(2023-01-18). Lula Da Silva's New Term Begins: Will Brazil Shine Again on Global Stage?>. infobrics.org Lula was the first Brazilian president from a working-class origin who helped lift millions of ordinary citizens out of the scourge of poverty…
(2023-01-17). Martin Luther King Day Special Encore Program: Restructuring The Edifice That Produces Poverty. popularresistance.org In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Clearing the FOG brought back an interview from ten years ago with Cheri Honkala of the Poor People's Economic and Human Rights Campaign and Robert Pollin of the Political Economy Research Institute. The program is centered on Dr. King's speech before the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in August 1967, "Where Do We Go From Here?" The guests, along with co-host Kevin Zeese discuss the current economic challenges and efforts to bring transformation at the local and national levels. That conversation is relevant today as we continue to face multiple c…
(2023-01-17). Monday 1/16: Close the Wealth Gap CA! MLK Day Reading of PPC Third Reconstruction Agenda to End Poverty. indybay.org Online event…
(2023-01-17). Oxfam: Social inequality and poverty soaring in Australia. wsws.org The widening social gulf has been intensified by corporate profiteering on the most basic human necessities—food and energy.
(2023-01-17). Billionaires Gobbled up 2/3s of New Wealth at $2.7 bn/ day, as 800 million go to bed Hungry: Oxfam. juancole.com 
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) Oxfam , the British charity, has released a new report finding that the global problem of wealth inequality is growing ever more threatening. Of all the new wealth the entire human race has produced in the past two years, the richest 1% gobbled up 66% of it. The less-rich 99% …
(2023-01-17). U.S. Spy Chief Gives His Support to Libya PM As Part of a DEAL OVER LOCKERBIE? strategic-culture.org The greatest cover up since JKF — The Lockerbie bombing — might be coming apart at the seams, Martin Jay writes. | America seems to be getting skittish about its dirty work in Libya and how the greatest cover up since JKF — The Lockerbie bombing — might be coming apart at the seams. | Like Afghanistan, Libya, a country rich in oil wealth and underpopulated, is heading towards being branded another major NATO f***-up as analysts worry that delayed elections, the hilarious farce of now having two rival prime ministers in office and an economy in freefall, could all point to rival factions re…
(2023-01-17). Oxfam report documents "explosion of inequality" during pandemic. wsws.org Despite a slight reduction in overall wealth, billionaires and major corporations became "dramatically richer" in 2022 and were the main driver of global inflation.
(2023-01-17). Rep. Ro Khanna on CA Flooding, Big Oil's Climate Denial, Debt Ceiling, Assange & Possible Senate Bid. democracynow.org 
The death toll from two weeks of flooding in California has reached at least 20. As climate scientists are predicting more extreme weather linked to climate change over the next two years, outrage is growing over how fossil fuel companies were fully aware of the link between fossil fuel emissions and global warming but spent decades obscuring the science in order to make maximum profits. We speak with Democratic California Congressmember Ro Khanna, who recently concluded a congressional investigation into the allegations and says the oil industry needs to be held accountable for the damage it has wrought. Khanna…
(2023-01-17). Saturday 2/11: Strike Debt Bay Area Book Group: Cannibal Capitalism. indybay.org We meet via Zoom. Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com a few days beforehand for the online invite.
(2023-01-17). How Elon Musk Is Aiding the US Empire's Regime Change Operation in Iran. mintpressnews.com 
Elon Musk is working with the US to smuggle hundreds of Starlink communications devices into Iran to aid the US-backed opposition in overthrowing their government.
(2023-01-17). Highlights From Dr. Umar Johnson's Breakfast Club Appearance. moguldom.com The ever-controversial Dr. Umar Johnson visited the popular morning radio show The Breakfast Club. As per usual, Johnson had more than a few eyebrow-raising statements. The interview premiered on Dec 9, 2022. According to his website, Johnson is a doctor of clinical psychology and a certified school psychologist who specializes in working with the parents …
(2023-01-17). 'Becky With The Hands' Raises Over $16,000 After Waffle House Fight Went Viral, Gets Fox News Support. moguldom.com The public has rallied around a former Waffle House cook by donating over $16,000 to a GoFundMe campaign after she was blacklisted from working at the restaurant due to her involvement in a fight with customers. Last year, Halie Booth was employed at an Austin, Texas, location of the popular restaurant chain. She went viral after footage …
(2023-01-17). What is cardiac arrest? A Mayo Clinic heart expert explains. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org Cardiac arrest, or sudden cardiac arrest as it is more formally known, is a medical emergency. It happens when an event, usually an electrical disturbance, quickly and unexpectedly causes your heart to stop working. It's not the same as a heart attack and is called sudden because it seems to happen without warning. Dr. Christopher DeSimone, a Mayo cardiac electrophysiologist specializing in abnormal cardiac rhythm, answers questions about cardiac arrest, the differences between cardiac arrest…
(2023-01-17). Monday 2/20: MLK Day of Service at the Farm. indybay.org Homeless Garden Project Farm | 100-198 Shaffer Rd, Santa Cruz…
(2023-01-16). What Is Capitalism? Even Conservatives Can't Explain It. americanthinker.com Capitalism is not simply free markets. It is a designed, self-accelerating economic system that reduces prices and poverty.
