Dave agrees with me.
Comparing Canada health system to the US health system is like comparing a elephant to a banana.
Heck we give all the vaccines twice now( boosters , second series ) and they still dont work - that is why they want everyone to have them so maybe there will be “herd” immunity. the problem is they are chronically stimulating children’s immune systems, and ultimately damaging them. What they will have is a vaccine at best we will have to take annually like the flu shot. heck they probably would throw it in with the flu vaccine to make sure we all go into immuno shock …
I understand that they think they have found a case that likely represents this has been circulating much longer. But, as we know with antibody tests, you could have gotten covid later with mild symptoms and not known it. Also, we know the antibody tests has limitations, and could even detect a cold as a false positive. So, I am not saying its not possible to be circulating since then… But , this is not what i would call a fact or absolute proof. Its a theory.
-I am Jersey Boy too btw.
Dave, that’s one of your best posts ever. Bravo! Well said.
If anyone is going to quote me, or characterize my words in any way, kindly do so in context, because context is essential to meaning.
My original post was NOT about “China vs the West”. That is a disingenuous straw man representation.
My original post was questioning the rationale for the US assigning most favored trading status to the Chinese REGIME and the consequences thereof for US manufacturing. My comment was about the decimation of a once vibrant part of our economy, the impact on the American workers, and why today we can’t easily ramp up to get masks, medicines, etc etc etc to the degree that we might have as we did in earlier times when our manufacturing base was strong.
I don’t appreciate attempts to make my remarks about something else entirely.
In my post, I specifically cited the Clinton administration policy which was the 1990s. That provides the historical context that this was subsequent to Tienanmen Square, 1989. Given that history at the time, granting the REGIME MOST favored nation trading status was baffling. If you don’t think what happened was in 1989 was vicious that’s your prerogative, but I don’t need to be lectured on my characterization of a regime that mobilized tanks against unarmed protestors.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48445934
The rest of my post was a hypothesis about why that policy may have been implemented. I tied it to the fact that we need other countries to buy our debt to finance deficit spending. The facts that China is the biggest creditor nation to the US today supports my hypothesis.
https://www.dw.com/en/china-is-united-states-biggest-creditor-once-again/a-40130043
I do not need to be lectured at length about the Chinese people (never mentioned the Chinese people only the regime and the trade policy - context, context, context!).
Nor do I think my objection that all is not rosy in China - still today- by alluding to concentration camps for Muslims can reasonably be called irrational (ad hominem attack). I do not have any evidence the US is building such camps, perhaps you do, but China’s REGIME certainly is and its been reported that the Muslim prisoners are used as forced labor for the supply chains of US and global brands, the irony.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2020/04/04/the-fate-of-uighur-muslims-in-china-from-re-education-camps-to-forced-labor/#1b8cc9cb2f73
To me the whole policy was, and continues to be, an outrage that causes widespread suffering in so many ways and does not justify the desire for cheap goods in exchange for deficit spending. Your opinion on this may differ. However, I make no apologies for my view, I believe it to be reasonable and thus and worthy of being treated with intellectual honesty.
Masks all the time everywhere???
Inside, in a crowded space, where distancing is impossible, yes. Airplanes, of course.
Outside, ridiculous. Unless you are actively trying to infect someone it is virtually impossible to transmit the virus outdoors. A study in China found that “among our 7,324 identified cases in China with sufficient descriptions, only one outdoor outbreak involving two cases occurred.”
https://www.sfgate.com/science/article/China-study-suggests-outdoor-transmission-of-15229649.php
My state is running a giant social experiment for the rest of the country. We just started playing baseball and softball again. High school and little league. I’ve been to two game and have not seen a single person in a mask out of around 100 people. A couple of people told me about games they went to and maybe 5 out of 150 people at those games were wearing masks. Most everyone generally practices social distancing.
I bet by July our hospitals are still empty like they have been for the month and a half since the state opened up. Of course the national media will ignore this. I guess places that are doing things right, getting along with life, and not killing their citizens isn’t news.
The hysteria from the coasts hasn’t yet reached the middle of the country. I feel sorry for those of you having to live in constant fear every day. What went so wrong in NY, NJ, MA, etc. that it has traumatized entire states?
Thanks once again. You are spot on.
One piece to consider is the connection to the Clinton Admin and the loosening of trade with China. The world HQ for Walmart is in Bentonville Ar. Walmart is the largest private employer in the country. As I mentioned above it is no coincidence that the rise of Walmart parallels exactly the rise of China economically. Without the support of Walmart and other Arkansas corporations such as Tyson’s (anyone remember Mike Espy?), Bill Clinton remains nothing more than a philandering lawyer in Fayetteville Ar.
His mentor at Georgetown was Carroll Quigley, who wrote the epic “Tragedy and Hope”. I suggest a read of that to understand the Clintons and the policies they promoted.
Corporate Amerika in general sold out the people of the US. GM gave its rare earth technology to China in exchange for he ability to sell vehicles there. IBM gave its computer technology to Lenovo. The list is endless.
What many fail to realize is , is that national borders are becoming less relevant by the day. Modern day pirates in the form of corporate CEO’s roam the globe in search of plunder. Their only loyalty is to the almighty stock price and its reward, options. This simple fact makes it crystal clear why 3M is unable or unwilling to produce enough masks for the US.
There is all this talk about National Security. We are one of the most surveilled populations on the planet. Snowden documented how every electronic transmission is captured by the state and preserved in perpetuity. We have militarized police forces. We have NDAA 2012 sec 1021. The list goes on. We have supported dictators the world over to protect corporate interests (see Smedley Butler). We have overthrown democratic regimes because they did not toe the corporate line. (See Confessions of an Economic Hitman and The Shock Doctrine)
This is a Zero Sum Game. Someone has to lose for someone to win. There is an adage in gambling. If you sit down to gamble and you look around the table and you can’t figure out who the sucker is, it’s you. The suckers are the Amerikaan people. They are fed a steady diet of how good they have it by a corporate controlled media (6 corporations control 95% of the news, thanks to ? tada Bill Clinton and the Telecommunication Act of 1996)
But to get back to the issue of National Security. We have been subjected to Israeli style security everywhere in our lives yet we now in the face of the SC2 virus we find ourselves extremely vulnerable. The people supposedly in charge of security have no interest in our security. If they did we would have plenty of masks, PPE, vents, Pharmaceuticals made here, etc. Instead we find ourselves at the mercy of a totalitarian regime. Was this a miscalculation or is this a planned demolition? Does it matter? Do you think your vote matters? Chris has a Kubota tractor. How many tractors are now totally US made?
The Amerikaan people are totally responsible for the rise of China. They have aided and abetted the corporations who sold them out in exchange for cheap products. We are now waking up to the fact that that comes with a cost. The people who benefitted the most are the ones who are not going to pay the piper.
I refuse to shop at Walmart. If I need a tool or something I try to source it used at a pawn shop. National security is buying local. National security is making sure your neighbors have jobs and successful businesses. Globalization is in now way adding to your National security. Sorry Tom Friedman
If you don’t know who the sucker is…
I don’t think of the Chinese as “viscous” barbarians. I do think in some instances they don’t flow to well. I do see them as “vicious barbarians” .
I do think, as DFT does, that the CCP ie. the Communist regime is a gang of barbarians. I believe it is incumbent on good people everywhere to stand up and oppose gangs of barbarians. It is important to identify the perps and call them on their predations. The entire world has stood by for 70 years and watched China destroy Tibet.
I have no great love for any state but I do recognize there are shades of gray. China is black. It is bent on world domination, first economically then completely.
https://www.thetrumpet.com/13973-china-buys-panamas-largest-port.
The Chinese are in Africa, Central America and South America. They are using USD to buy influence and whole countries.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/nepal-on-its-side-china-now-woos-bangladesh/articleshow/76475086.cms
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/19/economy/china-xi-jinping-africa-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2019/10/03/what-china-is-really-up-to-in-africa/#2eca3c9b5930
I have seen what Chinese domination can do. Tibet is a prime example. The people of Hong Kong are none too happy with CCP domination.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/20/china-unveils-details-of-national-security-law-for-hong-kong.html.
The Chinese have now killed 20 Indian soldiers. There have been skirmishes in Sikkim.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-china-border-latest-news-live-updates-ladakh-galwan-vallen-faceoff-news-6467462/
China knows no borders. It knows only expansion. Then there is Australia.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/28/world/australia/china-spying-wang-liqiang-nick-zhao.html
It is time to wake up to what is happening right before our eyes. It is time to stop supporting our own destruction by buying Chinese crap from corporate pirates like Walmart. It is time to vote with your pocketbook and let the corporations know you know what they are doing to your community.
So I am not fomenting WW3 . WW3 is upon us and it is going largely unnoticed. The alternative is that garden, that farm, everything you think is going to protect you and your grandchildren will be owned by a Chinese company. Tibet was the canary in the coal mine.
I agree that China is definitely in it to win it. They have a 50 year and 100 year plans while our foreign policy is a 5 year plan. They will crush everyone or everything that stands in their way. Your small hobby farms will not go unnoticed forever. I am in agreement with boycotting chinese goods. I had to pay a bit more for my solar panels but it is money well spent to not support China and their virus factories.
China is creating billionaires faster than any other country on earth. The standard of living is rising rapidly. The growth in the GNP is outstanding. They are prospering and have hope for the future. So why gamble it away with foreign adventures?
The Central Committee is likely dominated with old party liners and aggressive newcomers. Maybe they despise wealth and luxury. Maybe they sniff out weakness and attack it automatically. Maybe they see the West as weak and destined to fail.
What totalitarian regimes have in common is they can not gain the respect or support of their people. They have to snuff out the domestic opposition and conquer hostile nations or they perish.
I shall read the book you suggest by Carroll Quigley. I frankly had forgotten about the Walmart-Arkanbsas-Clinton connection. I do remember the GM sell-out. I shall read the vaious links you posted about China in due time.
With regard to China’s influence in the various hemispheres, have you considered the impact of their belt and road initiative? Loans and development projects that leave recipients beholden.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/explainer/what-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative
https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2020/01/29/how-chinas-belt-and-road-became-a-global-trail-of-trouble/#1c773c3f443d
Interestingly, first two hot spots for COVID-19 outside of China (if I’m not mistaken) were the Lombardy region of Italy and the Qom region of Iran, both centers of Belt and Road initiatives, apparently with direct flights to Wuhan. I think the areas of economic cooperation were the leather goods industry in Lombardy region and nuclear industry in Qom. Here in the US, Smithfield foods (pork) is now a wholly owned subsidiary of a Chinese company. In the Midwest, we have witnessed a phenomenon of groups of Chinese people talking into cell phones at farmland auctions and apparently getting instructions on how to bid. It is hard to know because of the language difference but it is quite strikingly out-of-place behavior and they are very determined to have the final bid.
Thank You for your Service. ie. not buying Chinese
I was late teens/early 20’s when seat belt laws went into effect. I remembered a little pushback, but not to the degree of masks. Apparently the pushback was more than I remembered.
https://www.businessinsider.com/when-americans-went-to-war-against-seat-belts-2020-5?fbclid=IwAR20FUUR65B0fKBcKd-bE4iZT3tMXouWuM1kuV4Y7nY8A4rMM2LIepJgkxI