AMERICA'S OLIGARCHS
“Germ-Ridden Masses” – How America’s Wealthy Elite Describe the Rest of Us

Increasingly, journalists at establishment publications come from and represent the one percent that they claim to be holding to account.
by Alan Macleod
May 27th, 2020

Many of the world’s super wealthy are trying to wait out the COVID-19 pandemic on their luxury yachts. But how to get to them without interacting with the public and catching the virus themselves? Such are the difficult quandaries only billionaires have to deal with. Fortunately, financial news outlet Bloomberg has solved the big question of the current era. A new company, it excitedly informs its readers, offers chartered private jets from your location to the Mediterranean island of Malta, without the need to “risk exposure to the germ-ridden masses.” New York-based reporter Suzanne Woolley, who has recently penned articles such as “How to arbitrage your U.S. taxes for difficult economic times” and “Where to invest $1 million right now,” notes that aviation company VistaJet allows its clients to reserve its freshly sanitized jet to take them to Malta. “Lest anyone be worried that the island nation itself is germ-ridden,” she writes, the World Health Organization has praised it for its capable fight against the coronavirus.

One big problem, however, is where your yacht is. The article explains that “if your yacht is moored in Antibes [France] or Porto Cervo [Italy], you’re out of luck,” taking for granted that anyone reading does own one, also suggesting that now would be the perfect time to shop for a Maltese passport, as the island, an E.U. member state, levies no income or capital gains taxes on that earned abroad, and there is no estate tax on the island. All you need is $1.3 million in cash or property.

The article’s tone, especially twice describing the general public, even of Malta, one of the richest states in the world, as “germ ridden masses,” highlights the increasing gap between the world’s super wealthy and the rest of us, and the contempt and disgust the haves feel for the have-nots. In April, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was met with a storm of criticism after posing in front of her enormous refrigerator costing tens of thousands of dollars, revealing her penchant for deluxe ice cream at $12 per tub. For many, the centi-millionaire and wife of one of California’s richest men telling others how to survive lockdown while residing in a mansion was a Marie Antoinette-like moment of pure ignorance.

Since the lockdown began, America’s billionaires have seen their wealth balloon by $434 billion according to the Institute for Policy Studies, even as the economy crashes and nearly 40 million Americans have been made unemployed. Among the biggest winners from the worldwide suffering has been Michael Bloomberg himself, owner of the eponymous news network. The former Mayor of New York has added $12.3 billion to his net worth in the last two months, increasing his fortune by over 25 percent. Bloomberg spent around $1 billion on his recent failed presidential run, amassing only 43 delegates before pulling out. Regardless, his big money media campaign flop pales in comparison to the fortune he has reaped thanks to the Trump administration’s CARES Act, perhaps the largest wealth transfer in human history, in which 82 percent of the tax savings will be enjoyed by those who earn over $1 million per year.

The winners from the CARES Act – America’s billionaires – have also chosen New Zealand as a convenient destination to avoid a pandemic. A new company is doing a roaring trade designing and installing nuclear bunkers in remote areas of the Pacific nation’s South Island. They are designed so that even locals are unaware they are there. Prices begin at $2 million for the simplest designs but can rise to over $11 million, depending on the level of luxury desired.

Increasingly, journalists at establishment publications come from and represent the one percent that they claim to be holding to account. A study published in the Journal of Expertise found that editors and writers for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The New Republic were actually slightly more likely than billionaires to have attended an elitist institution like Harvard University or the Columbia School of Journalism, where attendance costs well over $100,000 per year. As the study concluded: “Elite journalists resemble senators, billionaires and World Economic Forum attendees in terms of educational attainment.” This elitism begins to seep into writing, hence the inability to understand political movements like those around Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders, or the temptation to casually demonize human beings as “germ-ridden masses” in news reporting.

As of Wednesday, there have been over 5.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 354,762 reported deaths.

