Daily News Digest August 22, 2022
Images of the Day:
Total Student Loan Debt (2002=2020)
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:
Why do we spend trillions of dollars preparing for and waging war and, in comparison, pennies on the creation of peace—on the outreach and empathy that emerge from our knowledge that we are all one? The Forbes story breaks down the amount of money the new budget proposal allots to each branch of the military, casually noting that 3.2 percent—this is approximately $25 billion—would go to…fasten your seatbelts!…the Space Force. “Space is vital to U.S. national security and integral to modern warfare,” the White House declared in a budget summary document. “The budget maintains America’s advantage by improving the resilience of U.S. space architectures to bolster deterrence and increase survivability during hostilities.” There’s not even a national debate about this. Basic human needs go barely addressed or, at worst, utterly unfulfilled at every level of the national and global social structure, and most politicians, most of the media, most people in power, meet it with a shrug. Sorry, the money isn’t there! But us-vs.-them still revs the engines of official thought, and they’ve just allotted $25 billion to fund a new version of Star Wars. — With Wars to Wage, Who Can Afford Peace?
Videos of the Day:
‘Permanent Distortion’ (E1819)
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
Investments in Projects Over People: An Equity Point of View on the Inflation Reduction Act Until the work of communities of color is seen as essential and not optional for climate, our work remains unfinished. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to meet with representatives from drug manufacturers, pharmacies, and state health departments on August 30 to “map out” how to shift the bill for coronavirus jabs and therapeu according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Biden-Trump Persecution of Julian Assange Both Biden and Trump look like moral midgets compared to Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who last month handed a letter to Biden about the besieged journalist. In this epistle, according to Reuters July 18, Lopez Obrador “defended Julian Assange’s innocence and renewed a previous offer of asylum to the Wikileaks founder,” in Mexico. This offer came in the month after the U.K. approved Assange’s extradition to the U.S., where he faces up to 175 years in prison on what everybody knows are trumped up charges under a law that shouldn’t even exist, the Espionage Act.
The Best Lack All Conviction as the River Goes Brown Liberals and moderates complain endlessly about the awfulness of Trumpian Republifascists in their families, workplaces, and communities and of course in United States politics. It’s understandable given the boundless vicious stupidity of the Trump era Amerikaners – the vast mass of MAGAts whose demented voices are so disproportionately over-represented in.US politics thanks to the right-tilted Minority Rule nature of the United States electoral and governance regime (see point # 5 below). Decent human beings have a legitimate need to vent about the monstrously mainstreamed far-right malignancy that stalks the land and controls one of its two viable political parties. Still, it’s tiresome to behold the nonstop eye-rolling and whining from liberals and moderates who commonly say little or nothing about the broader context within which Republi-fascism has arisen and who seem have to lack any real sense of how one might fight this deadly pathology beyond the passive resistance of bitching, mocking, and voting for nauseating, fascism-complicit corporate Democrats once every two and/or four years.
Student Loan Debt Statistics Let’s start with a general picture of the student loan landscape. The most recent data highlights:
- Nearly $1.75 trillion in total U.S. student loan debt.
- About 48 million Americans have student loan debt (45.4 million of whom have federal debt).
- 7% of student loans were 90 days or more delinquent as of the first quarter of 2022.
- The average monthly student loan payment was $300 before the White House instituted a repayment moratorium (the suspension is in place through Aug. 31, 2022).
Debt Activists Are Planning to Strike If Biden Doesn’t Extend Payment Pause If President Joe Biden doesn’t follow up on his pledge to provide much-needed relief to the 45 million Americans who hold student debt, activists will hold a debt strike, the Debt Collective announced on Thursday. The current student loan pause expires in less than two weeks, on August 31. The Biden administration’s decision on whether or not to extend the pause could sway the results of the upcoming midterm elections in November.
Environment: Ecocide or Ecosocialism!:
Scientists Petition EPA to Take Bold Steps Scientists are working on a plan to go beyond the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) recently signed by President Biden, which is supposed to tackle global warming, which, in turn, is tearing the planet apart, piece-by-piece. There’s more info on this very important petition filed by scientists to follow below, including a request for supporting signatures.
Is Sea-Greenwashing a Word? It Is Now. nterested in saving the oceans? Wall Street’s got you covered. New York Life Investments introduced the IQ Clean Oceans exchange-traded fund (ETF) “to track companies that create cleaner oceans through reduced pollution and better resource use.” So, do its holdings “create cleaner oceans”? Its top 10 companies (as of late August 2022) look pretty busy polluting, purveying plastic, or processing conflict minerals. Here they are:
Capitalism Won’t Fix the Climate Crisis. It Will Also Not Survive It. Bill McGuire is a volcanologist and Emeritus Professor of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at University College London. His main interests include volcano instability and lateral collapse, the nature and impact of global geophysical events and the effect of climate change on geological hazards. Bill McGuire: You are right, there is a wry twist to the titles of some of my earlier books. Drawing on my background in volcanology, and geophysical hazards in general, all these books deal with what we call low-frequency, high-impact events – things like asteroid impacts and volcanic super-eruptions. Such phenomena are extremely rare on the scale of a human lifetime, so the risk is very small in any single year. Consequently, I sought to flag their existence to people, to trigger a frisson of concern, but not to terrify, so a hint of the burlesque seemed appropriate. Hothouse Earth, however, is very different. Global heating and climate breakdown are with us now, rather than a vague ten thousand years down the line. As we confront the greatest threat in human history, there is absolutely no room for whimsy, so the book’s subtitle – an ‘inhabitant’s guide’ – signals that I am seeking, in all sincerity, to paint a picture – however grim – of what our future world is set to be like. Bill McGuire: You are right, there is a wry twist to the titles of some of my earlier books. Drawing on my background in volcanology, and geophysical hazards in general, all these books deal with what we call low-frequency, high-impact events – things like asteroid impacts and volcanic super-eruptions. Such phenomena are extremely rare on the scale of a human lifetime, so the risk is very small in any single year. Consequently, I sought to flag their existence to people, to trigger a frisson of concern, but not to terrify, so a hint of the burlesque seemed appropriate. Hothouse Earth, however, is very different. Global heating and climate breakdown are with us now, rather than a vague ten thousand years down the line. As we confront the greatest threat in human history, there is absolutely no room for whimsy, so the book’s subtitle – an ‘inhabitant’s guide’ – signals that I am seeking, in all sincerity, to paint a picture – however grim – of what our future world is set to be like
How A Top US Business Lobby Promised Climate Action – But Worked to Block Efforts Business Roundtable aims to weaken efforts that would enable investors to hold companies accountable for their climate promises. Three years ago today, in a statement that would be described as “historic”, “monumental” and “revolutionary”, America’s most powerful and politically connected corporations promised to “protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses”. The “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation” came from the Business Roundtable, an influential Washington DC lobbying group whose 200-plus members include the chief executives of some of the world’s biggest companies, including Apple, Pepsi, Walmart and Google.
Ants Can be Better Than Pesticides for Growing Healthy Crops, Study Finds Harnessing natural insect power can, with proper management, have higher efficacy than resorting to harmful chemicals Ants can be more effective than pesticides at helping farmers produce food, according to new research. They are better at killing pests, reducing plant damage and increasing crop yields, according to the first systematic review of ants’ contributions to crop production. Ants are generalist predators and hunt pests that damage fruits, seeds and leaves, leading to a drop in crop yields. A greater diversity of ants generally provides more protection against a wider range of pests, the study found.
Inflation Reduction Act’s Subsidies May Prop Up Aging Nuclear Plants for Years Nuclear plants have become practical and economic liabilities, but leaders are reluctant to give them up
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
As the U.S. Armed Police and Military Terrorize the Black Community and the World: Twenty Years Later, It Is Still Time to Dismantle the War on Terror Three days after the twin towers fell, then-President George W. Bush called for Americans to “unite.” What followed was the decades-long United States military-led campaign — the “war on terror” — which has resulted in the death of over 2 million Muslims; the expansion of a network of over 800 global U.S. military bases; and the creation of codified Islamophobia, the violence of which knows no bounds. The rhetoric framing and otherizing of Muslims as people inherently prone to terrorism has been embedded in the design of post-9/11 policies “overtly and covertly, domestic and external,” Maha Hilal recounts in her new book, Innocent Until Proven Muslim. From the get-go, the Bush administration swiftly deployed a version of public morality upholding dichotomous ideological values between the West and Islam — painting any response by the U.S. as “acceptable and even necessary.” As reported in the book, the five dimensions of the war on terror are: militarism and warfare, draconian immigration policy, surveillance, federal terrorism prosecutions, and detention and torture. The root of the war on terror — institutionalized Islamophobia laced with white supremacy — has allowed the U.S. government to carry out state-sanctioned violence without an ounce of accountability. Two decades later, Muslims abroad and in the U.S. are facing the repercussions of a plethora of xenophobic programs like the National Security Entry-Exit Registration system, the use of Guantánamo Bay prison to house and torture Muslim men, and surveillance initiatives like Countering Violent Extremism. Muslims in the U.S. are forced to reconcile with their identities, whether they’re making a trip to the mosque for Jummah prayer or calling out the U.S. government for the destruction of their homelands.
An Accused War Criminal Trained Florida Cops In “New Concepts of Shooting” A sign of the forever wars coming home, Eddie Gallagher trained officers from the Tallahassee Police Department. SHOULD A MILITARY veteran who has been reliably accused of war crimes, and who admitted that he killed a prisoner, be invited to train police officers on how to do their job? The police department in Tallahassee, Florida, found a surprising answer to that question. Retired Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, accused by his fellow operators of intentionally shooting civilians and murdering a prisoner in Iraq, shared a photo and video on Instagram last week in which he described working with Tallahassee police officers in close-quarters combat and other lethal skills. He posted a picture of himself flanked by the rifle-bearing officers in Florida, with his caption describing an “awesome day of training” with “an extraordinary group of men who were ready to train and take on new concepts of shooting and CQB to add to their tool box. It was truly an honor!”
Labor:
Victory to the Rail Strikes! Fight for Nationalisation! Tens of thousands of workers on Britain’s railways are set to continue strike action from 18 to 20 August in their struggle for better pay and conditions. Their struggle is an inspiration to workers everywhere. Victory to the rail strikes! From 18-20 August, the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) will be carrying out its third round of national strikes in three months on the railways, as part of its dispute for jobs, pay, pensions and conditions. The strike will involve over 40,000 workers at 14 train operating companies (TOCs) and the infrastructure controller Network Rail (NR). Meanwhile 13,000 workers in London will bring the city’s transport to a halt on 19 August, including RMT tube and Overground workers, and Unite bus drivers.
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistics Daily Update – August 19th to 22nd Today’s Update covers the ever-evolving Housing numbers, where related July headlines continue to indicate a rapidly deepening recession.
- Wednesday’s July 2022 Retail Sales, with an early suggestion of a quarterly contraction in Third-Quarter 2022 inflation-adjusted activity, followed Tuesday’s revisions to and slowing in annual and monthly Industrial Production growth, and sharp collapse in Housing Starts to a Pre-Pandemic low.
- Also recently, the July 2022 Cass Freight Index®, was down unadjusted by 1.7% (-1.7%) in the month, up 0.4% year-to-year.
- August 2022 Consumer Sentiment (University of Michigan) “moved up very slightly [off its historic low].”
- 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).
- Indeed, a renewed downturn appears to be in play, despite intensifying official obfuscation that already is 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-prices 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
World:
Patrick Lawrence: A Hall of Mirrors I have long wondered whether our mainstream journalists, correspondents and commentators get dressed each morning in the same locker room, so similarly do they account for things. This has been especially so in the case of the Ukraine crisis, which is quite understandable: Keeping readers and viewers a safe distance from reality is a touchy matter. One slip and the shroud shreds
Sri Lanka: Lessons From the Struggle Just over a month ago, on 9 July, the insurrectionary masses of Sri Lanka stormed the Colombo residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. This was the culmination of island-wide protests that had been ongoing since March. They had already brought down three government cabinets, the governor of the Central Bank, and Gota’s own brothers: the Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, and the powerful then-Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who was forced to resign on 9 May. When the movement culminated in an uprising on 9 July, a brief window of opportunity opened up. The masses were surging forward confidently, whilst the ruling class was in a state of panic, and splits were opening up in the army and police force. Power was there for the taking. But the window of opportunity could not remain open indefinitely. Either the masses would seize power, or else they would drift home and the initiative would pass temporarily to the forces of reaction. In the absence of a decisive revolutionary leadership of the working class, this is precisely what happened.
Corporate Media Mostly Mum as US Strikes Kill at Least 20 in Somalia “This is a completely under-the-radar news story, one that was curiously absent from the headlines in all of the major newspapers this morning,” wrote one expert after the latest U.S. strike on Somalia. Conflict monitors on Friday drew attention to a series of U.S. airstrikes in Somalia in recent months, attacks that have received relatively little attention in the American corporate media despite having reportedly killed more than 20 people. . . . According to data from the U.K.-based monitor group Airwars, U.S. forces have bombed Somalia at least 16 times during Biden’s tenure, killing between 465 and 545 suspected militants. On March 13, a joint U.S. drone and Somali airstrike killed a staggering 200 alleged militants. Airwars identified civilian casualties in just one of the attacks during Biden’s presidency, a June 2021 strike attributed to either U.S. or Kenyan forces, which have been battling al-Shabaab since 2011. The attack on the southern town of Ceel Cadde killed Sahro Adan Warsame and seriously injured five of her children, according to local media reports.
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!
‘Terrible Idea’: Biden Preparing to Shift Costs of Covid Treatments, Vaccines to Patients “We must push back,” said one doctor. “Free provision of vaccinations, Paxlovid, and monoclonals has been critically important.” Advocates for a more just healthcare system responded with alarm to Thursday reporting that the Biden administration is taking steps to stop paying for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments in the coming months, a move critics fear will lead to higher prices and more expensive coverage, enriching pharmaceutical and insurance giants at the expense of patients. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to meet with representatives from drug manufacturers, pharmacies, and state health departments on August 30 to “map out” how to shift the bill for coronavirus jabs and therapeutics from the federal government to individuals, according to The Wall Street Journal.