Ian Welsh

The horizon is not so far as we can see, but as far as we can imagine

Month: May 2020 Page 1 of 7

May 31st US Covid Data

By

On May 31, 2020

Comments

And the cases and deaths just keep piling up.

The results of the work I do, like this article, are free, but food isn’t, so if you value my work, please DONATE or SUBSCRIBE.

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – May 31, 2020

By

On May 31, 2020

Comments

Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – May 31, 2020
by Tony Wikrent

Here’s video of the first person alleged to have taken a hammer to the AutoZone window, which activists immediately suspected was a provocation. Black gloves, black boots, black clothes (not unkempt like antifa, no offense), nice gas mask. Who is this guy? https://www.facebook.com/juan.conner.58/posts/137533351239840?hc_location=ufi …

Strategic Political Economy

General Electric Co. is turning out the lights on an iconic part of its business.
[Wall Street Journal, via Naked Capitalism Water Cooler 5-28-20]

Trump’s revival of American manufacturing….

“General Electric Co. is turning out the lights on an iconic part of its business. The company is getting out of making lightbulbs…. selling a unit that defined GE for nearly a century and was its last direct link to consumers. The company will sell its lighting business to Massachusetts-based Savant Systems Inc., a seller of home-automation technology in a transaction that values the unit at around $250 million…. That hardly makes the business a financial heavyweight, but the sale is the latest sign of the transformation of the American manufacturing landscape and a big marker in the changes at GE. The company has been selling off industrial units to pare down its debts, making GE smaller but also making it more reliant on an aviation unit that now faces tough prospects under the coronavirus pandemic.”

“What About the Rotten Culture of the Rich?”
Chris Arnade, American Compass, via Naked Capitalism Water Cooler 5-26-20]

“Why isn’t it considered bad behavior to sit in front of a wall of screens filled with flashing numbers making bets on those numbers? Would it attract the cultural scolds if the people making those bets where drinking tall boys in brown bags, rather than sipping bespoke lattes? Why isn’t it considered bad behavior to find a mid sized company, load it up with debt, strip it of its valuable assets, and send jobs overseas to the country with the lowest labor cost and least environmental regulations. All to make yourself rich, while leaving an economic hole in a Michigan town, or a New York town. A hole that sucks out hope, and eventually fills with despair and drugs…. The lesson is that cleverness trumps hard work. That a disregard for the rules trumps playing it straight. That you are a fool to put your head down every day, play by the rules, and focus on a job that values your community and your family. Why toil away at growing food, or building roads, or building bridges, when you can get rich quick by sitting in front of a wall of computers betting on flashing numbers? Why diligently work your way up the corporate ladder when you can smooth talk enough people into lending you enough money to take over the corporation, fire the board, leverage it up with debt, and then dismantle it while pocketing a few billion…. .I hope if we do talk about our broken culture, we talk about the destructive individualism of elites that has led to a selfishness that cares more about profits than the national or community good.”

Does China offer the world more than the US? Asia Times, via Naked Capitalism 5-26-20]

Read More

Summer Covid Prediction +May 30th US Covid Cases

By

On May 30, 2020

Comments

Our benefactor writes:

My prediction is that we will have three million cases and 200 thousand deaths by late July or early August, with occasional spikes and local hot spots. It will become the new normal and will continue through the fall. There may be a spike, but not because of most of the big cities. NOLA has opened restaurants at 25 percent capacity, but that is a really tough arrangement. Most conventions and conferences will be and have already been cancelled through the end of the year. Las Vegas will remain at 25 percent capacity into 2021. This is the new 25 percent economy and a recipe for more unrest.

The results of the work I do, like this article, are free, but food isn’t, so if you value my work, please DONATE or SUBSCRIBE.

Protect Yourself from Retaliation After the Riots

By

On May 30, 2020

Comments

In the years since the Ferguson riots, prominent protesters have been systematically killed. Nobody knows who is killing them, and police somehow can’t catch anyone.

The most likely explanation is that they are being killed by cops.

In New York, the man who filmed the choking death of Eric Garner was repeatedly hassled by cops, and is now in jail.

After the Minneapolis riots, the police will take revenge. If they know who you are, they will come for you. If they can find a way to get you legally, they will. If they can’t, they’ll take care of you anyway.

