This post relates a creative idea about how the Corona virus (COVID-19) could be uweaponized against the recession. Sounds absurd?
Dr. Karin Joder:
Today I welcome a very special guest for an interview—it’s the clever seagull, Carina Clever, from Clever People, who has a creative idea. Please tell us briefly where you’re from.
Carina:
I’m originally from northern Germany, where a lot of clever seagulls have their home. That’s where you designed me in the summer of 2019. I received just the right finishing touches in the Netherlands from a very capable designer. Then I was built in China in the fall of 2019 and flew back to Kiel. Thanks to Heidi Reinhardt, a most excellent web upgrader, I can now be seen on the Internet.
Dr. Karin Joder:
Wow—you were in China last year? What was it like there?
Carina:
There are many, many people working in China. Only a few are what you would call „wealthy“ or „rich“. When I was built in China in the fall of 2019, many people in China feared a recession with an increasingly difficult economy—they called it „economic weakness.“
People in China were buying a lot of stuff on credit. Then all of a sudden the banks got cold feet, wanted the money back, and turned off the money tap.
People bought less –I think people call that „consumer weakness.“ More and more I heard the term „impending recession“ and that the current situation then was a bad omen!
Anyway—the economy in China was getting weaker and weaker during the time I was made there. A lot of people were thinking about what they could do to make sure that the other countries didn’t feel the same way. I think they would have been totally embarrassed by that.
I myself am a seagull and have a lot of imagination—and so I had an idea how the people in China could solve their problem…
Dr. Karin Joder:
Aha! What kind of idea did you have?
Carina:
Well, the people in China are no strangers to viruses. Some time ago there was SARS, the swine flu, and so on… even if it’s like comparing apples and oranges, of course, because it’s no longer a secret that COVID-19 is not as bad as originally feared and that almost everyone has been carrying coronaviruses for many years. If we had looked more closely at how many people carry coronaviruses in the past, we would have discovered them long ago and would not have been so caught off-guard by the current situation. But somehow nobody was interested in this question in the past. Only now is this question beginning to be investigated. After all, more people die every day from the consequences of cardiovascular diseases or cancer than from COVID-19. 11,000 people die every year in Germany alone from the consequences of household accidents. That’s why ladders should be banned!
Anyway, I ask myself: why is no distinction drawn between whether a person dies clearly BECAUSE of COVID-19 or WITH it—because the lion’s share of deaths concern older people with grave pre-existing illnesses. I as a seagull have the impression that this scaremongering among people has a certain rhyme and reason to it.
Anyway. So I thought to myself as a smart seagull: How about spreading a new virus like Covid-19, first in your own country and then just automatically to the rest of the world?
So, if this new Corona virus were to paralyze a few people in China and temporarily shut down production, then you’d have a tried-and-tested alibi for why your own economy is weakening or why the specter of recession is haunting you. Once again, a virus would be the scapegoat, as it was in 2008 with swine flu. You could use a Corona virus like that to distract people from your own economic weakness, get it?
Dr. Karin Joder:
Huh! That’s a daring idea! But then why should the virus be transmitted to other countries?
Carina:
Quite simply: Many people from China fly to Europe, the US, and everywhere else and would automatically take the Corona virus with them. So, time-delayed, everywhere in the world, other people would be infected with the virus. After a short time, there would be a panic, consumption and production would be reduced, and the economy would go downhill everywhere.
Dr. Karin Joder:
Yes, but why would the Corona virus help against recession—wouldn’t it be just the opposite?
Carina:
Well, the Corona virus arrives in the other countries with a time lag from China, and at a time when people in China have already recovered from the virus and ramped up production again.
Since the Corona consequences (company bankruptcies, unemployment, etc.) will soon cause stock prices to crash further and probably trigger a global economic crisis, many companies will soon be sold for dirt cheap. If I were a smart seagull living in China and wanted to buy a good company in, say, Europe or the US, I would just wait until the stock prices of some good companies really hit rock bottom. After all, what happened in March was just the beginning. Then I would buy at a bargain price, fire the CEOs, and decide everything myself.
- Distracting from the economic weakness at home by using the Corona virus as an alibi for the growing misery and
- Good foreign companies at bargain prices would thus be two obvious ways for me as a seagull to at least start combatting the recession in my own country and make a profit with COVID-19.
- In addition, some pharmaceutical companies are now finally earning real money again. That was precisely the case in 2008. A lot of money has been spent on research and drugs—that has to pay off!
Many countries are dependent on the production in China—e.g. of certain medicines or personal protective equipment. I, as a seagull, was also produced in China, and because China still counts as an emerging country, transport to Europe from there is extremely cheap.
So if the Corona virus causes panic in Europe and the U.S. with a time lag, and production is paralyzed, the chances are good that urgently needed supplies will be ordered from China. China would temporarily become a commodity monopoly, so to speak.
And every seagull knows that a monopoly means a position of power where you can conveniently dictate prices. That would be something, wouldn’t it?
Dr. Karin Joder:
Whew! But take it further, Carina—who bears the cost of the whole disaster?
Carina:
You certainly can’t seriously claim damages from China, because the idea of some scattered cases of corona virus is just the idea of a seagull who has a lot of imagination.
Those who are supposed to pay for this catastrophe will be, as always, those who still represent such outdated values as „thrift“, „decency“ or „diligence“. They are called „high achievers“ or „the middle class.“ This small group of dedicated people pays most of the taxes and yet they’re still being attacked for being industrious. Efficiency criteria will be used to absorb the damage–that has always been the case, and will be this time, as well.
Dr. Karin Joder:
Could you please explain briefly what you mean by „efficiency criteria“?
Carina:
I’ve seen it a lot, as a seagull. You just look for the people from whom the money is easiest to get, so those who have worked and saved all their lives and who pay taxes. It’s easiest to get the money from them. Perhaps the measures to „combat“ COVID-19 will cause quite a few self-employed and middle-class people to go broke and then they’ll no longer be able to pay taxes. The „super rich“, who are spurned in so many places, keep their money where you can’t access it. So it will be increasingly difficult for the states to collect it all from the top performers and finance the economic consequences.
Dr. Karin Joder:
These are very interesting approaches you’re advocating here. So, do you have anything you want to say in conclusion?
Carina:
This COVID-19 is a disaster for people. The depressiveness and hopelessness that’s spreading the longer it goes on is just bad news. The constant negative news numbs people and they develop depression, partly because social contacts are restricted. It’s no secret that cultivating hobbies and social contacts strengthens the immune system, and that social isolation—which, by the way, has also been used as a method of torture for years—weakens the immune system and then in turn makes it susceptible to viruses of all kinds. The suicide rate will increase for those whose livelihood has gone down the tubes and who are afraid of forced medication and forced vaccinations and the further expropriation of their basic rights. There may even be civil wars in some countries. So there will be secondary consequences far removed from any economic losses.
I as a seagull see the whole thing, but I can only appeal to the common sense of people in influential positions: Please be critical of „statistics“ and sponsored „consultants“ and keep a healthy sense of proportion for the people on this planet, so that this planet remains livable for your relatives and grandchildren!
great thoughts, thank you.