Daily News Digest August 10, 2021
Images of the Day:
Another Example of Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Was Aware of the Danger of Cornovavirus Threat Over 5 Years 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 future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
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:
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Nobel Prize winner for chemistry in 2009) pointed out that the current model of developing medicine will not work for infectious diseases for two reasons. One is that drug companies do not see an incentive for developing a drug that cures patients in a few days. The other is that infectious diseases are far more prevalent in poorer countries, and the poor cannot pay the prices that multinational drug companies want. Whether it is medicines for infectious drugs or vaccines, both of which address public health issues, multinational companies and big pharma have very little interest. That is why infectious diseases have been forgotten—by rich countries, who think it is only a problem of the third world; and by big pharma, which does not see any profits from such drugs. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the other contradiction in the capitalist world: ill health produces profits; a healthy population does not. Money is to be made from disease when people buy pills or have to go to hospitals. — Why Capitalism Can’t Cure Global Pandemics
“Never forget that we had all the scientific evidence we needed to act on global warming over 40 years ago… Global warming isn’t a tragedy, it’s a crime.” —Jamie Henn, Climate Movement Says ‘Apocalyptic’ IPCC Report Signals ‘Moment to Rise Up’
Videos of the Day:
“A Code Red for Humanity”: Major U.N. Report Warns of Climate Catastrophe If Urgent Action Not Taken
From Fires to Floods to Sea Level Rise, Human-Induced Climate Crisis Is Severely Disrupting Earth
Greta Thunberg: New IPCC Report Is a Wake-Up Call for All About the Escalating Climate Emergency
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, who profit from war and the war budget, voted 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!
In fact, on January 11, 2002, in a report by Cate Jenkins, of the EPA Hazardous Waste Identification Division stationed in Manhattan, compared asbestos levels found in lower Manhatten to the Libby, Montana Superfund site. Her conclusion was that lower Manhatten should also be declared a Superfund ste. Needless to say, the EPA has ignored its own report. In January, 2002, I attended a panel discussion “reporting back” about the hazardous conditions from the implosion of the World Trade Center. This meeting was sponsored by Cal-OSHA, “Worksafe!,” and other safety organizations. The reporters explained that The Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Standard (HAZWOPER) cleanup regulations were suspended for the cleanup of the World Trade Center “dustpile.” And that OSHA was prevented from enforcing work safety regulations and relegated to merely an advisory status. (Employers thus faced no penalties for putting workers at risk.). The haste to rapidly dispose of hazardous waste, unencumbered by safety regulations, compounded the environmental damage and the catastrophic damage to humans working and living in the affected area. To make matters worse, the government led people to believe that things were safe. They did not inform the workers and residents in the area of the immediate risks and long range risks to their longevity. — 9-11 World Trade Center Dust Cloud: How Many Will Die?!
US/Biden Fiddle As the World Burns: Biden Made Big Compromises on Climate — and Movements That Backed Him Are Livid As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden unveiled a plan to tackle climate change, which he termed “an existential threat — not just to our environment, but to our health, our communities, our national security, and our economic well-being.” He promised “a bold plan — a Clean Energy Revolution — to address this grave threat.”
Families of 9/11 Victims Tell Biden to Release Info or Stay Away From Memorials early 1,800 family members, survivors, and first responders who were affected by the September 11 attacks are intensifying pressure on the federal government to declassify information that they believe points to Saudi leaders’ involvement in or support for the attacks, with the group calling on President Joe Biden to stay away from next month’s 20th anniversary memorial events unless he releases the documents first.
Polluted Democrat $enator in the Polluted Senate: Manchin Bailed Out a Power Plant That Helps His Family Profit From Coal Waste In the late 1980s, Joe Manchin was a West Virginia state senator with a part-time salary from the legislature and a failing carpet business. According to a 2014 lawsuit filed by Joe’s brother, Dr. John Manchin II, the Manchin Carpet Center, which Joe had started years before with their brother Roch, required funding and a loan guarantor to avoid bankruptcy. To bail his brothers out, John Manchin’s suit claims he provided more than $1.7 million to pay off their debt in exchange for becoming a partner in their company Manchin Brothers and a one-third stake in the brothers’ next venture: a coal reserves and brokerage business.
