Society's ChildS


Bad Guys

If UK brings new round of austerity for Covid-19, it'll spark civil unrest that will see cities burn

london
© Reuters / Simon DawsonPedestrian walk along the Southbank in view of skyscrapers in the financial district in London, Britain
George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor and architect of the post-2008 austerity regime, this week advocated a new round of swingeing cuts to state spending once the pandemic is over. But the poor won't stand for it this time.

Many of us are now looking out to the future - and when I say that I mean the next few weeks and months. I'll be honest: I'm not hopeful. In fact, I am full of fear.

The UK government's Covid-19 financial package will not last for as long as it will be needed. So far, the furlough scheme, in which the Government will support businesses in keeping their workforces going at 80 percent of their wages, is only in place for three months. We are already a month into that scheme, and it is pretty obvious that there will be thousands of businesses that will never open again.

Chart Bar

The Data Are In: A Nationwide Lockdown Was Never Necessary

lockdown chart
Updated 21/4/20
According to a study discussed today in the Wall Street Journal (behind a paywall), the nationwide lockdown was never necessary. The vast majority of states should have followed Sweden's example:
We ran a simple one-variable correlation of deaths per million and days to shutdown, which ranged from minus-10 days (some states shut down before any sign of Covid-19) to 35 days for South Dakota, one of seven states with limited or no shutdown. The correlation coefficient was 5.5% — so low that the engineers I used to employ would have summarized it as "no correlation" and moved on to find the real cause of the problem. . . .
Sweden is fighting coronavirus with common-sense guidelines that are much less economically destructive than the lockdowns in most U.S. states. Since people over 65 account for about 80% of Covid-19 deaths, Sweden asked only seniors to shelter in place rather than shutting down the rest of the country; and since Sweden had no pediatric deaths, it didn't shut down elementary and middle schools. Sweden's containment measures are less onerous than America's, so it can keep them in place longer to prevent Covid-19 from recurring. Sweden did not shut down stores, restaurants and most businesses, but did shut down the Volvo automotive plant, which has since reopened, while the Tesla plant in Fremont, Calif., was shuttered by police and remains closed.
How did the Swedes do? They suffered 80 deaths per million 21 days after crossing the 1 per million threshold level. With 10 million people, Sweden's death rate ‒ without a shutdown and massive unemployment ‒ is lower than that of the seven hardest-hit U.S. states — Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Louisiana, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey and New York — all of which, except Louisiana, shut down in three days or less. Despite stories about high death rates, Sweden's is in the middle of the pack in Europe, comparable to France; better than Italy, Spain and the U.K.; and worse than Finland, Denmark and Norway. Older people in care homes accounted for half of Sweden's deaths.
History will record the one-size-fits-all economy-destroying COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 as one of the most colossal public policy blunders in the history of the world.

Comment: And a follow-up post from the same writer:
In response to my last post (The Data Are in: A Nationwide Lockdown Was Never Necessary) Bob O'H got red in the face, stamped his feet, and apparently insisted that a nationwide lockdown was necessary. Was it? Here is an analysis performed by a friend:

To put US COVID19 cases into perspective, it helps to separate the terrible outbreak in the five-state region of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts from the other 45 states. (Stats as of April 25.)

Total Population
NY-NJ-CT-RI-MA - 39.8 million
Rest of US - 288 million

COVID Cases - Total (per million people)
NY-NJ-CT-RI-MA - 490,675 (12,312)
Rest of US - 496,657 (1,722)

COVID Deaths - Total (per million people)
NY-NJ-CT-RI-MA - 33,262 (835)
Rest of US - 22,153 (77)
See also:


Bizarro Earth

Chinese children must wear 'one-metre hats' to keep social distancing in class as they return to school

china children one meter hat
The idea of 'one-metre hat' was suggested by the Yangzheng Primary School in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province of eastern China. The school welcomed its students in year 1 to 3 returning to the campus on April 26
Chinese students have been asked to wear 'one-metre hats' to keep social distancing in class on their first day back to school after three-month coronavirus lockdown.

A video has captured the children wearing the home-made hats with extended sticks on both sides to remain safe distance with their classmates at a school in China.

It comes as pupils across China have gone back to school after spending more than three months at home as the country continues to ease travel restrictions.

The idea of 'one-metre hat' was suggested by the Yangzheng Primary School in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province of eastern China. The school welcomed its students in year 1 to 3 returning to the campus on April 26


Oil Well

Oil prices crash 24% as storage capacity fears mount

oil tankers
© Hamad I Mohammed
Oil prices look to be facing yet another harrowing Monday, with the price of WTI sliding by more than 20 percent in early morning trading.

Global oil storage is inching closer and closer to reaching its capacity, and worse, the problem is being exacerbated as more local governments across the world extending COVID-19 lockdown recommendations, weighing on crude demand.

According to Goldman Sachs, global oil storage could be completely full within the next three weeks, and another dramatic crash could follow.

Comment:


Sheeple

From lions to lambs: Covid-19 reveals supposedly freedom-loving British to be anything but, as we happily clap away our liberty

gargoyle
© Getty Images / tm_pictures
The country that gave the world the Magna Carta has reacted to the pandemic by allowing centuries of hard-earned personal and financial freedoms to be stripped away in the name of safety.

We Brits like to think of ourselves as a freedom-loving people. Two world wars, a 50-year Cold War, and interventions in the Middle East against totalitarian regimes, were all conducted in the name of liberty.

