Australia’s princeling of pop was holed up in a hotel in the summer of 2019, preparing for his country’s inaugural season of the “The Masked Singer,” when he started following the world swimming championships. As he watched records fall, Cody Simpson soon found himself focused on one thought:
Why am I not there?
Long before he was a singing sensation with a Barry Gibb falsetto and a huge social-media following, before he became a heartthrob with a top-10 hit, his own fashion doll and a leading role on Broadway, Simpson, 24, was a record-setting schoolboy swimmer in his native Queensland.
Transfixed by the races, he decided it wasn’t too late to resurrect his own Olympic dream when he realized that he was five months younger than the American star Caeleb Dressel, who had just broken a world record held by Simpson’s childhood idol, Michael Phelps.
“I stopped drinking that night and started finding pools the next day,” Simpson said.
Three months later, Simpson would be unveiled as the robot who won “The Masked Singer.” Another year would pass before he made his surprise swimming reveal.
Last month, more than a decade after his previous long-course race, Simpson surpassed the qualifying standard for the Australian Olympic trials in the 100-meter butterfly. He beat the required time at a meet in San Diego organized by David Marsh, a coach with whom Simpson occasionally trains. It was his second competitive outing after less than six months of consistent training, and his second race of the day. He had completed the 200-meter freestyle less than an hour before.
Faster than anybody had anticipated, he had shown his return to swimming was no casual dip.
Simpson, whose career has already included stints as a singer, guitarist, songwriter, dancer, actor, author and model, now is aiming to add 2024 Olympian to his résumé.
“My whole life has been a series of ticking off boxes, putting my whole mind, body and soul into things,” Simpson said in a video interview from his home in Los Angeles.
Simpson was 6 or 7, his mother, Angie, said, when he grandly announced to his grandmother: “I’m going to be famous some day at something. I just don’t know what it is yet.”
Swimming was a safe bet given that his parents had met as elite athletes in the sport. Angie Simpson cracked the top-10 world rankings in the 200-meter breaststroke before tendinitis in both shoulders doomed her hopes of representing Australia at the 1988 Olympics. Cody’s father, Brad, was a member of Australia’s national team.
Cody Simpson was beginning to build his own name in the sport when videos that he had posted to YouTube and Myspace — of himself playing the guitar and singing — led to a trip to America in early 2010. Before his 13th birthday, he was in New York City meeting with executives from Atlantic Records.
On his way, though, Simpson said he and his father stopped in Baltimore to meet with a music producer. While there, he arranged a workout at the pool where Phelps had returned to training after his record eight-gold performance at the 2008 Olympics.
“I remember buying 20 Baltimore caps and making Phelps sign all 20 before practice so I’d have something to give my mates when I got home,” Simpson said. He was more nervous around Phelps that day, he once told his mother, than he was years later when he met U2’s Bono.
Phelps followed Simpson’s singing career from afar, as did his coach, Bob Bowman, who recalled stepping inside a Whole Foods one day and seeing a display of CDs with Simpson on the cover near the checkout counter.
“I remember thinking, ‘That kid actually did OK,’” Bowman said.
The lifestyle of a musician, though, was not harmonious with competitive swimming. But Simpson never quite shook the sport out of his hair during his teenage years, which passed in a blur of promotional and touring stops and included a Billboard top-10 album in 2013 and a 2014 appearance on “Dancing With the Stars.”
Simpson’s 2018 departure from Atlantic Records placed him back on his own path. He formed his own recording label, Coast House Records, and joined the Broadway cast of “Anastasia the Musical” for a six-month stint. After publishing a book of poetry, he saw a return to swimming as the next logical step, a chance to refocus on the Olympic dream he had set aside years ago.
“I love the music industry very much, and I’ll continue to be a musician long into my life,” Simpson said, “but it’s not as pure of a pursuit as sport, which just comes straight down to the clock.”
Since June, Simpson has been training under Brett Hawke, a two-time Australian Olympian. “I just didn’t know whether he honestly really knew what he was getting himself into,” Hawke said. “Being a swimmer at the age of 12 is completely different from trying to take on the best in the world at age 23. But I’m not a dream killer.”
At their first practice together, Hawke put Simpson through a grueling 90-minute workout and then surprised him with a timed 200 butterfly. When an exhausted Simpson gutted out the swim, he had passed Hawke’s test. Since then, he has trained in pools in Southern California and in Florida without lines on the bottom or starting blocks, hopscotching counties and even states to find facilities that haven’t been shut down by coronavirus restrictions.
“I’ve thrown up at multiple pools so far,” Simpson said with a laugh.
One day, according to his mother, Simpson dreams of a double not even the versatile Phelps attempted: singing the national anthem at the start of a meet and then stripping down to his suit to compete. But that day remains a ways off. In October, Simpson entered his first meet and swam a 200 freestyle. “I broke out in hives I was so stressed,” he said.
Simpson remembered feeling the same way in his 2018 Broadway debut.
“And I just remember how by closing night, after having done the show 130-something times, I was absolutely soaring, no nerves whatsoever,” he said. “That’s what I figure it’s going to take in swimming — 130, 140 races before I can get up without fear and just do it.”
Hawke routinely creates racing opportunities for Simpson, who did the interview for this article after returning home from a practice that had included a timed swim. Plunging into the pool behind the 2016 Olympian Jordan Wilimovsky, he had sprinted to catch and pass Wilimovsky over the last 200 yards of a timed 1,000-yard swim.
“I was nervous all day because I cared how I did,” Simpson said.
Simpson has received encouragement from Phelps, to whom he sends videos of his swims. Phelps replies with tips on stroke technique and race strategy.
“I think his mind is truly like a swim nerd’s,” Phelps said.
Simpson is also in regular contact with Ian Thorpe, a five-time Olympic gold medalist and former rival of Phelps, who made a pitch-perfect observation recently about stroke rate. He told Simpson that during difficult training sets he would often imagine that his hands were like a kick drum and his feet were like a snare and that he was playing drums with his stroke.
“That’s so cool,” said Simpson, who soaks up the feedback and delights in each small milestone, like covering 25, then 50, and now 75 yards underwater using only the dolphin kick.
When he clocked 54.91 seconds to beat the Olympic trials qualifying standard in the 100 butterfly by almost two seconds, Simpson said he felt the same sense of satisfaction as when he won “The Masked Singer.” He had succeeded not because of his looks, reputation or connections, but on the strength of his talent.
Simpson knows he has a lot of ground to make up. The Australian record in the 100 fly is 50.85. Dressel’s world record is 49.50.
“I’m ambitious, but I’m not a crazy person,” Simpson said. “I know what I’m up against.”
Australia’s princeling of pop was holed up in a hotel in the summer of 2019, preparing for his country’s inaugural season of the “The Masked Singer,” when he started following the world swimming championships. As he watched records fall, Cody Simpson soon found himself focused on one thought:
Why am I not there?
Long before he was a singing sensation with a Barry Gibb falsetto and a huge social-media following, before he became a heartthrob with a top-10 hit, his own fashion doll and a leading role on Broadway, Simpson, 24, was a record-setting schoolboy swimmer in his native Queensland.
Transfixed by the races, he decided it wasn’t too late to resurrect his own Olympic dream when he realized that he was five months younger than the American star Caeleb Dressel, who had just broken a world record held by Simpson’s childhood idol, Michael Phelps.
“I stopped drinking that night and started finding pools the next day,” Simpson said.
Three months later, Simpson would be unveiled as the robot who won “The Masked Singer.” Another year would pass before he made his surprise swimming reveal.
Last month, more than a decade after his previous long-course race, Simpson surpassed the qualifying standard for the Australian Olympic trials in the 100-meter butterfly. He beat the required time at a meet in San Diego organized by David Marsh, a coach with whom Simpson occasionally trains. It was his second competitive outing after less than six months of consistent training, and his second race of the day. He had completed the 200-meter freestyle less than an hour before.
Faster than anybody had anticipated, he had shown his return to swimming was no casual dip.
Simpson, whose career has already included stints as a singer, guitarist, songwriter, dancer, actor, author and model, now is aiming to add 2024 Olympian to his résumé.
“My whole life has been a series of ticking off boxes, putting my whole mind, body and soul into things,” Simpson said in a video interview from his home in Los Angeles.
Simpson was 6 or 7, his mother, Angie, said, when he grandly announced to his grandmother: “I’m going to be famous some day at something. I just don’t know what it is yet.”
Swimming was a safe bet given that his parents had met as elite athletes in the sport. Angie Simpson cracked the top-10 world rankings in the 200-meter breaststroke before tendinitis in both shoulders doomed her hopes of representing Australia at the 1988 Olympics. Cody’s father, Brad, was a member of Australia’s national team.
Cody Simpson was beginning to build his own name in the sport when videos that he had posted to YouTube and Myspace — of himself playing the guitar and singing — led to a trip to America in early 2010. Before his 13th birthday, he was in New York City meeting with executives from Atlantic Records.
On his way, though, Simpson said he and his father stopped in Baltimore to meet with a music producer. While there, he arranged a workout at the pool where Phelps had returned to training after his record eight-gold performance at the 2008 Olympics.
“I remember buying 20 Baltimore caps and making Phelps sign all 20 before practice so I’d have something to give my mates when I got home,” Simpson said. He was more nervous around Phelps that day, he once told his mother, than he was years later when he met U2’s Bono.
Phelps followed Simpson’s singing career from afar, as did his coach, Bob Bowman, who recalled stepping inside a Whole Foods one day and seeing a display of CDs with Simpson on the cover near the checkout counter.
“I remember thinking, ‘That kid actually did OK,’” Bowman said.
The lifestyle of a musician, though, was not harmonious with competitive swimming. But Simpson never quite shook the sport out of his hair during his teenage years, which passed in a blur of promotional and touring stops and included a Billboard top-10 album in 2013 and a 2014 appearance on “Dancing With the Stars.”
Simpson’s 2018 departure from Atlantic Records placed him back on his own path. He formed his own recording label, Coast House Records, and joined the Broadway cast of “Anastasia the Musical” for a six-month stint. After publishing a book of poetry, he saw a return to swimming as the next logical step, a chance to refocus on the Olympic dream he had set aside years ago.
“I love the music industry very much, and I’ll continue to be a musician long into my life,” Simpson said, “but it’s not as pure of a pursuit as sport, which just comes straight down to the clock.”
Since June, Simpson has been training under Brett Hawke, a two-time Australian Olympian. “I just didn’t know whether he honestly really knew what he was getting himself into,” Hawke said. “Being a swimmer at the age of 12 is completely different from trying to take on the best in the world at age 23. But I’m not a dream killer.”
At their first practice together, Hawke put Simpson through a grueling 90-minute workout and then surprised him with a timed 200 butterfly. When an exhausted Simpson gutted out the swim, he had passed Hawke’s test. Since then, he has trained in pools in Southern California and in Florida without lines on the bottom or starting blocks, hopscotching counties and even states to find facilities that haven’t been shut down by coronavirus restrictions.
“I’ve thrown up at multiple pools so far,” Simpson said with a laugh.
One day, according to his mother, Simpson dreams of a double not even the versatile Phelps attempted: singing the national anthem at the start of a meet and then stripping down to his suit to compete. But that day remains a ways off. In October, Simpson entered his first meet and swam a 200 freestyle. “I broke out in hives I was so stressed,” he said.
Simpson remembered feeling the same way in his 2018 Broadway debut.
“And I just remember how by closing night, after having done the show 130-something times, I was absolutely soaring, no nerves whatsoever,” he said. “That’s what I figure it’s going to take in swimming — 130, 140 races before I can get up without fear and just do it.”
Hawke routinely creates racing opportunities for Simpson, who did the interview for this article after returning home from a practice that had included a timed swim. Plunging into the pool behind the 2016 Olympian Jordan Wilimovsky, he had sprinted to catch and pass Wilimovsky over the last 200 yards of a timed 1,000-yard swim.
“I was nervous all day because I cared how I did,” Simpson said.
Simpson has received encouragement from Phelps, to whom he sends videos of his swims. Phelps replies with tips on stroke technique and race strategy.
“I think his mind is truly like a swim nerd’s,” Phelps said.
Simpson is also in regular contact with Ian Thorpe, a five-time Olympic gold medalist and former rival of Phelps, who made a pitch-perfect observation recently about stroke rate. He told Simpson that during difficult training sets he would often imagine that his hands were like a kick drum and his feet were like a snare and that he was playing drums with his stroke.
“That’s so cool,” said Simpson, who soaks up the feedback and delights in each small milestone, like covering 25, then 50, and now 75 yards underwater using only the dolphin kick.
When he clocked 54.91 seconds to beat the Olympic trials qualifying standard in the 100 butterfly by almost two seconds, Simpson said he felt the same sense of satisfaction as when he won “The Masked Singer.” He had succeeded not because of his looks, reputation or connections, but on the strength of his talent.
Simpson knows he has a lot of ground to make up. The Australian record in the 100 fly is 50.85. Dressel’s world record is 49.50.
“I’m ambitious, but I’m not a crazy person,” Simpson said. “I know what I’m up against.”

For the full article with sources, links, pictures, graphs, and tweets (3 clicks as is required by the owner of this subreddit) click ViralTexas here or on related subreddits then click the stickied thread titled:
(Jan.18-24) Covid's high-water mark begins to ebb amid a hurricane of death
The Virus Atmosphere
Covid hospitalizations in Texas finally appear to have peaked and begun to recede. On January 18th 13,928 people were hospitalized with covid. By Sunday the 24th, that number fell to 12,899 with 721 remaining ICU beds in the state, the most since late 2020. At least 50 Texas ICU’s have been operating at over 100% reported capacity for weeks.
Texas hit a new record high of single day reported deaths with 450 reported Wednesday. This is being referred to locally as Benghazi times one hundred and twelve.
17/22 TSA’s remain above the 15% covid patients of total hospital capacity threshold set by Governor Abbott to create an illusion that his executive orders were not actually solely designed to prevent lockdowns and protect businesses.
The NYT reports new cases in Texas are down -16% in the last two weeks. Though we know this is a completely unreliable metric since the state is still not reporting antigen tests for the majority of Texas’ population. We’re still mostly flying blind. California has now reported 21 million more PCR tests than Texas. New York has reported 12 million more.
Deaths have not come down and are not expected to for several weeks. The NYT tracker shows a +36% increase in covid deaths in Texas over the last two weeks. The PCR test positivity rate hung around 16.5% all week, mostly unchanged from the previous week then dropping a full percent on Sunday.
The new director of the CDC said to expect half a million American covid deaths by mid-February. It was reported on Jan 20th that 100,000 Americans had died of covid-19 in the previous 36 days. The U.S. is currently over 425,000 covid fatalities and Texas is at 35,000.
Print this one out and frame it, America’s covid hospitalizations have fallen way down to be at only 2x the late July hospitalizations.
1,713,000 vaccination doses have now been administered in Texas - consisting of 1,459,293 single doses and 254,687 people fully vaccinated. This is roughly 400,000 new injections reported over the week, a drop in injections from the previous week.
Dr. David Lakey, former Texas Commissioner on Health and vice chancellor for health affairs and chief medical officer of the University of Texas System, predicts that Texas will not enter the next phase of public vaccinations until early summer.

This is a very tough situation. Right now, the state of Texas gets about 330,000 doses per week, but we have 30 million Texans. So that 330,000 doses is not what we need. 

As the chart below shows; California has now administered half a million more doses than Texas despite pausing on hundreds of thousands of their Moderna vaccines and Florida and New York have nearly caught up to us.
It was reported that children now account for 1/5 new covid cases in El Paso as they returned to in-person classes Thursday.
Houston had to clear out two nightclubs for repeatedly exceeding covid capacity restrictions despite having used Governor-King McDeathRiddle’s legal trickery to turn into a fake restaurant to get around shutting down. The clubs are considered not a bar because 51%+ of their revenue comes from ticket sales.

“Pena said once everyone was cleared out, they did give the club the option to reopen at proper capacity, but the owners decided not to.“ 

Half credit to Mayor Turner. Legitimate restaurants should not actually be open at this time. TABC then suspended liquor permits for Grooves, Cle, and Spire.
A third of coronavirus hospitalized patients are showing back up at the hospital within five months.
Scientific American put out a good read on how covid can cause forgetfulness, psychosis, mania, stutter, and other persistent neurological symptoms. The Atlantic also had a good one about how we need to vaccinate kids in order to reach herd immunity. The current vaccines were not tested on anyone below age 16.
A new study by researchers from the University of Georgia published in the journal Viruses found that mice that contract covid through their nasal passages developed a covid infection able to hide in their brains and develop reoccurring severe illness after the virus was no longer detectable in their lungs.

The study found that the virus was located in the brains of mice at a level 1,000 times higher than any other area of the body. 

Taking this to its logical conclusion we will soon begin wearing noseplugs under our masks. Or perhaps nose-breathing elitists will now be filtered out of the human gene pool and mouthbreathers will inherit the Earth.
Many patients who suffered mild initial virus symptoms are beginning to turn up with debilitating ‘ post-covid-acute syndrome’ months later. The CDC reports that up to 35% of those infected endure symptoms lasting beyond three weeks.
New research out of Oxford University found that indoor speaking spreads covid just as easily as coughing.
The Governor held a presser midweek in Houston to tout how great he’s doing on vaccines and he excluded Mayor Turner and Judge Hidalgo from the briefing. He later announced he was deploying more medical personnel and equipment to Laredo, which has one of the worst outbreaks in the world.
13-year-old Alina Valenzuela, who had no known pre-existing conditions, is now on life support in Houston after suffering covid induced cardiac arrest. She has gone through two heart surgeries in just the last few days to install a heart pump then a stint.
It was reported that an anti-vaccine group surely sarcastically named the“Informed Consent Action Network” based in Austin was among five other anti-vax organizations that received over $850,000 in PPP covid relief funds.

“The Austin-based nonprofit has more than 43,000 followers on Facebook and regularly posts information questioning the safety of the coronavirus vaccines.“ 

Evidence suggests covid reinfection is more likely with the new variants, particularly the Brazil (P1) variant after a huge resurgence of the outbreak in Manaus which had previously attained herd immunity. Meanwhile, the South African variant shows resistance to antibodies gained from earlier covid infections.
British PM Boris Johnson held a news conference with UK Chief Science Advisor Patrick Vallance on the 22nd and said he now has evidence that not only is the UK variant more transmissible, it is also more lethal. So it’s just great that we’re still importing it.
Another new American covid variant was discovered in Los Angeles over the week. A separate variant was previously detected in Ohio.
Houston lit up in amber the city hall, the airports, and many places downtown to honor the memory of covid victims.
Some notable Covid fatalities over the week include;
Interview legend Larry King.

"For 63 years and across the platforms of radio, television and digital media, Larry's many thousands of interviews, awards, and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster." 

Louis Ayala of Fort Worth, the oldest barber in Texas, died after contracting covid and pneumonia.

"That's the hard part is, him being a statistic. With all the doubters out there that this disease is a hoax or fake or whatever, it is real. It's real tough and hit our family," said Ayala's son Sam. 

The Baylor University community is mourning the loss of 21-year-old graduate student Alicia Martinez. Alicia earned an Associate’s degree before graduating high school and was the captain of her robotics team for two years.

“Alicia was a bright light who deeply impacted our Grassroots family through her passion and enthusiasm,” Jones said. “Her openness put others quickly at ease and ensured that you felt like you really knew her moments after meeting her. Alicia’s critical thinking and poignant question asking pushed me to stretch, grow, and become a better supervisor because of my relationship with her.” 

The Political Atmosphere
In a shocking development to absolutely nobody, multiple of the celebrity douchelords pictured here unmasked and enjoying each other’s point-blank indoor lung exhaust have tested positive for covid-19. This resulted in the cancellation of Dave Chappelle’s remaining Austin shows.
Actually shocking however was Texas’ most powerful criminal/cop Ken Paxton, who did not receive his expected reciprocal pardon from the outgoing criminal president*. This sent a glorious sound echoing through every canyon and holler across Texas.
After enormous state government republicans threats, Dallas County officials including Judge Clay Jenkins decided not to risk their entire vaccine allotment by prioritizing black and brown communities at increased vulnerability of covid.
More neo-nazi insurrectionists were arrested in Texas over the week for their part in the January 6th attack.
Protestors left coffins in Ted Cruz’s yard with the names of the five who died in the attack.
Governor Abbott feigned hardcore outrage and threats at the Pentagon over the National Guard troops he sent being screened at the Capitol ahead of the Biden inauguration.
The most offensive thing he’s ever heard? The lady doth protest too much, methinks. 12 National Guards did end up being removed from the Capitol prior to the inauguration. He really didn’t want those soldiers to be screened for extremism for some weird reason. I can’t think of many reasons why he would be screeching at the Pentagon not to screen them. Either, he has become a very emotional lawyer and despite not giving a single fuck about the pandemic he developed deep and profound concerns for the dignity of Texans, or maybe, just maybe, ol Greggo was hoping to send a few extremists. If you know of a better explanation for this insane behavior, please share it with me.
Speaking of Texan extremists who were present on January 6th at the Capitol attack and broadcasting for profit, Alex Jones can be sued into oblivion now that the Supreme Court of Texas found that Infowars is subject to liability in four separate defamation suits filed mostly for him lying on-air about school massacres and calling grieving parents of dead elementary students “crisis actors”.
Sorry Alex, this
is not a valid legal defense in the state of Texas.
Thanks for reading. Consider tossing a donation to ICNA Relief, the First Nations Development Institute, or the Texas Civil Rights Project and while you’re here please help me out and share it.

BMO
Many Authors
December 23rd, 2020

• Sometimes the stars align, and everything just goes right—then there is 2020. After a year in which very little went right, perhaps it’s encouraging that Jupiter and Saturn moved into alignment late in December. Apparently, the conjunction between the two planets on Monday—also the Winter Solstice—was the closest in almost 800 years. But that’s not a key plank in our above-consensus call for the global and Canadian economy in 2021. We believe that there are many, more compelling, signposts that activity is coiling for a powerful rebound in the coming year after an incredibly challenging spell.

From Pandemic to Pandemonium?

• The global economy is expected to rebound 5.5% in 2021, and then advance another 4.0% in 2022, after plunging 4.0% this year. To put those figures into some perspective, the prior worst recorded year in the post-war era had been a drop of ‘just’ 0.1% in 2009, while a typical year for the world economy in recent times would see growth something just a bit above 3%. A keen observer would note that even with our call of a strong rebound in the coming two years that the level of activity would still be well below its underlying trend by the end of 2022. Part of that shortfall reflects the simple fact that some of this year’s loss on spending in the service sector—such as on travel, entertainment, restaurants—may never be recouped.
• ​

Chart 1 - Global Growth

• The other part of the shortfall, though, may also suggest that even our relatively upbeat view on the next two years is actually understating the potential for growth to snap back. Insofar as vaccines are rolled out effectively, and there is a strong take-up, there is a case to be made that we are underestimating growth in the second half of next year and into 2022. Incredibly supportive fiscal and monetary policies, robust financial conditions (i.e., lofty asset prices), heavy-duty pent-up demand, and the build-up of excess household savings in many economies point to the possibility of a serious burst in spending later next year.
• China serves as a clear example of how forcefully things can bounce back as conditions return to something approaching normality. Both retail sales and industrial production have carved out nearly a perfect V-shaped recovery in the world’s second largest economy. Famously, it will thus be one of the few nations to post any growth this year; some of the other lucky few will include Taiwan, Vietnam and Ireland. We look for China to build on this year’s constrained 2% rise with a robust 8% surge in 2021, before easing back to a more trend-like 5% in the following year. The three-year average growth rate of about 5% will pale only somewhat compared with the pre-virus trend of just over 6%. The sturdy rebound is a major reason why non-oil commodity prices—particularly base metals—have seen such a remarkably fast recovery even amid the deepest global downturn in decades.
• One implication of the relatively robust recovery in commodity prices, as well as the deep dive in interest rates and strong financial markets, is that emerging markets held up relatively well overall. Despite a vicious drop in global GDP and the wild financial market turmoil in the spring, most emerging market economies avoided the worst. While there were some very specific cases of financial strains—Turkey—most were able to slash borrowing rates, capital flows resumed after a brief stall, and currencies began to recover as the U.S. dollar faded through the second half of the year. This is not to minimize the severe challenges many emerging economies face, especially those heavily reliant on tourism. But, the resiliency of the developing world and a crisis averted on this front is a case of the dog that didn’t bark.
• In the advanced economies, sectors that were able to reopen did see a rapid V-shaped recovery in Q3 from the spring shutdowns, and that provides comfort for the call for strong gains in 2021. However, large portions of the economy have still been left behind, and the furious second wave has seen broadening and deepening restrictions across much of the OECD more recently. Amid the patchwork of varying measures, it’s incredibly difficult to assess the economic damage from the second-wave containment steps. It appears that financial markets are all but ignoring the mounting bad news and focusing on the post-vaccine world. But that doesn’t get around the fact that we are about to face a wave of tough economic statistics in coming weeks, most likely including an outright drop in European GDP in Q4, and a near-miss in other economies.
• The Euro Area and the U.K. are going to report some of the biggest economic declines in the world for 2020, owing to both their especially challenging experience with the virus but also due to a heavy reliance on the service sector (notably tourism). The flip-side is that these economies may also be poised for the biggest snapbacks. After a near-7% drop in the Euro Area, we look for a 5.5% rebound in the coming year, and then a 3% advance in 2022. The U.K. was hit even harder with a massive 10.5% setback this year, with Brexit uncertainty weighing on top of everything else. With a trade deal with the EU hanging in the balance, a partial recovery is still likely in 2021. (On a technical note, the dive in U.K. GDP appears to be exaggerated by an unusually large reported drop in government spending, which may also set the stage for an unusually big rebound in 2021.)
• Elsewhere, Japan saw a somewhat lighter hit than other major developed economies with a drop of just over 5% this year—everything is relative—even though it entered the year already in recession after 2019's sales tax hike. Given that nation’s weak underlying growth and a milder setback in 2020, we expect a more modest 3.5% recovery in 2021, even with the delayed Tokyo Olympics. Australia also was relatively less hard-hit, despite the massive wildfires at the start of the year, a one-sided trade fight with China, and a strong lockdown in Victoria. While the RBA is trying to hold it back, the Australian dollar is now up more than 10% from a year ago and not far from parity with the loonie at around 76 cents(US).
• When the final numbers are in for 2020, one truly unusual development (among the many) is that the U.S. economy is likely to print one of the smallest declines in the advanced world. We have chopped this wood before, but the short story is that the U.S. benefited from some of the strongest policy medicine in the world as well as its outsized tech sector. However, we also have to point out that restrictions were relatively light in the U.S. compared to others—even now, with some of the highest virus caseloads in the world on a per capita basis—and thus the direct economic hit was lighter. As the year draws to a close, the new round of fiscal support of $900 billion (or a hefty 4% of GDP), including direct payments of $600 per individual, awaits the President's support. If enacted in a timely fashion, this could add to our upgraded call of 4.5% GDP growth for next year; we have also bumped up our 2022 call by half a point to 3.5%. Yes, one could say that the vaccine has moved the needle on growth, pardon the awful pun.
• We have also tweaked our call on Canadian growth over the next two years. However, unlike the U.S., this revision is not one-sided to the high side. Full disclosure, we have been relentlessly on the high side of consensus for more than six months now, and remain there even with these revisions. Still, the deepening restriction measures in Canada, with the clear prospect of more in coming weeks—including new school closures in some provinces—have prompted us to trim our Q1 call to close to zero. Even with a stronger second-half rebound, courtesy of the vaccine (first injection just this week in Canada as well), this will clip the full-year estimate for GDP growth by half a point to 5.0%. But, at the same time, we are also lifting the view on 2022 on the upbeat vaccine developments by half a point to a sturdy 4.5%, leaving activity at the same spot as we had expected before by the end of that year. While we have trimmed our 2021 call, note that the risks appear evenly balanced; that is, there is still some serious upside risk to this forecast, and the recent strength in commodity prices, and financial markets in general, are certainly pointing in that direction.
• Beyond the growth outlook, of course there are many, many other economic issues and concerns swirling in this tumultuous environment, which are mostly covered in the following Thoughts. But one pressing question we have fielded almost since the first days of the pandemic response is whether there is a risk that inflation could return amid the tidal wave of stimulus. These concerns may well grow louder in the coming year, especially if growth comes close to the upside possibilities. And the Fed has essentially told us that they will tolerate a bout of above-target inflation. As if on cue, Canada printed a high-side surprise for CPI of 1.0% y/y in November, and the spurt in oil to $49 points to further headline pressure. But also note that Japan, China and the Euro Area are all still posting outright declines in headline prices, while core inflation is effectively stuck in neutral in North America. Ultimately, while the tail risks for inflation have fattened, we believe that even in a world of a potentially rapid recovery, overwhelming slack in many sectors, and an overhang of unemployment for years, any burst in headline inflation will simply not be sustained.

