Has anyone else witnessed the "unravelling of large sections of global capitalism" in their daily lives? I haven't. Apart from the disruptions of the China virus and the animalistic behaviour of the human race in panic, capitalism seems to be bumping along as it always does - to me anyway. It is still doing much better than centralised socialism. The stock market seesaw is just another symptom of the animalistic panic, and will right itself soon enough. It is society that is unravelling.

The GFC was 12 years ago. Get over it. And, if you want anyone to listen, drop the childish and insulting comments about the Prime Minister being "Billy McMahon in a baseball cap". Morrison might not - is not - the best PM we have ever had, but don't compare him with McMahon, who made Gillard, Rudd and Turnbull look clever.

"Working and middle-class families don't have the savings to pay for serious adverse events such as a major operation, high-end dental surgery or car repairs over $1000". Probably, but that's not down to capitalism; it's down people's inability to budget, to set priorities, to live within their means, and to recognise that relying on governments and handouts is not part of the capitalist system that has benefited people far more than any other system.

Mr. King's last chapter is the most useful. It is good advice for people who haven't been taught to look after themselves by their good-time-Charley parents. As for the rest of it, I don't see anything in his biography that marks the gentleman out as having any more insight into the capitalist system than your next door neighbour does.

It seems like we'll have to make our own clothes and shoes in australia in the future. Also, when it calms down itd be cool if scomo hosted an amazing high tea at parliament house dedicated to the nations young mothers because of how stressful its been for them

Malcolm, you mention "Since the early 1980s, neoliberalism has been the default economic paradigm of developed nations. Neoliberals believe in free and unfettered trade, deregulation, privatisation, slashing government expenditure and restraining workers' pay.

They believe competition is the defining characteristic of human nature. Citizens are consumers, not members of a society. The market rules all."

If neo-liberals believe what you wrote, then they have been spectacularly unsuccessful in pushing their agenda because in most examples in Australia we do NOT have "free and unfettered trade". Nearly every industry of significance is a monopoly or oligopoly: take cable TV (one provider); supermarkets (2 players dominate); white goods retailers (a clutch of players dominated by Harvey Norman/Domanyne and JB HiFi/Good Guys) airlines (QF dominates with VA a small player and Rex almost a non player); insurance companies, retail banks etc.

This is the Titanic of global capitalism and the coronavirus, the iceberg it ran into. We, poor buggers, in the allegorical front compartment.

Just amplifies the rat eat rat mentality of the haves as they sink with everybody else and can't understand why their billions and trillions haven't bought them immunity or immortality!

We used to have an egalitarian society, before the greed is good disciples took over/became the virtual inmates running the asylum? Believe that one can sales market their way out of or into anything?

If his catastrophe hasn't instructed us to embrace, fund and facilitate cooperative capitalism/use it and cheap abundant energy,, to rebuild/resuscitate our manufacturing sector/economic independence/self-reliance as a united nation all pulling together in the same direction. For a far better outcome for our fellow Australians!

Then nothing ever will! And just a forerunner of what's to come if we continue down this crazy path we're on where the divide between the haves and the have nots, grows exponentially! Where finally, we become an island of sanity in a sea of chaos/world gone mad. And become, a cash and carry, trading nation open for business with all who've good money to spend.

While we're reevaluating, let's stabilise our currency by once again fixing it to the sane gold standard! Put our own economy back in the black with genuine tax, root and branch, reform Get cracking with transitioning to (unconventional/walk away safe) nuclear power.

Then use it as the one and only power source (nuclear waste burning MSR's) that coupled to deionisation, dialysis desalination to not just drought-proof the nation but open up vast tracts of formerly arid land as virtual gardens. To take full advantage of the next boom, the food boom. With the rollout of all the above, haul all our economic irons out of the fire as fine economic steel!

It's not like there are any other viable options! And it's a one-time complete package!

As for the contagion, just another we will have to learn to live with and develop genetically transferable, immunity to it!
Alan B.

With some luck, COVID-19 will enforce a reinstall of some sanity within this Global Capitalism !
I hope the same will happen to Public Service salaries here !

Curl up in your unemployed spare hours, and begin reading John Steinbeck.

There you'll learn all sorts of strategies to aid a life with no money.

You'll learn of the ruthless greed of the rich, and their direct impact on you, which will aid in your understanding of eviction and homelessnes.

The economic tsunami is unstoppable. It comes with the true meaning of merciless.

Dan

Individual.

I don't think it's sensible wishing bad luck on people who will turn out in the end, to be your acquaintances, and just a likely your own relations.

It's foolish!

Dan

Dear diver dan,

Ah Steinbeck.

Cannery Row, my favourite.

"What can it profit a man to gain the whole world and come to his property with a gastric ulcer, a blown prostate, and bifocals? Mack and the boys avoid the trap, walk around the poison, step over the noose while a generation of trapped, poisoned, and trussed-up men scream at them and call them no-goods, come-to-bad-ends, blots-on-the-town, thieves, rascals, bums."

The 'Grapes of Wrath' wasn't very cheery either. But people seemed to handle things better then than they do today. Perhaps it was because they didn't have much anyway; but I think that were better people than we are today.

Grapes of wrath was both a good read and topical, set in an era the like of which today's generation/Scomo have never ever witnessed or coped with?

Explains why post-war Australia went from the third wealthiest nation on earth and a creditor one at that, marked by hitherto unprecedented prosperity/a much more egalitarian society to one that's almost a basket case mired in record exponentially expanding debt! With most of what the old-timers built, sold off to the highest bidder, foreign, debt-laden, tax-avoiding, price-gouging, profit-repatriating, "investor(s)"

Progressive Pat.

We can make and sell our own shoes/clothes here/lots of other stuff!

But not with the old business as usual/paper shuffling, profit demanding middleman! Given the WWW and NBN, totally unnecessary! New industries, that more than compete with the likes of China, will be employee or family-owned and operated co-ops, i.e., cooperative capitalism!

Sell their ordered production/delivered COD directly to the end customer. Via Aust post or any competitive courier.

NB. Co-ops were the only free market, private enterprise, business model, that survived the great depression largely intact. And a historical fact, not opinion!

And because they needed no union representation! Hated almost universally by unions!

And because they automatically excluded the robber baron class, also reviled by extreme exploitative capitalists i.e., the real drones and leaners. So ably represented by the extreme right-wing conservative element

What will decide whether or not these co-ops stand, succeed or fail, will be the tax bill and utilities/water and electricity bills! And a facilitating government that preferences them ahead of all other comers/suppliers!

Just this one production and supply paradigm will, all but compel every one dollar in our own economy to do the work of seven or more! via the usual, flow on, economic factors! And, don't we need just that, right now!

A plan/any tried and tested, successful plan, albeit old school, is better than no plan at all? Other than printing money and throwing it around like confetti/saddling the shrinking cohort of taxpayers with unrepayable debt?
Alan B.

wishing bad luck on people
diver dab,
Come again ?

Individual

Ok, it's like this. Wishing the bad luck of wage reductions onto public servants.
Specify which categorie of public servants do you wish wage reductions on?

You seem to have a hate session on public servants per se I have noticed.

It's my observation re public servants I've been acquainted with through the years, they didn't have it all that good by comparison to private enterprise.

The job for life thing, flew out the window for them many years ago.
Some were simply abused by the system, with innovations that forced them to reapply for their jobs every two years or so, and were thus put through the anxiety of the unknown for god knows what benefit to anyone.

Apart from a few lucky ones, most I knew were on subsistence wages with insignificant superannuation benefits at the end of a very insecure working life.
I think the Government has done an admirable job at screwing its workforce down.

I'm waiting for your evidence to a contrary reality to my observation.

Dan

Communist China (world's 2nd largest economy and original source of Coronavirus) relies on King's supply chain more than most countries.

Unlike "capitalist" democracies communist China's system of rule nurtured Coronavirus. Information transparency has no place in China's autocracy that is more concerned with Communist Party control than correcting misinformation and banning citizens talking about regime sensitive issues.

Despite initial failures that resulted in Coronavirus's unchecked spread in Wuhan, communist China has since tried to spin a message, applauding itself for its quick response and “spirit of Worker and Peasant self-sacrifice,” promoting its "non-capitalist" authoritarian model as the one best suited to stop the Coronavirus it started.

diver dan,
anyone not familiar with the Public Service would easiiy be sucked in by your self-preserving manner of describing the situation.
Explain to us how bringing Public funded salaries down to a more fair & deserving level is wishing bad luck on people ?
Why, even Qantas sees it fit in this looming economic crisis to curb the excesses, why not Govt employees, particularly those on hundreds of thousands of Dollars for what is not even disclosed it is warranted for !
Asking people who became millionaires from Public funding to forfeit a little for the good of the whole country should be seen as a moral duty, not wishing bad !

Dan a mate of mine was employed in the tax department. When he finally finished his accountancy he became a sales tax investigator. His salary as such was equal, or a little higher than he could find in industry as a new graduate.

He is no boot licker, so did not progress quickly, but was good at the job, & finally made it to senior investigator, on very good money. In his last 4 years before retirement the public service system kicked in. With those above him retiring he received an average of 3 promotions a year, retiring as manager of a division of sales tax in NSW.

As his pension was a percentage of the average of his last 3 years salary, [70% I think]. With all his promotions that was more than he had been earning 3 years before retirement. In retirement his income was greater than most of his working life.

"This is the unravelling of large sections of global capitalism, starting with supply chains and which ultimately, will end with the banks."

No, it's a restructuring, the petrodollar is dead.
And the banks have a 'House always wins clause' called 'Bail-in'

Bail In in Australia is not new. It was used in the 1892/83 depression in Melbourne to shore up the banks. Some banks failed and it took 25 years for surviving depositors to get their money back.

Now, bank bail in was snuck in on February 14th 2018 with just 7 Senators present in the chamber.

You'll learn of the ruthless greed of the rich,
diver dan,
I have experienced the ruthless greed of "standard" everyday people who do nothing but holding out their hands whilst condemning those who at least employ people !

The authors critic on supply chains and the power of banks is correct,but the most subtle point he made has been over looked.

"Economic change also creates organisational change. KPIs have replaced collegiality. Bullying is rife. There's a raft of middle managers who make Richard III look like Kimba the White Lion, as workers toil in institutional psychic prisons."

Democracy has been founded upon equal opportunity and transparent government. As someone who tried at a senior level to reform my small segment of government, I am appalled at the decline of the "separation of powers between politics and the bureaucracy. I left in dismay 15+ years ago, but have watched the continued decline thru my partner who continued on. State governments no longer have a functional public service. The talent (believe me 15 years ago there was skilled talent) has been exorcized and replaced by "yes sir, how far do you want me to bender over" types who have no skills overthere than running fad management and KPI's to cover their bloated posteriors and use fear and bullying to an extent that would make "Tom Brown Schooldays" look like Sesame street.

During this China Syndrome pandemic, don't expect help from our overpaid bureaucracy… they don't know how and will need 12 months of expensive KPMG/PWC/McKinley consultant reports before they can advice us on what to use as an alternative to the now extent bog roll!

Of course they can all work at home, while the rest of us need to work or starve. They will probably even claim or be given payments to cover the home utility bills and office use!!

Yes the author is correct about global supply chain weakness, but fundamentally our chronic disease is an impotent, unskilled, ethic less, bullying senior management in the public service.

The only thing they are good at is wasting money and hobbling our economy and destroying our country with PC propaganda, particularly thru our schools and universities.

"I have experienced the ruthless greed of "standard" everyday people who do nothing but holding out their hands whilst condemning those who at least employ people !"

Posted by individual,

Hear! Hear! Plenty of them on the take in small ways that add up.