Headlines at the World Socialist Web Site today:
1. Bitcoin hits $120,000: A fever chart of the capitalist crisis
The massive rise in the crypto Ponzi scheme—whose value rests solely on the output of vast quantities of meaningless computations—is a testament to the speculative frenzy gripping US and world capitalism.
No doubt, the big money flooding into crypto will be seeking further gains, conjured out of thin air, as three key pieces of legislation move through a compliant Congress. Congress is set to pass the legislation during what has been dubbed “Crypto Week,” accelerating the transformation of American capitalism and its financial system into the global epicenter of parasitism, speculation and outright criminality.
The legislation aligns with Trump’s stated goal of making the US the “crypto capital of the world”—a policy aimed at funneling millions, and eventually billions, into his family’s coffers while enriching the financial oligarchy and corporations whose interests he serves.
2. Two deaths from massive storms in the New York-New Jersey area
The link between these extreme weather events and man-made climate change is undeniable. Scientific consensus confirms that global warming allows the atmosphere to hold more moisture, directly fueling more intense rainfall and flash flood potential. “These are classic textbook examples,” said Dr. Lauren Zettel, a climate scientist at Columbia University.
Zettel went on, “Warmer air retains more moisture—so when a storm finally releases that moisture, you get explosive precipitation over a short period dominating local streams and drainage systems.”
3. French Prime Minister Bayrou presents class war budget
Yesterday, French Prime Minister François Bayrou presented plans for €44 billion in tax increases and social cuts in next year’s budget. This class war budget would impose sweeping cuts to key social programs to free up tens of billions of euros for the ongoing French and European military build-up and the NATO war against Russia.
*****
Bayrou presented two lying arguments to justify his anti-democratic policies. The first is that France, whose sovereign debt has reached 114 percent of its Gross Domestic Product and spends €100 billion yearly on servicing its debt to the banks, has no choice but to escalate the exploitation of the workers. The second is that violent foreign enemies led by Russia give France and its allies no choice but to arm in order to defend themselves. On this point, Bayrou said:
Above all, the main transformation we have lived through is that violence has become a universal law. This change that began by the invasion of Ukraine by the armies of Putin’s Russia, the world has shown it in other ways after October 7, with the drama in Gaza, that the world is ready to explode, and news is regularly reported of similar movements in the seas around China. And we recently saw with the Israel-Iran conflict that this is now becoming a general law, unfortunately, for all the regions of our planet.
4. Spanish unions impose sellout contract on Cádiz metalworkers strike
Workers will not recover the wages lost in recent years and could wind up losing even more money, depending on inflation. Training contracts will have lower pay, and there is still no regularization of conditions for intermittent permanent workers, who will continue to have no job security. It will take years to recover the hazard pay bonus, with no clear criteria as to when it will be granted. There are no guarantees that companies will not ignore the few commitments that they have made—as they have done in the past.
5. Australia: More than 1,500 Kinetic and CDC bus drivers strike in Victoria
Drivers at both companies should draw lessons from what happened at Dysons last month, another company contracted to provide public bus services for the Victorian government. Dysons workers were set to join those at CDC in a second strike on June 16, but at the eleventh hour the company announced that workers had voted—by the narrowest of margins, just 51 percent in favour—to accept a revised offer of a meagre 13 percent wage rise over three years.
6. Trump administration bans bond hearings, paving way for mass indefinite detention of immigrants
In a July 8 memorandum first obtained by the Washington Post, the Trump administration moved to effectively outlaw bond hearings for millions of immigrants awaiting court hearings. The policy change, outlined in a directive issued by acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons, orders ICE agents to imprison immigrants “for the duration of their removal proceedings,” which often last months or even years.
7. David Cousins, songwriter and singer for the Strawbs, dead at 85
Cousins’ influence extended beyond the Strawbs. He inspired countless musicians with his commitment to storytelling, willingness to experiment and refusal to be confined by genre. Perhaps most importantly, David Cousins echoed the hopes, fears, and dreams of his audience during a critical period of change in popular music. Through his music over many decades, he encouraged listeners to see the world as it really is with fresh eyes and an open heart.
8. What is driving the university job cuts across Australia? Labor’s pro-corporate and war agenda
In order to defeat the wave of job cuts and the elimination of courses for students, it is essential to understand the underlying agenda and to build new organizations—rank-and-file committees—to fight it.
9. Union seeks to shut down Philadelphia-wide strike movement as rank-and-file resists
The need to renew the strike under the democratic control of workers, and on the basis of a new political strategy rooted in the unity of the entire working class, was the focus of Monday night’s public meeting organized by the Philadelphia Workers Rank-and-File Strike Committee.
In the opening report, WSWS reporter Nick Barrickman said, “The fight in Philadelphia is part of a nationwide assault on public workers and services.” He cited the looming budget crises in Chicago, where officials are threatening “doomsday” cuts to public transit and education, and in Los Angeles where the city has declared a “fiscal emergency.”
“This crisis,” he continued, “is the direct result of policies designed to serve the interests of the capitalist ruling class … At the federal level, Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill’ has slashed funding for vital social programs like Medicaid and Medicare, while delivering tax cuts to the wealthy and boosting military and police spending.”
When Cuomo said, “I let you down,” he had in mind billionaires like Michael Bloomberg and Bill Ackman—a noted Trump supporter—who, along with other wealthy donors, poured some $30 million into promoting the discredited former governor. Their fear was not that Mamdani poses a genuine threat to the interests of big business, but that his victory would encourage a broader shift in mass sentiment.
11. Quebec’s CAQ government makes further massive cuts to public education
Quebec’s avowedly right-wing and pro-big business, “national autonomist” Coalition Avenir Québec government announced further savage cuts to public education last month, just before the end of the school year.
12. Part Two: President Gabriel Boric and the rightward shift of the Chilean pseudo-left
Boric used his final Public Account address last month to justify the record of Apruebo Dignidad, which has gone further to the right than any government since the return to civilian rule.
13. Workers Struggles: The Americas
Argentina:
Buenos Aires hospital workers rally for higher wages, better conditions
Canada:
Rio Tinto steelworkers begin strike in Quebec
Toromont Industries workers strike in Bradford
Ecuador:
Students and teachers march in defense of public education
Mexico:
National strike by healthcare workers
Nurses protest in defense of healthcare
Peru:
Peasant miners strike, blockade roads
United States:
California garbage haulers join growing national strike against Republic Services
Drivers who supply Mid-Atlantic 7-Eleven stores authorize strike
14. Free Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist, Bogdan Syrotiuk!
Bogdan Syrotiuk and Leon Trotsky
