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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nby Pepe ESCOBAR<\/em> (4-9-20)\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nPepe Escobar looks at a frightening future that might follow the already terrifying Covid-19 global outbreak.<\/em><\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nY<\/strong>ou don\u2019t need to read Michel Foucault\u2019s work on biopolitics<\/a> to understand that neoliberalism \u2013 in deep crisis since at least 2008 \u2013 is a control\/governing technique in which surveillance capitalism is deeply embedded.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nBut now, with the world-system collapsing at breathtaking speed, neoliberalism is at a loss to deal with the next stage of dystopia, ever present in our hyper-connected angst: global mass unemployment.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nHenry Kissinger, anointed oracle\/gatekeeper of the ruling class, is predictably scared<\/a>. He claims that, \u201csustaining the public trust is crucial to social solidarity.\u201d He\u2019s convinced the Hegemon should \u201csafeguard the principles of the liberal world order.\u201d Otherwise, \u201cfailure could set the world on fire.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s so quaint. Public trust is dead across the spectrum. The liberal world \u201corder\u201d is now social Darwinist chaos. Just wait for the fire to rage.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe numbers are staggering. The Japan-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), in its annual economic report, may not have been exactly original. But it did note that the impact of the \u201cworst pandemic in a century\u201d will be as high as $4.1 trillion, or 4.8 percent of global GDP.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThis an underestimation, as \u201csupply disruptions, interrupted remittances, possible social and financial crises, and long-term effects on health care and education are excluded from the analysis.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWe cannot even start to imagine the cataclysmic social consequences of the crash. Entire sub-sectors of the global economy may not be recomposed at all.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe International Labor Organization (ILO) forecasts global unemployment at a conservative, additonal 24.7 million people \u2013 especially in aviation, tourism and hospitality.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe global aviation industry is a humongous $2.7 trillion business. That\u2019s 3.6 percent of global GDP. It employs 2.7 million people. When you add air transport and tourism \u2014everything from hotels and restaurants to theme parks and museums \u2014 it accounts for a minimum of 65.5 million jobs around the world.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAccording to the ILO, income losses for workers may range from $860 billion to an astonishing $3.4 trillion. \u201cWorking poverty\u201d will be the new normal \u2013 especially across the Global South.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\u201cWorking poor,\u201d in ILO terminology, means employed people living in households with a per capita income below the poverty line of $2 a day. As many as an additional 35 million people worldwide will become working poor in 2020.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nSwitching to feasible perspectives for global trade, it\u2019s enlightening to examine that this report<\/a> about how the economy may rebound is centered on the notorious hyperactive merchants and traders of Yiwu in eastern China \u2013 the world\u2019s busiest small-commodity, business hub.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nTheir experience spells out a long and difficult recovery. As the rest of the world is in a coma, Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura in Hong Kong stresses that China faces a 30 percent decline in external demand at least until next Fall.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nNeoliberalism in Reverse?<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nIn the next stage, the strategic competition between the U.S. and China will be no-holds-barred, as emerging narratives of China\u2019s new, multifaceted global role \u2013 on trade, technology, cyberspace, climate change \u2013 will set in, even more far-reaching than the New Silk Roads. That will also be the case in global public health policies. Get ready for an accelerated Hybrid War between the \u201cChinese virus\u201d narrative and the Health Silk Road<\/a>.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe latest report<\/a> by the China Institute of International Studies would be quite helpful for the West \u2014 hubris permitting \u2014 to understand how Beijing adopted key measures putting the health and safety of the general population first.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nNow, as the Chinese economy slowly picks up, hordes of fund managers from across Asia are tracking everything from trips on the metro to noodle consumption to preview what kind of economy may emerge post-lockdown.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nIn contrast, across the West, the prevailing doom and gloom elicited a priceless<\/a> editorial from The<\/em> Financial Times<\/em>. Like James Brown in the 1980s Blues Brothers pop epic, the City of London seems to have seen the light, or at least giving the impression it really means it. Neoliberalism in reverse. New social contract. \u201cSecure\u201d labor markets. Redistribution.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nCynics won\u2019t be fooled. The cryogenic state of the global economy spells out a vicious Great Depression 2.0 and an unemployment tsunami. The plebs eventually reaching for the pitchforks and the AR-15s en masse is now a distinct possibility. Might as well start throwing a few breadcrumbs to the beggars\u2019 banquet.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThat may apply to European latitudes. But the American story is in a class by itself.\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe game ahead<\/a> for the elites, taking advantage of the crisis, might well contain these four elements: a social credit system, mandatory vaccination, a digital currency and a Universal Basic Income (UBI). This is what used to be called, according to the decades-old, time-tested CIA playbook, a \u201cconspiracy theory.\u201d Well, it might actually happen.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nA social credit system is something that China set up already in 2014. Before the end of 2020, every Chinese citizen will be assigned his\/her own credit score \u2013 a de facto \u201cdynamic profile\u201d, elaborated with extensive use of AI and the internet of things (IoT), including ubiquitous facial recognition technology. This implies, of course, 24\/7 surveillance, complete with Blade Runner-style roving robotic birds.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Canada, Russia and India may not be far behind. Germany, for instance, is tweaking its universal credit rating system, SCHUFA. France has an ID app very similar to the Chinese model, verified by facial recognition.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nMandatory vaccination is Bill Gates\u2019s dream<\/a>, working in conjunction with the WHO, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Big Pharma. He wants \u201cbillions of doses\u201d to be enforced over the Global South. And it could be a cover to everyone getting a digital implant.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nHere it is, in his own words<\/a>. At 34:15: \u201cEventually what we\u2019ll have to have is certificates of who\u2019s a recovered person, who\u2019s a vaccinated person\u2026Because you don\u2019t want people moving around the world where you\u2019ll have some countries that won\u2019t have it under control, sadly. You don\u2019t want to completely block off the ability for people to go there and come back and move around.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThen comes the last sentence which was erased from the official TED video. This was noted by Rosemary Frei, who has a master on molecular biology and is an independent investigative journalist in Canada. Gates says: \u201cSo eventually there will be this digital immunity proof that will help facilitate the global reopening up.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThis \u201cdigital immunity proof\u201d is crucial to keep in mind, something that could be misused by the state for nefarious purposes.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe three top candidates to produce a coronavirus vaccine are American biotech firm Moderna<\/a>, as well as Germans CureVac and BioNTech.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nDigital cash might then become an offspring of blockchain<\/a>. Not only the U.S.<\/a>, but China<\/a> and Russia<\/a> are also interested in a national crypto-currency. A global currency \u2013 of course controlled by central bankers \u2013 may soon be adopted in the form of a basket of currencies, and would circulate virtually. Endless permutations of the toxic cocktail of IoT, blockchain technology and the social credit system could loom ahead.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAlready Spain has\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0that it is introducing UBI, and wants it to be permanent. It\u2019s a form of insurance for the elite against social uprisings, especially if millions of jobs never come back.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nSo the key working hypothesis is that Covid-19 could be used as cover for the usual suspects to bring in a new digital financial system and a mandatory vaccine with a \u201cdigital identity\u201d nano-chip with dissent not tolerated: what Slavoj Zizek calls the \u201cerotic dream\u201d of every totalitarian government.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nYet underneath it all, amid so much anxiety, a pent-up rage seems to be gathering strength, to eventually explode in unforeseeable ways. As much as the system may be changing at breakneck speed, there\u2019s no guarantee even the 0.1 percent will be safe.<\/strong>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Pepe ESCOBAR (4-9-20) Pepe Escobar looks at a frightening future that might follow the already terrifying Covid-19 global outbreak. You don\u2019t need to read Michel Foucault\u2019s work on biopolitics to understand that neoliberalism \u2013 in deep crisis since at least 2008 … Continue reading