susan the bruce

"Asset Poor" Households Growing in Number

2012-01-31T12:47:00.007-05:00

A new report by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) shows a major increase in what they call "asset poor" households:

In the United States, 27 percent of all households are “asset poor,” meaning they lack the savings or other assets to cover basic expenses for just three months if a layoff or other emergency
leads to loss of income, according to the 2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard, released today by the
Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED). Since the release of the 2009-2010 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard, the number of asset poor families has increased by 21 percent from one in five families to one in
four families. The asset poverty rate is now nearly twice as high as the Census Bureau’s official income
poverty rate of 15.1 percent.

An increase of 21% is certainly significant.

“Growing numbers of families have almost no savings or other assets to see them through if they lose their jobs or face a medical crisis,” said Andrea Levere, president of CFED. “Without savings, few will be able to build a more economically secure future, including buying a home, saving for their children’s college educations or building a retirement nest egg.”

Levere added that the Scorecard findings are “particularly disturbing in the context of precipitous drops in
incomes for many Americans and widening of the wealth gap between the richest and poorest households.”

Last year Business Insider provided us with 15 graphs looking at income inequality and wealth in the US. Graph #5 illustrates the flat wages many of us have experienced since at least 1990.

A look at key findings from the report shows something of crucial importance:

One in five jobs (22 percent) is low wage and nearly half of employers (46 percent) do not offer health insurance. Most workers (55 percent) do not have or participate in retirement plans. These low- quality jobs make it harder for families to both meet their needs today and create a reserve for tomorrow.

As wages continue to stagnate, good paying jobs are replaced with low wage jobs, and the costs of housing, food, transportation, heating oil, and everything else continue to rise, how will people save for the future, when they can't even make ends meet in the present?

And why aren't the presidential candidates talking about this?

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Shakir E-Mails Immortalized

2012-01-31T11:30:00.004-05:00

Regular readers and locals will remember this name: Ray Shakir. Ray, a guy who made his money in NY, (at a union job, no less) moved to NH to tell folks here how to spend THEIR money, mostly by not educating kids. He's written obnoxious letters to the editor of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper for years, shooting his mouth off at every opportunity. He went a little too far, in a series of emails where he referred to President Obama as a "jungle alien" and a "n*gger." Shakir's racism went national, thanks to a story in Mother Jones magazine. He's been a little subdued since then. GOP candidates don't come to his house or his parties any more. His letters to the paper are infrequent, and no longer reach the soaring heights of bellicosity he could command.

This is the same sweet guy who sent a letter to the paper after I hit a moose with my car in 2003, and commented that it was too bad I hadn't been killed in the crash.

Ray's email exchange with one local resident has been immortalized forever by xtranormal:

Take Down the Tea Party Ten

2012-01-29T20:54:00.007-05:00

The folks at CREDO Action have formed a Super Pac, intended to: Take Down the Tea Party Ten in 2012. The Super Pac has chosen 6 (so far) of the 10 worst offenders from the Tea Party House. The biggest offenders in the areas of : Sexism, racism, science denial, hypocrisy, and of course sheer crazy.

So, what's the point? One of the chosen is our very own NH CD 1 Congressman Frank Guinta. Frank of the "forgotten" $350,000 bank account. Frank who would force a rape victim to incubate the spawn of her rapist. Frank who voted against additional FEMA funding to help our state rebuild after Hurricane Irene devastated parts of the state. Frank whose allegiance is to the Koch Brothers, not the people of District One. Frank who got elected with the help of the Tea Party, but didn't even join their caucus.

The CREDO Super Pac is going to be funded with small donations, and unlike the other Super Pacs, will also be transparent. No secrets about where the money came from. The Super Pac will be used to pay for offices in each of the targeted districts, to pay organizing staff, new media folks - who will roll up their sleeves and get to work on throwing the bums out. CREDO has over 2.5 million activists around the country, waiting to get involved.

This is a campaign to oust. Not a campaign to elect. The folks working for various candidates can take care of that.

So far the rest of the Big Ten list consists of: Joe Walsh, Sean Duffy, Steve King, Chip Cravaack, and Allan West. The remaining 4 of the Big Ten will be chosen soon.

The CREDO Super Pac is planning to put a lot of resources into ousting the odious. As we learned in 2006, committed citizen activists can have a huge impact on an election. We kicked Jeb Bradley to the curb, and voted in Carol Shea Porter. None of that would have been possible without all of the folks who went to Bradley's town hall meetings and asked him pointed questions about Social Security and Medicare. CREDO will be opening an office, hiring staff, organizing volunteers, and engaging the new media. With their help, we'll be saying goodbye to Fraudulent Frank, come November.

Things should start happening in March. I'll keep you posted.

The Desperate Need for Affordable Housing

2012-01-29T17:48:00.006-05:00

In July I wrote about folk stampeding for Section 8 housing vouchers in Dallas, when thousands of people showed up, some waiting all night, to get vouchers for subsidized housing. It was a terrible story.

Since then, nothing much has changed, other than the fact that even more people are in need of affordable housing. From The Nation:

In Oakland, California, which opened its waiting list in January, officials expected as many as 100,000 people to apply for 10,000 vouchers. In Atlanta, sixty-two people were injured in 2010 at an East Point shopping center where 30,000 lined up after the local housing authority opened its waiting list for the first time in eight years. Even small communities like Aiken, South Carolina, saw hundreds queuing up in October for a chance at housing aid about as likely as seeing three cherries in a row on a Vegas slot machine.

Another way you can find tangible evidence of the housing affordability crunch is by visiting one of New York City’s exploding number of homeless shelters, where a record 41,000 homeless people bed down each night, including more than 17,000 children. The New York Times recently told the story of one of those children, fourth-grader N-Dia Layne, who travels two and a half hours each day between her Upper Manhattan shelter and her school in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood. In Cleveland, the number of homeless families and kids grew so rapidly this past summer that for the first time shelters were forced to eliminate daytime meals, housing-search assistance and other services in order to move workers to the overnight shifts, according to Brian Davis of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.

I had to read those New York numbers a few times. I can't imagine that there are over 17,000 homeless children in NY City and this isn't an issue being discussed in the endless presidential debates?

By nearly any measure, there are fewer and fewer homes affordable to working-class and poor Americans. The federal housing agency’s annual assessment finds that “worst-case housing needs” grew by 42 percent from 2001 to 2009, and nationwide there is a shortfall of nearly 3.5 million housing units for the poorest households. According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the share of renter households with the most severe cost burdens—that is, where more than half of income goes to rent and utilities—grew from a fifth to a quarter over the past decade and has doubled in the past half-century. And as household incomes stagnated for most of the past decade and then dropped during the economic crisis, the nation saw its already inadequate stock of cheap rental housing shrink even faster.

It's pretty simple, really. The cost of living is increasingly high, while wages are increasingly low. It's not a recipe for keeping a roof over one's head.

All of the plans to "end homelessness in 10 years," either are, or will be abject failures. The programs were all underfunded, and as the budget for federal housing programs continues to shrink, their failure is guaranteed. In the name of "deficit reduction" these programs are being cut, and cut again - with the goal being to eliminate them all together.

Despite the bleak policy landscape and the worsening affordability crisis, many local advocates and people working on the front lines talk about the renewed energy and hope generated by the nascent Occupy movement and the revived national discourse about income inequality. Donovan talks hopefully about the “other 1 percent”—the homeless and poor—saying that the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the superrich 1 percent is “causing the other 1 percent to agitate, and to show that homeless people are something other than a herded mass. They’re saying, Enough is enough.”

The Occupy movement changed the national discussion when it began last fall. Instead of deficits and debt, we're now hearing about income inequality, joblessness, and a host of other issues that weren't even on the horizon over the summer. It is my hope (as someone living with housing insecurity) that Occupy brings housing to the forefront of our national dialogue.

cross posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

We Need Jobs That Pay the Bills

2012-01-27T09:36:00.004-05:00

We hear a lot of talk about job creation, and bringing jobs back to America. We hear nothing about the kind of jobs we need the most: jobs that provide decent wages. From the Los Angeles Times:

While productivity has grown by more than 80% over the last 30 years, wages have effectively been flat for 80% of Americans. So, although we're making stuff faster and more efficiently, the benefits of that hard work have not trickled into the pockets of the people who do it.

In other words, more work for less pay.

First, companies are coming back to the United States because wages here are dropping, in real terms. At the same time, lower-wage corporate nirvanas such as China are no longer as cheap an alternative as they once were, partly because the sea of people who worked for next to nothing for so long have had enough and are rising up in protest.

The US is becoming the place to outsource low paying jobs to.

Second, most of the jobs coming back are not high-wage, union jobs with full healthcare and pensions. In fact, with concerted efforts by Republican governors in the Midwest to eviscerate union rights, times have never been better for corporate leaders seeking to lower labor costs. With labor costs in the U.S. dropping relative to those in the Third World, the president's offer of tax incentives to other companies that in-source is unnecessary. As Citizens for Tax Justice points out, using a 2007 Bush administration study, corporations based in the United States already have plenty of tax incentive to locate here because "the United States takes a below-average share of corporate income in taxes compared to other developed countries."

and

If you add those people to the people who have full-time work at or just above the minimum wage, at least 1 in 5 Americans — 30 million people — does not have a decent job. Which explains why, according to the Census Bureau, 46 million people — or about 15% of Americans — live in poverty, the highest percentage since 1993.

This is a nasty reality that politicians shy far, far away from, when they talk about jobs. Many of us (I'm one of that 15%) are relying on part time jobs, or low paying jobs that result in us not having enough to live on. This means more people relying on the shrinking safety net, and the kindness of family and friends.

We need the kind of jobs that will rebuild the middle class.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Mobile Food Pantries Helping Rural Nevada

2012-01-20T12:08:00.005-05:00

Food banks in Nevada are trying to reach small communities in rural areas by setting up mobile food pantries. A truck comes in, volunteers unload, and begin to distribute the food. By the time they finish, nothing is left.
From the Las Vegas Sun:

The mobile pantries differ from traditional pantries because they’re scheduled, mass-distribution events that can quickly serve thousands of people, said John Livingston, Three Square’s chief operating officer.

and

As the Sandy Valley operation proved successful, Three Square officials scouted other locations that would benefit based on factors such as access to grocery stores, nutritious food availability and existing agencies’ capacity to feed those in need, Livingston said.

Without having to rely on a fixed location, the trucks can travel to the areas that have the greatest need.

Grace Immanuel sits in ZIP code 89106, where 27 percent of residents may go hungry despite food stamps and other services already provided in the area, according to a Feeding America report using 2010 data. It’s the same situation in neighboring ZIP codes.

Other mobile pantries began in surrounding rural areas known as “food deserts”: Pahrump, Mesquite and, earlier this month, Laughlin, Livingston said. A Caliente location will begin in February, he added.

Given that Nevada consistently has the highest unemployment rates in the US, it's good to see organizations working together to provide assistance to folks in small communities that are often underserved. This is truly a creative solution.

Cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Moving to Gilead

2012-01-19T23:51:00.004-05:00

The current NH House of Representatives packed so much crazy into the last year, it’s difficult to imagine that there could be more. But there is more, so much more. The NH House is comprised of Free Staters, Teabaggers, and John Birchers, all simmering together in the least appetizing stew one could be served. Throw in a couple of outraged, old fashioned Main St. Republicans, and you’ve captured the essence of the O’Brien lead House.

In 2010, the Republicans campaigned on their perpetual slogan, “NH doesn’t have a revenue problem, NH has a spending problem” and their promise of a laser-like focus on job creation. Voters responded to these craven statements by electing any dimwit (see Harty, Martin) having an “R” next to his or her name. NH has long had a spending problem, but not the one the freebaglicans claim. NH doesn’t spend enough money in some very important areas. Take infrastructure. According to the American Society of Civil engineers: 51% of NH bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, 27% of NH ‘s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition, and there are 106 high hazard dams in NH. (This is only a sampling of NH infrastructure needs.) The “repair and maintain” can gets kicked down the road every 2 years, so that ultimately the state will pay the pound of cure. Or in the case of that bridge from Milton to Lebanon, ME the local businesses will go under while the bridge remains inoperable. Don’t look to the current legislature to actually address an actual need. They’re far too interested in making bold power grabs, eliminating the judiciary, eliminating public education, eliminating voting, eliminating women, and assigning everyone a gun. They realize they have to work fast, because most are unlikely to be reelected, thanks to the national humiliation they’ve brought upon our state.

By my (inexact) count, there are at least 5 bills aimed at gerrymandering districts, 15 anti-education bills, 10 involving elections, 6 anti-voting, 10 anti-union, 10 anti-local control, 10 telling Congress what to do, 11 gun bills, 2 whiny men bills, and at least 10 anti-women bills. There are also plenty of nonsensical bills. More on those next time.

With HB 1659, the forced birth crowd wants women to have a 24 hour waiting period to read incorrect anti-abortion propaganda before going through the LEGAL procedure of abortion. Apparently we wimmin are so dumb, we need men to make our decisions for us. We are not, however, too dumb to serve as involuntary incubators. HB 1660 would eliminate abortions after 20 weeks, and HB 1679 would eliminate partial birth abortions, even though there is no such medical procedure, and third trimester abortions. Third trimester abortions account for about 0.04% of abortions. (That’s four hundredths of one percent) These women have late term abortions for health reasons. Like saving the life of the woman, which doesn’t appear to be a concern of the folks who wrote this bill. Those health reasons are not the business of the people who want to stick their noses into women’s medical privacy. What about freedom and liberty, and no gummint interference in your personal life? Oh, right! That only applies to white, heterosexual men.

HB 1680 would compel HHS to compile and maintain termination of pregnancy statistics. That, dear readers, means making a list of names, and demonizing the women that had a legal medical procedure somewhere down the line. Get out your red capes, girls. We’re moving to Gilead.

The NH House voted this week to defund Planned Parenthood. Public money isn’t used for the legal procedure known as abortion, but that matters naught to the men who want to make decisions for women. Planned Parenthood does, however, do: pap smears, breast exams, STD screenings, and provides low cost birth control to low-income women. What the NH legislature is telling women is this: you have no value. We don’t care if you get cancer. Our only concern is a nebulous potential fetus. So, if you get ovarian cancer, that’s your tough luck, slut. The men who claim to value life above all else don’t place any value on YOUR life, if you’re a woman. Speaker O’Brien has attached an amendment to this that would ban public employee health plans from covering the legal procedure known as abortion. Papa Doc O’Brien knows what’s best for you silly girlies.

Imagine if all this scrutiny were aimed at male genitalia. It’s time to stop boys and men from murdering trillions of potential people every day via the Sin of Onan. Where is the GOP concern for all of that killing? Where is the cry for HHS masturbation statistics? Surely that information needs to be close at hand, along with the names of the multiple offenders. And isn’t it time for these good Republican Christians to be forced to go before a panel to explain why they need a Viagra prescription? It better be for purposes of procreation only, with only a legal spouse, in one of those “between a man and a woman” marriages. Men must come to terms with the fact that their impotence is God’s will, and stop trying to do an end run around God’s plan for them.
 Either women are equal human beings, or chattel. If having a functioning uterus makes women property of the state, than it’s time for the state to start picking up the tab for the support and maintenance of their property. In fact, boys, I’d be wary about all those unlicensed guns you’re advocating for. The women just might start fighting back. I only hope I live long enough to see it.

“Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors.” Evelyn Cunningham

© 2012 sbruce
Printed as an op-ed in the January 20, 1012 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.

Nation's Mayors Exasperated With Congress

2012-01-18T22:29:00.004-05:00

The US Conference of Mayors is meeting in Washington, and expressing their disgust with the ongoing spending cuts that leave their cities firmly mired in the ongoing economic crisis.

New York Times:

Only 26 of the nation’s 363 metropolitan areas had recovered their lost jobs by the end of 2011, and only 26 more are projected to recover them by end of this year, according to the report, which was commissioned by the United States Conference of Mayors. It will take at least five years for the 80 hardest-hit areas to recover the jobs they lost, the report forecast.

and

Not only has Congress failed to overcome partisan gridlock to agree on a way to created much-needed jobs by spending more money on infrastructure, mayors said, but even the small sources of federal support that cities rely on — whether the Community Development Block Grants that were devised by Republican administrations in the 1970s or more recent federal programs that help struggling cities pay for more police officers or firefighters — are being scaled back as Washington has made cutting the deficit a priority.

Now, here's a thought:

Mayor James Brainard of Carmel, Ind., a Republican, said that the country must get to a point where it spends less than it collects in revenues, but that it must be done over years, carefully.

“We have to recognize that it can’t be done in one year without throwing us into a huge, much worse depression than we’ve had,” he said. “It needs to be a multiyear plan that doesn’t create terrible hardship.”

The report commissioned by the mayors can be found here.

The opening lines of the introduction:

No one has been hit harder by the Great Recession than the 8.8 million Americans who have lost their jobs during the most significant economic downturn in generations.

Our nation’s mayors are focused on doing everything we can to help the jobless, the underemployed, and those worried about losing their jobs.

That kind of concern is a real contrast to all the unemployed bashing we've seen by members of Congress and the presidential candidates. Let's hope that folks in Washington are paying attention while the mayors are in town.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Wyoming: Highest Rate of Workplace Fatalities

2012-01-13T13:56:00.006-05:00

The gas, oil, and mining industries are booming in Wyoming. A new report shows that workplace fatalities are booming, too. From the New York Times:

A report compiled by an epidemiologist hired by the state and released on Jan. 3, found that Wyoming’s work sites lacked what it called a culture of safety and that proper safety procedures were not followed in the vast majority of cases when someone was killed on the job.

The report also noted that Wyoming had the highest workplace fatality rate in the country for all but one year from 2003 through 2008. In 2010, the last year that data was provided, Wyoming’s estimated occupational death rate was three and a half times the national average, the report said.

Granted, workers know going in that these are dangerous jobs. But this report emphasizes that proper safety procedures were not followed in most cases.

“We have a system where there’s no accountability, where the employer has no incentive to be responsive,” said John Vincent, a former mayor of Riverton, who has represented the families of dead and injured oil and gas workers in his law practice and has worked on the legislative effort. “People are afraid to sue. They won’t report injuries. They’ll just stay at home until they get better.”

The online publication New West Politics also covered this report. The fatality numbers in Wyoming did actually decrease in 2010 (when Montana took first place) but:

“More than half of the 16,000-plus jobs lost in Wyoming were in natural resource development and construction, and these bear the most dangerous occupational risks,” Wyoming state occupational epidemiologist Timothy Ryan told WyoFile in a recent interview.

Ryan fears that when the economy picks up and hiring resumes in the construction, oil, mining, and gas industries, the fatalities will also increase again.

A story from 2011 that illustrates the lack of "a culture of safety" in the workplace:

On January 5, Kyle Rooke, 42, of Drummond, Id., was struck by drilling mud when a standpipe valve failed on a drilling rig south of Pinedale. The drilling mud caught fire, according to the Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Rooke died before medical responders arrived at the scene.

A Wyoming OSHA investigation revealed several alleged safety violations. Rooke wasn’t wearing flame-retardant clothing, and had the rig operator — Unit Drilling Co. — conducted a “protective equipment assessment” the company should have realized that flame-retardant clothing was necessary for the job Rooke was performing, according to Wyoming OSHA.

The investigation, according to OSHA officials, also found improperly functioning equipment related to the accident that should have been repaired, replaced or removed. As a result of those and other safety violations on the rig, Wyoming OSHA issued several citations to Unit Drilling Co., totaling $23,250 in fines. The company has until July 13 to contest the citations or agree to pay.

These fines are substantially higher than fines levied in the past.

The four workplace fatalities that Wyoming OSHA investigated in 2010 resulted in a total $9,125 in fines, according to federal OSHA documents. That’s an average $2,281 for violations contributing to the death of a worker.

Not exactly an incentive for the company to change - and a sorry commentary on how worker's lives are valued.

Other steps are being made to improve workplace safety in Wyoming. In June approximately 200 companies within the oil and gas industry formally signed an alliance with Wyoming OSHA. The Wyoming Oil and Gas Industry Safety Alliance (WOGISA) seeks to raise safety awareness, identify best practices and share training resources. Already in the works is a training program for “first-line” supervisors.

All worthy goals, and hopefully this alliance will have a positive impact on the worker safety issue in Wyoming. Of course there's nothing like having a report like this make national news to provide even more of an incentive to change.

A study on workplace safety done at the University of Michigan had some interesting results:

New research by Roland Zullo of the Institute for Research on Labor, Employment and the Economy shows that right-to-work laws result in the underfunding of safety training and accident-prevention activities.

Wyoming is a right-to-work-state.

Although he found no direct association between right-to-work laws and industry and occupation fatalities Zullo’s findings suggest that the estimated effect union density has on reducing worker deaths does depend on state right-to-work laws. In states without such laws, a 1 percent increase in union density correlates with a 0.35 percent decline in the ratio of industry fatalities and a 0.58 percent drop in the occupation fatality ratio.

“Unions appear to have a positive role in reducing construction industry and occupation fatalities, but only in states without right-to-work laws,” he said.

RTW may not be to blame for the high rate of worker fatalities in Wyoming, but it certainly hasn't helped. Zullo's research should be taken into consideration by any state considering a RTW law.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Has Vigorous Agenda

2012-01-06T10:29:00.004-05:00

Last month the Senate used the filibuster to prevent President Obama's nomination to direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As a result, the president installed Cordray as director by using executive power to make a recess appointment.

From the New York Times:

The new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau outlined a vigorous oversight and enforcement agenda on Thursday, saying that financial companies that take unfair advantage of consumers would face “real consequences.”

The director, Richard Cordray, who was appointed to the post on Wednesday by President Obama, encouraged consumers to contact the agency through its Web site with complaints about banks, payday lenders and other financial institutions that they think have sold deceptive products or engaged in abusive behavior.

Finally! At last, consumers will have a place to go to make complaints about shady mortgage companies, banks, title loan companies, and payday lenders. This is great news for the bottom 99%.

