The COVID relief bill is a rejection of austerity politics but avoids addressing systemic problems associated with income inequality and failed neoliberal economics.
Jim Kavanagh, a writer at The Polemicist and CounterPunch and author of “The American Farce Unravels: Shreds of January 6th,” joins us to discuss the COVID relief plan that passed Congress. The plan addresses the needs of the middle class, but fails to address the systemic problems that created long-term economic instability. The only initiative in the plan that would have addressed income inequality was the minimum wage increase, and that was unceremoniously dismissed early in the process.
Marvin Weinbaum, Director for the Middle East Institute's Center for Pakistan and Afghanistan Studies, joins us to discuss Afghanistan. A leaked memo shows the US plan to end the Afghanistan war. The document shows that the US wants significant input in the design and operation of the Afghanistan government's structure and foreign policy. A number of proposals have already been ruled out by the Taliban, and are likely to be rejected out of hand. Also, the document appears to spell out exactly what the role of Islamic law will be in the new government.
Netfa Freeman, Host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM, pan-Africanist and internationalist organizer, and Dr. Jemima Pierre, associate professor of Black Studies and Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and editor of the “Black Agenda Review,” join…
