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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!
Images of the Day:
Predicting the coming catastrophe if the mode of production does not change, Rachel Carson wrote in The Sea Around Us: “It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose, should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.” . . .
‘Misery on a global scale’: All by itself, ocean warming is a major threat to the stability of the world’s largest ecosystem — but ocean warming does not occur “all by itself.” The deadly trio of ocean warming, loss of oxygen and acidification are all consequences of disrupting the global carbon cycle. Burning massive amounts of long-buried carbon has changed the ocean’s chemistry, heated the water and driven out oxygen. Those processes take place simultaneously and reinforce each other, making the ocean increasingly inhospitable, even deadly, for living things from microbes to whales. Worse, the deadly trio isn’t acting alone. Overfishing has wiped out many species, and it’s predicted that most wild fish populations will be 90% depleted by 2050. Pollutants, including tons of plastics that essentially last forever, are poisoning marine life from coastlines to the deepest trenches. Nitrogen fertilizer run-off has created a thousand or more dead zones in coastal waters and estuaries. Off-shore oil wells are leaking deadly hydrocarbons, and mining companies are preparing to dredge rare minerals from the deep sea floor, destroying some of the few remaining undamaged parts of Earth’s surface. As environmental geologists Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams write, “a wholesale refashioning of the marine ecosystem” is now underway. If business as usual continues, “pervasive changes in the physical, chemical and biological boundary conditions of the sea … [will] transform, irreversibly, and for the worse, the Earth and its oceans.”[13]. The effect of that transformation was summed up by Agence France-Presse, in its account of the IPCC’s 2019 report on the oceans: “The same oceans that nourished human evolution are poised to unleash misery on a global scale unless the carbon pollution destabilizing Earth’s marine environment is brought to heel.”[14] — Triple Crisis in the Anthropocene Ocean. Part Three: The Heat of 3.6 Billion Atom Bombs
Videos of the Day:
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 Reublicrats 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!
Why Biden Will Keep the U.S.-Imposed Cold War Rolling Much will certainly change in the world of U.S. foreign policy when Joe Biden enters the White House. There will be a more measured tone, and less reliance upon Twitter to announce U.S. policy. Trump is brusque, as illustrated by the way he shoved aside Montenegro’s Prime Minister Dusko Markovic at the 2017 NATO meeting; Biden might not push and shove his way to the front of the group, but his silvery smile will camouflage as ruthless a set of aims. On foreign policy, Biden will appear to be different from Trump, but the broad outlines of their policy will be identical. By Vijay Prashad
‘The Real Looting in America Is the Walton Family’: GAO Report Details How Taxpayers Subsidize Cruel Low Wages of Corporate Giants “The real looting in America is the Walton family becoming $63 billion richer during a pandemic, while paying wages so low that 14,541 of their workers in 9 states need food stamps—all subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. Yes. The Walton family is the real welfare queen in America.” —Warren Gunnels, staff director for Sen. Bernie Sanders I say to the Walton family: Get off welfare,” declared Sen. Bernie Sanders in response to the government study he commissioned. “Pay your workers a living wage—at least $15 an hour.” By Jon Queally
Environment:
Triple Crisis in the Anthropocene Ocean. Part Three: The Heat of 3.6 Billion Atom Bombs Until the 1970s, the constant flow of energy that Earth receives from the sun was offset by heat reflected back into space, so the planet’s overall energy level did not change very much over time. The amount of incoming solar energy has not changed, but rising concentrations of greenhouse gases are trapping ever more of the reflected heat, preventing it from leaving the atmosphere. Climate scientists call this Earth’s Energy Imbalance. The excess energy is not distributed evenly through the Earth System. Although global warming is usually expressed as increased air temperatures, the ocean is actually much better at storing heat than the atmosphere — one degree of ocean warming stores over 1000 times as much heat energy as one degree of atmosphere warming — so it isn’t surprising that the ocean has taken up most of the excess solar energy. Just seven percent warms the air and land and melts snow and ice — 93 percent is absorbed by the ocean.[2] By Ian Angus
The ‘Market’ Won’t Save Us From Climate Disaster. We Must Rethink Our System Expecting the free market to fix global warming is like trying to pound nails with a saw! — Nicholas Stern, the former chief economist of the World Bank, calls climate change the “greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen”. — The massive wildfires that have been rampaging across the American west this year are not purely natural disasters. They are partly products of the unnatural disaster of climate change – “unnatural”, in that the ultimate responsibility for global warming belongs not to physics but to our economic system. Sadly, climate change is only one – albeit a whopper – of the countless market failures that degrade our lives. By Robert S Devine
