Why Unemployment under Trump is way worse than Numbers Suggest
John Buell | zcomm.org | 2020-05-12
"If the protesters really wanted to protect workers, wouldn't they be demanding laws that replaced lost wages? Other developed countries have passed exactly those sorts of measures, putting their economies into a holding pattern as the pandemic passes."
zcomm.org/znetarticle/why-unemployment-under-trump-is-way-worse-than-numbers-suggest/
[Research Paper] Mapping of variations in child stunting, wasting and underweight within the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2000–2017
ISDBICC | thelancet.com | 2020-05-12
CGF indicators have improved in India, but there are substantial variations between the districts in their magnitude and rate of decline, and the inequality between districts has increased in a large proportion of the states. The poor correlation between the national surveys for CGF estimates highlights the need to standardise collection of anthropometric data in India. The district-level trends in this report provide a useful reference for targeting the efforts under NNM to reduce CGF across India and meet the Indian and global targets.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30061-4/fulltext?rss=yes
Survival of our public postal service threatened
Dave Welsh | workers.org | 2020-05-12
Fifty years ago, wildcatting postal workers shut down the U.S. mail for a week in the 1970 Great Postal Strike over poverty-level wages. President Nixon tried to use Army and National Guard soldiers to break the strike
Essential For Survival: The Need Of Global Solidarity
The People's Collective | indybay.org | 2020-05-12
People are dying, every day. Many people are dying too early. People are dying through war, poverty, disease, lack of healthcare or lack of food. People are dying of starvation. Now, in the year 2020, a new disease is spreading around the globe, killing hundreds of thousands and affecting everybody's life.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/18832973.php
Shelter-in-Place and Internet Inequality: What's the Connection?
Beau Peters | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-05-12
Photo Source: Unsplash As most of the world is forced to stay home, internet and technology play essential roles in almost every aspect of the population's shelter-at-home lives. The internet keeps loved ones communicating and in touch, informs people of what's going on in the world, connects students to their teachers and professors, and provides …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/05/shelter-in-place-and-internet-inequality-whats-the-connection/
The Censorship of Inequality in the Covid-19 Era: How Corporate and Market-Based Metrics Rule the News, and Why it Matters
Project Censored | projectcensored.org | 2020-05-12
By Anthony DiMaggio The old adage that "the more things change the more they stay the same" seems particularly appropriate to media coverage in the Covid-19 crisis. Old patterns of media…
projectcensored.org/the-censorship-of-inequality-in-the-covid-19-era-how-corporate-and-market-based-metrics-rule-the-news-and-why-it-matters/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-censorship-of-inequality-in-the-covid-19-era-how-corporate-and-market-based-metrics-rule-the-news-and-why-it-matters
What Does Politics Demand of Black Women? w/ Rep. Barbara Lee & others (livestream)
The Commonwealth Club | indybay.org | 2020-05-12
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/10/18832970.php
The welfare state – anchor of stability in the crisis
Joseph Woss | indybay.org | 2020-05-12
Work, income and wealth must be distributed more fairly, and a number of "rules of the game" in our society must be changed. The upheaval forced by the crisis will hopefully force even hard-boiled defenders of the existing to rethink – if only because otherwise dramatic distribution conflicts threaten.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/18832972.php
No HEROES here: Democrats seek tax breaks for rich donors & lobbyists in $3 TRILLION Covid-19 wishlist bill
rt.com | 2020-05-12
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's proposed $3 trillion coronavirus aid bill contains massive tax breaks for wealthy Democrat donors and lobbyists but precious little for working Americans, and has an odd preoccupation with cannabis. | Dubbed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, the bill is gargantuan in scope and size
Norway dipping into its massive piggy bank to battle Covid-19 crisis
rt.com | 2020-05-12
Norway is set to withdraw $41 billion from its sovereign wealth fund to cushion the blow to the economy from the coronavirus crisis that has resulted in falling oil prices and the highest unemployment in the country in 75 years. | Known officially as the Government Pension Fund, it is the world's biggest wealth fund, worth over $1 trillion. The government announced on Tuesday that it will have to sharply increase spending from the fund, to avoid "sharper downturn and to help healthy companies through the crisis." | According to the Finance Ministry's mid-year fiscal review, the revised budget calls for the use…
rt.com/business/488429-norway-wealth-fund-cash-withdrawal/
Nuclear Weapons: Stopping the War That No One Wants (livestream)
The Commonwealth Club | indybay.org | 2020-05-12
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/11/18832982.php
Trump Labor Dept. Pushes States to Help Employers Report Workers Who Stay Home
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-12
With the stated goal of rooting out " waste and fraud" in the unemployment insurance system, President Donald Trump's Department of Labor is openly encouraging ongoing state efforts to help employers report workers who refuse to return to their jobs out of fear of contracting the cor…
truthout.org/articles/trump-labor-dept-pushes-states-to-help-employers-report-workers-who-stay-home/
Pandemic Causes Loss of 20,500,000 Jobs, Unemployment at 14.7 Percent
Dean Baker | zcomm.org | 2020-05-12
The good news here is the large percentage of workers who expect to be called back by their employer, but the steps by the government to contain the pandemic and support the recovery are less encouraging…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/pandemic-causes-loss-of-20500000-jobs-unemployment-at-14-7-percent/
Low-Balling the Unemployed in the Era of the 2020 Great Recession
Dr. Jack Rasmus | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-12
This past Friday, May 8, the US Labor Dept. released its latest jobless figures. The official report was 20 million more unemployed and an unemployment rate of 14.7%. | Both mainstream and progressive media reported the numbers: 20 million more jobless …
globalresearch.ca/low-balling-unemployed-era-2020-great-recession/5712585
As unemployment soars to Depression-era levels, Canada's unions endorse reckless back-to-work drive
wsws.org | 2020-05-12
Nearly 7.6 million workers–equivalent to one-third of the country's total labour force–have applied for the federal government's meagre, temporary Canadian Emergency Response Benefit.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/12/cajo-m12.html
Low-Balling the Unemployed in the Era of the 2020 Great Recession
Jack Rasmus | zcomm.org | 2020-05-12
The real unemployment rate is not the U-3 figure of 14.7% but easily 25% today. And the real total jobless are not the U-3 20 million, or even 23 million, but somewhere between 35-40 million… and rising…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/low-balling-the-unemployed-in-the-era-of-the-2020-great-recession/
The Pandemic's Catastrophic Hit to the Labor Market
Dean Baker | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-12
Temporary layoffs make up 78.3 percent of unemployment. As expected, the April jobs report showed a catastrophic hit to the labor market stemming from the pandemic. The economy lost another 20,500,000 jobs in April after losing 870,000 jobs in March. This is an order of magnitude higher than any previous two-month decline on record. The…
counterpunch.org/2020/05/12/the-pandemics-catastrophic-hit-to-the-labor-market/
Mass Unemployment Is a Failure of Capitalism
Richard D. Wolff | counterpunch.org | 2020-05-11
The difficulties caused to workers by record unemployment during the pandemic are a product of capitalism. Most of the time, employers decide to hire or fire workers depending on which choice maximizes employers' profits. Profit, not the full employment of workers nor of means of production, is "the bottom line" of capitalism and thus of capitalists. That is how the system works. Capitalists are rewarded when their profits are high and punished when they are not. It's nothing personal; it's just business.
counterpunch.org/2020/05/11/mass-unemployment-is-a-failure-of-capitalism/
World's Super Rich Buying Pandemic Escape Mansions in New Zealand
Alan MacLeod | thealtworld.com | 2020-05-11
A number of the planet's richest people, including billionaire co-founder of Paypal Peter Thiel, are escaping to New Zealand to shelter in luxury bunkers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. | MPN– Instead of paying $24,000 for a haircut or spending $120,000 on a banana duct taped to a wall, the world's super wealthy have found a new commodity to purchase: pandemic bunkers in New Zealand. A number of the planet…
thealtworld.com/alan_macleod/worlds-super-rich-buying-pandemic-escape-mansions-in-new-zealand
6 months after the civic-military coup in Bolivia, Evo Morales denounces setbacks
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-11
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales pointed out that "fascism and racism have been reborn" in Bolivia and that "the de-facto government itself is promoting inequality"
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/11/6-months-after-the-civic-military-coup-in-bolivia-evo-morales-denounces-setbacks/
6 months after the civic-military coup in Bolivia, Evo Morales denounces setbacks
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-11
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales pointed out that "fascism and racism have been reborn" in Bolivia and that "the de-facto government itself is promoting inequality"
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/11/6-months-after-the-civic-military-coup-in-bolivia-evo-morales-denounces-setbacks/
Trumka proposes universal federal jobs payments
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-05-11
WASHINGTON –Sticking to a here-and-now solution to coronavirus-caused joblessness, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka proposed the federal government guarantee paid employment
New York pandemic spending favors wealthy over workers
Vincent Tsai and Camden Goetz | liberationnews.org | 2020-05-10
New York politicians have recently barreled forward with plans for massive cuts to public spending.
liberationnews.org/new-york-pandemic-spending-favors-wealthy-over-workers/
Elon Musk resorts to insults in RUSSIAN to defend capitalism
rt.com | 2020-05-10
As Elon Musk sues Californian authorities for stopping a Tesla factory from reopening, he has found a somewhat novel way of dealing with his critics
White Unemployment Rose More than Black Unemployment and No One Notices
Dean Baker | cepr.net | 2020-05-09
One of the most striking items in a very striking employment report yesterday is that white unemployment has actually risen slightly more than black unemployment in this crisis. White unemployment has risen from 3.1 percent in February to 14.2 percent in April, a rise of 11.1 percentage points. Black unemployment rose from 5.8 percent to …
cepr.net/white-unemployment-rose-more-than-black-unemployment-and-no-one-notices/
Minnesota: Advance a People's Agenda!
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-05-09
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Coalition to Advance a People's Agenda. | Working and oppressed people are facing the biggest crisis we've experienced in generations. The government's disastrous mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic combined with deepening unemployment and economic collapse are throwing millions of working people into crisis. So far the government is doing what they usually do
Unemployment highest since the Great Depression
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-05-09
San José, CA – On Friday, May 8, the U.S. Department of Labor released their monthly Employment Report for the month of April. The report said that the official unemployment rate soared from 4.4% in March to 14.7% in April, a jump of more than 10% in just one month. This is the highest monthly unemployment rate on records going back to 1948, and the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s when unemployment peaked at about 25%. | As usual, oppressed nationality workers (African American, Chicano and Latino, and Asian American) were hardest hit. The unemployment rate for Chicanos and Latinos hit a record high…
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/5/9/unemployment-highest-great-depression
Tax-havened companies bailed out while poverty doubles amidst pandemic
Susan Price | greenleft.org.au | 2020-05-12
Economy Astrid PaulssonIssue 1265 Sweden COVID-19 extreme poverty tax havensMay 12, 2020In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the world is…
greenleft.org.au/content/tax-havened-companies-bailed-out-while-poverty-doubles-amidst-pandemic
Pompeo Likens Iran To Nazis On 2nd Anniversary Of US Nuclear Deal Exit
Zero Hedge | iranian.com | 2020-05-11
Perhaps attempting to ensure the anti-Iran 'maximum pressure' campaign remains front and center, even in the midst of a pandemic and historic unemployment, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has resorted to the one of the most common
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov Holds Press Conference After CIS Foreign Ministers' Meeting – Video
sputniknews.com | 2020-05-12
The regular meeting of foreign ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) took place on Tuesday via teleconference amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
sputniknews.com/world/202005121079278083-russian-foreign-minister-lavrov-holds-press-conference-after-cis-foreign-ministers-meeting—video/
Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic, America's Billionaires Thrive and Prosper
Lawrence Wittner | zcomm.org | 2020-05-08
Although most Americans currently face hard times, with unemployment surging to the levels of the Great Depression and enormous numbers of people sick or dying from the coronavirus pandemic, the nation's super-rich remain a notable exception. Financially, they are doing remarkably well. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, between March 18 and April 28, Read…
zcomm.org/zblogs/amid-the-coronavirus-pandemic-americas-billionaires-thrive-and-prosper/
Pandemic Causes Loss of 20,500,000 Jobs, Unemployment at 14.7 Percent
Matt Sedlar | cepr.net | 2020-05-08
Temporary layoffs make up 78.3 percent of unemployment. As expected, the April jobs report showed a catastrophic hit to the labor market stemming from the pandemic. The economy lost another 20,500,000 jobs in April after losing 870,000 jobs in March. This is an order of magnitude higher than any previous two-month decline on record. The …
cepr.net/jobs-2020-05/
Why It's Wrong (and Racist) to Blame Covid-19 on Chinese 'Wet Markets'
Joshua Cho | fair.org | 2020-05-07
The New York Times ( 1/25/20) says the eating of unusual animals like turtles and snakes is "driven as much by the desire to flaunt wealth as by a mix of superstition and belief about the health benefits of wildlife." Whereas people eat frog legs at Coney Island because, well, they like the way they taste. | The stigmatization of Asian people and their culture as "inferior" or "exotic" isn't a ne…
fair.org/home/why-its-wrong-and-racist-to-blame-covid-19-on-chinese-wet-markets/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-its-wrong-and-racist-to-blame-covid-19-on-chinese-wet-markets