Longford Leader columnist Mattie Fox: We have no idea how Covid-19 will affect us in years to come

The outcome of the current crisis is something none of us can predict. Yet, we’ll hear many opinions about how this or that will change.

Speaking for myself, I hope the world does undergo forced change, because we cannot continue as we were destined to go, effectively into oblivion.

Many times over the years, the world has been shocked from time to time when being faced with some holocaust, war, or other disturbance that took the lives of various colossal numbers of the global population. Between the years 1914 and 1975 over 170 million people are counted as being wiped out by WW1 and WW2, the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression - for which no reliable figures are available - the Vietnam war.

It’s conservative to suggest that the Depression wiped out over 30 million. All that totals around 200 million.

This figure represents over 3 million per year, from 1914 - 1975.

Sadly this is the reality, it is not some figure plucked from the ether.

The fact is that the world suffered some catastrophe in the period 1914 to 1975 without very much notice being taken of that fact.

In other times we had pandemics such as the Black Death, which peaked in Europe from 1347 to 1351.... estimated to have caused over 100 million deaths, some have claimed it was closer to 200m.

Covid-19 has manifested its effect to date, with no idea how it will affect us in years to come, but hardly near the figure of three million in any single year.

In plain language this is not the worst ever pandemic insofar as we know. The world has overcome several phenomena that cost millions of lives, but still survived. The world carries on.

Of course it is still possible that we’ll reach a significant increase in the number wiped out by the disease.

But as of yet, we simply don’t know.

The bottom line, as of now, according to the World Health Organisation, is a total of 4,993,470 cases, with 327,738 lives lost.

Of course this is very sad, but in cold statistical analysis, it is not much, and is definitely a huge tribute to all health workers, some of whose lives were snatched from their families prematurely.

In the context of global pandemics, this virus is being well policed, and is being held at bay.

However technology is such that nowadays, updates are available almost immediately. The world has been vastly reduced in size since the global village concept became the reality with enormous advances in medical care. For that reason medicine was informed quickly, and took steps to shut the disease down. Successfully.

But governments worldwide are now fearful of what happens to the very wealthy companies, those who prop up the global economy.

Some businesses operate what actually amounts to a Ponzi scheme, where the economic well being of participants depends on everything going smoothly, without surprises. Whilst huge Ponzi schemes can withstand a certain amount of shocks without falling, if enough happens simultaneously, it all comes crashing down.

In other words anyone who can’t really afford to operate while shocks come and go, will end up on the scrap heap.

That brings us all right back to the days when nobody spent what they couldn’t afford to lose.

In other words, don’t borrow. Cash is King.