they are testing HIV treatments because they are antivirals, not because the viruses are particularly similar. HIV causes immunodeficiency. if anything, SARS-CoV-2 does the opposite. the immune response to this coronavirus is commonly too strong and is often the underlying cause of death. this is why some doctors are treating patients with drugs indicated for autoimmune disorders---to stop their immune systems from killing them. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/07/828091467/why-some-covid-19-patients-crash-the-bodys-immune-system-might-be-to-blamein fact, it's believed the same exact mechanism is what killed so many young/healthy people during the 1918 flu: And the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic is thought to have led to deadly cytokine storms in many of the outbreak's otherwise young and healthy victims. viruses are constantly emerging and mutating. without any evidence of lab descent and this vast government conspiracy, occam's razor should apply. If you can find a search engine that stills works. You can find sources which credit the new corona virus with having identical RNA sequences to genetic sequences found in HIV/AIDs. News sources claim this is due to HIV and the corona virus sharing a common virus ancestor:  Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-not-human-made-lab-genetic-analysis-natureIt all depends on whether someone considers the above explanation to be valid or a pseudoscience attempt at applying political spin. The new corona virus attacks the immune system virtually identical to HIV/AIDs. I don't think you're disputing this. It also has RNA sequences virtually identical to HIV/AIDs. This is the reason why initially it was treated with anti HIV/AIDs medication. Those span an amazing sequence of "coincidences" for those that believe in coincidence. You're citing cytokine storms which can be fatal. Immunodeficiency can also be fatal. Both have been exhibited in the new corona virus. And they can both be present simultaneously. |
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I've tried gardening as a hobby. This crisis motivated me to take it more seriously. Along the way I realized some herbs, mushrooms, fruits, vegetables and plants carry natural anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. There is government mandated research claiming some select herbs and mushrooms carry potent anti-viral properties which make them effective in combating corona viruses: The main issue with the herbal approach is DNA testing confirming many supplements advertised to contain "herbal essences" contain ingredients other than what they claim. This is one reason many herbal essence treatments are outright frauds. They do not contain the herbal ingredients on their label. It appears the only reliable method of acquiring herbal ingredients is to grow them or purchase them directly. |
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The downfall of the euro The finance ministers of the Eurozone are negotiating on the implementation of the rescue package agreed two weeks ago. The only problem is that no one seems to know what was actually agreed. The text of the agreement was extremely vague. This is for the simple reason that political cohesion has nearly vanished from the Eurozone. This is extremely troubling, as political will, or cohesion, is the glue that keeps currency unions together. When it disappears, currency unions break apart. That’s the unanimous lesson of previous currency unions. In this blog we detail why the Eurozone has reached its present perilous state, and why it’s unlikely to survive the coming crisis. “The Greeks are coming!” The unfortunate fact is that if European leaders had let Greece fail and the banking crisis run its course in 2011/2012, most of the problems now haunting the Eurozone would, most likely, have been resolved by now. In 2011, the balance sheet of the ECB was practically unimpaired, political cohesion supporting the euro was strong, and the world economy was growing relatively fast—since Chinese stimulus was still effective. Now, seven long years later, the balance sheet of the ECB is distended, European political cohesion is under stress, and global growth is stagnant—with Chinese stimulus impotent. What would have been a regional banking crisis seven years ago has now turned into a monster threatening the whole global financial system. We have described the dire straits of the European banking section in our previous blog. A likely trigger for the next stage of the ongoing Eurozone crisis will be a bank run in some corner of the Eurozone. It may be either silent (through “repo” markets, etc., as in 2008) or more obvious with savers visibly withdrawing their money. If the first significant bank failure occurs in a strong euro member, such as Germany, its initial effects may be contained. But it will breed even greater mistrust of the European banking sector, and, at some point, bank runs will commence on a larger scale and in weaker member states where the outcome will be anything but benign. The options for the euro The European banking union has the resources to handle the failure of few small-to-medium sized banks, but not a “systemically important financial institution” (“SIFI” in Fed language). That’s why the responsibility for bank recapitalization will, once again, fall on national governments. This leads us to the crucial questions determining the fate of the Eurozone, which we outlined in Q-Review 3/2019: - Will the ECB be able to provide support for sovereign bond markets through QE and the banking sector, and will it be enough?
