Daily News Digest December 27, 2022
Images of the Day:
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”,is Still True for Today’s World!
Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Has Been Aware of the Comming Catastrophe of Global Warming Over 5 Decades 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 very future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
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!
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:
The invasion has been accompanied by an avalanche of propaganda and misinformation. Many so-called ‘Lefts’ around the world have fallen in behind their respective ruling classes, while workers and the poor suffer the brutal consequences of this war – in the daily nightmare in Ukraine, in Russia, and far beyond in the form of skyrocketing food and fuel prices. The International Marxist Tendency has upheld a consistent internationalist stance on this conflict from the start, summarised in our initial statement, published shortly after the invasion. We explain that, in this clash between the world imperialist power of the US and its allies, and regional Russian imperialism, “[t]he position of revolutionary Marxists should be clear: a principled class-based stand on the lines of ‘the main enemy of the working class is at home’… “The task of fighting against the reactionary gang in the Kremlin is the task of the Russian workers alone. The task of revolutionaries in the West is to fight against their own bourgeoisie, against NATO, and against American imperialism.” — The Ukraine War: an Internationalist Class Position
In 1990, he (Father Roy Bourgeois) entered the base again, sprinkling his own blood along with the blood of other protestors, including medal of honor winner Charlie Littky, over photographs of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and daughter murdered by US-backed death squads in El Salvador. He went to prison for another 16 months. He defied the Catholic hierarchy by actively supporting the ordination of women. And for this act of justice, he was expelled in 2012 from the priesthood. — The Chris Hedges Report: “The Catholic Church Expelled Me for Supporting Women Joining the Priesthood”.
Videos/Podcasts of the Day:
“The Quest to Defuse Guyana’s Carbon Bomb”: Meet the Environmental Lawyer Taking On ExxonMobil
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 ownership of the Republicrats and who profit from war and the war budget, vote 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. Rax the Rich! — They Can Afford To Pay!
Both Parties Support U.S. Capitalism’s Wars (The Only War the Democrats Opposed was the Civil War!):
The 1%’s ‘Deep State’: Matt Wuerker for December 20, 2022
Democrats Are Making a Devil’s Bargain on Pentagon Funding. It’s Not Paying Off. Progressives can’t win unless Pentagon spending is put on the chopping block. Democrats Are Making a Devil’s Bargain on Pentagon Funding. It’s Not Paying Off. Progressives can’t win unless Pentagon spending is put on the chopping block. The year 2022 confirmed yet again that accepting massive military budget increases in exchange for a smattering of social benefits funding — a common devil’s bargain struck by Democrats in Congress — will never deliver the kind of world we dream of. The military budget deal just reached by Congress will put Pentagon spending at $858 billion — more than $118 billion higher than when President Biden came into office, and more than $180 billion higher than the last budget approved under President Obama. That increase would have been more than enough to cover the costs of the entire Build Back Better agenda.
Biden Lied: US Fails to Give Money Promised for Developing Countries to Ease Climate Impacts Spending Bill Passed By Senate Includes Less Than $1bn In Climate Assistance For Poorer Nations Even Though Biden Promised $11.4bn The US has risked alienating developing countries hit hardest by the climate crisis, after Congress delivered just a fraction of the money promised by Joe Biden to help poorer nations adapt to worsening storms, floods and droughts.
Subpoenaed Fossil Fuel Documents Reveal an Industry Stuck in the Past The industry is still running the same five-step plan, to the same end: preserving power, subsidies, and social license.As part of its investigation into climate disinformation, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed documents in November 2021 from four of the world’s largest oil companies; their U.S. trade association, the American Petroleum Institute; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The chamber did not comply with the subpoena, but the rest submitted a variety of responsive documents, the most salient of which have been published by the Oversight Committee in two batches. The more than 1,500 pages include internal communications about media relations, advertising, and marketing campaigns from 2015 to 2021. Taken together, they reveal that the industry’s approach to the climate really hasn’t changed since scientists first started warning that the burning of fossil fuels was becoming a problem: push “solutions” that keep fossil fuels profitable, downplay climate impacts, overstate the industry’s commitments, and bully the media if they don’t stay on message. It’s the same five-step plan, deployed to the same end: preserving power, subsidies, and social license.
Tax Policy Is Helping Wall Street Gobble Up Single-Family Homes Wall Streets investors have concentrated their purchases of entry-level and single-family homes in communities of color. Janine Jackson: Home ownership is a key ingredient in what is still called the “American Dream.” Beyond the meaningful symbolism of having one’s own patch, home ownership is instrumental in wealth creation — the difference between living paycheck to paycheck and being able to think about the future. It’s societally important, historically important, who is encouraged and enabled and facilitated in their ability to buy a home, and who is shut out.
George Monbiot: The US is a Rogue State Leading the World Towards Ecological Collapse It’s not just indifference. It’s an active, and deadly, cavalier attitude towards the lives of others: an example other nations follow There are two extraordinary facts about the convention on biological diversity, whose members are meeting in Montreal now to discuss the global ecological crisis. The first is that, of the world’s 198 states, 196 are party to it. The second is the identity of those that aren’t. Take a guess. North Korea? Russia? Wrong. Both ratified the convention years ago. One is the Holy See (the Vatican). The other is the United States of America. (12/9/2022)
Environment — Ecosocialism or Ecocide:
US Military ‘Downplayed’ T\the Number of Soldiers Exposed to ‘Forever Chemicals’ Analysis of Pentagon report reveals that soldiers exposed to PFAS pollution at much higher rate than military claims The number of US service members who have been exposed to toxic “forever chemicals” is much higher than the military has claimed, a new independent analysis of Department of Defense data has found. A Pentagon report that aims to assess the scope of PFAS chemical exposure on its bases, as well as health threats posed to service members, estimated about 175,000 troops across 24 facilities had drunk contaminated water. But an analysis of the military’s report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit that tracks PFAS pollution, found the numbers are probably much higher and could top more than 640,000 people across 116 bases, and potentially even millions of people when past service members are factored in.
Historic Heat to Extreme Chill: Why is the US Experiencing A\a Cold Snap? “This is a reminder that we can still get these kinds of events even in a warming climate.” Blistering cold events are becoming more stark and pose a threat not only to humans but to entire ecosystems The extreme cold settling over the US this week will be biting, as a blast of arctic air and strong winds threaten to plunge several regions into subzero temperatures. Roughly 150 million people across the US will be forced to face the frigid conditions, posing life-threatening dangers to anyone without shelter from the storms, wreaking havoc on holiday travel plans and possibly straining susceptible power grids.
Sowing Doubt: How Big Ag is Delaying Sustainable Farming in Europe New analysis sheds light on key industry lobbying tactics at a decisive moment for the future of agriculture. In the spring of 2020, the European Union announced an ambitious plan to overhaul farming practices in fields and valleys across the continent. Named Farm to Fork, it calls for less fertilizer and pesticide use, and more organic production. Veteran sustainable food and farming experts welcomed the strategy as one that just might have a genuine shot at transforming the agriculture sector and resulting in better public health, contributing to ending the vertiginous decline of biodiversity, and lower greenhouse gas pollution. The response from Europe’s powerful industrial agriculture sector was swift and unequivocal: Farm to Fork will result in disaster. “Lower yields”, “higher food prices”, and “unviable incomes for farmers”’ are among the outcomes predicted by an army of Brussels lobbyists, who are employed by the agrochemical industry and its allies in the intensive farming sector.
Lawsuits Against Plastic Industry Could Exceed $20 Billion in Damages by 2030 A new study shows that the societal impact already costs around $100 billion per year. Thanks to new legal pathways, people around the world could sue plastics manufacturers for damages totaling more than $20 billion by 2030, with most lawsuits originating in the U.S., according to a new study. The report, published by the Australian Minderoo Foundation, estimates that the plastics industry is costing society around $100 billion annually in environmental clean-ups, ecosystem degradation, shorter life expectancy, and medical treatments. Minderoo is a philanthropic organization focused on the environment and climate, among other causes.
Defective Meters and Whistleblower Complaints Raise Questions About Gas Utility’s Profits Following complaints, Oregon’s Public Utility Commission is investigating NW Natural’s meter testing program and billing practices. A little over a decade ago, Gary Dye, then a gas measurement engineer at NW Natural, Oregon’s largest gas utility, lost faith in his employer to responsibly deal with what he believed to be systematic inaccuracies among the company’s hundreds of thousands of gas meters. On a quest to tame these inaccuracies, in late 2011, he proposed a simple technical fix that he claims will “result in more accurate billing, extended meter lives, reduced landfill waste, and a more efficient utilization of [utility] personnel.” Dye had other suggestions for how the company should operate. A few months later, he decided to file an internal complaint stating that he had been told “to discard a spreadsheet full of incriminating data that showed bad meter testing.” Ultimately, he filed 21 internal ethical misconduct complaints against colleagues and top executives, including current NW Natural CEO David Anderson, later elevating his concerns to the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC), the body that regulates NW Natural. Several months after he approached the commission, NW Natural terminated his employment. Internal corporate documents and public records reviewed by DeSmog support several of Dye’s claims, including allegations that NW Natural executives downplayed or ignored employee concerns about billing accuracy issues associated with projects that facilitated extremely profitable energy market speculation.
Civil Rights Black Liberation:
As Temperature Drops, Incarcerated People Brace for Dangerously Cold Conditions For the millions of people incarcerated in the U.S., freezing temperatures amid failing infrastructure can be deadly.
Labor:
Cal Grad Student Worker Strike Ends With Deal Panned by Many Rank-and-File Union Members One dissenting student negotiator said the tentative agreement “does not come close to our initial demands and it leaves a lot of our co-workers still rent burdened, still impoverished.” While many University of California graduate student workers welcomed Friday’s strike-ending ratification of a new labor agreement that delivers increased pay and benefits, other rank-and-file union members expressed anger and disappointment that the deal does not deliver enough. The Los Angeles Timesreports two bargaining units of United Auto Workers—which represent the 48,000 student workers—approved tentative agreements on contracts that will take effect immediately and run through the end of May 2025. The six-week strike—the largest academic employee walkout in U.S. history—will end, and most U.C. graduate workers will return to their jobs after winter break.
Economy:
Michael Roberts: Top Ten Posts of 2022: Ukraine, Profits and Inflation So what were the top ten posts of 2022, as viewed. Topping the list was the post on new evidence supporting Marx’s law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall as applied to a ‘world rate of profit’.. That tells me that my blog readers are focused on new empirical studies to back Marxian economic analysis. In this case, Marxist economists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst led by Deepankur Basu have delivered new evidence using data compiled by Brazilian Marxist economist Adalmir Marquetti. Marquetti has expanded and modified the Penn World Tables developed by the Groningen Growth and Development Centre into what he calls the Extended Penn World Tables (EPWT). Basu et al used the new EPWT data to construct a ‘world rate of profit’ as a weighted average of country-level profit rates, where a country’s share in the world capital stock is used as the weighting. Basu et al conclude that: “The country-aggregated world profit rate series displays a strong negative linear trend for the period 1960-1980 and a weaker negative linear trend from 1980 to 2019.” 
Shadow Government Statistics December 23rd to 27th Merry Christmas! —Best wishes to all for a most joyous Holiday Season
- IN THE NEWS: Full-month December 2022 Consumer Sentiment held shy by 40.9% (-40.9%) of ever-recovering its Pre-Pandemic Peak.
- In context of consistently stable monthly reporting, the annual decline in November 2022 Existing-Sales deepened to an extraordinary 35.4% (-35.4%).
- In context of ridiculously unstable monthly reporting, the annual decline in November New Home Sales deepened to 15.3% (-15.3%). Dominated by plunging Commercial Aircraft Orders, November 2022 Real New Orders for Durable Goods dropped by 2.4% (-2.4%) month-to-month, down by 0.1% (-0.1%) year-to-year.
- Yesterday’s “Final” and third estimate of Third-Quarter 2022 GDP notched slightly higher in revision, showing still-bloated, pre-election distortions. Yet, increasingly, as seen here recently, there is implosion, no new Economic Recovery
- November 2022 New Residential Construction (Building Permits and Housing Starts) continued in collapse amidst downside revisions. Previously, inflation-adjusted
- November 2022 Real Retail Sales declined month-to-month and year-to-year, on top of downside revisions to September and October activity.
- November 2022 Industrial Production declined month-to-month, slowing year-to-year, reflecting parallel movements in the meaningful Manufacturing and Mining sectors. Capacity Utilization continued to sink, increasingly shy of ever recovering its August 2018 economic peak.
World:
Nearly 200 Rohingya Refugees Adrift at Sea Desperately Seek Rescue Fleeing ethnic cleansing, the refugees have been trapped on the boat for weeks without adequate food or water. United Nations refugee advocate on Friday joined human rights defenders in imploring South and Southeast Asian nations to rescue nearly 200 Rohingya refugees “on the verge of perishing” after drifting on the Andaman Sea for weeks — an ordeal that’s already reportedly claimed around 20 lives aboard the vessel.
Health Education 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