2020-11-20: News Headlines

Beau Peters (2020-11-20). Ways You Can Help Eliminate Global Poverty. dissidentvoice.org Image Source: Pexels The planet may feel like a smaller place, thanks to the ease of travel and the internet, but the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that "approximately 1.2 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty" and earn less than a single dollar per day. Poverty affects the health and livelihood of …

_____ (2020-11-20). The AMA Officially Recognized Racism As A Public-Health Threat. popularresistance.org The American Medical Association has officially defined racism as a public health threat that has created substantial health inequality. | Racism, both systemic and structural, has historically perpetuated health inequality and cut short the lives of many Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in the US and around the world. | Over the last year, a number of county and state authorities have also labelled racism a public health threat. | Among them are county councils in San Bernardino, California, and Montgomery, Maryland, as well as authorities in Michigan, Nevada, Cleveland, Denver, and Indianapolis.

Ralf Wurzbacker (2020-11-20). Corona containment could cause more suffering than it prevents. indybay.org In Sept 2020, UNICEF calculated that an additional 150 million children were pushed into poverty as a result of the economic collapse provoked by the quasi-global lockdown in spring. Already in July, experts from the World Food Program (WFP) warned that the Corona crisis could threaten an additional 130 million people with starvation this year.

The Canary (2020-11-20). Proposed £21 'coronavirus hike' on household energy bills slammed as 'shocking' and 'farcical'. thecanary.co British households may have to shoulder a hike on their energy bills from the beginning of April because of new proposals from Ofgem. The suggestion is already drawing strong criticism from groups which claim the energy companies have been "ripping us all off, plunging people into fuel poverty while raking in juicy profits". | Increase: | The regulator has proposed an increase to the maximum many households can be charged on their bills, claiming that the pandemic is putting pressure on energy companies. | Ofgem said it is considering a £21 per household coronavirus hike to the default price cap whe…

news.un (2020-11-20). Guterres pledges support for sustainable industrial development in Africa. news.un.org The COVID-19 crisis was impacting Africa "well before the pandemic spread across the continent", the UN chief said on Friday, marking Africa Industrialization Day, arriving at a point when many economies were expanding and "poverty was in decline". ‚Ä&Oslash…

_____ (2020-11-20). Over 235 Organizations Call On Biden To Cancel Student Debt. popularresistance.org Washington, D.C. — Over 235 organizations sent a letter to President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris, calling on them to use executive authority to cancel federal student debt on day one of their administration. | In the letter, 238 nonprofit and community organizations highlight that cancelling student debt would stimulate the economy, help reduce the racial wealth gap, and could have a positive impact on health outcomes. The groups write that "executive action is one of the few available tools that could immediately provide a boost to upwards of 44 million borrowers and the economy…

Andrea Germanos (2020-11-19). Greenpeace releases far-reaching 'just recovery agenda' to tackle interlocking crises of inequality, racial injustice, Covid-19, and climate chaos. nationofchange.org We must "shift from an economy that is extractive and exploitative to one that regenerates and repairs," the new report says.

Editor (2020-11-19). We'll Never Have Gender Equality Without This Crucial Reform. scheerpost.com Neil Moralee / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0] By Jill Richardson / OtherWords This week my students turned in papers relating news articles to what they learned in class about parenting. Every single student's paper is about how the pandemic is exacerbating pre-existing inequalities. I'm a teaching assistant in a family sociology course, and inequality is one of the most important things we study. |

Editor (2020-11-19). Pandemic surges, economy sputters. workers.org It's really quite sickening. The bourgeoisie calculates profit and loss with callous disregard for the masses suffering from both the soaring COVID caseload and a collapsed job market. Now, many who became unemployed in the spring are running out of their 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. There were nearly 1 . . . |

Matthew Cunningham-Cook (2020-11-19). Georgia's Senate Runoff Will Determine Whether the Minimum Wage Increases. zcomm.org "Dollar stores feed more Americans than Whole Foods Market, and what we've learned is that they're not just a symptom of poverty, they are a cause of it."

news.un (2020-11-19). Development funding and trade transparency needed, to stop COVID-19 dividing the world. news.un.org The pandemic has redefined the world economy in ways that will deepen inequality and can only be reversed if a global transformation in attitudes towards trade and development allows the whole world to recover together, the UN trade body UNCTAD said, in a report published on Thursday.

_____ (2020-11-19). City Workers Push For Collective Bargaining Rights. popularresistance.org Virginia Beach, VA – While local government employees are not legally allowed to engage in collective bargaining in the commonwealth until May 1, a group of workers from public utilities and public works making known their desire to have "a seat at the table" as soon as possible. | On Tuesday evening, ahead of City Council's formal session at the convention center, roughly 30 members of the city workforce chanted about the desire for hazard pay and fair wages before delivering a petition to the city manager's office that lists four demands.

