Wednesday, August 15, 2018, was the 47th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s Aug. 15, 1971 announcement that he was taking the dollar off the gold standard, which de facto meant the destruction of the post-war Bretton Woods system. This opened the floodgates to the creation of a London-based “dollar” currency for global speculation, a cancer which ended up taking over the U.S.-based dollar itself. It also was the end of the entire fixed exchange rate system for trade between nations, which meant that, for developing sector nations, the wall between international speculation and their national currencies was demolished. Whole nations once again became colonial satraps of the City of London with a living hell of war, drugs, and poverty quickly taking over.
A Note To Readers
The quote above is from a LaRouche PAC statement, of which you will find the entirety of it on page 14 of this report. Suffice it to say, for now, that 47 years of a deregulated financial system has not only collapsed the real physical economy of the United States, but also created a population that does not even know the difference between industry, infrastructure and scientific progress on one side, and gambling casinos on the other. In This Week's Report There continues to be some excitement about the President's tweets regarding California fires this past week, but also some serious discussion regarding especially the necessity of a dramatic change required in forest management practices. That will be covered in the report below, beginning on page 10. But, we shall begin this week's report, as is my usual practice with coverage of the drought conditions, the climate and the weather. Also included in this section is coverage of the fires. Wildfires, of course, are still in the headlines, but rather than just reprint what is readily available, I shall cut the articles short and mostly post here links to the more interesting ones. Beginning on page 5 is the Oroville Dam Update, which has extended excerpts from an excellent article on the state of the construction repair by Paul Rogers of the Bay Area News Group. Under the title of “Water War,” the two fields of battle: The “California WaterFix,” and the State Water Board proposal to require a 40% unimpaired flow standard for the Lower San Joaquin River and its tributaries, are featured. Both battles are both coming to a head and will largely shape for decades to come whether the California water management system shall be able to provide the people of the state with the water required for its future population. “Fires and Forests” provides some insight into one of the topics of the President's tweets on the California fires-- the overgrown and littered forests that provide the fuel for the extreme intensity of recent years' fires. Infrastructure news this week included just one item: “Building More Nuclear Plants Lowers Electricity Prices; Closing Them Will Raise Prices.” Then on the topic of trade and tariffs, which the present state of near trade war with China is devastating some in the agriculture sector, we have a warning from China that the lost trade by farmers may never be recovered. The full article from which the introductory quotation above is taken, “Financial Blowout Before the U.S. Midterm Elections in November,” comes next. Finally, the Feature this week has the links to all eight parts of the series of classes on LaRouche's Economics.
