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Economic implications of a SARS/Coronavirus outbreak

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You are trying to compare apples with oranges, ASX listed and not.

Maybe if Australians would appreciate and value the quality of the produce our farmers provide is a different thing.

For example, I like making gnocchi pasta. I can buy 1kg of potatoes from coles or safeways, 1kg makes a lot of gnocchi, or I can go to the farmers market and buy organic from the farm potatoes for $12kg. For my $12kg purchase I get to know the producer, he/she gives me great advice, plus the quality of the produce is so much better.
Yes more than double the price, but really is it?
So then I go a little bit further and buy organic flour, free range bacon and free range eggs. All of it costs me 200% more than the base price at the supermarket.

But in reality, it is a small price to pay, the food taste soooooooooo much better with good ingredients and while I might not pass a taste test for the difference and maybe it is a placebo effect, it makes me feel that I am more connected to the fuel I place inside my body.

If more people cared about where their food came from, farmers and farm workers might get paid more.

The last I checked, don't see 2 many farmers driving around in Porches but do see lots of bankers and stock brokers, what do they add to society with the farmers providing them food.
 
SirRumpole said:
Not enough workers ?

The unemployment rate is supposedly about 11%.

Those receiving JobSeeker should be lining up outside farms.
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They couldn't get them to do FIFO cleaning jobs during the mining boom, for $75k a year, I can't see you getting them off their ar$e for $6k over 6 weeks.
 

I have read articles like this before, quite dreadful really, the case I read about was a group of people from India were carrying fellow Indian people around and doing this work.

On the books they paid them OK but they then charged them fees for locating the work, accomm, transport, food and anything else they could think of.

The poor pickers were getting very little after it was done, exploitation by people from their own race, nasty stuff.
 

It's not good at all. From my experience pickers and backpackers rarely saw a reasonable dollar for their work. Everyone is on challenging piece rates. Both groups get gouged for "everything" as is pointed out in the stories.

Back packers at least realised they were just getting play money and were on a working holiday. The others were just being exploited.
 

I assume in a genuine worker shortage the situation will be different, but for many years, many farms have refused to give Australian citizens work, because they know they'll get in trouble if they try to scam Australians, and I assume if they try to hire a mix, the foreigners will be less content being scammed if they have workmates who are being treated more fairly.
 
basilio said:
That's not the view of the people in agriculture. Picking fruit is seasonal and moves from place to place. It makes no sense for unemployed people hundreds of klms away to uproot their lives and move to a an area for 6 weeks work.
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Reality is some farmers won't employ locals even if they live right next to the farm. Locals need not apply period.

That's been an ongoing problem for quite some time now and suffice to say I won't say what I really think of them because it's not too polite. Let's just say this industry gets an awful lot of handouts every time there's a drought, flood or whatever but seems unwilling to give anything at all back and I sure aren't impressed with that approach.

It's not as though it's a job needing a degree or even a TAFE certificate, it's not something that needs particular artistic, sporting etc talent and it doesn't need someone to have years worth of experience either. No legitimate reason these jobs can't be given to locals.
 
macca said:
On the books they paid them OK but they then charged them fees for locating the work, accomm, transport, food and anything else they could think of.
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Accommodation's the big one in Tassie at least. Not sure about how it is in other states.

If you're not needing accommodation then don't bother applying.

That crosses locals off the list straight away unless they can cancel the lease on a rental etc which will never work for a family and even for singles is problematic.
 
macca said:
Well, dogs can be trained to sniff diabetic people in need of insulin and they can also tell when/ if their epileptic master is about to have a seizure.
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Also commonly used for quarantine against pests etc.

Eg fly to Tasmania and you'll find your bags checked by a dog. They're sniffing for flowers, plants, vegetables, fish etc - anything which could contain pests not found in the island state.

Only takes a few minutes and they've checked the whole plane load of baggage.

AFP do similar things in other states although they're more concerned about drugs etc not flowers or fish.
 
MSM is reporting on the number of Victorians either leaving or planning to leave the state.

it is going to be interesting to measure the economic devastation of the states against each other as this progresses.

it's going pretty good up here in Queensland at the moment but I'm not confident that is going to be a permanent situation, sooner or later there will be a break at out here which will have Komrade Anastasia salivating for a similar dictatorial lockdown.

Meanwhile I am still looking longingly at Sweden.
 

With a lower population density and warmer climate you probably won't do too badly up there with the virus. Which in itself is neither here nor there, except that as you say, even a small outbreak will have Marxists destroying your lives and economy.

A Sweden style strategy is inevitable, we just have to see how long it takes and what path we take to get there. The politicians won't just openly say "We made a mistake, we overacted, it's really not that bad, let's just get on with life now, sorry". I still think it's likely they'll use an ineffective vaccine as an excuse to do it. One way or another we will eventually have to get on with things. Unless you believe we're going to fully turn into some permanent totalitarian state. Down here in stage 4 Melbourne it's really weird, and amusingly, it's not helping the virus situation anyway. It's very interesting to actually look at the data (rather than just listen to the vague, biased garbage on the news) and see how lockdowns, masks, etc really don't work. The countries with the 'best' figures on the virus are just the ones not testing for it. I was saying at the time that the 'bodies piled up in the street' propaganda videos from Spain etc early this year were obviously staged propaganda which made no sense. The USA is now supposedly far worse than anywhere else has been, but far from 'bodies piled up in the street', most of my friends in the USA literally don't even personally know anyone who has had the virus, let alone experience being surrounded by the dead!

It's difficult to see when people will wake up, but apparently most can sleep through a hurricane while riding a train while it crashes.
 
I am looking longingly at NZ. No restrictions at all and no chance of getting the virus and getting really sick.

They are back to normal. (jealous).
 
Sdajii said:
A Sweden style strategy is inevitable....
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Completely false.
There are few commonalities between Swedish and Australian cultures so any attempt to replicate it would yield very different results. Furthermore, we know enough about containment and suppression strategies to avoid Sweden's exceptionally high death rate.
Sdajii said:
Down here in stage 4 Melbourne it's really weird, and amusingly, it's not helping the virus situation anyway.
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Baseless statement. Lockdowns are proven effective across the globe.
Sdajii said:
The countries with the 'best' figures on the virus are just the ones not testing for it.
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Again, not just baseless, but there is data showing it to be completely false. Just look at results for testing in Queensland to show how unsound that comment was.
Sdajii said:
I was saying at the time that the 'bodies piled up in the street' propaganda videos from Spain etc early this year were obviously staged propaganda which made no sense.
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Yet another comment without foundation. It's actually pretty disgusting imho that people would make such a comment as yours given the evidence from other nations as well, not to mention the mass graves that have also been specially prepared for COVID-19 deaths.
And we are supposed to think that your experience has meaning? USA with over 5 million affected citizens and a quarter of all deaths tells a different story.
 
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