CAPITALIST TENTACLES & FRONTS

Chances are extremely slim that the new leader of Colombia may achieve anything of consequence during his tenure, as the nation is an imperialist fortress in South America, and even a member of NATO, all of which facilitates US meddling of all types, from economic to political and military. There’s also the problem that the reformist incrementalist model sailed a long time ago, and will accomplish little or nothing in Colombia and other nations following the same approach (i.e., Chile, Argentina, Peru and possibly Brazil in the near future).

JOHN A SCHOONOVER—A conversion project of the magnitude described above is beyond the capabilities of the global capitalist economy in its current state of decay. A cut in petroleum product consumption in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the price of oil negative for a while, and it is currently selling below $40/barrel less than production costs for many producers. The first large victim of this relatively minor disturbance has been ExxonMobil, which Dow Jones no longer lists. Imagine the effect on the oil industry, in particular, and capitalist economies in general were a decision to replace petroleum with uranium to become policy. Every oil company would have to write down the value of its assets, oil in the ground and equipment, and rapidly declare bankruptcy. It would be necessary to artificially maintain oil production during the interim period until it is no longer needed.

JIMMY DORE—When Johns Hopkins Economics Professor Steve Hanke released a metastudy indicating that COVID lockdowns had only saved a small number of lives compared to the astronomical figure that had been reported by an Imperial College study, the backlash was quick and fevered. The Imperial College researchers, along with “fact checkers” like Snopes sought to refute the claims Hanke and his co-authors made. Jimmy interviews Professor Hanke, who explains what his antagonists got wrong, how the vast majority of their criticisms were misplaced, at best, and what minor corrections to their results had been made in subsequent releases.

On Wednesday evening Jimmy made another of his legendary appearances on Tucker Carlson’s show, the most popular cable news program in the country. In a finely targeted rant, Jimmy took aim at Democrats for cravenly trying to blame all of the nation’s woes on Vladimir Putin while also reserving plenty of his ire for both Republicans and Democrats who, he said, serve the interests of the oligarchy that funds them rather than the American citizens who vote for them. Jimmy and American comedian Kurt Metzger discuss the benefits of bringing an anti-imperialist, anti-oligarchy message to a Fox News audience that likely never hears such perspectives.

It’s an election year, so it might come as a surprise to learn that Joe Biden is taking this opportunity to deny Medicare recipients a promised rate cut and instead funnel additional funds to private insurers. Yet that is precisely what the President has planned to do, likely as part of the long-term plan to entirely privatize Medicare – just the thing to satisfy the health insurance companies and other healthcare industry interests that have funneled millions of dollars to Biden over the years. Jimmy and his panelists, The People’s Party’s Nick Brana, The Dive host Jackson Hinkle and American comedian Kurt Metzger, discuss Biden’s crackerjack plan to piss off seniors just before an election.