(2020-08-03). Another Hiroshima is coming — unless we stop it now. zcomm.org Modern China's epic achievements, its defeat of mass poverty, and the pride and contentment of its people (measured forensically by American pollsters such as Pew) are willfully unknown or misunderstood in the West. This alone is a commentary on the lamentable state of Western journalism and the abandonment of honest reporting…
(2020-08-03). The Unemployment Crisis Is a True National Emergency. zcomm.org The incompetent criminals ruling the U.S. are about to push millions of Americans off a terrifying financial cliff…
(2020-08-03). Take on the Tech Mob Now or Perish. counterpunch.org Six months into a global pandemic, the US economy just took its most grievous hit on record, while Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook only added wealth. In just three months, April through June, so many workers were furloughed, laid off or forced to work and school from home, that the economy shriveled by 32.9% or
(2020-08-03). How to generate unemployment and deflation. indybay.org The theory put forward by fair-weather philosophers that the pandemic will be a salutary shock leading to a better, more sustainable world is wrong. Forced renunciation and economic decline do not make anything better. Less is not more, but less. Corona is not an opportunity, it is an evil. We can only hope that one day it will pass.
(2020-08-02). 'Socialist Trump?' Trump says 'changes must be made soon' to tackle income disparity in rare dig at 1-percenters. rt.com 
US President Donald Trump said he agrees that the income gap between billionaires and the rest of Americans has grown too big, vowing to take action "soon" in a tweet that left his detractors puzzled. | "I actually agree with this. Too much income disparity. Changes must be made, and soon!" Trump wrote on Saturday, retweeting a Business Insider clip that cites a recent report by the Institute for Policy Studies, claiming that total US billionaire wealth grew by $637 between March and June, while 40 million Americans lost their jobs. | I actually agree with this. Too much income disparity. Changes must be made,…
(2020-08-02). An Economic Survival Package, not a Stimulus Package. cepr.net There continues to be enormous confusion about what we should be trying to accomplish in the next pandemic relief package. This is best demonstrated by Republicans' obsession with getting people back to work, with a mixture of cuts to unemployment benefits and return to work bonuses. Ignoring the questionable economic logic (there is zero evidence …
(2020-08-02). The One Percent's Attack on Unemployment Benefits Shows How Broken Our Democracy Is. zcomm.org The dignity of work is restored when employment leads to working people securing living wages and having their voices heard…
(2020-08-01). Sri Lankan SEP to hold online meeting to conclude its election campaign. wsws.org The SEP is the only party fighting for an international socialist perspective against deepening social inequality, the danger of imperialist war and the threat of dictatorship.
(2020-08-01). US unemployment supplement expires, setting the stage for mass hunger and homelessness. wsws.org The congressional stalemate over an extension of the unemployment pay supplement, which is certain to result in the total elimination or a major cut in the benefit, is a declaration of war against the entire working population.
(2020-08-01). The 1 Percent's Attack on Unemployment Benefits is a Sign of Our Broken Democracy. commondreams.org The long-term systemic reason that working people are willing to accept jobs that cannot provide enough income to cover basic needs is because they are unable to organize and demand higher wages. Unionization is clearly tied to higher and more equal wages. (Photo: SEIU via Twitter) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/union_0.jpg …
(2020-08-01). Stimulus Plan Negotiations Turn to Student Debt. indybay.org Student debt relief is now included in round the clock stimulus package negotiations on Capitol Hill.
(2020-08-01). "They're Playing With Us": Anger With GOP Growing as $600 Unemployment Benefit Lapses. commondreams.org "All our government wants is money in their pockets, while the people are poor and starving and scrounging." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/lines.jpg …
(2020-07-31). Here's How We Remake The Economy. popularresistance.org To defend the $600 unemployment payments as both morally and economically necessary is not to suggest that the CARES Act is a sufficient solution to our economic problems. Nor, says Pavlina Tcherneva, Associate Professor of Economics at Bard College and a Research Scholar at the Levy Economics Institute and advisor to Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign, is the Democratic-led HEROES Act, which would extend the payments through January 2021 if Senate Republicans and the Trump administration would support it. Dr. Tcherneva studies the impact of unemployment on growth, income inequality and public health, an…
(2020-07-31). ECLAC and PAHO Call on Nations to Think About Health First. telesurenglish.net The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Thursday assured that the economies could only be reactivated if countries manage to flatten the COVID-19 curve. | RELATED: | High levels of inequality, poverty, and informality, as well as limited access to quality health care on time, explain why the pandemic is hurting Latin America so much. | T…
(2020-07-31). Health must come before the economy, insists top UN official for Latin America and the Caribbean. news.un.org In Latin America, where much of the region has dealt with years of sluggish growth, the economic crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing millions more into poverty, says Alicia Bárcena, the head of the UN regional body for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
(2020-07-31). Chile Records The Highest Unemployment Rate In A Decade. telesurenglish.net Chile reached the highest overall unemployment rate in a decade amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 12.2 percent, the National Statistics Office (INE) revealed on Friday. | RELATED: | According to the institution during the second quarter of this year, from April to June, the number of unemployed people soared to 996.900, an increment of 299.100 compared to the same period in 2019. | "The national unemployment rate was 12.2 pe…
(2020-07-31). Federal $600 a week addition to unemployment insurance runs out. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – 25 million Americans or more are losing their additional $600 a week in unemployment insurance benefits even as the number of people applying for unemployment benefits continues to rise. Up to one-third of all renters have already lost eviction protection from the federal government, and the Republican proposal does not include extending it. Millions of other households are under threat of losing their electrical power for not paying their bills. | The depth of the economic crisis stoked by the uncontrolled COVID-19 pandemic was shown this morning, July 30, in the Commerce Department's report on Gr…
(2020-07-31). As U.S. Eviction Crisis Looms, Remember That Poverty Is Weaponized by the Elite. strategic-culture.org Caitlin JOHNSTONE | CNBC News "On Friday, the federal moratorium on evictions in properties with federally backed mortgages and for tenants who receive government-assisted housing expired." CNBC reports. "The Urban Institute estimated that provision covered nearly 30% of the country's rental units." | "It's li…
(2020-07-30). Chomsky on Cuba's "Internationalist" Response to Pandemic & Need to Make Vaccine Globally Accessible. democracynow.org 
As the world races to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, Noam Chomsky says any successful treatment must be accessible to everyone, and he warns that President Trump's withdrawal from the World Health Organization will hamper the international body's efforts to distribute medicine in countries racked by poverty and war. "There's at least one country in the world that is showing genuine internationalism, providing medical aid and support for people that need it," Chomsky says, and that is Cuba.
(2020-07-30). 'A momentary lapse of honesty?' WATCH US Defense Secretary Esper saying NATO must 'avoid PEACE in Europe'. rt.com 
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper seemingly mistook the word 'peace' for 'war' when he made a gaffe in the middle of a speech on the relocation of American troops in Europe. | Esper was delivering important news to reporters: the Pentagon has laid out a plan to withdraw nearly 12,000 American soldiers from its NATO ally Germany. | The blunder occurred just when Esper was arguing that Germany, as the "wealthiest country in Europe," can and should boost its defense spending. | I've said that very publicly, I've said that very privately to my counterparts as well — about the importance of NATO, any alliance, s…
(2020-07-30). Boris Johnson has made several inaccurate statements on child poverty, investigation finds. thecanary.co 
The government has been accused of being in denial about a rising level of child poverty in the UK.It comes after the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) concluded Boris Johnson has made several inaccurate claims on the issue since being elected in December last year.The OSR responded to a complaint from the End Child Poverty Coalition over three incidences when the prime minister made what the coalition described as "misleading" statements.A complaint was lodged by the End Child Poverty coalition over the Prime Minister's use of statistics (Danny Lawson/PA)Writing to the OSR, the coalition said Johnson's clai…
(2020-07-30). COVID-19: UN chief outlines path to sustainable, inclusive recovery in Southeast Asia. news.un.org Tackling inequality, bridging the digital divide, greening the economy, and upholding human rights and good governance will be critical for Southeast Asia to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN Secretary-General said on Thursday.
(2020-07-30). How Bad is the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act? counterpunch.org Somehow, Congress couldn't find the time last week to renew extended unemployment benefits or the federal moratorium on evictions. Congress had something more pressing to think about than 30 million unemployed Americans: the Pentagon budget. On July 21 and 23, the House of Representatives and the Senate approved their versions of the Pentagon's annual spending
(2020-07-30). Here's How We Remake the Economy. commondreams.org Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Friday, July 24, 2020, on the extension of federal unemployment benefits. (Photo: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2020-07-30_at_3.05.54_pm.png …
(2020-07-30). The Clock Is Ticking: 5 Key Demands for the New Coronavirus Bill. commondreams.org Extend unemployment benefits to help people survive the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. (Photo: Screenshot) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2020-07-30_at_3.18.36_pm.png …
(2020-07-30). Stimulus Checks in Next Coronavirus Package Shouldn't Penalize One-Parent Households. cepr.net Both the HEROES Act passed by the House in May and Senate Republicans' HEALS Act announced this week would provide a new round of stimulus in the form of one-time cash payments to most Americans, but with some major differences. One of these differences is in how the bills treat one-parent households with children, the …
(2020-07-30). Democrats Offer Half-Hearted Measures To Impending Eviction Crisis. popularresistance.org The best defense against a raging pandemic that has already claimed over 152,000 American lives is simply to stay home. But even this could soon become impossible for millions, as the United States is facing an impending eviction crisis of "biblical proportions," according to the Housing Rights Initiative. Earlier this week, the federal moratorium on evictions expired, meaning the nation's 12 million renters are now at risk of losing their homes. Renters tend to be poorer, many of whom are among the 52 million that have filed for unemployment benefits as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. | Instead of extending t…