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The Coronavirus Pandemic Crisis Intensifies: Capitalism is at War With Society The coronavirus pandemic is developing into a social, economic and political crisis on a scale that is without precedent. Yesterday’s drastic fall in global markets and especially in the United States, where Wall Street recorded its greatest one-day loss since 1987, arose from the recognition that the pandemic will massively impact the world economy and profoundly disrupt the existing social order. By Joseph Kishore and David North
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!
Quotes of the Day:
The New York Times editorialized Saturday afternoon: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi early Saturday celebrated passage of legislation she described as providing paid sick leave to American workers affected by the coronavirus. She neglected to mention the fine print. In fact, the bill guarantees sick leave only to about 20 percent of workers. Big employers like McDonald’s and Amazon are not required to provide any paid sick leave, while companies with fewer than 50 employees can seek hardship exemptions from the Trump administration. “If you are sick, stay home,” Vice President Mike Pence said at a news conference on Saturday afternoon. “You’re not going to miss a paycheck.” But that’s simply not true. Sick workers should stay home, but there is no guarantee in the emergency legislation that most of them will get paid. The White House and congressional Republicans, who insisted on the exemptions as the price of bipartisan support for the legislation, bear the primary responsibility for the indefensible decision to prioritize corporate profits in the midst of a public health emergency… The House’s failure to require universal paid sick leave is an embarrassment that endangers the health of workers, consumers, and the broader American public.
A crucial thing to understand about the coronavirus threat — and it’s playing out grimly in Italy — is the difference between the total number of people who might get sick and the number who might get sick at the same time. Our country has only 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people. That’s fewer than in Italy (3.2), China (4.3) and South Korea (12.3), all of which have had struggles. More important, there are only so many intensive care beds and ventilators. — Here’s the Biggest Thing to Worry About With Coronavirus
How people respond to the collapse of industrial civilization will determine how bad things get and what will replace it. The challenges are monumental. They will force us to question our identities, our values, and our loyalties like no other experience in our history. Who are we? Are we, first and foremost, human beings struggling to raise our families, strengthen our communities, and coexist with the other inhabitants of Earth? Or do our primary loyalties belong to our nation, our culture, our race, our ideology, or our religion? Can we put the survival of our species and our planet first, or will we allow ourselves to become hopelessly divided along national, cultural, racial, religious, or party lines?The eventual outcome of this great implosion is up for grabs. Will we overcome denial and despair; kick our addiction to petroleum; and pull together to break the grip of corporate power over our lives? Can we foster genuine democracy, harness renewable energy, reweave our communities, re-learn forgotten skills, and heal the wounds we’ve inflicted on the Earth? Or will fear and prejudice drive us into hostile camps, fighting over the dwindling resources of a degraded planet? The stakes could not be higher. — Four Reasons Civilization Won’t Decline: It Will Collapse
Videos of the Day:
Images of the Day:
“I Don’t Take Responsibility At All,” President Trump Says When Asked By @Kwelkernbc Whether He Should Take Responsibility For The US Government Inability To Disseminate Larger Quantities Of Coronavirus Tests Earlier. (NBC News)
U.S.:
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.
