Daily Archives: June 1, 2020

2020-06-01: News Headlines

_____ (2020-06-02). Unemployment in USA now exceeds that of 1933 Great Depression. truepublica.org.uk By TruePublica: As most people will know, the Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. The timing of the Great Depression varied across the world; in most countries, it started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s. It was the longest, deepest, …

Stephen Lendman (2020-06-01). Rage Against the United States of Institutionalized Inequality and Injustice. globalresearch.ca Public rage in dozens of US cities goes way beyond the killing of African American George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. | Like countless others in the US, Floyd was a victim of institutionalized racism, inequality and injustice….

Hayley Brown — Dean Baker (2020-06-01). The Impact of Upward Redistribution on Social Security Solvency. counterpunch.org Economic inequality in the US has ballooned since the early 1980s. Wage and salary growth at the top of the earnings distribution has significantly outpaced that at the bottom and middle, resulting in decades of unabated upward redistribution of income. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated this divide. In addition to the immediate problems

Matt Sedlar (2020-06-01). The UN's Anti-Poverty Proposal for Latin America: A "Basic Emergency Income" cepr.net The economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Latin America could be potentially devastating, according to a new Special Report by the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The report, based on the available data in mid-April, has estimated a -5.3 percent drop for the region's GDP growth in 2020 — …

Alan Macleod (2020-05-29). Media Elite Denounce Looting Even as Billionaires Reap Record Profits from Taxpayer-Funded Bailouts. mintpressnews.com A mountain of studies on wealth inequality have shown its corrosive effect on social cohesion, with the more unequal a society gets, the less likely people are to see themselves as participants in a community and view others as a threat.

David Cavendish (2020-05-29). Millions jobless, benefits hard to get — We need a federal unemployment system. peoplesworld.org The current federal-state unemployment insurance (UI) system in the United States was a disaster waiting to happen. And when COVID-19 forced large parts of the economy to shut down in recent months, the disaster proved to be even worse than feared. With the number of newly unemployed people now officially passing 40 million (with millions more uncounted), …

Matt Sedlar (2020-05-27). The Impact of Upward Redistribution on Social Security Solvency (2020 Update). cepr.net Economic inequality in the US has ballooned since the early 1980s. Wage and salary growth at the top of the earnings distribution has significantly outpaced that at the bottom and middle, resulting in decades of unabated upward redistribution of income. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated this divide. In addition to the immediate problems …

Alison P. Galvani, Alyssa S. Parpia, Abhishek Pandey, Charlotte Zimmer, James G. Kahn, Meagan C. Fitzpatrick (2020-05-17). [Commentary] The imperative for universal healthcare to curtail the COVID-19 outbreak in the USA. thelancet.com The COVID-19 outbreak in the United States is growing steeply and spreading widely. As of March 26, national incidence surpassed every other country, and as of April 28 has reported over a million cases. The COVID-19 crisis is exposing the systemic frailties in our healthcare system. More than 78 million people in America do not have access to adequate health insurance [1]. Given that health insurance in the US is typically provided by employers, millions more are at risk of losing their healthcare coverage as unemployment surges.

Tim Bryant (2020-05-16). Starve The Beast, Feed The Light. thelastamericanvagabond.com It is often echoed by the marginalized masses that "the system doesn't work for the people" and "it only works for the elite that own it." Regardless of ideology, it's pretty hard to deny this claim when wealth inequality and power concentration are rampant all over society with plenty of hard data to back it …

H. Patricia Hynes (2020-05-13). Trump Budget Winners and Losers. zcomm.org Thanks to this tax cut—the rich get richer: 72 percent of the tax cuts were directed to the wealthiest 20 percent of households…

Project Censored (2020-05-12). The Censorship of Inequality in the Covid-19 Era: How Corporate and Market-Based Metrics Rule the News, and Why it Matters. projectcensored.org By Anthony DiMaggio The old adage that "the more things change the more they stay the same" seems particularly appropriate to media coverage in the Covid-19 crisis. Old patterns of media…

Lawrence Wittner (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,

Jeff Jurgens (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 …

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-06-01). 'They Need Our Help': As CBO Projects $16 Trillion GDP Loss Due to Pandemic, Sanders and Schumer Demand Relief for Working Families. commondreams.org Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer demanded to know on Monday how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can remain committed to passing no additional coronavirus relief for working families. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/unemployment_coronavirus_1.jpg

