2021-02-10: News Headlines

Staff (2021-02-10). Historians Say "Decades of Medical Racism" Led to Unequal COVID Impact on Black & Latinx People. democracynow.org Historians Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha Blain dedicate their new book, "Four Hundred Souls," to the "Black lives lost to COVID-19." They put the content of their book in the context of the disparate impact of the pandemic on the African American community in the United States. "This has been in the making for decades. Even though this is a new virus, … it connects to a larger history of racial inequality, and we wanted to make sure that was clear," says Blain. Kendi is a cancer survivor and notes Black and Latinx are more at risk from preexisting conditions because of a history of racist policies, but "Americans d…

The Canary (2021-02-10). Boris Johnson warned he risks leaving children 'languishing in poverty'. thecanary.co Ian Blackford MP urged the prime minister to tackle child poverty by making the £20 a week uplift to Universal Credit during the Covid-19 pandemic permanent. The Scottish National Party (SNP) Westminster leader told Boris Johnson he risks leaving "a generation of children languishing in poverty" if he proceeds with plans to cut Universal Credit. | Raising the issue at Prime Ministers Questions (PMQs), Blackford said that Johnson has the powers to address poverty in the country. | "Truly shocking": | He told the Commons: New research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the baby bank charity, Littl…

Prof Rodrigue Tremblay (2021-02-10). The Relationship Between Income and Wealth Disparities and Negative Real Interest Rates. globalresearch.ca All Global Research articles can be read in 27 languages by activating the "Translate Website" drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version). | *** | "The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing …

Chuck Collins (2021-02-10). The Drive for a Wealth Tax in Washington State. counterpunch.org Legislators in Washington state are taking bold steps towards instituting a state-level wealth tax. The proposed tax is a 1 percent levy on wealth over $1 billion, applying to fewer than 100 households in the state. According to the state's Department of Revenue, the tax would raise an estimated $2.25 billion in 2023 and $2.5

WSWS (2021-02-10). Summers op-ed sparks controversy over Biden stimulus package. wsws.org The former treasury secretary warned that stimulus measures could set off the kind of inflation not seen for a generation, with serious consequences for the US dollar and the stability of the financial system.

Real Progressives (2021-02-09). UBI and Immigrants: Lessons from the Pandemic. realprogressives.org This article was written by This post is part of our Does universal basic income have a role to play in a more just political economy? It is by now fairly well appreciated that, on the level of individual countries, much depends on the framing and design of t…

_____ (2021-02-09). Striking Workers Halt Construction At Future Amazon Warehouse. popularresistance.org Roughly 75 workers walked off the job on Thursday at the construction site of a future Amazon fulfillment center in southern California—forcing most of the construction operations, including a large crane, to come to a halt. | Workers are striking at the future Amazon fulfillment center in Oxnard, California, because an Amazon contractor at the site, Building Zone Industries, has hired non-union, out-of-state workers to work on the project. This comes amid high rates of unemployment stemming from the COVID-19 in the predominantly agricultural, working-class Latinx community.

WSWS (2021-02-09). UK unemployment rises to highest level in four years. wsws.org This year will see thousands more job losses in retail, following the closure of 320 stores every week in 2020. The Centre for Retail Research forecasts 200,000 job losses in 2021.

John Buell (2021-02-09). The Gamestop Affair shows that America is over-financialized and needs a tax on speculation. juancole.com Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) — It would be unfair to suggest that the titans of Wall Street are oblivious to poverty. One of their central themes is the role that financial literacy can play in teaching citizens how wealth is acquired and maintained. In their worldview saving and investing in the stock …

Ralph Nader (2021-02-09). Democrats Disarm Themselves Before Trump's Senate Impeachment Trial. counterpunch.org Donald Trump, has with luck, eluded the consequences of being a failed gambling czar with no respect for the law. But his luck has reached a new level with Congressional Democrats refraining from holding him accountable for breaking the law and violating the Constitution as regularly as the rising and setting of the sun for

Ramzy Baroud (2021-02-09). 'Freedom is Never Voluntarily Given': Palestinian Boycott of Israel is Not Racist, It is Anti-Racist. counterpunch.org Claims made by Democratic New York City mayoral candidate, Andrew Yang, in a recent op-ed in the Jewish weekly, 'The Forward', point to the prevailing ignorance that continues to dominate the US discourse on Palestine and Israel. Yang, a former Democratic Presidential candidate, is vying for the Jewish vote in New York City. According to

