Adelaide in ICU as economy and jobs collapse

Years of political, economic and psychological regression in South Australia, has turned this gurning crapocracy into a delusionary child, who blames the other states for its lack of jobs, hope or social cohesion, while drinking deep of their GST revenues. It can kiss those goodbye.

The State Government relies upon $7 billion from the Federal Government through GST revenue distribution. On a per capita basis, it receives 150 per cent share above its contribution.

The economic blight caused by the pandemic means it will receive $2B less in GST revenues this coming financial year and about $4B less in the following year.Before Covid-19, through various taxes and rates charges, the state government earned another $9 billion. Next year, it will be lucky to hit $5B. That's game over for South Australia.

The chickens came home to roost during the State Bank disaster in 1991 and never left. More chickens arrived during the GFC and now Covid-19 has done what two generations of inept politicians, in a nepotistic colonial squattocracy tried to do: it has finally brought down the state's economy.

During the past 40 years, neoliberalism in SA took a curious form. It failed to reduce the role of government or give business freer rein. Successive governments sold off the farm, increased government legislative power, reduced civil liberties, radically increased police powers and stood back as power prices tripled as services were slashed.

Adelaide's media

There's a special place in Dante's Hell for Adelaide's media, which has been and continues to be, complicit in the state's downfall. For two generations it has been bereft of news sense and a hunger to expose and analyse the state's economic decline.

The Advertiser makes Hyacinth Bucket look like a Billy Bragg red flag-waving, progressive. Its monomania focuses on history, nostalgia stories and lists. In the 1980s, it's repeated coverage of local sex crimes branded the city the 'sex and murder' capital of the world. It did for tourism what tsunamis did for seaside chalets.

The Advertiser has worked in a silent partnership with the government and its agents, using guestimate statistics to systematically inoculate the public with 'happy face' stories. It has fed its dwindling readership inane pap and through partiality, stoked prejudice and ignorance, where debate and public discourse once stood.

It has been supported in this campaign by extraordinarily optimistic and non-valid reports by the University of Adelaide's Centre for Economic Studies (supported by state government revenues), the NAB's Business Confidence reports and a slew of dodgy PR-driven gobbets from locally-based international accounting service firms.So much so, one wonders if KMPG works for the state government or vice a versa.

To be fair, there is very little left of SA's media. Much of it has collapsed, merged or been rationalised behind paywalls, where stories die unread. There are other small-fry backyard media but their readership is so low and the effect on public opinion so miniscule, they are not worthy of comment.

Unemployment and underemployment