I AM IN THE PRIVILEGED POSITION TO RECEIVE RESEARCH REPORTS, LEGAL OPINIONS, TECHNICAL ANALYSIS AND A CONSTANT FLOW OF GENERAL PRESS RELEASES. AT A TIME LIKE THIS IT IS MORE LIKE A TSUNAMI WITH MAINLY TWO FLOWS, COVID-19 AND THE JUNK RATING..
Tony van niekerk
Besides all the essential analysis about the impact of both, with many updates and opinions on how people, business, community and country are reacting, mostly with the following main themes:
• Nothing is going to be the same again,
• Nothing will change,
• This is an opportunity to rethink everything,
• The world needs a re-set
The realization has hit home that we are all in this together. From governments and financial institutions to the ultra-wealthy and the average person, most have stepped up to keep the wheels turning, to keep business and employment as functional as possible and to ensure the less fortunate are taken care of. Payment holidays, increased social responsibility investments where most needed as well as many businesses adapting business models to assist with healthcare supplies.
Although this is something we have never experienced before, with consequences we have no certainty of, the question remains whether we will react as we always have: Go back to business as usual and try to hang on to what we have or have lost in this process. Or, will we actually do a rethink?
Will we rethink the way we view things? Things like the massive inequality elephant in the room? Do we actually have a choice? With the economic strains we are and will increasingly be facing following the lockdown and the junk status rating, I can emphatically say, doing what we have always done will not be enough.
We can either choose to simply try a reset or we can do a real rethink. We can rethink how we work with wealth, how we apply capital and how we ensure a world where everyone has equal opportunity. Equal opportunity according to their circumstances, capacity and ability.
Should we not rethink the definition of rent seeking (engaging in or involving the manipulation of public policy or economic conditions as a strategy for increasing profits) and price gauging (when a seller increases the prices of goods, services or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair)? Should we not reconsider the limits of personal wealth versus the responsibility to give back to society?
We have never been so close to having everyone on board about ensuring that everyone has a chance for survival and everyone has a chance to stay employed and be financially secure.
Should this not be the foundation for our rethink.