Daily News Digest September 28, 2022
Images of the Day:
Back to the Streets! Say NO to U.S. Wars! 
Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Has Been Aware of the Comming Catastrophe of Global Warming 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 very future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
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:
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.— Aesop
From Bary Sheppard: US Colonial Policies Behind Hurricane Fiona Power Blackout in Puerto Rico: The complete collapse of LUMA’s grid this month was an event foretold, and is connected to the exploitation of the colony by the US. Washington encouraged US companies to invest in Puerto Rico, towards the end of the 20th century, by granting them tax breaks. This policy ended in 2005, and many companies left, resulting in a recession that began in 2006. Government revenues collapsed. To maintain services, including electricity, the island issued bonds to raise more funds from US banks. To pay off loans, more cutbacks to social services were made. A vicious cycle set in, with more and more borrowing and austerity policies implemented, to meet previous loan repayments, including compounding interest. In 2014, the colony’s government finally declared it could not pay any more on its debt, which had, by then, ballooned to US$75 billion. In response, US Congress, under Barack Obama’s administration, appointed a fiscal control board to run the island’s finances and pay off the nominal debt price. By that time, the market price of the debt had drastically fallen, due to Puerto Rico’s inability to pay interest on its loans. Congress passed an earlier law forbidding the colony to declare bankruptcy, something states and cities in the US can do. The US Congress has final say over Puerto Rico and can overturn any law the colony’s government passes. The fiscal board introduced further austerity and squeezed the economy to begin to pay the debt. The electrical system was allowed to deteriorate, repairs were not made, and when Maria and Irma hit in 2017, the system was in disarray. The grid was allowed to deteriorate further under its rule, and was finally privatised in 2020, when LUMA took over.
From: Big Energy Frackers Keep on Fracking With Their Own Private Water Supplies During Drought (2014): What the story did not point out that the Tejon Ranch has also been fracking/pumping out oil for years in California. And they are pumping using move and more water.: “At the peak of California production in 1985, Kern County producers needed roughly four-and-a-half barrels of water to produce a single barrel of oil. Today, that ratio has jumped to almost eight barrels of water per barrel of oil. This use has been sanctioned despite the three-year drought that has ravaged the valley, causing reductions in the water delivered by the State and Central Valley projects canals. Not only are farmers generally short of water, dozens of small poor agricultural hamlets — including Alpaugh, Seville, East Orosi and Kettleman City — have been forced to tap groundwater. And that groundwater is often contaminated with agricultural pollutants, including arsenic and nitrates.” — Oil and Water Don’t Mix with California Agriculture
Videos of the Day:
2022 Mesothelioma Warrior Memorial
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 the poor and gives to the Rich. Rax the 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.” ― Louis Brandeis
Barry Sheppard: US Colonial Policies Behind Hurricane Fiona Power Blackout in Puerto Rico Weaknesses in the electrical grid on the United States colony of Puerto Rico were exposed five years ago — in the aftermath of two Category Five hurricanes: Irma and Maria. Maria made a direct hit on the island and caused the most damage to the grid. The blackout that engulfed the island when a much weaker Category One hurricane, Fiona, hit on September 18, laid bare that the system was even more fragile and in worse shape than in 2017. Washington promised to rebuild the grid after Maria, but that was a lie.
Disinvestment Poses as Great a Threat to Libraries as Book Bans At this month’s Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a librarian shared a list of community collaborations her institution has built over the last several years. These alliances with private and public institutions have brought services into the library, including a food pantry, a diaper bank, blood drives, and other services running alongside the story times and book checkout perhaps most recognizable as library work. Drawing on research about so-called anchor institutions, she made the case that the library, particularly in rural settings, is at the center of the community, often the place everyone knows they can go when they need something — the new James Patterson novel or something else. During the Q&A, she was asked how the library responded when armed protesters showed up to shut down a recent Drag Queen Story Hour. “They didn’t get a lot of traction with our patrons,” she said. “I mean, they all know we’re a diaper bank.” In the wake of rising attempts to censor books about Black, Brown and queer lives — American Library Association statistics demonstrate that we are on track to blow past last year’s record-setting book ban numbers — the role of libraries in our communities is under attack. Libraries do not exist to circulate smut to your children. We are among the last public institutions standing, a bulwark against the collapse of civic life following more than four decades of consistently eroding support for public goods.
