2021-12-05: News Headlines

_____ (2021-12-05). How China Is Taking On Billionaires And Big Tech To Combat Inequality. popularresistance.org China is imposing harsh regulations on private education, big tech, and billionaires. The new Cold Warriors in the U.S. government and media call these moves authoritarian, leftward tyranny, and bad for business. But Chinese president Xi Jinping calls it part of a "common prosperity" agenda to create a more equitable society on the road to building socialism. To help understand the Chinese point of view, Rania Khalek was joined by Tings Chak, a writer and researcher with Dongsheng News and the Tricontinental Institute.

Misión Verdad (2021-12-05). How Dr. Fauci, Bill Gates and Big Pharma Destroyed US Public Health. orinocotribune.com A country's success or failure in managing the COVID-19 pandemic is measured by the number of infections and deaths from the disease. Although it was expected that the crisis would generate a change in the relationship dynamics between nations, even in their internal management, what the outcome has shown is the overall dominance of a barbarism which was the product of the logic of capitalism. | In the case of the United States, the country that so far leads the death count worldwide, the handling of the pandemic has been catastrophic and its effects have influenced and upset global dynamics. Who was in charge of…

Rick Rozoff (2021-12-05). Janes: Germany to order 30 nuclear-capable bombers from U.S. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Germany 'Approves' Nuclear-Capable F/A 18 Super Hornets, EW Aircraft EA-18G Growlers To Modernize Fleet — Media Germany is likely to send the US government a letter of request (LOR), requesting to procure the Boeing F/A 18 Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft, Janes reported quoting local German media. *** In 2020, Germany's Defense Minister Annegret …

Rick Rozoff (2021-12-05). Turkey offers to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Turkey possesses NATO's second-largest population and second-largest armed forces. It has provided 24 Bayraktar TB2 combat drones of the sort used against Russian allies in Syria, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia to Ukraine, which have been used in Donetsk, and has a contract in the works with Ukraine to produce over 500 Bayraktar and Akinci drones, …

Rick Rozoff (2021-12-05). Turkish arms sales to NATO, 172 nations "open window of opportunity for lasting peace" antibellum679354512.wordpress.com NATO, EU states interested in export of Turkish drones: Foreign minister Several European Union and NATO countries are interested in Turkish drones as well as Turkey's defense industry in general, Foreign Minister Mevlàºt àáavu≈üoƒülu said on Dec. 4. "It is important for Poland to add these products to the inventory of a NATO and EU …

_____ (2021-12-04). An Obscure Agency Is Threatening To Hand Medicare Over To Wall Street. popularresistance.org In the face of massive support for Medicare for All and the failure of the U.S.'s for-profit health care system, the inevitable fall of the medical-industrial complex can be predicted, if not with precision, with certainty. Everyone is aware of the impending demise, none more so than those in charge of the for-profit health care system and their supporters in Congress, as evidenced by the frenetic activity at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to transfer the traditional Medicare program to the insurance industry as fast as humanly possible. Given this urgency, physicians representing Physicians…

Seth Galinsky (2021-12-04). Fidel Castro: How Cuban working people made a socialist revolution. themilitant.com U.S. imperialism will never forgive working people in Cuba for overthrowing the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, replacing capitalist rule with a government of workers and farmers, nationalizing U.S. and Cuban companies and opening the first socialist revolution in the Americas. | That revolution was a product of the operations of capitalism, but it could not have charted a path to victory without the political leadership of Fidel Castro. The U.S. rulers hoped when he died Nov. 25, 2016, the revolution would die with him. But five years later, his ideas and example are looked to by millions in Cuba…

Yanis Varoufakis (2021-12-04). Do we really want negotiations to replace markets and hierarchies? — Yanis Varoufakis, 4th December 2021. zcomm.org Note: This is the second entry in an ongoing debate between Michael Albert and Yanis Varoufakis titled: Envisioning a postcapitalism worth striving for. Each entry will be 500 words or less. Each will appear as a stand alone ZNet article, but each will link as well to a cumulative essay containing all the submissions

John Steele (2021-12-04). Canada flood social disaster is a product of capitalist greed. themilitant.com MONTREAL — Tens of thousands of workers and farmers across British Columbia face widespread flooding, mud and rock slides after torrential rain hit central and southern parts of the province beginning Nov. 14. | The unfolding social catastrophe, however, is not caused by weather, but by the refusal of governments at all levels to prepare for such conditions and the fact that under capitalism working people are forced to live where housing is cheapest — on flood plains. | As of Nov. 17, six people were dead or missing. At least 17,775 people were forced out of their homes, entire towns were evacuated a…

Dean Baker (2021-12-04). Cheap Fun Saturday: Job Growth Under Biden and Trump. cepr.net The November jobs report left a number of people, including me, somewhat confused. The data from the survey of households was great. The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points to 4.2 percent, with over 1.1 million more people reporting that they were employed. This was far better than the consensus forecast, which put the drop at 0.1-0.2 percentage points. (My number was 4.3 percent.) | It's worth noting that 4.2 percent is a very low rate of unemployment by historical standards. The unemployment rate did not get this low from 1970 until 1999. Then, after the recession in 2001, it didn't again fall to 4.

Ali Abunimah (2021-12-04). DSA fails Palestine test by giving Jamaal Bowman a pass. electronicintifada.net Palestinian Americans must not shield politicians who give Israel weapons.

2021-12-06 03:47 | 23:47 EST | jz | 13 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 0 

2021-12-04: News Headlines

sputniknews (2021-12-04). Millions Remain Long-Term Unemployed Despite Big Decline in November US Jobless Rate. sputniknews.com The new US jobs report showed an unexpectedly large decrease in unemployment alongside a smaller-than-expected increase in non-farm payroll jobs. Economists say it could mean the US is approaching full employment, meaning interest rate hikes could be on the way. However, longer-term unemployed numbers remained almost unchanged.

_____ (2021-12-03). Why We Should Oppose The Democracy Summit. popularresistance.org The exclusion of certain countries from the U.S. "democracy summit" is not a side issue. It is the very purpose of the summit. And excluded countries have not been excluded for failing to meet the standards of behavior of those that were invited or the one doing the inviting. Invitees didn't even have to be countries, as even a U.S. backed failed coup leader from Venezuela has been invited. So have representatives of Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, DRC, Zambia, Angola, Malaysia, Kenya, and — critically — pawns in the game: Taiwan and Ukraine. | What game? The weapons sales game. Which is the whole point. Look…

Ana Malinow (2021-12-03). An Obscure Agency Is Threatening to Hand Medicare Over to Wall Street. truthout.org In the face of massive support for Medicare for All and the failure of the U.S.'s for-profit health care system, the inevitable fall of the medical-industrial complex can be predicted, if not with precision, with certainty. Everyone is aware of the impending demise, none more so than those in charge of the for-profit health care system and their supporters in Congress, as evidenced by the frenetic activity at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to transfer the traditional Medicare p…

Dean Baker (2021-12-03). Marginalized Workers Facing Labor Market Discrimination See Largest Jobs Gains. truthout.org The unemployment rate fell 0.4 percentage points in November, even though the economy added just 210,000 jobs. The drop in the unemployment rate went along with an increase in the employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) of 0.4 percentage points, corresponding to a rise in employment of more than 1.1 million in the household survey. The unemployment rate had not fallen this low following the Great Recession until September 2017. | The 210,000 job growth in the establishment survey is slower th…

Derek Royden (2021-12-03). "Only the people can save the people!" Xiomora Castro's presidential win in Honduras. nationofchange.org "I believe firmly that the democratic socialism I propose is the solution to pull Honduras out of the abyss we have been buried in by neo-liberalism, a narco-dictator and corruption."

Paulo Cabral (2021-12-03). Brazil grapples with inflation amid COVID-19 recovery. america.cgtn.com The Brazilian economy is in a recession as the country grapples with high interest rates and inflation. The downturn comes as Brazil is losing momentum as it tries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Economists say the government has limited tools to fight it. CGTN's …

Karen Conner (2021-12-03). Unemployment Falls to 4.2 Percent in November as Economy Adds 210,000 Jobs. cepr.net The rise in the index of aggregate hours would be equivalent to more than 630,000 jobs with no changes in workweeks.

Staff (2021-12-03). Biden administration refuses to ban killer robots. rt.com US President Joe Biden has refused to sign a binding international agreement tightly regulating the use of "killer robots." Campaigners fear such devices will launch an unstoppable arms race toward "digital dehumanization." | The US prefers a "non-binding code of conduct" regarding Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS, aka killer robots), State Department official Joshua Dorosin said at a meeting in Geneva on Thursday. | His insistence on leaving the Pentagon's hands free to produce autonomous killer robots stands in line with years of US policy, which has long opposed a global moratorium on LAWS, denouncin…

2021-12-04 17:57 | 13:57 EST | jz | 10 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0