>or that the labour costs are too high (also true for Germany, which has a thriving manufacturing export industry) Germany can get packaged cheap labor from Ea

>or that the labour costs are too high (also true for Germany, which has a thriving manufacturing export industry) Germany can get packaged cheap labor from East of Europe when they need it. Infact, a lot of German companies have their labor intensive units in East. Only highly automated manufacturing and management/finance and R&D work in done in Germany. Australia doesn't have the same advantage which Germany have had for years now: http://conradbastable.com/essays/the-germany-shock-the-largest-economy-nobody-understands http://conradbastable.com/essays/the-germany-shock-the-large...