The agency’s most immediate focus will be on so-called nonbank financial companies — money transfer agencies, credit bureaus and private mortgage lenders, for example — which have fallen outside the authority of most regulators, Mr. Cordray said.

That these companies have been unregulated is just not acceptable.

“Many subprime loans during the housing bubble were made by nonbank mortgage brokers,” he added. “Since most of these businesses are not used to any federal oversight, our new supervision program may be a challenge for them. But we must establish clear standards of conduct so that all financial providers play by the rules.”

That's very diplomatically put. What he's saying, of course, is that these companies are going to be held accountable for their actions, which is long overdue. Richard Cordray plans to move forward "promptly and vigorously" and that is good news for all of us.

People who have complaints are urged to contact the new bureau directly at: www.consumerfinance.gov

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

First in the Nation

2012-01-05T21:12:00.003-05:00

The Iowa caucuses are over, and the circus has come to NH. The national and international media are either here or on the way, and the whole world is watching. The Iowa caucus generated a lot of discussion about the relevance of Iowa in the Big Political Scheme of things. The effort to end New Hampshire’s favored First in the Nation status are ongoing. So, with all that in mind, knowing that they eyes of the world are upon us, the NH legislature has decided to stop pretending to have a laser like focus on job creation, and is bringing out the full on crazy. News sites and blogs are having a marvelous time laughing at NH, and the berserkers that we the people sent to Concord last year.

Some recent national headlines are courtesy of Rep. Jerry Bergevin of Manchester. Bergevin is a freshman legislature, one of the many Teabaglicans swept into office during the noxious red tide of 2010. Bergevin wants our public schools to teach creationism, and has filed two anti-evolution bills, in the hopes of dictating religious curriculum. Bergevin told the Concord Monitor that teaching evolution has a global societal impact that led to the rise of the Nazi party, and ultimately the Columbine massacre. (Warning: do not try to make sense of this.) Bergevin seems to be his own best proof that evolution is only a theory.

National headlines are also being made by a trio of freshman legislators who filed HB 1580, after a “brainstorming” session that seems more likely to have been binge drinking. HB 1580 stipulates: “All members of the general court proposing bills and resolutions addressing individual rights or liberties shall include a direct quote from the Magna Carta which sets forth the article from which the individual right or liberty is derived,”

That’s right, folks. The Magna Carta, a British charter issued in Latin in 1215, requiring King John to proclaim certain liberties. As a widow, I find comfort in this section of the document: “No widow shall be distrained to marry for so long as she wishes to live without a husband, provided that she gives surety that she will not marry without our assent if she holds of us, or without the assent of her lord, if she holds of another.” Does this make Speaker O’Brien my lord?

On January 5, the NH Senate passed HB 542, a bill that allows parents to pull their children out of any lesson they object to, and demand that the school replace it with alternative curriculum. In other words, parents can object to any course, and force the school to come up with an alternative. In a single class of 20 kids, that could mean 20 individual lesson plans. Not only is that unworkable for an already overworked teacher, it’s going to be mighty expensive for the local taxpayers. And that, readers, is the goal. The Teabaglicans are doing their best to eliminate public education by ensuring that it doesn’t work. This bill is so bad that even the Union Leader, propaganda arm of the NH GOP, is opposed to it. As I’ve said before, eliminating education is the best way to ensure more GOP voters.

Of course, that bill may not even be necessary. The just passed HB 334, which prohibits any private entity from prohibiting firearms or knives on any property owned “in whole or in part” by the public. That means that state colleges can’t ban weapons – and for that matter, neither can public kindergartens. All but 3 Carroll County Representatives voted in favor of this bill, by the way. Only Babson, Knox, and Patten voted against it. Guns in schools, guns in nursing homes, and guns in the state psychiatric hospital! Guns in civic arenas and stadiums! Guns and booze, guns and the mentally unstable, and guns and kids – what could go wrong? This is obviously a clever accompaniment to HB 542. Fewer students means lower educational costs.

Nowhere is there any concern being expressed for the sorry condition of our state’s infrastructure. A recent story in Fosters highlighted the closing of a bridge between the town of Milton, NH and Lebanon, ME. The bridge had been redlisted for a long time, and finally was too unsafe to remain open. Maine is willing to pony up their share of the cost of rebuilding, but NH doesn’t have the funds. And because people aren’t willing to drive miles out of their way to get to local businesses on the NH side, one business has already closed, and others may well be on the way. I’m sure a quote from the Magna Carta would be a great comfort to Colleen Savarese and Jeff Everett, who lost their small business and a big chunk of their future.

The O’Brien junta has offered no practical solutions to anything. Instead, this legislature has served up dementia on a plate at every opportunity. They’ve done their level best to ensure that no money comes in to our state coffers, guaranteeing that we won’t have that oft-touted “spending problem.” We don’t even have the money to fix our bridges.

The prospects of moving a business to NH seem increasingly unlikely. Why would a company choose to relocate to a state that is deliberately sabotaging its infrastructure and educational system?

The red tide swept in at a time when the legislature was beginning to repair some of the damage that 150 years of GOP rule had done to our state. The current legislature has set our state back even further. It will take decades to fix all of this, and I’m not sure it’s possible. Our backward tax structure guarantees that our infrastructure will continue to crumble, thanks to a legislature that seems to view Somalia as a model to emulate.

Meanwhile, the whole world is watching the side show the NH legislature is providing. Look for a big future fight questioning why the Magna Carta state should have any role at all in the presidential primary process.

© sbruce 2012

published as an op-ed in the January 6, 2012 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.

NH Right to Work: The Return of the Hydra

2012-01-05T14:37:00.007-05:00

In 2011, NH unions and supporters ultimately defeated HB 474, the first RTW bill filed by the current NH legislature. This was a real victory against the special interests and extremists at work in my state, but, sadly, it's too soon to do the victory lap.

In February 2011, the NH House passed HB 474, a so-called "right to work" bill. NH has been fighting RTW for decades. It's the hydra whose legs keep growing back, no matter how many times they're cut off. As I documented in a piece called Threatening Their Own, threats from anti-union thugs started before the NH Senate voted in April. In What's Behind Right to Work, we took a look at the special interests behind RTW, and linked to an opinion piece from the Keene Sentinel, written by former GOP state senator Mark Hounsell.

Current NH State Representative Lee Quandt has been an outspoken critic of the right to work agenda. Rep. Quandt is both a Republican and a former union member. On his own blog , Rep. Quandt refers to it as "right to work for less." Representative Quandt's criticism of the O'Brien led House resulted in his being kicked off the House Finance Committee. The current NH speaker tolerates no dissent from the members of his own party.

Finally, in December I wrote about the failure to override the veto of HB 474. There was a brief sigh of relief, but the speaker had promised that RTW would be back.

He wasn't kidding. It came back very quickly. HB 383, a bill that had been languishing in committee, suddenly loomed on the horizon. A piece called Son of Right to Work, at Blue Hampshire warned readers there that it was coming back, and provided a link to the bill's text. The bill is written to apply to state employees, but establishing a precedent is just what the union busters are hoping for.

Today the NH House passed 383, by a vote of 212 to 128. NH Labor News posted a press release from NH AFL-CIO President Mark McKenzie:

Today a clear bipartisan coalition of 128 state representatives rejected the attempt by special interests to repackage HB 474, the right-to-work law voted down by the House in December. The fact that over a third of our House representatives – both Republicans and Democrats - voted against HB 383's passage is a clear sign that Speaker O'Brien is losing momentum in his Tea Party-fueled campaign to pass the so-called right to work law.

While HB 383 only impacts state employees as currently written, it opens a back door for the Speaker and other Tea Party extremists to impose a right-to-work on all New Hampshire workers and businesses. Our legislators' continued opposition to the right-to-work law in any and all forms the Speaker that New Hampshire's people need jobs more than they need political attacks on workers.

As New Hampshire struggles out of this recession, Speaker O'Brien has shown no wavering from the extreme Tea Party agenda that has cost us thousands of jobs in the Granite State. Passing HB 383 is just another sign that the Speaker cannot admit defeat. He will push his agenda at any cost – regardless of how it impacts the people of New Hampshire.

In summary, NH defeated HB 474, the first RTW bill proposed by the current NH legislature. With HB 383, we're going to have to go through the same process all over again.

Speaker O'Brien is much less popular in 2012, and so is his extremist agenda. Four special elections have been held in the last year, and every single winning candidate opposed RTW. As Mark McKenzie points out, this is a bi-partisan coalition of over a third of the NH House that voted against HB 383. GOP partisans are increasingly willing to distance themselves from O'Brien, a movement that will continue to grow as we move closer to the November elections.

The speaker continues to assert that businesses won't locate to NH because we don't have a RTW law, even though when pressed, O'Brien was unable to name a single company that would move here if such a bill were enacted. In fact, Safrans, an international company, recently announced their intention to build a manufacturing facility in Rochester, NH, and create some 400 manufacturing jobs. Safrans seems to have been undeterred by a lack of RTW legislation in NH.

If Speaker O'Brien really wants to make his failure to enact RTW legislation his political legacy, NH workers will be happy to oblige him. We beat back 474. We'll defeat 383, too.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

What Happened to Upward Mobility?

2012-01-05T14:02:00.006-05:00

We're all familiar with the mythos: the USA is the land of the meritocracy, not the aristocracy. The place where every boy can grow up to be president. Where the janitor can become the CEO.

The reality looks rather different. From the New York Times:

“It’s becoming conventional wisdom that the U.S. does not have as much mobility as most other advanced countries,” said Isabel V. Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institution. “I don’t think you’ll find too many people who will argue with that.”

One reason for the mobility gap may be the depth of American poverty, which leaves poor children starting especially far behind. Another may be the unusually large premiums that American employers pay for college degrees. Since children generally follow their parents’ educational trajectory, that premium increases the importance of family background and stymies people with less schooling.

To put it a different way:

“The bottom fifth in the U.S. looks very different from the bottom fifth in other countries,” said Scott Winship, a researcher at the Brookings Institution, who wrote the article for National Review. “Poor Americans have to work their way up from a lower floor.”

Poor Americans are working their way up from lower bottom than other countries? Why isn't this front page news? Why aren't the presidential candidates currently invading NH talking about this?

Oh, wait. Here's why:

Perhaps another brake on American mobility is the sheer magnitude of the gaps between rich and the rest — the theme of the Occupy Wall Street protests, which emphasize the power of the privileged to protect their interests. Countries with less equality generally have less mobility.

The privileged have the power to protect their interests. The non-privileged just get trickled on. This is grim news, coming on the heels of the recent report showing that one in every two families has either fallen into poverty or qualifies as low income.

The best way to turn this around is to continue to push for more jobs, better pay, and stronger unions.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

The Year Long GOP Obsession with Urine Testing

2011-12-30T11:24:00.006-05:00

In October we told you about the governors and legislators proposing mandatory urine testing in order to qualify for food stamps or welfare.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about Rep. Jack Kingston from Georgia, who wants the unemployed to undergo mandatory drug testing to "qualify" for unemployment benefits.

The latest entrant into the drug testing wars is Michigan. From Huffington Post:

Officials in Michigan's Department of Human Services want to bring back drug testing of welfare recipients, a controversial practice that Michigan courts struck down more than a decade ago. The new policy would differ from the one enacted under Republican Gov. John Engler in 1999, which required a urine test to apply for benefits and would have subjected recipients to random drug screenings.

and

Michigan state Rep. Jeff Farrington (R-Utica) introduced a bill on Dec. 13 that would require applicants take a drug test to qualify for FIA benefits. Under the proposed bill, which is still up for discussion, recipients who passed a drug screening would have the cost of the test deducted from their first benefits payment.

Great. Not only do they want to demonize the poor, they want the poor to pay for that demonization. Apparently Rep. Farrington has not learned the lesson that Governor Rick Scott of Florida learned. From Mother Jones:

But with 96 percent of applicants passing the test with flying colors (and another 2 percent getting inconclusive results), the state is having to buy back a lot of clean pee: 11.5 gallons at $34,300 every month, assuming an average sample size of 1.5 ounces and and average test price of $35.

That's spending an awful lot of taxpayer money just to harass poor people. It's certainly not creating the big savings that Governor Scott promised his constituents.

I wrote in October:

On the one hand, we hear a lot of gnashing of teeth from DC about job creation, yet on the other, we have the ongoing blame being heaped upon those who aren’t able to find work and are living in poverty, as if being unemployed or poor were somehow voluntary.

It is deeply distressing to see this becoming a national trend.

cross-posted at: MainSt/workingamerica.org

NH Legislators Embrace the Magna Carta

2011-12-29T13:12:00.011-05:00

In the December 20th edition of Clocking Out was yet another story about the nutty NH legislature. Some members of the NH House are in favor of putting WARNING signs near the Massachusetts border, so that the good folk of NH know when they're about to enter into that socialist republic. The best part of this inspired bit of lunacy, is that Rep. Jennifer Coffey, the lead sponsor, moved to NH in 2005. Guess what state she moved here from?

This week brings a new story. From the Concord Monitor:

House Bill 1580 is the product of such a brainstorming session this summer between three freshman House Republicans: Bob Kingsbury of Laconia, Tim Twombly of Nashua and Lucien Vita of Middleton. The eyebrow-raiser, set to be introduced when the Legislature reconvenes next month, requires legislation to find its origin in an English document crafted in 1215.

"All members of the general court proposing bills and resolutions addressing individual rights or liberties shall include a direct quote from the Magna Carta which sets forth the article from which the individual right or liberty is derived," is the bill's one sentence.

Yes, that's right. These three state representatives want quotes from the Magna Carta; an 800 year old British document, in new bills going before the NH legislature.

I've been told by legislators that the average cost to the NH taxpayer for filing a bill is about $1500. Each bill that is filed by a state legislator goes to Legislative Services, where the bill is checked for compliance with other NH laws. Then it is printed up. So far, the members of the NH House have filed 840 potential bills.

Kingsbury said the "primary motivation" for the bill was to honor the Magna Carta's upcoming 800-year anniversary in 2015. Citing quotes from the document will bring its historical importance to the public's attention, he said.

And if they have to waste taxpayer dollars to bring that anniversary to the public's attention, they will!

The majority of the people in this state don't read ANY of the bills that go before the legislature. This is truly a bizarre vanity exercise by a trio of freshman legislators.

A translation of the Magna Carta certainly provides some interesting fodder for the 2012 legislative session:

19] No constable or his bailiff is to take corn or other chattels from anyone who not themselves of a vill where a castle is built, unless the constable or his bailiff immediately offers money in payment of obtains a respite by the wish of the seller. If the person whose corn or chattels are taken is of such a vill, then the constable or his bailiff is to pay the purchase price within forty days.

and

21] No sheriff or bailiff of ours or of anyone else is to take anyone’s horses or carts to make carriage, unless he renders the payment customarily due, namely for a two-horse cart ten pence per day, and for a three-horse cart fourteen pence per day. No demesne cart belonging to any churchman or knight or any other lady (sic) is to be taken by our bailiffs, nor will we or our bailiffs or anyone else take someone else’s timber for a castle or any other of our business save by the will of he to whom the timber belongs.

and

[34] No-one is to be taken or imprisoned on the appeal of woman for the death of anyone save for the death of that woman’s husband.

I can hardly wait to see these quotes worked into NH law.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Cuts to Block Grant Program Hurting Cities

2011-12-22T23:45:00.004-05:00

Cities are already suffering from budget shortfalls, decreasing tax revenues, foreclosures, and unemployment> Now they're being hit hard by cuts to the federal block grant program. From the New York Times:

The shrinking federal program, called Community Development Block Grants, was devised by the Nixon administration to bypass state governments and send money directly to big cities, which were given broad leeway to decide how to spend it. This year the federal government is giving out just $2.9 billion — a billion dollars less than it gave two years ago, and even less than it gave during the Carter administration, when the money went much further.

and

Cuts to the block grants program were cited in a recent report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, which noted that the number of vacant properties in America has jumped to 10 million from 7 million in 2000, threatening to attract crime and cause blight. “With sustained high foreclosure and unemployment rates and further declining home values, local officials said that continued, flexible C.D.B.G. funding would help them maintain efforts to address vacant properties in their areas,” the report noted.

Stabilizing neighborhoods that have been hard hit by foreclosure seems like a really good idea. Over 10 million vacant properties in the US is a recipe for disaster.

But mayors see it as an invaluable tool — one of the few federal programs that sends money directly to big cities, without going through the middlemen at the state level. Before its creation, mayors had to apply for small grants in many specific areas — leading to complaints of the this-food-is-terrible-and-the-portions-are-so-small variety. Tom Cochran, the executive director of the United States Conference of Mayors, said that mayors were thrilled when the Nixon administration agreed to consolidate the various grants into a single block grant program, which could be used broadly for community development, with local officials choosing their priorities. It was signed into law by President Gerald R. Ford.

It makes sense to let the cities decide what their own needs are, and not force them into one size fits all solutions.

From the website of the Community Bock Grant Program:

The CDBG program works to ensure decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities, and to create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. CDBG is an important tool for helping local governments tackle serious challenges facing their communities. The CDBG program has made a difference in the lives of millions of people and their communities across the Nation.

With poverty and homelessness on the rise, it seems more than a little short sighted to cut the funding for this program, especially given that this funding is a proven source of job creation.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Warning: Lunatic Legislature at Work

2011-12-22T20:51:00.002-05:00

The NH legislature is in the national news again. Once again, NH legislators are covering our state with glory. They aren’t content with merely eliminating thousands of jobs, defunding the state university system, and ensuring that the number of bridges on the red list continues to increase. Another group might rest on their laurels after all that – but not these doughty folk. They’ve found a new way to avoid dealing with the actual needs of our state.

The latest boondoggle comes to us from lead sponsor Rep. Jennifer Coffey of Andover. She and a group of other legislators (all from the southern part of the state) have written a bill that, if enacted, would place warning signs at the NH/Massachusetts border. The signs would read, “WARNING: Massachusetts Border, 500 Feet.”

The Reps claim that this wouldn’t cost the taxpayers anything, since businesses would pay for the signs. That is untrue. Taxpayers pay every time a silly bill is introduced by a legislator, at a cost of approximately $1500 to have it written up, go through legislative services, etc. Already we’re paying for this folly. Coffey also points out that the DOT would place the signs. DOT workers are not volunteers; they’re paid by the state of NH.

Since the bill has generated some publicity, the sponsors now claim that these signs are necessary to inform people that they’re leaving NH and entering a state with different laws about seatbelts, motorcycle helmets, guns, and fireworks. It used to be that we residents were expected to be personally responsible for knowing all of that, and acting appropriately. How odd to see the liberty minded Teabaglicans taking such a nanny state action! Could it be that what they REALLY want to warn people of is that they’re entering a state that many of these elected officials deride as being the “Socialist Commonwealth of Taxachusetts” to the south?

 This is truly a brilliant plan. Massachusetts residents come to NH to buy our cheap booze and cigarettes. MA residents come here to enjoy the many recreational activities available in our state. They come up to stay in their second homes. They eat in our restaurants, stay in our hotels and inns, and shop in our factory outlets. Massachusetts residents contribute mightily to the economy of our state. What a truly excellent idea it is to offend and alienate them!

The best part? Jennifer Coffey moved to NH in 2005. Guess where she moved here from? The same state that gave us so many of the current crop of legislators, including the Speaker of the NH House: Massachusetts. The warning signs really ought to be on the other side of the border. “Warning: stop sending us these people, or we’ll stop selling cheap booze and butts.”

In other NH gone national news, the Huffington Post covered the desire of Rep. David Bates to turn NH into a referendum state. This would require a constitutional amendment. Funny how these guys swear they love the constitution (either state or US), even as they express the need to change it. Bates is motivated by his obsession with overturning NH’s marriage equality law, a law supported by a majority of NH voters. He’d like to see NH laws subjected to the whim of well funded, out of state, special interest groups, as we’ve seen happen in Maine and California. Another brilliant plan from this legislature. That laser like focus on job creation that these folks campaigned upon has yet to rear its pointy little head.

The House committee on redistricting has also been working on their plan to gerrymander the state’s voting districts. The committee was comprised entirely of representatives from the bottom half of the state, which explains a lot about how the decisions were made about districts in the top half. They gave these guys maps, and armed with absolutely no familiarity with the north, they revved up their chainsaws, and got to work on carving up areas they have no familiarity with. So far, the plan seems unable to pass Constitutional muster, and best of all, they intend to bypass the Governor altogether, by issuing their plan as an “order” to the Secretary of State. The Teabaglicans seem intent on flouting long established tradition, at every part of the redistricting process.

Their goal in many cases seems to be to peel wards off in some cities and combine them with towns that certainly don’t have the same interests or needs. There seems to be an attempt to combine mismatched towns into big districts, which will cost candidates more to run in, and create a number of headaches for those elected, in trying to represent multiple communities with differing school districts. And of course, the goal is also to protect some who are currently serving and eliminate others. Towns that traditionally lean toward the more liberal are being paired with towns that lean far to the fascist right. The lawsuits will be a lot of costly fun for NH taxpayers, but will certainly create jobs for lawyers.

Representative Gregory Sorg’s recent letter to the editor about one of my November columns indicates that he was miffed at being compared to Scrooge. Sorg claims that 30% of our state revenue comes from federal monies, and that 40% of federal monies are borrowed. Sorg calls this unsustainable. Of course, we’re borrowing to fund the Bush tax cuts and wars, something Sorg would surely prefer not to acknowledge. It’s far easier to vilify the poor, which Sorg did, by referring to people needing fuel assistance as “engaging in irresponsible behavior.” Yes, indeed. How irresponsible of people to be under-employed, elderly, or poor!

