Daily News Digest August 23, 2022
Images of the Day:
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:
‘Slavery by Another Name’ is an important book that I think all Americans should read, about how, following the end of slavery, a new system of racial and social control was born, known as ‘convict leasing.’ — Michelle Alexander
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. — John Kenneth Galbraith
Videos of the Day:
Palestinian NGOs Speak Out After Israeli Forces Raid Offices & Declare Them to Be “Terrorist” Groups
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
Mike Pompeo and CIA Sued for Illegal Surveillance of Assange’s Visitors Attorneys and journalists whom the CIA spied on when they visited WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London have filed a lawsuit against the CIA, its former director Mike Pompeo, UC Global and its director, David Morales, in U.S. District Court. Assange is in a London prison fighting extradition to the United States. He is charged with violating the Espionage Act for exposing U.S. war crimes and faces 175 years imprisonment. During the seven years he lived in the Ecuadorian Embassy under a grant of asylum, Assange was visited by more than 100 attorneys, journalists and doctors. They included Assange’s criminal defense attorneys in the United States, international human rights lawyers, national security journalists whose sources could be jeopardized if exposed, and physicians and medical professionals.
Environment: Ecocide or Ecosocialism!:
Quotes Fom: Climate Change Widespread, Rapid, and Intensifying – IPCC
Geneva, Aug 9 – Scientists are observing changes in the Earth’s climate in every region and across the whole climate system, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report, released today. 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 over hundreds to thousands of years.
The report projects that in the coming decades climate changes will increase in all regions. For 1.5°C of global warming, there will be increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons and shorter cold seasons. At 2°C of global warming, heat extremes would more often reach critical tolerance thresholds for agriculture and health, the report shows. But it is not just about temperature. Climate change is bringing multiple different changes in different regions – which will all increase with further warming. These include changes to wetness and dryness, to winds, snow and ice, coastal areas and oceans. For example:
- Climate change is intensifying the water cycle. This brings more intense rainfall and associated flooding, as well as more intense drought in many regions.
- Climate change is affecting rainfall patterns. In high latitudes, precipitation is likely to increase, while it is projected to decrease over large parts of the subtropics. Changes to monsoon precipitation are expected, which will vary by region.
- Coastal areas will see continued sea level rise throughout the 21st century, contributing to more frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-lying areas and coastal erosion. Extreme sea level events that previously occurred once in 100 years could happen every year by the end of this century.
- Further warming will amplify permafrost thawing, and the loss of seasonal snow cover, melting of glaciers and ice sheets, and loss of summer Arctic sea ice.
- Changes to the ocean, including warming, more frequent marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, and reduced oxygen levels have been clearly linked to human influence. These changes affect both ocean ecosystems and the people that rely on them, and they will continue throughout at least the rest of this century.
- For cities, some aspects of climate change may be amplified, including heat (since urban areas are usually warmer than their surroundings), flooding from heavy precipitation events and sea level rise in coastal cities.
Europe Is Trying to Solve Its Energy Crisis With Fossil Fuel Projects in Africa Food and fuel prices are soaring globally, and the Russian oil and gas supply has been squeezed since the invasion of Ukraine. In response, European governments are paving the way to massive investments in fossil fuels from non-Russian sources that imperil efforts to tackle climate change. Policies are being made to suit fossil fuel companies, who see Russia’s war in Ukraine as an opportunity to expand production elsewhere. Governments are missing opportunities to cut oil and gas use by managing demand — by insulating homes and shifting from car-based urban transport systems, for example — and speeding the shift to electricity generation from solar and wind power.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Labor:
‘Pro-Labor’ Democractic Party Myth Exposed! —Biden B Attacks the Right to Strike! AL Coal Miners Must Pay $13 Million in Damages for Strike, Biden’s NLRB Rules On August 3, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and the Associated Press reported that the subunit of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for Region 10 (much of the South) has ordered the union to pay $13.3 million to Warrior Met Coal. About 1,000 workers from two mines and two aboveground facilities southwest of Birmingham, Alabama, have been on strike against Warrior Met since April 2021, resisting brutal working conditions. Now the Biden NLRB is demanding the UMWA pay what amounts to $13,000 per striker into the company’s pocket. The government says this is reimbursement for security guards, security cameras, repairs, and production lost because of the strike, plus buses for carrying scabs across picket lines.
