Occupy Louisiana shared ARM (The Anti-Republican Movement)'s photo.
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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
TransCanada Says Pipeline Can't Rupture, But It Already Has in Other Places With Disastrous Consequences
Pipes that carry hot steam to well heads at Cenovus Energy's oil sands operation in Christina Lake, Alberta, Canada, June 12, 2013. (Photo: Richard Perry / The New York Times)
"It Can't Happen Here"...But It Is Happening There
"It Can't Happen Here"...But It Is Happening There
President Obama Keeps SAYING one Thing and Then DOING The Opposite
President Obama continues to say one thing and then contradict himself with his actions. He acknowledges the possible environmental and ecological problems of Keystone XL Pipeline, the claim of thousands of jobs to be untrue and the fact that the pipeline will cause gasoline prices to rise, but still seems to be willing to give it the OK to continue despite evidence of spills in many places and of it's high toxicity and of harmful effects on the environments where the spills occur.
Also while claiming to want to be in favor of policies to help the middle Class, the president seems intent on nominating Wall Street banker Larry Summers to succeed Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Mr. Summers is suspected more than anyone else of causing the collapse of the entire US economy. When it seems there needs to be some fresh thinking why put someone in the FED who has already failed spectacularly? There are other names to be considered. And I don't mean some other Wall Street insider. I have the name Janet Yellen mentioned but I can't say that I know that much about her. She seems to be mentioned in the same mold as newly elected senator Elizabeth Warren, whom I hold in high regard. What we definitely don't need is another Wall St. banker ruining the economy again. We need banking reform, Namely bringing back the Glass-Stegall act to prevent these gigantic banks from losing our savings on risky investments and then having to be bailed by our taxes.
During his first presidential campaign, eh spoke about getting us out of wars, but instead he has continued to escalate the provocation of many nations, especially in the middle east and South America. It's as if he is allowing the Pentagon to dictate foreign policy. At a time when the eonomy is in shambles, corporations are offshoring their profits, we need to stop giving our national resources to adventures of war all across the world.
There are many things going in the country that the president haw no control over, but on these three issues, and there are more, he does, and "we the people" who voted for him want to see him Do something instead of saying he will do one thing and then do another. He had an excellent chance to make some much needed recess appointment to some key positions and he didn't. Those appointments could have helped the middle class, the jobs situation and economy immediately, but instead it was an opportunity lost.
And if Mr. Obama behaves this way with us when we had so much confidence that he would defend the middle class, the question is what will an insider like Mrs. Clinton do? In the past, Mrs. Clinton has been one of my heroes, But once she became Secretary of State, she became a war mongerer much like the republican Secretary of State and Defense Secretaries. Will she do like President Obama and follow the dictates of Wall St. and the Defense Department or can she be independent again? I believe it will be the former rather than the latter.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Larry Summers: the Man Most Resopnsible for US Economic Crash About to be Rewarded for it By President Obama
attribution: Chatham House/Wikimedia Commons
Larry Summers. Sexist. Asshole. Wrong time after time. The next chair of the Federal Reserve?
Daily Kos: Notorious sexist with notoriously bad judgment is reportedly top candidate for Fed chairTuesday, July 23, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
Why Raise the Minimum Wage; the Argument
Smart Talk ... On Raising The Minimum Wage
NOTE: This edition of Smart Talk goes out as activists around the country are preparing for a July 24 Day of Action to Raise the Minimum Wage, and groups like the Campaign for America’s Future are building support through petitions like this one.
NUMBER 14 | July 19, 2013
We're pleased to resume publication of Smart Talk, an email that distills the facts and arguments that will help you win the debate over the direction of our economy. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome. Email us at smarttalk@ourfuture.org.
Fair Share: Raise the Minimum Wage
The Challenge
The floor is falling out from under workers. The minimum wage is not enough for a full-time worker to lift a family of three out of poverty. The minimum wage for tipped workers – a miserly $2.13 an hour – hasn’t been raised in two decades.
Legislation – the Fair Minimum Wage Act – has been introduced in the House and Senate to increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour and index it to inflation. The legislation would also raise the tipped minimum wage to 70 percent of the federal minimum. It is long past time for Congress to rebuild the floor under workers.
Make the Case
Americans need good jobs with good benefits. Workers should be paid fairly for the work that they do. But these days, workers aren’t sharing in the rewards of growing profits and productivity. Corporate profits are at new highs as a share of economy; wages at record lows. CEO salaries have soared while wages have stagnated. Part of the reason is that the floor is falling out from under workers. The current minimum wage has been losing value, and is not sufficient for a full-time worker to lift a family of three out of poverty. That is not right.
If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1960s, it would be more than $10.70 an hour today. If it had kept pace with the rise of worker productivity, it would have reached over $21.00 an hour. Instead profits are up, productivity is up, but workers are losing ground.
The fall in the floor is unfair and it hurts the economy. Consumer demand drives our economy. If workers aren’t paid fairly, they can’t afford to buy. Demand flags, the economy sags.
In the two years coming out of the financial collapse, the top 1 percent of Americans have captured over 110 percent of the income growth, while 99 percent lost ground on average. Thirty million American workers would benefit from increasing the minimum wage to $10.10. It is time to raise the floor.
The Winning Argument
America’s middle class was built by workers earning a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. The minimum wage puts a floor under workers. But the minimum wage has lost ground over the last half-century. Now a full-time minimum wage worker can’t lift a family of three out of poverty. That is not right.
When workers don’t get paid fairly, they can’t buy. When they can’t buy, the economy can’t grow. Today, corporate profits are at a record high as a portion of the economy and workers wages at a record low. It is time to raise the floor.
Americans overwhelmingly support this. Many smart employers agree. But the business lobby spends big bucks to oppose it. Money talks with a loud voice in Washington. Congress will act only when voters demand action.
Counterpoint
They Say: Raising the minimum wage will hurt the very workers you say you want to help. When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it.
You Say: That’s cute but not true. Workers and families get hurt if they can’t earn a fair day's pay. In the real world, paying workers fairly puts more money in their pockets. They buy more; the economy grows. Employers start hiring. Lots of states have higher minimum wages than the federal minimum – and they haven’t paid a price in lost jobs.
They Say: Raising the minimum wage will hurt small businesses and force increases in prices.
You Say: Think Walmart and McDonald’s, not mom-and-pop stores. Two-thirds of businesses employing minimum wage workers have more than 100 employees. They force wages down so CEOs can clean up. When the minimum wage goes up, all businesses have to pay it – so no one is at a disadvantage. Modest increases in the minimum will have little effect on the total corporate costs or prices.
They Say: Most minimum wage workers are kids, working in the summer or part-time while going to school.
You Say: In reality, more than four-fifths of minimum wage workers are over 20 and most of those are long-term employees who rely on their job to support themselves and families. And with the costs of college or training going up, students can use a raise, too.
They Say: African Americans, Hispanics, teenagers and other low-income workers will lose out when the minimum wage goes up.
You Say: The young, African Americans and people earning under $20,000 per year (the groups most affected by the minimum wage) overwhelmingly support raising the minimum wage. They know it would help, not hurt.
Public Pulse
From six to seven out of 10 Americans, depending on the poll, support raising the federal minimum wage. (NBC News/Wall Street Journal, Gallup, Pew Research Center)
73% support raising the federal minimum wage to $10 per hour (Lake Research).
56% believe that increasing the minimum wage would help the economy (Lake Research).
Hot Facts
Roughly two out of three people working minimum wage jobs are women. (National Women's Law Center/National Employment Law Project).
There are no states in which a federal minimum wage worker can afford fair market housing while working a standard 40-hour week. (National Low-Income Housing Coalition)
Adjusted for inflation, the 1968 minimum wage would be worth more than $10.70 today. (National Employment Law Project)
30 million workers would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage (National Employment Law Project).
Tweet This
Starbucks, Costco support minimum wage increase. So do 7 in 10 workers. Take note Congress #RaisetheWage
I'm raising the roof to raise the floor for workers. I support a $10.10 minimum wage #RaisetheWage
Productivity and profits up but workers fall behind: $10.10 minimum wage not too much to ask #RaisetheWage
Learn More
"Consider The Source: 100 Years of Broken-Record Opposition to the Minimum Wage," National Employment Law Project
"In Support of the Fair Minimum Wage Act," Economic Policy Institute
"Why Does the Minimum Wage Have No Discernible Effect on Employment?," Center for Economic and Policy Research
Get this and other Smart Talks on the Web at OurFuture.org/SmartTalk
Give us your feedback at smarttalk@ourfuture.org |
Stop Pharmaceutical Corporations From Gouging Senior's Drug Prices
Medicare Drug Fairness ★
The Alliance for Retired Americans has launched a campaign that needs your support. One common-sense way to save Seniors money without cutting Medicare benefits is to stop the close the prescription drug negotiated in Medicare Part D.
Join Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA) by demanding Congress stop allowing big drug companies to price gouge Medicare beneficiaries!
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CNBC Tries to Cover for Wall for Wall Street, Censures Senator Elizabeth Warren
CNBC is in bed with Wall Street execs. That why they don't want people to see the video of Elizabeth Warren crushing a ridiculous CNBC host in a debate about her new Glass-Steagall Wall Street reform bill -- which you joined over 150,000 others in supporting.
They made Youtube take down the video. Luckily, we still have a version up (for now).
Watch it -- and donate $3 to help mobilize for Warren's Wall Street reform agenda.
-- Adam Green, PCCC co-founder
ELIZABETH WARREN'S EARLIER EMAIL TO PCCC MEMBERS:
About a year ago, on the campaign trail, I asked PCCC members to join with me in pushing for a new Glass-Steagall bill.
This law stopped investment banks from gambling away people's life savings for decades -- until Wall Street successfully lobbied the regulators to chip away at the rules in the 1980s and Congress to repeal it entirely in 1999.
Over 100,000 people joined the fight. And now, I am proud to introduce the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act -- along with Republican John McCain, Independent Angus King, and Democrat Maria Cantwell -- as my first big banking bill in the U.S. Senate.
We learned during the 2008 financial crisis that Wall Street is not just taking risks with their own money -- they are taking risks with the whole economy.
A new Glass-Steagall would separate high-risk investment banks from more traditional banking. It would allow Wall Street to take risks, but not by dipping into the life savings and retirement accounts of regular people.
And by making banks smaller, a new Glass-Steagall could also help put an end to banks that are "too big to fail" -- further avoiding costly taxpayer bailouts.
I've already talked about this petition on MSNBC, and I'll keep my Senate colleagues informed of the growing public support for this reform.
By mobilizing people across the nation, we can get this done.
Thank you,
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Friday, July 19, 2013
Oregon Takes National Lead on Student Loan Debt | The Nation
An Oregon Trail to End Student Debt | The Nation
Oregon Is Moving on a Creative Solution to the Student Loan Debt Crisis. Spread the Word.
Once again, Congress has failed to act and students are suffering. On July 1, the interest rates on federal student loans doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. Then, when Senate Democrats attempted a fix that would lower the rate immediately while giving Congress time to work on a more comprehensive plan, Republicans prevented the legislation from even coming to a vote. Although the Senate is now nearing a deal on the issue, Congress's failure to immediately act has revealed the uphill battle we face if the federal governement is ever going to address student debt in a real way.
Despite this, there is hope in the struggle to confront our $1 trillion student debt crisis. After a campaign lead by the state Working Families Party and college students at Portland State University, Oregon recently passed a bill that instructs the state's Higher Education Coordination Commission to develop a "Pay It Forward, Pay It Back" plan to finance public higher education. Under the plan, students pay nothing while in school, then pay a fixed percentage of their income (3 percent after a 4-year degree) to fund higher education going forward. As Katrina vanden Heuvel writes, the idea represents a "huge stride toward putting an end to the crushing debt horror stories which Occupy Wall Street helped to place on the national radar."
Since 2003, the average student loan burden for a twenty-five-year-old with student debt has grown an astounding 93%. With 10% of student loan borrowers owing more than $54,000, many young people are finding large purchases such as a house or car to be nearly impossible. Clearly, the status quo is not sustainable. Write to your state representatives now and implore them to introduce a "Pay It Forward, Pay It Back" plan in your state.
(Creative Commons)
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Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
The Verdict
The Verdict
As I sit contemplating the verdict of the Zimmerman trial, I ask myself why it came to be that a (black) teenager could be followed by a stranger, shot and killed and no one is held accountable.
Looking back, I can see many mistakes that were made by the prosecutor. The first was the assumption that five white mothers, in a community such as this, on a jury would find a white son guilty of anything when it comes to the death of a black teenager. That's enough reason to believe that there would be an acquittal. You my argue that all of the mothers weren't white, but the fifth juror wasn't black either! Whereas A lone black juror would have been vehement in her objection to a not guilty verdict, a supposedly hispanic or latino woman would be tempted to not make waves and just go along. I heard one news commentator say that she saw tears in the eyes of that woman, but yet she did go along with the verdict. It was unanimous! If she had been a person of privilege, she would see a black teenager with the same negativism as the rest did.
The second mistake was not arguing that the instructions to bar the term "racial profiling" from being used would his prosecution, because that is just what Mr. Zimmerman did. Even though Mr. Zimmerman was told not to continue following the young man, he continued to do so anyway. He followed the young using profanity laced language and judging him without knowing anything about him. The young man came from a family of college educated people and was college bound himself. And he was in the apartment complex where one of his parents lived, minding his own business, walking and talking on the phone. Why should he expect anyone to be following him? And when he did realize that someone was following him, didn't he have the right to defend himself. And why didn't the prosecution ever point this out?
And just for the sake of argument, let's say that all of Zimmerman's account of what happened during their was true ( which I believe was full of lies), does that negate the fact that it was his actions that caused this tragedy? If his actions caused this whole incident don't they make him responsible? If he is responsible how can the jury bring back a not guilty verdict?
I heard one of the prosecutors and some commentators make the same comment that "if the situation had been reversed would the jurors have convicted Trayvon Martin"? That could never have happened! Has any white person in the history of these United states of America EVER been racially profiled?! It was the racial profiling part that made all actins happen,: a young black man with a hood on his head! If it had been a young white man with a hood on his head, he would have been overlooked completely.
So, myself being a black man in America, I realize that there is always the very real possibility of being shot to death for just being a black man. This includes by police officers or by white citizens. The history of America is rife with these injustices towards us. In my experience as a young man growing up especially in the south in the 1960's, I have seen and heard of too many bad things that have happened to black men for no reason other than that they were black. And now, in present day America, I see these things making a return as some try to bring back the hatred between the races of the past by denying people the right to vote and passing gun laws so that our society can someday have a killing frenzy.
I have had to teach my sons not just to respect, but also to be very careful in dealing with white policemen because some of them come from places where they are taught to hate them and come onto the force with animosity in their hearts towards them. The evidence is in the evening news on a pretty regular basis. And I love my sons too much to have something like that happen to them. I know that it's hard for most white America to understand or believe what I'm saying is true. You don't believe these things are happening in America today. That's because you don't have to live in black skin. You don't have the things happen to you that we have happen constantly in this society. And I don't need any sympathy or pity for myself; I'm a soldier and a child of God. But I do want you to open your eyes and really see and understand. And not just about this issue, either. There are many other issues in our society that All Americans need to wake up to. Get you head out of your ass!
I'll close this article with some things I have heard from a reliable source, namely the Bible the Word of God. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. And last but surely not least, don't be fooled, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man plants that shall he also reap. And that reaping will come in his lifetime. But if not in his lifetime, it will affect next generations in his family. I have seen it happen many times. So black men don't worry about the seeds of hatred being planted against you. Just keep trusting in God and in due time you'll reap a reward if you faint not.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Congressional Republicans Pass Multibillion-dollar Subsidy for Agribusiness While Eliminating Food Stamp Support
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Who are Republicans? They just told us. House Republicans voted to pass a multibillion-dollar subsidy for agribusiness while eliminating support for food stamps.
That's not hyperbole. It happened. They chose to do it.
This wasn't intended as legislation. It was a declaration of identity. This is who they are. We knew Republicans fight to block any tax hikes for millionaires. We knew they want to privatize Social Security. Now we know they are ready to take food from the mouths of hungry people.
47 million Americans receive food stamps. Nearly half are children under 18; nearly 10% are impoverished seniors. Republicans said they were "extraneous" to the farm bill. But they did nothing to protect those they kicked off the bus.
The 216 House Republicans who voted for this bill must be held accountable. Their constituents must learn of the choice they just made. Campaign for America's Future will take this story directly to media in their districts. For that we need your help.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Friday, July 5, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
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