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Mr. President: Open the Economy Now – Martin Armstrong
Mr. President: Open the Economy Now – Martin Armstrong
Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong says shutting down the economy is far worse that the effects of the Wuhan China virus. Armstrong says, “This is just scare mongering, and there is another agenda going on. The WHO is part of the UN, and the UN is for this climate change, and this is what their objective has been: Shut down the world economy, bankrupt everything you possibly can, and then rebuild from scratch. . . . The devastation in the economy is unbelievable. Our computer is very well known. Just about all the intelligence agencies look at it because it’s the only fully functioning artificial intelligence system in the world. It was saying unemployment was going to rise dramatically and retest the Great Depression highs. . . .That’s never happened like that. Even in the Great Depression, it took three years to get to 25%. We passed 13% in the first month. . . . From the very beginning, I said something is not right. Something is wrong. . . . This is really going to push the debt bubble over the cliff. . . . The number that has died is minimal. More than twice that die from the flu. There is no logical explanation to have done this. The study they used was not even peer reviewed.”
So, if Armstrong were face to face with President Trump, what would he tell him? Armstrong says, “What he needs to do is open up the economy instantaneously. I think he needs to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate who started this. All the information I have is pointing to a deliberate and intentional movement to harm the economy. These people are elitists. Bill Gates was in Germany saying everybody should remain in lockdown until he comes up with a vaccine. . . .
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In Shocking Admission, WHO Advisor Says Coronavirus May Infect Over 5 Billion People
In Shocking Admission, WHO Advisor Says Coronavirus May Infect Over 5 Billion People
In yet another sign of the World Health Organization’s about-face on the coronavirus outbreak, a top epidemiologist and advisor to the organization said Thursday that if the virus isn’t contained soon, it could infect 60% of the global population – or more than 5 billion people – echoing projections made by a Hong Kong scientist who was once labeled an alarmist despite his pioneering work in the fight against SARS.
According to Bloomberg, that’s what WHO advisor Ira Longini said after finishing a study of the virus’s transmissibility. His estimates suggest that the virus could one day infect billions of people, far more than the ~60,000 or so cases as of earlier on Thursday.
If the virus truly has a mortality rate of 2% (around the low end of current estimates), at this rate, it would kill more than 100 million.
Of course, if the virus manages to spread so widely, it will unequivocally prove that China’s draconian quarantines weren’t effective enough, and that the government effectively set itself up for failure when it hesitated to try and contain the outbreak after it first emerged in Wuhan late last year.
In recent days, Dr. Tedros, the WHO’s director-general, has warned that we might be seeing only “the tip of the iceberg” in terms of cases, and that a new rash of infections in Europe could lead to another widespread outbreak.
Longini based his numbers on an r-sub-zero of between 2 and 3, meaning that the average infected person will spread the virus to two or three other people.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
White House Doubts China’s Numbers: 100,000 Coronavirus Cases Unreported
White House Doubts China’s Numbers: 100,000 Coronavirus Cases Unreported
Summary:
- Japan reports first virus death
- President Xi says China will minimize impact from virus
- Chinese leadership scapegoats local officials
- Death toll and case count soared last night: There are more than 60k cases worldwide, and more than 1300 deaths
- EIA joins OPEC in warning about upcoming drop in oil use, the first in a decade.
- HHS Secretary says CDC will announce another confirmed COVID-19 case in US on Thursday
- 21 people in Spain released from quarantine
- US admin reportedly questioning China’s reporting
- White House reportedly “doubts” China’s coronavirus numbers
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Update (1150ET): Citing a senior White House official, CNBC reports that the White House doesn’t have “high confidence” in the coronavirus numbers coming out of China.
The U.S. does “not have high confidence in the information coming out of China” regarding the count of coronavirus cases, a senior administration official told CNBC.
The official also noted that China “continues to rebuff American offers of assistance.”
The current thinking is there must be a reason why they won’t allow the CDC to send over personnel to help with the virus response.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Zeng tweeted out video of migrant workers being forced to sleep outside because of the draconian lockdown.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Mysterious Origin of the Wuhan Coronavirus
The Mysterious Origin of the Wuhan Coronavirus
China continues to refuse to release animal sampling testing data.
Analysis
It has been two months since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan and its spread has shown no signs of slowing down in China. More than 35 Chinese cities have been put on lockdown by Chinese authorities in an attempt to isolate confirmed and suspected cases. The lives of millions of people are in danger as the virus shows signs of spreading further in China as well as internationally.
