Capitalism Does Not, and Never Has, Worked for the Masses! In Its Death Agony, Capitalism Is Traveling About The World Like The Four Horsemen of the The Apocalypse, Spreading War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The very future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three-Point Political Program: 1.Austerity, 2.Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel! Always Remember: That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember, That he Established, in writing, the United States Capitalist Austerity Program. — The Race to the Bottom/Pauperization of the 99%!
Democracy?:As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99%, Only the 1% Voted For Austerity! The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1% Who, Profit From Austerity!! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico.! Socialism Means True Democracy, that the 99% Will Rule, Not the Few!
How did the underpaid, overworked, and now jobless American workers become the lender of last resort to global billionaire bankers? The Federal Reserve Board of Governors hoped that the details of its negligence in turning over its infinite money creation to the New York Fed during the last financial crisis would never see the light of day. It battled media lawsuits to get the details of the sums loaned out and to whom for more than two years. When it lost at both the District Court and Appellate Court in New York, a group called the Clearing House Association, which included JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, attempted to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the public’s right to know about the Fed’s secret money spigot. The Supreme Court did not take the case and the scandalous details were revealed as a result of that as well as the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010 mandating the release of the details of some of the programs by December 2010. — The New York Fed, Owned by Multinational Banks, Is Nationalizing Capital Markets
Legal and public health experts already expressed concerns that the immigrant population would be a particularly at-risk demographic. Medical costs and precarious working conditions already keep citizens from seeking medical care—but this is accentuated among the immigrants. For the vast majority, “calling in sick” is not an option, as that would mean losing their jobs and much-needed income to pay for food and shelter. The government’s much-awaited individual “stimulus checks” won’t apply to over 11 million undocumented residents—the majority of whom are dramatically underinsured or have no health insurance at all. In addition, many fear that going to the hospital will hurt their chances at becoming legal permanent residents—especially after Trump instituted a “public charge” rule making immigrants ineligible for residency if they rely on government benefits or are deemed likely to use them in the future. — USA: ICE, Immigrant Workers, and the Pandemic
The United States is not a Democracy (A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly)! Only the 1%, through their ownership of the Republicrats and who profit from war and the war budget, vote for War and the war budget — A policy, which Gore Vidal called a Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. — The 99% Should Decide On War — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From War! Under a Democracy, The 99% would have the right to vote on the policy of Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace! The United States takes from the poor and gives to the Rich.
The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Exposing the Plague of Neoliberalism The current coronavirus pandemic is more than a medical crisis, it is also a political and ideological crisis. It is a crisis deeply rooted in years of neglect by neoliberal governments that denied the importance of public health and the public good while defunding the institutions that made them possible (Austerity — R.S.). At the same time, this crisis cannot be separated from the crisis of massive inequalities in wealth, income and power. Nor can it be separated from a crisis of democratic values, education and environmental destruction. The coronavirus pandemic is deeply interconnected with the politicization of the natural order through its destructive assaults waged by neoliberal globalization on the ecosystem. In addition, it cannot be disconnected from the spectacle of racism, ultranationalism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and bigotry that has dominated the national zeitgeist as a means of promoting shared fears rather than shared responsibilities. By Henry A. Giroux
