Financial Crisis 101

"The powers that policymakers have to deal with persistent vulnerabilities have been undermined by Trump administration officials who entered office seeking to weaken financial rules. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who leads a panel created by Dodd-Frank to identify financial risks, has moved to release big financial firms from oversight and abandoned an Obama-era working group that was examining hedge fund risks.The result is a still-brittle system, one in which financial players rake in profits in good times but the government is forced to save them or leave the economy to suffer when things go awry."

This is the backdrop for another major financial crisis such as erupted in 2006. The present government is run by crony capitalists (Mnuchin is a hedge fund veteran) and capitalists seek maximum accumulation of capital. Regulations were put in place after 2006 to prevent unsustainable risks being taken in the financial system. But the greater the risk the greater the profit.

The game is simple: the Trumpies thwart regulations and allow the big hedge funds to take great risks and make super profits but if the economy goes south and their risks don't pay off the whole economy could be in danger, so instead losing their profits the State steps in and bails them out with taxpayers money -- the working class majority bails out the capitalists (negative socialism).

No surprise here as Lenin pointed out the State is an organ by which one class oppresses another and the US state is a capitalist run state set up to oppress working people -- so the ruling class gets bailed out and welfare and food stamps get defunded.

The Dodd-Frank financial law succeeded at making banks safer, but empowered shadowy corners of finance that nearly wrecked the system in March.

NYTIMES.COM

A Hedge Fund Bailout Highlights How Regulators Ignored Big Risks

The Dodd-Frank financial law succeeded at making banks safer, but empowered shadowy corners of finance that nearly wrecked the system in March.

The Uighurs: Persecution or Propaganda

If the Uighurs are being persecuted that is certainly bad and against the principles of Marxism-Leninism subscribed to by the CPC. However, the evidence that this kind of persecution is actually going on has to to be stronger than guesswork and speculation and outrageous propaganda outbursts especially since the US (and therefore its satellites in NATO and EU) has taken the position that China is an adversary and is drumming up a new American sponsored Cold War to justify confrontations and increased military spending.

The Guardian's You Tube video shows Chinese police transferring some prisoners. That is all it shows. However the Guardian tells us they "appear to be" Uighurs and Muslims (but then they might not be). They also “ believe” the video was made in Xinjiang a year ago, but they don’t really know as the video was posted anonymously on You Tube. On the basis of this video and other speculations the Labour Party shadow foreign minister concluded that China was engaged in “genocide”— a term that even the Tory government is hesitant to use. Labour is still a trusted US ally.

It is true that there was a terrorist movement in Xinjiang and militants were organizing an Islamic jihad movement and killing civilians and the Chinese have responded in a way they claim is correct and proper and is an internal affair of the Chinese people. The US and its supporters claim the crackdown is disproportionate. Their own responses to “militant Islam” (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, etc) seem to belie
any genuine concern for the welfare of the Uighurs let alone any belief in “human rights.” Again I stress, if the Uighurs, or any group, is being persecuted then that is wrong and should be halted. My only concern is that the evidence coming from US government propaganda and the MSM is uniformly based on speculation, innuendo, and anti-Chinese sentiments and should not be taken as gospel.

Liu Xiaoming blames reports of forced sterilisation of women on ‘anti-China elements’

THEGUARDIAN.COM

China's UK ambassador denies abuse of Uighurs despite fresh drone footage

Liu Xiaoming blames reports of forced sterilisation of women on ‘anti-China elements’

Liu Xiaoming blames reports of forced sterilisation of women on ‘anti-China elements’

World Socialist Movement Needs Unity

"The party’s successes against security forces and its redistribution of land, coupled with its fierce resistance to big mining companies, has won support among deprived and alienated sections of society." Unfortunately the Maoists have an antagonistic contradiction with our comrades in the CPI-M when it should be the case that all parties fighting under the banners of Marxism-Leninism at most should have only non-antagonistic contradictions and be able to resolve them and to cooperate in the overthrow of capitalism. Just such antagonistic contradictions in the past between the USSR and PRC destroyed the unity of the world Communist and Workers Parties and allowed US Imperialism and it allies to become, for the time being, the dominant hegemonic world power. The two Communist Parties in Nepal, originally hostile, resolved their contradictions in a comradely fashion, merged, and now rule in that country. I hope this is a lesson learned by others: unity of the revolutionary forces and their allies, not sectarian bickering and hostility, is the road to victory victory.

Steve SweeneyMonday, July 13, 2020 Indian Maoists destroy government ‘guest house’ in forest as mining operations seek to expand A Naxalite rally × This is the last article you can read this month You can read more article this month You can read more articles this month Sorry your limit is up ...

MORNINGSTARONLINE.CO.UK

Indian Maoists destroy government ‘guest house’ in forest as mining operations seek to expand

Steve SweeneyMonday, July 13, 2020 Indian Maoists destroy government ‘guest house’ in forest as mining operations seek to expand A Naxalite rally × This is the last article you can read this month You can read more article this month You can read more articles this month Sorry your limit is up ...

China, Trump, and the Covid-19 "Cover Up"

"The doctors in Munich were increasingly frustrated and confused by the World Health Organization. First, the group wrongly credited the Chinese government with alerting the German authorities to the first infection. Government officials and doctors say the auto parts company itself sounded the alarm." So, the Munich scientists were the first to alert the world of the real dangers of a mass plague and they were ignored and even reviled by the W.H.O. and the C.D.C. and most Western Health officials and thus the plague took root and became worldwide.

Meanwhile the Chinese had recognised what was going on and alerted the rest of the world to what, if the Munich team had been listened to, could have been an early response saving millions of lives. The Chinese made public their findings after, like everyone else, they wanted to be scientifically sure about what was going on with this new and unknown disease.

Trump and the other phoney politicians are blaming China for the plagues spread when they themselves ignored the findings of the German scientists who had first made this discovery and still ignore the C.D.C. and W.H.O. who have belatedly recognized their errors. The West finally, after the Chinese blew the whistle independently, awoke to the truth of the Munich teams findings.

Trump blames the Chinese for a "cover up" when he and his followers still cover up all the science behind preventing the spread of the disease and are literally causing thousands of deaths in this country. The pestilence of Trumpism is as bad as the plague itself and is an ally of this disease as it spreads -- he is the U.S. equivalent of Bolsonaro in Brazil and a shameful embarrassment to our country.

Symptomless transmission makes the coronavirus far harder to fight. But health officials dismissed the risk for months, pushing misleading and contradictory claims in the face of mounting evidence.

NYTIMES.COM

How the World Missed Covid-19’s Silent Spread

Symptomless transmission makes the coronavirus far harder to fight. But health officials dismissed the risk for months, pushing misleading and contradictory claims in the face of mounting evidence.

Symptomless transmission makes the coronavirus far harder to fight. But health officials dismissed the risk for months, pushing misleading and contradictory claims in the face of mounting evidence.

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Demos. the Left, and Covid-19

[The results offer a strong note of caution against the idea of “immunity certificates” for people who have recovered from the illness, the authors suggested. “These reports highlight the need to develop strong vaccines, because immunity that develops naturally during infection is suboptimal and short-lived in most people,” she said. “We cannot rely on natural infection to achieve herd immunity.”--NYT] The more we know about Covid-19 the more we know what we don't know. We ha

 ve to keep up to date on this virus because we are actively involved in the current nationwide mass popular resistance to the racist and oppressive status quo that has been imposed by both major political political parties and has qualitatively mutated with respect to the Republican leadership into open fascist policies never previously so blatantly proclaimed and adopted as measures to impose on the American public. The progressive movement has become united in the great refusal to accept this turn to fascism, open racism, and political and police repression and has taken the struggle to the most politically powerful arena available (outside of a general strike) to the people -- the streets. Historical necessity has imposed upon the movement this response despite the fact that a deadly virus is rampaging throughout the country due to the failure ,and inability, of the capitalist government to rationally fight the virus without compromising the capitalist imperative to generate profits to maintain the functions of a system based on the private accumulation of social wealth rather than its employment for the general welfare. The progressive movement, unlike the deluded followers of the fascist in chief, must take extra precautions in its use of rallies and marches, precautions ignored by the class enemy. While understanding the urgency and desire to increase progressive public activism, the leaders of progressive movements must keep themselves informed of the latest scientific knowledge concerning this Trump sponsored virus and actively discourage progressive people who are particularly susceptible to this virus, or who are more likely to have an unhappy outcome if infected, from engaging in marches, meetings, and demonstrations which are, despite all precautions, not possible to participate in without increased likelihood of exposure to infection. There many other roles these comrades in struggle can play in the anti-fascist struggle and we truly want all of us to be around to celebrate the downfall of the tyrant.

Antibodies to the virus faded quickly in asymptomatic people, scientists reported. That does not mean immunity disappears.

NYTIMES.COM

You May Have Antibodies After Coronavirus Infection. But Not for Long.

Antibodies to the virus faded quickly in asymptomatic people, scientists reported. That does not mean immunity disappears.

Why General Milley Apologizes for Role in Trump Photo Op

During his speech on Thursday, General Milley, after expressing his disgust over the video of the killing of Mr. Floyd, spoke at length about the issue of race, both in the military and in civilian society. “The protests that have ensued not only speak to his killing, but also to the centuries of injustice toward African-Americans. What we are seeing is the long shadow of our original sin in Jamestown 401 years ago, liberated by the Civil War, but not equal in the eyes of the law until 100 years later in 1965.”

Such a statement from the head of the greatest imperialist military force in history needs to be seen in context. It shows that Trump's incompetence and idiocy has alienated the armed forces and exposed, to even the most thick headed of his supporters, his absolute unfitness to be president. It also shows the anti-racist and progressive demands of the the current people's movement for fundamental changes to abolish institutional racism has registered in the consciousness of the highest levels of the ruling class.

This ruling class controls a vast imperialist economic empire that bestrides the globe and extracts the wealth of the planet from sucking out the financial and natural resources of lesser developed countries in the global south and in dominating the economies of the most economically advanced capitalist regimes with whom it is allied.

It faces three challenges to its world domination: 1) growing resistance of Third World peoples who still pose a threat of revolutionary resistance; 2) the rising power of socialist China posing an alternative model to the capitalist domination of the world's economy; 3) the mishandling of its relations with semi-democratic capitalist Russia which has pushed that country to ally with China and give support to progressive Third World opposition to the US - thus unintentionally reviving progressive aspects of the former foreign policies of the Soviet Union.

US foreign policy is basically founded on the threat of military intervention in the last analysis if other methods to impose its will fail, and maintaining the expenses of the military industrial complex, which drains the wealth of the country away from social programs benefiting the American people, can only be sustained as long as the American people are unaware of the US role in the world and basically accept through their passivity, in one way or another, the status quo imposed by the ruling class. 

Trump is upsetting this status quo and the military's future is dependent on its being seen by the people as being able to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, and provide for the common defence. It's real use is to be a tool of imperialism for the conquest and domination of foreign peoples and to hide this is the real objective meaning of General Milley's speech, whatever sincere subjective feelings he may or may not entertain. No justice, no peace, no status quo, no imperialist interventions or wars.

President Trump’s walk across Lafayette Square, current and former military leaders say, has started a moment of reckoning in the military.

About this website

NYTIMES.COM

Milley Apologizes for Role in Trump Photo Op: ‘I Should Not Have Been There’

President Trump’s walk across Lafayette Square, current and former military leaders say, has started a moment of reckoning in the military.

President Trump’s walk across Lafayette Square, current and former military leaders say, has started a moment of reckoning in the military.

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Trumpolian III Panics and Calls Out the Troops

"Tens of thousands of rifle and pistol rounds were stored in the D.C. Armory and partitioned in pallets, labeled by their state of origin, to be used on American citizens in case of emergency." The troops are not quite ready yet to shoot down their fellow citizens and their officers are not ready to find out if they would or not. There seems to be a contradiction between the high command and the president on what the function of the US military is re the constitutional right of the American people to peacefully protest. Trump's panic, and the Republican governors rush to respond with their National Guards to please him, shows how far along the road to fascism the conservative movement has moved under ''the Donald." The NYT's article wants to reassure us that the military isn't ready to shoot down American citizens in the streets, but as the sentence quoted above clearly shows, they have prepared themselves to be able to do so. The greatest existential threat to the American people isn't North Korea, Russia, China, or even covid-19, it's the disease in the White House, Trump-45 (AKA Confederate President-2) and the racist policies enshrined in our history which he supports and the people today are rising up to fight and overthrow.

Some members of the D.C. Guard — comprising more than 60 percent people of color — have not told family they were part of the crackdown. Guard leadership, concerned about public opposition, even warned against buying food from vendorsof the American people to peacefully protest. Trump's panic, and the Republican governors rush to respond with their National Guards to please him, shows how far along the road to fascism the conservative movement has moved under ''the Donald." The NYT's article wants to reassure us that the military isn't ready to shoot down American citizens in the streets, but as the sentence quoted above clearly shows, they have prepared themselves to be able to do so. The greatest existential threat to the American people isn't North Korea, Russia, China, or even covid-19, it's the disease in the White House, Trump-45 (AKA Confederate President-2) and the racist policies enshrined in our history which he supports and the people today are rising up to fight and overthrow.

Some members of the D.C. Guard — comprising more than 60 percent people of color — have not told family they were part of the crackdown. Guard leadership, concerned about public opposition, even warned against buying food from vendors.

About this website

NYTIMES.COM

Aggressive Tactics by National Guard, Ordered to Appease Trump, Wounded the Military, Too

Some members of the D.C. Guard — comprising more than 60 percent people of color — have not told family they were part of the crackdown. Guard leadership, concerned about public opposition, even warned against buying food from vendors.

People's Uprising Against Police Fascism

The ruling class has funded this national police culture of violence and racism and now the people must reclaim the streets from the fascist thugs who have taken over police departments through the nation. The police must be defunded, demilitarized, and where necessary demobilized and the neo-fascist political machine run by Trump and the Republican Party along with his Democratic allies driven from office. The future of democracy in this country depends on this growing natio

 nal people's movement to abolish the current fascist and racist policing system and replace it by community policing under the control of local neighborhoods and communities and not controlled by politicians beholden to the imperialist monopoly capitalist ruling class 1% which controls the financial and industrial resources of the USA. The news story below reveals the extent to which the fascist political virus has corrupted our society and the police. This is a do or die moment for democracy.

A peaceful protest movement confronts a lawless police culture.

THEINTERCEPT.COM

Police Attacks on Protesters Are Rooted in a Violent Ideology of Reactionary Grievance

A peaceful protest movement confronts a lawless police culture.

A peaceful protest movement confronts a lawless police culture.