Mar 312020
 


Vincent van Gogh The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884 (stolen yesterday)

 

Fauci Offers More Conservative Death Rate In Academic Article Than In Public Briefings (JTN)
Hospital Equipment Shortages Renew Spotlight On Supply Chain Middlemen (JTN)
US COVID19 Job Losses Could Be 47 Million, Unemployment May Hit 32% (CNBC)
Trump Rips Pelosi For Criticizing His Handling Of Coronavirus Pandemic (NYP)
Pelosi Aims To Move Fast On Next Rescue Package (Pol.)
Rachel Maddow’s Recent Predictions Get Roasted (JTN)
Political Distancing (Turley)
Many Brick & Mortar Stores Will Not Reopen, CMBS will Default (WS)
How Will COVID-19 Impact US Manufacturing? First Indications Are Ugly (WS)
“We Are Temporarily A Company With No Product And No Revenue” (WS)
Airbnb To Pay Out $250 Million To Hosts To Help Ease Cancellation Pain (R.)
China Says Manufacturing Activity Expanded In March (CNBC)
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán Wins Vote To Rule By Decree Indefinitely (Pol.)
Portugal Gives Migrants, Asylum-Seekers Full Citizenship Rights (CNN)
Five Days Of Worship That Set A Virus Time Bomb In France (R.)
People Get Ready! (Kunstler)
Italian Politicians Criticize Netherlands Over Lack Of Solidarity (NLT)

 

 

More countries are demanding people wear face masks, even the CDC in the US talks about making it obligatory, but masks are no more available in many places than tests are. We’re three months into this thing -though I know for most people it’s been just 2 weeks-, and we’re still debating this.

In the US, half the people have it easy, they can just blame everything on Trump, it’s a entire industry, even though his approval numbers rise at the same time. But in all those other countries, who do you blame when you have face the coordinated efforts to praise your government of the day? Life isn’t easy. Maybe you can blame Trump too.

Meanwhile, we’re sadly waiting for US cases and death numbers to explode. 15,000 new cases and close to 1,000 new deaths is devastating, but nowhere near what we expect the trend to become.

 

 

Cases 799,723 (+ 64,792 from yesterday’s 734,931)

Deaths 38,720 (+ 3,940 from yesterday’s 34,780)

 

 

 

From Worldometer yesterday evening -before their day’s close-. Note: Turkey’s in the ascendancy (though not in the zodiac)

 

 

From Worldometer -NOTE: mortality rate for closed cases is at 19% –

 

 

From SCMP:

 

 

From COVID2019Live.info:

 

 

 

 

Sharyl Attkisson noticed something too. Fauci must be more careful.

Fauci Offers More Conservative Death Rate In Academic Article Than In Public Briefings (JTN)

You’ve probably heard that COVID-19 is far deadlier than the flu. But it could turn out to be more akin to a severe flu season. Surprisingly, both of those assessments come from the same authority at the same time: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s chief infectious disease specialist. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has repeatedly cited more jarring figures in public. For instance, Fauci declared in March 11 congressional testimony that the current coronavirus “is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu,” which would be about 1 percent. His testimony generated news headlines that blared across the internet and television news, and it remains frequently cited today. But among his learned colleagues in academia, he has provided the more conservative analysis.


“[T]he case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1%,” Fauci wrote in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine on March 26. “This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of COVID-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively.” A day after the NEJM article was published, Fauci was back to repeating the higher fatality number in public rather than “considerably less than 1%.” “The mortality of [COVID-19] is about 10 times [flu],” Fauci told Comedy Central host Trevor Noah on March 27.

Read more …

A lot of things won’t happen without kickbacks. The system is one sick puppy.. and no reform in sight, since both parties are beholden to the industry as a whole.

Hospital Equipment Shortages Renew Spotlight On Supply Chain Middlemen (JTN)

Healthcare providers facing medical equipment shortages and exorbitantly high drug prices during the coronavirus outbreak are captive to kickback-receiving “middlemen” who lock up hospitals in exclusive contracts that enable price gouging and supply bottlenecks, according to a network of physician advocacy groups representing 3,000 physicians. Nearly 90% of U.S. mayors who responded to a national survey released Friday by the U.S. Conference of Mayors said they lack enough protective equipment for their coronavirus medical workers, and 85% said they do not have enough ventilators for their hospitals.


Dr. Marion Mass, a Duke-educated physician who founded Practicing Physicians of America (PPA), told Just the News that so-called “safe harbor” (legal protection) provisions allowing for payments from medical equipment and drug manufacturers to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and group purchasing organizations (GPO) — what Dr. Mass calls the “middlemen” between providers and manufacturers — amount to “kickbacks.” The “safe harbor” payments are overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), monitored by the HHS Inspector General (IG), and are currently protected by law, but Dr. Mass and her physician network argue they should be repealed.

“After significant consolidation, four behemoth GPOs now control 90% of the entire chain of hospital and nursing home supplies, and we are in the grip of an unspeakably corrupt, pay-to-play system of financial kickbacks,” Mass wrote in a white paper co-authored by the Physicians for Reform and Texas Public Policy Foundation. “If the law that established the ‘safe harbor’ for kickbacks to the GPOs (and extended to PBMs in 2003) was repealed, the cost for medical supplies and medications would fall by an estimated 25% to 30%. The cost of prescription medications would fall by 35% to 43%. Additional declines in prices are projected as true competition replaces a rigged marketplace. We estimate this reform would save Medicare and Medicaid an estimated $75 billion each year.”

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DiMartino Booth tweet: “(Bloomberg) 3 days after President Trump signed $2T stimulus, Kohl’s, Macy’s & Gap joined growing number of retailers to halt pay for much of their workforce while preserving some benefits. With these furloughs, total number of employees out a paycheck at major US chains >500,000”

US COVID19 Job Losses Could Be 47 Million, Unemployment May Hit 32% (CNBC)

Millions of Americans already have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus crisis and the worst of the damage is yet to come, according to a Federal Reserve estimate. Economists at the Fed’s St. Louis district project total employment reductions of 47 million, which would translate to a 32.1% unemployment rate, according to a recent analysis of how bad things could get. The projections are even worse than St. Louis Fed President James Bullard’s much-publicized estimate of 30%. They reflect the high nature of at-risk jobs that ultimately could be lost to a government-induced economic freeze aimed at halting the coronavirus spread. “These are very large numbers by historical standards, but this is a rather unique shock that is unlike any other experienced by the U.S. economy in the last 100 years,” St. Louis Fed economist Miguel Faria-e-Castro wrote in a research paper posted last week.


There are a couple of important caveats to what Faria-e-Castro calls “back-of-the-envelope” calculations: They don’t account for workers who may drop out of the labor force, thus bringing down the headline unemployment rate, and they do not estimate the impact of recently passed government stimulus, which will extend unemployment benefits and subsidize companies for not cutting staff. However, the jobless picture already looks bleak. A record 3.3 million Americans filed initial jobless claims for the week ended March 21. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect another 2.65 million to join them this week. Friday’s nonfarm payrolls count for March is expected to show a decline of just 56,000, but that’s largely due to a statistical distortion [..]

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Pelosi falls innto the Chuck Todd “blood on his hands” trap. It’s a cheap political game that should not now be played. Sure, Trump was way off. But so were his advisers (Fauci), all other western and other leaders, and Pelosi herself, who was busy fiddling with impeachment when she could have been focusing on what she now says Trump should have been doing.

