(2020-11-21). A. Ocasio-Cortez Addresses Failure of U.S. Gov't to Address Poverty. indybay.org As New York Congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated to an empty congressional room, on YouTube, the Senate broke for a holiday week while the workingclass of the USA starves. See www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNBeI-G3eQQ&feature=emb_logo and www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/20/breaking-senate-we-are-abandoning-our-people-watch-aoc-excoriate-mcconnell-house…
(2020-11-21). India gears up for historic workers' & farmers' joint protest on Nov 26-27. peoplesdispatch.org These are the latest in a wave of protests against the refusal to increase wages, increasing contractualization of workforce, dilution and dismantling of protective labor laws, price rise and unemployment, and other such policies of the Modi govt.
(2020-11-21). Poverty in Iraq's Basra rises to record 40%. indybay.org The Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) has warned that the Iraqi city and governorate of Basra is suffering from an increasingly high poverty rate, with almost 40 per cent of residents now living below the poverty line.
(2020-11-21). The Imperative to Achieve Medicare for All. scheerpost.com By Dr. Margaret Flowers / Popular Resistance Health care will be a major issue early in the new Biden/Harris administration. Unemployment is still high with over a million people applying for unemployment benefits last week and 42.6% of working age people without a job. In the United States, losing employment often means losing health insurance. On top of the 30 million people who are already… |
(2020-11-21). The New Deal and Self-destructive Donald Trump. indybay.org After the stock market crash of 1929, capitalism was hit by its worst depression to date. The U.S. economy was similarly hard hit as the German economy. From 1929 to 1932 industrial production halved and in a chain reaction over 5000 banks went bankrupt. Farmers' incomes shrank by 70 percent, unemployment rose to 25 percent, and there were no welfare state measures to cushion the misery.
(2020-11-21). Corona containment could cause more suffering than it prevents. indybay.org In Sept 2020, UNICEF calculated that an additional 150 million children were pushed into poverty as a result of the economic collapse provoked by the quasi-global lockdown in spring. Already in July, experts from the World Food Program (WFP) warned that the Corona crisis could threaten an additional 130 million people with starvation this year.
(2020-11-21). John F. Kennedy and America's Lost Patriotic Heritage. dissidentvoice.org Man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe…. — President Kennedy, 1961 Inaugural Address Where China and Russia are currently leading a new paradigm …
(2020-11-20). The AMA Officially Recognized Racism As A Public-Health Threat. popularresistance.org The American Medical Association has officially defined racism as a public health threat that has created substantial health inequality. | Racism, both systemic and structural, has historically perpetuated health inequality and cut short the lives of many Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in the US and around the world. | Over the last year, a number of county and state authorities have also labelled racism a public health threat. | Among them are county councils in San Bernardino, California, and Montgomery, Maryland, as well as authorities in Michigan, Nevada, Cleveland, Denver, and Indianapolis.
(2020-11-20). Proposed £21 'coronavirus hike' on household energy bills slammed as 'shocking' and 'farcical'. thecanary.co 
British households may have to shoulder a hike on their energy bills from the beginning of April because of new proposals from Ofgem. The suggestion is already drawing strong criticism from groups which claim the energy companies have been "ripping us all off, plunging people into fuel poverty while raking in juicy profits". | Increase: | The regulator has proposed an increase to the maximum many households can be charged on their bills, claiming that the pandemic is putting pressure on energy companies. | Ofgem said it is considering a £21 per household coronavirus hike to the default price cap whe…
(2020-11-20). Over 235 Organizations Call On Biden To Cancel Student Debt. popularresistance.org Washington, D.C. — Over 235 organizations sent a letter to President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris, calling on them to use executive authority to cancel federal student debt on day one of their administration. | In the letter, 238 nonprofit and community organizations highlight that cancelling student debt would stimulate the economy, help reduce the racial wealth gap, and could have a positive impact on health outcomes. The groups write that "executive action is one of the few available tools that could immediately provide a boost to upwards of 44 million borrowers and the economy…
(2020-11-20). Increased use of food banks by middle-income families in UK as food poverty surges. wsws.org The wider use of food banks by what would have only recently been considered a more affluent layer is a growing trend and an indicator of how the pandemic has created a far-reaching cost of living crisis.
(2020-11-20). Guterres pledges support for sustainable industrial development in Africa. news.un.org The COVID-19 crisis was impacting Africa "well before the pandemic spread across the continent", the UN chief said on Friday, marking Africa Industrialization Day, arriving at a point when many economies were expanding and "poverty was in decline". ‚ÄØ…
(2020-11-20). Hailed as 'Heroes' During Pandemic, Retail Workers Stripped of Hazard Pay While Companies Rake in Massive Profits. commondreams.org Frontline retail workers have been given raises and hazard pay for keeping stores running and profits flowing amid the crisis—but a new study shows how essential workers are being treated as "sacrificial workers" by wealthy CEOs. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/wall_of_shame.jpg …
(2020-11-19). Greenpeace releases far-reaching 'just recovery agenda' to tackle interlocking crises of inequality, racial injustice, Covid-19, and climate chaos. nationofchange.org We must "shift from an economy that is extractive and exploitative to one that regenerates and repairs," the new report says.
(2020-11-19). We'll Never Have Gender Equality Without This Crucial Reform. scheerpost.com Neil Moralee / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0] By Jill Richardson / OtherWords This week my students turned in papers relating news articles to what they learned in class about parenting. Every single student's paper is about how the pandemic is exacerbating pre-existing inequalities. I'm a teaching assistant in a family sociology course, and inequality is one of the most important things we study. |
(2020-11-19). Georgia's Senate Runoff Will Determine Whether the Minimum Wage Increases. zcomm.org "Dollar stores feed more Americans than Whole Foods Market, and what we've learned is that they're not just a symptom of poverty, they are a cause of it."
(2020-11-19). Pandemic surges, economy sputters. workers.org 
It's really quite sickening. The bourgeoisie calculates profit and loss with callous disregard for the masses suffering from both the soaring COVID caseload and a collapsed job market. Now, many who became unemployed in the spring are running out of their 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. There were nearly 1 . . . |
(2020-11-19). Twelve million to lose unemployment benefits in December. wsws.org Seeking to blackmail workers back into dangerous workplaces, Congress continues to ignore the plight of millions of unemployed people left without aid.
(2020-11-19). Macron prepares "global security" law banning the filming of French police. wsws.org The law, denounced by the UN, is a desperate attempt to silence rising public anger at social inequality and the official handling of the pandemic with all-out police terror.
(2020-11-19). City Workers Push For Collective Bargaining Rights. popularresistance.org Virginia Beach, VA – While local government employees are not legally allowed to engage in collective bargaining in the commonwealth until May 1, a group of workers from public utilities and public works making known their desire to have "a seat at the table" as soon as possible. | On Tuesday evening, ahead of City Council's formal session at the convention center, roughly 30 members of the city workforce chanted about the desire for hazard pay and fair wages before delivering a petition to the city manager's office that lists four demands.
(2020-11-19). Development funding and trade transparency needed, to stop COVID-19 dividing the world. news.un.org The pandemic has redefined the world economy in ways that will deepen inequality and can only be reversed if a global transformation in attitudes towards trade and development allows the whole world to recover together, the UN trade body UNCTAD said, in a report published on Thursday.
(2020-11-19). Senate proposes almost $700 billion for the Pentagon while millions of Americans remain unemployed amid the pandemic. nationofchange.org With the current unemployment rate reaching roughly 6.8 million and nearly 8 million Americans facing eviction, the government should be focusing on its citizens and not a defense budget.
(2020-11-18). Abdicating to Boeing: An Open Letter to FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson. counterpunch.org November 13, 2020 Stephen Dickson, Administrator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) U.S. Department of Transportation 800 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20591 Dear Mr. Dickson, It is now abundantly clear that instead of clearing out top Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operatives who have worked to make the FAA safe for Boeing, you have thrown in your
(2020-11-18). Herbert Marcuse and the End of Utopia. globalresearch.ca "Even among bourgeois economists, there is hardly a serious thinker who will deny that it is possible, by means of currently existing material and intellectual forces of production, to put an end to hunger and poverty, and that the present …
(2020-11-18). The Tide is Turning: Change and the Coming of Maitreya. dissidentvoice.org For most of 2020 Covid-19 has dominated mainstream media, and whilst serious, the pandemic is but the latest in a series of dark clouds gathering upon our collective horizon: interconnected crises, from the environmental emergency to war, poverty, inequality, and social division among others. All flow from the same root — a misguided set of …
(2020-11-18). New Zealand government rejects calls to increase welfare payments. wsws.org Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern again repudiates her promise to eliminate child poverty and the housing affordability crisis.
(2020-11-18). Why We Must Protect Essential Workers From Billionaire Pandemic Profiteers. commondreams.org "Frontline workers are the ones actually creating wealth, only to have it directed into the pockets of the billionaires," writes @Chuck99to1 @IPS_DC | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/frontline_workers_covid19.jpg …
(2020-11-18). New Report: 'Billionaire Wealth vs. Community Health'. popularresistance.org Washington, DC – Essential workers went underpaid, unsupported and forced to risk their health at corporations owned or operated by billionaires, even as the total wealth of America's billionaires rose by more than $1 trillion under the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), United for Respect, and Bargaining for the Common Good Network. An analysis of billionaire wealth by IPS found that 647 U.S. billionaires gained $960 billion, almost $1 trillion in wealth between March 18, 2020 and November 17, 2020.
(2020-11-18). Billionaire Bonanza Continues as Workers Pounded by Pandemic, Recession, and GOP Relief Refusal. commondreams.org Since Covid-19 struck in March, the combined wealth of the 647 richest Americans has increased by nearly $1 trillion, largely at the expense of workers' safety—and sometimes their lives. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/billionaires_0_0.jpg …
(2020-11-18). Argentina: Congress Approves Extraordinary Tax on Large Fortunes. telesurenglish.net Argentina's Chamber of Deputies in the early morning of this Wednesday approved an extraordinary tax on wealth, which has as its main aim to face the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in the South American country. | RELATED: | The initiative, promoted by President Alberto Fernandez's government, will now be sent to the Senate -where the ruling party has a majority- for discussion and eventual approval. | With 133 af…