Hi Everyone, ![Covid_QUESTIONS_1_THUMB.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23tGbnbCMCFMmSrtC7r6jk4MhpLN1Qwv17eaj5D7rvRfFTRv2nHm7J1BUm6XV2A5fe6Tw.jpg) Most Governments around the world have been using the Covid-19 pandemic as an all-out assault on humanity. I do not know all the motives for this coordinated assault but the core reasons will be based on the desire for more wealth and power. In my post, [Power, Money and Me Me](Mehttps://peakd.com/hive-112018/@spectrumecons/power-money-and-me-me-me), I describe people’s actions and how they link to their motivations and desires. Within our current systems, people that desire power and wealth the most, in respect to anything else, are the ones that attain it. In this series of posts, I want to discuss several important questions regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. I aim to discuss these questions from the perspective of the establishment (i.e. Government, multinational corporations, banks, media, major religious groups, etc.). I am basing my discussion on the assumption that the most powerful people in the establishment only care about power and wealth. Some of them are more inclined towards power and others more towards wealth accumulation. The questions I will be discussing are as follows: - Part 1: Was extending the pandemic a successful strategy? - Part 2: Were the forced closures and lockdowns effective? - Part 3: Was the rapid implementation of totalitarian laws effective? ## Was extending the pandemic a successful strategy? ![Planning_it.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23tRxb5pmLkxT1RbsyaV1ZUXsshWH9k247tDUvkf7LSDEUyaFovfbXqN1Ps3bMfEP3vVM.jpg) In my post, [The Game of Pandemic](https://peakd.com/hive-112018/@spectrumecons/the-game-of-pandemic), I discussed the use of a theoretical pandemic as an instrument to control people. Having the ideal virus is an essential element for this plan to work. Listed below are 11 key characteristics of what I consider the ideal virus or disease; see the post for explanations. - Fast rate of spread. - Deadly to a certain extent. - Relatively ambiguous method of spread. - Virus should cause some prolonged illness in a substantial number of people. - The virus should mutate to prolong the pandemic. - The virus should be detectible to prove its existence but methods do not need to be accurate. - Level of existing initial immunity to the virus should be low to enable the spread. - Level of acquired immunity should exist but be minimal. - Prescribed interventions need to be effective to certain degree to demonstrate they are worthwhile. - Diseases caused by the virus should be difficult to cure so that people are more inclined to accept a vaccine option. - The virus needs to be difficult to prevent to enable the spread as well as to stop people protecting themselves before the pharmaceutical companies can create a treatment or vaccine. During the first few months of the pandemic, the threat of the virus appeared credible to a large proportion of the population. This was evident by the widespread acceptance of lockdowns in the most effected countries. People knew very little about Covid-19. They did not know how it spread. They did not know how quickly it spread. They did not know how dangerous it was. With so much unknown, a cautious approach was expected. After the first wave, it became apparent from publicly available statistics that Covid-19 was not a huge threat to life and very rarely caused serious symptoms to the vast majority of the population. The only people that were at risk were elderly people with serious pre-existing medical conditions. We could argue that Covid-19 did not strongly meet the criteria outlined to be the ideal virus to be used as an instrument of control. However, it is possible it could still be effective to a certain extent. At this point, the establishment could have decided to declare the pandemic over and life could have gradually returned to normal. This would have achieved several important objectives for them. - The initial lockdowns had caused a significant transfer of wealth from the public to the wealthiest people (to be discussed in Part 2). - Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions created a precedent for further restrictions in the future. - Created justification for printing more money to pay for the costs of the pandemic. - Higher taxes could have been justified to pay for the cost of the initial lockdown. Since that did not happen, it is clear that the establishment wanted to exploit the pandemic for even more profits and power. Ending the pandemic early would be a missed opportunity to profit and benefit from vaccines (to be discussed later in the post). Therefore, the establishment needed to find a way to extend the pandemic without facing massive resistance from the public. As information becomes available and more widespread, the threat becomes less credible. People will no longer be afraid and will no longer comply with restrictions and lockdowns. Governments and their experts will lose credibility and their grip on power. ## The Information War ![Social_Media.