(2021-04-09). Biden is Funneling Trillions to the Capitalists and Calling it an Infrastructure Program. liberationnews.org 
Brian and Prof. Wolff discuss the Biden administration's next big priority — passing an infrastructure plan his administration says will create a huge number of jobs.
(2021-04-09). The End of Trickle-Down Economics. counterpunch.org The past year proves that a lot of conventional economic wisdom is neither true nor wise. For example: 1) "We don't have the money." The power elites tell us it would be nice to do the big-ticket reforms America needs, but the money just isn't there. Then a pandemic slammed into America, and suddenly trillions
(2021-04-09). How the Pandemic Laid Bare the Cruelties of Capitalism. counterpunch.org 
One thing this pandemic has demonstrated in stark terms is class struggle. Those people deemed essential, though often applauded in public, have been treated as expendable. In truth, they were always treated this way. But this last year has made this struggle visible for anyone paying attention. The medical staff, grocery clerks, janitors, sanitation workers,
(2021-04-09). As US Department of Labor reports 896,000 combined unemployment claims last week, states move to impose new restrictions. wsws.org As millions of people continue to look for steady, safe work amid the latest deadly surge in the pandemic, states are moving forward with reimposing unemployment restrictions and processing evictions.
(2021-04-09). Car-Bombing Highlights State's Culpability in Colombia's Violence. orinocotribune.com 
On Friday, March 26, a car bomb in the town of Corinto in the Cauca department was detonated, leaving 43 people injured, including 11 public officials, and causing heavy damages. Diego Molano, recently appointed Defense Minister, accused the Molano Dagoberto Ramos Mobile Column, a dissident group of the FARC, of carrying out the attack. | Corinto, a town of about 35,000 residents, has become, according to authorities, a strategic area on a crowded drug and weapons route heading towards the southwestern part of the country. This has made it a much-disputed territory amongst armed groups. According to the Colombian…
(2021-04-09). New Revelations on Germ Warfare: It's Time for a Reckoning with Our History from the Korean War. counterpunch.org 
The New York Times, which for years has maintained that U.S. airmen's statements about use of biological weapons during the Korean War were "false confessions" obtained by Chinese and North Korean torture, never acknowledged the following submission sent to its opinion section in November 2020. I am publishing the article instead at CounterPunch, which is
(2021-04-09). Capitalism Versus Economic Democracy, Minimum Wage Edition. counterpunch.org 
The last time that the pay of the rich— corporate profits and gains on speculative wealth, failed to rise for a few months in a row, a revolution ensued. The revolutionary method, now called neoliberalism, was well under way by the time that Ronald Reagan was elected to the presidency in 1980. It emanated from
(2021-04-09). Public infrastructure jobs helped beat the Great Depression; they can do it again. peoplesworld.org 
President Joe Biden's proposed $2 trillion infrastructure bill "brings us one step closer to repairing, rebuilding, and restoring our country," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said a couple of weeks ago. "Repairing, rebuilding, and restoring" reminded me of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "three Rs" of the New Deal: "relief, reform, and recovery." New Deal public works programs …
(2021-04-09). Religious Socialism: Religious groups join DSA to advocate for the PRO Act. dsausa.org The DSA's
(2021-04-09). Felony charges against activists seeking justice for Elijah McClain withdrawn. peoplesdispatch.org The three activists, members of the local chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), were among the six arrested and charged last year for organizing a protest at the Aurora police station near Denver in June and July 2020.
