Friday, October 21, 2011

Remembering Gaddafi's Support For Irish National Liberation Struggle

Unlike most Wall Street-sponsored Democratic and Republican politicians in the USA,former Libyan government head of state Gaddafi apparently expressed support for the Irish Republican Movement during the years when it was characterized as a movement of "terrorists" by Wall Street's mass media:

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Was Gaddafi Executed Without Trial After Being Captured Following NATO Air-Strike?

An initial October 20, 2011 Reuters article about the mysterious circumstances surrounding former Libyan government leader Gaddafi's recent death, stated the following:

"`He (Gaddafi) was also hit in his head,' NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters. `There was a lot of firing against his group and he died.'

"Mlegta told Reuters earlier that Gaddafi, who was in his late 60s, was captured and wounded in both legs at dawn on Thursday as he tried to flee in a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked. He said he had been taken away by an ambulance.".

Sunday, October 16, 2011

`Occupy Columbia': Columbia Students Expose Columbia's Wall Street Connections

(The following column by Yoni Golijov and Sumayya Kassamali was first posted on the Columbia Daily Spectator student newspaper website at Columbia University on October 13, 2011)

OCCUPY COLUMBIA

by Yoni Golijov and Sumayya Kassamali

Let’s not kid ourselves about how the beautiful space that is our university is paid for. Despite the tuition you are paying, the accumulated largesse of oligarchs of Manhattan continues to fund a large share of Columbia’s operations. The slew of named buildings and endowed chairs reflects how much Columbia University’s endowment is the combination of illicit wealth it has accumulated from Caribbean slavery in the past all the way to the financial crisis in 2008.

This larger fact is the background for many smaller connections between Columbia and Wall Street. Columbia’s endowment depends on good relations with the financial Masters of the Universe. For example, all of the five vice chairs of the board of trustees are financiers, from Goldman Sachs to real estate. Then there is the infamous Columbia Business School, where professors of finance reap enormous salaries from outside consulting gigs and positions on corporate boards of directors.

“Inside Job” did well at revealing some of the dodgy conflicts of interest surrounding the business school faculty. But it missed something that’s perhaps deeper. Many of the business school faculty would probably peddle the interests of the ultra-wealthy for free—they really believe it. Glenn Hubbard, the dean, was chair of the Republican Council of Economic Advisors, championed the first Bush tax cuts, and has repeatedly come out in favor of more and bigger tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans as the surest route to growth.

Moving along, there are the various cross-affiliations with the law school. Most immediately, Michael Sovern, former university president and a professor at Columbia Law School, is chairman of the board of Sotheby’s, the luxury art and real estate dealer. Sotheby’s is currently locking out its workers, members of Teamsters’ Local 814, and is demanding that all new hires work temp jobs with no benefits. The lockout has been going on for 10 weeks.

Finally, there is the conflict of interest of President Bollinger’s chairmanship of the board of the New York Federal Reserve. Bollinger was appointed to fill the shoes of Denis Hughes, state president of the AFL-CIO, to “represent the public” in the Fed. But how can Bollinger, whose job involves befriending the ultra-wealthy and convincing them to write checks to the University, carry out responsibilities that could endanger that very wealth (like pushing for higher inflation or large-scale student debt relief)? This is just the tip of the iceberg, and many more connections could be discussed. One ironic consequence of Columbia’s allegiance to the wealthy is that the endowment could actually swell with an increase in high-income and capital gains taxes. The endowment is a tax-exempt foundation, and evidence suggests that donations to such things increase when taxes go up. But the more fundamental problem is the dependence of Columbia’s prestige on the goodwill of the ultra-wealthy. While public universities like CUNY/SUNY are starved of funds, Columbia’s opulence remains, courtesy of a cozy relationship with Wall Street.

Yoni Golijov is a Columbia College senior majoring in economics-philosophy. Sumayya Kassamali is a Ph.D. student in the department of anthropology at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Black Male Worker Jobless Rate 16.8 Percent Under Obama & GOP House of Representatives

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States was still 16.8 percent in September 2011 under the Democratic Obama Administration and the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives; while the unemployment rate in September 2011 for all Black workers was still 16 percent. The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 44.2 percent in September 2011; while the unemployment rate for Black women over 20 years-of-age was still 13.2 percent September 2011.

The number of officially unemployed Black workers was still 2,893,000 in September 2011, according to the “seasonally adjusted” data; while the number of officially unemployed Black male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States was still 1,372,000 in September 2011. The number of jobless Black women workers over 20 years-of-age in September 2011 was still 1,227,000; and the number of unemployed Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of age increased by 3,000 (from 291,000 to 294,000) between August and September 2011.

In September 2011, the official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino or Hispanic workers in the United States remained at 11.3 percent; while the number of unemployed Latino or Hispanic workers increased by 19,000 (from 2,585,000 to 2,604,000) between August and September 2011. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino or Hispanic male workers over 20 years-of-age also increased from 8.9 to 9.3 percent between August and September 2011; while the number of unemployed Latino or Hispanic male workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 56,000 (from 1,169,000 to 1,225,000) during the same period. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latina or Hispanic female workers in the United States was also still 11.2 percent in September 2011. And according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data, the official unemployment rate for Latino or Hispanic youth between 16 and 19-years-of-age was still 27.1 in September 2011; while the number of jobless Latino or Hispanic youths in September 2011 was still 257,000, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data. The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 21.3 percent in September 2011.

Between August and September 2011, the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Asian-American workers jumped from 7.1 to 7.8 percent; while the number of unemployed Asian-American workers increased by 50,000 (from 517,000 to 577,000) during the same period.

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white workers was still 8 percent in September 2011; while the number of officially unemployed white workers in the United States increased by 19,000 (from 9,932,000 to 9,951,000) between August and September 2011. The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white female workers over 20 years-of-age also increased from 7 to 7.1 percent between August and September 2011; while the number of unemployed white female workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 83,000 (from 3,828,000 to 3,911,000) during this same period. The number of unemployed white male workers over 20 years-of-age also increased by 37,000 (from 4,997,000 to 5,034,000) between August and September 2011; while the official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 7.7 percent in September 2011.

For all U.S. workers (male and female) over 16 years-of-age, the official "seasonally adjusted" unemployment rate was still 9.1 percent in September 2011; while the jobless rate for U.S. female workers over 16 years-of-age increased from 8.5 to 8.7 percent between August and September 2011. The official jobless rate for U.S. male workers over 16 years-of-age was still 9.4 percent in September 2011; while the number of unemployed U.S. female workers over 16 years-of-age increased by 119,000 (from 6,114,000 to 6,233,000) between August and September 2011. In addition, the jobless rate for U.S. female workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 8 to 8.1 percent between August and September 2011; while the number of unemployed female workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States also increased by 150,000 (from 5,472,000 to 5,622,000) during this same period. And between August and September 2011, the official total number of unemployed U.S. workers over 16-years-of-age increased by 25,000 (from 13,967,000 to 13,992,000), according to the “seasonally adjusted” data.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ October 7, 2011 press release:

“Government employment continued to trend down….The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was 6.2 million in September. These individuals accounted for 44.6 percent of the unemployed…

“The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) rose to 9.3 million in September. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job...

“In September, about 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force… These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey…Among the marginally attached, there were 1 million discouraged workers in September. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“Manufacturing employment changed little in September (-13,000) and has been essentially flat for the past 2 months…Within retail trade, employment declined in electronic and appliance stores (-9,000) in September…Government employment continued to trend down over the month (-34,000). The U.S. Postal Service continued to lose jobs (-5,000). Local government employment declined by 35,000..."

Thursday, October 6, 2011

"Back Bay Tower" Folk Song Protests Against Copley Place Residential Addition/Winter Garden In Boston



(chorus)
To profit Neiman Marcus
And Simon Property
Is not sufficient reason
For approval by the City.


(verses)
They want to build a tower
Forty-seven stories high
From the middle of Back Bay
Right up to the sky
They want to cast a shadow
All over Copley Square
From luxury apartments
On top of a big store.
(chorus)

They want to build a skyscraper
Right next to Tent City
And clog the streets with trucks
And make the air dirty
For three long years their cranes
Will endanger pedestrians
And yet another wind tunnel
Will be created at the end.
(chorus)

They promise many jobs
When they build with borrowed cash
But if they can't pay off their debts
With a big hole we'll be stuck
And none of the apartments
Will be affordable to the poor
Or even to the workers
Who build them with their labor.
(chorus)

So if you think your neighborhood
Doesn't need their Back Bay Tower
And to enclose public space in glass
So Neiman Marcus stock can go higher
Then it's time to stop this skyscraper
From being built on the Copley Mall
And to protest as a community
And to protest to City Hall.
(chorus)