Feature photo | Former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg pauses as he speaks to supporters about the suspension of his campaign, and his endorsement of former Vice President Joe Biden for president, in New York, March 4, 2020. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez | AP

World’s Super Rich Buying Pandemic Escape Mansions in New Zealand

A number of the planet’s richest people are buying luxury bunkers designed to withstand even nuclear explosions amid the COVID-19 pandemic,

Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.
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Billionaires fled for doomsday bunkers in New Zealand as the ...

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Apr 20, 2020 - How super-rich Americans fled to New Zealand to stay in their lavish ... luxury bunkers during the COVID-19 crisis; Silicon Valley billionaires escaped as the ... destination for the world's elite with many buying up property recently ... to hide out in their luxury bunkers throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

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Super-rich jet off to disaster bunkers amid coronavirus outbreak

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Mar 11, 2020 - 'Self isolate' for some of world's richest means Covid-19 tests abroad, ... Like hundreds of thousands of people across the world, the super-rich are preparing to ... Many are understood to be taking personal doctors or nurses on their flights to ... The Guardian has been significantly impacted by the pandemic.

Luxury doomsday bunkers: How the mega-rich are preparing ...

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Aug 7, 2019 - World's elite choosing to custom-design private (and super secret) shelters to ride out a pandemic, World War III or any ... Say "doomsday bunker" and most people would imagine a concrete room filled with cots and canned goods. ... A number of companies around the world are meeting a growing demand ...

World's Super Rich Buying Pandemic Escape Mansions in New ...

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A number of the planet's richest people, including billionaire co-founder of Paypal Peter Thiel, ... Thiel, have, amidst a growing global pandemic, escaped to the country and bought luxury bunkers designed to withstand even nuclear explosions. ... .com/super-rich-buying-covid-19-pandemic-mansions-new-zealand/267406/ ...

The rich are fleeing from coronavirus into lavish bunkers - Los ...

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Mar 23, 2020 - Bunker with a bowling alley: How the rich are running from ... Most come equipped with special air-filtration systems, which buyers ... But with a new virus fueling social anxiety, manufacturers are ... Its underground shelter in Indiana has room for 80 people with 120 ... This world won't be safer tomorrow.” ...

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Jun 10, 2019 - Vivos built a bunker compound in South Dakota that's almost the size ... individuals to purchase underground bunkers to shelter themselves ... A few companies now manufacture luxury doomsday shelters that cater to superrich clientele. ... The property is designed to withstand a close-range nuclear blast, ...

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Apr 3, 2020 - These aren't Cold War-style bomb shelters stocked with canned ... “We made them more like homes.” ... Coronavirus Map: Tracking COVID-19 cases across California ... “Saying you're 'buying a house in New Zealand' is kind of a wink, ... Altman told the New Yorker in 2016 that in the event of a pandemic, ...

UNARMED BLACK MAN
As Chief Prosecutor, Klobuchar Declined to Bring Charges Against Cop that Killed George Floyd
While serving as Minnesota’s chief prosecutor between 1999 and 2007, Klobuchar declined to bring charges against more than two dozen officers who had killed citizens while on duty – including against the cop that killed George Floyd.
by Alan Macleod
May 27th, 2020

The latest example of America’s racist police brutality problem was caught on camera in Minneapolis Monday, as Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on 46-year-old African-American George Floyd’s neck for over seven minutes until he passed out and died. In its headline on its website, Minneapolis police described the event as “man dies after medical incident during police interaction,” laundering themselves of any responsibility. Chauvin continued his assault even as Floyd desperately pleaded that he could not breathe, while bystanders protested his brutality. “You’re fucking stopping his breathing there, bro,” warned one concerned passer-by. Even after passing out, Chauvin did not release pressure on his neck. Chauvin has killed multiple times before while in uniform, has shot and wounded others and is well-known to local activist groups.


DEVELOPING: Thousands join protest in Minneapolis after in-custody police death of George Floyd – https://t.co/8oCjwOm4Xw
pic.twitter.com/3UZdUYehKY
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 27, 2020

A history of racist policing, thanks to Klobuchar

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who Joe Biden recently asked to undergo vetting to be his running mate for November, issued a very tepid statement about the incident, describing the police killing of an unarmed black man over an alleged forged check as merely an “officer involved death,” – a copaganda word often used by police as a euphemism for “murder.”

Klobuchar also called for a “complete and thorough outside investigation into what occurred, and those involved in this incident must be held accountable.” However, this is unlikely to occur, in no small part because of Klobuchar herself and the precedent she set while serving as the state’s chief prosecutor between 1999 and 2007. In that time, she did not bring charges against more than two dozen officers who had killed citizens while on duty – including against Chauvin himself.

Chauvin was involved in a fatal accident in 2005, killed Wayne Reyes in 2006, shot another man while in uniform in 2008, and had a litany of complaints against him. To be fair to Klobuchar, the Reyes shooting happened in October 2006, as her time as state prosecutor was coming to an end and she was campaigning for the senate. By the time Chauvin’s case finally made it to a grand jury, she had relinquished her role.

Klobuchar poses with Minneapolis Police while announcing a bill to fund more cops on the street. Photo | Minneapolis PD

At the same time, however, Klobuchar was ramping up the number of arrests as part of her tough-on-crime agenda, something which inordinately affected people of color. In her first year in office alone, the prison sentences for first-degree drug crimes doubled. Activists allege her embracing of the broken window-style policing was a deliberate strategy to win support in the white suburbs of Minneapolis, to the detriment of the city’s non-white communities, bolstering her successful run for senate in 2006. A case in point is Elsayed Salim, who was convicted of failing to declare a secondary income that put him above the threshold for welfare and food stamps. A judge sentenced Salim to 364 days in jail – deliberately attempting to protect him from deportation by keeping his sentencing under a year which downgraded the case from a felony to a gross misdemeanor. An outraged Klobuchar appealed the decision, lobbying for an upgrade and condemning the state’s judges for “letting offenders off the hook too easily.” Mr. Salim was subsequently deported.

While it may not be the first city that comes to mind, data shows that Minneapolis is among the most racist cities in the United States for racial profiling and police stops. The police force’s own data shows that, while black people make up only 18 percent of the population, they were involved in nearly half of all police stops. Conversely, whites make up 60 percent of the population but figured in less than 21 percent of the stops. 62 percent of body searches and 63 percent of people whose cars were searched were also black. Thus, Floyd’s killing is merely a viral example of a wider phenomenon, a spark that ignited a powder keg of resentment that had been building for some time.


Thousands of protesters in Minneapolis fill 38th Street and Chicago Avenue where George Floyd was detained by four police officers and killed. #JusticeForFloyd
Earlier, the mayor said that all four killer cops had been fired. This is how the community responded. Video: KSTP-TV pic.twitter.com/ht9m3SY6YH
— Camila (@camilateleSUR) May 27, 2020

Outrage at an unlawful killing
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, massive protests have erupted across Minneapolis in response to Floyd’s killing, with thousands of people marching through the city. Police attempted to suppress the demonstration last night, firing rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades, even though there were many children present.

“This is a disgusting display,” said City Councilman Jeremiah Ellison, “I’m here on the southside, helping people as I can with milk, water, and towels. So far, I have been unable to prevent the police from firing indiscriminately into the crowd. Moments ago, I held a towel to a teenage girl’s head as blood poured from it.”

