from The Real New Network
Jeff Faux: The dreams of Wall Street and the military/industrial complex are not compatible with the dreams of the American middle class
Posts tagged ‘economy’
Jeff Faux on the Hunger Games Economy, Obama, and Romney
by n0madic, posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2012 at 4:50 pmBain, Romney and Obama Support Offshoring/Outsourcing of U.S. Jobs
by John Laesch, posted on Saturday, June 30th, 2012 at 5:55 pmIn an attempt to differentiate between President Obama and Mitt Romney, the Obama campaign is working hard to draw attention to Mitt Romney and Bain Capital’s agenda to offshore and outsource jobs.
While not necessarily connected to the Obama campaign, there is a new push inside labor circles to draw attention to a small company based in Freeport, IL named Sensata. The company is owned by Bain Capital and is preparing to move 170 Illinois jobs to China. Factory workers are calling on Mitt Romney to step in and stop the plant closure.
I support the move to target Romney on this issue and I hope that national pressure causes Bain Capital to keep those jobs in Illinois and sign a union contract with the workers.
At the same time, I can’t help but call out the hypocrisy of the Obama Administration for blasting Romney in public while secretly (and I mean very secretly) holding closed-door meetings with 600 corporate advisors to write another free trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), that will result in more off shoring and outsourcing of U.S. jobs. TPP is expected to be the largest and worst free trade agreement in global history.
In a recent RT article titled, “TPP secrets: Obama covertly granting more power to multinational corporations,” a doctor chastizes the president.
“Bush was better than Obama on this,” Judit Rius of Doctors Without Borders Access to Medicines Campaign tells HuffPo. “It’s pathetic, but it is what it is. The world’s upside-down.”
So, who do we blame?
Ralph Nader: 30 Million Workers Would Benefit From Raising Minimum Wage to 1968 Level
by n0madic, posted on Friday, June 15th, 2012 at 6:50 pmfrom Democracy Now!
In 2008, Barack Obama pledged to raise the minimum wage every year once elected, but the hourly rate of $7.25 hasn’t increased since 2007. Low-wage workers now make far less than they did four decades ago. Last week Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. introduced The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2012. It draws its name from the idea that the federal minimum wage would be $10.55 an hour now if it had kept up with inflation over the past 40 years. While the bill has about 20 co-sponsors so far President Obama has yet to endorse it. We speak to longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader.
Joseph Stiglitz on Occupy and Why U.S.-Europe Austerity Will Only Weaken Economic Recovery
by n0madic, posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2012 at 10:36 pmfrom Democracy Now!
As European leaders scramble to address the sovereign debt crisis, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz argues the austerity measures pushed by Germany, the United States and international creditors are only “going to make the countries weaker and weaker.” If European economies contract, Stiglitz predicts that “our economy [will] go down further into the hole. … Those policies then increase the probability of our weak economy tipping over into recession.” Stiglitz’s new book is “The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers our Future.” Stigliz continues: “Occupy Wall Street was a reflection of a lot of American’s perspective that our economic system is unfair. … There was a hope after the crisis, that government would fix things, it didn’t. Or didn’t do enough, and that combination of economic unfairness and a political system that doesn’t seem capable of correcting these injustices, I think is what motivated a lot of the Occupy Wall Street.”
Robert Reich: Why Taxes Have to Be Raised on the Rich
by n0madic, posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2012 at 10:34 pmTRS Pension Rally at the State Capitol
by VideoNewsService, posted on Saturday, June 2nd, 2012 at 8:55 am
The Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice Coalition held a rally in front of the Illinois State Capitol Building on Tuesday May 29th. The purpose of the rally was to point out the failure of Gov. Quinn, Speaker Madigan and the Democratic Party to lead the state toward a positive solution to the teacher pension issue. In addition, the speakers also pointed out that no one in the House or Senate are broaching the subject of the only real solution to the debt problems of the State-new revenue. The Coalition has put forward several proposals to generate the revenue needed to fund our States’ budget. They include a “graduated income tax”, a “transaction tax” on the Commodities Exchange among other solutions. For more information please contact: www.nijwj.org.
Why We Need A Stronger Volcker Rule
by n0madic, posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2012 at 11:11 pmfrom the Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress’ Jennifer Erickson, Director of Competitiveness and Economic Growth, describes the Volcker Rule and explains why it needs to be strengthened.
Why Bain Matters
by n0madic, posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2012 at 1:23 pmfrom MoveOn.org Political Action
While at Bain Capital, Mitt Romney destroyed middle class jobs to help the rich get richer. Is that what we want in a president?
We’re a Country Needing Heroes
by Ellen McClennan, posted on Monday, May 21st, 2012 at 7:49 pmWe’re a country needing some heroes. And we really need them here in Illinois where for decades politicians have joined with the rest of our country’s politicians in selling out the middle class, starving the funding for our public schools and communities, and protecting large corporations and the One Percent.
For forty years, at the state and federal level, politicians have worked for big business interests attacking our labor unions, pension plans, small farms and businesses. Big business interests lobbied politicians, sometimes people in them became politicians or formed “Think Tanks” to lobby politicians. They ended regulations (Glass-Steagall) and opened up the banking system to gambling. They’ve gambled 401 Ks and mortgages. They lobbied for corporations to become monopolies. They lobbied for tax breaks, loopholes, and subsidies.
This has been a systematic, well thought out plan carried out by large moneyed interests and big business. A corporate lawyer named Lewis F. Powell in 1971 first outlined the plan on paper. Powell wrote a long memo to Eugene Sydnor, Jr. the then Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Called the Powell Memo, it outlined the plan for advancing corporate influence by deregulating corporations, building an array of institutions to push for unbridled corporate capitalism, and to diminish individual’s interests. It targeted unions and schools.
Nurses Stand Up to Politicians
by Ellen McClennan, posted on Sunday, May 20th, 2012 at 8:40 pmHe was a shirtless man walking around the crowd of demonstrators holding up a sign that read: “Since you politicians are going to f&#k me, you could at least wear a condom.
While there was understandable frustration like this expressed by some at the rally, most of the signs were directed toward solutions. One read, “Heal America. Tax Wall Street,” and on the back, “An Economy for the 99%. Healthcare for all. Jobs with Dignity. Quality Public Education. A Healthy Environment.” Or, another sign, “Single Payer Healthcare.” Another read, “Real Funding. Speculation Tax,” and another, “Tax Wall Street.”
