Daily News Digest May 13, 2022
Humanity Will Not be Covid Free, Until the Vaccines, Like the Salk Polio Vaccine, are Free For the Whole World!
Images of the Day:
Another Example Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Ws 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!
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”, is Still True for Today’s World!
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!
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!
Videos of the Day:
Rashid Khalidi: Israel Systematically Targets Palestinian Journalists to Hide Reality of Occupation
Quotes of the Day:
Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth! — Albert Einstein
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 th poor and gives to the Rich. Taxthe Rich! — They Can Afford to Pay!
On Adams and AOC, the Times Chooses Style of Substance Forget policy – it’s the battle of the brands. A recent piece in the New York Times (5/9/22) tells the story of two New York Cities and of two visions of the Democratic Party, one old school and pragmatic and the other one of idealistic hopes of millennials. The former, as the Times tells us, is embodied in Mayor Eric Adams, and the latter’s public face is Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The two have not been friendly with each other, and in the paper’s deep dive into their rivalry, we are treated to reporting on the differences in their public styles of politics. But this piece oversimplifies an important struggle going on in Democratic Party politics today, as socialists and progressives attempt to move the party leftward. And by boiling this struggle down superficial differences like generational personality types the paper is distracting readers from very real issues at hand, because there is wide skepticism about Adams’s so-called pragmatism as he wages a class war against his own residents and continues to raise eyebrows with his potentially corrupt administration.
US Fracking Boom Could Tip World To Edge Of Climate Disaster
140bn metric tons of planet-heating gases could be unleashed if fossil fuel extraction plans get green light, analysis shows The fate of the vast quantities of oil and gas lodged under the shale, mud and sandstone of American drilling fields will in large part determine whether the world retains a liveable climate. And the US, the world’s largest extractor of oil, is poised to unleash these fossil fuels in spectacular volumes. Planned drilling projects across US land and waters will release 140bn metric tons of planet-heating gases if fully realised, an analysis shared with the Guardian has found. The study, to be published in the Energy Policy journal this month, found emissions from these oil and gas “carbon bomb” projects were four times larger than all of the planet-heating gases expelled globally each year, placing the world on track for disastrous climate change.
Environment —Ecosocialism or Ecocied:
On the Eve of Destruction: UN Report Warns Earth at ‘Crossroads’ in Battle Against Global Drought Crisis The publication warns that without urgent action, an estimated 700 million people will be at risk of displacement by the end of the decade, while drought could affect over three-quarters of the world’s population by 2050. As United Nations and other experts gather in Côte d’Ivoire’s largest city for a major conference on fighting desertification, an agency of the world body published a new report warning that humanity is “at a crossroads” in drought management, and that mitigation must proceed “urgently, using every tool we can” if the planet is to avert catastrophic consequences.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
- Margaret Kimberley Obama and Liberals Killed Abortion Rights
The revelation that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision has not motivated left-wing democrats to effectively mobilize on an issue they claim to care about. They are made powerless by their dependence on liberalism and loyalty to people like Barack Obama who undermine them. - Editors, Black Agenda Review ESSAY: Black Soldiers of Imperialism, George Padmore, 1931 In 1931, George Padmore explained how African soldiers were mobilized for European wars.
- Raymond Nat Turner Bye, Big Sis Memories of the late Gael Davis, Los Angeles activist
- Ann Garrison Notes from Eritrea, Part II Contributing Editor Ann Garrison continues her reporting from the Horn of Africa. , organizer and actress from BAR’s poet in residence.
- Danny Haiphong Joe Biden and the Democrats Have Nothing to Offer Organized Labor, the ALU Included The Biden administration pays lip service to the trade union movement but has done nothing to break the Democratic Party’s long tradition of betraying workers. Joe Biden’s photo op with Christian Smalls is just their latest performative act.
- Roberto Sirvent BAR Book Forum: Gao Yunxiang’s “Arise Africa! Roar China!” This week’s featured author is Gao Yunxiang. Gao Yunxiang is Professor of History at Ryerson University. Her book is Arise, Africa! Roar, China!: Black and Chinese Citizens of the World in the Twentieth Century.
John Parker. To Honor Odessa Anti-Fascists, Stop Weapons to Ukraine! Statement by John Parker, Socialist Unity Party candidate for U.S. Senate in California on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. Parker is on a fact-finding trip observing the U.S./NATO proxy war on Donbass and Russia. - Kenny Stancil Investigation Shows Hundreds of US Cops Being Trained by Far-Right Extremists Policing in the United States is inherently racist and right wing. But individual members of right wing groups are also training police officers across the country.
- Ramzy Baroud Cost of the Ukraine War Felt in Africa, Global South
US/NATO sanctions against Russia have resulted in food shortages and price increases throughout the Global South. - Orinoco Tribune Cape Verde: Ulisses Correia Admits Kidnapping of Alex Saab was an Exchange for Cooperative Security The Trump and Biden administrations violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations by arresting and kidnapping Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Cape Verde was under U.S. pressure to participate in the crime.
- Vijay Prashad Money for Weapons as the World Burns $100 billion was pledged to assist the Global South amidst the climate change crisis but world wide defense spending now exceeds $2 trillion. War making trumps saving humanity from disaster.
- Carlos Martinez No to a New Monroe Doctrine in the Pacific
The U.S. and Australia have fiercely opposed the new security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands. They are attempting to construct a Monroe Doctrine in the Pacific, imposing US hegemony over the region as part of their long-term strategy of China containment. - José Luis Granados Ceja Summit of the Americas in ‘Danger’ as Caribbean States Threaten Boycott Over Cuba and Venezuela Exclusion The U.S. has not invited Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua to attend the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California. Other nations threaten to boycott if every American government is not in attendance. International solidarity limits U.S. efforts to bully and control other countries.
- Nontobeko Hlela Why Non-Alignment is Urgent for the Global South “We have been outside looking in for too long to believe the West will give us a seat at their table. We need financial autonomy and development that can withstand the attacks of the major powers.”
- Ali Abunimah Al Jazeera’s Iconic “Voice of Palestine” Killed During Israeli Raid Apartheid Israel continues its shameful tradition of targeting journalists. Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh is the latest person clearly identified as a journalist who was shot and killed by the IDF.
Labor:
A Soft Landing in the US is Possible But Unlikely “Inflation is much too high and we understand the hardship it is causing, and we’re moving expeditiously to bring it back down. We have both the tools we need and the resolve it will take to restore price stability on behalf of American families and businesses.” Thus did Jay Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, open the press conference that followed the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee last week. This was a grovelling apology. But it also sounded rather like Mario Draghi’s celebrated “whatever it takes” remark of July 2012. What does the Fed’s renewed commitment to low inflation signify for the future? Powell argued optimistically that “we have a good chance to have a soft or softish landing”. By this he meant that demand would be brought closer to supply, which could in turn “get wages down, and get inflation down without having to slow the economy and have a recession and have unemployment rise materially”. He also argued that “the economy is strong, and is well positioned to handle tighter monetary policy . . . but I’ll say I do expect that this will be very challenging”. The most puzzling thing about this line of argument is not the admission that the suggested path will be hard to achieve, but the belief that it will reach its destination. Is it even possible to lower inflation to target just by trimming overheating of the labour market?
Economy:
Corporate Debt, Fiscal Stimulus and the Next Recession The debt owed by corporations in the major economies has risen since the end of the Great Recession in 2009. With global growth slowing and the prospect rising of an outright global recession recurring ten years after the last one, the debt held by corporations may soon become so burdensome to a sufficiently large number of companies that it triggers a round of corporate bankruptcies. The banks will then see a sharp rise in non-performing loans. That could lead to a new credit crunch as banks refuse to lend to each other. Such a credit squeeze briefly erupted last month, when the US Federal Reserve was forced to inject over $50bn into the banking system in order to reverse a very sharp rise in inter-bank interest rates as cash-flush banks refused to help out weaker ones. The cause of that squeeze was a rise in the supply of government bonds as the Trump administration issued more to cover its rising budget deficit. Some banks were not able to fund the purchases they were committed to without borrowing. So, as bank reserves held with central banks in US, Europe and Japan have surged, interbank money market volume has declined.
Scandalized Dallas Fed Keeps It All in “The Family” with Appointment of Lorie Logan as President Yesterday, Thomas Falk and Claudia Aguirre, who were co-chairing the Dallas Fed’s Search Committee, announced that they had found the ideal candidate to become the new Dallas Fed President. They said it was a person who would “understand the economic issues and needs of the residents of Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico,” the areas served by the Dallas Fed. Given that criteria, one might have suspected that their candidate would have some relationship with Texas or its neighboring states. But no. Falk and Aguirre selected a person who works 1500 miles from the Dallas Fed, Lorie Logan, the head of the trading desks for the New York Fed, the only one of the 12 regional Fed banks to have trading desks (one in New York near the New York Stock Exchange and one in Chicago near the futures exchange). Logan’s official title at the New York Fed is System Open Market Account Manager and Executive Vice President. According to the statement released by the Dallas Fed, she will assume her duties as President on August 22.
World:
Another Easter Rising? No, But Sinn Féin Dominance Marks a Significant Turning Point Northern Ireland specialises in political watersheds after which nothing will supposedly ever be the same again. In the wake of the Assembly election, one British newspaper even compared the emergence of Sinn Féin as the single largest party with the Easter Rising of 1916, citing the WB Yeats poem about all being “changed, changed utterly, a terrible beauty is born”. It is certainly something of a turning point when Sinn Féin becomes the first nationalist party in the history of Northern Ireland to win more votes and representatives than the largest unionist party. This is so significant because the Northern Irish statelet was created 101 years ago specifically in order to guarantee a unionist and Protestant majority permanently in power. No wonder Sinn Féin and the nationalists are cock-a-hoop after they won 27 Assembly seats and polled 250,388 first-preference votes compared with the DUP’s 25 seats and 184,000 votes.
Education, Health, 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 Heslthcare!
