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Images Of the Day:
Due to Years of Austerity, Cuts to Public Health Care, And An Anti-Science and Profiteering President, The United States Now Leads the World In Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World!
Always Remember: That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember, That he Established, in writing, the United States Capitalist Austerity Program. — The Race to the Bottom/Pauperization of the 99%!
Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99%, Only the 1% Voted For Austerity! The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1% Who, Profit From Austerity!! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico.! Socialism Means True Democracy, that the 99% Will Rule, Not the Few!
Quotes of the Day:
New technologies have made bombing far more accurate than in World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War. During those wars, the United States regularly engaged in carpet-bombing of major urban areas—at the cost of hundreds of thousands of civilian lives. However, since the launch of “the war on terror,” both major political parties have gone to some length to justify the killing of civilians in the name of counterterrorism. For example, Congress has passed a series of resolutions defending Israel’s attacks on civilian areas in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Lebanon, which have attempted to exonerate the U.S.-backed Israeli armed forces for thousands of civilian casualties. —The US Military Does Not Truly Care About Civilian Casualties
From United States Coronavirus Pandemic Crisis: Lessons to be Learned: Even though the World Health Organization had, in March 2020, offered coronavirus test kits to the world and had advice on how to combat the coronavirus pendemic in March of 2020, “Effective quarantine is essential for tackling the coronavirus and this cannot happen without extensive testing for covid-19, says World Health Organization assistant director general Bruce Aylward. ‘To actually stop the virus, China] had to do rapid testing of any suspect case, immediate isolation of anyone who was a confirmed or suspected case, and then quarantine the close contacts for 14 days so that they could figure out if any of them were infected,; Aylward told New Scientistin an exclusive interview.’’’Those were the measures that stopped transmission in China, not the big travel restrictions and lockdowns.’” — WHO Expert: We Need More Testing to Beat Coronavirus
Videos of the Day:
On Contact: Prison On the show, Chris Hedges discusses prison with the poet, writer and attorney, Reginald Dwayne Betts.The poet Dwayne Betts for a long time hid the fact that he had been incarcerated from the ages of 16 to 24 for a carjacking. Betts, a lawyer who was sworn into the Connecticut bar two years ago, is finishing up his PhD at Yale University, where he also earned his law degree. He currently works as a public defender. In his book ‘A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison,’ and in his poems, including his third book of poems ‘Felon,’ he grapples with the degradation, humiliation, and trauma of prison life.
United States:
The United States is not a Democracy (A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly)! Only the 1%, through. their ownershipof the Reublicrats, who profit from war and the war budget, voted for War and the war budget — A policy, which Gore Vidal called a Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. — The 99% Should Decide On War — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From War! Under a Democracy, The 99% would have the right to vote on the policy of Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace! The United States takes from the poor and gives to the Rich. Tax the Rich! — They Can Afford To Pay!
The US Military Does Not Truly Care About Civilian Casualties Facing little opposition from either Republicans or Democrats, the U.S. military is almost never held accountable for killing civilians during airstrikes. As The New York Times reported on November 13, 2021, a U.S. attack jet unleashed its payload on the civilian encampment. “As the smoke cleared,” the article noted, “a few people stumbled away in search of cover. Then, a jet tracking them dropped one 2,000-pound bomb, then another, killing most of the survivors.” At least seventy civilians died. A Pentagon legal officer reported internally that this was a possible war crime, but, “at nearly every step, the military made moves that concealed the catastrophic strike,” according to the Times. The death toll was downplayed, and reports were delayed, sanitized, and classified.
The War Party: From Bush to Obama, and Trump to Biden, U.S. Militarism Is the Great Unifier Many Democrats, Liberals, traditional conservatives, and even some leftists continue to tell themselves that the election of Joe Biden was the first step toward restoring U.S. standing in the world after the damage caused by Donald Trump. And in a variety of ways — many stylistic and some substantive — that perspective has merit. But when it comes to national security policy, the U.S. has been on a steady, hypermilitarized arc for decades. Taken broadly, U.S. policy has been largely consistent on “national security” and “counterterrorism” matters from 9/11 to the present.
Environment:
Then, on election day, New York voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that granted all residents the right “to clean air and water and a healthful environment.” That amendment, which passed with nearly 70 percent of the vote, could strengthen lawsuits against polluters and further discourage developers from proposing fossil fuel projects in the state in the future, some energy experts have said. — New York’s Right to ‘a Healthful Environment’ Could Be Bad News for Fossil Fuel Interests
Dancing On the Edge of Climate Disaster How should we assess the outcome of COP26 in Glasgow? It would be reasonable to conclude that it was both triumph and disaster – triumph, by taking a few notable steps forward, and disaster, by falling far short of what is necessary. It remains very doubtful whether our divided world can muster the will to tackle this challenge in the time left before the damage becomes unmanageable. Climate action tracker provided a useful summary of where we are: on current policies and actions, the world is ready for a median increase in temperature of 2.7C above pre-industrial levels; with the targets for 2030 alone, it would drop to 2.4C; Full implementation of all submitted and binding targets will yield 2.1C; and, ultimately, implementation of all announced targets will yield 1.8C. So, if the world had delivered everything it now indicates, we would be close to the recommended ceiling of a rise of 1.5C. (See maps.)
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Labor:
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistics Daily Update (November 28th to December) Sampling of Economic, Inflation and Monetary Headlines:
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Inflation, Economic and Monetary Circumstances Show Intensifying Systemic Instabilities
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FLASH: Bouncing Off an October Dip, Early-November 2021 Monetary Base Numbers Closed in on the Peak Cycle Growth Rates of September 2021; With Currency in Circulation Hitting Historic High Levels of Growth Against the February 2020 Pre-Pandemic Trough Levels
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University of Michigan’s Final November 2021 Consumer Sentiment Plunged to a New Pandemic Trough, Amidst the Least-Optimistic Outlook in a Decade for Both Personal Finances and the Broad Economy
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October 2021 New-Home Sales Collapsed in Revision; Although Up for the Month, Third-Quarter 2021 Activity Revised from an Annualized Gain of 0.4%, to an Annualized Quarterly Drop of 12.6% (-12.6%), the Fourth Consecutive Quarterly Plunge for This Unstable Series.
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October 2021 Housing Starts Continued in Deepening Downturn; October Industrial Production Was Spiked by a Hurricane, while Retail Sales Were Spiked by Surging Inflation
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Worst-Ever 12-Month, Quarterly and Monthly Real Merchandise Trade Deficits (Third-Quarter and September 2021) Continued Pummeling U.S. Economic Activity, Despite FOMC Happy Hype
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Second-Estimate of Third-Quarter 2021 Annualized Real GDP Growth of 2.10% Still Was Due Entirely to a Buildup of Unsold Inventories, With Final Sales Declining at an Annualized Quarterly Pace of 0.03% (-0.03%), the First Such Decline Since the Great-Recession, Outside of the Initial, Pandemic-Collapsed Two Quarters in First-Half 2020
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Despite Highly Questionable Headline Payroll-Employment Gains, October 2021 Payrolls Continued to Hold Well Shy of Economic Recovery
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How Can the U.S. Economy Be Recovered Minimally, With October 2021 Payroll Employment Still 2.8% (-2.8%) Shy of Recovering Its Pre-Pandemic/ Pre-Recession Peak? • Except for the Severe Recessions in 1981 and 2007, and Despite Being Well Off Bottom, the Current, Pandemic-Driven Payroll Shortfall Remains Deeper Than Anything Seen at the Troughs of the Other Six U.S. Recessions Back to 1957
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October 2021 Consumer Inflation Broadly Jumped to a Four-Decade High, Highest Since the Days of Runaway Inflation in the Early 1980s • Headline Year-to-Year GDP Inflation Hit a 38-Plus Year High of 4.57%
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The October 2021 Producer Price Index, Finished Goods Commodity Inflation, Jumped to a New 41-Year Peak of 12.5%, While October Annual PPI Final-Demand (FD) Goods Inflation, and Annual and Monthly Construction Inflation Readings Set New Historic Highs in the FD-Series Created in 2009
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October 2021 Money Supply Growth Surged to Historic Highs, with “Basic M1” – Currency Plus Demand Deposits – Up by a Record 101.3% from Its February 2020 Pre-Pandemic Trough [See the Opening FLASH and Extended Coverage in the Updated SYSTEMIC RISK – MONEY SUPPLY and MONETARY BASE Sections (Keep Scrolling Down)]
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Level of the October 2021 Monetary Base Softened Minimally versus September, but It Has Rebounded, on Track for November Record or Near-Record Highs, Based on November 24th Numbers
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November 2021 FOMC Announced It Would Taper Its Regular $120 Billion in Monthly Asset Purchases by $15 Billion in November and by Another $15 Billion in December 2021; Such Would Continue, Conditioned on the Problematic Assumption of No Further Economic Downturn, or That No “… Risks Emerge That Could Impede the Attainment of the [FOMC] Committee’s Goals”
Wall Street Has Deployed a Dirty Tricks Playbook Against Whistleblowers for Decades – Now the Secrets Are Spilling Out For more than two decades, the general counsels of Wall Street’s mega banks have been meeting together secretly once a year at ritzy hotels and resorts around the world. This would appear to be a clear violation of anti-trust law but since Wall Street’s revolving door has compromised the U.S. Department of Justice over much of that time span, there has been no pushback from the Justice Department to shut down these clandestine meetings. Wall Street insiders say that among the top agenda items at this annual confab are strategy sessions on how to keep Congress from enacting legislation that would bring an end to Wall Street’s privatized justice system called mandatory arbitration. This system allows the most serially corrupt industry in America to effectively lock the nation’s courthouse doors to claims of fraud from its workers and customers. This private justice system also keeps the details of many of Wall Street’s systemic crimes out of the press.
