russia-insider--2020-03-23--Bye, Bye Western Civilization. Sorry It Had to End This Way: A COVID-19 Sign-Off From Moscow

“ Those who would give up essential liberty , to purchase a little safety , deserve neither and will lose both ” — Ben Franklin MOSCOW – Despite the stubborn March cold , heroic young ladies in the Russian capital have already shortened ( one might say improved ) their skirts by at least 15 centimeters .
Surely this should give us all confidence to carry on , even as the pillars of western civilization melt away like the last winter frost .
What on earth happened , anyway ?
German state media reports that benevolent lockdowns have been imposed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Germans have been extremely well-behaved – the alleged precondition for avoiding the indefinite suspension of basic privileges enjoyed even by their feudal ancestors .
Of course , there were still a handful of outrageous acts of insubordination .
Bavarian police dutifully sniffed out “ isolated incidents of violations ” such as “ five youths celebrating a birthday party at a construction site ” , and – prepare yourself – “ a group of three people drinking around a bonfire.
” These existential dangers to the German Volk were given “ warnings ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need to print out a certificate from a government website to even show your face in public .
Failure to produce the necessary documents permitting you to go outside results in a hefty fine .
For now .
Being homeless won ’ t exempt you from this decree , either .
Because why should it ?
Testimonials from family and friends in the United States – many of them healthy young people terrified of imminent death – have convinced us that it would be unsportsmanlike to finish this sentence candidly .
Fear and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and there ’ s simply no going back .
Cultural , political , spiritual and economic suicide are all around the corner .
Maybe even a fun little war .
We will not bore you with the well-established realities of the COVID-19 “ pandemic ” : That according to the best available evidence , 99 % of cases are minor and require no serious medical treatment of any kind .
Or the criminally under-reported fact that an overwhelming percentage of coronavirus-attributed deaths occur in elderly people who were already suffering from non-trivial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these reported deaths are likely not even due to the virus .
Even the BBC had to quietly admit that many coronavirus victims – infirm old people – would have probably died anyway .
That ’ s what infirm old people do best , after all .
Similarly , we can hardly be bothered to relay the huge number of fatalities , from an impressive range of seemingly benign ailments , which occur each and every year like clockwork .
Did you know that 1.2 million children die annually from diarrhea ?
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poor , of course .
There is simply no need for rational , data-driven analysis at this point .
That ship has already sailed .
Bon voyage , any semblance of reason .
Just make sure you have your documents ready , in case you get boarded by the French coast guard .
Myopic observers might conclude that western civilization was brought to its knees because in our current age of unapologetic self-pity and collective victimhood , it suddenly became really hip to identify as an Italian octogenarian , or a bloated American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sympathetic , even if probably true .
The regrettable truth is that western civilization – please understand we ’ re using this term in the most general and generous way possible – was dead-on-arrival when COVID-19 came knocking .
Europeans and their hapless American offspring are bored , entirely without hope and completely exhausted .
You could squeeze all 320 million Americans like lemons and you ’ d be lucky to find yourself with a shot glass-worth of confidence or vitality .
Centuries of artistic and scientific triumphs have been almost entirely erased @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and apathy – no small accomplishment , all sarcasm aside .
There is bankruptcy at every level .
Nothing solid is left to fall back on .
Apparently some of you are not even entirely sure if you are male or female .
This is not exactly a recipe for longevity , we ’ re very sorry to say .
Predicting what comes next is easy – just try to imagine the worst possible scenario .
Now multiple that by a factor of ten .
Your outlook is still too rosy , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that some might be in partial agreement with us but still might find this internet article to be an irresponsible over-exaggeration .
Allow us a closing thought .
In his timeless television series ‘ Civilisation ’ , the badly-missed Sir Kenneth Clark meditated on how seemingly indestructible societies fall into ruin and vanish from the earth : However complex and solid it seems , civilization is actually quite fragile .
It can be destroyed .
What are its enemies ?
First of all , fear .
Fear of war , fear of invasion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the supernatural , which means that you don ’ t question anything or change anything .
The late antique world was full of meaningless rituals , mystery religions that destroyed self-confidence .
And then , boredom .
The feeling of hopelessness , which can overtake people with a high degree of material prosperity .
Clark summed up : “ It ’ s lack of confidence , more than anything else , which destroys a civilization.
” See you on the other side .
Edward Slavsquat is an American in self-exile in Russia @ @ @ @ @ @ @

“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little safety, deserve neither and will lose both” — Ben Franklin
MOSCOW – Despite the stubborn March cold, heroic young ladies in the Russian capital have already shortened (one might say improved) their skirts by at least 15 centimeters. Surely this should give us all confidence to carry on, even as the pillars of western civilization melt away like the last winter frost. What on earth happened, anyway?
German state media reports that benevolent lockdowns have been imposed across the country, even while conceding that Germans have been extremely well-behaved – the alleged precondition for avoiding the indefinite suspension of basic privileges enjoyed even by their feudal ancestors. Of course, there were still a handful of outrageous acts of insubordination. Bavarian police dutifully sniffed out “isolated incidents of violations” such as “five youths celebrating a birthday party at a construction site”, and – prepare yourself – “a group of three people drinking around a bonfire.” These existential dangers to the German Volk were given “warnings” – for now.
In France you need to print out a certificate from a government website to even show your face in public. Failure to produce the necessary documents permitting you to go outside results in a hefty fine. For now. Being homeless won’t exempt you from this decree, either. Because why should it?
Testimonials from family and friends in the United States – many of them healthy young people terrified of imminent death – have convinced us that it would be unsportsmanlike to finish this sentence candidly.
Fear and mindless acquiescence has gripped the western world, and there’s simply no going back. Cultural, political, spiritual and economic suicide are all around the corner. Maybe even a fun little war.
(The Netherlands might be a notable exception in all this, but would you rather live in Mad Max Massachusetts or Holland? That’s a coin flip.)
We will not bore you with the well-established realities of the COVID-19 “pandemic”: That according to the best available evidence, 99% of cases are minor and require no serious medical treatment of any kind. Or the criminally under-reported fact that an overwhelming percentage of coronavirus-attributed deaths occur in elderly people who were already suffering from non-trivial health issues, or that many of these reported deaths are likely not even due to the virus. Even the BBC had to quietly admit that many coronavirus victims – infirm old people – would have probably died anyway. That’s what infirm old people do best, after all.
Similarly, we can hardly be bothered to relay the huge number of fatalities, from an impressive range of seemingly benign ailments, which occur each and every year like clockwork. Did you know that 1.2 million children die annually from diarrhea? They’re brown or black and definitely poor, of course.
There is simply no need for rational, data-driven analysis at this point. That ship has already sailed. Bon voyage, any semblance of reason. Just make sure you have your documents ready, in case you get boarded by the French coast guard.
Myopic observers might conclude that western civilization was brought to its knees because in our current age of unapologetic self-pity and collective victimhood, it suddenly became really hip to identify as an Italian octogenarian, or a bloated American diabetic. This take is far too sympathetic, even if probably true.
The regrettable truth is that western civilization – please understand we’re using this term in the most general and generous way possible – was dead-on-arrival when COVID-19 came knocking. Europeans and their hapless American offspring are bored, entirely without hope and completely exhausted. You could squeeze all 320 million Americans like lemons and you’d be lucky to find yourself with a shot glass-worth of confidence or vitality. Centuries of artistic and scientific triumphs have been almost entirely erased by modern Europe’s bureaucrat-driven stagnation and apathy – no small accomplishment, all sarcasm aside.
There is bankruptcy at every level. Nothing solid is left to fall back on. Apparently some of you are not even entirely sure if you are male or female. This is not exactly a recipe for longevity, we’re very sorry to say.
Predicting what comes next is easy – just try to imagine the worst possible scenario. Now multiple that by a factor of ten. Your outlook is still too rosy, but optimism is only human.
We understand that some might be in partial agreement with us but still might find this internet article to be an irresponsible over-exaggeration. Allow us a closing thought.
In his timeless television series ‘Civilisation’, the badly-missed Sir Kenneth Clark meditated on how seemingly indestructible societies fall into ruin and vanish from the earth:
However complex and solid it seems, civilization is actually quite fragile. It can be destroyed. What are its enemies? First of all, fear. Fear of war, fear of invasion, fear of plague. And fear of the supernatural, which means that you don’t question anything or change anything. The late antique world was full of meaningless rituals, mystery religions that destroyed self-confidence. And then, boredom. The feeling of hopelessness, which can overtake people with a high degree of material prosperity.
