The Trump Big Lie-- The "China Virus" Written March 20, 2020

 There are millions of ahistorical and ignorant bigoted idiots who have bought into the Trumpian attempt to deflect from his own criminal negligence by calling coronavirus the "Chinese Virus". It is not only typically disgusting rhetoric, but is a distortion.

 Reality is that because of several factors, such as deindustrialization, lack of public health and medical infrastructure, obscene profiteering from big Pharma, lack of investment in real scientific R&D, compromised immunological conditions due to poor nutrition and environmental cofactors, and an unjust distribution of wealth due to a long term build up of a financial speculative "Bubble Economy" through Wall Street greed and Gambling mania, WE MADE OURSELVES VULNERABLE TO THIS!  Our misjudgment, poor decisions and bad policies opened us up to this, and it was wrong headed US policy that made us economically dependent for so long on importing cheap Chinese goods, (exploiting their cheap labor market) which artificially maintained our higher standard of living for many years. Now, that is over, and the shutdown of trade with China exposes how weak we were all along, as an import dependent Nation. 

Ironically, this catastrophe has a precedent in the 14th Century in Europe, with the Bubonic Plague Epidemic, known as the "Black Death". 

I am sure there are qualified Medical professionals with background in Epidemiology reading this who have studied the vectors and cofactors of Bubonic Plague, and will remind me that the only point of commonality with coronavirus is that it is spread through contact and is airborne through respiratory aerosols. However, the most significant commonality between the US today and the Europeans of the 14th Century is that both were weakened by similar factors of economic devolution.

Remember that the textbook explanation for the Black Death was that European trading ships bringing back cargo from China, brought with them Plague infected Rats, which spread the disease when disembarking. There is a lot that is left out of textbooks in general, this being no exception.

First, is that there was climate change, during which they experienced a cooling phase after a warm phase, the result of which was massive flooding and crop failure, primarily affecting Wheat and Grapes. The result was a doubling of Wheat prices from 20 to 40 Florins per Bushel in the early 1300's, resulting in hoarding by wealthy families, shortages and famine.  Concurrent with this was a near wiping out of European Cattle due to an unknown Bovine epidemic ( now thought to be Anthrax) which deprived Europeans of the main sources of animal protein, Beef and Milk. So, Europe was weakened by years of famine in the period leading up to the spread of Black Death. 

Concurrently, there was a collapse of the European financial system, commerce and sanitation, also preceding the Plague due to the collapse of the Bardi and Peruzzi Banking Houses in Italy. These two Banks in particular became the most dominant in Europe, because they were the inventors of "Checks". They pioneered the use of paper instruments in lieu of precious metals for the transfer of money and credit from bank to bank. This created a soon out of control system of money lending and hypothecation similar to the recent practice of Derivatives trading here, which led to the Mortgage Backed Securities debacle here recently, and the 1929 Stock Bubble. 

The entire House of Cards collapsed thanks to Edward III of England, who borrowed more than 1.5 million Florins from the two Banks combined to finance his War with France, ( which in itself had a destructive effect on the European population) which for his own reasons, he chose to default on. One day, he simply grew tired of paying back the loans, and informed the Banks that as a "Christian King" he could no longer abide by the "Unchristian" practice of Usury, (lending of money with interest) and was ceasing payments. This collapsed the Banks and forced them into Bankruptcy, which of course caused a paralysis of financial and commercial activity for a significant time. And, as in all Economic Depressions caused by financial machinations, there is a horrifying toll taken in living standards, health, sanitation, supply chains and so forth. THIS, ALL BEFORE ONSET AND OUTBREAK OF THE PLAGUE. 

Throughout its duration, between 30-60% of the population died in the areas it visited. It caused the destruction of 1/2 the Parishes in Europe. And, it unleashed barbarism amongst the remaining hungry and terrified survivors. Many decades after it ran its course, the European Renaissance, with it's great scientific and artistic discoveries, Voyages by its explorers, and flowering of education and printing, pulled Europe out of its Darkest time. 

We need something like that now. We need leaders who can think, who understand history. We need people who will not degenerate into barbarians under the most difficult conditions.

And, we need to realize that when someone comes along and tries to give you a "simple" explanation on why things went wrong, and who to blame, and what to do,  that this "someone"  wants you to be, and remain, "simple" so they can control you.