lewrockwell--2020-07-11--Scientists Devise New Plan ToTest if Mysterious ‘Planet Nine’ Is Primordial Black Hole

Scientists at Harvard University have developed a new method to hunt down black holes beyond our galaxy which may finally figure out what is going on with the oft-theorized but never-witnessed ‘ Planet Nine.
’ The method will make use of the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time ( LSST ) mission , which is expected to begin operations in mid-2022 .
Using a tennis-court-sized mirror and a 3,200-megapixel camera , the researchers will seek out accretion flares , which shoot out of disrupted comets as they are stretched apart by black holes .
Space rocks pulled in by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hole melt long before they reach the event horizon , owing to the heat emitted by background accretion – that is , the stretching out – of gas and other material on its doorstep .
On melting , these small bodies , such as asteroids , comets and whatever other material was unfortunate to stray too close to the black hole , emit radiation bright enough to be visible against the absolute darkness – or so the boffins hope .
The Electric Universe Wallace Thornhill , Dav ... Best Price : $ 70.00 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ holes are intrinsically dark , the radiation that matter emits on its way to the mouth of the black hole is our only way to illuminate this dark environment , ” explained , one of the leading scientists , Dr Avi Loeb .
Using this method , Loeb claims we can finally detect , or rule out , the planet-mass black holes on the edge of the Oort cloud , thus solving the long-standing mystery of the so-called ‘ Planet Nine.
’ Theories about Planet Nine range from it being an undetected or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our solar system , to it being a primordial black hole , formed soon after the Big Bang , creating disturbances on the edge of our galactic yard .
“ Planet Nine is a compelling explanation for the observed clustering of some objects beyond the orbit of Neptune .
If the existence of Planet Nine is confirmed through a direct electromagnetic search , it will be the first detection of a new planet in the solar system in two centuries , not counting Pluto , ” said Amir Siraj , a Harvard astrophysics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The LSST mission will have instruments that are expected to be sensitive enough to detect radiation from beyond the Oort cloud – roughly 100,000 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun .
It will reportedly boast a field of view that covers the whole sky , collecting a whopping 10 terabytes of data per night , once fully operational .

Scientists at Harvard University have developed a new method to hunt down black holes beyond our galaxy which may finally figure out what is going on with the oft-theorized but never-witnessed ‘Planet Nine.’
The method will make use of the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) mission, which is expected to begin operations in mid-2022. Using a tennis-court-sized mirror and a 3,200-megapixel camera, the researchers will seek out accretion flares, which shoot out of disrupted comets as they are stretched apart by black holes.
Space rocks pulled in by the incredible gravitational force of a black hole melt long before they reach the event horizon, owing to the heat emitted by background accretion – that is, the stretching out – of gas and other material on its doorstep. On melting, these small bodies, such as asteroids, comets and whatever other material was unfortunate to stray too close to the black hole, emit radiation bright enough to be visible against the absolute darkness – or so the boffins hope. The Electric Universe Wallace Thornhill, Dav... Best Price: $70.00 Buy New $27.00 (as of 11:40 UTC - Details)
“Because black holes are intrinsically dark, the radiation that matter emits on its way to the mouth of the black hole is our only way to illuminate this dark environment,” explained, one of the leading scientists, Dr Avi Loeb.
Using this method, Loeb claims we can finally detect, or rule out, the planet-mass black holes on the edge of the Oort cloud, thus solving the long-standing mystery of the so-called ‘Planet Nine.’
Theories about Planet Nine range from it being an undetected or ‘missing’ planet, banished from our solar system, to it being a primordial black hole, formed soon after the Big Bang, creating disturbances on the edge of our galactic yard.
“Planet Nine is a compelling explanation for the observed clustering of some objects beyond the orbit of Neptune. If the existence of Planet Nine is confirmed through a direct electromagnetic search, it will be the first detection of a new planet in the solar system in two centuries, not counting Pluto,” said Amir Siraj, a Harvard astrophysics undergrad involved in the latest research.
One of the ideas put forth was the possibility that Planet Nine could be a grapefruit-sized black hole with a mass of five to 10 times that of the Earth.
The LSST mission will have instruments that are expected to be sensitive enough to detect radiation from beyond the Oort cloud – roughly 100,000 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. It will reportedly boast a field of view that covers the whole sky, collecting a whopping 10 terabytes of data per night, once fully operational.
Originally published on RT News.


lewrockwell--2020-07-11--With Idaho Still Trembling, Is Yellowstone Supervolcano Eruption Looming Just Ahead?

A recent quake in the northwestern US was so strong , that a popular beach along Stanley Lake has almost fully submerged , with after effects still occurring .
It appears the northwestern US state of Idaho hasn ’ t stopped shaking since a 6.5-magnitude earthquake swept through its Sawtooth mountain range , northeast of Boise , on 31 March .
It was incidentally , the second largest earthquake to strike Idaho , according to the Idaho Statesman , trailing after 1983 ’ s 6.9-magnitude Borah Peak quake .
Since this latest one , the area has experienced a string @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as 4.8 on the Richter scale .
The persistent after effects have been so strong that a popular beach along Stanley Lake in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area has sunk into the water .
“ The most probable cause for the ‘ disappearing ’ of the inlet delta is a combination of liquefaction and compaction of saturated sediments and some possible sliding and later spreading on the delta toward the deeper part of the lake ” , Claudio Berti , director and state geologist from the Idaho Geological Survey , said in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aftershocks continuing further , reinvigorating seismologists ’ interest in the region .
Geologists are currently looking for clues to what exactly caused an earthquake in the otherwise quiet area – 16 miles north of the Sawtooth Fault , a 40-mile stretch of fault line discovered nearly a decade ago and since believed to be seismically inactive .
9.0 Cascadia Earthquak ... Brindle , Damian Best Price : $ 6.00 Buy New $ 9.99 While a number of scientists suspect the Sawtooth Fault is actually longer than assumed , according to Popular Mechanics , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advantage of openings in Earth ’ s crust and is slowly proceeding northward .
One theory suggests energy from the Sawtooth Fault could have jumped to a nearby unknown fault , spawning the recent spate of earthquakes .
The theory has scientific underpinnings , as according to a 2009 paper in the journal Nature , earthquakes that occur a long way from tectonic plate boundaries may actually be persistent aftershocks from bigger quakes from a distant past .
Now embarking on new missions to gather full seismic data and analyse local soil samples @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a top-notch technology for estimating distances by illuminating a target with laser light and measuring the reflection with a sensor to search for signs of movement in the area .
The 1959 Yellowstone E ... Morris , Larry E. Best Price : $ 9.76 Buy New $ 14.69 Even though Idago is still experiencing shakes , with the state proved to be full of old seismic faults , it doesn ’ t necessarily mean Yellowstone will face a new volcanic eruption any time soon .
The Yellowstone Caldera last erupted 70,000 years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Survey , and there have since been registered an eye-popping 10,000 magnitude 6 or higher earthquakes in the western swath of the country , with nothing close to the landmark supervolcano eruption ever taking place in our time .
According to USGS , Yellowstone has experienced three eruptions : 2.08 , 1.3 , and 0.631 million years ago , with an average of about 725,000 years between grand lava flows .
That being the case , there is still about 100,000 years to go , the USGS website reads .

A recent quake in the northwestern US was so strong, that a popular beach along Stanley Lake has almost fully submerged, with after effects still occurring.
It appears the northwestern US state of Idaho hasn’t stopped shaking since a 6.5-magnitude earthquake swept through its Sawtooth mountain range, northeast of Boise, on 31 March. It was incidentally, the second largest earthquake to strike Idaho, according to the Idaho Statesman, trailing after 1983’s 6.9-magnitude Borah Peak quake.
Since this latest one, the area has experienced a string of aftershocks, some registering as high as 4.8 on the Richter scale. The persistent after effects have been so strong that a popular beach along Stanley Lake in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area has sunk into the water.
Waves from the #IdahoEarthquake rolling through Alaska and the lower 48. Data from the @IRIS_EPO Data Management Center. Thanks guys for making it so easy to access seismic data! pic.twitter.com/M7aGex1zyV — UMN Seismology (@UMNseismology) April 1, 2020
“The most probable cause for the ‘disappearing’ of the inlet delta is a combination of liquefaction and compaction of saturated sediments and some possible sliding and later spreading on the delta toward the deeper part of the lake”, Claudio Berti, director and state geologist from the Idaho Geological Survey, said in a statement on 9 May, with the aftershocks continuing further, reinvigorating seismologists’ interest in the region.
Geologists are currently looking for clues to what exactly caused an earthquake in the otherwise quiet area – 16 miles north of the Sawtooth Fault, a 40-mile stretch of fault line discovered nearly a decade ago and since believed to be seismically inactive. 9.0 Cascadia Earthquak... Brindle, Damian Best Price: $6.00 Buy New $9.99 (as of 03:20 UTC - Details)
While a number of scientists suspect the Sawtooth Fault is actually longer than assumed, according to Popular Mechanics, others suspect the fault is full-on taking advantage of openings in Earth’s crust and is slowly proceeding northward.
One theory suggests energy from the Sawtooth Fault could have jumped to a nearby unknown fault, spawning the recent spate of earthquakes. The theory has scientific underpinnings, as according to a 2009 paper in the journal Nature, earthquakes that occur a long way from tectonic plate boundaries may actually be persistent aftershocks from bigger quakes from a distant past.
Now embarking on new missions to gather full seismic data and analyse local soil samples, researchers are set to use LIDAR, a top-notch technology for estimating distances by illuminating a target with laser light and measuring the reflection with a sensor to search for signs of movement in the area.
The 1959 Yellowstone E... Morris, Larry E. Best Price: $9.76 Buy New $14.69 (as of 04:15 UTC - Details) Even though Idago is still experiencing shakes, with the state proved to be full of old seismic faults, it doesn’t necessarily mean Yellowstone will face a new volcanic eruption any time soon. The Yellowstone Caldera last erupted 70,000 years ago, according to the US Geological Survey, and there have since been registered an eye-popping 10,000 magnitude 6 or higher earthquakes in the western swath of the country, with nothing close to the landmark supervolcano eruption ever taking place in our time.
According to USGS, Yellowstone has experienced three eruptions: 2.08, 1.3, and 0.631 million years ago, with an average of about 725,000 years between grand lava flows. That being the case, there is still about 100,000 years to go, the USGS website reads.
Reprinted from Sputnik News.


