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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 Those 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:
The New York Jets currently bolster an all-star line-up of QB’s that include Bryce Petty, Christian Hackenberg, and Josh McCown (sarcasm, obviously). They won’t even attempt to call Kaepernick, who would improve the team’s quarterback situation within seconds of him signing a contract. “The funny thing about it, when you’re not being blackballed, you don’t have to say he’s not being blackballed,” Sherman told USA TODAY Sports. “When football’s a safe game, you don’t have to say, ‘Football’s a safe game.’ It seems like the Commissioner always has to say things to justify something. “But you didn’t even do this with Mike Vick. Vick came back and (eventually) got a $100 million deal.” “I think it shows the racial divide in the league,” Bennett told USA TODAY Sports. “There are (accused) rapists and drunk drivers in the league. But he’s somebody who didn’t do anything to anybody. But you hear owners say, ‘We have to ask our fan base first.’ But the Giants kept Josh Brown (amid a domestic violence issue). Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of rape twice. The organization didn’t turn their back on him. They gave him a contract extension. Kaepernick didn’t do anything. That’s why racism is the biggest issue in America.” — Richard Sherman Explains Why Kaepernick Is Being Blackballed; Calls Every QB on The Jets Trash
It has become crystal clear, that the 1% NFL owners have Blacklisted Colin Kapernich, for his protest against police murders of unarmed Black people, by the United States police forces. By their silence on the question of police brutality, the NFL owner support police brutality as part and parcel of the 1%’s austerity program and current progrom of the Black population and other people of color. — Roland Sheppard
Videos of the Day:
Democrats Help Trump Sabotage Iran Nuclear Deal US isolation will only deepen if Trump and Congress continue to undermine the Iran nuclear deal, says Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran
How Much Will Methane From Thawing Permafrost Speed Up Global Warming? Methane “seeps” on the tundra may be more problematic than previously thought, according to a new report co-authored by Torsten Sachs, a researcher at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Germany
Real Media: The Special Relationship Between UK and Saudi Arabia Adam Smith of Campaign Against the Arms Trade calls for a judicial review of the UK government’s continued approval of arms sales to Saudi Arabia
U.S.:
Britain and America feel more unstable than I’ve ever seen them before — how do we come back from this? The British ruling class used to have a high international reputation for intelligence and realism in pursuit of its own interests. This may have been exaggerated, but latterly it seems to have lost its touch and to be happiest when sawing off the branch on which it is sitting By Patrick Cockburn
Journalism Under Assault: Trump’s Crackdown on the News, and Where We Go From Here The Independent of London reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is planning on criminalizing reporting of classified government information. The piece, worth checking out here, reports that the DOJ “is reviewing policies for subpoenaing reporters during investigations of federal intelligence leaks, an indicator that the US government may consider more aggressive tactics to try and force journalists to identify their sources.” by Anthony DiMaggio
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
This Is the Drilling Method for Most US Oil But Regulators Offer Almost No Oversight Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and offshore drilling garner a lot of news headlines when it comes to oil and gas issues in America, but they’re far from the only game in town, with those two drilling techniques not even constituting the majority of U.S. oil and gas production. For that, look to enhanced oil recovery (EOR), an under-regulated drilling method that has been around for over a century and could be threatening drinking water sources — if only regulators and the public had enough information to determine that danger, according to a new 63 page report published this week. Environmental group Clean Water Action, with graduate students from Johns Hopkins University, plumbed the academic and professional literature on EOR and its associated regulatory issues in order to lay out the potential environmental and public health risks posed by EOR. They also detail how the drilling method came to be handled with such a light touch by regulators at both the state and federal level. By Steve Horn
Big Oil Spent $10.8 Million to Pass Jerry Brown’s Cap-and-Trade Bill State officials and the mainstream media depicted the passage of Governor Jerry Brown’s cap-and-trade bill last month as a “historic climate victory,” but over 65 environmental justice, conservation and public interest organizations slammed the bill because of the devastating impact it will have on front line communities, the people of California and our air and water. The lobbying expenses by the oil industry in the second quarter of 2017 revealed how urgent the industry felt it was to pass AB 398, legislation based on a Big Oil wish list, that will extend California’s controversial cap-and-trade system beyond 2020. by Dan Bacher
Economy:
Trumponomics and the Stock Market So Michael, if the stock prices are not increasing because of what Trump calls “high business spirit,” explain the rise in the stock prices. Michael Hudson: The answer’s quite simple. The key is, who is buying these stocks? It’s not individuals. It’s not even pension funds. It’s not the private sector. Almost all the stock purchases are being bought back by corporations in share buyback programs. In other words, companies are buying their own stocks in order to push up the price. by Michael Hudson
Shadow Government Statistics Commentary 903 Opening Comments and Executive Summary Real World, Negative Economic News Intensified, Despite Heavily-Gimmicked GDP and Labor Numbers: Mounting Political and Policy Issues for the Administration and the FOMC. With headlines such as the unemployment rate at a sixteen-year low and GDP growth purportedly on the rise, it is understandable that the current Administration takes credit for the good news. The problems with that, however, are twofold. First, most of the better-quality, underlying economic series show that headline economic activity never recovered fully from the collapse into 2009, having yet to reach the status of “Economic Expansion” (see Commentary No. 876), and they are turning down anew. Headline labor and GDP eventually will come into line with underlying reality. Second, the U.S. economy does not change direction quickly, usually with a time-lag of nine-to-twelve months, often more. Accordingly, whatever is happening in the current economy largely still reflects circumstances in place during the prior Administration. That will change within the next four-to-six months, in time for the current Administration to receive credit for a new recession that already is in play. Similar circumstances were seen where the 2001 recession came out of the Clinton Administration and was credited to the Bush Administration, where the 2007 recession and economic collapse unfolded during the Bush Administration and was taken on by the Obama Administration and now, in its residual, re-intensifying form, has been passed on to the Trump Administration. The President always needs to exude optimism, but rather than taking credit for turning the economy around, prudent caution on what lies ahead and intensified pressure on Congress to generate new economic stimulus might make some sense. . . .
Federal Bank Regulator Drops a Bombshell as Corporate Media Snoozes What the fearless Hoenig told the Senate Banking Committee was effectively this: the biggest Wall Street banks have been lying to the American people that overly stringent capital rules by their regulators are constraining their ability to lend to consumers and businesses. What’s really behind their inability to make more loans is the documented fact that the 10 largest banks in the country “will distribute, in aggregate, 99 percent of their net income on an annualized basis,” by paying out dividends to shareholders and buying back excessive amounts of their own stock. By Pam and Russ Martens
World:
Venezuela Elections: Resurgent Chavismo and “Unrecognised” Democracy After weeks of imperialist threats and opposition violence, the elections for the Constituent Assembly (ANC) in Venezuela took place on July 30th. The result was a massive turnout of over 8 million voters, around 41% of the electorate, which gave chavismo a much-needed shot in the arm. The western media reacted by trying to dispute the number and sticking even closer to the narrative being pushed by the opposition and the US State Department. With the opposition scrambling and US authorities bringing more sanctions and threats, it is now chavismo that has the political initiative. The Constituent Assembly will not solve everything by itself, but it is a tremendous opportunity to push the Bolivarian Revolution forward. By Ricardo Vaz
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
Quotes of the Day:
Ice agents are out of control. And they are only getting worse The agency is so harmful to civil rights, there’s a good argument it should be disbanded altogether. Unfortunately, they are only becoming more emboldened By Trevor Timm
Environment:
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Labor:
Medicare-for-All Isn’t the Solution for Universal Health Care The health-care debate is moving to the left. But if progressives don’t start sweating the details, we’re going to fail yet again. By Joshua Holland