Various thoughts

*   Fran Kelly on Radio National Breakfast this morning was broadcasting from her living room, and I had no idea until she said so.  The audio quality was exactly the same. 

My thought:  if too many businesses find they can get things done just as well if key employees work from home, is the commercial real estate market going to come out as the long term loser as a result of coronavirus?   I mean, it already seemed clear that too much new floorspace has been built in the last decade or so for retail, with shopping centres gradually emptying.   Is the same going to become clear for office space now too?   I think all funds which invest in commercial real estate ought to be having a very serious re-consideration.

*  So, as I expected, the Teachers Union has had to step in to tell at least the Queensland government to just close the schools now (for a month long break).   My daughter tells me that there are a lot of students not coming to school.   She also tells me about some teachers who are spraying disinfectant with wild abandon around their classroom.

*  Is there an actual personality disorder for people who fall in love with fascist authoritarian figures but can't recognise what fascistic authoritarianism looks like?   If so, Steve Kates has it.  In a ridiculous paranoid post a couple of days ago, he got mightily offended by Dr Fauci correcting Dear Leader Trump, who obviously is the wisest man in any room:

Every time I see the face of Dr Fauci while telling us about Corona Virus I realise how much he must have had a bollocking from the President since from the start I was aware of what a complete lying incompetent he was....

The one thing you may be sure of is that he was “muzzled” in the sense that he was told in no uncertain terms that he is an untrustworthy dimwit and if he doesn’t work within the team, he will be out on his ear. The Deep State is your enemy. You can see it in the way the media will say not an unkind word about the Chinese origins of the CV. In fact, all they do is rant on themselves about the so-called racism of saying that a virus that originated in China originated in China. If you can’t say something negative about the President, don’t say it at all is the policy.

 * In one rare case of outlets on either side of the political divide agreeing, I have seen both Right and Left-ish opinion pieces saying "Washington, don't you dare bail out the cruise line industry".   I think that's right.   I mean, it's not as if the sparkling new-ish mega ships are going to be immediately sent to be cut up into scrap on that beach (in India?) if the head company goes bankrupt, surely?    There would just be a re-arrangement of assets and, given its likely continued popularity once coronavirus has run its course, the industry will be fully back within a couple of years.  I would think.  Yet Dear Leader is keen to help them, apparently.