the election, and stuff..

[Goreripper]

Oh........

presenting Gorey as the new Bob Hawke !!!!

I can also drain a schooner in under a minute if I'm so inclined, and I'm pretty knowledgable about football and cricket. Plus I think that if any boss sacked a Bulldogs fan for not turning up to work today, he'd be a bum.

 

[Shannow]

I can also drain a schooner in under a minute if I'm so inclined, and I'm pretty knowledgable about football and cricket. Plus I think that if any boss sacked a Bulldogs fan for not turning up to work today, he'd be a bum.

LOL, you've got my vote.

(what's a bulldog ??)

can you add Coopers Sparkling Ale to the PBS ?

 

[Goreripper]

All beer should be on the PBS. Except Fosters, VB and Emu. I'd ban them.

You need to check my Bulldogs!! thread for that definition.

 

[KoichCPA]

Economics is a difficult thing to understand, and even more difficult to explain.

I realise this, but with 4 years of economics at uni, he should be able to do a simplified version of it.

 

[Sydo]

How do they work Sydo? I thought it was the Reserve bank as well, but looking after the Australian economy in relation to the world economy.

Ok.. Calculating the interest rate is very easy, it's just a simply comparison between supply and demand of 'money'. The rest of it is confusing and it becomes hard to determine what is causing what..


The supply of money is the sum of currency plus deposits. The RBA targets the cash rate. When the actual cash rate rises above the target cash rate, the RBA injects cash into the system by buying government securities. The actual cash rate falls and the reserves of the banks rise. These excess reserves are loaned to the public and the money supply increases. By 'creating' more money, the RBA effectively reduces interest rates; this is where they gain their control.


The quantity of nominal money demanded us proportional to the price level, and the quantity of real money demanded depends on the interest rate and real GDP.


The interest rate has an effect on almost all aspects of the economy. GDP, CPI and inflation, FX rates, cost of living, superannuation planning, the BIRTH RATE and LIFE EXPECTANCY (althought the last two are hard to quantify in the short term). These all affect each other too. For example; GDP and interest rate directly affect the exchange rate. Growth and interest rates determine inflation.

In summary, it's a big circle.


Yes, large international factors are involved in the determination of the exchange rate the exchange rate depends on the GDP and interest rates of other countries – but good policy can minimise these effects. Australia should have gone broke in the mid 90’s when the Asian stock market crashed. Again we should have been badly hurt when the American market was hit in 2001. In relation to Japan, China and America our economy is tiny and insignificant.


The worst thing that could happen right now is for interest rates to rise, because for most people their home is their only source of equity. People are relying on their houses to fund retirement and right now, a large interest rate hike would cause house prices to fall.

Now I know the labor party knows a lot more about economics than I do, they’re not arrogant towards the subject (although slightly Marxist). My problem is that I always feel they tend to ignore, or at least push it aside, for the simply sake of gaining power. I guess that’s understandable because a politicians ‘job’ is to get elected.

 

[spawn]

You wouldn't have to privatise the entire system, but don't think it wouldn't be possible to sub-contract the running of different lines and departments to private enterprise. It might be difficult, but it's not impossible or unfeasible. I've heard the minister lately suggesting that restructures would stop train delays on one section of the system affecting other sections. Now I don't know if that's workable because I don't understand the system the way you would, but the fact is that the trains are so bad that they're going to have to come up with something to fix them. You can never say never to privatisation of anything in a capitalist system.

They actually sub contracted the running of the country areas just recently, it was leased for 50 years or so to a private company and it has cost the railways at least tens of millions of dollars in fuckups (and I would say it goes into the hundreds of millions easily). Now thats only a lease, so now, a train that explodes on the leased area of the tracks is not train controls concern, so if something blows up, they dont give a shit because its not their problem! Its caused so many problems I wont bother listing them all and boring you, but I imagine its a bit similair (times 100) with the problems the fire brigade has with the Bush Fire Brigade where they dont know who is in control of which part and they argue over it. (I dont know if thats fixed now, or even if im right that there is a problem but I thought I read somewhere there was...?)

What Costa said about restructuring the trains is good in theory, the problem is the tracks arent built for it. Everything ends up going around the city circle, and unless they cut that out, there will always be that bottleneck where one train can cause delays on every single line. The railways just wasnt built for the amount of trains they are running. I dont even think its possible to get them on time with the number they run. They cant get much worse than they are now though...

The reason they will never privatise it is that it is impossible to get the system running on a profit. Look at all the unmanned stations where people can get on with no ticket. Now imagine having to staff every one of them around the clock, upgrading all the stations so people cant even get in without paying for a ticket and consider how much money it would cost just keeping the tracks in a good state (which they definitely arent at the moment).

 

[Sydo]

I realise this, but with 4 years of economics at uni, he should be able to do a simplified version of it.

I'm looking around for my first year notes at the moment to see if I can explain and answer things more directly..

 

[Shannow]

Sydo, sometimes my perverse sense of justice hopes that Howard wins and the intrest rate rise that we should have had, and will have after the election, hits him and not Latham.

 

[spawn]

Well Howard wont go the distance and the smiling assassin will come in and ruin us all

 

[Sydo]

Sydo, sometimes my perverse sense of justice hopes that Howard wins and the intrest rate rise that we should have had, and will have after the election, hits him and not Latham.

I know what you mean.. They will go up, maybe half a percent. They have to rise simply to keep the price of the Aussie dollar below 80UScents. If it rises above that we'll be in trouble because or exporters will lose their competitive advantage.

 

[KoichCPA]

I'm looking around for my first year notes at the moment to see if I can explain and answer things more directly..

thankye

 

[Spiff]

All I know about politics is that Labor is good and the Coalition is evil. All that stuff about the economy, health and families is just filler.

 

[Sydo]

Found them, YAY! Ask away..
Please be pretty specific otherwise I will stuggle to answer anthing without writing an essay.

 

[Crabby]

I'll be working as a poling official on Saturday for the first time,damn good $$$$ I must say.

 

[Goreripper]

They actually sub contracted the running of the country areas just recently, it was leased for 50 years or so to a private company and it has cost the railways at least tens of millions of dollars in fuckups (and I would say it goes into the hundreds of millions easily). Now thats only a lease, so now, a train that explodes on the leased area of the tracks is not train controls concern, so if something blows up, they dont give a shit because its not their problem! Its caused so many problems I wont bother listing them all and boring you, but I imagine its a bit similair (times 100) with the problems the fire brigade has with the Bush Fire Brigade where they dont know who is in control of which part and they argue over it. (I dont know if thats fixed now, or even if im right that there is a problem but I thought I read somewhere there was...?)

The areas of control between the Rural Fire Service and the NSW Fire Brigade are pretty clearly defined, and each Rural Fire District has an agreement with the NSWFB about which areas each controls separately and which areas overlap (they are called Mutual Aid Zones). The main problem that occurs is that all fire calls go through the NSWFB first, and they have to then pass them on to either their own brigades or to the Rural brigade and sometimes they don't pass the calls on the Rural brigade, so their crews go to incidents in the RFS area without notifying the RFS first or asking for their help, which they're not supposed to do. It's not that no one knows who's in control, it's more that one agency doesn't let the other agency know what's happening. It's a bit different to the problem you outlined because both fire agencies are controlled by the Department of Emergency Services. In your case, it's a government agency trying to work in conjunction with a private entity, and we all know how well that can turn out.

 

[Sydo]

Medicare;
My experience with the Victorian health system has been a good one. Even though I live in a regional city (Geelong), I can find a bulk billing doctor whenever I need and only ever have to wait an hour or so. My girlfriend has more trouble, but that’s because she’s a chick and will only see a specific doctor, so she has to make an appointment. Even then the appointments are still bulk billed.
When I cut my fingers up on Australia Day this year, I was treated unbelievably well by the hospital staff on what should have been a busy day. The operation which took place the next day, and follow-up consultation were fine. In Geelong, I’d have to say the public system works. Yet, when I was in Brisbane the week after that I had to get my fingers checked out by a doctor just to make sure everything was ok. That’s when I had trouble finding somewhere that bulk billed. Eventually I gave up and paid for the consultation.
My point is.. Could the problem be State based?
I'm drawing any conclusion here because I havn't really read into the problem.


Schools;
Honestly, taking funding from private schools to give to public schools will only create a larger divide between the rich and the poor. Private schools will simply raise their fees to make up the difference in lost funding, and the hard working, less well-to-do parents who choose to send their kids into private education will no longer be able to. Besides improving the facilities of public school, how would they improve? The teachers remain the same and there lies the problem. Pay peanuts, get monkeys. The state pays the salary of teachers, not the federal government.

 

[Sydo]

Whoops.. I should note that I’m all for equal school funding. I went to a public school and always hated the snobby bastards at Geelong Grammer.

 

[KoichCPA]

Found them, YAY! Ask away..
Please be pretty specific otherwise I will stuggle to answer anthing without writing an essay.

I just wanted you to clarify your stance on the economics side of things. Perhaps a brief rundown of things the mass population doesn't realise about the economy, that sort of thing

 

[spawn]

In your case, it's a government agency trying to work in conjunction with a private entity, and we all know how well that can turn out.

Yes indeed we do

 

[Mark]

Anyone wanting proof that privatisation of the railways doesn't work need only look at the UK.