Perhaps those that can’t delineate between buying an asset and starting a business are perhaps the ones that don’t understand the problem. Perhaps Col. Perhaps that's just obfuscation of the problem.
We are talking about the Chinese starting flying schools. I have not seen a single person posting here that is supportive of enabling the Chinese to be able to purchase strategic assets like airports, or ports, or telecommunication networks - so stop trying to confuse the issue. I'm not trying to confuse the issue, I'm trying to give you a subtle hint that there is more to something than it seems, and you are trying to suggest that the Chinese starting flying schools doesn't count, which is denial that there is a problem, and that's very much like confusing the issue to me....
A minor point but to claim that Tamworth is still a military training base is a stretch too considering that BFTS shuts up shop and moves completely to East Sale in a few months. As I said, you don't understand the scale and scope of the problem.
As Dick Cheney famously said, "There are known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns." It's what you don't know you don't know is the problem, and as long as you act as if you know everything you won't learn what that is.
And the final point - a job is a job when times are tough. That is totally correct - have you ever been unemployed and not knowing where the next pay cheque is coming from? Do you know many (any?) people in some of these rural towns that are being significantly affected by drought? As I’ve stated before - the Chinese starting a business results in significant economic benefit to that town. And yes jobs - because without jobs, and without the people in those towns being employed, the whole fabric of the community slowly dies.
Yes, I have been unemployed many times, and I'm now unemployed, or you could say retired. Was it tough? Yes, it was a bit, but not worth selling my soul or selling out my country over. A man's gotta have principles or he's not a man. As I said before, and I say again, you simply don't know the size and scope of the problem. Either that or you do, and are playing dumb. The whole fabric of a community dies when the glue that holds that fabric together is dissolved. That glue was women who stayed at home and served their families up until 40 or 50 years ago. That glue was social cohesion gained as a result of working together instead of against each other. Don't get me started on rural problems. That's more than you can handle.
You could probably say something similar to this happened to Virgin itself. It was struggling for cash a few years ago when times were getting tough - and the foreign (one, and then two Chinese investors) came in and supplied equity into the business. As such the airline continues, 10,000 people still have jobs and each of those people themselves spend money, pay tax and contribute to the economy. So yes - it’s about jobs.