There are significant gaps in the official investigations into the origins of the novel Coronavirus. In order to contain the virus, one first needs to understand how a virus that allegedly originated in animals found its way to humans. For this to happen, the Chinese authorities need to release their animal testing data and samples. Testing results from animal samples collected at epicenters would give important insights into what animals might serve as intermediate hosts for the new coronavirus.
This is critical to the containment of the epidemic. For example, if rats are the intermediate hosts for this virus, it would be futile to shut down the cities to restrict people’s movements while infected rats are still moving freely. Results from animal samples could also guide policy decisions that would reduce the risk of another outbreak.
An Animal Origin of the Virus
Scientific studies based on phylogenetic analysis have researched the sequence of the novel coronavirus, compared it to other coronavirus sequences, and found it likely originated in bats.
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“If You Are Angry, Stand Up”: Beijing Scrambles To Tamp Down Unrest As Furious Chinese Take To Social Media
“If You Are Angry, Stand Up”: Beijing Scrambles To Tamp Down Unrest As Furious Chinese Take To Social Media
Summary:
- Fatalities in China reached a single-day high of 86 on Friday, raising the national death toll to 724
- WHO reported 31,481 confirmed global cases on Friday, up by 3,000+ cases from Thursday; SCMP says total cases closer to 35k
- First American citizen has died
- First Japanese citizen suspected of succumbing to virus
- France elevates travel advisory to orange after 5 Britons fall ill in ski resort
- Roundup of suspected infected in Wuhan continues
- Beijing appoints Xi protege to help lead virus response
- Vigil for Dr. Li held in Hong Kong
- China blocks Foxconn plan to reopen factories
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Update (1500ET): The NYT just published its latest critical piece about the Chinese government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. This one centers on President Xi’s decision to stay out of the limelight over the past two weeks, instead leaving the crisis to his No. 2, Premier Li Keqiang, who has been charged with leading the committee of senior officials tasked with overseeing the government response to the outbreak.
One academic quoted in the article explains that the government’s botched handling of the outbreak could be the biggest threat to Xi’s rule during his tenure so far, and that the changes he’s imposed on the Chinese constitution could make it difficult for Xi to avoid blame.
“It’s a big shock to the legitimacy of the ruling party. I think it could be only second to the June 4 incident of 1989. It’s that big,” said Rong Jian, a writer about politics in Beijing, referring to the armed crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters that year.
“There’s no doubt about his control over power,” he added, “but the manner of control and its consequences have hurt his legitimacy and reputation.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Pandemic Isn’t Ending, It’s Just the Beginning of Global Disorder and Depression
The Pandemic Isn’t Ending, It’s Just the Beginning of Global Disorder and Depression
When you’ve been lied to, you’ve been betrayed. Betrayal has consequences.
Unsurprisingly, denying the pandemic is unstoppable and consequential is the order of the day: authorities everywhere are terrified these realities might leak through all their oh-so-obviously desperate firewalls and filters. Why are they terrified? Because they know the entire global economy, including the linchpin Chinese and U.S. economies, was extremely fragile before the pandemic arose: why else the panic-stimulus and panic-repo policies of the Federal Reserve and the People’s Bank of China in the pre-pandemic months of Q4 2019?
And so everything is covered up, and if that doesn’t work, then outright denial is the default policy. The number of cases globally is absurdly understated, the number of deaths in China is absurdly under-reported, and so on.
But the biggest denial campaign is aimed at masking the fragility of the global economy, as the only thing keeping the rickety, speculative-bubble, insolvent global economy from imploding is the belief and confidence of the masses that everything is going swimmingly, so keep on borrowing, borrowing, borrowing, buying, buying, buying and speculating, speculating, speculating.
While the real-world battle to limit the spread of the virus in China gets the headlines, the battle inside your head to maintain your confidence in the system is just as important. Economists talk about recession and depression in quantitative terms: deflation, sales, profits, employment and so on.
The key dynamic in recessions and depressions is confidence: confidence that the condo you buy today will be worth a lot more tomorrow, the business investment you make today will generate higher profits tomorrow, your job benefits will increase tomorrow, your house value will rise tomorrow, and so on.
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Optimism Fades As Virus Deaths Soar To 724, Drop In New Cases Reverses Higher
Optimism Fades As Virus Deaths Soar To 724, Drop In New Cases Reverses Higher
Summary:
- Confirmed cases rises to just shy of 35K, deaths surge by 86 to 722, set to surpass SARS total in hours; total number of people under observation rises to 19K.
