Lessons from the first fortnight of lockdown

By
John Minto
-
36
1412

The most important lessons from the first two weeks of lockdown:

  1. Our big businesses have no reserves – or claim they have none – to deal with any economic hurdle, even a four-week lockdown, despite years of huge profits in most cases. (All the benefits of big business profits are fed to shareholders – any losses in a serious bad time will be made up by the government until share prices rise again)
  2. The government is giving the lion’s share of the taxpayer bailout to businesses – through wage subsidies, massive loans underwritten by taxpayers, relaxing the rules so businesses can trade when insolvent. (More business support promised to come)
  3. Those ripping off the “high trust” government bailout are businesses. Media have reported the tip of an ugly iceberg of fraud, gaming the system and double dipping. (Will the government target these companies in the same way they target beneficiaries for fraud? – No way!)
  4. Big business is closest to the government’s ear. (The PM met with a self-appointed “heavyweight group of leading businesspeople” last week. Low-paid workers and beneficiaries never get to meet directly with the Prime Minister)
  5. Workers are immediately expendable as soon as the going gets tough. (Workers are seen as a “necessary evil” by many employers and shafted without a thought when the going gets tough)
  6. The priority of big business is to support shareholders rather than the workers who actually produce the wealth for the company.
  7. Low-paid workers and public sector employees are the unsung heroes of our essential services. (Far more essential to our wellbeing than the self-appointed “heavyweight group of leading businesspeople”)
  8. Low-paid workers, who live from week to week on low pay, have no reserves to deal with losing their job.
  9. The government is prepared to help middle-income families and landlords by pressuring the banks for mortgage payment deferrals but has left renters at the mercy of the very same landlords the government is supporting. (The government’s freeze on rent rises during the lockdown is a feeble response on its own)
  10. Those that pay the lowest share of their income in taxes, the mega-rich, get the biggest government handouts while those that pay the highest share of their income in taxes – low-paid workers – get the smallest government handouts.
  11. Private businesses the world over will never plan or protect communities from a disaster such as a pandemic and/or an economic crisis.
  12. Public health services can and do protect our communities if they are given the resources to do so.
  13. Community crises bring out the best in human values in us all – generosity, compassion and selflessness. (Meanwhile our economic system is based on alien values of greed and selfishness)
  14. The government has put big business in the box seat to make decisions about what projects get the green light and government funding as we emerge from the pandemic.
  15. Our economic system has passed its use-by date. We need to reshape our future to bring people and communities to the centre of our economy rather than continue working to enrich the one percent.

 

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36 COMMENTS

  1. Are our Police ineffective spectators at this time?

    Are they telling you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about priorities and staffing levels?

    This link below is VERY telling.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12324345

    By Ben Strang of RNZ

    “Police arrested six people for fighting and warned two people for breaching the nationwide lockdown after a gathering in Takanini overnight.

    And while that fight was being dealt with, the police were unable to attend other reported breaches of the lockdown, including a large party in Papakura in which van loads of people were arriving from outside the local bubble.

    Police are being stretched for resources as thousand of calls come through about parties and other breaches of the nationwide lockdown.

    RNZ has talked to a man who reported the large gathering of people at a house party in Papakura overnight, but police failed to show.

    On Saturday afternoon, cars and van loads of people started turning up to the house.

    The neighbour first called the 105 police non-emergency line, and was told an officer would attend as soon as possible.

    When the party only grew and got louder, the man called the 111 emergency number at about 10pm.

    He called 111 again at about 3am, when he was then asked to call noise control.

    He advised the 111 operator that noise control was closed during the lockdown, and that calls were diverted to the police.

    No officers attended the house until Sunday afternoon after questions were sent through by RNZ.

    “You know, you have empathy for them for what’s going on,” the neighbour said of the police.

    “But as I said to the police, as long as you ask me to accept the fact that you couldn’t attend, I’d ask you to put yourself in my shoes and ask yourself if you’d be the same if it was your mother, or your daughter who lived next door?”

    Police respond
    In a statement, the Counties Manukau South area commander, Inspector Dave Glossop, said his staff were not able to attend the call.