Biden’s Student Debt Relief to Cost a Fraction of US Giveaways to the Megarich and Pentagon In contrast to President Trump and Republicans who gave giant corporations $2 trillion in tax breaks, President Biden delivered transformative middle-class relief,” said two senators.
Environment: Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:
Former Regulators Are Shaping California’s Net-Zero Plan as Corporate Lobbyists With Gov. Gavin Newsom set to sign a slate of bills boosting California’s fight against climate change, regulators are also finalizing a far-reaching plan to cut the state’s emissions. But the oil and gas industry is exerting pressure on regulators to shape the plan in ways that could delay the state’s progress, say critics. A draft of the plan by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), released in May, reflects the interests of oil and gas refiners and agrochemical companies involved in the production of biofuels, while relying on ineffective methods for cutting emissions, say climate policy experts and environmental justice groups. The plan is supposed to be a roadmap for achieving “carbon neutrality,” where the state effectively emits no greenhouse gases by 2045, while making deep cuts by 2030.
Drought-Wracked California Allows Oil Companies to Use High-Quality Water. But Regulators’ Error-Strewn Records Make Accurate Accounting Nearly Impossible California’s oil industry uses hundreds of millions of gallons of freshwater a year in a state with none to spare. Most of that water is used in Kern County, where communities have long lacked affordable, safe drinking water. Last month, with California in the grips of a megadrought, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a plan centered on “the acute need to conserve water” in the face of a drier, hotter future caused by climate change. The plan outlines actions to “transform water management” and calls on California residents to step up and do their part to conserve water. Yet the plan does nothing to limit use of California’s dwindling water supplies by one of the primary drivers of climate change: the oil and gas industry. An Inside Climate News analysis of data collected by the California Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM, shows high-quality water is being diverted from state domestic and agricultural supplies, predominantly in Kern County, to extract viscous crude from some of the world’s most climate-polluting oilfields.
Big Energy Frackers Keep on Fracking With Their Own Private Water Supplies During Drought As there is now a shortage of drinking water in the Western United States There Is no shortage of water for fracking. While the West is in drought, Big energy and Agribusiness are not. As big contributors to election campaigns they have acquired enough water reserves to keep fracking during the drought as fresh water dries up for the citizens of California. On February 7, I watched the Linda Yee WKPIX News Special: Group Sues California For Privatizing Massive Water Reserve
‘A Really Big Hole’: Sabotage Suspected as Nord Stream Pipelines Spew Methane An investigation into the mysterious damage is ongoing amid of climate-damaging pollution and another supply shock that could worsen Europe’s energy crisis as winter nears.
The Terrifying Future in Which We Return to a Past Too Warm for Antarctica’s Ice ShelvesThere is bad news for the planet when we consider what it means to have atmospheric carbon levels of 421 ppm
Connecting the Dots Between Climate Devastation and Fossil Fuel Profits What do Pakistan, Puerto Rico, and Jackson, Mississippi, have in common? They’ve all recently experienced climate-related catastrophic rains and flooding, resulting in the loss of homes, electricity, and running water. But, even more importantly, they are all low-income regions inhabited by people of color—the prime victims of climate injustice. They face inaction from negligent governments and struggle to survive as fossil fuel companies reap massive profits—a status quo that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called a “moral and economic madness.”
Civil Rights/ Black Liberarion:
Open the Courts!: 150 San Franciscans Jailed Without Trial While most of San Francisco’s administrative commotion has returned since the onset of the pandemic, the San Francisco County Superior Court continues to violate the constitutional rights of over 550 people due to misaligned priorities and a lack of urgency. On Sept. 16, staggered along the steps of 850 Bryant Street, community members and leaders held a press rally in the form of a mock trial to call attention to the alarming criminal trial backlog in this city. According to the U.S. Constitution, the Sixth Amendment guarantees an individual the right to “a speedy and public trial,” which is within 60 days on felony charges or 30 days for misdemeanors in California. Over 550 San Franciscans have been waiting much longer than this for their day in court. Moreover, over 150 of these people are languishing indefinitely in jail. If you add up all the extra days that these people have been in jail past their statutory deadline, it totals out to 15,333 days. That’s 42 years of wrongful incarceration.
Labor:
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistics Daily Update September 26th to 27th
- Previously noted, the Fed continued to weaken the Monetary Base in early September, with Bank Reserves shrinking faster than the increase of Currency in Circulation to record high levels. August 2022 Existing Home Sales contracted by 19.9% (-19.9%) year-to-year, per the National Association of Realtors.