U.S. Economy: Cheers to a Healthier Year

• Following the worst year since 1946, the U.S. economy can only do better in 2021: the question is how much better? With the pandemic raging and Congress wrangling, the new year is likely to come in like a lamb, but it should go out like a lion as mass inoculations pave a return to near-normalcy.
• With a second wave of the coronavirus now topping the first in daily caseloads and fatalities, more states are curbing business activity; mostly indoor dining, bars, gyms and some close-contact services. While the constraints are a pale imitation of the spring shutdowns—when factories and schools were shuttered—they could still cause the recovery to grind to a halt for a few months. Thankfully, Congress has passed another stimulus bill of around $900 billion that will extend support programs for the unemployed, assistance to small businesses, and moratoriums on tenant evictions. Though pending sign-off by the President, the bill will avert the loss of extended UI benefits for more than 12 million Americans, which would have sliced annual personal income growth by roughly 4 ppts in Q1. Instead, incomes will enjoy a nice pop from $600 rebates, allowing spending to avoid starting the new year like the last one, in a deep hole that it needs to climb out of.
• Once we get past the turn of the year the COVID clouds will begin to part. The vaccine rollout will gradually put an end to the restrictions on activity, while slowly unleashing a year’s worth of pent-up demand for travel, indoor dining, and entertainment. The willingness to spend will be matched only by the ability to shop, as a mountain of excess savings (estimated at over 6% of annual GDP) has accrued during the pandemic. At the same time, rising equity and home values are padding household wealth, another source of spending. Low interest rates will support mortgage refinancings and household borrowing, driving a 5%-plus rebound in consumer spending in 2021. While home sales are likely to slip from recent 14-year highs, the housing market should remain strong. Home prices should keep rising and residential construction will stay firm amid the tightest resale markets on record and a potential upturn in immigration under a Biden presidency.
• Powered by the need to expand digital platforms for customers and workers, business spending has rebounded sharply, and will receive an extra lift in 2021 from rising commercial structures beyond the already-ample need for industrial and warehouse space. Multi-family housing in major cities will get relief from easing pandemic anxiety, allaying recent downward pressure on rents, notably in San Francisco and New York. But don’t expect office construction to return to pre-virus levels, as a partial shift toward remote work will reduce long-term demand. Some office buildings will need to be repurposed along multi-channel lines for working, living, and shopping including online fulfilment. Slower to return will be bricks-and-mortar retail, as millions of converts have taken the online route during the pandemic—e-commerce generated 14.3% of U.S. retail sales in the third quarter, up 3 ppts from late last year.
• The economy is expected to grow 4.5% in 2021, the best year since the 1999 tech boom. The jobless rate should fall from 6.7% currently to 5.3% by year-end, though it could take until 2023 to fully recover the initial 22 million plunge in payrolls. The range of uncertainty around our forecast remains wide. Major downside risks include possible glitches in the vaccine rollout, an adverse mutation of the virus, and the unwinding of fiscal support in the spring. One threat we probably won’t need to worry about is a spike in inflation (and interest rates), given the dynamic duo of lofty unemployment and advanced automation. More likely is a correction in asset prices if they run too far ahead of fundamentals. Unlike in 2020, however, there’s also substantial upside for the economy. A smoother rollout of vaccines could lead to early herd immunity. As well, consumers could simply “let loose” after spending a year in COVID prison. A Democrat sweep of the two Senate runoff seats on January 5 would also usher in more fiscal stimulus and a wave of new spending on infrastructure, education, housing, child care and the environment, with some offset from higher corporate income taxes and tighter regulations. The only certainty about the coming year is that it won’t be boring—though we could stand for much less excitement than the past year.

Fed Policy and U.S. Rates Outlook

• We look for the Federal Reserve to remain steadfast as 2021 unfolds, maintaining a policy bias to increase accommodation further if necessary, particularly during the first third of the year as surging COVID-19 cases and consequent increases in business and social restrictions weigh on economic growth.
• On December 16, the FOMC repeated that it would maintain the 0%-to-0.25% fed funds target range “until labor market conditions have reached levels consistent with the Committee’s assessments of maximum employment and inflation has risen to 2 percent and is on track to moderately exceed 2 percent for some time”. But, it committed more concretely to “continue to increase its holdings of Treasury securities by at least $80 billion per month and of agency mortgage-backed securities by at least $40 billion per month until substantial further progress has been made toward the Committee’s maximum employment and price stability goals”, compared to the prior looser commitment to purchasing “over coming months… at least at the current pace”.
• This more accommodative policy step was not as big as it could have been (e.g., increasing the pace and/or weighted-average-maturity of purchases), likely reflecting the FOMC’s upgraded medium-term economic outlook (thank you, vaccines) and anticipation of more accommodative fiscal policy.
• Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 on December 21, but, at the time of writing, it was uncertain whether President Trump would sign it. The omnibus bill includes the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and other pandemic-related measures. Weighing in at 4.3% of nominal GDP, the $900 billion relief package will go a long way in helping the U.S. economy ride out COVID’s winter wave. The largest components include $284 billion to reopen the Paycheck Protection Program, $166 billion for a second round of direct payments to individuals and families, and $120 billion to extend enhanced unemployment benefits (through March and April).
• In the Summary of Economic Projections, the ‘dot plot’ showed only 5 of 17 participants pencilling in a rate hike by the end of 2023, just one more than in September despite the upgraded medium-term economic outlook. For 2021-22, real GDP growth is 0.2 ppts higher with the jobless rate 0.4-to-0.5 ppts lower, and the CBO-defined output gap closes by 2022-end instead of after 2023. However, the top of the central tendency range of inflation projections only gets above 2.0% (to 2.1%) in 2023, far from the criterion to “moderately exceed 2 percent for some time”.
• Our other working assumption is that the Fed won’t tighten until early 2024, with the net risk weighing on the side of sooner action. With policy rates remaining at their effective lower bound at least until 2023, the front-end of the yield curve should remain restrained apart from what separate demand and supply pressures might materialize in the bond market, pressures that matter more for the back-end of the curve. Big budget deficits are projected to persist, keeping Treasury supply pressure on the boil. Meanwhile, investor risk appetites should be whetted as the rollout of vaccines brightens economic prospects and the attraction of riskier asset classes. Not helping this pending imbalance, beyond the next 12 months, we expect the Fed to start tapering purchases and to have stopped growing its balance sheet within the next 24 months.
• However, any prospective increases in longer-term bond yields should be well-checked by policy rates remaining ‘low for long’, and inflation pressures remaining well-contained by economic slack (at least for a couple of years) along with the secular forces of disinflation from technological change (a trend accelerated by the pandemic) and an aging population. For example, we look for 10-year Treasury yields to average around 1.25% by the end of 2021.
• Finally, after averaging record highs in April 2020, at the peak of pandemic panic, the trade-weighted U.S. dollar index has slipped about 9.0% reflecting several factors including improving investor-perceived global economic prospects and ebbing risks; U.S. policymakers being relatively aggressive on both the QE and budget deficit fronts; and, the pandemic hitting the U.S. relatively hard. The former factor, particularly, looks to weigh on the greenback further as the distribution of vaccines unfolds globally, weakening the unit another near-3% by the end of 2021.

Canada Rates Preview: Headed Higher

• This past year will be remembered as challenging for one and all. The pandemic drove the Bank of Canada into unprecedented territory, with unconventional measures unleashed for the first time, in addition to bringing the policy rate to the effective lower bound. The coming year is expected to be far more subdued on the monetary policy front, with fiscal policy continuing to surge forward.
• The Bank of Canada’s task for 2021 will be to ensure that financial conditions don’t tighten prematurely. Our base case is for policy rates to hold steady at 25 bps throughout the year. Rate hikes are off the table, though further easing is possible but would take a deterioration in the outlook (think vaccine issues or something like that). Potential easing measures are more QE, yield curve control, a funding-for-lending scheme and a micro rate cut.
• On the QE front, the BoC is going to have to thread the needle with messaging. They already managed to taper once while keeping markets calm. They’ll have to manage that feat again in 2021. We anticipate a modest further tapering, driven entirely by a falling issuance profile for the federal government. The BoC doesn’t want to have too large a footprint, so a pullback once the issuance numbers are finalized is a logical step. In an effort to dampen the market impact, the Bank could again push its purchases further out the curve to minimize the reduction in overall stimulus. This is likely a Q2 story, since the budget usually isn’t released until late March or early April.
• Beyond rates and QE, the Bank will also have to manage its forward guidance. January will already be a challenge with the vaccine timeline far more optimistic than they assumed in the October MPR. However, the increasing breadth of COVID restrictions put in place in recent weeks suggests there’s some notable downside to Q1. Even if Q4 is a bit better than the BoC projected, a weak Q1 could be enough to keep the timing of the output gap closing in 2023. Indeed, as noted above, the Bank does not want to prematurely tighten financial conditions, so they’ll likely try to stick with the 2023 forward guidance as timing for rates liftoff for as long as possible.
• Finally, the BoC will renew its inflation targeting agreement with the Government of Canada in the coming year. While changes are possible, a mildly modified version of the status quo seems like the most likely outcome at the moment. A small potential tweak might be a greater focus on the 1%-to-3% target band rather than the 2% mid-point. That would provide a bit more policy flexibility, though their current flexible inflation target regime arguably already provides similar room to navigate. Note that Deputy Governor Beaudry’s recent speech hinted in that direction; “But rest assured we will not overuse QE and overshoot our 1 to 3 percent target range for inflation. The exit strategy for our QE program is tied to our inflation goals.”
• Looking at the Canada curve, our call for policy rates to stay at the lower bound as the economy continues to recover points to ongoing steepening pressure. While longer-term rates look to rise, we still only have 10-year Canadas at 1.10% at the end of 2021. As we approach the latter stages of the year, steepening pressure could subside a bit as rate hikes potentially start coming into view.
• For the loonie, it was a wild 2020 getting absolutely hammered at the height of the crisis, before fully recovering, and then some, to end the year at the strongest in over two years. We’re looking for 2021 to be a bit more subdued with modest strength through the course of the year. An ongoing recovery in the global economy is expected to lift commodity prices, supporting the loonie’s advance. The bigger story on the FX front is the anticipated US$ weakness, which will be tough for any currency to offset.

Canadian Regional Economic and Fiscal Outlook

• All Canadian provinces have been hit by the pandemic, forcing some degree of economic disruption and digging fiscal holes of various depth. That said, Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec are clearly facing more stringent containment measures as 2020 winds down, which will weigh on 2021 calendar growth figures. All of these provinces are expected to lag the 5.0% national average, even as they presumably start to see better sequential growth prints toward the end of 2021Q1. With most regions of Ontario also facing some degree of containment, the province will also struggle to outperform; although it is arguably among the best-positioned for a strong recovery later in the year. Atlantic Canada was relatively insulated in 2020, and should see more subdued growth numbers in 2021 as a result, while British Columbia continues to look like an outperformer. Aside from COVID, the regional landscape will also be shaped by subdued energy-sector activity (although late-2020 price action is supportive of industry cash flow), a limited return of travel and tourism, and a continued lull in population flows that had been very supportive (especially in smaller provinces) in recent years.
• Housing will remain in focus, as usual, but more so because of the roaring finish to 2020. Sales activity is expected to cool nationally, but prices should remain supported by improving confidence, still-tight supply and record-low interest rates. We expect the MLS HPI to rise 7% in 2021 with the first half of the year still characterized by outsized strength in single-detached homes, especially in smaller markets, partly offset by sluggish condo prices. Whether or not that rotation persists after the vaccine is widely administered is probably a question for the 2022 outlook, but we suspect core urban markets will ultimately find a solid footing again after further underperformance in the meantime. At the same time, more supply and outflows of nonpermanent residents could apply some pressure to urban rents in 2021.
• The 2021 provincial fiscal outlook is still highly uncertain given that this year’s starting point for deficit levels is likely subject to meaningful revision. That said, the provinces that have issued FY21/22 guidance are pointing to deficit reductions somewhere in the order of one-third of FY20/21 levels, on average. That amount of consolidation would suggest the combined provincial deficit narrows to around $60 billion from about $93 billion this fiscal year. To be sure, the provinces will remain historically active borrowers and—depending on how much pre-financing takes place before FY20/21 closes—total requirements could top $140 billion, versus this year’s $171 billion pace. While the provincial deficit should be a still-chunky 2.5% of GDP, keep in mind that the federal government will continue to carry the vast majority of the fiscal load, with Ottawa’s deficit likely around $150 billion, or more than 6% of GDP. The big focus will be on how $70-to-$100 billion of yet-to-be-used stimulus spending gets allocated, and if any fiscal anchor re-emerges.

