The extreme weather we've been experiencing lately has it roots in climate change according to most scientists. Intense heat, extreme storms that bring damaging winds and hail and that result in flooding, or raging wildfires all have human costs, but they also have powerful economic costs. 
Property losses have ripple effects. Who will bear the costs?  More and more, insurance companies are reluctant to offer homeowner's insurance in vulnerable areas. What does that mean for the average homeowner? 
 
In this program, we delve into this complicated issue with Alice Hill, Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment at the Council on Foreign Relations.Hill's work focuses on the risks and consequences of climate change.

Mothering Earth-119-Climate Change Hits Home Insurance

EPISODE 15 of MAKING A SCENE

SebastiAn - Motor
Shunk - Goblin
Council on Foreign Relations - Recourse
HTRK - Poison
Medio Mutante - 17 Años
Deftones - My Own Summer (Shove It)
Psychic TV - L.A. Angel
PJ Harvey - Big Exit
They Are Gutting a Body of Water - Kmart Amen Break
Coco & Clair Clair - Aggy

SCENE 15: Speeding on the highway

The titans of capital aren’t just the obscenely wealthy. They are the directors of transnational finance companies; they manage the money of the obscenely wealthy.

Steve’s guest, political sociologist Peter Phillips, is the author of Titans of Capital: How Concentrated Wealth Threatens Humanity. The titans, he says, have doubled their AUM (assets under management) in the past 5 years.

“There's only 117 of them and they manage $50 trillion of capital. That $50 trillion is the core –– almost half of the free-floating capital in the world. And that is what the US calls a vital interest. So, when the US says we have vital interests in the world, that's what they mean.

“And that's why we have military bases everywhere in the world, because these investors are everywhere. And any rivalries are undermined by our intelligence agencies, by the government, by military whenever possible. So, it just happens that governments work on behalf of capital.”

So, if you’re wondering why the US has military interests in Ukraine or Gaza. Look to the titans, whose firms are investing in the defense industry. They profit off of war.

While the titans are massively increasing the wealth of the top .05 percent of the world’s population, over 20,000 people die each day from starvation and easily curable diseases. 

While the ruling class and their media mouthpieces insist that capitalism is going to save the world and money will trickle down...

“It's not. It's exactly the opposite.  People are dying daily. There are 700 million people who live in extreme poverty in the world. And extreme poverty means you're living on $2.15 a day. That's the UN set level for extreme poverty.

Steve and Peter discuss ways in which the titans are able to bend policy to their own purposes. They mention the role of groups like the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations.

The episode also compares the approaches of the US and China, illustrating China's success in alleviating extreme poverty through state-driven economic strategies and how the US tries to spin China as a threat.

Steve and Peter talk about the need for revolutionary social movements to challenge the entrenched capitalist structures and demand wealth redistribution, using the insights of MMT to spur new thinking about alternative economic possibilities.

Peter Phillips is a Professor of Political Sociology at Sonoma State University since 1994, former Director of Project Censored 1996 to 2010 and President of Media Freedom Foundation 2003 to 2017.

Exposing the Titans of Capital with Peter Phillips

This book, Lord Milner's Second War (https://amzn.to/3ZGCDQR), argues that a secret society, initially known as the Rhodes-Milner secret society and later as the Milner Group and Anglo-American Establishment, played a pivotal role in instigating the First World War and subsequently influencing global affairs. The author supports this conspiracy theory by citing Carroll Quigley's revelations and focusing on historical incoherencies, suggesting that significant events were manipulated and history edited to conceal the group's actions. The text details the group's origins, their involvement in the Boer War and the lead-up to World War I through figures like Lord Milner, Sir Edward Grey, and Richard Haldane, emphasizing their covert diplomatic maneuvers, press manipulation, and military preparations. Ultimately, the source posits that this unseen hand continues to orchestrate crises for its own ends, striving for a "New World Order."

Lord Milner's Second War

This book presents a compelling evidence asserting that the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a group controlled by Wall Street bankers and oil magnates, manipulates global affairs for its own gain, aiming for a New World Order that includes depopulation and deindustrialization. It claims the CFR has infiltrated the U.S. government, military, media, and educational institutions, controlling both Republican and Democratic parties through psychological warfare (PSYOPs). The text details various historical events, such as the assassinations of JFK and other key figures, the Bogotazo riots, the Cuban Revolution, and the 9/11 attacks, as orchestrated PSYOPs to advance the CFR's agenda. It further suggests that concepts like global warming and the gay rights movement are also fabricated PSYOPs to achieve the conspirators' goals, with Fidel Castro and Karl Marx being presented as unwitting or secret agents of this powerful, unseen elite.

Psychological Warfare and the New World Order: The Secret War Against the American People

Soundtracking scenes we make up with songs we like. First and third Thursday of the month on n10.as

Macroeconomics has never been so ... delish!  Macro and Cheese explores the progressive movement through the lens of Modern Monetary Theory, with hot and irreverent political takes, spotlights in activism, and the razor sharp musings of Real Progressives Founder and host Steve Grumbine.  The cheese will flow as experts come in for a full, four course deep dive into the hot queso. 

Comfort Food for Thought!

Dr. Salwa Khan is a media producer and educator with a deep and abiding interest in protecting our Mother Earth.  The podcast program Mothering Earth featured here is her latest effort to spread the word that we all need to mother Earth by learning to live gently and sustainably.

New tracks tagged #Council on Foreign Relations