Chief economist sees a silver lining through the smoke haze
It's difficult to imagine seeing a silver lining through the haze of bushfire smoke smothering much of regional Australia and the nearby cities, but that's exactly what the chief economist at Financial Standard is doing.
"The smell of smoke and the hazy sky (from where I sit and scribble) serve as reminders of the lives lost, the millions of animals burnt or euthanised, homes razed to the ground, families displaced and entire towns wiped out," wrote Benjamin Ong for Financial Standard.
"According to The Australian: 'The federal government will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the reconstruction of fire-ravaged bridges, roads, critical infrastructure and public housing, as Scott Morrison pledges to commit everything that is needed and more to the bushfire recovery.'"
"The Prime Minister and Josh Frydenberg will launch the government's national bushfire recovery agency on Monday, to be led by former Australian Federal Police commissioner Andrew Colvin for at least two years."
"To quote the Prime Minister: 'Rebuilding of bridges, rebuilding of roads and other critical infrastructure ... we will just work hand in glove, as we have in -response to previous crises, to -ensure the recovery commences and is undertaken in a timely way and getting that support, particularly to small businesses.'"
"The Australian continued: 'The funding of the bushfire recovery agency is not expected to delay the government delivering its much-anticipated budget surplus this financial year, which was downgraded from $7.1 billion to $5 billion last month.'"
"Then again, the growing devastation of the inferno could require increased government spending, ergo, threatening to tip the expected budget surplus into deficit."
"It's still early to estimate the funding required for fire ravaged communities but a tick on the budget surplus is hardly worth anything compared with the rebuilding that must be done soon after the last embers of this Australian fire calamity had been doused."
"For just as Bette Midler tweeted: 'What good is an economy in an uninhabitable country?'"
Of course there is a silver lining. just look at how vegetation is recovering from the recent fires.
Local photographer Murray Lowe snapped the shots in the Kulnara area of NSW on Monday and posted them on Facebook.
I just Hope The Funding excludes all Public, Private Enterprize Money Donated to this Crisis.
The Distribution of Charitable Funds are Not Used For Infrastructure eg. Roads, Bridges, Gov Buildings etc.
The Distribution of those "Funds" go Directly to the Ones Effected by this Crisis to help rebuild there lives.
Have an Agency to Distribute These Funds, but Not To Replace Funds that would normally be Paid out in this
situation.
There Has Been 10's of Millions of Dollars donated so (No Hands In The Cookie Jar) only those Directly Effected.
Government Money Is The "Peoples" Money, so no short Changing Because there was an Extra Money from Donations.