Статті

The nation’s leading business group on Wednesday raised serious concerns about President Donald Trump’s move to defer Social Security payroll taxes for American workers, warning that the plan for a shot of economic relief during the coronavirus pandemic could prove unworkable.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a White House ally in battles to cut federal regulations and taxes, said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that Trump’s directive is “surrounded by uncertainty as to its application and implementation” and “only exacerbates the challenges” for companies trying to quickly put his action in place.There was no immediate reaction from the administration.Trump on Saturday directed the Treasury Department to defer the 6.2 percent Social Security tax on wages paid by employees, beginning September 1 and lasting through the end of the year.A deferral leaves workers still on the hook for the money later on. But Trump said his ultimate goal is to make the tax break permanent, which would require congressional approval. That appears unlikely for now: Democrats have blasted Trump’s plan as an attempt to undermine Social Security’s finances and Republicans seem to have little enthusiasm for the idea.There’s a little more than two weeks before the payroll tax plan is supposed to go into effect, and the Chamber’s misgivings compound the problems for a president who wants to be seen as taking decisive action in the face of a stalemate with Congress over another pandemic relief bill.The Chamber’s chief policy officer, Neil Bradley, called the president’s move “well-intended to provide relief,” but raised questions about whether it would be workable.”There remains widespread uncertainty on how businesses will implement and apply the executive order, and as American employers, workers and families work to navigate the COVID-19 crisis they need clarity not more confusion,” Bradley said in a statement.In the letter to Mnuchin, the Chamber pressed to find out whether the tax deferral would be optional. If it’s employers who get that flexibility, it could make it easier for businesses to adjust. But then the tax deferral would not pack the economic punch for which Trump seemed to be reaching.Among the potential problems cited are whether businesses would be liable for repayment of deferred taxes, and what to do about short-term workers and those who earn part of their compensation from bonuses.The letter also raised questions about whether a tax deferral would have much impact on the economy if workers have to pay the money back. Some critics have said people might just save the money, not spend it, knowing that the government would ask for it back.  
…

Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​. Daily Debunk”What we know — and don’t know — about Russia’s ‘Sputnik V’ vaccine,” CNN, August 12. Social Media DisinfoScreenshotCirculating on social media: Claim that Serbia on Aug. 3 announced mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for children returning to school and that millions of Serbians took to the street that night in protest.Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: ReutersFactual Reads on CoronavirusWinter is coming: Why America’s window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 is closing
Unless Americans use the dwindling weeks between now and the onset of “indoor weather” to tamp down transmission in the country, this winter could be Dickensianly bleak, public health experts warn.
— Stat, August 10America’s Obesity Epidemic Threatens Effectiveness of Any COVID Vaccine
Scientists know that vaccines engineered to protect the public from influenza, hepatitis B, tetanus and rabies can be less effective in obese adults than in the general population, leaving them more vulnerable to infection and illness. There is little reason to believe, obesity researchers say, that COVID-19 vaccines will be any different.
— Kaiser Health News, August 6
…

Iran shut down a newspaper on Monday after it published remarks by an expert who said the official figures on coronavirus cases and deaths in the country account for only 5% of the real toll, allegations rejected by the Health Ministry. Mohammad Reza Sadi, the editor-in-chief of Jahane Sanat, told the official IRNA news agency that authorities closed his newspaper, which began publishing in 2004 and was mainly focused on business news. On Sunday, the daily quoted Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar, an epidemiologist the paper said had worked on the government’s anti-coronavirus campaign, as saying the true number of cases and deaths in Iran could be 20 times the number reported by the Health Ministry. He also said the virus was detected in Iran a month earlier than February 19, when authorities announced the first confirmed case. He said they held up the announcement until after the commemorations of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and parliamentary elections earlier that month. “The administration resorted to secrecy for political and security reasons,” he said, and only provided “engineered statistics” to the public. He also criticized testing efforts and warned of a renewed outbreak next month as universities hold entrance exams and people mark major Shiite holidays. Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari rejected the allegations and said Mahboobfar had no role in the government’s anti-coronavirus campaign. IRNA quoted her as saying the ministry has provided figures in a “transparent” way. “The Health Ministry is not a political body and health of people is its main priority,” she said. The ministry has reported a total of nearly 330,000 cases and 18,616 deaths, including 189 fatalities in the past 24 hours.  Authorities in Iran have come under heavy criticism since the start of the pandemic because of their reluctance to impose the kind of sweeping restrictions seen elsewhere in the region. Iran is home to the deadliest outbreak in the Middle East.  
…

