Mar 302021
 
 March 30, 2021  Posted by at 9:16 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Edouard Manet Jeanne Duval, Baudelaire’s Mistress, Reclining (Lady with a Fan) 1862

 

Ron DeSantis Vows To Ban Vaccine Passports (Fed.)
UK Now Considering Digital Face-Scanning To Enter Pubs (SN)
CDC Director Chokes Back Tears As She Fearmongers “Impending Doom” (ZH)
Texas COVID Cases Drop to Record Low 3 Weeks After Mask Mandate Lifted (NW)
Dr. Fauci Warns Parents About Children Playing Together Without Masks (NYP)
Canada Suspends Use Of AstraZeneca Covid Vaccine For Those Under 55 (AP)
New Covid Vaccines Needed Globally Within A Year, Say Scientists (G.)
Ivermectin Prophylaxis Leads To 73% Reduction In Covid Infection (NIE)
Global Treaty Needed To Protect States From Pandemics, Say World Leaders (G.)
Dear Joe Scarborough, Let’s Debate Your Network’s Russiagate Coverage (Taibbi)
Journalists Attack the Powerless, Then Play Victim When Called Out (Greenwald)
Do You Believe in Magic? (Kunstler)
The Eurozone Weakness: Much More Than Covid (Lacalle)
Financial Capitalism: The Endgame (Ren.)

 

 

 

 

There is a move in Washington towards saying it’s the private sector that wants vaccine passports. “It’s just the markets at work”.

That way the government won’t be blamed, or so they hope. Coming soon to a country near you.

This promises to turn into an epic fight for rights and freedoms.

Ron DeSantis Vows To Ban Vaccine Passports (Fed.)

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced so-called “vaccine passports” in a Monday press conference — a policy currently being tested in New York State and one the Biden administration is reportedly developing, according to The Washington Post. Vaccine passports are digital credentials, a way of proving the carrier has received a COVID-19 immunization before frequenting a venue or traveling. DeSantis said he would take “an executive function” and “emergency function” and urged the state Republican legislature to propose legislation banning vaccine passports. “We always said we wanted to provide [the vaccine] for all but mandate it for none,” DeSantis said.

“While it was advised to take, particularly if you’re vulnerable, we were not going to force you to do it. It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply participate in normal society.” The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the Biden administration is working with Big Tech to develop vaccine passport technology. Five administration officials told the media outlet that coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients is leading the operation. In January, 30 international airlines penned a letter to Zients urging the U.S. to implement vaccine passports for all citizens for travel. This followed an executive order by Biden instructing government agencies “to assess the feasibility” of COVID-19 documentation requirements.

[..] The Florida governor said in the press conference that by sometime this week the state will have administered the vaccine to 75 percent of seniors, or 3.5 million individuals. “You want the fox to guard the henhouse? I mean, give me a break,” DeSantis said. “I think this is something that has huge privacy implications. It is not necessary to do. It’s important to be able to do it [get the vaccine], but at the same time, we are not going to have you provide proof of this just to be able to live your life normally.”

Read more …

No other country has as many surveillance camera’s as Britain. Let’s add some more.

UK Now Considering Digital Face-Scanning To Enter Pubs (SN)

The UK government is funding companies that are producing technology which will utilize digital face scans to check people’s vaccination status and allow or block them from entering pubs, stadiums and other venues. “Britons could have their faces scanned to allow them to access pubs, gigs and sports events under one government-funded plan being drawn up for vaccine passports,” reports the London Times. Two companies – Mvine and iProov – are working together on the system after being given a £75,000 grant by the government having already worked with the NHS on facial recognition technology in the form of the contact tracing app.

The technology is being proposed as a solution to concerns that presenting vaccination status via an app on a phone will be too slow when multiple people are entering a busy venue. “Whoever is standing on the door of the pub is going to have to scan the certificate, read the name and date of birth, then ask the person for an ID document, check that the name and date of birth on the ID document are the same, squint at the photograph on the ID document and then make sure that the person in front of them is that person,” iProov CEO Andrew Bud said. “To which the answer is, that’s not going to happen.” Bud said that the facial recognition system would reduce this process to a matter of seconds, streamlining the system.

“It speeds the process up and it absolves people of what would otherwise be a very heavy responsibility,” he added. After months of promising that there would be no domestic vaccine passport, every indication is now that the government is going ahead with it. Millions of Brits will refuse to submit to digital face scans to go about their everyday business, but the vast majority are likely to accept it without question, creating a two tier society where those who resist the biosecurity surveillance state will remain in a de facto permanent state of lockdown.

Read more …

Some states are not doing well, but overall, does that graph justify panic?

CDC Director Chokes Back Tears As She Fearmongers “Impending Doom” (ZH)

In a stunningly emotional outburst during this morning’s COVID-19 Response press conference, new CDC Director Rochelle Walensky went “off-script” (though if one watches here eyes it appears she is very much reading a script) to warn the public about her “impending doom” following a rise in COVID cases and hospitalizations. The seven-day average of hospital admissions with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 increased in 25 states plus the nation’s capital and Puerto Rico last week, compared with same period a week earlier, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data through Saturday.


