- Africa's COVID-19 Cases Soar Past 88,000 As 'Coronavirus Apocalypse' Fears Loom
Africa’s COVID-19 Cases Soar Past 88,000 As ‘Coronavirus Apocalypse’ Fears Loom
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/20/2020 – 02:45By the first week of April, coronavirus cases in African topped 10,000. Now over a month later that number stands at 88,172 according to the CDC Africa dashboard.
This after a past 24-hour rise in cases by 2,538 according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa on Tuesday. Across the continent at least 2,834 people have died from COVID-19.
The outbreak first appeared in Egypt in mid-February via what’s believed sourced to foreign travelers, and has since spread to all 54 countries on the continent.
Image via Reuters Last month the WHO’s regional director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, sounded the alarm in saying the pandemic in African looks to be potentially devastating: “COVID-19 has the potential not only to cause thousands of deaths, but to also unleash economic and social devastation,” Moeti said.
The biggest clusters appear concentrated in those regions considered the busiest hubs of international and foreign travel, such as Egypt and Morocco in the north, and South Africa at the southern tip.
However, the African continent is still nowhere near the ‘coronavirus apocalypse’ that many predicted (considering a total population of over 1.3 billion people), including for example Bill and Melinda Gates:
In an April 10 interview with CNN, American philanthropist Melinda Gates expressed her belief that the coronavirus pandemic will have the worst impact in the developing world. She said she foresees bodies lying around in the street of African countries.
A day later, it was announced that the United States, where Gates is from, had surpassed Italy in terms of the number of dead from COVID-19.
…Clearly, despite the massive crisis the West is experiencing, some Western thought leaders continue to insist that a whole continent of 54 countries will collectively and inevitably experience apocalypse as a result of a virus outbreak. Indeed, the white gaze knows no rest, even amid a pandemic that has struck the West.
There exists a considerable difference between an informed fear and an uninformed assumption. Much of the conversation surrounding the potential impact of COVID-19 on Africa so far seems to have stemmed from the latter.
Gates is not the only one to be predicting total doom in Africa. A report released by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in April stated: “Anywhere between 300,000 and 3.3 million African people could lose their lives as a direct result of COVID-19.”
Here’s a breakdown of where the disease is concentrated on the continent based on WHO numbers reported early Tuesday:
- South Africa has the highest number of coronavirus cases (16,433) and a death toll of 286.
- Egypt, where 12,229 people have been infected, accounts for the majority of deaths (630).
- Algeria has reported 7,201 cases and 555 deaths
- Morocco has identified 6,930 coronavirus patients and recorded 192 deaths
- Sudan has so far confirmed 2,591 cases and 105 fatalities.
- In the sub-Saharan region, Nigeria has reported 6,175 cases and 191 deaths.
- The country is followed by Ghana (5,735 cases and 29 deaths)
- Cameroon (3,529 cases and 140 deaths)
- Guinea (2,796 cases and 16 deaths)
- Senegal (2,544 cases and 26 deaths)
- Ivory Coast (2,119 cases and 28 fatalities)
- DRC has seen 1,455 cases recorded and 61 deaths
Like in other parts of the world, there’s likely a huge discrepancy between confirmed numbers based on testing availability and the reality on the ground.
* * *
Africa CDC dashboard for May 18:
- India: Standing Up To China In The Post-COVID World
India: Standing Up To China In The Post-COVID World
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/20/2020 – 02:00Authored by Vijeta Uniyal via The Gatestone Institute,
As coronavirus leaves behind a trail of human suffering and economic devastation, nations across the world have begun asking critical questions about the global pandemic. Countries are enquiring into Communist China’s handling of the pandemic, which first appeared late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
As early as January 14, China had used the World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations agency, to spread disinformation about the human-to-human transmissibility of Covid-19, a remark that led US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien later to call the WHO a “tool of Chinese propaganda.”
While U.S. President Donald J. Trump faced mostly undeserved, politicized criticism for questioning China’s culpability in the spread of the worldwide pandemic and his calls for an international probe into it, more and more capitals across the Western world are making similar demands.
On March 20, The Washington Post attacked President Trump for even mentioning China in context of the pandemic. “Trump has no qualms about calling coronavirus the ‘Chinese Virus.’ That’s a dangerous attitude, experts say.”
As late as the end of March, CNN was still claiming that President Trump was targeting China for “political reasons… using entrenched stereotypes and fear of the other to cast off any blame that might fall on him from this crisis.”
On May 1, however, the New York Post reported that “[m]ore US allies and other countries are joining the Trump administration’s call for an investigation into China, the World Health Organization and the origins of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.”
In the Asia-Pacific region, Australia has taken lead in asking for an international investigation into Beijing’s culpability in the spread of the pandemic. “Now, it would seem entirely reasonable and sensible that the world would want to have an independent assessment of how this all occurred, so we can learn the lessons and prevent it from happening again,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on April 29. Australia’s demand was supported by New Zealand.
By way of response, China’s Ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, threatened a boycott of Australian goods if Prime Minister Morrison’s government continued to insist on an independent investigation into the outbreak.
In Europe, Sweden took a similar stance, asking the European Union to start a probe into “the origin and spread” of the coronavirus. “When the global situation of Covid-19 is under control, it is both reasonable and important that an international, independent investigation be conducted to gain knowledge about the origin and spread of the coronavirus,” Sweden’s health minister Lena Hallengren told the nation’s parliament in a written statement on April 20.
Under threats of cutting Europe’s medical supplies, China forced the EU to water down a report exposing Beijing’s global disinformation campaign. “The European Union toned down part of a report about Chinese state-backed disinformation because it feared Beijing would retaliate by withholding medical supplies,” the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post, citing diplomatic sources, disclosed on April 25.
China, which first covered up the outbreak of the contagion in city of Wuhan, is now running a global disinformation and intimidation campaign, trying to blame the United States or Italy for the coronavirus. So far, apparently too many countries are now aware of China’s intentions. As Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Germany’s largest publishing house, Axel Springer, argued recently in Die Welt:
“Economic relations with China might seem harmless to many Europeans today, but they could soon lead to political dependence and ultimately to the end of a free and liberal Europe… Should we make a pact with an authoritarian regime or should we work to strengthen a community of free, constitutionally governed market economies with liberal societies?… If current European and, above all, German policy on China continues, this will lead to a gradual decoupling from America and a step-by-step infiltration and subjugation by China. Economic dependence will only be the first step. Political influence will follow.”
At the moment, it is unclear if China’s charm offensive, if one could call it that, is working.
Most recently, on May 4, Sharri Markson reported on a leaked 15-page research document, obtained by Australia’s Saturday Telegraph, written by the “Five Eyes” — the intelligence services of the US, the UK, Canada Australia and New Zealand.
“It states that to the ‘endangerment of other countries’ the Chinese government covered-up news of the virus by silencing or “disappearing” doctors who spoke out, destroying evidence of it in laboratories and refusing to provide live samples to international scientists who were working on a vaccine.”
In true Orwellian fashion, top Chinese diplomats are still demanding that foreign governments rewrite the history of the coronavirus outbreak. Under President Xi Jinping’s instructions, Chinese diplomats are running a global campaign of intimidation to divert world’s attention from Beijing’s culpability in the spread of the coronavirus. Dubbed “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy, referring to a popular Chinese movie series of the same name, the strategy aims at silencing and intimidate Western governments, critical media outlets, and think tanks. The good news is that the world is finally getting a good look at the true face of China.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi telephoned his Indian counterpart, S. Jaishankar, on March 24, and suggested that India not use “China virus” to describe the Covid-19 contagion
“It’s not acceptable and detrimental to international cooperation to label the virus and stigmatise China,” Beijing’s envoy to New Delhi, Sun Weidong, said following the call.
Apparently unwilling to risk creating a problem, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has so far refrained from confronting China for its handling of the outbreak. To India’s credit, it did play a constructive role in combatting the global pandemic. India came to the aid of its allies by shipping large consignments of the drug hydroxychloroquine and other medical supplies to 55 countries, including the U.S., Britain, France and Israel.
While India had shown restraint, Communist China has shown little. The Chinese air force has continued its incursions into Taiwanese air space. China has also tightened its grip on artificial islands it created in the South China Sea by setting up fictitious local governments on them. These weaponized islands, fielding military facilities such as naval ports and military airfields, trample on the sovereignty of many of its maritime neighbors, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.
The United States and rest of the Western world would do well to see the pandemic as a wake-up call and decouple their crucial and strategic sectors from dependence on China in any way. As US General Jack Keane has repeatedly warned the US, China a not a friend; “it is a predator economically, geopolitically and militarily.”
Beijing has used its status as world’s biggest manufacturer, intellectual property thief, and debt-trap lender to force governments across the world into silence over its culpability for the deadly and devastating pandemic.
In the coming post-coronavirus world order, India is well placed to challenge China’s stranglehold over global and regional supply chains. Prime Minister Modi’s “Make in India” initiative, originally envisaged to create jobs in manufacturing sector, could also position the country as an alternative destination for rerouting global supply chain needs, especially in critical sectors such pharmaceuticals, industrial manufacturing, telecommunications and information technology.
To take advantage of a post-coronavirus realignment, India would do well to upgrade its infrastructure and seriously cut its bureaucratic red tape.
Modi came to power in 2014 on promises of streamlining the bureaucracy to foster a free economy. Since he took office, India has eased the government’s red tape and opened up the country to foreign companies and investment. During his tenure, the country advanced 79 places on the global “Ease of Doing Business” survey released by the World Bank annually, from 142nd to 63rd place. The country still trails China, which, until its pandemic, ranked 31. India, however, plans to invest $1.39 trillion on a series of critical infrastructure projects, including roads, railways, digital connectivity and power sectors.
