The Democrats assumed the working class had nowhere else to go. They were wrong!
Archiv: Reichtum / Überklasse / richdom / haves / have-mores („wealth“) / overclass
Two US Citizens Are Accused of Assassinating Haiti’s President
(09.07.2021)
Solages also worked as a security guard for the Canadian Embassy in Port-Au-Prince. (…)
Despite an obvious failure in police operations, the masthead of the police force has not changed, with Charles remaining the Chief of Police, despite claims from Haitian journalists that he gave the order to allow the caravan of assassins into the President’s neighborhood. In February, the Haitian National Police began a partnership with Colombian police forces, but it is unknown if any of the mercenaries arrested participated in this arrangement.
In the two days since the attack, former Prime Minister turned interim President Joseph has consolidated power. In 2004, Joseph was a member of the group Grenn Nan Bouda (GNB) which means “balls up your ass” in Haitian Creole. GNB participated in the coup to oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide that same year.
Joseph was not elected to his position, but was appointed in April by Moïse, and served only three months as Prime Minister. After declaring himself interim President, he has been breezily accepted by the international community, including the United States.
Were Haiti’s Capitalists Behind the Assassination of President Moïse?
(07.09.2021)
Claiming to be agents with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (the DEA, which maintains a presence in Haiti to assist with counter-narcotics operations), the group gained entry to the home and killed the president.
(…)
What happened in Haiti on July 7?
KIM IVES There was a band of mercenaries with brand new Nissan Patrol vehicles. They clearly had knowledge of the layout of the presidential compound, where Moïse lived. They were clearly well-financed, well-prepared. It was a very sophisticated operation.
Who had the money to do that? And who would want to do that?
Haiti Liberté’s working hypothesis is that the mercenaries, more than likely, were hired by one or a consortium of the bourgeois families who are opposed to Moïse. Reginald Boulos is one. Dimitri Vorbe is another. There are several others who were unhappy with Moïse.
If this hypothesis is correct, their fear is of the uprising that is coming out of Haiti’s vast shantytowns, where the lumpenproletariat is organizing itself into armed gangs, which have now vowed to carry out a revolution against the bourgeoisie and “the rotten system,” as they call it in Haiti.
The 9 Richest People in Haiti (Updated 2023)
Once upon a time, Haiti was called the Jewel of the Antilles because it was the richest colony in the world. However, much of this wealth was built through slave labor, and the roots of Haiti’s French colonial past put in place a caste system of the “elites and noirs,” which grew into the socioeconomic disparity that Haiti struggles with today. The richest Haitian families hold most of the wealth, while a much larger portion of the population struggles with poverty, resulting in food insecurity, health problems, and educational deficiency.
„Demokratiefördergesetz“ – Was versteht Bundesregierung konkret unter „Verhöhnung des Staates“?
Innenministerin Nancy Faeser hatte am 13. Februar erklärt: „Diejenigen, die den Staat verhöhnen, müssen es mit einem starken Staat zu tun bekommen.“ Doch war bisher in diesem Kontext das Verhöhnen, also sich über Staat und seine Institutionen lustig machen, elementarer und nicht strafbewehrter Bestandteil der politischen und medialen Kultur der Bundesrepublik. Vor diesem Hintergrund wollten die NachDenkSeiten auf der Bundespressekonferenz wissen, was die Ministerin konkret unter „Verhöhnen des Staates“ versteht und wie sie dies jetzt verfassungskonform strafrechtlich verfolgen will.
The rich and powerful are meeting in Davos. Here’s what they’re talking about
This year, more than 60 heads of state, including Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and China’s second-in-command Li Qiang, will be in attendance. The United States is also sending Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.
Business executives include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, to name a few.
Unser Gründungsmanifest: Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht
Unser Land ist in keiner guten Verfassung. Seit Jahren wird an den Wünschen der Mehrheit vorbei regiert. Statt Leistung zu belohnen, wurde von den Fleißigen zu den oberen Zehntausend umverteilt. Statt in einen kompetenten Staat und gute öffentliche Dienste zu investieren, haben Politiker die Wünsche einflussreicher Lobbys bedient und dadurch die öffentlichen Kassen geleert. Statt Freiheit und Meinungsvielfalt zu achten, macht sich ein autoritärer Politikstil breit, der den Bürgern vorschreiben will, wie sie zu leben, zu heizen, zu denken und zu sprechen haben. Die Regierung wirkt planlos, kurzsichtig und in vielen Fragen schlicht inkompetent. Ohne einen politischen Neuanfang stehen unsere Industrie und unser Mittelstand auf dem Spiel.
