Daily News Digest July 19, 2023
Images of the Day:
Mike Luckovich: We’re On Fire!
Capitalism is Now a Worldwide Threat to Humanity! It is on the Fast Track to Global Warming and/or Nuclear War Catastrophes!
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:
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered…. I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies…. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. — Thomas Jefferson
Podcasts/Vidoes of the Day:
Environment:
After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan Should Be: ‘Ecosocialism or Ecocide’!
One of Many Ways to Begin to End Global Warming: Expose ‘Greenwashing’ — Tax the Polluters 100%!
This Time, the Fire, and the Flood!: Saving the Planet: Fossil Fuels, Tipping Points, and a Viable Solution It sure is unnerving to read U.N. climate reports these days. They issue ever-more dire warnings about the failure to rein in burning of fossil fuels. Are we fast approaching a tipping point where global heating accelerates into an ecological catastrophe? Energy corporations and the military-industrial complex, both creations of the profit system, are pushing the climate change accelerator to the floor with plans that will dump ever more carbon into the atmosphere. Only an international, ecosocialist movement can show how to stop this runaway train. In the end, there must be a restructuring of the global economy in order to meet people’s needs and salvage a livable planet. For sure, tinkering with capitalism will not do the trick.
China Sees Record-Breaking Temperatures as Europe Faces Historic Heat This Week “We have not at all come close to grasping the scale and scope of the crisis we’re facing,” says Jeff Goodell. The world is in the grips of a dangerous heat wave that has sent temperatures skyrocketing to deadly levels throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. Unless urgent action is taken to reduce carbon emissions, the United Nations says, Earth could pass a temperature threshold in the next decade when climate disasters are too extreme to adapt to. We speak with longtime climate journalist Jeff Goodell, author of the new book, The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet, about how the climate crisis is raising temperatures, the toll such heat can have on the human body, and how “heat is the primary driver for this climate transformation we are undergoing right now,” fueling natural disasters such as floods, wildfires, and more.
Man in Houston died in house without air conditioning; mercury in parts of Italy is close to hitting 45C as wildfires ravage Greece and Spain
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Death Valley approaches global heat record as US reels
- People in US: has your aircon failed and could you get it fixed?
- China records its hottest ever day
Arizona senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly issued a warning on the climate crisis in an attempt to bring skeptics and the unconcerned back down to earth. Particularly in his state, temperatures have reached 110F (43.3C) or over every day in the last two weeks. Kelly, who has been to space four times, told Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that while in space, he could see how thin the atmosphere was over the planet. “It’s as thin as a contact lens on an eyeball. We have to do a better job taking care of it,” he said.
The EPA Must Strengthen the Coal Ash Draft Rule to Protect Community Health The Coal Combustion Residuals Rule is a historic opportunity to ensure that corporations are held responsible for cleaning up their mess and ensuring my community and many others have access to clean drinking water. Water is what binds us all. Lake Michigan gives us life but is increasingly being commodified and plundered for corporate greed. Unfortunately, I know this reality all too well. I grew up in a community with poisoned water and air in Ottawa, Illinois, home to a radium superfund cluster and an epicenter of the frac sand mining industry. Now calling Michigan City, Indiana, my home, I treasure Lake Michigan, which supplies drinking water to myself and more than 10 million people across four states.
Leave No One Behind: We Need a Rights-Based Approach to Climate Displacement Migration needs to be approached as a form of reparation by countries and businesses that have historically contributed most to the problem we face today
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
A Vote for Trump or Biden is a Vote for Ecocide!
Chris Hedges: Cornel West and the Campaign to End Political Apartheid The two ruling parties have destroyed our democracy. Voting for one or the other will not bring it back. The Republican and Democratic parties have no intention of allowing independents and third parties into their exclusive club. A series of arcane laws and rules governing elections make it extremely difficult for outsiders to get on the ballot, receive exposure, raise money, comply with regulations that are designed to advance the interests of Republicans and Democrats or participate in public debates. Third parties and independents are effectively disenfranchised, although 44 percent of the voting public identify as independent. This discrimination is euphemistically labeled “bipartisanship,” but the correct term, as Theresa Amato writes, is “political apartheid.”
NATO’s Declaration of War The recent NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania was not a reinvention of NATO. Instead, it was a belligerent and confrontational restatement of the military alliance’s role in Washington’s drive for world domination. The tone of the text is one familiar to those who follow Washington’s rationale for the numerous wars and other aggressive military actions it is involved in around the world. Behind that tone is a deceptive rationale that claims self-defense, as if nations and other actors were attacking the United States for reasons completely unconnected to the presence of US troops and equipment along the borders of Washington’s chosen enemies. It was that rationale which was used to justify Washington’s wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam (to name just a few), despite the fact that none of those wars were fought anywhere near US soil. It was also the rationale used to justify Washington’s attack on Grenada, Panama, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, to name a few more. In addition, it is Washington’s ultimate rationale for a never-ending increase in military and intelligence spending.
The Institutionalization of the New Cold War The 31 countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are taking their victory laps over the latest expansion of the political-military alliance. The boastful communique for last week’s NATO summit in Lithuania had more than 60 references to nuclear weapons, and promised modernization for NATO’s nuclear powers: the United States, Britain, and France. There is increased likelihood for the pre-positioning of advanced military weaponry, particularly artillery and air defense systems. The Baltic Sea will become Lake NATO.
Billionaire Cut His Tax Bill by Taking Justice Clarence Thomas on Yacht Trips “This has the look of a textbook billionaire tax scam,” said Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden. Tax data obtained by ProPublica provides a glimpse of what congressional investigators would find if Crow were to open his books to them. Crow’s voyages with Thomas, the data shows, contributed to a nice side benefit: They helped reduce Crow’s tax bill. The rich, as we’ve reported, often deduct millions of dollars from their taxes related to buying and operating their jets and yachts. Crow followed that formula through a company that purported to charter his superyacht. But a closer examination of how Crow used the yacht raises questions about his compliance with the tax code, experts said. Despite Crow’s representations to the IRS, ProPublica reporters could find no evidence that his yacht company was actually a profit-seeking business, as the law requires.
Civil Rights/Blackliberation:
The Slaveocracy’s Heirs: Slavery Isn’t Just Black History — It’s US History Over 100 political leaders descend from enslavers. It’s time for the U.S. to confront this history and its impacts. Arecent Reuters investigation reveals that more than 100 U.S. political leaders descend from slaveholders. This includes five living U.S. presidents, two Supreme Court justices, 11 governors and 100 legislators across party lines. Amid rising debates on slavery and its legacy, from school curricula to the movement for reparations, Reuters examined how politicians are reckoning with these discussions as they reflect on their own familial ties to slavery, but many refused to comment on the findings. This examination refutes the notion that slavery is a relic of the distant past that has no bearing on our current society. It serves as a firm reminder of the legacies of slavery in the U.S. and how it shapes our political landscape
Labor:
The Condition of the United States Working Class — Where Do We Go From Here? November 16, 2022 UpDate:63% Of Americans Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck — Including Nearly Half of Six-Figure Earners
- With persistent inflation eroding wage gains, the number of Americans living paycheck to paycheck is near a historic high, according to a recent report.
- Almost half of those earning more than $100,000 say they are just getting by.
As rising prices continue to outpace wage gains, families are finding less cushion in their monthly budget. As of September, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent LendingClub report — near the 64% historic high hit in March. A year ago, the number of adults who felt strained was closer to 57%. “Consumers are not able to keep up with the pace that inflation is increasing,” said Anuj Nayar, LendingClub’s financial health officer. 66% of American Workers Are Worse Off Financially Than a Year Ago Due to Inflation, Report Finds Rising costs have chipped away at most Americans’ standard of living. As inflation pressures continue, two-thirds of working adults said they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, according to a recent report by Salary Finance. To make ends meet, many are dipping into their cash reserves or going into debt. Nearly three-quarters, or 72%, of consumers have less in savings than last year, a jump from 55% who said the same in February, the report found. And 29% said they have wiped out their savings entirely. The report is based on a survey of 500 adults in August.
