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mother earth

mother earth's Journal
mother earth's Journal
September 28, 2015

Saving Capitalism, For the Many, Not the Few, Robert Reich



Robert Reich gives us the lowdown in a few short minutes on the issue of our time. The many are screwed because the game is rigged for the few wealthiest & it's business as usual, pretending the "free" market dictates...and why it just ain't so. Like we've heard time & time again, the game is rigged. So how do we fix that?
September 28, 2015

Austerity is Smokescreen for Class War Against Poor, Says Yanis Varoufakis

Full article:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/09/25/austerity-smokescreen-class-war-against-poor-says-yanis-varoufakis

"The problem is that austerity is being used as a narrative to conduct class war," he said, lambasting the government for cutting taxes on the wealthy while slashing spending on public services.

"To be talking about reducing the state further when effectively what you are doing is reducing taxes like inheritance tax and at the same time you are cutting benefits—that is class war," Varoufakis continued.

Varoufakis called for Britain's public institutions, from the National Health Service to higher education, to be protected from free market economics.

Ultimately, Varoufakis expressed hope that Jeremy Corbyn—the anti-war, anti-austerity candidate who was elected leader of the British Labour Party earlier this month—will turn out to be the inverse of Margaret Thatcher, who he said "reinvigorated right-wing politics."

"It would be wonderful if Jeremy could do this for the left-wing and put on a show for us outsiders," Varoufakis said.




Jeremy Corbyn Proud to Be a Socialist

Published on Sep 26, 2015

Exclusive interview for teleSUR with Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn http://multimedia.telesurtv.net/v/jer...

September 28, 2015

The Painful Facts, State-by-State: How We're Victimized by Corporate State Tax Avoidance

Corporate data from numerous sources, including annual reports directly from the companies themselves, has been merged and matched and managed into two spreadsheets that reveal state-by-state corporate tax avoidance. The results show how people all over America are being deprived of revenue that should be going to education and infrastructure.

1. Most of the State Tax Avoidance is by the Largest Companies
Before considering individual states, it will be instructive to consider the total state tax payments (and non-payments) by 45 of the nation's largest corporations. The data is derived from "current state tax" figures in the 10-K forms submitted to the SEC by the companies themselves.

These 45 corporations paid about $15 billion over two years, less than a third of their required state tax obligation of $46 billion, as calculated with the 2014 corporate state tax rates in their home states. Over $30 billion was avoided by these corporations in 2013-14, often by deferring taxes, and in some cases by using hypothetical or theoretical amounts to 'meet' their obligations.

MORE:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/09/28/painful-facts-state-state-how-were-victimized-corporate-state-tax-avoidance

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We seem to know the costs of oligarchy, where is the political will to end it?

September 28, 2015

Keiser Report (E815)

?list=PLmWmTfi02yDsZrlmb6CmY9jrMUP_FdAy_

Published on Sep 26, 2015

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the nuclear option in monetary meets fiscal policy as QE for the people encouraged by more and more. They are joined by the Keiser Report’s Spanish translator, Alberto Berenguer, who live translates Keiser and gives his insight into the Spanish. In the second half, Max and Stacy interview Liam Halligan of BNE.eu about the ‘People’s Railway,’ Jeremy Corbyn’s economic policies and more.

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As always one of the best takes on current events and economics...
September 14, 2015

Keiser Report: Four Horsemen of Accounting Apocalypse (E808)



Published on Sep 10, 2015

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss conflicts of interest and hysterically funny wealth and income gaps. In the second half, Max interviews HBOS whistleblower, Paul R Moore, about the 4 horsemen of the accounting apocalypse as they turn to more consulting, thus creating a big conflict of interest with their audit functions.
September 10, 2015

Prof. Richard D. Wolff's Global Capitalism: September 2015 Monthly Update



Published on Sep 9, 2015

Global Capitalism: Monthly Economic Update

Richard D. Wolff

Wednesday, September 9, 2015 at 7:30pm

Market Chaos and Capitalism’s Instability

Judson Memorial Church
Assembly Hall
239 Thompson Street at Washington Square, Manhattan

Co-sponsored by Democracy at Work, Left Forum, and Judson Memorial Church

These programs begin with 30 minutes of short updates on important economic events of the last month. Then Wolff analyzes several major economic issues. For this September 9, these will include:

1. China’s Economy and its Global Impacts
2. US Stock Market Instability: causes and consequences
3. Why workers’ pensions are under attack now in the US and how best to respond
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Bio: Richard D. Wolff is a Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and currently a Visiting Professor of the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School University in New York. He is the author of many books, including Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism, and Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA.
Wolff hosts the weekly hour-long radio program Economic Update on WBAI, 99.5 FM, New York City (Pacifica Radio).
More: http://rdwolff.com/content/about
http://www.rdwolff.com
For more info or donations: http://www.democracyatwork.info/
Note: Used by permission of Prof. R.D. Wolff (with much appreciation & thanks to him, donations to DAW are tax deductible).


September 8, 2015

European countries must support the United Nations’ proposals for sovereign debt restructuring!

Posted on September 8, 2015 by yanisv

European countries must support the United Nations’ proposals for sovereign debt restructuring! – Open letter to the UN by 19 economists

On September 10, the United Nations General Assembly will vote on nine principles concerning the restructuring of sovereign debts. Abiding by such principles would have avoided the pitfalls of the Greek crisis, in which political representatives gave in to creditor demands despite their lack of economic sense and their disastrous social impact. This public interest resolution must be supported by all European states and brought into the public debate.

The Greek crisis has made clear that individual states acting alone cannot negotiate reasonable conditions for the restructuring of their debt within the current political framework, even though these debts are often unsustainable over the long term. Throughout its negotiations with creditor institutions, Greece faced a stubborn refusal to consider any debt restructuring, even though this refusal stood in contradiction to the IMF’s own recommendations.

At the UN in New York exactly one year ago, Argentina, with the support of the 134 countries of the G77, proposed creating a committee aimed at establishing an international legal framework for the restructuring of sovereign debts. This committee, backed up by experts of the UNCTAD, today submits to vote nine principles that should be respected when restructuring sovereign debt: sovereignty, good faith, transparency, impartiality, equitable treatment, sovereign immunity, legitimacy, sustainability and majority restructuring.

In recent decades, a debt market has emerged that states are constrained to submit to.

Argentina, standing at the forefront of these efforts, has been fending off “vulture funds” ever since it restructured its debt. These funds recently succeeded in freezing Argentina’s assets in the United States through the intervention of the American courts.

Yesterday Argentina, today Greece, and tomorrow perhaps France as well: any indebted country can be blocked from restructuring its debt in spite of all common sense. Establishing a legal framework for debt restructuring, allowing each state to solve its debt problems without risking financial collapse or the loss of its sovereignty, is a matter of great urgency in promoting financial stability.


MORE:

http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/09/08/european-countries-must-support-the-united-nations-proposals-for-sovereign-debt-restructuring-open-letter-to-the-un-by-19-economists/#more-10225

LIST OF SIGNATORIES

Piketty Thomas Paris School of Economics
Varoufakis Yanis Former Greek Minister of Finance
Galbraith James University of Texas Austin
Flassbeck Heiner Former Chief Economist of UNCTAD
Guzman Martin Columbia University
Généreux Jacques Sciences Po
Keen Steve Kingston University
Colletis Gabriel Toulouse 1 University
Husson Michel IRES
Lemoine Benjamin Paris-Dauphine University
Mazzucato Mariana University of Sussex
Salais Robert IDHE, Marc Bloch
Théret Bruno Paris-Dauphine University
Timbeau Xavier Principal Director at the OFCE
Zezza Gennaro Levy Economics Institute
Dosi Giovanni Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
Stockhammer Engelbert Kingston University
Onaran Ozlem University of Greenwich
Vatin François Paris Ouest Naterre University

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Quite a list of signatories, indeed. Greek public debt is illegal, illegitimate, and odious and this is an unprecedented call for a solution by some great minds. God speed! The letter is a short read and a must read, imho.
September 3, 2015

Don't Forget the Bernie Sanders Money Bomb on His Birthday, Sept. 8th!

http://berniemoneybomb.com/

http://observer.com/2015/08/the-great-bernie-sanders-birthday-moneybomb-is-coming/

[
THE GREAT BERNIE SANDERS MONEYBOMB IS COMING, September 8 is Bernie's birthday and the power of small donors will meet the revolution of social media

While the front pages of The New York Times and the evening broadcasts of the television news are bannering stories of candidates from Hillary Clinton to Jeb Bush raising big dough from big donors and reaping the benefits of giant Super PACs, the legions of grassroots supporters of Bernie Sanders are quietly marching across the playing fields of social media and planning a small donor moneybomb extravaganza to celebrate the birthday of their champion on September 8.

Stay tuned: the Sanders moneybomb will be a big deal that will fuel organizing for other big deals that have already begun from even larger crowds at big rallies and mass organizing for Democratic caucuses.

The concept of the small donor moneybomb was pioneered in earlier campaigns by former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul, who like Mr. Sanders was a candidate of conviction and ideas, with a large and devoted following and savvy grassroots activists who believed in the revolutionary potential of social media.

Ron Paul’s moneybombs were brilliantly successful for his campaigns and the Sanders campaign began to pick up the moneybomb torch earlier in the campaign. The September 8 Sanders moneybomb event could well become a seminal moment in presidential politics by bringing together a political cause, an individual candidate, a progressive movement that is in a historical moment of ascendancy, and a social media revolution that has already generated exponentially larger crowds than other candidates and will promote surging turnout at presidential caucuses that will confound insiders.

Read more at: http://tr.im/wQ2OP

September 3, 2015

URGENT: Petition: Provide Bernie Sanders Secret Service protection immediately

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/provide-bernie-sanders-secret-service-protection-immediately-leading-democratic-presidential-candidate-and-senator

We petition the obama administration to:

Provide Bernie Sanders Secret Service protection immediately as a leading Democratic presidential candidate and Senator.


Bernie Sanders is a sitting U. S. Senator and a leading candidate in the presidential campaign of 2016. Recent disturbances at Bernie Sanders campaign events have shown his vulnerability with regard to potentially violent confrontations with disturbed people. In 2007, at a similar stage in that campaign, Barack Obama was given Secret Service protection by George W. Bush for exactly this reason, and he had not even experienced such disturbances yet, nor was Obama attracting crowds of over 25,000 regularly, as Senator Sanders is. This situation must not be allowed to continue a moment longer. Bernie Sanders must have immediate Secret Service protection, just as the other leading candidate does.

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I am especially concerned since Bernie has taken unprecedented brave stances on issues. Please add your name to the petition if you feel the same. In case you are unaware of his stance on the IMF, let it be known, NO candidate has ever spoken truth to power like Bernie has. There is no equal to Bernie Sanders in this race, IMHO.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/bernie-sanders-will-end-the-imfs-economic-violence-in-greece-and-africa_b_7723284.html

We should recognize and publicize the fact that Bernie Sanders is the only presidential candidate who is talking about what the IMF is doing to Greece, the only presidential candidate who has a track record of opposing the IMF, the only presidential candidate who, if elected, is likely to do anything to end the economic violence of the IMF.


When more Democrats own the fact that the IMF agenda is the NAFTA-WTO-TPP agenda with a European internationalist smiley face mask pasted on, the IMF will be on a fast train to the dustbin of history. And this is not necessarily a remote prospect - the fact that this is the fundamental identity of the IMF is well known among labor activists, for example.

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