Renowned US economist Thomas Sowell, commenting on Hayek's famous 'Fatal Conceit' wrote "It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong,".

Which brings us to the various lockdowns. None, and I do mean none, of the people who make decisions about the lockdowns, pays the economic cost of those lockdowns. Health experts remain employed. Politicians remain employed. No public service has been laid off or put on JobKeeper.

The ABC et al are fond of telling us "we're all in this together" except when they're telling us its 'unprecedented times' and 'Orange Man Bad'. But we're not all in this together. Sure they can't get their smashed avo latte, and that must be an unimagined heart-ache for them, but they are in no danger of becoming unemployed.

Imagine if the government instituted a policy that the same proportion of publicly funded employees would be JobKeeper-ed as in the private sector. That the pain would be shared. That medical experts and pollies would have their salaries reduced in the same proportion as the overall income loss of the plebs.

As a thought exercise, I wonder just how very different the policy proposals and policy decisions would be under those circumstances. I suspect the lockdown enthusiasm would evaporate if we really were all in this together.

mhaze,

It's very easy to criticize. But please tell us what
would you do if you were in the PM's shoes?
How would you have dealt with the pandemic?

True. It's the way of the world. We are not all in anything together. Never have been. Never will be. But how could it be different? If the politicians were in the same fix as people who have lost their jobs, who would make the decisions? Who would get up every day and try to work out ways to help people who have been affected?

As for public servants being untouched, how would cutting their pay or standing them down help? And what about people on pensions, Age and Disability? They are not 'in it' either.

I know. It's irritating when the PM mouths the 'all in it together' slogan. I would like to slap him about his Mussolini jaw. Same goes for the ABC nasties, the academics and all other elites.

But, penalising some people who are still doing what they always do - much of it essential work and services needed by the people who are directly affected by China virus - would be daft and pointless.

However, mhaze, you are perfectly entitled to raise the subject without having to answer some petty idiot troll demanding to know what you would have done about dealing with the epidemic if you were being paid half a million dollars a year to do the PM's job. Nothing whatsoever to with your topic.

There are women who would not be feeling the 'togetherness" at this time. A line stating that politicians and 'experts' are "crisis-ing" people to death leads to an ABC online report stating that there has been a 37% drop in reports of breast cancer because of the lockdowns and women being afraid to go out for testing. The Victorian screening service is temporarily closed. The medical profession is alarmed; has been since April, but nothing has been heard of the situation until now.

This situation has brought into focus the attitudes and intellect of the the people out there.
As much as I'm with Sweden and others who 'let the chips fall where they may'.
As my predictions are being played out in front of us right now, I doubt shutting down a whole country is going to help the weak, frail and elderly, or those susceptible to this virus.
Despite the best efforts and intentions by those empowered to deal with this, the virus is still going, and irrespective of lock-downs or incoming travelers, the net result IS the same.
So you all would not be surprised at my decision, and that would be to advise people to do all the safety precautions, the medical profession is suggesting, but still leave it to the people to decide, and I would definitely NOT close down businesses.
That was the easiest and laziest decision of all and will prove to be the worst and most destructive of all for people and our economy and therefore our long term survival and prosperity.
Remember, this is just like trying to run/hide from the law, when you eventually come of of hiding, (lock-down) you will be caught and you will risk death, only it took a little longer, but you all still died in the end.
So destroying everyone else's lives and livelihood in a pointless attempt at saving those who cannot be saved, is akin to a genocide of sorts.