lewrockwell--2020-04-24--The City in the Time of Plague: Epidemics Are More Like Revelatory Moments Than Social Transformers

The plague-stricken town , traversed throughout with hierarchy , surveillance , observation , writing ; the town immobilized by the functioning of an extensive power that bears in a distinct way over all individual bodies – this is the utopia of the perfectly governed city .
Predictably eyeing the Decline and Fall of the American Empire , a serious academic debate is raging around the working hypothesis of historian Kyle Harper , according to whom viruses and pandemics – especially the Justinian plague in the 6th century – led to the end of the Roman Empire .
Well , history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like revelatory moments than social transformers .
Discipline & Punish : T ... Michel Foucault Best Price : $ 2.43 Buy New $ 10.69 Patrick Boucheron , a crack historian and a professor at the esteemed College de France , offers a very interesting perspective .
Incidentally , before the onset of Covid-19 , he was about to start a seminar on the Black Death medieval plague .
Boucheron ’ s view of Boccaccio ’ s Decameron , written in 1350 and about young Florentine aristocrats who fled to the Tuscan countryside to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s character as a “ horrible beginning ” that tears apart social liaisons , provokes a funerary panic and has everyone wallowing in anomie .
Then he draws a historical parallel with Thucydides writing about the Athens plague in the summer of 430 BC .
Pushing it to the limit , we may venture that Western literature actually starts with a plague – described in Book 1 of the Iliad by Homer .
Thucydides ’ description of the Great Plague – actually typhoid fever – is a literary tour de force as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s more relevant than the “ Thucydides trap ” controversy – as it ’ s idle to compare the context in ancient Athens with the current US-China hybrid war .
Both Socrates and Thucydides , incidentally , survived the plague .
They were tough , and acquired immunity from their earlier exposure to typhoid .
Pericles , the leading citizen of Athens , was not so lucky : he died at 66 , a victim of the plague .
The Fate of Rome : Clim ... Harper , Kyle Best Price @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Boucheron wrote an immensely interesting book , Conjurer la Peur ( To Conjure Fear ) telling the story of Siena a few years before the Black Death , in 1338 .
This is the Siena pictured by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the walls of the Palazzo Pubblico – one of most spectacular allegorical frescoes in history .
In his book , Boucheron writes about political fear before it is engulfed by biological fear .
Nothing could be more contemporary .
In Lorenzetti ’ s Allegory of Bad Government , the court of bad justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poisoned chalice ( today that would be the “ crowned poison ” – or coronavirus ) .
The devil ’ s eyes are crossed and one of his feet is over a goat ’ s horns .
Floating above his head we find Avarice , Pride and Vainglory ( match them with contemporary political “ leaders ” ) .
War , Treason , and Fury sit to his left ( the US Deep State ? )
and Discord , Fraud and Cruelty on his right ( casino capitalist financialization ? )
.
Justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fallen .
Talk about an allegory of the “ international community.
” Boucheron pays special attention to the city as depicted by Lorenzetti .
That ’ s the city at war – as opposed to the harmonious city in the Allegory of Good Government .
The crucial point is that this is a depopulated city – much like our cities in quarantine now .
Only men at arms are circulating and , as Boucheron tells it : “ We guess that behind the walls , people are dying.
” So this image has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quite a few elderly people dying in silence in their homes .
Machiavelli : The Art o ... Boucheron , Patrick Best Price : $ 6.19 Buy New $ 5.99 Boucheron then makes a startling connection with the frontispiece of Hobbes ’ s Leviathan , published in 1651 : “ Here again there is a city depopulated by an epidemic .
We know because at the borders of the image we identify two silhouettes with birds ’ beaks , which represent the doctors of the plague , ” while the people in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the figure of the Leviathan state monster who is very confident of the fear he inspires .
Boucheron ’ s conclusion is that the state is always capable of obtaining an absolutely unprecedented resignation and obedience from the population .
“ What ’ s complicated is that even if what everything we say about the society of surveillance is scary and true , the state obtains this obedience in the name of its most undisputed function , which is to protect the population from creeping death .
That ’ s what plenty of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
” And I would add , today , a biolegitimacy boosted by widespread voluntary servitude .
Leviathan ( Penguin Cla ... Hobbes , Thomas Best Price : $ 2.48 Buy New $ 6.98 Tao Te Ching Tzu , Lao Best Price : $ 8.58 Buy New $ 6.89 Confucian Analects , Th ... Confucius Best Price : $ 10.70 Buy New $ 10.99

The plague-stricken town, traversed throughout with hierarchy, surveillance, observation, writing; the town immobilized by the functioning of an extensive power that bears in a distinct way over all individual bodies – this is the utopia of the perfectly governed city.
– Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
Predictably eyeing the Decline and Fall of the American Empire, a serious academic debate is raging around the working hypothesis of historian Kyle Harper, according to whom viruses and pandemics – especially the Justinian plague in the 6th century – led to the end of the Roman Empire.
Well, history actually teaches us that epidemics are more like revelatory moments than social transformers. Discipline & Punish: T... Michel Foucault Best Price: $2.43 Buy New $10.69 (as of 02:50 UTC - Details)
Patrick Boucheron, a crack historian and a professor at the esteemed College de France, offers a very interesting perspective. Incidentally, before the onset of Covid-19, he was about to start a seminar on the Black Death medieval plague.
Boucheron’s view of Boccaccio’s Decameron, written in 1350 and about young Florentine aristocrats who fled to the Tuscan countryside to tell stories, focuses on the plague’s character as a “horrible beginning” that tears apart social liaisons, provokes a funerary panic and has everyone wallowing in anomie.
Then he draws a historical parallel with Thucydides writing about the Athens plague in the summer of 430 BC. Pushing it to the limit, we may venture that Western literature actually starts with a plague – described in Book 1 of the Iliad by Homer.
Thucydides’ description of the Great Plague – actually typhoid fever – is a literary tour de force as well. In our current setting, that’s more relevant than the “Thucydides trap” controversy – as it’s idle to compare the context in ancient Athens with the current US-China hybrid war.
Both Socrates and Thucydides, incidentally, survived the plague. They were tough, and acquired immunity from their earlier exposure to typhoid. Pericles, the leading citizen of Athens, was not so lucky: he died at 66, a victim of the plague. The Fate of Rome: Clim... Harper, Kyle Best Price: $18.78 Buy New $6.50 (as of 03:30 UTC - Details)
The city in fear
Boucheron wrote an immensely interesting book, Conjurer la Peur (To Conjure Fear) telling the story of Siena a few years before the Black Death, in 1338. This is the Siena pictured by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the walls of the Palazzo Pubblico – one of most spectacular allegorical frescoes in history.
In his book, Boucheron writes about political fear before it is engulfed by biological fear. Nothing could be more contemporary.
In Lorenzetti’s Allegory of Bad Government, the court of bad justice is governed by a devil holding a poisoned chalice (today that would be the “crowned poison” – or coronavirus). The devil’s eyes are crossed and one of his feet is over a goat’s horns. Floating above his head we find Avarice, Pride and Vainglory (match them with contemporary political “leaders”). War, Treason, and Fury sit to his left (the US Deep State?) and Discord, Fraud and Cruelty on his right (casino capitalist financialization?). Justice is bound, and her scales have fallen. Talk about an allegory of the “international community.”
Boucheron pays special attention to the city as depicted by Lorenzetti. That’s the city at war – as opposed to the harmonious city in the Allegory of Good Government. The crucial point is that this is a depopulated city – much like our cities in quarantine now. Only men at arms are circulating and, as Boucheron tells it: “We guess that behind the walls, people are dying.” So this image has not changed today – deserted streets; quite a few elderly people dying in silence in their homes. Machiavelli: The Art o... Boucheron, Patrick Best Price: $6.19 Buy New $5.99 (as of 03:30 UTC - Details)
Boucheron then makes a startling connection with the frontispiece of Hobbes’s Leviathan, published in 1651: “Here again there is a city depopulated by an epidemic. We know because at the borders of the image we identify two silhouettes with birds’ beaks, which represent the doctors of the plague,” while the people in the city have been sucked upward, ballooning the figure of the Leviathan state monster who is very confident of the fear he inspires.
Boucheron’s conclusion is that the state is always capable of obtaining an absolutely unprecedented resignation and obedience from the population. “What’s complicated is that even if what everything we say about the society of surveillance is scary and true, the state obtains this obedience in the name of its most undisputed function, which is to protect the population from creeping death. That’s what plenty of serious studies define as ‘biolegitimacy’.”
And I would add, today, a biolegitimacy boosted by widespread voluntary servitude.
The Age of Haphophobia
Michel Foucault was arguably the premier modern cartographer of the Panopticon-derived surveillance society.
Then there’s Gilles Deleuze. In 1978, Foucault famously declared that, “perhaps, one day, this century will be called the Deleuzian century.”
Well, Deleuze is actually more 21st century than 20th. He went farther than anyone else studying societies of control – where control does not come from the center or from the top but flows through micro-vigilance, even activating the desire on everyone to be disciplined and monitored: once again, voluntary servitude. Leviathan (Penguin Cla... Hobbes, Thomas Best Price: $2.48 Buy New $6.98 (as of 03:30 UTC - Details)
Judith Butler, talking about South Africa-based critical theorist Achille Mbembe’s extraordinary Necropolitics, noted how he “continues where Foucault left off, tracking the lethal afterlife of sovereign power as it subjects whole populations to what Fanon called ‘the zone of non-being’.”
So a great deal of the intellectual debate ahead of us, borrowing from Fanon, Foucault, Deleuze, Mbembe and others, will necessarily have to focus on biopolitics and the widespread state of exception – which, as Giorgio Agamben has demonstrated, referring to Planet Lockdown, is now completely normalized.
We cannot even begin to imagine the consequences of the anthropological rupture caused by Covid-19. Sociologists for their part are already discussing how “social distancing” is an abstraction, defined and lived in quite unequal terms. They are discussing the reasons why the powers that be chose a martial vocabulary (“lockdown”) instead of forms of mobilization guided by a collective project.
And that will lead us to deeper studies of the Age of Haphophobia: our current condition of widespread fear of physical contact. Historians will be trying to analyze it in conjunction with how social phobias have evolved across centuries.
There’s no question that Foucault’s exhaustive mapping should be understood as a historical analysis of different techniques used by the powers that be to manage the life and death of populations. Between the crucial years 1975 and 1976, when he published Discipline and Punish (featured in this essay’s epigraph) and the first volume of History of Sexuality, Foucault, based on the notion of “biopolitics,” described the transition from a “sovereign society” to a “disciplinary society.”
His main conclusion is that techniques of biopolitical government spread out way beyond the legal and punitive spheres, and now are all over the spectrum, even lodged inside our individual bodies. Tao Te Ching Tzu, Lao Best Price: $8.58 Buy New $6.89 (as of 03:30 UTC - Details)
Covid-19 is presenting us with a huge biopolitical paradox. When the powers that be act like they are protecting us from a dangerous disease, they are imprinting their own immunity-based definition of the community. At the same time they have the power to decide to sacrifice part of the community (elderly people left to die; victims of the economic crisis) to the benefit of their own idea of sovereignty.
The state of exception to which many parts of the world are subjected now represents the normalization of this unbearable paradox.
House arrest
So how would Foucault see Covid-19? He would say that this epidemic radicalizes biopolitical techniques applied to a national territory, and inscribes them in a political anatomy applied to each individual body. That’s how an epidemic extends to the whole population political measures of “immunization” that previously only applied – violently – to those that were considered “aliens,” inside and outside the national, sovereign territory.
It’s irrelevant whether Sars-Covid-2 is organic; a bioweapon; or, CIA conspiracy theory-style, part of a world domination plan. What’s happening in real life is that the virus reproduces, materializes, extends and intensifies – for hundreds of millions of people – dominant forms of biopolitical and necropolitical management that were already in place. The virus is our mirror. We are what the epidemic says we are, and how we decide to face it. Confucian Analects, Th... Confucius Best Price: $10.70 Buy New $10.99 (as of 03:30 UTC - Details)
And under such extreme turbulence, as noted by philosopher Paul Preciado, we end up reaching a new necropolitical frontier – especially in the West.
The new territory of the border politics the West has been testing for years over “The Other” – blacks, Muslims, the poor – now starts at home. It’s as if Lesbos, the key entrance island for refugees in the Eastern Mediterranean coming from Turkey, now started at the entrance of each Western apartment.
With pervasive social distancing in place, the new border is each and everyone’s skin. Migrants and refugees were previously considered viruses, and only merited confinement and immobilization. But now these policies apply to whole populations. Detention centers – perpetual waiting rooms that abolish human rights and citizenship – are now detention centers inside one’s own home.
No wonder the liberal West has been plunged into a state of shock and awe.
Reprinted with the author’s permission.