(2021-04-09). The Enormous Impact Of Eroded Collective Bargaining On Wages. popularresistance.org A major factor depressing wage growth for middle earners and driving the growth of wage inequality over the last four decades has been the erosion of collective bargaining.1 Indeed, the only factor more responsible for weak wage growth for the typical worker is the excessive unemployment perpetrated by central bank policymakers' high interest rate policies and fiscal austerity.2 The share of workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement fell from 27.0% in 1979 to just 11.6% in 2019 (Hirsch and Macpherson 2020). The erosion of collective bargaining has been especially harmful to men's wages because men were…
(2021-04-09). A Vaccine Summit: Taking the Pandemic Seriously. cepr.net You might think that, after a year in which have seen millions of deaths and tens of millions of infections, and trillions of dollars in economic losses, our leaders would take the pandemic seriously. But apparently, that is too much to ask. To my view, taking the pandemic seriously means doing everything we can to …
(2021-04-09). Friday 4/16: Fighting Racism at Home and Imperialism Abroad. indybay.org Virtual forum | Register at bit.ly/education4thepeople…
(2021-04-08). In Commune: The Che Guevara Commune (Part 2). orinocotribune.com By Katrina Kozarek — Apr 3, 2021 | In the second part of our episode, we look at how the Che Guevara Commune's economic development has improved its political reach and impact on the local community. | Outside of Venezuela, communes are a little-known aspect of the Bolivarian Revolution. Yet the development of the communal state is central to Hugo Chávez's 21st century socialism. | Through the In Commune series, Venezuelanalysis explores diverse rural and urban communes to help better understand what these highly controversial bodies mean, how they work, and what they could signify for the future of the B…
(2021-04-08). Europe's billionaires' wealth surges in a year of the coronavirus pandemic. wsws.org The pandemic saw increased mass death, hardship, unemployment, poverty, social isolation, and suffering for Europe's workers, and unprecedented wealth for its billionaires.
(2021-04-08). Intensive fishing and the birth of capitalism, Part 3. mronline.org 
How England's government-licensed pirates stole the Newfoundland fishery from Europe's largest feudal empire. | April 8, 2021 | Newswire…
(2021-04-08). Taiwan threatens to shoot down Chinese drones amid mounting US-China conflict. wsws.org Encouraged by the US, Taiwanese officials are escalating their war rhetoric as provocative US military exercises in the region threaten to precipitate a clash with Chinese forces.
(2021-04-08). The iWars Survey: Mapping the IT Sector's Involvement in Developing Autonomous Weapons. globalresearch.ca A
(2021-04-08). Iraqis protest against unemployment, shut down major oil refinery. peoplesdispatch.org Protests against unemployment have been taking place for five days in a row in southern Iraq, causing massive fuel shortages in the region and adversely impacting oil production and refining at the Nasiriyah oil refinery…
(2021-04-08). Cat & Mouse Game Continues As Houthis Launch More Drones At Saudi Arabia. southfront.org 
Illustrative image, source: the Houthis media wing | The Houthis (Ansar Allah) continue to launch suicide drones from Yemen at high-value targets in different parts of Saudi Arabia. | Early on April 8, the group announced that it had launched a Qasef-2K suicide drone at Saudi King Khalid Air Base in the southern province of 'Asir. The drone is a copy of the Iranian Ababil-2. | In an official statement, Brig. Gen. Yahya Sari, a spokesman for the Houthis, claimed that the attack was successful. He said that the drone ha…
(2021-04-08). Israeli Airstrikes Killed Three Near Syrian Capital. news.antiwar.com Following up on reports of overnight Israeli airstrikes near Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights now reports a weapons depot was hit and destroyed, and that three people, whom they labeled as " Last night reports were that Syrian air defenses had intercepted almost everything, and that four soldiers were wounded. Israel often carries out attacks on alleged weapons depots in Syria, usually on the pretext of keeping arms away from Iran's al…
(2021-04-08). Open Borders Is Socialism. counterpunch.org "I think the vision is, you know, you have this kind of right-wing populism, which really is socialism, that says we should close our borders, not allow unconstrained immigration, and then take better care of our own working-class people and not allow this kind of transnational, global, corporatist elite to take everything for themselves under
(2021-04-08). Labor's policy conference fails to put Morrison under pressure. greenleft.org.au Alex Bainbridge argues that the Labor party's stage-managed policy conference demonstrated that Anthony Albanese plans to continue its "small target" strategy, offering working people very little in a pandemic recession and climate emergency.
