Saturday, March 21, 2020
WAR PROFITEER CARTOONS 3
MONTREAL, QUEBEC CANADA ANTI CONSCRIPTION
ANTI WAR PROFITEERING 1917
ANTI WAR PROFITEERING PARIS, 1918
Capitalism is an Incubator for Pandemics. Socialism is the Solution.
The spread of the coronavirus is exposing all of the contradictions of capitalism. It shows why socialism is urgent.
It is only going to get worse. The spread of the virus is impossible to stop — and this is due to social reasons more than biological ones. While doctors recommend that people stay home when they are feeling sick in order to reduce the possibility of spreading the virus, working-class people just can’t afford to stay home at the first sight of a cough.
Contrary to Donald Trump’s recent suggestions that many with COVID-19 should “even go to work,” the CDC recommends that those who are infected by the virus should be quarantined. This poses a problem under capitalism for members of the working class who cannot afford to simply take off work unannounced. New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio recently suggested avoiding crowded subway cars or working from home if possible, but many rely on public transit. Suggestions from government leaders show their disconnect from the working class. 58% Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings and around 40% of Americans could not afford an unexpected bill of $400. So for many, staying home or not using public transit is simply not an option.
Even more people avoid the doctor when we get sick. With or without insurance, a trip to the hospital means racking up massive medical bills. The Guardian reports that 25% of Americans say they or a family member have delayed medical treatment due to the costs of care. In May 2019, The American Cancer Society found that 56% of adults report having at least one medical financial hardship. Medical debt remains the number one cause of bankruptcy in the country. One third of all donations on the fundraising site GoFundMe go to covering healthcare costs. That is the healthcare system of the wealthiest country in the world: GoFundMe.
Clearly, this is a very dangerous scenario. Already, people are being saddled with massive bills if they seek tests for the coronavirus. The Miami Herald wrote a story about Osmel Martinez Azcue who went to the hospital for flu-like symptoms after a work trip to China. While luckily it was found that he had the flu, the hospital visit cost $3,270, according to a notice from his insurance company. Business Insider made a chart of the possible costs associated with going to the hospital for COVID-19:
Of course, these costs will be no problem for some. The three richest Americans own more wealth than the bottom 50% of Americans. The concentration of wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer capitalists is part of capitalism’s DNA. But as Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkson highlight extensively in their book The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, people in more equal societies are healthier. They live longer, have lower infant mortality, and have high self-ratings of health. Inequality leads to poorer overall health.
So how does this relate to COVID-19? The main theory for these outcomes is that inequality of wealth and power in a society leads to a state of chronic stress. This wreaks havoc on bodily systems such as the cardiovascular system and the immune system, leaving individuals more susceptible to health problems. This means as societies become more and more unequal, we will see individuals more and more susceptible to infection. Capitalism’s inequality puts us all at greater risk as COVID-19 spreads.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) In Socialism
COVID-19 highlights the need for socialism to face epidemics like these. And by socialism, we don’t mean Medicare for All or New Deal liberalism. Medicare for All is not enough to face pandemics like the coronavirus. We mean a society in which human needs govern production, not the drive for profit. It’s a society without capitalists, where production and reproduction is democratically planned by the working class and oppressed. In this kind of society, we would be able to respond to the COVID-19 infinitely better than in capitalism.
In a socialist society, both prevention and responses to outbreaks of illness would change drastically. Supplies such as hand soap, hand sanitizer, and surface sanitizing wipes or sprays are in extremely high demand at this time. We are already seeing shortages of key supplies around the world. The need for profit maximization under capitalism has led companies to drastically raise their prices in this time of high demand. For example, the Washington Post has reported drastic increases in prices of products such as Purell Hand Sanitizer. Under capitalism, scarcity leads to greater profit.
Capitalism has led to a globalized system of production containing industries at disparate ends of the globe that truly depend on each other to function. This allows for a capitalist’s exploitation of a worker in a factory in China producing iPhones that goes unnoticed by an Apple customer here in the U.S.. It also allows corporations to drive down costs in one area of the world that may have weaker protections for workers. While this is beneficial for capitalists, outbreaks of illnesses such as COVID-19 highlight clear weaknesses in this system. A large portion of the basic materials used to make new medicines come from China. Since industry is so affected by viral spread, production of supplies has been drastically cut. This delays the ability for a rapid response in other countries such as the U.S..
A central aspect of socialism is a democratically run planned economy: an economy in which all resources are allocated according to need, instead of ability to pay. Need is decided democratically by both producers and consumersWith the means of production under workers’ control, we would be able to quickly increase production of these products in an emergency.
Furthermore, with the elimination of the barriers between intellectual and manual labor, increasing numbers of workers would be familiarized with the entire production process and ready to jump in where needed. In worker cooperatives within capitalism like MadyGraf in Argentina and Mondragon in Spain, workers already learn all aspects of production. This allows workers to shift to areas where extra effort is needed.
Socialism cannot exist in only one country, so a global planned economy would be key in these moments. If one country is experiencing a shortage, others would have to make up for it. This is key for reigning in global epidemics like the coronavirus: it will only be stopped if we stop it everywhere. In a global planned economy, this would be a much easier task.
Staying Home
Staying Home
If one does get sick, making a decision to protect oneself and others by taking time off should never lead them to have to worry about losing their job, paying their rent, putting food on the table, or being able to provide for their children. Under capitalism services such as housing and healthcare are reduced to commodities. This often presents people with the ultimatum: work while sick and potentially expose others, or stay home and risk losing your job.
Under socialism, the increased mechanization of production and the elimination of unnecessary jobs — goodbye advertising industry! goodbye health insurance industry! — would already drastically reduce the number of hours that we would need to work. We would be spending vast hours of the day making art or hanging out with friends and family.
During disease outbreaks, we would be able to stay home at the first sign of a cold, in addition to getting tested right away. In a planned economy, we could allocate resources where they are most needed, and take into account a decrease in the workforce due to illness.
Where Are the Coronavirus Therapies?
Currently, multiple for-profit companies are attempting to test (sometimes new, sometimes previously rejected and now recycled) therapies to see if they can treat or prevent COVID-19. While there are attempts to produce a COVID-19 vaccine, this vaccine would not be ready for testing in human trials for a few months according to Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Yet even last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar refused to guarantee a newly developed coronavirus vaccine would be affordable to all stating, “we can’t control that price because we need the private sector to invest.” The statement is ironic to say the least coming from the former top lobbyist to Eli Lilly who served at a time when the company’s drug prices went up significantly.
Companies such as Gilead Sciences, Moderna Therapeutics, and GlaxoSmithKline all have various therapies in development. Each company’s interest in maximizing profits around their particular COVID-19 therapy has kept them from being able to pool their resources and data to develop therapies in the most expeditious manner possible. The state of COVID-19 research exposes the lies about capitalism “stimulating innovation.”
It is also important to note that much of the drug development deemed “corporate innovation” could not have been possible without taxpayer-funded government research. Bills such as the Bayh-Dole Act allow for corporations to purchase patents on molecules or substances that have been developed at publicly funded institutions such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), then jack up the prices to maximize profits. A study conducted by the Center for Integration of Science and Industry (CISI) analyzed the relationship between government funded research and every new drug approved by the FDA between 2010 and 2016. Researchers found “each of the 210 medicines approved for market came out of research supported by the NIH.”
Expropriation of the capitalists would mean the public would no longer have to subsidize private corporate profits. The nationalization of the pharmaceutical industry would allow for both intellectual and financial resources to be pooled to tackle the globe’s challenges, instead of focussing on blockbuster drugs that benefit only a few. In the case of COVID-19, we would see a mass mobilization and coordination of the world’s greatest minds to pool resources and more quickly develop effective therapies. In fact, there would likely be more doctors and scientists as people who want to study these fields are no longer confronted with insurmountable debt
Health Care in Socialism
Under socialism, the entire healthcare industry would be run democratically by doctors, nurses, employees, and patients. This would be drastically different from the current system in which wealthy capitalists make the major decisions in hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturing firms, and insurance companies (the key players that make up the “medical industrial complex”). In the case of the COVID-19, health care would be a human right, and not a means to make money. This would allow for every individual concerned to obtain testing and treatment without fear of economic ruin. If hospitalization or quarantine was needed, a patient and family would be able to focus on what was best for their health instead of worrying whether a hospital bill would destroy them economically.
The purview of what is considered “health care” would also need to expand. An individual’s overall living situation and social environment would be key to addressing their health. This would mean a health system under socialism would address issues such as pending climate collapse. While a connection between COVID-19 and climate change has yet to be established, rising global temperatures — largely driven by 100 largest corporations and the military-industrial complex — will increase the emergence of new disease agents in the future. Shorter winters, changes in water cycles, and migration of wildlife closer to humans all increase the risk of new disease exposure.
Capitalism created the conditions of the epidemic. Capitalist “solutions” are insufficient and exacerbate the crisis, meaning more sickness and more death. Capitalism has been an incubator for the continual spread of the coronavirus. Health care under this system will always be woefully inadequate in addressing epidemics. The coronavirus highlights the fact that we must move to a more social analysis of health and well-being. We are all connected to each other, to nature, and to the environment around us. Socialism will restructure society based on those relationships.
At the same time, socialism is not a utopia. There will likely be epidemics or pandemics in socialism as well. However, a socialist society — one in which all production is organized in a planned economy under workers’ control — would best be able to allocate resources and put the creative and scientific energy of people to the task.
The Senate is about to pass the 'largest relief package in history' amid the coronavirus-induced economic crisis, but progressives say it isn't enough
Eliza Relman
But progressive activists and lawmakers say the spending package needs to be significantly bigger.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others on the left say the economic crisis provoked by the pandemic requires a long-term and structural response, rather than a short-term flood of government subsidies.
Several of Ocasio-Cortez's former aides with the group New Consensus are proposing $2,000 monthly checks for all Americans and significant subsidies for small businesses and the production of essential supplies, including medical equipment
The Senate is poised to pass a historic stimulus package on Monday as the coronavirus pandemic all but shuts down the US economy. But progressive activists and lawmakers say the spending package needs to be bigger and more equitable.
Lawmakers have already passed two emergency bills, signed by Trump last week, sending $8.3 billion in funding for government health agencies and about $100 billion for expanded paid leave, unemployment insurance, and food and healthcare aid.
The stimulus that comes out of the current negotiations will likely amount to around $2 trillion, but it will almost certainly not be the last piece of legislation Congress will need to produce to fight the economic fallout from the pandemic.
The Trump administration is asking for massive bailouts for the airline, hotel, and cruise ship industries, among other affected sectors, and a $300 billion stimulus for small businesses.
"We're going big," Trump said at a White House press briefing last week. "We don't want airlines going out of business or people losing their jobs and not having money to live."
Senate Republicans introduced a stimulus bill on Thursday that would cut corporate taxes, provide up to $1,200 in direct cash payments to Americans who make less than $99,000 per year, offer $10 million loans to small businesses and hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to large corporations, and limit the paid leave expansion passed in the emergency measure.
But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Friday that Democrats won't sign on to any bill that doesn't include extra funding for rural hospitals, full unemployment insurance for laid-off workers, and a ban on stock buybacks for companies that take government aid, among other measures.
Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said he was confident the stimulus would be the "largest — when it's all concluded — relief package in history."
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he's hoping to have the parties reach an agreement over the weekend and pass the legislation on Monday.
Meanwhile, progressive lawmakers and activists are pushing for a much larger relief package that prioritizes assisting struggling workers, expanding healthcare benefits, and investing in public systems over aiding corporations.
And many economists say the Senate stimulus bill is just a "down payment" on the further injections the economy will require as the pandemic ravages the country.
Torsten Slok, chief international economist at Deutsche Bank Securities, told Politico this week "$1.2 trillion in pure terms is going to cover about two to three weeks of economic activity."
"So if this were going to last just that long, $1 trillion might be enough," he said. "But really it's only a down payment."
'You have to go to a true war footing'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others on the left say the economic crisis provoked by the pandemic requires a long-term and structural response, rather than a short-term flood of government subsidies.
She and others have pointed to their climate change mitigation proposal, known as the Green New Deal (GND), a set of policies that would boost the working class while transitioning to a green economy.
"In the short term, we need emergency measures to get people through," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted last Wednesday. "Long term we should consider using current interest rates & make sweeping investments that create millions of jobs decarbonizing our economy, from [infrastructure] to [education]. The GND was written as a stimulus for people + planet."
In a podcast released Friday, the congresswoman advocated for "permanent systems and structures," including Medicare for all and a federal jobs guarantee, to be part of the government's coronavirus response. The other guest on the podcast, Stephanie Kelton, is a prominent proponent of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), which proposes that the government print money and deficit spend to boost the economy.
Several of Ocasio-Cortez's former aides, including former chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, is working with the progressive group New Consensus, which helped design the Green New Deal, on an economic mitigation plan they hope will influence the government's coronavirus response.
The proposal calls for a debt holiday, $2,000 monthly checks for all Americans, coverage of all healthcare expenses, significant investments in small businesses and the production of life-saving supplies.
Zack Exley, a former adviser to Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders and co-founder of the group, said New Consensus is "trying to get a point across" by proposing "what you'd actually have to do to solve the problem" rather than what he described as the half-measures the Senate is poised to pass.
New Consensus is proposing that the government both scale up the stimulus and pay for it through non-debt monetary expansion, or simply having the government print more money.
"What they're proposing is just nowhere near on the scale of what needs to be done and what's going to need to be done with this crashing economy," Exley told Insider. "We're just saying you have to go so much bigger than what you're doing now, you have to go to a true war footing, World War II scale in terms of the size."
Robert Hockett, a Cornell University law professor and adviser to Ocasio-Cortez who helped write the proposal, argued that the Senate proposals focus too much on the supply side of the economy, boosting businesses while not giving consumers enough support.
Because social distancing is keeping so many workers and consumers home, Hockett argued that supply-side investments focus on the production of personal protective gear, which is already in short supply, to render that distancing unnecessary. And Hockett is pushing for the creation of a National Investment Authority, which would serve as a public-private director of spending on infrastructure and development projects.
"[The Treasury and the Federal Reserve] can supply the finances and they can facilitate the financing, but they don't specialize in the planning that you have to do with that financing," he told Insider.
'Two $1 Trillion Coins': Rashida Tlaib Proposal Calls on US Treasury to Fund Coronavirus Recovery From US Mint
Tlaib's "Automatic BOOST Act" calls for a universal payout of $2,000 to everyone in the U.S. and $1,000 a month after that.
by Eoin Higgins, staff writer
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) arrives at a House Democratic Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol September 25, 2019. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Progressives on Saturday welcomed news that Rep. Rashida Tlaib is calling on the U.S. Treasury to exercise its power to issue platinum coins to fund the coronavirus recovery, calling the move an example of thinking outside the box and celebrating the universality of her proposal to give everyone in America cash payments.
"I fully support the House Financial Services Committee Democrats #COVID19 economic response proposal," the Michigan Democrat tweeted Saturday. "I also want to encourage leadership to consider my truly universal relief proposal on behalf of #13thDistrictStrong."
This includes the Treasury using its legal authority to create a new mint program to fund:
Direct payments via preloaded $2,000 cash cards to everyone.
Recharging with $1,000/month until a year after the economy recovers.
Read all about it here: https://t.co/JJI0z2bNFy
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) March 21, 2020
"This is a really ambitious and creative plan from Rep. Tlaib taking advantage of ideas that financial experts began exploring during the debt crisis showdowns of the Obama years," tweeted HuffPost reporter Zach Carter.
We're 100% serious when we say: PUT @RASHIDATLAIB ON THE TRILLION DOLLAR COIN!!! https://t.co/3SpWXjXWef
— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) March 21, 2020
The "Automatic BOOST to Communities Act" (pdf) would deliver a $2,000 pre-paid debit card to every American, with $1,000 being paid monthly after that until a year after the coronavirus crisis ends. Tlaib proposes to pay for the cost of the program by calling on the Treasury to use its authority under federal law to issue two trillion dollar platinum coins. The move would not add to the debt.
"Tlaib wants to take advantage of an obscure Treasury authority to issue new currency through minting platinum coins, and then give that currency to people," said Carter. "No new debt, no weird Federal Reserve programs, just cash straight to folks."
The bill also uses a broad definition of "every person," including non-citizens, children and other dependents, those in territories and protectorates, and those without bank accounts.
Under the bill, "an emergency corps will conduct a targeted outreach program to at-risk populations (homeless, elderly, etc) to ensure they receive cards, and at the same time perform a wellness check to assess whether they need additional assistance," said Modern Money Network president Rohan Grey, who helped write the bill.
"It's been a thrill to work on this proposal, but it is important to note that while emergency cash relief is critical, it is not sufficient on its own," Grey added. "We need far-reaching debt and expense relief, additional income and benefit protection and expansion, including direct payroll support, repurposing and public ownership of key industry, and direct worker support through a job guarantee that supports emergency and solidarity work, remote work, and begins planning for what the post-crisis recovery looks like."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders at a press conference in Washington. Saul Loeb/Getty Images
The Senate is poised to pass what will likely amount to a more than $2 trillion stimulus package on Monday as the coronavirus pandemic all but shuts down the US economy.
The Senate is poised to pass what will likely amount to a more than $2 trillion stimulus package on Monday as the coronavirus pandemic all but shuts down the US economy.
But progressive activists and lawmakers say the spending package needs to be significantly bigger.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others on the left say the economic crisis provoked by the pandemic requires a long-term and structural response, rather than a short-term flood of government subsidies.
Several of Ocasio-Cortez's former aides with the group New Consensus are proposing $2,000 monthly checks for all Americans and significant subsidies for small businesses and the production of essential supplies, including medical equipment
The Senate is poised to pass a historic stimulus package on Monday as the coronavirus pandemic all but shuts down the US economy. But progressive activists and lawmakers say the spending package needs to be bigger and more equitable.
Lawmakers have already passed two emergency bills, signed by Trump last week, sending $8.3 billion in funding for government health agencies and about $100 billion for expanded paid leave, unemployment insurance, and food and healthcare aid.
The stimulus that comes out of the current negotiations will likely amount to around $2 trillion, but it will almost certainly not be the last piece of legislation Congress will need to produce to fight the economic fallout from the pandemic.
The Trump administration is asking for massive bailouts for the airline, hotel, and cruise ship industries, among other affected sectors, and a $300 billion stimulus for small businesses.
"We're going big," Trump said at a White House press briefing last week. "We don't want airlines going out of business or people losing their jobs and not having money to live."
Senate Republicans introduced a stimulus bill on Thursday that would cut corporate taxes, provide up to $1,200 in direct cash payments to Americans who make less than $99,000 per year, offer $10 million loans to small businesses and hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to large corporations, and limit the paid leave expansion passed in the emergency measure.
But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Friday that Democrats won't sign on to any bill that doesn't include extra funding for rural hospitals, full unemployment insurance for laid-off workers, and a ban on stock buybacks for companies that take government aid, among other measures.
Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said he was confident the stimulus would be the "largest — when it's all concluded — relief package in history."
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he's hoping to have the parties reach an agreement over the weekend and pass the legislation on Monday.
Meanwhile, progressive lawmakers and activists are pushing for a much larger relief package that prioritizes assisting struggling workers, expanding healthcare benefits, and investing in public systems over aiding corporations.
And many economists say the Senate stimulus bill is just a "down payment" on the further injections the economy will require as the pandemic ravages the country.
Torsten Slok, chief international economist at Deutsche Bank Securities, told Politico this week "$1.2 trillion in pure terms is going to cover about two to three weeks of economic activity."
"So if this were going to last just that long, $1 trillion might be enough," he said. "But really it's only a down payment."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, walk to the chamber after collaborating on an agreement in the Senate on a two-year, almost $400 billion budget deal that would provide Pentagon and domestic programs with huge spending increases, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018. Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite
'You have to go to a true war footing'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others on the left say the economic crisis provoked by the pandemic requires a long-term and structural response, rather than a short-term flood of government subsidies.
She and others have pointed to their climate change mitigation proposal, known as the Green New Deal (GND), a set of policies that would boost the working class while transitioning to a green economy.
"In the short term, we need emergency measures to get people through," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted last Wednesday. "Long term we should consider using current interest rates & make sweeping investments that create millions of jobs decarbonizing our economy, from [infrastructure] to [education]. The GND was written as a stimulus for people + planet."
In a podcast released Friday, the congresswoman advocated for "permanent systems and structures," including Medicare for all and a federal jobs guarantee, to be part of the government's coronavirus response. The other guest on the podcast, Stephanie Kelton, is a prominent proponent of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), which proposes that the government print money and deficit spend to boost the economy.
Several of Ocasio-Cortez's former aides, including former chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, is working with the progressive group New Consensus, which helped design the Green New Deal, on an economic mitigation plan they hope will influence the government's coronavirus response.
The proposal calls for a debt holiday, $2,000 monthly checks for all Americans, coverage of all healthcare expenses, significant investments in small businesses and the production of life-saving supplies.
Zack Exley, a former adviser to Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders and co-founder of the group, said New Consensus is "trying to get a point across" by proposing "what you'd actually have to do to solve the problem" rather than what he described as the half-measures the Senate is poised to pass.
New Consensus is proposing that the government both scale up the stimulus and pay for it through non-debt monetary expansion, or simply having the government print more money.
"What they're proposing is just nowhere near on the scale of what needs to be done and what's going to need to be done with this crashing economy," Exley told Insider. "We're just saying you have to go so much bigger than what you're doing now, you have to go to a true war footing, World War II scale in terms of the size."
Robert Hockett, a Cornell University law professor and adviser to Ocasio-Cortez who helped write the proposal, argued that the Senate proposals focus too much on the supply side of the economy, boosting businesses while not giving consumers enough support.
