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
The guerrilla campaign to open schools is running headlong into a separate effort from the top, to use the storm to accomplish the long-standing goal of privatizing Puerto Rico’s public schools, using New Orleans post-Katrina as a model. Last month, Puerto Rico’s Public-Private Partnerships Authority director spoke optimistically about leveraging federal money with companies interested in privatizing public infrastructure. Puerto Rico’s Education Secretary Julia Keleher has already called New Orleans’s school reform efforts a “point of reference” — tweeting last week that Puerto Ricans “should not underestimate the damage or the opportunity to create new, better schools.” She repeated these sentiments on Monday, saying that the aftermath of Maria provides a “real opportunity to press the reset button.” — Puerto Ricans Fear Schools Will Be Privatized in the Wake of Hurricane Maria
It’s not enough to say, in response to the Paradise Papers revelations, that we already knew that rich people parked their money in offshore tax havens, where their piles accumulate far from the scrutiny of our government. Nor is it enough to say that we were already aware that we live in a time of “inequality.” What we have learned this week is the clinical definition of the word. What we have learned is how much the rich and the virtuous have been hiding away and where they’re hiding it. Yes, there are sinister-looking Russian capitalists involved. But there’s also our favorite actors and singers. Our beloved alma mater, supposedly a charitable institution. Everyone with money seems to be in on it. We’re also learning that maybe we’ve had it backwards all along. Tax havens on some tropical island aren’t some sideshow to western capitalism; they are a central reality. Those hidden billions are like an unseen planet whose gravity is pulling our politics and our economy always in a certain direction. And this week we finally began to understand what that uncharted planet looks like; we started to grasp its mass and its power. Think about it like this. For decades Americans have been erupting in anger at what they can see happening to their beloved middle-class world. We think we know what the culprit is; we can see it vaguely through a darkened glass. It’s “elitism.” It’s a “rigged system.” It’s people who think they’re better than us. And for decades we have lashed out. At the immigrant next door. At Jews. At Muslims. At school teachers. At public workers who are still paid a decent wage. Our fury, unrelenting, grows and grows. We revolt, but it turns out we have chosen the wrong political leader. We revolt again: this time, the leader is even worse. — Why have we built a paradise for offshore billionaires?
The Paradise Papers could help Corbyn increase pressure on Theresa May to show that she can live up to her vow to reduce inequality amid falling real wages for many Britons. The revelations showed that there was “one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest when it comes to paying tax”, Corbyn said. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, described the revelations as “deeply worrying” and said: “Either the prime minister or the chancellor need to explain how this scandalous behaviour has been allowed to go on unaddressed for so long and what action is to be taken now. “Here we have proof that we have seen a lot of bluster from the government about tackling tax avoidance but no real action. Only last week the government was blocking Labour amendments to the finance bill to bear down on this abuse. “Every pound avoided in tax by the super-rich is a pound desperately needed by our NHS, our schools and our caring services.” — Jeremy Corbyn on Paradise Papers: leaks show ‘one rule for rich and another for rest’
The US Southern Command’s Silent Occupation of the Amazon Brazil, Colombia and Peru share a triple borderland separating north from south on the South American continent. Located deep in the Amazon forest, this is the theater of operations in which more than 30 military companies test their services and merchandise. The multinational military exercise known as AmazonLog2017, is organized by the Armed Forces of Brazil. More than 1,500 members of the Brazilian military and military members from invited countries participated with high-caliber weapons and munitions, boats, aircraft, helicopters, information technologies, nautical and energy intelligent equipment, radars and sensors. The Southern Command of the United States — the Unified Combatant Command of the United States Department of Defense with influence in the Caribbean, Central and South America — is also an AmazonLog2017 participant. By Santiago Navarro F. and Renata Bessi Greatest Threat to Peace in Iraq is Not Isis, It’s Trump Picking a Fight With Iran by Patrick CockburnWhy have we built a paradise for offshore billionaires? We endure potholes and live in fear of collapsing highway bridges because our leaders wanted these very special people to have an even larger second yacht By Thomas FrankTrump ally Robert Kraft revealed as longtime owner of offshore firm The New England Patriots’ billionaire boss is among several major US sports team owners who appear in the Paradise Papers At the same time, files leaked in the Paradise Papers reveal, Kraft has for more than two decades quietly owned an offshore company that could be used to legally avoid or reduce US taxes. by Jon Swaine
Environment:
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Civil Rights/ Black Liberation:
Those Magical, Fantastical Russians vs. U.S. Empire “This induced ‘state of emergency’ is designed to prepare the American public, politically and psychologically, to maintain the momentum of the U.S. imperial offensive in the world.” The only people that can make Russiagate fade away are the ones that invented it in the first place: the spooks, Wall Street Democrats and institutional servants of capital that gathered in Hillary Clinton’s overstuffed campaign tent, last year, to plot the next moves of a beleaguered U.S. empire.By Glen Ford , BAR executive editor Labor:
Economy: Does Jerome Powell Hear the Alarm Bells from Flattening Yield Curve? In November of 2016, there was more than 100 basis points (one percent) difference between the yield on the 2-year and the 10-year U.S. Treasury Note. As of this morning, that difference stood at 68 basis points, a dramatic flattening in the yield curve and harkening to the levels seen during the onset of the financial crisis in 2017. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Robert Rubin’s Selective Memory and the Collapse of Citigroup According to the now publicly available transcript of the testimony that former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin gave before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) on March 11, 2010, he was not put under oath, despite the fact that the bank at which he had served as Chairman of its Executive Committee for a decade, Citigroup, stood at the center of the financial crisis and received the largest taxpayer bailout in U.S. history. By Pam Martens and russ Martens
World:
Catalonia: November 8 general strike sees CDRs take centre stage The Catalan general strike against repression, article 155 intervention and for the release of the political prisoners managed to paralyse the country. Despite all difficulties, the strike had a large following in education, the public sector and the media, but was almost non-existent in industry and transport. However, the day was marked by mass road and transport blockades organised by the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs) and mass demonstrations in all cities and towns. By Jorge MartinThe Catalan Revolution and the tasks of the left The Spanish state intends to appear as the victor in the unfinished battle against the Catalan independence movement, but the most significant development in these 2 months has been the emergence of the largest movement of civil disobedience in the Spanish state in 40 years. By Lucha de ClasesIreland on the tracks of a Brexit “train-crash” As Brexit negotiations grind to a halt, big business is entering panic mode. A no deal, “train-crash” Brexit – the one scenario that capitalism wants to avoid at all costs – looms large. And caught on the tracks is Ireland, the only country that shares a land border with the UK. By Ben Curry
UK: New scandals shake Tory government to its foundations The revelations of harassment in Westminster reflect the rottenness of the establishment and the crisis facing this Tory government. “I have never seen a class so deeply demoralised, so incurably debased by selfishness, so corroded within, so incapable of progress, as the English bourgeoisie,” commented Frederick Engels more than 150 years ago. Such an appraisal could have been written today. By Rob Sewell Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
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.
What happened to Dennis the Menace? When he Got Older?
Quotes of the Day:
Greatest Threat to Peace in Iraq is Not Isis, It’s Trump Picking a Fight With Iran by Patrick Cockburn
Why have we built a paradise for offshore billionaires? We endure potholes and live in fear of collapsing highway bridges because our leaders wanted these very special people to have an even larger second yacht By Thomas Frank
Trump ally Robert Kraft revealed as longtime owner of offshore firm The New England Patriots’ billionaire boss is among several major US sports team owners who appear in the Paradise Papers At the same time, files leaked in the Paradise Papers reveal, Kraft has for more than two decades quietly owned an offshore company that could be used to legally avoid or reduce US taxes. by Jon Swaine
Labor:
Does Jerome Powell Hear the Alarm Bells from Flattening Yield Curve? In November of 2016, there was more than 100 basis points (one percent) difference between the yield on the 2-year and the 10-year U.S. Treasury Note. As of this morning, that difference stood at 68 basis points, a dramatic flattening in the yield curve and harkening to the levels seen during the onset of the financial crisis in 2017. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare: