Smaller companies I agree need some help to get them going, but I am just not sure how you could do this without the system being abused. For example larger companies could set up units as small companies to tap into the lower tax rates.

At the end of the day the consumer helped make Coles and Woolworths what they are today. I know we like to complain about them, but the average person wants one stop grocery shopping and that is what they offer. So do we tax them more because they have a business model that works?

Enron had a fairly large military division, did it?
China’s greatest stumbling blocks are likely to be political.
Technology can overcome most other issues. Ageing populations are more a western dilemma. You realise that when you see a 90 year old Chinese squatting, neatly trimming a lawn with a pair of scissors.

EVs/hybrids: Most cities we visit now have almost 100% hybrid or LPG taxis fleets. Many have electric buses. I expect we’ll soon see all commercial construction will require roofs covered with solar panels as integral components, to power corporate fleets. In the US, it’s expected that extensive Walmart parking areas will offer shoppers free charging. Walmart will almost certainly cover their massive roofs with panels to (at least) supplement this. I suspect that the ‘suddenness’ of change may surprise us all, perhaps much more than other radical technological shifts have.

Now, what do I do with this horseshoe?!~

As for China, sometimes I fear it is a big version of Enron. I hope I am wrong.

At the moment Australia is hanging onto China and going along for the ride, but nobody knows how the long the ride will last or how it will end.

There are a lot of structural issues with China most western world don’t have to deal with as much, such as water shortage, bad pollution, ageing population…

Good question, Greg. I know we disagree about the future of EVs, but I imagine there are oilmen now who feel much the same as farriers felt holding a horseshoe, as the first motor cars rumbled past. Some of these EVs have just twelve moving parts.
No fuel needed… and minimal lubrication.

Imagine how much more quickly R & D would produce quantum leaps in EV technology if oil was $150 USD a barrel right now?
The EVs we’re seeing now are the equivalent of the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk glider.

I’m bullish on Asia, with China as the main player; not because it makes me feel any _safer._ It doesn’t!~

For example, if China is really growing as fast it is and the long term outlook is so bullish then why is oil stuck below $80 USD a barrel and why is the Baltic Dry Index showing signs of weakness?

Something just doesn’t add up and it makes me a touch nervous.

I am bullish regarding Asia, but very cautious when it comes to China.

Yes, the political situation may be a powder-keg which might derail long term planning; or technological frog-leaping may make some of their key components (rail, for example) obsolete.
Nuclear war might also impede planning.

On balance, I think that it’s likely we’ll see China continue to rise very steadily, for the rest of my lifetime, anyway. A Black Swan event may mean that those who know how to profit from catastrophe do clean up… but my money is on Asian growth and Australian resources until 2030.

We been down this path before many times. As sure as night follows day the Chinese economy will hit the skids, maybe it will bounce back, maybe it won’t. Who really knows?

You don’t believe that the Chinese _choosing_ to cool growth is a proactive, desirable strategy… say compared to the US, where the cooling is the result of extreme economic/political/military mismanagement, Greg?

It’s my view that any ‘bumps-in-the-road’ will be speed-bumps deliberately initiated to keep the giant on its 100-year-track.

@Ned S -- yes, Australian household is a concern as we have been discussing on this site for a while. If the Chinese economy hits some bumps then things in Oz could turn very nasty very quickly.

http://www.theage.com.au/business/treasury-brief-reveals-household-debt-concern-20100924-15qnn.html

Mr Market is nuts.

This is not advice (or any of my posts)! Always seek a financial adviser to tailor advice to your particular circumstances!

Not a great time to be having a fight with the miners and putting out budget forecasts based on a mining boom!

“It is the biggest gamble ever seen in this country. At stake is much more than the survival of the government. At risk is an industry which Access Economics reports has investment projects of $105 billion under way and a further $185bn of projects on the drawing boards.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/henry-wrong-to-assume-unconstrained-capital/story-e6frg9qo-1225873232725

And my guess is that even dyed in the wool ALP supporters must be having a few niggling if unspoken concerns with the fact the decision is being made by Kev and Wayne.

Unfortunately it seems he couldn’t resist the temptation to open his yap in response to some early allegations that Treasury might secretly be happy if the mining tax cooled the economy down a bit?