12/29/20 12/29/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> why would they do this? we are civilians sitting in our cars. the car set families in them. why did this happen? i kept hearing boom, boom, boom. it was horrific. amy: "blackwater's youngest victim." as president trump pardons four blackwater mercenaries, we

re-air an explosive interview with an iraqi father whose nine-year-old son was killed with 16 other iraqi civilians in the nisour square massacre by the men just pardoned by trump. then as the house votes to increase stimulus checks from $600 to $2000, we speak to nobel prize-winning economist e stigli about the global economic crisis. >> hopefully, the blessings we will learn from this crisis is we need to construct a different kind of capitalism, different kind of economy that i call in my book progressive capitalism. the market does not work very well in addssing the major problems our society faces. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman.

the house voted monday to approve a measure that would increase stimulus checks from $600 to $2000, sending the bill to the senate where it faces a stand-off today. the has also voted to override trump's veto of the $740 billion defense bill. in the senate, mitch mcconnell is expected to ask for unanimous consent today to override butp's veto of the ndaa, bernie sanders has said he will filibuster to delay the crucial vote unless the senate also holds a vote on the $2000 checks. senator sanders tweeted -- "if mcconnell doesn't agree to an up or down vote to provide the working people of our country a $2000 direct payment, congress will not be going home for new year's eve. let's do our job."

at least 12 republicans would need to join with the senate's 48 democrats to reach the necessary 60 votes to approve the $2000 checks. we'll have more on the pandemic's toll on the u.s. economy later in the broadcast with nobel prize-winning economist joe stiglitz. the united states recorded over 168,000 new coronavirus cases monday and 1900 deaths. hospitalizations hit a new record high of more than 121,000, with 40% of all icu beds nationwide now occupied by covid patients. in california, some kaiser permanente hospitals are now postponing non-urgent surgeries. the more luther king junior community hospital in los angeles has converted its chapel and gift shop into makeshift covid wards. huntington hospital in pasadena is rationing care for non-covid patients who need icu beds.

this comes as the transportation security administration says it screened nearly 1.3 million people at u.s. airports on sunday, the highest daily total since the start of the pandemic. travelers shrugged off urgent pleas to avoid travel. russian officials admitted monday their nation's covid-19 death toll is more than three times worse than previously reported, saying more than 186,000 people have diedf the disease. the new figure put russia's death toll at the third highest in the world, after the united states and brazil. in brazil, vice president hamilton mourao said monday he's tested positive for coronavirus and is taking the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, even though it's been shown to be ineffective at treating covid-19. brazil's official death toll is nearing 200,0 with more than 7.5 million confirmed cases.

in colombia, public health officials are condemning a plan by president iván duque to exclude undocumented venezuelans from a mass vaccination program set to begin in february. bogota professor and public intellectual alejandro gaviria tweeted -- "not vaccinating venezuelans is a bad idea from an epidemiological perspective. but it is above all an unethical proposal." president-elect joe biden on monday accused the trump administration of obstructing his transition team's access to information from the office of manageme and budget and the pentagon. biden spoke from wilmington, delaware. mr. biden: right now we just are not getting all the information we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. it is nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility. amy: republican congressman

louie gohmert of texas has sued vice president mike pence in a long-shot effort to overturn joe biden's election victory. the suit alleges that pence has "exclusive authority" to decide which electoral votes count when he presides over congress on january 6 for the counting of the electoral college vote. the trump administration says it will open a u.s. consulate in western sahara following its recognition of morocco's claim over the territory earlier this month. morocco has occupied western sahara since 1975 in defiance of the international community. to see our documentary "four days in western sahara: africa's last colony," go to democracynow.org. in news from honduras, the indigenous environmental activist felix vasquez was assassinated saturday by armed, masked men in front of his family. vasquez was a member of the indigenous lenca community and was planning to run for congress in 2021.

