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Second Wave? China Orders ‘Partial Lockdown’ Of Border City; Seoul’s Newest Cluster Explodes To 120 Cases: Live Updates
Second Wave? China Orders ‘Partial Lockdown’ Of Border City; Seoul’s Newest Cluster Explodes To 120 Cases: Live Updates
Summary:
- VW ‘pauses’ manufacturing of VW Golf, SUVs
- China imposes ‘partial lockdown’ on northeastern border city
- SK’s ‘Itaewon’ cluster climbs to 120
- Germany, Austria agree to reopen mutual border
- Global cases: 4.22 million
- Global deaths: 291,519
- Poland reports record jump in new cases
- Russia sees numbers start to slow after shocking record run of confirmations
* * *
Update (0745ET): After reopening the largest auto factory in the world, Volkswagen is reportedly ‘pausing’ production of the Volkswagen Golf (a compact model more popular in Europe), as well as its SUVs, due to ‘poor sales’.
What, exactly, was the point of reopening factories and potentially exposing workers to SARS-CoV-2, just to shut down operations again? Also, given that VW is the world’s largest carmaker, this is just the latest headline to undermine the “V-shaped” thesis/“fantasy”.
* * *
As we reported last night, news that LA County suspects its reopening will take up to 3 months – a month longer than previously expected – sent markets lower into the close. That news, combined with Dr. Fauci’s warning about states rushing to reopen, cemented the impression that the reopening of the American economy would probably be much more fraught with delays. And for a brief moment, it seemed like fun-durr-mentals almost mattered again…
Anyway, European markets wobbled Wednesday following reports that the latest cluster of cases in Seoul had climbed to 119, the latest increase of dozens of cases as contact-tracers scramble to test as many people as possible. More than 14k people have been tested so far. To be sure, investigators have made some discoveries that undermined the theory that all of these cases are connected to one “super-spreader”. Rather, it’s believed that most of these cases were likely individuals who were asymptomatically infected elsewhere. The cases have been linked to multiple cases.
Has Demand For Oil Already Peaked?
Has Demand For Oil Already Peaked?
Oil prices continue to rise on the prospect of a rebound in fuel demand as economies begin to reopen. But there is a large difference between oil demand rising from recent lows and actually growing relative to pre-COVID-19 trends. In other words, demand destruction on the order of nearly 30 million barrels per day (mb/d) may have been brief, but we are a long way from a 100-mb/d oil market.
In fact, some are wondering whether the world will ever get back to 100 mb/d of oil demand. Even oil executives have their doubts. Royal Dutch Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden recently suggested that a rebound is unlikely, even looking out beyond 2020. “We do not expect a recovery of oil prices or demand for our products in the medium term,” he said.
“We basically have a crisis of uncertainty. Uncertainty about demand, about prices,” van Beurden said in a video address when presenting first quarter results at the end of April. “Maybe even uncertainty about the viability of some of our assets given all of the logistical issues we have.”
BP’s CEO Bernard Looney largely admitted the same thing. The COVID-19 pandemic could entrench certain societal changes – more teleworking, less commuting, less flying – that could permanently erode a portion of consumption. “It’s not going to make oil more in demand. It’s gotten more likely [oil will] be less in demand,” Looney said in an interview with the FT.
“I don’t think we know how this is going to play out. I certainly don’t know,” Looney said. “Could it be peak oil? Possibly. Possibly. I would not write that off.”
Not everyone agrees. ExxonMobil’s chief executive Darren Woods recently said that the long-term trends “have not changed.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Pandemic, Lockdowns, Fake and Manipulated Markets – Gold and Silver Outlook
Pandemic, Lockdowns, Fake and Manipulated Markets – Gold and Silver Outlook
◆ The massive global debt driven “Everything Bubble” is bursting due to the pandemic and more specifically the governments draconian economic lockdowns
◆ A dollar crisis is inevitable with U.S. government debt surging by some $2 trillion in a matter of weeks and ballooning to over $25 trillion
◆ Wall Street has just been bailed out at the expense of Main Street and families and businesses in the U.S. and throughout most of the industrial world
◆ Gold and particularly silver remain good value for those looking for safe havens to hedge the risk of financial dislocations and collapse
◆ Due to ongoing price manipulation in the futures market they have yet to price in the scale of the coming crisis; silver is actually lower despite massive demand as seen in a surge in silver ETF holdings, shortages of silver coins and bars and elevated premiums on gold but particularly silver
◆ This is much more than a “logistics” issue and is more due to actual shortages of physical metal from mines, mints and refineries and very strong global demand
◆ Gold and silver, if owned in the safest of ways, will protect people, families and companies in the coming global financial and monetary crisis
◆ Open an account with GoldCore here
◆ All the best from Stephen, Mark and the team. Be well!
NEWS and COMMENTARY
31 Gold and Silver Charts – Demand Will Soar and Gold Will Surge Once It Surpasses $1,900/oz (GoldChartsRUs)
“This event coming into play just prior to taking out all time highs at $1900 after which one could expect the prices to accelerate & demand soar.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
“Black Mirror” Creator Abandons Writing Because We’re ‘Already In A Dystopia’
“Black Mirror” Creator Abandons Writing Because We’re ‘Already In A Dystopia’
Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker told UK’s Radio Times that his audience might not be able to “stomach” another season of his dystopian Netflix series. He said the public mood is not suited for another season considering the world has been thrown into dystopia via the virus pandemic.
When Brooker was asked for an update on the writing of season 6; he responded by saying:
“I’ve been busy doing things,” he said. “I don’t know what I can say about what I’m doing and not doing. At the moment, I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart, so I’m not working away on any of those [Black Mirror episodes]. I’m sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I’ve been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh.”
Black Mirror, which airs on Netflix, has produced five seasons so far. The last season was released in June 2019 and consisted of just three episodes. The Emmy-winning series plunges its audience into a nightmarish dystopia where technology is making people’s lives living hell.
With the world caught in the middle of a pandemic, economic crash, and geopolitical tensions soaring between superpowers, as a surveillance state is being erected across the world under cover of the virus outbreak, Brooker does not want to give his audience any more negative ideas.
Quarantines and an economic crash have resulted in isolation and anxiety for many. This is a recipe for substance abuse and mental illness as a byproduct of today’s chaos could trigger a wave of suicides.
Brooker is moving away from death and despair to a comedy special on BBC titled “Antiviral Wipe” will air in the UK on May 14. The world needs hope and light amid these unprecedented times…
Disobedience, Protest, and the Pandemic: Climate Change and Citizen Action under Conditions of Social Distancing
Disobedience, Protest, and the Pandemic: Climate Change and Citizen Action under Conditions of Social Distancing
Civil disobedience is not just a checklist of components, but a tradition of morally purposeful action and an expression of citizenship, CUSP Fellow Graeme Hayes writes. As the pandemic ushers in new social norms, and political and economic interests may seek to capitalise on the crisis to further deepen social inequality, how social movements rethink their tactics may have profound consequences for the effectiveness of future protests.by
So far, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people; if we measure excess deaths against the five year average, the figure is even higher, at over 300,000. To stem the tide, liberal and authoritarian states worldwide have introduced social restriction regimes with varying intensities, speeds, and success. By the end of March, 2.6 billion people, or a third of the global population, were living under some form of ‘lockdown’. The social and economic consequences are profound, with the IMF predicting the global economy to shrink by 3% in 2020, the ILO emphasising the devastating effects of workplace closures on 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy. Poorer and more marginalised populations are not only more likely to be exposed to the virus; they are less likely to be able to adapt to and cope socially and economically with conditions of lockdown. This is, as Richard Horton writes in The Lancet, a global health crisis whose meanings are not biological but biographical, located in the vast social inequalities and organisational assumptions that underpin late capitalist societies.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Pandemic Is Deepening America’s Many Divides
The Pandemic Is Deepening America’s Many Divides
And so we’ve reached the precarious state of disunion in which the only thing the warring elites can agree upon is that the Federal Reserve should rescue their private wealth, regardless of cost or consequences.
America’s divides are proliferating and deepening by the day. The key political and economic divides predate the pandemic, but the pandemic is acting as a catalyst, creating new divides and exacerbating existing ones.
Let’s start with the politicization and subsequent polarization of re-opening the economy. In a reasonably sane, coherent society, this issue would be subject to common sense debates about risks, trade-offs, policies, responses to new data, etc.
But American society is neither sane nor coherent, so what should be a non-partisan debate was immediately politicized, to the absurd extreme that “progressives” must favor continuing strict lockdowns lest they be accused of being “conservative.”
The erosion of middle ground and the disappearance of de-politicized policy debates is a clear sign that a society is doomed to disintegration not just of the social order but the political and economic orders.
Author Peter Turchin has described the disintegrative stage in his book Ages of Discord, in which he modeled a Political Stress Index comprised in part of these three dynamics:
1. Stagnating real wages due to oversupply of labor.
2. Overproduction of parasitic elites.
3.Deterioration of central state finances.
The pandemic has catalyzed the oversupply of labor and the deterioration of central state finances, and illuminated America’s vast overproduction of parasitic elites, most of whom feed off various cartels and monopolies or the financial system, which has been saved yet again from gravity by the super-wealthy’s most important protector, the Federal Reserve.
The pandemic has created new divides that highlight existing extremes of inequality. Those Americans in poor health and in jobs that cannot be performed at home are at greater risk than healthy Americans who can work at home.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The UN Is Now Admitting That This Coronavirus Pandemic Could Spark Famines Of “Biblical Proportions”
The UN Is Now Admitting That This Coronavirus Pandemic Could Spark Famines Of “Biblical Proportions”
What the head of the UN’s World Food Program just said should be making front page headlines all over the globe. Because if what he is claiming is true, we are about to see global food shortages on a scale that is absolutely unprecedented in modern history. Even before COVID-19 arrived, armies of locusts the size of major cities were voraciously eating crops all across Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia, and UN officials were loudly warning about what that would mean for global food production. And now the coronavirus shutdowns that have been implemented all over the planet have brought global trade to a standstill, they are making it more difficult to maintain normal food production operations, and they have forced countless workers to stay home and not earn a living. All of this adds up to a recipe for a complete and utter nightmare in the months ahead.
David Beasley is the head of the UN’s World Food Program, and on Tuesday he warned that we could actually see famines of “biblical proportions” by the end of this calendar year. The following comes from ABC News…
The coronavirus pandemic could soon double hunger, causing famines of “biblical proportions” around the world by the end of the year, the head of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.
Beasley warned that analysis from the World Food Programme, the U.N.’s food-assistance branch, shows that because of the coronavirus, “an additional 130 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020. That’s a total of 265 million people.”
He described what we are facing as “a hunger pandemic”, and he insisted that urgent action must be taken in order to avoid a nightmare scenario.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
When viruses shatter limits
When viruses shatter limits
Viruses are invisibly small, cause monumental pandemics, and force us to rethink our taxonomies
All that is left to us, therefore, is to understand what the disaster is producing within us, to pay attention to the explosion of affects it reveals. Therein lie the complexity of the situation and its rare promises. –Sabu Kohso
Stories of viruses are mostly stories of surface breaking, membrane crossing, confinement evading, border shattering, punctuation changing.
During the 19th century, scientists like Pasteur and others articulated the Germ theory: diseases could be passed on by tiny living things (hence the name microbes, small biota) invisible to the eye. Bacteria, organisms made of a unique cell, were “discovered”. An object, the Pasteur-Chamberland filter, was created to filter out bacteria from water. First dedicated to research, it also became an industrial device in a world now, and forever, scared of microbes and infections. But still, stuff that seemed to be smaller than bacteria, i.e., that could pass through these filters, kept on causing diseases. “Filterable viruses”, later only “viruses” (from poison in Latin), became then known to humans.
