Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
The economic storm hasn’t passed; the false calm is only the eye of the financial hurricane.
To understand the economic cataclysm ahead, do the math. Those expecting the Covid-19 pandemic to leave the U.S. economy untouched are implicitly making these preposterously unlikely claims:
1. China will resume full pre-pandemic production and shipping within the next two weeks.
2. Chinese consumers will resume borrowing and spending at pre-pandemic rates in a few weeks.
3. Every factory and every worker in China will resume full pre-pandemic production without any permanent closures or disruptions.
4. Corporate America’s just-in-time inventories will magically expand to cover weeks or months of supply chain disruption.
5. Not a single one of the thousands of people who flew direct from Wuhan to the U.S. in January is an asymptomatic carrier of the coronavirus who escaped detection at the airport.
6. Not a single one of the thousands of people who flew from China to the U.S. in February is an asymptomatic carrier of the coronavirus.
7. Not a single one of the thousands of people who are in self-quarantine broke the quarantine to go to Safeway for milk and eggs.
8. Not a single person who came down with Covid-19 after arriving in the U.S. feared being deported so they did not go to a hospital and are therefore unknown to authorities.
9. Even though U.S. officials have only tested a relative handful of the thousands of people who came from Covid-19 hotspots in China, they caught every single asymptomatic carrier.
10. Not a single asymptomatic carrier caught a flight from China to Southeast Asia and then promptly boarded a flight for the U.S.
I could go on but you get the picture: an extremely contagious pathogen that is spread by carriers who don’t know they have the virus to people who then infect others in a rapidly expanding circle has been completely controlled by U.S. authorities who haven’t tested or even tracked tens of thousands of potential carriers in the U.S.
These same authorities are quick to claim the risk of Covid-19 spreading in the U.S. is low even as the 14 infected people they put on a plane ended up infecting 25 passengers on the flight. These same authorities tried to transfer quarantined people to a rundown facility in Costa Mesa CA that was not suitable for quarantine, forcing the city to file a lawsuit to stop the transfer.
Do these actions instill unwavering confidence in the official U.S. response? You must be joking.
Do the math, people. The coronavirus is already in the U.S. but authorities have no way to track it due to its spread by asymptomatic carriers. People who don’t even know they have the virus are flying to intermediate airports outside China and then catching flights to the U.S.
None of the known characteristics of the virus support the confidence being projected by authorities. The tests are not reliable, few are being tested, carriers can’t be detected because they don’t have any symptoms, the virus is highly contagious, thousands of potential carriers continue to arrive in the U.S., etc. etc. etc.
The network of global travel remains intact. Removing a few nodes (Wuhan, etc.) does not reduce the entire network’s connectedness that enables the rapid and invisible spread of the virus.
Second, what authorities call over-reaction is simply prudent risk management. As I noted yesterday in How Many Cases of Covid-19 Will It Take For You to Decide Not to Frequent Public Places?, when an abstract pandemic becomes real, shelves are emptied and streets are deserted.
It doesn’t take thousands of cases to trigger a dramatic reduction in the willingness to mix with crowds of strangers. A relative handful of cases is enough to be consequential.
Many of the new jobs created in the U.S. economy over the past decade are in the food and beverage services sector, the sector that is immediately impacted when people decide to lower their risk by staying home rather than going out to crowded restaurants, theaters, bars, etc.
Many of these establishments are hanging on by a thread due to soaring rents, taxes, fees, healthcare and wages. Many of the employees are also hanging on by a thread, only making rent if they collect big tips.
Central banks can borrow money into existence but they can’t replace lost income. A significant percentage of America’s food and beverage establishments are financially precarious, and their exhausted owners are burned out by the stresses of keeping their business afloat as costs continue rising. The initial financial hit as people reduce their public exposure will be more than enough to cause many to close their doors forever.
As small businesses fold, local tax revenues crater, triggering fiscal crises in local government budgets dependent on ever-higher tax and fee revenues.
A significant percentage of America’s borrowers are financially precarious, one paycheck or unexpected expense away from defaulting on student loans, subprime auto loans, credit card payments, etc.
A significant percentage of America’s corporations are financially precarious, dependent on expanding debt and rising cash flow to service their expanding debt load. Any hit to their revenues will trigger defaults that will then unleash second-order effects in the global financial system.
The global economy is so dependent on speculative euphoria, leverage and debt that any external shock will tip it over the cliff. The U.S. economy is far more precarious than advertised as well.
The economic storm hasn’t passed; the false calm is only the eye of the financial hurricane.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v16n13.shtml
Amazon sells the best Vitamin C available in two varieties:
Bulk supplements sells Vitamin C, as well as a ton of other supplements at a much lower price. You just have to measure the powder yourself versus popping a plastic capsule full. I just bulked up on Vitamin C and Vitamin D. Both are proven to boost your immune system.
Just Sayin’
I try to stay away from as much artificial product as possible. The Vitamin C I referenced is from natural sources as opposed to being concocted in a some chemistry experiment. One is a powder and the other is a pill.
Do you even read what you write, or are you really that stupid?
Please explain to me the exact difference, other than density, between a powder and a pill. I await your pithy response. LOL
The exact difference is one is a powder and the other is a pill.
I think you’re the one that’s stupid.
Lmao, one could be natural citric acid in powder form
Thank God someone is “Just Saying’ “
Damn! Looks like I picked a bad day to stop sniffing glue!
Criminy…knock yourself out.
Since we still have a trade deficit with China, don’t we save money every week they’re fucked?
“the global financial system is here”
actually, no, that’s where the “federal reserve” is – as long as it continues to issue fiat debt dollars and the rest of the world continues to accept them.
This corona virus situation is a grease fire and water was dumped on it when it left Wuhan. I was prepped for shit already but I just kicked it up to warp speed.
84….great health ..Ester-C 500mg 4X a day! and my dog gets 500mg 2X daily.
Money quote:”The U.S. economy is far more precarious than advertised as well.” No shit? You mean that we have been lied to, misled for years or decades about the real state of the US (and global) economy. You mean that Jim Cramer, Don Trump, Barry Obama, Al Greenspan, Christine LaGarde are all liars, aided and abetted by the entire media world wide? Well, it is almost like there has been a secret plan to manipulate the value of the currency to confuse people into doing stupid things with their time and effort. Makes me wonder if the coronavirus isn’t just a perfect, maybe tailor-made, designed solution to the problem that rich people have loaned money that can never be repaid, but they haven’t yet had a way to perfect their claims on property (real and other) secured by the debt.
Watch. This virus is being used to tank the phony global economy without doing any damage to the physical facilities. People are discouraged (scared into compliance) from getting together and protesting about the scam being perpetrated. The whole debt fueled fiat scheme is in controlled demolition so the powers-that-be can get even more call on property and position all over the world. This is the endgame in the biggest scam in the history of the world, right before our very eyes.
This is absolutely fascinating. There is nothing any average mutt can do but remain pleasant . Maybe Doug Casey (International Man!!) is well enough placed to avoid losing his property but probably not. We are (for a while, until the scam falls apart completely) going to be informed that the US has been operating under emergency executive orders for years, some for decades. All the protections against property seizure, due process, search, trial by jury are, in fact, being suspended until the “Crisis” (coronavirus) is resolved. The mask is finally coming off the monster we have been feeding. Women and minorities will take it tough.
This is going to get pretty sporty, by and by. Do your best to stay out of the way is my advice. Nails standing up will be pounded down. Protect and serve does not mean you. The opportunity to be nice to other nice people should not be disdained.
“Maybe Doug Casey (International Man!!) is well enough placed to avoid losing his property but probably not.”
there’s only two ways to avoid losing your property. 1) be with the “in” crowd. 2) make your own “in” crowd. those on the right tend to avoid crowds (“people. yuck!”) so mostly they’ll all lose their property.
… here’s a thought. get ahead of the game and pull a judo move on them – ask to self-isolate! everyone will avoid you, you get to avoid everyone, it’s a win-win!
The economic nightmare that is the real US economy has not seen nothing yet !
These dick heads that undermined , dismantled and murdered America’s heavy industries to ultimately make a fortune with governments all in cooperation and blessing while tossing the working American with a good scale wage and benefits under the buss while the elites from Wall Street To K- Street to Capitol Street patted each other on the back and sucked each other’s dick as the tax base to communities from working Americans circled the drain . Then piled debt to infinity to continue government pay checks and benefits continue !
Well you broke it you fix it and raising taxes with the threat of confiscating property from people you fucked over Ha Ha Ha you will eventually get it all of it but sooner or later those doing your collecting and those backing them up will be in for a surprise when they wake up dangling somewhere with a crowd around them and their lovely home is also gone and it’s their family in the street !
You profited while breaking it , it’s only fair you to feel the total loss . American working citizens are victims of government deceit and theft .
It’s only right that equal protection or lack of fairness and protection affect all not just those who have been plundered for decades !
This means your taxpayer funded salary benefit and retirement package is an unsecured liability !
So like a huge number of blue collar working Americans your pension and benefits evaporate just before you collect a dime !
Thanks for your service now fuck off !
It looks like a U.N. population reduction plan in action. A wet dream for Bill Gates and his friends.
I sleep next to someone who is adamant to remain blissfully ignorant as to why we should be prepping. Wonder if when the time comes and we are out of food, quarantined under martial law should I allow this person to eat my savory canned chili, or freeze dried foods i have managed to squirrel away over the last decade in the basement. Or should I jokingly allow them to watch me eat with a smirk……