Mediaboss Marketing

At least that's what ChineseForeign Minister Wang Yi believes. Hewants the world to buy the fictionthat the communist regime is the perfect answer to fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

He said,Chinas signature strength, efficiency and speed in this fight has been widely acclaimed. Andthe institutional advantage of Chinas governance is for all to see. [Emphasis added.]

It's "thesystem and culture of socialism" that does China proud, he crowed.

In other words, it's him against us. Autocracy versus self government. Socialism versus the free market. As Wang would have it, acentralized government run by a dictator is better than mere people deciding what's best for the people.

With the despot "Comrade Xi Jinping at its core," Wang indicated, communist China can moreeasily order 1.4 billion people around at his whim and fancy than a democracy, with all its competing interests and voices, to fight the pandemic.

Playing out in the background of this pandemicis anexistential challenge to Western Democracies and their governing principles of liberty, equality and the sanctity of the individual. Wang has thrown down the cudgel.

If you can stand to read almost 2,000 words of this masturbatory rubbish go to:"Resolutely Defeating the COVID-19 Outbreak and Promoting the Building of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind," by Yang Yi. It'll make you vomit or laugh, at least those of us who don't see all paths inevitably leading toShangri-la. (If it's too much for you, I've selected a few paragraphs for you at the end of this post.)

In fairness, Wang published this chest-thumping early last month, before it became apparent to all that China not just botched its handling of the pandemic, but gifted it to the world.

It originated in China and spread from China. The communist regime hid the dangers fromits own people. The doctor who tried to warn China and got punished for it died a martyr. Can you really trust any of the "data" ginned up by the secretive autocracy? It was China that first proclaimed that there is, "...no evidence of significant human-to-human transmission and no health care worker infections have been reported."

Yet from within America, we still hear voices, such asDemocratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy's,exonerating China, and even pointing to China of some kind ofexemplar of how to handle coronavirus. Readers of the Chicago Tribune were treated to an op-ed that announced: "While US plays blame game, China shows leadership."It'sembarrassing to see them abase themselves.

Socialism continues to provide evidence that it's unworkable junk. Communist leaders like comrades Xi andWang will defy reality by continuing to insist that they are oh-so-smart that they alone can engineer an adequate response to thepandemic. Toadies will instinctively repeat the lie.

Western democracies and their love of liberty have endured now for centuries, led by the United States, against the onslaught of tyrannies of the left and right. It will continue to do so.

********

Here's Wang's blah, blah, blah, delivered straight:

China has set a high standard for improving global public health governance. This outbreak is a major test for China's governance system and capacity, and for the global governance system and capacity. China's signature strength, efficiency and speed in this fight has been widely acclaimed, and the institutional advantage of China's governance is for all to see. Under the unified command, coordination and direction of the Party Central Committee, an inter-agency task force was set up immediately after the outbreak; first-level public health emergency response was activated in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities; and tens of thousands of medical workers and massive amounts of medical supplies and daily necessities were rapidly delivered to Hubei from across the country. These are vivid examples of the institutional strength of socialism with Chinese characteristics in pooling resources for major undertakings.

The international community shares the view that the speed, intensity and scope of China's epidemic response is rarely seen in the world, that the leadership, response, mobilization and implementation capabilities China has demonstrated are exemplary for the rest of the world, and that China has gathered valuable experience for the international community in handling emergencies caused by infectious diseases and advancing global public health governance.

Continue reading here:
China's totalitarian socialism is superior to democracy in the pandemic fight - ChicagoNow

17 April 2020

US President Donald Trump announced Thursday a set of guidelines for states to end social distancing measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, setting the stage for businesses to reopen throughout the country.

The new guidelines will fuel the coronavirus pandemic and lead to a sharp increase in deaths. In an indication of the mad rush to resume production, Boeing announced that it will begin aircraft production and send 27,000 workers back as early as Monday.

These moves come as the US continues to post record deaths, and the United States still does not have enough tests to contain the disease. More than 2,000 deaths were reported yesterday, and more than 8,000 over the past three days.

There is still widespread community transmission, meaning that once social distancing measures are ended a second wave of cases and deaths will follow. The real fatality rate, moreover, far exceeds official statistics. Yesterday, reports began to emerge of mass casualties, of at least 29 and possibly as many as 60, at one nursing home facility in Queens, New York.

Workplaces have been a major center of transmission for the pandemic, with dozens of cases and multiple deaths linked to individual workplaces. More than 540 cases of coronavirus have been recorded at one meatpacking plant in South Dakota.

Trumps plan is not grounded in any real scientific analysis of the pandemic. It is not conceived from the standpoint of public health, but to ensure that major corporations are allowed to get back to the business of squeezing profits out of workers as quickly as possible.

Now that Wall Street and major corporations have exploited the COVID-19 crisis to receive a massive bailout from the Treasury and Federal Reserve even larger than that following the 2008 financial crisis, the ruling class is determined to send workers back into Americas factories, no matter the death toll.

Trumps back-to-work campaign aims to normalize death on a massive scale, in which outbreaks of COVID-19 are seen as the cost of doing business. With government restrictions ended, employees who refuse to work under unsafe conditions will face the threat of being fired and becoming ineligible for unemployment insurance. As far as the ruling class is concerned, if workers die, they will simply be replaced.

The plan urges states to reopen businesses if they can demonstrate a downward trajectory of cases over a fourteen-day period. This proposal has no relation to the statements and assessments of epidemiologists and health experts, and it contradicts the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Public health experts have repeatedly warned that reopening businesses too soon could cause major new outbreaks. Lifting physical distancing measures too early can result in the disease returning if you dont have the public health measures to deal with the virus, warned WHO epidemiologist Maria D. Van Kerkhove.

Wall Street, recognizing the significance of the proposal for boosting corporate profits, surged in response to the news, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures up by 820 points late on Thursday.

The plan is the result of a campaign by the Trump administration and the media to downplay the severity of the disease. To this end, the media has simply ignored the fact that the United States posted a record 2,600 deaths on Wednesday, and that the number of deaths has soared from 4,000 at the beginning of this month to over 34,000.

Over the past two days, the media has highlighted a handful of protests, organized by extreme right-wing forces, demanding a return to work. The ruling class is attempting to manufacture a narrative that the population is demanding an end to social distancing measures in order to justify a return to work.

There is no plan for re-opening. Just re-opening, said Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves. No national scale-up of testing capacity, contact tracing, isolation, PPE, economic support for ordinary Americans. It flies in the face of public health and economic advice. Its destructive, deadly.

There are no metrics of any kind in the guidelines, said science journalist Laurie Garrett. The plan does have recommendations for testing and tracing, but no measurable benchmarks for it, just left up to the discretion/perception of individual governors.

The United States now has three times more cases than any other country in the world. In New York, an epicenter of the crisis, 1.1 percent of the population has tested positive for the virus. Nationally, the COVID-19 test positivity rate is 20 percent, indicating that tests have been conducted mainly among those already showing symptoms, and that far more people need tests than are able to get tested.

By contrast, South Korea has only 2 percent of tests reporting positive, an order of magnitude less than the United States. Canada, Germany and Denmark have rates between 6 and 8 percent.

Hospitals in the United States are filled to capacity, and funeral homes and morgues have no room to put the bodies.

During his press conference Thursday, Trump praised his governments response to the disease because, just a few months into the outbreak, the United States has had fewer deaths than scenarios predicted by epidemiologists over the course of several years.

Our strategy to slow the spread has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Models predicted between 1.5 million and 2.2 million US deaths, he said. And between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths with mitigation. Its looking like we will come far under even these lowest numbers.

Because aggressive social distancing measures carried out throughout the country have led to a stabilization of the rate of new cases, Trump falsely argues that it is now appropriate to reopen businesses. In fact, social distancing measures like business and school closures are effective only to the extent that they create the conditions for sufficient testing, quarantine, and contact tracing.

Trump is cynically exploiting the widespread social dislocation caused by the pandemic to pressure workers to return to work. Under conditions in which millions of workers have received neither unemployment payments nor emergency stimulus measures, workers are left to choose between returning to work under unsafe conditions or being unable to feed their families.

But the claim that humanity must choose between letting workers die and subjecting them to economic destitution is false. This dichotomy assumes the prerogatives of the capitalist system, in which the state gives trillions to the corporations but wont ensure a livable income for workers.

The first priority in this pandemic must be saving human lives. This is only possible through a massive expansion of public health care spending to fund an enormous ramp-up of testing, quarantine, and contact tracing. Social distancing measures must remain in place until this capacity is created.