Viruses came to our world by crossing a membrane of unglazed, or bisque, porcelain. Here their narration starts—as if they hadn’t been there all along. Kevin Buckland, a storyteller living in Barcelona, teaches us this about the virus: “[its] power is simple: it can change periods into commas. It can un-end sentences. What was sealed and solved, what was packaged and piled, what had already been swept away is now again unfinished; ready to be rewritten.”
These past weeks, our days have been filled with digressions about viruses. For example: are viruses alive? Yes, no, it depends on how you define “alive”… And it depends on who you ask: someone living through the Covid-19 pandemic, or the same person a couple months ago?
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Crazy long food lines across America reveal the total LACK of preparedness that now characterizes our just-in-time society
Crazy long food lines across America reveal the total LACK of preparedness that now characterizes our just-in-time society
(Natural News) As the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread across the United States, sickening and killing tens of thousands, other problems are just beginning, including food shortages.
As reported by The Sun, the U.S. now has more recorded COVID deaths than any other country in the world, though there are doubts even among U.S. intelligence agencies that China has been completely transparent and up-front in reporting its true number of cases and deaths.
That said, as the virus spread and governors ordered non-essential businesses closed to help contain the spread, newly out-of-work Americans, by the millions, are already beginning to suffer basic shortages of food.
The news site reports:
The shocking statistics come as the need for emergency food aid has exploded in recent weeks due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Nearly 100 per cent of food banks in the Feeding America network are serving more neighbors in need during the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet nearly 60 per cent are facing reduced inventory levels amidst rising demand,” according to a survey by Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief and food rescue organization.
Meanwhile, organizations are having difficulty replenishing their food stocks and keeping food on hand for the growing numbers of needy, many of whom line up for hours in cities like San Antonio, Texas, and elsewhere waiting for assistance.
The survey noted further that the current number of people needing food assistance has surpassed the 37 million who faced hunger in the country last year.
It added that “since establishing the COVID-19 Response Fund on March 13, Feeding America has distributed $112.4 million and over 94 million pounds to food banks throughout the network, helping provide nearly 79 million meals to neighbors facing hunger.”
If this doesn’t prove to you why aspects of “prepping” are vital, nothing will.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
This pandemic IS ecological breakdown: different tempo, same song
This pandemic IS ecological breakdown: different tempo, same song
Comparisons between the toll of COVID-19 and climate change are not helpful because they view each as two separate “things”
In late 2019, a novel coronavirus (SARS CoV-2) emerged from a wet market in Wuhan in the province of Hubei in China. At the time of writing, it has resulted in cases approaching 1 million and the deaths of over 42,000 people worldwide. Only a couple months ago, the world was taken aback by unprecedented bushfires in Australia, massive youth movements striking for stronger action to tackle climate change, and a groundswell of protests across the world demanding greater democracy, an end to state oppression, and against debilitating economic austerity in places ranging from Hong Kong, to India, to Chile, respectively.
In the midst of these events, COVID-19 felt like it came out of nowhere. The situation (and potentially the virus itself) is rapidly evolving, has taken world governments by surprise, and left the stock market reeling. Its emergence, however, makes self-evident the fault lines in global production systems and the ultra-connectivity of our globalized world. Like climate change, it affects everyone (ultimately), but unlike climate change, it occurs at a much faster rate and more severely impacts the most economically vulnerable, who cannot afford or have the possibility to engage in social distancing. Governments are walking on a tightrope, a balancing act between ensuring public safety and well-being and maintaining profit margins and growth targets. It’s the very same dilemma as climate change- just occurring at a faster rate, arising everywhere, and obliterating the possibility to ignore it and think about it later. In fact, one may argue that the pandemic is part of climate change and therefore, our response to it should not be limited to containing the spread of the virus. “Normal” was already a crisis and so returning to it cannot be an option.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
How To Protect Yourself From Long Term Pandemic Lockdown
How To Protect Yourself From Long Term Pandemic Lockdown
It has been only two weeks since widespread pandemic lockdowns were implemented in the US and as expected the public is not handling the idea very well. Within one week there were already frantic demands for the economy to reopen by Easter (spurred on by Donald Trump), and mass delusions have developed that this is still going to happen despite the fact that lockdown guidelines have been extended to at least April 30th. People desperately want to believe that this will all be over in a matter of weeks.
Many governments continue to perpetuate this fantasy by using very carefully worded terminology. For example, the phrase “two weeks of hell” is being consistently repeated by the media after Trump uttered the notion a few days ago. In Italy, a Milan official sees lockdowns now continuing for 2-3 more weeks. In Spain, the public was left with the impression that two solid weeks of quarantine and lockdowns would help stave off infections, yet the government extended the restrictions for…yes, you guessed it…another two weeks.
Why are these announcements always in two week intervals? I suspect it is because this the maximum amount of days before the average person begins to register the passage of time in their minds in a new situation. After two to three weeks of going without certain comforts and habits, people tend to adapt and find different ways of doing things. And, after two to three weeks of crisis, they might wake up and recognize the situation is not going to get better.
Governments and establishment elites are seeking to keep the public as passive and docile as possible by continually feeding them the notion that the worst of the pandemic will be over in a matter of weeks. And, every two weeks they will reassure us that we are “only two weeks away” from salvation.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
“Pandemic Drones” Can Now Detect Fever and Coughing
“Pandemic Drones” Can Now Detect Fever and Coughing
The COVID-19 outbreak is proving to be the Trojan horse that justifies the ushering in of the surveillance state. We’ve noted how governments and corporations are quickly deploying big data and spy tools to monitor people during the pandemic.
The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on illegal immigration, and now the war on COVID-19: all start out as legitimate responses but then are used by politicians to increase the surveillance state and erode any freedoms citizens have left.
What’s coming to America in the not too distant future is a full-blown surveillance state, that could be on par with China’s. In particular, we want to show ZeroHedge readers what could be coming down the pipe: That is, “pandemic drones” outfitted with specialized sensor and computer vision system that can fly around cities and detect if people have elevated body temperatures, respiratory rates, as well as to identify if people are sneezing and coughing (all signs of a COVID-19 carrier)
A US-based drone company called Dragonfly is spearheading the effort to build a drone network across public areas to detect infected people. The drone network is called the “global early warning system” that would be able to spot the first signs of a pandemic.
Dragonfly was recently selected by Vital Intelligence, a healthcare data services and deep learning company in conjunction with the University of South Australia, to “immediately commercialize” pandemic drones to monitor people in public areas.
“Draganfly is honored to work on such an important project given the current pandemic facing the world with COVID-19. Health and respiratory monitoring will be vital for not only detection, but also utilizing the data to understand health trends. As we move forward, drones and autonomous technology doing detection will be an important part of ensuring public safety,” said Andy Card, Director of Draganfly and former Secretary of Transportation and White House Chief of Staff.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Indiana, Massachusetts Prepare ‘Stay At Home’ Orders, South Africa Weighs ’21-Day’ Lockdown: Live Updates
Indiana, Massachusetts Prepare ‘Stay At Home’ Orders, South Africa Weighs ’21-Day’ Lockdown: Live Updates
Summary:
- Japan PM Abe says world “not ready” to hold Olympics
- Angela Merkel tests negative for COVID-19
- Australia and Canada pull athletes from the games
- NY case total tops 20k
- Hong Kong bars all foreigners for 14 days
- Spain reports 26% jump in deaths on Sunday
- Indiana, Mass. reportedly preparing stay-home orders
- New Jersey reports nearly 1,000 case jump
- UK preparing to close “non-essential” shops
- Dems hold stimulus bill hostage with last-minute demands
- India ban on international flights begins
- Largest 2-day jump in global cases reported over the weekend
- Spain follows Italy by extending quarantine
- 1 in 3 Americans begin Monday under lockdown
- India shutters domestic transit even as ‘official’ cases remain low
- Trump sends National Guard troops to New York, California & Washington
- Fed delivers latest bazooka blast with another massive monetary stimulus
- Senate holds second stimulus vote
- Amazon doubles workers overtime pay
* * *
Update (1200ET): heading into the lunchtime hours, as thousands of traders get up from their couch to go fix themselves a sandwich, there’s some more breaking news about the growing number of lockdown orders.
First, rumor has it that South Africa is preparing to announce a 21-day lockdown. In the US, reports claim Indiana and Massachusetts are joining the list of states who have declared mandatory lockdowns. That would add13.6 million more Americans to the lockdown total.
New Jersey health officials just released their latest update on the number of positive tests, and the total has increased by nearly 1,000 overnight, to 2,844 from 1,914.
A joint statement released by the Bank of England and British banks said the country’s banks are in a strong financial position heading into the crisis and that “banks are here to help the public.”
* * *
Update (1130ET): After heading into isolation over the weekend, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reportedly tested negative for VOID-19, sparing Europe’s largest economy from the challenge of confronting the outbreak without the country’s its longtime leader.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Covid-19 Shatters the Facade of European Union
Covid-19 Shatters the Facade of European Union
The new coronavirus and its accompanying disease Covid-19 has stopped the globe in its tracks. Governments, markets and news cycles have become dominated by the pandemic. Europe is now the epicenter for the disease, with reportedly more fatal cases of infection than China where the virus first erupted in December.
Several European Union countries have declared themselves states of emergencies, including Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain and Italy. The 27-member bloc has sealed off external borders. Some states, such as Poland, have begun closing borders with other EU members. Brussels, the administrative center of the EU, is alarmed because the much-vaunted single market and its core principles of free movement of goods and people is at risk of collapsing.
The European entity which proclaims solidarity and supranational status is reverting to a collection of nation states, each desperately fighting for their own survival amid the Covid-19 pandemic. EU leaders have been criticized for showing lack of central leadership and solidarity. When Italy first reported a surge in infections a few weeks ago, the rest of Europe was slow to respond with the necessary prompt assistance. Now Italy is such a grip of the disease – with thousands dead – that in some parts of the country normal funeral services reportedly cannot even cope with the number of deceased.
In blistering remarks this week, the Serbian President Alexander Vucic lamented that there was “no European solidarity”. Serbia is a prospective member of the EU along with several other Balkan states, but Vucic said his country has received little in the way of aid from the EU in face of the coronavirus threat. Indeed, by contrast, the Serb leader extolled the generosity of China which has sent large shipments of equipment to combat the disease. Beijing has also dispatched aid cargoes and medical teams to Italy and other EU members to help them cope with their outbreaks.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Be wary of overreaching government responses to coronavirus: Ron Paul
Be wary of overreaching government responses to coronavirus: Ron Paul
Governments love crises because when the people are fearful they are more willing to give up freedoms for promises that the government will take care of them.
After 9/11, for example, Americans accepted the near-total destruction of their civil liberties in the PATRIOT Act’s hollow promises of security.
It is ironic to see the same Democrats who tried to impeach President Trump last month for abuse of power demanding that the Trump Administration grab more power and authority in the name of fighting a virus that thus far has killed less than 100 Americans.
Declaring a pandemic emergency on Friday, President Trump now claims the power to quarantine individuals suspected of being infected by the virus and, as Politico writes, “stop and seize any plane, train or automobile to stymie the spread of contagious disease.” He can even call out the military to cordon off a US city or state.
State and local authoritarians love panic as well. The mayor of Champaign, Illinois, signed an executive order declaring the power to ban the sale of guns and alcohol and cut off gas, water, or electricity to any citizen. The governor of Ohio just essentially closed his entire state.
The chief fearmonger of the Trump Administration is without a doubt Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. Fauci is all over the media, serving up outright falsehoods to stir up even more panic. He testified to Congress that the death rate for the coronavirus is ten times that of the seasonal flu, a claim without any scientific basis.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
