Typical corporate greed butting company profits first and not wanting employees having any say on safety, pay and benefits.
Excerpt
SUMMARY:For almost two months, Amazon workers have been voting on whether to unionize at one of the company's major warehouses in Alabama. The voting concludes today. Since Amazon is the second-largest private employer in the country, the stakes are high and the battle is being closely watched. Paul Solman reports.
SUMMARY:Fears of the coronavirus pandemic and the sharp shifts by companies to allow employees to work from home could devastate the nation’s office skyscrapers, some economists say. But real estate moguls say the office as we know it isn't dead yet. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores how uncertainty is affecting the market.
SUMMARY: Long lines to enter stores. Anxiety about finding food on the shelves. Boarded up businesses and barren streets. Journalist and author Dawn Turner says this pandemic has afforded everyone the chance to understand what people who live in poor communities faced long before COVID-19. Turner offers her humble opinion on why we all need to make a connection between the pandemic and the protests.
SUMMARY: Even as unrest and mass protests dominate national headlines, the novel coronavirus continues to take more lives. We share stories of five victims, including a baker who endured internment during World War II, a veteran of the Fire Department of New York who responded on 9/11 and a retired elementary school teacher.
SUMMARY: In all but two U.S. states, stay-at-home orders are being lifted, and businesses are reopening. But can the lifting of restrictions be safe, when COVID-19 is still increasing in many parts of the country?Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and chair of the joint health care venture Haven, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss how to control virus spread as daily activities resume.
The 'money is more important than people's lives' Republicans are the problem.
Excerpt
SUMMARY: President Trump joined a Republican Senate luncheon Tuesday, where he defended his reported use of controversial antimalarial medication hydroxychloroquine. He also said he would temporarily waive regulations that could complicate business openings or slow economic growth. Meanwhile, senators from the two parties diverged on when and how to provide more pandemic relief. Yamiche Alcindor reports.
SUMMARY: California was one of the first U.S. states to see a significant outbreak of the novel coronavirus, but in the past few weeks, the curve of infection there has flattened. As a result, Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced plans to loosen some restrictions. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss COVID-19 trends in his state, the data he’s using to make decisions and what he needs from the federal government.
SUMMARY: Russia has announced nearly 10,000 new COVID-19 infections in just the last day, bringing its national total close to 300,000. Half of the cases are in Moscow, where health care workers say protective gear and training for how to treat the disease are lacking. Meanwhile, there are questions about why Russia's official virus deaths are relatively low. Special correspondent Julia Chapman reports.
SUMMARY: Nursing homes across the country are facing a desperate situation during the coronavirus pandemic. In 17 states, more than half of reported COVID-19 deaths have been at these facilities. Chronic staffing shortages, made worse by the virus, and inadequate infection control procedures exacerbate the threat amid the population that is the most vulnerable. Lisa Desjardins reports.
The Trump Administration edited (stunted) version that is.
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SUMMARY: All 50 states have now taken some steps to reopen after COVID-19 shutdowns. Their approaches vary, with only minor restrictions remaining in states like Texas, while New York still has strict limitations in place. Federal guidance from the CDC was released quietly, but its recommendations aren't mandatory. Meanwhile, WHO officials warned that the pandemic isn’t going away. Stephanie Sy reports.
More 'stop the criminal brown people' attitude from Trump.
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SUMMARY:The Trump administration is saying increased security on the U.S.-Mexico border is necessary to prevent the coronavirus' spread. As a result, more than 900 migrant children were deported in March and April shortly after they reached the border -- much more quickly than normal, and without standard safeguards observed. John Yang talks to Caitlin Dickerson of The New York Times.
SUMMARY: For months, scientists and public officials have relied upon computer-based models to try to predict the trajectory or the coronavirus outbreak. But models are not crystal balls, and all of them involve human assumptions. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports on how the efforts that go into making these models -- and their ultimate purpose -- are more complicated than many of us realize.
SUMMARY: Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, questions have been raised about why the U.S. federal government was not better prepared for such a crisis. Scrutiny of President Trump has been intense, but questions extend beyond him to the efficacy of government and civil service more broadly. William Brangham talks to the American Enterprise Institute’s Yuval Levin and The Atlantic’s George Packer.
SUMMARY:As U.S. businesses prepare for gradual reopenings, the number of Americans filing for unemployment seems to be leveling off. Still, the Labor Department says more than 38 million people sought jobless benefits in the past nine weeks. But as he departed for Michigan to tour a Ford factory now making ventilators, President Trump insisted that economic recovery is imminent. Yamiche Alcindor reports.
SUMMARY:A newly released analysis of coronavirus' spread in the U.S. suggests a haunting hypothetical: that if social distancing and stay-at-home orders had been implemented only a week earlier, more than 30,000 lives might have been saved. But that alternate scenario relies upon computer-based modeling that has its limitations. Miles O’Brien joins Judy Woodruff to discuss how this data can be useful.
SUMMARY: For more than two months, the toll of unemployment in the U.S. has grown each week. The retail sector, which was already struggling before the pandemic, is among the hardest hit, with stores closed or at reduced capacity and consumers nervous about spending money. And many economists believe these lost jobs will not be returning anytime soon. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.
SUMMARY: U.S. transit workers have been hit hard by the coronavirus. More than 120 have died from the disease just within New York City Transit, and drivers and transport workers represent the second-largest share of work-related cases, according to a Harvard study. Sarah Feinberg, interim president of New York City Transit, joins William Brangham to discuss reducing risks for these essential workers.
SUMMARY: During this unprecedented crisis, we all have questions -- and the NewsHour is turning to experts for answers. In this edition of Ask Us, virologistAngela Rasmussen of Columbia University joins Amna Nawaz to take viewer questions on transmission of the novel coronavirus, including whether it can be contracted from swimming pools and street surfaces.
SUMMARY: The Trump administration has emphasized the possibility that the novel coronavirus was accidentally released by scientists at a Chinese lab. While that accusation remains unproven, China’s oversight of such scientific research has come under scrutiny in the past, and now, an area in which the U.S. and China previously collaborated has grown fraught with tension. Nick Schifrin reports.
SUMMARY:Scientists say antibody testing could be a key tool in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Still, many questions remain about the accuracy of antibody testing. The Food and Drug Administration has tried to crack down on inaccurate tests, but scientists aren’t even sure yet what a positive test means for immunity. John Yang reports.
SUMMARY: The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has climbed past 95,000 this week. As the staggering numbers reverberate, we take a moment to remember five people killed by the disease, including an opera singer, a father of six and a 25-year-old budding therapist.
SUMMARY:Since President Trump took office the number of people without health insurance in the U.S. has risen by nearly 2 million, joining tens of millions of others without coverage. Health professionals now worry some coronavirus victims may avoid visiting doctors, helping COVID-19 to spread. Simon Ostrovsky reports on a new federal policy that's driving thousands of immigrants to give up insurance.
SUMMARY:Despite recent signs of advancement, many health experts say the U.S. capacity to test for the novel coronavirus remains too limited and progress too slow. President Trump has previously claimed anyone could be tested -- but that isn't what we’re hearing from people who have tried. Jennifer Nuzzo, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.
SUMMARY:Illinois has become another national hot spot for coronavirus, with a surging number of confirmed cases. Most are in Cook County, the region that is home to Chicago. William Brangham talks to Dr. Claudia Fegan, chief medical officer for Cook County Health, about how her employees are holding up amid the stress and why they continue to worry about a shortage of critical medical supplies.
SUMMARY: More than 250 million Americans in 30 states have been asked or ordered to stay at home. Although some still buy essentials in person at stores, many are ordering online instead. As a result, warehouse and delivery workers and professional shoppers have become central to the current economy -- and a growing number are concerned about the risks they face by doing their jobs. Paul Solman reports.
Editor's Note: Amazon disputes the claim that dozens of workers walked out in protest on Monday. According to Amazon, “15 people participated in the demonstration of which only 9 were Amazon associates—the rest were community organizers.” According to protest leaders, “Organizers on the ground counted 62 workers who walked off their jobs.”
SUMMARY: How much do we know about COVID-19, the virus spreading misery across the globe? Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee joins Jeffrey Brown to discuss understanding the dynamics of the virus within people it has infected, why some experience much more severe forms of illness than others, how we can limit asymptomatic transmission and the need to buy medical researchers time to develop treatments.
SUMMARY:New York’s death toll from COVID-19 is nearing 2,000, and experts warn it will continue to rise. But many other areas of the country are also seeing cases climb and taking steps to try to limit them. President Trump sounded a grave warning during a Tuesday Coronavirus Task Force briefing, saying the virus is projected to kill at least 100,000 Americans in the months to come. John Yang reports.
SUMMARY:COVID-19 is a huge challenge for many U.S. hospitals, from large cities to rural areas. The next few weeks are expected to be especially difficult, as critical supplies dwindle and health care workers are stressed. William Brangham talks to Dr. Phillip Coule, chief medical officer for Georgia’s Augusta University Health System, and Michael Dowling, president and CEO of New York's Northwell Health.
SUMMARY:The coronavirus pandemic has infected at least 1 million people and killed over 50,000 worldwide. In the U.S., President Trump is taking new action to bolster medical supplies, and unemployment is surging. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy relieved the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt amid conflict over his response to COVID-19. John Yang reports, and Nick Schifrin joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.
SUMMARY:The loss of jobs caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its fallout is unprecedented in the U.S. Over 10 million Americans became unemployed in the past two weeks alone -- and economists say there are many more who have not yet been counted. The NewsHour continues to share the stories of some of those who have been laid off or furloughed, in their own words.
SUMMARY:A sector of the economy that is being hit especially hard amid the coronavirus pandemic is the restaurant industry. In normal times, Americans were spending roughly as much money on dining out as they were at grocery stores. With restaurants now closed, more than 3 millions jobs have been lost nationwide. Paul Solman reports on the impact on establishments in the Washington, D.C., metro area.
Americans should wear face masks as a way to help stifle the spread of COVID-19, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation’s top doctors leading the public health fight against the coronavirus pandemic — a departure from previous government guidance to only wear a mask if you were caring for someone with the illness or had it yourself.
“If everybody does that, we’re each protecting each other,” Fauci said in an interview with PBS NewsHour anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff. His comments came shortly before President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force shared national recommendations for people to wear non-medical face masks. The task force did not recommend the use of surgical or medical grade face masks, which are in short supply for hospitals and front line health care workers.
For months, federal health officials discouraged the use of surgical face masks. In recent weeks, some health experts began to question that decision, suggesting that the use of face coverings could have helped slow the spread of the virus sooner. But on Friday, the task force said it was now recommending face coverings “in light of recent studies.” Trump added that this recommendation does not eliminate the need for social distancing.
This guidance comes as more states this week told residents to stay at home to prevent further spread of the virus that causes the disease, COVID-19. But more states and communities should join in tightening those measures, Fauci said.
He warned that the U.S. is currently “in a very difficult period. It will get worse before it gets better.”
So far, testing has confirmed roughly 240,000 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., where nearly 5,900 people have died after they were infected by the virus, according to the latest data from The COVID Tracking Project. Public health experts have said those numbers are likely an undercount because testing remains inadequate, despite being the only way to measure how far the pandemic has spread within the country.
As of Thursday, the pandemic crossed another milestone, now infecting more than 1 million people worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers who have been tracking the virus’ global spread. Fauci said he was confident Americans “will get out of this.”
SUMMARY: As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the U.S., officials are warning that there are not enough medical professionals available to meet the growing needs of patients. The shortage has led to the easing of some regulations, enabling medical students to graduate early and retired doctors to return to practice. Lisa Desjardins shares some of their stories from this all-hands-on-deck moment.
SUMMARY:As more and more people stay at home during the pandemic, millions of vehicles are no longer on the roads and the skies are comparatively free of airplanes. Many other human activities that cause air pollution also have been scaled back. But will this lull in activity make a difference in the air we breathe or the future of climate change? NewsHour Weekend's Christopher Booker reports.
SUMMARY: Amid heavy criticism, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday issued a state-wide stay-at-home order for the state in response to the coronavirus. This came after some local counties and cities had already put similar orders in place ahead of the governor’s mandate. Stephen Mort of PBS station WUCF joins Hari Sreenivasan from Orlando to discuss what's happening in the state related to the outbreak.
SUMMARY: Many Americans plan to save for retirement in their 50s. But what happens if you're laid off at that age instead? According to researchers, the situation is common, and older workers have a harder time finding a new job -- especially one that pays their previous salary. Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks to 59-year-old Jaye Crist, who works three jobs for 70 percent of his former income.
Is this even a real question? Of course we should, that is one reason we pay more for medical drugs than many other nations. And of course Republicans receive very big 'donations' for Big Pharma.
Excerpt
SUMMARY:Americans spend more on prescription drugs than any other country in the world: about $1,200 per person every year. One in four say the cost is problematic, and some say they haven’t taken their medicine as directed as a result. In Congress, both parties are looking to address the problem -- but with different approaches. William Brangham talks to Emmarie Huetteman of Kaiser Health News.
SUMMARY:Collectively, Americans owe nearly a trillion dollars of medical debt, and Congress is trying to figure out a policy response. But in the meantime, economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on an unusual non-profit’s effort to relieve the burden of medical debt for those in need.
Here's another thought:
Our present health care system = [you] -> [middle man, fee & profit driven health insurers] -> [health care provider, doctors, hospitals, pharmacy]
Better way = [you] -> [Medicare, fix fee not-for-profit] -> [health care provider, doctors, hospitals, pharmacy]
SUMMARY: More than 700 million people across the globe live on extremely low wages. This year, a trio of economists won the Nobel Prize for their work on addressing global poverty, using randomized control trials to test and improve social policy. Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks to two of those winners, husband-and-wife duo Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, about their work.
SUMMARY: As the population ages and older workers are making up more and more of the labor force, some employers are taking notice and adjusting their own practices to retain valuable experience and skills. Economics correspondent Paul Solman has the story.
SUMMARY:A national strike by the United Auto Workers is now in its 18th day. The walkout of 46,000 employees affects more than 50 General Motors sites, and although the two sides continue to talk and are said to be making progress, several key issues remain to be resolved. William Brangham talks to Micki Maynard, a journalist who follows the automotive industry in Detroit, about the stakes for each side.
SUMMARY: The United Nations has called climate change the “defining issue of our time.” But new analyses suggest the planet’s temperature will rise by even more than the UN had estimated -- and that warming creates ever-increasing energy consumption due to the need for more air conditioning. Paul Solman takes an updated look at the extreme risks the globe faces from potential worst-case scenarios.
SUMMARY: In cities across the globe on Friday, protesters took to the streets to demand action on climate change. The demonstrations, easily the largest to focus on climate, represent a movement driven largely by young people -- many of whom left school to join the walkout. William Brangham spoke to several participants about their mission to reduce fossil fuel emissions and how they plan to execute it.
SUMMARY: After millions of protesters marched around the globe to demand action on climate change, we more closely examine what policies they are proposing. Miles O’Brien joins William Brangham to discuss current sources of U.S. energy and what it would take to transition to all renewables, plus the outlook for nuclear power as the infamous Three Mile Island plant closes.
SUMMARY:The U.S. government spends about 0.7 percent of GDP on scientific research and development, down from 2 percent in the 1960s. Less investment means fewer chances for breakthroughs like the weapon-seeking robots that saved thousands of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and created a new consumer products category. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on an effort to jump-start public R&D.
SUMMARY:Transitioning a business to a new owner has its challenges. But a program run by the business school at the University of Kansas aims to match those seeking to sell their companies with potential buyers seeking business opportunities. Peter Tubbs of Iowa Public Television reports on the importance of this link between people entering and exiting business that are critical to local communities.
SUMMARY:Whites in the U.S. have much greater household and individual wealth than blacks and other minorities. In fact, the typical black household has about 10 cents for every dollar of wealth in a typical white household. Some economists and politicians believe this racial wealth disparity will continue to widen unless it's addressed. As Paul Solman reports, one idea for closing it begins at birth.
SUMMARY:General Russel Honore commanded an infantry division in Korea and saw action in Operation Desert Storm, but it was his service as Commander of the Joint Task Force Katrina in 2005 that won him national acclaim. The experience of viewing Louisiana’s industrial pollution up close, he says, also radicalized him. Now an environmental activist, the general is taking on big oil. Paul Solman reports.
SUMMARY:The oldest members of Gen Z, the population segment born after 1996, are leaving college and entering the workforce. How do their expectations and outlooks vary from those of the Millennials who have recently reshaped the modern workplace? Economics correspondent Paul Solman and financial journalist Beth Kobliner talk to Gen Z college students as they approach graduation and anticipate careers.
SUMMARY:The Netherlands has become a global leader in implementing the tenets of a “circular economy,” a radical new approach to sustainable living that focuses on reducing consumption, minimizing waste and reusing nearly everything. As Jeffrey Brown reports, some Dutch companies are repurposing discarded materials into other marketable goods, but it can still be a challenge to convince investors.
SUMMARY:With a presence in 65 countries, ride-sharing company Uber has conducted about 10 billion trips in its lifetime -- about 15 million per day. Paul Solman looks at how economists are using this treasure trove of data.
SUMMARY: Louisiana’s abundant natural resources represent enormous wealth, yet the state consistently ranks at or near the bottom nationally for many quality-of-life indicators. Like other states, Louisiana grants tax exemptions to businesses it wants to attract, but some are questioning whether its unusually high rate of corporate subsidy is really paying off. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.
SUMMARY: The deadline for filing your taxes is right around the corner, on Monday, April 15. This is the first year that fully incorporates major updates to the tax code signed into law by President Trump in 2017. Amid the changes, some taxpayers are expressing confusion and alarm at how the new rules affect them. Lisa Desjardins talks to Jim Tankersley from The New York Times.
SUMMARY:The amount of student loan debt Americans hold is at a record high, and much of it is shouldered by Millennials--people in their late 20s and 30s. Now, children in Generation Z, the group born after 1996, are facing their own quandary about how to pay for college. As economics correspondent Paul Solman found, some are taking very seriously the prospect of being saddled with a lifetime of loans.
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
*Anti-First Amendment policies that attempt to turn America into a theocracy by enshrining ANY religious belief as law.
* Any attempt to suppress human or Constitutional rights.
* Any law or policy that supports discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, race/color, gender, sexual orientation, or any law that does NOT support Equal Treatment under the law.
*Any law or policy that attempts to suppress Freedom of the Press or Free Speech.
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