At ‘Shock Doctrine Press Conference,’ Trump Bails Out Oil Industry, Not US Families, as Coronavirus Crisis Intensifies “Trump has once again put the interests of oil and gas executives ahead of the interests of people and communities.” Climate action groups and progressive critics expressed disappointment and outrage on Friday afternoon after President Donald Trump—despite a continued failure to offer far-reaching support to the U.S. public—moved to bolster the bottom lines of oil and gas companies by announcing a massive federal purchase for the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). “Based on the price of oil, I’ve also instructed the Secretary of Energy to purchase at a very good price large quantities of crude oil for storage in the U.S. strategic reserve,” Trump announced during a White House press conference—surrounded by CEOs from major corporations, including Walmart, CVS, and Target—in which he also declared an official national emergency in order to combat the outbreak of the coronavirus. By Jon Queally
At a time when we, the people needed Government openness and truth — The U.S. Government Chose Secrecy: US Intel Agencies Played Unsettling Role in Classified and “9/11-like” Coronavirus Response Plan As the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis comes to dominate headlines, little media attention has been given to the federal government’s decision to classify top-level meetings on domestic coronavirus response and lean heavily “behind the scenes” on U.S. intelligence and the Pentagon in planning for an allegedly imminent explosion of cases. The classification of coronavirus planning meetings was first covered by Reuters, which noted that the decision to classify was “an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion.” Reuters further noted that the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Alex Azar, and his chief of staff had “resisted” the classification order, which was made in mid-January by the National Security Council (NSC), led by Robert O’Brien — a longtime friend and colleague of his predecessor John Bolton. By Whitney Webb
‘Unconscionable’: Amid Coronavirus Crisis, Trump Moves to Take Food Stamps From Over a Million People “Really it’s a cruel rule, taking food out of the mouths of hungry individuals.” The Trump administration made clear this week that it has no plans to scrap—or, at the very least, delay—a rule change that could strip federal food assistance from over a million people in the United States as the coronavirus spreads across the nation, heightening the need for measures to protect the most vulnerable from the economic fallout. By Jake Johnson
Bernie Sanders Is Trying to Save the Democratic Party From Itself The movement that has grown around Sen. Bernie Sanders has become a political force to reckon with in the 2020 presidential election. Part of its strength is the many intersections it has with other progressive movements, some of which have been around for many years, others which stemmed from his 2016 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. Sanders’ campaign has been endorsed by or includes members from Black Lives Matter and the Sunrise Movement, among many others, and from its inception was made up of activists. Robert Scheer
Environment:
Capitalism’s Pandemic of Factory Farms Caused the Coronavirus Epidemic. As long as Factory Farms Exist, We Will Have Pandemics!
Coronavirus Update: How Emerging Diseases are Linked to Factory Farms Coronavirus has been all over the news for weeks. The virus has been linked to an exotic food market in Wuhan, and therefore the wildlife trade. The exact path of the virus is still unclear, but it is certain it is linked to animal markets. Scientists and experts are now linking these “new diseases,” of which coronavirus is one, to factory farms. In the Wuhan in the exotic animal market, animals are clustered together in close quarters, much like those in factory farm conditions. In the Wuhan market linked to coronavirus, animals are slaughtered on site. The conditions are similar to those of factory farms. According to Bloomberg News, China’s significance as a player in the food market directly impacts the spread of disease and viruses like coronavirus. In the past, disease outbreaks have started with infections from factory-farmed livestock. Because of the rapid increase in the number of factory farms in China and other places, epidemic conditions are possible in these crowded spaces. The H5N1 avian flu was linked to migratory birds getting too close to factory poultry farms. Several studies have suggested that H1N1 swine flu is linked to the movement of pigs and poultry in between North America, Asia and Europe.
Civil Rights/ Black Liberation:
The United States Government Refuses to Bailout, the Hungry, the Poor, and the Homeless! But it Jumps Over Backwards to Bailout Big Oil, Whan Fracking Investments Turn Out to Be Unprofitable!
American Families Deserve a Coronavirus Bailout, Not Industries This week, the global coronavirus crisis officially became a U.S. economic crisis. Monday saw the Dow’s worst single-day drop in history — 2,013 points — and markets continued to convulse at the opening Thursday to the point trading was temporarily halted following a steep drop. It is evident a broad economic contraction, affecting everything from hospitality to shipping, is compounding rising anxiety over the COVID-19 pandemic.The obvious touchstone for many financial experts was the 2008 crisis, when a finance sector run amok rocked the global economy and destroyed the U.S. housing market, wiping out the generational wealth of millions of Americans. Because the coronavirus looks set to have an even more enduring impact on the economy, it is important to remember how the government failed the American people in its response in 2008. By Truthdig Staff
Since the 2008-2009 Crash, Less Than Two Thirds of the Civilian Labor Force Have Been Working. As of 2/20 the Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate 63.4%
Why did the Federal Reserve inject half a trillion dollars into the financial system? “The declines in the stock market are big enough and deep enough that people are going to start pulling back on spending,” said one economist. Wall Street briefly pared its losses on Thursday as investors reacted to the Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would dramatically increase liquidity by injecting as much as $1.5 trillion into the economy with an unprecedented series of asset purchases. Previously, the White House’s Europe travel ban and a cascade of headlines about the spread of the coronavirus in the United States had led to the unprecedented second weekly triggering of the market’s “circuit breaker” to halt trading for 15 minutes a few minutes into the trading day.While the travel, hospitality and energy sectors have so far been on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, analysts said the flight out of stocks reflecting a growing concern that a much wider swath of the American economy will be hurt, even with aggressive monetary policy moves By Martha C. White
Shadow Government Satustic Alternate Inflation Charts The CPI chart on the home page reflects our estimate of inflation for today as if it were calculated the same way it was in 1990. The CPI on the Alternate-Data Series tab here reflects the CPI as if it were calculated using the methodologies in place in 1980. In general terms, methodological shifts in government reporting have depressed reported inflation, moving the concept of the CPI away from being a measure of the cost of living needed to maintain a constant standard of living.
The Fed Has 233 Secret Documents about JPMorgan’s Potential Role in the Repo Loan Crisis The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has acknowledged to Wall Street On Parade that it has 233 documents that might shed some light on why JPMorgan Chase was allowed by the Fed to draw down $158 billion of the reserves it held at the Fed last year, creating a liquidity crisis in the overnight loan market according to sources on Wall Street. After taking four months to respond to what should have been a 20-business day turnaround on our Freedom of Information Act request, the Federal Reserve denied our FOIA in its entirety. (Our earlier request to the New York Fed resulted in the same kind of stonewalling. See The New York Fed Is Keeping JPMorgan’s Secrets Close to Its Chest.) By Pam Martens and Russ Martens, 3/13
Federal Reserve Announces Unprecedented $1.5 Trillion in Loans to Wall Street Today and Tomorrow Making the most unprecedented announcement in the history of Wall Street, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced today that it will be offering $500 billion in 3-month repo loans to its primary dealers (Wall Street trading firms) today at 1:30 p.m. That $500 billion comes on top of the $198.10 billion the New York Fed loaned the street in its morning repo operations. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens, 3/12
World:
Coronavirus Reveals the Cracks in Globalization The coronavirus will eventually pass, but the same cannot be said for the Panglossian phenomenon known as “globalization.” Stripped of the romantic notion of a global village, the ugly process we’ve experienced over the past 40 years has been a case of governmental institutions being eclipsed by multinational corporations, acting to maximize profit in support of shareholders. To billions of us, it has resembled a looting process, of our social wealth, and political meaning. Governments that wanted to stay on top would have to learn to master soft power to learn to be relevant in a globalized world, mostly acting to smooth transactions and otherwise stay out of the way. By Marshall Auerback
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!
Sanders Says Coronavirus ‘A Red Flag for Current Dysfunctional and Wasteful Healthcare System’ Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a speech on Friday addressing “the lessons the nation can learn” from the coronavirus outbreak, which has intensified progressive demands for Medicare for All, paid sick leave, and other policies that would provide health and economic security for all. Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, noted that America’s for-profit healthcare system has left tens of millions of people in the U.S. uninsured or underinsured in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the need for a system that covers everyone as a right. “If this isn’t a red flag for the current dysfunctional and wasteful healthcare system, frankly I don’t know what is,” Sanders said of COVID-19. “We are only as safe as the least insured person in America.”
Economy: