03/19/20 03/19/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> in times of crisis, seemingly impossible ideas suddenly become possible. but whose ideas? sensible, fair once designed to keep as many people as possible ore, secure, and healthy? predatory ideas, designed to further enrich the already unimaginably wealthy while leaving the most vulnerable

further expose. amy: naomi klein, author of "the shock doctrine" now argues trump's plan is a pandemic shock doctrine, but she says it is not the only way forward as the senate passes the second coronavirus bailout and trump pushes for a third. pres. trump: six weeks ago, the best we have ever been. we had the best economy we have ever had. in day you to close it down in order to defeat the enemy. but we're doing it and we are doing it well. amy: we will look at coronavirus capitalism and how to beat it with nobel prize winning economist joe stiglitz. then trump doubles down on his use of the racist term "chinese virus." pres. trump: it comes from china. it is not racist at all. not at all. it comes from china. that's why. it comes from china. i want to be accurate. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe is nearing 9000, with over 221,000 confirmed cases, as governments around the world increasinglyly shut down economs and lock down cities to slow the spread of the disease. in a positive sign, hubei province in central china, where the virus first struck, for the first time, reported no new local infections on wednesday. in contrast, in italy, there have been a record 475 deaths over the last day. in the city of bergamo, soldiers were called in to transport away dozens of coffins as the city's crematorium failed to keep up with the pace of deaths. at least 91 people have died in bergamo and the city's hospital has run out of beds in its intensive care unit. british prime minister boris johnson has ordered schools closed across the united kingdom beginning friday.

johnson reversed course this week after initially favoring a strategy to let the virus burn rapidly through the population in order to build "herd immunity." he abandoned the approach afterr a study estimated that, without mitigation, as many as 250,000 britons could die. in brazil, the president of the sete has t tested positive foror covid-19, along with two cabinet ministers and members of 19 president bolsonaro's entoururage on a recent trip to the u.s. to meet with president trump. over the weekend, bolsonaro -- who should have self-quarantined under guidelines suggested by his own governmement -- joined packed political rallies, hugging supportersrsand posing for selfies. on wednenesday, bolsonaro and government ministers put on face masks at a news conference announcing new emergency measures to contain n the virus. all over brazil, millions of home-bound residents went ononto their babalconies wednesday evening banging pots and pans

and shouting, "bolsonaro out!" in protests against the far-right president's handling of the crisis. reuters reports that u.s. labs have run just 60,000 coronavirus tests since late january when the first case was detected in the u.s., compared to south korea, which has tested nearly 300,000 people in the same time period. in geneva, the world health organization's top emergency official dr. michael ryan said the failure of countries like the united states to screen for coronanavirus was helping the disease to spread. >> e every suspect casase shoule tested. their contatacts identified. if thearare sick o or so and sometimes, they should be tested. that requires s a scale up becae many countries have not been systematically testing all suspect cases, and it is one of the reasons why we are behind in this epidemic. amy: in egypt, four women activists were arrested in cairo wednesday for protesting medical neglect in egyptian prisons and

demanding the immediate release of prisoners. -- prisoners at risk of coronavirus. in a facebook live video, one of protesters, on his staff, will be released. in yemen, where a u.s.-supported, saudi-led war has killed over 100,000 people and shattered the healthcare infrastructure, medical workers are bracing for the rapid spread of coronavirus. already y 80% of y yemenis relyn humanitarian assistance, with high rates of malnututrition, malaria, and cholera. one textile factory manager in sana'a switcheded from producucg clothihing to makeshift masks fr the comiming pandemic. .> we are driven by need coronavirus is knocking on the whole world's door. yemen is a country under siegege and underr attack, and its institutions and factories arere working atat the lowest capacit. as you can see in this factory.

amy: in iran, supreme leader ali khamenei will pardon 10,000 additional prisoners, including political prisoners, as the official death toll from coronavirus topped 1100 -- though, the world health organization believes the true number is five times higher. iran's prisoner release came as secretary of state mike pompeo said the trump administration is imposing new sanctions on iran to "deprive the regime of critical income from its petrochemical industry and further iran's economic and diplomaticic isolation." vermont senanator bernie s sands tweeted in response ---- "u.s. sasanctions shouould not e contributiting to this humanitatarian disasteter. as a caring nation, we mt t lift any sanctitions hurting g iran's ability to addresshihis cris, inuding fincial sations." prident trumpednesdayigned a coronavirus reefef pacge providing emplploynt benits d free conavirus testing0 lis of america suddenlout a job.

