COVID-19 Virus.

[rick-p]

There is a storm coming and no matter how much you try to convince yourself that you won't suffer any storm damage your arguments are hollow and and nothing more than a feelgood reaction to ones inevitable plight.

[jmal]

I hear that smokers are less likely to get the virus or the general flu as the formaldehyde in tobacco kills 99.99% of all viruses.

There may well be some truth in that as the spread of TB increased globally after the ban of smoking in airlines.

[facthunter]

If most of a Hospital's staff are self isolating, what happens to the "normal" patients regardless of their age? Nev

[kgwilson]

I hear that smokers are less likely to get the virus or the general flu as the formaldehyde in tobacco kills 99.99% of all viruses.

Great, lets all start smoking again & die from Lung cancer instead. The government will be back in the black from the massive increase in the cigarette tax it will get.

[willedoo]

The way I see it, the virus presents challenges and opportunities for the government. On the challenge side is how to manage the virus and the economic hit that is coming. After a less than inspiring performance during the fires, this is a chance to redeem themselves.

 

On the opportunity side, Scotty FM gets another chance to show leadership and hopefully won't stuff it up this time. So far, he's done ok. The other plus for them is that they now have a solid excuse for not achieving the wished for fairy tale surplus. It's a way out for them. On the stimulus issue, they are late to the party but have at least swallowed their pride and gone ahead with it. After years of criticizing Rudd and Swann over their GFC package, the Libs get a chance to do the same and brag for years ahead about how theirs was better targeted. And it may well be. Only time will tell.

 

As much as I really don't allign with the Libs & Nats, in my opinion they have handled the virus issue quite well at this stage. Credit where credit is due.

[kgwilson]

I don't think announcing he was off to the Footy on Friday night was handling anything well. Seems a bit like going to Hawaii during the bushfires to me. You have to stay ahead of the game as public sentiment rapidly changes. Cricket Australia did this but not Morrison.

[willedoo]

Yes, he probably made a wrong step there, and also not being tested after hanging around Dutton was not a good look. I can understand him going by medical advice, but it would have been better politics for him to be tested.

 

My comments about him handling it well are in context to his usual track record of bad judgement. Coming off his low base, the best he can achieve is to handle something reasonably well. One thing is sure, he hasn't got the goods to excel. But as I said before, credit where credit is due. Even though it almost chokes me to say that about him. I'll have to go and wash my mouth out now.

[Yenn]

He may as well be in Hawaii now, for all the good he is doing. Blind Freddy would be just as good at his job. So far he has excelled in lack of leadership.

[kgwilson]

Scott from Marketing. I hadn't taken much notice of his early life till I found he was headhunted at 30 to head the new NZ Office of Tourism & Sport. There were some ugly political scandals & he was in the middle of some million dollar secret payments to ousted chairman, deputy chair & CEO of the NZ Tourism Board & he had overstepped his authority as reported by the Auditor General. He went back to Australia a year before his contract was up. He later laid claim to the highly successful NZ tourism slogan of 100% Pure NZ but as was proven later he had nothing to do with it. He was described as a cross between Rasputin and Crocodile Dundee by the editor of the Wellington Dominion Post and dubbed ScoMo Dundee.

His exploits here are even more bizarre being sacked from tourism Australia with yet another Auditor General scathing report etc. ScoMos history is continuing to repeat itself. Here is a brief look.

Kangaroo Court

He seems to be trying to catch up with Trump but he is probably a few thousand lies behind at the moment.

[old man emu]

Kangaroo Court

 

From that article one would surmise that ScoMo was as crooked as a dog's hind leg, and that leg was on the lap dog of an equally crooked old man. ScoMo is older now, and we all know that an old dog doesn't forget its old tricks.

 

[facthunter]

NO, It's you can't teach an OLD DOG "new" tricks. He's lead in one case but been a follower in every other so far. More manipulator than a mover. When you serve many masters, you will always appear confused. Nev

[spacesailor]

Didn,t Keeting try to cripple the caravan industry, as well as bankrupt mortgagees.

NOW this government say,s $50 off the ctp, but I didn,t get it.

