Democratic Debates 2.0

US Person wishes to comment on last night's Second Democratic Debate: 

• The theme of last night's debate was piling on the progressive wing of the party represented by Sanders and Warren.  They successfully defended their progressive proposals from attacks by lesser, centrist candidates.  At one point, Senator Warren pointedly asked one critic, why he bothered running for President if all he was going to do was tell people why we cannot have a progressive policy agenda;
• Bernie has to do a better job of explaining why it is necessary to do away with private health issuers.  Warren was better on this point. The answer is basically because America has tried the corporate for profit system and it is broken.  Keeping it will not solve the fundamental problems with health care as a profitable commodity.  The paradigm must shift to health care as a social good to which every citizen is entitled.  If union members have good insurance, Medicare for All will be better because it is comprehensive, universal, provides more choice, and is less expensive overall;
• Yes, Senator Sanders "wrote the damn bill", but how will he pay for it?  Discussion in the next rounds needs to be focused on fiscal issues.  Warren's proposed wealth tax may be problematic, but there are less problematic ways of raising more revenue to pay for universal health care, student loan forgiveness, free public college education, etc.  Doing away with the preferential capital gains tax that benefits mostly the rich is a good idea.  Removing the income cap on FICA taxes is a direct way to secure the social security system against future insolvency.  Sanders' idea for a transaction tax on financial speculation is a good one, but there should also be a luxury excise tax--easier to enforce than a wealth tax--on consumption items such as multiple homes, yachts, airplanes, collectible cars, art, and jewels.  Raising the top income tax brackets and reconstituting the estate tax are also possibilities.  And it goes without saying, reduce the enormous war machine budget by at least 20%.
• Ms Williamson's emotional identification of root inequality issues in our sick society had an impact.  She emphasized the need for structural change, not half measures;
• Socialism is no longer evil, and Sanders can beat the fraud occupying the Very White House even as a self-proclaimed democratic socialist.  The fact is that capitalism has failed to generate an equitable, compassionate society.  So-called 'pragmatic' status quo candidates like Biden, Harris and their corporate backers must be blamed for that failure;
• Guns, especially military assault weapons, are the problem; 
• More emphasis needs to be made on getting big money out of elections and identifying those Democratic politicians who depend on corporate contributions.  US Person noted well the advertisement during the debate and outed by Bernie, of pharmaceutical companies "defending innovation" Translation: no social medicine is acceptable to those billion dollar profit makers, and they will use their money to insure Medicare for All never arrives;
• Several candidates said Obama wanted a public option--not true. {08/07/09} Obama did not insist on a public option, instead submitting to intense lobbying as the Senate prepared to vote on the Affordable Care Act. Former Obama healthcare advisor, Andy Slavitt had close ties to the world largest health insurer, United Health. Obamacare effectively cut off the challenge presented to profit medicine by the public option;
• Timidity is not the way to win this election.  The people who wanted the change promised by Obama did not get it.  Sanders and his grass roots movement have to deliver the goods.  To accomplish ambitious goals, a Democratic Congress sans the current filibuster rule will be necessary, but being willing to fight for policies you believe in is just as important. Sanders has been doing that since his days as a young socialist in Brooklyn.

As the field whittles down and more time becomes available to competitive candidates, US Person looks forward to more content than just sound bytes.

credit: Getty Images

India Has More Tigers

India's government estimates that there are 3,000 Bengal tigers in the wild, a 33% increase from 2014. Good news from a country whose human population continues to increase, threatening to overrun the magnificent feline.  Human conflicts are also increasing in a country that contains 1.3 billion people. India has created two dozen new tiger reserves in the last decade, but most are surrounded by villages.  Tigers are spilling out of reserves into inhabited areas looking for territory and food.  T-1 is a leading example of the problem of lack of space.  The female stalked the hills of central India for two years evading pursuers. She was blamed for 13 deaths.  Officials tried to capture her using elephants and tranquilizers last fall, but failed.  She was shot dead in November of last year despite a legal appeal to India's supreme court to spare her life.  There are only about 4000 tigers left in the wild.

