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COVID-19 and the US Pt. 3: BlackRock and Nemesis

Speculation about the many aspects of this virus has been rife on social media and sometimes heated. People are right to wonder about motives, to question the response and reaction of authorities, and especially about who is set to make gains off the crisis. The frontrunners in the latter case are the corporations and especially Bill Gates. How many people have heard of BlackRock, though? We started this series with the title ‘The Great Coronavirus Heist’. But instead of focusing on what is happening with the economy, we see diversion from a bigger issue that is staring us all in the face, and the latter revolves around a recent decision by the Trump administration regarding the financial firm BlackRock. Conspiracy? One might think so. But, given the massive amounts of funds that are now being transacted via that firm and why, we may want to be looking at that instead of a virus that will soon enough fade from the newsfeed. Viruses can come and go in a season. But BlackRock will be with us for years. Continue reading “COVID-19 and the US Pt. 3: BlackRock and Nemesis”

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COVID-19 and the EU

It is probably not hyperbole to state that Europe, or specifically the EU, is facing its worst crisis since WWII. That is, at least economically. A little virus has brought on a crisis that neither Brexit nor years of neoliberal austerity could produce. And so far, the COVID-19 crisis is showing up all that has been at the base of the problems with the EU. More to the point, it is showing the north-south divide between EU member states that has been there all along, but which is never really stated in polite company. Just as a divorce tends to bring out the worst in couples who promised “to love, honor and cherish ‘til death do us part” when they married, so this virus is bringing all the skeletons out of Europe’s closets. And those antagonisms usually revolve around money and possessions. It is quite a spectacle. Continue reading “COVID-19 and the EU”

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The US and COVID-19

This post is actually an update on the progress of the coronavirus pandemic, now called COVID-19. Here in Italy we have been in lockdown nationwide since March 10, which is the proper way to handle such an outbreak. We will get to why in due course. But, the particular focus here will be on the United States and its handling of this crisis, which will be reflected in the UK, too. It has yet to really affect the US. But it will, and hard, and that will affect the election and policy into the future, like the need for universal healthcare, for instance. We will examine that, too, and why, as I have many friends and all of my blood relatives in the US. What happens there will be particularly relevant to the world at large. COVID-19, as we have gradually found out, is anything but a ‘mild flu’, as many of our American leaders have tried to paint it. Continue reading “The US and COVID-19”