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COVID-19

The Economics Lesson Taught By The Pandemic

January 26, 2021 Democracy at Work, ROAR Magazine. , , ,
On this week’s show, Professor Wolff explains that in countries where the government is respected and empowered, such as New Zealand, Taiwan and Cuba, among others, the COVID-19 pandemic has been effectively contained. Alternately, where the government is demonized, disrespected and distrusted, such as in the UK and the US, the pandemic has been devastating. Prof. Wolff argues that a rational economy includes both private businesses (regulated by the government to different degrees) and state-owned and operated enterprises, depending on which performs best to meet the needs of society. Moreover, besides the question who owns certain enterprises, the way in which they are internally organized (hierarchically or horizontally / worker-owned) is equally important.

Hotel Workers Turn To Courts To Fight Pandemic Firings

January 25, 2021 Alex Nguyen, The Tyee. , , ,
A former worker is proposing a class action lawsuit against a major Vancouver hotel over alleged wrongful terminations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Romuel Escobar, who worked at the Pan Pacific hotel for 24 years before being fired in August, filed a notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday. His lawsuit accuses the hotel of terminating workers without cause or notice. It also seeks to represent some 250 current and former regular hourly employees directly impacted by the pandemic in a class action suit. Unite Here Local 40, which represents B.C. hotel workers, supports the legal action. Workers at the hotel were not members of the union, but Local 40 says it was working with them in a union organizing effort last summer.

Joe Biden, End Illegal US Sanctions Now

January 24, 2021 Progressive International. , , ,
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 diplomacy) to strangle countries who don’t fall in line with its global political and economic agenda.

Chicago Schools Chief Threatens To Lock Out Teachers Who Don’t Return

January 24, 2021 George Gallanis, WSWS. , , ,
As Chicago educators continue to vote on a Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) resolution in support of teaching remotely, and to strike only in the event of retaliation from the school district, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Janice Jackson reiterated at a Friday news conference that such an action “would constitute a strike.” Although Jackson insisted, “We’re not locking teachers out,” indications are that CPS officials will cut educators off from their district-provided Google accounts, preventing them from teaching remotely. This has already been done to dozens of teachers in the district, to which the CTU has responded with no collective actions as at least 87 teachers remain locked out.

The Solutions We Seek Exist With We, The People

January 24, 2021 Elena Ortiz, Green Fire Times. , , ,
Traditionally, indigenous communities did not measure time in a linear way. Everything was cyclic. All motion is cyclic. It circulates to the limits of its possibilities and then returns to its starting point. What is not resolved will reappear on subsequent rotations around the sun. Now, as we settle into the winter months, comes the time for reflection and introspection. We may be grateful for the victories of the past year, but we must also build strength and energy for what is to come. We are still in the darkness of the tunnel and cannot see the light ahead. Behind us is 245 years of a failed colonial project. Ahead of us, unseen, is the future. The tunnel is not infinite.

Senator Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks

January 23, 2021 Jay Willis, The Appeal. , , ,
On the same day President Joe Biden sketched out the first details of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus proposal earlier this month, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a fellow Democrat, dunked its most important component in a bucket of cold water. “Absolutely not. No,” he told The Washington Post, when asked if the party’s top priority should be sending out $2,000 stimulus payments—a pledge that Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and a multitude of other Democratic politicians made repeatedly on the campaign trail. “Getting people vaccinated, that’s job No. 1.” When the interviewer pointed out that this position placed him directly at odds with party leadership, Manchin more or less shrugged.

Biden’s ‘American Rescue Plan’ And Its Opponents

January 19, 2021 Jack Rasmus, ZNet. , , ,
New filings for unemployment benefits have been rising rapidly. From a ‘low’ of about 1 million/week in December last week’s initial claims for benefits topped 1.4 million—when  both benefit programs, State administered and the Federal PUA, are counted .  Another red flag indicator is consumer spending (70% of the US economy) and retail sales, its largest component. The latter fell -1.4%% in November and another -0.7% in December, according to just released US Commerce data. These are typical months during which they rise the fastest.  Another indicator of consumer spending in growing trouble, credit card spending fell an even larger -2.7% in December, according to Chase Bank’s database...

Homeless Encampment Evictions Highlight The Cruelty Of Capitalism

January 18, 2021 Azeezah Kanji, Truthout. , , ,
In Canada’s homeless encampments, two faces of state brutality are on display. One is the “organized abandonment” that has relegated hundreds of thousands across Canada to homelessness (at twice the rate as in the United States). The other is the “organized violence” that evicts homeless people from encampments erected in the shadow of the state’s malign neglect. In Toronto, Canada’s largest and most unequal city, frontline workers estimate there are currently 1,000 to 2,000 people sleeping in dozens of encampments outdoors — several times more than the 400 acknowledged by city officials. Against the advice of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the former UN Special Rapporteur on Housing...

Arrest Warrant Issued For Ex-Florida Data Analyst Rebekah Jones

January 18, 2021 Josh Fiallo, TampaBay.com. , , ,
The state has issued an arrest warrant for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones. Jones announced Saturday on Twitter that she learned of the warrant and plans to turn herself in on Sunday. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed there is a warrant for Jones’ arrest but said it cannot disclose what charges she faces until she is in custody. Agency spokesman Gretl Plessinger said in an email to the Tampa Bay Times that “agents have been working with her attorney to have her turn herself in.” Jones once managed Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard. Then she was fired in May from her position as the geographic information system manager for the Florida Department of Health’s Division of Disease Control and Health Protection.

The US Economy Could Use Some ‘Overheating’

January 16, 2021 Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute. , , ,
Recent proposals for large-scale fiscal relief and recovery from the economic effects of COVID-19 have drawn criticism that they could lead to “overheating” of the U.S. economy. These criticisms should be ignored. Proposals under discussion—including Biden’s economic plan introduced tonight—are highly unlikely to lead to any durable uptick in inflation or interest rates (the normal indicators of “overheating”) and even if they did, these higher interest rates and inflation would be a welcome sign of economic healing, not something to worry about. Warnings about economic “overheating” normally mean that growth in spending by households, businesses, and governments (known as aggregate demand) will outpace growth in the...

National Day Of Action For Eviction Moratorium

January 15, 2021 Shira Laucharoen, Dig Boston. , , ,
Boston, MA - As part of the National Day of Action to Prevent Evictions, City Life/Vida Urbana organized a rally called “Housing Is The Cure!” on January 13. Protesters gathered outside of the Boston Housing Court on New Chardon Street and marched to the JFK Building. Speakers included frontline residents and faith leaders. The housing crisis has been exacerbated by the coronavirus, leaving many who have lost their jobs unable to pay rent. According to City Life, a new study from UCLA estimates that states that allowed evictions to continue this summer led to almost 11,000 preventable pandemic-related deaths.

Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium Will Administer Vaccines

January 15, 2021 Emily Scott, WHYY. , , ,
Philadelphia’s Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium will be playing a much more hands-on role in the city’s vaccine distribution efforts. Consortium founder Dr. Ala Stanford shared on Instagram that the group — which has provided COVID-19 testing to more than 20,000 people — will be administering the vaccine to Philly’s Black communities. People can sign up through a contact form or can reach out via email at info@blackdoctorsconsortium.com. Vaccinations will be offered on a first come, first served basis. The consortium will begin administering the vaccines when Philadelphia enters Phase 1B of its distribution plan, which includes critical essential workers and is expected to start sometime soon in early 2021.

600 Groups Urge Biden To Impose National Moratorium On Water Shut-offs

January 14, 2021 Joseph Guzman, The Hill. , , ,
Above photo: Detroit activists march for restoring local democracy and economic justice, and an end to the water shut-offs, July

2020 Ends With Almost Ten Million Fewer Jobs Than Before The Recession

January 13, 2021 Elise Gould, Economic Policy Institute. , , ,
On January 8, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the last jobs report of 2020, which is also the last jobs report we will receive while Trump is president—a presidency that has ushered in tragedies ranging from historic job losses to armed insurrection. The report showed that jobs fell by 140,000 in December—an unequivocal disaster for the state of the economic recovery. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inadequate federal response, job growth waned throughout the fall and fell outright in December. The year ends with 9.8 million fewer jobs than before the pandemic recession hit in February and 546,000 fewer jobs than at the start of Trump’s presidency in January 2016.

On His Way To Prison, Activist Advocates For COVID-19 Prisoner Release

January 13, 2021 Yonat Shimron, Religion News. , , ,
On Thursday (Jan. 14), Patrick O’Neill will report to the Federal Correctional Institution near Elkton, Ohio, to serve a 14-month sentence for breaking into a nuclear submarine base as part of a symbolic nuclear disarmament action he took up with six other Catholic pacifists more than two years ago. But on his way to prison, O’Neill has taken up a new cause: protecting inmates from COVID-19. Some 329,298 prisoners across the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus and about 2,020 have died, according to the Marshall Project, the online journalism organization focused on criminal justice. Prison facilities are often overcrowded and poorly ventilated, making it nearly impossible to practice social distancing and other preventative measures to avoid contagion.
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