A Year of Global Healing

• This is one year that everyone will look forward to with far more anticipation than ever before. The hope is that, in 2021, we can put the pandemic behind us and maybe, just maybe, remove the mask and indulge in a gathering with friends and family. That time will happen at some point and it won’t come soon enough. Look for solid economic rebounds after being crushed in 2020.
• Europe was among the first hammered by the coronavirus and it spent most of 2020 protecting the economy. The ECB created a massive bond buying program to keep interest rates low and special facilities that allowed banks to borrow from the central bank at favourable terms on the condition that credit would keep flowing. And EU leaders managed, eventually, to agree on a €1.07 trln long-term budget and a €750 bln EU Recovery Fund, or the Next Generation EU, made up of grants and loans to those countries whose economies took the biggest hit from the lockdowns. That agreement did not come easily but at least there was a rare display of solidarity when it was badly needed. The funds will help Italy, France and Spain, for example, pick up the pieces of their economies and move forward. And as the virus is eventually brought under control, governments will roll out programs to help their fragile economies heal. But there will be a time when the crisis is over that the fiscal hawks will demand evidence from those who received Recovery Fund grants that spending is being reined in. That will be a late 2021/early 2022 story. Next year will also see a rebuilding of relationships between the U.S. and the EU, and perhaps a fresh start on trade issues such as the global digital tax and the long-running Airbus/Boeing dispute. On the political front, Germany’s federal elections will be key. A new head of the ruling CDU will be elected and that person will eventually replace Angela Merkel as Chancellor. Recall she declared in December 2018 that she would not run again at the next federal election after her party’s poor showings during that year’s state elections. It would be interesting to see how Merkel would fare today after her strong leadership during the pandemic, with the latest lockdowns notwithstanding. In any event, a new leader will be named by year-end.
• The United Kingdom will begin 2021 with a fresh start on trade and will freely negotiate trade agreements on its own. As soon as January begins, the EU’s Common External Tariff will be replaced with the U.K. Global Tariff, which will apply to imported goods from countries without an existing trade agreement. Currently, the U.K. only has agreements in place with Japan and Switzerland; interim ones with Canada, Mexico and the U.S.; and, a fisheries deal with Norway. Talks are underway with Australia. And, negotiations with the U.S. will restart on a more positive note now that the British government removed the illegal clauses embedded within the Internal Market Bill. However, PM Johnson’s promise that Britain will be more prosperous outside the EU will likely not be realized in 2021 if a trade arrangement is not made with its biggest trading partner. The economy will likely feel the impact of supply disruptions (borders no longer freely open) and higher prices (tariffs now in place), which will hurt confidence and spending. It already had a taste of it after a number of European countries blocked borders and travel with the U.K. as the new strain of the virus spread in December.
• Faster, higher, stronger. Yes, Japan is going to give the Summer Olympics another go, with the Games scheduled to run from July 23 to August 8. PM Suga is “determined” to host the Games, and all efforts will be made to have spectators at the events. If the Games are successful, they would bolster his chances of winning a full-term as LDP leader during the party’s September 2021 election.
• China was likely one of only a few major economies to grow in 2020, as its early-year hit from the coronavirus gave it more time to recover. That, and the fact that its economy is still focused on goods production and less so on services, benefited GDP during this tumultuous year. Still, the estimated 2% increase would be the slowest in nearly half a century; now, we look for an 8% advance in 2021, even with a stronger yuan. On the foreign relations front, how President Xi gets along with President-elect Biden will be closely watched. Trade relations between China and the U.S., as well as the EU, should be less volatile, but even with the new occupant of the Oval Office, they will take time to warm up. Look for China to focus on trade elsewhere, particularly in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the massive trade agreement between a dozen countries that was signed in November.

Crude Oil Outlook: Tough Road Still Ahead

• West Texas Intermediate crude is heading into the new year with plenty of wind behind its back. Thus, it would not be surprising to see WTI cross the $50/bbl threshold, at least temporarily, in the weeks ahead; especially if the rollout of vaccines accelerates and/or the pace of new COVID-19 caseloads markedly decelerates. Looking back, the current price of crude would have appeared almost inconceivable after prices plummeted into negative territory in April.
• However, it is not all clear skies ahead for black gold as its supply and demand dynamics remain challenging. This explains why OPEC+, rather wisely, chose to scale down its production target cut by 0.5 mb/d to 7.2 mb/d in January and limit future cuts to no more than 0.5 mb/d per month. OPEC+’s new strategy should help prevent a large market imbalance (i.e., excess crude oil inventories) from building even if demand falters. Indeed, the near-term recovery in global oil demand, which is still roughly 7 mb/d below its pre-pandemic level, has already proven to be bumpy given that a number of countries are in the midst of a second wave of COVID-19 cases and economic lockdowns.
• There is also a growing risk that non-OPEC+ supply could begin to escalate. This has been highlighted by the sudden surge in Libyan crude output to around 1.25 mb/d from zero in recent months. A wave of Iranian production could re-enter the market if President-elect Biden were to ease or eliminate sanctions. But the bigger wildcard actually lies closer to home, south of the 49th parallel. As WTI approaches $50, it raises the possibility that recently shut-in shale oil production could be restarted.
• As the recovery in both supply and demand is likely to ebb and flow, much will depend on OPEC+’s commitment to balance the oil market. The arduous negotiation over revising the production target in early December revealed deeper divisions within OPEC+ than previously thought and suggests the risk of the cartel breaking down cannot be completely discounted. Furthermore, the spectre of monthly meetings to negotiate production targets could exacerbate the volatility of crude oil prices next year, compared to relative stability in recent months.
• Key Takeaway: The prospect for WTI to head much higher will be difficult, especially following this past year’s rather remarkable rebound. That said, we have nudged our forecast for WTI to average $47 in 2021 (previously $45) and have penciled in $50 for 2022.

Canada Outlook
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United States Outlook
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Canadian Provincial Outlook
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Happy New Year - AMU

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 20%. (I'm a bot)

Guidance on traveling and travel restrictions varies across the United States as the country faces new surges in Covid-19 cases ahead of Thanksgiving travel.
The patchwork of restrictions between regions highlights the ability of states to take different approaches while dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
While all of the Northeast and most of the mid-Atlantic states have implemented statewide travel restrictions, more than half the states, including two of the biggest, Texas and Florida, have no such restrictions.
States hit the hardest when the epidemic began in the United States last spring, such as New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, also have some of the most stringent travel restrictions.
Instead of opting for statewide restrictions, some local officials have imposed restrictions on travel to the most populous cities.
Check the interactive map below to see the latest guidance on travel and possible travel restrictions.

Summary Source | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: restrictions^#1 travel^#2 States^#3 new^#4 such^#5
Post found in /news, /Coronavirus, /u_thomreece, /nycCoronavirus and /NBCauto.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

The Coronavirus Is Airborne Indoors. Why Are We Still Scrubbing Surfaces?

Scientists who initially warned about contaminated surfaces now say that the virus spreads primarily through inhaled droplets, and that there is little to no evidence that deep cleaning mitigates the threat indoors.
HONG KONG — At Hong Kong’s deserted airport, cleaning crews constantly spray baggage trolleys, elevator buttons and check-in counters with antimicrobial solutions. In New York City, workers continually disinfect surfaces on buses and subways. In London, many pubs spent lots of money on intensive surface cleaning to reopen after lockdown — before closing again in November.
All over the world, workers are soaping, wiping and fumigating surfaces with an urgent sense of purpose: to fight the coronavirus. But scientists increasingly say that there is little to no evidence that contaminated surfaces can spread the virus. In crowded indoor spaces like airports, they say, the virus that is exhaled by infected people and that lingers in the air is a much greater threat.
Hand washing with soap and water for 20 seconds — or sanitizer in the absence of soap — is still encouraged to stop the virus’s spread. But scrubbing surfaces does little to mitigate the virus threat indoors, experts say, and health officials are being urged to focus instead on improving ventilation and filtration of indoor air
“In my opinion, a lot of time, energy and money is being wasted on surface disinfection and, more importantly, diverting attention and resources away from preventing airborne transmission,” said Dr. Kevin P. Fennelly, a respiratory infection specialist with the United States National Institutes of Health.
Some experts suggest that Hong Kong, a crowded city of 7.5 million residents and a long history of infectious disease outbreaks, is a case study for the kind of operatic surface cleaning that gives ordinary people a false sense of security about the coronavirus.
The Hong Kong Airport Authority has used a phone-booth-like “full-body disinfection channel” to spritz airport staff members in quarantine areas. The booth — which the airport says is the first in the world and is being used in trials only on its staff — is part of an all-out effort to make the facility a “safe environment for all users.
Such displays can be comforting to the public because they seem to show that local officials are taking the fight to Covid-19. But Shelly Miller, an expert on aerosols at the University of Colorado Boulder, said that the booth made no practical sense from an infection-control standpoint.
Viruses are emitted through activities that spray respiratory droplets — talking, breathing, yelling, coughing, singing and sneezing. And disinfecting sprays are often made from toxic chemicals that can significantly affect indoor air quality and human health, Dr. Miller said.
“I can’t understand why anyone would think that disinfecting a whole person would reduce the risk of transmitting virus,” she said.
A range of respiratory ailments, including the common cold and influenza, are caused by germs that can spread from contaminated surfaces. So when the coronavirus outbreak emerged last winter in the Chinese mainland, it seemed logical to assume that these so-called fomites were a primary means for the pathogen to spread.
Studies soon found that the virus seemed to survive on some surfaces, including plastic and steel, for up to three days. (Studies later showed that much of this is likely to be dead fragments of the virus that are not infectious.) The World Health Organization also emphasized surface transmission as a risk, and said that airborne spread was a concern only when health care workers were engaged in certain medical procedures that produce aerosols.
But scientific evidence was growing that the virus could stay aloft for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhaled — particularly in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation.
In July, an essay in The Lancet medical journal argued that some scientists had exaggerated the risk of coronavirus infection from surfaces without considering evidence from studies of its closely related cousins, including SARS-CoV, the driver of the 2002-03 SARS epidemic.
“This is extremely strong evidence that at least for the original SARS virus, fomite transmission was very minor at most,” the essay’s author, the microbiologist Emanuel Goldman of Rutgers University, said in an email. “There is no reason to expect that the close relative SARS-CoV-2 would behave significantly different in this kind of experiment,” he added, referring to the new coronavirus.
A few days after Dr. Goldman’s Lancet essay appeared, more than 200 scientists called on the W.H.O. to acknowledge that the coronavirus could spread by air in any indoor setting. Bowing to enormous public pressure over the issue, the agency acknowledged that indoor aerosol transmission could lead to outbreaks in poorly ventilated indoor places like restaurants, nightclubs, offices and places of worship.
By October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which had maintained since May that surfaces are “not the primary way the virus spreads,” was saying that transmission of infectious respiratory droplets was the “principal mode” through which it does.
But by then, paranoia about touching anything from handrails to grocery bags had taken off. And the instinct to scrub surfaces as a Covid precaution — “hygiene theater,” as The Atlantic magazine called it — was already deeply ingrained.
“My tennis partner and I have abandoned shaking hands at the end of a match — but, since I’ve touched the tennis balls that he has touched, what’s the point?” Geoff Dyer wrote in a March essay for The New Yorker magazine that captured the germaphobic zeitgeist.
From Nairobi to Milan to Seoul, cleaners in hazmat suits have been fumigating public areas despite W.H.O. warnings that the chemicals could do more harm than good.
In Hong Kong, where 299 people died during the original SARS epidemic, elevator buttons are often covered in plastic that is cleaned multiple times a day. Crews in some office buildings and subways wipe escalator handrails with disinfected rags as commuters ascend. Cleaners have blasted public places with antimicrobial coatings and added a fleet of robots to clean surfaces in subway cars.
Several Hong Kong-based scientists insist the deep cleaning can’t hurt, and supported the government’s strict social-distancing rules and its monthslong insistence on near-universal mask wearing.
Procter & Gamble said sales of its personal cleansing products grew more than 30 percent in the quarter that ended in September, with double-digit growth in every region of the world, including more than 20 percent in greater China.
Early on, officials required Hong Kong restaurants to install dividers between tables — the same sort of flimsy, and essentially useless, protection used at the U.S. vice-presidential debate in October.
But as the Hong Kong authorities have gradually eased restrictions on indoor gatherings, including allowing wedding parties of up to 50 people, there is a fear of potentially new outbreaks indoors.
Some experts say they are especially concerned that coronavirus droplets could spread through air vents in offices, which are crowded because the city has not yet developed a robust culture of remote work.
“People are removing masks for lunch or when they get back to their cubicle because they assume their cubicle is their private space,” said Yeung King-lun, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
“But remember: The air you’re breathing in is basically communal.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/world/asia/covid-cleaning.html

"You're going to play gotcha questions with me?" - Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), asked if he thought Joe Biden won the election

Don't Wayne On My Parade

Eleven days after the election ended in decisive victory for Joe Biden, Republicans’ continued performance of uncertainty about the outcome is as appalling and dangerous as it is unrelentingly embarrassing.

• On Tuesday, the two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers briefly refused to certify the election results in Michigan’s largest county, for a very valid reason that definitely wasn’t “Detroit has a lot of Black voters and we don’t think their votes should count.” (Against all odds, a white man in a polo shirt summed up this stunt best.) The Republicans reversed course on Tuesday night, for a very badass reason that definitely wasn’t “reporters started finding all the racist memes on our Facebook pages.” As a cherry on top, Donald Trump missed the memo and congratulated his would-be coup enablers on their courage, after they had agreed to certify the results.
  
• His hopes of stealing away Michigan’s electoral votes dashed, Trump has turned to Wisconsin, a state he lost by more than 20,000 votes. The Trump campaign has filed a petition for a recount, but only in Wisconsin’s two largest, most Democratic-leaning counties, for a very solid reason that assuredly wasn’t “we’ve been through this, that’s where all the young and Black voters are.” That partial recount cost the campaign $3 million, but if you can pay Rudy Giuliani $20,000 a day to rattle off conspiracy theories at an exasperated judge, what’s a few million dollars to lose Wisconsin again?
  
