Isolation commonly causes Cabin Fever, greater restlessness and anxiety. It can damage your health and is a virus lurking in every home in Lockdown Britain. The medicine being taken in the 4th week to protect the NHS and save lives is working but at a cost of more than just the Fever I speak of.
The NHS costs Britain £150b to fund out of its total revenue of £800b. It is in effect nearly 20% of the UK economy funded by taxes and National Insurance contributions of 80% and 20% respectively. The problem however is that only half of British workers are working and the wages of the other half are being largely met by the Government. On St Patrick’s Day 2020 the Government announced a loan package to UK Business of £330b and Grant Aid of £20b. To date only £2b in loans have been advanced. Meanwhile 1.4m additional claimants have sought Universal Credit essentially Welfare though it can take up to 6 weeks before the flow of cash to reach any claimant.
Our 2020 GDP of £2,000b is likely to shrink from best estimates by £700b. The Confetti Chancellor appears a welcome guest but in reality he may not be so generous a new guy on the block and if he gets lucky and lockdown ends sooner rather than later then half of Cabin Fever workers can return to work. The NHS needs this otherwise it too can die. Save Jobs, Pay Taxes, Protect the NHS is the mantra that should be coming out of Number 11 Downing Street.
The Confetti is paid for by borrowing the money and the good news is that the thirst of the markets for UK Government debt remains high as the gilt auctions are oversubscribed and the cost of borrowing remains extraordinarily low. The new Governor of the Bank of England however warns us that ‘ not everything will be back ‘ as before and if anything the Virus will have raised the question not so much if we need all these offices but more whether we need all these employees and if anything that one point will have been unmasked by Covid19.
If we could all obtain/ buy masks and get testing we could return to work in an orderly way get life going again and in the next three weeks. Hopefully Dominic Cummings the Man with the Iron Mask returns to work with Boris and gets us humans all back to payslips and taxes speedily. Robots are surely standing in the wings at the A.I. Theatre near you waiting to be brought on stage to replace the humans as we advance into this century. Robots catch neither Cabin Fever or Covid19. Robots won’t need the NHS.
Save Jobs, Pay Taxes, Protect the NHS.
qbitblogger 