Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Mayors Cry Out for Help With Infrastructure, Job Creation

MSNBC has posted a really useful survey of over 200 local mayors, many of whom are calling for increased public investment to create jobs and meet public needs. You can read each mayor's individual response at the MSNBC web site.

For those of who care about jobs, our task is clear - let's help Main Street find its voice in national policymaking!

As one concrete step, the National Jobs for All Coalition urges state and local governments to pass The Drive For Decent Work Resolution, calling on Congress to step up investment in creating jobs, and addressing infrastructure and service gaps.

From the MSNBC report:

America's mayors are crying out for help from President-elect Barack Obama, seeking immediate relief from a national economic crisis that has slammed budgets in big cities, suburbs and small towns.

Responding to an informal survey by msnbc.com, many mayors called for a program in the style of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration to put people back to work and rebuild neglected roads, bridges and schools. The economy was by far the most frequently mentioned problem, and fixing the nation's infrastructure the most frequently mentioned solution.

Msnbc.com queried more than 1,000 mayors by e-mail just after Election Day, seeking their top two suggestions for the president-elect's "to do" list. They have a lot to say. We heard from 205 mayors in 48 states and Puerto Rico, ranging from big cities such as Phoenix all the way down to tiny Creedmoor, N.C. (population 2,232).

You can see their responses on our online map, or read all the responses in one text file. And you can read suggestions from our readers, or offer your own ideas for
the new president.

This is great online journalism - kudos to reporter Bill Dedman for pulling this great piece together!

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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Barack Obama reveals two-year plan to create 2.5m jobs | World news | guardian.co.uk

Barack Obama reveals two-year plan to create 2.5m jobs | World news | guardian.co.uk

Spending programme to target roads, schools and renewable energy

by Matthew Weaver and agencies, guardian.co.uk, Saturday November 22 2008 14.54 GMT

Barack Obama has outlined his plan to create 2.5m jobs in his first two years in office with an ambitious spending programme on roads, schools and and renewable energy.

In his weekly internet address the United States president-elect warned that the US was "facing an economic crisis of historic proportions".

But he suggested he was keen to launch a major two-year spending programme, to "jumpstart job-creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy". He pledged the programme would create 2.5 million jobs by January 2011.

That goal has led to speculation that Obama will try to launch a spending package larger than the $175bn (£118bn) plan he outlined in his election campaign.

Obama said details of the programme were being worked out by his transition team.

"We will put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernising schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels and fuel efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil," he said.

Both Republican and Democrat support would be needed to get the programme approved, he said, but "what is not negotiable is the need for immediate action".

Noting the turmoil on Wall Street, a drop in house sales, rising unemployment and the threat of deflation, he said: "There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it's likely to get worse before it gets better."

But Obama said his inauguration day on January 20 "is our chance to begin anew".

"We must do more to put people back to work, and get our economy moving again.

"There are Americans showing up to work in the morning only to have cleared out their desks by the afternoon. These Americans need help and they need it now."

Wall Street ended a volatile week with renewed confidence last night, after reports that Obama had chosen Timothy Geithner, the head of the New York Federal Reserve, as his treasury secretary.

The Dow Jones industrial average recorded a 494-point gain on the day as stocks surged by 6.5% to close above the psychologically important 8,000 level at 8046.42. It was still 5% down for the week, however, as worries persisted about the global economic slowdown.

Geithner, 47, has always been a favourite to take the top job and his appointment was expected to be announced by the Obama camp this weekend.

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Saturday, November 22, 2008

11/18 Conference on Real Investment in America

Hot item! Here are the proceedings from the Tuesday, 11/18 conference held by the Campaign for America's Future -- you can listen or watch videos of the presentations, and review the powerpoints from some speakers.

Real Investment in America: A Post-Election Perspective

Congressional and progressive leaders joined economic experts for a conference to discuss bold new strategies needed to meet vital public investment needs, from modern infrastructure and new energy to lifelong education. With the economy in trouble, the conference spelled out a short-term recovery plan and explored ways to finance the investments essential for sustained economic growth.

It was held November 18, 2008 at the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in Washington.

FULL AGENDA

9:30 a.m. — Opening and Greetings

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-chair  AUD 
Arlene Holt Baker, AFL-CIO  AUD   VID 
Robert Borosage, Campaign for America's Future  AUD   VID 

10 a.m. — The Investment Deficit: From Bridges to Broadband
Eric Lotke, Campaign for America's Future  AUD   PDF   PPT   VID 

10:15 a.m. — Implications for Workers and Business: Jobs and Competition
Ron Bloom, US Steelworkers  AUD   VID 
Janet Kavinoky, U.S. Chamber of Commerce  AUD   VID 

10:45 a.m. — Remarks on Legislation and Strategy
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.  AUD   VID 

11:00 a.m. — Deficits, Stimulus and Financing Options
John Irons, Economic Policy Institute  AUD   VID   PPT 
Sherle Schwenninger, New America Foundation  AUD   VID 

Noon — Lunch and Keynote Address
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., Co-chair, Congressional Progressive Caucus  AUD   VID 
James K. Galbraith, University of Texas  AUD   VID 

12:50 p.m. — Discussion of Legislation and Strategy
Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.  AUD   VID 
1:10 p.m. — Public Opinion Research on the Election, and the Deficit/Stimulus Balance
Stan Greenberg, Democracy Corps  AUD   PPT   VID 

cross-posted from: http://www.ourfuture.org/
Real Investment in America: A Post-Election Perspective

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Get Your Community On Record for Main Street Stimulus Package

As it appears it will now be several months before Congress takes further action on an economic stimulus package, the National Jobs for All Coalition urges communities to pass local resolutions in support of the Drive For Decent Work, to call for greatly expanded public investment in revitalizing infrastructure and services and creating millions of good jobs.

We've created a Draft Resolution here. You can plug in your local unemployment numbers, mobilize local allies, and off you go!

Many mayors, city and county officials are already on record in support of a proposed Main Street Stimulus package, which is an excellent start at the type of job creation program we need.

Let's build a drumbeat of local activism highlighting the benefits of a major public investment package for local infrastructure and services.

To pass a local resolution in your town, city, county or state:

1) Organize a Local Coalition of organizations who support The Drive for Decent Work
2) Survey Council members or Legislators to Learn More about Their Views on Jobs
3) Identify Council Member Allies who will Introduce the Resolution, and Support It
4) Hold a Public Education Event
5) Gather Other Endorsements or Signatures in Support
6) Conduct Outreach to the Media by adapting this Rresolution as a press release or letter to your local paper.

For more help with the Drive for Decent Work Resolution, contact: NJFAC Vice Chair Chuck Bell at cbell [at] igc.org or NJFAC Outreach Coordinator Logan Martinez, at loganmartinez2u [at] yahoo.com

See also the guide to Getting a Resolution passed at: http://www.citiesforprogress.org/ (under Resolution Toolkits)

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"Too Poor for Bankruptcy"

David Glenn Cox provides a great op-ed rant on being "Too Poor for Bankruptcy"

He asks, "How is it that we have come to hate our own people so?"

Cox's piece underscores the fact that we seem to have lost our sense of economic rights and common decency. People and communities don't deserve help, they can just be chucked in the garbage. The right-wing pundits provide all the ammunition and ideological framing to help workers and communities kick themselves when they're down.

Part of getting out of this box is changing the way we think!!

