Tag: kittens

COVID – 19 part 2

This whole story is starting to dominate the news.
I have two thoughts.
First, shortages in the shops demonstrate how fragile modern society is.
Let’s say I buy one particular thing every weekly shop at the supermarket.
Panicked by the newspaper headlines, it is quite rational of me to buy two of them when I shop.
However if everybody does that a  variant of that hundred per cent increase in demand will inevitably cause shortages.

The story of the shortage causes further panic and people start buying more things.
Then there is a shortage.
Then people start profiteering.
The moral of this is to be sensible though I am  not sure everybody will be.

A second thought is one of puzzlement. It is quite clear how the virus originated, it is a zoonotic infection.
But a surprising number of people fuel the Internet with strange conspiracy theories.
This leads to more panic and more worry.
Therefore, what puzzles me, is why so many people are prepared to believe anything but the ordinary mundane truth.
Here are a couple of links for some simple debunking.

Independent

Telegraph

At least here is a kitten to cheer you up.

 

Kitten

Labour shortages mean higher wages

(20 February 2020) There seems to be a bit of a fuss, at the moment, about the Government’s proposals to further restrict immigration. I imagine they know what they are doing though some suggest the motives are political rather than economic.

Some businesses have bemoaned the fact that they rely on foreign workers- especially the low paid, as British residents won’t take the jobs.

This is a demonstration of the principle of failure to understand that the world is dynamic, ever changing and not static.

For example,a popular sandwich chain complained that a tiny % of their job applications in London were from British nationals. They, rightly, wish to continue their business at current levels.

However the sandwich and light refreshment industry need not be so large. Every High Street is full of such places.

If they are only inexpensive and convenient due to the low wages paid to front line staff and most of us can probably make our own sandwiches is there actually a need for so many?

Simple economics tells us that an increase in wages and improvement in conditions would lead to more job applications, raise prices and reduce the number of such establishments.

Is that necessarily a bad thing?

Similarly basic agricultural work would raise prices – but it also increases the wages of the workers so they can now afford to buy more expensive sandwiches (if they wanted to). Etc. Simple Keynesian economics.

People have pointed out the issues with the social care industry but this is wider than just low wages and is actually about the failure of successive governments to set up a proper Social Care Service.

Finally a Universal Basic Income (or negative income tax as it was known in the past) scheme would provide a sensible underpinning for many of the basic but necessary roles required in society. I will return to this at a future date

And here is a picture of a kitten.