The (Fire) Sale of the Century.
Our Australian Federal Government has no cash, Minister Hockey dutifully reminded us today, somewhat gloomily.
It’s a pity really, as they’re not the only cash challenged members of the Australian community. Most of us to some degree are cash challenged, and aren’t able to readily do and achieve all we’d like to do with the available cash at our fingertips.
But what is markedly different between the Government, and we lesser mortals, is that they, the Government, are sitting on a pile of high value, often lazy assets. A classic asset strong, cash poor business.
Thus, the solution we are told, is to convert some of these lazy assets into cash. Cash that can then be used to fund the much needed infrastructure that we can all benefit from.
Thereby creating more business activity, more employment, and in the process more of those highly sought after and highly useful taxes that Governments of all persuasions so love to get their hands on.
Think, infrastructure like new roads, bridges, airports, hospitals, rail infrastructure and the like.
Clearly this would, no, will, deliver significantly improved productivity, job creation and community benefits aplenty.
Predictably and somewhat nauseatingly, our socialist leaning opposition(s) counter claim that this will all end in doom, gloom, job losses with general havoc and mayhem for the Australian economy.
Funny, that’s what they delivered when last in Government.
Perhaps not too surprising given their century long aspirations for the Government (A.K.A. the public) to own anything useful in the economy. Their logic, if that’s the right choice of words, is that the government (the public) have equal rights to share in all of this wonderful wealth and asset base, and that the Government can and should effectively and efficiently run these enterprises.
Pigs might fly, but so far, over the past century or so, Governments of all persuasions have demonstrated a remarkable inability to run businesses at anything like efficient levels.
On the flip side however, and to be balanced in my views, left leaning political parties and their entourage of supporters have always maintained that the incessant subsidies (code: losses) are all in the best interests of maintaining employment levels.
However, to cut to the chase, the sooner we begin converting idling assets into productive ones the better off we will all be.
Political ideology or not.
Author Neil Findlay
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