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You read my last post and you think I am crazy huh? I think anyone who denies that there is a serious problem with the environment we need to survive in really needs to do some research.

We have raped the world for long enough. If we don’t stop, we will die along with it.

I am browsing with interest on the website of the Tata Nano. Google it

This little car is currently the cheapest in the world. It seats 4 people and has a maximum speed of 105kmh 65mph. It gets about 20kml 47mpg, which means you get about 300km 185 miles on its 15L 4 gallon tank.

This thing is basic. It’s no race car either, it comes with a 4spd manual floor shift with a 2 cylinder 624cc 38ci EFI engine. It is fuel efficient, small, cheap and almost devoid of creature comforts. The upper model of the 3 offered does come with A/C and front electric windows though. It doesn’t come with a CD player, or even a radio!

What it can do very well though is carry 4 people to work in the daily traffic, economically and efficiently. One day in the next ten years, I am sure, you will be able to buy electric cars very similar to this one. Spartan but functional, cheap to run and ecofriendly. Not only will you be able to buy them, but you may find you don’t have any choice. The days of the personal behemoth are dead and gone. Times are a changing my friend….

THIS is what car makers need to spend money on. Creating cars which actually do what cars should be doing.. provide easy, fast and efficient personal transport. My personal tastes certainly don’t run to a car which doesn’t even have a radio and I am guessing will struggle uphill with 4 people aboard, but my point is that this kind of car is a step in the right direction. It is built the way it is because at US$2500 its the worlds cheapest new car. You can’t achieve that by adding such luxuries as a radio I guess!

We need to think more about what we expect from a car, and compare that with what we actually need. I drive a Kia Cerato.. It has a few standard tricks I like, like A/C, power windows, cruise control, but its no luxury car. It is quite economical to run though, performs well and is capable of double the legal speed limit anywhere in Australia. Why on Earth would I need a V8 with 500HP?

I see cars in the future as being of similar equipment and performance levels to the Kia (but much lower top speed) lighter, smaller externally but probably with even more usable cabin space, and running on alternative fuels such as solar, battery, Hydrogen cells etc.

In the meantime, I am waiting for Kia to unveil the secret Hydrogen cell 2010 model of the Cerato…… please Kia?????

Just a quick further note..

I also see it being illegal to travel with less than 3 people in the car within CBD areas without permit. What on Earth do you and your neighbor both need to drive your car 30 minutes to work every day for, when you both work the same hours and within 2 blocks of each other? Car pooling will become a legal requirement within CBD areas, not just an excuse to use the extra lane on the freeway. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see many CBD areas ban traffic altogether, and instead have interchange hubs out of the city where people could drive to, park their cars and travel by tram, tram or bus to the CBD.

Every day I just shake my head. I’m glad I don’t have kids. What a mess we are leaving them!

I am simply staggered that the governments of the world are not taking the future of the planet seriously. The air we breathe, the water we drink, and even the soil we stand on are being poisoned with gay abandon. Would you refuse a sick child an expensive drug to save her life? Why is it too expensive to save the planet we live on?

The tough decisions need to be made, and NOW.

15th February, 2009. The president of the Maldives says the Indian Ocean nation will become the world’s first carbon-neutral country within a decade.

Nasheed said his country would renounce oil and get all its energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar power.

“Going green might cost a lot but refusing to act now will cost us the Earth,” he wrote.

Nasheed accused politicians around the world of failing to act and striking “a grotesque Faustian pact” by sacrificing the environment’s future for fossil-fuel consumption today.

“Today, the Maldives will opt out of that pact,” Nasheed wrote.

This tiny country of Maldives consists of about 1200 islands, and about 1/3 of the 300,000 population live in the capital, Male. Almost 100% of their income is derived from tourism. OK, they have even more urgent motives than any other country, but even though they plan to throw everything they have into doing what they can, it will make little difference.

If they can do it, why can’t we?? Yes, it cost a lot of money. You may not have noticed this, but the climate is going crazy. There are records being broken all over the place for the hottest, the coldest, the longest, the wettest, the driest etc.. This is not something that can be debated, prioritised, politicised, or hidden from. WE NEED TO ACT NOW.