Who could Newsom pick to replace Feinstein? Oprah Winfrey might make sense
There has been talk that former talk show host and current magazine and book publisher Oprah Winfrey might be of interest. Winfrey, though, would have to take more than a year away from her many lucrative enterprises if she did this.
Der Putsch in Chile als Grundlage für die „neoliberale Konterrevolution“ und die Chicago Boys
Durch die aufgezählten Maßnahmen sind bis heute die Lebenshaltungskosten in Chile fast so hoch wie in Deutschland, bei weit geringeren Löhnen. Rund die Hälfte der arbeitenden Bevölkerung Chiles verdient weniger als umgerechnet 500 Euro im Monat. Allein für den Weg zur Arbeit mit öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln, ausnahmslos in privater Hand, geben die Menschen durchschnittlich 20 Prozent ihres Einkommens aus, für Lebensmittel zwischen 30 bis 40 Prozent. Ein Großteil des monatlichen Konsums der „Mittelschicht“ beruht auf Kredit. Chile ist infolge der neoliberalen Schocktherapie der OECD-Staat mit der mit Abstand größten sozialen Ungleichheit: Ein Prozent der Bevölkerung verfügt über weit mehr als ein Drittel des Reichtums.
Notenbank-Konferenz in USA – Inflation: EZB setzt auf straffe Zinspolitik
Der Kampf gegen die hohe Inflation ist nach den Worten der Präsidentin der Europäischen Zentralbank (EZB), Christine Lagarde, noch nicht gewonnen. Das bedeute, dass die EZB so lange an einer strikten Geldpolitik festhalten müsse, bis eine mittelfristige Teuerungsrate von zwei Prozent erreicht werde, sagte Lagarde am Freitag auf der Notenbank-Konferenz in Jackson Hole in den USA.
Bank-of-England-Vize: Wohl „einige Zeit“ weiter hohe Zinsen
Die Folgen des Preisanstiegs würden wahrscheinlich nicht so schnell verschwinden, wie sie entstanden seien, sagte der Vizegouverneur der Bank of England (BoE), Ben Broadbent, laut Redetext gestern auf dem Treffen von Zentralbankern und Ökonominnen in Jackson Hole im US-Staat Wyoming.
„Vor diesem Hintergrund könnte die Geldpolitik noch einige Zeit restriktiv bleiben.“
Bank of England warns UK rates need to remain high for some time
(Sat 26-08-2023)
“It’s unlikely that these second-round effects will unwind as rapidly as they emerged,” Broadbent said at the Federal Reserve’s annual gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. “As such, monetary policy may well have to remain in restrictive territory for some time yet.”
The BOE has raised rates 14 times in a row to 5.25%, the highest level in almost 16 years, to tame inflation.
Dollar steady as Fed‘s Powell says higher rates may be needed
(August 25, 2023)
Powell, in a speech at an economic summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, said policymakers would „proceed carefully as we decide whether to tighten further,“ but also made clear that the central bank has not yet concluded that its benchmark interest rate is high enough to be sure that inflation returns to the 2% target.
How Jackson Hole Became an Economic Obsession
(Aug. 24, 2023)
The most hotly anticipated event is a speech by the Fed chair that typically takes place on Friday morning and is often used as a chance for the central bank to send a signal about policy. Jerome H. Powell, the current Fed head, has made headlines with each and every one of his Jackson Hole speeches, which has investors waiting anxiously for this year’s. It is the only part of the closed-door conference that is broadcast to the public.
Ergebnisse der Vorwahlen in Argentinien erzeugen ein politisches Beben
Milei ist gegen Abtreibung und negiert den Klimawandel, er ist für „freie Liebe“ und freien Waffenbesitz, für gleichgeschlechtliche Ehe, freie Geschlechtswahl und die Legalisierung von Drogen. Er sei katholisch, aber bereit für den Übertritt zum Judentum; Papst Franziskus verkörpere den Kommunismus. „Leben, Freiheit und Eigentum“ sind laut Medienberichten die Leitlinien seines Denkens. Milei zeigt gerne seine Affinität mit Ultrarechten des Kontinents, außerhalb Lateinamerikas hat er sich vor allem der spanischen Partei VOX genähert, die zu den ersten Gratulanten gehörten.