his killing comes 4.5 years after the assassination of berta carceras, who was also a lenca activist. the city of columbus, ohio, has fired the police officer who shot and killed andre hill, a 47-year-old black man. officer adam coy also faces criminal and internal investigations after last week's fatal shooting when coy opened fire just seconds after encountering hill, who was unarmed. officer coy was not using his body camera properly at the time of the shooting, and he failed to administer aid to hill for several minutes as hill lay dying. coy has racked up dozens of citizen complaints since 2002, including a 2012 incident when he repeatedly smashed the head of a driver into a police cruiser during a traffic stop. in housing news, the state of new york has enacted a new law to protect most renters from

eviction until may 1 if they are suffering from financial hardship related to the pandemic. meanwhile, in tacoma, washington, housing activists have occupied a travelodge motel to house over 40 people. the occupation began on christmas day. and in minnesota, police arrested a water protector monday after she successfully delayed construction of enbridge's line 3 pipeline in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. emma harrison spent several hours dangling from a 20-foot-tall tripod blocking access to an enbridge pipe storage yard before police were finally able to remove her. indigenous activist and lawyer tara houska live-streamed the protest. >> police officers are threatening to cut down the young person suspended about 30 feet in the air, risking her safety, risking her life.

she could get really, really hard. they just said there is an ambulance standing by. that is their plan. they do not seem to care. they wanted to do it that quickest, fastest, cheapest my way possible. they have disregarded human life. last week one of their own workers was killed. that is who we are dealing with. amy: on friday, a contractor working on the line 3 pipeline was killed in an accident at an enbridge construction yard. if completed, line 3 would pump more than 750,000 barrels of tar sands crude oil each day across wetlands and fragile ecosystems in canada, minnesota, and wisconsin. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we combat, as president trumpardons four blackwater

mercenarie we rear an exclusive interview with an iraq i father whose nine-year-old son was killed by the contractors, along with 16 other iraqi civilians in the nisour square massacre. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "individuation" by khyam allami. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. president trump's pardon of four former blackwater mercenaries convicted for their role in a massacre in baghdad has sparked outrage in iraq. the iraqi foreign ministry said the decision violates "the values of justice, human rights and rule of law" and "ignores the dignity of the victims." the blackwater guards included nicholas slatten, who was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the 2007 nisour square

massacre when he and other blackwater mercenaries opened fire with machine guns and grenades on a crowded public space in baghdad, killing 17 unarmed civilians -- including women and children. the youngest victim was a nine-year-old boy named ali kinani. later in the program, we will be joined by a lawyer who sued blackwater over massacre. but first, we turn to short documentary by jeremy scahill and rick rowley that first aired on democracy now! in 2010. it features an interview with ali kinani's father. this is "blackwater's youngest victim." >> i am not just remembering. i will never forget those few minutes. whatever you ask me, i will answer with absolute clarity.

all i could hear from my car were gunshots and the sound of glass shattering and the sound of tires blown out with bullets. i started to scream, "they killed my son! they killed my son!" what can i tell you? it was like the end of days. with cold blood and stone hearts, they continued shooting. jeremy: baghdad, september 16, 2007. shortly before noon, a convoy of four armored vehicles departs the green zone, the heavily fortified u.s. base in iraq. the men inside of the vehicles were elite private soldiers

working for blackwater. their code name, raven 23. the men had defied orders from their superiors to remain in the green zone and proceeded on to the streets of baghdad. as they departed, they were again told to return to base. they didn't. within minutes, blackwater raven 23 would arrive at the congested baghdad intersection known as nisour square. 15 minutes later, at least 17 iraqi civilians would be dead, more than 20 others woded, in a shooting thawould go down in infamy as baghdad's bloody sunday. you probably have never heard his name, but you likely know something about how nine-year-old ali mohammed hafedh kinani died. he was the youngest person killed by blackwater forces at nisour square. this is the story of the death of young ali kinani and his father has provided us with the most detailed eyewitness account of the nisour square massacre

ever given to a u.s. media outlet. mohammed hafedh abdulrazzaq kinani and his wife fatimah lived with their three children in baghdad. mohammed ran his family's auto parts business, and he adored his youngest son ali, whom his family affectionately called by his kid nickname, allawi. >> he would sleep on my arm. he was nine-and-a-half years old, but still slept on my arm. he had his own room but he never slept alone. when he turned nine, i told him it was time to stop using my arm as his pillow. i said, "son, you're getting older. go sleep with your brothers, on your bed in your room.

