In Australia many new laws include an exemption to allow Governments and their minions to break these rules without penalty.

The recent highly publicized persecution of Australia’s Rupert Murdoch (probably the single most influential man in the world) is based on one or several of his News Corp. Ltd’s 54,000 employees ‘hacking’ into phone calls in pursuit of a hot story in the U.K.

It is also illegal to ‘hack’ phone calls and invade the privacy of individuals here in Australia, so it was a revelation, in 1993, when the introduction of a 2G ‘digital’ mobile phone system was delayed by over 12 months for the reason that our Government agencies, proficient at ‘hacking’ the previous ‘analog’ system, needed more time to perfect their ‘hacking’ of the digital system that the phone providers had standing by to offer the public.

So we know that it’s illegal for individuals (and reporters) to ‘hack’ our phone calls but our Government makes no secret of the fact that they are ‘listening in’ to our private calls and reading our emails.

Their excuse?

“But we only listen-in on the murderers, drug dealers and terrorists.”

However, you and I know that there just aren’t enough murderers, drug dealers and terrorists phoning each other to keep those thousands of Government phone ‘hackers’ busy.

Of course they pretend to be busy by listening into you enquiring about ‘Aunt Millie’s health’ and the other, even more personal aspects of your lives.

They almost appear to be proud of breaking their own rules.

In Perth alone there are 150 ‘hackers’ listening into our 5% of Australia’s population (extrapolating this; means 3,000 full time ‘privacy invaders’ nationwide).

Perhaps this also explains the difficulty that industry is having in finding skilled people to employ? Perhaps they are all too busy listening to our phone calls.

We should never be surprised at the occasional ‘click and pop’ on the line.

Where do I get this information? http://www.mannkal.org/downloads/guests/ccctotap1000phonesaday.pdf

No, it doesn’t worry them that they are breaking the law that they force you and me to follow.

The question they should be asking is, “Why do Australians have so little respect for Government?” When they consider the answer to this question they might even decide to set about earning our respect.

I welcome that day.

On Saturday, March 31, 2012 the ‘econuts’ sulk in their caves, lights turned off, freezing / sweltering in the dark, cursing all the benefits of Western Civilization; and they give this (8.30 p.m. – 9.30 p.m.) apologetic hour of agony, the ambiguous title of ‘Earth Hour’.

Let us, instead, celebrate the achievements of those intellectual giants who have gone before us.

Let us turn on all the lights and celebrate ‘Human Achievement Hour’.

This celebratory ‘counter-culture’ movement is sweeping the world, as we acknowledge intellectual giants such as Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison and event economists such as Mises and Hayek.

Our view of the world is much better by standing on the shoulders of ’intellectual giants’, rather than the shoulders of ‘intellectual pygmies’ (as does Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan).

Fred Smith, CEO of the Competitive Enterprise Institute of Washington DC, is actually running a ‘happy hour’ in his office from 9.00 p.m. – 11.00 p.m. U.S. ES time, and if you can’t make it in person the event will be live streamed at CEI.org, beginning at 8.30 p.m. U.S. EST.

We think that turning the lights off sends the wrong message and represents a rejection of human innovation and progress.

Instead, join with your friends for an annual celebration of individual freedom and appreciation of the achievements and innovations that people have used to improve their lives throughout history.

So, use this time to celebrate the benefits of free enterprise and human innovation; gather with friends in your  air-conditioned home environment, watch television, take a hot shower, drink a beer, call a loved one on the phone or quietly listen to music.

For those of us blessed with access to modern civilization, we have a lot to celebrate so don’t leave it too late.

Happy Birthay Poem for Gina

She could sit on a yacht,

take it easy on the beach,

or selfishly stay

out of everyone’s reach.

She doesn’t need interference

building dreams and aspirations,

a task started by her Father,

the creator of great inspiration.

Without these creators like Gina,

our country would certainly flounder,

but with more of them here in Australia,

our economy would be far sounder.

Say what you like about Gina,

she is out there having a ‘go’,

unlike some of those envious critics

whose top speed is definitely ’slow’ -

Creators create out of nothing,

satisfaction is what they sustain,

they beautify life, so let’s have more Ginas

to replace leaders who lead down the drain.

Governments need to decide

to amply reward enterprise -

and not stifle with bad regulations

which give turmoil instead of a prize.

Today, in Australia, the government’s intent

on taxing work, investment and thrift,

rewarding the mediocre and idle,

leaving the rest of us to pay for their gift.

So what do we do about the critics?

They are drowning in envy you see.-

Are their sad little souls so unhappy

to see Gina so efficient and free?

So Happy Birthday to you Gina -

keep on being creative and strong -

here’s hoping those sad, envious critics

will one day find themselves singing YOUR song!

(The State bureaucracy works hard to rekindle my contempt for their bungling.)
The simple matter of a miscellaneous licence annual renewal was made difficult by someone “up there” deciding that from this year, photo-ID is now required on the licence document.

What, previously was a simple task, repeated over countless years by simply “mailing them a cheque” was complicated this year by what appeared to be a reasonable request in their letter;

“You are required to pay in person at your local Australia Post Office as it is a requirement to have your photograph taken. Australia Post can also process the payment for the renewal of the licence. Alternatively if your local Australia Post does not provide this service you may attend the Department of Transport or your local Shire office.”

Now, this should have been a simple task; but after visiting the local “Shire Office” and three post offices where they all claimed ‘no knowledge of their ability to perform these services’, it was the fourth post office where this task was cheerfully performed.

Okay, five lots of parking spots found, and five lots of “queuing experiences” and suddenly my whole morning had vanished.

The end result?

No benefit to me.

No increased revenue to the State Government.

But, I have been robbed of a morning that could have been productively directed elsewhere.

This reminds me of Frederic Bastiat’s story - here - about ‘the things seen and the things unseen.

The morning of which I have just been robbed is very much ”seen” by me.

The thing “seen” by the bureaucracy who originated the “helpful letter” was their instruction which appeared clear and co-operative, but what forever will remain “unseen” is the inconvenience they inflict on others, as I’m sure I’m not the only person who has suffered the above time-wasting exercise.

I’m often asked, “What has been the biggest change to Australia over the past 40 years?”

The easy answer?

In the 1970s, paying tax was optional, but work was essential if one wished to survive. Now, it’s the other way around: paying tax is compulsory, but work is optional and there is very little focus on distinguishing productive work from ‘sawing sawdust’ type jobs, where there is no measurable productive output.

Is Australia a better place as a result of this major change?
The answer probably depends on whether you earn your living from economic activity or from bureaucratic activity. Another big change is that, in the 1970s, there was little discussion about “how the previous generation has ‘shafted’ the next generation”.

All that has changed—and rightfully so—with ready access to current statistics, now available to all at the click of a mouse. These data were only accessible to the ‘elites’ a generation ago. All this makes for some interesting discussions at Mannkal’s office in Subiaco.

There is very little respect for the ‘Harvard Graduates’ on Wall Street who, with the assistance of their friends on Capitol Hill and at the Fed, brought down the US economy. There is also very little respect for Southern Europe’s illogical entitlement mentality where the expectation was that Germany would fund their unsustainable pensions forever.

In this wearisome environment of today, young people are challenged in their search for role models as they move out to take their place in the world. But despite all the challenges, our Mannkal Foundation enjoys this economic and political fabric as we enter our 15th year, finding that we still maintain close contact with many of the 500 young people who we have sponsored for internships, seminars and events, both internationally and within Australia. So many of these young people continually send material back to us, reflecting on their experiences of events from so many parts of this interesting world. Our own experience is enriched through their input. Those participating in overseas internships have established their own input link to our website, where their weekly reports are publicly available:

www.mannkal.org/lionrock/and
www.mannkal.org/frontier/
Mannkal’s Musings is entirely compiled and published biannually by our youthful team, and this December issue is jointly edited by Emma Crisp, who now, after being with us for three years, is completing her studies and seeking career opportunities both in Australia and overseas, and Felicity Karageorge, our new Scholarship Coordinator, who was a former Mannkal Intern with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta).

This constant stream of constructive but sceptical input to our office and to our two Facebook sites* makes my job one of the best imaginable. So, please spend some time exploring this publication** and the various links it contains and be prepared to be injected with this special brand of optimism!

*www.facebook.com/Mannkal*www.facebook.com/ron.manners

**http://www.mannkal.org/downloads/newsletters/newsletter120118.pdf

I think about the young ones
in generation Y -
their enthusiasm and energy,
their ability to reason why -
They can clearly see the burden
which hasn’t reached them yet,
passed down by past generations -
that burden’s known as ‘Debt’.

Now how on earth did it get this way,
us ‘oldies’ are not all dills -
Were some of us looking the other way
or brain dead on too many pills?
Did they fall for the same old story,
known as the ‘political curse’ -
spending to buy the peoples’ votes
which, of course, makes everything worse.

“You can live at someone else’s expense”,
goes the old political song,
“Give us your vote, you lovely folk
and you‘ll see we will do no wrong.”
“We are handing out these millions
while someone else is paying.”
Remember the bandit, Robin Hood,
had a very similar saying?

If we calculate what is owing
with some really simple accounting,
you will see that the debt, when the bill comes in,
will be huge - and constantly mounting*.
Will some feel guilty, knowing their votes
were bought with the embezzled money
of a generation yet unborn?
The tragic result? - Not funny!

Meanwhile our Generation ‘Y’,
having started in a hole,
will hopefully vote in cynical vain
and so avoid selling their souls.
Having recently contacted and questioned,
a number of young ones I know,
they made me feel quite optimistic
that the future will reap what they sow.

*At Sept. 2011 Australia’s net foreign debt was $740.5 Billion.
Dividing by the population = $32,494 per person.
+ Total household debt was $1,100 Billion = $48,302 per person.
Grand Total, per person = $80,796.

The ownership of this project is inseparable with Australia’s Mining Industry.

If the industry accepts this challenge, the Mining Hall of Fame will now fulfil its vital role, particularly at this time when the industry is continually singled out for regular ‘beat-ups’.

The Mining Hall has a vital role in explaining the industry to the general public.

The Mining Hall being just one step away from the companies themselves can develop an educational degree of credibility.

One of the things that fascinates me about our mining industry is that we fanaticise that we have a great image amongst the general public and that some of us, like our politicians, feel that just a few perfunctory gestures and frequent use of the word ‘sustainability’ will buy sufficient respectability for us to stagger forward.

Our young people are very sceptical about such trivialities and they are hungry for heroes, on which they can base their aspirations – witness the Steve Jobs phenomenon.

We, as an industry, are not developing our own heroes and do not acknowledging them sufficiently.

Our industry is not developing its own narrative, and since Professor Geoffrey Blainey and legendary figures like Sir Arvi Parbo covered earlier generations of our industry, we are virtually without a ‘poet laureate’ or an ‘industry philosopher’ to give the bigger picture, far beyond our individual company presentations.

Our industry has created some great Generals and they are successfully running their companies.

However, we desperately need a ‘poet laureate’ if we are going to successfully defend our industry in this ongoing battle. (Someone like New Zealand’s Roger Kerr.)

Talking about battles and the need for a poet-philosopher brings to mind the American War of Independence where George Washington was battling the British (yes, this is relevant).

George Washington was in the frontline like our modern day C.E.O.s, but behind the scene was their Poet Laureate, Thomas Paine, producing his regular pamphlets called ‘Common Sense’.

Tom Paine’s words set the mood for public opinion and his words presented the American Colonists with an argument for freedom from British rule at a time when the question of independence was still undecided.

Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that the common people understood.

The importance of Thomas Paine was later summed up by the words of another American Founding Father, John Adams, as follows:

‘Without the pen of, Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense, the sword of George Washington would have been raised in vain.’

Australia’s mining industry desperately needs a Thomas Paine, working with the Mining Hall of Fame, to clearly put the case for more mining and more prosperity for our nation and all of its people.

Many in the industry leave it to the politicians, by getting them to open their projects, feeling that it is the only way to get any T.V. coverage of the event.

I’m not the only one expressing these concerns.

Dr. Nikki Williams, recently speaking as the CEO of the NSW Minerals Council, told a conference in Wollongong:

“The Australian public has a conflicted relationship with the mining sector, which is at the forefront of debates ranging from the carbon tax to the nation’s two-speed economy.”
“We’re the darlings of the business pages, yet we’re painted as demons in the early general news,” she said.

“We help treasurers keep budgets healthy and give Australia the strength to stave off the threat of recession, yet our industry is a lightning rod for the most adversarial of political debates.”

Dr Williams said Australia was in the middle of one of the longest mining booms in the nation’s history.

“Yet we face multiple policies, regulatory and legislative challenges that might collectively render our sector a less attractive destination for international investment than countries such as Indonesia, Colombia or even Mongolia.” She warned.

Federal Governments will never speak highly of the mining industry and describe it as a creative, high technology industry, which develops its own people as no other industry does.

The Federal Government will never promote the “Mining” image as being creative as they would then never get away with adding yet another tax on top of the other taxes to a ‘creative industry’. However, they can, and will get away with more imposts as long as mining continues to be seen as an “exploitive industry”, which is exactly their political description of mining, for their own purposes.

Our Australian Mining Hall, through extensive use of social media, could explain how only 200 years ago 85% of the people on this planet lived on less than $1 per day. That was 85% and now it’s down to 20%, largely because of mining.

I know the power of social media as I run one of Australia’s best Facebook sites for economic and policy debate (4,500 friends) , with contributions from a remarkable range of international individuals, including two former Senior Advisors to President Reagan and the former Prime Minister of Estonia, plus a lot of equally surprising individuals.

So that’s what the Mining Hall should be doing for the industry, where it’s not really appropriate for each company to divert their own resources toward social media.

Australian mining needs to develop a narrative of it’s own, to explain mining’s role in increasing the well-being of billions of people, who are being lifted out of poverty.

Mining as an industry has been largely responsible for increasing the average human life span from 30 years of age (110 years ago) to 67 years of age today.

In Australia today there exists evidence that people remain wilfully ignorant about how wealth is created.

They take for granted that wealth simply “exists”, and they focus their attention on a so-called ‘fair’ way to divide it up, such as the more wasteful projects of which we are all aware.
As long as this absolute waste of resources goes unchallenged, which to my dismay appears to be the case, Canberra’s voracious appetite for further revenue to be extracted from the productive sector will continue.

If they actually understood the process of wealth creation they would encourage more mining so that they could receive more revenue, instead they are driving our industry offshore, to so many other countries where Australian capital and personnel are developing mines which will compete with our very own.

Witness the remarkable situation where our Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, is now acting as though he is the Foreign Minister for Africa, announcing all sorts of incentives for Australian companies to invest in African resources, whilst taxing us if we invest in our own country.

Tax the industry and the entrepreneurs beyond the point of endurance and the gold and other minerals stay in the ground, and investment and jobs leave on the next flight. Resources don’t benefit the world until somebody discovers them and then can profitably extract process and sell them.

The mining industry needs to do more to promote its socioeconomic benefits to the broader public. This enormous task is being carried on the backs of too few. This is one of the key roles for the Mining Hall.

Let me remind you of the constant battle being fought between the rapacious sector on one hand and the productive sector on the other hand.

Australia’s mining industry, with discipline could use the Australian Mining Hall as a key weapon, along with the Minerals Council of Australia, The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) and the various State Chambers, to form a comprehensive arsenal to ensure that our industry prospers under a clear set of rules, regulations and taxes.

Without such co-ordinated, defensive action, the current political regime will continue with its constant whims, threats and disincentives, all serving to take the industry’s eyes off the main focus of being creative and productive.

The Mining Hall was constructed and funded by the most remarkable and professional group of volunteers that I have ever had the privilege of working with, and it will be interesting to see if Australia’s mining industry accepts the challenge of developing the Mining Hall of Fame into an effective player in Australia’s ever expanding resource industry.

One of the joys of returning to Australia is the experience of observing the priorities that beset Australians, locked away in our corner of the world.

While the world grapples with all manner of catastrophes, both natural and government-induced, four initial impressions overwhelmed me:

1. Australia was basking in the glory of our Wayne Swan being nominated by Euromoney magazine as Finance Minister of the Year (possibly nominated by the National Bank of Greece?) — more on that later.

2. In Canberra, the city was abuzz with delegates to a Breast Conference who were contemplating and defining the two roles of the female breast—namely, as a source of food or as a ‘sexual organ’.

3. In Western Australia, where we now produce 46% of Australia’s exports, the main news was the multiple meetings being held to seek permission to kill a shark deemed responsible for the most recent of the three fatal attacks on swimmers over the previous 7 weeks.

4. Of interest also was the publicity surrounding our Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (The Hon. Kevin Rudd) now working for several African nations, encouraging Australian miners and explorers to invest and develop new mines in Africa, to compete against Australia’s mining industry.

Australian mineral explorers have already figured out that it’s too difficult ‘getting started’ in Australia due to land access and regulatory impediments and approximately 84% of their exploration budget is already being spent out of Australia.

How long do we expect to be the lucky country?

Well, back to the World’s Greatest Finance Minister.

Let’s look at the basis for these claims.

Yes, the Australian economy is in reasonably good order at the moment, in spite of the Australian Federal Government and its Treasurer.

Its respectable condition lies with our three previous governments — one Liberal and two Labor.

The Hawke/Keating governments (Labor) got the supply side of our economy in good shape and the Howard government (Liberal) eliminated our governmental budgetary problems.

So, we are still living on the fat generated by the three previous good governments.

The following chart graphically illustrates and provides the evidence for this.

Red = Labor; Blue = Debt under the Howard Coalition; Black = Projected

It’s just as Margaret Thatcher said: “Socialism works only until you run out of other people’s money.”

Ron Manners

Nov. 2011

Turkey’s economic growth rate surpasses that of China. What is its secret for success, I asked?

1. Turkey actually encourages entrepreneurship and productivity (instead of taxing it to death).

2. Turkey had a severe financial crisis in 2001 and has not since permitted welfare entitlements and debt to develop, as they have in so many countries now experiencing difficulties. It has thus become the model economy for so many Arab countries as they now break away from autocratic dictatorships. These countries-in-transition see the Communist model as defunct, the US model as broken and the European model as decaying.

If you need an example of Turkish entrepreneurship, then try chicken feet! Chicken feet are not eaten in Turkey but they are a delicacy in China.

Casting your eyes skyward in Turkey you might see one of the many planeloads of chicken feet (in marinade) flying off to China!

Turkey earns US$40M annually from exporting more than 3,000 tonnes of their chicken feet to the restaurant tables of China.

The virtues of specialisation and trade to one side, the real highlight of my sojourn in Turkey was the three back-to-back conferences, which became three intriguingly intense adventures.

The first, Religion, Society, and Freedom better described as a colloquium, was an intimate three-day conversation among and between an exquisitely chosen 15 person group of Islamic scholars and Christian/Western Civilisation advocates.

There are many differences between Islam and the West, some running very deep, and this brief investigation of their origins brought home to me the depth and breadth of the chasm that exists.

For example, we were urged to ponder on phrases such as: “if you confront evil with good, you will tire of the confrontation. But, if you confront it with evil, you will vanquish it.”

Our pre-conference reading papers hoped that, “the darkness of this dilemma which the reader faced has by now been transformed into light, and fire has been transformed into coolness and peace of mind.”

However, on return to this remote outpost of Australia and being greeted with the continuing on-screen examples of divisiveness, mostly caused by our defective government policies (much in the way that ‘foreign aid’ often results in perverse consequences) shows me that much work needs to be done in Australia, where our society will fracture if we fail to find a satisfactory remedy.

Nonetheless, it was refreshing to explore the many things that we do have in common, among them voluntarism which, regrettably is not universally practised.

Although the pre-conference reading papers suggested that voluntarism was only a secondary function (goal), it was respectably suggested by me that we elevate voluntarism to the status of a primary goal, as it is one of the most unifying forces throughout civil societies which can bridge Jewish/Christian and Muslim philosophies.

This colloquium experience, exploring the relationships between Western Civilization (which unfortunately is no longer taught in most ‘Western’ universities) and the Islamic faith / law / finance interconnect, is something I will continue through the significant personal contacts made on this occasion.

The second conference, Nation, State and Liberty, was a four-day presentation of academic papers, followed by comments from academic discussants and Q & A sessions attended by approximately 250 delegates.

The introductory comments from the Co-Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Prof. Atilla Yayla, set the stage for some lively discussions:

“The time we live in is named a nation-state-age. We are born into nation states. We are socialized and educated in nation states. The nation state follows us from cradle to grave. There seems to exist no way to escape from it. In brief, the nation state has impacts in every moment and every aspect of human life. How are society and our individual freedom affected by this fact? This is the main theme of the meeting.

However, by leaving this important topic to the sessions, I would like to briefly touch upon another subject which is as important as the relation between freedom and the nation state. I am encouraged to do so because this meeting is taking place in a country where the majority of the population is Muslim. The issue is Islam’s compatibility with individual freedom, liberal democracy and a free market economy. As we all know, the economic and political outlook in Muslim countries is extremely disappointing. Almost all Muslim countries are economically underdeveloped. There are some rich nations, but they cannot be counted among industrialized countries since their wealth results not from a stable and strong production base but from a single commodity – oil. Total GDP of Islamic countries all together is less than that of France. The number of books translated each year into the four main languages spoken in Muslim countries is less than that of the books translated into Spanish. In none of the Islamic countries, including Turkey, do we see a well-functioning, consolidated democratic system. The recent revolts in North Africa, the so-called Arab Spring, raised our hopes that in some Arabic countries liberal democratic systems could be founded. However, one needs to be cautious about what is to happen next in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. As the great philosopher, Lord Acton, pointed out in the 19th century, “In the end of the day, what matters is not what you are against but what you are for.”

Why is this so? Is there anything wrong with Islam, and Muslim people? There are two extremist positions taken by some commentators on this issue. The first one is the position of Islamists and the second one is the position of some Westerners. These two groups appear as if they are in a clash with each other, but in practice they unite in the aim to keep Muslim lands away from individual freedom, a free market economy, and liberal democracy. The Islamists say that Islam is not compatible with Western values of individual freedom, the rule of law, and with Western institutions like a free market economy and liberal democracy. The Westerners who are infected with Islamophobia rush to join them and claim that these values and institutions are uniquely Western. They are the product of Western culture and they cannot exist or survive in any other culture.

I think both sides are mistaken.… ”

The third conference was titled Spreading the Word of Freedom and Liberal Democracy in the Region. The full significance and relevance of the first two conferences were exemplified in the content of this one-day conference which brought together ‘veterans’ and ‘reformers’ from the time of the fall of Communism, some 20 years ago, with the current courageous youth leaders spearheading the many ongoing Arab Spring youth rebellions against autocratic dictatorships.

There were about 130 delegates from 45 different countries.

Turkey, being an economic model for these nations to follow, was a logical choice as a venue for such a conference.

I view the future with apprehension, because although it is clear that these rebellious youth groups have a clear vision of the future they don’t want, there is no equally clear vision of what sort of society they do wish to construct as a viable replacement. (Here, I’m referring to the many youth groups not attending this conference.)

Any study of civilizations show that nothing lasts forever and that it is difficult to construct a complex working model of your future when you are doing it on the run and under great stress.

I took the liberty of filming most of these presentations and, once I have received permission from each speaker, will feature YouTube excerpts, accessible though www.mannkal.org

This is a delicate matter as many comments were ‘in-house’ and may cause problems in the speakers’ home countries.

When I discussed this with a Syrian speaker, his comments were, “Our people are dying right now, so you have a responsibility to tell the world what is going on in Syria.”

I doubt that consent will be as forthcoming from every speaker.

As these youth revolts continue, much thought will be given to the various options now open to these countries.

The simple choices that existed 20 years ago between capitalism and communism are no longer available and the world is generally unforgiving to the U.S.A. for its mass export of deceptive financial instruments, made worse by the central bankers and populist governments who encouraged irresponsible debt with near-zero interest rates.

The poor state of political leadership amongst the major nations is a topic of wide discussion as many countries around the world move into re-election mode in 2012.

From these meetings the Istanbul Network for Liberty was created “To explore the principles and values of a free society within the Muslim world”. The criteria for involvement are to have a strong commitment to a free society, to be a Muslim or to come from a mainly Muslim country and a significant number of people have become a part of it. Hopefully it will help to increase understanding of the creative power of freedom in mainly Muslim countries.

Another optimistic ray of light is that it is becoming more obvious to many of us that nations are generally becoming ungovernable under the present political arrangements and that the old game of ‘pass the parcel’ to future generations is no longer acceptable.

The next generation of articulate on-line activists appear to be our best chance of reversing that political decay.

This I see as our best chance of building barricades against Leviathan governments, and creating circumstances where individuals can be left free to thrive and prosper.

For Dr Tom G. Palmer’s excellent 9 min explanation of the Arab Spring go HERE.

“Throughout world history, there has never been a situation so bad that government can’t make worse.” … Author – Anonymous.

When pummelled by crashing markets and extreme volatility most members of society decide to work a little harder to regain credibility and economic viability.

Amidst the ruins left (economically and politically) of the past few years, many Australians have been ‘minimized’, but with good grace they are soldiering on knowing that, in the long run, honest endeavour will win and return them to a comfortable sense of normality.

However, not so our Australian Federal Government, who appear to be ‘crying out to be laughed at’.

Everything they touch ‘turns brown’ and the only sector of Australian society who are richly rewarded are our daily cartoonists.

Through our investments, our careers and our super funds, we are all carrying the burden of this ongoing Canberra Circus.

As so well put by one of Australia’s most respected financial writers, Charlie Aitken, Bell Potter Securities – Sept. 2, 2011:-

“This Gillard government is so on the nose with the equity market and corporate Australia that any hint, be it even betting being suspended on a website, is an excuse for a ‘hope rally’ in Australian equities, but particularly in sectors that have been de-rated by the anti-business, anti-productivity, income redistributing policies of the Gillard minority government.

The relationship between corporate Australia and the Federal Government remains non-existent. In every conversation I have with leaders of corporate Australia, I ask about their engagement with government. The universal answer is ‘none’. To me that is a totally unacceptable situation, but one that worsens by the day as the government gets more desperate.

I have written before that I believe a change of government in Australia will trigger a minimum +10% rally in Australia equities, led by the mining sector. Even the rolling of the Prime Minister, which appears imminent, would be worth +5% to the sectors that have been pressured by unnecessary regulatory change proposals.

Australia’s biggest problem at the moment is a confidence one. Confidence is a derivative of leadership.

…You simply cannot underestimate the damage successive Labor governments have done to our international investment reputation. Remember it was only a few months ago when I was in Hong Kong and a Chinese investor said that now famous line to me, “would you invest in a company where the CEO is Gillard, the CFO is Swan, the independent directors are Wilkie, Oakeshott and Windsor, and the executive chairman is Bob Brown?”

All I know is there is a tidal wave of international investment capital, both pension fund, hedge fund and corporate capital waiting for a change of government in Australia. That capital is already flowing into the Australian Dollar because the currency has no regulatory risk.”

One regrettable aspect of this dissonance coming out of Canberra (they are in harmony only with the cartoonists), is that we see a level of frustrated anger, unseen in my long memory.

Truck drivers from all around Australia, making a major investment in driving to Canberra to get a hearing were rebuffed and insulted by ‘our government’. In every capital city there are ‘no confidence rallies’. Perth’s date is Sunday 18th September, 2011 (click here for more details).

Business executives are fearful of speaking their mind for fear of political retribution, which has reached a peak surpassing even the Keating era.

Any business leader that does stick his / her head up receives fan-mail from other executives exclaiming that, “I wish I had the courage to say that’ (I will write separately quoting examples).

Our only hope is the next generation.

The young people we are in touch with, through Mannkal’s scholarship programs, look on in astonishment at the tolerance of fatigue exhibited by the current 45 – 65 y.o. generation.

Our younger generation can see much more clearly that the current financial and political mess is being placed firmly on their shoulders.

There will be a backlash (youth uprising) as we are seeing in so many countries and for me, it can’t come soon enough.