{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F46401dbc-ac87-412c-8c60-668ea5c2a609","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"<iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" title=\"Episode 245 \u2013 COVID-19 revives the idea of the common good\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"clipboard-write\" seamless src=\"http://player.captivate.fm/episode/46401dbc-ac87-412c-8c60-668ea5c2a609\"></iframe>","title":"Episode 245 \u2013 COVID-19 revives the idea of the common good","description":"<br />\nMassive Changes in Society are coming because \u2026 we now know there is such a thing as society. The common good is important.<br />\nLeft-wing socialist ideas are suddenly in vogue.<br />\nI previously said Australia won\u2019t change till it feels some pain. Well, we will experience plenty of pain over the next 2 years.<br />\nWhat is possible? A 6-month hold on rents and interest? Universal Basic Income? A Wealth tax? We may quickly develop a new respect for tax and government infrastructure.<br />\nMaybe Government Spending is not such a bad idea<br />\n<a href=\"https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2020/03/21/how-australia-can-avoid-economic-collapse-the-wake-covid-19/15847092009558\">By Richard Denniss in The Saturday Paper</a><br />\nFor decades, Australians have been sold an imagined poverty. We have been told we need to \u201crein in\u201d government spending \u2013 that if we want to spend more on health or education, we will need to spend less on the age pension or childcare. \u2026<br />\nBut the reality is that if we had a bigger public sector today, we would be better prepared to weather the health and economic crises triggered by the coronavirus. Hopefully, by the time we come through this, we will have learnt that lesson once and for all. Because nobody thinks \u201cthe market\u201d is best placed to tackle the coronavirus. Nobody thinks governments should step back and let the private sector step in. One of the first casualties of Covid-19 in Australia is the neoliberal rhetoric about government spending being a \u201ccost\u201d to the economy.<br />\n\u2026 Just as the bushfires changed Australians\u2019 views on climate change and the importance of investing in emergency services, Covid-19 will change Australians\u2019 attitudes towards spending on the public health system and, almost inevitably, public spending in general.<br />\nFrom Macquarie Wealth Management in The Australian<br />\nMacquarie Wealth Management, the stockbroking arm of the beating heart of Australian capitalism, Macquarie Group, has warned that \u201cconventional capitalism is dying\u201d and the world is headed for \u201csomething that will be closer to a version of communism\u201d .<br />\n\u2026 We have been arguing that conventional capitalism is dying, or at least mutating into something that will be closer to a version of communism,\u201d Macquarie analysts wrote. \u201cThis transition will be marked by cross-currents and external shocks. Ultimately, a fusion of monetary and fiscal levers will lead to MMT-style policies , effective nationalisation of capital, universal income guarantees and deep changes in work practice.<br />\nFrom Alan Kohler in The Australian<br />\nCapitalism needs a rest and the state must step up<br />\n\u2026 An economic depression seems guaranteed no matter what monetary or fiscal stimulus is applied, and governments everywhere will be forced to supply unlimited cash to stop people from dying of starvation or a lack of their usual medicines and therapies.<br />\nCapitalist, small-government economies like Australia\u2019s will be replaced for a while by a socialist one, in which the state owns the means of production \u2026 of money, that is.<br />\n\u2026 But all bets are off now \u2014 something new has come along. Capitalism has to close for a while and the state has to step up.<br />\nWhat Next? School Closures and a Lockdown?<br />\nIt\u2019s not true that whatever we do we must do for 6 months.<br />\n<a href=\"https://www.ironfistvelvetglove.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/245a.png\"></a><br />\nBondi Beach and School Closures<br />\n<a href=\"https://www.ironfistvelvetglove.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/245b.png\"></a><br />\nFrom the SMH<br />\nThe National Cabinet was advised by medical officers that more than 70 countries had put in place school closures in response to COVID-19 but \u2018\u2018 the majority of these have not been successful in controlling the outbreak\u2019 \u2019 and some were reconsidering the approach.<br />\nIn the United States, tens of thousands of schools have closed across the country, affecting 30 million students.","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/085762e2-797c-4ef4-9b10-434ecde61c07/logo2018v2.jpg"}