thaid packe guaranes paid ofkeave to ss tha 2 americanorkers. it doenot applto compani with 500r more wkers, an workaces witfewer th 50 employs can requesto opt out. wednesd, the whe house said iwould suend evicons d foreclures thrgh april on wall reet, thdow jone plummed 7% at dday, triggeri an autotic halto tring for e fourthime in the la two wee. the rkrket csh has wed out nearly alltock mart gains sie presidt trump ok offi in earl2017. on wednesday, all big three u.s. auto companies decided to halt prproduction for at least twtwo weeks under pressure by the united auto workers union to close plants foror safety reaso. the closures came after a worker at a ford plplant in dearborn, michigigan, tested positivive fr covid-19. abouout 150,000 factory y workes will be idled.

under a union agreement, many will receive supplememental pay along with statate unemploymenet benefits. meanwhile, hyundai halted production a at its plant in montgomery, alababama, after a worker tested positive. president trump has invoked the korean war era defense production act to allow the government to direct industrial production. the white house's top economic adviser larry kudlow said wednesday he was consulting with general motors' ceo to use idled fafaories to p produce ventilats which will be critical to keeping patients alive when a surge of coronavirus cases reaches hospitals. kudlow also said the trumpmp administration is considerining taking an equity stake in companies bailed out by taxpayers. in 2008, kudlow blasted a similar move by the obama administration to take a stake in general motors after a bailout as "an attack on free-market capitalism." billionaire hedge fund investor

bill ackman called wednesday on president trump to shut down the country for the next 30 days and close the borders. ackman tweeted -- "with exponential compounding, every day we postpone the shutdown costs thousands, and soon hundreds of thousands, and then millions of lives, and destroys the economy." ackman was speaking from self-isolation. on capitol hill, two house lawmakers said thursday they've tested positive for covid-19, republican congress member mario diaz-balart of florida and democrat ben mcadams of utah. diaz-balart tweeted that he is feeling much better after coming down with a fever and headache on saturday. he wrote -- "it's important that everyone take this seriously and follow cdc guidelines in order to avoid getting sick & mitigate the spread of this virus." republican house minority whip steve scalise said he would self-quarantine for the next two weeks after close contact with diaz-balart.

a pew research center poll found more than 3-in-4 republicans believe the media has exaggerated the threat of the virus, following the lead of president trump who has repeatedly said the virus would go away while accusing democrats of making the coronavirus their new hoax. dr. . deborah birx of the e whie house coronavirus task force said wednesday millennials may be at a higher risk of getting seriously ill or dying from coronavirus than previously thought. despite that, florida republican governor ron desantis rejected calls wednesday to close beaches, and instead ordered beachgoers to limit themselves to parties of 10 o or fewer.r. the pandemic is increasingly threatening prisoners andd migran h held behind bars in immigration jails. an officer at new york's infamous rikers island jail tested positive for covid-19. prisisoners at t the yakima couy department o of corrections s in

washington state have been quarantined after developing respiratory problems. meanwhile, hospitals around the united states are already reporting shortages of testing swabs and protective gear to shield medical workers from infection. in washington state, workers at providence st. joseph health purchased vinyl sheets, foam, and industrial tape from home depot and began manufacturing their own face shields and masks after supplies began to dwindle. president trump said he is immediately deploying two navy hospital ships to free up capacity in civilian hospitals, but the pentagon acknowledged wednesday that the comfort and the mercy will take weeks to deploy. they are currently under repair. amid a s severe shortage of test are in the u.s., there growing concerns that ordinary people who fall ill are less

likely to be tested than the rich and powerful. on wednesday, the brooklyn nets said it hired a private lab to test its entire team after a game with the golden state warriors last week. four nets players, including superstar kevin durant, tested positive. in a tweet, new york city mayor bill de blasio wished them a speedy recovery, but added -- "with all due respect, an entire nba team should not get tested for covid-19 while there are critically ill patients waiting to be tested. tests should not be for the wealthy, but for the sick," the new york mayor said. president trump opened a white house press briefing on the pandemic wednesday with a statement thatat took on racist and xenophobic overtones. pres. trump: i would like to begin by announcing some important developments in our war against the chinese virus.