WSWS (2020-11-19). Macron prepares "global security" law banning the filming of French police. wsws.org The law, denounced by the UN, is a desperate attempt to silence rising public anger at social inequality and the official handling of the pandemic with all-out police terror.

WSWS (2020-11-19). Twelve million to lose unemployment benefits in December. wsws.org Seeking to blackmail workers back into dangerous workplaces, Congress continues to ignore the plight of millions of unemployed people left without aid.

Marlee Kokotovic (2020-11-19). Senate proposes almost $700 billion for the Pentagon while millions of Americans remain unemployed amid the pandemic. nationofchange.org With the current unemployment rate reaching roughly 6.8 million and nearly 8 million Americans facing eviction, the government should be focusing on its citizens and not a defense budget.

Ralph Nader (2020-11-18). Abdicating to Boeing: An Open Letter to FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson. counterpunch.org November 13, 2020 Stephen Dickson, Administrator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) U.S. Department of Transportation 800 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20591 Dear Mr. Dickson, It is now abundantly clear that instead of clearing out top Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operatives who have worked to make the FAA safe for Boeing, you have thrown in your

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2020-11-18). Billionaire Bonanza Continues as Workers Pounded by Pandemic, Recession, and GOP Relief Refusal. commondreams.org Since Covid-19 struck in March, the combined wealth of the 647 richest Americans has increased by nearly $1 trillion, largely at the expense of workers' safety—and sometimes their lives. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/billionaires_0_0.jpg

Megan Sherman (2020-11-18). Herbert Marcuse and the End of Utopia. globalresearch.ca "Even among bourgeois economists, there is hardly a serious thinker who will deny that it is possible, by means of currently existing material and intellectual forces of production, to put an end to hunger and poverty, and that the present …

_____ (2020-11-18). New Report: 'Billionaire Wealth vs. Community Health'. popularresistance.org Washington, DC – Essential workers went underpaid, unsupported and forced to risk their health at corporations owned or operated by billionaires, even as the total wealth of America's billionaires rose by more than $1 trillion under the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), United for Respect, and Bargaining for the Common Good Network. An analysis of billionaire wealth by IPS found that 647 U.S. billionaires gained $960 billion, almost $1 trillion in wealth between March 18, 2020 and November 17, 2020.

Graham Peebles (2020-11-18). The Tide is Turning: Change and the Coming of Maitreya. dissidentvoice.org For most of 2020 Covid-19 has dominated mainstream media, and whilst serious, the pandemic is but the latest in a series of dark clouds gathering upon our collective horizon: interconnected crises, from the environmental emergency to war, poverty, inequality, and social division among others. All flow from the same root — a misguided set of …

WSWS (2020-11-18). New Zealand government rejects calls to increase welfare payments. wsws.org Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern again repudiates her promise to eliminate child poverty and the housing affordability crisis.

Chuck Collins (2020-11-18). Why We Must Protect Essential Workers From Billionaire Pandemic Profiteers. commondreams.org "Frontline workers are the ones actually creating wealth, only to have it directed into the pockets of the billionaires," writes @Chuck99to1 @IPS_DC | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/frontline_workers_covid19.jpg

teleSUR (2020-11-18). Argentina: Congress Approves Extraordinary Tax on Large Fortunes. telesurenglish.net Argentina's Chamber of Deputies in the early morning of this Wednesday approved an extraordinary tax on wealth, which has as its main aim to face the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in the South American country. | RELATED: | The initiative, promoted by President Alberto Fernandez's government, will now be sent to the Senate -where the ruling party has a majority- for discussion and eventual approval. | With 133 af…

Mark Gruenberg (2020-11-17). Robert Reich: Capitalism makes it hard to keep democracy going. peoplesworld.org BERKELEY, Calif.—Rising income inequality, to levels unseen for almost a century, makes it "hard to keep an economy" and a democracy going, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich says. Ditto for the U.S. version of the capitalist system, he adds. Reich, now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said the growing chasm between …

teleSUR (2020-11-17). Mexico: Unemployment Increases To 2.8 Million People. telesurenglish.net Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) reported on Tuesday that unemployment in the country increased to 2.8 million people in the third quarter of 2020. | RELATED: | The institution explains that there was an increment of 622.000 citizens compared to the same period in 2019. Although there are early signs of recovery, the unemployment figures are still below the pre-pandemic levels. | Acc…