(2020-05-08). Headlines for May 8, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Pass 75,000 as Trump Sidelines Top Medical Experts, Trump to Be Tested for Coronavirus Daily After Valet Tests Positive, Vigil at White House Honors 88 Who Died from "Trump's Abhorrent Failure to Protect Nurses", U.S. Unemployment Claims Soar to 33.3 Million Amid Pandemic | , Democrats Promise "Rooseveltian" Coronavirus Relief Bill | , Mitch McConnell Prioritizes Judicial Confirmations as Senate Returns Amid Pandemic | , Data Shows 35 of 40 People Arrested in NY for Social Distancing Violations Are Black | , Texas Stops Jailing Lockdown Violators; Nebraska Ends Reporting on Meat Plant COVI…
(2020-05-08). Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic, America's Billionaires Thrive and Prosper. zcomm.org Although most Americans currently face hard times, with unemployment surging to the levels of the Great Depression and enormous numbers of people sick or dying from the coronavirus pandemic, the nation's super-rich remain a notable exception. Financially, they are doing remarkably well. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, between March 18 and April 28,
(2020-05-08). Worst month since Great Depression: US unemployment rate soars to 14.7%, with 20.5 million jobs lost in April. rt.com 
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday that the coronavirus shutdown has slashed a record number of jobs from nonfarm payrolls, sending the unemployment rate to record highs. | The 20.5 million jobs lost last month represents by far the largest and most sudden decline since the government began tracking the data in 1939. The last time American joblessness was that severe was during the Great Depression. | With 870,000 jobs slashed in March, a decade's worth of job gains has now been wiped out in under two months. After the US was hit by coronavirus, the unemployment rate skyrocketed from 3.
(2020-05-08). Illinois nursing home workers' strike blocked by SEIU. wsws.org The union pushed through a concessions contract that gives the corporate management of the nursing home facilities everything they wanted and leaves nursing home workers in poverty and working under life-threatening conditions.
(2020-05-08). Book Talk: 'The Women Reshaping Congress' w/ author Jennifer Steinhauer. indybay.org Online via livestream…
(2020-05-08). Pandemic Crash Shows Worker Co-ops Are More Resilient Than Traditional Business. truthout.org While we have no way to know yet the full extent of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, by all accounts it could be as bad — if not far worse — than the 2008 crash. In fact, in terms of unemployment alone, the numbers are already staggering: more than
(2020-05-08). Russian COVID-19 cases rise, as 750,000 join unemployment rolls. wsws.org Layoffs are spreading in Russia, as the country surpasses France and Germany in total coronavirus infections.
(2020-05-08). Mass Joblessness Deepens in US as Corporations Move to Implement Permanent Layoffs. 40.6 Million Unemployed. globalresearch.ca US government figures to be released today are expected to show mass unemployment in April unlike anything seen since the Great Depression. In numbers released Wednesday, ADP Research said that US payrolls in April fell by an astounding 20,236,000, a …
(2020-05-07). Headlines for May 7, 2020. democracynow.org U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 73,400 as 41 States Begin Reopening | , White House Shelves Guidelines on Reopening, as Experts Warn U.S. Failing to Stem COVID-19 Deaths, Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. Children Going Hungry as Unemployment Surges to Great Depression Levels, State Budget Cuts Loom as Trump Rails Against "Blue State Bailouts" | , United Nations Seeks $6.7 Billion for Coronavirus Aid to Poor Countries | , EU Warns Pandemic Economic Recession Will Be Worst in History | , Closing Ceremony of Spanish Coronavirus Field Hospital Marred by Tightly Packed Crowds, Venezuelan TV Airs Video of Arrested U.S. Mercenary Co…
(2020-05-07). A Grim New Normal Ahead? Worse than Orwell's 1984. Unprecedented Global Poverty and Human Misery. globalresearch.ca Will historians one day look back at unfolding events related to today's public health crisis and economic collapse as a post-coronavirus new normal that's grimly different from what preceded it? | Do ongoing events mark the beginning of an unacceptable dystopian …
(2020-05-07). German Government Bails Out Owners of German Corporations. strategic-culture.org Eric ZUESSE | Just as the corrupt U.S. Government is bailing out owners of U.S. corporations while the American public experiences a recession that is heading into a depression, the corrupt German Government likewise is The German Government has offered to bail out even the wealthy investors…
(2020-05-07). Bank of England: Unemployment to double. truepublica.org.uk The Bank of England has warned the British economy could shrink by 14% this year and unemployment more than double by next spring as the coronavirus causes the deepest recession in modern history. Leaving interest rates on hold at a record low of 0.1% as the economic crisis unfolds, the central bank said economic activity across …
(2020-05-07). Trump economy faces long-term disaster as jobs data looms. truepublica.org.uk The staggering economic pain, perhaps the worst since the 1930s, of the American economy in the time of coronavirus will be graphically underscored in two new rounds of unemployment data that are due on Thursday and Friday. The figures will show Americans who have and will lose their livelihoods as common victims of the most cruel public health crisis …
(2020-05-07). Nearly One in Five Workers Applied for State Unemployment Insurance Benefits in the Last Seven Weeks. commondreams.org The Congressional Budget Office projects that without additional relief, the unemployment rate will average 16% in the third quarter of this year and 10.1% for the entire calendar year of 2021. (Photo: Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/closed_1_0_1.jpg …
(2020-05-06). CPUSA launches Spring Fund Appeal: "Building for a better world" peoplesworld.org 
NEW YORK—"Millions are standing up for universal health care and basic safety on the job. Millions are demanding necessities like food, housing, and unemployment insurance, and defending democracy," said Communist Party USA co-chair Rossana Cambron at the launch of the oganization's Spring Fund Appeal on May Day. "The CPUSA is a vital part of this …
(2020-05-06). Senior UN official calls for universal basic income to tackle growing inequality. news.un.org The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a health crisis, but it is also proving to be an economic disaster for huge numbers of people worldwide. A senior UN official with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is calling for countries to provide citizens with a universal basic income, to help the millions who have lost their jobs, because of measures to curb the virus, combined with increasing levels of inequality.
(2020-05-01). Corporate Looting as 'Rescue Plan,' Robber Barons as 'Saviors'. fair.org 
Framing a massive corporate bailout as a "rescue package" (NPR, For a perfect illustration of how corporate media function as ruling class propaganda, watch how they spin a titanic upward redistribution of wealth as a "rescue plan" for the US economy, and paint a robber baron like US Treasury Secretary
(2020-04-30). Economist Thomas Piketty: Coronavirus Pandemic Has Exposed the "Violence of Social Inequality" democracynow.org 
As nearly 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment in just six weeks and millions worldwide face hunger and poverty, we look at the global economic catastrophe triggered by the pandemic and its impact on the most vulnerable. As the World Food Programme warns of a massive spike in global hunger and more than 100 million people in cities worldwide could fall into poverty, can this crisis be a catalyst for change? We ask French economist Thomas Piketty. His 2014 internationally best-selling book, "Capital in the Twenty-First Century," looked at economic inequality and the necessity of wealth taxes. His new b…
(2020-04-30). Headlines for April 30, 2020. democracynow.org Jared Kushner Hails "Great Success Story" as U.S. Deaths Top 60,000, Dozens of Decomposing Bodies Found in Trucks Outside Brooklyn Funeral Home, President Trump Claims Coronavirus Will Be "Eradicated" from U.S. | , FDA to Approve Emergency Use of Remdesivir After the Drug Shows Promise Treating COVID-19, More Than 30 Million U.S. Workers File Unemployment Claims in Just Six Weeks, International Labour Organization Warns Pandemic Threatens Livelihoods of 1.6 Billion, South Korea Reports No New Domestic Coronavirus Cases , U.K. Now Has Europe's Second-Highest COVID-19 Death Toll | , Femicides and Domestic Violence…
(2020-04-30). Five Years After Freddie Gray's Death: The Resistance Makes Change, The Government Doesn't. therealnews.com 
The people at the core of the resistance after Freddie Gray's death are changing lives and building community five years later, while the government has done little to address poverty and isolation in the poorest Black communities of Baltimore.
(2020-04-30). U.S. Organizations React to Global Military Spending Report. peaceaction.org Joint Statement: U.S. organizations react to global military spending report April 27, 2020 Our diverse group of 39 think-tanks, non-profits, faith-based organizations, and advocacy groups based in the United States find the exorbitant amount of money spent on militaries worldwide to be an irresponsible and harmful use of global wealth. The Global Military Expenditures Report …
(2020-04-30). How Workers Can Win in the Age of COVID-19. progressive.org With thirty million people filing for unemployment, a new project helps organizers fight for the common good.
(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.
(2020-04-14). [Perspectives] The worst is not, so long as we can say "this is the worst" thelancet.com "There have been as many plagues as wars in history", the doctor observes, "yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise". Even after a few scattered deaths, "the danger still remained fantastically unreal." "It's impossible it should be the plague, everyone knows it has vanished from the West", says one character early in the novel, as first the rats and then the people begin to die. "Yes, everyone knew that", replies the doctor, "except the dead". The infection comes to a town that is obsessed with business, a place where the sole object seems to be the pursuit of wealth.
(2020-05-07). Direct Relief Demanded for Hard-Hit US Families as Depression-Level Unemployment Tops 33 Million. commondreams.org Economists and progressive lawmakers on Thursday pointed to new unemployment numbers as the latest evidence that Congress must pass bold legislation to give direct financial assistance to Americans. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-1219998514_1.jpg …
