Over the past few weeks I have posted articles about rural Australia where changes are happening. Changes happen in rural America too of course. We have something in common. Where it is all heading to I am not sure about. The following article once again reinforces my point that this truly is a time of socio-engineering going awry. Computerization is said to be a factor....

STORY LINK

Rural towns lose again
12feb00

TEREASA Aldous had hoped her daughter Maddison would grow up and go to school in Yea.

Since Westpac announced its Yea branch of the Bank of Melbourne will close, her plans have been thrown into doubt. Mrs Aldous will be out of a job on February 25.

And like the dozens of retrenched staff from other regional Bank of Melbourne branches, she does not know what her future holds.

"There's just no jobs out here. We'll probably be forced to move elsewhere," she said.

It's a hard luck story that is being repeated around country Victoria with up to 40 branches due to close.

For 27-year-old Tracy Johns, news of the Beechworth branch closure came as a double blow.

On the same day she was told she would lose her job, she was divorced from her husband, leaving her to raise her three-year-old daughter alone and unemployed.

Sharon Stibley worked at the same branch for 15 years. She was told of the bank's closure while in Melbourne seeking treatment for her husband, who had just had a liver transplant.

"I walked out the door and just burst into tears. It is the end of a life for me. I don't know how to do anything else."

Customers of rural branches are equally angered at losing their bank's service.

Shirley Lawrance is a farmer from Ghin Ghin, near Yea. She's been banking at the same branch since 1944.

"I have to say I'm really annoyed. The bank thinks it's easier to do it by computer. Well I don't have a computer and if I did I wouldn't know how to use it."

Other businesses in rural towns fear the closures will affect their trade as people travel to larger centres to do their business.

Diane Muller, of the Yea Homestyle Bakery, said it was just another case of country Victoria being trodden on by "big city hobnobs".

No one seems to be able to offer much of an explanation to rural Victoria.

Managers shrug their shoulders and mutter about profit motives.

"It's all about money these days," said Jarrod Brearley, of the Mansfield Bank of Melbourne.

But to the people of country Victoria it is all about losing services and their livelihoods.

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Comment:
"It's all about money these days," he said.
Yes, well, I protest. It's not just about money. It's about much more than that. Security and sustainability come to mind. Social responsibility by global multi-nationals comes to mind as well. Sheesh! I could say lots. I'll leave you with this thought though;
Not since 1930 have we had a spell of hot weather averaging over 35.9 C., and back then it ushered in the greatest trial on our social fabric - the Great Depression with its bank failures etc. Today the banks are leaving en masse....., a different kind of 'denial of service'.

Regards from OZ

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 12, 2000

Answers

Support article;

Westpac to shut 25 more branches

Regards,

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 12, 2000.

A large discount food and hard goods store (super store type ) opened in my neighborhood 8 years ago. took em 3 years to drive all of their compettitors out of the area for a 3 mile diameter. two years after this, their tax abatement went away and the owning company closed em down. Weren't that they weren't making money, they weren't making ENOUGH money, as the owners were stupid enough to admit publicly.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), February 12, 2000.

Interesting -- and frightening.

We have a lot less rural area than you do, Pieter, but it, too is changing rapidly.

The main problem is the loss of jobs: some means of providing computerized banking services could always be found.

I see the same thing where I now live. Drive through the coal field areas of West Virginia and you can almost see despair written on the faces of the people. The mines are slowly closing down. The companies have now developed a new mining technique -- take the mountain tops and push them into the valleys, extracting the coal with front loaders as you go. In 10 years WV (the mountain state)would look as flat as Nebraska, but in 3 years there wouldn't be a miner left. Only a few machinery operators. Don't know who will win this argument, but you can bet it won't be the people.

Regards,

-- rocky (rknolls@no.spam), February 12, 2000.

Gen 7:41,47,49 shows how to gain absolute power over the entire world by controlling the food supply then having the rural folks move into the cities to survive. Hybrid seeds, control of the weather, the .gov has total control of agriculture through these means...you get the picture.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 12, 2000.

HenryKissinger is attributed with coining the term "useless eaters". Hmmm, makes me wonder...

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 12, 2000.