Covid in Austria: Health Minister Rauch joins 'Team Reality' as his Interviewer from the Woke-Leftish Standard (Almost) Suffers a Mental Breakdown

There's a lot on display, mainly ignorance about how the EU works and how constant flip-flopping on key issues just shows: the end of Austria's Covidian nightmare may be due to--people ignoring Covid

And now this happened—given the impending economic disaster, Covid has taken to the backseat of worries in Austro-Covidistan. Like elsewhere, the topic, while still existent, isn’t really too important to many people, which is hardly coincidental as utility bills explode and food and fuel prices skyrocket.

In the midst of this situation, Covidistan’s lunatic asylum masquerading as legacy news media outlet Der Standard arranged for a sit-down interview with Johannes Rauch (Greens), Austria’s third Minister of Health since the Corona Crisis began. Conducted by Gerald John on 21 Sept. 2022, the result may only be considered a revelation of sorts as Mr. Rauch’s answers—while nothing ‘new’ or particularly striking in terms of reality-based thinking all over the world—only show both his own ignorance (and incompetence). In addition, do note the mindboggling levels of intellectual bankruptcy among both Mr. Rauch and his interviewer, Mr. John, to say nothing about the cognitive dissonance on full display.

I’ve translated the interview, added explanatory content in squared parentheses [if necessary], and the occasional emphases; GJ = Gerald John (Der Standard), JR = Johannes Rauch (Greens). As always, I’ve added some ‘Bottom Lines’ at the end of the piece.

Translation of the caption: ‘as Wolfgang Mückstein’s successor, Rauch started his appointment with a confidence deficit. This did not surprise [Rauch]’.

Rauch Decries New Anti-Inflation Measures: ‘People are complaining at a high level.’

No one should pretend that we are all going to be poor, he said. As regards Covid policies, the Minister of Health and Human Services [technically Social, or Welfare, and Health] warns against this seemingly morbid fascination with disaster

Crises with no end in sight. Not soon after the Pandemic receded, a price explosion set in [this isn’t even technically wrong: prices were rising significantly since March 2021, but the latest ‘rally’ commenced in March 2022, ‘strangely’ coinciding with the first round of sanctions imposed by the EU]. Kept on his toes as Minister by both problems, Johannes Rauch, who has been in office since March [2022], seems to be doing a better job in terms of his social policies so far. With changes to social welfare programs and the introduction of healthcare reforms, the Green politician has already left his mark. More controversial, though, are his Covid policies: his first commandment was the ending of various mandates, ranging from mask requirements to quarantine obligations.

GJ: Subsidised food dispensation places [Sozialmärkte] are registering a massive increase in consumers, as they are the food distribution centres of the Caritas [the main Catholic charity serving the poor and underprivileged, i.e., the equivalent of the Salvation Army in Protestant countries]. As responsible Minister of Social Affairs, this cannot leave you numb. What went wrong with the anti-inflation assistance that people have to rely on private help?

JR: You can’t necessarily conclude from this factoid that anything went wrong. Ministerial colleagues from other countries open their eyes wide when they hear what we have already set in motion here in Austria. Our anti-inflation support packages are far more extensive than those of Germany and other countries. But even this extensive aid cannot fully cushion people from what is happening in the so-called market.

GJ: Many people obviously feel left alone.

JR: It is difficult to explain why. Sure, some one-off payments that were decided before the summer are only gradually arriving in peoples’ bank accounts right now. But the bottom line is this: an average retiree receives some 1,400 € in subsidies over the course of the year, and a single parent with two children receives 2,400 € [for easy conversion, as I write this, the exchange rate between € and US$ stands at 1 € = US$ 0.96, i.e., it’s basically 1 : 1].

GJ: Has, as Wifo [Austria’s premier pro-business think tank, roughly comparable to the American Enterprise Institute] head Gabriel Felbermayr says, a full insurance mentality spread?

JR: I would say people are complaining at a very high level. There’s no question about it: those who already had little to begin with, are naturally in no position to cope with utility bills that are twice as high. We are already providing a lot of help to these people. But if those whose earnings are above the median income [in 2021, that would be 41,177 €, i.e., about US$ 41,500] join these complaints, I cannot understand it. There is a widespread feeling that we are all becoming poor, and that is not true.

