During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: 1. Austerity, 2. Scapegoating Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal Immigrants’ for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel.
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!
Now, Colin Kaepernick is unemployed and might remain that way. Now the media is calling him “an ungrateful, entitled idiot.” And league execs are reportedly calling him a “traitor.” Because in the NFL, it is OK:
The Laura Flanders Show: Cheat, Lie, and Steal
Laura speaks with Michael Hudson about the manipulation of economic terminology and how this process serves economic elites. Countering the narrative that privatization is better, Hudson asks: “Better for whom?”
The Robber Baron Billionairs Collecting Their Tax Tolls: When did stadiums become disposable? At a time when American infrastructure desperately needs updating — as evidenced by the failed dams and bridges plaguing California this rainy winter — the only major projects I’m hearing about revolve around billionaires’ desire for more luxury boxes and concessions. Then you think about the public finance involved. Taxpayers will contribute $750 million toward the construction of the Raiders’ new stadium, with an additional $200 million in infrastructure upgrades possible. For what? A better place to watch football? Not better schools. Not better hospitals. Not better anything. It’s all sacrificed at the greedy altar of professional sports. By Al Saracevic
A seismic shift is needed for Corbyn to win in 2020. But it could happen So what if the Labour leader isn’t a whizz with a teleprompter? He has great policies, his integrity is rock solid – and with help, he could still sweep to power By Maurice Mcleod Gibraltar: A Tax Haven Not a Nation There are 32,000 Gibraltarians organised into 11,400 households. Extraordinarily there are more registered companies than households, including 8,464 registered offshore companies. The Government of Gibraltar’s own website is notably candid about its tax haven activities. It urges you to establish there so you can take advantage of: 1. Highly-developed business services infrastructure where it is possible to passport an EU licence in financial services such as insurance and re-insurance, EU-wide pensions, banking and funds administration, amongst others., 2. Distribute competitively priced VAT-free goods and services to the markets of the EU and Africa. And, 3. Conduct business in a quality low-tax jurisdiction with a profit oriented capital base at low levels of corporate tax, all in a stable currency with few restrictions in moving capital or repatriating dividends. By Craig Murray
World Economic Depression Causes Mass Depression: Neoliberalism Is Killing Us: Economic Stress as a Driver of Global Depression and Suicide As a faculty member in Global Health Studies at Northwestern University, I find it striking that the WHO highlights poverty and unemployment as leading causes of depression, yet suggests exercise, school-based prevention programs, therapy and medication to solve it. If poverty and unemployment are major causes of depression, shouldn’t our remedies address economic drivers of poverty and unemployment, rather than narrowly focusing on school programs and exercise? Is expanding mental illness solely a health issue, or is it also a foreseeable response to expanding economic stress? By Noelle Sullivan
The big smokestack at the Anaconda copper smelter, in its prime, pumped out tons of arsenic and heavy metals every day.
A Nation of the Walking Dead Opioids and experiences that simulate the deadening effects of narcotics are mechanisms to keep us submissive and depoliticized. Desperate citizens in Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel “Brave New World” ingested the pleasure drug soma to check out of reality. Our own versions of soma allow tens of millions of Americans to retreat daily into addictive mousetraps that generate a self-induced autism. The United States consumes 80 percent of opioids used worldwide, and more than 33,000 died in this country in 2015 from opioid overdoses. There are 300 million prescriptions written and $24 billion spent annually in the U.S. for painkillers. Americans supplement this mostly legal addiction with over $100 billion a year in illicit marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. And nearly 14 million U.S. adults, one in every 13, regularly abuse alcohol. By Chris Hedges
Quotes of the Day:
Dismal in Des Moines: Democrats are Part of What’s the Matter With Iowa by Paul Street
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
France bans plastic cups, plates and cutlery Critics claim the new law violates European Union rules on free movement of goods By Shehab Khan
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Economy:
Why Hasn’t Citigroup’s Banking Charter Been Yanked? Citigroup was back in the news again last Tuesday when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reported that its banking unit, Citibank, was among the three banks with the highest average monthly complaints filed against it alleging credit card abuses. (The other two banks were Capital One and JPMorgan Chase.) By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
The Trickle Down Theory is a Lie: Sorry, Folks, Rich People Actually Don’t ‘Create The Jobs’ By Henry Blodget
Gibraltar: A Tax Haven Not a Nation There are 32,000 Gibraltarians organised into 11,400 households. Extraordinarily there are more registered companies than households, including 8,464 registered offshore companies. The Government of Gibraltar’s own website is notably candid about its tax haven activities. It urges you to establish there so you can take advantage of: 1. Highly-developed business services infrastructure where it is possible to passport an EU licence in financial services such as insurance and re-insurance, EU-wide pensions, banking and funds administration, amongst others., 2. Distribute competitively priced VAT-free goods and services to the markets of the EU and Africa. And, 3. Conduct business in a quality low-tax jurisdiction with a profit oriented capital base at low levels of corporate tax, all in a stable currency with few restrictions in moving capital or repatriating dividends. By Craig Murray
Revealed: How Isis turns normal towns and villages into theatres and factories of death Endgames: On the front line in the fight against Isis, Robert Fisk reports from a town that was, only hours earlier, a stronghold of the ‘Caliphate’ By Robert Fisk
The Inextricable Links Between Mining and Violence Last year South Africa’s bountiful Wild Coast saw the assassination of Sikhosiphi Rhadebe, activist against proposed dune mining on his homeland. The commemoration of Rhadebe who went by the name Bozooka coincided with this year’s Human Rights day. At least 500 people came to stand together in solidarity to call for an end to violence under the glaring sun of the Wild Coast far off the tarred national roads. by Jasper Finkeldey
