On Mon, 10 Nov 2014, Arjen Lentz <arjen@lentz.com.au> wrote:
As a simple example, a higher GST would make McDonalds relatively much more expensive than fresh (unprocessed) foods. That tweaks consumer behaviour which has positive impact on health, healthcare, local food production, as well as the environment.
You seem to think that McDonalds has market share due to being cheap. McDonalds isn't that cheap, a large double-quarter-pounder meal with Coke costs $10, a can of Coke costs $0.50 at the supermarket, a packet of frozen chips costs maybe $5 for a Kg or two, buns are $0.50 or less, and meat patties aren't that expensive. You could probably make up meals comparable to McDonalds at home for much less than half the price. McDonalds is popular because it's easy. On Mon, 10 Nov 2014, "Pidgorny, Slav(GPM)" <slav.pidgorny@anz.com> wrote:
It would make a bit of a difference I suspect to the 2.2% of the labour force employed in mining, the drop of 5.6% in GDP, and the 35% decline in the export market might be noticeable.
Nothing like what would happen to Saudi Arabia if the oil market disappeared.
Also, evaporation of the investors' wealth will be a factor: many individuals and pension funds invest in mining blue chips.
Investing in only one company or industry sector is a bad idea. The purpose of having pension funds instead of just having people invest their own money is to efficiently spread the investment over enough companies that any company having problems won't make a significant impact on the net result. If the government was to be responsible for pension funds making bad investment decisions then the only viable option would be to have government run pension funds that invest in index tracking funds, government bonds, and other forms of investment that aren't risky. This might be a good idea. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/