The myriad of nations once in our empire are now some of the freest countries in the world. The US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, even the planet's largest democracy, India, were all born out of what is often thought of as a distinctly British attitude to freedom. The Magna Carta, John Lock, John Stuart Mill and Adam Smith all emerged from this small island off the coast of mainland Europe, and we should damn well be proud of that.

Bullseye

Airlines are in freefall amid Covid-19 pandemic, but why should taxpayers foot the bill?

planes
© REUTERS/Toby Melville
Airlines are turning to governments for rescue money - but bailing out the massive capitalist ventures makes about as much sense as leaving the middle row empty to avoid the virus.

With the world in a tailspin from Covid-19, airlines are in for a bumpy ride - and some of them are inevitably going to crash and burn. Everything may be up in the air but one thing is for certain: flying will never be the same again.

Air travel will be a much different beast when this lockdown nightmare is over. Some airlines and EU states now want to introduce in-flight social distancing with the middle seats left vacant, as part of a set of new rules to be announced next month. There's also talk about airlines cancelling or reducing their in-flight food and beverages service to reduce interaction.

There will no doubt be some other regulations, such as compulsory facemasks, tedious longer queues when boarding, and temperature taking - which is almost pointless because some Covid-19 carriers will be asymptomatic.

Cult

Murder, burglary soars in New York City during coronavirus lockdown

andrew cuomo
© Bebeto Matthews
While New York City remains under lockdown orders from Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) due to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, major violent crime continues to soar.

Cuomo implemented stay-at-home orders on March 20 that effectively force the closure of most businesses, except those deemed "essential," to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Even with the lockdown, major crime categories such as murder, burglary, and auto theft have spiked across New York City.

Over the last 28 days, in the middle of the lockdown, murders in New York City have jumped more than 55 percent compared to this same time last year, when there were no lockdown orders in place.

Between April 13 to April 19, murders increased 100 percent compared to the same week last year. From year-to-date, murders are up by 5.7 percent.

Likewise, grand larceny auto — a crime that no longer warrants bail in New York — has increased more than 53 percent compared to last year. Specifically, there have been 500 charges for auto theft in the last 28 days. During that same time in 2019, there were 326 charges for auto theft.

Over the last week, grand larceny auto crimes across the city have jumped 50.5 percent and they are up more than 62 percent overall since the year before — the largest spike in crime year-to-date for any major category.

Health

Scamdemic: Most US hospitals are empty. Rural ones are closing up, and soon they might be closed for good

empty hospitals
© Gregory Shamus/GettyA undercover SUV passes by the Children's Hospital of Michigan during a parade to support health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic on April 17 in Detroit.
Tens of thousands of health care workers across the United States are going without pay today, even as providers in the nation's hot spots struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic.


Comment: There is no "struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic" because there is no "coronavirus pandemic."


This "tale of two hospitals" is a function of clumsy, if well-intentioned, federal and state directives to halt all non-emergency procedures, which appeared at first blush to be a reasonable precaution to limit unnecessary exposure and safeguard staff, beds and equipment.


Comment: No, that's not why they said they postponed all 'non-essential' medical treatments: they said they did so because a 'surge' of COVID-19 cases were coming and hospitals had to prepare accordingly for the influx of patients. It never happened...


But instead of merely preserving hospital beds and other resources, this heavy-handed injunction has created a burden of its own design: a historic number of empty beds in systems left untouched by the pandemic.


Comment: Because so few are sick with COVID-19.


Comment: Neither, in fact. It should be the President and the Executive making decisions, but they're hostage to a medical mafia with mad scientific designs on humanity.

See also: First, Do No Harm: If Primary Healthcare Remains Shut Down, Toll on Elderly Will be Worse Than COVID-19


Attention

Best of the Web: When COVID-19 deaths go up, other deaths go down

covid deaths
CDC data show that increases in the number of COVID-19 deaths coincide with roughly proportional decreases in the number of non-pneumonia & non-influenza deaths.

The result is that the overall numbers of weekly deaths are roughly the same in 2020 as they were in the 4 years prior. (Do note that the 2020 numbers for Week 16 could still be revised upwards)

As to why this is so, there are likely multiple reasons, but part of the explanation may have to do with the way COVID-19 deaths are counted, as described in this (frankly shocking) video: If someone dies and at the time of death was also known to have tested positive for COVID-19 they are automatically counted as a COVID-19 death. In other words, deaths are listed as COVID-19 deaths even when the cause of death was clearly something else.

Comment: See also:


Handcuffs

'How do you prosecute Assange and not prosecute journalists everywhere?' - Greenwald to RT on threat to journalists worldwide

free assange banner
© REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File PhotoA supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange posts a sign on the Woolwich Crown Court fence in London.
The US' request to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange sets a dangerous precedent, the Intercept's founder Glenn Greenwald has told RT, warning that it puts journalists around the world in danger.

The most "amazing" fact about Assange's case, as far as Greenwald is concerned, is that the US government is seeking to charge him for violating the Espionage Act. But the WikiLeaks founder "is not an American citizen, he never worked with a media outlet in the United States, [and] none of the alleged crimes he committed took place on American soil," he said during former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's show on RT Spanish.

If Assange is successfully extradited to the US, Greenwald predicts this will prove the country has the right to "reach over and grab" someone "anywhere in the world" reporting things they don't like.

Comment: See also: