Daily News Digest June 17, 2019
Daily News Digest Achives
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 banner headline: “There Is No Peace” Could Still Be Published Today!
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and The Iron Heel.
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.
Image of the Day:
Eye-Popping’: Analysis Shows Top 1% Gained $21 Trillion in Wealth Since 1989 While Bottom Half Lost $900 Billion “The top one percent owns nearly $30 trillion of assets while the bottom half owns less than nothing.” (The bottom half owns less than nothing, meaning they have more debts than they have assets.”)
Quotes of the Day:
This Decade has beenhas been the largest transfer of the national wealth in American history from a majority of the population to a small percentage of the country’s wealthiest families!:
. . . This is an interesting book reporting on and explaining the consolidation of “The Media Monopoly” that has occurred in the past ten years. It is but another example of the consolidation of wealth, which is natural to capitalism, and which has greatly increased in magnitude in the past “decade of prosperity” (1991-2001). As Bagdikian states in his preamble, During the recent period there has been “the largest transfer of the national wealth in American history from a majority of the population to a small percentage of the country’s wealthiest families.” Or as Karl Marx stated over 100 years ago: “The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.” —Roland Sheppard, The Media Monopoly
The Neoliberal Labor Bureaucracy declared itself to be in a (Domestic) Partnership With the Boss’ (‘Bedding the Boss!’)! Starting in the mid-1980s, This ‘partnership’ gave birth to the one, two, three, three ect. .. wage tier system! Selling out the futures of future young workers entering the labor force. And, since the lowest union wage is the immediately the highest non-union wage, this wage tier system cut the wages of the entire working class! When I was a union official, I called this system labors rush to the bottom! The Graph Below is a Graphic Example of the Decline in Standard of Living of the Working Class, Since the Trade Union Bureaucracy Declared Itself to Be ‘In a (Domestic) Partnership With the Boss’(Class Cooperation)! Through the 1980s and 199os they even included this ‘partnership’ into their work agreements and the partnership was fully established! Starting in the mid-1980s, This ‘partnership’ gave birth to the one, two, three, three ect. .. wage tier system! Selling out the futures of future young workers entering the labor force. And, since the lowest union wage is the immediately the highest non-union wage, this wage tier system cut the wages of the entire working class! When I was a union official, I called this system labors rush to the bottom! — Neoliberalism Has Led Us Down the Path to Fascism
We knew that when we were going to report on very powerful figures who are part of the Bolsonaro government that was going to generate a lot of hatred, animosity and threats. — Glen Greenwald
A pattern took hold: continuous government lies passed on by pliant mass media…leading to over 50,000 American deaths and millions of Vietnamese casualties. The official story was that North Vietnamese torpedo boats launched an “unprovoked attack” against a U.S. destroyer on “routine patrol” in the Tonkin Gulf on Aug. 2 — and that North Vietnamese PT boats followed up with a “deliberate attack” on a pair of U.S. ships two days later. —The truth was very different. — Rather than being on a routine patrol Aug. 2, the U.S. destroyer Maddox was actually engaged in aggressive intelligence-gathering maneuvers — in sync with coordinated attacks on North Vietnam by the South Vietnamese navy and the Laotian air force. “The day before, two attacks on North Vietnam…had taken place,” writes scholar Daniel C. Hallin. Those assaults were “part of a campaign of increasing military pressure on the North that the United States had been pursuing since early 1964.” — 30-Year Anniversary: Tonkin Gulf Lie Launched Vietnam War
Videos of the Day:
WATCH: Glenn Greenwald Explains the Political Earthquake in Brazil Caused by Our Ongoing Exposés
US: Video shows Iran removing unexploded mine from tanker
Women and African Americans Hit Hardest by Declining Jobs
Women and African Americans dropped out of the labor market offsetting the number of people who claimed that they were unemployed. Women and African Americans are giving up on finding a job, as wages remain very low says AFL-CIO Chief Economist
Revolution and counter-revolution in Sudan
The US Medical Industrial Scam Complex The US medical-industrial complex includes 4 industries: hospitals, doctors, drug & device makers, & insurers. They make US healthcare more costly than in any other country.
U.S.:
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!
‘Deja Vu’ of Iraq War Lies as Mike Pompeo Blames Iran for Tanker Attack Without Single Shred of Evidence In a press conference that immediately evoked memories of the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday claimed Iran was behind alleged attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman without presenting one single shred of evidence. By Jake Johnson
Think US Media Won’t Help Lead Nation Into War With Iran Based on Flimsy or False Intelligence? Looks Like They Already Are “Do U.S. reporters, anchors, and editors really want more Middle Eastern blood on their hands? If not, they need to fix their rather credulous and increasingly hawkish coverage of Iran—and fix it fast.” By Jake Johnson and Jon Queally
Trump’s Trade Threats are Really Cold War 2.0 President Trump has threatened China’s President Xi that if they don’t meet and talk at the upcoming G20 meetings in Japan, June 29-30, the United States will not soften its tariff war and economic sanctions against Chinese exports and technology. Some meeting between Chinese and U.S. leaders will indeed take place, but it cannot be anything like a real negotiation. Such meetings normally are planned in advance, by specialized officials working together to prepare an agreement to be announced by their heads of state. No such preparation has taken place, or can take place. Mr. Trump doesn’t delegate authority. By Michael Hudson
Mainstream 101: Supporting Imperialism, Suppressing Socialism In Cormac McCarthy’s consummate work of apocalyptic dread The Road, about a perished world, the narrator dreams of life with his former bride, a mere memory come to haunt his cold nights. Yet rather than embrace such crepuscular balms, he finds them suspicious. “He mistrusted all of that. He said the right dreams for a man in peril were dreams of peril and all else was the call of langour and of death.” By Jason Hirthler
Capitalism Versus Democracy Phrased differently, if Democrats cared about ‘defeating Trump,’ they would offer programs that people want. But they are so firmly in the grip of corporate interests and the oligarchs that they won’t do so. The Republicans are just as beholden, but they offer fewer (manufactured) illusions. They represent the interests of capital. This transparency provides political clarity for those who oppose their policies. By Rob Urie
Environment:
Week 125: Trump to Climate Scientists: Don’t Write Anything Down! Plus, the president warns states against protecting their own waterways, and the man Scott Pruitt would call for scientific advice is not a scientist. By Brian Palmer
Roaming Charges: In the Land of 10,000 Talkers, All With Broken Tongues By Jeffrey St. Clair
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This seems like a big deal to me, but then I don’t get out much: The world’s seed-bearing plants have been disappearing at a rate of nearly three species a yearsince 1900.
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From 2001 to 2017, the Pentagon’s emissions totaled 766 million metric tons, according to a new Brown University report. That makes the U.S. military by far the world’s largest single source of CO2 emissions.
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The planet’s carbon concentration jumped 3.5 parts per million last year—more than twice as fast as it grew as recently as the 1980s and 50% faster than the average this decade.
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+The Greenland ice sheet is experiencing an unprecedented spasm of melting this week, losing half of its surface cover in a matter of days…It hasn’t happened before. But almost certainly will again.
Residents of Toxic W.Va. Town Keep Hope Alive Residents of Minden, West Virginia and surrounding Fayette County have been fighting for more than three decades to get government officials to clean up extremely toxic industrial chemicals that experts have linked to the death of an unusually large number of residents in the old coal mining town. By Mark Hand
How Much Do Humans Pollute? A Breakdown of Industrial, Vehicular and Household C02 Emissions Each year, human beings release an increasing amount of carbon dioxide (C02) into the atmosphere; at present, around 40 billion tonsper annum. According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, 8.4 billion tonsare attributed to the burning of fossil fuels; primarily coal, gas and oil. The European Commission and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency lists the most polluting countries (including the EU as a whole and each of its member states). They are China, the US, the EU, India, Russia, Japan, Germany, Canada and Brazil. When measured in terms of per capita emissions, the US and Canada are the biggest culprits, with each Canadian and American emitting an average of >15 tonnes of CO2 per annum (“carbon footprint”). This is a result of commuting, consumption, domestic energy use, leisure and travel. By T.J. Coles
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Labor:
Brazil: general strike highlights Bolsonaro’s weakness Millions participated in the general strike in Brazil on 14 June, with demonstrations in 380 cities across the country. The strike had been called to reject the proposed counter-reform of the pension system by the Bolsonaro government, but also reflected opposition to education cuts, which had already brought millions onto the streets on 15 and 30 May. By Jorge Martin
Economy:
These Charts Suggest the Whole Wall Street Casino Has Become Taxpayer-Backstopped and Too-Big-to-FailAccording to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), as of September 30, 2018 there was a total of $13.6 trillion in deposits at all 5,397 Federally insured banking and savings institutions in the U.S. but just nine mega banks represented 40 percent of all domestic deposits. Those nine are the insured banking units of the holding company for JPMorgan Chase with $1.3 trillion in domestic deposits; Bank of America at $1.36 trillion; Wells Fargo with $1.27 trillion; Citigroup at $504 billion; U.S. Bancorp $314 billion; Morgan Stanley $181 billion; BB&T $161 billion; Goldman Sachs $130 billion; and State Street $108 billion. Unfortunately, the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund had only $100.2 billion as of September 30, 2018 to cover losses should any of those trillion-dollar-banks fail – which means they can’t fail and have thus become known as too-big-to-fail, even as they continue to take massive positions in opaque derivatives. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Shadow government StatisticsUpdate:
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The May 2019 ShadowStats Alternate CPI (1980 Base) notched lower to 9.5% year-to-year, from 9.7% in April, 9.6% in March and against 9.2% in February.The detail has been graphed on the Alternate Data tab (also accessible by clicking on the mini-graph below), with the latest numbers and an inflation calculator also available there to subscribers.
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Real Average Weekly Earnings Are on Track for a Second-Quarter 2019 Quarterly Decline.Based on the CPI-U/CPI-W and Payroll Employment reporting, Real Average Weekly Earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 0.14% month-to-month in May, having declined 0.39% (-0.39%) in April, while weekly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees declined by 0.03% (-0.03%) in May and by 0.09% (-0.09%) in April. Both series are on track for second-quarter annualized contractions, respectively of 1.25% (-1.25%) and 0.70% (-0.70%), suggestive of a downturn in broad economic activity.
