Gamble with Water in the Wall Street, Trading the Liquid Future

FINANCE CAPITAL

A Journal of People report

Water stocks are not entirely new to investors. American Water, for instance, IPO’d back in 2008, but water as a sheer commodity like oil, gold or wheat, has never been traded on Wall Street until now. 

The United States is running out of water and Wall Street is now taking bets on how future shortages will play out.

Now, it has been three full days of trading the newest commodity contract out there. It is water. 

Facebook Illegally Crushed Competition, say U.S. and 48 States

THE RUTHLESS MONOPOLY 

A Journal of People report

Attorney General Letitia James of New York, who led the multistate investigation into Facebook, called for the courts on Dec. 9, 2020 to stop the company from its “anti-competitive” behavior to protect small businesses.

Attorneys general from 48 U.S. states and territories said they were filing their own lawsuit against Facebook, reflecting the broad and bipartisan concern about how much power Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have accumulated on the internet.

Tax and Politics: Major Australian Firms pay more in Political Donations than Taxes

BOURGEOISIE POLITICS 

A Journal of People report

Some of Australia’s largest corporations paid tax of 10 percent or less of their profit in 2018-2019, but made political contributions that are much more substantial. 

The corporate tax rate in Australia is 30 percent. However, deductions available to companies reveal a legal loophole allowing companies to pay much less.

According to latest data by the Australian Taxation Office, the country’s corporate giants, including energy enterprise Chevron Australia Holdings and car parks operator Wilson Parking Australia 1992, paid little or no tax in the last financial year despite declaring a profit of AU$900 million (about US$656 million) and AU$2.76 million (about US$2.1 million) respectively.

San Isidro: The Latest Episode of the Imperial Reality Show

IMPERIALIST PLOT IN CUBA

Enrique Ubieta Gómez

Granma | December 02, 2020

Cuban youth responded to the political provocation with a revolutionary “tángana.” Photo: Ariel Cecilio Lemus

Donald Trump is leaving. But some Cubans, who arouse only shame in others, are claiming him as their president. “Trump 2020,” they shout. As President, he’s done almost everything to choke the people of Cuba, and now he has the cynicism to say that this is to help them. When he blocked, delayed, or increased the cost of the arrival of petroleum shipments, when he blocked commerce and transfers of funds to the country, he said sarcastically that they don’t know how to manage their economy. Cuba, nevertheless, managed the pandemic and the international economic crisis in an exemplary fashion, and – in an outpouring of humanism – sent 53 medical brigades to poor countries and rich countries alike; Cuba created its medications and vaccines, absorbed the extensive damages of the intense tropical rainstorms … and left no one behind without help.

Who’s Behind the Anti-Cuban Show in San Isidro?

IMPERIALIST PLOT IN CUBA

Raúl Antonio Capote

Granma | December 01, 2020

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, left, shares a smile with Luis Almagro, secretary general of the discredited OAS, who wasted no time in expressing support for the latest anti-Cuban action. Photo: Granma

Since the end of the 19th century, the San Isidro neighborhood in Old Havana was considered a “tolerance zone,” until 1959, when life changed with the triumph of the Revolution.

It was a neighborhood of humble people, harassed by the presence of Yankee Marines who came ashore in search of fun and cheap sex. Once the butt of jokes, San Isidro now has 14 family doctors’ offices, a traditional medicine clinic, a veterinary clinic, three child care centers, a kindergarten and four schools.

Clinical Trials of Mambisa and Abdala Candidate Vaccines Approved

CUBA’S VACCINES FOR COVID-19

Photo: BioCubaFarma

After a careful review of the information presented, including evidence from pharmaceutical development and studies in animals, the Center for the State Control of Drugs, Equipment and Medical Devices (Cecmed), authorized the clinical trials of two new Cuban candidate vaccines to prevent COVID-19, given the names of Mambisa (CIGB-669) and Abdala (CIGB-66).

Trials of the first, created by researchers at the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center (CIGB), affiliated with the BioCubaFarma Enterprise Group, and administered nasally, will be conducted in Havana, while the human studies of Abdala, administered intramuscularly, will take place in the city of Santiago de Cuba.

The Most Lethal Virus Is Not COVID. It Is War

THE WRATH OF WARS

John Pilger

MintPress News | December 14, 2020

Britain’s Armed Services Memorial is a silent, haunting place. Set in the rural beauty of Staffordshire, in an arboretum of some 30,000 trees and sweeping lawns, its Homeric figures celebrate determination and sacrifice.

The names of more than 16,000 British servicemen and women are listed. The literature says they “died in operational theatre or were targeted by terrorists.”

Venezuela: Hilarious Headlines Reveal Hypocrisy of US Regime-Change Aspirations

IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION AGAINST VENEZUELA

Steve Lalla

INTERNATIONALIST 360° | December 11, 2020

Whereas the US political process has demonstrated all the solemnity of a Hollywood reality show, bona fide elections continue to take place in other nations, where elected leaders try to steer their countries through the morass of an American empire in decline.

“Trump did more for the liberation of humanity from Western imperialism, because of his crudeness, than any other US leader in history,” commented political analyst Laith Marouf. “The latest example was him calling the US elections a fraud. With that he made it impossible to undermine the elections in Venezuela.”

Ivan Duque Admits his Complicity in the Escape of Leopoldo López from Venezuela

IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION AGAINST VENEZUELA 

orinocotribune | December 13, 2020

President Iván Duque of Colombia confessed that his government had helped Leopoldo López escape outside the Venezuelan borders, although he did not provide the details.

To welcome the founder of Voluntad Popular, Duque said, “We know how in recent months you were exposed to losing your life due to the persecution of the regime and when that attempt to silence your soul, your spirit and your voice was imminent. I told you that here was Colombia.”

Science Magazine Report Praises China’s COVID-19 Vaccine

CHINA’S COVID-19 VACCINE

teleSUR | December 14, 2020

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan and State Councilor Wang Yong inspect the work on COVID-19 vaccine development and production at Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd. in Beijing, China, 02 December 2020 | Photo: EFE/EPA

China developed a COVID-19 vaccine with “outstanding efficacy data,” said a report published on the Science magazine website on Wednesday.

The Science magazine website has just published a report praising a Covid-19 vaccine China has developed and referred to its “outstanding efficacy data” as a relevant feature, compared to the other vaccines out in the market. The vaccine, developed by the China National Pharmaceutical Group (CNPG), had been under phase III trials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since June, involving 31,000 volunteers from 125 countries and regions.