Fortunately, we are in the age of Covid-19.

WEAR A MASK. During the day, wear shades as well. Do not carry your phone, it is a tracking device which the police can use, retroactively, to see exactly where you were at all times. If you must have a phone, use a burner. If you are going to take pictures and video and upload later, make sure you don’t have people’s identifiable faces in them. Do your research into how to upload data safely, in a way you can’t be identified. To begin with, do NOT use a US-based VPN. I suggest a VPN from an unfriendly country: Vietnam, Russia, whatever.

Also, if you are willing to destroy property, make sure to destroy all surveillance cameras first. Every camera you destroy may save multiple people from jail or death.

Insurrections such as this one come to an end. The cops will want revenge, and they will take it.

Protect yourself.

The results of the work I do, like this article, are free, but food isn’t, so if you value my work, please DONATE or SUBSCRIBE.

May 29th US Covid Data

By

On May 29, 2020

Comments

There is a slight worsening in the rate of new cases. Given the fact that Covid-19 takes time to kill, that will not show yet in the data.

The results of the work I do, like this article, are free, but food isn’t, so if you value my work, please DONATE or SUBSCRIBE.

The Minneapolis Riots

By

On May 29, 2020

Comments

You’ve heard about them, I’m sure. A cop put his knee on a black man’s neck and choked him to death. Took his sweet time about it.

On video.

So, this is clearly murder. There isn’t any question about it. People who understand violence are saying that this is a slow blood choke, which is apparently really painful, so it’s also torture. Floyd wasn’t resisting, and even if he had been you don’t deal with a handcuffed man’s resistance by choking him out. (If you were actually scared, you wouldn’t do it slowly, over six minutes, either.)

As usual, the protest started peaceful, but unlike when white men with assault rifles enter the state capitol, the cops escalated things and pretty soon there was violence and rioting. An entire police station has been burned down (reasonable), a Target looted, etc… (Aside: According to a local, that Target was the store used by the corporation to test all new security measures, and was widely hated.)

The cop who killed George Floyd, Derek Chauvin, and the three cops who sat there doing nothing, have been fired, but not arrested or charged for murder. No one but a cop wouldn’t be charged for murder when there’s a tape of the act, no resistance, witnesses, etc.

The riots are a result of the murder, police provocation, and the lack of an arrest. If the police didn’t want riots they could have arrested Chauvin. If they want them to end, they need to arrest Chauvin. It’s that simple.

Well, and stop the constant beatings and murders of blacks by police; that’s the background of this situation.

Trump, never seeing a situation he couldn’t make worse, has threatened to send in the National Guard and shoot looters.

Alright, enough “background.”

Here’s the simple truth: Academic research shows that riots are actually an effective way to protest. They get results pretty often. The riot was justified and the looting is part of what happens in riots. As long as the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world, an oppressed minority kept down with violence and in poverty, and locks up black men at a ferocious rate, riots will happen because people hate being treated like shit.

My sympathies here are with the protesters primarily, though small shop owners who are looted are also victims. This mess can be stopped any time by arresting Chauvin, so the fact that it is happening is a choice. No justice, no peace.

Note: If you’re protesting in Minneapolis, remember to wear a mask so you don’t get killed afterwards like the Ferguson protestors AND don’t carry your goddamn phone. Don’t take pics of each other either, nor wear real distinctive clothes. It’s AFTER that matters. The cops will hunt you down if they can figure out who you are.

The results of the work I do, like this article, are free, but food isn’t, so if you value my work, please DONATE or SUBSCRIBE.

 

May 28th US Covid Stats

By

On May 28, 2020

Comments

And, we have officially passed 100K deaths in the 50 states.

The results of the work I do, like this article, are free, but food isn’t, so if you value my work, please DONATE or SUBSCRIBE.

May 27th US Covid Data

By

On May 27, 2020

Comments

Our benefactor writes

Lots of headlines that we have reached 100,000 cases. Not if you don’t include Guam, Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Our announcement will be tomorrow. It’s an awful milestone. I expected the mortality rate to start dropping dramatically, given the increases in testing, but that’s not yet happening.

The results of the work I do, like this article, are free, but food isn’t, so if you value my work, please DONATE or SUBSCRIBE.

 

Page 1 of 7

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén