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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.
Images of the Day:
Quotes of the Day:
One of my early clients was a large manufacturer of commercial airplanes, who had developed an econometric model for predicting revenue passenger miles. The level of revenue passenger miles was their primary sales forecasting tool, and the model was heavily dependent on the GNP (now GDP) as reported by the Department of Commerce. Suddenly, their model stopped working, and they asked me if I could fix it. I realized the GNP numbers were faulty, corrected them for my client (official reporting was similarly revised a couple of years later) and the model worked again, at least for a while, until GNP methodological changes eventually made the underlying data worthless. That began a lengthy process of exploring the history and nature of economic reporting and in interviewing key people involved in the process from the early days of government reporting through the present. For a number of years, I conducted surveys among business economists as to the quality of government statistics (the vast majority thought it was pretty bad), and my results led to front page stories in 1989 in the New York Times and Investors Daily (now Investors Business Daily), considerable coverage in the broadcast media and a joint meeting with representatives of all the government’s statistical agencies. Nonetheless, the quality of government reporting has deteriorated sharply in the last couple of decades. Reporting problems have included methodological changes to economic reporting that have pushed headline economic and inflation results out of the realm of real-world or common experience. Over the decades, well in excess of 1,000 presentations have been given on the economic outlook, or on approaches to analyzing economic data, to clients—large and small—including talks with members of the business, banking, government, press, academic, brokerage and investment communities. I also have provided testimony before Congress (details here). An old friend—the late-Doug Gillespie—asked me some years back to write a series of articles on the quality of government statistics. The response to those writings (the Primer Series available at the top-center of this page) was so strong that we started ShadowStats.com (Shadow Government Statistics) in 2004. The newsletter is published as part of my economic consulting services. — John Williams, Shadow Government Statistics
War helps to generate sex trafficking in a number of ways. Unemployment, poverty and lack of prospects in general influence both supply and demand for prostitution and trafficking. Desperate women easily become vulnerable to false promises and deception, as well as to different forms of violence. Traffickers exploit the fact that many persons are in vulnerable situations, undocumented and separated from their families. Refugees are especially vulnerable, both while fleeing from war zones and while in exile. The most commonly victimized groups were Kosovo, Albanian, and Roma refugee women. [44]Apart from their desperate situation as refugees, they were also culturally vulnerable since once raped either by Serb forces in the war zone or by traffickers while fleeing it, they knew that their families would never accept them back. Thus, they became involved in sex trafficking much more easily than rape victims and women from less patriarchal societies did in peacetime. — Sex Trafficking: The Impact of War, Militarism and Globalization in Eastern Europe
Videos of the Day:
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!
Children’s Trafficking and Exploitation is a Persistent, Dreary Phenomenon Child trafficking and exploitation are again in the news after the Wall Street trader Jeffrey Epstein was charged on July 8 with sex trafficking crimes involving dozens of minors. Among the latest accusation is one by Jennifer Araoz, 32, who said that Epstein raped her when she was 15, and she had been working at his home giving him massages. After the incident, Araoz became profoundly depressed, had anxiety and panic attacks, and had to drop out of school shortly afterward. Her case is just one of the many cases being investigated against the New York financial adviser. Children’s trafficking and exploitation is a widespread phenomenon that is causing enormous suffering throughout the world. It can take several forms such as forced labor, sexual exploitation and child begging, among other practices. It is estimated that 4 million women and girls worldwide are bought and sold each year either into marriage, prostitution or slavery. Over one million children enter the sex trade every year. Although most are girls, boys are also victims. By Cesar Chelala
Crony Capitalism’s Rober Barrons Having a Deregulation Orgy: Trump Gives Pen to Dow Chemical CEO After Signing Executive Order to Eliminate Regulations By President Donald Trump has signed another executive order aimed at eliminating regulations that he claims are damaging to the U.S. economy, but some worry that the measure will roll back critical environmental protections. The order, called “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” directs each government agency to create a task force to evaluate existing federal regulations and recommend whether they should be kept, repealed or modified. By Lorraine Chow
As Trump Launches Immigration Raids: Democrats Back Mass Deportations Popular revulsion and anger mounted this weekend ahead of nationwide immigration raids announced by President Trump. In the working class and among broad sections of the middle class, there is deep disquiet and shock over the horrific treatment of immigrants. But in the ruling elite, the political and media establishment is responding to opposition from below by closing ranks behind Trump and his fascistic advisers. Tens of millions of immigrant workers and their families are living in fear as the state apparatus begins a military-style crackdown. Many immigrants have gone into hiding. By Eric London
Environment:
Climate Litigation Has Become a Global Trend, New Report ShowsClimate change-related lawsuits, once mostly limited to the U.S., have now been filed in nearly 30 countries, targeting governments and corporate polluters, according to the latest analysis of the trend. A new report was published this month by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. It tracks the progress of the suits — filed since 1990 — as they have expanded beyond the U.S., and predicts the trend will continue. “Holding government and businesses to account for failing to combat climate change has become a global phenomenon,” said Joana Setzer, research fellow at the Grantham Research Institute and co-author of the report. “People and environmental groups are forcing governments and companies into court for failing to act on climate change, and not just in the United States. ” Climate cases have been brought in at least 28 countries. The majority of cases — 1,023 identified as of May 2019 — come from the U.S., but climate lawsuits have also been spreading across Europe and the Asia/Pacific region. By Dana Drugmand
This Land Was Your Land For the past 10 years I’ve been documenting the fate of the least protected and most at-risk portion of the national commons: the roughly 450 million acres across 12 Western states overseen on our behalf by the United States Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service. By Christopher Ketcham
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
UN Climate Resolution Emphasizes Protection of Disability Rights People with Disabilities Should Be Included in Climate Action The United Nations Human Rights Council made history on Friday when it adopted a resolution on climate change and the rights of people with disabilities. The resolution calls on governments to adopt a disability-inclusive approach when taking action to address climate change. The impacts of climate change disproportionately affect people with disabilities. They are frequently in situations of social, economic, and political disadvantage and may not have access to adequate resources, information, and services necessary to adapt to the effects of climate change. For example, people with disabilities may feel the health impacts of climate change more severely, as some are more susceptible to invasive disease due to pre-existing health conditions. Additionally, many are at particular risk of neglect, abandonment, and even death during instances of migration or natural disasters, which are increasing in frequency and ferocity, due to physical, communication, and other barriers, as well as disrupted support networks. By Cara Schulte and Isaac Gazendam
Labor:
The Race to the Bottom!: 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, 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! As in graphically shown in this: Shadow Government Statistics Graph. Shadow Government Statistics Real Average Weekly Earnings
Economy:
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Labor Numbers, Construction Spending, Trade Deficit, Deteriorating Consumer Conditions, FOMC, Fiscal Instabilities and the Markets
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Booming Stocks Versus Booming Gold?
Unfolding Conditions Strongly Favor Precious Metals, Not Equities
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Consumer Liquidity Stresses Intensify; Economic Outlook Continues to Deteriorate Markedly
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Sharp Jumps in Annual July Money Supply Growth Suggest Possible Easing, Yet the Monetary Base Remains in Historically Deep Annual Contraction
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Whether or Not Hints of a July 31st FOMC Rate Cut Formally Pan Out, Major Easing (Possibly Renewed Quantitative Easing) Is Likely by September
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Playing Games With the Federal Debt Ceiling
Risks a Ratings Downgrade, Intensifying Flight from the Dollar
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Needed Fiscal Stimulus for the Economy Will Be Difficult, With an Already Exploding Budget Deficit
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Weakening Annual June Payroll Growth in Aggregate and in Key Series Was Accompanied by Upside Ticks in the Various Unemployment Measures
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July 26th GDP Benchmarking and Initial Second-Quarter GDP Should Offer Downside Headline Surprises
World:
What Right Has Britain to Seize an Iranian Tanker Off Spain? What gives the UK the right to seize on July 4 an Iranian oil tanker in Spanish territorial waters, force it to Gibraltar, interrogate its four-man (non-Iranian) crew, and arrest its captain and chief officer? Why, the request of the U.S. of course. The Spanish government has stated that the British marines and Gibraltar port authority operated at the behest of Washington, after Trump threatened then called off airstrikes against the Islamic Republic. (Gibraltar authorities deny this.) The piratical act was naturally denounced by Iran, which threatens to seize a British tanker if London does not return its vessel. The Brits respond that they might return the ship if given assurances it was not headed to Syria; indeed, Foreign Minister Hunt had a “constructive” phone call with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif. By Gary Leupp
The World Needs a Water Treaty. . . If India had followed through, it would have abrogated the 1960 Indus Water Treaty (IWT) between the two counties, a move that could be considered an act of war. In the end, nothing much came of it. India bombed some forests, and Pakistan bombed some fields. But the threat underlined a growing crisis in South Asia, where water-stressed mega-cities and intensive agriculture are quite literally drying the subcontinent up. By 2030, according to a recent report, half the population of India — 700 million people — will lack adequate drinking water. Currently, 25 percent of India’s population is suffering from drought. “If the wars of this century were fought over oil, the wars of the next century will be fought over water,” warns Ismail Serageldin, a former executive for the World Bank. By Conn Hallinan
Police launch mass arrests on Bastille Day in Paris Two hundred thirty years after the storming of the Bastille prison launched the French Revolution in 1789, President Emmanuel Macron’s government carried out mass preventive arrests, rounding up well known “yellow vest” protesters on Bastille Day in Paris yesterday. Macron was booed and jeered as he drove in the motorcade down the Champs-Elysées on the traditional military parade Sunday morning. According to the Paris police prefecture, 175 people were arrested throughout the day, most of them in locations around the annual military parade down the Champs-Elysées avenue. Almost all the arrests were based on charges of “organization of an unauthorized demonstration.” By Will Morrow and Alex Lantier
Evo Gives Free Modern Farming Equipment to Bolivian Campesinos On Sunday, Bolivia’s government donated over $6 million worth of tractors and other farming equipment to small holding campesinos in the department of La Paz. Evo Morales attended the ceremony at which this equipment was handed over to the rural workers. The equipment will benefit 14,380 families across 87 municipalities in the Andean region surrounding the town of Viacha. The donation includes tractors, water tankers and mechanised diggers. The government hopes that this equipment can be used to boost production of basic foodstuffs for domestic consumption, thereby decreasing dependence on foreign imports.
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 ‘govern’, pass universal healthcare for themselves, but they cannot spend even one trillion dollars for universal health for those who are ‘governed’! This is what is considered, by the powers the to be, a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let The People Vote on Healthcare!
