The shutdown of the U.S. government and the debt default are interesting news. Folks are suffering now and that is tragic. Some have said that this is a dress rehearsal for the privatization of the federal state system. My fear is that this is true. We know unwarranted privatization have harmed areas in the world not only in the States historically. The shutdown and the debt default issue are causing huge money for Wall Street. We know the many political and economic agendas behind this situation. If tens of thousands of public employees are furloughed, then more privatization is likely to come about. This is similar to what is occurring in Detroit. Deindustrialization, bankruptcy, and privatization are happening in Detroit (the White House is supporting this reality). Now, large corporations are becoming the owners of municipal assets and infrastructure. State bankruptcy in local level governments is the engine where elites want to further own resources in America. That is why the IMF (via their creditors) executed the SAPs or the structural program to fire public sector workers, dismantle state apparatus, and privatize state assets. This has been done in many European nations. We know that the macroeconomic so called reforms engineered by Wall Street and the Federal Reserve has harmed Americans (that can influence civil disorder in the USA. The DHS is reportedly acquiring heavily armored tanks, which have been seen roaming the streets). The economic crisis now has been influenced by the meltdown of Wall Street in September 2008. The crisis had evolved into the debt default situation and the government shutdown. The evil Bush/Obama a bailouts caused an appropriation of $1.45 trillion of US tax revenues. That money came into Wall Street under Bush's TARP or the Troubled Assets Relief Program. More money is sent to the big banks now. We know that the war economy has grown since 9/11. We see more imperialism and militarization of America (as 740 billion dollars had been allocated FY 2010). Much money has been used in the Pentagon's covert operations. This is our money and they are not telling us what they are doing with it totally. For FY 2010, defense expenditures including bank bailouts amounted to 2.35 trillion dollars (this includes handouts to banks and Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace, etc.). Total revenue in FY 2010 was of the order of $2.38 trillion. That means that these 2 categories of expenditure along or War and Wall Street eaten up most of the federal government revenues (along with interest payments on public debt). This reality caused harm to regular government programs. Public debt has increased as a mean to fund Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and public investments in infrastructure, etc. The widening budget deficit has been growing since the 2008 financial crash (and handouts to Wall Street and the military industrial complex). The Congress Budget Office (CBO) acknowledges that “the federal budget deficits [2013-2022] are now expected to shrink dramatically." This is caused by austerity measures and macro-economic policy. Austerity is causing the reduction of the budget deficit. Also, austerity is harming society. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security represented in FY 2012, 45 percent of total government expenditure (See CBO Chart on Federal Government Spending for FY 2012). The budget of the Department of Defense will remain mostly intact. Quantitative easing is not the magic pill. The reason is that it is not a Keynesian framework. QE is facilitated by the creditors and it does not create massive employment, it is not expansionary, and it has little bearing on the real economy. QE benefits mostly Wall Street. Much of the debt is owned by the Federal Reserve in the form of Treasury bills. The FED props up its assets. QE has not grown the economy massively, but the FED has increase the profitability of Wall Street including the rest of the super-rich. We know that the FED is a network of 12 private U.S. banks and it is not a publicly owned central bank. It is unaccountable and the NY Federal Reserve Bank plays a big role. The Federal Reserve Banking system (which is an unaccountable private entity) has been granted increased authority in its management of the US economy, overshadowing the prevailing system of public regulation of the financial system (as well as reinforcing the subordinate role of the US Treasury in relation to Wall Street). The FED holds 2.1 trillion dollars of U.S. public debt. Japan and China own respectively 1.1 trillion and 1.3 trillion dollars of the U.S. public debt. The Federal Reserve owns 16 percent of the Federal Debt held by the Public. International investors own most of the federal debt. State programs have been cut or eliminated as a means to fund the elite. Our economic system is heavily owned by the financial establishment not we the people. There is massive privatization of American society. Wall Street is pressuring Congress to continue to curtail and downsize social programs and transfer public assets and institutions into private corporations (this is found in Detroit and other locations in California). That is why we see the privatization of our resources. There are still derivatives that act in a heavily speculative fashion, so we have to be aware of that too. Wall Street financial groups have a huge role in the development of American fiscal and monetary agendas still. We have to keep our eyes on the truth continually.
