We're all in this together. Aren't we?

Between 40-60 million pushed into poverty in the Corona era.

"We are all in this together. We must put politics aside, stop the partisanship, and unify together as one nation and one family." -- Donald Trump, Address to the Nation, 3/11/20

This old saw may turn out to be the biggest lie ever told. Whether or not you believe it may well depend on which side of the poverty/race line you fall on. Whether you're one of the 40-60 million pushed into a life of poverty or one of the half of one percent cashing in on the sickness and misery of others; whether you're one of the 4,500 Tyson workers who've caught COVID-19 or one of the company's owners threatening to fire employees who fear to return to work. It could even depend on whether you're a state or local official having to go it alone with little or no help from the feds while the president boasts about how he's won the adoration of the governors and how he already defeated the pandemic. You get the picture.

CEO Randall Stephenson is out at AT&T. I know this is a hell of a time to lose your job, but don't worry about Randall. He won't be standing on line at the unemployment office like the 20,000 or so AT&T workers who've lost their jobs mainly due to offshoring and the corona crisis. Many of those remaining are working under unsafe conditions, here in the U.S. and in places like Jamaica and Costa Rica.

But not Randall. While AT&T lines up for its share of the multitrillion-dollar corporate bailout --mainly used for stock buybacks -- a bailout that will be paid for by taxpayers, their children, and grandchildren, he's leaving with a golden parachute retirement package. His pension is valued at $64 million with an additional $27.6 million in deferred earnings, according to the New York Times. This massive sum of money provides him with a guaranteed income of $274,000 a month for the rest of his life. This is on top of his total last three years with an average $30 million/year compensation.

CWA Union Pickets AT&T Offices in San Antonio Over Continued Job Cuts.

Establishment splits...Aside from the current (mainly one-sided) class warfare raging against the poor and working class, the pandemic has also intensified ongoing factional strife among the rich and powerful. For example, among those happiest to see Stephenson go is none other than Donald Trump. You see, AT&T owns CNN, along with more than 90 of its other major corporate divisions. Trump hates CNN as he hates all news media ("enemies of the people") and has been using his anti-trust division to go after them specifically.

Lots of AT&T money went to Republicans in 2016. But none to Trump. DT never forgot it.

Great News! Randall Stephenson, the CEO of heavily indebted AT&T, which owns and presides over Fake News @CNN, is leaving, or was forced out. Anyone who lets a garbage “network” do and say the things that CNN does, should leave ASAP. Hopefully replacement will be much better!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2020

Elon Musk not "in it together."

Tesla is telling workers that if they do not come back to the factory – which is open in defiance of a local public health order – they may have their unemployment benefits eliminated, @msainat1 reports https://t.co/cxyNByXT6v

— Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) May 12, 2020