Escalating Plunder ~~ Robert Brenner

 https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii123/articles/robert-brenner-escalating-plunder

~~ posted for dmorista ~~

On 23 march 2020, the Federal Reserve made the historic announcement that, in response to the coronavirus economic crisis, it would provide loans to non-financial corporations in industry and services for the first time since the early 1930s.footnote1 A few days previously, former Fed Chairs Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen had given their imprimatur to this precedent-shattering step.footnote2 Just how huge a cornucopia for big business the authorities had in mind would soon become clear. The Federal Reserve had, for the better part of a century, confined its lending to the us government, purchasing Treasuries and bonds issued by the Government Sponsored Entities (gses)—Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae. The Central Bank had traditionally resisted extending its loan purchases beyond these instruments, not least because buying the debt of specific companies would leave it open to charges of favouritism. At the time of the 2007–08 global financial crisis, however—with the justification that the meltdown threatened the financial sector’s very functioning—then Fed Chair Bernanke consigned such niceties to the dustbin of history, showing in the process why those norms had been established in the first place.footnote3

Trench Warfare - Notes on the 2020 Election ~~ Mike Davis

https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii126/articles/mike-davis-trench-warfare 

This article was recommended by dmorista  

We assume that times of great social upheaval and human peril produce equally dramatic political reactions: uprisings, counter-revolutions, new deals and civil wars. The one and only thing that most Americans agree about is that we are living in such a time, the greatest national crisis since 1932 or even 1860. Against a background of plague, impeachment, racist violence and unemployment, one party espouses a vision of autocratized government and a return to the happy days of a white Republic. The other offers a sentimental journey back to the multicultural centrism of the Obama years. (Biden’s promise of a ‘new new deal’ was for gullible progressives’ ears only.) Both parties are backward looking, solipsistic and unanchored in economic reality, but the first echoes the darkest side of modern history. The vote, held on a day when more than 100,000 Americans tested positive for covid-19, was supposed to deliver a definitive verdict on Donald Trump. Indeed the President’s increasingly frenetic attempts to delegitimize the election seemed to signal his apprehension of a Democratic landslide. In the event a projected 160 million ballots were mailed in or cast in person, representing the highest turnout rate in 120 years. A stunning judgement was expected.

Georgians Are Starving — And Their Millionaire Senators Refuse to Force a Vote on Aid. ~~ DAVID SIROTA ANDREW PEREZ

 https://jacobinmag.com/2020/12/georgia-kelly-loeffler-david-perdue-covid-relief-bill

Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue could actually force a Senate vote on $2,000 checks for almost two thirds of Georgia households. After all, their state is in the middle of a calamity. Instead, they are issuing belated, meek platitudes.

Solutions: A How-To Guide for Citizens in a Dying Empire ~~ Maxwell

Let me package a "solution" for you in nice and pretty, American-style,

wrapping. All slick and shiny and ready for you to take home.

Dmorista on Covid-19 and Related Matters Can Capitalism Survive? PART 1 ~~ dmorista

This is the first installment of a series of articles that are generally entitled "Dmorista on Covid-19 and Related Matters Can Capitalism Survive?". There will be at least 4 or 5 more installments posted here at Leftist Politics.