Clark summed up: “It’s lack of confidence, more than anything else, which destroys a civilization.”
See you on the other side.
Edward Slavsquat is an American in self-exile in Russia who sometimes writes things on the internet


russia-insider--2020-03-24--Debt Forgivness and Nationalization Are the Answers to the Economic Crisis

The US airline companies have bankrupted themselves by buying back their stock in an enrichment scheme for CEOs and board members ( https : //www.lewrockwell.com/2020/03/david-stockman/the-crony-capitalist-thieves-are-back/ ) .
With the impact of the virus on their revenues , Congress is handing them a $ 50 billion bailout .
Instead of being bailed out they should be nationalized .
In the health and economic crisis in which we find ourselves , the government is going to need all the public trust it can get .
Bailouts of those who caused their problems and ours won ’ t meet the fairness test .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a four-letter word for many , but it actually offers a chance to correct for the decades of deregulation and concentration and thereby restore competition to the economy .
Nationalized banks too-big-to-fail , for example , can later be broken up and the pieces sold back into private hands .
Commercial banks can again be separated from investment banks , and concentrated financial power can be broken .
Now that we know that markets are not self-regulating , we can restore sensible financial regulation and require banks to lend for productive purposes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The US financial system has not served the productive side of the US economy for a long time .
While ordinary heavily indebted Americans are losing their jobs right and left as businesses close , shopping center lobbyists are asking for a $ 1 trillion guarantee .
The hotel industry wants $ 150 billion .
The restaurant industry wants $ 145 billion .
The National Association of Manufacturers wants $ 1.4 trillion .
( https : //www.cnbc.com/2020/03/21/coronavirus-1-trillion-rescue-package-might-not-be-enough-for-businesses.html ) Food service distributors are in trouble .
Boeing wants $ 60 billion funded in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state governments need support .
The US conference of mayors wants $ 250 billion .
The list is endless .
And what is to be done for the 40 % of Americans who , according to a Federal Reserve study , can not raise $ 400 in cash without selling personal property ?
How are the large number of uninsured going to be cared for during this health crisis ?
Where will hospitals and medical practices get the money ?
The only solution is to nationalize health care so that the bills can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ large numbers of infected and jobless people roaming the streets raiding for food and whatever they can take .
The only solution for the economy is debt forgiveness for the ordinary people and nationalization for the companies .
Trump indicated that aid might be given in the form of an equity stake , and later sell the government ’ s stake for a profit in a privatization when things return to normal .
This would be a partial nationalization .
Much better to go whole hog as it allows a cure for concentration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it clear that a society of self-seeking individuals is not a society .
A society is a social system .
A successful social system is one that can support its members .
Once a self-sustaining social system exists , then there is a basis for people to branch out on their own .
But without a sustainable social system , there can be nothing .
To create a sustainable society in the United States requires the abandonment of dogmatic ways of thinking .
Old ideologies are in the way .
We and our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to successfully deal with the health and economic crisis .

The US airline companies have bankrupted themselves by buying back their stock in an enrichment scheme for CEOs and board members ( https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/03/david-stockman/the-crony-capitalist-thieves-are-back/ ). With the impact of the virus on their revenues, Congress is handing them a $50 billion bailout. Instead of being bailed out they should be nationalized.
In the health and economic crisis in which we find ourselves, the government is going to need all the public trust it can get. Bailouts of those who caused their problems and ours won’t meet the fairness test.
As I previously wrote, nationalization is a four-letter word for many, but it actually offers a chance to correct for the decades of deregulation and concentration and thereby restore competition to the economy. Nationalized banks too-big-to-fail, for example, can later be broken up and the pieces sold back into private hands. Commercial banks can again be separated from investment banks, and concentrated financial power can be broken.
Now that we know that markets are not self-regulating, we can restore sensible financial regulation and require banks to lend for productive purposes, not for financializing and leveraging existing assets. The US financial system has not served the productive side of the US economy for a long time.
While ordinary heavily indebted Americans are losing their jobs right and left as businesses close, shopping center lobbyists are asking for a $1 trillion guarantee. The hotel industry wants $150 billion. The restaurant industry wants $145 billion. The National Association of Manufacturers wants $1.4 trillion. ( https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/21/coronavirus-1-trillion-rescue-package-might-not-be-enough-for-businesses.html ) Food service distributors are in trouble. Boeing wants $60 billion funded in part by loan guarantees. Local and state governments need support. The US conference of mayors wants $250 billion. The list is endless.
And what is to be done for the 40% of Americans who, according to a Federal Reserve study, cannot raise $400 in cash without selling personal property? How are the large number of uninsured going to be cared for during this health crisis? Where will hospitals and medical practices get the money?
The only solution is to nationalize health care so that the bills can be paid. We cannot survive large numbers of infected and jobless people roaming the streets raiding for food and whatever they can take.
The only solution for the economy is debt forgiveness for the ordinary people and nationalization for the companies. Trump indicated that aid might be given in the form of an equity stake, and later sell the government’s stake for a profit in a privatization when things return to normal. This would be a partial nationalization. Much better to go whole hog as it allows a cure for concentration and deregulation.
The pandemic has made it clear that a society of self-seeking individuals is not a society. A society is a social system. A successful social system is one that can support its members. Once a self-sustaining social system exists, then there is a basis for people to branch out on their own. But without a sustainable social system, there can be nothing.
To create a sustainable society in the United States requires the abandonment of dogmatic ways of thinking. Old ideologies are in the way. We and our leaders must think creatively if we are to successfully deal with the health and economic crisis.
(Republished from PaulCraigRoberts.org by permission of author or representative)


russia-insider--2020-03-24--Top Jewish Billionaire Speculator Begs Trump to Lock EVERYONE Down - 'HELL Is Coming' (Bill Ackman,

Top Jewish Billionaire Speculator Begs Trump to Lock EVERYONE Down - 'HELL Is Coming' (Bill Ackman, Audio + Transcript)

The team at FTN think that the risk of very hard economic times hitting us is very high , and very real .
They devoted most of their weekend show to the subject .
So they drill down into the pronouncements of famous billionaire stock fiddler and all around Jewish financial parasite Bill Ackman , predicting complete armageddon .
Entertaining stuff .
Listen to the whole episode here .
This one is free , not behind their paywall , so enjoy .
About the FTN and TRS podcasts : FTN and the other podcasts on the TRS podcast platform have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ understanding American politics .
In a highly professional and competent manner , they analyze topics , including Jewish influence , that others wo n't .
The FTN podcast in particular is hard news focused , delivering fresh dissident angles on current events that ruthlessly challenge the mainstream narrative .
Some of their episodes are free to the public , while others are behind a $ 10 monthly paywall , probably the best value in American journalism today because you get access to several excellent shows for that price .
We highly recommend Eric @ @ @ @ @ @ @ excellent National Justice website ) , and Mike Enoch 's 'Strike and Mike ' ( 1X per week ) which are also more hard news focused .
The Daily Shoah with Mike Enoch , Jesse Dunstan , and Alex McNabb , ( 3X per week ) , which is a less formal , Joe Rogan style radio talk show , is also excellent .
Transcript : the following is machine transcribed .
There may be some errors , but it is surprisingly accurate .
Jazzhands McFeels : And so I sort of alluded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this this Jewish hedge fund manager named Bill Ackman .
Now , there 's been a lot of bad takes on Bill Ackman .
I mean , some people have been pointing to his tweet , which then turned into a 28 minute interview on CNBC .
Halftime report .
I have taken out the choice audio of this and have boiled it all down into the most important parts .
Jazzhands McFeels : But he tweeted on on Wednesday early in the morning , Mr. President , the only answer is to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 30 days and close the borders , shut it down .
Tell all Americans that you 're putting us on an extended spring break at home with family keep only essential services open .
The government pays all wages until we reopen .
This is panic mode because they know if they do n't do this , it 's going to be a problem .
Jazzhands McFeels : And one of the things I 'll point out is that the the economic breakdown , the way that it 's taking shape today , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ except you 'd argue that this is on a trajectory to be much worse , is that it 's this economy .
Dow thirty thousand , bloviating Donald with jobs for everybody , blacks and Asians and Browns and whatever he does , it 's the only thing that legitimizes the political system because you take that away , even take 33 percent of it away is what we 've seen in the last couple of weeks .
