Swine flu...part of the unofficial "stimulus package"?

@miamilady (4910)
United States
May 6, 2009 11:09am CST
Okay, so now, many of you who are on the fence about me, may not just make up your mind that "yes, she IS off her rocker!" Oh well. I just have to ask this question. I've never paid much attention to conspiracy theories. I just don't think about that stuff all that much. But I heard someone mention that they thought this "swine flu" was a germ warfare type thing... I brushed it off at first with a laugh, but I did end up thinking about it a little more. I just wondered...okay...what would the motivation be for that? I did hear some friend talking about..."I don't understand why they just don't shut down the border??" So...that could be one motivation...add to our negative feelings about Mexico and immigrants... Another motivation COULD be a "stimulus package" of sorts. I remember standing in line at Target, thinking to myself. "The store manager would be really smart to put the hand sanitizer out where people can easily find it." An acquaintance told me that she bought the last bottle of hand sanitizer at our local Publix the night before. I had been looking for that bottle! So, of course I said to her "so it was you!". Anyway...I happened to buy an 8 pack of paper towels a few weeks ago, just because it was on sale. I usually by one roll at a time. I don't have a lot of storage space in my house. I've heard that it's more "sanitary" to use paper towels over dish towels and hand towels (although it's a bit wasteful) so for about the past week, I've been using more paper towels...and more soap. More Clorox cleaning clothes. I KNOW I'm not the only one using more of this stuff. So, am I off my rocker, or does this make any sense at all? Don't worry. I'm not sitting here "dwelling" on it. It's just a thought that crossed my mind. this is the stuff I think about when I'm loading my dishwasher and doing laundry. lol Oh yeah, and I forgot. I paid my child's pediatrician an extra $35.00 for a flu test that we would otherwise have not done, because my son happened to have a stomach virus when all this stuff was a big deal in the news! How much has the swine flu cost you?
29 people like this
35 responses
@CarolDM (203451)
• Nashville, Tennessee
6 Jul 20
This post is from 2009. I have no idea about any of these ideas.
8 people like this
• Midland, Michigan
6 Jul 20
Maybe rebelann didn't notice the date or she noticed how close this resembles covid?
6 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
6 Jul 20
I know but isn't it interesting that 10 years later the same theories are being trumped up (no pun intended)
9 people like this
@CarolDM (203451)
• Nashville, Tennessee
6 Jul 20
@MarshaMusselman There are similarities.
5 people like this
@thelme55 (76481)
• Germany
6 Jul 20
I have no idea how much a swine flu vaccine will cost me. I donĀ“t want to be vaccinated.
6 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
6 Jul 20
This post was written in 2009, I just found it odd that people are making the same allegations with Covid19
4 people like this
@thelme55 (76481)
• Germany
7 Jul 20
@rebelann that is odd indeed.
2 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
7 May 09
Well, the swine flu hasn't actually cost me anything yet but I had a bunch of paper towels which I'd had for a long time but they're going much faster now, I'm using the anti-bacterial soap and hand sanitizer like a mad woman every time I sneeze or cough or see anyone else doing it I think, "I wonder..."! There are those who are exploiting this "pandemic" to use it against immigrants and there has definitely been a bit of a spending increase due to the swine flu, hasn't there? I don't know if it will be enough to show up on the economic data but it's an interesting theory. Annie
3 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
7 Jul 20
@rebelann This time it seems like we're on the Titanic. This one is a thousand times worse. If we only knew then what we know now...
2 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
6 Jul 20
And from March through June of 2020 we're in the same boat with yet another virus.
2 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
7 Jul 20
Everybody seemed to forget the tragic effects of the Spanish Flu in 1918 @anniepa it could have helped early on had we actually paid attention to history ..... that flu is still the worst one we've faced.
1 person likes this
@gr8nana6 (6614)
• Conyers, Georgia
6 Jul 20
I do not have a clue, I don't really believe in conspiracy theories
3 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
6 Jul 20
I suggested this because it seems the same thing that they were thinking in 2009 with the swine fl is now happening with Covid19 just 10 years later.
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
7 Jul 20
You are welcome @gr8nana6
1 person likes this
@gr8nana6 (6614)
• Conyers, Georgia
7 Jul 20
@rebelann I figured that, thanks for the suggestion @rebelann
1 person likes this
@just4him (307132)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
7 Jul 20
Looking at the date on this post, it looks like some things seem to come back around to bite us. Instead of the Swine Flu, we have COVID-19. And they are considering a second stimulus check.
3 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
7 Jul 20
Yep, that's it in a nutshell.
2 people like this
@just4him (307132)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
7 Jul 20
2 people like this
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
7 Jul 20
Well, we've had no issue with the swine flu here this year, plus I get an annual flu shot to help ward that off. It isn't 100 percent effective but It has kept me healthy so far. On the other hand, the Coronavirus called Covid-19 (very different from the swine flu) has had a devastating effect on our community. It seems someone came to work sick at the local fish packing plant and suddenly we have hundreds of cases in town. Mostly 20 to 30-year-olds are getting sick from it. A few had to be transported to bigger hospitals because our small one could not deal with the level of sickness they had. But yes, like other areas we have had a few seniors die too. Things are bad enough the governor is saying she will likely put the city back into lockdown. She is holding off to see what our numbers are this week. Not off your rocker at all, but you might actually not be going far enough to protect yourself from this virus. My son has had it already and it was, according to him, worse than any flu or other illness he has ever had. Four months later he has mostly recovered, but still experiences a cough from deep down in his lungs.
3 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
9 Jul 20
The above post was written in May of 2009, back then it was the scariest flu we knew of and now in 2020 we have covid.
1 person likes this
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
9 Jul 20
@rebelann It would have been nice to have been informed of that at the beginning. But my response is based on what is happening now, not back in 2009.
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
9 Jul 20
There wasn't an option to include the year a post was written when I suggested this @cperry2
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157671)
• United States
7 Jul 20
These same issues just keep happening over and over again. Here we are eleven years later. Mexico has shut down the border because we are so contagious. Persona non grata in Europe, oh, and in Canada as well.
2 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
7 Jul 20
That's what caught my attention as well. It just keeps repeating and we don't seem to learn.
1 person likes this
@m_audrey6788 (58482)
• Germany
7 Jul 20
I have no idea about it. I hope it is nothing to serious
2 people like this
• Germany
10 Jul 20
@rebelann Yes. You`re right
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
7 Jul 20
Not serious exactly, just strange that in 2009 someone wrote this discussion that could easily be mistaken for today's views on covid 19.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71665)
• United States
7 Jul 20
This is an old post someone suggested to me. I recall the big scare about swine flu but it never got as bad here as coronavirus has.
3 people like this
@shaggin (71665)
• United States
7 Jul 20
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
7 Jul 20
To me the similarities about the theories was striking.
2 people like this
@May2k8 (18096)
• Indonesia
9 Jul 20
This was a post 10 years ago and I just found out there were conditions where before Corona became even more crazy here.