lewrockwell--2020-07-11--42% of All COVID-19 Deaths Occurred in Nursing Homes

Early on in the pandemic it became clear that older individuals were at disproportionate risk of severe COVID-19 infection and death .
According to an analysis1 conducted by the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity , which included data reported by May 22 , 2020 , an average of 42 % of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. had occurred in nursing homes , assisted living and other long-term care facilities .
This is beyond extraordinary , considering this group accounts for just 0.62 % of the population .
Avik Roy , president of the Foundation for Research on Equal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ findings in Forbes , pointing out that “ 42 % could be an undercount , ” since “ states like New York exclude from their nursing home death tallies those who die in a hospital , even if they were originally infected in a long-term care facility.
” Roy also testified before Congress June 17 , 2020 , about racial disparities in COVID-19 and the health care system.3 Why Do Some States Have Exaggerated Nursing Home Death Rates ?
Disturbingly , some states have nursing home mortality rates that are significantly higher than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Minnesota4 tops the list in this regard , with 81.4 % of all COVID-19 deaths having occurred in nursing homes and assisted living facilities .
Ohio comes in second , with a rate of 70 % .
Unreported Truths abou ... Berenson , Alex Buy New $ 5.99 By and large , nursing homes are ill equipped to care for COVID-19 infected patients.6 They ’ re set up to care for elderly patients , whether they are generally healthy or have chronic health problems , but they ’ re not typically equipped to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infectious disease .
It ’ s logical to assume that comingling infected patients with noninfected ones in a nursing home would result in exaggerated death rates , as the elderly are far more prone to die from any infection , including the common cold .
March 17 , 2020 , Stanford epidemiologist John Ioannidis wrote an op-ed in STAT news,7 stating that “ even some so-called mild or common-cold-type coronaviruses have been known for decades [ to ] have case fatality rates as high as 8 % when they infect people in nursing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should not be surprised that COVID-19 disproportionally affects older people .
Most elderly are frail and have underlying health problems that make them more prone to death from any infection whatsoever .
Since this is common knowledge , why did some states decide to violate federal guidelines and send COVID-19 patients back into nursing homes ?
Lab 257 : The Disturbin ... Carroll , Michael C. Best Price : $ 3.49 Buy New $ 8.59 New York Governor in the Hot Seat Democratic governor of New York , Andrew Cuomo , appears to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this regard .
March 25 , 2020 , instructions from the New York Department of Health stated nursing homes were not allowed to deny admission or readmission of a COVID-19-positive patient .
Nursing homes were even “ prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.
” As reported by Roy:8 Cuomo ’ s order seems particularly dubious considering the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort was docked in New York City harbor .
The ship , which had a 1,000-bed capacity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on April 30 , having treated just 182 patients.11 Elegant Defense , An : T ... Richtel , Matt Best Price : $ 15.29 Buy New $ 12.54 A temporary hospital facility at the Javits Convention Center was also erected to deal with predicted hospital overflow .
It had a capacity of 2,500 , and closed May 1 , 2020 , having treated just over 1,000 patients.12 With all that available surplus space equipped for infectious disease control , why were COVID-19 patients forced back into nursing homes where they would pose a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
June 22 , 2020 , Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma condemned the actions of Cuomo and “ other Democrat governors ” — including Pennsylvania Gov .
Tom Wolf , New Jersey Gov .
Phil Murphy , Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov .
Gavin Newsom — who contradicted federal guidelines for nursing homes in their own state guidance .
“ Our guidance was absolutely crystal clear , ” Verma said in an exclusive interview with Breitbart reporter Matthew Boyle , adding:13 While Cuomo has tried to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ directive , the facts seem to speak for themselves .
ProPublica published an investigation14 June 16 , 2020 , comparing a New York nursing home that followed Cuomo ’ s order with one that refused , opting to follow the federal guidelines instead .
The difference is stark .
According to ProPublica,15 by June 18 , the Diamond Hill nursing home — which followed Cuomo ’ s directive — had lost 18 residents to COVID-19 , thanks to lack of isolation and inadequate infection control .
Half of the staff ( about 50 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sickened .
In comparison , Van Rensselaer Manor , a 320-bed nursing home located in the same county as Diamond Hill , which refused to follow the state ’ s directive and did not admit any patient suspected of having COVID-19 , did not have a single COVID-19 death .
A similar trend has been observed in other areas .
As reported by ProPublica:16 Florida Republican Gov .
Ron DeSantis actually took the opposite position with regard to nursing homes .
Not only were hospitals not permitted to discharge COVID-19 patients into nursing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were also required to be screened for symptoms before entering facilities each day , and ensuring availability of personal protective equipment was prioritized .
In California , Los Angeles County nursing homes are such a hotspot , and local leaders describe the situation as a “ pandemic within a pandemic.
” 17 There , the fact that many of the facilities are unusually large appears to be part of the problem .
They also have a higher percentage of people of color — another high-risk group — both working and residing in these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of care and inferior infection control add to the problem .
Overall , COVID-19 transmission appears to be rampant within our health care system in general , not just in nursing homes .
As noted in “ 20 % of COVID Patients Caught Disease at Hospital , ” British data suggests 1 in 5 COVID-19 patients actually contracted the disease at the hospital , while being treated for something else .
The Beautiful Cure : Th ... Davis , Daniel M. Best Price : $ 8.51 Buy New $ 10.02 SARS-CoV-2 is being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from health care workers to patients .
When you add it all together , nursing homes and nosocomial infections ( i.e.
, infections originating in or acquired from a hospital18 ) , plus the spread from workers to family members , likely account for a vast majority of all COVID-19 deaths .
Without doubt , if nursing homes don ’ t start getting this right , they eventually won ’ t have enough patients to stay in business .
Unfortunately , rather than tackle the problem head-on and implement sensible safety measures across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is instead seeking immunity from COVID-19 related lawsuits .
I discussed this in “ COVID-19 and Nursing Homes : The No .
1 Place Not to Be.
” According to NBC News:19 In other words , New York not only issued rules requiring COVID-19 infected patients to be admitted into nursing homes , and barred them from testing , it also granted nursing homes immunity against lawsuits .
Talk about triple injury .
Clearly , New York nursing home patients have gotten ill and died due to willfully negligent directives .
On top @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of due process and any legal recourse for these beyond-reprehensible criminal actions .
While several states have failed to protect their most vulnerable , New York ’ s actions stand out as being particularly egregious and , so far , no sound justifications have been forthcoming .
June 15 , 2020 , House Minority Whip Steve Scalise , R-La.
, and four Republican members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus sent letters20 to the governors of New York , Michigan , California , New Jersey and Pennsylvania , demanding answers:21 Curiously , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ join Republicans in the proposed nursing home oversight effort , they also refused Scalise ’ s call to “ get to the bottom of what motivated these decisions ” in New York , Michigan , California , New Jersey and Pennsylvania , and they did not sign the letters to the governors of those states.22 In a press release by Scalise , Select Subcommittee member Jackie Walorski ( R-Ind . )
is quoted saying:23 The Best of Joseph Mercola