Employed Full Time: Median Usual Weekly Real Earnings: Wage and Salary Workers: 16 Years And Over is $365! (Les than$15 and hour for a 40 hour week)
Economy:
Is the US Dollar on the Verge of Being Dethroned as the World’s Currency? Gerald Epstein looks at how the loss of the dollar’s reserve currency status could impact the U.S. and world economy. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, and especially after Washington imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow, a number of countries across the world — including Brazil, China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and South Africa — have been pushing back against the hegemony of the U.S. dollar in the global economy. As this de-dollarization movement picks up steam we are forced to ask: Is the U.S. dollar’s dominance under threat? Would ending the U.S. dollar hegemony benefit the world? Progressive economist Gerald Epstein sheds light on the de-dollarization debate in this exclusive interview for Truthout. He explains the role the dollar plays as an international currency in maintaining U.S. global hegemony, discusses how imperialism helps to boost the currency role of the dollar, and analyzes whether de-dollarization is really happening and how the loss of the dollar’s reserve currency status could affect both the U.S. and the world economy. Epstein is professor and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and author of a forthcoming book from the University of California Press titled, Busting the Bankers’ Club: Finance for the Rest of Us.
Swiss Government Plans to Lock Away Secrets on Credit Suisse Collapse for 50 Years The “Deep State” is increasingly feeling like the “Deep Banking State.” Try to get any meaningful information to unravel the corrupt and dangerous interconnections between global banking behemoths today and some government or other entity has slapped a padlock on the information. The latest example is the Swiss Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry that is delving into the collapse in March of the second largest global bank in Switzerland – Credit Suisse. The Commission has announced that it plans to lock away the details of its findings for 50 years. (UBS, the largest global bank in Switzerland, bought the crumbling remains of Credit Suisse earlier this year.)
World:
Spain: From the ‘Indignados’ to the Death of Podemos – Prepare for a New Revolutionary Cycle! On 15 May 2011, a tremendous movement erupted all over Spain: the indignados. Within a few years, it found a political expression in the rise of Podemos. But the upcoming elections this month are set to confirm the terminal decline of this party, led into a dead end by its leadership. This represents the end of a political cycle. It might seem that we have returned to square one. But the end of this cycle is preparing the ground for a new revolutionary upturn of the mass movement, on a higher level, enriched by the whole experience of the past decade.
Sanctions Only Serve to Penalize the Most Vulnerable: Lula “We need peace to overcome the significant challenges we have to face,” the Brazilian president said at the CELAC-EU summit. On Monday, Brazilian President Lula da Silva Lula da Silva harshly criticized the sanctions and blockades that the United States and its allies impose on other countries in disregard of international law principles and norms. On Monday, Brazilian President Lula da Silva Lula da Silva harshly criticized the sanctions and blockades that the United States and its allies impose on other countries in disregard of international law principles and norms. “Using sanctions and blockades without the support of international law is something that only serves to penalize the most vulnerable parts of the population. We need peace to overcome the significant challenges we have to face,” he said during the summit between the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which takes place in Brussels. “To divide the world into antagonistic blocs would be madness,” Lula asserted, emphasizing that the war in Ukraine “is another confirmation that the United Nations Security Council is incapable of addressing the challenges we face today regarding peace and security.”
The Waning Sham ‘Neutrality’ of the Irish Ruling Class The right-wing coalition government of Varadkar and Martin has decided that now is the time to test the water on ditching so-called Irish ‘neutrality’. No doubt they would love to bounce Ireland into NATO, finally ending decades of sham neutrality in favour of open recognition of the 26-county state’s actual position: that of a pawn of western imperialism.
Health. Welfare, and Education:
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