Daily News Digest April 26, 2023
Capitalism is Now a Worldwide Threat to Humanity! It is on the Fast Track to Global Warming and/or Nuclear War Catastrophes!
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 Capitalism 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:
In The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man, Friedrich Engels wrote:“Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us. Each victory, it is true, in the first place brings about the results we expected, but in the second and third places it has quite different, unforeseen effects which only too often cancel the first. …”
SVB’s failure may be a one-off, but financial crashes always start with the weakest or the most reckless. This is a bank that was being squeezed by the scissors of an impending slump: falling profits in the tech sector and falling asset prices caused by rising interest rates. SVB had grown to about $209bn in assets with a client base concentrated among tech start-ups and so it proved particularly vulnerable to the impact of rapidly rising interest rates. But SVB’s losses on bond sales are being repeated for many other banks. The FDIC recently reported that US banks are sitting on $620bn of combined unrealised losses in their securities portfolios. Meanwhile, after the latest jobs figures continued to show a ‘tight’ labour market, the Federal Reserve seems set to continue to hike interest rates even faster and higher than financial investors expected. Giving testimony to the US Congress last week, Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell made that clear: “Employment, consumer spending, manufacturing production and inflation have partly reversed the softening trends that we had seen in the data just a month ago.” And as Larry Summers, the Keynesian guru and former Treasury Secretary, put it, “We’ve got to be prepared to keep doing what’s necessary to contain inflation.” Possibly to the point of bringing down parts of the banking and corporate sector. — SVB: From the Valley to the Chasm
Videos/Podcasts of the Day:
Jeffrey Sachs on China’s “Historic” Push for Multipolar World to End U.S. Domination
What Does Biden’s Executive Order on Environmental Justice Mean for Frontline Communities?
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. Tax 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!)
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both. — Louis D. Brandeis Quotes
The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. MLK, Beyond Vietnam
The US and the War Crimes in the War on Terror The mainstream media has been giving increased attention to the issue of war crimes as well as the 20th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, but there has been no attempt to link the issues. The war itself could be labeled a war crime or a “crime against the peace,” which was the charge against Germany introduced at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945 and 1946. The most prominent war crimes were the Central Intelligence Agency’s detentions and renditions program as well as the sadistic program of torture and abuse, which have been devoid of any accountability whatsoever. One of the leaders of the program, Gina Haspel, even became Donald Trump’s CIA director.
Big Tech Companies Are Becoming More Powerful Than Nation-States They are already richer than many countries, and the rise of AI looks set to increase their influence. A few years ago, I was having dinner with a friend who worked at Google. As we were discussing the ins and outs of the tech world, he casually remarked: “Google is going to take over the world you know.” Driving home and reflecting on that remark I thought: “How curious.” But now, as I contemplate the shambles our democracy has become, I’m more inclined to think: “How prescient.” Democracy is under threat—not just in the U.S. but in many other countries as well. But the precipitous actions of newly minted authoritarian leaders and the turmoil in Western democracies are just a few of the puzzle pieces needed to figure out how we got to this point. Another less discussed trend is that U.S. citizens are being subjected to a relentless onslaught from intrusive technologies that have become embedded in the everyday fabric of our lives, creating unprecedented levels of social and political upheaval.
Chris Hedges: The United States of Paralysis The longer the corporate state erodes the social bonds that knit us to society and give us a sense of purpose and meaning the more inevitable an authoritarian state and a Christianized fascism becomes. Political paralysis is snuffing out what is left of our anemic democracy. It is the paralysis of doing nothing while the ruling oligarchs, who have increased their wealth by nearly a third since the pandemic began and by close to 90 percent over the past decade, orchestrate virtual tax boycotts as millions of Americans go into bankruptcy to pay medical bills, mortgages, credit card debt, student debt, car loans and soaring utility bills demanded by a system that has privatized nearly every aspect of our lives.
When Will Great Military Powers Ever Learn? Since 1945, the country with the greatest military on the planet that, in budgetary terms, now leaves the next nine countries combined in the dust, has never—and let me repeat that: never!—won a war that mattered.
‘Let Her Speak!’: 7 Arrested in Protest Over Montana GOP’s Silencing of Trans Lawmaker“Today we saw Montanans show up and engage in the democratic process, and some of those Montanans were arrested,” said one state House Democrat. House on Monday afternoon as constituents and supporters of state Rep. Zooey Zephyr demanded that the Republican Party end its silencing of the transgender lawmaker over an impassioned defense of nonbinary and transgender children she gave last week.
Biden is Doing His Very Best to Reelect Trump! Biden Admin Further Endorses Disastrous MVP While Claiming to Support Environmental Justice “The Biden administration is showing its two faces… and it’s a bad look,” said one climate justice advocate. Climate advocates on Monday denounced the “hypocrisy” of the Biden administration, which doubled down on the White House’s push for the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline late last week, just as President Joe Biden was pledging a renewed commitment to environmental justice. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Friday, reiterating the administration’s support for the 303-mile natural gas pipeline stretching across West Virginia and Virginia. The $6.6 billion project by Equitrans Midstream Corporation was first proposed in 2015 and approved by FERC in 2017, but a number of legal challenges have kept it from being completed.
Environment — Ecosocialism of Ecocide!:
On the Road to Ecocide!: Weekly Average CO2 at Mauna Loa
Week beginning on April 16, 2023: 423.65 ppm
Weekly value from 1 year ago: 420.65 ppm
Weekly value from 10 years ago: 399.50 ppm
The US Has No Plans to Give Up Nuclear Weapons. The Public Needs to Change That. A first step toward anti-nuclear advocacy is becoming aware of the current sprawling state of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets Are Melting Rapidly and Driving Sea Level Rise, New Satellite Data Finds The Earth’s ice sheets lost enough ice over the last 30 years to create an ice cube 12 miles high, according to new research. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, which hold almost all of the world’s freshwater ice, are shrinking at a frighteningly rapid pace, according to a report on Thursday from a team of international scientists. Combining data from 50 satellite surveys of Antarctica and Greenland, spanning the years 1992 to 2020, scientists from the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise, or IMBIE, were able to track changes in the ice sheets’ volume and ice flow.
Climate Protesters Gather in Parliament Square as Fossil Fuel Deadline Passes Four days of peaceful activism led by Extinction Rebellion fail to elicit pledge from government to ban new oil and gas projects. 
‘This Must Stop,’ Say Climate Activists Targeting US Banks’ Fossil Fuel Financing “Our aim is to disrupt the banks as much as we can today to give them a glimpse of the destruction people are experiencing because of climate change,” said one organizer.
Spike in German Finance For Gas Export Projects Harms U.S. Gulf Coast Communities, Report Finds Campaigners urge lenders to follow the example of French banks that pulled support for new terminals. Deutsche Bank and other German lenders have poured finance into gas export terminals on the U.S. Gulf Coast since Russia invaded Ukraine, a report has found, sparking anger among residents who say the megaprojects are devastating their communities.
US Supreme Court’s Blow to Big Oil ‘Should Open the Floodgates for More Lawsuits‘”The high court’s decision is a major victory for communities across the country that are fighting to hold Big Oil accountable and make them pay for the climate damages they knowingly caused,” said one advocate.
Clarence Thomas and Democratic Fecklessness Democrats are scared: scared of losing, scared of rocking the boat, scared of recognizing the gravity of the situation, scared of doing something about it. Their fears will cost us. Earlier this month, ProPublica released a report documenting decades of undisclosed lavish gifts Justice Clarence Thomas and his family received from Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow. These gifts included a yacht trip around Indonesia, flights on Crow’s private jet, free stays at Crow’s private country club, and more. One week later, the news outlet published a follow-up report detailing how Thomas also sold property to Crow without disclosing it. Thomas’s mother has continued to reside at that property rent-free while Crow funds
‘This Must Stop,’ Say Climate Activists Targeting US Banks’ Fossil Fuel Financing “Our aim is to disrupt the banks as much as we can today to give them a glimpse of the destruction people are experiencing because of climate change,” said one organizer.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
‘Let Her Speak!’: 7 Arrested in Protest Over Montana GOP’s Silencing of Trans Lawmaker“Today we saw Montanans show up and engage in the democratic process, and some of those Montanans were arrested,” said one state House Democrat. House on Monday afternoon as constituents and supporters of state Rep. Zooey Zephyr demanded that the Republican Party end its silencing of the transgender lawmaker over an impassioned defense of nonbinary and transgender children she gave last week.
Labor:
Bernie Sanders Calls For Four-Day Work Week ‘With No Loss of Pay’ Americans would work four days a week “with no loss of pay” if Bernie Sanders had his way. The independent senator from Vermont touted a British pilot project in which some companies experimented with a four-day workweek. “With exploding technology and increased worker productivity, it’s time to move toward a four-day work week with no loss of pay,” the former Democratic Party presidential candidate tweeted on Tuesday. “Workers must benefit from technology, not just corporate CEOs.
Economy:
4/24 Shadow Government Statistics General Headlines
- Contrary to the happy political and financial media hype, the Pandemic-driven and FOMC-exacerbated U.S. Economic Collapse continues to harden in protracted non-Recovery, amidst mounting evidence of renewed Economic Downturn and recent excessive Inflation, which is about to re-accelerate, and still vulnerable to risks the evolving Russia-Ukraine War risks, seriously conflicted FOMC monetary policies, and extraordinarily dangerous Administration fiscal activity.
- Despite recent GDP Benchmark Revisions and current gimmicked reporting, key Economic Series show not only that the Pandemic-driven Economic Collapse was worse than headlined, but also that the still-unfolding Recovery has been much weaker than indicated. Signals of renewed, faltering activity increasingly have taken on the mantle of a new Recession.
- Severe Systemic structural damage and distortions from the Pandemic-driven Shutdown continues to forestall meaningful Economic Rebound so far into 2023 and beyond, despite a “reopened economy,” in context of flummoxed Fiscal and Monetary Policies, and ever-evolving COVID-19 and related circumstances, and the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
- The Fed’s Balance Sheet Reduction formally began in June 2022 and should have begun to relieve some Money Supply pressures on Inflation at that time, in theory. Yet hard Money Supply numbers through the deliberately slow release of the January 2023 detail, show minimal impact, presently still expanding in the most-liquid, inflation-driving “Basic M1” (Currency and Demand Deposits). Announced FOMC policies are little more than jawboning and targeted financial-market hype, until put into actual full effect. That said, expanded Federal Government Deficit Spending continues, currently at the Debt Ceiling. Despite political hype to the contrary, such is helping to accelerate the pace of domestic Inflation.\
- With fundamental U.S. Dollar debasement (inflation) intensifying, irrespective of short-lived games with reduced oil prices, and especially in the context of the Fed and related entities having to balance, bail out or backstop an increasingly troubled Financial System, holding physical Gold and Silver protects the purchasing power of one’s assets, irrespective of any near-term Central Bank or other precious metals’ price machinations to the contrary.
The Future of Interest Rates is a Riddle Inflation’s comeback has changed the world — but how much we don’t yet know Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. The return of inflation has surprised many, including central bankers. So has the resulting rise in nominal interest rates. These surprises have brought others with them, notably a mini-shock to banking. The question, then, is: “What next?” Will inflation subside to ultra-low pre-Covid levels or will it be a lasting problem, as in the 1970s and early 1980s? What, too, will happen to interest rates?
The Warning Bell at the Federal Agency Created to Monitor Systemic Bank Risk Failed to Ring Financial Research (OFR) in sounding the alarms about the risks building up in the U.S. banking system – even when it was politically unpalatable for the OFR to do so. Then the Trump/Koch administration took over and gutted OFR and put a crony in charge. It does not appear that the damage to staffing and talent under the former Trump/Koch administration has been adequately repaired under the Biden administration
World:
Global Military Spending Hits All-Time High of $2.24 Trillion: Analysis The United States remained by far the world’s biggest military spender, with its $877 in expenditures accounting for 39% of the global total in 2022. The U.S.—which is also the world’s biggest arms exporter—China, and Russia together accounted for 56% of the global total.
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