A Fiction of War

by Kieran Kelly / October 21st, 2024

To continue its genocide Israel must first convince the world that it is fighting a war. It targets civilians and claims they are “human shields” who have become collateral damage. It leaves Palestinians with no choices, demanding of them the impossible, and then claims that they are choosing war. Israel simulates war to commit genocide.

The “thinking” behind Israel’s tactics of genocide in Gaza is not directly practical. In practical terms it would be easier to simply name a “final solution” of extermination and work from that basis. Yet the current modalities of genocide are crucial in creating a fiction of war, a lie that the one-sided violence of genocide is warfare in the sense characterised by Clausewitz as being “policy carried out by other means”, which is often quoted with the word “policy” replaced by “diplomacy”. In the case of Israel we can also say that diplomacy is genocide carried out by other means. Israeli diplomacy invariably aims to create the fiction of war – a sense that the violence inflicted by Israel is a form of two-sided “conflict” rather than the one-sided murder that it is.

None of this is without precedent. Genocide is always a process, not an event. Colonial genocides in particular are seen at the time as a series of asymmetric wars, each treated by the aggressor as having separate causes and aims.

The most complete sequence of colonial genocide can be seen over the centuries violent expansion by the English, then British, then USA killing and dispossessing the indigenous people of what is now the continental USA. This genocide (or these genocides) began as discrete events of massacre and warfare, becoming increasingly more asymmetric. Treaties and interregna of “peace” became means of ethnic cleansing and periods of “[d]eliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (a punishable act of genocide as described in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide). Through this time clearly genocidal non-warfare acts such the slaughter of bison and the promulgation of genocidal ideology were ongoing. The genocide grew in sophistication as it moved West, reaching California as a combination of bureaucratised and systematic mass-murder that would be a direct inspiration for Adolf Hitler’s genocidal policies.

When the victims are reduced to a tiny fraction of the original population with an even tinier fraction of the dominion that they once held the genocide does not end. Genocidal policies enter new phases. Some tribes are declared extinct so that survivors have no recognised identity nor historical claim against dispossession. Children are taken then sent to residential schools to “kill the Indian, and save the man” (frequently without achieving the latter). Other policies aim to destroy languages and other foundations of cultural identity. This leads to the last phase, that of assimilating the remnants. This phase is perhaps better exemplified in Aotearoa, Canada and Australia but is broadly indicative of the sequence of genocide in the US. In the last phase the surviving population is inducted at the bottom of the class system. The systems of class oppression are used on them as inherited from British class society, but enhanced by a racial element into “structural racism”. In this phase (which may still be considered genocidal) state instruments of coercion fall unevenly on the remaining indigenous population. Ideologically, like the lower classes, it is made to seem natural that they would need to be subject to greater surveillance, control and correction by the state. This expresses itself through the violence of policing and criminal justice and through the violent and prescriptive aspects of the state “welfare” apparatus. One indication that this can legitimately be thought of as genocide is the sobering fact, for example, that more Canadian indigenous children are taken from parents now by the state than were taken at the height of the acknowledged “genocide” enacted through the residential school system.

I have gone on this digression regarding genocide in the US because it is such a comprehensive example of genocide. It is not only complete but it is fractal, such that different pieces can be carved out and will still show much the same thing an a smaller scale in time and space. The elements of genocide tend to follow a progression, but when one modality is to the fore it does not mean that others are absent. This is true of the genocide against Palestinians which is expressed differently for Palestinians in Gaza, those in Areas A, B, and C of occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and those Palestinians who are citizens of Israel. All of the elements of colonial genocide that I have described are there.

The dominant modality or idiom of genocide against Palestinians we see at the moment is akin to that of nineteenth century California such as described in Benjamin Madley’s eye-opening 2017 book An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873. The most obvious differences come from the vastly expanded capabilities that technology gives the state of Israel, but the basic structure is the same – the maximum amount of surveillance, control and categorisation juxtaposed with systematic mass killing. The killing can be linked to open espousal of extermination by some elements of the Israeli state (military, government, capital and ideological/media) but the exterminatory nature is deniable in that it is not implemented in a direct comprehensive manner. The logic of extermination is there in the totalising nature of the choice of whom to kill. Though Israel often effects genocide by eliminating crucial people, such as medical or educational staff, we have ample evidence now that on the whole Israel’s violence is aimed at all Palestinians as such. The fact that there is no “final solution” does not mean that it is not a process of extermination. Over time, however, if not ended this genocide will follow the same path that other colonial genocides have followed, destroying Palestinians as such. If the current upsurge in genocidal violence becomes a new norm (like Operation Cast Lead which became a precedent for systematic mass-murder carried out with impunity) then Palestinians will effectively be cleansed from the occupied territories in one or two decades at most.

This genocidal slaughter is all underwritten by fake peace processes, the fake “two-state solution” and a form of diplomacy that (as I already stated) amounts to genocide carried out by other means. In the recently published What Does Israel Fear from Palestine? author Raja Shehadeh tells of personally attending a fake peace conference at which he was scolded for calling the occupied territories “occupied”. Shehadeh concludes that “[r]eal peace would mean a reconfiguration of the myth….” A peaceful democratic Jewish state is no longer possible and the actual apartheid state that exists cannot and could never survive without conflict.

Fake “peace” diplomacy is in fact conflict diplomacy designed to ensure that a plausible state of conflict always exists as cover for a genocidal process (which has a clear direction of travel along a road towards total erasure of Palestinians as such from the occupied Palestinian territories). I have referred to this as Israeli diplomacy, but in truth it is US diplomacy also. The Oslo process was designed by the US and it led to an impossible situation for Palestinians. There was literally nothing real that they could concede in return for peace and statehood, but Israel was able to create and maintain a façade of making demands for security. It is a paper-thin pretence that is completely belied by their settlement activities and much else besides. There is no legitimate reason why the US would accept any of this if they were at all invested in the “Oslo process”, the “peace process”, or the “roadmap for peace”. On the contrary, the US spent decades repeatedly insisting that “final status issues” (i.e. those that actually lead to peace) are an exclusively bilateral concern and did not shift that position as Israel systematically and ostentatiously made any promised resolution impossible. The consistency of the US in this regard reveals the bad faith in which they drew up the parameters of this “peace process”. This means, ipso facto, that they are the knowing architects of the fake peace process, which is to say the permanent conflict process that is a crucial foundation of the ongoing genocide. Therefore, this is a US genocide.

It is by no means abnormal for those committing genocide to use a pretext of armed conflict as cover for their activities. When Lemkin invented the term genocide he stated that: “For the German occupying authorities war thus appears to offer the most appropriate occasion for carrying out their policy of genocide.” This sentiment seems to be echoed in the words of another person – Adolf Hitler (also, in a way, an authority on genocide). Hitler wrote: “This partisan war has its advantages as well. It gives us the opportunity to stamp out everything that stands against us.” As a rule, if armed conflict is serving as a pretext for another undeclared policy, that policy must certainly be genocide.

There are good reasons for believing that Israel cannot achieve its aims through genocide because the world has changed since similar colonial genocides succeeded. But that is only true if we make it true. Those people lost to historic genocides were almost voiceless, but the problem now is not voicelessness, it is deafness. The deafness of Western leaders and those of certain lackey countries. They cling to a malicious malevolent mendacious obtuseness. It is violent genocidal racism that hides behind specious arguments and a phony concern for Jewish safety. Central to all of this toxic hatred is the fiction of war – the pretence that a stateless impoverished people pose a threat to the 6th most powerful military in the world – a contention based on the racist notion that Palestinians reject peace because they have an irrational hatred that drives them to perpetuate a conflict in which they lose much more than their powerful enemies.

It is foul fascist nonsense, this victim-blaming fiction of war. There are no half-measures left to us in response. We need to drive the genocide supporters and genocide deniers off the air and out of office. Moreover, the genocide will not end until Palestine is free. A ceasefire will not bring real peace, just a different phase of genocide. Only a single democratic state and an international commitment to reparation and stability will bring peace, justice and an end to genocide.

 

Failures of U.S. Middle East Policies

Destruction of the American Political and Social Fabrics

by Dan Lieberman / October 21st, 2024

United States foreign policies are marked by intermittent failures, often accomplishing the opposite of what is intended — Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq are examples. A difference between U.S. policies in the Middle East and State Department walkthroughs in other regions is that the Middle East policies have been consistent failures, worse than adversaries relish.

Immediately after World War II, Cold War competition with the Soviet Union drove U.S. policies, mildly favored Israel, and tended toward achieving a balance of power between the Zionist state and Arab world. Israel’s victory in the 1967 six-day war changed the status quo. Warsaw Pact nations had supplied arms to Egypt, ostensibly for defensive purposes, and Israel’s rapid offensive angered them. The Soviet bloc severing of relations with Israel led Washington to believe the Arab world had allied with the Soviet Union and motivated Uncle Sam to elevate relations with the victorious nation. Each year, the commitment to advance Israel’s supremacy and slaughter of the Palestinian people grew. Each year, the democratic appearance and humanistic values of the American system deteriorated. Each year, the American system, established in 1789, tended toward destruction of its political and social fabrics.

President Jimmy Carter added a Middle East foreign policy directive by claiming the Soviet Union posed a grave threat to the free movement of Middle Eastern oil through the Persian Gulf. Safeguarding the oil flow was of vital interest to the United States of America. Framed in other words, the U.S. had another mission ─ prevent Iran from threatening Arab kingdoms and disturbing the flow of oil.

One approach to examining policies is to compare results with intentions. Dr. Michael S. Bell, professor at the National Defense University Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, has given a sensible definition of the policies: 1) protection of the American homeland from terrorist attacks; 2) peace between countries in the region; 3) nonproliferation of nuclear weapons; and 4) the free flow of energy and commerce to the global economy.

Protection of the American homeland from terrorist attacks

Protection from terrorist attacks did not occur, not in the homeland, at American military bases, and in American embassies. The American people remain unformed why Sept 11, 2001 and other terrorist attacks occurred.

The errors started with President Ronald Reagan allowing the CIA to shuffle funds to Pakistan intelligence, who used the funds to finance Saudi construction engineer, Osama bin Laden, to construct roads and bases in Afghanistan that eventually became training grounds for al-Qaeda militants. The road led through several nations. Along its path, al-Qaeda recruited others to form new terrorist organizations and attack American facilities in several countries. In Afghanistan, the CIA paved the road to the 9/11 terrorist attack on American soil.

Hidden from public knowledge is that America’s support for Israel contributed to Obama bin Laden‘s arguments with the United States. The al-Qaeda leader revealed his attitude in the opening sentences of a “Letter to America.” Bin Laden’s words are unpleasant and offensive but taking notice and reading them was a prerequisite for devising a strategy that defeated terrorism and protected Americans. The letter’s opening statements.

 Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:

(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us.

a) You attacked us in Palestine:

(i) Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation. The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals. And of course there is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its price, and pay for it heavily.

(b) You attacked us in Somalia; you supported the Russian atrocities against us in Chechnya, the Indian oppression against us in Kashmir, and the Jewish aggression against us in Lebanon.

The letter appeared in 1998, but before that date bin Laden had signaled his displeasure with America. Ignoring the reasons for his threats was a grave policy mistake and proved fatal. Policy errors manufactured additional policy errors.

By stationing U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Persian Gulf war, President George H. W. Bush aroused Radical Islamists in the Desert Kingdom to join forces with Osama bin Laden. On December 29, 1992, a bomb exploded  at the Gold Mohur hotel in Aden, Yemen, where U.S. troops had been staying while on route to Somalia.

Intelligence and strategy failures by President Bill Clinton elevated al-Qaeda to an international enterprise. President Clinton’s aggressive policy in Somalia created a mistrust of American power among East Africans and an anarchy that eventually led to emergence of The Islamic Courts Union ( ICU), who preached Shariah as law and ruled parts of Somalia at various times. After being defeated, the ICU evolved into Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda look alike in East Africa.

• On Friday, February 26, 1993, Kuwaiti Ramzi Yousef and Jordanian Eyad Ismoil parked a yellow Ryder van in the public parking garage beneath the World Trade Center. Later in the day, the van exploded, killing six people and injuring 1,042.
• In June 1996, an enormous truck bomb detonated in the Khobar Towers residential complex for Air Force personnel in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing nineteen Americans and wounding 372.
• Truck bomb explosions occurred on 7 August 1998 at U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, and killed hundreds of people. The attacks were linked to local members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, under direction from Osama bin Laden.
• Al-Qaeda associates bombed the U.S. Navy warship, USS Cole, in October 2000 and killed 17 sailors. Al-Qaeda in Yemen, soon to become al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was born.

