Wakeful Video Weekend 2021-02-14 (16 videos)

Summary: Insights on our Economy and Oligarchy and worthwhile data and thoughts about COVID-19.

Stars and channels: Richard Wolff (Democracy At Work), Max Blumenthal on the The Jimmy Dore Show, Eleanor Goldfield interviewed by Chris Hedges (On Contact), Erica Payne (founder of “Patriotic Millionaires”) interviewed on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour, Medlife Crisis, Motivation Madness, Sam Bailey, The Real News Network, Noam Chomsky, The Grayzone, The Laura Flanders Show, and more.

Topics:

Insightful Economic News & Documentary (Richard Wolff)
Comedic Movie Office Space Reviewed Regarding our Workplace Alienation
Why The Money Flood of 2008 and 2020 Did NOT Cause Inflation nor an Economic Boost
Insights: Oligarchy, Calamities, Deflected People, Capitol Storm, U.S. vs China…
Our Corporatist Neo-Feudalism Becoming Ever More Out in the Open
Some Insights on West Virginia
“Patriotic Millionaires” Org Proposing Rich Tax
Rational Middle Ground of COVID Opinions
Rational Thoughts and Insights on COVID
COVID-19 Deaths Possibly Exaggerated? And why Different in Different Countries?
Richard Wolff on The Real Reason Why Lockdowns against Covid-19 are Opposed
Worker Co-Ops Dealing with Pandemic (Saving Businesses and Jobs)
Neoliberal Plague: Noam Chomsky Comparing Corona to Polio…
World: Ecuador – People Standing Up When Squeezed to Much
Growing Social Unrest in the U.S.
Thoughts on an Economy for the Many not Just the Few

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I. Insights on Economy and Oligarchy

1. Insightful Economic News & Documentary (Richard Wolff)

Starts a bit slowly (repeating things often said before) but then gets into neat points and revelations. Issues addressed: (previously spoken about: our system’s inability to handle a pandemic properly), merely 5% of U.S. private schools now use online distance learning (10 to 20 students per teacher there now reduced to 3 to 5) versus 62% of our public schools have gone remote, detailed job loss statistics and their societal outcomes analysis, Boeing planes crashing again and again because of profits over people, and – in the second half starting at 14:52 – how Germany was shifted into the Nazi dictatorship by economic crashes and the German Nazi history trying to repeat itself in the U.S. in our age,…

Economic Update: History’s Lessons On Capitalism’s Failures: Germany & U.S. ~ Democracy At Work (Feb 8, 2021)

Note: Hitler’s failed coup in Munich took place in 1923 (not 2003… funny Freudian slip).

2. Comedic Movie Office Space Reviewed Regarding our Workplace Alienation

What the movie Office Space, and our own workplaces, teach us about alienation – All Things Co-op ~ Democracy At Work (Feb 10, 2021)

3. Why The Money Flood of 2008 and 2020 Did NOT Cause Inflation nor an Economic Boost

AskProfWolff: Money and Inflation in Today’s US ~ Democracy At Work (Feb 10, 2021)

4. Insights: Oligarchy, Calamities, Deflected People, Capitol Storm, U.S. vs China…

WashPo Blames Capitol Protest On Economic Despair. ~ Max Blumenthal on the The Jimmy Dore Show (Feb 12, 2021)

5. Our Corporatist Neo-Feudalism Becoming Ever More Out in the Open

Corporate Governments Created by Nevada & Big Tech. WTF! ~ The Jimmy Dore Show (Feb 13, 2021)

6. Some Insights on West Virginia

People’s History of West Virginia ~ Eleanor Goldfield interviewed by Chris Hedges (On Contact | Feb 6, 2021)

Not to forget: As shared here in the past, in West Virginia powerful grassroots movement merging is happening to bring people power into politics, the historically proven method of overcoming the establishment’s barriers.

7. “Patriotic Millionaires” Org Proposing Rich Tax

… at the very least to reduce social unrest.

“Tax The Rich” Redux ~ Erica Payne (founder of “Patriotic Millionaires”) interviewed on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (Feb 13, 2021)

II. COVID-19: Various Thoughts

(incl.: the vaccines)

Corona pandemic / COVID-19 talk is often radical or even hysterical coming from one extreme angle of view or another, making it really hard to figure out what is really going on and leading instead to high frustration, freaking out, and outright demagogy. Here are some more rational ones I managed to find, looking from a range of angles including less commonly shared ones (and, no, being unpaid I didn’t have the time to check much for accuracy or come to a self-made conclusion picking one angle and debunking all others – but I do think these are good to learn from even when things are still quite unclear at the current time):

8. Rational Middle Ground of COVID Opinions

Doctor Sums Up 2020 In One Word (with bonus advice for 2021) ~ Medlife Crisis (Jan 1, 2021)

9. Rational Thoughts and Insights on COVID

Old but still very sensible. In fact, still to the point of what obsesses so many of us now about masks, vaccines, and so on:

THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT CORONAVIRUS by Dr. Steven Gundry ~ Motivation Madness (Apr 27, 2020)

