Covid being overtaken by inflation
As the year progresses, more attention is being paid to the rate of inflation than the rate of infection. That shift in focus has been somewhat surprising.
Hard as it can be to make ends meet, relatively few of us are being admitted to hospital or dying in the attempt.
Last week though, Omicron’s average daily death toll was still surpassing the road toll New Zealand has experienced during every single Easter holiday break since 1989.
The Covid rules continue to be relaxed, regardless.
Masks are being worn less often, borders are reopening, QR coding and contact tracing are a thing of the past and vaccine mandates also seem to have had their day.
The anxiety about Covid has waned in intensity. There is less sense of a collective duty to protect the aged, the immunocompromised and the unvaccinated.
Instead, individuals are largely being left to look out for themselves (and their families) as best they can.
Covid’s daily death toll has quietly become socially acceptable. For their part, the country’s political leaders have made a seamless transition from being the captains of the Team of Five Million. Nowadays, they seem almost like onlookers, wishing everyone the very best of luck in their encounter with the virus.
Their focus has shifted elsewhere, to thorny economic issues.
Problem being . . . the main causes of our cost of living crisis lie offshore.
Oil prices, the war in Ukraine, supply chain blockages and lockdowns in China are all beyond this country’s direct control. New Zealand’s inability to respond effectively, though, does carry a political cost.
With Covid, the Ardern government benefited from being seen as the public’s guardian, especially during the early days of the pandemic. In stark contrast, the Government seems unwilling – or unable – to do much to significantly alleviate the public’s sufferings at the supermarket checkout.
Other key players are faring no better. Last week, Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr raised the official cash rate to 2% and warned that this rate could double again during the next 12 months. Incredibly, Orr spun this response as the Reserve Bank going in hard, fast and early to curb inflation. In his dreams.
In reality, the Reserve Bank has spent the past year claiming that the inflation spike would only be temporary, and would subside naturally by mid 2023.
To repeat: Orr’s pulling on the interest rate lever will have precious little impact on the overseas forces driving inflation. Quite by accident, higher interest rates might even help to tip the economy into recession by mid 2023.
Traditionally, political parties used to compete on who was most competent at allaying the insecurity the public might be feeling. Not any more. Job security vanished long ago.
Anxiety is now rife about everything from supermarket prices to the costs of rent and home ownership. And the Government no longer appears competent – or highly motivated – when it comes to easing the burdens now falling onto individuals, and their communities.
Margaret Thatcher, of course, once famously said in her hey-day that society doesn’t really exist, and that only individuals do. At times, the public can feel like it is living in that lonely world.