Daily News 08/10
Europe’s Rivers Are Drying Up—And It’s Triggering An Economic Crisis
Europe’s dry riverbeds and scorched earth – in pictures Much of the continent is battling wildfires and drought during a summer of extreme heat
Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate is 6.4%
Since the Trump Adminstration’s Bureau of Labor Statistices publishes less information than previous administrations, Shadow Government Statistics has stopped publishing its alternate publishing it’s alternate unemployment rate. Based upon information from the BLS’s Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization and the fact that labor force participation rate dropped, this month to 61.4%, my guesstimate rate of unemployment is still over 30%!
Video: Just Like the Roman Empire: Karen Kwiatkowski: America Can’t Afford Its Empire Anymore
Video: U.S’ Arab Fortress ‘COLLAPSES’, Troops ‘FLEE’ Erbil Military Base In ‘SHOCK SURRENDER’ To Iran American technical and engineering personnel are reportedly withdrawing from the Harir base near Erbil as the United States reduces one of its final substantial military positions in Iraq. Regional reports say heavy equipment and Patriot air-defence systems have also been moved, although Kurdish officials describe the drawdown as planned rather than an emergency retreat.
Video: Chris Hedges Why the Iran War Won’t End Soon (w/ Alastair Crooke) | TCHR Trump’s reckless war on Iran is threatening global economic collapse — as the region breaks out into a matrix of conflagrations, Trump seemingly has no way out. Trump’s reckless war on Iran is threatening global economic collapse — as the region breaks out into a matrix of conflagrations, Trump seemingly has no way out.
Wildfire Smoke Is Now a Bigger Prenatal Threat Than Human Sources of Air Pollution As regulations have reduced prenatal exposure to harmful emissions from vehicles and industry in recent years, smoke from climate-fueled wildfires is erasing air quality gains.
Video: How the Super Rich Are Killing Social Security | Robert Reich
The ever mounting size of these social security funds has, moreover, brought about a special situation, posing a theoretical and practical problem to the working-class movement. The latter properly considers that all funds paid into the social security fund – either by the employers, or by the state, or by withholdings from the wages of the workers themselves – simply constitutes a part of wages, an “indirect wage,” or “deferred wage.” This is the only reasonable point of view, and one harmonizing, moreover, with the Marxist theory of value, since everything received by the worker in exchange for his labor-power should in effect be considered the price of that labor-power, regardless of whether it is paid him immediately (direct wage), or later (deferred wage). For this reason, “parity management” (union-employer, or union-state) of social security funds must be considered as a violation of a worker’s right. Since these funds belong only to the workers, any unwarranted interference in their management by social groups other than the trade unions must be rejected. The workers should no more allow “parity management” of their wages than the capitalists permit “parity management” of their bank accounts. But the mounting size of these payments into social security has managed to create a certain “tension” between direct wages and deferred wages, since the latter sometimes reach 40 per cent of the total wage. Many trade-union centers are opposed to further increases in “deferred wages” and want to concentrate on having every new gain in the form of an immediate gain in direct payments to the worker. It must be understood, however, that underneath the fact of the “deferred wage” and of social security lies the principle of class solidarity. Actually, the funds for sickness, accidents, etc., are not based on the principle of “individual return,” (each one eventually receiving everything he or the employer or the state has paid in for his account), but on the insurance principle. Those who do not have accidents pay so that those who do may be fully covered. The underlying principle in this practice is that of class solidarity, i.e., the interest of the workers in avoiding the creation of a sub-proletariat, which would not only undermine the militancy of the laboring masses (each individual fearing to be driven into this sub-proletariat sooner or later) but would also represent a danger of competition for jobs and its threat to wages. Under these conditions, instead of complaining about the “excessive scale of the deferred wage, we should demonstrate its pitiful inadequacy, for it brings about a terrible drop in the standard of living of most old workers, even in the most prosperous capitalist countries. — Ernest Mandel, An Introduction toMarxist Economic Theory
Canadian government steps in as ‘out of control’ wildfires force thousands to flee
Plastics contamination an ‘overlooked’ concern in food waste schemes, experts say
Trump Promotes Commercial Fishing in Protected Pacific Marine National Monuments Scientists and other environmental advocates warn such activity would threaten coral reefs and other marine life.