Mary Grant on Water & Covid-19, David Cay Johnston on the Last Bailout
Along with many other things, Covid-19 has underscored the individual and communal harms of a water affordability crisis in this country that usually remains hidden.
The Speed of Economic Recovery Depends on How Soon We Control the Virus
The course of the recovery will depend on what happens with the progress in containing and/or treating the coronavirus, and anyone who cannot speak authoritatively on that point has no clue what the recovery will look like.
Presenting Trump and Science as Equals Isn’t Balanced, It’s Dangerous
Reporting on Trump’s statements ended up soft-pedaling the dangers of the economy-first approach, and denying readers important information on what will likely happen if the White House tries to lift restrictions too soon.
On Coronavirus, ‘You Have to Combine Economic and Public Health Measures’
“In an epidemic like this, the absolute worst thing is people who don’t get tested, or don’t get treated, because they’re worried about cost. But that’s a reality of life in America; lots of people forgo healthcare because they think it’s going to be too expensive.”
Coronavirus Is a Reason to Worry About the Economy—the Stock Market Plunge Is Not
While the spread of the coronavirus gives us very good reason to worry about the state of the economy, the plunge in the stock market does not.
Josh Bivens on Coronavirus Economics, Mandy Smithberger on Military Economics
Economic impacts of epidemics of life-saving and of war-mongering, this week on CounterSpin.
For WaPo, Flourishing Elites Are a Matter of Perception
Election Focus 2020: The Washington Post gave us a major piece telling us how Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are two sides of the same populist coin.
News Flash! Billionaires Don’t Like Socialism
Big news, everyone! Billionaires don’t like socialism. In response to a rising progressive tide in the United States, a new genre of stories has emerged in corporate media: rich guys warning against taxing them, or really changing anything about the system at all. CNBC (1/22/20) ran an article headlined, “BP’s CEO Chides AOC and Bernie […]
News Flash: Billionaires Don’t Like Socialism
Big news, everyone! Billionaires don’t like socialism. In response to a rising progressive tide in the United States, a new genre of stories has emerged in corporate media: rich guys warning against taxing them, or really changing anything about the system at all. Just as the press are keen for you to know that […]
‘The Fed Is a Political Institution That Pretends Not to Be Political’
“The public, because it’s not very well-represented by their elected representatives, is kept distanced from those arguments, and therefore doesn’t even know they’re going on, much less have a voice in them.”
Record Inequality and Corporate Profits Are What Media Call a ‘Strong Economy’
Who determines whether we live in a “strong economy,” and what metrics should we use to find out?
In Ecuador, ‘Broken Windows Are Intolerable, but Broken People Are Fine’
“Moreno has made such a big deal about the size of the debt, but he’s actually increased it, because he’s given all kinds of tax giveaways to the richest people.”
Ecuador’s Austerity Measures, Repression Based on Lies AP Happily Spread
A recent AP piece on Ecuador’s protests was a good example of how elites push for austerity.
‘Finance Can Be Something That Helps Rather Than Harms Our Communities’
“It essentially is a David vs. Goliath story of an all-volunteer group of activists that went toe-to-toe with well-funded banking lobbyists to push this bill through the California state legislature.”
Mike Elk on GM Strike, Trinity Tran on Public Banking
To describe the intervention—the strike—as the cause of all attendant harms suggests that the status quo (to which the strike is a response) is blameless.
The Dangerous Austerity Politics of the Washington Post
Millions of people who wanted jobs in the decade from 2008 to 2018 did not have them because the Washington Post and its clique of “responsible” budget types joined in calls for austerity.
Media Just Can’t Stop Presenting Horrifying Stories as ‘Uplifting’ Perseverance Porn
In the popular trend of unintentionally horrifying “uplifting” news, out-of-touch corporate media give us supposedly charming, wholesome and positive news that actually, upon even minimal retrospection, reveals the dire conditions of late capitalism so many Americans now live under, and makes you feel worse after reading it.
Steven Rosenfeld on Gerrymander Ruling, Nathan Schneider on Alternative Economic Visions
The distance between the democracy media talk about and the system we have is wrenching — and a recent Supreme Court ruling highlights right-wing efforts to increase that gap and set it in stone.
Kevin Kumashiro on Student Debt Cancellation
CounterSpin talks with Kevin Kumashiro about student-loan debt cancellation as just the beginning of a conversation about the role of education in an aspiring democracy.
So Who Is Reporting That Trump Sanctions Have Killed Thousands of Venezuelans?
The study is the clearest evidence of the devastating impact US policy is having on the people of Venezuela.
