therealnews--2020-03-18--Everything I Learned About Being a Good Neighbor During a Crisis I Learned from My Neighbor When I W

Everything I Learned About Being a Good Neighbor During a Crisis I Learned from My Neighbor When I Was in Crisis

Many Americans are already socially isolated , and the physical distancing that we need to do as a society to prevent the spread of coronavirus will exacerbate loneliness , anxiety and despair .
In the last 48 hours , I have read a bunch of important pieces about the importance of mutual aid , social solidarity , and social connectedness .
And as I was brainstorming what we as community members , as nonprofit leaders , and as a society ought to do to take care of each other during this crisis , what came to mind for me immediately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis .
First , a little context .
From about 2010 to 2016 , as ioby grew and my job became more national , I spent more of my life in everyone else ’ s neighborhood instead of my own .
I became what I thought was more self-reliant , but what was actually socially disconnected .
I came to rely on apps for everything that used to just be called favors .
A ride home from the airport ?
I no longer called friends ; I used Lyft .
Pick up something @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Nah , I ’ ll just use Amazon Prime .
Walk my dog ?
A dog-walking service .
Help me put together some IKEA furniture ?
Taskrabbit .
Instead of asking for someone to water my plants while I ’ m out of town , I even built a self-watering irrigation system for my fire escape kale .
I convinced myself that I had optimized my life because I didn ’ t depend on anyone else .
In 2016 , just three months after I moved into a new apartment building , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seizure and quickly diagnosed with a fast-growing brain cancer .
He had surgery to remove the cancer two days before the 2016 election .
He died three weeks after Inauguration Day in 2017 .
It was 106 days of hell—my family was gripped with fear , anxiety , boredom , sadness , uncertainty .
During that time , I traveled back and forth between NYC and Washington DC between work and family .
I was on my own , scared and trying to do the next best thing .
Just before this began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hadrien .
One day , my dog was barking at the front door but no one had knocked .
I opened the door and Hadrien was standing there with my mail in his hand .
He had been walking my mail to my doorstep for the first four months that I lived in the building because my landlord hadn ’ t given me a key to the building ’ s shared mailbox .
Hadrien invited me to dinner at his apartment with his roommate and the flatmates in between our floors .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sunday night dinners , watching movies , or just hanging out on the terrace together .
When my dad was first hospitalized , I rushed home to pack and left quickly for Penn Station , quickly texting the neighbors to let them know I ’ d be gone for awhile .
A few weeks later , I was trying to balance work and family plans for the holidays as my dad started chemo and radiation .
I was a mess .
And Hadrien simply offered—I ’ ll take care of your dog .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ depleted , emotionally exhausted , and on the doormat in front of my apartment I would find a little note from Hadrien , just checking in .
When I came home from the funeral , I found on my doormat a box of chocolates , and Hadrien ’ s riff on the Forrest Gump quote : Sometimes life just gives you shit , not at all like the surprise gooey deliciousness inside a chocolate .
Right now , every single person in New York City , perhaps in the entire country , is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to balance work and family , filled with fear , anxiety , boredom , sadness , uncertainty .
It ’ s important for us all to remember how calming it can be to have someone nearby looking out for you .
The artist Mona Chalabi made this beautiful reminder for us about who is most vulnerable : people with chronic diseases , older folks , freelancers , health workers , people who are undocumented .
I ’ m worried about my mom , who is over 55 , by herself in Virginia .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that her neighbors to the right and left of her are checking in with her every day , and they ’ re all looking out for one another .
I know her neighbors ’ names , and I have their phone numbers and email addresses .
This makes me feel so much better about her wellbeing .
So , I realized , if I ’ m putting this much faith in my mom ’ s neighbors , whose parents do I need to be taking care of ?
I mentally ran through all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tried to visualize who is older and lives alone .
I dropped off a note introducing myself , giving my address , email address and phone number , and offering to pick up groceries , meals , or prescriptions for the elders on my block .
It took less than five minutes , and now we have a stronger social bond .
While public spaces are empty , what can we do to keep physical distance without social distance ?
I plan to drop off little notes and treats for the elders on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ next few weeks .
I also know that I ’ m still pulling a regular paycheck , and I ’ m saving money by not eating at restaurants , not paying for my metro fares .
Inspired by Sarah Goodyear , I ’ m brainstorming ways that I can take what I ’ m saving every day and redistribute it to families and local small businesses that are losing money as a result of physical distancing .
adrienne maree brown taught us “ What you give attention to grows , ” so here @ @ @ @ @ @ @ give attention to social connectivity even during physical distance : — Italy taught us that we can sing together .
— We can string up twinkle lights and put candles in our windows .
— We can chalk the sidewalks with messages of love and kindness .
— We can buy gift certificates at our favorite restaurants to be redeemed later .
— We can have book club meetings by video conference .
— We can make designs in our windows to send messages to those across the street .
— We can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far away to give their parents a break .
— We can create hyperlocal childcare circles in places where kids are out of school ( an app called Wiggle Room can help with this ) .
— We can prepare care packages for people we know and people we don ’ t know .
For those of you who don ’ t know me well , I ended up marrying my neighbor Hadrien , which makes me believe that there ’ s almost no difference between love and being a good neighbor .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ care of the one or two most vulnerable people in our neighborhoods , perhaps we can each be the building blocks of nationwide network community care .
Dr. Cornel West says it better : “ Justice is what love looks like in public .
”

Many Americans are already socially isolated, and the physical distancing that we need to do as a society to prevent the spread of coronavirus will exacerbate loneliness, anxiety and despair. In the last 48 hours, I have read a bunch of important pieces about the importance of mutual aid, social solidarity, and social connectedness.
And as I was brainstorming what we as community members, as nonprofit leaders, and as a society ought to do to take care of each other during this crisis, what came to mind for me immediately is what I needed during a personal crisis.
First, a little context. From about 2010 to 2016, as ioby grew and my job became more national, I spent more of my life in everyone else’s neighborhood instead of my own. I became what I thought was more self-reliant, but what was actually socially disconnected. I came to rely on apps for everything that used to just be called favors. A ride home from the airport? I no longer called friends; I used Lyft. Pick up something last minute at the store for me? Nah, I’ll just use Amazon Prime. Walk my dog? A dog-walking service. Help me put together some IKEA furniture? Taskrabbit. Instead of asking for someone to water my plants while I’m out of town, I even built a self-watering irrigation system for my fire escape kale. I convinced myself that I had optimized my life because I didn’t depend on anyone else.
In 2016, just three months after I moved into a new apartment building, my dad was hospitalized after having a seizure and quickly diagnosed with a fast-growing brain cancer. He had surgery to remove the cancer two days before the 2016 election. He died three weeks after Inauguration Day in 2017.
It was 106 days of hell—my family was gripped with fear, anxiety, boredom, sadness, uncertainty. During that time, I traveled back and forth between NYC and Washington DC between work and family. I was on my own, scared and trying to do the next best thing.
Just before this began, I met my downstairs neighbor, Hadrien. One day, my dog was barking at the front door but no one had knocked. I opened the door and Hadrien was standing there with my mail in his hand. He had been walking my mail to my doorstep for the first four months that I lived in the building because my landlord hadn’t given me a key to the building’s shared mailbox.
Hadrien invited me to dinner at his apartment with his roommate and the flatmates in between our floors. We all started to spend time together for Sunday night dinners, watching movies, or just hanging out on the terrace together.
When my dad was first hospitalized, I rushed home to pack and left quickly for Penn Station, quickly texting the neighbors to let them know I’d be gone for awhile.
Hadrien immediately texted back—Don’t worry, I’ll water your plants.
A few weeks later, I was trying to balance work and family plans for the holidays as my dad started chemo and radiation. I was a mess.
And Hadrien simply offered—I’ll take care of your dog.
I repeatedly came back to Brooklyn completely depleted, emotionally exhausted, and on the doormat in front of my apartment I would find a little note from Hadrien, just checking in.
We buried my dad three years ago on Saint Patrick’s Day. The 106 day period leading up to his death was a wakeup call for me in community care, being a good neighbor and love.
When I came home from the funeral, I found on my doormat a box of chocolates, and Hadrien’s riff on the Forrest Gump quote: Sometimes life just gives you shit, not at all like the surprise gooey deliciousness inside a chocolate.
Right now, every single person in New York City, perhaps in the entire country, is having their own personal crisis, trying to balance work and family, filled with fear, anxiety, boredom, sadness, uncertainty.
It’s important for us all to remember how calming it can be to have someone nearby looking out for you.
Art by Mona Chalabi. https://www.instagram.com/monachalabi
The artist Mona Chalabi made this beautiful reminder for us about who is most vulnerable: people with chronic diseases, older folks, freelancers, health workers, people who are undocumented.
I’m worried about my mom, who is over 55, by herself in Virginia. But I’m soothed to know that her neighbors to the right and left of her are checking in with her every day, and they’re all looking out for one another. I know her neighbors’ names, and I have their phone numbers and email addresses. This makes me feel so much better about her wellbeing.
So, I realized, if I’m putting this much faith in my mom’s neighbors, whose parents do I need to be taking care of? I mentally ran through all the neighbors on my block, and tried to visualize who is older and lives alone. I dropped off a note introducing myself, giving my address, email address and phone number, and offering to pick up groceries, meals, or prescriptions for the elders on my block. It took less than five minutes, and now we have a stronger social bond.
While public spaces are empty, what can we do to keep physical distance without social distance? I plan to drop off little notes and treats for the elders on my block now and again over the next few weeks. I also know that I’m still pulling a regular paycheck, and I’m saving money by not eating at restaurants, not paying for my metro fares. Inspired by Sarah Goodyear, I’m brainstorming ways that I can take what I’m saving every day and redistribute it to families and local small businesses that are losing money as a result of physical distancing.
adrienne maree brown taught us “What you give attention to grows,” so here some more ideas to make sure we give attention to social connectivity even during physical distance:
— Italy taught us that we can sing together.
— We can string up twinkle lights and put candles in our windows.
— We can chalk the sidewalks with messages of love and kindness.
— We can plant flowers.
— We can buy gift certificates at our favorite restaurants to be redeemed later.
— We can have book club meetings by video conference.
— We can make designs in our windows to send messages to those across the street.
— We can FaceTime our nieces, nephews and niblings far away to give their parents a break.
— We can create hyperlocal childcare circles in places where kids are out of school (an app called Wiggle Room can help with this).
— We can prepare care packages for people we know and people we don’t know.
Hadrien and Bug
For those of you who don’t know me well, I ended up marrying my neighbor Hadrien, which makes me believe that there’s almost no difference between love and being a good neighbor. If all of us commit to taking care of the one or two most vulnerable people in our neighborhoods, perhaps we can each be the building blocks of nationwide network community care. Dr. Cornel West says it better: “Justice is what love looks like in public.”
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Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.


therealnews--2020-03-18--A Coronavirus Bailout Will Save Corporations, Not Workers

This is a rush transcript and may contain errors .
It will be updated .
Kim Brown : Welcome to The Real News .
I ’ m Kim Brown .
As the world scrambles to contain AND deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic , governments around the world are not only struggling to save lives , but to deal with an economic slowdown that has left millions of people without work at this time .
But make no mistake , capitalism is trying to claw back the billions of dollars it has lost since the global economic slowdown because of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in recent memory , who were the beneficiaries of federally taxpayer-funded bailouts , are lining up once again with their hands out , these same bailouts that left many American workers and workers around the world holding the bag .
To get more information and some analysis on this , we ’ re joined today with Bill Black .
He is the author of the book titled , The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One .
He is also a professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He joins us today from Bloomington .
Bill Black , thank you so much for being here .
Kim Brown : So Bill , hourly wage workers and the gig economy workers are feeling the crunch and the sudden impact of the economic slowdown .
Obviously here in the United States , and many states within the US have shut down bars , restaurants , casinos , schools , universities , everything is closed , and people who depend on working hourly are definitely experiencing the brunt of this , and we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in just a moment .
However , companies , industries , are telling Washington that if they don ’ t get billions in federal assistance , they will go bankrupt , that they will not survive .
And we ’ re talking about the airline industry , the hospitality industry , the cruise ship industry , even casinos and fossil fuels .
So Bill Black , are these industries being truthful that their survival depends on federal intervention , or is this a lot of hyperbole ?
Bill Black : Well , some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ circumstances .
So simultaneously , with this incredible drop in the stock market and with the strong expectation that there will now be a global recession due to the pandemic , the Russians and the Saudis also [ inaudible 00:02:35 ] was stage a price war on petroleum .
Most shale oil production was already very marginal and often losing money , and the price of oil has basically been cut in half , and those companies most assuredly would go out of business , as they should .
But of course , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ horrified , horrified by the concept of socialism , the government sending money to people and doing things , not so much if it ’ s going to major donors .
So this is not about saving the economy and it ’ s not about saving lives , this is all about saving the Trump presidency and the reelection efforts .
Kim Brown : Professor , the Trump White House coronavirus response team held a briefing in the White House , on Tuesday where Secretary of the Treasury , Steven Mnuchin pledged that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their industry shutting down , i.e .
restaurant and bar workers , could expect some financial relief coming from the White House .
Let ’ s take a listen to what he had to say .
Steven Mnuchin : The payroll tax holiday would get people money over the next six to eight months .
We ’ re looking at sending checks to Americans immediately .
And what we ’ ve heard from hardworking Americans , many companies have now shut down , whether it ’ s bars or restaurants , Americans need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to get cash now , and I mean now in the next two weeks .
Steven Mnuchin : I will be previewing that with the Republicans .
There ’ s some numbers out there .
They may be a little bit bigger than what ’ s in the process .
Kim Brown : So professor , what is your response to what Mnuchin had to say there ?
Bill Black : Okay , so to put it in context , you have to back up to Friday .
Trump makes his big announcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The stock market very briefly goes up 2000 points .
He ’ s signing copies of a graph showing this , giving it to Lou Dobbs , taking personal credit for it , and the market just absolutely tanks , and it tanks globally .
So again , they figured out , “ Oh my God !
” If you recall , last Friday , the Republicans in the Senate under Mitch McConnell were saying , “ The Democrats have way too much money in this stimulus package , and they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from layoffs , and from sick leave and such .
That ’ s all outrageous !
We need to make this package smaller !
” And now Trump has reversed it , because the biggest thing he thinks he has going for his reelection is the stock market .
So this is all about getting a really big surge in the stock market , which by the way , the gains go overwhelmingly to very , very wealthy people and corporations .
That ’ s who ’ s most heavily invested in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his last efforts , they ’ ve decided to go big .
And this is the old thing , go big or go home , home , not to the White House , but back to Florida or wherever he ’ s decided to live , if he gets defeated for reelection .
So Mnuchin is now promising payment to workers .
Remember before , they didn ’ t want to do that .
They didn ’ t want to have sick leave protection for workers and such , but they figured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the critical states particularly , Michigan , Pennsylvania , and Wisconsin and such , really wants these kinds of direct payments .
So let ’ s , even though we as Republicans opposed them in 2008 in the Obama stimulus , now we love them , ” and they ’ re going to compete obviously to see how big they can make them .
So yes , there will be direct paychecks , and you can see that both the Republicans and the Democrats will support this legislatively , and probably do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kim Brown : Professor , I ’ m going to lean heavily on your financial expertise here , because Secretary Mnuchin in this address from the White House on Tuesday , he made some specific claims about what the Fed is willing to do to boost the economy .
Let ’ s have a listen to what secretary Mnuchin had to say there .
Steven Mnuchin : The first , I would say is earlier today , I sent a letter to Fed Chairman Powell approving his request to use 13 ( 3 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the Fed will be setting up a special purpose vehicle , which the treasury will invest $ 10 billion in , from one of our funds , that will enable the Fed to guarantee the purchase of A1/P1 commercial paper going forward .
That is a $ 1 trillion market and is critical to American workers , it ’ s critical to American business , and it ’ s critical to American savers , who have a lot of that money in money market funds .
So we heard loud and clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very significant , and we ’ ll create , I don ’ t think we ’ ll need to use it all , but we have the ability to have the Fed purchase up to $ 1 trillion of commercial paper , as needed .
That has already created significant stability in the market today .
Kim Brown : So professor , I can tell you I understood very little of what was just said .
All I understood was $ 1 trillion .
Can you please decipher what Steve Mnuchin is talking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers , if at all ?
Bill Black : It won ’ t affect the average workers at all , if it works as intended .
What they were concerned about is the kind of breakdown in markets that occurred in September 2008 , and then like dominoes , cause what we call systemic failures , systemic risk , where one failure triggered another .
And so the specific part of the plan that he was talking about there , has to do with trying to fix recurrent problems over about the last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which are used almost entirely by Wall Street and its largest corporate customers .
So it has not much of anything to do with any of us .
Now , in the further context , remember the Republicans who were all for central bank independence and you should never have political influence , but of course , Trump in ways that we ’ ve never seen in America , has been hammering Powell , his own appointment to run the Fed , to reduce rates to the lowest in the world .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ done that , but they ’ ve reduced rates essentially to zero .
So that ’ s the broader context .
They ’ ve used up all the monetary tricks that they have in terms of stimulus .
Then they try to deal with the liquidity problem , and the way they did that is say , “ Hey , we ’ ll be the buyer of last resort up to 1 trillion bucks out of the Fed.
” So that ’ s the liquidity , and then they said what economists had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hey , there ’ s not that much effective you can do with these circumstances with monetary policy .
You really need a fiscal stimulus .
Remember the Republicans , about how fiscal stimulus was insane in 2008 with president Obama ?
” Now they ’ re all for it , of course , and so that ’ s the three pieces of this pie .
But in addition to these stimulus , then you ’ re just playing good old crony capitalism payoffs to your biggest political supporters , right ?
So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s greatest friends , and political supporters and contributors , the investment banking folks , the hedge funds and such , that particularly support Trump , all of these folks are going to be the huge beneficiaries , and mind you , consider the number .
The number they ’ re throwing around for allegedly sending to people , and remember most of that will probably go to richer people , but total that goes to people is 250 billion .
Obviously this can change legislatively , but this authority to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dollars , so four times as large , and then there ’ s all this other stuff from the Fed plus this incredible reduction in interest rates .
So all of these things really help the folks that borrow a huge sums of money , and again , that ’ s corporations and in particular , Wall Street Kim Brown : Professor , but this is what pisses a lot of people off , because when we hear the ease and the quick response from the White house , and this is really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House , Obama White House , Bush White House .
When Wall Street needs money , oh , we can make a trillion and a half dollars appear out of nowhere , but when average Americans , working people , poor families are asking for a student loan bailout , for example , or Medicare for all , it ’ s like , “ Oh , where are we going to find the money ?
