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So what does Klaus Schwab mean when he says that neoliberalism is over and the nation-state has fully recovered from the loss of relevance it had been experiencing pre-COVID?

Schwab is operating with an outdated, simplistic definition of neoliberalism that assumes there will be nothing but markets and no state whatsoever. But it’s not the state that goes away in the neoliberal future. Oh no, not at all. The state will be just fine. It’s the nation-state that will go away. State and nation-state aren’t synonymous, just like cucumber and vegetables aren’t.

Schwab draws his conclusions from the dramatic expansion of state powers under the guise of “an exceptional danger” that SARS-COV-2 supposedly represents and from massive payouts to the quarantined masses in the form of Trumpbucks and their equivalents.

How can we talk about the death of the state, Schwab prompts us to ask, when in California the state governor is prohibiting the use of “indoor bathrooms” when visiting somebody and regulates the pitch of your voice if you decide to sing (seriously, look it up).

Here’s the deal, though. Neoliberalism always relied on the state to enforce its dictates. Ray Kiely, a scholar from the UK, for instance, explained a long time ago that “neoliberalism from the outset was prepared to use state power in ways that would defend the market order.” Remember the birth of neoliberalism in Chile? A brutal dictatorship had to be installed to create a neoliberal society. What we are seeing today is not new. It’s same old, same old.

But how does the increased state spending figure into this situation?

Let’s ask Kiely again. “The expansion of state spending itself,” he says, “doesn’t necessarily challenge or undermine neoliberal rationalities.” It’s all about where the money that the state spends will end up.

As I’ve been saying for years, there is nothing more neoliberal that the Universal Basic Income. And it’s not accidental that Schwab is a great fan of the concept.

Before I resume our discussion of the COVID Reset book, here’s a small illustration that spares you having to read it:

I showed up to a Zoom meeting yesterday, and people who were already there were counting how many times they’ve been out of their houses since March. Six, ten, four, two times. This is in a tiny town with non-existent mortality. Somebody did this to them. Somebody terrorized them into cowering at home in terror for months. That somebody is getting gigantic profits from their fear.

It won’t stop until we make it stop. We need to conquer our fear and go live our lives. And by we I don’t mean me. After the first two weeks, I’ve been living my usual life. I’m actually out of the house more than I was pre-COVID.

And here’s Biden dog-whistling his support to the violent looters in Philadelphia:

This is a guy that can’t quit prattling about Charlottesville. This is the guy that will end polarization and bring peace. The same guy that hasn’t condemned the rioting in Philly and is egging on the goons.

These political polls that I’m doing as part of my little gaming addiction are fun. They show me what the Democrats who made the polls think about the people who don’t vote like them.

In their opinion, people who vote Republican share these characteristics:

1. They are Evangelicals
2. They own guns
3. They don’t trust others
4. They beat children
5. They listen to the radio
6. They like Spotify

I don’t know what Spotify is, so I’m a bit mystified by this last point. But it’s always these six things, from one poll to the next. I’m zero for six, so this prediction model is not flawless.

There’s a big rally of Biden supporters in Philly tonight. They looted the same Walmart twice, beat up a journalist, looted a bunch of other stores, smashed up a fast-food place, shot a teenage girl, and set up a Bank of America branch on fire while there was a person trapped inside.

But hey, as soon as Biden wins the election, they will quit rallying because beating people and stealing large appliances will stop being fun.

I didn’t think I would hear anything interesting in Tucker’s interview with Tony Bobulinski. Yes, Hunter is terrible, who cares?

But the interview isn’t about Hunter at all. He barely gets mentioned. It’s all about Joe Biden and his corruption.

It’s pretty stunning, actually. Do take a listen.

I went on Twitter and scrolled through Biden’s and then Harris’s accounts. There’s no condemnation of the terrible violence and rioting in Philadelphia. Nothing. Harris is tweeting about sneakers. Seriously, go check. Nothing about the violence done by their supporters in the name of their shared goals.

Tell me once again how this is Trump’s fault and Biden will put an end to this.

I voted in my first presidential election!

No matter how it turns out, I will always have the experience of voting enthusiastically, happily and with absolutely no reservations.

People often say that it’s impossible to imagine Trump losing the election because he’s having massive rallies and Biden has none.

Friends.

Biden has been having enormous, incredibly large, ultra packed rallies going on daily in Portland, Seattle, Wakesha, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York – the list is endless.

There have been daily Biden rallies in every newsroom, every boardroom, every faculty meeting. There’s a constant rally on Facebook, and not just among users but among owners. Turn on your TV right now. I’m sure there’s a Biden rally going on. There’s a mega rally on Wall Street.

These rallies differ from the traditional kind in that their participants don’t want to hear what their candidate has to say. The candidate’s only use is that he’ll shut up and let them do what they have been enacting for us for the past few years. Hence the format of the rallies. The candidate isn’t celebrated. Instead, he’s ritually humiliated so that he knows his place.

In Ukraine, about 20% of people who test positive for COVID get hospitalized.

In Norway, about 2% of people who test positive for COVID get hospitalized.

It’s the same COVID but different cultures.