As talk continues of US economy entering a ‘soft landing’, although many mainstream economists & capitalists still say recession 2024, today’s show reconsiders the data on jobs, inflation, etc. and takes an early look at 4th quarter/2023 GDP numbers due out later this week.
TO LISTEN GO TO:
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Listen to my January 5, 2023 Alternative Visions radio show and my Review of 2023 economic & political events + concluding commentary on latest attack on what remains of US democracy in the Colorado-Maine denial of ballot status for Trump, as well as other Republican-Democrat recent moves to restrict democracy.
TO LISTEN GO TO:
https://alternativevisions.podbean.com/e/alternative-visions-2023-review-colorado-maine-ballots/
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Ukraine is notorious as one of the most corrupt countries on the planet. But recent events have taken even that corruption to new creative levels. Listen to my December 1, 2023 Alternative Visions show and the explanation how Ukraine president, Zelensky, has been inviting a stream of Hollywood actors and celebrities to Kiev for photo ops, pays them out of government funds (perhaps the $1B/mo. US gives Ukraine to pay the wages & pensions of Ukraine govt workers), and has the Hollywood invitees sign a contract agreeing to kick back part of their fees to Zelensky. To his credit, Actor Danny Trejo refused to go along with the grift recently and publicly spilled the beans, which unfortunately still goes unmentioned and unreported by US mainstream media.
TO LISTEN GO TO:
SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT
Today’s shows raises the expose of Zelensky government corruption that US mainstream media has been assiduously avoiding. Actor Danny Trejo just spilled the beans on another Zelensky grift. US celebrities who have been trekking to Kiev apparently get paid $150,000 for their photo op with Zelensky, providing they kick back $50K in cash to Zelensky himself (whose wife just bought a $70m property in Cyprus). Rasmus asks if Z gets the original $150k per US celebrity visit from the $1B per month the US gives Ukraine to pay for the wages and pensions of all Ukraine government workers? Dr. Rasmus notes the corruption level appears to be rising as Ukraine’s army retreats from multiple war fronts and talk of a coup of the Zelensky government now grows. Dr. Rasmus reviews the state of the war and political instability in Ukraine amid rumors of Ukraine generals talking a deal with their Russian counterparts and restates his prediction the war will be over by this summer.
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Listen to my Alternative Visions radio show for the discussion on the current mainstream hype the US economy will experience a ‘soft landing’–i.e. slowing inflation but no recession. The discussion looks at the latest actual data for consumer spending, business investment, net exports and govt spending. Why inflation is actually higher than the index reports due to questionable methodologies that under-estimate prices; consumer spending and real business investment is less than reported; and why latest economic indicators suggest slower growth in the current 4th quarter and early next year. US economy ‘goods sector’ (manufacturing & construction) have been in recession for months. Likelihood for spillover to larger ‘services sector’ in 2024.
TO LISTEN GO TO:
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Watch my recent Youtube presentation on the topics of the causes of ever-growing Income Inequality in America, chronic Inflation, and its never-ending wars of empire.
To watch GO TO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8D_DStmKa0
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Listen to my October 27, 2023 Alternative Visions Radio Show and my analysis why preliminary US GDP for 3rd Quarter is not really the reported 4.9% and why GDP this winter is projected to slow to 1%.
The show then provides updates on the Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars. Why the Ukraine war is strategically decided now that Zelensky has called off the failed offensive. A new phase in what’s left of the war has begun and Zelensky won’t make it past another six months, as internal feuding between him and his generals intensifies.
The show discusses the massive US military buildup to the Israel-Hamas war and argues that buildup is not about just US support to Israels invasion of Gaza. The 4 US aircraft carriers, subs, and dozens of surface ships being positioned is overkill for just Israel Gaza invasion support. It is about provoking Iran as US neocons & Biden having decided on war with Iran. And if Iran doesn’t ‘take the bait’ then watch for another classic ‘false flag’ event the US will use to justify a massive air assault on Iranian bases and its nuclear facilities in particular
To listen GO TO:
https://alternativevisions.podbean.com/e/alternative-visions-war-and-us-gdp/
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Listen to my October 18, 2023 lengthy presentation and discussion on Bidenomics as Neoliberalism in decline, critique of mainstream economics and measures of employment and inflation, growing contradictions of US fiscal and monetary policies, US trade & dollar policies, sanctions, wars and decline of US global economic empire, and political consequences of neoliberalism and US empire in decline.
To watch the YouTube presentation go to:
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As an addition to my previous posted transcript of my Interview with France’s Perspectives Libres magazine (which is IN FRENCH and posted on this blog below)–on the subject of What is Neoliberalism and related US policies,
the following link is to the VIDEO of the interview IN ENGLISH:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qeF1dsda6k7yZ054aASLtu1dYHwk91Ac/view
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Watch my recent hour long interview with host, Paul Prescod, on the ‘What Is Revolution’ internet channel show, on this year’s (2023) historic juncture in fate of union labor in America. Topics discussed include tactics and strategy in the UAW and other strikes and union negotiations (Teamsters, Writers, Railroad workers in 2022), actors, etc. Will union labor reverse 44 years of concession bargaining? How will the unions address the decades-long wage and benefits stagnation and loss? How to address the existential threats to jobs from Artificial Intelligence? Why current forms of union organization may have to change. To Watch GO TO:
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While the capitalist system has undergone numerous restructurings throughout its history, capitalist elites purpose in restructuring has remained the same: to restore and/or extend their hegemony. The current restructuring, operative since 1978, is called Neoliberalism. The book examines Neoliberalism as both an Idea and an historical practice composed of a particular mix of fiscal-monetary-trade-industrial policies that began with the latest US capitalist restructuring in the late 1970s, continuing to evolve to this day. The book further explains the deeper material forces giving rise to - as well as now undermining - the Neoliberal policy regime, with special focus given to the crisis of Neoliberalism in the wake of the 2008-09 global crash, Obama's failure to resurrect it, and Trump's current doomed effort to restore it in a new, more aggressive form. Evidence why Neoliberalism is destroying US Democracy concludes the book's analysis.
Describes how US federal governments, often in cooperation with the largest US private banks, introduced and expanded central banking functions from 1781 through the creation of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Based on an analysis of the evolution of the US banking system - from pre-1781, through the 1787 US Constitutional Convention, Congressional debates on Hamilton's reports to Congress, the rise and fall of the 1st and 2nd Banks of the United States, and through the long period of the National Banking System form 1862-1913, the book shows how central banking in the US evolved out of the private banking system, and how following the financial crash of 1907 big New York banks pushed through Congress the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, creating a central bank which they then managed for their interests.
(Click on image) CENTRAL BANKERS is a comprehensive critique of central banks’ policies in the 21st century, explaining why the massive injections of free money to the banking system since the 1970s enabled the creation of excess corporate debt that has led to financial bubbles and repeated crises. The book addresses the growing contradictions of central banking, why they are failing in their functions, targets and tools, and proposes a radical democratization and restructuring to transform them to serve the public interest and not the private banks.
(Click on image) LOOTING GREECE, A New Financial Imperialism Emerges. This book - Reveals clearly who calls the shots in the Eurozone—the hardliners, not the remnants and political residue of what was once European social democracy, - Follows the negotiations in their excruciating detail as the Troika tightens the screws from 2009 to the present, - Shows how Europe’s financial elite enriches itself on Greek debt, privatizations and financial manipulations, turning Greece into an Economic Protectorate.
(Click on image): This book offers a new approach to explaining why mainstream economic analyses have repeatedly failed and why fiscal and monetary policies have been incapable of producing a sustained recovery. It explains why the global economy is slowing long term and becoming more unstable, why policies to date have largely failed the trend, and why the next crisis may therefore prove even worse than that of 2008-09.
(Click on image) Obama's Economy: Recovery for the Few, explains how the weakest and most lopsided economic recovery since 1947 has been the direct outcome of failed economic policies of the Obama administration and US Federal Reserve bank since February 2009. Includes a detailed 'alternative program' in the final chapter. Includes the book, a video DVD presentation, and 66-slide PPT slideshow.
(Click on image) Obama's Economy: Recovery for the Few, explains how the weakest and most lopsided economic recovery since 1947 has been the direct outcome of failed economic policies of the Obama administration and US Federal Reserve bank since February 2009. Includes a detailed 'alternative program' in the final chapter.
(Click on image) A theoretical analysis, with historical case examples, of origins, causes and future evolution of the recent--and continuing--economic crisis in the U.S. and global economy. Includes predictions in 2009 of the inevitable failure of Obama policies and more serious crisis to come, 2013-15.
(Click on image) Seven specific reasons why economic recovery under Obama since 2009 has failed for all but the wealthiest few and largest corporations. The book spells out eight specific areas as an Alternative Economic Recovery Program.
(Click on image) The War At Home: The Corporate Offensive From Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, is a 534 page, extensively researched, nonfiction book that describes the evolution of corporate-government policies from 1980 to 2005 that have shifted more than a $1 trillion dollars a year, every year, from 90 million American middle and working class households to the wealthiest 10% and corporations.
Dr. Jack Rasmus @drjackrasmus
Jack Rasmus 