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pnwriter · 4 years

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Endemic Pandemic

Part 1: Seattle as the Epicenter

How did it all start? First, it was STEP A, everyone from China, talking about it and one student bemoaning the fact that some people in Wuhan, China will eat anything. It seems eating a diseased bat started it, as contact with a monkey started AIDS. That group made it back and we had a fun time. The next two-week class was canceled because travel from China had been suspended. I skipped the next group to go to Mexico with Rene and Anne, and started the fourth group with a reduced group. After only one week, the UW decided to cancel in-person classes and that program ended. Now, there is the worry that I may not even have enough work to retire as I had planned. I started job hunting as soon as we heard the program will probably close the end of summer. Now, it's the start of spring quarter, and we only have 20 new students (as opposed to a healthy 80). Moreover, these classes may have to be on-line, so I'll have to learn a program called Zoom. All the signs are pointing to me getting out of this career and Rene is talking about getting out of the country. China and Iran took the biggest initial hits, then Italy closed down. Just today, 3/11/2020, Dumptr canceled all flights to and from Europe, except for England, who Brexited earlier this year. Also, today, the public schools followed the university's precedent, and closed down, as did the Burke Museum. The governor has banned any meetings over 250 people. Any meetings over 13 are discouraged and on my way back from the gym, which is still open, the train was mostly empty, with the buses being just a little fuller. You see people in masks, bus drivers, students until the classes were cancelled, doctors and nurses, shoppers, passers by. It's all disconcerting. People are over reacting, in my opinion...the North Dakotan whose bus driver always made it through when all the others cancelled.

Facebook and Instagram are double edged swords. First, it is and always has been a community of contact at a time when face to face contact has decreased steadily over the years. (Ironically, it's been decreasing directly because of the technology that gave us Facebook in the first place!) I send a photo of a candle burning for all our brothers and sisters across the world to my Greek pagan witch friend Vas. I am at home after going to our favorite neighborhood coffee shop this morning with the dog (hoping to see its friend Pinky there), only to find out that they are closing, due to the uncertainty. There are those who say that what is happening now in Italy will happen here, too. It's only a matter of time.

Speaking of FB, I'm chatting on line now with Alban, my brother-from-another-life teacher friend in France, where everything is still normal. We talked about how people are getting into being the characters in an epidemic horror film and acting accordingly. We both acknowledge the advantages of learning in the flesh, but also know people are lazy and always take the easy way out. Even as we communicated, President Macron issued the edict to close all schools and universities starting Monday. I look outside to the sunny March day and think similar days greeted the Spanish Flu and the Black Death. At least this one is not smelly.

Here's the resume I have sent:

CAREER SUMMARY

My international experience began after undergraduate school with the Peace Corps in Morocco. My strengths of responsibility, patience and adaptability gained from being raised on a farm contributed to a successful and rewarding overseas experience. The professional aspect of my international experience began with teaching and studying in the Teaching English as a Second Language Program at CSU. As the Graduate Student Representative, in addition to teaching, being the liaison between the faculty and the students honed my leadership, organizational and diplomatic skills. From my first teaching job at Saint Martin’s College to my extensive career at the University of Washington, these skills developed greatly over the years.

Writing and editing, International relations, counseling, public relations, intercultural communication,

EMPLOYMENT

English Language Instructor, UW Campus and downtown ELP, material development, listening and speaking and grammar specialties 3/16/2005 to present

Compliance Specialist, (change to Professional Staff status from Extension Lecturer) effective March 2004

Admissions and Immigration Director, University of Washington International Outreach Programs, Seattle WA. Admissions and Immigration for all UW Educational Outreach International Programs. Primary Designated Student Official in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement SEVIS program. 1/2004 to present.

Director of Student Services, University of Washington Educational Outreach, Seattle, WA. Directing all international student services in the English Language program including acceptance, immigration advising, orientation (initial and on-going), information dissemination (weekly newsletter), sponsors, housing, language exchange and extracurricular activities. Teaching an English Language class is part of the administration positions. 9/2000 to 1/2004.

Acting Director, Downtown ESL Program, Directing ESL program with 80 students and nine faculty and staff. Payroll and expenditure authorization, supervising office staff and providing support for teachers and students. June 12-August 18, 2000.

International Student Advisor, ESL Programs, University of Washington Educational Outreach (UWEO), Seattle, WA. Immigration, academic and personal advising. Activities supervisor, conversation exchange program coordinator, extended orientation class development and instruction, weekly newsletter publisher. Taught extended orientation class in ESL Program, speaking and listening focus. Liaison with UWEO Business Office, sponsoring agencies and embassies, UW housing office, and home stay agencies. 3/87 to 9/2000.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND SERVICES

Peace Corps Volunteer, Taza, Morocco. High school instructor of English at Lycee Sidi Azzouz in Taza. Outreach to disabled children in a special summer project at a special school in Martil, Morocco. From 6/78-6/80.

Member NAFSA: Association of International Educators and the Association of Washington International Student Affairs (AWISA). Received Outstanding Service Award. Reached out especially to the LGBT international community by producing a video and presenting workshops and sessions yearly at national and regional TESOL and NAFSA conferences.

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Cetlalic Language Program, Cuernavaca, Mexico, Intensive Spanish study January 3-16, 2004.

International House, Madrid, Spain, Intensive Spanish Study and Study Abroad experience 99-00

NAFSA Professional Development Training May 1998

M.A. TESL/Linguistics, Colorado State University 1982

B.S. Psychology, Minor in French, University of North Dakota, 1977

a week, we had done some bonding and I was remembering the difference between the two girls with similar, to me, names.

Like the 1918 Spanish Flu, which took my grandmother Voeller and Catherine Thomas' husband, starting the huge Voeller clan, the last dying before this next-100-year epidemic took hold. It centered in a nursing home in Kirkland, and has taken mostly the elderly. Some say it is cleaning out the dark, negative energy.

Part 2: Two Months in

It's now been over two months since people were sent to their rooms to thinking long and hard about what they have done...to the

Mother, to Gaia. Yesterday was Mother's Day and I posted photos both of my mother and Gaia in celebration of the day. I have picked up a variety pack of online friends...Roial Co (Philippine Reiki Master (I attuned him from 2 to 3 over the phone in an hour-long ceremony last weekend. He could be part of the soul family...other members being Kim, Aric, Bob, Bachir, Robert, Vivian, Paki, Roy, Cynthia, Alban for sure), Mahamed, Eryk (also for sure), Samuel and the latest...Randy. There could be up to 90 scattered across the planet at this time...like shatters of glass (Roi). I'm almost to the point where I can start writing in my books again.

The state was supposed to go into what is called "Stage 2" on June 1, five days from now, but people are still dying (up to 100,000 in the states, 300,000 worldwide) so now it's mid-month. More monetary help is on the way. The veil is thinning. Strange events are starting to become common. I am meeting good people around the world on social media. We send money to Samuel after vetting him, but Kelvin Moore turns out to be a Yemeni hack. Oh well. My gardens, on the other hand, are glorious and giving me much pleasure. I have fresh flowers here at my little at home desk and downstairs on the kitchen counter. The ones at my office desk are from the top deck and the ones on the counter are from the east English garden. I am trying to attract elves and fairies to both gardens and have started playing my harp out there, with melodies that come to me from the plants' exhalations. I installed a lady bug house at the base of the climbing vines and will sit out there when the weather gets better and it's supposed to reach record heat this summer. Yikes. Along with world pandemic, murder hornets, ravaging storms and the 17 year cadydid cycle falling on 2020, a record heat wave and resulting fires are just par for the course.

Going out in public these days, at least here in the city, you would see that nearly everyone has a mask on. It's a bit disconcerting looking at eyes above various colors of masks, the new item of outer wear. The cute barista wore a black one, the owner a bandanna, his wife, the chef, a more medical-looking surgical mask, the lady in front of me, a homemade jobby. Out in the boonies, there is a culture war between those who believe we need to wear masks to protect both ourselves and others and those who believe that it's all a hoax and it's a way for the government to muzzle us, limit our freedom. Both sides see the other as sheeple.

Part 3: Month 6

It's now 70 days until November 3 and as Antonio from Spain said, "At the end of the day, it's up to a few Floridians, a bunch of Ohioans and a handful of Michiganians to decide the future of mankind..." The DNC went better than anyone had expected, with great speeches from both Michelle and Barack Obama, the AOC, Kamala Harris and culminating with one by Biden, himself. This week, the shit show in a burning dumpster called teh RNC has started with hysterical screaming and drug-induced ramblings laying all blame the the Dems and predicting a daily reality of lawlessness, rioting and burning cities if Biden gets elected. Only 70 days until we decide whether to stay in this country, or like our ancestors, try our luck in a new one: Mexico, Spain or Portugal are the top runners right now. We plan to go south to check out Flagstaff and Sedona, Arizona this Christmas. Last Christmas, it was El Paso, Alpine and Marfa, Texas and Los Crucas, New Mexico.

I am on the break between summer and fall...noteably the longest one of the year, often five weeks. I usually go back to North Dakota during this time, but that's not happening this year, probably never again. The last time I was there, I was suffering from depression and I had a feeling I would not be seeing it again. Best to leave it to my memories of happier days there when the people I grew up with were still alive.

This divide in the country, instigated by Russian bots and carried out by Puppet Dumpster, has been the last straw, the one to have broken the camel's back that was my family connection. Foreseen by my late sister Lori, when she said (in response to whether it was now my job to keep the family together), "We are all adults now. If anyone decides to never see the others again, then that's up to them, not you." First, it was LaVonne who stopped texting or answering my texts. Then, Dennis stopped answering my phone calls and stopped calling as well. Rosie and Jamie are still cyber-stalking me on Facebook and Instagram (Rosie made an Instagram account as soon as I said I was leaving FB in disgust. She has never posted anything and has no photos in her folder...she just checks to see what I'm up to.) I stopped posting political craziness last week as it was becoming too much work to research what was fear-inducing truth and what was fear-inducing fiction. The tainted GOP is all about striking fear into the hearts of anyone who will listen to their rabid rantings.

Another week, another innocent black man shot by racist white police. Then, to add insult to injury, a trumped up 17 year old from Illinois goes across the border to shoot two protesters, walking by police to go home and then turn himself in the next day. (It comes out later that he shot the first victim in the back, and that his mom drove him to the protest, as if it were a soccer practice!) I had to break my political silence on FB, which I have just decided I will have to leave. I don't know if I can deal with Liker, the current alternative, either. It's the brainchild of some guy who saw where FB was going in 2012 and decided people needed an option. They need an option, all right. The option to opt out of social media, the new Dolls of the 2010s and now 20s.

I wake up early on 8/27/2020 and disable my Facebook account. I can't quite go cold turkey and get rid of Messenger along with it, because there are some people on there I still want to support. This is the second time I have tried to do this. After 13 years (is that all? It seems half my life!), it's a main social outlet that I am moving away from. Especially now, in the time of pandemics, it will be more isolating, but the vitriol and Hate being spewed forth is out of balance with what's really out there...I hope. There were those who had to spew the venom that the skateboarder that was killed, a gentle, long-haired hippy soul, deserved to die. I can not relate nor be exposed to such unadulterated hate. Their minds have been poisoned by no other than the POTUS, (and the institutionalized racism/hate behind him) as well as hate speech on line. My family has succumbed to the Fear of the Other as well. So be it. It may mean leaving the country if this upcoming election is stolen like the last one was. I refuse to believe that a majority of people in this country have drunk the Kool-aid.

Reading "The Witches are Coming" by Lindy West is giving me more insight, a chance to laugh and even some hope.

"Our propensity for always, always, always choosing what is comfortable over what is right helped pave the road to this low and surreal moment in US history."