amy: latater in the news conference, trump was questioned by reporter cececilia vega. >> why do you keep calling this the chinese virus? there are reports of dozens of incidents o o bias against chinese americans in this country.y. your own aid says he does nonot use e this term. he says ethnicity does notot cae the virurus. why do you keep using this? ," i it comes from? -- pres. trump: it comes from china. it is not racist at all. it comes from china. that's why. amy: this came a day after cbs white house correspondent weijia jiang, who describes herself in her twitter profile as a chinese born west virginian, tweeted -- "this morning a white house official referred to #coronavirus as the 'kung-flu' to my face. makes me wonder what they're calling it behind my back." we will have more on racist remarks by president trump andnd republican lawmakers later in the broadcast. in china, satellite data show

tough measures enacted to halt the spread of the coronavirus have dramatically cut emissions of toxic nitrogen dioxide in an full test. a stanford university researcher estimated the huge reduction in air pollution as parts of china's economy ground to a halt may have prevented the premature deaths of tens of thousands of people. in venice, italy, dolphins and fish have been spotted in the city's famous canals as the turned f from muddy brown to crystatal clear amid a drop-offn boat traffic. in immigraration news, the u.s.-c-canada boborder h b been temporarily shut off to non-essential travel as an attempt to deter the spread of coronavirus. trade wiwill not be affect. it is unknown how long the border closure will last. e says it will temporarily postpone arresting immigrants to an the pandemic and will allegedly instead focus on apprprehending people who pose publblic safetety risks and whoe subject to mandatory detention

on criminal grounds. this comes as ice agents continue to make arrest across the country this week, including in colorado and california where much of the state is in lockdown. in georgia, immigration righghts groups have revealed that the state's department of driver's services has been sharing information about state residents, including facial recognition searches, with immigration officials. documents obtained through a freedom of information act rerequest founund between septpr 2017 and l last june thehe department processed over 250 requests from immigrgration and customs enenforcement, or ice,ed other agencies "to gather and share information on hundreds of immigrants living in georgia." and senator bernie sanders on wednesday shot down rumors he's planning to suspend his campaign after losses in tuesday's primaries in florida, illinois, and arizona. with about 2000 delegates needed to clinch the democratic presidential nomination, joe biden has claimed 1180 delegates to sanders' 885.

asked by a cnn correspondent wednesday to give a timetable for his next steps, senator sanders responded, "i'm dealing with a [bleep] global crisis." he added, "i'm trying to do my best to make sure that we don't have an economic meltdown and that people don't die." meanwhile, the i intercept repos elections officials in chicago used nearly 50 housing facilities for low-income seniors s as pololling locationn tuesday, despite warnings that crowds of voters posed a threat of transmitting the coronavirus to an already high-risk population. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. today we spend much of the hour looking at the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. what; coronavirus capitalism. soon we will be joined by nobel prize-winning economist joseph stiglitz, whose new book is "people, power and profits: progressive capitalism for an

age of discontent." but first, we begin with a new video by author and activist naomi klklein, produced by t the intercept. in klein wrote "the shock 2007, doctrine: the rise of disaster capitalism." now she argues trump's plan is a pandemic shock doctrine. but it is not the only way forward. the video short begins with this quote from economist milton friedman -- "only a crisis -- acactual or perceived d -- produces realal change. when that crisis occurs, the actions s that are taken dependn the ideas that are lying around." >> ideas that are lying around. one of historyry's momost extree free-market economist was wrong about a whole lot, but he was right about that. in times of crisis, seemingly impossible ideas suddenly become possible. but whose ideas?

sensible fair ones designed to keep as many people as possible safe, secure, and healthy? or predatory ideas designed to further enrich the already unimaginably wealthy while leavinththe most vulnerarable fufurtheexexposed. the world economy is seizing up in the face of casascading shoh. can be characterized as a pandemic. cooks in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, stock has stopped trading on wall street after 7% drop. >> the biggest drop we've seen since the crash in 1987. >> the drop was spurred by growing oil war as the market was already weakened by coronavirus fears. pres. trump: i don't take responsibility at all. are dusting off all the ideas they headline around. trump is pushing a suspension of the payroll tax, which could

bankrupt social security, providing the excuse to cut it or privatize it completely. an idea that has been lying araround for very long time.e. >> a worker ought to be able to put some of their own money in a private savings account. >> lying around on both sides of the aisle. >> when i argued we shouldd freeze federal spending, i met social security as well. i'm it medicare and medicaid. >> and then there are the ideas being floated to bail out some of the wealthiest and most polllluting sectors inin our economy. > we're wororking c closely h the cruise light industry and the airline industry. >> bailouts for fracking companies, not to mention crew ships, airlines, and hotels, which trump could benefit from personally. which is a big problem because the virirus isn't the ononly crs we face.e. there's alsoso climate disrupti, and these industries that are

