Bits n’ pieces from east, west and beyond
East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact.
This column might best be dedicated to “too many cans kicked down the road for too long.”
A recent sampling:
A bill passed late a few weeks ago to avert a government shutdown. ABC said the bill keeps the government funded through mid-December. Sen. Joe Manchin, whose wealth lies within the coal industry, attempted to insert special corporate-friendly privileges for energy permitting “reforms,” but he dropped those plans due to opposition from progressives and Republicans.
The temporary plan includes funding Federal Emergency Management Act disaster relief.
The debt leverage Republicans seek regarding the national budget is, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s chief policy officer, Neil Bradley, “a hostage you can’t shoot.”
Axios reported Republicans may want to negotiate a post-December budget by asking for a reversal of President Joe Biden’s policies. Bradley’s thoughts: “A government shutdown is like putting your hand on a hot stove and holding it there until the government reopens. Defaulting on the debt is a thermo-nuclear act that destroys all of Western civilization.”
To avoid a global recession, the Federal Reserve needs to stop raising interest rates, the United Nations recently stated, adding that the Fed’s policy “could prove worse than the economic disease.”
The recent Category 4 Hurricane Ian may be the most expensive storm in Florida’s history. CoreLogic, a research firm for natural disasters, estimated a high of $47 billion in damages. (Hurricane Katrina in 2005 cost $108 billion).
CoreLogic predicted Hurricane Ian will put insurers into bankruptcy, and homeowners will be forced into delinquency. Some areas experienced rainfall regarded as once in every 1,000 year events, CNN reported.
Most of the impacted homes did not have flood insurance. The death toll is over 100 people; more bodies may be discovered.
Florida’s governor, when serving in Congress, opposed aid for Hurricane Sandy victims in 2013, but now wants federal help. For the uninsured, that will not help much, The New York Times reported: FEMA aid typically pays an inadequate $40,000 (or less) per lost home. It’s up to Congress to decide if they will authorize Disaster Recovery grants, which can take years to reach those in need.
Florida is more climate-threatened than most states. Belief in climate change there, amongst Republicans, has doubled to 88% since 2019, according to Florida Atlantic University. Nonetheless, the state’s Republican politicians side with and accept campaign funds from climate-denying corporations (the governor has received over $800,000 from oil and gas industry donors, according to followthemoney.org).
U.S. House Clerk records show every Republican politician in Congress, from Florida, voted against a bill that would have provided Florida with billions of dollars for flood mitigation and climate-related weatherization.
Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis has mocked the $19 billion that was headed to his state, the Orlando Sentinel said. Bottom line: funds from climate-disruptors that entice politicians are miniscule compared to the damages Florida is now experiencing from just one climate storm.
Let this columnist know if fossil fuel corporations volunteer massive sums adequate for rebuilding Ian-damaged Florida.
Last week’s Jan. 6 House Committee hearing was postponed due to Hurricane Ian.
Nearly 6,000 temperature records were broken in the U.S. in July, The New York Times reported.
In recent years the prediction was that weather this extreme would not occur until 2050.
Ukraine-Russia, from numerous sources: Phone calls from Russian soldiers indicate they are poorly equipped and commanded, disillusioned, and disgusted with Russia’s president; those the soldiers talk to say the Russian economy is collapsing.
A vote for annexing portions of Ukraine to Russia, regarded by Western nations as a “sham” vote, resulted in Russia declaring they’d “annexed” four provinces. But since then Russia no longer has full control of those areas due to Ukraine’s military maneuvers.
Now, facing an unpopular conscription, Russians are resisting the war and at least 150,000 have fled Russia.
The United Nation’s food chief has warned that widespread food shortages could occur next year due to blockage of fertilizer supplies and climate influences. When he took his U.N. position six years ago, David Beasley said 80 million faced starvation. Now, the number is 135 million. The situation requires ASAP action, Beasley says.
He’s met with billionaires to ask for help.
Blast from the past: In the Old Testament Joseph advised Egypt’s pharaoh to set aside a portion of every abundant harvest to assure survival during famine years. In the face of climate change and de-stabilizing conflicts, and given that the U.S. has let stockpiles dwindle, revisiting stockpiling is likely due.
In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Agriculture, Henry Wallace, adopted a similar Biblical stance: an Iowa farmer, Wallace had seen food prices soar during droughts, and corn being “almost worthless” during optimal growing years.
A granary of reserves helped smooth out price fluctuations. Now, according to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, with shrunken grain stashes our food system is less resilient, and we should again consider reserves of staple crops.