President Donald Trump says Senator Kamala Harris was his “number one pick” as former vice president Joe Biden’s choice of a running mate.  Biden and Harris will face Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence in the November 2020 presidential election.
…

China Cochran met Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Detroit last year and was swept away by her ambition, charisma and leadership. She hoped the California senator would advance in politics.
So when Joe Biden named Harris on Tuesday as his running mate — making her the first Black woman on a major party’s presidential ticket — Cochran wasn’t just struck by the history. It represented a full-circle moment for Black women, who for generations have fought for their voices to be heard and political aspirations recognized.
“It tells Black girls that they can be president,” said Cochran, who recently ran for state representative in Michigan. “If you look back at Shirley Chisholm, she ran so that Kamala could lead at this moment. I think it’s important for us to look at that and see other young women of color realize that they can go after their dreams and really make change in our world.”
Harris’ selection is historic in many senses. It also marks the first time an Asian American would be on the presidential ticket. Born to a Jamaican father and Indian mother, she often speaks of her deep bond with her late mother, whom she has called her single biggest influence.
Harris’ boundary-breaking potential serves as an affirmation of the growing power of voters of color, according to nearly a dozen interviews with political strategists, potential voters and activists.
“Joe Biden understood this historic moment required a tough, smart and respected public servant,” said Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore’s campaign in 2000 and served as Democratic National Committee chair in 2016.
Black women in particular helped rescue Biden’s campaign earlier this year by delivering a resounding victory in the South Carolina primary, powering him to the Democratic nomination. As he prepares for the general election, Biden is trying to recreate the multi-racial and cross-generational coalition that twice sent Barack Obama to the White House.
That will hinge on Black voters in battleground states like Michigan to turn out in force in November.
“We’ve seen from an electoral process what happens if we don’t vote, that can mean the difference between winning and losing a state,” said Karen Finney, a senior Democratic strategist and spokesperson for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. “We’re in this moral inflection point of this country and Vice President Biden is someone who’s talked about healing the soul of our country and certainly one of the ways to do that is to uplift the voices of Black women.”
Strategists said that Harris will help that effort.
“It sends a strong signal about not only the current state of our party but what the future of our party looks like,” said Antjuan Seawright, a veteran political strategist in South Carolina. “And what better way to reward a group of people who have been the political glue in this party than to put an African American woman on the ticket.”
Ravi Perry, Howard University’s political science chair, said Harris’ elevation also represents the first time that a graduate of a historically Black college or university will be represented on the ticket. Harris graduated from the Washington-based university and is a member of the storied Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha.
While Harris’ selection has largely been applauded among the Democratic Party and voters, some have raised concerns. She joins the ticket at a time of immense racial tensions and crises in the nation. The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately impacted Black Americans and other people of color. Protests against systemic racism and brutality are also at the top of mind for potential voters.
And Harris’s record as California attorney general and district attorney in San Francisco could make it difficult for Biden to galvanize support among younger Black and Latino voters.
Lindsey Roland, a 31-year-old Black woman and Michigan realtor, said that background gave her pause.
“While I fully appreciate her scope of responsibilities while she was in that role, I still think she was empowered to stand up more for minorities and I think it was just a really missed opportunity,” she said. “But I absolutely will be voting. We have far too much at stake. And for me, as a mother, I’m frightened and I just feel like another four years with this administration will be catastrophic.”
Some of the nation’s leading activists who have long fought for criminal justice reform see Harris as a potential ally in their push for change. Color of Change President Rashad Robinson said Harris has evolved over time and declared herself a “progressive prosecutor” who backs reform.
“What I appreciate about her is that she’s been willing to listen and willing to evolve, and she’s been willing to put legislation behind that evolution and policy platforms behind that evolution,” Robinson said. “Yes, I think there will be very real things that people will raise, but I think that she has been listening and working to address those things.”
Alicia Garza, the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, said the nation is in a moment where “deep and profound change is needed.”
“For some activists, it is important that a Black woman is represented on this ticket and for other activists, substance is going to be much more important than symbolism,” Garza said. “The trick of getting people out to vote will be a successful combination of the two. This is an incredible moment of opportunity, it’s a moment that is rife with possibility and I’m still hopeful that this newly announced ticket will rise to meet the moment.”
It’s also not lost on many that the selection comes nearly 100 years after the 19th Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote.
But for Black women, the freedom to vote didn’t come until much later, part of a historical pattern of being denied justice offered to others.
And for Nse Ufot, CEO of the New Georgia Project, that’s a call for action and a reminder how much more work needs to be done. Ahead of the election, her organization is working to register more than 1 million Black, Latino and Asian American voters. So, far they’ve registered 425,000 in the state.
“It took an additional 45 years of organizing to secure the rights to vote for Black women and other women of color,” Ufot said. “And so, you know, there is a long history of, sort of, uncredited work. I think the Biden-Harris ticket is going to make it easier for us to have conversations, particularly in places like Georgia’s rural Black belt about why they need to vote.”
Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, was overcome with emotion after the announcement.
She wished her late mother could have lived to see the historic moment. She also wished that Black women who came before Harris — civil rights activists Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Height, Ella Baker and many others — could know how their legacy and hard work culminated into this powerful moment.
“I thought about my mother, my grandmother, I thought about my sisters. I thought about in this moment that as a Black woman, we are seen,” Campbell said. “This moment is more than about the VP slot. It affirms Black women and all we did for this country. I’m glad I lived to see it.”
…