Then $250 to poverty pensioners, but I didn,t get it.

Now more hundreds of dollars to stimulate the market.

BUT I don,t think I,ll get this either.

Why cant we vote who NOT to put in to parliament.

spacesailor

[Guest Machtuk]

We will all die a horrible death.....by grubby media!

[spacesailor]

Not if this Government can brush it under the carpet, (official secret).

Media can only print so much, or so many lies

spacesailor

[onetrack]

The general medical opinion with regard to the virus victims, is that long-term smokers make up a considerable percentage of the virus deaths.

 

This is because the virus amounts to a pneumonia-style attack on the lungs, and long-term smokers have compromised respiratory systems.

 

As regards OME's comments that a scarcity of imported goods will be death for the politicians - we are net exporters of food, and import less than 15% of our food needs.

That 15% can be readily manufactured here, it's only pricing that currently makes it imported.

We manufacture about 90% of our toilet paper in Australia, we have no need to rely on imported toilet paper.

 

As to the other huge percentage of stuff we import - who's going to miss shiploads of Chinese junk and trinkets, most of which ends up in landfill within 3 mths, anyway??

[octave]

Some potentially good news.

 

https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/French-researcher-in-Marseille-posts-successful-Covid-19-coronavirus-drug-trial-results

[old man emu]

As regards OME's comments that a scarcity of imported goods will be death for the politicians

 

It's the manufactured goods that are in short supply. Not only do we import masses of consumer products such as clothing and footwear, electrical goods etc., very many light manufacturing businesses have components manufactured in China and do final assembly here.

 

All I've heard from politicians are plans to "protect the Economy". Apart from calling for the cancellation of events that depend on gathering together large number of people, and thereby cutting off vast amounts of income - which is what oils the gears of the Economy - have you heard any plans to prepare to deal with the medical effects of a pandemic? Of course not! The Conservative governments are not in the least concerned about the populous, as long as service to Mamon is maintained.

 

I wonder if people will find themselves with a minor cash surplus because they go anywhere to do their usual entertainment spending. Perhaps they'll do what they have done with cash surpluses or windfalls in the recent past and use the surplus to reduce debt to banks. Imagine what would happen to the Economy is banks stopped getting the interest on loans they rake in now.

[octave]

This pandemic should not come a surprise. I find it disturbing that it has become popular to pour scorn on "experts" and rely upon on they "reckon" which is often filtered through their political beliefs.

 

"Experts" have long warned of the risks we face from viral infections as well as antibiotic resistance.

 

This talk by Bill Gates in 2015 now seems like an "I told you so" moment.

 

[NT5224]

I with OME on this and take a very dim view of our governments priorities.

 

I had an even worse view of Boris Johnson over in UKstan who at least had the courage (or stupidity) to publicly state his intent to go the herd immunity route to protect the economy (the 'economy' being his big business chums, financiers, bankers and company directors).

 

Now of course he has been forced to change track under the weight of public pressure. But contrary to independent WHO advice, the UK deliberately stalled the application of strict containment measures for about 2 weeks, thus exacerbating the spread. What awful political judgement! In a few weeks from now, people will start dying in UK who contracted Covid 19 during that period while its leaders were swayed by the pressure to 'keep the economy running'.

 

Scomo is obviously subject to similar pressures as Johnson, with those who want to see as little disruption to the economy as possible. Lets hope our political masters can find the moral courage to do the right thing.

 

I heard that Tassie is lifting up the drawbridge to better manage its Covid 19 problem.

 

I wonder why the Territory doesn't do the same? At present there are no confirmed cases yet (although this may be because the government refuses to test anybody but overseas arrivals). They don't want acknowledgement that Covid 19 is in the community because that will push them to a more draconian response -and further expense. Also whats the exit strategy? Is a quarantine just postponing the inevitable? When I think of the risks of Covid 19 hereabouts Im really worried about the vulnerability of our Indigenous Territorians who might be very severely impacted...

 

Alan

[onetrack]

Homo sapiens really are just the rabbits of Planet Earth. Due to our overwhelming numbers and uncontrolled breeding, an outbreak of human myxomatosis, regularly pops up every decade, to ensure some natural attrition of the numbers.