your name is ali. we used to call you allawi, but you'll be a man soon." so he said, "as you wish, father." he always said that. so i looked and saw his feet under the door. i called him in. he opened the door and said, "dad, i'm allawi, not ali." he was telling me that he's still a child. after that, he kept sleeping on my arm. it was the only pillow he ever had. jeremy: when u.s. forces rolled into baghdad in april of 2003, mohammed proudly took his son to greet the men he called their liberators, the u.s. military. mohammed was that rare personification of the neoconservative narrative about the u.s. invasion.

>> the first day the american army entered baghdad, i handed out juice and candy in the street to celebrate our liberation from saddam. jeremy: before september 16, 2007, mohammed had never heard of blackwater. now he thinks of them and th day every waking moment. he remembers that ali was not supposed to be in his car that day. mohammed had just pulled away from his family's home on his way to pick up his sister jenan and her children for a visit. ali came running out of the house. >> he was quiet the whole ride. but then we passed a newly built park, a garden. so he turned to me and asked, "daddy, when are you going to bring us here?" i told him, "next week, hopefully, if god wills it." jeremy: mohammed and ali picked up jenan and her three children and made their way back home. the return journey would bring them through nisour square.

when mohammed found himself in a traffic jam at the square that day, he thought it was a u.s. military checkpoint. nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him when he saw the armored vehicles block off traffic. >> one of the guards gestured towards us with his hands. this gesture means "stop." so we stopped. i and all the cars in front and behind me stopped. we followed their orders. at that point, i didn't even know they were blackwater. i didn't know it was a security company. i thought it was some sort of american army unit or maybe a military police unit. in any case, we followed their orders. jeremy: as mohammed and his family waited in the suv, the man in the car next to them was frantic. "i think someone was shot in that car in front of you," he told mohammed. it was then mohammed watched in horror as blackwater gunners, for no apparent reason, blew up a white kia sedan in front of his eyes.

inside, mohammed would later learn, were a young iraqi medical student and his mother. >> there was absolutely no shooting or any sign of danger for us or blackwater. no one was in the slightest danger. suddenly, in the flash of a second, they started shooting in all directions. and it wasn't warning shots. they were shooting as if they were fighting in the field. by the time they stopped shooting, the car looked like a sieve. this is the only way to describe it because it was truly riddled with bullets. they finished with the first car and turned their guns on us. it turned into the apocalypse. jeremy: as chaos and blood flooded the square, mohammed remembers the fate of one man in particular who tried to flee the blackwater gunmen. >> everyone was trying to escape.

whoever wasn't shot dead in their car just wanted to escape somehow. when one man tried to run, they shot him. he dropped dead on the spot. he was on the ground bleeding, and they were shooting nonstop. they shot like they were trying to kill everyone they could see. he sank into his own blood. and every minute, they would go back and shoot him again, and i could see his body shake with every bullet. he was dead but his body shook with the bullets. he would shoot at someone else

and then go back to shooting at this dead man. the man is dead in a pool of blood. why wod you keep shooting him? jeremy: as mohammed sat in his suv with hisine-year-old s ali, his sister jenan and her three children, he realized that, for them, attempting to escape was not an option. as the shooting intensified, mohammed yelled for the kids to get down. he and jenan did the same. >> bullets were coming from the right and the left. my younger sister was trying to cover me with her body. so i pulled out of her grip and covered her with my body to protect her. i have pictures that show the headrest of my sister's seat is full of bullet holes. it was horrific, extremely terrifying.