Before July, Vietnam’s entrepreneurs thought that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic was behind them and that the economy was well on its way to a recovery. With a fresh wave of virus cases, however, many businesses find themselves on the back foot again, putting the fast-growing nation’s dreams of achieving middle-income status at risk. Businesses are closing down at the highest volume in years, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment. The number of businesses that suspended operations skyrocketed 42% from January to July, year on year, while the number of new businesses registered in that period dropped for the first time since 2015, by 5%. Data on new businesses is a vital indicator for Vietnam, a communist nation that encourages citizens to create small and medium-size businesses as one stepping stone toward its goal of graduating out of lower-middle-income status. The Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) is among those lending to firms to stay afloat.  Economic ‘backbone’ “At this period of time, OCB aims to support small and medium enterprises because they are the backbone of Vietnam’s economy,” Nguyen Dinh Tung, the chief executive officer of the bank, said. Bars, nightclubs and event spaces are among those hanging the “temporarily closed” signs back on their doors this month after Vietnam reported its first ever coronavirus death in late July. This time the lockdown is more limited than in April, when a wave of virus cases forced a national shutdown.  After that three-week shutdown, businesses were allowed to reopen and spring brought signs of life back to the cities. As no tourists were allowed to go into or out of Vietnam, citizens flocked to local beaches and resorts, and the tropical nation actually headed into July with more domestic flights planned than in July 2019. While others were still battling COVID-19 abroad, Vietnam was an oasis of optimism that restaurants, hotels, trade, and other sectors battered by the pandemic could bounce back.  Like New Zealand, South Korea However, in a sign of the pandemic times, the holiday was short lived. Vietnam closed its economy, reopened, and then partially closed again in the face of an unpredictable disease. It is like nations from New Zealand to South Korea that seemed to stamp out COVID-19 early on but still had to contend with smaller outbreaks later.  Amid the economic downturn, national carrier Vietnam Airlines is now planning to cut wages in half, while seven other state owned enterprises, based in Ho Chi Minh City, this month reported losses in their financial statements for the first half of the year.  Women-led business Small businesses in particular, though, have the least funds to get through the emergency. The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation is lending $40 million to OCB to get loans to these small enterprises, in addition to $100 million to the Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank. About one-fifth of that $100 million is earmarked for businesses owned by women, through a partnership with the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women program. Charlotte Keenan, the global head of the program, said it “is committed to building the capacity of local banks to mitigate against the disproportionately adverse impact of COVID-19 on women-led businesses.” 
…

Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s pick to be his running mate in November’s election, has been a trailblazer all her life.   “My mother used to have a saying,” the 55-year-old Harris is fond of recounting. “She would say to me ‘You may be the first to do many things but make sure you’re not the last.'”   Harris was the first black attorney general of California, the first woman to hold the post, and the first woman of South Asian heritage to be elected to the US Senate. She is now seeking to become the first female vice president of the United States.   And with the 77-year-Biden expected to serve only a single term if elected, Harris would be favored to win the Democratic presidential nomination four years from now. That could give her a shot at more history-making — as the first female president of the United States.   “Senator Harris is a tenacious and trailblazing leader who will make a great partner on the campaign trail,” said Susan Rice, who served as national security adviser under former President Barack Obama and was also under consideration to be Biden’s running mate.   Since ending her White House run and endorsing Biden, Harris has stepped up her criticism of President Donald Trump on a host of issues — from his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak to race to immigration. “Trump’s repeated racist rhetoric tries to place blame for his coronavirus failures on anyone but himself,” she tweeted recently.    “It’s dangerous and it’s wrong — and has real life consequences for Asian Americans and Asian immigrants.” Harris’s own parents were immigrants to the United States — her father from Jamaica, her mother from India — and their lives and her own have in some ways embodied the American dream.   – Close to Beau Biden – Harris was born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California.   Her father, Donald Harris, was an economics professor and her mother Shyamala Gopalan, was a breast cancer researcher.   Her parents separated when Harris was about 5 years old and she and her sister Maya were raised by her mother, who died in 2009.   Harris earned her undergraduate degree at historically black Howard University in Washington and is a proud member of “Alpha Kappa Alpha,” the oldest African American sorority. She earned her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law, became a prosecutor and served two terms as a district attorney in San Francisco.   She was elected attorney general of California in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, the same year she married Douglas Emhoff, a lawyer with two children from a previous marriage. As attorney general, Harris developed a working relationship with Biden’s late son, Beau, who held the same position in the state of Delaware. Beau Biden died of cancer in 2015. Her failure, however, to enact bold criminal justice reforms while attorney general dogged her presidential campaign and did not sit well with many black voters during the primaries.   Harris was elected to the Senate in November 2016, becoming just the second black female senator ever. As a senator, she has employed tough questioning skills honed as a prosecutor, notably during the Senate confirmation hearing of Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh. ‘That little girl was me’ Harris launched her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday in January 2019 at an event attended by 20,000 people in Oakland.   She clashed with Biden during the first Democratic debate, chiding the former senator over his opposition to 1970s busing programs that forced integration of segregated schools.   “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public school, and she was bused to school every day,” she said. “And that little girl was me.” It provided her with a breakout moment and a bump in the polls, but it was to prove short-lived. Harris dropped out of the race in December 2019 and endorsed Biden in March.   Despite their debate clash, Biden has made it clear he does not hold a grudge, describing Harris as a “first-rate intellect, a first-rate candidate and a real competitor.” Harris voted for Trump’s impeachment at his Senate trial and to defeat him she has invoked the need to rebuild the “Obama coalition” — African Americans, Hispanics, women, independents and millennials.   A tireless campaigner, Harris has a knack for personal connection and a steely demeanor that can give way to a million-watt smile.   Along with her experience in the judicial, executive and legislative branches of government, Harris is expected to provide a jolt of energy to a White House campaign overshadowed by the coronavirus and economic crisis. 
…