    “However, police are making follow up enquiries at the address today and will be looking into this matter further,” Glossop said.

    “Over the duration of the lockdown period, police have received thousands of reports relating to alert level 4 restriction breaches and police have been following up this information, with enforcement action being taken in some instances.”

    Glossop said officers cannot attend every job but priority is given to jobs where there is an immediate risk to people or property.

    “A number of our Counties Manukau officers were required to attend another report of a large gathering at an address in Takanini overnight where there were reports of people physically fighting.

    “A total of six people were arrested at that address, however all but two of the people present were living at the property.

    “Those two people were giving warnings in relation to the breach.”

    Glossop said the police are able to keep people safe during the lockdown, and follow up on breaches.

    “Police are well-equipped to maintain order and public safety during this period and the public can expect to continue to see an increased police presence in the streets over this time.

    “We continue to encourage anyone with concerns around lockdown breaches to contact police by phoning 105 or reporting online at 105.police.govt.nz.”

    The Director General of Health, Ashley Bloomfield, said there had been 847 breaches of the lockdown rules so far and 109 prosecutions.

    Police had issued more than 700 warnings.”

    ——————————————————————————————-

    My take on this bullshit.

    Police attend a Takanini party….meanwhile, approximately 4 kms (7 mins) away in Papakura a situation is unfolding that undermines the total lockdown we have ALL been forced into. Police receive their first call about this on Saturday afternoon and lied to the complainant stating police would attend. The Police were told it was a large party and van loads of people from outside the area were arriving. Surely, alarm bells must be going off big time?

    Several hours later the Papakura party had grown and got louder. The complainant again called the Police at 10pm. Clearly, urgent Police attendance is required but again no action. Complainant again called the Police at 3am so this is his third call to the Police about a serious situation undermining the lockdown over at least a 10 hour period. Unbelievable.

    At 3am, the complainant was asked to call noise control. What a fucking joke.

    The Police can bullshit you all they like about this but an urgent investigation is required, and not by other senior Police who will happily tell you zero apart from 6 people people arrested and two warned at another event 7 mins away….but in a way that justifies their diabolical inaction.

    This incident of inept Policing is farcical. They clearly didn’t want to attend the Papakura incident. Why? My take is they were frightened by “van loads” of people and didn’t have staff to do their usual standover so gifted these people a free pass.

    The entire incident makes a complete mockery of our Police and the lockdown. Police are happy to do a standover with the cameras on them of some peace loving guy surfing at a beach who poses very little danger to anyone, yet turn their back on van loads of shitheels over at least 10 hours who are obviously saying a big FUCK YOU to the lockdown and almost guaranteed to be spreading Covid-19.

    • Indeed.

      And your comparison between the lone surfer and vanloads of partygoers is apt.

      As I said at the beginning of my Lock-down diaries, the Police need to up their game.

      • Morning Frank,

        Honesty and transparency is needed more than ever from our Police….not the usual narrative AKA bullshit.

        Police respond
        In a statement, the Counties Manukau South area commander, Inspector Dave Glossop, said his staff were not able to attend the call.

        “However, police are making follow up enquiries at the address today and will be looking into this matter further,” Glossop said.”

        ————————————————————————————

        So the day AFTER the incident, Police finally attend and will be looking into the matter. You can’t be serious? What exactly will that achieve? Absolutely NOTHING. Will the residents of the party house give Police the names of everyone that attended their party? 0% chance of that. Only belligerent people who couldn’t care less about the Police and the lockdown etc would have a large party at this time with van loads of people attending from outside the area. Perhaps, potentially even gang members etc.

        Will the occupants of the property admit they organised a party and invited van loads from outside the area during a nationwide lockdown? 0% of that.

        Will the occupants say they had no control of who came and play innocent? 100%.
        Will the occupants be charged? 10% chance but 0% chance of being convicted at some later point.

        Was there a danger of community spread of Covid-19? Absolutely YES.
        Is this potentially the most serious breach of the nationwide lockdown? Absolutely YES.
        Does this incident make a complete mockery of the lockdown we are all in that involves families not able to attend funerals of loved ones, family members dying and businesses imploding? Absolutely YES

        So, WTF is going on?

        My take. We have different forms of Policing. Community Police. That is usually one or two uniformed constables attending a situation not generally regarded as serious. May be neighbours abusing each other that may escalate. More just complaints than anything else.

        Then we have Incident Cars, or I Cars. One or two detectives in unmarked vehicles attending more serious incidents.

        Then we have Team Policing. One or two van loads of young fit men who spend a lot of time at the gym and are ready to arrive at scene of bigger events that require a particular type of Police “attendance”. Their M.O is invariably standover. They arrive at a party for example and demand everyone disperse. They have the law behind them. There are hundreds of complaints over the years about their conduct that relate to outrageous bullying and unnecessary / excessive force. Yes, they are often dealing with alcohol related situations but one size does not fit all. Often, these situations end in bottles being thrown at Police. I’m not condoning that in any way but the way it’s always portrayed by Police spokespeople is their heavy handed response was the result of bottles being thrown at them where as many adamantly claim the bottle throwing was the result of the Police heavy handed arrogant conduct. People throwing bottles will never have a spokesperson to explain what unfolded so Police get to control the narrative that 100 times out of 100 has them being portrayed as the innocent people involved just doing their job.

        Where are the Team Policing units in Auckland? South Auckland, Central Auckland, West and North. Unsure of numbers etc but that’s the general idea.

        Are team policing units operating at this time? If the answer is yes, you’d want to know how their bubbles look?

        If the answer is no, that would 100% explain why the Police refused to attend a serious incident at Papakura for 10+ hours during a nationwide lockdown that totally undermined said lockdown.

        Police were frightened. They knew they would be outnumbered by the van loads at the Papakura party and wouldn’t be able to do their usual stand over. This fits perfectly. Does this inspire confidence in the Police at this time? Absolutely NOT.

        • Where was the Police Armed Response Team? Harrassing pensioners in the q at pack n save?

          Or were they manning a checkpoint on a desolate motorway somewhere?

          Somethings up?

      • That’s why the director of health should resign, the police commissioner has already chucked in the towel. There has to be a clean out of top executive for failing to maintain objective levels of medical resources in reserve. Not so long ago it was considered racist for the general public to wear face masks, turns out DHB boards engineered this mini crises and are keeping very quiet about it.

        • Neither have New Zealand’s defence forces in over a hundred years of fixing things for the government ever been adequately provisioned by the government in the lead up or during, or after a crises but we manage anyway.

        • Masses of police are deployed to the streets because people can’t be trusted to stay home and not roam during the lockdown. So available staff and available hours are stretched used up by that sort of activity. It’s as simple as that.

          Maybe the army could be called in to patrol the streets and free police up for normal events in Papakura and Takanini. Then we could have fun debating martial law.

          I know for certain the wrong people in the wrong government are at the helm of the country. Those there have made bad decisions.
          I know for certain the wrong people are at the helm of our public health system. They’ve made bad decisions.
          I know for certain the wrong people are at the helm of the police or are police officers. They make bad decisions.

          All of us who make the right decisions are out here. Some of us even driving to baches for Easter weekend or doing other sorts of roaming. As soon as the dust settles we’ll throw our names in the ring to get one of those politicians jobs, or line up for a public service role and take our kids along to sign up for the police force.

  2. 10 “Those that pay the lowest share of their income in taxes, the mega-rich, get the biggest government handouts while those that pay the highest share of their income in taxes – low-paid workers – get the smallest government handouts.”
    When I read that paragraph I’m reminded of what a ‘government’ is.
    In our case, we have a democratically elected group of people who, I assume, know what they’re doing when it comes to having ‘our’ best interests at the forefront of their professional efforts. After all, that’s why we vote to elect them then pay them very, very well as payment for their doing their best by us and for us.
    So? A question could be; If the government is so subverted by the wealth of a very small but very rich few individuals, is [it] our government at all?
    If that’s the case…? If OUR government is really just a tool box full of tools for the rich to use to get richer then what the fuck are we paying them through the nose via our taxes for then?
    I think we, us lot, must urgently rethink the narrative with regard to our politicians and OUR government
    Ask any rat lawyer? ( No disrespect to actual rats. ) They’ll tell you, the devil’s in the detail. When it comes to money and governments each and every word must be held down and examined very carefully.
    Therefore, THE government isn’t some entity that’s materialized as if by some magic incantation to smooth things for our politicians while they fuck us over for the rich whom we must kowtow to. No. THE government is in fact and in reality OUR government and we must be constantly reminded that OUR government is OURS and it’s very embodiment consists of US. Not them. Not the worthless rich. In fact, the very definition of wealth could be defined as being those who take billions of dollars out of circulation to keep for themselves.
    Is that OUR government acting in OUR best interests?
    Tucker Carlson of Fox News Blows Up at Rutger Bregman.
    “Rutger C. Bregman is a Dutch historian and author. He has published four books on history, philosophy and economics, including Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World, which has been translated into thirty-two languages. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Guardian and the BBC.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_nFI2Zb7qE

    We must be extremely vigilant when the MSM, for example, start using seemingly harmless narratives like “The” government instead of ” Our” government. It might seem like a small, inconsequential thing but the connotations are immensely powerful.
    When OUR government starts ‘handing out’ money to we, the people who pay the taxes? That, is in effect, US helping each other out and I say fuck the urban kiwi riche. They’ve been dragging us down and out for generations. Let them burn.
    ” OMG! Did you see that? That beaky old guy standing there with that stop and go sign…! ? He looked exactly like that prick michael fay of Fay/Richwhite Group! ”
    Would be awesome, right?

    • Good post, many pertinent points, – that , – should be obvious to all.

      Sadly that is not the case.

      ” OMG! Did you see that? That beaky old guy standing there with that stop and go sign…! ? He looked exactly like that prick michael fay of Fay/Richwhite Group! ”
      Would be awesome, right?

      • Wild Katipo: “…That beaky old guy standing there with that stop and go sign…! ? He looked exactly like that prick michael fay…”

        I doubt that: he’s 71. Holding signs at roadworks sites isn’t an old person’s game at any time. He isn’t beaky, either….assuming that by that term, you mean what I think you mean.

  3. One of the biggest things that needs to occur is that the concept of business (aka shareholders) is not prioritised over people. A business is a piece of paper that does not need food, people do!

    Taxes should go to people using UBI to NZ citizens and long term 20+ year permanent residents, not channeled through businesses to overseas shareholders and overseas workers in NZ keeping the wages lowered and competition high to get a job.

    There should have been a cap on the wage subsidies aka used to be $150k cap as it was originally designed to help small business but seems to have ended up with wealth transfer to big business and the propping up of visa work permit scams.

    Somehow sad and predictably NZ’s taxpayers are helping overseas multinationals who should have insurance in place for business disruption aka Harvey Norman received nearly 13 million from NZ tax payers https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120861003/coronavirus-retail-giants-use-government-welfare-to-get-through-crisis

    Who knows how many fake jobs are now actually being paid not to work who should not even be working in NZ as the cafe/retail/tourism job/business/Chorus contract was never viable or profitable in the first place.

    Money to big business and ponzi’s is clearly more money being diverted from the health system and essential services here.

    When I was a student I worked in hospitality from high end establishments to fast food. It is a horrible industry that has always been full of poor employers. From constant wage theft to sexual harassment of staff, narcism and incompetence.

    Hospitality does not make much profit and therefore does not bring in many taxes.

    I have looked on with disbelief the expansion of this and other low paid industries in NZ that are clearly sunset industries that have become NZ residency ponzi’s. The government and left seem asleep at the wheel what this will eventually mean.

    Chefs and burger managers made up the lions share of essential skills visas for years. It seems laughable that anybody who has ever worked in that industry believes the expansion of those, will bring wealth to the country, better jobs and conditions and should be expanded.

    Predictably the majority of these sunset industries and ponzi’s will end up being a massive debt on the next generation as they get bailed out with Covid.

    The kind face seems to be the easy face to throw money around at lobby groups campaigning for taxpayer money post Covid-19, not a fair one.

    There are some pretty famous shop owners, Margaret Thatcher, Pauline Hanson etc. I’m not sure they did a lot for society. Sarcasm. But I see the media are tying to resurrect the ‘humble’ shop and supermarket owner/worker as the new messiah.

    Sorry not buying that, more interested in applauding the labour and expertise that made the food and goods, not the third parties selling low quality food for a profit and expecting the rest of the country to subsidise their low paid work force and kiss their butts to boot.

    • Mhmm… I would think a cap of subsidy’s granted only to small to middling sized company’s with X number of employees as a guide, – with any large corporate’s , esp multinationals having to foot the bill themselves to quite an extent,…in a kind of ‘sliding scale ‘ approach. And IF they elect to just sack their workers , are not seen to provide for those employees , or reject govt attempts at a partial subsidy , then its time for Hobson’s choice, and that means re-nationalization.

    • remo: many thanks for that fort-russ link. I’d seen a similar account somewhere else online; possibly the off-guardian.

      Assuming that the labs he funds manage to develop one, Gates can stick his coronavirus vaccine someplace the sun don’t shine. And I hope that it hurts…..

    • After all the World will have been through fighting this virus the last thing we will need is nut jobs like Kennedy trying to stop people getting a vaccine when it is developed . As an older citizen with COPD it is going to be like Russian Roulette and if there is a vaccine is then it should be used by as many as can. Kennedy has been disowned by his family after he came out against measles vacinne last year

      • Trevor Sennitt: “….the last thing we will need is nut jobs like Kennedy trying to stop people getting a vaccine when it is developed .”

        Kennedy being an anti-vaxx loony doesn’t entail him being wrong about Gates and the vaccines developed under his watch. The latter is just another ultra-rich fellow who evidently believes his wealth makes him somehow superior. He wouldn’t have so much lolly to fling about, were it the case that a) his company hadn’t charged like a wounded bull for its products, b) he’d paid all his workers a great deal more than he did, and c) his company had paid enough tax.

        As to any coronavirus vaccine of which he oversees the development, even assuming it isn’t plagued by side-effects, he’ll charge for it like the proverbial. If you want to put more money in his pocket, go right ahead. I am in the at-risk age group: not the smallest likelihood I’ll do that. I’ll take my chances.

  5. Read between the lines here.

    “On Saturday afternoon, cars and van loads of people started turning up to the house.

    The neighbour first called the 105 police non-emergency line, and was told an officer would attend as soon as possible.”

    Van loads at a dangerous and growing lockdown party and an OFFICER will attend. Just the one OFFICER when there are van loads of people to contend with?

  6. One thread MSM are arseholes, the next they are a trusted source of info.
    Please make up your mind which it is and stick to it.

    • Peter Barry: “One thread MSM are arseholes, the next they are a trusted source of info.”

      I’ve noticed this as well. When the msm reports chime with the narrative (whoever is running said narrative), uncritical acceptance rules, apparently.

      But if the msm cannot be relied upon to tell us what’s actually happening in other scenarios, in virtue of what would anyone believe them over this story? More like a version of the truth, which is no doubt a great deal messier and more nuanced.

  8. 99% in agreement with this article, except for this:

    “Our economic system has passed its use-by date.”

    That makes it sound like neoliberalism was actually once good for something. But its problems were entirely predictable beforehand (and many predicted them), and had already started to manifest before the end of the 80s.

    • He is not talking about neo-liberalism of course like everyoone else with even half a brain Minto know that has been what has finally pushed people to the wall. He is of course talking about CAPITALISM which is good for the 1% and does bugger all for anyone else.

  9. Yeah great post Mr John Minto.

    These are the sort of rorts that need to be shouted from the rooftops, have people reminded thereof , and to remind them to not be afraid to get more militant when dealing with this and any other government. This is OUR govt we are talking about,… and this ”TOO BIG TO FAIL” bullshit has GOT TO STOP !!!

  10. People in government have this ‘thing’ about Speaking With the Great and Glorious of Business. A cringy sort of thing.

    Business is, by its nature, a construct that requires the maintenance of the status quo. Stability and tradition are essential.

    So why ask them about creating a way forward?

    They’ve had YEARS to deal with structural un/underemployment in this and many other countries. They CAN’T – and it wouldn’t suit them to even try. They belong further back in the food chain – when innovation and risky leaps have turned into ‘moneymakers’. That’s when those mindsets (unfortunately) flourish.

    Labour is so far from its roots. Still gawping at Those People Who Make Money! – and can’t see what’s in front of them. But they’re pollies. Aspirational but still have a vague sense of service to the people who matter.
    Pity it’s not the most of us.

  11. “Our big businesses have no reserves….”

    This wouldn’t surprise me at all. At the time of the “metoo” hoohaa, I recall somebody opining that many big consultancies and the like were only a couple of contracts away from bankruptcy. Income each quarter goes to outgoings. The business environment in NZ has for many years been a race to the bottom: contract prices and charge-out rates are screwed down to the point that there’s no fat in the system at all. Where does anybody think that the money for reserves would come from?

    A member of this household runs a small business; that’s the arena with which we’re familiar. I read somewhere that SMEs make a significant contribution to economic activity and employment here in NZ, employing around a third of all employees. They aren’t listed, don’t have shareholders; they’re businesses such as plumbers, electricians, builders, architects, engineers, lawyers, accountants, the suppliers of our computer hardware and software. And so on.

    And I can tell you that they’re doing it tough. The wage subsidy pays only a proportion of employees’ wages; employers who wish to retain staff are expected to find the rest from their own pockets. Those who own commercial buildings are having to give rent holidays, so that they have reduced or no income. Business-owners have to eat, too. And pay for the costs of running a household, frequently with little to no income. Most aren’t classified as essential services, either. Said household member has managed to keep working, though aspects of business practice cannot be carried out because of the lockdown. And I can also tell you that clients aren’t paying; that’s because they themselves cannot trade, or their own clients aren’t paying.The domino effect and all that….

    We’re increasingly concerned that many of the small businesses in our area could go bust. And – a fortiori – we worry about the resulting fallout for all involved.

    It seems to me that there’s a real risk that the cure will be worse than the disease.

  13. Good post John ,,,, I’m very worried the Govt is going to fumble and stumble with the CV19 economic hits ,,, being late and reactive to the economic contagion ,,, is akin to doing the same with the virus.

    The third world type effort,, and on the cheap ‘fight ‘ against covid19 by Trump and Johnson,,, will magnify economic pain for all of our economy’s.

    Also the abysmal failure by the usa to contain the virus …. will provide a reservoir of infected people ,,,, which will be a continual threat to us ,,,
    forcing us to prolong strict border controls and generally restricting entry to NZ….

    It was supposed to be impoverished nations with poor governance and no health systems who were going to pose this problem of embedded infection among their subsistence populations ,,, WTF USA

    Back to us ….Two of our biggest Employment sectors ,,, Tourism and overseas student education ,, have been killed stone dead and are effectively gone for at least 1 year and probably more …

    All hospitality businesses such as restaurants, bars, concerts & sporting events etc etc are in troubled waters.,,, all non essential services and discretionary spending businesses will feel the bite.,,, ie florists, lawn mowers, Gyms etc etc.

    Spain and France got ahead of this mass loss of income,,, by temporarily freezing debt, Mortgages and rent ,,, with the same freeze extending to banks and their debts.

    We should do this too ,,,, otherwise there will be defaults, mortgagee sales, evictions ,,,, a whole lot of stress, suffering and increased poverty ,,,,, Its all predictable based on the scale of lost incomes ,,,And after a large amount of people have been made worse off ,,,the banks will STILL come for Government bailouts to survive ,,, as the amount of default on ‘bad loans’ will send them bust like rotten old Merrill Lynch.

    The Government needs to get ahead of this,, Hit the pause button, stop the bleeding ,,, and avoid the entirely predictable domino of debts ,,, lock it down like the contagion it surely is ,,, Letting it burn would be as irresponsible as letting the virus burn.