Early on in the pandemic it became clear that older individuals were at disproportionate risk of severe COVID-19 infection and death.
According to an analysis1 conducted by the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, which included data reported by May 22, 2020, an average of 42% of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. had occurred in nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care facilities. This is beyond extraordinary, considering this group accounts for just 0.62% of the population.
Avik Roy, president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, wrote an article2 about their findings in Forbes, pointing out that “42% could be an undercount,” since “states like New York exclude from their nursing home death tallies those who die in a hospital, even if they were originally infected in a long-term care facility.” Roy also testified before Congress June 17, 2020, about racial disparities in COVID-19 and the health care system.3
Why Do Some States Have Exaggerated Nursing Home Death Rates?
Disturbingly, some states have nursing home mortality rates that are significantly higher than the national average of 42%. Minnesota4 tops the list in this regard, with 81.4% of all COVID-19 deaths having occurred in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Ohio comes in second, with a rate of 70%.
As reported by Roy:5
“Another way to cut the data is to look at nursing home and assisted living facility deaths as a share of the population that lives in those facilities. On that basis, three states stand out in the negative direction: New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
In Massachusetts and Connecticut, COVID deaths per 10,000 nursing home and assisted living facility residents were 703 and 827, respectively. In New Jersey, nearly 10 percent of all long-term care facility residents — 954 in 10,000 — have died from the novel coronavirus.”
Thousands Have Died Unnecessarily
Unreported Truths abou... Berenson, Alex Buy New $5.99 (as of 03:17 UTC - Details) By and large, nursing homes are ill equipped to care for COVID-19 infected patients.6 They’re set up to care for elderly patients, whether they are generally healthy or have chronic health problems, but they’re not typically equipped to quarantine and care for people with highly infectious disease.
It’s logical to assume that comingling infected patients with noninfected ones in a nursing home would result in exaggerated death rates, as the elderly are far more prone to die from any infection, including the common cold.
March 17, 2020, Stanford epidemiologist John Ioannidis wrote an op-ed in STAT news,7 stating that “even some so-called mild or common-cold-type coronaviruses have been known for decades [to] have case fatality rates as high as 8% when they infect people in nursing homes.”
March 25, 2020, instructions from the New York Department of Health stated nursing homes were not allowed to deny admission or readmission of a COVID-19-positive patient. Nursing homes were even “prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
In other words, we should not be surprised that COVID-19 disproportionally affects older people. Most elderly are frail and have underlying health problems that make them more prone to death from any infection whatsoever. Since this is common knowledge, why did some states decide to violate federal guidelines and send COVID-19 patients back into nursing homes? Lab 257: The Disturbin... Carroll, Michael C. Best Price: $3.49 Buy New $8.59 (as of 03:25 UTC - Details)
New York Governor in the Hot Seat
Democratic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, appears to have been among the most negligent in this regard. March 25, 2020, instructions from the New York Department of Health stated nursing homes were not allowed to deny admission or readmission of a COVID-19-positive patient.
Nursing homes were even “prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.” As reported by Roy:8
“As recently as April 23, Cuomo declared9 that nursing homes ‘don’t have a right to object’ to accepting elderly patients with active COVID infections. ‘That is the rule and that is the regulation and they have to comply with that.’
Only on May 10 — after the deaths of nearly 3,000 New York residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities — did Cuomo stand down and partially rescind his order.”
Cuomo’s order seems particularly dubious considering the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort was docked in New York City harbor. The ship, which had a 1,000-bed capacity, was barely used.10 It departed NYC on April 30, having treated just 182 patients.11
Elegant Defense, An: T... Richtel, Matt Best Price: $15.29 Buy New $12.54 (as of 03:19 UTC - Details) A temporary hospital facility at the Javits Convention Center was also erected to deal with predicted hospital overflow. It had a capacity of 2,500, and closed May 1, 2020, having treated just over 1,000 patients.12 With all that available surplus space equipped for infectious disease control, why were COVID-19 patients forced back into nursing homes where they would pose a clear infection risk to other high-risk patients?
Several Governors Violated Federal Guidelines
June 22, 2020, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma condemned the actions of Cuomo and “other Democrat governors” — including Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom — who contradicted federal guidelines for nursing homes in their own state guidance.
“Our guidance was absolutely crystal clear,” Verma said in an exclusive interview with Breitbart reporter Matthew Boyle, adding:13
“Any insinuation to the contrary is woefully mistaken at best and dishonest at worst. We put out our guidance on March 13 … It says … ‘When should a nursing home accept a resident who is diagnosed with COVID-19? …
A nursing home can accept a resident diagnosed with COVID-19 and still under transmission-based precautions,’ which means if this person is infectious you have to take precautions.
It says ‘as long as the facility can follow CDC guidance for transmission-based precautions.’ It says: ‘If a nursing home cannot, it must wait until these precautions are discontinued,’ meaning if you are not able to care for this patient — somebody is still positive and you’re not equipped to care for the patient, then you shouldn’t accept the patient into your care.
That’s really important because longstanding discharge — when you’re discharging a patient from the hospital, longstanding guidelines require when you transfer them somewhere you transfer them to a place that can take care of their needs whether they’re going home or they’re going to a nursing home or some other facility …
I just don’t think we should ever put a nursing home in a situation or a patient where we force them to take a patient they are not prepared to care for. That not only jeopardizes the patient but it jeopardizes the health and safety of every single resident in that nursing home.”
Stark Differences Between Nursing Homes
While Cuomo has tried to deflect criticism for his devastating nursing home directive, the facts seem to speak for themselves. ProPublica published an investigation14 June 16, 2020, comparing a New York nursing home that followed Cuomo’s order with one that refused, opting to follow the federal guidelines instead. The difference is stark.
According to ProPublica,15 by June 18, the Diamond Hill nursing home — which followed Cuomo’s directive — had lost 18 residents to COVID-19, thanks to lack of isolation and inadequate infection control. Half of the staff (about 50 people) and 58 patients were also sickened.
In comparison, Van Rensselaer Manor, a 320-bed nursing home located in the same county as Diamond Hill, which refused to follow the state’s directive and did not admit any patient suspected of having COVID-19, did not have a single COVID-19 death. A similar trend has been observed in other areas. As reported by ProPublica:16
“New York was the only state in the nation that barred testing of those being placed or returning to nursing homes. In the weeks that followed the March 25 order, COVID-19 tore through New York state’s nursing facilities, killing more than 6,000 people — about 6% of its more than 100,000 nursing home residents …
In Florida, where such transfers were barred, just 1.6% of 73,000 nursing home residents died of the virus. California, after initially moving toward a policy like New York’s, quickly revised it. So far, it has lost 2% of its 103,000 nursing home residents.”
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis actually took the opposite position with regard to nursing homes. Not only were hospitals not permitted to discharge COVID-19 patients into nursing homes, but all nursing home workers were also required to be screened for symptoms before entering facilities each day, and ensuring availability of personal protective equipment was prioritized.
In California, Los Angeles County nursing homes are such a hotspot, and local leaders describe the situation as a “pandemic within a pandemic.”17 There, the fact that many of the facilities are unusually large appears to be part of the problem.
They also have a higher percentage of people of color — another high-risk group — both working and residing in these facilities. Low pay, poor quality of care and inferior infection control add to the problem.
COVID-19 Primarily Spread in Health Care Settings
Overall, COVID-19 transmission appears to be rampant within our health care system in general, not just in nursing homes. As noted in “20% of COVID Patients Caught Disease at Hospital,” British data suggests 1 in 5 COVID-19 patients actually contracted the disease at the hospital, while being treated for something else. The Beautiful Cure: Th... Davis, Daniel M. Best Price: $8.51 Buy New $10.02 (as of 03:22 UTC - Details)
SARS-CoV-2 is being transmitted not only between patients but also from health care workers to patients. When you add it all together, nursing homes and nosocomial infections (i.e., infections originating in or acquired from a hospital18), plus the spread from workers to family members, likely account for a vast majority of all COVID-19 deaths.
Without doubt, if nursing homes don’t start getting this right, they eventually won’t have enough patients to stay in business. Unfortunately, rather than tackle the problem head-on and implement sensible safety measures across the board, the nursing home industry is instead seeking immunity from COVID-19 related lawsuits. I discussed this in “COVID-19 and Nursing Homes: The No. 1 Place Not to Be.” According to NBC News:19
“So far at least six states have provided explicit immunity from coronavirus lawsuits for nursing homes, and six more have granted some form of immunity to health care providers, which legal experts say could likely be interpreted to include nursing homes …
Of the states that have addressed nursing home liability as a response to the outbreak, two — Massachusetts and New York — have passed laws that explicitly immunize the facilities. Governors in Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan and New Jersey have issued executive orders that immunize facilities.”
In other words, New York not only issued rules requiring COVID-19 infected patients to be admitted into nursing homes, and barred them from testing, it also granted nursing homes immunity against lawsuits.
Talk about triple injury. Clearly, New York nursing home patients have gotten ill and died due to willfully negligent directives. On top of that, families have been deprived of due process and any legal recourse for these beyond-reprehensible criminal actions.
Congressional Members Demand Answers
While several states have failed to protect their most vulnerable, New York’s actions stand out as being particularly egregious and, so far, no sound justifications have been forthcoming.
June 15, 2020, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and four Republican members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus sent letters20 to the governors of New York, Michigan, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, demanding answers:21
“Why did they give those orders? Why did they go against the safety guidelines that were issued from CMS? And why won’t they give us all the disclosure of the patient information that they were giving and then all of a sudden when we started discovering this they clammed up and they’re not letting the public see what these numbers really are?” Scalise said.
Curiously, Select Subcommittee Democrats not only declined to join Republicans in the proposed nursing home oversight effort, they also refused Scalise’s call to “get to the bottom of what motivated these decisions” in New York, Michigan, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and they did not sign the letters to the governors of those states.22
In a press release by Scalise, Select Subcommittee member Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) is quoted saying:23
“Just about the worst possible thing to do is knowingly introduce coronavirus to the most vulnerable populations, yet that’s exactly what several states did by mandating nursing homes accept infected patients.
These misguided policies deserve close scrutiny, and the leaders who put them in place have a lot of tough questions to answer. Now is not the time to look the other way while placing blame for this crisis on states that are taking a measured, responsible approach to reopening our economy and protecting our communities.”
Sources and References
The Best of Dr. Joseph Mercola