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Mayor Manny Diaz: Create Jobs on Main Street

On November 18, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz urged his colleagues at the National League of Cities to rally behind the Main Street Jobs and Infrastructure Stimulus Plan, proposed by the US Conference of Mayors. This $89.8 billion public investment plan includes new federal funding in the sectors of transit and roads, green jobs, school modernization, and community development

In his speech, Mayor Diaz said:

Can any of you imagine what we could do with $700 billion dollars in our cities? The Conference of Mayors and National League of Cities get it. Each and every one of us - we are the governments of first resort - but we should not have to be the governments of last resort.

It is time for Washington to end its partisan gridlock, end the pointless debates, and engage in some serious planning and leadership to address the issues we all face. It is time for all of us to have a partner in Washington - one that supports us, one that supports a "Main Street Stimulus." The only way to reverse this systemic, long-term economic crisis is to invest in our cities.

The Conference Of Mayors has developed a $90 billion dollar "Main Street Stimulus" that will create jobs now by investing in our infrastructure, creating a green economy, helping small businesses, and have lasting economic, equitable and sustainable benefits. But for this to work, we must make sure that this funding does not get stuck in the states, but that it goes directly to cities and metro areas…

We must each work with Congress to ensure that Main Street is not forgotten, better yet that it is understood. To ensure that they all know that an investment in America’s cities, an investment in America’s people is an investment in America’s future...

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Sunday, November 16, 2008

The Case for Investing in Arts and Culture

Arts and culture can be a powerful engine for local, state and regional economic growth. This article reminds us jobs in the arts are good for local economies and will stay right here in the US.

The Drive for Decent Work supports greater public investment in arts and culture, particularly for unemployed artists, musicians and youth. Arts and culture enrich our lives and can help lead the way to economic recovery.

Investment in art pays off for the Houston economy Viewpoints, Outlook Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

We know that Houston is an economic powerhouse in energy, technology, international trade and medical research. With its moderate climate and low cost of living, it has quickly accelerated to become the fourth largest city in the country with a diverse population and a highly educated work force.

But Houston is also an economic powerhouse in the arts. Nonprofit cultural organizations and their audiences in Houston alone generate $626 million annually and support more than 14,000 full-time equivalent jobs. These jobs and related audience expenditures return $33 million in local tax revenue and an additional nearly $37 million in state tax revenue.

When you compare this to the city of Houston's $10 million public investment in the arts and the state's symbolic $3.9 million investment, the citizens of Houston are getting a fifty-four percent rate of return on their tax investment.

Houston is one of the few cities in the country that has a full set of major cultural institutions — symphony, opera, ballet, museum and theater. And it doesn't stop there. Houston hosts a robust arts environment for both nonprofit cultural organizations and private arts-focused businesses to thrive. In fact, there are 5,342 creative industry businesses in Houston with more than 25,000 employees.

These creative industries, which include everything from art museums to graphic art studios, have not only contributed to Houston's economic bottom line but they have also been the first footprint for redevelopment.

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Iowa Editors Endorse "WPA-Style Jobs Program"

The Des Moines Register has just published a resounding endorsement of a public investment program to revitalize the economy and create new jobs. It's time for bold action from Congress and the incoming President.

Be bold: Start a WPA-style jobs program
Des Moines Register, November 16, 2008

"... Public-works programs provide lasting value. One way to create jobs: Invest in infrastructure. The federal government could quickly infuse money into states to fund projects that are already planned - including roads, bridges, sewers, parks and trails. That would create jobs for unemployed Americans, including those in the construction sector, which suffers from high unemployment because of the housing slowdown. Putting people to work sends money rippling through the economy."

"The bonus is this country would get more of its infrastructure updated - which would strengthen the economy against global competition for years to come."

"...This is an opportunity to rebuild - and rethink - the country's infrastructure. It's time to explore light rail, airplane technologies, solar power, wind power and other renewable sources of energy. Some economists are pushing for a "Green New Deal." As an example, offering tax credits for producing wind and solar energy or making energy-efficiency products would trigger the hiring of thousands of workers."

"Create jobs. Boost consumer confidence. Put the country on track for a brighter economic future. It makes more sense than pouring more billions into bailouts."

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Saturday, November 15, 2008

Enact Local Resolutions to Support The Drive for Decent Work!

The National Jobs for All Coalition has drafted a local resolution for towns, cities, counties and states to enact in support of public investment and job creation. The text of the resolution is attached below.

To pass a local resolution in your town, city, county or state:
1) Organize a Local Coalition of organizations who support The Drive for Decent Work
2) Survey Council members or Legislators to Learn More about Their Views on Jobs
3) Identify Council Member Allies who will Introduce the Resolution, and Support It
4) Hold a Public Education Event
5) Gather Other Endorsements or Signatures in Support
6) Conduct Outreach to the Media by adapting this Resolution as a press release or letter to your local paper.

For more help with the Drive for Decent Work Resolution, contact: NJFAC Vice Chair Chuck Bell at cbell [at] igc.org or NJFAC Outreach Coordinator Logan Martinez, at loganmartinez2u [at] yahoo.com
See also the guide to Getting a Resolution passed at: http://www.citiesforprogress.org/ (under Resolution Toolkits)


RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF
THE DRIVE FOR DECENT WORK


WHEREAS, millions of people in the United States are unemployed in good times as well as bad, and many more work without living wages, comprehensive health insurance and retirement benefits;

WHEREAS, the official unemployment rate leaves out the “hidden unemployed”— who want full-time work but are forced to work part-time or who want a job but are not currently looking for reasons such as lack of child care or transportation.

WHEREAS, in October 2008, an estimated 10.1 million workers were officially unemployed (6.5%), an additional 11.7 million were “hidden unemployed,” bringing the actual jobless rate to roughly 14%.

WHEREAS, the unemployment rate in [ state or locality ] has risen to __ percent; [see Local Area Unemployment Statistics at http://www.bls.gov/lau/]

WHEREAS, millions more workers in the United States work full-time, year-round, yet earn less than the official poverty level, and do not earn a wage high enough to support the basic costs of living,;

WHEREAS, in addition to its chronic deficit of decent jobs, the United States also suffers a chronic deficit of public investment in vital human and physical resources, including affordable housing, child care, elder care, health care, public transit, bridges, levees, schools and other physical infrastructure, as well as environmentally sustainable technology, conservation and renewable energy;

WHEREAS, greater federal, state, and municipal investment in meeting infrastructure and service needs could create millions of new, living wage jobs and lay the foundation for shared prosperity and improved quality of life for all;

WHEREAS, every job in the United States should be a decent job that allows individuals and families to live a secure and prosperous life; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, the [ _________ City Council or Legislature ]calls upon the Congress to enact a “Main Street” Economic Stimulus Package as proposed by the US Conference of Mayors, and other pending legislation to meet urgent unmet public needs for infrastructure and services, and create new millions of living wage jobs;

RESOLVED, the [ _________ City Council or Legislature ] calls upon the Congress to introduce and pass a 21st Century Public Investment Act to provide additional support for high-priority public works and services, with emphasis on providing jobs for the unemployed;

RESOLVED, the [ _________ City Council or Legislature ] calls upon the Congress to create a National Employment Accounting Office to systematically evaluate the progress of efforts to improve infrastructure and services and create jobs, and assess future needs for additional public investment;

RESOLVED, the [ _________ City Council or Legislature ] encourages the Congress to raise the minimum wage and bring it closer to a living wage by restoring its historic 1960s value and linking it to 60% of the average wage;

RESOLVED, the [ _________ City Council or Legislature ] declares [ seven day period ] to be Jobs for All Week in [ town, city, state ]. We encourage [town/city/state ] residents, public officials, labor unions and nonprofit organizations to become involved in finding lasting solutions to the United States’ twin deficits of unemployment and underinvestment in essential public services, by supporting effective programs of public and private job creation.

RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF
THE DRIVE FOR DECENT WORK

WHEREAS, millions of citizens and. residents of the people in the United States are unemployed in good times as well as bad times, and many more work part- or full-time without living wages, comprehensive health insurance and retirement benefits;
WHEREAS, the official unemployment rate does not include leaves out the “hidden unemployed”—people who want full-time work but are forced to work part-time or who want a job but are not currently looking for reasons such as lack of child care or transportation.
WHEREAS, in October 2008, an estimated 10.1 million workers were officially unemployed (6.5%), an additional 11.7 million workers were counted as “hidden unemployed,” bringing the effective national actual jobless rate to roughly 14%.
WHEREAS, the unemployment rate in [ state or locality ] has risen to __ percent; [see Local Area Unemployment Statistics at http://www.bls.gov/lau/]
WHEREAS, millions more workers in the United States work full-time, year-round, yet earn less than the official poverty level, and do not earn a wage high enough to support the basic costs of living, including food, housing, health care and utilities;
WHEREAS, in addition to facing its chronic deficit of decent jobs, the United States also faces suffers a chronic deficit of public investment in vital human and physical resources, including affordable housing, child care, elder care, health care, public transit, bridges, levees, schools and other physical infrastructure, as well as environmentally sustainable technology, conservation and renewable energy;
WHEREAS, greater federal, state, and municipal investment in meeting infrastructure and service needs could create millions of new living wage jobs throughout the United States, and lay the foundation for shared prosperity and an improved quality of life for all;
WHEREAS, every job in the United States should be a decent job that allows individuals and families to live a secure and prosperous life; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, the [ _________ City Council or Legislature ]calls upon the Congress to enact a “Main Street” Economic Stimulus Package as proposed by the US Conference of Mayors, and other pending legislation to meet urgent unmet public needs for infrastructure and services, and create new millions of living wage jobs;
RESOLVED, the [ _________ City Council or Legislature ] calls upon the Congress to introduce and pass a 21st Century Public Investment Act to provide additional support for high-priority public works and services, with emphasis on providing jobs for the unemployed;
RESOLVED, the [ _________ City Council or Legislature ] calls upon the Congress to create a National Employment Accounting Office to systematically evaluate the progress of efforts to improve infrastructure and services and create jobs, and assess future needs for additional public investment;
RESOLVED, the [ _________ City Council or Legislature ] encourages the Congress to further raise the minimum wage and bring it closer to a living wage by restoring its historic 1960s value in the 1960s, and linking it to 60% of the average wage;
RESOLVED, the [ _________ City Council or Legislature ] declares [ seven day period ] to be Jobs for All Week in [ town, city, state ]. We encourage [town/city/state ] residents, public officials, labor unions and nonprofit organizations to become involved in finding lasting solutions to the United States’ twin deficits of unemployment and underinvestment in essential public services, by supporting effective programs of public and private job creation.

National Jobs for All Coalition

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Thursday, November 13, 2008

China Stimulus Package Worth 15% of GDP!

On Sunday, the Chinese government announced that it would invest $586 billion in an economic stimulus package to develop new housing, upgrade roads, railways and airports, and rebuild areas devastated by its May 12 earthquake.

"...We call it 'China's New Deal,' " says Ting Lu, an economist with Merrill Lynch, referring to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt's plan to jump-start the economy in the 1930s.

Ting says the new stimulus measures are aimed to help China's countryside, where two-thirds of the nation's 1.3 billion people live.

"If you want to stimulate consumption, and persuade them to buy TVs, washers and fridges, you must provide electricity, running water and TV signals. [China] needs significant infrastructure investment in rural areas," he says.
The new public investment initiative is worth over 15% of GDP - a much larger stimulus package than anything remotely on the horizon in the U.S.

However, some progressive economists, such as Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot of the Economic Policy Institute, have called for a stimulus package of $300-400 billion, which would be 2.0 to 2.7% of US GDP. Congressional leaders are currently considering a much smaller package of $50 - 100 billion, but the prospects for that smaller package remain uncertain.

Chinese stimulus vs. U.S. bailout
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, November 13, 2008

Compare the goals and the execution of America's $700 billion-bank bailout to those of China's $586 billion-stimulus plan: In America, the $700 billion was handed over to the Treasury with few rules and little planning. The money was immediately the subject of fierce lobbying by everyone from crumbling car manufacturers to a Hispanic business group that represents plumbing and home-heating specialists. So far, the chief recipients of the American package seem to be insurance-company executives who can't seem to stop sending their employees on luxury resort vacations. Oddly enough, the bailout has failed to loosen up the credit markets in any meaningful way.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government has been very specific about how its money will be spent: on tax cuts, infrastructure and social programs such as health care and education. Some begged China to use its foreign reserves to bail out the U.S. financial system. Perhaps China had a look at the feeding frenzy on Capitol Hill before declining: The Chinese are shoring themselves up against the global doom by investing in their own country's domestic needs. What a concept.

Of course, China's fiscal position is drastically different from ours. China's national savings rate was a breathtaking 51.2 percent of GDP last year. This suggests that while overcommitted U.S. consumers (we're the country with the negative savings rate, remember?) panic, China's best route to keeping itself afloat lies in developing its own domestic economy and encouraging the Chinese to be consumers. The government realizes that it will be helped in this pursuit if it offers people better health care and education. As a bonus, the government's spending on those things will keep the Chinese economy from collapsing at the very moment when other countries aren't so lucky. What a marvelous thing a crisis can be, when it's handled properly.

Many economists have pointed to the size of the Chinese package (China's GDP is about a quarter of the size of ours) to point out that, if anything, America needs to
throw more money at the problem. They may well be right: Considering the depth of the crisis, this is no time for timidity. But what's even more important than the size of our bailout is whether the money is being spent wisely: as an investment that will help the American economy recover and eventually, grow. And right now, the signs coming out of both Congress and the Treasury aren't comforting.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/13/ED7J1437SL.DTL

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Rohatyn Champions National Infrastructure Bank

Felix Rohatyn continues to advocate for the establishment of a federal infrastructure bank, this time in an op-ed piece in Forbes. He calls for public investment-led stimulus package, including a three-pronged strategy to renovate infrastructure, promote clean energy, and promote public health.

Rohatyn criticizes the turf-based federal appropriations process, which leads to political balkanization, and fragmentation of investment priorities:

The shortcomings of our transportation and other systems are well-documented. We have inherited a system of trust funds and dedicated programs that too easily fall prey to earmarks, waste and bureaucratic turf. The wrong projects are funded, while bridges collapse and levees break.
Among Rohatyn's proposals is a school construction and renovation program:
Chancellor Klein of the New York City system estimates that it will take $1.7 billion to bring his city's school buildings up to passable conditions--these needs are paralleled across the nation.
According to some reports, President-elect Obama may be hard pressed to come up with more dollars for education in the midst of an economic crisis. But no one can justify benign neglect of school buildings that are crumbling and falling apart.
...[For] too long, we have postponed these investments in the name of tax reduction, war, anti-statist ideology and now crisis. We must now make clear that our common future comes first.
Amen to that!

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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Bill Fletcher: Legislative Agenda for the First 100 Days

In his essay in the fall 2008 issue of New Labor Forum, Bill Fletcher champions progressive governance across a wide range of areas.