The most dramatic surge has come in Michigan, with admissions up 50%, to an average of 379 a day. The next-worst momentum was in South Dakota, where daily admissions rose by 40% to an average of 28. “I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom,” Walensky said, appearing to hold back tears. “We do not have the luxury of inaction. For the health of our country, we must work together now to prevent a fourth surge.” “Right now, I’m scared,” Walesky exclaimed. Here is what Walensky is freaking out about… (could that simply be a rise in testing around Spring Break as responsible Americans check their health before traveling? Or is it remnants of the vaccines being picked up by the RT-PCR tests being run at 35 Ct?)


Source: Bloomberg

Of course, Fauci knows why: “I think the reason we’re seeing this plateauing and the increase that I hope doesn’t turn into a surge is because we are really doing things prematurely right now with regard to opening up.” Walensky implored Americans to mask up, socially distance, etc., etc. as she is worried about a new wave “if rules are lifted” too soon… “I’m speaking today not necessarily as your CDC director, but as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter to ask you to just please hold on a little while longer,”

Read more …

Others states do very well. Wonder why.

Texas COVID Cases Drop to Record Low 3 Weeks After Mask Mandate Lifted (NW)

Coronavirus cases have dropped to a record low in Texas roughly three weeks after the state lifted its mask mandate and reopened businesses. “Today the 7-day Covid positivity rate dropped to a new recorded low: 4.95%. Hospitalizations dropped to a 6 month low. This week we have 1 million 1st vaccines available,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote in a tweet on Sunday. “Everyone now qualifies for a shot. They are highly recommended to prevent getting Covid but always voluntary.” The 4.95 percent test positivity rate is the lowest the state has seen since the start of the pandemic. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, at least 1,900 new virus cases were reported on Sunday, which is the lowest daily number the state has seen since early June.

Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the seven-day moving average number of cases in Texas dropped to the lowest level since mid-June. According to the CDC, Texas was averaging 3,783 daily cases as of March 27. Abbott’s tweet also notes that hospitalizations dropped to their lowest number in the past six months. According to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), 3,104 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals across the state as of Saturday. Data shows that the state has not recorded a number this low since September 19, when there were 3,081 hospitalizations. As of Monday, Texas has reported more than 2.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases and at least 47,156 deaths.

Biden Mask Up

Read more …

Fauci on masks. Oh well.

Dr. Fauci Warns Parents About Children Playing Together Without Masks (NYP)

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday warned that vaccinated parents still need to worry about their children becoming infected while playing with other kids. “The children can clearly wind up getting infected,” Fauci told CBS anchor Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” when asked about the risk of kids playing in groups. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that while adults inoculated against COVID-19 don’t always have to wear masks around each other, children — who are not yet eligible for the jab — should wear them around each other.


“When the children go out into the community, you want them to continue to wear masks when they’re interacting with groups or multiple households,” he said. But when asked whether kids can return to camp or playgrounds this summer, Fauci said it was “conceivable that will be possible.” “We now have 3 to 3.5 million vaccinations each day. If we keep up with that pace, invariably, that’s going to drive the rate and the level of infections per day to a much, much lower level,” Fauci said, adding that lower infection rates will enable the country to have a “good degree of flexibility during the summer … with things like camps.”

Read more …

“..the fatality rate among those who develop clots is as high as 40%..”

Canada Suspends Use Of AstraZeneca Covid Vaccine For Those Under 55 (AP)

Canada on Monday suspended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for people under 55 following concerns it might be linked to rare blood clots. The pause was recommended by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization for safety reasons. The Canadian provinces, which administer health in the country, announced the suspension on Monday. “There is substantial uncertainty about the benefit of providing AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines to adults under 55 given the potential risks,” said Dr Shelley Deeks, vice-chair of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization. Deeks said the updated recommendations came amid new data from Europe that suggests the risk of blood clots is now potentially as high as one in 100,000, much higher than the one in one million risk believed before.


She said most of the patients in Europe who developed a rare blood clot after vaccination with AstraZeneca were women under age 55, and the fatality rate among those who develop clots is as high as 40%. Dr Joss Reimer of Manitoba’s vaccine implementation taskforce said despite the finding that there was no increase risk of blood clots overall related to AstraZeneca in Europe, a rare but very serious side-effect has been seen primarily in young women in Europe. Reimer said the rare type of blood clot typically happens between four and 20 days after getting the shot and the symptoms can mirror a stroke or a heart attack. “While we still believe the benefits for all ages outweigh the risks I’m not comfortable with ‘probably’. I want to see more data coming out of Europe so I know exactly what this risk-benefit analysis is,” Reimer said.

Read more …

How about ivermectin?

New Covid Vaccines Needed Globally Within A Year, Say Scientists (G.)

The planet could have a year or less before first-generation Covid-19 vaccines are ineffective and modified formulations are needed, according to a survey of epidemiologists, virologists and infectious disease specialists. Scientists have long stressed that a global vaccination effort is needed to satisfactorily neutralise the threat of Covid-19. This is due to the threat of variations of the virus – some more transmissible, deadly and less susceptible to vaccines – that are emerging and percolating. The grim forecast of a year or less comes from two-thirds of respondents, according to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of organisations including Amnesty International, Oxfam, and UNAIDS, who carried out the survey of 77 scientists from 28 countries. Nearly one-third of the respondents indicated that the time-frame was likely nine months or less.

Persistent low vaccine coverage in many countries would make it more likely for vaccine-resistant mutations to appear, said 88% of the respondents, who work across illustrious institutions such as Johns Hopkins, Yale, Imperial College, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of Edinburgh. “New mutations arise every day. Sometimes they find a niche that makes them more fit than their predecessors. These lucky variants could transmit more efficiently and potentially evade immune responses to previous strains,” said Gregg Gonsalves, associate professor of epidemiology at Yale University, in a statement. “Unless we vaccinate the world, we leave the playing field open to more and more mutations, which could churn out variants that could evade our current vaccines and require booster shots to deal with them.”

The current crop of vaccines that have received emergency authorisations in different parts of the world is a mix of old and fresh technologies. Of particular interest is the mRNA approach, employed by the companies Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, which can be tweaked at speed (within weeks or months) to accommodate new variants – however, manufacturing hiccups are always a potential problem. But crucially, they are unlikely within reach of poorer countries, given that this set of vaccines are far more expensive and have comparatively onerous temperature storage requirements.

Read more …

I read the WHO is due to announce its guidance on the use of Ivermectin for Covid. This from India dates from November 2020.

Ivermectin Prophylaxis Leads To 73% Reduction In Covid Infection (NIE)

In a significant finding, two-dose Ivermectin prophylaxis has led to 73 per cent reduction in COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers (HCWs), who are more likely to contract the virus given their nature of job. The findings of the study conducted by AIIMS-Bhubaneswar between September 20 and October 19 is set to give a new dimension to the ongoing research on the behaviour of SARS-CoV2 and prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Ivermectin is one among several potential drugs explored for its therapeutic and preventive role in COVID-19 infection. The study conducted by 12 physicians of AIIMS-BBSR aimed at exploring the association between Ivermectin prophylaxis and development of COVID-19 infection.

The study was conducted on two sets of HCWs. While one set was administered with two doses of Ivermectin in a gap of 72 hours, the other took other prophylaxis. Corresponding author of the study and AIIMS Director Gitanjali Batmanabane said two-dose Ivermectin prophylaxis at a dose of 300 micro gram per one kg body weight with a gap of 72 hours was associated with 73 pc reduction of COVID-19 infection among the HCWs. AIIMS-BBSR has around 4,600 employees of which, over 625 have so far tested positive for novel coronavirus. As many as 372 including doctors, nurses, paramedics and sanitisation workers were considered for the month-long study. The list was prepared by the contact tracing team of the institute as per their exposure to COVID-19, based on WHO risk assessment guidelines.

“Earlier, at least 20 to 25 HCWs were getting infected with the virus daily. After the workers started taking Ivermectin, the number of infection has come down to one or two per day,” Dr Batmanabane said. As per ICMR guidelines, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), vitamin C and other interventions were used by HCWs of AIIMS from April 11 in addition to the appropriate use PPE depending on the place they were posted. However, the uptake was not encouraging on account of known side-effect as large numbers of HCWs were getting infected. “Considering the fact that Ivermectin had been shown to have diverse mechanisms by which it successfully attacks the SARS-CoV-2, we decided to use it. The Ivermectin has a proven safety profile as a safe drug which has been used for many decades. The encouraging results of a study from Egypt prompted us to explore its role as prophylaxis for HCWs,” she said.

Read more …

All these “leaders” have failed for an entire year, despite often draconian measures, to stop the pandemic. Now they want more power.

Global Treaty Needed To Protect States From Pandemics, Say World Leaders (G.)

The world needs a global treaty for pandemics to protect states in the wake of Covid-19, akin to the settlement forged after the second world war, Boris Johnson and other world leaders have urged. In a joint article published in newspapers across the world, leaders including the UK prime minister, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, warn that a future global pandemic is an inevitability and that Covid has served as “a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe”. Escalating international tensions over vaccine supplies have led to calls for countries to abandon isolationism and nationalism, and come together to make way for a new era founded on principles like solidarity and cooperation.

The call comes from 24 world leaders, alongside the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and will appear in newspapers including the Telegraph in the UK, Le Monde in France and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Germany. The leaders describe the pandemic as “the biggest challenge to the global community since the 1940s” and said that a settlement like the one formed after 1945 is needed to build cross-border cooperation before the next international health crisis. In the joint article, they say: “At that time, following the devastation of two world wars, political leaders came together to forge the multilateral system. The aims were clear: to bring countries together, to dispel the temptations of isolationism and nationalism, and to address the challenges that could only be achieved together in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation, namely peace, prosperity, health and security.”

A treaty on pandemics “should lead to more mutual accountability and shared responsibility, transparency and cooperation within the international system and with its rules and norms”, the leaders go on.

Read more …

Death, taxes and RussiaRussia.

Dear Joe Scarborough, Let’s Debate Your Network’s Russiagate Coverage (Taibbi)

Joe begins his rant by insinuating that those who’ve spent time documenting errors on the Russiagate story are maybe on “Russia’s payroll,” which is nothing new for this network, of course, or frankly for the press in general during this time. Implying that anyone who didn’t buy into the moral panic on Russia was a traitor was a fairly constant theme in media and politics in the last four years, with NBC’s smear of Tulsi Gabbard as a “favorite” of “Russia’s propaganda machine” being one of the ethical low points of the era. Why should Joe Scarborough be above the same tactics? The exact quote: “I’m amused by so-called reporters who — I don’t know if they’re useful idiots for Russia, or if they’re on Russia’s payroll … but there are some gifted writers who spend all night and day, trying to dig through, looking for instances where the press screwed up on Russia stories.”


He went on to say that yes, there were instances of mistakes, and some bad mistakes, but “more often than not,” the press got it right. Perhaps this could be a new slogan for the network: “MSNBC. We get it right. More often than not.” The full quote: “If you look at the totality of it, the totality of everything — I mean, yeah, the media screwed up at some points, and sometimes they screwed up badly… But more often than not, they got it right.” Obviously, I won’t presume that he’s talking about me when he mentions “some gifted writers” who may or may not be foreign spies, criticizing networks like his. He could be referring to Aaron Mate, or Glenn Greenwald, perhaps even Erik Wemple of the Washington Post, whose critique of Scarborough’s colleague Rachel Maddow’s Russia coverage was scathing enough.

Read more …

Judge and jury.

Journalists Attack the Powerless, Then Play Victim When Called Out (Greenwald)

The daily newspaper USA Today is the second-most circulated print newspaper in the United States — more than The New York Times and more than double The Washington Post. Only The Wall Street Journal has higher circulation numbers. On Sunday, the paper published and heavily promoted a repellent article complaining that “defendants accused in the Capitol riot Jan. 6 crowdfund their legal fees online, using popular payment processors and an expanding network of fundraising platforms, despite a crackdown by tech companies.” It provided a road map for snitching on how these private citizens — who are charged with serious felonies by the U.S. Justice Department but as of yet convicted of nothing — are engaged in “a game of cat-and-mouse as they spring from one fundraising tool to another” in order to avoid bans on their ability to raise desperately needed funds to pay their criminal lawyers to mount a vigorous defense.

In other words, the only purpose of the article — headlined: “Insurrection fundraiser: Capitol riot extremists, Trump supporters raise money for lawyer bills online” — was to pressure and shame tech companies to do more to block these criminal defendants from being able to raise funds for their legal fees, and to tattle to tech companies by showing them what techniques these indigent defendants are using to raise money online. The USA Today reporters went far beyond merely reporting how this fundraising was being conducted. They went so far as to tattle to PayPal and other funding sites on two of those defendants, Joe Biggs and Dominic Pezzola, and then boasted of their success in having their accounts terminated: ”

“As of Wednesday afternoon, the Biggs fundraiser was listed as having received $52,201. Pezzola had received $730. Biggs’ campaign disappeared from the site shortly after USA TODAY inquired about it…. Friday, a USA TODAY reporter donated to Pezzola’s fundraiser using Stripe. Stripe told USA TODAY it does not comment on individual users. A USA TODAY reporter was able to make a $1 donation to Pezzola’s fundraiser using Venmo, a payment app owned by PayPal. After being alerted by USA TODAY, Venmo removed the account. Soon a PayPal account took its place. PayPal caught that and removed it, too.”

Wow, what brave and intrepid journalistic work: speaking truth to power and standing up to major power centers by . . . working as little police officers for tech giants to prevent private citizens from being able to afford criminal lawyers. Clear the shelves for the imminent Pulitzer.

Read more …

“..whatever energy you actually can marshal to Build Back Better, save it for your town or your local community. ..”

Do You Believe in Magic? (Kunstler)

UBI is the primary feature of that because, in a command economy, production is mostly pretend, so you just have to give people money (for nothing). Remember the old basic operating system of the Soviet Union, stated succinctly as: We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us. Got that? The idea behind “Build Back Better” is to renovate the infrastructure of a hyper-tech economy that actually no longer exists because we are in the contraction phase of an historic pulsation or cycle, leaving us with lots of tech and less production, tending toward zero. Nobody flogging this slogan actually knows what it ought to mean under the circumstances, which is to go with the flow of the reality of this contraction: to downsize, downscale, and re-localize all our activities to bring them back into sync with actual productivity — that is, raising food, making real stuff, and trading it.

Again, it’s the energy dynamic, stupid. To get to that point, we’re going to shed the massive over-burden of financial game-playing that has pretended to represent our economy. That means stock valuations and bond prices will vaporize along with the derivative activities concocted for trading gainfully in these now-phantom representations of capital. If that happens sooner rather than later, we won’t even be able to pretend to Build Back Better the interstate highways, the electric grid, airports, and all the other stuff in the “infrastructure” folder. Indeed, a lot of that would be malinvestment folly now because we’re nearing the end of mass motoring and commercial aviation as we’ve known them.

If we even have electricity twenty-five years from now, it will come from much-reduced grids on a much more regional basis. The bottom line for all this is that pretty soon every corner of the country will be on its own amid quite a bit of social disorder and financial wreckage. So, whatever energy you actually can marshal to Build Back Better, save it for your town or your local community. And remember, all of the attempts by a national government to control these events, and coerce its citizens in the service of that, will only lead to a more ineffectual and impotent national government that nobody has faith in, confirming the fact that you are on your own.

Read more …

“..the European Central Bank increasing its balance sheet to 63% of the eurozone GDP vs the Fed at 36%..”

The Eurozone Weakness: Much More Than Covid (Lacalle)

The eurozone’s economic problem do not come from just a slow vaccination, but overly aggressive lockdowns. Between October and November, Europe’s leading economies decided to shut down the economy aggressively to prevent an increase in cases. Despite France’s extremely severe lockdown, one of the most aggressive in the world, daily new confirmed cases per 100 people went from 250 cases at the beginning of October to 522 as of March 26th. Daily new cases rose rapidly and fell in the month of November but have risen steadily since January. In Italy, new cases went from 70 in October to 369 by March 26th. In Germany, from 117 to 179 in the same period. In all of them, daily new cases have steadily risen since bottoming in January even with severe lockdowns.

Shutting down the economy for prolonged periods of time generates long-term side effects in jobs and growth that will likely hurt the recovery and create important social challenges. We cannot forget that the eurozone still had an unemployment rate of 8.3% and more than seven million furloughed jobs at the end of February. Massive stimulus plans have been implemented, with the European Central Bank increasing its balance sheet to 63% of the eurozone GDP vs the Fed at 36%, and money supply growing at a 12% annualized rate in the euro area. Fiscal stimulus is also enormous, with fiscal impulse and liquidity measures ranging between 10% (Spain) to 50% of GDP (Germany) in the main economies.


It is important to note that it is not just how much is spent, but where and when. A significant part of the fiscal stimulus in Spain, France, Italy, and Germany has been targeted at maintaining current government spending, and the measures to support businesses have only been decisive in Germany and France. However, large, and decisive measures to support businesses may fail as prolonged lockdowns lead to an insolvency crisis and inevitably a relevant part of those support mechanisms will zombify the economy, especially as this was an important risk that already existed in the eurozone before Covid-19, according to the Bank of International Settlements.

Read more …

“..lots of people earned a lot of money and a lot of people can’t afford living anymore.”

“We’re at the end game because it’s the final bubble. We’ve got the government bond bubble and there won’t be another bubble afterwards.”

Financial Capitalism: The Endgame (Ren.)

In 2008, we had the opportunity, collectively, to reboot a broken financial system so it became fit for purpose. But instead of reconfiguring finance to serve the real economy politicians and central bankers used quantitative easing to buy time which lulled the mainstream media into reporting that everything was back on track. Some people haven’t bought that story. Marc Friederich and Matthias Weik are two economists who didn’t succumb to groupthink after the 2008 crash and now see financial capitalism’s end game. Friedrich explained to Renegade Inc. that the authors’ intention is to help translate the complexity of a financial system by inverting it into a language that everybody understands. Having studied economics, and as children of the dot com bubble, the authors of four best-selling books in Germany, stress the important role sarcasm and dark humour play in their work in respect to making seemingly complex matters accessible to the wider public.

According to Weik, the aim behind mainstream economists’ use of convoluted language is to create a camouflage in order to prevent them from having to explain what their terminology means. “It’s like the language of law spoken in secret phrases whose purpose is to garner public trust”, said Friedrich. But what mainstream economists and politicians haven’t explained is the structural nature of a crisis that hasn’t been remedied since the 2008 crash. Instead, the metaphorical can has been kicked down the road. “We’re at the end game because it’s the final bubble. We’ve got the government bond bubble and there won’t be another bubble afterwards. It will burst because last time China and all the states rescued the world. They won’t save us anymore. We used cheap money like a drug. We just put more and more drugs into the system”, said Weik.

“Economists and politicians have learnt nothing in the last decade, rather they have merely bought time. The banks who created the last financial crisis continue to be the big winners”, says Friedrich. The losers are the working class and underclass who were encouraged to borrow recklessly. And yet it is these latter groups who the American and British press blame for the crisis. According to Friedrich, the catalyst for the crisis was low-interest rates and too much cheap money. “They tried to solve it with even lower interest rates and much more money. The debts have doubled since 2008”, said the economist. In Friedrich’s view, the Fed, ECB and other central banks will try to print more money “like they always do.” “We will definitely see negative interest rates….Since 2008 debts worldwide doubled for private people and for companies even three times more debts than 2008. So this is the final bubble. And the central banks create one bubble after the next one to keep the whole thing running. That’s it.”

“And we all know the patient is dead but nobody is ready to unplug the life support. The aim is to keep the system alive for as long as possible.” Weik added: “Over the past two years real estate prices exploded, the share prices exploded, lots of people earned a lot of money and a lot of people can’t afford living anymore.”

Read more …

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 30 2021

Viewing 19 posts - 41 through 59 (of 59 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #72103
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    And
    This topic has 39 replies
    But this number does not increase

    #72104
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    @ upstateNYer

    Making people think mostly gets me in trouble. Thanx for enjoying the stimulation.

    “You may wish to reconsider your perspective on your statement.that Insurance companies “want them to be extremely accurate” … because … why??”

    Because actuaries run the insurance companies outside of sales and marketing. If people are driving more recklessly (or more wreckful?), insurance companies want to know, period. Those stats are the lifeblood of their profit margin. It’s almost axiomatic.