i still wake up from sleep, startled. why, i ask. why would they do this? we were civilians sitting in our cars. most of the cars had families in them. so why did this happen? i kept hearing boom, boom, boom in my car. bullets were flying everywhere. it was horrific, horrific. i don't know. i don't know how to describe it. after they had killed everyone in sight, my sister and i kept still. i had her rest her head on my lap, and my body was on top of her. we would sneak to peek from under the dashboard. they continued shooting here and there, killing this and that

one. then it cleared. nothing was moving on the street. only the blackwater men were moving. then they drove off. jeremy: it seemed to mohammed like a miracle had blessed h car. "we're alive," he thought. as the blackwater forces retreated, mohammed told jenan he was going to check on the man who had been repeatedly shot by blackwater. it was then mohammed's world crumbled. >> when i got out of the car, my nephew said, "uncle, allawi is dead." my sister started screaming, and i turned to look at ali. i turned and saw that his window was bren. it was shot. i looked at him and his head was resting at the side of the door.

i opened the door to see if he was ok. i opened the door and he started falling out. i stood there in shock, watching him as the door opened and his brain fell to the ground between my feet. i looked at his brain on the ground, and i pushed him back into the car. i told my sister that they had blown his brains out. i started to scream, "they killed my son! they killed my son!" i was turning and screaming. people were standing on the roof of a nearby building, saying,

"get out! get out!" but i was in another world. they killed my son and i was looking at his brain. i didn't know what to do. i didn't know what to do. i reached through the window to check his heart and it was beating. i told my sister, who said, "let's rush him to the hospital. maybe he still can make it." but i knew. his brain was on the ground. he's gone. i turned the car, which had no water, no tires, and i spun it around.

i drove towards yarmouk hospital. jeremy: at the hospital, mohammed was td that because of ali's severe head injuries, an ambulance would need to rush him across town to a neurological hospital. >> riding in the ambulance, i was completely destroyed. my son was dying in front of my eyes. he was suffering. his arms were shaking and almost pulled out the iv's. so i held his hands still. he died. what can i say? my son. up to the night before his death, my son never slept alone.

died, the u.s.li embassy in baghdad contacted mohammed, offering his family a $10,000 condolence payment, making clear it was not a remedy for what happened and not a substitute for any potential legal action against the shooters. initially, mohammed refused the money but the embassy pursued his family, urging them take it. they eventually did, but with one condition -- that half the money be donated to the family of a u.s. soldier killed in iraq. mohammed's wife fatimah delivered the gift to the u.s. embassy. >> this is a gift from ali's family to whichever family you choose, the family of any soldier who lost his life for the sake of iraq. i want to give it as a gift. i know it is insignificant, but it is an emotional and moral gesture from us to them. jeremy: mohammed carries around a letter sent to his family by general ray odierno, the commander of u.s. forces in

iraq. "your substantial generosity on behalf of the families of fallen american soldiers," odierno wrote, "has touched me deeply." while mohammed and his family mourned the death of ali, half a world away in washington, d.c., blackwater's owner erik prince was summoned before the u.s. congress. blackwater, prince said, had been the victim of an armed ambush by iraqi insurgents at nisour square and he defended the conduct of his men, saying they had "acted appropriately at all times." >> you do admit that blackwater personnel have shot and killed innocent civilians, don't you? >> no, sir. i disagree with that. i think the's been times when guys are using defensive force to protect themselves, to protect the package. they're trying to get away from danger. there could be ricochets. there are traffic accidents, yes. this iwar.

jeremy: mohammed watched those hearings live and was outraged. >> i wish they would ask the head of blackwater, did he think that this child was a threat to his company? this giant company with all the biggest weapons, guns and planes -- was this boy a threat to them? jeremy: at the hearing, a state department document was produced revealing that before nisour square, the department had coordinated with blackwater to set a low payout for iraqi shooting victims because, in the words of a department security official, if it was too high, iraqis may try "to get killed by our guys to financially guarantee their family's future." despite prince's brazen denials, the thought of suing blackwater didn't cross mohammed's mind. he didn't want anyone's money. he readily cooperated with the u.s. military and federal investigators, and he believed that justice would be done in america. then he says, blackwater stepped in.

