Daily News Digest August 18, 2022
Images of the Day:
This is No Time for Climate Complacency!
Another Example Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Has Been Aware of the Comming Catastrophe of Global Warming for Over 5 Decades 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!
Quotes of the Day:
Any suggestion that the ‘neoliberal state’ is not already an interventionist state is sheer nonsense. Were the huge stimulus packages that bailed out the banks not interventionist? The capitalist state always, in the end, does what is necessary to sustain capitalism, regardless of the differing ideologies between social democrats, liberals, conservatives and fascists, who argue only over their various self-interests, how best to sustain capitalism and how much carrot and stick to use in managing the working class. Ultimately they form an anti-communist, anti-working class coalition. Bourgeois democracy is in effect a one-party state, ie an all capitalist state. Like any party, it comprises numerous factions. This reality is neatly obscured by the pretence of various party colours.” ― Ted Reese, Socialism or Extinction: Climate, Automation and War in the Final Capitalist Breakdown
Videos of the Day:
The New Constitution in Chile – Taking Back Control of Water as a Public Good (English)
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!
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both— Supreme Court Judge Louis D. Brandeis
One Errant Missile Away: War in the Nuclear Zone A potential worldwide nuclear accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is back on the agenda. The UN and the IAEA, without addressing any of the parties to the conflict directly, are pleading for an end to the shelling of the nuclear plant. According to international media reports, the Russian army has deployed not only troops but also weapons on the territory of the plant. How bad is the situation? Only a nuclear catastrophe, like the one at Chernobyl, can be worse. Let me remind you that one reactor exploded then. The radioactive cloud moved in such a way that not only parts of the present-day Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, but also many countries in Europe became contaminated. Part of the radiation reached Africa and even North America.
Poll Finds 3 in 4 Voters Want to Expand Social Security by Taxing the Rich New polling finds that bipartisan majorities of voters support plans to expand Social Security by taxing the rich, showing that the public overwhelmingly backs Democrats’ recent proposals to bring stability and funding to the program. Polling conducted by Data for Progress last month found that 81 percent of respondents strongly or somewhat support Democrats’ plans to peg Social Security benefits to the cost of living, including 88 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of Republicans.
Biden Administration Has No Plan for Monkeypox Vaccine Access in Prisons Last month, the Biden administration declared the monkeypox virus— which is primarily spread by skin-to-skin contact— a public health emergency. While anyone can get and transmit the virus, it has thus far disproportionately impacted men who have sex with men. Experts say that is also likely to be the case behind bars, where thousands are crowded into tight facilities and sex is often traded for safety, and in many cases prisoners in laundry facilities must wash each other’s bedding and clothing. But the Biden administration has no plans to administer or require vaccines to prevent the spread of monkeypox behind bars, officials confirmed to The 19th.
Americans Rarely See the True Face of Israel’s Bombing Of Gaza By shying away from graphic images of death, news organizations sanitize the violence of Israeli aggression against Palestinians. When a ceasefire on Sunday night ended a three-day Israeli offensive in the Gaza strip, over 350 Palestinians were wounded and 46 were dead, including 16 children, according to Palestinian officials. Media coverage in the U.S. was mainly led by photographs of smoke-filled skies or Gazans walking amid piles of rubble. While the photos were accurate and recent, the safety of selecting these images, rather than graphic ones, effectively portrayed a reality for American audiences far removed from what had truly unfolded on the ground.
Environment: Ecocide or Ecosocialism!:
Climate and environmental justice (EJ) advocates see a dark cloud on the horizon, however. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer has announced that, as part of the deal to secure Senate passage of the IRA, he agreed to a second bill, misleadingly referred to as a “permitting reform” package. While the actual text isn’t public yet, the American Petroleum Institute (API), a trade association for fossil fuel companies, leaked a summary of the plan and draft bill text. API has this insider information because the “permitting reform” package is their idea. Based on the API leak, this proposal would restrict public access to the courts to seek remedies against illegal project development; place arbitrary limits on the amount of time the public has to comment on polluting projects; curtail public input, environmental review, and government accountability; require a certain number of harmful fossil fuel projects to be designated as “projects of strategic national importance” to receive priority federal support, assistance, and expedited environmental review; undermine the Clean Water Act; and more. — Don’t Weaken the Climate Deal with Gift to Big Oil ‘Permitting Reform’: The American Petroleum Institute (API) leaked a summary of their plan and draft bill text.
