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23 April 20
Noam Chomsky: We Face Another Colossal Failure of Capitalism
teleSUR
Excerpt: "'The first lesson is that we are facing another massive and colossal failure of the neoliberal version of capitalism. If we don't learn that, next time something similar happens will be worse,' Chomsky said."
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teleSUR
Excerpt: "'The first lesson is that we are facing another massive and colossal failure of the neoliberal version of capitalism. If we don't learn that, next time something similar happens will be worse,' Chomsky said."
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Demonstrators gather in front of the Colorado State Capitol building to protest coronavirus stay-at-home orders during a 'ReOpen Colorado' rally in Denver on Sunday, April 19, 2020. (photo: Jason Connolly/AFP)
Overwhelming Majority of Americans Think Trump Shouldn't Encourage Stay-at-Home Protests, Poll Finds
The Week
Excerpt: "A majority of Americans opposes recent protests against stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus crisis and feels President Trump should not encourage them, a new poll has found."
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The Week
Excerpt: "A majority of Americans opposes recent protests against stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus crisis and feels President Trump should not encourage them, a new poll has found."
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks during a news briefing at the U.S. Capitol, April 21, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (photo: Tom Brenner/Getty)
Mitch McConnell Hints He Could Block the Next Stimulus Package
Li Zhou, Vox
Zhou writes: "This week Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested he might be ready to pump the brakes on any future coronavirus relief packages."
Li Zhou, Vox
Zhou writes: "This week Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested he might be ready to pump the brakes on any future coronavirus relief packages."
EXCERPT:
“We haven’t had much discussion about adding $2.7 trillion to the national debt, and the way that could indeed also threaten the future of the country,” McConnell recently said on The Hugh Hewitt Show.
Leaders of both parties have acknowledged that more aid is needed to address the overwhelming economic fallout that’s occurred during the pandemic, but McConnell appears increasingly reluctant to approve additional stimulus at the current scale. He also suggested that bankruptcy for some states might be preferable to bailouts — a process almost all states currently cannot use.
With the likely passage of a $480 billion bill aimed at providing more funding for small businesses this week, the combined coronavirus relief will include over $2.7 trillion going toward workers, businesses, and states. These bills far surpass the roughly $1.5 trillion lawmakers approved across different bills in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
But the current economic crisis and public health crisis is unprecedented; more than 22 million people have filed for unemployment insurance in the span of a month.
Many economic experts note that the stimulus that’s needed will have to match the singular magnitude — and nature — of the crisis. Additionally, they emphasize that current interest rates, which are lower than they were when congressional Republicans imposed their tax cuts in 2018, reduce the cost of borrowing.
“We want massive, debt-financed disaster relief while the economy is in its medically induced coma,” economist Paul Krugman has said.
People wait in line for help with unemployment benefits at the One-Stop Career Center, on March 17, 2020, in Las Vegas. (photo: John Locker/AP)
Deluge Continues: 26 Million Jobs Lost in Just 5 Weeks
Jim Zarroli and Avie Schneider, NPR
Excerpt: "The number of people forced out of work during the coronavirus lockdown continues to soar to historic highs. Another 4.4 million people claimed unemployment benefits last week around the country, the Labor Department said."
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Jim Zarroli and Avie Schneider, NPR
Excerpt: "The number of people forced out of work during the coronavirus lockdown continues to soar to historic highs. Another 4.4 million people claimed unemployment benefits last week around the country, the Labor Department said."
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Greeting a local news station, Braskem America workers finally clock out on Sunday after living and working inside the factory for 28 days. (photo: WPVI)
28 Days Later: Self-Quarantined Factory Workers Made Millions of Pounds of PPE Materials to Fight COVID-19
Meagan Flynn, The Washington Post
Flynn writes: "For 28 days, they did not leave - sleeping and working all in one place."
Meagan Flynn, The Washington Post
Flynn writes: "For 28 days, they did not leave - sleeping and working all in one place."
