He explained that there are many levels of players that benefit, including drug manufacturers who get to sell profitable drugs and vaccines, national militaries that can occupy big cities, Wall Street brokers that short stocks, and wealthy investors and bankers that can buy out struggling businesses, further consolidating ownership and wealth.

Rappoport questions whether researchers ever really discovered the coronavirus, as he says diagnostic tests are worthless, the numbers can be inflated without evidence, and environmental factors in China (deadly air pollution, 5G technology rollout) can explain why people there are falling ill.

A grisly old PR pro waddles into a conference room where elite technocrats are waiting for his assessment of propaganda issues. He sits down, looks around, and says, "If you're going to launch a phony epidemic, the ideal place for it is mainland China. The government will lock down that country quicker than a missile fired from a drone. And then nobody will be able to figure out what's going on. Which is exactly what you want.