Or you could just tax the corporations and the billionaires, stop all the lurks and perks in big business and all the tax breaks for the well-heeled (especially politicians)and put everybody on a Universal basic income. That way everyone can stay at home and contribute to the economy on their own terms and in their own way. Many will get a tertiary education online, learn and generally become more useful to society. Then and only then will we have that sacred, some might say mythical "level playing field".

I don't "bear a great sense of guilt", but I'm not a virtue signaller looking for praise. All the guilt lies with the Chinese Communist Party and, as far as the wrecking of our economy, enthusiastic socialist, Scott Morrison. The CCP with never pay, but Morrison eventually will; the increase in taxes to pay for his disbursement of other people's money will be toe curling.

" … 100 Australians will have died from the virus". Nobody knows that! The toll was 69 yesterday. Two days since there was a new case in South Australia (without the Gestapo's, sorry, the Stasis' help as in other states). The virus is plateauing all over the world.

One cost that has been overlooked, covered up, or just lacking interest, is the 40% increase in domestic violence reports; shelters are choc-a-bloc , and divorce lawyers are run off their feet with enquiries - all due to the massive increase in alcohol consumption of healthy people under what is virtually house arrest.

I don't know who, if anyone, will be able to sort out this mess; I do know it won't be Everald Compton.

What will the penalty be for his permanent ban on hand shaking, hugging and kissing? Public floggings, amputations in the public square? Thankfully Everald is 88 years old and will be ignored. The group between 40 and 60 are going to have to work this one out.

People could also try & live far less sterile lives so that their immunity can build up. Fine those helicopter parents !

On the matter of Morrison chucking other people's money around thinking people will still like him when THEY have to pay it all back, it is hoped that he can restrain himself from giving welfare to Virgin airlines which is 90% FOREIGN OWNED. Let the foreigners pay.

Because of pollution was it..

Sorry Everald, but you've got the wrong end of the stick here, As much as you like to believe you are so valuable? it's just not your age group, but perhaps all who reach it in time, who are also at risk?

Moreover, it has already claimed some younger folk kids and babies! And may continue to do so for decades. As those with some immunity go on to infect a new cohort as Asymptomatic carriers?

As for getting folks back to work? Doable now in covid-19 free quarantined bubbles. Be those covid-19 free bubbles be suburbs, villages, towns, cities, states or nations. Or multiple states that we can implicitly trust!

And based on a cooperative capitalism formula that worked here and elsewhere during the Great Depression. Cooperative capitalism that manifested as co-ops!

Co-ops were and remain the most productive and efficient business model. And indeed the only free market, private enterprise business model that mostly survived the Great Depression, largely intact.

Those few co-ops that failed during the GD, did so for the same reasons other business models do, i.e., insufficient operating capital or lack of competent management skills. Both of which are remedied by ensuring the capital and mentoring by formerly retired, successful managers like yourself, Everald.

As for what manufacture? Everything and anything where production can be thoroughly automated! Which should be prefered initially.

And simply has to be powered by a nuclear-powered economy to compete with the likes of China and India!

Given we can earn a quid (annual billions) as the world's safest repository for nuclear waste/unspent fuel with most of its available (massive) energy quotient available in new unconventional SMR's, MSR's.

That could be deployed wherever there is demand and a local co-op, willing to build and manage same. And completely financed via the aforementioned, annual billions! And a little help from our own Super!?

What can never ever happen, is a return to business a usual!

Take care and stay safe.
Alan B.

Like Everald's Home Brew Beer kit

Nice to see Everald purporting to concoct a whole of Australia eco-socio-political COVID-19 strategy (not).

On the subject of the PM's often hinted at but now revealed socialist tendencies, there is interesting illustration in Catallaxy Files this morning of a banner showing a horde of Chinese comrades with an inset of the man himself, grinning as usual, wearing what could be a Mao suit and a cap with the Red Star on it

Lord Melvyn King, House of Lords, and economist:

"Central banks print money today and governments decide how much money to spend, that’s what we do now, there’s nothing new about it."