Part 4: Month 7

From September 8 to 18, Seattle was socked in under a cloud of ash from the fires down south. I could feel the ashes of the bodies the those who died, as well as the chemicals of the burnt human structures. Breitenbush Hot Springs lay in ashes with only the main buildings saved. I could feel the heaviness in my lungs. Mishka could sense it and acted out by peeing outside the box. On the 14th, it finally rained some and we still have more days to endure. I got up from epic dreams of lost family (my mom, That Bitch Denis, DJ, my nieces who my mom prepared us for so they could come in and check us out sleeping) and went out into the acid rain to witness it. The craziness coming from the POTUS and media intensifies as it's now 50 days till the election.

Then, when it seems to be darkest before the dawn, the triple threat of the GOPruients, COVID-19 and the death-ash from the west coast fires, we find on the evening of 9/18/20 that the Notorious RBG, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, justice of the SCOTUS, died at 87, after having fought numerous ailments, including cancer. That bitch, Moscow Mitch immediately states the Senate will vote on a replacement even before the body is cold, even though in 2016 he said that the people of the US should have a say in the next SCOTUS, therefore, the appointment should wait until the election of the new president...blocking Obama in this last year, from appointing one. This will enable the Dumpster in his last weeks to appoint another conservative, anti-abortionist.

It becomes harder to grasp what is actually going on..these times are so unprecedented in our life times, though to those of us for whom AIDS was an epidemic, this is our second time around fearing for our lives. We know it's a long haul with many casualties before we come out on the other side, but whatever was normal no longer will be.

We go out for healthy burgers at Little Big Burger, where you can get a lettuce wrap in the place of a bun. We are both on edge and irritable and go to our separate corners after we eat in silence to grieve in our own way. Me typing here with all my altar lights on and a candle burning by the RBG candle, as the first fall rains sound outside, clearing the air for the first time in 10 days. The temptation to sell the house and leave the country is strong. The need to stay and fight on will probably prevail, but may not take the re-election of the anti-Christ, the embodiment of the Seven Deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth,

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exceptionalism · 4 years

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The final chapter in the Heaven's feel trilogy. Angra Mainyu has successfully possessed his vessel Sakura Matou . It's up to Rin, Shiro, and Rider to cleanse the grail or it will be the end of the world and magecraft as we all know it.

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Title : Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel III. Spring Song Original Title : 劇場版「Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel]」Ⅲ.spring song Alternative Titles : Fate/stay night Heaven's Feel III.spring song Directed by : Yuki Kajiura Cast : Noriaki Sugiyama, Noriko Shitaya, Ayako Kawasumi, Kana Ueda, Mai Kadowaki, Miki Itō Genre : Animation Countries : Japan

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If not for me, then for the world that will be left to your grandchildren. This does not feel like a good road we are going down… Look, I know you’re not to blame for this. You hold no position of power besides the one we all have as voters, but I guess I just always thought you believed in the lessons you taught me, and the things we used to listen to on talk radio on our drives home from the lake. All those conversations about American dignity, the power of private enterprise, the sacredness of the Oval Office, the primacy of the rule of law. Now Donald Trump gushes over foreign strongmen. He cheats on his wife with porn stars (and bribes them with illegal campaign funds). He attacks whistleblowers (career army officers, that is). He lies blatantly and habitually, about both the smallest and largest of things. He enriches himself, his family members, and his business with expenditures straight from the public treasury. And that’s just the stuff we know about. God knows what else has happened these last four years that executive privilege has allowed him to obscure from public view. I still think about the joke you made when we walked past Trump Tower in New York when I was kid. Tacky, you said. A reality show fool. Now that fool has his finger on the nuclear button — which I think he thinks is an actual button — and I can’t understand why you’re OK with this. I mean, the guy can’t even spell! You demanded better of me in the papers I turned in when I was in middle school. I know you don’t like any of it. If you’d have had your choice, any other Republican would have been elected but Trump. You’re not an extremist, and you’ve never once said anything as repulsive as what people now seem comfortable saying on TV and social media (and in emails to your son, I might add). Four years ago, I wrote to you to ask you not to vote for Donald Trump. But this time around, that’s no longer enough. At some point, just finding it all unpleasant and shaking your head at the tweets, while saying or doing nothing more about it, is moral complicity. You told me that as a kid! That the bad prevail when good people do nothing. A while back I emailed a friend of mine who is an advisor to the administration. I said to him, why do you think my dad’s support of Trump bothers me so much more than yours? Because it does. This is someone who helped put Trump in office and wants to keep him there, but we’re still friends. Talking to him doesn’t hurt my heart the way it does when politics come up over family meals. The man’s answer was telling, and I am quoting. He said, “Because I am irredeemable, but your dad ought to know better.” Does that register with you at all? One of the things you taught me well was how to spot a scam. Double check everything, you said. Do your research. Look at what the people around them say. Look at their history. Remember when you used to quote Reagan’s line to me, “Trust, but verify”? I’ve been lucky enough to make a few trips to Washington the last few years. I’ve sat across from Senators and Congressmen. I’ve talked to generals who have briefed the president, and business leaders who worked with him before the election. This is a guy who doesn’t read, they said, a guy with the attention span of a child. Everybody avoided doing business with him. Because he didn’t listen, because he stiffed people on bills, because he was clueless. He treated women horribly. He’s awful, they said. I thought this was a particularly damning line: If Donald Trump were even half-competent, one elected official told me, he could probably rule this country for 20 years. I have trouble figuring what’s worse — that he wants to, or that he wants to but isn’t competent enough to pull it off. Instead, Washington is so broken and so filled with cowards that Trump just spent the last four years breaking stuff and embarrassing himself. I learned from you how to recognize a dangerous or unreliable person. If you don’t trust the news, could you trust what I’m bringing you, right from the source? Let’s trust our gut, not our political sensibility. Based on what I’ve told you, and what you’ve seen: Would you let him manage your money? Would you want your wife or daughter to work for him without supervision? I’m not even sure I would stay in one of his hotels, after what I’ve read. Watching the RNC a few weeks ago, I wondered what planet I was on. What’s with all the yelling? How is this happening on the White House lawn? Why are his loser kids on the bill? His kid’s girlfriend??? And what is this picture of America they are painting? They are the ones in charge! Yet they choose to campaign against the dystopian nightmare that is 2020… which is to say, they are campaigning against themselves. Look, I agree there is crazy stuff happening in the world. The civil unrest is palpable, violence is on the rise, and Americans have never been so openly divided. Sure, rioting and looting are bad. But who is to blame for all the chaos? The President. Remember what you told me about the sign on Truman’s desk? The buck stops here. (May we contrast that with: “I don’t take responsibility at all.”) In any case, what some crazy people in Portland are doing is not ours to repeatedly disavow. What the president does? The citizens are complicit in that. Especially if we endorse it at the ballot box come November 3rd. Besides, what credibility do we have to insist on the ‘rule of law’ when eight of the president’s associates have faced criminal charges? His former lawyer went to jail, too! And then the president commutes their sentences, dangles pardons to keep them quiet, or tries to prevent them from cooperating with authorities? When he’s fined millions of dollars for illegally using his charity as a slush fund? When he cheats on his taxes? When he helped his parents avoid taxes, too? I remember you once told me the story of a police officer in your department who was caught filling up his personal car with gas paid for by the city. The problem, you said, wasn’t just the mistake. It was that when he was confronted by it, he lied. But the cameras showed the proof and so he was fired, for being untrustworthy most of all. Would you fire Trump if he worked for you? What kind of culture do you think your work would have had if the boss acted like Trump? As for the lying, that’s the craziest part, because we can, as the kids say, check the receipts: Was it bad enough to call John McCain a loser? Yes, but then, of course, Trump lied and claimed he didn’t. Bad enough to cheat on his wife? Yes, but of course, he lied about it, and committed crimes covering it up (which he also lied about). Was it bad enough to solicit help from Russia and Wikileaks in the election? Yes, but then he, his son, and his campaign have lied about it so many times, in so many forums, that some of them went to jail over it. Was it stupid that, in February, Trump was tweeting about how Covid-29 was like the flu and that we didn’t need to worry? Yes, but it takes on a different color when you listen to him tell Bob Woodward that in January he knew how bad it was, how much worse it was than even the worst flu, and that he was deliberately going to downplay the virus for political purposes. I’m sure we could quibble over some, but The Fact Checker database currently tallys over 20,000 lies since he took office. Even if we cut it in half, that’s insane! It’s impossible to deny: Trump lied, and Americans have died because of it. A friend of mine had a one-on-one dinner with Trump at the White House a while back. It was actually amazing, he said. Half the evening was spent telling lies about the size of his inaugural address. This was in private — not even for public relations purposes, and years after the controversy had died down. That’s when he realized: The lying is pathological. It can’t be helped. Which is to say, it makes a person unfit to lead. Politics should not come before family. I don’t want you to think this affects how I feel about you. But it does make it harder for us to spend time together — not just literally so, since Trump’s bumbling response to the pandemic has crippled America and made travel difficult. It’s that I feel grief. I feel real grief — were the lessons you taught me as a kid not true? Did you not mean them? Was it self-serving stuff to make sure I behaved? Was I a fool for listening? Or is it worse, that my own father cares more about his retirement accounts — and I’ll grant, the runup of the market has been nice for me, too — than the future he is leaving for his children? Are you so afraid of change, of that liberal boogeyman Limbaugh and Hannity and these other folks have concocted, that you’d rather entrust the country to a degenerate carnival barker than anyone else? I see all this anger, what is it that you’re so angry about? You’ve won. Society has worked for you. My own success is proof. So what is it? Because it can’t possibly be that you think this guy is trustworthy, decent, or kind. It’s definitely not about his policies… because almost every single one is anathema to what Republicans — and you — have talked about my entire life. The one thing I hold onto is hope. I believe in America. I believe in the goodness of hardworking people like you and Mom. I know that this is not what you wanted to happen, that this is not the America you grew up in nor the one you would like for me and my kids to grow up in. I hold onto hope that you’re tired enough to draw the line. That you are not irredeemable as that Trump advisor allowed himself to become. The right thing is always the right thing, you’ve said. Even when it’s hard. Even when it goes against what your friends think, or what you’ve done in the past. The right thing is obviously to end this. To cancel this horrendous experiment with its cavalcade of daily horrors and vulgarities and stupidities and historical humiliations. America is a great nation. …

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grandwizardcreation · 4 years

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Saturday, October 24, 2020

Migration has plummeted during the pandemic (Economist) If there is one thing that people remember about the covid-19 pandemic, it is the experience of sheltering in place. Those looking to move abroad have had little choice but to stay put, too. A new report from the OECD, a think-tank, shows that travel restrictions introduced in response to the pandemic caused migration to rich countries to fall by half in the first half of the year, compared with 2019. The sharpest declines occurred in East Asia and Oceania. Rich countries there have succeeded better than most at stopping the spread of covid-19. This is in part because they were quick to recognise the threat and institute strict travel restrictions. Some countries in the region, including Japan, South Korea and New Zealand have just about stopped accepting new immigrants entirely.

Couples doing fine (Washington Post) While lots of the early pandemic and quarantine led to speculation about a spike in divorces that would ensue following couples being crammed into close quarters for extended periods, couples are actually doing pretty okay according to the latest edition of the American Family Survey: 58 percent of married men and women aged 18 to 55 said the pandemic made them appreciate their spouse more; while 8 percent said that the pandemic weakened their commitment to one another, 51 percent said it’d deepened it. The numbers bear it out too: five states report divorce stats in real time, and on balance filings are down for 2020. Year-to-date, divorce filings are down 19 percent in Florida, 13 percent in Rhode Island, 12 percent in Oregon and 9 percent in Missouri. Only Arizona, as of now, is up.

Faulty password security (Foreign Policy) A Dutch “white hat”—or ethical hacker—claims to have logged in to the Twitter account of U.S. President Donald Trump … simply by guessing his password. Victor Gevers, a security researcher, discovered the vulnerability last Friday before alerting U.S. security authorities. Gevers allegedly gained access using the password “maga2020!” but did not succumb to the temptation of tweeting to the president’s 87 million followers. Gevers attributes the lack of account security to Trump’s age. “‘Trump is over 70—elderly people often switch off two-step verification because they find it too complicated. My own mother, for instance.”

IMF concerned over post-COVID social unrest across Latin America (Reuters) The International Monetary Fund is concerned that social unrest will make a comeback in “lots of countries” across Latin America once the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, a top IMF official said on Thursday. Economies across Latin America and the Caribbean are forecast to contract as a group by 8.1% this year, with an uneven 2021 bounce at just 3.6%, and most countries are not seen returning to pre-COVID output levels until 2023, the Fund said earlier on Thursday. “Some of the determinants of social unease are going to worsen and that generates our concern for the region, for lots of countries in the region,” Alejandro Werner, the Fund’s director for the Western Hemisphere, said in an interview with Reuters. “Coming out of the pandemic, we will have a level of economic activity and employment that will be much lower than before, a level of poverty and income distribution that is worse,” he added. Protests that sometimes turned violent rocked countries including Chile, Ecuador and Colombia even before the pandemic hit, fueled by anger over inequality, corruption and government austerity policies.

In hard-hit Peru, worry mounts over both COVID-19 and dengue (AP) PUCALLPA, Peru—Two of Lidia Choque’s close family members had already gotten sick with the new coronavirus when the mosquitos arrived. The 53-year-old woman lives in a wooden house near the airport of a Peruvian city in the Amazon rainforest. City fumigators usually visit several times during the rainy season to eliminate the pests, but this year, because of the pandemic, they were absent. When she went to a hospital after coming down with a fever and body aches, doctors delivered a double diagnosis: COVID-19 and dengue. “I couldn’t even walk,” she said. As Peru grapples with one the world’s worst SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks, another virus is starting to raise alarm: dengue. Health officials have reported over 35,000 cases this year, concentrated largely in the Amazon. The rise comes amid an overall dip in the number of new daily coronavirus infections, though authorities worry a second wave could strike as dengue cases rise.

French PM says 2nd virus wave is here, vastly extends curfew (AP) French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Thursday a vast extension of the nightly curfew that is intended to curb the spiraling spread of the coronavirus, saying “the second wave is here.” The curfew imposed in eight regions of France last week, including Paris and its suburbs, is being extended to 38 more regions and Polynesia starting Friday at midnight, Castex said. It is likely to last six weeks before a review, he said. The extension means that 46 million of France’s 67 million people will be under 9 p.m.-6 a.m. curfews that prohibit them from being out and about during those hours except for limited reasons, such as walking a dog, traveling to and from work and catching a train or flight.

Putin: Russia-China military alliance can’t be ruled out (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday there is no need for a Russia-China military alliance now, but noted it could be forged in the future. Putin’s statement signaled deepening ties between Moscow and Beijing amid growing tensions in their relations with the United States. The Russian leader also made a strong call for extending the last remaining arms control pact between Moscow and Washington. Asked during a video conference with international foreign policy experts Thursday whether a military union between Moscow and Beijing was possible, Putin replied that “we don’t need it, but, theoretically, it’s quite possible to imagine it.” Russia and China have hailed their “strategic partnership,” but so far rejected any talk about the possibility of their forming a military alliance. Russia has sought to develop stronger ties with China as its relations with the West sank to post-Cold War lows over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea, accusations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other rifts.

China hopes for change if Biden wins, but little likely (AP) Chinese leaders hope Washington will tone down conflicts over trade, technology and security if Joe Biden wins the Nov. 3 presidential election. But any shift is likely to be in style, not substance, as frustration with Beijing increases across the American political spectrum. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers and their constituents seem disinclined to adopt a softer approach toward China, possibly presaging more strife ahead, regardless of the election’s outcome. U.S.-Chinese relations have plunged to their lowest level in decades amid an array of conflicts over the coronavirus pandemic, technology, trade, security and spying. Despite discord on so many other fronts, both parties are critical of Beijing’s trade record and stance toward Hong Kong, Taiwan and religious and ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang, where the ruling Communist Party has detained Muslims in political re-education camps. The American public is equally negative. Two-thirds of people surveyed in March by the Pew Research Center had “unfavorable views” of China, the highest since Pew started asking in 2005.

Myanmar’s second lockdown drives hunger in city slums (Reuters) After the first wave of coronavirus hit Myanmar in March, 36-year-old Ma Suu closed her salad stall and pawned her jewelry and gold to buy food to eat. During the second wave, when the government issued a stay-home order in September for Yangon, Ma Suu shut her stall again and sold her clothes, plates and pots. With nothing left to sell, her husband, an out of work construction laborer, has resorted to hunting for food in the open drains by the slum where they live on the outskirts of Myanmar’s largest city. “People are eating rats and snakes,” Ma Suu said through tears. “Without an income, they need to eat like that to feed their children.”

Bloated public salaries at heart of Iraq’s economic woes (AP) BAGHDAD—Long-time Iraqi civil servant Qusay Abdul-Amma panicked when his monthly salary was delayed. Days of waiting turned to weeks. He defaulted on rent and other bills. A graphic designer for the Health Ministry, he uses about half his salary to pay his rent of nearly 450,000 Iraqi dinars a month, roughly $400. If he fails to pay twice in a row his landlord will evict him and his family, he fears. Iraq’s government is struggling to pay the salaries of the ever-swelling ranks of public sector employees amid an unprecedented liquidity crisis caused by low oil prices. September’s salaries were delayed for weeks, and October’s still haven’t been paid as the government tries to borrow once again from Iraq’s currency reserves. The crisis has fueled fears of instability ahead of mass demonstrations this week. The political elite have used the patronage system to entrench their power. A major part of that patronage is handing out state jobs in return for support. The result has been a threefold increase in public workers since 2004. The government pays 400% more in salaries than it did 15 years ago. Around three quarters of the state’s expenditures in 2020 go to paying for the public sector—a massive drain on dwindling finances. “Now the situation is very dangerous,” said Mohammed al-Daraji, a lawmaker on parliament’s Finance Committee.

Israel warms to Sudan (Foreign Policy) An Israeli government delegation visited Sudan on Thursday, in the latest sign of warming ties between the two countries. Israeli officials reportedly met with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s head of state during its transitional government. Reuters reported on Thursday that Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is ready to normalize relations with Israel as long as the country’s parliament approves the move. That approval may be some time in coming, as Sudan has yet to form a transitional parliament.

Gunfire and barricades in Guinea as President heads for third term (Reuters) Gunfire rang out across Guinea’s capital Conakry on Friday and security forces dispersed protestors after results showed President Alpha Conde winning re-election in a poll that the opposition says was unconstitutional. Conde won around twice as many votes as his nearest rival, opposition candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo, with 37 of 38 districts counted, preliminary results from the election commission showed on Thursday night. The president’s decision to run for a third term has sparked repeated protests over the past year, resulting in dozens of deaths, including at least 17 in skirmishes since Sunday’s vote. Conde says a constitutional referendum in March reset his two-term limit, but his opponents say he is breaking the law by holding onto power. Diallo’s camp said it has found evidence of fraud and will contest the result in the constitutional court.

Resentment, smoke linger in Nigeria’s streets after unrest (AP) Resentment lingered with the smell of charred tires Friday in Nigeria’s relatively calm streets after days of protests over police abuses, as authorities barely acknowledged reports of the military killing at least 12 peaceful demonstrators earlier this week. President Muhammadu Buhari in his first comments on the unrest didn’t mention the shootings that sparked international outrage, instead warning protesters against being used by “subversive elements” and “undermining national security and law and order” during a national address Thursday night. Soldiers remained in parts of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, on Friday. A 24-hour curfew had not yet been lifted. The protests turned violent Wednesday after the shooting as mobs vandalized and burned police stations, courthouses, TV stations and a hotel. Police battled angry crowds with tear gas and gunfire. The looting, gunfire, and street blockades continued Thursday.

#headlines #news

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patriotsnet · 3 years

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Why Do Republicans Want To Cut Social Security

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/why-do-republicans-want-to-cut-social-security/

Why Do Republicans Want To Cut Social Security

Warning: Republicans Are Plotting To Raid Social Security

Obama Cuts Social Security

Donald Trump is obsessed with defunding Social Security. In the midst of a catastrophic pandemic, millions of Americans are facing eviction and hunger if Congress doesnt act now to extend unemployment benefits. Essential workers are in desperate need of testing and protective equipment.

But Trump doesnt care. He has threatened to veto any COVID aid package that doesnt include a cut to the payroll taxSocial Securitys dedicated revenue. On Monday, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ;announced;that Congressional Republicans are on board with Trumps plan to defund our earned benefits.

As a response to the economic crisis, with 40 million unemployed in just the last few months, cutting Social Security contributions makes no sense. They are a poor economic stimulus. The money is paid out slowly over many months and fails to get cash into the pockets of;those who need it most;and will spend it immediately. Those shortcomings defeat the purpose of stimuluscreating needed economic activity. The only reason to support this policy over better targeted, more efficient measures is if your true goal is to undermine Social Security.

When reporters asked Senator Chuck Grassley for his thoughts on the Republican proposal, his response was refreshingly honest. Grassley;worried;that it might create political problems because Social Security people think we’re raiding the Social Security fund. And we are raiding it…

Republicans Aren’t Going To Take Away Social Security

Without beating around the bush, the Republican Party is often associated as being the party of the well-to-do — and the rich typically aren’t reliant in any way on Social Security income. There’s, therefore, been a long-running belief that Republicans would aim to do away with Social Security sometime in the future. This is nothing more than another in a long line of pervasive Social Security myths.

Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have an understanding of the importance that Social Security plays in keeping some 22 million people currently receiving benefits above the federal poverty line. Though both parties may have suggested tweaking how revenue is generated for the program, neither party would remove or replace any of the three funding sources: the payroll tax on earned income, the taxation of benefits, and interest income on the program’s asset reserves.

In other words, no Republican is going to advocate scraping Social Security. And even if they did, the idea would have no chance of gaining traction in Congress.

They Haven’t Taken A Dime From The Social Security Program That Isn’t Accounted For

Another misconception is that the Republican Party stole money from the Social Security Trust and used it to fund wars. More specifically, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush have come under intense scrutiny for borrowing from Social Security and “not putting the money back.”

However, the truth of the matter is that Congress has been able to “borrow” Social Security’s excess cash for five decades, and it’s happened under every single president over that stretch. In fact, the Social Security Administration is required by law to purchase special-issue bonds and certificates of indebtedness with this excess cash. Please note the emphasis on “required by law” that I’ve added above. The federal government isn’t simply going to sit on this excess cash it borrows from Social Security. It’s spending this cash on various line items, which may be wars and the defense budget, as well as education, healthcare, and pretty much any other expenditure you can think of.

This setup is actually a win-win for both parties. The federal government has a relatively liquid source of borrowing with the Social Security Trust, and the Trust is able to generate significant annual income from the interest it earns on its loans. Last year, $85.1 billion of the $996.6 billion that was generated by the program came from interest income.

Read Also: Who Is Right Republicans Or Democrats

How Urgent Is The Problem

The public already is pessimistic about Social Securitys future. A Pew Research Center study released last March found widespread worry among todays workers about the programs future 83 percent expected benefit cuts by the time they retire, and 42 percent did not expect to receive any benefits in retirement.

The public worry is understandable, but out of proportion, says Paul Van de Water, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank. The odds that benefits are going to disappear are as close to zero as possible, he said. But the continual talk about the financial problems leads people to worry excessively about it.

Despite public sentiment and trust fund projections, the next president and Congress may not feel pressure to act during the next four years. Much will depend on the balance of control in Congress and the White House.

The more power Democrats have, the more likely it is that there will be action, said Ms. Altman of Social Security Works. If Republicans stay in power, they will try for a bipartisan solution, but Democrats wont go for benefit cuts.

