An A to Z Coronavirus observational guide. . . E

E

Epidemics, Education, Economics and the Environment.

Ok strictly speaking Covid-19 is not an Epidemic it’s a Pandemic, seriously more scary because it kind of means it’s out of control globally. Well that’s a reassuring thought.

Here in Britain this has led to a Lockdown on movement so all the Schools have closed. MMMMmmmmm well not entirely true even if the main news media kept telling us this was going to happen. You see schools had to stay open for key workers so they (the key workers) could continue working. The issue is half the countries working population appear to be classed as key workers so rather a lot of schools are open. But there is a lot of home education going on too and a lot of live web sites trying to get noticed by the kids or parents of kids who are all trapped at home.

OK Economics, yes things are bad and most countries are throwing everything plus the kitchen sink at trying to maintain a degree of confidence in the financial system that oils the wheels of world economics. I am not optimistic and am expecting the worse. Hey half my own savings have gone so I would really prefer things to work out. Maybe very long term they might who can tell.

Now even the worst of things can have a positive angle if you look at it in the right way; even Covid-19. Because there have been little signs that the Environment has shown signs of recovery. Nature you see can bounce back if it’s allowed too which right now it is. Although once we defeat the virus we will once again take our revenge on nature and make sure that its recovery is but just a blink of Gods eye. O yes we don’t want all that clean air and water messing up our cities, rivers and open spaces, we need pollution it is what we are used too.

A Simple Guide to the Greek financial Crisis. . .

It has been some time on my blog since I have discussed an important issue, so as we reach the end of the Greek financial Crisis (again). I think it is time for me to explain to everyone why the various leaders of the EU countries and Greece find themselves in the present situation. You see it has been ongoing for a long time and just when you think it will end the deadline moves a few months weeks and now days.

So how did this Crisis Happen

Well think of Greece joining the EU as a young student getting its first credit card.  You get a card and get to spend loads of money as long as at the end of the month you pay back a small sum. Well after a bit the bank lets you borrow more money because you have paid back the minimum payments for a few months.  You can then go off and spend more money and pay back a bit more. The bank now thinking it will make loads of money out of you in interest lets you have even more money which as a young student you spent (Yes its great). But after a while you end up owing more than you earn in over a year and the only way to pay it back is to borrow a bit more. This is fine until the bank says NO SORRY that is it you have really reached the limit for now, it then all goes horribly wrong because you have spent all the money and cant pay the bank or anything or anyone else either.  Well this is exactly what has happened to Greece they had a great time spending all the money but it has now all gone and gone wrong.

So why can’t they sort it out

Now you would think the top European bankers and leaders of the various countries in the EU would sort this out easily but there are a couple of major issues that none of them will admit. The first of these is Greece is Bankrupt and giving them a bit more money will only make it all worse in the future for everyone. Secondly the banks should never have lent all that money to them in the first place without checking that they were not having a party and spending the money on a good time.  The terms and conditions of being part of the Euro are quite strict but were I suspect not entirely stuck too by either side as both parties thought they were on to a good thing, Greece getting lots of money to spent and the banks convinced they would make loads of interest at the Greeks expense.

Neither party thinks it’s their fault and now expects the other side to sort it out but the truth is neither side can. They have to work together to solve things but it is likely they will just shout and wave fists.  Greece needs to leave the Euro Zone and the banks need to help a bit for them to do it. And in the long term Greece needs to repay the banks although it will be a long long time before that happens.

I think they need to talk to me but  they all think they know better and would call me an IDIOT. Folk do that. . . . .  I for one have never spent what I don’t have so get by OK but don’t have the latest Bling, This though is not the way of modern economies or banking.

All I will say is that it will not end well or quickly.

Sorry there were a few errors in spelling (again) so I hope it is better now and makes more sense.

OOOO the pic I will discuss the Creature from the Black Lagoon. . . Soon 

The US Debt Ceiling and why it could be worse

I have been working on the floor again today I need to get it finished before I whiz away for a few days on a secret mission, leaving you all in suspense asking questions like WHY…. WHERE …. HOW …. WILL HE RETURN …. DO WE CARE.

It is rather ironic working on a floor today because I thought I might discuss the American debt ceiling and the present impasse of their political system. The reason for this is because one or two of my American friends are a little worried and concerned that America is looking a bit stupid. So I am here to reassure them that this is not the case, OK yes we might all snigger a bit but only because America is a huge super power.

You see it may be rather frustrating to live in a country that has sort of closed, but at the end of the day it is better to live in a country that is fairly tolerant of most points of view and allows the individual to do their own thing within reason and there is at least a degree of equality. Lets face it things like equality and tolerance are never quite as they should be even in the best of countries, so the USA is doing as good as any.  You see the alternatives are not so good, places like China, Russia, most of the Middle East huge chunks of Africa and loads of smaller places would I suspect blame the whites, the blacks, the Catholics, the Jews, the Christians, Muslims or Old Bert’s Dog etc and shoot them all or lock them up or have a bloody military coo or someone would just tell you to hand over everything or else.

I am sure there is plenty of inequality in the US but it is less than many many other countries. The hard bit in all this is that folks living standards in the West in general are probably going to drop with time, we have had a good time (well some have) but we have blown all the money now and so its back to crunchy dried ships biscuits, a glass of grandpa’s moonshine and growing veg in the garden, milking the goat and selling the goats cheese on Ebay.  And a pleasant trip to the office in the pony and trap.

It might be tough and hopefully your politicians will think country and not self, but somehow I suspect you will all muddle through in the end. After all most ordinary people in most countries are nice including your good selves     

So my friends in the USA yes you may be broke, bankrupt, insolvent, penniless, ruined and bust but at the end of the day you could live in Syria or the like or eating Old Bert’s Dog…

The May Bug and decimal currency

I had a thought last night, I thought hang on its May what happens in May in the UK, what strange creature can cause the meandering masses to scream and flap about in a frenzied madness unseen since the January sales of 1972 when Harrods put the decimal point in the wrong place due to an error caused by unfamiliar use of a strange new currency based on 10. What fool thought that idea up what was wrong with 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shilling in a pound and one pound and a shilling was a guinea and a pony would buy a top class meal in the Ritz and cover the tip, these days the pony is the meal.

Sorry a distraction I was about to discuss the beast, the creature of the night that can turn a man, although to be fair mainly women to gibbering IDIOTS hiding under a duvet in the bath screaming “get it away from me the evil beast of evil as sent by the evil one to ruin spring”.  I am myself an old friend of these beasts and I have had many a happy night sitting round the campfire with these creatures as they fly about crashing into trees, walls, cows, rocks, seagulls or any other obvious large obstruction that any other beast would avoid with ease.  You see these fearsome creatures of death are the world’s worst aviators and could not fly in a straight line even if they where travelling first class on Concord, super glued into their seats.

I suspect most of you will by now be well aware of what beast we are talking about . . . . . ..  Yes it is the famous May Bug of Britain a creature that evolution predicts should have become extinct 500 million years ago due to total incompetence and a lack of efficiency that equals that of a dauphin (sorry dolphin) on a unicycle wearing a blindfold. 

Talking of which the Ghost Writer has been at his office today and all is not well it appears due to all this fangled decimal currency which apparently still confuses the accountant, so much so that he has found himself in a luxury hotel in a tax haven (the accountant not the Ghost Writer). He has left a letter saying he was hoping for a lottery win but  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AH DAMN, it did not work out quite as planned.

The Ghost Writer is his usual gibbering self after a day as the world’s greatest IT guru although his office may be getting smaller very soon due to unforeseen circumstances as a result of decimal based money rather than proper money.  His one glimmer of hope is that if no one is about to use the computers they will not need fixing…….

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