getting rescued with our money are the ones driving it. trump has also b been meeting wh ththe private healthth insurers. pres. trump: we are meeting with the top executives of the health insurance companies. >> the very ones who have made sure that so many americans can't afford the care they need. and what are the chances they don't have their hands out? it seems like the whole pandemic is getting outsourced. >> thank you for inviting us here today along with h our colleagues from walmart, walgreens, and our partners at cvs. normally, we are viewed as competitors. today, we are focused on a common competitor, and that is defeating the spread of the coronavirus. >> the fed's first move was to pump $1.5 trillion into the financial market with more undoubtedly on the way. but if you are a worker, especially a gig worker, there's a very good hits you are out of luck. if you do need to see a doctor for care, there's a good chance no one will help you pay if

you're not covered. if you want to heed the public health warnings to stay home from work, there's also a chance you won't get paid. of course, you still need to pay your rent and all of your debts. mortgage, , student debt. too many sick people have no choice but to go to work, which means more peoeople contracting and spreading the virus. and withoutut conference a bailoutsts for workers, we can expect more bankruptcies and more homelessness down the road. look, we know the script. 2008, the last time we had a global financial meltdown, the same kinds of bad ideas for no strings attached corporate bailouts carry the day and relive people around the world paid the price. and even that was entirely predictable. 13 years ago, i wrote a booook called "the shock doctrine: the rise of disaster capitalism." brutal tactic by right-wiwing governments.

after a shshocking event, the w, cu, terrorist attack, market crash, or natural disaster, they exploit the public's disorientation, suspend democracy, push through radical free-market policies that enrich the 1% at the expense of the poor and middle-class. but here's what my research has taught me. shocks and crises don't always go the shock doctrine path. in fact, it is possible for crisis to catalyze a kind of evolutionary leaeap. thinink of the 191930's with t e great depressioion led to the nw dedeal. > the only thining we have to fear is fear itself. >> in the united states and elsewhere, governments began to weave a social safety net so that the next time t there was a crasash, there would be progra like social sececurity y to cath people. >> thehe right of every family o a decent home. applecareto adedeque

and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. >> look, we know what trump's plan is. a pandemic shock doctrine featuring all of the most dangerous ideas lying around from privatizing social security to locking down borders to cagiging even momore migrantntse might even try canceling elections. story hasd of this not been written yet. it is an election year. and social movement and insurgent politicians are already mobilized. and like in thehe 1930's, we hae a wholole bunchh of other ideas eyeing arounund. >> do we believe t that everyboy should be entitled as a right to health care? >> yes! >> organizing and fighting until all f folks have shelter. >> c canceling s student debt. >> it makes so much sense if you're sick, you not be

penalized where you don't have an income. >> many of these ideas werere dismissed as too radical just a week ago. now they are starting to seem like the only reasonable path to get out of this c crisis and prevent t future once. >> here's sosomething that helps explains the dififference betwen the testing situation in south korea and the u.s. south h korea h has univeversal single-payer i insurance. and that means it is easasier to momobilize and also people know what to do. ththere's pretetty much one ansr for how to get testing. the u.s.s. is a papatchwork off countless difffferent systems, o you can't say "here's exactly the steps that every american should take in order to get tested." >> and with washington suddenly in the giant stimulus business, this is precisely the time for the stimulus that many of us have been talking about for years. >> today is the day that we truly are embark on a comprehensive agenda of economic , social, and racial justice in

the united states of america. >> it is called the green new deal. instead of rescuing the dirty industries of the last century, we should be boosting the clean once that will lead us into safety in the coming century. if there is one thing history teaches us, it is that moments of shock are profoundly volatile. we either lose a whole lot of ground, get fleeced by elites and pay the price for decades, or we when progressive victories that seemed impossible just a few weeks earlier. this is no time to lose our nerve. the future will be determined by whoever is willing to fight harder f for the ideas they have lying around. amy: that is author and activist nanaomi klein of the intercept. the video ends with milton friedman's quotee -- "only a crisis - -- actual or perceived -- produces real change. when the crisisis occurs the actions that are taken depend on ideas that are laying around. that, i believe, is our basic function: to develop

alternatives to exexisting policicies to keep thehem alived available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable." ththis is democracacy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, nobel prize-winning economist joe stiglitz. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: spanish pianist performing "titanic" themes of "my heart will go on" phrase quarantined neighbors in barcelona, on his balcony. spain has had more than 3400 cases of the coronavirir in the last 24 hours. now at least 17,000 people are infected, and that is only what is known without widespread testing. this is democracy now!, dedemocracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

president trump wednesday signed a coronavirus relief package and free benefits testing for those suddenly out of a job. it guarantees paid leave to less than 20% of american workers. it does not apply to companies with 500 or more workers, and workplaces with fewer than 50 workers can request to opt out. on wednesday, the white house also ordered the suspension of evictions and foreclosures through april. on wall street, the dow jones plunged 7% at midday, triggering an automatic halt to trading for the fourth time in the last two weeks. the market crash has wiped out nearly all stock market gains since president trump took office in 2017. earlier this month, trump signed into law an $8 billion

coronavirus response package. -- firstut the first details of a third $1 trillion economic package that t includes directed federal agencies to suspend all foreclosures and evictions until the end of april. pres. trump: six weeks ago, we had the best economy we've ever had. then one day have to close it down in order to defeat this enemy. we will be invoking the defense production act just in c case we need it. i think you will know what it is. it can do a lot of good things if we need it, and we will have completed. amy: thehe person in charge of e bailout arere treasury secretary steven mnuchin, formerly of goldman sachs. he ran onewest bank after the 2008 crisis. he was called the foreclosure king.

for more on these bailouts and who benefits, we are joined by joseph stiglitz, nobobel prize wiwinning ececonomist, columbiaa univiversity professor, and chif economist for the roosevelt institute. served as chairman of f the council of economic c advisers undeder presesident bill clintod as chief economist of ththe word banknk. hihis latest book just coming o, hopefully, depending on what this world looks like, is "people, power and profits: progressive capitalism for an age of discontent." we thank you so much for joining us, joe. i just want to let our viewers and listeners know you're joining us from your home because here in new york and all over the country, we are being told that it is safest for people to isolate. before you talk about the bailout, talk about your thoughts right now and whahat is happening in the city of new

yorkrk and the world. >> this is a time of crisis. emanuel008 crisisis, rahm said you shouldn't let t a criss go to waste. but they did let that cririsis o w waste. we neeeeded to reform our financiaial system. we neededed to reform our ececo. and d we did not. b banksy went t to the big and we did not g get the money o ththe p people who really neede. is, as yourstion excellent clip from naomi klein said, , what will wewe do with s crisis? will this reinforce the ugly tendencieses we have had for growing inequality, for corporate welelfare,, or willllt acactually suced in reforming

our ecoconomy? it is remarkable, just a little while ago people saiaid we could helelping this program college ststudents witith them inststead, we could not afffford prproviding g health care for everyone.. and d all of a sudden, the presesident is talalking a abou1 trillion, $2 trillion babailout. we always could have e afforded these things. it was just our prioritization was wrong. amy: i want to go to the treasury secretary steteven mnuchin describing the administration's proposed economic relief package. >> we have put a proposal on the table that would eject -- inject $120 into the economy, that is on top of the $300 billion from the irs deferrals. let me just say this is a combination of loans, a combination of direct checks to individuals, this is a combination of creating

liquidity for small businesses. >> i think commerce right now should be concerned about the american workers and small business. interest rates were incredibly low, so there is very little cost of borrowing this money. as i have said in different times, we will fix the deficit. this is not the time to worry ababout a post of any that is treasury secretary steven mnuchin,n, formally called the foreclosure king. talklk aboutut what he's talking about ying out r right nowow. >> one thing t that is gooood is sittining checks to evereryone. i think the amouount they're talkining about t is not adequa. it is not just a o one-time thi. as many would say, thihiis going to last for seveveral montnths. there will haveve to be second d third andnd fouourth -- ofof the checksks. if we d't dodo that, peoplple whosose incncome is collapsed,, pepeople who are left unemployed

-- remember, we have the worst ununemployment system any of the advanced c countries.. all of these people who are not going to b be able t to pay thtr bills anand will h have a cascaf problems. whilile it is a goodod thing the trump administration has ordered federaral agencies to stop evictions and foreclosures, i it doesn't apply tohehe privatete sectctor banks. and there evictions and foreclosures may well go o on. that is where most of the evictions and foreclosures will occur. so we need t to get thatat money into the system, and we e need o get t to the m money to ordinary individudus. so that papart i think is good. it needs to be taxed at the rate thatndividuals normally pay so that in a year frorom now, two years whwhen we returned to norl , those at the t top who have gotten m money that did not need it, ththat money will go back to

the t treasury. this ought to bebe treated as ordinary income. and d a significant parart of tt money th was going to the top should be recuperated. but the otheher part is really t the way we ought to be going. the part t of giving money y toe airlines or the cruise s ships. huge bonzas s had frfrom the t tax bill of 2017. and rather than use th m money to build up buffers inin timesef emergency, they had billllions d billions of sharare buybackcks. so if we give ththem money, we have to make sure that they satisfy certain conditions. conditions corresponding t to te enviroronment, to governanance,o labor. ad we need warrants commit way of making sure the american taxpayer is protected against the risk. there are whole set of things

that the package does not address. our state localities are going to be facing a very d difficult time. their revenues are plummeting. they don't have the luxury of running deficits. most of them have what we call a balanced budget framework. in the revenue goes down, there's going to be a, can education and health and the basic ingredients that ordinary people need so much. that theer priority cruise ship companies, is helping statates and d localiti. we need a massivive rerevenue-sharing program betwen the states and localities. amy: one of the voices that we don't hear are the voices overall that we don't here at the white house as we see this stream of ceos surrounding trump with the conversations he is having in thee last few weeks, are the people -- the workers directly affected. i want to bring in sara nelson, a clip of the president of the

association of f flight attendas union. >> we have told congress any stimulus f funds for the aviatin industry must come with strict rules that includes requiring employers across aviation to maintain pay and benefits for every worker. no taxpayer money y for ceo bonuses, stock buybacks, or dividends. no breaking g contracts throrouh bankruptcy. anand no federal funds for airlines that are fighting their workers efforts to join the union. amy: said that is sara nelson, head of the flight attendants union. you can talk if about what is happening here and what would bottom-up bailout actually look like? what would it mean if the workers were guaranteed -- everything from the paid leave, keeps on the repeated now workers will have paid medical leave -- butut we hear it as wel less than 20%. reduced a and reduced

over thehe weekend through negotiationsns with nguyen. -- mnuchin. is usinguck proroposal trickle-dodown economics. gigiving moneyey to the corporas and maybe it will trickle d down to ordinary citizens. wewe know from the past, it is t going to happen. the 2017 tax bill did not lead to m more investment, did not ld to s significantntly higher wag. it led to biggeger -- almlmost 1 trillion of share buybacks. as you say, what we need is s a bottoms up approach. what s she was pointing out is thatat if you givive money to te industries, they a aren't goingo necessararily behave well. and you see that so clearly in the fight ththe big companies fought against paid d sick leav. let me say, that is really important. it is not jujust helping the

woworkers, it is helping all o f us. because if they y don't get sick leleave, they're going to work. it will help transmit the disease. peopleeed a system thatat can say, if i am sick, i don't .eed to go to work and the decision of the trumpet admininistration to fight having universal sick leave is another example of them contributing to the spreading of the virus and making the pandemic all the worse. amy: joe stiglitz, can you talk about what this looks like globally and what is happening with this pandemic, laying bare the growing wealth inequality in the world? created what we have is highghlyt t 50 years globobally integtedd economymy.

there are some other aspects of this economy that we have created. we created an economy without resilience. buy carars today they d don't hahave spare tires. yoyou save a little bit of money and not t having us retire. -- a spare tire. the fact is when you get the flatat tire, you realize what a mistake that was not having a spare tire. a short run of it looks likeke u saved a little bit t of money bt in the l long run you really sufferered. we created a whole economic system that is extraorordinarily fragile.e. inventory y oduction with h no inventories. and as we have created this system wherere you try to o sque waste out offt of the system, you have also squeezed ordinary woworkers. and d that is what has contribud to this growing inequality.

-- those two are ththe s same different sides of the same coin.. our growing inenequality and our increased fragility arere i isss that hopefulully the lessons we have learned f from this crisiss we need to consnstruct a differt kind of capitalism, different kind of economy t that i call in my book progressive capipitalis, but it recogognizes that the market doesn't work v very welln addressing t the major problems our society faces. resilience, inequality, climate change, you name it. they have not done a good job on it. amy: i wanted to go back to what is happeningng here. you have whole foods ceo john mackey under fire after he sent out in email to employees saying workers could donate accumulated paid time off to fellow workers with medical emergencies or a death in the family during the

pandndemic. your thoughts, joe stiglitz? ofthis is an example encocouraging charity from othe. why don't these e people at the very top say, at this moment of crisis, we are all in it together, i am going t to cut of my multimillion dollar pay, i'm going to make a major sacrifice, and i'm going to get eveverybody paidid sick l leave, paid family leave. i'm going to show that from the top down." y you willi hope that be equally generous. topit should start from the step that is what is so bad about both the administration and example you just gave, leadership should start from the top by example.

