(2021-12-21). Next Phase in US Economic and Political Crisis Begins. popularresistance.org The response of Democrat leaders to Manchin's announcement killing the bill has been typically timid. Senator Sanders replied they should put the bill to a vote in the Senate to show West Virginians where Manchin stands. As if it was not already clear to everyone! Dick Durbin's reply was 'let's all go home for Xmas' and we'll all feel better when we return and maybe can get something done'. Such timidity reveals traditional Democrat political pusillanimity and a desperate 'too clever' spin that the bill isn't quite dead. Somehow the Zombie legislation can be resurrected. But Build Back Better is not only DOA, but…
(2021-12-21). New Program Is Secretly Privatizing Medicare. popularresistance.org A new program is placing Medicare recipients into private health insurance plans without their knowledge or consent in a final effort to fully privatize our national Medicare system. Known as "Direct Contract Entities (DCEs)," this program is putting more of our healthcare system into the hands of private equity to generate enormous profits at the expense of our health. Clearing the FOG speaks about this with Kay Tillow, a long time health care, civil rights and union activist. Tillow explains what these entities are, why they threaten the future of our entire healthcare system and how they block our ability to a…
(2021-12-21). Senior Economist At Moody's, Mark Zandi: I'm Lowering My Economic Forecast For US Due To Omicron Variant. moguldom.com Moody's Analytics is expected to downgrade its U.S. economic forecast by as much as one percentage point in the coming days due to the double blow from the intensifying pandemic and Sen. Joe Manchin's opposition to President Joe Biden's signature Build Back Better legislation. Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Analytics, told CNN on Monday that …
(2021-12-21). Want to Know How to Beat COVID? Look at China. orinocotribune.com By Scott Scheffer — Dec 17, 2021 | The world is now nearing the end of the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States has the highest death toll in the world — 823,390 as of Dec. 16. | With all the scientific resources available, and billions of dollars in the vaults of the richest capitalist class in history, the U.S. should have been able to succeed in a vaccination campaign and treat everyone before they were infected. Vaccines should have made their way throughout the world, including the global south where the challenges of poverty magnify the horrors of the pandemic. | Instead, the W…
(2021-12-21). Who Might Strike in 2022? Hundreds of Big Contracts Will Be Up. popularresistance.org Workers are already sensing their increased leverage in a tight labor market. They'll be feeling the squeeze of record inflation while their employers rake in profits. There's every reason to hold the line against concessions, or to win back what they gave away before. | A Bloomberg analysis in November found that nearly 200 large union contracts (covering at least 1,000 workers) would expire between then and the end of 2022. Together these contracts cover 1.3 million workers—and there are hundreds of thousands more covered under the hundreds of smaller contracts that are also expiring. Here are some of the…
(2021-12-21). Rally for Amazon workers! Dec. 22, New York City. workers.org 
New York City Amazon union organizing is accelerating, as Staten Island Amazon workers refile for union election. On Dec. 22 the Amazon Labor Union will resubmit its petition for a union vote at the facility, known as JFK8, to the National Labor Relations Board. Workers will hold a lunchtime walkout . . . |
(2021-12-21). UK Tesco workers—reject USDAW-Unite pay sellout! wsws.org USDAW and Unite are recommending workers call off their offensive and accept an effective pay cut in conditions in which they occupy a powerful economic position and confront the serious dangers of COVID-19 in the workplace.
(2021-12-21). Gabriel Boric Win in Chile Is "Huge Victory" for Social Movements That Fought Off Far-Right Threat. democracynow.org 
Former student activist and leftist Gabriel Boric will become Chile's youngest president after easily defeating the far-right candidate José Antonio Kast with over 55% of the vote. Boric has vowed to fight for progressive social reforms and overhaul the neoliberal economic policies left by the U.S.-backed dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. We speak with Chilean writer Pablo Abufom and feminist activist Javiera Manzi, who say Boric's victory signals an opening for progressive policy in Chile and Latin America more broadly.
(2021-12-21). Social Movements in Chile Fend Off Far Right Threat With Gabriel Boric's Victory. truthout.org 
Former student activist and leftist Gabriel Boric will become Chile's youngest president after easily defeating the far-right candidate José Antonio Kast with over 55% of the vote. Boric has vowed to fight for progressive social reforms and overhaul the neoliberal economic policies left by the U.S.-backed dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. We speak with Chilean writer Pablo Abufom and feminist activist Javiera Manzi, who say Boric's victory signals an opening for progressive policy in…
(2021-12-21). The "selling" of degrowth. nationofchange.org Can those who advocate hitting the brakes on economic growth get their message across before it's too late?>
(2021-12-21). Price increases for food and other basic necessities to squeeze Canadian workers' already hard-pressed incomes. wsws.org The rising cost of foodstuffs is especially devastating for workers and their families, many of whom struggle to put food on the table, never mind the foods necessary for a healthy and balanced diet.
