American public conversation about Covid-19 has become haunted by prominent voices who propose “sacrificing the old and weak at the altar of the global economy”. Republican officials, conservative economists, unqualified pundits and even the 73-year-old president of the United States (who has since changed his view) have suggested that the economic pain caused by lockdowns to protect the vulnerable might be too great.

However, positing this problem, anywhere in the world, as a trade-off between the economic interests of the young and the lifespan of the old is a terrible error. The global economic depression unleashed by the deaths of millions is beyond imagining. Trade would grind to a half because of mourning, fear of infection, society-wide trauma and social unrest. And, of course, even healthy children can die from Covid-19.

Saying that it is morally unacceptable to trade lives for GDP is missing the point. Setting aside the act that policymakers frequently do put a price on human life (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which decides which drugs and medical procedures to fund, says we should be spending no more than £30,000 to add one year of perfect health to one person), these high-sounding pronouncements ignore the fact that economic downturns cost lives.

The choice politicians are making is not between saving lives and economic growth, but between sacrificing lives now (visibly) and sacrificing them in the future (less visibly).

When economies shrink, poverty, violent crime and suicide rise and life expectancy declines. The Depression proved as much. Moreover, life expectancy among some deprived groups had, pre-pandemic, stalled in the UK, and gone backwards in America. If the UK’s GDP falls more than 6.4% per person as a result of the lockdown, more years of life will be lost than saved.

Currently, however, it looks more likely that we will get a deep, short recession, not a lengthy one and if businesses can struggle through, consumer demand and investment will rebound, without a significant impact on life expectancy. Possibly, but by some estimates GDP will be down 15% this quarter; the longer the lockdown – and the signs are that it could last until June – the deeper this slump could get. That’s why testing is key.

A team at Oxford University think that 50% of the UK population may already have been infected. If true, suppression measures could probably be safely relaxed. Data is crucial, because for now there are too many unknowns. But we will arrive at a time when the cost of containment measures, in terms of human welfare and even of fatalities, outweighs the cost of the virus. Refusing to face this grim calculation is not an act of high-mindedness, but of dereliction.

The Great Toilet-Roll Shortage

We all know who’s to blame for the great toilet-roll shortage: irrational hoarders and greedy panic buyers. Or are they?

Actually, we don’t need to assume that most consumers are greedy or irrational to understand why shelves are emptying. It’s all to do with supply chains.

The toiletpaper industry is split into two, largely separate, markets: commercial and consumer. Consumers are not making more trips to the bathroom, but are doing so more often at home than elsewhere due to lockdowns.

That means the average household will use 40% more toilet paper than usual if all its members are staying at home. That’s a huge leap in demand for a product whose supply chain is predicated on the assumption that demand is essentially constant.

So if you’re wondering where all the toilet roll went, mystery solved – it’s at the office. Couldn’t industrial processes and supply chains change to solve the problem? Perhaps, but then we’ll face the same problem in reverse once people head back to work again. Knowing this, we can at least stop looking down on the “idiocy” of our fellow shoppers.

Even a modest, reasonable amount of stocking up by millions of people in preparation for staying at home would be enough to deplete many store shelves of everyday items.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL SENIOR HEALTH AND FITNESS DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Dear Streetwise Customer 

I hope that you and your family are well. 

I don’t have to tell you that the Coronavirus outbreak has changed everything, and nowhere more so than in the world of sports betting. With almost all our regular ‘go to’ profit makers like European football, horse racing and golf on hold, you might be excused for thinking that the opportunity to make a lucrative extra income from sports betting was gone – at least for now. 

That’s what we thought until we heard from a guy called Craig Russell and how
he was… 

Making an extra £150-£250 a week exploiting the ‘invisible’ betting opportunities exposed by the Coronavirus mayhem.

 You see Craig isn’t your typical sports bettor. Long before anyone had heard of coronavirus, he was shunning the sort of events most of us bet on in favour of little-known sports, events and fixtures taking place in obscure locations. 

Why did he concentrate on those? 

Because he figured that the less ‘pro’s’  there  were  looking  at  these  obscure markets, and the more time he spent studying them, the greater edge he’d have over the competition. 

Obvious when you think about it. 

So why this message? 

Because it seems like now is the perfect time to bring this to a wider audience…but not much wider! 

You see, in conjunction with Craig we’ve put together a totally unique service which is tailor-made for the times we find ourselves in. But there will only be 100 places available. Ever.

For full details on what’s involved and why the limit, take a LOOK NOW.If an extra couple of hundred pounds tax-free income would be worthwhile to you right now, I’d urge you to get in touch without delay. These places are really going to go fast.  