- Will national authorities co-operate and accept the terms associated with possible bailout loans?
- Will national political leaders, in turn, continue to support the euro?
Currently, the ECB is running “unlimited QE”, and so the support for the European sovereign bond markets is in place. This is crucial as many Eurozone countries have a very high sovereign debt burden (see Figure 1).  Figure. The sovereign (public) debt as a share of GDP in selected countries of the Eurozone. Source: GnS Economics, European Commission National authorities have also co-operated and agreed, at least on paper, about bailout loans. How strong the current commitment is remains to be seen. The risk exists that if eventual bailout loans are conditional upon demands for austerity, citizens of bailed-out countries might see EU institutions as oppressors because of such externally-imposed austerity. Citizens of creditor countries, on the other hand, would object to having their taxes used to bail-out banks of other “profligate” countries.
Political mutiny, manifested through radically-populist parties, would almost certainly erupt. Demands for a euro exit, in Italy for example, could lead to a collapse in political support for the euro more broadly.The extremely risky “get-out-of-jail” card If Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, or other “northern” countries agree to significantly increase the budget of the Eurozone in the range of 20%-30% of Eurozone GDP, and to issue Eurozone bonds, they might be able to muster enough firepower to stem the crisis. However, there’s extremely limited support for this in most of the stronger nations, and for good reason, as it would impoverish the whole continent!For example, in Finland there’s absolutely no support for further federalization. The political backlash would likely be overwhelming. Realizing a true federal union without the broad and popular support of the citizens of Europe would also be an extremely risky endeavour. It would also violate the constitutions of many member countries as well as Article 125 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU, or TFEU, setting the stage for an existential constitutional crisis in the EU. That is why this option continues to be a very unlikely outcome. Also, if the ECB and/or national governments suffer losses from their loans to other countries of the Eurozone, this would indicate clear violations of Articles 123 and/or 125. This could also precipitate a constitutional crisis in the European Union and make the recapitalization of the ECB far from certain. The end is near The unfortunate fact is that the European common currency, euro, has been an ill-conceived project from the beginning. If the history of previous failed currency unions teaches us one thing, it’s that you never ever establish a common currency among countries with very different cultural and political backgrounds without a Federation. It’s unfathomable that we need to learn this lesson the hard way, again!
The massive economic blow caused by the Covid-19 will, most likely, bring an end to the euro. This is something we all should acknowledge and prepare for. It will be the biggest financial earthquake ever, requiring some serious hedging and planning. We have outlined such practices in our Crisis Preparation series.To end on a positive note, when the euro is gone, former member economies will be ready to accelerate. It will, naturally, not start for a while, but when many export-dependent nations recover their most important macroeconomic stabilizer—their own currency—this will help foster recovery. And, we should never mourn the passing of those institutions whose time has come! https://gnseconomics.com/2020/04/21/the-downfall-of-the-euro/.... Finally. An economist willing to address the elephant(s) in the room.  Sorry for posting doom and gloom in these stressful times. The main reason behind addressing negatives are in the hope of better information and preparation for future crisis. "An ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure." Knowing history can help prevent bad history from reoccurring. I think its good to have open discussion on these topics. It can be good to have 2nd, 3rd even 4th opinions from different sources to hear different perspectives and views. Yielding more raw information and data to draw conclusions from. Until I saw the chart image posted above, I hadn't realized eurozone nations like greece and germany boast significantly higher debt as a percentage of GDP, in contrast to the USA. I feel like this type of information should have been made public knowledge years ago. That could make it easier to get problems under control. Rather than have them snowball into larger crisis. Anyways I don't know what type of discussion this can contribute to, if any. But here it is if anyone is interested. |
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was the 1918 flu manufactured too? there is a big difference between deliberately manufacturing a crisis, and exploiting an existing one in furtherance of power and financial gain. governments and political elites have a long history of the latter. What would you think if a virus arose. That had all known symptoms of chickenpox while attacking the human immune system virtually identical to HIV/AIDs. If you were a scientist and needed to guess whether this new virus was naturally occurring or human engineered. What would your conclusion be? It might help to think about scientists initially treating the new corona virus with anti HIV/AIDs medication due to it attacking the immune system virtually identical to how HIV/AIDs does. I think it would be accurate and fair to say the new corona virus is like a hybrid between SARS and selective portions of HIV. The SARS portion makes the virus airborne and very infectious while attacking the lungs. The HIV portion attacks the immune system for a two pronged assault. Going on basic science alone, when in history have we encountered something like this? People talk about it as if its the same as the 1918 pandemic. It might be fair & accurate to say the new corona virus is in many ways the complete opposite of the 1918 pandemic. The new corona virus' tendency to attack the immune system leaves patients in a compromised state which makes them more vulnerable to conditions like pneumonia. Which is one of the main reasons why corona is being labeled the cause of death, in circumstances where people die from complications, rather than the virus itself. 100% identical to HIV/AIDs before treatments were developed to contain it. This is a relevent point as we may see the HIV portions of corona naturally breed out of it as time passes -- if it was indeed human engineered. It seems that it will help much if another central concept is clarified:
What exactly is a financial reset? We have already witnessed the initial phases of a financial reset. Post 2008 financial crisis, nations like hungary were depleted and left in dire need of capital. They were bailed out by banks who demanded certain political measures be adopted in exchange for loans. Hungary resented the interference, which later led to them kicking banks out of the country after their 2008 stimulus loans had been repaid in full. Here we see news stories appearing to confirm this: The George Soros foundation says it is being forced to close its offices in Hungaryhttps://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/15/the-george-soros-foundation-says-it-is-being-forced-to-close-its-offices-in-hungary.html2008 wasn't the only time circumstances similar to a financial reset have arisen. There are other examples in history we can draw from. If anyone is interested in walking that road. Which I seriously doubt. There's not much that needs to be said. People will make their choices and there isn't much if anything anyone can do about it. |
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So do you think a crash is coming and would you predict when it would be? Last time it was 18 months (back in 2006) afaik. Real estate prices (and stock/bond markets) won't crash in earnest until central banks like the federal reserve run out of bailout capital. In the united states real estate construction and development has failed to maintain pace with population growth. This has contributed towards real estate being a scarce(r) commodity. This decreased supply in contrast to population drives real estate prices higher. On the opposite end of the spectrum, growing wealth and wage inequality coupled with inflated taxes significantly reduced the number of consumers that can afford to purchase real estate. These conditions represent diminished demand. Which depresses prices downwards. Where these two underlying conditions meet is the point at which the price of real estate is determined. As mentioned the federal reserve has been known to inject trillions of dollars into markets in an effort to stabilize them. 2008 was a prime example of how real estate in subprime mortgage markets carry a potential to damage global markets. Derivatives being tied up in real estate could illustrate how the fed would stabilize those markets to prevent similar disasters. Fed bailouts could be a reasonable solution if the corona virus crisis is averted soon. Over the long term however, it could prove to be insufficient. |
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Those claiming north korea is not an excellent example of socialism. Who told you that. And what made you believe them? Not going to attack anyone for their views. Simply curious as to how people came to be so determined to believe in that perspective.  |
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They say necessity is the mother of all invention. Imagine that you personally have a radical agenda you wish to implement. What is the best method of convincing others to accept your proposal?
Well, it just so happens that the best method of convincing the public to accept extreme solutions(see: agendas) is to create an extreme crisis.
The last 100+ years of history are dotted with extreme crisis that were created specifically to push radical agendas. The war on drugs, the war on terrorism, the war on climate change and global warming. All of these events and more were deliberately manufactured. Utilized to push radical agendas, which force people to accept increasingly worse laws, terms and living conditions.
Just look at how the war on drugs, war on terrorism and the war on corona virus have been used as excuses to push state surveillance while eroding protections relating to newly introduced warrantless searches/seizures.
