How the U.S. Profits From Swine Flu

On Monday, various governments including China, Japan and Britain asked the WHO to re-examine the criteria by which it deems an infectious disease outbreak a “pandemic.” Specifically, the WHO was urged to include the lethality or severity of the disease, not just its prevalence, in making judgments about how dangerous it is. Interestingly the United States is ambivalent on the issue although it has the greatest number of cases of Swine Flu. Perhaps this is because unlike other countries, there are national interests in the U.S. that would serve to benefit from a full-blown pandemic.

Here in Japan, you might be forgiven for thinking there was an outbreak of that mutagen that turned the world into zombies in “Day of the Dead.” Companies are giving employees detailed contingency plans in case of the worst and employees are being banned from foreign travel and in some cases asked to stay home from work if they have been recently abroad. Academic conferences are being cancelled or held only on the condition that attendees submit to daily temperature readings and health questionnaires or wear surgical masks even when speaking. Surgical masks are in short supply. Field trips, sports and group activities are being cancelled. Hyogo prefecture has closed all public schools.

The problem is that the numbers just aren’t there to justify this kind of activity. In the two months since Swine Flu cases became apparent in Mexico there have been less than 10,000 cases confirmed worldwide. That is about 1 in 800,000 people. Of course these are confirmed cases and there are undoubtedly many more unconfirmed or undetected cases out there and the CDC admits the disease is “virtually everywhere” in the U.S.. However, taking the U.S. as an example, there have only been six deaths in that country from Swine Flu. A little less than 15,000 people die from AIDS each year in the U.S. Seasonal influenza kills about 36,000.

The U.S. certainly has spent money on the issue, but there is a difference between spending money and incurring real economic costs. Obama's increase of the public debt by 1.5 billion (you know we’re good for it, China) to authorize higher procurement of Tamiflu (among other things) is an example of the former. Canceling an economically productive event such as a conference is an example of the latter.

And this is where countries like China and Japan are paying the price. For unlike the U.S., they don’t have companies with ex-government board members like Gilead Sciences (GILD) or Novavax (NVAX) or BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) directly profiting from the undue panic that has been manufactured by the corporate media in the U.S.

Rather, for the U.S., there is big money in proclaiming non-epidemics and not just for the pharmaceutical companies. Universities, government funded research centers and various branches of government and proponents of bio-terror readiness all benefit when there is an imminent outbreak of the next black plague on the horizon. Remember Bird Flu? Remember Anthrax? As long as the world continues to be influenced by corrupt media and crooked special interests there will continue to be global misallocations of resources that serve to benefit only a small subset of the world’s population.

Disclosure Policy: Gold and Japanese Yen

Comments

[YoYoMama:]

I'm not on board with the conspiracy theory of this article, but I would agree that threat of swine flu is, at this stage, quite overblown. It's already a non-issue here in Texas, where our proximity to Mexico puts us at risk. But we'll see what happens come September...

May 19 09:45 AM

[watching 55:]

It is called FREE ENTERPRISE and if the flu turns worse, a GREAT INVESTMENT


On May 19 09:45 AM YoYoMama wrote:

> I'm not on board with the conspiracy theory of this article, but
> I would agree that threat of swine flu is, at this stage, quite overblown.
> It's already a non-issue here in Texas, where our proximity to Mexico
> puts us at risk. But we'll see what happens come September...

May 21 11:53 AM