Ramzy Baroud (2021-02-09). Andrew Yang Got it Wrong: Palestinian Boycott of Israel is Not Racist, It is Anti-Racist. mintpressnews.com Claims made by Democratic New York City mayoral Yang, a former Democratic Presidential candidate, is vying for the Jewish vote in New York City. According to the reductionist assumption that all Jews must naturally supp…

Online News Editor (2021-02-09). The soup kitchen providing for a town with 93% unemployment. laprensalatina.com The Compassionate Hearts soup kitchen provides food aid for many residents of Touws River in South Africa, which has a 93% unemployment rate, according to humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers Foundation. During the lockdowns for the pandemic, the majority of the town's residents have become unemployed with what few businesses existed now closed. The …

Staff (2021-02-09). Democrats Stick With $75K Threshold for Stimulus Checks After Pressure From Left. truthout.org On Monday night, the House Ways and Means Committee released legislation that rejected moderate Democrats' and Republicans' proposal to further target the stimulus checks. The legislation keeps the income threshold where it was in President Joe Biden's original draft of the stimulus at $75,000 for an individual to receive the full amount. | In the

sputniknews (2021-02-09). Suggested Washington State Wealth Tax Would Have Jeff Bezos Owe $2Bln a Year. sputniknews.com The state of Washington recently proposed a wealth tax that would oblige those with over $1 billion to pay 1 percent. According to those behind the bill, the wealth tax would combat inequality in the state's tax laws.

Michael T. Hertz (2021-02-09). Can we have a fair society under capitalism? nationofchange.org Even though capitalism could work, the wealthy won't compromise enough to make it work.

Real Progressives (2021-02-08). Considering and Critiquing Universal Basic Income: Introduction. realprogressives.org This article was written by This post is part of our This week we're opening up a

F. William Engdahl (2021-02-08). The "Great Zero Carbon" Conspiracy. globalresearch.ca The globalist Davos World Economic Forum is proclaiming the necessity of reaching a worldwide goal of "net zero carbon" by 2050. Yet transformations underway from Germany to the USA, are setting the stage for creation of what is called the New Word Order. In reality it is a blueprint for a global technocratic totalitarian corporativism, that promises huge unemployment, deindustrialization and economic collapse.

teleSUR (2021-02-08). COVID Pandemic Sinks Over 16 Million Into Poverty in Lat-Am. telesurenglish.net The COVID-19 pandemic has caused over 16 million people to fall into poverty in Latin America, the International Monetary Fund reported on Monday. | RELATED: | "The crisis has had a disproportionate impact on employment, with losses concentrated mostly on women, youth, and informal and lower-skilled workers, and social indicators are showing this," the director of the IMF Western Hemisphere Department Alejandro Werner e…

The Babylon Bee (2021-02-08). $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Bill Expected to Stimulate National Debt. anti-empire.com Congress is looking to pass a 1.9 trillion-dollar stimulus package, which experts say will have a highly stimulating effect on the national debt. | "We will pass this stimulus bill without Republican support," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "Doing so will help hard-working Americans and breathe fresh new life into our national debt!" | Financial experts from The New York Times' opinion page have long feared that America's national debt is not growing fast enough to sustain their brilliant economic theories, and hope this bill will serve to boost the national debt to more comfortable levels. | There are some detractor…

Dean Baker (2021-02-08). Wealth Inequality: Should We Care? cepr.net I have been dismissive of many of the folks, mostly progressives, who highlight wealth inequality as a measure of overall inequality. As most of us know, the richest people in the country have gotten a lot richer since the start of the pandemic. (Of course, the story isn't quite as dramatic if we use February …

John Clarke and Vishwas Satgar (2021-02-08). Struggles in the Shadow of the Pandemic. indybay.org For Trump, wealth, privilege, and power was even license to invent reality as he saw fit. Thus any divergence from his worldview and interests were 'fake news'. Trump ensured the plutocratic wealthy were no longer in the political shadows but now in the mainstream.

Dean Baker (2021-02-08). Unemployment Falls to 6.3 Percent, But Job Growth Remains Weak. counterpunch.org Trump is the first president to leave office with a loss of jobs since Herbert Hoover. The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points in January to 6.3 percent. Much of this decline was due to people leaving the labor market as the employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) only rose by 0.1 percentage point. The EPOP now

_____ (2021-02-08). Electoral Politics Use the Same Containment Strategies as Alzheimer's Facilities. strategic-culture.org The public will periodically become agitated at the way their wealth and resources are being stolen from them and spent on overseas wars, or the fact that they are deliberately kept poor and busy by a plutocratic system in which the relative wealth of the rich is given more political power by the relative poverty of everyone else, and they are redirected.

_____ (2021-02-08). Inside Ecuador's Citizens Revolution. popularresistance.org Quito, Ecuador – The South American nation of Ecuador is currently suffering through its worst economic crisis in decades. Poverty is skyrocketing, corruption is rampant, and the US-backed government has shown itself to be deeply undemocratic. | On February 7, Ecuador will hold a historic election that could fundamentally change its direction, moving the nation away from its current neoliberal policies and reliance on Washington, and restoring the socialist-oriented program of former President Rafael Correa, who launched a progressive movement called the Citizens' Revolution.

Staff (2021-02-08). Democrats Push for Monthly Child Stipends as Part of Biden's Stimulus Package. truthout.org Democrats are set to unveil a plan on Monday to flesh out President Joe Biden's proposal to help tackle child poverty by sending families $3,000 per child and $3,600 per child under 6 over the course of a year. | The expanded child tax credit would be passed as part of the stimulus and would send $250 or $300 per child per month starting in July for one year. Similar to the current version of the relief checks, the program has a wage cap at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples, wh…

Jeet Heer (2021-02-08). Larry Summers Is Still Worth Ignoring. thenation.com Larry Summers Is Still Worth Ignoring…

Sonali Kolhatkar (2021-02-08). It's Easy to Fix Inequality: Tax the Rich. counterpunch.org As Democrats and Republicans jostle over the particulars of a new economic stimulus package to address the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic, it is not too early in President Joe Biden's tenure to ask, "when will we start taxing the rich?" Upon joining the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) promptly announced she would

Staff (2021-02-08). The Shecession: Women Face Staggering Job & Income Losses Amid the Pandemic's Economic Crisis. democracynow.org As Democrats in Congress push forward on passing President Joe Biden's sweeping $1.9 trillion stimulus package, many experts say measures to combat the economic fallout from COVID-19 must address the pandemic's disproportionate impact on women — especially women of color. Women in the U.S. lost 5.5 million jobs in the first 10 months of the pandemic, nearly 1 million more job losses than men, and, combined with increased responsibilities for caregiving at home, are experiencing a "shecession," according to researcher C. Nicole Mason. "Women have been disproportionately impacted by job and income losses duri…

Staff (2021-02-08). Headlines for February 8, 2021. democracynow.org Dems to Introduce $3,000 Benefit for Children as They Push Ahead with $1.9 Trillion Stimulus, Pentagon to Deploy Troops for Vaccination Effort as Fans Defy Warnings Around Super Bowl Parties, South Africa Halts Rollout of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine, Wyoming GOP Censures Rep. Liz Cheney for Backing Trump's Impeachment, Judge Rules NY Republican Claudia Tenney Won Last Open House Race, Mass Protests Continue in Burma Opposing Military Coup, Removal of Aung San Suu Kyi, Indian Farmworkers Blockade Roads as Mass Protests Show No Sign of Slowing Down, Scores of People Missing and Feared Dead After Himalayan Glacier Co…

Rebekah Entralgo (2021-02-08). Ending the Subminimum Tipped Wage Will Lift Up Black Workers and Benefit All Workers. commondreams.org "If we are committed to ending systemic racism in the workplace, passing a living wage bill for tipped and non-tipped low-wage workers is essential to reducing inequality," says racial justice champion Tanya Wallace-Gobern. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2021-02-08_at_4.18.57_pm.png

sputniknews (2021-02-08). Wall Street Continues Record High Spree as Biden Pushes Forth With US Stimulus. sputniknews.com NEW YORK (Sputnik) – Wall Street continued its record-setting spree as all three major US stock indexes hit all-time highs for a second day in a row as the Biden administration pushed to have its $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus approved by Congress, with or without bipartisan support.

Dean Baker (2021-02-08). Intellectual Property, Inequality, and the New Cold War with China. cepr.net My diatribe in the Nation — the risk of a new Cold War gives us yet another good reason not to be fans of intellectual property.

WSWS (2021-02-08). Why has Australia's United Workers Union refused strike pay to locked-out Coles workers? wsws.org Falsely touted as a radical new "super" union, the UWU is another wealthy and ruthless apparatus for suppressing mounting workers' struggles.