(2021-01-29). Japan's annual unemployment rate rises for first time in 11 years. laprensalatina.com Tokyo, Jan 29 (efe-epa).- The average annual unemployment rate in Japan rose in 2020 to 2.8 percent, the first increase in 11 years and attributed to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data released Friday by the government. The 2020 figure was up 0.4 percent from the previous year when the average annual …
(2021-01-29). Don't Be Fooled: The Official Unemployment Numbers Are A Lie. popularresistance.org The official unemployment rate now stands at 6.7%. But that doesn't feel right, does it? Unless you live in a gated community, the reality on the ground feels more dire and more destitute. Behind that cheery 6.7% stand millions of uncounted people — uncounted by design. | "'Underemployed' would be the most accurate, but there's not really a good definition," A.K. says, responding to my question of how he would identify his employment status. "As a freelancer, we're put aside to kind of fend for ourselves, even before all this." He's a freelance cinematographer and the owner of a production company. Now he's…
(2021-01-28). Billionaires Gone Wild: Pandemic Profiteering By the Numbers. scheerpost.com By Chuck Collins / Inequality.org The collective wealth of all U.S. billionaires has increased over $1.1 trillion since mid-March 2020, a nearly 40% leap during the past 10 months of national emergency. This wealth windfall could pay for all the relief for working families contained in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package proposed by President Biden, while leaving the nation's richest… |
(2021-01-28). Make 10 billionaires richer or freeze global poverty? Capitalism chose the former in 2020. liberationnews.org 
The ten richest men in the world became $540 billion richer over the course of 2020, a year of immense suffering from the Coronavirus pandemic that has so far killed at least 2 million people globally and led to an economic crisis of historic proportions.
(2021-01-28). Freedom: The Burden of Accountability — Part 3. realprogressives.org 
"Great power involves great responsibility" -Franklin Delano Roosevelt | The following article is part of a larger, five—part series on accountability and reform as they pertain to freedom. Focusing primarily on American politics and history, the series draws on America's continual struggle towards that "more perfect society.""Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to ca…
(2021-01-28). How Concentrated Wealth Wrecked the West: Six Question for Justin Ferrell. counterpunch.org 
We've witnessed the disruptive impact of concentrated wealth on major cities like New York, Boston, Miami, Seattle and San Francisco. Wealthy investors from around the world are purchasing U.S. luxury real estate not necessarily to live it, but as a stable "asset class" for parking wealth. But what about rural areas? Especially areas that are
(2021-01-28). Schumer to Republicans: COVID Relief Bill Is Happening, With or Without You. truthout.org 
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said Thursday that a budget resolution for a coronavirus economic stimulus bill could be brought forward as early as next week. | Speaking on the floor of the Senate,
(2021-01-28). It's the Economic Precarity, Stupid. thenation.com It's the Economic Precarity, Stupid…
(2021-01-28). Unemployment Is Much Worse Than You Think. zcomm.org The problem for many Americans isn't getting a job, it's getting enough hours at decent wages. Our topline numbers obscure that reality…
(2021-01-27). NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang doubles down on anti-BDS remarks. middleeasteye.net 
NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang doubles down on anti-BDS remarks | After accusing BDS of 'unfair economic punishment', Yang asserts his opposition is based on the movement's 'refusal to condemn violence' | Wed, 01/27/2021 – 19: 18 | Andrew Yang, a NYC mayoral candidate, has drawn criticism for his stance against the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement (AFP/File photo)…
(2021-01-27). Don't Be Fooled: The Official Unemployment Numbers Are a Lie. mintpressnews.com 
The "'Underemployed' would be the most accurate, but there's not really a good definition," A.K. says, responding to my question of how he would identify his employment status. "As a freelancer, we're put aside to kind of fend for ourselves, even before all this." He's a freelance c…
(2021-01-27). Corona crisis, capital and politics. indybay.org There is no question that the economic power of the state is being deployed here in a concentrated manner to combat the crisis. However, this was also the intention of the two "stimulus packages" in the financial and economic crisis of 2008 and 2009, the volume of which was around EUR 187 billion or 3 percent of GDP.
(2021-01-27). Sanders, Warren Warn Senate Majority Will Be Used in 'Very Aggressive Way' if GOP Blocks Stimulus. zcomm.org Both Sanders and Warren said the timely passage of another massive stimulus bill is more important than waiting on GOP lawmakers mired in gridlock…
(2021-01-27). If There's No Fear of Inflation, Why is GOP Against More Stimulus? — Rana Foroohar and Mark Blyth. theanalysis.news If there were a real fear of inflation, there wouldn't be such an appetite for long term government debt at what amounts to a negative interest rate. Rana Foroohar and Mark Blyth on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.
(2021-01-27). A decade into Arab uprising: Tunisians keep on protesting. yenisafak.com A decade after the Jasmine Revolution, which ousted longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power, anger and frustration among young Tunisians continues to brew. Protests [1] have been held in various cities across the country over the last few days, defying restrictions in place following a surge in coronavirus cases.While the daytime demonstrations are overwhelmingly peaceful, clashes occur with security forces take place during the night. More than 600 people were arrested [2], and the army was deployed to quell the tensions.Protestors' grievances are the same as they were a decade ago: unemployment, s…
(2021-01-27). Quick Thoughts on the Minimum Wage. cepr.net President Biden's proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 is prompting a backlash from the usual suspects. As we hear the cries about how this will be the end of the world for small businesses and lead to massive unemployment, especially for young workers, minorities, and the less-educated, there are …
(2021-01-27). Spanish television series The Barrier: The once and future dictatorship. wsws.org The Barrier (La valla), a 13-episode Spanish television drama, is a valuable and convincing warning about the dangers of dictatorship and social inequality, and the terrible consequences of world war.
(2021-01-27). The Cure is the Sickness, 2001. indybay.org "Good policy" in the sense of the Washington Consensus can be paraphrased with these ten principles. The key to development successes lies only in a correct policy mix. Development backlogs, continuing poverty and so forth are referred back everywhere to "bad policy" in the sense of disregarding the ten principles.
(2021-01-26). Oxfam: Global billionaires' wealth up $3.9 trillion during the pandemic. wsws.org The annual report on inequality exposes the effect the pandemic and the response of governments around the world has had in exacerbating social inequality.
(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 beneficia…
(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). Biden willing to negotiate $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package. laprensalatina.com Washington, Jan 25 (efe-epa).- United States President Joe Biden on Monday expressed willingness to negotiate his proposed $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus plan to obtain its approval in Congress, after some legislators rejected it as being too expensive. "This is just the process beginning," Biden, who presented his plan to achieve economic reactivation and recovery from …
(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). Corruption Ranks First Among Social Problems in Panama. telesurenglish.net Panama's International Center for Political and Social Studies (CIEPS) published a survey showing corruption and inequality as the country's main problems. | RELATED: | Carried out in the second week of January, the CIEPS survey had a sample of 1,199 people, 46 percent of whom pointed to corruption as the main obstacle to the country's development. | Around 24 percent of the interviewees described inequality as a problem and 1…