Jen’s Note, May 2010
Have just spent a few days away whilst our kitchen is being renovated, it has been very interesting to see just how much angst has been generated in the business sector by a government that is driven by the concept that throwing money at a problem will fix it.
Rather like renovating, as distinct from build from scratch, there is always a problem that was not foreseen. In our case it appears we had been walking on air and lino for some time and the oven door falling off the stove and the dishwasher making odd grinding sounds were valuable warning of our impending fall. The solution of course was to totally replace the floor and subfloor so that all the nice new shiny appliances will not sink slowly into the ground with us following. Fortunately I had a fair idea that things were not well underfoot and so warned the builder of the potential problem.
So it should have been with the school building , insulation projects , alternative power project and many more that now have created more chaos than if some more time had been taken to properly plan just what would work , exactly what it would cost and what the worst and best outcomes could be.
The interest rate rise we had this week will only add to inflation. Most of the price rises in recent times have been from the rising cost of living, with more expensive food, fuel and utilities as well as school fees, medical insurance and cost of tradesmen. Not having built sufficient infrastructure to allow the building of more housing, plus maintaining a very high level of immigration, the situation is not helped by a government spending what it does not have to spend and actively discouraging saving. Add to that the worrisome state of aged care and health care and we can only despair for the future for our young people and the frail aged.
The rising prices for housing are simply because of lack of enough housing to meet the needs of the population. A simple example of supply and demand, it works the same as your fruit and veggie prices, if the banana plantations are knocked out by a storm then bananas become more expensive till the next seasons crop is available.
The federal budget is due and we can expect the usual ham fisted messing about with threats to your savings by claiming to provide more equality for “working families”. So far working families have been dealt some pretty hard blows to their super funds and savings in general. Limiting what people can save towards their retirement makes no sense at all and then to tax success in the resource sector with a Super Profit tax is totally weird. I have been in business for all my adult life and have read many, many annual reports from both public and private companies. Never have I ever seen a super profit that deserved to have an extra 40% tax liability. In fact I have never seen a super profit, just fair profits that are the result of good planning by well run companies with hard working employees.
Now I know I have got a bit off my bike but it grieves me to see that those who have worked hard and done their best to be thrifty and save for their old age by investing in Australian companies should be threatened by ill considered ignorant tax grabs that will push more people onto Centrelink payments than would have ever have been necessary previously.
Australian super funds are a major and valuable part of the investment scene. Every Australian who has a super fund invests in the Australian share market either directly or indirectly. Any tax regime that threatens the profitability of companies’ through reducing their potential to succeed and be totally competitive on the global markets should be considered a threat to working families’ savings and financial security.
One aspect that gave me great delight while I was on a few days holiday was to see how much the recent rains have improved the country side. Farmers have started to restock and there is the real potential of good growth of fodder. Talking to some of them they are feeling much more sanguine about the future. They just hope our dollar does not get too high and they can enjoy a fair go in the export markets.
We enjoyed a really lovely sight one evening when sitting on the balcony and it was one of the few days that did not pour down with rain. It was the mob of wallabies grazing the lawn in front of our villa and a young family of toddlers absolutely gob smacked to see the beasts within a couple of metres of where they were standing.
No TV program or computer game can every take the place of sharing space with nature going about its business of daily living. These little ones were near us next morning when we were out and were full of the wonder of telling about the “wobblies”. Their parents were very thrilled as well; they had managed to take some lovely photos with their phone of the children looking at the “wobblies”.
Their plan was to make the photo into a Christmas card, great idea. My best experience was to have a large flock of pink and grey galahs visit at breakfast, cheeky birds, at times total pests but they have style and a fine dress sense. Nature does put together wonderful designs, the flock of Eastern Rosellas flashing red and green diving onto the lawn to pick over the grass after the lawnmower man had moved on was fun as well.
My partner Bill has always reckoned that Winter starts on Anzac Day and this time he was right. It has now become quite cold at night so that is the time to dig out your best soup recipes, warm slippers and a good book and relax and take time to enjoy the pleasures of Winter so that we can look forward to the Spring and the new joys that will bring.
Keep warm and well,
Jen, Rose and Lina the Canine Receptionist
Lina the Canine Receptionist!