10. COVID-19 Deaths Possibly Exaggerated? And why Different in Different Countries?

This video could possibly be of a biased nature. Still considering these possibly true statistics can make sense. They should be reliably checked. There has been way too much hysteric ranting and creepy playing with people’s minds. We must look at issues from all sides not to miss anything. How credible is this lady? I don’t know (my survival struggle limits my research time). This lady (supposedly a doctor) suggests that COVID-19 is being exaggerated and has caused excessive deaths only in some countries therefore not merely because of this virus itself but other problems in those countries. So, yes, how societies handle a virus outbreak matters greatly. The bubonic plague in the Middle Ages could have been handled better by good hygiene and getting rid of town rats and quarantines, if the scientific knowledge of infectious germs had already existed. Likewise, a new common cold variety (COVID-19) could be reduced in its effects by smart (rather than stupid) lockdowns, testing for smart quarantines, testing more and better to check better how much health loss and death events are truly COVID-caused, etc. — I myself would like a test showing if I have had COVID-19 already rather than an often forced test (like when one has to travel across borders) on whether I am infected right now. And if most of us were tested about having had this infection before, it would tell us alot about how dangerous this virus is and how much it has already transmitted. Important data I never hear about. I don’t agree with demagogues and sloppy conspiracy theories claiming without any evidence that COVID-19 merely takes over the role of flu. However, this is not impossible and should be checked. This lady, whether onest and without bias or not, at least gives this a try:

Excess Mortality – What You Aren’t Being Told ~ Dr. Sam Bailey (Dec 22, 2020)

Possible conclusion: Many of the deaths were due to the mismanagement of the elderly and badly done lockdowns – rather than the coronavirus itself.

11. Richard Wolff on The Real Reason Why Lockdowns against Covid-19 are Opposed

… and how proper lockdows would be economically handled:

Wolff Responds: The Real Reason Why Lockdowns against Covid-19 are Opposed ~ RichardDWolff (Feb 6, 2021)

12. Worker Co-Ops Dealing with Pandemic (Saving Businesses and Jobs)

Worker ownership can save businesses and protect employees ~ The Real News Network (Feb 4, 2021)

Things not mentioned: Worker co-ops can reduce labor hours and income rather than fire members during a downturn and then boost instantly back up when the downturn passes. (a trick that also helped countries like Germany in the 2008 Great Recession because there many companies are forced to have workers on their ruling boards and because the government learned to pay partial wages during downturns to finance temporary decreases of working hours and earned wages) Also, workers often understand their business better than their managers (and are more vitally tied) and can therefor be more flexible, inventive, and resourceful.

13. Neoliberal Plague: Noam Chomsky Comparing Corona to Polio…

… and exposing our capitalist tyranny:

WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT COVID-19 | Noam Chomsky (Jul 30, 2020)

Here is his outstanding segment starting at 8:53 written down:

“Polio at the time I can remember very well was a terrifying threat. It was ended by the discovery of the salk vaccine by a government institution set up by the Roosevelt administration. No patents. Available to everyone. That could have been done this time. But the neoliberal plague has blocked that. We are living under an ideology for which economists have a good bit of responsibility. So it comes from the court sector. An ideology which is typified by Ronald Reagan, reading the script handed to by his corporate masters, with his sunny smile saying: »Government is the problem. Let’s get rid of government.« Which means let’s hand over decisions to private tyrannies that are unaccountable to the public”

A NYT article (yep, I know, the ability to trust mass media like the NYT has gone far down the drain) claims that all 5 COVID vaccines work super well making COVID far less dangerous than flu, turning deaths to zero or near zero and vastly reducing hospitalizations. One hope mentioned is that even if the immunity from vaccination may not last long, the virus will over time become less dangerous (the common evolution of viruses since killing their hosts reduces their own reproduction). Potentially dangerous side effects are unfortunately not addressed in this article: Good Vaccine News – The New York Times (Published Feb. 1, 2021Updated Feb. 2, 2021) — What it lacks even if we think we can trust the NYT, WPO, etc., is time. Bad side effects like autoimmune diseases might only show up after more time has passed. Since these vaccines were thrown on the market so quickly, there just hasn’t been enough time for proper testing, which makes us the guinea pigs.

III. MISC

14. World: Ecuador – People Standing Up When Squeezed to Much

… in the streets for a political party perceived to represent them.

Ecuadorians demand return to leftist Citizens’ Revolution on eve of election ~ The Grayzone (Feb 3, 2021)

15. Growing Social Unrest in the U.S.

Where Did Your $50 trillion Go? (w/ Richard Wolff) ~ Thom Hartmann Program (Jan 15, 2021)

16. Thoughts on an Economy for the Many not Just the Few

Much of this conversation is too shallow and scattered IMHO. But towards the end comes a better part turning a spotlight on thee difference between regular capital-owned companies and work co-ops. I have set this shared video to start there (to spool back to the start is your choice to make; things mentioned there are hardly described at any depth):

How to Make a Democratic Economy ~ The Laura Flanders Show (Oct 11, 2020)

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