Everything is beautiful then.

The US economy is as sound as a church bell; uncle Donnie swoons on through a Chinese meltdown, and the U S effectively ignores the impact of the corona virus.

What could possibly go wrong?

Dan

We certainly need to develop a common sense and realistic attitude to China. The first step to take is to accept that we are not dealing with China or the Chinese people, but the Chinese Communist Party and a dictator for life. It doesn't get more embarrassing than that; and the China virus should be a wake up to even the dumbest of our dumb politicians that it is time for them to back off a little - or a lot - and get off their lazy arses to connect with other trading partners.

The biggest problem for China is that the world is now realising that people like Trump were right about relying on that country.

Much of the world relies on manufacturing out of China to keep supply chains moving. Equally, much of the world relies on China for pharmaceuticals.

Voices have been raised against these issues but have been largely ignored.

But Trump had already started the process to move some manufacturing back to the homeland. Even more so, many US controlled companies had already begun to move manufacturing out of the PRC and into other Asian nations, while a greater number have been examining how and when to do that.

China has been relying on the world making it their manufacturing hub. But, perhaps, no more.

Trump has already put many a hole in the China 'miracle'. Many more are to come from many quarters.

The utter stupidity of Australia putting so many of our eggs in the China basket now becomes apparent. All the way back to Keating and the Asian century malarkey, we've bet the house on China's unending growth.

China's in for a rough decade. And so are we.

Dan: I am opened mouthed in admiration for your insight and commentary! Anyone would think we could nail this bugger if we just threw enough money at it!? Got a virus? Here's a thousand, that
ll fix it. Next?

There are a number of practical things that can be done and to date, our sole response seems to have been on the economic downsides? And collecting and correlating data as we wait for the virus to bump off the old folk and empty out nursing homes, etc/etc!?

And making sure doctors and nurses are not infected? I mean, the best we can do is visit people parked in their car, take the swab, send them home and wait for pathology to phone through the results.

In the beginning, we had most of this online community seriously downplaying this virus with she'll be right and I'll be OK, commentary.

Others seem like rabbits caught in the headlights as they sort to somehow hang on to a budget surplus as if that was all that mattered?

And doctors limited to ensuring those who may have caught the virus self isolate for the mandatory 14 days.

As for treatment? Sorry go home and take your chances as big pharma which owns the antivirals that could treat this thing is counting the dollars they can squeeze out of a terrified public as they mark up by 500+% and more! We can get some generic antivirals from Thailand or India, as soon as they ramp up production.

Or even make them here. and distribute them at cost, just to ramp up a bare cupboard, inventory of previously, efficacious HIV antivirals, which seem to have been used elsewhere with some success?

And because a virus is a virus and an antiviral is an antiviral.

If we are going to send sick folk home? At least send them home with fourteen days supply of antivirals! And tell them to sit on their balcony/patio, in full sunshine twice a day and leave a couple of windows open to cross ventilate with fresh sunlight disinfected air!
Alan B.

Mhaze: Right on the money and something I've been saying for decades! We allowed our manufacturing to wither on the vine and 95% of corporate Australia to headquarter offshore because we were ruled, with our express permission by tweedle dumb and Tweedle dumber with highly corrosive divide and rule strategies!

If we now reap the whirlwind who's to blame? Tweedle dumb or tweedle dumber, or the dummies who swallowed their guff and put them there?

To all but tie us and our compromised economy to China, because they were ideologically opposed to the cooperative capitalism and the sovietized energy system that would have kept our manufacturing, alive and well and expanding into niche markets around the world.

What they gave us instead, were a few holes in the ground, dozens of foreign masters and the most convoluted and compromised opaque taxation system in the world and the most over-governed, bar one, country in the world!

Think, we were once the third wealthiest country in the world and a creditor one at that!, Now we look like a buggered corporation that has been gutted and asset-stripped, virtually worthless!

Where the main game was/has-been, to get into politics and let everyone else carry you along? And where the horses (workers/thinkers inventors/doers) did all the grunt and the pigs ( do nothing real, self -serving pollies/ rogue bosses/ users and leaner/exploitive capitalists/hasbeens) reaped the benefits, a la, George Orwell's Animal Farm? And if the cap fits?

Pigeons always come home to roost and God help my poor bugger country.
Alan B.

.........users and leaner/exploitive capitalists/hasbeens) reaped the benefits,
Alan B,
You forgot the armies of hanger-on pseudo intellectual Academics !