www.californiadroughtupdate.org/20200827-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report.pdf?_t=1598653790
“As the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc with the global economy, and as many nations are brutally confronted with the reality of their own economic vulnerabilities, a welcome revival of serious economic discussion has begun to emerge within the United States. This is taking place within what are normally characterized as both the “left” and “right” of the political spectrum.”
From this week’s Feature
A Note To Readers
California is on fire. Last year at this time 4,292 fires had burned 56,000 acres. As of two days ago, this year more than 7,000 fires have burned more than 1.4 million acres. And this is just the start of the fire season. Already two of the fires started by l3,000 lighting strikes ten days ago have become the second and third largest fires in California history.
We really did not need this, not with the COVID-19 pandemic and the financial and economic collapse, that was ripe to go, just waiting for such a trigger as provided by the Corona Virus.
The important question is not, “when will we get back to normal?” but can the American people finally recognize that it was the system of financial speculation, neo-liberal economics and the taking down of the real physical economy that set us up for such a crisis? Then add to that something even more important– the neo-con war mongers who have infiltrated the Trump administration and are leading the U. S. into a confrontation with China and Russia that can damn well lead to nuclear war, despite the President’s often stated intent to create better relations with Russia and China and to end, once and for all, the regime change wars of the Bush and Obama administrations.
All this will be addressed at the upcoming September 5-6 on-line conference of the Schiller Institute:
September 5-6, 2020 Online Conference
War Drive Towards Armageddon, Or a New Paradigm Among Sovereign Nations United by the Common Aims of Mankind?
The conference invitation can be found at the link immediately above.
In the Rest of This Week’s Report
The U.S. Drought Monitor for California shows a 10% jump in one week of the area of the state now in the “Severe Drought” category. Other categories stayed the same.
Yes, California is burning, and we have some summary articles that highlight the important ideas one should be familiar with to understand the extent of the damage and the driving elements of why these fires are so extreme.
Next some follow-up to last week’s coverage of the rolling blackouts during the not so extreme heat wave in California, which, as the state has shut down coal, gas and nuclear electrical generating capacity, and now increasingly relies on intermittent, and thus unreliable, solar and wind power for about 25% of the electricity produced in the state.
National Hydropower Day was August 24, and the Trump administration issued a statement, emphasizing the administration’s commitment to maintaining and expanding hydropower in the country.
Under the title, “The Speculative Bubble vs. the Real Economy,” three items cover the topic.
In contrast to that, the Feature this week– “Some Items on How a Real Economy Must Be Run”– must be seen in the context of how in the U.S., the formal de-structuring of local and state government functioning is underway. FEMA, the National Guard, and other initiatives by the Trump Administration are crucial, but cannot substitute for economic depth. There is not only the insane campaign to “de-fund” police departments, but there is a huge loss of public sector workers of all kinds—from waterworks employees, to clerks, mechanics and other staff, due to the loss of revenue of state, county and other vital entities—port authorities, airports, etc. Over half a million such public sector jobs have been canceled in just the past six months, estimates the National League of Cities.
