Episode 207:

Ideology is in the way of a simple plan to end the pandemic in 30 days. Yes, 30 days: Lock down the country and pay everyone up to an annual wage of $90,000 to stay home. I’m resurrecting the argument I made months ago because the debate about a stimulus is on the agenda again—after Republicans have basically said fuck you to the entire country for months when it comes to aiding the people. My explanation of the plan leads off the episode.

Then, high up on the list of pandemic utter chaos has been the way in which political leaders at the local and state level have mishandled how to safely reopen schools so teachers and kids don’t get sick. To get a sense of the current state of play for teachers, I zero in on Arizona where voters just approved a new tax hike to fund education and, at the same time, the infections are on a steep rise. Joe Thomas, the president of the Arizona Education Association, joins me to talk about the union’s renewed public push to put in place life-saving measures to make sure schools reopen safely.

Lastly, I hope I never get to a day when, rather than be outraged, I just shrug at some mind-boggling, crazy proposal that endangers thousands of workers. Today, I’m incensed. On their way out the door, the grifters in the Trump Administration, having already killed tens of thousands of people by intentionally downplaying the pandemic and botching the response at all levels, now want to sicken even more workers: They are proposing a last-minute rule change to increase line speeds in poultry plants to 175 birds per minute. Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, the co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH.), chats with me about this insane idea to make an already dangerous industry, in which thousands of workers have gotten COVID-19 and scores have died, even more perilous.

-- Jonathan Tasini

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