Daily News Digest October 4, 2023
Images of the Day:
“You Can’t Just Leave Those (Capitalists) Who Created the Problem in Charge Of the Solution!” Increase of CO2 Since the Birth of Capitalism 
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:
The greatest danger to our future is apathy — Jane Goodall
You can’t just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution. — Tyree Scott Sticker
The Iron Heel: Generally considered to be “the earliest of the modern Dystopian,” it chronicles the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. It is arguably the novel in which Jack London’s socialist views are most explicitly on display. A forerunner of soft science fiction novels and stories of the 1960s and 1970s, the book stresses future changes in society and politics while paying much less attention to technological changes.
Thought Police: In the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), by George Orwell, the Thought Police (Thinkpol in Newspeak) are the secret police of the superstate of Oceania, who discover and punish thoughtcrime, personal and political thoughts unapproved by Ingsoc‘s regime. The Thinkpol use criminal psychology and omnipresent surveillance via informers, telescreens, cameras, and microphones, to monitor the citizens of Oceania and arrest all those who have committed thoughtcrime in challenge to the status quo authority of the Party and the regime of Big Brother.
Videos of the Day:
Police Killings of Black & Brown People May Be Double Previous Estimates: La Raza Database Project
Survived & Punished: Meet Tracy McCarter, a Nurse Jailed, Then Cleared, for Stabbing Abusive Husband
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!
Type of Storm That Drenched New York is Up to 20% Wetter Due yo Climate Crisis Rapid attribution study finds storm 10-20% wetter after city experienced a month’s worth of rain in just a few hours on Friday
Corporate PR & Global Warming – The Big Con Switch off your light for an hour at home, the environmentalist World Wildlife Funds asks of you. Since 2007, WWF has conducted a global campaign to convince individuals to turn off their lights for one hour, on one day of the year. It seeks to individualize global warming while diverting attention away from the big polluters. Moving the big polluters out of the crime scene by focusing on the individual is a proven PR or public relations (read: propaganda) con, a manipulative trick. It is a cunning move by industry – in short, a con. The term con goes back to the French word contekier – as in discord and to be in strife.
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
Our Recurring Flirtation With Government Shutdowns Reveals a System in Crisis Our dysfunctional political system uses the debt ceiling to inflict cruelty on the poor and the working class. The threat of a U.S. government shutdown was averted late last Saturday night after the House passed a 45-day stopgap funding bill, which was then approved by the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden. This is good news, because government shutdowns cause disruption to services and funding, affect millions of workers, and undermine public health and environmental safety. Nonetheless, the manufactured crisis of the past few weeks may soon return because the bill is a short-term deal. The measure passed extends funding only until mid-November, and MAGA Republicans are bent on imposing their fiscal and policy views on the nation. — But it’s more than that. — The threat of a federal government shutdown is yet more proof that the U.S. is not a functioning country when it comes to politics and governance. How can federal funding run out in the wealthiest country in the world? There is hardly any other country in the world whose lawmakers have to struggle to find ways to keep the government afloat, and then just for the next 45
Group Behind Supreme Court CFPB Case Is Full of ‘Criminals, Crooks, and Predatory Lenders’ Accountable.US warned that if the Supreme Court sides with the lending group, “it would open the door to the worst rollback of consumer protection in U.S. history and mass uncertainty for the markets and other agencies.”
‘They Still Failed Millions of Children’: Congress Averted a Shutdown, But Not a Childcare Cliff “Families all over this country are struggling as a direct result of the inaction from Congress.” Congress temporarily averted a government shutdown with just hours to spare over the weekend after House Republicans finally agreed to pass a stopgap bill without the draconian spending cuts they had previously demanded. But despite Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) invitation to the American public to ” breathe a sigh of relief” following the measure’s passage, one sector in particular had little reason to do so. On Saturday, billions of dollars in emergency childcare funding approved during the coronavirus pandemic expired due to government inaction, a nightmare scenario that providers, lawmakers, and analysts had been warning about for months.
‘A Travesty’: Clarence Thomas Refuses to Recuse in Case That Could Benefit Billionaire Benefactor “Crow’s interest in these cases is unambiguous, as is the depth of Thomas’ relationship with his patron,” said the head of the Revolving Door Project. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday recused himself from a decision—but the rare move from the embattled right-winger came as he weighed in on another case involving his billionaire benefactor, which outraged one watchdog group.
The Interrogation Psychologists Come Home to Roost Roy Eidelson’s Doing Harm: How the World’s Largest Psychological Association Lost Its Way in the War on Terror is essential reading for understanding the cultural and political world we now inhabit. Eidelson writes from the perspective of an outraged psychologist, who expected much better from his profession than support for a detention and interrogation program that had torture at its core. He provides detailed documentation of the efforts of his fellow psychologist “dissidents” to bring accountability to the American Psychological Association (APA). Full disclosure: As a former president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, I am one of these dissidents. The APA cultivates a benevolent image in general yet is obliged to please the military and intelligence community to maintain much of its power, influence, prestige and wealth relative to other social sciences (and even some natural sciences). Eidelson provides a comprehensive and highly readable background story to APA’s accommodative stance toward the priorities of the Department of Defense and the CIA at a time when both agencies were clearly reconciled to indefinitely detaining and abusing—and often torturing—hundreds of detainees. And almost all of these detainees were detained in the first place thanks to highly dubious evidence—or no evidence at all—linking them to Al Qaeda.
