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Debt Rattle November 29 2020

Nov 292020
 
 November 29, 2020  Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:25 am Finance Tagged with: Biden, bitcoin, central bank account, Covid19, facemasks, factchecker, Kraken, Pennsylvania, swamp, Vitamin D


Canaletto View of the Churches of the Redentore 1750

 

• The Strangely Unscientific Masking of America (AIER)
• 2.5 Million Vulnerable People To Get Free Supply Of Vitamin D In England (RT)
• UK’s High Covid Spending Delivered Worse Outcomes Than Peers (FT)
• NYC Bar In COVID-19 Hotspot Refuses To Shut Down (NYP)
• Pennsylvania Republicans To Introduce Resolution Disputing Election Results (ZH)
• Case Dismissed? Analysis of Decision in Pennsylvania’s Parnell Case (Reeves)
• Potential Biden Officials’ Firm Is Promising Big Profits (Sirota)
• “Washington Is Exhausted”: Swamp Gears Up For Post-Trump Power Orgy (ZH)
• Ilhan Omar’s Misguided Defense Of John Brennan (Greenwald)
• Candace Owens Challenges Fact-Checker, And Wins (DW)
• A Free Central Bank Account For All To Revamp Monetary System (Varoufakis)
• China Seizes $3.3 Billion Of Bitcoin (Exp.)




 

 

France is doing something right. Or you could say they were doing something very wrong before.

 

 

 

 

I remains a weird sight to see all those masks on people walking outside in fresh air. Are they all “listening to the science”? How is that even possible if the science changes so much and so often?

• The Strangely Unscientific Masking of America (AIER)

On February 29, the U.S. surgeon general infamously tweeted: “Seriously people – STOP BUYING MASKS. . . They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus.” Anthony Fauci, the best-known member of the coronavirus task force, advised Americans not to wear masks around this time. Similarly, in the earliest weeks of the pandemic, the CDC maintained that masks should be worn only by individuals who were symptomatic or caring for a sick person, a position that the WHO stood by even longer. As rapidly as mask use became a matter of ethics, the issue transformed into a political one, exemplified by an article printed on March 27 in the New York Times, entitled “More Americans Should Probably Wear Masks for Protection.”

The piece was heavy on fear-mongering and light on evidence. While acknowledging that “[t]here is very little data showing that flat surgical masks, in particular, have a protective effect for the general public,” the author went on to argue that they “may be better than nothing,” and cited a couple of studies in which surgical masks ostensibly reduced influenza transmission rates. One report reached its conclusion based on observations of a “dummy head attached to a breathing simulator.” Another analyzed use of surgical masks on people experiencing at least two symptoms of acute respiratory illness. Incidentally, not one of these studies involved cloth masks or accounted for real-world mask usage (or misusage) among lay people, and none established efficacy of widespread mask-wearing by people not exhibiting symptoms.

There was simply no evidence whatsoever that healthy people ought to wear masks when going about their lives, especially outdoors. Yet by April, to walk the streets of Brooklyn with one’s nose and mouth exposed evoked the sort of reaction that in February would have been reserved for the appearance of a machine gun. In short order, the politicization intensified. President Trump refused to wear a mask relatively early on, so resistance to them was equated with support for him. By the same token, Democratic politicians across the board eagerly adopted the garb; accordingly, all good liberals were wearing masks religiously by the beginning of April.

The speed with which mask-wearing among the general public transitioned from unheard of to a moral necessity struck me as suspicious. After all, if the science was as airtight as those around me claimed, surely masks would have been recommended by January or February, not to mention during prior infectious disease outbreaks such as the 2009 swine flu. It seemed unlikely that the scientific proof became incontrovertible sometime between late February and late March, particularly in the absence of any new evidence surfacing during that time period.

Read more …

Apparently the doses supplied are 10 Mg, or some 400 IU, which is less than 10% of what the average person should take. In other words, useless. Is this set up to make it fail?

• 2.5 Million Vulnerable People To Get Free Supply Of Vitamin D In England (RT)

Vulnerable people in England will get a free supply of Vitamin D delivered to their doorstep to help them get through winter and to take some pressure off the NHS, the government has said. The free Vitamin D supplement will be offered to more than 2.5 million people across England, the government announced. Care homes will receive supplies automatically. In the meantime, individuals who are on the “extremely vulnerable” list will get a letter inviting them to apply for four months’ worth of supplements to be delivered directly to their homes. The deliveries will be free of charge and begin in January. Vitamin D helps the body to absorb and use calcium which is vital for bone and muscle health.


While the UK government noted that research on the possible link of Vitamin D and Covid-19 is still ongoing, many now need extra supplements more than ever due to the lockdowns. “Because of the incredible sacrifices made by the British people to control the virus, many of us have spent more time indoors this year and could be deficient in Vitamin D,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said. He added that staying healthy would “crucially reduce” the pressure on the NHS amid the rise of Covid-19 infections. Last month, Hancock said the government would increase the public messaging that Vitamin D is good for improving general health and that there is “no downside to taking it.”

Read more …

A bunch of assumptions is all it is.

• UK’s High Covid Spending Delivered Worse Outcomes Than Peers (FT)

The UK has spent more money fighting coronavirus than almost all comparable countries but still languishes towards the bottom of league tables of economic performance in 2020 and deaths caused by the virus, according to Financial Times research. On Wednesday, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility said the UK’s economy was set to shrink by 11.3 per cent in 2020, while the government would need to borrow £394bn to fund a shortfall in taxes and £280bn in public spending to fight Covid-19. Compared with the average of other G7 leading economies, the cost to the UK government is set to be over 80 per cent more, while the UK is also on course to suffer a 90 per cent deeper decline in economic output in 2020 and almost 60 per cent more deaths.

Economists said the UK’s poor performance had stemmed from allowing the virus to become too prevalent both in the spring and autumn before enforcing social distancing, with the result that the government was ultimately forced to impose more draconian restrictions undermining the economy. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been the voice in cabinet arguing repeatedly for looser restrictions. And in his spending review, Mr Sunak said that the unprecedented peacetime public spending had been well targeted on ensuring lower unemployment rates than in other countries. “The latest data shows the UK’s unemployment rate is lower than Italy, France, Spain, Canada and the United States,” the chancellor said.

Britain’s unusual position in the international data starts with the amount the government has intervened to support jobs, households and companies during the pandemic. Best measured on an international basis by the change in the core budget deficit, the latest data shows that only Canada in the G7 spent more this year on Covid-19. Canada also had an unusually generous response, with Ottawa spending 14 per cent of national income on support measures, notably wage subsidies and generous increases in social security.

Read more …

Look for much more of this.