The world is eagerly looking to India and its Asia-Pacific allies, in a strong alliance with the West, to take a stand, face China’s increasing military, geopolitical and economic intimidation, and take up its historic mantle of leadership.
- Are European Countries Still 'Flattening The Curve'?
Are European Countries Still ‘Flattening The Curve’?
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/20/2020 – 01:00Over the weekend, Russia has become the country with the second-most cumulative confirmed cases in the world after the U.S.
The country overtook Spain’s case numbers on Sunday. The global coronavirus pandemic is being contained in Western European countries, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz shows in the infographic below, while Russia and Brazil have now confirmed more cases than many of the earlier European hot spots. Countries like Turkey or India are also on tract to produce larger outbreaks than, for example, Europe has seen.
You will find more infographics at Statista
European countries are mostly a good way into flattening the curve of COVID-19 infections. According to numbers by Johns Hopkins collected by the website Worldometers, flattening is now very visible in Germany and France, where a total of around 176,000-180,000 cases had been recorded each, as well as in Italy (225,000 cases).
The development in the UK is, on the other hand, more worrisome. Infections have not yet shown major signs of slowing down, now making the UK the country the fifth most confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide and the second-most deaths. The U.S. is currently the country with most known infections as well as deaths and has a curve of infections which is also still pointing mostly upwards. Infections have passed 1.5 million stateside.
The countries’ collective aim is to “flatten the curve” of infections. While South Korea was able to (more or less) stabilize its outbreak at around 10,000 cases – due to widespread free testing (including the now infamous drive-thru testing), quarantine measures and the harnessing of mobile technology for public information – China has stabilized theirs at around 83,000 cases. South Korea hit 100 cases on February 20 and managed to leave the steep upward trajectory around 14 days later. In the case of China, more than 100 cases were first recorded on January 20, and quarantine and testing measure succeeded in breaking the upwards trajectory by February 12 – around three and a half weeks later. Germany began leveling its curve around six weeks into the outbreak, while France started seeing results at around seven weeks.
- The COVID-19 "Dark Winter" PsyOp: Question Everything…
The COVID-19 “Dark Winter” PsyOp: Question Everything…
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/20/2020 – 00:05Authored by Gary Barnett via LewRockwell.com,
“If you would be a real seeker of truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things”
The only real defense that is valid during this exercise in mass tyranny is total refusal to comply with any and all government mandates. We are in the midst of the largest psychological operation (PSYOP) in the history of mankind. By questioning everything concerning this manufactured “virus pandemic,” the resulting attitude cannot leave anything other than extreme doubt, and doubt is what can bring the masses out of the dark and into the light. The newest term being targeted toward the masses is the coming of the “Dark Winter,” which is nothing more than propaganda based lies meant to prepare the sheep for a planned continuation and escalation of this fake pandemic in order to bring about world domination.
Operation Dark Winter was the code name for a senior-level bio-terrorist attack simulation conducted from June 22–23, 2001, which was designed to carry out a mock version of a covert bio-weapon’s attack on the United States. The players involved in this were the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies (CCBS) and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and the project designers were Randy Larsen and Mark DeMier of Analytic Services. It is very interesting that the same Johns Hopkins along with the evil Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation conducted Event 201, a coronavirus “simulation” just this past October, on the verge of this so-called pandemic. The same players, same objectives, but now it is real.
Rick Bright, the former director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and claimed whistleblower, has been all over the mainstream news as of late projecting the “darkest winter in modern history.”
Using this term was no accident, and in fact was meant as propaganda to frighten and alarm the already cowardly and pathetic public. It was also meant to instill a mindset of a killing plague soon to come. This was completely staged in my opinion, but it will nonetheless be accepted by a society steeped in fear due to this “crisis.”
I would expect the term “dark winter” to become a new buzzword, as this new term the second time around, is strictly tied to the original scenario, but applied to today’s panic. None of this is coincidence, none of it is accidental, but it is sinister. If things continue as they have been, and this lockdown remains in place, whether fully or partially, the anticipation of this “dark winter” will be on the minds of most all American sheep, especially if it is continually used as the threat of things to come.
With that in the minds of the people, they will be expecting the worst, and will probably get exactly what they expect; another planned pandemic.
The current government plan, regardless of what is partially opened this summer, is to continue to mandate social distancing and masks as some sort of faux protection against this non-existent threat, to continue to shame those dissenters that refuse to comply with government orders, and to use more force to stop any dissent. In addition, testing as many people as possible with flawed tests will continue, and more demands to test will be forthcoming. While that is happening, the contact tracing of individuals will become more and more evident as tracking technology is advanced and implemented nationwide. All of this is leading to this current crisis stage’s ultimate goal, which is forced mass vaccination.
As I wrote a few days ago, “the government has announced that a contract for $138 million has been issued to fund production of 500 million pre-filled Covid-19 vaccine “injection devices,” this before any vaccine is available or tested.” As any should be able to see, this is a complex, but easily identifiable plot that is coming to fruition very quickly and with little resistance. It is planned down to the last detail, just as were all the practice runs that were acted out in the past. I have always thought that bad people will expose what they are up to if only people would listen. Well, this time, they have told the public over and over again what was coming, but few listened.
The “injection devices” are already available, and now Trump is mobilizing the entire military to make war against the American people, by sending armed soldiers into the streets to vaccinate by force everyone in the country. Without mass resistance, this next phase will be successful, and then the following phase of population control would have already been implemented due to the poisoning, sterilizing, and possibly chipping of all those vaccinated. These plans are being accomplished out in the open, and with the consent, implied or not, of the people in this country.
Multiple agendas are being advanced, and the destruction of the economy and the resulting dependence of the population on government are going forward and being accepted. Pending legislation to print more money and dole it out to those out of work is already in process, as $3 trillion will most likely be distributed in small part to appease those not working, but most of that newly printed money will be used to continue the transfer of wealth to the few at the top. As debt, poverty, and bankruptcy continues to decimate the general population, the top of the heap will continue to buy up assets at depressed prices with taxpayer money, so in essence, those now starving are helping to enrich the perpetrators of this fraudulent virus scam.
We are definitely facing a horrible pandemic, but it is not due to any virus. The real pandemic is that the United States government and the enforcers for the controlling ruling class, are waging war on American citizens, and will not relent until the people themselves stop it. This totalitarian takeover will never cease by using the political system, as that corrupt system is why we are in this mess in the first place. A belief in nation instead of self led to nationalistic pride where none was deserved, and has brought complacency, weakness, and dependence on government, and left the people without the will to self rule. The result is obvious, but more than that, it is now fatally dangerous. As I said earlier this year here:
“No vibrant society can exist in a state of obedience. While many great minds have discussed the natural desire of man to obey authority, including Sigmund Freud, this trait in man does not allow the capability to seek or claim freedom. The obedient are bound to a life of rule, as that is their nature.”
Freedom and independence can only be achieved and held by non-obedient, non-conforming individuals. Therefore, we must in order to defeat this criminal government force, become a nation of dissenters by not complying with any government order concerning this government created fake crisis.
- US Cities Will Lose $360 Billion From The COVID-19 Lockdown
US Cities Will Lose $360 Billion From The COVID-19 Lockdown
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 23:45The coronavirus lockdown in the U.S. is going to cost cities an astounding $360 billion in revenue through 2022, according to estimates from the National League of Cities.
Pennsylvania is going to be hit the hardest, according to Bloomberg. The state is at risk of losing 40% of its total revenue this year. Not far behind are Kentucky, Hawaii, Michigan and Nevada. The projections take into account the expected rise in unemployment and assume that every 1% of unemployment will cause tax revenues to drop about 3%.
The analysis was performed by looking at how unemployment would affect specific state and city revenue streams. It combined those changes with each respective state or city’s tax structure to estimate the impact.
Bloomberg’s piece says that the states need help “from the Federal Government” to avoid drastic budget cuts, but the truth of the matter is that they need help from the Fed. The Federal Government, nobody seems to notice, is broke.
The analysis comes a day after the Fed said it may need to implement more stimulus than the $3 trillion it has already enacted. Democrats are currently proposing $1 trillion bailouts for state and local governments.
Clarence Anthony, the league’s chief executive officer, said: “If America’s cities are not provided the funds from the federal government, we won’t be a part of the economic solution. This survey, and the findings, puts a face on the impact of the pandemic and the need for city leaders to get direct funding to respond quicker than at the state level, where most of the funding has gone in the past.”
He continued: “If any communities are facing a big challenge in America, it’s the small cities that may be wiped out, not only by the pandemic and the lack of access to health care. They’re being wiped out because of the loss of jobs to the small businesses, the loss of industry, and loss of hope.”
The numbers are starting to pile up for major cities: San Francisco is expecting budget shortfalls of $3.6 billion over the next four years and Houston is facing a $169 million shortfall, causing it to furlough 3,000 workers. Houston will have to use its rainy day fund to balance its budge.
Good, that’s what a rainy day fund is for.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said:
“It’s the toughest budget we’ve had to put together since I’ve been mayor.”
Philadelphia has had to scale back its 2021 fiscal budget proposal due to a $650 million deficit that is five times larger than the deficit the city faced after the Great Recession. California announced last week it is facing a $54 billion shortfall and New Jersey said it is facing a $10.1 billion deficit.
In sum, U.S. cities will lose $134 billion in 2020, $117 billion in 2021 and $110 billion in 2022.
“This is an unprecedented time and it’s going to take unprecedented strategies,” Anthony concluded. Yeah, like blowing up the U.S. dollar on a global scale.
It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for him.
- McGovern: Turn Out The Lights, Russiagate Is Over
McGovern: Turn Out The Lights, Russiagate Is Over
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 23:25Authored by Ray McGovern via ConsortiumNews.com,
Seldom mentioned among the motives behind the persistent drumming on alleged Russian interference was an over-arching need to help the Security State hide their tracks.
The need for a scapegoat to blame for Hillary Clinton’s snatching defeat out of the jaws victory also played a role; as did the need for the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex (MICIMATT) to keep front and center in the minds of Americans the alleged multifaceted threat coming from an “aggressive” Russia. (Recall that John McCain called the, now disproven, “Russian hacking” of the DNC emails an “act of war.”)
But that was then. This is now.
Though the corporate media is trying to bury it, the Russiagate narrative has in the past few weeks finally collapsed with the revelation that CrowdStrike had no evidence Russia took anything from the DNC servers and that the FBI set a perjury trap for Gen. Michael Flynn. There was already the previous government finding that there was no collusion between Trump and Russia and the indictment of a Russian troll farm that supposedly was destroying American democracy with $100,000 in Facebook ads was dropped after the St. Petersburg defendants sought discovery.
All that’s left is to discover how this all happened.
Attorney General William Barr, and U.S. Attorney John Durham, whom Barr commissioned to investigate this whole sordid mess seem intent on getting to the bottom of it. The possibility that Trump will not chicken out this time, and rather will challenge the Security State looms large since he felt personally under attack.
President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr, 2019. (Wikimedia Commons)
Writing on the Wall
Given the diffident attitude the Security State plotters adopted regarding hiding their tracks, Durham’s challenge, with subpoena power, is not as formidable as were he, for example, investigating a Mafia family.
Plus, former NSA Director Adm. Michael S. Rogers reportedly is cooperating. The handwriting is on the wall. It remains to be seen what kind of role in the scandal Barack Obama may have played.
But former directors James Comey, James Clapper, and John Brennan, captains of Obama’s Security State, can take little solace from Barr’s remarks Monday to a reporter who asked about Trump’s recent claims that top officials of the Obama administration, including the former president had committed crimes. Barr replied:
“As to President Obama and Vice President Biden, whatever their level of involvement, based on the information I have today, I don’t expect Mr. Durham’s work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man. Our concerns over potential criminality is focused on others.”
In a more ominous vein, Barr gratuitously added that law enforcement and intelligence officials were involved in “a false and utterly baseless Russian collusion narrative against the president. It was a grave injustice, and it was unprecedented in American history.”
FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
Meanwhile, the corporate media have all been singing from the same sheet since Trump had the audacity a week ago to coin yet another “-gate” — this time “Obamagate.” Leading the apoplectic reaction in corporate media, Saturday’s Washington Post offered a pot-calling-the-kettle-black pronouncement by its editorial board entitled “The absurd cynicism of ‘Obamagate”?
The outrage voiced by the Post called to mind disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok’s indignant response to criticism of the FBI by candidate Trump, in a Oct. 20, 2016 text exchange with FBI attorney Lisa Page:
Strzok: I am riled up. Trump is a f***ing idiot, is unable to provide a coherent answer.
Strzok – I CAN’T PULL AWAY, WHAT THE F**K HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY …
Page– I don’t know. But we’ll get it back. We’re America. We rock.
Strzok– Donald just said “bad hombres”
Strzok– Trump just said what the FBI did is disgraceful.
Less vitriolic, but incisive commentary came from widely respected author and lawyer Glenn Greenwald on May 14, four days after Trump coined “Obamagate”: ( See “System Update with Glenn Greenwald – The Sham Prosecution of Michael Flynn”).
For a shorter, equally instructive video of Greenwald on the broader issue of Russia-gate, see this clip from a March 2019 Democracy Now!-sponsored debate he had with David Cay Johnston titled, “As Mueller Finds No Collusion, Did Press Overhype Russiagate? Glenn Greenwald vs. David Cay Johnston”:
(The entire debate is worth listening to). I found one of the comments below the Democracy Now! video as big as a bummer as the commentator did:
“I think this is one of the most depressing parts about the whole situation. In their dogmatic pushing for this false narrative, the Russiagaters might have guaranteed Trump a second term. They have done more damage to our democracy than Russia ever has done and will do.” (From “Clamity2007”)
In any case, Johnston, undaunted by his embarrassment at the hands of Greenwald, is still at it, and so is the avuncular Frank Rich — both of them some 20 years older than Greenwald and set in their evidence-impoverished, media-indoctrinated ways.
Deranged by Trump
Sadly, as is apparently the case with Covid:19, older people seem particularly susceptible to what has been called Trump Derangement Syndrome—the notion that Trump is uniquely evil, while, for instance, George W. Bush, who illegally invaded Iraq—what Nuremberg termed the worst war crime, the crime of aggression—was not.
Johnston now has his own website: DCReport.org. A piece dated May 8, bears the title “How Barr Is Advancing Trump’s Quest to Become President For Life.”
Adducing “evidence” of this purported effort by Barr, Johnston indicates that he does not like what Barr’s Justice Department did in moving to drop the charges against Gen. Michael Flynn. He does not like it, not one bit! Here are some additional gems from Johnston’s latest:
“— Flynn and his company were on Putin’s payroll
— Flynn made himself susceptible to blackmail by taking Russian money and lying about it.”
Johnston drivels on:
“Trump denies the Russians helped him become president. But America’s intelligence agencies, the bi-partisan chairs of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the 418-page Mueller report and emails from none other than Donald Trump Jr. all make clear the Kremlin helped Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. The only issue on which the facts are not complete was whether Trump was a passive beneficiary or he knowingly worked with the Kremlin, whether obliquely or hand-in-glove.
Just weeks after assuming office Trump held an unannounced meeting in the Oval Office with Russia’s foreign minister and Russian ambassador and a “photographer” for the Kremlin-owned Tass news agency. The Russians revealed the meeting. They also disclosed that Trump gave them “sources and methods” intelligence, which is closely guarded to protect human and technological assets.
This latest abuse of power to protect a criminal crony who was on Vladimir Putin’s payroll and a secret foreign agent is more than an impeachable offense. Trump, Barr and Shea also sent a clear message: Team Trump harbors no regard for the rule of law, the foundation of our liberties and democratic freedoms.”
Frank Rich Not Immune
Rich. (Wikipedia)
David Cay Johnston enjoys the company of other erstwhile respected pundits, notably Frank Rich. In younger days, both wrote for The New York Times, where, sadly, writers of all ages are showing acute susceptibility to the syndrome.
In a New York magazine article by Frank Rich performsing what he passes off as analysis of the recent statement of President Donald Trump about Obamagate. Read it and lament over what has become of yet another formerly respectable journalist.
“‘Obamagate’, in Trump’s brilliant coinage, is a conspiracy so vast, a crime so dastardly, that it should guarantee his reelection as soon as he figures out how to tell voters exactly what it is. As best as I can glean from his spokespeople on the Rupert Murdoch payroll — at Fox News, the New York Post, and the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal — it was a coup that involved both installing Trump in the White House so that he could preside over the most corrupt and incompetent administration in American history and propelling a beloved national hero, the Kremlin sycophant and former Obama official Michael Flynn, to prison. For a moment, it seemed that at least that second goal might be thwarted by Bill Barr’s effort to hand Flynn a Get Out of Jail Free card. But thanks to the deep-state intervention of a U.S. district judge in Washington this week, Flynn may end up behind bars after all. Obamagate Accomplished!”
Has Rich lost it? Is this dismissive gibberish meant to be facetious, sarcastic? Is it a pedantic attempt at reductio ad absurdum? — like Saturday’s Washington Post editorial board pronouncement of “ The absurd cynicism of ‘Obamagate’”.
Does Rich keep up with the news, or is he now filing from Joe Biden’s basement? Is Consortium News included in his diet of reading? Quick. Someone tell Rich that “Russia-Trump collusion” and the far-fetched charges that the Russian Internet Research Agency helped Trump become president — as well as the tall tale that Russia “hacked” the DNC emails — have all collapsed.
‘Statutory Senility’
My father, for many years a professor at Fordham Law School, used to speak jocularly of another all-too-familiar syndrome he nonetheless took seriously: he called it “the age of statutory senility.” As Chancellor of the Board of Regents, he resigned well before he reached that age, offering his own example to superannuated Board colleagues (to no avail).
These days, I think he would probably consider 70 the age of “statutory senility”, especially were he able to read the blather of once respected journalists — like Frank Rich, whose work he used to enjoy. Let’s make sure someone is working on a vaccine for the Trump Syndrome.
- "Thousands Are Starving" – Protesters Demanding Food Clash With Police In Santiago
“Thousands Are Starving” – Protesters Demanding Food Clash With Police In Santiago
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 23:05The coronavirus hit Chile at a particularly delicate time. Back in October, the Chilean military deployed tanks and troops onto the streets of Santiago – the Chilean capital – and President Sebastian Pinera declaring a state of emergency to quell a violent uprising triggered by – of all things – a hike in metro fares (can you imagine that happening in NYC?).
Now, some of the nation’s poorest are rising up against the government again in a violent protest movement over the lack of government assistance. Specifically, food shortages have left thousands of Chileans with nothing to eat, and the mandatory closures have made it impossible for them to work or buy food.
Video of the crowds of demonstrators and clashes with police were shared by reporters on social media.
#Chile | Citizens protest the lack of help from #SebastianPiñera‘s government during the #COVID19 pandemic. #Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/hDjQfjs9ZD
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) May 19, 2020
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In a televised address last night, President Piñera pledged to get food to those in need, according to the Santiago Times, the capital’s largest English language newspaper.
Chile has more than 46,000 cases of the virus, along with 478 deaths, but a recent spike in cases and deaths prompted Piñera go impose a lockdown in and around the capital. The strict measures, which were heavily enforced, went into effect this weekend.