And the whole political system gets turned upside down .
Right .
Like the whole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are still trying to do do their usual shtick , but they 're not able to pull it off .
And what happened in 2008 actually led to the radicalization that made politicians like Trump and Bernie possible .
Right .
So if this continues , it 's this is this imbalance .
Right .
Jazzhands McFeels : The pendulum swinging back and forth in every direction that people think that it does .
And you 're gon na get Republican and then Democrat and then Republican and then Democrat .
Jazzhands McFeels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more extreme Republican , more extreme Democrat .
And things are starting to come out of balance .
And they do n't like that because it costs them a lot of money , time , effort and mask slippage to try to bring it back into balance .
And they did that successfully with Barack Obama .
Jazzhands McFeels : But is it going to play out that way in the long run ?
Maybe .
Maybe not .
But I 'll let you weigh in here , James , before I start @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : And this thing is the conditions for the middle class have not improved .
In fact , they 've gotten worse from 2007 to now .
If you were to even remove 0 8 through 2010 from your calculus , people have less in savings .
People are poorer , people are more overextended on their debts and people ca n't get raises and have n't seen wage increases at knew where they work in decades in many cases .
And so people are increasingly adopting these .
I do n't know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they 're adopting these positions where they 're demanding more from this system .
They demanded more with Trump .
Many people demanded more in 2016 with Bernie .
James Allsup : And these solutions that the ruling class have to offer us are becoming more and more extreme in a way that they do n't like either .
Right .
They would they would be perfectly content to just do that to 2.2 trillion QE , whatever and have that be the only discussion .
They do not like the fact that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ talking point , almost unanimous people saying , yeah , give us UBI during this period .
And in fact , because if that becomes a part of the calculus , then there will be , people say , moving the conversation further , saying , you know what ?
Why do n't you just give us UBI all the time ?
And that 's something they definitely do n't want to be doing .
Jazzhands McFeels : No , they definitely do n't want to be moving in that direction .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says with a grain of salt , because some people were looking to Ackmann , not even understanding that he 's a Jew and not even understanding what his background is , not even understanding that , you know , his role with the Herba Life short and everything else .
You have to really look into this guy and you have to understand exactly what he 's doing here .
And some of this had to do with him shorting stocks that day in order to make make some money .
That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about .
Jazzhands McFeels : But this is this is a guy who is also freaking out about the state of affairs and that they ca n't see the bottom .
They do n't know what 's coming .
Jazzhands McFeels : And a lot of the the rational fears that he has about the disease itself and the spread of it are a lot of things that I can actually I think we can all sort of relate to in terms of seeing what was coming ahead of the curve and reacting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ somebody who sees a billionaire .
He sits at the top of the strata and he is somebody who has a lot to lose from this .
In fact , everything , because they have invested everything in the United States of America .
And , you know , they depend on our military for for the future of Israel and the Israel project .
Jazzhands McFeels : And so this you have to understand why he 's reacting to this in a different way than than perhaps we would , but for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bill ackmann .
It 's kind of a longer piece of audio , but I think it 's all important .
And then there 's a couple smaller pieces .
But this is the this is the streamline express to go version of the .
Of the 28 minute interview .
And again , this is supposed to be a phone call in to CNBC to be like , you know , give us your read on the economy , Bill .
And he just went on for 28 minutes and actually made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Walter .
Walter , something from CNBC got him uncomfortable .
And it 's funny to listen to his reaction to ackmann .
So here it is .
James has n't heard this before .
I have .
So here we go .
Bill Ackman : Mr. President , the only answer is to shut down the country for the next 30 days and close the borders .
You say tell all Americans that you are putting us on an extended spring break at home with family keeping only essential services open @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reopen .
I know from our conversations that you have been worried for some time .
What ?
How did it manifest today with these tweets and going public ?
Bill Ackman : Maybe just a little bit context .
You know , I 'm an optimist , but beginning in late January , I was getting increasingly bearish and I woke up with a nightmare .
And my nightmare was you have this virus that replicates and infects incredibly rapidly .
You know , each person infects two and half people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people .
No one becomes two , two becomes four , four become sixteen , sixteen , 256 , sixty five thousand .
You get to just massive , massive numbers .
I 'm watching this thing rollout in China .
It kills 1 to 2 percent of the people in China .
The number has been closer to 4 .
People think that 's because the health systems been overwhelmed , but 1 to 2 percent means friends and family are going to die .
Bill Ackman : The concentration was triple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , older people with longer cardiac conditions .
I have a father is almost 81 .
He 's got to get lung cancer .
He lost two thirds of his lung capacity as a result of surgery , got some health issues , and yet you have a virus .
The other thing that really scared me is , unlike the flu , where when you 're sick , you know you have it .
Here you go .
As much as two weeks without showing any symptoms , maybe a little bit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 're incredibly infectious .
And I thought the combination of that , the fact that this virus lives on surfaces for as much as nine days , if we believe what we 're reading means this thing can spread everywhere .
Bill Ackman : And when China shut down Wuhan , they told people , you know , 12 hours from now we 're going to shut down Wuhan .
Well , what happened ?
Five million people left , Wuhan ?
5 million people dispersed around China and 5 million people dispersed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus .
And I think people are just not used to thinking about exponential compounding on a daily basis .
In the beginning , you do n't see anything .
And I think the fact that was it sort of people were press reports that it only killed old people and only killed sick people .
I think it made most of the country not particular concerned .
I think the fact that , you know , 99 percent of the people lived made most of the people not concerned .
The fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was like far away .
And , you know , Chinese have unusual dietary that , you know , have some things we do n't eat .
I just think all of these things made people not take it seriously .
But when I did the math , I said , you know , the laws of probability tell me this thing is going to be everywhere .
Everyone , 50 percent of the world is going to get infected .
And I sort of rolled this thing forward and I said it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of time .
Interviewer : Do you take comfort in in some of the steps that have been taken ?
It certainly appears as though our response now from a federal level is much better than it was initially .
I think we can all admit and take comfort that it is ramped up now .
What about the steps that have been taken ?
The city in which you live is considering a shelter and home .
Right .
Know declaration .
Bill Ackman : I think Governor Cuomo has done a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ White House , the president , the vice president are finally doing taking a lot of the necessary steps .
But it 's not enough .
And the reason why it 's not enough is the only way what 's going to happen if we continue the way we are operating is until a vaccine is manufactured , distributed and injected .
We will go through a depression era period in the country and millions of people will die around the globe .
And as many as a million Americans are going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , OK ?
And the problem is , if you lock down New York , what will happen is Governor Cuomo will say , OK , we 're locking down New York ... You know , there was a rumor of that .
So what did everyone do ?
Everyone got out of New York moves , went somewhere else because they did n't .
No one wants to be locked out .
And they and they spread the virus and they 're not doing it , you know , to cause anyone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know that they 're infected .
You know , the so-called are not you know , the reproduction number of the virus , I think is much higher , particularly in .
Group of people .
We have a group of people that are , you know , 20 to 30 , the millennials , they 're going out .
They 're having fun .
They do n't feel sick .
Not afraid of anything .
And they are spreading this everywhere .
And by the way , when the college is shut @ @ @ @ @ @ @ break and they spread it everywhere .
Bill Ackman : And so I think there 's a very high probability that millions of Americans have the virus .
And I 'll give you some interesting anecdotal data points .
So we took very aggressive measures at Pershing Square , know , because I was obviously very bearish on this .
On February twenty seventh , I told the firm , we 're going to work from home .
We have a small firm .
We 've got 50 people .
We already have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ working from home for three weeks .
We have two people out of 50 that are likely to have the coronavirus based on their symptoms or waiting for outcomes in one case , for a test .
The other the other one is not an ca n't get a test or it was in a place where it 's more difficult for them to get a test .
But , you know , it 's kind of 4 percent of our company taking aggressive , aggressive measures .
So it 's incredibly widespread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we heard on the president 's announcement , and this is if you actually track fall Twitter , this was out a few days ago .
It 's killing young people .
It 's killing healthy people .
Right .
I think originally what happened if this broke out in New York and it was killing babies , OK , the country would not have taken the approach it has taken .
OK , but that is the approach that we have to take .
Assume it 's going to kill your child @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so he starts to that 's that 's just the first five minutes of this interview with with ackmann .
And he starts to get he starts to get pretty upset .
Now he 's calling for is the same thing in his tweet , 30 days shutdown of everything .
And he says and he goes on to make the case that .
That if unless you do that and he 's not wrong about this , is that most company like Hilton Hotels and Marriott Hotels ca n't survive 30 days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Can they survive a quarter ?
Definitely not .
And so what he 's saying is , you know , this whole financial system , as everybody understands MMT or not , is a house of cards .
And MMT can sort of be like super glue holding the cards up .
You know , here and there .
But if you drop a cinder block on top of that house of cards , that house of cards is going to stand up .
It 's not going to survive a tornado @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a hurricane .
And what he 's saying is this incremental penny ante stuff and he illustrates a good point that we actually have not brought up on the show , which is that these rumors of shut downs and closed downs of different places , even if they give people a six hour lead time or a 12 hour lead time , given what we know about the incubation period of the virus .
Jazzhands McFeels : How many people left New York and fled to different places ?
I mean , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When you have different rules , people are moving all over the country .
Flights are still moving , whatever .
And you 're not going to know for two weeks how bad this thing 's getting .
And you 're already seeing the data like like , look , I would n't react to this guy if I had n't had these thoughts myself .
And you had n't had these thoughts yourself three weeks ago , four weeks ago , that this was coming .
And this guy 's on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is tanking , saying these things .
I mean , again , he could be shorting stock .
There could be different things going on .
But the guy gets emotional .
And we 're gon na play some of that audio , too .
But I want to get your reaction to some of the stuff he 's he 's been saying so far .
James Allsup : Yeah , I think that point about the one announcement of a quarantine actually led to further dispersion of the virus .
That 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the other problem of what we what we 're doing in America , too , with this sort of slow rolling incrementalism where New York says , like , yeah , we 're gon na shut some things down .
And then a week later , yeah , we 're to shut some more things down .
People people have a sense for what 's coming .
Some people do .
And they have a sense that they do n't want to be around when that shutdown happens .
And they certainly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ major metropolitan city when you know things when movement becomes restricted .
And , you know , they see the videos out of China about people who were locked in .
They 're locked in their skyscrapers with the doors welded shut .
And I think , yeah , that 's not for me .
And so they leave and they go elsewhere .
They go there , New York to rural Pennsylvania .
If they 're from Washington state , as many as was the original epicenter .
People go to Oregon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you you have these people that are then carriers that are then introducing this virus into the more rural parts of the country , parts of the country that do n't have .
I mean , like his example with China 's healthcare system being inadequate .
Rural America has many of the same health care inadequacies that rural China does .
And in fact , worse in many places as so many of these hospitals have gone bankrupt in recent years .
So , yeah , I think this is absolutely a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actually heard anyone else besides Mr. Bill ackmann bring up .
Jazzhands McFeels : Yeah , and it 's one of the reasons why you need national level draconian measures taken in in China .
You know , a lot of people are , you know , doing lightswitch brain takes on China like we going to talk about China in the bonus in the bonus lap of the show .
Jazzhands McFeels : But people are taking this this sort of like absolutist brain .
Take a light switch , brain take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Therefore , China solved problem .
Well , China did n't close its borders .
China gave people lead time before they were going to shut it down .
Jazzhands McFeels : I 'm not saying they did it on purpose because they 're doing it here in the United States .
You can make the argument whether or not it 's the same incremental bullshit is actually leading to more problems , whether that 's on purpose or not .
Jazzhands McFeels : The fact of the matter is it has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And you know this , you know China .
China is possibly lying , potentially lying .
I think they 're lying about their numbers .
Jazzhands McFeels : But that 's different than the criticism of China that that the United States government has been perpetrating via the CIA and the deep state and neoconservatives and their Shabbos people on the dissident right have been , you know , funny enough , defending Charlie Weinstein and now defending deep state positions on on on all of that as well .
Jazzhands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how that works out .
Jazzhands McFeels : But the the notion that that this can this penny ante , incremental change , change can sort of go on .
It 's it 's not like the economy is a very complex system and each each bad set of news , you know , you pull seven million people out of the economy .
That 's not just the businesses that employed 7 million people who are not making their money anymore .
That 's 7 million people who do n't have the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and mortgages .
Jazzhands McFeels : And it has I think , most people do n't understand how these effects take shape .
And if that happens slowly over time , what happens is these businesses that depend on the revenue to survive at all start going down .
And then that leads to more job loss .
And that 's pretty soon the whole system starts collapsing on itself .
And I know people do n't like that term , but the reality is , is that the system is very fragile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the same time argue that the system is strong and resilient and can last forever when in reality , you know , it 's like , OK , then why did n't the Dow stop dropping at twenty five thousand right in point to point to me , the people that are making trillions of dollars off of this .
Jazzhands McFeels : No , they 're not .
You can make the argument that people are buying up stocks at lower prices .
Sure , there 's gon na be vulture capitalists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But those same vulture capitalist like Bill Ackman himself , Mr Herbalife short guy , he is calling for a total shutdown of this .
Would n't it be better for ackmann for this to go on for a long time so that he can he can take care of this ?
No .
They want a complete , total shutdown of everything .
And ackmann is also advocating , by the way , that all wages for employees get paid by the government .
This is a guy who 's not even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rebate check that the Republicans and Democrats want to send to people .
He 's actually just saying pay everyone 's wages .
Please make this pain go away as quickly as possible , because if you do n't and you drag this out for a long period time , you 're going to end up in a lot of a lot of financial trouble .
And we could lose our capitalism is what what I read between the lines and what this guy 's saying .
James Allsup : So , yeah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ read it to , too .
He 's not looking at the US as something that he is deeply invested in being a part of .
They 're viewing it .
They 're viewing their position as doing things to it in order to keep this thing running for longer , to keep this this .
Yeah , this economic construction .
They have setup running and profiting them for longer .
That 's what they 're interested in .
Jazzhands McFeels : Because because if it goes away like their whole their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like it did in Germany 80 or 90 years ago .
It 's kind of funny when you look at when you overlay graphs that are 90 years old from Germany and graphs that are five days old from the United States , it 's funny how that works .
I know the thing .
I know it 's not exactly the same , but that 's what these people are thinking in these dire economic straits .
People start pointing fingers , you know , and part of the whole part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in ever , never ending supply of product in digital dopamine hits flowing with people .
And now all of a sudden , all of that is evaporating and it 's evaporating very , very quickly .
James Allsup : Right .
And how many fingers were pointed at noses as a result of 2008 and the ensuing action ?
It was sort of like cards , you know , cards falling down as a result of that .
And if we have a crisis even more destructive , even larger in magnitude @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they certainly do n't know .
And this is why I mean , they 're viewing this as like a client state , right ?
This is how the US would would treat what what they 're how they 're talking about .
The U.S. is the same way the U.S. would treat some insurrection in some client states somewhere or something that we just want to manage .
They would shut it down and not be concerned about , you know , like these these fake concerns .
But , oh , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , people , you know , our economy 's going to suffer for it .
If you 're interested in in the long term survival of this entity , whatever this entity may be , you have to embrace the pain of making the right decision for the long term .
You can not tease it out over a long period of time and and allow things to fester like we are here .
No , no , you ca n't .
Jazzhands McFeels : So here 's more Bill ackmann audio .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ is , but the .
These are short .
These ones are the rest of them are short .
And these are all like heightened state of of the sky just starts to get very upset .
Bill Ackman : We do this where it just incrementally over time until there 's a vaccine .
We 're done .
And what will happen is , you know , the hotel industry and the restaurant industry will go bankrupt first .
Boeing is on the brink .
Boeing will not survive without a government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ airline industry , auto industry , restaurant industry , hotel industry .
You know what ?
Capitalism does not work in an 18 month shutdown .
Capitalism can work in a 30 day shutdown .
And we 've got to do the 30 day shutdown .
And if the president has to bring out the National Guard to keep people in their homes , which I do n't think he will need to do , he should do it .
Jazzhands McFeels : He added it keeps going .
Hold on .
Bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right now .
OK .
It just does n't know it yet .
Or is it ?
No .
Yes .
But no one .
Yes .
OK. Hotels .
Every hotel is going to shut every one of them .
OK .
Except ones that have government workers in a particular location for whatever reason .
Other than that they 're all going to shut .
OK. Every airlines will stop flying .
OK. An airline without revenues is toast .
OK. And you can bridge the airline for a short period @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ca n't bridge it for years .
OK. At the an airline industry goes bankrupt .
The hotel industry goes bankrupt .
The restaurant industry goes bankrupt .
And by the way .
Private equity goes bankrupt .
OK. Blackstone is a fabulous private equity firm , KKR .
They do tremendous job , but every one of their companies has a lot of leverage .
Every one of their companies goes bankrupt if this thing rolls out over 18 months .
Jazzhands McFeels : And what he means by a lot of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overleveraged , means that they 've already dipped into their credit lines .
It means that they 've already spent everything that they can in a lot of that has been on stock buybacks .
I mean , a lot of it was irresponsible spending .
It was not investing in the actual companies themselves .
And you know , this this is the same promises were made under the Obama administration that these bailouts .
You know , the money could only be used to help American work .
We 've heard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never worked out in that way .
And if it 's any indication about how it 's going to work out this time .
Look at what they 've done with this quote unquote , UBI .
It 's not UBI .
It 's universal bloviation .
And I mean , that 's what they 've done .
And it 's the same it 's the same old shit .
So you want to hear the last clip or you want to react before I go on .
James Allsup : Let 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for more .
Jazzhands McFeels : Ok .
So this is the this is where he goes like full , shut it down .
He does it .
It 's great .
Bill Ackman : And I felt it was really I 've never had this experience before my life .
The closeness I had was the financial crisis where I 'm saying , you know , things are bad stuff coming .
But this was a feeling like I 've never had .
Like there 's a tsunami coming .
Right .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ feel it in the air .
Right .
The tide starts to roll out .
OK. And on the beach , people are playing and having fun like there 's nothing going on .
And that is the feeling I 've had for the last two months .
OK. And my colleagues at work , OK , thought it was a lunatic .
A lunatic .
I did stuff I 've never done before .
I 've never had more than like 200 bucks in my wallet .
OK .
I went to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ large amount of money in cash because of this concern .
I made preparations a month ago .
OK. More than a month ago , I again , this all the relevant what 's happened the past .
I just think that the bottom line is it 's a really simple answer .
I 'm very confident the White House is considering it .
But what 's scaring the American people and corporate America is the gradual rollout of of what 's going on .
Bill Ackman : We need to shut it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I 'm down now .
Got it down now .
Shut it down now .
Bill Ackman : America will end as we know it .
I 'm sorry to say so .
OK .
Unless we take this option , OK. And therefore , I believe is a certainty in the very short term .
OK. That the president 's going to go on TV .
Is he going to say , America , it 's time to go on spring break at home ?
Jazzhands McFeels : And yet , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if you want to argue that this guy is intentionally scaring the shit out of people in order to get them to sell all their stock , and then he 's going to buy it up .
I mean , you can make that argument , but he 's telling he wants the president to shut it all down , like he 's telling them to turn everything off .
And he 's calling for things that are pretty extreme .
Not from our perspective .
But calling for things like pay everybody @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for all these companies and do it for 30 days and make one uniform rule for everyone .
I mean , it 's a great policy if you want to stop the spread of the virus .
It 's also a great policy if you do n't want the system that many of his Co-ethnics have been so invested in for the last 80 years , like he 's speaking to them as much as he 's speaking to the president and everybody else , which is that if you do n't do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this penny ante incrementalist bullshit like this is not going to work out for all of us .
It will lose everything if you catch .
James Allsup : Yeah , yeah , we lose everything .
It 's not going to be something we rebound from within a decade like 0 8 was or like the 80s were .
It 's going to be fundamental and we 're going to lose so much more .
And it 's also going to give way to people just becoming essentially out of control politically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the system once again .
But more so than they did in 2008 .
So I think , yeah , you can question his motivations and and look to what may be motivating him to make these prescriptions .
But I do n't disagree with anything that he 's saying here .
I think he 's he 's right on as far as potential solutions go .
Jazzhands McFeels : I agree with him for the wrong reasons , his reasons are because he he he feels that the system is in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you know , he gives these , you know , these these anecdotes about his father and , you know , children and all the some of them were very real and very emotional appeals .
But , you know , the idea that he cares about broad , broad America , the broad American public , I mean , this suggests that people understand when he says the government should pay all wages until it reopens .
Jazzhands McFeels : He 's not saying that because he cares , he 's saying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that money on other things .
Jazzhands McFeels : Now , that 's a healthy economy , right ?
Like people are spending the money that they 're given to support the service economy that that has been foisted upon us .
Jazzhands McFeels : We do n't have manufacturing , but he supports that , because if the government does n't do that , the whole thing falls apart .

The team at FTN think that the risk of very hard economic times hitting us is very high, and very real. They devoted most of their weekend show to the subject.
So they drill down into the pronouncements of famous billionaire stock fiddler and all around Jewish financial parasite Bill Ackman, predicting complete armageddon. Entertaining stuff. Listen to the whole episode here. This one is free, not behind their paywall, so enjoy.
Transcript below.
Mr. President, the only answer is to shut down the country for the next 30 days and close the borders. Tell all Americans that you are putting us on an extended Spring Break at home with family. Keep only essential services open. The government pays wages until we reopen. — Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) March 18, 2020
(Backup audio player in case YouTube decides to censor the original video)
From the FTN Website:
In an emotional 28 minute interview on CNBC’s Halftime Report last week, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman phoned in from his bunker to tell CNBC’s finance savvy audience that “hell is coming” and the only way America survives is to shut down everything for 30 days. The current pace of penny ante incrementalism must stop or capitalism cannot be saved, per Ackman. Jazz and James play some critical parts of the interview and tell you the real reasons Ackman (and others) are losing their shit. Full episode: https://therightstuff.biz/2020/03/21/ftn-298-an-inconvenient-coof/
About the FTN and TRS podcasts:
FTN and the other podcasts on the TRS podcast platform have become required listening for anyone serious about understanding American politics. In a highly professional and competent manner, they analyze topics, including Jewish influence, that others won't.
The FTN podcast in particular is hard news focused, delivering fresh dissident angles on current events that ruthlessly challenge the mainstream narrative.
Some of their episodes are free to the public, while others are behind a $10 monthly paywall, probably the best value in American journalism today because you get access to several excellent shows for that price. We highly recommend Eric Striker's, (editor of the excellent National Justice website), and Mike Enoch's 'Strike and Mike' (1X per week) which are also more hard news focused. The Daily Shoah with Mike Enoch, Jesse Dunstan, and Alex McNabb, (3X per week), which is a less formal, Joe Rogan style radio talk show, is also excellent.
Transcript: the following is machine transcribed. There may be some errors, but it is surprisingly accurate.
Jazzhands McFeels:
And so I sort of alluded to this before. But you have this this Jewish hedge fund manager named Bill Ackman. Now, there's been a lot of bad takes on Bill Ackman. I mean, some people have been pointing to his tweet, which then turned into a 28 minute interview on CNBC. Halftime report. I have taken out the choice audio of this and have boiled it all down into the most important parts.
Jazzhands McFeels:
But he tweeted on on Wednesday early in the morning, Mr. President, the only answer is to shut down the country for the next 30 days and close the borders, shut it down. Tell all Americans that you're putting us on an extended spring break at home with family keep only essential services open. The government pays all wages until we reopen. This is panic mode because they know if they don't do this, it's going to be a problem.
Jazzhands McFeels:
And one of the things I'll point out is that the the economic breakdown, the way that it's taking shape today, just as it did in 2008, except you'd argue that this is on a trajectory to be much worse, is that it's this economy. Dow thirty thousand, bloviating Donald with jobs for everybody, blacks and Asians and Browns and whatever he does, it's the only thing that legitimizes the political system because you take that away, even take 33 percent of it away is what we've seen in the last couple of weeks. And the whole political system gets turned upside down. Right. Like the whole, you know, Republicans and Democrats are still trying to do do their usual shtick, but they're not able to pull it off. And what happened in 2008 actually led to the radicalization that made politicians like Trump and Bernie possible. Right. So if this continues, it's this is this imbalance. Right.
Jazzhands McFeels:
The pendulum swinging back and forth in every direction that people think that it does. And you're gonna get Republican and then Democrat and then Republican and then Democrat.
Jazzhands McFeels:
But what you've gotten is more extreme Republican, more extreme Democrat. And things are starting to come out of balance. And they don't like that because it costs them a lot of money, time, effort and mask slippage to try to bring it back into balance. And they did that successfully with Barack Obama.
Jazzhands McFeels:
But is it going to play out that way in the long run? Maybe. Maybe not. But I'll let you weigh in here, James, before I start the the Ackmann audio.
James Allsup:
And this thing is the conditions for the middle class have not improved. In fact, they've gotten worse from 2007 to now. If you were to even remove 0 8 through 2010 from your calculus, people have less in savings. People are poorer, people are more overextended on their debts and people can't get raises and haven't seen wage increases at knew where they work in decades in many cases. And so people are increasingly adopting these. I don't know if you call them illiberal, but they're adopting these positions where they're demanding more from this system. They demanded more with Trump. Many people demanded more in 2016 with Bernie.
James Allsup:
And these solutions that the ruling class have to offer us are becoming more and more extreme in a way that they don't like either. Right. They would they would be perfectly content to just do that to 2.2 trillion QE, whatever and have that be the only discussion. They do not like the fact that that it's now a very common talking point, almost unanimous people saying, yeah, give us UBI during this period. And in fact, because if that becomes a part of the calculus, then there will be, people say, moving the conversation further, saying, you know what? Why don't you just give us UBI all the time? And that's something they definitely don't want to be doing.
Jazzhands McFeels:
No, they definitely don't want to be moving in that direction. And so you have to take what ackmann says with a grain of salt, because some people were looking to Ackmann, not even understanding that he's a Jew and not even understanding what his background is, not even understanding that, you know, his role with the Herba Life short and everything else. You have to really look into this guy and you have to understand exactly what he's doing here. And some of this had to do with him shorting stocks that day in order to make make some money. That's part of what this was all about.
Jazzhands McFeels:
But this is this is a guy who is also freaking out about the state of affairs and that they can't see the bottom. They don't know what's coming.
Jazzhands McFeels:
And a lot of the the rational fears that he has about the disease itself and the spread of it are a lot of things that I can actually I think we can all sort of relate to in terms of seeing what was coming ahead of the curve and reacting to it. And this guy is somebody who sees a billionaire. He sits at the top of the strata and he is somebody who has a lot to lose from this. In fact, everything, because they have invested everything in the United States of America. And, you know, they depend on our military for for the future of Israel and the Israel project.
Jazzhands McFeels:
And so this you have to understand why he's reacting to this in a different way than than perhaps we would, but for the same reasons. So this is Bill ackmann. It's kind of a longer piece of audio, but I think it's all important. And then there's a couple smaller pieces. But this is the this is the streamline express to go version of the. Of the 28 minute interview. And again, this is supposed to be a phone call in to CNBC to be like, you know, give us your read on the economy, Bill. And he just went on for 28 minutes and actually made the the the guy, I think. Walter. Walter, something from CNBC got him uncomfortable. And it's funny to listen to his reaction to ackmann. So here it is. James hasn't heard this before. I have. So here we go.
Bill Ackman:
Mr. President, the only answer is to shut down the country for the next 30 days and close the borders. You say tell all Americans that you are putting us on an extended spring break at home with family keeping only essential services open. The government pays wages until we reopen. I know from our conversations that you have been worried for some time. What? How did it manifest today with these tweets and going public?
Bill Ackman:
Maybe just a little bit context. You know, I'm an optimist, but beginning in late January, I was getting increasingly bearish and I woke up with a nightmare. And my nightmare was you have this virus that replicates and infects incredibly rapidly. You know, each person infects two and half people, each of whom infect two and half people. No one becomes two, two becomes four, four become sixteen, sixteen, 256, sixty five thousand. You get to just massive, massive numbers. I'm watching this thing rollout in China. It kills 1 to 2 percent of the people in China. The number has been closer to 4. People think that's because the health systems been overwhelmed, but 1 to 2 percent means friends and family are going to die.
Bill Ackman:
The concentration was triple the effect for sort of older people, older people with longer cardiac conditions. I have a father is almost 81. He's got to get lung cancer. He lost two thirds of his lung capacity as a result of surgery, got some health issues, and yet you have a virus. The other thing that really scared me is, unlike the flu, where when you're sick, you know you have it. Here you go. As much as two weeks without showing any symptoms, maybe a little bit of a cold. Meanwhile, you're incredibly infectious. And I thought the combination of that, the fact that this virus lives on surfaces for as much as nine days, if we believe what we're reading means this thing can spread everywhere.
Bill Ackman:
And when China shut down Wuhan, they told people, you know, 12 hours from now we're going to shut down Wuhan. Well, what happened? Five million people left, Wuhan? 5 million people dispersed around China and 5 million people dispersed around the world and it seeded the virus. And I think people are just not used to thinking about exponential compounding on a daily basis. In the beginning, you don't see anything. And I think the fact that was it sort of people were press reports that it only killed old people and only killed sick people. I think it made most of the country not particular concerned. I think the fact that, you know, 99 percent of the people lived made most of the people not concerned. The fact that it was in China, it was like far away. And, you know, Chinese have unusual dietary that, you know, have some things we don't eat. I just think all of these things made people not take it seriously. But when I did the math, I said, you know, the laws of probability tell me this thing is going to be everywhere. Everyone, 50 percent of the world is going to get infected. And I sort of rolled this thing forward and I said it's just it's just a matter of time.
Interviewer:
Do you take comfort in in some of the steps that have been taken? It certainly appears as though our response now from a federal level is much better than it was initially. I think we can all admit and take comfort that it is ramped up now. What about the steps that have been taken? The city in which you live is considering a shelter and home. Right. Know declaration.
Bill Ackman:
I think Governor Cuomo has done a superb job. And I think the White House, the president, the vice president are finally doing taking a lot of the necessary steps. But it's not enough. And the reason why it's not enough is the only way what's going to happen if we continue the way we are operating is until a vaccine is manufactured, distributed and injected. We will go through a depression era period in the country and millions of people will die around the globe. And as many as a million Americans are going to die. And it's just math, OK? And the problem is, if you lock down New York, what will happen is Governor Cuomo will say, OK, we're locking down New York... You know, there was a rumor of that. So what did everyone do? Everyone got out of New York moves, went somewhere else because they didn't. No one wants to be locked out. And they and they spread the virus and they're not doing it, you know, to cause anyone harm. That is don't even know that they're infected. You know, the so-called are not you know, the reproduction number of the virus, I think is much higher, particularly in. Group of people. We have a group of people that are, you know, 20 to 30, the millennials, they're going out. They're having fun. They don't feel sick. Not afraid of anything. And they are spreading this everywhere. And by the way, when the college is shut down, they all go on spring break and they spread it everywhere.
Bill Ackman:
And so I think there's a very high probability that millions of Americans have the virus. And I'll give you some interesting anecdotal data points. So we took very aggressive measures at Pershing Square, know, because I was obviously very bearish on this. On February twenty seventh, I told the firm, we're going to work from home. We have a small firm. We've got 50 people. We already have two people. And we've been working from home for three weeks. We have two people out of 50 that are likely to have the coronavirus based on their symptoms or waiting for outcomes in one case, for a test. The other the other one is not an can't get a test or it was in a place where it's more difficult for them to get a test. But, you know, it's kind of 4 percent of our company taking aggressive, aggressive measures. So it's incredibly widespread. It's deadly. And as we heard on the president's announcement, and this is if you actually track fall Twitter, this was out a few days ago. It's killing young people. It's killing healthy people. Right. I think originally what happened if this broke out in New York and it was killing babies, OK, the country would not have taken the approach it has taken. OK, but that is the approach that we have to take. Assume it's going to kill your child.
Jazzhands McFeels:
Yeah. And so he starts to that's that's just the first five minutes of this interview with with ackmann. And he starts to get he starts to get pretty upset. Now he's calling for is the same thing in his tweet, 30 days shutdown of everything. And he says and he goes on to make the case that. That if unless you do that and he's not wrong about this, is that most company like Hilton Hotels and Marriott Hotels can't survive 30 days with no revenue. Maybe they could. Can they survive a quarter? Definitely not. And so what he's saying is, you know, this whole financial system, as everybody understands MMT or not, is a house of cards. And MMT can sort of be like super glue holding the cards up. You know, here and there. But if you drop a cinder block on top of that house of cards, that house of cards is going to stand up. It's not going to survive a tornado. It's not going to survive a hurricane. And what he's saying is this incremental penny ante stuff and he illustrates a good point that we actually have not brought up on the show, which is that these rumors of shut downs and closed downs of different places, even if they give people a six hour lead time or a 12 hour lead time, given what we know about the incubation period of the virus.
