A big crisis is on the way when federal assistance runs out
——————————-Here we go again: Unemployment rally in the 1930s
July 31 marks the end of the $600 per week unemployment benefits included in the Coronavirus CARES Act of last March. In May, the number of unemployed declined 1.4 percent from April. That still leaves about 19 million workers unemployed out of a total workforce of 161 million.
The out-of-work millions will still be eligible for state Unemployment Insurance that ranges from poor to very poor according to the state you’re in and your amount of wages. In most cases, it is not enough to buy food, pay rent and utilities, make car payments, etc., plus an occasional family outing.
Fortunately, these 19 million have the recent example of the anti-police brutality protests, which they are likely to emulate as a last resort. Many of the unemployed participated in the protests, especially Blacks and other people of color. The old saying, “Last hired, first fired,” also applies to layoffs.
The only other help working people received from the federal government was a one-shot check, with Donald Trump’s name on it, for $1,200. It was approved at the end of April, also as part of the Cares Act and most people received it about a month later. It is now long gone. What the Congress should have done was institute a Universal Basic Income of about $1,200 per week. The “stimulus checks” they sent us cost about $290 billion, a drop in the bucket compared to the four to six trillion dollars the biggest corporations received. That would be slightly more than a trillion a month for a UBI, and only half as much if the federal unemployment payment was rolled into it, until July 31 (everyone should get the same amount). It could have been paid for by drastically raising the taxes on the super-rich. Instead, they are opting for class warfare. How much is that going to cost?
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The Incredible Lightness of Being Biden
After more than a million people took to the streets to stop police killings and police brutality, all that the Democratic Party Nominee-in-waiting, can say is that he is not in favor of unfunding the police. What kind of disruption of the society does it take to get Joe to be aware of the rumbling on the solid earth beneath his feet?
Biden’s “Plan for Black America,” owes more to the COVID-19 crisis, than the racism crisis. In fact, it probably was written before George Floyd was murdered by police, on video.
The Biden Plan for Black America will:
Advance the economic mobility of African Americans and close the racial wealth and income gaps.
Expand access to high-quality education and tackle racial inequity in our education system.
Make far-reaching investments in ending health disparities by race.
Strengthen America’s commitment to justice.
Make the right to vote and the right to equal protection real for African Americans.
Address environmental justice.
That’s it, Joe? That’s all you got? You’re not gonna change it one iota? It’s going to be a long four years if Biden or Trump wins. There are lots of people – Black people, jobless people of all races, newly homeless people, immigrants, Dreamers, and people who now have their own dreams, and will not be denied.
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Don’t Place Your Bets on the Presidential Election, Yet
It’s going to be Joe Biden versus Donald Trump, right? Well, maybe. But both have three hurtles to get over, lest they ruin their chances of election.
Problem #1 – Their Health
Only seldom in the nearly 232 years since George Washington, an Independent, ran unopposed have such old men been contending for the office.
Donald Trump was 70 when he was elected, beating Ronald Reagan by a year and William Henry Harrison by two years. Harrison was the one who got sick and died 34 days into his presidency. This makes Trump 74 now, and Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., his presumptive opponent, will be 78 in November.
According to the Constitution, one must be at least 35 years old to be the president, but that good book (aside from the part about slavery) does not establish an upper limit of age, not does it say that the president must be in good health. They might both be disqualified if it did.
When Trump attended the West Point Military Academy for its graduation, June 13, he showed the entire world that he had trouble drinking a glass of water one handed, and walking down a ramp without difficulty, was almost a ramp-too-far. His doctor conducted a cardiovascular CT scan on him last November. This is not a routine test since the CT scan dumps quite a bit of radiation into the patient’s body. However, the result proved it was needed. His score of 133 indicated the presence of plaque in his arteries. This is not a good sign for a mid-seventies man. Since then he started taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent infection by the coronavirus. The National Instututes of Health announced, June 20, that it was stopping all testing of the drug. Apparently, hydroxychloroquine didn’t work in curing COVID-19, but the side effects did work. Drugs.com lists 41 side effects, including unusual behavior, severe mood or mental changes, unusual facial expressions (which we’ve seen), among others..
Joe Biden has been the subject of discussion of reduced mental capacity, senility, non sequiturs and frequent gaffes. Most of the criticism about Biden’s mental demeanor has been from the right-wing press and it’s fair to say its all politics, until you’ve seen him in an unguarded moment.
Problem #2 – The Women
Then there are the women. Trump has had stormy (pardon the pun) relationships with six women that we know about. They are: Marla Maples, his ex-wife from 1993-99; 19-year-old Gabriela Sabatini, a tennis star from Argentina, in 1989, while married to Ivana and seeing Marla; Rowanne Brewer Lane, former Miss Maryland, in 1990; Kylie Bax, a New Zealand model and actress, 1995, Bax actually endorsed Trump in 2016!; Allison Giannini, model, 1997; Kara Young, model for Victoria’s Secret, Playboy and Vogue, 1997-2000; Karen McDougal, model, paid $150,000 by Trump’s friends at the National Enquirer to keep quite, which she didn’t. The aging Trump also paid her cash for her “expenses,” 2006-07; Stormy Daniels, adult film star, received $130,000 per month from his lawyer leading up to the 2016 election for hush money, she didn’t, 2006.
Some of Trump’s adventures have already made news without much damage to the president. But that was before millions of us received an education in the streets. Are we still willing to accept such behavior from the Commander-in-Chief?
Joe Biden has been accused of groping women on numerous occasions. Evidence includes a number of photos and several women’s statements, including that of Lucy Flores, a Nevada progressive democrat, who said Biden, "inappropriately kissed and touched her after he offered to help her with her 2014 campaign." Both Elizabeth Warren and Julián Castro said that they believe Flores’ story. The most serious allegation is from a former staff member, Tara Reade. She said that in 1993 that Biden had assaulted her.
It would be easy to dismiss her allegation out of hand, and yet – Reade’s story is either not factual, or it is a gross abuse of power by the mainstream media and the Senate establishment which may be trying to silence her. Rather than go through the whole story here, read Katie Halper’s article in The Guardian.
Problem #3 – Their Families
Someday there will be a sitcom with a ficticious, large family that bears an uncanny resemblance to Donald Trump’s menagerie. Anyone of them could be a ticking time bomb, with the possible exception of 14-year-old Barron Trump. Supposedly, Melania (present wife of Donald) was brought up in a socialist household in Slovenia, so she may rebel at any time. Let’s hope it’s soon.
If you think the family is a handful, meet the in-laws. Jared Kushner was a lifelong Democrat, supporting Hillary Clinton in 2008, and in 2012, the New York Observer newspaper, which he owned, endorsed Barack Obama over John McCain. Not being someone to miss a good thing, he became a Republican and made himself indispensable during Trump’s election campaign and in the White House. Kushner reportedly has seen a hefty rise in his net worth since 2016 and may have to explain his financial dealings at some point. It also turns out that Kushner is a geopolitical genius. He recently negotiated the most one-sided solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in history. Trump called a press conference on january 28, and, also one-sidedly invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was not invited.
Joe Biden seemingly has only one family problem, and it’s a doozy. His son, Hunter, seems to be another genius, ala Jared Kushner. In 2014, Hunter joined the Board of Burisma Holdings, one of Ukraine’s largest natural gas producers. There’s no evidence that Hunter knew anything about the natural gas (mostly methane) business, but he held his job for five years. The company was being investigated by an honest prosecutor, Yurly Lutsenko, whose probing might have screwed up the deal. The problem Joe faces is whether or not he held up a billion dollar aid grant for the country until Lutsenko was taken off the job by the president.
After his big splash in the Ukraine, Hunter was now ready to go to China to help a businessman, Ye Jianming, make a $40 million investment in a natural gas project in Louisiana. Ye was so pleased with Hunter’s help that he gave him a 2.8 carat diamond, which Hunter said he gave away. Ye’s deputy, Patrick Ho was arrested and jailed in the U.S. for bribery. Ye ended up being arrested in China where he was charged with corruption.
———————————-Two old men and a ghost——————————
The Bumpy Road to the White House
Biden still has to win at the Democratic Convention, August 17-20, in Milwaukee. He will likely be confirmed there, unless there are health problems, women problems or Hunter problems, but it’s not a done deal. On the other hand, if Trump can stay alive, he will probably be the Republican nominee.
On the day after the presidential election in November, many of us will wake up swelling with pride that our country is now going to make fighting racism a priority, everyone will have medicare-for-all, free tuition, pollution will be rolled back, and we’ll have peace in the world. In your dreams! We’ll be thinking that we’re happy the other guy lost. He would have been a disaster.
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