obviouously, we e are not gettig that in this country. amamy: can you talalk about howt works when thehey s say people l get unemployment? are the reports of people trying to apply online, the servers crashing repeatedly because of any are out of work. and thousand dollar checks, how you ensure if there's a lot that says your employer has to give you paid medical leave, how you enforce this? well, you putut your r finger n a major problem that has not gotten sufficient attention. devastation of our administration, of our government that has occurred in thatt years, you knowow, they disbanded whitete house pandemic task force, defunded

the centers fofor diseasee contl -- which is the basis of getting as i information and develelopig our response to a crisis like this -- wewe are less able to respond. and that means -- almomost a fantasy y to belieieve that we n get checks o out in two weeks. that is why some of the other things i i talked about are so important. it absolutelye clear nobody is going to be evicted, there is going to be no foreclosure -- not only on the part of t the government, but on the part o of the banks, landlos . people can't have their utilities cut off. because those ecks wonon't be ththere and a lot of amerericane living on ththe edge. i talked about it in my book about the fraction of the population, a very large fraction of the population, that

has reserves of less than $500 or $1000, living paycheck to paycheck. and right now therere are no paychecks. inability to respond is going to be a major problem. and then the other point you getting more attention recently, even companies that have said they have sickly sick leave policies, when employees ask for sickly, they get -- we have to set up administrative mechanisms that say the companies that don't grant their workers these benefits, we're going to hold him accountable. of course with the president saying i'm not responsible, you might ask, what does that mean? what that means is there needs to be significant fines of any company that deprives any worker of its basic r rhts, incluluding

the right to sickly. amy: so this whole issue that naomi klein raises, disaster capitalism, of this moment of upheaval, that it depends who moves forward fastest and most strategically in moving forward with their ideas, your thoughts, as we move forward in this election year -- unclear even if this election will be held in -- trump amassing the kind of powers he is, and even still i am wondering if you can comment on his position right now? on the one hand, giving $1000 to each american -- and i'm not exactly sure what that means, who gets it and who doesn't -- and you combine that with his ultranationalist politics -- kids in cages, the wall, the racist chinese virus language

that he uses -- can you comment on this kind of economimic populism? >> well,l, i think the pointnt s crisis makes clear is that we're all in it together. the virus does not discriminate, just likike the virus doesn't he a nationality. the vivirus does not discriminae on thehe basis of nationality, race, religion. and so we're all in this together. this is a moment -- should be a moment of national unity. as naomi pointed out, there are two directions we can go. we could either exacerbate the divisions or we can say there is another direction. one of the reasons i wrote my was to lay out that agenda, to make that there are a lot of

ideas abouout how toto transnsfr societyintnto the kind of that deals with the problems that we're facing, the problems of inequality, climate change, the moral trooper to -- moral turpitude we have seen, the drug companies and food c companies. there is an alterernative. i actually think we have the ideas withth which to respond. they have been articulated in the primary contest. many of ththese criticical idea. my hope is thahaas americacans realize how badly y things have crisis ---- that this we did not turn to the private sector to solve it. we turned to the government. we realized that we have to do that if wetively,

are all on her own, it will work. the private sector did not provide the masks, did notot prprovide the tests on its own. government, and the trump administration is a field government, did not work. there's a different kind of government that can work and we have seen that in a number of countries where things are going much better. so we can see that if we pulll together, there is an alternative. and one that protects s us agait this disease. it also can create a sosociety withth greater shared prosperity and address the climate crisis. amy: i'm going to ask you to stay after the hour so we can have an extended conversation. i want to ask you about how your progressive capitalism compares to bernie sanders democratic socialism and more. but right now we have to break. joe stiglitz, nobel prize-winning economist,

columbia university professor, chief economist for the roosevelt institute. he served as chairman of the council of economic advisers under president bill clinton and as chief economist of the world bank. his latest book "people, power , and profits: progressive capitalism for an age of discontent." when we come b back, trump doubs down on his use of the racist term "chinese virus." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "dear dr. . bonnie," an oe to the face of the fight against the coronavirus in british colombia, who has been giving daily updates on the spread of covid-19. the song is sung by two members of her fan club, and you may recognize the music. it is from the song "dear theodosia' in the broadway show "hamilton." all of broadway is shut down right now and the prime minister of canada is in self-isolation because his wife has tested positive for covid-19. i am amyemocracy now! goodman. pres. trump: we will begin by announcing some important development in our war against the chinese virus. we will be invoking the defense production act just in case we need it. amy: that was the opening line of president trump's news conference about coronavirusus on wednesday. later in the conference, he was questioned by abc news reporter cecilia vega. >> why do you keep calling this

