INTREPID REPORT: Week of April 6, 2020

We cannot keep publishing without your help. We have no paywalls or ads. Nor do we receive corporate or foundation funding. All we have is you to keep us publishing. We rely on you to help us pay our monthly expenses. So please Donate Monday Was the Fed just nationalized? Did Congress just nationalize the Fed? No. But the door has been cracked open for that possibility. By Ellen Brown Mainstream politicians have long insisted that Medicare for All, a universal basic income, student debt relief and a slew of other much-needed public programs are off the table because the federal government cannot afford them. But that was before Wall Street and the stock market were driven onto life-support by a virus. Congress has now suddenly discovered the magic money tree. It took only a few days for Congress to unanimously pass the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which will be doling out $2.2 trillion in crisis relief, most of it going to Corporate America with few strings attached. Beyond that, the Federal Reserve is making over $4 trillion available to banks, hedge funds and other financial entities of all stripes; it has dropped the fed funds rate (the rate at which banks borrow from each other) effectively to zero; and it has made $1.5 trillion available to the repo market. Medicare for each of us in the age of the coronavirus The U.S. public—and increasingly the business community—are becoming acutely aware of the rising costs and inadequacies of our current for-profit system, particularly as the current epidemic unfolds. There is no other choice but Medicare for All. By Peter S. Arno and Philip Caper Over the past two weeks, the explosive growth of the coronavirus pandemic has forced nearly 10 million Americans to file for unemployment benefits. Along with their jobs, many have lost their health insurance, if they had any to begin with. Aside from possibly spelling disaster for these newly unemployed workers and their families, this situation puts both the public health and economic wellbeing of our country at great risk. A clearer rationale for universal, affordable, lifetime health coverage as exemplified under a Medicare For All framework would be hard to find. US prevents adoption of UN resolution to lift illegal sanctions to combat COVID-19 By Stephen Lendman A UN General Assembly resolution introduced by Russia to lift illegally imposed US sanctions on Iran, Venezuela, and other nations was rejected by the Trump regime. Coronavirus failures show Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States Seven ‘pro-contagion activities’ by Trump increased the coronavirus death toll in the United States. By Ralph Nader Trump ridiculed, then minimized, then delayed the federal government’s response to the coronavirus for weeks. Then finally he wrapped his boastful, confused ego around reality. But Trump is actively pushing programs that will endanger more Americans. COVID: Invasion of the Wealth-Snatchers By Jane Stillwater Hold on to your piggy banks, guys! Financial vampires are coming to steal them as well. Tuesday Healthcare know-nothings running Trump regime’s COVID-19 crisis response By Stephen Lendman In late February, Trump bungled by putting evangelical Christian fascist/science denier Pence in charge of one of two COVID-19 task forces. ‘A really chilling moment’: Trump refuses to allow Dr. Fauci to answer question on dangers of hydroxychloroquine ‘This is unacceptable. Dr. Fauci, one of the world's top infectious disease scientists, was just censored live at a White House press conference.’ By Jake Johnson During a press briefing Sunday night purportedly aimed at providing the U.S. public with crucial information amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump refused to allow the nation’s top infectious disease expert to answer a reporter’s question about the efficacy of an anti-malaria drug that the president has recklessly touted as a possible COVID-19 treatment despite warnings from medical professionals. Why COVID-19 is not the ‘Great Leveller’ The poor are at the mercy of authorities that may or may not have treatment resources By Linda S. Heard I frequently hear news anchors refer to this current planetary scourge as “a great leveller” that does not discriminate in terms of social status and is not deterred by borders. While I can understand the reasoning behind that conclusion it is open to challenge. Efficiency vs. resilience This crisis is pulling back the curtain on unfettered capitalism, showing that we are actually interconnected. By Jill Richardson Many years ago, bestselling author Michael Pollan explained there’s a trade-off between efficiency and resilience. What it means to be ‘safe’ By Prakash Kona I am beginning to be slightly wary of the word “safe.” What does it mean anyway? In times of crisis why do people fall back on clichés of the worst kind? Why are we at a loss of words that accurately reflect our feelings in times of disaster? Why do people who are on a public platform such as government spokespersons, medical experts and journalists keep repeating the same thing as if the set of words that they memorized have an inner meaning which we are supposed to decode in isolation? Wednesday Kushner’s Grand Theft Ventilator scheme By Wayne Madsen The government of Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley was shocked when the Trump administration seized over 150 ventilators ordered and pre-purchased by Barbados from five different foreign sources. Although Barbados Health and Wellness Minister Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic said there are no shortage of ventilators in the country to deal with its current level of Covid-19 cases, the seizure by the U.S. has resulted in icy relations between Barbados and the United States. Oversight of $4.5 trillion corporate bailout in ‘grave jeopardy’ as Trump fires independent watchdog ‘A direct insult to the American taxpayers—of all political stripes—who want to make sure that their tax dollars are not squandered on wasteful boondoggles, incompetence, or political favors.’ By Jake Johnson In a move that critics warned could put independent oversight of a multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package “in grave jeopardy,” President Donald Trump on Monday fired the official in charge of monitoring the federal government’s implementation of the business-friendly new law. The EPA just gave polluters a license to kill Using the pandemic as cover, the agency is suspending environmental regulations. I’ve seen firsthand what happens next—people die. By Lois Gibbs Our government just told polluters they are free to pump deadly chemicals into our air and water. That’s because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has suspended all enforcement indefinitely, until the COVID-19 crisis is over. Lost in the mail The pandemic threatens letter carriers, their customers, the US Postal Service itself—and even the November election. By Michael Winship We finally got the mail on Thursday. None had arrived for a week, except for some packages. Our main local post office downtown, at the southern end of Manhattan’s West Village, has been hit hard by COVID-19. Trump’s COVID-19 power grab By Robert Reich The utter chaos in America’s response to the pandemic—shortages of equipment to protect hospital workers, dwindling supplies of ventilators and critical medications, and jaw-dropping confusion over how the $2.2 trillion of aid in the recent coronavirus law will be distributed—was perhaps predictable in a nation that prides itself on competitive individualism and hates centralized power. Thursday Libertarian leaders: a recipe for lethal government incompetence and criminality By Wayne Madsen Throughout the world in countries that elected right-wing anti-government libertarian leaders—from the United States and Brazil to the United Kingdom and Australia—incompetence and lack of preparedness for the Covid-19 pandemic will directly lead to hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. The political rhetoric of those leaders who practice “barbarian laissez-faire” policies have been exposed by Covid-19 as worthless pablum designed to enthrall their unthinking supporters. Trump: Postal workers don’t deserve a financial lifeline No one else can deliver essential goods to every home in America. But the president is dismissing dire warnings of an imminent USPS collapse, falsely claiming that postal financial woes are self-inflicted. By Sarah Anderson The financially strapped United States Postal Service wound up with crumbs in the $2.2 trillion stimulus deal, despite playing a vital role in our nation’s public health and economic stability at this time of crisis. Exposing ‘folly of tying health coverage to jobs,’ new study estimates 7.3 million more uninsured in US by June Employer-based health insurance during the current coronavirus outbreak, said one researcher behind the study, ‘is like an umbrella that melts in the rain.’ By Jon Queally A new study out Tuesday estimates that worker layoffs unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic in the United States have already caused more than 1.5 million people to lose their employer-provided health insurance in recent weeks, with another 5.7 million likely to become uninsured by the end of June. Wisconsin’s unconscionable sham The state’s election was a danger to public health and a democratic travesty—all to help Republicans suppress more votes. By Jill Richardson Wisconsin might have just decided the November election for Trump at the expense of its own citizens’ lives. Freedom Rider: Standing with Venezuela and Iran By Margaret Kimberley The Trump administration wants a hot war with Iran or Venezuela, or both, and those of us claiming to be antiwar must be on our guard and ready for action. Friday It’s now the very ugly American pandemic By Wayne Madsen The world will not soon forget the despicable nature of the Trump administration during the worst global pandemic since the 1918 flu. Trump, aided and abetted by a rogues’ gallery of misfits, hyper-xenophobes, and egotistical homosexuals, has all but ruined any good will the United States still maintained in the world prior to the coronavirus outbreak. Will Trump’s GOP finally kill American democracy? By Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman For Donald Trump’s GOP followers, the real issue in the 2020 election is democracy itself. COVID-19’s challenge to the Christian Church: What would Jesus do? By John W. Whitehead In every age, we find ourselves wrestling with the question of how Jesus Christ—the itinerant preacher and revolutionary activist who died challenging the police state of his time, namely, the Roman Empire—would respond to the moral questions of our day. Will Covid-19 spur a peoples’ bailout for the world’s poorest? The question is whether Covid-19 will awaken us to the stark inequalities of our world, or does it simply represent a new cause of impoverishment for the vast swathes of humanity who have long been disregarded by the public’s conscience? By Adam Parsons Since the beginning of 2020, we’ve entered an extraordinary new era. There is still a great deal of fear and uncertainty about what lies ahead, and most countries are undergoing a kind of social and political revolution that is unprecedented in the post-war period. But amidst the tragedy and suffering of those affected by Covid-19, there is also a reawakening of hope about the future possibilities of this epochal moment. Political campaigners of every type are rolling out their progressive agendas, envisioning the crisis as an inflection point that could potentially kickstart a more just and sustainable economy. Stop the pandemic profiteers It’s time for indignant citizens today to confront a new breed of shameful greed merchants: pandemic profiteers. By Jim Hightower Wartime profiteering has been as common in our country as war itself.