(2020-06-04). Economics behind the rebellion. workers.org 
Between March 18 and April 10, over 22 million people lost their jobs as the unemployment rate surged toward 15 percent. Over the same three weeks, U.S. billionaire wealth increased by $282 billion, an almost 10 percent gain. — Institute for Policy Studies |
(2020-06-04). One third of labor force now jobless as pandemic unemployment climbs. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON—Another 2.226 million people filed for jobless benefits in the week ending May 30, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on June 4. That pushed the total official number of jobless benefits claims in this new great depression to 42.65 million. And that may understate the case. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has said for weeks …
(2020-06-04). Racial Inequality Among Workers in Frontline Industries: Black Workers are Overrepresented and Undercompensated. cepr.net 
The three figures below compare Black and White workers in six frontline industry groups (see our previous report for methodology). These figures show that: Black workers are much more likely to work in frontline industries than White workers. As Figure 1 shows, nearly three out of every ten (29.7 percent) Black workers work in one …
(2020-06-04). The UN's Anti-Poverty Proposal for Latin America: a "Basic Emergency Income" counterpunch.org 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 —
(2020-06-04). Washington Post Invents a Growth Dividend from Sweden's Coronavirus Strategy. cepr.net Sweden has stood apart from most other wealthy countries in dealing with the pandemic, by not imposing some sort of shutdown, where non-essential businesses are closed and travel is kept to a minimum. Its Nordic neighbors all went this route and then engaged in extensive testing and tracing strategies. As a result, Sweden has seen …
(2020-06-04). Billionaire Wealth Surges By Over Half Trillion Dollars During the Pandemic. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2020-06-04). New claims for state unemployment insurance 1.9 million in last week of May. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – On Thursday, June 4 the federal Department of Labor reported that 1.9 million new claims for state unemployment insurance or UI benefits were filed in the week ending May 30. This was down by 250,000 claims from the previous week, continuing the slow decline in new applications. However, this was still more than two and a half times higher than the previous pre-pandemic record of almost 700,000 claims made during the deep 1981-82 recession. | The total number of people receiving state unemployment benefits – which is delayed by a week – rose by 650,000 to 21.5 million for the week ending May 23. Th…
(2020-06-03). U.S. campaign against Cuba's medical brigades targets healthcare, not 'forced labor'. mronline.org 
For decades, Cuba has sent tens of thousands of its medical professionals abroad to work in countries where natural disasters or poverty have left people without healthcare. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the catastrophic U.S. response to it, the absurdity of a propaganda war against Cuban medical missions has become more obvious …
(2020-06-03). Proposals to Ease Covid's Blow on the Hardest Hit All But Ignored by Corporate Media. commondreams.org New York Times photo (4/12/20) of Floridians waiting in line to sign up for unemployment benefits. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2020-06-03_at_12.29.09_pm.png …
(2020-06-02). 'Tough On Crime' Cities Might Make Violence Worse. therealnews.com 
Baltimore's leading mayoral candidates are embracing calls for change, but their proposals risk worsening mass incarceration and inequality.
(2020-06-02). Coronavirus a challenge, and opportunity, to fix remittances system than funnels billions home from abroad. news.un.org Often the equivalent of several hundred dollars a month, remittances — the money that migrant workers send home to their families — have been adding up in a big way to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will especially benefit families in developing countries, and keep tens of millions out of poverty.
(2020-06-02). DC On Fire: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix. thealtworld.com — US government prioritizes ordinary Americans over the desires of wealthy sociopaths. | — Derek Chauvin charged with second-degree murder immediately after murdering someone, because that's what you're supposed to do. | — Everything's cool. | — We're all still talking about Tiger King. | ~ | "The people are angry about police violence. What should we do?" | 'Hmm… have we tried using police violence?' | "Yeah! It just made them angrier!" | 'Must not be violent enough. Let's try military violence.' | ~ | Mainstream America is being made more and more aware of the vast chasm of difference betw…
(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, …
(2020-06-01). Injustice & inequality are the real cause of US riots — but establishment who ignored the problem now cowardly blame Russia. thealtworld.com As American political leaders are confronted with the scope and scale of the unrest engendered by decades …
(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 …
(2020-05-18). The Myths of the Earned Income Tax Credit. peoplespolicyproject.org 
Most policy analysts believe that the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) substantially reduces poverty and increases employment in an administratively efficient and well-targeted way. This is not true. In this paper, I show that simple mismeasurements have greatly overstated the efficiency and effectiveness of the EITC program. | Antipoverty Impact of EITC Is Way Overstated: | To determine how much the EITC reduces poverty, researchers run a couple of simple calculations using the Annual Social…
(2020-06-03). Greece: "Solidarity with the Struggle of the Workers and People of USA Against Barbarism" fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the influential Greek labor organization, the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME), that was sent to AFSCME Local 3800. | PAME, a member of the WFTU, expresses its solidarity with the workers and the people of the United States who are on the streets of rage against barbarism and misery. | The assassination of George Floyd was another death toll in the world's richest country. Murdered either by racism or by poverty. The pain and misery of millions of poor Americans is shared by that of the thousands of Greek immigrants in USA, as well as the…
(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."