• NYC Bar In COVID-19 Hotspot Refuses To Shut Down (NYP)

It’s an “open” rebellion. A Staten Island pub located in a coronavirus hot spot is stealing a page from Seattle’s anarchist cookbook, declaring itself an “autonomous zone,” free from the public-safety restrictions its owners say they will refuse to abide by. “!ATTENTION! We hereby declare this establishment an !!!AUTONOMOUS ZONE!!!” read signs outside and around Mac’s Public House in Grant City, invoking a phrase more commonly associated with the monthlong occupation of Capitol Hill in the Emerald City by anti-cop radicals. “We refuse to abide by any rules and regulations put forth by the Mayor of NYC and Governor of NY State.” The state had been warning for weeks that the South Shore was on the path to orange-zone status, based on the area’s consistent and surging coronavirus positivity rate, and on Monday, Gov. Cuomo made the call.

Restrictions, including the prohibition of indoor dining in bars and restaurants, took effect Wednesday. But Mac’s balked, and defiantly kept its doors open — despite being slapped with thousands of dollars in fines, a shut-down order from the state Health Department and the Friday revocation of its liquor license by the State Liquor Authority, the owners said. “At this point, we’re OK with it, because we’re not paying it,” co-owner Danny Presti said. “[The Sheriff’s Department] is issuing us $1,000 fines, so they keep coming back. We’re still here. We’re not letting them in.” Co-owner Keith McAlarney backed up his partner’s declaration of COVID independence.

“We’re not backing down. You think you scared me by . . . saying I don’t have a license now to serve liquor now? Well guess what? That liquor license is on the wall. If that liquor license is gonna come off the wall, it’s gonna be done by Cuomo. You wanna come down here and pull that license off the wall?” McAlarney says in a YouTube video posted Friday, the same day the bar’s liquor license was yanked. “De Bozo,” he continued, presumably referring to Mayor de Blasio, “you want to come down here and pull the license off the wall?” “Feel free to end up comin’ down, and we’ll end up having a conversation before you even think about stepping foot on my property. I will not back down.”

On Saturday, the joint was operating like it was 2019, as a small group of patrons enjoyed cocktails inside the bar —on the house. “Sure, you can have a drink, we’re not charging,” co-owner McAlarney said. About five customers — most wearing face masks — showed up in about a two-hour span to support the bar, which appeared to be exploiting a loophole for “businesses” in Cuomo’s executive order by not actually charging customers.

Read more …

26 Senators?!

• Pennsylvania Republicans To Introduce Resolution Disputing Election Results (ZH)

Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania released a memo on Nov. 27, advising that they will soon introduce a resolution to dispute the results of the 2020 election. The resolution states that the executive and judicial branches of the Keystone State’s government usurped the legislature’s constitutional power to set the rules of the election. The resolution “declares that the selection of presidential electors and other statewide electoral contest results in this commonwealth is in dispute” and “urges the secretary of the commonwealth and the governor to withdraw or vacate the certification of presidential electors and to delay certification of results in other statewide electoral contests voted on at the 2020 general election.” It also “urges the United States Congress to declare the selection of presidential electors in this Commonwealth to be in dispute.”

The proposed text lists three steps taken by the judicial and executive branches to change the rule of the election. First, on Sept. 17, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court “unlawfully and unilaterally” extended the deadline by which mail ballots could be received, mandated that ballots without a postmark would be treated as timely, and allowed for ballots without a verified voted signature to be accepted, the resolution says. Second, on Oct. 23, upon a petition from the secretary of the commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that signatures on mail-in ballots need not be authenticated. And third, on Nov. 2, the secretary of the commonwealth “encouraged certain counties to notify party and candidate representatives of mail-in voters whose ballots contained defects,” the resolution says.

All of the changes are contrary to the Pennsylvania Election Code, which requires mail-in ballots to be received at 8 p.m. on Election Day, mandates that signatures on the mail-in ballots be authenticated, and forbids the counting of defective mail-in ballots. The resolution also lists a variety of election irregularities and potential fraud, including the issues brought up by witnesses during the hearing before the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee on Nov. 25. “On November 24, 2020, the Secretary of the Commonwealth unilaterally and prematurely certified results of the November 3, 2020 election regarding presidential electors despite ongoing litigation,” the resolution states. “The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has the duty to ensure that no citizen of this Commonwealth is disenfranchised, to insist that all elections are conducted according to the law, and to satisfy the general public that every legal vote is counted accurately.”

Read more …

Headed straight to SCOTUS?!

• Case Dismissed? Analysis of Decision in Pennsylvania’s Parnell Case (Reeves)

Earlier this evening, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a brief, three-page order dismissing an election lawsuit brought by Sean Parnell and several other qualified Pennsylvania voters challenging the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s recently-enacted state law governing mail-in voting. In doing so, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court also vacated a lower court judge’s preliminary injunction preventing the Pennsylvania Secretary of State from certifying the results of the 2020 General Election pending resolution of the lawsuit. In dismissing the lawsuit, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did so on the narrowest of grounds: that Parnell and the other voters waited too long to file it. By styling their decision thus, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court avoided having to decide the case on the actual merits: Is the Pennsylvania mail-in voting law unconstitutional under the Pennsylvania state constitution? As we shall see below, the answer is most likely “yes.”

The Pennsylvania constitution allows absentee voting under five situations: (1) work; (2) illness; (3) physical disability; (4) the election occurring on a religious holiday; or (5) a person’s election-day duties themselves preventing the person from voting in person. No other justifications are allowed for absentee voting under the Pennsylvania constitution. Towards the end of 2019, a majority of both houses of the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed the relevant mail-in voting legislation at issue here. As I discussed in my previous two articles, this legislation expanded voting by mail beyond the above-five situations under the Pennsylvania constitution to include any situation. In other words, the law purported to allow voting by mail for any reason whatsoever.

But while the General Assembly passed the legislation, this was not, in and of itself, sufficient to amend the Pennsylvania constitution and expand voting by mail beyond the above-five circumstances. To amount to a constitutional amendment, the Pennsylvania constitution requires that the law be passed a second time by a majority vote of both houses of the General Assembly in the next legislative assembly. Once that is done, a majority of Pennsylvania voters then have to approve the mail-in voting legislation in a statewide election. The above process has not taken place. Indeed, the Pennsylvania General Assembly itself appears to have recognized that such an expansion of mail-in voting would have to come about via a constitutional amendment, as the law itself was originally presented as a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Parnell and the other voters brought suit on November 21, 2020, in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, seeking a declaration that the mail-in voting law is unconstitutional and an injunction barring the Pennsylvania Secretary of State from certifying the results of the General Election until the lawsuit was completed. The Commonwealth Court granted a preliminary injunction, finding that a substantial likelihood existed that the mail-in voting legislation did, in fact, violate the Pennsylvania Constitution. The Pennsylvania Secretary of State immediately appealed the preliminary injunction to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Earlier today, that court entered an order both dissolving the preliminary injunction and dismissing the entire lawsuit. The only reason it gave for doing so was that Parnell and the other voters had waited too long to bring their lawsuit, and could not do so now, with the electoral college deadline being so close.

If other lawsuit litigation is any predictor, Parnell and the other voters will now seek an expedited petition for a writ of certiorari. They will most likely also apply to Justice Alito—as Circuit Justice for the Third Circuit—for an emergency injunction barring the Pennsylvania Secretary of State from certifying the results of the election pending resolution of the cert petition. To obtain the Court’s review, Parnell and the other voters must show that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision somehow violates federal law. While the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision is rooted in state law, a good argument can be made that it involves a federal question.

What is the Kraken

WOW.

Listen to General McInerney describe the Kraken and the raid of the CIA facility in Frankfurt, Germany.

1/2 pic.twitter.com/WzmIuw4Ge3

— TheSharpEdge (@TheSharpEdge1) November 29, 2020

Read more …

Out in the open.

• Potential Biden Officials’ Firm Is Promising Big Profits (Sirota)

Two former government officials who may now run President-elect Joe Biden’s national security team have been partners at a private equity firm now promising investors big profits off government business because of its ties to those officials, according to government documents reviewed by The Daily Poster. Pine Island Capital Partners lists former Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy and retired General Lloyd Austin as a partner in the firm, and lists former Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken as a partner on a leave of absence. Flournoy and Austin are reportedly among the leading candidates being considered for Secretary of Defense, and Blinken is Biden’s designated nominee for Secretary of State. Pine Island’s chairman is John Thain, the former top executive at Merrill Lynch when the company paid out huge executive bonuses as it began to collapse during the financial crisis.

Flournoy and Blinken’s ties to Pine Island were first reported by The American Prospect. In Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Pine Island describes one of its investment vehicles as “a newly organized blank check company incorporated in Delaware” that will use its connections to top officials to take advantage of rising government expenditures on the national security agencies that Flournoy and Blinken could oversee. Pine Island’s first filings about the investment vehicle were made in September — the same month Biden suggested that he will not push for significant reductions in Pentagon expenditures, which have reached record levels.

“The reputations and networks of Pine Island Capital Partners’ team, both individually and collectively, will ensure exposure to a significant number of proprietary opportunities,” the company said in one SEC document. “We believe there will be increased demand in the U.S. defense market for advanced electronics, communications, sensor and detection processing and other technologies that enhance the modernization efforts of the Department of Defense’s military readiness. We believe this demand represents strong growth that our management team is uniquely positioned to capitalize on given our combined investment experience and deeply connected partner group of former U.S. defense and government officials.”

The company says Thain and CEO Philip Cooper founded the firm “on the idea that a talented group of accomplished, highly respected, commercially-savvy and long-tenured former government and military officials, when fully aligned and engaged, could enable a first class investment team with better access, better information, better expertise and better management skills than those typically found in private equity firms.” “This is so explicit that it’s astonishing Pine Island even put it on paper,” said David Segal of Demand Progress, a grassroots group pressing Biden to reject Cabinet appointments tied to corporations. “This is not an example of people who happen to work at a big company — these are partners at a firm whose stated business model is to profit from the revolving door and connections gained from time in government.”

Read more …

It’s almost funny.

• “Washington Is Exhausted”: Swamp Gears Up For Post-Trump Power Orgy (ZH)

Washington elites are breathing a sigh of relief, as power players on both sides of the aisle gear up for ‘business as usual’ following a four-year disruption in swamp-activities – thanks to one Donald J. Trump, whose perhaps prematurely anticipated departure from the Oval Office has the DC establishment licking their chops. “The classic friendly-rivals dinner party will be back, likely bigger than ever, with VIP guests from the Biden administration, a few formers from the Obama crowd, a senator or two seated next to a Supreme Court justice,” according to the Washington Post’s Roxanne Roberts Shoving the Uniparty’s collective excitement in our plebeian faces, Roberts writes in. full. stops. “Washington is exhausted. Washington is optimistic. Washington is desperate for change. The aristocracy of this city is ready to move on, daring to hope that the last four years was a fever that finally broke and life can get back to normal.”

Poor Washington. “Normal, as in a respect for experience and expertise. Normal, as in civility and bipartisan cooperation. Normal, as in not wanting to punch someone in the face,” Roxanne continues. And who’s about to usher in this period of ‘bipartisan cooperation’ and controlling one’s violent delights? Joe Biden, of course! “Biden and wife Jill Biden “know how to get around Washington, how to be a part of the establishment, how to make it work for them in their everyday lives,” says an influential Republican hostess who, like many of the city’s social leaders, spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly without retribution. “People who have always enjoyed the Washington scene are yearning to get back to that, have some semblance of what they enjoyed so much before. There are a lot of Republicans who sat out the Trump years and bit their tongues for four years who are thrilled to have Biden.” At the heart of this optimism is the belief that politicians on both sides of the aisle get more accomplished when they like each other”. -WaPo

And of course, no self-respecting DC power-player can survive without attending establishment soirées, fundraisers, diplomatic corps and ‘historical traditions’ underpinning the ‘business of Washington’ – which Roxanne says needs ‘bipartisanship to really thrive’ after the Trump administration made everything a ‘test of loyalty.’ “Washington’s elite social world can pivot faster than a prima ballerina,” Roxanne continues – noting that a COVID-19 vaccine and a ‘call for comity’ will allow them to ‘press the reset button and start fresh.’

Read more …

Certainly an odd couple.

• Ilhan Omar’s Misguided Defense Of John Brennan (Greenwald)

The right to dissent from, and to work against, the official foreign policy of the U.S. Government is vital: foundational to Constitutional liberties. There is very little such dissent in the U.S. Congress, where many of the core tenets of the Foreign Policy Community (from CIA drone warfare and clandestine coups to steadfast support for Gulf State and Middle East tyrannies as well as Israel) enjoy overwhelming, at times virtually unanimous, bipartisan support. That is one of the reasons that — as I’ve said repeatedly — I am glad that there are now members of Congress such as Congresswomen Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan who so vocally and unflinchingly dissent from this general foreign policy orientation and especially from those policies which most members of Congress either cannot or do not want to denounce.

Whether or not one agrees with these two lawmakers on every issue, having members of Congress questioning and objecting to highly consequential foreign policies is inherently healthier than full-scale agreement or fear-driven acquiescence. Dissent strengthens all democracies. That is why I have relentlessly defended Congresswoman Omar, even in the face of less-than-ideally-phrased proclamations, from what I regard as bad faith accusations of bigotry and a lack of patriotism (just as I denounced moronic claims that Trump was a “traitor”): bad faith accusations of bigotry or treason are often designed to demonize attempts to question pieties and ostracize those who do it.

For that very reason, I was quite surprised to see that late Friday night, Congresswoman Omar, in response to something I wrote, defended not only former CIA Director John Brennan — who as Obama’s CIA Director presided over the bombing of numerous countries including Somalia — but also The Logan Act. The Logan Act is nothing more than an unconstitutional attempt to criminalize foreign policy dissidents, like her, and is so dangerous in the hands of the CIA, FBI and federal prosecutors precisely because it lacks any clear definition or meaning. Despite this, Congresswoman Omar depicted that ancient statute not as what it is — an impossibly vague and overly broad attempt to criminalize the core Constitutional right to dissent — but instead as some kind of specific, precisely defined, and well-established precedent, the contours of which are clearly established and easily applied. None of that is true.

Read more …

“..most people don’t have the money, don’t have the time, and don’t have the platform to go after them — and I have all three..”

• Candace Owens Challenges Fact-Checker, And Wins (DW)

Conservative author and commentator Candace Owens challenged left-leaning fact-checking site PolitiFact, a partner with Facebook, over a “false” rating — and won. Not only did PolitiFact remove their “false” rating and retract an article on why Owens’ video was allegedly false, but the site offered an added “correction” admitting their fault. Owens’ video, which was posted on Nov. 12, offered commentary on the 2020 presidential election, and was captioned, “Joe Biden is literally and legally not the President-elect. So why is the media pretending he is?” The video was hit with a “false” rating, and, as noted by Owens, theoretically, every single person who shared the post was alerted by Facebook that they had shared “false” content.

“Weeks ago, [Facebook] censored a post of mine which truthfully stated that [Joe Biden] is NOT the President-elect. So I got lawyers involved,” she said Saturday via Twitter. “Conclusion? [PolitiFact] uncensored the post & admitted that they LIED by rating my post false. The fact-checkers are lying for Democrats.” The note from PolitiFact reads as follows:”Correction: PolitiFact originally labeled this video false in our capacity as a third-party fact-checker for Facebook. On Nov. 20, an appeal to that decision was made on behalf of Ms. Owens. PolitiFact approved the appeal on Nov. 20, determined that a correction was appropriate, and removed the false rating.”

“At 8 Months pregnant, I unfortunately cannot fight on the ground alongside patriots like I am used to, but I am taking every measure to fight these communists in the court room,” Owens said in a follow-up post. “It is my goal to expose these lying ‘fact-checkers’ one by one. [Joe Biden] is NOT the President-elect.” But the language from PolitiFact’s note perhaps downplays what really happened. The BLEXIT founder told The Daily Wire on Saturday that she reached out to PolitiFact on Nov. 20 with legal representation and immediately heard back, with PolitiFact admitting their error. Language from a lawyer at PolitiFact, according to Owens, read as follows: “Upon first glance, this video from Ms. Owens was labeled false from PolitiFact in error. We already have removed the label from the video and you should now be able to see it unobstructed. As we’re about 25 minutes into this, we still don’t know how or why the post was labeled ‘false.’ We are investigating and hope to share more information with you formally on Monday.”

Owens said she was not further briefed on the supposed “error” and that she felt the retraction wasn’t enough; she wanted PolitiFact to admit publicly that they falsely fact-checked her. “I wanted to show that these fact-checkers just lie, and they usually go unchecked because most people don’t have the money, don’t have the time, and don’t have the platform to go after them — and I have all three,” she said. With pressure from Owens’ legal representation, PolitiFact issued the correction, which she shared with the public on Saturday. That was a win. And another “major win,” she said, was PolitiFact essentially admitting “that Joe Biden is not the President-elect.”

Read more …

Richard Werner’s comment to Varoufakis: “You want to kill banks everywhere, like the ECB did in Greece. This is treason. Don’t betray your people.”

• A Free Central Bank Account For All To Revamp Monetary System (Varoufakis)

Imagine that the Bank of England were to create a free bank account for everyone. Overnight, it would be far better placed to regulate the money supply in the public interest. Moreover, to stay in business, commercial banks would have to seriously raise their game. In times of trouble, such as the current pandemic, the Bank of England could lift all boats at once by crediting your account directly – instead of printing sterling to lend to commercial banks, as it does now, in the hope that they would then lend to your employer, in the hope that your employer would then invest the money, rather than buy back more of their own shares. And, if the Bank of England felt that it had to rein in the total supply of money, to avert inflation, it would be able to do so easily: just offer to pay you, say, £5 for every £100 in your account that you do not spend within the next 12 months.

Imagine further that the Bank of England, in a bid to promote trust via transparency, were to base its digital sterling ledger on a distributed ledger digital architecture that allowed everyone, in real time, a glimpse at how much money was sloshing around in its system. Now imagine that the Bank of England were to lend its expertise to local authorities around the country to revive their regional economies by creating local digital currencies for the purpose of keeping within their communities as much of the surpluses produced locally as possible. These currencies would be backed by their capacity to pay local taxes and their free-floating exchange rate with sterling would be determined automatically by a transparent formula taking into account the balance of payments between the regions.

Imagine, also, that the Bank of England were to come to an agreement with the central banks of other major economies, reflecting a New Bretton Woods-type of international agreement that allows for global trade imbalances and climate change to cancel each other out. This unlikely feat could be accomplished in three steps: First, central banks agree to create a digital accounting unit, let’s call it the Kosmos or Ks, in which all international trade and cross-border money transfers are denominated (with a free-floating exchange rate between national currencies and Ks). Secondly, they also agree to charge symmetric levies upon net exporters of goods and money (a trade-imbalance levy and a surge levy – see below) that help stabilise world trade and global money flows. Thirdly, the proceeds from these levies fund climate change mitigation projects, especially in the global South.

Read more …

FInders keepers?

• China Seizes $3.3 Billion Of Bitcoin (Exp.)

Beijing swooped on the South Korean based cryptocurrency exchange called PlusToken and has seized a huge volume of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The seizure by the Yancheng Intermediate People’s Court has moved the vast amount of digital currency to the control of the nation’s treasury. Bitcoin pioneer Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) has claimed this decision allows China to “own one percent of all bitcoin”. However, the exact details of how Beijing will use the assets in accordance with the nation’s laws has yet to be announced. China has not made public the exact figures on how many of the seized coins are still held by the state. But, if they hold onto the recent haul, it would point to a longer term strategy by the politburo to acquire bitcoin.

Mr Keiser discussed how the US dealt with the bitcoin they seized from the Silk Road website, and although it is not known what China plans to do with its huge haul of cryptocurrency, some analysts claim the communist politburo may hold on to their new asset as they see a potential for future gains. Mr Keiser said: “The United States seized bitcoin when they nabbed the leaders of the Silk Road black market, but the US auctioned off their bitcoin. “A move that history will see as foolish as Gordon Brown selling half of Britain’s gold.” There has been a huge increase in bitcoin mining in China and a general interest from the leadership in digital currencies. Speaking to Express.co.uk Mr Keiser added: “This could be the year China starts to dominate the global economy thanks to bitcoin.”

China could use its bitcoin assets and mining capacity to break the hegemony of the US dollar, Mr Keiser also claimed. He said: “If China holds onto their bitcoin and they continue building their mining capacity, it may be game over for the US dollar as the world reserve currency. “The window of opportunity for the US to avoid bitcoin-irrelevancy is closing fast.”

Read more …

 

 

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Home › Forums › Debt Rattle November 29 2020

  • This topic has 23 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 3 months ago by John Day.
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  • November 29, 2020 at 10:25 am #66151
    Raúl Ilargi Meijer
    Keymaster

    Canaletto View of the Churches of the Redentore 1750   • The Strangely Unscientific Masking of America (AIER) • 2.5 Million Vulnerable People To
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle November 29 2020]

    November 29, 2020 at 11:57 am #66152
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Is there a pattern emerging of collectivism and individualism both coming up with their own organic or intrinsic response (mode) toward this virus and the slant toward collectivism being more effective as a response? The situation in Victoria Australia where I live is that with some very heavy handed and authoritarian mandates regarding the health requirements – eg lockdowns and masks, backed up by wide compliance has delivered incredible returns (for now). We are, for all intensive purposes at a place in time now where we have had 29 days consecutively of zero cases and deaths. This is after over 700 cases per day a few months ago and things really spiralling out of control.
    We are now back in a rebuilding phase – with the crushing economic cost to small business that Dr. D and others have so eloquently discussed, being more or less helped along via this UBI or semi-socialist or state-backed system.
    It is a very confusing time and no doubt the corporatocracy/plutocrtacy are #winning but I feel geo-political trend-lines emerging with the Individualistic or more liberal democracies facing more difficult times.

    November 29, 2020 at 12:08 pm #66154
    oxymoron
    Participant

    On another note – this has probably been discussed here before (I sometimes miss TAE reading for various reasons) but I wonder when it comes to the extreme reactions that groups and individuals have to the curbing of their freedoms and their proclamations regarding the charter of human rights etc. I wonder why they never break the speed limit or change from one side of the white line while driving at high speed or simply refrain from crossing fence lines or any of the innumerable activities that impose limits on what society and government allow us to do. Everybody has been so compliant with all this shit for so long that a few new rules come in and they scream their freedoms are being taken away! This earth was a garden once. Look at it now. No one is jumping up and down about the proliferation of weapons or the enclosures act! I just think the priorities get skewed at times but I aint taking a hard line any more. There is just so much I don’t know now my brain hurts.

    November 29, 2020 at 1:15 pm #66155
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Rules: well I do, but when I can’t even get people to question not wearing a mask that every study on earth says doesn’t work, it’s a waste of breath to speak of deep land taxes or freedom of the commons. And this is where people DO speed 90% of the time and ignore half the other laws as a matter of habit. But you flash a NEW law and Lo! Suddenly this law is big and shiny! While we ignore adultery, sodomy, open container, and must-flag-each-car-not-to-scare-the-horses laws still on the books.

    “ Pennsylvania Republicans To Introduce Resolution Disputing Election Results (ZH)”

    Ding! There you have it. They’re finally catching on. I doubt they have read the 4 pages of the Pocket Constitution and still don’t know what “IT” is, but John Podesta does. Back in July. Reported now: Legislatures can simply say, “We protest.” That’s it. That’s the total legal hurdle. Either they send any electors they feel like, or withhold 270 votes and let Congress decide, but it’s easy as falling off a log. But now I understand how Podesta said they’d have “competing” electors, as in PA, congress ceded their authority to the AG decades ago, and is therefore run by the governor. Because legally the Legislature is the SOLE power. But like my lawyer, or like the Fed, that holds no water: Since the power exists only in the Legislature it only takes them to fire the AG, simply SAY the power is returned. There isn’t even a process. But the DNC war gamers just make it up and say it’s real, and CNN will report it.

    So what SCOTUS was needed for was different than the shoddy cases Cheeto is bringing, although we’ll see more of those later. SCOTUS is just going to rule on whether: IF the State Legislatures say the election was rigged, THEN can they choose electors themselves or have it to Congress? A: Yes, legally and definitively they can. It is specifically written so, and specifically for this exact legal reason. John Podesta said when this happens, the only remaining recourse will be open rebellion and secession of CA, OR, and WA. Good luck. Eastern Oregon is not going to follow, which leaves 1/3 of 6% of all states.

    My God, how can you not see this coming? And we’ll find out something else too: if PA is overriding the will of the people, they will be dragged out into the streets, and all lose their seats at minimum. However, if it’s a state where 57,000 PA conservatives rally in any podunk town on every given Thursday, the will be dragged out and hung if they DON’T do it. Because then it was in fact rigged and illegal. But that’s politics.

    Supporting argument: Judge tosses Trump’s case, because, Orange Man Bad. However, the STATE’S case says that they just changed PA election law, on a dare, with no due process whatsoever, then just pretended their made-up edict was a law. You know, like the lockdowns: both not passed AND unconstitutional/illegal. The Judge read it and said ALL mail-in votes are now invalid because YOU DIDN’T FOLLOW THE LAW. It’s not a law. IN fact, they need to effectively amend the PA constitution to MAKE it legal, AND it would only take effect next election. You know: because we don’t change the rules of the game mid-stream? Even in this ridiculous, felonious, clown-show of a country, that’s astonishingly illegal. It’s almost as illegal as gun laws or extraordinary rendition (2A and 4A). But the PA judge halted it from the PA Legislature’s case. Who cares about Trump? No wonder he’s been confident and golfing since the PA DNC passed it, or more accurately, “made some s—t up.”

    And there’s no possible remedy, which the PA Legislature pointed out. THEY can run new elections as they have time and law, but the President cannot. So not only CAN they halt the electors, they HAVE to halt the PA presidential electors.

    Okay, now does anyone know enough history to know why they wanted to meet in the Motel 6 in Gettysburg? For one, since narcissistic sociopaths only understand status, it’s fabulous to keep them unarmed and wasting time for the low price of laughing at you. Mene, mene… But Gettysburg was the START of the U.S. Civil War. That is, the North finally stopped toying, threw the required men at it, and counterattacked the rebellion. From that day, all battles were fought on Confederate land, in Confederate territory, destroying Confederate things. And Sherman’s March to the Sea is “Scattered them to the winds” in the same way when Americans get rolling they nuked a couple cities just to see if the other side’s listening.

    What is the other side? It’s now astonishingly clear the DoJ, the FBI, even the CIA if accusations are true, are going to do nothing. But we knew that years ago. So what is the Kraken? The point of the accusations of “foreign interference”? Who is supporting Trump and put him into power? Military Intel. So military intel has been doing special ops overseas, catching, wiretapping, confiscating servers and possibly even people. As Dominion’s VP vanishes on the lam. And for why? Because you’re not going to want or have the trials in downtown Philly with the local judge. It’s going to be run by milintel, and prosecuted under court martial. And as legally it should be, it is precisely accurate. Do you not hear the flavor of words coming out telegraphing this? How about taking out Brennan’s mole Esper and instantly re-org both Special Ops AND the civilian wing out from the existing Pentagon system and putting them in direct command or else?

    Oh well, suit yourself.

