Martin Armstrong is correct that shutting down the global economy for weeks or a month will pin prick the massive global debt bubble and set the Greater Depression into motion, as well as many other likely or possible ramifications such as an eventual global monetary reset, elimination of cash, increased [totalitarian edicts](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/market-talk/market-talk-march-18-2020/), accelerated inflation (demand push from handing out $1000 to every adult American and cost push from shuttered production), etc..
> France in on a total lockdown, meaning citizens must have a specific form filled with permission to leave homes.
[…]
> President Trump admitted that there have been issues with testing for the virus. The US is working to expand the current process and aims to move toward self-swab testing whereby people can administer their own examines and seek professional help if needed. Vice President Pence reiterated during today’s announcement that only those exhibiting symptoms should seek a test.
Why does Pence not follow [the research](https://steemit.com/coronavirus/@anonymint/diabolical-mers-derived-chimera-coronavirus-masquerading-as-the-common-cold) which clearly indicates this virus spreads from those with only very mild symptoms that resemble a common cold or flu. Many kids do not even realize they have it yet they are spreading it. So they want it to spread even more undetected.
<center>[<br/>FedEx Ends Signature Requirements](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/fedex-ends-signature-requirements/)</center>
Armstrong blogged [The Insanity Continues](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/qa/the-insanity-continues/):
> https://i.imgur.com/NsrhWai.png
>
> Even in Thailand, they have shut down all nightclubs and bars. Nobody can work and they do not have unemployment. You are looking at a massive global depression with the rise that a lot more people will starve to death before they ever get this virus.
>
> https://i.imgur.com/QlihEit.png
Lol, I bet there is a lot of increase in sex chat online going on instead.
I expect and hope tropical countries will soon realize [there is very low spread in such heat and humidity](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@anonymint/bitcoin-s-whiplash-spike-low-is-even-more-bullish) — except of course in air-conditioning and where people lived [packed-in-like-sardines](https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/14/duterte-quarantine-philippines-coronavirus-lockdown-launches-manila-into-pandemonium/):
<center>[<br/>Coronavirus Lockdown Launches Manila Into Pandemonium](https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/14/duterte-quarantine-philippines-coronavirus-lockdown-launches-manila-into-pandemonium/)</center>
<center>[<br/>Chaos As 'Enhanced Screening' Airports Overwhelmed](https://www.zerohedge.com/health/chaos-ohare-enhanced-screening-airports-overwhelmed-us-citizens-scramble-back-europe)</center>
# Armstrong’s Inkblots
However Martin is incorrect about his implied claim of the non-necessity for aggressive social distancing, because we had no way of knowing how widespread the virus was already nor any way of doing robust selective contact tracing quarantines — due to two reasons:
1. The fact that unlike SARS which became most contagious when significant illness manifested, nCov-19 has maximum shedding (through the nose!) in the asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic stage earlier in the infection. I documented that in my prior blog [Diabolical MERS-derived, “Chimera” Coronavirus Masquerading as the ‘Common Cold’?](https://steemit.com/coronavirus/@anonymint/diabolical-mers-derived-chimera-coronavirus-masquerading-as-the-common-cold).
China has only contained the virus where they had blocked off all flow of infected individuals, but they’re still lying about the true number of cases and deaths:
<center>[](https://youtu.be/efaDuE-XEi4?t=198)</center>
In Wuhan when they recently tried to relax the lockdown, then cases started to spike again as I documented in my prior blog [Bitcoin’s Whiplash Spike Low is Even More Bullish](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@anonymint/bitcoin-s-whiplash-spike-low-is-even-more-bullish):
> Follows is claimed to be a recent video from Wuhan wherein woman suspected of suffering from a heart attack can’t even be admitted into any hospital:
>
> <center>[<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Twitter: “#Wuhan overwhelmed. No beds, no doctors.”](https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd/status/1239195945465786372)</center>
>
> Again China is [allegedly refusing to](http://archive.is/https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/fj2vst/wave_2_of_covid19_in_china/) test and document most infections in Wuhan. **UPDATE:** Reddit censored the information, but someone sent me a copy:
>
>> Wave 2 of covid-19 in China
>> Discussion
>>
>> https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd/status/1239183215161683969?s=21
>>
>> Who would’ve thought the China#1 is telling the truth. There is another wave of cases in China, also hospitals rejecting to accept new patients due to no beds.
>>
>> This video was shot yesterday:
>> https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd/status/1239195945465786372?s=21
>>
>> Hold your puts, worse is coming. edit: Sealing cars
>>
>> https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd/status/1238882326127525889
>>
>> No traffic allowed on Hubei highway
>>
>> https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd/status/1238876456224272384
2. And the other reason we had no way of knowing nor performing less destructive, more robust selective contact tracing quarantines — is because I documented in my prior blog how **`the CDC, WHO and China conspired to hide how many cases there were, to make testing fail, and discourage and not allow widespread testing in the West`**:
> Americans are most pissed off that Trump raves about how great our country is and then we can not even test everyone who has flu symptoms for the nCov-19 virus, so that we could have done proper isolation and contact tracing at the onset. This does not inspire confidence that he will effectively handle the crises that are coming. Trump banned travel from some places in China **`but up until late February the USA had only tested less 500 people for the virus! The virus was spreading and the authorities were incapable of doing detection and containment because the CDC would not allow anyone to perform the detection test under its apparent `_`“Don’t test, don’t tell”`_` policy! And then the CDC `_`mandated`_` test kit conveniently had a faulty reagent, lol.`**
>
> What comes next as they ramp up testing and find out how pervasive the spread is in some regions, is quarantines on domestic travel such has been done in the Philippines. Then the people are really going to panic. Grocery store shelves may be emptied, because people will fear of eventual “no travel” orders and inability to source food.