- Reporter says ‘real’ death toll could be closer to 20k
- German scientists say coronavirus can survive for 9 days on surfaces
- Chinese quarantine expanded to Guangzhou; 400 million now on lockdown
- Singapore raises response level to Orange
- Hong Kong confirms case No. 25
- Death of Dr. Li stokes demands for more free speech in China
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Update (2000 ET): After two days of declines in the number of “new cases” reported by China’s National Health Commission, and the latest number of total infected in China coming in below JPMorgan’s daily estimate – no really, to JPM the number of daily new infections is just like the jobs report: it either beats or it misses…
… Saturday, Feb 8 saw an unexpected reversal in the downward slope in new cases, and as the NHC reported moments ago, as of Feb 7, China reported a total of 34,546 cases, an increase of 3,385 overnight, and the first rise in new cases in three days, suggesting any hopes that the pandemic had already peaked were just crushed.
Adding the 365 international cases, means that as of Saturday, there were a total of 34,911 global cases, resulting in 724 deaths – an increase of 86 on the day, the biggest one day rises since the pandemic started – and a mortality rate of 2.1%, which is where it has been stuck for the past ten days. At this rate of increase in officially reported (which is vastly different from the actual true number) cases, the coronavirus pandemic will claim more lives than SARS in under 24 hours.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
White House Asks Scientists To Investigate Whether 2019-nCoV Was Bio-Engineered
White House Asks Scientists To Investigate Whether 2019-nCoV Was Bio-Engineered
A week ago, we published details that raised questions about the source of the Wuhan novel coronavirus, specifically questioning the official theory for the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic, namely because someone ate bat soup at a Wuhan seafood and animal market as a fabricated farce.
The real reason behind the viral spread, we suggested, was that a weaponized version of the coronavirus (one which may have originally been obtained from Canada), was released by Wuhan’s Institute of Virology (presumably accidentally ), China’s only top, level-4 biohazard lab, which was studying “the world’s most dangerous pathogens.”
At the time we summarized the series of dots and asked “real reporters” to connect them:
- One of China’s top virology and immunology experts was and still works at China’s top-rated biohazard lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which some have affectionately called the real Umbrella Corp.
- Since 2009, Peng has been the leading Chinese scientist researching the immune mechanism of bats carrying and transmitting lethal viruses in the world.
- His primary field of study is researching how and why bats can be infected with some of the most nightmarish viruses in the world including Ebola, SARS and Coronavirus, and not get sick.
- He was genetically engineering various immune pathways (such as the STING pathway in bats) to make the bats more or less susceptible to infection, in the process potentially creating a highly resistant mutant superbug.
- As part of his studies, Peng also researched mutant Coronavirus strains that overcame the natural immunity of some bats; these are “superbug” Coronavirus strains, which are resistant to any natural immune pathway, and now appear to be out in the wild.
- As of mid-November, his lab was actively hiring inexperienced post-docs to help conduct his research into super-Coronaviruses and bat infections.
Panicked Hong Kongers Hoard Food, Water, Supplies Amid Coronavirus Hysteria
Panicked Hong Kongers Hoard Food, Water, Supplies Amid Coronavirus Hysteria
Now that striking health-care workers have successfully forced Carrie Lam’s government to close most of its border links with the mainland and dramatically restrict travel from elsewhere in China, a full-on panic has engulfed the city, fueled by “malicious rumors” about supply shortages, Reuters reports.
Chaos has erupted in some areas as supermarkets have imposed limits on how many items customers can buy. Hundreds of shoppers have thronged aisles of supermarkets as they struggle to buy up as many consumer staples – rice, water, meat, noodles etc. – as they can again on Friday. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong has reported 25 cases of the virus and one of only three deaths outside the mainland.
“Everyone’s snatching whatever they can get. I don’t even know what’s going on,” said a 72-year-old woman surnamed Li as she clutched two bags of toilet rolls.
The situation in Hong Kong right now is incredibly tense. Many still have horrible memories from the SARS outbreak of 2002-2003, which killed roughly 300 people as it swept through the city. But the scare also comes after months of anti-Beijing protests by the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement.
Already, Matthew Cheung, chief secretary for administration, said that Hong Kong people returning from the mainland must stay home for a fortnight or risk a $3,200 fine and up to 6 months in jail. Non-Hong Kong residents must stay in government isolation centers or hotel rooms for the same period, facing the same penalties.
“Self discipline and having everybody in Hong Kong fighting…this infectious disease is the most important thing,” said Sophia Chan, the city’s health secretary.
There was some good news in Hong Kong: Thousands of medical workers who had been on strike this week to press the government to close the border voted to suspend their action on Friday night, though they said they would continue to pressure the government for tighter measures to suppress the outbreak.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Citizen Journalists Who Exposed Beijing’s Lies In Wuhan Have Suddenly Vanished
Citizen Journalists Who Exposed Beijing’s Lies In Wuhan Have Suddenly Vanished
As we reported late Thursday evening, the death toll from the viral outbreak on mainland China has surpassed 600. With global markets once again in the red, Bloomberg reports that Beijing has silenced two of the citizen journalists responsible for much of the horrifying footage seeping onto western social media.
As BBG’s reporter explains, Chinese citizen journalists Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin have effectively been “the world’s eyes and ears” inside Wuhan (much of the film produced by American news organizations has consisted of drone footage). In recent days, SCMP and other news organizations reporting on the ground and publishing in English have warned that Beijing has stepped up efforts to censor Chinese social media after allowing citizens to vent their frustrations and share news without the usual scrutiny.
On Wednesday, China said its censors would conduct “targeted supervision” on the largest social media platforms including Weibo, Tencent’s WeChat and ByteDance’s Douyin. All in an effort to mask the dystopian nightmare that life in cities like Wuhan has become.
But that brief period of informational amnesty is now over, apparently. Fang posted a dramatic video on Friday showing him being forcibly detained and dragged off to a ‘quarantine’. He was detained over a video showing corpses piled up in a Wuhan hospital. However, he has already been released.
Chen, meanwhile, seems to have vanished without a trace, and is believed to still be in government detention. Last week, we shared one of Chen’s more alarming videos documenting the severe medical supply shortages and outnumbered medical personnel fighting a ‘losing battle’ against the outbreak.
According to Zero Hedge sources, Chen’s mother has published a message on his twitter feed confirming that he is missing and his family has no insight into his whereabouts.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Wuhan Ordered To Round Up Infected Residents For Mass Quarantine Camps: Pandemic Updates
Wuhan Ordered To Round Up Infected Residents For Mass Quarantine Camps: Pandemic Updates
Summary:
- Senior CCP official orders Wuhan to round up infected residents for mass quarantine camps
- Beijing completes second coronavirus hospital in Wuhan
- Wuhan hospital confirms that doctor who was one of first to warn about virus died on Thursday
- Economists warn China faces difficult dilemma in deciding when workers should return to work
- Total cases stand at 30,814 as death toll climbs to 635
- Taiwan halts visas for citizens of Macau and Hong Kong
- Germany confirms 13th case
- 2 suspected cases found in South Africa
- Dubai reports 3rd death outside China
* * *
Update (1615ET): A senior Chinese official has ordered Wuhan authorities to immediately round up all residents infected with the novel coronavirus and place them in isolation, quarantine camps, or designated hospitals, according to the New York Times.
City investigators have also been ordered to go to each home and check the temperature of every resident, as well as conduct interviews with infected patients’ close contacts.
“Set up a 24-hour duty system. During these wartime conditions, there must be no deserters, or they will be nailed to the pillar of historical shame forever,” said Sun Chunlan, a vice premier in charge of leading the CCP’s response to the outbreak.
The city’s authorities have raced to meet these instructions by setting up makeshift mass quarantine shelters this week. But concerns are growing about whether the centers, which will house thousands of people in large spaces, will be able to provide even basic care to patients and protect against the risk of further infection. –NYT
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Update (1440ET): Dubai just reported that a woman from the Philippines has died in the UAE. In response, the UAE has suspended flights to China except to Beijing. The Manila Times reported the death, citing the Philippines’ labor secretary.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
There Is Something Very Strange In The Latest Chinese Official Coronavirus Numbers
There Is Something Very Strange In The Latest Chinese Official Coronavirus Numbers
Moments ago, China’s National Health Commission released the latest daily coronavirus epidemic numbers for February 5.
What they showed is that the total number of deaths jumped by the biggest daily total since the start of the epidemic, rising by 73 to 563, while the total number of cases on the mainland rose by 3,694, surprisingly a welcome modest decline from the 3,890 increase reported yesterday, which nonetheless brought the total Chinese cases to the highest yet, or 28,018.
This dynamic is shown in the chart below.
And while the slowdown in cases will likely be cheered by the market, we wanted to make two observations.
First, one can’t help but wonder if China is goalseeking either the number of deaths or the number of news cases, because every single day, the death rate has been steady at 2.1% +/- 0.1%. a surprisingly stable relationship.
However what is far more curious is that a secondary data series which is far less popular yet is just as important, the number of people under medical observations, was surprisingly low. In fact, one almost wonders if this number wasn’t fudged. What we mean is that after rising between 15,000 and 22,500 every single day since Jan 27, the number of people under observation rose to just 186,354, which is just 799 cases higher than the day before, which the China National Health Commission represented was 185,555.
Why is this bizarre? The following chart will make it clear. The highlighted box shows that paltry increase in today’s official numbers of people under observation. Needless to say, unless somehow China overnight stopped observing any new cases, this makes no sense.
The Lies We Are Being Told About The Coronavirus
The Lies We Are Being Told About The Coronavirus
Lies are a powerful form of magic; they can mislead large groups of people into making terrible errors, as well as cause them to be blind to the obvious. Lies make people hurt themselves while thinking they are helping themselves. It is a truly dark and horrific act of sorcery.
As the world stands at the edge of a global pandemic event, the people who are immune to the effects of lies have an opportunity to take action should the virus continue to expand beyond the borders of China. We have a small window of time, perhaps a couple of months, in which we can prepare ourselves for the fallout and ensure we are as protected as we can be. This means taking precautions to prevent viral transmission, increasing the strength of our own immune systems, prepping for the loss of supply lines and freight shipments to retailers, organizing family, friends and neighbors for mutual aid and security, as well as preparing for the inevitable government attempts at martial law.
Of course, a person cannot or will not take any of these measures as long as they believe that the virus is not a threat, or they think that the pandemic will have little effect on their daily lives. I have recently seen a discomforting level of propaganda and disinformation agents invading the media and discussion boards related to this issue. Whenever I see such an intense disinformation campaign surrounding an event, this tells me a couple of things:
1) If they are trying to overtly downplay the seriousness of the event while lying about the facts involved, it tells me that the event is a legitimate threat and it will probably get worse as time passes.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Foxconn Extends Delay, Won’t Restart iPhone Production Until Late February
Foxconn Extends Delay, Won’t Restart iPhone Production Until Late February
Everything is wonderful Wednesday morning, because an unverified report from Chinese state television sparked a massive surge in equity futures as the Communist Party-controlled media intimated that the coronavirus might soon be cured.
Cure or no cure, it’s clear the Chinese are going all-in on propaganda for the sake of preserving ‘social cohesion’. It might sound crazy, but it’s beyond the grasp of algos to process the likelihood that Beijing is simply trying to regain control of the narrative as they struggle to get in front of the inevitable reckoning with the true.
Economists have been trying to gauge the blowback from the outbreak as the virus begins to disrupt global supply chains, but as more factories on the mainland announce extended shutdowns and delays, that’s getting increasingly difficult to do.
Yesterday, we noted how Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister Kia Motors Corp. suspended production lines in South Korea after it was hit with a parts shortage from China as the virus outbreak broadened.
Now there is a new report that could create huge problems for America’s most valuable company: Apple supplier Foxconn said Wednesday that its facilities in China could take several weeks to resume full production, or at least that’s what one source with insider knowledge told Reuters.
Foxconn is responsible for assembling Apple iPhones in China.
We noted Monday that Foxconn halted “almost all” of its production lines until Feb. 10.
Any production delays after that could dramatically impact Apple’s iPhone shipments abroad.
Reuters’ source said full resumption for production at the company’s factories might not arrive until late February or early March.
Reports of Foxconn halting factory output in China have yet to be adequately addressed by the company, nor has Apple given details on the potential financial impact.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Dr. Francis Boyle Creator Of BioWeapons Act Says Coronavirus Is Biological Warfare Weapon
Dr. Francis Boyle Creator Of BioWeapons Act Says Coronavirus Is Biological Warfare Weapon
In an explosive interview Dr. Francis Boyle, who drafted the Biological Weapons Act has given a detailed statement admitting that the 2019 Wuhan Coronavirus is an offensive Biological Warfare Weapon and that the World Health Organization (WHO) already knows about it.
Francis Boyle is a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He drafted the U.S. domestic implementing legislation for the Biological Weapons Convention, known as the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, that was approved unanimously by both Houses of the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush.
In an exclusive interview given to Geopolitics and Empire, Dr. Boyle discusses the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China and the Biosafety Level 4 laboratory (BSL-4) from which he believes the infectious disease escaped. He believes the virus is potentially lethal and an offensive biological warfare weapon or dual-use biowarfare weapons agent genetically modified with gain of function properties, which is why the Chinese government originally tried to cover it up and is now taking drastic measures to contain it. The Wuhan BSL-4 lab is also a specially designated World Health Organization (WHO) research lab and Dr. Boyle contends that the WHO knows full well what is occurring.
Dr. Boyle also touches upon GreatGameIndia‘s exclusive report Coronavirus Bioweapon – where we reported in detail how Chinese Biowarfare agents working at the Canadian lab in Winnipeg were involved in the smuggling of Coronavirus to Wuhan’s lab from where it is believed to have been leaked.
Watch Dr. Francis Boyle’s interview with Geopolitics and Empire below:
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