Für den Fall seines Wahlsiegs im Oktober hat er einen „Plan Motorsäge“ angekündigt, der Einschnitte bei staatlichen Institutionen in Höhe von 15 Prozent des Bruttoinlandsprodukts vorsieht. Rund ein Dutzend Ministerien sollen aufgelöst werden, nur die Ressorts für Verteidigung, Justiz, Wirtschaft, Außenbeziehungen, Infrastruktur und Inneres sowie ein neues Ministerium für „Menschliches Kapital“, das die bisherigen Ressorts für Arbeit, Bildung, Gesundheit und Soziales vereinigen soll, würden bestehen bleiben.
It’s the inequality, stupid
(June 15, 2023)
Economic inequality has exploded in the US since Bill Clinton took office. (It started to tick up after Clinton’s predecessor Ronald Reagan came on the scene, but Clinton’s tenure witnessed a continuation of this trend.) Today, there are 735 billionaires in the US, three of whom – Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, and Jeff Bezos – hold wealth more than 1 million times (!) the median American household wealth. Meanwhile, nearly 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, 1/3 of workers make less than $15 an hour, and roughly 38 million Americans live below the poverty line.
Millionaires Are Begging Governments to Tax Them More
(Jun 23, 2023)
On both sides of the Atlantic, the Patriotic Millionaires are notable for being unusually public and unusually frank—US chair Morris Pearl, a former MD at investment firm BlackRock, has described how the Covid-19 pandemic made him personally wealthier, and how he doesn’t check his bank balance because he doesn’t need to. (…)
The richest 1 percent of Brits hold more wealth than the poorest 70 percent combined. “I see it as a problem if you’ve got so much money that you no longer need a functioning society,” she says.
To Foreign Policy Veteran, the Real Danger Is at Home
Mr. Haass recently published a book called “The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens,” outlining ways Americans can help heal their own society, like “Be Informed,” “Remain Civil,” “Put Country First” — all admittedly bromides and yet somehow often elusive these days. (…)
Putting his foreign policy hat aside for now, he said he wants to expand the message from his book and help refocus the country on the core values embodied in the Declaration of Independence as the 250th anniversary of the document approaches three years from now.
Die derzeitigen Parteien sind ein Haufen Fliegen, der Schiss vor der Klatsche hat
(4. Juni 2018)
Der Herr hat seinen Fliegen sein “Europa” versprochen, wo sie Wahlen, Demokratie und den Willen der Menschen nicht mehr fürchten und ebenso umständlich wie geschätzig aussitzen müssen, sondern sich gleich auf den geplagten Leibern der dann in alle Ewigkeit festgeschnallten Menschen gemütlich machen können.
Was hilft da besser als ein neuer umgekehrter Fliegenfänger, ein weiterer Fänger der Fliegen, an dem statt den Fliegen wieder die Wähler.innen kleben bleiben und sich ein paar Dekaden später wieder mit großen roten Augen fragen, “ja was machen die denn mit uns? Ja was hat mir denn die Großmutter erzählt?”
Zum Teufel mit eurem “Europa”, ihr Blutsauger! Und zum Teufel mit eurer “politischen Klasse”! Der wird am Ende nur das bleiben, was wir gegen sie verteidigt haben. Und Geschichten von der “guten alten Zeit” mit noch einem Weltkrieg und noch mehr Kapitalismus.
Bank of England raises UK interest rates to 4.5%
(11 May 2023)
The Bank of England has raised interest rates by a quarter of a point to 4.5% as it forecast inflation would stay higher for longer than previously expected and the economy would perform more strongly.
Who Are the Newly Revealed Jeffrey Epstein Associates?
(04.05.2023)
A multiple-part report from The Wall Street Journal has revealed a number of additional prominent people who were associates of Jeffrey Epstein’s. Their ties to the notorious sex trafficker and longtime high-society hobnobber were not previously known, having not appeared in Epstein’s infamous black book or in the public flight logs of passengers who traveled aboard his private jet before his jailhouse death in 2019 while awaiting trial.
The new reports also deepen public understanding of the ties between Epstein and some boldfaced names who he had previously been associated with. And they underscored just how frequently Epstein met with his high-flying pals.
Bill Gates, Leon Black, Thomas Pritzker: One Day in the Life of Jeffrey Epstein
(May 4, 2023)
On Monday, Sept. 8, 2014, Jeffrey Epstein had a full calendar. He was scheduled to meet that day with Bill Gates, Thomas Pritzker, Leon Black and Mortimer Zuckerman, four of the richest men in the country, according to schedules and emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Epstein also planned meetings that day with a former top White House lawyer, a college president and a philanthropic adviser, three of the dozens of meetings the Journal reported he had with each of them.