The auto manufacturers of the world are dying. The governments of the world are throwing obscene amounts of money at these companies to try and save them. Let most of them burn, I say.

The quality companies, which were well run, productive, and far sighted, will survive. Then, using the money which the governments are throwing at the other inefficient or badly run companies, aquire government shares in each of the quality surviving companies instead, so that you have a few very cashed up well run companies. Then force them to design personal transport which doesnt harm the environment.. immediately. Ban further production of all vehicles which dont meet stringent requirements, and I do mean stringent. I am thinking banning further production of cars that get less than 100mpg would be a good start. Then make the price of oil so high that moving entirely away from oil becomes a fast and natural progression.

Efficient cars, petrol, hybrid and fully electric,  can be produced with current technology. They arent, because they cant sell enough of them to make them profitable. Wake up world! You no longer have a choice! Make them the only alternative and they will sell just fine.
Cars as we know them are an extreme and unaffordable luxury now. To have a 500hp, 2 seat car capable of 200mph in a world where the speed limit is rarely higher than 60mph is just stupid. It has to stop, now. To have a car capable of carrying 5 people at 120mph is just as stupid. Almost any economy car can achieve that now, but nowhere can they legally use the speed.
And when that car only transports one person 8 miles on a return trip to work and back daily, how can that be justified?

Yes, there will be job losses. More will be lost too, when the companies supplying the old metal behemoths slowly fold. Some of the losses could be absorbed by the expanding remaining companies. Some will be taken up by the new industries created with a whole new breed of materials, design and technology, but in the short term there would certainly be a negative impact on jobs.

The world will adapt. It needs to. It sounds like a bleak future, but I am optimistic. Humanity has always risen to a challenge, and we face the biggest of them all now. The world needs to act, NOW, and devote everything we have to saving the planet.

The flurry of technology, new production and manufacturing techniques, new materials, etc may even cause a new level of prosperity in the future, who knows? What we DO know is that if we don’t act now, there isn’t going to be any future at all.

The auto industry is just one part of the problem, an example. We need to do much, much, more than that.

We need to convert the entire world to clean and renewable energy, and we need to act immediately. Never mind reducing emissions 15% in the next 10 years, or whatever numbers the spin doctors throw at us. We need to aim at 100% in 5 years, and be scared of every day over target we go. Don’t say I am not being realistic.. don’t you get it? WE HAVE NO CHOICE!!!

We need to stop poisoning our water and air. We need to stop thinking of the banking system, and whether or not we can afford to buy or rent a house or new car, and start thinking of what kind of air our children will breathe, and if they will be able to venture outside in the changed weather. Instead of designing 800m high skyscrapers, we should be designing energy and construction efficient buildings.

We need to change the way we think and live, and we need to do it NOW.

I accept that there have to be laws. I am not as silly as I look. However, I think many of the laws we have are simply ways of increasing revenue, rather than a genuine attempt to achieve something good.

Obviously if a persons actions are capable of negatively affecting others, then there will need to be checks and balances. Drink driving is of course an excellent example of this. Drink drivers kill innocent people, this cannot be denied.

Smoking too kills people, and those who smoke certainly need to do it in an area where others are not going to get cancer from breathing their exhalations.

I think (yes, I am a smoker) that the government takes advantage of smokers. It’s all very well telling us all its time to quit. It’s not fair to raise taxes on cigarettes every time you need a few extra bucks though. A tiny percentage of the revenue raised by taxing cigarettes is actually returned to the system in quit smoking options, or extra money for health care, or anything else directly related to the many issues involved with smoking. If you are going to tax cigarettes, which are known to kill people, and you dont give the money back to help people quit, then you are a drug dealer. All governments in this world are drug dealers. That might sound inflammatory, but it’s totally true.