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As the unrest swelled, dozens of Chilean lawmakers went into “preventative isolation” after being “exposed” to the virus. Meanwhile, local officials cautioned that they were caught in a “very complex situation” because of “hunger and lack of work”. In a statement, local officials said they had distributed about 2,000 aid packages but warned the central government that this fell far short of meeting demand. Piñera later pledged his government would provide 2.5 million baskets of food and other essentials over the next week or so.“We will prioritize the most vulnerable families,” he said, describing the plan as “historic”.
Following the announcement, Santiago Mayor Felipe Guevara tweeted in Spanish and asked residents to follow the rules.
“I understand the deep anguish of millions of Chileans, thousands are starving,” he wrote.
The unrest seen yesterday isn’t unique to Chile. Across the region, Latin American governments are confronting how to stop the virus and enforce lockdowns without the financial resources to provide for workers during the lockdown. In Brazil, hundreds of people from Sao Paulo’s largest favela marched to the state governor’s palace demanding more support last week and in Colombia, citizens have been hanging red cloths outside their homes to signify hunger. Finally, in El Salvador, people have been banging pots to protest against the lockdown.
Although Santiago is one of the most prosperous cities in Latin America, a stark rich-poor divide and a growing sense of economic inequality have prompted mass protests in late 2019. Many of the demands lodged by protesters last year, from increased pensions to higher pay, remain unresolved.
Imagine what will follow when these governments confront the cost of these lockdowns and are forced to cut services even further while raising taxes?
- "This Is Despotism, Plain & Simple" – Of Power-Drunk Politicians & Sociopathic Oligarchs
“This Is Despotism, Plain & Simple” – Of Power-Drunk Politicians & Sociopathic Oligarchs
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 22:45Authored by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
It’s Time To Step Into The Arena
There’s a passage in Teddy Roosevelt’s famous 1910 “Citizenship in a Republic” speech I want to share with you today:
If a man’s efficiency is not guided and regulated by a moral sense, then the more efficient he is the worse he is, the more dangerous to the body politic. Courage, intellect, all the masterful qualities, serve but to make a man more evil if they are merely used for that man’s own advancement, with brutal indifference to the rights of others. It speaks ill for the community if the community worships those qualities and treats their possessors as heroes regardless of whether the qualities are used rightly or wrongly. It makes no difference as to the precise way in which this sinister efficiency is shown. It makes no difference whether such a man’s force and ability betray themselves in a career of money-maker or politician, soldier or orator, journalist or popular leader. If the man works for evil, then the more successful he is the more he should be despised and condemned by all upright and far-seeing men. To judge a man merely by success is an abhorrent wrong; and if the people at large habitually so judge men, if they grow to condone wickedness because the wicked man triumphs, they show their inability to understand that in the last analysis free institutions rest upon the character of citizenship, and that by such admiration of evil they prove themselves unfit for liberty.
The above words strike me as a perfect description of the deep hole we find ourselves in presently throughout these United States of America. It takes a whole nation to screw things up as badly as we have, and boy have we ever.
Yes it took parasites, sociopathic oligarchs and a power drunk national security state to bring us to our current state of affairs, but it also took the rest of us. For far too long we as a people have been apathetic, hoodwinked spectators to the life unfolding around us. Voting for “the lesser of two evils” for decade upon decade thinking it might be different this time. Putting up with the economic game that’s been put in front of us, despite the fact that it demonstrably and systematically rewards and incentivizes predatory and destructive behavior. As a people, we have been superficial, indifferent and gleefully ignorant of reality. It’s time to change all that.
You can consider today’s post a rallying cry to step into the arena. Stepping into the arena is often portrayed as becoming involved in national politics or some other large platform action, but I see it differently. If you think the only way to have a real impact is by voting or running for Congress, you’re likely to give up and remain passive. The truth is your entire life can be repurposed to be an expression of increased kindness, wisdom and strength. It’s the most impactful long-term action most of us can have on this earth, and anyone can do it.
Change yourself before trying to change the world. If enough people did this the world would change without you even trying.
— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) May 15, 2020
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I think what keeps a lot of people on the sidelines of a conscious life is an inability to intimately process the above. Many people discount the little things, the countless actions of daily existence that impact those around you and cumulatively make you who you are.
I think one reason mass media puts so much emphasis on voting at the national level is the owners of these propaganda channels know voting will change absolutely nothing. The oligarchy and national security state are fully in charge, and they’re not going to allow the pesky rabble to get in the way of such a lucrative racket by voting. Getting those who are politically inclined to spend all their time and energy on a rigged and completely corrupt phantom democracy in D.C. is a great way to keep them busy with nonsense. It’s also a perfect way to demoralize that portion of the population which understands it’s just theater. If you can be convinced that voting at the national level is the only way to change things, you’re much more likely to recede into apathy and become intentionally disengaged. This happens to a lot of people, but it’s a big mistake.
When I look back at my life thus far, it was during my decade on Wall Street when I was the most ignorant and superficial . So focused on stroking my ego, making a bunch of money and career advancement, I lost a lot of who I am at my core during that time. I often wonder if that’s the case for a lot of people who achieve conventional success within the current paradigm. It’s fortunate I removed myself from that situation and began thinking more deeply about who I am and what really matters.
Stepping up and getting into the arena will mean something different for each of us, but the one word that keeps popping into my head is resilience. There are several clear ways to become more resilient. There’s mental and emotional resiliency, there’s financial resiliency and there’s physical resiliency (where and how you live). I see all three as fundamentally important and functioning best when working together. Resiliency starts at the most basic level because if you and your family aren’t resilient, then you won’t be much use to anyone else. If the people of a community or nation lack resiliency it provides the perfect space for authoritarianism and evil to manifest and flourish.
Case in point, see the following comments by Alan Dershowitz during a recent interview.
“You have no right not to be vaccinated, you have no right not to wear a mask… If you refuse to be vaccinated the state has the right to take you to a dr’s office & plunge a needle in your arm.”@AlanDersh take on vaccines & masks is vile & un-American. pic.twitter.com/j2C1Rk3d7h
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 18, 2020
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This is despotism plain and simple, and it’s being expressed by a guy who still has considerable influence despite his many Jeffrey Epstein related controversies. It’s going to take a resilient, courageous and ethical public to stand up to scoundrels like this and just say NO. No, you will not grab me, drag me off somewhere and inject something into my body without my consent. We’ve been passive spectators in the destruction of our society for far too long. It’s time to both say no and to create something better.
When I walked away from New York City and Wall Street ten years ago it was clear what sort of trajectory the country was on, and it’s only gotten worse since. We’re now in the crucial period spanning 2020-2025 that will decide what the next several decades look like. The big battle for the future is here. Right now. If there’s ever been a time in your life to step up, this is it.
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- China’s Military Seeks Bigger Budget Amid "Growing Threat Of US Conflict"
China’s Military Seeks Bigger Budget Amid “Growing Threat Of US Conflict”
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 22:29With Sino-US diplomatic relations plumbing the lowest levels in modern history, China’s military leaders are pushing for a substantial increase in their budget to be announced at the National People’s Congress that starts on Friday, arguing that the world’s largest standing army needs more resources to cope with volatile challenges at home and overseas. And at the top of the list, according to the South China Morning Post, is the growing confrontation with the US.
With China-US relations sinking amid a trade war, spats over civil liberties and Taiwan, and conflicts over Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, recent months have added accusations between Washington and Beijing about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. From Beijing’s viewpoint, the military threats are surfacing on its doorstep with US bombers running about 40 flights over contested areas of the South China and East China seas so far this year, or more than three times the number in the same period of 2019. US Navy warships have sailed four “freedom of navigation operations” in the area in the same period, compared with eight in all of last year.
“Beijing feels security threats posed by the US and other foreign countries are increasing, so the People’s Liberation Army wants a budget increase to support its military modernization and combat-ready training,” said Song Zhongping, a Hong Kong-based military commentator and former officer in the PLA, quoted by the SCMP.
Although the actual size of China’s defense budgets are a matter of dispute, military insiders say the PLA will want to match or exceed last year’s 7.5% growth rate, with one estimating a 9% jump, as tensions escalate on several fronts, including the perennial Taiwan friction.
While those increases may not seem outlandish, and pale in comparison to the total US military budget, they would be against a backdrop of a domestic economy severely hammered by the Covid-19 outbreak and the threat of a global recession. In late March, investment bank China International Capital Corporation slashed its real GDP growth forecast for China in 2020 to 2.6% from 6.1% in January.
One year ago at the NPC in March 2019, China announced defense spending of 1.18 trillion yuan (US$176 billion) which is the world’s second largest. But the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates China’s defense spending at US$261 billion, which is a little over a third that of the US$732 billion of the US.
Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at the naval academy in Taiwan, said the suspicion between Beijing and Washington was the worst since the resumption of diplomatic relations in the 1970s, but he rated the chance of a military conflict as low (for now). Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, meanwhile, said the PLA and US military counterparts had communication channels.
“Bilateral military ties … might not be always efficacious, but at least do serve as existing ‘pressure valves’ to forestall and potentially mitigate the risks that arise from growing tensions between Beijing and Washington,” Koh said.
Still, as the SCMP reports, President Xi Jinping, who chairs the all-powerful Central Military Commission, ordered the PLA on January 2 to boost its combat capacity as relations worsened with Washington. That was a repeat of Xi’s “be ready to win wars” order when he laid out his military expansion plan to the Communist Party’s national congress in 2017. The message has not changed.
Neither has the focus of attention: Taiwan. In last July’s defence white paper, the PLA said two of its most challenging threats were from pro-independence forces in Taiwan and separatists in Tibet and Xinjiang, saying the army “will defend national unification at all costs”.
Ni Lexiong, a specialist in China’s naval strategy and former professor at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said under President Donald Trump, US arms sales to Taiwan – including 66 F-16 Viper fighter jets – gave the PLA additional bargaining chips in asking for more money.
Beijing considers Taiwan a part of China’s territory that must be returned to the mainland fold, by force if necessary. The PLA has planned for such an event since 1949, when the Nationalist Party was defeated in the Chinese Civil War by the Communist Party of China and fled to the island.
Tensions over Taiwan have ratcheted up since Tsai Ing-wen became president in 2016. She was re-elected in a landslide in January on a platform of standing up to Beijing and defending Taiwan as a liberal democracy. She will be inaugurated for a second four-year term on Wednesday, just two days before the NPC opens.
In response, the FT reports that Taiwan is fearful that Beijing will step up direct military pressure this year in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic, with increasingly frequent incursions into airspace traditionally respected as a safety buffer zone. Such operations are below the threshold of war but would expand the area China dominates militarily, mirroring the approach Beijing has taken to establish virtual control over the disputed South China Sea.
“Once the pandemic recedes, the Chinese communists will fly across the Taiwan Strait median line more and more often, until the line disappears,” said a recently retired Taiwanese senior military official. “They will create a new status quo under which they will regularly operate much closer to our airspace, and move around there at will.”
The median line was drawn by the US in 1954. While the line does not have international legal force, both Taiwan and China have long had a tacit understanding not to cross it to avoid unintended clashes. But in March 2019, Chinese military aircraft crossed the line for the first time in 20 years and have done so on at least two more occasions.
Taiwan’s concerns follow veiled warnings from China and come as President Tsai Ing-wen starts her second term on Wednesday, with her country’s international reputation and her own popularity boosted by Taipei’s containment of the coronavirus pandemic.
Last week, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was planning an exercise for August that would simulate the seizure of Pratas, a Taiwan-held atoll at the northern entrance of the South China Sea. At the same time, the Chinese government announced two month-long live-fire drills near the port of Tangshan, interpreted by some military experts as an exercise for an attack on Taiwan.
A senior Taiwanese government official said these signals and the PLA’s probing of the median line had heightened concerns that anger over Taipei’s handling of Covid-19 was driving Beijing to take a more provocative course. Taiwan prevented a local outbreak and has seen only 440 confirmed cases and seven deaths, after cutting travel from China early. This success attracted global attention and support for the diplomatically isolated country’s attempts to participate in the World Health Organization.
“Because of this, cross-Strait relations have become very tense right now,” the senior official said.
* * *
Alexander Huang Chieh-cheng, a professor of international affairs and strategic studies at Tamkang University in Taipei, said that while a military conflict between the mainland and Taiwan would be unlikely in the coming two years, as Beijing needed to concentrate its efforts on economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, the risk of conflict had increased.
“Beijing is expected to continue its sabre-rattling against Taipei, staging more war games to try to intimidate the Tsai government in her next four years in office as long as she rejects the 1992 consensus,” Huang said, referring to a decade-old agreement between Beijing and Taipei to define cross-strait relations. Huang was a former vice-chairman of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council which oversees the island’s policies towards the mainland.
China has been running increasing numbers of military flights into Taiwan’s airspace, and in recent media articles some retired Chinese military officials have suggested that the US was not in a position to defend Taiwan because all four of its aircraft carriers in the Indo-Pacific had been hit by Covid-19 outbreaks. Later comments in an influential party journal, the Study Times , suggested a military venture was not part of Beijing’s immediate plans.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated suspicions and mistrust between Beijing and Washington, and likewise between Beijing and Taipei,” Ni said. “China is facing a new round of containment posed by the US-led Western countries similar to the Cold War.”
Meanwhile, Xi’s national “rejuvenation” strategy for China includes reshaping the PLA into a top-ranked fighting force by 2050, which includes launching at least four aircraft carrier strike groups by 2035, cutting-edge weapons research and development, and revamping the whole military command structure.
China now has two aircraft carriers; the Liaoning is a refitted vessel bought from Ukraine, while the Shandong is the first domestically built. The Shandong is still undergoing sea trials to meet what is known as initial operating capability, or IOC, for warships.
The navy has scheduled sea trials for two newly launched Type 075 helicopter docks, a type of amphibious vessel, with 40,000 tonnes of displacement. It also has plans for eight Type 055 guided-missile destroyers, its most powerful warship and among the most advanced in Asia. The first was commissioned in January and three others are being fitted out.
The PLA modernisation of both traditional and non-traditional military operations would not slow, said Song in Hong Kong. The PLA is also arguing for more funds, citing other complicated and non-traditional security challenges at home, from separatism to terrorism and religious extremism.
China’s military also found itself at the forefront of a different battle this year as tens of thousands of personnel were drafted into the fight against the Covid-19 disease outbreak in the initial epicentre, Wuhan, in January. The PLA provided doctors to treat patients, as well as soldiers and logistics for quarantine lockdowns, all additional expenditures that affect short- and long-term planning.
Beside fighting pandemics, the military is also expected to do its part in providing jobs for the rising ranks of unemployed as businesses struggle to recover from the economic damage done by the disease. More than 8.7 million students will graduate this summer and the PLA has been asked to absorb more of them, another reason to request more funding.
So… the Chinese army is about to grow by millions? Whatever you do, don’t call it a draft or you will be banned by Twitter.
A military insider said the Covid-19 pandemic added a large, unexpected financial burden on the PLA (not to mention a source of new “volunteer” recruits). “Military leadership is still fighting with the decision makers of the NPC for a budget increase up to 9 per cent for the coming year, even though the global and domestic economic situations are worrying,” said the person, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.
The PLA deployed more than 4,500 military medical personnel to worst-hit Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, as well as other logistic support elsewhere in the province from February.
“President Xi also ordered scientists from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences to join the global race to find a vaccine for Covid-19, which is a long-term and costly investment,” the person said. “It’s very difficult to predict the military cost from the Covid-19 pandemic, because we don’t know how long it will last.”
And speaking of the army’s involvement in the coronavirus pandemic, recall that a Chinese military virologist and bioweapons expert Major General Chen Wei went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology with military scientists in January to “study” the new virus. But aside from that, there is absolutely no connection between the Chinese army and the coronavirus outbreak. None at all.
- "Masks On, Clothes Off" – First Strip Club In America Reopens
“Masks On, Clothes Off” – First Strip Club In America Reopens
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 22:25Dozens of states are already in the process of reopening their crashed economies. Now the first strip club in the country, located in Wyoming, has resumed pole dancing operations and threw a grand reopening party last Friday called “masks on, clothes off.”
“When they [state officials] reopened the restaurants and bars in Wyoming, we were super excited because it’s been very difficult for us,” Kim Chavez, the owner of “The Den,” told FOX31.
“It’s been horrible to go almost three months without any kind of income,” Chavez’s husband, Greg Chavez, said.
Wyoming has had one of the lowest confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 in the US. As of Tuesday morning, confirmed cases stood at 577 and deaths at 10. Such a low count prompted state officials to reopen bars and restaurants last Friday, which included The Den.
“It was pretty busy,” Greg said, referring to the reopening party. “People had money to spend, and people were out. I think they were excited to be feeling normal again.”
FOX31 said The Den is the first strip club in America to reopen in the post-corona world. People from surrounding states piled into the strip club for the reopening party.
“Last night was crazy. We had people from Omaha and Utah, Nebraska, South Dakota. They made the trip,” Kim said.
Strippers at The Den. h/t Travor Hughes/USA Today While normal pole dancing operations have resumed, the reopening has ushered in new health protocols to keep staff and patrons safe as the risk of transmission is still elevated with the threat of a second coronavirus wave that could materialize later this year. Things inside the club looked different:
“We just need to practice social distancing. We need to make sure that our customers feel safe when they’re here. We need to protect our staff. And just make sure that we’re doing our best to keep everybody protected and safe,” Kim said.
All dancers and employees are required to wear masks inside the facility and regularly wash and sanitize hands. Strict social distancing guidelines have been set that includes no contact between dancer and patron.
“We can do the dances on stage, but no lap dances,” Greg said.
Patrons are not required to wear masks but are asked to sanitize hands before entering the club. Sanitizing stations have been placed around the facility for staff and patrons to use. Dancers are required to sanitizer the pole before performing a show.
USA Today interviewed several dancers who were glad just to be back at work:
“Twenty-two dollars,” dancer Cleo said. “Not too bad!” adding that it’s her first income she’s earned in quite some time.
Cleo stripping at The Den. h/t Trevor Hughes/USA Today “I’m super-excited. I’m a little nervous because the virus is still out there, but I’m glad to be able to go to work because a lot of people can’t yet,” said dancer Doris Craig. “The stimulus money was nice, but that’s going to run out, and I don’t like to feel like I’m dependent on the government.”
Another dancer by the name Breauna Grover, said she’s not too worried about the virus — adding that it poses little danger.
Read how a Nevada Brothel is trying to reopen its doors: ‘Not If You’re Too Hot’ – Nevada Brothels Unveil Temp-Taking, Mask-Wearing Plans To Re-Open
Dancers in a post-corona world appear to have added one more accessory to their mix of bikinis, g-strings, and fancy lingerie, which is now a mask.
- Snyder: Fear Of COVID-19 Has Absolutely Destroyed America's Future
Snyder: Fear Of COVID-19 Has Absolutely Destroyed America’s Future
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 22:05Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,
Very few people are talking about it, and even fewer are bothering to object, but by borrowing and spending so much money our politicians are essentially feeding America’s financial future into a wood chipper.