  For full details CLICK HERE

  Very Best Wishes, 

  John Harrison
  Streetwise Publications 

  P.S   Almost forgot…you can get started with this for just £9.95.  I’m pretty sure that makes it our cheapest service ever. Why? Well take a look now  and all will be revealed. 

www.streetwisenews.com/LP

A deadly virus is spreading across the world at an accelerating rate. Shops, restaurants and pubs have closed down. No one is allowed out of their house and the economy is collapsing.

There are moments when it feels like the apocalypse. The world is ending and we are all doomed. Investors may feel the same way. Amid the carnage on the stockmarket one small category has done well – space stocks.

It is almost as if people have decided to give up on this planet and try a different one instead. Space exploration is a small sector, of course, but there are definite signs of life. 

The only pure quoted space stock is Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which aims to offer the first tourist trips into space. True, its shares have been volatile. They tripled at the start of this year, then crashed even before any of us realised Covid-19 would spread beyond China.

In the last month however, they bounced by 50%. There are also a couple of space exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track a broad range of spacerelated companies. The aptly named Kensho Final Frontiers Fund is up from less than $160 to more than $185 at the time of writing. The Procure Space ETF – with the cute ticker UFO – is up by a similar amount.

Other private firms are forging ahead too. Blue Origin, controlled by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has, slightly surprisingly, been designated an “essential” company by the US government and allowed to keep operating.

And of course there’s Tesla founder Elon Musk’s Space-X, which is pressing on with plans for a new rocket capable of going to both the Moon and Mars. There are two main reasons why space companies have soared above the carnage on the stockmarket and in the wider economy.

First of all, all the terrible news about collapsing demand, closed factories and rapidly rising unemployment doesn’t make any difference to them. They didn’t have much in the way of sales anyway.

They were devoting their resources to making products that might be fantastically valuable, but not for another five or six years. A six-month shutdown is not terribly relevant one way or another. And next, 50 years after men first landed on the Moon, a genuine “space economy” is starting to emerge with real revenues.

It includes tourism, communications, mining and transport. It is getting big enough to be included in US GDP calculations and in the numbers of many other countries as well. In the US, it is estimated at $158bn, making it by far the global leader.

For Canada it is estimated at $5.6bn and for Germany $3.1bn. The Space Foundation estimates the total value of extraterrestrial GDP at $419bn in 2019 with 79% of that in the private sector. In truth, given its size and rapid growth, it is surprising there is not a larger quoted sector and more interest from investors.

The few who are taking the plunge are probably right to do so. It is one of the most exciting new industries around.   To infinity and beyond! Of course, it remains to be seen whether a genuine space industry emerges, whether it is profitable and whether the investors backing it now ever make a return on their money.

But there is a broader lesson here for investors. The economy may look absolutely terrible right now with uncertain prospects for recovery, but whole new industries are going to emerge.

That has been true even in the deepest depressions. After the crash of the 1870s, the railways forged ahead and new technologies based on electricity started to emerge. In the 1930s, following the Great Depression, industries such as television and electrical household appliances would later form the foundations of the post-war boom.

After the crash of 2008 the app economy was just getting going, with companies such as Uber and Airbnb raising capital. This is a good time to back emerging technologies because valuations are at rockbottom. And some of the prices are just too good to be missed.

Space may or may not turn out to be the industry of the future – but it is certain we will look back in ten years’ time and realise that something was, and it was very, very cheap in 2020…

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL STRWABERRIES AND CREAM DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Hello,

My name is Michael White, and what I’d like to share with you now is a
total game-changer. With your permission, over the next few minutes I’ll
explain a money-loophole that could be your ticket to the laziest and
fastest retirement imaginable.

Please let me first put your mind at rest about a few things…

There’s no limit to the number of times you can use this under one person’s name. You could use this secret regularly…

. You DON’T need to already have a bank account with a
 particular bank or building society.

. You DON’T need to have been mis-sold a pension or investment.

. You DON’T need to buy shares of a specific company or bank.

. You DON’T have to pay this money back- it’s NOT a loan. It’s
 YOUR money, free and clear.

. You DON’T have to own a home, and you can use the money for
 ANYTHING you like.

. You DON’T need a credit rating or be at any particular earnings
 level or be on benefit.

. You DON’T need a computer or any technical know-how. You
   could even place a call instead of make a few clicks if you don’t
   have a computer.

NOBODY else knows this secret because I discovered it – through
the application of an ancient code. I will share it with you HERE for
legitimate reasons I’ll explain in a moment. And I guarantee you’ll
be stunned at how this powerful secret could force the banking
system into letting you retire early…

Take A Look HERE

Very Best Wishes,

David Hockney, creator of Britain’s most expensive artwork by a living artist, is in lockdown. But he isn’t letting it get to him. From Normandy, where he is staying, the resourceful 82-year-old whipped out an iPad and “painted” a picture of bright yellow daffodils.

He called it Do Remember They Can’t Cancel The Spring. Sadly, Hockney’s latest two exhibitions in London, at the National Portrait Gallery and the Annely Juda Fine Art gallery, have not been able to escape the spread of the coronavirus. Both have been closed, as have galleries, museums and art fairs around the world.

Art Basel Hong Kong, the biggest art fair in Asia, had been due to open its doors last month. But it wasn’t cancelled entirely. Like Hockney, it and the galleries have instead embraced a convenient digital format.

Of the 242 galleries that were due to appear at Art Basel Hong Kong, 235 have taken up residence in its online viewing room instead. So many visitors piled into it in the first 20 minutes that the platform was temporarily paralysed.

But there’s no doubt the global disruption is hurting the art market, particularly the smaller players.That’s partly down to the market having expanded so quickly – from 140 international art fairs at the last financial crisis to 300 as of last year.

Exhibiting is also an expensive business. For the past few years, galleries operating below the stratospheric levels have been struggling to keep pace with the financial pressures of showing at fairs all over the world. Five-figure exhibiting fees, flights, shipping, hotels, dinners with clients and rent have led to what has become known as “fairtigue”.

The same is true of collectors. If there were fewer regional art fairs, but stronger online offerings, it could do everyone, and the environment, a favour.

While the international art fair phenomenon has become a travelling circus, there are serious collectors everywhere, particularly for contemporary art, and they do not always want to get on a plane to look at a work they may want to buy.

The majority of art fairs are for the people who live in the host city. The Dallas Art Fair and Art Brussels are two that cater to the local base of collectors. Whether they and others like them survive the shake-out remains to be seen.

But the current lockdown could also turn out to have been beneficial to the art market. An awful lot of people are, after all, sitting at home with little to do but log on. When you work from home, the state of your home takes on new importance. Not every member of this demographic will decide to fill the void with fine art, of course.

Shares We’re Buying

Leading the fight for the COVID-19 cure is RedHill Biopharma Ltd, having been one of the first biotech companies to successfully treat patients in Israel.

A patient with respiratory problems related to COVID-19 has recently been dosed with opaganib at a leading hospital there.

RedHill said the treatment was administered under the Israeli Ministry of Health’s compassionate use guidelines. More patients in that country will likely be treated soon. The drug already has been tested on 131 subjects in the United States as part of Phase 1 and Phase 2 oncology clinical trials.

Clinical data to date have demonstrated its safety and tolerability in both healthy volunteers and cancer patients.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL JOKE DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Hello,

My name is Michael White, and what I’d like to share with you now is a
total game-changer. With your permission, over the next few minutes I’ll
explain a money-loophole that could be your ticket to the laziest and
fastest retirement imaginable.

Please let me first put your mind at rest about a few things…

There’s no limit to the number of times you can use this under one person’s name. You could use this secret regularly…

. You DON’T need to already have a bank account with a
 particular bank or building society.

. You DON’T need to have been mis-sold a pension or investment.

. You DON’T need to buy shares of a specific company or bank.

. You DON’T have to pay this money back- it’s NOT a loan. It’s
 YOUR money, free and clear.

. You DON’T have to own a home, and you can use the money for
 ANYTHING you like.

. You DON’T need a credit rating or be at any particular earnings
 level or be on benefit.

. You DON’T need a computer or any technical know-how. You
   could even place a call instead of make a few clicks if you don’t
   have a computer.

NOBODY else knows this secret because I discovered it – through
the application of an ancient code. I will share it with you HERE for
legitimate reasons I’ll explain in a moment. And I guarantee you’ll
be stunned at how this powerful secret could force the banking
system into letting you retire early…

Take A Look HERE

Very Best Wishes,

We look at a lot of unusual or off-beat ideas here but sometimes it’s easy to overlook something run-of-the-mill but lucrative.

There’s a seemingly endless market for cheap second hand cars, and a profit to be made by supplying them, particularly if you have some basic mechanical knowledge.

Often, the only difference between a car which can be bought for £500 and one that can be sold for £1,000 is a good clean/valet, and an improved advertisement and photographs.

Sell just a couple of cars each month like this and you could very easily make an extra £12,000 a year.

Not everyone is interested in cars of course, but if you are, this is a great way to combine business with pleasure.

Big Is Bountiful 

The launch of a magazine for women that hit the news stands. Called ‘Just As Beautiful’, its aimed at curvy, plus sized women.

The rationale behind the launch is that the average dress size for women in the UK is 14 to 16 and yet there’s very little representation of larger women in the fashion media.

The aim of the magazine is to provide style and grooming information to ordinary women, without making them feel that they are outside of the norm.

I think they could on to something here. It seems crazy to market a product as only being applicable to a small minority of stick-thin women, whilst ignoring the majority. And yet that’s what seems to happen at the moment.

Both the fashion media and the designers they promote and support, tend to focus on a tiny (literally!), minority. With this new magazine, and even some top designers now dipping their toe into the plus size market, it looks like marketers are waking up.

There just have to be dozens of business opportunities hinging on a single thought. Instead of trying to make people thinner, what can we do to make them happier and more satisfied the way that they are?

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL SMILE POWER DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Hello,

My name is Michael White, and what I’d like to share with you now is a
total game-changer. With your permission, over the next few minutes I’ll
explain a money-loophole that could be your ticket to the laziest and
fastest retirement imaginable.

Please let me first put your mind at rest about a few things…

There’s no limit to the number of times you can use this under one person’s name. You could use this secret regularly…

. You DON’T need to already have a bank account with a
 particular bank or building society.

. You DON’T need to have been mis-sold a pension or investment.

. You DON’T need to buy shares of a specific company or bank.

. You DON’T have to pay this money back- it’s NOT a loan. It’s
 YOUR money, free and clear.

. You DON’T have to own a home, and you can use the money for
 ANYTHING you like.

. You DON’T need a credit rating or be at any particular earnings
 level or be on benefit.

. You DON’T need a computer or any technical know-how. You
   could even place a call instead of make a few clicks if you don’t
   have a computer.

NOBODY else knows this secret because I discovered it – through
the application of an ancient code. I will share it with you HERE for
legitimate reasons I’ll explain in a moment. And I guarantee you’ll
be stunned at how this powerful secret could force the banking
system into letting you retire early…

Take A Look HERE

Very Best Wishes,

The traditional way of running a retail business is that the seller names the price and then the customer decides whether he is prepared to pay it.

Thanks to the internet, some modern businesses are turning the model on its head. For example, Buystand enables extreme sports fans to name their own for products and accessories at the start of the season rather than waiting for the spring sale.

Customers create an account and then browse products for sale. When a bid is made, Buystand put it to their panel of retailers to see whether any are prepared to match the price.

If a taker is found, the customer is charged the bid price and the retailer ships the product. Both parties benefit; the customer gets a discounted price and the retailer makes a sale he would otherwise have missed at a price he’s happy to accept.

It seems to me that there’s room for a business operating this type of model in myriad markets. If there isn’t already one serving a market you’re familiar with, this could be worth investigating further?

Calculated Profits 

It’s not unusual for groups of consumers to have quite transient needs, and when this happens, a business opportunity often opens up. Students are one such group.

They often study a subject for a short period, and are required to source quite expensive resources, which they will only need for a short period of time. Previously, we’ve talked about services set up to rent books to students, thereby negating the need for them to make an expensive purchase.

A Canadian company has spotted another need they can satisfy in a similar way-by renting out expensive graphic and financial calculators. Students often need these for just a couple of classes and can save 70% by renting rather than buying. When the rental period is complete, they simply mail them back to the company.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL VISIT YOUR RELATIVES DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Hello,

My name is Michael White, and what I’d like to share with you now is a
total game-changer. With your permission, over the next few minutes I’ll
explain a money-loophole that could be your ticket to the laziest and
fastest retirement imaginable.

Please let me first put your mind at rest about a few things…

There’s no limit to the number of times you can use this under one person’s name. You could use this secret regularly…

. You DON’T need to already have a bank account with a
 particular bank or building society.

. You DON’T need to have been mis-sold a pension or investment.

. You DON’T need to buy shares of a specific company or bank.

. You DON’T have to pay this money back- it’s NOT a loan. It’s
 YOUR money, free and clear.

. You DON’T have to own a home, and you can use the money for
 ANYTHING you like.

. You DON’T need a credit rating or be at any particular earnings
 level or be on benefit.

. You DON’T need a computer or any technical know-how. You
   could even place a call instead of make a few clicks if you don’t
   have a computer.

NOBODY else knows this secret because I discovered it – through
the application of an ancient code. I will share it with you HERE for
legitimate reasons I’ll explain in a moment. And I guarantee you’ll
be stunned at how this powerful secret could force the banking
system into letting you retire early…

Take A Look HERE

Very Best Wishes,