Reich at Home: Alarming Lockdown Protests, Unemployment Benefits in Limbo, Mixed Families Ignored

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is discussing the latest coronavirus developments, including how most of the promised $600 weekly extra unemployment benefits remain stuck in state offices overwhelmed with claims, what it will actually take for the economy to “reopen,” how American citizens in mixed status families are not receiving the economic stimulus, and the dangerous, right-wing protests against stay-at-home orders popping up across the country.

Paul Krugman: ‘We Really Are Talking about a Depression Level Event’ | The Last Word | MSNBC

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman tells Lawrence O’Donnell that Trump and his allies in Congress are “balking” at the things that need to be done to support parts of the economy that need the most help, like small businesses, hospitals and local governments: “We are at risk of turning this into even worse than it has to be… the administration is refusing to acknowledge the depth of the problem and is trying to pursue an ideological agenda that is getting in the way of dealing with this.” Aired on 04/15/2020.

Bridging Divides: Most Agree on Economic Outlook: It’s Bleak

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Even if not directly hurt by the coronavirus pandemic, Americans largely expect unemployment and depression to prevail over the next five years.

The coronavirus pandemic has united Americans of different races and income levels in deep pessimism about the economy, in contrast to the widely divergent views that prevailed before the crisis.

Highly paid or less so, black or white, investors in the stock market or not, Americans largely expect a poor or mixed performance from the economy in the coming year and prolonged damage over the next five years, according to a poll for The New York Times by the online research firm SurveyMonkey.

Those groups also roundly support the stringent limits on economic activity that state and local officials have imposed to slow the spread of the virus and minimize its death toll. » | Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley | Saturday, April 18, 2020

Coronavirus Putting World On Track for New Great Depression, Says WTO

THE GUARDIAN: International trade body predicts commerce could shrink up to 32% and warns against 30s-style protectionism

International trade has dried up as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and could be on course for a collapse as severe as that of the 1930s Great Depression, the World Trade Organization has said.

The Geneva-based WTO, responsible for policing the global trading system, said even the most optimistic scenario for 2020 was that trade would shrink by 13%, a bigger drop than in the 2008-09 recession caused by the banking crisis.

But it warned there was the risk of a much gloomier outcome under which trade would shrivel by 32%, on a par with the reduction seen between 1929 and 1932.

The collapse in global trade during the 1930s was in part due to the protectionist measures imposed by developed countries, and the head of the WTO, Roberto Azevêdo, warned that putting up barriers in response to Covid-19 would make matters worse. » | Larry Elliott | Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Thomas Piketty: Ungleichheit zerstört die Demokratie | Sternstunde Philosophie | SRF Kultur

Der Franzose Thomas Piketty gilt als Rockstar der Ökonomie. In seinem Weltbestseller «Das Kapital im 21. Jahrhundert» zeigte er, warum der Kapitalismus die sozialen Ungleichheiten verschärft.

Das Buch wurde in 40 Sprachen übersetzt und verkaufte sich weltweit über 2,5 Millionen Mal, erntete aber auch scharfe Kritik. Sein neues Buch «Kapital und Ideologie» ist quasi eine Weltgeschichte der Ungleichheiten. Piketty legt dar, Ungleichheit sei weder ein Naturgesetz noch eine wirtschaftliche Notwendigkeit, sondern ideologisch konstruiert und politisch gewollt.

Er stellt radikale Forderungen: Milliardäre und Spitzenverdiener sollen bis zu 90 Prozent ihres Vermögens und Einkommens abgeben und jeder Bürger soll mit 25 Jahren 120'000 Euro vom Staat bekommen, als Startkapital.

Warum diese drastischen Massnahmen? Was ist so schlimm an Ungleichheit? Ist sie der wahre Grund für die Krise der Demokratien? Das Gespräch von Yves Bossart mit dem streitbaren Ökonomen.


Französische Version / Version française »

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