THE QUESTION IS NOT WHAT "THEY WILL DO"—IT'S WHAT THEY HAVE ALREADY DONE
It's "Mission Accomplished" for the ruling class
Forums like Telegram are packed with speculative assertions about what the ruling elites want to do, will do, plan to do, in leveraging "the pandemic". Projections are cast into the future. Crash the economy, demolish the banking system, institute Central Bank Digital Currencies, implement Digital ID systems and social credit scores, force people to eat bugs, contain people (and their bug food) within a 15 minute urban radius, render them totally dependent, a Great Reset, and so on.
Yet few of these goals, if any, have been realized since 3/11/20. Some do not require any sort of “pandemic” to be realized. For example, the prospect of costly identity theft can get people to choose digital IDs loaded with personal biometric and other data. Turning digitization into a game, with bargains, special discounts, etc., will seduce many millions to adopt digital financial transactions—especially if it increases affordability. So-called 15-minute cities will be welcomed by many as an answer to long-awaited convenience, of no longer having to find tens of thousands of dollars to purchase a vehicle, only to drive it through a complex urban maze where the simple act of parking requires legendary strategizing and ninja-like flexibility.
“The Next One,” the Great Pandemic to come, will probably be launched to finish what was started under the banner of Covid-19. That is an attractive argument, and it cannot be easily dismissed. Covid-19 appears more and more to have been a stress test—a wildly successful one.
But the next one will be to cement gains already achieved, and to push threats to those gains to distant margins of society.
However, since large parts of the resistance to mandates, lockdowns, masks, etc. since 3/11/20 have been led by fairly privileged individuals from the upper middle class or even just the upper class—class warfare has been almost entirely overlooked. We have former government advisers, stock brokers, doctors, lawyers, professors, alternative media stars, and even former pharmaceutical executives, all commanding the stage.
The number one achievement of 3/11/20 has been the consolidation of the single biggest wealth transfer in recorded human history.
With that increased wealth, and increasingly concentrated wealth, comes the expansion of the already monumental political power of corporations listed under the headings of Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Food.
“The Next One” will try to ensure that the last vestiges of democracy are extinguished. Those in the resistance who are already in a comfort zone and who weathered 3/11/20 without any real losses (and maybe a few gains), have largely moved on from Covid. Their chief concerns now are Drag Queen story hours and Bud Light commercials, and other such pressing matters. Those who have nothing left to lose after 3/11/20 are the ones who are going to make history, one way or another.
What follows here is a series of sources with some key extracts.
EXTRACT:
The nation’s billionaires are almost a third richer than they were at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to new calculations by the global charity Oxfam, which published the report this week. The number of U.S. billionaires is almost 60% higher than it was a decade ago, reaching more than 700, Oxfam said.
“The huge rise in pandemic wealth followed trillions of dollars being injected into financial markets to avert their collapse,” the report said. “This fresh cash, while vital to keeping economies afloat, ended up with the ultra-wealthy who were able to ride a stock market surge, without the guardrails of fairer taxation to share that wealth more equitably.”
Meanwhile, Oxfam pointed to a “permanent underclass” in the nation, saying that almost a third of the U.S. labor force earns less than $15 an hour, with half of all working women of color earning less than that. In addition, the racial wealth gap has grown wider since the 1980s and is close to what it was in the 1950s, the report said.
7 Big Corporations That Rewarded Wealthy Investors While Gouging Consumers
A new analysis from government watchdog Accountable.US found major corporations across several industries that have raised prices on everyday necessities like food, shelter and utilities while raking in “record-high profit margins” and rewarding wealthy investors.
EXTRACT:
...Some of the largest companies within the CPI’s major categories — food, energy, healthcare and shelter — have continued to raise prices while making over $6 billion in increased profits in the first half of fiscal year (FY) 2022 compared to FY 2021.
Meanwhile, these same companies have increased spending on shareholder handouts by $15.4 billion year-over-year for a total of $62.6 billion....
Pandemic Created 130 New Billionaires, $2.1 Trillion in New Wealth, While Millions Suffered
New analysis by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies shows, in total, 745 billionaires now hold $5 trillion in collective wealth, which is "two-thirds more than the $3 trillion in wealth held by the bottom 50% of U.S. households."
EXTRACT:
American billionaires grew in number and expanded their collective fortunes by $2.1 trillion since COVID-19 sparked a worldwide pandemic 19 months ago, according to a new analysis unveiled Monday.
An overall 70% surge of wealth among the nation’s richest individuals since March of 2020 has resulted in approximately 130 new billionaires, found the new report released by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). In a statement, the groups noted that there are now 745 people with “10-figure bank accounts” compared to the 614 that existed when the pandemic first hit.
In total, those 745 billionaires now hold $5 trillion in collective wealth, which the groups note is “two-thirds more than the $3 trillion in wealth held by the bottom 50% of U.S. households.”...
$1 Billion a Day — That’s How Much Top 10 U.S. Billionaires Added to Their Fortunes During Pandemic
According to an analysis by Americans for Tax Fairness, the combined net worth of the 10 richest people in the U.S. has more than doubled since March 2020, reaching $1.35 trillion this week.
EXTRACTS:
The 10 wealthiest billionaires in the U.S. have added roughly $1 billion to their collective fortune every day — or around $12,600 per second — since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic...
“The pandemic has been very good to American billionaires, especially the top 10,” said ATF executive director Frank Clemente, who noted that billionaires’ pandemic profits will likely not be taxed because they consist largely of unrealized capital gains....
ATF’s analysis is the latest in a series of new studies highlighting the extent to which the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the decades-long trend of soaring wealth inequality in the U.S. and worldwide.
Earlier this week, as Common Dreams reported, Oxfam International released an analysis showing that the 10 richest men in the world have doubled their combined wealth since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, the anti-poverty group noted, “the incomes of 99% of humanity are worse off because of Covid-19.”...
We're Living Through the Greatest Transfer of Wealth From the Middle Class to the Elites in History
EXTRACTS:
When historians look back on the decisions made beginning in March 2020 and still going strong, this period will be remembered as the "Great Consolidation"—the acceleration of a historic wealth transfer and power concentration out of the hands of the middle class and into those with political power and connections.
The "connected" form a powerful bloc comprised of big government, big business and big special interests. And though their monikers label them "big," they are comprised of relatively small elites. And they are seeking to use their power to benefit themselves at your expense.
Prior to COVID, more than 30 million small businesses accounted for about half the GDP and jobs in America; the other half of the economy was concentrated in 20,000 big companies. So you might have expected that small businesses would have had an equal amount of negotiating power when the pandemic hit as big companies. You would be wrong.
Big companies have more lobbying dollars and more connections, and thus more ability to play the political game. Their big pockets are balanced with a small enough scope to make them a government ally, compared to the highly decentralized small business landscape.
As a result, big firms were deemed "essential" and allowed to stay open during the pandemic, while small businesses were subjected to punishing lockdown orders and forced to close, in part or completely....
...big box pet retailers like PetSmart that groomed pet hair and nails were deemed essential—while salons owned by small business owners that served humans were not. The LA-area Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill was forced to close their outdoor dining—while a movie production not only operated but hosted a catering tent serving food to crew in the same parking lot that the restaurant had been forced to abandon....
And the results of this are fairly easy to follow: Spending that couldn't be done at closed businesses was shifted to the ones that were open, which were by and large big businesses, many of which naturally saw a substantial increase in their revenue.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve was pumping trillions of dollars into the markets, helping to inflate stock valuations. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses were murdered in just a few short months—by government edict—while seven tech companies gained $3.4 trillion in market value. If you were able to access capital—which is code for already being big or wealthy, even if you weren't in some cases financially sound—it was plentiful and, for debt capital, available at historically low interest rates. 2020 became a record year for IPOs and for other capital-raising vehicles like special purpose acquisition companies. And some of this capital was likely used to compete with your local small businesses.
The one-two punch of government fiscal and Fed monetary policy continued to destroy the fabric of the economy for the average American. It dislocated the labor markets and the supply chain and it has ultimately led to inflation, which is making the basic cost of living much more expensive for Americans all across the country.
...those who are well-connected and asset-rich benefitted from outsized wealth increases driven by government policy....
Consolidation of the economy only benefits those in the club. And even though it will likely destroy prosperity, the power-hungry often don't care; big business benefits from the decimation of competition, special interests benefit from favors granted by big government and big government benefits by having these powerful consolidated allies to keep its power and purview growing....
Very important points, though a handful of the "big names" do a good job at bringing these concerns to light. I've repeatedly said to myself during this time that the "great reset" was largely accomplished by the time people learned the term.
It does sound, increasingly, as though things will get worse before they get better. And nothing short of a people's revolution along the lines of what happened in France to rid society of the techno aristocracy will be the means to do that. All the touted cures - localisation, bitcoin, alternative medicine, boycotts of conglomerates, non-compliance to digital ID creep - are drops in the ocean. They would have to be adopted wholesale, and with discipline and no small measure of inconvenience, to see any shift. And the conglomerates will be tracking and herding all the way. Grinding the resistance down. The youngsters are far too naive about the bells and whistles of convenience, and far too ignorant of history, to recognise the tentacles of totalitarianism snaking up on them. To see that the nudge-work of "owning nothing" and renting everything is the start of a quasi-feudal/communist takeover. Acclimatising them to a future of deprivation and control and enslavement. Horrifying.