TR EMERITUS

There is a spike in Covid-19 (CV) infections after F1, that's somewhat expected. But to have 15% reinfection rate, that's really abnormal. Unless if you are immunocompromised, else even for seasonal flu, once you are infected once, most probably you won't get reinfected again during the same season until 1 year later. This is also why flu vaccine is a yearly affair, not every 3 months, 6 months or a few weeks. Some "Experts" have claimed that Covid mutates slower than flu virus, thus it implies reinfection will be less than flu. But we are facing 15% reinfection rate right now and most probably, it will increase further. If it climbs to over 50%, it isn't going to be just "another wave" but an alarming crisis. There are already reports of people who are not known to be immunocompromised, fully Vax and Boostered, suffering reinfections with couple of months in between. Some even. Had multiple re-infections within a few months! Even Pfizer CEO who has taken 4 jabs, had reinfection within 2 months (1.5 months)! So what's going on here? This is definitely unusual. Reinfections were rather rare in 2020 before vaccination started. Most of those reinfections happened to immunocompromised individuals. But right now, even with the supposedly "effective" vaccines, we are seeing reinfections and even multiple re-infections within a short period of time! Did the virus mutate so fast that even those multiple vax people can't deal with it? There are conflicting information about reinfections. On one hand, the establishment tries to calm people down by saying reinfections are mild but on the other hand, there are reports that say multiple re-infections may cause great harm to our body! Who are we to believe in? I only know one simple point, only when your body's immune system is weak, you will get infected. If you get reinfection or multiple re-infections, your immune system is really in a bad shape. Will have more booster jabs help? Pfizer CEO's case is a fine example... He got reinfection at an astonishing short period of time! It is time to pause, think critically and decide for yourself, which path is more logical for your health's sake. Reinfection is not necessarily mild. There are people who suffered worse symptoms while others are mild. But the fact that one gets reinfected within short period of time, it's unusual and this needs to be studied carefully. Someone observed that there are lots of people coughing around. Just protect yourself and keep your immune system strong. We may be in for a really rough ride ahead. I fear for the worst and pray for the best. This is what the "Experts" said back in March 2022: “The Omicron variant has been in Singapore for only a few months, so anyone here would at most have gotten infected with Omicron only two to three months ago. The risk of a Covid-19 reinfection within six months is generally extremely low,” he explained. The risk of getting reinfected by the same strain of Omicron is also likely to be negligible within the first year, added Prof Hsu, but he cautioned that there is currently not enough evidence to be sure of this. Professor Dale Fisher, senior consultant at the National University Hospital's Division of Infectious Diseases, said recent studies had shown reinfections in patients with Omicron are uncommon within the first two months.   Goh Meng Seng      Read More →

Poor countries need to borrow money from rich countries to fund their infrastructure and economic development. They have to pay interest on the borrowings and return the capital at the end of the term. Ideally, the borrowings should be denominated in their local currency, but it is not accepted by the international lenders. They have to borrow in an internationally accepted currency. The US dollar is used in most cases, as it is the reserve currency. This borrowing carries a large risk. In past years, the US dollar has appreciated strongly against the local currency of the borrowing country due to many factors. The sharp increase made it difficult for the borrowing countries to repay the debts. It has led to the economic collapse of the poor country. When the poor countries goes into default, they are required to restructure their economy and allow the lenders to buy their assets at depressed prices. In 2022, the US dollar has appreciated sharply due to the increase in interest rate in America (that is required to fight inflation). This increase has increased the repayment burden of many poor economies, who has borrowed in US dollar. There must be a better way for poor countries to receive international capital for their development. The borrowing may be denominated in another currency, instead of US dollar. This does not eliminate the underlying problem, because the selected currency may also appreciate sharply. A better approach is to split the borrowing in several international currencies, such as US dollar, Euro and Chinese yuan. If one currency appreciates, it may be offset by the depreciation in another currency. The average cost of the borrowing, based on several currencies, may be more moderate. An alternative is to allow the international investor to bring capital into the poor country and own the infrastructure or factory that is developed. This will reduce the risk of borrowing. Poor countries need a better approach towards managing their international borrowings.   Tan Kin Lian      Read More →

There was an interesting discussion ongoing in an online WeChat discussion group about mRNA vaccines that changes Human DNA, which our techie Andrew is a part of. The fact that mRNA vaccines change the DNA of humans injected with it is no longer disputed, experts from multiple countries and even MIT have confirmed that. According to these experts, individuals injected with the mRNA vaccines, if they have not been seriously injured or died from the onset, will have their DNA changed (forever), but can still have healthy offspring. However, the offsprings of their offsprings (great-grandchildren) may develop anomalies with consequences unknown, presumably for the worse. For the purpose of discussion and assuming the experts are absolutely correct, what would you do if you have a girlfriend or wife who is already vaccinated (but you are not), and vice-versa for boyfriend or husband. Would you dump your mate and/or spouse or would you pretend to no hear no see and continue to make passionate love? In the case of our techie, Andrew has opined that he will continue to stay married but will choose not to have babies if he really loves his wife that much. What about our learned readers here?        Read More →