CDC study: Excessive alcohol use accounts for one in eight deaths among working-age Americans

Kate Randall

One in eight deaths of Americans aged 20 to 64 in the years 2015–19 were the result of injuries or illness caused by excessive alcohol use, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study, published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, found that people of working age accounted for nearly two-thirds of the annual average of 140,000 alcohol-related deaths in the US.

Sue Howland, right, a member of the Quick Response Team which visits everyone who overdoses to offer help, checks in on Betty Thompson, 65, who struggles with alcohol addiction, at her apartment in Huntington, W.Va., Wednesday, March 17, 2021 [AP Photo/David Goldman]

The years of the pandemic have seen excessive alcohol use and related deaths rise since the period studied by the CDC. According to a research letter published in JAMA in May, alcohol consumption and related harms increased by more than 25 percent between 2019 and 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers studied average daily alcohol consumption among more than 2 million respondents to the 2015–2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a CDC health-related telephone survey, adjusted using national per capita alcohol sales to correct for underreporting. Blood-alcohol concentrations were used to assess partially alcohol-attributable deaths. Mortality data were from the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System.

The CDC defines excessive alcohol use as 8 or more drinks per week for a woman or 15 or more drinks per week for a man. Binge drinking is defined as consuming 4 or more drinks on an occasion for a woman or 5 or more drinks on an occasion for a man.

Alcohol continues to take a progressively heavier toll on older age groups. However, its effects are more evident among younger people who are less likely to die of other causes. The CDC study found that for the 20 to 34 age group, a staggering one in four deaths was attributable to drinking; for those ages 20–49, it was one in five deaths. People in their 20s, and younger, are more likely to binge-drink.

The study estimated the average number of deaths from excessive alcohol use relative to total deaths among adults aged 20 to 64 years, both overall and by sex, age group, state and as a proportion of total deaths. Five percent of all-cause deaths were attributable to excessive alcohol use, the research found.

The three leading causes of these deaths were alcoholic liver disease, other substance overdoses in addition to high blood alcohol levels and motor vehicle traffic crashes. Other causes of illness and death from excessive alcohol use include polyneuropathy, cardiomyopathy, liver cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis, pancreatitis, hypertension, stroke and a variety of cancers.

In a cross-sectional study of 694,660 average deaths per year, the study estimates that excessive alcohol consumption between 2015 and 2019 accounted for 12.9 percent of total deaths among adults aged 20 to 64 years, 20.3 percent of deaths among adults aged 20 to 49, and 25.4 percent of deaths among adults aged 20 to 34.

Among men, 6.8 percent of the 1,429,008 estimated annual all-cause deaths were attributable to excessive alcohol use. Among men ages 20–34, 27.4 percent were attributable to excessive alcohol use. Among women, 3.2 percent of the 1,3636,877 all-cause annual deaths were attributable to excessive alcohol use, but this rises to 20.4 percent in the 20–34 age group.

In other words, alcohol abuse is claiming the highest percentage of lives among young workers and new parents. The three leading causes of these excessive alcohol-attributable deaths for both men and women ages 20 to 34 were substance overdose in conjunction with high blood alcohol levels, motor vehicle accidents and homicide.

Among US adults ages 20–49, the percentage of deaths attributable to alcohol abuse was generally higher in the country’s West, upper Midwest and the Northeast, and generally lower in the Southeast.

The highest percentage of alcohol abuse attributable deaths among those aged 20–34 was in New Mexico, where it accounted for 33.3 percent of deaths. This was followed by South Dakota, at 30.6 percent, and the nation’s capital, Washington D.C., where it accounted for 30.5 percent of total deaths.

The stunning findings in this latest study on deaths from excessive alcohol use are in line with other figures showing the rising toll from “deaths of despair,” which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the proliferation of fentanyl, the highly potent and deadly synthetic opioid.

Deaths from drug overdoses in 2021, the second year of the pandemic, neared 108,000, fueled by an ever-worsening fentanyl crisis. Since the CDC began collecting data two decades ago, overdose deaths in the US have surpassed a shocking 1 million. Prior to the pandemic, the US was already suffering from a surge of deaths from suicides, overdoses and gun violence.

The official number of deaths attributed to the coronavirus pandemic—1,065,571 according to the latest CDC figures—is a vast undercount. It takes into account only those death certificates that list COVID-19 as the cause of the death. The increase in deaths from alcohol and substance abuse is an indication of social stress that existed in the US long before the pandemic and have only been exacerbated by it.

The relationship between the coronavirus pandemic and alcohol and substance abuse is a complex one, but one thing is certain: the social inequality, economic distress and accompanying alienation of large numbers of people in capitalist society have been aggravated over the past three years in America and around the world.

A provisional report from the CDC earlier this year estimated that life expectancy fell for the second year in a row in 2021, dropping by 0.9 years. The decline was 1.8 years in 2020, for a two-year total of 2.7 years. The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced US life expectancy at birth to 76.1 years, the lowest level since 1996 and the largest two-year reduction since 1923, in the wake of World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic.

Undoubtedly, government policies forcing workers into COVID-infested factories and children and teachers into unsafe schools under these conditions have contributed to the increase in drug- and alcohol-related illnesses and deaths.