Could This Supreme Court Case Gut the Americans With Disabilities Act? “The current Supreme Court has not proven to be a champion of civil rights Civil rights!” advocates fear the court’s decision could have a far-reaching impact on other civil rights law as well. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments for Acheson Hotels LLC v. Laufer. The court will examine whether Deborah Laufer, a disabled advocate, can sue hotels for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), despite having no intention to visit them. Civil rights advocates fear that the court has the potential to gut one of the main enforcement mechanisms of the ADA. They also fear that the court’s decision could have a more far-reaching impact on other civil rights law.
Black Liberation/Civile Rights:
North Carolina GOP-Passed Budget Creates “Secret Police,” Critics Warn “This consolidation of force and coercion is very worrying,” one critic of the provision said. Aprovision of North Carolina’s newly-passed state budget would create a “secret police” force, critics say, which would be run by a state legislative committee that is currently managed by Republicans. The provision allows Gov Ops to conduct such investigations with apparently no oversight whatsoever. Over the course of any investigation conducted by the committee, individuals under investigation would be forbidden from speaking publicly about possible misdeeds or overreaches by investigators, and all communications or requests from the committee’s staff would be “confidential.” Subjects would also be barred from consulting with legal counsel about their rights, and searches of properties (whether in public or private spaces) could occur without the need for a warrant.
Labor:
Economy:
Hiding in the Shadows The cost of borrowing to invest or consume is reaching record levels. One benchmark for this is the real interest rate on government bonds globally. Governments are seen as the most safe borrowers, unlikely to default compared to companies or individuals. So creditors (or investors in bonds) are prepared to ask less interest return on government borrowing than they ask companies and households. Yet, even after taking into account inflation, government ten-year bond yields now have a global average of over 6%, something not seen since the late 1960s. The reason for these high yields is two-fold. First, there is inflation itself. Rising inflation over the last two years meant that creditors want more interest to cover the loss of real worth of their bond purchases or loans. The second is the move by all the major central banks to raise their policy interest rates to levels not seen since the late 1970s. As this blog has discussed before, the central banks reckon that hiking their interest rates, which set the floor for all other borrowing rates, will eventually drive down the inflation rate back to their arbitrary target of a 2% price rise each year. With central bank rates now around 4-5% in the major economies, that feeds through to overall loan rates. Moreover, there seems little likelihood that the main central banks will reduce their rates any time before 2025. This record cost of borrowing in real terms has already caused a mini-banking crisis in the US, with several smaller banks hitting the dust. And it has led to a batch of governments in so-called emerging economies to default on their loan obligations to creditors, both state and private, in the rich Western economies. And more are set to join the current defaulters.
The Yield on 10-Year Treasury Notes Hits a 16-Year High; Stocks Lose Ground in 8 of Last 10 Sessions; Treasury Announces Buybacks of Its Own Debt The Fed’s problem and the U.S. Treasury’s problem just became the problem of every American who has their retirement savings stuffed in the stock market via 401(k) plans or direct holdings. As the chart above shows in crisp terms, stocks do not like yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rising to a level that is competitive with the return on stocks – especially since the principal on the Treasury note is guaranteed at maturity while the principal in the stock market is guaranteed to take one’s stomach on a roller coaster ride.
World:
Ageing Population or Senile System? Across the world, establishment politicians and bourgeois economists are growing anxious about ageing populations and shrinking family sizes. The real problem, however, is not a demographic crunch, but the crisis of capitalism. By the end of this century, the global population is predicted to fall for the first time since the Black Death. In every continent the pitter-patter of babies’ feet is being replaced by the clanging of walking sticks, as family sizes shrink under the immense pressures of working life. Faced with a shortage of workers and a growing pension-age population, the ruling class are worried about what they are calling the ‘demographic transition’.
Nagorno-Karabakh: Victim of Inter-Imperialist Rivalry Nagorno-Karabakh has been wiped off the map as what remained of the breakaway region surrendered to Azerbaijan’s troops on 20 September, after brief fighting that led to at least 200 ethnic Armenians being killed. According to the most recent reports, over 100,000 Armenians – almost the entire population – have now fled the region. The government of the enclave has declared that as of 1 January 2024 it will “cease to exist”.
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
Due to “Under Staffing”, the Earliest I can Get a Kaiser Doctor’s Apointment is a Over 30 Days! Largest Healthcare Worker Strike in US History Set to Kick Off on Oct. 4 “We’re burning ourselves out trying to do the jobs of two or three people, and our patients suffer when they can’t get the care they need due to Kaiser’s short-staffing,” said one Kaiser Permanente worker.