2 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
9 Jul 20
Yes, that is why I suggested it. I thought it was uncanny how viruses have been plaguing the world through out the 21 century so far.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 May 09
Miami- I have to say this one caused me to chuckle this morning as I read. No, I don't think it's a conspiracy to get us to spend more monies in the market. People have always been buying paper towels (wasteful-agreed), clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, etc. We're always going to buy soap because we know that it is sanitary to use soap when washing our hands. It's more about medical advancement, then some conspiracy by the government to jump start the economy. I also don't think that this flu was man made either. It was here in 1918, and it's here now. It's nothing new, but I agree that the media is causing quite the panic about it in most areas. Our news here in Minnesota has been relatively calm about the entire thing, which is one reason I watch them because of their genuinely good news casting. However, Fox on the other hand who I don't watch unless something is broadcast on my Comcast internet news is notorious for causing panics about just about everything. I have never liked their journalism. As far as how much this flu has cost me, it hasn't cost me anything. No one in my family has been sick. We don't buy paper towels because they are wasteful. I wash clothes the same as I've always washed them. I've always bought hand sanitizer and soap and that cost hasn't gone up. If anything has cost me, it's the increased gas prices as of late. We're back up to over two dollars again here in the Twin Cities. Oh, and sugar prices have gone up so that's cost me a bit lol. Namaste-Anora
2 people like this
• United States
8 May 09
Actually, the "flu" pandemic of 1918 was definitely not the flu as we see every winter. World War I ultimately was settled as famine and disease ground the Germans into surrender. The disruption world wide of the food supplies combined with the populations stresses of those in the war zones was "the" cause of the 1918 "flu" pandemic. Think about it. It an individual gets cranked up in an extended state of stress, they will get sick. Always. Now, if a group of people are simultaneously stressed the same way, you get an epidemic. Always. Until WWII epidemics always ended any significant war. Not that WWII didn't have their epidemic zones. If it weren't for Church World Service's conception and successful food drive, post-WWII epidemics would have been much worse. It was a year later that the Marshall Plan was implemented where the victorious provided government aid... There was a pig flu jumping to people in the late 1970s, me thinks. Nothing to do with 1918. Steve
1 person likes this
• United States
8 May 09
Steve- The flu of 1918 was the same strand of "swine flu" that we're seeing today. I never said it was the common flu that claims almost 30K lives per year. The H1N1 isn't any real threat though as scienctists have stated, they don't know if it will mutate again before the winter and then come back and cause more problems. They are working on finding out how to create a vaccine for it, and make sure it doesn't mutate where then Tamiflu would prove useless. Their concern now is that the southern hemisphere is now having their winter, and this strand thrives in winter months. It will more than likely die out here over our hot summer months, but it could return in the winter. If we can shut it down now, we may be better off. In answer to Miami's question though, I don't think that what we're seeing is government engineered. I don't think it's part of germ warfare. I don't think it's the governments way of stimulating the economy. I think it's just "bad luck". I think it's from people not properly washing their hands, covering their noses when they sneeze or their mouth when they cough. Namaste-Anora
1 person likes this
• Philippines
7 Jul 20
Sadly, I didn't see this post a decade ago. But then I was pressed on my current issues back in 2009, even if I did, i wouldn't have taken this seriously. It would have been nice if I could sent my current mylot post BACK in TIME along with some (lottery) numbers Hard to believed 20 years had gone by since my graduation...Wished I had prepared myself more.
2 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
7 Jul 20
You are still young, I graduated over 50 years ago.
@RasmaSandra (73751)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
10 Jul 20
I know nothing about this and this post is dated 2009
2 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
10 Jul 20
You never heard of the Swine flu? Yes, I know it's dated May of 2009 but the things this person wrote about seemed almost like what we're going through now with covid.
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
10 Jul 20
Catching any kind of flu is never fun @RasmaSandra But the post above was written in May 2009 and the H1N1 virus was a real concern back then.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (73751)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
10 Jul 20
@rebelann yes, I have personally had the displeasure to have swine flu and a couple of other nasty flus and survived to tell about it Perhaps this is another strain of flu or similar
2 people like this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
10 Jul 20
I do not believe in conspiracy theories. Today with modern methods of travel it is clear to see how easy the spread of this horrible Covid has spread. Stay safe Soap and water is the way to go with washing hands and frequently!
2 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
10 Jul 20
That's why I suggested this post, it proves that there is always going to be some kind of virus around regardless of what we try to do to prevent it. In 2009 it was the Swine or H1N1 flu and today it's covid but it's a virus and I get the feeling they simply mutate every few years and someone contracts it unknowingly and spreads it. No one knows where these viruses originate, or do they?
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
10 Jul 20
@rebelann Corona viruses have been around for years they were only formally identified in the 1960's but had been around since the 1930's or at least identified then. You are right about them mutating!