EXCERPT:
For 28 days, they did not leave — sleeping and working all in one place.
In what they called a “live-in” at the factory, the undertaking was just one example of the endless ways that Americans in every industry have uniquely contributed to fighting coronavirus. The 43 men went home Sunday after each working 12-hour shifts all day and night for a month straight, producing tens of millions of pounds of the raw materials that will end up in face masks and surgical gowns worn on the front lines of the pandemic.
No one told them they had to do it, Braskem America CEO Mark Nikolich said. All of the workers volunteered, hunkering down at the plant to ensure no one caught the virus outside as they sought to meet the rocketing demand for their key product, polypropylene, which is needed to make various medical and hygienic items. Braskem’s plant in Neal, W.Va., is doing a second live-in now. The story was earlier reported in Philadelphia’s WPVI.
“We were just happy to be able to help,” Boyce, an operations shift supervisor and a 27-year veteran at Braskem America, told The Washington Post. “We’ve been getting messages on social media from nurses, doctors, EMS workers, saying thank you for what we’re doing. But we want to thank them for what they did and are continuing to do. That’s what made the time we were in there go by quickly, just being able to support them.”
For countless face masks in America, their journey from a blob of chemicals into the hands of first responders and grocery-store clerks likely began at a plant just like Braskem’s. The company, which touts itself as the largest petrochemical producer in the Americas, is one of the earliest links in the supply chain, providing a key ingredient for the personal protective equipment that millions of people worldwide now need each day.
Nikolich said the company has shifted its production lines to focus on making that key ingredient, polypropylene, given the high demand due to covid-19. The company then sells the product to clients that turn it into a nonwoven fabric, which medical manufacturers ultimately use to make face masks, medical gowns and even disinfectant wipes, among other items.
Nikolich estimated that the Braskem plants in Pennsylvania and West Virginia have produced 40 million pounds of polypropylene over the past month — enough to hypothetically make either 500 million N95 masks or 1.5 billion surgical masks, if the material were used only for that purpose. (It will also be used for other PPE such as the gowns, Nikolich stressed.)
“It just makes you immensely proud to be associated with a team like that,” Nikolich said. “They’re operating in a strange environment 24/7, 365.”
Nikolich said the plants decided to launch the live-ins so employees could avoid having to worry about catching the virus while constantly traveling to and from work, and so the staff at the factory could be closed off to nonessential personnel. They were paid for all 24 hours each day, with a built-in wage increase for both working hours and off time, the company said. It did not disclose the specific percentages.
Kim Yo Jung, the youngest sister of Kim Jung Un. (photo: Jorge Silva/Getty)
If Kim Jong Un Dies, His Younger Sister Is Primed to Take Over
Donald Kirk, The Daily Beast
Kirk writes: "The debutante - slender, smiling, gracious - seemed to be so very different from her porcine brother. But now that his health is in question, and amid conflicting reports that he could be at death's door, his little sister may well be first in line to carry on the family dynasty."
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Donald Kirk, The Daily Beast
Kirk writes: "The debutante - slender, smiling, gracious - seemed to be so very different from her porcine brother. But now that his health is in question, and amid conflicting reports that he could be at death's door, his little sister may well be first in line to carry on the family dynasty."
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Bottles of Coca-Cola's Dasani brand water move along the production line. (photo: George Frey/Getty)
How Pepsi and Coke Make Millions Bottling Tap Water, as Residents Face Shutoffs
Ryan Felton, Consumer Reports and Guardian UK
Felton writes: "The coronavirus pandemic has underscored just how problematic water shutoffs can be, as utilities servicing nearly 40% of the US population still have not committed to suspending water shutoffs, according to Food & Water Watch. This has consumer advocates worried."
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Ryan Felton, Consumer Reports and Guardian UK
Felton writes: "The coronavirus pandemic has underscored just how problematic water shutoffs can be, as utilities servicing nearly 40% of the US population still have not committed to suspending water shutoffs, according to Food & Water Watch. This has consumer advocates worried."
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