Thus, it appears that Klobuchar’s milquetoast response was out of keeping with those she represents, and even the public more generally, judging by replies left below it, which included, “This was murder, plain and simple,” “Those cops need to be arrested today,” and “What is there even to investigate?! This cop is a murderer and the other cop is an accessory to murder.” The incident was also the top story on Reddit and Twitter on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

Other public officials denounced the killing far more forcefully. Melvin Carter, Mayor of St. Paul, said that the video was “one of the most vile and heartbreaking images I’ve ever seen,” adding that “The officer who stood guard is just as responsible as his partner; both must be held fully accountable.” Ilhan Omar, an African-American congresswoman representing the city claimed that watching a black man helplessly begging for his life sickened her. “Black lives matter isn’t just a chant, it’s a call for justice. It’s a call for our humanity to be recognized,” she said, “There needs to be an immediate DOJ investigation into this.”

Feature photo | Protesters gather near the Minnesota Police 3rd Precinct during a gathering, May 26, 2020, in response to the police murder of George Floyd. Richard Tsong-Taatarii | Star Tribune via AP

Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.
Republish our stories! MintPress News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

THE SPIN WAR
As Establishment Condemns China for Hong Kong Repression, Trump Tweets About “Shooting Looters”
Democrats and Republicans are united in condemning Beijing for its overreach, but perhaps its time to look closer to home to find examples of state repression.

by Alan Macleod
May 29th, 2020
By Alan Macleod @AlanRMacLeod


Republicans and Democrats alike have come together to condemn a new law proposed by the Chinese government that would likely stifle the year-long protests in Hong Kong. The State Department, headed by former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, published a press release yesterday presenting the city as a “bastion of freedom” amidst a repressive state, claiming Beijing was undermining the one country, two systems framework established at the end of British colonial rule in 1997. The framework has allowed Hong Kong a host of special economic and political privileges that the mainland lacks.

Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was similarly forthright in her denunciation of China. “This excessive law brazenly accelerates Beijing’s years-long assault on Hong Kong’s political and economic freedoms… All freedom-loving people must come together to condemn this law,” she wrote, adding, “If America does not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial interests,” then it would “lose all moral authority to speak out elsewhere.”

President Trump has been similarly condemnatory and is scheduled to speak about China at a press conference later today. This morning he attempted to shift attention away from Minneapolis by simply tweeting “CHINA!”

CHINA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020

Yet even as Trump was denouncing oppression abroad, he hinted that the military should move into Minneapolis and fire on protestors. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank You!” he said, adding that he would not stand back and watch a “great city” be overrun by “thugs” and looters. The tweet was quickly hidden by Twitter moderators for breaking their terms of service with regards to encouraging violence. The White House’s official account, therefore, repeated Trump’s incitement. Earlier today, a team of CNN journalists, led by presenter Omar Jimenez, were arrested by state police live on air for supposedly not following law enforcement instructions.

the president has just tweeted his support for using live fire on protesters in minneapolis pic.twitter.com/wkUv77MFka
— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) May 29, 2020

Both terms – “thugs” and “looters” – have become deeply racialized codewords in American society, referring chiefly to lower class African-Americans. The former is overwhelmingly reserved for black people, even when it is barely applicable. Meanwhile, after being abandoned by the state after Hurricane Katrina, poor black Louisiana residents desperately trying to find enough food to eat amid the flooding were presented as “looters” and were treated as such by the authorities and racist vigilante groups alike, who shot them with impunity.

The protests in Minneapolis erupted earlier this week after images of police officer Derek Chauvin killing unarmed black man George Floyd went viral. In videos posted on social media, Chauvin can be seen kneeling on Floyd’s throat for over seven minutes, as onlookers and Floyd himself pleaded that he was being suffocated. The Minnesota police department described the incident on their website with the headline “man dies after medical incident during police interaction.” Chauvin, a police officer of 19 years, has a long history of shooting and killing civilians while in uniform. Anger turned to rage throughout the week, and much of the city is currently still burning as demonstrations turned violent. This afternoon Chauvin was finally taken into custody, although it is not clear whether it is for his own safety as much as for his actions.

Morning after the protests and riots in Minneapolis of the police killing George Floyd. It’s eerie pic.twitter.com/UVF2ltmL7E
— Max Nesterak (@maxnesterak) May 28, 2020

As for Hong Kong, tensions flared up in March last year over a proposed extradition treaty between the island city, the mainland, and Taiwan, after a Hong Kong resident murdered his pregnant girlfriend while on vacation in Taiwan, fled back home, and authorities were unable to prosecute him due to no agreement between the nations. Many in Hong Kong felt that Beijing would use the new treaty to arrest or persecute opponents of the Chinese state currently residing there. The United States has offered its full support to the protesters, meeting and promoting many of their most notable representatives, including student leader Joshua Wong. While the conflict has been raging for over a year, authorities have not been responsible for any deaths.

China’s new law would ban sedition, secession, and other methods of subversion. The Chinese government argues that it is a necessary step for national security, given that much of the protests appear to be funded and supported from abroad. However, critics say it is aimed at stifling legitimate dissent and would effectively be the end of the one country two systems framework of governance.

While the United States establishment is united in condemning Beijing for its overreach, with Trump encouraging the National Guard to open fire on any “thugs” or “looters” they might find, it may be time to turn the gaze closer to home to find examples of state repression.

Feature photo | A protester confronts National Guard soldiers deployed against protesters in Minneapolis, May 29, 2020. Carlos Barria | Reuters


Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary

POSSE COMUNTATIS 

George Floyd killing: Trump threatens to call in military as US cities see fresh protests

Donald Trump said he was willing to use the military if state leaders don't get "tougher" on anti-police brutality protests. Renewed unrest across the US on Saturday has prompted multiple cities to introduce curfews.





US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the federal government was considering using the military to intervene in protests over the killing of George Floyd while in police custody.

"We have our military ready, willing and able," Trump told reporters before departing for Florida. "We can have our military there very quickly."

On Twitter, Trump wrote the federal government will use "the unlimited power of our military" as well as carry out arrests.


The Pentagon said it was ready to provide military help to contain unrest in Minneapolis, the city where Floyd was killed. So far, the governor of Minnesota has not requested it.

If he did so, the federal forces would likely primarily comprise of military police to provide logistical support but would not get directly involved, defense officials told the Associated Press.

Curfews in place across the US

Dozens of cities across the US, including Atlanta and Washington, DC, saw further protests on Saturday, after some of the anti-police brutality and anti-racism demonstrations turned violent.

Atlanta, Philadelphia and Los Angeles were among the cities which saw wide-scale protests and introduced curfews for residents from 8 p. m. on Saturday night. Similar curfews were broken on Friday.

At a protest in Tallahassee, Florida, a suspect drove a pickup truck through a crowd of protesters gathered at an intersection, hitting some of them. The driver was later arrested and no one was seriously injured, local officials said.

Watch video https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/news/s-30701
Protesters across US demand justice for George Floyd

National guard called up

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz moved to fully mobilize the state's National Guard on Saturday for the first time since World War II, vowing a show of force to shut down unrest that has seen vehicles and buildings destroyed.

"The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd," Walz said. "It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities."

"We are under assault," he added. "Order needs to be restored." Walz also said white supremacists and drug cartel members were instigating some of the violence in Minneapolis.

Fears protests will cause coronavirus outbreaks

Mayors and governors have also raised concerns that social distancing regulations will be ignored and that the protests could lead to new outbreaks of coronavirus.

Speaking in Florida after the SpaceX launch, Trump called for "healing, not hatred."

But Trump's earlier remarks sparked further outrage after he threatened that if protesters breached the White House grounds, they "would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs and most ominous weapons I have ever seen."

Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said the remarks "are an attack on humanity, an attack on black America and they make my city less safe."

Protest in Berlin

The protests have also spread internationally, with thousands of people taking to the streets in the German capital to protest Floyd's death and against racism.

The protesters gathered in front of the US Embassy in Berlin, wearing face masks and chanting "black lives matter," NBC's Carl Nasman reported


Outrage over killing of George Floyd

George Floyd was an African-American man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis after footage emerged of him in handcuffs pleading for air as a police officer kneeled on his neck. Derek Chauvin, one of the four police officers, was arrested and charged with murder Friday morning following three days of protests.

The protests began in Minneapolis after the footage of Floyd's killing emerged earlier this week. Demonstrations later spread to other cities across the country.

Floyd's death, one of the latest high-profile killings of an unarmed black person by police, have tapped into a well of anger over the treatment of the black community and other people of color in the US.

The protests are also coming amid the coronavirus pandemic which has seen tens of millions of people in US lose their jobs and which has disproportionately affected black people, highlighting discrepancies in health care treatment.

rs/nm (AP, dpa, Reuters)


Date 31.05.2020
Related Subjects Donald Trump
Keywords George Floyd, USA, police brutality, Donald Trump, racism, protests, Minnesota, Minneapolis

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3d30J

EAT THE RICH
Media Elite Denounce Looting Even as Billionaires Reap Record Profits from Taxpayer-Funded Bailouts
A mountain of studies on wealth inequality have shown its corrosive effect on social cohesion, with the more unequal a society gets, the less likely people are to see themselves as participants in a community and view others as a threat.
by Alan Macleod
May 29th, 2020

The extrajudicial killing of African-American man George Floyd by Police Officer Derek Chauvin sparked a storm of protests both in Minneapolis and across the country. These have included large peaceful demonstrations, but also arson, destruction of property and looting. Police have abandoned multiple precincts in the face of overwhelming popular rage.

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. consistently argued that looting is the language of the unheard and oppressed, a physical manifestation of their marginalization. However, many in the establishment, particularly on the right, have not interpreted the events as such, and appear scandalized by them.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson condemned the uprising as “a form of tyranny” and “oppression.” Referring to the suffocation of George Floyd, Carlson said police brutality was “bad;” “But none of it was nearly as bad as what you just saw. The indiscriminate use of violence by mobs is a threat to every American,” he said, calling for something to be done. President Trump was even more forthright, suggesting that the National Guard be sent in to open fire on “thugs” and “looters.” “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he tweeted from both his personal and White House accounts.


the president has just tweeted his support for using live fire on protesters in minneapolis pic.twitter.com/wkUv77MFka
— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) May 29, 2020

Yet a new and updated report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) reveals that the looting in Minneapolis pales into insignificance compared with the enormous wealth American’s billionaire class has managed to accrue during the pandemic. In the ten weeks since the nationwide lockdown first began, the group calculates that billionaires have increased their wealth by $485 billion – equal to 16.5 percent. This half-trillion-dollar rise, for Chuck Collins, Director of the IPS’ Program on Inequality and the Common Good, is something close to looting the whole economy.

“The wealthy are economically distancing from the rest of society. Worse, some are pandemic profiteering, looting government stimulus programs and taking advantage of market monopolies,” he told MintPress News.

WHERE THE WEALTHY LIVE, NOT OUR OWN NEIGHBOURHOODS SAY ANARCHISTS

The enormous explosion in wealth, even amidst a pandemic that has caused the economy to collapse, businesses to close, and demand to dwindle, is down in no small part to the passing of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, one of the greatest upwards transfers in wealth in history. While the bill, passed in late March, includes a check of up to $1,200 for most Americans, the vast majority of the benefits go to the ultra wealthy.

A report from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), a nonpartisan congressional body, found that almost 82 percent of the tax breaks and other financial benefits go to those already earning over $1 million per year. In contrast, less than three percent will go to the great majority who earn under $100,000 annually. The loopholes around capital gains tax will especially benefit the richest few hundred Americans. The JCT also projects that the tax cut will add almost $170 billion to the deficit over the next ten years.

Some of the biggest winners in the last few weeks, according to the IPS, include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (up over $34 billion in two months), Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg (up over $25 billion) and Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who increased his already enormous fortune by $8 billion. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, whose California Tesla car plant was closed for months, has seen his net worth increase by almost 50 percent, to over $36 billion. Even in the last week, America’s billionaires’ fortunes have increased by $50 billion.

At the same time, unemployment has surged to over 40 million, and food banks across the country are inundated with customers desperate for anything they can get. Around one third of renters in the United States failed to pay their rent in April and May.

“When the wealth of billionaires surges at the same time that tens of millions lose their lives and livelihoods, it undermines the solidarity required for us to pull together and help one another during a pandemic,” Collins added.

NO MORE LOOTING

I heard there was looting and I'm furious. Republicans and Democrats stealing from the poor to bail out the rich in a #pandemic. That kind of theft is unacceptable.
— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) May 28, 2020

While many among the elite may be aghast at the scenes of low level looting in Minneapolis, the enormous siphoning off of public funds to further enrich billionaires has gone largely unnoticed. A mountain of sociological studies on wealth inequality have shown that it has a corrosive effect on social cohesion, with the more unequal a society gets, the less likely people are to see themselves as participants in a community, viewing others as threats. More unequal societies also commonly favor more repressive policing tactics like the ones seen in Minneapolis this week. Although many might not realize it, the enormous looting by billionaires and the petty looting by protestors in Minneapolis might have more in common than first meets the eye.

Feature photo | A man carries items past a burned out Auto Zone store near the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct, May 28, 2020, after a night of rioting and looting as protests continue over the death of George Floyd. Jim Mone | AP

Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.
Republish our stories! MintPress News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

Tennis star Osaka adds powerful voice to protests over police brutality in US

Issued on: 30/05/2020 -

Protests: Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka JOSE JORDAN AFP/File


Los Angeles (AFP)

Two-time Grand Slam tennis champion Naomi Osaka joined the chorus of athletes condemning the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of Minneapolis police, posting pictures of protests from the Minnesota city on her Instagram account.

"Just because it isn't happening to you doesn't mean it isn't happening at all," wrote Osaka, whose mother is Japanese and whose father is Haitian.

"It's funny to me that the people who wanna wear chains, blast hip hop in the gym, attempt to get dapped up, and talk in slang are suddenly quiet right now," added Osaka, the former world number one who was this week touted by Forbes magazine as the highest-paid female athlete in the world with earnings of $37.4 million (34.3 million euros).

Minneapolis, Minnesota, has become the epicenter of violent protests since George Floyd died there on Monday after police officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground for several minutes by kneeling on his neck.

Chauvin has been charged with murder and negligent manslaughter, but protests across the country have turned violent.

US sports stars attuned to social issues were quick to voice outrage at Floyd's death.

Three-time NBA champion LeBron James contrasted the knee on Floyd's neck with the kneeling protests of former NFL star Colin Kaepernick in 2016.

Kaepernick, who was ostracized by the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem in protest against racial injustice, has launched a fund to pay for legal representation for protesters who need it.

In Germany on Saturday, Schalke's American midfielder Weston McKennie wore a "Justice for George" armband in his team's 1-0 Bundesliga loss to Werder Bremen.

"To be able to use my platform to bring attention to a problem that has been going on too long feels good!!!" the 21-year-old tweeted.

Rising US tennis star Coco Gauff applauded Osaka's Instagram's post on Saturday.

The 16-year-old African American, who burst onto the international scene with a fourth-round run at Wimbledon last year that included a triumph over her idol Venus Williams, had posted her own chilling condemnation of Floyd's death on social media on Friday.

In a video she referenced a number of unarmed black Americans who died in recent years at the hands of authorities or white fellow citizens.

"Am I next?" Gauff asked.

© 2020 AFP

Nike says "Don't Do It" on racism

Issued on: 30/05/2020 -

San Francisco (AFP)

Nike has taken a stand against racism with a "Don't do it" campaign, a twist on its famous catch phrase, as protests against police brutality spread across the United States.

"For once, Don't Do It... Don't pretend there's not a problem in America," the US sports apparel giant said in a video posted to Twitter late Friday.

The message came as protesters across the United States took to the streets against the treatment of George Floyd, an African American who died in the hands of police in Minneapolis earlier this week.

In a rare sign of solidarity, competitor Adidas retweeted the video, with a message stating: "Together is how we move forward. Together is how we make change."

Floyd's death on Monday was captured in a horrifying cellphone video now seen around the world, in which a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes until well after he went motionless, while three other officers stood by.

"Don't turn your back on racism. Don't accept innocent lives being taken from us. Don't make any more excuses. Don't think this doesn't affect you," Nike said in the video, in which white words appear across a black background.

The campaign hardly marks the first time Nike, whose "Just Do It" slogan is known worldwide, has waded into US social justice issues.

In September 2018, Nike made waves when it released an advertising campaign featuring US football player and activist Colin Kaepernick, criticized for kneeling during the US national anthem at games in protest at racism.

© 2020 AFP

'Justice for George': Schalke's US footballer in armband protest
30/05/2020 -

Schalke's US midfielder Weston McKennie (1st-R) wears an armband reading "Justice for George" during Saturday's defeat to Werder Bremen. Bernd Thissen POOL/AFP

Berlin (AFP)

Schalke's American midfielder Weston McKennie on Saturday wore a 'Justice for George' armband as part of the growing protests over the death of an unarmed black man during a police arrest in Minneapolis in the United States.

"To be able to use my platform to bring attention to a problem that has been going on too long feels good!!!," tweeted 21-year-old McKennie after the 1-0 loss to Werder Bremen.

"We have to stand up for what we believe in and I believe that it is time that we are heard! #justiceforgeorgefloyd #saynotoracism."

George Floyd died in Minneapolis in an arrest by a police officer who pinned him to the ground for several minutes by kneeling on his neck.

Derek Chauvin was charged Friday with one count of third-degree murder -- unintentionally causing a death -- and one count of negligent manslaughter.

McKennie's USA team-mate Jozy Altidore, who plays for FC Toronto, saluted the Schalke player.

"Salute lil bro," tweeted Altidore.

McKennie is the latest American sports star to add his voice to the protests after US tennis player Coco Gauff on Friday posted "Am I next?" on a TikTok video on her Twitter feed.

McKennie grew up in Texas, but spent part of his childhood in Germany and joined Schalke as a junior from Dallas Academy in 2016.

He has made 19 appearances for the United States national team since 2017.

© 2020 AFP

AMERICAN NURSES WALK OUT OVER PPE

Pope calls for end to 'pandemic of poverty' after virus
Issued on: 31/05/2020

"From the great trials of humanity -- among them this pandemic -- one emerges better or worse," said Pope Francis as he marked the feast of the Pentacost Handout VATICAN MEDIA/AFP/File
Vatican City (AFP)

Pope Francis called on Saturday for a "more just and equitable society" in the post-coronavirus world, and for people to act to "end the pandemic of poverty".

"Once we emerge from this pandemic, we will not be able to keep doing what we were doing, and as we were doing it. No, everything will be different," he said, speaking in Spanish in a video message to mark the feast of Pentecost.

"From the great trials of humanity -- among them this pandemic -- one emerges better or worse. You don't emerge the same. I ask this of you: how do you want to come out of it? Better or worse?" he added.


People needed to open their minds and hearts to learn the central lesson from this crisis: "We are one humanity," said the pope.

"We know it, we knew it, but this pandemic that we are living through has made us experience it in a much more dramatic way," he added.

Now there was a duty to build a new reality particularly for the poorest, who had been discarded, the pope said.

"All the suffering will be of no use if we do not build together a more just, more equitable, more Christian society, not in name but in reality," he added.

He called for action to "end the pandemic of poverty in the world".

© 2020 AFP