Green

Green 

 

We all have a human right to a livable planet with a stable climate, healthy food, clean air and water, and living soil. We need a real Green New Deal to transition rapidly from an economic system that is destroying our only home to a sustainable society built around human needs and protecting life on Earth. We need to act now so that our children and future generations can not only survive, but thrive.

 

-      Jill Stein, Platform

 

By Gregg Wall (7-20-2024)

 

And what a two weeks it has been.  Here, in N. America, heading into November, the U.S. is in full campaign mode.  And what are the key topics?  Certainly, not our failed necro-neolib-neocon economy… our global empire that is draining the life out of the nation, the taxpayer funded genocide in Gaza, soaring childhood poverty, the fossil fuels climate crisis: Nope.  True, America is burning but it’s really not up for discussion.  America’s entirely corrupt political duopoly, campaign finance reform, SCOTUS, stock trading and day trading in congress: sorry, no dice.  Systemic racism, misogyny, homophobia… xenophobia… Islamophobia?  Not up for discussion, except for the GOP pushing white supremacy, going ballistic over the border, and ubiquitous white male grievance.  Educational crisis, healthcare crisis, housing crisis?  How about our soaring national debt – both parties are responsible for, soaring price gouging and inflation, fiscal malpractice in Washington?  America’s monopoly problem, the oligarchy issue, our billionaire kleptocracy issue, the ultra-wealthy folks with an overwhelming sense of entitlement?  Sorry, our corporate MSM wouldn’t dream of bringing up these topics or pressing the issue with Democrats and GOP in Washington.  The private equity, commercial real estate, and residential real estate debacle and pending bailout?  Shhhhhhhh.  What?  The FED will print up another couple of trillion, or simply cut rates and do QE, and sweep that under the rug in no time flat.  Why bring that up?  Problem?  What problem? 

 

Remember, America is the home of substance free campaigning, where culture wars are used to define the candidate, or brand the candidate, depending upon the voter’s perspective.  Actual debate & dialogue on substantive issues, such as the aforementioned, are forbidden.  So, what has occupied our time?  

 

Well, gerontocracy has come up, sort of.  Seems that the nation is done with POTUS Biden, and Dem party grandees fearful of a three house sweep or GOP trifecta… are suddenly concerned that Genocide Joe is a drag on the ticket.  It certainly took them long enough to figure it out, but when you live in a bubble of entitled privilege & are busy day trading based upon insider info, you’re generally last to know.  American voters are enraged about the cost of living and the border crisis… wages haven’t kept up with corporate greed and Wall St price gouging, especially when monopolies hold totalitarian sway, despotic sway over gov policy, markets, prices, and wages.  And Joe hasn’t done diddly.  Build back better, minimum wage, abortion codification, address a highly corrupt SCOTUS, voter rights, bringing down outrageous greedflation, higher child tax credit… Biden and Dems really didn’t address any of it.  Looks like Dems pissed away four good years, again.  Even COVID, which Biden pledged to eliminate, has made a comeback.  COVID reportedly leaving our winded leader… well, winded… after a whirlwind tour of campaign events and interviews, after a catastrophic debate performance.  Seems that dementia has set in and like an angry nana or poppa, fighting not to go to the grossly understaffed eldercare unit, run by America’s private equity mercenaries… Biden has fought leaving the White House every step of the way.  If only Biden had placed half the energy into fulfilling his promises to the American people that the president has placed into staying in office for a second term, and forcing himself upon the nation, yet again… think of how much better off the nation might be.  Instead, a nasty, selfish Biden… suffering with senility, maybe Parkinson disease… maybe is completely unaware of what an ass he’s making of himself.  Once again, Biden reminds us America is stuck looking at the failure that is our repugnant and vile two-party system…  a two-party system with no real interest in changing anything, making citizens’ lives better, but rather, is only interested in protecting a failed, ultra corrupt status quo.  All this, with world leaders standing slack-jawed, looking on in utter bewilderment, shuffling their feet, and kicking at the dust.  Perhaps more than a couple gloating.  They knew Biden had serious mental problems and did nothing… how’s that for allies?  Many already making plans for Trump’s imminent arrival.

