And a big trade deficit at that! What happened to this economic miracle? Heck, they had even became the go-to supplier of televisions for Japan - that's like "hauling coal to Newcastle"

Our government must have infiltrated theirs for that to happen.

Only the Labor Party could cause an economy like that to splutter.

Its economic adviser may be the one we have here that stuffed up the Taxi industry?

One also wonders if that has something to do with KIA?
There are several models where the engines /power units, in America are failing either under warranty, or not long after, and at the cost of billions one gets the impression that just about every KIA needs a new power unit & software.

It also seems while on America, that they seem to have automotive manufacturers that have also lost the ability to build reliable motors. Perhaps the same education system as here, where we have facilitators and no practical education or basic skills for life. I had decades of illiterates, coming out of "education" that you could not train.

It has apparently gotten worse as we have apprentices that cannot get past the second level as they do not have the basic literacy & numerical skills to progress.

Civilisation is self destructing to a dark age as it continuously does, in syntony with around a 700 year sun cycle of hot & cold. That cycle is evidenced in tree rings.

Interesting as we look at America & the world from the outside and they look at the word from the inside. Not realising that their, Northern neighbours do things differently. That they have discovered our traditional Labor Party. Provenance lays in the new trains between Melbourne & Albury. Not only can they not build, nor repair the rail line, the traditional happened when the wheels fell off (or broke) on their new passenger trains.

The problem with car reliability these days is due to the shorter model cycles and unrealistic customer expectations. Many upgrade (a term I use loosely) their car every two or three years and expect to be able to buy the latest body shape with useless garbage like phone connectivity and music apps on board - as if there weren't enough distractions in modern cars as it was.

So the car makers oblige, for the fear of loss of market share if the 'entitled' customer doesn't get the latest and greatest on demand. Gone are the days when one engine can survive for 30+ years - this is how long Holden's famous Red Motor went for and the subsequent V6 went for the same period of time. A new model now will have a different engine just for the sake of spending billions on retooling but without any real improvement in performance or fuel economy.

Cars would be much cheaper and a hell of a lot more reliable if the model life cycles were doubled across the board, fewer models and trim levels offered (there should just be a base model and a model with the works) and one thing that all car makers should get rid of is touch screens. They are grossly unsafe from a road safety perspective.

I would agree on some of the braindead wank that goes into some vehicles. The doughnut tyres give wonderful steering but on a rural road are useless as they are easily "side walled" by the sharp stones they are not supposed use on gravel roads. The Ute has light truck tyres which squirm a bit and you have to chase the steering a lot more, but they handle the rough a lot better and absorb more shock.

Features like a seat that goes back when you stop the car to get out; Is ludicrous when you stop to open the gate, leave the motor running while you do so and of course the seat stays put. Navigation system is provided to distract and in a rural area, get you lost, or send you miles away from the best route.

On engines lasting, most are made not to repair or are, due to labour cost alone not viable to repair. That just has to be resource wasting in the face of vanity. The Ute still has a first life motor, how long that will last I have no idea. however, it is still repairable. It went on the road in March 1958.

The tractor is also repairable. Engine had new rings on the old pistons around 1986, head gasket blew in 2019, engine was top overhauled and a few other odds & ends sorted, bores were OK, & the 1951 pistons & bottom end are still there.

A lot cheaper than replacing it every three years, or when the warranty runs out plus the super expensive servicing. The Ute & tractor engines run far better & smoother than the current new ones. Even that it is more fuel efficient it is costlier to run.

I had a 1994 Mazda 121 for several years, bought second hand in about 2000. This was always a bit cranky and liable to stall. My mechanic said forget the recommended unleaded fuel and use 95 or 98. This transformed it from cranky to very tractable requiring fewer gear changes. The mechanic said the 121 will go forever on quality fuel and regular maintenance.

This car only failed me once, when water leaking past the windscreen washer jet dropped onto the air cleaner, then leaked past the cleaner lid retaining screw, to drip into a well holding a sensor of some sort in the inlet throat which stopped it dead. Dry out the water in the well, and fix the leaks and good again.

I got rid of it several years ago for a vehicle that will tow a trailer, but it is still running around.

QUOTE: My mechanic said forget the recommended unleaded fuel and use 95 or 98

No, not when I was flying. The avgas I used was lead free---reason--to avoid spark plugs fouling with lead.

