Frustration with our politicians

| July 10, 2012

First 5000 member Ray Levin shares his frustration with the lack of understanding from our leaders when it comes to business.

It has never been more obvious that our Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the world’s best treasurer, Wayne Swan have never been in business.


They both hang their hats on and seek kudos for the latest set of economic figures.

Anyone who has ever run a company that has more than one department, never hangs his hat on the company’s average results.  His board will want to see detail accounts of each section of the business.

If the business, like Australia, is made up of many different sections it would be essential for the manager to be able to report on each section of the business. (Can our PM and Treasurer do this and would they if they could?).

In the business called Australia, if mining and all associated business was removed from the set of accounts, what would our economy look like??  No one would be able to claim that we have a great economy if they looked at this set of figures.

If the increasing number of businesses that are failing, and if the increasing number of store and shop fronts that are for lease are any indication, then the results would not have them bragging but running for cover because they would not be anything like the happy figures produce when the mining interests are included.

What is the number of business closures in the last three years compared to the previous three years?

What can we do to improve those sections of our business that are failing?

We cannot simply take funds from that one section that is performing to prop up the rest.

We certainly cannot use this surplus to build world wide kudos by introducing the world’s highest carbon price.

We certainly will not encourage our best performing section to keep investing if we hit them with extra taxes, just so we will have funds to compensate for the extra costs that the carbon tax will engender, without any demonstrable effect on the world CO2 emissions.

Surely the time has come to run the country as a business for the good of all and not by politicians who are simply trying to get re-elected. All we get now is spin and more spin.

The first thing that happens in a company that is not performing is that there is a reality check.

They must determine if spending is on essentials or simply nice to have items.

They must cut out waste, improve productivity and find ways to gain more sales.  They usually are not able to simply put up the price or to print more money.

When management is open and honest with its personnel and shares with them the problems ahead and the steps needed to be taken by management and the owners then, very often, the staff pitches in and supports the team that is supporting them.

Today we seem to have produced workers in all fields that are more interested in themselves than trying to build the company for which they work. Is it the fault of management or have we simply had a change of values, which have been promoted by governments, unions and do-gooders.

As a child my father told me about a “fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay”. He pointed out to me that the work came first and then the pay. You had to help bake the cake before we could expect a slice.

Why is it that today everyone wants attendance money, irrespective of whether they have earned the boss a dollar.

The reality is that we have the right to work for a living. We have the right to save and accumulate We do not have the right to expect someone to supply us a living just because we exist.

Many years ago when I came back from my one week honeymoon in Bunbury with Ten pounds between my wife and myself, we then went to work.  Saved some money, bought a house, and raised a family. Made investments and today we are proud of our children and grandchildren who follow our example and put the effort in first and are rewarded for it.

This is still the lucky country and you are rewarded for your effort as long as you are not looking for the free lunch.

Today I am interviewed by potential employees to see what I will give them, there is no acknowledgement of the costs to the employer of giving them a job and security and certainly no thought of what they will have to do to justify their wage.

By the way, I am still an employee, I have always worked for others and am proud of the fact I have always made my employer much more than I received.

Ray Levin is general manager of Italia Stone Group, based in Western Australia.

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2 Comments

  1. Avatar

    Peter Roberts

    August 2, 2012 at 5:45 am

    A lot of points in this
    A lot of points in this article but it is wrong to blame the government for the two speed economy where commodities are booming and other areas of the economy are being sqeueezed. This is the perfectly normal economic reaction to riding a massively-booming economy without unleashing the destructive inflation and busts that accompany such booms. When the massive investments are finished, our national income will have been raised enormously which will benefit generations to come. Other parts of the economy simply have to be subdued (by the currency for example) to allow space for this nation-changing event.
    The question is have we done enough to facilitate the transition of the remainder of the economy to the situation we will find ourselves in post-boom? Have we the skills, the focus on value-adding industries and the outward-looking and adaptable industries, executives and companies that will thrive? I am more doubtful of that than the government’s handling of the biggest investment boom this country has ever seen.

  2. Avatar

    Paul Newbound

    July 17, 2012 at 5:57 am

    Running a successful business
    Running a successful business requires leadership as well as management skills. I think Ray has identified that our political representatives are showing very little management skill and are still wondering what this “Leadership” thing is all about. Our current crop of “Pollies” couldn’t run a school fete.