The corona virus is simply the latest in a long line of extreme crisis' manufactured and deployed to convince the public to accept yet another radical agenda, they wouldn't accept under less severe circumstances.
Those are the basics.
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The media encourages incompetent and irresponsible behavior. It encourages women to cheat on their boyfriends/husbands, sleep around, be irresponsible & disloyal. It reinforces irresponsibility in financial, savings and spending habits.
The media defers blame away from real problems to prevent the public from comprehending real issues. In the way that health insurance is a scapegoat for everything wrong with american healthcare. To truly put "cash hoarding americans damage the US economy" headlines into perspective. One must view it for what it is -- psychological warfare(psyops).
The motive behind illustrating savers in a negative light is to deflect blame away from governments banning non-essential sectors of economies. Otherwise obstructing normal economic activity. Blaming savers instead passes the buck without challenging the popular belief of governments acting strictly in favor of the public good.
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i'm no economics expert either, but my take is that QE is the only way for the market to absorb these bonds at these yields/volumes, so it's just another form of money printing.
I see experts spamming fake news everywhere on this forum. They avoid basic truths such as bonds being as vulnerable to a default as fiat. The perpetual bond proposal was supported by Spain (as far as I know), but since the idea originated from the kitchen of George Soros, perhaps it is not a matter of the idea itself, but of who is behind it. There's a conspiracy theory that says ruling elites like George Soros intend to crash the global economy to create an excuse for a global reset. Under which time they intend to impose their New World Order. Issuing bonds as Soros proposes creates a single point of failure. Which would make it easier to topple global economies. As opposed to more diversified arrangements which could make the task more difficult. |
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NEW YORK, May 7, 2020 : Chiliz ($CHZ: Binance), a leading fintech company in the sports space specialising in blockchain-based fan engagement together with UFC®, the world’s premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation, have announced an exclusive global partnership. Chiliz offers blockchain-based fan engagement solutions for the sports & entertainment industry through their fan voting & rewards app Socios.com, which aims to create a closer connection between fans, their favourite teams, and their favourite athletes. Socios.com has partnered with major soccer clubs including FC Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Atlético de Madrid, Galatasaray, AS Roma, CA Independiente and esports giants OG to produce club-branded digital assets known as Fan Tokens. Using Chiliz $CHZ, the cryptocurrency that powers Socios.com, Fan Tokens can be bought and sold via the app's Marketplace or via the world's first cryptocurrency exchange for sports & entertainment, Chiliz.net. Fan Tokens give the owner the right to vote in club-designated polls and earn once-in-a-lifetime experiences. In the short term, the partnership will enable UFC to tap into a captive audience of enthusiastic sports fans from around the world, creating countless opportunities to grow their brand through promotional activity on the Socios.com platform. The partnership will also enable UFC to capitalise on Chiliz fintech expertise in the sports space, creating further opportunities to grow the UFC brand and increase fan engagement through innovative blockchain, tech, and mobile app solutions. All Fan Token holders, as well as those who own $CHZ, will be able to access UFC-related offers and rewards, including tickets to UFC events or pre-sale access to tickets through this partnership. UFC has made MMA into one of the fastest growing sports in the world and counts in excess of 318 million fans across the globe. Their roster consists of the highest-level MMA athletes including Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Khabib Nuramagomedov, Holly Holm & Amanda Nunes. Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO & Founder of Chiliz & Socios.com, said: “By partnering with Chiliz, UFC now has access to a captive audience of fans from some of the biggest sporting organisations on the planet, creating an unprecedented opportunity to attract new followers. “This exciting partnership is the first major example of how we can use blockchain technology to create incredible engagement opportunities not only for our Fan Token partners, but for other leading enterprises, too. “It’s also a major step forward in our evolution from pioneers in blockchain-based fan engagement to leading the march as a fintech company in the sports space.” Nicholas Smith, UFC Vice President Global Partnerships, added: “Chiliz and Socios.com are industry leaders in blockchain based fan engagement and our two companies share a common philosophy to always ‘be first,’ so we are thrilled to begin this new partnership. UFC continually strives to enhance the fan experience and we are looking forward to working with the team on innovative and unique ways to achieve this goal.” https://www.ufc.com/news/ufc-and-chiliz-announce-global-partnership.... This sounds amazing! The UFC used to do fantasy sports contests where they awarded winners fight gloves and other prizes from their merchandise store. I wonder if we'll see a revamp of that system with crypto awards replacing the physical merchandise they used to offer as prizes. Their platform also supports its own mobile smartphone app which could be used for promotional and social media promotion purposes. The technology seems to have a lot of potential if its utilized and developed properly. As a long time MMA fan I'm excited about this. |
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Trump's handling of the US economy resembles a movie scene where a character is mortally wounded and bleeding out. Their companions say: "don't worry, everything will be ok! Think positive, think positive"! Deep down, I think everyone knows circumstances may not end well. They vaguely resemble a no win scenario. People naturally want to mentally will events to have a positive outcome. And so we have Trump trying to spiritually manifest a positive outcome to what appears to be a disaster in progress.
Many are fond of saying we've never encountered an economic disaster like this, before. On the other hand we've never had so many tools: science, technology and resources available to address a disaster like this either. Economic depression isn't our only option. Perhaps an inverse opposite will occur, where we'll witness a sharp increase in innovation and startups which develop around addressing the pandemic in adjusting to whatever lifestyle best suits it.
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Russia, china, japan and other nations of the world sold off US bonds as america's deficit grew larger. The federal reserve is credited with being the largest holder of US bonds today. Central banks have scrambled over the last 10+ years to repatriate native gold reserves held in trust within the vaults of foreign nations. These events illustrate bond and fiat markets becoming less reliable and robust over time, as deficits grow with increasingly larger mountains of fiat being printed.
Bonds and fiat both being issued by the state, they're dependent upon the credit and balance sheet of governments being solvent. A heavily centralized abstraction with a single point of failure: state budgeting.
An optimal solution may be one of decentralization. Decoupling wealth, finance and economies from the state. In order to isolate wealth and standard of living from hyperinflation and unwanted conditions, in the event of catastrophic failure.
A return to some form of gold backed currency or precious metals would help to mitigate mass destruction of wealth triggered by governments defaulting. Utilizing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies which are isolated to a degree from the policy making and bureaucracy of governments, could be good policy given market conditions.
Hopefully we'll also witness a decline in crypto trading resembling wallstreet in the post halving era. A return to bitcoin's HODL market mechanics roots would be epic.
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The two most polarizing topics here appear to be.
Socialism works in norway
Norway and other examples of socialism working trend towards being smaller nations with lower population densities. Norway for example has a population of around 5 million. By contrast the united states pop is closer to 300 million. There's a question of whether policies which work for smaller nations can be effective for larger ones. Rural and less densely populated regions typically have far lower crime and better health stats in comparison to big cities. The same precedent could apply to norway vs united states analysis.
Equality
Amazon, apple, google and many large tech corporations had humble beginnings as small businesses operated out of a garage on the budget of a college student. Its open to debate as to whether they're prime examples of equality. In terms of anyone having the freedom to start a similar business at the time those corporations were founded. Or whether they're instead symbols of oppression and privilege as is often claimed today by the media.
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Recent research shows that there is an inverse relationship between the percentage of the Tether stablecoin on exchanges and Bitcoin’s price. Recent research shows that there is an inverse relationship between the percentage of the Tether (USDT) stablecoin on exchanges and Bitcoin’s (BTC) price. Cryptocurrency market insights firm Santiment published analysis showing that the percentage of USDT held on exchanges is inversely related to Bitcoin’s price. In a May 4 tweet, the firm noted that the recent correction probably is not a trend inversion in Bitcoin’s movement:  “In spite of the minor $BTC correction over the weekend, prices are beginning to rebound close to $9,000 again. According to our metrics, one thing that is still trending in the right direction is the percent of $USDT on exchanges. As this chart clearly indicates, there is an inverse correlation between Bitcoin's price and USDT's supply on exchanges.” Source: https://twitter.com/santimentfeed/status/1257381863452225537Santiment also explained that since the percentage of USDT held on exchanges is decreasing, Bitcoin could go beyond $9,000 again. Neither Santiment nor Tether answered Cointelegraph’s inquiry as of press time. Stablecoins’ market caps grow As the cryptocurrency market saw a major downturn in mid-March, altcoins saw their market caps grow. Still, as Cointelegraph reported at the time, Tether — the largest stablecoin by total market value — only gained about 0.5% in four weeks, while Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) saw a 40% increase. Furthermore, during the recent Bitcoin’s rise to $9,000 Tether minted over 160 million new tokens within 24 hours in just two transactions. https://cointelegraph.com/news/research-shows-inverse-correlation-between-usdt-on-crypto-exchanges-and-bitcoins-price.... Offering this as a different perspective to "tether is bitcoin market manipulation" pop culture media. I would guess inverse correlations between tether and bitcoin have arisen in the past. None of us pay close enough attention to tether metrics to notice it. Thankfully we have independent firms like Santiment to point these things out. I've always thought the market cap of tether trading volume was too low to account for bitcoin price movements. The real fuel for bitcoin's 2017 ATH may have been provided by cross platform arbitrage. Driven by african and foreign crypto markets trading btc more than 20% higher than market averages in other regions. Just my $0.02. |
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Surprisingly soft piece for zerohedge. Even more surprising was Alex Jones echoing sentiments of the government needing to nationalise and takeover hollywood. The fed's plan to nationalize markets is prone towards common criticisms made on centralization as a design paradigm. Single point of failure. Lack of free market competition. Leading towards industry wide stagnation and government sanctioned monopolies. The opposite of benefits consumers have enjoyed from Intel vs AMD free market competition. I think most support mixed economies. Knowing how circumstances are prone to deteriorate when either public or private sectors become a sole entity of power and authority. Enabling exploitation, abuse and other negative precedents. |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkFZgZ5IjTUAbove is a link to one of the best socialism vs capitalism analysis & breakdown pieces I've had the pleasure of seeing. ^ People have a tendency to approach topics like free markets from rigid textbook definitions. Which do not always parallel the way abstracts apply to real world application. The simplicity and intuitiveness of memes may offer a better framework for analysis. For the same reasons people far and wide across the internet prefer posting memes over dictionary terminology to make points. With the recent economic crisis we are witnessing a resurgence in debate over which systems and formats are best suited to handle the challenging conditions we find ourselves in. And so here is my contribution to the cause.
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Recently I heard some news that countries consider burning oil because there's no more place to store it. If crude oil is burned. It will be for reasons identical to tether destroying $500 million of its own supply in 2018: It represents an attempt to address the supply side of the equation, in an effort to stabilize oil prices. Now that reduced demand has oil prices plummeting. This type of market and price manipulation is common in virtually all markets which exist today. |
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Summary of the story: Met this girl, seems to be interested in me so on and so forth. Number is based in HK but comes from China. Was willing to help me by giving me inside information on investments via cryptocurrency and is willing to walk me through it. If she gave you reliable inside trading information. There's a chance she is affiliated with the chinese crypto mining industry. If traders knew when chinese crypto miners were dumping BTC @ volume and at what price. It would be possible to profit and make money from it. It all depends upon how much risk and capital are required on your part. If its low risk, there is a chance this girl is giving you a good opportunity to make $$. If its high risk then things are different. |
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The US Stimulus - How do you feel about it in general and also in how it is divided?
Do you think more should have gone to small businesses and families/individuals?
Its not a true Economic Stimulus plan. Disaster Relief or Quarantine Support are more accurate descriptions. Grow your own food packages and information kits should be distributed. To encourage decentralization of food processing/production in the event of centralized supply chains becoming infected or shut down. The government could incentivize work from home sectors. Whether the focus is developing new skillsets or job opportunities being available online. A better paradigm shift towards workers better coping with a quarantine environment. It is possible we'll see an emphasis on these trends from the private sector. Which could illustrate positive facets of capitalism, for a change. |
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