2020-07-22: News Headlines

WWNYCDB (2020-07-22). ADA not enough: Disabled people need socialism. workers.org The pandemic is teaching able-bodied people what it's like to be disabled. Not being able to get around like you used to, facing endless unemployment, being stuck in the house, finding ways to get food delivered, and speaking to family and friends only on the phone — not in person. . . . |

Staff (2020-07-22). COVID-19 Lays Bare South Africa's Rampant Inequality & Fault Lines of Post-Apartheid Society. democracynow.org COVID-19 infections are skyrocketing in South Africa, now fifth in the world for coronavirus cases, with an already fragile hospital system. "I really think it's our inequality reckoning moment," says Fatima Hassan, a human rights lawyer with the Health Justice Initiative. "All of the fault lines of South Africa's post-apartheid democracy, and its inequality and its violence, is actually coming to the fore."

Keith Hoeller (2020-07-22). Colleges layoff underpaid adjuncts then challenge their unemployment claims. mronline.org Unemployment insurance laws were developed prior to the widespread use of contingent faculty, and were designed to prevent K-12 teachers and full-time college professors from collecting unemployment during scheduled term breaks and summer vacations when they weren't teaching. In nearly all states, these laws are being used to prevent adjuncts, who have since become the …

Tim Libretti (2020-07-22). GOP says workers are lazy, don't deserve HEROES Act unemployment help. peoplesworld.org Are the majority of Americans lazy and averse to work? Would they prefer not to work and to enjoy a free ride from the government? How we answer this question, or how congressional leaders answer it, shapes what is really life-or-death legislation coming out of Washington, particularly with regards to COVID-19 relief packages. Republicans have …

yenisafak (2020-07-22). 2.8M children grow up in poverty in Germany amid pandemic. yenisafak.com "The fight against child poverty has been one of the greatest social challenges in Germany for years," said the foundation.But there has been little improvement within the country since 2014.The pandemic has been threatening to aggravate the problem of child poverty, the foundation pointed out.The Bertelsmann study stressedthat child poverty remained "an unsolved structural problem with considerable consequences for the growing up, well-being, education and future prospects of children."The latest figure for poor children in Germany is up 800,000 compared to only two years ago.Some 21.3% of people under the age o…

sputniknews (2020-07-22). 'System Breaking Down': US Dire Straits, Corporate Debt Are 'Mockery of Free Enterprise' – Economist. sputniknews.com With cases of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus spiking nationwide, the future of the US economy appears bleak, despite federal attempts to rebound from a devastating unemployment rate. One economics expert tells Sputnik that this already-catastrophic situation may worsen without an extension to the expiring $600 unemployment benefit bonus.

RT (2020-07-21). 'F***ing b**ch!': Republican congressman goes off on AOC over her 'justifying' New York's crime wave. rt.com All decorum was reportedly thrown out of a Congress window when a Republican Representative confronted Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a hostile and very personal way, for seemingly vindicating New York's crime wave. | Ted Yoho, a lawmaker from Florida, had a very colorful exchange with New York Representative Ocasio-Cortez, which has been overheard by a reporter for The Hill. | At first Yoho called the congresswoman "disgusting" for suggesting that the recent spike in New York City crime is the result of the coronavirus-driven rise of local poverty and unemployment. | "You are out of your freaking mind,"

Uche Ajulu-Okeke (2020-07-21). Mass Poverty, Political Fragmentation of Nigeria? Towards Independence of the Biafra State? globalresearch.ca Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke is a veteran Diplomat and Development Studies Expert with thirty-year achievements in the Nigerian Foreign Service. She is widely known for her performance orientation, positive mentorship and team spirit. In recognition of her high-level competences, the Anambra …

Robert S. Becker (2020-07-21). Indecent stock market boom exposes riot-inducing inequality, not economic positives. nationofchange.org Can enough discredited craziness end up teaching, "Everybody does better when everybody does better"?>

WSWS (2020-07-21). Democrats, Republicans prepare to slash workers' unemployment supplement. wsws.org Congressional Democrats and Republicans are preparing to slash or eliminate the $600 weekly unemployment supplement that has been a lifeline for millions of workers laid off during the pandemic.

Staff (2020-07-21). Senate GOP's COVID Plan May Raid Social Security and Cut Unemployment Benefits. truthout.org Progressives are pushing Democratic congressional leaders to forcefully oppose the Senate GOP's coronavirus stimulus legislation after

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-07-21). As Poor and Working Class in US Face Financial Cliff, Bezos Grew Record-Setting $13 Billion Richer on Monday. commondreams.org Days before the expiration of unemployment benefits is expected to bring about a wave of evictions and food insecurity, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos added $13 billion to his personal wealth on Monday. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/jeff_bezos_washington_post_0.jpg

_____ (2020-07-20). On Using Our Power To Stop Climate Disaster And Create A Just World. popularresistance.org Time is running out to prevent full-blown climate catastrophe. Intertwined crises of wealth inequality, poverty, racism, and corporate despotism are deepening. | When working people refuse to go to work — when we put a stick in society's gears — we can make enormous changes quite rapidly. There are many historical examples of this, including, flawed though it was, the New Deal. | How can we join forces across movements today to use our power to create the world we want before it's too late? | Labor organizer, climate activist, and historian Jeremy Brecher will speak and then answer questions. He is the author o…

Aaron Morrison (2020-07-20). Tens of thousands walk off job in 'Strike for Black Lives'. peoplesworld.org NEW YORK (AP)—Organizers of a national workers strike say tens of thousands are walking off the job today in more than two dozen U.S. cities to protest systemic racism and economic inequality that has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. Dubbed the "Strike for Black Lives," labor unions, along with social and racial justice organizations …

Edward Hardy (2020-07-20). The GOP's Bailout Bonanza. progressive.org Republicans claim that policies like Universal Basic Income are unaffordable, even as they funnel billions to corporate executives.

WSWS (2020-07-20). Campaign continues against New Zealand visa processing delays. wsws.org One migrant from South Africa told the WSWS that being sent back would put her in extreme poverty and at risk of dying from COVID-19.

news.un (2020-07-20). New social contract needed to combat 'inequality pandemic': Guterres. news.un.org As the coronavirus outbreak continues to rage around the world, the UN chief urged everyone on Monday to take up a new social contract to combat the "inequality pandemic", at a UN event marking the weekend's observance of Nelson Mandela Day.

Sari Beth Rosenberg (2020-07-20). Living Monuments: John Lewis and C.T. Vivian. progressive.org We lost two great civil rights leaders on the same day, but their legacy of service, challenging inequality, and advocating for voting rights lives on.

Edward Burmila (2020-07-20). You're Only As Free as You Are Wealthy. thenation.com You're Only As Free as You Are Wealthy…

WSWS (2020-07-20). Millions in the US face disaster as $600 federal unemployment aid set to end this week. wsws.org The extended weekly payment has been the target of venomous attacks by big business as a "disincentive" to work and is unlikely to be reinstated by Congress in its current form.

_____ (2020-07-20). Why The Labor Movement Should Support The 'Beyond Recovery' Campaign. popularresistance.org Even before the pandemic, a large share of Americans cited housing availability and affordability as a major and growing concern. With rising unemployment, housing experts are predicting that 20 percent of all renters will be at risk of eviction by early fall. | As with other aspects of the pandemic, Black and Latino people will be hurt the most. As reported in the Washington Post, a recent Census survey found that "about 44 percent and 41 percent of adult Latino and black renters, respectively, said they had no or slight confidence they could pay their rent next month or were likely to defer payment." Majority B…

Mike Hastie (2020-07-19). Homeless in Portland, Oregon. zcomm.org Old Town Portland looks like a huge refugee settlement. I deliver lunches to 4 homeless encampments three days a week. It is like walking into a poverty war zone…

Prabhat Patnaik (2020-07-19). Decline in global poverty is a farce perpetuated by World Bank's poverty line. peoplesdispatch.org The real problem with the World Bank's poverty estimates, is that its International Poverty Line is set at an impossibly low level, which greatly underestimates world poverty…

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad (2020-07-19). The simplest way to close the racial wealth gap? Direct cash payments. zcomm.org Here's my proposal: give $20,000 to every American with an enslaved ancestor, every year, for 20 years. We can afford it…