lewrockwell--2020-04-24--The One Certain Victor in the Pandemic War

“ War is the health of the state , ” wrote the progressive Randolph Bourne during the First World War , after which he succumbed to the Spanish flu .
America ’ s war on the coronavirus pandemic promises to be no exception to the axiom .
However long this war requires , the gargantuan state will almost surely emerge triumphant .
Currently , the major expenditures of the U.S. government , as well as a growing share of total federal spending , are Social Security , Medicare and Medicaid .
None of these programs will be curtailed or reduced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Democrats win in November , the nation will likely take a great leap forward – toward national health insurance .
Churchill , Hitler , and ... Patrick J. Buchanan Best Price : $ 9.48 Buy New $ 14.00 Republicans are calling for a suspension until 2021 of payroll taxes used to finance Social Security and Medicare .
While that would provide an economic stimulus , it would also blow a huge hole in federal revenue and further enlarge the deficit and national debt .
Even before the virus struck with full force @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at or near $ 1 trillion — not only for fiscal year 2020 but for every year of the new decade .
The next major item of the budget is defense , considered untouchable to the Republican Party .
Hence a confident prediction : This generation will never again see a budget deficit smaller than $ 1 trillion .
Indeed , the $ 2 trillion lately voted on to save businesses and keep paychecks going to workers will lift the deficit for 2020 above $ 3 trillion .
As of March 1 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employment , with the lowest jobless rates among women and minorities in our history .
Less than two months later , 26 million Americans are out of work .
The Death of the West : ... Patrick J. Buchanan Best Price : $ 2.12 Buy New $ 12.46 These workers will soon begin picking up unemployment checks , a new burden on the federal budget , to which will be added the cost of expanding food stamps , rent supplements and welfare payments .
Though Harvard , with its $ 41 billion endowment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 8.7 million in bailout money coming its way , does anyone believe the stream of U.S. revenue going into higher education will ever fall back to what it was before the pandemic ?
As for that $ 1.5 trillion in student loan debt , is it more likely that vast sum will be paid back by those who incurred the debt , or that it will be piled atop the federal debt ?
Congress has already voted to bail out our stressed hospitals .
Suicide of a Superpowe ... Patrick J. Buchanan Best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 17.29 Now , standing patiently in line for their bailouts , are the states — and America ’ s cities and counties .
These governmental units are virtually all certain to face falling tax revenue and expanded social demands , leading to exploding deficits .
Their case : You bailed out the businesses and the hospitals .
What about us ?
When does our turn come ?
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , anticipating the mammoth bill for bailing out states and cities , has suggested that governments be allowed to use bankruptcy laws @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debts .
Probably not going to happen .
Recall what happened when President Gerald Ford told New York City that Uncle Sam was not going to bail out the Big Apple .
“ Ford to City : Drop Dead !
” was the famous headline splashed across the front page of the New York Daily News .
Ford recanted but did not recover .
His perceived callousness in the face of New York City ’ s crisis — though that fiscal crisis was entirely of the city ’ s own making — factored @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Donald Trump is not going to give Red State governors facing gaping budget deficits because of the coronavirus crisis the wet mitten across the face .
For his political future will be decided by those states .
A Republic , Not an Empire Buchanan , Patrick J .
Best Price : $ 1.48 Buy New $ 8.89 Still , the cost of bailing them out promises to be enormous and to create a precedent for bailouts without end .
Then there is the clamor , already begun , from , and on behalf @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IMF , World Bank and the West , it is said , have a moral obligation to replace revenue shortfalls these nations are facing from lost remittances from their workers in the developed world .
There is talk of hundreds of billions of dollars in monetary transfers from the world ’ s North to the world ’ s South .
Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist once famously declared : “ I don ’ t want to abolish government .
I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bathtub.
” What is more likely to be drowned in that bathtub is the philosophy : “ That government governs best which governs least.
” What is more likely to be drowned in that bathtub is the philosophy that champions small government , the primacy of the private sector , a belief in “ pay as you go , ” and that “ balanced budgets ” are the ideal .
Indeed , the one certain victor in the coronavirus pandemic war will likely be Big Government .
As John Donne wrote , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s increase.
” The Best of Patrick J. Buchanan

Shop all books by Pat Buchanan
“War is the health of the state,” wrote the progressive Randolph Bourne during the First World War, after which he succumbed to the Spanish flu.
America’s war on the coronavirus pandemic promises to be no exception to the axiom. However long this war requires, the gargantuan state will almost surely emerge triumphant.
Currently, the major expenditures of the U.S. government, as well as a growing share of total federal spending, are Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
None of these programs will be curtailed or reduced this year or next. And if the Democrats win in November, the nation will likely take a great leap forward – toward national health insurance. Churchill, Hitler, and... Patrick J. Buchanan Best Price: $9.48 Buy New $14.00 (as of 08:25 UTC - Details)
Republicans are calling for a suspension until 2021 of payroll taxes used to finance Social Security and Medicare. While that would provide an economic stimulus, it would also blow a huge hole in federal revenue and further enlarge the deficit and national debt.
Even before the virus struck with full force in March, that deficit was projected at or near $1 trillion — not only for fiscal year 2020 but for every year of the new decade.
The next major item of the budget is defense, considered untouchable to the Republican Party. Hence a confident prediction: This generation will never again see a budget deficit smaller than $1 trillion.
Indeed, the $2 trillion lately voted on to save businesses and keep paychecks going to workers will lift the deficit for 2020 above $3 trillion.
As of March 1, 2020, the nation was at full employment, with the lowest jobless rates among women and minorities in our history.
Less than two months later, 26 million Americans are out of work. The Death of the West:... Patrick J. Buchanan Best Price: $2.12 Buy New $12.46 (as of 06:40 UTC - Details)
These workers will soon begin picking up unemployment checks, a new burden on the federal budget, to which will be added the cost of expanding food stamps, rent supplements and welfare payments.
Consider education.
Though Harvard, with its $41 billion endowment, was shamed into returning the $8.7 million in bailout money coming its way, does anyone believe the stream of U.S. revenue going into higher education will ever fall back to what it was before the pandemic?
As for that $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, is it more likely that vast sum will be paid back by those who incurred the debt, or that it will be piled atop the federal debt?
Congress has already voted to bail out our stressed hospitals.
Suicide of a Superpowe... Patrick J. Buchanan Best Price: $1.50 Buy New $17.29 (as of 01:00 UTC - Details) Now, standing patiently in line for their bailouts, are the states — and America’s cities and counties. These governmental units are virtually all certain to face falling tax revenue and expanded social demands, leading to exploding deficits.
Their case: You bailed out the businesses and the hospitals. What about us? When does our turn come?
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, anticipating the mammoth bill for bailing out states and cities, has suggested that governments be allowed to use bankruptcy laws to write down and write off their debts.
Probably not going to happen.
Recall what happened when President Gerald Ford told New York City that Uncle Sam was not going to bail out the Big Apple. “Ford to City: Drop Dead!” was the famous headline splashed across the front page of the New York Daily News.
Ford recanted but did not recover. His perceived callousness in the face of New York City’s crisis — though that fiscal crisis was entirely of the city’s own making — factored into his defeat by Jimmy Carter.
Donald Trump is not going to give Red State governors facing gaping budget deficits because of the coronavirus crisis the wet mitten across the face. For his political future will be decided by those states. A Republic, Not an Empire Buchanan, Patrick J. Best Price: $1.48 Buy New $8.89 (as of 03:33 UTC - Details)
Still, the cost of bailing them out promises to be enormous and to create a precedent for bailouts without end.
Then there is the clamor, already begun, from, and on behalf of, the Third World. The IMF, World Bank and the West, it is said, have a moral obligation to replace revenue shortfalls these nations are facing from lost remittances from their workers in the developed world.
There is talk of hundreds of billions of dollars in monetary transfers from the world’s North to the world’s South.
Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist once famously declared: “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
What is more likely to be drowned in that bathtub is the philosophy: “That government governs best which governs least.”
What is more likely to be drowned in that bathtub is the philosophy that champions small government, the primacy of the private sector, a belief in “pay as you go,” and that “balanced budgets” are the ideal.
Call it Robert Taft conservatism. Today, it appears irrelevant.
Indeed, the one certain victor in the coronavirus pandemic war will likely be Big Government. As John Donne wrote, “No winter shall abate this spring’s increase.”
The Best of Patrick J. Buchanan


lewrockwell--2020-04-24--Bats, Gene Editing, and Bioweapons: Recent DARPA Experiments Raise Concerns Amid Coronavirus Outbrea

Bats, Gene Editing, and Bioweapons: Recent DARPA Experiments Raise Concerns Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

DARPA RECENTLY SPENT MILLIONS ON RESEARCH INVOLVING BATS AND CORONAVIRUSES , AS WELL AS GENE EDITING “ BIOWEAPONS ” PRIOR TO THE RECENT CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK .
NOW , “ STRATEGIC ALLIES ” OF THE AGENCY HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO DEVELOP A GENETIC MATERIAL-BASED VACCINE TO HALT THE POTENTIAL EPIDEMIC .
WASHINGTON D.C. – In recent weeks , concern over the emergence of a novel coronavirus in China has grown exponentially as media , experts and government officials around the world have openly worried that this new disease has the potential to develop into a global pandemic .
As concerns about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grown , so too have the number of theories speculating about the outbreak ’ s origin , many of which blame a variety of state actors and/or controversial billionaires .
This has inevitably led to efforts to clamp down on “ misinformation ” related to the coronavirus outbreak from both mainstream media outlets and major social media platforms .
Regenerate : Unlocking ... Ji , Sayer Best Price : $ 31.66 Buy New $ 20.82 However , while many of these theories are clearly speculative , there is also verifiable evidence regarding the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agency in novel coronaviruses , specifically those transmitted from bats to humans .
That agency , the Pentagon ’ s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency ( DARPA ) , began spending millions on such research in 2018 and some of those Pentagon-funded studies were conducted at known U.S. military bioweapons labs bordering China and resulted in the discovery of dozens of new coronavirus strains as recently as last April .
Furthermore , the ties of the Pentagon ’ s main biodefense lab to a virology institute in Wuhan , China — where the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — have been unreported in English language media thus far .
While it remains entirely unknown as to what caused the outbreak , the details of DARPA ’ s and the Pentagon ’ s recent experimentation are clearly in the public interest , especially considering that the very companies recently chosen to develop a vaccine to combat the coronavirus outbreak are themselves strategic allies of DARPA .
Not only that , but these DARPA-backed companies are developing controversial DNA and mRNA vaccines for this particular coronavirus strain , a category of vaccine that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use in the United States .
Yet , as fears of the pandemic potential of coronavirus grow , these vaccines are set to be rushed to market for public use , making it important for the public to be aware of DARPA ’ s recent experiments on coronaviruses , bats and gene editing technologies and their broader implications .
As the coronavirus outbreak has come to dominate headlines in recent weeks , several media outlets have promoted claims that the reported epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan , China was also the site @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government biowarfare program .
Vibit Portable Persona ... Buy New $ 59.99 However , upon further examination of the sourcing for this serious claim , these supposed links between the outbreak and an alleged Chinese bioweapons program have come from two highly dubious sources .
For instance , the first outlet to report on this claim was Radio Free Asia , the U.S.-government funded media outlet targeting Asian audiences that used to be run covertly by the CIA and named by the New York Times as a key part in the agency ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is no longer run directly by the CIA , it is now managed by the government-funded Broadcasting Board of Governors ( BBG ) , which answers directly to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , who was CIA director immediately prior to his current post at the head of the State Department .
In other words , Radio Free Asia and other BBG-managed media outlets are legal outlets for U.S. government propaganda .
Notably , the long-standing ban on the domestic use of U.S. government propaganda on U.S. citizens was lifted in 2013 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government to “ effectively communicate in a credible way ” and to better combat “ al-Qaeda ’ s and other violent extremists ’ influence.
” Returning to the subject at hand , Radio Free Asia ’ s recent report on the alleged origins of the outbreak being linked to a Chinese state-linked virology center cited only Ren Ruihong , the former head of the medical assistance department at the Chinese Red Cross , for that claim .
Ruihong has been cited as an expert in several Radio Free Asia reports on disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been cited as an expert by any other English-language media outlet .
SLARR Premium Aluminum ... Buy New $ 69.99 Though Ruihong did not directly say that the Chinese government was making a bioweapon at the Wuhan facility , she did imply that genetic experiments at the facility may have resulted in the creation of this new “ mutant coronavirus ” at the center of the outbreak .
With Radio Free Asia and its single source having speculated about Chinese government links to the creation of the new coronavirus , the Washington Times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ report titled “ Virus-hit Wuhan has two laboratories linked to Chinese bio-warfare program.
” That article , much like Radio Free Asia ’ s earlier report , cites a single source for that claim , former Israeli military intelligence biowarfare specialist Dany Shoham .
Yet , upon reading the article , Shoham does not even directly make the claim cited in the article ’ s headline , as he only told the Washington Times that : “ Certain laboratories in the [ Wuhan ] institute have probably been engaged , in terms of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ biological weapons ] , at least collaterally , yet not as a principal facility of the Chinese BW alignment ( emphasis added ) .
” While Shoham ’ s claims are clearly speculative , it is telling that the Washington Times would bother to cite him at all , especially given the key role he played in promoting false claims that the 2001 Anthrax attacks was the work of Iraq ’ s Saddam Hussein .
Shoham ’ s assertions about Iraq ’ s government and weaponized Anthrax , which were used to bolster @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraq , have since been proven completely false , as Iraq was found to have neither the chemical or biological “ weapons of mass destruction ” that “ experts ” like Shoham had claimed .
Beyond Shoham ’ s own history of making suspect claims , it is also worth noting that Shoham ’ s previous employer , Israeli military intelligence , has a troubling past with bioweapons .
For instance , in the late 1990s , it was reported by several outlets that Israel was in the process of developing a genetic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraqis , but leave Israeli Jews unaffected .
PetSafe Wireless Dog a ... Best Price : $ 226.26 Buy New $ 247.13 Given the dubious past of Shoham and the clearly speculative nature of both his claims and those made in the Radio Free Asia report , one passage in the Washington Times article is particularly telling about why these claims have recently surfaced : However , as seen in that very article , accusations that the coronavirus escaped from a Chinese-state-linked laboratory is hardly a future charge as both the Washington Times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making that claim .
Instead , what this passage suggests is that the reports in both Radio Free Asia and the Washington Times were responses to the claims circulating within China that the outbreak is linked to a “ U.S .
conspiracy to spread germ weapons.
” Though most English-language media outlets to date have not examined such a possibility , there is considerable supporting evidence that deserves to be examined .
For instance , not only was the U.S. military , including its controversial research arm — the Defense Advanced Research Projects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ studies in and near China that discovered new , mutant coronaviruses originating from bats , but the Pentagon also became recently concerned about the potential use of bats as bioweapons .