‘No Vaccine for Climate Change’: Coronavirus Has Been Disastrous, Says Red Cross, But Global Warming Poses Greater Threat “The Covid-19 pandemic has shown how vulnerable the world is to a truly global catastrophe. But another, bigger, catastrophe has been building for many decades, and humanity is still lagging far behind in efforts to address it.” By Kenny Stancil
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Black Misleaders Back Susan Rice as Top Diplomat Genocide in Congo and militarization of the African continent are Susan Rice’s specialties, but Black Democrats see her as a “role model.” Genocide in Congo and militarization of the African continent are Susan Rice’s specialties, but Black Democrats see her as a “role model.” — “Rice cultivated relations with every pro-U.S. warlord in Africa.” — No one in high levels of U.S. government has been more intimately complicit in the death of more than six million Africans in the Democratic Republic of Congo than Susan Rice, the bloodstained Democratic Party political operative who is actively seeking the job of secretary of state in the incoming Biden administration. If recent history is a guide, we can expect the entirety of the Black Democratic establishment to support this uber-criminal’s elevation as a fitting reward to Black voters for putting Joe Biden in the White House – thus implicating all of Black America in the largest genocide since World War Two. Rice is a protégé of former secretary of state Madelaine Albright, who in 1996 infamously described the sanctions-induced death of half a million Iraqi children as “worth it ” to punish the Saddam Hussein regime. But Rice has bested her mass murderous mentor in total career body count. As President Bill Clinton’s national security advisor (1993 to 1997), senior director for African Affairs (1995 to 1997) and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (1997 to 2001), Rice was the point person in Wash-ington’s massive coverup of the invasion, pillage and depopulation of Congo by the armies of U.S. client states Rwanda and Uganda. In service to the Obama administration (ambassador to the United Nations, 2009-2013, national security advisor, 2013-2017), Rice smothered a United Nations Mapping Report that documented Rwandan and Ugandan crimes against Congo, including potentially genocidal offenses, and protected Uganda from the International Court of Justice’s award of $10 billion in damages to the Democratic Republic Congo. By Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor Image: Susan Rice with her great “friend,” the late Ethiopian warlord Meles Zenawi
Labor:
‘About to Be Catapulted Off a Cliff’: Study Shows 12 Million Set to Lose Jobless Benefits After Christmas “With no end to the pandemic in sight, and a cutoff of nearly all federal unemployment benefits by year’s end looming on the horizon, inaction by Congress could mean that millions of American families will enter the New Year with little or no means of support.” By Kenny Stancil
The US Working Class Meets the Elections and Loses Ground The recent election campaign pitted one capitalist-oriented political party against another. But class conflict continued and working people did not fare well. The election period was show-time for U.S. racial antagonisms. Candidates of both parties responded variously to racism. With working-class voters filling the ranks of each one, the U.S. working class was shown to be divided as it responded to racism. These are divisions that weaken the working class. The police killing of George Floyd occurred in late May. Soon crowds of white and Black people were protesting together in little towns and big cities of the United States and even worldwide. This unprecedented display of Black-white unity might have been a golden moment. Justice-minded candidates for office, Black and white, might have raised their voices against the racism permeating the U.S. experience. By W. T. Whitney
Workers are just ‘cannon fodder’ in the war at the point of production: the ‘killing fields’ of the United States: Lawsuit: Tyson Managers Bet Money On How Many Workers Would Contract COVID-19 A wrongful death lawsuit tied to COVID-19 infections in a Waterloo pork processing plant alleges that during the initial stages of the pandemic, Tyson Foods ordered employees to report for work while supervisors privately wagered money on the number of workers who would be sickened by the deadly virus.Earlier this year, the family of the late Isidro Fernandez sued the meatpacking company, alleging Fernandez was exposed to the coronavirus at the Waterloo plant where he worked. The lawsuit alleges Tyson Foods is guilty of a “willful and wanton disregard for workplace safety.” By Clark Kauffman
Economy:
Fifteen Asia-Pacific Countries Sign World’s Largest Free Trade Agreement The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was signed November 15 by 15 Asia-Pacific countries, to great fanfare in China’s pro-regime press. Currently of relatively limited economic scope, it could in the long term be a fulcrum in the fierce struggle between the major powers to conquer Asian markets. At a virtual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on November 15, its 10 members — along with China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand — ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), creating the world’s largest free trade agreement. China immediately hailed it as “a victory for multilateralism and free trade,” clearly referring to the failure of the Trans-Pacific Partnership — from which China had been xcluded — after the United States withdrew from it in 2017. For China specifically, this victory is both political and symbolic. By Jean Beide
Shadow Government Stistics Daily Update (November 18th to 20th) – Pending Special Benchmark Economic Commentary, Issue No. 1452 (see Posting Schedule) will post next week. – Pending Data: Cass Freight Index®, likely this week. – Systemic Risk section has been updated.
