Capitalism in a time of pig flu

There was never an outbreak of contagious virus featured in Atlas Shrugged. More's the pity. I would liked to have read how objectivist theory saved the world from pig flu. Or, better yet, an outbreak of avian flu from Ayn Rand Battery Farms, leaving John Galt dying by the invisible hand of H5N1. Alas, these things never happen in utopias. Atlas Shrugged does away with the unworthy with all the logic of a train wreck.

The real world is more random and unknowable. The Black Death afflicted the peasants, the gentry and the clergy with disregard for material disposition or alleged divine protection. Fear and misinformation led to cats being slaughtered, trade barriers erected and minority persecution legitimised. All of which led to the plague becoming all the worse.

Although some centuries wiser than the Dark Ages, human nature hasn't changed one bit. In Egypt, they are killing all the pigs. Never mind that these animals are raised almost entirely by the Christian minority in this Muslim country. Many other countries are blocking food exports from affected countries. Mexico has handed out paper face masks willy-nilly, creating the illusion of action with very little actual gain.

The masks are all but useless at preventing contagion. If you can smell farts through it, you can expect a determined (or is that random?) droplet to get through too. The better quality masks should be saved for those who actually have confirmed pig flu, to minimise spread of infection. And the really good quality ones, with micro mesh that prevents exhalation and inhalation of droplets, are sold out at Amazon.com.

You've got chaos in Mexico and out-of-order capitalism in the US. In NZ from today, the almighty dollar will determine who gets to buy Tamiflu, now it has come off prescription and be sold to any middle class hypochondriac with a runny nose. NO OTHER COUNTRY DOES THIS.

Screw the flu, won't somebody think of the economic implications? The allocation of scarce resources, whether masks, Tamiflu, or medicine men and women, clearly has to balance need with supply and demand. And what place has copyright in this pandemonium? What would have to happen before Roche open sourced Tamiflu to its competitors for the greater good? And why the big fuss over the marketable name of this thing? It's not Mexican flu. It's not swine flu. It's... H1N1. Even that's a misnomer, but I digress.

It's not that I'm cheering for the tinpot dictatorships. It is no coincidence that, apart from the Mexican source, the incidence of pig flu so far has appeared only in the developed nations. Wherefore art thou, Guatemala?



The political implications in Mexico could well see the return to power of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, thereby replacing a corrupt, ineffectual government with a despotic, corrupt, ineffectual government.

Anyway, enough of the pig flu from me. There's a good panel discussing everything fluvian on this week's Media 7.

In flew Enza

"I had a little bird. Its name was Enza. I opened the window and in flew Enza." - Robert Leitch

I am thankful I was not alive in 1919. The psychic disturbance from the Great War was still raw and excruciating. Two examples: War wounded created an industry that would mutate into the plastic surgery of today. Mask makers and prosthetic artists were kept busy with men trying to reclaim some self-esteem with half their faces missing from shell fire or gas attack. What we now call post traumatic stress disorder was first recognised as shell shock.

To have this mindquake followed by the wretched and random Spanish Flu must have sapped even the most optimistic of souls. Such was the existential despair, the art world was assailed by Dadaism. Analyse that one, Sigmund.

So there's a certain reverence needed when referring to such times. Whenever Spanish Flu is used as a yardstick of misery, you've got to compare warily. The mandarins of spin had better make damned sure they don't mix their apples with oranges when it comes to this year's swine flu.

The almost sacrilegious abandon that hypothesised what would happen to NZ if we got a repeat of the Spanish flu, that had appeared on Monday with proclamations of how many corpses would stack up and what it would do to the GDP, have thankfully faded out by today. No links, you know who you are.

Those times are not these times. Medical science is more discreet with its leeches and bleeding someone to remove the bad blood is no longer considered appropriate treatment. OK, wrong century but you get the point. Tech upgrades and the benefit of hindsight means that we are better equipped than Spain '18. If in doubt, consult the MacDoctor.

The response from NZ's Health Ministry has been generally good. MacDoctor has pointed out some minor failings, such as the Healthline call centre ignorance, but generally appropriate nonetheless. The only quibble I can see is that it would be preferable to have infra-red imaging at the point of entry for incoming American traffic, but you use what you have.

Simple hygiene rules have been pushed. This is stuff that should be common practice already. Wash your hands before preparing food or after using the toilet. Keep your hands away from one's orifices to avoid infection (of any sort. Dave, the barber in the James Smith Market, taught me that one).

Health Minister Tony Ryall has said exactly the right thing at the right time, in the right manner. Some credit is also due to whichever Labour Health Minister (there were so many) over-reacted and went nuts buying Tamiflu when the avian flu was the latest apocalypse. It leaves NZ with a considerable comfort zone.

NZ will be fine. It's South America I feel sorry for. Like us, they're coming into flu season. Unless the Mexican government can parley insistently with the drug lords, it will only be a matter of time before the continent will incubate the strain. What havoc it will wreck on the slums of South America will more closely represent what happened when the Maori got hit with Spain '18.

NTB flu

Pig flu has led to non-tariff barriers being thrown up:

China, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates have banned meat and pork products from some parts of the United States.

Russia has banned imports of all meat not treated thermally from Mexico, Texas, California and Kansas, and raw pork imports from eight other US states, Central America and the Caribbean.

China has also banned imports of live pigs and pork products from Mexico, Texas, California and Kansas.

You can't get pig flu from eating pork, but banning imports does help favour domestic interests.