Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad
THE government is mulling a relaxation of lockdown restrictions as it is confronted with alarming repercussions. Figures shared by Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar are indeed startling, as they suggest the closure of up to a million institutions, unemployment of 18m people and forcing 70m people below the poverty line. The picture painted by these numbers is one of sheer hopelessness — a scenario the government wants to understandably avoid. To further build a case to ease restrictions, Mr Umar said that Pakistan’s death rate is lower than other countries, and that the hot weather, BCG vaccine or anti-malaria drugs may be underlying factors.
If prevention against infections in general and viral infections in particular has to be successfully achieved, ban on pork eating and pig farming, domestication of dogs and effective campaign against prostitution, promiscuity and homosexuality will have to be ensured. Alcohol has clear relationship with many of these practices and subsequently the death caused by these. Apart from banning alcohol, circumcision needs to be popularized at the war footing……while in the modern world, practices are banned or promoted according to their impact on economics, in Islam, what is good for health is promoted and what is bad is either expressly forbidden or discouraged.
The day the world adopts Islam’s Dynamic Paradigm of Health and makes life and healthiness of life as the chief criteria for developing legal, social and economic policies, the world will become a healthier and more peaceful place. But this is not likely to happen because the current world first commercializes the causes of the problems and then commercializes the solutions. Sex, alcohol, dogs, pigs – all are big industries and their solutions including vaccines and management are also big industries. Why would they then take steps that jeopardize market economy
What’s the difference between the financial crisis of 2008 and the Corona crisis of 2020? From a financial perspective, both are the same. They are “failure to prepare” and “failure to save” crises. Governments from the left, the centre, and the right all have failed to prepare themselves or their citizens to handle war, famine, disease, and financial hardship. Propaganda about “big growth”, military-driven regime change, and debt worship have been the themes… instead of bomb shelters, food depots, germ warfare preparation, and saving money (both fiat and gold). Governments have no savings, Western citizens have almost no savings, and the outlook for future savings is bleak.
In 2008, central bank money printing and government borrowing was deflationary for the mainstream economy because the money went to financial markets, banks and governments. The banks didn’t put the money into the mainstream economy. This time is different. There is still enormous money being printed and poured into financial markets, but small business lending programs are in play, and this may be only the beginning of printed money that flows into the mainstream economy. Dave Kelly, chief global strategist for JP Morgan Asset Management, says this about the future: “(US govt) Borrowing at this pace, particularly when other governments around the world are also running fast-rising deficits, might be expected to result in higher interest rates, even in a deep recession.” Employees are being paid more to stay home than they received when going to work. Businesses are getting money for customer sales that don’t exist.
This is how significant inflation is unleashed. It takes time. The power of the dollar is a key factor to consider; with about 60% of all transactions in the world taking place in dollars, the central bank can print a lot of money and not create real economy inflation… as long as the money goes to government and financial markets. That’s starting to change. The winds of real economy inflation are beginning to blow. Since the lows of 2009, US stock market rallies have taken place on falling volume. The US stock market has become the “poster boy” for the economy. It’s mainly because of Fed support and the rallies have been accompanied by relentless government propaganda. The stock market surged on possible but shaky vaccine news, but when the vaccine news was announced as false by the vaccine company, the stock market gave back nothing. This is an ominous sign that governments and central banks are propping up the stock market… while the real economy melts into the abyss without trillions of dollars of government handouts.
—The writer is former Federal Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan and currently Chairman National Democratic Foundation.