lewrockwell--2020-07-13--Why the Marxist Left Loves Lincoln

Why the Marxist Left Loves Lincoln

“ No leader of a powerful nation ” should allow such a thing as “ the dismemberment of the Soviet Union.
” A July 27 , 2019 article in the Washington Post by Gillian Brockell was headlined , “ You Know Who Was into Karl Marx ?
No , not AOC .
Abraham Lincoln.
” Following up on the New York Times ’ 2017 weeks-long celebration of the centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia , the Post was doing its part to celebrate and promote Marxian socialism by crowing that “ the first Republican president .
.
.
was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for counsel.
” The message being conveyed by the Post was that this is what all American presidents should do .
They should listen to and obey the Washington Post , in other words .
The Problem with Linco ... DiLorenzo , Thomas J .
Buy New $ 29.99 Much of Lincoln ’ s socialilstic “ counsel ” came from Horace Greeley ’ s New York Tribune , described by the Post as “ the newspaper largely responsible for transmitting the ideals and ideas that formed the Republican Party in 1854 , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” It is little wonder that the ideas promulgated by the New York Tribune , the mouthpiece of the Republican Party , were overtly socialist : Karl Marx himself was a twice-weekly columnist for the paper from 1852 to 1862 , contributing over 500 articles .
An April 1957 article in American Heritage magazine entitled “ When Marx Worked for Horace Greeley ” spoke of how “ the organ of .
.
.
the new Republican party , sustained Karl Marx over the years when he was mapping out his crowning tract of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Tribune was not only Marx ’ s meal ticket but his experimental outlet for agitation and ideas during the most creative period of his life.
” Without this financial support , “ there might possibly – who knows ?
—have been no Das Kapital ” and maybe even no “ Lenin and a Stalin as the master ’ s disciples .
.
.
” Much of what was written in The New York Tribune by Karl Marx “ went bodily into Das Kapital.
” Das Kapital ( Illustrated ) Marx , Karl @ @ @ @ @ @ @ avid reader of the Tribune since it was “ the ” voice first of “ respectable Whig opinion ” and then of the Republican Party .
He addressed his letters to Greeley as “ Dear Friend Greeley.
” Lincoln and Karl Marx personally communicated as well and had a sort of mutual admiration society .
Upon being reelected , Lincoln received a letter from Marx saying , “ We congratulate the American people upon your reelection by a large majority.
” Lincoln responded with a thank-you letter .
The Washington Post , meanwhile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Once in office , [ Lincoln ’ s ] alliance with socialists didn ’ t stop.
” That “ alliance ” was not only political or literary : Lincoln ’ s army was filled with so-called “ 48ers , ” German immigrants to America who had participated in failed socialist revolutions in Europe in 1848 , the year of publication of The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels ( See Lincoln ’ s Marxists by Al Benson , Jr. and Walter Kennedy ) .
The Post brings all of this up in order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Trump ’ s occasional references to Abraham Lincoln in support of his populist agenda , the most appropriate use of the Lincoln myth would be to promote their crusade for socialism in America .
LINCOLN ’ S MARXISTS Walter Donald Kennedy Buy New $ 14.72 There is nothing new about this .
At their 1939 national convention the American Communist Party adorned its stage with a gigantic image of Abraham Lincoln alongside a large image of Vladimir Lenin and held Lincoln-Lenin Day rallies in New York City .
In other words , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other Zeus-like images of Lincoln around the country , the radical , violent , and often criminal communists of Antifa and Only Black Lives Matter ( “ We are trained Marxists , ” one of the founders of OBLM has said ) are more likely to continue using the image , words , and deeds of Lincoln to assist in their crusade to destroy American civilization and replace it with another communist hell .
If they ever get control of the government it is not beyond the imagination that they would follow Lincoln @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , mass arrest and imprison dissenters , censor communications , shut down conservative newspapers , withdraw licenses from conservative talk radio and television stations , deport or imprison some opposition members of Congress to send a message to all the rest , abolish the separation of powers , confiscate firearms , and use the military to wage total war on the civilian population of areas of the country where “ deplorable ” political dissent is strongest .
The Best of Thomas DiLorenzo

“No leader of a powerful nation” should allow such a thing as “the dismemberment of the Soviet Union.”
–Marxist “Civil War” historian Eric Foner, The Nation, Feb. 11, 1991
A July 27, 2019 article in the Washington Post by Gillian Brockell was headlined, “You Know Who Was into Karl Marx? No, not AOC. Abraham Lincoln.” Following up on the New York Times’ 2017 weeks-long celebration of the centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Post was doing its part to celebrate and promote Marxian socialism by crowing that “the first Republican president . . . was surrounded by socialists and looked to them for counsel.” The message being conveyed by the Post was that this is what all American presidents should do. They should listen to and obey the Washington Post, in other words.
The Problem with Linco... DiLorenzo, Thomas J. Buy New $29.99 (as of 11:50 UTC - Details) Much of Lincoln’s socialilstic “counsel” came from Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune, described by the Post as “the newspaper largely responsible for transmitting the ideals and ideas that formed the Republican Party in 1854,” many of which were “overtly socialist.”
It is little wonder that the ideas promulgated by the New York Tribune, the mouthpiece of the Republican Party, were overtly socialist: Karl Marx himself was a twice-weekly columnist for the paper from 1852 to 1862, contributing over 500 articles. An April 1957 article in American Heritage magazine entitled “When Marx Worked for Horace Greeley” spoke of how “the organ of . . . the new Republican party, sustained Karl Marx over the years when he was mapping out his crowning tract of overthrow, Das Kapital . . . The Tribune was not only Marx’s meal ticket but his experimental outlet for agitation and ideas during the most creative period of his life.” Without this financial support, “there might possibly – who knows?—have been no Das Kapital” and maybe even no “Lenin and a Stalin as the master’s disciples . . .” Much of what was written in The New York Tribune by Karl Marx “went bodily into Das Kapital.” Das Kapital (Illustrated) Marx, Karl Buy New $14.89 (as of 05:38 UTC - Details)
Lincoln was an avid reader of the Tribune since it was “the” voice first of “respectable Whig opinion” and then of the Republican Party. He addressed his letters to Greeley as “Dear Friend Greeley.” Lincoln and Karl Marx personally communicated as well and had a sort of mutual admiration society. Upon being reelected, Lincoln received a letter from Marx saying, “We congratulate the American people upon your reelection by a large majority.” Lincoln responded with a thank-you letter. The Washington Post, meanwhile sounded absolutely giddy in noting that “Once in office, [Lincoln’s] alliance with socialists didn’t stop.” That “alliance” was not only political or literary: Lincoln’s army was filled with so-called “48ers,” German immigrants to America who had participated in failed socialist revolutions in Europe in 1848, the year of publication of The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels (See Lincoln’s Marxists by Al Benson, Jr. and Walter Kennedy). The Post brings all of this up in order to make the point that, despite President Trump’s occasional references to Abraham Lincoln in support of his populist agenda, the most appropriate use of the Lincoln myth would be to promote their crusade for socialism in America. LINCOLN’S MARXISTS Walter Donald Kennedy Buy New $14.72 (as of 05:38 UTC - Details)
There is nothing new about this. At their 1939 national convention the American Communist Party adorned its stage with a gigantic image of Abraham Lincoln alongside a large image of Vladimir Lenin and held Lincoln-Lenin Day rallies in New York City.
In other words, far from defacing the Lincoln Memorial or other Zeus-like images of Lincoln around the country, the radical, violent, and often criminal communists of Antifa and Only Black Lives Matter (“We are trained Marxists,” one of the founders of OBLM has said) are more likely to continue using the image, words, and deeds of Lincoln to assist in their crusade to destroy American civilization and replace it with another communist hell. If they ever get control of the government it is not beyond the imagination that they would follow Lincoln’s footsteps and suspend habeas corpus, mass arrest and imprison dissenters, censor communications, shut down conservative newspapers, withdraw licenses from conservative talk radio and television stations, deport or imprison some opposition members of Congress to send a message to all the rest, abolish the separation of powers, confiscate firearms, and use the military to wage total war on the civilian population of areas of the country where “deplorable” political dissent is strongest.
The Best of Thomas DiLorenzo


lewrockwell--2020-07-13--Culprits Behind Covid-19 Coronavirus Epidemic Reveal Their Destructive Agenda

