Emissions Trading Scheme

I think we should start this one off with a link to today's article regarding this. Emissions Trading Scheme

From what I understand, we are all going to be paying yet another tax based on "pollution" but it seems like the taxes from this are not even going to be used to alleviate the "pollution" issue.

Why on earth does another tax happen and then it's being redistributed to the low income earners, pensioners, carers and such?

I really don't understand how our government can think by taking more money from people is going to make anything any better. All I can see is those of us that do contribute to the economy are going to be slugged yet again and in the end we will all have to increase our prices to make up for it, which in turn will end up hurting the other end of the scale.

I will admit it, I never voted for the labour party and never will. Everyone that didn't vote for them knew this sort of crap was going to happen and now are dreading it even more.

If this tax has to come in, 100% of the funds should be put back into the country as subsidies for those that do help with pollution by adding solar power, changing their cars and anything else that they can do to help. 

It should also be given back to businesses that help with it. For some reason a business couldn't take advantage of the water tank refunds and refund for adding gas to their vehicles because they are a business. Why, they are the ones that use more of everything so they should be allowed to help out and be able to take advantage of the refunds as well.

Ok that's enough of my rant today. This one got to me as I'm really sick of this government we have in.

Faz Out 

Australia's Internet Choices

Why is it, Australia is still in the age of slow internet speeds?

Are we not one of the biggest countries around?

For some reason our telecommunications industry seems to be happy to leave us Aussies in the dark ages when it comes to hi-speed internet.

Yes we have Adsl2 and Cable, but compared to other countries this is just an advanced version of dialup.

I don't know about you, but when I was in the US early last year the first thing I noticed surfing the net was how incredibly quick it is over there. 

Their wireless connections were astonishingly fast. It really put into perspective how far behind we are in the age of the internet.

Outside of this, the prices for internet over there are so cheap for these high speeds. We truly do get ripped here in Australia for internet usage. Whilst I was there, I had the use of this hi-speed wireless, unlimited downloads (no speed caps) for a month for only $29.95. 

Here in Aus, we pay for hi-speed ADSL or ADSL2 and get told once we hit our monthly usage we get capped to 64kbps to bring us into unlimited usage.

On top of all this, hotel's in the US gave free unlimited usage of either their lan lines or their wireless lines. This is something I have yet to see here in Australia. We seem to get ripped on average $10 a day in hotels just to use a crappy slow connection.

I can't even imagine what's going to happen when we finally do get T1 lines in Aus, and the rediculous prices we are going to be charged to use this service.

Faz Out

Petrol Price Fluctuations, why?

I've been thinking about why petrol prices rise and fall during the week and why.

It seems to me that the petroleum industry is one of the few that can rip off the public just because it's pay day, or a public holiday.

Why is it so that on Wednesday afternoon at around 4pm the price of fuel rises by usually 4cents or so. Just because the majority of the population live week to week and fill up their fuel tanks around this time, the petrol stations think this is a great time to rip it to the public and make a quick buck.

A long weekend comes up, and the same thing happens, the price rises again.

Just yesterday fuel was $1.59 per litre and then this morning it had jumped to $1.65. 

I have two businesses myself and am sure that if I raised my prices on a day to day basis, I would never make a cent. In the last 3 years I have never increased my prices until last month due to all the suppliers doing it. In general the building industry has a price every 12 months, and most companies wear these costs increases themselves or end up pricing themselves out of the market. 

Fuel has increased on average 65 cents per litre since I started my business. Thats a fair whack of increase to take out of our own pockets. I'm sure that most people have not had that sort of payrise themselves in the last 3 to 5 years.

The powers that be should step in and say enough is enough, the price of fuel needs to stay fixed permanently and evaluated on a month by month basis dependent on the world price of fuel.

Faz Out