(2023-01-16). Poorest learners benefit the least from public education: UNICEF. news.un.org Governments are not investing enough in those children who need education the most, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a report published on Tuesday, calling for equitable financing to combat "learning poverty".
(2023-01-16). House Republican Rules Package Designed To Enable Skewed Priorities. popularresistance.org The House Republican majority recently adopted a rules package to guide that chamber's legislative action that would put up steep barriers to investments in critical national needs while paving the way for ever more tax cuts, inevitably tilted toward the wealthy and profitable corporations. That isn't an agenda that will expand opportunity or support broadly shared economic growth. | Proponents describe the rules as "restoring fiscal sanity," but they just reflect an ideology that ignores reams of evidence showing that the tax cuts of recent decades haven't meaningfully boosted economic growth. The large tax cuts…
(2023-01-16). Why Debate Markets vs. Government When We Let the Right Rig the Market? cepr.net I was happy to see this segment of Ezra Klein's show (hosted by Rogé Karma) which featured an interview with Columbia University Law Professor Katharina Pistor. Pistor is the author of The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality. I've not yet read the book, but got the gist from the interview. …
(2023-01-16). MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Authors of Report on "Billionaire Enabler States" Available for Comment on The New Yorker Exposé on Allegations of Getty Family Trusts' Tax Dodging. ips-dc.org "Nevada has helped make it possible for super-wealthy families like the Gettys to dodge taxes owed to other states like California."
(2023-01-16). US treasury secretary issues warning on debt ceiling. wsws.org In a letter to Congress Janet Yellen said Treasury would have to undertake "extraordinary measures" to prevent the US defaulting on its debt obligations.
(2023-01-16). New Zealand's New Sectoral Bargaining Law Holds Lessons For US. popularresistance.org In one of the more important advances in collective bargaining around the world, New Zealand recently passed an innovative sectoral bargaining policy, called Fair Pay Agreements. Labor supporters in Britain and Australia want to replicate elements of the policy in their countries, while for American audiences the most important lesson may be how New Zealand's experiences highlight that sectoral bargaining — in conjunction with worksite bargaining — is necessary to improve working conditions in today's economy and thus should be part of policy efforts to strengthen unions. | Sectoral bargaining, someti…
(2023-01-16). Students Protest Fossil Fuel Involvement In Campus Career Center. popularresistance.org Washington – UW students are protesting on campus to demand that the UW Career and Internship Center amend their employer user policy to prohibit companies in the Fossil Fuel industry from recruiting on campus or using the center's services in any capacity to engage with students. The requested change would deny members of the Fossil Fuel industry a space to recruit students through university networking platforms and career fair events, and also leverage the UW's agenda-setting power by encouraging similar institutions to follow suit. | After several meetings and an attempt to work with the executive director of…
(2023-01-16). How the Workers' Parliaments Saved the Cuban Revolution. transcend.org 13 Jan 2023 – A Rare Look from Inside Cuba: In highlighting the little-known role of the Cuban working class during the Special Period, the author has produced a book essential to understanding the survival of revolutionary Cuba.
(2023-01-16). Asia-Pacific countries eager to welcome back Chinese tourists. ecns.cn China's recent optimization of its COVID-19 response and the gradual return of Chinese citizens' overseas travel have encouraged those working in the tourism sectors of Asia-Pacific countries.
(2023-01-16). Australia: Vote "no" to union-enforced real wage cuts at Pampas! Form a rank-and-file committee to fight for jobs and pay! wsws.org A "no" vote is a critical first step, but to take their struggle forward, Pampas workers will need to take up a fight against the United Workers' Union bureaucracy, which is working to impose a sell-out.
(2023-01-16). Striking Workers From A Homelessness Charity Beat Their Tight-Fisted Bosses. popularresistance.org Workers from the homelessness charity Shelter have won their battle against the bosses. Unite the Union, which organises Shelter workers, said they had won a "vastly improved pay offer" following effective strike action. In addition, a one-off payout was also prised out of the bosses. A statement on the Unite website announced: | During the strike action talks were held at the conciliation service Acas and an improved pay offer was made. The revised offer was for an increase in pay of seven per cent, which was more than double the three per cent the workers had previously been offered. | And added that: | In addi…
(2023-01-16). Democrat Barbara Lee Wants Millions of Gov Funds For Billionaire Fisher's A's Stadium. indybay.org Democratic Party politician Congresswomen Barbara Lee is supporting spending $182 million of US DOT funds for GAP A's billionaire owner John Fisher's stadium project. While thousands are homeless in Oakland, she wants to spend millions on Fisher's privately owned stadium project.
(2023-01-16). How the Getty and Walton Families Use Trusts To Dodge Taxes. inequality.org
(2023-01-16). Oxfam Wants To More than Double the Tax Rate on Our Richest. inequality.org