On February 1st 2009, the Australian government raised taxes on cigarettes and alcohol again. Cigarettes rose by as much as 11 cents per packet, and every bottle of spirits now adds an additional 16 cents to the government coffers. Canned premixed alcohol rose by up to 24 cents for a carton. They do this automatically these days, every 6 months.. This system was introduced by Bob Hawke in the 1980’s, to avoid the screaming headlines ’smokes and alcohol - taxes to rise!!!’ If its automatic, then its not a government decision that needs to be announced each time.. it just quietly happens.

I wouldnt mind so much if the government was to put this money back where it came from. Use the money for preventative and remedial measures, and maybe it can be justified a little. This is not what happens though, is it?

If the government is serious about preventing drink driving, then they need to make sure cars cannot be driven by a drunk! The technology exists. It will add cost to the car of course, so the car makers arent going to leap in and implement these technologies.

While you’re at it.. limit the speed which cars can achieve. Whats the point of a V8 which uses huge amounts of fuel to have sufficient power to do double the speed limit? Even my Kia Cerato is capable of more than 200kmh. Gear them so they can only reach 110kmh and you will get the same levels of performance with a fraction of the power. Reducing the death toll and saving the planets resources, reducing emissions etc, are all side effects from a strategy like this. Of course, the government would no longer gain any revenue from speed cameras to raise revenue if cars could not speed…. if they were serious about slowing people down they would make the cameras clearly visible and place them everywhere, but they would prefer you to speed so they can fine you instead.

Why not make it a legal requirement that every car must be fitted with technology that prevents drunks from driving the car? Let the drinkers pay for this.. take the taxes which the drinkers pay already and give it to the car manufacturers to pay for the changes… or take it off the taxes paid on purchasing a new car, to make the inevitable rise in the price of the car less painful. Of course, this means the government won’t have the taxes to add to general revenue as they do now… which is why it will never happen.

Combined alcohol and cigarette taxes this financial year? 8.8 BILLION dollars.

Just imagine how great our health care system would be if it you pumped an additional 5 billion bucks into it each year to help with the huge burden to the health system which smoking creates. Would it cost more than a billion bucks to pay for technology which doesnt allow a drunk to start a car? Would it cost more than a billion bucks to subsidise nicotene replacement therapies? That still leaves nearly 2 billion left over to give to support groups which help people give up smoking or alcohol, or the families of those who suffer these addictions.

I wonder how many smokers would achieve quitting if all forms of quit smoking aids were subsidised? The government doesnt want you to give up smoking. They pay a few million bucks to have TV ads which advise you to quit.. even most of the ads you see are not paid for by the government, but rather by the manufacturers of nicotene patches.

Why not make nicotene patches free?How about making hypnotherapy free? It will be us, the smokers, who pay for this, via the taxes which non-smokers do not pay. Sounds pretty fair to me! It wont happen of course.. no drug dealer wants to cure their customers of their addiction. Thats very bad for business.

How about gambling? Have you ever been into a club and seen the row upon row of poker machines? These things used to be restricted to Casinos, with all the restrictions that apply to Casinos. Now, they are in every sporting club in the nation. Clubs have courtesy buses which will collect the little old lady from her home and bring her to the club. Yes, its predominantly the poor who use these things. Old aged pensioners, the unemployed, the low income earner. When the little old lady has an empty purse, the club is happy to provide a courtesy bus to take her home again, and will be waiting outside her door as soon as she calls for it the following fortnight when she receives her pension.

The Victorian Government alone receives a billion bucks annually from these machines. Clubs which have joining fees as low as a dollar, and dont even require you to join to visit them anyway, have huge fancy buildings which any honest business wouldnt be able to justify. The pensioner has gone home to her nightly repast of stale bread and dog food, having lost her pension at the club.

Two-up however, an traditional Australian gambling game which can be played with a couple coins and a group of people anywhere, is illegal. It’s too hard for the government to tax.

It isn’t possible to make these things illegal. They are too ingrained in modern society, and prohibition is a proven failure at stopping anything in this world which people want to do. Thats why the underworld makes so much money selling drugs. People will still buy it, they just have to pay more, and take the chance that they arent going to get an unregulated bad batch which kills them.

It is possible however to use the taxes which the government places on these things to minimize the damage caused by them, rather than just adding them to general revenue.

When I work for a living, I cook.

It used to be a pretty good way to live. I could travel, find work anywhere. The hours could be long, and often odd, but the reward for not being able to have a normal social life was a decent wage, challenging worklife, and a great rapport and team spirit no matter where you worked. Then along came John Howard. He became Prime Minister of Australia, and proceeded with his ‘responsible economic management’ principles.

He forced me to contribute more of my money to Superannuation, then locked me out of any control of my money. I now have an excellent nest egg locked away for my old age. The problem is that by the time I am old enough to claim it, it will have actually shrunk given the events of recent times.

If I had access to my own money, in the current market, I could actually do rather well making my own investments. I don’t have this option though, thanks to John Howard and the very different but in many ways very similar new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

John Howard did indeed advance the Australian economy. He did so by forcing the average Australian battler to accept ‘Workplace Agreements’ in lieu of a Union Award, allowing employers to demand almost anything they wanted from their workers at substantially reduced wages. He did so by paying pensioners, students, and the unemployed substantially under the poverty line.

His administration refused to spend money, as we watched one of the worlds best education systems slowly decline. We have watched as our roads have degenerated, our assets were sold off (it seems like just a dream now as I remember when you could call Telstra and have a friendly, english speaking voice answer the call immediately and offer to help), and the queues at our hospitals grow impossibly long.

We watched as the government took more and more from our hospitals, suggesting that if we didn’t like it, then Private Health would be a better option.. and cheaper for the government!

As a cook, I saw my wages go from $25 to $18 hourly. I lost all penalty rates, so if I was required to work from 6pm to 6am, 7 days, each hour I worked was only worth $18. I lost the right to sick pay and holiday pay. I could no longer afford a holiday.. ever… as I couldn’t afford the lack of income on top of the cost of the holiday. And then he took away the unfair dismissal laws, so that if I didn’t want to work 80 hours in a week for a flat $18 hourly, I would just be dismissed and replaced with someone who would.

John Howard reduced the unemployment figures almost overnight when he redefined full time work as 30 hours weekly. Employers found that employing staff for reduced hours was beneficial to their bottom line, and they no longer had any ‘down time’ for their staff… they got to employ you ‘full-time’ for 30 hrs weekly and send you home if they didnt need you after that, but if they did want you to stay, then it wouldnt cost them a cent more than the basic flat rate for each hour you worked… even if that was an 80 hr week.Workers found themselves trying to repay a mortgage with take home pays of under $500/ week on a 30hr week.

Yes Mr Howard.. Yes Mr Rudd.. the average wage is NOT $60,000 annually. Take out the top and bottom 10% like any real averaging system and see what an effect that has on your figures…

But I digress…. this post is about my current situation and the newest despot.

We have a new Prime Minister now, Mr Kevin Rudd. I actually voted for the Greens, but the reality is it was obviously either going to be him or little Johnny who got the job, and I sure as hell wouldn’t be voting for Johnny, so I guess I was pleased when Rudd won.

I think hes a smarmy smartarse. I was, however, willing to give him a go. The fact that I dont like him personally doesn’t mean he won’t do a good job. I still think he has a chance at being an effective Prime Minister. He is decisive, and lot of his personal agendas certainly appeal to me. He appears to be a little Green, though I’m not totally convinced of that yet. He supports community access to technology , such as total broadband coverage, and computers for all students. He certainly in many ways takes a much more modern and realistic approach than his predecessor. I just hope its all real, and not just an electable image.

Sadly, Mr Rudd also has his downside. He has no clue how hard some people have it in this life. He takes the attitude, the same as most self made men I guess, that anyone who hasn’t succeeded hasn’t tried, and therefore deserves no pity. He has a horrible smug look to him which turns me off, like a kid who just beat his brother to the mailbox.

Mr Rudd gave away 10 billion bucks to pensioners awhile back, to stimulate the economy. Now with his latest package, he is giving more cash to every Australian, except for the pensioners that already received it, those who earn more than $100,000 annually…. and the unemployed. Many of the people who receive this cash will receive multiple instances of it.. $1800 or $2700.

If you earn $80,000 annually, and you claim Family Tax Benefit (ie. you have dependant children), you’ll have $1800 in your pocket. Your spouse, who may also earn $80,000 annually, will pocket an additional $900. For your little family of one child, you and your spouse, with an annual income of $160,000, you’ll have $2700 given to you as a gift by the Rudd Government in order to stimulate the economy. You’ll place that $2700 into your bank account, as you don’t need it right now anyway, and earn interest on it. The Australian Government will pay interest on the loan it obtained to give you the money. Yes, thats right! The government doesnt actually have the money its giving you! Its been borrowed, and interest will have to be paid on it.

The average wage earner of about $40k annually will foot the bill ultimately for the loan, the interest on the loan, and the interest the bank pays you. Thats because the little people cant afford tax write offs, negative gearing, and the rest of the little tricks which reduce the amount of tax which people pay. The little guy pays more tax, pays more for what he buys, and earns less. The little guy pays penalties to the banks, and their money goes to paying interest on the big guys accounts. AND.. because the big guy wont spend the money.. the economy has gained no benefit at all.

I’m currently unemployed. I was a student last year, having returned to University to try and effect a career change. Unfortunately, during the year I got sick, and Centrelink, our welfare system, decided it would work better for them if I was listed as unemployed rather than a student, though I was unable to be either in my state of health. I’m hoping to have my health issues resolved at the end of next month.. its taken over a year due to the state of our public health system.. and then I will return to work, studying part time.

If you are unemployed, you have nothing in the bank. Trust me, I know! If the government gave me $900, I would have it spent in an hour. I’d buy things I desperately need, like tyres for my car, or fix the leak in the lounge room roof. The money I and the many thousands of other Australians who are unemployed are not being given would have gone immediately back into the economy, and contributed substantially to the stimulus the government is looking for, unlike the money that will be given to those who don’t need it.

One more point on the economic stimulus package. We have a monsoonal tropical north, and a southern region which lives in constant cycle of drought, fire and flood. We have the mighty Murray river dying in front of our eyes. Water is the stuff of life.. how could there be anything more important? WE CANNOT SURVIVE WITHOUT WATER !!! Why are we not investigating using our copious and reliable northern water resources to revive our rivers, supply our cities, and irrigate our farmlands?? Yes, its expensive. Yes, it will cost billions. I can think of $20 billion however that the government is just giving away….. surely a $20 billion dollar national infrastructure project would also stimulate the economy?

Here is an absolute fact Mr Rudd.. one day, this issue will need to be addressed as a matter of survival, and that day is rapidly approaching. It is still going to cost enormous amounts of money to achieve then as it will now, only more so. If you want to go down in history as someone special, take the lead and do something special. Build the required infrastructure, instead of giving a bunch of cash to the people who you think will vote for you next time around. Make this countries future your enduring legacy.

Mr Rudd, the jury is still out on your effectiveness as Prime Minister. I support the financial measures which are being taken to stimulate the economy. There is no recourse, and those who accuse you of being the ‘usual big spending labour government’ would also have no option but to react similarly if they were in power.

I am now starting to fear, however, that perhaps you are just as heartless and one-eyed as your predecessor. I am unemployed temporarily through no fault of my own. So are many thousands of other Australians, and many more are about to join them in these uncertain economic times. This does not make any one of us less worthy or deserving than someone who earns $80,000 annually. It does not mean we deserve less respect. It does not mean we are in any way inferior to you or them. Please stop treating us as such. The money you are spending is money that ALL Australians will have to repay. Instead of dividing it up among those whom you think will be useful to you, spend it all on things the country actually needs, like WATER. You will still get an economic stimulus, probably a better one than the one you’ll get with your current methods, and you would be surprised I think to discover that this also would be a very popular move among those who elect you.