On 5/5/21 11:36 am, David wrote:
... haul in migrants ...
It is much cheaper and quicker to import a worker than raise and educate one. Also you can pick and choose migrants, whereas you are stuck with citizens. In the case of international students of Australian universities, we get them to pay us to test them, then the best can be offered a job.
... shift in work patterns from manufacturing useful stuff to services and, by definition, that creates no excess value at all. ...
Sorry, how is it services produce no excess value? Automation of a rail line can double its capacity: is that producing no value? If I train the worker who programs the traim, is that producing no value?
Throw in sea-level rise, huge levels of debt resulting from low interest rates, and another pandemic ...
Sea-level rise can be addressed by a shift to renewable energy, to reduce carbon emissions, and slow the rate of global warming. That is happening in Australia in a piecemeal fashion. As an example, an additional electricity inter-connector is being built between NSW, Victoria and SA. That will allow more use of renewable energy. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-31/sa-nsw-electricity-interconnector-gets-approval-from-regulator/100177928
It may be that the federal government's plans for an oil/gas fired power plant in NSW will go ahead, but that will not produce much in the way of carbon emissions, as it will hardly ever be used. One strategy would be for the government to build facility big enough for the announced capacity, but only purchase and install a token amount of generating equipment. The rest of the space could then be used for batteries. I suggest having the staff wear blue overalls with black smudges printed on them, so the look like real workers, although the handful at the plant will be mostly pushing button, not hefting spanners. ;-)
The current pandemic is being addressed using approaches developed over decades by public health and emergency management specialists. Government ministers unfortunately mostly chose not to be involved in the development and testing of those plans, so are ill equipped to deal with a pandemic. http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/sahana3.shtml
Likewise, most academics in Australian universities did not plan, or train for, what to do if students were unable to get to class for extended periods. This contrasts with Singapore, where after SARS-1 annual drills were held at some institutions to test the capacity to teach online. So Australian universities have had to muddle through without plans, or trained staff. https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2020/03/designing-in-on-line-learning-option.html
Unfortunately, given human nature, as the pandemic (hopefully) is brought under control, most people will go back to not caring about, or preparing for, the next pandemic.
-- Tom Worthington http://www.tomw.net.au _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