GJ: Should there be further aid and caps on utility costs?

JR: On balance, I’d rather rely on regulations as a next step. At the EU level, intervention in the electricity and gas markets is needed to get this completely absurd development under control. But we also must act at the subsidiary levels. [This is a completely absurd comment that needs ‘more’ than a brief sidenote, hence I shall address this in the Bottom Lines; for now, it suffices to say that Mr. Rauch clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about: the EU Commission and it’s ‘liberalisation’ of EU electricity and gas markets is at the root of this mess, and it’s clearly delusional to expect those who caused this crisis to solve it…]

GJ: In what way?

JR: In the real estate market, a speculative bubble is driving up prices that has nothing to do with the current crisis. One antidote is to build municipal or cooperative housing, but that hasn't really happened outside of Vienna. [And in Vienna, this hasn’t really worked to bring costs down, in particular as the municipal utility providers were among those that went for the largest price increases—oh, did I mention that Vienna is run by the Social Democrats?] I think it is a historical mistake to let individual municipalities decide on zoning—we have to gradually rethink this competence. Mayors are too close to local interests to be able to defend themselves against commercial claims. [This is another slippery slope, and while Mr. Rauch isn’t wrong about special interests trumping municipal concerns, the answer, to my mind at least, isn’t more centralisation—but the increase of residential, or public, participation in these processes (so far, this is typically done behind closed doors and decided in favour of the mayor’s friends).]

GJ: Benefits such as the equalisation supplement - a kind of minimum pension - and social assistance are below the threshold for poverty risk. Don't you want to intervene there?

JR: The ‘equalisation supplement’ [Ausgleichszulage, i.e., if your retirement payouts are below the monthly minimum, the social insurance corporation will pay the difference; in case you’re wondering how generous this is, well, in 2022, a single individual is entitled to a min. monthly cheque worth 1,030.49 €; for couples, that ceiling is 1,625.71 €.] will also be improved in line with the annual pension payout adjustment [i.e., some increases to offset inflation]. The ‘social assistance’ [Sozialhilfe, for those who find themselves in dire straits, i.e., a last-ditch emergency poor relief measure to the tune of 978-1,369 € per person and month, and, of course, it’s means-tested] passed by the Conservative-Right-wing government [ÖVP and FPÖ, in office 2017-19] is the big weak point. We have pushed through improvements, but a general reform is not feasible with the ÖVP.

GJ: What about unemployment benefits, which the ÖVP wants to make regressive, i.e., with decreasing benefits over time?

JR: This is currently being discussed. Still, [unemployment benefits] must not fall below the current rate of 55% of the last income. No minister in charge of welfare measures could justify less in these times of inflation. No way!

[Here, the interview shifts to Covid policies.]

GJ: People distrusted you from the moment you took office…

JR: …which I understand very well.

GJ: Why is that?

JR: The pandemic has heated up the social climate too much. Anyone who takes up office as the third Health Minister in two years starts with a negative favourability rating.

GJ: But that is not a law of nature. If everything had gone well, a minister could also be in a good position. What was the mistake, generally speaking?

JR: We knew almost nothing about the virus, we had almost no suitable counter-measures—and on top of that, everyone communicated completely inconsistently, both at the EU level and at the national level. People simply no longer knew what was going on.

GJ: Twice, Austria experienced a disastrous autumn wave because of poor preparation. This time there seems to be no preparation at all. Why?

JR: You are very much mistaken. From the government’s ‘variant management plan’ to effective therapeutics [by which is meant Paxlovid, still no mention of early treatment] to the new injection campaign, there has never been so much preparation as this year.

[line break added] The main problem is this: we come up with plans, but the virus does not adhere to them. The desire to plan for the pandemic now makes me smile. According to the forecasts, we were told to expect a massive wave with up to 60,000 daily new infections this summer—none of that has happened. Currently, the forecasts are that these waves will happen in February or March rather than in the autumn. But, in honesty, no-one knows. [Nice dig, Mr. Rauch, at ‘the experts’; curiously there were people who said so for, well, about 2.5 years, but I suppose you’re joining the ranks of the anti-expert crown, better known as ‘Team Reality’—better late than never.]

GJ [with exasperation dripping from the keyboard]: So you feel confirmed in your policy of simply shrugging your shoulders—what can we do?

