Why are they doing this?

[globaleconomicollaps]

Re: Why are they doing this?

I find that I can watch that guy if I speed him up by about 50%. He becomes almost alive.

[GRG55]

Re: Why are they doing this?

In the great financial crisis of 2008 /2009 something like ten million americans lost their job.
I don't recall people jumping out of windows or shooting themselves in the head.
Why would they do that now?

This is far worse than the global financial crisis. That was largely a monetary/financial event. What we are doing now is shutting down one national economy after another all around the world. I am not debating whether that is the "correct" or "incorrect" thing to do...frankly, I don't think anybody really knows with any degree of certainty. We will only know once we look back on this event.

Suicides are just one measure. There is the real potential for permanent income compression, permanent income loss, structural unemployment increase, and so forth. And all of that will have inevitable long term health effects, none likely to be positive.

After 2008/09 gfc:

There were an estimated 4884 (95% confidence interval 3907 to 5860) excess suicides in 2009 compared with the number expected based on previous trends (2000-07). The increases in suicide mainly occurred in men in the 27 European and 18 American countries; the suicide rates were 4.2% (3.4% to 5.1%) and 6.4% (5.4% to 7.5%) higher, respectively, in 2009 than expected if earlier trends had continued. For women, there was no change in European countries and the increase in the Americas was smaller than in men (2.3%). Rises in European men were highest in those aged 15-24 (11.7%), while in American countries men aged 45-64 showed the largest increase (5.2%). Rises in national suicide rates in men seemed to be associated with the magnitude of increases in unemployment, particularly in countries with low levels of unemployment before the crisis (Spearman’s rs=0.48).

[Mega]

Re: Why are they doing this?

"They" can't have ANOTHER Banking collapse ....it just won't wash.......so what to do?
War?..........Might go to Nukes
What possible excuse could "They" use THIS time?

Virus!

& our World Leaders?

[Mega]

Re: Why are they doing this?

[shiny!]

Re: Why are they doing this?

There was a saner way to go about this that didn't involve global economic suicide: MASKS.

When people in Japan and Taiwan and other Asian countries catch a cold they wear a mask in public as a social courtesy to others. They're doing it now and their predicted explosion of Covid-19 deaths didn't happen. Why are our countries so resistant to that practice?

If governments were willing to take draconian measures to stop the spread of this virus, then they should have gone draconian by ordering everyone to wear a mask in public. Go to work as usual. Go shopping as usual. But do it wearing a mask. The only industry to be hurt by this policy would be sit-down restaurants, but they could still offer take-out.

But what was the message from our so-called health experts? "Don't wear a mask! A mask won't protect you." Well, yeah, but wearing a mask if you're sick will prevent you from spreading it to others. Any idiot can see that. They knew that most people with Covid-19 would be silent carriers. What makes more sense when you have millions of carriers? Telling them all to put on a mask in public, or forcing them to stay home while shutting down the entire economy. Let's choose door number two, Bob!

If everyone wore a mask in public we would have "flattened the curve" without destroying our economy.

And now they're telling us, "everyone should consider themself a carrier." Well if we're carriers, then all the more reason to wear a frikking mask! But they knew from the beginning that we didn't have enough masks to go around. Because no one made it a priority to spend money on preparedness. For the healthcare industry, designating funds for stockpiling masks and protective gear would have cut into their profits. For the federal government, it would have cut into their funding for endless wars and pork. For the states? It wasn't even on their radar.

[GRG55]

Re: Why are they doing this?

"They" can't have ANOTHER Banking collapse ....it just won't wash.......so what to do?
War?..........Might go to Nukes
What possible excuse could "They" use THIS time?

Virus!

& our World Leaders?

I really don't know where you are coming from Mike. The US banks are not in trouble this time. This is a bond market problem, primarily "sub-prime" corporates. And the Federal Reserve is going to do "whatever it takes" to try to keep that from blowing up.

[Mega]

Re: Why are they doing this?

"They" can't keep this "Mirage" going...............

Mike

[BK]

Re: Why are they doing this?

Shapiro is painful to watch and has to have the worst radio/tv voice I've ever heard. Desperate for rating is my guess. Michael Savage is more entertaining and probably higher IQ.

Politicians notoriously over react and under react constantly to events. We will not know for sure for a long time. For years TB has been a huge problem for Americans and politicians do nothing to increase testing. Politicians over reacted in the preparation for Y2K... and the most famous DotCom bust over reaction was the take down of Arthur Anderson.

[BK]

Re: Why are they doing this?

Check out Michael Savage - I realize he is a polarizing Radio guy - remember radio is just entertainment - Savage has a great voice and tremendous storyteller..
https://michaelsavage.com/podcast-we...s-you-can-use/

[Mega]

Re: Why are they doing this?