[…]
> Trump has been a month or more behind the curve. I publicly [predicted](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@anonymint/bitcoin-to-usd80-000-before-may-2020-and-usd1-billion-by-december-2020) the arrival of the pandemic on December 16. Upon the first peep of news on December 31, I remarked to many people that I think that was the start of the pandemic. In late January I was already pissed off that countries were not doing more to test and isolate. By mid-February it became a comedy of errors among most governments with S.Korea and Singapore being exceptions. And I [**caught the WHO intentionally lying**](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2374231) about the severity in China. Appears to have been motivated by wanting a pandemic (perhaps to make the pandemic bonds trigger?)
Only S.Korea and Singapore [did widespread testing and selective contact tracing](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/coronavirus-cases-have-dropped-sharply-south-korea-whats-secret-its-success) early on. The West still hasn’t caught up on testing.
Martin Armstrong has constructed an erroneous strawman and is wagging his self-important, condescending, pointy finger at the incorrect generative essence. The generalized taxonomy of Armstrong’s inkblots are explained in the [How to piss me the fuck off](http://trilema.com/2018/how-to-piss-me-the-fuck-off-a-guide/) guide.
**`Armstrong should instead realize that China, WHO, and CDC conspired early on to make the lockdowns inevitable and unavoidable!`** In fact, Armstrong contributed to this phenomenon by misrepresentation of substantive facts about and downplaying the seriousness of the situation from the get go as I documented in my blog and numerous warnings and corrections I emailed to him which he refused to correct publicly. And Trump played along because he was more worried about a drop of the stock market, than doing aggressive testing and contact testing early on to avoid a future lockdown. Trump fucked up and there were people conspiring to make sure he fucked up. This all part of the grand plan.
I [rebuked](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2385177) @**Winter**:
>> There were no specific tests until quite late. The Chinese, Singaporeans, and Koreans had to fly on symptoms and non-specific tests. The tests available were NOT based on the new corona virus and were totally unreliable.
>
> [Incorrect](https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/17/21184015/coronavirus-testing-pcr-diagnostic-point-of-care-cdc-techonology).
>
> And the CDC’s actions [appear to be too byzantine, deviating from prior responses, and intentionally contrived](https://www.propublica.org/article/cdc-coronavirus-covid-19-test) to be mere incidental incompetence.
>
> I will need to research this more but in this ancient [research paper](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC271086/) points to a likelihood the experts at the CDC would have been aware that the test they _intentionally_ designed (to deviate from the proven German design) would generate false positives. I’m observing what appears to be Hegelian dialectic — manufactured crisis (the thesis and it antithesis outcome) so as to be able to provide the solution (the synthesis).
>
> Your political agenda campaign lies at the heart of why the West is not responding astutely to the situation. It’s pitiful and you should be ashamed of yourself. Have you no conscience whatsoever.
[Even the](https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-live-white-house-task-force-holds-thursday-briefing) **`FDA bureaucracy appears to be (joining in the conspiracy by?) filibustering`** to maximize the spread and deaths from this pandemic by blocking Americans’ access to the prophylactic CHLOROQUINE which [has been studied](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32074550) to determine some efficacy against both the infection of nCov-19 and COVID-19 deaths:
> The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the White House was urging an executive order that would take virtually all investigational drugs and allow them to be used quickly against the coronavirus, a step that senior officials of the Food and Drug Administration pushed back on because they contend the step could likely harm patients.
Are politicized elements with our governmental bureaucracies [colluding to try to](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2380983) make a pandemic worse on Trump's watch?
Armstrong had repeatedly in numerous public blogs since January claimed that the count of deaths and infections outside of China were too low to warrant extreme social distancing measures, refusing to acknowledge that testing for confirmed cases was nearly non-existent and as I explained in my aforelinked blogs, China is believed to have understated their infections (and possibly deaths) at least in Wuhan by up to a factor of 10, as if the man does not comprehend the exponential function and the fact that we only have 31 ICU beds per 100,000 people in the USA. I explained this typical human myopia in my blog [McAfee’s Dick Math: illuminating Bitcoin’s ACCELERATING price](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@anonymint/mcafee-s-dick-math-illuminating-bitcoin-s-accelerating-price):
> Dr. Albert Bartlett [stated](https://youtu.be/e_VpyoAXpA8), _“The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.”_
>
> Imagine a caretaker that comes to check on his lily pond once a month. It requires 36 visits (i.e. months) for the pond to be completely covered with lily pads. But on the 35th visit the pond [is only half covered](http://jonathanbecher.com/2016/01/31/lily-pads-and-exponential-thinking/). If not thinking in terms of exponential math, the typical human caretaker’s linear extrapolating, visual mind [will be fooled](https://bigthink.com/in-their-own-words/the-difference-between-linear-and-exponential-thinking) into thinking there’s 35 more visits after the 35th visit before the pond will be fully covered.
He lied again this week in his blog [Killing the Patient to Cure the Disease When Solutions Are Emerging](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/killing-the-patient-to-cure-the-disease/):
> You cannot shut down the world economy to simply stop the common cold.
COVID-19 is not a common cold by any metric. This has been explained to him numerous times. He is hard-headed or deaf.
Armstrong has numerous conflicts of interests which preclude him from being critical of for example China. He blogged [Answering Questions](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/qa/answering-questions/):
> We are not blocked in China BECAUSE they know it is a computer that writes all the reports. We have been negotiating with a major Chinese institution that has hundreds of billions of clients. They want to provide all our research to their clicks on a per click basis. Even if you charged even $1 per click on every stock in Asia, and just 1 million people looked at one thing, that is $1 million per day. We are negotiating such projects in India and the Middle East.
Armstrong blogged [Socialism & the Coronavirus](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/socialism-the-coronavirus/):
> https://i.imgur.com/Kpm7dtJ.jpg
>
> COMMENT: I think this is being used by socialists to justify complete government control. They criticize Trump saying he did not act soon enough. I just do not understand that these people think the government should protect us from everything […] Over 38,000 people die in car crashes every year. So using their logic, we should all give up our cars and just stay in our houses and never leave. They are getting really scary.
Inkblot! This is the sign of a lower IQ, not-so-astute mind (or being too vested in a confirmation bias and being unwilling to weigh all the facts). Perhaps Armstrong has only about 120 – 130 I.Q.? Sometimes he seems a bit slow and unable to comprehend simple explanations like this.
No those deaths don’t overwhelm the hospital system, because many or most of them never end up in ICU (dead on arrival). And the unknown potential exponential spread wasn't limited to potentially 38,000 people annually in ICU.
And Armstrong is aware of this issue as he stated in his blog [Will Coronavirus Alter the Economy Forever?
](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/will-coronavirus-alter-the-economy-forever/):
> The real problem is that there was not enough testing available and it was restricted to those who traveled. That is what Trump addressed to expand the ability to test based upon symptoms rather than limited to travel.
[…]
> The primary issue is that this is a parallel outbreak that is similar to the flu but different. This tends to require respirators and hospitalization at a higher rate than the flu. The real crisis is just that there can be a shortage of beds.
Yeah but testing was ramped up [intentionally] too late to avoid the necessity of a lockdown. Why can’t Armstrong put `2 + 2 = 4` together and assimilate.
Again to reiterate what I wrote in my prior blog [Bitcoin’s Whiplash Spike Low is Even More Bullish](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@anonymint/bitcoin-s-whiplash-spike-low-is-even-more-bullish), the point is that medical systems couldn’t possibly handle the onslaught that could come from the unknown level of exponential spread:
> Then Armstrong cites the 2017–18 influenza statistics which were 61,000 deaths out of 45 million estimated infections. So that was a CFR of `0.14%`.
>
> From the Diamond Princess and S.Korea’s extensive testing we have an indication that the true CFR for nCov-19 may be `~1%`. But that is with good healthcare. When our hospitals are overflowing with ICU patients as is case in Italy already, CFR may be higher.
>
> <center>[<br/>(click to embiggen)](https://imgur.com/a/FKAT4zL)</center>
[…]
> In any case, if 45 million Americans will be infected with nCov-19 during the 2021 flu season, then deaths will be up to 1 million. The USA has 32 ICU beds per 100,000 people. 61,000 divided by 300 million is 61 per 300,000 which is only 20 per 100,000. Whereas 300,000 per 300 million is 100 per 100,000 or 3 deaths per ICU bed — tipping our healthcare systems over the threshold of being able to provide care. And that’s not even factoring in what happens when many of the healthcare workers become infected and have to be quarantined unable to fulfill their duties in the healthcare system.
>
> Thus nCov-19 will likely overwhelm the U.S. healthcare system.
>
> If by 2022 some 60% of the USA population will have been cumulatively infected, then cumulative deaths could be over 2 million. That’s 666 deaths per 32 ICU beds or 20 deaths per ICU bed.
>
> Here’s my source for the ICU beds stat:
>
> https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/no-state-prepared-mapping-where-hospitals-will-run-out-beds-first-if-virus-cases-spike
>
> And that’s if nCov-19 is not a bioweapon designed to insidiously cause worsening or chronic illness over time, or does not naturally mutate into a more deadly variant.
Note a new research article [Legumes and the Corona Virus Direct Correlation: Low legume consumption leads to very low corona virus deaths](https://vixra.org/pdf/2003.0317v2.pdf) implicates legume consumption as a possible reason for higher case-fatality-rate (CFR) in Italy and the fact that some young people are dying in Italy and half the people in ICU in Netherlands [are under 50 years old](https://youtu.be/efaDuE-XEi4?t=280).
# Latest Updates on Coronavirus; Possible Cure
Tangentially readers make sure you re-read my prior blog [Bitcoin’s Whiplash Spike Low is Even More Bullish](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@anonymint/bitcoin-s-whiplash-spike-low-is-even-more-bullish) and continue to re-read it as I continue to add important updates (about both the coronavirus and Bitcoin).
Also it appears that the anti-malaria drug chloroquine may be an effective remedy for COVID-19 and can even possibly be used as a prophylactic to prevent infection:
[An effective treatment for #Coronavirus #COVID-19 has been found in a common anti-malarial drug](https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/17/an-effective-treatment-for-coronavirus-covid-19-has-been-found-in-a-common-anti-malarial-drug/)
[Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID-19](https://drive.google.com/file/d/186Bel9RqfsmEx55FDum4xY_IlWSHnGbj/view)
[Breakthrough: Chloroquine phosphate has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of COVID-19 associated pneumonia in clinical studies.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32074550)
[Retinopathy associated with [multi-year] chloroquine phosphate therapy](https://www.amjmed.com/article/0002-9343(61)90230-3/fulltext)
Possibly also effective in curing pernicious Tuberculosis, which appears to be what may be causing my autoimmune health problem with my NASH/NAFLD liver:
https://www.drugtargetreview.com/news/47893/key-mechanism-in-tuberculosis-survival-discovered/
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-11-chloroquine-tuberculosis-bacteria-susceptible-antimalarial.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28506804
https://aac.asm.org/content/aac/34/11/2217.full.pdf
# Armstrong’s Preferred Non-Solution
In his private blog (I'm not a subscriber), Armstrong advocates an insane proposal which I will paraphrase so I don’t violate any copyright as follows:
> COMMENT: Instead of a draconian lockdown it would be better to just quarantine the elderly and those at risk of severe COVID-19 disease such as those with chronic illness. With the goal of encouraging the virus to spread quickly through the population so that herd immunity will be developed. This would cost less.