Trump Was Warned of Potential “Cataclysmic” Pandemic as Early as Last November In the middle of March, President Donald Trump claimed he and the rest of the federal government were caught off guard about the novel coronavirus, including its potential to spread outside of China and cause harm to other countries. “Nobody knew there’d be a pandemic or an epidemic of this proportion,” Trump said on March 19. “Nobody has ever seen anything like this before.”Those comments came just days after telling reporters at the White House that he viewed COVID-19 as “a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic,” adding at the time, “I’ve always viewed it as very serious.” By Chris WalkerOutrage as Wisconsin Forces Residents to Vote in Person During COVID Pandemic In spite of coronavirus fears gripping the country, Wisconsin is ultimately moving forward with in-person voting on Tuesday. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers made several attempts over the last several days to delay the spring elections in order to find an alternative to in-person voting during the COVID-19 pandemic.Instead, Republican lawmakers, the conservative state Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court itself have all acted in ways that will either cause the virus to spread or disenfranchise thousands of voters who are too fearful of going to the polls, with a high probability that both outcomes will happen to some degree By Chris Walker
Freedom Virus The official history of this country, which celebrates its independence and its freedom from the dead hand of governmental strictures that inhibit personal agency and reveres the Founding Fathers for their creation of a new democratic society in a new land, has long been at war with the reality that the United States arose out of a massive genocidal project which largely eliminated the Native peoples and was formed amidst the brutal dehumanization of its African slave population. By John Davis
The Impact of COVID-19 on the Body Politic As the international community is consumed by the impact of Covid-19, there are signs of the impact of the pandemic on the body politic. There is change throughout the international community, particularly the decline of the influence and power of the United States; the fragmentation of the European Community; the weakening of the transatlantic system; the increased influence of China; and the dire impact on Third World countries and their refugee problems. At home, the Trump administration’s “destruction of the administrative state” has made the battle against the virus far more difficult. By Melvin Goodman
American Exceptionalism in the Face of Covid-19 Food takes a special place in times of universal distress. Amid this Covid-19 pandemic, food insecurity and hunger are growing exponentially. Here in the US, the richest society on Earth where the forces of wealth and greed are aligned against poverty, there has been a run on food pantries and food banks. ( “A perfect storm: US facing hunger crisis as demand for food banks soars,” Guardian, April 2, 2020). The reports of food shortages are reminiscent of the photographs of the long lines of worn and beaten people standing outside of soup kitchens during the Great Depression. Over six million people filed for unemployment last week (the last week of March 2020) and the US, the great bastion of global wealth, has soaring numbers of coronavirus cases and has abysmally low supplies of protective gear to help prevent the transmission of the virus. The healthcare system has tanked in some areas and mobile morgues are used to warehouse the growing numbers of dead. This is reminiscent of the portrayals of the dead during the bubonic plague in medieval Europe. Covid-19 has exposed the failed healthcare, economic, and political systems in the US. By Howard LisnoffEnvironment:
Politics and Corruption at Grand Canyon The Trump Administration is on the warpath. Not to end the Coronavirus, which the President generally believes does not require much federal government intervention, but a war on the environment. From increased oil and gas leasing on our public lands to decreasing national clean air standards for automobiles, elimination of environmental law enforcement, to attacks on the Endangered Species Act, removing the United States from the Global Climate Accord, reducing oversight of livestock grazing on public lands, the Trump administration has demonstrated no commitment to environmental protection. By George Wuerthne
Civil Rights/ Black Liberation:
Prison Guards Are Receiving Hand Sanitizer. My Incarcerated Son Is Not. Thirty years ago, my son Gerald Reedsurvived torture at the hands of the Chicago police. He was another victim of police detectives working for the infamous Cmdr. Jon Burge. In February, more than a year after a judge threw out my son’s conviction, a second judge reversed course and dictated that Gerald would serve out a life sentence. Our flawed police and judicial system have physically harmed my son and taken him from my home. Now the COVID-19 crisis has me in fear for his life. A few days ago, I learned that a man died in Stateville Correctional Center, the prison where my son is locked down. Those who lived near the man said he was snoring and breathing loudly at night and running a fever. His passing was sudden. By Armanda Shackleford
