Daily News Digest December 29, 2022
Images of the Day:
Mike Luckovich: Wells FarGrinch
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!
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:
To be a Jew means always being with the oppressed, and never the oppressors! — Marek Edelman, leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Videos/Podcasts of the Day:
The Heat: Climate Change – Year in Review
“Tired of the Apologies”: Workers, Flyers Say Southwest Airlines Meltdown Was Decades in the Making
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 Republicrats 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!
Both Parties Support U.S. Capitalism’s Wars (The Only War the Democrats Opposed was the Civil War!):
Patrick Lawrence: A War of Rhetoric & Reality Washington put us all on notice when Zelensky got to town: It has no intention of seeking a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis and every intention of recommitting indefinitely to its ideological war. Passing through Austin, Texas, the other night, we had drinks with a distinguished observer of global affairs and took the opportunity to ask how he thought the war in Ukraine would conclude. It is a common question these days. While no answer can be definitive, it is always interesting to discover what wise heads see out front. “Either Russia prevails on its terms,” came the answer, “or there is a nuclear exchange.”
We’ve Reached Peak Zelensky. Now What? Without such subsidies, Zelensky would not have lasted a month in the war. How many hours do you think he is going last once that flow dries up? And it surely is. When the president of thepoorest,most corrupt nation in Europe is feted with multiple standing ovations by the combined Houses of Congress, and his name invokedin the same breath as Winston Churchill, you know we’ve reached Peak Zelensky. It’s a farcical, almost psychotic over-promotion, prob. ably surpassed only by the media’s shameful, hyperbolic railroading of the country into war with Iraq, in 2003. Paraphrasing Gertrude from Hamlet, “Methinks the media doth hype too much.
Spent $5.6 Billion on Shareholder Gifts in Years Ahead of Mass Cancellation Crisis “Southwest Airlines made a risky gamble that mass layoffs and spending billions of dollars on handouts to investors rather than fixing infrastructure(differed maintenance) would pay off with record profits,” said one watchdog. “The airline lost that bet badly.” As travelers and airline workers reel from mass flight cancellations, a corporate watchdog noted Wednesday that Southwest spent nearly $6 billion on stock buybacks in the years ahead of the coronavirus pandemic instead of spending that money technological improvements that unions have been demanding for years.
Failure? —Playing the ‘Old Blame It on the Republicans Flim-Flam’!:
Incoming GOP House Majority Could End Big Oil Investigation, Advocates Warn The incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee, Republican Rep. James Comer, has openly bashed the investigation.
Campaigners to House Dems: Not Giving Big Oil Documents to the Senate Would Be an ‘Epic Failure “Obviously the incoming Republican House majority that will control the documents as of January 3 has no interest in continuing to investigate Big Oil.” A House committee that has spent more than a year investigating the fossil fuel industry’s climate disinformation efforts has reportedly decided not to hand the subpoenaed documents it compiled over to the Senate, a reversal that would likely spell the end of the probe as industry-friendly Republicans take over the chamber. Investigative journalist Amy Westervelt reported for The Intercept over the weekend that Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who helped lead the Big Oil probe, previously vowed to “release all the subpoenaed documents to the Senate to continue the investigation or at least finish reviewing them for pertinent information—a task the complete.l.”
The US Should Follow EU’s Steps Toward Global Minimum Tax The governments of the United States and Europe should stop using tiny British territories as pawns to allow corporations to avoid contributing to fund schools, roads, and public safety. Where should the profits of global corporations be taxed? It is not an easy question. If a corporation has engineers in California, manufacturing centers in Asia, assembly plants in Texas, and sells to consumers across North America and Europe, there are legitimate questions about which jurisdictions they are “earning” their profits in and thus where they might owe corporate income taxes. One thing is clear, though: they are not earning their profits in a mailbox in the Cayman Islands, a tiny British territory in the Caribbean that politicians in London and Washington treat as an independent nation for tax purposes. Yet many American corporations tell the Internal Revenue Service that they earn their profits in this island nation where they do no actual business. One office building in the Cayman Islands—just five stories tall—is home to more than 18,000 companies. Given that the British government has provided few options for real economic development, Cayman understandably welcomes the incorporation fees this generates. But is this any way to structure an international tax system?
60 years ago, when I was in grammar school, I was taught to be proud that The United States, unlike other countries, has an ‘open border policy’ with Mexico and Canada! The scapegoating of immigrants for society’s ills has now been sanctioned by the ‘supremes’! God Damn America!:
‘Disastrous’: SCOTUS Upholds Title 42 Migrant Policy During Court Fight “Title 42 was unnecessary when it was first used and it continues to be wrong. It must end,” said one rights advocate. ” This country is at its best when it welcomes people seeking asylum with dignity and compassion.” “As a Covid control strategy, a humanitarian policy, and a border policy, Title 42 has not only failed but caused irreparable harm on a massive scale.”
Biden Moves Ahead 0n Trump Plan to Build Israel Embassy on Stolen Palestinian Land Objections from the land’s rightful owners — including U.S. citizens — are going unacknowledged by the administration. Nearly five years after President Donald Trump broke with decades of U.S. policy and international consensus to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. Embassy there, the Biden administration is moving ahead with plans to build a permanent embassy compound in the city. Israel’s government has its headquarters in Jerusalem, but, because Palestinians also claim the city as their capital and because the city’s status remains disputed under international law, the U.S. Embassy, like those of most other countries, was previously based in Tel Aviv. The plans for a new embassy, which the administration has quietly advanced in recent weeks, would consolidate Trump’s abrupt policy reversal and violate U.S. precedent both on the status of Jerusalem and on Israel’s ongoing illegal appropriation of Palestinian land. The new embassy would also make the U.S. government an active participant in that appropriation: The planned compound is to be built on land illegally expropriated from Palestinians, whose descendants, including several U.S. citizens, still have a claim to.
Environment — Ecosocialism or Ecocide:
2022 Will Be Warmest Year on Record in UK, Says Met Office Provisional figures show annual average temperature will exceed previous record set in 2014 2022 will be the UK’s warmest year on record, as the Met Office says figures show the climate crisis is having a real impact. Forecasters highlighted that the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2003. Temperature trends show that the UK is hotter since humankind started releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, and all four seasons in 2022 fall in the top 10 of a ranking which began in 1884.
Civil Rights Black Liberation:
The Era of Punitive Excess The criminal justice system is marred by an overreliance on excessive punishment. Despite a small decline in incarceration rates over the last decade, American criminal justice policy remains at its most punishing point in history. The extent of correctional supervision — including community supervision on probation and parole as well as institutional supervision in prison and jails — expanded steadily from the early 1970s for the next three decades. In 2018, the total correctional population numbered 6.4 million adults, 2.1 million of them incarcerated. Focusing just on the incarcerated, the 40-year growth in imprisonment rates from the early 1970s has been linked to changes in sentencing policy, particularly the widespread adoption of mandatory minimum sentences, often for drug offenses. And then through the enactment of very long sentences, particularly for those convicted of violence and with long criminal histories. A full accounting of the harsh realities of the modern system of criminal justice in America extends beyond the vast reach of correctional supervision. Today’s landscape of punishment also includes the extensive criminalization of social problems such as homelessness and mental illness, intrusive policing policies such as stop and frisk, the imposition of fines and fees that exacerbate poverty, the legislatively defined collateral sanctions that close off opportunities for a full life to millions with criminal records, and the new technologies that place the entire public under a form of state surveillance.
The First Big Strike of 2023 May Happen Behind Prison Walls The new year is set to kick off with a statewide strike by incarcerated workers in Pennsylvania. The First Big Strike of 2023 May Happen Behind Prison Walls All in all, 2022 was a banner year for organized labor. Thousands of workers in a wide variety of industries unionized; they pushed back against union-busting campaigns from oligarchs and corporate hit men; they went on strike and protested unfair treatment, from California to Alabama and everywhere in between. Public support for unions shot up to 71 percent, and the worryingly under-resourced National Labor Relations Board was inundated with more union election petitions than it could handle. Members of Gen Z, the youngest generation of workers, are even more pro-union than their millennial parents, and they aren’t shy about speaking up. All of that combined momentum isn’t slowing, either. The coming year is already poised to be another big moment for the working class. Some of the seeds planted in 2022 will begin to bear fruit in 2023, as unionized Starbucks and Amazon workers head to the bargaining table and the Teamsters, now armed with ambitious new leadership, continue gearing up for a long-expected showdown with the United Parcel Service (UPS). In Alabama, incarcerated workers in five different prison facilities made history with a three-week-long strike that drew much-needed attention to their brutal working and living conditions. They faced brutal retaliation as a result; meals were reduced, family visitations were suspended, harsh new “security measures” were enforced, and prisoner activist Kinetik Justice was thrown into solitary confinement. The Alabama workers had known the risks going in, but chose to fight back anyway. While the ongoing surge in energy around organized labor has undoubtedly reached workers all over the country, the actions that these Alabama workers in particular took have set the stage for the first big strike of 2023. On January 6, incarcerated workers across Pennsylvania will launch a statewide strike in solidarity with the Alabama strikers, and in protest of the inhumane policies to which they and other incarcerated workers are subjected by the state of Pennsylvania and the U.S. carceral system writ large. They announced their intention to strike with a November 26 communique that was circulated on social media and within the broader abolitionist community. Organized under the name Subaltern Peoples Abolitionist Revolutionary Collective (SPARC), the workers outlined their demands while castigating the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC). “The PA DOC is the enemy of public safety,” they wrote. “It is the enemy of human decency.”
Labor:
The differed maintenance policy of Southwest Airlines: Southwest Under Fire for Mass Flight Cancellations, ‘Despicable’ Treatment of Workers “This impacts lives and threatens safety for all,” said the president of Transport Workers Union Local 556. Southwest Airlines is facing calls for accountability from organized labor and congressional Democrats after canceling thousands of flights over the past week, leaving tens of thousands of workers and customers in limbo during the holiday season. Every airline has experienced disruptions during Winter Storm Elliott, the dangerous nationwide cold snap that began just days before Christmas. But while other major carriers have largely recovered, Southwest continues to struggle, canceling roughly two-thirds of its flights on Tuesday. United, Delta, American, and JetBlue, by contrast, all reported flight cancellation rates of 2% or less on Tuesday. While Southwest chief operating officer Andrew Watterson said in a memo sent to employees on Monday night that the company’s current systems have been “overmatched” by extreme weather, the union representing Southwest flight attendants attributes ongoing operational failures and maltreatment of workers to the corporation’s yearslong refusal to invest in much-needed technological upgrades.
Economy:
Brooking: Key Economic Policy Developments in 2022 and What to Expect In 2023 Economic policy leaders and researchers were kept busy in 2022 by high inflation, a volatile labor market, crypto crashes, and major legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act. We asked five Economic Studies scholars about important developments this year in their fields of study and developments that they expect in 2023. Use the links below to explore their perspectives.
Shadow Government Statistics Money Supply Charts The Fed ceased publishing M-3, its broadest money supply measure, in March 2006. The SGS M-3 Continuation estimates current M-3 based on ongoing Fed reporting of M-3’s largest components (M-2, institutional money funds and partial large time deposits) and proprietary modeling of the balance. See the Money Supply Special Report for full definitions. In February 2021, the Fed redefined its narrowest M-1 Money Supply measure back to May 2020, to incorporate the bulk of Non M-1 M-2, with headline M-1 now covering 93% of total M-2, instead of the prior 28%. In order to preserve the information reflected in the most liquid measures of M-1, ShadowStats uses the Basic M-1 Money Supply in its charts and Table here. The original Money Supply measure, Basic M-1 is defined as Currency plus Demand Deposits
World:
Health Education 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 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