extra two days. Thank goodness we don’t have to put up with all that any more. But in place of being bossed around by the unions, we now have big business calling the shots. They don’t inconvenience us like the unions did, but they do seem to have the ear of government. Big business is always complaining about some way the economy’s being run that doesn’t meet with its approval. It’s always warning of the terrible economic price we’ll pay if it doesn’t get what it wants. Its complaints are always treated with reverence by the media. And always taken seriously by the government, Labor or Coalition. We seem to be developing a new economic religion that what’s good for big business is good for the country. No one believes this more fervently than the big business people themselves – plus their never-silent lobby groups. These paragons of industry want to be unfettered in their efforts to expand their businesses and make higher profits, which they’re doing purely in the interests of you and me. And they’re always terribly impatient. They want to frack wherever they want to frack, they want to start tomorrow and they don’t want selfish, short-sighted people to slow them down, let alone stop them. They want to invest in a new mine or a new something which will create tens of thousands of new jobs in the district, and what other consideration could possibly trump that? If you want to consult the locals before granting permission, this is red tape, which by definition is bad and must be swept aside. If you want time to investigate the environmental impact of the project, this is green tape and just as much economic vandalism as the red. Read more: smh.au/comment/consumers-mere-dots-as-big-business-calls-the-shots-20140812-1032bg.html#ixzz3ACwssVMG
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 19:36:48 +0000
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