No intelligence failures can possibly compare to those that enabled foreign terrorists to enter the United States, request one-way flying lessons, take planes up with no concern about being able to land them, book flight tickets, walk through airport inspections, seize commercial planes in mid-flight, and fly them into public buildings. No terrorist action has been as serious as those that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Guided by a tendency to assist Radical Islam in its endeavors, the George Bush administration provided a route for al-Qaeda to mature into ISIS. The invasion of Iraq and disposal of a Saddam Hussein regime, which had prevented al-Qaeda elements from establishing themselves, exposed Iraq’s porous borders to Radical Islamic fighters. Founded in October 2004, al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) emerged from a transnational terrorist group, created and led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. His cohorts entered through Jordan, while al-Qaeda members forced out of Waziristan in Pakistan found a safe haven in Iraq. Fighters trained in the deserts of Saudi Arabia hopped planes to Istanbul and Damascus and worked their way across Syria into Iraq. Disturbed by the U.S. invasion and military tactics, Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai, later known as Al Baghdadi, founder of the Islamic Caliphate, transformed himself from a fun loving soccer player into a hardened militant and helped to found Jamaat Jaysh Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamaah (JJASJ) and countered the U.S. military in Iraq.

After previous disastrous policies prepared the framework for ISIS to establish its caliphate, and spawn “look-alikes” in Yemen and throughout North Africa, President Barack Obama approached the dangerous situation with confusion. Not wanting to betray his French ally, Obama brought his country into the Libyan civil war and enabled Radical Islamists a safe haven in the new Libya

Since the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi, a leader who constrained al-Qaeda, militants from Libya have flowed east, through friendly Turkey into Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. Weapons captured from Gadhafi’s stockpiles have flowed west to equip al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Militants trained in post-Gadhafi Libya attacked tourists at beaches and museums in Tunisia; Boko Haram spreads havoc throughout northern Nigeria and parts of Chad.

The al-Qaeda that the U.S. helped create committed the greatest single act of foreign destruction to American soil. The Afghanistan the U.S. helped establish became the Afghanistan the U.S. was  forced to combat and could not destroy. The Israel that the U.S. nourished and fortified contributed to the development of international terrorism and to the U.S. failure in containing  it, a common thread through all U.S. Middle East policy failures. The American people sat silently as its State Department and Israel brought terrorism to American shores.

Peace between countries in the region

Instead of bringing a pledged peace and stability to the Middle East, the U.S. has brought constant violence and mayhem. Except for Iraq’s wars against Iran and Kuwait, and some skirmishes in Yemen, the Middle East Arab nations have not attacked one another. The United States has been twice at war with Iraq and has engaged Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan, and Yemen. Patron Israel has fought wars with Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt and has had continuous strife with the Palestinians, which have exploded into intense battles in Gaza. The U.S. invasion of Iraq came from the bidding of the Neocons  ─ American officials allied with Israel. Deceptively portrayed as a war to defeat Saddam Hussein’s’ developments of farcical “weapons of mass destruction,” the invasion of Iraq used American forces to subdue Israel’s principal nemesis.

Reasons for U.S. antipathy toward Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Yemen Houthis, and Iran are not clear. None of these nationalities have attacked the U.S. or its personnel. Their common expressions are opposition to (1) Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people; (2) seizing Arab lands, and (3) disturbing Muslim sites in Jerusalem. Without Israel, dominating their lives, the Middle East might have rivalries but warfare is not probable. U.S. policy of bringing peace between countries in the region could not succeed. Support of an aggressive Israel meant peace in the region was impossible.

Nonproliferation of nuclear weapons

Nonproliferation of nuclear weapons is best accomplished by making certain that no nation fears a nuclear threat. By ignoring Israel’s development of the atomic bomb, the U.S. made sure that Middle East nations felt constantly threatened by an aggressive Israeli military machine. Egypt, Libya, Iraq, and Syria briefly sought nuclear developments and were stopped. Although denying it, Iran is presently believed to be in an advanced stage toward developing an atomic bomb. Do away with Israel’s atomic bombs and assuredly, Iran will halt its developments. Another failure of U.S. policy due to its strange relations with Israel.

Free flow of energy and commerce to the global economy.

OPEC determines the price of oil and the U.S. does not control OPEC. President Carter’s anxiety that closing the Strait of Hormuz will greatly disturb oil shipments to Western nations is exaggerated. The burning of oil by the U.S. fifth fleet in the Indian Ocean contributes as much to the price of oil as would the closure of the Straits of Hormuz. Well, not exactly, but it’s a point.

In 2022, oil flow through the Straits “averaged 21 million barrels per day (b/d), or the equivalent of about 21% of global petroleum liquids consumption. Estimates are that” 82% of the crude oil and condensate that moved through the Strait of Hormuz went to Asian markets in 2022. China, India, Japan, and South Korea were the top destinations for the crude oil ….In 2022, the United States imported about 0.7 million b/d of crude oil and condensate from Persian Gulf countries through the Strait of Hormuz, accounting for about 11% of U.S. crude oil and condensate imports and 3% of U.S. petroleum liquids consumption.” China received 1/3 of the Asian market for the crude oil.

Whose free flow of energy is the fifth fleet protecting? Very little to the Western markets; more to the Asian markets and mostly to China. The fifth fleet, which has been hanging around in the Indian ocean for thirty years waiting for Godot is principally occupied to defend Chinese (our nemesis) right to assure oil shipments.

If the United States wants to assure Iran will not interfere with oil shipments, why not become friends with Iran? Good reason to be friends with the mullahs. Friends help friends, except when the “friend” is Israel.

Want to receive shocks in free flow of oil, Israel is the “go to guy.” The deepest scarcity of oil and high prices occurred when oil producing Arab nations embargoed oil to the United States in retaliation for U.S. rescue mission of military shipments to Israel during the !973 Yom Kippur War, another U.S. Middle East policy of sacrificing the interests of the U.S. people to enhance Israel’s interests.

Conclusion

U.S. Middle East policies have been consistent failures, bringing great harm to Arab populations and to the American people. In all the policies, beginning with the ratification of the 1947 Partition Plan and arriving at military assistance to Israel in its 2023 war on Gaza, the Israel state appears and diverts the policies to catastrophes. Americans of good conscience stand aghast at Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinians and America’s participation in the genocide. They do not realize that the Palestinian genocide is a byproduct of 70 years of slaughter of the American psyche and its institutions. Too few take notice of the onslaught on American academic and press freedoms, corruption of American values, coopting of its political system, and reduction of its intellectual qualities. Assailants sink America further into an abyss and more Palestinians are murdered from the same assailants. Americans and Palestinians are “captured in a web that imprisons every faculty and sense.” Only a captured faculty can allow a genocide. No  genocide makes sense and this genocide makes all of us senseless.FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

Dan Lieberman publishes commentaries on foreign policy, economics, and politics at substack.com.  He is author of the non-fiction books A Third Party Can Succeed in America, Not until They Were Gone, Think Tanks of DC, The Artistry of a Dog, and a novel: The Victory (under a pen name, David L. McWellan). Read other articles by Dan.

How billionaire investors are 'supercharging' the U.S. housing crisis

Julia Conley, Common Dreams
October 22, 2024 

A couple standing outside a home for rent (Shutterstock).

A new report out Monday puts "into numbers the trend that ordinary Americans have known to be true for years," said economic justice advocates behind the analysis: "Their everyday struggles of affording a home are made worse by the sweeping influence that billionaires have over the market."

The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) joined Popular Democracy in compiling a 71-page report titled Billionaire Blowback on Housing, aiming to get to the bottom of growing concerns in recent years about how Wall Street, as Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said earlier this month, is "buying up housing and making them less affordable."

The two groups found that a small number of wealthy individuals and their investment arms, who control "huge pools of wealth," have spent some of their vast resources on "predatory investment and wealth-parking in luxury housing"—contributing significantly to the crises of unaffordable rents, out-of-reach homeownership, and homelessness.

Billionaires are "supercharging existing problems" in the housing market, according to the report.

The authors take issue with assumptions about what is driving the housing crisis, which is characterized by record-breaking homelessness in 2023 with more than 653,000 people unhoused; half of tenants paying more than 30% of their income on rent, making them cost-burdened; and a significantly widened gap between the income needed to buy a house and the actual cost of a home.

"The real estate industry would like you to believe the problem is entirely one based on supply and demand," and that regulations need to be changed to allow for the construction of more affordable housing, reads the report. But with 16 million vacant homes across the U.S.—28 for every unhoused person—"the reality is that the owners of concentrated wealth... are playing a more pronounced role in residential housing, thereby creating price inflation, distortions, and inefficiencies in the market."


Signifying the U.S. real estate market's "emerging status as global tax haven," the number of vacant units in some communities exceed the number of unhoused people partially because wealthy investors are acquiring property and intentionally leaving it vacant, found IPS and Popular Democracy.

"The reality is that the owners of concentrated wealth... are playing a more pronounced role in residential housing, thereby creating price inflation, distortions, and inefficiencies in the market."

For example, in 2017 there were more than 93,500 vacant units in Los Angeles and an estimated 36,000 unhoused residents, with vacancies treated as "a structural feature of the market thanks to the presence of a small class of wealthy investors who engage in speculative financial behavior."

Billionaires and their investment firms, such as Blackstone—now the world's largest corporate landlord—are also "taking advantage of the tight low-income rental market, lack of publicly funded affordable housing, displacement after the foreclosure crisis, and inaccessible homeownership to get into the business of single-family and multifamily home rentals, and buying up mobile home parks," the report reads.

In one section of North Minneapolis, private equity firms including Pretium Partners "snatched up blocks of single-family rental homes, added fees on top of rent, and then proceeded to neglect the maintenance and upkeep of their properties."

Blackstone now owns 300,000 residential units across the U.S. and nearly doubled its portfolio in 2021. With $1 trillion in assets, it owns 63,000 single-family homes, 149,000 apartment units, and 70 mobile home parks.

Corporate ownership of rental housing stock "has not translated into housing stability, particularly for working-class households and communities of color," reads the report. "Rather, corporate landlords have concentrated their predatory investment practices—flipping, rent gouging, habitability violations, and evictions—in lower-income communities of color."

The billionaire class and its private equity firms, said Chuck Collins, co-author of the report and director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at IPS, has "severely disrupted" the housing market.

"This is not your grandparent's gentrification—but a hyper-gentrification fueled by concentrated wealth driving up land and housing costs, expanding short-term rentals, and treating housing like a commodity to speculate on or a place to park wealth," said Collins. "The billionaires are displacing the millionaires, and the millionaires are disrupting the housing market for everyone else."


The report calls on policymakers to expand social housing—housing developed by the government or a not-for-profit entity to ensure individuals, households, and families are guaranteed housing as a human right, which cannot be sold for profit.

Social housing could be paid for by levying mansion taxes, regulating predatory practices in the real estate market, and taxing billionaires.

Local communities can also protect residents and generate revenue for affordable housing through actions including:
Establishing "Housing First" programs to rapidly provide permanently affordable housing to the unhoused and end the criminalization of homelessness;
Limiting corporate ownership of housing and passing laws requiring ownership transparency so corporations can no longer secretly buy up neighborhoods;
Passing ordinances giving apartment and mobile home tenants the "first option to buy" when their communities come up for sale;
Prohibiting owners from keeping units vacant for long periods of time; and
Creating local Offices of Social Housing and Social Housing Development Authorities to function as supportive infrastructure, with the input of tenant unions, unhoused people's organizations, and other impacted community members.

"Billionaires see housing as a way to boost their bottom line, instead of a necessity to survive. This current system doesn't serve our communities," said Analilia Mejia and DaMareo Cooper, co-executive directors for Popular Democracy. "We need to do better. That starts with re-shaping our systems to look out for the needs and desires of working families, instead of billionaire investment and speculation. We need to safeguard renters' rights, and drastically expand the availability of permanently and truly affordable quality housing."

In a first, France welcomes Russian army deserters

Agence France-Presse
October 21, 2024 

'Maybe, thanks to my example, someone will be inspired and want to quit the army,' said Alexander (AFP)

Six Russian soldiers who fled the fighting in Ukraine have found refuge in France and hope to receive asylum, in a landmark case of Russian deserters being welcomed in an EU country as a group.

The deserters, all of whom had reached France via Kazakhstan, told AFP in a series of interviews they hoped their actions would encourage other Russian men to defy Moscow authorities and flee the war, now in its third year.

"Maybe, thanks to my example, someone will be inspired and want to quit the army," said Alexander, who unwittingly took part in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.


"The weaker the army at the front is, the fewer people there are, the quicker the war will end and Ukraine will win," said the 26-year-old.

