(2021-01-30). The U.S. Economy Excels at One Thing: Producing Massive Inequality. zcomm.org Deepening U.S. inequality flows directly from this capitalist organization of production—its class system…
(2021-01-30). Ranks of workers receiving unemployment insurance grows in January. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – The broadest measure of unemployment insurance, which includes the regular state unemployment insurance or UI, the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA, the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation or PEUC, as well as the state Extended Benefits or EB rose in the first week of January by 2.3 million people to a total of 18.3 million people. While down from its peak in April, it is still nine times as high as it was a year ago before the recession began, according to the weekly report by the U.S. Department of Labor released on Thursday, January 28. | Part of the bounce in une…
(2021-01-30). Marquette University staff protest firings. fightbacknews.org Milwaukee, WI – Marquette University staff members and their supporters picketed outside the administration building on January 27 in the biting cold. Marquette University recently announced the firing of nearly 40 longtime staff members, while the university is set to bring in nearly $10 million in federal COVID stimulus money, which was ostensibly passed to help prevent layoffs like this one. | Protest organizers called out the administration, accusing them of lying in order to justify the terminations as COVID-related. Organizers say Marquette administrators have not provided any evidence that job cuts were fi…
(2021-01-30). The failings of our unemployment insurance system are there by design. mronline.org 
Our unemployment insurance system has failed the country at a moment of great need. With tens of millions of workers struggling just to pay rent and buy food, Congress was forced to pass two emergency spending bills, providing one-time stimulus payments, special weekly unemployment insurance payments, and temporary unemployment benefits to those not covered by …
(2021-01-30). 'Torturing the English language': Biden accused of twisting the truth with promise his Covid-19 stimulus plan 'finishes the job'. rt.com 
President Joe Biden is getting criticism from both the left and the right for claiming his American Rescue Plan will help Americans struggling during the pandemic by offering a $2,000 stimulus — an amount also pushed for by Trump. | "$600 is simply not enough when you have to choose between paying your rent and putting food on the table," Biden tweeted on Saturday, referring to the $600 stimulus payment passed in the final weeks of Trump's presidency. | Biden went on to claim his $1.9 billion American Rescue Plan, which he has urged Congress to pass sooner rather than later, "finishes the job of getting…
(2021-01-30). Review — Santiago Rising. zcomm.org Review of Santiago Rising, a new film which portrays the recent eruption of protest against inequality in Chile…
(2021-01-30). Fair Finance: How can the global inequality gap be narrowed? news.un.org Reducing inequality is one of the UN's flagship goals, but the gulf between rich and poor worldwide, remains persistently high. In the first of a special two-part series on the financial sector this weekend, Hiro Mizuno, the newly-appointed UN Special Envoy on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments, explains how the industry can help to create a fairer, more equitable world.
(2021-01-29). U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surpasses $1.1 Trillion Gain Since Mid-March. zcomm.org Ten months into the COVID-19 crisis, 660 billionaires see their wealth rise 40 percent…
(2021-01-29). Sri Lankan stock market hits record high amidst rising COVID-19 infections. wsws.org While the government's policies are massively benefiting wealthy elites, the poor face escalating attacks on social conditions.
(2021-01-29). 'Sad billionaire' slams 'LOSER' GameStop investors — then laments Biden taxes he voted for as ATTACKING THE WEALTHY. rt.com 
A hedge fund manager who famously cried over a Democrat tax proposal — then voted for Joe Biden anyway — slammed Robinhood investors buying GameStop stock as "losers" spending government stimulus money to gamble on the markets. | People "sitting at home getting their checks from the government, trading their stocks" are the problem, Leon Cooperman In a lengthy appear…
(2021-01-29). Biden's $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Is a Vital Beginning for a New New Deal. truthout.org 
In his first three days in office, President Joe Biden signed no less than 30 executive orders and memorandums, many of which dismantle Trump's policies. This is an impressive achievement by any standard, but only so much can be done with executive orders and it is all but certain that most legislation will be blocked by Republican senators, thanks to filibuster, and with the possible help of some Democrats. In the meantime, Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion stimulus for the coronavirus-hit economy…
(2021-01-29). Trump Chief of Staff Liquidated as Much as $200,000 in Stock After Election. truthout.org 
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows liquidated as much as $200,000 in stocks a week after the election, according to financial disclosures obtained Wednesday by Salon. As a whole, the filings suggest that Meadows, who was one of the 15 wealthiest new members of Congress when he first came to Washington,
(2021-01-29). Black Lives Matter movement nominated for 2021 Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian MP. rt.com 
The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian MP Petter Eide, who claims the impact of BLM's anti-racism rallies has been felt far beyond the US alone. | "I find that one of the key challenges we have seen in America, but also in Europe and Asia, is the kind of increasing conflict based on inequality," Eide said. | Black Lives Matter has become a very important worldwide movement to fight racial injustice. | In his nomination papers, the MP hailed the movement for its ability to "mobilize people from all groups of society," including in his native Norway, wher…
(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). New Education Committee member Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed wildfires on secret space laser. salon.com Greene linked the claim to the Rothschilds, a wealthy Jewish family targeted by anti-Semitic conspiracy theories…
(2021-01-29). 'How About a Counter-Argument Based on Fact?': Warren Destroys CNBC Host Over Two-Cent Wealth Tax Criticism. commondreams.org "The wealthiest in this country are paying less in taxes than everyone else," said the Democratic senator. "If they added a two-cent wealth tax, they'd still be paying less than most of the people in this entire nation." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/warren_wealth_tax2_0.png …
(2021-01-29). EU must place social justice 'at its core' to lift people out of poverty. news.un.org The European Union's failure to lift 20 million people out of poverty by 2020, is "a defeat for social rights", an independent UN human rights expert said on Friday, urging the bloc to boldly rethink its whole socio-economic approach.
(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). 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). In This Current Emergency There Is Nothing Wrong With Borrowing Funds to Help Americans in Need. commondreams.org We will have to negotiate creatively to reduce the budget deficits ahead, including raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, who have experienced a massive windfall of wealth during the pandemic. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/biden_11.jpg …
(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). Mark Meadows' money woes: He liquidated as much as $200,000 in stock after election. salon.com Meadows came to Congress as one of the wealthiest new members, and his current financial distress is mysterious…
(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…
(2021-01-28). It's the Economic Precarity, Stupid. thenation.com It's the Economic Precarity, Stupid…
(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.