Jazzhands McFeels:
How many people left New York and fled to different places? I mean, he's not wrong about that. When you have different rules, people are moving all over the country. Flights are still moving, whatever. And you're not going to know for two weeks how bad this thing's getting. And you're already seeing the data like like, look, I wouldn't react to this guy if I hadn't had these thoughts myself. And you hadn't had these thoughts yourself three weeks ago, four weeks ago, that this was coming. And this guy's on a financial show on Wednesday as the market is tanking, saying these things. I mean, again, he could be shorting stock. There could be different things going on. But the guy gets emotional. And we're gonna play some of that audio, too. But I want to get your reaction to some of the stuff he's he's been saying so far.
James Allsup:
Yeah, I think that point about the one announcement of a quarantine actually led to further dispersion of the virus. That's that's exactly right. And this is the other problem of what we what we're doing in America, too, with this sort of slow rolling incrementalism where New York says, like, yeah, we're gonna shut some things down. And then a week later, yeah, we're to shut some more things down. People people have a sense for what's coming. Some people do. And they have a sense that they don't want to be around when that shutdown happens. And they certainly don't want to be in a major metropolitan city when you know things when movement becomes restricted. And, you know, they see the videos out of China about people who were locked in. They're locked in their skyscrapers with the doors welded shut. And I think, yeah, that's not for me. And so they leave and they go elsewhere. They go there, New York to rural Pennsylvania. If they're from Washington state, as many as was the original epicenter. People go to Oregon. People go to Idaho. And you you have these people that are then carriers that are then introducing this virus into the more rural parts of the country, parts of the country that don't have. I mean, like his example with China's healthcare system being inadequate. Rural America has many of the same health care inadequacies that rural China does. And in fact, worse in many places as so many of these hospitals have gone bankrupt in recent years. So, yeah, I think this is absolutely a very salient point that I haven't actually heard anyone else besides Mr. Bill ackmann bring up.
Jazzhands McFeels:
Yeah, and it's one of the reasons why you need national level draconian measures taken in in China. You know, a lot of people are, you know, doing lightswitch brain takes on China like we going to talk about China in the bonus in the bonus lap of the show.
Jazzhands McFeels:
But people are taking this this sort of like absolutist brain. Take a light switch, brain take off like China did, draconian measure. Therefore, China solved problem. Well, China didn't close its borders. China gave people lead time before they were going to shut it down.
Jazzhands McFeels:
I'm not saying they did it on purpose because they're doing it here in the United States. You can make the argument whether or not it's the same incremental bullshit is actually leading to more problems, whether that's on purpose or not.
Jazzhands McFeels:
The fact of the matter is it has a definitive outcome that is not good. And you know this, you know China. China is possibly lying, potentially lying. I think they're lying about their numbers.
Jazzhands McFeels:
But that's different than the criticism of China that that the United States government has been perpetrating via the CIA and the deep state and neoconservatives and their Shabbos people on the dissident right have been, you know, funny enough, defending Charlie Weinstein and now defending deep state positions on on on all of that as well.
Jazzhands McFeels:
It's sort of funny how that works out.
Jazzhands McFeels:
But the the notion that that this can this penny ante, incremental change, change can sort of go on. It's it's not like the economy is a very complex system and each each bad set of news, you know, you pull seven million people out of the economy. That's not just the businesses that employed 7 million people who are not making their money anymore. That's 7 million people who don't have the money to spend on things like cars and mortgages.
Jazzhands McFeels:
And it has I think, most people don't understand how these effects take shape. And if that happens slowly over time, what happens is these businesses that depend on the revenue to survive at all start going down. And then that leads to more job loss. And that's pretty soon the whole system starts collapsing on itself. And I know people don't like that term, but the reality is, is that the system is very fragile. And you can't. At the same time argue that the system is strong and resilient and can last forever when in reality, you know, it's like, OK, then why didn't the Dow stop dropping at twenty five thousand right in point to point to me, the people that are making trillions of dollars off of this.
Jazzhands McFeels:
No, they're not. You can make the argument that people are buying up stocks at lower prices. Sure, there's gonna be vulture capitalists who come in and do that. But those same vulture capitalist like Bill Ackman himself, Mr Herbalife short guy, he is calling for a total shutdown of this. Wouldn't it be better for ackmann for this to go on for a long time so that he can he can take care of this? No. They want a complete, total shutdown of everything. And ackmann is also advocating, by the way, that all wages for employees get paid by the government. This is a guy who's not even arguing for the fake and gay like rebate check that the Republicans and Democrats want to send to people. He's actually just saying pay everyone's wages. Please make this pain go away as quickly as possible, because if you don't and you drag this out for a long period time, you're going to end up in a lot of a lot of financial trouble. And we could lose our capitalism is what what I read between the lines and what this guy's saying.
James Allsup:
So, yeah, that that's exactly how I read it to, too. He's not looking at the US as something that he is deeply invested in being a part of. They're viewing it. They're viewing their position as doing things to it in order to keep this thing running for longer, to keep this this. Yeah, this economic construction. They have setup running and profiting them for longer. That's what they're interested in.
Jazzhands McFeels:
Because because if it goes away like their whole their whole shtick goes up in smoke just like it did in Germany 80 or 90 years ago. It's kind of funny when you look at when you overlay graphs that are 90 years old from Germany and graphs that are five days old from the United States, it's funny how that works. I know the thing. I know it's not exactly the same, but that's what these people are thinking in these dire economic straits. People start pointing fingers, you know, and part of the whole part of the whole game has been to keep in ever, never ending supply of product in digital dopamine hits flowing with people. And now all of a sudden, all of that is evaporating and it's evaporating very, very quickly.
James Allsup:
Right. And how many fingers were pointed at noses as a result of 2008 and the ensuing action? It was sort of like cards, you know, cards falling down as a result of that. And if we have a crisis even more destructive, even larger in magnitude than that, who knows? And they certainly don't know. And this is why I mean, they're viewing this as like a client state, right? This is how the US would would treat what what they're how they're talking about. The U.S. is the same way the U.S. would treat some insurrection in some client states somewhere or something that we just want to manage. They would shut it down and not be concerned about, you know, like these these fake concerns. But, oh, you know, productivity, you know, people, you know, our economy's going to suffer for it. If you're interested in in the long term survival of this entity, whatever this entity may be, you have to embrace the pain of making the right decision for the long term. You cannot tease it out over a long period of time and and allow things to fester like we are here. No, no, you can't.
Jazzhands McFeels:
So here's more Bill ackmann audio. This is I forget which clip this is, but the. These are short. These ones are the rest of them are short. And these are all like heightened state of of the sky just starts to get very upset.
Bill Ackman:
We do this where it just incrementally over time until there's a vaccine. We're done. And what will happen is, you know, the hotel industry and the restaurant industry will go bankrupt first. Boeing is on the brink. Boeing will not survive without a government bailout. OK, so look at airline industry, auto industry, restaurant industry, hotel industry. You know what? Capitalism does not work in an 18 month shutdown. Capitalism can work in a 30 day shutdown. And we've got to do the 30 day shutdown. And if the president has to bring out the National Guard to keep people in their homes, which I don't think he will need to do, he should do it.
Jazzhands McFeels:
He added it keeps going. Hold on.
Bill Ackman:
Corporate America is in shutdown right now. OK. It just doesn't know it yet. Or is it? No. Yes. But no one. Yes. OK. Hotels. Every hotel is going to shut every one of them. OK. Except ones that have government workers in a particular location for whatever reason. Other than that they're all going to shut. OK. Every airlines will stop flying. OK. An airline without revenues is toast. OK. And you can bridge the airline for a short period of time. OK. But you can't bridge it for years. OK. At the an airline industry goes bankrupt. The hotel industry goes bankrupt. The restaurant industry goes bankrupt. And by the way. Private equity goes bankrupt. OK. Blackstone is a fabulous private equity firm, KKR. They do tremendous job, but every one of their companies has a lot of leverage. Every one of their companies goes bankrupt if this thing rolls out over 18 months.
