Due to Years of Austerity, Cuts to Public Health Care, And An Anti-Science and Profiteering President, The United States Now Leads the World In Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World! And Now the Total Caronavirs Deaths in the United States are Over 20% of the Total Death in the Entire World!
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!
Crises Clarify How Years, of Capitalist Austerity Programs, Have Left This Nation, and the Capitalist World, Totally Unprepared for the Coronavirus Pandemic. This also Clarifies That Capitalism is a Global Threat to Humanity.
Crises clarify. The bigger the crisis, the more the clarity, which is why the incompetence, dishonesty, and sheer callousness of the Trump Presidency have been clearer in recent days than ever before. As the coronavirus, as of Wednesday an official pandemic, spreads, the lives of Americans depend on the decisions made— or not made, as the case may be — by a President uniquely ill-suited to command in this type of public-health catastrophe. In that sense, the last few weeks may well have been the most clarifying of Donald Trump’s Presidency. — A President Unequal to the Moment
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 Reublicrats 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 Tax-Break Bonanza Inside the Economic Rescue Package As small businesses and individuals struggle to obtain federal aid, the wealthiest are poised to reap tens of billions of dollars in tax savings. As the federal government dispenses trillions of dollars to save the economy, small businesses and out-of-work individuals are jostling to grab small slices of aid before the funds run out. But another group is in no danger of missing out: wealthy individuals and big companies that are poised for tax windfalls. By Jesse Drucker
Small Business Rescue Money Flowing To Major Trump Donors, Disclosures Show Major donors to President Donald Trump’s presidential reelection campaign have won coveted loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, the new government effort to provide a lifeline to small businesses under duress because of the coronavirus pandemic. The loans, which are converted to grants if payroll is maintained and other, sometimes unclear, conditions are met, have been out of reach for tens of thousands of small business owners, many of whom have faced delays and denials. But PPP loans have been swiftly approved for a number of corporations whose executives have donated heavily to Trump’s campaign, Securities and Exchange Commission records show. By Lee FangCapitalism and the Illusion of Democracy Something to consider while suffering through the daily barrage of fabulist blather from Donald Trump is that if the Democrats thought it would benefit their cause, they would be putting Joe Biden front and center to counter this pain. That they aren’t suggests that they understand exactly how politically tenuous Mr. Biden is. In turn, that Joe Biden is their choice suggests that all isn’t what it could be in duopoly-party land. And coming in the midst of serial trillion-dollar bailouts, capitalism is looking a bit iffy as well. By Rob Urie
News Networks Must Provide Equal Time to Rebut Trump’s Daily Campaign Events TThe long U.S. tradition of providing equal time to the opposition party after a president’s yearly State of the Union (SOTU) address must now apply to Trump’s daily COVID-19 “briefings.” These chaotic, embarrassing, deeply disturbing displays of presidential dishonesty and incompetence define Trump’s “state of the pandemic” addresses.
One World-wide Effect of “Stay at Home” is a Huge Drop in Airpollution and Cleaner Air. I Now Clearly See How the Future Could Be If We Did Not Burn Fosil Fuels: Amid Historic Oil Collapse, an Opportunity to Accelerate Clean Transportation Petroleum products continue to fuel most of our vehicles while fouling our air, leaving some people more vulnerable to suffering severe impacts from respiratory illnesses like COVID-19. Transportation is also the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and studies show that powering our cars, trucks, and buses with electricity would reduce climate pollution. By Dana Drugmand
America’s Great Greenwashing Celebrating 50 years of Earth Day, Michael Moore, executive producer and director Jeff Gibbs re-released their daunting and alarming documentary about the heart and soul of America’s Green Movement in a compelling film: Planet of the Humans (2019). According to Michael Moore: “This is perhaps the most urgent film we’ve shown in the 15-year history of our film festival.” (Traverse City Film Festival). By Robert Hunziker‘Silent Spring Is Already Here’: Global Study Shows Nearly 25% Drop in Insect Population Over 30 Years “We keep getting clear signs that the way we live and the actions we take are having severe consequences.” By Jessica Corbett
Civil Rights/ Black Liberation:
Labor:
If we dedicate war memorials to the memory of men and women, who are cut down before their time, these (Workplaces) are war memorials. . . . — Homer Seguin, Video: Before Their Time” Cancer & Health And Safety On Our Jobs. Cancer & Health And Safety On Our Jobs (Video)
I Wrote This Essay Ten Years Ago, Safety on the Job Has Declined Since Then and More Workers Have Died On the Job!:
The War at the Point of Production: The ‘Killing Fields’ of the United States Like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, world imperialism spreads War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death, throughout the world. Author Gore Vidal describes this era as ‘Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace’. One perpetual war, which is not openly publicized, is the war for profits. It takes place every single day at the point of production, and is killing increasing numbers of workers every year. Today, workers are used as ‘cannon fodder’ both in the war in Iraq and in the war for profits at home. Workplaces have become perpetual ‘killing fields’.
Indiana Harbor Canal, looking at Inland Steel, Northern Indiana, and southeast Chicago. Indiana Harbor Canal, was home to four or five steel mills in a row along the shore of Lake Michigan, including LTV Steel, US Steel’s Gary Works, and the Burns Harbor plant of Bethlehem Steel. Some would also include the defunct AcmeSteel. (Photo courtesy of Samuel Love) It is “arguably the most polluted waterway in the country (the only waterway to fail every beneficial use” — Thomas Frank
Despite COVID-19, Trump Keeps on Gutting Protections for Workers “Without universal health insurance, without universal sick leave, with a growing gig economy, and without our federal safety agency taking action … we’re all at greater risk for the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), during a virtual press conference on Thursday. “Worker health is public health. The coronavirus and other hazards don’t stay put in any one workplace.” By Mike Ludwig
Tell Congress: Essential Workers Deserve Essential Protections Millions of essential workers across the country are rising to the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic and, unfortunately, are having to put their lives at risk to care for our communities. Essential workers from health care professionals to farm workers and grocery workers to bus drivers deserve support on the same scale they are providing to all of us. Pass an essential workers bill of rights in the next federal relief package to provide needed protections, compensation, and safety nets to all essential workers.
Economy:
Fed Plans to Release Names of Bailout Recipients – Just Not on $9 Trillion in Secret Loans Yesterday, the Federal Reserve issued a press release, which, on the surface, made it sound like the Fed is going to make full disclosure on where its trillions of dollars in money created out of thin air is going. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, the Fed is saying it will only release the names and details of its programs where the taxpayer is putting up money to absorb losses. That leaves the following programs with no guarantee of timely transparency: the Fed’s repo loan program which has already made more than $9 trillion in super cheap revolving loans to the trading houses on Wall Street; the Fed’s Discount Window which, as of this past Wednesday, has a balance of $33.7 billion that went to unknown banks; the $31.5 billion currently outstanding at the Fed’s Primary Dealer Credit Facility, which is making revolving loans at ¼ of one percent to the trading houses on Wall Street against collateral that includes stocks and toxic waste known as CDOs and CLOs. By Pam Martens and Russ MartensWorld:
Blairism: a legacy that must be buried Keir Starmer’s leadership victory was met with jubilation by the Blairites. These gangsters have actively conspired against the election of a Labour government. We must clear out these saboteurs and fight against any return to Blairism. By Khaled MalachiStarmer isn’t attacking the establishment – because he’s funded by them New Labour leader ‘Sir’ Keir Starmer has been notable by his absence in recent weeks. Yet he has earnt plaudits from establishment commentators for providing ‘credible opposition’. No wonder – he is bankrolled by big business. By Joe Attard
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!
Just think of when, in the debates with Bernie Sanders during the spring, Biden and Klobuchar kept saying, ‘What we’re paying for Medicare-for-All will be $1 trillion over 10 years.’ Well, here the Fed can create $1.5 trillion in one week just to buy stocks. Why is it okay for the Fed to create $1.5 trillion to buy stocks to prevent rich people from losing on their stocks, when it’s not okay to print only $1 trillion to pay for free Medicare for the entire population? This is crazy! The idea is that only the rich should be allowed to print money for themselves, but the government should not be allowed to print money for any public purpose, any social purpose — not for medicine, not for schools, not for personal budgets, not for full employment — but only to give to the 1 percent. — Michael Hudson
How the Chinese Authorities and the World Health Organization Handled the Coronavirus On April 14, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump addressed a news conference at the White House, where he said that his administration would “halt [all] funding” for the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO, founded in 1948, is the principal United Nations agency tasked with the improvement of the health of the world; it is also widely acknowledged as an agency that is best suited to deal with health emergencies. On March 11, a month before Trump’s announcement, the WHO had declared a global pandemic as a result of its deep concern of both the alarming levels of spread and severity, and the alarming levels of inaction. Up to this April, this highly infectious virus has sickened at least 2 million people and killed 183,000 people around the globe. The number of people who have died in New York City—Trump’s hometown—from the novel coronavirus outbreak is far higher than that of 9/11. To cut funding to the only agency able to coordinate the global response drew a sharp intake of breath from people around the world. By Vijay Prashad
Capitalism and the Illusion of Democracy Something to consider while suffering through the daily barrage of fabulist blather from Donald Trump is that if the Democrats thought it would benefit their cause, they would be putting Joe Biden front and center to counter this pain. That they aren’t suggests that they understand exactly how politically tenuous Mr. Biden is. In turn, that Joe Biden is their choice suggests that all isn’t what it could be in duopoly-party land. And coming in the midst of serial trillion-dollar bailouts, capitalism is looking a bit iffy as well. By Rob Urie
“Please Don’t”: Doctors Forced to Speak Out as Trump Ponders Whether Injecting Disinfectants Could Treat Covid-19 ALERT! Please do not ingest, inject, inhale, or otherwise use any disinfectant outside of its labeled instructions. And do not start using tanning beds or sunning without sunscreen.” By Jake Johnson
A Power Grab’: Postal Union Slams Trump for Holding USPS Funds Hostage to Force ‘Draconian Cuts’ “This administration is committed to fulfilling the decades-long pursuit by some to sacrifice our public Postal Service at the altar of private profit.” By Jake Johnson
‘Silent Spring Is Already Here’: Global Study Shows Nearly 25% Drop in Insect Population Over 30 Years “We keep getting clear signs that the way we live and the actions we take are having severe consequences.” By Jessica Corbett
World:
