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Bloomberg Rightly Belts Abbott's Dumbing Down of Australia

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pietillidie 



Joined: 07 Jan 2005


PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 3:30 pm
Post subject: Bloomberg Rightly Belts Abbott's Dumbing Down of AustraliaReply with quote

Or: Idiothead Abbott and his bunch of merry morons do their best to make the country dumber than a dog turd by rewarding intellectual laziness and pushing your kids into low-paying, unsatisfying careers.

Why in the hell aren't you all furious? Do you hate rewarding careers? Hate high salaries? Hate young people? Want to stunt your children's life prospects? Disgraceful. Completely bloody disgraceful.

Bloomberg Business wrote:
Australia Dumbs Down as Government Bets on Baristas Over Brains

Australia is betting on plumbers and coffee-shop owners over scientists and researchers to drive the nation’s next wave of economic growth.

The country that brought you refrigerators, black-box flight recorders, bionic ears and Wi-Fi will cut its research budget by 7 percent over the next 12 months, and another 10 percent in the following three years. At the same time it’s offering tax cuts and write-offs in its budget this month for small firms to buy equipment like espresso machines and lawnmowers as the centerpiece of a plan to build a “stronger and more prosperous Australia.”

...

The government is reducing spending in the face of budget shortfalls after a 30 percent fall in commodity prices in 12 months and as its mining investment boom ends. The boost for small businesses in the latest budget lifted consumer confidence to its highest in 16 months and boosted shares of retailers like Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd. and JB Hi-Fi Ltd.

“Having this reliance on the bottom end of the economy, like small businesses, is a short-term fix,” said Andrew Hughes, a lecturer at the College of Business and Economics at Australian National University. “Cutting back on research is insanity.”

Every country in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has a plan to grow its scientific enterprise and aid its translation into technology, innovation and development, bar Australia, Chief Scientist Ian Chubb said.

Counting on Calculators

“For 20 years, we have presided over declining levels of participation in science and mathematics” while the country assured itself that students will be fine with calculators, Chubb wrote this month in an article on his website. “I think about the sort of jobs a child in school today might want to do in 10, 20, 50 years. And I wonder, which of those jobs will not require an understanding of science?”

Australian school students underperform in science and mathematics tests compared with every other high-income economy in Asia apart from New Zealand, according to a report issued this month by the 34-nation OECD.

“We’re already losing our power in the brains market because we’re up against China, India, Japan and South Korea who spend so much more on research and development,” Hughes said. “We need to think long-term.”

...

From the time James Harrison built the world’s first practical commercial refrigerator in 1854 to the invention in the 1990s of Wi-Fi by John O’Sullivan’s radio astronomy team at the CSIRO, Australia has a history of turning inventions into commercial successes.

Falling Ratio

Yet the nation now ranks in the bottom seven countries based on government spending on research and development as a proportion of gross domestic product, according to the latest OECD scoreboard.

...


Belinda Robinson, chief executive of Universities Australia, said the research cuts announced by Treasurer Joe Hockey in his budget this month, will make matters worse.

“Against the backdrop of low commodity prices and the downturn in traditional industries, a prudent approach to stimulating economic renewal is to invest in, not cut, wealth-generating activities like higher education, research and innovation,” she said.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-25/australia-dumbs-down-as-government-bets-on-baristas-over-brains

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Skids Cancer

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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 4:19 pm
Post subject: Reply with quote

Geez that's a bit harsh, nothing wrong with being a plumber. Definitely not a "low paid, unsatisfying career" as you put it.
We maintain the arteries of civilisation and it's a very satisfying job thanks.

Having said that, I do agree that cutting the research budget by 7% is a crazy move.

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David Libra

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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 6:07 pm
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Great article, and really exposes this government's short-term approach. Why aren't we supporting technological developments and new industries? It's a crucial question, but also a really elementary one. Sometimes it takes an outside observer like this journalist to point that out.

Being in government is not just about balancing the books today; you have to have a plan for the future. On that front, our government gets an F.

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Skids Cancer

Quitting drinking will be one of the best choices you make in your life.


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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 7:24 pm
Post subject: Reply with quote

David wrote:

Being in government is not just about balancing the books today; you have to have a plan for the future. On that front, our government gets an F.


Pretty much describes most current/previous federal & state governments doesn't it. Look at the way the WA govt have blown their income from a very prosperous period.

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stui magpie Gemini

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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 7:57 pm
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Skids wrote:
Geez that's a bit harsh, nothing wrong with being a plumber. Definitely not a "low paid, unsatisfying career" as you put it.
We maintain the arteries of civilisation and it's a very satisfying job thanks.

Having said that, I do agree that cutting the research budget by 7% is a crazy move.