    “Aaaaaand in the other corner, of the fight of the century! Politifact! Who backs down at the smell of a greased lawyer! And Jack Dorsey, pasty and disheveled, recently crawled out from under a rock!” I’m sure they’re shaking in their boots. Oh noes: a fistfight with Android Zuck? Any Honey Boo-Boo from Kentucky could stuff him in a high-school locker upside-down. They only exist because the other side is still following rules, order, and courtesy right now. As narcissistic sociopaths they believe they are therefore suckers, idiots, and chumps.

    “A Free Central Bank Account For All To Revamp Monetary System (Varoufakis)”

    Yes, but that would reveal the scam that it’s ALREADY that way, but the central bank already has all consolidation and power and is AGAINST the people. But practically, this could be the “successful” Swedish model of nationalizing the banks, knocking heads, then re-privatizing them. Because Sweden is the size of Long Island, and you can do certain things when you have small scales. (like healthcare)

    “Beijing swooped on the South Korean based cryptocurrency exchange”

    I’m sorry, what? I think you just said China invaded South Korea? …Or was this more like an exchange that was South Korean in name and law only, having all assets, servers, and structure inside China. IN which case, what part of “Communist country with-dictator-for-life not recognizing any laws or norms” did you not understand here?

    YEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS they are going to steal everything, you idiots. What does it take to get through to you? And beyond China, which is so obvious, I’m actually GLAD they stole it as a warning to others, what about the exchanges? Newsflash: they don’t own cryptos either. They are leveraged 300:1 just like gold and stock markets. AND like Coinbase, have “server problems” whenever you want to get in or out. If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it. Bitcoin weighs nothing: it takes up no space. Why would you not hold it and own it? Crikey people love to be robbed. Here, let me leave a trail of $100 bills from Skid Row to the door of my house. I’m sure like China and Korean exchanges it will all work out fine.

    November 29, 2020 at 3:05 pm #66156
    zerosum
    Participant

    Is this set up to make it fail? OR FOR SOMEONE TO MAKE MONEY

    • 2.5 Million Vulnerable People To Get Free Supply Of Vitamin D In England (RT)
    ————
    • UK’s High Covid Spending Delivered Worse Outcomes Than Peers (FT)
    THIS IS THE FIRST PANDEMIC THAT CANNOT BE BEATEN BY THE DOLLAR
    ———–
    “….. these are partners at a firm whose stated business model is to profit from the revolving door and connections gained from time in government.”
    Did you save the link of the enablers, (swamp creatures), that I gave you?

    November 29, 2020 at 3:46 pm #66157
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “”Trust Me I’m A Doctor” – Britain’s Most (& Least) Respected Professions”

    Thus you see why they took this approach. Since a Con depends on creating CONfidence then betraying it, no one will listen to a word these monsters say. So they need to find someone the people still DO trust, and hide behind THEM while they murder, betray, and ruin. Well, W. already used the Army for that, they’re gone. The Media confidence was mined down to the shaft, who does that leave? Congratulations, Science, you’re half gone, so we now are arranging Doctors and medicine to be completely ruined, discredited, and despised by the general population.

    I’d say Mission Accomplished, although it needs to play out now.

    That’s what happens when you don’t stand up. That’s what happens when you don’t defend science, either in specific or in principle, with free information, open discussion, and the radical discrediting of people like The Lancet when they print made-up metadata generated by adult actors — not scientists. They retracted the study but not the public policy, and people still read them without crippling shame and embarrassment, believing the next study, Gell-Mann amnesia on display.

    Millions will die over the years as people begin to disbelieve their doctors and Science. You doctors did this.

    This is why there are consequences. This is why we punish liars instead of handing them the keys to the country. The definition of a Con. Can we get Science back please? Can we have open discussions now?

    November 29, 2020 at 4:03 pm #66158
    zerosum
    Participant

    Avoid Nursing Home
    Avoid Hospitals

    https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/1-13-all-us-nursing-home-residents-have-died-covid-19
    1 In 13 Of All US Nursing Home Residents Have Died Of COVID-19
    Published on
    Friday, November 27, 2020
    by Common Dreams
    ‘Bleak Milestone’: More Than 100,000 Nursing Home Residents and Staff Killed by Pandemic
    Forty percent of all Covid-19 deaths in the United States have occurred in long-term care facilities.
    by Kenny Stancil, staff writer

    “While early action to prevent the spread of coronavirus in long-term care facilities led to strict protocols related to testing, personal protective equipment, and visitor restrictions,” KFF pointed out that “several of these measures have been reversed in recent months, and some long-term care facilities continue to report shortages of PPE and staff.”
    According to physician and public health expert Michael Barnett, 7.7% of the nation’s nursing home residents, or one in 13, have now died as a result of Covid-19. “Things have never really gotten better,” he tweeted. “Testing is a struggle, PPE and staff are daily challenges.”

    ====
    Quick, tell me, …. does that mean that the remainder, 60%, of covid deaths have occurred in the hospitals

    November 29, 2020 at 4:40 pm #66159
    Noirette
    Participant

    Subsequent to some of Dr. Day’s posts I looked at over-the-counter vit. D supplements in Switzerland.

    The cheapest vs. the most expensive, after a cursory whip-round, a *solid* inquiry 🙂 Both sold in a supermarket.

    Multinorm. 5 mcg (micrograms = 200 UI) vit D per tablet. Cost about 3 swiss/US cents per tablet. Recommended daily dose, it says.

    Santogen. (= dosage, = reco.) 50 cents per gummy treat.

    The recommended doses in some countries appear to be super low. (Switz. doesn’t have a number, but long discussions..GB very low..) Ex. Canada, a very Northern Country, per day:

    200 UI (…) to 400 UI (adults) -> to 1000 UI for older adults in winter.

    The orders of magnitude mismatch between the public recommendations and others is startling.

    November 29, 2020 at 5:40 pm #66160
    Raúl Ilargi Meijer
    Keymaster

    Noirette,

    The highest dose I’ve found in Greece is 2,200 IU. And they’re much more expensive than in Holland. No supplements culture (yet) I guess. I would really go for Dr. John Day’s recommended 5000 IU daily. He says he can get pills at 5,000 IU at the store. Thinking about the 2-week 60,000 IU ‘trial’ he and I talked about privately yesterday, but that could get costly.

    November 29, 2020 at 8:14 pm #66161
    dermotmoconnor
    Participant

    Just came to add 2c on VitD dosages.

    I’m taking 2000 a day (1000 in morning, and 1000 at night).

    Any consensus if this is too little?

    November 29, 2020 at 8:39 pm #66162
    zerosum
    Participant

    I’m missing the wisdom and inputs from V. Arnold.

    November 29, 2020 at 8:45 pm #66163
    chettt
    Participant

    Here in my part of the US the most popular dose of Vitamin D3 is 5000IU and the cost is around $.03/dose. I’ve taken a daily dose for years and my lab tests show me at a consistent 50-60ng/ml. My reading tell me that I’m in the sweet spot (>50, <100). With more and more data touting the benefits of D supplements I’ve been appalled at the lack of attention this subject has garnered.

    I assumed that the price in other countries was comparable and I’m surprised to hear such large discrepancies. Is mail order an option for you in Greece?