>
> REPLY: Your proposal is so sensible but was unfortunately not implemented.
That’s the most idiotic proposal:
1. It proposes to not inconvenience some people in order to enact DRACONIAN violations of the basic rights of everyone for their medical privacy and some others to be not free to go buy their own food at the grocery store for example. Worse yet, it requires the government to invade the privacy of every individual and demand their medical records. This is illegal and would of course be challenged in court. Only a complete idiot could propose something like this for a quick solution in the USA that would not be stopped by a court injunction the next day. Only an evil person would propose categorizing Americans in a government database by their personal, private medical information. I am really questioning whether Armstrong even has a 120 I.Q..
2. There’s some reports and/or research that points to being able to contract the virus (and/or a mutation of it) more than once and it becomes more lethal on the sequel infection. I will need to dig this up and come back to edit this point later.
3. We are seeing in Italy and Netherlands that some young people are getting sick and dying. Half of the ICU cases in the Netherlands have been under the age of 50. Statistically it may be causally related to legume consumption. So are we going to quarantine everyone who eats legumes also? How will we know who eats legumes? So we need the 666 cashless system to implement this proposal so we know what everyone buys?
4. You don’t know the long-term effect of this virus. The B-type of the betacoronaviruses (e.g. SARS and MERS) have never spread widely as a pandemic in the human population before. This virus has very peculiar spike proteins with a gain-of-function. You are essentially claiming that you are sure this won’t result in long-term chronic illness for those recovered from the initial symptoms of the infection. I’ve read some research that the virus hides in the CNS and could be pernicious. I will also have to edit this blog when I located that research again.
I [replied](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2383963) to @**Winter**:
>> The optimal strategy seems to be a controlled propagation in low-risk groups to allow some level of herd immunity to develop.
>
> Totalitarianism and world governance loves your idea. Medical records can no longer be private property. National and global medical records databases will be required.
>
> Problem is that in the Netherlands roughly half of the ICU cases have been under the age fifty.
>
> The CFR may be statistically [linked to](https://vixra.org/pdf/2003.0317v2.pdf) legume consumption. How we gonna know who is farting too much? We will need also a dystopian 1984 or 666 level of information over everything everyone buys so we know whom is bean-naughty each week. Or some weekly compliance blood test for legume consumption.
>
> Never let a good crisis go to waste or was this one premeditated?
# Our One-World-Satanist, Zionists
Armstrong was closer in his blog [Killing the Patient to Cure the Disease When Solutions Are Emerging](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/killing-the-patient-to-cure-the-disease/) to realizing who (e.g. Bill Gates et al) is behind this diabolical “don’t test, don’t tell” to make a blackmail on the nations:
> The wholesale closing of businesses is insane. This entire scare has been orchestrated by this Pandemic Exercise where they are only concerned about stopping a disease without any regard to the implications to the world economy.
https://youtu.be/AoLw-Q8X174
> Unemployment may surge back to 6%, but it will be far worse because of the part-time workers who will not be covered. These people have been totally irresponsible and the damage they have caused while living comfortably off of grants is an insult to the working people around the world.
[…]
> ### Avigan Favipiravir Treatment Reduces the Threat
> China has announced that the Japanese drug, [Avigan Favipiravir](https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/avigan-favipiravir-t-705-broad-spectrum-inhibitor-viral-rna-polymerase) (T-705) which is a broad-spectrum inhibitor of viral RNA polymerase, proved to be successful in helping the fight against this coronavirus. I strongly urge the president to convene an investigation to restore public confidence.
And then Armstrong outright lied:
> Meanwhile, others are exposing the absurdity of what these people have done to the world economy when less than 8,000 have died and the virus has subsided already in China
Again deaths and infections have been undertested and perhaps up to 9 in 10 undocumented, and China is censoring new outbreaks in Wuhan.
Armstrong blogged [Will Coronavirus Alter the Economy Forever?](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/will-coronavirus-alter-the-economy-forever/):
> We have staff in China. It has subsided there as any normal virus does. We were in direct contact with our hotel in Shanghai since we had planned to have a WEC there in May. There is always a peak and then it fades away.
You don’t have staff in Hubei province where the outbreaks are. The rest of China was hardly affected because of the strict quarantine which you are now erroneously criticizing as unnecessary in the West. China had ramped up a million test kits overnight and was doing very extensive contact tracing. I am really amazed how uninformed you are on this issue.
## Israel Claims a Vaccine Ready in 90 Days
Note how convenient that Israel [already had](https://www.chron.com/science/article/COVID-19-coronavirus-vaccine-Israel-15093659.php) an applicable vaccine prepared before this pandemic arrived. So does this mean eventually this vaccine is mandated, such as for international travel or boarding any flight domestic or international?
<center>[<br/>THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES](https://www.auricmedia.net/the-georgia-guidestones/)</center>
To reduce Earth’s ~8 billion population to the inscribed 500,000,000 (500 million) means 13 out of every 14 people must die and not be replaced by births.