Since environmental illness and destruction are a global concern, it requires all of humanity to act collectively, in our overall interests for our survival as a species, to correct the problem and to remove the obstacle of capitalism. It requires a society where humanity has social, economic, and political control over the entire environment. Such a society, a socialist society, is needed to ensure that all decisions affecting the environment are under the democratic control of humankind so that the production of goods will be done for the needs and survival of humanity instead of the production and the destruction of humanity and other species for profit. With common ownership of the means of production, and common control and protection of all property and wealth, science and society will be in harmony with the ecosystem and humanity’s future. With these goals we can begin to build a more effective environmental movement. As we continue to organize against capitalism and its destructive course, we can and will transform the world! — Roland Sheppard, Profits vs. The Planet: Does Humanity Have a Future? The Environmental Crisis of Capitalism (1999)
EPA (Energy Protection agency)Data Problems Obscure Methane Emissions But Cheniere’s CE tags downplay the industry’s environmental impact, Donaghy said. They rely on EPA calculations that have been shown to underestimate methane releases by shale drillers. The general rule of thumb is that if gas drillers are leaking more than 3.2 to 3.4 percent of the gas they produce, then gas is worse for the climate than coal. The EPA assumes a national methane leakage rate of about 1.4 percent. But it uses models, rather than actual measurements. Studies have shown that the EPA has consistently undercounted methane pollution from oil and gas operations. The Permian basin in West Texas and New Mexico is particularly dirty — a recent study pegged methane leaks at 9.4 percent, six times worse than EPA estimates, and offered evidence that Permian gas is vastly worse for the climate than coal. “In the scientific literature, people have come around to the perspective that the EPA is sort of systematically underestimating methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure,” Donaghy said. And because Cheniere’s data is premised on the EPA approach, it too is undercounting methane, the report alleges. — LNG Exporter Downplays Emissions to Justify Expansion
New Book
Why It’s Socialism Or Extinction Martin Empson’s new book argues for a revolutionary transformation away from fossil fuel capitalism. Sophie Squire reviews the strategy and tactics he says we need to avoid climate disaster Arguments about how we tackle the climate crisis are raging at every level of society, from those at the top to activists on the ground. As war in Ukraine grinds on, states are sprinting to invest in more fossil fuels. Martin Empson’s new book, Socialism or Extinction—The meaning of Revolution in a Time of Ecological Disaster, takes on what sort of revolution we need to stop climate destruction. It is a tool kit for activists, and argues a profit-led system is leading to climate collapse. But the book also says there is a way out. To understand how to fight the climate crisis that faces us, it is essential to know where it came from. The starting chapters explore how capitalism, a system which began in Britain and parts of Low Land Europe in the 17th century, has created a climate crisis. Drawing on the writings of the revolutionary Karl Marx, Martin makes the case that capitalist accumulation and com
Europe Dries Up …What makes the current crisis in Europe significant is its scale. According to the European Drought Observatory, 64% of the land in the European Union is being affected by drought, with 47% of the territory classed as having “warning” conditions, and 17% facing “alert” conditions. The European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC) has gone so far as to warn that the current drought may be the worst in 500 years. That particularly bold assessment, to be more precise, comes from senior researcher Andrea Toreti. “Just to give you an idea, the 2018 drought was so extreme that, looking back at least the last 500 years, there were no other events similar to the drought of 2018, but this year I think it is really worse than 2018.”
Coming Together to Save Earth Could Be the Best Project Ever Undertaken by the Human Species A redistribution of wealth and localization of power can only come through bottom-up initiatives in which individual leaders see their work connecting with others as part of a larger transformation. In his message launching the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on April 4, 2022, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres offered the following chilling observation: “Climate scientists warn that we are already perilously close to tipping points that could lead to cascading and irreversible climate impacts. But high emitting governments and corporations are not just turning a blind eye; they are adding fuel to the flames.