The culprits behind the contrived COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic have come out of hiding .
Oh , they are not going to throw up their hands and admit they have been caught , but they certainly don ’ t want the current COVID-19 pandemic to vanish .
They have a hidden agenda that won ’ t be fully revealed till January 2021 .
The COVID-19 planned-demic must continue for their confabulation to unfold .
Nay on any newly discovered medicine or preventive for COVID-19 .
Nix any idea of that , be it 37-cent per pill hydroxychloroquine , zinc or vitamin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Centers For Disease Control and the world ’ s news press will see to that .
THE GREAT RESET Summit will be held globally in January of 2021under the auspices of the World Economic Forum ( WEF ) and attended both in-person and virtually around the world , with already trained groups of young people ( Global Shapers Community ) simultaneously leading demonstrations ( peaceful or violent ? )
in 400 cities throughout the world .
The Fourth Industrial ... Schwab , Klaus Best Price : $ 9.95 Buy New $ 10.69 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ equality , climate change , decarbonization , anti-racism , inclusiveness , and socialism .
It is a totally material world view .
The old must be discarded , the new must be ushered in .
The masses don ’ t know what is best for them .
Begone with their religions , history , customs , or democratic forms of government .
This is the new god of technocracy , aka “ the fourth industrial revolution.
” The naïve who read about it have no idea what a world would be like without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coins or coronavirus-laden paper money to bother with .
You carry a MASTERCARD and money is downloaded to your card-account as guaranteed income .
That makes everybody equal doesn ’ t it .
But if you don ’ t submit to mandated vaccination , buy into climate change , refuse to drive gasoline-powered vehicles , decide to go to church and sing in the choir , thus exposing others to any pathogenic germs that might be in your lungs , your access to money could be cut off with the push of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
THIS PANDEMIC BROUGHT TO YOU BY… .
The spearhead for this summit is the World Economic Forum ( WEF ) , based in Geneva , Switzerland , and founded in 1971 by 82-year old Klaus Schwab , that has 345 million Swiss francs in its bank account ( 2019 annual report , p. 120 ) .
WEF is a totally godless , modernist , materialist organization .
It is backed by companies such as Microsoft and Mastercard ( some call this fascism ) , entities that would provide essential elements for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aforementioned “ fourth industrial revolution ” – a technocracy featuring a new electronic world currency .
The Global Economic Re ... Calvo , Fabian Best Price : $ 2.99 Buy New $ 14.94 WHO IS THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ?
WEF is represented by Big Industry , Big Finance and Big Fame .
To name names , members of its board of trustees include : Yo-Yo Ma , the noted cellist ; Jack Ma , head of the Alibaba group ( China ) ; former U.S. vice president Al Gore ; Peter Maurer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Christine Lagarde , International Monetary Fund ; and David Rubenstein of the Carlyle Group .
It is also in league with The Council on Foreign Relations , The Group of 7 ( largest nations ) , and the Bilderberg Society .
The United Nations does its bidding .
IN THEIR OWN WORDS Here is how the WEF explains it : The World Economic Forum addresses racism , COVID-19 investments and vaccines , technocracy , presumption of a global problem ( COVID-19 ) that globalists will rescue humanity from .
A vaccine for COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s exit strategy ” … The entire economy is solely focused on a vaccine .
The globalists actually believe their own invented story .
The 4th industrial revolution….. technocracy….. Graham Smith , writing at Bitcoin.com , comments : The World Order and Re ... Koenig , Peter Best Price : $ 28.23 Buy New $ 26.14 PULL THE PLUG ON THE RESET Economist Peter Koenig , writing an article entitle THE GLOBAL RESET – UNPLUGGED , says this alliance that he calls the “ beast ” will “ superimpose themselves over sovereign national @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.N. itself .
Koenig says the Black Lives Matter movement , the death of George Floyd at the apparent hands of the police ( the autopsy shows he died of an overdose of fentanyl ) , and the launch of the corona pandemic “ are all connected .
There are no coincidences.
” Soon the Beast will decide who will live and who will die , literally – if we let it .
This may be not far away .
Another wave of pandemic and people may beg , yell and scream for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and for the super bonanza of Big Pharma – and towards the objectives of the eugenicists blatantly roaming the world – see this .
There is still time to collectively say NO .
Collectively and solidarily .
ALL ECONOMIES , ALL BUSINESSES MUST BE DESTROYED This is why all economies must now be destroyed , so the new one-world currency will be begged for in place of worthless fiat paper money .
Marx ’ s Religion ... North , Gary Best Price : $ 15.99 Buy New $ 30.00 The GREAT RESET @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government .
Everybody must participate .
They won ’ t be selling this revolution .
They will be jamming it down everyone ’ s throats .
Forget elections .
Basically , the WEF believes the masses don ’ t know what is best for themselves and pandemics have to be contrived , life must be threatened , income destroyed , and then social change will be coerced .
The Great Reset : The Day The U.S. Dollar Is Dethroned The Great Reset is also referred to as the day the US dollar is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s reserve currency .
The RESET is foretold by numerous financial analysts who harken for a gold standard in its place .
Many analysts predict the day when the U.S. dollar is dethroned from its favored position as the world ’ s reserve currency .
This means when countries buy and sell goods , the transaction must be done in U.S. dollars .
The U.S. has intentionally spread its currency throughout the world to make it the world ’ s currency .
There simply aren ’ t enough Chinese Yuan ( aka renminbi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ British pounds , to be a global currency .
The U.S. owes China and Japan over $ 1 trillion from loans it has taken with its trading partners .
Both Japan and China have halted these loans .
They have been buying gold .
China now reportedly has 20,000 metric tons of gold ( the U.S. 8000 tons ) .
If these Asian trading partners should sell off their U.S. IOUs ( U.S. Treasury Notes ) at a discount of let ’ s say 30 % , the U.S. dollar would decline in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Imported foreign-made goods would cost that much more .
Fabian Calvo , in his prescient 2014 book entitled THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC RESET , says : “ Should the dollar collapse , most likely because countries buy their oil in a currency other than the US dollar , the economy would collapse .
All the countries in the world would send their massive hoards of the dollar back to the Fed in exchange for whichever currency replaces it .
This would lead to a chain reaction that would collapse the $ 700,000,000,000,000 derivatives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Calvo offers three of the most likely scenarios : Unreported Truths abou ... Berenson , Alex Buy New $ 5.99 • Social Security & Medicare recipients would be harmed the most • There is hope : Iceland routed out the banksters and corrected their economy in 1 year • When people can ’ t use their credit cards • If a civil war style revolt does start , it will probably be started by the feds staging small staged false-flag events targeting patriot groups .
• Squatter ’ s rights might go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be the hallmark of this scenario • The banking elite would like to see this happen .
Stand or Fall in the P ... • Bankers would shut down every sector of the economy Says Calvo : “ We have been beat over the head with socialism for so long that may people no longer realize what true capitalism looks like.
” Calvo : “ People need to be told the truth of the situation , and that isn ’ t going to happen easily.
” Calvo : “ This is how common @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spirit , and then convince you that giving them more control is the answer.
” His advice : “ Whichever scenario ends up playing out , the motto should be , be prepared for anything ; for a life lived in fear , is not worth living .
”

