Daily Archives: January 18, 2021

2021-01-18: News Headlines

WSWS (2021-01-18). Massive rise in unemployment in Germany during the pandemic. wsws.org The German employment agency published the official unemployment figures for December 2020, reporting an increase to 2.7 million unemployed, 480,000 more than in the same month last year.

Jasmine Norden (2021-01-18). Pressure is mounting on the government to 'do the right thing' and keep the Universal Credit uplift. thecanary.co Calls have According to new research by the Resolution Foundation, removing the uplift could push thousands of households into poverty as the UK continues to deal with the economic effects of coronavirus (Covid-19). | Karl Handscomb, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: The living standards outlook for 2021 looks bleak at present — but the G…

INFORUM program at The Commonwealth Club (2021-01-18). Thursday 1/21: Black and White: The Double Standard in the Capitol Hill Siege w/ Alicia Garza & Rep. Lee. indybay.org Online event via livestream…

Wim Laven (2021-01-18). Misusing King's Message. counterpunch.org Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was profoundly moved by injustice and inequality ubiquitous throughout the US. The question he asked about injustice in 1967, "Where do we go from here?" was answered with two options: community or chaos. The question is profoundly important in 2021. On the holiday to celebrate King's birth the whitewashing of

Fight Back (2021-01-17). Unemployment insurance claims make biggest jump since March. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – The U.S. economy showed more signs of weakness as the COVID-19 pandemic rages and Trump's "Operation Warp Speed" vaccine rollout crashes and burns amid finger-pointing, lies and incompetence. New claims for regular state unemployment rose by more than 20% in the week ending January 9, the biggest gain since the dark days of March when the economy hit a brick wall. | The number of people actually collecting benefits also rose by 200,000 for the week ending January 2, despite more and more people being timed out of the regular state unemployment insurance programs which only pay out for six months. T…

Staff (2021-01-17). Bernie Sanders Is About to Become the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee. truthout.org The long-held Republican nightmare that a champion of working-class people and the common good — one who has dedicated his political career to curbing poverty and injustice while denouncing corporate greed, endless war, and the cruelty of a for-profit health system that leaves millions upon millions uninsured or without affordable access to care — would assume the powerful position of chairing the Senate Budget Committee is about to become reality. | "Time to face the harsh reality,…

_____ (2021-01-17). The FCC And States Must Ban Digital Redlining. popularresistance.org The rollout of fiber broadband will never make it to many communities in the US. That's because large, national ISPs are currently laying fiber primarily focused on high-income users to the detriment of the rest of their users. The absence of regulators has created a situation where wealthy end users are getting fiber, but predominantly low-income users are not being transitioned off legacy infrastructure. The result being "digital redlining" of broadband, where wealthy broadband users are getting the benefits of cheaper and faster Internet access through fiber, and low-income broadband users are being left behin…

Shawgi Tell (2021-01-17). Cyber Charter Schools: Neoliberals Determined to Commodify More Students. dissidentvoice.org The parasitic seizure of social wealth by the rich has intensified in recent years and promises to increase in 2021. While the stock market soars to artificial new heights, the productive sector of the economy continues to steadily disintegrate, leaving the financial oligarchy with fewer options to maximize profit over time. This in turn is …

Mary Elizabeth Williams (2021-01-16). Andrew Yang "can't imagine" my New York City pandemic life. salon.com The mayoral candidate doesn't know that I'm the "lucky" one, though…

teleSUR (2021-01-15). Honduras: 2nd Migrant Caravan of 2021 Heads to US-Mexico Border. telesurenglish.net Over 3,000 Hondurans Friday departed from San Pedro Sula to the border with Guatemala. It is the second migrant caravan to leave the country this week, hoping to reach the U.S. | RELATED: | The caravan left due to the extreme poverty and the crisis left by the pandemic and the passage of two hurricanes in November 2020. | In early Friday, the Hondurans started the walk towards the border with Guatemala, 100 kilomet…

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2021-01-15). Sunrise Movement to Rally in NYC, Chicago, Calling on Senate Dems to Tackle Pandemic and Unemployment Crises. commondreams.org The youth-led climate action group called on Sens. Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin to use their new majority "to deliver on the needs of the people who backed their victory." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/dems_1.jpg

Steve Topple (2021-01-15). The DWP boss just stuck two fingers up at the poorest kids. thecanary.co In a letter, work and pensions secretary Thérèse Coffey may as well have stuck two fingers up at the poorest children in the UK. Because her dismissal of the concerns of an influential parliamentary committee was staggering.Another day, another inquiry into the Tories: The Work and Pensions Select Committee has launched an inquiry into child poverty. It

teleSUR (2021-01-15). U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Soar To Nearly 1 Million. telesurenglish.net The U.S. Labor Department on Thursday reported that initial jobless claims in the United States soared to 965,000 last week, showing severe disruption to the labor market recovery by COVID-19 spikes. | RELATED: | In the week ending Jan. 9, the number of citizens filing for unemployment benefits jumped by 181,000 from the previous week's downwardly revised level of 784,000, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

WSWS (2021-01-15). As COVID cases surge: Sharp rise in new US unemployment claims. wsws.org The adjusted number of new jobless claims rose to 965,000 for the week ending January 9 as the US Federal Reserve reports 20 percent of low-income workers are unemployed.

teleSUR (2021-01-15). Paraguay Approves Emergency Use of Russian Vaccine. telesurenglish.net The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced on Friday that Paraguay's Ministry of Health authorized the Sputnik V vaccine's emergency use. | RELATED: | "Registration of Sputnik V vaccine in Paraguay proves the increasing interest of Latin American countries in a safe and effective Russian vaccine against coronavirus," said the CEO of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev. | El anuncio de esta mañana del Fondo S…

Martin Baur,Carsten Colombier & Sandra Daguet (2021-01-15). How should our economy grow? indybay.org If, on the other hand, the inequality distribution is reduced via increased spending on education, positive growth effects may result. In addition, too much inequality can destabilize the political system through social unrest, creating great uncertainty for investors, for example with regard to the protection of property rights.[12]…