Is it all sort of connected? Because we don't make things anymore, the whole 'chain' is falling apart? And is it because companies are now run by people who don't care about the company, it's history or its people, just how to swill in the trough for a few years and then leave the resulting carnage behind them?
As a kid, my mum was a secretary for a company that made plastic bags. The company still exists, but the bags are made in China now. Next to the Mums plastic bag factory, used to be a factory making Kelvinator fridges and washine machines. They bought plastic off Mums place to wrap the appliances in before delivery.
Dad was a manager for a large steel manufacture. He started there at 16 and worked his way up to State Manager. The concept of swilling in the trough would have been completely alien to him. He looked after the Company, the Compnay looked after him, that's how it works, isn't it, he would have said. The company provided most people with a car. You could have any car you liked, as long as it was a Holden, or in those days a Valient. (For some reason Ford only got a look in when Chrysler left Australia)
I still remember him taking me down to the factory one morning when I was about 13. It was a proud day for him. The company had just finished making, what was then, the largest single span steel girde ever manufactured in Australia. I still remember Dad saying to me, that was the easy part, working out how to get it on to the trucks to get it on site, was the hard part. And that what he a bought me to see, the rolling out of the girder on the back of two ( I think) trucks. The logistics for the time were amazing, police, road closures, huge trucks.
The trucks were supplied by the transport company across the road from Dads factory.
I remember after they got it out the gate, a celebration was called, and everyone was given the rest of the day off.
The thing was, we were all interconnected, I made something that you needed, and you made something I needed. We hade pride in who we worked for, and did our best for them, because we knew those companies would do their best for us.
And then the walls came tumbling down. Free trade, no tariffs, first responsibility to shareholders, not employees, bonus culture....get in swill away and get out....want a peach? Forget Oz mate we will get em by the boat load from China.
Only trouble is, who is going to buy your peach? The Australian grower has no money, so he can't buy the new tractor that International Harvester made in Melbourne, so the tractor worker has no money to buy a new Holden, so the Holden worker has no money to go to Coles to buy the peach.
Is it better? I don't think so. Will it end in tears? I'm pretty sure it will. And this comes from some one who has voted right wing all his life.
I think it's time to close the doors. Go back to being an island. Unfloat (if that a word) the dollar, and start thinking about protecting ourselves. I know it probably all too simple and probably all too late.
Rant switch returning to off.