As our economy goes into hybernation because of Covid-19, let's hope it doesn't go into ca

With the vortex of this Coronavirus swirling around the world wreaking havoc wherever it manifests, it is clear the measures taken thus far to contain the outbreak, such as staying indoors and practicing social distancing seem to be working all around the world. The key to stopping the spread of this virus is containment. Unlike other viruses, Covid-19 is known to bring on acute respiratory difficulties that in severe cases cannot be overcome without intensive hospitalisation on respirators, as we have seen in Italy, Spain, the US and many other countries.

I predicted in my last post, that having to put our economies into hibernation would cost millions of jobs and billions of dollars, so much so, that we still have not seen the full bill, we only know that it is currently running at about $130B so far. In the meantime, we are watching all the major sporting codes in disarray, unable to find a way to sell a product, that just can’t be sold in this present crisis. It has exposed the whole sporting industry as a ‘house of cards’ that must seriously re-organise every sporting code if they are to survive the devastating effects of this pandemic.

Covid-19 is showing us that we need to re-calibrate how we live, work and survive on this planet. The social distancing policies are a must, as is limiting outdoor activity. Most importantly ALWAYS, ALWAYS wear a mask and disposable gloves in public places, this includes shops, public transport or anywhere you may mix with others. It is most concerning how this virus spreads and I encourage everyone to watch a very important documentary about Covid-19 produced by NHK-WORLD news. It is quite a long doco and if you have little time watch, I encourage you to just watch from 27:30 to about 36:00 minutes, it will answer a lot of our questions about transmission of this disease. Click here to watch it.

Back to the economic effects of Covid-19; it is clear the cost will represent a major impost on the Australian Government’s budget over the next few years, and therefore the taxpayer. The Government was horribly un-prepared for the onslaught of unemployed that would seek the assistance of Centrelink, and as usual, putting ‘policy out on the run’, they now advise to most of those un-employed to go back to their employer and seek a ‘job keeper’ payment of $1,500 per fortnight, paid through their employer, in arrears. To say that this has resulted in confusion and misunderstanding is an understatement.

Here is the major question; should the taxpayer[s] be picking up the whole bill for this additional spending? That’s a question that often bothers me in the background. We know the Federal budget will go into the red by about $100B and possibly much more, how and who should pay for it? I have one idea, and it won’t be popular with the ‘upper echelons’ of our society, but I couldn’t give a FF (to be frank). My solution; retire the Future Fund and put all that money back into consolidated revenue. It is currently worth about $166B under management by that wonderful former Treasurer Peter Costello, WHO SET IT UP, to look after all their (current & former Poly’s) ‘future’ super entitlements.

I say; TIME TO PUT THAT MONEY BACK IN THE TILL !!

You want Australian’s to step up to the mark and weather this storm, then Politicians (current & former) had better be prepared to step up to the mark as well, otherwise I predict it will get very nasty. Everything seems ok for the moment while we are in hybernation, things will change dramatically (I predict) if the ecomomy goes into cardiac arrest.

Our Constitution espouses the notion of ‘responsible government’, I can’t see that responsibility playing out too well at the moment; I fear we are governed by a bunch of clowns unable and unwilling to do what is in the NATIONAL INTEREST for fear of diminution of their own ‘personal interest[s]’. It will be interesting to see if Australians have the temerity, gumption and foresight to do what I suggest is in the National Interest.

But, while we are all mulling over that dilemma, let us just ponder on this list of Australia’s top 10 Billionaires who have done sweet FA for their ‘fellow Australians’ in this time of crisis !!

Australia's 10 richest:

Gina Rinehart $15.3b

Harry Triguboff $9.3b

Anthony Pratt $7.2b

Scott Farquhar $7b

Mike Cannon-Brookes $7b

Frank Lowy $6.5b

Andrew Forrest $5.4b

John Gandel $4b

James Packer $3.6b

Lindsay Fox $3.5b