“The more restrictions and prohibitions there are, the poorer the people will be.”
Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu
“Never f**K with another man’s rice bowl”
A lesser, unknown Chinese Philosopher
When future historians describe what happened to the New Zealand economy in 2020 they will no doubt lay the blame on a certain pandemic. But that’s only half the story. It’s the panic-demic that has really done us in. The media led, government exploited fear of mass death that has led to the biggest act of financial suicide since Paul McCartney’s second marriage.
We dived when we should have dodged.
A nuanced intelligent response to the Chinese Government Virus (credit where credit is due) would not have seen a blanket ban on economic activity across the country, but sensible central government guidelines enforced by local government and allowing variations. Why on earth should Gore with a population density of 10/km2 be bound by the same restrictions as Auckland Central with 12,000/km2?
Because big government is dumb government.
Similar flexibility could have been granted to business. Letting retail and hospitality operate with restrictions (masks, distancing etc. etc.) could have saved the nation millions. And yes, that would have risked a higher infection rate and inevitably cost lives, but everyday businesses being kept from opening costs livelihoods and lives. Small business people, in particular, are going to find six or seven weeks of lost income hard to make up. Many will close. Financial hardship, depression, family breakdown, ruined health, suicide. The devil’s dominoes.
Of course, if you are in the public sector or part of the metropolitan elite you will have had a whale of a time during the lockdown, learning Swahili or putting your quinoa and cranberry muffin recipes on Instagram. Well, with the greatest of contempt, screw you. Your frightened rabbit obsession with eliminating all risk in human life, aided and abetted by the government and media will mean desperation for thousands.
Ardern and crew didn’t need to look far to see how an economy could be safely stewarded through this crisis. But it seems they just didn’t want to know. As National have pointed out, the cabinet papers released last Friday show no discussion of the far lighter and state varied Australian approach which has led to a similar success in containing the virus. No lesser authority than the Wall Street Journal has compared the two countries’ approaches; no prizes for which one they condemn as having a ‘significantly higher’ economic cost. Amazingly even Simon Bridges, finally locating his testicles, has joined this criticism of government pandemic policy.
So today we learn whether and when Level 2 begins. This may be a case of armchair courage but if I were a business owner I would, after taking reasonable precautions, be opening regardless. Damn the law. It goes against my conservative instincts to defy authority, but if the survival of my business and the jobs of my employees were on the line I would seriously consider a spot of civil disobedience. It has a long and venerable role in Western democracies in standing up to oppressive governments. And this government, heedless of our economic welfare and headed by an ex-president of the ‘International Union of Socialist Youth’, surely qualifies.
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