 

Pandemics have happened in virtually every decade since travel numbers greatly increased - various types of 'flu strains, polio, typhoid, TB, HIV, cholera, zika, ebola - the list goes on and on.

 

Each one has generally only slightly checked the numbers of homo sapiens - although a few made a sizeable dent in the worlds population numbers.

 

Several of these pandemics caused major changes to world events, and the direction of the world, and this one is definitely going to have a massive impact, that no Govt will be able to control completely.

 

I believe this pandemic will eventually alter travel levels and styles for everyone, in the final washup - and its economic impact will be huge, and change the economic face of many countries - us included.

[Guest Machtuk]

Homo sapiens really are just the rabbits of Planet Earth. Due to our overwhelming numbers and uncontrolled breeding, an outbreak of human myxomatosis, regularly pops up every decade, to ensure some natural attrition of the numbers.

 

Pandemics have happened in virtually every decade since travel numbers greatly increased - various types of 'flu strains, polio, typhoid, TB, HIV, cholera, zika, ebola - the list goes on and on.

 

Each one has generally only slightly checked the numbers of homo sapiens - although a few made a sizeable dent in the worlds population numbers.

 

Several of these pandemics caused major changes to world events, and the direction of the world, and this one is definitely going to have a massive impact, that no Govt will be able to control completely.

 

I believe this pandemic will eventually alter travel levels and styles for everyone, in the final washup - and its economic impact will be huge, and change the economic face of many countries - us included.

[/quote

 

Sadly I agree but hysteria and panic will now be the final nail in our economy as we know it, the virus itself is no longer the issue!

[spacesailor]

If too many die from " WuhuFlu" the war mongers wil be without

Their Canon fodder !.

spaceosailor

[pmccarthy]

Australia will look different in a year from now. Many (probably a majority) of existing small businesses will no longer exist. That includes coffee shops, outlets in malls, corner stores. Once gone broke, most will never reopen. Australia will look more like 1955 than 2019. Large businesses may attract enough government subsidies to reopen, probably in 3 to 6 months from now. There will be far too little free capital to recover, it will take years to build up again. Meanwhile, soup kitchens will pop up everywhere. No-one alive can assess this based on their life experience, we have to look back in history.

[octave]

Australia will look different in a year from now. Many (probably a majority) of existing small businesses will no longer exist. That includes coffee shops, outlets in malls, corner stores. Once gone broke, most will never reopen. Australia will look more like 1955 than 2019. Large businesses may attract enough government subsidies to reopen, probably in 3 to 6 months from now. There will be far too little free capital to recover, it will take years to build up again. Meanwhile, soup kitchens will pop up everywhere. No-one alive can assess this based on their life experience, we have to look back in history.

 

That's fairly grim. I think I tend more to optimism.

 

Whilst economically much damage has already been done (my super is down about 30k) I still think that we will get through this. There are a number of breakthroughs with respect to the virus itself. https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/French-researcher-in-Marseille-posts-successful-Covid-19-coronavirus-drug-trial-results

 

In any case whilst there are many unknowns, the trajectory of this virus is likely to follow other SARS events to some degree. Most of the population may get it but hopefully it can be spread out which will allow the medical system to cope better. It is predicted that a vaccine is 12 to 18 months away.

 

Economically many business will fail but I suspect will be rebuilt in the future. This is tough for business owners of course. I work for a music teaching studio which has just upgraded it's building and now faces a shut down. This is not such a problem for me being semi retired and not relying on the money. I am setting up online teaching at the moment. I don't think the world will look like 1955 because we have many more options now.

I suspect that some businesses will discover that business travel is not quite as crucial as they once thought and in fact teleconferencing will save money.

 

I am trying not to be concerned by my super shrinking because I do think there will be a bounce as we pass though this emergency. Whilst this event might be different to all other past events I do suspect that economic recovery will be as it has been in the past (hopefully) I have spent a little spare cash on shares that are being panic sold but are companies that should survive.

[willedoo]

I don't think the world will look like 1955

octave, are you saying that we should hold off on the hair oil and sideburns?