The culprits behind the contrived COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic have come out of hiding. Oh, they are not going to throw up their hands and admit they have been caught, but they certainly don’t want the current COVID-19 pandemic to vanish. They have a hidden agenda that won’t be fully revealed till January 2021.
The COVID-19 planned-demic must continue for their confabulation to unfold. Nay on any newly discovered medicine or preventive for COVID-19. Nix any idea of that, be it 37-cent per pill hydroxychloroquine, zinc or vitamin D, which must be squelched. The Centers For Disease Control and the world’s news press will see to that.
HIT THE RESET BUTTON
THE GREAT RESET Summit will be held globally in January of 2021under the auspices of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and attended both in-person and virtually around the world, with already trained groups of young people (Global Shapers Community) simultaneously leading demonstrations (peaceful or violent?) in 400 cities throughout the world. The Fourth Industrial ... Schwab, Klaus Best Price: $9.95 Buy New $10.69 (as of 05:40 UTC - Details)
Their global agenda: social justice, equality, climate change, decarbonization, anti-racism, inclusiveness, and socialism. It is a totally material world view.
The old must be discarded, the new must be ushered in. The masses don’t know what is best for them. Begone with their religions, history, customs, or democratic forms of government. This is the new god of technocracy, aka “the fourth industrial revolution.”
A WORLD WITHOUT PAPER MONEY
The naïve who read about it have no idea what a world would be like without paper money. Sounds great. No coins or coronavirus-laden paper money to bother with. You carry a MASTERCARD and money is downloaded to your card-account as guaranteed income. That makes everybody equal doesn’t it.
But if you don’t submit to mandated vaccination, buy into climate change, refuse to drive gasoline-powered vehicles, decide to go to church and sing in the choir, thus exposing others to any pathogenic germs that might be in your lungs, your access to money could be cut off with the push of a button. You would be totally controlled.
He who controls the money supply of a nation
controls the nation. – – James A Garfield
THIS PANDEMIC BROUGHT TO YOU BY….
The spearhead for this summit is the World Economic Forum (WEF), based in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1971 by 82-year old Klaus Schwab, that has 345 million Swiss francs in its bank account (2019 annual report, p. 120).
WEF is a totally godless, modernist, materialist organization. It is backed by companies such as Microsoft and Mastercard (some call this fascism), entities that would provide essential elements for a new global economy that ushers in the aforementioned “fourth industrial revolution” – a technocracy featuring a new electronic world currency. The Global Economic Re... Calvo, Fabian Best Price: $2.99 Buy New $14.94 (as of 05:40 UTC - Details)
WHO IS THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM?
WEF is represented by Big Industry, Big Finance and Big Fame.
To name names, members of its board of trustees include: Yo-Yo Ma, the noted cellist; Jack Ma, head of the Alibaba group (China); former U.S. vice president Al Gore; Peter Maurer, head of the Red Cross; Christine Lagarde, International Monetary Fund; and David Rubenstein of the Carlyle Group. It is also in league with The Council on Foreign Relations, The Group of 7 (largest nations), and the Bilderberg Society. The United Nations does its bidding.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Here is how the WEF explains it:
“The Great Reset” will be the theme of a unique twin summit to be convened by the World Economic Forum in January 2021. In-person and virtual dialogues will address the need for a more fair, sustainable and resilient future, and a new social contract centered on human dignity, social justice and where societal progress does not fall behind economic development. The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change.
The World Economic Forum addresses racism, COVID-19 investments and vaccines, technocracy, presumption of a global problem (COVID-19) that globalists will rescue humanity from. A vaccine for COVID-19 that is called “the world’s exit strategy”… The entire economy is solely focused on a vaccine. The globalists actually believe their own invented story. The 4th industrial revolution….. technocracy…..
The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world.
– Klaus Schwab, founder, World Economic Forum.
Graham Smith, writing at Bitcoin.com, comments: The World Order and Re... Koenig, Peter Best Price: $28.23 Buy New $26.14 (as of 04:10 UTC - Details)
“It is interesting that the outbreak of this novel coronavirus has resulted in a worldwide panic drowning out these factors, prompting even the doubtful to once again encourage their peers to trust the state for leadership. This is not to assert that the virus isn’t a threat, or that regulators “planned” its release. It is simply to note that politicians and financial planners have historically leveraged such situations to implement new — and often highly intrusive and unethical — policy, and openly admit to doing so. At times, even desiring disaster. With this knowledge at the forefront, it becomes understandable some are connecting the dots.”
PULL THE PLUG ON THE RESET
Economist Peter Koenig, writing an article entitle THE GLOBAL RESET – UNPLUGGED, says this alliance that he calls the “beast” will “superimpose themselves over sovereign national elected constitutional governments,” even the U.N. itself.
Koenig says the Black Lives Matter movement, the death of George Floyd at the apparent hands of the police (the autopsy shows he died of an overdose of fentanyl), and the launch of the corona pandemic “are all connected. There are no coincidences.”
Koenig:
The Beast calls the shots on boom or bust of our economies, on who should be shackled by debt, when and where a pandemic should break out, and on the conditions of surviving the pandemic, for example, social confinement. And to top it all off – the instruments the Beast uses, very cleverly, are a tiny-tiny invisible enemy, called a virus, and a huge but also invisible monster, called FEAR. That keeps us off the street, off reunions with our friends, and off our social entertainment, theatre, sports, or a picnic in the park.
Soon the Beast will decide who will live and who will die, literally – if we let it. This may be not far away. Another wave of pandemic and people may beg, yell and scream for a vaccine, for their death knell, and for the super bonanza of Big Pharma – and towards the objectives of the eugenicists blatantly roaming the world – see this. There is still time to collectively say NO. Collectively and solidarily.
ALL ECONOMIES, ALL BUSINESSES MUST BE DESTROYED
This is why all economies must now be destroyed, so the new one-world currency will be begged for in place of worthless fiat paper money. Marx’s Religion ... North, Gary Best Price: $15.99 Buy New $30.00 (as of 06:00 UTC - Details)
The GREAT RESET would subvert elections or democratic forms of government. Everybody must participate. They won’t be selling this revolution. They will be jamming it down everyone’s throats. Forget elections. Basically, the WEF believes the masses don’t know what is best for themselves and pandemics have to be contrived, life must be threatened, income destroyed, and then social change will be coerced.
The Great Reset: The Day The U.S. Dollar Is Dethroned
The Great Reset is also referred to as the day the US dollar is no longer recognized as the world’s reserve currency. The RESET is foretold by numerous financial analysts who harken for a gold standard in its place.
Many analysts predict the day when the U.S. dollar is dethroned from its favored position as the world’s reserve currency. This means when countries buy and sell goods, the transaction must be done in U.S. dollars. The U.S. has intentionally spread its currency throughout the world to make it the world’s currency. There simply aren’t enough Chinese Yuan (aka renminbi), or French francs, or British pounds, to be a global currency.
The U.S. owes China and Japan over $1 trillion from loans it has taken with its trading partners. Both Japan and China have halted these loans. They have been buying gold. China now reportedly has 20,000 metric tons of gold (the U.S. 8000 tons). If these Asian trading partners should sell off their U.S. IOUs (U.S. Treasury Notes) at a discount of let’s say 30%, the U.S. dollar would decline in value in international trade by 30%. Imported foreign-made goods would cost that much more.
GLOBAL RESET FORTOLD
Fabian Calvo, in his prescient 2014 book entitled THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC RESET, says: “Should the dollar collapse, most likely because countries buy their oil in a currency other than the US dollar, the economy would collapse. All the countries in the world would send their massive hoards of the dollar back to the Fed in exchange for whichever currency replaces it. This would lead to a chain reaction that would collapse the $700,000,000,000,000 derivatives market.”
Calvo goes on to say:
“We are probably witnessing the last years of our civilization, or what remains of it.” “The powers that be have decided that it’s better to wreck everything, so that control can be maintained.”
Calvo offers three of the most likely scenarios: Unreported Truths abou... Berenson, Alex Buy New $5.99 (as of 03:17 UTC - Details)
RESTORATION OF FISCAL SANITY
Reinstatement of Glass Steigel Act
Return to the gold standard
Competing currencies
Social Security & Medicare recipients would be harmed the most
There is hope: Iceland routed out the banksters and corrected their economy in 1 year
TOTAL REVOLT
When people can’t use their credit cards
If a civil war style revolt does start, it will probably be started by the feds staging small staged false-flag events targeting patriot groups.
Squatter’s rights might go back into effect.
Starvation would be the hallmark of this scenario
WORLDWIDE DIGITAL ENSLAVEMENT
The banking elite would like to see this happen. Stand or Fall in the P... Garrett, Mr. Gregory L... Buy New $10.95 (as of 04:56 UTC - Details )
Bankers would shut down every sector of the economy
Switch world to global digital currency
Bio-metric ID cards in order to conduct business
Forced to serve the elite
We need competing currencies
Says Calvo: “We have been beat over the head with socialism for so long that may people no longer realize what true capitalism looks like.”
Calvo: “People need to be told the truth of the situation, and that isn’t going to happen easily.”
Calvo: “This is how common dictators operate; first they break your spirit, and then convince you that giving them more control is the answer.”
His advice: “Whichever scenario ends up playing out, the motto should be, be prepared for anything; for a life lived in fear, is not worth living.”


lewrockwell--2020-07-13--The Great Covid-19 Deception and What You Need To Know To Survive