    November 29, 2020 at 8:58 pm #66164
    chettt
    Participant

    @dermotmoconnor
    You should get your D level checked and adjust accordingly. People absorb and retain at different levels. Vitamin D is fat soluble and your body will store any excess you consume. The 60,000IU dose for 2 weeks in the referenced study is intended to bring your stored level up quickly. After that a daily dose of 5000IU is intended to maintain those healthy levels.

    November 29, 2020 at 9:32 pm #66165
    zerosum
    Participant

    Walmart
    Jamieson Calcium Vitamin D3 1,000 IU Caplets, 500 mg
    Jamieson Laboratories
    90 caplets
    $10.97
    Price is measured as
    12¢/each

    November 29, 2020 at 9:41 pm #66166
    dermotmoconnor
    Participant

    Thanks Chett. No desire to get checked for now (as that involves risk), but I think I’ll up from 2000 IU, I’m in pretty good health overall anyway. Doesn’t sound like 3 or 4K is too big a deal.

    November 29, 2020 at 11:30 pm #66167
    zerosum
    Participant

    Are you still interested
    Go read he links

    https://prospect.org/day-one-agenda/277-policies-biden-need-not-ask-permission/
    The 277 Policies for Which Biden Need Not Ask Permission
    As president, Joe Biden could take action on hundreds of policies without having to go through Congress. The Biden-Sanders unity task force provides a road map.

    BY MAX MORAN JULY 28, 2020
    FAST FACTS:
    We found 277 policies that can be enacted through executive branch powers in the Biden-Sanders unity task force document.
    48 of the policies, or 17 percent, are rollbacks of Trump-era policy changes.
    Immigration (78 policies), Climate Change (54 policies), and the Economy (54 policies) have the most potential executive actions.
    This story is part of the Prospect’s series on how the next president can make progress without new legislation. Read all of our Day One Agenda articles here.
    If Biden is inaugurated, then by his first hundred days, we should expect him to have made significant progress on many, if not all, of these proposals. Those which he does not adopt and pursue vigorously will speak to his nature as a president.
    In fact, 48 are simply calls to roll back Trump-era policies, or to reinstate Obama-era rules and committees that Trump ended or disbanded. Any remotely competent Democrat ought to be able to implement these immediately, no matter what their particular policy vision.

    ——–
    How about dreaming of lalaland ( its only 110 pages)
    https://joebiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf
    BIDEN-SANDERS UNITY TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS
    (Here is one headline)
    Bringing Down Drug Prices and Taking on the Pharmaceutical Industry
    (brought to you by ….)
    Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Co-chair
    Vivek Murthy, Co-chair
    Donald Berwick
    Abdul El-Sayed
    Sherry Glied
    Mary Kay Henry
    Chris Jennings
    Rep. Robin Kelly

    November 29, 2020 at 11:47 pm #66168
    zerosum
    Participant

    Do you like to watch reruns?
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bidens-economic-communications-team-full-women
    Biden has decided to fill many of the key economic advisory spots with female staffers, all close to either Obama or Hillary Clinton.

    November 30, 2020 at 12:15 am #66169
    teri
    Participant

    I am late writing a comment here – probably no-one will see it. But this is in regard to the French chart at the top of today’s post: “France is doing something right. Or you could say they were doing something very wrong before.”

    I have a son in France (he lives w/his fiancé in the town where the teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded last month.)

    The feeling in France is that they opened too many areas too quickly, although Macron was fairly careful in his lifting restrictions based on case loads and deaths by mapped-out areas. Paris, for instance, opened up later than smaller towns because Paris is so heavily populated and so had a very high number of cases and deaths.

    The chart shown in today’s post reads in English,”daily cases on average, 19th to 25th of nov. -47% in 7 days”

    They had begun opening up in October, but when they saw the death rates rising again, they immediately imposed lock-downs again. By the 2nd week of Nov, pretty much the entire country was considered to be in the “red zone”. Per an email from my son, this means:

    “Right now we’re on a complete lock down. No personal visits; only essential shopping and businesses are open (even the non-essential aisles of grocers are currently closed); permitted to leave the house for personal activity and solitary outdoor sports within a 1km radius for up to 1hr.”

    Macron issued a schedule for the gradual easing of restrictions expected to take place between mid-Nov through January. He gave a national speech, followed up with written guidelines that explained what they were trying to achieve and their best-estimate dates for meeting the goals week by week. He anticipates that a vaccine will eventually be available; in the meantime, they are counting on periodic lock-downs with constant testing and tracing.

    The plan seems to be working. The case numbers are going down and the death rate is going down significantly. As you can see on the chart, they have reduced the new case numbers by 47% in one week.

    I know the Yellow Vests are always protesting, but that is not so much about the lock-downs as about other issues. Everyone wears masks, all the time when out and about, and nobody seems to object much, even though France is very protective of individual freedom.

    Here’s the thing: In France, you pay high taxes. The taxes are used for public good. Part of what the Yellow Vests are protesting has to do with Macron increasing the amount spent on the military instead of the commons – and that is not the deal the French have with their government. Your taxes are supposed to go to everyone’s benefit, not to blowing up countries hither and yon.

    Anyway, in France in the time of Covid, you are protected in ways that we in the US are not. You do not pay for testing, medical care, or masks. A box of masks is dropped off at your household weekly. Testing is free and if you get sick, there is no charge for whatever treatment you need and for however long you need it. (They do have socialized medicine – i.e., universal healthcare – in France.) If you lose your job, you are guaranteed to be paid your average salary by the gov’t until you either find another job or until the pandemic is over. (Even in normal times, you are guaranteed something like 70% of your average salary as unemployment income until you find work again. There are some requirements, such as needing to be actively looking for work, but those requirements are nothing like the onerous demands made in the US.) Small businesses that are forced to close because of the lock-down are reimbursed by the gov’t for most of their losses. You cannot ever be evicted or foreclosed on in the winter-time in France anyway, but now that has been extended so that until the end of the pandemic, you cannot be evicted for failure to pay rent or lose your house to foreclosure. Since you are given unemployment if you have lost your job, you are expected to pay your rent as you normally would to your landlord so that he is not suffering a loss of income, too.

    To people in the US, many of whom would sneer at the “sheeplike compliance” of the French, you would hear a rebuttal of how everyone should work together for the common good. The thought there is that herd immunity involves too many deaths to be acceptable. Old people are not considered disposable. So you do what you can to contain the virus so it runs out of hosts. If there is nowhere for the virus to spread to, it dies off. (This is what is working in China and the Asian countries, btw. A new outbreak is quickly contained with tracing and temporary isolation of the affected communities, and the communities on new lock-downs are supported financially by their governments.)
    France had a very high death rate at the beginning of the pandemic and do not want to let it happen all over again.

    The first time my son and his fiancé came for a visit – her first visit to the US – they came home from the grocery store and she plopped down a few items they had bought in front of me. “What is this shit they put in your food here?” she asked. “What is red dye #3 and what are mono and diglycerides? And why is there corn syrup in everything?” In France, there are perhaps 6 ingredients in a loaf of bread, and you know what they all are. She thinks it is weird in the extreme that we never protest the crap in our food and water, or protest our Pentagon budget, but so many people here are vociferously protesting the simple act of wearing masks that can protect themselves and each other from a disease.

    I think we ought to do another lock-down here in the US. A serious one, with tracing and financial support for the people. It would only take about 6 weeks and you could knock the virus pretty much out. Follow up with testing, tracing and free medical care. We are such pussies here, is one problem. God forbid we face some inconvenience for even a few weeks. But the biggest problem is that we have a totally screwed up government that is not willing to spend the taxpayers’ money on its people and would rather leave us all alone to fend for ourselves while they take our taxes and build weapons with the money. They let us lose our jobs, lose businesses all over the country, make us pay private health insurance companies or go without any medical care if you’ve lost your insurance, and let us get tossed out into the streets if we can’t pay for food and rent when we are out of work through no fault of our own. This is not “rugged individualism”; it is cruel and deliberate indifference to the human suffering of your own people, and it doesn’t have to be this way. Richest country on the planet, and we refuse to take care of our own. And our response is now ingrained because this is what the cold money-grubbing shits at the top levels have taught us: we no longer care about each other either, and consider anyone who loses his job or his home due to this emergency as a loser, as though he somehow deserved what is happening to him. We are so indoctrinated with the idea that it’s each man for himself that we don’t protest the government’s lack of concern for us – we protest against the minimal suggestions they do make, such as mask wearing in public stores. I keep wondering where are the angry mobs demanding that we deserve better?

    We could have avoided a lot of death and job losses and pain if the government had handled this differently from the get-go. We could still turn it around even without a vaccine, but now people are pretty sure they “did” the lockdown once and should not be required to “suffer” through another. Why not fucking demand that another lockdown include what we need to have, so we can do it without all the cost being on us individually this time? Why are we letting them tell us it’s got to be herd immunity or a vaccine that is questionable at best, and that there is no other alternative?

    Well, this turned out to be longer than I intended, but I’m going to leave it all in because it’s the end of the day and nobody will see it anyway. 🙂

    November 30, 2020 at 12:47 am #66170
    zerosum
    Participant

    teri
    Its not even 5pm on the west coast
    Thanks

    November 30, 2020 at 1:29 am #66171
    Curlene48
    Participant

    Hi Teri, Not only is it NOT too late for me to read your piece — I read it at 8:20 pm Eastern Standard Time — but I thought it was very well stated and I could not agree with you more. Thanks for putting your thoughts down for us to read and consider.
    If there were some sort of universal basic income and universal health care instead of everyone being on his/her own in this country, a lot of things would be VERY VERY different. There would not have been the protests against shut-downs, we would have licked the illness in the spring, and therefore the mask issue would not even be an issue by now.

    November 30, 2020 at 2:02 am #66172
    straightwalker
    Participant

    @ teri
    Thank you, teri. I saw it. Not too long. The problem here is that the government is controlled by a relatively small group of people who don’t care about the public. The elections which might allow for change are rigged. The public is politically powerless. Progressives are cheated out of primaries and scorned by main stream media owned by those in power. This cannot end well. The only hope for change is some last straw that brings overwhelming rebellion in some (hopefully) non-violent way.
    At the moment, the major concern is about whether Biden or Trump will be president. Meanwhile, an opportunity to expose and possibly reform the electoral system slides by. The democrats may cheer if Biden is sworn in. But if the voting machine manipulation is ignored, the baby is gone with the bath water (as use to be said). Follow Sydney Powell’s suits; she has the evidence. It is my opinion that truth and a society of laws (however imperfect) is at risk. We’ll see.

    November 30, 2020 at 3:43 am #66173
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    You should get your D level checked and adjust accordingly.

    This is the best advice.

    My Vitamin D was tested in December last year and it was below 20. Starting in February I took John Day’s advice of 10,000 IU per day for a month or two, and then 5000 IU per day after that. I had my blood taken again at the end of June, and my Vitamin D was up above 60. I have continued to take 5000 IU per day. I should get tested again to see if it leveled off or kept going up.

    Foods are fortified with Vitamin D in some parts of the world, so daily supplement might be lower. I recall from when I lived in the US that most of the milk was fortified with Vitamin A and D. Breakfast cereals (often 90% sugar) were also fortified. But here in Korea the milk is not fortified and I am taking the 5000 IU softgels (manufactured in Canada).

    Here it is also an option here to go to the doctor and get a shot of Vitamin D to bring your levels up instantly.

    November 30, 2020 at 11:14 am #66186
    teri
    Participant

    Gosh, I am surprised that anyone was still reading the comments. Thank you for responding.

    It’s interesting to me to hear from my son that while most in France do not like Macron, they all appreciate his being clear about the government’s intentions regarding Covid. His speech a couple of weeks ago lasted for some 45 minutes and his written follow-up was very detailed. He has handled the pandemic this way all along. [My son sent me the latest itemized schedule and commented, “Here’s the sort of specific information we get from our government on a regular basis. Are you jealous?”]

    The people want to know what actions are being taken, they want sound reasoning offered to support the proposed actions, they want clear instructions on what part they play and why it is being requested of them. They also want to be supported while they comply. And in France, that means if they aren’t supported (financially and physically), they will not comply.

    @ straightwalker: I don’t know what will end up happening with the election. I am not at all impressed with Trump for a lot of reasons, most having to do with his handling of Covid, his rich-people tax cuts, his decimation of the various agencies, and his environmental policies. Dear God – he has been a one-man wrecking crew on environmental protections. Also, if he wants to continue being president, why isn’t he doing something about the urgent problems that continue unabated at this very moment? On the other hand, Biden is also just an old man who cannot rise to the demands that need to addressed at this time. He thinks in an old-school mumble-mumble-bipartisanship-bullshit way and the country needs new ideas. We are screwed with either one, as near as I can tell.

    Congress knew in 2016 (hell, they’ve known for decades) that there were issues with elections. They all vowed to “do something”. Trump vowed to “do something”. So the House passed some bills regarding election security and McConnell refused to bring any of the bills to the Senate floor. Trump had an Elections Security Commission, or whatever he called it, look into the 2016 results and when they found no proof that he had actually won the popular vote, they simply disbanded without doing anything about security going forward. I can only surmise that everyone in Washington is fairly happy with all this shit being screwed up. They for sure aren’t interested in doing a damn thing about gerrymandering, voter suppression, irregularities during the primaries, or demanding provable paper ballots (i.e., paper trail) country-wide.

    November 30, 2020 at 6:45 pm #66197
    John Day
    Participant

    I spent most of yesterday (this blog) working on the homestead in Yoakum, Texas, then driving back to Austin as night fell.
    The comments are really thoughtful and constructive.
    I’m proud to be part of this group.

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