The state of the economy at the street level

[Humid]

Public sector wages, benefits et al are well above private now trawler. Public sector gigs are now plum jobs given to people with power and/or connections, usually a parent that's already a high ranking public servant.

The only other way to get your foot in the door is if you meet some kind of diversity criteria. Competence has virtually nothing to do with it, not any more.

Flat rates no security no benefits welcome to labour hire land!
Remember before covid how flat the economy was the above is a big part of the problem

 

[over9k]

Flat rates no security no benefits welcome to labour hire land!
Remember before covid how flat the economy was the above is a big part of the problem

You don't need to tell me what scumbags are running society. I am all too aware.

 

[Tyler Durden]

I see so many shops closed on George Street in Sydney now. A lot were Chinese businesses like restaurants, mobile phone stores, bubble tea places etc. I'm assuming these businesses couldn't handle the lockdown and the consequences thereafter.

 

[basilio]

Excellent story on ABC about the rising fortunes of Australia mineral exports.

Not just iron ore although that is the big one. Real question might be how does this huge increase in national income get spread across the broader economy ?

Iron ore juggernaut hauls Australia into a current account surplus that's set to stay

For the first time since the early 1970s, Australia is consistently earning more from the rest of the world than it pays out, and a leading economist says that will set the nation in good stead to withstand any bumps in the pandemic recovery.

www.abc.net.au

 

[sptrawler]

Excellent story on ABC about the rising fortunes of Australia mineral exports.

Not just iron ore although that is the big one. Real question might be how does this huge increase in national income get spread across the broader economy ?


View attachment 126950

Iron ore juggernaut hauls Australia into a current account surplus that's set to stay

For the first time since the early 1970s, Australia is consistently earning more from the rest of the world than it pays out, and a leading economist says that will set the nation in good stead to withstand any bumps in the pandemic recovery.

www.abc.net.au

That becomes difficult Bas, when the high paying jobs are in places far away from Sydney and Melbourne, how you share the wealth is take the money off the workers and give it to those who want to live in Sydney and Melbourne.
How you do that without looking like a bunch of entitled pricks is the issue IMO.

 

[Smurf1976]

Real question might be how does this huge increase in national income get spread across the broader economy ?

It's probably not so noticeable in big cities but having lived in smaller places it was always very noticeable when whatever the big driver of wealth was wasn't going well or vice versa.

Very hard to describe but you could just feel it much like summer changing to autumn when things turned down or winter changing to spring when they turned up. Just a general sinking or rising feeling as the effects started to ripple through.

Senior managers in the public service do keep a watch on commodity prices. At first you might think it would have zero interest to them since what on earth does the price of iron or coal have to do with their running of some completely unrelated service on the other side of the country? Ultimately though well it takes a couple of years but if the price of ore drops, in due course their budget ends up being cut and it's their problem to make it work. Vice versa when times are good, there's no official increase but they manage to get one anyway.

Lots of ways it slowly ripples through.

 

[SirRumpole]

Not just iron ore although that is the big one. Real question might be how does this huge increase in national income get spread across the broader economy ?

We need a mining export tax if we are going to get anywhere near paying off the debt.

 

[Humid]

When can we expect Twiggy and Gina to don the Hi Vis

 

[qldfrog]

or spend less
if I spend more than I earn, my first option is NOT to try to get a second job....

 

[over9k]

We need a mining export tax if we are going to get anywhere near paying off the debt.

0% probability.

They'll cut spending on everything long before they raise taxes.

 

[SirRumpole]

0% probability.

They'll cut spending on everything long before they raise taxes.

Yes they will.

Unless they are not the government.

 

[Value Collector]

We need a mining export tax if we are going to get anywhere near paying off the debt.

The government already charges a royalty on mined products + minings companies pay income tax + miners pay income tax + shareholders pay income tax + many more taxes through out the supply chain.

how much of every $1 of revenue do you think the government deserves, surely those other interest groups in the supply chain deserve to do well in the good years for the risk they take, because soon enough the bad years will come.

 

[SirRumpole]

how much of every $1 of revenue do you think the government deserves

The government is us, and we own the stuff in the ground so we can set the return we want.

 

[Craton]

Halving the royalties Broken Hill, NSW mines paid circa 1983, increased mine life (thankfully) for about 30 more yrs.

For a bit of royalty background, have attached NSW historical mineral and petroleum royalties PDF up to Oct 2012.

From APO site.

This paper sets out a history of mineral and petroleum ownership and royalties in NSW as a background to the debate concerning recent changes to State royalties and Federal mining tax regimes. The timelines provided start at 1906, the point at which the first consolidated mining legislation was introduced.

While the majority of the paper focuses on the changes in royalty rates that have occurred between 1906 and 2012, where possible, the paper identifies the reasons why changes to the NSW royalty regime were made.

One interesting note (among many others) was how privately "owned coal" was vested back to the Crown in 1981.

That revenue almost 10 yrs ago was not trivial by any means.

Current royalty rates in NSW via the NSW govt. site.

UPDATE:
Oh, can't attach a PDF. The PDF is in the APO link.

 

[Value Collector]

The government is us, and we own the stuff in the ground so we can set the return we want.

That’s what the exisiting royalties that are paid are for.

 

[over9k]

Yes they will.

Unless they are not the government.

They will be.

 

[SirRumpole]

That’s what the exisiting royalties that are paid are for.

There is nothing to say that the current royalty system can't be modified as circumstances change, and they have changed very much.

 

[over9k]

I will bet you ten whole dollars that they don't do ****.

 

[Value Collector]

There is nothing to say that the current royalty system can't be modified as circumstances change, and they have changed very much.

Circumstances haven’t really changed.

All that is happening is that Iron Ore is going through a temporary part of the cycle where there is high prices, and the government is benefiting from that because royalties increase as the price goes up because they are based on a % of the price.

however, Australians have tall poppy syndrome, and every time mining companies start making good money, people want to increase taxes, but these extra taxes could put them out of business in the bad years.

its also not necessary, because as the mining companies earn more they pay more company tax anyway.

The government also does their budgets based on conservative Iron Ore prices, so if the Iron Ore price ends the year higher, they budgeted deficit will be smaller or non existent.

 

[SirRumpole]

Circumstances haven’t really changed.

Have you seen the National debt lately ?