Posts Tagged ‘pandemic’

North America set to experience the greatest decline in economic activity since the days of the Great Depression. Because of declining manufacturing output, banking collapse, astronomical public debt, and an imbalanced world trade system, the world economy is predicted to enter into a depression that makes the last look like a walk in the park. The new adversary, however, is a potential swine influenza pandemic set to stifle world trade even further due to each countries’ respective containment attempts. To make things worse, the United States has initiated a new passport requirement that will cripple the North American economies.

A new passport requirement set by the United States Homeland Security department has been watched very closely by officials and interested laymen for the past few years that will likely make life extremely more difficult for the Canadian economy, but particularly those industries reliant on consumers and tourists from the United States spending their hard earned dollars in the Northern economy at places like Casinos and tourist venues. Indeed, these venues were primarily established to recoup declining revenues generated by a dwindling manufacturing sector.

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The other challenged that has recently presented itself has been the introduction of the Mexican Swine Flu that originated in that country and quickly spread to almost every country in the world. Many countries such as the United States are considering protectionist measures to contain the spread of the virus, and many politicians like Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) has called for closure of the US border until the outbreak is cessated.

“The public needs to be aware of the serious threat of swine flu, and we need to close our borders to Mexico immediately and completely until this is resolved,” Massa said in a statement. “I am making this announcement because I see this as a serious threat to the health of the American public and I do not believe this issue is receiving the attention it needs to have in the news,” Massa said.

The World Health Organisation has repeatedly said, however, that the newly mutated H1N1 virus is not found in pigs – although the animals can be the vessels for the “genetic reassortment” that produces new strains – and that pork meat is safe to eat. Joseph Domenech, chief veterinary office with the UN Food and Agriculture Officer in Rome, said the Egyptian order was “a real mistake”. “There is no reason to do that. It’s not a swine influenza, it’s a human influenza,” he said (WHO, 2009).

The new passport requirement is set to decimate these industries when it comes into effect in June, 2009. Since only 20 to 30 per cent of Americans have valid passports, it is likely that the people who do not have them will not be travelling to Canada or Mexico as previous until they obtain one. The industries currently reliant on Americans travelling to Canada and Mexico for business, tourism, and pleasure purposes will no longer be able to engage in these activities unless they have passports or risk law enforcement sanctions.

As the NY Times reports, the new passport rules brings worry to tourism areas such as Niagara Falls where they say the new rules could discourage millions of visitors from coming to one of the nation’s most majestic and romantic tourist attractions and result in billions of dollars a year in lost revenue (NY times, 2009). Other affected regions of the country going whose tourism industries will likely be decimated will be Windsor, Ontario, and Sarnia, Ontario.

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“I think there will be an impact,” John Winston, general manager of Tourism London, warned yesterday. “It is just another barrier for people to go through if they want to go back to the U.S.” Especially hard hit could be bus tours, which rely on people on moderate incomes and seniors for business, Winston said. The London region relies on the U.S. and other countries for about 12% of its tourism business, he added (Cnews, 2009).

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All signs are pointing to a total economic, political, and social collapse in the United States, but also in Canada once the full effects of the economic crisis spreads to its norther neighbor as the US economy slows to a halt. Since Canada depends mainly on the United States for its economic well being, any kind of economic collapse of the United States would immediately obliterate the Canadian economy. Indeed, during the Great Depression, Canada was affected more negatively than the United States. Canada was hit hard by the Great Depression. Between 1929 and 1939, the gross national product dropped 40% (compared to 37% in the US).

Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the Depression in 1933. Many businesses closed, as corporate profits of $396 million in 1929 turned into losses of $98 million in 1933. Families saw most or all of their assets disappear, and their debts become heavier as prices fell. Canadian exports shrank by 50% from 1929 to 1933. Worst hit were areas dependent on primary industries such as farming, mining and logging, as prices fell and there were few alternative jobs (Wikipedia, 2009).