General Headlines
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Pandemic-Driven U.S. Economic Collapse Continues in a Hardening, Protracted “L”-Shaped Recovery
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Panicked, Unlimited Federal Reserve Money Creation and Federal Government Deficit Spending Continue and Have Begun to Trigger Major Domestic Inflation
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With Fundamental Dollar Debasement Intensifying, Holding Physical Gold and Silver Protects the Purchasing Power of One’s Assets
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Scroll down for the latest ShadowStats outlook, headline economic news and background information on the U.S. Economy, Financial System (FOMC), Financial Markets and Alternate Data, also for Publicly Available Special Reports and Contact Information.
Systemic Risk: Ongoing Outlook: Economic and Systemic Risks continue to intensify, moving towards a Hyperinflationary Economic Collapse.
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Economic, FOMC, financial-market, political and social circumstances continue to evolve along with the Pandemic. Positive announcements on COVID-19 vaccines hold out prospects for some economic recovery in 2021.
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Still, the U.S. economy and personal finances have suffered meaningful structural damage from the shutdown, and ongoing massive Fiscal and Monetary Stimulus likely will expand well into 2021 and 2022.
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At his November FOMC Press Conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reconfirmed that extraordinarily expansive and accommodative Monetary policies, and Fed Funds targeted at 0.00% to 0.25%, would continue for the duration of the Pandemic-driven economic collapse, and until the Fed’s “new” policy, of formally debasing the U.S. Dollar at a greater pace, shows results. Specifically, the FOMC looks for headline “Core” PCE inflation to move above what had been its formal 2.0% target, for an extended period (see No. 1449, with expanded analysis in pending No. 1452).
Uganda: attacks on Bobi Wine show paranoia of Museveni’s regimeOn Wednesday 18 November, Ugandan opposition politician Bobi Wine was violently arrested once again in the Luuka district. Various reports speak of violence towards him. One vehicle branded with incumbent President Museveni’s campaign brutally ploughed into a group of bystanders in Kampala that same afternoon, leaving several people dead – although the number of casualties is still unknown. It is reported that the car was being stoned shortly before the attack. Another presidential candidate, Patrick Amuriat has also been arrested. Other candidates are pausing campaigning until Wine is released. By Fiona Lali
Education, Health, Science, 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 they 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
United States: ‘Horrific’ Months Ahead as COVID-19 Rages Infections surged to a one-day record of 184,000 on November 13. In one week, the number of cases since the pandemic began went from 10 million to 11 million. Texas and California have each passed more than 1 million total cases. For the first time all areas of the US are affected. This new wave is growing fast and shows no indication of slowing down. Hospitalisations, which lag behind cases, have reached 70,000, ten thousand more than in the summer peak. Deaths are now at 1400 per day. This less than the daily rate of 2200, reached in March-April, due to medical workers and drug companies learning more on how to care for hospitalised patients. However, deaths are expected to reach new highs, as hospitalisations soar. According to the New York Times, in El Paso, Texas “there have been so many deaths in recent days that the county medical examiner parked five mobile morgue units – the size of trucks – outside its doors.” Barry Sheppard
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”
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!
Quotes 0f the Day:
World: