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Free Trade is Plutocratic Propaganda
Free Trade is Plutocratic Propaganda
With the looming Trans-Pacific Partnership dominating the headlines, now is a good time to revisit an old scam called “free trade.”
In 2003, Kevin Flanagan was an information technology employee at Bank of America. They told him he was being replaced with foreign labor, and he was ordered to train his replacement. After he completed his assignment, he was laid off. Then he went to the parking lot and shot himself.
That’s “free trade.”
Like The Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984, sometimes, the most effective way to lie is to use the most innocent words. No word is more susceptible to propaganda-leveraging than “freedom.” Attach that word to any concept, and all of a sudden, it’s unassailable. That’s exactly what happened with “free trade.”
Proponents of free trade will often use the simplest analogies to convey their point, as if you were retarded. The reason they have to resort to such caveman illustrations is because free trade does not exist in the real world. There is no such thing as equality of bargaining power. If someone has ten million dollars and you have zero dollars, anything above zero is an “improvement” in your situation. The free trade economists will say this person with zero dollars is “free” to work for $1 per hour, and they will do so because it improves their situation. This is what “freedom” means to free trade economists.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Economics Of Tesla’s PowerWall Don’t Make Sense For Most Customers In North America
The Economics Of Tesla’s PowerWall Don’t Make Sense For Most Customers In North America
With the euphoria over Tesla’s electric car fading fast, especially now that competitors are releasing both more exciting (and more expensive for the vain set) cars such as BMW’s i8, Elon Musk has found himself in a pickle: how to distract attention from his epic cash burn…
… propping up an auto maker that suddenly appears far less of a growth story than a year ago, while preserving the upward trajectory of TSLA stock price?
The answer: the PowerWall pivot which is the latest attention-grabbing fad provided by Tesla in its constant attempt to define itself not so much as a company (it is a car company? is it a battery company? is it a taxpayer-funded hyperloop company?) but as a growth story.
And while on the shiny surface, Musk once again did a great spin job of presenting the PowerWall as the next big thing in energy conservation and self-sustainability, the gloss promptly fades when one looks at the math behind the shiny facade.
Luckily, Catalytic Engineering has done just that, and has presented its Top Ten facts about Tesla’s $350/kWh battery. Its conclusion: the “economics don’t make sense for most customers in North America” and that “by itself, the Tesla PowerWall residential unit won’t disrupt the energy industry, as it’s looking like a niche product.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Economic Disinformation Keeps Financial Markets Up
Economic Disinformation Keeps Financial Markets Up
Today’s payroll jobs report is more of the same. The Bureau of Labor Statistics claims that 223,000 new jobs were created in April. Let’s accept the claim and see where the jobs are.
Specialty trade contractors are credited with 41,000 jobs equally split between residential and nonresidential. I believe these are home and building repairs and remodeling.
The rest of the jobs, 182,000, are in domestic services.
Despite store closings and weak retail sales, 12,000 people were hired in retail trade.
Despite negative first quarter GDP growth, 62,000 people were hired in professional and business services, 67% of which are in administrative and waste services.
Health care and social assistance accounted for 55,600 jobs of which ambulatory health care services, hospitals, and social assistance accounted for 85% of the jobs.
Waitresses and bartenders account for 26,000 jobs, and government employed 10,000 new workers.
There are no jobs in manufacturing.
Mining, timber, oil and gas extraction lost jobs.
Temporary help services (16,100 jobs) offered 3.7 times more jobs than law, accounting architecture, and engineering combined (4,500 jobs).
As I have pointed out for a number of years, according to the payroll jobs reports, the complexion of the US labor force is that of a Third World country. Most of the jobs created are lowly paid domestic services.
The well paying high productivity, high value-added jobs have been offshored and given to foreigners who work for less. This fact, more than the reduction in marginal income tax rates, is the reason for the rising inequality in the distribution of income and wealth.
Offshoring middle class jobs raises corporate profits and, thereby, the incomes of corporate owners (shareholders) and executives. But it reduces the incomes of the majority of the population who are forced into either lowly paid and part time jobs or unemployment.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
When The Elites Wage War On America, This Is How They Will Do It
When The Elites Wage War On America, This Is How They Will Do It
The recent exposure of the nationwide Jade Helm 15 exercise has made many people suspicious, and with good reason. Federal crisis exercises have a strange historical tendency to suddenly coincide with very real crisis events. We may know very little about Jade Helm beyond government admissions, claims and misdirections. But at the very least, we know what “JADE” is an acronym for: Joint Assistance for Deployment and Execution, a program designed to create action and deployment plans using computer models meant to speed up reaction times for military planners during a “crisis scenario.” It is linked with another program called ACOA (Adaptive Course of Action), the basis of which is essentially the use of past mission successes and computer models to plan future missions. Both are products of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Where Porter is On and Off in Explaining US Media Bias on Saudi Aggression against Yemen
Where Porter is On and Off in Explaining US Media Bias on Saudi Aggression against Yemen
In an important new article, award-winning journalist Gareth Porter notes that US and Western media are using the term “proxy war” as “a way of softening the harsh reality of Saudi aggression” against Yemen.
A proxy war by definition, Porter explains, uses third parties. Therefore, it is [mind-numbingly] “obvious that the Saudi bombing in Yemen, which has killed mostly civilians … is no proxy war but a straightforward external military aggression.”
Since Iran, billed by the US government and media as the other side in the so-called “proxy” war, has (unlike Saudi Arabia) not attacked Yemen, it would theoretically be possible that Iran was engaged in proxy war, while the Saudis are engaged in a naked, illegal attack.
However, Porter notes, while Iran does have minor ties with the Houthis, the nature of the Houthis’ current campaign in Yemen is the precise opposite of an Iranian proxy campaign: the Houthis directly disobeyed Iran’s advice, which said not to take control of the Yemeni capital.
Further, US spy agencies themselves told Huffington Post unequivocally that “Iran does not exert command and control over the Houthis in Yemen”, and “It is wrong to think of the Houthis as a proxy force for Iran”.
But, since the US is massively supplying the Saudis with lethal weapons (Obama sent them thousands ofbanned cluster bombs and the biggest shipment of lethal weaponry in US history), coordinating the bombings, and refueling and rescuing Saudi bombers (while refusing to rescue US citizens trapped in Yemen, though 8 other countries including India, China, and Russia are rescuing their own and foreign nationals), there is what in the real world would be an undeniable argument that the US is using Saudi Arabia as a proxy to wage war of aggression against Yemen.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Watching Shadows of Liberty
Watching Shadows of Liberty
A powerful new film on what’s wrong with the U.S. media is now being screened around the country. It’s called Shadows of Liberty and you can set up a screening of it as part of an upcoming international week of actions for whistleblowers called Stand Up For Truth. Or you can buy the DVD or catch it on Link TV. (Here in Charlottesville I’ll be speaking at the event, May 19, 7 p.m. at The Bridge.)
Judith Miller is on a rehabilitative book tour; the Washington Post recently reported that a victim of Baltimore police murder broke his own spine; and recently leaked emails from the State Department asked Sony to entertain us into proper war support. The proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner was just blocked, for now, but the existence of those mega-monopolies in their current form is at the root of the problem, according to Shadows of Liberty.
Allowing for-profit companies to decide what we learn about the world and our government, allowing those companies to consolidate into a tiny cartel controlling the formerly public airwaves, allowing them to be owned by much larger companies that rely on the government for weapons contracts, and allowing them to determine politicians’ access to the public and to bribe politicians with “campaign contributions” — this, in the analysis of Shadows of Liberty, this subservience of public space to private profit is what creates news that misinforms, that takes no interest in the poor, that propagandizes for wars, and that shuts out any journalist who steps out of line.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Online partisan trolls a new fact of elections, international politics
Some foreign governments are paying trollers to provide internet propaganda. Are political parties?
It was the kind of story that was almost guaranteed to bring out the internet trolls.
On April 15, Margaret Trudeau, wife of the late prime minister and mother of the current Liberal leader, was interviewed by CBC Radio’sOttawa Morning. She was promoting her new memoir, The Time of Your Life, but she also took the opportunity to opine on the current state of federal politics in the run-up to the coming election.
“I’m not looking forward to the attack ads,” she told host Robyn Bresnahan. “I think it’s straight out bullying, and I’m ashamed of Canadians for doing this.”
Although she didn’t mention the Conservatives by name, it was clear she was referring to the negative ads targeting her son that the governing party has been running ever since Justin Trudeau became Liberal leader.
And when his mother’s opinions appeared online in an article published on cbc.ca, readers were ready to rumble. Within 24 hours, the story had attracted 2,698 comments.
The number of comments is not surprising considering that the people involved — Margaret and Justin Trudeau, and the current prime minister, Stephen Harper — are all polarizing figures who attract very loyal and vocal supporters, and detractors.
Nor was the nasty and combative tone of the comments surprising, because that’s what we have come to expect from the partisans who troll the web looking to pounce at every opportunity.
“Will Mommy be participating in the debates to make sure those big meanies don’t say anything bad to Wonderboy?” asked LarryRight, in one of his several comments about the article.
“Economy is in the toilet. Senators on trial. Deficit after deficit. But yup Justin is the problem lol,” responded Skippy, who then went on to observe, “it’s unfortunate that paid Conservative Posters are so nasty.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
COWARDLY FIRING OF AUSTRALIAN STATE-FUNDED TV JOURNALIST HIGHLIGHTS THE WEST’S REAL RELIGION
COWARDLY FIRING OF AUSTRALIAN STATE-FUNDED TV JOURNALIST HIGHLIGHTS THE WEST’S REAL RELIGION
A TV sports commentator in Australia, Scott McIntyre, was summarily fired on Sunday by his public broadcasting employer, Special Broadcasting Services (SBS), due to a series of tweets he posted about the violence committed historically by the Australian military. McIntyre published his tweets on “Anzac Day,” a national holiday — similar to Memorial Day in the U.S. — which the Australian government hails as “one of Australia’s most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.”
Rather than dutifully waving the flag and singing mindless paeans to The Troops and The Glories of War, McIntyre took the opportunity on Anzac Day to do what a journalist should do: present uncomfortable facts, question orthodoxies, highlight oft-suppressed views:
The cultification of an imperialist invasion of a foreign nation that Australia had no quarrel with is against all ideals of modern society.
Wonder if the poorly-read, largely white, nationalist drinkers and gamblers pause today to consider the horror that all mankind suffered.
Remembering the summary execution, widespread rape and theft committed by these ‘brave’ Anzacs in Egypt, Palestine and Japan.
Not forgetting that the largest single-day terrorist attacks in history were committed by this nation & their allies in Hiroshima & Nagasaki
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Four Things We May Never Know About the Vancouver Fuel Spill
Four Things We May Never Know About the Vancouver Fuel Spill
Total volume, how the Kits coast guard would respond, and two more big
Late Saturday afternoon, Transport Canada officially clearedthe MV Marathassa to leave Canadian waters, weeks after the ship spilled an undetermined amount of fuel into Burrard Inlet.
As it exits the Salish Sea, the bulk carrier leaves angry mayors, a combative coast guard, a distrustful public and many, many questions in its wake. Here are four things we don’t know — and may never know — about what happened in English Bay.
1. What is the total spill volume?
In his first press conference after the spill, Cmdr. Roger Girouard of the Canadian Coast Guard stated the volume of the spill was 2,700 litres. He reiterated this point during subsequent media appearances, and Industry Minister James Moore echoed his comments.
Vancouver city manager Penny Ballem disputes the claim. In a recent presentation to Vancouver’s city council, she pegged the real volume somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 litres.
Then there’s the amount recovered. The day after the spill, Cmdr. Girouard reported cleanup crews had recovered about 1,400 litres of fuel. A few days later, Coast Guard Commissioner Jody Thomas said cleanup crews recovered 80 per cent of fuel spilled within 36 hours.
According to the president of a B.C. oil spill prevention and response planning firm, recovering between 10 and 15 per cent of conventional oil spilled in seawater is a “best case” scenario. Bunker C fuel — the product spilled in English Bay — is not conventional: it is denser, more viscous and heavier than conventional crude. Unlike conventional oil, bunker C fuel is not certain to floatnor does it weather and dissolve as easily.
On average only five to 10 per cent of the bunker C fuel will evaporate within 24 hours. Instead it breaks into tarballs and settles lower in the water column — sometimes as far as one to three metres below the surface.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
16 Signs That The Economy Has Stalled Out And The Next Economic Downturn Is Here
16 Signs That The Economy Has Stalled Out And The Next Economic Downturn Is Here
If U.S. economic growth falls any lower, we are officially going to be in recession territory. On Wednesday, we learned that U.S. GDP grew at a 0.2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2015. That was much lower than all of the “experts” were projecting. And of course there are all sorts of questions whether the GDP numbers the government feeds us are legitimate anyway. According to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if honest numbers were used they would show that U.S. GDP growth has been continuously negative since 2005. But even if we consider the number that the government has given us to be the “real” number, it still shows that the U.S. economy has stalled out. It is almost as if we have hit a “turning point”, and there are many out there (including myself) that believe that the next major economic downturn is dead ahead. As you will see in this article, a whole bunch of things are happening right now that we would expect to see if a recession was beginning. The following are 16 signs that the economy has stalled out and the next economic downturn is here…
#1 We just learned that U.S. GDP grew at an anemic 0.2 percent annual rate during the first quarter of 2015…
The gross domestic product grew between January and March at an annualized rate of 0.2 percent, the U.S. Commerce Department said, adding to the picture of an economy braking sharply after accelerating for much of last year. The pace fell well shy of the 1 percent mark anticipated by analysts and marked the weakest quarter in a year.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Truth Has Been Murdered
Truth Has Been Murdered
The Obama regime and its neocon monsters and European vassals have resurrected a Nazi government and located it in Ukraine. Read this statement by Elena Bondarenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament: http://slavyangrad.org/2015/04/18/statement-by-elena-bondarenko-peoples-deputy-of-verkhovna-rada-of-ukraine/
The Western media has created a fictional account of events in Ukraine. The coup organized by the Obama regime that overthrew the elected democratic government in Ukraine is never mentioned. The militias decked out in Nazi symbols are ignored. These militias are the principle source of the violence that has been inflicted on the Russian populations, resulting in the formation of the break-away republics. Instead of reporting this fact, the corrupt Western media delivers Washington’s propaganda that Russia has invaded and is annexing eastern and southern Ukraine. British and European politicians parrot Washington’s lies.
The Western media is complicit in many war crimes covered up with lies, but the false story that the Western media has woven of Ukraine is the most audacious collection of lies yet. Truly, truth in the Western world has been murdered. There is no respect for truth in any Western capital.
The coup in Ukraine is Washington’s effort to thrust a dagger into Russia’s heart. The recklessness of such a criminal act has been covered up by constructing a false reality of a people’s revolution against a corrupt and oppressive government. The world should be stunned that “bringing democracy” has become Washington’s cover for resurrecting a Nazi state.
Watchdog Group Wants Audit of Taxpayer-Funded Ads
Watchdog Group Wants Audit of Taxpayer-Funded Ads
‘It’s false advertising,’ says Democracy Watch.
An independent government watchdog group has called on Canada’s auditor general to review taxpayer-funded spending on government advertising. Democracy Watch has also launched a letter-writing campaign through its website, demanding the office look at what it describes as “questionable” ad initiatives in the past.
The group’s co-founder, Duff Conacher, said the federal government is spending public money on ads that mislead or advertise for initiatives that don’t exist.
Government ads can be seen on TV, radio, billboards and the Internet and are paid for by taxpayers’ dollars. There’s currently no oversight to make sure money isn’t spent on partisan ads, though in the past, citizens have complained to Advertising Standards Canada about government ads they felt were misleading.
For example, the government’s current ad blitz will cost $13.5 million for April and May, according to a Canadian Press storyon Monday.
Those ads highlight measures in the federal budget, which was introduced last week, but hasn’t been passed by Parliament.
“The ads are being done, the measures have not been passed, they don’t exist. Therefore it’s false advertising,” Conacher said. “They may never be implemented if the budget bill does not pass before the fall election.”
Conacher wants the auditor general to do a quick audit of the current government ad campaign, which promotes its budget plans, such as tax programs for families. Democracy Watch also wants an audit of another government ad campaign from last fall that advertised tax relief measures.
After that, he said, he’s calling for a comprehensive audit of all advertising going back to 2006.
Political not informative
He said previous ads campaigns, such as one claiming the government treats military veterans well, and another that caused a scandal in 2013 advertising a training grant program that didn’t exist, were political in nature. They did not help to inform Canadians about services available to them.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