• As profoundly dumb as all of this is, it is also incredibly corrosive. It’s no particular surprise that Trump fired DHS’s cybersecurity director Chris Krebs for the crime of debunking his lies about the election having been stolen from him, but it deserved immediate, unanimous condemnation. Instead, Democratic lawmakers have spoken up, while Republicans, with a few half-hearted exceptions, have sat on their hands. What will it mean for future elections that a defeated president fired an official who safeguarded this election’s integrity and then told the truth about it, and a whole political party said “sure”?
  

Republicans might be blowing up democracy in slow-motion, but at least most of them aren’t pretending to agonize over it.

• Sources who have spoken to General Services Administrator Emily Murphy say she’s been struggling with her unilateral decision to delay the presidential transition, and feeling like she’s been put “in a very difficult position.” Boy have we got great news for Emily: This one’s actually super simple. There’s no real doubt about who won the election, so you can just go ahead and sign that piece of paper! Get a marketing job and move to Paris! You’re free!
  
• In the meantime, Joe Biden has been pushing ahead with transition briefings from outside experts. Those briefings have limitations, as advisors outside of the government won’t have the most up-to-date information, and can’t share classified intelligence. The White House has refused to provide even basic coronavirus data to the transition team, and in spite of the lives hanging in the balance if sabotaging the transition creates problems with vaccine distribution, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the department won’t communicate with the Biden team until the GSA signs off.
  

Each of Trump’s far-fetched coup maneuvers has flopped, but way too many Republicans have been happy to give them a whirl, and there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t try again in an election with closer margins. Whatever surreal elements of this year we eventually shove down the memory hole for our collective sanity, that fact can’t be one of them.

Look No Further Than The Crooked Media

On today's Keep It stream, Ira, Louis, and Aida discuss Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro's fervor over Harry Styles wearing a dress on the cover of Vogue: "The hilariousness of 'bring back manly men.' Where do you want them brought?" Watch and subscribe → youtube.com/crookedmedia

Under The Radar

Donald Trump just gave the worst possible job to a former speechwriter who was fired for having white nationalist ties. The White House dismissed Darren Beattie in 2018 after it came to light that he had spoken at a white-supremacist conference, back when that was something the Trump administration could still be shamed about. Beattie then took a bunch of taxpayer money from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), in a violation of House rules. Following that proud interlude, Trump has welcomed Beattie back into the administration fold with an appointment to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, which was established for the specific purpose of preserving the memory of Holocaust victims. Sixty-three days until the Inauguration.

What Else?

The official U.S. coronavirus death toll has surpassed 250,000, and more than three million people are estimated to be currently contagious. Doctors on the coronavirus task force warned Vice President Mike Pence that the U.S. could see an average of 2000 deaths a day by Christmas (Scott Atlas was presumably in the bathroom), and urged Pence or Trump to stress the importance of mitigation efforts from the White House podium.
Neither of them has any scheduled plans to do so, but White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany called statewide coronavirus restrictions “Orwellian,” if that’s helpful to anyone?
New York City’s public school system will shut down for in-person learning on Thursday (though bars, restaurants, and gyms are still open, lol), and Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) has joined a growing number of Republican governors in issuing a mask mandate for the first time. All straight out of Animal Farm.
The FAA has cleared Boeing’s 737 Max to resume flights, 20 months after grounding it following two fatal crashes and roughly 100 years before we will agree to step foot on one.
Trump has ordered the rushed withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, though not the total withdrawal he had campaigned on. According to one administration official, this is part of the White House’s galaxy brain strategy to light more fires than Biden can put out.
Well, here’s unelected Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) violating Senate ethics rules by soliciting donations from a federal office building. Let’s send her home, yes?
Donald Trump was terrified he would be cut in half by lasers at the opening of his Atlantic City casino in 1990, while “Eye of the Tiger” was blasting over the loudspeakers. Just a nice little image to carry close to your heart.
Rockefeller Center’s bummer of a Christmas tree has been widely deemed a metaphor for 2020. The tree’s resident owl who was just minding his own business before getting dragged into midtown can confirm.

Be Smarter

One of the biggest takeaways from this election has been “Latino voters are not a monolith,” and while much of that analysis has focused on Florida, it’s just as true everywhere else. In Texas, Trump became the first GOP presidential candidate in a century to win Zapata County, which is more than 94 percent Hispanic or Latino. Dissecting the result the requires understanding the specific character of South Texas, where most Spanish-speaking residents self-identify as Tejano. Most consider themselves American above all else, wouldn’t identify as people of color, and have positions on gas and oil, guns, and abortion that are closely aligned with the Republican Party. The Trump campaign recognized and effectively targeted that specific community, and Democrats will need more than generic messaging to win it back.

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Is That Hope I Feel?

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s policy of using the pandemic as an excuse to turn away migrant children seeking asylum at the border.
Pfizer now says that its vaccine actually seems to be 95 percent effective, and, implicitly, that Moderna can eat its shorts. Pfizer plans to apply for emergency use authorization from the FDA within days.
The FDA has issued emergency use authorization for the first at-home rapid coronavirus test.
Tiara Mack has become the first openly LGBTQ Black person elected to the Rhode Island state Senate, at age 26: “I'm going to be unapologetically Black, I'm going to be unapologetically queer, and I'm going to be unapologetically young, and I'm going to push back against the system that tells us we don't deserve justice now.”

Enjoy

Philip Michaels on Twitter: "This Senate hearing looks like the tale of a marooned lighthouse keeper and the robot butler he built to stave off loneliness."

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 37%. (I'm a bot)

WARSAW - A Polish gym has dubbed itself a church in a bid to stay open under new anti-virus restrictions that have seen the fitness industry scramble for creative loopholes.
"Because fitness classes aren't allowed, starting today we're offering religious gatherings for members of the Church of the Healthy Body," the Atlantic Sports club said on Facebook.
"Hard to believe? In this world everything is possible," the gym in the southern city of Krakow added Saturday.
The creative rebranding follows the government's decision to shut down most pools and gyms in order to stem a recent surge in coronavirus infections.
Church services are still allowed to go ahead in the devout Catholic country of 38 million people, as long as the faithful wear masks and abide by the attendance limit.
Many Poles have taken to social media to share satirical takes on the different rules for churches and gyms, some juxtaposing images of buff gym-goers - the "At-risk group" - and "Immune" parishioners.

Summary Source | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: church^#1 gym^#2 fitness^#3 WARSAW^#4 people^#5
Post found in /Coronavirus and /Polska.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

BY: Derek Royden - September 18, 2020
Read the article here: https://www.nationofchange.org/2020/09/18/a-great-awakening-qanon-grows-goes-global/
Last Saturday, September 12th, thousands of people gathered for a march through the downtown core of a major North American city. The purpose? To protest a political decision to grant local police the authority to fine citizens and businesses for not following a mask mandate covering indoor public spaces. Occasional chants of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” rang out amid a sea of signs and flags.
Speakers at the location where the march ended, which had people on opposite sides of a stage waving ‘Qanon’ flags, used the occasion to indulge in a variety of conspiracy theories including anti-vaccination diatribes and overblown fears about the rollout of 5G technology.
We might expect that such a rally took place in the United States, where ‘anons’ as they call themselves, have been promoting the idea that the country’s current president is engaged in a battle against a ‘Deep State’ controlled by Satanist pedophiles since at least 2017. In fact, it took place across the country’s northern border in Montreal, where a majority of those living in this very multicultural city are French speakers.
Despite Montreal, and the province of Quebec where it’s located being the original epicenter of the novel coronavirus pandemic in Canada, with close to 6,000 deaths at present and counting (a number that does seem small in comparison to the numbers across the border in New York state, but was scary enough to keep those of us who live here in our homes for 10 weeks) a growing rightwing populism imported from the U.S. and Europe has been embraced by some French Canadian nationalists (and others) who, although they have legitimate historical grievances with English Canada, have a history of the kind of xenophobia that’s an often foundational aspect of such movements.
Exactly two weeks earlier, across the Atlantic, almost 40,000 Germans protested government restrictions related to the ongoing health crisis in the country’s capital, Berlin. Amid the sea of signs calling for the arrest of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others in the country’s government, were placards and t-shirts promoting Qanon. One large banner even called on the U.S. president to “make Germany great again” between two large Qs.
Although the demonstration was reportedly peaceful, there were several hundred arrests later that day as protesters associated with neo-fascist and nationalist groups carrying far right symbols tried to force their way into the country’s parliament.
Other, similar protests against government mandates to protect public health took place across Europe that same day, with Trump and Qanon signs ever present, including at a large gathering in London’s Trafalgar Square and a smaller march in Paris.
No less worrying, the marchers in Europe, Canada and Australia have shown the growing global influence of Qanon, which at first seems like a mix of the insane ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy that immediately preceded it and that hateful 19th century fabrication, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Growing out of a series of cryptic messages or ‘drops’ on the 4Chan message board from an anonymous poster who claims a ‘Q’ security clearance and is said to be working in a dissident capacity within the American ‘Deep State’, Qanon seems to adapt almost any far right conspiracy theory into its overarching narrative of a world run by Satan worshiping pedophiles who may also be cannibals.
As noted, the core beliefs of this convoluted theory can in the main be traced back to earlier conspiratorial beliefs beginning at least in the late 19th century. However, while often drawing on the ‘classics’ of the genre like the anti-Semitic blood libel fantasies prevalent in much of Europe for centuries and paranoia about Free Masonry, it seems no theory is too unhinged to be off limits.
As we might expect considering its origins, at least some of those propagating Qanon may be joking, as when a friend of Robert Guffey, a researcher into conspiracy theories whose recent series of articles for Salon.com provided an essential guide to helping this writer understand its sources and appeal, credulously told him to look up the acronym D.U.M.B., which the writer found describes ‘deep underground military bases’ supposedly used by the cabal at the heart of the Q theory to engage in their nefarious activities.
A ‘hybrid’ religion?
As Guffey and others have noted, as Qanon has moved from internet cesspools like 4Chan and the now renamed 8chan to larger platforms like Facebook, a large constituency that’s become more visible in support of it are some Evangelical Christians, who also ardently support a president diametrically opposed to their supposed values. This growing merger between religion and the cultish Qanon is being heralded on even the mainstream right as part of an ongoing battle against ‘Satanism’.
For those with long memories, this is not the first time there’s been hysteria about devil worship in the United States; in the 80s and 90s, a similar panic accusing child care workers of ritual abuse of their charges went mainstream, ruining a great many lives in the process. Among many people wrongly convicted at that time were Dan and Fran Keller, the owners of an Austin, Texas daycare, who served decades in prison before being fully exonerated in 2017 after a 25 year battle against false charges of child rape.
Also of interest, one of the hashtags used by those promoting Qanon that probably appeals to some Evangelicals, ‘the Great Awakening’ is just another example of the cult’s lack of originality. It’s a simplification, but in general, the actual Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals beginning in the 1720s in the United States that rejected Enlightenment ideas about science and rationality in favor of religious fervor.
A growing danger
Of course, it was only a matter of time before Qanon adherents and sympathizers would tie their fever dreams about ‘left wing’ and ‘Hollywood’ malfeasance and the Satanic exploitation of children to the once in a lifetime health emergency we are all living through, a subject new enough that science is still in the process of learning about it. The perceived slowness of scientific inquiry has allowed both unintentional misinformation and dangerous disinformation about the health crisis to proliferate since the beginning of this year.
As a New Zealand based reporter, Emily Writes, who found herself learning about the connections being made by anons regarding Covid 19, as many did during her country’s lockdown, wrote in March, “I was quickly introduced to the prevailing conspiracy theory around Covid-19. It’s quite simple. Andrenochrome* is a drug for the liberal elite of Hollywood made from actual human brain stem containing hormones from the adrenal gland. Hillary Clinton manufactures this drug by torturing children in a pizza shop (if you order a cheese pizza that’s code). Tom Hanks is addicted to Adrenochrome and he caught Covid-19 from the latest batch of tainted Adrenochrome that came through Celine Dion who is a high priestess from the Church of Satan. She is well-versed in poison as she’s been lacing her children’s clothing line with a chemical that makes our children “gender neutral”.
Sadly, the growing belief in this nonsense has already led to violence in New York and Seattle, but considering current political moment in many places including here in Montreal it seems likely to get much worse.
In recent months, Q adherents have swept up rightwing talking points about Black Lives Matter protesters and anti-fascist ‘terrorists’ into their overarching narrative, which has been picked up by some prominent voices on the far right, increasing the real world dangers represented by a conspiracy theory that is becoming more and more mainstream.
To take one example, Qanon has been embraced by Michael Scheuer, who headed the task force hunting Osama Bin Laden during the Clinton Administration. As reported by The Daily Beast in a long piece about him, many of Scheuer’s former colleagues at the CIA were disturbed by his calls to destroy vital infrastructure in Muslim majority countries and ignore civilian casualties in the fight against terrorism while claiming “respect” for the murderous Bin Laden.
Now a podcaster and blogger, Scheuer has turned his attention to ‘the enemy within’, not only against perceived ‘antifa’ enemies but against those he views as the current president’s political opponents in general.
As he wrote in a recently deleted blog post, “[Trump supporters] have in hand a long and very precise list of the names and photographs of those who hate and threaten them, their families, their way-of-life, their liberty, their livelihoods and their republic. No self-respecting and determined-to-remain-independent citizenry can let themselves forever be held hostage by thug-civil-servants like Strzok, Comey, McCabe, Page, and Rosenstein; worshipers of tyranny, like the Democratic members of Congress, the Clintons, the FBI, and the Obamas; apparent traitors like Brennan, Hayden, and Clapper; all of the mainstream media; and the tens of thousands of government-admitted-and-protected, violent, criminal, and illegal immigrants.
American patriots have so far, praise God, been remarkably disciplined in not responding to tyranny and violence with violence. For now, they must remain so, armed but steady. But the time for such patience is fast slipping away; deed, that patience is quickly becoming an obviously rank and self-destructive foolishness.”
One of the most puzzling things about the growing reach of Qanon and the far right that embraces it is that the same people who just a few years ago claimed they were preparing to fight fictional government overreach represented by theories of FEMA camps being built in the United States to house ‘patriots’, are now demanding the imposition of authoritarian government on their own country in order to destroy their enemies on the left.
It’s hard to explain why so many of these same people are falling into this dangerous alternate reality rabbit hole. Maybe the reason for this is that the only easy to comprehend a thing about Qanon is that some would rather deny the obvious because they prefer to persist in the belief that they live in western ‘meritocracies’ and that they are just one idea away from becoming wealthy themselves. This disconnect leaves them incapable of seeing that runaway climate change, billionaire plutocrats, widespread inequality and even in some cases, their own failures, are baked into the capitalist system they so often extoll.
Now, who, exactly, are the sheep?

