Miracle Cures

When we look back at the historical record, last month might be remembered for many things not in the least the buying storm that ensued when panicked consumers doubled down on toilet paper.

In all the unforeseen events market economists might have been looking for on the radar of the global supply chain, it’s safe to say, this was not one of them.

With the image and necessary reminder of what Perestroika 2.0 would likely look like lingering on some ransacked supermarket shelves, those looking for a miracle cure to the big hit the economy took following the summer bushfires, I hasten to add, are going to be sorely disappointed by the offset the great toilet paper splurge of March 2019 will have provided.

Robert Musil observed in The Man Without Qualities that man(kind) was indisputably endowed with reason.

“The problem,” he added, “is only how he uses his reason in the company of others.”

Indeed in a world so focused on triumph, resilience, as a quality, is also in short supply and much trickier to quantify. Endurance, unlike progress, is ongoing.

Trucks carrying goods across the country might as well be the wind for all the recognition the average person affords them. Even so, the wind rustles the trees and the freight movements endure, weathering trends and disruption.

Through Depression, wars, recession and even the more recent Global Financial Crisis, road transport has found a way – with regular flood events and ongoing cycles of drought in between.

Know that if other industries, institutions and schools can afford to shut down, the supply chain cannot and, more to the point, won’t.

Despite growing uncertainty in regard to the residual effects of supply chain vulnerabilities the road transport industry will keep things moving. As it always has.

While the Institute for Integrated Economic Research Australia was right to issue a statement that said, as a matter of national security, Australia must develop “some level of sovereign capability” to safeguard supply, recent events have begun long overdue conversations among government, decision makers and industry.

Once the toilet paper discussion runs its course perhaps we can get onto our limited oil reserves.

Nick Tosches, the great biographer of the cultural margins, who, for those acquainted with his many great books, Hellfire, Where Dead Voices Gather and Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams, sadly passed on last year.

In his liner notes to the rockabilly artist Hasil Adkins he wrote, “Like the bible and toilet paper the music of Hasil Adkins belongs in every household.”

While Adkins has yet to enter the zeitgeist, consider the debate on what remains essential adjourned for now.

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