#1350 Reach For The Good Ideas That Are Just Lying Around (Disaster Capitalism)


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May 21 2020 125 mins   263

Air Date 5/21/2020

Today we take a look at the classic battle between good and... not evil exactly but worse than just 'bad'... 'malicious indifference to suffering in the pursuit of ideology over real-world outcomes' maybe?... as seen through the lens of trying to destroy or save the US Post Office, the battle for basic labor rights and protections and the struggle to define the revolutionary change we are going to experience on the back end of the pandemic for either good or ill.

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SHOW NOTES

Ch. 1: USPS - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - Air Date 5-10-20

As the U.S. Postal Service faces financial catastrophe, John Oliver discusses why the service is so important, what brought it to this point, and what we can do to help.

Ch. 2: Far from a loser, the post office is a money-making operation - Jim Hightower - Air Date 4-21-20

Antigovernment ideologues and privatization dogmatists hate the very word “public” and they’ve long sought to demonize the US Postal Service, undercut its popular support, and finally dismantle it.

Ch. 3: Trump Attacks Post Office While Carriers & Clerks Die from COVID-19 - Democracy Now - Air Date 4-29-20

President Trump has lashed out at the U.S. Postal Service as the pandemic brings it to the brink of collapse and more people than ever are relying on the mail.

Ch. 4: Is Postal Banking a Good Idea? - David Pakman Show - Air Date 05-14-18

Audience question: Is postal banking a good idea?

Ch. 5: Should Trump be America’s Postal Potentate? - Jim Hightower - Air Date 5-7-20

The humble Post Office is a community fixture, a civic inheritance, a rural lifeline, and one of the last vestiges of a shared civic culture in America.

Ch. 6: Refocusing May Day On The Revolutionary Struggle For Workers' Rights - The Real News - Air Date 5-5-20

The revolutionary history of May Day is recognized around the world in a way that should inspire workers in the United States to continue their fight.

Ch. 7: Mike Elk on Frontline Worker Rights - CounterSpin - Air Date 4-10-20

Mike Elk discusses essential workers and the power of labor and strikes.

Ch. 8: Food Workers and the Virus - Belabored by Dissent Magazine - Air Date 5-9-20

We talk with Raj Patel, research professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and the author of Stuffed and Starved.

Ch. 9: Charles Derber Upstairs/Downstairs Economy - Unauthorized Disclosure - Air Date 4-5-20

Charles Derber on whether the pandemic may significantly alter the structure of the economy in the United States.

Ch. 10: Congress Sets Aside $1,200 In Trust For Each American Until They Prove They’re Responsible Enough To Handle It - The Topical - Air Date 4-15-20

It’s a historic stimulus bill that will finally offer some financial relief to those affected by the coronavirus outbreak. But will Americans be able to prove they’re mature enough to spend it responsibly?

Ch. 11: Ricardo Salvador on the Food System & COVID-19 - CounterSpin - Air Date 5-8-20

As for food workers—farm laborers, meatpackers, grocery and restaurant workers—how can they be deemed “essential” and yet treated as expendable?

Ch. 12: Demand Congress Pass The #PeoplesBailout via ThePeoplesBailout.org

Go to The People’s Bailout dot org to easily write and call your members of Congress demanding they take effective, inclusive, equitable and preventative legislative action.

Ch. 13: Coronavirus Capitalism and How to Beat It - The Intercept - Air Date 3-16-20

This video is about the ways the still-unfolding COVID-19 crisis is already remaking our sense of the possible.

Ch. 14: The Georgia Experiment - Social Distance - Air Date 4-30-20

Staff writer and Georgia native Amanda Mull join to talk about the political forces pushing to reopen her home state.

Ch. 15: A New Economy for a post-COVID world - Progressive Faith Sermons - Dr. Roger Ray - Air Date 5-3-20

As President Trump and many states’ governors are pushing (largely minority) workers to go back to work in unsafe conditions for less than a living wage in the midst of a pandemic, is the word “revolution” too strong to use or is it not quite enough?


FINAL COMMENTS

Ch. 16: Final comments on the best-laid intentions


TAKE ACTION!

Write & Call Your Members of Congress & MORE at ThePeoplesBailout.org

Follow @_PeoplesBailout on Twitter

Spread the word with #PeoplesBailout on social media

EDUCATE YOURSELF & SHARE

The Bailout is Working - For the Rich (ProPublica)

Retail workers at Amazon and Whole Foods coordinate sick-out to protest Covid-19 conditions (The Guardian)

For immigrants without legal status, federal coronavirus relief is out of reach (Vox)


Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman


MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):

  • Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
  • PolyCoat - The Cabinetmaker
  • Turning to You - Landsman Duets
  • The Spinnet - Castle Danger
  • Contrarian - Sketchbook
  • Turning - Lathe
  • Eventual Victory - Codebreaker
  • Haena - Cloud Harbor
  • Our Fingers Cold - K2
  • Homegrown - The Pine Barrens
  • Take a Tiny Train - Ray Catcher
  • Vengeful - Warmbody
  • Chilvat - Lillehammer
  • Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
  • Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

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