(2021-12-21). Hospitality workers on strike in Cambodia's biggest casino. peoplesdispatch.org Despite pressure from authorities, more than 1,300 workers in Phnom Penh's NagaWorld have been on strike against mass lay-offs and wage cuts. The entire leadership of the Labour Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld is among those laid off…
(2021-12-21). LABOUR live at Metabolic Rift. mronline.org 
Titled Metabolic Rift, the month-long event series combined both an exhibition spread across Berlin's Kraftwerk venue and a series of concerts that captured the spirit of Berlin through site-specific interventions and live performance.
(2021-12-21). New Zealand: More bodies photographed after sealing of Pike River mine. wsws.org The announcement underlines the criminality of the Labour Party government's decision to permanently seal the mine, preventing the 29 bodies being recovered and the 2010 disaster properly investigated.
(2021-12-21). Democratic legislators send scathing letter to Amazon inquiring about employee deaths. nationofchange.org "Amazon has proven time and time again that it views workers as disposable means to achieving greater profits."
(2021-12-21). Mack Trucks and UAW continue to push for profits at Macungie, Pennsylvania plant after worker dies of COVID-19. wsws.org Mack and the United Auto Workers have continued with operations even after William Domitrovitsch Jr., who had an elderly parent and young child, died on December 15 after catching COVID-19.
(2021-12-21). Gregory T. Cushman — 'Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World: A Global Ecological History'. mronline.org 
In the last two decades it has been common, in Marxist books on ecology, to find discussions of how capitalist agriculture developed an urgent need for fertilisers to solve the crisis of soil fertility in the 19th century.
(2021-12-21). The End of Neoliberalism in Latin America?: Return of the Left. orinocotribune.com 
Without seeming like déjà vu, presidential candidates supported by progressive and left-wing parties and movements are regaining power on the Latin American continent. Everything indicates that it may be the end of neoliberalism once again. | The domino effect has reached Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras, and more recently Chile, where the people have placed their hopes of progress on the new leftist presidency of Gabriel Boric, despite the hesitation by many on the left towards his statements on foreign policy. | Commander Hugo Chávez, alongside Fidel Castro, managed, at the beginni…
(2021-12-21). COVID-19 explodes in Spain as PSOE-Podemos government refuses action. wsws.org The surge in infections in Spain is a warning of the dangers posed by the virus, which the Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government has let spread unchecked.
(2021-12-21). German elderly care workers report dramatic pandemic experiences. wsws.org The World Socialist Web Site spoke with caregivers in nursing and retirement homes as part of the Global Workers' Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic.
(2021-12-21). Flight attendants say US airlines forced them to wear toxic uniforms even after symptoms emerged. wsws.org The World Socialist Web Site received correspondence from Southwest Airlines flight attendants suffering chronic and incurable disorders caused by poisoned company uniforms.
(2021-12-21). Chile's pseudo-left president-elect Gabriel Boric promises to work with far right. wsws.org Boric's government will be modeled in large measure on Spain's Podemos-Spanish Socialist Workers Party PSOE coalition, composed of thoroughly corrupt, pro-capitalist stooges.
(2021-12-21). Today is Stalin's birthday – here's what Mao had to say. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following article written by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong on the 60th birthday of Joseph Stalin. | Stalin, Friend of the Chinese People | On the Twenty-first of December, Comrade Stalin will be sixty years old. We can be sure that his birthday will evoke warm and affectionate congratulations from the hearts of all revolutionary people throughout the world who know of the occasion. | Congratulating Stalin is not a formality. Congratulating Stalin means supporting him and his cause, supporting the victory of socialism, and the way forward for mankind which he points ou…
(2021-12-20). Yemen and Afghanistan Face Unprecedented Famine — Crimes of Mass Starvation. journal-neo.org 
Sounding the alarm this December Nicholas Papachrysostomou, MSF head of mission in Yemen made clear that well beyond the many casualties War claimed over the past seven years, famine weighs much heavier on the war-torn nation, a fate Afghanistan unfortunately shares. "A nearly seven-year long conflict has badly affected the country's economy and weakened an …
(2021-12-20). Afghanistan economy in 'freefall', threatening to take entire population with it. moderndiplomacy.eu Afghanistan's economy is in "free fall", the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator told a special meeting on Sunday, warning that if decisive and compassionate action is not taken immediately, it may "pull the entire population with it". Speaking virtually to the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in …
(2021-12-20). West mulls Finnish war scenario for Russia in addition to Bandera, Mujahideen models. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com As Helsinki confirms it will purchase 64 U.S. F-35s, now equipped to deliver B61-12 tactical nuclear weapons, the 1939-1940 Finnish-Russian Winter War scenario is also being proposed by Western analysts to combat Russia in Ukraine in addition to those of the World War II Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Afghan Mujahideen model of the 1980s. …
(2021-12-20). Canada joins US-led Olympic boycott as Trudeau government pursues ever more belligerent anti-China policy. wsws.org Canada's Liberal government is binding itself ever more tightly to Washington's all-sided diplomatic, economic and military-strategic offensive against China.
(2021-12-20). Belt and Road: How Laos Exemplifies Preconditions for Global Success. journal-neo.org 
More than eight years ago, in September 2013, Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced the launch of China's global transport initiative, One Belt One Road (OBOR). The project implies the unification of all major world transport routes into a single system and removing all economic and political barriers to the free circulation of goods through this …
(2021-12-20). What Are The Fundamental Differences Between Capitalist And Socialist Democracy? popularresistance.org The United States hosted a "Summit for Democracy" on December 9th and 10th in an obvious attempt to legitimize its unipolar and hegemonic claim of leadership over the so-called "rules-based international order." While on the surface this appeared to be an unproductive move on the part of the world hegemon, it aligned well with the U.S. strategy of cloaking its aggressive and exploitative policies under the guise of "democracy." Joe Biden's administration has repeatedly hyped the differences between "autocracy" and U.S.-led "democracy." So-called allies were summoned to give the U.S.'s vision for democracy credibi…
(2021-12-20). Low Wages And Exploitative Conditions Are Sparking Graduate Student Strikes. popularresistance.org Many graduate students find themselves caught between these multiple fronts: burdened with past student debt, earning sub-living-wage pay in their present work and facing dwindling future opportunities. Universities have grown over-reliant on graduate students and other contingent faculty to maintain a pool of low-cost labor. But an upswell of organizing activity in the last year indicates that graduate students have been emboldened to take a collective stand against the precarity and untenable conditions that mar the academic experience in the U.S.
(2021-12-20). The Working Class is Not Voting Against Its Interests. zcomm.org America needs a labor party. A party of the working class. But right now it has nothing that even vaguely resembles either one…
(2021-12-20). How Hollywood Filmmakers Are Using Crypto And NFTs To Finance Movies. moguldom.com Hollywood is using blockchain technology to get in on the creator-led economy which has helped artists protect their intellectual property and reach their audiences and producers directly to fund the films they want without studio mediation. With crypto and blockchain, the movie and entertainment industry is about to reinvent its business functions for more secure, …
(2021-12-20). US Fed chief worried about "wages push" in coming year. wsws.org The head of the US central bank, Jerome Powell, said the major threat to the economy was not the Omicron variant but "briskly" rising wages, which could continue into 2022.
(2021-12-20). Delivery Drivers Take On the Platform Goliaths. zcomm.org The lesson to take from organizing in the gig economy is that workers still have the power to change the world…
(2021-12-20). Towards Another Devastating Worldwide Crisis? The WEF's "Cyber Attack With Covid-like Characteristics". Paralysis of the Power Supply, Communications, Transportation? globalresearch.ca First published on December 15, 2021 | The World Economic Forum (WEF) which represents the Western financial elites, played a key role in the launching of the March 11, 2020 lockdown, which was conducive to a Worldwide process of economic and …
(2021-12-20). World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting 2022 Deferred. moderndiplomacy.eu The World Economic Forum will defer its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in the light of continued uncertainty over the Omicron outbreak. The Annual Meeting was scheduled to take place in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland between 17-21 January, 2022. It is now planned for early summer. Participants will instead join a headline series of State of the …
(2021-12-20). U.S. inflation and India's economic recovery. mronline.org 
The very day, December 11, when the Indian finance ministry spuriously claimed a robust recovery in…
(2021-12-20). How the Mighty Culinary Union Survived the Apocalypse. zcomm.org After facing 98% unemployment in the depths of the pandemic, the strongest union in Las Vegas has risen again…
(2021-12-20). "The Cuban Soberana vaccine is not due to a miracle but the consequence of political decisions" peoplesdispatch.org From November 15 to 25, 35 Italian volunteers participated in a clinical trial on the Soberana vaccine in Havana, Cuba. Thanks to its public and high quality biotechnological research and health care system, the Caribbean island is the only low-income country worldwide to have made its own COVID-19 vaccines…
(2021-12-20). Special Privilege in Admission to Elite U.S. Colleges. dissidentvoice.org 
Although a major scandal erupted in 2019 over bribery and other fraudulent practices used by wealthy Americans to secure their children's admission to elite colleges, the affluent continue to benefit from other kinds of special admission policies that are perfectly legal. Consider the fact that, according to a recent study, only about 57 percent of …
(2021-12-20). Black Women Launch New Organization In Detroit For 'Reparations Transfers' To Go Towards Homeownership. moguldom.com Reparation Generation, a national organization providing direct reparative money transfers to Black Americans for wealth-building pursuits, launched a new program that takes a citizen-driven approach to restoration for disenfranchised descendants of American slavery. "Our vision is for this country that we love to become the 'more perfect union' our nation's founders promised. Equity for Black …
(2021-12-20). Leftist candidate Gabriel Boric emerges victorious in Chilean elections. peoplesdispatch.org Boric has promised to deliver on key demands raised during the 2019 protests which includes an increase in state spending on social services, progressive taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals.
(2021-12-20). US Lawmakers Call For Sanctions After 9 State Department Employees' iPhones Hacked With Software From Israeli NSO Spyware Company. moguldom.com A group of 18 Democratic lawmakers has asked President Joe Biden to impose financial sanctions on controversial Israel spyware firm NSO Group and several other surveillance companies following the revelation that nine U.S. State Department employees had their iPhones hacked with the company's software. NSO Group has come under global scrutiny for its Pegasus software, …
(2021-12-20). On Contact: America's War Machine. popularresistance.org Chris Hedges discusses with Andrew Cockburn his new book, 'The Spoils of War — Power, Profit and the American War Machine'. | Cockburn's book lays bare the naked lust for profit that is behind America's endless wars and bloated military budget. The American war machine, he writes, can only be understood in terms of the "private passions" and "interests" of those who control it — principally, a passionate interest in making money.
(2021-12-20). Support the #pizzaisnotworking walkouts by pharmacy workers! Trillions for public health, not pandemic profiteering! wsws.org The actions taken by pharmacists in the US are an early sign of a new phase in the growth of working-class resistance, driven by the deadly winter surge and the emergence of the hyper-infectious Omicron variant.
(2021-12-20). The Biden administration is lying: Scientists warned about Omicron threat. wsws.org The claim by Vice President Kamala Harris that "We didn't see Omicron coming" is a lie aimed at evading responsibility for the catastrophic outcome of a policy of sacrificing human life for private profit.
(2021-12-20). COPINH: Revelations in the Netherlands Prove the Lenca People Right. libya360.wordpress.com Photo from Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos Credit: Daniel Cima/CIDH AQUI ESPAàëOL The FMO bank of the Netherlands is sanctioned for not complying with anti-money laundering regulations and at the same time terminates all relations with the FICOHSA bank of Honduras. COPINH and the Global Justice Association (legal representative of COPINH in the Netherlands) make…
(2021-12-20). Deadly fire in Osaka, Japan leaves at least 24 people dead. wsws.org The blaze at a psychiatry clinic once again exposes the lack of fire safety under capitalism.
(2021-12-20). Legendary Hedge Fund Manager Ray Dalio: Bitcoin Has Merit, Is Like The Younger Generation's Alternative to Gold. moguldom.com Billionaire investor and hedge-fund founder Ray Dalio said he is impressed with Bitcoin, although less than two years ago, he said Bitcoin was not the best way to store value as it and other cryptocurrencies are fundamentally flawed. "It has been an amazing accomplishment for Bitcoin to have achieved what it has done, from writing that …
(2021-12-20). US Government Watchdog Launches Probe Into 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Companies, Stocks Crash. moguldom.com Buy now, pay later companies are hot right now, especially as people wrap up their Christmas shopping and try to stick to a budget. Companies such as Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal and Zip allow consumers to purchase items and pay for them over a scheduled period. Unlike layaway plans, consumers get the goods right away …