The number of shoplifting crimes in Poland increased by almost a third in 2022, newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported on Thursday, citing police data.

Statistics showed that the number of thefts increased by as much as 31.1% on an annual basis, to over 32,000 cases. Out of 16 Polish regions, only Lublin reportedly did not record an increase in such crimes.

The rise in theft is “a clear signal of trouble on the market,” the president of the Polish Trade and Distribution Organization Renata Juszkiewicz was quoted as saying. Soaring prices have been pushing people to commit such crimes, she suggested, adding that it is “a huge challenge” for stores while prompting further increases in operating costs.

The report indicated that food was stolen most of all, followed by luxury items such as expensive perfumes and spirits, as well as small electronics.

The Polish economy slowed in 2022 amid soaring inflation and a plunge in consumer spending brought on by the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine and the impact of sanctions on Russia. Official statistics show that inflation accelerated in the beginning of 2023, with consumer prices jumping 17.2% in January from a year ago. Economists are forecasting that inflation will continue to rise, with Poland projected to have one of the EU’s highest rates this year.

The governor of Poland’s central bank, Adam Glapinski, said he expects the country to avoid a recession, although there may be temporary fluctuations in the first quarter of the year.

RT 11\3\23

Dave C

 The appeal is obvious. We can all be “carbon neutral” and offset our CO2 emissions, cancelling out the damage we do to the planet by protecting a threatened rainforest.

The claim is often based on carbon credits approved by Verra, the world’s leading certifier for the $2bn (£1.6bn) voluntary offsets market. Disney, Gucci and Shell are just some of the names that use them, and they are presented as a “nature-based solution”. However, there are big questions about the ability of offsetting to play even a minor role in climate change and biodiversity loss mitigation.

Verra has said it will phase out and replace its rainforest offsets programme by mid-2025 after an investigation found it was flawed,  potentially allowing tens of millions of worthless carbon credits to be issued and sold to companies in the meantime.

The investigation indicated that many claims based on the rainforest credits, which are generated by predicting deforestation that would have happened in the absence of the conservation projects, were largely meaningless, putting organisations that buy the offsets at risk of greenwashing.

Biggest carbon credit certifier to replace its rainforest offsets scheme | Carbon offsetting | The Guardian

 Up until January 24th 2023.The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock stood at 100 seconds to midnight.

On that date it was changed to ninety seconds to midnight.

Brigadier General Ripper is an unhinged United States Air Force general who orders a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union in,.

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film. 

 How many Brigadier General Jack D Ripper’s are there in the U S Military, or the State Department, or the White House in the present day? Or in the equivalent centres of power in other capitalist / state capitalist entities?

‘The US government will work to improve its nuclear forces, a senior military commander has said, pledging to bolster America’s arsenal on land, in the air, and at sea in response to “rogue” actions by North Korea.

Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Air Force General Anthony Cotton spoke of the need to strengthen the nation’s nuclear arsenal to meet “challenges” from the likes of Pyongyang and other rival states.

“North Korea conducted an unprecedented number of missile launches in 2022 and its new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), referred to as KN-28, highlight that the security challenge continues to grow,” he said. “To ensure our continued ability to serve as the bedrock of integrated deterrence, we are recapitalizing every leg of the nuclear triad, and the nuclear command control and communication systems.”

The ‘triad’ refers to the three primary methods of delivery for US nuclear weapons, including land-based missile silos, long-range strategic bomber aircraft, and nuclear-armed submarines. 

Cotton went on to accuse North Korea of acting as a “rogue” nation which “poses a threat to the United States and our allies,” stressing that Washington must continue to improve its “effective and credible nuclear deterrent.”

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have soared over the last year, with the DPRK conducting a record number of weapons tests amid a flurry of joint US-South Korean war games. Military activity has continued into 2023, with Pyongyang firing off missiles as Washington and Seoul press on with multiple rounds of exercises, including a recent drill involving a US nuclear-capable bomber.

North Korea has repeatedly condemned such drills as rehearsals for an invasion, and insists it has every right to carry out missile launches and develop its own “deterrent” forces. However, US officials continue to press Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal, with State Department spokesman Ned Price vowing on Thursday to impose increased “costs” on the DPRK until it “changes its approach” and abandons its weapons. Though Price called for “dialogue and diplomacy” with North Korea, so far President Joe Biden appears to have made no effort to sit down with the country’s leadership or hold a new round of talks to deescalate the tensions.’

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Dave C.