Resistance Growing to Covid-Capitalism Covid-19 has laid bare a fundamental truth: that capitalist healthcare is a contradiction in terms, since capital – like the killer virus — cares for nothing but reproducing itself. “We have to ensure that we never return to the society that enabled this pandemic to emerge.” What some may remember as the Year of the Lost Spring – lost loved ones, lost jobs, lost freedom of movement – may also become the year that the oligarchy and its servants in both corporate parties lost popular permission to dictate the terms of life and death in the United States. For the second time this century, the economies of the U.S. and Europe are circling the abyss, dragging much of the rest of the planet with them, while China, site of the first large eruption of Covid-19, leads the world in both economic resilience and global mutual aid — and Cuba has stepped forward once again as the champion of medical solidarity. By Glen Ford, BAR Executive EditorFreedom Rider: Standing with Venezuela and Iran The Trump administration wants a hot war with Iran or Venezuela, or both, and those of us claiming to be anti-war must be on our guard and ready for action. “The Democrats who say Trump must ask permission before killing people will in all likelihood give him the approval he seeks.” The Donald Trump administration hasn’t given up its dream of regime change in Venezuela and Iran. They have vowed not to ease the sanctions that have literally killed thousands of people in both countries. In fact, they have increased them and claim that their efforts to do just that are somehow humanitarian. By Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnistAndrew Cuomo and the Crisis of Liberalism The “liberal” champion is a corporate thug who pays prisoners slave wages to make hand sanitizer and is trying to cut Medicaid. “The liberal class has cannot overstep the narrow confines of austerity even amid a pandemic.” You’ve seen it. I’ve seen it. Liberals love Andrew Cuomo. New York’s Governor has exploited the COVID-19 crisis to rebrand himself as the solid, dependable leader that we need in this time of crisis. The hashtag #PresidentCuomo has trended on Twitter on several different occasions. Corporate media outlets have focused intensely on Cuomo’s response, with the New York Times calling the Governor an “authoritative voice in a moment of crisis.” Yet no amount of love for Cuomo can hide how the New York Governor is a stark example of the kind of political leadership that brought us the social problems associated with COVID-19 crisis in the first place. By Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing EditorCOVID-19 in DRC: Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the WorstDeaths caused by the pandemic are likely to occur without assistance of any kind, without any administrative record, and without acknowledgment in the news cycle. “DRC’s lack of preparation and vulnerability during this pandemic is an extension of the ongoing violence and resource wars there.” This week I spoke to Congolese native Jean-Claude Maswana, economics professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, about COVID-19 in DRC. By Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing EditorA Call to Action: Towards a General Strike to End the COVID-19 Crisis and Create a New World We must make demands that will transform our broken and inequitable society, and build a new society run by and for us – the working-class, poor, oppressed majority. “Disaster capitalism and white supremacy are running amok.” Cooperation Jackson, “an emerging vehicle for sustainable community development, economic democracy, and community ownership,” based in Jackson, Mississippi, last week issued the following proposal for a mass response to the Covid-19 crisis. – BAR editors The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the world before our very eyes. In less than 3 months, it has exposed the grotesque nature of the capitalist system to millions, ground the world economy to a halt, and revealed how truly interconnected our little planet really is. By Cooperation JacksonExpect Police-Military Repression Amid the Crisis of COVID-19 and Its Aftermath The rulers are concerned about the class war becoming sharper in the current crisis and they are preparing to send in the military and police to quell dissent. “The pre-existing crisis of legitimacy for the rulers is compounded by the government’s inept response to the pandemic.” News stories about the National Guard assisting with the coronavirus have overshadowed stories about US military plans to join police in stopping expected “civil disturbances.” But eyewitness accounts of trains transporting armored vehicles and other equipment into their communities prompted posts to social media about the threat of martial law. By Netfa FreemanBAR Abolition & Mutual Aid Spotlight: Chicago Community Bond Fund This arena of the mutual aid movement is energized by “a vision of the absence of prisons, jails, detention, and criminalization.” “Paying bail is more than paying ransom.” In this feature, we ask organizers involved in mutual aid projects to share a little bit about their work. We understand mutual aid work as the part of social movement organizing that meets people’s direct needs. Unlike charity work, however, mutual aid is part of a broader strategy to address the root causes of injustice by mobilizing people to dismantle structures of domination and build the world we want. By Dean Spade and Roberto Sirvent, BAR ContributorsMengele Medicine: Death Panels of Boss Tweet and Pence By Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence STOP! No testing! No testing for the infection—
big, big numbers could threaten the $election!
STOP! No testing for us poor, us working-class—
just fraudulent claims from a fat bag of gas! We say, “Healthcare for ALL,” they scream, “Expense!”
