06 July 20
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06 July 20
Robert Reich, Guardian UK
Reich writes: "Donald Trump said Thursday's jobs report, which showed an uptick in June, proves the US economy is 'roaring back.' Rubbish."
The president trumpets jobs figures built on thin ice but does nothing to protect those about to lose their health and homes
onald Trump said Thursday’s jobs report, which showed an uptick in June, proves the US economy is “roaring back”.
Rubbish. The labor department gathered the data during the week of 12 June, when America was reporting 25,000 new cases of Covid-19 a day. By the time the report was issued, that figure was 55,000.
The US economy isn’t roaring back. Just over half of Americans have jobs now, the lowest figure in more than 70 years. What’s roaring back is Covid-19. Until it’s tamed, the American economy doesn’t stand a chance.
The surge in cases isn’t because America is doing more tests for the virus, as Trump contends. Cases are rising even where testing is declining. In Wisconsin, cases soared 28% over the past two weeks, as the number of tests decreased by 14%. Hospitals in Texas, Florida and Arizona are filling up with Covid-19 patients. Deaths are expected to resume their gruesome ascent.
The surge is occurring because America reopened before Covid-19 was contained.
Trump was so intent on having a good economy by election day that he resisted doing what was necessary to contain the virus. He left everything to governors and local officials, then warned that the “cure” of closing the economy was “worse than the disease”. Trump even called on citizens to “liberate” their states from public health restrictions.
Yet he still has no national plan for testing, contact tracing and isolating people with infections. Trump won’t even ask Americans to wear masks. Last week, Democrats accused him of sitting on nearly $14bn in funds for testing and contact tracing that Congress appropriated in April.
It would be one thing if every other rich nation in the world botched it as badly as has America. But even Italy – not always known for the effectiveness of its leaders or the pliability of its citizens – has contained the virus and is reopening without a resurgence.
There was never a conflict between containing Covid-19 and getting the US economy back on track. The first was always a prerequisite to the second. By doing nothing to contain the virus, Trump has not only caused tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths but put the US economy into a stall.
The uptick in jobs in June was due almost entirely to the hasty reopening, which is now being reversed.
Arizona’s Republican governor, Doug Ducey, initially refused to order masks and even barred local officials from doing so. This week he closed all gyms, bars and movie theaters in the state. The governors of Florida, Texas and California have also reimposed restrictions. Officials in Florida’s Miami-Dade county recently approved the reopening of movie theaters, arcades, casinos, concert halls, bowling halls and adult entertainment venues. They have now re-closed them.
And so on across America. A vast re-closing is under way, as haphazard as was the reopening. In the biggest public health emergency in US history, in which nearly 130,000 have already lost their lives, still no one is in charge.
Brace yourself. Not only will the virus take many more lives in the months ahead, but millions of Americans are in danger of becoming destitute. Extra unemployment benefits enacted by Congress in March are set to end on 31 July. About one in five people in renter households are at risk of eviction by 30 September. Delinquency rates on mortgages have more than doubled since March.
An estimated 25 million Americans have lost or will lose employer-provided health insurance. America’s fragile childcare system is in danger of collapse, with the result that hundreds of thousands of working parents will not be able to return to work even if jobs are available.
What is Trump and the GOP’s response to this looming catastrophe? Nothing. Senate Republicans are trying to ram through a $740bn defense bill while ignoring legislation to provide housing and food relief.
They are refusing to extend extra unemployment benefits beyond July, saying the benefits are keeping Americans from returning to work. In reality, it’s the lack of jobs.
Trump has done one thing. He’s asked the supreme court to strike down the Affordable Care Act. If the court agrees, it will end health insurance for 23 million more Americans and give the richest 0.1% a tax cut of about $198,000 a year.
This is sheer lunacy. The priority must be to get control over this pandemic and help Americans survive it, physically and financially. Anything less is morally indefensible.
Opponents of the Dakota Access oil pipeline march out of their main camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in February 2017. (photo: Terray Sylvester/Reuters)
Judge Sides With Sioux and Suspends Dakota Access Pipeline
Associated Press
Excerpt: "A federal judge has sided with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and ordered the Dakota Access pipeline shut down until a more extensive environmental review is done."
READ MORE
Mitch McConnell. (photo: Getty Images)
Associated Press
Excerpt: "A federal judge has sided with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and ordered the Dakota Access pipeline shut down until a more extensive environmental review is done."
READ MORE
Mitch McConnell. (photo: Getty Images)
Republicans Want to Kill the Weekly Bonus for Unemployed Workers
Cameron Joseph, VICE
Joseph writes: "Senate Republicans have refused to work seriously on the next round of legislation to deal with the ongoing economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, insisting on waiting until they return on July 20 before negotiating the next COVID spending package."
READ MORE
Phoenix Police Department officers surround a car on Saturday in the neighborhood of Maryvale. (photo: Phoenix City Councilman Carlos Garcia/Facebook)
Cameron Joseph, VICE
Joseph writes: "Senate Republicans have refused to work seriously on the next round of legislation to deal with the ongoing economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, insisting on waiting until they return on July 20 before negotiating the next COVID spending package."
READ MORE
Phoenix Police Department officers surround a car on Saturday in the neighborhood of Maryvale. (photo: Phoenix City Councilman Carlos Garcia/Facebook)
Allyson Chiu, The Washington Post
Chiu writes: "As four Phoenix police officers surrounded a sedan parked in the driveway of a one-story house on Saturday, at least two of the officers had their guns drawn and pointed at the car."
Phoenix Police Department released body cam footage of an assisting officer not involved in the shooting death of James Garcia. Plus witness' video footage depicting the killing of the 28-year-old man in west Phoenix on the 4th of July has renewed criticism of the Police Department.
READ more: https://bit.ly/2O3LtCN
'I felt like I'd been stabbed in the heart,' John Damroth said of learni
Andrea Estes, The Boston Globe
Estes writes: "Clients called Patricia Lindau the 'nicest person' - until she disappeared."
Lindau’s lawyer said in a court filing that the couple planned to liquidate assets, including their house in Maine, in hopes of paying off creditors within three to five years. The lawyer, James Molleur, called that “a worthy goal in any reorganization bankruptcy case.”
The magnitude of Lindau’s debts is laid out in a court document Lindau and her husband, Kjell, filed this past week in Maine, where they are seeking bankruptcy protection. Her top 20 creditors, listed in the filing, include Cushing, as well as two bakeries, an electrician, 18 small-restaurant owners and a newsstand operator. There are another 40 or so named creditors, though the amounts they are owed are not listed and not all of them appear to be clients. The court filings say she owes between $1 million and $10 million to all of her creditors.
Neither Lindau nor her attorney have explained how she came to owe her clients so much money or why she failed to pay their taxes.
The one creditor in a good position to recover some losses to Lindau is Camden National Bank, which had given Lindau several loans, including a federal payroll protection loan that was supposed to help businesses keep their workers employed during the COVID-19 crisis. In bankruptcy court, the bank said that Lindau’s company faces multiple claims of unauthorized withdrawals from clients’ accounts, charges that “certainly sound ... analogous to fraud and other dishonest conduct.” The couple have denied the charges.
The bank plans to auction off two commercial buildings the couple own in Eastport, Maine, later this month, though the bankruptcy filing could complicate the sale. The bank said the Lindaus filed for bankruptcy primarily to stop the auction of their property.
It is not the first time a payroll processing company has been accused of stealing clients’ money. In March, an Indiana payroll company owner was sentenced to six years in federal prison and ordered to repay nearly $9 million to customers he bilked.
And in September 2019, the FBI announced it was investigating the sudden shutdown of a payroll processing company in upstate New York and the disappearance of up to $35 million.
That month, the company, MyPayrollHR, sent a message to its clients, similar to the one Lindau sent to her clients, saying it would no longer be able to process payroll transactions.
The message blamed “unforeseen circumstances” and advised companies to “find alternative methods for processing your payrolls.”
The Talia's captain was forced to accommodate the stranded people in the vessel's dirty cattle cages. (photo: The Talia)
Italy, Malta Reject 52 Migrants Stranded on Animal Cargo Ship
Lorenzo D'Agostino, Al Jazeera
D'Agostino writes: "A Lebanese cargo ship carrying 52 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean has been denied access to Italy and Malta, forcing its captain to accommodate the stranded people in the vessel's dirty cattle cages."
READ MORE
Lorenzo D'Agostino, Al Jazeera
D'Agostino writes: "A Lebanese cargo ship carrying 52 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean has been denied access to Italy and Malta, forcing its captain to accommodate the stranded people in the vessel's dirty cattle cages."
READ MORE
Native American protesters demonstrate in Keystone, S.D., ahead of President Donald Trump's visit to the memorial Friday, July 3, 2020. Protesters
"He Wasn't Invited": How Trump's Racist Mt. Rushmore Celebration Violated Indigenous Sovereignty
Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "The Black Hills have become a hot spot of the kind of cultural war that Trump is trying to stir up across the nation."
Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "The Black Hills have become a hot spot of the kind of cultural war that Trump is trying to stir up across the nation."
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