JR: My approach has nothing to do with shrugging the shoulders. To the contrary, let us be mindful and careful, but let’s not panic. The panic mode only leads to mistakes, and is not supported by the population. After two and a half years of a pandemic, we have to find a way to cope with the virus to some extent while taking precautions to protect vulnerable groups. Anything else is no longer socially viable. The collateral damage to mental health would then be at least as severe as the consequences of the virus itself. [Here, too, apparently Mr. Rauch has stopped drinking the kool-aid; again, better late than never, but it’s also a recognition of the fact that the people’s patience has run out…]

GJ: Once hospitals are overcrowded again, nothing else will do: you will have to react. [I’m not sure I like that tone…]

JR: We will not react, if the hospitals are overcrowded—but in time before it comes to that. But at the moment, there is not a single indication that it could come to this again. The current figures of the Covid-19 register show that half of all hospitalised Covid patients aren’t there because of the virus. [Bruahahaaha, the list of reasonable people who said that from the start is too long to provide, but this is certainly quite an admission: mind you, Mr. Rauch belongs to the same government that locked up the ‘unvaccinated’ in November 2021.]

GJ: You have recommended only the wearing of masks indoors. If that would be helpful, why don’t you decree it?

JR: Because I don’t see any reason to do so now. I have to save the more stringent measures when the situation really requires it. Mind you, I said from the beginning that, if it becomes necessary, we will reintroduce the mask requirement.

[And now for a moment of insanity, brought to you by…Der Standard.]

GJ: If you want people to keep to the speed limit on the motorway, you also set up speed traps and punish them instead of giving them some easy talk.

JR: The majority of people don’t need coercion because they already behave sensibly. It is a misconception that 80% behave maliciously or wrongly.

GJ: Well, the appeal to personal responsibility has often gone pretty much unheeded in the pandemic.

JR: Then we will have to relearn personal responsibility, and I can’t spare Austrians that. At the meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Israel, I learned something astonishing: we are the only country where Covid still dominates the public debate in this way. [Here, you can see how insular, if not ignorant, Austro-Covidians are; for crying out loud, the internet would let you, you know, access information from abroad…] Elsewhere, other topics, such as fighting cancer, addiction, or the digitalisation of health care, are already in the foreground.

GJ: Why is that? [This is perhaps the second-most stupid question of the ‘pandemic’ (to me, I only hand out second places—perhaps something even more stupid will come along in the future).]

JR: I don't know. Perhaps it is, to put it exaggeratedly, a certain lust for disaster.

GJ: Still, the pandemic isn’t as harmless as you make it to be: when all the mandates were revoked in spring, we promptly saw excess mortality. Thus, the price is definitely high.

JR: This causality isn’t so clear. In a European comparison, we had some of the strictest mandates and the highest expenditures on tests throughout the pandemic—but measured by the results, we are only in the middle. Excess mortality rate was also around the European average. [So, the Austro-Covidians spent the most but only managed middling results? Not even in terms of lower excess mortality—could I get my money back, then?] I’m at least as worried about influenza this winter: the big flu waves in the past caused mortality rates that approached the Covid dimensions. [Oh, Flurona, we missed you…]

GJ: What do you want to do about it?

JR: Since the beginning of the pandemic, demand for flu vaccines has increased, and we certainly have enough vaccines available now. In the future, influenza vaccination will be included in the public vaccination programme as an Austria-wide free offer. [Oh, another quite useless injection—what a boondoggle for Big Pharma…] However, this will only be possible from autumn 2023, because this must be budgeted via appropriations for the social insurance budget.

GJ: You met the Health Minister of Israel, which has long been considered a pioneer in the Covid policy. Did you learn anything?

JR: I checked whether I was on the wrong track—and I feel confirmed in my course. Israel is doing more or less the same thing; there, too, the slogan is: please no more lockdowns, no more school closures. The measures have weakened just as much as the controls. [A big claim, and, given the high-level corruption and cover-up of the massive problems in Israel—see here for a helpful compilation, incl. many links, by Steve Kirsch—I’m not sure Mr. Rauch actually meant what he said; even so, I doubt Mr. Rauch is even halfway aware of the severity of the Israeli cover-up…the end result, of course, is the same.]