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23t7AyNagqobV5NRR2eLv5258wwb865GYSHPPq68mL16dPGqox8uwQoovfRP1E62Wc3FP.jpg) The establishment decided to take strict control of information. This is possible because mainstream media companies and the largest social media companies are owned and controlled by people who are part of the establishment. The news channels and programs remained dedicated to spreading fear about Covid-19. They provided hourly updates of the number of cases (exaggerated by the extent of mass testing and false positives) and deaths (exaggerated by various means; see [Summary of the Vaccine Death Report](https://peakd.com/hive-112018/@spectrumecons/summary-of-the-vaccine-death-report)). The news frequently interviewed family members of people who had allegedly died because of Covid-19. Each of them spreading the message of how dangerous it is. The news would include press conferences with Government scientists who made extraordinary predictions about the number of deaths if the country did not remain under lockdown. Social media played their role. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have been going to great effort to censor content that does not align with the story that the establishment wants to convey. This content may relate to the effectiveness of lockdowns, the methods applied to calculating the number of Covid-19 deaths, the effectiveness of Covid-19 tests, the extent of risk Covid-19 presents to younger people, possible currently available treatments of Covid-19, and anything negative about vaccines. Social media also promotes any information provided by the Government and their health experts as well as any celebrity messages in favour of Government action. Censorship cannot completely block all information. Therefore, the establishment have used the [controlled opposition](https://peakd.com/hive-112018/@spectrumecons/controlled-opposition-and-divide-and-conquer) approach to subdue the opposition. ‘Right-wing’ media and political figures have supported some of the criticism of Governments’ approaches to Covid-19. They have opposed the strictness of some of the laws. They have questioned the origins of Covid-19. Some of them have even questioned the severity of the pandemic. This has been done to create the impression that opposition to the establishment exists and that other forms of opposition are not necessary. This draws attention away from the Covid-19 vaccines and other broader establishment agendas. ## The Variants ![Variants.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23tGVcyVNuZM3bzCa1rGvvR6cvxo8tp3zeWYn7sxw9iJSaKkZyj6pkufgJiFaMjHzoK2w.jpg) Another important move to extend the pandemic were the promotion of variants of Covid-19. New variants were described as being more transmissible than the original Covid-19 and the earlier variants. The Delta and Delta Plus variants have received the most attention. The Delta variant was original called the Indian variant. It was used as part of the mainstream media fear campaign. The news frequently showed images and videos of sick people and crowded hospitals in India. They made it appear that this variant of Covid-19 was causing havoc in India and would soon have the same effect on other countries (UK in particular). At the same time, mainstream media and major social media were censoring and restricting alternative information that indicated that the increased number of variants were being caused by the vaccines. Therefore, the vaccines were most likely extending the pandemic rather than slowing it or ending it. Read my post [My Concerns about the Covid-19 Vaccines](https://peakd.com/hive-112018/@spectrumecons/my-concerns-about-the-covid-19-vaccines), for more information about the impact vaccines are having on variants of Covid-19. ## Vaccines ![Vaccine_me_posion.