We all have to make sacrifices
Dear Reader,
It’s Good Friday, which in the Christian calendar is a somber time for reflection and sacrifice. We all have to make sacrifices. And this year, the sacrifices are especially stark.
For some of us, it’s giving up the hope of spending easter in our Pearl Beach holiday house. For others, it’s not being able to see our mistresses. And if you’re a reader of the Australian Financial Review, you’d know that the sacrifice our elderly are going to be asked to make is a particularly large one.
I’m not going to sugar coat it. If you’re getting on a bit, I’m afraid you’re going to have to die.
I know it sounds terrible when I say it like that, but let me just explain the logic, because I’m sure that once you understand where I’m coming from, you’ll get on board with the whole idea.
You see, the economy is suffering. Banker’s bonuses have been cut. We’ve even had to start printing money. But instead of spending all that money on good things, like bailing out banks, instead, we’ve had to give it to small businesses and even actual people.
I know. It’s unthinkable. This would never have happened in the GFC. (The Chaser made a lot of money buying distressed small businesses in the GFC, so we know what we're talking about).
New Zealand is now on a path to eliminating the virus completely. Once they’ve done that, they’ll just keep up strict quarantining at the border, and get on with life. Seem simple, huh? But life is not so simple. They’ve prioritised human life over the economy. And at what cost? Their smugness is now at record levels.
We can’t let that happen here. Eliminating the virus here would take months. We need to be more impatient about this.
Instead, we should just let old people die. Oh, and the weak. (Did I mention them before? I always forget about the weak).
I’m no bible basher, but I’m pretty sure it says somewhere in the bible that human life is not sacrosanct — it’s a juggle. You’ve got to juggle human life against the rate of return for equity invested.
This virus has many victims. Humans are only one of them. The toll on capital’s ROI is another, and I think we can all agree, equally as tragic.
This crisis has seen the single biggest redistributive transfer of wealth in many generations. Some part time workers and unemployed people are now better off than they were before the crisis. This has to stop. Allowing some people to get an unexpected bonus that they don’t deserve is something that nobody should ever get (except if they’re in senior management.)
As we head into the Easter weekend, perhaps spare a thought for what Jesus would do in this crisis. I’m pretty sure, he wouldn’t mind sacrificing the old and the weak if it meant Flight Centre could be back up and running a few weeks earlier.
Remember: we're all in this together.
Charles Firth
AFR Senior Writer
A few other things...
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