(2020-04-09). US pension funds are 'toxic waste dump of risk' — RT's Keiser Report. rt.com 
New York's working-class citizens, essential to the economy, are the most vulnerable amid the ongoing pandemic, due to poor healthcare services in the areas where they live. | Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert look at the supply chain of risk, in which risk gets dumped into pension funds and unsuspecting Main Streeters, who pay with inflation and taxes for the bad bets taken by Wall Street. | Max points to gerrymandering policies, where political subdivisions are created within a state or a region to allow for political manipulation, for the interests of the wealthy to be protected and the interests of the poor to…
(2020-04-09). American Exceptionalism in the Face of Covid-19. counterpunch.org Food takes a special place in times of universal distress. Amid this Covid-19 pandemic, food insecurity and hunger are growing exponentially. Here in the US, the richest society on Earth where the forces of wealth and greed are aligned against poverty, there has been a run on food pantries and food banks. ( "A perfect
(2020-04-09). Covid-19 to plunge half a billion people into poverty. truepublica.org.uk New research published by UNU-WIDER today warns that the economic fallout from the global pandemic could increase global poverty by as much as half a billion people, or 8% of the total human population. This would be the first time that poverty has increased globally in thirty years, since 1990. The authors of the UNU-WIDER study — Andy Sumner and Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez …
(2020-04-09). 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.
(2020-04-09). Why GE Workers Walked Out in Lynn. zcomm.org As employers use the coronavirus crisis to consolidate power and wealth, we need to build activism and organization…
(2020-04-09). We Are Living (And Dying) in Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" counterpunch.org Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 tale "The Masque of the Red Death" is a story about class. Poe's tale contrasts the fates of rich and poor during a plague even more lethal than the coronavirus. Poe's characters—a thousand members of the aristocracy and their hangers-on—repair to one of the "crenellated abbeys" of the wealthy Prince Prospero.
(2020-04-09). New Zealand government says unemployment will hit "double digits" wsws.org The coronavirus-induced crisis is having a devastating effect on jobs, with unemployment expected to reach levels unseen since the Great Depression.
(2020-04-09). "It's the economy stupid!" indybay.org US unemployment at the start of April 2020 is higher than at the peak of the 1929 Great Depression. Trump is to blame for the botched response to the Coronavirus that he initially called a hoax. To generate economic activity, he recently proposed raising CEO deductions for entertainment and restaurant bills. We face a collapse of the GDP, consumption, investments and tax revenues.
(2020-04-09). What you need to know about the coronavirus right now. yenisafak.com Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
(2020-04-08). Bernie Sanders Drops Out of Presidential Race. therealnews.com 
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is suspending his presidential campaign. Sanders' campaign—which had embraced taking on the Democratic party establishment and taxing the wealthy to fund social programs like universal healthcare—struggled after former Vice President Joe Biden's decisive victory on Super Tuesday, and after suspending virtually all in-person campaigning in the coronavirus pandemic. Even though Sanders…
(2020-04-08). COVID-19 Ravages Communities Marginalized By White Supremacy. therealnews.com 
America's legacy of white supremacy has marginalized Black communities with redlining, segregation, poverty, and lack of access. Combating the history of abuse and mistrust is key to surviving the COVID-19 pandemic.
(2020-04-08). Billionaire "Job Creators" and the Keyboard Revolutionaries Who Enable Their Candidates. dissidentvoice.org Capitalism's "invisible hand" gives us the middle finger with ever more contempt these days. With the national unemployment rate soaring to Depression-era levels and beyond, the self-proclaimed "job creators" of our glorious free-market paradise are now drowning in gluttonous excess from sucking the tit of the "Nanny State" they allegedly abhor. While workers are prohibited …
(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.
(2020-04-06). 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…
(2020-04-03). 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). "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). 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…
(2020-04-01). #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…
(2020-03-30). 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.