Staff (2020-06-01). "America's Moment of Reckoning": Cornel West Says Nationwide Uprising Is Sign of "Empire Imploding" democracynow.org As thousands from coast to coast took to the streets this weekend to protest the state-sanctioned killing of Black people, and the nation faces its largest public health crisis in generations and the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, professor Cornel West calls the U.S. a "predatory capitalist civilization obsessed with money, money, money." He also makes the connections between U.S. violence abroad and at home. "There is a connection between the seeds that you sow of violence externally and internally."

Staff (2020-05-22). Mike Davis: Workers Face "Sophie's Choice" Between Income & Health as 50 States Reopen Amid Pandemic. democracynow.org All 50 states will be at least partially reopened this Memorial Day weekend, as the U.S. death toll from the COVID-19 outbreak tops 95,000 and some states prepare for a surge in cases. We're joined by historian and writer Mike Davis, who says in Jacobin that "Reopening the Economy Will Send Us to Hell."

The Commonwealth Club (2020-06-01). Tuesday 6/9: My Vanishing Country: Bakari Sellers talks about memior on being son of civil rights hero. indybay.org Online via Livestream…

Staff (2020-05-31). Ocasio-Cortez: "If You Want to End Unrest, End the Conditions That Create It" truthout.org In a video message posted to Instagram on Saturday amidst days of nationwide protest in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota earlier this week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a plea to anyone calling for the end of the "unrest" stirred by brutality and oppression to focus on the root causes of poverty, distrust, and violence in American society. | "If you are calling for an end to this unrest… but you are not calling for the end to the conditions that…

2020-06-01: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media! (Copy the text of the postee below, then paste it on social media and the story images will also appear.)

Unemployment in USA now exceeds that of 1933 Great Depression
graham | truepublica.org.uk | 2020-06-02
By TruePublica: As most people will know, the Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. The timing of the Great Depression varied across the world; in most countries, it started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s. It was the longest, deepest, …
truepublica.org.uk/global/unemployment-in-usa-now-exceeds-that-of-1933-great-depression/

Rage Against the United States of Institutionalized Inequality and Injustice
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-06-01
Public rage in dozens of US cities goes way beyond the killing of African American George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. | Like countless others in the US, Floyd was a victim of institutionalized racism, inequality and injustice….
globalresearch.ca/rage-against-united-states-institutionalized-inequality-injustice/5714589

The UN's Anti-Poverty Proposal for Latin America: A "Basic Emergency Income"
Matt Sedlar | cepr.net | 2020-06-01
The economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Latin America could be potentially devastating, according to a new Special Report by the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The report, based on the available data in mid-April, has estimated a -5.3 percent drop for the region's GDP growth in 2020

Media Elite Denounce Looting Even as Billionaires Reap Record Profits from Taxpayer-Funded Bailouts
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-05-29
A mountain of studies on wealth inequality have shown its corrosive effect on social cohesion, with the more unequal a society gets, the less likely people are to see themselves as participants in a community and view others as a threat.
mintpressnews.com/media-denounce-looting-billionaires-grow-half-a-trillion-dollars-richer-bailouts/268054/

The Impact of Upward Redistribution on Social Security Solvency (2020 Update)
Matt Sedlar | cepr.net | 2020-05-27
Economic inequality in the US has ballooned since the early 1980s. Wage and salary growth at the top of the earnings distribution has significantly outpaced that at the bottom and middle, resulting in decades of unabated upward redistribution of income. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated this divide. In addition to the immediate problems …
cepr.net/the-impact-of-upward-redistribution-on-social-security-solvency-2020-update/

[Commentary] The imperative for universal healthcare to curtail the COVID-19 outbreak in the USA
Alison P. Galvani, Alyssa S. Parpia, Abhishek Pandey, Charlotte Zimmer, James G. Kahn, Meagan C. Fitzpatrick | thelancet.com | 2020-05-17
The COVID-19 outbreak in the United States is growing steeply and spreading widely. As of March 26, national incidence surpassed every other country, and as of April 28 has reported over a million cases. The COVID-19 crisis is exposing the systemic frailties in our healthcare system. More than 78 million people in America do not have access to adequate health insurance [1]. Given that health insurance in the US is typically provided by employers, millions more are at risk of losing their healthcare coverage as unemployment surges.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30124-3/fulltext?rss=yes

Starve The Beast, Feed The Light
Tim Bryant | thelastamericanvagabond.com | 2020-05-16
It is often echoed by the marginalized masses that "the system doesn't work for the people" and "it only works for the elite that own it." Regardless of ideology, it's pretty hard to deny this claim when wealth inequality and power concentration are rampant all over society with plenty of hard data to back it …
thelastamericanvagabond.com/revolution/starve-the-beast-feed-the-light/

Trump Budget Winners and Losers
H. Patricia Hynes | zcomm.org | 2020-05-13
Thanks to this tax cut–the rich get richer: 72 percent of the tax cuts were directed to the wealthiest 20 percent of households…
zcomm.org/zmagazine/trump-budget-winners-and-losers/

The Censorship of Inequality in the Covid-19 Era: How Corporate and Market-Based Metrics Rule the News, and Why it Matters
Project Censored | projectcensored.org | 2020-05-12
By Anthony DiMaggio The old adage that "the more things change the more they stay the same" seems particularly appropriate to media coverage in the Covid-19 crisis. Old patterns of media…
projectcensored.org/the-censorship-of-inequality-in-the-covid-19-era-how-corporate-and-market-based-metrics-rule-the-news-and-why-it-matters/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-censorship-of-inequality-in-the-covid-19-era-how-corporate-and-market-based-metrics-rule-the-news-and-why-it-matters

Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic, America's Billionaires Thrive and Prosper
Lawrence Wittner | zcomm.org | 2020-05-08
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, Read…
zcomm.org/zblogs/amid-the-coronavirus-pandemic-americas-billionaires-thrive-and-prosper/

'They Need Our Help': As CBO Projects $16 Trillion GDP Loss Due to Pandemic, Sanders and Schumer Demand Relief for Working Families
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-06-01
Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer demanded to know on Monday how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can remain committed to passing no additional coronavirus relief for working families. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/unemployment_coronavirus_1.jpg
commondreams.org/news/2020/06/01/they-need-our-help-cbo-projects-16-trillion-gdp-loss-due-pandemic-sanders-and?cd-origin=rss

"America's Moment of Reckoning": Cornel West Says Nationwide Uprising Is Sign of "Empire Imploding"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-06-01
As thousands from coast to coast took to the streets this weekend to protest the state-sanctioned killing of Black people, and the nation faces its largest public health crisis in generations and the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, professor Cornel West calls the U.S. a "predatory capitalist civilization obsessed with money, money, money." He also makes the connections between U.S. violence abroad and at home. "There is a connection between the seeds that you sow of violence externally and internally."
www.democracynow.org/2020/6/1/cornel_west_us_moment_of_reckoning

Mike Davis: Workers Face "Sophie's Choice" Between Income & Health as 50 States Reopen Amid Pandemic
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-22
All 50 states will be at least partially reopened this Memorial Day weekend, as the U.S. death toll from the COVID-19 outbreak tops 95,000 and some states prepare for a surge in cases. We're joined by historian and writer Mike Davis, who says in Jacobin that "Reopening the Economy Will Send Us to Hell."
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/22/historian_mike_davis_increased_inequality_coronavirus

Tuesday 6/9: My Vanishing Country: Bakari Sellers talks about memior on being son of civil rights hero
The Commonwealth Club | indybay.org | 2020-06-01
Online via Livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/06/01/18833593.php

Ocasio-Cortez: "If You Want to End Unrest, End the Conditions That Create It"
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-05-31
In a video message posted to Instagram on Saturday amidst days of nationwide protest in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota earlier this week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a plea to anyone calling for the end of the "unrest" stirred by brutality and oppression to focus on the root causes of poverty, distrust, and violence in American society. | "If you are calling for an end to this unrest… but you are not calling for the end to the conditions that…
truthout.org/articles/ocasio-cortez-if-you-want-to-end-unrest-end-the-conditions-that-create-it/