the chinese virus? there are reports of dozens of incidents of bias against chinese-americans s in this country. yourur own aid says he does not use this term. he says ethnicity does not cause the virus. why do you keep using this? pres. trump: it comes from china. it is not racist at all. not at all. it comes from china. that's why. it comes from china. i want to be accurate. john? love for all of the people from our country, but as you know, china tried to say at one point -- maybe they stopped now -- it was caused by american soldiers. that can't happen. it is not going to happen. not as long as i am president. it comes from china. amy: "it comes from china." pbs correspondent yamiche alcindor also questioned trump at the news conference. >> at least one white house

official who use the term "kung flu" referring that it started in china. is that acceptable? is it wrong? are you worried having this virus be seen, talked about as a chinese virus, that that my -- pres. trump: do you know who said that? >> i'm not sure of the person's name. trumka say it again. >> a person at the white house use the term "kung-flu." do you think using the term "chinese virus" that puts asian americans at risk? pres. trump: not at all. i think they probably would agree with that 100%. it comes from china. amy: alcindor was referring to an incident reported by cbs white house correspondent weijia jiang, who describes herself in her twitter profile as a chinese born west virginian. she tweeted tuesday -- "this morning a white house official referred to #coronavirus as the 'kung-flu' to my face. makes me wonder what they're calling it behind my back."

well, for more, we're joined by elizabeth ouyang, the former president of oca-new york, a civil rights group where she advocated for victims of hate crimes and fair media representation of asian americans. a civil rights attorney and community advocate who teaches at columbia and new york university. thank you for joining us. can you respond to president trump repeatedly saying this, theing the coronavirus "chinese virus"? difference inbig saying the virus originated in china versus calling i it a chinese virus. i calling it a chinese virus, it is implying for people who have limited interaction with persons of asian dissent and information about how this virus is spread, that it is people who are chinese or they think are chinese who have this virus. and this leads to a domino

effect of both economic ostracization-- as well as social ostracization that leads to people not going to chinese business establishments because they are afraid that they have the virus or the other extreme, it leads to hate crimes that we have seen from california to new york. whether it be cars being vandalized and racist graffiti orawled all over r the cars actual physical assaults of women and men of asian descent who people think may have the virus because they are asian and they a are attacked, kicked, sprayed withth things inin the subway. all these things. amy: ya republican senator john cornyn of texasas quick to defed

president trump's use of the term "chinese virus." >> welcome i think china is to blame because the culture were people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that, these viruses are transmitted from the animal to the people. and that is whyhy china has been the source of a lot of these viruses like sars, mers, the swine flu. amy: criritics say senator cornn wasn't just being openly racist, he was also bad at geography. mers stands for middle east respiratory syndrorome, which ws first reported in saudi arabia in 2012. and the swine flu originated in the united states in 2009 before spreading around the world, according to the cdc. liz, if you can talk about further about what this means, especially as this pandemic rips through this country? >> people need to understand that pandedemics and novel

barnesns could come from of the state fair or the astroturf of a college football field. and so when so-called leaders defend this irresponsible statement -- these irresponsible statements, and further fuels divisiveness and misguided information and takes us away from where we need to be focused. and that is helping people most vulnerable in getting the disease -- elderly or people --h respiratory illnesses and making sure they are protected. i have never been to wuhan. frightened as my non-asian neighbors, non-asian ofrican neighbors as well

the disease. we need to unite together to scapegoat a not minority of color for this illness, as your previous speaker said, this pandemic goes racialborders, has no exexclusivity to it. people of all races, unfortunately, are coming down with it. if you think only people of chinese descent have it or may the whitehen you miss lawyer from miami who came ---- who flew to new york and was impacted. amy: we want to thank you so much, elizabeth ouyang, for joining us cocome advocate for victims of hate crimes and fair media representation of asian americans.

that does it for our broadcast. i want to thank the incredibly dedicated team of democracy now! , most of whom are working from home and self-isolation. this is a very difficult time. it every day they're devoted to producing this stellar

narrator: on this episode of "earth focus"...los angeles is knownwn for itsts urban sprawl d traffic-clogogged syststem of frfreeways rather than i its diverse array of living species. the second-most-populated city in america is actually a biodiviverse hotspot--one ofof just a few in the entire world. withthin the confinenes of thihs conncrete jungle, , species are adapting and, in some cases, even thriving. welcome to the los angeles urban wild.