Mental handcuffs and South Australia's economic future

The first is that as unemployment climbs and the supply chains begin to crumble, they take with them senior managers and a whole raft of white-collar administrators. The networked nature of the modern economy means that a factory closing in the city's north, south or west, spells serious problems for the company that supplied them with legal or accounting services in Parkside, Kensington or Burnside. Before you know it, there are less BMWs in the car park. That won't be reported either.

The second malady is falling property prices. The property market lives on perceptions. All the spin in the world won't entice local or interstate buyers to snap up your 'delightful, sunny three bedroom blue stone cottage in cosmopolitan Norwood', if the prospective buyer knows the economy is going to hell in a hand basket. Fear is a terrible turn off.

Would you like some incrementalism with that?

One of the reasons why South Australians haven't over thrown the Weatherill Government or taken more drastic action is incrementalism. While there were headlines when Holden, Ford and Toyota planned to closed down, there were few stories on small businesses who employ six or seven people going bust.

There is an old saying in journalism that if it wasn't reported, it didn't happen. But the harsh reality of seven people losing their jobs means that another 20 or more members of their family – and especially children - were also hit hard. It's the SME sector that is being clobbered and it's this sector which is the life blood of South Australia.

The decline of the SA economy is death by thousands of job cuts. The state will survive but at what cost to future generations?

The battle of Passchendaele was a disaster for the ANZACs because the British commanders lacked the proper intelligence about enemy forces. In South Australia the enemy is rising unemployment and under employment and the fear and hopelessness it engenders. The enemy is being aided and abetted by those in positions of power who seek to suppress the truth from the public. Name and shame them. The future of the state depends on it.