He's having a laugh.Keynes used the term pejoratively: "decisions to do something positive...can only be...the result of animal spirits—a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits..."
The emptiness of the political urge to just "have a go," is derided by Keynes as rash, "there is the instability due to the characteristic of human nature that a large proportion of our positive activities depend on spontaneous optimism rather than mathematical expectations."
Just lay that Keynesian template over any of Morrison's plans and it fits. Compare the bungled vaccine rollout, a triumph of agitated animal spirits over carefully weighted assessment of benefits and probabilities.
The PM has been stirring "animal spirits," like a pudgy Qanon shaman, since June 2019, when he made a big claim of "provoking the much needed ‘animal spirits’ in our economy..." by removing "regulatory and bureaucratic barriers to businesses investing and creating more jobs."
Over & against the pragmatic "needs" of business, the individuality of the masses is idealised and we are rendered into anonymity via a faceless sporting slogan: "There is a champion in every Australian. It is our job to support them to realise that champion within."
In truth, #SlugMo's call for the releasing of "animal spirits" is yet another derisible and revealing wank act.
"Then what did you MEAN by putting it there?" roared Mr. Downing.
"Animal spirits, sir," said Psmith.
"WHAT!"
"Animal spirits, sir."
— Mike, by PG Wodehouse.
"They were just ordinary raggers of the type found at every [private] school... They were absolutely free from brain. They had a certain amount of muscle, and a vast store of animal spirits. They looked on...life purely as a vehicle for ragging."
— Mike by PG Wodehouse.
"The proper role of ...government, like the proper role of the advice-book parent, is to set the stage [to allow] full rein to the creativity of capitalism. But it should also countervail the excesses that occur because of our animal spirits."
— Akerlof & Shiller 2009.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.