in february 2008, abc news did a brief story about mohammed. the day the story was posted online, blackwater's attorney threatened to take legal action against the network, accusing abc of defamation. what outraged mohammed was that blackwater denied its forces killed ali, claiming instead that he was killed by a stray bullet, possibly fired by the u.s. military an hour after blackwater personnel had departed the scene. blackwater claimed ali was hit by a warning shot that ricocheted and killed him. it was not even possible, the blackwater lawyer claimed, that blackwater was responsible. shortly after that, mohammed said an iraqi attorney approached him. but he wasn't just any lawyer. ja'afar al moussawy was the chief prosecutor of the supreme iraqi criminal tribunal, which prosecuted saddam hussein. he was the iraqi lawyer. mohammed agreed to meet with moussawy and blackwater's regional manager. he says they offered him $20,000. >> i said, "i'm not taking a penny from you. i want nothing."

i asked them if they wanted to resolve the problem. they said, "yes." i said, "ok, get me a pen and paper." i said, "look, i have the paper, and i can sign and waive all my rights. all of them. i will sign now but under one condition -- i want the head of blackwater to apologize publicly to me in america and say, 'we killed your son, and we're sorry.' that's all i want." i told them, "i don't want $50 or $20,000. i just want him to publicly apologize. that would be enough for me." blackwater's regional manager said, "we do not apologize." i said, "you kill my son and go

on tv and publicly accuse me and all iraqis of being mercenaries who intentionally have you kill us for the compensation. and you were under oath in front of congress, and you tell me you will not apologize. what did you want, then? why did you bring me here?" he said, "no, we won't apologize." jeremy: mohammed then confronted the blackwater manager about the company's claim that the u.s. military, not blackwater, may have killed ali. >> i told the manager, "my son was killed in the car with me. how can you say it was the military? do you want to stain the reputation of the american army? the american army is innocent of this. why would you blame this on them? do you want us to hate them more? aren't you an american company, and this is your national military? why would you do this to your own?" i told them, "we love the american army more than you do." jeremy: mohammed threw the pen and paper at the blackwater

manager and left the meeting. >> so i had no choice but to go the legal route and take things to court. ,eremy: we rub up our time he shows a video of his son hopping around a swimming pool with his cousins and siblings. with a smile ear to ear, ali approaches mohammed's cellphone camera and says to his dad, "i am allawi." >> i am allawi. i am allawi. amy: that's "blackwater's youngest victim," a short documentary by jeremy scahill and rick rowley that first aired on democracy now! in 2010. last week president trump pardoned the four former blackwater mercenaries for their role the 2007 nisour square whouding nicholas slatten

have been sentenced to life in prison for his role, and the other three blackwater contractors were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and given sentences of 12 to 15 years. the parts have sparked outrage in iraq and here in the united states. the father of nine-year-old victim ali kinani told the middle east "known as above the law is what we learn in america but now they're someone above the law. i don't know how this is allowed," he said. blackwater was founded by erik prince, close ally president trump. his sister, betsy devos, serves as education secretary. supporters of the blackwater guards refer to the been as the biden four. in 2010, then vice president joe biden announced justice department would appeal the dismissal of a criminal case against the blackwater mercenaries involved in the nisour square sticker. the men would later be tried and convicted. paulore, we're joined by

dickinson, served as the lawyer of the family of ali kinani and five other victims of the blackwater contractors who were convicted of killing at least 14 innocent iraqi citizens in the attack. his recent piece in the intercept is headlined "i sued blackwater for the massacre of iraqi civilians. trump just pardoned those convicted killers." paul dickinson, welcome to democracy now! could you respond to the pardon and its significance? >> good morning, amy. thank you for having me. i will admit it has been quite a tole since i have listened that gripping interview with mohammed. i was sitting in the room when he gave that story and explained what happened that day. and sitting here listening to it again through my headset, i am reminded of the horror he and others faced that day. i response to the pardoned is