Trump Rips Pelosi For Criticizing His Handling Of Coronavirus Pandemic (NYP)

President Trump unleashed on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an early morning phone interview on “Fox & Friends,” slamming her comments about his “deadly” handling of coronavirus. Speaking to the Fox News hosts Monday morning, the commander-in-chief described the California Democrat as “a sick puppy,” who has “a lot of problems,” when asked about Pelosi’s criticism of his response to the virus. Trump added that her remarks were “a horrible thing to say.” “When I stopped some very, very infected, very, very sick people — thousands coming in from China — earlier than anyone thought [was necessary], including the experts.

Nobody thought we should do it, except me,” Trump said, adding that he was praised by government infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci for his decision to close the borders. “If I didn’t do that, you would’ve had deaths like you have never seen before,” he continued before knocking Pelosi for not crediting him for the move. Trump went on to call San Francisco, a city that is part of Pelosi’s district, a “slum,” adding that the federal government may need to address the city’s problems. Speaking about Pelosi’s impeachment crusade against the president — which passed the House but failed in the Senate — Trump said, “Don’t forget, she was playing the impeachment game where she ended up looking like a fool.”

On Sunday, Pelosi slammed Trump’s response to the pandemic, telling CNN, “We should be taking every precaution. What the president, his denial at the beginning was deadly.” “As the president fiddles, people are dying. And we just have to take every precaution,” she continued. CNN host Jake Tapper pressed the speaker on whether she believed Trump’s downplaying of the crisis had cost American lives, to which Pelosi responded, “Yes, I am. I’m saying that.”

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More games. Scheduled to take at least another month. Posing and posturing.

Pelosi Aims To Move Fast On Next Rescue Package (Pol.)

House Democrats are moving rapidly on ambitious plans for a fourth coronavirus relief package, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi eager to put her imprint on legislation that she says could be ready for a vote in the coming weeks. Pelosi told reporters Monday that Democrats are in the early stages of drafting another major bill that will not only shore up health systems and protect frontline health care workers but could include substantial investments in infrastructure. “Our first bills were about addressing the emergency. The third bill was about mitigation. The fourth bill would be about recovery. Emergency, mitigation, recovery,” Pelosi said on a conference call. “I think our country is united in not only wanting to address our immediate needs — emergency, mitigation, and the assault on our lives and livelihoods — but also, how we recover in a very positive way.”


But Democrats’ approach could put them on a collision course with senior Republicans, who say they are very much in wait-and-see mode when it comes to another potential multi-trillion-dollar bill and are warning Pelosi not to try to jam the Senate with a progressive plan. “They’re approaching it — it seems like — as an opportunity to pass their political and ideological agenda. We’re approaching it as, ‘How do we protect the public health and our economy?’ And those are pretty divergent goals,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) [..]

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RussiaRussiaRussia is speeding up those hospital boats just to make here look bad. Actually, I don’t want to talk about Maddow.

Rachel Maddow’s Recent Predictions Get Roasted (JTN)

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on March 20 cast doubt on the notion that two Navy hospital ships would soon reach ports on the East and West coasts to relieve hospitals combatting the coronavirus pandemic as President Trump had promised. The ships have since arrived at their respective destination ports in California and New York where they will serve non-COVID-19 patients in an effort to decrease pressure on the hospitals ashore. “In terms of the happy talk we’ve had on this front from the federal government, there is no sign that the Navy hospital ships that the president made such a big deal of, the Comfort and the Mercy, there’s no sign that they’ll be anywhere on site helping out anywhere in the country for weeks yet,” Maddow said on her television show.


“The president said when he announced that those ships would be put into action against the COVID-19 epidemic, he said one of those ships would be operational in New York harbor by next week. That’s nonsense, it will not be there next week,” Maddow asserted. The USNS Comfort arrived in New York harbor on Monday March 30, while the USNS Mercy arrived in the Port of Los Angeles on Friday March 27 and began accepting patients on Sunday March 29. Republicans on Monday highlighted the Maddow clip.

It isn’t the first time the popular liberal host has faced criticism — both on the left and the right — for her prognostication or promotion. Maddow was criticized in March 2017 when she over-hyped a story about Donald Trump’s 2005 tax returns, underwhelming many viewers once she finally divulged the information she had been teasing. “In positioning it as a grand revelation, a vital step in comprehending Trump’s corruption, MSNBC created an exceedingly cynical spectacle,” Willa Paskin wrote on Slate.com.

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Lesson in federalism. There are lots of things the federal government can’t do that are normal in other countries.

Political Distancing (Turley)

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called on the federal government to take control of the medical supply market. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker demanded that President Trump take charge and said “precious months” were wasted waiting for federal action. Some critics are even more direct in demanding a federal takeover, including a national quarantine. It is the legal version of panic shopping. Many seem to long for federal takeovers, if not martial law. Yet like all panic shopping, they are buying into far more than they need while not doing as much as they could with what they have. For decades, governors tried to retain principal authority over public emergencies, but they did very little with those powers.

While many are doing impressive work now, some governors seem as eager to contain the blame as the coronavirus. Call it political distancing. Even if Trump nationalized the crisis by deploying troops, imposing price controls, and forcing production of ventilators, the Constitution has left most police authority and public health safety to the states in our system of federalism. The Framers believed liberties and powers were safest when held closest to citizens in local and state governments. Elected officials at the local and state levels are more readily held accountable than unknown Washington bureaucrats. Of course, with authority comes responsibility, and the latter notion is not always as welcomed as the former.

Despite all the hyperbole of the last few days, the federal authority of the president to act is much more limited than many appear to believe. Trump cannot, and should not, simply take over the crisis. While he may want to “open for business” by Easter, he has no clear authority to lift state orders for citizens to stay at home. His greatest authority is supplying assistance in the production and delivery of necessary resources such as ventilators. While he can put conditions on some assistance, he cannot commandeer the authority of governors in their responses to the pandemic.

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The virus will change the entire country. But people find it hard to comprehend. Wolf Richter doing well. “Nothing Goes to Heck in a Straight Line”

Many Brick & Mortar Stores Will Not Reopen, CMBS will Default (WS)

Macy’s announced today that it would lay off “the majority” of its 123,000 employees after it had closed all its Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury stores on March 18. Even before the lockdowns, its headcount was already down 17% from four years ago, in line with the decline of its brick-and-mortar operations. It said these stores would “remain closed until we have clear line of sight on when it is safe to reopen.” Whenever that may be. But “at least through May,” the furloughed employees who were already enrolled in its health benefits program “will continue to receive coverage with the company covering 100% of the premium.” And it said, “We expect to bring colleagues back on a staggered basis as business resumes.” That is, if business at these brick-and-mortar stores resumes.

Department stores have been on a 20-year downward spiral that has ended for many of them in bankruptcy court where they got dismembered and sold off in pieces. The survivors, which have been shuttering their brick-and-mortar stores for years, are now getting hit by the lockdowns. The chart depicts the brick-and-mortar business that Macy’s, Nordstrom, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Neiman Marcus, Sears, Bon-Ton Stores, Barney’s and others are in – or were in. Over the past 20 years, department store revenues declined by 43%. And now they’re getting whacked for good by the lockdowns. That declining line of revenues is going to make a 90-degree downward kink in Q1, Q2 and Q3, to violate the WOLF STREET beer-bug dictum that “Nothing Goes to Heck in a Straight Line”:

As many brick-and-mortar stores have shut down, and as people are fearful about going to those stores that are still open (such as grocery stores), ecommerce sales have exploded. Americans have long been reluctant to buy groceries online. But that has changed overnight. Amazon, Walmart and other online retailers have gone on a hiring binge to deal with the onslaught of online buying, including the stuff people normally bought in grocery stores. Online retail is the huge winner of COVID-19. When the Q1 and Q2 ecommerce revenues emerge, we will see a historic spike in online sales even as brick-and-mortar sales went straight to heck.

