Daily News Digest September 4, 2023
Image of the Day:
Water = Life!: Privatization Undermines Humman Right to Water!
Rich Vs Poor Taxation
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:
Leon Trotsky foretold the ‘Partnership’ Between the Trade Bureaucracy and the Boss: From Leon Trotsky and the Iron Heel: One must accentuate especially the role which Jack London attributes to the labor bureaucracy and to the labor aristocracy in the further fate of mankind. Thanks to their support, the American plutocracy not only succeeds in defeating the workers’ insurrection but also in keeping its iron dictatorship during the following three centuries. We will not dispute with the poet the delay which can but seem to us too long. However, it is not a question of Jack London’s pessimism, but of his passionate effort to shake those who are lulled by routine, to force them to open their eyes and to see what is and what approaches. The artist is audaciously utilizing the methods of hyperbole. He is bringing the tendencies rooted in capitalism: of oppression, cruelty, bestiality, betrayal, to their extreme expression. He is operating with centuries in order to measure the tyrannical will of the exploiters and the treacherous rôle of the labor bureaucracy. But his most “romantic” hyperboles are finally much more realistic than the bookkeeper-like calculations of the so-called “sober politicians.” It is easy to imagine with what a condescending perplexity the official socialist thinking of that time met Jack London’s menacing prophecies. If one took the trouble to look over the reviews of The Iron Heel at that time in the German Neue Zeit and Vorwärts, in the Austrian Kampf and Arbeiterzeitung, as well as in the other socialist publications of Europe and America, he could easily convince himself that the thirty-year-old “romanticist” saw incomparably more clearly and farther than all the social-democratic leaders of that time taken together. But Jack London bears comparison in this domain not only with the reformists. One can say with assurance that in 1907 not one of the revolutionary Marxists, not excluding Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg, imagined so fully the ominous perspective of the alliance between finance capital and labor aristocracy. This suffices in itself to determine the specific weight of the novel. The Fall of the Trade Union Movement (2010 Update) Elections: The Default of The Trade Union Movement
Bernie Sanders is a Social-Democrat. He is an adovocate for ‘lessor evil politics. Lessor evil politics means more evil! In Germany the Social-Democrats’ ‘Lessor Evil Politics’ gave rise to Hitler!: In the 1932 presidential election the Nazis ran Hitler, and the main bourgeois parties ran Von Hindenburg, the Junker general who represented the right wing of the Weimar republic but not fascism. The Social-Democrats, leading a mass workers’ movement, had no doubt about what was practical, realist, hard-headed politics and what was “utopian fantasy”: so they supported Hindenburg as the obvious Lesser Evil. They rejected with scorn the revolutionary proposal to run their own independent candidate against both reactionary alternatives – a line, incidentally that could also break off the rank-and-file followers of the Communist Party, which was then pursuing the criminal policy of “After Hitler we come” and “Social-fascists are the main enemy.” So the Lesser Evil, Hindenburg, won; and Hitler was defeated. Whereupon President Hindenburg appointed Hitler to the chancellorship, and the Nazis started taking over. The classic case was that the people voted for the Lesser Evil and got both. — Hal Draper
The Costs of War: The Russian war against Ukraine has been going for more than 18 months and has led to over 500,000 casualties, including almost 200,000 killed on both sides. I started to write “it’s almost unbelievable”, but then I thought about the scale of casualties from other recent wars, such as the one fought in Iraq following the U.S. invasion in 2003. The cost to rebuild Ukraine’s infrastructure was estimated last March at $411 billion and is probably now much higher. The war has pushed seven million Ukrainians into poverty and produced more than six million refugees. 17 million need humanitarian assistance. Apart from its 100,000 war dead – more than the U.S. suffered in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq combined – Russian has not suffered as much as Ukraine. T. he war after all, is not being fought on its territory (a few pin-prick drone strikes excepted). Nevertheless, the Russian economy shrunk by 2% last year and will grow by only about 1.5% this year. It has run up enormous budget deficits and been frozen out of much of the global financial system. The nation has had to mobilize 300,000 unmotivated reservists to fight the war and lost some 900,000 young and educated people to self-exile. Thousands more have been jailed for war resistance, including notable dissidents like Boris Kagarlitsky. Putin may think of the exile and purge as bonuses – he now has fewer critics — but the ranks of the nation’s brightest and most innovative people are now reduced. P rotest persists, but it has become surreptitious, a battle of codes and memes. — Some People Will Hate Me for Writing This: End the War!
Video:
The New York Times is Burning Peace Activist Jodie Evans at the Stake
Environment:
One of Many Ways to Begin to End Global Warming: Expose ‘Greenwashing’ — Tax the Polluters 100%!
After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan Should Be: ‘Ecosocialism or Ecocide’!
After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan is Ecoscialism or Ecocide!
One of the 1%’s Solutions to Their Life? — Own the Water!: Biden Infrastructure Report Pushes ‘Disastrous Water Privatization Schemes,’ Watchdog Says “President Biden should have never appointed an investment banker to chair an advisory council for the nation’s infrastructure,” said one advocate. An under-the-radar report by U.S. President Joe Biden’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council should not go unnoticed, said the national watchdog Food & Water Watch on Thursday, as buried in the document is a call for the privatization of U.S. water systems, which progressive lawmakers and civil society groups have long opposed. On page 15 of the 38-page report, the advisory council said the federal government should “remove barriers to privatization, concessions, and other nontraditional models of funding community water systems in conjunction with each state’s development of best practice.”
The American Empire Has Been Burning Hawaii for Over One-Hundred Years It’s been weeks since hell came to Maui, but the fire is still smoldering. The sights from paradise are almost too horrific to believe. One of the most beautiful places on God’s once green earth has been reduced to an ashen death heap straight out of a Hieronymus Bosch nightmare. The word ‘wildfire’ doesn’t even feel appropriate. What befell the people of that island is something more akin to the kind of genocidal weather terrorism performed by General Curtis LeMay during the Second World War. The kind of cannibal firestorm that devoured the people of Frankfurt and Tokyo. Something too wicked to come from Satan. The cruel hand of man was clearly at play here. The True Meaning of the Panama Canal Drought The country is playing host to an intersection of the global climate crisis, the global refugee crisis, and the inequalities of a global economic model of exploitation championed by the U.S. The Panama Canal is in dire straits. A severe drought is impeding navigation of the United States-dominated trade artery that bisects the isthmus of Panama in Central America. As of mid-August, more than 200 ships were stuck at the canal. On August 26, CNNwarned that the situation is “not a good sign for supply chains—or your holiday shopping.”
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
A Vote for Trump or Biden is a Vote for Ecocide!
Best Court that Money can Buy!: Latest Grifting by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Is Just Tip of the Iceberg After the public interest news outlet, ProPublica, revealed more grifting by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in April, the Supreme Court finally released the much delayed financial disclosure form for calendar year 2022 for Thomas yesterday. Thomas grudgingly provided details of some of that grifting involving billionaire Harlan Crow.
Bruce A. Dixon: Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Sheep Dogging for the Democratic Party Vermont senator and ostensible socialist Bernie Sanders is playing the sheepdog candidate for Hillary Clinton this year. Bernie’s job is to warm up the crowd for Hillary, herding activist energies and the disaffected left back into the Democratic fold one more time. Bernie aims to tie up activist energies and resources till the summer of 2016 when the only remaining choice will be the usual lesser of two evils. “The sheepdog is a card the Democratic party plays every presidential primary season when there’s no White House Democrat running for re-election.” Spoiler alert: we have seen the Bernie Sanders show before, and we know exactly how it ends. Bernie has zero likelihood of winning the Democratic nomination for president over Hillary Clinton. Bernie will lose, Hillary will win. When Bernie folds his tent in the summer of 2016, the money, the hopes and prayers, the year of activist zeal that folks put behind Bernie Sanders’ either vanishes into thin air, or directly benefits the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Tax the Rich: 9 Reasons for a Wealth Tax Rising inequality has been an inescapable phenomenon of global economic development over the past 200 years. Per the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, growing inequality affects 70% of the global population and threatens “long-term social and economic development, [harming] poverty reduction and [destroying] people’s sense of fulfillment and self-worth,” all of which “can breed crime, disease and environmental degradation.” As a core response, civil society organizations, social movements, the media, and academics have proposed a wealth tax on a country’s richest citizens. A wealth tax is a levy imposed on an individual’s net worth, i.e., all the forms of wealth that are acquired. Resistance from both the government and the corporate sector, however, has been intense. In response, proponents have outlined the rationale for a wealth tax in light of the existing political, social and economic situation. Resistance from both the government and the corporate sector, however, has been intense. In response, proponents have outlined the rationale for a wealth tax in light of the existing political, social and economic situation. Adressing Inequality:Rising inequality has been an inescapable phenomenon of global economic development over the past 200 years. Per the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, growing inequality affects 70% of the global population and threatens “long-term social and economic development, [harming] poverty reduction and [destroying] people’s sense of fulfillment and self-worth,” all of which “can breed crime, disease and environmental degradation.” As a core response, civil society organizations, social movements, the media, and academics have proposed a wealth tax on a country’s richest citizens. A wealth tax is a levy imposed on an individual’s net worth, i.e., all the forms of wealth that are acquired.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
300 Black Lives Matter Protesters in Denver Awarded $4.7 Million Settlement “I’m proud of our community for mobilizing and keeping this struggle alive,” a Denver activist said.
Did Defunding Police Cause Oakland’s “Crime Wave”? Here’s What Really Happened. Media and politicians call the defund police movement a failure, but it hasn’t been tried. . . . The defund police movement can’t be blamed for any crime waves, local or national, because defunding simply never happened on a meaningful scale. What also didn’t happen is the redirection of significant resources to community safety initiatives. Despite an impressive track record, Oakland’s Department of Violence Prevention (DVP), which funds anti-violence programs such as community “violence interrupters,” youth cultural programs, “Town Nights” and life coaching for recently incarcerated people, was slated for major cuts in the recently passed budget. Only intense advocacy by the Defund OPD Coalition prevented $7 million in cuts that could have eliminated services to 2,000 people. Meanwhile, OPD received a $41 million increase, nearly equivalent to DVP’s entire budget. Before amplifying claims about crime waves and who is to blame, any responsible organization needs to look carefully at the data and their sources. You can’t call something a failure when it hasn’t been tried.
Labor:
Only The 1% Has Recovered From the 2008 Crash!
Since June 2009 Americans have lived in the false reality of a recovering economy. Various fake news and manipulated statistics have been used to create this false impression. However, indicators that really count have not supported the false picture and were ignored. For example, it is normal in a recovering or expanding economy for the labor force participation rate to rise as people enter the workforce to take advantage of the job opportunities. During the decade of the long recovery, from June 2009 through Audust 2023, the labor force participation rate consistently fell from 65.7 to 62.8 percent. —Paul Craig Roberts, The Diminishing American Economy (Updated)
FRED: Labor Force Participation Rate is 62.8
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
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With persistent inflation eroding wage gains, the number of Americans living paycheck to paycheck is near a historic high, according to a recent report.
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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.
Econommy:
Latest Grifting by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Is Just Tip of the Iceberg After the public interest news outlet, ProPublica, revealed more grifting by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in April, the Supreme Court finally released the much delayed financial disclosure form for calendar year 2022 for Thomas yesterday. Thomas grudgingly provided details of some of that grifting involving billionaire Harlan Crow. But this latest grifting saga is just the tip of the iceberg for Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas. In 2011 the watchdog group, Protect our Elections, filed a bar complaint with the Missouri Supreme Court. At the time, Thomas was admitted to practice law in the State. The complaint asked for the disbarment of Thomas on the following grounds:
World:
Michael Roberts Facbook Blog: Chinese people are living two years longer thanks to a ‘war on pollution’. China’s pollution levels in 2021 had fallen 42% from 2013, according to a new report. The improvement means the average Chinese citizen’s lifespan is now 2.2 years longer, the report said. Average life expectancy is now higher in China than in the US. However, Beijing’s particulate pollution – the tiny but highly dangerous pollutants that can evade the human body’s usual defenses – is still 40% higher than in the most polluted county in the United States. And coal production in China is still rising.
Blood and Gold: the Spanish Conquest of the Americas When the Spanish arrived in the Americas 500 years ago, they encountered diverse cultures across the continent, including powerful civilisations such as the Mexica and the Incas. This article, first published in issue 40 of In Defence of Marxism magazine (click here to subscribe), takes a look at the material foundations of these rich cultures, their internal contradictions, as well as the conditions of contemporary Spain itself at the time of the conquest. Only by understanding these conditions can we in turn understand the devastation that the conquest wrought, and the wider role of these events in the ascent of capitalism.
The Other 9/11: A Ghost Story Fifty years after the coup, Pinochet’s legacy continues to haunt Chile. Ahalf-century after his military coup immolated 150 years of Chilean democracy, the ghost of Gen. Augusto Pinochet continues to roil and divide the Andean country he ruled for 17 years. His legacy of human rights abuses and neoliberal economics can be seen in Chile’s extreme inequality, its unreformed and unaccountable military and police, and unresolved human rights abuses, including the fate of more than 1,000 people who were disappeared during the dictatorship and thousands more still awaiting the trial of their abusers. While there has been uneven progress in these areas since Pinochet ceded power in 1990, many features of his dictatorship remain enshrined in the 1980 constitution that Chile’s new government is attempting, and struggling, to replace. The most nefarious part of that charter is its favoring of private industry to run crucial services like education and social security. “We are trying to build a future, but we have one foot solidly trapped in the past,” says a former union organizer who spent years as a political prisoner under Pinochet. “Pinochet is dead, but Pinochetism is very much alive. We are constantly bumping into it.”
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