that these four men were tried and convicted by the u.s. legal system. that there were difficulties with prosecution, she mentioned, the indictment was dismissed on your c 2009. joe biden gave the press conference and said we're going to pursue the prosecution. each step of the way, mohammed and others, including my other five clients, were promised by the u.s. justice department that we were going to hold these men accountable and that is what we did. it was slatten was tried with the other three. the court of appeals made the decision he should have been tried separately. he was trying to partly. the important thing to note from this is not that there was nick sure never to try these men or make an example of them, but however there were given a fair trial, the u.s. justice system worked with these men and for the victims to make sure justice

was given -- that they received a fair trial. now after the promises we make to each one of these victims that we were going to hold people accountable for their criminal actions abroad, that has been taken away from them. i cannot imagine the feelings that mohammed and the others have for feeling that justice has been taken from them by the u.s. government after it had been promised to them. we have gone back on our word to these victims, and that is sad and unfortunate. , slatten was convicted of first-degree murder actually not for the killing of ali kinani, but a 19 euro medical student who is driving his mom. >> that is my understanding, yes. amy: what at this point happens next? they are just freed from prison? >> the presidents pardon power

is absolute. they are free from prison. the recently tweeted about four men are given pardons and the contract that blackwater had with the department of state provided the contractors who are working in iraq and elsewhere under the contract complete immunity from both criminal and civil liability in iraq. and the only place these men could have been charged criminally or held civilly accountable, which is what my lawsuit about, is in the united states. but even those steps provided us very difficult legal hurdles to get them in the united states, get jurisdiction over them -- in north carolina, the case was sent back to state court, the

fourth circuit court of appeals for a period of time before the case eventually resolved. facedstice department similar difficulties in trying them in the united states. however, the courts of appeals determined those cases were correct and the federal court in north carolina. our claim was correct. there is no other place to try these men. there is no other place to hold them accountable. we held them accountable the civil claims but the criminal claims are now gone. there is nothing that can be done. it is unfortunate. as i said, we have gone back on our word and that word cannot be changed now. amy: we want to thank you, paul dickinson, for being with us, the lawyer for the family of ali kinani and five other victims of the blackwater mercenaries who were involved in the murders of 2007 nisourns in

baghdad. we will link to your piece in the intercept is headlined "i sued blackwater for the massacre of iraqi civilians. trump just pardoned those convicted killers." this is democracy now! could we come back, we go to nobel prize-winning economist joe stiglitz. the house just voted to increase stimulus checks from $600 to $2000. what happens in the senate today is key. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "adoro" by armando manzanero. he died of covid monday at the age of 86. mexico has the fourth highest reported covid death toll in the world.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the house of representatives voted monday to approve a measure that would increase stimulus checks from $600 to $2000, sending the bill to the senate where it faces a stand-off today. the house also voted to override trump's veto up the seven hundred 40 billion-dollar national defense authorization act. and at the senate, mitch mcconnell is expected to ask for unanimous consent today to override trump's veto of the ndaa but independent senator bernie sanders has that he will filibuster to delay the crucial vote unless the senate also holds a vote on the $2000 checks. sanders tweeted -- "if mcconnell doesn't agree to an up or down vote to provide the working people of our country a $2000 direct payment, congress will not be going home for new year's eve. let's do our job."

keeping the senate in session would conflict with the campaigns of republican senators david perdue and kelly loeffler in the january 5 runoff races that will determine control of the senate. their opponents, democrats jon ossoff and raphael warnock, are both campaigning in support of the $2000 checks. this allomes aft psident trp's layed siing of t maive cod-19 reliebill sunday csed a lae in foroynt benits millio. heasolfing tough t weekenin flori. we areoined byhe nobel prize-nning economist joseph stiglitzcolumbianiversy profsor and ief econist for throosevelinstitut serveas chairfhe economicdvisers de prident bi clintonnd as chief ecomist of the world bank.

his latest book "people, power and profits: progressive capitalismor an age discontent." professor stiglitz, welcome back to democracy now! talk about the significance of these checks and what bernie sanders is doing today, saying he is going to filibuster -- will not let mcconnellllow this vote not to take place and at the senate comep or down come on the $2000 checks. >> one of the things he is poting out very forcefully is the long history of mcconnell not allowing the senate to take votes on issues, bill after bill, the house has passed. we think of ourselves as a democracy but this one person has blocked the ability of the senate to go on record of thing whetr they are for or against whole variety of measures the large numbers of americans think are important. and this ones very important.

this one is whether those at the bottom of our income distribution will have enough money to tide them over to meet their bills -- millions and millions of americans lost their jobs come have not been able to pay their rent. there was a stay on eviction but those bills kept coming in. and now they own nine nths of rent. without this kind of help, they won't yield opaque what is due. amy: yet congressman rochon on yesterday. he was talking about why was it president trump saying he would not sign the covid relief package unless people got $2000 in in the end he gave that up but in fact, ro khanna had long tweeted, why are we not $2000?ng that people get talk about trump and him using

this, though in the end he did not insist on it, and then go into that time period -- president trump signing after saturday night, which meant this lapse of unemployment benefits that people may then get late -- when you're on the edge, nfood for your family for a period of time, or you get the money late foolish. cruel and while he was pying golf, as you said, about 12 million americans were about to lose their unemployment insurance. cause he could not make a decision. really amazing. the president of the united states cannot make a decision, those 12 million people will go for a whole week without any source of income, without the unemployment checks. an offer not because that he signed it. he could have made the decision

today earlier and that would have avoided an in norma's amount of suffering. -- enormous amount of suffering. amy: these bills are the largest in u.s. history, these budgets that have been passed are been fought over. can you talk about what this will mean and how covid, and we should sp back, it is not just the virus because the virus has affected the world, but the u.s. has by far the largest mortality -- morbidityduty figures, almost 20% of the deaths and the infections and in the world, even though we have less than 5% of the worlds population, this on the shoulders of president trump and how he has allowed it to rip through this population like no other country. talk about what this means, what joe biden and kamala harris will

inherit and what they need to , professor stiglitz. >> you are absolutely right that covid-19 has affected american much worse. in some ways, not a surprise, among thadvanced countries because we the only country among the advanced countries that does not recognize access to health care a basic human right and the result of that is we have poorer health conditions and more health disparities. equal opportunity virus. the president, though, mismanaged this -- even given th terrible -- that is reason why we have been so badly affected. thes a disease that has enormous advse effect on the economy. people don't want to travel. they don't want to eat out in

restaurants. the remarkable thing is that the united states economically has done a little bit better than europe, for instance. in one of the reasons for that was precisely the massive assistance provided in the ,pring, called the cares act list $1 trillion. this had a beneficial effect on the u.s. economy, but it was predicated on the assumption that the economic downturn -- the virus would last for six weeks or maybe longer and then we would bounce back. well, i always thought that was a fantasy. anybody who knew about epidemiology knew that was not likely to happen. but various provisions ended mid to late june, and congress,

republicans refused to do anything. the house passed what was called the heroes act to try to keep money flowing intohe economy, but the senate -- talking again about the power -- would not bring it up. so we are now six months later into the year, the disease did not just disappear and looks like we're going to face this for months to come, and it is very apparent that we need another large amount of money. that is where the additional ofey, that $2000, would be enormous benefit. amy: also included in the bill, ,hese tax breaks to the wealthy including increased military spending for about $5 billion. and americans for tax fairness put out a report saying the collective wealth of

billionaires in the u.s. has jumped by close to $1 trillion, nine hundred $31 billion, since mid-march. the report found 22 million u.s. adults reported not having enough food to eat. more than half of those adults had children in their households. nearly 62 million u.s. residents lost work between march and september and yet this massive windfall for the country's wealthiest billionaires. that is reflection of what is becoming called the k ship recovery. when we kept interest rates so accessen those who have to zoom and technology can largely avoid the worst effects of the disease, you're going to get that kind of cake shaped