 

Come to think of it, and in all fairness, Biden’s behavior is not unlike Hillary’s behavior, or Trump’s behavior, when he attempted to set fire to the nation’s capital, insighted something of a riot or insurrection back in 2020?  Which reveals how entirely unsuited for higher office these individuals are:  it’s not about them, it’s about the nation and its people… something 100% of the politicians in Washington appear to have forgotten.  But that’s all water under the bridge now.  Dems, in another catastrophic failing, never felt the need to prosecute Trump for the only thing that would have kept him out of power and away from a second term: Treason (or per the 14^th Amendment, Section 3, acts of insurrection & rebellion).  Post presidential debate a few weeks ago, Trump wisely let Dems do what Dems do best, destroy themselves.  Trump showed incredible self-control, and then came the GOP convention.  Full disclosure, I didn’t watch much of the convention, except for the final night.  I haven’t kept up much with GOP politics, as of late… in America, political analysts only have to watch Dems attempting to outdo the GOP in sucking up to AIPAC, banks, corporations, oligarchy, and the war lobby to see how out-of-control things are and are headed.  The GOP leading the controlled opposition party, Dems, by the nose and right over the cliff, time and time again.  Pretty much like every other Western duopoly.  But I digress, Thursday night’s GOP convention did not disappoint, where Americans were treated to Hulkamania, Kid Rock, rock n roll, and circus.  And Trump, of course, did not disappoint.  Trump, who recently escaped an assassin’s bullet, or Trumpian bullet, or a deep state bullet, or Hillary’s bullet… nobody is entirely sure… went into some detail about the attempt on his life.  Followed by considerable fear mongering on immigrants.  You know, the folks who do all those essential, critical jobs that Americans would never actually do, like: till the soil, spray pesticides, pick and package the crops in 115 degree heat, watch our children, staff meat packing, guard our vacated office buildings and gated communities, and build our homes w/out food and water breaks or break-breaks.  That, and Trump went into considerable detail about how things were better under Trump, and Biden had failed miserably (which is true), and how America would be great again… 92 minutes.  A little indulgent, perhaps.  Of course, ninety-two minutes is heading into dictator territory… despots & dictators are known for giving lengthy speeches… which is exactly where the nation is headed under a second Trump term.

 

The best thing about the GOP convention, and I can’t believe I’m writing this, was Tucker Carlson, who is not a NATO, Ukraine, or dumping unlimited money into Israel enthusiast.  That part of the GOP convention, I appreciated.  Tucker believes politicians should serve Americans first, not themselves.  Shocking stuff.  Tucker also displayed a little humility.  Future GOP candidate?  Tucker is not my preferred poison, but in his very brief time, he demonstrated some strong positions and qualities.  Fully demonstrating, a little GOP goes a long, long way.

 

Where is all this headed?  Unfortunately for Dems, it appears that Kamala is next in line.  Dems are big on waiting in line and whose turn it is, rather than pushing the best opportunity to the front of the line.  Kamala Harris, the Vice President, certainly has her fans, but she also has plenty of detractors.  And then, there’s her record: mass incarceration queen of the State of California, recipient of five million dollars - plus from AIPAC, genocide supporter, Ukraine war supporter, Biden supporter (Kamala, who placed party and her career first… with unflagging support for an ill & struggling POTUS… while placing the nation dead last, by failing to callout Biden, failing to invoke the 25^th Amendment, and failing to see Biden out the door).  Kamala illustrates the disease that runs rampant in Washington and all too often infects American elites: placing career and money first, and citizens and nation at the back of the line.  Which is why Trump has been raised from the dead, politically, by the Democratic party and the current administration.  Loyalty has its place, but blind fealty to party, protocol, and failed political leaders … we are out of runway and out of time for this nonsense. 

 

And the news out of Washington and the corporate media?  More of the same: POTUS Biden is quitting, POTUS Biden is resolute and defiant in his desire to see the job through.  America, seemingly, is cursed with incompetence. 

