To bail or not to bail??
One of the ‘unseen’ issues with financial bailouts is that you are kicking the can further down the road. For Australia it is hundreds of billions of dollars that the Government is providing, and a lot of it is going to poorly run businesses that have failed to risk assess and plan or invest in measures that would potentially see them through times of turmoil. Virgin, sadly, is a classic example of this. Bailouts are nothing but destructive. They reward poor planing. They leave valuable assets with those who are managing them poorly, making us all poorer. Contrary to popular belief, money does not grow on trees.
When this is over the Reaper will come to collect. COVID-19 stimulus packages, money printing, collecting part of your superannuation early, extra welfare payments, wages covered by stimulus money - over $200b to date and people think that will all be forgotten?? The Reaper will ask for it all back, and with interest through a rise in GST, a rise in Government fees and charges, and that chestnut called ‘levies’. This will occur at Federal, State and Local Government levels. They will charge us for the air that we breathe and for defecating by the kilogram. The middle class was already shrinking, now it is effectively gone overnight. Now who is going to pay for the tax cuts for the rich and pay the unemployment benefits for the poor?? The pain has only just begun.....