Capitalism

In what climate researchers and activists are denouncing as a blatant call to "purge" the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of experts who refuse to toe the fossil fuel industry line, EPA chief Scott Pruitt told the conservative Heritage Foundation on Tuesday that he is planning to rid his agency's advisory boards of scientists who have received federal grants, arguing that such funding compromises the "independence" of their

(Harvey killed a lot of people and ruined a lot of lives, but it's great for  capitalism as the article below from the Business Section of the L.A.  Times explains.  What a system! DK)

Floodwaters in and around Houston severely damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of cars and trucks, many of which will be replaced. Those new and used vehicle sales will benefit automakers and the economy, providing a glint of silver lining amid terrible tragedy.

The neoliberal, arch-capitalist era we inhabit is chock-full of statistics and stories that ought to send chills down the spines of any caring, morally sentient human. Nearly three-fourths (71 percent) of the world’s population is poor, living on $10 a day or less, and 11 percent (767 million people, including 385 million children) live in what the World Bank calls “extreme poverty” (less than a $1.90 a day).

Pacific Northwest forests are on fire. Several blazes are out of control, threatening rural towns, jumping rivers and highways, and covering Portland, Oregon, Seattle, and other cities in smoke and falling ash. Temperatures this summer are an average of 3.6 degrees higher than the last half of the 20th century, according to the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group analysis published in The Seattle Times.