Just last week, villagers near Philibit Tiger Reserve 200 miles east of New Delhi beat a tiger to death. The disturbing video of the incident outraged India; the New York Times liked it to a lynching.  The dying tiger, first speared, can be seen groaning on the ground try to block blows with its paws as humans repeatedly hit it in the face with bamboo poles. The tiger died hours later, suffering multiple wounds and broken bones. The villagers said the cat attacked several people.  Trouble started when a the 5 to 6 year old female attacked a man who entered the reserve to fish in her territory.  Villagers attempted to chase the tiger away; in the ensuing battle eight more people were injured, one of whom died latter.  A posse was quickly formed to seek revenge on the animal.  They roughed up a few rangers who arrived on scene to intervene and snatched their mobile phone when they called for backup.  The rangers were  armed only with sticks.  When senior forest officials tried to reach the scene, villagers blocked them, while the hunt proceeded.  Thirty people have been identified as involved in the killing and at least four have been arrested.

Madhya Pradesh state has the most tigers with 500, according to the survey prepared for India's National Tiger Conservation Authority.  Some parts of eastern India are still loosing tigers.  Several premier reserves have no tigers at all, according to a leading tiger conservationist, Valmik Thapar.  Mr. Thapar thinks the numbers pronounced by the government are generally correct.  Some experts think the population increase could be due to improved counting techniques.  Mr. Thaper hopes that India tiger population can return to the 1980s level of about 4,000, but there is a long way to go.  “We need to focus on doing something about these problems,” he said. “We must look after these national treasures.”  Prosecuting tiger killers, and connecting fragmented forest habitat are ways to make it clear India is serious about protecting its remaining natural treasures. [young tigers in Maharashtra state; photo credits, NYT]

Another Bailout for the Defunct Nuclear Power Industry

Ohio Repugnants, who control the state government, refused to bailout the state's troubled nuclear power industry for years.  Faced with a political boycott, First Energy, the owner of two plants on the verge of bankruptcy, asked, what to do?  Answer: why of course, flood the political field with alternative Repugnants willing to dole out subsidies to defeat key legislators opposed to help a dying industry.  The company's bankruptcy filings revealed how a bankrupt company spent $30 million during 2018-19 on lobbying campaigns in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where it owns another busted nuclear plant.

First Energy used stealth tactics to cover their tracks using fronts like Conservative Leadership Alliance and Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance.  Thank you, Citizens United.  Anyone who attempts to argue that nuclear energy is "clean" knows nothing about radioactive waste streams in this country.   company got a $1.1 billion in government subsidy for its $30 million political investment.  Another industry front, Generation Now, spent $2 million on TV adds in favor of subsidizing the industry. Of course subsidizing nuclear power is contrary to what Ohio residents want, but that is why the company paid for the legislators who passed it.  Five cash-strapped states across the country have foisted more than $15 billion in subsidies on failing nuclear power plants since 2016; if there is any more effective testimony about the ability of nuclear power to compete against natural gas and truly clean alternative, US Person does not know about it.

In Ohio, the battle between incumbent House Speaker, Ryan Smith and corporate-owned Larry Householder was fought in 18 competitive primary districts.  Household sponsored a bailout bill in the 2018 legislature that was tabled. Thanks to the infusion of dark money, Householder won 15 of the 18 contested districts.  In addition to the indirect funding, First Energy directly contributed $150,000 to Householder and aligned candidates.  His primary win put him in position to occupy the Speaker's chair, and presumably further aid his masters.  In January Householder delivered by pushing through HB6 over opposition from Repugnants and Democrats.  First Energy rewarded him with a free charter trip to Il Douche's inauguration.  When asked if dark money was responsible for Ohio throwing money at a dying industry, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown (D) said, “I mean, these things happen because these moneyed interests control the state legislature. There’s no question about it.”  An industry expert thinks that for nuclear power to be a viable solution to climate warming construction on one thousand plants worldwide would have to begin construction this year--absurd.

Compared to what happened in South Carolina, the Ohio bailout is a bargain. The cost of a failed nuke there cost $9 billion.  After the corporate restructurings were over, taxpayers got stuck with a $2.3 billion bill.  The South Carolina plant has not produced a single kilowatt of power, and is in fact little more than a hole in the ground.  What amazes US Person, who litigated against an industry that claimed its power was "too cheap to meter", is that after such a dismal performance record and wildly escalating costs over sixty years, some still believe nuclear power to be an answer to the climate crisis. NOT. Just ask the taxpayers of Ohio, South Carolina, New York, Illinois and New Jersey.