Constant capital, the means of production, considered from the standpoint of the creation of surplus-value, only exist to absorb labour, and with every drop of labour a proportional quantity of surplus-labour. While they fail to do this, their mere existence causes a relative loss to the capitalist, for they represent during the time they lie fallow, a useless advance of capital. And this loss becomes positive and absolute as soon as the intermission of their employment necessitates additional outlay at the recommencement of work. The prolongation of the working-day beyond the limits of the natural day, into the night, only acts as a palliative. It quenches only in a slight degree the vampire thirst for the living blood of labour. To appropriate labour during all the 24 hours of the day is, therefore, the inherent tendency of capitalist production.’  Karl Marx. Capital. Volume One.

                       https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch10.htm

Apple and its manufacturing supplier Foxconn have been involved in lobbying for a landmark liberalisation of labour laws in India, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing sources.

According to the report, the legislation authorised the introduction of 12-hour shifts in the southern state of Karnataka, as well as night-time work for women.

Foxconn reportedly stated that the legal change is crucial to building efficient manufacturing at scale, and that the possibility of running production around the clock using two 12-hour shifts will be a big step forward for the company.

The Taiwanese tech giant has been shifting production away from China due to the country’s strict Covid-related restrictions, which has disrupted the manufacturing of new devices. The move has also been seen as an attempt to avoid problems due to growing tensions between Beijing and Washington.

The Karnataka government announced a week earlier that Apple’s iPhones would soon be assembled in the state, specifying that a total of 300 acres have been set aside for a plant.

India aims to increase its work output and efficiency in order to become the next big manufacturing hub, according to an anonymous Indian government official cited by Mint.

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Dave C

American employers announced 77,770 job cuts in February, marking a 410% increase from the same month last year, executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas has revealed. 

According to the report issued earlier this week, February’s total was the highest for the month since 2009, when 186,350 job cuts were recorded. However, the figure was down 24% on the 102,943 cuts announced in January.

So far this year, employers have announced plans to eliminate 180,713 jobs, up 427% from the 34,309 cuts announced in the first two months of 2022, the study showed. It is reportedly the highest January-February total since 2009.

“Certainly, employers are paying attention to rate increase plans from the Fed. Many have been planning for a downturn for months, cutting costs elsewhere,” the company’s senior vice president, Andrew Challenger, stated. “If things continue to cool, layoffs are typically the last piece in company cost-cutting strategies.” 

The report indicated that technology companies axed the most jobs last month, with the figure hitting 21,387. The tech sector has announced 35% of all job cuts in 2023.

“Right now, the overwhelming bulk of cuts are occurring in technology. Retail and financial are also cutting right now, as consumer spending matches economic conditions. In February, job cuts occurred in all 30 industries Challenger tracks,” Andrew Challenger added.

Meanwhile, the study showed hiring was down, with companies having announced plans to recruit 28,830 workers in February, a decline of 87% in annual terms.

RT 11/3/23

Dave C

Seven cent cotton and forty cent meat

How in the world can a poor man eat

Flour up high and cotton down low

How in the world can we raise any dough

Clothes worn out, shoes urn down

Old slouch hat with a hole in the crown

Back nearly broken and fingers all sore

Cotton gone down to rise no more

Seven cent cotton and forty cent meat

How in the world can a poor man eat

Mules in the barn, no crops laid by

Corn crib empty and the cow’s gone dry

Well water low, nearly out of sight

Can’t take a bath on Saturdy night

No use talking, any man is beat

With seven cent cotton and forty cent meat

Seven cent cotton and eight dollar pants

Who in the world has got a chance

We can’t buy clothes and we can’t buy meat

Too much cotton and not enough to eat

Can’t help each other, what shall wo do

I can’t explain it so it’s up to you

Seven cent cotton and two dollar hose

Guess we’ll have to do without any clothes

Seven cent cotton and forty cent meat

How in the world can a poor man eat

Poor getting poorer all around here

Kids coming regular every year

Fatter our hogs, take ’em to town

All we get is six cents a pound 

Vety next day we have to buy it back

Forty cents a pound in a paper sac

Dave C

 Germany and Italy will slide into recession by the end of the year as inflation continues to rise, Fitch Ratings told Bloomberg on Thursday.

Although the downturn is not expected to be “severe,” the head of sovereigns and supranationals at Fitch, James McCormack, says that “recession is significant in and of itself.”

Inflation in Germany, the EU’s largest economy, accelerated in February, rising 9.3% on the year and 1% on the month, according to the latest figures from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Surging food and energy prices dealt a major blow to the country’s economy despite relief measures taken by the government.

The German economy shrank by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of 2022. The contraction came in larger than the previously estimated 0.2% GDP drop.

In Italy, the EU’s third largest economy, consumer prices rose 9.2% in February compared with the same period last year, down from a 10% increase in January, preliminary data from the country’s statistics agency ISTAT showed on Thursday.

Purchasing power in the country more than halved over the past year, according to a report by Nomisma think tank, which said that one in seven Italians complained they earned less than they required to make ends meet. A quarter of those surveyed said they spent all their money on essentials while 26% of Italian households said they feared not making it to the end of the month.