I ’ ve been speaking with my friends who include medical doctors and other highly educated people about the treatments that they would seek if they were diagnosed with Covid 19 .
Most of them had no idea what course of treatment they or their families might seek .
This conundrum is in part due to the massive volume of information that is being thrown at us .
Much of this information is deliberately deceptive .
I am writing this article to cut through the deception so that you and your physician can make informed decisions if and when the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purposes .
First , it ’ s imperative that you understand the great deceit that Big Pharma , their minions at the FDA , CDC , NIH , the WHO , the MSM , and officials in high government positions are perpetrating on you , your family , and likely your doctor .
The second purpose is to assure that you are armed with the necessary information to insure that you receive the best treatment options from your health care provider .
Knowledge is power .
The Invisible Enemy Garrett , Mr. Gregory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me to repeat , you need to know you are being duped and you need a plan for you and your family if you become infected with Covid 19 .
So let ’ s get to it .
Let me begin by stating that I ’ m not a medical doctor and I m not offering medical advice .
I do have a bachelors of science degree in health , nutrition , and counseling .
I ’ ve written two NY Times bestselling books on women ’ s health and fitness and I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
However , you will need to determine your treatment options with your personal physician .
When it comes to safe , effective and affordable therapies for Covid 19 , Big Pharma and its agents , i.e .
Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx and many others , appear to have an agenda to lie to you and your physician .
The most obvious example is their ongoing effort to ridicule the treatment option of hydroxychloroquine , Azithromycin , and Zinc .
We ’ ve all watched the harsh criticism that President Trump received @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 19 .
So , hydroxychloroquine has been around for almost 70 years as a treatment for malaria , lupus , and rheumatoid arthritis .
The WHO has designated it as a safe and effective medication akin to taking an aspirin .
A survey of 6,000 medical doctors affirmed it as their treatment of choice for Covid 19 .
The treatment works like this .
hydroxychloroquine is an ionophore , which means it can transport material through the cellular wall .
Zinc is a mineral that stops the replication of the Covid 19 virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the cell so that it can stop the replication of the virus .
The Z-pak antibiotic is given to prevent opportunistic bacterial infections like pneumonia that can occur while your immune system is engaged in fighting your viral infection .
The key to its effectiveness is to start this treatment at the early onset of Covid 19 so that it has time to work .
False Positive : A Year ... Dalrymple , Theodore Best Price : $ 10.82 Buy New $ 15.65 How much effort has Big Pharma put into subverting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ denouncing its effectiveness , from Dr. Fauci and company , constant MSM hit pieces , the censoring of medical doctor ’ s articles and videos from the internet , there has also been a number of “ studies ” done that were literally sabotaged from the onset .
The VA hospital system reported in March that they had given hydroxychloroquine to a number of patients .
Following their release of information , the MSM ran the story with the headlines , “ VA hospital found that hydoxychloroquine doesn ’ t work and increases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ However , if you actually read the study ( see link ) you will find that only the sickest of the cohorts were given the drug .
They got the drug only after they were so far along that it would not have a chance to work and they were not given zinc .
None of these details made the MSM articles .
Another example of the Great Deception came from the British medical journal , The Lancet .
The Lancet reported that a meta study showed that hydroxychloroquine was ineffective .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ France , Italy and other European countries immediately prohibited the use of this treatment option .
Within a few weeks , it was found that the study was so badly designed and that the results were literally fabricated .
The Lancet was forced to make a retraction of the “ study.
” Of course in the meantime the MSM ran the original Lancet story and mislead millions of people and their physicians .
So what could possibly be the motive behind Big Pharma ’ s Great Deception .
Well there ’ s three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That brings up the treatment option that Big Pharma is promoting , Remdesivir .
This lovely experimental drug , costs above $ 3,000 per regimen , must be given intravenously in a hospital ( five days stay around 15 grand ) and evidence shows it doesn ’ t really work .
Population Control : Ho ... Marrs , Jim Best Price : $ 11.98 Buy New $ 9.88 The other treatment option is the promised Covid 19 vaccine that they allege is forthcoming .
The NHS in Great Britain has committed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Great Britain .
That ’ s a commitment of 80,000,000 doses at an agreed price of around $ 600 for each vaccination .
That ’ s about $ 50,000,000,000 .
( 50 Billion ) That ’ s a lot of incentive to mislead people .
This week , a US pharmaceutical company received $ 1.6 billion dollars towards their efforts to make this vaccine which in the opinion of many experts , won ’ t work on a coronavirus and will be untested and experimental .
How does Big Pharma have so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ information or should I say propaganda ?
Well , the same answer pops up again , money .
Big Pharma gave $ 2 billion dollars during the last election cycle to US politicians .
Big AG , the military/security complex and big oil each gave only a paltry $ 1.0 billion dollars to buy the votes of our political leadership .
The MSM counts Big Pharma ’ s advertising revenue at up to 80 percent of their income .
The internet ’ s “ masters of the universe ” also kowtow to Big @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by censoring anyone who tries to tell the American people the truth about Covid 19 .
It certainly appears that anyone who is complicit in this Great Deception , a deception that is designed to kill and terrify enough people to ultimately beg for an experimental vaccine , well , these people would be accessories to murder .
What You Need to Know to Survive Now , for some good news .
There are several therapies that are being offered that appear to be safe , effective and affordable .
However , these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disease progression .
In Their Own Words : Th ... Bracken , Donagh Best Price : $ 29.00 Buy New $ 20.83 Japan , Taiwan and other Asian countries have maintained a much lower fatality rate with Covid 19 then we have here in America , in spite of the fact they live in densely populated communities .
Many people believe that it is due to their preferred method of treatment .
They use a steroid medication that is inhaled in a mist through a home use nebulizer .
I ’ m familiar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ granddaughter needed this treatment with a similar drug for an upper respiratory issue that she had recently .
That speaks to the safety and the commonality of this treatment .
Watch the link of a Texas doctor who shares his patient ’ s experiences with this therapy method using the drug Budesonide and a course of antibiotics .
Another treatment option that appears to be safe and effective is the use of the antiparasitic drug Ivermectin with the antibiotic Doxycycline .
Just one Ivermectin pill and then the course of antibiotics for ten @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rate for Covid 19 patients according to the attached study .
Ivermectin has been widely used on the continent of Africa for many years as an anti-parasitic and is believed to be a primary reason that Covid 19 has not severely impacted the African population .
America On Suicide Wat ... Watkins , Richter Best Price : $ 10.81 Buy New $ 9.99 As we ’ ve seen above , this therapeutic regimen should be considered simply due to the efforts to prevent you from knowing the truth about it .
As Shakespeare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much ?
” The challenge with this therapeutic is both finding a doctor who will prescribe it and finding a pharmacy that will sell it .
This should be between you and your doctor .
Not the governors of certain states .
Considering that 20 percent of all drugs are prescribed “ off label ” , meaning that they are prescribed for a use other than intended , you and your doctor should have the liberty and the responsibility to make this health care decision .
There are several other therapies that appear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You may want to research Chlorine Dioxide , intravenous ozone , high dose intravenous vitamin C and another , glutathione which are popular treatments in the homeopathic communities .
As for me and my family , we are going to make informed and responsible decisions regarding our health care .
I hope the information I ’ ve given to you today along with the links for further information will help you , your family and your doctor make the best decisions as well .

I’ve been speaking with my friends who include medical doctors and other highly educated people about the treatments that they would seek if they were diagnosed with Covid 19. Most of them had no idea what course of treatment they or their families might seek. This conundrum is in part due to the massive volume of information that is being thrown at us. Much of this information is deliberately deceptive. I am writing this article to cut through the deception so that you and your physician can make informed decisions if and when the time comes.
This article has two purposes. First, it’s imperative that you understand the great deceit that Big Pharma, their minions at the FDA, CDC, NIH, the WHO, the MSM, and officials in high government positions are perpetrating on you, your family, and likely your doctor.
The second purpose is to assure that you are armed with the necessary information to insure that you receive the best treatment options from your health care provider. Knowledge is power.
The Invisible Enemy Garrett, Mr. Gregory L... Buy New $26.94 (as of 05:21 UTC - Details) Allow me to repeat, you need to know you are being duped and you need a plan for you and your family if you become infected with Covid 19. So let’s get to it. Let me begin by stating that I’m not a medical doctor and I m not offering medical advice. I do have a bachelors of science degree in health, nutrition, and counseling. I’ve written two NY Times bestselling books on women’s health and fitness and I have been awarded an honorary doctorate degree. However, you will need to determine your treatment options with your personal physician.
The Great Deception
When it comes to safe, effective and affordable therapies for Covid 19, Big Pharma and its agents, i.e. Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx and many others, appear to have an agenda to lie to you and your physician.
The most obvious example is their ongoing effort to ridicule the treatment option of hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, and Zinc. We’ve all watched the harsh criticism that President Trump received when he promoted this protocol for Covid 19.
So, hydroxychloroquine has been around for almost 70 years as a treatment for malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. The WHO has designated it as a safe and effective medication akin to taking an aspirin. A survey of 6,000 medical doctors affirmed it as their treatment of choice for Covid 19.
The treatment works like this. hydroxychloroquine is an ionophore, which means it can transport material through the cellular wall. Zinc is a mineral that stops the replication of the Covid 19 virus within the cell. hydroxychloroquine transports Zinc into the cell so that it can stop the replication of the virus. The Z-pak antibiotic is given to prevent opportunistic bacterial infections like pneumonia that can occur while your immune system is engaged in fighting your viral infection. The key to its effectiveness is to start this treatment at the early onset of Covid 19 so that it has time to work. False Positive: A Year... Dalrymple, Theodore Best Price: $10.82 Buy New $15.65 (as of 04:35 UTC - Details)
How much effort has Big Pharma put into subverting this treatment regimen? In addition to denouncing its effectiveness, from Dr. Fauci and company, constant MSM hit pieces, the censoring of medical doctor’s articles and videos from the internet, there has also been a number of “studies” done that were literally sabotaged from the onset.
The VA hospital system reported in March that they had given hydroxychloroquine to a number of patients. Following their release of information, the MSM ran the story with the headlines, “VA hospital found that hydoxychloroquine doesn’t work and increases the fatality rate of Covid 19.” However, if you actually read the study (see link) you will find that only the sickest of the cohorts were given the drug. They got the drug only after they were so far along that it would not have a chance to work and they were not given zinc. None of these details made the MSM articles.
Another example of the Great Deception came from the British medical journal, The Lancet. The Lancet reported that a meta study showed that hydroxychloroquine was ineffective. As a result of this published study, France, Italy and other European countries immediately prohibited the use of this treatment option. Within a few weeks, it was found that the study was so badly designed and that the results were literally fabricated. The Lancet was forced to make a retraction of the “study.” Of course in the meantime the MSM ran the original Lancet story and mislead millions of people and their physicians.
So what could possibly be the motive behind Big Pharma’s Great Deception. Well there’s three answers, money, money and money. That brings up the treatment option that Big Pharma is promoting, Remdesivir. This lovely experimental drug, costs above $3,000 per regimen, must be given intravenously in a hospital (five days stay around 15 grand) and evidence shows it doesn’t really work. Population Control: Ho... Marrs, Jim Best Price: $11.98 Buy New $9.88 (as of 05:45 UTC - Details)
The other treatment option is the promised Covid 19 vaccine that they allege is forthcoming. The NHS in Great Britain has committed to purchase a vaccine for the entire population of Great Britain. That’s a commitment of 80,000,000 doses at an agreed price of around $600 for each vaccination. That’s about $50,000,000,000. (50 Billion) That’s a lot of incentive to mislead people. This week, a US pharmaceutical company received $1.6 billion dollars towards their efforts to make this vaccine which in the opinion of many experts, won’t work on a coronavirus and will be untested and experimental.
How does Big Pharma have so much control over the dissemination of this information or should I say propaganda? Well, the same answer pops up again, money. Big Pharma gave $2 billion dollars during the last election cycle to US politicians. Big AG, the military/security complex and big oil each gave only a paltry $1.0 billion dollars to buy the votes of our political leadership.
The MSM counts Big Pharma’s advertising revenue at up to 80 percent of their income. The internet’s “masters of the universe” also kowtow to Big Pharma’s influence and advertising dollars by censoring anyone who tries to tell the American people the truth about Covid 19. It certainly appears that anyone who is complicit in this Great Deception, a deception that is designed to kill and terrify enough people to ultimately beg for an experimental vaccine, well, these people would be accessories to murder.
What You Need to Know to Survive
Now, for some good news. There are several therapies that are being offered that appear to be safe, effective and affordable. However, these therapies must be utilized early in the disease progression. In Their Own Words: Th... Bracken, Donagh Best Price: $29.00 Buy New $20.83 (as of 05:45 UTC - Details)
Budesonide
Japan, Taiwan and other Asian countries have maintained a much lower fatality rate with Covid 19 then we have here in America, in spite of the fact they live in densely populated communities. Many people believe that it is due to their preferred method of treatment. They use a steroid medication that is inhaled in a mist through a home use nebulizer. I’m familiar with this since my 2 year old granddaughter needed this treatment with a similar drug for an upper respiratory issue that she had recently. That speaks to the safety and the commonality of this treatment. Watch the link of a Texas doctor who shares his patient’s experiences with this therapy method using the drug Budesonide and a course of antibiotics.
Ivermectin
Another treatment option that appears to be safe and effective is the use of the antiparasitic drug Ivermectin with the antibiotic Doxycycline. Just one Ivermectin pill and then the course of antibiotics for ten days resulted in a 100 percent cure rate for Covid 19 patients according to the attached study. Ivermectin has been widely used on the continent of Africa for many years as an anti-parasitic and is believed to be a primary reason that Covid 19 has not severely impacted the African population.
Hydroxychloroquine & Zinc
America On Suicide Wat... Watkins, Richter Best Price: $10.81 Buy New $9.99 (as of 03:43 UTC - Details) As we’ve seen above, this therapeutic regimen should be considered simply due to the efforts to prevent you from knowing the truth about it. As Shakespeare wrote, “Doth thou protest too much?”
The challenge with this therapeutic is both finding a doctor who will prescribe it and finding a pharmacy that will sell it. This should be between you and your doctor. Not the governors of certain states. Considering that 20 percent of all drugs are prescribed “off label”, meaning that they are prescribed for a use other than intended, you and your doctor should have the liberty and the responsibility to make this health care decision.
There are several other therapies that appear to be safe, effective and affordable. You may want to research Chlorine Dioxide, intravenous ozone, high dose intravenous vitamin C and another, glutathione which are popular treatments in the homeopathic communities.
As for me and my family, we are going to make informed and responsible decisions regarding our health care. I hope the information I’ve given to you today along with the links for further information will help you, your family and your doctor make the best decisions as well.
This originally appeared on Ron Paul Institute.