Among those who have arrived in France over the past few months are mostly those who managed to desert before being sent to the front. Alexander, however, was dispatched to Ukraine but eventually managed to flee.

The six Russian deserters arrived in France thanks to support from rights groups including Russie-Libertes, a Paris-based association. Some arrived with their partners so in total 10 people received permission to enter the country.

Speaking to AFP in the northwestern French city of Caen, Alexander said he was in shock when Russia's invasion began in February, 2022.

Having left with his unit for "military exercises" in the peninsula of Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014, he recounted crossing the Ukrainian border in a convoy and suddenly finding himself "in another country".

"Our commanders told us it would be over in ten days," he said.


He said he did not engage in combat and dealt largely with communications.

- 'Lived in fear' -

Another deserter said he wanted Russian soldiers to know there was "always" a choice.


"There is always a possibility to lay down your arms, not to kill other people and to end your participation in this war," 27-year-old Sergei (not his real name) said in Paris.

Since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Western countries including France have welcomed thousands of anti-Kremlin Russians.

However, activists say European governments have been wary of welcoming Russian soldiers because they are viewed as a security risk and might have committed war crimes.

Olga Prokopieva, head of Russie Libertes, hailed France's "unprecedented" move and urged other European countries to follow suit.

"It has taken us a year of talks," she said. "We have tried so many things."

All the men had been vetted by the activists, Prokopieva said, adding her organization was in touch with more deserters now living in Kazakhstan.

Faced with a choice between taking part in a war of aggression or going to prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, hundreds of deserters and draft dodgers have over the past two years fled to neighboring ex-Soviet countries.

But they do not feel safe in countries like Kazakhstan and Armenia, which have close ties to Moscow, and risk being deported back to Russia to face prosecution.

Apart from being viewed with suspicion in the West, it is also hard for Russian servicemen to seek refuge in Europe for logistical reasons.

Many have documents that only permit them to reach ex-Soviet countries such as Kazakhstan or Armenia, and not the type of Russian passport valid for visas and travel to Europe.

Andrei Amonov was stranded in Kazakhstan for two years before arriving in France.

"I lived in fear for two years," he said.


The 32-year-old road worker from the city of Mirny deep in northeastern Siberia was one day told by his boss he was "fired" and had to go to the front or face prosecution.

Along with other men, Amonov was put on a plane and flown to the city of Ulan-Ude to undergo training. He managed to escape and flew to Kazakhstan.

He was briefly detained on May 12, his birthday, when Kazakh police came to his apartment, handcuffed him and took him to the police station. He was later released.


He was lonely, could not find a permanent job, and suffered from depression and panic attacks.

- 'Best day' -

Sergei, a professional soldier, also said he was afraid of being arrested and deported.


On top of being a deserter, Sergei is gay and lived in the conservative Central Asian country with his partner. "Things were a bit scary in Kazakhstan."

Another deserter, Mikhail (not his real name) said the day the war broke out changed everything. "I realised that from now on I won't move a finger to support this," he said.

A former career officer who now wears his hair long, he recounted in great detail how for months he resisted orders to go to the front and dragged out the legal proceedings authorities launched against him.

He finally fled in May 2023, just days before his trial.

"The day I arrived in Astana was the best day of my life," he said, referring to the capital of Kazakhstan.

In Kazakhstan the deserters met through local rights activists and recorded videos to encourage others to flee the battlefield as part of an initiative dubbed "Farewell to arms".

In France, the men finally feel safe.

Sergei can hold hands with his partner in public. "It is a very nice feeling," he said.

Amonov, who had never before travelled to Europe, is preparing to start a new life in Bordeaux and is learning French and English.

"Freedom, finally! And safety," he said. "At last I am feeling better."

MEDICAL RACISM U$A

Black patients more likely to receive 'opioids only' pain relief after surgery

INSTITUTIONALIZED ADDICTION

By Ernie Mundell, HealthDay News
Oct. 21, 2024 / UPI

After Black patients undergo a surgery, they are much more likely than their White peers to receive only an opioid for post-op pain relief, rather than a more nuanced combo of analgesics, a new study finds. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News


After Black patients undergo a surgery, they are much more likely than their White peers to receive only an opioid for post-op pain relief, rather than a more nuanced combo of analgesics, a new study finds.

So-called "multimodal analgesia" is the recommended way to go, experts say, but Black patients are 29% less likely to receive it.

"We know that multimodal analgesia provides more effective pain management with less need for opioids, which are highly addictive. It should be standard practice, especially in high-risk surgical patients," explained study lead author Dr. Niloufar Masoudi, an anesthesiologist and research assistant at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore.

Her team presented its findings Saturday in Philadelphia at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

The researchers looked at data for 2016 through 2021 from a single hospital. They compared the post-op pain management of 2,460 White patients against that received by 482 Black patients in the intensive care unit for the first 24 hours after complex, high-risk surgeries.

Masoudi's group defined multimodal pain relief as an opioid painkiller plus at least one other form of pain medication. That might include an epidural or pain patch, an NSAID painkiller (these include drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen), gabapentin or IV ketamine.

However, not only were Black patients nearly a third less likely to get multimodal analgesia, they were 74% more likely than White patients to get an opioid pill plus IV opioids as their pain regimen.

A number of factors might be driving this disparity, Masoudi said. Patients of different races might have differences in how much pain they report to doctors or in their personal preferences for pain medications. As well, there could be "practitioner bias for or against forms of pain management by race," according to a meeting news release.

"Further research needs to be done to understand the specific cause for the differences in multimodal analgesia between Black and White patients so recommendations can be developed," Masoudi said.

"In the meantime, pain specialists need to understand the benefits of multimodal analgesia," she added, and work to "ensure all patients receive this preferred form of pain management when medically appropriate."

Because these findings were presented at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

There's more on options for post-surgical pain relief at the Cleveland Clinic.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

AMERIKAN COLONY

U.S. makes $860M loan guarantee to aid Puerto Rico in strengthening its energy grid


Oct. 21, 2024 / UPI

On Monday, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm (pictured in April) says this newly announced U.S. investment will add up to 200 megawatts of solar generation, and a further 285 megawatts of reliable storage capacity for Puerto Rico’s electric grid to improve its resilience. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo


Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The federal government announced Monday a more-than-$860M private-loan guarantee for construction of solar and battery storage facilities for Puerto Rico.

This latest development gets Puerto Rico one step closer to its 2050 goal to be energy independent amid a slow, global movement to transition to clean, renewable energy like other places in the United States have, such as Hawaii and California.

On Monday, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said this new U.S. investment will add up to 200 megawatts of solar generation, and a further 285 megawatts of reliable storage capacity for Puerto Rico's electric grid to improve its resilience.

"And help reduce energy costs that have remained too high for too long for too many families," she said in a release. "All while enabling the commonwealth to reach its ambitious climate goals."

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy said its Loan Programs Office would officially be giving a $861.3M loan guarantee to Clean Flexible Energy, LLC to help finance the constriction of two solar photovoltaic farms with battery and other standalone storage units on the U.S. territory.

The borrowing Clean Flexible is an indirect subsidiary under a joint venture of The AES Corporation and TotalEnergies Holdings USA, Inc.

Its new facilities will be located in Guyana -- also called Jobos -- and Salinas. The aim is to help deliver clean, reliable and affordable power to Puerto Rican communities grappling with worsening and lingering effects of climate change.

And local labor union leaders, it was noted, will be engaged in the construction and operations planning at both the Jobos and Salinas sites. It was financed as part of President Joe Biden's two-year-old Inflation Reduction Act.

"Access to reliable energy is a matter of life or death," Granholm, a former Michigan governor, said. "Especially in the face of climate-change fueled natural disasters that are increasing in intensity and frequency."

In July, the federal government announced its "conditional" commitment for Clean Flexible's now guaranteed loan. Styled as "Project Marahu," the new solar PV installations are expected to produce about 460,000 MWh of energy annually.

The Department of Energy added that it will generate enough electricity for roughly 43,000 homes and enhance Puerto Rico's grid reliability and energy security.

Puerto Rico's Act 17 requires that Puerto Rico's public utility end by 2028 all coal-fired energy generation in order to shift the island to a 100% renewable energy mix in the next few decades by 2050.

Investments by the federal government into Puerto Rico's energy infrastructure have been an ongoing process on the commonwealth island with an eye toward improving its energy resilience during extreme weather events which have seen an uptick over recent months and years.

Nearly a year ago now as a signal of things to come, the Energy Department put in a $440M down-payment for solar companies and nonprofit organizations to equip vulnerable Puerto Rican households with rooftop solar and battery systems.

That was estimated to lower energy bills for roughly 35,000 low-income, single-family households.

Two men in Canada plead guilty to killing former Air India bombing suspect

Oct. 22, 2024 / UPI

Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Two men charged with the shooting death of Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was acquitted of the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182, have pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree murder.

The defendants -- Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez -- entered their guilty pleas Monday in the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, ahead of the start of their murder trials, CBC reported.

However, as the proceedings came to a close, Lopez attacked Fox, and the two fought each other as the family members of their victim looked on, Vancouver Sun reported.

Sheriffs managed to break up the fight and handcuff the two men.

The cause of the fight was not clear, but the pair are set to return to court at a later date for sentencing, though their guilty pleas come with life sentences.

They were arrested and charged in late July 2022, days after Malik was gunned down in the parking lot of a Surrey business complex.

In 2005, Malik was one of two people acquitted of murder in Canada in connection to Air India Flight 182, which exploded over the Atlantic, killing all 329 people aboard.

Inderjit Singh Reyat pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in 2003 for his role in the bombing and was convicted of perjury in 2010 for his testimony as Crown witness in the trial of Malik and his co-defendant, Ajaib Singh Bagri, who was the other suspect acquitted.

During the reading of an agreed statement of facts on Monday, prosecutor Matthew Stacey said Fox and Lopez had been hired to kill Malik, though no details about who hired them or the potential motive were given.

Malik's family said in a statement to media following Monday's court proceedings that while they are grateful those responsible for Malik's death will be held accountable, it will not "erase the pain that we have gone through losing a family member in this way."

"However, the work is not complete. Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez were hired to commit this murder. Until the parties responsible for hiring them and directing this assassination are brought to justice, the work remains incomplete," the family said, as they urged Fox and Lopez to cooperate with Canadian law enforcement bring those who hired them to justice

The announcement comes about a week after Canadian authorities accused Indian agents of committing "serious criminal activity" in the North American nation.

The federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police said there were more than a dozen credible and imminent threats to life targeting members of its South Asian community, specifically members of the separatist Khalistan movement, which seeks to create a separate homeland for Sikhs in India's Punjab region.

Among the crimes include the June 18, 2023, assassination of Khalistan supporter Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

The story behind the Netherlands' empty prisons
Astrid Prange de Oliveira1

0/20/2024

DW

The number of people held in prisons worldwide is growing, but in the Netherlands it's falling. Empty jails have been converted into hotels or cultural centers. So is the Netherlands winning the battle against crime?

The former prison Blokhuispoort in Leeuwarden has been transformed into a cultural center

Image: Robert Fishmanecomedia/IMAGO

The US, China, Turkey and Brazil are just some of the countries that are putting more and more people behind bars. But in the Netherlands, it's a different story. Some empty prisons there have now been re-purposed as hotels or cultural centers.

But what's the reason for the country's falling prison population? And is it really the success story it appears to be? DW has taken a closer look at some of the studies and statistics.

Beating the global trend

A study conducted by the Universities of Leiden (Netherlands) and Portsmouth (UK) found that the number of people in prison in the Netherlands fell from 94 per 100,000 citizens to 51 per 100,000 between 2005 and 2016.

Although the downward trend has not continued since, figures from Eurostat suggest that the imprisonment rate has stabilized at this low level. In 2021 and 2022 it was at 54 per 100,000.

That makes the Netherlands one of the few countries that have seen their prison populations decline. Data platform World Prison Brief (WPB) has identified a similar trend in Germany, Liechtenstein, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, and the Baltic states.

Only one country has seen its rate of incarceration fall more dramatically than the Netherlands, and that's Russia, where WPB statistics point to a 59% decrease since 2000. But the reason for that appears to be military: many prisoners have been released to serve as soldiers in the war against Ukraine.

Elsewhere in the world, though, the overall trend is for an ever-growing prison population, with the numbers exploding in many countries. Since 2000, prisoner numbers have surged by 224% in South America, by 141% in Asia and by 84% in Oceania.

Why are numbers so low?

There are a number of different aspects to consider when examining the fall in the number of prisoners in the Netherlands, including sentencing policy in the courts, the overall crime rate, the work of the judicial authorities, the costs of incarceration and resocialization, and the overall legal situation.

The number of people receiving custodial sentences from the courts has fallen significantly in the Netherlands. In 2005, Dutch courts imposed prison sentences on some 8,305 convicted criminals. Ten years later, only 4,540 offenders were sent to jail. Studies show that the decrease in custodial sentences was seen across the full spectrum of criminal activities.

Crimes against property saw a 44% decrease in prison sentences, violent crime and sexual crime saw imprisonment rates fall by 39%, and for drug-related crimes the drop was as much as 49%. The number of people sent to jail for failing to pay a court-imposed fine decreased by 38%.

The Netherlands also has an unusually low average length of custodial sentence. The criminologists at the University of Leiden noted in their study that half of all those sent to prison there were released again within one month.

By contrast, according to a report by the University of Lausanne that looked at prisoner rates across the 46 members of the Council of Europe, just 5.2% of inmates spend less than six months in jail, and some 21.3% serve between 12 months and three years.

Lower rates of remand and falling crime rate

Another major factor in the Netherlands is the fall in the number people being held in pre-trial detention. The study shows that 21,029 spent time on remand in Dutch prisons in 2005, with that number falling to 13,350 by 2016 — a decrease of 37%.

In the same period — 2005 to 2016 — the number of crimes registered in the Netherlands fell from 1.35 million to 930,000. Crimes against property fell by 216,000 (-27%) and there were 32,000 fewer violent crimes (-26%).

Crime rates appear to be falling in the NetherlandsImage: Remko de Waal/ANP/picture alliance

But the biggest falls were registered for vandalism and public order offences (-50%) and drug-related crimes (-31%).

The crime rate reached a record low in 2018, with 770,000 registered offences. That figure has climbed again since then, but only slightly — reaching 798,000 in 2022.
More options for prosecutors

Since 2006, state prosecutors in the Netherlands can handle some cases without the involvement of a judge and even impose non-custodial sentences, such as fines or community service. It's a change that was introduced to speed up the judicial process and reduce the workload for judges.

The reform meant that fewer cases ended up in court, where suspects would have faced a possible custodial sentence. This in turn contributed to the overall fall in prisoner numbers.

Longer investigations

Research by criminologists Judith van Valkenhoef and Edward van der Torre published in 2017 raised some doubts about the degree to which these statistics represent a success story for the Dutch judicial system. Their study points to other issues, such as inefficient police investigations and failures by state prosecutors to bring criminals to justice.

They argue that the Netherlands has become a major center for the synthetic drugs market and is likely to remain so without political action.

For the University of Portsmouth's Professor Francis Pakes, co-author of the above report, the statistics don't tell the whole story, and the overall decline in the prisoner population isn't solely the result of fewer crimes being committed. The study suggests that there are other factors at play, such as fewer cases being prosecuted or even investigated. He cites the growing influence of the drugs mafia in the Netherlands as evidence of this development.

This article was originally published in German.


Astrid Prange de Oliveira DW editor 

Tunisia under harsh criticism for anti-migrant measures

Kersten Knipp | Tarak Guizani

DW

10/21/24

UN experts have accused Tunisian security authorities of grave human rights violations. Can Tunisia keep its status as a safe country for returning migrants?

A recent UN report outlined grave human rights abuses against migrants in Tunisia

Image: Hasan Mrad/Zumapress/dpa/IMAGESLIVE /picture alliance

According to UN experts, the human rights violations committed against migrants in Tunisia can only be described as "shocking."

A recently published report stated that Tunisian authorities had engaged in "dangerous manoeuvres when intercepting migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers at sea." The report also mentioned episodes of physical violence, including beatings, threats of use of firearms, the removal of engines and fuel and the capsizing of boats.

The report, released on October 14, said that between January and July, 189 people, including children, were said to have lost their lives while crossing the Mediterranean Sea, while 265 reportedly died during interception operations at sea.

Ninety-five people have been reported missing, in some cases "victims of enforced disappearance or acts tantamount to enforced disappearance," said the report. Migrants from sub-Saharan countries are subjected to a heightened level of violence, according to the UN.

Migrants told DW that Tunisian security forces stole their phones and demolished their accommodations

Image: Fethi Belaid/AFP

"We are appalled by the reported violence and the excessive use of force during these transfers," the UN experts said.

Once on Tunisian soil, migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, including children and pregnant women, are allegedly brought to the desert areas bordering Algeria and Libya, and fired at by border guards if they attempt to return.

The report also said aid organizations were being obstructed in their work.

The declaration was signed by the UN special rapporteurs on human trafficking, racism and migrants' rights as well as several human rights lawyers.

These independent experts are commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations itself.

While Tunisian authorities have not yet responded to a request for comment by DW, Tunisia's government has repeatedly rejected such accusations in the past.

And yet, human rights activists have regularly highlighted the mistreatment of migrants in Tunisia.

Saied cracks down on migrants

In view of these "serious allegations," the experts criticized the fact that Tunisia is still considered a safe country of origin by EU countries.

The country's attitude toward migrants has become considerably tougher under President Kais Saied. Critics have said Saied has been ruling in an increasingly authoritarian manner since first coming to power in 2019. In 2021, he started a power grab, curtailing opposition parties and independent media, that has culminated in his recent reelection earlier this month.

Saied himself has repeatedly made disrespectful remarks about migrants.

President Kais Saied was recently reelected for a second term, but observers have said the vote was anything but free or democraticImage: Fauque Nicolas/Images de Tunisie/ABACA/picture alliance

Migrants in Tunisia have confirmed the allegations made by the UN experts.

A refugee from Burkina Faso told DW that when his group came close to the Tunisian coast in their boat, the ship piloted by security authorities drew dangerously tight circles around them.

The refugee asked DW not to publish his name, for fear of retribution. "Later in the refugee camp, the police took our cellphones and our food," he said, adding that "the police even took away the blankets and destroyed our accommodation."

Another migrant from Guinea, who also preferred to remain anonymous, reported a similar story. His group was repeatedly attacked, he told DW. "They broke into our accommodation, stole our cellphones, our money, everything," he said.

EU-Tunisia migration deal 'contributing to human rights violations'

The European Union has called on Tunisia to conduct an investigation into the treatment of migrants, a call that has so far gone unanswered.

The EU and Tunisia agreed a migration pact in July 2023, which provides comprehensive EU aid for Tunisia, as well as €105 million ($113 million) for border protection. Those funds go toward the coast guard, and pay for the repatriation of migrants to their countries of origin.

"Tunisia has further received Italian and European aid for the years 2024 and 2025 in the form of equipment and fuel costs for operations on the high seas," said Romdhane Ben Amor, a human rights activist with the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights. He added that the aim of Tunisian authorities is to reduce the flow of migrants and demonstrate their commitment to the EU-Tunisia pact.

Why Black Tunisians suffer historic racism  03:02

Human rights organizations have long been vehemently critical of the cooperation between the EU, or individual EU member states, and Tunisia when it comes to migration.

"The ongoing cooperation between the European Union, EU member states, and Tunisia on migration control which includes reliance on the possibility to disembark people rescued or intercepted at sea in Tunisia — similar to previous cooperation with Libya — is contributing to human rights violations," said a recent statement signed by numerous aid organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. "Despite the documented human rights violations by Tunisian authorities, the EU and its member states have stepped up their support for Kais Saied's administration."

EU calls for independent monitoring mission

Migrants in Tunisia also suffer from other problematic methods of migration control, Romdhane Ben Amor told DW.

"Since August 2023, Tunisia has also resorted to other solutions such as the deportation of migrants when they return by sea to the borders with Libya and Algeria," he said.

How the EU compromised its values on migration  12:34

An unnamed spokesperson for the European Commission responded to those accusations in late September. "As Tunisia's partner, we expect these cases to be properly investigated," the spokesperson told the online news outlet Euractiv.

According to the spokesperson, the EU is planning to set up an independent monitoring mission in Tunisia. Whether Tunisia's government will agree to this, however, remains to be seen.

This article was originally written in German.

Does the US economy care who is president?

Timothy Rooks | Rodrigo Menegat Schuinski

DW

  10/21/24

Over the past 15 years, the US economy has done quite well compared with those of other countries. It added millions of jobs and quickly put the coronavirus pandemic behind it. Do things need to be "made great" again?

ARTICLE CHARTS AND GRAPHS
https://p.dw.com/p/4lrSm

Through ups and downs, the US economy has held the title of the biggest in the world, regardless of who is president

Image: Dominick Sokotoff/ZUMA Wire/IMAGO


A lot of time, effort and money goes into presidential and national elections in the United States, and this year is no exception.

But combing through the data since 2009 shows that no matter who was in power, the economy seemed to be equally driven by global events, demographic developments and decisions made in the White House.

The period from 2009 to 2024 covers both of Barack Obama's two terms in office, plus the single terms of Donald Trump and Joe Biden, whose presidency is now coming to an end.

Looking back at Obama, Trump and Biden

There were two major disrupters for the economy during this period. The first was the financial crisis that started before Obama took office in January 2009, and the second was the COVID-19 pandemic that struck in the final year of the Trump administration in 2020.

The financial crisis led some to fear the collapse of the entire banking system. Soon afterward, GM and Chrysler, two of the biggest American carmakers, declared bankruptcy to reorganize their businesses, and the housing market, specifically mortgages, spun out of control.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a more immediate impact on the US and global economies. Lockdowns, shortages due to delicate supply chains and the closure of borders caused deaths, economic chaos and massive job losses.

Partly through large stimulus checks, the US managed to quickly escape the pandemic slump, picking up where the economy left off and creating a strong recovery.
American GDP vs. other economic giants

One problem comparing the impact presidents and their policies make is the lag in time it takes for their decisions to make a difference. Investing in infrastructure or industries like chipmaking is necessary, but the benefits are only felt way in the future. Tightening the border to Mexico may keep out some migrants, but the impact of missing workers takes time to affect supermarket prices.

Another problem is assessing the impact of presidents separately from decisions made together with policymakers in Congress or independent institutions like the Federal Reserve.

Since 1990, American gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has grown each year except 2009, and that was another knock-on effect of the financial crisis. Last year, the country's GDP per capita was over $81,000 (€74,700).

At the same time, when it comes to the annual percentage of growth per capita, China and India have had stronger growth. Despite this higher growth rate, America's per capita GDP is still three times higher than China's and eight times higher than India's.

In 2023, America's overall GDP was an astounding $27.36 trillion, making it by far the biggest economy in the world. China came a distant second at $17.66 trillion, followed by Germany and Japan.


Many jobs for many people

In the first few months of Obama's presidency, unemployment went up because of the financial crisis. From April 2009 to September 2011, it was at 9% or more.

After that, the unemployment rate slowly crept down until it reached its lowest level since the 1960s before a short-lived spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, which put many out of a job. This year, it has hovered around 4%.


On another front, American workers are more productive than workers in other nations thanks to innovation, spending on research and development and the willingness of workers to change jobs or move.

Pay inequality at the bottom

Another measure that has increased is pay inequality: America is the most unequal country in the G7 group. The top 1% of Americans hold a huge proportion of the country's wealth.

In the US, to get into the top 1% of earners requires an annual household income of around $1 million a year before taxes. In the United Kingdom, it only takes around $250,000.

The salary of company bosses was over 250 times more than their average employee, Obama wrote in an open letter to his successor in The Economist in October 2016.

Moreover, in 1979, "the top 1% of American families received 7% of all after-tax income. By 2007, that share had more than doubled to 17%," he wrote. More positively, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty fell.

Migration is changing America

Irregular migration into the US is hard to measure, but documented migration can be counted. One measure of this is the number of green cards granted, and from 2009 to 2022, over 14 million people were given such status.

The foreign-born population living in America, legally or otherwise, has grown considerably over the past 50 years in size and share of the population, according to a report issued by the US Census Bureau in April.

In 1970, there were 9.6 million foreign-born residents. By 2022, there were over 46 million, or nearly 14% of the total population.

Of the overall total, nearly one-third of the country's foreign-born population came to the US in 2010 or later, and half live in just four states: California, Texas, Florida and New York. More than half have become citizens.

High inflation comes to America

Since January 2009, inflation has gone on a wild ride, based on the Consumer Price Index.

When Obama took office, inflation was at zero, went into negative territory and eventually climbed to a high of 9.1% in June 2022. This past September, it was down to 2.4%, the lowest since February 2021.

This relatively short period of higher inflation is having a long afterlife and has led to big cost of living increases for many Americans.

Consumer prices are up, and voters are very unhappy about it. It's one of the most important issues this year and could decide the election in swing states. It's also one of the hardest things for any president to control.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler