Daily Archives: July 13, 2020

2020-07-13: News Headlines

Fight Back (2020-07-13). On the growing economic crisis, unemployment and Marxist political economy. fightbacknews.org Fight Back! interviews Masao Suzuki, professor of economics and a leading member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. | Fight Back!: Republican Senator Lindsey Graham once said that extending the extra $600 a week in unemployment insurance would happen "over my dead body." Why are Republicans so opposed to helping out the millions of workers who lost their jobs during the current crisis? | Masao Suzuki: A common view is that the Republican party leadership is cruel and uncaring – and of course this is true. But underlying this inhumanity is the logic of capitalism, which needs what Marx called a "reserve a…

Colleen M. Farrell (2020-07-13). Witnessing the Pandemic From the Front Lines at New York City's Oldest Public Hospital. thenation.com Witnessing the Pandemic From the Front Lines at New York City's Oldest Public Hospital…

Elin Martínez (2020-07-13). Covid-19 Reveals Global Need to Improve Education Systems. commondreams.org School closures have created some of the most trying ordeals for families in this pandemic. (Photo: carl_hfser/flickr) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/education_poverty_0_1.jpg

Paul Larudee (2020-07-13). The Military, What is It Good for? dissidentvoice.org In Part IV, we noted that the U.S. is ruled by a few hundred oligarchs and corporations, and that as long as power resides among this tiny elite, the chances of making headway against racism, police brutality, poverty and exploitation are exceedingly slim. The societal changes proposed in Parts I — IV can do much …

WSWS (2020-07-13). Thousands Israeli government's lack of COVID-19 economic aid. wsws.org Unemployment has risen to 21 percent and more layoffs are expected in the wake of new restrictions imposed since a dramatic rise in infections.

Register & Freedom or Green (2020-07-13). Unemployment Claims Still Not Paid; Picketlines Needed. indybay.org Today's check of the Twitter, twitter.com/search?q=%23EDDFailOfTheDay&src=typed_query&f=live, shows that the Unemployment office is still not paying claims dating back to March and private profit contractor Deloitte is still allowed to touch confidential information and pretend to process these basic claims when Deloitte should be fired immediately for obvious violation of its contract to pay the claims immediately.

_____ (2020-07-13). In the Face of Mass Unemployment, We Need a 21st Century WPA. popularresistance.org In the Great Depression of the 1930s the Works Progress Administration was one of the main New Deal agencies that put millions of unemployed back to work on public infrastructure projects. The WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps together employed over 10 million total over the course of their existence. | The WPA also put some of America's greatest artists, writers, and musicians to the task of telling a more democratic history of the country, painting murals in public spaces, teaching art and music to young people, and documenting and uncovering untold histories, including those of slavery. | The WPA, the larges…

_____ (2020-07-13). One Of The Wealthiest States Might Pass An Opportunity To Tackle Housing Segregation. popularresistance.org Despite its liberal reputation — and Democrats controlling the legislature for the last 23 years and the governor's mansion for nine — Connecticut is one of the most segregated places in the country. And with thousands of residents pouring into the streets this month to racism, housing advocates and progressive Democrats saw an opportunity to change that, calling for an overhaul of the state's exclusionary housing laws. | That opportunity, however, appears to be fading. | At the state Capitol, Gov. Ned Lamont and legislative leaders have shelved a raft of proposals that could spur more afforda…

_____ (2020-07-13). Still More Reasons To Defund Our CEOs. popularresistance.org Chief executives the nation over have spent this past spring scheming to keep their pockets stuffed while their workers suffer wage cuts, layoffs, and even death by COVID-19. The personal fortunes these execs have pocketed have corrupted our politics and turned our legislatures into dysfunctional chambers that can seldom accomplish anything that doesn't involve enhancing the financial well-being of already wealthy people. | Wealthy execs, in their haste to become ever wealthier, are even privileging their own financial futures over our health. The factories and plants they run are forcing workers to labor without…

_____ (2020-07-13). Is This Awokening a Revolution, or Not? strategic-culture.org Can there ever be a true revolt that is led by the spoiled Children of the Élite? If so, what would such a 'revolt' mean in America? Well, 25-years ago, a prescient American cultural historian, Christopher Lasch, foresaw just such a revolution. He wrote a book — Revolt of the Élite — to describe how, already in 1994, he perceived what lay ahead: A social revolution that would be pushed forward by radical children of the bourgeoisie. Their leaders would have almost nothing to say about poverty or unemployment. Their demands would be centred on utopian ideals: diversity and racial justice — ideals…

Paul Buchheit (2020-07-13). Foreshadowing the Year 2021: Half of America Facing Poverty. commondreams.org Volunteers speak with a woman while boxes of food for the needy from the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida are being packed in her car during a drive through event at City of Destiny church. The demand for food continues in the Orlando, Florida area due to the large numbers of service workers and others who have become unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/poverty_coronavirus.jpg

Yanis Iqbal (2020-07-12). The Ravages of Lithium Extraction in Chile. dissidentvoice.org In Chile, the Covid-19 pandemic is raging with an unprecedented speed. There are more than 300,000 confirmed cases with one of the highest per capita infection rates of 13,000 cases for every 1 million people. The economy is severely experiencing the repercussions of Coronavirus-caused restrictions and the historically high national unemployment rate of 11.2% is …

RT (2020-07-12). Why is crime spiking in NYC? 'People can't pay their rent' and need to shoplift to feed their children, says AOC. rt.com Comments from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her theory about crime spiking in New York City have gone viral and are being slammed relentlessly, as the congresswoman believes it all boils down to people being broke and hungry. | Asked about the increase in crime in her city during a recent virtual town hall, Ocasio-Cortez connected the stats to a bad economy putting people in desperate situations. | "Do we think this has to do with the fact that there's record unemployment in the United States right now? The fact that people are at a level of economic desperation that we have not seen since the Great Recession?"

_____ (2020-07-12). COVID19 Corruption: Wealthy And Well Connected Get Rich While People Suffer. popularresistance.org While corrupt elected officials and elites feed at the public trough, the economic collapse is hitting people in the United States hard. According to the newly released Bureau of Labor Statistics figures 47.2 percent of working-age people are without work and businesses are finding it impossible to pay their rent or keep their employees. The basic ability to feed children is in crisis, as nearly 14 million children in the United States went hungry in June, an increase of 10 million since 2018, and nearly three times the number of children who went hungry during the Great Recession, according to an analysis of Cen…

Staff (2020-07-12). Post-Pandemic Education Must Move Beyond Mere Job Training. truthout.org Roughly 11 years after the Great Recession, the social and economic inequality of the U.S. has been laid bare by a pandemic. This time, however, there is no skills gap to

Yanis Iqbal (2020-07-11). The hunger pandemic in Colombia. mronline.org The unchecked growth of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America is tearing apart the socio-economic fabric of the countrieslocated in that continent. One manifestation of this socio-economic rupture is the emergence of what David Beasley, the Executive Director of UN World Food Programme (WFP), has called a "hunger pandemic". According to WFP, "The socio-economic impact …

Tony Norfield (2020-07-11). Richie Rich & friends. mronline.org Being the biggest rich capitalist country, the U.S. also has the largest number of wealthy people. Quite how many will come as a bit of a surprise for those who have heard the '1% versus 99%' slogan; it is not just Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

WSWS (2020-07-11). Biden promotes economic nationalism and anti-China militarism. wsws.org Biden offered no opposition to Trump's "back-to-work" drive, mass job destruction during the pandemic or the looming unemployment benefit cutoff.

Chuck Collins (2020-07-11). Fair Tax Solutions for Cities Facing Covid-19 Budget Crises. zcomm.org Local policymakers are facing pressure to make painful spending cuts. Instead, they should raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy…

Peadar O'Cearnaigh (2020-07-11). As mining companies amass wealth amidst coronavirus, community resistance has become even more essential. thecanary.co As coronavirus (Covid-19) cases around the globe

_____ (2020-07-11). Covid Recovery And Radical Social Change. popularresistance.org I share the hope that the pandemic serves as a wake-up call for mobilizing action for radical societal change, and I don't think that those who see fragments of this happening in commoning or solidarity practices during this pandemic are either naàØve or only see part of the picture. | But I am troubled by the signs that the inequality wagon might have a long way before it derails, which I see side-by-side with those other hopeful signs. | Still, the care and vulnerability vision I sketched could provide a basis for a more hopeful outlook. Keeping in mind that pain better not be romanticized, valuing care…

yenisafak (2020-07-11). UK 'stands with' all feeling Srebrenica genocide pain. yenisafak.com British administration on Saturday "reiterated the UK's commitment to supporting reconciliation across the Western Balkans," on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina."Today (11 July) marks twenty-five years since the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of the Second World War," a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) statement said."Today I stand with all who continue to feel unimaginable pain from the genocide 25 years ago at Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Twitter…

Staff (2020-07-10). Headlines for July 10, 2020. democracynow.org Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Claim of Absolute Immunity, Court Says Much of Oklahoma Remains Indian Country in Landmark Indigenous Sovereignty Case, Hospitals Face Surge as U.S. Reports Record 65,000 New Coronavirus Cases, Surge in Cases Directly Tied to Early Reopenings in Florida, Arizona, Texas, Bolivia's Interim President Tests Positive; India, S. Africa & Mexico Report New Record Highs, 1.3 Million More File for Unemployment as GOP Rejects Extending Jobless Aid, Biden Unveils $700 Billion "Buy American" Economic Recovery Plan, St. Louis Police Break Up City Hall Encampment, With Veto-Proof Majority,…

Joel Wendland-Liu (2020-07-10). Overcoming Civil Discourse and Other Illusions of Democracy for the 1%. dissidentvoice.org Festishizing democracy The U.S. racist-capitalist class and its ideological apparatus fetishize the word democracy. Using fatuous appeals to civil discourse, it sponsors the illusion that democracy is the most advanced political system in human history. In addition to voting for their representatives, people supposedly engage with civil society through which they achieve greater social goods …

David Rosen (2020-07-10). Inequality and the End of the American Dream. counterpunch.org Well, it's over. After nearly a century of self-promotion, the American Dream has been officially declared over. Donald Trump declared, during his 2016 campaign, "Sadly, the American dream is dead. But if I ever get elected president, I will bring it back bigger and better than ever." He advocated a slogan that looked backward to

Dean Baker (2020-07-10). Propaganda on Government Action and Inequality from David Leonhardt. cepr.net It really gets annoying how all discussions in the media of inequality in the media take the White Savior route, where we need the government to act to reduce inequality created by the natural workings of the market. David Leonhardt gave us another dose of this one today when he speculated about the state of …

Fight Back (2020-07-10). Total number of people getting unemployment benefits continues to climb. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – On Thursday, July 9, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the broadest measure of people on unemployment continued to climb. In the week ending June 20, the total number was 32.9 million, up by 1.4 million from a week earlier. This number includes those who are receiving the regular state unemployment insurance benefits, the growing number getting the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA, the Federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation or PEUC, and other smaller programs. | The latest report on new applications for state unemployment benefits for the week ending July 4 did…

WSWS (2020-07-10). Chancellor Sunak announces end of UK jobs furlough and rolls out cheap labour scheme. wsws.org Sunak's declaration that "we can't protect every job" is the understatement of the century. Companies are announcing thousands of redundancies every day amid warnings of unemployment reaching 5 million by next year.

WSWS (2020-07-10). Joblessness soars as COVID-19 pandemic accelerates across US. wsws.org Another 1.3 million people filed for unemployment for the first time last week as 18.1 million placed continuing claims.

_____ (2020-07-10). Here Not Death But The Future Is Frightening. popularresistance.org The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released its June 2020 update. The prognosis is bleak. Global growth for 2020 is projected at -4.9%, 1.9% below the IMF's forecast from April. 'The COVID-19 pandemic has had a more negative impact on activity in the first half of 2020 than anticipated', acknowledges the IMF. Forecasts for 2021 are somewhat optimistic, sitting at 5.4%, which is higher than the 3.4% the IMF predicted in January 2020. 'The adverse impact on low-income households is particularly acute', says the IMF. Poverty reduction is effectively off the agenda. The World Bank's recent report takes a dim v…

Staff (2020-07-09). Hate Groups Rake In PPP Loans as Racial Justice Movement Expands. truthout.org As millions took to the streets in all 50 states last month to against systemic racism and police brutality, several organizations that are considered hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) were enjoying new six- or seven-figure Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from the federal government. | On Monday, the Small Business Administration released the names of over 650,000 PPP beneficiaries that received $150,000 or more in forgivable loans from the agency. That list included a…