Daily News Digest December 20, 2023
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”
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: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, andThe 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:
In an interview with Reuters, Greta Thunberg said the conference’s final text “is toothless and it is nowhere even close to being sufficient to keep us within the 1.5-degree limit. It is a stab in the back for those most vulnerable.” — Taking stock of COP28: Thirteen observations
The way it’s going, Biden is going to lose on his own, even without third parties. The fact that we are being smeared and targeted reflects the Democrats’ vulnerability and failure to address their loss of support. It’s a fallacy that Greens and other progressive candidates take votes away from Democrats. Largely what we’re doing is bringing people out. In 2016, we received 1.4 million votes, but seven million Democratic votes crossed over for Trump. The bigger problem was the 100 million voters who didn’t come out at all. Marginalized constituents, youth, the poor. That’s who the Democrats ought to be talking to. That’s who’s being left out here. The argument that we’re spoiling the election is extremely disingenuous as well as anti-democratic. — Jill Stein
Videos of the Day:
Glen Greenwld: Zelensky Begs DC for Money—While Torturing US Journalist Gonzalo Lira
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 ford 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 Era of Big Taxes Is Upon Us With debt more expensive, rich countries are turning to voters and businesses to pay for growing spending needs Rich countries are raising more money from taxpayers than they have in decades to finance a burst of state spending as surging interest rates make borrowing less attractive.
Ukraine: War is Terribly Profitable Missiles are flying over Ukraine, and the shares of the arms companies are also taking off. There is no shortage of opportunities to make money in the kingdom of imperialism. Ukrainian military needs and the economic strangulation of Russia could also benefit Canadian capitalists. As Lenin said: “War is a ‘terrible’ thing? Yes. But it is a terribly profitable thing.” This is the stark reality of capitalism, where the death and suffering of some is matched by the profits for others.
The Suez Canal Becomes a New Front in Israel-Hamas Conflict Oil giant BP joins cargo shipowners in diverting vessels from the critical Middle East route after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels Many of the world’s biggest shipping lines, oil producers and other cargo owners are diverting vessels from transiting through the main route to the Suez Canal, citing security concerns from Houthi rebel attacks in the area.
These “Experts” Cheer on Gaza Siege Without Disclosing Ties to War Profiteering The message of these “analysts” almost always comes down to one conclusion: support for continued war and militarism. We might be in an age of social media, but cable news channels like Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN still have enormous influence in shaping mainstream narratives about war and U.S. foreign policy. Therefore, it’s alarming that numerous “experts” that news channels bring on to explain war and conflict are actually — unbeknownst to news viewers — themselves cogs within the military-industrial complex, financially benefiting from weapons sales and war-making, even as they pose as impartial analysts. Moreover, news outlets tout the former government or military position of these “experts” as the basis for their expertise, all while leaving out their more recent and current positions where they profit from war.
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
US Trying to Water Down New Cease-Fire Resolution at UN Security Council “The U.S. cannot afford to be further isolated by vetoing this resolution,” said one human rights advocate. The United Nations Security Council on Monday delayed an expected vote on a new Gaza cease-fire resolution as the U.S. worked to weaken the measure’s language, objecting to the proposed call for an “urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities.” Unnamed diplomats toldThe Associated Press that the wording will likely be changed to call for a “suspension” of hostilities or some other watered down phrasing amenable to the U.S., which used its veto power to tank a Security Council cease-fire resolution less than two weeks ago.
Bloodbath: Israel’s War on Gaza’s Hospitals and their Patients Back in mid-October, a controversy broke out about a blast on the grounds of the al-Ahli Arab (Baptist) Hospital in Gaza City. Some quarters blamed it on Israel, but the latter’s defenders took the stance that Israel wouldn’t hit a hospital. It appears that it probably didn’t on that occasion, and that the blast can be attributed to a Hamas rocket instead. The Israeli army has, however, gone on to damage or decommission most of the hospitals in Gaza, with no further comment on American cable news. There is no military justification for the Israeli military campaign against the hospitals, which is apparently the army’s only real success on the battlefield to date. The Israeli government party line that the hospitals are terror command centers has become wholly implausible and is clearly just a cover story. It is amazing what you can get apparently hard-boiled cynical American journalists to believe without a scintilla of evidence.
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’!
US Promotion of Banned Fukushima Seafood Contradicts Biden’s Cancer Initiatives Japanese seafood banned by China, Russia and South Korea is headed for U.S. military bases in Japan. The United States military will buy bulk Japanese seafood also banned by Russia and South Korea for U.S. service members stationed at military bases in Japan. About a month before the announcement, the Japanese embassy hosted a sushi-tasting event at the White House featuring seafood caught off the coast of Fukushima. G7 officials are now likewise calling for repeal on national bans of Japanese seafood.
Flirting With Nuclear Energy Down Under It was a policy that was bound to send a shiver through the policymaking community. The issue of nuclear energy in Australia has always been a contentious one. Currently, the country hosts a modest nuclear industry, centred on the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), nuclear medicine and laboratory products. But even this has created headaches in terms of long-term storage of waste, plagued by successful legal challenges from communities and First Nation groups. The advent of AUKUS, with its inane yet provocative promise of nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy, adds yet another, complicating dimension to this fact. Without a clear idea of a site, a vital part of the nuclear dilemma remains unresolved. Broadly speaking, the nuclear issue, in manifold manifestations, has never entirely disappeared from the periphery of Australian policy. The fact that Australia became a primary testing ground for Britain’s nuclear weapons program was hardly something that would have left Canberra uninterested in acquiring some nuclear option. Options were considered, be they in the realm of a future weapons capability, or energy generation.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
Why I Use Shadow Government Statistics Alternative Unemployment Measurement. It includes workers, who are no longer counted by the government!: Shadow Government Statistics November 2023 Payroll Employment and Unemployment Annual Growth in November 2023 Payrolls Slowed to Its Weakest Level of the Post-Pandemic Era, at a 32-Month Low of 1.81% With Both Retail Sales and Manufacturing Year-to-Year Employment Growth At Zero Percent, Consumer and Broad Business Activity (i.e. GDP) Likely Is Down or Headed Down, Not Booming Yet, November 2023 U.3 and U.6 Unemployment Rates Notched Lower to 3.7% and 7.0% from Respective 22- and 24-Month Highs of 3.9% and 7.2%, With Some Shifting Into the Longer Term ―Discouraged Worker‖ Category The Broader November 2023
ShadowStats-Alternate Unemployment Rate, Which Incorporates Longer Term ―Discouraged Workers, Held at October’s 29-Month High of 25.4%
Economy:
World:
Gaza’s Second Front: Houthi Drones Drive Major Shipping Cos. Out of Red Sea in Blow to World Trade On Saturday, Muhammad al-Bakhiti, a member of the Politburo of the the Helpers of God (Houthi ) government of northern Yemen, announced that it had completely closed off shipping to Israel via the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea. Actually, the Helpers of God have more or less closed Red Sea shipping to everyone. He said that the Houthis had managed to idle the Israeli port of Eilat, referring to it by its pre-1948 name of Umm al-Rashrash. He pledged that the Houthis would expand their activities in the Red Sea and continue to strike at Israeli shipping and shipping headed for Israel, as well as at the Israeli navy.
China’s Millionaires Are Worried. That’s a Problem for Wall Street. Big banks joined the race to serve China’s wealthy. That business has come under pressure. China’s economic slowdown has become a big problem for banks that serve the rich. For years, banks including Citigroup, JPMorgan and UBS competed hard to win business from China’s giant pool of wealthy people.
China: Class Struggle About to Enter a New, More Volatile Chapter The year 2023 is coming to an end. This year was by no means a good one for the working class in China. However, it has also been a year in which we’ve seen new hopes springing up as worker [Note: This article was originally published in Chinese on 10 December 2023. The following is an abridged translation.] In the past year, China has witnessed the titanic struggle against lockdowns at the end of last year, the brutal factional infighting among the top bureaucrats of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, confusion and agony for countless young people who face unemployment after graduation, and the lingering effects of the real estate bubble. On top of all this, China’s economy continues to grind towards a halt, the cost of which the bosses are attempting to transfer to the workers. The glittering mask that Chinese capitalism has been wearing for decades fell this year. No lies about “socialism with Chinese characteristics” can deceive Chinese workers anymore. And in the second half of 2023, we have seen the rising class struggle of the workers’ movement reach its highest point in the past five years. The Chinese working class is recognising its own power and is preparing to come to the fore. 2023 clearly shows that this moment is approaching.
Health, Education, 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
The Ever Increasing Student Loan Debt!:
Is the College Try Worth Anything?
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 for1% of all student loan debt.
- 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.
