A Logical, Fact-Based COVID Conspiracy Theory

While most COVID conspiracy theories involve vague and ill-defined threats of tyranny, some of the more credible conspiracy theories involve Big Pharma profits, which range in the tens of billions of dollars.

However, with just a little bit of effort you can find a series of events in mid-September, 2019, that make up actual evidence of a conspiracy that is specific and makes logical sense.

The first known case of COVID-19 was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. That much you probably knew.
But did you know that three months earlier, on September 19, 2019, President Trump signed an executive order fast-tracking the development of vaccines "to protect against seasonal influenza as well as a potential pandemic flu outbreak"?
Isn't that interesting? Months before COVID even existed. Maybe you had heard of it, but I haven't seen anyone online pushing the anti-vaccine conspiracies mention it so you probably didn't know.

However, that's just the start.
Just two days before President Trump signed that executive order for flu pandemic vaccines, the Federal Reserve started an absolutely massive bailout of Wall Street, to the tune of $4.5 TRILLION.
Let me say that again - the Federal Reserve threw $4.5 Trillion at Wall Street banks BEFORE the first case of COVID touched the shores of the United States. Check out the nonchalant way that this was reported in the financial press at the time.

“They’ve managed to inject enough liquidity to provide a strong signal that they’re going to be flexible and provide further assistance to see themselves through what was going to be a very tight period,” said James McCann, global economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments. “It looks like they’re going to catch up with a problem that had quite embarrassingly gotten out of control.”

Embarrassing? $4.5 TRILLION is embarrassing.
I wish someone would embarrass me with a few trillion dollars. Do you know who wasn't embarrassed? Wall Street.

Banking analyst Dick Bove at Odeon Capital Group points out that the balance sheet expansion has coincided with a 7.6% year-over-year growth of the monetary base, compared with 3.2% a year ago. That in turn has happened alongside a violent rally on Wall Street as companies buy back stock and reduce share count.
“Money supply is expanding at above average rates and share growth is not. Consequently, share values are expanding -- not likely to stop soon,” Bove said in a note.

There's couple things worth pointing out here.

1. The amount of money in the economy was expanded 7.6%. Now we see an inflation rate in this country of over 7%. I don't think that it's a coincidence.
2. The story here and in Wikipedia is that the Fed had no choice to do this because of a liquidity problem due to corporate taxes and over-regulation.
This is a heaping pile of horse-sh*t.

For starters, the day before the Fed began this latest Wall Street bailout $2.7 Billion in credit default swaps imploded.
Remember credit default swaps? They were the "force multipliers" of the 2008 crash.

Guess who were the biggest holders of derivatives like credit default swaps in the world.

The OCC’s report for the third quarter of 2019 shows that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were centrally-clearing zero percent of their credit derivatives, the bulk of which are credit default swaps.
...In addition, Wall Street banks have moved some of their derivatives activity to their foreign units, beyond the radar of their U.S. regulators and the reporting scope of the OCC report.

Every major trading house and bank on Wall Street is aware of the black hole that exists around derivatives and this is why they ran for cover in 2008 and again on September 17, 2019. No one knew how much exposure any one derivatives counterparty had to Thomas Cook and whether it would set off a daisy chain set of defaults by the counterparties who couldn’t make good on paying out what was owed on their credit default swaps.

Ah yes. A very familiar story. So who exactly did the Fed end up bailing out?
That information was withheld from the public until three weeks ago. I'll give you three guesses who got bailed out.

among the large borrowers under the Fed’s repo loan facility in 2019 were JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup (it was their trading affiliates) and these were “three of the Wall Street banks that were at the center of the subprime and derivatives crisis in 2008 that brought down the U.S. economy.”

Norton then asks Hudson “why was the Fed giving trillions of dollars to these large Wall Street banks. And why was there a liquidity crisis? That’s unexplained. Why did the Fed refuse to release the names of these banks? And was there a financial crisis before COVID that the U.S. government later was able to blame on COVID, but it was actually a financial crisis in the making?”

Hmmm. Why that's a very good question. I'm glad that I didn't have to ask it.
But I'm not finished with picking the official story apart.
The real kick in the pants is that there was no liquidity event.

“There was actually no liquidity crisis whatsoever. And Pam Martens is very clear about that. She points out the reason that the regular newspapers don’t report it is the loans violated every element of the Dodd-Frank laws that were supposed to prevent the Fed from making loans to particular banks that were not part of a liquidity crisis.

“In her article, she makes very clear by pointing out these three banks, Chase Manhattan, Goldman Sachs – which used to be a brokerage firm – and Citibank, that the Federal Reserve laws and the Dodd-Frank Act explicitly prevent the Fed from making loans to particular banks.

“It can only make loans if there’s a general liquidity crisis. And we know that there wasn’t at that time, because she lists the banks that borrowed money, and there were very few of them…

The Fed’s repo loan program in the fall of 2019 and first half of 2020 went to just 23 trading houses on Wall Street.
So what we are looking at is that the Federal Reserve broke the law to bail out these huge Wall Street banks when their derivatives portfolio imploded, in what was NOT a liquidity event. You would think that just maybe the news media might be interested in this. After all, it is $4.5 Trillion, but nope. It seems the news media loses interest in a story directly proportional to the increasing amount of money involved.
This is the same Federal Reserve that has been caught up in a insider trading scandal.

Lastly, we should mention the laws that were changed after COVID. Most of them were simply massive buying of assets through QE. But there was also this.

Before coronavirus turmoil hit the market, the Fed was offering $100 billion in overnight repo and $20 billion in two-week repo. Throughout the pandemic, the Fed significantly expanded the program—both in the amounts offered and the length of the loans. In July 2021, the Fed established a permanent Standing Repo Facility to backstop money markets during times of stress.
...
The Fed also eliminated banks’ reserve requirement—the percent of deposits that banks must hold as reserves to meet cash demand—though this was largely irrelevant because banks held far more than the required reserves. The Fed restricted dividends and share buybacks of bank holding companies throughout the pandemic, but lifted these restrictions effective June 30, 2021, for most firms based on stress test results
...
under the new Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF), the Fed could purchase existing corporate bonds as well as exchange-traded funds investing in investment-grade corporate bonds...the Fed announced on April 9, 2020, that the facilities would be increased to backstop a combined $750 billion of corporate debt. And, as with previous facilities, the Fed invoked Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act and received permission from the U.S. Treasury, which provided $75 billion from its Exchange Stabilization Fund to cover potential losses.

There is a real conspiracy here that isn't about vaccines. One that involves Trillions of dollars, and involves the two main sources of corruption in the country - Wall Street and Washington.

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studentofearth's picture

smoke and mirrors to hide other activities. Keep us busy trying to survive, wont have time to notice the financial shenanigans.
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Covid appears to have been in Europe prior to China. Another Reuters article from July 2020. Coronavirus traces found in March 2019 sewage sample, Spanish study shows

Spanish virologists have found traces of the novel coronavirus in a sample of Barcelona waste water collected in March 2019, nine months before the COVID-19 disease was identified in China, the University of Barcelona said on Friday.

The nurses and doctors are caught in a system which now provides nearly 20% of our economy in 2020. Long standing power struggles have accelerated to shift power away from healthcare practitioners.

More light needs to be brought to understand the continual financial feeding to a small group by our country.

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

and your depiction of the manipulations and sleight of hand of Big Capital are persuasive. But that is not the only aspect of global conspiracy suitable for the attention of adults. Your denigration of other aspects of the larger conspiracy in play, particularly the intentional mismanagement of the COVID pandemic by national and international health authorities, adds little to the thrust of your essay.

I find your last sentence most puzzling, as I have not found the accusation you refer to anywhere on this website, or anywhere else where I have explored the wider digital world in regards to all things COVID.

And you don't have to accuse the vast majority of doctors and nurses of working with the Deep State and Big Pharma.

My understanding of the pharmacist who refused to fill my off-label prescription was that she feared the loss of her license and her job, after the state pharmacist board indicated expectations of lockstep compliance with FDA/CDC treatment protocols. That would be an example of coercion, not “working with the Deep State and Big Pharma.“

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

@ovals49
But yes, I've seen this being pushed.

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As opposed to an illogical, lie-based COVID Conspiracy Theory?

So all questioning of what the established authorities assert is illogical and lie based, huh? A substance free insult that has nothing whatsoever to do with your essay -- just a gratuitous attack. If we were not under a Be Polite Regime, I would not have any problem with insults like this. I would just respond in kind.

So I have only one response to this insulting and snide insinuation:
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dogma

/ˈdôɡmə/

noun
a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

@fire with fire
Saying that I think you are being wronged is seems is an insult to you.
That's on you.

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@gjohnsit @gjohnsit .

Dude, you are right about one thing. I have been lied to. Among many others I have been told that ivermectin is only for animals. I have also been told that the vaccine would keep me from getting the virus. I have been told a thousand other lies by Trump, Biden, Fauci and Newsom here in California.

Personally, I have no idea what value if any ivermectin has in protecting health -- but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it has been commonly prescribed for humans for decades. If you and your Truth Telling Vaccine Peddlers would just make their case about why they claim it does not help, I would not give a flying fuck about ivermectin. But it ain't anti-vaxxers telling that whopper -- it is the TV networks.

Does that lie mean anything to you? Or do you think discussing that lie and trying to figure out why they are telling that lie is "unproductive?" If so, all I can say is that is your business. But I will not sit still for you to claim that you are too smart to believe in the "wrong" conspiracy theories, as opposed to your ADULT conspiracy theory.
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According to you, I am not as discerning as you are and I believe lies that you correctly know to be lies. Thus, in return, I accuse you of dogmatic bullshit. We ain't getting anywhere, are we? Just trading insults is a waste of time.

You do not bother to say which lies I believe, and in point of fact I do not believe any conspiracy theory at all -- and have posted that opinion multiple times. I have indeed speculated on trying to find some rational explanation for the contradictions that come from almost all the voices of authority since this nightmare began.

To be sure, you are under no obligation to monitor all the wit and wisdom of Fire With Fire, and I take no offense at your galloping ignorance about what I believe or don't believe. What I object to is you violating the Be Nice rule yet again with these snide insults.

I repeat my objection to your original title, its first revision and now your snide response to my post.

.

It was more than a year ago, that I cut loose with some drama queen crap about ending my long tome addiction to message boards. I never lived up to that promise.

Until now.

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

@fire with fire

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Lookout provided earlier today.

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NYCVG

Need some detail to examine the details, but interesting out of box observations. Here is the link to the Vighi article postulating a market crash generating the pandemic.

A SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY: SYSTEMIC COLLAPSE AND PANDEMIC SIMULATION

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@MrWebster When the choice is a) it's a conspiracy of wealthy people to distract you with something else while they rob everyone blind, or b) it's some complicated and undefined conspiracy of the Deep State to get rid of your also undefined freedom, go with "a".

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executive order. Not seeing any logical link from that to the Sept 2019 massive repo loan. The big stockbrokers, that now get the advantages of banks and none of the disadvantages of being high risk brokers, and the NY-Fed have some 'splainin' to do. If only there was some legal authority that could demand answers. (It could have been a test run to prove that it's impossible for them to go the way of Bear Stearns, Lehman, etc.)

wrt Trump's executive order, superficially it's the sort of thing an administration should be doing. Assessing public risk (health in this instance) and positioning the CDC and NIH to move forward in an effort to lower the risk. However, what isn't revealed is who was behind the push for this order (way outside Trump's wheelhouse). It's dodgy in that federal employees (on the task force) would work with the mRNA companies (Moderna and Pfizer) on a better flu shot (the order conceded that the annual flu shots weren't all that effective) and federal dollars could be available to ramp up production. In bed with the mRNA companies put the FDA in the awkward position of not approving a new vaccine until (or unless) it passed all the tests for safe and effective and must be more effective than existing vaccines. (not much profit in existing vaccines.)

COVID-19 was like a gift from the gods for Moderna. (Pfizer has a large and established product line without mRNA vaccines.) The Moderna IPO was in Dec 2018 -- priced at $23/share. It dropped in 2019 -- April 30 - $20.78, May 31 - $14.64, June 30 - $13.10, July 31 - $15.73, Aug 31 - $15.92, Sept 30 - $16.74, Oct 31 - $20.36, Jan 1, 2020 - $$20.51, and Feb 1 - $25.93. Being bankrolled by the USG does wonders for one's stock price. It's down since its peak $300+ for much of 2021, but still $160/share isn't too shabby. Some companies and individuals have become very wealthy off this pandemic. Too bad that was at the expense of needless pain and suffering by millions of people and the depreciation of the public health institutions and governments.

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@Marie

Not seeing any logical link from that to the Sept 2019 massive repo loan.

I don't see the direct link either, but the timing should raise questions, especially since it mentions "pandemics".

wrt Trump's executive order, superficially it's the sort of thing an administration should be doing. Assessing public risk (health in this instance) and positioning the CDC and NIH to move forward in an effort to lower the risk.

OK. Explain this one to me. Trump's order cut regulation on producing vaccines.
All of the anti-vaccine people have been complaining about how the vaccines haven't been properly tested for about a year now.
But now you are telling me that "it's the sort of thing an administration should be doing".
What am I missing? Because this doesn't even look like a double-standard. It looks like NO standard.

COVID-19 was like a gift from the gods for Moderna.

The COVID vaccine certainly padded the wallets of Big Pharma, I'm seeing a repeat of something that Americans can never seem to wrap their heads around - size.
Let me give you an example:
J&J was the biggest Big Pharma company in 2020. It had total revenue of around $86 Billion.
Not profits mind you, but total revenue.
Roche was 2nd at $62 Billion.
Novartis was 3rd at $48 Billion.

If you add up the top 20 pharma companies in the entire world it would still come up to a few hundred billion in revenue, with just tens of billions in profits, and the COVID vaccine being only a minor part of that.

This is chickenfeed in comparison to the $4.5 TRILLION thrown at Wall Street.
It reminds me of Republicans that get all excited because of some nobody committed fraud to get $200 a month in food stamps, but somehow couldn't care less that the Pentagon can't account for $2 Trillion.

What I'm saying is that you're missing the Big Picture.

And was there a financial crisis before COVID that the U.S. government later was able to blame on COVID, but it was actually a financial crisis in the making?”

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@gjohnsit @gjohnsit
this apart.

Concurrent, absent any other related variables, isn't telling. Agree that the scale of the repo loans is too far off the charts that it could have anything to do with pHarma. One reason I set it aside to focus on the influenza executive order. (Or I should say focus on the news report of the ex. order that you linked to.) The other reason is that it's very difficult to discuss an event for which nobody, other than the participants who aren't talking, seems to have a clue as to what prompted the massive repo loans in 2019. (On the ground as you've pointed out, the housing market is again way out of whack, but this time it appears that it's corporate buyers instead of homeowners.)

Good government, fact and science based, should be proactive in addressing health and safety risks. Ergo, executive orders would be appropriate. We don't have good government, and facts and science don't matter much to the WH and Congress. However, both issue strongly worded letters to make it seem like they are addressing issues of some importance to the public. As reported, a task force studying alternatives to current influenza vaccines wasn't something of particular note to the public that only cares if an administration makes a mess wrt a flu and vaccines -- ie swine flu.

What I should have done before responding was read the Executive Order Title: Executive Order on Modernizing Influenza Vaccines in the United States to Promote National Security and Public Health. Red flags for me:
Modernization
National Security

Most of the order concerns the collection, analysis, etc of data by a task force. (Doubt they even barely scratched the surface in the allowed 120 days (Jan 19, 2020) for a report.) The key component is Section 2 - and imo the parts I've highlighted:

Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to modernize the domestic influenza vaccine enterprise to be highly responsive, flexible, scalable, and more effective at preventing the spread of influenza viruses. This is a public health and national security priority, as influenza has the potential to significantly harm the United States and our interests, including through large-scale illness and death, disruption to military operations, and damage to the economy. This order directs actions to reduce the United States’ reliance on egg-based influenza vaccine production; to expand domestic capacity of alternative methods that allow more agile and rapid responses to emerging influenza viruses; to advance the development of new, broadly protective vaccine candidates that provide more effective and longer lasting immunities; and to support the promotion of increased influenza vaccine immunization across recommended populations.

This was written by (or for) someone with a vested interest in alternative influenza vaccines. To promote them as superior to traditional vaccines and sell more of them. Wonder who that could be?

In and of itself, the ex order did nothing other than create paperwork for the task force members. It did not "cut regulation on producing vaccines." However, it did create a policy mindset that novel alternative vaccines are the answer to novel viruses and such alternative vaccines could be created and produced very quickly. Thus, as of the end of January 2020, at the official level the US, unlike China, was well positioned to deal with Covid-19, and therefore, no need to rely on masks, dedicated hospitals, quarantines, etc. to reduce/slow the spread. Too bad that the official level fell far short of what reality required.

The anti-vaxxers may have a point, but almost all in that group are also anti-mask. So, they are mostly ignorant fools.

The hundred year anniversary of the 1918-1919 pandemic led to the increase use of pandemic whenever anyone talks about influenza. So, it's not at all odd that the ex order would use it.

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zed2's picture

100% That is very bad, very very bad.

Watch this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQr2W4xQXWA

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new news

A claim that the US government is going to stop tracking daily COVID-19 deaths is misleading, despite the fact that it's been reshared thousands of times on Twitter.

"BREAKING," one viral tweet said. "US Government to end daily COVID death reporting."

The tweet then said the US Department of Health and Human Services will no longer require hospitals to report daily COVID-19 deaths to the agency. That part is true, according to guidance recently issued by HHS, but it does not necessarily impact the daily COVID-19 death counts that the vast majority of people have been consulting throughout the pandemic, experts said.

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zed2's picture

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zed2's picture

Its a food, its a natural substance. To try to call it a drug is illegal. Making claims it helps medical problems is like encouraging them to make it cost thousands of dollars. This is America, this is the twisted country.

For no reason other than any substance that works to improve health must cost huge amounts of money in America.

Poor people must not be able to afford to be healthy in America.

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zed2's picture

JP Morgan or Morgan Stanley? I forget.

Wall Street On Parade has been covering it. Managers and sudden deaths.

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@zed2
I know that during and in the years directly following the 2008 crash there were lots of, shall we say, somewhat "suspicious" deaths of bankers. But I hadn't heard about that in several years.

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zed2's picture

"reform" of Glass Steagall for the WTO which was a huge mistake. Which they are lying about in Geneva. To cover up the fact that GATS caused the 2008 fiasco. They wont admit it, even when its as plain as the nose on your face.

This is former SEC investigator James Kidney.. A real star

I really like this guy. So sorry for him that the SEC failed to prosecute the ABACUS scam crooks professionally.

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zed2's picture

zed2's picture

I found a thread of tons of thought provoking sci-fi movies. Youtube doesnt usually show me sci fi.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3y4fgWrAuE]

This channel also had a review of Logans Run.

This also.

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