[Techdread]

Re: Why are they doing this?

And now they're telling us, "everyone should consider themself a carrier." Well if we're carriers, then all the more reason to wear a frikking mask! But they knew from the beginning that we didn't have enough masks to go around. Because no one made it a priority to spend money on preparedness. For the healthcare industry, designating funds for stockpiling masks and protective gear would have cut into their profits. For the federal government, it would have cut into their funding for endless wars and pork. For the states? It wasn't even on their radar.

That's unfair on governments. Asian countries have had more experience with these disasters so they should have a better response.
This virus is bad but it's not what keeps Academics up at night.
Climate change is the Biggie but how many citizens really want to pay higher taxes to mitagate it?
What about an Asteroid hit.
Rogue AI?
Governments are best at fighting old wars, because citizens whom live through it don't want to experience it again.

[geodrome]

Re: Why are they doing this?

And now they're telling us, "everyone should consider themself a carrier." Well if we're carriers, then all the more reason to wear a frikking mask! But they knew from the beginning that we didn't have enough masks to go around. Because no one made it a priority to spend money on preparedness. For the healthcare industry, designating funds for stockpiling masks and protective gear would have cut into their profits. For the federal government, it would have cut into their funding for endless wars and pork. For the states? It wasn't even on their radar.

And once the need for more surgical masks and respirators had become apparent, we still didn't get 'em.


===

A Twitter thread by @PMatzko

Wondered why it's been so hard to ramp up production of surgical masks and respirators? Why haven't private companies flooded into the market to meet peak demand?

Because they are regulated medical devices & new versions require FDA approval which can take months to obtain. 1/
·
Take a look at this FDA regulation, intended to ease (!) the application process for "premarket notification." That means you have to do all of this--and get FDA sign off--before your new surgical mask gets anywhere near shelves. 2/

Surgical Masks - Premarket Notification [510(k)] Submissions

FDA has developed this guidance document to assist industry in preparing premarket notification submissions for surgical masks and other masks.
fda.gov

Let's say that you're a garment manufacturer in NYC, but, of course, retail sales are down, so you're looking for another revenue stream. Why not make surgical masks, keeping your doors open, employees employed, and saving lives? It's a win-win-win! 3/

But how long do you think it would take you to jump through these hurdles, and do you think someone without an army of regulatory compliance officers would be reasonably able to do so at all? 4/

To start, you must:

- do a compositional side-by-side analysis of your mask vs all other masks currently sold. Hire a few materials scientists, okay.

- measure "tensile strength" & "impact resistance." Hire the Mythbusters and have them whack it with a hammer.

- perform detailed "risk analysis," for fluid/bacteria resistance and "flammability." Hmmm, better open a branch office for all those extra materials scientists and medical researchers. This is multiple major studies (though a Boring Company flamethrower might work in a pinch.)

- but wait, don't forget that masks touch skin! What if it gives you a rash!!! Okay, fine, we'll fill out the "standard ISO-10993," yeah, you know, the one for “Biological Evaluation of Medical Devices Part 1: Evaluation and Testing." Sprinkle in a couple more clinicians.

I could go on and on. There is no world in which any company not already deeply invested in manufacturing surgical masks could jump through these hurdles in time to mitigate the desperate shortage of PPE for medical professionals on the COVID-19 front lines. None.

And we could have a discussion over whether these steps are necessary in ordinary times. But we aren't living in ordinary times.

Just as the FDA waived its COVID-19 testing regs (after weeks of delay), it should waive its surgical mask/respirator regulations for the duration.

But since it hasn't, the supply of officially-approved masks has remained artificially constricted. New entrants are effectively barred from selling unapproved masks.

If willing to expose themselves to immense legal liability, new manufacturers could give masks away, but you're not going to get meaningful quantities that way. It's merely fodder for pleasant 5 o'clock news stories about making a few 1000s for donation to the local clinic.

But because most people are unaware that masks/respirators are considered medical devices and just how onerous the applicable rules are, it leaves people thinking that the PPE crisis is a market failure, when it is anything but.

That leads folks to consider towards heavy-handed measures, like the government seizing the means of mask production. This is problematic for a bunch of reasons (& likely less effective), but it's also completely unnecessary if the FDA would just DROP THE DAMN RULES.

(ht economicpolicyjournal)
https://www.economicpolicyjournal.co...supply-of.html

[GRG55]

Re: Why are they doing this?

That's unfair on governments. Asian countries have had more experience with these disasters so they should have a better response.
This virus is bad but it's not what keeps Academics up at night.
Climate change is the Biggie but how many citizens really want to pay higher taxes to mitagate it?
What about an Asteroid hit.
Rogue AI?
Governments are best at fighting old wars, because citizens whom live through it don't want to experience it again.