That inscription conceptually matches the title on the following Denver airport mural painting:
<center>[<br/>One mural that’s part of the **_`“In Peace and Harmony with Nature”`_** set<br/><br/><br/>One mural that’s part of the **_`“Children of the World Dream of Peace”`_** set](https://www.outtherecolorado.com/whats-creepy-apocalyptic-paintings-denver-international-airport/)</center>
<center>[<br/>Israel’s Mossad DID 9/11?](https://steemit.com/politics/@anonymint/re-anonymint-israel-s-mossad-did-9-11-20180311t165951651z#@anonymint/re-anonymint-israel-s-mossad-did-9-11-20180311t165951651z)</center>
<center>[<br/>Disembarkment of the 9/11 Passengers](https://steemit.com/info-wars/@anonymint/disembarkment-of-the-9-11-passengers)</center>
<center>[<br/>Plane Flyover; Explosives Planted Inside The Pentagon](https://steemit.com/info-wars/@anonymint/plane-flyover-explosives-planted-inside-the-pentagon)</center>
<center>[<br/>Debunking Mark Roberts’ 9/11 Disinformation Tactics](https://steemit.com/info-wars/@anonymint/debunking-mark-roberts-9-11-disinformation-tactics)</center>
# Armstrong’s Cyclical and Computer Model
Let’s give credit where credit is due. Armstrong’s models have been often prophetic and very helpful for understanding the future ahead of us. His $150 a month service seems to be worthwhile for those who can afford it, because it provides the Global Watch arrays such as the following plus expert write-ups by the computer.
[NYSE to Close Trading Floors & Move Only to Online Trading](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/history/panics/nyse-to-close-trading-floors-move-only-to-online-trading/):
> The New York Stock Exchange will close its trading floors and go fully electronic. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo mandated that non-essential businesses have no more than half their workforce in the office. **`Without floor brokers, there is a risk that volatility will rise further. This may result in market-makers withdrawing.`**
[The Global Market Watch Forecast on the Dow](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/future-forecasts/the-global-market-watch-forecast-on-the-dow/):
> https://i.imgur.com/xJLTqof.png
>
> QUESTION: Marty; it all seems to be setting up for your forecast back to **`new high into 2022`**.
Yikes does that mean the new ATH for Bitcoin will be delayed until 2022? Or does that mean the timing of the next peak ~38,000+? I believe it’s the latter.
[…]
> The inflation was showing more between 2022-2024. The Silver/Gold Ratio was warning this was not ready to breakout.
>
> The correction came in on a target from the ECM turn on January 18th, 2020. It was the 21st when Ray Dalio said “cash is trash” which was perfect. The target we gave back at the WEC in October for the correction in January was a minimum correction in the Dow to 21600. So that has been met and now we are fooling around with the Monthly Bearish Reversals below that target.
>
> Ironically, the more pronounced the decline, the higher the probability for the slingshot. You need to create that energy. Government bond markets are collapsing so the traditional flight to quality is a dead issue. There is a panic to dollars right now. This is rising as fears over canceling currencies in Europe and bank holidays.
<center><br/><br/><br/><br/></center>
Armstrong blogged [Millennials Collect Sneakers not Gold?](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/history/americas-economic-history/millennials-collect-sneakers-not-gold/):
> Millennials seem to have a higher risk tolerance than the previous two generations. This means they have been less interested in owning property, fixed income, or even buying and holding stocks. They are much more concentrated in higher risks and high returns […] only about 48% even consider property as an investment. When it comes to gold, that interest drops to about 34%.
Because they have no choice. The boomers left them with a broken system where they can’t have a decent life with traditional investments which are a fraud and are dying. As interest rates rise property will be worthless. Corporations will implode. The stock market will eventually implode after the strong-dollar vortex completes its stampede.
Thus they prefer Bitcoin. And they’re (somewhat) correct. And you’re (somewhat) a dinosaur.
# Updates
1. Trump appears to have realized he was duped by the WHO, CDC and FDA and is attempting to bypass the bureaucrats but the Deep State (soon in cahoots with their social media companies) is undermining Trump:
Eric Raymond [replied](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2381402):
>>I mean, when you fire the country’s pandemic response team
>
> The U.S’s “pandemic response team” is the CDC […] we lost two crucial weeks of response time because it issued test kits with bad reagents.
>
> So Trump did an end-run around the bureaucracy and recruited people who actually have a clue at Walmart and Amazon. Who are already offering drive-through testing.
>
>>However, a 15% budget cut for the CDC NOW is actually confirmed by the current cabinet:
>
> I can’t get excited about this. The CDC is a sclerotic bunch of screwups who (as the last month reveals) can’t do their central job right even on the rare occasions they bother to pay attention to it rather than, e.g. grandstanding about firearms policy or global warming. Budget cuts and mass firings are probably part of the shock it needs to get its act together.
>
>>They are between you and a horrible death.
>
> Well, I guess I’m dead then. The CDC has recently and repeatedly manifested incompetence at its job – or did you miss the part where the pitifully small number of COVID-19 tests it shipped had bad reagents and were useless? This is why Trump end-ran them with Amazon and WalMart, who are already doing the CDC’s job better than the CDC can manage.
I [responded](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2384414):
>>> What Trump is promising everyone is the opposite of “Peace and Prosperity” for all, he wants “War and Poverty” for all.
>>
>>But Trump **hasn’t** started any wars. He’s actually working on getting us out of Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s also working hard to avoid war with Russia, China, and Iran, even as he confronts them over their actions.
>
>I read that Trump was under [political pressure](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-conducted-iran-strike-to-satisfy-gop-senators-before-impeachment-2020-1) to order the Soleimani assassination.
>
>[That racist](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8609#comment-2384350) Jim [blogged](https://blog.jim.com/war/world-order-against-america/):
>
>>[…] as we have seen in numerous third world countries, failure to submit results in “color revolution”, and failure to submit to “color revolution” results in getting the hell bombed out of you, as happened to Libya and Syria.
>>
>>When Trump came to power, color revolution abruptly and suddenly ended everywhere.
>>
>>The Democrats, in particular Biden, propose to resume pursuit of World Order – which pursuit draws us towards war with Russia and China
>
>Our elite are corrupt as hell. The Clintons are for sale to the highest bidder. Soros for one (and he’s not likely the wealthiest head of the movement by a long shot) wants color revolutions to undermine patriarchy, tribalism and traditional gender roles cultures and religion. It’s not that I agree with Jim’s reactionary proscriptions, but I also don’t think the goals of our elite are virtuous. They may feign that they’re for alleviating the ills of parochialism, but I think they're actually directing us to totalitarianism. For example the following development…
>
>[It Begins: CDC Asks Tech Giants Twitter, Google, Facebook for Location of US Citizens — Will Track Whether Americans Are Practicing Proper “Social Distancing”](https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/it-begins-cdc-asks-tech-giants-twitter-google-facebook-for-location-of-us-citizens-will-track-whether-americans-are-practicing-proper-social-distancing/)
>
>I think Eric means well, but sometimes he is unwittingly the tool of these elite, e.g. his blog [_Be the America Hong Kong thinks you are_](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8448). How can they be? They have no gun rights. They don’t have our culture. That just put pressure on China and/or the PLA. Which may have been some tactic to force them to release the Wuhan bioweapon.
>
>The chess going on is very complex. Readers please help dig and find the evidence. What is really going on? Eric I’m not criticizing you. I could be wrong. You did nothing wrong. Please consider whether there may be changes afoot which are outside our confirmation-bias.
2. But Trump is still being duped in yet another way:
I [wrote](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2385234):
>The following new information about the false positive rate of PCR nucleic acid tests doesn’t obviate my assertions that the CDC’s _“don’t test, don’t tell”_ policy prevented any opportunity for initial containment of the outbreak in the U.S.A.. Yet it changes my understanding of the efficacy of testing the general population with for example the drive-through testing at this juncture where infection penetration is low and until [a better serum antibody test](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/new-blood-tests-antibodies-could-show-true-scale-coronavirus-pandemic) can be scaled up.
>
>Armstrong [wrote](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/why-we-should-not-test-everyone/):
>
>>Assuming about `15,000` infections in a country of about `300,000,000` people, that gives an approximate incidence of `0.005%`. The most accurate test has a specificity of about `95%`. This means that if we carried out population-wide screening, that `99.9%` of the confirmed positive test results will be a false positive result, meaning that approximately `14,999,250` people tested will have a positive test result, but do not have the disease, meanwhile only `14,250` of the `15,000` who have the disease will have a positive test result.
>
>Worse yet is that the FPR for asymptomatic individuals [may be even higher](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32133832/).
>
>So we could see “confirmed infections” skyrocket in the U.S.A.. when in fact most are false positives. This would provide the pretext for draconian lockdowns which obliterate the economy. This is a very serious and sinister “mistake” in community health policy! Yet another Hegelian dialectic.
>
>The synthesis to the realization that widespread testing made everything worse might be to mandate vaccines and ID2020 to document who has been vaccinated.
>
>Trump appears to be walking right into the trap laid out for him. And soon he will authorize ineffective $1000 stipends which are essentially the start of UBI dependency. And also forces/incentivizes everyone to file an unconstitutional income tax return. Can anyone get the message to Trump about what might be really going on? He is no dummy. But is he being told about the FPR? Is the FPR cited above correct?
>
>This crap is really turning Twilight Zone. Pray tell me I am asleep and dreaming?
With a `5%` FPR and perhaps less than `0.1%` of the population actually infected at this juncture, each person who tests positive has a `98+%<` chance of being false positive. With such a FPR widespread testing is not only useless, but it’s also harmful because it will incite an irrational panic and it can lead to quarantines and the violations of basic rights of thousands or millions of individuals who aren’t even infected.
* I [wrote](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2386303):
>Kudos on the creative prose.
>
>It’s important to be specific with the level-headed blame and the prognosis. Misinformation will misdirect us away from the “roll up our sleeves” (American ‘can do’ culture) actions if any we need to take.
>
>>China helping out? After they caused the single greatest worldwide disaster since the end of WWII? The fuckers shit down the well, now the whole village is down with the runs, and them passing out Imodium makes it all OK?
>
>China could not do that by themselves. They needed help from WHO, CDC, and the Western mass media — ergo the Trump outburst against Peter Alexander. Trump knows the Marxist media is attempting to scare the American people.
>
>The whole village is high on irrational fear, not down with the runs:
>
>[99% of Those Who Died in Italy Had Other Illnesses](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-18/99-of-those-who-died-from-virus-had-other-illness-italy-says)
>
>It’s a fear mongering scam promulgated in an attempt at a political power grab. The virus is as real as the annual influenza, and the severe autoimmune reactions can likely be remedied with Chloroquine. But the FDA and CDC’s Fauci don’t even want us to get access to that drug.
>
>I’m now thinking the Marxists want the Hegelian antithesis to be social unrest in order to justify imposition of martial law:
>
>https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/is-the-arrogance-over-quarantine-leading-to-social-unrest/
>
>https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/sovereign-debt-crisis/i-was-told-read-your-own-book/
>
>The enemy is within. Scapegoating China is what they want the reaction to be so we will not be focused on what we need to be.
* I [wrote](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2386450):
>>My wife is an ER attending physician. Right about now I have a very direct view of what’s going on, thank you very much.
>
>Your narrow view is on the medical system. There’s wide scale ripple effects underway due to the economic shock of scare mongering that could kill orders-of-magnitude more people than the virus does:
>
>http://archive.is/https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-hits-already-frail-u-s-farm-economy-11584783001
>
>I’m not against some modicum of community health advisories, but this nearly martial law level lockdown is insane.
>
>Possibly the implications will be merely shortages and cost push inflation later. Yet with people losing their jobs due to this, such could be foster civil unrest. The more we raise the emotional level of the general population, the more ripe for possible nonsensical war, megadeath and other forms of power grabs.
* I [wrote](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2386532):
>>Two new tests were approved today.
>
>According to the manufacturer Cepheid’s website, their Xpert rapid test does not improve the (presumably false negative and false positive rates) performance results over extant lab tests.
>
>>The FDA already approved Plaquenil this week.
>
>Inaccurate, unless you have more recent information that’s inaccessible with Google. They [only approved](https://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/fda-announces-two-drugs-approved-for-compassionate-use-in-treating-covid-19) Expanded Access strictly for compassionate use in terminally ill cases which have no other viable medical option.
>
>So only patients who are near death and probably less likely to be saved by this medication are targeted. Early intervention may be precluded if not by letter of the law then because of lawsuit risk and insurance issues. And many or probably most doctors will not risk Expanded Access because (according to the FDA and my friend who is a doctor) [insurance doesn’t](https://www.fda.gov/news-events/expanded-access/expanded-access-information-patients#what-is-it) usually pay for it and their malpractice insurance doesn’t cover it.
>
>And so forget it’s use as a prophylactic (for those at high risk) this year if the FDA and CDC aren’t overthrown, nor likely widely prescribed to those with worsening but still not yet surely terminal symptoms. I read that many die after improving symptoms and suddenly the cytokine storm strikes them dead. I’ve also read (but not verified) that the virus does extensive (perhaps irreversible) damage to the lungs before severe symptoms manifest.
>
>To whip the general public into a frenzy we need to sensationalize really scary sudden deaths and prevent any widespread medication which could alleviate their fear.
>
>Afaics and until further observation otherwise, the bureaucrats maintained their control of the Kafkaesque maze:
>
> https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-policy/trump-wrongly-claims-fda-approved-covid-19-drug
>
> https://www.rollcall.com/2020/03/19/fda-walks-back-trump-claims-on-covid-19-drugs/
3. Armstrong seems to be finally realizing what I wrote in this blog, especially my section above _Our One-World-Satanist, Zionists_ and section _Israel Claims a Vaccine Ready in 90 Days_.
* [Did Bill Gates & World Economic Forum Predict Coronavirus Outbreak?](https://youtu.be/mx8xKcQMTRs) (October 2019 Event 201 pandemic exercise)
* [Bill Gates Resigns From Microsoft [and Berkshire] Board[s to focus on his vaccines “philanthropy”]](https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bill-gates-resigns-microsoft-board)
* [DECLARATION OF A PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTER IN THE STATE OF TEXAS](https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/coronavirus/docs/DECLARATION-PublicHealthDisaster.pdf):
> People who are known to have, or are under investigation or monitoring, for COVID-19, should adhere to the direction provided to them by duly authorized persons, including public health officials. Failure to abide by such direction **`may result in involuntary quarantine or isolation`** for the purposes of preventing further community spread of COVID-19.
With a 5% mean false positive rate for the tests, if you get tested 10 times then you have ~67% chance of testing positive even if you have no infection.
* I [wrote](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2385523):
>The article [The Perils of Mass Coronavirus Testing](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/03/18/the_perils_of_mass_coronavirus_testing_142693.html) corroborates and also adds what I had also by now realized:
>
>>First, it can skew your data. A number of people have looked at South Korea’s findings and noted the relatively low mortality rate – dropping below 1%. The problem is that with widespread testing, a lot of people who tested positive there won’t actually have the disease in the first place. The virus will be less widespread than the data suggest, but also deadlier.
>
>The mortality may be closer to that of SARS.
>
>I was mislead by the WHO [reporting](https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf#page=9) only `0.47%` positive test results at Guangdong fever clinics. How can that even be if the test has a 5% FPR?
>
>And by a BBC [article](https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51491763):
>
>>These "RT-PCR" tests, widely used in medicine to diagnose viruses such as HIV and influenza, are normally highly reliable.
>>
>>“They are very robust tests generally, <b>with a low false-positive</b> and a low false-negative rate,” Dr Nathalie MacDermott, of King's College London, says.
>
>Another ramification is that maybe all these asymptomatic or mild cases actually were never infected! Bad data in, incorrect analyses out.
>
>Without serology testing for antibodies the entire global community has been hoodwinked. Talk about mass mania. This makes the Tulip Bubble look like a gnat on a horse’s ass.
* I [wrote](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2385721):
>Only `2,267` cases in the USA have confirmed _illness_ **which peaked on March 9**. The CDC [tallies](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html) `15,219` total cases (synonymous with “confirmed cases” lingo?) that includes “presumptive positive cases” (of which presumably up to ~98+% false positives if randomly sampled from the general population) along with `201` deaths.
>
>China had [defined](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0822-7.pdf#page=4) a “confirmed case” to exclude asymptomatics and include those with clear epidemiologic links.
* I [wrote](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2384567):
>Armstrong wrote an open letter to the President, Fed, Treasury Secretary, and Mitch McConnell. He’s asking everyone to help stop the panic which will otherwise collapse public confidence. He explains correctly that public confidence is the basis of an economy:
>
>https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/opinion/asking-for-your-help-forward-this-letter-to-whoever-you-may-think-will-help/
>
>The political gatekeeper Wikipedia of course lies about Armstrong’s legal case. [The truth](https://steemit.com/goldman-sachs/@anonymint/trillionaire-fund-manager-martin-armstrong-was-framed-by-our-corrupt-government) reveals the deep corruption in our government. I prefer to not go off on that tangent right now. The letter linked above is important enough to justify bringing it to the attention of readers here.
>
>I disagree with Armstrong about the potential of this new virus in creating more deaths than the annual flu, but that won’t be happening before this Summer when the virus should significantly abate because of the aggressive containment put in place now. Yet the lockdown stipulations are now becoming too restrictive and overkill. For example there’s no need for curfews in rural S. Texas. It was nearly 90 F today. The virus only survives about 2 hours in 37 C. It’s the 20 C climate where it can survive on surfaces for days.
>
>The problem is that no expertise is being applied at all. This show is being run by those with a political agenda.
>
>We must stop this! We could end up with orders-of-magnitude more deaths from economic collapse than from this virus if we don’t arrest this strangulation of economic activity and public confidence.
* Armstrong blogged [The Wrong Conspiracy – Is the Virus the Bait?](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/the-wong-conspiracy-the-virus-is-the-bait/):
>**In France, journalists […] need permission from the government** and must explain what the story is about. Then their editors must also approve before they even seek permission from the government.
>
>There are reliable leads that **this is a manufactured crisis coming from people seeking to further the global socialist agenda out of the United Nations.** I have confirmation that the central banks have NOT been apart of this and they are being pushed into the corner. **Hedge funds are being wiped out and the losses are staggering** […skeptical] journalists […] are being sequestered to prevent exposing what is going on.
>
>Those touting the virus as being understated may love their own conspiracy world, but they are being used for a much more serious agenda.
Armstrong has been very critical of those who are questioning if the spread in China and outside was much more extensive than being tested and reported, thus accusing us of essentially spreading panic in the social media. Yet ostensibly the panic was seeded and facilitated by the WHO, CDC, and China effectively persuading us to _“don’t test, don’t tell”_ which ruined the opportunity for selective contact tracing containment and thus enabled an initial exponential spread of deaths. And thus why the FDA would want to block our access to Chloroquine phosphate per my other comment.
> As I have said all along, gold will breakout ONLY when the "general" public begins to see that the government is incompetent of saving the day. That is starting to take place already. I really think the virus issue will fizzle out as it peaks in April/May and with highlight it will be like the weapons of mass destruction.
>
> When the people see this has been tremendous economic damage for something that is not even as deadly as the flu, this can do some serious damage to public confidence. There is a panic into the dollar right now and they are selling European debt. Everything is falling into place as we have been forecasting for years now.
I do think the aggressive lockdowns might prevent the deaths from being higher than the annual flu. And in that case, we may dodge a totalitarianism bullet for one year. But this virus will be back in winter and probably with a vengeance by 2022 that kills millions. By then they will be able to claim that everyone who refused to take the vaccine in 2020 and 2021 were the cause of the 2022 megadeath. And then the draconian measures will be adopted. I hope we have 1 or 2 more years window of freedom to get prepared.
In my initial [March 7 comment](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8587#comment-2374154) I had predicted there would be many twists and turns to the plot. I essentially already had in mind the hypothesis for the clever psyops bioweapon plan when I first commented on this blog. But I couldn’t reveal my entire hand until the audience might be more receptive.
Eventually I will come back to the research paper analysis. Take this conspiracy stuff with a grain of salt. I can’t prove it. And I know the argument against conspiracies is that they couldn’t keep it secret. Someone would rat on them. Bear in mind compartmentalization. Most players may be given subplots and sub-motivations and may truly believe in the virtue of their role (e.g. Bill Gates). And other rats can be exterminated when they wander too far, e.g. the _“Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself”_ meme.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/market-talk/market-talk-march-18-2020/
>France in on a total lockdown, meaning citizens must have a specific form filled with permission to leave homes.
* Armstrong blogged [Are they Planning ID2020 as Mandatory Implants for All as the Solution to the Crisis?](https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/conspiracy/are-the-planning-id2020-as-mandatory-implants-for-all-as-the-solution-to-the-crisis/):
> The proposal is a digital certificate that verifies if you have been vaccinated which was developed by MIT and Microsoft. They are looking at merging this with Bill Gates’ [ID2020](https://medium.com/id2020/id2020-launches-technical-certification-mark-e6743d3f70fd). It is entirely possible that this scare has been a deliberate plot to get people to accept these digital implants. Refuse, and you will be prohibited from social gatherings. Like 911 conditioned us to be x-rayed before entering a plane, now the next stage is to imbed digital markers
>
> Bill Gates has sought to impose **`mandatory ID chips`** install[ed] in you. He argues that his idea is not an infringement on privacy.
>
> Price Waterhouse is all for ID2020 to force digital chips installed into all of us.
>
> The United Nations’ WHO is part of this ID2020. Scaring the world right now into making people feel unsafe unless they are certified not to have this Coronavirus just may be part of the plot behind the curtain. I hate conspiracy theories. But this is in the open and it has been the health industry destroying the world economy and making people feel unsafe. **`Unemployment is skyrocketing as people lose their jobs and will be then conditioned that if they have been certified, then and only then will the be safe to return to the workforce.`**
https://youtu.be/TOxRR2Tw94Y
https://youtu.be/c5P0J-eXUek