    “I posit that rates could [potentially] decrease a great deal if they were based on “extremely accurate” statistics.”

    It sounds like you’re implying that they feel obliged to be honest or fair about what they do with those statistics. I don’t feel that way at all. They want accurate stats so they can base their business model on as accurate a model as possible to protect and enrich them… not to protect and enrich us, despite what their commercials claim:

    Get Rich Paying Insurance!

    “Now, now … if you’re going to toss stones at Dr D. for his interpretations you should be quite careful not to do the same thing yourself.”

    I said it is possible, that is all. It is also possible, as you implied, that he is lying. I don’t know.

    @ Doc Robinson

    “The data is from the CDC of course, with the applicable caveats, but when the CDC data seems to contradict the CDC narrative, I think that’s notable.”

    Okay. It likely demonstrates they’re either lying or out of touch with their own data, which we already know here after watching their circus for over a year. I suppose it confirms the general TAE confirmation bias, but that and a couple of bucks will buy you a coffee… if you wear a mask, or live in a mask-free state, or like having it delivered. It’s nothing new, in other words. Fine by me.

    fwiw, I see no reason to follow those stats any more unless it does something to your psyche that you want. The stats are unreliable all around. We don’t know what to believe concerning those stats other than that they don’t add up and their sources are therefore unreliable.

    This seems appropriate:

    Everyone’s a Winner!

    #72105
    madamski cafone
    Participant
    #72106
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    It’s not after midnight and there’s no water handy, so I suppose it’s safe to throw us gremlins some raw meat:

    “Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming the matter is already settled… There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period.”

    #72107
    zerosum
    Participant

    If you increase the number of Genomic sequencing, you will increase the number of detected variants

    http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/about-covid-19/variants

    Testing and Variants
    Regular COVID-19 testing cannot detect specific variants of COVID-19; these tests can only tell us if someone has the virus or not. Genomic sequencing is needed to detect variants.
    COVID-19 Variants of Concern in B.C.
    Public health scientists have found cases of three COVID-19 VoCs in B.C. These are B.1.1.7, P.1 and B.1.351. Initially, most VoC cases were found by testing people who have travelled outside the country and their close contacts. More recently, laboratories have increased their screening of VoCs in the community. Additional cases that were not linked to travel have been detected, indicating spread in the community.

    Currently, the most common VoC is B.1.1.7 and this version may become the main cause of COVID-19 in B.C. over the next few months.

    https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/epidemiological-summary-covid-19-cases.html#VOC

    Variants of Concern (VOC) in Canada
    All viruses mutate over time and it is expected that the COVID-19 virus will evolve and change. Not all mutations are of concern; however, some changes result in variants of concern (VOC). A “variant of concern” has changes that cause the virus to act differently in ways that are significant to public health (e.g. spreads more easily, causes more severe disease, requires different treatments or changes the effectiveness of current vaccines).

    VOC information will be updated once per day in the evening at 7:00 PM EST with information publically reported by Provinces and Territories.

    Table 2. Cumulative number of variants of concern (VOC) publically reported in Canada, by location, as of March 30, 2021
    Location B.1.1.7 variant B.1.351 variant P.1 variant
    British Columbia 2,134 49 370

    #72108
    straightwalker
    Participant

    @madamski
    Agreed about the general siding with power, when push comes to shove (when survival trumps honor or different values). This happens across genders, but it is slightly more common (easier) among men; men are socialized from childhood to line up behind the “alpha male.” Women are somewhat more resilient and independent. Speaking broadly, of course. There are heroes and heroines in history (thankfully).

    #72109
    zerosum
    Participant

    If you increase the number of Genomic sequencing, you will increase the number of detected variants

    http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/about-covid-19/variants

    Testing and Variants
    Regular COVID-19 testing cannot detect specific variants of COVID-19; these tests can only tell us if someone has the virus or not. Genomic sequencing is needed to detect variants.
    COVID-19 Variants of Concern in B.C.
    Public health scientists have found cases of three COVID-19 VoCs in B.C. These are B.1.1.7, P.1 and B.1.351. Initially, most VoC cases were found by testing people who have travelled outside the country and their close contacts. More recently, laboratories have increased their screening of VoCs in the community. Additional cases that were not linked to travel have been detected, indicating spread in the community.

    Currently, the most common VoC is B.1.1.7 and this version may become the main cause of COVID-19 in B.C. over the next few months.

    health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/epidemiological-summary-covid-19-cases.html#VOC

    Variants of Concern (VOC) in Canada
    All viruses mutate over time and it is expected that the COVID-19 virus will evolve and change. Not all mutations are of concern; however, some changes result in variants of concern (VOC). A “variant of concern” has changes that cause the virus to act differently in ways that are significant to public health (e.g. spreads more easily, causes more severe disease, requires different treatments or changes the effectiveness of current vaccines).

    VOC information will be updated once per day in the evening at 7:00 PM EST with information publically reported by Provinces and Territories.

    Table 2. Cumulative number of variants of concern (VOC) publically reported in Canada, by location, as of March 30, 2021
    Location B.1.1.7 variant B.1.351 variant P.1 variant
    British Columbia 2,134 49 370

    #72110
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    madamski: “It’s nothing new… I see no reason to follow those stats any more unless it does something to your psyche that you want.”