If the problem is not solved before the 2035 depletion date gets near, experts note that odds will favor restoring solvency to the trust funds with new revenue rather than benefit cuts.

What You Should Know About The Gop And Social Security

Who’s to blame for this mess? Well, some Americans would point their fingers specifically at Republicans in Congress. While they absolutely do take some of the blame, the inaction by Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill makes them equally culpable in exacerbating Social Security’s problems.

When it comes to Republicans and Social Security, here are the four things you absolutely need to know.

Don’t Miss: Republican Primary Popular Vote Totals

Do Republicans Misunderstand Social Security Or Just Feign Ignorance

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As a follow-up to our Tuesday post on the House GOPs assault on Social Security and its beneficiaries, its proper to take a closer look at the rationale for the attack.

To recap, the GOP caucus passed a rule making it much harder, if not impossible, to reallocate Social Security payroll tax revenue from the programs retirement fund to its disability fund. The latter is in imminent trouble, expected to run out of reserves next year. At that point, disability benefits will have to be slashed about 20%.

Reallocation is a crucial near-term fix, and something thats been done nearly a dozen times since the 1980s to keep both the disability and old-age funds solvent. The new GOP rule allows any member to block it.

Kathy Ruffing of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points us to this explanation from the provisions sponsor, Rep. Tom Reed of New York. His intention, he says, is to force us to look for a long term solution for SSDI rather than raiding Social Security to bail out a failing federal program. Retired taxpayers who have paid into the system for years deserve no less.

Ruffing calls this a revealing statement. So it is, in the sense that a big red F on a school paper reveals a pupils profound lack of understanding.

The balls in your court, Rep. Reed. Lets see your next move.

Keep up to date with the Economy Hub. Follow on Twitter, see our , or email .

Republicans Have A Plan To Cut Social Security And Medicare

Jake Johnson reports in Common Dreams that Senator Lindsey Graham is using the Republicans leverage in Congress to cut Social Security and Medicare. Only if Democrats agree to these cuts would Republicans agree to raise the federal debt ceiling.

Americans pay into Social Security and Medicare throughout their working lives. They earn these benefits. Alex Lawson, Social Security Works, explains that Lindsey Graham and his fellow Republicans will stop at nothing to cut the American peoples earned Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Its apparently not enough that millions of retirees live in poverty or on the edge of poverty, that they are forced to go without healthcare, that they are dying prematurely. Medicare and Social Security help millions of people stay afloat. But, the Republicans want a commission to cut Social Security and Medicare as the price for raising the debt ceiling.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are working on a plan to raise the debt ceiling. They really should be voting to eliminate it altogether. Either way, Republicans will try to keep the Democrats from getting this done easily and swiftly. But, failure to increase or eliminate the debt ceiling could lead the federal government to defaulton its payments.

Democrats could raise or eliminate the debt ceiling without Republican support, through the budget reconciliation process. To do so, they would need every Democratic Senator supporting the debt ceiling increase or its elimination.

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Republican Senators Push Social Security Medicare And Medicaid Cuts After Supporting Ineffective Tax Cuts

Republicans Target Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

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The economy is recovering from the depths of the pandemic in large part due to the massive relief packages that Congress passed in 2020 and 2021. Just in time for this recovery, Senate Republicans are pushing for cuts to vital programs. According to news reports, five GOP senators are proposing a commission that would come up with proposals to balance the federal budget within a decade. Given that four of the five sponsors of this idea have signed on to the tax pledge to never, ever under any circumstances raise taxes, they are looking for programs to cut. They consequently take aim mainly at cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

These targeted programs are already and will continue to prove crucial to the financial and physical health of millions of Americans that have suffered from the pandemic. Many workers, especially older ones, have lost their jobs permanently and will move into early retirement with permanently lower benefits and little or no savings outside of those benefits. Millions of Americans, again particularly among older ones, experience long-term consequences from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel virus. Those hardest hit by pandemic will need strong, expanded retirement and health benefits, not cuts to an already basic system.

The Republican Obsession With Dismantling Social Security And Medicare

Huff Post Reporter: Biden’s documented history of trying to cut social security

The Republicans are desperate to destroy Social Security and Medicare. These two programs demonstrate government at its best. The federal government runs these two extremely popular programs more efficiently, universally, securely, and effectively than the private sector does with its alternatives or indeed could, no matter how well those private sector programs were designed.

Because Social Security and Medicare are government programs that work so well, the Republican elite with its seemingly religious belief that the private sector is always the best hates them. So obsessed are the Republicans in their desire to eliminate these effective government programs that the very first action that House Republicans took in the new Congress was to adopt a rules package that included a new rule that amounts to a stealth attack on Social Security and Medicare.

The rules package, adopted at the start of every new Congress, sets out how the chamber will operate for the next two years. This years package is already infamous for provisions in the initial version that would have gutted the Office of Congressional Ethics provisions that were ultimately dropped after a massive outcry from the American people. Unnoticed by most was an additional provision, which is one part of the Republican game plan to destroy Social Security and Medicare.

Read Also: Did Trump Call Republicans Stupid In 1998

Don’t Count On A Switch To The Chained Cpi Anytime Soon

Now, before you start worrying about a reduction in your current or future Social Security benefit check, let me caution that a switch to the Chained CPI from the CPI-W appears highly unlikely anytime soon.

For one, President Trump has been pretty adamant about not making direct changes to the Social Security program. Trump has argued that indirect solutions that boost economic growth, thereby leading to an increase in payroll tax collection, should be more than enough to improve the health of the program.

More important, there would need to be bipartisan cooperation in Washington in order to pass such a measure; and none exists right now. Any amendment to the Social Security program requires 60 votes in the Senate, and it’s been four decades since either party had a supermajority in the upper House of Congress. There’s virtually no way Democrats would support switching to the Chained CPI when they have their own inflationary tether change proposal on the table.

Since 2000, the purchasing power of Social Security income has fallen by 33%, and it doesn’t look as if this trend will slow anytime soon.

Advocates Alarmed By Gop Leaders Embrace Of Trump Payroll Tax Cut

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy: next COVID bill to include Trumps payroll tax cut proposal

President Trumps push for a payroll tax cut has received the blessing of GOP leadership on Capitol Hill, who promise that the proposal will be included in new Coronavirus relief legislation.;;Some Republicans and almost all Democrats oppose payroll tax cuts. But the proposal gaining a foothold on Capitol Hill has understandably alarmed Social Security and Medicare advocates and is receiving fresh scrutiny in the media.

Make no mistake:; payroll tax cuts are the first step in dismantling Americans earned benefits.; In acceding to the Presidents payroll tax ploy Republican leadership makes plain that they stand with those who least need help and against American families struggling every day to make ends meet. Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

Trump to Social Security:;;Drop Dead reads the headline for Michael Hiltziks recent column in the;Los Angeles Times, echoing one from 45 years ago in the;New York Daily News.;;That headline, Ford to City:;;Drop Dead, chiding President Gerald Ford for seemingly refusing to bail out New York City in the depths of a fiscal crisis, was credited with his failed re-election bid.;Hiltzik clearly feels the stakes are similarly high for President Trump in pressuring Congress to cut the payroll taxes that fund Americans earned benefits.

Read Also: How Many Democrats And Republicans Are In The House

Social Security Is A Little Over 15 Years Away From Big Problems

But as you’re also probably aware, it’s a social program that’s seen better days. A slew of ongoing demographic changes have weakened Social Security’s long-term outlook. In fact, the latest Board of Trustees report projects that big changes are brewing in 2020.

The newest report suggests that, for the first time in 38 years, Social Security will expend more than it collects in revenue next year. This accounts for the benefits it pays, which comprise about 99% of the program’s outlays, as well as general and administrative expenses for the agency, and transfers to the Railroad Retirement exchange. With each passing year after 2020, this net-cash outflow is only expected to grow in size.

The frightening prognostication offered by the Trustees is that Social Security will have completely exhausted its asset reserves — i.e., the net-cash surpluses built up since its inception by 2035. If and when this excess capital disappears, retired workers and future generations of retirees could be facing an across-the-board benefit reduction of up to 23%. While there is a silver lining in that Social Security won’t go bankrupt, there’s still not much solace for the 62% of current retirees leaning on the program for at least half of their monthly income.

The big question is: How do we resolve this dilemma?

They Aim To Fix Social Security Through Long

Finally, Republicans do want to fix Social Security, but they are at the opposite side of the spectrum from Democrats on how to do that. Whereas Democrats prefer raising revenue to make up for an expected $13.2 trillion cash shortfall between 2034 and 2092, Republicans want to reduce the program’s long-term expenditures.

How, you ask? As noted, they’d implement the Chained CPI, which would result in lower annual COLAs, and thereby reduce the amount of expenditures heading to beneficiaries over the long run.

Republicans are also big proponents of raising the full retirement age, or the age at which you become eligible for your full retirement benefit. Currently, set to peak at age 67 for those born in 2022 or later, Republicans would like to see this gradually increased to as high as age 70. This would require retired workers to either wait longer to receive their full payout, or to accept a steeper monthly reduction if claiming early. Either way, it reduces the lifetime benefits paid out by Social Security, and thereby saves the program money.

Some Republicans, including Donald Trump, have called for a form of means-testing, which would reduce or eliminate Social Security benefit payments for those folks or couples who are wealthy.

Recommended Reading: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Here’s How The Gop Could Remove $174 A Month From Retirees’ Paychecks Without A Direct Cut

On Capitol Hill, both political parties have acknowledged that Social Security needs some TLC. Unfortunately, neither party is in the same ballpark as to how best to fix what’s estimated to be a $13.9 trillion shortfall over the next 75 years.

What isn’t in doubt, though, is that if Republicans were able to implement their two most prominent solutions, every beneficiary would see some form of reduction in their payout.

The GOP has long favored cost-cutting as the best means of reducing Social Security’s shortfall. The most commonly touted method of tackling this would be by gradually raising the full retirement age — i.e., the age at which you become eligible for 100% of your monthly payout. Currently set to peak at age 67 in 2022 for those born in 1960 or later, Republicans would like to see this figure gradually increased to age 70. Such a move would require future generations of retirees to either wait longer to collect their full payout or to accept a steeper up-front reduction by claiming early. No matter their choice, lifetime benefits, and therefore program outlays, would be reduced.

But the thing about raising the full retirement age is that it takes a long time to work. Meanwhile, the other Republican proposal — changing Social Security’s inflationary tether from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers to the Chained CPI — could yield modestly faster savings.

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ericvick · 3 years

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Entire re-opening, close to mask mandate moved up to May 29

In no way brain Aug. 1. The Saturday of Memorial Working day weekend — May 29 — is the new goal date for the finish of almost all remaining Covid-19 limits in Massachusetts.

By that date, which is far more than two months in advance of the timetable declared much less than 3 months ago, Massachusetts intends to lift its pandemic limitations, though masks will nevertheless be needed in specific configurations like transportation, in universities, and at overall health care amenities.

Moreover, the state of emergency that has been in location considering that March 10, 2020 will be lifted on June 15, Gov. Baker announced late Monday early morning. At a afterwards press meeting, Boston Mayor Kim Janey— mentioned that Boston would stick to fit and line up with the statewide timetable considering the fact that Boston’s COVID-19 traits “continue to shift in the correct way.”

“Because of this development, I am generating the determination to align with the commonwealth of Massachusetts and raise the COVID constraints on Could 29,” Janey said. “But permit me be very clear: our fight from COVID is not around. Reopening our town will only operate if we all proceed to do our portion to struggle the pandemic.”

At former junctures in the year-long gradual reopening procedure, Boston opted to move slower and hold constraints in spot for a longer time than the condition. Janey stated on April 27 that the state’s premier city would lag about 3 months at the rear of Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening timetable, but she explained Monday that “we have extra than a thirty day period of data exhibiting that circumstances are very low and continue to be lower in excess of time.”

Boston Chief of Health and fitness and Human Solutions Marty Martinez claimed Boston recorded an average of 63 new scenarios for every day as of Could 11, whilst the city’s positivity rate dropped to 2.1 p.c and was no greater than 4.3 percent in any single neighborhood.

Previous 7 days, he stated, there ended up much less than 65 COVID-good sufferers in town hospitals. “We have not observed these reduced numbers in over a calendar year,” Martinez explained. “It is distinct that vaccines are doing the job to continue to keep individuals from developing serious cases of COVID and decreasing unfold of the virus.”

The announcements signify a sizeable milestone in the state’s fight from the coronavirus that has fueled a global pandemic and upended practically all areas of human lifetime since the begin of 2020. But the governor built apparent that the finish of govt-mandated limitations does not always indicate the conclusion of the general public health threat.

“Covid is a minimal bit like, you know, Michael Myers,” Baker claimed, referring to the horror movie franchise character with a knack for surviving to make it into but a different sequel. “We have created incredible development and which is why we are able to do what we’re accomplishing below and what we’re proposing below nowadays … the individuals of Massachusetts have established the commonwealth up to be effective likely ahead from right here, but certainly this is anything we’re all likely to have to continue on to pay back consideration to and we will.”

Speaking at the Point out House, Baker explained the new reopening timeline — May well 29 was at first likely to be the following, but not closing, step toward a extra entire reopening — has been produced doable by an hard work that has the condition in line to meet its goal of vaccinating 4.1 million citizens by the 1st week of June.

“Massachusetts is effectively battling back in its marketing campaign in opposition to the virus,” Baker stated. “Nearly each and every university student in the point out is back again in the classroom and we have reopened virtually each individual industry. We’re safer, smarter, and superior outfitted in this struggle than at any time considering the fact that it commenced.”

New conditions are down 89 p.c because Jan. 8 and hospitalizations are down 88 p.c considering that Jan. 1, Baker’s business mentioned. The state’s optimistic exam level has fallen from 8.7 % on Jan. 1 to an even 1 percent as of Sunday.

Given that Baker very last laid out a reopening timeline on April 27, the ordinary of daily new situations is down 65 per cent, the typical hospitalization stage has declined 39 percent, and the typical everyday selection of deaths has fallen by about 45 percent.

Principles started off to alter on Tuesday in the Bay Point out. Productive May 18, steerage for youth and novice sporting activities was up to date to allow young ones less than the age of 18 to enjoy outdoor sports without obtaining to wear a mask and to allow young ones at university or kid care to go mask-totally free when outdoor for things to do like recess. Schoolkids will also be authorized to share classroom merchandise once again.

On Could 29, all industries will be permitted to open up to 100 percent potential, accumulating limits will be rescinded and, with the exception of confront-covering prerequisites for certain configurations, all condition-mandated Covid-19 restrictions will be lifted. Non-vaccinated people today will be encouraged to continue on donning encounter masks and to keep on distancing in most settings, but a new advisory will recommend that vaccinated people no lengthier will need to put on a facial area masking or social length indoors or outdoor apart from for in specific circumstances.

“After far more than a year of constraints, protocols, and tips, a entire Massachusetts reopening is magnificent news for smaller firms,” Nationwide Federation of Independent Corporations Point out Director Christopher Carlozzi claimed just after Baker’s announcement. “Now the real get the job done starts to mend a battered smaller company economic system and convey residents of the commonwealth back again into the place of work.”

Merchants Affiliation of Massachusetts President Jon Hurst said Baker’s announcement “sends a crystal clear message about the significance of financial expenditure and restoration now that we have accomplished what we required to do to be secure. With our vaccinations, we are all now evidently safe and sound to store, dine, entertain, vacation, and return to operate.”

But he also asked that buyers, quite a few of whom are as eager to get back to their regular procuring and dining styles as the companies are to welcome them back, be “patient and considerate as federal government mandates turn into person possibilities.”

“In the times to arrive, companies will have selections to make on masks and occupancy concentrations, and as perfectly as enhanced staffing desires for their institutions,” he explained.

Alluding to the chance that some metropolitan areas and towns could not go alongside with Baker’s new timeline, Hurst additional, “We also strongly urge municipal officials to fully grasp the need for regularity in coverage and community messaging, and to steer clear of perplexing our shoppers and modest enterprises with conflicting local plan.”

As with each individual other move in the state’s reopening work, municipalities are free of charge to go slower than the point out. Boston and Somerville, in certain, have commonly adopted modified variations of the state’s reopening techniques and have been much more cautious in their have returns to usual.

Baker reiterated Monday that “communities that don’t want to go as aggressively or as considerably as we’re proposing to go” can make whatsoever choices they experience are proper “and we will assistance that.”

Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy, who led the administration’s economic reopening advisory group with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, stated the 12 times until eventually May possibly 29 are intended to give organization owners and communities that are ready to reopen “time to approach for a return to regular, and to make changes to their actual physical spaces, and to modify their staffing ranges.”

“Kindness, knowing, and regard will go a extended way in these coming weeks,” Kennealy said.

Carlozzi, the point out director of NFIB, said corporations also face “major staffing challenges” as they put together for consumers to return in greater figures this summer season.

“A real indicator of a return to normalcy will be the many ‘help wanted’ signals currently being eradicated from storefront windows,” he stated.

Even though most Massachusetts people will likely circle May well 29 as the milestone date on their calendars, the June 15 expiration of Baker’s state of crisis declaration is just as major to those people who closely stick to point out federal government. Baker declared a point out of crisis on March 10, 2020 to offer with the coronavirus that was just beginning to surge across the planet and his administration’s restrictions, recommendations, and executive orders have shaded approximately all elements of daily life in the Bay Point out considering the fact that then.

“The lifting of the governor’s orders underneath the Chilly War period Civil Protection Act could not come a working day faster. For just about 421 times, plenty of corporations and people have experienced their rights and freedoms totally ignored,” Paul Craney, spokesperson for MassFiscal, reported, although Monday was the 434th day less than Baker’s condition of emergency.

MassFiscal has supported the New Civil Liberties Alliance as it pursued legal avenues to overturn many of Baker’s executive orders, arguing that the Republican governor overstepped his authority.

“A performing democracy are not able to survive below a temporary point out of emergency that is extended like we endured … Massachusetts really should never at any time go as a result of this again,” Craney explained.

For the duration of Monday’s push convention to announce the previous reopening phase, the lieutenant governor pointed out that it was literally a 12 months in the producing.

“May 18 of 2020 was the day that we arrived to this area and introduced the to start with stage of our reopening approach. And in this article we are, virtually to the day, a year later on with a full reopening,” Polito claimed Monday. “It would not have transpired with out all of you functioning so tough alongside this training course and alongside this journey.”

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#close #entire #mandate #mask #moved #reopening

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armeniaitn · 3 years

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Armenia’s economy set to start recovering in 2021 – IMF

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/economy/armenias-economy-set-to-start-recovering-in-2021-imf-72347-22-04-2021/

Armenia’s economy set to start recovering in 2021 – IMF

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team, led by Nathan Porter, held virtual staff-level discussions with the Armenian authorities during April 6–21, 2021 to discuss recent economic developments, the outlook, and the policy priorities ahead. At the end of the visit, Mr. Porter issued the following statement:

“The Armenian economy has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and military hostilities. GDP dropped by 7.6 percent in 2020 reflecting the decline in services and trade. Annual inflation accelerated to 5.8 percent in March 2021 amid recent global food inflation and dram depreciation. The fiscal deficit widened to around 5½ percent of GDP in 2020, reflecting the impact of government support to vulnerable firms and households and higher health spending, with government debt ending 2020 at about 63½ percent of GDP. The current account deficit narrowed to 3.1 percent of GDP in 2020 and gross reserves, albeit somewhat reduced, remain adequate.

“The recovery is likely to be protracted. While there is uncertainty about the pace of the recovery, our conservative outlook expects growth of around 1 percent in 2021 and 3½ percent in 2022. Inflation is projected to peak in the first half of 2021 before declining to around 4 percent by year-end as the temporary impact of imported food inflation and the pass-through from recent depreciation dissipate. The current account deficit would widen to around 5 percent of GDP in 2021 as activity and imports gradually recover. Reserves are expected to remain adequate, supported by the Eurobond issuance earlier this year. Near-term upside risks come from a faster than expected vaccination roll-out, while additional waves of infection or heightened global financial volatility or trade tensions would delay the recovery and add to external pressures.

“The immediate policy priories are to protect vulnerable households (including displaced Nagorno-Karabakh residents), accelerate planned capital expenditure, and fast-track large-scale vaccinations to support economic recovery. These items should be prioritized within the existing 2021 spending envelope. The 2021 budget deficit—5¼ percent of GDP—appropriately balances the need to maintain policy support with the authorities’ debt sustainability objective. Without significant new macroeconomic shocks, any other initiatives involving current expenditure should be accommodated within the approved budget envelope through reprioritization.

“Looking forward, it is important that Armenia maintains a strong medium-term fiscal framework—underpinned by measures to broaden the tax base, such as turnover and environmental tax reforms and income tax declarations, and current expenditure restraint—consistent with the authorities’ debt sustainability objective of bringing debt-to-GDP below 60 percent by end-2026. These measures are critical to ensure adequate space for future priority social and development spending. Progress on strengthening the fiscal framework should continue, including the extension of the coverage of fiscal risk monitoring, the creation of a pipeline of construction-ready public investment projects, and the implementation of the State Revenue Committee’s tax compliance strategy.

“Strengthening the public investment management framework is a priority to ensure that quality infrastructure underpins near- and medium-term growth. While priority projects in the pipeline should advance without delay, safeguards are needed to ensure that public investment decisions are adequately assessed. In particular, procurement, project management, implementation, and oversight for all projects (including PPPs) should be effective, transparent, and evenhanded across projects and suppliers.

“The monetary stance remains appropriate. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) preemptively raised the policy rate by 100 bps in December 2020 and a further 25bps in February 2021 anticipating the rise in inflation from a sharp increase in global food prices and dram depreciation. The CBA should continue to carefully monitor the inflation outlook and stand ready to adjust its monetary stance as necessary, allowing the exchange rate to be a shock absorber. Although there are no signs of financial sector strain, the full impact of the pandemic is still unfolding, highlighting the need for ongoing supervisory vigilance in case action is necessary. Despite the rise in NPLs to 7.3 percent in January, banks remained well capitalized and liquid.

“Structural reforms to further strengthen governance, improve the business environment and access to financing, and increase economic inclusion need to be accelerated to achieve faster, inclusive, and private-led growth in Armenia.

“The mission would like to commend the Armenian authorities for their commitment to the IMF-supported program which has been on track through the third review. Since then, all end-December quantitative performance criteria have been met and actions for structural benchmarks have advanced.”

Read original article here.

#Armenia #Covid-19 #Karabakh #Economy

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fortunebusiness · 4 years

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Ammunition Market Analysis Report by Technology, Industry Share and Size Expansion to 2027 | Fortune Business Insights™

The global ammunition market size is set to gain momentum from the increasing usage of 9mm cartridge as compared to the other calibers. It is mainly occurring because of the ongoing technological advancement, as well as its ability to perform in a versatile way. This information is provided by Fortune Business Insights™ in a recent report, titled, “Ammunition Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis; by Application (Military & Homeland Security, and Civil & Commercial) By Caliber (Small, Medium, and Large) By Product (Bullets, Aerial Bombs, Grenades, Mortars, Artillery Shells, and Others), By Component (Fuses& Primers, Gun Powder, Projectile, Cases, and Others) By Guidance (Guided, and Non-Guided) By Lethality (Lethal, and Less-Lethal) and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027.” The report further mentions that the global market size was USD 25.46 billion in 2019 is projected to reach USD 29.96 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 1.71% during the forecast period from 2020 – 2027.

The emergence of COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill. We understand that this health crisis has brought an unprecedented impact on businesses across industries. However, this too shall pass. Rising support from governments and several companies can help in the fight against this highly contagious disease. There are some industries that are struggling and some are thriving. Overall, almost every sector is anticipated to be impacted by the pandemic.

We are making continuous efforts to help your business sustain and grow during COVID-19 pandemics. Based on our experience and expertise, we will offer you an impact analysis of coronavirus outbreak across industries to help you prepare for the future.

Highlights of This Report:

In-depth information regarding the growth drivers, trends, and barriers.

Insights of the top companies operating in the market.

Extensive analysis of all the segments present in the market, as well as their shares.

Elaborate details about the competitive landscape including investments, novel product launches, mergers and acquisitions, agreements, contracts, and strategic collaborations.

Drivers & Restraints:

Increasing Political Unrest to Accelerate Growth

Ammunitions are majorly utilized in rifles, shotguns, and handguns with a wide range of calibers. The rising cases of mass shooting, as well as increasing terrorist activities are further resulting in the need for personal safety. It is thereby surging the demand for handguns worldwide. Apart from that, the increasing number of shooting ranges for recreational and sports activities would augment the ammunition market growth during the forecast period. Besides, the rising political unrest, increasing fear owing to stringent gun control norms, and expansion of the shooting range industry would contribute to the growth of the market.

Many Countries Ban Sales of Ammunition Owing to Covid-19 Pandemic

As per our research, in the U.S., the sales of ammunition and guns have surged since March 2020. Amongst the consumers, many of them are first-time gun buyers who fear of the sudden change in social order owing to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of the other gun buyers are tensed about the fact that the U.S. government may implement stringent norms and regulations regarding the purchase of projectiles because of the spread of coronavirus infection. However, several other countries have banned the purchase of ammunition for recreational purposes and sports shooters.

Segment:

Military & Homeland Security Segment to Lead Stoked by Military Modernization Initiatives

In terms of application analysis, the market is bifurcated into military & homeland security and civil & commercial. Amongst these, the military & homeland security segment held 65% ammunition market share in 2019. It is likely to remain at the forefront in the coming years backed by the rising demand for munitions from the military forces worldwide owing to increasing upgradation initiatives, cross border conflicts, and political unrest in various countries.

Regional Analysis-

Increasing R&D Activities to Favor Growth in North America

In terms of geography, North America generated USD 13.76 billion revenue in 2019 and is set to be the largest market in the near future. This growth is attributable to the rising adoption of innovative projectile in the U.S. Army.

Besides, the rising government expenditure on research and development activities would aid growth. Coupled with this, the rising insecurity amongst the populaces owing to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic is surging the sales of guns in this region. It would also augment growth. In Asia Pacific, the market is likely to grow significantly fueled by the expansion of the military forces in countries, such as South Korea, India, and China. Additionally, an upsurge in the military upgradation program and high defense expenditure would bolster growth in this region.

Competitive Landscape-

Key Players Aim to Receive New Orders for Strengthening Their Positions

The prominent companies operating in the market are mainly engaging in research and development activities to launch new multi-purpose and lightweight lethal munitions. They are also focusing on bagging new orders from the government agencies and other regulatory bodies to strengthen their positions.

Fortune Business Insights™ lists out the names of all the manufacturers present in the Ammunition Market. They are as follows:

BAE Systems (United Kingdom)

CBC Global Ammunition (Brazil)

Denel SOC Ltd (South Africa)

General Dynamics Corporation (United States)

Nammo AS (Norway)

Nexter group KNDS (France)

Northrop Grumman Corporation (United States)

Olin Corporation (United States)

Poongsan Corporation (South Korea)

RAUG Group (Switzerland)

Thales Group (France)

Vista Outdoor, Inc. (United States)

Browse Detailed Research Insights with Table of Content:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/ammunition-market-103481

Below are two of the significant industry developments:

September 2017: Black Hills Ammunition, a reloading supply manufacturing company based in South Dakota, received a contract worth USD 50 million from the U.S. Army to deliver its ammunition to the latter. The contract includes the delivery of 5.56mm long-range projectile for the U.S. combat forces.

April 2015: Orbital ATK, a provider of affordable precision weapons, military, and satellite components, headquartered in Virginia, bagged international and domestic contracts for target and tactical practice large- and medium-caliber projectile worth USD 120 million. The medium calibers include a wide range of products for LW30mm, 30mm, 25mm, and 20mm projectiles for usage in sea, land, and air platforms.

About Us:

Fortune Business Insights™ offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in.

Our reports contain a unique mix of tangible insights and qualitative analysis to help companies achieve sustainable growth. Our team of experienced analysts and consultants use industry-leading research tools and techniques to compile comprehensive market studies, interspersed with relevant data.

At Fortune Business Insights™, we aim at highlighting the most lucrative growth opportunities for our clients. We therefore offer recommendations, making it easier for them to navigate through technological and market-related changes. Our consulting services are designed to help organizations identify hidden opportunities and understand prevailing competitive challenges.

Contact Us: Fortune Business Insights™ Pvt. Ltd. 308, Supreme Headquarters, Survey No. 36, Baner, Pune-Bangalore Highway, Pune - 411045, Maharashtra, India. Phone: US: +1-424-253-0390 UK: +44-2071-939123 APAC: +91-744-740-1245 Email: [email protected] Fortune Business Insights™ LinkedIn | Twitter | Blogs

Read Press Release:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/press-release/global-ammunition-market-10175

#Ammunition Market

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patriotsnet · 3 years

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What Will Republicans Do To Social Security

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-will-republicans-do-to-social-security/

What Will Republicans Do To Social Security

Here’s How The Gop Could Remove $174 A Month From Retirees’ Paychecks Without A Direct Cut

Republican state lawmakers introduce bill to eliminate taxes on social security income

What isn’t in doubt, though, is that if Republicans were able to implement their two most prominent solutions, every beneficiary would see some form of reduction in their payout.

Republicans Are Pushing Myths About Social Security

Republican politicians want to cut Social Security. They never say so out loud, but their 2016 platform reveals the truth. In the section labeled, Saving Social Security, it proclaims, As Republicans, we oppose tax increases Since Social Security cannot deficit spend and is projecting a shortfall in 2035 if Congress doesnt act, that only leaves benefit cuts.

Representative John Larson , the Chairman of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Social Security, is trying to force his Republican colleagues into the open. Larson is the sponsor of the Social Security 2100 Act, which increases Social Securitys modest benefits. Additionally, it raises enough revenue to ensure that all benefits can be paid in full and on time through the year 2100 and beyond. Ninety percent of the Democrats in the House of Representatives are co-sponsors, but not a single Republican. Given their refusal to back his bill, Rep. Larson has urged Republicans to offer an alternative proposal to no avail.

Non-action is not an option, unless your goal is to cut Social Security. The most recent Social Security Trustees’ Report projects that with no action, benefits will be automatically reduced by 20 percent in 2035. As Chairman Larson has plainly stated, The hard truth of the matter is that Republicans want to cut Social Security, and doing nothing achieves their goal.

Vote Tallies For Passage Of Medicare In 1965

Actions in Congress- H.R. 6675, The Social Security Admendments of 1965, began life in the House Ways & Means Committee where it passed the Committee on March 23, 1965 and a Final Report was sent to the House on March 29, 1965. The House took up consideration of the bill on April 7th, and passed the bill the next day by a vote of 313-115 . The Senate Finance Committee reported the bill out on June 30th and debate began on the Senate floor that same day, concluding with passage on July 9, 1965 by a vote of 68-21 . The Conference Committee to reconcile the differing bills of the two houses completed its work on July 26th. The reconciled version of H.R. 6675 then went to final passage in the House on July 27th and final passage in the Senate the following day.

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They Haven’t Taken A Dime From The Social Security Program That Isn’t Accounted For

Social Security Fixes That Democrats And Republicans Agree On

This article originally appeared on The Motley Fool.

Social Security income is vital to the well-being of our nations retireesdata from the Social Security Administration shows that 61 percent of retirees currently receiving Social Security rely on their benefits for at least half of their monthly income. But seniors benefits could be in trouble less than a generation from now.

According to the Social Security Trustees Report from 2016, the program is on track to deplete its more than $2.8 trillion in spare cash by the year 2034. If this cash is exhausted and Congress passes no new laws to boost revenue collection, benefit cuts of up to 21 percent could be needed across the board to sustain benefit payouts through 2090. This isnt a comforting outlook for those seniors counting on Social Security income to make ends meet.

The unanswered question at this time is how best to fix Social Security. Lawmakers have no less than 15 solutions on the table, but political gridlock in Congress has halted any progress. However, the American public has a pretty clear picture of what itd like to see happen.

Based on responses from nearly 8,700 registered voters across eight states, the Voice of the People Citizens Cabinet Survey conducted by the Program for Public Consultation, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, found that Americans from both the Democratic and Republican parties agree on a four-step solution to fix Social Security.

Two additional observations

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Why Do Republicans Hate Social Security

OpedNews.comnoSign on as a citizen co-sponsor of theKeeping Our Social Security Promises Act.S. Paul note: ;17.9% of U.S. debt is owned by Social Security Trust;along with 6% to public pensions. By eliminating both, the debt is forgiven. ;The idea of creating ;private accounts as the author so states, equates to billions upon billions of dollars set up as working capitol and investment funds for corporations while those managing the accounts make hundreds of millions on interest alone. ;There is also no guarantee on the return or even if the program will pay out when needed unless backed by the Government. ;Oh wait; they want to eliminate that, too. ;The republican plan for America’s future entails one basic;tenet; profit for the few while We the People still go without.

Let Employers To Band Together To Offer 401s

To bring our retirement policies into the 21st century and empower working families, Congress should:

Ensure plans are well-funded and employers remain in the system.Congress should make sure benefits are secure for workers and retirees and that employers are not discouraged from voluntarily offering these plans.

Make it easier for employers to band together to offer 401s. Under current law, certain businessescan join together to offer a retirement plan to their employees, but only under strict circumstances. Congress should eliminate these bureaucratic restrictions.

Reduce costly red-tape, needless federal regulations, and mandates.

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Don’t Count On A Switch To The Chained Cpi Anytime Soon

Since 2000, the purchasing power of Social Security income has fallen by 33%, and it doesn’t look as if this trend will slow anytime soon.

Republicans Very Much Dislike The Current Cola Measurement

Republican Introduces Legislation To Completely Gut Social Security

You should understand that the Republican Party doesn’t like the current inflationary tether, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers .

The biggest issue Republicans have with the CPI-W is that it doesn’t do a very good job of measuring the inflation that seniors are facing, thereby resulting in an inaccurate cost-of-living adjustment each year. That’s because, as the name implies, the CPI-W tracks the spending habits of urban and clerical workers, who in nearly all instances aren’t receiving a Social Security check. Essentially, seniors’ annual raise is tied to the spending habits of non-seniors, and that doesn’t sit well with anyone in Congress.

In particular, Republicans would like to replace the CPI-W with the Chained CPI. The Chained CPI takes into account the idea of substitution bias, which involves trading down from a pricier good or service to something less expensive if prices go up. For example, if the price of ground beef rises 40%, you might buy pork or chicken instead. The CPI-W does not take into account substitution bias.

Although substitution bias does take into account a real-life purchasing strategy of consumers, the consensus view among pundits is that it would result in lower annual COLAs more years than not, relative to the CPI-W.

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Yes Republicans Want Big Time Cuts In Social Security

Over the last couple weeks, Dylan Scott has been out front on the House GOPs effort manufacture a Social Security funding crisis that would hit over the next two years. Theres more than one Social Security Trust Fund. Theres one that covers most retirees. Theres another that covers the disability part of the program. And over the years, Congress with little controversy has shifted funds back and forth between the two to maintain actuarial balance. So to date, the whole push has been rather technical and framed around bean counting. But earlier this month, most notably from Rand Paul, we heard the other prong in the attack come into play.

Speaking to Republican presidential primary voters in New Hampshire, Paul said that most Social Security disability recipients are in fact malingerers and scofflaws who have no business receiving benefits in the first place.

The thing is that all of these programs, theres always somebody whos deserving, everybody in this room knows somebody whos gaming the system. I tell people that if you look like me and you hop out of your truck, you shouldnt be getting a disability check. Over half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts. Join the club. Who doesnt get up a little anxious for work every day and their back hurts? Everyone over 40 has a back pain.

What’s The Real Reason Republicans Want To Do Away With Social Security

At first glance, Social Security seems innocuous enough. What’s not to like? It’s as American as, well, the Great American Century. Also, until recent years, it’s managed to straddle the political divide from Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt, under whose administration it was instituted, to Republican President Dwight Eisenhower.

But today many Americans view it, ironically, as un-American and would like to see Social Security reduced with an eye to abolishing it. Besides opposing large government in principle, they believe that the money withheld from their paychecks for Social Security is just another form of taxation, to which, in itself, they’re constitutionally incapable of reconciling themselves. Furthermore, it’s money that they feel they could invest more profitably in stocks and bonds, mutual funds, IRAs, 401s, or . . . lifetime savings accounts.

Beyond opposing big government and controlling how one invests one’s money, there’s a more powerful agenda behind lifetime savings accounts. See, they’re likely to be administered — at some level, anyway — by Wall Street, which hopes to reap a small fortune in fees for managing them.

For starters, however involuntarily, many who depend on Social Security to withhold money from their paychecks are, often — usually, in fact, these days — poor savers. Books such as The Great 401 Hoax by William Wolman and Anne Colamosca demonstrate what a poor job 401s have done providing retirement security.

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The Republican Record On Social Security

1935: Almost all Republicans in Congress oppose the creation of Social Security.

1939: 75 percent of Republicans in Senate try to kill legislation providing Social Security benefits to dependents and survivors as well as retired workers.

1950: 79 percent of House and 89 percent of Senate Republicans vote against disability insurance to defeat it.

1956: 86 percent of Republicans in Senate oppose disability insurance; program approved nonetheless.

1964: Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and future president Ronald Reagan both suggest that Social Security be made voluntary.

1965: 93 percent of Republicans in House and 62 percent in Senate vote to kill Medicare.

1977: 58 percent of Senate votes against amendment to provide semiannual increases.

1977: 88 percent of Republicans in House and 63 percent in Senate vote against an increase in Social Security payroll tax needed to keep the system solvent.

1981: President Reagan proposes $35 billion in Social Security cuts over the next 5 years. The cuts would have included the elimination of student benefits, lump-sum death benefits, and a retroactive elimination of the $122 minimum benefit for three million recipients.

1981: Reagan administration begins a wholesale review of the Social Security Disability rolls, resulting in over 560,000 eligibility investigations in 1982 360,000 more than the year before. Ultimately, at least 106,000 families were removed from the rolls.

What Changes Could Come In 2021

Experts expect one Social Security issue to be on lawmakers’ agendas this year.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created a so-called notch that would reduce benefits for those turning 62 and claim retirement benefits in 2022, as well as those who file for disability or survivor benefits that year.

Congress is expected to act to prevent those reductions before they take effect.

Because those benefit reductions were directly caused by Covid-19, it could be addressed in the next relief package, said Dan Adcock, director of government relations and policy the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

“I think that’s the most likely early action on Social Security,” Adcock said.

If reduced benefits for that cohort is not included in that upcoming legislation, lawmakers could consider it later in the year, which could prompt bigger conversations about Social Security reform, said Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, which advocates for Social Security expansion.

“If it’s not done in the Covid package, then it would make sense to do it in a comprehensive Social Security package, which gives some impetus to acting on it in this coming year,” Altman said.

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Republican Views On Social Security

May 7, 2014 By RepublicanViews.org

The Republican Party gets a lot of criticism over the issue of Social Security. Many will state that Republicans are against Social Security as a whole. This is untrue. Republicans are against Social Security in the form that it currently exists. While Social Security does represent ideas, such as government spending and redistribution of wealth, which the Party is generally against, very few Republicans will argue that Social Security should be done away with. Instead, they believe in large reforms to the system. They believe that workers need to be given greater control over their own retirement investments. In light of lengthening lifespans, Republicans believe that Americans need greater freedom to arrange personal retirement investments as a supplement to Social Security. They believe young Americans especially should be given this opportunity, as many members of the younger generations do not believe in the effectiveness of the Social Security system, and their money should not have to go into a system they do not support and/or believe in when they have many other options available to them.

Stopping Payments To Dead People

This is a joint document provided by the Committees on Ways and Means and Oversight and Government Reform.;Topline: In order to stop payments to dead people, this legislation will remove hurdles to reducing improper payments.Background: The Social Security Administration collects death information in order to accurately administer its …

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bhavanipendem · 4 years

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Is remote working blessing or burden for companies?

Almost every aspect of our daily lives has been influenced by COVID-19, including overall productivity. The greatest shift has been the idea of working from home. About half of the country’s population is doing it today. The planet has never seen an exercise of this scale.

Will work from home in its present configuration be transient or continue here? Can organisations see that as a feasible choice, especially with people arguing that the barriers between work and life have almost disappeared?

We see shifts in levels of operation, changes in daily routines, how workers remain on top of things outside of the use of work and productivity tools. Many major tech companies have announced plans to allow their workers to continue working for much of 2020 from home. Others are making the move more permanent. Actions are taken by some Companies:

Twitter announced that jobs would be enabled “forever” to operate remotely.

Facebook Inc has said that it will permit its workers to work from home until July next year while Google has prolonged the remote working time for employees who do not need to be in the workplace until June next year.

Negative Findings On Working Remote

In global research conducted by SAP, Qualtrics and Mind Share Collaborators, researchers surveyed more than 2,000 workers in Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States in March and April of this year. They found that the pandemic had an effect on mental health around the world. About 40% of people indicated that their mental health has deteriorated since the epidemic of COVID-19. (rephrase)

According to a survey of more than 1,000 remote workers by Twingate, remote work leads workers to lose a sense of work/life balance during the pandemic. Their results include the following:

Zoom is the No. 1 video conferencing device used by remote staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

40 per cent of staff experienced emotional fatigue from video calls while working remotely.

59% of workers feel more cyber-safe working in-office than at home.

22 per cent of home-based jobs bought a VPN after the pandemic.

58 per cent of staff reported chatting about classified details on job video calls.

Over 1 in 10 workers got their video calls compromised.

More than half (59%) of employees felt more secure digitally when working from the company office, and more than 1 in 3 (36%) were more cautious about opening up emails at home.

However, remote job systems have one big downside: they frequently prevent companies from developing and solidifying their corporate culture. Business culture is fostered, to a large degree, by workers working together and participating in team bonding events and division-or corporate-wide meetings—so that disjointed departments will make this impossible to achieve.

But how relevant is the culture of the company? Will it be prioritised in favour of the ease that telecommunications offer?

Work from home-based policies may have an effect on the growth of business culture in a number of ways. Cultural consequences that unregulated telecommunications could have include:

1. Colleagues and teams being siloed from each other

As workers work primarily or entirely from home, they are likely to only communicate with their peers via e-mail and occasional calls. This is critical for two reasons—first, engaging with colleagues on a regular basis encourages expectations-setting. When new workers are constantly introduced to the actions of their peers, they are able to appreciate success and communication expectations even more easily than they may have been remote. Second, social activity is positively associated with job participation and happiness.

A survey conducted by Gallup of more than 15 million workers revealed that the people with the best “work buddies” are “seven times more likely to work, to be better able to engage clients, to achieve better quality jobs than those without them”

2.Feeling of isolation

Although working from home at first can make life easier, it can negatively impact the mental health of employees. Humans are social beings, and people will feel cut off from seeing anyone.

Remote workers are more likely to fight corporate politics, fear bosses say negative things behind their backs, and campaign against them. A Study of 1,100 Employees Found that Remote Workers Feel lack of work buddies and left out.

3.Enthusiasm for developing and growing a company is more difficult to cultivate.

You want workers to be excited about the job they do—inspiring enthusiasm through a scattered team is not difficult, but definitely not easy. When your workers are 100% inspired, it’s hard to generate passion for your service or product without enough social commitment—high spirits are hard to convey digitally.

Positive Findings On Working Remote

For employees:

Companies or employers who encourage their workers to personalise their way of completing work tend to have job satisfaction and lower operational costs. Let us talk more about the advantages that employers will enjoy from empowering workers to work remotely.

A Glassdoor survey found that 70% of respondents thought that their company had reacted to workers’ health and safety issues. Another 60 per cent said they can function successfully no matter how long they have to do WFH, and 50 per cent said they’re operating as or more efficient remotely. A study by Citrix found that 45% of workers believed employers were “fairly ready” for the transition to working remote, and 38% said the transition was “fairly easy”; however, two positive areas emerged in regard to how companies handled the pandemic shift to remote working:

91 per cent of workers felt the support of their managers during the transition.

92% of respondents felt that their companies took all the measures.

Fewer DISTRACTIONS

Sometimes an office environment can also be loud and distracting for some employees. For example, if one employee has a phone call, other employees can also be distracted around the desk. But remote workers are free of such problems. They can focus on their work for a longer time.

Better work-life balance

There is indeed a lot to talk about the quality of life at work, but few companies are effectively offering their employees an attractive workplace culture.No matter how much emotional decompression rooms, games rooms, and other perks are available, it’s a fact that people always miss their “me-time” dedicated to their needs. So, remote workers can start and end their day based on their needs.

Less Stress

Few are fortunate workers who have the ability to take a stroll to the workplace. It’s because of the distance of their jobs to the house. An employee who spends more than two hours a day trapped in a traffic jam, wastes work time and has a terrible quality of life, is expected to experience more health issues and frustration.

Cost reduction

If an organisation prefers to work with remote teams, monetary tools are used in the most possible manner. With fewer employees at work, the business no longer has to afford vast rooms full of offices, computers and telephones. In addition, you can also save on power, water, oil, property taxes and other fixed costs that are burdened by cash that does not directly benefit the corporation.

FOR COMPANIES:

It is quick to figure out why remote working has become a trend in the workplace. The workers today enjoy the versatility of telecom transmission, which is more efficient and less exhausting at home.

Overhead avoidance is the clearest cost-benefit derived from telecommuting. Companies who do not have to pay for the office and supplies of workers will save a little in one year. In one report, an employee could save INR 8,11,784 on an average and save between INR 147597and INR 516589 in a company’s allowance to work just half the time at home.

Health care prices are lower: One research showed homeworkers showing 25% lower levels of stress, making better food choices and enhancing working-life balance. These aspects help workers lead healthy lives, both of which will reduce their health expenditure gradually.

Lower costs of travel: businesses that run will save on lengthy business trips. They will also use them as a tool that reduces employee travel and commuting expenses since they are already using video chat and online contact channels in everyday activities.

Improved client service: As clientele services improve because now people have more time to invest in work.

Employees Want Remote Work, Too

73 per cent note that they are very successful when working from home, according to a Global Workplace Analytics survey of employees working remotely during the pandemic, and 86 per cent say they feel ‘fully productive’ working from their home office. And of the 3,000 respondents, on average, 76 per cent want to continue working at least 2.5 days per week from home.

It is obvious that people value being able to work from home. And as more and more firms switch to a remote-first or entirely remote model, job seekers are even more likely to find (and land) the ideal job-from-home position.

Blessing or Burden: A final word

The effect of Covid-19 on all aspects of life, in all nations and in all sectors, is seen by the world. The reality is that many activities and roles can be accomplished online, and much better with the help of technology and other interactive tools.

In terms of merits and demerits of remote work, Vanessa Tierney, CEO and co-founder of Abodoo, a data-driven matching network, concludes: While the challenge of remote work has now been revealed, the merits outweigh the demerits and push tech conglomerates like Facebook and Twitter to enable their employees to work “forever” from home.

The IT industry moved to the WFH model during the lockdown very easily, delivering market stability to consumers without reducing efficiency or productivity, pleasing industry leaders and customers alike.

It has proven that with the right processes in place, businesses will prosper and succeed from anywhere in the world. Two reasons for this seamless transition are the rigid commitment of the IT industry to quality systems and the provision of bandwidth connectivity both from homes in metros and in small towns.

Many industrial executives, who led their corporations during the 2008 Great Recession. One of these pioneers is Roger Neel, co-founder and CTO of Mavenlink, who summarises the unparalleled difficulties posed by most organisations as a result of the pandemic crisis: “Better or worse, this time of instability and significant transformation is expected to have a lasting effect on the way various businesses communicate and the way organisations work.

What next???

After post-Covid-19, you can need to re-engine the company to minimise costs, among other items. Future work would be achieved by a mix of in-house services, home work, outsourcing, crowdsourcing, and local towns. The trick is to get the most optimal model based on many criteria, such as type of function, protection requirements, consumer constraints, etc.

For scattered teams, problems like loss of coordination, security issues, preparation and on-board difficulties and burnout are more pronounced. If remote work becomes more of a modern standard, we can see these issues climb to the priority ladder for organisations that are seeking to evolve and move ahead with this new model. The way businesses handle these problems today will be very revealing about their future tomorrow.

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moviedailymotion · 4 years

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- Ein Geschenk von Bob - VOLLEDIG 2020 - M O V I E S [STREAMING ONLINE]

Ein Geschenk von Bob - VOLLEDIG 2020 - M O V I E S [STREAMING ONLINE]

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Our relationship is strained. It feels like it has been for a while. For the last four years, there has been an elephant in the room — I’d joke and call it an orange elephant, but I’m nervous that might end this earnest conversation before it even begins. Have I changed? I mean, yes, of course I have. I’ve gotten older. I’ve had two children. I’ve tried to read and learn as much as possible, just as you taught me. In fact, that’s sort of the weirdest thing. I don’t think I’ve changed much. I still believe, deep in my bones, all the fundamental things you not only talked to me about, but showed me when I was little. I believe in character. I believe in competence. I believe in treating people decently. I believe in moderation. I believe in a better future and I believe in American exceptionalism, the idea that the system we were given by the Founding Fathers, although imperfect, has been an incredible vehicle for progress, moral improvement, and greatness, unlike any other system of government or country yet conceived. I believe this exceptionalism comes with responsibilities. Politically, I’m pretty much the same, too. Government is best when limited, but it’s nonetheless necessary. Fair but low taxes grow the economy. Rights must be protected, privacy respected. Partisanship stops at the water’s edge. No law can make people virtuous — that obligation rests on every individual. So how is it even possible that we’re here? Unable to travel, banned from entry by countless nations. The laughingstock of the developed world for our woeful response to a pandemic. 200,000 dead. It hasn’t been safe to see you guys or grandma for months, despite being just a plane ride away. My children — your grandchildren — are deprived of their friends and school. Meanwhile, the U.S., which was built on immigration — grandma being one who fled the ravages of war in Europe for a better life here — is now a bastion of anti-immigrant hysteria. Our relatives on your side fought for the Union in the Civil War. Great-grandpa fought against the Russians in WWI, and granddad landed at Normandy to stop the rise of fascism. And now people are marching with tiki-torches shouting, “the Jews will not replace us.” What is happening?! Black men are shot down in the streets? Foreign nations are offering bounties on American soldiers? And the President of the United States defends, rationalizes, or does nothing to stop this? I’d say that’s insane, but I’m too heartbroken. Because every step of the way, I’ve heard you defend, rationalize, or enable him and the politicians around him. Not since I was a kid have I craved to hear your strong voice more, to hear you say anything reassuring, inspiring, morally cogent. If not for me, then for the world that will be left to your grandchildren. This does not feel like a good road we are going down… Look, I know you’re not to blame for this. You hold no position of power besides the one we all have as voters, but I guess I just always thought you believed in the lessons you taught me, and the things we used to listen to on talk radio on our drives home from the lake. All those conversations about American dignity, the power of private enterprise, the sacredness of the Oval Office, the primacy of the rule of law. Now Donald Trump gushes over foreign strongmen. He cheats on his wife with porn stars (and bribes them with illegal campaign funds). He attacks whistleblowers (career army officers, that is). He lies blatantly and habitually, about both the smallest and largest of things. He enriches himself, his family members, and his business with expenditures straight from the public treasury. And that’s just the stuff we know about. God knows what else has happened these last four years that executive privilege has allowed him to obscure from public view. I still think about the joke you made when we walked past Trump Tower in New York when I was kid. Tacky, you said. A reality show fool. Now that fool has his finger on the nuclear button — which I think he thinks is an actual button — and I can’t understand why you’re OK with this. I mean, the guy can’t even spell! You demanded better of me in the papers I turned in when I was in middle school. I know you don’t like any of it. If you’d have had your choice, any other Republican would have been elected but Trump. You’re not an extremist, and you’ve never once said anything as repulsive as what people now seem comfortable saying on TV and social media (and in emails to your son, I might add). Four years ago, I wrote to you to ask you not to vote for Donald Trump. But this time around, that’s no longer enough. At some point, just finding it all unpleasant and shaking your head at the tweets, while saying or doing nothing more about it, is moral complicity. You told me that as a kid! That the bad prevail when good people do nothing. A while back I emailed a friend of mine who is an advisor to the administration. I said to him, why do you think my dad’s support of Trump bothers me so much more than yours? Because it does. This is someone who helped put Trump in office and wants to keep him there, but we’re still friends. Talking to him doesn’t hurt my heart the way it does when politics come up over family meals. The man’s answer was telling, and I am quoting. He said, “Because I am irredeemable, but your dad ought to know better.” Does that register with you at all? One of the things you taught me well was how to spot a scam. Double check everything, you said. Do your research. Look at what the people around them say. Look at their history. Remember when you used to quote Reagan’s line to me, “Trust, but verify”? I’ve been lucky enough to make a few trips to Washington the last few years. I’ve sat across from Senators and Congressmen. I’ve talked to generals who have briefed the president, and business leaders who worked with him before the election. This is a guy who doesn’t read, they said, a guy with the attention span of a child. Everybody avoided doing business with him. Because he didn’t listen, because he stiffed people on bills, because he was clueless. He treated women horribly. He’s awful, they said. I thought this was a particularly damning line: If Donald Trump were even half-competent, one elected official told me, he could probably rule this country for 20 years. I have trouble figuring what’s worse — that he wants to, or that he wants to but isn’t competent enough to pull it off. Instead, Washington is so broken and so filled with cowards that Trump just spent the last four years breaking stuff and embarrassing himself. I learned from you how to recognize a dangerous or unreliable person. If you don’t trust the news, could you trust what I’m bringing you, right from the source? Let’s trust our gut, not our political sensibility. Based on what I’ve told you, and what you’ve seen: Would you let him manage your money? Would you want your wife or daughter to work for him without supervision? I’m not even sure I would stay in one of his hotels, after what I’ve read. Watching the RNC a few weeks ago, I wondered what planet I was on. What’s with all the yelling? How is this happening on the White House lawn? Why are his loser kids on the bill? His kid’s girlfriend??? And what is this picture of America they are painting? They are the ones in charge! Yet they choose to campaign against the dystopian nightmare that is 2020… which is to say, they are campaigning against themselves. Look, I agree there is crazy stuff happening in the world. The civil unrest is palpable, violence is on the rise, and Americans have never been so openly divided. Sure, rioting and looting are bad. But who is to blame for all the chaos? The President. Remember what you told me about the sign on Truman’s desk? The buck stops here. (May we contrast that with: “I don’t take responsibility at all.”) In any case, what some crazy people in Portland are doing is not ours to repeatedly disavow. What the president does? The citizens are complicit in that. Especially if we endorse it at the ballot box come November 3rd. Besides, what credibility do we have to insist on the ‘rule of law’ when eight of the president’s associates have faced criminal charges? His former lawyer went to jail, too! And then the president commutes their sentences, dangles pardons to keep them quiet, or tries to prevent them from cooperating with authorities? When he’s fined millions of dollars for illegally using his charity as a slush fund? When he cheats on his taxes? When he helped his parents avoid taxes, too? I remember you once told me the story of a police officer in your department who was caught filling up his personal car with gas paid for by the city. The problem, you said, wasn’t just the mistake. It was that when he was confronted by it, he lied. But the cameras showed the proof and so he was fired, for being untrustworthy most of all. Would you fire Trump if he worked for you? What kind of culture do you think your work would have had if the boss acted like Trump? As for the lying, that’s the craziest part, because we can, as the kids say, check the receipts: Was it bad enough to call John McCain a loser? Yes, but then, of course, Trump lied and claimed he didn’t. Bad enough to cheat on his wife? Yes, but of course, he lied about it, and committed crimes covering it up (which he also lied about). Was it bad enough to solicit help from Russia and Wikileaks in the election? Yes, but then he, his son, and his campaign have lied about it so many times, in so many forums, that some of them went to jail over it. Was it stupid that, in February, Trump was tweeting about how Covid-29 was like the flu and that we didn’t need to worry? Yes, but it takes on a different color when you listen to him tell Bob Woodward that in January he knew how bad it was, how much worse it was than even the worst flu, and that he was deliberately going to downplay the virus for political purposes. I’m sure we could quibble over some, but The Fact Checker database currently tallys over 20,000 lies since he took office. Even if we cut it in half, that’s insane! It’s impossible to deny: Trump lied, and Americans have died because of it. A friend of mine had a one-on-one dinner with Trump at the White House a while back. It was actually amazing, he said. Half the evening was spent telling lies about the size of his inaugural address. This was in private — not even for public relations purposes, and years after the controversy had died down. That’s when he realized: The lying is pathological. It can’t be helped. Which is to say, it makes a person unfit to lead. Politics should not come before family. I don’t want you to think this affects how I feel about you. But it does make it harder for us to spend time together — not just literally so, since Trump’s bumbling response to the pandemic has crippled America and made travel difficult. It’s that I feel grief. I feel real grief — were the lessons you taught me as a kid not true? Did you not mean them? Was it self-serving stuff to make sure I behaved? Was I a fool for listening? Or is it worse, that my own father cares more about his retirement accounts — and I’ll grant, the runup of the market has been nice for me, too — than the future he is leaving for his children? Are you so afraid of change, of that liberal boogeyman Limbaugh and Hannity and these other folks have concocted, that you’d rather entrust the country to a degenerate carnival barker than anyone else? I see all this anger, what is it that you’re so angry about? You’ve won. Society has worked for you. My own success is proof. So what is it? Because it can’t possibly be that you think this guy is trustworthy, decent, or kind. It’s definitely not about his policies… because almost every single one is anathema to what Republicans — and you — have talked about my entire life. The one thing I hold onto is hope. I believe in America. I believe in the goodness of hardworking people like you and Mom. I know that this is not what you wanted to happen, that this is not the America you grew up in nor the one you would like for me and my kids to grow up in. I hold onto hope that you’re tired enough to draw the line. That you are not irredeemable as that Trump advisor allowed himself to become. The right thing is always the right thing, you’ve said. Even when it’s hard. Even when it goes against what your friends think, or what you’ve done in the past. The right thing is obviously to end this. To cancel this horrendous experiment with its cavalcade of daily horrors and vulgarities and stupidities and historical humiliations. America is a great nation. …

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koljabartsaderawegf · 4 years

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BEKIJK - Ein Geschenk von Bob - VOLLEDIG 2020 - M O V I E S [STREAMING ONLINE]

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bareklyionasery · 4 years

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WATCH — Ein Geschenk von Bobs — FULL 2020 — M O V I E S [STREAMING ONLINE]

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