Daily News Digest August 7, 2024
Images of the Day:
Half the Genocide
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”There is No Democracy! When Less Than 1% Control the Wealth, Production, and Price of Everything Produced and Consumed in the World! In the present period of unfettered Capitalism, the pretense of democratic rule does not exist, except in the minds of ‘socialists’ like Bernie Sanders and the Labor Bureaucracy! Capitalists view all struggles as struggles against capitalist rule! Transition demands immediately become revolutionary demands! Therefore, any resistence to the attack of capitalists has to be organized by those that understand this! 
Today, the United States Capitalists are Consolidating Themselves as the Supreme Capitalists! Capitalism’s Gluttony is Demonstrated by It’s Quest for More and More Profits at the Expense of Humanity! The Rise of Capitalism was Under the Banner of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity! Now There is Less Liberty, More Inequality, and Less Fraternity of Humanity! Every Day, From Global Warming to Global War There is a New Example of Capitalism in Imperialist Decay!
Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capitalism Has Been Aware of the Comming Catastrophe of Global Warming Over 6 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 Five Horsemen of the the Apocalypse, Spreading Racism, War, Famine, Pestilence, Death, and Misinformation! 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, and 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! Globaly, With the Current Gaza War, The Right of Assembly is Under Attack! Due to Years of Austerity, Cuts to Public Health Care, And An Anti-Science and Profiteering President, The United States Still Leads the World In Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World!
The Majority of the World, Despite the Media Monopoly’s Lies, are Opposed to the Palestinian Genocide and Global Warming — The 1% Minority Funds Them! At, this Time in History, Capitalism is Exposing the Fact That it is Opposed to Majority Rule/Democracy!
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 truth is that this menace could easily be combatted and snuffed out. But to do so requires bold methods, based on mass mobilisation, class struggle, and clear class demands. Moralistic appeals for “peace” and “unity”, as is the unfortunate language of the labour movement leaders and campaigns like Stand Up to Racism (SUTR), will get us nowhere. Nor can we rely on the bourgeois state to protect minority groups from far-right violence. Unfortunately, for example, a leading figure of SUTR has commented that it would be “great” to see more police on the streets over the weekend. This approach is profoundly mistaken. As we have seen countless times over recent years, the police – the ‘armed bodies of men’ of the capitalist state – are themselves racist, sexist, and abusive to the core. What’s more, Starmer’s government will try to exploit this latest unrest to continue beefing up the powers of the police, and clamping down on our democratic rights. The only force that the working class and young people can rely upon to smash the far right is themselves. — Britain’s Far-Right Menace – How to Fight It!
Podcasts/Vide0s of the Day:
Chris Hedges: Harris vs Trump: The End of American Dominance? We have one party it’s the corporate party. Today on Real Talk, we speak to Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author, about the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in the US elections. We delve into why he believes we are “at the end of empire”, whether Trump or Harris would have different Gaza policies, the rise of Christian nationalism in the US, and his thoughts on Joe Biden’s presidential legacy. Real Talk is a Middle East Eye interview show hosted by Mohamed Hashem that delves into the stories and experiences of a diverse range of guests.
Debt Is Political: Why Wealth Flows From Poor to Rich
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 : My own Government, I cannot be Silent. ― Martin Luther King Jr.
To this day, we have a government and state apparatus that is designed to “protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.” Democracy for white and wealthy men only! — Roland Sheppard, My Forefathers and The 1%’s Forefathers.
A Proclamation regarding the Anniversary of the First Nuclear War Crimes As I write, five of nine governments with arsenals of nuclear weapons – capable of destroying life on our planet many times over – are engaged in war: the United States (in multiple wars and stoking one with China), Israel, Russia, and NATO members Britain and France in a proxy war with Russia. For decades now, respected nuclear weapons scientists and policymakers have estimated each January how close we are as a world to civilization-ending disaster, by setting the hands of the Doomsday Clock, where Midnight represents apocalyptic nuclear war. In January 2024, the Doomsday clock was set at 90 seconds to Midnight, the closest it has ever been since its inception in 1947. Throughout 2023 nuclear nations spent 13% more than in 2022 on necrophilic nuclear weapons with the US accounting for 80% of this increase–all while we rush headlong into climate disaster, so palpable this summer. How much closer to Midnight will we be in January 2025?
US Court Rules Google a Monopoly in ‘Biggest Antitrust Case of the 21st Century’ “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” said a federal judge in the decision. A federal judge left no room for ambiguity Monday in a landmark ruling in a case brought by the Justice Department and states against tech giant Google, in which the government argued the company had illegally monopolized the search engine and advertising market.
US Funded Palestinian Genocide:
What Does Arming Israel Cost? What will it take to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza? That’s the question confounding people of conscience all over the world since last October. After Israeli citizens, tax-paying residents of the United States have the most leverage over the perpetrators of genocide given that the U.S. is Israel’s biggest weapons supplier. What if our taxes were spent on the things we need rather than on the deadly weapons Israel is thirsting for? For months, a majority of the U.S. public has disapproved of Israel’s relentless mass killings. College students organized dramatic encampments to demand divestment from Israel. Protesters confronted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his recent visit. Yet, President Joe Biden has done little beyond paying lip service to address the public rage over Israel’s murderous assault. Now, his proxy, Vice President Kamala Harris, faces a similar calculus in running for the presidency: pull back U.S. weapons from fueling genocide, as United Nations experts have urged, or risk losing voters in a critical election. Unfortunately for Palestinians and their allies, Harris appears to be taking a similar approach to Biden’s: using strong terms to uplift Palestinian suffering, while affirming “her longstanding and unwavering commitment to the security of the State of Israel and the people of Israel.”
Environmanet:
Fund Climate! — Not Genocide! 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’!
We Must Hold These Monsters to Account!
While JPMorgan Chase is actually the largest lender to fossil fuel projects according to the Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2024, with $430.9 billion in financings since 2016, Citigroup is ranked as the number one lender to fossil fuel expansions since 2016, according to the same report, with $396.3 billion in financings. — Citigroup Is Having a Helluva Summer: A Protest on Thursday Will Turn Up the Heat0
As the West Burns and the East Floods:
Climate Change Deniers Make Up Nearly A Quarter of US Congress Climate denialists – 23 in Senate and 100 in House – are all Republicans and make US an outlier internationally US politics is an outlier bastion of climate denial with nearly one in four members of Congress dismissing the reality of climate change, even as alarm has grown among the American public over dangerous global heating, an analysis has found.
‘It’s Just Raw Profiteering’: The People Refusing to Pay Their Water Bills in Response to the Sewage Crisis There are many of us across England and Wales who have opened our water bills and glanced at the payment breakdown only to be jolted into annoyed sarcasm. “Really?” you say to the water company’s logo. “I’m paying you to dispose of sewage, am I? And how is that working out for us all?” In 2023, sewage spills in England increased by 54% from the previous year, according to the Environment Agency. A study also released in 2023 showed that enough raw sewage to fill 4,352 Olympic swimming pools was released from 30 water treatment works in one year. And yet shareholders must still be paid: analysis conducted by the Financial Times showed that UK water companies paid out £1.4bn in dividends in 2022, up £540m from the previous year. There are news items every day: swimmers are told to sign up for water-quality alerts; paddling children and triathletes contract vomiting bugs. Local Facebook groups – such as one for the River Severn, near where I grew up – share stories of vile smells and videos of strange froths. When I see talk online about its condition it feels like a personal affront: how could someone do this to my river? Meanwhile, the River Lea, the Thames tributary closest to where I live now, is described as “dangerously polluted” with “high levels of faecal E coli”. The river valley is one of my favorite parts of London, but I wouldn’t want to fall in, let alone swim.
In Alaska, Prisons are Part of the Climate Problem With correctional centers crumbling atop melting glaciers, advocates are pushing to reduce prison populations Over millions of years, glaciers slid across what is now northern Juneau, forming the craggy valleys and alluvial plains of south-east Alaska. Then about 200 years ago, when these glaciers shrank amid rising global temperatures, meltwater flowed downstream, depositing loose, silty soil along bodies of water like Lemon Creek. In 1969, the state chose to build a prison on this flat land – despite an assessment that the glacial deposits would be “poor … material” for the building’s foundation.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
Shadow Government Statistics Alternate Unemployment Alternate Unemployment is 26.5%
The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers. The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to because they cannot find full-time employment. August 2024 ShadowStats Alternate Unemployment is 26.5%
Economy:
Richard D. Wolff: The Undemocratic Reality of Capitalism Fans of capitalism like to say it is democratic or that it supports democracy. Some have stretched language so far as to literally equate capitalism with democracy, using the terms interchangeably. No matter how many times that is repeated, it is simply not true and never was. Indeed, it is much more accurate to say that capitalism and democracy are opposites. To see why, you have only to look at capitalism as a production system where employees enter into a relationship with employers, where a few people are the boss, and most people simply work doing what they are told to do. That relationship is not democratic; it is autocratic. When you cross the threshold into a workplace (e.g., a factory, an office, or a store), you leave whatever democracy might exist outside. You enter a workplace from which democracy is excluded. Are the majority—the employees—making the decisions that affect their lives? The answer is an unambiguous no. Whoever runs the enterprise in a capitalist system (owner[s] or a board of directors) makes all the key decisions: what the enterprise produces, what technology it uses, where production takes place, and what to do with enterprise profits. The employees are excluded from making those decisions but must live with the consequences, which affect them deeply. The employees must either accept the effects of their employers’ decisions or quit their jobs to work somewhere else (most likely organized in the same undemocratic way)
Shadow Government Statistics 08/05/24
Summary Headlines Regular Commentary Postings Resume This Coming Friday, August 9th
- A Major Catch-Up Piece Will Update the Broad Outlooks for Both
- U.S. Inflation and Domestic Economic Activity
- That Said, Headline Inflation and Business Activity Continue in Meaningful Deterioration for the Headline Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Alternate ShadowStats Numbers
- This Friday’s Commentary Also Will Assess Continuing FOMC Inflationary
- Policies and Monetary Actions, Including Fed Chairman Powell’s
- Suggestion of a Possible FOMC Easing Next Month
- At Historic Highs, the Federal Government’s Surging Debt, Deficit and
- Systemic Liquidity Also Fuel the Rapidly Deteriorating Inflation Picture Continuing an Extended Economic Review in Second and Third Week Following: The Broad Outlook for Domestic U.S. Economic Activity Continues in Rapid and Meaningful Deterioration, Amidst Heavily Discordant Economic Sinals of Renewed Recession, No Recover
- Heavily Gimmicked, Inflation-Adjusted Real
- First-and Second-Quarter 2024 GDP Reporting Showed
- “Healthy” but Likely Non-Existent 3% Year-to-Year Gains
- Where, at the Same Time, Separately Estimated, Better-Quality, and
- More-Stable, Solid Monthly Series, Ranging from Industrial Production and
- Real Retail Sales to Freight Activity, Home Sales and Jobs Creation
- All Continued to Show Flat-to-Minus Annual Activity
Wall Street Suffers Worst Day in Nearly Two Years After Global Sell-Off Fears of recession in US caused leading share indices to tumble, just weeks after they last scaled record highs Wall Street suffered its worst day in almost two years after a global stock market sell-off sparked by fears of recession in the US. America’s leading share indices – the S&P 500, Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq Composite – tumbled in volatile trading as the day started in New York, before pulling back slightly. The S&P finished down 3%, its biggest daily drop since September 2022, at 5,186.33. The Dow closed down 2.6% at 38,704.06, having shed more than 1,000 points. The Nasdaq ended down 3.4% at 16,200.08.
World:
Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina Overthrown! All Power to the Workers’ and Students’ Committees! The revolutionary masses have overthrown Hasina, ending her 16 years of brutal rule! As we write these lines, millions have descended on Dakha, with millions more expected to arrive in the course of the day. The masses have taken possession of the Ganabhaban (the Prime Minister’s residence). As of 14:25 local time, Sheikh Hasina and her sister were flown to the air force base in Kurmitola, and from there will flee the country. But conspiracies are afoot in the army to steal the people’s victory. The masses must be more vigilant now than ever! We say: all power to the workers’ and students’ committees! Since the weekend, events in Bangladesh have moved at lightning speed. It was clear that today would represent a showdown. On Sunday, the police and army were wavering. In some places, they fired on the masses, leading to another bloody day in which over 90 were killed. In other places, they stood by or retreated. The army tops knew they could not hold the line much longer. At any point, the army threatened to break into pieces. The student coordinators correctly escalated the movement. They called on the masses to organise committees, as we have argued over the past three weeks, in order to ensure the government could not disorganise the movement once more with a new blackout. Furthermore, they called on the people to descend on Dhaka today for a showdown, armed and ready for self-defence. “Make a bamboo stick. Make Bangladesh free,” read one social media post. And most significantly of all, they called on the workers to join in a general strike: “I call upon the working people of Dhaka and surrounding districts to come to Dhaka,” said Asif Nahmood in a statement yesterday, “Garment workers in particular will be called to take to the streets. Historically, the contribution of the working people during the revolution of this country is undeniable. Come forward to perform your historical duties this time too.”
Education, Health, 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