Anyone who thinks a plumber or a sparky are low paid has never tried to get one to come around and do some work. Shocked

It takes all types to get the world around, what the intellectual snobs forget is if all we had were the intellectuals they'd be doing their thinking cold and hungry in the dark.

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HAL 

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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 8:01 pm
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How thoughtful.
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David Libra

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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 8:17 pm
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stui magpie wrote:
Anyone who thinks a plumber or a sparky are low paid has never tried to get one to come around and do some work. Shocked

It takes all types to get the world around, what the intellectual snobs forget is if all we had were the intellectuals they'd be doing their thinking cold and hungry in the dark.


For God's sake, Stui, look at the bigger picture. Nobody's saying that all citizens need to be working in advanced robotics or giving lectures in radical feminist architecture; of course we will need manual labourers in the future. But the world is changing, and that means a lot of manual jobs will become a thing of the past. Anyone who takes an objective look at technological development can see that.

That's not snobbery. It's reality. Our leaders need to get with the times or they—and we—will get left behind.

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Dave The Man Scorpio



Joined: 01 Apr 2005
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 8:23 pm
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Abbott wants everyone to have a Job and he does not care how
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stui magpie Gemini

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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 8:37 pm
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David wrote:
stui magpie wrote:
Anyone who thinks a plumber or a sparky are low paid has never tried to get one to come around and do some work. Shocked

It takes all types to get the world around, what the intellectual snobs forget is if all we had were the intellectuals they'd be doing their thinking cold and hungry in the dark.


For God's sake, Stui, look at the bigger picture. Nobody's saying that all citizens need to be working in advanced robotics or giving lectures in radical feminist architecture; of course we will need manual labourers in the future. But the world is changing, and that means a lot of manual jobs will become a thing of the past. Anyone who takes an objective look at technological development can see that.

That's not snobbery. It's reality. Our leaders need to get with the times or they—and we—will get left behind.


Don't you tell me to take the holistic view when you have your own blinkers on thank you. I was replying to Skids, not the <snip> who did the OP because as we've previously discussed I try not to to read his tripe.

Only an idiot would think that all current manual jobs will remain but someone has to build your dwelling, do the plumbing, wire the electricity in etc etc.

You want to get pizza for dinner? Someone is cooking it. You want a sandwich from a shop, someone is making it.

Yes as an aspirational ideal we want to encourage learning and innovation but we don't need the condescending snobbery of assuming that people doing trades work are unskilled, low paid or unsatisfied in their work.

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David Libra

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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 9:51 pm
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OK, well once we put hurt feelings about snobbish discourse to one side, what do we do about the actual problem at hand, given that it affects all of us?

In your opinion, is our government doing enough to support technological development and long-term shifts in job specialisation? And if not, what can we do about it?

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stui magpie Gemini

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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 10:06 pm
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David wrote:
OK, well once we put hurt feelings about snobbish discourse to one side, what do we do about the actual problem at hand, given that it affects all of us?

In your opinion, is our government doing enough to support technological development and long-term shifts in job specialisation? And if not, what can we do about it?


I never studied economics, so I have basically NFI about how that all works, same as most economists it seems. You tell me what levers you think the government has at it's disposal. Just encouraging education in a particular discipline doesn't create an industry around it, it may just create a lot of highly qualified unemployed people. You need to generate the industry to create the demand for the jobs that the education then fills. Generally you do that with targeted tax breaks and concessions for private entities undertaking R&D, not by government spending on conducting it's own.

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David Libra

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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 10:28 pm
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I'm no economist either, but for me the equation is pretty simple: you fund innovation, fund research and development, fund education, make tough calls on old industries (which, to Abbott and Hockey's credit, they have done to an extent) and try to make generally future-oriented policy decisions.

Unfortunately, as the article above states, they're cutting funding to research, and so far haven't achieved anything in the realm of innovative or tech-focused policy-making. You don't have to be a 'warmist' to see that, say, throwing all your chips on the coal-mining industry is a losing game right now. I sometimes wonder if they have any idea what they're doing (beyond staying in power, which they're not even managing to do that well at).

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pietillidie 



Joined: 07 Jan 2005


PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 12:33 am
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As said in another thread, Stui, you take this way too personally. It's about the only thing rational in economics at a broad scale: Get as many people as possible producing more, which in the current economy means getting more people into STEM. The article is not saying get more people into vintage clothes and Romance languages (though the latter has a role as a world and cognitive skill developer, and certainly as a hobby or interest).

