The 2022 Winter of our discontent: Covid, inflation & Government system breakdowns

97
1941
Pick a Horseman, any Horseman

Those climbing electricity costs.

Food inflation hitting 10%.

A massive spike in food banks and food parcel deliveries.

Covid resurrection killing off any attempt to boost the economy.

What is most concerning decision makers right now is the bleak future consumers and producers are predicting DESPITE wages being high and unemployment low.

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It hints that the last 14 years of central banks printing money to offset a global financial collapse in 2008 has built a hollow illusion of growth that collapses in upon itself the millisecond normal financial parameters are attempted.

The ocean of debt is about to find true gravity as interest rates are forced up in a desperate attempt to stop supply side inflation dynamics, which of course will only make the situation worse.

Right now nursing and hospitality are screaming to throw open the immigration flood gates to allow offshore labour to prop up their exploitation models.

Nursing requires cheaper offshore options and hospitality is built upon exploiting overseas backpackers.

If the Government cave into these demands, the unemployment rate will suddenly explode as multiple industries fall back on cheaper labour options and they sack kiwi workers for cheaper offshore options.

In 2019, 4million tourists visited NZ as part of our exploitative hyper tourism industry – those numbers will never come back while China’s zero covid policy stands and while new Covid variants sweep around the world.

Hospitality servicing hyper tourism is dead and this all occurs as the exhaustion on our social infrastructure has reached cascade failure levels.

Covid, inflation and Government system breakdowns will be our winter of discontent.

Politically this is a nightmare.

The Woke Left who integrated social distancing and mask wearing as part of their identity are as furious with Jacinda as the anti-mandate Qanon feral lunatics and small business owners are.

Everyone hates this outcome.

Wait till food inflation hits 15% in December.

 

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97 COMMENTS

  1. Given the current trajectory give or take by 2050 South Island Independence will be attained and we will tell Wellington to bugger off.

  2. The Covid everyone is experiencing and that is ALL age groups is far more mild than the old school winter colds, so although the media are busting their arses trying to hype this non event up, it’s not working. So let’s move on! Please! And we didn’t used to count colds as the cause of death with the terminally ill or people with other serious medical conditions who died, like the gross misrepresentation of people dying WITH not OF covid.

    But what is real is fuel prices through the roof and if nothing else, that and the rank amateur airline behaviour who could not care less about their customers are going to kill tourism, all on their lonesomes. And to some extent our economy.

    And with diesel almost matching 91 octane petrol cents per litre, because of world market prices, I can’t help but think closing our only refinery was a very stupid idea! One that had Megan Woods oversight too, not surprisingly. And that severely impacts the transport industry and then the rest of the economy. And no, cargo bikes pedalled by earth mothers wearing bad cardy’s from Grey Lynn are not going to fill the void! Sorry Greens!

  3. Serious question. Why can’t we train nurses in-house in the hospitals like we used to? Take it off the territorial polytech’s mired in bureaucracy and limitations who charge like wounded bulls and stifle the supply anyway and pay trainees to learn, as you have suggested, and bond them. Earn as you learn with a world competitive wage at the end? Even provide affordable accommodation. By the way, we did this once as a nation!

    It’s a very practical job that requires a lot of hands on experience required to learn. That would go a long way to sorting the problems out.

    Yes, I realise Andrew Little is the Minister Health and is possibly more incompetent than Poto and thought patterns like this are beyong him, but honestly, someone surely can help him out here? This problem is fixable and the current situation is nothing less than another government own goal!

    If only we had a government whose MP’s had worked for a living instead of the academic uni student twits currently, such a basic solution might be happening right here, right now!

    • If only we had a government whose MP’s had worked for a living instead of the academic uni student twits currently, such a basic solution might be happening right here, right now!…..
      Right On @ X-ray the only time a lot of these MPs have been on a work site is for a photo opportunity while wearing a shiny new hi viz, hard hat and safety glasses!

    • So XRAY do you really think working for a living versus career politicians is the difference? History would suggest otherwise. Things were not flash for nursing under the last government either and the likes John Key “worked” for a living. Their DHB boards were full of executives that probably worked in healthcare and did f*ck all for nurses either ( aside from employing Filipino labour that come from even lower wages in the Philippines).

      I am not disputing your idea for training nurses by the way. No idea if on the job training in some therapy areas is practical or not.

    • X-ray “ Why can’t we train nurses in-house in the hospitals like we used to”? Because some avaricious neo-lib government decided that they could derive an income by making the nurses pay for their own training offsite , even though on the job training produced a more professional and experienced person as well as providing an extra pair of hands in the wards. Better still, let some other country like the Philippines provide the training, then poach them.

      “ A government whose MP’s had worked for a living”. Agree. Their lack of life knowledge is generally abysmal.

  4. Add a looming energy crisis, an electorate who no longer trusts the government and the potential for China to hit back at us economically and things could get a lot worse.

    Jacinda had an ostensibly successful tour or two overseas but whist she was away, her government continued to show itself for the crumbling edifice it is. Chris Hipkins – the Minister for everything? Really has anyone looked at education lately and its trajectory over the last 10 years?

  5. I would go so far as to suggest the health workers who are trying to replace NZ’s democratically elected representatives and systems with their fanaticism, alarmism and pseudoscience, are no better than treasonous coup plotters, attempting to capture society with their sick brand of medical authoritarianism, crony capitalism and warped ideology.

    • Oh dear Ethan Woke you seem all steamed up. Its the problem when you wear glasses and a mask I know. Please elucidate exactly what you mean by this high viz attack on some unpopular types connected with medical matters. It’s not to do with having vaxxes and wearing masks and restricted gathering numbers is it?

  6. All the top Police Superintendents have been summoned to Wellington. They have been tasked with finding a viable way to manage another ‘short, sharp lockdown’. The hospitals have collapsed and are about to implode. Effective now – educated people are being turned away and given instructions on how to manage themselves. School holidays have been ruined by the national airline being unable to cope.

    If you look at Red traffic light settings – technically we should be there now. The only reason we aren’t is political. The new Maori Health Authority and the Maori Caucus squad will look to flex their muscles once Mahuta recovers from Covid. Grunter is ensuring his numbers are firm on the other side.

    The last 2 Augusts we have been in lockdown. Bad things come in 3’s. Be prepared, the Seagull is back from leg 4 of the WokeWorldTour.

    • A lockdown is not going to do Jack shit and if Labour want to lock is up again, it’s all over for them. I promise. Kiss goodbye ever being reelected. The public buy in will largely cease, exceptions been in older comfortable RNZ panelists.

      And who, might we ask, failed to prep the health system? Labour/Green!

    • People with your, previously shared opinion, don’t help Frank. All this horseshit about masks don’t work at all, or you can’t tell me to wear one blah blah! If masks did nothing at all the lockdowns in Shanghai and Bejing would not be working . Its not like the smallish numbers of cases are not being treated by humans (and not by the robots). I am certainly not suggesting their approach is practical/sustainable but it pretty clear measures such as masks must be helping. Seasonal flu is probably doing just as much disruptive damage as Omicron (whatever variant we are at now), and I doubt aerosol transmission for flu would not be impeded by mask use.

      You are absolutely right it is political because the bleaters have been given enough share of voice to make it that way. Stubborn people who somehow feel like life is just so hard wearing a mask, momentarily ffs, in certain situations, then bleat about the health system not coping, or the airline due to absence of staff through sickness could pause and reflect.

        • Really Keepcalmcarryon? I think its pretty obvious. If you are anti simple measures that’s fine just don’t complain when people are off in droves with sickness.

          • I’m not totally anti mask, I’ve seen reports saying they help or they don’t help, likely they help a little but do add a false sense of security.
            They certainly are a political tool though:
            when a government loses control of the pandemic and hasn’t prepared hospitals in the 18-24 months of covid freedom before a belated vaccine roll out (earned at terrible cost to employers and workers) mask wearing or not makes it all the individuals fault.

            It’s especially important to scapegoat when it’s politically damaging to lock down again due to Labours own previous grotesque over reach.

            So yeah, mask blah blah, how about the failing hospitals?

      • Wheel – if masks work you wouldn’t need 2-way masking. Think about it – it makes no logical sense nor does the virus ignoring your orifices when you eat or drink. By all means wear one – just don’t compel people to. It’s called personal responsibility.

        We still have no large study come out from a reputable health agency or university supporting mask usage being effective (no one seems to want to do the study – I wonder why!) nor any medical studies to show how a first generation covid vaccine works on the current variants. I won’t be getting a second booster – I’ll rely on natural immunity.

        I’ve had covid as have many. Most have had mild symptoms. It is endemic – best we move on like the rest of the world (outside of totalitarian regimes).

        • That’s not uncommon though is it? I am alright Jack. I have had COVID too and it was nothing, but if I can do something as simple as put a mask on in a supermarket to give the health service a break from seasonal flu as well as COVID then its no skin off my nose (unless I react to the mask of course). I don’t disagree with your point on eating and drinking because….you are not wearing a mask. I don’t need a clinical study to prove to me that the odds of an airborne pathogen infecting me are reduced when what I breath through is covered. Is it 100% effective, not at all, but putting a mask on is nothing.

        • We were told recently by the Minister to wear masks as they protect the wearer. My logic conclusion to that is they can filter out microscopic viruses because why else would anyone suggest it? The point being masks filter visble particles not invisible microscopic viruses which means mask wearing is complete and utter rubbish as a defence. And strangely enough masks were not considered practical during Covid 1.0 in 2020!

          I am guessing therefore our government believes greatly in the placebo effect as a management tool!

          • You forgot to add surgical masks were designed to protect the user from blood splatter during operations. They are practically useless. N95/KN95 masks do offer some protection although again were not designed for airborne pathogens.

    • The imaginary ‘lockdowns’ where everyone is still free to wander around and meet up to spread COVID for weeks at a time weren’t and aren’t lockdowns, and they won’t stop the spread of COVID. There is no chance that Jacinda goes back to her fake lockdowns. She doesn’t care how many people she kills.

  7. Throw open the doors to immigration for Nurses and Hospitality workers but have visas only granted if pay is x amount (being an amount over current levels). That gives the workforce and forces pay up at the same time.

  8. Frank t Tank. They can’t go into lockdown for the Ireland vrs New ‘Wales’ rugby test in Wellington on Saturday…the rugby fans would riot.

    Might be the only way we can get away with not losing to the Irish though.

  9. I’d like to take a more optimistic view here. My understanding of the financial situation from a global perspective is that the regulations were changed by respective Financial Market Authorities after the 2007 global financial crisis and there was resulting pressure on governments across the world to pay back their debts more quickly and to work towards reducing the potential future debt of their respective citizens, especially throsy vulnerable ones, and most have at least attempted to bring in the appropriate measures with which to achieve those outcomes.

  10. Everything she turns her attention to turns to shit. Can we just pay her to no longer do anything but just sit there and smile gormlessly until the next election. She is like NZ’s Mrs Bean.

  11. Having listened to this mask debate for months can I just say Masks do actually work!! Even against aerosolised viruses.

    Yes, you need better quality masks and yes, you need strict protocols. Most people will not be able to access n95 masks or use them properly but wearing a mask is still worthwhile.

    It’s all about viral load. And the amount of circulating particles. You wear a crappy mask and get Covid but because you were wearing a crappy mask you only got exposed to 35% of the 100% of circulating virus particles in the air. Therefore your viral load is lower when you get sick and in theory, you dont get as sick as if you had been unmasked. You will probably be less sick for less long so that is a win.

    But where the masks particularly win is indoors where you’re on a bus for example and everyone is breathing the same air. If everyone wears a mask, the circulating particles are lessened by ??% (Figure depends on quality of masks and rigour of mask wearers) . So we do need people to wear masks, not to stop infection but to slow it a little and from a hospitalisation point of view, to slow admissions.

    Omicron has been mild so far but dont be complacent. Experiences vary. I have dodged it but my daughter caught it and felt a little strange and took a test which was positive. Within 24 hours no symptoms what so ever apart from a few days lack of taste. My sister, husband and their daughter caught it. Laid up for three weeks, described as a very bad flu. Brother in Law but on anti virals? after 3 days as he was worsening.

    Latest confirmed news is BA4 and 5 are significantly different from BA1 and 2 (more spreadable) and they do feature more prominently in the lungs (So mutations are now heading more in the direction of Delta) and it would appear that they do feature more severe disease but too early to be entirely sure because of where the world is with the accelerating wave. ie: More hospitalisations and ICU – is it only related to peaking infections or does it also show more severe disease?

  12. The winter (and decades) of our discontent as our once good, mostly, little country has been besmirched by lowlifes  approved or facilitated by government.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/129225419/abuse-in-care-men-raped-disabled-children-paid-staff-for-access
    This is the sort of country we have been.   It is so bad and widespread that we can’t ask if the person is exaggerating, it has built up into too big a number of cases. Ordinary people didn’t realise that lying and callous viciousness was continuing.   Neglect of right procedures and decent humanity was beyond the governments capacity, and they couldn’t wait to close down the institutions and clear them out before they had to face up to it and spend the millions on improvements and on recompense which would follow the revelations of cruelty.

    No wonder we are anxious that a Childrens Commissioner be appointed.   How can we stop the dregs of society being employed to look after the vulnerable and the inmates being prostituted if there isn’t surveillance.     Whistleblowers could not afford to harm their own standing and retaliation that would follow reporting the disgrace and they wouldn’t be believed and their names would have been blackened and their families attacked verbally and perhaps physically.  

    We must have a Childrens Commissioner and the government should not be hiding behind the supposedly caring nature of Carmel Sepuloni’s cultural and religious background, virtually forcing her to bear the brunt of the bad vibes from the past bad behaviour, and  the almost assured ones from the future, if she doesn’t go firmly forward to ensure a person of strength and stature morally is not appointed to oversee future care for children and parents.   People need help and respect the government and they should be able so to do!
     How can we remove the veneer of  100% Pure and clean us out to an acceptable level and pledge more honesty and no more ignoring festering social conditions.   We at present are a mendacious disgrace and those of us who realise it have got to do something definite beyond giving to charity when our heartstrings are pulled but ignoring the base of the iceberg.  The broad mass of citizens with money apparently won’t commit to caring for people who don’t match up to visions of The Truman Show type, and have a great capacity to be self-absorbed and acquisitive.

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