Month: August 2022

Real Estate CEO: Recession Could Be “Good” if “Unemployment … Puts Employers Back in the Driver Seat”

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The CEO and president of Douglas Emmett Inc., a real estate corporation worth over $3 billion and based in Santa Monica, California, said on an August 2 corporate earnings call that a recession could be “good” for the commercial real estate business “if it comes with a level of unemployment that puts employers back in the driver seat and allows them to get all their employees back into the office.” The executive, Jordan Kaplan, then repeated that “the thought would be that unemployment would be up. And therefore, employers would be in the driver seat to bring people back in the office, which is where they want them.”

Real Estate CEO: Recession Could Be “Good” if “Unemployment … Puts Employers Back in the Driver Seat”

Facebook Tells Moderators To Allow Graphic Images Of Russian Airstrikes But Censors Israeli Attacks

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

AFTER A SERIES of Israeli airstrikes against the densely populated Gaza Strip earlier this month, Palestinian Facebook and Instagram users protested the abrupt deletion of posts documenting the resulting death and destruction. It wasn’t the first time Palestinian users of the two giant social media platforms, which are both owned by parent company Meta, had complained about their posts being unduly removed. It’s become a pattern: Palestinians post sometimes graphic videos and images of Israeli attacks, and Meta swiftly removes the content, providing only an oblique reference to a violation of the company’s “Community Standards” or in many cases no explanation at all.

Facebook Tells Moderators To Allow Graphic Images Of Russian Airstrikes But Censors Israeli Attacks

US-backed Proxy War Against China Rages in Myanmar

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Aug 31, 2022 – The US government through one of its organizations, the US Institute of Peace, has recently called for more aid to opposition groups fighting the central government of Myanmar.

What is the rest of the story and why has the US invested billions over decades to interfere in Myanmar’s internal political affairs. Are we watching another case of US interference as part of a wider proxy war – this time instead of Russia, against China?

US-backed Proxy War Against China Rages in Myanmar (Odysee) via The New Atlas
Read More »

Book publishers just spent 3 weeks in court arguing they have no idea what they’re doing

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

On August 22, oral arguments ended in the Justice Department’s antitrust trial to block the book publisher Penguin Random House from merging with rival Simon & Schuster. The result of the trial, which is expected to be decided later this fall, will have a massive impact on both the multibillion-dollar book publishing industry and on how the government handles corporate consolidation going forward. Perhaps fittingly for a case with such high stakes, the trial was characterized by obfuscation and downright disinformation nearly the whole way through.

Book publishers just spent 3 weeks in court arguing they have no idea what they’re doing

Everyone pays the cost as the rich keep spending

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Everyone pays the cost as the rich keep spending

Meanwhile, the Biden White House is doing what it can to buffer inflationary pain for working people. It has been releasing strategic petroleum reserves in a partly successful effort to lower prices at the pump, extending pandemic-era caps on some student loan payments and pushing for antitrust action in areas where corporate concentration (which has grown hand in hand with financialisation) may be responsible for some inflationary pressure.

But more changes are needed. The success of corporate lobbyists in overturning efforts to roll back carried interest loopholes are shameful. Student debt forgiveness — no matter how generous it is — will not change the fact that the cost of four years of private university in the US (an elastic cost that can be bid up indefinitely by the global rich) is nearly double the median family income. Housing markets continue to cry out for major reform.

I suspect it will take a younger generation to push through these sorts of systemic changes. They simply don’t have as much asset wealth to protect.