Being a person who is a proud conspiracy theorist and does not believe that some wet market bat caused this plague, I have been wondering why Hollywood has been pushing out so many end of the world type movies and TV shows in the last ten years or so. Are these writers just prescient or did they know something going on in China that the rest of us did not? A TV show that caught my attention a few years ago is The Last Ship. Does this sound familiar? Here’s the premise as described in Wikipedia:
“After a global viral pandemic wipes out over 80% of the world’s population, the crew (consisting of 218 people) of a lone unaffected U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the fictional USS Nathan James (DDG-151), must try to find a cure, stop the virus, and save humanity “
We’re not quite at 80% of the planet wiped out, but some people six years ago thought of this nightmare and damn if we’re not living through a version of it. If things don’t turn around soon, this planet may start to look like this dystopian vision from the Last Ship.
How much money can the Govt print to prevent the next great depression? And if they attempt to do what Germany did after WWI – will the price of a loaf of bread take a wheel barrow full of dollars to pay for it when inflation soars. Even Govt workers and teachers will feel the pinch. On-line schools will pop up as an alternative to Govt schools. Not a bad thing in the long run. Most colleges will also have to have most courses on line, but that will force professors and teachers without lecture and teaching skills to find other occupations – perhaps working in the fields picking crops since all the Mexicans have gone back to Mexico. Administrators who sit behind desks shuffling papers will be let go. Maybe not a bad thing unless you’re one of them. Small business owners like restaurant owners will go out of business, staff will be let go, most small businesses that can’t survive through deliveries will go out of business, the landlords of those businesses will not be able to find a new tenant, the city will not get tax revenue, people will only be able to afford basic essentials, many bills will not be paid, electricity will be turned off, gas will be turned off, suicides will go up, drug addiction deaths will go up, buildings will be empty – perhaps like in S.F. you can start to house the homeless in them.
And maybe, just maybe we will just have to have that war with China – maybe just a new Cold War – but even during our last Cold War with the former USSR – there were lots of conflicts – Korea, Viet Nam – I’m guessing this one may be more on the scale of WWII – once we find out that China planned this plague 3 years ago when they installed their sock puppet Tedros at the WHO who lied to the world and helped spread the plague. I suspect Russia, Japan, most of Eastern Europe and the UK will be our allies. Germany, a few other EU nations and of course, N Korea will ally with China. Just a guess. Maybe we’ll find a cure and a vaccine in record time and everything will return to normal. But after this shock to the world’s psyche, what will that NEW normal look like? Who knows? Welcome to the year of the Rat!