2020-12-10: News Headlines

Eds. (2020-12-10). Over 200 million workers and farmers protest against poverty and unemployment triggered by COVID Lockdown. mronline.org The general strike occurred in the context of the devastation brought about by the coronavirus pandemic in India. Added to this are the millions of people who have lost income and who now face increased poverty and hunger, in a country where even before the pandemic 50 percent of all children suffered malnourishment.

Dean Baker (2020-12-10). Beating Up on Finance. counterpunch.org When I do one of my diatribes about how our protectionist barriers allow U.S. doctors to earn twice as much as doctors in other wealthy countries, I invariably get complaints from doctors and their friends asking why I don't go after the really big bucks people on Wall Street. The answer of course is that

Americans for Tax Fairness (2020-12-10). Net Worth of US Billionaires Has Soared by $1 Trillion to Total of $4 Trillion Since Pandemic Began. globalresearch.ca The collective wealth of America's 651 billionaires has jumped by over $1 trillion since roughly the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to a total of $4 trillion at market close on Monday, December 7, 2020. Their wealth growth since March …

Michael Albert (2020-12-10). On Participatory Economics, Pt. 1. zcomm.org 'What do you want?' is a constant query put to economic and globalization activists decrying current poverty, alienation, and degradation…

Multiple community partners (2020-12-10). Wednesday 12/9: Book Talk: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" w/ author Matthew Desmond. indybay.org Online event (FREE)…

John Stanton (2020-12-10). What is the United States of America? A Military Democracy. dissidentvoice.org Military leader, council, assembly of the people are the organs of gentile society developed into military democracy — military, since war and organization for war have now become regular functions of national life. Their neighbors' wealth excites the greed of peoples who already see in the acquisition of wealth one of the main aims of …

Staff (2020-12-09). People's Vaccine: Calls Grow for Equal Access to Coronavirus Vaccine as Rich Countries Hoard Supply. democracynow.org While the United States, Britain and other wealthy countries race to vaccinate their populations against the coronavirus, a new report finds that as much as 90% of the population in dozens of poorer countries could be forced to wait until at least 2022 because wealthy countries are hoarding so much of the vaccine supply. A growing movement is calling for the development of a people's vaccine and the suspension of intellectual property rights to expand access. We speak with Dr. Mohga Kamal-Yanni, a policy adviser to the People's Vaccine Alliance, and Achal Prabhala, a public health advocate and coordinator of the…

Black Dirt Farm Collective (2020-12-09). A Black Agrarian Collective is Working To Build a Self-Sufficient Community. zcomm.org The Maryland-based initiative targets people who have historically helped to build the wealth of this society but had no real participation in that wealth…

The Canary (2020-12-09). Poor people don't have to pay for the pandemic. A one-off 'wealth tax' would raise £260bn. thecanary.co A one-off "wealth tax" should be implemented in preference to increasing general taxes on work or spending, a report has recommended. | This should happen if the government decides to raise taxes as part of its response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis, the Wealth Tax Commission, a body made up of academics, policymakers, and tax practitioners said. | Inequality: | There have already been indications that the coronavirus crisis has exacerbated existing financial inequalities. | People in professional or managerial jobs may have found it easier to continue their work from home during the pandemic than…

Kayla Soren (2020-12-09). Black Dirt Farm Collective: Building a Self-Sufficient Community. counterpunch.org The Black Dirt Farm Collective is currently funded by grants, donations, and income from their training programs, but they are working toward building an Afroecological village that is self-sustaining and autonomous from wealthy donors. This interview with the Maryland-based collective's shakara tyler and Blain Snipstal is the second in a series highlighting grassroots organizations working,

Media Lens (2020-12-08). Stuck in a Lift with John Pilger: News and How to Use It by Alan Rusbridger. dissidentvoice.org Noticing the way journalists seemed unable to resist commenting on our work, even if it was just to slag us off, Glenn Greenwald tweeted us in 2012: 'You are really deeper in the heads of the British establishment-serving commentariat than anyone else — congrats.' ((Greenwald, Twitter, 12 September 2012.)) If that was true then, our relationship …

Ralph Nader (2020-12-08). Action for Change Starts in Congress. counterpunch.org We know their names! We've given immense power to Five Hundred and Thirty-Five People to do good or bad. One Hundred Senators and Four Hundred and Thirty-Five Representatives. Unfortunately, some 1500 corporations control most Members of Congress. Think about all the dreams for a better world that could come to be realized if our elected officials

WSWS (2020-12-08). Poverty in Germany reaches a new record high. wsws.org More than 13 million people in Germany were afflicted by poverty in 2019, pushing the poverty rate to 15.9 percent, the highest since reunification thirty years ago.

Paul Farmer (2020-12-08). Centuries of Inequality in the U.S. Laid Groundwork for Pandemic Devastation. zcomm.org "All the social pathologies of our nation come to the fore during epidemics"

William rivers Pitt (2020-12-08). Sick Leave. Housing Aid. Unemployment. Congress Has Our Lives in Its Hands. zcomm.org In the last weeks of the worst year, the worst people are tasked to do mortally important work for a country on the rack. Capitalism will win, of course; the question is how much more we the people will lose…

Sasha Abramsky (2020-12-08). We're Now Facing Both a Public Health and a Poverty Catastrophe. thenation.com We're Now Facing Both a Public Health and a Poverty Catastrophe…