Covid Journal, January 30, 2021
Breach of Contract
The entire globe is on ‘pause’ while they and other companies get their act together.
This is more evidence to convince me that the only way forward is a national, publicly-owned pharmaceutical manufacturer.
I find it pathetic that our leaders are willing to allow pharmaceutical companies to hold the world hostage while reaping billions in the process.
Here’s an idea: since we signed contracts with these suppliers, we sue each one of the companies involved for $100 billion for breach of contract. Every other country on the planet should do the same thing. When they go bankrupt, we make the patents on all Covid-related vaccines public domain so that any country in the world can copy and produce them.
Of course, it’s also pretty sad when pundits and opposition folks want to play the political blame game and suggest Trudeau is responsible for anything on the national level. Maybe these bright ones should also blame the pandemic on Trudeau?
In Other Vaccine News …
Johnson and Johnson has announced that their vaccine will be 66% effective.
Johnson & Johnson’s long-awaited vaccine appears to protect against COVID-19 with just one shot — it’s not as strong as some of its two-shot rivals but still potentially helpful for a world in dire need of more doses.
J&J said Friday that in the U.S. and seven other countries where their trial has been conducted, the single-shot vaccine was 66 per cent effective overall at preventing moderate to severe illness, and much more protective — 85 per cent — against the most serious symptoms.
There was some geographic variation. The vaccine worked better in the U.S. — 72 per cent effective against moderate to severe COVID-19 — compared to 57 per cent in South Africa, where it was up against an easier-to-spread mutated virus.
Dr. Matthew Oughton, an infectious disease specialist at Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, told CBC News the trial data “certainly looks promising for a single dose, which of course will certainly ease a lot of the logistics we’ve been dealing with so far with the current vaccines that have been granted approval.”
66% is GREAT for a baseball score. Shot in the arm? Hmm.
‘Can I buy a car with 66% of the parts, please?’ That’s how absurd this sounds.
Anyways, the good news is that we’re lined up to receive 38 million doses of the J&J vaccine.
But will we receive it?
The Sickening Sale of the Essence of ALL Life on Earth
It seems like the very essence of all life on the planet is for sale.
WATER is now a tradeable commodity on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
The future of humanity rests in the hands of the same people that brought us ‘too big to fail’, NINJA loans and even inane things like tulip bulbs.
For the first time, Wall Street traders are now able to take a stake in the future value of water, the way they have with other agricultural and mineral commodities.
As with gold or pork bellies or natural gas, commodities speculators may see it as a kind of sophisticated gambling on derivatives, but the intent of the new water futures market is to share the risk of unexpected price swings for farmers and other water users.
While traded in North America’s financial capital, so far the water contracts being bought and sold are limited to five water districts in drought-prone California, representing a tiny fraction of the water actually used in the state, never mind the whole country.
But as the commodities market launched, the implication by many of those involved, including CME Group executive Tim McCourt, was that pricing water risk could be a business that expands well beyond California.
How long until the very air we breath will come with a price attached to it?
GM Goes Electric … Or Will It?
General Motors has promised that this time they’ll go electric and that they’ll retool the Oshawa assembly plant for the production of electric cars.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
GM will likely hold for concessions from union members, funding from governments … or both.
I say give up before you give up.
Here’s an idea: nationalize the property, give GM a few bucks as a thank you departing gift and set up our own national car manufacturer that focuses strictly on electric vehicles.