    I looked up those stats after hearing the CDC director was fighting back tears about the impending doom, while the situation on the ground, in the state where I live, seems pretty good. I wanted to learn more about their evidence, at least what they are presenting as evidence, and I thought what I posted above was notable, for the reasons l mentioned.
    Your mileage may vary, of course.

    I’m learning as I go, at least trying to, and my opinions do “evolve” based on what I learn . What I post here are generally things I find which I think are notable, along the themes of this site, that I believe may be interesting to others here. I guess this approach benefits my psyche in ways that simply trying to confirm my biases cannot.

    #72111
    John Day
    Participant

    Word of the day: (Good work everybody, and good civility)
    Epistemology (/ɪˌpɪstɪˈmɒlədʒi/ (About this soundlisten); from Greek ἐπιστήμη, epistēmē ‘knowledge’, and -logy) is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemologists study the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge, epistemic justification, the rationality of belief, and various related issues. Epistemology is considered one of the four main branches of philosophy, along with ethics, logic, and metaphysics.[1]

    Debates in epistemology are generally clustered around four core areas:[2][3][4]

    The philosophical analysis of the nature of knowledge and the conditions required for a belief to constitute knowledge, such as truth and justification
    Potential sources of knowledge and justified belief, such as perception, reason, memory, and testimony
    The structure of a body of knowledge or justified belief, including whether all justified beliefs must be derived from justified foundational beliefs or whether justification requires only a coherent set of beliefs
    Philosophical skepticism, which questions the possibility of knowledge, and related problems, such as whether skepticism poses a threat to our ordinary knowledge claims and whether it is possible to refute skeptical arguments
    In these debates and others, epistemology aims to answer questions such as “What do we know?”, “What does it mean to say that we know something?”, “What makes justified beliefs justified?”, and “How do we know that we know?”

    #72112
    WES
    Participant

    When it comes to knowing, I am leary that Mark Twain is just a half step behind me!

    #72113
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    @ Doc Robinson

    ” I guess this approach benefits my psyche in ways that simply trying to confirm my biases cannot.”

    I like that. These are troubling times. There are readers here new to this scene.

    I’m merciless about getting to the bone of the beast.

    @ straightwalker

    “Agreed about the general siding with power, when push comes to shove (when survival trumps honor or different values). This happens across genders, but it is slightly more common (easier) among men; men are socialized from childhood to line up behind the “alpha male.” Women are somewhat more resilient and independent. Speaking broadly, of course. There are heroes and heroines in history (thankfully).”

    Poor males. They’re newcomers, evolution being gynoconcentric and gynogenic includng primogenitcally. (It is tempting here to say that therefore the egg came before the rooster, but only because I am obsessively taken by almost any trope with half a wit to its aim.) Males are a form of progress, expanding and accelerating the rate of genetic change. Not essential, often troublesome, and maybe the major drivers of this current anthropocene extinction event.

    That sounds as if I disapprove of maledom, but the opposite is true. I adore men, and like all good ships, need a little caulk now and then to keep me in trim. Almost every woman loves caulk. 😉 Men didn’t ask to be meddling marauders whoband together to exert power, often viiolent, often driven by some alpha, usually male but far from always. Most warm-blooded animals follow that drift. It serves its purpose, and I have no time for feminists who su=bsribe to female chuavinism while deriding men for being male chauvinists. An asshole is an asshole, a prick is a prick, and a cunt is a cunt.

    Male physical power, both individually and in groups make them dominant, and women naturally resent this, especially since males are at least as good at fucking up as are females, and females EXCEL at fucking up, god love us. This is unfortunate but I don’t think things would necessarily be better with women in charge, and forced egalitarianism, outside of equal civil liberties and basic legal rights, hurts both genders. (Feminism was a force for good until it became a mainstream crusade, which process coirrupts all reform movements and turns revolutions into auto-da-fes.)

    Fact: men are in charge and will stay in charge although when times get hard this power will be shared much more with women as it always is when the going gets rough, especially when the numbers get slim. The only reason we’ve abandoned horros likie slavery and oppression of women (foot bondage, anyone?) is because of material wealth brought by technology and fossil fuels. Wars are fought with machines now, not bodies. Work is done by machines, not people. Men are mostly fat slouches these days as are most women because most jobs involve sitting all day, and most evenings are spent doing more or less the same. So the male physical advantage is greatly diminished, hence the rise of grrl power and all that pretentious faddish nonsense. U go girl. Go away.

    But when the machines no longer do our work for us, men will reassert their dominance…. and women will show how tought they are in ways that men aren’t, and something closer to equality, alnbeit probably rgidly codfied, will return. Amid brutal circumstances, alas.

    I watched conservatives make asses of themselves resisting simple things like allowing same sex couples the right to legally pair-bond. (Who gives a dry hump what the churches think? I’m my own religion.) I said to them: “The liberal backlash from this will rip your eyes out.” Behold your wannabe transgender 19-year old rainbow justice warrior riot grrl. The goggles! They do nothing!

    Now the liberals are waxing strong (since Obama) and they won’t like the backlash they get either. I don’t think the National Guard around the Capitol was all or even mostly theater politics, a sham show. I think that they are mostly really scared. I see the Capitol as a giant crack house feveriushly pimping drugs and deals even as they know the Feds are cordoning off the block. It’s all they know to do, i.e., their addiction.

    Like William Gibson wrote maybe ten years ago: “Addictions […] started out like magical pets, pocket monsters. They did extraordinary tricks, showed you things you hadn’t seen, were fun. But came, through some gradual dire alchemy, to make decisions for you. Eventually, they were making your most crucial life-decisions. And they were […] less intelligent than goldfish.”

    I certainly don’t fear the goons running the joint, except regarding things like nuclear war. I fear my fellow beings. Most of them follow the goons, usually bitching the whole way. When the goons can no longer be followed, many of them will become less intelligent than goldfish and deadly as a school of piranha.

    But since fear is sucker bait, I focus on befriending my neighbors and making myself liked and valuable, in the process identifying the assholes so I can avoid them or bash their head in when the time is right. I refuse to get a gun. Guns are for fraidy-cats, especially fraidy-males.

    But a rifle, now… I just might get us a rifle. But more likely a crossbow or such. Quiet. No stupid muzzle flash. Cuts through Kevlar. Look, I love men, but they’re just like women: get a bunch of them together to conquer the enemy or fix a car and they act just like a bunch of women but with more talk and less action. Don’t believe me? Go to a church every Sunday for a few months. Get involved. Watch. Men in groups are like walking Senatorial subcommittees. Women in groups are phony mutual admiration societies who like to stay busy while they gossip.

    Gender? Sex? Roles? FUnctions? It’s complicated:

    OPen Carry

    #72114
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    It’s so complicated I had to post twice:

    Copy

    #72115
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    And the memes begin:

    gate blocked

    #72116
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    I agree excess death and life expectancy data are important. The statistical average is cyclic due to mostly seasonal flu and winter depression. But the coronavirus mitigations implemented so far have eliminated seasonal flu. Clearly the spikes last year and at the beginning of this year are due to the pandemic. Like all statistics, the graph Doc Robinson posted could be massaged. There is a lot of pressure to keep the failing for-profit healthcare system intact. Hospital mistakes, lack of health insurance, and Opioid Addiction kill hundreds of thousands of Americans each year. But only medical care for all will reduce these numbers. These graphs are science-based data from science orientated institutions unlike unemployment figures. They indicate that if coronavirus is eradicated the number of deaths will decrease.

    Nations in Asia and South Pacific document that national public health programs work but it is a constant battle to contain outbreaks that people carry in country across the borders. Vaccines alone are appearing more and more unlikely to control the pandemic. Impending Doom is appropriate. Deaths are starting to climb in the USA despite the vaccine injections. Unless coronavirus transmission is stopped, the Americans and Europe are facing an endemic that will last far into the future with new variant hot spots breaking out sporadically. After much illness and pain on these continents, humans and coronavirus will mutate to coexist together like the four other common colds. Or on the other hand, democratic government and functional national health programs can be implemented today in the USA, EU and Canada to eliminate the virus and restore the people’s health.

    #72117
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    ““Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming the matter is already settled… There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period.””

    This, btw, is dead wrong via false dichotomy. But the first sentence is true. The following three suck toenail powder. Some people think Michael Crichton is SO full of himself. I don’t. I think he’s full of someone who thinks he’s Michael Crichton but is too two-faced to know which one.

    #72118
    Archie
    Participant

    @madamski

    Vodka or Gin martini?

    #72119
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Gin… 🙂

    #72146
    madamski cafone
    Participant

    @ Archie & V. Arnold

    If I still enjoyed alcohol, the answer would be: both.

    The proper question here would be: indica or sativa? Sativa by far.

    #72154
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    Yes, John Day – the Hudson/Escobar conversation (interview + transcript available at theSacker.is) provides clarity and insight for discussion. The decline of Globo-Cap and EVERYTHING else that is PRECIOUS is explained in one tiny quote:

    “The fact is that the West – as Pepe and I’ve described – are set on fighting against an alternative that would make other people prosperous”.

    The West = Our Elite Masters: who operate on us, at our expense, in our name, on ONE principle = WINNER TAKES ALL. And YOU are not included in The WINNERS Circle.

    EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING else is an illusion – built/crafted to make you and me think the exact opposite. It’s an elaborate and brilliant set-up for them. Not for us. Ever wonder WHY it all feels so hard? So completely against your grain? The interview goes on to say:

    “They fought against the Soviet Union in the Cold War. You have the ruling classes in America and Europe wanting to concentrate all the wealth in their own hand. They’re against the whole wave of democratic reform that the 19th century was all for. The 19th century was for a land tax. It was for public banking. It was all public infrastructure to lower the cost of doing business. This was taught in the business schools in America. But all that has been expurgated from economic history and from the history of social thought – into the memory hole, as George Orwell would say. So, you have to let people know that there’s been a whole suppressed history, not only of civilization but as recently as the 19th century concerning where civilization was going.”

    #OppositeLand is our trap. The only saving GRACE is in our efforts to break free of the illusion and to plan for and participate in a local economy where shared prosperity is the goal.

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