Here’s who owns a record $21.21 trillion of U.S. debt

Quote

 

Far too many people on the center left and center right have bought into the idea that nations such as Russia or China are genuine enemies of the global system, and far too many people on the far left and far right have bought into the idea that these nations represent credible alternatives to the global system. While it is certainly true that the Washington-London-Brussels-Berlin-Tel Aviv-Riyadh axis is the real international ruling class, the Asian powers are merely backwater provinces in the global system that are occasionally unruly.

The major Asian nations like Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Japan, etc., whether they are officially “allies” or “adversaries” of “the West” or not, are still just components within global capitalism. They may have large populations, and their nuclear weapons may make them impervious to invasion, but their real function within global capitalism is to provide cheap labor for Western corporations and cheap loans for Western governments. America’s national debt, for example, is bankrolled both by “allies” like Japan and Saudi Arabia and “adversaries” like Russia and China.

Nor it is helpful to criticize Zionist power without engaging in a parallel or even more vituperative criticism of Anglo power. Israel is more like California, New York or Texas in the sense of essentially being a province of the USA that has a lot of influence over the policies of the federal government and, by extension, foreign policy and international relations. The way to look at it is like this: Imagine if the USA had about 120 states rather than 50, with 30 more in Europe, and dozens more in the Middle East and East Asia, with Israel (along with Saudi Arabia) being among those states with the most influence, with the other Asian nations being territorial colonies of Western capital. . .

via Here’s who owns a record $21.21 trillion of U.S. debt

Capitalism is killing the world’s wildlife, not ‘humanity’ By Anna Pigott

Industrial agriculture, an activity that the report identifies as the biggest single contributor to species loss, is profoundly shaped by capitalism, not least because only a handful of “commodity” species are deemed to have any value, and because, in the sole pursuit of profit and growth, “externalities” such as pollution and biodiversity loss are ignored. And yet instead of calling the irrationality of capitalism out for the ways in which it renders most of life worthless, the WWF report actually extends a capitalist logic by using terms such as “natural assets” and “ecosystem services” to refer to the living world.

barovsky's avatarThe New Dark Age

3 November 2018 — Climate & Capitalism
By failing to name the system responsible, the new Living Planet report undermines its own call for a collective response to the biodiversity crisis. 

Anna Pigott is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Environmental Humanities, Swansea University.

The latest Living Planet report from the WWF makes for grim reading: a 60% decline in wild animal populations since 1970, collapsing ecosystems, and a distinct possibility that the human species will not be far behind. The report repeatedly stresses that humanity’s consumption is to blame for this mass extinction, and journalists have been quick to amplify the message. The Guardian headline reads “Humanity has wiped out 60% of animal populations,” while the BBC runs with “Mass wildlife loss caused by human consumption.” No wonder: in the 148-page report, the word “humanity” appears 14 times, and “consumption” an impressive 54 times.

View original post 902 more words

Almost 200 Members of the US Congress File Suit Against Trump For Violating US Constitution (Foreign Emoluments Clause)

miningawareness's avatarMining Awareness +

Plaintiffs, 30 members of the United States Senate and 166 members of the United States House of Representatives, bring this action against President Donald J. Trump to obtain relief from the President’s continuing violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution, which was designed to ensure that our nation’s leaders would not be corrupted by foreign influence or put their own financial interests over the national interest… Because the Foreign Emoluments Clause requires the President to obtain “the Consent of the Congress” before accepting otherwise prohibited “Emolument[s],” Plaintiffs, as members of Congress, must have the opportunity to cast a binding vote that gives or withholds their “Consent” before the President accepts any such “Emolument.” (Case 1:17-cv-01154 Filed 06/14/17 Pages 18-19 of 54)

Inside one of Trump Towers in Istanbul Turkey
69. As Defendant makes countless other foreign policy decisions, he may similarly be influenced…

View original post 246 more words

Corruption, Federal Farm Subsidies and the False Economy of Cheap Processed Food

Food Fight: How Corporations Ruined Food

Real Stories (2017)

Film Review

This is a documentary about the rise of the organic/local food movement in the late sixties and early seventies and the ongoing battle to end a corrupt federal food subsidy program. The latter plays a major role in the US epidemic of obesity and diabetes.

The film depicts the organic food movement as arising out of a 1960s hippy counterculture that viewed America’s growing system of industrial agriculture as intimately linked to the military industrial complex waging the war in Vietnam.*

Ironically the organic food movement began to take off just has the Nixon administration was repealing New Deal agricultural subsidies that supported small family farms and redirecting USDA subsidies to corporations producing the cheap commodities used in processed foods, such as corn, wheat and soy.

The activists interviewed decry the federal emphasis on cheap food as a false economy – we will never save enough to cover skyrocketing medical costs related to processed food diets.

Despite the rapid growth of small organic farms across the US, food activists face an uphill battle without major changes to the USDA farm subsidy program which makes cheap processed food the only affordable option for many low income families.

The high level of corporate-financed corruption becomes clear as the film follows Representative Ron Kind’s efforts to get his Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment added to 2016 Farm Bill.


*Monsanto and Dow, the corporations producing Agent Orange and Napalm also produce the toxic pesticides and herbicides used in industrial agriculture.

 

US Supreme Court Rejects Trump Administration Bid to Halt Climate Trial

In the lawsuit, 21 activists, ages 11 to 22, assert that federal officials violated their rights to due process under the U.S. Constitution by failing to adequately address carbon pollution such as emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

Robert A. Vella's avatarThe Secular Jurist

WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected for now a bid by the President Donald Trump’s administration to block a trial in a lawsuit filed by young activists who have accused the U.S. government of ignoring the perils of climate change.

The loss for the administration means it now faces a high-profile examination of U.S. climate change policy during the trial that was due to begin on Oct. 29 in Eugene, Oregon but has since been postponed by the judge.

Chief Justice John Roberts on Oct. 19 had temporarily put the case on hold while the court as a whole decided how to proceed.

Continue reading:  U.S. top court rejects Trump administration bid to halt climate trial

Related story:  Gov. Cooper targets climate issue, orders NC agencies to reduce carbon emissions

View original post

Dr Who’s Timely Challenge to Racism, Hatred and Donald Trump

Journal of People Peasants and Workers's avatarJournal of People

by Mike Cole

Dr Who's Timely Challenge to Racism, Hatred and Donald Trump

A challenge to racism and hatred in the US – and to Donald Trump himself – has come from an unlikely source: a timelord. In the third episode of the latest series of Doctor Who, the timelord travels back in time to ensure Rosa Parks’ famous bus protest takes place, tackling the issue of racism head on and lauding those who challenge it. Meanwhile, the fourth episode, Arachnids in the UK, features a Trump-like character – a self-obsessed and ruthless tycoon with presidential aspirations.

View original post 857 more words

Study Proves That People Who Eat Organic Have 25% Lower Risk Of Cancer

Pesticides have long been linked to cancer.

Unknown's avatar

If you’ve ever doubted whether organic food is worth the higher price tag, a study that was recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine should put your concerns to rest. In the study, French researchers showed that people who consume organic food have a 25% lower risk of cancer.

Image: Study proves that people who eat organic have 25% lower risk of cancer

The study, which was carried out under the guidance of epidemiologist Julia Baudry, looked at the diets of nearly 70,000 French adults with an average age in their mid-40s. The volunteers were divided into four categories according to how often they ate 16 organic products that included vegetables, fruit, fish, meat, prepared meals, condiments, dietary supplements, vegetable oils and other products.

After an average follow-up time of 4 ½ years, the researchers looked at how many of the participants had developed some type of cancer. After comparing the volunteers’ organic food scores with the cancer cases, they were able to determine that those…

View original post 442 more words

It’s Time to Stop Shafting Young People — Stand Up Magazine – Empowering Millennials

Quote

How does it feel to know your daughter, son, niece, nephew, granddaughter or grandson has £50,000 debt to their name by the age of 21? That’s the reality.


Since the 2012 rise in University tuition fees that allowed universities to charge up to £9,000 a year, students have been graduating with more than a degree. They’re also welcomed by a letter telling them just how much debt they’re in. In June 2017, graduates walked out of uni with an average debt of £32,220, and this is expected to rise each year. Adding interest to that number also makes it extremely unlikely that the average student will ever pay this debt off.

But some young people are still fighting for this unfair expense on young people to end. We spoke to Kara Duzgan, a member of the Youth Parliament about how the high student fees are affecting young people, and what she’s doing to try and fix it.

Stand Up Magazine: Can you tell us more about your efforts to decrease or abolish University tuition fees in England?

Kara Duzgan: The new legislation allows universities to increase the tuition fees as much as they want with no means to improve our educational system so what do we get out of it? In my opinion, we don’t get anything different from what students got ten years ago, like a bad poker night gambling our lives with the dream job to pay off the debt we owe. The education system is the same but the price keeps on rising. I want students, young people to stop and think “is this fair?!” Is it fair that we will have to pay an average debt of nearly £60,000 +6.1% interest rate without even getting a job yet? That is why I am designing a survey to see what the youth think about this matter, I have also contacted many MPs about my campaign and hopefully can take it to the House of Commons in the next year.

Stand Up Magazine: How do the high tuition fees effect young people?

Kara: Many can not take the risk of having such a huge debt which is understandable as some people try to avoid having such repayment. Which is ironic as the government encourages us to live a debt-free life, to use our money responsibly, however the first thing that happens when we enter “the real world” is huge amount of debt on our shoulders.

“The government encourages us to live a debt-free life, to use our money responsibly, however the first thing that happens when we enter “the real world” is huge amount of debt on our shoulders”

Stand Up Magazine: Why do you think it’s so important to make University more financially accessible for young people?

Kara: We are the next generation, and to have a career most of the time you need a degree and where do you get degree from? Universities. So when young people cannot attend universities the next generation is in danger, I am talking about youth that’s wanting to be the next doctors, engineers, teachers, scientists, accountants, where are they going? Society just forgets about them. So if the poor cannot afford that, the rich can, which means most people with a degree will have a wealthy background, which takes us back to hundreds of years of work and trying to break this hierarchy where the rich are more likely to succeed in life. . .

via It’s Time to Stop Shafting Young People — Stand Up Magazine – Empowering Millennials

It’s Time to Stop Shafting Young People

Hannah Parker's avatarStand Up Magazine - Empowering Millennials

How does it feel to know your daughter, son, niece, nephew, granddaughter or grandson has £50,000 debt to their name by the age of 21? That’s the reality.


Since the 2012 rise in University tuition fees that allowed universities to charge up to £9,000 a year, students have been graduating with more than a degree. They’re also welcomed by a letter telling them just how much debt they’re in. In June 2017, graduates walked out of uni with an average debt of £32,220, and this is expected to rise each year. Adding interest to that number also makes it extremely unlikely that the average student will ever pay this debt off.

But some young people are still fighting for this unfair expense on young people to end. We spoke to Kara Duzgan, a member of the Youth Parliament about how the high student fees are affecting young people, and…

View original post 598 more words