IF YOU ENJOY SR AND FIND IT USEFUL WOULD YOU PLEASE DONATE
When I began Schwartzreport my purpose was to produce an entirely fact-based daily publication in favor of the earth, the inter-connectedness and interdependence of all life, democracy, equality for all, liberty, and things that are life-affirming. Also, to warn my readers about actions, events, and trends that threaten those values. Our country now stands at a crossroads, indeed, the world stands at a crossroads where those values are very much at risk and it is up to each of us who care about wellbeing to do what we can to defend those principles. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to SR, particularly those of you who have scheduled an ongoing monthly contribution. It makes a big difference and is much appreciated. It is one thing to put in the hours each day and to do the work for free, but another to have to cover the rising out-of-pocket costs. For those of you who haven’t done so, but read SR regularly, I ask that you consider supporting it.
This is what the Reagan and Republican Congresses restructuring of the U.S. tax system and the Citizens United Supreme Court decision legalizing bribery of politicians has produced. This grotesque wealth equality has completely reshaped America producing so much fear, resentment, and stress in our society today.
The Koch network’s flagship group, Americans for Prosperity, has spent two decades pouring money into influencing U.S. elections.
As the group celebrates its 20-year anniversary, its hybrid super PAC ranks third in outside spending in the 2024 cycle.
Americans for Prosperity Action, a hybrid PAC affiliated with the group, has spent over $257 million since 2004 to support conservative congressional and presidential candidates.
The organization is known for supporting reduced government spending, opposing collective bargaining and curbing regulations.
Its website calls Americans for Prosperity “the premier grassroots advocacy organization transforming policy around the country.”
Americans for Prosperity’s super PAC, AFP Action, has spent approximately $62 million to bolster Republican candidates and $10 million to oppose Trump in the 2024 cycle, as of August 6. Despite pledges to reach across party lines and work with Democrats in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s election, not a single penny has been spent in support of Democrats during the 2024 cycle.
Aarthi Swaminathan, Personal Finance Reporter - Market Watch
Stephan:
As The New York Times quoted him: “In the 1980s, Peter F. Drucker, the economist and Wall Street Journal columnist, cited research showing it felt “about right” when C.E.O.s received 10 to 12 times what workers earned. He said pay ratios as high as 20 to one might be all right for workplace morale and social cohesion, though that was stretching it.” Well, that was then, this is now. Another result of how the Republican rigged U.S. economics.
Tax cuts implemented in 2017 have contributed to pay inequality between workers and CEOs, according to a new report. Credit: Getty
Want to make as much money as a CEO does?
Do you have 267 friends?
You’d need to pool everyone’s wages to have as much as the average CEO earned in 2023, according to the annual report by the AFL-CIO. The CEOs of S&P 500 companies made $17.7 million on average in 2023, more than 268 times what the median worker at those companies earned.
“CEO payflation strikes again,” the report said.
For its analysis, the AFL-CIO looked at compensation data for executives at 3,000 companies, including the 500 in the S&P 500 index
. The average CEO-to-worker pay ratio was calculated as the arithmetic mean of the company’s disclosed pay ratios, the union federation said.
CEO pay increased 6% in 2023 from a year earlier. Workers’ median weekly earnings rose 5.45% to $1,142 in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared with the same period a year […]
Shania Baweja and Taylor Galgano, Reporters - CNN Business
Stephan:
I have been telling you this would happen, and here is a confirmation of my prediction. Just as sea rise has made obtaining home insurance very difficult in Florida, so forest fires are affecting Northern California, as this report describes. And this is just the beginning of what we will see in coastal, forested, and tornado-ridden states, all as a result of the various effects of climate change.
Smoke rises above the roadway as the Park Fire jumps Highway 36 near Paynes Creek in Tehama County, Califoria, on Friday, July 26, 2024. Credit: Noah Berger / AP
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — After the 2018 Camp Fire – the deadliest wildfire in California’s history – engulfed Michael and Kristy Daneau’s Paradise home, the couple and their four daughters were forced to move 30 miles away to find a home they could afford.
They moved to Cohasset to buy a home with money they received through their insurance claim and their portion of an $11 billion Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) settlement with insurance companies for the blazes linked to its equipment failure.
Six years later, the family’s experiencing déjà vu: Their new home in the rocky region of northern California recently burned down to the studs in the 2024 Park Fire, the fourth largest fire in the state’s history.
But this time the Daneaus don’t have the safety net of insurance to help them rebuild their lives.
John Alexander, who will be familiar to regular readers, has written an important take on Project 2025, with which I very strongly agree. I am leading with this because I particularly note the point he makes about how the corrupt majority on the Supreme Court has already laid the groundwork for the implementation of Project 2025. Should criminal Trump win and the MAGAt Republcians win a majority in the House and Senate, given they already control the Supreme Court, Project 2025 is your future. And it is a very unpleasant one. Let me also suggest that you take a few minutes, 17 exactly, and look at the podcast I posted Friday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKYsbzhK-gU&t=7s. I suggest this because I have done a lot of research about what would happen in the MAGAts were to win, and what I discovered was people who live in democracies live healthier lives and they live longer than people in the kind of authoritarian world Project 2025 would create.
All women should understand the consequences of the Trump/GOP/Heritage Project 2025 that they plan to fully implement if Trump wins the 2024 election. Their vision is to take the country back to the 1920s/1930s to the halcyon time that never was (especially for women). Unfortunately, too many people have no recollection of life before Roe, and assume their autonomy is assured. It is not. Even things such as freedom to travel from one state to another or birth control are not guaranteed.
Can’t happen? That is what everyone thought about Roe v Wade, until the liars on SCOTUS took that right away. There is much more to the agenda and return to overt male dominance of American society is the objective. As the old adage and GOP vision goes, “keep them barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.”
Dobbs was only the beginningof the oppression/suppression that the anti-abortion activists have in mind. Do not be deceived by the SCOTUS decision on mifepristone. Remember, the court only declined the case because they stated the plaintiff had no standing. There are other similar cases in the mill. If you think the previous abortion laws moves were draconian, you should assume […]
: Michael Riojas and Chris McDermott, Reporter and Editorial Assistant for EcoWatch - EcoWatch
Stephan:
I think this is the beginning of an important trend, and I think we should pay close attention. The fossil fuel industries have been pouring tens of millions of dollars, maybe hundreds of millions in total over the last few years, into the coffers of corrupt politicians and governmental officials at every level from local to Federal. Criminal Trump made it as clear as it could be. He told the petroleum oligarchs when they came to Mar-a-Lago, “give me a billion dollars” and I will do what you want. The Supreme Court is also in their pocket, but lower level courts still have honorable people on the bench. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
Activists deliver a letter from thousands of climate disaster survivors urging the DOJ to investigate Big Oil for climate crimes, in Washington, DC on Aug. 15, 2024. Credit: Kevin Wolf / AP Content Services for Chesapeake Climate Action Network / Public Citizen
More than 10,000 survivors and loved ones of survivors of “climate-driven disasters” have signed an open letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) urging an investigation into fossil fuel companies for “climate-related crimes.”
Of the signatories, more than 1,000 were survivors of these disasters and more than 9,000 were loved ones. Public Citizen said they, along with Chesapeake Climate Action Network, delivered the letter to the DOJ.
The letter comes at a time of increased public pressure against the fossil fuel industry and during which climate-related civil lawsuits have increased at an unprecedented pace, and have been mostly successful.
“The burning of fossil fuels has racked up enormous profits for fossil fuel companies while stoking the fire of climate change and driving increasingly lethal extreme weather events that […]
Day after day the stories come out about what criminal Trump plans to do with the military to assure his authoritarian rule. Like his corruption he makes what he intends very clear. What amazes me is that millions of Americans are still willing to vote for this cretin. They don’t seem to understand what he is about, or maybe they do, and this is what they want. What is certain is that we need to have a election that is so overwhelming for Democrats that there is no way for the MAGAt Republicans to cheat.
Criminal Trump standing in front of military personnel. Credit: AP
Painting a grim portrait if Donald Trump is re-elected, the New York Times is reporting there is every reason to believe the former president will make use of the Insurrection Act to deploy the U.S. military against American citizens during protests he finds objectionable.
In a deep dive from the Times’ Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Charlie Savage, they write that close associates of the former president have been hard at work bolstering their case that the newly elected president can trample civil liberties without regard for the Posse Comitatus Act that “generally makes it a crime to use regular federal troops for domestic policing purposes.”
As they wrote, during his one term, the former president argued on multiple occasions to deploy military personnel to shut down protests and take control of the border. During a second term, he is not expected to have […]
And here we see what the Chevron decision of the corrupt MAGAt majority on the Supreme Court is doing to ordinary Americans. This is the world the corrupt justices have in mind. What I do not understand is why Biden has not stepped in? Why the Secretary of Defense is silent? Also, why isn’t this getting more media coverage?
Several air force bases are largely responsible for trichloroethylene (TCE) – volatile organic compounds – and PFAS contaminating drinking water sources in Tucson. Credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP / Getty
The US Air Force is refusing to comply with an order to clean drinking water it polluted in Tucson, Arizona, claiming federal regulators lack authority after the conservative-dominated US supreme court overturned the “Chevron doctrine”. Air force bases contaminated the water with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” and other dangerous compounds.
Though former US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials and legal experts who reviewed the Air Force’s claim say the Chevron doctrine ruling probably would not apply to the order, the military’s claim that it would represents an early indication of how polluters will wield the controversial court decision to evade responsibility.
It appears the Air Force is essentially attempting to expand the scope of the court’s ruling to thwart regulatory orders not covered by the decision, said Deborah Ann Sivas, director of the Stanford University Environmental Law Clinic.
“It’s very odd,” she added. “It feels almost like an intimidation tactic, but it will be interesting to […]
