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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 Who Profit From Austerity! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico!
Image of the Day:
. . . If we can agree that what is needed now, at this critical juncture, is not more tinkering or tokenism, but as King insisted forty years ago, a “radical restructuring of our society,” then perhaps we can also agree that a radical restructuring of our approach to racial justice advocacy is in order as well. All of this is easier said than done, of course. Change in civil rights organizations, like change in society as a whole, will not come easy. Fully committing to a vision of racial justice that includes grassroots, bottom-up advocacy on behalf of “all of us” will require a major reconsideration of priorities, staffing, strategies, and messages. Egos, competing agendas, career goals, and inertia may get in the way. It may be that traditional civil rights organizations simply cannot, or will not, change. To this it can only be said, without a hint of disrespect: adapt or die. If Martin Luther King Jr. is right that the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice, a new movement will arise; and if civil rights organizations fail to keep up with the times, they will pushed to the side as another generation of advocates comes to the fore. Hopefully the new generation will be led by those who know best the brutality of the new caste system—a group with greater vision, courage, and determination than the old guard can muster, trapped as they may be in an outdated paradigm. This new generation of activists should not disrespect their elders or disparage their contributions or achievements; to the contrary, they should bow their heads in respect, for their forerunners have expended untold hours and made great sacrifices in an elusive quest for justice. But once respects have been paid, they should march right past them, emboldened, as King once said, by the fierce urgency of now. Those of us who hope to be their allies should not be surprised, if and when this day comes, that when those who have been locked up and locked out finally have the chance to speak and truly be heard, what we hear is rage. The rage may frighten us; it may remind us of riots, uprisings, and buildings aflame. We may be tempted to control it, or douse it with buckets of doubt, dismay, and disbelief. But we should do no such thing. Instead, when a young man who was born in the ghetto and who knows little of life beyond the walls of his prison cell and the invisible cage that has become his life, turns to us in bewilderment and rage, we should do nothing more than look him in the eye and tell him the truth. . . . — Chapter 5, The New Jim Crow: Obama — the Promise and the Peril By Michelle Alexander
The state would be of no use for the ruling class if people did not believe that it was something harmless, impartial and above the interests of classes or individuals—something that was “simply there” and could be taken for granted.For this very reason, it is not in the interests of the Establishment to draw the attention of the masses to the real content of the institutions that we call the state. The constitution, the laws, the army, the police or the “Justice” system—all these things are practically taboo within the present system that calls itself a “democracy”. It is almost never asked why these institutions exist, or how and when they could be replaced. Any serious discussion about them is considered out of place, unacceptable, or in bad taste—rather like swearing inside a church. At the end of the day, the state is “the property of all of us”. Isn’t it? But things are rarely what they seem. Marxism teaches us that the state (that is to say, every state) is an instrument for the oppression of one class by another. The state cannot be neutral. Already in the Communist Manifesto, written over 150 years ago, Marx and Engels explain that the state is “only a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.” And this really is the case. Whoever controls this system of production ultimately controls the state power. The origins of state power are rooted in relations of production and not in personal qualities. — Alan Woods, The Role of the State and Social Democracy
Videos of the Day:
How G20 Governments are Financing Climate Disaster The G20 nations provide four times more public financing to fossil fuels than to clean energy, according to a new report from Oil Change International’s Alex Doukas
U.S.:
Iran, the US and the World Maintaining a straight face, United States Secretary of ‘Defense’ James Mattis calls Iran “the primary state sponsor of terrorism”. This from the man whose country is bombing at least six nations. by Robert Fantina
Observations on the Korea Crisis and Donald Trump 1) The North Korean (DPRK) leadership considers the development of nuclear weapons as vital to national security. Why? There are 70,000 U.S. troops in Japan and South Korea, and Pyongyang is in Washington’s nuclear cross hairs. B-52s over South Korea provide a “nuclear umbrella” (as the Pentagon puts it). The U.S.-led war of 1950-1953 (to prevent the reunification of the country under Pyongyang’s leadership) resulted in the death of around three million civilians. by Gary Leupp
The End of the Social Contract Disabled Americans came in wheelchairs into the United States Senate to register their protest against the harsh Republican plan to slash health care. ADAPT, a disability rights group, staged a die-in right before the office of the leading Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. About 60 protesters tried to block the entrance to McConnell’s office. Their goal was to show the rest of America what would come out of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which the Republicans sought to push through as an alternative to Obamacare by Vijay Prashad
Departing Ethics Chief: Sure Looks Like Trump Is Profiting From Presidency “The specter of a conflict of interest is always looming.” Following his abrupt resignation on Thursday — which lawmakers and watchdog groups said should be “deeply unnerving” to advocates of government accountability—Office of Government Ethics (OGE) head Walter Shaub said in a televised interview on CBS that it appears Donald Trump and members of his family are profiting from his presidency. By Jake Johnson
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Environment:
Freedom to Pollute: Texas companies penalized in less than 3% of illegal air pollution cases – report Figure underscores need for federal oversight as the Trump administration seeks to slash the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget and roll back rules By Tom Dart 
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
‘Talk Is Cheap’: G20 Told to End Public Subsidy of All Dirty Fuels by 2020 New report reveals that public financing by wealthiest governments belies stated commitments to Paris climate goals by Andrea Germanos
Trump moves to open more public land to drilling in California The Trump administration forged ahead with its commitment to boosting domestic fossil fuel production Thursday, directing more public lands to be opened for oil and gas extraction — a move that could bring new drill rigs to California. The state hasn’t seen new onshore oil and gas leases offered up on federal land in four years because of environmental fights. The order signed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday has some environmentalists fearing that de facto moratorium will soon end. By Kurtis Alexander
Labor:
On the Corner of Bitter and Broke: the American Working Class If the odious campaign and presidency of Donald Trump can be credited with anything it is the spotlight it has hovered over the working class. Perhaps ‘credited’ could be fairly termed as too strong a word, Trump’s blabber is nothing for not incoherent, however it is true that previous presidential campaigns never quite brought to the foreground issues like deindustrialization, ‘free’ trade, and outsourcing. Of course this attention has brought with it any number of contradictions and shortcomings. Working class has meant ‘white working class’ as if non Caucasians make up no part of it- the unspoken premise being that darker skinned people don’t work hard enough to wear the working class mantle. Yet to stroll any ‘black’ cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore with their abandoned row houses and stagnant economies is to witness the same economic forces that have decimated the Mahoning Valley and Luzerne County. by Joseph Grosso
Economy:
The Shadow Government Statistics Alternate Unemployment Rate for June 2017 is 22.1%.
Shadow Government Statistics Corrected Real GDP through 1q2017, Third Estimate Nominal GDP Deflated by Implicit Price Deflator Adjusted for Understatement of Annual Inflation To 1q2017, Seasonally-Adjusted
These Charts Show the Fed’s Stress Tests as a Dangerous Illusion
Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. The charts above above show four of the largest Wall Street banks traded like clones of one another yesterday. Their share prices rallied at almost identical times and the rallies faded at almost identical times. The chart contrasting the trading pattern of JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley is particularly interesting. JPMorgan’s Chase bank has thousands of retail commercial bank branches spread across the United States. Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, has approximately 17,000 retail stockbrokers, now known as financial advisors. What both firms have in common is that they are among the five banks in the country that control a monster pile of derivatives on Wall Street. Ditto for the other two banks illustrated above: Citigroup and Bank of America. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
Blairite MPs and the “traditional” working class As the election results came in after the polls closed in June, expressions of shock were to be seen not only on the faces of the Tories and press commentators (who had all expected a large Tory win), but also on the faces of the Labour right wing. They had spent months arguing that Jeremy Corbyn and the ideas he stood for were huge vote losers and that a thrashing for Labour was on the cards come a general election. How wrong they all were. So stunned were the Blairites that they could think of little to say beyond a few mumbled comments of praise for Corbyn. Some of the more extreme right-wingers in the Parliamentary Labour Party tried to argue that if Labour had stood with a more ‘reasonable’ less left-wing leader then they would have won a clear majority. The trouble with this argument is that no one remotely believes it. The rising wave of support for Corbyn post-election just confirms this. By Steve Jones
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
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