Below is a list of last months 23 topics.

These included Politics, Environment, Education and Investing.

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If you have topics you would like discussed, please let me know.

Click on the Links below to read my view of the world and our society.

We obviously have a youth problem in this country.  We have youth violence, drunkenness and the list goes on.

Why do youths have this lack of respect, self respect and direction?

What can we do about this, apart from “warehousing” them (ie: putting them in jail)?

Why not National Service?

What would they do?

No I don;t mean guns and killing and reinforcing their violent behaviour.  I mean service to the nation.  Enforcing the ideals of Community Service is the objective.  This would include working in hospitals, community centres, old age homes, for local councils on roads, in clerical positions.

Getting them fit, physically and then working on their mind and attitudes.  Physically train them like the Defence Forces, then work with them socially.  Put them all through 12 weeks of Life Coaching.  Basically everything that schools and modern families don;t do.  Build their self esteem, allow them to find some direction.

The objective is not to humiliate or demean them, it is to build self esteem, build confidence and community awareness.  From the communities perspective it is to get things done around the community.  To allow them to pay back the community for the investment  in them.  How much could we get done if our younger generation all worked to develop the community for a period of time, if they all had their own coach during this development time of their life and if we could provide some direction to these PEOPLE and prevent them from going off the tracks?

So who would be conscripted?

• Lets start with all unemployed for more than 3 months.
• All 19 year olds.
• Exceptions :- Medical reasons, university students (who would have to do it after they completed their first course)

This is done in many countries, including South Africa and Singapore, admittedly their focus is defence, ours would be community and development.

Is its taking away people’s free choice?  Yes but every law does this, for the benefit of society.

The real question is, are there benefits there for the individual and the community?

In 2004 I came across someone that taught me about the benefits of Multiple Streams Of Income, for your wealth, domestic and financial security.

I took his teachings seriously, and as a result since then I have developed interests in property, shares, businesses as well as a number of other income producing systems.  This has been quite useful when one income source has evaporated or temporarily gone down at any stage.  Taking the fluctuations out of your income is an important step in your life stability.

Finances are the most common cause of divorce, by bring stability to your finances, you reduce your risks.

During this Global Economic Crisis do you feel secure in your job?  Most people do not feel safe, they are concerned about their job, they are worried about their home loan and interest rates going up.  It is time to expand your income sources and asset classes.  You can;t depend on the Government to look after you, and certainly not your employer.

So how would you develop these Multiple Streams Of Income?  Well you could go and see your accountant, who probably earns less than you.  You could go and see a Financial Advisor, who gets paid directly from a select group of so called investment funds.  Or you could take some responsibility and go and get educated.  Learn how to protect your finances and your family.

I have included some of my Favourite businesses in my Investment tab at the top of the page.

One of the things that I do carry out Small Scale Share Issues in businesses that do not want to take out loans but want to raise capital and take their business into Equity.  This is particularly useful for start-ups and the entrepreneur.

If I can be of any assistance with Multiple Streams Of Income, please click on the Talk To Craig dialog box above, lets chat.

Nuclear Power, is this Australia’s best option?

Is it Australia’s only sensible option?

Is it safe in the 21^st Century?

What about 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl?  Both of these were old, even in those times.  50 years on from their construction there are much better designs, more reliable and more durable.

Should we base our decisions based on fears of what has happened in the past?  Well we are human, that is what we do, it would be unrealistic to think otherwise.  These fears don’t make it right though.

In Australia we have an obscene amount of uninhabited land, our country is geologically speaking, extremely stable, so plants and waste storage would be “reasonably” safe.  We are predominantly a responsible 1^st world country, our population is typically in cities, making it easier to supply.

Australia has a massive amount of Uranium (Yellow Cake), we would be self supportive.

Most of all we would be able to eliminate our coal and fossil fuel power generation.  This would help the environment in so many ways.

 If we were to do this, then when we get the quotes for the plants, we should budget on 3 times the tender.  Build it to twice the standard safety specifications, nothing should be skimped on.  If you take the cheapest quote then you will probably get the cheapest product.  The risks are too high for this type of Government logic.

We should do this, we should take EVERY care, we should pay for the best possible job, rather than the most affordable.

Where do you think we should be?  What cost are you prepared to pay?

