Tag: Stock Markets

West Can Not Sustain Prolonged Conflict In Ukraine, Says Pentagon Supplier

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

US defence industry boss calls for clarity on what arms Ukraine needs

Kathy Warden, chief executive of Northrop Grumman, one of the top five “prime” contractors in the US, warned that weapons stockpiles had not been built to service a lengthy war.

…

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’ve heard we’re running out, but if you do project forward that we’re going to want to sustain these levels of commitments for another couple of years — that’s certainly not what anyone had built stockpiles to accommodate,” she said.

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“We think in the long term, there’s going to be a requirement to replace Russian air combat capability — fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft” for the Ukrainians, the industry executive said.*

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Northrop was prepared to make investments, including expanding factories “ahead of a contract”, said Warden, but cautioned that industry needed to “get an indication that if we build it, the demand will come”.

It can take years for a defence company to source parts, assemble, test, and deliver a system.

Northrop Grumman generates more than 80 per cent of its annual revenues from contracts with the US government, including key roles on programmes such as the F-35 fighter jet where it provides parts for the weapons system and avionics. It also led the industry team for NASA’s James Webb space telescope.

Like many manufacturers, Northrop Grumman is wrestling with supply chain challenges, in particular shortages of electronic parts such as cables, connectors and power supplies. Lead times for such parts have “doubled or tripled,” said Warden.

*What a co-inky-dink?!

Title borrowed from:

Ukraine Update: West Can Not Sustain Prolonged Conflict In Ukraine, Says Pentagon Supplier

The Fed’s Inspector General Clears Jerome Powell of Wrongdoing in the Trading Scandal, One Day After Five Senators Accuse Him of Hampering the Investigation

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens, July 15, 2022

Yesterday afternoon, Mark Bialek, the Inspector General of the Federal Reserve, released a memorandum clearing Fed Chair Jerome Powell and former Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida of wrongdoing in the trading scandal that has engulfed multiple officials of the Federal Reserve.

The Fed’s Inspector General Clears Jerome Powell of Wrongdoing in the Trading Scandal, One Day After Five Senators Accuse Him of Hampering the Investigation

Related:

Senators on Senate Banking Committee Accuse Fed Chair Powell of Hampering Trading Scandal Investigation

The Centre of International Insecurity

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Biden administration is no longer in charge of the White House. Relying on a select network of think-tanks and their corporate proxies, the Big Defense is. What it wants, it seems to get.

The Centre of International Insecurity

Related:

Scott [Horton] is joined by Dan Steinbock to discuss an article he wrote about the network of Democratic organizations running American foreign policy. Steinbock has dug deep into the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and WestExec Advisors, two organizations that have allowed top foreign policy officials to make money cycling between government, think tank and advisory roles. Steinbock also takes a step back and examines how these organizations are connected to weapons companies, Wall Street and technology firms.

6/27/22 Dan Steinbock: How Hawkish Democrats Make Money Pushing War

After Crypto Money Piled into Campaign Coffers of Senators Lummis and Gillibrand, They Introduced a Sweetheart Legislative Bill for Crypto

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 20 , 2022 ~

On June 7, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee which oversees commodities, and Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming who sits on the Senate Banking Committee which oversees Wall Street and trading, introduced a bill as an early Christmas present to the crypto industry. It carries the Alice in Wonderland title of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act.

After Crypto Money Piled into Campaign Coffers of Senators Lummis and Gillibrand, They Introduced a Sweetheart Legislative Bill for Crypto

The scissors of slump

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Last week, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the US Congress that “We now are entering a period of transition from one of historic recovery to one that can be marked by stable and steady growth. Making this shift is a central piece of the President’s plan to get inflation under control without sacrificing the economic gains we’ve made.”

It’s true that the US economy since the depths of the pandemic slump, (which remember in terms of national output, incomes and investment was the worst since the 1930s – even worse that the Great Recession of 2008-9) has made a recovery. But it could hardly be described as ‘historic’. And as for the claim that the US economy, the best performing of the major economies in the last year, is heading towards ‘stable and steady growth’, that is not supported by reality.

The scissors of slump

Joint Statement of the Communist Party of Kenya and the Zimbabwe Communist Party On the Expansion of AFRICOM

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Communist Party of Kenya (CPK) and the Zimbabwe Communist Party (ZCP) are deeply concerned with the decision of Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema to make Zambia a center for the operations of the United States military with the opening of an AFRICOM office in Lusaka. This does not, at least at this stage, mean that US ground forces will be sent to Zambia. It does mean that the USA will train and direct Zambian troops in its interests. The pattern in Africa is similar to that pursued by the USA in Latin America for 150 years in which a country would be effectively occupied by its own army on behalf of the imperial power.

On the Expansion of AFRICOM