The consensus view among economists and commentators about what may happen next to the global economy appears to be a very definite “who knows.” This is not comforting. Nor is the fact that the full details of the way economies work now seems well and truly beyond any normal citizen’s grasp.
Anyway, assuming that we still have an economy in 2020, and have not been invaded by time travelling aliens from another universe (I like to worry about all possibilities,) here is the Opinion Dominion list of visionary things for the 2020 Summit. (Nearly all of these have been mentioned before here: use the search facility for more detail.)
1. The answer to Australia’s housing crisis: yurts! (I like the smell of canvas, but honestly, have a look at how nice and cheap these look.)
2. The partial answer to Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions: nuclear pebble bed reactors. Seriously.
3. Reinstate funding for small earth approaching asteroid search facilities in Australia, and make Peter McGauran live in a crater.
4. First step towards solving the health crisis: ban 90% of cosmetic surgery and send the newly out of work doctors to re-education camps to treat remote aboriginal communities.
5. An Australian led recovery in the use of airships. Don’t be a wuss and use rare and expensive helium; go back to cheap hydrogen and just design them better. (Non inflammable skin would be a start.)
6. Treat all schizophrenia sufferers for toxoplasma - you just might cure a non-negligible percent.
7. Legislate against Big Brother every re-appearing in any format whatever.
8. Parliamentarians to have a minimum age of 50. (They should have happy families first. Power can wait.) Oh - and ban anything with any name like "youth congress" or "youth parliament". It only encourages the immature to become parliamentarians.
9. Public executions of one horse every day until they confess.
10. Kevin Rudd to divorce and marry into a Chinese political family so as to have a son who will lead the new Sino-Australian empire. (OK, that one is mildly fanciful.)
Actually, it's kind of disturbing how quickly I ran out of ideas, isn't it?
4 comments:
I, for one, will be the first to support the Glorious Steve-led Dictatorship of Australia.
Tim, would you like the post of Poet Laureate? Please prepare my coronation poem if you are up to the task.
Now I'm thinking about where my coronation should be. Australia has a distinct lack of palaces and such like, doesn't it?
Perhaps it should be on top of the highest sail of the Sydney Opera House, which I will ascend on one of those robot mule things. John Howard can do the honours!
Tim Train, Poet Laureate?
Now that's something I'd like to see.
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