[NSRCA-discussion] glow plug wages???

Tue Jan 10 16:57:20 AKST 2006

Well...this is very interesting and is causing an interesting discussion here in our workshop.

Ok... you have us here with the Kansas thing..we have NO idea what on earth you mean there!!! My relatives are in Florida ( since 1947) but complete with heavy German accent ( still!!) but my cousins are born and bred in the US of A and now in NY...so I know how they sound <BG>

I always considered you Texans to be the most comprehendible, accent wise...don't know why that is though??

The rest sounds almost similar- but here you can get welfare even if you have never had a job. You just need to show that you are (kind of) looking for a job. Hence some great population growth in the northern areas where its warm and the surf is great. I believe that the climate and dubious agricultural harvests contribute greatly to various thriving micro economies. Maybe they know something I don't- I must be a mug working for a living??

Retirement- we have the same problem, but here, the earliest you can access your superannuation is at age 55 .Because I was born in '65 I'm screwed until I turn 60-but we no longer have a mandatory retirement age ( it used to be 65) , now our beloved Prime Minister would like us to work until we end up in a box! So the idea is to have as much 'Super' and other investments to achieve retirement from  60 on-or to bridge the gap between retirement and when you can get access to your superannuation.

Wages here may be on par, taking exchange rates into consideration, HOWEVER...the cost of living here is I believe higher. Consumer products are dearer, certainly Gasoline etc is. Currently we pay about $1.22 per LITRE for the family car. I guess food may be cheaper ( no Idea) but I know from my travels that fresh food is certainly more readily available!
The average wage in Oz is 55K ( I heard on the radio) which is higher than what I expected and a good wage is considered in the 60-80K range. Actually most graduate engineers here( at my work) are on about 45-50K. There are offcourse a huge number of people getting by on less too-obviously lifestyle will not be the same.

Real estate...that's a huge one! We have had a huge boom down here for a while now-with things settling a bit now. But for an average 4 bedroom house you will be looking around 350-500K depending on area, more for something a little more up-market. In Sydney for example add another 2-300K for the same thing.

Well here is something you can all relate too. YS 160 DZ = $1000, Futaba 14MZ approx $4000, Morgan's 30%heli (1 Gallon) $70, average APC pattern propeller= $35-45 , PL kit approx $3000...get this..OXAI models are cheaper here ($2500 Aus), but that is because his brother lives here.

So I guess I should be moving to the US and put an offer in for my Uncles place??? Actually I doubt I could even afford to buy his lawn where he is!!!!

Tom

PS: I'd better do a bit for the company now!!

-----Original Message-----
From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org]On Behalf Of Gray E Fowler
Sent: Wednesday, 11 January 2006 10:45 AM
To: NSRCA Mailing List
Subject: RE: [NSRCA-discussion] glow plug wages???

Geeze...thats alot of questions for only 20 million people....I will try to answer, but I must warn you that my answers may be tainted by my "unbiased" opinion.
Before I continue, I must say that I am convinced that if an Aussie were to be suddenly awoken in the middle of the night, and asked a question, he would speak in an accent similar to that of an American from KANSAS.......Is this true?

We have a "miminum" wage..that I think is about $5.50/hour. Very few earn this because you really cannot survive on it. Even full time McDonalds employees and illegal aliens make more, but part time kids etc. make it. In 1977 I washed dishes in High School at $2.10/hour and fuel cost $7.50/gallon. Today fuel cost $12/gallon (sport)-I can now better afford fuel!

Reality is most low income jobs are filled by non Americans because Americans do not want those jobs.  Clothes, shoes, and RC radios cannot be assembled in the USA because companies cannot compete paying a unionized high school graduate with 15 years experience $18/hr plus medical benefits, when they can ship it to (INSERT COUNTRY OF PREFERENCE HERE) for $5 day plus a tube of toothpaste.

There is a "welfare" program (no job = government money) that has been notoriously screwed up for years, and has undergone significant changes of which I am not sure of other than it is probably still screwed up.

If you get layed off (sacked) then you can collect "unemployment benefits" which is a limited insurance program, which I think is maxed at at $250/week.

Speaking of screwed up, we have a "Social Security" program to allow people to retire, but only a fool my age would depend on this as it is about to go inverted when you have 5 retired people supported by 1 active worker.  So to "fix" this problem they made the retirement age 67 in hopes all those Baby-Boomer Hippies will succumb to an early LSD induced death to reduce pay-outs.

Good wage in the US???  Depends on who you ask. Many make it on $35,000/year but I do not know how. I would guess good to be $50-60,000/year.
Taxes, social security etc eats of about 25-28% of your income...some states more due to state tax (not in Texas).  
People who make $80-100,000 can live very comfortably, but in the American way...it is never enough as is evident by the USA ridiculous credit card debt. Those who make $100K/year have the HIGHEST Credit card debt, many times $20-30K at 18% interest.

BUT....Life in the USA is good.....and I can say with impunity that we have the best SMART WEAPONS in the world so I advise you guys to remain our friends....

Gray Fowler
Principal Chemical Engineer
Composites Engineering

"Koenig, Tom" <Tom.Koenig at actewagl.com.au>
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01/10/2006 04:45 PM

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RE: [NSRCA-discussion] glow plug wages???

Not being an economist, I'm not sure how all this works. But in Australia, I believe we have quite a reasonable standard of living. We have ( in comparison) a tiny manufacturing base. But I think our economy is largely resource driven ( mining, agriculture etc).
There are only 20 million of us-so that's not a huge economy! There are more of you guys in one city!!!!!!

Nearly everything here is imported-from wherever we can get it. We usually export the raw materials and then buy back the product...()&*(&*&^%^%$@!!@#

We wood chip the trees so that the Japanese can turn it into paper for us-crazy!

As far as the modelling goes we pay premium dollar for everything. A lot of the local hobby shops are simply held to ransom by some importers/distributors- but everyone needs to make a buck I guess. You want it-you pay!

Which leads me to a question I have had for a long time ( and one the boys here in my workshop often ponder about). What is considered a good average wage in the U.S these days?? Are there minimum conditions for you guys?

We have a reasonable welfare system too, which I guess costs us taxpayers - but here in Australia I think culturally- there is a minimum ( with everything) that we are prepared to put up with.

We call it a 'Fair Go far all' whereas our impression of life in the US is 'Dog eat Dog where the Dollar rules all'?? Maybe we have been watching too much Hollywood????

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org]On Behalf Of Gray E Fowler
Sent: Wednesday, 11 January 2006 8:43 AM
To: NSRCA Mailing List
Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] glow plug wages???

"Wow...we pay about $15 per OS F....

You're on fairly good money Gray!!! Not sure how much per kW/H we pay though <BG>

Tom"

Tom-you are closer to Japan than we are! Why the high cost of  glow plugs?-almost makes one wanna go electric-just kidding.

Gray Fowler
Principal Chemical Engineer
Composites Engineering
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