Jazzhands McFeels:
And what he means by a lot of leverage. This means that they're overleveraged, means that they've already dipped into their credit lines. It means that they've already spent everything that they can in a lot of that has been on stock buybacks. I mean, a lot of it was irresponsible spending. It was not investing in the actual companies themselves. And you know, this this is the same promises were made under the Obama administration that these bailouts. You know, the money could only be used to help American work. We've heard all this shit before and it's never worked out in that way. And if it's any indication about how it's going to work out this time. Look at what they've done with this quote unquote, UBI. It's not UBI. It's universal bloviation. And I mean, that's what they've done. And it's the same it's the same old shit. So you want to hear the last clip or you want to react before I go on.
James Allsup:
Let's go let's go back to Bill for more.
Jazzhands McFeels:
Ok. So this is the this is where he goes like full, shut it down. He does it. It's great.
Bill Ackman:
Hell is coming.
Bill Ackman:
And I felt it was really I've never had this experience before my life. The closeness I had was the financial crisis where I'm saying, you know, things are bad stuff coming. But this was a feeling like I've never had. Like there's a tsunami coming. Right. The tsunami is coming. And you feel it in the air. Right. The tide starts to roll out. OK. And on the beach, people are playing and having fun like there's nothing going on. And that is the feeling I've had for the last two months. OK. And my colleagues at work, OK, thought it was a lunatic. A lunatic. I did stuff I've never done before. I've never had more than like 200 bucks in my wallet. OK. I went to the bank and I took out a large amount of money in cash because of this concern. I made preparations a month ago. OK. More than a month ago, I again, this all the relevant what's happened the past. I just think that the bottom line is it's a really simple answer. I'm very confident the White House is considering it. But what's scaring the American people and corporate America is the gradual rollout of of what's going on.
Bill Ackman:
We need to shut it down now. Shut it down now. I'm down now. Got it down now. Shut it down now.
Bill Ackman:
America will end as we know it. I'm sorry to say so. OK. Unless we take this option, OK. And therefore, I believe is a certainty in the very short term. OK. That the president's going to go on TV. Is he going to say, America, it's time to go on spring break at home?
Jazzhands McFeels:
And yet, I mean, you could argue like if you want to argue that this guy is intentionally scaring the shit out of people in order to get them to sell all their stock, and then he's going to buy it up. I mean, you can make that argument, but he's telling he wants the president to shut it all down, like he's telling them to turn everything off. And he's calling for things that are pretty extreme. Not from our perspective. But calling for things like pay everybody's wages, bridges of the gap for all these companies and do it for 30 days and make one uniform rule for everyone. I mean, it's a great policy if you want to stop the spread of the virus. It's also a great policy if you don't want the system that many of his Co-ethnics have been so invested in for the last 80 years, like he's speaking to them as much as he's speaking to the president and everybody else, which is that if you don't do something now and you don't stop this penny ante incrementalist bullshit like this is not going to work out for all of us. It will lose everything if you catch.
James Allsup:
Yeah, yeah, we lose everything. It's not going to be something we rebound from within a decade like 0 8 was or like the 80s were. It's going to be fundamental and we're going to lose so much more. And it's also going to give way to people just becoming essentially out of control politically where people have will lose total faith in the system once again. But more so than they did in 2008. So I think, yeah, you can question his motivations and and look to what may be motivating him to make these prescriptions. But I don't disagree with anything that he's saying here. I think he's he's right on as far as potential solutions go.
Jazzhands McFeels:
I agree with him for the wrong reasons, his reasons are because he he he feels that the system is in danger to someone like him. He you know, he gives these, you know, these these anecdotes about his father and, you know, children and all the some of them were very real and very emotional appeals. But, you know, the idea that he cares about broad, broad America, the broad American public, I mean, this suggests that people understand when he says the government should pay all wages until it reopens.
Jazzhands McFeels:
He's not saying that because he cares, he's saying it because he cares about people spending that money on other things.
Jazzhands McFeels:
Now, that's a healthy economy, right? Like people are spending the money that they're given to support the service economy that that has been foisted upon us.
Jazzhands McFeels:
We don't have manufacturing, but he supports that, because if the government doesn't do that, the whole thing falls apart.


russia-insider--2020-03-24--Beware The Deep State In A Crisis - It Will Gladly Destroy our Liberties

Old Saying : “ Give them an inch and they will take a mile.
” HOUSE DEMOCRAT WHIP : CORONAVIRUS A ‘ TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY TO RESTRUCTURE THINGS TO FIT OUR VISION ’ Big Government ( the Deep State ) claims to care about its subjects ( We The People ) .
This is obviously false .
If government cared about us , it wouldn ’ t have allowed the creation of the Federal Reserve and the IRS to steal the fruits of our labor .
They wouldn ’ t allow poisonous GMOs into our food supply .
It wouldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ die in pointless , endless wars based on lies .
It wouldn ’ t allow babies and toddlers to be brutalized with an ever-growing and already long list of poisonous vaccinations that cause autism .
It wouldn ’ t eagerly strip away our freedoms with each and every crisis .
The coronavirus is the latest crisis and the Deep State and the Fake News media are having a grand old time fanning the flames of fear .
Our freedom of assembly is gone .
POOF !
Our freedom of speech when it comes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the corrupt CDC and even more corrupt WHO are supposed to have the say and have control of the data .
We are repeatedly told not to listen to anyone else !
We The People had better darn well shut up and do as we ’ re told !
Lives are at stake !
You don ’ t want anyone to die , do you ?
Of course you don ’ t !
• None Therefore , you WILL stay in your home and watch the fear porn channels each day .
• @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government safety net .
• None Demand that government receives more power and authority !
Demand martial law and the mobilization of the troops !
• None Demand Bill Gates release his vaccine antidote - you know , the one that comes with a handy-dandy microchip that can be scanned at government checkpoints to make sure you got your shot .
We need to be safe !
Shut down the economy and cause countless millions to lose their jobs !
No worries , we will all get a pittance from our generous government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virtuous and incorruptible government masters is a wonderful solution !
To hell with self-reliance .
We had all better do what we ’ re told , too ... because the government can take it away if we don ’ t fall in line and march lockstep according to their dictates .
I ’ M BEING FACETIOUS OF COURSE .
In reality it all makes me sick how easy it was for government to remove not only our freedom , but our livelihoods as well .
We are no longer the home of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the fearful .

Authored by Ben Garrison via GrrrGraphics.com,
Old Saying: “Give them an inch and they will take a mile.”
HOUSE DEMOCRAT WHIP: CORONAVIRUS A ‘TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY TO RESTRUCTURE THINGS TO FIT OUR VISION’
Big Government (the Deep State) claims to care about its subjects (We The People). This is obviously false.
If government cared about us, it wouldn’t have allowed the creation of the Federal Reserve and the IRS to steal the fruits of our labor. They wouldn’t allow poisonous GMOs into our food supply. It wouldn’t send young people to fight and die in pointless, endless wars based on lies. It wouldn’t allow babies and toddlers to be brutalized with an ever-growing and already long list of poisonous vaccinations that cause autism. It wouldn’t eagerly strip away our freedoms with each and every crisis.
The coronavirus is the latest crisis and the Deep State and the Fake News media are having a grand old time fanning the flames of fear.
Our freedom of assembly is gone. POOF!
Our freedom of speech when it comes to the virus is limited. Only the corrupt CDC and even more corrupt WHO are supposed to have the say and have control of the data. We are repeatedly told not to listen to anyone else!
We The People had better darn well shut up and do as we’re told! Lives are at stake!
You don’t want anyone to die, do you? Of course you don’t!
Therefore, you WILL stay in your home and watch the fear porn channels each day.
Start begging for still yet another government safety net.
Demand that government receives more power and authority! Demand martial law and the mobilization of the troops!
Demand Bill Gates release his vaccine antidote - you know, the one that comes with a handy-dandy microchip that can be scanned at government checkpoints to make sure you got your shot.
We need to be safe!
Shut down the economy and cause countless millions to lose their jobs! No worries, we will all get a pittance from our generous government. Becoming dependent on handouts from our virtuous and incorruptible government masters is a wonderful solution! To hell with self-reliance.
We had all better do what we’re told, too... because the government can take it away if we don’t fall in line and march lockstep according to their dictates.
I’M BEING FACETIOUS OF COURSE.
In reality it all makes me sick how easy it was for government to remove not only our freedom, but our livelihoods as well. We are no longer the home of the brave. We’re the land of the fearful.