A report published by the Human Rights Watch or the HRW found that the sectarian forces have massacred hundreds of civilians by the U.S. backed Sunni opposition forces during an offensive in early August (in the majority Alawite region around the coastal city of Lattakia). There is information based on extensive photographic evidence and interviews with survivors. The HRW found that at least 190 Alawite civilians were butchered and 200 taken hostage by opposition forces. The dead included at least 57 women, 18 children, and 14 elderly men. Joe Stork is the HRW acting Middle East Director. He said that the massacres were “not the actions of rogue fighters… This operation was a coordinated, planned attack on the civilian population of these Alawite villages.” These events condemn the policies from Washington and its European allies including the corporate media. They backed Al-Qaeda linked opposition militias in Syria. Some in the media have falsely called the opposition as fighters for democracy. Some still want an U.S. military intervention in Syria. 2 weeks after the Lattakia killings, Washington started a campaign war with Syria. That was related to the chemical attack in Ghouta. War was stopped by anti-war activists and pressure from real folks in the world. The atrocities near Lattakia took place amid an offensive starting on August 4 or during the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The opposition forces seem to choose this date. This is similar to the Nixon administration's Christmas bombing of Hanoi during the Vietnam War (as a mean to terrorize its victims. It showed them that it would not restrain its blood lust even during the holiday season). The Syrian rebels fielded thousands of troops, armed with heavy machine guns, multiple barreled rocket launchers, armored anti-aircraft guns, and few captured tanks. Syrian army forces retook the area only on August 19. Alawite civilians were massacred by the opposition forces in their rule. HRW cites medical reports: “Cause of death in several of [the bodies] was multiple gunshot wounds all over the bodies, in addition to stab wounds made with a sharp instrument, given the decapitation observed in most bodies.” Opposition officials contacted HRW early on in the offensive. This was when most of the killings took place apparently. The report cites one “opposition activist” who, on August 5, boasted to HRW: “We caught 150 women and 40 children, and killed all the men.” The report described dozens of cases where defenseless civilians were slaughtered. In the village of Barouda, opposition fighters killed 2 civilians who were unable to escape. They include Safwan Hassan Shebli or a paralyzed Syrian veteran and his mother Shamieh Ali Darwish, who could only walk on crutches. In the village of Sleibeh al-Hamboushieh, they murdered a blind 80-year-old woman, Nassiba Salem Sleim, and several of her relatives. Other civilians were killed as they tried to escape the opposition militias. Ghazi Ibrahim Badour, who was fleeing with his wife and 10 children, said: “They cut off the road, so we tried to escape through the trees, but they were shooting at us, and two of my daughters died. My wife and another daughter were hurt. My daughter Sefah Badour, who has a Masters in Arabic literature, and my daughter Sara, who has a degree in philosophy, were killed.” According to HRW, the opposition fighters who carried out the massacres were largely drawn from five Al Qaeda-linked militias: the Al Nusra Front, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Ahrar al-Sham, Suqour al-Izz, and Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar. The first two are the best-known Al Qaeda-linked opposition militias in Syria. Jaish al-Muhajireen is an ISIL-linked group of foreign fighters from countries including Chechnya, Turkey, Tajikistan, Pakistan, France, Egypt and Morocco. This campaign is supported by forces endorsed by Washington like General Salem Idriss of the FSA or the Free Syrian Army. In August 11, he came to declare hi solidarity with Al-Qaeda linked forces in the following words: "...Our chief of staff is cooperating fully with the coastal military front command regarding their military activities. We are not going to withdraw as was falsely claimed, but on the contrary, we are cooperating to a great extent in this operation.” The HRW documented how the operation was planned and financed by moneymen from Persian Gulf sheikdoms mainly from Kuwait, starting in April. They include Sheikh Hajjej al-Ajami and Shafi al-Ajami in Kuwait, as well as Sunni Islamist preacher Sheikh Adnan al-Arour, who reportedly donated $140,000 and, later, $4.8 million. Al-Arnour wanted to kill Syrian Alawites. The corporate media is disgraceful by ignoring the war crimes of the Syrian opposition. Many of them lied and claimed by cannibal terrorists are somehow freedom fighters. That is not democracy. That is barbarism and criminality. These lies almost caused America to have direct war with Syria. Even the May 2012 Houla massacre was done by opposition forces. The massacres near Lattakia were done by the opposition. We should reject imperialism completely.
There are those who want the FED to cancel 2 trillion dollars of government debt as a means to reduce the budget crisis. Even Congressman Alan Grayson and former Ron Paul (which I do not agree with on many issues) advocate this policy toward the Federal Reserve. Some want to end the Federal Reserve and replace it with alternatives. Grayson and Paulson have co-sponsored a bill to audit the Federal Reserve. Many top economists agree with reining in the Federal Reserve. The cancelling of the Treasury debt that it owns is about forgiving the government's debt. The total U.S. debt is about $16.8 trillion. Canceling the debt will give the government a means to manage its finances. It will prevent a default. Congressman Grayson said the following words on this issue: "...The debt held on the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve can be canceled without any significant consequence, because it is a bookkeeping artifact corresponding to the money supply. In essence, the government owes this money to itself. If I owe money to myself, I can cancel that debt at will and without consequence, essentially taking it out of my left pocket and putting it in my right pocket. Last year, the Federal Reserve declared a “profit” of roughly $91 billion, much of which came from interest payments from the U.S. Treasury. The Federal Reserve then quickly remitted nearly all of this profit right back to the U.S. Treasury. The Federal Reserve does this every year. Reducing or eliminating this unearned “profit” actually will provide a more realistic view of federal finances..." Even quantitative easing has not worked greatly. It has been executed by the FED, but it has benefited the supporting the super elite and it is performed via the buying of the U.S. debt ($45 billion each month). Canceling the government debt is not farfetched as it has been advocated by an article from the Financial Times. So, we should increase economic growth and dealing with the public debt. The big banks have been found to manipulate the currency markets, interest rates, oil prices, derivatives, gold and silver, energy markets, commodities, etc. So, the big banks manipulate tons of market. The high level of interconnectedness of these entities leads into financial instability. It is wrong for the government to give the big banks record subsidies and these big banks use them for speculation and other actions that do not help the economy. Even top economists, financial experts, and bankers believe that big bankers are too large and their size threatens the economy. That is why they want to break up the big banks as a means to stabilize the economy. The big central banks have heavy influence on the political including economic policies from Washington, London, etc. Money spent on unnecessary wars and fraud has been horrible for the economy. Reducing fraud, waste, and abuse can go a long way in handling our situation. Republican Senator Tom Coburn notes that the Department of Defense can reduce $67.9 billion over 10 years by eliminating the non-defense programs that have found their way into the budget for the Department of Defense. That is why independent media is important for the truth to be known despite the propaganda of the 1 percent. We should oppose policies form a criminal government. We should arrest 1 percent criminals who are involved in evils from pollution to war crimes completely. The elite in government have violated even legitimate constitutional principles, have used wars of aggression, looting trillions of taxpayer dollars (via their own Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports or the CAFRs), use the oligarchy to harm society, and use the oligarchic media to use deception against the public of the 99%. I have no issue with debt free money as well. Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman correctly concludes that money supply can be kept constant by replacing banks’ authority to create debt with government authority to directly pay for public goods and services with debt-free money. This refutes critics’ argument of inflation, along with the above argument that infrastructure investment reduces overall costs. The money we have is actually debt created by private banks. Government Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) have literal multiple trillions in surplus taxpayer assets, as they fraudulently claim deficits “forcing” austerity upon the 99%. For example, California’s own CAFR proves a ~$16 billion claimed budget deficit is absolutely refuted by ~$100 billion in liquid surplus funds and ~$500 billion in claimed investments. That is why economic populists want debt free money to fund our country.
The Black Movement in Brazil is a great movement. It has a long history. The movement for black liberation in Brazil has been around for centuries. Many social movements fought for the liberation of black slaves. Many rebellions were organized by Brothers and Sisters to fight against the evil action of slavery. There were insurrection and violent repression by the ruling class enemy. The total black rebellion movements for almost four centuries from 1549 to 1888 (when abolition came for all black human beings inside of Brazil) was called the Quilombagem. This movement involved slaves who fought for human liberation. They wanted social change. They wanted to use many means to believe in justice. Even though according to Moura the quilombagem had as its organizational center the quilombo where escaped slaves sought refuge in addition to all sort of individuals excluded and marginalized by society during the colonial era, the quilombagem comprised "other forms of individual or collective protests" such as insurrections (the most notable one being in Salvador in 1835) and bandoleirismo, a guerrilla tactic in which groups of escaped slaves organized themselves to attack groups of people and travelers on the roadways (Moura, 1989). The Republic of Palmares lasted for almost a century. The movement fought strong. The Revolt of Chibata was virtually the last organized armed black rebellion that took place in Brazil. It occurred in 1910. It was led by the sailor João Cândido. Through this revolt, Cândido succeeded in making the Brazilian Navy stop applying the punishment of flogging to sailors who were in their majority black. Despite this victory and a promise of amnesty the leadership of the movement was almost completely exterminated a year later. Even João Cândido who had survived purged by the government, lived out the final days of his life forgotten and in misery. Later, Brothers and Sisters wanted to use more peaceful forms of resistance as a means to have freedom. Afro-Brazilian movements continued from the major centers from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. There was the black newspaper called the Menelick that started to circulate in 1915, It is followed by A Rua (The Street) in 1916, O Alfinete (The Pin) in 1918, A Liberdade (Liberty) in 1919, A Sentinela (The Guardian) in 1920, O Getulino and O Clarim d'Alvorada (Clear Daybreak) in 1924. They talked about real issues. The Frente Negra Brasileira (FNB - Brazilian Black Front) was established on September 16, 1931. It was created to fight against racial discrimination. They caused blacks to be included in the Public Force of São Paulo. Afro-Brazilians are still fighting for black liberation all of the time now in 2013. One of the greatest Afro-Brazilian heroes in the world is Benedita da Silva. She is a hero, a living legend, and defends the rights of black human beings to this very day. I have huge respect to this great human being.
The Affordable Care Act is one of the most controversial laws in the early 21st century. It has been watered down and the reactionaries hate it. It has strengths and weaknesses. We all know the weaknesses of the law. I will reveal that in more depth later in the words. I still believe that a single payer system is superior to the ACA. Now, there are strengths of the law. Here are some of them. Many human beings in America are receiving lifesaving preventative care. There are 2.5 million young adults that can now remain on their parents' insurance until the age of 26. 50,000 people with preexisting conditions now have coverage. Millions of women now have access to mammograms and other care with no cost sharing. The health care law does have important regulations on the insurance companies like preventing them from rejecting people because of preexisting health conditions. Yet, these new rules have been compromised and qualified half to death. There is still a situation now where the health care industry's profits are maintained at the expense of some. The logic of the ACA is that increased coverage for many, though not all, of the uninsured must come along with cutbacks in access to care for others--as Harry Reid says, everyone has to have "skin in the game." Ironically back in 2003, President Barack Obama desired a single payer universal health care system. Obviously, the ACA is not that, because Corporate America refuses to endorse such a plan. At the end of the day, the elites helped to create the ACA. Some companies are using the "Walmart loophole"--to avoid ACA fines for not insuring workers by making sure employees make so little that they qualify for Medicaid. One strategy for employers to avoid the Cadillac tax is to offer plans with lower premiums, but higher deductibles before insurance begins to pay for care. More than a third of workers covered by insurance are now in plans with annual deductibles of $1,000 or more, and 14 percent have deductibles of more than $2,000. "The lower premiums comply with the Obamacare requirement that less than 9.5 percent of your income go to premiums," explained Brown. "But the law doesn't take into account how much you spend on deductibles and co-pays in employer-provided insurance, creating pressure to get less care." The ACA was a product of compromise and bargaining with the financial elite and the medical, pharmaceutical, and insurance complex. The ACA is not true universal health care. Some folks will have health care and some human beings will improve their lives. That is inevitable. Still, millions will not have true universal health care at all. We need to take out the profit motive out of providing access to quality health care. Many of the aspects of the ACA are similar to the proposals made by the Heritage Foundation over 20 years ago. The ACA was written by the health insurance companies and the members of Congress. The President is the front man of it when he did not originate this agenda at all. So, the ACA must be radically improved upon or replaced with a single payer system. Some unions are criticizing the law for its usage of undermining the workers' living standards. No worker should be told that they have too much health care. Health care is a human right. Medicines, treatments, facilities, and health care resources are legitimate.
By Timothy
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