(2020-04-07). The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Opened the Curtains on the World's Next Economic Model. counterpunch.org 
When the wealthiest country in the world is unable to produce basic medical gear to cope with a rampaging pandemic, it is dealing with a strategic vulnerability by depending on multinational supply chains to produce manufactured goods. Absent sufficient redundancies and physical reserves of resources, "just-in-time" lean supply systems can't cope with sudden disruptions. The
(2020-04-07). Deaths of Inequality: AOC on Black and Latinx Communities at Epicenter of Epicenter of the Pandemic. democracynow.org 
As COVID-19 deaths spike in African-American and immigrant communities, almost a third of New York City's infections are in Queens, one of the most diverse places in the world, and many in the hardest-hit neighborhoods are undocumented and working-class. We speak with Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the neighborhoods at the epicenter of the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, about how the Trump administration's response to the pandemic is causing "deaths of incompetence," "deaths of science denial" and "deaths of inequality."
(2020-04-07). Congressional Candidate Urges Rent Strikes To Protect Tenants. therealnews.com 
Washington DSA member Joshua Collins' digital campaign is courting pissed off young voters.
(2020-04-07). FLASH! Trump Just Endorsed Bernie's Medicare-For-All Health Plan. counterpunch.org Will Anyone on His Staff be Brave Enough to Tell Him? On Friday, April 3, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, announced that the federal government would pick up the tab for testing and treating all uninsured Americans for Covid-19 (at approximately $37,000 per patient). My first question is, How can the government legally
(2020-04-07). The COVID-19 Crisis: The Homeless and the Poor. How Can We Help Those under Duress. globalresearch.ca Global inequality and injustice have been heated topics and of deep social concern throughout human history. | In January 2020, OXFAM (Oxford Committee for Famine Relief), a reputable confederation of charitable organisations, declared in a widely circulated report "2,153 billionaires have …
(2020-04-07). San Francisco: Mayor Breed Opts for Mass Indoor Camps. indybay.org While hundreds of advocates have been desperately contacting Mayor London Breed imploring her to place homeless people in hotel rooms and vacant units, it seems she has her own plan for addressing poverty during the pandemic: opening indoor camps to further concentrate vulnerable people.
(2020-04-07). "We do not live in capitalism" indybay.org After the transition to Atlantic turbo-capitgalism, almost nothing can be recognized from the earlier times of the initiatives of the social market economy. In this situation, the counter-factual and fact-immune creed of all conservatives is enmeshed in a deep unconsciousness about the world. We live in a plutocracy where the richest 62 have as much wealth as the poorer half.
(2020-04-07). Trump nominates White House lawyer to oversee $500 billion bailout slush fund. wsws.org While the US government expedites the flood of cash to the wealthy and slow-walks any assistance to workers and sections of the lower-middle class, the economic collapse is accelerating.
(2020-04-07). The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Exposing the Plague of Neoliberalism. truthout.org The current coronavirus pandemic is more than a medical crisis, it is also a political and ideological crisis. It is a crisis deeply rooted in years of neglect by neoliberal governments that denied the importance of public health and the public good while defunding the institutions that made them possible. At the same time, this crisis cannot be separated from the crisis of massive inequalities in wealth, income and power. Nor can it be separated from a crisis of democratic values, education and environment…
(2020-04-07). Norway's unemployment rises to record 15.4% of work force. yenisafak.com Norway's rate of unemployment rose to 15.4% on Tuesday, the Labour and Welfare Agency (NAV) said, the highest level on record, up from 14.7% on March 31, as the economy ground to a halt amid efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic.The Norwegian government announced last month emergency shutdowns of many public and private institutions, including schools and kindergartens, sending the economy into a tailspin and triggering hundreds of thousands of layoffs.
(2020-04-06). Politicians fear the people: Workers win unemployment benefit expansion. liberationnews.org 
This initial wave of struggle hints at the power that could be unleashed in the form of work stoppages, rent strikes, and other responses, and it has nervous politicians scrambling to make concessions.
(2020-04-06). Headlines for April 6, 2020. democracynow.org Coronavirus Cases Surge in U.S., Surgeon General Warns of "Pearl Harbor Moment" | , Gov. Cuomo Slashes Medicaid as New York Struggles to Get Handle on COVID-19 Cases | , Black Communities Hit Disproportionately Hard by Coronavirus , Coronavirus Cases Appear to Level Off in Parts of Europe, But Death Tolls Remain High | , Boris Johnson Hospitalized for Acute Coronavirus Symptoms | , Japan's Shinzo Abe to Declare Emergency; Filipino Police Kills Man Who Flouted Coronavirus Rules, Low-Paid Garment Workers in Bangladesh Face Mass Unemployment , Former Prime Ministers of Somalia and Libya Die from COVID-19, Complaint…
(2020-04-06). Henry Kissinger: "The Coronavirus Pandemic Will Forever Alter the World Order". Depopulation is on the Agenda. globalresearch.ca What a post-COVID-19 world will look like will best be known in hindsight. Some clues: | The manufactured 2008-09 financial crisis enabled powerful interests to consolidate to greater size and influence. | It facilitated an enormous transfer of wealth from ordinary people …
(2020-04-06). A Globalized World Economy, COVID-19 and China's "Health Silk Road" globalresearch.ca The global COVID-19 viral pandemic has exposed in the sharpest light the contradiction between a globalized world economy and a still existing but archaic capitalist system based on the private expropriation of wealth and resources. | The relentless drive to reap …
(2020-04-06). White House Weighs Tax Cuts for Wealthy as Workers and Small Businesses Struggle. truthout.org As desperate workers, the unemployed, and small businesses struggle to obtain benefits authorized under the multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package President Donald Trump signed into law late last month, the White House is reportedly considering an additional slate of aid measures that critics say would disproportionately favor the wealthy while providing little relief for those most in need. | The Washington Post, citing two anonymous officials familiar with White House discus…
(2020-04-05). Latinos and Asian Americans hit hardest by early COVID-19 job losses. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – The headline news that the unemployment rate for March jumped by almost a full percentage point, to 4.4%, was bad enough. The actual unemployment rate was much higher by the end of March, given that the more 10 million people who lost their jobs and filed for unemployment insurance benefits in the last two weeks of March were not counted. Adding in these workers would have increased the unemployment rate by more than 6%, raising the total rate at the end of March to about 10.5%. | The official government unemployment rate also understates the number of jobless workers, as you have to be out of work…
(2020-04-04). China's socialist planning and COVID-19. workers.org The global COVID-19 viral pandemic has exposed in the sharpest light the contradiction between a globalized world economy and a still existing but archaic capitalist system based on the private expropriation of wealth and resources. The relentless drive to reap a profit from every type of human interaction now stands . . . |
(2020-04-04). Was the Fed Just Nationalized? dissidentvoice.org Did Congress just nationalize the Fed? No. But the door to that result has been cracked open. Mainstream politicians have long insisted that Medicare for all, a universal basic income, student debt relief and a slew of other much-needed public programs are off the table because the federal government cannot afford them. But that was …
(2020-04-03). AOC slammed for blaming coronavirus deaths on inequality… after championing shutdown that accelerated it. rt.com 
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has demanded minority-focused "reparations" for coronavirus, insisting "inequality is a comorbidity" exacerbating the deaths — after calling for shutdowns that impoverished millions. | The New York Democrat called for coronavirus relief to be "drafted with a lens of reparations," insisting that deaths from the virus were "disproportionately spiking in Black [and] Brown communities" in a tweet on Friday. | Blaming "the chronic toll of redlining, environmental racism, wealth gap," she smoothly conflated economic inequality — a problem in white and nonwhite commun…
(2020-04-03). One Question: What Policy Change Would Have the Biggest Impact on Alleviating Poverty? progressive.org ELISE GOULD
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(2020-04-03). ECLAC: Tens of Millions Will Be Pushed into Poverty Amid COVID-Induced Recession. cepr.net The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has lowered regional GDP growth projections from positive 1.3 percent to negative 1.8 percent in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic. ECLAC projects that, with such a growth rate, poverty and extreme poverty will increase by 34 million and 23.3 million, respectively. In an op-ed, …
(2020-04-03). Mainstream Canadian LGBTQ Organizations Fail to Address Poverty, Homelessness. projectcensored.org The number of homeless LGBTQ people in Toronto, Ontario is staggering. More than eleven percent of Toronto residents who identify as LGBTQ are homeless. The rate is even worse for…
(2020-04-03). 'These Devices Making the Super-Wealthy Super-Wealthier Will Have to Come Apart' – CounterSpin interview with David Cay Johnston on the 2008 bailout. fair.org 
The Media…
(2020-04-02). 6.6 Million People Filed For Unemployment Last Week. therealnews.com 
The $2.2 trillion stimulus did nothing to help working people. Even before the new data was released, writer Brendan O'Connor said tenants were facing eviction and organizing rent strikes to help each other survive the economic crisis of COVID-19.
(2020-04-02). As U.S. Reels from COVID-19, Trump Backs Gilead's Exclusive Patent on Treatment & Suspends EPA Rules. democracynow.org 
As the United States leads the world in coronavirus cases, the nation's healthcare system is already stretched to capacity and protective gear in short supply. President Trump and his health advisors say more than 100,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus in the next two weeks. Meanwhile, millions of people have lost their jobs, and a record 6.6 million unemployment claims were filed this week, on top of last week's 3.3 million claims. For more on the economic impacts of the coronavirus, and how Trump has responded to the pandemic by rewarding pharmaceutical corporations like Gilead Sciences and indefinite…
(2020-04-02). "Social Distancing Is a Privilege": Pandemic Highlights India's Class Divide as 1.3 Billion Lock Down. democracynow.org 
In India, 1.3 billion people have been locked down for more than a week to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The country reports nearly 2,000 cases and at least 50 deaths. Millions living in poverty and migrant workers were stranded far from home when the lockdown was announced, and some have reportedly died making the perilous journey home. More than 80% of India's workforce is informal, with most living off daily wages often less than $2 or $3 a day — wages they cannot earn under the present curfew — and more than 4 million Indians are homeless. We speak with Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, a contri…
(2020-04-02). Red states 'slower to respond' to Covid-19 as they listened to Trump, Axios founder claims…except blue states have been worst hit. rt.com 
Axios co-founder Jim VanderHei politicized the coronavirus crisis by claiming red states have been "slower" responding because they've been "listening to President Trump," but he ignores why blue states have been hit harder. | Speaking to MSNBC's Morning Joe and name-dropping Georgia and Florida as states that waited longer than others to implement stay-at-home orders, VanderHei said "information inequality" is to blame for states not acting as one in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus. | "It's because they were listening to President Trump up until the last five or six days. They were watching Fo…
(2020-04-02). Hospital Bailouts Begin—for Those Owned by Private Equity Firms. cepr.net The American Prospect See article on original site On March 22, the Steward hospital chain sent a letter to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, saying it would close Easton Hospital, in the state's Lehigh Valley, on March 27 unless it received a government bailout to keep it operating. Steward's letter read: "If the Commonwealth has no …
(2020-04-01). #CancelRent: Tenants Demand Rent Relief & Organize Strikes as Unemployment Surges Due to COVID-19. democracynow.org 
Today is April 1, and millions across the country don't have the money to pay rent. But despite eviction moratoriums and relief on mortgage payments in hard-hit states like California, Washington and New York, no rent freeze has been ordered. In response, tenants around the country are calling for immediate rent cancellation. Some are planning to "rent strike." Meanwhile, many workers who lost their income due to the pandemic haven't even been able to file for unemployment in New York state, with the unemployment website continually crashing and phone lines jammed. Seven-point-eight million people called the New…
(2020-04-01). Headlines for April 1, 2020. democracynow.org No Longer Downplaying Virus, Trump Says Up to 240,000 Will Die in U.S. from COVID-19, FEMA Sends 85 Refrigerated Trucks to NYC as Makeshift Morgues as COVID-19 Deaths Grow, As Confirmed U.S. Cases Top 188,000, Unhoused People Forced to Sleep in Las Vegas Parking Lot, Chicago COVID-19 Nurse Quits over Critical Lack of Personal Protective Equipment, Fed Economists: U.S. Unemployment Could Reach Record 32% in June, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Demands Release of All Jailed Immigrants Amid Pandemic, Captain Calls for Evacuation of Infected U.S. Aircraft Carrier: "Sailors Do Not Need to Die", Governor Won't Allow Sic…
(2020-03-31). Dr. Abdul El-Sayed: Communities Enduring Racism & Poverty Will Suffer Most Due to COVID-19. democracynow.org 
As the number of coronavirus deaths in the United States tops 3,100, states are demanding ventilators and medical supplies. Michigan is a growing hot spot and struggling to prepare for a surge in cases, but President Trump has repeatedly attacked Michigan's governor, calling her "that woman." We speak with the former director of the Detroit Health Department, Abdul El-Sayed. He's a physician and epidemiologist, and his new book is just out today, "Healing Politics: A Doctor's Journey into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic." His recent piece for The Guardian is headlined "Coronavirus is exploiting an underlying…
(2020-03-30). We Need a Public Health New Deal: Neoliberal Austerity & Private Healthcare Worsened U.S. Pandemic. democracynow.org 
It's been described as the public health failure of the century. As the United States leads the world in coronavirus infections, a record number of Americans file for unemployment. Gasping for air, gasping for care; what does global health justice look like? We speak with two Yale professors who say decades of neoliberal austerity make it harder to fight the pandemic. They propose a New Deal for public health. Gregg Gonsalves is assistant professor in epidemiology of microbial diseases at Yale School of Public Health; Amy Kapczynski is professor of law at Yale Law School and co-founder of the Law and Political Ec…
(2020-03-30). Poverty in the Date Palms. progressive.org Though there are fewer than 200 palmeros, they harvest 95 percent of the dates grown in the United States.
(2020-03-30). The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery played key role in launching SPLC's legal battle against Ku Klux Klan. splcenter.org The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, who died on Friday at 98 years old, was a longtime friend of the Southern Poverty Law Center and played a leading role in the SPLC's first lawsuit against the Ku Klux Klan in 1980.
(2020-03-30). Our Endless War on the Poor. progressive.org American society persistently refuses to address the root cause of poverty.