practicing Mengele Medicine makes dollars— not sense—
like war contracts with merchants of death/‘defense’
Coronavirus Death Panels of Boss Tweet and Pence No testing for the working-class—no coincidence
their peacock posture of democracy is pretense
like tommyrot-spouting Boss Tweet’s nonsense
And big bankster ‘bailouts—‘ will of ‘Providence’ Working-class health is of no consequence—
old problems Occupy raised as commonsense
cold crimes against humanity? Look at evidence
The question is: just when will we switch to ofense? Labor:
Fed Chair Powell Tells Whoppers This Morning on the Brookings Institution Webcast (View Video Above) The Fed’s advance men were all over the media today attempting to transform a sow’s ear into a silk purse (or, as they say on Wall Street, put lipstick on a pig). The Fed surprised the market today with the stunning announcement that it was going to start buying up junk bonds from the markets after they had been cratering for most of the month of March. That was the pig. The lipstick it applied was worded like this: “The Federal Reserve on Thursday took additional actions to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy. This funding will assist households and employers of all sizes and bolster the ability of state and local governments to deliver critical services during the coronavirus pandemic.” By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
The New York Fed, Owned by Multinational Banks, Is Nationalizing Capital Markets For the first time in the history of the Federal Reserve, it has signed on to a plan with Congress to nationalize the unmanageable debts of global banks and other multinational corporations and put the U.S. taxpayer on the hook for the losses. Conducting the bulk of these programs will be the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, known as the New York Fed, which is a private institution owned by (wait for it) multinational banks. Because the New York Fed is owned by multinational banks and is allowed to create trillions of dollars out of thin air to conduct bailouts of global banks and multinational corporations since it created this precedent in 2008, it is effectively functioning as a multinational central bank with the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C. and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell little more than titular props for what’s really going on. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Households and Small Businesses Don’t Issue Junk Bonds. Neither Do Most State And Local Governments.
World:
LIVE: coronavirus and the Indian subcontinent – a living nightmare Join us on Wednesday 15 April at 6pm (BST) for a live interview with Adam Pal, the editor of Lal Salaam (the IMT’s journal in Pakistan), who will be speaking about the coronavirus pandemic and the political situation in Pakistan and India. The already-dire conditions facing workers and the poor in these countries mean COVID-19 has dealt a very cruel blow. The lack of sanitation and cramped living quarters in poor communities makes social distancing measures impossible, while Pakistani health workers have faced arrest and torture at the hands of the state for protesting a lack of personal protective equipment.Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
The government of the United States can pass laws in a few days to spend tens of trillions of dollars for war and the bailout of Wall Street and the bankers. Yet, those who ‘governn’, pass universal healthcare for themselves, but they cannot spend even one trillion dollars for universal health for those who are ‘governed’! This is what is considered, by the powers to be, a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let the People Vote on Healthcare!
COVID-19: A Question of POWER Globally, many people are afraid, angry, uncertain, and without confidence in their national leadership. – The LancetThe COVID-19 pandemic is affecting people all over the world in an immediate and deeply personal manner. Close to one-thirdof humanity is under some form of lock-down. Within one month of quarantine, 60 percent of American workers will be unable to pay rent or buy groceries. Society is thrown into chaos, and the established order is failing to meet people’s needs. What needs to change? What kind of society do we want, and how can we achieve it? Before we can answer such questions, we need to clarify what went wrong and who is responsible. What went wrong to maximize profit, the global capitalist economy is based on just-in-time production and minimal inventory, with no built-in reserve for the unexpected. When crises occur, supply chains break down, profits plummet, people are thrown out of work, and basic essentials become difficult to obtain. By Susan ResenthalPeople With Disabilities Face Greater Risk of Economic Devastation From COVID-19 The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis is wreaking havoc on the health and economic lives of billions of people across the world. In the U.S., massive layoffs and unemployment levels eclipsing the Great Depression are expected. As workers lose jobs, unemployment filings are going through the roof. As of April 7, about 10 million workers have filed for unemployment, and reports estimate that up to 13 percent of the population is out of work. While the U.S. government has predicted close to 20 percent unemployment, other reports have predicted that close to 50 percent of jobs are at risk. At the time of writing, nearly 95 percent of Americans, or 306.5 million, are being urged to stay home and are under some sort of “lockdown,” while bills pile up and income is halted. Major U.S. cities are experiencing medical equipment shortages, and it’s likely medicine and food shortages will be seen worldwide. Market failure and a total collapse of the health system seem inevitable. By Jack Delaney
Quote of the Day:
