The news stories and videos are coming out faster and in more numbers than allow for individual posting. So wherever possible we’re going to combine them.
Accountability
THE DIMMING (Trailer) Exposing The Global Climate GeoEngineering Cover-up Documentary
Hit graphic to view video
Thanks to Sharon.
Thanks to Sharon
California State Water Board is Manufacturing a Drought by Draining Reservoirs into the Ocean
Excerpts:
“In the last 14 days, 90% of Delta inflow went to sea. It’s equal to a year’s supply of water for 1 million people.
#ManMadeDrought,” Central Valley farmer Kristi Diener said.
Diener, a California water expert and farmer, has been warning steadily that water is unnecessarily being let out to sea as the state faces a normal dry year.
“Are we having a dry year? Yes,” Diener says. “That is normal for us. Should we be having water shortages in the start of our second dry year? No. Our reservoirs were designed to provide a steady five year supply for all users, and were filled to the top in June 2019.”
Don’t believe her?
“You’re looking at our largest reservoirs less than two years ago. They were absolutely teeming with water from 107% to 145% of average!” Diener says. “Our reservoirs held enough water for everyone who relies on them for their water supply, for 7 years. We are barely into our second dry year. WHERE DID IT GO?”
“Where did it go” indeed.
According to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, statewide water use averages 85 gallons per person per day.
But it’s always urban/residential water users ordered to conserve water: let lawns turn brown and landscaping die, limit showers and baths, wash clothing and dishes less frequently, and other absurd “helpful tips.”
Diener also asks,
“How can this year be the driest year on record when it has more than 7 months left? That’s just fake news and crisis creation.”
“Before our magnificent reservoir projects were built, California never had a steady and reliable supply of water. Now water is being managed as if those reserves don’t exist, by emptying the collected water from storage to the sea, rather than saving it for our routinely dry years,” Diener says.
“Our water projects were designed to be managed for the long term providing a minimum five year supply, but California has now put us on track to have a man made drought crisis every time we don’t have a wet season.”
Even San Francisco is suing the State Water Board. Diener explains:
The State Water Board’s 40% unimpaired flows plan is too radical. Requiring 40% of the Tuolumne River water to flow directly to the ocean without being used for anything else on its way, severely limits that river’s supply to Hetch Hetchy—the main water source for San Francisco.
The State Water Board has become the Department of Fish and Wildlife?
The Water Board has said they want to experimentally see if over time they can bring back about 1000 salmon, but it is such an extreme idea that some residents could be limited to as little as 7 gallons of water per person per day during back to back dry years, essentially making these regions uninhabitable.
Doug Obegi of the NRDC, along with other well funded nonprofits, have unleashed a barrage of negative press harshly criticizing the city, and chiding them for what they call ”being on the same side as Valley farmers.” But S.F. is not backing down on opposing the plan which gained approval by the cheerleading of Felicia Marcus, former State Water Resources Control Board Chair and NRDC attorney.
Deja vu: In 2018, we addressed the California Water Resources Control Board and lawmakers’ charges of its misplaced priorities:
As chairwoman of the California Water Resources Control Board, Felicia Marcus oversees a massive state bureaucracy with a $1 billion annual budget.
In a prescient op ed today (2018) in the Modesto Bee, Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced) had some harsh words for Marcus and her radical environmental cohorts. “Despite her promises to the contrary, she and her board have used their immense authority to jeopardize – not protect – the economy and drinking water supplies of the Northern San Joaquin Valley.”
Gray says, “The State Water Board claims it needs the water to help restore fish populations, but an earlier version of their own report suggested their plan would result in little more than an additional 1,000 fish per year.”
“Irrigation districts in Merced, Turlock and Modesto have all proposed responsible alternatives that call for a combination of increased water flows, habitat restoration and predation controls,” Gray said. “Unsurprisingly, the State Water Board has rejected those proposals out of hand while continuing to preach a preference for voluntary settlements.”
“The truth is, the board will never be happy until it gets our water – no matter the consequence to our economy or our drinking water supplies,” Gray added.
California’s residents, farmers and ranchers find themselves in this untenable situation once again.
Diener explains Gov. Newsom’s water-related budget proposals:
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent $5.1 billion drought response package will not be used to create water abundance either. Instead, about $1 billion dollars will be used to pay off now unaffordable water bills that were made too expensive by intentionally creating water scarcity. When water restrictions are imposed, supplier revenues fall. They have fixed costs to deliver water and must raise rates as a result. #UseLessPayMore.
If you want to delve more deeply, another article from 2016 delves into the “shadow government” appointees at the State Water Resources Control Board that ordered the release of massive amounts of water from the New Melones Reservoir and Lake Tulloch, to save a dozen fish, and how then-Gov.
Jerry Brown systematically booted a number of qualified people off of the California Water Commission, the body that was responsible for decisions on how to spend $2.7 billion in public funds for Prop. 1 Water Bond water storage projects.
**Source
Food pantries dry up as unemployment skyrockets
Emily DeCiccio, Fox News,
(https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/some-of-canadas-biggest-companies-saw-record-profits-during-the-pandemic)
Supply for food pantries low amid skyrocketing COVID-19 unemployment
Philanthropist and New York Mission Society Board Member Jean Shafiroff joins Fox News to discuss how she’s helping her community and raising awareness to help curb the growing numbers of food-insecure Americans
Skyrocketing unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic has been forcing a growing number of Americans to turn to charitable services for assistance as food insecurity among families with children grows.
Philanthropist and New York Mission Society board member Jean Shafiroff joined Fox News to discuss how she’s helping her community and raising awareness to help curb the growing numbers of food-insecure Americans. New York City Mission Society has been serving the city’s most underserved children since 1812. Recently, it has been making food and utility baskets for the children it serves and delivering them during the pandemic.
“I can’t tell you how desperately these food baskets are needed…In the New York tri-state area, we have a very serious situation because so many residents live at or below the poverty level,” Shafiroff told Fox News. “The food pantries across the area are very helpful…but the supply and the demand are not working the way they should right now. There is massive demand all over the country –39 million Americans out of work, and this translates into no food on the table.”
Shafiroff noted that a major issue during the pandemic has been getting food to the actual pantries, especially amid the shuttering of multiple meat processing plants across the country. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has even temporarily loosened its food labeling policies during the coronavirus pandemic to curtail supply chain disruptions and give producers more flexibility amid food shortages.
According to a Brookings analysis, almost 35 percent of households with children said they did not have sufficient food, that’s 14 percent higher than during the recession. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Shafiroff is encouraging those who can afford it to make donations to their local food pantry.
“I know my husband and I recently donated 10,000 meals to Heart of the Hamptons, which is a food pantry in the Hamptons, because we feel so strongly about providing food and being part of the solution,” said Shafiroff, who is also the author of “Successful Philanthropy: How to Make a Life By What You Give,” which explores the meaning of giving back in today’s era. “And of course, 10,000 meals really doesn’t mean much when you look at a country with 39 million people out of work, but if we all work together, I believe we can solve this problem.”
For more with Philanthropist and New York Mission Society Board Member Jean Shafiroff watch the full video above.
Emily DeCiccio is a reporter and video producer for Fox News Digital Originals. Tweet her @EmilyDeCiccio.
US Billionaires Surpass $1 Trillion in Wealth Gains During Pandemic as Essential Workers and Others Suffer
Zeitgeist, December 10th, 2020
(https://www.abzu2.com/us-billionaires-surpass-1-trillion-in-wealth-gains-during-pandemic-as-essential-workers-and-others-suffer/)
Wednesday, November 25, 2020 WASHINGTON – The total wealth gain of America’s billionaires has surpassed the $1 trillion mark, a 34 Percent rise since mid-March, the approximate start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
With the close of the markets on November 24, 2020, US billionaires had seen their combined wealth equal $1.008 trillion. The total wealth of U.S. billionaires is now almost $4 trillion ($3.956 trillion). These 650 billionaires now have twice as much wealth as the bottom 50 percent of all U.S. households.
The stock market surge has led to the emergence of the fifth “centibillionaire” in the world. French luxury titan Bernard Arnault joined Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk, in holding over $100 billion in wealth. Two years ago, there was only one centi-billionaire. Three years ago, there were none.
“The increases in billionaire wealth continue to defy gravity in the real economy where millions have lost their jobs, health and livelihoods,” said Chuck Collins, co-author of a recent report with published by IPS, Bargaining for the Common Good, and United for Respect, “Billionaire Wealth vs. Community Health.” He also co-authored IPS’ April report, Billionaire Bonanza 2020: Wealth Windfalls, Tumbling Taxes, and Pandemic Profiteers.
This inequality in response to economic distress is not normal or predetermined. According to IPS analysis, U.S. billionaires saw their fortunes decline in the years after the 2008 Great Recession along with everyone else. It wasn’t until almost four years later, in September 2012, that the total wealth of the Forbes 400 exceeded its 2008 pre-Great Recession levels.