Read more …

More from Wolf. Depression.

How Will COVID-19 Impact US Manufacturing? First Indications Are Ugly (WS)

Most of the economic data is released weeks and months after the fact. But surveys of manufacturing and service companies foreshadow what will happen with the official data when it finally appears. The Texas manufacturing production index, for which data was collected between March 17 to 25 from 110 Texas-based unnamed manufacturers, plunged from +16.4 in February to -35.3 in March, the largest month-to-month drop in the history of the index going back to 2004, the Dallas Fed reported this morning:

Many manufactures in Texas supply the oil and gas industry, where mayhem had broken out long before the coronavirus lockdowns started impacting the economy. Manufacturer’s perceptions of broader business conditions collapsed from an already low 1.2 reading in February to -70.0, the lowest in survey history. The report observed laconically: “Perceptions of broader business conditions turned quite pessimistic in March”:

The price of crude-oil grade West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has now plunged into the range of $20 per barrel, which is catastrophic for the entire oil and gas sector. This is down from a range of $80 to $110 per barrel from 2010 through mid-2014. In an effort to stay alive a little longer, exploration-and-production companies and oil-field services companies are cutting operations, and as they’re running out of funds, they are slashing orders for equipment and supplies. And this ripples through the Texas economy. The comments made by the executives in the survey ranged from: “We are mostly just concerned.” …to something more apocalyptic: “If we see this downward trend continue, we will run out of cash within four months. New orders and inquiries have stopped instantly. Our work in-house will be finished mid to end of April, with no new orders coming in, all due to this real or imagined shutdown. I believe the country will be in a depression by the fall unless the work environment changes dramatically.”

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Cruise companies lining up for bailouts. Support people instead. The companies go, but the people will remain.

“We Are Temporarily A Company With No Product And No Revenue” (WS)

TUI, the global travel and vacation giant that owns six European airlines, 1,600 travel agencies, over 300 hotels and 14 cruise ships, desperately needs help. And it appears to have got it. On Friday, the company announced that the German government had approved a €1.8 billion loan to help keep the group afloat as COVID-19 brings the global travel sector to a literal standstill. The bridge loan, which still needs to be approved by TUI’s creditors, would be one of the biggest ever issued through German state-owned lender KfW. “We are currently facing unprecedented international travel restrictions. As a result, we are temporarily a company with no product and no revenue. This situation must be bridged,” TUI CEO Fritz Joussen said in a statement. The same could be said for millions of companies around the world. But unlike TUI, many of them don’t have the ear of their national government.


Even as giant travel companies like TUI line up with airlines and cruise owners for multi-billion dollar bailouts, huge question marks loom over the global travel industry’s future. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in its updated assessment of the potential impact of COVID-19 — based on the optimistic assumption that the tourism industry will experience a swift recovery over the next 3-4 months — projects that for the whole year 2020, tourist arrivals will have fallen 20-30% from 2019, and international tourism revenues will have plunged by $300 billion to 450 billion, almost one third of the $1.5 trillion generated in 2019. Taking into account past market trends, this would mean that between five and seven years’ worth of accumulated industry growth will have been wiped out in one fell swoop.

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Why on earth does Airbnb need a $250 million war chest?

Airbnb To Pay Out $250 Million To Hosts To Help Ease Cancellation Pain (R.)

U.S. home rental firm Airbnb said on Monday it was allocating $250 million to help offset losses by hosts around the world whose guests have canceled bookings in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The aid, which will pay hosts 25% of their normal cancellation fees, is being offered globally except for China, the company said in a letter sent to hosts by Chief Executive Brian Chesky. The payments apply to the cancellation of reservations with check-in dates between March 14 and May 31. Because hosts can choose different cancellation policies – some requiring a penalty payment, with others allowing free cancellation up to a certain date before check-in – not all canceled reservations will qualify.


Airbnb had earlier announced that guests would receive a full refund for the cancellation of reservations made on or before March 14 for check-in between March 14 and April 14, which angered many hosts. Airbnb also said that hosts could cancel reservations without a charge. Airbnb said it is funding the program for hosts itself and will begin to issue the payments in April. Airbnb’s revenue in 2019 exceeded $4.8 billion, up 35% on the year, and it has $3 billion in cash, a source told Reuters last week. [..] Airbnb also said it is creating a $10 million relief fund for its Superhosts – so-named for meeting certain requirements including good ratings – who rent out their own home and need help paying their rent or mortgage, and some Experience hosts who charge for sharing an experience like food tours.

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Not much has changed. China still cares little about credibility.

China Says Manufacturing Activity Expanded In March (CNBC)

China on Tuesday said the official Purchasing Manager’s Index for March was 52.0, beating expectations for an economy hit by the coronavirus outbreak. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the official PMI to come in at 45 for the month of March. In February, the official PMI hit a record low of 35.7. PMI readings above 50 indicate expansion, while those below that level signal contraction. China’s National Bureau of Statistics said in its announcement of the PMI reading that there was continued improvement in the prevention and control of the outbreak in March, with a significant acceleration in the resumption of production. Sub-indices for production, new orders and employment expanded, the bureau said.


The bureau attributed the expansionary PMI reading to the low base in February, but cautioned that it does not mean that the country’s economic activities have returned to normal levels. Earlier this year, manufacturing activity slowed dramatically in China as the government instituted large-scale lockdowns and quarantines to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease, formally known as COVID-19. Qian Wang, Asia Pacific chief economist at Vanguard Investment Strategy, said March’s manufacturing PMI reading was “totally expected” as activity improved during the month. “In February, the Chinese economy was at a full stop. It doesn’t take much to rise from such a low base,” she told CNBC’s “Street Signs.”

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The EU will have to throw out Hungary.

– State of emergency w/o time limit
– Rule by decree
– Parliament suspended
– No elections
– Spreading fake news + rumors: up to 5 yrs in prison
– Leaving quarantine: up to 8 yrs in prison

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán Wins Vote To Rule By Decree Indefinitely (Pol.)

The Hungarian parliament on Monday voted by a two-thirds majority to allow the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to rule by decree without a set time limit. While the new legislation remains in place, no elections can be held and Orbán’s government will be able to suspend the enforcement of certain laws. Plus, individuals who publicize what are viewed as untrue or distorted facts — and which could interfere with the protection of the public, or could alarm or agitate a large number of people — now face several years in jail. In the vote, 137 members of parliament were in favor, 53 against and 9 did not cast a ballot. The new rules can only be lifted with another two-thirds vote of the parliament and a presidential signature.

The legislation has elicited deep concern both among civil rights groups in Hungary and international institutions, with officials from the Council of Europe, United Nations and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe publicly expressing fears about the bill. The legislation also drew criticism from members of the European Parliament. Critics say that emergency measures to address the coronavirus crisis should be temporary and time-limited to allow for checks and balances. Hungary is currently facing Article 7 proceedings under the EU Treaty, used when a country is considered at risk of breaching the bloc’s core values.

“Civil society, journalists and international and European organizations will have to step up their efforts even more in this new situation to ensure that the potential for grave abuses by government overreach are monitored, documented and responded to,” Márta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights NGO, said following the passage of the bill. “It’s now essential that the idea that executive power cannot be unlimited is reinforced by action,” she said. “The health crisis cannot be allowed to turn into a constitutional crisis.”

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To make sure they have access to health care.

The opposite of Orban.

