We have major concerns about our situation regarding this current corona virus. There are a lot of things to consider on this topic. We’ll cover some here, more in another blog.
First, let’s cover a couple of small details, so we come into this with a common understanding.
How did the virus get its COVID-19 name? According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) the World Health Organization (WHO) assigned it COVID-19 using ‘CO’ for ‘corona,’ ‘VI’ for ‘virus,’ and ‘D’ for disease. The 19 comes from the year it was discovered, 2019.
Where and how did this virus originate? It seems to have come from the area of Wuhan, China. Two primary hypotheses exist as to how. One is that it was created in a Chinese biowarfare lab located there and either escaped or was intentionally released. The other is that it appeared naturally in an animal and was transferred to a human when a human consumed the infected animal.
Of these two, we lean toward the former.
Many speculations, theories, and hypotheses float around about this virus, but we don’t yet know a lot for certain.
Some things we think we know at this point:
- This little monster is a very contagious respiratory virus, which primarily infects lung tissue.
- People with weakened or reduced immune (immune compromised) systems or other underlying health conditions tend to have a more difficult time with it and are more likely to die.
- Some may get it and recover.
- Some may have it and never know because they are asymptomatic
- The rapidity and ease with which it spreads put severe stresses on our health care systems, first responders, transport/handling systems, and the general population.
- Areas with a high population density seem more greatly affected.
This pandemic presented us with a range of tough choices for attempting control:
- At one extreme (we’ll call it Option 1), the governments could shut down certain businesses, outlaw large gatherings, order people to stay home, and order those infected to self-quarantine.
- At the other extreme (we’ll call it Option 2), the governments could do nothing and let the virus run its natural course.
- Or the governments could do something in between.
Any action or inaction would have major impacts on health care systems, first responders, and other systems. That can’t be avoided. Therefore, we must give our highest priority to protecting and maintaining these systems.
Now reality tells us that no self-serving politician who values his/her position is going to say we should just suffer through it, and let those who will, die. The short-term thinking public would either run that person out of office or vote that person out at the next election. So the politicians will choose the path of least short-term resistance: Option 1.
So in choosing a modified Option 1, the governments also decided to throw Trillions of dollars at the situation, hoping the money would at least temporarily ease some of the human economic problems.
Was that the “best” choice?
The governmental physical response to COVID-19 was essentially the same as for the deadly 1918 Spanish Flu — isolation, quarantine, good personal hygiene, use of disinfectants, and limitations of public gatherings (CDC). One would hope that we had learned something better in the past century. Apparently not.
We have seen the current negative impacts those choices created. These are the STRESS from:
- isolation
- job losses
- personal and other economic problems
- business failures
- product supply shortages
Other negative stress impacts which will show up soon:
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- an increase in suicides
- more domestic violence/abuse
- higher crime rates – both violent and non-violent
- inflation
- a major recession or depression
Are there any positive impacts?
- a lower number of immediate virus cases
With people quarantined, there is a reduced opportunity for exposure and for developing immunity. When people get back together as things open up, we will have a second pulse of incidents. Hopefully by then sources will have re-supplied protective equipment and given the people and systems a chance to rest and recover.
But the government’s decision will have much greater consequences a little farther down the road — inflation and a depression. That hurts everyone, except maybe the very wealthy.
What if they had chosen Option 2?
Negative impacts:
- the virus would spread faster
- more people would probably die sooner
- health care facilities would be temporarily stressed more than they are now
Positive impacts:
- life would proceed in a closer-to-normal fashion for most people
- most people would develop immunity (what is called herd immunity)
Which would have been the better choice or solution overall?
We claim Option 2.
“WHAT? WHY?” You demand.
We’re not insensitive to people dying. Many people would lose loved ones. We wouldn’t want to lose ours, and we don’t want to die ourselves. But given the choices, we should let the universe take its course. People from previous generations have given their lives to protect and maintain America. Maybe we should look at this situation with that perspective?
There are other things to consider that aren’t being looked at here.. There is more to life than the material body. And there are other healing and protective modalities than what the medical community allows.
We see several problems with the Federal Government’s monetary reaction to this crisis. While money may help some people in the short term, the long-term picture has some huge risks.
The American monetary system uses a fiat currency — a currency based on nothing but the security in and faith of the government issuing it.
Our biggest concern from the Federal Government’s reaction of throwing so much money at this problem in combination with Option 1 is the potentially devastating impacts to the economy. America is already bankrupt, with a national debt we’ll never be able to repay unless the Federal Reserve begins printing worthless money. We’re living on borrowed time. At some point, the system has to collapse.
The government’s recent actual income is already about 1 Trillion short of the US budget’s 4 Trillion dollars. This leads to debt growth and inflation. The 1 Trillion dollar shortage plus the 2 trillion dollar stimulus — with likely even more to come — will double our annual debt and poses a huge risk. This will push our interest payment alone on the national debt toward a half Trillion dollars by itself.
Many countries have suffered economic collapse by issuing too much currency with people losing faith in the stability of the government. After World War I, the cost of a loaf of bread in Germany rose through hyperinflation from less than 1 Mark to 3 billion Marks. It really could happen here. Could you afford to buy bread at that price?
We are so fortunate to have the US dollar as the world’s present reserve currency. But other currencies are competing for that status. Could this situation give them a boost to replace the dollar? If they win, it would mean a catastrophic economic collapse for America.
So which solution would you choose?
1) Many people who mostly have other health conditions dying sooner? Or,
2) The years-long societal and economic collapse that follows, hurting everyone?
The “cure” the governments chose will be a lot worse for a lot more people than the disease.
We said at the beginning, there are many things to consider in a solution here. We’ll cover more of those others in a later blog. These include:
- other possible effective treatments and preventives for diseases like COVID-19
- future requirements for vaccinations
- increasing government controls over our lives
- the fear being generated by the media beyond the typical annual flu impacts