Billionaire wealth increases tend to track stock market gains, which have been mostly shielded from the catastrophic losses in the real economy during the pandemic. But some billionaires have seen extraordinary wealth surges because their wealth is linked to companies that are well-positioned to extract enormous gains during the pandemic. These pandemic profiteers include:
- Elon Musk’s wealth grew over $100 billion since the start of the pandemic, from $24.6 billion on March 18 to $126 billion on November 24, an increase of 413%, boosted by his Tesla stock. His wealth now surpasses Bill Gates of Microsoft
- Jeff Bezos’s wealth grew almost $70 billion from $113 billion on March 18 to $182.4 billion.
- Dan Gilbert, chairman of Quicken Loans, saw his wealth rocket by over $37 billion, from $6.5 billion in March to $43.9 billion on November 24, 2020, an increase of 575 percent.
IPS’ full analysis of most recent billionaire wealth may be found here.
Read more at: https://www.abzu2.com/us-billionaires-surpass-1-trillion-in-wealth-gains-during-pandemic-as-essential-workers-and-others-suffer/
IPS recently published the report “Billionaire Wealth vs. Community Health” with Bargaining for the Common Good and United for Respect. It studied the plight of essential workers in billionaire-controlled companies. Essential workers, lauded as heroes during the pandemic, find themselves underpaid and required to put their health at risk by companies, including some owned or operated by billionaires. The report focused on the “Delinquent Dozen” companies that should do more to protect and support their workers while they reaped billions.
To address pandemic profiteering, IPS supports a pandemic profiteering tax, such as the “Make Billionaires Pay Act” introduced in Congress in August. The bill proposes a one-time, 60 percent tax exclusively on billionaires’ gains between March 18 and the end of this year.
Based on past estimates of billionaire wealth gains, the tax would generate between $450 billion and $550 billion that could be channeled to pandemic response, including paid sick leave, hazard pay for essential workers, and emergency unemployment assistance.
Funds could also be directed to state governments for public services, for maintaining weekly $600-per-week expanded unemployment payments, or paying out another round of $1,200 stimulus checks, all of which the House-passed Heroes Act would do, according to Americans for Tax Fairness.
According to IPS analysis, even with the new tax, U.S. billionaires would still have over an estimated $450 billion in gains during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
IPS published additional recommendations in its April report, Billionaire Bonanza 2020: Wealth Windfalls, Tumbling Taxes and Pandemic Profiteers:
- Establish a Pandemic Profiteering Oversight Committee that goes beyond oversight of stimulus funds.
- Discourage wealth hiding through passage of the Corporate Transparency Act. Levy an emergency 10 percent Millionaire Income Surtax.
- Unleash an Emergency Charity Stimulus to mandate payouts of 10 percent payouts for donor-advised funds (DAFs) and private foundations for three years.
- Make the federal estate tax more progressive and institute a wealth tax. Shut down the global hidden wealth system. Source: https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/11/25/us-billionaires-surpass-1-trillion-wealth-gains-during-pandemic-essential-0
ADDENDUM
To attempt to have some type of realistic perspective on this phenomena during the current plandemic, take a look at an evaluation of the wealth inequality, in only the U.S.A., that was made in 2012.
The 1% of the super-wealthy in that evaluation, which went off the chart, has now gone stratospheric turning the poor and the middle class into a flat line in comparison. This must end and will. The eternal raising of the debt ceiling in the U.S.A. is a pathetic attempt to obscure the fact that it is a de facto bankrupt country. Pure Hollywood make-believe fiction. Confusion between printing “money” and true wealth, which is equality (distribution of wealth) Debt is currently over 27 trillion dollars $27,000,000,000,000 and increasing non-stop with no signs of any solution to the problem. You can see the mind-boggling real-time financial debt situation . A good explanation of what the debt ceiling means is available . For an understanding of some (tip of the iceberg) of the forces at play regarding the bankster scams, strongly recommend reading: The Creature from Jekyll Island, By Edward Griffin
Billionaire Data on November 24, 2020 - Master ListRead more at: https://www.abzu2.com/us-billionaires-surpass-1-trillion-in-wealth-gains-during-pandemic-as-essential-workers-and-others-suffer/
Some of Canada’s biggest companies saw record profits during the pandemic
Corporate COVID profiteers include major real estate companies, TC Energy, and retail giant Couche-Tard
D.T. Cochrane, Canadian Dimension, May 29, 2021
(https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/some-of-canadas-biggest-companies-saw-record-profits-during-the-pandemic)
According to research by Canadians for Tax Fairness, dozens of large corporations raked in record profits during the pandemic, with many using public subsidies. Photo from Unsplash.
It was clear, early in the pandemic, that the economic fallout would be unequally distributed. Unsurprisingly, in an unequal society, crises have unequal effects. However, few anticipated that the pandemic could mean boom times for some. But that is precisely what happened. While lost wages, lost jobs, and small business closures generated headlines, many of Canada’s largest corporations quietly managed to achieve record profits.
Research by Canadians for Tax Fairness identified 50 companies that had their highest ever profits in 2020. Our results came from analyzing 142 Canadian companies with annual profits of more than $100 million.
The 50 record-setters include some household names, as well as less familiar corporations. At the top of the list was insurance giant Manulife. Number two was controversial pipeline company TC Energy. Rounding out the top three was the convenience store chain Couche-Tard, which increased its profits by more than 33 percent over 2019.
One of the biggest gains went to Ontario’s recently privatized electric utility Hydro One. The company’s profits increased by a whopping 125 percent. Part of the increase came from higher revenue. However, Hydro One’s record-setting result was primarily due to more than doubling its profit margin from 12 to 25 percent.
Despite enjoying record profits, most of the 50 companies managed to pay taxes below the statutory corporate income tax rate. Once again, Hydro One is a stand-out. Not only did the company not pay any net corporate income tax in 2020, it actually recorded a tax benefit of more than $700 million.
Research by Canadians for Tax Fairness identified 50 companies that had their highest ever profits in 2020. Among them, seven collected the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), either directly or through a subsidiary. Image by Canadian Dimension.
We found that a majority of the 50 companies have at least one subsidiary in a known tax haven. Though we don’t have the data to know the extent to which any of these companies profited from those subsidiaries, we do know that diverting profits through tax havens is one of many methods that companies use to side-step their tax obligations.
Among the 50 companies, we also found seven that collected the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), either directly or through a subsidiary. Those seven were Couche-Tard, Tourmaline Oil, CCL Industries, Alamos Gold, Canfor, Interfor, and Enghouse Systems. Additionally, several franchisees of furniture powerhouse Leon’s collected CEWS.
Couche-Tard, Tourmaline Oil, CCL Industries, and Alamos Gold also have subsidiaries in tax havens. Further, those four companies increased their dividend payments. That means it is possible they took the wage subsidy from the federal government, while using tax havens to reduce their taxes, and increasing the amount of money sent to shareholders.
Do not feel too sorry for the companies that failed to set a record profit level. Among the 92 other companies we analyzed the combined profits were still more than $90 billion. TD Bank saw its profits decline by less than one percent thanks to an increase in its profit margin to 25 percent. This allowed it to eclipse RBC and become Canada’s most profitable company.
And you definitely should not feel sorry for the shareholders of these 92 non-record-setters. A majority of both the 50 record-setting and 92 non-record-setting companies increased their dividends. This sent an extra $6.6 billion into the coffers of their shareholders. TC Energy increased its dividend payout by a staggering 61 percent
We have long been told that profit-seeking benefits us all because it makes companies more innovative and more efficient. However, that many of Canada’s biggest companies continued to reap huge profits while the economy suffered its largest decline of the post-war era should raise eyebrows, if not alarm bells. This is significant evidence that what is good for corporations is not necessarily good for the rest of us.
Decades of reducing corporate income tax rates were justified with the same argument that defends profits. By cutting taxes, goes the claim, we leave companies with more money to invest in pursuit of more profit. That investment, the argument continues, will create jobs and prosperity.
However, both in the wider economy, and in the companies we analyzed, all cuts to corporate income tax have done is make the rich richer. By the end of 2020, the 142 corporations that we examined had increased their cash holdings by 57 percent to $1.5 trillion. Unsurprisingly, both financial and non-financial corporations were spooked by the uncertainty of the pandemic, so they hoarded their cash rather than invest it. This was a distillation of broader uncertainty, in part due to the climate crisis.
To support people during the pandemic, and to keep the financial system from collapsing, the federal government stepped in with unprecedented levels of deficit spending. The money spent will inevitably trickle up to people who do not need it and did not earn it.
Corporate taxes are one way for the government to keep the money moving and pay for the support it must continue to provide. However, they are also a way for governments to check the growing power of corporations.
With the justification for lower corporate taxes having failed, it is long past time to reverse those cuts. The Biden administration announced that it plans to increase its corporate tax rate. It is also advocating for a global minimum rate. The Canadian government should follow its lead.
The full report, including data on those 50 companies, is available on the website of Canadians for Tax Fairness. You can read it here.
D.T. Cochrane is an economist and policy researcher with Canadians for Tax Fairness. D.T. has lived in Ontario for more than 20 years, but still considers himself a Saskatchewanian at heart.
Thanks to Brian.
Warning from President Trump to the Evildoers “The Gloves Are Off”
(https://rumble.com/vi7bh7-powerful-warning-from-president-trump-to-the-evildoers-the-gloves-are-off.html)
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