DARPA RECENTLY SPENT MILLIONS ON RESEARCH INVOLVING BATS AND CORONAVIRUSES, AS WELL AS GENE EDITING “BIOWEAPONS” PRIOR TO THE RECENT CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK. NOW, “STRATEGIC ALLIES” OF THE AGENCY HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO DEVELOP A GENETIC MATERIAL-BASED VACCINE TO HALT THE POTENTIAL EPIDEMIC.
WASHINGTON D.C. – In recent weeks, concern over the emergence of a novel coronavirus in China has grown exponentially as media, experts and government officials around the world have openly worried that this new disease has the potential to develop into a global pandemic.
As concerns about the future of the ongoing outbreak have grown, so too have the number of theories speculating about the outbreak’s origin, many of which blame a variety of state actors and/or controversial billionaires. This has inevitably led to efforts to clamp down on “misinformation” related to the coronavirus outbreak from both mainstream media outlets and major social media platforms.
Regenerate: Unlocking ... Ji, Sayer Best Price: $31.66 Buy New $20.82 (as of 03:35 UTC - Details) However, while many of these theories are clearly speculative, there is also verifiable evidence regarding the recent interest of one controversial U.S. government agency in novel coronaviruses, specifically those transmitted from bats to humans. That agency, the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), began spending millions on such research in 2018 and some of those Pentagon-funded studies were conducted at known U.S. military bioweapons labs bordering China and resulted in the discovery of dozens of new coronavirus strains as recently as last April. Furthermore, the ties of the Pentagon’s main biodefense lab to a virology institute in Wuhan, China — where the current outbreak is believed to have begun — have been unreported in English language media thus far.
While it remains entirely unknown as to what caused the outbreak, the details of DARPA’s and the Pentagon’s recent experimentation are clearly in the public interest, especially considering that the very companies recently chosen to develop a vaccine to combat the coronavirus outbreak are themselves strategic allies of DARPA. Not only that, but these DARPA-backed companies are developing controversial DNA and mRNA vaccines for this particular coronavirus strain, a category of vaccine that has never previously been approved for human use in the United States.
Yet, as fears of the pandemic potential of coronavirus grow, these vaccines are set to be rushed to market for public use, making it important for the public to be aware of DARPA’s recent experiments on coronaviruses, bats and gene editing technologies and their broader implications.
EXAMINING THE RECENT WUHAN-BIOWEAPON NARRATIVE
As the coronavirus outbreak has come to dominate headlines in recent weeks, several media outlets have promoted claims that the reported epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, China was also the site of laboratories allegedly linked to a Chinese government biowarfare program. Vibit Portable Persona... Buy New $59.99 (as of 03:35 UTC - Details)
However, upon further examination of the sourcing for this serious claim, these supposed links between the outbreak and an alleged Chinese bioweapons program have come from two highly dubious sources.
For instance, the first outlet to report on this claim was Radio Free Asia, the U.S.-government funded media outlet targeting Asian audiences that used to be run covertly by the CIA and named by the New York Times as a key part in the agency’s “worldwide propaganda network.” Though it is no longer run directly by the CIA, it is now managed by the government-funded Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which answers directly to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was CIA director immediately prior to his current post at the head of the State Department.
In other words, Radio Free Asia and other BBG-managed media outlets are legal outlets for U.S. government propaganda. Notably, the long-standing ban on the domestic use of U.S. government propaganda on U.S. citizens was lifted in 2013, with the official justification of allowing the government to “effectively communicate in a credible way” and to better combat “al-Qaeda’s and other violent extremists’ influence.”
Returning to the subject at hand, Radio Free Asia’s recent report on the alleged origins of the outbreak being linked to a Chinese state-linked virology center cited only Ren Ruihong, the former head of the medical assistance department at the Chinese Red Cross, for that claim. Ruihong has been cited as an expert in several Radio Free Asia reports on disease outbreaks in China, but has not been cited as an expert by any other English-language media outlet.
Ruihong told Radio Free Asia that:
“It’s a new type of mutant coronavirus.They haven’t made public the genetic sequence, because it is highly contagious…Genetic engineering technology has gotten to such a point now, and Wuhan is home to a viral research center that is under the aegis of the China Academy of Sciences, which is the highest level of research facility in China.”
SLARR Premium Aluminum... Buy New $69.99 (as of 03:35 UTC - Details) Though Ruihong did not directly say that the Chinese government was making a bioweapon at the Wuhan facility, she did imply that genetic experiments at the facility may have resulted in the creation of this new “mutant coronavirus” at the center of the outbreak.
With Radio Free Asia and its single source having speculated about Chinese government links to the creation of the new coronavirus, the Washington Times soon took it much farther in a report titled “Virus-hit Wuhan has two laboratories linked to Chinese bio-warfare program.” That article, much like Radio Free Asia’s earlier report, cites a single source for that claim, former Israeli military intelligence biowarfare specialist Dany Shoham.
Yet, upon reading the article, Shoham does not even directly make the claim cited in the article’s headline, as he only told the Washington Times that: “Certain laboratories in the [Wuhan] institute have probably been engaged, in terms of research and development, in Chinese [biological weapons], at least collaterally, yet not as a principal facility of the Chinese BW alignment (emphasis added).”
While Shoham’s claims are clearly speculative, it is telling that the Washington Times would bother to cite him at all, especially given the key role he played in promoting false claims that the 2001 Anthrax attacks was the work of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. Shoham’s assertions about Iraq’s government and weaponized Anthrax, which were used to bolster the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, have since been proven completely false, as Iraq was found to have neither the chemical or biological “weapons of mass destruction” that “experts” like Shoham had claimed.
Beyond Shoham’s own history of making suspect claims, it is also worth noting that Shoham’s previous employer, Israeli military intelligence, has a troubling past with bioweapons. For instance, in the late 1990s, it was reported by several outlets that Israel was in the process of developing a genetic bioweapon that would target Arabs, specifically Iraqis, but leave Israeli Jews unaffected.
PetSafe Wireless Dog a... Best Price: $226.26 Buy New $247.13 (as of 03:35 UTC - Details) Given the dubious past of Shoham and the clearly speculative nature of both his claims and those made in the Radio Free Asia report, one passage in the Washington Times article is particularly telling about why these claims have recently surfaced:
“One ominous sign, said a U.S. official, is that the false rumors since the outbreak began several weeks ago have begun circulating on the Chinese Internet claiming the virus is part of a U.S. conspiracy to spread germ weapons. That could indicate China is preparing propaganda outlets to counter future charges the new virus escaped from one of Wuhan’s civilian or defense research laboratories (emphasis added).”
However, as seen in that very article, accusations that the coronavirus escaped from a Chinese-state-linked laboratory is hardly a future charge as both the Washington Times and Radio Free Asia have already been making that claim. Instead, what this passage suggests is that the reports in both Radio Free Asia and the Washington Times were responses to the claims circulating within China that the outbreak is linked to a “U.S. conspiracy to spread germ weapons.”
Though most English-language media outlets to date have not examined such a possibility, there is considerable supporting evidence that deserves to be examined. For instance, not only was the U.S. military, including its controversial research arm — the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), recently funding studies in and near China that discovered new, mutant coronaviruses originating from bats, but the Pentagon also became recently concerned about the potential use of bats as bioweapons.
Read the Whole Article
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Saving Lives?

We heard it from Andrew Cuomo , governor of New York , and plenty of people since then : If we save even one life with all these draconian measures , it will have been worthwhile .
Well , ol ’ Woods is here to throw cold water on that .
Here are two recent items : ( 1 ) The UK ’ s Sunday Express — so not exactly an obscure dispatch — reports that increased cancer fatalities will result from the redeployment of health resources caused by COVID hysteria .
In fact , says Richard Sullivan , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ King ’ s College London and director of its Institute of Cancer Policy , “ The number of deaths due to the disruption of cancer services is likely to outweigh the number of deaths from the coronavirus itself.
” How the Catholic Churc ... Thomas E. Woods Best Price : $ 8.00 Buy New $ 9.06 “ The cessation and delay of cancer care will cause considerable avoidable suffering .
Cancer screening services have stopped , which means we will miss our chance to catch many cancers when they are treatable and curable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ breast.
” “ When we do restart normal service delivery after the lockdown is lifted , the backlog of cases will be a huge challenge to the healthcare system.
” ( 2 ) Reuters reported this week on a UN report warning that “ economic hardship experienced by families as a result of the global economic downturn could result in hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths in 2020 , reversing the last 2 to 3 years of progress in reducing infant mortality within a single year.
” The report further warned that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis .
Well , how about that : the world isn ’ t as cartoonish as Team Apocalypse thinks .
Shutting down the world , coupled with demands that we accept living like vegetables as the “ new normal , ” has consequences .
It isn ’ t just that we want to go out and get a haircut , as these geniuses keep saying .
And that we realize there are often additional consequences , beyond the immediate , to the kinds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : The Classic ... Thomas E. Woods Jr. Best Price : $ 6.46 Buy New $ 13.81 The latest gimmick from Team Apocalypse is to ask , “ Would you take a handful of jelly beans from a bowl of 100 in which one was poisoned ?
” This is supposed to show me that cowering in my house is the only rational response to the virus .
The case is being framed like this : “ Would you reach in and take something if there was a chance it was poison ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ I would suffer if I didn ’ t reach in .
The people using this analogy are misleadingly suggesting that my only possible concern is the virus .
But I have other concerns , too — namely , not spending months and possibly years living like a vegetable .
When I reach into the bowl , they are suggesting that this is the equivalent of returning to normal life , and taking a risk .
But yes , I am prepared to take that risk because I want to live a life that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jelly beans represent everything I ’ ve worked for my whole life , if they represent financial solvency , if they represent all my hopes , dreams , and aspirations , you ’ d better believe I would grab that handful and eat them without the slightest hesitation .
I covered these and other issues in the most recent episode of the Tom Woods Show , which I ’ m happy to say tens of thousands of libertarians have made a part of their daily routine .
The Politically Incorr ... Woods Jr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 4.70 Buy New $ 15.14 Nullification : How to ... Thomas E. Woods Best Price : $ 2.00 Buy New $ 8.34 The Best of Tom Woods

