(2020-04-29). Protester killed in Lebanon during riots against soaring food prices. wsws.org Men, women and children marched through the streets of Tripoli, where more than half the population are living at or below the poverty line, shouting "Revolution, Revolution."
(2020-04-29). Coronavirus Capitalism and "Exceptional" America. counterpunch.org United States capitalism system was already on the verge of a major recession before COVID-19 hit. All the classic signs were there: absurdly inflated P/E ratios s (an absurdly inflated stock market), massively deb-leveraged corporations, giant consumer and student debt, savage economic inequality (so extreme that the top tenth of the U.S. upper 1 percent had more wealth than the nation's bottom percent), tens of millions living just one inadequate paycheck away from being unable to meet basic living expenses , and more. If the virus hadn't broken that camel's back, something else would have done the job, albeit…
(2020-04-29). True Number of Americans Run Out of Work by Virus Maoists So Far Could Be 10 Million Higher at 36 Million. anti-empire.com 
Millions of Americans who have been thrown out of work during the coronavirus pandemic have been unable to register for unemployment benefits since the U.S. economy entered a free fall, according to a poll released on Tuesday. | The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found in an online poll that for every 10 people who have successfully filed unemployment claims, three or four people have been unable to register and another two people have not tried to apply at a time of acute economic crisis. | Official U.S. statistics show that 26.5 million people have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March, w…
(2020-04-29). Racial Disparities During COVID-19 (webniar). indybay.org Online via livestream…
(2020-04-29). Millions of US workers blocked from applying for jobless benefits. wsws.org An Economic Policy Institute survey shows that the real number of unemployed workers in the US is far higher than the official 26.5 million who have filed unemployment claims.
(2020-04-28). Protests erupt in Lebanon over collapsing economy. peoplesdispatch.org Thousands of Lebanese took to the streets on April 27, Monday, demanding revolution amid rising poverty, hunger, economic hardship and uncertainty, even as the government seems to turn a blind eye to the urgent issues plaguing the country…
(2020-04-28). As coronavirus still rages, debate over post-virus future heats up. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON—Even as the coronavirus pandemic still rages through the U.S., the debate over the shape of society and the economy, post-virus, is heating up. On one side, with the weight of wealth, clout, and the ruling Republican White House, are corporate and right-wing interests that want to take the country back to the days of …
(2020-04-28). White Collar Criminals, Celebrities, Wealthy Use Privilege For Early Release Amidst Pandemic. therealnews.com 
Michael Cohen and Michael Avenatti were released, and some Los Angeles prisons offer pay-to-stay rooms for celebrities. But a huge number of people are still imprisoned and at risk of COVID-19 just because they can't afford cash bail.
(2020-04-28). Relief Is Funneled to the Wealthy. We Need a Financial Infrastructure Overhaul. truthout.org The coronavirus — both the pandemic itself and the economic recession it caused — are hitting marginalized groups the hardest: low-wage workers, women and people of color (especially women of color) and small businesses. But instead of providing equitable relief targeted to the most disadvantaged households and businesses, Congress and the Federal Reserve are reinforcing many of the existing disparities that made our health care system and economy so fragile to begin with. Indeed…
(2020-04-28). No, we're not all in this together. How the super-rich are cheating America. nationofchange.org There are at least three good reasons why wealthy Americans should be doing a LOT MORE to give something back to the nation that made them rich.
(2020-04-28). US Workers Could Earn More From Unemployment Than Low-Wage Jobs. telesurenglish.net More than half of all United States workers could make more in unemployment benefits than they did at their low-wage jobs before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, the Wall Street Journal RELATED: | "Qualified workers will receive the government payout every week through July, and in mo…
(2020-04-28). Netanyahu Air Force Bombings Targeted Homes, Killed Three Civilians. globalresearch.ca Americans awaiting their COVID-19 stimulus and unemployment checks will be thrilled to know their taxes continue to be spent via Netanyahu bombing and murdering Syrians in their homes. Israel remains the US' most voracious welfare state queen, subsidized at more …
(2020-04-27). Capitalism Can't Be Repaired, Coronavirus Shows Its Huge Weaknesses. strategic-culture.org Byrichard D. WOLFF | Consider this absurdity: The U.S. government's policy in the face of the current capitalist crash is to "return the economy to the pre-coronavirus normal." What? In that "normal" system, private capitalists maximized profits by not producing the tests, masks, ventilators, beds, etc., needed when coronavirus hit. Profit-driven capitalism proved extremely inefficient in its response to the virus. Wealth already lost from the coronavirus far exceeds what it would have cost to prepare properly. In capitalism, a small minority—employers—makes all the key decisions (what, how, where to…
(2020-04-27). How Historical Trauma And Structural Inequality Help Spread COVID-19. therealnews.com 
Historical and generational trauma affect Black and other marginalized communities, and ongoing inequality is making the coronavirus pandemic worse among those groups.
(2020-04-27). How We Should Spell Relief. progressive.org Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States was already suffering from a pandemic of inequality.
(2020-04-27). Deja vu: Another Bail-Out for Banks and Other Giant Corporations. dissidentvoice.org The name of the latest enormous transfer of wealth to the one percent, the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act, represents a public relations coup. Unsurprisingly, this great sounding title misrepresents the bill's contents. Pattern of transferring wealth upward Unfortunately, this bill is essentially a repeat of the bailout of Wall Street during …
(2020-04-26). Expect unemployment rates to hit 'Great Depression' level, warns Trump's economic advisor. rt.com 
White House senior advisor Kevin Hassett says US economy is in "grave situation" and the unemployment rate could be hitting the same numbers seen during the Great Depression due to the Covid-19 pandemic. | "We're going to be looking at an unemployment rate that approaches rates that I think we saw during the Great Depression," Hassett told ABC' 'The Week' on Sunday. | Hassett called the economic state in the US a "grave situation" and "the biggest negative shock [the] economy has ever seen." | Hassett continued to paint a bleak picture when he compared jobless numbers today to those from the economic recession…
(2020-04-24). Georgia's Furloughed Workers Struggled To Get Unemployment Benefits. Now They Worry About Losing Them. therealnews.com 
Once businesses reopen, workers like Cameren Cook in Atlanta may have to decide between risking COVID-19 and not making their rent.
(2020-04-23). Rich are Getting Richer, Despite Pandemic. progressive.org As billionaires' wealth continues to balloon, it's time for them to pay their fair share.
(2020-04-22). Chileans Who Took to Streets Against Inequality & Climate Crisis Say Virus Lockdowns Won't Stop Them. democracynow.org 
Months ago, the streets of Santiago and other Chilean cities were alive with a vibrant mass protest movement that drew hundreds of thousands and even led the U.N. climate summit to be relocated to Madrid, Spain, last December. Now the public spaces of Santiago are largely empty as citizens shelter in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But the protest movement against austerity and right-wing President Sebastián Piñera lives on as activists find new ways to organize online. We go to Santiago, Chile, to speak with Angela Valenzuela, a 350.org organizer who has been active both in the country's uprising and in…
(2020-04-21). NYC Immigrant Communities Fight Hunger, Exploitation & Invisibility Through Mutual Aid. democracynow.org 
We look at how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting undocumented people here in New York City, where the coronavirus has hit immigrant communities the hardest, even as the numbers of daily deaths statewide has declined in recent days. As reports of widespread poverty and hunger continue in the immigrant communities, people are also organizing and helping each other through mutual aid despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances. We are joined by Juan Carlos Ruiz, Lutheran pastor at Good Shepherd Church in Brooklyn and co-founder of the national New Sanctuary Movement and the New Sanctuary Coalition here in Ne…
(2020-04-11). SPLC condemns attack on Alabama synagogue. splcenter.org The Southern Poverty Law Center condemns the antisemitic attacks that took place during Passover at the Etz Chayim Synagogue in Huntsville, Alabama.
(2020-03-23). How To Think About Corporate Bailouts Correctly. peoplespolicyproject.org As the negotiations over the economic response to the Coronavirus recession heat up, we are seeing more and more talk about how (or whether) to provide relief to corporations and industries that are facing bankruptcy due to the economic slowdown. Some of this talk is intelligent. A lot of it is not. So in this post, I hope to lay out what I believe is the correct way to think about corporate bailouts. | Due to an aversion to socialist rhetoric about "capitalists" or even "the wealthy," American populist lingo tends to focus on "corporations" as the great evil. We talk about "corporate power" and "corporate concen…
(2020-03-18). Understanding Claims About Basic Income and Inflation. peoplespolicyproject.org A variety of elected officials are currently proposing that the federal government send cash payments to every person in the country (sometimes called a "universal basic income" or "UBI") as a way of responding to the recession. These calls have resurrected claims that a UBI is inflationary. Such claims circulate widely among advocates of workfare and in certain niche internet circles. But these claims are nonsensical and deceptive. In this post, I walk through these claims to promote better understanding of the issue. | Deceptive Language: | Many people who claim that UBI is inflationary also belong to t…
(2020-04-29). #WalkAway Founder: It's Time to Open Up & Let Trump Get US Economy Back on Track. sputniknews.com The figures for COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US are soaring, but so is the unemployment rate, which threatens to hit 20% in the second quarter. Being caught between a rock and a hard place, Americans are taking to the streets demanding to lift the lockdown. WalkAway movement founder Brandon Straka has explained why it's time to open up.
(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…