In 2005 P.M. John Howard did the only legal thing and legislated against Compulsory Student Unionism.  I say the only legal thing, because apart from Students, Compulsory Unionism, had been outlawed for many years.

When I went to University I refused to pay Compulsory Union fees (I was quite the rebel), because I felt that it was illegal and unjust.  Besides I moved a motion to sack the Student Union 3 times while I was there.  This was due to Child abuse in the Union run Childcare Centre, along with misuse of funds.  When I graduated the University (not the Student Union) withheld my Degree until I paid my back Compulsory Union fees.  A compromise was reached, I donated a box of texts to the Library.

There is a bill before Parliament at the moment to reintroduce a “Compulsory Tertiary Fee” on top of HECS.  This will be for part time students, off campus students, every student.  It is to provide services to the students.  Well how are off campus and part time students going to benefit from this.  What happens if the money is mismanaged and the services provided are Kegs of beer, and strippers like when I was at Uni?  Should our broke students be forced to pay for services they are unable to use or not interested in?

Isn’t HECS the tax that is intended to cover Tertiary students educational needs, and they get to pay this back, sometimes for a life time?  Why should we introduce yet another tax?  Isn’t our tax system complicated enough?  (That is another subject for another time.)

Tertiary Students should pay for their extracurricular activities, but other students should not have to pay for them.  They should be self funded.

Summary:-

1. Liberals want to introduce HECS (1980 approx.)
2. Labor does introduce HECS (1987 approx.)
3. Liberals abolish Compulsory Student Unionism (2005)
   1. Liberals also put in 100’s of Millions of dollars to Universities as compensation
   2. Labor puts up a bill to introduce another compulsory Tertiary Fee (2009)

 Is this clever?  Are we really the Clever Country?

The average house catchment in Melbourne over the last 3 years, if all the water had of been collected would have amounted to 220,000L of water a year.

There are on average 1.5 Million households with an average of 2.6 people per household.

The government wants us to use less than 155L of water per day

Calculation

          220,000L / 155L / 2.6 people  = 546 days of water a year collected in drought times.

That is nearly 18 months of personal use water collected per year per household.  We could collect in drought times 150% of our needs.   What would it be like in good times?

We do not have a drought, we have a badly utilised resource.

So if each house collected this water, and they had a clean catchment area they could actually on sell this excess water to the government, for public use.  This might be used for watering sports fields, parks, selling to industry such as car washes , factories etc…..

We would create employment by having more plumbers and manufactures by providing water to the government

Again we have taken a scarcity mentality and now converted it to an abundant reality.

If we used government connected water for drinking purposes we would be saving 53,000L of water a year per household.  That would be 53,000 * 1,500,000 = 79,500 Megalitre saving per year. An interesting link is here

• What effect would that have on the dams?
• Would we be able to use this dam water now for agriculture so our farmers do not have droughts any longer?

Summary:-

1. Each Melbourne household could catch 150% of their domestic needs, in drought conditions
2. We could reduce domestic usage from dams by 94%
3. We do not have a drought, we have a badly utilised resource.
4. We would create employment and industry
5. We would never be short of water again
6. We would not have to create more pipelines or dams
7. We could provide water to farmers, rather than taking it away from them.  This would create more prosperity and industry
8. This is a no brainer!!!!!

Protectionism for a country in the 21^st Century is deemed as a bad thing.  We are encouraged to live and play on a global level playing field.  Well this is all a crock!  Some countries do and some don’t, the ones that do are at an obvious disadvantage.

So am I a hypocrite?  Based on my previous comments about doing the right thing and not judging yourself on others and letting others follow, I feel like a hypocrite.  Well I see it a bit like being in a plane with a child, the adult needs to put the mask on before helping the child.  We need to help ourselves before we can help others.

What I am getting at is Australia has just opened up our legislation for the purchasing of property by international parties.  Now virtually everyone can buy properties in Australia, Chinese buyers have increased their buying by 200% over the last 6 months.  40% of all properties purchased right now are being purchased by foreign buyers, $20 Billion in the last year. There are even stories of these properties not even being rented out.  This is driving up property and rental prices, making it virtually impossible for new domestic buyers.  Worst case scenario foreign parties should only be allowed to buy 1 property, not multiple.

Yes I am saying that we should be protecting our domestic real estate from foreign buyers, most countries do, but not Australia.  I would even go so far as to say that all real estate in Australia should be Australian owned within 25 years.  25 years is long enough that any current investors / owners would be able to on sell their properties without being financially damaged in any way.  Foreign parties would be allowed to take out long term leases on properties, just not own them.

The consequences on this would be that it would lead to a loss of investment in Australia immediately and in 25 years time.  There would be international political fallout.  The positives of this would be, more affordable property, more long term security and control over our land and its contents.  We need to protect our children’s ability to have the Great Australian Dream, their own home.

This is a matter of Australian Pride, home ownership is part of the Australian culture, it is worth protecting.

Lets ensure that our Grand Children continue to be Australians.

Where to start with this.  Is it our fault?

If we take action and make a commitment to reduce Carbon emissions to reduce Global Warming, how can our little bit help?

Well we cannot control anyone else or any other country; we can only control our selves.  We cannot take responsibility for others.  Given this, we can only do the right thing for our selves, and hope that others do the same.  We cannot wait for others to make decisions, we can only make decisions for ourselves.  You can’t lead by trying to drag others with you.

These world carbon emission treaties are a joke.  Lets just do what is right for a change, others will catch up.  They are talking about 20% reductions, this just is not enough, we need 40% – 60% reductions.  The cost of this will horrendous, yes it will.  Get over it, deferring the cost to our children, it will be worse and then we may not have it.

Human’s thrive on adversity, this is a challenge, lets embrace it, spend the money on research, technology and implementation.  Create jobs, technology and save the planet.  The great thing about living in a capitalistic society is that we make money, we get creative and make money in everything.  We will make money out of saving the world, just that where we are now we can’t see how.  Who would have thought that there would have been a profit in Solar Power 10 years ago, now there is.

Summary

• As with everything I talk about lets just do the right thing.
• Make a profit
• Save the world

I had dinner last night with a gentleman who confronted me with the statement, “I do not believe in Human Rights” which instantly got my attention.  After delving further into his statement I began to understand his meaning.  An example I gave to understand his position was, unemployment benefits are not a Human Right, the unemployed have an obligation to provide services in return for unemployment benefits.  These services may be towards the community or to themselves in taking action in looking for work.

As the dinner went on, this concept came into discussions continually.   I am still struggling with this concept, but I think it is worth thinking about.

People should not be victims and have a victim mentality, people should take responsibility for themselves and choose to be part of society, in return society should then support them.

ie:  the individual for fills their obligations to society and in return their rights are secured.

This is a way of thinking that I feel has some merit.  I must admit, I think I shall struggle with it a bit longer though.

I have strong feelings about people making an effort to contribute to society and themselves.   Everyone has something different and different amount they can contribute, it is the fact that people make an effort that is important.

I can take this concept to many different topics, such as compulsory voting, is voting a right or an obligation?  In Australia it is an obligation, in most countries around the world it is a right, that you can choose to take up.

A nice dinner, nice company and an interesting concept to think about.

What are your thoughts on the subject?  I would appreciate the input on this rather complex thought.

I watched a reality show tonight called The Force about real life crime.  They showed as an example someone who committed a crime, and in doing so committed a number of crimes.  When prosecuted he was only sentenced on a single crime.

My question is if someone rides a motor cycle into a parked car, the rider was speeding, was drunk, unlicensed, the bike was unregistered, unroadworthy and uninsured, and what should they be charged with?  Well the answer was riding while under the influence.  (I know this because it was my car.  The good news was the guy survived uninjured, the police knew him well. )

So if drunk drivers are unfit to drive and are in control of 2 tonnes of speeding metal, should they not also be charged with attempted murder?  They are in charge of a lethal weapon and are not in control.  They could hit any number of people in other cars, on bikes or pedestrians.  Now this is not supposition , this is reality and it happens EVERY day.  The ones that don’t hit anyone on this occasion are lucky, but no less negligent.  The possibilities are the same.

Why should they not be charged with attempted murder.  2 Reasons, we don’t really think that drink driving is a crime, and we do not prosecute on the results of crimes .

Summary

1. People should be sentenced consecutively for each of their crimes, they should not just be prosecuted for the worst of their crimes.  They do not deserve the discount.
2. Drunk drivers, Drug drivers should be charged with attempted murder, each and every time, plus whatever other crimes they have committed.
3. Our Government needs to make a decision are they serious about crime?  If so then they should not be selective about what they prosecute.