(On the economics, supply and demand as a mechanism is very useful at a small scale and sometimes at a mass scale, but it also clearly has major limitations as a window of analysis at mass scales such as regions, nations and cities, so it has to be applied very cautiously there. At the mass scale, obviously you can't get a hold of all the variables and moving parts from which to run your supply and demand calculations, so you end up with gaping holes at worst or very rough and unstable proxies at best which are then filled with the political nonsense of whoever is paying you).

You do know that STEM and maths and science scores have nothing to do with all the wankery, don't you? Even worse, they don't get overpaid like manipulative overpaid executives who blackmail and control shareholders through political networks and legal trickery rather than ability.

And, as you rightly allude, many other folks in the economy get paid more. In that case it's due much more to supply-and-demand, temporary skills mismatch due to sudden shifts as an extension of that, and anti-competitive manipulation by interest groups.

At its purest, you want the most productive activities to be paid the most, which while being hard to judge in some cases, is much easier to judge in the case of STEM experts versus most basic jobs, and certainly the bulk of service jobs Abbott and halfwits are creating.

And because STEM activities drives productivity, they also generate the income which funds much of the service sector. Where do you think the money to fund construction and all the other jobs you're thinking of comes from when it's not coming from an economic bubble? It comes from investors thinking the economy has productive growth in it.

Get with the program and stop taking it personal. You're cutting your nose to spite your face here; this is an example of your unproductive indignation (yes, I certainly have my versions of it, too).

Also, the object of your anger ought to be the lack of pathways for young people due to lazy, unthinking governments not adopting the German system of making as many people as possible as far as possible intellectuals: A Brilliant program of lifting everyone in trades upwards to higher levels of technical and industry proficiency in the tier below STEM (not everyone can do calculus and stats, which is fine); very low-cost up-skilling and fundamental education; a culture of intellectual expectation (nothing to do with fake intellectualism and vintage clothes!).

The irony is how underpaid many of those in science are compared to the endless millions of useless bosses who are embedded in unproductive roles (and often entrenched to protect their arses).

Wrong target. Misdirected indignation. (Feel free to throw that one at me in other contexts).

Also, try to separate your anger from me being provocative on a few key issues, because the reaction is pushing you into unsustainable corners. Forget the silly local politics; there is no "win" going on there, which is why I have also turned on Short'n Curlies (and you can thank that most impractical, theoretical fellow David for getting me over the tribal lines in full).

I appreciate the core STEM guys; they're much smarter than me, and I don't begrudge them, but rather I keep abreast of their work and encourage them in their work for the good of us all, and then try to commercialise it myself in the economy without killing the goose like the countless blind, inward-looking business wankers who make money off science and then de-fund it and discourage folks from entering it. (You can't propagate, apply and commercialise what you don't at least try to understand; that's the responsibility of the rest of us in the economy).

In addition, I'm vocally behind the German system which is great for the next few tiers of jobs. And I have done many a service job and have nothing against them as survival and transitory jobs (and often more, which is why I support a strong minimum wage and reasonable job conditions). I also support helping anyone who wants to up-skill, and have chosen helping folk secure up-skilled jobs or work towards them as my voluntary contribution to society. You can't benefit the productivity of the economy which makes us all wealthy, and then block other folks from benefiting from it too. (BTW, those economic cock blockers and the complete scum shooting costly bullets into the sky under costly private security watch in fake wars are the "elite" bastards I hate with a passion; they're the ones damaging the mass of workers and the ones to whom you ought to be directing your anger).

But it is disgusting to create an economy that discourages STEM and propagandises politically propagandises low-productivity work; and that includes left protectionism (the unions you hate - not to be confused with being un-economically manipulated by greater power with capital) or right class warfare (they're insulting gardeners, cashiers and cabinet makers!). Both are wrong when you view these things from the perspective of productivity, just as overpaid financiers and CEOs who damage the economy (and in the case of the GFC, even their own companies and clients, no less!).

So, get with the program and don't take it personally!

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pietillidie 



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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 12:59 am
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Skids wrote:
Geez that's a bit harsh, nothing wrong with being a plumber. Definitely not a "low paid, unsatisfying career" as you put it.
We maintain the arteries of civilisation and it's a very satisfying job thanks.

Having said that, I do agree that cutting the research budget by 7% is a crazy move.

Skids, see my reply above. Of course there's nothing wrong with it! I agree with you, relative to the individual's personal desires and attributes, and current practical circumstances. The point is, if there are a dozen jobs you could do and enjoy with a bit or a lot of help, we have to get you into the most productive one economically. The traditional name or form of the job doesn't matter; the economy is very dynamic now.

(In my mind I had blended yours and Stui's comments on plumbers together, so much of that post just above is also in reply to you).

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pietillidie 



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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 2:37 pm
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Please direct all economic anger Arrow this way
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