2020-07-28: News Headlines

Staff (2020-07-28). Headlines for July 28, 2020. democracynow.org Senate Republicans Unveil Plan to Slash Unemployment Benefits as Pandemic Rages, Moderna Late Stage Vaccine Trial Starts, as Trump's NSA Tests Positive for Coronavirus, WHO: COVID-19 "Most Severe Global Health Emergency" as Global Death Toll Tops 654,000, AG Barr and National Guardsman to Testify Before Congress with Battling Narratives, John Lewis Lies in State in Capitol Rotunda as He Is Honored by Fellow Lawmakers, 100s of DNC Delegates to Oppose a Party Platform Without Medicare for All, DNC Members Vote to Support Israel's Illegal Annexation of West Bank, "Free Them All!": Immigrant Rights Activists Chain Th…

The Canary (2020-07-28). Spain hits out at UK's 'error' over coronavirus travel warning. thecanary.co Boris Johnson's government faces a diplomatic storm with Spain and warnings that its policy on travel to the country risks major damage to business and confusion for holidaymakers.The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has warned against all but essential travel to Spain's Balearic and Canary Islands, having already issued the same advice for the mainland.Travellers from all parts of Spain are required to quarantine for a fortnight on arrival in the UK, a change imposed at short notice over the weekend. | Travel advice for

Rep. Ron Paul (2020-07-28). Fedcoin: A New Scheme for Tyranny and Poverty. globalresearch.ca If some Congress members get their way, the Federal Reserve may soon be able to track many of your purchases in real time and share that information with government agencies. This is just one of the problems with the proposed …

Stephen Lendman (2020-07-28). The Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act. The GOP's Let 'Em Eat Cake Stimulus Plan'. globalresearch.ca On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced the so-called Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act. | It's long on benefitting US business interests, woefully short on helping tens of millions of jobless, homeless, food insecure, and other …

Fight Back (2020-07-28). Republicans propose $400 a week cut from unemployment benefits. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – After months of delay and weeks of infighting, on Monday, July 27 the Trump administration and the Republican Senate put forward their proposal for more economic relief from the pandemic and recession. With the $600 a week in additional benefits expiring, the Republicans want to cut this by $400 a week, down to $200. With the national unemployment benefit averaging about $350 a week, this would mean a more than 40% cut in their benefits. | To make matters worse, it will hit the unemployed who have low-paying jobs the hardest. For example, a full-time worker in a small business that earns the minimu…

_____ (2020-07-28). Without Federal Aid To State And Local Governments, Millions Will Lose Their Jobs. popularresistance.org Because a weakening economy undercuts state and local tax revenues, and because states operate under balanced budget constraints, the coming months will see intense downward pressure on state and local spending. Reductions in this spending will in turn significantly slow recovery from the current economic crisis. This is not an abstract concern—the historically slow recovery in state and local spending following the Great Recession by itself delayed a recovery in unemployment to pre-crisis levels by four full years.

The Canary (2020-07-28). Closing furlough scheme 'a mistake' which could see unemployment surge. thecanary.co The government plan to shut the coronavirus furlough scheme this autumn "seems to be a mistake" which will result in a surge in unemployment, according to a leading economic thinktank. | The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) has warned that the rate of unemployment is set to surge to around 10% of the country's workforce by the end of the year. | NIESR hailed the government's coronavirus job retention scheme but called on the chancellor to extend the scheme into next year in a bid to preserve jobs. | Around 9.5 million roles have been supported by the furlough scheme, but it will be wound…

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2020-07-27). Sen. Warren Demands Eviction Moratorium as New Reporting Sheds Light on Nation's Stark Housing Inequality. commondreams.org "This pandemic is deepening our country's already historic levels of inequality." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/cancelrent.jpg

Staff (2020-07-27). Headlines for July 27, 2020. democracynow.org Florida, Texas and California Grapple with Mounting Infections as U.S. Caseload Tops 4.2 Million, Protesters in Puerto Rico Call for Halt to Tourism to Curb Mounting Coronavirus Cases, Judge Denies Trump Request to Delay Deadline for Releasing Immigrant Children, Senate to Unveil New Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Cutting Unemployment Benefits, U.K. Reinstates Spain Quarantine; N. Korea Declares Emergency; Cases Mount Across Latin America & Africa, BLM Protesters Face Attacks from Federal Agents, Police, and Other Violence in Cities Across the U.S., John Lewis Crosses Edmund Pettus Bridge for Last Time as Family and S…

Staff (2020-07-27). Elizabeth Warren On Why We Must Stop Utility Shutoffs During The Pandemic. therealnews.com With unemployment at record levels and an economy teetering on the edge, utility shutoffs threaten to compound the existing public health disaster unfolding in the US. The Real News is highlighting voices from a national campaign that is trying to do something to prevent this by demanding a national moratorium on shutoffs during the COVID…

Stephen Lendman (2020-07-27). "Made In The USA" Economic Collapse: Trump's "Stimulus Plan". Money for the Super-Rich, Crumbs for Ordinary Americans. globalresearch.ca Made-in-the-USA economic collapse is the most diabolical scheme ever concocted by dark forces in the country. | It's all about engineering the largest ever wealth transfer from ordinary people to corporate favorites and the nation's super-rich. | It also aims to consolidate …

news.un (2020-07-27). Trade pact could boost Africa's income by as much as $450 billion: World Bank. news.un.org The African Continental Free Trade Area represents a major opportunity for countries to boost growth, reduce poverty, broaden economic inclusion and help "expand opportunities for all Africans", hailed a World Bank official on Monday, which if fully implemented, could boost regional income by around $450 billion.

commondreams (2020-07-27). National Nurses United on Senate Republicans' Stimulus Proposal: 'Senate Republicans Have Abandoned Nurses and Patients'. commondreams.org ______________________________…

The Canary (2020-07-27). Lockdown helped restore happiness, research suggests. thecanary.co Happiness fell as the coronavirus pandemic began — but lockdown helped to restore it, research suggests. | The wellbeing inequality gap between wealthy professionals and the unemployed even began to narrow during lockdown, according to the study by Cambridge University's Bennett Institute for Public Policy. | Researchers used a year's worth of data taken from YouGov Weekly Mood Tracker surveys and Google searches to track wellbeing in the British population before and during the pandemic. | They say it is one of the first studies to distinguish the effects of the pandemic from those of lockdown on psycholog…

Staff (2020-07-27). Memo Warns GOP Unemployment Benefit Formula Would Take Months to Implement. truthout.org A Republican proposal to pare back enhanced unemployment benefits to about 70% of what a worker earned prior to losing their job — as opposed to the previous weekly payment of $600 across the board — would take most states between two to five months to implement, likely causing delays in relief for tens of millions of people. | That's according to a

Commonwealth Club (2020-07-27). Friday 8/7: The Battle for Portland & the Implications Nationwide. indybay.org Online via livestream…

Philip A Farruggio (2020-07-26). It's Futile…. We're Feudal! "The Super Rich Own the Two Party / One Party System". Social Inequality in America. globalresearch.ca As of a year ago Wal-Mart's CEO pay was 1076 times that of their average worker worldwide (2.3 million employees). Those workers average $21,952 a year, with little or NO major benefits… sometimes NONE at all! The Nike CEO received …

Prabhat Patnaik (2020-07-26). What could be wrong with a fiscal deficit? peoplesdispatch.org If wealth inequality is to be prevented from becoming worse than the horrendous level it has already attained, then the only way this can be done is by larger government spending that is financed by a tax on the rich, either a profit tax or a wealth tax…

RT (2020-07-25). Thousands protest outside Israeli PM Netanyahu's official residence as unrest rises over economy, handling of coronavirus. rt.com Huge crowds calling for the resignation of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu rallied outside his home in Jerusalem on Saturday amid growing discontent over the government's Covid-19 response, high unemployment, and corruption. | More than 5,000 people gathered on Balfour Street, now a site of frequent anti-government demonstrations, according to Haaretz newspaper, making it the biggest of several protests this week. Demonstrators also rallied elsewhere in Israel. | Half an hour ago, outside Netanyahu's Jerusalem residence

WSWS (2020-07-25). Zimbabwe: Social unrest grows amid economic collapse. wsws.org Security forces have used COVID-19 lockdown laws to arrest nurses striking over poverty wages, appalling work conditions and lack of personal protective equipment.

Sandra Eades, Francine Eades, Daniel McCaullay, Lesley Nelson, Péta Phelan, Fiona Stanley (2020-07-25). [Correspondence] Australia's First Nations' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. thelancet.com Kaitlin Curtice and Esther Choo1 described the well known risks for infectious diseases among First Nations internationally and the serious concerns that COVID-19 poses for them. These risks include their levels of chronic disease, poverty, poor living conditions, and racism in mainstream services with resulting lack of trust using them. They also highlighted the problem of data not being available specifically for First Nations so that authorities are blind to the situation and hence how best to help them.

Fight Back (2020-07-25). Michigan workers demand $600 unemployment from U.S. Rep. Huizenga. fightbacknews.org Grandville, MI – Stagehands held signs and rallied outside the office of U.S. Representative Bill Huizenga in this suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Huizenga, like all but one Republican, voted against the HEROES Act in the House of Representatives. | Joining workers in other states, stagehands across Michigan are gathering outside politicians' offices to demand extending unemployment into next year. The stagehands, who are normally working behind the scenes, were out in front on June 23 chanting, "They say cut back! We say fight back!" and "What do we want? $600!" | Stagehands, like other entertainment and hospi…

Brasil de Fato (2020-07-25). 100 years of Florestan Fernandes, a theoretician who served the working class. peoplesdispatch.org When he completed his Social Sciences degree at the University of Sà£o Paulo (USP), in 1944, Florestan Fernandes didn't graduate as a sociologist shaped merely by books. Sociology actually first came to him through work, and only later through reflection. This is an idea of the sociologist himself, and what permeates the complexity and totality of his thoughts. | Florestan was the only child of Maria Fernandes, a young Portuguese woman who arrived in Brazil to work the fields at age 13. She gave birth to him on July 22 of 1920. Florestan first witnessed class conflicts while at the Bresser (a wealthy Brazil…

_____ (2020-07-25). What Programs A 10% Cut In Military Spending Could Buy. popularresistance.org For millions of Californians, times are tough, and the future looks tougher still. So far, California has seen over 325,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 7,000 deaths. | In the economic fallout, over 6 million of us have applied for unemployment insurance since the start of the pandemic. Many of them have yet to see a dime from the understaffed California Employment Development Department, which has struggled to keep up with the sheer volume of claims. | Meanwhile, a $600-per-week federal unemployment supplement is set to expire at the end of July, and the Republican-controlled Senate appears determined to…

Fight Back (2020-07-24). $600 unemployment benefits expire as more workers lose jobs. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – The $600 a week in additional unemployment insurance benefits is set to expire at the end of July. This aid is called the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation or FPUC. More than 25 million people who are receiving regular state unemployment benefits, or the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA for the self-employed, will lose their FPUC benefit. | With the average state unemployment benefit paying about $350 a week, the loss of the extra $600 a week will cut jobless workers' income by almost two-thirds. House Democrats passed a $3 trillion HEROES Act back in May to extend aid past…

imperial.ac.uk (2020-07-24). Fear of coronavirus will 'hold back economic recovery'. imperial.ac.uk Cautious consumers who are worried about unemployment and health risks, will hold back the economic recovery from COVID-19 said a leading economist.