1 person likes this
@derek_a (10874)
7 May 09
Although it has been difficult to ignore, I have not bought into the scare-mongering from the media about the swine flu. Yes, I found myself worrying about catching it, but then I just had to apply reason especially about the wealth-generating aspect of this situation. - Derek
1 person likes this
• United States
8 May 09
Do you think that the swine flu, bird-flu, and West Nile outbreak, that is now endemic in American, all have something in common? Well... What do you think?
1 person likes this
@derek_a (10874)
8 May 09
Well, I can't know absolutely, but I find it coincidental how the big scares and warnings about various flu infections, all just sort of disappeared. I could be wrong of course, so don't take my word for it. - Derek
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 May 09
I think all along people have been going a bit ga-ga and germphobic in recent years buying all those anti-bacterial/anti-viral cleaners without realizing that by cleaning one's home and stripping away all the germs, we're creating super-bugs that have mutated to stronger strains of germs. The only "cleaners" I use are natural ones, that is baking soda, white vinegar and lemons...I do use Murphy's Oil soap though for the floors. I get Bounty towels as I can actually reuse them..just clean them out let them dry and they can be used again. By the way, cleaners like Lysol, or any cleaner with the word "sol" in it are the worse cleaners to use as they have phenol in them...a known toxin that can affect pets, especially cats and have caused deaths-so no way am I going to use them As far as the germ warfare issue....take a look at this website...it gives a listing of how our govt has been using it's citizens as human guinea pigs all along...nice, huh? http://www.chemtrails911.com/docs/human_experiments.html
1 person likes this
• United States
8 May 09
Mmmm. So you theorize that our soaps are accelerating super bugs. Where's your proof? Just visited your chemtrails site. I was aware of several of the incidents cited. Don't get me wrong. Back in the 70s when I got my undergraduate degree in Microbiology we did experiments in advanced micro classes that essentially taught us germ warfare techniques. We used a variety of mutagens including WV lights. They taught the official dogma about how common and easy antibiotic-resistant bacteria emerged. Wrap you mind around this: All antibiotic resistant microbes are man-made. Think about it? Steve
2 people like this
@taski24 (214)
• Philippines
7 May 09
I am thinking more in the line that the Swine flu (called A[H1N1] now) is being used to divert people's attention from the economic crisis. Because of the epidemic, people are not thinking how to survive the hardships in life brought by the recession. They are now thinking how to stay alive. For me, it is a very nice strategy, touching that sensitive area, the survival instinct of the human race.
@miamilady (4910)
• United States
7 May 09
That's an interesting perspective. It did change our focus for a while, didn't it?
• United States
8 May 09
Killing tourism and limiting travel has already started to make the recession worse. Think. Who benefits? Steve
@LeaPea2417 (36514)
• Toccoa, Georgia
7 Jul 20
Nothing , I think
2 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
7 Jul 20
Didn't cost me anything either.
1 person likes this
@akalinus (40610)
• United States
6 Jul 20
I think the Covid-19 virus is a weapon. It spread too fast and accomplished a lot of what some people want to do. It ruined the economy, closed the churches, and made people stay home. I think this new Swine Flu could be a weapon as well as the Bubonic Plague that is coming out of China. Will they reach us? I hope not but you never know anymore.
2 people like this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
6 Jul 20
This post was written in 2009, I simply found it odd that 10 years later people are doing the same thing with Covid 19
@DocAndersen (54407)
• United States
7 Jul 20
oh to live in interesting times. there are many conflicting theories and suggestions for how we go forward in the world. to quote a famous line "those who keep their wits about them, will do well:"!
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
7 Jul 20
Good quote but I do wonder if researchers put aside the research being done on viruses like the Spanish or Swine Flu only to have it mutate and become Covid19. Even SARS seemed to fade before 2019.
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111263)
• El Paso, Texas
7 Jul 20
Yeah, you're right @DocAndersen
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54407)
• United States
7 Jul 20
@rebelann all things being what they are, who knows.
1 person likes this