Tool Industry product mark-up

[Jim Carroll]

Tool guys have nothing to complain about as the margins are small compared to the jewelery industry.

They work on the hunreds of percent with everything they sell even up to 500%.
Why do you think they can give such big discounts and still make money.

[damian]

So what does Britain produce these days? Where does the income come from?

.

The finance industry, that's why they were hit so hard when it went pear shaped.

Britain, Ireland and Australia are one trick ponies.

Ireland tried to set itself up as a low tax company/bank headquarters, worked ok for a while.

Britain let it's manufacturing run down (this was a joint effort of the government, unions, managment etc, no one group could take the second largest auto manufactuing nation to virtually nil in 15 years), the coal ran out, tourism doesn't create enough income to matter much. They let the economy become more and more focused on financial services and trading.

We rely similarly on mining. None of our other industries really matter much, and we are approaching becoming a net food importer. Imagine that eh ? We rode the sheeps back until it got wobbly and collapsed...Australians often scoff at NZ's lower standard of living but the ONLY reason ours is higher is mining income. Like Britain Whitlam, Fraser and Hawke let manufacturing die in Australia, all in the name of "productivity" and "economic rationalism". If mineral prices fail we go down with them. And don't think it won't happen. There were plenty of clever people who never thought the investment banks would collapse the way the did either.

[Istracpsboss]

I agree with most of it. I don't think the UK coal ran out. It just was no longer competitive running deep mining when open cast coal from Australia, Poland and South Africa could be produced dramatically cheaper.

Good for Australia in the short term, most of it going to power stations, but vulnerable long term with pollution concerns encouraging a move to alternative power generation.

Cheers

Peter