We heard it from Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, and plenty of people since then:
If we save even one life with all these draconian measures, it will have been worthwhile.
Well, ol’ Woods is here to throw cold water on that.
Here are two recent items:
(1) The UK’s Sunday Express — so not exactly an obscure dispatch — reports that increased cancer fatalities will result from the redeployment of health resources caused by COVID hysteria. In fact, says Richard Sullivan, a professor of cancer and global health at King’s College London and director of its Institute of Cancer Policy, “The number of deaths due to the disruption of cancer services is likely to outweigh the number of deaths from the coronavirus itself.” How the Catholic Churc... Thomas E. Woods Best Price: $8.00 Buy New $9.06 (as of 05:30 UTC - Details)
“The cessation and delay of cancer care will cause considerable avoidable suffering. Cancer screening services have stopped, which means we will miss our chance to catch many cancers when they are treatable and curable, such as cervical, bowel and breast.”
“When we do restart normal service delivery after the lockdown is lifted, the backlog of cases will be a huge challenge to the healthcare system.”
(2) Reuters reported this week on a UN report warning that “economic hardship experienced by families as a result of the global economic downturn could result in hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths in 2020, reversing the last 2 to 3 years of progress in reducing infant mortality within a single year.”
The report further warned that 42 million to 66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis.
(For the tone deaf: I place no confidence in the UN. I cite them to show that these predictions aren’t coming from right-wing theories and are therefore more difficult to dismiss.)
Well, how about that: the world isn’t as cartoonish as Team Apocalypse thinks. Shutting down the world, coupled with demands that we accept living like vegetables as the “new normal,” has consequences.
It isn’t just that we want to go out and get a haircut, as these geniuses keep saying.
It’s that we’re against destruction.
And that we realize there are often additional consequences, beyond the immediate, to the kinds of approaches states have been taking. Meltdown: The Classic ... Thomas E. Woods Jr. Best Price: $6.46 Buy New $13.81 (as of 07:55 UTC - Details)
The latest gimmick from Team Apocalypse is to ask, “Would you take a handful of jelly beans from a bowl of 100 in which one was poisoned?” This is supposed to show me that cowering in my house is the only rational response to the virus.
My reply:
The case is being framed like this: “Would you reach in and take something if there was a chance it was poison?” Well, it depends on what I would suffer if I didn’t reach in.
The people using this analogy are misleadingly suggesting that my only possible concern is the virus. But I have other concerns, too — namely, not spending months and possibly years living like a vegetable. When I reach into the bowl, they are suggesting that this is the equivalent of returning to normal life, and taking a risk. But yes, I am prepared to take that risk because I want to live a life that’s worth living.
If the jelly beans represent everything I’ve worked for my whole life, if they represent financial solvency, if they represent all my hopes, dreams, and aspirations, you’d better believe I would grab that handful and eat them without the slightest hesitation.
I covered these and other issues in the most recent episode of the Tom Woods Show, which I’m happy to say tens of thousands of libertarians have made a part of their daily routine.
The Politically Incorr... Woods Jr., Thomas E. Best Price: $4.70 Buy New $15.14 (as of 03:36 UTC - Details) Nullification: How to ... Thomas E. Woods Best Price: $2.00 Buy New $8.34 (as of 05:25 UTC - Details)
The Best of Tom Woods


lewrockwell--2020-04-24--Will Trump Go to War With Iran To Save the US Oil Industry?

It ’ s believed that a US-Iran war would disrupt the flow of Middle Eastern oil and , as such , should be avoided at all costs .
With US oil futures trading in the negative , has the risk of such a war suddenly become attractive ?
Last week , nearly a dozen Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy ( IRGCN ) vessels harassed a formation of US Navy and Coast Guard ships operating in international waters in the northern Persian Gulf .
According to the US Navy , approximately 11 Iranian fast patrol boats conducted “ dangerous and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ six vessels , repeatedly crossing the bows and sterns of the American ships at high speeds .
Such maneuvers are not uncommon in the Persian Gulf , where the US and Iranian navies have faced off against each other several times over the years , employing similar harassing tactics , but always stopping short of actual confrontation .
Patriotic Dissent : Ame ... Sjursen , Daniel A .
Buy New $ 22.00 As such , President Donald Trump ’ s tweet on Wednesday , instructing the US Navy “ to shoot down and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they harass our ships at sea , ” seemed like an unnecessary and dangerous escalation , especially given the history of the US-Iranian confrontation in the region and the potentially devastating consequences of such .
Almost immediately after Trump released his Tweet , the price of oil rebounded .
Futures contracts for West Texas Intermediate ( WTI ) spiked to $ 13.49 , after previously dropping to historic lows , bottoming-out at nearly negative $ 37 .
Likewise , Brent futures , which benchmark around 60 percent of global crude purchases , jumped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ barrel , after trading as low as $ 15.98 .
Normally the cause-and-effect relationship between the threat of war and the rise in oil prices would be viewed in a negative light .
But these are not normal times .
Back in September 2019 , a drone and missile attack blamed on Iran—with or without the assistance of Houthi rebels—hit a pair of Saudi Arabian oil facilities , forcing them to shut down and thereby cutting Saudi Arabian oil production by 5.7 million barrels of oil a day , or five percent of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the heels of a series of explosions targeting oil tankers in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in May 2019 , attacks that , again , were blamed on Iran .
Iran has repeatedly sent a message to the US , its Gulf Arab allies and the rest of the world , that if the US expanded its “ maximum pressure ” campaign by sanctioning Iran ’ s oil and gas industry , thereby denying Iran access to global markets , then Iran was fully capable of retaliating in kind , closing down the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and destroying critical oil production infrastructure .
That message was reiterated in the May 2019 attacks – for which Iran , however , never claimed responsibility .
Ghost Riders of Baghda ... Daniel A. Sjursen Best Price : $ 16.67 Buy New $ 16.58 While President Trump ’ s instincts at the time were to forcefully confront Iran over its behavior , he was talked down by calmer heads within his administration , including senior officers in the US military who warned that the US was not in a position to prevent Iran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Eastern oil production , and in doing so cripple the global economy .
Simply put , the risks associated with a war with Iran far outweighed any potential gains .
That was then ; this is now .
The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a global economic shutdown which has dramatically reduced the demand for oil at a time when the world was witnessing record-high levels of production .
The resulting glut has led to a collapse in the price of oil , which has been exacerbated by a price war between Russia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effort to drive out US shale oil producers and lock in their respective share of a shrinking market .
The Russians and Saudis were successful—too successful .
With US oil continuing to be produced at record rates , contributing to a global excess production amounting to some 27 million barrels per day , the US and the world are rapidly running out of places to store the resulting glut .
This has led to a crisis where the price of Western Texas Intermediate , the benchmark index for US oil , moved into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to pay customers to take possession of oil contracts for May .
A similar fate awaits June WTI contracts and , unless the global overproduction of oil ceases , this is a model that will repeat itself .
Already , US producers are going into bankruptcy , triggering an economic collapse that threatens to take down a considerable portion of the US oil industry .
Presidential Puppetry : ... Kreig , Andrew Best Price : $ 27.95 Buy New $ 27.95 The only way out of this economic disaster is for the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Talks between the major oil producers earlier this month produced planned cuts of around 10 million barrels per day , leaving some 17 million barrels in daily overproduction .
While there are talks about instituting additional cuts , no nation wants to sacrifice market share in order to save US shale oil , which many nations blame for much of the overproduction taking place today .
There is one way , however , to instantly remove more than 20 million barrels a day from the global economy—a war with Iran that closes the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ production in the Persian Gulf region .
Back in 2019 , this very outcome is what mitigated against a military conflict between the US and Iran .
Today , with the US oil industry in crisis and facing potentially irreversible losses , a Middle Eastern war suddenly makes perfect sense .
Back in 2019 , the US was ill-prepared for a war with Iran .
In the intervening time , it has bolstered its defenses and strengthened its military presence in the Persian Gulf region to the point that , at a minimum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protection to deployed forces while simultaneously being able to launch damaging attacks against Iran .
The extent to which the US can shield its Gulf Arab allies from any Iranian counterattack is uncertain and , more to the point , irrelevant .
While the US has deployed Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries to Saudi Arabia to protect critical oil infrastructure , there is little doubt that Iran would exact a terrible toll on the oil production capacity of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Arab states .
Calculated Chaos : Inst ... Butler D. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 6.73 Buy New $ 41.95 The consequences of such a military confrontation would be dire and immediate , with more than 21 million barrels of oil removed from the global market instantaneously , and oil prices soaring—precisely the outcome needed to save US oil producers .
Whether such a war actually comes to pass has yet to be seen , but one thing is for certain—the risk-gain analysis that held that a war with Iran would be prohibitively expensive has been flipped on its head .
The fact of the matter is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be the only thing that can save US oil .
In a Presidential election year where Trump is desperately looking to prop up the US economy , war suddenly has become very attractive .
The statements , views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT .

It’s believed that a US-Iran war would disrupt the flow of Middle Eastern oil and, as such, should be avoided at all costs. With US oil futures trading in the negative, has the risk of such a war suddenly become attractive?
Last week, nearly a dozen Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) vessels harassed a formation of US Navy and Coast Guard ships operating in international waters in the northern Persian Gulf. According to the US Navy, approximately 11 Iranian fast patrol boats conducted “dangerous and harassing approaches” of a flotilla of six vessels, repeatedly crossing the bows and sterns of the American ships at high speeds.
Such maneuvers are not uncommon in the Persian Gulf, where the US and Iranian navies have faced off against each other several times over the years, employing similar harassing tactics, but always stopping short of actual confrontation.
I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2020
Patriotic Dissent: Ame... Sjursen, Daniel A. Buy New $22.00 (as of 03:27 UTC - Details) As such, President Donald Trump’s tweet on Wednesday, instructing the US Navy “to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” seemed like an unnecessary and dangerous escalation, especially given the history of the US-Iranian confrontation in the region and the potentially devastating consequences of such.
Almost immediately after Trump released his Tweet, the price of oil rebounded. Futures contracts for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) spiked to $13.49, after previously dropping to historic lows, bottoming-out at nearly negative $37. Likewise, Brent futures, which benchmark around 60 percent of global crude purchases, jumped $1.20 higher to $20.53 per barrel, after trading as low as $15.98. Normally the cause-and-effect relationship between the threat of war and the rise in oil prices would be viewed in a negative light. But these are not normal times.
Back in September 2019, a drone and missile attack blamed on Iran—with or without the assistance of Houthi rebels—hit a pair of Saudi Arabian oil facilities, forcing them to shut down and thereby cutting Saudi Arabian oil production by 5.7 million barrels of oil a day, or five percent of global production. This attack came on the heels of a series of explosions targeting oil tankers in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in May 2019, attacks that, again, were blamed on Iran.
Iran has repeatedly sent a message to the US, its Gulf Arab allies and the rest of the world, that if the US expanded its “maximum pressure” campaign by sanctioning Iran’s oil and gas industry, thereby denying Iran access to global markets, then Iran was fully capable of retaliating in kind, closing down the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic and destroying critical oil production infrastructure. That message was reiterated in the May 2019 attacks – for which Iran, however, never claimed responsibility. Ghost Riders of Baghda... Daniel A. Sjursen Best Price: $16.67 Buy New $16.58 (as of 05:55 UTC - Details)
While President Trump’s instincts at the time were to forcefully confront Iran over its behavior, he was talked down by calmer heads within his administration, including senior officers in the US military who warned that the US was not in a position to prevent Iran from exacting a horrific toll on Middle Eastern oil production, and in doing so cripple the global economy. Simply put, the risks associated with a war with Iran far outweighed any potential gains.
That was then; this is now. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a global economic shutdown which has dramatically reduced the demand for oil at a time when the world was witnessing record-high levels of production. The resulting glut has led to a collapse in the price of oil, which has been exacerbated by a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, initiated in an effort to drive out US shale oil producers and lock in their respective share of a shrinking market.
The Russians and Saudis were successful—too successful. With US oil continuing to be produced at record rates, contributing to a global excess production amounting to some 27 million barrels per day, the US and the world are rapidly running out of places to store the resulting glut. This has led to a crisis where the price of Western Texas Intermediate, the benchmark index for US oil, moved into negative numbers as oil traders were compelled to pay customers to take possession of oil contracts for May. A similar fate awaits June WTI contracts and, unless the global overproduction of oil ceases, this is a model that will repeat itself. Already, US producers are going into bankruptcy, triggering an economic collapse that threatens to take down a considerable portion of the US oil industry. Presidential Puppetry:... Kreig, Andrew Best Price: $27.95 Buy New $27.95 (as of 02:47 UTC - Details)
The only way out of this economic disaster is for the world to cut back on oil production. Talks between the major oil producers earlier this month produced planned cuts of around 10 million barrels per day, leaving some 17 million barrels in daily overproduction. While there are talks about instituting additional cuts, no nation wants to sacrifice market share in order to save US shale oil, which many nations blame for much of the overproduction taking place today.
There is one way, however, to instantly remove more than 20 million barrels a day from the global economy—a war with Iran that closes the Strait of Hormuz and shuts down oil production in the Persian Gulf region. Back in 2019, this very outcome is what mitigated against a military conflict between the US and Iran. Today, with the US oil industry in crisis and facing potentially irreversible losses, a Middle Eastern war suddenly makes perfect sense.
Back in 2019, the US was ill-prepared for a war with Iran. In the intervening time, it has bolstered its defenses and strengthened its military presence in the Persian Gulf region to the point that, at a minimum, it can provide a modicum of protection to deployed forces while simultaneously being able to launch damaging attacks against Iran. The extent to which the US can shield its Gulf Arab allies from any Iranian counterattack is uncertain and, more to the point, irrelevant. While the US has deployed Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries to Saudi Arabia to protect critical oil infrastructure, there is little doubt that Iran would exact a terrible toll on the oil production capacity of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Arab states. Calculated Chaos: Inst... Butler D. Shaffer, But... Best Price: $6.73 Buy New $41.95 (as of 05:30 UTC - Details)
The consequences of such a military confrontation would be dire and immediate, with more than 21 million barrels of oil removed from the global market instantaneously, and oil prices soaring—precisely the outcome needed to save US oil producers. Whether such a war actually comes to pass has yet to be seen, but one thing is for certain—the risk-gain analysis that held that a war with Iran would be prohibitively expensive has been flipped on its head. The fact of the matter is that a US war with Iran might be the only thing that can save US oil. In a Presidential election year where Trump is desperately looking to prop up the US economy, war suddenly has become very attractive.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.


lewrockwell--2020-04-24--The Swedish – Belarus COVID Herd Immunity Strategy Has Won

Great comment on the story by Jon Hellevig : Game over .
The Swedish-Belarussian model has won .
Herd immunity is the way to go .
Study and random testing shows that 600,000 or one-third of Stockholm county ’ s population have had the corona infection .
They had no symptoms or so little they did not even know they had it .
Some 1,500 died , mortality 0.25 % .
In tough competition , the seasonal flu is still leading .
0.25 % is share of those infected , the mortality to the whole population would be 0.015 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ win hands down .
Doctor Yourself : Natur ... Saul , Andrew W PH.D. Best Price : $ 24.27 Buy New $ 28.28 Hope when Putin hears about this today he orders Mayor Sobyanin to tear down his cybergulag , as fun as he might have in experimenting in hype technology and people ’ s lives .
Today , the Public Health Authority presented a new study that estimates that one third of everyone in Stockholm County will be infected with sars-cov-2 on May 1st this year .
There will be about 600,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ modeling of the spread of the virus in Stockholm County .
It is based partly on the so-called Stockholm study that was conducted a few weeks ago when randomly tested 700 Stockholmers and partly the new infected cases that are reported daily .
The Vitamin Cure for C ... Andrew W. Saul Best Price : $ 9.99 Buy New $ 13.28 – What is surprising is that there are so many cases , 99 percent of all cases , that are completely unconfirmed , says Lisa Brouwers , head of analysis at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Authority study comes to the same results as the mathematician Tom Britton ’ s calculations .
This weekend he presented a study which also indicates that 30 percent of the population in Stockholm has had covid-19 .
What it looks like in the rest of Sweden there are no calculations yet , but the high proportion of infected in Stockholm differs from the rest of the world .

Great comment on the story by Jon Hellevig:
Game over. The Swedish-Belarussian model has won. Herd immunity is the way to go. Study and random testing shows that 600,000 or one-third of Stockholm county’s population have had the corona infection. They had no symptoms or so little they did not even know they had it. Some 1,500 died, mortality 0.25%. In tough competition, the seasonal flu is still leading. 0.25% is share of those infected, the mortality to the whole population would be 0.015%, which would make the seasonal flu win hands down. Doctor Yourself: Natur... Saul, Andrew W PH.D. Best Price: $24.27 Buy New $28.28 (as of 03:19 UTC - Details) Hope when Putin hears about this today he orders Mayor Sobyanin to tear down his cybergulag, as fun as he might have in experimenting in hype technology and people’s lives.
Today, the Public Health Authority presented a new study that estimates that one third of everyone in Stockholm County will be infected with sars-cov-2 on May 1st this year. There will be about 600,000 people.
Many unconfirmed cases
The study is a mathematical modeling of the spread of the virus in Stockholm County. It is based partly on the so-called Stockholm study that was conducted a few weeks ago when randomly tested 700 Stockholmers and partly the new infected cases that are reported daily.
The Vitamin Cure for C... Andrew W. Saul Best Price: $9.99 Buy New $13.28 (as of 03:19 UTC - Details) – What is surprising is that there are so many cases, 99 percent of all cases, that are completely unconfirmed, says Lisa Brouwers, head of analysis at the Public Health Authority.
Unknown number of infected other Sweden
The Public Health Authority study comes to the same results as the mathematician Tom Britton’s calculations. This weekend he presented a study which also indicates that 30 percent of the population in Stockholm has had covid-19.
What it looks like in the rest of Sweden there are no calculations yet, but the high proportion of infected in Stockholm differs from the rest of the world.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-04-24--Pandemic and Economic Collapse: The Next 60 Days

The news cycle moves so quickly these days writing analysis on current events becomes difficult ; the moment you publish an examination of the situation people have already moved on to the next disaster .
So , today I ’ m not going to do that .
Instead , let ’ s look at current trends and project what is likely to happen in the next couple of months .
In my article ‘ How The Pandemic Crisis Will Probably Develop Over The Next Year ’ published in early March , I outlined what I believed would be the major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of these predictions have already occurred .
Now I would like to tackle a shorter timetable and focus more specifically on the economic side of things , along with the effects of government lockdowns and how they will continue .
Yes , that ’ s right , if you think the “ reopening ” of the economy is going to be widespread , or that it will last , don ’ t get your hopes up .
I am using a 60 day model because I have observed that the average non-aware person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those of us in the liberty movement in terms of seeing the dangers ahead .
First and foremost , the lockdown issue is on almost everyone ’ s mind , and as I ’ ve been saying for the past month , it would not take long before people start freaking out about their financial prospects once they realize this thing may not be over “ in two weeks ” as we keep hearing every two weeks from the mainstream media , state governments and Donald Trump .
The “ two weeks until @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the public placated and docile , and the establishment will continue to use it until people are finally fed up , which is already beginning to happen .
Discipline & Punish : T ... Michel Foucault Best Price : $ 2.43 Buy New $ 10.69 Lockdown protests are sparking up across the country and it ’ s only going to get worse from now on .
Understand though that establishment elites probably expected this , especially in the US , and they are planning to use civil unrest to their advantage .
Do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the country do indeed “ reopen ” next month , but expect these locations to be primarily rural .
Do NOT count on first and second tier cities to reopen , at least nowhere near the activity that they had previous to the viral outbreak .
In fact , while rural towns try to go back to normalcy , many major cities will probably double down and increase restrictions rather than loosen them .
Why do I think this will happen ?
I ’ ve noticed an odd narrative being pushed in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The MSM is aggressively promoting the notion that rural states and counties are about to be crushed by the coronavirus , and looser restrictions in these places are “ a danger to everyone ” .
Now , if you read between the lines in this propaganda , what I see is not the media reporting on what is happening now , but what they expect to happen soon .
In my area of Montana there is no community spread of the virus , and this is common to many parts of rural @ @ @ @ @ @ @ towns reopen while large metropolitan areas remain closed for business ?
Unless travel restrictions are instituted , expect a FLOOD of city dwellers to pour into rural areas looking for a taste of freedom and some open bars and restaurants .
If your small town is within 1-2 hours drive of a large city , get ready for a parade of yuppies on mainstreet looking for a vacation from lockdown .
This in itself is not a big deal .
If people want to drive from the city to spend money in small @ @ @ @ @ @ @ benefit to struggling rural communities ( and a bizarre 180 degree shift from the norm ) .
But here is what I think will happen next : Resistance ( At All Cos ... Strassel , Kimberley Best Price : $ 21.36 Buy New $ 12.04 After about two weeks of reopening , small towns across the US will have a massive spike in infection numbers and community spread .
Viral clusters will develop and some people will die .
Does this mean our economy should be frozen to the point of collapse or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
No , absolutely not .
But the media is already gearing up for the big “ we told you so ” , and as rural infections skyrocket state governments and the federal government will start calling for renewed lockdowns even more harsh than before .
The rest of the world will say “ that ’ s what those Americans ( conservative Americans ) get for being selfish and trying to reopen too soon ” .
The economy can not be opened one piece at a time , it has to be opened @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are going to get a huge influx of people to reopened regions and an inordinate amount of infection cases will follow in those areas , exaggerating the spread of the virus .
Of course , a full reopening of the nation is not going to happen .
Get ready for a great big fake wrestling match between state governments and Trump in terms of how to handle ending lockdowns .
Take note though that Trump flip-flops so much on state power vs. executive power that no one actually knows where he really stands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ design .
We hear a lot of complaints about the World Health Organization and China hiding or suppressing information on the coronavirus and the extent of the danger to the public .
Yet Trump was downplaying the pandemic in the EXACT same way in January , claiming that Chinese data was trustworthy and that the virus was under control .
This past week Trump seems to be taking the WHO and China to task , but is any of this real ?
Trump ’ s persona is meant to be ambiguous and chameleon-like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as all things to all people .
For the political left he ’ s a boogeyman , a bumbling conservative villain and statist that is destroying the country ; he acts as a catalyst to drive them even more insane than they already are .
For some on the political right , Trump is a savior , or a martyr .
They place him on a pedestal so high that he can do no wrong and some even believe he is actually fighting a “ secret war ” with the elites using subversive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his cabinet is made up of banking and Council on Foreign Relations alumni .
America ’ s Great ... Best Price : $ 14.73 Buy New $ 14.73 This absurdity has divided the liberty movement into different camps – Those who realize Trump is a fraud , and those who treat him like a 4D chess playing god .
I fully expect Trump to flip-flop again in the next two months .
For now , he is acting like a champion of the people defending lockdown protesters and pushing for a quick reopen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and deaths occur , do not be surprised in he suddenly calls for stringent lockdown procedures .
Economically , new lockdowns after a short reopen will devastate small businesses that are clamoring for oxygen already .
The much vaunted small business stimulus package was a dud , and it burned up in less than a week .
Another stimulus is on the table , but it is being contested .
If another bailout is passed it will vanish yet again with most small businesses still not receiving a dime .
Bottom line : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money , and small businesses will get little or none after the next 60 days .
This means that 50 % of the jobs in the country are now on the chopping block , and most of them will not return because these businesses were already on the ropes with razor thin margins and extensive debt obligations .
The economy is already dead , the pin to the grenade has already been pulled , the majority of Americans simply don ’ t realize it yet .
In terms of individual government aid , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , though , at least for a little while .
The stimulus measures are beginning to reach the newly jobless on top of their normal unemployment benefits , so even if businesses reopen , they may have a hard time finding people to work for them .
You can make more money from government checks right now than you can working full time at almost any service based business while also avoiding “ the Rona ” .
But what these people don ’ t realize is that this windfall is going to dissipate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still waiting for their checks , showing the government response to be uneven .
When Money Dies : The N ... Adam Fergusson Best Price : $ 1.97 Buy New $ 10.08 Stimulus is drying up fast and everyone and their mother has a hand out to get theirs , with corporations being the biggest drain .
The fact that the small business stimulus disappeared in under a week should tell you what is about to happen with individual stimulus measures .
But beyond this problem is the unspoken issue of supply chain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your government check if 90 % of the stores are shut down , 50 % of the items you want to buy are considered “ non-essential ” and restricted , and the items you are allowed to buy are skyrocketing in price ?
The common American is being set up for a shock they are not prepared for when they realize that government checks ( Universal Basic Income ) are barely going to keep them alive , let alone grant them months of paid leisure .
I think the awareness of this will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days .
To reiterate , the supply chain breakdown will go mainstream in a couple months .
The stores are sparse right now ; they are stretching inventory to fill gap in shelves and limiting purchases on a long list of items to one per customer , but they aren ’ t in crisis mode yet .
With the biggest producers of meat products shutting down as well as farms having trouble hiring workers to process produce and other goods .
The lockdowns caused an initial drop in some prices due to closed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soon to end as supply is about to be destroyed because of lack of production .
Economic collapse rarely if ever leads to advantages for consumers ; this is a fallacy from the depression era which for some reason is still perpetuated by uneducated economists today .
The name for this type of event is a “ stagflationary crisis ” and it is something I have been warning about for years .
It means price inflation in necessities while deflation occurs in wages , many assets and some commodities .
The oil market @ @ @ @ @ @ @ action .
As oil plunges , the public gets cheap gasoline , but the price collapse also represents a collapse in global energy demand , and thus a collapse in production .
A collapse in production leads to less supply , and thus higher prices , and the cycle continue until everything breaks and the populace is reduced to one of two choices – poverty or self sufficiency .
The extent of the crisis will become much more clear in the next two months to the majority .
The result will be civil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by extreme poverty levels in the winter .
No measure of “ reopening ” is going to do much to stop the avalanche that has already been started .
The solution is always the same : localized trade and production and removing yourself and your community from dependency on the establishment controlled economy .
It ’ s certainly difficult , but it is possible .
What is not possible is fixing the broken and corrupt economy we have now or stopping the current collapse .
This is a fool ’ s errand for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Depressions ( ... Murray N. Rothbard Best Price : $ 6.50 Buy New $ 6.00 From Bretton Woods to ... Hazlitt , Henry Best Price : $ 12.00 Buy New $ 52.12 The Best of Brandon Smith

The news cycle moves so quickly these days writing analysis on current events becomes difficult; the moment you publish an examination of the situation people have already moved on to the next disaster. So, today I’m not going to do that. Instead, let’s look at current trends and project what is likely to happen in the next couple of months. In my article ‘How The Pandemic Crisis Will Probably Develop Over The Next Year’ published in early March, I outlined what I believed would be the major developments on a longer timetable. Some of these predictions have already occurred.
Now I would like to tackle a shorter timetable and focus more specifically on the economic side of things, along with the effects of government lockdowns and how they will continue. Yes, that’s right, if you think the “reopening” of the economy is going to be widespread, or that it will last, don’t get your hopes up. I am using a 60 day model because I have observed that the average non-aware person appears to be about two months behind those of us in the liberty movement in terms of seeing the dangers ahead.
First and foremost, the lockdown issue is on almost everyone’s mind, and as I’ve been saying for the past month, it would not take long before people start freaking out about their financial prospects once they realize this thing may not be over “in two weeks” as we keep hearing every two weeks from the mainstream media, state governments and Donald Trump. The “two weeks until reopen” mantra is designed to keep the public placated and docile, and the establishment will continue to use it until people are finally fed up, which is already beginning to happen. Discipline & Punish: T... Michel Foucault Best Price: $2.43 Buy New $10.69 (as of 02:50 UTC - Details)
Lockdown protests are sparking up across the country and it’s only going to get worse from now on. Understand though that establishment elites probably expected this, especially in the US, and they are planning to use civil unrest to their advantage.
Do not be surprised if some areas of the country do indeed “reopen” next month, but expect these locations to be primarily rural. Do NOT count on first and second tier cities to reopen, at least nowhere near the activity that they had previous to the viral outbreak. In fact, while rural towns try to go back to normalcy, many major cities will probably double down and increase restrictions rather than loosen them.
Why do I think this will happen? I’ve noticed an odd narrative being pushed in the mainstream media lately that has me concerned. The MSM is aggressively promoting the notion that rural states and counties are about to be crushed by the coronavirus, and looser restrictions in these places are “a danger to everyone”.
Now, if you read between the lines in this propaganda, what I see is not the media reporting on what is happening now, but what they expect to happen soon. In my area of Montana there is no community spread of the virus, and this is common to many parts of rural America. However, what if rural towns reopen while large metropolitan areas remain closed for business? Unless travel restrictions are instituted, expect a FLOOD of city dwellers to pour into rural areas looking for a taste of freedom and some open bars and restaurants.
If your small town is within 1-2 hours drive of a large city, get ready for a parade of yuppies on mainstreet looking for a vacation from lockdown.
This in itself is not a big deal. If people want to drive from the city to spend money in small town America then that’s a benefit to struggling rural communities (and a bizarre 180 degree shift from the norm). But here is what I think will happen next: Resistance (At All Cos... Strassel, Kimberley Best Price: $21.36 Buy New $12.04 (as of 04:39 UTC - Details)
After about two weeks of reopening, small towns across the US will have a massive spike in infection numbers and community spread. Viral clusters will develop and some people will die. Does this mean our economy should be frozen to the point of collapse or that medical martial law is the answer? No, absolutely not. But the media is already gearing up for the big “we told you so”, and as rural infections skyrocket state governments and the federal government will start calling for renewed lockdowns even more harsh than before. The rest of the world will say “that’s what those Americans (conservative Americans) get for being selfish and trying to reopen too soon”.
The economy cannot be opened one piece at a time, it has to be opened all at once. Otherwise, you are going to get a huge influx of people to reopened regions and an inordinate amount of infection cases will follow in those areas, exaggerating the spread of the virus. Of course, a full reopening of the nation is not going to happen.
Get ready for a great big fake wrestling match between state governments and Trump in terms of how to handle ending lockdowns. Take note though that Trump flip-flops so much on state power vs. executive power that no one actually knows where he really stands on the issue; this is by design.
We hear a lot of complaints about the World Health Organization and China hiding or suppressing information on the coronavirus and the extent of the danger to the public. Yet Trump was downplaying the pandemic in the EXACT same way in January, claiming that Chinese data was trustworthy and that the virus was under control. This past week Trump seems to be taking the WHO and China to task, but is any of this real?
Trump’s persona is meant to be ambiguous and chameleon-like, so that he can be presented as all things to all people. For the political left he’s a boogeyman, a bumbling conservative villain and statist that is destroying the country; he acts as a catalyst to drive them even more insane than they already are. For some on the political right, Trump is a savior, or a martyr. They place him on a pedestal so high that he can do no wrong and some even believe he is actually fighting a “secret war” with the elites using subversive tactics despite the fact that half of his cabinet is made up of banking and Council on Foreign Relations alumni. America’s Great ... Best Price: $14.73 Buy New $14.73 (as of 08:09 UTC - Details)
This absurdity has divided the liberty movement into different camps – Those who realize Trump is a fraud, and those who treat him like a 4D chess playing god.
I fully expect Trump to flip-flop again in the next two months. For now, he is acting like a champion of the people defending lockdown protesters and pushing for a quick reopen. After the next wave of infections and deaths occur, do not be surprised in he suddenly calls for stringent lockdown procedures.
Economically, new lockdowns after a short reopen will devastate small businesses that are clamoring for oxygen already. The much vaunted small business stimulus package was a dud, and it burned up in less than a week. Another stimulus is on the table, but it is being contested. If another bailout is passed it will vanish yet again with most small businesses still not receiving a dime. Bottom line: Too-big-to-fail corporations are going to get their money, and small businesses will get little or none after the next 60 days. This means that 50% of the jobs in the country are now on the chopping block, and most of them will not return because these businesses were already on the ropes with razor thin margins and extensive debt obligations.
The economy is already dead, the pin to the grenade has already been pulled, the majority of Americans simply don’t realize it yet.
In terms of individual government aid, some laid off employee are sitting pretty, though, at least for a little while. The stimulus measures are beginning to reach the newly jobless on top of their normal unemployment benefits, so even if businesses reopen, they may have a hard time finding people to work for them. You can make more money from government checks right now than you can working full time at almost any service based business while also avoiding “the Rona”. But what these people don’t realize is that this windfall is going to dissipate quickly.
Other recently unemployed people are still waiting for their checks, showing the government response to be uneven. When Money Dies: The N... Adam Fergusson Best Price: $1.97 Buy New $10.08 (as of 10:10 UTC - Details)
Stimulus is drying up fast and everyone and their mother has a hand out to get theirs, with corporations being the biggest drain. The fact that the small business stimulus disappeared in under a week should tell you what is about to happen with individual stimulus measures. But beyond this problem is the unspoken issue of supply chain disruptions and inflation.
What good is your government check if 90% of the stores are shut down, 50% of the items you want to buy are considered “non-essential”and restricted, and the items you are allowed to buy are skyrocketing in price? The common American is being set up for a shock they are not prepared for when they realize that government checks (Universal Basic Income) are barely going to keep them alive, let alone grant them months of paid leisure. I think the awareness of this will hit the general public in around 60 days.
To reiterate, the supply chain breakdown will go mainstream in a couple months. The stores are sparse right now; they are stretching inventory to fill gap in shelves and limiting purchases on a long list of items to one per customer, but they aren’t in crisis mode yet. With the biggest producers of meat products shutting down as well as farms having trouble hiring workers to process produce and other goods.
The lockdowns caused an initial drop in some prices due to closed restaurants and oversupply, but this is soon to end as supply is about to be destroyed because of lack of production. Economic collapse rarely if ever leads to advantages for consumers; this is a fallacy from the depression era which for some reason is still perpetuated by uneducated economists today.
The name for this type of event is a “stagflationary crisis” and it is something I have been warning about for years. It means price inflation in necessities while deflation occurs in wages, many assets and some commodities. The oil market is an indicator of these mechanics in action. As oil plunges, the public gets cheap gasoline, but the price collapse also represents a collapse in global energy demand, and thus a collapse in production. A collapse in production leads to less supply, and thus higher prices, and the cycle continue until everything breaks and the populace is reduced to one of two choices – poverty or self sufficiency.
The extent of the crisis will become much more clear in the next two months to the majority. The result will be civil unrest in the summer, likely followed by extreme poverty levels in the winter. No measure of “reopening” is going to do much to stop the avalanche that has already been started. The solution is always the same: localized trade and production and removing yourself and your community from dependency on the establishment controlled economy. It’s certainly difficult, but it is possible. What is not possible is fixing the broken and corrupt economy we have now or stopping the current collapse. This is a fool’s errand for people living in unicorn land.
Reprinted with permission from Alt-Market.com.
Economic Depressions (... Murray N. Rothbard Best Price: $6.50 Buy New $6.00 (as of 06:35 UTC - Details) From Bretton Woods to ... Hazlitt, Henry Best Price: $12.00 Buy New $52.12 (as of 03:11 UTC - Details)
The Best of Brandon Smith