Signature execs sold $100 million in stock in three years pre-bailout
(April 4, 2023)
The insider sales went largely unnoticed because Signature Bank, unlike most other S&P 500 companies, filed documents with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation instead of the Securities and Exchange Commission. (…)
The bank collapsed and was taken over by federal regulators last month, in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse.
The Silicon Valley Bank Bailout: The Purpose of Government Is to Make the Rich Richer
(April 2, 2023)
The idea that conservatives like the market and not the government is unadulterated crap. It is a myth that they use to conceal the ways they have rigged the market to make income flow upward. Unfortunately, virtually the entire left has agreed to go along with this absurd myth. Moments like the bailout of the rich depositors at SVB make the truth about conservatives and the market apparent to all. (And yes, this is the point of Rigged [it’s free].)
Who’s Behind the Judicial Overhaul Now Dividing Israel? Two New Yorkers.
(March 20, 2023)
“I don’t want to sound arrogant,” he told Ami, the Orthodox Jewish magazine, in 2019, “but in some sense we’re the brains of the Israeli right wing.”
Kohelet is not required to disclose the names of individual donors, and for years Mr. Koppel has artfully deflected questions about funding.
But one source of money is a second New Yorker: Arthur Dantchik, a 65-year-old multibillionaire who has donated millions to Kohelet, according to people familiar with his philanthropic giving. Mr. Dantchik did not return a call for comment.
The American Billionaires Behind the Far-right Attempt to Destroy Liberal Israel
(Jan 15, 2023)
Justice Minister Yariv Levin‘s judicial overhaul was apparently written by the Kohelet Policy Forum, one of the best-funded research institutes in Israel, which advances nationalist, libertarian policies – and is funded by two American billionaires
BERICHT DER KOMMISSION: Anzeiger für staatliche Beihilfen – Bericht über staatliche Beihilfen der EU-Mitgliedstaaten
(21.12.2012)
In der Zeit vom 1.Oktober 2008 bis zum 1. Oktober 2012 genehmigte die Kommission Beihilfen in Höhe von 5058,9 Mrd. EUR (40,3 % des EU-BIP) für den Finanzsektor.
Des Kapitalismus neue Kleider: E.U.-Staaten schütten in vier Jahren 5 Billionen Euro in den „Finanzsektor“
(21.12.2012)
Immerhin die österreichischen Zeitungen „Standard“ und „Die Presse“ berichteten über den heute von der „Europäischen Kommission“ veröffentlichten „Bericht über staatliche Beihilfen der EU-Mitgliedstaaten“. Doch den ganzen Wahnsinn, den dieser dokumentierte, wagten auch sie nicht in die Überschrift zu packen.
Im Bericht der E.U.-Kommission heißt es:
„In der Zeit vom 1. Oktober 2008 bis zum 1. Oktober 2012 genehmigte die Kommission Beihilfen in Höhe von 5058,9 Mrd. EUR (40,3 % des EU-BIP) für den Finanzsektor.“
Nochmal in Zeitlupe: Die Staaten des Staatenbundes „Europäische Union“ haben in vier Jahren 5,0589 (bitte auf die Zahlen hinter dem Komma achten) Billionen Euro als „Hilfe“ in nach dem Profitprinzip geschaffene und handelnde Organe des (Euro-)Kapitalismus geschüttet.
820 Milliarden Euro: EZB-Gelddruckerei überschüttet die Wucherer, die schütten zurück
(5. März 2012)
Die „Übernacht-Einlagen“, die „Angstkasse“, oder besser: das Gelddepot des weltweiten Finanzkartells bei ihrer persönlichen Gelddruckerei, der Frankfurter Zentralbank des Euro-Systems, ist innerhalb von drei Tagen um weitere 43 Milliarden Euro auf über 820 Milliarden Euro explodiert. Die kapitalistische Informationsindustrie, ebenso wie die in zwei Jahrzehnten des Krieges und der weltweiten Expansion des unkontrollierten Interbankensystems („Globalisierung“) versauten „öffentlich-rechtlichen“ Medien erzählen dazu nur Dreck daher oder schweigen völlig.
Die Banken „misstrauen“ sich nicht. Die Banken weigern sich schlicht Geld in den Wirtschaftskreislauf auszugeben und stapeln ihre erfundenen Taler einfach wieder auf den Berg in der Zentralbank, während hier alle in der Währungszone nach Liquidität jabsen und am Besten gleich den ganzen Staat verkaufen sollen.
