It will be a great but predictable shame that this decade of immense prosperity will be remembered as the decade of massive industry bailouts. And given that recessions are typically times of cleanout and renewal, the “save the dying” approach is at odds with long-term success. Why not let natural contest, merger and acquisition activity take its course? Over the decades billions of dollars have been thrown at industries such as car-making, which in Australia was recently awarded a $6 billion rescue package. In America they are still unable to come to terms with the fact that buy-American campaigns and bailouts cannot hold back the tide of a new manufacturing imperialism from North Asia. If the biggest manufacturers can’t make it work, then at what point do we realise that as a nation Australia just isn’t a globally competitive manufacturer?