I've been thinking...

The majority of us fellow global citizens and Clarets Madders are all currently fairly powerless as we watch countries across the globe retreat into xenophobic, survival mode; the result of in all probability, a “manufactured” global pandemic.

The cause of this panic is still to be established, but it seems unlikely that “Mother Nature” has decided to release upon the globe a virus so devastating the old-world order is in a state of collapse.

Conspiracy theories abound, but the often-reviled President of the United States, Donald Trump seems to have nailed it with the vivid description of COVID-19 as being the “China Virus”. Since the out-break of the Corona virus in Wuhan, it is reported around 3,500 Chinese citizens have died as a direct consequence of the virus. Wild animals consumed by human beings from the Wuhan “wet market” or the Wuhan chemical warfare research laboratory are presumed to be the likeliest sources of this pandemic.

Time will tell, but as of 12th April 2020 there are approximately 102,500 fatalities from COVID-19 across the globe. It is obvious the leading world authorities such as the World Health Organisation, the United Nations and the aforementioned President of the US were slow to react in attempting to contain the virus.

It would be wholly wrong at this juncture to attempt to attribute blame for the rapid transmission of the virus, but already we can see a New World Order beginning to emerge. Aircraft fleets are grounded, borders closed, the much-vaunted European Union Schengen model, which allows free movement of EU citizens across an area comprising 26 European states and who have ostensibly abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their common borders, are closed for business.

Billions of people across the globe are currently in military coerced and police controlled domestic lockdown; a new paradigm of governance is now in place. It’s Easter Sunday in the United Kingdom, the roads and motorways are nigh on empty; our freedom is dispossessed with “Stay at Home” orders resolutely in place. Outside in our garden the quality of air is alpine like, is the dramatic reduction in air pollution, really so significant in such a short space of time? It certainly feels so.

The UK government in accordance with other global models has shut down our economy. A new financial system now seems to me to be inevitable. Stocks and shares are falling and losing value exponentially. Gold and silver are highly sought-after commodities, oil prices are dropping through the floor. The twin petrol currency giants Russia and Saudi Arabia are presently squabbling like alley cats over the carcass of the last mouse. Central Banks have all reduced their interest rates to almost zero as our global financial system collapses in front of our very eyes.

The global lockdown has created an unprecedented lack of demand for oil and petrol, meaning the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in Basle is working overtime to address the fiscal meltdown. The BIS is an international financial institution owned by central banks and offers international monetary and financial cooperation whilst also serving as a bank for central banks. The bank is now forced into releasing “Helicopter Money” to face the challenges of the current global liquidity trap.

Helicopter money is not the usual run of the mill conventional monetary policy; but the paradigm can be used for occasions like we are witnessing now, when interest rates are near zero and the economy is spiralling into recession. It is often thought the unique idea of helicopter money defined by central banks making payments directly to individuals as we have witnessed lately in Hong Kong.

In the United Kingdom, perhaps the idea of paying everyone a monthly “living wage” and abolishing the totally unfit for purpose Universal Credit might take hold at last? At a stroke it will end the twin evils of child poverty and homelessness and provide a kick-start to our financial meltdown.

It will help prevent domestic and damaging hyperinflation, and hopefully sort out the enormous task of addressing the monetization of budget deficits. The payments will help address two looming problems; future inflation and also aid the UK into getting back to a properly maintained GDP growth. I know it’s a seminal sea-change in how we address our social problems, but now is as good a time as any to grasp the nettle – surely?

Don't shoot me down just yet, I have another few pages to go!