Who profits from the pandemic?

By Pepe Escobar, for the News Consortium
Translation: Patricia Zimbres, for 247

It is not necessary to have read Michel Foucault's work on biopolitics to understand that neoliberalism – in deep crisis since at least 2008 – is a technique of control/governance in which surveillance capitalism is deeply entrenched.

But now, with the world system collapsing at an astonishing rate, neoliberalism has no idea how to deal with the next stage of dystopia, eternally present in our hyper-connected anxieties: mass unemployment on a global scale.

Henry Kissinger, the oracle and gatekeeper officially anointed by the ruling classes, is terrifiedAs one might expect, he states that "maintaining public trust is of crucial importance for social solidarity," and is convinced that the Hegemon should "safeguard the principles of the liberal world order" or risk setting the world on fire.

This sounds remarkably antiquated. Public trust is dead across the entire political spectrum. The liberal world "order" is now a social Darwinist chaos. Just wait for the fire to spread.

The numbers are breathtaking. The Asian Development Bank, based in Japan, in its annual economic report, may not have been particularly original, but it noted that the impact of the "worst pandemic in a century" could reach $4,1 trillion, or 4,8% of global GDP. 

This calculation underestimates the problem, since "disruptions in supply chains, shipping interruptions, potential social and financial crises, as well as the long-term effects on health and education systems were not included in the analysis." 

We cannot even begin to imagine the cataclysmic consequences of the collapse. Entire sub-sectors of the global economy may never recover.  

The International Labour Organization (ILO), in a conservative estimate of global unemployment, predicts a loss of 24,7 million jobs – mainly in the aviation, tourism and hospitality sectors.

The aviation sector, on a global scale, generates the colossal sum of 2,7 trillion dollars, or 3,6% of global GDP, and employs 2,7 million people. When air cargo and tourism are added, including everything from hotels and restaurants to theme parks and museums, the sector is responsible for at least 65,5 million jobs worldwide.

According to the ILO, income losses for workers could range from $860 billion to a staggering $3,4 trillion. "Employed poverty" will be the new normal – especially throughout the Global South. 

The term "employed poor," in ILO terminology, refers to employed people living in households with per capita incomes below the poverty line of $2 a day. By 2020, up to 35 million people will fall into this category. 

Turning to feasible prospects for global trade, it is enlightening to examine that this report The article on how the economy might recover focuses on the notoriously hyperactive traders and merchants of Yiwu, in eastern China – the world's leading center for small commodity trading.

The experience of these business leaders points to a long and difficult recovery. With the rest of the world in a state of coma, Lu Ting, the leading Chinese economist at Nomura in Hong Kong, emphasizes that China will face a 30% decline in external demand until at least next autumn. 

Neoliberalism in reverse?

In the next stage, the strategic competition between the United States and China will have no rules or limits, as the narratives emerging about China's new and multifaceted global role—in the areas of trade, technology, cyberspace, and climate change—will be assimilated and will have an even greater reach than the Belt and Road Initiative. The same will apply to global public health policies. Prepare for the acceleration of Hybrid Warfare between the "Chinese virus" narrative and the... Health Silk Roade.

The most recently report Published by the China Institute of International Studies, this would greatly help the West—if hubris allowed—to understand the main measures adopted by Beijing to prioritize the health and safety of its population. 

Now that the Chinese economy is slowly starting to recover, hordes of fund managers across Asia are closely monitoring the data, examining everything from subway rides to noodle consumption, in order to forecast the type of economy that might emerge after the lockdown. 

Throughout the West, on the contrary, the climate of ominousness and discouragement gave rise to a priceless editorial of The Financial TimesLike James Brown in the epic 80s pop song "Blues Brother," the City of London seems to have understood the message, or at least is giving the impression of being serious. Neoliberalism in reverse. New social contract. "Secure" labor markets. Redistribution.

Cynics will not be fooled. The cryogenic state of the global economy points to a fierce Great Depression 2.0 and a tsunami of unemployment. Masses of plebeians armed with pitchforks and AR-15s now appear as a real possibility. Perhaps it's best to start throwing a few crumbs to the beggars' banquet. 

This picture might apply to European latitudes. But American history is a different story.

For decades we were led to believe that the economic system established after World War II gave the United States unrivaled structural power. Now, all that remains is structural fragility, grotesque inequalities, Himalayan mountains of unpayable debt, and a rollover crisis. 

No one is fooled anymore by the Fed and its magical powers of quantitative easing, nor by the jumble of acronyms – TALF, ESF, SPV – incorporated into the US Fed Treasury, with its exclusive obsession with big banks, corporations, and the Goddess of the Market, to the detriment of the average American. 

A few months ago, a serious discussion began to unfold regarding the possibility of the $2,5 quadrillion derivatives market imploding and breaking the global economy due to a soaring oil price, should the Strait of Hormuz – for whatever reason – be closed. 

Now there is talk of the Great Depression 2.0: the collapse of the entire system resulting from the paralysis of the global economy. These questions are absolutely legitimate: could it be argued that the political and social cataclysm generated by the global economic crisis would be a greater catastrophe than Covid-19 itself? And would it be true that this crisis would create an opportunity to end neoliberalism and give way to a more equitable system, or something even worse? 

