'Everything Must Go'

I caught the end of the movie 'Hearts Beat Loud' on SBS and heard this beautiful piece of music. For me it evokes a haunting heartfelt longing - for 'something'. 

Hope you enjoy it too.

'Everything Must Go' (Frank Collage) - Keegan DeWitt.

'Have a Nice Day'

Munted Bear is at it again. He's pissed off about recent exchanges with fuckwit idiots on Facebook and is berating himself for bothering to engage. From now on, he's not going to. 

But before he disengages from that particular forum he'd like to say this....

Oh, and long live blogging.......

Image: Author. Original idea. Hand drawn, digitally coloured.

Random Reality

On the one hand COVID restrictions imposed on our state - with very few active cases and hardly any deaths - seem draconian and well, kind of weird. It's like living in an alternative universe here in the west. It's very difficult for us to appreciate what the east coast, and the rest of the world, is going through. 

Even so, I fully support our state premier for keeping our borders closed and flipping the bird at wealthy bastard businessman Clive Palmer who is suing him and our state because he has been shut out. My own response to the virus is a bit schizoid too so it's no wonder people are polarised about it.

This series of posts by Richard Rose sums up the dilemma. Many of us have felt the way Richard felt - that doing things like wearing masks and taking the virus too seriously - is overreacting. Sadly, when you see how quickly things changed for him, the randomness of this reality is all too clear.

Vale Richard.

You do know money is an illusion, don't you?

I recently said to a young work colleague 'you do know that money is an illusion, don't you?' In retrospect it may have been a bit unkind - she had just graduated with an economics degree - but at the time she was taking our budget way too seriously. Not long after that I was vindicated when I heard economics professor Alan Kohler talking on the ABC. And here's why.

How would Australia look if our political leaders could afford to spend a lot more on public health and education, social housing, scientific research and green energy schemes than they claim they can? What if they could eliminate unemployment? Well apparently they can do all of this – they just don’t want to. ‘When you hear a politician saying the government must "live within its means," what they're really saying is the government mustn't spend more than it collects in taxes or borrowings’. MMT economists like Alan Kohler are crying ‘bullshit’ – they say ‘"full employment" is not only possible, it's a moral imperative. Anyone who wants a job should have one’. These ideas form the basis of Modern Monetary Theory and they are gaining momentum.

From 1945 to 1971 the US dollar was supposed to be backed by reserves so it could be exchanged on demand for a fixed amount of gold held by the US government. Certain currencies were ‘pegged at agreed fixed rates against the US dollar’. But in 1971 Richard Nixon decoupled America’s currency from gold – which basically meant that money no longer had an intrinsic or ‘real’ value. Countries like Australia followed suit and adopted this system of ‘fiat’ currencies which now had floating exchange rates.

Since the decoupling of currencies from any real value in gold, money has become more of a political construct than an economic one. According to Alan Kohler deficits are now simply a weapon our 2 major political parties use to whack each other over the head with. Modern Monetary Theorists say there is ‘no limit to the amount of money a government with its own currency can create, as long as inflation remains under control’. (ABC News: Alistair Kroie)

MM theorists maintain the deficit ‘problem’ has no substantive basis in reality – at least within that country’s own borders. Critics of MMT warn it is ‘naive, simplistic and potentially dangerous’, but supporters believe ‘many of the world's problems today (extreme wealth inequality, poorly funded public hospitals and schools, chronic underemployment, stagnant wages) are a consequence of misunderstanding government financing’. I think they are being too kind - neo-liberals understand government financing perfectly.

The neo-liberalist right want to maintain a certain level of unemployment because they use it to control inflation and wage growth. They don’t want full employment because if people have to compete for jobs, they’ll put up with more shit and won’t ask for a pay rise. Wage increases will increase costs and reduce profits, which of course these self-entitled greedy bastards want to maintain so they can look after company CEOs and shareholders at the expense of workers.

Once we get past basic human greed, the main barrier to a more equitable situation is the global economy. I’ve never supported global trade – simply because it isn’t a level playing field. Cost of living in Australia is high – we can’t afford to work for $3 a day because we pay a lot for food, rent and everything else. ‘High’ labour costs in Australia mean businesses move production overseas where the poor are exploited. But, if we stayed within your own borders, and manufactured most of what we needed (not wanted), and paid the real cost of production - we could create more jobs. Any remaining jobless – those who are incapable of working for some reason and are never going to get a job - could be provided with an appropriate unemployment benefit by simply printing more money if necessary. 

Before my fellow socialists and I get too excited it’s interesting (and disappointing) to discover that MMT proponents don’t support a Universal Basic Income because they believe we should all have a job if possible. I guess there are merits in that if we are talking about ‘dignity’. However, the idea that we should all have a job is another ideological capitalist construct - the ‘dignity of work’ is only relevant in a society that values it. 

The other snag I can see is that MMT only applies to federal governments because they can print their own money. Local governments are able to use that money but can’t create their own, so they still need to budget. This is fine if there is a co-operative relationship between the states and the feds, which there often isn’t in Australia. During COVID this relationship has deteriorated quite significantly – some commentators are saying the federation is under threat like no other time in its history.

After decades of capitalism and the obvious failure of ‘trickle down economics’ – which stupidly rely on the goodwill of the wealthy and powerful – it’s encouraging that MMT is putting forward a model for a brave new economic world. Unfortunately - and unrealistically - it relies on the wealthy relinquishing power. I just can’t see that happening. Even so I’m glad to see MMT economists calling out the bullshit.

Image: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/317/5841/1042

'Modern Monetary Theory: How MMT is Challenging the Economic Establishment', Gareth Hutchens, 17 July 2020
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-17/what-is-modern-monetary-theory/12455806

What if......?

I've been trying to frame this idea in my head for a while. Not so much the idea that COVID might be here to regain some balance on a besieged planet. That's already been suggested by others. I'm more interested in which types of human activity this virus is actually 'targeting'. What is the catalyst for an outbreak and why it hits certain areas? It's probable that it will eventually get to every corner of the globe, but do those places hit hardest now have something in common?

And there it was in a promo for an upcoming ABC documentary by Craig Reucassel called 'Fight for Planet A' - not the title itself but the distillation of an idea. I've been saying things like 'the virus seems to be targeting 'decadence' or 'affluence' - except that's not correct. That is a conflation of my judgment about what is 'essential' activity and what isn't in the context of lockdowns - a judgment tied in with the idea that the virus is a 'disease of globalisation'. To say globalisation is all bad is not correct either, because there have been some real benefits.

But when you look at a simulation of global flightpaths - and this was 5 years ago - you'd have to be out of your tiny mind not to think this was just bloody ridiculous.

How was the world's ecosystems ever going to sustain this level of activity? 

I'm left with the hard sell that this type of activity is 'non-essential'. It is a value judgment most people I know - including my close family - would be unimpressed with. They are all seasoned world travellers who escape their boring/unfulfilled/shallow lives by taking at least one overseas annual holiday and a luxury cruise every few years. (And before everyone starts throwing stuff at their screens: yes, I do recognise that cross-cultural exchanges can be a positive thing, but let's face it - most travellers don't want to see the REAL lives of other cultures. They just want to indulge their pleasure receptors)

Anyway - let's forget about whether flying and cruising all over the world is 'essential' or 'non-essential', whether these are 'decadent' practices embedded deeply in contemporary culture or predominantly requiring a certain level of 'affluence'. It's more likely we'd all agree that this level of human activity on a planet with finite resources is 'excessive'.

We only have to look at the factors that are contributing to the success of COVID - an abundance of people 'shoulder to shoulder' moving around in pubs, restaurants, cruise ships, overpopulated urban areas - including affluent ones - people criss-crossing the world as if they were going to the corner shop. Excess is the one thing places like the US and sub-Saharan Africa have in common - whether it's an excess of people, an excessive lifestyle or both.

Edit: I've just noticed that there is a clear correlation between the areas most affected by COVID and those with the highest number of flights.

Meme: Author.
Map: Ben Logan, Flight path Visualisation, 2015 https://mrbenlogan.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/global-flight-path-visualisation/

Problem (Not) Solved

To say I am really over this bloody COVID thing is an understatement. I don't know what to think about it anymore. I believe there is something very contagious and horrible killing a lot of people and making them very sick across the world. As to what it actually is - whether it's a virus or some other highly transmissable disease; how it got here - whether it was genetically engineered in China or let loose by Bill Gates and his buddies; and what we should do about it - wear masks, not wear masks,  isolate, shut everything down, pretend it isn't happening, live in fear......or all of the above. Keeping up with daily tallies, self-entitled millionaire businessman Clive Palmer suing our state because we have kept our borders closed, and reactive government guidelines is exhausting. 

Not to mention wondering what to do about 'social distancing' at the beach or the local Tip Shop (which has become a Mecca for the many comfortably-well-off tourists looking for a bargain - as if they need one). So many out of town visitors are constantly here - either out of work, being supported by government JobKeeper and JobSeeker allowances, diverting their scheduled annual overseas holidays to the south coast of their state or working away from the office in their holiday homes. Everything has changed. My once lovely coastal town is now busy all the time and I am absolutely fed up dealing with humans. I completely understand why folks are escaping the city - I just wish they wouldn't escape HERE. Real estate sales have gone nuts and I am looking further east to see where else I can escape to. Sadly I'm running out of places now.

Am I a really bad person to feel the sheer weight of humanity has become so unbearable I'm thinking this 'virus' might just be a good thing if it wipes out millions of us? Objectively I can justify that position. Of course subjectively I don't want anyone to suffer or die - except maybe Clive Palmer and our prime minister (I'm  not even going to use capitals for him).

I had words with my boss last week - I basically lost it. I even dropped the 'F' bomb, then quickly apologised for swearing. I don't care that I'm a casual on 5-week contracts - I've got my limit and last week was it. My default position: if you don't like what I'm doing or saying - sack me - and maybe do us both a favour. I won't and can't go into details but in a nutshell - our state government has slashed 15% off our already ridiculously meagre budget. Like so many government departments we are struggling, and failing, to deliver basic services. Everyone works hard and is subjected to more and more stress. Long gone are the comfortably slack 1980s public service jobs like the one I ditched at 19 to run off up north with a man. (I didn't like that job anyway, and the man was a huge disappointment too).

On top of all this I'm grappling with the issue of 'relevance' - as in - what the hell are we all actually trying to achieve? The system, all systems, are so broken they simply can't be fixed. They are imploding but they need to collapse fully before we can gather the whole mess up and start from scratch. All of us who work for the government are probably only delaying the inevitable. But we all need jobs and the people we serve need us to keep doing our jobs as best we can until something else comes along.

This post didn't start out like this. I was only going to post Munted Bear and leave it at that. Such is the level of my frustration I've now done a huge rant. If you have got this far, thanks for indulging me.

Image: Author. Original concept, hand drawn, digitally coloured.

Trump the Trump 2

I've had this one on the digital drawing board for a while - just waiting for Trump to trump himself (again). You can always rely on him. From the New York Times, 29 July 2020:

President Trump lamented at a White House coronavirus briefing that his approval ratings were lower than those of 2 top government medical experts. “They’re highly thought of — but nobody likes me,” he said, adding: “It can only be my personality."

Brilliant.

Image: Author. Original concept. Digital collage with digital painting.