Amid Warnings of ‘Catastrophic Collapse,’ Feds Cut Colorado River Water Use in Arizona, Nevada “Nothing has changed with today’s news,” said one conservationist, “except for the fact that the Colorado River system keeps crashing.” Amid extreme drought driven by the climate emergency and warnings of a possible “catastrophic collapse” of the dwindling Colorado River, the U.S. Interior Department, on Tuesday, announced the first-ever tier 2 shortage for the overdrawn vital waterway, triggering water use cuts in two Southwestern states and Mexico for 2023.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Labor:
Economy:
Shadow Government Satistics Daily Update – August 16th to 17th Today’s Update covers just-released July 2022 Industrial Production and Housing Starts, amidst downside revisions to and slowing in annual Production growth and a sharp collapse in Starts to a Pre-Pandemic low.
- Yesterday’s July 2022 Cass Freight Index®, was down unadjusted by 1.7% in the month, up 0.4% year-to-year.
- August 2022 Consumer Sentiment (University of Michigan) “moved up very slightly.”
- Recently covered July 2022 Payroll Employment purportedly regained its Pre-Pandemic Peak by a minimal (albeit not statistically significant) 0.02% or 32,000 jobs;
- Real Second-Quarter 2022 GDP showed a second consecutive quarterly contraction, consistent with a “New Recession,” induced by the FOMC (see July 27th discussion).
- A renewed downturn appears to be in play, despite intensifying official obfuscation already underway.
- July 2022 limited-history PPI Inflation softened month-to-month and year-to-year, off record highs of recent months, given declining gasoline/ energy prices, but otherwise at broad levels last seen 47-years ago in its traditional
- Finished Goods Series (Bureau of Labor Statistics – BLS). Similarly, although gasoline-price are depressed off recent peaks, July 2022
- CPI Inflation measures otherwise still were the highest seen in 75-years ago (ShadowStats-Alternate) and 41-years ago (BLS). June 2022 Money Supply showed no noticeable slackening in headline money growth or anything suggestive of pending Inflation relief.
The Fed Issues a Warning to Member Banks about Engaging in Crypto Activities After crypto has blighted trust in the financial landscape of the United States and left tens of thousands of Americans as victims of theft, or locked out of access to their money, the Federal Reserve has finally found the courage to take on the loud-mouthed crypto hawkers and issue a warning. The Fed sent a letter yesterday to supervisory staff at its 12 regional Federal Reserve banks and to all Fed member banks. The letter started out with a curious sentence (potentially crafted to assuage the loud-mouthed crypto hawkers which include a significant number of right-wing members of Congress on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees which oversee the Fed). The sentence read: “The emerging crypto-asset sector presents potential opportunities to banking organizations, their customers, and the overall financial system…” (Italics added.)
World:
Brazil’s Lula has 12% Lead Over Bolsonaro, Would Win Run-Off by 16%, Says Poll ” SAO PAULO, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has a 12-percentage-point lead over far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the October election, according to a new poll published on Monday. The survey by IPEC, formerly known as IBOPE, showed Lula with 44% of voter support against 32% for Bolsonaro in the first round of the election schedule for Oct. 2. In an expected run-off between the two men on Oct. 30, should no candidate win 50% plus one of the valid votes, Lula would get elected by 51% of the votes versus 35% for Bolsonaro, a 16-point gap, the poll showed.
India’s Media at 75: Shackled by Profit, Politically Imprisoned The media’s failure to cover the exodus of millions of migrant laborers from cities back to their villages was not unrelated to the Great Downsizing. These same segments of the media, too, have said barely a word in their editorials on the arrests, detentions, denial of bail, and the hundreds of cases against media persons—some under sections of laws not applied to journalists in over 100 years. The ‘mainstream’ media’s silence on the assault on democracy that India has seen for years now is not just about cowardice—though there’s dollops of that—but also about complicity and collaboration, coaxing and coercion.
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 Healthcare!