(2020-06-04). We Are Watching the Story of America Crash Headlong Into the Reality of America. strategic-culture.org Caitlin JOHNSTONE | Once upon a time a brave nation liberated itself from the tyranny of the British empire and birthed freedom and democracy into the world. With the help of heroes like the abolitionists, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X it overcame systemic racial inequality, and now it is a shining exemplar of human rights, the respected friend of free democracies around the world and the hated foe of all tyrannical regimes. It is not without its faults and its past mistakes, but it is the best leader and protector of the liberal world order that we could possibly hope to have. | I also hav…
(2020-06-04). Across Colombia, Red Flags of Despair Fly as Harsh COVID Lockdown Is Extended for a Third Time. anti-empire.com 
Bogota, Colombia — Red flags hang draped from the doors, rooftops and windows of Bogota's impoverished southern neighborhoods. They symbolize the suffering wreaked by a now thrice-extended house-arrest and quarantine policy purportedly aimed at containing the Coronavirus. While the pandemic has infected only a few thousand people out of a population of more than thirty million in Colombia, the quarantine has caused prolonged unemployment, a wave of housing evictions, and rioting; fueling scourges like domestic violence while pushing many to the edge of starvation. | Colombia's tragedy mirrors those of the m…
(2020-06-04). Thursday 6/4: Intersection of Racial Inequality and Pride Month (webinar). indybay.org Online livestream…
(2020-06-04). Turkish president marks World Environment Day. yenisafak.com Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday marked World Environment Day, highlighting the importance of global efforts to resolve environmental problems."Humanity today strives for a greener and more liveable world where sustainable use of resources is adopted, biodiversity is preserved, hunger and poverty are minimized, and environmental pollution is prevented," Erdogan said in a statement ahead of the day.Stressing the solution of environmental problems requires the cooperation of all countries at the global scale and the implementation of long-term policies through joint efforts, he stated that Turkey…
(2020-06-04). PROFILE: Who is Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga? yenisafak.com A French court ruled Wednesday that Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga should be handed to a UN tribunal for trial. | The court is based in The Hague as well as in Arusha in the East African nation of Tanzania. | The 84-year-old was arrested in May in France. | – Who is Kabuga? | Kabuga was born in 1935 in northern Rwanda's Byumba prefecture, now called the Gicumbi district, bordering Uganda. | He rose from humble origins to become one of Rwanda's richest men, before allegedly using his wealth to sponsor the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group
(2020-06-04). Climate Activists: Here's Why Your Work Depends On Ending Police Violence. popularresistance.org We live in a world where government agents can kill hundreds of people a year, without the whole system being held accountable. When the crisis presents the opportunity for billionaires to extract even more wealth from people and the planet, how can we expect that same government to be accountable to climate change? | To win on climate, we need to reinvent the power structures that haven't functionally changed since slavery. To win on climate, we need to pry our economic systems away from the legacies of colonialism, slavery, genocide, and violence on which our country is founded and push it towards liberation, f…
(2020-06-04). Trump Sends Unambiguous Message To Police And Vigilantes. popularresistance.org It is time to embrace the parallels, to be unafraid to speak a clear truth: Whether by design or lack of it, Donald Trump and the Republican Party operate an American state that they have increasingly organized on fascist principles. It is also time to consider what else the fascists may yet do, during an unprecedented pandemic, amid unprecedented unemployment, faced with unprecedented resistance ahead of an unprecedented election. The Republican Party wants to make "antifascist" a category of terrorist; whether or not it actually uses active-duty soldiers to round up this new class of undesirables in the "nation…
(2020-06-02). Poor Neighborhoods Are Only Getting Poorer. popularresistance.org The latest maps of coronavirus cases in the U.S. confirm much of what we already know about the economics of location: People in poor neighborhoods have it worse. Health care isn't as accessible, the ability to socially distance is less, and many residents fall into the role of essential workers, unable to work from home. What new research shows is that number of poor neighborhoods in metropolitan areas has actually doubled from 1980 — and most existing low-income areas only fell deeper into poverty. | In two reports released by the Economic Innovation Group this month, researchers Kenan Fikri and August Be…