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistics Daily Upate August 22nd to 23rd:
- Tomorrow’s (August 23rd) Federal Reserve Release of the July 2022 Money Supply will be the next major coverage here, barring unexpected developments.
- Friday’s review of the ever-evolving Housing numbers continued to show 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 [subject to review on August 24th];
- Real Second-Quarter 2022 GDP showed a second consecutive quarterly contraction, consistent with a “New Recession,” induced by the FOMC (see July 27th discussion) [subject to revision on August 25th]. 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.
Will Global Inflation Subside? Is the global inflationary spiral peaking? And if it is and inflation is set to fall over the next year, then has the inflation scare been just a momentary blip and now things will start to turn back to the previously low pace of inflation in the prices of goods and services? That seems to the view of investors in financial assets in the US, where the stock market has rallied by as much as 20% from lows in mid-June; and both government and corporate bond yields have steadied. Markets seem to believe in what is called the ‘Fed pivot’, where the US Federal Reserve, having hiked its policy rate aggressively since April, will now start to end its hikes going into 2023 as inflation subsides. Certainly, there is some evidence of peaking inflation in the US where the consumer price inflation (CPI) rate slowed more than expected in July to 8.5% year over year from a 40-year high of 9.1% in June. But looking beneath the headline rate, it is less convincing that US inflation is heading downwards, at least at any significant pace. The slowing in July was mainly due to falling gasoline prices. Food inflation (10.9%) and electricity price inflation (15.2%) continued to accelerate. And stripping out food and energy, the so-called ‘core’ inflation rate stayed steady at 5.9%.
World:
Moscow’s New Found Independence HomeBusiness News Western sanctions are good for Moscow – US economist A former Wall Street analyst says the Russian economy is being made self-sufficient The economic war unleashed by the West against Russia has backfired and may bring the country much good, former Wall Street financier Michael Hudson has told the German news outlet Junge Welt. “The West’s sanctions are great for Russia. Any country threatened by US sanctions is forced to become self-sufficient,” Hudson said in an interview published on Saturday. He said that sanctions have effectively pushed Russia toward import-substitution, and the country is on track to becoming completely free of reliance on Western goods. “Instead of importing German cars, Russia is turning to China to develop its own automotive industry. Russia is now moving very quickly to replace its dependence on the West for manufactured goods with its own domestic production. The only things they can’t produce are Walt Disney movies and Italian handbags,” the economist said, adding that while Russia is unlikely to be able to mass produce some of the luxury items it used to import, its economy will become largely self-sufficient. Hudson also noted that sanctions, while aimed at reducing Russia’s profits from energy exports, instead “brought additional revenue to the Russian state budget.”
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!
Laying Bare the Secrets of The Pandemict A new archive will help researchers and journalists make sense of the early days of Covid-19. In an email to Anthony Fauci in early 2020, a man said he was afraid that the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was withholding information from the public. “The news media is reporting that the White House has muzzled you,” he wrote. “Is that true?” On March 1, Fauci replied, denying that he had been silenced. But that didn’t change what was emerging as a major theme of the early Covid-19 pandemic: that the public was left in the dark about official deliberations on public health. Secrecy about the pandemic has hindered work on its impact, on vaccines, and on its origins. In China, the government cracked down on citizen journalists reporting from Wuhan and heavily controlled a visit by World Health Organization investigators. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry hoarded rights to lifesaving vaccines. Hospitals, meanwhile, barred photographers from recording the devastation wrought by the coronavirus.
Universities Are Plundering Cities. How Can This Relationship Change? How does the expanding corporatization of higher education fit into the conversation about how universities occupy — and reshape — local spaces and local economies? Davarian L. Baldwin, the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies at Trinity College, is the author of In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities (Bold Type Books). This very well-written and provocative book discusses what Baldwin refers to as the rise of UniverCities, a phrase which signals the complicated relationship between higher education and urban life and reflects how universities are shaping today’s cities in grossly inequitable ways, with class, racial and deep financial implications. Baldwin’s timely book adds to the growing body of scholarship examining the corporate refashioning of colleges and universities. In this interview, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt and Bertin M. Louis Jr., co-editors of Truthout’s Challenging the Corporate University series, speak to Baldwin about his work, diving into the concept of UniverCities and exploring what an equitable relationship might look like between a university and the town it occupies.