It took from the founding of our country all the way to 1981 before the U.S. national debt reached one trillion dollars. Incredibly, we just added more than a trillion dollars to our national debt in less than a month. On April 5th, we were 23.9 trillion dollars in debt, and by May 4th we were 25 trillion dollars in debt. Fear of the coronavirus has caused nearly all of our politicians to suddenly become socialists, and we are being told that trillions more in spending may be coming. This is complete and utter lunacy, and we are leaving future generations of Americans with a mountain of debt that would absolutely crush them.
But of course our society may not even last too much longer at the rate we are going. For years I have been loudly warning that our absurd national debt is an existential threat to America’s future, but at this point both major political parties have completely abandoned any sense of fiscal responsibility. Now our national debt is rapidly speeding toward the 26 trillion dollar mark, and the House of Representatives just passed a bill that would borrow and spend an additional 3 trillion dollars that we do not currently have…
Last week, House Democrats unveiled their latest pandemic-relief package. The bill combines aid for families, a bailout for struggling cities and states, and additional funds for testing, tracing, and hospitals. The price tag is about $3 trillion—and it comes just weeks after the president signed an economic-relief package worth about $2 trillion.
Since we are destroying the nation anyway, why don’t we make the grand total a nice round 10 trillion dollars like the progressives at the Atlantic are suggesting?
After all, we added close to 10 trillion dollars to the national debt during the Obama years and hardly anyone seemed to mind.
Of course Trump is trying to outdo Obama. We have already added more than 5 trillion dollars to the national debt while he has been in office, and it looks like more “coronavirus relief bills” could be on the way.
Yes, borrowing and spending money that we do not have gives us an economic boost in the present.
But it is also money that we are stealing from future generations, and we are systematically destroying the bright future that they were supposed to have.
Since Barack Obama’s first day in the White House, we have been stealing an average of more than 100 million dollars from our children and our grandchildren every single hour of every single day.
And under Trump, that pace has actually increased.
I know that figure is difficult to believe, but run the numbers yourself and you will see that I am correct.
What we are doing to future generations is beyond criminal, and it should make every American deeply angry.
But instead, many Americans are convinced that we aren’t spending enough.
In fact, Mark Cuban believes that the government should be issuing $1,000 checks to each household every two weeks…
The federal government has already sent a one-time check of up to $1,200 to millions of American families, but according to Mark Cuban, the stimulus is not enough to offset the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic.
The billionaire entrepreneur proposed the government issue $1,000 checks to every American household every two weeks for the next two months, with the caveat that the money must be spent within 10 days of receipt or it expires. It would cost about $500 billion, Cuban estimated.
Everybody knows that you should never go full Weimar Republic, but since we are essentially doing that already, why not make it $10,000 for every household every two weeks?
After all, $1,000 doesn’t go as far as it once did. These days, you can blow $1,000 in a single trip to the grocery store.
Of course I am being facetious. We are literally watching our leaders destroy everything that all previous generations of Americans fought so hard to build, and it is absolutely infuriating.
At this point even the ultra-liberal Washington Post is admitting that “the national debt is out of control”, but of course the Post also keeps on promoting ultra-liberal spending policies.
We are like a morbidly obese guy that can’t even fit in his own bathtub anymore because he is so addicted to food. Our addiction is debt, and no matter how loud the warnings get we are just going to keep going back for more.
Ultimately, the only way that the U.S. is going to be able to service this exploding debt is to wildly devalue the currency. This is the road that the Weimar Republic, Venezuela and so many others have gone down, and it always ends in utter disaster.
Only this time the biggest economy on the entire planet is doing it, and the currency that we are devaluing is the reserve currency of the world.
Sadly, there is no turning back now. Both political parties are completely committed to this course, and the mainstream media is fully behind them. In fact, CNN insists that “now is not the time to cut back on the borrowing”.
So when will be the time to cut back on borrowing?
If we need to add trillions to the national debt to deal with a relatively minor crisis like this coronavirus pandemic, what in the world are we going to do when really bad stuff starts happening?
Last November, I was absolutely horrified when our national debt hit the 23 trillion dollar mark. But by the time this November rolls around, we might be at the 27 or 28 trillion dollar mark.
Unfortunately, we throw the word “trillion” around so much these days that most Americans don’t even realize how much money a trillion dollars actually is.
If you would have been spending a million dollars every single day since Jesus was born, you still would not have spent a trillion dollars by now.
We are talking about an amount of money that is absolutely unimaginable, and we just added that much money to the national debt in less than a month.
Thanks to our free spending politicians and everyone that is supporting them, there is now no future for this country.
We are literally committing national suicide in front of the whole world, but we are so utterly consumed by our addiction that we don’t even realize that we should be deeply ashamed of ourselves.
- Robocall Rage: Poll Finds More Americans Losing Tempers Amid Spike In Lockdown Calls
Robocall Rage: Poll Finds More Americans Losing Tempers Amid Spike In Lockdown Calls
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 21:45With much of the nation indoors over the past couple months amid state-ordered ‘stay at home’ measures and the broader economic pause, Americans have faced a new “threat” — not dangerous to health, but nonetheless deeply annoying to the point of rage.
Robocalling was already out of control even before the pandemic, but robocalling fraudsters are now capitalizing on people staying at home, according to new data produced by the retirement community company Provision Living. A whopping 91% say the calls have become more common after the coronavirus crisis.
A survey of 4,000 people found that about 20% have received an unsolicited call or text related to COVID-19 believed to be scams seeking to exploit the pandemic, after Americans have already lost over $13.4 million in virus-related fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission figures.
Image via Shutterstock/Digital Trends And another 15% indicated they were called by unknown entities regarding their stimulus check — as more broadly Washington’s trillions in stimulus has unleashed a torrent of cons and scam opportunities. This includes from people at times even claiming to be the IRS.
A summary of the new poll results are as follows, according to Newsmax:
- 65% of adults polled say they receive at least one robocall per day.
- 91% of respondents say robocalls are becoming more common.
- 20% of adults surveyed say they have received a robocall or text about coronavirus.
- 23% of people polled say they have seen an increase in robocalls since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Here’s a classic line from one report on the poll’s findings:
More than a third of respondents said they’ve lost their temper and swore or yelled at a robocaller.
In prior decades such literal cold calling was once the domain of sophisticated telemarketers who at least perhaps had a local product or something remotely useful to sell.
But now it’s a domain wholly taken over by cyber fraud, international telemarketing, and an apparently growing phenomenon of random unknown services that seem to ‘dial’ numbers with no reason, bizarrely enough, often to the great frustration of people trying to catch an occasional afternoon nap.
Above: Provision Living data on most common types of robocalls, based on respondents.
Robocalling scams in general have been on the rise even unrelated to the pandemic, increasingly bombarding random households ranging from fake IRS and social security claims, to sham debt collectors, to the ever-pervasive “car extended warranty” and “Google add listing” people (no, they are actually almost never with Google, the company assures).
- New Zealand Gun-Crime Rates Soar Following Gun-Bans
New Zealand Gun-Crime Rates Soar Following Gun-Bans
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 21:25Authored by Tom Knighton via BearingArms.com,
American gun control activists looked at New Zealand’s response to the Christchurch massacre with a high degree of awe. They desperately want the United States to follow that lead after the next mass shooting. They would love for our government to swoop in after such an event and snatch away all our guns, but particularly those nasty so-called “assault weapons” that they don’t think we have any business owning.
They applauded Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her quick response, but what really happened was more of a knee-jerk reaction. She responded with liberal reflexes rather than taking the time to look at the situation rationally, and she’s been applauded by gun grabbers for it.
However, one thing we on the pro-gun side said would happen in response seems to have come to pass.
New figures obtained by RNZ show last year had the highest rates of gun crime and deaths involving firearms for nearly 10 years.
But despite that rise, there has not been a corresponding increase in officers taking out or using their guns.
The figures, obtained from police under the Official Information Act, show the rates of gun crime went up in both 2018 and 2019.
Last year, there were 3540 occasions where an offender was found with a gun.
And in both of the last two years, the rate of deadly incidents involving a firearm was the highest it had been since 2009.
The number of guns seized by police is also on the rise, up almost 50 percent on five years earlier at 1263 last year.
You mean banning guns doesn’t actually reduce gun crime?
I’m shocked.
I’m completely and totally shocked.
No, really.
What’s shocking, though, isn’t that this happened. It’s that this happened yet again and anti-gunners are still able to delude themselves into believing that gun control reduces gun crime. It doesn’t. While some of our gun controlled states have low crime, it has a low crime in spite of those laws, not because of them.
It seems like a universal truth that in the immediate aftermath of enacting tough gun control laws, gun crime goes up. That doesn’t make a lot of sense unless you realize that the very people not complying with the law include a large number of criminals who aren’t going to comply with any law. Now, though, they know that their potential targets are less likely to be able to defend themselves. For them, it’s time to step up and get busy because no one can stop them.
Note how the police aren’t using their guns any more than normal? That’s not surprising. After all, the police show up just in time to draw a chalk outline around the body. They don’t prevent crimes so much as respond to them and the criminals know this. They do what they’re going to do and leave before the police show up.
In fact, expect to see still more increases in so-called “gun crime” in New Zealand, at least until some degree of sanity returns and the government there goes back to respecting the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It’s only too bad that we’re pretty much the only nation with that right preserved in our Constitution. New Zealanders could probably use that right about now.
- German Economist Warns Italy Faces Eurozone Exit As Coronavirus Crisis Deepens
German Economist Warns Italy Faces Eurozone Exit As Coronavirus Crisis Deepens
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 21:23Italy, whose already week economy has been crippled by the coronavirus pandemic, should seek help from its own wealthy citizens, rather than relying on Germany and other EU countries, to bail it out as it struggles to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic, former German MEP and economist, Hans-Olaf Henkel, has warned.
According to The Express, the German suggested that the best solution would be for Italy to leave the eurozone and go back to their own currency, which he dubbed the “new lira”. Henkel was speaking against the backdrop of widening splits between the north and the south of the bloc, and particularly Germany and Italy, on how best to mitigate the economic and societal impacts of the virus.
Hans-Olaf Henkel. He wasn’t alone: at a time when the European periphery has been hoping to get loans, or better yet, grants from Europe, Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament, became the latest figure to speak out, calling for “strict controls” to prevent Italy and Spain embarking on massive public spending sprees using EU cash.
Henkel was also responding to comments by liberal billionaire and europhile George Soros, who last week suggested the EU had a duty to help Italy, which has been hit harder by the disease than anywhere else in the bloc, by spreading the cost of rebuilding the country’s economy among members of the eurozone. The former MEP explained: “I share Soros’ views on Italy but do not believe that there is any justification to show ‘financial solidarity with Italy because of the corona crisis’.
“What have Germans to do with the decisions taken by Italian politicians on their health system or the (very late) decisions on the lockdown in Lombardy”
He also noted that “on average the per capita wealth of Italians is way above the wealth of for instance Germans” and added that “before Italian politicians like Salvini or Conte or anybody claims money from citizens of other countries to mitigate the financial results of their decisions they should ask their own wealthy people to show solidarity with their own people.”
“Rather than letting Italian politicians borrow money from and at the risk of other countries, Germany should make a generous gift in exchange for Italy leaving the eurozone and go back to their own currency (New Lira)! This way Italy’s Central Bank could devalue their currency to become competitive again, get the economy back on its (own) feet and prosper like Italy did before the euro” Henkel said.
The German economist, who stressed his respect for a “globalized, liberal and democratic world”, added: “I know Soros from a meeting some years ago when we discussed the first euro crisis.”
“At that time I advocated the euro to be split into a ‘Northern Euro’ and a ‘Euro for the South’, in each case the currency to reflect the different economic realities prevailing in, for example, Greece, Italy and France on one hand and, for instance, in Austria, The Netherlands and Germany on the other.”
Addressing a proposed solution, namely “perpetual bonds”, or loans which would never have to be repaid, he added: “Soros’ idea of eternal European loans may work on a national basis like they did in the UK and in the US in World War 1, but they would not work on a European level.
“Not only would we be confronted with the same moral hazard such as in the case of euro- or coronabonds, they would also be limited to the eurozone hence create a new border within Europe.”
“On one side are those with solidarity for Italy like Germany. On the other are those without like Denmark or Sweden or Poland, none of them being in the eurozone.”
And that’s why Europe is doomed – the same reason European nations and people have been doomed to waging war with each other for millennia – because when one strips away the profit motive and the distraction that is the pursuit of wealth, everyone hates everyone, and once the money runs out and the shared prosperity ends and is replaced by the shared pain of bailing out one’s neighbor, at that point it’s just a matter of time before the time of death is declared.
- The Higher Stocks Rise, The More Fragile The Market Becomes: BofA
The Higher Stocks Rise, The More Fragile The Market Becomes: BofA
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 21:05In the past two months, BofA equity derivatives group led by Benjamin Bowler, has been far more bearish than either the “House” view, which is for general consumption and is more or less constitutionally mandated to always be cautiously optimistic, or BofA CIO Michael Hartnett who in recent weeks has been expecting a continued melt up reflecting both the pain trade (higher) and the flood of new central bank liquidity.
We covered two recent examples of Bowler’s persistent pessimism recently, first in “Fade The Rip”: BofA Warns “Bear Market Far From Over Unless We Escape A Recession” and again in Here Is The One Indicator That Convinced BofA Another Market Crash Is Coming, and yet despite his reasoned arguments, the market has continued to trend sideways, failing to break out materially, but also refusing to slide below 2,800.
Which brings us to today’s, latest take from BofA’s global equity volatility insights note, in which an increasingly exasperated Bowler writes that “while history suggests markets won’t escape economic reality, they have become skilled at suspending disbelief post GFC” and yet “ignoring reality comes at the risk of fragility, as investors lacking conviction are quick to exit when the trend turns.“
He is, of course, right. It was his team, after all, that made the sacrilegious at the time (in Dec 2017) observation that “In Every Market Shock Since 2013 Central Banks Have Stepped In To Protect Markets.”
It’s not just him, however: by now every investors, especially Wall Street professionals, realize that stocks are where they are only thanks to central banks, so left to their own devices a crash is inevitable. It’s also why before the QE nuke launched by the Fed in late March, the S&P was set to plunge below 2,000. The flipside is that the higher the market goes, the more prone it is to flash crashes and “breaking” as investor confidence that central banks will prop up stocks at or near all time highs, especially with lack of fundamental support, fades away.
That’s why, picking up on one of his favorite topics, Bowler and team writes that “in recent years markets have become increasingly fragile, recording a 4-fold increase in the frequency of tantrums and flash-crashes post-GFC vs the 80 years prior.”
According to Bowler there have been two key drivers of higher fragility in our view:
- failing trading liquidity due to high frequency traders shutting down machines as stress rises, something this website has correctly covered since the start in 2009, warning that HFTs would eventually resulted in an extremely illiquid, unstable and, yes, fragile market as far back as April 2009, and
- asset bubbles created by an investor base starved of alpha and forced to chase trends against their better judgement in a world addicted to the central bank put.
Caught in a vice of HFTs momentum chasing algos on one hand, and central banks dictating overall market direction simply by injecting trillions in liquidity, the BofA strategist notes that “closing your eyes and chasing the trend was impossible to avoid for most, but this also turned into a massive log-jam for liquidity when the tide turned, as investors with little fundamental conviction simultaneously rushed for a fast-narrowing exit door.”
Which brings us to today: with most institutional investors believing this is a bear-rally, something the latest BofA Fund Manager Survey confirmed earlier today…
… but at-risk of being forced to chase the trend if it continues (having been conditioned as such in the last 10 years), the risk is of bigger bubbles leading to larger shocks, leading to even bigger bubbles, leading to even larger shocks, and so on. In a dismal assessment of how far the rally has already gone without any fundamental justification, Bowler writes that “there will be plenty of opportunity (and time) for negative surprises to arise, given the sheer size of this economic crisis, even with a vaccine on fast-track.“
We most certainly agree, as does more than two-thirds of Wall Street, which is why it is hardly a secret that the higher the S&P rises, the more prone it will be to sudden, “unexplained” crashes.
And while it would be difficult to see a strong convexity event at these levels of vol, it would likely result in a larger upside surprise to volatility than in past bear-rallies, as for example both the VIX and V2X have fallen at near their fastest pace recorded.
“But the FAAMGs will keep the market elevated”, all the bulls will scream in unison, to which Bowler has a simple answer:
With many believing that the seemingly ‘defensive’ Tech can continue to hold up the S&P 500, here we highlight where the index could fall if the second leg of the covid-19 selloff unfolds even with the FAAMG not receding from here (as a reminder, they make up 21% of the S&P 500).
Chart 14 shows that holding FAAMG at their current levels, a retest of March lows from the remainder of names in the S&P would bring the S&P down to 2390, only less than 7% above its 23-Mar lows (in comparison, the S&P closed 32% above its March lows as of 15-May). If any of the FAAMG names capitulates in an extreme scenario where most of the stocks snap back to their lows, the S&P could trade even lower.
Indeed, while these big tech names and some bio/pharma names (Healthcare accounts for 15% of the S&P 500) may do particularly well in the Covid-19 economy, some investors may be overestimating the extent to which big-cap tech can prevent the entire market from falling simply due to its large weight. Furthermore, we still believe that markets may be underestimating the cyclicality of large tech as a whole when faced with the reality of the ensuing recession.
In conclusion, Bowler – who now appears to have a vendetta with the central banks, the HFTs and Robin Hood retail traders who just keep buying this market even as he doubles, triples and quadruples down on his bearish stance – warns that “history suggests markets won’t escape economic reality, and that this bear market will be similar in length to that of the ensuing recession, but there is a risk is of wider overshoots, which reconcile more violently in a world still prone to fragility.”
- "Cyclone In The Time Of COVID-19" – India Prepares For Perfect Storm Of Chaos
“Cyclone In The Time Of COVID-19” – India Prepares For Perfect Storm Of Chaos
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 20:45Though downgraded to Category 3 from its previous Category 5 strength, Tropical Cyclone Amphan is expected to make landfall near India and Bangladesh border on Wednesday as a major storm, with catastrophic storm surge, high winds, and torrential rains. This super cyclonic storm is happening at the same time India’s COVID-19 infections crossed the 100,000 mark and are increasing at the fastest pace in Asia.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) released a statement on Tuesday that said the “very intense cyclone” is churning over the Bay of Bengal and headed for coastal regions bordering Bangladesh and India. A storm surge of 13 to 16 feet could be seen in some areas, especially around mangrove forests of the Sundarbans in far eastern India and Bangladesh.
Amphan has diminished intensity over the last day but remains one of the strongest cyclones to traverse the Bay of Bengal in decades.
IMD warned: “This cyclone has extensive damaging potential. It will cause extensive large scale damage. (i) Damage expected over West Bengal (East Medinipur, south & north 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogli, Kolkata districts) and action suggested.”
Weather firm Joint Cyclone Center says the storm is still packing 115 mph winds. “Center of #Amphan getting closer to the #WestBengal associated with thunderstorms, gusty winds, flash flooding and rainbands spreading into #Bangladesh and #Burma overnight…”
IMD has issued an alert for Wednesday of damaging winds and flooding rainfall from Amphan in eastern India and Bangladesh. Most torrential rainfall and strong winds will be centered around West Bengal, which includes Kolkata.
“We are facing a dual challenge of ‘cyclone in the time of COVID-19,’ ” Satya Narayan Pradhan, chief of India’s National Disaster Response Force, stated at a press briefing Tuesday. “We are taking action according to the enormity of this challenge.”
Needs Assessment Working Group (NAWG) Bangladesh estimates that up to “14.2 million people in coastal districts are likely to be affected, with nearly 1.4 million displaced and up to 600,000 houses damaged. Evacuation from high-risk areas is to begin today and is already underway in high-risk areas in India.”
The life-threatening cyclone is arriving at a bad time for both countries as COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths surge. India has reported more than 100,000 confirmed cases, while Bangladesh has said about 25,000, as of Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
India has seen a 28% increase in cases since last week
The challenge to flatten the curve after the cyclone has passed could result in further spreading of the virus in the weeks ahead. The storm is expected to displace hundreds of thousands of folks. All of this suggests officials in both countries will be dealing with two disasters at once.
- Chicago Chicken Shop Charges 26% "COVID-19 Fee", Claiming Rapid Food Inflation
Chicago Chicken Shop Charges 26% “COVID-19 Fee”, Claiming Rapid Food Inflation
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 20:25Harold’s Chicken on Broadway in Chicago unleashed a wave of public backlash on social media last weekend after it slapped customers with a COVID-19 surcharge of 26%.
Restaurant manager Jacquelyn Santana told CBS Chicago that food suppliers raised wholesale chicken prices by 26% on Saturday “due to the COVID pandemic.” She said a case of chicken wings that generally cost $60, jumped overnight to $90, forcing the wing shop to pass on the costs.
“We’re trying to keep other employees employed, including myself. We are just opening up so we really need to be able to makes ends meet,” Santana said.
She said the surcharge was dropped on Sunday after people bashed her store on social media for raising prices.
“We’re actually trying to figure out how else we can make up for those losses that we’ve had so far,” said Santana.
She said workers have already seen their hours reduced to keep the lights on during the quarantine. It appears cost-cutting measures are limited for the store manager at this time.
A receipt from Harold’s shows a “Chicago City Tax 10.25%” and “Covid 19 26%” tax — add that all up, and one customer was taxed 36.25% for a box of wings. People on Facebook were furious, and they said: “shame on you!!!!,” “Unbelievable,” and “crooks.”
In Santana’s defense, she needs to familiarize herself with the evolving situation at meat processing plants that have resulted in soaring food inflation to justify better why she passed the costs.
For example, spot beef prices quoted via USDA show an exponential rise during the pandemic.
The public must also be informed about the crisis is processing and how some restaurants or corner shops might not be able to eat the costs. To jog everyone’s memory, more than a dozen top meat processing plants closed in the last several months due to workers contracting the virus, and other plants significantly reduced output as labor shortages developed.
US poultry production slumps as processors are hit with labor shortages.
Read: American Farms Cull Millions Of Chickens Amid Virus-Related Staff Shortages At Processing Plants
A plunging in processing sparked soaring meat prices, with restaurants already battered by lockdowns, it seems, in at least one case, a jump in wholesale prices cannot be absorbed but instead passed along to consumers
- "End Of An Era": US Oil Rig Count & Saudi Weapons Spending Plunge To Record Lows
“End Of An Era”: US Oil Rig Count & Saudi Weapons Spending Plunge To Record Lows
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 20:05The reduction in global fuel demand has led to the fact that the number of oil rigs in the US has dropped to a historic low, Reuters reported, citing data from Baker Hughes. According to data on the week ending on May 17th, the number of rigs decreased by 35, to 339.
This is the lowest figure since 1940, when Baker Hughes began to publish relevant statistics. The reduction in the number of towers affected West Texas and the eastern part of the state of New Mexico, where the main oil and gas production in the USA is conducted. There, their number decreased to 175, which is the lowest number since 2016.
Since the beginning of the year, the number of operating rigs in the United States has declined by 52%. More than 400 installations stopped working.
The suspension of activity began in mid-March, when oil prices fell sharply after disruption of the OPEC + deal.
Analysts suggest that this process will continue in the near future. Simmons Energy suggests that 215 drilling rigs will remain in the country next year and their recovery will be very slow. For comparison: in 2019, 943 units worked in the USA.
It is expected that global consumption will drop from a record 100 million barrels per day up to 92.6 million barrels. On May 18th, the cost of a barrel of North Sea Brent was $34.51, Texas WTI – $32.13.
At the same time, this drop in crude oil prices, Saudi Arabia may be forced to reduce how much money it spends on weapons. This is significant since, Riyadh’s weapon purchases are a way to increase its influence around the world.
According to experts, Saudi Arabia may have to abandon new arms contracts and postpone already agreed arms purchases, as the kingdom is plunging into a financial crisis.
The expected delay in the conclusion of new arms deals can have long-term political consequences for a country under the rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is waging a war against the Houthis in Yemen, and is losing, even with full investment.
“I have no doubt: this is the end of an era. The era when the Persian Gulf had all this money is over,” said Bruce Ridel, a CIA veteran and senior researcher at the Brookings Institution.
Last year, Riyadh spent about $62 billion on weapons, ranking fifth in the world in military spending.
Although this figure was lower than in 2018, it still amounted to about 8% of Saudi Arabia’s GDP. Thus, the country spent on weapons an impressive share of its wealth – more than the United States (3.4%), China (1.9%), Russia (3.9%) or India (2.4%), based on Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) data.
Saudi Arabia seems to be the best country at wasting its time and resources on failed endeavors, and then at denial about consequences:
“The world’s fifth largest weapons buyer is eating up its reserves – and its political clout” https://t.co/Ua7V7LMCKi
— Hassan Hassan (@hxhassan) May 18, 2020
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
For decades, military spending has strengthened Riyadh’s political influence in the world:
“If Saudi Arabia were not one of the largest buyers of weapons, then probably it would be impossible to count on support devoid of criticism from the powerful Western powers. One of the outcomes of arms purchases is that you buy relationships,” said Andrew Feinstein, an expert on corruption and the global arms trade.
This economic crisis Saudi Arabia is in is characterized by three blows that it suffered:
- The first of them was inflicted by an unprecedented drop in oil demand on world markets, which, in turn, led to a drop in commodity prices and a reduction in the country’s income from oil.
- The second blow is those extraordinary measures that the state should have taken to combat the epidemic of coronavirus and which actually led to the complete cessation of trade and economic activity within the country, which ultimately led to the actual cessation of “non-oil” exports and, again, the cessation of economic growth.
- The third blow to the economy of Saudi Arabia is the unplanned expenses of the country, associated again with the epidemic of coronavirus, and those measures that were supposed to strengthen public confidence in the health sector.
Essentially, it would appear that the Saudi-initiated crude oil price war backfired heavily, and the two parties suffering the most from the rapid drop in prices and the on-going crisis are Washington and Riyadh.
- "They Don't Want To Come Back To Work" – Restaurant Blames CARES Act For Labor Shortage
“They Don’t Want To Come Back To Work” – Restaurant Blames CARES Act For Labor Shortage
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/19/2020 – 19:45One of the great tragedies in America today is that of the CARES Act, which included a $1,200 stimulus check and an additional $600 weekly payment for the unemployed, has given millions of Americans their first real taste of socialism, that is the sweet taste of the forbidden fruit of free of money.
The Trump administration has unleashed helicopter money directed at households that will have severe consequences. Not too long ago, we noted how government intervention, cushioning households from an economic depression, will prolong the recovery in the labor market as people get paid more to sit at home than work and be productive in society:
“So don’t expect the unemployment rate to bounce back very much once this pandemic begins to subside. Congress has decided to make it very financially rewarding not to work, and millions upon millions of Americans are going to be more than happy to take advantage of that opportunity for as long as it lasts.”
As Arizona’s economy reopens, one restaurant owner has blamed the CARES Act for labor shortages, even though she says the national unemployment rate is very high.
“With an unemployment rate at almost 20%, you’d think we’d have a lot of applicants coming in, but we’re not,” said Times Square Italian Restaurant owner Paullette Cano, who recently spoke with AZFamily.
Cano said the CARES Act and unemployment checks have resulted in many of her furloughed employees staying home. They collectively told her their pay from the government is much better than working at her restaurant.
“They don’t want to come back to work,” said Cano. “It’s the unemployment. They’re receiving about $840 a week, which puts them about $22 an hour.”
At the moment, there are 30 job openings at the restaurant with dozens of furloughed employees sitting at home collecting welfare. She said rehiring is challenging because people are demanding +$20 per hour, or around the hourly rate, they’re receiving from unemployment and federal dollars.
“They’re asking for $20 an hour, which makes it difficult because we operate under slim margins,” said Cano.
Times Square Italian Restaurant owner Paullette Cano If Cano develops a labor shortage with an influx of demand at her restaurant due to reopening, she might have to resort to expensive labor that would result in fewer hirings.
It’s not just in Arizona, workers in many other states can make more money staying at home than being employed.
We recently penned “When Work Is Punished: Did The ‘Generous’ CARES Act Just Guarantee High Unemployment Is Here To Stay?“ — where it was noted the CARES Act has the potential to create an entirely new generation of welfare serfs, subsisting on significant welfare benefits with no incentive to ‘get back to work’, even after the lockdowns are lifted. This will lead to a labor market that won’t recover anytime soon, thwarting any hopes of a V-shaped recovery this year.
The virus, to its credit, has triggered a dangerous policy response by the government of helicopter money that will effectively delay the recovery. Recently, Powell on CBS’s 60 Minutes thinks a recovery could be seen in late 2021 — what’s to say the recovery might not be seen until 2022-2024?
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