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Daily News Digest October 6, 2023

Daily News Digest Archives

Images of the Day:

Ted Rall Student Loans:

Is the College Try Worth Anything?

Student Loan Lenders Are Predatory

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!

Qu0te of te Day:

The overall aim of capitalist production under competitive pressure is (a) to maximise net profit income (or realise a net superprofit) as much as possible through cutting production costs, increasing sales and monopolisation of markets and supply; (b) capital accumulation, to acquire productive and non-productive assets; and (c) to privatize both the supply of goods and services and their consumption. The larger portion of the surplus product of labor must usually be reinvested in production since output growth and accumulation of capital mutually depend on each other. — Capitalist Mode of Production

Videos of the Day:

Marx’s Law of Value and the Economic Challenges of the 21st Century Michael Roberts explains how Marx’s law of value provides the clearest way of understanding the contradictions in capitalism in the 21st century – based on the book co-authored with Guglielmo Carchedi.

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!

Climate Change Now a Major Driver of Global Amphibian Decline Two out of every five amphibian species are threatened with extinction Habitat destruction and disease are both well-documented causes of the decline of amphibians—among the most threatened animals on the planet—but a new paper analyzing two decades’ worth of data from around the world has found that climate change is emerging as one of the biggest threats to frogs, salamanders, and caecilians. The study was published today in the scientific journal Nature. The study, “Ongoing declines for the world’s amphibians in the face of emerging threats,” is based on the second global amphibian assessment, coordinated by the Amphibian Red List Authority, which is a branch of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission’s Amphibian Specialist Group, hosted and managed by Re:wild.

Global Heat is Now ‘Gobsmackingly Bananas’, But There’s Hope Humanity can Limit the Climate Damage It’s hard to overstate just how exceptionally high global temperatures are now, but we have the technology to avert disaster “Absolutely gobsmackingly bananas” is not standard scientific language, but these are not standard times, scientifically. New data shows average global temperatures in September were not just the hottest ever recorded, but 0.5C above the previous record for the month. They were about 1.8C above temperatures in pre-industrial times, before humans started pumping vast amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Green Groups Warn Record US Fracked Gas Exports ‘Bad News for Our Climate and Public Health’ “It is time for the White House to put the public interest and our climate future ahead of fossil fuel industry profits,” said one campaigner. As the U.S. Department of Energy announced that the nation set a new record for fossil gas exports during the first half of 2023, green advocacy groups on Wednesday implored the Biden administration to “put the public interest and our climate future ahead of fossil fuel industry profits” by halting gas projects and exports.

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

Cornel West Leaves the Green Party in Favor ff An Independent Bid The outspoken progressive scholar scrambles presidential politics once again. Presidential candidate Cornel West is leaving the Green Party and will continue his bid for the White House as an independent candidate. “As Dr. West’s campaign for president grows, he believes the best way to challenge the entrenched system is by focusing 100% on the people, not on the intricacies of internal party dynamics,” said the West campaign in a statement. West, an outspoken progressive and longtime university scholar, has ruffled feathers among Democrats, who view him as a potential spoiler for President Joe Biden’s reelection chances. West has batted back the idea he might pull support from Biden in multiple interviews, saying the Biden campaign is free to court the voters flocking to him.

“Nickels and Dimes”: Biden Touts $9B in Student Debt Relief as Payments Restart Student loan payments resumed for the first time since 2020 on Sunday. President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that his administration has approved $9 billion in student debt relief for public service workers and people who have been paying off loans for decades, just days after student loan payments restarted for the first time in over three years.

Black Liberation/Civile Rights:

Labor:

Due the Labor Bureaucracy’s collaboration with the Boss, Real Wages Have Been Cut Over 100% Since1974! — Wages Have Not Kept Up With Inflation! Since the Neoliberal Labor Bureaucracy declared itself to be in a (Domestic) Partnership With the Boss’ (‘Bedding the Boss!’)! was fully institutionalized starting in the mid-1980s, this ‘partnership’ gave birth to the one, two, three, etc. .. wage tier system! Selling out the futures of future young workers entering the labor force. And, since the lowest union wage is immediately the highest non-union wage, this wage tier system cut the wages of the entire working class! When I was a union official, I called this system labors’ rush to the bottom! The Graph Below is a Graphic Example of the Decline in Standard of Living of the Working Class, Since the Trade Union Bureaucracy Declared Itself to Be ‘In a (Domestic) Partnership With the Boss’(Class Cooperation)! Through the 1980s and 1990s they even included this ‘partnership’ into their work agreements and the partnership was fully established! Starting in the mid-1980s, This ‘partnership’ gave birth to the one, two, three, three, ect. wage tier system! Selling out the futures of future young workers entering the labor force. And, since the lowest union wage is immediately the highest non-union wage, this wage tier system cut the wages of the entire working class! When I was a union official, I called this system labors rush to the bottom! — The Condition of the United States Working Class — Where Do We Go From Here?

The Multi-Tiered Wage Ststem In the Cause of the Race to the Botton: Only a Just Transition Can End This Anti-Worker Race to the Bottom Key demands by the UAW and their allies across civil society can promote both climate protection and a decent future for autoworkers. Organized labor and the climate movement—often portrayed as opponents—have made an auspicious start toward cooperation in the autoworkers strike. The UAW, eschewing Trumpian blandishments to attack the transition to electrical vehicles (EVs), have instead endorsed the transition to climate-safe cars and trucks. One hundred climate organizations, rejecting the blandishments of auto industry allies that low wages in the non-union South will make EVs cheaper and therefore help fight global warming, have instead signed a letter of solidarity with UAW workers and are organizing to support union picket lines. The purpose of this Commentary is to explain the context of this convergence and to indicate the elements of a “just transition” for the auto industry that can provide a joint program for the labor and climate movements.

Economy:

Michael Roberts Facebook Blog: We are continually told that China’s loans to developing economies puts them into a ‘debt trap’. Well, the evidence from this report tells a different story. Re, Has The Imf’s Lending Become Too Expensive For Its Own Good? The Case for a Lending Rate Cap

Michael Roberts Facebook Blog: The latest UNCTAD report on the world economy reckons that the world economy has stalled and the risks over the coming year are rising . ” Re, Growth, Debt, and Climate: Realigning The Global Financial Architecture

Global growth is down from last year; inflation has come down from its highs in late 2022, but it’s an uneven descent, largely due to easing of supply-side pressures; and recent oil price reversal will renew pressure. Meanwhile, the cost of living and insufficient wage growth continue to squeeze household budgets everywhere.
Stuttering growth for the period 2022-24 will fall short of the pre-Covid rate in most regions of the world economy. Debt burdens are crushing too many developing countries. Debt service on external public debt relative to government revenues surged from nearly 6% to 16% between 2010 and 2021.
Trade will grow slowly this year while the concentration of markets and the squeezing of policy space has meant the gains from trade are skewed towards a small number of firms and within those firms, to owners of capital rather than labour.”
Tighter monetary policy has so far contributed little to price easing and at a steep cost in terms of inequality and damaged investment prospects.
Corporate profits from financial operations appear to be strongly linked to periods of excessive speculation in commodities markets and to the growth of shadow banking – an unregulated financial sector that operates outside traditional banking institutions.”
“During the period of heightened price volatility since 2020, certain major food trading companies have earned record profits in the financial markets, even as food prices have soared globally and millions of people faced a cost-of-living crisis.

After Getting the Largest Bailout In U.S. History In 2008, 85.5 Percent of the $1.34 Trillion in Deposits at Citigroup’s Citibank Lack FDIC Insurance Today As evidenced by the speech that the FDIC Chair, Martin Gruenberg, delivered at a conference yesterday, the FDIC is very much aware that both the level of uninsured deposits and the concentration of those uninsured deposits among a handful of mega banks is a serious problem for the U.S. banking system. Gruenberg didn’t name names, but we will do that in this article. Gruenberg pointed out in his speech that year-end data for the three banks that failed this past spring indicated that anywhere from 90 percent to 70 percent of their deposits were uninsured. (During a banking panic, uninsured deposits are typically those that head for the exits at the fastest clip.) But those three failed banks (Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank) were minnows compared to the asset-size of the banking whales which now account for the lion’s share of uninsured deposits in the U.S. banking system.

World:

UN Security Council Votes to Deploy US-Backed, Kenyan-Led Troops Into Haiti These UN missions don’t protect the population, they protect multinational investments, says scholar Mamyrah Prosper. The United Nations Security Council has approved an international armed force to address spiraling gang violence in Haiti, where street battles have paralyzed the capital Port-au-Prince since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. The U.N. mission, which came at the repeated request of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, is being led by Kenya, marking the first deployment of international security forces to Haiti in nearly 20 years. The U.S.-backed proposal received 13 votes in favor, with Russia and China abstaining, and allows foreign troops to remain in Haiti for one year. “This validates the criminal government of Ariel Henry,” says Haitian pro-democracy advocate Monique Clesca, who says the $100 million the U.S. has pledged to support the U.N. mission would have been better used to support civil society. “The big problem right now is the governance system.” We also speak with UC Irvine’s Mamyrah Prosper, host of the podcast Haiti: Our Revolution Continues, who says many Haitians are rightly skeptical given the history of foreign interventions in the country, including by U.N. troops. “This is not the first time that the Security Council has voted to send what Haitians are calling an occupation force,” says Prosper. “These missions don’t really come in, in fact, to protect the population. They are there to protect multinational investments.”

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

Medicare Advantage Overbills Taxpayers by $140 Billion a Year—Enough to Wipe Out Medicare Premiums “Medicare Advantage is just another example of the endless greed of the insurance industry poisoning American healthcare,” says a new report from Physicians for a National Health Program. A report published Wednesday estimates that privately run, government-funded Medicare Advantage plans are overcharging U.S. taxpayers by up to $140 billion per year, a sum that could be used to completely eliminate Medicare Part B premiums or fully fund Medicare’s prescription drug program. Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), an advocacy group that supports transitioning to a single-payer health insurance system, found that Medicare Advantage (MA) overbills the federal government by at least $88 billion per year, based on 2022 spending.

Student Loan Debt Statistics Report Highlights. Student loan debt in the United States totals $1.766 trillion. The debt accumulation rate is slowing, and recent analytics indicate that most consumers manage their student loan debt responsibly.

The outstanding federal loan balance is $1.645 trillion and accounts for 93.1% of all student loan debt.
43.6 million borrowers have federal student loan debt.
The average federal student loan debt balance is $37,718, while the total average balance (including private loan debt) may be as high as $40,499.
Less than 2% of private student loans enter default as of 2021’s fourth financial quarter (2021 Q4).
The average public university student borrows $32,637 to attain a bachelor’s degree.

Biden Touts Plan for S9 Billilion Student Relief of $1.733 Trillion Student Debt.: $9B in Student Debt Relief as Payments Restart

‘Horrific Step Backwards’: Biden Admin Waives Protections to Speed Border Wall Construction Every acre of habitat left in the Rio Grande Valley is irreplaceable,” said one advocate. “We can’t afford to lose more of it to a useless, medieval wall.” Environmental protection advocates and immigrant rights campaigners expressed horrow Wednesday over a Department of Homeland Security plan entered into the Federal Register that will waive more than two dozen laws in order to expedite the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

We Know Biden can Cancel Our Student Debt. We’re Demanding That He Does. Cancelling student debt is not just totally legal – it’s urgently necessary. The Department of Education has full authority to cancel student debt under the 1965 Higher Education Act, which grants the Department of Education the power to “compromise, waive, settle or release” all federal student debt. This online form demands the Department of Education to use that power. Filling out this form creates an individual demand letter, tailored to your own student debt story, calling on the Department of Education to use its powers to cancel not just your debt, but everyone’s.