The blog may hold its own deep differences with Bernie Sanders but we do acknowledge his useful role in that he does occasionally brings to the US public some uncomfortable home truths.

He did so in a recent Senate speech. 

“While the vast majority of people in our country are hurting emotionally, they’re hurting economically, these are not difficult times for everybody,” he explained. “If you are a billionaire in this country or a CEO of a large corporation… these times have not been bad; they have, in fact, have been very, very good.”

As people nationwide worry about “soaring” gas prices, fossil fuel giants “are making huge profits,” Sanders said, also noting it was the same in the food industry.

The senator pointed out that chief executives now make about 350 times more than the average U.S. worker.

“The top one per cent owns more wealth than the bottom 92 per cent. Rather amazingly, two of the wealthiest people in America now own more wealth than the bottom 42 per cent,” the Senate Budget Committee chair said.

“When we speak about oligarchy, we should all understand that we’re not just talking about massive levels of income and wealth inequality,” Sanders emphasized. “We should all understand that never before in American history have so few owned so much.”

“And this issue—the issue of the incredible concentration of ownership in our country—is almost never talked about here in Congress or in the corporate media,” he continued, “and that has a lot to do with the corrupt political system that we operate under, where many members of Congress receive huge campaign contributions from these very same people.”

Sanders took aim at three Wall Street firms, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street. 

They collectively manage over $21 trillion in assets, or more than the gross domestic product of the United States, the world’s largest economy.

These three firms, Sanders explained, “are major shareholders in more than 96% of S&P 500 companies.” They “are the largest shareholders in some of the biggest banks in America” and “are among the top owners of the four major airlines.” BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street also “own an average of 20% of the major drug companies,” 

He also said that a handful of firms “are now the major owners of rental housing” and ” control half of the newspapers” in the country.

He compared the conditions of ordinary American workers.

“The reality is that tens of millions of working-class people, lower-income people, in the wealthiest country on Earth, are suffering today under incredible economic hardship, desperately trying day to day to survive.”

While “half of the people in our country are living paycheck to paycheck and tens of millions of our people are an accident, a divorce, an illness, or a layoff away from economic devastation,” Sanders noted, “over 80 million Americas are uninsured or under-insured and tens of thousands die each and every year because they don’t get to a doctor when they should.”

“Many public schools throughout our country lack the resources to adequately educate our young people, or pay their teachers the wages those teachers deserve; at the same time we are the most heavily incarcerated nation on Earth,” he added. “Meanwhile, 45 million Americans who did go to college… are now drowning in $1.8 trillion in student debt.”

“[Americans]work long hours for low wages. They worry about their kids. They can’t afford healthcare. They see their jobs going to other countries.”

Polls show they are “giving up on democracy.” Faced with such conditions, Sanders said, voters are frustrated with elected officials and wondering: “Do they live in the real world? Do they understand what is going on in our lives or are they too busy going out raising campaign contributions from the rich and the powerful?”

“Maybe the time is approaching that we should offer a unanimous resolution congratulating the billionaire class for their enormous success in moving this country into the oligarchic form of society that they have long desired,” Sanders said.

 Climate change is both “risk” and “threat multipliers”. The Bay of Bengal coast, home to a quarter of the world’s population, is a perfect example of the fight over fast-disappearing land. Disastrous floods, deadly heatwaves and devastating cyclones are taking a heavy toll in the Bay of Bengal region, which covers more than 2 million sq km (772,204 sq miles.) Rising sea levels, in particular, could result in land and infrastructure loss in the future, besides altering the location and allocation of strategic military assets, researchers said.

Military and civil conflicts could intensify along the Bay of Bengal coastline, fuelled by climate change-linked migration, land loss and displacement, researchers a report, by think-tanks the Netherlands-based Clingendael Institute and India’s Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, said.  The area is seeing frequent extreme weather, which combined with its strategic, social and economic fault-lines, makes it “fertile ground” for social friction and violence, they warned

The region was already dotted with conflicts over resources, identity and growing migration flows. The report pointed to conflicts between social groups, communities and the state over control of valuable but shrinking natural resources like land, forests, water and minerals. It also pointed to a dozen ethnic separatist movements triggered by conflict over resources in Northeast India.

“Climate change can widen socio-economic divides that in some cases can snowball into political instability and widen conflicts,” said Angshuman Choudhury, one of the report authors. “Migration is a key link in this chain of consequences… The so-called ‘insider versus outsider’ conflicts are increasing,” he said, referring to tensions between those on the move and their host communities.”

Pointing to porous international borders cutting across countries that are home to socio-culturally similar groups, the report flagged growing conflicts triggered by migration, identifying “climate-induced” movement as a key driver. In India, anti-immigrant violence in northeast Assam state has been triggered by people moving across the India-Bangladesh border, while Bangladesh has seen local protests against Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

Climate pressures could also aggravate land depletion, dispossession and degradation, fuelling economic and social insecurity among agrarian communities and ethnic minorities, leading to new phases of violent conflict, the report added.

“Climate change increases the risk of various types of violence and human insecurity,” said Florian Krampe, director of the climate change and risk programme at SIPRI, a Swedish institute dedicated to research into conflict and disarmament.

Climate migration worsens conflicts in Bay of Bengal region (trust.org)

 “Bill Clinton sought to lead from the “center,” but by then the “center” had moved so far right that Clinton gutted public assistance, enacted “tough on crime” policies that unjustly burdened the poor and people of color, and deregulated Wall Street. All of which put me further to the left of the center—although my political views had barely changed.” – Robert Reich, served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration

 “Bill Clinton sought to lead from the “center,” but by then the “center” had moved so far right that Clinton gutted public assistance, enacted “tough on crime” policies that unjustly burdened the poor and people of color, and deregulated Wall Street. All of which put me further to the left of the center—although my political views had barely changed.” – Robert Reich, served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration

 The Eagle and the Bear

 Again, the bear growls and the eagle flaps,

Claws and talons brandished, bristling with pride,

Each self-righteous, claiming the other lied,

Another squabble over lines on maps

Drawn and redrawn at the beck of capital.

Markets tremble, armies muster and march,

While those with only their labour to sell

Are, too often, employed in martial hell,

Not heeding lessons history has to teach.

How many stones need to be cut and dressed,

Assembled into cenotaphs, then incised

With gilded names of the slaughtered? How prized

Is rhetoric when profits are assessed?

Whichever country victory chooses,

The world entire, and its future, loses.

D. A.

 In 2015 and 2016, many people also had little understanding for this attitude. They did not want to take in refugees and migrants. The xenophobic protest movement gave rise to the far-right populist Alternative for Germany party (AfD).

The nonprofit Bertelsmann Foundation in its representative study “Willkommenskultur zwischen Stabilität und Aufbruch,” (Welcome Culture Between Stability and Departure) has now taken a closer look at changes in Germans’ attitudes and identified a trend: Germans are more optimistic about migration and immigration than they were a few years ago.

“In essence, our survey shows that skepticism toward immigration is still widespread in Germany, but it has continually declined in recent years,” says Ulrike Wieland, co-author of the study: “More people now see the potential benefits of migration; especially for the economy. When it comes to perceptions of integration, we find that more respondents than in previous years see inequality of opportunity and discrimination as significant obstacles hampering integration of individuals.”

Many see immigration as a way to help solve Germany’s demographic and economic problems. For example, two out of three respondents see immigration as helping to balance out an ageing society, more than half of those polled said it could also compensate for the ongoing shortage of skilled workers, and half of all respondents expect immigrants to generate additional revenue for Germany’s pension fund.

Germans have overall become more accepting of refugees. But over one-third of respondents (36%) believe that Germany cannot take in any more of them. In 2017, that number stood at 54%. Currently, 20% consider the refugees to be “temporary guests” who do not need to be integrated into society.

“We see that one-fifth of the population is skeptical of refugees or outright rejects them. These people seem to have a worldview that supports the idea of a (far-reaching) social closure against migration,” explains co-author Ulrike Wieland.

However, respondents still remain skeptical. The Bertelsmann Foundation study also clearly shows that there is still a lot of skepticism in Germany when it comes to refugees.

 67% say that immigrants place an additional burden on the welfare state, 66% say they worry about conflicts erupting between people born and raised in Germany and immigrants, and many respondents fear that schools are facing major problems integrating immigrant students.

Skilled immigrants seeking employment or academic opportunities are more accepted (71%) than refugees who are primarily seeking protection (59 %).

Aid worker Christian Osterhaus looks back at when he started working with refugees: “At the time, I really had the impression that German society had opened up and changed and had actually learned a lot.” He believes that interpersonal connections and friendships are the foundation for the path to building a real welcome culture in Germany. Osterhaus was one of hundreds of thousands of people in Germany who set out to help those fleeing civil war in Syria and other countries, and to help integrate them into German society. “We wanted to give these people a new home,” Osterhaus says looking back.

Germans less skeptical of immigration | Germany | News and in-depth reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW | 16.02.2022

 The Asia-Pacific region comprises 58 countries and territories. The Asia-Pacific region is home to approximately 4.5 billion people.

 The wealthiest 5% of the population controlling close to 70% of total wealth in the region,” reports the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Approximately half of all urban dwellers in South Asia live in slums. In large countries such as Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, 30 to 60% of the urban population lives in slums

Sharp inequalities continue to be persistent in the region, with nearly 2 in 4 people still unable to afford a healthy diet. 1.9 billion people are unable to afford a healthy diet, driven by high prices of fruits, vegetables and dairy products, making it impossible for the poor to achieve healthy diets.

About 350.6 million people in the Asia and Pacific region are estimated to have been undernourished in 2019, about 51% of the world’s total of undernourished people.

An estimated 74.5 million children under five years of age were stunted and a total of 31.5 million were wasted in the Asia and Pacific region. The majority of these children in the region live in Southern Asia with 55.9 million stunted and 25.2 million wasted children.”

Estimates predict a 14.3% increase in the prevalence of moderate or severe wasting among children under 5 years of age, equal to an additional 6.7 million children, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Asia-Pacific: Just 5% of the Region’s Population Owns 70% of Its Total Wealth | Inter Press Service (ipsnews.net)

 After scraping by on just $31.5 million a year in both 2019 and 2020, JPMorgan’s board has decided that CEO Jamie Dimon deserves a pay rise in 2021

His 10% pay-rise notably outweighs inflation though as the package includes $28 million of restricted stock tied to performance, an annual base salary of $1.5 million and a $5 million cash bonus – pushing his total compensation up 10%  to $34.5 million.

Jamie Dimon Gets Pay-Rise To $34.5 Million In 2021, Goldman Banker Bonuses Surge 40-50% | ZeroHedge

 Germany was the first country in the world to experience a surplus of deaths. Every year since 1972, fewer people were born there than died. Before 1990, this also started happening in Hungary (1982) and the Czech Republic (1986). 

By the middle of the current century, however, all countries in Europe, with the exception of Norway and Sweden, are expected to see natural population growth turn negative. Populous countries such as Brazil and China are also projected to experience this change before 2050.

Migration also plays a major role in the equation and can prop up population growth if a country is able to attract (and willing to admit) enough migrants. Germany, despite its long history of net negative births, benefits from an immigration surplus, meaning that more people immigrate to the country than emigrate in most years, with the effect that its population continues to grow slightly. 

Germany wants to attract 400,000 qualified workers from abroad each year to tackle both a demographic imbalance and labour shortages in key sectors.

After decades of low birth rates and uneven migration, a shrinking labour force also poses a demographic time bomb for Germany’s public pension system, in which fewer employees are burdened with the task of financing the pensions of a growing mass of retirees who are enjoying longer life expectancy.

 “The shortage of skilled workers has become so serious by now that it is dramatically slowing down our economy,” Christian Duerr, parliamentary leader of the co-governing Free Democrats (FDP), told business magazine WirtschaftsWoche. “We can only get the problem of an ageing workforce under control with a modern immigration policy… We have to reach the mark of 400,000 skilled workers from abroad as quickly as possible.” 

The German Economic Institute estimates that the labour force will shrink by more than 300,000 people this year as there are more older workers retiring than younger ones entering the labour market. This gap is expected to widen to more than 650,000 in 2029, leaving an accumulated shortage of people of working age in 2030 of roughly 5 million. 

Germany wants to attract 400,000 skilled workers from abroad each year (yahoo.com)

The End Of Natural Population Growth? | ZeroHedge

 Derived from the English expression that refers to those born into privilege “with a silver spoon in their mouth”, a geumsujeo , a “gold spoon” is someone from the top 1% of high-income households in South Korea. It’s often used to refer to the children of super-rich families. 

The term “dirt spoons” represents the other end of the spectrum.