lewrockwell--2020-07-13--Rent Control, Jobs, Marriage

Rent Control, Jobs, Marriage

Demand curves slope in a downward direction .
This means that the higher the price , the less of an item , or good , or service , will be sought .
The more road blocks , hurdles , thumb tacks , placed in the way of any given action , the less likely it will occur .
Economists do not agree on many things , but on this insight there will be nary a dismal scientist who will not acquiesce .
Yet , there are several public policies in place that are incompatible with this common-sense understanding .
Consider @ @ @ @ @ @ @ City , San Francisco , Cleveland and another half dozen major cities are now offering free legal advice to tenants threatened by eviction .
At present this benefit is afforded mainly to those accused of a crime who can not afford a lawyer , on the ground that such legal aid is needed to provide equal justice for rich and poor alike .
Now , it is being extended to renters .
Defending the Undefend ... Walter Block Best Price : $ 1.99 Buy New $ 10.80 Some commentators even think that this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homelessness .
They reckon , however , in the absence of downward sloping demand curves .
They think only in terms of immediate , not long term effects .
Yes , give them free legal advice and fewer people will be evicted ; one point for the tenant .
But look at this from the point of view of the landlord , or , the would-be investor in residential real estate .
It now becomes more difficult to evict non-paying , or obstreperous tenants .
Will they be more or less likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dwellings ?
To ask this question is to answer it .
They will tend to seek greener pastures elsewhere .
They will try to convert extant dwellings into condominiums , commercial space , etc .
But , with less residential housing available the situation of renters will become more dire , not less .
Remember that downward sloping demand curve : with a lowered supply , rents will rise not fall , and a given square footage will accommodate fewer people , not more .
More homelessness , here we come .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ help ” tenants .
Under economic freedom , landlords may demand as much as several months ’ worth of security deposits .
This will indemnify them if there are damages .
It will also protect them from bankruptcy since it typically takes months to evict non payers .
This problem arises especially during the Christmas season ; judges are particularly reluctant to toss people out onto the street during these times .
Curiously , they do not at all have the same attitude regarding robbers during December .
But what are non-paying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Next consider the labor market .
In France in particular , and other countries as well , the law makes it more and more difficult to fire employees .
The authorities want to protect workers , and , also , do not relish increased unemployment statistics .
This “ remedy ” of theirs also fails to take into account downward sloping demand curves ; it looks , only , to the immediate run , avoiding long run effects .
For when barriers are placed in the way of laying off wage earners , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do rational profit seeking entrepreneurs react ?
Why , by not hiring workers in the first place !
Instead of offering full time employment , they take on only part timers .
Firms resort to contracting out to smaller firms , or to the individuals themselves .
The latter take on what are called “ gigs ” so as to escape these unwarranted legislative enactments .
Socialism Sucks : Two E ... Powell , Benjamin Best Price : null Buy New $ 23.39 These laws are also discriminatory .
Workers can quit with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until employers can sever relationships with employees as easily , justice , to say nothing of full employment , will not prevail .
Let us attempt to make this point in an unrelated arena of human interaction .
Suppose a law were passed and fully enforced mandating that no divorce would be allowed , ever , for any reason whatsoever .
The immediate effect of course would be to preserve marriage .
Without the possibility of divorce , more marriages would stay intact than otherwise ( we abstract from the effect of such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) .
But what would be the long run effect of such a law on this institution ?
Demand curves slope downward even in this milieu .
Place more barriers against an act , weddings in this case , and fewer of them will occur .
If society really has the best interests of tenants , of employees , and , also , of spouses , it will not in effect charge higher “ prices ” for them .
The very opposite policies would be pursued .
The Best of Walter E. Block

Demand curves slope in a downward direction. This means that the higher the price, the less of an item, or good, or service, will be sought. The more road blocks, hurdles, thumb tacks, placed in the way of any given action, the less likely it will occur. Economists do not agree on many things, but on this insight there will be nary a dismal scientist who will not acquiesce.
Yet, there are several public policies in place that are incompatible with this common-sense understanding.
Consider first residential rental units. New York City, San Francisco, Cleveland and another half dozen major cities are now offering free legal advice to tenants threatened by eviction. At present this benefit is afforded mainly to those accused of a crime who cannot afford a lawyer, on the ground that such legal aid is needed to provide equal justice for rich and poor alike. Now, it is being extended to renters.
Defending the Undefend... Walter Block Best Price: $1.99 Buy New $10.80 (as of 07:55 UTC - Details) Some commentators even think that this strengthens the hands of tenants and reduces homelessness. They reckon, however, in the absence of downward sloping demand curves. They think only in terms of immediate, not long term effects. Yes, give them free legal advice and fewer people will be evicted; one point for the tenant.
But look at this from the point of view of the landlord, or, the would-be investor in residential real estate. It now becomes more difficult to evict non-paying, or obstreperous tenants. Will they be more or less likely to build, upgrade, repair, apartment dwellings? To ask this question is to answer it. They will tend to seek greener pastures elsewhere. They will try to convert extant dwellings into condominiums, commercial space, etc. But, with less residential housing available the situation of renters will become more dire, not less. Remember that downward sloping demand curve: with a lowered supply, rents will rise not fall, and a given square footage will accommodate fewer people, not more. More homelessness, here we come.
The same analysis applies to other efforts to “help” tenants. Under economic freedom, landlords may demand as much as several months’ worth of security deposits. This will indemnify them if there are damages. It will also protect them from bankruptcy since it typically takes months to evict non payers. This problem arises especially during the Christmas season; judges are particularly reluctant to toss people out onto the street during these times. Curiously, they do not at all have the same attitude regarding robbers during December. But what are non-paying tenants other than thieves of accommodation?
Next consider the labor market. In France in particular, and other countries as well, the law makes it more and more difficult to fire employees. The authorities want to protect workers, and, also, do not relish increased unemployment statistics. This “remedy” of theirs also fails to take into account downward sloping demand curves; it looks, only, to the immediate run, avoiding long run effects. For when barriers are placed in the way of laying off wage earners, less of it will occur. How do rational profit seeking entrepreneurs react? Why, by not hiring workers in the first place! Instead of offering full time employment, they take on only part timers. Firms resort to contracting out to smaller firms, or to the individuals themselves. The latter take on what are called “gigs” so as to escape these unwarranted legislative enactments. Socialism Sucks: Two E... Powell, Benjamin Buy New $23.39 (as of 07:10 UTC - Details)
These laws are also discriminatory. Workers can quit with no by your leave. Unless and until employers can sever relationships with employees as easily, justice, to say nothing of full employment, will not prevail.
Let us attempt to make this point in an unrelated arena of human interaction. Suppose a law were passed and fully enforced mandating that no divorce would be allowed, ever, for any reason whatsoever. The immediate effect of course would be to preserve marriage. Without the possibility of divorce, more marriages would stay intact than otherwise (we abstract from the effect of such a law on the rate of infidelity). But what would be the long run effect of such a law on this institution ? Demand curves slope downward even in this milieu. Place more barriers against an act, weddings in this case, and fewer of them will occur.
If society really has the best interests of tenants, of employees, and, also, of spouses, it will not in effect charge higher “prices” for them. The very opposite policies would be pursued.
The Best of Walter E. Block