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23tGZbnsdxXHxgsiPZpktUJESRyVR6JnUJPoeh6x29FuBWsJuANKZvNfLtatiNUbCHNHY.jpg) Since the beginning of the pandemic, Government and pharmaceutical companies decided that vaccines were the best approach to stop the pandemic and prevent future outbreaks. Vaccines can be very profitable. This is particularly true if they are distributed on a mass scale. I believe the establishment intend to vaccinate most of the world’s population. If the effects of the vaccines are temporary, booster jabs are required. This will generate even more profit. Considering the scale of the proposed vaccination programs, there are likely to be many adverse reactions to the vaccines. Many of these adverse reactions will require treatment, which will be even more profitable for pharmaceutical companies. Vaccines can take decades to develop, test, and prove efficacy and safety. Dragging out the pandemic for as long as a decade would be impossible. If the vaccines became available a decade after the pandemic, the uptake would be very low and the public would strongly oppose pharmaceuticals receiving a massive payout from taxpayers’ money. The course of action taken by the establishment has been to develop and approve vaccines within one year. The timeframe is incredible considering the normal duration it takes for a vaccine to be approved and the lack of success of developing vaccines for other coronaviruses. The vaccines, at best, could only be considered experimental. To expect the public to embrace an experimental vaccine for a virus that is fatal in only old people with serious pre-existing medical conditions is unrealistic. However, the Government, their experts, the media, and celebrities have strongly campaigned the virtues of the vaccines and condemned anyone who even questions the risks or logic of the vaccine rollout. Despite this unrealistic expectation, it appears that the mix of campaigning for the vaccine, fearmongering about Covid-19, censoring and/or condemning of any alternative views is succeeding. Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 contain data of the number of vaccines and the number of people who have had at least one jab. ### Figure 1: Covid-19 Vaccine Doses per 100 people ![Vaccine_Data_World_map.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23wXLYuCRpDUYQqJa8gM9TFSmGAwp9hGi7bXcvkd1q8NzKjz5XiEuhLyBRHys6w16VvTq.jpg) ### Figure 2: Covid-19 Vaccine Doses per person (selected countries) ![Vaccine_Data_Countries_Graph.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23tHb6kVWW5MMQG1pDM8egREahpbZHMzeLGdZPKZnzmuXaRx51VKwKnqtCair9kRPYCbm.jpg) ### Figure 3: Total Number of Vaccine Doses (World) ![Vaccine_World_NUMBERS.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23tHbKgySQXUZQPet1dpjjhJ2Ahxqqxar3pMSXudyEdsBiwWXr87nrrrBhm51zWd1tTxG.jpg) ### Figure 4: Number of People who have received at least one dose ![Vaccine_One_shot_DATA.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23t8CfKPx8XFzQQ4fizJTqgF6NMvBUcViHwYuQCDF9g13mREeUUqewYobh54vGaTL4MWh.jpg) ### Figure 5: Number of People who have received at least one dose (Continent) ![Vaccine_One_shot_by_continent.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23tcNhnr6SKs3DHvhgj6VHXyFmeZw3TP9ndVeWCcBXQPBkNCFYEJjuF5gWZrb6M9NL9Lo.jpg) **Source: [Our World in Data](https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=~OWID_WRL) accessed 20/10/2021** The numbers are staggeringly high. As of 19 October 2021, about half the world’s population have received at least one jab. The total number of jabs given out is almost equivalent to the world’s population, which indicates many people have received more than one jab. In western countries, the percentage of people who have been jabbed is considerably higher than the world average (at least 60% of the population with at least one dose). The number of jabs will continue to rise as people start to receive booster jabs as we head into winter. As mentioned earlier in the post, vaccines can be very profitable to pharmaceutical companies for several reasons. Vaccines have also been used as a tool by Government to gain more control over people’s lives. This is being done with vaccine certificates. If the use of vaccine certificates becomes widespread and even acknowledged as normal. Government will have the opportunity to impose other requirements on people’s behaviour. Maybe, carbon consumption certificates will be the next requirement placed on people. However, it is quite possible there are still a few more additional agendas linked to the Covid-19 vaccines. The risks, effort and coordination required to create a prolonged pandemic of the nature of Covid-19 are enormous. Therefore, we should conclude that the potential rewards are also expected to be enormous. They would likely be substantially greater than pharmaceutical profits, massive wealth transfer to billionaires, and access to significant control over the public. [The Vaccine Death Report](https://www.stopworldcontrol.com/downloads/en/vaccines/vaccine-death-report.pdf) contains a number of theories regarding alternative potential gains these vaccines may offer the establishment. ## Verdict ![Verdict_ESTABLISHMENT_win.