- The September 2022 FOMC’s 75-basis point (0.75%) hike in its targeted Federal Funds Rate was as expected intensifying the negative economic pressures desired by the FOMC.
- Such was against an economic downturn that already meets the standard “Recession” definition.
- The surging Money Supply remains intact and is driving the inflation, not a moribund, not-overheating economy. Accordingly, orchestrated, intensifying economic deterioration will offer negligible promise of inflation relief.
- Separately, the FOMC economic and interest rate forecasts have proven worthless. As an aside, recent slowing in the headline CPI inflation primarily has reflected reduced gasoline prices (not surging interest rates). Yet, a rebound in gasoline prices is likely in the near future, particularly post-Election.
IMF is Forever Blowing Buubbles: Michael Roberts Blog: IMF bailouts hit record high as global economic outlook worsens. The IMF has provided $140bn in loans as interest rate rises push up countries’ borrowing costs. The figure, which is expected to grow further in the coming months as borrowing costs soar, is already higher than the amount of credit outstanding at the end of 2020 and 2021, when levels reached record annual highs. https://www.ft.com/…/eddedee3-669d-42cc-9597-33609a8bff99
There’s a War for the Fed’s Ear on Inflation Between Larry Summers and Jeremy Siegel – It’s Getting Nasty Both Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel and Harvard economics professor Larry Summers are trolling Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Siegel thinks Powell is “talking way too tough” on inflation while Summers thinks Powell is not restrictive enough. Siegel appeared on CNBC yesterday and scolded Powell to “offer the American people an apology” for his poor monetary policy over the years. In a Tweet, Summers effectively told the Fed Chairman to shut up, lecturing him on not talking so much at his press conferences. (See Tweets below.). In his CNBC interview, Siegel cited “home prices declining, commodity prices declining, freight rates declining,” as examples of easing inflationary pressures that warrant the Fed taking a less aggressive stance on raising rates. He also cited the sharp rise in the U.S. dollar, saying “the dollar is showing how tight the Fed actually is.”
World:
Cuba: Scarcity, Blackouts, Migration – Will the New Economic Measures Help? At the end of July, a series of economic measures were announced in Cuba, amongst them opening up the retail sector to foreign investment and the opening of a new official currency exchange rate. In order to comprehend the meaning of these measures and their possible impact and consequences, we need to understand the background to the very dire economic situation in the island. The package of 75 economic measures announced allows for the participation of foreign investment in the retail and wholesale domestic trade for the first time since the abolition of capitalism in the 1960s. In the case of wholesale trade, the new rules will allow both joint ventures with Cuban companies and wholly owned foreign companies. In retail trade, foreign investment will take place through joint ventures with local businesses, both private and state-owned. Some Cuban private sector companies will be allowed to engage directly in foreign trade “under the supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Commerce”, Mincex. This is a measure that goes in the direction of making further concessions both to private Cuban capital as well as foreign capital, which up to now was excluded from the retail sector. It also represents a relative weakening of the state monopoly of foreign trade.
In ‘Unprecedented Democratic Exercise,’ Cubans Approve Inclusive Family Code “This is a milestone in the advancement of democracy,” said global grassroots coalition Progressive International. “Nowhere in the world has a family law been submitted for public consultation and subject to a referendum.” Progressives around the world applauded the overwhelming approval by Cuban voters on Sunday of the country’s new “Family Code,” which will legalize same-sex marriage, surrogate pregnancies, and adoption for gay couples and was approved after community-level meetings across Cuba. With 74% of eligible voters turning out to cast ballots, more than two-thirds of votes—nearly four million people—were in favor of the Family Code. Just 50% of “yes” votes were needed to pass the referendum.
Free Market Genocides: The Real History of Trade What role should greed play in how we run the world? Should it rule us and shape all that we do? I’d argue that we live under “greedocracy” disguised as a form of liberalism. Gussied-up as the only rational way, greed has become the guilt-free guiding star of global elites. But the grand narrative usually used to justify this world-shaping greed-is-good creed vigorously ignores salient history, and disingenuously suppresses data on greed’s present-day harms. This essay will walk you through why the “liberal world order’s” free markets are not really remotely in the business of maximizing flourishing—to rightly judge their track record requires reckoning with the greedocracy’s glossed-over genocides and hushed-up holocausts.
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 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