Oh , we don ’ t even know where that money is.
” So clearly this money is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the people who clearly need it the most .
Bill Black : Yes .
I mean , this is the part that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were absolutely right about , right ?
That whenever it ’ s for folks who are major contributors and the biggest political contributors of any industry in America , are finance , and after that comes a whole list of the folks that are the recipients of this proposed bailout .
Whenever they want public money , suddenly it ’ s not socialism , suddenly it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these are the folks that save jobs , except that obviously , they ’ re not saving the jobs .
In fact , it ’ s these precise companies .
Well , why don ’ t they have as much cash ?
Why are they in such a vulnerable position that even a month or two would destroy them ?
Because they ’ ve been using their cash to buy back their own shares .
They use the corporate cash to buy back the corporation ’ s own shares .
They don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and development , which is why our productivity gains have been cut in half , right ?
And why do they do this ?
Because the CEOs alone own a lot of stock .
And what happens to stock prices when you buy back , and the corporation buy back stock ?
The stock price goes up , and you make the CEO a lot richer .
That ’ s why they ’ re short of cash , not just because of the coronavirus crisis .
So we ’ re bailing them out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that hurt productivity , hurt economic growth , hurt the ability to get wage increases , and it ’ s insidious socialism for the rich .
Kim Brown : And we can look back retrospectively on the most recent bailouts , federally taxpayer-funded bailouts done at the very tail end of George W. Bush ’ s administration , going into the first term of Barack Obama ’ s administration .
I mean , when we look at the General Motors bailout , for example , 10 years onward , GM has laid off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have shuttered factories in some of the most economically vulnerable communities here in the United States , but the banks also got a huge bailout in 2008 , 2009 , and I wanted to play a clip from then Senator and democratic candidate Barack Obama .
He sat down with CBS ’ s Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation , and this is what he had to say about the TARP bailout .
Let ’ s have a listen .
Barack Obama : First of all , I think we have to understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an urgent situation , and by the end of the week , I think everybody recognized that something needed to be done .
What I ’ m pleased about is that it appears , at least , and I haven ’ t reviewed the actual language , is that some core principles that I set forth at the beginning of this crisis , were incorporated .
The issue of making sure that we had strong oversight , the insistence that taxpayers share in the gains , if there are any , when the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get additional relief so that there ’ s some reciprocity .
If in fact , we ’ re bailing out or helping banks , they in turn , have to help rework mortgages for people who are potentially facing foreclosure .
And the final thing , the issue of executive compensation , making sure that taxpayer money is not going to pad bonuses or golden parachutes .
It appears that those principles have all been incorporated into the core agreement , and I ’ m going to be reviewing the language over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those provisions actually stick .
Kim Brown : So professor , listening to what the Senator had to say now , it almost seemed like perhaps he was naive in his expectations , because really none of those things actually took in response .
Many bank CEOs of banks big and small , walked away with tremendous compensation packages , while home mortgages , and rather , home foreclosures just jumped exponentially .
So many people got kicked out of their houses .
So when we look at a bailout , all I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ ve done this before , for two , this did not end well for the workers , and three , surely , surely we can ’ t be considering this again .
Bill Black : Oh yeah , we ’ re not just considering , it ’ s going to happen .
So there were actually three things involving that at… Well , let ’ s do them real quick .
The interview was September 28th .
At that point , that ’ s the original TARP plan , and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential election .
John McCain , Republican candidate announced , “ I ’ m suspending my campaign efforts .
I ’ m going to come to Washington D.C. in my role as Senator , and provide leadership , ” right ?
Because he was behind in the polls to Barack Obama , and so all the senators back , McCain , in fact shows no leadership .
The TARP proposal was literally three and a half pages , and it had absolutely nothing in it that Senator Obama talked about , and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all false .
In any event , Congress actually said no to that .
And you ask , the broader reason why these things happen , is as soon as Congress rejected the first TARP plan , the stock market crashed , and everybody came together and on a bipartisan basis said , “ Oh my God , we can ’ t have the economy cratering , we need to do this !
” So then you got a broader TARP , and instead of being a TARP that was potentially going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the stuff that protected households .
Then the third thing was the Obama stimulus , and that ’ s actually the one that was the primary thing for auto workers , not Bush , so that ’ s pretty much an Obama plan .
Indeed , they were very , very proud of the auto bailout as saving this kind of industry , and in fact , experts go back and forth on that .
But what is assuredly true , is the bottom line that you said .
In both TARP and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ went overwhelmingly , overwhelmingly , like 95 plus percent to the wealthy and not to homeowners .
Kim Brown : I don ’ t even know what to say , Professor Black , because I am so disgusted , number one , at that piece of history that we all endured and lived through , and a lot of people suffered in , just to consider that we could be entertaining , and are seriously entertaining , likely to move forward on a similar stimulus and bailout package that will benefit exclusively the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , perhaps not even a month ’ s worth of expenses .
But unfortunately professor , we ’ ve run out of time , so we ’ re going to have to leave it there .
We ’ ve been speaking with Professor Bill Black .
He ’ s also an author .
He is the most fun person that you will ever listen to talk about economics .
So definitely , if you go to University of Missouri at Kansas City or University of Minnesota , you need to take Professor Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time today , Bill .
Thanks a lot .
Kim Brown : And thank you for watching The Real News Network .

What happened to the cash from the last bailout? Industries spent it all on stock buybacks and are now looking for billions more in relief from the impact of coronavirus.
Story Transcript
This is a rush transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Kim Brown: Welcome to The Real News. I’m Kim Brown. As the world scrambles to contain AND deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, governments around the world are not only struggling to save lives, but to deal with an economic slowdown that has left millions of people without work at this time. But make no mistake, capitalism is trying to claw back the billions of dollars it has lost since the global economic slowdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, and many industries in recent memory, who were the beneficiaries of federally taxpayer-funded bailouts, are lining up once again with their hands out, these same bailouts that left many American workers and workers around the world holding the bag. To get more information and some analysis on this, we’re joined today with Bill Black. He is the author of the book titled, The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One. He is also a professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, and the University of Minnesota. He joins us today from Bloomington. Bill Black, thank you so much for being here.
Bill Black: Thank you.
Kim Brown: So Bill, hourly wage workers and the gig economy workers are feeling the crunch and the sudden impact of the economic slowdown. Obviously here in the United States, and many states within the US have shut down bars, restaurants, casinos, schools, universities, everything is closed, and people who depend on working hourly are definitely experiencing the brunt of this, and we’re going to get to their plight in just a moment. However, companies, industries, are telling Washington that if they don’t get billions in federal assistance, they will go bankrupt, that they will not survive. And we’re talking about the airline industry, the hospitality industry, the cruise ship industry, even casinos and fossil fuels. So Bill Black, are these industries being truthful that their survival depends on federal intervention, or is this a lot of hyperbole?
Bill Black: Well, some of both. It depends on the circumstances. So simultaneously, with this incredible drop in the stock market and with the strong expectation that there will now be a global recession due to the pandemic, the Russians and the Saudis also [inaudible 00:02:35] was stage a price war on petroleum. Most shale oil production was already very marginal and often losing money, and the price of oil has basically been cut in half, and those companies most assuredly would go out of business, as they should. But of course, you recall these are the same people horrified, horrified by the concept of socialism, the government sending money to people and doing things, not so much if it’s going to major donors. So this is not about saving the economy and it’s not about saving lives, this is all about saving the Trump presidency and the reelection efforts.
Kim Brown: Professor, the Trump White House coronavirus response team held a briefing in the White House, on Tuesday where Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin pledged that workers who have been displaced either by their industry shutting down, i.e. restaurant and bar workers, could expect some financial relief coming from the White House. Let’s take a listen to what he had to say.
Steven Mnuchin: The payroll tax holiday would get people money over the next six to eight months. We’re looking at sending checks to Americans immediately. And what we’ve heard from hardworking Americans, many companies have now shut down, whether it’s bars or restaurants, Americans need cash now, and the president wants to get cash now, and I mean now in the next two weeks.
Speaker 4: How much?
Steven Mnuchin: I will be previewing that with the Republicans. There’s some numbers out there. They may be a little bit bigger than what’s in the process.
Kim Brown: So professor, what is your response to what Mnuchin had to say there?
Bill Black: Okay, so to put it in context, you have to back up to Friday. Trump makes his big announcement, everything’s wonderful, kumbaya. The stock market very briefly goes up 2000 points. He’s signing copies of a graph showing this, giving it to Lou Dobbs, taking personal credit for it, and the market just absolutely tanks, and it tanks globally. So again, they figured out, “Oh my God!” If you recall, last Friday, the Republicans in the Senate under Mitch McConnell were saying, “The Democrats have way too much money in this stimulus package, and they’re going to try to protect workers from layoffs, and from sick leave and such. That’s all outrageous! We need to make this package smaller!” And now Trump has reversed it, because the biggest thing he thinks he has going for his reelection is the stock market. So this is all about getting a really big surge in the stock market, which by the way, the gains go overwhelmingly to very, very wealthy people and corporations. That’s who’s most heavily invested in the stock market.
And given the failure of his last efforts, they’ve decided to go big. And this is the old thing, go big or go home, home, not to the White House, but back to Florida or wherever he’s decided to live, if he gets defeated for reelection. So Mnuchin is now promising payment to workers. Remember before, they didn’t want to do that. They didn’t want to have sick leave protection for workers and such, but they figured out, “Hey, our base in the critical states particularly, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and such, really wants these kinds of direct payments. So let’s, even though we as Republicans opposed them in 2008 in the Obama stimulus, now we love them,” and they’re going to compete obviously to see how big they can make them. So yes, there will be direct paychecks, and you can see that both the Republicans and the Democrats will support this legislatively, and probably do so on a very quick basis.
Kim Brown: Professor, I’m going to lean heavily on your financial expertise here, because Secretary Mnuchin in this address from the White House on Tuesday, he made some specific claims about what the Fed is willing to do to boost the economy. Let’s have a listen to what secretary Mnuchin had to say there.
Steven Mnuchin: The first, I would say is earlier today, I sent a letter to Fed Chairman Powell approving his request to use 13(3), and what that will do is the Fed will be setting up a special purpose vehicle, which the treasury will invest $10 billion in, from one of our funds, that will enable the Fed to guarantee the purchase of A1/P1 commercial paper going forward. That is a $1 trillion market and is critical to American workers, it’s critical to American business, and it’s critical to American savers, who have a lot of that money in money market funds. So we heard loud and clear there were liquidity issues. This is very significant, and we’ll create, I don’t think we’ll need to use it all, but we have the ability to have the Fed purchase up to $1 trillion of commercial paper, as needed. That has already created significant stability in the market today.
Kim Brown: So professor, I can tell you I understood very little of what was just said. All I understood was $1 trillion. Can you please decipher what Steve Mnuchin is talking about and how that will impact average workers, if at all?
Bill Black: It won’t affect the average workers at all, if it works as intended. What they were concerned about is the kind of breakdown in markets that occurred in September 2008, and then like dominoes, cause what we call systemic failures, systemic risk, where one failure triggered another. And so the specific part of the plan that he was talking about there, has to do with trying to fix recurrent problems over about the last three months in the short-term borrowing markets, which are used almost entirely by Wall Street and its largest corporate customers. So it has not much of anything to do with any of us.
Now, in the further context, remember the Republicans who were all for central bank independence and you should never have political influence, but of course, Trump in ways that we’ve never seen in America, has been hammering Powell, his own appointment to run the Fed, to reduce rates to the lowest in the world. Well, they haven’t quite done that, but they’ve reduced rates essentially to zero. So that’s the broader context. They’ve used up all the monetary tricks that they have in terms of stimulus.
Then they try to deal with the liquidity problem, and the way they did that is say, “Hey, we’ll be the buyer of last resort up to 1 trillion bucks out of the Fed.” So that’s the liquidity, and then they said what economists had been saying for some time, “Hey, there’s not that much effective you can do with these circumstances with monetary policy. You really need a fiscal stimulus. Remember the Republicans, about how fiscal stimulus was insane in 2008 with president Obama?” Now they’re all for it, of course, and so that’s the three pieces of this pie.
But in addition to these stimulus, then you’re just playing good old crony capitalism payoffs to your biggest political supporters, right? So particularly in casino industries, these are Trump’s greatest friends, and political supporters and contributors, the investment banking folks, the hedge funds and such, that particularly support Trump, all of these folks are going to be the huge beneficiaries, and mind you, consider the number. The number they’re throwing around for allegedly sending to people, and remember most of that will probably go to richer people, but total that goes to people is 250 billion. Obviously this can change legislatively, but this authority to fix a liquidity problem is a trillion dollars, so four times as large, and then there’s all this other stuff from the Fed plus this incredible reduction in interest rates. So all of these things really help the folks that borrow a huge sums of money, and again, that’s corporations and in particular, Wall Street
Kim Brown: Professor, but this is what pisses a lot of people off, because when we hear the ease and the quick response from the White house, and this is really either White House, Trump, White House, Obama White House, Bush White House. When Wall Street needs money, oh, we can make a trillion and a half dollars appear out of nowhere, but when average Americans, working people, poor families are asking for a student loan bailout, for example, or Medicare for all, it’s like, “Oh, where are we going to find the money? Oh, we don’t even know where that money is.” So clearly this money is accessible to someone, but not to the people who clearly need it the most.
Bill Black: Yes. I mean, this is the part that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were absolutely right about, right? That whenever it’s for folks who are major contributors and the biggest political contributors of any industry in America, are finance, and after that comes a whole list of the folks that are the recipients of this proposed bailout. Whenever they want public money, suddenly it’s not socialism, suddenly it’s capitalism. And allegedly, these are the folks that save jobs, except that obviously, they’re not saving the jobs. In fact, it’s these precise companies.
Well, why don’t they have as much cash? Why are they in such a vulnerable position that even a month or two would destroy them? Because they’ve been using their cash to buy back their own shares. They use the corporate cash to buy back the corporation’s own shares. They don’t use it to invest in research and development, which is why our productivity gains have been cut in half, right? And why do they do this? Because the CEOs alone own a lot of stock. And what happens to stock prices when you buy back, and the corporation buy back stock? The stock price goes up, and you make the CEO a lot richer. That’s why they’re short of cash, not just because of the coronavirus crisis. So we’re bailing them out for running their companies imprudently in ways that hurt productivity, hurt economic growth, hurt the ability to get wage increases, and it’s insidious socialism for the rich.
Kim Brown: And we can look back retrospectively on the most recent bailouts, federally taxpayer-funded bailouts done at the very tail end of George W. Bush’s administration, going into the first term of Barack Obama’s administration. I mean, when we look at the General Motors bailout, for example, 10 years onward, GM has laid off tens of thousands of employees, they have shuttered factories in some of the most economically vulnerable communities here in the United States, but the banks also got a huge bailout in 2008, 2009, and I wanted to play a clip from then Senator and democratic candidate Barack Obama. He sat down with CBS’s Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation, and this is what he had to say about the TARP bailout. Let’s have a listen.
Barack Obama: First of all, I think we have to understand this was a urgent situation and is an urgent situation, and by the end of the week, I think everybody recognized that something needed to be done. What I’m pleased about is that it appears, at least, and I haven’t reviewed the actual language, is that some core principles that I set forth at the beginning of this crisis, were incorporated. The issue of making sure that we had strong oversight, the insistence that taxpayers share in the gains, if there are any, when the market recovers, the insistence that homeowners get additional relief so that there’s some reciprocity. If in fact, we’re bailing out or helping banks, they in turn, have to help rework mortgages for people who are potentially facing foreclosure. And the final thing, the issue of executive compensation, making sure that taxpayer money is not going to pad bonuses or golden parachutes. It appears that those principles have all been incorporated into the core agreement, and I’m going to be reviewing the language over the next day, to make sure that those provisions actually stick.
Kim Brown: So professor, listening to what the Senator had to say now, it almost seemed like perhaps he was naive in his expectations, because really none of those things actually took in response. Many bank CEOs of banks big and small, walked away with tremendous compensation packages, while home mortgages, and rather, home foreclosures just jumped exponentially. So many people got kicked out of their houses. So when we look at a bailout, all I can think of is for one, we’ve done this before, for two, this did not end well for the workers, and three, surely, surely we can’t be considering this again.
Bill Black: Oh yeah, we’re not just considering, it’s going to happen. So there were actually three things involving that at… Well, let’s do them real quick. The interview was September 28th. At that point, that’s the original TARP plan, and that too was in the midst of a presidential election. John McCain, Republican candidate announced, “I’m suspending my campaign efforts. I’m going to come to Washington D.C. in my role as Senator, and provide leadership,” right? Because he was behind in the polls to Barack Obama, and so all the senators back, McCain, in fact shows no leadership. The TARP proposal was literally three and a half pages, and it had absolutely nothing in it that Senator Obama talked about, and that was all made up. That was all false.
In any event, Congress actually said no to that. And you ask, the broader reason why these things happen, is as soon as Congress rejected the first TARP plan, the stock market crashed, and everybody came together and on a bipartisan basis said, “Oh my God, we can’t have the economy cratering, we need to do this!” So then you got a broader TARP, and instead of being a TARP that was potentially going to help households, it removed centrally all the stuff that protected households. Then the third thing was the Obama stimulus, and that’s actually the one that was the primary thing for auto workers, not Bush, so that’s pretty much an Obama plan. Indeed, they were very, very proud of the auto bailout as saving this kind of industry, and in fact, experts go back and forth on that. But what is assuredly true, is the bottom line that you said. In both TARP and the Obama stimulus package, the money went overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly, like 95 plus percent to the wealthy and not to homeowners.
Kim Brown: I don’t even know what to say, Professor Black, because I am so disgusted, number one, at that piece of history that we all endured and lived through, and a lot of people suffered in, just to consider that we could be entertaining, and are seriously entertaining, likely to move forward on a similar stimulus and bailout package that will benefit exclusively the wealthy, while workers just get crumbs, perhaps not even a month’s worth of expenses. But unfortunately professor, we’ve run out of time, so we’re going to have to leave it there. We’ve been speaking with Professor Bill Black. He’s also an author. He is the most fun person that you will ever listen to talk about economics. So definitely, if you go to University of Missouri at Kansas City or University of Minnesota, you need to take Professor Black’s class. We appreciate your time today, Bill. Thanks a lot.
Bill Black: Thank you.
Kim Brown: And thank you for watching The Real News Network.
Studio: Dwayne Gladden, Will Arenas
Production: Genevieve Montinar, Will Arenas, Andrew Corkery
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therealnews--2020-03-19--As Corporate Capitalists Beg For Socialism, Let’s Not Forget They Tried To Destroy It

This is a rush transcript and may contain errors .
It will be updated .
Taya Graham : Hello , my name is Taya Graham and welcome to the Inequality Watch .
As is true with the other show we produced , the Police Accountability Report , we like to focus on a single theme and in this case it ’ s the most existential threat to the wellbeing of us all , the ever widening gap between the uber rich and the rest of us .
But the point of our show is not just to rail against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be too easy .
We seek to expose some of the unseen imperatives that make it work , to uncover , so to speak , the co-conspirators that benefit from this system of inequality and in fact perpetuate it .
And in doing so , ultimately hold those purveyors of greed accountable .
Why do we want to do this ?
Well , because greed is literally killing us .
The political economies that define our lives are designed to benefit the few at the expense of the many and what could be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ current panic over the novel coronavirus .
Now we ’ re not going to go into another mainstream media rant about the inability of the federal government to accelerate testing or slam the federal reserve for again , handing $ 1.5 trillion to Wall Street to bribe high paid bankers who binged on borrow money because it was cheap and now can ’ t pay it back because they bought too many yachts .
No , instead we ’ re going to explore how the role of one of the most adroit enablers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how they had a hand in putting us in this bind .
How , despite evidence to the contrary , the media pundits who control the most powerful outlets in the world , not only misled the public , but through disinformation had dissuaded us from building a social infrastructure that would make us much better prepared for the crisis we are facing today .
And to do so , we ’ re going back in time .
Just a month ago when ABC anchor , George Stephanopoulos started off the democratic debate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t about how our greed infused medical system was the most expensive and ineffective in the world .
And it wasn ’ t to press the aspiring candidates about why tens of millions of low wage workers do not have paid sick leave .
No , his question was apparently much more pressing .
Let ’ s watch .
George Stephano… : President Trump ’ s really thinks this label socialism will work .
At the State of the Union he said , “ Socialism destroys nations.
” He ’ s never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And before the Super Bowl , he joked was Sean Hannity about your honeymoon in Moscow .
Those hits are going to keep coming if you ’ re the nominee .
Why shouldn ’ t Democrats be worried ?
Speaker 3 : Because Donald Trump lies all the time .
George Stephano… : Is anyone else on the stage concerned about having a democratic socialist at the top of the democratic ticket ?
Taya Graham : And so in a country with mass incarceration , a broken healthcare system that extorts patients @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and now an economy that is virtually at a standstill , this highly paid media pundit decided to fixate on the one idea that could actually save us , socialism .
I mean , think about it .
Probably quite soon as our economy falls apart and the capitalist herd starts stampeding towards the public trough , what will the former champions so GRI be clamoring for ?
Socialism , bailouts , public dollars funneled into private wallet .
Of course , this will more than likely be the uniquely American version of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ banks and Wall Street and nothing for the working class .
And why are we so ill-equipped ?
And how has the seemingly in Congress system evolved and why are the needs of the people generally ignored ?
Well , as we already stated , I think a large share of the blame can be laid at the doorstep of mainstream media .
To make the case , let me give you an example of how this works and some critical context to inform what we ’ re reporting .
Now , first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ journalism , we hew to a process that defines our profession , reporting the facts , holding power accountable , and adding proper context to a topic when necessary .
But what the mainstream media engaged in during this debate is something completely different .
When you propagate an idea without context , when you appeal to people ’ s emotions and fear exclusively , it ’ s certainly not journalism .
That ’ s called propaganda .
First of all , you can bet as the current coronavirus pandemic expands , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the federal government to pass massive stimulus and social programs to stabilize the economy , not to help the working class , but to save their own debt expose fiscal butts .
But second and most important point is this , that the question posed by Stephanopoulos was not meant to elicit a thoughtful discussion of what socialism is or discuss why Americans love socialist programs like Medicare and social security .
No , the point was to provoke fear .
The same fear based upon ignorance that has been the thrust of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emerged as the presumptive front runner .
And when you use fear in lieu of facts and analysis , you ’ re employing a well known technique that has been used throughout the history of capitalism to ensure social compliance .
Again , I ’ m talking about propaganda .
It ’ s an off-use term whose history is rarely discussed , but it ’ s through the lens of that history that informs how we should view the aforementioned assault on socialism , which seems destined to make the current coronavirus pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ version of propaganda begins with this man , Edward Bernays , known as the father of American propaganda or public relations .
Bernays made a seminal and disturbing argument in his book , aptly titled Propaganda .
In it he says , “ The average U.S. citizen does not have the intellectual capacity to participate in the political process .
Instead , he asserted that small group of men were better suited to decide for everyone .
The problem Bernays said was that technically the U.S. is a democracy .
Even during his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 20th century , he said a good propaganda is needed a mechanism other than martial law to ensure consent , and what he came up with was propaganda .
For Bernays propaganda was the key to implementing the influence of the few over the many .
And the key to that process was appealing to people ’ s emotions and to do so , Bernays said the most efficient method was to prey upon their fear .
That ’ s right .
Fear .
To Bernays , fear was primal and one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ skills and make the worse appear the better cause .
And it was this philosophy that Bernays applied to invent both public relations and modern advertising .
Perfectly suited cultural collaborator with contemporary capitalism and to show how destructive that dark alliance was , consider one of Bernays ’ early triumphs .
In the 1920s the major cigarette companies had a problem .
While men had embraced smoking , women were still hesitant .
It was considered unladylike , but Bernays had a solution .
He used the capitalist spectacle of the Macy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pseudo event .
He hired a group of women to smoke during the parade , then convinced the press to cover their public display .
The formula was a success .
The stigma that women couldn ’ t smoke was broken and hundreds of thousands , if not millions of deaths ensued .
See any parallels ?
The savage attack on socialism , Medicare for All , the demonization of social programs and the veneration of capitalism .
It ’ s an apt analogy .
Bernays used propaganda to bypass logic , civic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ultimate outcome was a massive program of self harm and public poisoning , all in the name of profits .
And he did so with the complicity of a critical partner , the mainstream media .
To discuss further how the mainstream media in complicity with big business has worked our political debate to our detriment .
I ’ m joined by two of my colleagues at The Real News , Stephen Janis and Jaisal Noor .
First , I want to go to you , Stephen .
Bernays was just the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the media to further capitalist theology .
I know you taught a course on media literacy that covered extensively the use of propaganda .
Can you talk about how it evolves ?
Stephen Janis : Hey Taya , thank you for having me on .
The beginning with Bernays .
That was just the beginning of the collaboration between public relations , propaganda and the media .
The seminal piece of work on this is Noam Chomsky ’ s , Manufacturing Consent .
The linguistical theory professor posited the idea that the media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coming up with ways to propagandize to keep us in consent of a system that was basically not to our benefit .
So , the point was that as the media evolved and as capitalism evolved , they evolved hand-in-hand in a way that made us consent to wars that would kill us or consent to bad policies .
It would exacerbate poverty .
So that was the seminal piece .
It was called Manufacturing Consent , and the idea was that the media ’ s role in a capitalist economy was to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not benefiting from it .
Taya Graham : Now Jaisal , you covered some of the early primaries where Sanders became the de facto front runner .
How did the media respond to his success and how did it affect where we are today ?
Jaisal Noor : Taya , thanks for having me .
I think the first thing that we saw the media do is write Sanders out of headlines .
And you often saw headlines where they ’ d be talking about how great Amy Klobuchar did or Mayor Pete @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about who the front runner was , Bernie Sanders .
And eventually after Iowa where he got the popular vote and after New Hampshire where he actually won a victory there , they finally had to acknowledge , Senator Sanders is leading and that continued in Nevada as well when he won a decisive victory there .
And then what you saw with the media spotlight on Sanders at that point was , as you talked about , these attacks about socialism .
One of the things that I ’ ve seen almost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people talking on the street about and even or at the gym… I guess before they were shut down because of coronavirus… was the idea that Sanders praised Castro and Sanders was praising communism .
And actually the moderators on the most recent debate actually did a good job challenging that line and saying , “ Look , actually Barack Obama went further and actually praised what Castro… what some of the achievements they ’ ve made under socialism more recently.
” But just the way that most journalists had picked it up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what actually happened , you get the idea that Sanders is on the campaign trail talking of how great Castro is and praising this dictator with absolute zero context .
And he ’ s talking about a program implemented after Castro overthrew a brutal U.S. backed dictator , Batista .
And I talk about this only to illustrate a point .
A lot of these mainstream pundants , these mainstream anchors themselves are wealthy and they ’ re a part of a system that exists by perpetuating the same inequality we see and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re naturally hostile to ideas like Sanders that would tax their incomes , that would tax millionaires , and use it to fund social programs .
Kind of the same way we see Sanders attacked for… Asking , “ How are you going to pay for that ?
How are you going to pay for Medicare for All ?
” when you ’ re asking questions about war , asking questions about prison industrial complex or immigration and locking people up .
We never ask questions .
We never ask how we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s only when you ’ re talking about expanding social services that Sanders gets barrage .
And he ’ s actually laid out a plan on how you pay for it and similarly to Elizabeth Warren , but every time he answers it , it ’ s sort of forgotten .
And next time he ’ s asked about it , it starts at square one so that puts Sanders at a huge disadvantage throughout this presidential cycle .
Taya Graham : Stephen , you ’ re standing outside the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just learned how the University of Maryland Medical Center , a private institution that receives a good deal of public funding , has been a big source of private profits despite projecting the image of working for the public good .
Can you talk a little bit about that ?
Stephen Janis : So 30 years ago , the University of Maryland Medical Health System was supported by the public and paid for in public dollars .
This system was created with tax dollars , but this system turned private and still ended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But just a year and a half ago , reporting by The Baltimore Sun revealed that board members were making millions , including our own mayor , Catherine Pugh , who sold some $ 500,000 worth of books to the hospital system .
But that wasn ’ t the end of it .
This latest audit that has been done by the Office of Legislative Audits in the state of Maryland has determined that $ 105 million was funneled from the hospital system into the pockets of board members .
So , basically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ private interests .
And on top of that , the same hospital system asked for 5 % rate increase the same year they ’ re doling out all this money .
So , it was a perfect example how they propagandize themselves as being this public institution while really just feeding public , private , private profits and greed .
Taya Graham : So Jaisal , you ’ ve interviewed a lot of voters and you ’ ve watched the campaign carefully .
Despite the seemingly coordinated effort against Sanders , voters do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for All and public education .
Is that correct ?
Jaisal Noor : Yeah .
So there ’ s been 20 primaries so far and in every primary , according to exit polls , the majority of voters support things like Medicare for All , support things like a Green New Deal .
So , what that means is that even though in these… Especially in these last several states where Biden has come ahead , they haven ’ t voted for him because they support his ideas .
Essentially what they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be able to defeat Donald Trump .
That they don ’ t necessarily… They support ideas that Senator Sanders supports .
He says it in every question that ’ s asked about it .
He talks about how we ’ re the only country to not guarantee healthcare .
Something that ’ s become especially clear as this coronavirus outbreak has hit and especially low income people , poor people , people that are out of work , they don ’ t know how they ’ re going to be able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in front of microphone last week and said that everyone ’ s treatment is going to get covered , but that ’ s not the case… just the testing .
But people don ’ t know how they ’ re going to be able to afford that .
And so that ’ s something that Medicare for All would pay for not , and that ’ s something that really got hammered in this last debate as well , this idea .
And so , Joe Biden attacked him for it and I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discussing it .
And yeah , I think Americans are fed up with this healthcare system .
We ’ re subsidize… These healthcare insurance companies are making record profits every year .
Pharmaceutical companies , record profits every year and the average person can ’ t go to a doctor , can ’ t get medicine… Something that this crisis has really laid there .
Taya Graham : So Stephen , let ’ s get this straight .
A private hospital takes public money and uses it to enrich its board .
How @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Medicare for All or a socialized medicine ?
Stephen Janis : Okay Taya , that ’ s a great question .
And the way to answer is simply , if we had socialism , we never would have privatized this hospital system to begin with .
This hospital system was built with public money .
It was constructed with public money and it is still being supported by public money .
In a socialist system , they wouldn ’ t have the ability or the capability to dole out contracts like this .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ interest or the capitalist ethos pervading the system .
So you ’ d have a public health system that was meant for just that , helping the public say healthy .
And instead we have this public health system that ’ s meant to create private profits for capitalists .
So , it really would be entirely different if it was a socialist or Medicare for All type system .
There ’ s no doubt about it .
Taya Graham : Jaisal , do you think the fallout from the coronavirus will change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ programs and socialism in general ?
Last night Sanders tried to make the argument that it was time to evaluate the underlying systemic issue , but the media didn ’ t seem to be buying it .
What do you think ?
Jaisal Noor : Well , I think as far as the mainstream media is concerned… and even candidates like Joe Biden , mainstream centrist candidates like Joe Biden and the Democratic Party… They see this as a new crisis that… These things are… which , rightfully it is .
But what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something that Senator Sanders has talked about , is that for many Americans they ’ re already living in a crisis condition .
They already have to worry about these same things , right ?
And so , I think it ’ s a problem that all these journalists are millionaires and they ’ re so out of touch with the everyday reality of working people .
And Senator Sanders is the only candidate on stage that ’ s actually addressing that .
And then you see the Democratic Party , Nancy Pelosi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compromised with Donald Trump and the Republicans to put forth a plan , and this is exactly what Sanders is talking about .
He wants the Democrats to fight more and he wants them to fight for more .
So the plan , this multi-billion dollar plan that the House is voting on would only grant paid sick leave to 20 % of all workers in America .
Which means if you work for a large corporation with over 500 employees like McDonald ’ s , like Walmart and these companies that get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re not going to get paid sick leave .
And so you actually have a situation where there ’ s Republicans like Mitt Romney and even Tom Cotton who ’ s an authoritarian warhawk .
He ’ s a warmonger .
But even , they ’ ve put themselves… The Democrats have put themselves in a position where they ’ re being outflanked on the left by these Republican senators who were saying , “ Give out… Give people money now.
” Mitt Romney saying , “ Give everyone a $ 1,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s what people actually need .
People need money and then it ’ s going to go into the economy .
So I think this crisis has exposed just how spineless the Democrats are , especially in a time of crisis .
Not doing the right thing , doing what the powerful interests want us to do instead of thinking about working people .
And that ’ s why having Senator Sanders on the stage is so important , to have that perspective out there .
And maybe the mainstream media will start @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really yet .
Taya Graham : And Steven , finally , you have concrete proof of how fear and propaganda had been used to decimate public healthcare infrastructure in Baltimore , and it has to do with the building you ’ re standing in front of right now .
Tell us why you ’ re standing there ?
Stephen Janis : Well , yes , Taya .
Right behind me is a Baltimore City Public Health System .
It ’ s meant to provide for the citizens of Baltimore and keep the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the past decades , they had deinvested in this health system and made it primarily relying upon grants , from federal grants with no funding or very little funding from the city .
Meanwhile , police spending has increased exponentially over the past decade .
So while they had been defunding the system that would be critical to keeping people healthy during the coronavirus pandemic , they have been funding money for people to go out and make arrests… hundreds of thousands of arrests , incarceration , police pensions .
The money has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the poorest cities in the country into something that doesn ’ t create healthy outcomes or make people more productive , but to punish them .
So , this building right here is the epitome of how capitalism warps social infrastructure .
It makes it impossible for cities and citizens to stay healthy and respond to pandemics like the crisis we ’ re facing .
Now , back to Taya .
Thank you .
Taya Graham : So , there you have it .
For decades , the city of Baltimore has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the socially destructive institution of policing .
In other words , civic resources poured into arrests and punishment rather than our collective communal wellbeing .
It ’ s a similar distortion of social value we see in our national politics .
We pour trillions into eternal wars , but now we can ’ t muster enough money to test people who may have contracted a deadly virus .
We spend billions on incarceration and punishment , but can ’ t marshal the resources to guarantee lost wages and to cover medical costs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the house of cards that is postmodern capitalism begins to collapse , how can we not look back on the flagrant mischaracterization of socialism as a concerted effort against our collective communal interests ?
How can we not view the propaganda employed to scare us from having a healthy debate on the very system that might save us as anything but an existential threat ?
We can ’ t and we shouldn ’ t .
Because now is the time to dissect and deconstruct the system of late stage capitalism for what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ways antithetical to our own survival .
Perhaps there ’ s no better symbol of that than Trump ’ s Rose Garden press conference where he paraded a succession of CEOs out in front of the podium with vague promises to offer drive through testing for coronavirus across the country .
The overpaid apostles of capitalism look confused when called to speak , partly by Trump ’ s odd adherence to the tradition of offering a handshake , but also because as we later learned , the million dollar suits had few , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any form or fashion .
If there ’ s any more potent symbol of the impotence of capitalism , this is it .
White men gather at the altar of profit unable to provide a humane and effective solution to a life threatening event .
Meanwhile , these same purveyors of crass commercialism conspired to fill us with fear about a system that could actually save us .
Let ’ s face it , socialism could in fact be the solution because this epidemic is the result of policy failures on all levels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Many sick people don ’ t seek out medical help because they don ’ t have insurance or are under insured .
Socialism would guarantee insurance to both , and 40 % of people in the service industries don ’ t have paid sick leave , so they have to work .
Thus , they go to work sick and the virus spreads .
Again , a dilemma socialism would fix .
And let ’ s remember the fear of socialism is a direct result of inequality , the dark money and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of this viable solution is a direct result of the spoils of this country ’ s great wealth inequality .
Further proof that income inequality is an existential threat and clear and present danger , not just to a functioning democracy , but the survival of civilization as we know it .
The question that we will continue to ask on this show and must ask ourselves is why ?
Why even as the virus threatens to upend a system that has brought us global warming , mass incarceration , and hundreds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the media continue to defend and why in the light of this colossal failure does capitalism continued to predominate .
At The Real News we believe it ’ s because the voices of the people have been thwarted by the pay for play fear-mongering of the mainstream media .
It ’ s due to the fact that the media is part of the system and thus can ’ t critique it , which is why we will continue to do so and why we call out media leads when they distort the truth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news , we don ’ t take corporate money so we can tell you the truth and that ’ s what we will continue to do .
I would like to thank my guest , Real News reporter , Jaisal Noor for joining me today .
Jaisal Noor : Thanks for having me , Taya .
Taya Graham : And I would like to thank my other guests , Stephen Janis , for his invaluable research writing and reporting .
Stephen Janis : Taya , thanks for having me and I hope we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Thank you .
Taya Graham : I ’ m your host , Taya Graham , and I want to thank you for joining me at The Real News Network .
Please be safe out there .

Social programs and Medicare for All could help keep people at home to slow the spread of coronavirus, but mainstream media pundits continue to fearmonger during discussions of socialism.
Story Transcript
This is a rush transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Taya Graham: Hello, my name is Taya Graham and welcome to the Inequality Watch. As is true with the other show we produced, the Police Accountability Report, we like to focus on a single theme and in this case it’s the most existential threat to the wellbeing of us all, the ever widening gap between the uber rich and the rest of us. But the point of our show is not just to rail against the rapacious concentration of wealth. That would be too easy. We seek to expose some of the unseen imperatives that make it work, to uncover, so to speak, the co-conspirators that benefit from this system of inequality and in fact perpetuate it. And in doing so, ultimately hold those purveyors of greed accountable.
Why do we want to do this? Well, because greed is literally killing us. The political economies that define our lives are designed to benefit the few at the expense of the many and what could be more illustrative of this point than the current panic over the novel coronavirus. Now we’re not going to go into another mainstream media rant about the inability of the federal government to accelerate testing or slam the federal reserve for again, handing $1.5 trillion to Wall Street to bribe high paid bankers who binged on borrow money because it was cheap and now can’t pay it back because they bought too many yachts.
No, instead we’re going to explore how the role of one of the most adroit enablers of inequality, the mainstream media, how they had a hand in putting us in this bind. How, despite evidence to the contrary, the media pundits who control the most powerful outlets in the world, not only misled the public, but through disinformation had dissuaded us from building a social infrastructure that would make us much better prepared for the crisis we are facing today. And to do so, we’re going back in time. Just a month ago when ABC anchor, George Stephanopoulos started off the democratic debate with a question, and it wasn’t about how our greed infused medical system was the most expensive and ineffective in the world. And it wasn’t to press the aspiring candidates about why tens of millions of low wage workers do not have paid sick leave. No, his question was apparently much more pressing. Let’s watch.
George Stephano…: President Trump’s really thinks this label socialism will work. At the State of the Union he said, “Socialism destroys nations.” He’s never going to let socialism destroy American healthcare. And before the Super Bowl, he joked was Sean Hannity about your honeymoon in Moscow. Those hits are going to keep coming if you’re the nominee. Why shouldn’t Democrats be worried?
Speaker 3: Because Donald Trump lies all the time.
George Stephano…: Is anyone else on the stage concerned about having a democratic socialist at the top of the democratic ticket?
Taya Graham: And so in a country with mass incarceration, a broken healthcare system that extorts patients and a racist criminal justice system, and now an economy that is virtually at a standstill, this highly paid media pundit decided to fixate on the one idea that could actually save us, socialism.
I mean, think about it. Probably quite soon as our economy falls apart and the capitalist herd starts stampeding towards the public trough, what will the former champions so GRI be clamoring for? Socialism, bailouts, public dollars funneled into private wallet. Of course, this will more than likely be the uniquely American version of socialism, which includes big handouts to banks and Wall Street and nothing for the working class. And why are we so ill-equipped? And how has the seemingly in Congress system evolved and why are the needs of the people generally ignored?
Well, as we already stated, I think a large share of the blame can be laid at the doorstep of mainstream media. To make the case, let me give you an example of how this works and some critical context to inform what we’re reporting. Now, first some context. In the world of journalism, we hew to a process that defines our profession, reporting the facts, holding power accountable, and adding proper context to a topic when necessary.
But what the mainstream media engaged in during this debate is something completely different. When you propagate an idea without context, when you appeal to people’s emotions and fear exclusively, it’s certainly not journalism. That’s called propaganda.
First of all, you can bet as the current coronavirus pandemic expands, the 1% are going to plead with the federal government to pass massive stimulus and social programs to stabilize the economy, not to help the working class, but to save their own debt expose fiscal butts. But second and most important point is this, that the question posed by Stephanopoulos was not meant to elicit a thoughtful discussion of what socialism is or discuss why Americans love socialist programs like Medicare and social security. No, the point was to provoke fear.
The same fear based upon ignorance that has been the thrust of the Republican campaign against Sanders when he emerged as the presumptive front runner. And when you use fear in lieu of facts and analysis, you’re employing a well known technique that has been used throughout the history of capitalism to ensure social compliance. Again, I’m talking about propaganda.
It’s an off-use term whose history is rarely discussed, but it’s through the lens of that history that informs how we should view the aforementioned assault on socialism, which seems destined to make the current coronavirus pandemic worse.
Any discussion of the U.S. version of propaganda begins with this man, Edward Bernays, known as the father of American propaganda or public relations. Bernays made a seminal and disturbing argument in his book, aptly titled Propaganda. In it he says, “The average U.S. citizen does not have the intellectual capacity to participate in the political process. Instead, he asserted that small group of men were better suited to decide for everyone.
The problem Bernays said was that technically the U.S. is a democracy. Even during his heyday in the first half of the 20th century, he said a good propaganda is needed a mechanism other than martial law to ensure consent, and what he came up with was propaganda. For Bernays propaganda was the key to implementing the influence of the few over the many. And the key to that process was appealing to people’s emotions and to do so, Bernays said the most efficient method was to prey upon their fear. That’s right. Fear. To Bernays, fear was primal and one of the easiest ways to bypass critical thinking skills and make the worse appear the better cause. And it was this philosophy that Bernays applied to invent both public relations and modern advertising.
Perfectly suited cultural collaborator with contemporary capitalism and to show how destructive that dark alliance was, consider one of Bernays’ early triumphs. In the 1920s the major cigarette companies had a problem. While men had embraced smoking, women were still hesitant. It was considered unladylike, but Bernays had a solution. He used the capitalist spectacle of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade to stage a pseudo event. He hired a group of women to smoke during the parade, then convinced the press to cover their public display. The formula was a success. The stigma that women couldn’t smoke was broken and hundreds of thousands, if not millions of deaths ensued. See any parallels? The savage attack on socialism, Medicare for All, the demonization of social programs and the veneration of capitalism. It’s an apt analogy. Bernays used propaganda to bypass logic, civic concerns, and mutual empathy. And the ultimate outcome was a massive program of self harm and public poisoning, all in the name of profits. And he did so with the complicity of a critical partner, the mainstream media.
To discuss further how the mainstream media in complicity with big business has worked our political debate to our detriment. I’m joined by two of my colleagues at The Real News, Stephen Janis and Jaisal Noor. First, I want to go to you, Stephen. Bernays was just the beginning of the collusion between propaganda and the media to further capitalist theology. I know you taught a course on media literacy that covered extensively the use of propaganda. Can you talk about how it evolves?
Stephen Janis: Hey Taya, thank you for having me on. The beginning with Bernays. That was just the beginning of the collaboration between public relations, propaganda and the media. The seminal piece of work on this is Noam Chomsky’s, Manufacturing Consent. The linguistical theory professor posited the idea that the media evolved to continue in this role of coming up with ways to propagandize to keep us in consent of a system that was basically not to our benefit. So, the point was that as the media evolved and as capitalism evolved, they evolved hand-in-hand in a way that made us consent to wars that would kill us or consent to bad policies. It would exacerbate poverty. So that was the seminal piece. It was called Manufacturing Consent, and the idea was that the media’s role in a capitalist economy was to manufacturer consent of the people who were not benefiting from it.
Taya Graham: Now Jaisal, you covered some of the early primaries where Sanders became the de facto front runner. How did the media respond to his success and how did it affect where we are today?
Jaisal Noor: Taya, thanks for having me. I think the first thing that we saw the media do is write Sanders out of headlines. And you often saw headlines where they’d be talking about how great Amy Klobuchar did or Mayor Pete did when they weren’t talking about who the front runner was, Bernie Sanders. And eventually after Iowa where he got the popular vote and after New Hampshire where he actually won a victory there, they finally had to acknowledge, Senator Sanders is leading and that continued in Nevada as well when he won a decisive victory there. And then what you saw with the media spotlight on Sanders at that point was, as you talked about, these attacks about socialism.
One of the things that I’ve seen almost repeated in every debate and you hear people talking on the street about and even or at the gym… I guess before they were shut down because of coronavirus… was the idea that Sanders praised Castro and Sanders was praising communism. And actually the moderators on the most recent debate actually did a good job challenging that line and saying, “Look, actually Barack Obama went further and actually praised what Castro… what some of the achievements they’ve made under socialism more recently.” But just the way that most journalists had picked it up and talk show host and has disseminated what actually happened, you get the idea that Sanders is on the campaign trail talking of how great Castro is and praising this dictator with absolute zero context. And he’s talking about a program implemented after Castro overthrew a brutal U.S. backed dictator, Batista.
And I talk about this only to illustrate a point. A lot of these mainstream pundants, these mainstream anchors themselves are wealthy and they’re a part of a system that exists by perpetuating the same inequality we see and the same distribution of wealth and they’re naturally hostile to ideas like Sanders that would tax their incomes, that would tax millionaires, and use it to fund social programs. Kind of the same way we see Sanders attacked for… Asking, “How are you going to pay for that? How are you going to pay for Medicare for All?” when you’re asking questions about war, asking questions about prison industrial complex or immigration and locking people up. We never ask questions. We never ask how we’re going to pay for those. It’s only when you’re talking about expanding social services that Sanders gets barrage. And he’s actually laid out a plan on how you pay for it and similarly to Elizabeth Warren, but every time he answers it, it’s sort of forgotten. And next time he’s asked about it, it starts at square one so that puts Sanders at a huge disadvantage throughout this presidential cycle.
Taya Graham: Stephen, you’re standing outside the city Public Health Department, but we just learned how the University of Maryland Medical Center, a private institution that receives a good deal of public funding, has been a big source of private profits despite projecting the image of working for the public good. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Stephen Janis: So 30 years ago, the University of Maryland Medical Health System was supported by the public and paid for in public dollars. This system was created with tax dollars, but this system turned private and still ended up feeding off the public trot. But just a year and a half ago, reporting by The Baltimore Sun revealed that board members were making millions, including our own mayor, Catherine Pugh, who sold some $500,000 worth of books to the hospital system. But that wasn’t the end of it. This latest audit that has been done by the Office of Legislative Audits in the state of Maryland has determined that $105 million was funneled from the hospital system into the pockets of board members. So, basically it was like a public troth for private interests. And on top of that, the same hospital system asked for 5% rate increase the same year they’re doling out all this money. So, it was a perfect example how they propagandize themselves as being this public institution while really just feeding public, private, private profits and greed.
Taya Graham: So Jaisal, you’ve interviewed a lot of voters and you’ve watched the campaign carefully. Despite the seemingly coordinated effort against Sanders, voters do seem to support his ideas like Medicare for All and public education. Is that correct?
Jaisal Noor: Yeah. So there’s been 20 primaries so far and in every primary, according to exit polls, the majority of voters support things like Medicare for All, support things like a Green New Deal. So, what that means is that even though in these… Especially in these last several states where Biden has come ahead, they haven’t voted for him because they support his ideas. Essentially what they’re saying is they trust him more to be able to defeat Donald Trump. That they don’t necessarily… They support ideas that Senator Sanders supports. He says it in every question that’s asked about it. He talks about how we’re the only country to not guarantee healthcare. Something that’s become especially clear as this coronavirus outbreak has hit and especially low income people, poor people, people that are out of work, they don’t know how they’re going to be able to pay for testing.
Donald Trump went in front of microphone last week and said that everyone’s treatment is going to get covered, but that’s not the case… just the testing. But people don’t know how they’re going to be able to afford that. And so that’s something that Medicare for All would pay for not, and that’s something that really got hammered in this last debate as well, this idea. And so, Joe Biden attacked him for it and I think Sanders did a pretty good job discussing it. And yeah, I think Americans are fed up with this healthcare system. We’re subsidize… These healthcare insurance companies are making record profits every year. Pharmaceutical companies, record profits every year and the average person can’t go to a doctor, can’t get medicine… Something that this crisis has really laid there.
Taya Graham: So Stephen, let’s get this straight. A private hospital takes public money and uses it to enrich its board. How would this be different if we had Medicare for All or a socialized medicine?
Stephen Janis: Okay Taya, that’s a great question. And the way to answer is simply, if we had socialism, we never would have privatized this hospital system to begin with. This hospital system was built with public money. It was constructed with public money and it is still being supported by public money. In a socialist system, they wouldn’t have the ability or the capability to dole out contracts like this. They wouldn’t have the private interest or the capitalist ethos pervading the system. So you’d have a public health system that was meant for just that, helping the public say healthy. And instead we have this public health system that’s meant to create private profits for capitalists. So, it really would be entirely different if it was a socialist or Medicare for All type system. There’s no doubt about it.
Taya Graham: Jaisal, do you think the fallout from the coronavirus will change the media’s depiction of social programs and socialism in general? Last night Sanders tried to make the argument that it was time to evaluate the underlying systemic issue, but the media didn’t seem to be buying it. What do you think?
Jaisal Noor: Well, I think as far as the mainstream media is concerned… and even candidates like Joe Biden, mainstream centrist candidates like Joe Biden and the Democratic Party… They see this as a new crisis that… These things are… which, rightfully it is. But what they don’t understand, and something that Senator Sanders has talked about, is that for many Americans they’re already living in a crisis condition. They already have to worry about these same things, right? And so, I think it’s a problem that all these journalists are millionaires and they’re so out of touch with the everyday reality of working people. And Senator Sanders is the only candidate on stage that’s actually addressing that.
And then you see the Democratic Party, Nancy Pelosi, also a millionaire, she just compromised with Donald Trump and the Republicans to put forth a plan, and this is exactly what Sanders is talking about. He wants the Democrats to fight more and he wants them to fight for more. So the plan, this multi-billion dollar plan that the House is voting on would only grant paid sick leave to 20% of all workers in America. Which means if you work for a large corporation with over 500 employees like McDonald’s, like Walmart and these companies that get huge subsidies from the government, you’re not going to get paid sick leave. And so you actually have a situation where there’s Republicans like Mitt Romney and even Tom Cotton who’s an authoritarian warhawk. He’s a warmonger.
But even, they’ve put themselves… The Democrats have put themselves in a position where they’re being outflanked on the left by these Republican senators who were saying, “Give out… Give people money now.” Mitt Romney saying, “Give everyone a $1,000 check now,” because that’s what people actually need. People need money and then it’s going to go into the economy. So I think this crisis has exposed just how spineless the Democrats are, especially in a time of crisis. Not doing the right thing, doing what the powerful interests want us to do instead of thinking about working people. And that’s why having Senator Sanders on the stage is so important, to have that perspective out there. And maybe the mainstream media will start listening, but they haven’t really yet.
Taya Graham: And Steven, finally, you have concrete proof of how fear and propaganda had been used to decimate public healthcare infrastructure in Baltimore, and it has to do with the building you’re standing in front of right now. Tell us why you’re standing there?
Stephen Janis: Well, yes, Taya. Right behind me is a Baltimore City Public Health System. It’s meant to provide for the citizens of Baltimore and keep the city healthy. But the truth is over the past decades, they had deinvested in this health system and made it primarily relying upon grants, from federal grants with no funding or very little funding from the city. Meanwhile, police spending has increased exponentially over the past decade. So while they had been defunding the system that would be critical to keeping people healthy during the coronavirus pandemic, they have been funding money for people to go out and make arrests… hundreds of thousands of arrests, incarceration, police pensions. The money has flowed out of this city, one of the poorest cities in the country into something that doesn’t create healthy outcomes or make people more productive, but to punish them. So, this building right here is the epitome of how capitalism warps social infrastructure. It makes it impossible for cities and citizens to stay healthy and respond to pandemics like the crisis we’re facing. Now, back to Taya. Thank you.
Taya Graham: So, there you have it. For decades, the city of Baltimore has defunded public health initiatives to spend freely on the socially destructive institution of policing. In other words, civic resources poured into arrests and punishment rather than our collective communal wellbeing. It’s a similar distortion of social value we see in our national politics. We pour trillions into eternal wars, but now we can’t muster enough money to test people who may have contracted a deadly virus. We spend billions on incarceration and punishment, but can’t marshal the resources to guarantee lost wages and to cover medical costs related to a pandemic.
And now as the house of cards that is postmodern capitalism begins to collapse, how can we not look back on the flagrant mischaracterization of socialism as a concerted effort against our collective communal interests? How can we not view the propaganda employed to scare us from having a healthy debate on the very system that might save us as anything but an existential threat? We can’t and we shouldn’t.
Because now is the time to dissect and deconstruct the system of late stage capitalism for what it really is a system in some ways antithetical to our own survival. Perhaps there’s no better symbol of that than Trump’s Rose Garden press conference where he paraded a succession of CEOs out in front of the podium with vague promises to offer drive through testing for coronavirus across the country. The overpaid apostles of capitalism look confused when called to speak, partly by Trump’s odd adherence to the tradition of offering a handshake, but also because as we later learned, the million dollar suits had few, if any plans to implement testing in any form or fashion.
If there’s any more potent symbol of the impotence of capitalism, this is it. White men gather at the altar of profit unable to provide a humane and effective solution to a life threatening event. Meanwhile, these same purveyors of crass commercialism conspired to fill us with fear about a system that could actually save us. Let’s face it, socialism could in fact be the solution because this epidemic is the result of policy failures on all levels that socialism is uniquely designed to address.
Many sick people don’t seek out medical help because they don’t have insurance or are under insured. Socialism would guarantee insurance to both, and 40% of people in the service industries don’t have paid sick leave, so they have to work. Thus, they go to work sick and the virus spreads. Again, a dilemma socialism would fix. And let’s remember the fear of socialism is a direct result of inequality, the dark money and fear-mongering political ads that fuel our suspicions of this viable solution is a direct result of the spoils of this country’s great wealth inequality. Further proof that income inequality is an existential threat and clear and present danger, not just to a functioning democracy, but the survival of civilization as we know it.
The question that we will continue to ask on this show and must ask ourselves is why? Why even as the virus threatens to upend a system that has brought us global warming, mass incarceration, and hundreds of thousands of medical bankruptcies, why does the media continue to defend and why in the light of this colossal failure does capitalism continued to predominate. At The Real News we believe it’s because the voices of the people have been thwarted by the pay for play fear-mongering of the mainstream media. It’s due to the fact that the media is part of the system and thus can’t critique it, which is why we will continue to do so and why we call out media leads when they distort the truth for profit. Here at the real news, we don’t take corporate money so we can tell you the truth and that’s what we will continue to do. I would like to thank my guest, Real News reporter, Jaisal Noor for joining me today.
Jaisal Noor: Thanks for having me, Taya.
Taya Graham: And I would like to thank my other guests, Stephen Janis, for his invaluable research writing and reporting.
Stephen Janis: Taya, thanks for having me and I hope we can continue this discussion in the future. Thank you.
Taya Graham: I’m your host, Taya Graham, and I want to thank you for joining me at The Real News Network. Please be safe out there.
Studio: Cameron Granadino, Will Arenas
Production: Stephen Janis
Post-Production: Stephen Janis
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