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Stock Down

Who CARES about debt? Covid-19, corporate plunder, & the US plan of unlimited bank bailouts

Mitchell Feierstein
RT
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 14:25 UTC
money rain
© Getty Images / ohmygouche
Debt matters. In Washington's swamp, no one CARES about debt. Big government has become more addicted to debt than drug addicts to a pipe full of crack.

In October 2019, the International Monetary Fund downgraded its global growth forecast with a stark warning for 2020 that "Global growth will fall to the lowest levels since 2008's great financial crisis." Markets rejoiced and rocketed to new record highs because bad news is good news. Bad news signals more Federal Reserve interest rate cuts are on the way. On Wall Street, corks were popping, and Cristal champagne was flowing like water as the band played Milton Ager's 1929 classic 'Happy Days Are Here Again'. Today, I realized the tune was foreshadowing a brutal beginning to 2020.

US Congress recently approved the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, legislation, which will provide $2 trillion for bailouts (called direct assistance) and loan guarantees as well as for the purchase of securities and/or stocks either directly from the companies or in the secondary markets. Besides CARES, the Federal Reserve Bank has committed to providing unlimited bailouts.

Comment: To prevent the collapse of global economies intervention is required. However if the solution is to be bail out the corrupt players just like happened in the banking crisis in 2008 and there isn't a complete overhaul of system then we can only expect more of the same, except perhaps a short delay of the inevitable implosion. As it is, the future doesn't look bright: Crisis and opportunity: A positive spin on the current coronavirus pandemic

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Better Earth

Best of the Web: Crisis and opportunity: A positive spin on the current coronavirus pandemic

Matthew Ehret
Strategic Culture
Thu, 26 Mar 2020 18:19 UTC
Air National Guard
© REUTERS/Strategic CultureAir National Guard/Senior Airman Sean Madden Handout
The past weeks have seen the world swept up by a maelstrom of hysteria, misinformation, and confusion under the guise of a new global pandemic. The oversaturation of information overwhelms the senses and is almost designed to inflame the mass panic, which has taken a life of its own and even threatens to trigger a total financial blowout of the trans Atlantic bubble economy. What people thought the American elections were just a few weeks ago has profoundly changed and the crisis has induced even Tulsi Gabbard to step down and endorse creepy Joe Biden while Bernie's campaign crumbles slowly into oblivion.

In the midst of this disorder threatening to turn nation states upside down, some perspective is in order.

What We Know So Far...

Whether or not the coronavirus is a bioweapon as some analysts (and certain government officials) claim, or whether it is a wind egg as was outlined poignantly by Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, the fact remains that powerful forces have made an effort to steer governments into chaos in a global putsch for a new fascist dictatorship.

Comment: See also:

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Sherlock

FBI chief vows to discover ex-agent's fate in Iran


RFE/RL
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 03:29 UTC
Chris Wray
FBI Director Chris Wray: "We’re going to keep working doggedly to determine the circumstances."
FBI Director Chris Wray says the top U.S. law enforcement agency will never give up on "finding out what happened" to former agent Robert Levinson, who the U.S. government believes died while in Iranian custody.

In an e-mail to FBI staff seen by the Associated Press on March 26, Wray said he had met with the family of Robert Levinson and "we explained that the most credible evidence we have collected over the past 13 years points to the likelihood that Bob died in captivity."

"It pained me to deliver that news, but I believe that we owed Bob's family a thorough and candid presentation of the information that we've collected," Wray wrote.

Wray did not provide details on the "credible evidence" he said the family had received.

Comment: See also:

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Syringe

SOTT Focus: In 2009 UK Government Experts Wildly Over-hyped Dangers of Swine Flu — is History Repeating With COVID-19?

Peter Andrews
RT
Sat, 28 Mar 2020 10:11 UTC

Comment: RT seems to finally be coming around to seeing this flu scare for the global psy-op that it is.


pope rome covid-19
Have people maybe taken this too far? The Pope saying mass to no one on St Peter's Square, the Vatican, Rome, 26 March 2020
Amidst the coronavirus lockdown, some of the claims of governments and media have been shown to be exaggerated. Ten years ago, they tried the same thing with swine flu. They haven't learned their lessons — has the public?

On Wednesday, RT picked apart the sensationalist mortality rates that media and governments have been using to terrify the public. These figures are the product of some transparently weak statistics, and cast the true threat from Covid-19 into doubt. There is a saying among statisticians who generate the projections of how pandemics will spread that goes: ''All models are wrong.'' How true that may soon be proven. Now, in the heat of the coronavirus crisis, epidemiologists and computer modelers are being yanked in front of governments and parliaments to give their worst case scenario predictions... and some are already emerging with egg on their face.

Comment: People need to stock up, devise emergency plans to leave cities, and develop/deepen contacts with others leaving the 'hive mind'.

The virus is a nothing-burger, but the forces it has unleashed have changed the world forever. Things will start breaking soon, the climate will worsen, and food riots/revolution will result in 'permanent' martial law.

It may take few years, but this too shall pass when the whole system collapses.

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Chess

'The answer is no': Trump says WSJ story on suspending tariffs is 'just more fake news' and other corona-related news


RT
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 04:24 UTC
coronavirus
© REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
US President Donald Trump swiftly shut down the suggestion that Washington would suspend import tariffs for a quarter of a year amid the Covid-19 crisis, dubbing recent source-based reporting on the question as "fake news."

Asked about a new 'scoop' in the Wall Street Journal blaring from its headline: "US plans to stop collecting import tariffs for three months," the president dismissed the idea immediately, insisting it was not even on the table, and chastising Fox News correspondent John Roberts for the question."Just more fake news, John. They've not even talked to me," Trump said at Friday's coronavirus briefing at the White House.

"Everyone keeps saying 'Are you going to suspend the tariffs?' The answer is no. President Xi never even brought it up last night,it wasn't even discussed."

Comment: Trump has signed an executive order to call up a million reserve military personnel to deal with the coronavirus. He also signed the Defense Production Act, in order to force private companies to manufacture essential supplies. In this case it was to force General Motors to produce ventilators. In Russia a fourth coronavirus patient has died, although that person did have a pre-existing condition. In the Ukraine thousands of people swarmed the border to get back into the country ahead of the planned lockdown. Johns Hopkins University announced that the US has over 100,000 positive tests of COVID-19.

The US has quietly sought foreign doctors to help fight the virus, promising them they can skip to the front of the immigration queue. In France, the lockdown will be extended as the death toll has reached 2,000. The Serbian PM has set the record straight, saying it is 'fake news' that they don't appreciate EU help, but that Covid-19 aid came from China. The Italian Foreign Minister brushed aside suggestions from a reporter that aid from Russia came with strings attached. The Russia hysteria continues to exist in many journalists. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus, although he describes his symptoms as 'mild.'

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Eye 2

'This is low, even for you': Hillary Clinton uses record coronavirus deaths to bash Trump, gets virtual punches herself


RT
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 04:20 UTC
hillary
© Reuters / Mario Anzuoni
As the US recorded more cases of Covid-19 than any other country in the world, Hillary Clinton used the opportunity to crack jokes about President Trump. The failed presidential candidate was savaged online for her insensitivity.

As of Friday, the United States has recorded more than 94,000 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, passing out China and Italy. More than 1,400 Americans have died, hospitals are approaching capacity, and a record 3.3 million workers have filed for unemployment.

As the US passed this grim milestone, former secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took the opportunity not to send Americans a message of hope or solidarity, but to mock President Trump.
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Vader

Coronavirus-inspired terrorists are planning attacks, says DoJ report - but in a fear-charged climate, which is the real threat?


RT
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 04:11 UTC
checkpoint
© Reuters / Mike Segar
The US Justice Department has warned - with scant evidence - that coronavirus is encouraging terrorists to attack. But Covid-19 is actually deadlier than terrorism, and experts warn against criminalizing its transmission.

The pandemic is accelerating the dastardly plots of terrorists, according to John Demers, the assistant attorney general for national security at the Justice Department, who shared his fears - and he has a lot of them - with Politico on Friday. Demers warned that terrorists would "take advantage of" certain "windows of opportunities," though he acknowledged that there was no overarching trend.

"Some people are putting off plans, and other people are saying, 'Well I've got to accelerate this because maybe all the borders will be shut down soon,'" Demers explained, covering his bases.

Comment: One can't help but be reminded, after reading this article, of the movie V for Vendetta and the similarities of what's happening right now. Our leaders certainly seem to want us to be reminded why we need them:



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Eye 1

Big Tech teams up with White House to battle Covid-19 - and spy on us all


RT
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 04:05 UTC
spying
© Reuters / Carlos Jasso; Reuters / Aly Song
Governments and scientists alike agree that 'tracking' is a key strategy for containing the coronavirus. It is now clear they intend to do so using technology like smartphones, a move that raises concerns about privacy, however.

Both US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence made sure to mention the 'COVID-19 Screening Tool' app developed by Apple at their daily press briefing on Friday. According to the White House, the app "guides users through questions about symptoms and exposure," using guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "to help determine steps they should take, including testing."

Considering how many Americans use Apple devices - almost 200 million, according to some of the most recent estimates - the app certainly seems like the ideal way for the authorities to identify and track everyone who might be displaying symptoms of the coronavirus.
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Cloud Grey

The corporate media obfuscates war crimes (especially now that everyone's distracted)

Tim Kirby
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
war crimes
The big pandemic of 2020 has done a good job of blocking any other news from hitting the headlines. However, just because the limited mental space of the Mainstream Media (MSM) is being occupied by a virus, does not mean that other things are not occurring. One very hot issue that is on the backburner of the public's consciousness is the abuse and possible murder of Afghan civilians by Australian Special Forces. This is yet another round of shocking war crimes that creates a burst of public outrage but then quickly fades... until next time. Ever since cameras were able to show modern war to the public, society should not be so naive as to expect their side to be the good guys whose bullets only hit the right targets and yet this is still how things are. The Mainstream Media is able to skew everything including war crimes towards a false narrative and it is the job of the Alternative Media to try to hammer out the bend which at times it fails to do due to its own naivete.

The MSM puts responsibility onto soldiers, but never those who gave them the orders.

Perhaps it is simply the fact that most journalists see things from a personal perspective that whenever there is a possible war crime (that doesn't serve their own political interests) their outrage and focus lies always on the soldiers themselves. The "bad apples" always take center stage.

Comment: And speaking of war crimes... Mafia: US government threatens families of Int'l Criminal Court staff if they try Americans for war crimes

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Light Sabers

'Open your STUPIDLY abandoned plant': Trump lashes out at GM & Ford over ventilator delay


RT
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 03:56 UTC
GM CEO Mary Barra and President Donald Trump
© Reuters / Rebecca Cook and Yuri GripasGM CEO Mary Barra and President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump has lost his patience with automakers who promised to produce ventilators to treat Covid-19 patients, threatening to invoke his emergency powers to force General Motors and Ford to live up to their pledge.

"They said they were going to give us 40,000 much needed Ventilators, 'very quickly,'" Trump tweeted on Friday. "Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar."

He added that it's "always a mess" with GM CEO Mary Barra, and that he will invoke the Defense Production Act, a piece of wartime legislation giving the president the power to order manufacturers to produce essential supplies.

"General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio," the president's rant continued - referring to the plant GM shuttered after promising him to keep jobs in the US - "or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!!" Ford should do the same, he added, also in capital letters.
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