Shepparton SPC - Future secured with $22m

Posted to Monash Weekly (13/2/2014) on 13/2/2014 at 9:42 PM
Commenting on "Shepparton SPC. Future secured with $22m?"
http://www.monashweekly.com.au/story/1796247/shepparton-spc-future-secured-with-22m/

What's the worth of SPC if its door is closed tomorrow? Very likely it will worth as much as the the scrap of the dated machinery, building and land site. So how much is this worth - $50 million, $100 million or more than the Government assistance the company is asking for?

I find it amusing that Government is handing out packages to rescue private companies when they become uncompetitive due the company management lack of forward planning, unrealistic forecast, and perhaps their inaptness or incompetence to recognise market threats.

With public companies, it is unfortunate that profits are normally distributed as dividends to shareholders, and when bad times come, there is not enough in the coffers to support losses. Lack of fund can delay or stop major maintenance, upgrades or purchase of equipment critical to ride out difficult moments. The reverse of the adage "short term pain, long term gain" is valid too, that is "short term gain, long term pain".

Australia is not only a welfare country giving handouts for many Australians, rightly or wrongly, but also for inefficient public companies. Time and again we witness Government's bandaid financial assistance fail to resolve problems in a long run. Like former Singapore Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kwan Yew, once said, "give a beggar a gold coin, he will ask for a second one".

Is there a better way to tackle this problem? I do believe so. However, I shall leave this to those highly paid parliamentarians, advisers and experts to do some hard thinking. Think outside the box, or else Australia will live in one soon.

If there is a will, there is a way!

Posted to Letters to Editor, Monash Weekly" on 29/7/2011
Title "If there is will, there is way!"
http://www.monashweekly.com.au/content/letterstotheeditor/

Many people are experiencing financial hardship, small business operators facing business closure and house owners will hand the houses back to the banks.

I understand very well because I worked 3 jobs to support myself through university. I later owned and operated a small business and hit the 80's downturn. With determination, I survived those tough times.

Keep calm or else you won't be able to see clearly, even if there is light at the end of the tunnel. Seek advice, seek help - don't just think about it, you must talk about it or no one will know that you are doing tough and need assistance.

I once wrote a blog as follows:

Las Vegas is situated on the arid desert floor of Nevada, USA. World Islands of Dubai are artificial islands off the coast of Dubai, built with 386 million tonnes of rock to form the foundations. Eskimos reside in the circumpolar region with sub-zero temperature without being frozen. Man can now fly to the moon without wings.

If there is a will, there is a way!

Good luck, you'll be right mate!

China's economy about to overtake US

Posted to Monash Weekly (25/4/2011) on 26/4/2011 at 1:35 PM (Not published)
Resubmited Part 2 of 3 on 15/10/2011 9:23 PM
Commenting on “China's economy about to overtake US”
http://www.monashweekly.com.au/news/world/world/general/chinas-economy-about-to-overtake-us/2143313.aspx

Good on China. This is a great example for many countries to follow! Unfortunately, far too many countries adopt the NATO’s motto - Talk Only No Action!

With a population of 1.3 billion people to support and yet can win the economic race is definitely a modern day fairy tale. Australia has only 23 million people, but keeps whinging about the size of the population – this is just laughable!

While Australia still needs to resolve the NBN rollout, China has already built the highest rail track in the world linking Beijing to Tibet, the fastest bullet train, a modern international airport bigger than London’s Heathrow Airport, thousands of wind turbines, booming automotive industry building electric cars, rockets to send satellites and astronauts to outer space, and the most awesome one is that China is the factory of the world now!

End Part 1 of 3


Is there anything China cannot excel in? China is progressing at lightning speed – thanks to technology transfer, it is rather unstoppable. What is more concerning is that China will soon be the office of the world. With the unprecedented speed of technological advancement, a modern office is no longer an enclosed space with fixed locality - staff can be situated in other parts of the world, and documents filed and backed up in computer servers remote from the source.

Can you imagine the benefit of outsourcing office services to overseas companies? Just compare that with buying goods online from other countries – there is no GST if the value is under $1,000. Outsourcing office work saves on payroll tax, compulsory superannuation guaranteed contribution, office expenses, union interference, etc. What is going to happen to employment?

End Part 2 of 3


2009-2010 $19.1 billion international education industry has become the thing of the past. Australian government move to change the visa and permanent residency policies have led to a drastic decline in international students coming to study in Australia, causing a financial blackhole in our economy. This subject has not been raised openly and treated urgently by both political parties.

With economy of scale and determination, China can train more people in China per week than probably all the Australian learners / trainees trained in one year. It is just a matter of a decade or so, professional trainers in China will lose their accent, and international students from all over the world will be pursuing their qualifications in China. After being an educator / trainer in the industry for about 15 years, I can only say that future learners will probably get higher quality training in China than Australia, and at fraction of the cost.

After all that being said and written, are there no negatives about China especially the way she deals with human rights and social justice? I can only say it is a matter of opinion, and this is not relevant to the subject in discussion.

End Part 3 of 3

Decline in International Students

Posted to Letters to the Editor, Monash Weekly on 4/12/2010
Title: Decline in International Students

The change of government policies during mid-2010, and tightening the granting of PR to international students resulted in drastic drop of international students coming to Australia, so much so that the international education and student accommodation industries may face extinction.

The international education generated over $18b "export" income, and created unprecedented demand of sessional teachers, commercial building for classrooms, student accommodation, public transport usage, ethnic groceries, etc.

The spin-off of having these international students is that they provide lowly paid workforce doing all the menial tasks, and long unpalatable hours of work. While this may sound unethical, it does help many businesses to cut cost and increase productivity.

It seems many policy makers had neither consulted the industry players nor paid any attention to possible negative impact which might realise.

If the unfortunate predictions were to come true, we can see, first, a definite rise in unemployment - from teaching profession to many service providers. Second, many CBD's will experience population drop, and decline in vibrance. Third, the student accommodation market will be annihilated. Fourth, the number of passengers using public transport system will also decrease.

China banning lobster import from Australia

Posted to Letters to the Editor, Monash Weekly on 1/12/2010
Title: China banning lobster import from Australia

Australia's economy is over dependent on China, the largest trading partner of Australia - China relies on our iron ore and coal.

Australia is holding a trump card at present, but probably until China owns enough mines in other offshore countries. The decline in students coming from China is a huge blow to our economy, but has been swept under the carpet.

Now, out of blue, Chinese are banning the lobsters. What's next?

My Rational Economic Analysis

Posted to Letters to the Editor, Monash Weekly on 5/2/2010
Title: My Rational Economic Analysis

The RBA Governor, statisticians, economies and bankers alike should go back to school to learn critical thinking and mathematical analysis. The December 09 retail sales are indeed better than forecast, and NOT as bad as these ignorant people try to make us believe.

Many departmental stores and non-food outlets were concerned about the economic downturn, and attempted to have sales before Christmas. As a result, the item unit prices were lowered, and therefore more sales volumes must be generated to compensate the eventual sales value.
For example, if a $100-item is sold at 20% discount, it is required to sell 1.25 (i.e. $100/$80) items to achieve $100, or an increase of 25% sales volume. With only 0.7% drop in sales value, or $99.93, the number of units sold is 1.2496 (i.e. $99.93/$80), or close to 25% increase in volume.

In general, cafes, and food outlets don't drop prices, and that explains the increase in sales revenue. If the retailers in question were game enough not to drop their pries during the peak season, they would have made hefty profits.

In short, these gurus' interpretations are just nonsensical!