The criminal policies of the government, under both Trump and Biden, are responsible for the deaths and suffering of millions in the pandemic. A rational and scientifically sound response to the pandemic is an alien concept to the corporations and their political representatives as they seek to increase the profits of the wealthy amidst this social misery.

Blood tests reveal at least two-thirds of Australians have contracted COVID-19

Martin Scott

Two serological surveys released on Thursday suggest that at least two-thirds of the Australian population, or 16.9 million people, have been infected at least once with COVID-19. It is estimated that one-fifth of all adults in the country contracted the virus between June and August.

A drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, January 8, 2022. [AP Photo/Mark Baker]

For the first time, blood samples from children and teenagers were tested. The rate of COVID-19 infection among those aged under 20 was similar to the overall population, with 64 percent of samples testing positive, although the rate was slightly higher among school-aged children. 

These results make clear that official infection figures are a vast understatement of the extent of the virus. Since the start of the pandemic, around 10.4 million cases have been reported across the country, an undercount of at least 6.5 million according to these surveys.

In fact, the true figure is likely higher still. Previous studies have established that nucleocapsid protein antibodies are not detectable in 15 to 20 percent of vaccinated people infected with Omicron. These antibodies are produced at lower levels and wane more quickly when an individual has received at least a partial course of COVID-19 vaccine.

Given Australia’s high vaccination rate, at least for the initial two-dose course (96 percent), it is likely that more than 20 million people in the country have been infected.

Almost all of these infections have occurred in 2022. On December 31, 2021, the official total for Australia stood at 395,504.

The mass infection of the population with a highly contagious and deadly virus is the result of the deliberate and bipartisan adoption of “let it rip” policies by all Australian governments, state, territory and federal. 

One of the sharpest expressions of the reopening drive was the herding of (then mostly unvaccinated) students and teachers back to face-to-face schooling in February, during what was, at the time, the worst surge of COVID-19 in Australia throughout the pandemic. This was motivated by the demands of big business for parents to go back to work, under conditions of staff shortages exacerbated by the pandemic.

This has resulted in the mass infection of children, who have in turn become a significant and unwitting vector, spreading the virus to their parents and older relatives, who are most at risk of severe illness or death. 

Between June 8 and August 31, the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) network collected samples from 2,046 children and teenagers who were undergoing procedures at eight hospitals across the country.

Nucleocapsid antibodies were detected in 64 percent of the paediatric survey participants. Among school-aged children and teenagers, the prevalence was slightly higher, at 70 percent for 12–19 year olds and 67 percent for 5–11 year olds.

Of those school-aged children who were unvaccinated, 75 percent were nucleocapsid positive, including 81 percent of teenagers.

Nucleocapsid antibodies were detected in 38 percent of young people under 20 with no history of past infection, pointing to the high incidence of asymptomatic infection and the lack of surveillance testing.

The surveys also tested for spike protein antibodies, which remain detectable in the blood for longer, but because these are also produced in response to the COVID-19 vaccines used in Australia, they are only a reliable marker of infection among the unvaccinated.

Spike antibodies were detected in 79 percent of children aged between one and four years old, all of whom are unvaccinated. Across the whole survey, 82 percent of unvaccinated children and youth had these antibodies in their blood.

Only 90 percent of those who had previously been infected tested positive for nucleocapsid antibodies, which is in line with the known limitations of these tests, especially among the vaccinated.

This suggests that the difference in infection rate between vaccinated and unvaccinated children is negligible. Therefore, the spike positive figures for the unvaccinated, showing that 94 percent of teenagers and 84 percent of 5–11 year olds have been infected with COVID-19, are likely closer to the true infection rate.

The Australian COVID-19 Sero-surveillance Network conducted its third survey of blood donated by adults, analysing 5,005 samples collected between August 23 and September 2.

Nucleocapsid antibodies were detected in 65 percent of samples, up from 46 percent when the survey was last conducted in June, and 17 percent in February. Extrapolating from these results, it is likely that at least half the adult population of Australia contracted COVID-19 over a period of six months.

The highest prevalence was found among 18–29 year-olds, with 79.7 percent of that cohort testing positive for nucleocapsid antibodies.

The study noted “these antibodies do not necessarily confer immunity,” especially from BA.4, BA.5 and other Omicron subvariants, which have “substantial immune escape, and re-infections are common.” It is not possible to determine from these results how many of the participants have had multiple cases of COVID-19.

The full implications of the mass infection and re-infection of the population, especially young people, with COVID-19 may not be known for decades. Some studies have shown that up to 30 percent of people infected with even a “mild” case will continue to experience symptoms of Long COVID for months and years afterward.

Even using the most conservative estimate, of a 5 percent incidence of Long COVID among highly vaccinated populations, these serological surveys would suggest that more than 1 million Australians are already suffering from the debilitating and poorly understood disease.

University of Queensland researchers recently discovered that COVID-19 can trigger an inflammatory response in immune cells in the brain, potentially leading to the development of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Figures from the Australia Bureau of Statistics show that deaths from dementia were 19.8 percent higher than historical averages in the first seven months of the year. Deaths from diabetes were 21.3 percent higher than average over the same period and 24 percent higher in July.

Overall, in the year to July, there were 16,375 excess deaths, 17.3 percent higher than average, including 2,503 in July. This compares to official COVID-19 death figures of 1,949 in July and 9,607 for the first seven months of the year. 

These statistics reveal that, like the infection figures, the official COVID-19 death toll, now at 15,705, vastly understates the lethal consequences of the pandemic, in terms of additional illness and death caused by complications of infection, as well as the reduced capacity of an overwhelmed health system to deal with otherwise treatable conditions.

Officially reported COVID-19 deaths in Australia to November 4, 2022 [Photo: WSWS]

As COVID-19 infection and death have continued to mount, governments, the corporate media and the unions have promoted the dangerous lie that the pandemic is over and should be considered no more serious than the common cold.

Virtually all public health measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 have been torn down since late 2021. This includes border closures, quarantine, contact tracing, mass testing, capacity limits and mask mandates.

This offensive against public safety has continued and deepened since the election of the federal Labor government in May. In recent months, mandatory isolation and paid pandemic leave for those infected with COVID-19 have been eliminated, placing workers, especially casuals and others without sick leave entitlements, under enormous financial pressure to attend work while infectious, placing their coworkers at risk.

Public health policy is now being entirely dictated by the demands of the corporate elite. COVID-19 mitigation measures have been scrapped to ensure that nothing stands in the way of the continued operations and profits of big business.

In an attempt to cover over the catastrophic impact of these moves, the Albanese government and the Labor-dominated National Cabinet have reduced the reporting of COVID-19 statistics from daily to weekly.

Now, the two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, have ended mandatory reporting of positive rapid antigen tests, in an effort to further obfuscate the spread of the virus. Despite this, official infection figures in the two states are increasing, indicating that another wave of COVID-19 is developing.

Bank of England lifts rates and forecasts “prolonged” recession

Nick Beams

The Bank of England (BoE) yesterday lifted its base interest rate by 0.75 percentage points as part of the deepening class war being waged by the major central banks against the working class.

The Bank of England, is seen at the financial district in London, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022. [AP Photo/Kin Cheung]

The decision, carried by a 7‒2 majority on its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), came in the wake of the decision by the US Federal Reserve to again hike its base rate by 75 basis points for the fourth time in a row on Wednesday, targeting what it continually refers as the “tight” labour market.

The BoE rate increase was the largest in 30 years, taking the base rate to 3 percent, the highest point since 2008.

In its economic outlook, the bank forecast a significant contraction for the UK economy as inflation continues to surge. If the BoE interest rate remains at its present level of 3 percent, it forecast a contraction in the economy over the next five quarters because of rising energy prices and mortgage costs.

But financial markets are at variance with this scenario. They expect that the BoE’s rate will rise to 5.25 percent. According to the MPC projections, if that were to take place there would be eight quarters of contraction—the longest UK recession since World War II.

BoE governor Andrew Bailey took the somewhat unusual step of directly countering the financial market forecasts at his press conference on the decision.

“We can make no promises about future interest rates,” he said. “But based on where we stand today, we think [rates] will have to go up less than currently priced into financial markets. That is important because, for instance, it means that the rates on new fixed-term mortgages should not need to rise as they have done,” he said.

The markets, which demonstrated their power in determining policy during the UK financial crisis of September‒October, leading to the ousting of Prime Minister Liz Truss, quickly delivered their verdict on this assessment.

The pound fell by 2 cents against the US dollar, which rose following the clear message from Fed chair Jerome Powell, that US interest rate hikes would continue in contrast to expectations in some quarters that the Fed was preparing to ease back.

The fall in sterling was accompanied by a sell-off in UK bond markets. The yield on the 10-year bond rose from 3.4 percent to 3.5 percent (yields rise as prices fall) and shorter-term bond also dropped in price.

Commenting on Bailey’s statement, Jordan Rochester, a foreign exchange strategist at the Japanese financial giant, Nomura, told the Wall Street Journal: “The big surprise for markets today is Bailey saying that market pricing for the terminal rate is too high. That’s helped accelerate sterling lower.”

One reason for Bailey’s contradiction of market predictions is the extent of the economic devastation to which they point.

According to BoE calculations, if its interest rate rose to 5.25 percent, the economy would contract by 1.5 percent next year followed by a further contraction of 1 percent in 2024, with the jobless rate rising to 6.5 percent in what would be the longest UK recession since records began in the 1920s.

But whatever the eventual path of interest rates, the projections by the MPC make clear the extent of the recessionary forces. It warned that Britain faced “recession for a prolonged period” and the economy was unlikely to start growing again until at least the middle of 2024.

More interest rate increases “may be required for a sustainable return of inflation to target [2 percent],” he said, but with a “peak lower than priced into financial markets,” it said.

However, as indicated by the bond and currency movements yesterday, there is considerable scepticism over this assessment in financial circles.

“Our forecast is that inflation will be stickier than the Bank expects and that activity and the labour markets will be a little more resilient. That’s why we think the MPC will change its tune and raise interest rates to a peak of 5 percent,” said Capital Economics senior UK economist Ruth Gregory.

This reference to the labour markets, and by implication wages, is also the central focus of the BoE in determining its policies.

It said the risks around its set of “inflation projections” were “judged to be skewed to the upside in the medium term… in part reflecting the possibility of more persistence in wage and price setting.”

Spelling out that this is the central issue, it said: “The MPC’s remit is clear that the inflation target applies at all times, reflecting of price stability in the UK monetary policy framework.”

And it left no doubt that if financial markets considered the rate hikes were not enough, then they would be obeyed. The MPC said further increases in the bank rate may be required, although the peak would be lower than market estimates.

“There are, however, considerable uncertainties around the outlook,” it continued. “The Committee continues to judge that, if the outlook suggests more persistent inflationary pressures, it will act forcefully as necessary.”

The BoE decision is the latest shot in the global war being carried out by central banks—a war which is being fought not against inflation but with the objective of crushing the struggles of the working class for wage increases to compensate for the highest inflation in four decades.

The last week has seen interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank (ECB), the US Fed and the Reserve Bank of Australia, among others, and now the BoE, all of which have referred to “tight” labour markets and wages.

The inflationary surge is not the result of wage rises—real wages have been cut for more than a decade around the world.

It is the outcome of the refusal of capitalist governments to eliminate the COVID virus, leading to supply chain constrictions, the trillions of dollars pumped into the financial system since 2008, the inflationary impact of the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine and the profit gouging and speculation by giant global energy and food companies.

Interest rate rises, inducing a recession, are the key weapon of the financial arm of the capitalist state, the central banks, in waging this war.

This strategy has been underscored by ECB president Christine Lagarde. In comments on Thursday evening during a visit to Latvia, she indicated a mild recession in the euro zone would not be sufficient on its own to bring down inflation and would not deter the bank from increasing rates.

As with Powell’s comments at Wednesday’s press conference, Lagarde’s remarks were aimed at scotching any belief there would be a let up in interest rate hikes even if they result in recession and rising unemployment. In fact, that is their aim.

Armed forces establishes new Territorial Leadership Command to militarise German society

Johannes Stern

“Militarism is, however, not only a means of defence and a weapon against the external enemy; it has a second task, which comes more and more into prominence with the sharpening of class contradictions and the growth of proletarian class-consciousness. Thus, the outer form of militarism and its inner character are more and more precisely determined: it has the task of protecting the prevailing social order, of supporting capitalism and all reaction against the struggle of the working class for freedom” (Karl Liebknecht, “Militarism and Anti-Militarism,” 1907).

Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht and Inspector General Eberhard Zorn set up the Bundeswehr's Territorial Command Command [Photo by Stubenviech/wikimedia / CC BY-SA 4.0]

German militarism is assuming increasingly menacing proportions at home. Almost unnoticed by the public, the newly established Territorial Leadership Command (TerrFüKdoBw) of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) began its work on October 1.

Put into service by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht and Inspector General Eberhard Zorn, the command is part of the comprehensive war offensive that is to make Germany a leading military power again after two catastrophic world wars in the 20th century. It has two main tasks: to conduct and coordinate all Bundeswehr operations within Germany, and serve to mobilize troops for war operations, most immediately for the NATO offensive against Russia.

The command’s headquarters is the Julius Leber barracks in Berlin. According to the day-order from Lambrecht and Zorn, which was issued on June 13, the Territorial Leadership Command is “responsible for the operational management of national forces in the context of homeland protection, including official and disaster relief and civil-military cooperation.” At the same time, it “takes over the tasks as the ‘mobilisation command’ for national deployments in accordance with NATO plans within the framework of national and alliance defense.”

In addition to the so-called Territorial Reserve, which has the responsibility for Homeland Security, and a related training organisation, the following units are subordinate to the command: the Multinational Command Operative Leadership, the Multinational Civil-Military Cooperation Command (MN CIMIC Cmd) Nienburg/Weser, the guard battalion at the Federal Ministry of Defence (WachBtl BMVg), the 16 State Commands (LKdo) and the troop training ground commands North, East and South with their respective troop training bases.

At the official inauguration of the command on September 26 in Berlin, Lambrecht and Zorn left no doubt as to what was at stake. “With today’s inauguration, we are taking a very important step in this new epoch. We are strengthening the Bundeswehr’s operational readiness,” said the Minister of Defence. “The new command leadership will help us to make even better, faster and more coordinated decisions in the future. It also strengthens our ability to lead—in peace as well as in crisis and war.”

Lambrecht justified the establishment of the command with the “brutal Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.” It was a “visible and effective reaction to the Russian invasion.” This is nothing but the usual propaganda. In fact, the so-called “new epoch”—including the €100 billion Bundeswehr Special Fund and NATO’s military build-up against Russia—was prepared well in advance.

The main aggressor is not Moscow, but the imperialist powers. With the systematic military encirclement of Russia, NATO provoked the reactionary intervention of the Putin regime and is now escalating the conflict to subjugate the resource-rich country. Germany’s ruling class is also pursuing the goal of establishing itself as a leading European power and forming independent German-European military structures in order to pursue its global interests.

Zorn admitted this unreservedly in his own remarks. For the German Armed Forces, the “new epoch” meant “consistently continuing the focus on the core mission of the state and alliance defense, which had already begun in 2014.” He continued, “Speed and decisive action at all levels” are “more than ever the imperative of the hour.” This would require “operationally ready strike forces on stand-by.” At the same time, it is important to “fulfil our missions in international crisis management and in administrative assistance.”

By “standby capability” the German military leadership understands the fastest and most comprehensive mobilization of society for total war. In the somewhat cryptic military language of the Inspector General, it is described as follows:

“The further development of the Territorial Tasks Command into a Territorial Leadership Command now improves the framework conditions for the fulfilment of complex tasks across the entire intensity spectrum—from administrative assistance in peace to hybrid threats to tension and defence—by bundling competences and leadership responsibility.”

