Daily Archives: October 26, 2020

2020-10-26: News Headlines

Sonali Kolhatkar (2020-10-26). How Coronavirus Exposed the Flaws of the Childcare Economy. counterpunch.org The U.S. government's Bureau of Labor Statistics finds that childcare workers in the nation have a median salary of just over $24,000 a year—below the poverty line for a family of four. The segment of our nation's workforce that attends to the basic needs of our children is shockingly underpaid, and now during the coronavirus

Stephen Lendman (2020-10-26). Protests in Iraq: Corruption, Unemployment, Impoverishment. globalresearch.ca Long-suffering Iraqis have legitimate grievances in…

Taryn MacKinney (2020-10-26). The Postmaster General's Manufactured Mail Slowdown and Racial Inequality. commondreams.org For nearly 250 years, USPS has been a cherished giant of public life. (Photo: Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/usps_4.jpg

_____ (2020-10-26). Week Of Action Starting November 4, 2020. popularresistance.org The federal government is failing us. By now we're all well aware of the tax cuts and record-breaking profits accumulated by the wealthy while the rest of this country struggles to survive the pandemic; their failure to address the fundamentally corrupt institution of policing responsible for destroying black and brown lives and communities; their indifference to the climate crisis. We know we've been given a choice between one presidential candidate who emboldens the US' spiraling undercurrent of far-right hate and one who will do nothing to stop it.

Claud Fullwood (2020-10-26). Communities rally to feed hungry children as ministers leave them high and dry. thecanary.co After a shocking 320 Tory MPs voted to prevent children living in poverty from receiving free school meals during the holidays, local businesses, authorities and community groups are stepping in to plug the gap in duty-of-care. Meanwhile, ministers face a damaging grassroots Tory revolt over the issue. | Dozens of people from a range of organisations have stepped in to help their local communities. Health secretary Matt Hancock, who voted against the motion to feed hungry children, has leapt at the chance to praise their "absolutely wonderful" efforts. Meanwhile, he insists that the government has already provide…

Prabhat Patnaik (2020-10-25). The rising wealth of billionaires even amid a pandemic. peoplesdispatch.org It is inevitable under capitalism that every human tragedy which unleashes a crisis in this system becomes an occasion for an increase in wealth concentration, writes Prabhat Patnaik…

_____ (2020-10-25). Protests Against Greed And Inequality Are Spreading Like Wildfire Through Latin America. popularresistance.org With attention fixed on this week's events in Bolivia, you would be excused for not realizing that much of the rest of the region has for weeks also been ablaze in the flames of protest. | In Costa Rica, the neoliberal coalition government of Carlos Alverado attempted to force through a $1.75 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. As has been its modus operandi this year, the organization offered the money attached to a host of free-market changes, including tax changes, cuts to public services, and privatization of state-owned assets, s…

Sasha Abramsky (2020-10-25). Candidates Focus on the Middle Class, But They Must Also Tackle Deep Poverty. zcomm.org For the kind of unfettered poverty that is being unleashed will, if left unchecked, likely result in massive political turmoil over the coming years and decades…

Fight Back (2020-10-24). Long-term unemployment continues to grow. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – On Thursday, October 22, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that there were 787,000 new claims for regular state unemployment in the week that ended October 17. This was 55,000 fewer than the previous week, but still 20,000 higher than two weeks ago and almost four times as high as the same week a year ago. While new claims have fallen dramatically from the record high of almost 6 million in April, they are still higher than the pre-recession high of less than 700,000. | The report also said that continuing claims for regular state unemployment did fall by a million to 8.4 million for the week e…

Richard Horton (2020-10-24). [Comment] Offline: Science and politics in the era of COVID-19. thelancet.com "How can we follow the science when scientists haven't the foggiest." "'Big mouth' scientists losing trust of Ministers." Headlines such as these are increasingly common in UK newspapers. Scientists are no longer seen as providing impartial, independent advice to government. They are seen as being responsible for crashing economies, driving up unemployment, and ruining livelihoods. Chris Whitty, England's Chief Medical Officer, and Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Adviser, have received the sharpest criticism.

Brian Wakamo (2020-10-24). 17 Ballot Initiatives to Reduce Inequality. zcomm.org On November 3, voters in many states and cities will weigh in on a variety of inequality-related proposals, from taxing the wealthy to increasing worker and tenant protections…

Stephen Lendman (2020-10-23). US 2020 Economic Collapse a Bonanza for Billionaires. globalresearch.ca US billionaires are cashing in big at a time of widespread unemployment, underemployment, and deprivation. More below on reported data. | *** | A previous article stressed that the disparity between super-wealth and growing poverty in the US is greater than any …

WSWS (2020-10-23). Catastrophic job losses continue in the US as nearly 800,000 new unemployment claims reported. wsws.org Over 65 million claims have been filed since mid-March as state and federal assistance expires for millions.

WSWS (2020-10-23). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Nigerian Federal airport workers stage one-day warning strike under conditions of mass unemployment, poverty and inequality in Africa's largest country—which has fueled mass protests against state violence.