World:
WHO, South Africa Urge Nations to Lift ‘Naive’ Omicron Travel Bans“The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic.”
EU Joins Rights Group in Condemning Israel’s ‘Day of Destruction’ of Palestinian Homes“Demolitions are illegal under international law and significantly undermine the prospects for peace.” The European Union on Friday joined a prominent Israeli human rights group in condemning last week’s demolition of multiple homes in occupied East Jerusalem, an illegal action that displaced 22 Palestinians including 15 children.
What’s at Stake at WTO Too much is at stake at the upcoming 12th ministerial conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), set to take place from November 30 to December 3, in Geneva, Switzerland. One would think that every global institution, and particularly one whose rules govern trade in vaccines, medicines, and other medical products necessary to end COVID-19, would be doing everything in its power to contribute towards ending this horrendous pandemic. Unfortunately, we are talking about the WTO, where the protection of billionaires’ intellectual property monopolies, intended to reduce supply and increase prices, are sacrosanct. Developing countries introduced a proposal to waive certain provisions of the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in order to ensure vaccines, treatments, diagnostics, and medical products necessary for the treatment and containment of the COVID-19 pandemic are accessible to all. More than a year after its introduction, members have still not agreed to start negotiations on the waiver.
Austria COVID Protests: No To Division and Demagogy, The Bourgeois are to Blame! Last weekend saw mass demonstrations in Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Bregenz and other Austrian towns, involving tens of thousands of people. These protests were a response to the recent announcement of a fourth national lockdown due to an explosion of COVID-19 cases. This will be followed by mandatory vaccination next year. The rotten Austrian establishment has totally bungled its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dividing the working class by blaming ‘stupid’ individuals for dragging out the crisis offers no solution, and neither does denying the importance of vaccination. Only a class analysis can explain what is going on and put the blame for this disaster where it belongs: with the ruling class and its criminal policies.
Education.Health,and Welfare:
The government of the United States can pass laws in a few days to spend tens of trillions of dollars for war and the bailout of Wall Street and the bankers. Yet, those who pass universal healthcare for themselves, but cannot spend even one trillion dollars for universal health for those who are ‘governed’! This is what is considered, by the powers to be, a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let the People Vote on Healthcare
Pandemic Perpetuity
The Corpoate Medical Industrial Complex is an Obstical toWorld Health!: 2.5 Million Nurses Demand UN Probe Into ‘Covid-19 Criminals’ Blocking Patent Waiver The European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, and Singapore “must be investigated for blocking a faster global vaccine rollout leading to the loss of countless lives.” More than two million nurses from 28 countries across the globe filed a complaint Monday calling on the United Nations to investigate the rich countries that are blocking a proposed patent waiver for coronavirus vaccines, an appeal that came as public health experts raced to understand the newly detected Omicron variant.
Omicron Shows Corporate Media Critics of China’s Zero-Covid Strategy Are Way Off the Mark Instead of being viewed as an inefficient outcome of authoritarian rule, perhaps China’s zero-Covid strategy should then be seen for what it is: a highly effective, if often ham-fisted, response to what so far is the biggest global crisis of the 21st-century.
Another Example Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Was Aware of the Danger of Cornovavirus Threat Over 5 Years Ago and Did Nothing!: Under Capitalism — Human Lives Don’t Matter Capitalism Does Not, and Never Has, Worked for the Masses! In Its Death Agony, Capitalism Is Traveling About The World Like The Four Horsemen of the The Apocalypse, Spreading Racism, War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
Since World War I, ‘the war to end all wars’, there have been perpetual wars for perpetual peace, this Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, Under the Banner Headline: “There Is No Peace”
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three-Point Political Program: 1.Austerity,2. Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel! For Decades, Blacks Have Been Subjected to The Iron Heel! Currently, the US Capitalist Class is Divided Over When — Not If, to Apply It to Everyone!