In the document ”Sopa de Wuhan”, signed by renowned intellectuals such as David Harvey, Slavoj Zizek and Alain Badiou, a Eurocentrism whose serious limits of analysis are inversely proportional to its acceptance within the Brazilian left, is perceived in a return to theses that relate the Chinese regime to an “oriental despotism” that once occupied the distorted views of Aristotle, Voltaire and Wittfogel. This article, originally published in the Observatory of Contemporary Economics, shows some perplexity about the effort of all these thinkers to exile China as a fundamental part of the post-pandemic world.
I have just read the famous document released by Marxist intellectuals or “critics” that are popular with our bands. David Harvey, Slavoj Zizek, Alan Badiou and a dozen other thinkers are thinking about the world between and post-pandemic. Under the title of “Wuhan Soup” there is an effort to understand the immediate future through the lens of critical left-wing thinking with ample space in our country.
Well, the idea here is not to make a review of the document that is freely available in PDF on the internet and can be easily accessed.
The aim is to demonstrate some perplexity about the efforts of all these renowned intellectuals to exile China as a fundamental part of the post-pandemic world. It is perceived in the document, in addition to a Eurocentrism whose serious limits of analysis are inversely proportional to its acceptance within the Brazilian left, yet another return to theses that relate the Chinese regime to an “oriental despotism” that once occupied distorted views of Aristotle, Voltaire and Wittfogel on the Middle Kingdom.
Full of dogmas, Western Marxism has revived this approach to “Eastern despotism”, as can be seen in one of the articles in the compendium signed by Byung-Chul Han to demonstrate that China, after the pandemic, may have a monopoly on the export of technologies that surround the formation of that “police state”. In addition, Alain Badiou before classifying China as the “next imperialism” could have provided us with an analysis of the different philosophies that emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys and the influence that they have on the foreign relations of States States and China. As I will show, Zizek would not need to appeal to a medieval type of "communism" in response to the contemporary challenges of humanity. But nothing new but the same unknowns.
I have no problem accepting that they all believe that China can give itself the right to be the next Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria or Libya. But for the public of this observatory that is interested in leaving the surface, there is something fundamental, starting: China is managing to resist a deadly virus with reasons to be clarified and made available to society. For these reasons, I advocate that a new, advanced and powerful social engineering emerges in China as the development of state capacities mediated by a new political and institutional framework. In China, a higher-level variation of its “market socialism” is emerging.
Society and State
The Wuhan epic has no plausible explanation without the perception that the success of national projects does not reside, solely and solely, in macroeconomic aggregates. Behind a historical journey of the stature that we have seen China undertake, there is a high degree of involvement of the whole society. There are a number of institutions in close harmony with the established political power.
Against the current theorists of “oriental despotism”, Barrington Moore Jr in his classic Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (of 1966) already called attention to the most inattentive that the Chinese agrarian community was a mix of both an early and basic democracy "pulse" to the state of mind of the great peasant base in relation to its emperor. Peasant revolts indicated dissatisfaction with the established order.
For his part, Chalmers Johnson, long before deciphering the secrets of the “Japanese miracle”, devoted much of his life to China. In Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power (published in 1962), he anticipated many of Moore Jr.'s arguments. In comparing the Yugoslav and Chinese cases, the author concluded that Communist legitimacy in China lies in the (without contraries) unity of peasant rebellion and nationalism . There is nothing more current about the role of the Communist Party's neighborhood committees in containing the virus, as Professor Adnan Akfirat recently made public.
Historical arguments are more convincing to explain national unity and the people's full willingness to face an invisible enemy. The legitimacy of the communists in the face of that experience was put to the test (as the ancient emperors were also in their day). But the corollary of the challenge was the surprising result of closing a quarantine in 72 days. While European “democracies” are about to choose who lives and who dies and the United States (“the greatest democracy in the world”) acts like a pirate ship in banning medical supplies to other countries, Chinese society and state are to demonstrate the possibility of new sociabilitys pari passu with the growing capacity of planning of its economy.
The increasing capacity to consciously manage a State and a society is the true Chinese legacy to the post-pandemic world. Incredibly nine out of ten analysts in the global progressive field simply ignore the construction of this capacity. They surrender to Aristotle, Voltaire, Wittfogel and contemporary dogmas.
West, China and the late 1970s
China is one of the only societies with the capacity to refer to itself for strategic decision-making. It is difficult to see its leaders making gross mistakes in matters of politics and big politics. Sun Tsu's wisdom led the Chinese to choose the real battlefield inside and outside the virus. Internally, total isolation under the banner of “popular war”. Externally, fourth-tier employees have responded to Trump's provocations and simultaneously coordinate with the Cubans a social division of labor where the Caribbean enter with the doctors and the Chinese with the equipment.
There are already 109 countries where the Cuban and Chinese presence is felt, regardless of the way in which the cooks of the “Wuhan Soup” intend to see the current reality and the future of the world. Kissinger in “On China” (2011) taught us that the Chinese separate very well what is internal propaganda and external pragmatic action. In the Chinese case, sustaining these two ends requires a pre-existing material base that has been tested to its limit since the launch of an audacious infrastructure investment program to link the rich east and the (then) poor interior at the end of the decade. 1990, through the massive intervention of the State in the economy in the post-2008.
In other words, at the end of the 1990s, the first, and strong, signs of China's reunion with an institution that was thousands of years old were already present: the market. This institution had been internalized with the 1978 reforms that merged the Revolutionary State founded by Mao Zedong in 1949 with the East Asian Developmental State, forging the construction of the institutions that shaped the aforementioned merger of two states (the “Revolutionary” and o “Developmentalist”), starting with the institution of liability contracts between peasant families and the State, in which the practice of 3,000 years of sale and accumulation of surplus cereals was legalized.
Today, the distance allows us to notice that the essence of this internalization is the fact that the reunion of Asian realities with old institutions has led to the emergence of dynamic vibrant social formations, both socialist and capitalist. As extra-Chinese proof, let us look at Vietnam and its good economic performance (Brazil has already passed in terms of foreign trade).
Returning, with permission to individual accumulation, China was soon to transform itself, in Marx's words about England, into a “factory of manufacturers”. Alluding to Robert Wade and his powerful 1990 arguments set out in Governing the Market (1990), Chinese socialism started to use the market as an instrument of reinvention and government. The old Asian mode of production found its modern counterpart, "market socialism". In both cases the State and the market became the sole organism of the economic system.
The difference between China and Western countries in terms of combating coronavirus may be rooted precisely in the historical overlap that - in the late 1990s - the Middle Kingdom promoted between State and market while, on the other hand, in the West, a generalized spell convinced ordinary people that one entity, the state, is the nest of corruption and another, the market, the place par excellence of virtue. The coronavirus is charging the bill in the United States, Spain, Italy and dozens of other countries for this empty and reactionary rhetoric. Wall Street has no pity for the elderly.
Institutional arrangements and the building of state capacities
Honest intellectuals throw up the question about the institutional arrangements that allowed the Chinese reaction to the pandemic, after all, this is what matters when it comes to the world that we will inherit from this global misfortune. The people of the “Wuhan Soup”, with their unmistakable lack of commitment to German historicism, missed the chance to redeem “Western Marxism” from its historic blunders and obsessive Eurocentrism. China has lifted 840 million people out of the poverty line over the past forty years, accounting for 83% of human beings lifted out of poverty in the world in the period. Doesn't that mean anything to our Wuhan gastronomes?
The “manufacture of manufacturers” has created a new and powerful private sector in the country; agricultural surpluses were directed to Townships and Village Enterprises (TVEs) - collective companies of a municipal character - generating powerful regional divisions of labor. Institutional frameworks have been emerging cyclically, demarcating the role of the State and the private sector in the economy. With each turn of the cyclic screw, there is a qualitative increase in the role of the State to the detriment of a private sector that grew “from below”, anchoring to the large state capital.
The State was responsible for elaborating the great Chinese strategy for insertion in the international economy, preparing the territory to receive foreign capital, forming a continental economy, unified and cut out by thousands of kilometers of high-speed train lines, roads and subway lines and being the entrepreneur-in-chief (lender and executor) of a machine to finance and invest inside and outside the country.
While the United States used and abused policies on the “supply side” - generating a society of rich surplus and ultra-protected poor, despite the increasing increase in labor productivity - the Chinese were building their state capacities. Its triple condition of commercial, industrial and financial power was being built on the same disposition in which a modern monetary economy was created with state development banks covering from the national level, up to the provinces and their capitals. A financial steel wall has engendered the roots of a fundamental state capacity: monetary sovereignty. Derivatives, securitizations and subprimes have become big business in the North Atlantic.
In China, the 1994 tax reform closed the country's capital account, maxed out the exchange rate and led to an intense process of corporatization of the state sector in the economy: if the market was well received in agriculture, in the cities it generated a “shock of opposites” effect, with thousands, immense and extensive inefficient state companies having to go through a painful process of corporatization. At the end of the 1990s, 149 state-owned business conglomerates were already operating in the market. There are currently 97, 19 of which are on the last Forbes 500 list.
An addendum to the role of these conglomerates lies in their strategic location in the vital ganglia of major Chinese manufacturing. The entire petrochemical, metallurgical, electrical sector. They are also the main nucleus of research and development of new and new technologies. It is companies that generate effects of chaining to other sectors of the economy, notably the private sector - whose power is overestimated in the West. From the point of view of great strategy, these companies, together with more than a dozen development banks, are the elements that give material basis to the political power exercised by the Communist Party of China.
It is public and notorious that many of these Chinese state-owned business conglomerates have been responsible for the mass production of medical masks and equipment, including productive reconversion as in the cases of the BYD electric car factory and the oil giants, Sinopec, CNPC and CNOOC. Which capitalist country in the world today is in a position to make broad productive reversals, reschedule entire sectors of the economy and completely frame the financial system? How to discuss the future of the world and ignore this new social engineering that appears in a country that insisted on being governed by a Communist Party that seeks in its centenary, to be completed in 2021, to eliminate extreme poverty in a country of 1.4 billion people. population? Zizek was an icon in the struggle against socialism in his homeland (Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia), normal for him to want, and fight, for the same fate to China.
Colonial camp intellectuals
Domenico Losurdo in “The Western Marxism - how it was born, how it died, how it can be reborn” (launched in Brazil in 2018) reminds us that Western Marxism is adept of all Judeo-Christian moralism and the sense of moral (and racial) superiority of everything that is not Atlanticist since Ernest Bloch who perceived the First World War as a crusade against the evil represented by Germany. Bloch also advocated, with the Russian Revolution, the transformation of "power into love" and the overcoming of mercantile evil, "the source of all sin".
The nominated authors of Wuhan Soup are worsened clones of well-intentioned European authors frightened by the destruction caused by capitalism in the carnage that affected Europe between 1914 and 1918. But this carnage has already affected China since the Opium Wars (1839-1842) and Vietnam with the horrors of the French occupation. Africans and Indians suffered from the same “civilizing” fate with the “democratic” whip of English, French and other “higher peoples” today embodied in some intellectuals who seek the “alternative” in indigenous villages in Chiapas or where the productive forces do not prevent the “transformation of power into love” under the patronage of foundations such as Ford, Soros, Rockefeller and others.
I would like to remind you that the “Eastern Marxism” represented in China by the geniuses of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping perceived the so-called center-periphery relationship differently, given the imperialist brutality that affected his people and the entire periphery of the system. In 1940, Mao concluded that the revolution he advocated, before reaching socialism, should open the way for the development of capitalism, even if under the control of a political force tempted to go beyond this immediate objective. Deng Xiaoping challenged the Communist Party to go beyond the achievements of Japanese Meiji Innovation, because "as proletarians we can do more".
Xi Jinping, seeing before him the decay of the Western order, is only interested in the market and technology in the West. In all these cases, the relationship between the construction of a higher-level political and economic order with the Hegelian notion of overcoming (Aufhebung) is remarkable. Chinese socialism aims at the highest point of what they deny, capitalism.
The New Design Economy
The Chinese faithful to their goals have been reaching their five-year goals one by one in the last forty years, including in the difficult years between 2005 and 2010 when industrialization with technological complementarity with the United States and Japan came to an end. An explosion of workers' strikes (the Chinese people, contrary to what Byung-Chul Han thinks, is no more obedient than Europeans, on the contrary) made the government accelerate the constitution of a welfare state principle, raise wages above productivity and put the private sector on the wall (according to the level of indebtedness of this sector and the arrests of billionaires attest).
The country had to venture into a development dynamic more centered on industrial policies focused on the production of its own technologies and on a trajectory of accumulation more centered on consumption. Institutional arrangements were ready to effect this change via two mega institutions, the Socialist State and the Communist Party. It was up to them to indicate the institutional innovations necessary to leap from one point of imbalance to another using two institutional channels that are central to the country's development today. I refer to: 1) SASAC (Commission for the Administration and Supervision of Assets of the State Council), responsible for State actions within large state-owned business conglomerates; and 2) the NCRD (National Commission for Reform and Development), where major decisions of a macroeconomic nature go.
The result of the coordinated action of all this productive, financial and institutional development was the emergence of an economy with an immense capacity to plan at ever higher levels and where the “project” entity can be the link of an economy capable of building future markets while your companies still remain market oriented. It is a behavior that binary heads have a hard time understanding and, therefore, explaining. It is easier to explain the capacity to build hospitals in a few days and mobilize immense productive chains in some acts with the well-known notion of dictatorship × democracy, something that Barrington Moore Jr taught us not to do in his classic book.
In my humble view, I see the rebirth in China of a higher-level variation of his “market socialism” that Ignacio Rangel glimpsed in his brilliant 1959 book, “Elements of Design Economics”. With all the calm that my dear master and friend Luiz Gonzaga Belluzzo advises me to have, I perceive promising traits in this arrangement capable of starting to remove China in 72 days from quarantine. The anatomy of the market would be compared to human anatomy.
We can locate this “New Economy” in the great actions that initiate the execution of large programs such as Made in China 2025, the New Silk Road Initiative and the generation of a clean and renewable energy market with emphasis on the large number of electric cars available to society. An attribute of this higher-level variation of “market socialism” is the ability to operate with almost zero restrictions. This means that this planning variant works without any constraints (financial, external, installed productive capacity, etc.) and with political power free of lobbies. This means that the introduction of new mechanisms to increase productivity or new forms of energy will encounter little political resistance.
The New Design Economy (maximum expression of a maximum rationalization of the production and planning process through the wide use of all technological apparatus inherent to Big Data, the 5G platform and contributions in the field of Artificial Intelligence) is synonymous with an economy focused on achievement of major projects and which has its driving element in demand. Idle capacities in the economy are under state control, indicating overcoming “Keynesian uncertainty”. It is the foundation that supports the most advanced human and social engineering in the world in which we live.
It is the antithesis of financialization that accelerates the moral and intellectual decadence that now affects the entire West, from which "left" intellectuals appeal to racist titles to debate a human tragedy.
Why, when looking at China, cannot humanity live in times of great hope?