Dieser ganze finanzextremistische Wahnsinn, für den die europäischen Demokratien, Staaten und Völker nach dem Willen der Kapitalisten bluten sollen und es teilweise bereits tun, wird nun in gewohnt maximalem Zynismus durch genau die Profiteure dieses „pro-europäischen“ Finanz- und Währungssystems benutzt, um durch irrationale Zerstörungswut an den Volkswirtschaften des Kontinents auch noch irrationale Ängste vor etwas zu schüren, vor dem man sich zu allerletzt Sorgen machen kann: das irgendetwas von diesem Geld jemals in den Wirtschaftskreislauf gelangen könnte und dann zuviel davon.
CNNMoney.com‘s bailout tracker
Troubled ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM
Financial rescue plan aimed at restoring liquidity to the financial markets
(…)
Committed : $11 trillion (total)
Invested: $3 trillion (total)
Republicans say new tax bill is DOA. It would raise Medicare$ from 3.8% to 5% for income greater than $400K. Also tax wealthy >$100 million and families 20% on income & stocks.
I guess this would be bad for @GOP next taxes on bribes.
President Biden plans new taxes on the rich to help save Medicare
President Joe Biden on Tuesday proposed new taxes on the rich to help fund Medicare, saying the plan would help to extend the insurance program‘s solvency by 25 years and provide a degree of middle-class stability to millions of older adults.
Biden Is Set to Detail Nearly $3 Trillion in Measures to Reduce Deficits
Mr. Biden’s plans to trim the deficit are unlikely to mollify Republicans. He has refused to negotiate over the debt limit and has said he will not cut benefits for Social Security or Medicare, two popular safety net programs. But he has said repeatedly that he is open to reducing deficits by raising taxes on corporations and the rich.
Biden Wants a Wealth Tax: Should Billionaires Pay More?
For example, in 2021, a ProPublica report indicated that the richest twenty-five Americans had an effective zero percent tax rate. When the ProPublica analysis was first released, it generated controversy over confidentiality of taxpayer information. But the data made some people aware of how the very wealthy can sometimes avoid paying federal taxes.
So, why does all of this matter? Well, there’s a wealth distribution gap in America.
Millionaires urge Democrats to include billionaire tax in spending bill
(01.11.2021)
A group of about 250 millionaires on Monday urged top Democrats to include a proposal to tax billionaires‘ investment gains annually in their social-spending package, after the proposal was left out of a framework the White House released last week.
GOP Megadonor Is Funding a Far-Right Israeli Think Tank — and Establishment Democrats
Pulling from the playbook of the American Legislative Exchange Council — a Koch-backed group that writes model legislation for conservative lawmakers across the U.S. — Kohelet’s founder helped draft the law that became Israel’s Basic Law on the Nation-State in 2018. The controversial policy established Jewish people as having the sole right to self-determination, downgraded Arabic from its status as an official language, and declared the development of Jewish settlement a “national value.” Kohelet also drafted a new law that gives Israel’s Parliament the power to override Supreme Court decisions, grants the government complete control over judicial appointments, and abolishes the courts’ reasonableness doctrine, which was most recently used to disqualify a thrice-convicted criminal and Netanyahu ally from serving as health and interior minister.
French broadcaster BFMTV suspends presenter amid disinformation scandal
He was suspended last month, after a member of Team Jorge suggested to undercover reporters that the group was secretly behind a BFMTV news report about the Monaco yachting industry.
The report, broadcast last year, suggested sanctions imposed against Russian oligarchs were damaging the yachting industry in the Mediterranean principality.
‚Team Jorge‘ unmasked: the secret disinformation team who distort reality – video
A covert team of Israeli contractors who claim to have manipulated more than 30 elections around the world using hacking, sabotage and automated disinformation on social media have been exposed in a new investigation. The unit is run by Tal Hanan, a former Israeli special forces operative who now works privately using the pseudonym ‚Jorge‘. In more than six hours of secretly recorded meetings, Hanan and his team explained how they could gather intelligence on rivals, including by using hacking methods to access Gmail and Telegram accounts
Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections
The investigation reveals extraordinary details about how disinformation is being weaponised by Team Jorge, which runs a private service offering to covertly meddle in elections without a trace. The group also works for corporate clients.
Hanan told the undercover reporters that his services, which others describe as “black ops”, were available to intelligence agencies, political campaigns and private companies that wanted to secretly manipulate public opinion. He said they had been used across Africa, South and Central America, the US and Europe.