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23tGXZLvWYrrvUPUNzvbuLTVzUsiq2kK4FJRRTTbzjjfmkuSsNUtfuWpRg5ewhnCSHDL9.jpg) Extending the pandemic has been a successful move by the establishment. It appears most people still believe Covid-19 is a serious threat. This is evident by the number of people still in favour of restrictions and lockdowns. According to [the Economist](https://www.economist.com/britain/2021/07/10/some-britons-crave-permanent-pandemic-lockdown), the people in the UK strongly favour restrictions until Covid-19 is under control globally. These restrictions include mask wearing in shops, quarantining after overseas vacations, proof of vaccination for travel, and social distancing in theatres pubs, and sports grounds. See Figure 6. ### Figure 6: Support of Covid-19 restrictions in the UK ![PEOPLE_HATE_FREEDOM.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23xLB7EHSdTHYuxSuwQ9Ez35iaZSySMvvon1WoxJDGDYUrHBGmnF6tM5LUfz3hkfSw7bg.jpg) **Source: [The Economist](https://www.economist.com/britain/2021/07/10/some-britons-crave-permanent-pandemic-lockdown)** In recent elections, people of Australia and New Zealand have shown strong support for leaders who have imposed the most draconian laws during the pandemic. However, the strongest evidence of the success of extending the pandemic is the uptake of the Covid-19 vaccines. Actions are more important than words. Taking the vaccine is an indication that the establishment’s tactics have succeeded. - Some would have taken it out of fear. - Some would have taken it because they caved into pressure. - Some would have taken it to keep their jobs. - Some would have taken it because they believe their life would return to normal sooner. - Some would have taken it because they believe it will allow them to travel abroad again. - Some would have taken it because they get something for free. ## Signs of Resistance ![Resistance_STILL_Exists.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/23tbMP3ppU9yD86Hw45d8WHF6naXGhY3JrvLDLVoeN6gruwZEy8jGjoJrn4FEzimuesT2.jpg) In the short-run, the extension of the pandemic has been a success for the establishment. However, in the long-run, it may not have been. The people that are resisting the establishment’s Covid-19 onslaught are in the minority but their numbers are growing and those that are resisting are becoming more vocal. The French people have protested health passes with as many as 150,000 people protesting in one day and the German people have protested against Covid-19 restrictions in numbers of greater than 30,000 people ([Carnegie](https://carnegieendowment.org/publications/interactive/protest-tracker)). There have been many more large protests where the numbers have not been recorded. In the long term, if the numbers opposing the establishment continue to rise, it is possible that stretching the pandemic could turn out to be a big mistake . ----- ## More posts ![HiveWhale_GIF.gif](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/0Z18kUcC-HiveWhale_GIF.gif) If you want to read any of my other posts, you can click on the links below. These links will lead you to posts containing my collection of works. These 'Collection of Works' posts have been updated to contain links to the Hive versions of my posts. ![Pt1_N.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmVspZpbVSqDhSiMJqzkza6qvfUzZLdzE2V8QGNoz6YLAb/Pt1_N.jpg) ![Pt2_N.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmWqBWxH1sJwbz4Cm9w59LX84pLfP58YYX7azQoYBTMMdB/Pt2_N.jpg) ![Pt3.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmbFSMxEcb8YXrv9YDgE9LKqe1BL3VWbVq5JDjcmiE26Yg/Pt3.jpg) ![Pt4_N.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmdh5LB5zLU2eyVrMfk6LhshJDYwU4sjJKWYF8wNtfhDcQ/Pt4_N.jpg) ## My CBA Udemy Course [![CBA_COVER_Hive.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/VV1jL6eR-CBA_COVER_Hive.jpg)](https://www.udemy.com/course/practitioners-guide-to-cost-benefit-analysis) The course contains over 10 hours of video, over 60 downloadable resources, over 40 multiple-choice questions, 2 sample case studies, 1 practice CBA, life time access and a certificate on completion. The course is priced at the Tier 1 price of £20. I believe it is frequently available at half-price. ## Future of Social Media ![Hive_Future_Social_Media.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/spectrumecons/iHLfHz7I-Hive_Future_Social_Media.jpg)

apshamilton