(2021-01-26). COVID Windfall for Billionaires Could Fully Fund Relief for the Working Class. truthout.org 
The $1.1 trillion in wealth that America's billionaires have collectively gained during ten months of pandemic and economic crisis could fully pay for key relief measures that President Joe Biden proposed in his recently released
(2021-01-26). The COVID Windfall for Billionaires Could Fully Fund Relief for Working Class. truthout.org The $1.1 trillion in wealth that America's billionaires have collectively gained during ten months of pandemic and economic crisis could fully pay for key relief measures that President Joe Biden proposed in his recently released
(2021-01-26). Inequality Virus: Pandemic Widens Wealth Gap for Women, People of Color as Billionaire Profits Soar. democracynow.org 
As the wealth of U.S. billionaires soars by over a trillion dollars during the pandemic, Oxfam is warning COVID-19 could lead to the biggest increase in global inequality on record. A new Oxfam report finds it could take more than a decade for poor people to recover from the health and economic crisis, and urges governments to take immediate action. "In every country that we looked at, inequality has gotten worse during the pandemic," says Paul O'Brien, Vice President of Oxfam America. "All around the world now, we are seeing folks struggling on the wrong end of inequality while those who have been the beneficiar…
(2021-01-26). Unemployment rate soars to highest level for more than four years. thecanary.co Britain's jobless rate has soared to its highest level for more than four years as official figures showed nearly 830,000 workers have been dropped from UK payrolls since the start of the pandemic. | The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the unemployment rate reached 5% for the first time since early 2016 in the three months to November after another 202,000 people lost their jobs. | Figures for December also showed there were 828,000 fewer Britons on company payrolls since before the crisis struck last February as the pandemic has hammered the jobs market. | Our latest labour market statistics have b…
(2021-01-26). NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang blasted for comparing BDS to 'fascist boycotts'. mronline.org 
One-time presidential hopeful faces backlash over op-ed saying BDS movement 'rooted in antisemitic thought and history'.
(2021-01-25). 'Abolish Billionaires': Oxfam Report Shows Combined Pandemic Wealth of Richest 10 People Could Pay to Vaccinate Entire World. commondreams.org "Rigged economies are funnelling wealth to a rich elite who are riding out the pandemic in luxury, while those on the frontline of the pandemic… are struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/abolish_the_billionaires.png …
(2021-01-25). Saudi sovereign wealth fund to invest billions to tackle soaring unemployment in kingdom. middleeasteye.net 
Saudi sovereign wealth fund to invest billions to tackle soaring unemployment in kingdom | Joblessness in Saudi Arabia touched 14.9 percent in the third quarter of 2020 as Covid-19 continues to sink the economy | Mon, 01/25/2021 – 08: 01 | The board at the Stock Exchange Market (Tadawul) bourse in Riyadh (AFP) | Saudi Arabia is moving to tackle soaring unemployment and a Covid-19-triggered…
(2021-01-25). Rev. William Barber Says Biden Admin Must Not Sacrifice Racial & Economic Justice for False Unity. democracynow.org 
We look at how COVID-19 has increased economic inequality with anti-poverty campaigner Reverend William Barber, who delivered the homily at the official inaugural prayer service. Barber says President Joe Biden's focus on unity cannot come at the expense of major reforms needed to fight systemic racism, poverty, environmental destruction and more. "It cannot be just kumbaya. It has to be fundamental change," he says. "We cannot be the wealthiest nation in the world, where billionaires in this country made a trillion dollars between May and November during COVID, while poor and low-wealth people of every race, cre…
(2021-01-25). Global Report: The Richest Have Already Recouped Pandemic Losses, While Poorest Billions Will Need a Decade to Do the Same. scheerpost.com from Oxfam International The 1,000 richest people on the planet recouped their COVID-19 losses within just nine months, but it could take more than a decade for the world's poorest to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic, reveals a new Oxfam report today. 'The Inequality Virus' is being published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum's 'Davos Agenda'. The report shows that… |
(2021-01-25). With COVID controlled and economy growing, Vietnam's Communists plan for future. peoplesworld.org 
HANOI—With only 35 recorded deaths, Vietnam has managed the coronavirus pandemic better than almost any other country on earth. And, unlike other nations, where mass unemployment and recession are the norm, Vietnam's economy is actually growing. That's the context in which the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) is set to …
(2021-01-25). Leith Mullings, 1945-2020: Anthropologist behind the Sojourner Syndrome. mronline.org 
Leith Mullings, an anthropologist whose work on what she dubbed the Sojourner Syndrome created a baseline understanding of the "weathering" that the amplified stresses of race, class, and inequality have on African Americans, and in particular African American women, died of cancer on December 12.
