Daily News Digest March 16, 2023
Capitalism is Now a Worldwide Threat to Humanity! It is on the Fast Track to Global Warming and/or Nuclear War Catastrophes!
Images of the Day:
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 Capitalism 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:
But there’s another danger lurking out there. In addition to dirty air, Colorado’s oil and gas industry is also exposing residents to another type of pollution—only this one you can’t see. In order to frack for oil and gas, the industry pumps chemical cocktails into the ground to break up shale rock, and in doing so, it potentially contaminates groundwater. These cocktails can include a class of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS for short), exposure to which has been linked to a wide range of health problems including cancer, thyroid disease, developmental issues, and reproductive harm. They are referred to as “forever chemicals” because they are extremely resistant to breaking down in the environment, and they bioaccumulate in our bodies. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says PFAS can be found in the blood of nearly every person in the United States. — In Colorado, Oil and PFAS Shouldn’t Mix We can add PFAS contamination to the list of ways the oil and gas industry is threatening Coloradans’ health. Two new laws aim to stop it—but are they enough?
An apparent cluster of childhood cancers near a nuclear power station on the river Severn has been blamed on radiation from the plant. Chris Busby, a scientist, said he had uncovered evidence of significant levels of leukaemia among children under four years old living near the ageing Oldbury reactor. — Cancers Blamed On Nuclear Power Plant (2001)
Videos/Podcasts of the Day:
Houston’s Cancer Cluster | Fault Lines
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. Tax 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!)
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 D. Brandeis Quotes
The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. MLK, Beyond Vietnam
The Not-So-Winding Road from Iraq to Ukraine As we mark the 20th anniversary of the devastating Iraq invasion, let us join with those around the world calling for immediate peace negotiations to end the brutal Ukraine war while we also help build a genuine rules-based international order.
Michael Hudson: Why the Bank Crisis isn’t Over The crashes of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and the related bank insolvencies are much more serious than the 2008-09 crash. The problem at that time was crooked banks making bad mortgage loans. Debtors were unable to pay and were defaulting, and it turned out that the real estate that they had pledged as collateral was fraudulently overvalued, “mark-to-fantasy” junk mortgages made by false valuations of the property’s actual market price and the borrower’s income. Banks sold these loans to institutional buyers such as pension funds, German savings banks and other gullible buyers who had drunk Alan Greenspan’s neoliberal Kool Aid, believing that banks would not cheat them. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) investments had no such default risk. The Treasury always can pay, simply by printing money, and the prime long-term mortgages whose packages SVP bought also were solvent. The problem is the financial system itself, or rather, the corner into which the post-Obama Fed has painted the banking system. It cannot escape from its 13 years of Quantitative Easing without reversing the asset-price inflation and causing bonds, stocks and real estate to lower their market value.
Today’s Robber Baron Corporate Gangsters/Banksters: How Pervasive is Corporate Fraud? Abstract We provide a lower-bound estimate of the undetected share of corporate fraud. To identify the hidden part of the “iceberg,” we exploit Arthur Andersen’s demise, which triggered added scrutiny on Arthur Andersen’s former clients and thereby increased the detection likelihood of preexisting frauds. Our evidence suggests that in normal times only one-third of corporate frauds are detected. We estimate that on average 10% of large publicly traded firms are committing securities fraud every year, with a 95% confidence interval of 7%-14%. Combining fraud pervasiveness with existing estimates of the costs of detected and undetected fraud, we estimate that corporate fraud destroys 1.6% of equity value each year, equal to $830 billion in 2021. — 01/05/23
Failure of SVB Confirms Surprising Extent of Corporate Fraud The estimated prevalence of corporate fraud is much larger than what is currently being reported, with an average of 10% of large publicly traded firms committing securities fraud every year. The high-profile and sudden failure of Silicon Valley Bank, which hid huge losses from its depositors, investors, and regulators, highlights the dangers of corporate fraud for our financial system. It confirms the kind of problems highlighted by a recent study, How Pervasive is Corporate Fraud?), published in the Journal of Financial Economics estimating that only one-third of corporate frauds are detected, with an average of 10% of large publicly traded firms committing securities fraud every year.
Banks Lobbied to Weaken Regulations That Could Have Prevented Their Collapse Executives from the failed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were among those who lobbied to weaken the rules.
Marjorie Cohn: Daniel Ellsberg Is Calling on All of Us to Work to Avert Nuclear War The legendary whistleblower has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. The legendary Daniel Ellsberg has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In a March 1 email to friends, Dan wrote, “I’m sorry to report to you that my doctors have given me three to six months to live … it might be more, or less.” He will turn 92 on April 7.
Warren: Jerome Powell Should Recuse Himself From Bank Probe For Role in Failure The Silicon Valley Bank failure was caused in part by deregulation pushed by Powell, Warren says. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is calling for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to recuse himself from his agency’s investigation into the Silicon Valley Bank failure because his actions directly contributed to the collapse, she says.
Reflections on Occupy Wall Street Before the Next Banking Collapse The sixteenth-biggest bank in the US has just suddenly and dramatically collapsed and is being bailed out by the federal government. This may or may not be a precursor for a cascading series of other bank collapses, but with subprime (aka “variable rate”) mortgages being more popular now than they have been since 2007, I smell an imminent financial crisis. This is not the only thing that makes me think about Occupy Wall Street, and the autumn of 2011, especially, but it’s one of them. Witnessing the fizzling-out of another very youthful and multiracial movement that took over the streets throughout the US more recently reminds me a lot of the last time I had that experience, in the wake of Occupy
Environment — Ecosocialism of Ecocide!:
As Biden Increases Forever Chemicals Produed byFracking Production, Social Democraats Write: Biden EPA Praised for ‘Historic Progress’ But Pressured to Ban Forever Chemicals “We cannot safeguard public health until we get off this toxic treadmill of regulating one PFAS at a time when thousands of other PFAS remain unregulated,” said one scientist.
Why Were the Cancer Studies at Nuclear Facilities Canceled? In an ironic twist, the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California received the first $1.1 billion nuclear bailout to keep operating, even though it was political leaders from California who had asked for a health study. If you thought the government of the United States, the country with the most nuclear power reactors in the world, might be interested in finding out the cancer impact of nuclear power on our children, you’d be wrong. But, our government is willing to give failed, uneconomic, decaying nuclear power reactors oodles of taxpayer money without first figuring out if and how they harm our children. Assessing potential health damage should be a prerequisite for reactor license renewal.
Al Jazeera Feature: Houston’s Cancer Cluster | Fault Lines In Houston, Texas, residents of two historically African-American neighborhoods with high rates of certain cancers are seeking answers after toxic waste from a nearby railroad yard contaminated their environment. Some suspect the pollution is the cause of a cancer cluster discovered in their area in 2019. The groundwater beneath more than 100 properties is contaminated with creosote, a chemical mixture classified as a probable carcinogen that was used for nearly 75 years at the railroad yard. But railroad giant Union Pacific, which owns the yard, says local residents could not have been exposed to the contaminant, and claims the creosote has nothing to do with the cancers. The Texas public health agency hasn’t yet decided if they will investigate what could be causing the illnesses. How do communities living alongside polluting industries and toxic waste look for answers and accountability when they get sick? Fault Lines investigates the cancer cluster in east Houston and follows a community’s search for
Despoiling the Final Frontier A flood of new satellites could lead to the destruction of the ozone layer. Here we go again. Satellite companies that plan to put tens of thousands of satellites into orbit to create space-based internet and cellphone networks are about to reach the final frontier for human degradation of the environment, outer space. And, they are doing it in ways that threaten the radiation protection of the ozone layer. The so-called low Earth orbit satellites the companies are launching are designed to last for around five years and then fall back to Earth, disintegrating in the atmosphere as they fall. What they leave behind are materials that are likely to lead to the destruction of the ozone layer. With thousands of satellites potentially falling to Earth each year, the extent of the damage could be major.
Assessment of Chemical Exposures Investigation After Fire at an Industrial Chemical Facility in Winnebago County, Illinois AbstractAfter a chemical fire, an investigation assessed health effects by using syndromic surveillance to monitor emergency department (ED) visits, a general health survey to assess the general public, and a first responders health survey to assess first responders. A total of four separate multivariable logistic regression models were developed to examine associations between reported exposure to smoke, dust, debris, or odor with any reported symptom in the general public. Syndromic surveillance identified areas with increased ED visits. Among general health survey respondents, 45.1% (911 out of 2,020) reported at least one symptom. Respondents reporting exposure to smoke, dust, debris, or odor had 4.5 (95% confidence interval (CI) [3.7, 5.5]), 4.6 (95% CI [3.6, 5.8]), 2.0 (95% CI [1.7, 2.5]), or 5.8 (95% CI [4.7, 7.3]) times the odds of reporting any symptom compared with respondents not reporting exposure to smoke, dust, debris, or odor, respectively. First responders commonly reported contact with material and being within 1 mi of the fire ≥5 hr; 10 out of 31 of first responders reported at least one symptom. There was high symptom burden reported after the fire. Results from our investigation might assist the directing of public health resources to effectively address immediate community needs and prepare for future incidents.
Civil Rights Black Liberation:
Labor:
Economy:
FRED: Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers 
FRED: Purchasing Power of the Consumer Dollar in U.S. City Average (1984 =100 Feb 2023 = 33.2)
Shadow Government Satistics Alternate Inflation Charts The CPI chart on the home page reflects our estimate of inflation for today as if it were calculated the same way it was in 1990. The CPI on the Alternate Data Series tab here reflects the CPI as if it were calculated using the methodologies in place in 1980. In general terms, methodological shifts in government reporting have depressed reported inflation, moving the concept of the CPI away from being a measure of the cost of living needed to maintain a constant standard of living.
Moody’s Downgrades Entire U.S. Banking System; Credit Suisse Plummets. Welcome to Banking Crisis 3.0 The “Related Articles” linked below (a tiny sampling of relevant articles) will remind our readers just how long and in how many different ways we have been attempting to warn that the U.S. banking system was incompetently structured and at risk of systemic contagion. We have also repeatedly warned that the crony, captured Fed was the worst possible banking supervisor and should be stripped of its bank regulatory powers and restricted to setting monetary policy. We have repeatedly cautioned, citing experts in the field, that the Fed’s stress tests were little more than a placebo and would not prevent the next banking crisis. (Check out our numerous articles at this link. Scroll down.). On July 29 of last year we wrote that Wall Street Megabanks’ Multi-Billion Dollar Blunders Suggest Money Controls as Good as George Bailey’s Uncle Billy and summed up our analysis with: “This is the stuff of banana republics – not a financial system befitting a superpower.”
World:
Greece: Government of Hypocrites Cries Crocodile Tears and Talks of ‘Collective Responsibility’ Greek society has been deeply shocked by the deadly train collision at Tempi on the evening of 28 February that killed at least 57 mostly young people. The grief has turned to anger against a government that is trying to deflect from its own culpability and that of the capitalist class. The working class burst onto the scene with a general strike on 8 March. We publish below the English translation of the leaflet distributed by the comrades of the Greek section of the IMT at that strike. This government of hypocrites, that feigns grief, is falsely promoting the myth of collective responsibility. They, along with the state and their system, are the parties that bear sole responsibility for the crime committed at Tempi. — Down with the government and this criminal system crushing the people! — For immediate escalation of the fight and a 48-hour general strike! The strike action of 8 March – astonishing in its size, extent and militancy, that saw 100-150,000 demonstrators march in Athens despite the closure of the metro stations by the police and further the mass gatherings in over 80 other cities – marked the rapid entry of the working people and the youth into the political scene. The shock to consciousness following the crime committed by the government, the state and the capitalists at Tempi has lit the fuse for an explosion of accumulated popular anger. This anger has accumulated as a result of the onslaught over years on the living standards and rights of workers and young people by capitalism and the governments that managed it – most prominently, the New Democracy (ND) government.
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 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