Week in Review Discussion on The Critical Hour (11/1/2019)

Contrary to Mainstream Media Reports, Slowdown Begins: Are We Close to Recession?

It’s Friday, so that means it's panel time.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported, "The US economy cooled over the summer, growing at a 1.9 percent annualized pace from July through September, the latest sign that the slowdown is deepening. Economists anticipated slightly weaker growth following President Donald Trump’s decision to dramatically expand his trade war with China." On Friday, the Post reported, "The United States added 128,000 jobs in October as the jobless rate ticked up to 3.6 percent, outperforming analyst forecasts during a month in which one of the largest private-employer strikes in recent years weighed on the economy."

Iraqi President Barham Salih said in a Thursday speech broadcast on Al-Iraqiya TV that Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi had agreed to resign, provided a successor is found to take his position. Anti-government protests have rocked Iraq for weeks. Furthermore, on Tuesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation in the wake of nationwide protests over the country's economic and political dysfunction. "With the recent resignation of now-caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri amid unprecedented protests, Lebanon is entering a phase of political wrangling in which Hezbollah and its allies will be decisive," Al Jazeera reported.

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg faced withering questions from US senators Tuesday about two crashes of 737 Max jets and whether the company concealed information about a critical flight system. “We have made mistakes, and we got some things wrong,” Muilenburg conceded.

"In a ruling that could have major implications for next year's congressional elections, a North Carolina court late Monday struck down the state GOP's 2020 legislative district map on the grounds that it was unlawfully gerrymandered to favor the Republican Party," Common Dreams reported Tuesday. Here’s my issue - Democrats control the North Carolina Supreme Court. Conservatives control the US Supreme Court. In this case, the state court ruled that these maps violate the state’s constitutional protections of both fair elections and equal protection “beyond a reasonable doubt,” addressing both the race issue and the overall fair elections issue, while the Supreme Court decided in June partisan gerrymandering is beyond the constitutional reach of federal courts. But when you turn to the courts to decide what's just, fair and right; how can the Supreme Court hold that partisan gerrymandering is outside the jurisdiction of federal courts when voting rights are guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution?

GUESTS:

Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

Dr. Jack Rasmus — Professor of economics and politics at St. Mary’s College in California.

Dr. Linwood Tauheed — Associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist.

Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War."

Listen to "Contrary to Mainstream Media Reports, Slowdown Begins: Are We Close to Recession?" on Spreaker.

The Critical Hour is a daily 60-minute news analysis and talk radio program on Radio Sputnik hosted by Dr. Wilmer Leon. Introduction above is theirs, with related articles of mine referenced in brackets.