The demand by corporations and the White House for a premature return to work will spark widespread opposition within the working class. Workers must demand safe working conditions and the continued closure of non-essential businesses.

The struggle for the defense of workers health, safety and economic security is inseparable from the fight to end the capitalist system that is ultimately responsible for the pandemic, and to replace it with socialism.

Bryan Dyne and Andre Damon

' ]; var html = htmlArray.join(''); $('body').prepend(html); $('#popupfundappeal > .wrapper > .text > .button').click(function() { _paq.push(['trackGoal', 22]); }); $('#popupfundappeal > .wrapper > .text > .link').click(function() { $('#popupfundappeal').remove(); _paq.push(['trackGoal', 23]); return false; }); var expireDate = new Date(); var minutes = 180; expireDate.setTime(expireDate.getTime() + (minutes * 60 * 1000)); $.cookie('popupfundappeal', 'seen', { expires: expireDate, path: '/', domain: 'wsws.org', secure: false }); setTimeout(function() { $('#popupfundappeal').addClass('active'); }, 2000); } } /* if (!$.cookie('popupfundappeal')) { var expireDate = new Date();var minutes = 180;expireDate.setTime(expireDate.getTime() + (minutes * 60 * 1000));$.cookie('popupfundappeal', 'unseen', {expires: expireDate,path: '/',domain: 'wsws.org',secure: false}); } */ }function appendInlineChart() {if (window.location.href.indexOf('/en/articles/2019/04/20/chic-a20.html') != -1) {var htmlArray = ['

'];var html = htmlArray.join('');$('#content > p').slice(-5,-4).before(html);}if (window.location.href.indexOf('/en/articles/2018/12/20/kil1-d20.html') != -1) {var htmlArray = ['

'];var html = htmlArray.join('');$('#content > p').slice(-5,-4).before(html);}if (window.location.href.indexOf('/en/articles/2018/12/21/kil2-d21.html') != -1) {var htmlArray = ['

'];var html = htmlArray.join('');$('#content > p').slice(1,2).before(html);htmlArray = ['

'];html = htmlArray.join('');$('#content > p').slice(9,10).before(html);htmlArray = ['

'];html = htmlArray.join('');$('#content > p').slice(9,10).before(html);}if (window.location.href.indexOf('/en/articles/2018/12/22/kil3-d22.html') != -1) {var htmlArray = ['

'];var html = htmlArray.join('');$('#content > p').slice(1,2).after(html);htmlArray = ['

'];html = htmlArray.join('');$('#content > p').slice(2,3).after(html);}}function appendInlineHeritageAd() {var htmlArray = ['

'];var html = htmlArray.join('');$('#content > p').slice(-25,-24).before(html);}function appendInlineNewsletterAd() {var htmlArray = ['

'];var html = htmlArray.join(''); var pos = $('#content > p').length / 2;$('#content > p').slice(-(pos+1),-(pos)).before(html);}function appendInlineSepjoinAd() {var htmlArray = ['

'];var html = htmlArray.join(''); var pos = $('#content > p').length / 2;$('#content > p').slice(-pos,-(pos-1)).before(html);}function appendCookieBar() { if ($.cookie('cookies') != 'accepted_20181101') {var htmlArray = [ '

'];var html = htmlArray.join('');$('body').append(html);$('#cookies > p > .button-accept').click(function() {var expireDate = new Date(); var days = 365; expireDate.setTime(expireDate.getTime() + (days * 1440 * 60 * 1000)); $.cookie('cookies', 'accepted_20181101', { expires: expireDate, path: '/', domain: 'wsws.org', secure: false });$('#cookies').remove();return false; });}} function callSidebarFunctions() { //appendTopAppeal(); //appendInlineAppeal(); //appendInlineAppeal2(); //appendBottomAppeal(); //appendBottomAppeal2(); if (window.location.href.indexOf('demo=topbar') != -1) { appendFundAppeal2015(); } if (window.location.href.indexOf('demo=bottombar') != -1) { appendFundAppeal2016(); } // appendCookieBar(); if (window.location.href.indexOf('demo=mayday') != -1) { popupMaydayAd(); } if (window.location.href.indexOf('demo=popup') != -1) { popupFundAppeal(); } //popupEventAd(); appendInlineChart(); if (window.location.href.indexOf('/en/articles/2017/06/23/pref-j23.html') != -1) { appendInlineHeritageAd(); } if (window.location.href.indexOf('/en/articles/2017/06/29/pers-j29.html') != -1) { appendInlineSepjoinAd(); } if (window.location.href.indexOf('/en/articles/2017/09/09/irma-s09.html') != -1) { appendInlineNewsletterAd(); } if (window.location.href.indexOf('/en/articles/2019/02/19/lett-f19.html') != -1) { $('#content').children('h5').remove(); }};

See the original post:
Trump administration's back to work drive will fuel pandemic - World Socialist Web Site

Sorry Bernie, but socialism would never win in America. Why? Because 65% of Americans dont want to be equal; they want to be rich.

Hey, why do you think communist Russia and China adopted capitalism? Socialism didnt work in those countries. Their citizens compared their country to the U.S. and saw the U.S. as superior. (They all had seen our movies, our glossy magazines. Our Republicans think that Soviet Union was defeated by Reagans defense budget. But it was probably the TV show Dallas.) So Russia and China adopted capitalism.

But America isnt a capitalistic nation. Because in capitalistic America, only one in a thousand is a capitalist. (Definition: A person who makes 51% of their income from interest, dividends or royalties, not labor.) We are a laboring country.

Most Americans are three paychecks away from starvation. They know the rich are getting richer, but who wants to rock the boat? At least they have a job. They know what happened in the Great Depression that started in 1929.

So the Democrat or Republican who can guarantee that 51% of Americans can easily become capitalists will win the election. (Im betting on the donkey because hes less into greed and the ego.)

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Now more than ever, your financial support is critical to help us keep our communities informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having on our residents and businesses. Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.

Your donation will be used exclusively to support quality, local journalism.

The rest is here:
Letter to the editor: America is about capitalism and not socialism - Summit Daily News

Whenever anyone proposes a policy that would benefit ordinary Americans, we are met with the repetitive chorus of How are we going to pay for it?

Medicare for All? Green New Deal? Universal housing? Universal childcare and preschool? Universal food? Tuition-free higher education? Student and medical debt cancellation? A jobs Guarantee? A living wage? Paid parental leave? Paid sick leave? Expanded Social Security? Universal Basic Income? High-speed rail? Free public transportation? National free wi-fi?

How are we going to pay for it? It is often asserted more as an aggressive statement to shut down the idea, than as a genuine question seeking information, even though many of these policies have been enacted elsewhere. The question seems to be a fear-based, greed-based ideological hammer.

During the economic downturn and expected global recession coming with the COVID-19 pandemic, the US government and Federal Reserve Bank are considering, or already implementing: slashing interest rates; lower tax rates; tax deferrals; bank, airline, cruise, and other corporate bailouts; huge loans; equity stakes; dramatically increased financial liquidity; direct payments to Americans; forcing companies to produce certain items under the Defense Production Act; tapping the Strategic National Stockpile; activating the National Guard; a 60-day pause on foreclosures and evictions; prohibiting substantial price hikes; free testing for the coronavirus; and so on. Trillions of dollars will be spent. We also see federal, state, and local governments ordering the shutting down of travel, many businesses, schools, parks, and most other non-essential activities and events to slow the spread of COVID-19, while rolling back regulations on corporations.

Interestingly, no one is defending, let alone praising, the so-called free market, no one is championing libertarian laissez-faire ideas, no one is demanding small government, no one is attacking public health and social welfare programs, and, to be sure, no one is asking how we will pay for it. Instead, massive government involvement and intervention in the economy is steamrolling ahead at a remarkably quick pace and, seemingly, everyone wants a piece of the action.

American ideology regarding the free market, being self-made, self-reliance, self-sufficiency, and individualism has largely been mythology and hypocrisy. Crises tend to make that abundantly clear. And, for what it is worth, Horatio Alger, the original rags-to-riches success story, was fictional.

Even without a crisis, the question How are we going to pay for it? is typically unasked when it comes to the bloated military budget and the military-industrial complex, American imperialist wars, the drone program, the CIA, NSA, ICE, prisons and detention centers, both public and private, and other aspects of the coercive apparatus of the state. We also do not ask How are we going to pay for it? when it comes to the billions of corporate welfare dollars and other forms of wealthfare the US regularly doles out to the affluent. Likewise when the Republicans cut taxes on the wealthy, when Trump runs trillion dollar budget deficits, or when the Republicans balloon our national debt to over $23 trillion or about $70,000 in debt foreachAmerican.

It has never been about whether the US could afford a progressive program; it has always been about whether the elite wanted to or were forced to fund it. It is an issue of political will, apparently, not economic means.

And these are just the financial costs. How do we pay for what has been lost, what has been squandered, what has been ruined beyond repair, who and what has gone extinct that we will never recover? How do we pay for the unnecessary suffering, the shortened and lost lives, the productivity and creativity squandered, the shattered dreams, the tears shed? How do we pay for what could have been, but never was nor will be?

If there is one thing history teaches us, Naomi Klein, author ofThe Shock Doctrinereminds us, its that moments of shock are profoundly volatile. We either lose a whole lot of ground, get fleeced by elites, and pay the price for decades, or we win progressive victories that seemed impossible just a few weeks earlier. Which path will we choose now?

In the meantime, socialism for the rich remains normalized, while socialism for the majority remains demonized. But heres the thing: we will either have democratic socialism or we will continue to socialize suffering. If we do not choose wisely, we will surely pay for it.

then let us make a small request. AlterNets journalists work tirelessly to counter the traditional corporate media narrative. Were here seven days a week, 365 days a year. And were proud to say that weve been bringing you the real, unfiltered news for 20 yearslonger than any other progressive news site on the Internet.

Its through the generosity of our supporters that were able to share with you all the underreported news you need to know. Independent journalism is increasingly imperiled; ads alone cant pay our bills. AlterNet counts on readers like you to support our coverage. Did you enjoy content from David Cay Johnston, Common Dreams, Raw Story and Robert Reich? Opinion from Salon and Jim Hightower? Analysis by The Conversation? Then join the hundreds of readers who have supported AlterNet this year.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure AlterNet remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to AlterNet, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

More here:
We will either have democratic socialism or we will continue to socialize suffering - AlterNet

As the race for the democratic nomination progresses, candidates former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) continue to go head-to-head to make a lasting impression on the American public.

As of the last democratic primary on March 17, Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist, had a total of 914 delegates compared to Bidens 1,217. Biden has had a recent resurgence of popularity and with the mathematical data considered, a win appears inevitable because he has secured more than half the delegates needed for the nomination.

Although this reality leaves Sanders in the dust scrambling for any remaining delegates, it begs the question of how socialism would function if it was implemented in the United States.

Americans have become increasingly divided on the idea of socialism and whether or not it would be a beneficial system to implement in the country.

As of last year, according to Gallup, a striking 43% of U.S. adults support socialism, a statistic that has drastically risen from a 1942 Roper/Fortune survey which showed only 25% siding with socialistic views at the time.

Although these numbers have spiked upward, Americans have failed to realize the true implications that a country based on a socialist system brings.

Sanders has voiced overwhelming support of the Nordic Model, a system that uses both social welfare and economic methods and is employed by Scandinavian countries. The Nordic Model still interworks some aspects of capitalism, but it's true economic efficiency is called into question when examined closer.

Sweden, for example, achieved peak economic success when the country was boosted by a capitalist economy and was one of the richest countries in the world between 1870 and 1950 as a result.

These numbers have now plummeted since the 1960s, when Sweden began to redistribute wealth through major taxation. In Sweden, the income tax rate is an astounding 57.2%, while the United States sits at an income tax rate of a mere 37%, according to tradingecomonics.com. And it is not just the infamous 1% that have to pay these taxes in the Nordic countries.

In the wise words of Margret Thatcher, former British prime minister, The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.

Transforming the economy in the U.S. would be no simple task not just economically, but also culturally.

American culture is characterized by the freedom of choice and individualism; however, the very nature of socialism is based on conformity and common cause.

As Americans, we pride ourselves on personal achievement. If the government were to step in and guarantee consistent support, the incentive to be diligent would be eradicated. A modern example of socialism at its worst is found in Venezuela, where the inflation rate was 19,906 % in 2019. Medicine and water are scarce, and hunger and crime are rampant.

So, the rallying cry of millennials who impatiently chant feel the Bern should have to wait a little longer for housing for all, Medicare for all and college for all in the U.S.

Read more from the original source:
Take five minutes: Rethinking Socialism before the 2020 election - The Slate Online