In fact, the ruling class, which waged an extermination war against the Soviet Union in the Second World War with about 30 million dead, is at war with Russia again. “A large number of German forces, together with the Allies, ensure the task of deterrence at the eastern border of allied territory,” boasted Zorn. In addition, Germany “assumes a central task as part of the so-called hub function, which serves the freedom of action within NATO and our Allied partners.”

The war offensive abroad requires, as in the past, the comprehensive militarization of society at home. “A key challenge in this state security provision” is “the coordination of the actions and capabilities of state and non-state actors,” Zorn said. The new Territorial Leadership Command will play a central role in this and “improve in its linking functions, interfaces and connecting points with reference to the changed situation.”

The ruling class has long laid the legal foundations for the deployment of the Bundeswehr domestically. Already the emergency laws passed in 1968 allow such operations “to ward off an imminent danger to the existence or the liberal democratic basic order of the Federation” (Art. 87a of the Basic Law). The German Armed Forces white paper, adopted in 2016, explicitly states that the armed forces can “also perform sovereign tasks in support of the police forces by exercising powers of intervention and coercion.”

With the new command, a centralized organizational structure will now be created in order to use the military as an internal force of order and, if necessary, to suppress social protests and revolutionary struggles by force. For this purpose, explicitly military units, which organize the NATO mobilisation against Russia and other war operations, will be merged with the “civilian” military structures. The result is a new German military state.

At the end of his remarks, Zorn gave an indication of how far this process has already progressed. “For years,” he said, “a comprehensive civil-military network has been built up at all levels—from the Chancellery to the municipalities.” The national command will bring together “elements” that “functionally or on the ground have been cooperating closely for years” and place them under the authority of a “national territorial commander.”

The general also mentioned the home-guard regiments oriented towards right-wing extremist forces, which would “continue to grow according to plan” and “contribute significantly to the training and integration of reserves.” In addition, the Territorial Leadership Command “based on the experience of the COVID crisis team” will “provide the nucleus for a crisis team of the Federal Government.”

The World Socialist Web Site already warned at the beginning of the Bundeswehr’s so-called “COVID operation”: “But regardless of how much immediate medical assistance the Bundeswehr provides, the operation ultimately serves a different purpose. Leading generals are openly declaring that the key issue is imposing military-police control over the population and defending the institutions of the capitalist state.”

This assessment has now been confirmed. Significantly, the new command is led by Lieutenant General Carsten Breuer, who previously headed the federal government’s COVID crisis unit. In his new function as so-called National Territorial Commander, he is a kind of military dictator on call.

His new command serves to “bring procedures into one hand, to bring leadership into one hand and thus to make [the whole] much more stringent and much more effective …,” Breuer explained in a Bundeswehr podcast. Only “the interplay of effective forces, of a command, which is effectively led, but also of well-established troops can ultimately lead to success in an operation, ... in a crisis or even in war.”

The growing domestic influence of the military is a serious warning, especially in the context of German history. The ruling class previously used the military as an instrument of repression during the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. It is now preparing to do so once again. This is its response to the deepest crisis of capitalism since the 1930s, which is being exacerbated by the social and political effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the NATO war offensive against Russia.

Biden’s technology war against China

Peter Symonds

The Biden administration is engaged in an all-out economic war against China, aimed not only at curbing trade but above all at blocking China’s ability to make advances in key hi-tech areas and compete with the US.

President Joe Biden speaks outside Independence Hall, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Philadelphia. [AP Photo/Evan Vucci]

Last month Biden took the unprecedented step of banning the sale of the most advanced semi-conductors to China, as well as the equipment needed to make them. US citizens are also prohibited from working for Chinese computer chipmakers.

While the US has imposed the bans in the name of “national defence,” semi-conductors are essential not just for military applications but for virtually every aspect of modern society, from electronic products and transport to the design and production of all manner of goods.

The dependence of China, the world’s largest manufacturer, on semi-conductors is highlighted by fact that it spends more on imported computer chips than it does on oil and gas. In 2021, China imported a record $414 billion worth of computer chips, or more than 16 percent of the value of its total imports.

While the US bans do not apply to the sale of all semi-conductors to China, the embargos apply to the latest generations of computer chips that are crucial to technological areas, such as artificial intelligence, supercomputing and automation. Washington is deliberately seeking to undermine China’s ambitious “Made in China 2025” plans to rapidly become a global leader in a range of hi-tech industries, including artificial intelligence, 5G wireless and quantum computing.

Biden’s escalating economic war against Beijing is integral to US preparations for military conflict with China. Even as the US and its NATO allies recklessly wage war against Russia in Ukraine, the recently released US National Security Strategy identifies China as “the only competitor with both the intent and, increasingly, the capability to reshape the international order.”

The dangers of Biden’s semi-conductor ban on China have been all but hidden from the working class in the US and internationally. However, in economic and strategic circles, the immense implications are clearly understood. An October 19 Financial Times article by Edward Luce, entitled “Containing China is Biden’s explicit goal,” sounded the following alarm: “Imagine that a superpower declared war on a great power and nobody noticed. Joe Biden this month launched a full-blown economic war on China—all but committing the US to stopping its rise—and for the most part, Americans did not react.

“To be sure, there is Russia’s war on Ukraine and inflation at home to preoccupy attention. But history is likely to record Biden’s move as the moment when US-China rivalry came out of the closet.”

Moreover, last week, a top Biden administration official indicated that the US was preparing new bans on China in key hi-tech areas. Speaking at the Center for a New American Security, Alan Estevez, the under-secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, was asked if the US would ban China from accessing quantum information science, biotechnology, artificial intelligence software or advanced algorithms. Estevez admitted that this was already being actively discussed. “Will we end up doing something in those areas? If I was a betting person, I would put down money on that,” he said.

The repercussions of Biden’s actions not only for China, but for American corporations and the global economy, are yet to emerge. However, just as the US-NATO war against Russia severely disrupted global supply chains and is a major factor in rapidly rising inflation, the US semi-conductor ban on China is likely to be disruptive, in fact even more so.

According to CNN, the Dutch semi-conductor equipment supplier ASM International (ASMI) said last week that it expected the US bans to hit more than 40 percent of its sales to China. China accounted for 16 percent of its total equipment sales in the first nine months of the year.

The US-based Lam Research, which also sells semi-conductor equipment and services, predicted that it could lose between $2 billion and $2.5 billion in annual revenue in 2023 as a result of the US export bans.

Semi-conductor design and manufacture is integral to globalised production and is itself a deeply integrated global industry. The vast bulk of chip design and chip making equipment production takes place in the US and three East Asian countries—Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. But the actual manufacture of semi-conductors takes place overwhelmingly in East Asia.

When it comes to the most advanced chips, ASMI is the sole maker of the necessary equipment and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) produces 91 percent of the world’s supplies, with Samsung and Intel running poor seconds.

The dominant role of TSMC in global chip manufacture underscores the recklessness of the mounting US confrontation with China. While accusing China of preparing to invade Taiwan, the Biden administration is deliberately provoking Beijing by boosting ties with Taipei and undermining the One China policy, under which the US de facto recognises Beijing as the legitimate government of all China, including Taiwan.

At the same time as goading China into taking military action, Washington is arming Taiwan to the teeth to transform the island into a quagmire for the Chinese military.

The Biden administration is acutely aware that any war over Taiwan would have a calamitous impact on global semi-conductor supply chains. It is pressuring TSMC to move substantial sections of its manufacturing to the US. While the TSMC has begun to build a plant in Arizona, it has refused to relocate its main manufacturing facilities and is in the process of constructing a huge new factory in Taiwan.

In a clear sign that the US is preparing for war with China, the Biden administration is pushing to create a national chip making capacity through legislation known as the “CHIPS and Science Act” that would allocate $280 billion over five years to the American semi-conductor industry and scientific research.

The funds needed to build a self-sufficient US industry are likely to be far larger. A report last year by the Semiconductor Industry Association and Boston Consulting Group, entitled “Strengthening the global semiconductor supply chain in an uncertain era,” pointed out that all countries depend on an integrated global supply chain and that semi-conductors are the world’s fourth-most-traded product after crude oil, refined oil and cars.

The report estimated the upfront cost of constructing “self-sufficient” local supply chains in the US at between $350 and $420 billion, just to meet 2019 demand, followed by large ongoing costs. As cited in a Financial Times article ,” Edlyn Levine, chief science officer at America’s Frontier Fund, declared it was “a fantasy” to think that the US could completely decouple from TSMC. “The idea… is technically not feasible,” he said.

Yet as it prepares for war with China, the US is being driven to outlay vast sums to attempt to establish national industries vital for the military, and to heap new economic burdens on the working class. Already at war with one nuclear-armed power, US imperialism, in a desperate bid to shore up its global domination, is recklessly pursuing a strategy of diplomatic, economic and military confrontation with nuclear-armed China that could lead to a catastrophic global conflict.

Luce concluded his Financial Times article cited above by declaring: “Will Biden’s gamble work? I’m not relishing the prospect of finding out. For better or worse, the world has just changed with a whimper not a bang. Let us hope it stays that way.”

Record numbers of Canadians used food banks this year, report shows

E.P. Milligan

A record number of Canadians had to make use of food banks this year as real wages stagnate and inflation soars. In its annual report, Food Banks Canada found there were nearly 1.5 million visits to food banks in March alone, 15 percent more than the same month in 2021 and 35 percent more than in March 2019, one year prior to the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Canada.

Volunteers pack boxes of food outside of a food bank [AP Photo/Ashley Landis]

The Food Banks Canada report compiled data from more than 4,750 food banks and community organizations. It identified key factors behind the sharp increase in food bank visits: rising food and housing costs, high inflation and low social assistance rates.

Emerging from the mass carnage of the COVID-19 pandemic as it ends its third year wealthier than ever, the Canadian ruling class has demanded that workers continue to fuel record profits through savage cuts to real wages and social programs, the ramping up of production quotas, and the price gouging of basic necessities. The Liberal Trudeau government is playing a leading role in fueling the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine, spending more than $600 million CAD on military equipment and assistance, while thousands of Canadians go hungry every day.

The recently published figures on food bank usage underscore just how devastating the consequences of this process have been for the vast majority of society, many of whom have been living on the edge since the pandemic began. 

Numbers point to an overall 35 percent increase in food bank users in just two years, roughly half of whom are on some type of social assistance. Shockingly, one in seven food bank users was employed—a further reflection of stagnating wages in the face of rampant inflation.

The current social crisis has been particularly hard on working class families, with children comprising 33 percent, a third, of food bank users across the country. A growing number of students and senior citizens, who often live on fixed incomes, have also been forced to rely on food banks as a result of economic hardship, including rising tuition costs and dwindling social assistance.

A Canada-wide survey of 1,001 respondents published Monday by the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan showed that nearly 20 percent were reducing meal portions or even skipping meals entirely in order to save money. Most respondents said they were using coupons or hunting for sales to adapt to the spike in food prices.

Over half of respondents claimed they had started making meal plans to ensure they could afford their grocery bills. Over 30 percent said they were eating less healthy food to keep up with rising costs. Nearly 5 percent admitted to stealing food out of necessity, and another 5 percent had used a food bank or community fridge.

The survey noted that grocery store prices increased this year at the fastest rate since August 1981, just over 41 years ago. The majority of respondents—just over 79 percent—considered wage increases to be the most effective way of meeting the rising cost of living.

The 12th edition of Canada’s Food Price Report also paints a stark picture of the daily financial struggles facing millions of workers, noting the “lingering challenges posed by COVID-19 as an unprecedented global crisis.”

The report shows the scale of the accelerating rate of food cost. While overall prices of foodstuffs in Canada rose between 3-5 percent last year, they are set to rise 5-7 percent by the end of this year. Its executive summary noted that a family of four would pay $106 CAD (Canadian dollars) more out of pocket than last year as a result of rising food prices.

The average grocery bill has risen some 70 percent between 2000 and 2022. While median income rose just over 6.5 percent between 2015 and 2019, food expenditure shot up by 16.3 percent over the same period. Within overall food expenditure, food retail (i.e., grocery store) prices had risen 19 percent just prior to the outbreak of the pandemic.

Jane, a student and young mother who wished to keep her real name anonymous, spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about her experience. Jane recently moved to St. John’s, Newfoundland, with her husband and daughter to study in a Master’s program at Memorial University. Already hit with moving-related expenses and the added financial strain of having no income while she and her husband looked for work, skyrocketing food prices forced her to seek aid from the local food bank.

“The food bank here sucks,” she began. “The staff were nice, but the experience really stuck it in. They give a three-day supply to last a month [an individual can only use the food bank once every four weeks] and I had to wait outside in the rain.

“The food bank has more demand than supply,” she continued. “The more people that need it, the less supplies they will have. When I went, there was no fruit, meat or vegetables.” Most of the food bank supply consists of old canned or jarred goods, and even bread is scarce.

Jane grew up in a working class area and has dealt with food insecurity in the past but noted that things have become much harder today. “Things have always been bad because we grew up in the lower class,” she said. “My husband and I both grew up with food insecurity, so we are good at navigating it. The cost of food and everything else makes it harder to navigate. We couldn’t afford food in September, and it was getting to the point that neither of us were eating because we wanted to make sure the kid still had food. We ran out of staples like flour and sugar. I was living off broth and homemade bread until we ran out of flour, then it was just broth. My husband was eating less than once a day.”

Jane’s husband found work as a private security guard, but getting steady hours proved difficult. “He had a job, but they stopped giving him hours,” she said. “I found a job quickly, but it takes time to catch up on bills and re-stock up on food. We moved here in July so [we] didn’t have anything stored, and our savings was gone. Once the money started coming in, we both needed to pay for gas to go to work so it took a few more weeks before we were ‘secure.’ The cost of food makes it very, very hard.” Jane added that her family depends on the lunch program at her daughter’s school to ensure she gets three square meals a day.

Food banks across the country have been put under enormous strain due to the growing demand driven by the rising cost of living. The food bank at Memorial University’s St. John’s campus is a particularly tragic example of the institutions’ inability to keep up with the needs in the community. The centre was forced to temporarily close last week, citing surging demand that overwhelmed its resources. “The demand over the past few months has just been more than we could have possibly predicted,” Matt Pike, the food bank’s volunteer coordinator, told CBC News. 

He explained that the food bank served around 150 clients in August. While under “normal” conditions, food bank usage typically increased by 50 percent in September as students return to class, Pike noted that client numbers actually doubled to 300 during this period. By October, the food bank was serving more than 360 clients before it was forced to close. “We were on track to doing closer to 500 clients this October had we not had to shut down,” he said.

Pike noted that in addition to students, the food bank has increasingly been used by university staff and even some professors. “The cost of living is tough for everybody,” he said. “It’s not just the students.” The St. John’s food bank hopes to reopen November 3, though whether it will have enough resources by then to do so remains unclear.

German government plans hospital “reforms”: A recipe for more cuts

Markus Salzmann

Almost three years of the coronavirus pandemic and a current inflation rate of more than 10 percent have pushed many hospitals and health care workers to their limit. This year, hospitals can only claim price increases of about 2.3 percent, which covers about one-fifth of the actual inflation rate. It is therefore not surprising that two in five hospitals consider insolvency a possibility.

Summer 2021: Nursing staff at Vivantes and Charité hospitals in Berlin fight for better working conditions. The banner reads, “Broken bones, heart attacks, diagnose tumours? Just clap with us!!!” [Photo: WSWS]

A study by management consultants Roland Berger found that almost 70 percent of hospitals expect to run a deficit this year. Among the public/state-funded hospitals, the figure is 90 percent; 96 percent expect the economic situation to worsen in the next five years.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (Social Democrat, SPD) and the “traffic light” coalition, which includes the Liberal Democrats (FDP) and Greens, have announced a “hospital reform.” But instead of supporting hospitals in need and relieving the ailing health care system, it is the first step towards implementing long-cherished plans for nationwide hospital closures and radical cuts in public health care.

The situation is dire. According to a recent survey by the German Hospital Institute, 96 percent of hospitals can no longer meet their costs from current revenues. For example, a medium-sized hospital will now pay over €6 million more for electricity and gas next year than last year. Extrapolated to all hospitals, this results in a shortfall of €4 billion for energy costs alone.

Added to this are the burdens caused by the pandemic. In the summer, the so-called Coronavirus Aid provided for hospitals expired. At the same time, the government’s unscrupulous policy of allowing the virus to run wild has led to hospitals being hopelessly overloaded, even before the peak of the autumn/winter wave. In the coming weeks, the situation will further worsen.

Before the pandemic, the staffing situation in hospitals was already catastrophic. In the last two and a half years, hundreds of nurses have quit or reduced their hours because workloads are unbearable. Now, there are enormous staff shortages due to COVID infections. Almost 80 percent of hospitals expect to have to postpone or cancel planned operations and treatments this autumn due to staff shortages.

According to the government’s plans, there is to be marginal financial aid for paediatrics and obstetrics. Paediatric clinics are to receive as yet unspecified additional funding, in addition to the flat-rate per case funding, to compensate for possible revenue shortfalls. However, these will be linked to target requirements. For example, at least 80 percent of the revenue volume of 2019 must be met, otherwise there is a risk of deductions.

Every hospital that has a paediatric department and a perinatal centre is to receive €1.5 million. But this sum is no more than the proverbial drop in the ocean since these areas have been systematically cut since the introduction of DRGs (diagnosis-related group funding). Paediatric medicine, in particular, has been cut back in favour of other areas that promise higher profits. Today, in some regions of Germany, there is a real lack of care in these areas.

At the centre of Lauterbach’s plans, however, is the reduction of inpatient treatments. To this end, as many as possible should be conducted as day treatments and so be billed in this way. Lauterbach argues that this will relieve nursing staff because many night services will then not have to be staffed. “We do a lot of inpatient care that could actually be done on an outpatient basis or without patients staying overnight. This is an ancient structure that we now want to overcome,” he told broadcaster ZDF.

Lauterbach has never advocated for better working conditions in hospitals, neither as a long-standing member of the supervisory board of the private Rhön hospitals, nor as a health affairs politician. In view of about 30,000 unfilled positions in nursing, the elimination of some night services would not make much difference.

Rather, overcoming the “ancient structures” is directed at closing hospitals across the board and cutting services, and thus staff, in those that remain. In this way, Lauterbach is continuing the policy he himself played a major role in shaping in 2003/2004 with the introduction of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs).

Since then, hospitals have been under enormous economic pressure. With the DRGs, hospitals are reimbursed for the average cost of treatment, regardless of the actual expenditure. To be profitable or cost-neutral, they must treat as many patients as possible with as few staff as possible.

Only if a patient is discharged from hospital as soon as possible does the hospital make a profit. If, however, the patient must stay in hospital longer than the flat-rate per case payment covers, because the treatment is more complex, this is usually not reimbursed by the health insurance funds and the hospital is left bearing the costs.

As a result of the flat-rate per case model, there are “bloody discharges”; to meet predefined hospitalisation times, patients who are not actually ready are sent home.

With the “reform” now planned, this system is to be tightened up even more. Treatments that should be carried out on an in-patient basis are to be carried out increasingly as out-patient treatment. In addition, so-called hybrid DRGs are being planned. This means that outpatient therapies can also be carried out by doctors in private practice. Above all, small hospitals and primary care hospitals with overall and emergency care, but without specialty focuses, would lose revenue. The intended closures would thus be preordained.

Boris Augurzky of the Essen-based Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (RWI), who also sits on the expert committee of the Ministry of Health, welcomed the plans. He assumes that 20 percent of today’s hospital cases could be treated on an outpatient basis. This gives an idea of the scope of the plans.

Augurzky had already called for the nationwide closure of hospitals during the first wave of the pandemic in spring 2020. Under conditions of the complete overloading of intensive care units, he coldly remarked that it was a pity more hospitals were not being closed. Later, he demanded the federal government further reduce hospital costs, a “phase of austerity” was coming, Augurzky said.

For years, Lauterbach and Augurzky have been calling for the implementation of the proposals of the Bertelsmann Foundation, which had called for more than half of Germany’s hospitals to be closed in 2019. At the beginning of September, the Münch Foundation think tank, of which Augurzky is chairman, published a study promoting a comprehensive “transformation” of general hospitals into outpatient facilities.

The consequences of such a “transformation” are clear. Even more than before, economic pressure and profit maximisation will determine treatment at the expense of patient care. Inpatient stays with comprehensive medical and nursing care would become the exception for most of the population.

Lauterbach and the “traffic light” coalition want to use the drastic situation, which they themselves have created by their profits-before-lives policy with their planned “reforms,” to further cut public health care.