Dear jamo,

Better still, why not just make China pay. They're the blame for this disaster so let them cough up the $$$$ to compensate the rest of the world for all the damage.

A big Aussie 'Ni hao!' to Xi and the boys. Come on China. Chop,chop!

Concerns are growing as to how the Government's use of QE will bring both huge debt and a major brake on economic recovery.
Such concerns are valid, too, for another very different reason, because a much simpler and more effective economic solution is being ignored. Currently known as Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and supported by many leading economists around the world, it is easily understood (by me at least) from the classic “Principles of Public Finance” – Chapter 15 – by former British economist and Chancellor, Hugh Dalton, where he outlines two methods of simply printing money out of nowhere for Government use.
One, he called Indirect Printing - now called QE - the convoluted process of buying and selling bonds, which does create the money but also leaves behind both a huge future debt and a substantial brake on economic recovery.
The Second, he called Direct Printing, a method by which exactly the same amount of money can be produced but with NO DEBT at all. None!
The problem is that the concept of Direct Printing is still tainted by historical associations with hyper-inflation (think Germany in the 1920s). But, as Dalton and MMT supporters stresss, the simple fact is that money is money is money: whether it comes from the Printing Press or from under the bed or from a gold mine or wherever, any given amount of it carries exactly the same risk of inflation and needs to be managed exactly the same way.
Accordingly, our real question should be: why are we Printing the money we need for our stimulus packages by QE -which creates debt and slows recovery - when the same amount of money could be Printed and used for exactly the same stimulus packages with no debt, no brake and, by definition, neither more nor less risk of inflation?

Well Everard, here is something that I suspect you did not take into
your estimate of costs.
All cars will have to be scrapped, and replaced with wider cars.
All roads will have to be widened or lane numbers reduced.
All buildings over three floors will have to be demolished and rebuilt
with larger lift wells, to enable 1.5 metres between each passenger.
There will be a few $Trillion in that alone.
At least trains won't have to be widened, just made longer and station
platforms made longer. More expensive in undergrounds, a few $billion there.

Somehow I think Everard is joking,
Can anyone think of something to add to the joke.

I wish I could joke over the second biggest hoax of all time. A disease like many others gets governments to collectively lose their minds and waste Trillions! Put in police state measures, stop people earning a living and try and change the way we have done things for hundreds of years? We should go back to interacting with hand shakes, hugs and kisses. We should be able to walk in crowds if we want to.
All this money and actual waste of time and resources for what? A few thousand deaths, absolutely laughable. The political bastardry of inflicting this on their own people and then if it goes wrong, blame us and if it goes right looking for acclamation, ridiculous.
I am sure everyone knows that climate change is the biggest hoax of all time but this one is second!

Hmmm, jbowyer...

nice to see someone thing outside and beyond the box... will we ever know the real decisions and data behind this Covid-19/96gg virus... The ABC/CNN/BBC/ Sky ( pre 6pm?)

Hmmm... I am sure Hollywood script writer are busy. DiCaprio, lady Gaga, Madonna, Jane Fonda McCartney, Helen hunt, Alec Baldwin et al....... are planning to get their agents to get them a spot of this next Hollywood blockbuster " How Chai-na fought the USA and won!"

As for the authors article, its fine, its informative, but probably to deferential, his generation (MY MOTHER/FATHERS) did a lot of heavy lifting. they deserve out tanks respect and now care!

Past civilisations have adapted to worse situations, time heals all wounds!

Dan

JBowyer, the hoax perhaps is that we're 'all in this together'. Conspicuous when you look at who's losing big time and who's not losing at all. The lines are clear.
Mr O raises the question in his curious response to my earlier post. Who should we blame for the cost. In my book it isn't Charlie

What can never ever happen, is a return to business a usual!
Alan B,
We can live in hope that business practises won't ever be as shonky again !

jamo,

Could you please enlighten me on where you believe the blame for the Great Wuhan Pandemic Meltdown does lie?

This pandemic offers an opportunity for us to change the way we do business with the world. Trump has been wrestling with China over the trade imbalance, but has not adjusted America's manufacturing base due to the inherent difference in wages between American and Chinese workers. We are in a similar position with our Asian neighbours. However, there are other ways we can manage globalization differences. For example, as Ross Garnaut has pointed out in his book, "Superpower- Australia's low carbon opportunity", we can use renewable energy to our advantage. This is becoming more evident as the oil prices fall due to sharply reduced demand; however, this is a temporary position, until the demand returns after the end of the pandemic. What we can do is to rebuild our manufacturing industry through government assistance, as demonstrated in this era of uncertainty. Secondly, we can all help by buying Australian owned and made products and services. For example, Australian car batteries are bought from Korea- why can't we manufacture them here? Amazon has entered our markets and taken sales away from Australian suppliers of books and other items. Why should we be so complacent? All it requires is for Australians to buy Australian goods and services, and to reduce our dependence on foreign supplies of both. Once we were a proud nation, and built our industries and initiative on trust in our capabilities. What has gone wrong?

Oh dear, Ross Garnaut… you need to read more broadly that that buffoon old chap. I suppose your going to start saying the COVID-19 will drive us all to solar and a sustainable earthy, reliant ( ever more so on rare metals needed to build all the batteries we will need?

I'm fearful of a return to business as usual. Terms like snap back & reform mean a transference of more wealth up to the super wealthy hoarding & controlling minority.

Only progressive policies that take Australia forward.

We see the regressive right saying we will all have to pay & even push for increasing the GST. Why implement damaging and regressive policies that would further entrench inequality & lead to further collapses in the economy.

Any pay back should be in the form of good well paid secure employment for all. A real investment in the future.

We will have to expand the public service & in doing so recognise the need to no longer outsource jobs to private sector on the pretext of savings when in fact it just delivers windfalls to shareholders in good times & reliance on govt handouts in bad times.The same can be said of privatised essential services like banks, health care, aged & child care, energy, transport ie all great at socialising costs but capitalising profits. They win we lose.

Neo liberal idiologies need to be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Some goods we cannot make. We can however produce a lot as we once used to make just about everything. Costs wages etc allowed it to be stolen off us. Good companies making great products have as a result of globalisation disappeared from our ownership. We need to rethink Fair Trade not Free Trade & consider the costs of using offshore slavery & subsidised polluting freight in goods made offshore.

Who pays for this? No one. Australia a sovereign country cannot go broke. What we spend (debt) = an asset elsewhere. This asset mustn't end up in a Wall Street bank as we would stupidly end up paying. We could spend trillions opening up Australia building water storages, pipelines, dams, ports, high speed rail, new cities that would attract workers & provide for new industries & for trillions invested the returns would be 10 or 20x over a longer term.

Covid19 is a nasty wake up call to reset all our values.

Cyclone,
Thank you your post, it's encouraging to see more & more sensible people posting here!
What do you think about a National Service scheme for the young 18-20/years old unemployed single people ?

Mr O. Which are we talking about, the leaked experiment or the meltdown?
The meltdown's our own. Well some of us anyway.

Only progressive policies that take Australia forward.
HARPOLDIE,
Well, that means we'll first have to change the mentality of the regressing Progressives. How do YOU think that can be done ?
I think we'll need to progressively reduce the salaries of bureaucrats, freeze blue collar wages,
establish a Pension fund, establish a National Service & focus more on the revival of small towns.
Unless we agree to become a user-pays society, we'll not improve anything !

individual,
Trying to make us a user pays society is not the solution; it's the biggest cause of the problem!

Aidan,
You're challenging my mentality on that one. How should things be paid for other than by those who use ??
Don't you think people should pay for what they demand ?
Going by what you're saying, I want a new Mac Book Pro & I should expect you to buy it for me ?
Please explain !

individual,
> You're challenging my mentality on that one.
Good!

> How should things be paid for other than by those who use ??
By the government.

> Don't you think people should pay for what they demand ?
Not always. Sometimes it's better to make things freely accessible to all. A high standard of living shouldn't be restricted to those who are rich.

>Going by what you're saying, I want a new Mac Book Pro & I should expect you to buy it for me ?
Buy it yourself! I don't think there's much call for government intervention in the provision of non essential goods.

Aidan,
Do you by any chance work in ATO or Centrelink ?

individual,
No I don't, and I certainly wouldn't want to.
Those organisations are difficult to deal with, and the government has made it harder still - neither is contactable by email, even though the government's closed down all ATO's offices in my state.

Aidan,
We need to look at where funding is wasted rather than where it it spent. Money well spent is good for the Nation's prosperity, money wasted is only good for a handful !
Governments or rather many bureaucrats, are notorious in the flippancy with public funding.
You say a high standard of living shouldn't be restricted to those who are rich & I agree.
However, who makes the rich wealthy ? The consumers who demand more than they give, that's who !
The authorities who allow exploitation of public funding with impunity are at the forefront of corruption. The policy makers & legislators whose incompetence is fuelled only by greed are all complicit in the ineffective managing of our economy. With COVID-19 we have reached the decision-making point of either keep on going down the path of economic implosion to or re-think the situation & allow some common sense bail-up this idiocy !
We simply cannot afford the 'Growth' mentality to continue for much longer. We'll either end up economically ruined or ruin the environment & ourselves !
Discipline is the key to restoring our society to a sustainable level. Those who don't want to change should be made to live in the Middle East to get a glimpse of the future here !

For a genuine solution to the current crisis of jobs and debt we need to look seriously at what is currently known as the Modern Monetary School (MMT) of economics. Google MMT for detail, but in summary, any unbiased examination will show that it provides a much better answer than current orthodoxy, to our 2 key covid recovery conerns (i) how to ensure jobs and incomes at all levels both now and through the post covid recovery; plus (II) how to cope with the huge build up of debt or, better still, not have it at all. In essence, MMT takes the position that economic balance has nothing to do with Surplus and Deficits but comes only when all potential workers are fully employed ie when all human resources are being fully utilised. It also argues that Full Employment Balance can only be achieved when the necessary amount of legal tender money is available to ensure it. In other words, government should create the necessary amount of legal tender by simple debt free fiat ie not by debt creation as required by Quantitative Easing - and distribute it so as to achieve the Full Employment.

Crucial to my earlier post today is - in case some one is asking - that MMT also deals effectively with any concerns about inflation. And, in any case, by simple definition new legal tender money created by fiat (without debt) cannot carry any different risk of generating inflation than does QE debt created money. Money is money is money.

Individual what would the Middle East show us? I did not understand your reference.

what would the Middle East show us? I did not understand your reference.
JBoyer,
For those who bother to think & look it shows which road not to go down !

Individual I think and look but as the middle East is a large place I am unsure which country or what they are doing that you seem to be against. Come on, enlighten us all, words of wisdom and all that!

JBoyer,
Just think of those Middle Eastern Countries that have no violence driven by religious ideology & general hatred of other humans & you'll have those that are not included in my remark !
Those that don't swamp the rest of the World with refugees i.e. silent invaders !

individual,
> We need to look at where funding is wasted rather than where it it spent.
What a strange claim - it's as if you think those two thqngsare mutually exclusive!
Surely we need todo both, and neither prevents or even diminishes the need for the other?

>Governments or rather many bureaucrats, are notorious in the flippancy with public funding.
Indeed, but the reputations haven't kept up with the reality.

Government departments were notoriously overstaffed in the 1970s.
Their staffing levels were slashed in the 1980s.
The cuts continued in the 1990s, but they went too far, and governments had to pay consults to do what used to be done in house for less.

