Mark The question is this: If the lockdown continues, how many more people will die as a result of severe economic collapse rather than from the coronavirus, even if we had not made an attempt to contain it? I’m not talking about secondary deaths due to poverty-related illnesses or
I neither support nor condemn the government’s decision to put the country into lockdown to reduce the ravages of COVID-19. There are arguments both ways; either we sacrifice the lives of older and infirm people for the sake of a healthy economy, or we do everything we can to
My eyes were assailed last night on the telescreen by various ‘celebrities’ and well-knowns pitching a “Love Letter” to NZ small businesses under duress during our COVID crisis, each sloganising a little message, including Stuart Nash who assures us that small business “is the backbone of the country” and vox
Paul So I was looking for a work-related project now that the painting is all done – and I checked the COVID-19 “Business Finance Guarantee Scheme” list of banned activities just to see if any of my ideas were banned. I noted these items near the top of the list of
The Morrison government recently announced that it was lowering the threshold for screening foreign acquisitions in Australia to $0. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg promised that all foreign investments would be scrutinised to protect the national interest. Politicians such as Pauline Hanson and George Christensen have expressed little confidence in the Foreign
Governments – all governments – operate at such a high level, that when they try to design a package specifically to aid small business, they almost inevitably fail miserably. The intentions are always good, but those that usually work at the macro level always struggle with looking at things from a micro
Dr Ananish Chaudhuri– Professor of Experimental Economics, University of Auckland and Visiting Professor of Public Policy and Decision Making, Harvard University, Massachusetts, US covidplanb.co.nz There is a trade-off: how many lives will be taken by Covid-19 and how many lives will be lost due to our attempts to
Alex Davis theemperorsrobes.blogspot.com New Zealand just recorded a further four Coronavirus deaths. That brings the total to nine (as of 14 April 2020): * Woman, aged 70’s with an underlying health condition. * Female, aged 90’s with an underlying health condition. * Male, aged 80’s with an underlying
Dr Simon Thornley – Senior lecturer of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The University of Auckland Dr Grant Schofield – Professor of Public Health, AUT, Auckland Dr Gerhard Sundborn – Senior lecturer of Population and Pacific Health, University of Auckland. Dr Grant Morris – Associate Professor of Law, Victoria University of Wellington. Dr Ananish Chaudhuri– Professor
Press Release: ACT Party D-Day The Government will tell us on 20 April whether the Level 4 lockdown continues past 22 April. It needs to give clear guidance on what a Level 3 world looks like because business cannot prepare with two days’ notice. But there is another problem. Many
You may have noticed on social media calls for a universal basic income or UBI. Possibly it’s something to do with the wage subsidies etc the government is handing out; I don’t know. In any case, whatever the reasons, a UBI is a really bad idea. Firstly, it
Apparently our leader is a great communicator. She spells stuff out really clearly. For example ‘Stay home’ and ‘Act like you have COVI- 19’ and ‘Be kind’. All unambiguous instructions. But it isn’t easy to follow instructions if you don’t understand why. Here’s a simple analogy. I’
While I’m not one to suggest that our Prime Minister leans a little bit towards the authoritarian/socialist side of things, here are a few of the changes that we’ve experienced- with scarcely a criticism – over the last two weeks: * Government has decided which of our businesses are