Either way, using leaded petrol in cars is an offence in Australia now and using it in a car designed for unleaded petrol will destroy the catalytic converter. Even the V8 Supercars run on E85 these days.

Never really had issues in anything with lead fouling. New vehicle has a guzzle gauge. & is turbo (late mid life crisis) and it runs more economically on a particular stuff called V.

Oldies were designed for 70 Octane, while it thinks V is nice & runs really well on it. There needs to be compensation to the timing; which is best set static, as the burn rate is slower as the octane rating goes up. Tractor has four variants of cylinder head as they recessed valves. It now has hardened seats for unleaded so that hopefully killed that carry on.

I did love the idea of the catalytic converter. At one point they changed to Benzine as the replacement for TEL. It takes about 3,600 times more Benzine to get the same result. Meanwhile it took about 3Km to get enough heat into the converter for it to heat to effective, so you gave the kids a good dose of Benzine as you dropped them off at school not far down the road.

The article on South Korea mentioned slowing smartphone sales and falling prices in memory chips and televisions, in other words deflation in electronics. I think even this year's iPhone 14 are lower, given inflation, than last year's. The zillow 'Zestimate' for my house just slipped below six figures again after recent real estate mini boom had it up 30%.

Economic doomist Robert Prechter wrote this about falling house prices a while back, you never know it may be coming true:

"The worst thing about real estate is its lack of liquidity ... At least in the stock market...you can swiftly get out...With real estate, you can’t pick up the phone and sell...In a depression, buyers just go away...the kids move in with Mom and Pop, people start living in their offices or moving their offices into their living quarters. Businesses close down. In time, there is a massive glut of real estate. In the initial stages of a depression, sellers remain under an illusion about what their property is worth. They keep a high list price on their house, reflecting what it was worth at the peak...At some point, a few owners cave in and sell at lower prices. Then others are forced to drop their prices, too. What is the potential buyer’s psychology at that point? “Well, gee, property prices have been coming down. Why should I rush? I’ll wait till they come down further.” The further they come down, the more the buyer wants to wait.."

Depending on where one stands during a recession, it is better to buy at that time. Last time there was a big recession in Australia, back in the early 1990s, banks were foreclosing on defaulters like there was no tomorrow and they were selling the repo'd properties at 75% of their value just so they could claw back as much money as possible.

I want to buy a small patch out in the Central West of NSW for the purpose of camping. I am playing the waiting game because I think prices will fall and it will give me some time to save a few more pennies too.

https://www.realestate.com.au/property-lifestyle-nsw-pyramul-700211423

Something like that would be perfect - big enough to be isolated, small enough to be able to manage and keep squatters out. A clearing or two for setting up tents, etc and plenty of gum trees which make great firewood when branches fall.

Yeh! 90's were a bit of a worry. As the house here was falling apart & being eaten, we bought out the neighbour cash sale when the Sheriff sold them up and finished their house. It was of massive advantage at that time to not have debt.

As structural health deteriorated assisted by accident, I was able to divest of it 22 years later and have more than enough to rebuild on the old site, with a dwelling more suited to my situation and what was about to come.

As has, I think, happened here; The council enslaved itself to the textile industry, now long gone, like everything else. This has left them with virtually no fall back onto the neglected rural industries & infrastructure supporting it. They for the most cannot support mass employment and vineyards & orchards only need mass workers during picking & pruning and that being a considerable burden as the average Aussie in respect of doing those menial jobs cannot be described as a worker, as they won't do it. I have seen them first hand inaction: Unbelievable.

It has always been a proverb: That disaster looms if you put all of your eggs in the same basket. And in similar vein the result. If the Industry coughs : Everyone catches the cold.

Branches falling sounds like rural banks: Closing them one after the other.

Nice bush block Brad.

The creek adds natural tranquility, the nearby hilltop caps it nicely. And as a bonus, you will be able to see stars, a rapidly diminishing joy I believe.

And who knows, perhaps one day you may dump the rat race and go bush permanently like I have done.

I've never regretted my decision, but it's not for everyone, I know. A city cousin on his last visit here commented thus:

"Why the #%* would anyone want to live here? "You can't even get a pizza delivered."