Higher taxes aren't going to have any material influence changing the trajectory of climate outcomes, because no politician is willing to apply them at a high enough level to achieve the necessary magnitude of behaviour change. Anything less is just tinkering and virtue signalling, which is what has been occurring heretofore while climate measurements and forecasts are repeatedly revised towards ever more dire futures.

There have been complaints China isn't doing enough to combat climate change.
But what China just exported to the rest of the world is going to have by far THE greatest immediate impact to reduce manmade carbon emissions we've ever measured.

Shutting down swaths of industrial economies worldwide (including China's), grounding large percentages of commercial aircraft, berthing commercial marine traffic, immobilizing huge fractions of the planet's workforce and quickly wiping out millions of bbls/day of oil demand will finally affect carbon emissions in a meaningful way.

https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle...ts-1.997174#11

This abrupt, involuntary change will allow us to measure the results of taking a level of international action we could never agree to do voluntarily (Greta's histrionics notwithstanding).

This virus event is unlikely to last long enough to influence aggregate atmospheric CO2 trend measurements (hysteresis), but it will almost certainly provide enough new data to better inform the debate.

If climate change really is the most pressing issue facing the future of human existence on our planet, the shocker from all this might be the quantified confirmation of the magnitude of the changes we need to make in our economies and our lives. For example, we may discover that bailing out Boeing Commercial Airplanes to restore its production is exactly the wrong thing to do if we are trying to save the planet.

Interesting times ahead indeed.

[shiny!]

Re: Why are they doing this?

I always appreciate your perspective, GRG55.

[jk]

Re: Why are they doing this?

And once the need for more surgical masks and respirators had become apparent, we still didn't get 'em.


===

A Twitter thread by @PMatzko

Wondered why it's been so hard to ramp up production of surgical masks and respirators? Why haven't private companies flooded into the market to meet peak demand?

Because they are regulated medical devices & new versions require FDA approval which can take months to obtain. 1/
·
Take a look at this FDA regulation, intended to ease (!) the application process for "premarket notification." That means you have to do all of this--and get FDA sign off--before your new surgical mask gets anywhere near shelves. 2/

Surgical Masks - Premarket Notification [510(k)] Submissions

FDA has developed this guidance document to assist industry in preparing premarket notification submissions for surgical masks and other masks.
fda.gov

Let's say that you're a garment manufacturer in NYC, but, of course, retail sales are down, so you're looking for another revenue stream. Why not make surgical masks, keeping your doors open, employees employed, and saving lives? It's a win-win-win! 3/

But how long do you think it would take you to jump through these hurdles, and do you think someone without an army of regulatory compliance officers would be reasonably able to do so at all? 4/

To start, you must:

- do a compositional side-by-side analysis of your mask vs all other masks currently sold. Hire a few materials scientists, okay.

- measure "tensile strength" & "impact resistance." Hire the Mythbusters and have them whack it with a hammer.

- perform detailed "risk analysis," for fluid/bacteria resistance and "flammability." Hmmm, better open a branch office for all those extra materials scientists and medical researchers. This is multiple major studies (though a Boring Company flamethrower might work in a pinch.)

- but wait, don't forget that masks touch skin! What if it gives you a rash!!! Okay, fine, we'll fill out the "standard ISO-10993," yeah, you know, the one for “Biological Evaluation of Medical Devices Part 1: Evaluation and Testing." Sprinkle in a couple more clinicians.

I could go on and on. There is no world in which any company not already deeply invested in manufacturing surgical masks could jump through these hurdles in time to mitigate the desperate shortage of PPE for medical professionals on the COVID-19 front lines. None.

And we could have a discussion over whether these steps are necessary in ordinary times. But we aren't living in ordinary times.

Just as the FDA waived its COVID-19 testing regs (after weeks of delay), it should waive its surgical mask/respirator regulations for the duration.

But since it hasn't, the supply of officially-approved masks has remained artificially constricted. New entrants are effectively barred from selling unapproved masks.

If willing to expose themselves to immense legal liability, new manufacturers could give masks away, but you're not going to get meaningful quantities that way. It's merely fodder for pleasant 5 o'clock news stories about making a few 1000s for donation to the local clinic.

But because most people are unaware that masks/respirators are considered medical devices and just how onerous the applicable rules are, it leaves people thinking that the PPE crisis is a market failure, when it is anything but.

That leads folks to consider towards heavy-handed measures, like the government seizing the means of mask production. This is problematic for a bunch of reasons (& likely less effective), but it's also completely unnecessary if the FDA would just DROP THE DAMN RULES.

(ht economicpolicyjournal)
https://www.economicpolicyjournal.co...supply-of.html

get around the rules the same way the supplement makers do: make no health claims. no health claims, no fda process necessary. sell them as viral fashion items.