Environment:
Climate Movement Says ‘Apocalyptic’ IPCC Report Signals ‘Moment to Rise Up’ “It’s way past time for policymakers to translate this stark warning into action.”Climate activists didn’t need yet another report to tell them that continued inaction in the face of accelerating global warming would be catastrophic—the evidence is plain for all to see. But the Monday release of a U.N. panel’s detailed assessment of the latest science offered a fresh opportunity for climate campaigners to ramp up pressure on world governments to completely end their reliance on and devotion to fossil fuels before it’s too late. According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that moment is fast approaching.
‘Code Red for Humanity’: IPCC Report Warns Window for Climate Action Is Closing Fast “Many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, and some of the changes already set in motion—such as continued sea level rise—are irreversible.” —I PCC. “The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.” 
With Trout Dying Across the Northern Rockies, Why is Poisoning More Trout in the Scapegoat Wilderness Area a Top Priority? Apparently The American Fisheries Society doesn’t approve of citizens criticizing the plan by Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to use rotenone to poison all the fish in 67 miles of streams and lakes in and flowing out of the Scapegoat Wilderness Area. But considering those lakes and streams are also part of federally-designated Critical Habitat for bull trout in the North Fork of Montana’s Blackfoot River – and the past record of poison and plant projects in Montana – criticizing the project is not only justified, it’s necessary.
When Even the Conservative International Energy Agency (IEA) Sounds an Alarm on Climate, the World Must Listen Like a carousel of bad news coming from all four corners of the globe, the year thus far has borne witness to a litany of extreme weather events and stark research findings with one grim overarching message: The world is still failing miserably to adequately respond to the already devastating impacts of the climate crisis.
UK/Bulgarian Coal-Fired Power Plant May be Under-Reporting Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Investigation Finds A major power plant has avoided paying around €30 million under Europe’s Emissions Trading System by reporting less pollution than is likely. The heart of Bobov Dol power plant is a hot, dark, noisy chamber. Lumps of coal litter the floor beside pools of oil and water leaking from decades-old machinery, relics of the Soviet era when workers flocked to build one of Bulgaria’s largest coal-fired facilities.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
‘Inexcusably Cruel’: 7.5 Million Set to Lose Jobless Benefits on Labor Day “Benefits expiring on Labor Day is a cruel joke that only wealthy politicians could come up with.” Unless Congress and the Biden administration act quickly, more than seven million people across the United States will soon completely lose unemployment benefits that were approved as part of the federal government’s emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic—which is nowhere near over.
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistic Daily Update (August 9th to 11th)
- Stronger Than Expected July 2021 Labor Conditions
- 3 Unemployment Dropped to 5.4%, from 5.9% in June [see the ALTERNATE DATA tab, above]; at the Same Time the Potential Number of “Unemployed” Misclassified as “Employed” Rose from 336,000 to 420,000
- Jobs Surged by 943,000 in the Month, Leaving Payrolls Still Shy of Recovering Pre-Pandemic Activity by 3.7% (-3.7%)
- Second-Quarter 2021 Real Merchandise Trade Deficit Widened to a Record Shortfall [see LATEST NUMBERS]
- Preliminary July 2021 Monetary Base Numbers All Hit New All-Time or Cycle-High Growth, with Money Supply Levels and Growth at Historic Peaks
- July FOMC Policies Were Unchanged [See the SYSTEMIC RISK Section for FOMC and Money Supply Details] • T
- he Still-Unfolding “Recession-Depression” Recovery Remains Well Shy of Its Pre-Recession Peak, as Reflected in Payroll Employment, for Example [See coverage in the LATEST NUMBERS Section]
- COMBINED IMPACT: Reflecting the Surge in Money, June CPI and PPI and Second-Quarter GDP Inflation Have Exploded, Well in Excess of Consensus Expectations, While Faltering Business Activity Has Begun to Intensify Anew
Allegation that Ken Griffin Is Running Citadel Connect as a Dark Pool Is Posted on SEC Chair Gensler’s Twitter Page On August 4, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, sat for an interview on CNBC. During that interview, Gensler mentioned that his Twitter followers were posting comments on his Twitter page about Dark Pools. Specifically, this is what Gensler said: “We are taking a real close look at market structure and I recently started, you know, engaging on Twitter and to some of those Twitter followers that are writing about Dark Pools, we are looking very closely at this market structure that so many of our orders, retail public orders are not going to the lit markets but are going to internalizers, going to wholesalers, were taking the retail public’s trades rather than sending them to the stock exchanges.”
World:
China’s Crackdown On the Three Mountains A December 2020 meeting of the Chinese Communist party Politburo, vowed to end what it called a “disorderly expansion of capital”. The Chinese leaders were worried that the capitalist sector in China had got too big for its boots. A December 2020 meeting of the Chinese Communist party Politburo, vowed to end what it called a “disorderly expansion of capital”. The Chinese leaders were worried that the capitalist sector in China had got too big for its boots. Companies like Jack Ma’s Ant Group had expanded into consumer financing and looked to raise foreign funds to do so. In effect, the Ant Group aimed to take over household lending from the state banks. Ant was going to do what it liked and said so with a lot of fanfare in the press. Ant and other Chinese capitalist tech and media companies were increasingly engaged in typically ‘Western’-type mergers, secret contracts and other financial irregularities.
Haiti: Assassination of Moïse and the Role of imperialism Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in early July. Many of the details surrounding his assassination are still shrouded in mystery. While 27 suspects have been arrested and a total of 44 have been detained—including four police officers and 18 former Colombian soldiers—there remain many questions, including who organized the assassination and why. There are two different versions of events emerging with regard to Moïse’s assassination. The first, from the Haitian police, says that the former Colombian soldiers and two Haitian Americans were hired by Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Florida-based Haitian physician and self-styled pastor who allegedly plotted the assassination and planned to take power upon Moïse’s death. Money for the operation was raised by the Worldwide Investment Development group and funneled through a Miami-based security company called CTU Security. CTU Security is run by a Venezuelan man named Antonio Intriago, who has connections with the right-wing opposition in Venezuela and has connections with Colombian reactionaries in Miami. A picture has emerged of him and the current right-wing Colombian president Ivan Duque, who denies knowing Intriago.
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 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!
A Tsunami of Disability Is Coming as a Result of ‘Long COVID’ We need to plan for a future where millions of survivors are chronically ill Even as U.S. policy makers and business leaders seek to put the COVID pandemic in the rearview mirror with the help of highly effective vaccines, a fundamental policy and planning gap is looming. Many who survive the initial viral illness suffer debilitating long-term sequelae. Unlike the common cold or even influenza, this virus causes a bewildering array of symptoms that persist long after the acute illness is resolved and can render some affected unable to resume their usual activities. As scientists and clinicians continue to delineate the “long-haul” course of COVID, policy makers and planners must anticipate and prepare for the impact of this new cause of disability, including its implications for federal and private worker’s compensation and disability insurance programs and support services.
Capitalist Priorities — War Trumps Pandemic!: The UK Is Embarking on Largest Military Spending Hike Since the Cold War Boris Johnson’s government seems to want to reach for military solutions even against recent allies. ate last year, with the pandemic in full, brutal swing, Boris Johnson’s Conservative government in the U.K. announced a nearly 17 billion pound (what was then $21.9 billion) increase in military spending. The increase, spread over four years, represented the largest hike in “defense” investments since the end of the Cold War, and, while it was a tiny fraction of what the U.S. spends annually on defense, made clear Britain’s ambition to be seen as a global military superpower once more. In an era of escalating tensions between a U.S.-led NATO and Russia, and during a period in which economic competition between China and the West is increasingly morphing into a high-stakes arms race, Britain’s move to ramp up military spending made clear that the U.K. won’t be sitting out these new global struggles.