Are we headed for a world wide meltdown?

... Not tryin' to pin you down with this, Mr. Chung.
YOU are entitled to your opinion - and ME also...

#### Salty

I said the Rescue plan contributed... In a small way.

But 3 points? Not buying it. The Federal Reserve excess stimulus, and refusal to react is the major driver. Those Fools just stopped buying mortgage-backed securities, despite the hottest housing market in US history.

You give the FED a pass, because it absolves Joe, and you won't have that.
And you probably have little understanding anyway. Originally Posted by Chung Tran

You got everything backwards, chungy.

You scapegoat the Fed, because that way you can absolve Joe.

Try to remember the Fed is tasked with the job of accommodating whatever gargantuan sums of money Congress appropriates. The Fed doesn't decide how much to spend or how big a stimulus may be prudent during a recession or a pandemic. But when the dim-retards control all 3 branches of the federal govt (WH, Senate & House) so they can throw caution to the wind and indulge their wicked proclivities to spend money without limit, it makes the Fed's job a well-nigh impossible one.

But you probably have little understanding of that anyway.

I'm inclined to wait and see whether the narrative shifts from the "i-word" to the "r-word" within the next 6-12 months. Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

If memory serves me right, isn't that what happened to Jerry Ford? Back in the Fall of 1974, he wanted all of us to sport WIN buttons on our lapels. "WIN" stood for Whip Inflation Now lol.

Within 6 months, the buttons were gone and all of his energies were directed toward fighting the recession.

You got everything backwards, chungy.

You scapegoat the Fed, because that way you can absolve Joe.

Try to remember the Fed is tasked with the job of accommodating whatever gargantuan sums of money Congress appropriates. The Fed doesn't decide how much to spend or how big a stimulus may be prudent during a recession or a pandemic. But when the dim-retards control all 3 branches of the federal govt (WH, Senate & House) so they can throw caution to the wind and indulge their wicked proclivities to spend money without limit, it makes the Fed's job a well-nigh impossible one.

But you probably have little understanding of that anyway. Originally Posted by lustylad

Aren't you the silly SOB who bragged about the Trump economy, despite the fact he was running almost trillion dollar deficits and now it seems you're ignoring all the stimulus money TRUMP approved.

And if memory serves me....right before the election TRUMP was calling for more stimulus checks.

... No, your memory serves you WRONG. ... It was after the election
- Trump told Pelosi that the latest one should be $2000 dollars.

What Sleepy Joe had promiced.

Obviously, Trump surely wanted the American people to get
the money - and NOT have it go to phony Democrat "Infrastructure"...

That's Trump - once again looking out for the American people.

#### Salty

But God Damn it, Trump was slow to ban Chinese flights, and European flights after that. Originally Posted by Chung Tran

And when he did stop the flights, what did the democrats and their propaganda outlets call him?

ah, yes.... RAYCISS!!

...it seems you're ignoring all the stimulus money TRUMP approved.

And if memory serves me....right before the election TRUMP was calling for more stimulus checks. Originally Posted by WTF

You're an idiot.

Suppose your gay boyfriend starts having severe migraines and can't have sex with you anymore. He goes to a Republican doctor who prescribes a new drug @ 50 milligrams a day. Your gay boyfriend takes it and is starting to recover.

Then you stupidly send him to a dim-retard doc named Pelosi who doubles the prescribed dose to 100 mg. Soon your gay boyfriend passes out and slips into a permanent coma.

Only a complete idiot like you would sue the Republican doctor - and not that reckless, irresponsible dim-retard quack named Pelosi who OD'd your gay boyfriend.

... No, your memory serves you WRONG. ... It was after the election
- Trump told Pelosi that the latest one should be $2000 dollars.
Originally Posted by Salty Again

No. Trump wanted stimulus money before the election.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/06/trum...-election.html

He thought he wouldn't lose to ''fucking Joe Biden'', so waiting until after the election would give him negotiating leverage.

When he lost ( he did lose, believe it or not), THEN it was a shift to giving more to individuals, less to Government projects. Sore Loser, in summary.

... President Trump PAYED OUT stimulus money - signature there, Remember?

What I claimed AFTER the election is TRUE.
Whether you claim is was sour-grapes by Trump or not.

### Salty

https://t.me/rrndaily/381735

He thought he wouldn't lose to ''fucking Joe Biden'' Originally Posted by Chung Tran

He was right.

the US should have done like Sweden did. they were right all along and the data shows it and they didn't fuck over their schools and businesses. recall that the leftists all screamed that Sweden would suffer horribly!! that was to keep their FUD campaign going and keep these idiotic and useless lockdowns in play. Originally Posted by The_Waco_Kid

Yup!

https://brownstone.org/articles/swed...roven-correct/

. Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

excellent find CM! let's post that for our link challenged fellow posters!


recall that the UK initially said they would follow the real science as well then Boris "The Spider" Johnson caved in to the pressure of UK counterparts to Fauci and look what that got them.


Sweden’s Strategy Once Again Proven Correct

By Ian Miller May 20, 2022 Policy, Public Health 6 minute read


Throughout the pandemic, Sweden has faced an enormous amount of criticism and international pressure due to their willingness to stick to established public health principles and pre-pandemic planning.

Instead of following the incessant, anti-science groupthink that became part of a virus-induced political religion, Sweden chose instead to not impose the strict lockdowns that Dr. Fauci recently claimed were not tried in the US.


Sweden never mandated masks be worn in indoor public spaces, correctly identifying the lack of evidence supporting their use.


They kept schools open in defiance of teacher’s unions and politically motivated “experts” in the United States who advocated for a policy with zero benefits and tremendous harms.


Essentially, Sweden followed the actual science and not The Science™, with the requisite trademark and capital letters. That would include the guides that were prepared prior to the panic, inaccurate modeling, political motivations and crisis obsession took over.


Even last year it became readily apparent that no one in the media or public health establishment was willing to discuss the inarguable reality that Sweden’s results were no worse than many countries across the globe — and significantly better than many, many others.


In general, comparisons have been mainly focused on COVID specific outcomes, but now the World Health Organization, fresh off demanding authoritarian powers over sovereign nations whenever they deem necessary, has released a new report on their estimates of excess mortality.


Excess mortality is simply the number of deaths above the expected rate in a given country in a specific time frame.


Excess mortality captures all of the outcomes in a country — it’s not limited to COVID related metrics or any other specific cause.


For that reason it can often be a better indicator of the true cost of the pandemic, whether that be COVID mortality or the consequences of lockdowns, hospital policy or mental health breakdowns.


The WHO report contains many illuminating statistics from the first two years of the pandemic which illustrate that Sweden’s approach was undoubtedly the correct one; once again contradicting the expert derived “consensus” that advocates for endless restrictions on normal life.


Sweden’s relative success is easily visible when comparing thirty European countries in estimated excess mortality rate per 100,000:



Sweden ranks 25th out of the 30 countries.


24 countries had a higher excess mortality rate per 100,000.


In summary, Sweden, the country that eschewed strict lockdowns, had some of the lowest mask usage anywhere on earth, kept schools open and society functioning as much as possible, and had one of the lowest rates of overall mortality of any country in their region.


While a single graph or chart may not necessarily disprove pro-mandate arguments, this one comes remarkably close.


If lockdowns, masks and other restrictions were as important as experts and politicians preach that they are, these results should not be possible.


Countries like Germany, Portugal and the Czech Republic were all praised for having “science based” responses with strict lockdowns, and extremely high rates of mask compliance.






Portugal’s vaccine success





Germany’s “Master class in science communication”





The Czech Republic’s “Lifesaving lesson to wear masks”
Sweden vastly outperformed each of them.


But let’s dive in a bit deeper.
One of the more common refrains from mask advocates is that US states such as New York, New Jersey and others have poor cumulative results because they weren’t aware early on that masks “work,” so their policies were adjusted and spread was successfully reversed by mask mandates and other restrictions after the first wave.


However, Sweden shows the exact opposite.


Restrictions in Sweden for the entirety of 2020 and 2021 were consistently among the least authoritarian and invasive when compared to other western countries.


Once again, if mask mandates, lockdowns and strict vaccine based policies were so important and effective, we’d expect the outcomes in 2021 to be worse in Sweden, as most of the world experienced increased spread with more transmissible variants.


Instead we see the exact opposite:



Black bars indicate the 2020 rate in each country, while the orange bars are the 2021 rates.


In many European countries, excess mortality became significantly worse in 2021 despite the arrival of vaccines, the ingrained evidence-free belief in masks and widespread discriminatory vaccine passport policies. Sweden had the exact opposite results, with significantly lower rates in 2021 despite their “lax” rules.


Comparing the 2021 numbers exclusively also highlights Sweden’s success:



Although the determination of pro-mandate fanatics to exclusively compare Sweden to other Scandinavian countries is nonsensical, the 2021 excess mortality rates show Sweden with lower numbers than both Finland and Denmark.


Revisiting the overall chart from 2020-2021, it’s important to highlight several other countries that had much stricter rules than Sweden:



France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain and Italy all had lockdowns, varying levels of vaccine discrimination, mask mandates and strict entry requirements.


All fared worse than Sweden.

The lockdown and mask apologists simply offered no explanation for this.


Oh sure, there are excuses and misdirections, but no actual explanations.


Yes, Sweden had higher cumulative rates than the other Scandinavian countries, but viewing them in context shows how similar they actually were, outside of Norway, which was essentially a global exception.


Norway, however, had significant rates of spread in late 2021 that would not be counted until the 2022 data is in.



In general, the Scandinavian countries were more lax than most of continental Europe regardless.


More importantly, the broader context of Europe shows how successful Sweden’s policies actually were.


Here are several notable countries and how much higher than excess mortality rates were from 2020-2021:

• Czech Republic 229%
• United States 163%
• Italy 147%
• Spain 106%
• United Kingdom 100%
• Germany 96%
• Portugal 71%
• Greece 63%
• Netherlands 57%
• Belgium 35%

All of these countries had much harsher restrictions than Sweden with significantly worse results.


No matter how hard they try, every available piece of data and evidence continues to contradict the assertions made by incompetent experts desperate to protect their disgraced reputations and future grants.


Masks, lockdowns and strict discrimination at nearly every indoor business were all proven to be completely ineffective, both at reducing infections and overall mortality.


Sweden’s willingness to follow science and not The Science™ meant that they limited the negative impacts of COVID while avoiding higher numbers of deaths from other lockdown-derived consequences.


The vast majority of mainstream media outlets have no interest in covering these results because it contradicts the policies they’ve strongly advocated for and consistently promoted.


CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and many other mainstream publications did their best to ensure that corporations, politicians, teacher’s unions and other decision makers had the cover to enforce seemingly endless mandates.


Disturbingly, toddlers are still masked in New York City, which appears to be heading back towards mask mandates and vaccine passports (now with boosters!).


School districts across the United States have already decided to mandate masks due to a slight increase in cases.


These policies will now be an endless, reoccurring threat in anti-science areas like Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.


All based on the lie that masks and mandates work. A lie that Sweden helps expose.


Republished from the author’s Substack
Author


Ian Miller


Ian Miller is the author of “Unmasked: The Global Failure of COVID Mask Mandates.” His work has been featured on national television broadcasts, national and international news publications and referenced in multiple best selling books covering the pandemic. He writes a Substack newsletter, also titled “Unmasked.” Originally Posted by The_Waco_Kid

Waco Kid, I'd question the premise in your first post. Up through October, 2020, Sweden had the among the highest official death rates per capita from COVID in Europe. Belgium was #1, and Spain, Italy, the UK, and Sweden were clumped behind. In the late fall of 2020 and afterwards, Sweden implemented restrictions on schools and businesses, that were more stringent than anything where I live since the summer of 2020. They banned alcohol sales after 10:00 PM, gatherings of more than 8 people, and closed schools for kids over 13. Laws were passed to allow government to curb public and private gatherings, restrict travel, place time limits on when businesses can open and close, and limit the number of people in restaurants and businesses. This is all from Wikipedia.

I'm not going to argue these restrictions are necessarily why Sweden is now among the middle of the pack in terms of excess deaths per capita in Western Europe. There were a lot of other things going on besides government mandates. Scandinavia, which besides Denmark is kind of unto itself geographically, had lower death rates than other European countries. (Aside: Sweden had the highest death rates in Scandinavia.) Eastern Europe's were much higher. So were Latin America's. Why? Well it might have something to do with the size of the family units, how many people were crowded into houses and public areas. Maybe there's a genetic component -- maybe Scandinavians are more resistant to COVID than many others. Actually early during the epidemic, COVID spread like wildfire among the immigrant Somali population in Sweden, with much higher case rates than the general population.

Also, Swedes, for better or worse, are more inclined to follow government guidelines. This may have worked against them with masking, but they were more likely to social distance and get vaccinated. The vaccination rate in Sweden is higher than the U.S.A. and, based on a quick look, most or all of the countries in Eastern Europe in Miller's table. For example, Bulgaria, which is at the top of his list by a long shot for excess mortality, has a vaccination rate of 29.7%, compared to 73.8% for Sweden.

He was right. Originally Posted by Jacuzzme

Kind of pathetic that you still cling to conspiracy theory.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...lection-342326

Trump knew he was vulnerable. Hence his telling us in August, 2020, that if he lost, it would be due to a rigged election.

Stop making Trump your Wizard. Move on.

A real allocation of ''fault'' for inflation looks like this:

Powell/FED 60%
Russian War 10%
Biden Policy 10%
Covid Fallout/Supply chokes 20% Originally Posted by Chung Tran

I said the Rescue plan contributed... In a small way.

But 3 points? Not buying it. The Federal Reserve excess stimulus, and refusal to react is the major driver. Those Fools just stopped buying mortgage-backed securities, despite the hottest housing market in US history.

You give the FED a pass, because it absolves Joe, and you won't have that. And you probably have little understanding anyway. Originally Posted by Chung Tran

Chung Tran, Actually LustyLad, like you and I, has been very critical of Fed policy.

I believe your weighting for "Biden Policy" is too low. Here's some info for your consideration.

1. Economic Impact Payments

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-iss...der%20age%2017.

The federal government sent out payments of $1200 per adult and $500 per child around March of 2020, $600 per adult and $600 per child around January, 2021, and a whopping $1400 per adult AND per child in March, 2021.

Please note that many Republican Congressmen opposed the magnitude of the January, 2021 payments. However, faced with opposition from President Trump and Congressional Democrats, they passed they bill. They were able to cut the payment from the $2,000 favored by Trump and Pelosi down to $600.

Also please note that Republican Congressmen unanimously opposed the $1400 payments in March, 2021. Larry Summers was shouting "Don't Do It!" from the rooftops.

2. Personal Savings Rate

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PSAVERT

Please display 5 years of data on the graph. You'll see the personal saving rate shot up from 8.3% to 33.8% in April, 2020, in response to the $1200 payments. The rate was on a steady decline until it was goosed again by the January, 2021 and March, 2021 stimulus payments.

3. Monthly Inflation

https://www.bls.gov/charts/consumer-...line-chart.htm

Please click on the link to show the table. You'll see that the after the first stimulus payment back in April, 2020, inflation remained contained. It was running 1.4% in January, 2021, when the second stimulus payment occurred. All the while, the overhang of personal savings from the COVID lockdowns and business closures and stimulus payments was declining.

After the third stimulus payment, in March, 2021, you see a rapid uptick in the CPI, to 5% by May, 2021, and it kept rising to where it is now.

I'm not smart enough to know how to apportion the blame, but suspect the 10% on Biden's policies is way too low.

Suppose your gay boyfriend starts having severe migraines and can't have sex with you anymore. He goes to a Republican doctor who prescribes a new drug @ 50 milligrams a day. Your gay boyfriend takes it and is starting to recover.

Then you stupidly send him to a dim-retard doc named Pelosi who doubles the prescribed dose to 100 mg. Soon your gay boyfriend passes out and slips into a permanent coma.

Only a complete idiot like you would sue the Republican doctor - and not that reckless, irresponsible dim-retard quack named Pelosi who OD'd your gay boyfriend. Originally Posted by lustylad

More like gay AF wannabe economist....I'd beat the shit out of the Republican doctor for taking so long to get rid of you!

Now listen up homo...ain't no doctor in the world can cure what ails you and others. Partisan hackery.

You've been excusing Trump and his huge deficits since day one...until you start accepting some of the blame, I'm going to continue to slap the dick out of you.