In the document ”Sopa de Wuhan”, signed by renowned intellectuals such as David Harvey, Slavoj Zizek and Alain Badiou, a Eurocentrism whose serious limits of analysis are inversely proportional to its acceptance within the Brazilian left, is perceived in a return to theses that relate the Chinese regime to an “oriental despotism” that once occupied the distorted views of Aristotle, Voltaire and Wittfogel. This article, originally published in the Observatory of Contemporary Economics, shows some perplexity about the effort of all these thinkers to exile China as a fundamental part of the post-pandemic world.
I have just read the famous document released by Marxist intellectuals or “critics” that are popular with our bands. David Harvey, Slavoj Zizek, Alan Badiou and a dozen other thinkers are thinking about the world between and post-pandemic. Under the title of “Wuhan Soup” there is an effort to understand the immediate future through the lens of critical left-wing thinking with ample space in our country.
Well, the idea here is not to make a review of the document that is freely available in PDF on the internet and can be easily accessed.
The aim is to demonstrate some perplexity about the efforts of all these renowned intellectuals to exile China as a fundamental part of the post-pandemic world. It is perceived in the document, in addition to a Eurocentrism whose serious limits of analysis are inversely proportional to its acceptance within the Brazilian left, yet another return to theses that relate the Chinese regime to an “oriental despotism” that once occupied distorted views of Aristotle, Voltaire and Wittfogel on the Middle Kingdom.
Full of dogmas, Western Marxism has revived this approach to “Eastern despotism”, as can be seen in one of the articles in the compendium signed by Byung-Chul Han to demonstrate that China, after the pandemic, may have a monopoly on the export of technologies that surround the formation of that “police state”. In addition, Alain Badiou before classifying China as the “next imperialism” could have provided us with an analysis of the different philosophies that emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys and the influence that they have on the foreign relations of States States and China. As I will show, Zizek would not need to appeal to a medieval type of "communism" in response to the contemporary challenges of humanity. But nothing new but the same unknowns.
I have no problem accepting that they all believe that China can give itself the right to be the next Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria or Libya. But for the public of this observatory that is interested in leaving the surface, there is something fundamental, starting: China is managing to resist a deadly virus with reasons to be clarified and made available to society. For these reasons, I advocate that a new, advanced and powerful social engineering emerges in China as the development of state capacities mediated by a new political and institutional framework. In China, a higher-level variation of its “market socialism” is emerging.
Society and State
The Wuhan epic has no plausible explanation without the perception that the success of national projects does not reside, solely and solely, in macroeconomic aggregates. Behind a historical journey of the stature that we have seen China undertake, there is a high degree of involvement of the whole society. There are a number of institutions in close harmony with the established political power.
Against the current theorists of “oriental despotism”, Barrington Moore Jr in his classic Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (of 1966) already called attention to the most inattentive that the Chinese agrarian community was a mix of both an early and basic democracy "pulse" to the state of mind of the great peasant base in relation to its emperor. Peasant revolts indicated dissatisfaction with the established order.
For his part, Chalmers Johnson, long before deciphering the secrets of the “Japanese miracle”, devoted much of his life to China. In Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power (published in 1962), he anticipated many of Moore Jr.'s arguments. In comparing the Yugoslav and Chinese cases, the author concluded that Communist legitimacy in China lies in the (without contraries) unity of peasant rebellion and nationalism . There is nothing more current about the role of the Communist Party's neighborhood committees in containing the virus, as Professor Adnan Akfirat recently made public.
Historical arguments are more convincing to explain national unity and the people's full willingness to face an invisible enemy. The legitimacy of the communists in the face of that experience was put to the test (as the ancient emperors were also in their day). But the corollary of the challenge was the surprising result of closing a quarantine in 72 days. While European “democracies” are about to choose who lives and who dies and the United States (“the greatest democracy in the world”) acts like a pirate ship in banning medical supplies to other countries, Chinese society and state are to demonstrate the possibility of new sociabilitys pari passu with the growing capacity of planning of its economy.
The increasing capacity to consciously manage a State and a society is the true Chinese legacy to the post-pandemic world. Incredibly nine out of ten analysts in the global progressive field simply ignore the construction of this capacity. They surrender to Aristotle, Voltaire, Wittfogel and contemporary dogmas.
West, China and the late 1970s
China is one of the only societies with the capacity to refer to itself for strategic decision-making. It is difficult to see its leaders making gross mistakes in matters of politics and big politics. Sun Tsu's wisdom led the Chinese to choose the real battlefield inside and outside the virus. Internally, total isolation under the banner of “popular war”. Externally, fourth-tier employees have responded to Trump's provocations and simultaneously coordinate with the Cubans a social division of labor where the Caribbean enter with the doctors and the Chinese with the equipment.
There are already 109 countries where the Cuban and Chinese presence is felt, regardless of the way in which the cooks of the “Wuhan Soup” intend to see the current reality and the future of the world. Kissinger in “On China” (2011) taught us that the Chinese separate very well what is internal propaganda and external pragmatic action. In the Chinese case, sustaining these two ends requires a pre-existing material base that has been tested to its limit since the launch of an audacious infrastructure investment program to link the rich east and the (then) poor interior at the end of the decade. 1990, through the massive intervention of the State in the economy in the post-2008.
In other words, at the end of the 1990s, the first, and strong, signs of China's reunion with an institution that was thousands of years old were already present: the market. This institution had been internalized with the 1978 reforms that merged the Revolutionary State founded by Mao Zedong in 1949 with the East Asian Developmental State, forging the construction of the institutions that shaped the aforementioned merger of two states (the “Revolutionary” and o “Developmentalist”), starting with the institution of liability contracts between peasant families and the State, in which the practice of 3,000 years of sale and accumulation of surplus cereals was legalized.
Today, the distance allows us to notice that the essence of this internalization is the fact that the reunion of Asian realities with old institutions has led to the emergence of dynamic vibrant social formations, both socialist and capitalist. As extra-Chinese proof, let us look at Vietnam and its good economic performance (Brazil has already passed in terms of foreign trade).
Returning, with permission to individual accumulation, China was soon to transform itself, in Marx's words about England, into a “factory of manufacturers”. Alluding to Robert Wade and his powerful 1990 arguments set out in Governing the Market (1990), Chinese socialism started to use the market as an instrument of reinvention and government. The old Asian mode of production found its modern counterpart, "market socialism". In both cases the State and the market became the sole organism of the economic system.
The difference between China and Western countries in terms of combating coronavirus may be rooted precisely in the historical overlap that - in the late 1990s - the Middle Kingdom promoted between State and market while, on the other hand, in the West, a generalized spell convinced ordinary people that one entity, the state, is the nest of corruption and another, the market, the place par excellence of virtue. The coronavirus is charging the bill in the United States, Spain, Italy and dozens of other countries for this empty and reactionary rhetoric. Wall Street has no pity for the elderly.
Institutional arrangements and the building of state capacities
Honest intellectuals throw up the question about the institutional arrangements that allowed the Chinese reaction to the pandemic, after all, this is what matters when it comes to the world that we will inherit from this global misfortune. The people of the “Wuhan Soup”, with their unmistakable lack of commitment to German historicism, missed the chance to redeem “Western Marxism” from its historic blunders and obsessive Eurocentrism. China has lifted 840 million people out of the poverty line over the past forty years, accounting for 83% of human beings lifted out of poverty in the world in the period. Doesn't that mean anything to our Wuhan gastronomes?
The “manufacture of manufacturers” has created a new and powerful private sector in the country; agricultural surpluses were directed to Townships and Village Enterprises (TVEs) - collective companies of a municipal character - generating powerful regional divisions of labor. Institutional frameworks have been emerging cyclically, demarcating the role of the State and the private sector in the economy. With each turn of the cyclic screw, there is a qualitative increase in the role of the State to the detriment of a private sector that grew “from below”, anchoring to the large state capital.
The State was responsible for elaborating the great Chinese strategy for insertion in the international economy, preparing the territory to receive foreign capital, forming a continental economy, unified and cut out by thousands of kilometers of high-speed train lines, roads and subway lines and being the entrepreneur-in-chief (lender and executor) of a machine to finance and invest inside and outside the country.
While the United States used and abused policies on the “supply side” - generating a society of rich surplus and ultra-protected poor, despite the increasing increase in labor productivity - the Chinese were building their state capacities. Its triple condition of commercial, industrial and financial power was being built on the same disposition in which a modern monetary economy was created with state development banks covering from the national level, up to the provinces and their capitals. A financial steel wall has engendered the roots of a fundamental state capacity: monetary sovereignty. Derivatives, securitizations and subprimes have become big business in the North Atlantic.
In China, the 1994 tax reform closed the country's capital account, maxed out the exchange rate and led to an intense process of corporatization of the state sector in the economy: if the market was well received in agriculture, in the cities it generated a “shock of opposites” effect, with thousands, immense and extensive inefficient state companies having to go through a painful process of corporatization. At the end of the 1990s, 149 state-owned business conglomerates were already operating in the market. There are currently 97, 19 of which are on the last Forbes 500 list.
An addendum to the role of these conglomerates lies in their strategic location in the vital ganglia of major Chinese manufacturing. The entire petrochemical, metallurgical, electrical sector. They are also the main nucleus of research and development of new and new technologies. It is companies that generate effects of chaining to other sectors of the economy, notably the private sector - whose power is overestimated in the West. From the point of view of great strategy, these companies, together with more than a dozen development banks, are the elements that give material basis to the political power exercised by the Communist Party of China.
It is public and notorious that many of these Chinese state-owned business conglomerates have been responsible for the mass production of medical masks and equipment, including productive reconversion as in the cases of the BYD electric car factory and the oil giants, Sinopec, CNPC and CNOOC. Which capitalist country in the world today is in a position to make broad productive reversals, reschedule entire sectors of the economy and completely frame the financial system? How to discuss the future of the world and ignore this new social engineering that appears in a country that insisted on being governed by a Communist Party that seeks in its centenary, to be completed in 2021, to eliminate extreme poverty in a country of 1.4 billion people. population? Zizek was an icon in the struggle against socialism in his homeland (Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia), normal for him to want, and fight, for the same fate to China.
Colonial camp intellectuals
Domenico Losurdo in “The Western Marxism - how it was born, how it died, how it can be reborn” (launched in Brazil in 2018) reminds us that Western Marxism is adept of all Judeo-Christian moralism and the sense of moral (and racial) superiority of everything that is not Atlanticist since Ernest Bloch who perceived the First World War as a crusade against the evil represented by Germany. Bloch also advocated, with the Russian Revolution, the transformation of "power into love" and the overcoming of mercantile evil, "the source of all sin".
The nominated authors of Wuhan Soup are worsened clones of well-intentioned European authors frightened by the destruction caused by capitalism in the carnage that affected Europe between 1914 and 1918. But this carnage has already affected China since the Opium Wars (1839-1842) and Vietnam with the horrors of the French occupation. Africans and Indians suffered from the same “civilizing” fate with the “democratic” whip of English, French and other “higher peoples” today embodied in some intellectuals who seek the “alternative” in indigenous villages in Chiapas or where the productive forces do not prevent the “transformation of power into love” under the patronage of foundations such as Ford, Soros, Rockefeller and others.
I would like to remind you that the “Eastern Marxism” represented in China by the geniuses of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping perceived the so-called center-periphery relationship differently, given the imperialist brutality that affected his people and the entire periphery of the system. In 1940, Mao concluded that the revolution he advocated, before reaching socialism, should open the way for the development of capitalism, even if under the control of a political force tempted to go beyond this immediate objective. Deng Xiaoping challenged the Communist Party to go beyond the achievements of Japanese Meiji Innovation, because "as proletarians we can do more".
Xi Jinping, seeing before him the decay of the Western order, is only interested in the market and technology in the West. In all these cases, the relationship between the construction of a higher-level political and economic order with the Hegelian notion of overcoming (Aufhebung) is remarkable. Chinese socialism aims at the highest point of what they deny, capitalism.
The New Design Economy
The Chinese faithful to their goals have been reaching their five-year goals one by one in the last forty years, including in the difficult years between 2005 and 2010 when industrialization with technological complementarity with the United States and Japan came to an end. An explosion of workers' strikes (the Chinese people, contrary to what Byung-Chul Han thinks, is no more obedient than Europeans, on the contrary) made the government accelerate the constitution of a welfare state principle, raise wages above productivity and put the private sector on the wall (according to the level of indebtedness of this sector and the arrests of billionaires attest).
The country had to venture into a development dynamic more centered on industrial policies focused on the production of its own technologies and on a trajectory of accumulation more centered on consumption. Institutional arrangements were ready to effect this change via two mega institutions, the Socialist State and the Communist Party. It was up to them to indicate the institutional innovations necessary to leap from one point of imbalance to another using two institutional channels that are central to the country's development today. I refer to: 1) SASAC (Commission for the Administration and Supervision of Assets of the State Council), responsible for State actions within large state-owned business conglomerates; and 2) the NCRD (National Commission for Reform and Development), where major decisions of a macroeconomic nature go.
The result of the coordinated action of all this productive, financial and institutional development was the emergence of an economy with an immense capacity to plan at ever higher levels and where the “project” entity can be the link of an economy capable of building future markets while your companies still remain market oriented. It is a behavior that binary heads have a hard time understanding and, therefore, explaining. It is easier to explain the capacity to build hospitals in a few days and mobilize immense productive chains in some acts with the well-known notion of dictatorship × democracy, something that Barrington Moore Jr taught us not to do in his classic book.
In my humble view, I see the rebirth in China of a higher-level variation of his “market socialism” that Ignacio Rangel glimpsed in his brilliant 1959 book, “Elements of Design Economics”. With all the calm that my dear master and friend Luiz Gonzaga Belluzzo advises me to have, I perceive promising traits in this arrangement capable of starting to remove China in 72 days from quarantine. The anatomy of the market would be compared to human anatomy.
We can locate this “New Economy” in the great actions that initiate the execution of large programs such as Made in China 2025, the New Silk Road Initiative and the generation of a clean and renewable energy market with emphasis on the large number of electric cars available to society. An attribute of this higher-level variation of “market socialism” is the ability to operate with almost zero restrictions. This means that this planning variant works without any constraints (financial, external, installed productive capacity, etc.) and with political power free of lobbies. This means that the introduction of new mechanisms to increase productivity or new forms of energy will encounter little political resistance.
The New Design Economy (maximum expression of a maximum rationalization of the production and planning process through the wide use of all technological apparatus inherent to Big Data, the 5G platform and contributions in the field of Artificial Intelligence) is synonymous with an economy focused on achievement of major projects and which has its driving element in demand. Idle capacities in the economy are under state control, indicating overcoming “Keynesian uncertainty”. It is the foundation that supports the most advanced human and social engineering in the world in which we live.
It is the antithesis of financialization that accelerates the moral and intellectual decadence that now affects the entire West, from which "left" intellectuals appeal to racist titles to debate a human tragedy.
Why, when looking at China, cannot humanity live in times of great hope?

Audio-Drama.com is an online directory of audio drama and spoken word websites, with at least one new link added to it each day. As of this post, there are 5,000 published articles. Here are the newest articles from the previous week:

1. Voyages (Narrated Urban Fantasy Anthology) Voyages will take you to the curious Landscape overflowing with life, to the Starscape's always-unfolding illogic, and to the depths of an unknown Seascape. It's an ongoing collection of short fiction in audiobook form that charts a course through the story of Three Scapes, one Voyage at a time.
2. The God Who Went Insane (Full Cast Urban Fantasy Series) This is a story about humans as told by a god. The distant, secretive City of Sayn is renowned for fusing magic with the scientific method, drawing wealthy students from all across Three Scapes— including Lady Sharenna Birchwood and Prince Edrach Durille. These two childhood friends attend the same classes and exchange the same witticisms, but they aren't there for the same reasons. That's where the god comes in.
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4. Murder in Lockdown (Full Cast Thriller Series) When Police Constable Sean Cargill returns home from a long shift on the beat, all he wants to do is phone his lover, Bella Hickson. However, Sean soon discovers that something is wrong with Bella and is forced to make the most troubling moral decision of his life. Murder in Lockdown tells a twisted tale of love, danger, and murder, against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.
5. Muffy Drake (Narrated Comedy Series) Absurd humor told by a Franco-American team based in Paris: A Frenchman and American walk into a bar... They exhaustively explore the shallowness of human existence, only to realize they are out of their depth and that the fine line between the meaning of life and absurdity is Muffy Drake.
6. Piano Teeth (Narrated Horror Comedy Anthology) A podcast from Piano Teeth. The voice inside your head. Expect darkly comic, surreal and strange adventures all from the comfort of your own mind.
7. Ritual (Full Cast Multigenre Anthology) Three short plays from Dirty Protest Theatre in partnership with National Theatre Wales and Sherman Theatre in association with BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Arts.
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11. This American Wasteland (Narrated Science Fiction Series) This American Wasteland is an audio drama that follows an aftermath. Archived accounts narrate this story of a post-apocalyptic America.
12. Room Infinity (Full Cast Science Fiction Series) The story about Mark Infinity, a survivor of a mysterious accident that changed his life forever. As well as, his journey to remember his past again and stop the upcoming threat of THE MARKED ONES. Only one thing could stop him, his past is nothing but a simple memory.
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14. Would You Rather... (Full Cast Comedy Series) Would you rather... the conversation starter where the participants can never really win. Decisions made when nothing is at stake – our answers are perhaps crowd pleasing rather than truthful. But what if these hypotheticals actually happened? What if your or your loved one's lives depended on it? The Would You Rather... podcast is based on making choices and the repercussions which follow.
15. Arsen (Full Cast Urban Fantasy Series) Arsen Audio Drama follows a young woman named Aurelie who, after the death of her parents embarks on a quest to learn the truth her family and her identity in the magical world of LaFresia.
16. The Visit (Full Cast Drama Series) It's reading week and Anabelle has invited Ashley to come to stay at her family home for the week, which comes as a welcome break for Ashley. The family's affluent lifestyle is a world away from Ashley's own but they seem like a fairly normal family on the surface and welcome her into their home. But as the days tick on, the atmosphere turns sour, as the happy family facade begins to melt away and a series of increasingly bizarre events lead Ashley to a shocking discovery which makes her question if she'll ever be allowed to leave. Family grudges, things going bump in the night and a TV that's the centre of family life, nothing is what it seems...
17. Like Panties For Dishrags (Full Cast Comedy Series) Created entirely in lockdown, Like Panties for Dishrags is an audio comedy for adults written by BBC Talent award-winner Jon Blake, also shortlisted for a Writers Guild Award, the Children's Book Award and the Laugh Out Loud awards. Be transported for 73 minutes to the notorious Tresedd estate where hapless tutor Dominic Kingdom Duff (played by Everyman Theatre's Peter Harding-Roberts) wades hopelessly out of his depth to bring creative writing to the locals. . .with surprising results.
18. We Never Left (Full Cast Urban Fantasy Mystery Series) A gothic audio drama about a college graduate who returns to her small town and confronts the mysterious curse that resides in it.
19. Daemonik (Full Cast Urban Fantasy Series) There's been a string of mysterious attacks and murders throughout the small town of Havenwood, but it never seemed to be anything that Finnian ever paid much mind to. But she finds herself affected by these attacks when her best friend, Thomas, becomes a victim of the attacks. Although he's recovering, there's more to the attacks than Fin realizes. For one day, as she returns home from visiting Thomas, she too becomes victim to an attack. Only to find rescue in a mysterious man who claims he's the great demon Leviathan. Will Fin be able to get to the bottom of this mystery? Or will she find herself dragged deeper into the darker world that hides within the shadows of Havenwood?
20. True Vault Escapades (Full Cast Science Fiction Thriller Series) Taking place sometime before the events of 'Fallout: New Vegas', follow the story of a tough-as-nails wasteland detective, and a blonde-bombshell vault girl as they solve some of postwar America's biggest mysteries. From the harsh lands of Texas to the war-torn deserts of the Mojave, Walter & Bunny risk it all to expose sensational murders, crime syndicates, and even cold cases from over 200 years ago. All of it draped in a 1940's noir blanket. Includes the full package: Trans-Atlantic accents, vinyl grain, and even era-appropriate music.

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Democrats’ Unprecedented Embrace of Gun Control

The party is betting that support for restrictions is more likely to attract moderate voters than turn them off.
Elaine Godfrey August 20, 2020Gabby GiffordsBloomberg / Getty
On a cold February evening, weeks before the full force of the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, a few dozen Mike Bloomberg supporters milled around the airy living room of a home in the genteel Washington, D.C., suburb of McLean, Virginia. The voters, most of them white, described themselves as moderates or former Republicans. They explained to me that, more than anything, they want stability and civility back in national politics, and they tut-tutted any mention of Bernie Sanders and his plans for radical change. But one issue—the one they’d come to hear about—got them really riled up: gun control.
“He’s laid out an assault-weapons ban for new purchases,” a man named Bill, a managing partner at a small investment firm and a former intelligence officer, told me excitedly, when I asked why he backed Bloomberg for president. (Bill declined to give his last name for privacy reasons.) “And there absolutely should be universal background checks,” he continued. “It’s like, that’s a no-brainer—come on.”
This is the new normal in the Democratic Party: Moderate voters not only support gun-control legislation, but have begun to use the issue as a litmus test. In 2010, roughly 20 percent of all federal candidates who received “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association were Democrats; by the 2018 midterms, that number was down to less than 2 percent, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 2013 and largely funded by Bloomberg. Which means that Democrats in 2020 are embracing gun control in an unprecedented way, betting that their support is more likely to attract voters than turn them away—especially in the suburban districts that are quickly becoming central to the party map.
Nowhere has this shift been clearer than at this year’s Democratic convention, which was expressly designed to appeal to a bipartisan viewership and where gun control has been a central focus. On Tuesday, Representative Veronica Escobar of Texas spoke about the 2019 shooting in El Paso that left 23 people dead. A montage about the nation’s growing gun-violence-prevention movement was narrated by Emma González, who survived the Parkland, Florida, high-school shooting in 2018. Former Representative Gabby Giffords of Arizona, who was shot in the head in 2011 and who spent months relearning how to speak, called for reform in a moving speech last night. Bloomberg is likely to make similar calls when he addresses TV audiences tonight.
Four years ago, Hillary Clinton’s campaign welcomed mothers who had lost children to gun violence to speak at her nominating convention, the first remarks of their kind. But there were no such convention segments or panels on gun control as recently as 2012. “What people are seeing is gun safety not only mobilizes, but it also persuades the all-important independent and suburban voters who will likely decide the 2020 election,” says John Feinblatt, Everytown’s president.
Support for stricter gun-control measures, such as universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons, has grown stronger among Americans in the past decade, as a series of mass shootings has rattled the country. In that time, the Democratic coalition changed significantly too. Moderate Democrats once represented rural swaths of the country, where guns were popular and restricting their use was not. Today, the profile of the average moderate Democrat looks very different: She represents a suburban constituency that overwhelmingly favors gun control, and whose politics are more aligned with those of voters in nearby blue cities than those of voters in rural America. Democrats are “able to be a lot more aggressive on these kinds of issues, since there’s no longer any tension within the Democratic coalition,” says Lanae Erickson, a senior vice president at the center-left think tank Third Way, which has encouraged Democratic candidates to run on gun reforms. Now, “instead of Bart Stupak, you have Abigail Spanberger.”
Gun control was indeed a core campaign message for Spanberger, the Democratic representative who defeated the Republican incumbent Dave Brat two years ago in a suburban district near Richmond, Virginia, that had long been represented by the GOP. It was also central to the campaign platform of Jennifer Wexton, Spanberger’s fellow Virginian and fellow freshman, who flipped her D.C.-adjacent district from red to blue. By 2019, polling showed that gun control was the top issue for voters in their home state; that fall, Democrats managed to gain control of the state legislature and immediately passed a huge slate of gun reforms.
Moderate Democrats have run and won on gun control in red states too. The gun-control activist Lucy McBath, whose son was shot and killed in 2012, now occupies Newt Gingrich’s old seat outside Atlanta. Like Escobar, Representatives Colin Allred and Lizzie Fletcher talked up gun control in their suburban, formerly Republican districts in Texas.
The Senate Democratic caucus is no exception to these changes. This year, almost all of the Democratic candidates in the most competitive races have sought the “Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate distinction,” a rating from Feinblatt’s organization that identifies a candidate as supportive of gun legislation. “People have not noticed how much the Democratic coalition has consolidated around this,” Erickson told me. There may be an assumption “that part of the Democratic coalition is holding us back on this. But that’s no longer true.”
Leaders in the gun-control movement expect to push a Biden-Harris administration to pass legislation requiring comprehensive background checks, and a federal red-flag law that would permit authorities to remove firearms from Americans considered a threat to themselves or others, Feinblatt told me. Maybe, he added, the administration will even revive discussions about an assault-weapons ban.
But like much of the party’s agenda, any legislative progress on gun control almost certainly depends on an overwhelming Democratic victory in November. The base may be more unified than ever on the issue. Its lawmakers might be too. But absent a Democratic wave—and perhaps the end of the Senate filibuster—winning the White House won’t be enough.
Bloomberg’s presidential campaign folded shortly after that February house party in McLean. Watching the convention last night, I thought about another voter I met there: Rebecca Boldrick Hogg, a retired teacher and the mother of David Hogg, a young gun-control activist who, like González, survived the Parkland shooting. David, Boldrick Hogg explained at the time, was all in for Sanders, but she couldn’t abide the senator’s once-moderate record on guns. Her son was willing to accept that Sanders’s political positions had evolved, but she couldn’t bring herself to forgive him for it. Her vote, like so many others’, hinges on where a candidate stands on guns.
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Elaine Godfrey is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she covers politics.