BlackRock 'Transparent' 

Wall Street, of course, lives in an alternate universe. In short, Wall Street has turned the Fed into a hedge fund. The Fed, before the end of 2020, will own at least two-thirds of all US Treasury securities currently on the market. 

The U.S. Treasury will buy all available bonds and debentures, while the Fed will be the banker financing the entire scheme. 

So, essentially, this will be a Fed/Treasury merger. A behemoth distributing money by helicopter in droves. 

And the champion is BlackRock — the largest money manager on the planet, with tentacles everywhere, managing more than 170 pension funds, banks, foundations, insurance companies and, in fact, a large part of the money invested in private assets and hedge funds. BlackRock — with the promise of being totally "transparent" — will buy these bonds and manage these extremely risky situations. vehicle ownership on behalf of the Treasury.

BlackRock, founded in 1988 by Larry Fink, may not be as large as Vanguard, but it is the main investor in Goldman Sachs, along with Vanguard and State Street, and has assets worth $6,5 trillion, more than Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and the Bank of Germany combined. 

Now, BlackRock is the new operating system It's owned by the Fed and the Treasury. It's the largest shadow bank in the world and – no, it's not Chinese. 

Compared to this heavy-handed game, minor scandals like the one involving Kelly LofflerThe allegations against Senator Loffler from the state of Georgia are trivial. It is alleged that Loffler profited from insider information about Covid-19 provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and made a fortune on the stock market. Loffler is married to Jeffrey Sprecher – who, coincidentally, is the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, appointed by Goldman Sachs. 

While the corporate media chases after this story like headless chickens, the post-Covid-19 plans, in Pentagon jargon, are quietly "advancing." 

The price? A paltry check for $1.200 per person for one month. Everyone knows that, based on the average wage income, a typical American family would need $12.000 to survive for two months. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in an act of supreme affront, gives them a mere 10% of that sum. Thus, American taxpayers will end up with a tsunami of debt, while Wall Street players will grab the bulk of the loot, as part of an unprecedented upward income transfer, accompanied by mass bankruptcies of small and medium-sized businesses. 

A letter to shareholders Fink practically gives the game away: "I believe we are on the verge of a fundamental reshaping of finance." 

And, at that precise moment, he predicted that "in the near future - and sooner than many expect - there will be a significant reallocation of capital." 

He was referring to climate change then. Now he's referring to Covid-19.

Implant our nanochip, or else... 

It is quite possible that the planned game The plan devised by the elites to take advantage of the crisis includes these four elements: a social credit system, mandatory vaccination, digital currency, and a Universal Basic Income. This is what used to be called, according to the CIA's operations manual, exhaustively tested by decades of experience, a "conspiracy theory." Well, but that's exactly what could actually happen. 

A social credit system is something China had already created in 2014. By the end of 2020, every Chinese citizen will have received their credit quota – which, in reality, is a "dynamic profile" developed with the extensive use of AI and the Internet of Things (IoT), including ubiquitous facial recognition technology. This, of course, implies 24/7 surveillance, complemented by Blade Runner-style mobile robot birds. 

The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Russia, and India may not be far behind. Germany, for example, is refining its universal credit rating system, SCHUFA. France has an Identity app very similar to the Chinese model, verified by facial recognition.

Mandatory vaccination is Bill Gates' dream, and he's been working with the WHO, the World Economic Forum, and Big Pharma. He wants "billions of doses" to be mandatorily administered throughout the Global South. And this could be a cover for anyone receiving a digital implant. 

Nas in your own words From Bill Gates (34:15): "The ultimate goal we will have to achieve is certification that the person has recovered, that they have been vaccinated... Because we don't want people moving around the world, because there are countries where the disease is not under control, unfortunately. We don't want to completely block people's ability to travel to those countries, return, and move freely."  

Then comes the final sentence, which was deleted from the official version of the TED video. This was noticed by Rosemary Frei, who has a master's degree in molecular biology and is an independent journalist from Canada. Gates says: "So, in the end, we will have this proof of digital immunity that will facilitate the global reopening." 

It is crucially important that we pay attention to this "digital immunity test," which is something that could be used by the state for nefarious purposes.  

The three main competitors to manufacture the coronavirus vaccine are: Modern, an American biotechnology firm, as well as CureVac and BioNTech, both German companies.

Digital money could then become a product of blockchain, a bitcoin exploration service. Not only the United States, but also China and Russia are interested in a national cryptocurrency. A global currency – controlled by central banks, of course – may soon be adopted, in the form of a basket of currencies with virtual circulation. Endless combinations of the toxic cocktail of IoT, blockchain technology, and social credit systems may already be looming on the horizon. 

Spain already  announced  which is adopting Universal Basic Income, and intends for it to be permanent. For the elites, these payments are a form of insurance against popular uprisings, especially if millions of jobs are lost forever.

The main working hypothesis, then, is that Covid-19 could be used to introduce a new digital financial system and a mandatory vaccine with a "digital identity" nanochip, in which dissent would not be tolerated: what Slavoj Zizek calls the "erotic dream" of all totalitarian governments. 

But, beneath the surface, amidst so much anxiety, a contained anger seems to be gaining strength, potentially exploding in unpredictable ways later on. Even though the system is changing at a dizzying speed, there is no guarantee that the 0,1% is safe.