recovery. the low interest rates, it benefits those who own shares and those have done fantastically well. that is why and in that context of this very unequal incidents of the disease and the economic impact tt $2000 that goes to those at the bottom is really important because -- you know, it doesn't really remedy the k shpaed recovery but in million eight some of the worst. amy: you have urged rich countries to revive assistance to developing economies to deal with the aftermath of this pandic that has been especially devastating in parts of the global south. in recent blog post that monetary fund, you called specifically for the issuance of $500 billion in special drawings rights, writing -- "the provision of sdr's would be

of enormous assistance to developing economies and emerging markets -- with no or little cost to the taxpayers of developed economies." could you explain how this would work and what your concerns are about the impact of this crisis in poor countries? >> is pretty simple. power to creae money that has helped a lot of businesses in the uned states. the imf is sort of like the central bank of the central banks. it can create a kind of global specialich are called drawing rights. it was part of the idea that ,ame when the imf was created and we used it in the 2008-2009 crisis. there was a big issuance of these sdr's. calledd of the imf has for a $500 billion issuance. the united states, we were

talking about a minute earlier, how we have had this massive assistance, over $3 trillion fiscal and another 3.5 troy in dollars monetary support. -- $3.5 trillion monetary support. poor countries don't have that amount. the amount of money they have been able to muster, to fight the disease the fight at the .conic aftermath, minuscule this $500 billion given in proportion to what they call the quotas would be an enormous help to theseeveloping countries and emerging markets. one person alone stands between , and thatce of this is the secretary of treasury under president trump, mnuchin. he has not given any good reason

for not doing that. i hope one of the first things that bd secretary of treasury will do once they take office. amy: this pandemic will force many countries into a debt crisis. what is being done to alleviate this? >> almost nothing. i was worried before the pandemic that too many developing couries were getting overly indebted. make loans.los to they make a lot of money out of loans thrgh devoping counies and emerging markets. interest rates areigher. so they push governments to borrow. just like they push a lot of poor americans to borrow too much. i was worried there was too much

debt on the part of too many countries. well, once the pandemic happened, their incomes plummeted. so many countries are at the brink. there has to be some response. now, initially the g20, a group represented that the vast majority of the gdp and company the world, got together stay on, we will have a payments, debt payments, but only for the poorest countries, not the emerging markets. only for the official debt, government to government debt, not for private debt and not for most lateral debt. and now that the disease has continued for 10 months and is likely to continue, especially those countries, because the

canna for the vaccine, get it, are at the back of the line, the problem is what was a temporary problem on the inability to pay now is a real problem. there is a need for a debt restructuring. unfortunately, we don't have a good framework for that debt restructuring. amy: finally, if you can talk about the team that biden is pulling together and those not named yet -- the man who says he will filibuster today, senator sanders, has been pushing hard to be named labor secretary. we don't know if that will happen. i'm wondering your thohts on this. you also note janet yellen come the new treasury secretary nominee, very well. close she was my student the rst year i taught in yale. she was a first rate student. i know -- i knew she was going

to make a real contributn both academically and as she has to policy. i think we need bernie sanders in the senate. nowle he is pying right is forcing hopefully the senate to take up the issue, this $2000 help. amy: would you endorse this filibuster today? >> yes, i think would. there willthat eventually -- the senate will have to deal with that and i think refusal of o'coell to ha democratic process -- let people go on the record of what $2000, seems this to be part of the democratic process. power.not be that much amy: joe stiglitz, thank you for being with us, prize winning nobel prize winning economist, columbia university professor,

and chief economist for the roosevelt institute. that does it for the show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] ç ñxñññ@óóñuñutai>úog on "america reframed"...

it's 1966. black student unions are mobilizing across college campuses. (chanting) man: we are trying to alter the destiny of higher education in this country. del toro: their demands? add black studies to the curriculum and increase the number of black students and faculty on campus. e. jaheed ashely: the validity of a blackducation was stl a question mark. del toro: students at san francisco ste and cornell university were on the front lines. eric evans: we were all angered, we were all ready to do something. we were all ready to do something. jackie davis-manigault: i remember calling my mother. and she said, "jackie, i know you're not in that building."