GJ: Have the threats against politicians also subsided with the relaxation of the mandates?

JR: I think the situation has improved somewhat, but, of course, there is still quite a bit of hostility. I have refused personal protection because I also want to stand up for myself: when I am exposed to verbal attacks on the street, there is a response. As a former social worker, I feel well armed. [This stance, if true, I can actually respect. I just wonder how much of a difference there is between a personal protective detail and the ‘generic’ police protection for cabinet-level appointees…]

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Bottom Lines

This is a long interview, and there’s quite a few issues I’ve commented on in-between the lines, hence here you shall find but one—albeit major—issue:

GJ: Should there be further aid and caps on utility costs?

JR: On balance, I’d rather rely on regulations as a next step. At the EU level, intervention in the electricity and gas markets is needed to get this completely absurd development under control. But we also must act at the subsidiary levels. [This is a completely absurd comment that needs ‘more’ than a brief sidenote, hence I shall address this in the Bottom Lines; for now, it suffices to say that Mr. Rauch clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about: the EU Commission and it’s ‘liberalisation’ of EU electricity and gas markets is at the root of this mess, and it’s clearly delusional to expect those who caused this crisis to solve it…]

So, here goes: the EU Commission’s insane notion to ‘liberalise’ energy markets are the root of these problems, and above, we’ve already backed this up by linking to older content as well as pointing to the fact that energy prices ‘only’ shot up once the EU Commission (yep, those same imbeciles) imposed ‘sanctions’ on Russia.

Mr. Putin has spoken about this so frequently that I won’t link to any of this; it suffices to say that it’s not exactly Russia’s fault that Poland and the Ukraine have stopped the pipelines that carry natural gas to Europe.

On top of this, the most egregious idiocy is Mr. Rauch’s apparent ignorance of how the EU works. First of all, the EU is a federal superstructure that, being modelled on the US, has it’s very own equivalent to the 10th Amendment (which holds that federal government has only those powers specifically granted by the Constitution). In EU-speak, this is called ‘principle of subsidiarity’ and it kinda works the same.

So, on a logical plane, it’s obvious that the statement is pure BS, for it’s legally impossible for the EU to act while the member-states are acting. This is particularly important in the field of energy policy, which—so far, at least—has been the one issue that member-states have never farmed out to Brussels.

Please see these pieces (here, here, and here) for background and context.

This seems to be changing now, with Brussels cutting a deal with Azerbaijan to buy more natural gas from one former Soviet bloc-style autocrat—that’s also engaged in military aggression against its neighbours—as tender Europeans cannot stomach to deal with Putin, or Hitler, or ‘Putler’ anymore, because: foreign politics, I suppose.

So, let’s recap: energy policy remained with the EU member-states, and the EU Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, is now dead set about to change this.

I suppose that once something like energy policy is turned over to Brussels, there’s perhaps no way any country might get this back—except for leaving the EU.

I’m not sure that breaking up the EU (and NATO) like that was the main plan of Mr. Putin; I could imagine that this was something that the Russian leadership circles would have considered such a consequence as, well, quite…outlandish, at best.

Now, with the unforced errors of the past 20 years of EU policy, I suppose it’s fair to say that now even the 4D chess-playing Russian leadership couldn’t have imagined the Europeans are that stupid…but there you go: life’s full of surprises, I suppose.

To bring this back to the interview: while the Russians are popping Crimean sparkling wine over these lunatic policies, Mr. Rauch is not only mistaken about the EU (how it works, and about its nature), but then again, one should never interrupt one’s enemy while they are making grievous mistakes.

Unforced or played, it’s hard to say which is worse; question is, does it actually matter in terms of results?

As to Covid, well, what can I say: is Mr. Rauch honest about this? I do have this gut feeling that he’s quite spot-on on many issues (easy, he’s only, like 2+ years late to that party), but then again: none of what he said is particularly ‘newsworthy’ (but I do add the interviewer’s consternation is palpable).

Still, if the past year is any guide, this may be a major break, if only accomplished due to, well, the failure of anything and everything the Austro-Covidians have tried, in particular the injections; and the self-inflicted, festering wound of EU policies.

Let’s see how this goes in the next weeks: Mr. Rauch, we’ll put you to the test in terms of your backbone.