    The stop on debt can be lifted in stages ,,, and used on a individual basis until Corona-nomics stops depriving workers / sole traders /small businesses of income to service their bills.

    ,,, Bailing Big Business out first in this economic shit storm is also a really stupid strategy ,,, if their customer bases ( the people ), have no money ,,, they will go out of business anyway ,,, You will end up paying for ghost businesses’ which are about as useful as ‘ghost chips’

    Socialism to keep the economy going would be better directed at the people whose spending keeps businesses afloat.,,,

    A lot of whats wrong in the world is catching up with us right now ,,, I hope labour have some vision and can navigate NZ through this sea of cluster fucks.

    Otherwise we’ll have The Nact party comprised of regulation flouting corrupt Authoritarians and Peter Thiel Groupies at the worst of times …, The will be hooking into the country with the right wing razors of Austerity ,, and looting our public assets and services with TINA Privatization ,,,

    Remember Dirty old national, of 2 and a bit years ago ,,,’ climate change is a hoax ,,, which is why we propose to fight it with hoax carbon credits.’

    December 17, 2015: “How bad is NZ’s climate Fraud? … We’re literally claiming emissions reductions for burning coal.”
    https://norightturn.blogspot.com/search?q=climate+change+fraud
    ” the biggest fraudster of them all: the New Zealand government, which used over a hundred million tons of fraud to “meet” its Kyoto obligations,”

    The brighter future of a death march on a road of national significance.,, ,

  14. End it now.

    According to data from the best-studied countries such as South Korea, Iceland, Germany and Denmark, the overall lethality of Covid19 is in the lower per mille range and thus up to twenty times lower than initially assumed by the WHO.
    A study in Nature Medicine comes to a similar conclusion even for the Chinese city of Wuhan. The initially significantly higher values for Wuhan were obtained because a many people with mild or no symptoms were not recorded.
    50% to 80% of test-positive individuals remain symptom-free. Even among the 70 to 79 year old persons about 60% remain symptom-free, many more show only mild symptoms.
    The median age of the deceased in most countries (including Italy) is over 80 years and only about 1% of the deceased had no serious previous illnesses. The age and risk profile of deaths thus essentially corresponds to normal mortality.
    Many media reports of young and healthy people dying from Covid19 have proven to be false upon closer inspection. Many of these people either did not die from Covid19 or they in fact had serious preconditions (such as undiagnosed leukaemia).
    Normal overall mortality in the US is about 8000 people per day, in Germany about 2600 people and in Italy about 1800 people per day. Influenza mortality in the US is up to 80,000, in Germany and Italy up to 25,000, and in Switzerland up to 1500 people per winter.
    Strongly increased death rates, as in northern Italy, can be influenced by additional risk factors such as very high air pollution and legionella contamination, as well as a collapse in the care of the elderly and sick due to infections, mass panic and lockdown.
    In countries such as Italy and Spain, and to some extent Great Britain and the US, a serious overload of hospitals, notably by the flu, is not unusual. In addition, up to 15% of doctors and nurses currently have to self-quarantine, even if they develop no symptoms.
    An important distinction concerns the question of whether people die with or indeed from coronaviruses. Autopsies show that in many cases the previous illnesses were an important or decisive factor, but the official figures usually do not reflect this.
    Thus in order to assess the danger of the disease, the key indicator is not the often mentioned number of test-positive persons and deceased, but the number of persons who actually and unexpectedly develop or die of pneumonia.
    The often shown exponential curves of “corona cases” are misleading, since the number of tests also increases exponentially. In most countries, the ratio of positive tests to total tests either remains constant between 5% to 25% or increases rather slowly.
    Countries without lockdowns and contact bans, such as Japan, South Korea and Sweden, have not experienced a more negative course of events than other countries. This might call into question the effectiveness of such far-reaching measures.
    According to leading lung specialists, invasive ventilation of Covid19 patients is often counterproductive and causes additional damage to the lungs. The invasive ventilation of Covid19 patients is partly done out of fear of spreading the virus through aerosols.
    Contrary to original assumptions, however, the WHO determined at the end of March that there is no evidence of aerosol dispersal of the virus. A leading German virologist also found no aerosol and no smear infections in a pilot study.
    Many clinics in Europe and the US have been lacking patients and some have had to introduce short-time work. Numerous operations and therapies were cancelled by clinics, even emergency patients sometimes stay at home out of fear of the virus.
    Several media have been caught trying to dramatize the situation in clinics, sometimes even with manipulative pictures and videos. In general, many media outlets do not question even doubtful official statements and figures.
    The virus test kits used internationally are prone to errors. Several studies have shown that even normal corona viruses can give a false positive result. Moreover, the virus test currently in use has not been clinically validated due to time pressure.
    Numerous internationally renowned experts from the fields of virology, immunology and epidemiology consider the measures taken to be counterproductive and recommend a rapid natural immunisation of the general population while protecting risk groups.
    The number of people suffering from unemployment, psychological problems and domestic violence as a result of the measures taken has exploded in the US and worldwide. Several experts believe that the measures may claim more lives than the virus itself.
    NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden warned that the corona crisis is used for the massive and permanent expansion of global surveillance. The renowned virologist Pablo Goldschmidt spoke of a “global media terror” and “totalitarian measures”. Leading British virologist Professor John Oxford spoke of a “media epidemic”.
    https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/

    • Normal mortality rate is 8000, you say. Nothing to worry about, you claim.

      How much of what you claim was hacked?

      You’d think public health systems globally could casually deal with a death rate of 8000 per week or what ever but after 4 mounths youre ready to throw in the towel.

      • ‘Like an elephant being attacked by a house cat’

        “If we had not known about a new virus out there, and had not checked individuals with PCR [virus] tests, the number of total deaths due to ‘influenza-like illness’ would not seem unusual this year. At most, we might have casually noted that flu this season seems to be a bit worse than average.”

        This was not written by some right-wing crank claiming coronavirus is a conspiracy to deny President Trump a second term, or an excuse to bring down capitalism.

        It’s from a sobering and illuminating essay by Stanford University epidemiologist John Ioannidis, co-director of its Meta-Research Innovation Center, published in the life sciences news site STAT.

        The coronavirus-driven crackdowns on public life by state and local political leaders are being made in a data vacuum, Ioannidis warns, and extreme government measures to prevent infections may actually lead to more deaths.

        “The current coronavirus disease, Covid-19, has been called a once-in-a-century pandemic,” he says. “But it may also be a once-in-a-century evidence fiasco,” with policymakers relying on “meaningless” statistics based on unreliable samples:

        Three months after the outbreak emerged, most countries, including the U.S., lack the ability to test a large number of people and no countries have reliable data on the prevalence of the virus in a representative random sample of the general population. …

        Patients who have been tested for SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] are disproportionately those with severe symptoms and bad outcomes. As most health systems have limited testing capacity, selection bias may even worsen in the near future.

        The one situation where an entire, closed population was tested was the Diamond Princess cruise ship and its quarantine passengers. The case fatality rate there was 1.0%, but this was a largely elderly population, in which the death rate from Covid-19 is much higher.

        The general ignorance of journalists when it comes to reporting scientific research is making the response worse.

        Consider the complicating factors when trying to project that one cruise ship’s mortality rate “onto the age structure of the U.S. population”: It’s based on seven deaths, in a population (tourists) that “may have different frequencies of chronic diseases” than the general population.

        The “reasonable estimates” for the general population range from 0.05 percent to 1 percent (the elderly tourist cruise line death rate), Ioannidis writes:

        A population-wide case fatality rate of 0.05% is lower than seasonal influenza. If that is the true rate, locking down the world with potentially tremendous social and financial consequences may be totally irrational. It’s like an elephant being attacked by a house cat. Frustrated and trying to avoid the cat, the elephant accidentally jumps off a cliff and dies.
        https://www.thecollegefix.com/stanford-epidemiologist-warns-that-coronavirus-crackdown-is-based-on-bad-data/

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