How much of a false economy getting rid of too many bureaucrats is was demonstrated by the School Halls Scheme: the WA public service was still very capable; they scrutinised every contract and when the costs were higher than in the Rawlinsons, they demanded to know why. Therefore they achieved excellent value for money. Other states where the public service scrutinised the contracts, they didn't do so in as much detail but still got reasonable value for money. But in NSW and Victoria, where it was managed by the private sector, it was TERRIBLE value for money - huge sums were wasted!

>We simply cannot afford the 'Growth' mentality to continue for much longer.
On the contrary, we need dot turbocharge it! We do of course need to give greater priority to environmental objectives, but we all benefit from increasing the value of the work we do.

Aidan,
i think your claims are stranger than mine !

individual,
I think most people think everyone else's claims are stranger than their own.
So rather than stating the obvious, how about explaining what you find strange about them?
When we've discussed it, you'll probably not find them so strange any more.

On the contrary, we need dot (not or to *?)turbocharge it!
Aidan,
Wouldn't you need more people for that* to work ?

individual,
Sorry, "dot" should've been "to". I think that was an autocorrect error.

Anyway, having more people is not an absolute requirement for turbocharging economic growth. However it is highly desirable and plenty of people want to come here.

Aidan,
I'm more for balanced salary/wages balance. The present minimum wage is already at the upper limit for international competition, salaries are already way over the top.
Especially, the Public Service bureaucracy is an unsustainable luxury wed be better off without.
We must have a limit for Public Service salaries, five times the basic wage would be more than generous for the value in return. Anyone wanting to earn more is most welcome to do it on merit in private Corporate enterprise where they have to perform & where incompetence & uselessness would cut their careers short !
No Public servant is worth more than 300-400 Grand/year ! Anyone who thinks they are, please present your point !

Why doesn't this rather important topic get more attention ?

individual,
>I'm more for balanced salary/wages balance.
Balanced with what? Or is "balanced" just code for "lower"?

>The present minimum wage is already at the upper limit for international competition,
There are many factors that affect our international competitiveness. Reducing wages is probably the one with the second least desirable effect (after reducing environmental standards).

>salaries are already way over the top.
Considering the value of the work done, I don't think that's true in general. The problem is not everyone on a high salary really is doing high value work.

>Especially, the Public Service bureaucracy is an unsustainable luxury wed be better off without.
Did you read my comments about the School Halls Scheme? Do you think we'd be better off paying consultants to do the work instead? Even though that's more expensive and less accountable?

A capable public service is much better value, and should not be regarded as a luxury!

>We must have a limit for Public Service salaries, five times the basic wage would be
>more than generous for the value in return. Anyone wanting to earn more is most
>welcome to do it on merit in private Corporate enterprise where they have to perform
>& where incompetence & uselessness would cut their careers short !
Arbitrarily limiting public service salaries would deprive the public service of the most capable people. Is that really what you want?

And are you under the impression that those on high salaries in the public service don't have to perform?

>No Public servant is worth more than 300-400 Grand/year !
When the decisions made can save or cost many millions, I wouldn't be so sure.

We should crowdsource scrutiny of what the public service does, to ensure that we do get value for money. But artificially capping salaries will not achieve that objective.

Balanced with what? Or is "balanced" just code for "lower"?

Aidan,
Balanced with Public Service Pay.
NO ! Balanced is a maximum base salary of 5-6 times minimum wage. Desire more pay ? get into private Enterprise !
Nobody is asking to reduce wages, only PS salaries !

A capable public service is much better value, and should not be regarded as a luxury!
Agree, why is it not so ?

Arbitrarily limiting public service salaries would deprive the public service of the most capable people.
That's Code for let's not try it in case it works !

When the decisions made can save or cost many millions, I wouldn't be so sure.
When does that ever happen ? Why not pay only after this is proven ?

But artificially capping salaries will not achieve that objective.
Not artificially, cap them full stop & if impressive performance is on display then compensate by a one-off benefit, not just keep paying top Dollar when nothing is achieved !