On the Backs of the Australian Worker

Day 903, 03:31 • Published in Australia USA • by mjdiv

G’day Australia!

As a business owner as well as someone looking for ways to improve the economies of all of our allies, I was curious to see how Australia has been doing in comparison to the rest of the world. We all know that, no matter who you are in the world, everybody needs food. So I decided to compare prices for Q1 food around the world. What I found out was that there were 165 offers in 33 different countries on the world market that had better prices for food than Australia. In other words, 33 different countries pay less for their food than Australia does. And since everyone needs food, that also means that the citizens of 33 different countries have more money to spend on weapons and higher quality housing and food than Australia does.

Okay, I hear what you’re saying…”we’ll just make that up by buying gifts”. I looked at gifts: There are 305 offers on the market in 43 countries which are cheaper than Australia’s. You get the picture.

Why should Australia have the most expensive food and gifts when Australia has high resource territories of grain (for food) and diamonds (for gifts)? If Australia owns these high-resource territories, shouldn’t Australia be able to offer the lowest prices to its citizens because of plentiful access to the resources? I took another look to find out why. When you look at Australia’s import taxes,, you’ll notice that the taxes are low on the raw materials, which means that Australian manufacturers can buy their supplies at low cost, but grain and diamond import taxes are 10%! If Australia already has high grain and high diamonds, then adding a 10% import tax will mean that foreign companies won’t be able to compete in Australia and Australian grain and diamond companies can raise prices due to lower supply. In turn, Australian food and gift companies will be forced to either pay higher prices for their supplies (which in turn leads to lower wages and higher prices for food and gifts for the Australian consumer) or they will have to use organizations to buy their supplies overseas from one of the 33+ other countries that sell these items for less than Australia in order to compete domestically. So the high import taxes which are meant to protect Australian business actually have 2 end results: More expensive products for Australian citizens and money going out of Australia (through the organizations which control the businesses) to other nations where cheaper supplies can be bought.

I already hear the voices shouting: “We don’t want competition because we already have grain and diamonds. If we lower the import taxes, then foreign companies will come in to steal our market and put all of the Australian companies out of business!” Really? Is there some nation in eRepublik that has slave labor with skill 7 workers working 24 hours a day for 0.000000001 gold per day that will sell their products in Australia and put all of the domestic food and gift companies out of business? I heard the same arguments a year ago when I was on Congress in eUSA and fought for lower import taxes - and yes, I’m a business owner as well. Now eUSA has across-the-board 1% import taxes - with no drastic drop in prices! I am a business owner in eUSA and I’m still able to make money and share profits with my workers!

I hear some more voices: “At least Australia will make money from the companies that export to us.” With 10% import taxes, however, I would like to ask how much revenue you think Australia makes off of foreign companies selling in Australia in diamonds and grain? Are there even any companies who can compete in Australia in diamonds and grain when you already have high grain and high diamonds? I know I’m not far off in saying that Australia makes very little to no revenue whatsoever from the 10% import taxes because hardly anyone else can be profitable selling in Australia.

A simple solution: What if you lowered your import taxes (not completely, but say down to 5😵. I hear some more voices: “That will cut our revenue in half!” I will tell you for certain that it won’t and this is why: At 10%, companies will not find it profitable because domestic Australian companies will easily undersell them so there will be no foreign competition at all. At 5% or less, Australia will still be able to compete, but some of her allies will also be able to sell in Australia. If more companies can sell in Australia, then more companies will be able to pay the 1-5% import tax which will give revenue to Australia. In return, Australian food and gift companies will not have to go overseas with their organizations and they can actually buy domestically - from Australian companies who are competing with the other companies - which is better for Australia. Australian citizens will be able to buy less expensive food and gifts in Australia and will have more money for weapons, housing or whatever else they want. The Australian manufacturing companies (because they will not have to pay as much for their supplies) will also be able to afford higher wages for Australian workers while providing products less expensively - an all around benefit for Australia.

Citizens of Australia - ask yourselves this question: What is better for Australia? Is it better for a few Australian grain and diamond GM’s to make all of the money for themselves at the expense of Australian citizens by keeping import taxes high or is it better for Australia to be able to have outlets to sell to her allies and to put money in the pockets of Australian citizens to buy more stuff and improve the lives of the Australian manufacturing workers and citizenry in general? More money for a few or more stuff that ALL the people can afford?

Australia, you are position to have the best trading partnership in the world which will benefit Australia and her allies alike. As we work together to improve each of our economies, allies will become even stronger because we take a social and economic interest in each other and not just a military one. To find out what you can do to improve Australia’s economy, join the discussion in the Trade And Military Alliance channel on IRC in [url=irc://irc.rizon.net/TAMA]#TAMA[/url].

Have fun and enjoy another day in eRepublik!

mjdiv,
TAMA founder