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Remiscent of proposed border amnesty changes that the Bush administration was trying to railroad down the throat of Congress, the Governor of California stated his opinion voicing opposition to increased immigration and lax border controls. Seeing Mexico is such a drastically different county in terms of social, health, environmental, and economic standards, it is unwise to further open the already porous border that the Amnesty Program would have done. The problem with the current situation is that NAFTA essentially makes the borders extremely porous in both economic and immigration facets.

In the economic area, corporations are allowed to take legal action – potentially overriding sovereign countries’ legal precendents — over their right to profit from that market. In the immigration front, NAFTA, by permitting heavily-subsidized US corn and other agri-business products to compete with small Mexican farmers, has driven the Mexican farmer off the land due to low-priced imports of US corn and other agricultural products. Some 2 million Mexicans have been forced out of agriculture, and many of those that remain are living in desperate poverty. These people are among those that cross the border to feed their families. (Meanwhile, corn-based tortilla prices climbed by 50%. No wonder many so Mexican peasants have called NAFTA their ‘death warrant (Common dreams, 2006).

In a nutshell, NAFTA, the ficticious free trade agreement once labelled as a “new international structure, not simply a trade agreement” by former Secretary of State and murderer, Henry Kissinger, is a method to force countries to lower their standards built up over decades of court and legal struggles. These countries signed up to NAFTA and the World Trade organization are indeed starting to realize the full effects of so called “free trade,” which is in fact a permit to allow countries to dump their slave labor goods on their markets.

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It seems that with all the financial debacles, swine flu pandemic worries, trade imbalances, and the banking failures, that each country is starting to collapse into protectionist measures designed to protect their respective interests. Indeed, as John Raulston Saul mentions in his book, the world is on its way to a collapse of globalism. The past three decades have been marked by unimpressive economic growth and sharply increasing economic inequality, and recent years have seen a marked rise in economic populism, nationalism, and conflict, much of it within states.

Why is this all happening?

To bring about the end to all industrialization and the production of nuclear generated electric power in what they call “the post-industrial zero-growth society”. Excepted are the computer- and service industries. US industries that remain will be exported to countries such as Mexico where abundant slave labor is available. As we saw in 1993, this has become a fact through the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA. Unemployables in the US, in the wake of industrial destruction, will either become opium-heroin and/or cocaine addicts, or become statistics in the elimination of the “excess population” process we know of today as Global 2000 (John Coleman, 2002).

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The recent spread of the potentially pandemic swine flu discovered in Mexico that spread across the world in the past few days could give world governments the ammunition they need to further increase already heightened levels of government intervention in already severely disrupted economic systems caused by the faulty monetary and financial system.

Governments might, in the short run, have an easy alibi to curtail so called free trade flows and other measures which are the last lifeline of the economy and could further degrade slumping trade between countries. Giving credence to the often used mantra that “governments should never waste a good crisis,” this swine flu, the so called war on terror, and the economic and financial collapses certainly give governments an excuse to “use crises to further their agendas.”

The World health organization, an arm of the “unholy trio” of the World Bank, International Monetary fund,. And the World trade organization, has already pushed its doctors to warn governments to contain the spread of this deadly new swine flu that has already claimed the lives of more than 100 people in Mexico and spread to many other countries of the world courtesy of fast human transportation systems.
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World economic markets have already reacted erratically to this news of a potentially new pandemic, and some politicians have already called for closing of borders to stem the spread of it. Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) said the border should be closed until the threat is resolved. “The public needs to be aware of the serious threat of swine flu, and we need to close our borders to Mexico immediately and completely until this is resolved,” Massa said in a statement (The Hill, 2009).

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The problem here is that markets have not had an overly negative reaction to this new swine flu, but if government intervention becomes increased, and likely will, it may cause markets to adverse extremely negatively due to the big hand of government stepping in to destroy markets further than they already have since the economic crisis and the government central bank interventions around the world.

Indeed, public debt has increased exponentially in many countries after all of the easy public money that was dumped into dying markets and companies. Japan had a similar problem in the early 1990s where the government intervened and created “zombie companies” that never recovered.

Also, if we were to see an increase in the severity of this new swine flu, and if it were to increase to a pandemic, analysts say this would cause a repeat of some of the government intrusions that worried many investors last year. From the introduction of controls to contain capital leaving countries, to the nationalizing of banks in the US and the fall of many previously stable companies, we are seeing some nasty government intervention indeed. The swine flu’s economic impact has already been felt in mexico where they saw their peso drop 3 per cent on Monday.
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John Raines, deputy director of political risk at London-based consultancy Exclusive Analysis, said even if swine flu was controlled and no more destructive than the SARS outbreak, it would likely further hit trade particularly in agricultural products.

“At the very least, I would expect them to use it as a way of supporting their domestic pork industries,” he said. “Trade is always the first to go and it is an easy excuse for protectionist measures. But if it became a true pandemic, affecting millions, then all bets are off.”

However, trade restrictions prompted by public health emergencies like the swine flu outbreak are permitted under international law, if they are only maintained as long as necessary, White & Case law partner Brendan McGivern said.

Totally unexpected “black swan” events such as the outbreak of the First World War — when investors suddenly had to adapt to the prospect of global conflict in a matter of weeks — have sometimes prompted draconian intervention and have had a seismic economic impact (Alertnet, 2009).
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Could Plagues Be God’s Punishment?

The Plagues of Egypt (Hebrew: ???? ?????, Makot Mitzrayim), the Biblical Plagues or the Ten Plagues (Hebrew: ??? ?????, Eser Ha-Makot) are the ten calamities imposed upon Egypt by God in the Bible (as recounted in the book of Exodus, chapters 7 – 12), in order to convince Pharaoh to let the poorly treated Israelite slaves go. The Plagues of Egypt are recognized by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

Could the decadence and immorality of the world finally be at a breaking point; so much that plagues and various other so called natural disasters could be on their way to destroy humanity. Indeed, the 10 plagues were not just punishment to the Egyptians. He uses plagues to chasten and discipline people for their disobedience and faithlessness. This is what has happened to the world today.

Indeed, it was Dr. Henry Kissinger who wrote: “Depopulation should be the highest priority of U.S. foreign policy towards the Third World.” “Dr. Henry Kissinger proposed in his memorandum to the NSC that “depopulation should be the highest priority of U.S. foreign policy towards the Third World” (Rense, 2004)

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Will Pandemic Protectionism Kill Off Globalization?

Protectionism is rapidly replacing free trade as the political, if not the economic, orthodoxy. Lord George Bentinck would have loved it (Dizzy was only along for the ride during the Corn Laws debacle, as his subsequent embrace of free trade demonstrated). Globalisation is in retreat. Recessions do funny things like that; and it gets worse as it deepens into full-blown depression, as this crisis will do.

Globalisation has failed. The chief reason for this failure is not the current recession – that is only the occasion – but the neglect of governments around the world to respond to it fiscally and culturally. Now it is too late. Every time demonstrators against foreign contractors appear at factory gates, the local MP has to support them. (Gerald Warner, 2009).

GENEVA — The World Health Organization convened a meeting of an emergency advisory group Saturday to discuss the outbreak of swine flu which has infected people in Mexico and the southwestern United States.

WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan said the group would advise her on whether the worrying disease outbreak, which is reported to have claimed at least 20 lives so far, should be deemed a public health emergency of international concern.

NAPOLITANO SAYS US SHOULD SHOULD PREPARE FOR NEW FLU OUTBREAK SOON EVEN IF THIS ONE FIZZLES OUT (Reuters, 2009).

The world scientific community, including many disease research organizations, and scientific experts have been predicting an over due appearance of a pandemic similar to the Spanish flu and the black plague for many decades now. The former was responsible for the death of some 50 million people worldwide in the first half of the 20th century (1914) and was so deadly that the victims’ corpses were quickly and effectively destroyed due to fears of re-emergence. The death of 50 million people devastated world economies because of both human capital loss, but also mass protectionism due to quarantined borders. A pandemic would deal a major blow to a world economy already knocked into its worst recession in decades by the crisis in financial markets.
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History suggests a new pandemic is long overdue, but has been delayed by accidental discoveries of anti-biotics. Politicians can ignore it, like they are effectively doing concerning the economic crises, but eventually it comes around full force, hitting victims devastatingly hard. The three pandemics of the 20th century were all linked to birds, but the new emerging viral disease has spread to humans, pigs, and other species; effectively crossing species gaps. The worry here is that viruses and bacteria have been quickly adapting to conventional medicine’s arsenal of anti-biotics and anti-virals, respectively.

Countries Prepare for Next Pandemic

The top EU health official urged Europeans on Monday to postpone nonessential travel to the United States and Mexico because of the swine flu virus, and Spanish health officials confirmed the first case outside North America.

When the next influenza pandemic strikes, New Zealand’s borders are likely to be closed to all incoming travellers. The lock may be on for several days, says a pandemic planning guide for businesses. All passengers may be quarantined for at least eight days, says the guide, published yesterday by the Ministries of Health and Economic Development.

The United States, however, has no plans on closing borders for the current bout of swine flu that has infected thousands of people worldwide and killed hundreds. Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) said the border should be closed until the threat is resolved.

“The public needs to be aware of the serious threat of swine flu, and we need to close our borders to Mexico immediately and completely until this is resolved,” Massa said in a statement. “I am making this announcement because I see this as a serious threat to the health of the American public and I do not believe this issue is receiving the attention it needs to have in the news,” Massa said.

It appears as if the cheerleaders of the re-emergence of such a deadly flu similar to those described above is making headway onto the human race. Indeed, academics and scientists such as Dr. Pianka, formerly of Texas University, was a large proponent of the re-emergence of a deadly flu to advocate killing off 90% of the human population in order to save the planet. “He then showed solutions for reducing the world’s population in the form of a slide depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” writes Mims. “War and famine would not do, he explained (WND, 2006).

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It looks as if Dr. Pianka will get his wish, as there are four manifestations, commonly used by God in The Bible, for executing judgment upon people who reject Him and His commandments. These four are: the sword, famine, wild beasts and plague (see Ezek. 14:21). These are repeated over and over and are also mentioned in conjunction with the plagues of Revelation. Humanity has many sins to pay for indeed. The strange thing here is that Dr. Pianka is not the only person or group of people who have advocated for the extermination of a large segment of humanity, or the “useless eaters” as Henry Kissinger was quoted as saying. Henry represents the collective interests of the New World Order chiefly spoken through groups like the Council of Foreign Relations.

A New Plague?

The global pandemics that the 21st century encountered 6-8 years ago such as SARS and the outbreaks of bird flu in China have been the contemporary outbreaks that worried global scientific communities and spurred tremendous amounts of conspiracy theories. Infections like the bird flu encountered in China were suspected as being the proof that the influenza virus was on its way to spreading to humans; crossing the barrier from species to species. Indeed, this was the case with the H5N1 virus that did spread to humans, but was mainly contained in areas like China thanks to quick quarantines. he World Health Organisation has warned that H5N1 could seed a human pandemic that could infect one fifth of the world’s population, and hospitalise 30 million, of whom some 20 per cent would die (WHO, 2006).
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In a strange series of coincidences, President Obama, while visiting Mexico during his trip in April, 2009, came into contact with a man infected with the suspected emergence of the next major flu pandemic spread by contact with swine. Obama was received at Mexico’s anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who died the following day from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported (Bloomberg, 2009).

Pandemics encourage protectionism?

Pandemics, if they were allowed to flourish, would easily do so even easier than the outbreaks of the early 20th century because of the increased mobility of humans. Increasing trade between countries with diverse cultures and standards, courtesy of the so called free trade agreements amorously pushed by the world’s elite, make it easier for people and transport to easily spread disease. To curb outbreaks, governments of the past have utilized border restrictions and outright closures of them to halt outbreaks, but the World Health Organization (WHO) believes there is no need to close Mexican border despite over 1,000 cases of human infections with swine flu registered in the country, Mexico’s health minister said Friday (Xinhua, 2009). The caveat here is that they say this because they do not wish to spur even further protectionism that the financial crisis of late has been encouraging.

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