'Toontime: Broken Record

credit: Adamn Zyglis, Buffalo News
BC Idonwanna sez:  Turn up the volume!

So Mueller testified, and Congress blew the Swamp for August. Let US put the blame for the demise of democracy squarely where it belongs: unmotivated, craven politicians who put political calculus ahead of defending the Constitution.  Mueller did his job and gave the Congress an impeachment referral; in his careerist view he could do no more. On its face, the document has more than enough evidence to justify beginning an impeachment inquiry. Second guessing the eventual outcome of the process defeats its salubrious purpose.  'Fake impeachment' is not enough because nobody, let alone the courts, will take that show seriously. Take a vote in committee and be done with the psychodrama, Chairman Nadler; you have the votes. Speaker Pelosi and other spineless Demos can still defeat impeachment on the floor, if they continue to believe playing craps with the remnants of democracy is politically expedient. Are you forgetting there is a five year statute of limitations on federal crimes?

Il Douche is apparently correct when he said he could shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and get away with it. Just the other day the delusional-in-chief said he 'could do anything because Article II' and accused Mueller of "treason". This dangerous poser has no appreciation of the system of coordinate branches of government, but he does have a deep narcissistic desire to be 'prezdent' for life. His enablers in Congress are therefore equally despicable. Now, because of a anachronistic, undemocratic voting system apparently subject to more foreign hacking to come* this imposter has better than an even chance of four more years in power--only in 'Merica, land of the deranged! Talk about a cluster f***!

credit: Joe Heller
Wackydoodle sez: Pelosi & Hoyer put on a show and nobody watched!

*Earlier this month a University of Tennessee Knoxville study funded by the Defense Department found that Trump’s polling upticks during the 2016 campaign correlated with social media activity by Russian trolls and bots. According to the study, every 25,000 retweets from troll and bot accounts connected with Russia’s Internet Research Agency predicted a 1 percent bump in Trump’s polling. The study's lead researcher told NBC news that given only 75,000 votes in three swing states made the election's difference, the possibility that the Russian agitprop campaign materially affected the election cannot be ruled out.

 Duck!

Apocalypse Now

Is another Lehman Bros. moment suddenly upon us?  You may uncomfortably recall that it was the collapse of the giant Lehman Bros. investment bank that precipitated the Great Recession crisis of 2008.  Another giant bank, Deutsche Bank, the biggest in Europe, and friend of Don Veto Trumpilini is on the verge of melting down.  Plagued by money laundering accusations, The bank is attempting to reorganize; it laid off 18,000 employees on July 7th.  More ominously, the bank has a derivatives exposure of $49 trillion.  It cannot survive if clients begin removing funds.  Reports are that a billion dollars a day are being removed, destroying the bank's remaining positive capitalization.

The GAO recently released its audit of secret loans made to DB during the Great Recession. You may also remember that the great liberal, Barrack Obama, bailed out Wall Street with trillions of taxpayer dollars instead of divesting the banks "too large to fail". DB took out $354 billion in revolving loans from the Federal Reserve.  In contrast the bank's home country, Germany has only shelled out $79 billion since the crisis attempting to rescue its troubled financial institutions.  Why did the US government rescue a foreign bank?  Because Wall Street.  DB is counterparty to major US financial institutions like Goldman Sachs; if DB were to go under, it could drag down domestic victims too.  Deutsche Bank’s derivative tentacles extend into most of the major Wall Street banks. According to a 2016 report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Deutsche Bank is also heavily interconnected financially to JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America and other mega banks in Europe. The bank's share price has plummeted from $19 at the beginning of 2018 to just $8 at the end of that year.  Shareholders lost $23 billion in market capitalization.

So counterparties are looking to ditch the sinking ship.  A major reason is the bank's feeble attempt to reduce its mind-numbing high-risk derivatives exposure--it has managed only a 10% reduction since the crisis.  DB is now attempting to retreat from its previous aggressive desire to be a major player in international finance, but it is finding it extremely difficult to avoid the kind of liquidity squeeze that brought down Lehman.  DB wants to transfer $168 billion in prime brokerage accounts to the French mega bank PNB Paribas.  It is assiduously avoiding calling the transfer a liquidity infusion, but in effect that is what it is.  Spooking the market is the last thing Deutsche Bank wants.  But there is one major problem: nothing is preventing those clients who would be forcibly moved from a German banking giant to a French banking giant from redeeming their funds in the 21st century version of a bank run.

Not Very Huge Jaws

credit: M. Doosey

That favorite summertime box office fear, the shark, is not only a humongous assassin of the open ocean, but also exists in a pocket size version big enough to eat only small fish and invertebrates.  A diminutive denizen of the Gulf of Mexico is about five inches long, and researchers say it may glow in the dark!  Mollisquama mississippiensis, or the American pocket shark, was recently described for science and named after the biologically rich Mississippi Basin region it inhabits.  It was caught in 2010.  Only one other species of miniature shark, M. parini, captured from the ocean was caught in the Pacific in 1979.  Sharks are ancient species that have changed little over eons.  Their obvious diversification to inhabit various ecological niches is testament to their evolutionary success story.  Pocket sharks are extremely rare and are named so because of gland openings found behind each pectoral fin.

The new discovery, made by researchers from NOAA while searching the eastern Gulf to determine what sperm whales eat, is published in Zootaxa.  Mississippiensis has photophores, luminescent organs, covering its body.  Scientists believe this may help the fish luminescent in the darkness of the deep ocean.  Science knows very little about the much exploited Gulf of Mexico and the newly described miniature shark is an example of what more unknown unknowns still exist in its depths.

COTW: Opiods, USA

The map shows the loci of the opiod epidemic.  It is concentrated in the Applachian region, Las Vegas and northern California.  A recent government study, suppressed by the DEA but released after a lawsuit, shows that pharmaceutical companies continued to flood vulnerable communities with pills even after it was known that the powerful and highly addictive pain killers were hitting the streets.  The DEA's ARCOS database tracks the movement of every prescription pill from factory to pharmacy.  A retired DEA official says now a consultant to plaintiffs bringing suit against drug makers, "We’re seeing a lot of internal stuff that basically confirms what we already knew. It just reinforces the fact that it was all about greed, and all about money.” The industry lays the blame for abuse of their product on doctors, and the DEA which its says has the authority to ban the overuse of prescription medications.

Six companies distributed 75% of the opiods hydrocodone and oxycodone and just three companies manufactured 88% of them.  The industry shipped 76 billion pills during 2006-2012, spiking at 12.6 billion.  The industry is supposed to self-regulate, but plaintiffs claim that sales personnel were given key roles in compliance issues.  Bonuses for sales of opiods could reach six figures.  Public ire at the role of pharmaceutical companies in the epidemic has previously centered on Purdue Pharma which released it's OxyCotin brand of oxycodone in 1996.  That drug was marketed as a less addictive form of pain killer because the slow release formulation  did produce a high.  Experts trace the beginning of the epidemic to the drug's release and migration into illegal drug trafficking.  But the new data shows that the problem is industry wide and not just one company.  Purdue's sales represent only 3% of the market.  Major distributors are household names: Walgreens, CVA and Walmart.

Prescription opioid overdoses have claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people in the United States since 1996.  There is a legitimate need for powerful pain-killers, since some unfortunates suffer from chronic, severe pain and nothing else will give them relief.  The fact is these pharmaceuticals are chemically related to street heroin, and have the same addictive properties. Deaths from fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid that is being illicitly manufactured abroad and smuggled into the United States, continue to increase.

The accountability question is now being played out in the courtroom.  A federal judge in Cleveland is presiding over 2,000 cases filed by counties against drug companies for the costs of dealing with the abuse epidemic. Two test cases are set to begin this fall. The DEA issued compliance letters in 2005, 2006 warning companies to work harder to prevent their pills from reaching the black market.  The warnings went unheeded as the illicit supply continued to grow.  A few successful regulatory enforcement cases were brought, but the fines were trivial compared to the profits being made.  In one example, McKesson, a distributor, was fined a record $150 million in 2017.  That year the company's net income was $5 billion. God bless the almighty dollar.