7ir2R020 Germs Inc. and the Buttery Effect
Germs Inc. and the Butterfly Effect <
January 26, 2020
‘A new strain of a CoronaVirus is reportedly wreaking havoc in China, and has supposedly
spread to over ten countries (including in Europe). This virus is said to have originated in
snakes or bats and tramistted to humans in the food market in Wuhan, but there is no dearth
of altern:
explanations as regards to the provenance of this killer.
‘The propensity of the Chinese to keep things bottled up is well known, and just the fact that
they are opening up about this super-virus serves as a good indicator of how widespread the
threat truly is. There is a nation-wide ban on wildlife trade as a result, and over 56 million
people in 20 cities have been effectively quarantined via travel restrictions. While officially
infections are said to be rest
‘ed to under 2,000 people, there are some reports from alleged
‘whistle-blowers' who peg the number at nearly 90,000 patients.
While no one really knows how much toll this virus will extract, I do think the impact of large
scale outbreaks should not be underestimated. The first example that comes to mind is the
black death in England way back in the 1300s
The black death (or plague) was carried into Europe via 12 carriers returning from Middle East/
Asia. England was particularly badly hit with 40-60% of its population estimated to have
succumbed to this disease around the year 1350. Yes, half an entire country died in the Black
Death, Its interesting to note that the ultimate origin of this outbreak has also been attributed
by experts to Chinal
This sharp reduction in population directly impacted the availability of labour, which was an
important factor of production back then, more than it is today. This can be gauged from the
rise in wages, a chart from a study by Phelps Brown and Hopkins below:
htps:ecopolitcalingia blogspot com/2020/01/germs-ne-and-butlert
187ir2R020 Germs Inc. and the Buttery Effect
5
125 - PBnicradhuen
190 f
8
Real Wage (1770-8 = 100)
Farm Wases
mo 1300 140018004800 47001000
‘Spooked by the jump in wages, King Edward Ill tried to rein them in by passing various wage
control laws between 1349-1351, but they all came to naught. Ultimately, love (and market
economics) will find a way. If something is scarce, it will eventually cost more, and in fact this
cost is only symptomatic of an underlying disequilibrium that needs to be addressed instead
of artificially controlling prices. What these artificial price controls did do is to give impetus to
The Peasant's Revolt in 1381, a movement which allowed labour to rid itself of the shackles of
‘serfdom’ (or bonded labour).
Scarcity in a factor of production prompted the thus far subsistence farming oriented country
to look at farming/ land use for profit. The War of the Roses* (1455-1485) between various
Lords, had weakened the nobility, thus allowing the rise of a class of people known as the
‘gentry’
“inves socal bea
theppesing partes had emblems ofa red and white roses respectively
From the gentry came the class known as 'yeomans’ who were the first to adopt new
technology to maximise profit from their agriculture. This is why we use the phrase ' yeoman's
service' to refer to anyone who has done any pioneering work.
To make agriculture profitable, open fields were converted to enclosed fields. Till then the
fields even though owned by the local manor lord, were tilled by the people who lived there.
These were open strips and villages and families thrived there by farming and giving a portion
of their produce to the lord to allow them to farm. But now that the small local lord or a landed
gentry realised that if he wanted to make a profit. this laissez faire simply wouldn't do!
hitpstecopolitealinda blogspot conv2020101/germs-ne-and-butlerly-etfect him! 2187ir2R020
htps:ecopoliicalingia blogspot con/2020/01/germs-ne-and-bullet
{Germs Ine. and the Buttery Effect
They started what was called the enclosure movement (thrived in the Tudor Period - 1485 to
1603). Now commercial crops were farmed to make money not to employ labour or feed them.
Machines took the place of labour. At times,instead of grain, they used enclosures to husband
herds of sheep valued for the merino wool that was being demanded by continental Europe.
Were a tract of land could feed 500 was today manned by maybe a 10 workers and a dog
herding sheep!
‘The impact of labour price inflation in pushing this need for commercial agriculture cannot be
ignored. But there were a few more sources of inflation. Primarily, Henry VIII reduced the silver
content in coins, increasing supply. plus new additional supply of gold from the New World
increased, thus increasing inflation (money supply went up, output remained the same).
Higher inflation reduced the ‘real’ wealth of the nobles, and propelled them to extract further
profits from their land. Increased use of mechanisation, put downward pressure on labour
wages, and there were various rebellions again (Ketts Rebellion of 1549), Midlands and
Newton rebellion (1607). It even prompted the ruler to pass anti enclosure acts. But they all
failed, as business and profit assumed more importance than mere ownership of land for
land's sake, once the nobles had a taste for profit.
In fact this dispute between the Ruler who wanted to protect interests of labour, and gentry (of
whom many had become parliament members) has been touted as one of the primary reason
for the English Civil War (1642-1651)!
Its not that the King did not make efforts to protect the interests of labour. He constituted
something called as a ‘Star Chamber’ that would handle accusations made against power
nobles and businessmen, that ordinary courts were too timid to touch. However even that shut
down in 1641. In that sense the English Civil War was not a class struggle, but an vertical one.
That is, it was fought between those nobles who thought that old way was the best and nobles
who were more profit and business oriented.
The civil war ended with the execution of King Charles with part of the parliament voting in
favour of the beheading and a part that was still the old school lords voting against or
abstaining. The beheading of the king was done to show there is "no more divine right of
kings". Monarchy was restored in 1660-1688, and a new parliament was constituted in 1688.
The Reform Bill of 1888 gave the capitalists the right to vote in the parliament. Oddly, the
transition of Britain from a feudal society to a parliamentary democracy was driven not by the
people, but by businessmen.
Rut what set the hall railing was the Varsinia nastis that traveled few 100 vaars nrinr inside the
thi
ais7ir2R020 Germs Inc. and the Buttery Effect
bodies of twelve sailors returning from the Middle East/ Asia, that oddly traces it roots back to
China,
<
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