Portugal Gives Migrants, Asylum-Seekers Full Citizenship Rights (CNN)

Portugal has temporarily given all migrants and asylum seekers full citizenship rights, granting them full access to the country’s healthcare as the outbreak of the novel coronavirus escalates in the country. The move will “unequivocally guarantee the rights of all the foreign citizens” with applications pending with Portuguese immigration, meaning they are “in a situation of regular permanence in National Territory,” until June 30, the Portuguese Council of Ministers said on Friday. The Portuguese Council of Ministers explained that the decision was taken to “reduce the risks for public health” of maintaining the current scheduling of appointments at the immigration office, for both the border agents and the migrants and asylum seekers.


Portugal declared a State of Emergency on March 18 that came into effect at midnight that day and was due to last for 15 days. Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said during a news conference that “democracy won’t be suspended.” The country was a dictatorship for decades, with democracy being restored in 1974. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa called the Covid-19 pandemic “a true war,” which would bring true challenges to the country’s “way of life and economy.” Rebelo de Sousa also praised the behavior of Portuguese citizens, “who have been exemplary in imposing a self-quarantine,” reflecting “a country that has lived through everything.”

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Mass gatherings. Religious, soccer, carnival. That’s where most infections originate in Europe.

Five Days Of Worship That Set A Virus Time Bomb In France (R.)

From the stage of an evangelical superchurch, the leader of the gospel choir kicked off an evening of prayer and preaching: “We’re going to celebrate the Lord! Are you feeling the joy tonight?” “Yes!” shouted the hundreds gathered at the Christian Open Door church on Feb. 18. Some of them had travelled thousands of miles to take part in the week-long gathering in Mulhouse, a city of 100,000 on France’s borders with Germany and Switzerland. For many members of this globe-spanning flock, the annual celebration is the highpoint of the church calendar. This time, someone in the congregation was carrying the coronavirus. The prayer meeting kicked off the biggest cluster of COVID-19 in France – one of Europe’s hardest-hit countries – to date, local government said.

Around 2,500 confirmed cases have been linked to it. Worshippers at the church have unwittingly taken the disease caused by the virus home to the West African state of Burkina Faso, to the Mediterranean island of Corsica, to Guyana in Latin America, to Switzerland, to a French nuclear power plant, and into the workshops of one of Europe’s biggest automakers. Weeks later, Germany partially closed its border with France, suspending a free-movement pact that has been in place for the past 25 years. The church cluster was a key factor, two people familiar with the German decision told Reuters. Church officials told Reuters that 17 members of the congregation have since died of complications linked to the disease.

[..] As the faithful gathered on a clear Tuesday evening in the church, an old shopping centre converted into a 2,500 seat auditorium, the disease seemed remote. France had 12 confirmed cases, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data. There were none in the Mulhouse area. France, like other governments in northern Europe, had imposed no restrictions on big meetings. There was no alcohol gel for the congregations to clean their hands, no elbow bumps instead of handshakes. “At the time, we viewed COVID as something that was far off,” said Jonathan Peterschmitt, son of the lead pastor and grandson of the church’s founder. His father, Samuel, was unavailable for an interview because he had been sickened by the virus, his son and a church spokeswoman said.

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“The world is still here. We’re just going to have to learn to live in it differently.”

People Get Ready! (Kunstler)

The cable news announced the other day that Covid-19 patients placed in critical care may have to be on ventilators for 21 days. Only a few years ago, I went in for an ordinary hip replacement. A month or so later, I got the hospital billing statement. One of the line-items went like this: Room and board: 36 hours…$23,482.79. I am not jiving you. That was just for the hospital bed and maybe four lousy hospital meals, not the surgery or the meds or anything else. All that was billed extra. Say, what…? Now imagine you have the stupendous good fortune to survive a Covid-19 infection after 21 days on a ventilator and go home. What is that billing statement going to look like? Will the survivors wish they’d never made out of the hospital alive?

Right now, we’re in the heroic phase of the battle against a modern age plague. The doctors, nurses, and their helpers are like the trembling soldiers in an amphibious landing craft churning toward the Normandy beach where the enemy is dug in and waiting for them, with sweaty fingers on their machine guns and a stink in the pillbox. Some of the doctors and nurses will go down in the battle. The fabled fog-of-war will conceal what is happening to the health care system itself, while the battle rages. After that, what? One thing will be pretty clear: That the folks in charge of things gave trillions of dollars to Wall Street while tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 survivors got wiped out financially with gargantuan medical bills.

Do you think the Chargemaster part of the hospital routine will just stop doing its thing during this emergency? The billings will continue – just as the proverbial beatings will continue until morale improves! In the aftermath, I can’t even imagine the ‘splainin’ that will entail. The rage may be too intense to even get to that. For some, it may be time to lubricate the guillotines? Meantime, of course, the global economy has shut down which suggests to me, anyway, that any prior frame of reference you may have had about money and business and social normality goes out the window. The world is still here. We’re just going to have to learn to live in it differently.

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“..the Netherlands will “no longer be a rich country in the North if the South falls.”

Italian Politicians Criticize Netherlands Over Lack Of Solidarity (NLT)

A group of 12 Italian politicians lambasted the Netherlands on Tuesday, angered by Dutch reticence to support European financial assistance to countries most affected by coronavirus. The Netherlands blocked emergency aid to EU member states, despite “using its tax system to withdraw tax revenue from major European countries for years,” they wrote in an open letter published in German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. At issue are “coronabonds”, where the funds raised from selling such bond instruments would be used to help all member states overcome economic hurdles during the ongoing health crisis. The money could then be invested in supporting any EU member state, while repayment obligations would be the responsibility of the entire EU.

Nine nations supported the plan. “However, the Netherlands are currently leading a group of countries that oppose this strategy, and Germany also seems to want to follow this group,” the politicians said, accusing the Dutch tax regime of siphoning money away from other member states which would otherwise have allowed them to assist “the socially week… who are most affected by the crisis today.” The politicians, led by Member of Europea Parliament Carlo Calenda, called for the German public to recall the unified support it had to rebuild after World War II, up through the country’s reunification. “The Dutch attitude is an example of a lack of ethics and solidarity in every respect.”

That sentiment was echoed by the leader of Dutch political party ChristenUnie, one of the parties in the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte. “[Italy] is in ruins. The first message, in my opinion, would be: we are going to help you,” said Gert-Jan Segers. He also called for an approach like the U.S. Marshall Plan which promoted the reconstruction of European nations after the War. The large European rescue fund could be structured similarly to the billions of deutschmarks Germany needed even though it “could never have repaid the accumulated debts,” the Italians stated. Former Dutch Central Bank leader Nout Wellink was also critical of the Dutch approach, saying that the crisis and the debt needed to get past it is “a shared responsibility.” He said, “the Netherlands will “no longer be a rich country in the North if the South falls.”

Read more …

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 31 2020

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 50 total)
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  • #56357

    Vincent van Gogh The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884 (stolen yesterday)   • Fauci Offers More Conservative Death Rate In Academic Artic
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 31 2020]

    #56358
    riesterm
    Participant

    I’m still baffled by the numbers, Ilargi as compared to some very big numbers that we’ve seemed to have forgotten:

    USA deaths chart:

    Cause Deaths (1/1 to 3/28/2020)
    “Corona virus” official [1] 2,220
    “Corona virus” no other illness [2] 22
    “Seasonal flu” & pneumonia [3] 9,152
    Pharmaceutical drugs [4] 30,800
    Medical error [5] 60,280
    Medical (drugs + error) 91,080

    References

    [1] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

    [2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-18/99-of-those-who-died-from-virus-had-other-illness-italy-says
    * 99% of a large statistical sample of “deaths due corona virus” in Italy were likely due serious pre-existing diseases and/or medical conditions (ie. it is more accurate to state such deaths as being with corona virus present, not due corona virus)

    [3] https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html
    * Daily average (averaged over the whole year) of 104 deaths, based on an annual average of 37,875 deaths (using CDC data for all of the 2010-18 flu seasons)

    [4] https://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/new-prescription-drugs-major-health-risk-few-offsetting-advantages
    * Daily average of 350 deaths, based on an annual 128,000 prescription drug deaths

    [5] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_suggests_medical_errors_now_third_leading_cause_of_death_in_the_us
    * Daily average of 685 deaths, based on an annual 250,000 deaths due medical error

    Attachments:
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    #56360
    riesterm
    Participant

    Correction: It’s not that we haven’t “heard about” actual deaths in the U.S.; it’s that the media will not “tell us” about those appallingly high numbers.