(2021-01-25). 'Poverty Mode': App-Based Drivers Slam Lyft's Latest Pay Cut Scheme. commondreams.org "The digital economy today is part of the problem and not the solution," argues one labor advocate. "It's not too late to change that." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/lyft.jpg …
(2021-01-25). Farmers' Protests Reflect Existential Crisis of Indian Agriculture. dissidentvoice.org With over 800 million people, rural India is arguably the most interesting and complex place on the planet but is plagued by farmer suicides, child malnourishment, growing unemployment, increased informalisation, indebtedness and an overall collapse of agriculture. Given that India is still an agrarian-based society, renowned journalist P Sainath says what is taking place can be described …
(2021-01-25). Missouri residents confront growing joblessness, hunger, evictions. wsws.org Mass unemployment and the miserable levels of state aid available are sowing increasing devastation throughout the region.
(2021-01-24). Cheaper Solar Power Means Low-income Families Can Also Benefit. popularresistance.org Until recently, rooftop solar panels were a clean energy technology that only wealthy Americans could afford. But prices have dropped, thanks mostly to falling costs for hardware, as well as price declines for installation and other "soft" costs. | Today hundreds of thousands of middle-class households across the U.S. are turning to solar power. But households with incomes below the median for their areas remain less likely to go solar. These low- and moderate-income households face several roadblocks to solar adoption, including cash constraints, low rates of home ownership and language barriers. | Our team of r…
(2021-01-24). Joe Biden, End Illegal US Sanctions Now. popularresistance.org As President, Joseph Biden must take urgent action to restore the right of all countries to have sovereign relations with the world, untrammelled by US interference through their sanctions policy. | U.S.-backed economic sanctions impact nearly one-third of humanity in some thirty countries, causing untold death and devastation by denying them access to global markets restricting the ability to generate wealth, stabilise currency, and provide basic human essentials for their people. | For the past several decades, the United States of America has used its considerable institutional power (over finance and diplomac…
(2021-01-24). Iraq: Biggest Corruption Scandal in History. globalresearch.ca In her article "Iraq's century of humiliation in the globalised age", Aneela Shahzad writes: | "In May 2020, the Special Representative of Secretary General for the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq announced that the poverty rate in Iraq would double to …
(2021-01-23). Who is responsible for Canada's second, deadlier, wave of COVID-19? wsws.org So as to ensure Canada's ruling elite continues to accumulate obscene wealth, the federal Liberal and provincial governments have sabotaged implementation of the measures urgently needed to halt the spread of COVID-19.
(2021-01-23). [Perspectives] Poverty and love. thelancet.com "Whit a funny wee bastard ye are." Shuggie Bain is often subjected to such pointed observation: he is an outsider, jutting against the grain of his surroundings, even as he tries, heartbreakingly hard, to fit in. He is the child of Agnes and Shug Bain. Agnes is a glamorous, proud woman who can be funny, charming, and beautiful; and she is an alcoholic. Shug is a violent, belligerent womaniser who rapes and beats Agnes regularly. Agnes is trapped in her relationships—as is Shuggie. By the time Agnes dies, sinking, drunk in a chair "like a melted candle", Shuggie is starving, the benefits of money having gone…