Daily News Digest January 18, 2024
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!
Quote of the Day:
The U.S. routinely spends far more on its military than any other country. In 2022, it accounted for more than one third of world military spending, with a total annual spend larger than the next 10 countries combined, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Over the years, U.S. military spending has continuously hit record highs. In 2000, government debt was $3.5 trillion, accounting for 35 percent of GDP. However, according to Sachs, by 2022 the debt had surged to $24 trillion, representing a staggering 95 percent of GDP. The ongoing wars have been predominantly funded through borrowing, resulting in a widening of the U.S. budget deficit and a surge in the national debt. Failure to promptly repay the borrowed funds allocated to war will also lead to large future interest payments. According to researchers from Brown University, by the 2050s, these interest payments could total over $6.5 trillion. Researchers said that although military spending does produce jobs, investment in non-military public infrastructure like roads, hospitals and schools has not grown at the same rate as investment in military infrastructure. This was another of Eisenhower’s concerns – the military-industrial complex could promote policies that may not serve the best interests of the country, like diverting valuable resources away from education and healthcare. — Is the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex Responsible for Constant Wars?
Videos of the Day:
The Fall of Ukraine (w/ Kit Klarenberg) On the second part of this two-part episode of Journalists for Sale, co-hosts Max Jones and Diego Ramos talk to Kit Klarenberg about the Biden admin’s slow but steady abandonment of Ukraine, the potential for a U.S. launched nuclear war against Russia and the incoming wave of terrorism from Ukraine.
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 Military-Industrial Complex Is the Winner (Not You) – Overspending on the Pentagon Is Stealing Our Future 2023 was a year marked by devastating conflicts from Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine to Hamas’s horrific terror attacks on Israel, from that country’s indiscriminate mass slaughter in Gaza to a devastating civil war in Sudan. And there’s a distinct risk of even worse to come this year. Still, there was one clear winner in this avalanche of violence, suffering, and war: the U.S. military-industrial complex. In December, President Biden signed a record authorization of $886 billion in “national defense” spending for 2024, including funds for the Pentagon proper and work on nuclear weapons at the Department of Energy. Add to that tens of billions of dollars more in likely emergency military aid for Ukraine and Israel, and such spending could well top $900 billion for the first time this year.
The 1%’s Ruling Tribunal: Report: SCOTUS Passes on Ohio Grade Crossing Law Dispute The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on Jan. 8 declined to consider Ohio’s bid “to enforce a state law that penalizes railroads if their trains block grade crossings for more than five minutes, turning away a case that sought further clarity on the scope of federal preemption concerning rail regulations,” according to Law360 Senior Reporter Linda Chiem.
Democratic Illusions: Elite Unity on Israel A very strange vision for these uncertain times appeared on stage in Washington, DC on Nov. 14: House Speaker Mike Johnson joined hands with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. They stood together, along with Sen. Jodi Ernst, to celebrate Israel’s genocidal war on and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza. The handholding underlines the lack of daylight between bourgeois parties at each other’s throats in this era of partisan polarization. An eerie understanding arises that perhaps the last unifying force in America is not just war, but war crimes. Awash in media that portrays the political leadership of the United States as mortal enemies, to see them without the mask, holding hands and celebrating the heinous acts of an imperial client state, is incongruous with the spectacle we routinely consume.
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
South Africa v Israel: ICJ Genocide Case Exposes Crisis Of International Law South Africa’s landmark genocide case against Israel has attracted the support of millions of people worldwide, who are desperate to see an end to the horrors in Gaza. Israel’s international reputation has received a blow from which it may never recover. But a blow is also being prepared for the whole edifice of international law, which is impotent to stop these atrocities.
Doctors Demand Ceasefire in Gaza to Address “Apocalyptic” Health Crisis Health worker reports on the ground describe horrific scenes in collapsing hospitals 100 days into Israel’s siege. Worldwide protests this weekend called for a ceasefire while marking 100 days of Israel’s unrelenting bombardment and siege of the Gaza Strip since the October 7 Hamas attack. United Nations humanitarian leaders issued a joint demand Monday for dramatically increasing the flow of aid into Gaza. “The situation is spiraling out of control” in Gaza, says pediatric neurologist Omar Abdel-Mannan, who shares on-the-ground health worker reports of the “apocalyptic” scenes in collapsing hospitals. “This is medieval-style medicine that we are seeing, and this is 100% man-made.”
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’!
Toxic Chemicals In 1962 Rachel Carson published her famous book Silent Spring and began the modern environmental movement. Carson wrote poetically about the dangers pesticides pose to nature and called for increased regulation of these chemicals. Today we consider not just how toxicants affect the health of the planet, but how they affect the health of people. As a result of faulty economic policies and lax environmental and production standards, human exposure to toxicants, or toxic chemicals, is widespread. Industrial sites leave arsenic in the soil. Factories release ozone into the air. Fast food packaging contains PFCs. Waste incinerators emit dioxin. These chemicals cause health problems ranging from asthma attacks to cancer. In response to tragedies and to improve community health, the U.S. federal government created the Clean Air Act of 1963 and the Clean Water Act of 1972, which regulate toxic chemicals before they enter our air and water and mitigate pollution when it occurs. Tragedies like Love Canal and the dedicated work of activists like Lois Gibbs have led to ongoing programs like Superfund to force corporations and the government to take responsibility for protecting people’s health. Corrupt industries and government employees have added loopholes and exceptions to these regulations, however. They are willingly and purposefully weakening communities’ primary protection against environmental health crises. Furthermore, we’re also continuously exposed to numerous toxicants that we haven’t even begun regulating. The Environmental Protection Agency, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and Food and Drug Administration have the responsibility to be vigilant and active when it comes to protecting the health of our country. As the oft-referenced precautionary principle states, industries that produce chemicals, either as waste or marketable products, have an obligation to prove these chemicals will do no harm before exposing the public to them.
Researchers Explain How Petrochemicals Fuel Cancer Risks A researcher with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and collaborators have penned a commentary highlighting how petrochemicals are a major contributor to cancer risks, resulting in a profoundly negative impact on overall health. Their article, Derailing Carcinogens—Oncologists and the Ohio Train Derailment, in JAMA Oncology explains how the pathway for petrochemical processing poses significant risks at every stage. “There’s a petrochemical processing pathway,” said James Shultz, Ph.D., a Sylvester faculty member and associate professor in Miami’s Department of Public Health Sciences, and senior author of the article. “Fossil fuels are extracted, refined, processed, transported, used and ultimately disposed of, and each step along the way poses additional health risks.”
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
Kaiser Workers Win Big After Largest Healthcare Strike in US History After mobilizing over 75,000 workers in a three-day strike this October, the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions won a new contract for hundreds of healthcare facilities around the country. From October 4-6 of this year, the US experienced the largest healthcare worker strike in our history, when over 75,000 workers with the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions went on a three-day strike against the healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente. Then, on October 13, after warning that more strikes could be coming if a deal wasn’t reached at the bargaining table, healthcare workers scored a major victory and reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser, which the union membership, accounting for over 85,000 Kaiser Permanente workers across the country, voted to ratify in early November. As the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions stated in a press release upon the contract ratification, “In a historic victory for frontline healthcare workers, more than 85,000 Kaiser Permanente workers have overwhelmingly voted to ratify a new contract that will bolster patient safety, make critical investments in the healthcare workforce, and set a higher standard for the healthcare industry nationwide. Approved by a margin of 98.5%, the four-year contract is in effect from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2027, at hundreds of Kaiser facilities across California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.” In this mini-cast, we speak with Meg Niemi, President of SEIU Local 49, and Audrey Cardenas, a benefits support specialist at a Kaiser dental office in Oregon, about how Kaiser healthcare workers took on the bosses and won this new contract, and what that is going to mean for workers and patients alike moving forward.
Big Contract Battles Ahead for Unions in 2024 Major contract fights in 2023 at UPS, the Big 3 automakers, and Hollywood studios set the tone for next year’s contract campaigns. Impressive gains and increased transparency got members of other unions asking, “Why can’t my union be like that?” Major contract fights in 2023 at UPS, the Big 3 automakers, and Hollywood studios set the tone for next year’s contract campaigns. Impressive gains and increased transparency got members of other unions asking, “Why can’t my union be like that?” The bar will be high. Many of the contracts expiring next year date from before the pandemic, and before inflation started taking a bite out of paychecks. Some unions took concessions, like creating lower wage and benefit tiers, that members are ready to fight to undo this time around.
Economy:
Ellen Brown: Casino Capitalism and the Derivatives Market: Time for Another ‘Lehman Moment’? Reading the tea leaves for the 2024 economy is challenging. On January 5th, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said we have achieved a “soft landing,” with wages rising faster than prices in 2023. But critics are questioning the official figures, and prices are still high. Surveys show that consumers remain apprehensive. There are other concerns. On Dec. 24, 2023, Catherine Herridge, a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News covering national security and intelligence, said on “Face the Nation,” “I just feel a lot of concern that 2024 may be the year of a black swan event. This is a national security event with high impact that’s very hard to predict.” What sort of event she didn’t say, but speculations have included a major cyberattack; a banking crisis due to a wave of defaults from high interest rates, particularly in commercial real estate; an oil embargo due to war. Any major black swan could prick the massive derivatives bubble, which the Bank for International Settlements put at over one quadrillion (1,000 trillion) dollars as far back as 2008. With global GDP at only $100 trillion, there is not enough money in the world to satisfy all these derivative claims. A derivative crisis helped trigger the 2008 banking collapse, and that could happen again.
With the War in the Ukraine and the subsequent Destruction of the Russian Gas Line The LGN Gas Market Opened Up In Europe: With US in Deep Freeze, LNG Exports Blamed for Spike in Domestic Gas Prices “Exports of LNG have created higher prices for U.S. consumers, leaving them vulnerable to massive price spikes like what happened this weekend,” said one expert. With millions of Americans suffering sub-zero temperatures under a deadly Arctic blast, a leading consumer advocate on Tuesday attributed the fivefold increase in the U.S. benchmark price of natural gas to the recent “explosion in LNG exports.”
Everything that’s Dangerous about U.S. Banks Today in One Highly Readable Book Anat Admati, Professor of Finance and Economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and German economist Martin Hellwig, have performed a public service to all Americans with their newly released, updated and expanded book The Bankers’ New Clothes: What’s Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It. It puts the interlocking web of corruption that is mistakenly referred to as the U.S. banking system into a pristinely documented and highly readable book 
World:
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