The US is also at risk of a “modest” recession by the end of the year, McCormack told Bloomberg, adding that the “UK is already probably there.”

The economist also pointed out that governments around the world are struggling to tackle the cost-of-living crisis sparked by surging food and energy prices since the start of conflict in Ukraine. So far there is little optimism about a rapid recovery and the rising costs have sent ripples of instability throughout the global economy.

The US is facing an economic downturn that could start in the third quarter of 2023 and continue into the first quarter of 2024, Bank of America’s (BoA) chief executive, Brian Moynihan, has warned.

Speaking at the Financial Review’s Business Summit on Tuesday, he said that the downturn would not be deep, and projected interest rates to start falling in the second quarter of next year. 

“It’s a very slight recession in the scheme of things. I don’t think you’ll see a deep recession,” Moynihan was quoted as saying by Reuters. “It will be more of a technical recession than it will be a deep drop in the US,” he specified.

A ‘technical recession’ means that there have been two consecutive quarters of negative growth in real GDP.

Moynihan also stated that the Wall Street bank’s forecasters estimate quarterly contractions of 0.5%-1%.

For the past year, the US Federal Reserve has made a series of interest rate hikes aimed at cooling down record inflation. In February, the regulator approved a quarter-point interest rate increase, which is the smallest one in several months, as the pace of consumer price growth has reportedly slowed.’

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Dave C.

 “There’s a class war going on whether we want to recognize it or not. People on top have the money, they have the power. They’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars to try to prevent ordinary workers from coming together to fight for dignity.” – Bernie Sanders

https://twitter.com/i/status/1633514111270101018

 Having had a devastating fire that destroyed shelters for 12,000, the UN recently cut food aid to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. 

There are about 1 million Rohingya living in squalid refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar on the southeastern coast of Bangladesh.

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it would have to cut aid because of a $125 million (€117 million) shortfall. The UN organization said that, starting in March, monthly food vouchers would be reduced from $12 to $10 per person. It also warned that there would probably be more cuts if more funds did not come in imminently.  Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told DW that the government could not meet the budget gap and urged international donors to keep up their support.

Given that malnutrition, anemia and stunted growth are already rife in the camps, where 65% of the population are children and women, people who work with refugees fear that the cuts in rations could have a devastating impact.

Ambia Perveen, a co-founder of the Rohingya Medics Organisation, which provides medical care in the refugee camps, told DW that the cuts would affect every Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh.

“The food they were provided before was never enough, and now it will affect more, especially children, elderly people, pregnant women and above all the people with chronic diseases,” she said. “There is huge malnutrition among children under five years old, severe cases of hepatitis C and anemic pregnant women.” 

Rezaur Rahman Lenin, a Rohingya researcher based in Cox’s Bazar, told DW that “Given that Myanmar’s government won’t let its people go home and that Rohingya refugees in camps are becoming more vulnerable, it is shocking that the UN is willing to cut these essential humanitarian funds.” 

Bangladesh: Aid cuts stoke fear of violence in refugee camps – DW – 03/09/2023

 Almost 300,000 people died during pregnancy or childbirth in 2020 with  one woman dies every two minutes due to child birthor complications experienced during pregnancy.

“Pregnancy is tragically still a shockingly dangerous experience for millions around the world,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UN report there had been a small decrease between the years 2000 and 2015, but that since 2016 the global maternal mortality rate has stagnated. And that is unacceptable, said Jenny Cresswell, a scientist at the WHO and co-author of the report.

“Stagnation is absolutely not good enough,” Cresswell told DW. “The Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] target is to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. We are currently far off-track to meet this target.”

In some countries, including developed ones like the US, the maternal mortality rate has been rising for years. At more than 23, the US has by far the highest MMR of all industrialized countries. (The Indian state of Kerala’s MMR is 19, a lower MMR than that in the United States.)

The rate increased by roughly 78% between 2000 and 2020. There is the fact that many Americans do not have health insurance and can not afford to visit their doctor. The cost of health services has gone up as well. And there is a shortage of midwives who can help people through their pregnancies. 

“The rate at which people in the US skip [medical] care is dramatically higher compared to other developed countries,” explained Munira Gunja, a senior researcher with the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that supports independent research on health care issues in the US.. It all comes together to contribute to “this unacceptable maternal mortality rate,” Gunja said.

But that is not all. The MMR among Black Americans is about three times higher than among white Americans. That stark difference is due to “structural racism,” Gunja said. “[Black Americans] are at a disadvantage from the start: Where they live, their education level, their jobs and salary. And when they see a doctor, they are often faced with direct racism.”

Maternal mortality: Pregnancy is ‘shockingly dangerous’ – DW – 03/09/2023