Belize City, March 3, 2020:— Wow!! Today is very interesting to be alive. In Belize, our economy has tanked: it’s in a recession – agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism are all in retreat.
The ruling United Democratic Party (UDP) is in a mess. No leader to replace outgoing PM Barrow, with about 7 of 19 members of the House of Representatives threating to resign if Hon. Patrick Faber is made the new Leader of the UDP. The UDP, the only political party in Belize’s history, to win 3 general elections back-to back-to back since Independence, is now looking to disintegrate before our very eyes. Meanwhile, the Opposition party, the People’s United Party (PUP) recently held a massive demonstration of over 10,000 against the UDP government. The last time the PUP had this much support in the streets was in 1995.
In the global arena, a coronavirus (COVID-19) is threating to kill thousands and is already destroying the global economy and looking to become the trigger to bring down the global financial system. As at Monday, the pneumonia outbreak has claimed 2,943 dead in China, 80,150 with the virus, and 47,204 recovered. Outside of China, 126 persons have died and over 7,800 confirmed cases. Panic buying is now occurring in Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, Australia, Brooklyn, NY and other cities in the USA. The items disappearing from supermarket shelves are bottled water, toilet paper, surgical masks, canned foods, and others.
We have a saying – “nothing is new under the sun.” This global collapse and threatening COVID-19 pandemic happened in Eurasia in the years 1300 to 1450. According to most Western historians, the early Middle Ages in Europe and the Near East were times of high economic expansion. But because of stagnant technology, growing population and climate change (Little Ice Age, from 1275–1600), those forces caused prolonged recession, plus the effects of the Black Death (1347-1351) created a huge decline in population. But Reinhold Mueller and the renowned history Prof Frederic C. Lane in their book “The Venetian Money Market 1200 – 1500” wrote “… the general atmosphere of speculation probably made them and bankers think of wider horizons and larger profit margins. Insolvency and failure were the end results.”
The Venetian and Florence bankers created what Edwin S. Hunt called the medieval super-companies who destroyed the economies of Eurasia because of speculation – gambling. Around the year 1300 Eurasia’s economy had been devastated by the panics caused by the Italian bankers in their drive for higher profit margins. Within 30 years, the general health of Eurasia’s population had declined due to lack of work, and proper nutrients. Then the Black Death of 1347 – 1351 killed between 75 million to 200 million (one-third to half of the entire population of) people in Eurasia. It was the worst pandemic in human history. The book, Decameron, describes how people lived at the time of the Black Death.
Already, the results of the current speculation of London and Wall Street are being felt in Europe and Asia courtesy of COVID-19. If this virus becomes a pandemic, it may become a “Lehman Brothers moment” and blow out the trans-Atlantic financial system. The economies of the entire trans-Atlantic sector are all very depressed. Now automotive and engineering products are non-existent, as China has not supplied them for this quarter.
Our system is based on financializing and securitizing consumption while globalizing and cheapening production. The just in-time production system has crashed. China cannot supply raw and intermediate materials to auto, machinery, and especially consumer producers in South Korea, Germany, and Vietnam.
Let’s put this COVID-19 in proper perspective. In China it is killing about 2% of those who get the pneumonia. The experts are saying the when the COVID-19 arrives in especially the countries with less robust health than China, the kill-ratio will increase. Facts. No drug nor vaccine exists to kill viruses. Once a virus infects a human being, it is his/her immune system that will destroy the virus. Some drugs may increase the strength of our immune system so that it may destroy the virus.
China is not controlled by the wealthy pharmaceutical corporations. The noise from the big drug companies and their allies in the media has been telling people to wash their hands, keep away from sick persons, and hope that soon a drug or vaccine will be invented to save you. China’s government is testing drugs and vaccines plus over 1,000 traditional Chinese herbs. Last week they announced that 12,000 patients have agreed to undergo tests with high dose intravenous (IV) Vitamin C of 26,000 mg per day.
The effectiveness of Vitamin C in preventing and relieving the symptoms of virus-induced respiratory infections (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nhi.gov/pubmed/10543583). Nobel Chemistry winner, Prof Linus Pauling did a lot of research on Vitamin C. Vitamin C taken by mouth at 2,000 mg/day is critical to handle oxidative stress, is a powerful antioxidant, and to fight pathogens such as viruses. Certain foods such as lemons, bone broth, garlic, onions, coconut oil, ginger, and apple cider vinegar will keep your immune system in good condition. But remember, sugar (carbs) and Vitamin C are antagonistic.
Belize is a country with some 60% of its population living in poverty. This means that a majority of Belizeans lack a properly functioning immune system. When the COVID-19 comes to Belize, experts are silently saying that some 5% to 10% of those infected will die because of our poor health system and our population’s poor health.
Belize imports about 70% of what it consumes. We do not make anything in this country. Merchants and lawyers run our country. Let’s see how we will survive when the goods run out and there is none to buy. Italy and South Korea are already in recession due to closures of their factories and lack of supplies from China.
And the recession in Belize will get much worse. Drought and climate change are now being blamed for the mess in agriculture – sugar, citrus, corn, soybeans, bananas and other crops. Bull! It is the fault of the farmers who listen to the experts from the huge multinational corporations – Bayer, DuPont, BASF and Dow.
In 1955 Prof William A. Albrecht, PhD, wrote that the US 1953 drought was not caused by a lack of fresh water, but as a result of improper nutrition in the soil. If you fly over the United States Midwest, some farms are greener than others. In fact, some fields look a yellowish green. The cause is always the same – lack of proper nutrition in the soil.
Belizeans, as long as we continue doing what we are currently doing, we will never provide a standard of living for human beings. And let’s be clear. It is not your fault. It is the neo-liberal political/economic system that is causing your misery. Stop being a slave!!
Take the case of Mike Ashcroft, the Englishman. He wants total control of our beloved Belize. Now he wants to save Belizeans from themselves. He presumes to know how to fix our electoral system. Bull! He is after Hon. Said Musa and Hon. Dean Barrow. He is angry with both because they both refuse to completely bow to him. But in our midst we have a lot of treason. They want his money. Money that we Belizeans have allowed him to create out of thin air. He does not have money. We have given him the authority to create money. What is given can be taken away. Tell this bacra man that Belize is no longer a colony of the British. George Price gave us political Independence. Dean Barrow gave us financial Independence (National Bank of Belize).
Please, for God’s sake, let us keep our Independence, our freedom.
Either we make our beloved Belize an industrial nation-state in the heart of the Caribbean, or we will be doomed.