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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 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!
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 , thet the 99% Will Rule, Not the Few!
Quotes of the Day:
The world is getting warmer faster that expected. It is an ever rising cycle: As global warming increases, the rate of global warming increases, as the rate of global warming increases, global warming increases, as the rate of global warming increases, then global warming increasesAnd on and on the earth get warmer. — Roland Sheppard
Videos of the Day:
What Price Would You Pay For Your Principles? Emily L. Quint Freeman stood up for what she believed in. Her actions impacted thousands, and she paid a high price. Her new memoir “Failure to Appear: Resistance, Loss, and Identity” chronicles her journey and what she gained from her struggle.
Images of the Day:
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.
Trump also attempted to clamp down on any accurate, concrete information that would contradict his “no-big-deal” story. He required that Pence clear all statements from the CDC. Using his famed vindictiveness, he also retaliatedagainst a Health and Human Services whistleblower who reported that people exposed to coronavirus on a cruise ship were greeted by health care workers without protective gear or training. In short, the fact that we are likely facing a serious pandemic, unlike any we have seen in more than a century, is 100 percent Trump’s fault. Because of his vanity and ineptitude, people will die, and many more will get sick. It is very likely that we will face a recession as people cancel travel plans and are reluctant to go out to restaurants, sporting events and other public places. — Trump Bears Full Responsibility for Botched Response to Coronavirus in US
The One-Choice Election There is only one choice in this election. The consolidation of oligarchic power under Donald Trump or the consolidation of oligarchic power under Joe Biden. The oligarchs, with Trump or Biden, will win again. We will lose. The oligarchs made it abundantly clear, should Bernie Sanders miraculously become the Democratic Party nominee, they would join forces with the Republicans to crush him. Trump would, if Sanders was the nominee, instantly be shorn by the Democratic Party elites of his demons and his propensity for tyranny. Sanders would be red-baited — as he was viciously Friday in The New York Times’ “As Bernie Sanders Pushed for Closer Ties, Soviet Union Spotted Opportunity” — and turned into a figure of derision and ridicule. The oligarchs preach the sermon of the least-worst to us when they attempt to ram a Hillary Clinton or a Biden down our throats but ignore it for themselves. They prefer Biden over Trump, but they can live with either. Only one thing matters to the oligarchs. It is not democracy. It is not truth. It is not the consent of the governed. It is not income inequality. It is not the surveillance state. It is not endless war. It is not jobs. It is not the climate. It is the primacy of corporate power — which has extinguished our democracy and left most of the working class in misery — and the continued increase and consolidation of their wealth. It is impossible working within the system to shatter the hegemony of oligarchic power or institute meaningful reform. Change, real change, will only come by sustained acts of civil disobedience and mass mobilization, as with the yellow vests movement in France and the British-based Extinction Rebellion. The longer we are fooled by the electoral burlesque, the more disempowered we will become. Chris Hedges
Cookie Monster: the Nuts and Bolts of Online Tracking data, collected with great breadth and down to minute details. Billions have been paid by online platforms to settle legal charges over their invasive and reckless privacy follies. Facebook in particular is associated with this, especially after a series of major scandals involving leaks or hacks of personal data. But Google is inarguably the greediest of these companies in its data collection, to an extent that can surprise even jaded users. This makes sense economically, since the collection of data is a key part of the network effect of online search—more searches and click data mean algorithms that deliver more accurate searches, attracting more users and searches, in the familiar positive feedback cycle of what economists call “network effects.” By Rob Larson
Environment:
Global Warming on a Rampage Global warming is not waiting around for the signatories to the Paris climate accord ‘15 to go to net zero emissions 2030/50. Sorry, those bold plans are way too little way too late. Already, across the board, the planet is on a hot streak that defies all projections. It’s starting to look downright scary! Listen… when Helsinki has no snow in January/February accompanied by inordinate heat, it’s a powerful signal that “something is not right.” According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute: “Monthly records were not just broken, they were shattered with large margins.” (Source: 9 Freaky Phenomena Revealing How Warm This Winter Was, Treehugger, March 3, 2020) By Robert Hunziker
PFAS “Forever Chemicals” Found in Tap Water Linked to Cancer Risks For the first time, scientists reviewed 26 types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and found that they all display at least one characteristic of cancer-causing chemicals that can alter crucial bodily functions. The new study comes on the heels of alarming laboratory tests that detected many of these “forever chemicals” in tap water sampled across the country and suggest that fluorinated compounds in the PFAS family have contaminated virtually every major source of drinking water in the United States. By Mike Ludwig
‘About Damn Time’: Detroit Pauses Water Shutoffs Amid Coronavirus Outbreak “It shouldn’t take a crisis like the spread of coronavirus to restore people’s right to drinking water.”Progressives heaped praise on grassroots activists in Detroit on Monday after the Michigan city announced, amid the spread of the coronavirus, it was temporarily restoring water services to thousands of residents who’ve had their water shut off. “About damn time,” said Abdul El-Sayed, a former head of the city’s health department and 2018 gubernatorial candidate. “It’s been six years since the U.N. declared Detroit water shutoffs an insult to human rights.” By Andrea Germanos 
Civil Rights/ Black Liberation:
The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement, and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production. … If money … comes into the world with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek, capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt. Capita”, Volume One, Part VIII, Chapter 31, (the) Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist
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Marx’s “Capital” as a Literary Experience Columbia University PhD candidate in English and Comparative Literature Tiana Reid finds that her students benefit from reading volume one of Karl Marx’s “Capital.” “There are so many literary wsys to read it, which I don’t think blunt the more radical political reading,” said Reid, who conducts research in Black Studies, Marxism and feminism.
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Teaching Bell Hooks One of the books Boke Saisi most enjoys sharing with her students at the University of California at San Diego, is bell hooks’ “Where We Stand: Class Matters.” Saisi is a PhD candidate who contributed a column to Black Agenda Report’s feature, “Books I Teach.” The chapter “Being Rich” is especially useful in showing how “racism and racist caste systems are inherent parts of the capitalist system,” said Saisi.
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Women Lead Fight Against Police Violence in UK One reason Black women are in the forefront of British anti-police violence campaigns, is to counter the capitalist smear that Black families are “not capable of raising children, leading to criminality,” said Adam Elliott-Cooper, an activist and PhD candidate at King’s College, in London. Black women fight back by “articulating their love for family by challenging police violence.” Elliott-Cooper wrote a paper which concluded that every recent campaign to protest the killing of Blacks by British police has been led by a woman.
Labor:
Economy:
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Flash– Federal Reserve’s Loss of Systemic Control Was Brought to a Head by the Coronavirus Crisis / Exacerbated Now by Collapsing Oil Prices
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Fed’s Functionality Was Severely Impaired, as Systemic Control Was Lost Along With the 2007/2008 Bailout of the Failed Banking System
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Fundamental Flight to Gold and the Swiss Franc from the U.S. Dollar Should Continue to Accelerate (see Updated SYSTEMIC RISK section)
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A Flash Update and Special Commentary Will Follow After Panicked Trading Subsides or Market Interventions Provide Interim Stability
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While Headline February 2020 U.3 Unemployment Narrowed Minimally, the Broader U.6 and ShadowStats Unemployment Measures Widened Amidst Deteriorating Labor Market Stress
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January 2020 Trade Deficit Suggested Some Possible Downside Pressure on First-Quarter 2020 GDP
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2019-2020 Recession Continues to Unfold in Downside Revisions and Deepening Current Downturns
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Third-Quarter 2019 Gross Domestic Income (GDI) Just Revised Sharply Lower, from 2.1% to 1.2%, Based on Weakening Employment and Wage Revisions
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Beware a Meaningful, Downside July 2020 GDP Benchmarking!
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Annual Plunge Deepened in January 2020 Real New Orders for Durable Goods
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Unfolding 2018/2019 Recession Resulted From Overly Aggressive FOMC Tightening in 2018, and Lack of Adequate, Subsequent Easing
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January 2020 Freight Activity Continued Plunging Year-to-Year, As Last Seen at Great Recession Onset Indication Was for Neither a “Booming” Economy, Nor “Sustainable Moderate Economic Growth.” Recession Signals Continue to Intensify for FOMC-Battered GDP Consumer Spending // ON THE PLUS-SIDE, CONSTRUCTION AND HOUSING: January 2020 Construction Spending Gained on Top of Upside Revisions to December and November and Public Non-Residential Activity
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Aggregate Real Construction Spending Remained Shy by 20.9% (-20.9%) of Recovering Pre-Recession Peak Activity
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Although Picking Up in Recent Months, Real Private Residential Construction Spending for Full-Year 2019 versus 2018 Held Down by an Unrevised 8.8% (-8.8%)
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Despite Unstable and Absurd Monthly Reporting Volatility, Six-Month Smoothed Activity in Both New-Residential Construction and New-Home Sales Series Have Pushed to Post-Recession Highs, Despite Holding Shy of Recovering Pre-Recession Peak Activity Respectively by 31% (-31%) and by 45% (-45%)
There Was a Bloodbath in Wall Street Banks and Insurers Yesterday President Donald Trump is bringing a pea shooter to a gunfight. If you look carefully at the charts on this page from yesterday’s trading bloodbath, it’s clear that there is a deep financial crisis playing out. The idea that this can be remedied with a payroll tax cut is the stuff of tooth fairies. And this crisis didn’t begin with the coronavirus. Headlines about the virus did not start appearing in the U.S. until January of this year. But the Federal Reserve began making hundreds of billions of dollars each week in cheap loans to Wall Street’s banks on September 17, 2019 — the first time it had done this since the 2008 financial crisis. You can earmark September 17, 2019 as the actual date that this Financial Crisis II got underway. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
What’s the End Game in the Saudi Oil Price War? In early afternoon trading, West Texas Intermediate, the domestic crude oil in the U.S., had lost over 20 percent on the day, 39 percent in the last 18 calendar days and 48 percent from its peak this year. The panic selling resulted from a failed OPEC meeting with its allies last week when Russia refused to go along with crude oil production cuts proposed by OPEC to shore up the price of crude. Following the failed meeting, Saudi Arabia began to dramatically discount its oil prices to customers to grab market share. It reminded me of an earlier Saudi oil price war in 1986 – without the coronavirus to add to the panic. By Pam Martens 
World:
Russian Oil and the Currency Crisis: the Capitalists Must Pay! The following is a statement by Russian comrades of the IMT (organised as the Marxist Tendency) about the impending economic crisis resulting from Russia’s failed oil deal with Saudi Arabia. Russian capitalism has been painfully pricked in its Achilles heel: dependence on the world energy market. The collapse in oil prices occurred as a result of an unsuccessful deal with OPEC countries, and in particular Saudi Arabia. The fall in oil prices (the largest in 29 years!) naturally led to the collapse of the ruble (to 85 on the euro to date, 75 on the dollar). The Ministry of Finance’s only plan in this regard is to accumulate funds (obtained from robbing workers during the recent pensions counter-reform) from the National Wealth Fund to rescue the oil industry from its crisis. This will cause an even greater increase in prices for consumer goods, a reduction in social guarantees and salaries, and a decrease in the standard of living for the country’s population as a whole.
Health, Science, 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 ‘governn’, 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!
Coronavirus and Ebola Show We Can’t Leave Vaccine Development to Big Pharma Five years after an Ebola epidemic killed more than 11,000 people across West Africa, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced at the end of December 2019 that Merck, the behemoth, for-profit pharmaceutical company based in New Jersey, had received approval for an Ebola vaccine. But this is hardly a success story. In fact, the saga behind the vaccine’s development sheds light on how involving private pharmaceutical companies may have obstructed the vaccine’s progress, profiting from publicly funded research only once the vaccine’s development proved to be lucrative business. A new report, published in the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, details how the Ebola vaccine, Ervebo, was almost entirely researched and developed using public money, challenging the common assumption that only private, profit-driven companies are able to bring drugs to market. By Juliana Broad
The 1976 Socialist Workers Party Presidebtial Campaign Platform has Stood the Test of Time!
A Historic Document: A Bill of Rights for Working People (1976) Today we are ruled by a new tyranny. Industrial and financial barons govern by the rule of profits, denying us the basic democratic and social rights we need for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness:”
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America is in a developing crisis. The quality of life for most people is going from bad to worse. And the present system offers no hope for the better.
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There is no end toars—one after another since the end of World War If. After Korea came Vietnam; now the Middle East is like a powder keg.
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Huge stockpiles of atomic weapons are a constant reminder of the threat of nuclear war.
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Pollution is destroying our environment—from the water we drink to the air we breathe.
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The economic crisis is worsening.
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Breakdowns, shortages, layoffs, soaring prices—each week it’s harder to get by. Suffering the most are those at the bottom of the ladder—Blacks, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, and other doubly oppressed people.
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Neither the Republican administration nor the Democratic Congress offers a solution. They are only interested in shifting the responsibility and escaping the blame.
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They pit white workers against Blacks in a struggle for jobs, housing, and education.
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They blame all working people, claiming we eat too much and live too well. They say that inflation will slow down if we live in colder rooms and stop demanding higher wages.
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They blame people in other countries. They point to a “population explosion” in poor countries as a burden on the American economy, while the corporations they represent plunder the resources of these same countries.
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They say Arabs cause the energy crisis, as if the skyrocketing profits of U.S. oil monopolies weren’t responsible.
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The Democratic and Republican proposals are clear: Don’t struggle to defend your living standards; pay the costs of foreign wars; eat less and pay more; deport foreign-born workers; use less electricity and gasoline, forget about safety, Social Security, and jobs.
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This way of handling the economic crisis can be stated in nine words: “What’s good for big business is good for America.”
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The Rockefellers, DuPonts, Mellons, Morgans, and other families like them who run the country think they were born with rights that come first no matter what happens to the welfare and security of the rest of us. For the sake of profits they think ifs perfectly justifiable to lay off tens of thousands of workers, to destroy our environment, or to plunge the country into war.
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They are a tiny minority who brush aside the rights of the American people.
Defend the Democratic Rights of the Majority! (Read More)
U.S.:
Shadow Government Statistics Daily Update (March 8th to 9th)