Fletcher calls for public job creation in cities and economically depressed regions around the U.S., and cites the National Jobs for All Coalition proposals for increased public investment, public service employment, and a National Employment Accounting Office.

See the call for a New Marshall Plan in section 3, below.

Bill Fletcher: Legislative Agenda for the First 100 Days

A Legislative Agenda for the First 100 Days
Bill Fletcher, Jr., October 2, 2008
Fall 2008 issue of New Labor Forum

Preface/The Setting

Two days after the November 2008 elections, Democrats and their allies are still celebrating the decisive defeat of Republican John McCain. With his defeat comes the chance to render unto history the remnants of the Bush/Cheney regime that so ruined the lives of the bottom 80 percent of the U.S. population, and turned most of the world against the U.S. Eight years of Bush/Cheney have brought incompetence, jingoism, and neoliberalism. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, and the deepening economic crisis have served to discredit much of the conservative agenda, even going so far as to generate despair among the right-wing evangelical base.

Let’s imagine that, after several months of drafting, the final touches are being placed on what has come to be known as The First 100 Days: A Working People’s Agenda for the First 100 Days of the Incoming Democratic Administration. This project, initiated by members of the AFL-CIO, Change To Win, as well as several independent unions and other progressive working-class organizations, has identified several key areas where the new Democratic administration must take bold steps within its first 100 days. Let’s also imagine that the drafting committee collected hundreds of ideas and developed an extensive list of recommendations for an even more comprehensive agenda; but the committee’s delicate task was to focus first and foremost on the emergency steps required to rescue the country from the potentially deep, and already devastating recession, and two disastrous wars.

Within a week, the document will be presented to the President-elect and his transition team. The atmosphere in this final meeting is one of both excitement and anxiety as everyone realizes that just as this document is being drafted, several other documents are being drafted by various forces representing constituencies whose interests are antithetical to those of working people. The responsiveness of the President-elect to The First 100 Days will depend not only on the logic and persuasiveness of the document itself, but also on the capacity of the constituencies uniting behind this document to back up each word with people power.

The Crisis

The U.S. has plunged into a significant economic crisis which, at a minimum, is heading toward a conceivably severe recession. Yet the crisis is not simply about the immediate economic situation. A series of factors have contributed to an economic unraveling that is fueled by political uncertainty:


  • The living standard has declined for the average U.S. worker since the mid-1970s. While productivity has increased, workers’ pay has decreased. Structural unemployment has worsenend as sectors of the economy have begun to reorganize, move, or disappear altogether. In addition, the adoption of neoliberalism as the given economic framework in the capitalist world generally and the U.S. in particular, has meant an assault on the public sector and public service, a factor that became tragically apparent when Hurricane Katrina hit. Meanwhile, the domino effects of a credit crisis (that began as part of the speculative boom in housing prices and values), continue to destroy the lives and savings of millions of working people.
  • Neoliberal globalization, in both its military and non-military forms, has brought unprecedented levels of migration. In the U.S., as part of this global migration, we have seen a steady increase in immigration from the 1970s (particularly from Indochina), through the 1980s (largely as a result of the Central American wars), into the 1990s and today (stemming from the collapse of the Soviet bloc, along with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the migration of Mexicans into the U.S.).
  • Efforts at some form of national health care have been undermined since World War II, largely by the political Right. Renewed attention to the more than 44,000,000 people lacking any health insurance, along with the legions of people who have inadequate healthcare coverage, surfaced in the early 2000s.
  • An environmental crisis has enveloped planet Earth sooner than many people, including many scientists, expected.
  • Workers remain under attack, and not just as a result of a problematic economy. The ability of workers to join or form unions has worsened with each year.
  • The global community is becoming more unequal. In terms of income and wealth, inequality has consistently grown under the neoliberal order. In the U.S., the top one percent controls more than 35 percent of the wealth. At the global level, the richest 225 individuals have more wealth than the bottom 47 percent of the world’s population. This dramatic wealth disparity, not seen in the U.S. since the 1920s, is a major source of social instability and resentment, undermining the entire notion of democracy.
  • Inequality in the U.S. also has a racial and gendered face to it, due to a regression from the victories of the civil rights and women’s movements, along with the growing tendency to blame the setbacks of white men on those who have been subjected to historic discrimination.
  • War (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and the national security/neoliberal authoritarian state have changed the terms of domestic and international politics. In addition to destroying the countries involved, these wars are a tremendous drain on the U.S. budget (with a cost of approximately $845 billion by the end of 2008).[1] Insecurity in the U.S. has also increased in response to the rising global resentment toward.U.S. policies abroad. The growth of the neoliberal authoritarian state has brought a decrease in actual democracy and civil liberties.
While the situation facing the U.S. and the rest of the world could be described in greater detail, the preceding depicts the key elements of the current emergency. The Bush administration and its allies (as well as the McCain campaign) have lived in denial, perpetuated lies (such as those in connection with the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq, as well as the hostility toward Iran), and promoted the interests of the rich.

The time has now come to fight for the bottom 80 percent.

The Federal Emergency Response

The new administration’s first initiatives must be both domestic and global in scope. There is little time to engage in the politics of symbolism, playing to a particular constituency, rallying troops to the ‘flag,’ without speaking to the deep-seated nature of the challenges that we face.

At the same time, it must be understood that the efforts within the first 100 days cannot represent the totality of the new administration’s program. A mandate to bring about more sweeping change must be organized and mobilized over the coming months and years. This will require a combination of movement-building and building a broader social consensus in favor of significant structural change.

With that in mind, let us itemize the agenda:

1. Immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, bases, and mercenaries from Iraq and Afghanistan.This should involve the following:


  • Asking the United Nations (UN) and Arab League for assistance in creating a multi-national, transitional team to bring the various forces on the ground together, along with regional powers, to negotiate a long-term resolution of the conflict and the stabilization of Iraq.
  • The elimination of any obligation on the part of the Iraqi government to fulfill agreements imposed upon Iraq during the reign of Paul Bremer.
  • Bilateral discussions with Iran regarding future policies and relations with the U.S.
    Multi-party discussions between the U.S., Pakistan, and the various political forces in Afghanistan regarding a permanent political settlement.
  • Reparations from the U.S. (and any other country or group that interfered in the internal affairs of Iraq and Afghanistan) placed into a reconstruction fund established by the UN.
    A renouncement of any U.S. intentions to have permanent bases in Iraq or Afghanistan; a withdrawal of U.S. bases from Saudi Arabia; a renouncement of U.S. intentions to secure control over oil and/or natural gas reserves in the region. Immediate talks toward establishing a U.S./European Union/Russian/Arab League/Israeli/Palestinian joint committee on the resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Deployment of a special envoy to lay the foundations for this project.
2. Economic Triage.

The ongoing economic meltdown, particularly the collapse of the housing bubble and the lending/credit/foreclosure calamity, calls for both immediate relief and long-term management. This will require the sort of economic aid that has been diverted to cover the Iraq/Afghan war costs, and attention must ultimately be paid to reversing the more than thirty years of attacks on working people and their declining living standards. In the short-term, however, several steps need to be taken, including, but not limited to:

  • A moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. Immediate steps must be taken to halt foreclosures and evictions, while providing immediate assistance to those affected by these actions to renegotiate the terms of their debt. This may mean federal assistance to pull individuals out of usurious loans, allowing them to more comfortably rebuild their financial standing; this would be a step just short of declaring personal bankruptcy. The Republicans’ efforts to restrict individuals’ ability to declare personal bankruptcy must be reversed. The new administration must also re-establish the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC). This would be a 21st century version of the New Deal measure that statutorily arranged a temporary corporation to stabilize uncertain mortgage markets.[2] Upon any reinstitution of it today, the HOLC would acquire defaulted loans from mortgage lenders and offer sustainable refinancing options for homeowners to prevent future foreclosures.[3]
  • An extension of both unemployment and food stamp benefits. The Bush administration has adamantly held the line against such expansion. But greater numbers of the working poor have come to depend on food stamps in order to survive, and the current apportionment insufficiently reflects today’s cost of living. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that the current food stamp benefit averages about $1 per meal per individual.[4] Benefit amounts are based on the USDA’s “Thrifty Food Plan”— a theoretical diet created in the 1930s to provide a minimally adequate diet at a low cost —which hasn’t been updated since 2003.[5] Additionally, according to the Bread for the World group, most food stamp households spend 80 percent of their benefits by the 14th of each month.[6] Thus, the food stamp system must be retooled to meet the full nutritional needs of its recepients.
  • Immediate public service job creation. The federal government needs to infuse the economy with funds to prevent further collapse. As part of a longer-term initiative, the federal government must begin emergency public sector reconstruction work, focusing on bridges, tunnels, and levees. We need a program along the lines of that proposed by Barack Obama, who suggested the dedication of $210 billion to create construction and environmental jobs: $60 billion would be directed to a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to rebuild public projects such as highways, bridges, airports; and $150 billion would be earmarked for the creation of five million green-collar jobs to develop more environmentally friendly energy sources.[7] This would be funded through cuts in military spending.[8]
  • Federal intervention to halt the collapse of student loan programs. A hidden crisis, that is part of the larger credit crunch, has been the declining number of banks that offer affordable student loans. This has resulted in a higher demand for available loans and the elimination of higher education opportunities for many students. A federal intervention, therefore, is needed to make sufficient funds available. This could take the form of legislation proposed by Senator Kennedy in April 2008 to increase federal student aid. This proposal would, among other things, reduce students’ need to take out costly private loans by increasing their access to guaranteed low-interest federal loans.[9] The bill would increase federal loan limits by $1000 a year for dependent undergraduates, and by $2000 a year for independent undergraduates and students whose parents’ credit score disqualifies them for federal parent loans.[10] The new administration should also take steps aimed to restrain predatory lending.
  • Elimination of Bush tax cuts. Bush’s tax cuts, along with the Iraq and Afghan wars, have been bleeding the economy. Steps must be taken to reclaim the money that has been disproportionately funneled to corporations and the wealthy. Though longer-term tax reform will be necessary, the first step is to stop the hemorrhaging.
  • Federal aid to the states. Despite growing constraints on state budgets (particularly within the context of the rising unemployment and foreclosure rates), the federal government has increasingly meted out severe budget cuts. Federal assistance should provide the states with more of a safety net as they struggle to balance their budgets.
3. A Marshall Plan for U.S. cities and depressed regions.



  • The Hurricane Katrina disaster and the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse exposed significant problems with our political leadership, economic choices, and the basic U.S. infrastructure (not to mention race, gender, and class politics when it came to Katrina). Another assortment of projects must be undertaken to make the infrastructure address our environmental crisis. With all of this in mind, the following initiatives should be announced:

    A national commitment to launch a domestic version of the Marshall Plan. This program would involve a renewal of the U.S. physical and social infrastructures. With regard to the physical infrastructure, in 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that rehabilitation should cost $1.6 trillion over five years. The National Urban League, which has been a strong proponent of a social Marshall Plan, has identified ten areas that are integral to revamping the socio-economic infrastructure.[11] We must combine the elements of these two proposals in order to lift the U.S. from the abyss. A successful modern-day Marshall Plan would also build upon the work of groups such as the National Jobs for All Coalition, which has proposed a 21st-Century Public Investment Act, featuring: a Public Works Authority that, while working with state and local authorities to create permanent jobs, would provide long-term funding for high priority public works and infrastructure projects, ensuring that these projects employ the unemployed and underemployed; a Public Investment Fund that would fund a Public Service Employment Program designed to close job gaps, while continuing to encourage job creation; and a National Employment Accounting Office that would evaluate progress and assess ongoing needs for job creation and public investment.[12]
  • The immediate establishment of a regional public agency to oversee the reconstruction of the post-Katrina Gulf Coast and the repatriation of its native population.
  • The establishment of a 21st century version of the Works Progress Administration to oversee the infrastructure-related work. Priority in employment would go to the chronically and structurally unemployed. Wages would be paid according to the Davis-Bacon Act.[13] Building trades contractors and unions would agree to 50 percent residential set-asides for entry into apprenticeship programs and journeyman work in connection with any of these efforts. At least 25 percent of such jobs should be staffed by people of color, with at least another 25 percent staffed by women.
  • Regional planning authorities should be established in depressed regions bringing together the business community, worker organizations including, but not limited to, unions, academia, and governmental representatives. Such authorities would explore economic development strategies such as industrial cooperatives, public/private partnerships, and governmental incentives to encourage the creation of new industries or the introduction of industries which had been discouraged from emerging.
  • Emergency measures to provide more low-income housing. This would include an Executive commitment to push through: the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act,[14] which would establish a federal housing trust fund to ensure housing for the lowest income earners who have the most serious housing problems; and the Housing Assistance Tax Act which would, among other provisions, provide tax credits to first-time homebuyers, while improving access to low-income housing, allowing families to deduct property taxes.[15]
4. Immediate signing of the Kyoto Protocol.

The U.S. is way behind the rest of the world on the environment, and the Bush administration has flouted the gravity of the matter. Our over-dependence on fossil fuels has straightjacketed the global economy (making the greater international community highly dependent on oil), which has contributed to the rising global temperature. The environmental crisis, however, is not limited to global warming. The epidemic of bee colony die-offs and the endangerment of various species paints a disturbing picture of an unraveling ecology. Most urgently, the new administration must:

  • Sign the Kyoto Protocol, while making a commitment to launch international negotiations toward a new and stronger pact.
  • Push through the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act[16] to promote renewable energy, green-collar jobs, and tax benefits to middle-class families.
  • Establish a “Green Commission” that brings together labor, business, environmental groups, community-based organizations, and government representatives to recommend technological, economic, and developmental changes geared toward building a sustainable economy.
5. Pass and sign the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

As a step toward jettisoning the one-sided class war against workers, the new administration must:

  • Reaffirm the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)’s mandate that it is within U.S. public policy to promote collective bargaining.
  • Sign the EFCA.
  • Draft legislation that proscribes any employer involvement in their workers’ choice of bargaining representatives.
6. A universal health care initiative.

Universal, single-payer health care cannot take flight within the first 100 days. The groundwork, however, must be laid immediately. The new administration must:

  • Expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), as proposed by the Democratic Congressional leadership in 2007.[17]
  • Establish a commission to draft legislation for universal, single-payer coverage. Plan for a one year drafting period, followed by national town meetings and hearings. Aim for passage before the midterm elections.
7. Immigration reform.

Immediate steps must be taken to lay out an immigration reform program that is coupled with changes in U.S. foreign policy (therefore, points # 7 and # 8 are integrally linked). This program must include:


  • Amnesty (in the form of permanent residency status) for undocumented workers who have no criminal record.
  • Priority given to family reunification interests.
  • A revised application process that gives priority to refugees from areas of political conflict where the U.S. has been historically involved.
  • Elimination of guest worker programs. Investigation of already existing guest worker programs’ impact on both domestic and foreign born workers.
  • Unionization rights for all workers within U.S. borders, irrespective of their immigration status.
8. Forge global partnerships.

Changing U.S. foreign policy is an uphill, long-term process. Nevertheless, certain immediate measures are imperative. In addition to withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, the new administration must:

  • Create a 21st Century Partnership Program to develop foreign aid and trade programs designed to promote more self-reliance among nation-states, while responding to the civilian needs in those areas.
  • Develop targeted programs of repair in areas where U.S. involvement has distorted regional development (e.g., Southeast Asia, Angola, and Central America).
  • Promote trade relations that are based on fairness rather than on corporate interests. Explore a renegotiation of NAFTA.
  • Implement the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty with steps toward de-nuclearization.
  • Employ special envoys for peace and development who will work with regional representatives to address matters such as political conflict, economic underdevelopment, and environmental devastation.
Conclusion/A Qualifying Thought

This agenda will be moot without a strong backing from social forces that are prepared to press for its implementation. Any demobilization of those who successfully brought the Democratic candidate to victory will buoy the political Right’s leverage to assert its own agenda. Right-wing forces will push for a continuation of the Bush administration’s anti-progressive policies. Thus, if we are not prepared to consistently place enough pressure on our “friend” in the White House, we should expect a repeat of the Bill Clinton years—an era in which there was (technically) a high degree of access to the President and top cabinet officials, but the progressive social movements were afforded very little actual power.The choice is ours, and we have precious little time to decide how we want to proceed.

[1] See “Iraq war will cost $12 billion a month,” Associated Press, March 9, 2008, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23551693/ (citing Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes, The Three Trillion Dollar War:The True Cost of the Iraq War,W.W. Norton, 2008).[2] See http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/il10_kirk/HOLC_release.html, accessed July 7, 2008.[3] See id.[4] See www.results.org/website/article.asp?id=358, accessed July 7, 2008.[5] See id.[6] See id.[7] See “Obama vows $210 billion for ‘green,’ building jobs,” The Los Angeles Times, February 14, 2008, http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/14/nation/na-obama14, accessed July 7, 2008.[8] See “Obama’s Pocketbook Speech,” Jason Horowitz, The New York Observer, May 3, 2008, http://www.observer.com/2008/obamas-pocketbook-speech, accessed July 7, 2008.[9] See http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=C7BF90E6-D809-4274-900D-109ADC11ED76, accessed July 7, 2008.[10] See id.[11] Their proposal, as of July 2007, included areas such as mandatory early childhood education beginning at age 3, universal healthcare, building economic self-sufficiency for working people, and an urban infrastructure bank. See www.nul.org/PressReleases/2007/2007PR417.html, accessed July 7, 2008.[12] See the National Jobs for All Coalition’s Shared Prosperity and the Drive for Decent Work report, www.njfac.org/sharedpros.pdf.[13] Under the Davis-Bacon Act, federal government construction contracts are required to include provisions for paying workers nothing less than the prevailing wages paid for similar projects in the geographical area.[14] This bill passed in the Senate in May 2008, after an overwhelming passage in the House. See http://www.nlihc.org/template/page.cfm?id=40, accessed July 7, 2008.[15] In April 2008, Congressman Charles Rangel introduced this bill in the House. See http://www.novoco.com/low_income_housing/legislation/index.php#hata, accessed July 7, 2008.[16] See http://moran.house.gov/apps/list/press/va08_moran/GreenEnergyBill.shtml, accessed July 7, 2008.[17] See http://www.schip-info.org/.

Reposted from Burning Cane blog

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Help Wanted: Too Many Workers, Not Enough Jobs

Commonweal, October 24, 2008 / Volume CXXXV, Number 18
SHORT TAKE

Help Wanted: Too Many Workers, Not Enough Jobs

by Frank Stricker

Though most Americans don't realize it, for the past three decades real wages in the United States have not risen. In 2007 the hourly wage of the average American worker, adjusted for inflation, was lower than in 1972.

What caused this prolonged wage stagnation? Most observers acknowledge the role played by economic globalization, in the form of outsourcing and intense competition from abroad. But two other powerful factors figure in the mix: the erosion of equalizing institutions and a glut of available workers. We know a lot about the former, from the decline of unions to the stubbornly low minimum wage. The worker surplus is less familiar. We hear about specific or seasonal labor shortages in the economy (nurses, farm laborers), but general labor shortages are extremely rare. Federal data indicate that we have achieved full employment only three times since World War II: in the early 1950s (Korea), the late '60s (Vietnam), and the late '90s (a miracle).

But even in the best times, our high employment rates have been misleading. Take last April-before the full impact of the housing collapse was felt-when the government announced an unemployment rate of 5 percent. Scholars and activists have long questioned the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment criteria, which characterize as unemployed only those who have recently looked for work and not found it.



Thirty years ago the BLS inaugurated alternative measures to include people who wanted work but had not searched recently, and part-timers who wanted full-time work. Adding in those categories, the bureau itself generated a 9.2 percent unemployment rate for April. And when the National Jobs for All Coalition included people who have given up looking for work, or are hampered from working outside the home because of family responsibilities, it came up with an unemployment rate of 11.1 percent.

Our official unemployment statistics, in other words, are misleading. We have far more people available for work than get reported, and too few jobs to give them. Among other consequences, this means weaker bargaining power for employees, resulting in chronically weak wages.

How might we work toward a solution? First, we need to come to terms with the depth of the job shortage, using more accurate figures. Second, the Federal Reserve needs to take unemployment and low wages as seriously as it does instability in capital markets or inflation. When it ignores hidden unemployment and low wages, it does so at the peril of millions of Americans. Third, politicians must use the current recession as an impetus for dealing with our long-term jobs problem.

Addressing this problem cannot be done without large-scale federal investment, committing public money to generate good jobs to repair our crumbling infrastructure. Think of Katrina, the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, the failure of levees this summer in the Midwest, and the physical condition of many of our city schools. We ought to expand the underfunded Youth Conservation Corps, which pays young people to plant trees and conduct urban-beautification projects, projects that refurbish America even as they build character. We need more and better-paid child-care workers. Federal investment in a government environmental corps, something similar to the New Deal's WPA, could promote cleaner air and water and renewable energy. It could help develop and deploy low-cost solar panels, insulate homes and government buildings, and plant trees to clean the air.

Some of these activities are already being fostered by alternative groups like Green for All and the Apollo Alliance. But we need federal funding to boost such efforts and insure that they provide decent wages and benefits. While the WPA was a fine model for putting large numbers of people to work at needed tasks, it kept pay levels low, so as not to compete with the private sector. We can no longer afford that luxury in an era when much of the private sector is addicted to policies that rely on low wages, stingy benefits, and reduced commitment to employees.

A major national jobs program would require affirmative action for those living in depressed communities, but it need not be limited to the very poor. It should be open to a broad spectrum of Americans-such as the working-class men and women in the Midwest who lost good factory jobs and now eke out a living at Wal-Mart.

But how do we pay for it? A program that would fund 4 million jobs and leave money for administration sounds costly-and it would be, probably on the order of $200 billion a year. Yet $200 billion is less than some recent federal deficits; and in the end, whether the money seems large or small will depend on whether you like what it is doing. The issue isn't the cost but how we want to use our national resources. Canceling the Bush tax breaks for households earning above $200,000 would soon save over $100 billion annually. Ending the war in Iraq, another $100 billion. There's your jobs program.

While a broad federal jobs program would cost money up front, in the long run it would create wealth by enriching the quality of our lives and adding millions of new workers, who in turn would pay taxes and contribute to Social Security. It would diminish the number of people on welfare and food stamps, while stimulating job creation in other sectors. In sum, it would increase overall social well-being. Remember, too, the aim of a government jobs program is not simply that every adult has a full-time job. Rather, it is to ensure that eventually more people will have jobs that pay well. People should earn enough to support a family. They should be able to create enough of a financial cushion that they can step out of the labor force to care for children, tend to sick relatives, or engage in the democratic process. Copyright (c) 2008 Commonweal Foundation --

*Frank Stricker [Advisory Board and Executive Committee member, National Jobs for All Coalition] is a professor of history, labor studies, and interdisciplinary studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills, is the author of Why America Lost the War on Poverty-and How to Win It (University of North Carolina Press, 2007).

reposted at: National Jobs for All Coalition http://www.njfac.org/

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Friday, November 7, 2008

Longer-term jobless benefits hit 25-year high

Longer-term jobless benefits hit 25-year high

By JEANNINE AVERSA – November 6, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of out-of-work Americans drawing unemployment benefits has surged to a 25-year high, while shoppers turned extra frugal, further proof of the damage from sinking economy, credit problems and financial stresses.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of people continuing to draw unemployment benefits jumped by 122,000 to 3.84 million in late October, well above analysts' estimates of 3.74 million. That was the highest level since late February 1983, when the country was struggling to
recover from a long and painful recession. The year-ago tally was 2.59 million people...





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Thursday, November 6, 2008

How about a New Deal for Youth?

C. Warren Moses, the CEO of the Children's Aid Society, based in New York City, has written a great open letter to President-elect Obama, urging increased public investment in infrastructure and social services:

As Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times last month, “It’s politically fashionable to rant against government spending and demand fiscal responsibility. But right now, increased government spending is just what the doctor ordered, and concerns about the budget deficit should be put on hold.”

FDR did just that in 1936, when he created the Works Progress Administration. Unemployment hovered around 25%, and people needed jobs. From 1936 to 1939, $7 billion was spent ($104 billion in today’s dollars) to hire laborers to build schools, hospitals, roads and lay sewer and water lines across the country. New York City’s LaGuardia Airport was built thanks to the WPA, as was the presidential retreat Camp David and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

It's essential that a similar investment be made in the fabric of our society. What if we had a plan that pledged to focus on the future of our children? What if we invested in training and hiring teachers? What if we made community college free for anyone, just like K-12 education? What if, instead of incarcerating children for their crimes and sending them to juvenile detention facilities where all they learn is how to become better criminals, we coached and mentored them into believing there's another way out of poverty?

I believe the America we would wind up with would, just as happened in the 1950s, be a better one that we had before. Times are tough, and they will be tougher on some than others. But we can find a way to build the economy while
investing in our future. Better educated children today will be the profit-earning leaders of tomorrow. Better preventive medical care now will reduce health care costs later. If we spend money on programs that make this happen, I believe it will be a fundamental factor in our future economic success.

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Saturday, November 1, 2008

The Massive Wealth Redistribution that Doesn't Bother John McCain

The Massive Wealth Redistribution that Doesn't Bother John McCain

By Sarah Anderson and Sam Pizzigati, AlterNet
November 1, 2008

Thank you, John McCain, for shoving the issue of "redistributing wealth" back into political primetime. Just two problems. You're only a quarter-century or so late -- and you have everything backwards.

Senator McCain, you're attacking Senator Obama for trying to "redistribute" our nation's wealth with his plan to raise taxes on America's rich. But America's wealth is already being redistributed. Over recent decades, in fact, we've seen here in the United States the most massive redistribution of wealth in world history -- and you haven't said a word to complain.
This redistribution has been taking dollars out of the pockets of average Americans and stuffing them into the pockets of the power-suits and wheeler-dealers who sit in America's corporate executive suites and play money games on Wall Street.

Just how massive has this redistribution -- up the income ladder -- actually been?

In 2006, the most recent year with IRS figures available, 90 percent of American families took home less than $104,000. Families in this bottom 90 percent made, on average, $30,659. That's 2 percent less than the bottom 90 percent of American families averaged, after adjusting for inflation, back in 1973.


Meanwhile, since 1973, the wallets of Americans at the top of the income ladder have been swelling monumentally. The top 1 percent in our country, analyses of IRS data by University of California economist Emmanuel Saez indicate, have seen their incomes more than triple. The incomes of the top tenth of 1 percent -- taxpayers who averaged $6.3 million in income in 2006 -- have more than quintupled.

Let's look at this whopping redistribution from another angle. Let's assume that none of this redistribution had ever taken place. Let's assume that we had the same exact distribution of income in the United States today as we had back in 1973.

If that were the case, where would average Americans be? The simple answer: Much better off than they currently are.

If the redistribution upwards since 1973 had not taken place, if the average American family in the bottom 90 percent were today getting the same share of the nation's income as the average bottom 90 percent family received in 1973, this average family would now be taking home in income over $10,000 more per year.

John McCain, so far as we know, has never criticized this colossal redistribution of wealth we have as a nation been experiencing. That may be because this redistribution -- to the rich -- really started revving up when his hero, Ronald Reagan, became President in 1981.

The rich were paying taxes on their income over $400,000 at a 70 percent rate when Reagan entered the White House. Right now, on that income, they pay taxes at no more than 35 percent.
And that's before loopholes. After exploiting loopholes, our richest pay taxes at about half that rate. In 2005, for instance, the top 400 income-earners in the United States took home an average $214 million. They paid only 18.5 percent of that in federal income tax.

Barack Obama wants to hike the top tax rate on income in the highest tax bracket up to 39.6 percent. For proposing this modest increase, he's now getting blasted by the McCain campaign as someone will be "taking your money and giving it to someone else." Obama, McCain charges, wants to "penalize success."

Penalize success? Don't America's workers contribute to the success of the American economy? Just since 2000 alone, the productivity of workers in the United States has increased a hefty 18 percent, notes the Economic Policy Institute. Yet incomes for working Americans aren't now even keeping up with inflation.

That's the real penalty for success in the U.S. economy today. But if you're sitting way at the top of America's economic ladder looking down, this penalty can be awfully hard to see. John McCain, sad to say, just doesn't see it.

Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Program for the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. Sam Pizzigati, an Institute associate fellow, edits Too Much, on online weekly on excess and inequality.

© 2008 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/105653/

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A Changed World For Workers

The "new" economy of globalization, deregulation, and high incomes for the few is one in which many workers can no longer expect long-term employment, health insurance, or secure pensions from employers, nor incomes that rise much over their lifetime. In this era of flexible labor markets, the right of firms to lay off workers at will should be matched by the right of workers to find another job at decent pay quickly, backed by unemployment insurance high enough to maintain them while they look for another job. And unemployment insurance should cover all the unemployed, rather than the roughly 42% who receive it now.

In short, we need a new social contract. The uncertainties of the new global economy require that the government accepts responsibility for ensuring that people who want work can find it, that full-time work provides an income sufficient to support a family, and that alternatives to formerly employment-based protections are available. These policies would serve the economy as a whole as well as workers and their families.

The proposal of the National Jobs for All Coalition, Shared Prosperity and the Drive for Decent Work, promises to begin the creation of a new social contract. Its focus on decent work is even more pertinent now, with the developing economic crisis: it meshes job creation with the well-known needs to repair our crumbling infrastructure and to expand social services to meet the new reality of many one-parent families and those in which both parents work.

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Shouldn't We Raise Wages for Child Care Workers?

An op-ed published in the Delaware News Journal recently highlighted the appalling crisis of low wages for child care workers.

...Early-care programs have significant difficulty finding any worker to take positions -- and even more difficulty finding qualified workers willing to accept the salaries the market offers. Child-care workers' average wage in 2007 was $9.92 per hour. The starting wage is $7.72 per hour.

The average 2007 wages for a Delaware hairdresser was $13.08. School crossing guards made $12.23 and tire repair workers earned $11.35.

Many early-care workers' incomes meet the federal poverty guidelines for families.

Given new job requirements and low wages, we have heard many early-childhood professionals now counseling their own children and friends to choose other work than early education.

It is also unrealistic to expect the early-care and education centers themselves -- particularly those that serve the neediest children -- to increase salaries without a major cultural and policy shift that places more value on nurturing the development of children and a dramatic change in the state's purchase-of-care subsidies for low-income families...

[K]eeping current teachers and attracting new qualified teachers will not be possible if this issue is not addressed. Otherwise, the weight of the increasing number of initiatives mandating higher standards will only collapse a fragile and inadequate care and educational system for young children.



The Drive for Decent Work, the National Jobs for All Coalition's program for creating jobs through public investment, includes child care as a prominent part of our program. We'd like to see the federal government dramatically increase block grants for child care, and raise wages of workers.


As we've pointed out:
...Expanded public investment in child care makes good economic sense and helps pay for itself over the long run... A study of child care in New York State has found that each federal dollar spent generates more than $2 in local economic activity. Each job created by increased local demand for child care generates nearly 1.3 jobs in the broader state economy, and each additional job created by an increase in external demand for child care generates 1.5 jobs.

In Kentucky, the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development has published a new report documenting the struggles of local child care providers.
“There isn’t enough money in childcare around here to sustain it as a quality business,” says Bonita Adams, Co-Director of the Appalachian Early Childhood Development Center in Whitesburg. “They want to bring manufacturing and development to our area, but you have to have quality child care to support the families who need those jobs. The children need a loving and nurturing environment that will lay the foundation for their future success,” says Adams.

“The reality of the economy in eastern Kentucky today means most parents can’t afford full-price tuition and the state subsidy isn’t sufficient to cover the full cost of care,” says Justin Maxson, MACED President. “It is a no-win situation that must be addressed.”

The report indicates that investments in the child care industry pay dividends in increased productivity and improved quality of life, but child care providers in rural Appalachian Kentucky face significant market barriers to providing high-quality care...

In the distressed counties of Appalachian Kentucky, where more than 30 percent of the population lives in poverty, many child care centers are not financially sustainable.

According to the report, which is available online in PDF format:

Estimates suggest that for each dollar spent on quality early childhood education and care, the public saves between $2 and $17 in future spending on education, welfare, social services and crime (Barnett 1996; RAND 2005; Prichard Committee 2007; Warner et al. 2004).

Bottom line -- the private sector acting on its own is simply not going to solve this problem. The US needs much more public investment in child care, to support parents who work and go to school. Such a policy would promote a better quality of life for kids, parents and teachers, and help ensure long-term economic growth for all.




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Where's the Federal Help for State and Local Government?

As we pointed out in the Progressive Populist many months ago, the economic stimulus package adopted by Congress should have included help for struggling state and local government, as it was easy to forsee that their budgets would be hit in a downturn. It's not too late for Congress to revisit this issue.


As reported by VOA News:

In the House Ways & Means Committee, state governors, a city mayor, and state and local officials called for another government stimulus plan.

New York Governor David Paterson said his state is among 25 U.S. states facing huge deficits. "There are 25 states in deficit, totaling more than $48 billion of debt. Their projections for 2010 are spiked upward incredibly. There will be 39 states in deficit and the amounts owed total over $105 billion."

Among more dire warnings, Robert Greenstein, of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, spoke of potential sharp increases in poverty, with Americans facing what he calls holes in the social safety that did not exist during previous deep recessions in the 1970's and 1980's: "I think we are facing a growing prospect of levels of destitution, not just poverty, destitution, severe hardship and increases in homelessness that we haven't seen in several decades," he said.


Among other things, New York's Gov. Paterson called for Congress to approve an increase in the Federal Medicaid match (FMAP) to help states deal with increased costs for health care because of rising unemployment. An increase in the FMAP is critical both for ensuring financial health of state Medicaid programs, and preventing job losses that will aggravate the economic slowdown.



The US Conference of Mayors is calling for an $150 billion Main Street Stimulus package (nice name!!), which would include extended unemployment benefits, additional support for food stamps, and funds for short-term infrastructure projects.


A second stimulus package is also strongly supported by the AFL-CIO.

All initiatives of our Main Street Stimulus meet the jobs and infrastructure criteria of quick short-term investments to stimulate Main Street with jobs for unemployed workers and economic activity for businesses in our metro areas. We have added three initiatives to the House-passed bill. They are Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Infrastructure, Green Jobs- Energy/Environment Block Grants, and Public Safety. In addition, we are adamant that highway funds must be distributed through the Surface Transportation Program to ensure the flexibility of funding will be given directly to our local officials to meet the infrastructure needs in our metro areas.

In all three of these initiatives, CDBG, Energy Block Grants, and STP, upwards of 30 percent would be sent to the 50 states. The remaining 70 percent of these three initiatives would go to cities and county areas - which accounts for 90 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.





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Economic Policy Institute: Underemployment at 14-year High

Economic Policy Institute Snapshot for October 15, 2008.

Stimulus now! Underemployment at 14-year high

by Nooshin Mahalia

The growing number of underemployed workers is painting a grim picture of the difficulties jobseekers are facing. Underemployment is a more comprehensive measure of labor market slack than headline-grabbing unemployment rates because it also includes part-time workers who want full-time jobs ("involuntarily" part-time workers), and jobless workers who want a job but are not actively seeking employment ("marginally attached" workers).

At 11%, the underemployment rate in September was at its highest in more than 14 years. The underemployed currently includes about 9.5 million unemployed workers, 6.1 million involuntarily part-time workers, and 1.6 million workers only marginally attached to the workforce.1 The fact that one out of every nine U.S. workers is now either unemployed or underemployed is clear evidence of the need for a second stimulus package targeted at job creation.



enlarge imageUnderemployed workers, September 2008

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The Next WPA?

Wired magazine points out benefits of new WPA!

Note to Next President: Modern-Day WPA Will Save the Economy

By Dave Demerjian

...The next president must commit to fixing our infrastructure. Such an investment will create jobs, strengthen our economy and make America more competitive...

Of the two candidates, Obama's said the most about the issue, but even he isn't saying much. At the bottom of the sixth page of his economic policy paper (.pdf), Obama calls for the creation of a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank. It would "expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments." On the face of it, that means a new chunk of money would be allocated for infrastructure projects as opposed to simply shifting cash from other projects. Obama wants to deposit $60 billion into the bank over five years. That's far short of the $225 billion a bipartisan transportation policy commission recommends spending each year for the next 50 years, but it's a start. If Obama's numbers are to be trusted, the bank would create two million jobs and generate $35 billion in economic activity each year.

As for McCain, he hasn't said much of anything. If anyone's seen a specific infrastructure platform from him, we'd like to see it. That said, his record so far isn't stellar. Among other things, he's called for a national gas tax holiday, which would save people pennies at the pump but take money away from the already strained Highway Trust Fund, which finances construction projects. Three years ago, McCain voted against the Transportation Equity Act, which provided more than $286 billion for transportation infrastructure.

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WPA Posters


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