    #56362
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    riesterm, one could make a similar argument in 1918 about all those deaths caused by war, tuberculosis, diptheria, cancer, heart disease, stroke, childbirth, dementia, enteritis, automobile and industrial accidents. What takes the headlines is when something new arrives that seriously disrupts the year over year numbers. We are at the very beginning of a marathon.

    #56363
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Part of me is mentally staggered that people are waiting for “maks” to magically be made available by the Good Factory Fairies. Even a primitive mask filters out half or more or airborne pathogens. Our culture has become so automatic (TAE reference intentional), so infantile in its dependence on the forumale of ;factories make things/we buy them with money’ that we seem virtually incapable of making or doing anything on our own.

    UNtil some Facebook videi that is properly “sticky” makes the rounds with some kind of official seal of approval, or a proper amount of that mystery bug: “buzz”. All the cool kids are making masks from ad hoc materials on hand, I better do this too or I won’t be cool.

    THere are too virus waves of critical importance. One is the physical; contagion wave through physical contagion vectors. The other is whatever corona-message goes full-spectrum viral through our various media. Where those two intersect will be, I think, the defining nodal point in all this.

    #56364
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Corona already saving thousands of lives. And that’s ahead of the baby boom:
    https://www.scribd.com/document/453827594/COVID-19-UnintendedConsequences
    + about 9,000. Panic!

    The WHO says “don’t wear face masks.”
    WHOdunit
    https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/news.guo.offload.media/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/29224811/Screen-Shot-2020-03-29-at-9.44.22-PM.png

    Yes, that would be the same WHO that says 3k died in China, there was no human transmission, don’t stop those planes, and changes their minds every hour.

    Science™! We’re Science-based. In that we use the word “Science” to get you to obey illogical, self-defeating rules, and give us Step 3: Profit!

    I blame Trump. Why didn’t he follow up on that SARS cure in 2004 or deplete and not re-stock the facemasks in 2014? Why didn’t he build a wall and bring back industry from China? Why didn’t he stop the planes in January? If only he’d SAID SOMETHING, all this could have been avoided.

    “the current coronavirus “is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu,” which would be about 1 percent.”

    That’s because thanks to Science™!, the seasonal flu is far LESS deadly than 0.1%, as you can prove in 60 seconds. But nobody does because they’re not science, but fishing for money, bureaucratic or socialized systems most of all. So is Wu Flu 10x as deadly? Probably, but 10 x 0.004% isn’t much. So as usual, we have the “Official” “Expert” reality, and the real reality, and they don’t add up because experts become experts once they lie for a living. If they told the truth anywhere, from Boeing to Kaiser, they’d get fired in days. Land of the Lost. Who’s going to save you from your own grift and deceit? You are. By returning to the Straight and Narrow.

    “Healthcare providers facing medical equipment shortages”

    As stated yesterday and everywhere, you can’t even make masks. It’s literally illegal without 6-fold permission, a few million dollars, and a 6- year lead time. That’s by law, put in by 3M, yes, but impossible to enforce unless the GOVERNMENT joins with CORPORATIONS, in the direct antithesis of Capitalism. And what do we call that system, Mr. Benito? But there’s a solution: MORE SOCIALISM. More rules, more obstacles, more monopoly profits. To them, away from you. We demand MOAR!

    In other news, Australia reports China bought up several million masks and suits back in January while they were telling us and the WHO that there was no human transmission, and the WHO were apparently in their hotel rooms with Chinese girls, not looking. But I can’t blame it all on them, even though they just shipped non-working N95 masks to us just for amusement of watching Spanish doctors get sick and die. No, in addition to this, deBlasio and Pelosi were advising people to attend parades, and Cuomo cut 20,000 beds in NY and is even now trying to cut $9B out of NYS Medicare. This is the government you say will save you.

    Anyway, we’d already have 50 small factories producing masks somewhere if it weren’t illegal, imprisonable at the highest level to do so. So: enjoy the world you demanded!

    US COVID19 Job Losses Could Be 47 Million, Unemployment May Hit 32% (CNBC)”

    This is already over 32%, but in reality we’re doing an economic reset, not a virus, so…

    Trump was way off.”

    But less way off than Science™!, which he bucked the Executive, the CDC, the WHO, and everyone in media when he still acted long before them. Suddenly, now that was too slow, for the same people who said it was way too fast. Make up your minds. But they do: reality is whatever I say it is 2 seconds ago, and changes 2 seconds from now. Double-Plus-Good Doublethink. A minute from now, when he DID shut things down, and they catch on that it’s 0.1% and destroyed the economy, they will flip again and say it SHOULDN’T be shut down, even as in Feb 1 they were denying it existed, and March 1 were demanding martial law, and we read these same people as our sources of authoritative information.

    And you’re supposed to rule these people? They can’t rule themselves. They’re like a bunch of toddlers running around on the football pitch, making self-goals half the time while parents cheer. It’s amusing to watch, but I wouldn’t pay for it. I’m an adult who has useful, practical things to do.

    “Pelosi Aims To Move Fast On Next Rescue Package (Pol.)”

    Case in point, Exhibit A, after stopping worker checks for weeks, then taking a 5-page bill and making it 1,400. And NOW she’s going to move fast, now TRUMP has been slow and irresponsible. I missed rent. Thanks. But this is Socialism™, I’ll go take one of your 10 houses. “To each according to his need” and I NEED a nice new beach house!

    Rachel Maddow’s Recent Predictions Get Roasted (JTN)”

    It will never matter. There is no level of lies or wrong that can possibly have consequences. Look at Brian Williams, the CDC, the WHO…

    I think it’s great. I just read them and do the opposite and can be right 95% of the time.

    “precious months” were wasted waiting for federal action.”

    Says the guy who they would impeach for having borders and objected to shutting down unlimited air travel. So…if he knew all about, Mr. Governor obviously bought a million masks for his State back in January, right? What, no? He was busy cutting hospitals while more people died in Chicago each year than have yet died in COVID? Well give me a banana and call me a monkey. So. Weird. It’s almost like they’re lying, and if I did the opposite, I’d be right 95% of the time without any work.

    But the article is well-said. The States are supposed to be sovereign, and most action and responsibility are legally there. Little to none is supposed to rest with the Federales. That’s why health care could be state level (and bankrupted every state that tried) and not Federal, by law, because they have no legal mandate or authority over it, nor can they get any without an amendment. But reason, law: so Archaic! #Logos is our sole sworn enemy, making things up out of our minds and egos is our god.

    How Will COVID-19 Impact US Manufacturing?”

    Let’s look at the other side: we have no manufacturing, sales, or business. The Dow remains pleasantly high, with a rocketing nosebleed P/E ratio (No earnings). That is, we have NO MARKET. We have NO CAPITALISM. We have…no one who cares, or can diagnose that maybe this Socialism thing has failed just like everywhere else in time and space it’s been tried.

    Cruise companies lining up for bailouts.”

    This would be less egregious if they hadn’t already dodged all taxes before now. …Hey, like GE, Amazon, Boeing…? Yeah, I pay more taxes than GE. So shouldn’t I get their size bailout check? Funny ol’ world.

    The EU will have to throw out Hungary.”

    The EU hasn’t followed any law or rule since before they were born. Look at the 2% debt-cap for entrance. Why start now? Then they couldn’t be a lawless dictatorship that sucks money from the poor in Greece to rich banks in Germany while erasing free speech and dictating who’s allowed to be PM in Italy.

    The cable news announced the other day that Covid-19 patients placed in critical care may have to be on ventilators for 21 days.”

    If you’re in ICU you won’t survive anyway. Recovery rates for that kind of term ventilator 1 year are something like 5% even for normal times. Mortality is 30% normally. But someone is worried about resource triage? That everybody might not get infinity plus? That we won’t spend 45 minutes on resuscitation for someone whose lungs stopped when +90% of the time doesn’t work on heart patients and people with ‘normal’ coding? Yeah, we don’t do that on every other day either, it’s literally no different than last Tuesday. Or only by a tiny percent. It’s just when non-medical people read about it, they throw a gear. Because they will die, and if they’re lucky, they will die in a hospital.

    Anyway, life is limited. There is not infinite anything for nothing, and you’re going to die because that’s what “life” is. Try to do it like a man.

    …the Netherlands will “no longer be a rich country in the North if the South falls.”

    I’ve said this for years. Their “Asset” in Germany and yes, Netherlands, is the “Debt” of a number of countries who will never pay. That is to say, it’s a fraud, an illusion. So why bother? Does it make you feel better to live on lies an illusion? “The System where everybody lives at everybody else’s expense.”

    #56365
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Vanguard’s Wang said the Chinese government has likely accepted that growth will take a hit this year from the coronavirus pandemic and is willing to trade off some of that as long as there is social stability.

    “ ‘As long as we have some … social stability, that’s probably what the Chinese policymakers fear the most rather than just the growth numbers,’ she said.”

    from China Says Manufacturing Activity Expanded in MArch

    #56366
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “THere are too virus waves of critical importance. ”

    Two not too. Edit function appears to be some kind of practical joke. I remember when our machines worked as expected.

    #56367

    Blaming the software only makes you look old.

    #56368

    Well, it looks like The Great Bank Heist that this whole scamdemic has been covering up has been completed, so everyone please go back to your regularly scheduled programs and resume keeping up with your preferred flavor of Kardashians.

    https://russia-insider.com/en/huge-jewish-finance-firm-just-took-over-us-treasury-and-fed-blackrock-transcript-audio/ri28494?ct=t(Russia_Insider_Daily_Headlines11_21_2014)&mc_cid=bc4cb02299&mc_eid=f6e13bb5e3

    #56369
    Carlos Jimenez
    Participant

    The EU will have to throw out Hungary.

    – State of emergency w/o time limit
    – Rule by decree
    – Parliament suspended
    – No elections
    – Spreading fake news + rumors: up to 5 yrs in prison
    – Leaving quarantine: up to 8 yrs in prison

    Or vice versa?
    Orban may have gone a little bit overboard but… is the EU the epitome of Greek Democratia? A cenacle of unelected officials deciding over the subjects across the board for all “Europeans”? And the Parliament can not propose and pass laws? last time I checked?. And let’s not get into how the French the Irish and the Portuguese if memory serves me, were made to vote twice ’till they voted “the right way” to implement the treaty. LOL. This EU that has such high standards of human rights and values in its foundational docs., bombs and invades any country it likes at a drop of a hat. I remember when Ca-moron sent Brit planes to bomb Syria because…he didn’t like what Bashar Al Assad said… The unending flow of refugees is a direct consequence of that, just as Gadafi “prophesied” it would happen were he to be removed. Duh. Well, he was a bit more than simply removed, he was sodomized with a bayonet up his arxse. Sarkozy was first in line to bomb the shxte out of Libya. The “liberation” of Libya under Samantha Power’s “R2P” gave rise to open-air slave markets… how’s that for the standards of the free world? I could go on quite some ways here but I won’t, I just want to close with a look at the elephant in the room: people are jailed in the EU for not having the “correct” version of history. For questioning, or mocking, a historical event that is already “proven” by fiat. I would like to think that this kind of coercion was left behind with the fading into history of the Inquisition and the flowering of the Renaissance and free thought. But no, questioning the established history can land you in jail if that history is the Holocaust by gas chambers. You can piss on a cross or piss on Jesus’ image and call it art, make a movie or a play about a gay Jesus or whatever you like but nothing happens, as it should, in a world of free men. Not so sure though that you could do same to Mohamed… Be that as it may, dare to question the veracity or accuracy of the gas chambers or the 6 million and you’ll find yourself in jail like the 90 y.o Ursula Haverbeck, conveniently dubbed the “Nazi Granny”, the Canadian Monica Schafer snatched while in Germany for posting a video asking forgiveness from her late parents for having been hostile to them in this subject, or Attorney Silvya Stolz for defending Ernst Zundel and presenting evidence on a subject that was already deemed established and closed. There are dozens if not hundreds more in jail for this same thought crime. Others not so lucky, ended up in the hospital., Prof. Faurisson and Joe Cole/Stein, a Jew himself, come to mind. Joe had to disappear for 8 years and change identities because the ADL put a prize on his head. I’m sorry Raul if am not too upset with Orban’s power grab, I should, freedom as a value is ingrained in the human condition and behooves us to defend it, but to implicitly put the EU as a moral arbiter in this matter invites derision. I will let somebody else make the point:
    “Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.”
    John Milton, 1644

    #56370
    zerosum
    Participant

    BEFORE THE VIRUS
    1. Capitalism was failing for 99% of the population
    2. Socialism was failing for 90% of the population

    DURING THE VIRUS SEASON
    Non essential activities were closed
    Social and economic activities were changed by MMT

    AFTER THE VIRUS
    The blind will be leading the blind
    Seniors will be in short supply

    #56371
    zerosum
    Participant

    MMT

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-calls-2t-infrastructure-package-phase-4-stimulus

    With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill. It should be VERY BIG & BOLD, Two Trillion Dollars, and be focused solely on jobs and rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our Country! Phase 4

    #56373

    Yesterday, Andrew Cuomo made this big spectacle of saying his entire family would get together for dinner, because that’s what New Yorkers do etc. I thought that was the stupidest thing to say in a quarantined city. Now his brother Chris Cuomo at CNN tests positive.

    #56374
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Dedicated to all the Big Shots and high-ranking corporate spokespersons and government mandarins out there. It’s your turn:

    Fall from Grace

    One of the world’s most amazing guitar solos.

    folly

    Also, regarding where the corona virus genes meet the cornoa virus memes:

    “The Gartner Hype Cycle describes a particular way that the media over-inflates people’s expectations of new innovations in comparison to how evolved they actually are for a particular market segment’s needs.”

    Gartner Hype Cycle

    As for money and alla that, I found this article (quoted on some loudmouth’s blog) both instructive and kinda hilarious:

    Stunningly Useless

    P.S. I notice that youtube is easing down its intense attack to make me pay for stealing other people’s musical copyrights and sharing them for free (not that I care but hypocrisy is hypocrisy, jah?) Yesterday, an ad from Tasco Bell that, due to social distancing (there’s a loaded psyop phrase, intentional or not) they couldn’t give me a hug despite its/their tremendous desire to, but could give me a free taco a their Still! Open! drive-thru. (‘Bring your own polyfiber membrane. Tongs not included.’)

    This just *might* be typo free, and all the links just *might* work. These are the days of miracle and wonder…

    #56375
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    zerosum: awesome post (before, during, after)

    Raul: “I got viagra scrips older’n you, son,” he said, accidentally speaking into the mic of his cheap headphone ‘hearing aids’ and losing that much more hearing. 😉

    #56376
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Tasco Bell”

    I meant to do that. I’m a (sic) man.

    #56377
    lvareka
    Participant

    I am from the Czech Republic. Face masks have been mandatory here for two weeks. Of course, there is a shortage of face masks and respirators. But many people here started to sew them for their families and others. All this happened in a week or so. Suddenly, everyone has their face covered in one way or another. These handmade masks are typically from cotton. Of course, they are not reliable to keep you safe. But I think they contribute to limiting the spread because:
    1. When shopping etc., it remains you that others are potentially infected.
    2. It keeps you from involuntary touching your face.
    3. It limit droplets from the infected (no matter if they have symptoms or not) by up to 80 %.

    I think it is worth watching to see if this proves to work. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/30/czechs-get-to-work-making-masks-after-government-decree-coronavirus

    #56378
    neoh
    Participant

    riesterm, Dr.D
    Most of the population, unfortunately, does not understand large numbers let alone fractions, decimals or percentages. They certainly don’t know history.
    Anyway, at least for now, the world has surrendered an unimaginable amount of wealth, liberty,,and good custom because of a run of the mill 100-200 year virus that everybody knew would eventually occur.
    The reaction to the virus has taken on a life of its own. The virus will pass long before the reaction will be repaired. People love scary movies so they will continue to watch scary news. Some will say “I told you so”, forgetting that a broken clock is correct twice a day. Most of us do worse than the broken clock if we are willing to admit it.

    #56379
    zerosum
    Participant

    AFTER THE VIRUS
    The blind will be leading the blind
    Seniors will be in short supply

    https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/welcome-post-virus-world-return-normal-not-option
    Eventually, we will prevail in the post-virus world. But it will be a long haul. The best way to shorten it is to recognize that a return to “normal” is not an option. ( before the virus)

    Authored by Simon Johnson via Project Syndicate,

    #56380
    zerosum
    Participant

    “But many people here started to sew them for their families and others. ”
    You should see how fashionable my circle of life looks with our face masks.
    We even even got a model for the hunters.
    🙂

    #56381
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Before I entirely a-oogah, I’ma share this. I may have shared it before. But if so, this time is different. Tis time it’s what the sociologists and such call “relevant”. Here we see an old fart triumphing over the lack of face masks:

    Old Fart at Play with His Wooden FIsh Head Mask

    #56382
    WES
    Participant

    One chart we are not likely to ever see, is a chart showing the exponential growth of political corruption this virus has triggered!

    #56383
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:

    If the new normal means PM Trudeau’s family can go to the cottage, then so can I!

    #56384
    zerosum
    Participant

    WES

    If the cottage is in Ontario, then the limit is a group of 5. Its a good thing that his security is not greater than 5.
    🙂

    #56385
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    About those deaths each year from the flu (in the US), the numbers aren’t what they seem. I was surprised to find the CDC numbers criticized on a .GOV website. Some highlights:

    Prior to 2003, the data shows an average of only 1348 flu deaths per year (between 1979-2002). In 2003, an article in JAMA presented the results of a CDC model that calculated 36,155 deaths from “influenza associated underlying respiratory and circulatory causes“, but “less than a quarter of these (8097) were described as flu or flu associated underlying pneumonia deaths“. The author of the article explained that “influenza-associated mortality” is “a statistical association between deaths and viral data available.” He said that an association does not imply an underlying cause of death.” Yet somehow that 36,000 number was latched onto, and the statistics are now what comes out of a broadly-reaching model.

    The CDC website states what has become commonly accepted and widely reported in the lay and scientific press: annually “about 36 000 [Americans] die from flu”…

    Meanwhile, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), “influenza and pneumonia” took 62 034 lives in 2001—61 777 of which were attributed to pneumonia and 257 to flu, and in only 18 cases was flu virus positively identified.

    Between 1979 and 2002, NCHS data show an average 1348 flu deaths per year (range 257 to 3006)…

    CDC’s model [JAMA 2003] calculated an average annual 36 155 deaths from influenza associated underlying respiratory and circulatory causes. Less than a quarter of these (8097) were described as flu or flu associated underlying pneumonia deaths. Thus the much publicised figure of 36 000 is not an estimate of yearly flu deaths, as widely reported in both the lay and scientific press, but an estimate—generated by a model—of flu-associated death.

    William Thompson of the CDC’s National Immunization Program (NIP), and lead author of the CDC’s 2003 JAMA article, explained that “influenza-associated mortality” is “a statistical association between deaths and viral data available.” He said that an association does not imply an underlying cause of death: “Based on modelling, we think it’s associated. I don’t know that we would say that it’s the underlying cause of death.” Yet this stance is incompatible with the CDC assertion that the flu kills 36 000 people a year—a misrepresentation that is yet to be publicly corrected.

    At the 2004 “National Influenza Vaccine Summit,” co-sponsored by CDC and the American Medical Association, Glen Nowak, associate director for communications at the NIP, spoke on using the media to boost demand for the vaccine… Preceding the summit, demand had been low early into the 2003 flu season. “At that point, the manufacturers were telling us that they weren’t receiving a lot of orders for vaccine for use in November or even December,” recalled Dr Nowak on National Public Radio. “It really did look like we needed to do something to encourage people to get a flu shot.”

    If flu is in fact not a major cause of death, this public relations approach is surely exaggerated. Moreover, by arbitrarily linking flu with pneumonia, current data are statistically biased. Until corrected and until unbiased statistics are developed, the chances for sound discussion and public health policy are limited.

    https://aspe.hhs.gov/cdc-%E2%80%94-influenza-deaths-request-correction-rfc

    #56386
    Diogenes Shrugged
    Participant

    We all need to keep in mind that all those $trillions will eventually trickle down to all the small businesses that have disappeared. So there is hope, especially for those willing to wait. Best to wait indoors. Indefinitely. Maybe eternity.

    In the mean time, everybody should be thinking about improving their credit ratings. We mustn’t let all those decades of practice go to waste.

    #56387
    Diogenes Shrugged
    Participant

    The only thing more valuable than precious metals, more valuable than health, more valuable than peace and love and friendship, and even more valuable than life itself … is a loan.

    What a totally fucked-up species this is.

    #56388
    Diogenes Shrugged
    Participant

    To all you people wiping your butts with American paper currency, you’re clogging up the sewer pipes. Please bag it up and send it to me.

    Despite it having been shown that COVID-19 transmits through fecal matter in hospitals rather than through one’s breath and saliva in public, I’ll still take on all that foul, “worthless” fiat that’s gone “belly up” and can’t be used because it’s infected. As a public service.

    Please, please, please. Send me all that worthless cash, as it’s all about to be replaced by a vaccine made from a crypto-currency backstopped by the dealer’s rake from a game of faro in Belgium. Because if that money decomposes in the sewage plants, you’ll all die from the deadly carbon it emits.

    https://theautomaticearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/usa_deaths_charts.jpg

    #56389
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Somehow I think that most readers here are familiar with BlackRock, the company that the government chose to oversee the 2008 Crashed Cash Giveaway. We weren’t aware that it was a “jewish” outfit. We were aware that it has many Jewish principal members, founding and otherwise.

    But we are chastened by the reminder that what matters most is Who to Blame even though we know that said blame won’t change things for the better.

    And nowm, if you’ll excuse, I have a cat to bell:

    Aesop Strikes Again

    #56390
    zerosum
    Participant

    Too hot for the virus???

    https://www.capetalk.co.za/features/380/covid-19-coronavirus-explained/377740/coronavirus-sa-cases-updates-covid-19

    31 March 2020 6:12 PMby Qama QukulaShare This:Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says the number of Covid-19 deaths in South Africa stands at five, as of Tuesday.
    Mkhize held a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon, confirming 46 new cases that have tested positive for Covid-19 since Monday.

    The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa now stands at 1,353.

    There are now five Covid-19 related deaths in the country, up by two overnight.

    A total of 39,500 tests have been conducted thus far.

    South Africa has 1326 confirmed cases of Covid-19 as of 30 March 2020.

    President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Monday night and announced that there is a third death in South Africa.

    He said the country is entering a new phase of the fight against the pandemic and extensive testing and screening is to be rolled out.

    #56391
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    @ Doc Robinson

    Of course the learned reader understands the CDC flu numbers are derived from disease/statistical modeling. In 35 years as a physician, I recall only a single time when viral cultures were obtained for influenza A. However, that holds true for most viral diseases, H.zoster ophthalmicus and HSV keratitis come to mind immediately where cultures are never obtained. Morphology seals the diagnosis.

    Dr. D et al (since my post was lost on the 50% mortality of ARDS) will confirm that sepsis, ARDS, ALI, DIC and multiple organ system failure are common causes of death in the individual SARS, MERS, COVID-19, flu, and community acquired pneumonia cases.

    No doubt the counting “process” has been used to manipulate public sentiment

    **** “ARDS is a very serious disease and unfortunately even with the best medical care the chances of dying from this disease are around 30 to 50%. Those surviving the disease will often have long hospital stays.”

    #56392
    zerosum
    Participant

    “No doubt the “process” of counting has been used to manipulate public sentiment”

    People who cannot pay, (poor, third world), for the “flue shots” must be doomed for extinction.

    https://reviews.cheapism.com/pharmacies/
    In our survey of prescription drug prices, Walmart and Kroger undercut the major drugstores by a wide margin. Walmart is also the cheapest place to buy many over-the-counter medications.

    Average $40.00 in USA

    #56393
    zerosum
    Participant

    Another too hot story

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/28-spring-breaker-covidiots-test-positive-texas-after-group-trip-cabo

    The ‘Covidiots’ have struck again. (Our future elites)

    The City of Austin’s public health department just reported that 28 young adults who recently returned from a spring break trip to Cabo have all tested positive for COVID-19, a local TV news station reports.

    These students were part of a group of roughly 70 mostly UT Austin students left for Cabo a week and a half ago. So far, nearly half of that group has tested positive, while the rest have been warned to remain in self-isolation. The university confirmed that it was mostly UT students.

    #56394
    neoh
    Participant

    Doc Robinson and Dr D. The article is worrisome to me. Not because of the possibility that flu cases have been grossly inflated but because physicians can’t be trusted either.
    I’m not a medical dr. I get a flu shot because my physician recommends it. Most do. I guess the medical community should be added to the do not trust list. I knew big pharma and insurance were there but I didn’t suspect the doctors.
    I’ve read of many nurses that won’t get the jab and have been punished for it. Maybe they know something the docs aren’t revealing?

    #56395
    riesterm
    Participant

    Noted free-lance investigative reporter, Jon Rappoport, has been on to the flu fleecing for years. Check this post out: https://blog.nomorefakenews.com/2019/11/11/drilling-down-into-flu-deceptions-and-mind-boggling-lies/

    #56396
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Yesterday, Dr D commented “I still think the [fatality] numbers are yet far lower, just as the flu is some 0.004% or something – it’s only “0.1%” against people in hospitals who bother to get tested.” and I wanted to address that (above), however obliquely.

    To neoh’s concerns about trusting physicians,
    “Not every mainstream medical professional is trying to lie about the flu. Most of these people, as a result of their indoctrination, simply assume conventional wisdom is true. But as you move toward the top of the ladder—for example, public health agencies like the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC)—there are definitely some first-class liars on board.”
    written by Jon Rappoport, from the linked article provided by riesterm

    #56397
    zerosum
    Participant

    riesterm

    I have no way of being knowledgeable enough to fact check Jon Rappoport.
    Therefore, I am one of those people that simply assume conventional wisdom is true.

    ( Must I leave the comfort of the MATRIX?)

    #56398
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    @neon

    No doubt about your assertion regarding physician trustworthiness, but you’re talking about a 4 to 6% load of venal-as-hell sociopaths. Use Hervey Cleckley’s “The Mask of Sanity” for historical reference.
    Yet, I have not met a lawyer, nurse, MBA, or nonphysician administrator that was an adequate substitute for physician leadership in medicine.
    However, the nonphysician leaders sure as hell know how to absorb credit, deflect/coverup blame and publicly rationalize their enormous compensation.

    #56399
    Dr. D
    Participant

    So many doctors, so little time. Doc is correct: the “Flu” numbers are also completely ginned and suspect. Basically, the hospital, the death certificate problem is: you die of something. But when you’re 83 with Alzheimer’s and an enlarged heart, on ten years of oxygen, where the medication is encouraging renal failure, and he’s on his 12th round of antibiotics for bedsores, what does he “die” of? Ultimately, as his health gets weaker, most of the time the lungs become less able, and when less able expel, an infection settles in the lungs and ultimately cannot be defeated. So that guy dies of “pneumonia”, “influenza”, even though, for us common folks, it would really be old age. Medically “old age” is not a thing. But Alzheimer’s doesn’t have a killing blow, only a sapping one, so the final straw gets the camel credit.

    But does that also mean he DIDN’T die of flu? Not really. For our present purposes, and especially with most (not all) people affected over 50, and similarly having underlying health issues, the “flu” they cite is sort of a “death baseline”, and comparable in many ways. I wouldn’t open this can because the numbers and concepts will go nuts, right out into the woods, but there it is.

    If the other Doctors would like to weigh in and whether this is a plausible, arguable point and position.

    “Not every mainstream medical professional is trying to lie about the flu.”

    They quite definitively are NOT. However, if they weren’t followers they’d have been tossed in the first semester, and later with 40 patients a day, have no time for normal (fake, paid-for) research, much less taking up a sideline in nutrition, TCM, or debunking the NEJM on weekends which I’m sure would make many friends. That’s a problem, since if you capture the nit-witted WHO and the dim-witted CDC (as seen in just four weeks of them speaking in public) the very smart doctors WILL simply follow. They’ll follow or bloody well be fired on the spot like anyone else who questions medicine. So they’re not lying, exactly, anymore than the normal people who watch CNN and PBS are lying. They’re just trusting someone else to do their job, despite probably having realized those people are quite perpetually caught NOT doing their job.

    It’s actually order of magnitude better than jack-booting them. They mean well, and what’s more, because of it, you can’t attack or expel them, You can only coax them in tiny steps which would take more than a lifetime, and the sociopaths who ran the top-capture know it. That’s why they did it. They don’t like hard work and exposure either. But they do like money and dead people, and we’ve got quite a pile of both now, and more on the way.

    The only cure, if this is the cause, is not to add MORE authority, with MORE power, in MORE concentration that can be captured. It’s LESS.

    Less authority, more opinions, less work, more time to examine, less power, more individual local solutions. That means you will have silly ideas in places that harm people, but it’s nothing compared to demanding enormous, obviously wrong ones, by a few self-interested men that everyone enacts and cannot question or repair. It’s the same as systems everywhere: you stamp out forest fires and insure a unstoppable, raging inferno. Were a couple of local disagreements really that bad?

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