EDITORIAL

The Aesthetic Education of Man Is the Only Solution

Nov. 21 (EIRNS)—After nearly 50 years of British free trade economics imposed on the United States and Europe, the entire edifice is now collapsing. Credible studies show that the declining standard of living in France, Italy, Greece, and increasingly even in Germany, has created the conditions for a mass strike process, protesting the extreme poverty. The UN issued a report on the British economy by their Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Prof. Philip Alston, which said that it is “patently unjust” that so many British subjects are living in poverty. “This is obvious,” he wrote, “to anyone who opens their eyes to see the immense growth in food banks and the queues waiting outside them, the people sleeping rough in the streets, the growth of homelessness, the sense of deep despair that leads even the government to appoint a minister for suicide prevention and civil society to report in depth on unheard-of levels of loneliness and isolation.” In the U.S., while the collapse of infrastructure has created the conditions for disastrous fires and floods to ravage the land, and while the basic infrastructure of many of our major cities is crumbling, it is now estimated that one-third of the population cannot meet their basic costs of living. Over 134,000 people are homeless in California alone. And now the financial bubble is ready to burst, from a condition far worse that that leading to the 2008 crash.

When Richard Nixon “pulled the plug” (as Lyndon LaRouche phrased it) on the Bretton Woods system in 1971, allowing speculators to wreak havoc in the currency and commodities markets, Nixon admitted he had abandoned the American System, saying: “I am now a Keynesian in economics.” The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 began the process of stripping European nations of their sovereignty, setting up a system in Brussels of unelected oligarchs to dictate policies, accountable only to the City of London.

LaRouche warned at every turn that the rejection of the American System of Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt, in favor of British-style “freedom” for Wall Street and the City of London to loot the real economy, would lead inevitably to global depression and global war. Mankind now faces those dangers in the near term. LaRouche also posed the necessary solution, in the return to the policies last seen under Roosevelt—the Bretton Woods system of fixed currency rates and credit for development, Glass-Steagall reform of the banking system, national banking institutions to generate credit for infrastructure and agro-industrial development, and forging ahead on the frontiers of human knowledge, in science as well as in the arts. That positive option is also within our grasp today.

President Donald Trump will be holding bilateral summits with Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in just nine days, in Argentina. While several of his cabinet secretaries are issuing almost daily denunciations of both Russia and China, Trump is optimistic regarding the establishment of friendly relations with both. Having nearly defeated the fake Russiagate coup attempt against him run by Robert Mueller on behalf of MI6, while also defeating the Democratic Party’s effort to take over the Senate to facilitate an impeachment process, Trump is showing the initiative to make these summit meetings a turning point for America, and for the world. Whether or not he succeeds is dependent largely on the will of the American people, whom he reached out to directly through his astonishing 45 mass public rallies before the November 2018 election. In turn, the capacity of that huge popular base of support to impact the future of mankind is an evolving process, dependent on the level of “aesthetic education” (using Friedrich Schiller’s term) of a population which has been otherwise degraded by economic deprivation, cultural decay, drugs, and the ugliness of the violent and perverse “entertainment” foisted onto the population by Wall Street and Hollywood.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche addressed this profound crisis today, after being briefed on the poverty and chaos spreading across Europe and the United States. “This reminds me of the last days of the [Soviet bloc trade system] Comecon,” she said, “as the infrastructure and the base of the economic system collapsed. There is no remedy in sight other than the joining of the United States with Russia and China. Without Russia and China there can be no New Bretton Woods, nor can the U.S. and Europe fully join in the one operation which expresses hope for peace through development—the Belt and Road Initiative.”

Reflecting on the beauty of the Schiller Institute NYC Chorus and Orchestra Concert celebrating Friedrich Schiller’s 259th birthday in Manhattan last Sunday, featuring the music of Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, and African-American Spirituals, together with the poetry and prose of Schiller and Shakespeare, Zepp-LaRouche noted: “The only solution lies in the aesthetic education of man. This was recognized by Schiller, by Confucius, by Lessing—it is the only remedy.”

The video of the concert, performed at the beautiful St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue at the scientific tuning of C=256 Hz, will be available soon for international distribution.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Homelessness in the U.S. Is Shameful—and It’s on the Rise

Nov. 21 (EIRNS)—The homelessness crisis in the city of Los Angeles is such that one non-profit group, Safe Parking LA, now designates certain parking lots as safe to be used by individuals who live in their cars. The group provides security guards, portable toilets, WiFi and solar-powered electrical chargers to people who may have full-time jobs, but cannot afford exorbitantly-priced housing.

This is just one alarming aspect of the U.S. homelessness crisis in major U.S. cities discussed by Bloomberg News Nov. 20. The crisis is greatest in West Coast cities—San Diego, Tacoma, and Seattle among them. A total of 10 West Coast cities have declared states of emergencies related to homelessness in recent years. San Diego and Tacoma recently began erecting tents normally used for disaster relief to provide shelter for the homeless. Sacramento and Seattle are expected to do so in the near future.

The astronomical cost of housing is one major cause of homelessness. According to the government’s Freddie Mac agency, from 2010 to 2016, the portion of affordable rental units for low-income people fell by 62%. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles was $2,371 in September—a 43% increase from 2010. McKinsey & Co. consulting firm concluded that there is a 96% correlation between the increase in housing costs and Seattle’s soaring rate of homelessness.

William Yu, an economist at UCLA, told LA Weekly that the three states where homelessness is highest—Hawaii, New York and California—all have rents far above the average. (He notes that Washington, D.C. has an even higher homeless rate.)

As for Los Angeles, Yu says, “I have never seen a situation as shocking as in L.A.” In his own study, he found that while the percentage of homeless people in the United States, and even in California, remains “stable,” the percentage of homeless has been rising in Los Angeles County. Bloomberg reports that L.A.’s homeless population stands at 52,765, up 47% from 2012. The number of people homeless for the first time has increased by 16% just in the last year. Yet Los Angeles County last year provided shelter for 5,000 fewer people than in 2011.

In January this year, the annual homeless census done by the government’s Housing and Urban Development department placed California’s homeless population at 134,000, a 14% increase over 2016. About two-thirds of homeless individuals were unsheltered. A severe scarcity of homeless shelters is forcing people onto the streets or into their cars in several states.

President Trump ‘Optimistic’ about Talks with China, While Trade Rep Lighthizer Acts as Saboteur

Nov. 21 (EIRNS)—In an interview yesterday with Fox Business host Stuart Varney, Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, gave an upbeat assessment of how things look going into the G20 summit (Nov. 30-Dec. 1) and the meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

This stands in stark contrast to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who just issued a 53-page report, under section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, attacking China. Beijing, his report charged, has “not fundamentally altered its unfair unreasonable and market-distorting practices” outlined in a March 2018 report on the same subject. The latest report rants that, “despite repeated U.S. engagement efforts and international admonishments of its trade technology transfer policies, China did not respond constructively and failed to take any substantive actions to address U.S. concerns.”

Kudlow, on the other hand, said in his interview with Varney that President Trump “is trying to inject a note of optimism” into trade talks with China, “and I think that’s terrific…. He believes that China would like a deal, but he has also told me on a number of occasions that any deal between the two countries has got to be in America’s interests, without any question.” Kudlow reiterated that there continue to be “very detailed communications at all levels of government,” and that the situation is greatly improved compared to three or four weeks ago, an improvement he attributed to President Trump himself.

He indicated that, of course, any agreement must include issues such as intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer, zero tariffs, an end to Chinese cyberhacking, etc. But, he continued, “Having said that, the President is taking an optimistic view, as he has said many times.” [emphasis added] Kudlow only joked when Varney asked him whether Trump were listening “to you or Peter Navarro,” the anti-China guru, whom Kudlow has ridiculed in the past over statements contradicting Trump’s efforts at cooperation with China. It is instructive, however, that China-hater Navarro, the White House Director of Trade and Industrial Policy, will not be attending the G20 summit, according to the South China Morning Post.

The SCMP notes that Navarro’s exclusion from the Argentina trip, and the “high-stakes dinner” between Trump and Xi, “comes amid signs from both sides that they want to make progress at the summit.”

New Jersey Legislature May Pass Legalized Pot

Nov. 21 (EIRNS)—New Jersey may have legalized pot following a legislative session to take place after Thanksgiving. If the legalization of recreational use is not passed, then the potheads are confident that they will pass another bill to so expand “medical” marijuana that it will essentially constitute legalization.

NJ Spotlight news website reports today that, in addition to the recreational use bill, there is bipartisan support for expanding medical pot: “Among the most notable changes for medicinal marijuana is one that would allow any physician—not just those who register—to prescribe cannabis for any diagnosed condition, not only those already prescribed by law or state policy.” This includes “any ailments, including to treat the side effects of an illness.” Another bill would “allow more patients to qualify for the program without exhausting other treatments first, something required in the current law for several ailments. It would also allow physicians assistants and advance practice nurses to prescribe the drug, if they were licensed to dispense other controlled substances.”

Although one of the selling points for legalizing pot is that it would generate tax revenue, the new bills “would eliminate the current 6.6% sales tax on medicinal marijuana over three years, and significantly reform how it can be prescribed.”

Another bill being promoted “would expand program access to designated caregivers, including those in hospitals or nursing homes, allow terminally ill patients unlimited medicine (!), and provide new legal protections for participants, in addition to phasing out the sales tax and reducing program costs for patients.”

The report adds: “Legalizing recreational marijuana was a campaign pledge from Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and he has faced growing public pressure to get it done, despite concerns raised by some in law enforcement and local government about public safety, enforcement capacity, and health impacts.”

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

The Mass Strike Ferment Continues To Spread in France

PARIS, Nov. 21 (EIRNS)—The Yellow Vests movement—named for the highway safety vests that European motorists must have—continued its deployments nationwide, following the very successful actions Saturday, Nov. 17, with fewer people during the workweek, but with the same determination and new tactics. On Tuesday, Nov. 20, according to the government, 27,000 barricades were set up by the Yellow Vests nationwide, this time targeting the major highways and also key gas stations. The government moved in to remove the blockades on Nov. 19 and 20, but actions are continuing today and the demand is increasingly circulating among the Yellow Vests for a major demonstration at Place de la Concorde in Paris on Saturday, Nov. 24. The government is trying to stop it on the pretext that it is very difficult to ensure security there.

Most important, however, has continued to grow and to draw support from other sectors of the working population, in a typical mass strike development. Yesterday the first major trade union endorsed the movement, the transport section of the Force Ouvrière national trade union, the third largest confederation. The union head called on all its members, chauffeurs, logistics etc., not to go on strike, but to act to expand the movement. Already on Nov. 17, many had joined spontaneously the Yellow Vests in the blockades, to help them organize, including in security measures and managing a mass movement. Since Saturday, the movement has also been joined by farmers, who deploy with their tractors, and by fishermen, whose energy costs and cost of living have escalated massively.

The government is trying to discredit the movement by playing up isolated acts of violence, as well as a single incident in which a woman whose car was surrounded by Yellow Vests and blocked from moving, panicked and drove her way through, killing one of the demonstrators. The Yellow Vest movement is, on the whole, a spontaneous movement, which lacks experience in handling a mass movement.

The Association of French Mayors (AMF), the only class of elected officials whom the population still respect and trust, has lost trust with French President Emmanuel Macron and his government. The AMF are now holding their annual congress in Paris, and for the first time, the President of France, is not attending. Fearing the hostility and the heckling he would get, Macron tried to pull a fast one on the Mayors Association, by inviting a leading group of them to come dine with him at the Elysée instead. Several mayors who occupy high positions in national municipal organizations rejected the invitation. Just prior to the AMF Congress, a poll was published showing that half the French mayors are considering not running for reelection in the next term, because of the heinous conditions which have been created for them in the last years. On the one hand, the level of juridical responsibility of mayors has been reinforced, giving citizens the possibility of suing mayors, often for illegitimate reasons.

At the same time, the 2008 crisis aggravated the exodus of rural people to the larger cities, resulting in closed schools, public transport, coffee shops, bakeries, and medical facilities. On top of this, the successive national governments have eliminated local housing and real estate taxes which the mayors had used for local investments, the loss of which Paris is not reimbursing. Worse, because of the budget austerity imposed by the EU, the state has sharply reduced its contribution to the local governments during the last period. This has resulted in a situation, in which mayors, who often worked without pay, considering the job a contribution to public welfare, now are disgusted and want to quit!

U.S.-British ‘Attribution Mechanism’ Will Wreck Chemical Weapons Prohibition

Nov. 21 (EIRNS)—The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is in the midst of its annual meeting in The Hague, where the U.S. and the U.K. have been intent on building on their victory, last June, in gaining the OPCW’s approval for giving the organization the authority to assign blame, the so-called “attributive mechanism,” when it investigates an alleged chemical weapons incident. Yesterday, the organization voted 99-27 to increase the OPCW budget in order to fund the new mechanism, after rejecting a Chinese-Russian proposal to block the new team which has been formed to assign blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. That power had originally been assigned to a joint United Nations-OPCW investigation which expired last year after Russia had vetoed its extension. China, which voted against the budget, called for an end to the “present atmosphere of polarity and politicization.”

Reuters reports that Russia had lobbied hard to win a reversal of the June adoption of the British proposal to set up the attributive mechanism. It will be recalled that the U.S. and U.K. had already decided that the Syrian government was to blame for attacks in that country before there was any investigation, making the new mechanism a very dubious proposal. “This organization will be left in shambles,” said Magzhan Ilyassov, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to the OPCW, who supports Russia’s position. He said the new team should not be funded and that the OPCW “will continue to disintegrate and fall apart.”

More U.S. Sanctions on Russia and Iran, as Russia Responds ‘Self-Deception Is a Dangerous Thing’

Nov. 21 (EIRNS)— The U.S. Treasury put six individuals and three organizations on its sanctions list, claiming they were involved in oil shipments to the Syrian government. They include the Russian companies Global Vision Group and Promsyryeimport, and the latter company’s first deputy director Andrei Dogayev, two Iraqi nationals, a Lebanese, a Syrian and an Iraqi, as well as the Iranian-registered Tadbir Kish Medical and Pharmaceutical Company. The Treasury claims the scheme was aimed to support Syrian President Bashar Assad and provide financial assistance to Hezbollah and Hamas.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted on Nov. 20: “Today’s US Treasury action targeting the Russia-Iran oil scheme to prop up Assad, and finance Hizballah & Hamas, sends a clear message: there are grave consequences for anyone shipping oil to Syria, or trying to evade U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s terrorist activities.”

In response to the new sanctions, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement, reported by TASS: “Accusations concerning oil supplies to Syria—a country whose armed forces have been fighting terrorist aggression for over seven years—look like a statement of support for terrorists, and also show a desire to prevent the reconstruction of the war-torn country, where many people live without electricity and heating. Is it what the United States really wants?”

The Russian ministry continued: “At the same time, the main reasons for sanctions are rooted in the domestic political struggle in the United States, where each of the parties seeks to score points by whatever means, particularly by taking steps at the international level. As a result, these steps turn out to be clumsy,” the statement reads.

“Washington has been demonstrating its inability to make our country change its independent stance at the international stage. U.S. politicians should start getting rid of illusions about the United States’ omnipotence that they convinced themselves of. Self-deception is a dangerous thing.”

ECONOMY

Japan Arrests Auto’s Global Austerity King Carlos Ghosn in Massive Misconduct Scandal

Nov. 21 (EIRNS)—Japanese authorities on Nov. 19 arrested Carlos Ghosn, the renowned king of cost-cutting and wage austerity in the global auto market, after Nissan informed authorities of an internal investigation finding he misstated his income and personal use of company assets and expense accounts. As of today, he will be held another 10 days pending official investigations on whether formally press charges, according to Japan Times. Ghosn is chairman of Nissan and Mitsubishi, and CEO and Chairman of Groupe Renault.

“Le Cost Killer,” as Ghosn became known at Renault, was clearly not killing his own costs: Quite the contrary, he was using Nissan company expense funds and assets for his personal use and had the company greatly his remuneration and income from stock appreciation rights.

Beginning early in this century Ghosn managed gradually to merge Renault with Nissan, and then later to add Mitsubishi Auto, and ran them all, imposing rigid austerity until more and more quality-control problems arose with those cars. Ghosn also directly contributed to destroying the UAW union wage level in the United States, by busting the starting wage down to half of the union level with new Nissan plants in Mississippi and North Carolina. Until then, the non-union foreign automakers in the South and California had been paying the same wage as UAW members made, though with lower and slower benefits. Ghosn changed that, and—with the help of those state governments—defeated UAW attempts to unionize those plants.

Ghosn’s personal corruption fills out the picture of a rigid enforcer of austerity upon employees, supply companies and others. He was arrested after an internal investigation by Nissan found “significant acts of financial misconduct.” Procedures now appear to be underway to remove him as chairman and/or CEO of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi.

THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER

South America’s Bioceanic Railroad Moving Forward, with Nine Countries Onboard

Nov. 21 (EIRNS)—Bolivia’s Public Works Minister Milton Claros reported yesterday that, at the beginning of December, representatives of a Swiss-German consortium will be in La Paz to make a formal presentation on financing the construction of the $14 billion bioceanic railroad project, wrote Opinion.com.bo today. The rail line will extend from the Brazilian port of Santos on the Atlantic to the Peruvian port of Ilo on the Pacific.

It’s not easy to work out the financing for such a large project, Claros said, which is why the consortium has proceeded so carefully, working from very meticulous technical studies. In addition, he reported, Spain is shortly expected to make its own financing proposal, while Russia has indicated its desire to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Bolivia to join the project.

The Public Works Minister also reported, according to AméricaEconomía publication Nov. 19, that a total of nine nations have either signed Memoranda of Understanding or issued official declarations saying they wish to be part of the bioceanic corridor project. These include Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, and the northern Argentine province of Jujuy.

The entire length of the bioceanic line is 3,755 km, 3,000 of which are already built, but require major rehabilitation or rebuilding. Another 755 km in parts of Peru and Bolivia must be built from scratch. On Nov. 8, the Bolivian Information Agency (ABI) reported Claros’ statement that the bioceanic project is not simply a rail line, but will also include construction of at least three megaports, one in Santos, one at Carmelo Peralta in Paraguay, and the third in Ilo. “We have to think about ports, connectivity and the logistics chain. It’s of no use to us to have an effective rail system, if we don’t also have an effective distribution of ports.” There must be a “multimodal logistics chain,” he emphasized.

Xi Jinping in Philippines—Joint Development of South China Sea

Nov. 21 (EIRNS)—Xi Jinping completed a two-day visit to the Philippines today, where he and President Rodrigo Duterte signed 29 cooperative documents and lifted bilateral ties to the level of comprehensive strategic cooperation.

Two MOUs were signed, on Cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative, and on Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development in the South China Sea, as well as cooperation in mineral, energy and other marine resource development, according to a joint statement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a daily briefing today that “China also looks forward to enhancing communication with other countries in the South China Sea on such cooperation.”

There were demonstrations against Duterte and Xi by opposition groups, and threats to bring impeachment proceedings against Duterte for supposedly giving up sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea. Chinese officials, however, noted that the Philippines imports nearly 42 billion barrels of crude oil every year, and will certainly benefit from joint development of the resources in the South China Sea.

The Voice of America Chinese service called the agreement a “surrender” by the Philippines and a “white feather” to China on the South China Sea issue.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

NASA Mars 2020 Rover Will Land in Ancient Jezero Crater Lakebed

Nov. 21 (EIRNS)—NASA announced the landing site for the Mars 2020 rover on Nov. 19, which is the ancient lakebed of Jezero Crater. It is one of 29 craters that have been identified as having been dramatically flooded or hosting slower water flows over time. Jezero Crater, which is 45 km wide, hosted a lake inside about 3.5 billion years ago, scientists estimate, which was as deep as 250 meters. They propose that delta areas around the lake were potential sites for life. Searching for biosignatures in habitable environments is the primary assignment of the Mars 2020 rover. It will launch in July 2020 and land on Mars in February 2021.

It took scientists four years to select a landing site for the rover. They started the process with a list of 60 potential sites, and had whittled the list down to 4 by October. The site must combine scientific significance with safety. As an example, Ken Farley, Mars 2020 project scientist, explained that “scientists always want to see outcrops, which are boulders and cliffs, and the people who are responsible for landing safely are trying very hard to avoid those things.”

The lander’s principal job is to collect samples from areas that appear promising as past abodes of life, and cache them to be returned to Earth in a future mission.