Outrage as Wisconsin Forces Residents to Vote in Person During COVID Pandemic In spite of coronavirus fears gripping the country, Wisconsin is ultimately moving forward with in-person voting on Tuesday. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers made several attempts over the last several days to delay the spring elections in order to find an alternative to in-person voting during the COVID-19 pandemic.Instead, Republican lawmakers, the conservative state Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court itself have all acted in ways that will either cause the virus to spread or disenfranchise thousands of voters who are too fearful of going to the polls, with a high probability that both outcomes will happen to some degree By Chris Walker
Environment:
Resistance Growing to Covid-Capitalism Covid-19 has laid bare a fundamental truth: that capitalist healthcare is a contradiction in terms, since capital – like the killer virus — cares for nothing but reproducing itself. “We have to ensure that we never return to the society that enabled this pandemic to emerge.” What some may remember as the Year of the Lost Spring – lost loved ones, lost jobs, lost freedom of movement – may also become the year that the oligarchy and its servants in both corporate parties lost popular permission to dictate the terms of life and death in the United States. For the second time this century, the economies of the U.S. and Europe are circling the abyss, dragging much of the rest of the planet with them, while China, site of the first large eruption of Covid-19, leads the world in both economic resilience and global mutual aid — and Cuba has stepped forward once again as the champion of medical solidarity. By Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Freedom Rider: Standing with Venezuela and Iran The Trump administration wants a hot war with Iran or Venezuela, or both, and those of us claiming to be anti-war must be on our guard and ready for action. “The Democrats who say Trump must ask permission before killing people will in all likelihood give him the approval he seeks.” The Donald Trump administration hasn’t given up its dream of regime change in Venezuela and Iran. They have vowed not to ease the sanctions that have literally killed thousands of people in both countries. In fact, they have increased them and claim that their efforts to do just that are somehow humanitarian. By Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Andrew Cuomo and the Crisis of Liberalism The “liberal” champion is a corporate thug who pays prisoners slave wages to make hand sanitizer and is trying to cut Medicaid. “The liberal class has cannot overstep the narrow confines of austerity even amid a pandemic.” You’ve seen it. I’ve seen it. Liberals love Andrew Cuomo. New York’s Governor has exploited the COVID-19 crisis to rebrand himself as the solid, dependable leader that we need in this time of crisis. The hashtag #PresidentCuomo has trended on Twitter on several different occasions. Corporate media outlets have focused intensely on Cuomo’s response, with the New York Times calling the Governor an “authoritative voice in a moment of crisis.” Yet no amount of love for Cuomo can hide how the New York Governor is a stark example of the kind of political leadership that brought us the social problems associated with COVID-19 crisis in the first place. By Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
COVID-19 in DRC: Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the WorstDeaths caused by the pandemic are likely to occur without assistance of any kind, without any administrative record, and without acknowledgment in the news cycle. “DRC’s lack of preparation and vulnerability during this pandemic is an extension of the ongoing violence and resource wars there.” This week I spoke to Congolese native Jean-Claude Maswana, economics professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, about COVID-19 in DRC. By Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
A Call to Action: Towards a General Strike to End the COVID-19 Crisis and Create a New World We must make demands that will transform our broken and inequitable society, and build a new society run by and for us – the working-class, poor, oppressed majority. “Disaster capitalism and white supremacy are running amok.” Cooperation Jackson , “an emerging vehicle for sustainable community development, economic democracy, and community ownership,” based in Jackson, Mississippi, last week issued the following proposal for a mass response to the Covid-19 crisis. – BAR editors The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the world before our very eyes. In less than 3 months, it has exposed the grotesque nature of the capitalist system to millions, ground the world economy to a halt, and revealed how truly interconnected our little planet really is. By Cooperation Jackson
Expect Police-Military Repression Amid the Crisis of COVID-19 and Its Aftermath The rulers are concerned about the class war becoming sharper in the current crisis and they are preparing to send in the military and police to quell dissent. “The pre-existing crisis of legitimacy for the rulers is compounded by the government’s inept response to the pandemic.” News stories about the National Guard assisting with the coronavirus have overshadowed stories about US military plans to join police in stopping expected “civil disturbances.” But eyewitness accounts of trains transporting armored vehicles and other equipment into their communities prompted posts to social media about the threat of martial law. By Netfa Freeman
BAR Abolition & Mutual Aid Spotlight: Chicago Community Bond Fund This arena of the mutual aid movement is energized by “a vision of the absence of prisons, jails, detention, and criminalization.” “Paying bail is more than paying ransom.” In this feature, we ask organizers involved in mutual aid projects to share a little bit about their work. We understand mutual aid work as the part of social movement organizing that meets people’s direct needs. Unlike charity work, however, mutual aid is part of a broader strategy to address the root causes of injustice by mobilizing people to dismantle structures of domination and build the world we want. By Dean Spade and Roberto Sirvent, BAR Contributors
Mengele Medicine: Death Panels of Boss Tweet and Pence By Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence STOP! No testing! No testing for the infection—
Labor:
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
