Episode description

What I learned a year into this pandemic, 56% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck — and 43% really need the third stimulus, Megadrought emerging in western U.S. could be the worst in 1,200 years, "Is the US At Risk of a Roman Republic-Style Collapse? This Historian Says Yes.", and Steven Donziger has been under house arrest for over 580 days.

What I learned a year into this pandemic - Slim Profit Margins, how fragile millions of jobs are, U.S. mental health and healthcare, bad spending habits, shitty minimum wage, neither political side wanted to change anything fundamentally, protests over wearing a stupid piece of cloth, how shitty the old normal really was and the fact that so many were desperate to jump back into that old normal because of how terrified they were of change and the denial of climate change. 

56% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck — and 43% really need the third stimulus - source

"It’s no surprise that the pandemic hurt Americans’ finances. But even after a year of Covid, the numbers are still striking: More than half, 56%, of adults are living “paycheck to paycheck” and 43% say they are “extremely” or “very” reliant on the third round of government stimulus checks arriving this month."

Megadrought emerging in western U.S. could be the worst in 1,200 years - source

"We now have enough observations of current drought and tree-ring records of past drought to say that we're on the same trajectory as the worst prehistoric droughts," says lead author Park Williams, a research professor in the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.

"Is the US At Risk of a Roman Republic-Style Collapse? This Historian Says Yes." - source

"When people say “This is the end of the Roman Empire,” that's when I say, I don't think that's true. This is not a situation where we are entering total state collapse and there is going to be like a kingdom of California, a confederation of principalities. I don’t think we’re at that kind of state collapse. That would be overblown. The United States as an entity will continue on. 

But when you're talking about its political system, what does American democracy look like, what does representative government look like, what does a participatory government look like? For 500 years the Romans had a fairly participatory system. It was an oligarchy run by rich senators, but there were assemblies ... Those guys did still have to troll for votes. They still needed to win elections in order to get ahead."

Steven Donziger has been under house arrest for over 580 days - source

'I've Been Targeted With Probably the Most Vicious Corporate Counterattack in American History'

Steven Donziger has been under house arrest for over 580 days, awaiting trial on a misdemeanor charge. It’s all, he says, because he beat a multinational energy corporation in court.

Steven Donziger is an American attorney known for his legal battles with Chevron, particularly the Lago Agrio oil field case.

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