Because social distancing is keeping so many workers and consumers home, Hockett argued that supply-side investments focus on the production of personal protective gear, which is already in short supply, to render that distancing unnecessary. And Hockett is pushing for the creation of a National Investment Authority, which would serve as a public-private director of spending on infrastructure and development projects.
"[The Treasury and the Federal Reserve] can supply the finances and they can facilitate the financing, but they don't specialize in the planning that you have to do with that financing," he told Insider.
'Two $1 Trillion Coins': Rashida Tlaib Proposal Calls on US Treasury to Fund Coronavirus Recovery From US Mint
Tlaib's "Automatic BOOST Act" calls for a universal payout of $2,000 to everyone in the U.S. and $1,000 a month after that.
by Eoin Higgins, staff writer
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) arrives at a House Democratic Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol September 25, 2019. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Progressives on Saturday welcomed news that Rep. Rashida Tlaib is calling on the U.S. Treasury to exercise its power to issue platinum coins to fund the coronavirus recovery, calling the move an example of thinking outside the box and celebrating the universality of her proposal to give everyone in America cash payments.
"I fully support the House Financial Services Committee Democrats #COVID19 economic response proposal," the Michigan Democrat tweeted Saturday. "I also want to encourage leadership to consider my truly universal relief proposal on behalf of #13thDistrictStrong."
This includes the Treasury using its legal authority to create a new mint program to fund:
Direct payments via preloaded $2,000 cash cards to everyone.
Recharging with $1,000/month until a year after the economy recovers.
Read all about it here: https://t.co/JJI0z2bNFy
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) March 21, 2020
"This is a really ambitious and creative plan from Rep. Tlaib taking advantage of ideas that financial experts began exploring during the debt crisis showdowns of the Obama years," tweeted HuffPost reporter Zach Carter.
We're 100% serious when we say: PUT @RASHIDATLAIB ON THE TRILLION DOLLAR COIN!!! https://t.co/3SpWXjXWef
— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) March 21, 2020
The "Automatic BOOST to Communities Act" (pdf) would deliver a $2,000 pre-paid debit card to every American, with $1,000 being paid monthly after that until a year after the coronavirus crisis ends. Tlaib proposes to pay for the cost of the program by calling on the Treasury to use its authority under federal law to issue two trillion dollar platinum coins. The move would not add to the debt.
"Tlaib wants to take advantage of an obscure Treasury authority to issue new currency through minting platinum coins, and then give that currency to people," said Carter. "No new debt, no weird Federal Reserve programs, just cash straight to folks."
The bill also uses a broad definition of "every person," including non-citizens, children and other dependents, those in territories and protectorates, and those without bank accounts.
Under the bill, "an emergency corps will conduct a targeted outreach program to at-risk populations (homeless, elderly, etc) to ensure they receive cards, and at the same time perform a wellness check to assess whether they need additional assistance," said Modern Money Network president Rohan Grey, who helped write the bill.
"It's been a thrill to work on this proposal, but it is important to note that while emergency cash relief is critical, it is not sufficient on its own," Grey added. "We need far-reaching debt and expense relief, additional income and benefit protection and expansion, including direct payroll support, repurposing and public ownership of key industry, and direct worker support through a job guarantee that supports emergency and solidarity work, remote work, and begins planning for what the post-crisis recovery looks like."
‘We Need to Act Now and Act Fast’: Nurses, Health Workers Warn of Protective Gear Shortage as Coronavirus Crisis Grows
"This is a nationwide problem."
by
A health care professional applies a swab at a drive-thru coronavirus testing facility for residents who have an order from a provider on Quincy Street in Arlington, Va., on Thursday, March 19, 2020. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Health professionals are increaingly sounding the alarm over the U.S. healthcare system, warning that the coronavirus outbreak could quickly overwhelm unprepareed hospitals without swift action to provide equipment to nurses and doctors.
"This is a nationwide problem, even on the private side," an anonymous doctor told NBC News. "No clinic in this country, or hospital for that matter, is going to have enough equipment."
NBC News reported that around 250 doctors and nurses responded to an informal survey request and painted a bleak picture of a healthcare system already on the verge of collapse with at least a month to go before coronavirus cases peak in the U.S.—citing in particular a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE).
According to NBC News:
Nearly all who responded said there were shortages of PPE in the hospitals, outpatient clinics and offices where they worked.Many reported being forced to ration or reuse supplies, including surgical and N95 masks, for fear of running out. Many also said they were facing shortages of basic sanitary supplies, including hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.
One Philadelphia doctor interviewed by NBC News said her husband—also a doctor—is on the frontlines in the city.
"I am so scared," she said. "I can't even begin to tell you."
Calls for the federal government to step in and order manufacturers to produce equipment increased Friday, with the union National Nurses United issuing a demand for immediate action to protect healthcare workers.
"We need to act now and act fast," Bonnie Castillo, National Nurses United executive director, said in a statement. "Priority number one is to protect the health and safety of our nurses and health care workers so that they can continue to take care of patients and keep our communities as healthy as possible through this pandemic. If our health facilities no longer stay as centers of healing and instead turn into disease vectors, many more people will needlessly suffer from this terrible disease."
It's not just PPE. Testing kits are near-impossible to obtain for hospitals and health professionals, leading to difficult decisions on who to treat, when to treat them, and how to track the virus. In Los Angeles County, health officials are instructing doctors and nurses "to test patients only if a positive result could change how they would be treated."
As the Los Angeles Times reported:
A front-line healthcare provider who was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity said county doctors are interpreting Thursday’s letter and other advice coming from senior L.A. County public health officials to mean they should only test patients who are going to be hospitalized or have something unique about the way they contracted the virus.They are not planning to test patients who have the symptoms but are otherwise healthy enough to be sent home to self-quarantine — meaning they may never show up in official tallies of people who tested positive.
The coming crisis, as one nurse in Michigan told NBC News, is the result of a societal failure to prioritize public health.
"I don't feel like my hospital is failing us," said the nurse. "It's the whole system that's failing us."
'An Utter Disgrace': GOP Stimulus Plan Would Cut Taxes for Corporations While Denying Benefits to Poorest
"Senate Republicans are using the COVID-19 pandemic to cut corporate taxes again and stop you from getting paid sick leave."
by
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks to members of the media during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on March 17, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
"Heartless," "cruel," and "appalling" were just some of the adjectives progressive critics and analysts used late Thursday to describe the Senate GOP's newly unveiled trillion-dollar economic stimulus package which—by design—would completely deny direct cash payments to the poorest Americans while cutting taxes for corporations, dishing out tens of billions in bailout funds to major industries, and restricting paid leave benefits that were just signed into law this week.
"The Senate GOP package is an utter disgrace," tweeted Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO. "It gives free money to corporations, ignores the health crisis, and does nothing to keep people working or help the unemployed. The labor movement will oppose this Main St. bailout of Wall St. with everything we have."
"I don't know how else to describe this but wantonly wicked. The poorest get zero; low-income households get half of what middle-income households get; and a kid counts for 40% of an adult."
—Daniel Hemel, University of Chicago Law School
—Daniel Hemel, University of Chicago Law School
The Republican plan, released as the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak continues to worsen, would provide means-tested cash payments of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child, with the precise amount dependent upon 2018 tax filings.
"Taxpayers with little or no income tax liability, but at least $2,500 of qualifying income, would be eligible for a minimum rebate check of $600 ($1,200 married)," the Republican proposal states. "Qualifying income includes earned income, as well as Social Security retirement benefits and certain compensation and pension benefits paid to veterans."
Observers were quick to point out a gaping hole in the Republican plan: Adults with no qualifying income would get nothing.
"I don't know how else to describe this but wantonly wicked," said Daniel Hemel, a tax expert at the University of Chicago Law School. "The poorest get zero; low-income households get half of what middle-income households get; and a kid counts for 40% of an adult."
Kyle Pomerleau, an economist and resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, estimated that "roughly 64 million filers earning less than $50k would not receive the full rebate amount of $1,200/$2,400" under the GOP proposal.
"For a single filer, income must be at least about $23k to get the full $1,200," Pomerleau noted. "For married couple filing jointly, [adjusted gross income] must be about $47k to get the full $2,400."
Phase-in is bad, bad, bad (and so cruel.) Giving less to people who have less at a time of desperation is completely unacceptable.Really, is now the time to say people who are struggling deserve less? https://t.co/Eyy5lfk6OR— Charlie Anderson (@EconCharlie) March 19, 2020
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pitched the GOP proposal as a starting point for stimulus negotiations with the Democratic Party, but Democratic leaders quickly dismissed the plan as a non-starter.
"We are beginning to review Senator McConnell's proposal, and on first reading, it is not at all pro-worker and instead puts corporations way ahead of workers," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a joint statement Thursday night.
Even two Republican lawmakers—Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)—dismissed the plan as regressive.
Relief to families in this emergency shouldn’t be regressive. Lower-income families shouldn’t be penalized— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 19, 2020
While skimping on aid low-income Americans, the Republican proposal—formally known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act—contains generous gifts for big corporations and billions in relief for industries hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, including $50 billion for airlines.
The 247-page Republican legislation, according to the New York Times, "includes a raft of temporary changes to the tax code that would reduce the tax liability of large corporations, many of them overriding provisions in the 2017 tax overhaul that were meant to raise revenue to offset corporate rate cuts."
The bill would also "place new limits on a paid-leave program that Congress passed and Mr. Trump signed into law this week," the Times reported, "shielding small business owners from any costs of paid leave for workers affected by the virus—and limiting how much pay those workers could receive if they are forced to stay home."
"Senate Republicans are using the COVID-19 pandemic to cut corporate taxes again and stop you from getting paid sick leave," tweeted advocacy group Swing Left. "They called it the CARES Act because Mitch CARES about big businesses, not you."
Trump Accused of Exploiting Coronavirus Pandemic to Advance 'Truly Disgraceful' Union-Busting Effort
"This action reveals in stark terms just how determined the administration is to roll back the rights and benefits of federal employees."
by Jake Johnson, staff writer
Members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) hold a rally at the Richard J. Daley Center plaza on February 26, 2018 in Chicago. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump is not letting the global coronavirus pandemic stand in the way of his administration's assault on what's left of organized labor in the United States.
In fact, as the New York Times reported Friday, the Trump administration is actively using the outbreak as a pretext to ram through union-busting policies and other right-wing agenda items that would likely draw closer scrutiny and public outrage under normal circumstances.
"That they would push forward with this kind of union-busting in the midst of a pandemic... is truly disgraceful."
—Everett Kelley, American Federation of Government Employees
"The White House, under the guise of its coronavirus response, is quietly advancing policies that President Trump has long advocated, from tougher border controls to an assault on organized labor to the stonewalling of congressional oversight," the Times reported. "Administration officials insist that such long-sought policies are necessary to stem the outbreak. But opportunism is clearly in play."
On Wednesday, the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA)—a small federal agency governed by three Trump appointees—quietly issued a rule proposal public-sector unions condemned as "an ideological attack" on organized labor.
Under current law, federal employees are permitted to cancel their union dues and membership during an annual 15-day window after they have been a member for at least one year.
The FLRA's proposed rule would allow federal employees to cancel their dues at any time after one year of union membership.
"That they would push forward with this kind of union-busting in the midst of a pandemic, while front-line federal employees like [Veterans Affairs] caregivers, airport screeners, food inspectors, and other personnel are being forced to fight the administration for basic safety protocols and personal protective equipment, is truly disgraceful," Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said in a statement Thursday.
Colleen Duffy Kiko, the Trump-appointed FLRA chair, claimed last month that the rule change is necessary to comply with the "spirit" of the Supreme Court's 2018 Janus vs. AFSCME ruling, which said that public-sector unions cannot collect so-called "fair share" fees that help unions represent all workers, including non-union members.
Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), said in a statement that the FLRA's proposed change flies in the face of decades of established federal labor law. NTEU is challenging the proposed rule in court.
"There is only one reason to change one-year dues collection agreements and that is to try and harm unions," said Reardon. "This action reveals in stark terms just how determined the administration is to roll back the rights and benefits of federal employees."
This FLRA proposed rule is just the latest move to bust unions and silence workers. #1u https://t.co/rZXn59Lj0m pic.twitter.com/AXWBRagidD
— AFGE (@AFGENational) March 19, 2020
The union-busting rule is one of several right-wing policies the Trump adminstration is pursuing under the cover of the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected nearly 13,000 people in the U.S. as of Friday morning.
"Across the government," the Times reported Friday, "departments have been citing the 'whole of government' response to the pandemic as they push through the same policies they sought before the crisis." Such a list could include xenophobic border restrictions, further attacks on science, bailouts for the oil and gas industry, and limitations on congressional oversight powers.
"We know what Trump's plan is: a pandemic shock doctrine featuring all the most dangerous ideas lying around, from privatizing Social Security to locking down borders to caging even more migrants."
—Naomi Klein
"Under normal conditions there would be extended debate and back and forth, but under this emergency some of those things will get through with less scrutiny," David Lapan, Trump's former spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Times. "It is a way to use this national emergency or pandemic to push through some of these quickly that might not get through in the normal course of business."
Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine—a 2007 book that documents how governments have exploited natural disasters and other crises to advance neoliberal policies—warned Monday that the Trump administration could draw from that same playbook amid the COVID-19 outbreak and urged progressives to be ready to fight back.
"We know what Trump's plan is: a pandemic shock doctrine featuring all the most dangerous ideas lying around, from privatizing Social Security to locking down borders to caging even more migrants," Klein said. "Hell, he might even try canceling elections."
"If there is one thing history teaches us, it's that moments of shock are profoundly volatile," Klein added. "We either lose a whole lot of ground, get fleeced by elites, and pay the price for decades, or we win progressive victories that seemed impossible just a few weeks earlier. This is no time to lose our nerve."
"This action reveals in stark terms just how determined the administration is to roll back the rights and benefits of federal employees."
by Jake Johnson, staff writer
Members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) hold a rally at the Richard J. Daley Center plaza on February 26, 2018 in Chicago. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump is not letting the global coronavirus pandemic stand in the way of his administration's assault on what's left of organized labor in the United States.
In fact, as the New York Times reported Friday, the Trump administration is actively using the outbreak as a pretext to ram through union-busting policies and other right-wing agenda items that would likely draw closer scrutiny and public outrage under normal circumstances.
"That they would push forward with this kind of union-busting in the midst of a pandemic... is truly disgraceful."
—Everett Kelley, American Federation of Government Employees
"The White House, under the guise of its coronavirus response, is quietly advancing policies that President Trump has long advocated, from tougher border controls to an assault on organized labor to the stonewalling of congressional oversight," the Times reported. "Administration officials insist that such long-sought policies are necessary to stem the outbreak. But opportunism is clearly in play."
On Wednesday, the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA)—a small federal agency governed by three Trump appointees—quietly issued a rule proposal public-sector unions condemned as "an ideological attack" on organized labor.
Under current law, federal employees are permitted to cancel their union dues and membership during an annual 15-day window after they have been a member for at least one year.
The FLRA's proposed rule would allow federal employees to cancel their dues at any time after one year of union membership.
"That they would push forward with this kind of union-busting in the midst of a pandemic, while front-line federal employees like [Veterans Affairs] caregivers, airport screeners, food inspectors, and other personnel are being forced to fight the administration for basic safety protocols and personal protective equipment, is truly disgraceful," Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said in a statement Thursday.
Colleen Duffy Kiko, the Trump-appointed FLRA chair, claimed last month that the rule change is necessary to comply with the "spirit" of the Supreme Court's 2018 Janus vs. AFSCME ruling, which said that public-sector unions cannot collect so-called "fair share" fees that help unions represent all workers, including non-union members.
Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), said in a statement that the FLRA's proposed change flies in the face of decades of established federal labor law. NTEU is challenging the proposed rule in court.
"There is only one reason to change one-year dues collection agreements and that is to try and harm unions," said Reardon. "This action reveals in stark terms just how determined the administration is to roll back the rights and benefits of federal employees."
This FLRA proposed rule is just the latest move to bust unions and silence workers. #1u https://t.co/rZXn59Lj0m pic.twitter.com/AXWBRagidD
— AFGE (@AFGENational) March 19, 2020
The union-busting rule is one of several right-wing policies the Trump adminstration is pursuing under the cover of the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected nearly 13,000 people in the U.S. as of Friday morning.
"Across the government," the Times reported Friday, "departments have been citing the 'whole of government' response to the pandemic as they push through the same policies they sought before the crisis." Such a list could include xenophobic border restrictions, further attacks on science, bailouts for the oil and gas industry, and limitations on congressional oversight powers.
"We know what Trump's plan is: a pandemic shock doctrine featuring all the most dangerous ideas lying around, from privatizing Social Security to locking down borders to caging even more migrants."
—Naomi Klein
"Under normal conditions there would be extended debate and back and forth, but under this emergency some of those things will get through with less scrutiny," David Lapan, Trump's former spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Times. "It is a way to use this national emergency or pandemic to push through some of these quickly that might not get through in the normal course of business."
Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine—a 2007 book that documents how governments have exploited natural disasters and other crises to advance neoliberal policies—warned Monday that the Trump administration could draw from that same playbook amid the COVID-19 outbreak and urged progressives to be ready to fight back.
"We know what Trump's plan is: a pandemic shock doctrine featuring all the most dangerous ideas lying around, from privatizing Social Security to locking down borders to caging even more migrants," Klein said. "Hell, he might even try canceling elections."
"If there is one thing history teaches us, it's that moments of shock are profoundly volatile," Klein added. "We either lose a whole lot of ground, get fleeced by elites, and pay the price for decades, or we win progressive victories that seemed impossible just a few weeks earlier. This is no time to lose our nerve."
President Trump Raises the Spectre of the Yellow Peril to Divide Americans and Shortchange Working People in $1 Trillion Stimulus Package
Criminalizing immigrant workers and dividing working people will NOT bring about public health security. But ensuring equal rights to universal healthcare and economic relief will.
by
Trump criminalizes and blames immigrants for this crisis, the government seeks to get away with excluding undocumented immigrants from any sort of governmental relief, while allowing employers to continue to super-exploit them. (Photo: Josephine Lee)
Months before the first case of COVID-19 was identified in the U.S., neighbors and friends stopped letting their kids play with my son, eyeing me with sideway looks when I said hello to their children on the street.
Although I have not been attacked or cursed at, as some other Asian Americans have been, the silent social exclusion began long before Trump started calling for social distancing, a reminder that I am still seen as a foreigner, even though I was born and raised in this country.
Framing the virus as a foreign threat Trump not only seeks to deflect blame for his inaction, but it allows him to further his efforts to criminalize immigrant workers in this country.
Trump has long framed the spread of the coronavirus as a foreign threat to spare him of his responsibility and failure to take action to protect Americans from this crisis. Trump dismantled the National Security Council’s global health security office, slashed CDC’s budget, criticized media outlets who covered the spread of COVID-19 for “panicking markets”, while reassuring Americans that the virus would just “disappear.” It is no wonder that we are woefully short of test kits, and people are being turned away from hospitals.
By framing the virus as a foreign threat Trump not only seeks to deflect blame for his inaction, but it allows him to further his efforts to criminalize immigrant workers in this country.
On February 28, at a South Carolina rally Trump used the crisis to push his divisive immigration policies saying, “Border security is also health security” and criticized, albeit inaccurately, “the Democrat policy of open borders” for bringing in the virus into the country.
On March 11, before Trump imposed a travel ban, the president shared a tweet by the conservative youth activist Charlie Kirk, who branded the disease the "China virus,” writing, “Now, more than ever, we need the wall. With China Virus spreading across the globe, the US stands a chance if we can control of our borders. President Trump is making it happen.”
In the U.S. during the 1880s, as the nation was recovering from the Civil War, propaganda of the “Yellow Peril” stoked divisions among Chinese and Irish workers in the American West. Fears of Chinese immigrants taking jobs away from Irish immigrants turned into outright attacks of the Chinese, resulting in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Similarly in the South, former slaveholders spread propaganda that newly freed black workers would take away jobs from white workers, sowing divisions among workers, and building support among poor whites for the passage of Jim Crow laws and the re-enslavement of African-Americans. Meanwhile, the robber barons of the railroad, banking, and manufacturing industries, benefited from this disunity, impoverishing workers while enriching themselves.
This past Wednesday during a news conference Trump, again called the COVID-19 virus the “Chinese virus,” and defended White House officials’ use of the phrase “kung flu,” while he introduced the $1 trillion economic stimulus package. How much of our taxpayers’ money will working people actually receive? While Congress chips away at the paid sick leave, not only exempting employers with over 500 employees, but now allowing employers with less than 50 workers to be exempted, Trump extends billions in bailouts to the airline and cruise industry. Haven’t we learned from corporate bailouts of 2008, that wealth does not trickle down? And while Americans still are waiting for test kits and 27.5 million Americans without insurance will not be able to afford treatment, Trump seeks to help the private healthcare industry profit from America gaining exclusive rights to the COVID-19 vaccine.
So while Trump criminalizes and blames immigrants for this crisis, the government seeks to get away with excluding undocumented immigrants from any sort of governmental relief, while allowing employers to continue to super-exploit them. It seeks to get away with hoodwinking the working Americans to blame “the yellow peril” and other immigrants so that we do not hold the government accountable for using this crisis to further deepen the wealth gap, enriching the robber barons of our time.
We need to come together, as working people, to make sure that any government response to the coronavirus prioritizes the needs of working people, and is not used by private corporations to enrich themselves off this crisis. ALL working people should have equal rights to free testing and treatment, housing relief, direct economic assistance, and paid sick leave. All states should take California’s lead and ensure that all workers qualify for unemployment benefits, regardless of their immigration status.
Criminalizing immigrant workers and dividing working people will NOT bring about public health security. But ensuring equal rights to universal healthcare and economic relief will.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)