 

 

 

  

The bright spot: Green party candidate Jill Stein.  Packed with eight essential vitamins and iron, Jill offers: integrity, intelligence, grace, dignity, humility, lots and lots of common sense, humanity, compassion.  Jill is that breath of fresh air the country desperately needs.  Jill is candid, honest, forthright, and not afraid to name names or spell out the numerous problems the nation faces, as a direct result of duopoly, oligarchy, the deep state, endemic corruption, and the federal reserve.  With Jill there are no sacred cows, no pagan worship of money or power.

 

For me anyway, I suspect for many others, the crises America faces are existential.  The duopoly and oligarchy that drove the nation, not into the ditch, but the abyss… are not going to solve the crises they created.  Jill and the Green party are legitimate agents of change.  Doctor Stein is on the ballot in enough states, where she could actually go all the way, despite the best efforts of the establishment to crush her candidacy.  Jill has the energy, drive, and stamina to see the job through.  Jill is anti-war, pro-peace, pro-environment, pro-American, and by virtue of cutting the defense budget in half, may in fact, be the only true deficit hawk running. 

 

This is it America… time to break away from these two ossified, petrified parties, two lousy candidates, and go with a winner.  These parties pander for your vote every two years, trot out the same pack of lies & promises, only for them to return to Washington and promptly pivot to enriching their high-net-worth donors, foreign nations, Wall St., and themselves.

 

The nation is burning, democracy and the nation are in real peril, and this election is the last we may vote on in our lifetimes.  And dictatorship is lurking outside our door.  Be honest: what has either party ever done for you?  Why not make it count?  Why not defy the establishment that is murdering us, looting our nation, and destroying the planet in the name of greed?  

Seriously, with both parties steeped in fascism, what do you have to lose?

 

  Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2024

Reagan and Thatcher on the ropes… Throughout the West, the Center cannot hold

Reagan and Thatcher on the ropes… Throughout the West, the Center cannot hold

 

The president came into the debate with a low bar to clear, and he stumbled. He was flat. He was rambling. He was unclear.

 

About midway through the debate, the Biden campaign said that the president was battling a cold - an attempt to explain his raspy voice. That may be so, but it also sounded like an excuse.

 

-             Analysis: Biden's incoherent debate performance heightens fears over his age, BBC

 

By Gregg Wall (7-6-2024) 

 

The summer is getting warmed up here in Alberta, the Stampede is on, the skies are the deepest blue, and I’m wondering why I am inside writing this piece today.  Probably because this is about as close as I will ever come to gloating.  Neoliberalism, the center, the corporatist, the establishment are being rejected in Western democracy, after Western democracy… and its obituary is long overdue.  Odd, how nearly 4.5 decades since 1980, Reagan and Thatcher’s heyday… the public is calling out the biggest scam ever perpetrated, collectively, on the West:  trickle-down; supply-side economics; neoliberalism; globalization; the death cult surrounding the Western economies (aka necroeconomy); and Western political duopolies acting as a front for oligarchy.  More specifically in America and parts of Europe, the hyper-financialization of cannibalized economies that have seen businesses turned into the walking dead, innovation and jobs crushed in an orgy of corporate consolidation, and the economy & opportunity absolutely wrecked for the overwhelming majority of citizens (economies now dependent upon endless rivers of government debt and war spending).  All of it is being rejected.  Not all voters may fully grasp the mechanics of it all, but they do know the establishment has failed them, as wealth and wage inequality have soared.

 

No wonder the public is enraged, as they should be.  U.S. politicians and some European capitals have stripped public services, crammed austerity down everyone’s throat, and allowed families and labor to be preyed upon by banks, cartels, monopolies, and utilities.  Meanwhile, as Washington holds up the middle digit to the American public on reform… it sends billions and billions to a country too corrupt to join NATO, and another country engaged in genocide (and yet, Israel is so rich from US taxpayer largesse that it enjoys socialized medicine, free college, and socialized or subsidized housing).  

 

And what an interesting two weeks, it has been: 

 

Biden is imploding before our very eyes.   Seems that insiders, the Biden administration, EU allies, high profile donors have known Biden had a problem for the last four years… but Biden means cushy jobs for the democratic party, free defense and military for Europe, and donors have spent millions and millions to keep their boy propped up.  It would be a shame to see that investment head south.  And yet, it appears that some donors are finally willing to cut their losses and donations.  Nobody likes to see elder abuse.  Abuse where we pile on a job & responsibilities -- that would crush the strongest of younger individuals -- onto an octogenarian, who is struggling to utter a complete sentence.  All because it’s not PC to acknowledge the obvious, Biden clearly has no business being in the White House.  But before we leave this topic, there is something more.  There is something completely contemptuous about a two-party system, in an alleged democracy, that continuously ignores the demands of the American people, whether it be for: Medicare for All, a ceasefire in Gaza, a pause in endless wars and the resulting austerity, taxing the rich, or Biden fulfilling his 2020 campaign promises (which Biden has largely failed to deliver).  Not to mention, the simple request from the American people for Biden to simply, go away.  So, someone less corrupt and with a real opportunity to defeat Trump can run.  Biden has been a catastrophe for the United States, and most importantly, the long-suffering American people for nearly four miserable years.

 

After all, Biden and his generation are the ultimate testament to American fascism: America has built up the presidency and this garbage two-party system, as infallible, exceptional, unimpeachable, with delusions of grandeur, a nation hypnotized, sedated with endless propaganda & lies.  Americans, thankfully, are waking up to the fraud that is duopoly. 

Across the pond, fourteen long, miserable years of Tory rule came crashing down… but fear not, the Labour party has purged all progressives and lefties, the financial press/establishment gave Labour the seal of approval, and it looks like Prime Minster Starmer will deliver more of the same: endless supply-side welfare for the rich, privatization fraud, maintain the trickle-down tax code, and continue failed neoliberalism.  Meanwhile, the voting public can take temporary satisfaction from the fact they kicked out the Tories, but as important, this election was marked by record low voter turnout.  So enough of the public showed up to reject repugnant Tories, while a huge swath of the British voters didn’t bother to show at all, essentially rejecting the establishment, the duopoly, and the oligarchy the duopoly reports into.  Essentially, a double win for the British people.  Low voter turnout is outstanding: it demonstrates that the public is increasingly onto the charade that is the two-party system.  Starmer already looks like a one term wonder, a deer in the headlight, a caretaker administration that will care little for the public, continue to take for rich, and give to the rich.  And Starmer’s ready-made excuse for not properly funding public services that have been gutted, like the NHS?  Sir Starmer will, of course, lean on that old standby, the national debt run up to provide welfare for the rich. Sorry folks, we can’t afford it.

 

France has a big election this weekend, and Macron has performed so poorly in the first round of voting that his establishment, corporate party will only appear on the ballots of half the voting districts, per France 24.  The populist-right & LePen are all set to make significant gains and could end up calling the shots in parliament.  The populist-right is closely followed by the populist-left, with Macron and his coalition trailing a very distant third.  There is some talk of a coalition between the left and Macron’s far-right coalition to keep the populist-right, Ms. LePen’s party and coalition, out of power.  No matter how it plays out… as with America, Canada, Germany, and the UK… French citizens clearly have had it with endless austerity coupled with the endless transfers of wealth to corporations, the uber-wealthy, and politicians.  France is another country where voter turnout is exceptionally low.  A sure sign, that for many French citizens, democracy, neoliberalism, and privatization are abject failures.  

In an update, French voters broke with recent trends and showed up to the polls Sunday: rejected the far-right establishment, Macron (2nd place), rejected the populist far-right, Le Pen (3rd place), and elected the populist- left, Melenchon (first place).

 

Before wrapping this up, I think SCOTUS (or America’s Supreme Court) deserves a paragraph.  This court has gone absolutely crazy, engaged in activities like pulling rulings out of thin air with no basis whatsoever in the Constitution, to writing legislation from the bench, to engaging in highly aggressive judicial activism & power grabs.  These are the very same activities that conservative jurists, like Robert Bork, use to decry and rant about when more liberal courts were in power.  Except now, this rabidly right-wing court is busy turning the presidency into dictatorship… many have argued, correctly, that the president is already a de facto dictator… and destroying what little remains of a captured regulatory state.  SCOTUS even legalized corruption at the state and local levels of government.  If anybody is looking for rhyme or reason for the court’s rulings, follow the money.  If it benefits capital, if it benefits corporate America’s or the oligarchy’s bottom line, the odds are exceptionally high, the Roberts court will side with the court’s ultra-wealthy benefactors.  

 

And the sliver of light in SCOTUS’ recent rulings?  If, when, should a future liberal court return to power… this fascist court has, with its own special blend of judicial activism, clearly demonstrated that the U.S. Constitution is a living, breathing document.  Moreover, strict constructionism and threading the judicial needle with America’s ancient colonial history to justify constitutionality is no longer necessary but in fact, all but dead. 

 

 

And it’s all beginning to unravel… as I recently argued, we are at or near the tipping point.  Forty-four years of greed, laissez-faire, looting corporate and nation state credit lines, endless for-profit wars, and an evil necroeconomy are beginning to blowback on the establishment.  The public is waking up: they know Western democracy is a sham, they know political duopoly is a cul-de-sac, and they know the reason they can’t feed their children and keep a roof over their head is due to systemic class warfare waged by economic royalist, a complicit political class, bankers and monopolies.  For the moment, the public’s biggest problem is options.  It’s highly satisfying to throw one corporate political party to the curb and highly discouraging to be forced to elect a corporate clone party, or controlled opposition, in protest.  At the moment, the public seems keenly interested in the populist-right political parties that play up division, hatred, xenophobia (as mass migration gets underway)… but it won’t be long before the public comes to realize these populist-right political parties are only delivering more of the same: more necroviolence visited upon the public and their children for the enrichment of the same cadre of mafia at the tippy top.  The public increasingly knows the endless ping-pong game within the two-party system is a dead end.  And support for third parties and third-party formation will be critical and crucial for real change, if change is to happen via democracy.  Many appear to have given up on democracy altogether.  Hence, low voter turnout in the UK. 

 

Ultimately and to hammer the point, this leaves the public with one, or a mix, of several solutions: create & support third parties that truly are responsive to the public’s needs, the power of organized labor - to exact reforms and change, dictatorship, and revolution.  The overthrow of crony democracy itself. 

 

This, as political violence is heating up.  There are some that believe revolution is unthinkable, but clearly… judging from the taxpayer money flooding into cop cities, mass incarceration, and defense… the establishment is equally worried.  Moreover, the establishment demonstrates no desire to cleanup and reform.  One thing is clear, in the words of Fredrick Douglas, power concedes nothing without a demand. 

 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2024

Recession & Another Shade of Fraud

 

Recession & Another Shade of Fraud 

 

The US economy is in a "selective recession," as lower-income Americans are struggling to get by while upper-income consumers are doing just fine, according to JPMorgan analyst Matthew Boss.

Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, Boss pointed to the divergence in upper-income and middle-to-lower income Americans, the latter of whom are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living as prices remain elevated and savings dwindle.

"By our survey, over 70% of low-income consumers right now are saying that they're struggling to make ends meet."

 

-             The US economy is in a 'selective recession' as lower-income consumers can't cover the cost of living, JPMorgan says

 

By Gregg Wall (June 22, 2024)

 

By now, many are keenly aware of the facts.  The U.S. economy, indeed, many Western economies -- judging by the outright loathing the public and voters have for the current crop of presidents, prime ministers, centrist, corporatist, and neoliberal politicians -- are an absolute failure. With the bottom 60 to 70% already in crisis mode, that is one paycheck away from humility and unable to pay their bills, monthly.

 

To expand further:  66% of Americans can’t afford a $400 emergency; there is a rising homelessness epidemic; 41% of American parents… here in the land of forever chemicals & train derailments… struggle to feed their children; in Canada, poverty has been lowballed and it’s been revealed, one in four Canadians live in poverty (as Mr. Trudeau floods the nation with immigrants to crush wages, to the sheer delight of billionaires, robber barons, and multinationals); 7,000 companies -- hobbled by debt and all too often, greed & financial engineering -- can’t pay back their loans; 36% of Americans work Gig; 50% of Americans make less than $80,000 a year (giving soaring rents and with the application of the 30% Rule, my calculations indicate $80,000 a year is the poverty threshold); and credit card debt has soared to new highs.   

 

Meanwhile, the fat cats, the monopolies, the utilities -- with an iron grip on essential products and services -- are making money hand over fist.  All this, as Biden, Trudeau, many European politicians, and the corporate MSM do their absolute best to assure and gaslight the public, to wit: everything is going along swimmingly, the economy is grand, and why aren’t you ingrates worshipping the establishment.  It’s a pretty sick display unless you’re into verbal sadism and lies.

 

What is most jarring is that so much poverty is baked into the economy and economic numbers.  As in yeah, 60 to 70% of Americans – I suspect a similar ratio of Canadians – living on the edge is all perfectly normal, exactly as a well-run necroeconomy should run with suicides and deaths of despair climbing.  Numbers like GDP, growth, and employment data, when half the United States makes less than $80,000… are absolutely meaningless, especially when fifty percent can’t afford a doctor.  A job is worthless if it doesn’t pay the rent.  And Biden, Trudeau, economists, and the MSM can’t figure out why the public holds them in so little regard.  What is abundantly clear is that all this abuse, wealth & wages extracted from N. American and European labor, is being transferred into the hands of multinationals, monopolies, oligarchs, and utilities… there are no checks or balances against any of it.  And it’s reflected in the polling.  The economists, politicians, and their treasured GDP & growth merely another shade of fraud.

 

We are at or near the tipping point now.  Not that many years ago, shortly after the 2008 crash & demolition, via Wall St. hedonism, it seemed that approximately 50% of Americans were struggling to survive, now that number is closer to 60 to 70%.  In short, forty-four years of Reagan and Thatcher… trickle-down, supply-side lies have finally come home.  Someone forgot to tell the public that all this financial engineering, consolidation, and utility formation is designed to do two things: one, allow a predatory few to amass unconscionable wealth and power (to the detriment of nation-states, democracy, and the economy); and two, gut labor and consolidate jobs… often big business’ largest expense. Now, the house of cards is propped up on endless bailouts, debt, deficits, and forever wars.  Looting the credit lines of nation-states, stock manipulation, and financial engineering now appears to be the primary business model of the corporate elite, and their toadies, the political class.  The business itself?  Well, that’s just cover.

 

I’ve been writing about this for well over decade, starting with a piece entitled, Establishment.  The catalyst for that piece: Mr. David Brooks at the New York Times - post 2008 - was calling for more grateful, respectful “followers,” after Washington and Wall St had leveled the economy in an orgy of derivatives and greed, crushed the residential housing market, and carried out the remains of the middle class in a body bag (while Wall St. criminals received taxpayer funded bailouts and the political class received kickbacks).  No one was prosecuted.  Meanwhile, back in the present, in Europe, a recent EU election has the fascist establishment… the centrists, the corporatists, the far-right ‘moderates’… wringing their hands over the voter’s shift away from their train wreck, the necro-neolib-neocon economy.  As fed-up voters pivoted to third parties in Germany and particularly, in France.  Seems the ultra-conservative Banker President, Macron, isn’t doing so well. It seems the far-right establishment is concerned, or feigning concern, that the far-right populists are coming to power… conveniently forgetting to mention the ignition for this peaceful revolution at the ballot box was at least forty-four years of establishment greed, looting, the gutting of the social contract & gov services, and endless austerity.   

 

That, and the gross mismanagement of the economy, and a flood of immigration to crush wages on behalf of the economic royalists. 

 

These duopolies, they are a very dirty business, and when they inevitably fail to deliver – except for the rich - and poverty rockets past the tipping point, the public naturally looks for choices elsewhere.  How long before the public realizes these far-right populists are only another shade of fraud?  How long before the public realizes that division, hate, and xenophobia won’t feed their families or solve their problems?  And what comes next, revolution, a final pivot to the left?  Will a greedy establishment… the source of all evil… pull up before it’s too late; will a greedy establishment start paying their fair share of taxes, or will they double down on burning down the planet and for-profit wars?  

 

Cop cities, a mass incarceration state, and the lack of regard for the Constitution and student protest suggests that the oligarchy will not pullover or submit quietly.  What is abundantly clear is that billionaires, monopolies, MSM, and establishment politicians are increasingly out of favor with the public and for very good reasons: forty-four years of fraud & failure. 

 

Strap in, the ride is about to get interesting. 

 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2024