 NH gets back approximately $0.70 cents for every federal tax dollar we send in. We’re subsidizing states like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alaska. Refusing federal dollars for heating assistance isn’t going to change any of that, it just means that we’ll continue to be a cash register, while refusing to raise sufficient revenue to run our own state with. As one of the wealthiest states in the nation, we could afford to pay our own way. We just don’t want to. Our legislature wants NH to be a poor relation, so that we will continue to be a tax-free haven for our 27,000 millionaires. And if that means that a few people freeze to death, and 15% of our bridges remain structurally deficient, well, that’s the way it was intended it to be, back in the 18th century that Sorg and his ilk intend to return us to.

"Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it." Charles Dickens

© 2011 sbruce

Published as an op-ed in the December 23, 2011 edition of the Conway Daily Sun Newspaper.

Protecting Home Care Workers

2011-12-18T20:30:00.007-05:00

The Obama administration has proposed some regulations to protect home care workers. From the NY Times:

Labor unions and advocates for low-wage workers have pushed for the changes, contending that the 37-year-old exemption improperly swept these workers, who care for many elderly and disabled Americans, into the same “companion” category as baby sitters. The administration’s move calls for home care aides to be protected under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the nation’s main wage and hour law.

and

These workers, according to industry figures, generally earn $8.50 to $12 an hour, compared with the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The White House said 92 percent of these workers were women, nearly 30 percent were African-American and 12 percent Hispanic. Nearly 40 percent rely on public benefits like Medicaid and food stamps.

While industry experts say an overwhelming majority are paid at least the minimum wage, many do not receive a time-and-a-half premium when they work more than 40 hours a week. Twenty-two states do not include home health care workers under their wage and hour laws.

Home care workers assist elderly people with all aspects of their lives, including bathing, exercise, and remembering to take medications. They may also prepare meals, and do housework. They may be dealing with clients in varying stages of dementia. There's a great deal of skill required to do this kind of work.

These are also workers who don't get sick days, any sort of benefits, and if their client dies - well, that's just too bad. No more paychecks for them.

Predictably, the opposition is gearing up:

“The president’s goal is commendable, but the likely result of this new rule is reduced hours for home care workers and higher costs for taxpayers,” said John Kline, a Minnesota Republican who is chairman of the House Education and the Work Force Committee, and Tim Walberg, a Minnesota Republican who heads the panel’s subcommittee on work force protections. “Moreover, our nation’s elderly may pay the greatest price in the form of more costly services and fewer opportunities to obtain the care they need in the comfort of their own homes.”

In other words: Caregivers are good enough to take care of the elderly, but what they do isn't real work, therefore they don't deserve the sort of protections that other workers are entitled to.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

The CEO's Are Alright

2011-12-15T19:48:00.008-05:00

US Census finds nearly half of US population is considered low-income or downright poor. From Huffington Post:

Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans – nearly 1 in 2 – have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.

You gotta love this guy:

Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, questioned whether some people classified as poor or low-income actually suffer material hardship. He said that while safety-net programs have helped many Americans, they have gone too far, citing poor people who live in decent-size homes, drive cars and own wide-screen TVs.

Apparently if you lost your job, your credit, and your savings when the economy collapsed in 2008, you were supposed to sell everything you owned, or give it away, in order to look appropriately poor. Donate those designer clothes, and don some sackcloth and ashes. Car? Who cares if you need it to look for work, get rid of that car, and your refrigerator, too. If you're poor you have no right to a refrigerator.

Paychecks for low-income families are shrinking. The inflation-adjusted average earnings for the bottom 20 percent of families have fallen from $16,788 in 1979 to just under $15,000, and earnings for the next 20 percent have remained flat at $37,000. In contrast, higher-income brackets had significant wage growth since 1979, with earnings for the top 5 percent of families climbing 64 percent to more than $313,000.

Housing costs have accelerated hugely in the wake of the foreclosure crisis. Families are paying more than a third of their income for housing; then there are utilities, energy costs, transportation, child care, and health care. Divide all of that into $15,000 a year, and see what's left over.

What is truly shocking here, is the complete lack of concern about this on the part of most of our elected officials, and the mainstream media.

Fortunately there is one group of Americans whose income does not appear to be shrinking or stagnant. From The Guardian:

Chief executive pay has roared back after two years of stagnation and decline. America's top bosses enjoyed pay hikes of between 27 and 40% last year, according to the largest survey of US CEO pay. The dramatic bounceback comes as the latest government figures show wages for the majority of Americans are failing to keep up with inflation.

America's highest paid executive took home more than $145.2m, and as stock prices recovered across the board, the median value of bosses' profits on stock options rose 70% in 2010, from $950,400 to $1.3m. The news comes against the backdrop of an Occupy Wall Street movement that has focused Washington's attention on the pay packages of America's highest paid.

No sackcloth and ashes for this crowd. No shame, or sense of propriety, either. The "job creators" are delivering record profits without adding jobs.

Time for some new solutions?

Cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

A Brief Pep Talk About Change

2011-12-14T19:59:00.006-05:00

Jim Hightower in Nation of Change:

"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

What a paragraph! Whatever happened to that BIG idea of America — the creation of a society that embraces and fosters such egalitarian values as justice, tranquility, common effort, the welfare of all and liberty?

Mr. Hightower makes an excellent point. We used to have BIG ideals. Those ideals have eroded, and our politics have become hopelessly entangled with big money and ideology.

Some days we all need a pep talk, and Jim Hightower is the go-to guy for pep talks. He's not too impressed with our leaders, but he has a lot of faith in all of us; what we have done, and what we will continue to do:

However, there is hope in the people themselves. We see it in the ongoing Wisconsin rebellion that is rejecting the Koch-fueled autocracy of the imperious Gov. Scott Walker; in the 61 percent grass-roots victory in Ohio on Nov. 8 to throw out the repressive anti-labor law that the right-wing Gov. John Kasich arrogantly tried to hang around the people's neck; in the Occupy protest that is so big and so deeply felt by so many angry/hopeful people that even police sweeps cannot make it go away; and in still more uprisings that are coming — coming from such corners as frustrated jobseekers; tens of thousands of misused war veterans returning from the Mideast to mistreatment at home; hundreds of thousands of homeowners being mercilessly foreclosed on by bailed-out bankers; and others who're simply fed up with the corporados and political flim-flammers who're knocking ordinary Americans down and holding America back.

And finally, he gives us our assignment:

As we head into the New Year, our task is to confront their pusillanimity — demand from every candidate for every office to explain why their vision is so myopic and why their idea of what Americans can do is so small.

We used to dream big dreams for what we might accomplish in the future. When I was a kid, we all dreamed that someday a man might walk on the moon. Now our leaders dream of cuts to entitlement programs.

As Jim points out, it's our job to ask any and every candidate why their vision is so myopic. What about the future? What about progress?

Occupy Christmas Carols

2011-12-13T14:46:00.005-05:00

Caroling at a recent Occupy Conway, N.H. GA:

Some of the lyrics are available here:

Occupy - tune: Jingle Bells

Occupy, Occupy, Occupy we say!
Oh what fun it is to come and Occupy today!
Occupy, Occupy, Occupy we say!
Oh what fun it is to come and Occupy today!

Tromping through the snow (or: down the street)
With a big handwritten sign
Through the town we go
'Cause things are not just fine
The banksters got away
with 16 trillion bucks
What about the rest of us?
Are we just out of luck?

No! Occupy, Occupy, Occupy we say!
Oh what fun it is to come and Occupy today!
Occupy, Occupy, Occupy we say!
Oh what fun it is to come and Occupy today!

The bankers came along
And took us for a ride
Now we are waking up
Don't feel so good inside
Our money is all gone
Our infrastructure too
Who is going to change this?
Well it's up to me and you!

So- Occupy, Occupy, Occupy we say!
Oh what fun it is to come and Occupy today!
Occupy, Occupy, Occupy we say!
Oh what fun it is to come and Occupy today!

The new lyrics were written by Beverly Woods, a musician from Wolfeboro, NH. Beverly would be pleased if you used her lyrics, as long as you give her credit for writing them. These were all a big hit with the local Occupiers and those who were just passing by. Who says revolution/change has to be dull?

Urine Big Trouble Now

2011-12-09T13:06:00.007-05:00

In September I wrote about states that were considering forcing people receiving welfare or food stamp benefits to undergo urine testing for drugs, in order to qualify for their benefits. Florida actually tried it, and has found that it isn't exactly working out the way they'd hoped. In fact, it's costing the state a lot of money. This hasn't deterred those who are determined to wage war on the poor.

A new warrior has stepped forth. From the Huffington Post:

The bill by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) would require unemployment claimants to pass a drug test if they are identified in an initial screening as having a high probability of drug use.

Yes, that's right. He wants people who are collecting unemployment benefits from a system they've paid into, to take mandatory drug tests.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said Wednesday that Republican legislation would "reform" unemployment insurance. "We are working on a bill to stop a tax hike, protect Social Security, reform unemployment insurance and create jobs," Steel said.

It doesn't seem to occur to these folks that if there were jobs, there would be fewer folks who are unemployed. They really work hard at having it both ways; decrying the lack of jobs, then blaming the unemployed for not working.

Kingston cited an overwhelming number of job applicants flunking drug tests as the rationale for his proposal.

"I had an employer tell me of an overwhelming response for job openings," Kingston said in a statement. "There was just one problem: half the people who applied could not even pass a drug test."

Last year Governor Nikki Hailey of South Carolina made a similar claim. It proved to be bogus. Governor Hailey had to admit that she's made those comments based on erroneous information. Representative Kingston is refusing to provide the source for his claims.

From Kingston's website:

At a series of listening sessions with business owners throughout the First District conducted earlier this year, Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) heard repeatedly about barriers to job creation. While he heard many of the issues he expected like overly burdensome regulations and the pervasive uncertainty in the economy, one issue that was brought up in every meeting surprised him: abuse of unemployment insurance.

So, because people are allegedly abusing unemployment insurance business owners can't create jobs? That doesn't even make sense.

“My proposal strengthens the safety net and ensures it will be available to those who use it as a stepping stone back into the workforce,” Kingston said. “It does so without increasing federal spending or placing new, unfunded mandates on the states.”

So, preventing people from collecting unemployment benefits from a fund that they've paid into, is his definition of strengthening the safety net? Ensuring that kids go hungry and may become homeless is a function of the safety net?

I vote we drug test Congressman Kingston. At about 8 pm, on any given night.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

A Laser-Like Focus on Social Engineering

2011-12-08T21:18:00.002-05:00

NH state revenues are down by $56.7 million for the month of November, according to a recent story in the Union Leader. Our state is facing a huge budget shortfall next year. We still have problems with both unemployment and underemployment. Both of those things contribute to our state’s budget shortfall. You may remember that during the 2010 campaign season, the folks who now have the majority promised a laser-like focus on job creation. Since their budget went into effect, the state has lost over 2000 jobs, and the unemployment rate has risen. That laser appears to be defective.

Speaker of the NH House, Bill O’Brien staked his name (and hopefully his NH political career) on getting the governor’s veto of a so-called right to work bill overridden. He failed to bully enough legislators, and the veto override failed. When asked to name a single company that refused to move to NH because there was no right to work bill in place, O’Brien failed again. He was unable to name even one.

The so-called “right to work” legislation comes from a well-funded special interest group in Virginia. This is not a NH initiative. This is our Speaker and our state legislators bowing to out of state special interest groups. O’Brien is the lackey of special interest groups. After a trip to DC to meet with folks like the Heritage Foundation, O’Brien came back and pushed to lower the tobacco tax. (Heritage gets big bucks from Big Tobacco.) That move has cost the state at least $11 million in revenue.

This is all deliberate. The Teabaglicans want to have as little money as possible to work with, therefore justifying their ongoing mantra of: “NH doesn’t have a revenue problem, NH has a spending problem.” If you don’t have much money coming in, there’s not much money to go out. They desperately want to fulfill that prophecy. In doing so, they’re willing to take our state back two centuries.

 There’s a reason O’Brien can’t name a single company that won’t move here because of right to work. There isn’t one. There are many reasons that companies won’t move to NH, and many of them involve our state’s lack of infrastructure. There aren’t sufficient roads and highways for moving merchandise, and there isn’t sufficient telecommunications infrastructure for doing business in the upper half of the state. We also have high energy costs, high property taxes, and we hate education. Companies may also look askance at a state where some of our legislators are comfortable with letting poor people freeze to death.

Given that the legislative laser has been on hiatus this session, one might think that they’d sharpen their promised focus on “jobs, jobs, jobs” for next session. One would be wrong. Having ensured that the state coffers are barely full, our legislators are turning to social engineering. When NH passed a marriage equality law, there was no plague of locusts, no rain of toads from the sky. All that changed is that more people are married, new families have been created, and NH businesses have benefitted from providing a variety of services associated with weddings.

Local Representative Frank McCarthy is opposed to marriage equality, but wants to hear from his constituents, claiming that they’ll make his decision for him. Does anyone actually believe that? McCarthy marches to the drumbeat of the most loathsome aspects of the far right. His opposition to gay rights is typical of old Republicans. They’re old, rigid in their beliefs, and often very religious. It’s not a winning issue or strategy for the Republicans. Even Maynard Thomson, disgraced former Chairman of the Carroll County GOP, acknowledges that repealing marriage equality isn’t a winner for the Teabaglicans.

This same bunch natters on endlessly about freedom, liberty, too many gummint regulations, and “the rights of the individual.” How lofty! How utterly insincere! They throw those fauxbertarian ideals right out the window when it comes to gays and women. Regulatin’ business is bad. Regulatin’ homosexuals and wimmin is essential.

I trust I’m not the only one who is looking forward to watching these same paragons of self-professed morality twist themselves into pretzels to justify supporting Newt Gingrich, if he becomes the GOP presidential nominee.

Newt Gingrich, whose first wife supported him financially, all the way through his Ph.D. Newt didn’t work. Didn’t take a job as a janitor, the way he wants low income kids to do. He was so grateful to her, that he cheated on her, and divorced her after she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She had to take him to court to get him to pay alimony and child support. After that divorce, Newt married the woman he’d been having an affair with. The lizard didn’t change his spots. He cheated on #2, and eventually began having an affair with a woman who worked for him. A woman younger than his daughters. At the same time this was going on, he was working to impeach President Clinton. He finally ditched #2 after she was diagnosed with MS. After that, he married the young woman who worked for him, who is currently #3, and presumably the beneficiary of his famed revolving charge account at Tiffany’s. Maybe he just buys engagement rings in bulk, given his belief in the sanctity of marriage.

The same people who decry marriage equality will leap right on to the Gingrich bus, without a moment of reflection on their own hypocrisy.

In 2009, NH had an official poverty rate of 7.9 %. In 2011 that rate has increased to 8.3%. That’s a rate higher than the official unemployment number. That tells us that many NH families are working, and still qualify as poor.

People of conscience would have a problem of that. We didn’t elect people with a conscience.

I sure do miss the Weekly World News!
© sbruce 2011
published as an op-ed in the December 9 edition of the Conway Daily Sun Newspaper

A look at the NH Occupy Movement

2011-12-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

Thanks, moatphoto!

Right-To-Work Veto Override Fails (Again) in NH

2011-12-04T17:56:00.008-05:00

The vote to override Governor Lynch's veto of a right to work bill failed last week; a crushing blow for NH Speaker of the House William O'Brien who has made this legislation a priority. From the Boston Globe:

"Union members aren't thugs. They're police officers. They're firefighters," said Democratic Rep. Jeff Goley, a firefighter from Manchester. "What will right-to-work do here in New Hampshire? Right-to-work will lower wages and lower benefits, not create jobs."

Speaker O'Brien didn't take this defeat well, especially since 41 members of his own party voted to sustain the veto. Shortly after the vote, rumors of retribution began to emerge. The Nashua Telegraph wrote that 3 assistant majority whips were going to be asked to resign.

A day after the retribution rumblings began, a story came out in The Lobby, that alerted us that House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt had decided not to seek those resignations. The negative media coverage may have had something to do with Bettencourt's change of "heart."

O'Brien has made it clear that the right to work bill will be back next year. From the Telegraph:

But O’Brien also made it clear the right-to-work battle is far from over, noting Rep. William Smith, R-New Castle, has introduced similar legislation for next year that no doubt will spill over into the governor’s race to replace the retiring Lunch.

The outlook for success next year may not be all that O'Brien hopes. NH watchdog group Granite State Progress Issued a statement to counter O'Brien's ongoing assertion that businesses won't move to NH because we don't have RTW:

Pushed by local media to name companies who have expressed this interest to the Speaker, O'Brien was unable to name even a single business that would consider moving new jobs to New Hampshire if the legislation was enacted.

Oops.

O'Brien is likely to have bigger problems in 2011. So far, the budget enacted in June has cost the state over 2,000 jobs, and millions in missing tax revenue. A gaping revenue hole thus far comes from the state's hospitals. It's a $50.3 million budget shortfall.

Then there's the tobacco revenue failure. From a scathing editorial in Seacoastonline:

The tortured logic used to justify New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O'Brien's insistence on cutting the state's tobacco tax by 10 cents a pack has cost the state $11 million since July, and it will continue to cost the state millions of dollars until common sense prevails and the tax cut is repealed.

You'll recall that in June, O'Brien hijacked the state budget process, insisting that nothing would get done unless the tobacco tax cut was included. This last-minute chicanery followed O'Brien's visit to the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., which receives a substantial amount of funding from the tobacco industry.

O'Brien influenced by special interests? Oh, say it ain't so. 2012 is shaping up to be a tough year for the speaker. His budget has proven to be a disaster. He's lost 3 out of 4 special elections (including one in his own hometown), and 41 members of his own party didn't vote for his veto override.

On the other hand, O'Brien's loss is a gain for NH workers. To celebrate, Granite State Progress put together a victory video after the RTW veto override vote failed:

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2011-12-02T10:59:00.009-05:00

Last week we learned that Newt Gingrich has a plan to fire union janitors in schools, and replace them with low income students. As Laura Clawson wrote about a speech he made in Iowa yesterday where he's still beating that same drum. Poor kids don't have any work ethic. Rich kids, apparently, have worked darned hard to get everything handed to them.

In that same speech in Iowa, Newt made some bizarre assertions about food stamps, including the statement one could use food stamps to fly to Hawaii. The folks at Politifact decided to investigate his claims:

Gingrich said:

"Remember, this is the best food stamp president in history. So more Americans today get food stamps than before. And we now give it away as cash -- you don't get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii. They give food stamps now to millionaires because, after all, don't you want to be compassionate? You know, the Obama model: isn't there somebody you'd like to give money to this week. That's why we're now going to help bailout Italy because we haven't bailed out enough people this week, the president thought let's write another check. After all, we have so much extra money."

Politifact's investigation:

Can food stamps "be used for anything"?

No. The food stamp program -- which, we should point out, has officially been known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, since October 2008 -- has very precise rules about what can and cannot be paid for.

and

Gingrich is partly right when he says that today, "you don't get food stamps. You get a credit card." The old system of using coupons is past; recipients now receive what’s called an electronic benefits transfer card, or EBT card. This looks like a credit card, but it doesn’t allow for purchases on credit. It’s really more like a debit card, with the government periodically uploading the proper amount of cash.

The cards cut way down on administrative costs, and streamline the process. The card also helps to cut back on the stigma of using food stamps in the checkout line at the supermarket.

"We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii."

If the food stamp system bars beneficiaries from buying decorative gourds rather than pumpkins, you can be sure it also bars the purchase of airline tickets. (Our guess: The benefit amount would be less than the tickets anyway.)

and his final outrageous claim:
"They give food stamps now to millionaires."

Food stamps have always been a means-tested program. Benefits vary by household size -- the full details are here -- but the national rule is that you can’t earn more than 130 percent of the poverty line. That would clearly rule out millionaires.

Politifact finds each of his claims to be utterly ridiculous.

A quick online search for a round trip flight to Hawaii from NH found the cheapest flight was $1035. According to
CNN Money:

The average food stamp benefit was $133.80 per person and $283.65 per household in May.

That's May 2011. In order to save up for that trip to Hawaii, I'd have to go hungry for seven months. And even then, I still wouldn't be able to use my SNAP card to pay for the flight.

It's nice of Newt to leave Planet 1% to visit the rest of us, but he certainly lacks even a basic sense of reality of what life is like for those of us who don't have revolving charge accounts at Tiffany's. Perhaps we can buy breakfast there with food stamps.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Hallelujah Corporations

2011-11-29T20:24:00.002-05:00

Just in time for your Christmas caroling pleasure:

Student Debt Continues to Grow

2011-11-29T18:21:00.004-05:00

This graphic from Mother Jones shows very starkly how student debt quadrupled in the years between 2000 and 2011. (There are more good graphs available at the link.)

Just check out these stats: Unemployment among college grads is twice what it was in 2007. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for 16-24-year-olds is twice the national average; grads under 25 are twice as likely to lack a job than their older peers. The New York Times reports that just half of students who graduated in 2010 had a job in the spring of 2011, and even those who did get jobs were often way overqualified.

Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan gave a speech this week on the topic of student debt. From the NY Times:

At a time when the Occupy movement has helped push college costs into the national spotlight, the Education Department characterized the speech, delivered in Las Vegas, as the start of a “national conversation about the rising cost of college.” The department took the opportunity to call attention to steps the Obama administration has taken to reduce the net price that students and families pay for higher education and make it easier to pay back student loans.

The Occupy movement really has changed our national dialogue in just a few short months. Remember when all we heard about was the deficit?

In his speech to financial-aid administrators, Mr. Duncan also discussed the department’s work with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to create a financial aid shopping sheet, or model disclosure form, to help students understand and compare the type and amount of aid in different aid packages, and the department’s new watch lists, required by Congress, showing which colleges have the highest and lowest tuition and net prices.

This makes a lot of sense, and it would be very helpful to families from the 99%.

He cited, for example, Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, which is offering a 50 percent discount on tuition and fees for freshmen who enroll in the school of education; the University of Oregon’s PathwayOregon, guaranteeing a tuition-free education to qualified Oregonians from low-income families; and, in West Virginia, the University of Charleston’s plan to cut tuition 22 percent for next year’s incoming freshmen and transfer students.

It's good to see even a few colleges taking this kind of action. Now that the spotlight is on student debt and unemployment, let's hope that other schools take similar action so that a college education is affordable for everyone who wants one.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Santas Have New Responsibilities This Holiday Season

2011-11-29T15:06:00.007-05:00

The bad economy and ongoing unemployment are creating new challenges for Santas. From the NY Times:

The result is a Christmas season in which Santas — including the 115 of them in this year’s graduating class of the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School — must learn to swiftly size up families’ financial circumstances, gently scale back children’s Christmas gift requests and even how to answer the wish some say they have been hearing with more frequency — “Can you bring my parent a job?”

and

On the flip side, some, like Fred Honerkamp, have been visited by children whose expectations seem to have sunk to match the gloom; not long ago, a boy asked him for only one item — a pair of sneakers that actually fit.

“In the end, Santas have to be sure to never promise anything,” said Mr. Honerkamp, an alumnus of the school who also lectures here. He has devised his own tale about a wayward elf and slowed toy production at the North Pole for children who are requesting a gift clearly beyond their family’s price range. “It’s hard to watch sometimes because the children are like little barometers, mirrors on what the country has been through.”

Christmas is a hard, hard time for folks who are treading water in this economy. Our consumer culture bombards us with ads for things we must want, and the latest in cool toys. Kids get caught up in all of this, and it can be very difficult to explain financial realities to them. We don't want our kids to worry or feel bad. The new Santas are working on developing tools to handle all of this.

Given the state of the economy, this Santa school graduated the largest Santa class in its history. Many of the graduates have a Santa history, but a number of them are underemployed, needing to supplement retirement, or are flat out unemployed. The Santa gig doesn't last long, but it does pay decently. Mall Santas earn somewhere between $25 and $50 an hour.

These new Santas will need all of the skills they've just learned to deal with the kinds of situations they're seeing as a result of this economy. Most of us don't think much about Santas, or the kind of situations they have to deal with. This story has given me a whole new appreciation for the people who do this, especially during bad economic times.

This Santa's story is enough to make even Scrooge tear up a little:

“If they asked for something that’s totally impossible — a job for Daddy, say — I usually tell them, ‘Santa specializes in toys, but we can always pray on the other,’ ” Mr. Ruperd said. “ ‘Is there anything in toys that you’d like?’ ”

Let's all do what we can to help one another in this holiday season.

Cross posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Birthers and Despots

2011-11-24T21:53:00.002-05:00

Once again, members of the Teabaglican majority in the NH House have brought national attention to our state. Once again, it’s the kind of national attention that most of us would prefer to avoid. In other words, once again, members of the NH House have made our state a national joke.

This past Saturday (November 19) Orly Taitz, the leader of the “Birther movement,” filed a complaint with the NH Ballot Commission. Mrs. Taitz contends that President Obama is not a citizen, and should not be on the ballot. Mrs. Taitz is a naturalized citizen and is both a dentist and an attorney. She holds a number of interesting views, including:

 Hugo Chavez owns the software that runs US voting machines.
 Obama has vandalized her car and threatened her life.
 Osama bin Laden was killed years ago, and put on ice, and thawed out to distract the world from her upcoming court case challenging Obama’s citizenship.
 Rep. Alcee Hastings, and the US House are planning to build at least six labor camps.

Orly Taitz is a bucket full of crazy, and has made it her mission to “prove” that President Obama is not a citizen. A video of Ann Dunham giving birth under the Welcome to Hawaii sign would not deter her.

This time, though, Taitz was joined by a number of NH State Representatives who signed on to her petition to the ballot commission. These representatives are: Larry Rappaport of Colebrook, William Tobin of Sanbornton, Moe Villaneuve of Bedford, Lucien and Carol Vita of Middleton, Al Baldasaro of Londonderry, Susan DeLemus of Rochester, Harry Accornero of Laconia, and our very own Laurie Pettengill, of Glen.

Al Baldasaro is both a long-term embarrassment to our state, and a member of the O’Brien leadership team. His most recent turn in the national spotlight came when he announced his approval of those who booed a gay Marine during a Republican presidential debate.

Harry Accornero garnered national attention recently for sending out an email to all of his fellow legislators that accused President Obama of being a traitor, for essentially following Bush’s immigration policies. It seems those policies weren’t objectionable when a white guy was in charge.

Laurie Pettengill has done little to distinguish herself since her election. She did support O’Brien in his campaign to become Speaker of the House, and we should certainly all thank her for the many good things that have come from that. The O’Brien budget has killed thousands of jobs, increased unemployment, and become a national joke. Now, Pettengill has signed on to a petition that makes NH and the NH Primary a joke. At the heart of this petition and the whole Birther movement is, quite simply, racism. Be sure to thank Laurie for her role in giving the rest of the world the impression that NH is comprised of a bunch of inbred, racist hicks.

The hearing before the Ballot Commission became quite heated and contentious. According to Orly Taitz’ online description, the room was full of screaming idiots. Rep. Carol Vita was screaming at an assistant AG. Acconero (who is clearly a few accorns shy of an oak) accused Ballot Commission Chair Brad Cook of being a traitor, and warned him that he shouldn’t leave his house without a mask. These people have brought nothing but shame to our state, and their conduct at this hearing is reprehensible. They should be forced to resign. Rep. Rappaport is trying to distance himself from this by telling the Concord Monitor that he isn’t a “true Birther.” In other words, he believes what they do, but he doesn’t want to be tarred with the crazy brush. It’s too late for that. Associating one’s self with anything Baldasaro or Acconero are part of is a sure fired trip to the land of the deranged.

It’s difficult to imagine that the NH legislature could keep up the hectic pace of lunatic ideas and legislation, but it seems that there is no bottom for this bunch. HB 590 (which became law without the Governor’s signature) established a committee to review state participation in federal aid programs. Committee Chair Gregory Sorg of Easton, recently released the committee report. This committee wants to ensure that NH receives no federal aid dollars for anything. It’s not so much a report as an ideological rant. They are opposed to nutrition programs for pregnant women – yet these same legislators would force women to be involuntary incubators. Most telling of all, however, is their opposition to weatherization and fuel assistance programs. From the report:

“The people of New Hampshire must be held competent to understand that every November, without fail, it gets cold at this latitude and that they must arrange their affairs so as to provide for this fact of life as a matter of personal responsibility.”

In short, we must all manage our affairs so that we do not get old, do not develop a serious health problem, do not lose our jobs, and do not suffer from sudden poverty caused by the destruction of the US economy. Based on these findings, Rep. Sorg should be expecting 3 ghosts to visit him on Christmas Eve.

These pompous ideologues seem to be under the impression that refusing federal money will create some sort of national change. All it means is that the tax dollars sent in to the federal government will go to aid other states. Our roads and bridges will fall further into disrepair, people will freeze to death, and NH will no longer be just a national joke, but a national disgrace.

"External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty." Charles Dickens

© sbruce 2011
Published as an op-ed in the 11-25-11 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.

Suffering is Part of Life

2011-11-22T15:15:00.007-05:00

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum spoke about poverty and suffering recently at a town hall meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa:

It seems Rick thinks that people ought to suffer. Poor people, that is. They get too many bennies, like food stamps, Medicaid, and housing assistance. h/t ThinkProgress.

Mother Jones takes a look at those folks who need to suffer:

In 1996, welfare was turned into a block grant and its budget was fixed at $16 billion, so that states received roughly the same amount of money every year, regardless of how many people might be out of work and suffering. Many Republicans in Congress would like to do this to the Medicaid program. But TANF should serve as a serious cautionary tale about what happens when the safety net is left up to the congressional appropriations process. Congress hasn't increased the TANF block grant since it was created. As a result, new data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that the value of cash benefits to poor families have fallen by as much as 30 percent in some states simply because of inflation—call it a stealth budget cut.

In some states legislators have diverted funds from the TANF block grant into other areas of the budget. Some states have cut benefits this year. Since TANF became a block grant, only 2 states show an increase in the amount of TANF benefits since 1996. This graph from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities illustrates how benefits have failed to keep pace with current costs:

https://motherjones.com/files/images/tanf-chart.jpg

In the District of Columbia, for instance, the monthly TANF benefit for a family of three is now $342, not anywhere near enough to pay the rent, for instance. Once upon a time, welfare or TANF benefits were enough to at least keep needy families above 50 percent of the federal poverty line (about $9,000 a year for a family of three). But TANF benefits are now so low that they aren't enough to keep anyone out of deep poverty, which is a troubling development. According to CPBB, a family relying only on TANF for support during tough times would be much poorer today than such a family in 1996.

The US had, at one point in time, made significant progress in eradicating poverty, but those days are over. Poverty is on the rise, and thanks to people like Rick Santorum, the demonization of the poor is rising rapidly, too.

One wonders how well Santorum could do with a TANF budget for his 7 kids. In fact, one wonders how much suffering would be enough to suit Rick Santorum and his ilk.

Food Banks in Desperate Need

2011-11-18T14:04:00.006-05:00

Across the country, food banks are in desperate need of donations. Right now they're struggling to meet the demand for Thanksgiving dinner baskets.

Pennsylvania:

The York County Food Bank plans to hand out more than 2,000 turkeys to families in need this Thanksgiving, but has collected only half of their goal with their deadline less than a week away.

"Since the economy is bad, some of the people that used to be donors are now recipients," assistant director Deborah Eichelberger said.

Torrington, CT

Friendly Hands Food Bank faces an unprecedented struggle to meet the demand for Thanksgiving turkeys and trimmings, with 65 turkeys in hand by Friday afternoon and more than 360 baskets to be assembled for a Nov. 20 giveaway.

Fort Myers, FL

At the Harry Chapin Food Bank off Fowler Street in Fort Myers, they have until Monday to reach their goal of 9,000 turkeys. They said Tuesday they are about half way there with less than a week to go. They're hoping the community will step in to help.

Inside the Harry Chapin Food Bank, Monday's deadline to collect 9,000 turkeys will come fast. Those turkeys will be distributed to the 150 local organizations that provide Thanksgiving meals to those that need it the most.

Madison, WI:

Pantry organizers say this year, they're seeing at least 10 percent more families coming in, which makes it harder to keep shelves stocked.

The River Food Pantry in Madison serves 500-600 families every week.

"Our budget for food this year was $6,200 per month and we're actually spending over $10,200 month on food," says Jenny Czerkas, founder of The River Food Bank.

Ossipee, NH:

More specifically, Agape, the largest food pantry in Carroll County, needs donations for its Thanksgiving basket program. It will also need help to meet the town's deadline to rehabilitate a building that's supposed to become Agape's new location.

and
For the last decade, Agape, a registered non-profit, has provided food baskets at Thanksgiving time to hungry families in the Ossipee area. Agape hopes to distribute about 250 food baskets before Thanksgiving.

Private donations and assistance from government agencies have kept the baskets full in the past but resources are drying up, said Kevin Straughan who founded Agape with his wife, Janna. By Nov. 18, Agape needs people to donate fixings like gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce.

in a town to the north:

Vaughan Community Service Inc., in North Conway, is also seeing increased demand for help — especially from people who haven't asked in the past, said Vaughan administrator Denise Leighton. During the month of October, Vaughan served 8,000 meals. To date, 125 people have sought Thanksgiving food baskets from Vaughan.

"I keep getting calls every day," said Leighton of the demand for baskets.

There are more people in need, and fewer resources to help them. It's a sad state of alleged economic recovery when some of the folks who used to be donors to food pantries are now recipients.

According to worldhunger.org

In 2010, 17.2 million households, 14.5 percent of households (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States.

In 2010, about one-third of food-insecure households (6.7 million households, or 5.4 percent of all U.S. households) had very low food security (compared with 4.7 million households (4.1 percent) in 2007. In households with very low food security, the food intake of some household members was reduced, and their normal eating patterns were disrupted because of the household’s food insecurity.

In 2010, children were food insecure at times during the year in 9.8 percent of households with children (3.9 million households.) In one percent of households with children,one or more of the children experienced the most severe food-insecure condition measured by USDA, very low food security, in which meals were irregular and food intake was below levels considered adequate by caregivers.

All this in the wealthiest country in the world. As we approach the Thanksgiving Day holiday, if you can afford to make a donation to a local food pantry, please do. The need is great, and continuing to grow.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Occupy Cleveland Helps a Single Mother Stay in Her Home

2011-11-15T18:43:00.007-05:00

Last week we saw Occupy Atlanta occupy the neighborhood of a cop who was being foreclosed upon. This kind of direct action is (fingers crossed) starting to catch on.

Occupy Cleveland helps a single mother stay in her home for the holidays. From ThinkProgress:

After her husband left her and refused to provide any real support, Beth Sommerer was due to be evicted from her home today, along with her children. But at the last moment, she made a desperate plea to the protesters of Occupy Cleveland. Soon afterward, Occupy Cleveland pitched its tents in Sommerer’s yard, vowing not to move unless she was allowed to stay in her home. On Monday, a local court gave in and gave a 30-day stay on the eviction order.

This is a perfect illustration of the phrase "united we stand." We should all be united in the belief that homeless families are just not acceptable.

cross posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

NH Congressman Does the Stimulus Hypocrisy Dance

2011-11-13T16:04:00.007-05:00

From NH Congressman Frank Guinta's campaign website:

He also is against the Obama stimulus package that has yet to bring us jobs.

That's in the section titled "Strengthening the Economy." Rep. Guinta's opposition to the Obama stimulus package is well documented. If there's one thing Guinta likes better than opposing Obama, it's getting his picture taken. From TPM:

With Recovery Act funding running out, that old TPM favorite — the anti-stimulus Republican who takes credit for stimulus funding in their district — is becoming somewhat of a rarity. But Rep. Frank Guinta (R-NH) kicked it old school on Thursday by cutting the ribbon on a new road that received millions from the same spending bill he opposed.

Wait a minute....what?? The stimulus project that has created no jobs?? Did this road build itself?

“It’s going to help us with our tourism, our economy, and it’s going to provide us greater flexibility for our residents, our business commuters, and those visiting our state,” Guinta said at the event. “It’s a real example of how when we put our mind to it we can accomplish anything we want to accomplish.”

All this help with tourism, the economy, and business commuters sounds suspiciously like jobs.

Frank Guinta is no stranger to stimulus hypocrisy. As mayor of Manchester:

Guinta also complained that state officials were dragging their feet in getting federal stimulus money to the city and complained that state officials were shortchanging communities because so little of the money was designated for local highway and bridge projects.

In 2009 he couldn't wait to get his paws on the money that he'd sharply criticize in 2010. And in 2011, he's taking credit for a job creating project built with stimulus money.

Mighty fancy footwork, Congressman.

Cross posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

OWS Brings Focus to the War on the Poor

2011-11-10T16:12:00.003-05:00

Older readers will remember LBJ declaring a war on poverty in his 1964 State of the Union address. He was responding to the national poverty rate of 19%. The nation (back then) was united in thinking poverty was a bad thing. The official poverty rate for 2010 was 15.1%, according to the US Census.

We abandoned the war on poverty a long time ago. These days, instead of fighting poverty, the US is waging war against the poor.

Frances Fox Piven in The Nation writes about how OWS is bringing attention to poverty:

Some facts: early in 2011, the US Census Bureau reported that 14.3 percent of the population, or 47 million people—one in six Americans—were living below the official poverty threshold, currently set at $22,400 annually for a family of four. Some 19 million people are living in what is called extreme poverty, which means that their household income falls in the bottom half of those considered to be below the poverty line. More than a third of those extremely poor people are children. Indeed, more than half of all children younger than six living with a single mother are poor. Extrapolating from this data, Emily Monea and Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution estimate that further sharp increases in both poverty and child poverty rates lie in our American future.

This kind of information goes largely unreported, and would (I hope) shock people if they were made aware of it.

Some experts dispute these numbers on the grounds that they neither take account of the assistance that the poor still receive, mainly through the food stamp program, nor of regional variations in the cost of living. In fact, bad as they are, the official numbers don’t tell the full story. The situation of the poor is actually considerably worse. The official poverty line is calculated as simply three times the minimal food budget first introduced in 1959, and then adjusted for inflation in food costs. In other words, the American poverty threshold takes no account of the cost of housing or fuel or transportation or healthcare costs, all of which are rising more rapidly than the cost of basic foods. So the poverty measure grossly understates the real cost of subsistence.

Those "experts" must be the same folks that insist that poor folks can't really be poor because they have refrigerators. In the tourist area of NH where I live, the wage scale (as advertised in the help wanted section of the paper) is exactly the same as it was in 1989. Nothing costs the same as it did back then.

Nor are these catastrophic levels of poverty merely a temporary response to rising unemployment rates or reductions in take-home pay resulting from the great economic meltdown of 2008. The numbers tell the story and it’s clear enough: poverty was on the rise before the Great Recession hit. Between 2001 and 2007, poverty actually increased for the first time on record during an economic recovery. It rose from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 12.5 percent in 2007. Poverty rates for single mothers in 2007 were 49 percent higher in the United States than in fifteen other high-income countries. Similarly, black employment rates and income were declining before the recession struck.

Weakening unions, a lagging minimum wage, outsourcing - all of these things contributed to the problem.

Inevitably, the overall impact of the campaign to reduce labor’s share of national earnings meant that a growing number of Americans couldn’t earn even a poverty-level livelihood—and even that’s not the whole of it. The poor and the programs that assisted them were the objects of a full-bore campaign directed specifically at them.

The poor have been vilified for decades now, starting with the "welfare queens driving Cadillacs" right up to the contemporary legislation calling for drug testing of welfare or food stamp recipients.

OWS has brought national attention to income inequality and the concentration of wealth at the top. The shift in our national media dialogue has been startling. For most of the last year it's been "all deficit all the time." Those days appear to be over. The reportage these days is broader and better, and Occupy has spread around the country, and continues to grow. Frances Fox Piven writes of her hopes for a more moral economy in our country. Let us hope, as she does, that this is just the beginning.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Occupy Atlanta Occupies a Neighborhood

2011-11-09T18:17:00.005-05:00

Occupy Atlanta is getting personally involved with members of the 99%. From ThinkProgress:

Last week, Tawanna Rorey’s husband, a police officer based in Gwinnett County, e-mailed Occupy Atlanta to explain that his home was going to be foreclosed on and his family was in danger of being evicted on Monday. So within a few hours Occupy Atlanta developed an action plan to move to Snellville, Georgia on Monday to stop the foreclosure. At least two dozen protesters encamped on the family’s lawn, to the applause of neighbors and bystanders

The Roreys haven't been evicted yet. They tried to work with the mortgage company, but, like millions of other Americans, they were unsuccessful.

From the local CBS affiliate:

From the Atlanta Journal -Constitution

Experts were doubtful that the protest could do much to help the family. Misty A. Oaks, an Atlanta lawyer who specializes in foreclosure, said sitting in at an foreclosed home won't be effective legally.

"But it certainly will make for an interesting story and bring attention to the issues surrounding foreclosures and the enormous ramifications foreclosures are having," she said.

It seems that idea has been on the minds of the Occupy Atlanta's organizers:

Tim Franzen, one of Occupy Atlanta's organizers, said the group had been seeking a good story to highlight the problems with the mortgage industry. He said Rorey's husband, a law enforcement officer with DeKalb County, sent Occupy Atlanta an e-mail detailing their plight last week and within a few hours they formulated a plan to bring attention to the foreclosure.

"What I envision is a model of protest coming out of this," Franzen said. "We plan to develop an occupy community in this neighborhood and maybe create something that can be duplicated nationally."

I love this! This is community organizing at the grassroots level - this is taking direct action on behalf of a family that is part of the 99%. It would be great if this kind of direct action catches on, since there is certainly no shortage of foreclosures. This kind of outreach action makes an excellent addition to the OWS encampments.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Occupy Conway NH

2011-11-08T19:27:00.002-05:00

75 people turned out to show solidarity with OWS, on very short notice. There was a lot of community support, if the honking was any indication. A few shouts of "get a job ya bums."

Our local purveyor of hate speech, Daily Sun columnist Tom McLaughlin stopped by, undoubtedly looking for fodder for his next rant.

An Unethical Foreclosure Story from NH

2011-11-04T13:45:00.005-04:00

A family who owns a small second home in rural northern NH just experienced a foreclosure - on a house that has no mortgage. From The Conway Daily Sun:

A major Wall Street bank is apologizing to a Maine couple who allege that the bank wrongfully claimed ownership of their second home on Green Mountain Road in Effingham. But the apology rings hollow for the Drew family.

Apparently, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. confused a little red house, owned by Travis and Paula Drew, at 529 Green Mountain Road, for a no-longer-existent mobile home at 519 Green Mountain Road.

The structures were owned by different people even though they once shared the same lot. The confusion led the bank's agents to change the locks on the Drews' home and remove $14,000 worth of belongings from the property.

Mind boggling.

The Drews aren't impressed with Chase's admission of an error. As of Wednesday afternoon, Chase still hadn't explained itself to them. Bank employees told the Drews that a representative named Michelle would be in contact with them when the bank's investigation is complete.

One would think that a company like Chase, after making such a mistake would be all kinds of apologetic, trying to make up for this. One would think they'd be at least attempting to do something - given how tarnished the company's image already is.
One would be wrong.

Some of the property that was removed from the house has been returned, but it was left outside, uncovered. The local sheriff had to issue a "stand down" order to the property management company that was hired by Chase - the company responsible for changing the locks and removing the Drew's property. That this could even happen is just insane.

Incidents of this sort have happened all over the country. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is getting involved. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is an independent bureau of the US Treasury, charged with regulating and supervising federal banks and savings and loans institutions. From the Christian Science Monitor:

About 4 million homeowners who may have been improperly foreclosed upon in 2009 and 2010 are getting an opportunity to have their cases reviewed. Whether they will be reimbursed is up to the same lenders who are accused of moving too swiftly to seize their homes.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Monday that mortgage services will begin sending out letters this month that ask borrowers if they want their case reviewed.

The nation's 14 largest mortgage servicers — including Citibank, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo — were ordered to offer to review cases after the government found that some rushed the foreclosureprocess without carefully reviewing documents.

At long last the folks who have been treated unfairly at best, and illegally at worst will have a review and some recourse.

Stories like this are why customers are moving their money out of big banks and into credit unions in record numbers. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Some 650,000 customers have opened credit union accounts and deposited about $4.5 billion since Bank of America announced its now-canceled $5 monthly debit card fee in late September, according to a survey of 5,000 credit unions by the Credit Union National Association released Thursday.

The website for the Move Your Money Project has a lot of helpful information, including a link to help interested folks find credit unions and community banks in their area.

It sends a message. This is another reason why the Occupy movement continues to grow.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Student Debt Continues to Grow

2011-11-03T14:06:00.005-04:00

A new report from the Project on Student Debt shows that student debt in 2010 increased 5% on average over the year before. Those same students are walking into a world where the unemployment rate for new college graduates is 9.1%. From the NY Times:

“Student debt goes up and it doesn’t ever go down,” said Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of Finaid.org and Fastweb.com, two Web sites that offer advice on paying for college. “We’re clearly heading in the direction of decreased college affordability. Among lower-income students, the canaries in the cage that squawk first, we’re already seeing a decline in enrollment in four-year colleges and an increase in lower-cost two-year institutions,” he said.

When lower income kids can't afford to go to school, income inequality will continue to grow and solidify in our society.

More grim information available from Demos:

Only workers with at least a BA degree saw earnings increase over the last generation
Median earnings for young African-Americans are 75% of the earnings of whites; 68% for Latinos
Young women earn less than men at every level of education.
Twenty-nine percent of 18-24 year olds and 16% of 25-34 year-olds are underemployed
The percentage of young adults with jobs is at its lowest point in a generation

This all explains why the issue of student debt is being taken up by the Occupy movement. The website Occupy Student Debt gives students and former students a platform to share with all of us what impact that debt load has on their lives.

President Obama has announced plans to ease that student loan burden. From the NY Times:

At a press briefing Tuesday afternoon, Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council, said the president would use his executive authority to expand the existing income-based repayment program with a “Pay as You Earn” option that would allow graduates to pay 10 percent of their discretionary income for 20 years and have the rest of their federal student loan debt forgiven. That plan would start next year.

Using executive authority means bypassing Congressional gridlock, thereby enacting a positive change. This new plan is good news for students and their families.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Long Live The Pledge!

2011-11-03T13:55:00.002-04:00

The Pledge. In New Hampshire, these two words are always spoken in capital letters. The Pledge. Not the Pledge of Allegiance, not the Norquist Pledge, not any of the other pledges Republicans take against: gay marriage, abortion, pornography, Sharia law, or promising to adhere to term limits, pledging to rewrite the tax code, and run our government like a business. Republicans take many, many pledges. In NH, The Pledge means the anti-tax pledge cooked up by the late Union Leader publisher William Loeb, and the late Governor Meldrim Thomson. When one takes The Pledge, one promises not to support an income or a sales tax in our state. All Republicans take The Pledge, and so do many Democrats.

Ironic, isn’t it? Here in the Live Free or Die State, not thinking for one’s self is prized above all else.

That’s why Republicans take so many pledges. The pledges eliminate the need for thought, paving the way for candidates like Rick Santorum and Martin Harty. All Republicans take The Pledge, and so do many Democrats. The timid Manchester Conservadems who control the NHDP support The Pledge. They insist that Democrats can’t win unless they take it. Democrat Maggie Hassan recently announced she was going to run for governor. Within minutes of the press conference, she took The Pledge. Within minutes of taking The Pledge, Republicans were calling her a “tax and spend liberal.” The beat goes on and on – and The Pledge shuts down all discussion of what might make sense, or what would be right for our state.

Not taking The Pledge is not the same thing as supporting an income or sales tax. A candidate who refused to take The Pledge would indicate the presence of a candidate who refuses to march forward in mindless lockstep with the dead.

We all see the result of pledge politics in NH every day: inadequate roads, failing bridges and dams, and a communications infrastructure that does not meet the needs of the top half of the state. Every time you open your property tax bill, you see the results of pledge politics. The proposed changes to snow plowing by the DOT were the direct result of pledge politics. The curious fee system we have in NH is a direct result of pledge politics. That The Pledge doesn’t work is never discussed. Mediscam (the stealing of Medicaid money to fund our state government) was also a direct result of pledge politics. The state is now being asked to pay back some $35 million in Mediscam funds.
 A recent story in the Conway Daily Sun focused on the inter-library loan (ILL) system, which is currently being threatened by the Teabaglican legislature. The Institute of Museum and Library Services gives NH around a million dollars every year in federal funding. About a third of that goes to fund the vans used for ILL. In other words, it’s an inexpensive program that allows small libraries to greatly expand their reach. Readers can request books that the small local library doesn’t have, and borrow the book from another part of the state. This is especially helpful when it comes to research materials. Our small libraries have limited space and budgets. ILL levels the playing field for NH students and readers.

Rep. Steve Vaillancourt (R: Odious) of the House Finance Committee wants to cut the funding for inter-library loan. It seems Rep. Vaillancourt got the book he ordered from the program “too fast,” and decried this “gold plated service.” Vaillancourt lives in Manchester, the largest city in the state. It’s a sure bet that if he lived in Pittsburg, he wouldn’t be making the same complaint. Vaillancourt is currently a Republican (though he has been a Democrat and a Libertarian in the past) and like all Republicans, he knows the best way to create more GOP voters is to prevent education.

Local Rep. Karen Umberger is also on the Finance Committee. In the Sun story, she is quoted as saying she was reserving judgment until reading a report on the matter. Translation: “Stop calling me!” We can certainly count on Rep. Umberger to think long and hard before marching in obedient lockstep with her party.

In other news, the NH unemployment rate has risen steadily every month since the O’Brien budget went into effect late in June. It was 4.9% in June. As of September, the rate is 5.4%. That laser-like focus on jobs that the GOP candidates promised has yet to materialize. Perhaps they meant a laser-like focus on job elimination? If that’s the case, they’re doing a fine job. One can only assume that eliminating marriage equality is the latest GOP plan for job creation, since that looms heavily on their agenda for 2012. The results for the cuts made to the tobacco tax are in, and show that the state is $3.5 million behind in projected tobacco revenue for the year. When the cuts were made, Speaker O’Brien was quoted as saying, "We strongly believe that reducing this tax will result in more revenue, more economic growth and more tax cuts." Believing doesn’t make it true. Of course it’s still cheaper for NH students to take up smoking than it is for them to go to college here.

 Liquor and lottery funds are coming in below projection as well. A Teabaglican budget shortfall seems likely. At the same time, your property taxes have gone up! Please take a moment to thank the independent thinkers of our state government who are still taking the instructions given by a couple of long dead carpetbaggers. Long live The Pledge!

“Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work, then they get elected and prove it.” P.J. O’Rourke

© sbruce 2011
Published as an op-ed in the November 4, 2011 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper

Lessons for OWS: It's Illegal to be Homeless in Public

2011-10-27T13:44:00.005-04:00

A look at one of the lessons being learned from the Occupy movement. From Barbara Ehrenreich at Mother Jones:

What the Occupy Wall Streeters are beginning to discover, and homeless people have known all along, is that most ordinary, biologically necessary activities are illegal when performed in American streets—not just peeing, but sitting, lying down, and sleeping.

It is essentially illegal to be homeless, especially in public.

What occupiers from all walks of life are discovering, at least every time they contemplate taking a leak, is that to be homeless in America is to live like a fugitive. The destitute are our own native-born "illegals," facing prohibitions on the most basic activities of survival. They are not supposed to soil public space with their urine, their feces, or their exhausted bodies. Nor are they supposed to spoil the landscape with their unusual wardrobe choices or body odors. They are, in fact, supposed to die, and preferably to do so without leaving a corpse for the dwindling public sector to transport, process, and burn.

Society acknowledges a "homeless problem," but fails to recognize that the problem is growing, and that more and more folks who were once middle class are joining the "problem." Homeless people are supposed to stay out of sight, and stop reminding the lucky ones that they could be next. The lack of awareness is also attributable to a level of shame that prevents those formerly middle class folks from admitting to their homelessness.

In Portland, Austin, and Philadelphia, the Occupy Wall Street movement is taking up the cause of the homeless as its own, which of course it is. Homelessness is not a side issue unconnected to plutocracy and greed. It's where we're all eventually headed—the 99 percent, or at least the 70 percent, of us, every debt-loaded college grad, out-of-work school teacher, and impoverished senior—unless this revolution succeeds.

Amen. Let us hope that more and more people begin to talk about it, own up to it, and make it a mainstream issue.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

In Tennessee, the GOP War on Voting is Working

2011-10-23T18:49:00.007-04:00

First, a 91 year old woman can't get a voter ID in Murfreesboro. From The Tennesseean:

Ninety-one-year-old Virginia Lasater says she was unable to obtain a voter ID because she was physically unable to stand in a long line at a driver testing center.

and

A new law requires voters to show a photo ID at the polls. Since Lasater doesn't have a photo on her driver's license, she went to get one. But the testing center was packed and there were no chairs available.

Shame on everyone in that building for not giving up their chair to Mrs. Lasater. Whatever happened to good manners?

On the other hand, it does seem as if the voter ID laws are having the desired effect.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

How To Deal With a #BadBoss: Joey Quits

2011-10-23T18:04:00.008-04:00

A disgruntled worker explains what was behind his theatrical resignation. From HuffPo:

Like almost anyone who's ever held down a job, Joey DeFrancesco harbored dreams of one day quitting work in spectacular fashion.

The way 23-year-old DeFrancesco tells it, he worked a job he didn’t care for at a hotel in Providence, R.I., for more than three years. He often thought about leaving. In his own workplace fantasy, DeFrancesco would march right up to his boss with a letter of resignation. Upon handing it over, a brass band would explode into boisterous song. Then DeFrancesco would march out of the hotel in triumph, waving to his admirers.

The difference between DeFrancesco and the rest of us is that he actually carried out his fantasy.

Oh, yes he did. Here's the video:

This is from Joey's explanation of why he quit, from the YouTube page where the video is posted:

I worked in this hotel for 3.5 years. I worked while going to school full time to pay my tuition and living expenses. This was not a job I had for two weeks before quitting in a hissy-fit.

The working conditions in the hotel are horrendous. In the kitchen, workers are regularly forced to work 10, 11, 14, 16 hour shifts that begin at 5:30AM and last well into the night. Housekeepers are reprimanded if they fail to clean 16 rooms or more in a 9 hour shift. Anyone who speaks up—especially anyone who is openly pro-union—is disciplined or fired. Managers, like Jared, scream down employees daily.

I worked extremely hard to change the conditions in the hotel. My co-workers and I regularly organized ourselves to push back against management and demand respect. I was also one of many workers who led the fight to organize a formal union at the hotel. For legal reasons I must mention that this specific action was an individual decision and had nothing to do with the union.

The hotel has yet to recognize our union, and they continue a vicious union-busting campaign. They punish and fire pro-union workers, spread lies in captive-audience meetings, and generally attempt to scare the workers out of joining the union. Still, through just being organized and threatening to form a union, we've won countless victories, including raises, new uniforms, lower housekeeper room quotas, etc.

The hotel would never be able to get away with 16 hour shifts in a good economy. With so many out of work, the hotel is holding workers hostage in exchange for their jobs. If that sounds familiar, it's because I've written about it before. Joey is one of the lucky ones - he found another job. Thousands of other workers are stuck in miserable jobs because they don't dare to quit, and those companies take full advantage of the fear American workers have of joblessness.

Most of us have probably fantasized about quitting a job with this kind of fanfare. This would be another cheap viral video trick, were it not for Joey's clear explanation of WHY he quit.

His new boss must have a good sense of humor.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Hits and Mythos

2011-10-21T00:06:00.004-04:00

I’d like to take a moment to thank NH House Speaker William O’Brien, and the entire Teabaglican legislature for providing me with endless column fodder this year. Every week has brought a new outrage; an outrage ignored by the careful GOP stenographers that comprise the majority of the NH media. This is an incurious media, media that fails to do any follow up with the Perry campaign to see what they think about supporter Al Baldasaro’s unpatriotic soldier bashing. This is a media that hasn’t followed up with the Perry campaign to see what they think about the ethically challenged Maynard Thomson, who “just happened” to resign his post as Carroll County Republican Chair to serve as a NH Perry campaign Poobah on the same day the AG’s office sent him a “cease and desist” letter concerning his violations of campaign finance reporting laws. Yes indeedy, thanks to the NH GOP, I’ve experienced very little writer’s block this year.

In June, local GOP activist and unabashed racist Ray Shakir made national news because of emails he sent to his fellow Carroll County Republicans, in which he referred to President Obama as a “jungle alien.” Because NH is the home of the first in the nation presidential primary, the national media is paying far greater attention to what goes on in our state. That’s why State Rep. Al Baldasaro (R: Crazytown) made national news. During this last week, NH’s legislature has captured national attention again. And again. During the discussion on forming a House committee to investigate the Local Government Center, Rep. Jordan Ulery attached an amendment that would have given the Speaker the right to send people to jail if they failed to answer subpoenas. Speaker O’Brien had conveniently stepped down from his throne, and was able to cast a yea vote on this amendment. His spokesperson said (unblushingly) that he “just happened” to be taking a break at the exact moment when this amendment came up for a vote. It was voted down. Local Representatives Umberger and McCarthy both supported giving the Speaker the power to jail NH residents. Rep. Pettengill didn’t vote, and Rep. Chandler (despite his role in the O’Brien leadership team) voted nay, as did Rep. Norm Tregenza (R: John Birch Society). The blatant power grab made national news.

Barely a day later, State Rep. Harry Accornero (R: Insanitea) made national news because he wants a commission formed to impeach President Obama for treason. He sent out an email stating his intent to all of his fellow members of the NH House. Being a Teabaglican he couldn’t leave out Obama’s middle name – but being a Teabaglican he did spell it incorrectly. Accornero is miffed about Obama ignoring “illegal aliens” in the US. His level of miffage must have been manfully suppressed during the last administration, when it was a white guy doing the ignoring. Accornero is another example of the caliber of the freshman Republicans elected in 2010. GOP voters didn’t waste any time on learning about the candidates, they just voted for anyone with an R next to their name, as we learned during the Martin Harty incident.

Both of these stories come at a time where other states are trying to make inroads into the early primary season. The sheer lunacy of the current NH House is causing people around the country to question why NH should have any kind of a role in choosing the eventual nominee, given that we’re a state full of crazy white folks. Nice work, NH GOP!

In the category of non-national news, I particularly enjoyed the story about the recent visit to Carroll County by members of the House redistricting committee. According to the story in the Sun, Rep. Mirski announced to the assembled throng, “This is your opportunity to provide testimony.” My experience with testimony has always been linked to proposed legislation or some sort of a plan. This was a truly unique opportunity for local residents to offer testimony on…nothing. The committee didn’t bother to show up with even a rudimentary plan. Nice work, NH GOP!

I also enjoyed the tele-talk comments on the bypass. This discussion has been going on since I was a child, and I expect it will continue long after I’m dead. What amused me most were the comments from those who were annoyed with Governor Lynch for daring to suggest that the community needs to have some sort of consensus on what the bypass should look like. Some callers were quite huffy at the idea that the bypass is really up to them.

What the huffy don’t understand is that NH is about 20 years behind its own 10-year transportation plan. Going forward requires revenue. The Teabaglicans have done their best to eliminate all revenue streams. Remember the dust up over snow plowing and cuts to the DOT budget? The Teabaglicans eliminated a fee that was going to the DOT. The Republican mantra reads: “NH doesn’t have a revenue problem, NH has a spending problem.” That, huffy amigos, is why we have a 19th century infrastructure in the 21st century, and why the bypass will never be built. You folks keep voting for representatives who will ensure that the money is never there to build it. Governor Lynch is correct: this is up to the voters. As long as folks vote in accordance with the lying Republican mantra, they’ll get exactly what they deserve. Nothing.

As NH continues to attract national attention for the increasingly bizarre actions of our state legislature, we move ever further from keeping our first-in-the-nation primary status. We are well on our way, however, to becoming a national joke. Thanks NH GOP!

“If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.” Bertrand Russell

© sbruce 2011

Published as an op-ed in the October 21 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.

GOP Values on Display

2011-10-06T19:48:00.003-04:00

The invasion of the presidential candidates has begun. The media is crafting the narrative they prefer, and the debates are in full swing. Silly season is upon us, here in the first in the nation primary state. Since the primary contest is only on the Republican side, the values of today’s GOP are on full display.

Thus far, the majority of candidate town hall meetings have taken place in Rockingham County – the area of our state that gives lie to the GOP myth of “liberals from Massachusetts moving to NH.” Rockingham County is full of angry Republican imports from the state just south of us. Many of them move here to run for office, to ensure that NH continues to be a state that chooses not to fund infrastructure or education. Republicans really hate education. A good education decreases the likelihood that the recipient will vote GOP.

The televised debates have not only been good theater, they’ve been a remarkable illustration of GOP values. During the first full debate (with all of the media anointed candidates), Brian Wallace asked Governor Rick Perry about the execution conveyor belt in Texas. When he stated that Perry had presided over 234 executions during his time in office, the crowd cheered. Yay death! Williams asked Perry if he ever “struggled to sleep at night” over the possibility of executing an innocent person. Perry, of course, said no. Sociopaths don’t experience empathy.

In the second full debate (sponsored by the Tea Party Express), Congressman Ron Paul was asked a hypothetical question about whether a man with no health insurance should be allowed to die, and again, the crowd cheered the death of this uninsured man. Ron Paul, a doctor, mumbled something about letting the churches pay for the guy’s care – which essentially means letting the guy die. Paul should know. Kent Snyder persuaded Ron Paul to run for president in 2007, and became his campaign chairman. In 2008, the 49-year-old Snyder died of pneumonia. He had no health insurance. His mother was given the $400,000 bill. No church came forward to pick up the tab.

During the most recent debate, people who had been videotaped in advance asked some questions. Candidate Rick Santorum was presented with a question on the repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. An openly gay Marine currently serving in Iraq asked the question. The audience booed the gay soldier. Chickenhawk Santorum never even acknowledged or thanked this Marine for his service. Not a one of the candidates mentioned the utter inappropriateness of the audience booing a soldier. The next day a few campaigns tried to repair their image by speaking up, but it was too late by then. This is today’s Republican Party, booing a gay soldier, even as he serves his country. Gone are the days of the yellow ribbons and blustering commentary about “supporting our troops.”

That incident has come home to roost in the form of NH State Representative Al Baldasaro, a supporter of candidate Rick Perry. Baldasaro was caught on video saying that he thought the booing of the gay soldier was great. In an interview with Scott Keyes, of Think Progress, Baldasaro said, “ I was so disgusted over that gay marine coming out, because when he came out of the closet. Bob won’t say it because they’re scared to get in trouble, but their brothers and sisters – brothers especially- that are there, they’ll start getting away from him. They’ll start ignoring him. He doesn’t realize it, but when the shit hits the fan, you want your brothers covering your back, not looking at your back.”

Al Baldasaro is a former Marine. In fact, he’s the kind of veteran that feels compelled to mention his service at least once every 15 minutes or so. This is today’s GOP. A former Marine cheering the booing of one of his own, while the man serves in Iraq. Baldasaro is one of NH’s most outspoken elected homophobes, having testified at a committee hearing last winter that the state of NH sells babies to gay couples. He was later forced to retract that lie. Baldasaro is the chairman of the House State-Federal & Veterans Affairs Committee. Yep. Veterans Affairs. Rep. Baldasaro should be forced to resign immediately, but of course, he won’t be. Today’s GOP is in agreement with Baldasaro’s disgusting comments about a gay man serving his country. Not a peep out of Jeb Bradley or Bill O’Brien. Barely a peep out of the complicit NH media. The only paper that has even mentioned it so far is the Nashua Telegraph.

If we add Baldasaro’s commentary to Ray Shakir’s national publicity garnered by referring to our president as “a jungle alien,” we can certainly see the sort of shamelessness that is a characteristic of today’s GOP. I would be remiss if I failed to remark upon the recent cease and desist letter that the state AG’s office sent to Maynard Thomson and the Carroll County Republican Party. It seems that under the stewardship of romance novelist Thomson, the Carroll County GOP failed to properly report, itemize, and provide receipts for their expenditures during the 2010 campaign. It seems that some expenditures went on Chairman Thomson’s own personal credit card. According to the AG’s letter (which I have a copy of), the report that was submitted just lumped everything together as one big expense, without itemizing. From the letter: “Your conscious decisions to fail to report the committee’s expenditures for political advertisements until after the General Election and to lump them together with the committee’s cable bill violates RSA 664:6.”

Remember the good old days when politicians at least attempted to present a public façade that they weren’t crooks and charlatans? It’s enough to make one long for those halcyon days of Richard Nixon.

“Well, I screwed it up real good, didn't I?” Richard M. Nixon

published as an op-ed in the 10-7-11 edition of the Conway Daily Sun
© sbruce 2011

For Young Adults, Benefits of Health Care Reform Already Clear

2011-09-22T17:51:00.005-04:00

Since the new health insurance reform law went into effect in 2010, over a million young adults have been able to get health insurance. The reform bill requires insurance companies to allow adult children to stay on their parent's policies until age 26. US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sibelius called this a "really great achievement." From the Washington Post:

“The economic downturn has taken a toll on employment among young adults,” Sebelius said during a conference call with news media. “In the past, that would have led to even more young people without health insurance. Instead, thanks to the [new law], the number of young adults with coverage has actually gone up.”

Given that young adults are the age group most likely to go without health insurance, this really is good news. These comments from a student directly affected get right to the heart of the matter:

For Luis Silva,the provision means having peace of mind as he pursues a law degree. The 23-year-old University of South Florida senior said he would have been forced to go without insurance if the law had not enabled him to keep coverage through his mother, a bank worker.

“Money is really tight,” he said. “I’m putting myself through college, already working a part-time job, literally living on ramen. . . . If it was anything more than $20 a month, I would not be able to afford it.”

That was a scary prospect for Silva, whose father owes $50,000 in medical bills he incurred after getting into a trucking accident while uninsured.

This provision in the health insurance reform bill allows students like Luis Silva and his family to have one less thing to worry about in this economy.

Polls show, repeatedly, that most people don't know what is actually in the health insurance reform bill, or how it will affect them. In a country where over 50 million are uninsured, adding a million young adults to the ranks of the insured may not seem like a big deal, but for every one of those families, it's a big success.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Arbiters of Fiscal Responsibility

2011-09-22T12:46:00.004-04:00

The work of repairing the damage done to our state by Hurricane Irene continues. The Kancamaugus Highway has been repaired enough to allow traffic upon it. The repairs to Rt. 16 above the Dana Place are moving along very quickly. A temporary bridge has been put over the Sawyer River on Rt. 302. All of these fixes were put in place in time to ensure that the tourists who come to NH from all over the world during foliage season will be able to see the show. These fixes also ensure that our businesses won’t suffer during the busiest time of the year. In all of the places where homes and property were damaged, the signs of clean up continue.

In a state where the Teabaglican legislature cut the Dept. of Transportation budget to the point where there is concern about how NH will pay for plowing, it is curious that the question of how this will all be paid for is not really being discussed. There are roadside signs and newspaper ads telling local folks how and where to apply to FEMA for help. FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a branch of the Dept. of Homeland Security. FEMA is tasked with helping respond to disasters that overwhelm the resources of local or state authorities, including funding for rebuilding. Not a word from any of our state representatives on this subject. Are they opposed to FEMA money to help their neighbors rebuild? Are they keeping quiet in order to have some hope of getting reelected? Where is Frank McCarthy’s manifesto on this subject?

US Senator Jeanne Shaheen spoke on the Senate floor about the need for Congress to provide comprehensive disaster aid to her own state, and all of the other states that were hit hard by Irene. In a year of many natural disasters (hurricanes, tornados, floods, and wildfires) FEMA funds have been depleted, and Senator Shaheen was urging her fellow members of the Senate to provide more funding for FEMA. Shaheen knows that without that funding, NH will be unable to rebuild and recover.

What of our other federal officials? Senator Kelly Ayotte voted against aiding her state. In the US House, Rep. Eric Cantor (R. Reptile House) insisted that appropriating funds for FEMA be tied to more federal spending cuts. That’s right. Cantor is opposed to rebuilding his country. NH Congressmen Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass went right along with Cantor, and voted against their own state. Be sure to thank Ayotte, Guinta, and Bass if you ever see them. Guinta and Bass have taken to holding telephone town hall meetings, in an effort to avoid angry constituents.

Neither Cantor nor Bass ever demanded budget cuts to offset the $55+ billion we’ve spent on building infrastructure in Iraq, or the paltry $36 billion we’ve spent rebuilding Afghanistan. The DoD is currently taking bids for building a giant new prison in Bagram, Afghanistan. This prison would be large enough to hold 2000 prisoners, at an estimated cost of $100 million. Not a word of protest from Cantor, Ayotte, Bass, or Guinta on this use of our tax dollars. They don’t have a problem with our spending money on other countries. It’s the needs of their own country that they don’t care about.

This week we learned that the legislature is getting ready to deal with a $35 million budget shortfall. This shortfall comes about because NH is probably going to have to pay back some $35 million in Medicaid funds that were improperly used in 2004. The misuse of Medicaid money to help prop up the General Fund is nothing new; it began during Judd Gregg’s tenure as Governor of our state, saving his bacon in a 1991 budget crisis. In short: states that could prove they treated a disproportionate share of low-income patients were eligible for federally matched funds to create Disproportionate Share (DSH) programs. The funds were supposed to be used to reimburse hospitals and providers who treated a disproportionate share of low-income folks. To greatly simplify, the hospitals got half of the revenue, and the other half went in the General Fund. The party ended in 2007, when the US Dept. of Health and Human Services questioned NH’s use of those funds, and an audit found that NH was not adhering to federal guidelines, and would have to pay back $35 million. Governor Lynch is appealing this decision.

The NH media reports this story carefully, ever mindful of their role as GOP stenographers. Most reports never mention that Mediscam began during Judd Gregg’s tenure as governor, or that in 2004 Craig Benson was the governor of our state during the time of this mismanagement of funds, and that the GOP had control of both the NH House and Senate. Mediscam is a GOP legacy, as is this $35 million dollar payback.

Now, Rep. Neal Kurk, (R. Sociopath) is rubbing his hands together with glee at the prospect of re-opening the budget and eliminating another $35 million. Neal Kurk doesn’t care if our roads are plowed – or even paved. This same budget has already caused some 2000 job losses. Neal Kurk can’t wait to make sure even more NH residents are unemployed.

I am left with two questions. The first: why would anyone ever believe anything the NH GOP has to say about fiscal responsibility?

The second question is the one I keep asking: Is this what you voted for? A Senator and 2 Congressman that shovel money overseas without question, but vote against helping their own states and their country rebuild after a natural disaster?

this was published as an op-ed in the 9-23-11 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.
© sbruce 2011

More Layoffs May be Coming

2011-09-20T10:44:00.007-04:00

There hasn't been nearly enough job creation to help the (officially) 14 million Americans who are out of work. As I've said before, the real number is much higher. The 99'ers and others who have lost benefits, as well as those who were never eligible for benefits aren't counted.

Last month's employment report showed zero job creation.

From the New York Times:

Job growth halted entirely in the nation last month. And as Europe’s debt crisis acts as a drag on global growth and Washington debates another jobs bill, the possibility of a second recession is increasing in the United States along with the prospects of corresponding layoffs. Mr. Myricks’s tale of pain the second time around, economists fear, could become all too familiar.

With headlines like the 30,000 layoffs planned at Bank of America and the United States Postal Service asking Congress to cut 120,000 workers, it is perhaps not surprising that workers’ concerns about job security are near the peak they reached during the last recession, according to a recent Gallup survey. At least one anecdotal study found that layoff announcements were greater in August than a year earlier.

The last workers in the door are often the first out the door. That could make the Americans who have already depleted their support networks and unemployment benefits most vulnerable to layoffs.

Having a long layoff, followed by brief employment and another layoff isn't going to look good on anyone's resume, especially at a time when some employers are running ads that discriminate against the unemployed, by requiring job applicants to be currently employed.

With cuts to state budgets and safety nets, those fears are completely justified.

Cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Tea Party Congressman Cries Poverty

2011-09-20T09:48:00.005-04:00

Pity the plight of poor Congressman Fleming, a Tea Partier from Louisiana. From TPM:

Fleming -- a businessman who owns Subway sandwich shops and is responsible for more than 100 UPS stores across the south -- said that taxing wealthier people hurts job creation. Jansing pointed out that, as the Wall Street Journal estimated, Fleming raked in more than $6 million last year. Chump change, Fleming said!

and

"The amount that I have to reinvest in my business and feed my family is more like $600,000 of that $6.3 million," Fleming said. "So by the time I feed my family I have maybe $400,000 left over to invest in new locations, upgrade my locations..."

Poor fella only has $200,000 a year to feed his family. Rep. Fleming has a wife, four adult children, and two grandchildren. It is unlikely that he is feeding all of them, and even if he is, that should cover it.

There's also his $174,000 a year salary as a Congressman, free health care, and a military pension. He was a medical doctor in the US Navy. He's also a family physician.

Apparently those of us who are amongst the long-term unemployed are supposed to feel sorry for him.

From MSNBC:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Kelly Ayotte Votes Against NH

2011-09-13T22:04:00.004-04:00

US Senate finally moves forward on a bill that would provide disaster aid to states devastated by Hurricane Irene. From Politico:

Senate Democrats were successful the second time around Tuesday, narrowly advancing a $7 billion disaster aid package that Republicans blocked a day earlier.

On a 61-38 vote, all 53 members of the Democratic caucus and eight Republicans from disaster-afflicted states agreed to move forward on legislation that would help areas of the country hit by Hurricane Irene and recent tornadoes, flooding and wildfires. Sixty votes were needed.

Republicans who cast an “aye” vote were Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri; Scott Brown of Massachusetts; John Hoeven of North Dakota; Dean Heller of Nevada; Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania; David Vitter of Louisiana; and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine. In Monday’s failed 53-33 vote, Toomey had voted no, while Sen. Dan Coats of (R-Ind.) had voted yes.

Kelly Ayotte's name is not on that list. When will Senator Ayotte make a trip to northern Carroll County to explain that vote?

Kelly Ayotte voted against her own state. She needs to eat this every day from now till 2016, when we can vote her out.

Unemployed in South Carolina

2011-09-13T12:48:00.013-04:00

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has a mixed message about unemployment in her state. Houston Chronicle:

Here she's saying the unemployment rate is high because so many people are looking for work:

Joblessness is a headache for Haley. In July, South Carolina's unemployment rate was 10.9 percent, tying it for the nation's third worst with Michigan behind Nevada and California.

Haley said that's because the state's labor force has grown.

Here she's saying there are plenty of jobs:

Haley pointed out she's announced 11,491 jobs and $1.7 billion in investments.

"That's a lot of jobs. But why are we still having the problems? Because we have companies that need workers. And we have workers that need jobs and we don't have the training to match them up," Haley said.

Here she's saying that the unemployed are lazy drug addicts:
Haley also is working out details on how the state can require drug testing for people getting unemployment benefits. Haley said she was told half the applicants for hundreds of jobs at the Savannah River Site failed drug tests.
and

"I so want drug testing," Haley said. "It's something I've been wanting since the first day I walked into office."

Leaving aside the fact that workers pay into the unemployment funds, this mandatory testing would cost millions. Texas legislators abandoned the idea when they learned it would cost the state $30 million.

It seems there is some disagreement with Governor Haley's story about the number of drug testing failures at the Savannah River site. From the Huffington Post:

It may be an unemployment problem after all. Jim Giusti, a spokesman for the Department of Energy, which owns the River Site, told HuffPost he had no idea what Haley was talking about with regard to applicants flunking a drug test.

"Half the people who applied for a job last year or year 2009 did not fail the drug test," Giusti said. "At the peak of hiring under the Recovery Act we had less than 1 percent of those hired test positive."

The River Site doesn't even test applicants. "We only test them when they have been accepted," Giusti said.

Governor Haley's spokesperson was not available for comment. There is certainly a big discrepancy between her claim that half the applicants testing positive and the company saying that it was fewer than one percent testing positive.

As we learned on Sesame Street: one of these things is not like the other.

The Teabaglicans Want the Uninsured to Die

2011-09-13T09:31:00.004-04:00

A short, chilling, clip from last night's Tea Party Express debate on CNN:

By all means - let's just let the uninsured die. These people are sociopaths. Ron Paul is determined to force women to serve as involuntary incubators, but once that little sprog hits the chute, it's on it's own.

Wisconsin State Employee Fired as Voter ID Mess Continues

2011-09-10T15:13:00.006-04:00

In last week's story about Voter ID in Wisconsin, we learned of a memo that was sent out to DMV employees:

An internal memo from a top Department of Transportation official instructs workers at Division of Motor Vehicles service centers not to tell members of the public that they can obtain voter identification cards free of charge — unless they know to ask for it.

In their zeal to prevent voter fraud, it seems the state is actually trying to prevent some folks from voting. It's likely that the state of Wisconsin was hoping that memo and the implications of the menu would die down quickly, and not attract a lot of national attention. Sadly for Wisconsin, when it comes to voter suppression, the story just keeps on going. The latest update, from the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:

A low-level state employee was fired Thursday after he sent an email to his fellow employees telling them about the state Department of Transportation’s policy on giving out free photo identification cards for voting.

Chris Larsen, who had worked in the mail room at the state Department of Safety and Professional Services, sent an email Thursday morning to all employees at the agency’s headquarters explaining that the DOT would provide photo IDs to people only if they specifically asked to have the fee waived.

A couple of hours later, Larsen was fired.

They have free Voter ID's at the Wisconsin DMV. Just don't tell anyone, okay?

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Paul Ryan Can't Hide from Angry Constituents

2011-09-09T10:56:00.007-04:00

Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has been having a tough time with his constituents. Back in April the home town folks were expressing their displeasure with his plan to cut Medicare.

During the August recess, he dodged constituents by only speaking in venues where people had to pay to get in. From Mother Jones:

Over the past week, hundreds of people, a mix of constituents and other angry Wisconsinites, have marched outside Ryan's Kenosha and Racine offices, angry over what they see as Ryan's inaccessibility and refusal to face his constituents in a free, public, in-person town hall. For four days, they also held sit-ins inside Ryan's Kenosha office—until police kicked them out. The only in-person event on Ryan's recess calendar is an appearance at a Rotary hall outside his district with a $15 entrance fee; by contrast, Ryan held more than a dozen town halls in 2009. "This is a jobs crisis in his congressional district, an emergency," says Scott Page, 37, an unemployed Kenosha resident. "Yet he's not even listening to his own constituents."

As our own Joel Payne pointed out, democracy is not pay per view.

Ryans's constituents are increasingly annoyed at being deliberately ignored by their Congressman. From the Group Wisconsin Jobs Now!:

Unemployed constituents, spurned by Paul Ryan on multiple occasions, were galvanized into action the Tuesday following Labor Day. After being unable to convince their representative to schedule a FREE public meeting following a week long sit-in, the members of his district converged on a one time only pay-per-view event far away from the majority of his constituents.

Here's the video the group made of their visit to confront Congressman Ryan:

It doesn't cast Ryan in a very good light. As the police force an elderly man to the ground to put handcuffs on him, Ryan "jokes" that he hopes the man has taken his blood pressure medication. That's ugly. It's a perfect illustration of the kind of "concern" Ryan has for the working people in his district, and around the country.

Wisconsin Jobs Now! is a coalition of community groups, neighborhood associations, faith based organizations and organized labor, all working together to bring good jobs to the state. Bravo to them for not letting Paul Ryan hide behind pay-per-view events, and for showing all of us what kind of a Congressman (and person) Paul Ryan is.

We'll all be entering voting booths on November 6, 2012 - and we won't forget.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

To FEMA or Not to FEMA?

2011-09-08T18:50:00.003-04:00

It’s been a big year for disaster in the US. Floods, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, and hurricanes have cost lives and billions of dollars in property damage. Northern Carroll County got a big dose of damage in the form of Hurricane Irene. Roads and bridges were so damaged that at one point, parts of Rt. 16, 302, and the Kanc were all closed. People above the notches were stranded. The Notchland Inn was an island unto itself for nearly a week, with a bridge to the south damaged to impassibility, and the road to the north washed away and undermined. These are all major thoroughfares for the North Country, and essential to our lives and our businesses. They cannot go unrepaired.

Roads and bridges come under the jurisdiction of the NH Dept. of Transportation. We all recently learned that the current state budget made dramatic cuts to the DOT that were likely to impact the way our roads are plowed, which certainly impacts public safety. State Rep. Gene Chandler was quite upset when that story came out. Suddenly, his leadership role in the O’Brien junta was coming back to bite his district. Now there’s a great deal of expensive road and bridge damage in Chandler’s own hometown. One wonders how he’ll be explaining those DOT budget cuts to his constituents. And where is the money going to come from for all the repairs that must be made? Chandler mentioned help from FEMA in the paper, but can he be serious? Why, that’s money from the BIG GOVERNMENT that today’s GOP is dead against.

How will Chandler justify taking federal aid? What will Frank Guinta do? Congressman Guinta was vehemently opposed to any government funds being used to repair or build a new bridge to replace the bridge between Portsmouth and Kittery, ME. Does Guinta oppose FEMA funding to repair and rebuild our roads and bridges? Will he be brave enough to say so, with an election year coming up? Will anyone in the GOP-complicit NH media ever ask him?

GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul recently said that he believes FEMA should be abolished, and states should have to dig their way out of their own disasters. That’s an interesting statement, coming from a guy whose state is on fire. Especially given that the governor of that same state (also a presidential candidate) is quite miffed that Texas isn’t getting enough federal dollars to help fight those fires. Candidate Michele Bachman had this to say on the campaign trail in Florida: “I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?” No word from Mrs. Bachman on what kind of message God is sending Texas.

Earlier this year, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave NH a C grade on infrastructure, a C that was more like a D. A 2011 study by Transportation for America rated NH as the 11th worse state, because of the number of structurally deficient and redlisted bridges in the state. In 2008, the Pew Research Center rated NH government efficiency at a D+ grade, the worst in the nation. The reason for the low grade? NH’s failing infrastructure, and bad track record on long range planning. NH has no plan for communications infrastructure, and at the time of the report estimated that the 10-year transportation plan would take 22 years to complete. It’s safe to say that with this current crop of legislators, the 10 to 22 year plan will be delayed considerably.

 It’s important to remember that NH is the seventh wealthiest state in the nation. NH has 27,000 millionaires living in tax-free splendor here in the Granite State. Some of them are currently holding public office. NH is not a poor state. NH is a cheap state. Our outmoded system of taxation, combined with our enormous volunteer legislature conspire to keep NH’s infrastructure in a permanent state of peril, and guarantee no progress will be made. Instead, we will continue to pay the pound of cure, when those redlisted bridges, dams, and roads fail.

Once again, NH mirrors what is happening on a national level. In NH the Teabaglican House ignores NH infrastructure, just as the US Teabaglican House ignores our national infrastructure problems. Clearly public roads and bridges are part of a terrible socialist infrastructure plot, and must die an ignominious death in order to save the nation from godless communism.

Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia wants to hold federal aid to flood ravaged states hostage in return for budget cuts. Cantor doesn’t mean cuts to our military empire or aid to Israel, either. He means the kind of cuts that will have Nana living under a bridge eating cat food. The GOP is morally bankrupt – as anyone watching this week’s debate could plainly see. Brian Williams pointed out that there have been 234 executions during Rick Perry’s tenure as governor of Texas, and the audience burst into wild applause.

Will Frank Guinta support Eric Cantor’s hostage taking? Will Gene Chandler take responsibility for the dreadful budget he voted for? What do Representatives Pettengill, McCarthy, and Umberger have to say about all of the damage – and the budget they supported? Do they support applying for aid from FEMA? Do they support Eric Cantor’s extremism?

Wait, watch, and remember; you’ll be entering a voting booth in 2012.

published as an op-ed in the September 9, 2011 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.
big h/t to Danziger for the great cartoon.
© 2011 sbruce

Updates on Voter ID in NH and Wisconsin

2011-09-08T12:43:00.004-04:00

Back in June, I wrote about NH Governor Lynch vetoing a Voter ID bill.

Yesterday the NH Senate voted on whether to override or sustain the governor's veto. From the Union Leader:

The Senate sided with Gov. John Lynch Wednesday in supporting his veto of a bill that would have required voters to show a photo ID before voting.

The Senate voted 17-7 to sustain Lynch in his stance against Senate Bill 129. Senate President Peter Bragdon, R-Milford, and Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, were among those voting to sustain the veto.

Both Bragdon and Bradley voted for the bill, the first time around. Since then, they've undoubtedly been getting an earful from town clerks, who are opposed to the measure.

Town clerks said the provisional ballots would force extra work on their offices, with longer hours, additional staff, late counting and less ballot secrecy for voters.

The issue of how this was all going to be paid for was another complication, though one not mentioned by the Union Leader. So, for now, the NH legislature must still find a way to solve the non-existant problem of voter fraud.

In June, I also wrote about the problems being created by a voter ID law in Wisconsin. This week, a memo from the Wisconsin DOT has come to light. From

An internal memo from a top Department of Transportation official instructs workers at Division of Motor Vehicles service centers not to tell members of the public that they can obtain voter identification cards free of charge -- unless they know to ask for it.
The memo, recently obtained by The Capital Times, was written by Steve Krieser and sent to all state Department of Transportation and Department of Motor Vehicles employees on July 1, the same day employees were to begin issuing photo IDs in accordance with a controversial new voter photo ID law adopted earlier in the year.

and

"While you should certainly help customers who come in asking for a free ID to check the appropriate box, you should refrain from offering the free version to customers who do not ask for it," Krieser writes to employees.

This sure doesn't sound like a state that is concerned about preventing voter fraud. It sounds more like the actions of a state determined to prevent voting:

In the meantime, Krieser says the Department of Transportation is planning to place signs at each of the DMV service offices that say people need to check the box on the form in order to receive an ID for free. He says the signs are "in the design phase" and could not give a date when they would be placed in DMV offices.

After November 6, 2012, perhaps?

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Social Security: Not a Ponzi Scheme

2011-08-30T07:27:00.005-04:00

Presidential candidate and Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, recently told a group of voters in Iowa that Social Security is "a Ponzi scheme." This is an argument often made by those who wish to destroy Social Security, which is not an "entitlement" either. It's a form of retirement insurance that we've paid into, throughout our working lives.

Nic Baumann, at Mother Jones created a handy Venn diagram that shows the difference between Social Security and a Ponzi scheme:

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Two Senators on Social Security

2011-08-26T08:21:00.005-04:00

US Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio:

Senator Rubio is presenting a fanciful revision of history.

As ThinkProgress points out:

Indeed, prior to Medicare’s enactment in 1965, “about one-half of America’s seniors did not have hospital insurance,” “more than one in four elderly were estimated to go without medical care due to cost concerns,” and one in three seniors were living in poverty. Today, nearly all seniors have access to affordable health care and only about 14 percent of seniors are below the poverty line.

Contrast that with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, speaking at the United Steel Workers 2011 Conference, last week, in Las Vegas:

Senator Sanders announces he's filing new legislation to protect Social Security. From ThinkProgress:

Sanders’ legislation would eliminate the income cap that currently exists in the payroll tax that does not tax income above $106,800:

and

The Social Security system is currently fully funded until 2037. Lifting the payroll tax cap would virtually eliminate funding shortfalls the program would experience over the next 75 years.

These two Senators provide an interesting contrast. Rubio would have us believe that elderly people living in dire poverty was somehow the key to national prosperity. Senator Sanders is Social Security's best friend. He wants to ensure that the promise is kept, and that Social Security is there for future generations.

We all have Social Security stories. My grandmother worked 2 jobs throughout her adult life, supporting her son and her mother. Social Security and a modest pension allowed her to live out her retirement years without fear. Social Security disability benefits were there to help my husband, when cancer forced him to retire, nine months before he died.

As Bernie Sanders points out - it's been working for everyone for 75 years, and with the changes he proposes, will work just fine for the next 75 years.

Cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

They've Got Theirs

2011-08-25T20:48:00.002-04:00

Once again, Crow Dickinson has put Conway on the map. The first time he accomplished this by trying to carry a loaded gun in his luggage, shortly after 9/11. Luckily for Crow, he was a state representative at the time so he wasn’t arrested and jailed the way most people would have been. People in other parts of the country are still snickering over that bit of idiocy. Crow’s next foray into stardom came in 2009 when his comments about domestic violence propelled him into the global spotlight once again. Dickinson’s witless remarks about how women fake complaints of abuse in divorce cases to get more money out of their spouses was carried in newspapers all over the country. His commentary endeared him to abusers and men’s rights groups, but the more civilized humans found his remarks abhorrent, and wondered why it is that NH seems to spawn so many ideologues and reactionaries.

 They’re still wondering. Crow’s latest bid for stardom came last week, in the Sun’s story about the town of Conway’s welfare budget. NH law (RSA 165) requires each city or town to have a local welfare program to assist those who are in need. Conway’s welfare officer, BJ Parker described those folks she’s seeing who are in need, “It used to be “young, inexperienced households,” she said, but now “I see middle class people who are really struggling.” They aren’t familiar with the welfare system, and their pride often makes them wait until all their resources are maxed out before they come in.” Later in the article, the Sun quoted Conway Selectman Crow Dickinson, “There used to be a great shame in being on the public dole,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting, “and there isn’t anymore.”

Let’s be clear. The people in need are described as middle-class folks who wait to come in until they’ve run out of choices. Elected town official Crow Dickinson is saying they should be ashamed for “being on the public dole.” This is coming from a man who has been masquerading as a good old boy hick all of his life, in an effort to conceal his Harvard education and inherited wealth. It’s easy for those who have never had to work a day in their lives to sneer at the misfortunes of others.

In the August 24, 2011 edition of the Sun, Ray Shakir expressed his great admiration for Dickinson’s “coconuts,” and went on to describe his disdain for those able bodied individuals who should never receive public assistance before blowing the GOP dog whistle. “You’re now considered a fool for working hard, being self-sufficient, responsible, and honest,” wrote Shakir. I can’t think of any place in NH where this is so. I have never heard anyone outside of the Fox Propaganda Network say anything of the sort.

This line of “thought” exists only in fevered Teabaglican brains. These are the same great brains that put in place the policies that caused the collapse of our economy. There are still over 25 million people out of work in this country – a direct result of failed GOP policies. Rather than take any responsibility for the disaster they helped create, they blame the jobless for being jobless. Stuck with a house that’s worth less than your mortgage, and out of work too? Ray Shakir and Crow Dickinson don’t care. They’ve got theirs. And this, dear readers, is the way of the conservative elites. They’ve got theirs. If you were stupid enough not to pick wealthy parents in utero, or to lose your job and the value of your house, well, tough coconuts for you. Remember George Bush’s claims to “compassionate conservativeism?” Neither do these guys. You could wring all of the compassion out of the pair of them and still not be able to fill a thimble.

The people being demonized here are middle class folks. That means that they are people who have worked hard their whole lives and now find themselves caught up in the Great Recession. These are people who may well identify as Republicans – and are now being demonized as Reaganesque welfare queens.

Meanwhile, these same great minds have ensured the loss of well over a thousand jobs in our state, and given that they have another year and a half in the legislature, they’ll have the opportunity to kill plenty more. Nationally, the job creation isn’t going any better. Bold action is needed, but Obama was not endowed with either boldness or leadership capability. And even if he were, our elected officials have chosen to put ideology over country. Science is bad. Taxing the corporations and the wealthy is bad. Making poor people pay is good and responsible. Cutting the safety net is necessary. While they bellow at one another and put on a show to delight the complicit, corporate media, the empire is slowly circling the drain.

They’ve got theirs, you see. They’ve got pensions and medical care for life. If you don’t, well, that’s your tough luck. It’s also your fault.

“The more I see of the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine.” George Bernard Shaw

© 2011 sbruce

Published as an op-ed in the August 26, 2011 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.

NH State Rep Wants to Eliminate All Minimum Wage

2011-08-23T11:05:00.004-04:00

The current NH legislature has made a concerted effort to try to overturn nearly every law enacted during the 4 years that the Democrats controlled the NH House. One example of this is the minimum wage law, which was increased in 2007 from $5.15 to $7.25, over the screams of the NH restaurant lobby. The law gives the state the option of increasing the minimum wage, as opposed to waiting for the increase to be made by the federal government. Even having the option was too much for the current NH House, who voted to repeal the bill. Governor Lynch vetoed the bill - and the veto was overridden in June. From seacoastonline:

"With this veto, the governor is sending exactly the wrong message to employers that New Hampshire is going to make it harder to create jobs," O'Brien said in response. "There is no reason for New Hampshire to set ourselves higher than the national average and make ourselves less competitive for these workers who need to gain experience."

The legislation, House Bill 133, would not change the current federal rate of $7.25 an hour, which has been in place since July 2009. It would repeal a 2007 measure that gave New Hampshire the option of raising the minimum wage, which it did by raising the state rate of $7.25 in 2008 ahead of the federal rate. The bill passed the House and Senate by veto proof majorities but Lynch vetoed the bill anyway. "New Hampshire's current minimum wage is set at the federal level, and it is appropriate," Lynch said. "But four years ago, we agreed that — after a decade of federal inaction — we needed to act to help families meet rising costs."

Speaker O'Brien has yet to explain why it would be beneficial to NH to create more minimum wage jobs.

The political and economic debate over the minimum wage has been constant since it was first set in 1938 at 25 cents an hour. Even though New Hampshire is even with the federal standard, O'Brien said Lynch's veto was an "anti-business" measure that would take "an ax to the bottom rung of the career ladder" for minimum wage workers.

Oh, that's it! The bottom rung of the career ladder is poverty. Speaker O'Brien got a law degree in 1974. It seems that his career ladder relied on education, not minimum wage jobs.

Freshman State Rep. Carol McGuire thinks that ANY minimum wage is a bad idea. From Think Progress:

State Rep. Carol McGuire (R-NH), the sponsor of the law, still believes the federal minimum wage is too high. In a statement to reporters, she said she would like to repeal all minimum wage laws and have corporations pay workers whatever rate they desire. She also said the $7.25 minimum is overly generous to young people who are “not worth the minimum“:
“It’s very discriminatory, particularly for young people. They’re not worth the minimum,” she said. She believes there are young people who would get a job if they could be paid $5 an hour instead of the minimum.

The only explanation for this kind of thinking is that these folks are living in a Norman Rockwell dream world, where young men (because girls stay home) get jobs at the soda fountain of the local drugstore, while wearing a pink striped seersucker shirt. They are certainly not inhabiting the world the rest of us inhabit, and try to make a living in.

The NH House is the third largest legislature in the English speaking world, behind only the British Parliament and the US Congress. The NH House consists of 400 members, who receive an annual stipend of $100. One could make the observation that NH is certainly getting what it pays for with the current legislature.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Child Poverty on the Rise

2011-08-19T11:12:00.003-04:00

Over the last decade, the income and economic security of low income children and families has decreased significantly. Child poverty in the US has increased by 18%. The recession and foreclosures have been the primary causes. In many low income families at least one parent is unable to find work.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

“The news about the number of children who were affected by foreclosure in the United States is also very troubling because these economic challenges greatly hinder the well-being of families and the nation,” said Ms. Speer.

In the United States as a whole, nearly 15 million children (20 percent) live in poverty. A broader definition of economic straits – $43,512 a year, or twice the federal poverty line for a family of four, “a minimum needed for most families to make ends meet,” as Speer puts it – includes 31 million children, or 42 percent of the total.

Child poverty rates vary across the nation. NH has an 11% poverty rate. Nevada, hard hit by the recession has seen a 38% increase in child poverty.

“People who grew up in a financially secure situation find it easier to succeed in life, they are more likely to graduate from high school, more likely to graduate from college, and these are things that will lead to greater success in life,” Stephen Brown, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told the AP. “What we are looking at is a cohort of kids who as they become adults may be less able to contribute to the growth of the economy. It could go on for multiple generations.”

This is a chilling prediction, especially coming from within a country that claims to place great value on children being our future. This is a huge number of children who may well become part of a permanent underclass in a nation often referred to as the wealthiest country in the world, yet there seems to be no national interest in changing the course.

Possible Cuts Leave New England Workers in the Cold

2011-08-18T13:39:00.004-04:00

As the federal budget cuts continue, the possibility of cuts to LIHEAP, (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) are being suggested as a possibility. LIHEAP is the reason a lot of low income folks who live in cold places don't freeze to death.

From WHDH:

LePage warned that Maine's LIHEAP funding from the federal government could be cut in half, from $54 million for this year to about $26 million. He noted that the reduction could come as the cost of heating fuel rises above last year's level.

and for other New England States:

Celeste Lovett, New Hampshire's fuel assistance program manager, agreed. Federal figures show New Hampshire's LIHEAP funding could be cut from $36 million to $15 million. "It's really too soon to tell," Lovett said. "What we've done in New Hampshire is go forward with taking applications."

In Connecticut, the allocation would drop from $98 million to $41 million, Massachusetts from $175 million to $81 million, and Rhode Island from $34 million to $15.4 million.

and

The Obama administration, questioned about the proposed funding cut, acknowledged that the new LIHEAP figure was based on the expectation that fuel prices would be lower this winter. But in northern New England, they're expected to be in the $4-per-gallon range.

The prices aren't lower in northern New England, as I learned in looking into my own potential fuel costs, here in Northern NH. I have to heat with kerosene, and kerosene costs about $4.25 per gallon already.

Every year, cuts to LIHEAP are threatened, and so far, they haven't come to pass. The fact that these threats are made nearly every year is unspeakably cruel to those folks who are in desperate need of assistance. If these cuts do come to pass, they will hurt the unemployed, the low wage workers, and the low income, especially the elderly.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Magical Thinking

2011-08-11T13:15:00.007-04:00

The NH Dept. of Transportation (DOT) announced this week that due to cuts budget cuts, they are going to cut back on plowing some roads between the hours of 9pm and 4am, and allow the snow to accumulate to between 5-7 inches before sending some crews out to plow. DOT spokesman Bill Boynton pointed out that the legislature cut the DOT budget by 11.5 percent. They lost 42 employees. The budget for sand and salt was cut 25 percent.

This story sparked a huge outcry, and one of the loudest voices of outrage came from Rep. Gene Chandler, who called the DOT plan “unacceptable.” If it weren’t so tragic, this kind of magical thinking would be hilarious. When you cut revenue and spending, there will be consequences. Apparently he thought that those consequences would happen in some other guy’s district.

This reaction will become increasingly common as the budget cuts eliminate more programs and services. Rep. Fred Leonard of Rochester was very sad to learn that the draconian county budget cuts he supported caused the elimination of the Strafford County Cooperative Extension Program. Another case of magical thinking.

The GOP mantra for decades has been “NH doesn’t have a revenue problem, NH has a spending problem.” Like many lies that are repeated often and loudly, this has become “fact” in the NH lexicon, and oft repeated by the NH media, in their role as NHGOP stenographers. It’s a simple reality that running a state costs some money. NH has been doing it on the cheap forever, as one can see by looking at the legislature. We pay them nothing, and this year in particular, we’re getting exactly what we pay for. The current legislature is comprised of far right Republicans, Tea Partiers, Free Staters, and John Birchers. The Free Staters are the libertarians that GOP Governor Craig Benson invited to move here. Their earliest manifesto called for the FSP to move to NH, take over the state, and dismantle our state government. Perhaps the members of the Free State Project will show us how a libertarian paradise would work, by pitching in to plow this winter.

Rep. Chandler ran for Speaker again this past year, figuring the corn dust from 2004 had settled. He lost to Tea Party Republican Bill O’Brien. (Reminder: Rep. Laurie Pettengill supported O’Brien. Umberger and McCarthy supported Chandler in the speaker race.) Representative Chandler was given the position of “Speaker pro Tempore” in the O’Brien administration, which makes him part of the O’Brien Teabaglican team. Chandler worked on this budget. He fought for it, defended it, and ultimately he voted for it. For him to boo hoo about the budget cuts now that they’ve come home to roost in his district is the very definition of hypocrisy.

The NH Republicans who ran for office in 2010 all spoke often, and loudly about job creation. So far, they’ve created one job – the guy who was hired to be O’Brien’s policy advisor. Instead, they’ve actually created job losses. There are the 42 DOT jobs that were lost, and at least 450 jobs lost in hospitals in the southern part of the state, with 750 more coming at Dartmouth Hitchcock, all because of the state budget. So far, that’s over a thousand jobs lost, with more on the way. When the unemployment rate goes up, will these proud Teabaglicans claim responsibility for the fine work they’ve done?

In 2012, the O’Brien House will be focused – not on jobs, but on social engineering. The far right nanny staters have so far filed 57 pages of LSRs (legal service requests, or proposed legislation) for 2012. Rep. David Bates (R. Homophobia) wants to turn NH into a referendum state, so that we can enjoy the same kind of idiocy we see with referenda in California and Maine. He also wants desperately to overturn our marriage equality law, which is widely supported by NH residents. Rep. Jerry Bergevin is a one-man nanny state machine. He wants to legislate the teaching of the Bible in our public schools and change abortion laws. Rep. Dan Itse is bringing back his bill to form a state army, despite the fact that it will cost the state over $100,000 a year. Susan DeLemus wants to eliminate the DMV’s motorcycle safety program, and ensure that presidential candidates are required to provide proper documentation to satisfy her need to prove they aren’t from Kenya. Rep. DeLemus and several others also want to ensure that NH doesn’t receive any federal aid grants or dollars. Rep. Norm Tregenza wants NH to urge Congress to: withdraw from the UN, to call for an audit of the Federal Reserve, and to withdraw from NAFTA. Each LSR costs approximately $1500, which means Norm Tregenza has just spent $4500 tax dollars on nonsensical bills that will never go anywhere. Tregenza also wants to reduce the rooms and meals tax over a 5-year period. Someone should warn him that if he continues to reduce revenue sources, he might have to cut back on filing nuisance legislation.

Perhaps if the current legislature were forced to reel in their increasingly bizarre proposed legislation, we’d have enough money in our state budget to plow our roads.

This was published as an op-ed in the August 12, 2011 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.

The credit for the picture goes to the Eagle Tribune newspaper

© 2011 sbruce

Barely Scraping By in the USA

2011-08-11T12:29:00.007-04:00

Barbara Ehrenreich's award winning book "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" was published ten years ago. It was a ground breaking look at the lives of folks who were barely scraping by on low wages. Ehrenreich went under cover, working at jobs like waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, and discount chain worker and quickly learned the realities of how hard people working for $7 an hour actually had to work to manage to live indoors.

Ehrenreich has written an afterward to the book, ten years later. Seen here in MoJo:

At the time I wrote Nickel and Dimed, I wasn't sure how many people it directly applied to—only that the official definition of poverty was way off the mark, since it defined an individual earning $7 an hour, as I did on average, as well out of poverty. But three months after the book was published, the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC, issued a report entitled "Hardships in America: The Real Story of Working Families," which found an astounding 29 percent of American families living in what could be more reasonably defined as poverty, meaning that they earned less than a bare-bones budget covering housing, child care, health care, food, transportation, and taxes—though not, it should be noted, any entertainment, meals out, cable TV, Internet service, vacations, or holiday gifts. Twenty-nine percent is a minority, but not a reassuringly small one, and other studies in the early 2000s came up with similar figures.

Sorry to keep saying it - but remember, this was 10 years ago.

When you read about the hardships I found people enduring while I was researching my book—the skipped meals, the lack of medical care, the occasional need to sleep in cars or vans—you should bear in mind that those occurred in the best of times. The economy was growing, and jobs, if poorly paid, were at least plentiful.

And now for the chilling part:

In 2000, I had been able to walk into a number of jobs pretty much off the street. Less than a decade later, many of these jobs had disappeared and there was stiff competition for those that remained. It would have been impossible to repeat my Nickel and Dimed "experiment," had I had been so inclined, because I would probably never have found a job.

She's right. At a time when it's harder to get into McDonald's than Harvard, she wouldn't be able to get the same kind of low wage jobs that sustained her while she researched "Nickel and Dimed."

And speaking of depressing - the results of a survey in The Consumerist:

According to the NFCC survey, 64% of Americans don't have enough cash available to them to cover a $1,000 emergency.

As wages remain stagnant, increasing numbers of working folks are living paycheck to paycheck, one emergency away from financial disaster.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

NH Budget Cuts Come Home to Roost

2011-08-09T13:40:00.005-04:00

Last week, I wrote about how the latest NH state budget has resulted in at least 450 jobs lost, so far.

This week, there's some magical thinking afoot in the Granite State. From The Conway Daily Sun:

New Hampshire Department of Transportation (DOT) is proposing no longer plowing some roads between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. as well as allowing snow to build up to between 5 and 7 inches before turning some crews out onto the road.

The DOT plan is not acceptable, according to Rep. Gene Chandler, R-Bartlett, who also serves as the chair of the transportation department in the New House of Representatives. He hopes DOT officials will come up with a new plan because the current one could have "huge ramifications" on tourism and revenue for the Granite State.

and

Boynton said DOT lost 42 employees to budget cuts (there remain about 800 employees). Its budget was cut 11.5 percent; the budget is expected to be cut an additional 11 percent in 2012 and 13 percent in 2013; there was a 25 percent reduction in the state's sand and salt budget.

In the northern part of the state, winter can last a solid 6 months. An 11.5 percent budget cut to DOT is huge in a state in northern New England. How could anyone realistically think that cutting the DOT budget would NOT adversely affect winter plowing?

Chandler is serving his 13th term. He is Speaker pro Tempore, which means he's part of Speaker O'Brien's leadership team.
This is a budget that Chandler supported. He shilled for it. He voted for it. Gene Chandler never challenged his party, never stood up and said that a budget that cuts both revenue and spending will lead to problems for our state. He said nothing until one of those cuts came home to roost in his own district, and suddenly it's "not acceptable."

Stories like this will continue to happen, as the impact of those budget cuts hit home in all manner of unpleasant ways.

Cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

NH Budget Cuts Causing Job Losses

2011-08-02T11:08:00.004-04:00

When last we heard about the right to work law in NH, the governor had vetoed it, and the Speaker of the NH House was unable to get enough of a majority to override the veto.

Speaker O'Brien is trying a new tactic. He recently sent out a "Dear Colleagues" letter to House members. In this letter he uses the standard talking points about how RTW states are more attractive to employers, so these states are seeing greater job growth. The Speaker seems to be taking some liberties with actual fact. From the NH Business Review:

In his "Dear Colleagues" letter, he holds out the equally false hope that the German automaker Audi, which is said to be looking to build a plant in the U.S., would actually consider building in New Hampshire, (except, of course, for the unfortunate fact that the state doesn't have a RTW law).

Sounds great -- just pass the law, and a thousand Audi jobs will come.

The problem with that claim can be explained a little more succinctly: Carmakers don't build factories in little states in the upper right hand corner of countries with essentially zero rail service and most suppliers hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. RTW or not.

It's true. NH has almost no rail service, and limited highway options. We're also lagging far behind in telecommunications infrastructure. Apparently none of that has any bearing. Jobs will magically appear the moment NH becomes an RTW state.

While we're on the subject of the NH legislature, the budget that was just passed is already beginning to have an impact on employment in our state. It's just not the kind of impact that the majority party promised when they were running for office, promising a laser like focus on job creation. From the Eagle Tribune:

The fallout from the state's budget cuts has hit New Hampshire hospitals, prompting two to start laying off employees and others to consider their options.

and

Elliot Health System announced Tuesday it would lay off 182 employees, slash workers' benefits and end one of its programs. It operates Elliot Hospital in Manchester and several other health care facilities in Southern New Hampshire, including Elliot Medical Center at Londonderry.

Meanwhile, Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua is laying off about 100 employees, 6 percent of its staff, spokeswoman Judith Bennett said yesterday.

There are more. From the Nashua Telegraph:

Less than a week after Southern New Hampshire Medical Center announced 100 layoffs, administrators at St. Joseph Hospital revealed today plans to close two subsidiary companies, Rockingham Regional Ambulance, Inc. and Granite State Mediquip, Inc., which could affect more than 10 percent of the hospital’s workforce.

and

St. Joseph, which employs about 1,500 full-time workers, joined Southern New Hampshire Medical Center and eight other hospitals last week in filing a lawsuit against state officials over their plan to use Medicare reimbursements to balance the state budget.

and

Together, the two companies employ 174 workers, most of whom will not be re-assigned within the hospital, according to Melissa Sears, St. Joseph’s vice president of strategy and business development.

In less than a month after the budget was passed, 450 jobs have been lost. In this economy, in a small state, that is devastating.

Speaker O'Brien tried to suggest that these layoffs were in the works before the budget cuts.From WMUR:

House Speaker Bill O'Brien said he is sympathetic to the hospital's funding crunch, but he stands by the budget.
"Clearly, we don't want to see any employees laid off in any private business," he said. "Whether or not this was planned before or after the budget came into effect, time will tell. But certainly, we think this budget is going to return jobs to New Hampshire."

Indeed. Just wait till Audi builds that plant in NH.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Solutions

2011-07-28T14:05:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago the Sun published a letter from a reader claiming he reads the “letters” I write, but finds they’re “getting boring.” The reader says that I complain about Republicans, what they are doing, and what is wrong. He suggested that I change the format of my “weekly rants” to identify problems and how to fix them. Well, thanks for asking. Let’s do some problem solving – but first, let’s clear up a few issues of semantics.

There’s a difference between an op-ed piece and a letter. An op-ed is an opinion piece that appears on the op-ed pages of a newspaper. I write opinion pieces that appear every other week, and I receive some financial remuneration for writing them. A letter is what the reader sent in to the paper, for which he received no financial compensation. Language is important. It’s important that we all understand the definitions of the terms we use. I’ll skip the lesson on the difference between identifying problems and “complaining about Republicans”, since those of the far right spectrum find those two things to be one in the same.

Speaking of ideology, as long time readers of this paper are aware, I was a Democrat. I ran for the NH House in 2002 as a Democrat, and I was active in party politics. I am currently registered as undeclared. The Democrats have joined the Republicans in moving further to the right, thereby leaving me behind. I’m an unabashed and unrepentant lefty. The rhetoric from the right on Democrats is comical. Obama is as much of a socialist as George W. Bush. A socialist would not put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block, as Obama has done, during the manufactured deficit crisis. Obama’s another corporate stooge - one that, has done a rather remarkable job of doing the work of the GOP for them. Looking at the array of circus performers running for president on the GOP ticket, one can only surmise that the corporate interests that control the Republican Party are aware of that. Obama’s the best thing that could have happened to them.

Moving into solutions: there is no deficit crisis. The same people that are crying the loudest are the ones who created the problem. The biggest drivers of the deficit are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, health care costs, and Medicare Part D. Our health insurance system is a huge driver of debt and deficit. We spend twice as much on health care as other industrialized nations. A big part of that is because instead of regulating the pharmaceutical industry the way civilized countries do, we actually provide these very profitable corporations with taxpayer funding. (A form of socialism, by the way.) Regulating the drug companies and creating a single payer health care system would move us into surplus. A single payer system would eliminate the need for Medicare and Medicaid. And while we’re on the topic of socialism, we should immediately end taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil, the most profitable corporations on the planet. No more offshore tax dodges either. Corporate America should be paying their tax bills.

The next very simple solution is to cut the defense budget in half. The US spends more than the rest of the world combined on defense. End the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and our participation in Libya immediately. The US has somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 military bases around the world. Shut ‘em down. Force the Pentagon to pass an audit, and account for the trillions that they’ve lost. The US is an empire in decline. Half of every tax dollar we take in goes to defense. If we don’t begin to invest in our own country, there will nothing here left defending.

Bust up the media monopolies. When giant corporations own the media, the press is not free. The free trade agreements need to go away, in favor of developing fair trade. We need to rebuild the US manufacturing sector. A vital economy depends on the production of goods. We need to regulate the financial sector. The deregulation that began during the Reagan years came to fruition with the collapse of our economy. Despite the heavy breathing from the far right and their media propaganda, librarians belonging to state employee unions did not destroy the US economy.

The most important thing we can do is put people back to work. At least 20% of the workforce is unemployed or underemployed. The far right ideologues can cut all the spending they want, but until there is revenue coming in, there can be no serious debt or deficit reduction. It’s simple: if people aren’t working, they aren’t spending. That spending is what keeps small businesses going. That spending is what creates jobs.

Congresswoman Mary Kaptur of Ohio is the sponsor of HR 494; aka The 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act. The original CCC was part of FDR’s New Deal, and was in place for nearly a decade. Those employed by the CCC built bridges and dams, planted trees, put out fires, and built 1000,000 miles of trails and roads. A revival of the CCC would be a huge investment in the future of our country, as well as an investment in US workers. There are countless bridges, roads, and dams in need of repair all over the country. A revived CCC could work on environmental projects: soil erosion, beach erosion, fighting insects killing our trees, and cleaning up our state and national parks. The new CCC could also refurbish schools, weatherize homes and buildings, and take on the project of wiring rural America for current and future technology needs. If we rely on the private sector to do that wiring, it will never happen. If the US hopes to remain at all competitive in an increasingly wired world, that wiring needs to happen. We’re already lagging far behind.

This bill is the best idea that will never go anywhere, because of far right ideology. The far right believes that only the private sector creates jobs, a mission they’ve been failing in since the Reagan administration. The far right is under the impression that only the private sector creates REAL jobs. Those folks who are unemployed (and the numbers are growing) tend to look at a paycheck as a paycheck. A CCC revival would also be a huge benefit to returning veterans.

It is not banks or military might that made this a great country. This country is great because of the land itself and the people who live on it. Investing in what has makes our country great will lead to creating those dreamy private sector jobs, and build a stronger future for all of us.

Aren’t you glad you asked, Carl?

published as an op-ed in the 7-29-11 Conway Daily Sun newspaper
© 2011 sbruce

Voter ID in Wisconsin: an Onerous Process

2011-07-26T12:01:00.006-04:00

Check out this video from the blog defendwisconsin. A Wisconsin blogger made this video when she took her son to the DMV to get a voter ID:

This story in Businessweek is the perfect companion piece:

Gov. Scott Walker's administration is working on finalizing a plan to close as many as 10 offices where people can obtain driver's licenses in order to expand hours elsewhere and come into compliance with new requirements that voters show photo IDs at the polls.

Some legislators think there's some politics at play:

One Democratic lawmaker said Friday it appeared the decisions were based on politics, with the department targeting offices for closure in Democratic areas and expanding hours for those in Republican districts.

and

The recently enacted state budget requires that DMV driver license and ID card services be offered in all 72 counties at least 20 hours a week. Currently, only 30 counties have offices that meet that 20-hour requirement.

The DMV claims that closing these offices will ensure more office hours in the districts where the offices are kept open.

Starting next year, voters must present a valid driver's license or other acceptable photo identification in order to vote. Critics of that new requirement have said it would be unconstitutional if courts determined voters couldn't easily access DMV centers where they can obtain the ID cards required in order to vote.

From the Chippewa Herald:

Wisconsin’s bill, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, would cost more than $5.7 million to implement. The measure would require voters to use a driver’s license, state ID, military ID, passport, naturalization papers or tribal ID at the polls. Student IDs would be allowed, but would have to include a current address, birthdate, signature and expiration date. Currently no college or university ID used in the state, including UW-Madison, meets those standards.

Wisconsin is spending millions to implement a voter ID, to address non-existant voter fraud, during a time where budgets are cut, and teachers are being fired. It's interesting that the bill specifies that Student ID's would be allowed, but none of the colleges have student ID's that meet the standards. That, coupled with DMV office closings could make a cynical person think that Governor Walker wants to disenfranchise certain voter groups - like students, seniors, the disabled, homeless, and those who live in traditionally Democratic districts.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

NH Rep Jokes About Shooting Union Members

2011-07-22T08:35:00.006-04:00

Once again, a state legislator makes me proud to be from NH. Rep. Lynne Blankenbeker is a nurse in the Navy Reserves, and currently at Fort Dix.

HuffPo:

A Republican New Hampshire state representative who touted her handiness with a gun and said labor unions "better not F#%k" with her is insisting that she never meant to advocate violence toward anyone.

From the email:

I am a truck commander on a hum vee for convoys. I had to learn how to drive both day and at night with night vision goggles. My vehicle has a rhino (no, not a RINO) on it to trip IEDs before my vehicle reaches it. Today I got to be the gunner which was fun. The .50cal is quite a gun! I was never ascared of the unions but they better not F#%k with me again!!! Just saying.

Naturally, she's using the "I was just joking" defense. Nurses always joke about guns...oh, wait. No, they don't. Most nurses aren't all that keen on guns, because they see too many gunshot wounds.

Rep. Blankenbeker made the news earlier in the year, when she appeared on a NH television program and stated that she didn't believe that Osama bin Laden was actually dead, because her superior officers
hadn't let her know.

From the NH Legislator's Handbook:

Elected members shall maintain professional conduct while serving as state legislators and, at all times, shouldconductthemselves inaway that exhibits the utmost respect for their elected office, their constituents and the people of the State of New Hampshire. Members should be aware that they are constantly under public scrutiny.

It seems unlikely that Rep. Blankenbeker will be asked to resign. House Speaker O'Brien needs her vote if he's ever going to overturn Governor Lynch's veto of the right to work law passed this session. Besides, she was only joking. It's okay to threaten union members with gun violence as long as it's "joking."

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Justice for Some

2011-07-21T09:38:00.005-04:00

Legal Services Corporation (LSC) may see their budget slashed to 1999 levels. LSC supports 126 legal aid organizations around the country. Legal Aid programs help low income folks access legal representation. At a time when more people than ever before qualify for legal assistance, under proposed budget cuts, the programs will lose 26% of their funding. These programs are already underfunded, and unable to help about half of the people who call them, because they lack resources.

From MoJo:

Already, the legal-aid nonprofits supported by the LSC are slated to lose a total of 445 staff members, including 200 lawyers, by the end of 2011, according to a survey of the groups. Last year, 63 million people—an all-time high—qualified for their help, an increase of 11 percent from the year before. "This is not the time to undercut the fundamental American commitment to equal justice for all," says Legal Services president James Sandman.

"There is never a convenient time to make tough decisions," counters Frank Wolf, chair of the House subcommittee responsible for the LSC’s budget. "But the longer we put off fixing the problem, the worse the medicine will be…The bill represents our best take on matching needs with scarce resources."

Heald says she understands the need to cut spending, but explains that legal services has a "preventive effect" that actually saves money for the states. Housing a family in a homeless shelter in Maine for just two or three weeks is five to ten times more expensive than supporting a lawyer who can help keep the family in stable housing, she says. "And that's just the cost of the shelter nights, and not the cost on all the other supportive systems a family might need."

There's a great deal of short sighted slashing going on in these budget cuts. If these program cuts are enacted, states will end up (as Ms. Heald points out) paying the pound of cure, when it would have been far cheaper to pay for the ounce of prevention.

Perhaps even worse is the damage this does to our national ideal of "justice for all." This just serves to further the cynical view (already in place) that justice is only available to the wealthy.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Stampeding for Section 8 Vouchers in Dallas

2011-07-19T09:02:00.006-04:00

Thousands of people were waiting in front of the Jesse Owens stadium in Dallas to fill out an application for Section 8 housing vouchers, an assistance program that would help them pay their rent. Some people waited all night. Others arrived at 4 am. At 6 am, officials decided it was time for everyone to line up. There was a stampede. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Applicants on Thursday ranged from young single mothers pushing strollers to older adults with nothing but a small Social Security income. Many in line have jobs but barely earn minimum wage.

and

While a few people brought water and umbrellas to cope with the summer heat, the increasingly hot sun became a problem for some.
Using a cane, Jackie Barrett slowly walked to the front of the line to get help around 8 a.m. The Lancaster woman said she could not stand in line any longer. She had arrived about 4 a.m. County officials provided immediate help to disabled people.

Single mothers with babies in strollers and elderly people were standing in line for hours just to fill out an application. Could this county have created a more degrading and inhumane method of "helping" people?

One resident did not get the chance to apply at all. Claudia Marshall said she is disabled and could not leave her home to apply.
Thompson, the county’s director of health and human services, said anyone could send a representative. Marshall, who called The Dallas Morning News, said she had no one to send.

Why isn't this being done online? And why isn't there outreach available for those folks who are disabled?

and

Thompson said he would reassess the county’s process after news reports of the stampede. He said the county did not allow people on the facility property because officials did not want overnight camping. Still, he admitted that the county could not prevent people from arriving the night before.
“This is what you have to go through,” Thompson said. “It’s like when someone wants to get tickets to a sports event or the latest iPad.”

Well no. It's not like that at all. Tickets to sports events are a luxury purchase. Housing is a basic human need.

That this man sees them as the same thing is troubling, especially given his position as the county director of health and human services. Would he want his grandmother treated this way?

Poverty is not a crime, and the increasing numbers of people who need help in this terrible economy should not be treated like criminals.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

The End of the Empire

2011-07-14T16:06:00.003-04:00

Under President George W. Bush, the debt ceiling was raised 7 times. There was no fanfare. No Congressional standoff. It was not a big, international news media story for months. In fact, many of the same Congressmen who have become preening deficit peacocks are the same people who voted for that debt ceiling increase all seven times. Charlie Bass is one of those newly minted peacocks. He never voted against a bloated defense budget, or military appropriations bill. He never voted against increasing the debt ceiling, and never voted against any Bush budget. During the 4 years that he was out of Congress, he developed a very particular sense of amnesia, one that has managed to erase any memory of all those votes; thereby eliminating the need to take any responsibility for his role in the mess we’re in today.

Despite the massive hype, the deficit and the debt aren’t actually the most important problems we face. Unemployment is by far the most important problem that needs fixing. Over 25 million people are out of work. That hurts the economy far more than the deficit, because, obviously, people who aren’t working aren’t spending. There are millions of houses sitting empty, growing mold, because there are millions of people who can’t afford to buy them – because they’re out of work. This should be the national priority, not all of this endless nattering about the deficit by a bunch of childish individuals, most of whom need to be fired. Mitch McConnell says he doesn’t see anything getting done as long as THIS president is in the White House. That means that a bunch of overgrown and overpaid boys are refusing to do what’s right for their districts and the country, because they’re intent on playing king of the hill with the guy in the White House. If they bothered to look at how the folks back home feel about this, they might be concerned with saving their jobs instead of behaving like blockheads. Both Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass have approval ratings that have gone below mere single digits, and into the land of the minus.

Polls show that the folks back home are opposed to cutting Social Security and Medicare. John Boehner often talks about what “the American people want.” He knows what he wants and what his funders want. He knows what rich white folks want. Other than that, he has no idea. He’s so insulated from reality that he might as well be on another planet, one populated by a weepy, orange race. He and McConnell have repeatedly shown that they have no intention of compromising or working with their fellow legislators. They want what they want, and that’s all there is to it. The best interests of the top 1% are being well represented. The rest of us can just go stand in a bread line.

What’s wrong with the economy and the country isn’t going to be fixed by cutting programs that keep the elderly from eating cat food. If the deficit peacocks were serious, they’d be insisting that we get out of the countries we’re occupying, cut the defense budget in half, and start investing in America. Our politicians love to talk about “American Exceptionalism.” It sounds pretty until you realize that the only things the US is number on in any more are weapons sales and military spending. While we cling to the last gasps of our dying empire, the rest of the world is eclipsing us in education, health, and infrastructure. If these folks really were the patriots they claim to be, they’d be insisting we invested in our own country, instead of pouring money into failed nation building in the Middle East. Sadly for us, they aren’t at all what they claim to be. Their sole interest is representing the wealthiest segment of the population. When the Supreme Court ruled that money equals speech it wasn’t difficult to see what would be coming next. As Bill Maher said recently, “government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.”

It’s the teaconomists who are the most destructive force. While real economists are clear that defaulting on US loans would result in some dire consequences, teaconomist Michelle Bachman says that’s just not true. Given a choice between the Nobel Prize winner and Bachman, whose personal economy came largely from gummint farm subsidies and gummint subsidies to her husbands “pray the gay away” counseling practice, I’ll take the Nobel Prize winner. Teachelle says, “We won’t raise the debt ceiling.” Her party says, “We won’t raise the debt ceiling unless you give us everything we want.” Suddenly, if they get what they want, raising the limit is okay. That tells you all you need to know about the seriousness of these negotiations. This is clown school. They’re playing chicken, and haven’t yet begun to understand that if the US does default and there are dire consequences, they’re going to be taking the blame for being recalcitrant children. Obama’s a fool to try to negotiate with hostage takers and terrorists – and that is what today’s GOP has become. If he makes a deal with them, they learn that they can have tantrums and get their way. It’s just like dealing with a 3 year old in a supermarket. If you cave into a tantrum, you’ve created a monster.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, some 20 percent of the population is either unemployed or underemployed. With many states facing budget shortfalls, cuts are being made that eliminate jobs. Teachers, librarians, firefighters, cops, and other public sector employees are getting pink slipped left and right. The teaconomists of the GOP howled that the lousy employment numbers were Obama’s fault. The complicit media blamed the deficit. The teaconomists are under the impression that gummint jobs aren’t REAL jobs. Millionaires create REAL jobs, which is why we can’t raise their taxes. Of course, the unemployment numbers aren’t aware of these fine distinctions, so that when unreal teachers and cops lose their jobs, the silly unemployment system counts them. Surely those Bush tax cuts will kick in and save us all any day now. Just because they haven’t worked in over a decade is no reason to lose faith now. These same folks are still under the impression that Reagan-style supply side policies will work one day, too. The only way it works is if you’re one of the top 1% wage earners. Everyone else just gets trickled on, with the stream growing ever weaker, the lower down the income scale it goes.

The whole system has broken down to the point where it probably can’t be fixed. The teadious anti-education, anti-science, anti-everything except tax cuts for the wealthy, ideology of the right isn’t going to bring us into a productive future. We need strong people with a vision for what that future might be, ready to work on implementing it. Instead we have clownish cartoon characters, playing to the silly gossip media. Are those tumbrels I hear in the distance?

“If monarchy is corrupting - and it is - wait till you see what overt empire does to us.” Daniel Ellsberg

Published as an op-ed in the July 17, 2011 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.
© sbruce 2011

Respect Your Elders? Not So Much

2011-07-14T12:48:00.007-04:00

State budget cuts almost always mean that those budgets are balanced on the backs of the poor and the elderly; those most in need of services themselves. Many states and municipalities are drastically cutting their home health care budgets for seniors, because they aren't required programs. These same states are cutting their Medicaid budgets as well, which means more seniors and people with disabilities will wind up in nursing homes - even though living on their own is cheaper. The logic is stupefying.

From the
SEMissourian:

"Just because you cut the budget doesn't mean their needs go away," said Anita Bradberry, executive director of the Texas Association for Home Care & Hospice Inc.

Medicaid, the state-federal program that pays for medical and long-term care for the poor and disabled, is required to help fund nursing homes but not home care and community services.

Because the programs are not required, most states first look at cutting home health care funded through Medicaid, even though such programs are much cheaper than nursing homes.

Then there's this story from Strafford County, NH. In Foster's Daily Democrat:

"It'll be the first time since 1972 that we will have to institute a waiting list," said Strafford Nutrition Meals on Wheels Director Emily Sylvain, the day before her new fiscal year kicked in on July 1.

The nonprofit agency, which, according to Sylvain, has had annual level funding from state and federal sources of $516,000 for the past 12 years, is now having to deal with the loss of $75,000 in county funding.

A waiting list. For elderly people to get meals. I'm so ashamed for my state.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Right to Work Candidate Loses NH Special Election

2011-07-12T13:14:00.005-04:00

Last week, NH had yet another primary, for another special election caused by the resignation of yet another errant representative. From WMUR:

Hampton police said Rep. Gary Wheaton, R-Seabrook, was charged Tuesday morning after an officer tried to pull him over for speeding on Route 1 near the Route 101 interchange.
Police said Wheaton made a U-turn and went around a construction barricade when the officer tried to pull him over. When Wheaton stopped and the officer approached his car, Wheaton identified himself as a state representative and made some other comments to the officer, but police wouldn't say what those comments were.

Then there's this:

Wheaton said that he does not want to accuse anyone, but he's concerned that the traffic stops happened because he is a Republican who voted against collective bargaining.
"Any of those stops could conceivably be police officers knowing that I'm a Republican and I'm voting against what they want," he said. "So there's always that chance or that possibility. I can't accuse without evidence.

Wheaton didn't get pulled over for being a scofflaw. He got pulled over because the union thugs were out to get him. He has no legal complaint, so he chooses the passive aggressive accusation method.

That's not the best part though. Wheaton decided to run in the very special election he caused. This did not please the folks who are cognizant of how much work (and expense) goes into a special election. From theNewburyport Daily News:

State Rep. Koko Perkins, R-Seabrook, said Wheaton's decision to run after resigning because of legal problems is "absolutely absurd." Legislators must be held to a higher standard than most because they're entrusted with making the laws, he said.

So you'd think. This special election has been fraught with foolishness. Another of the GOP contenders was Max Abramson, who was also recently indicted on 8 counts of felony reckless conduct. From the Newburyport Daily News:

In late December, Abramson, a member of Seabrook's Budget Committee, was arrested following a report of gunfire on Charles Henry Way and charged with unauthorized use of firearms, reckless conduct and prohibited sales of alcohol.

and

Further investigation into the happenings of the night were undertaken by Seabrook police, who charge that Abramson, who has a permit to carry a handgun, fired it into his home's ceiling during a party that night.

The special election took place last week, and the results have really shaken up the GOP establishment in NH. From the Nashua Telegraph:

Seabrook firefighter Kevin Janvrin won the five-way GOP primary over favored Hampton Falls businessman Lou Gargiulo by 118 votes.

Firefighter? As in....union? Say it ain't so! The NH GOP big guns were behind Hampton Falls businessman Lou Gargiuolo. So were the out of state special interests:

The New England Right to Work Campaign also weighed in for Gargiulo, hoping to add to the total needed for House Speaker William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon, to override Gov. John Lynch’s veto

Members of the current legislative majority are already getting ugly about this:

From

House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt’s Facebook Wall:
Rochester Republican Rep. Fred Leonard: “He deserves no support from the NHGOP … this guy is poison and we should turn our backs on him.”
Londonderry GOP Rep. Al Baldasaro: “Does anyone know if Kevin was a registered Democrat before he ran as a Republican? I too have concerns on why he ran because he is not happy on what we have been doing at the state house. Hmmm, am I missing something here?”

Yes, Al, you are missing something. The voters aren't happy with what you and your anti-union fellow legislators have been up to this session. They made it clear in May by electing Jennifer Daler in a special election held in Speaker O'Brien's district. They've made it clear by voting for Kevin Janvrin in Seabrook. It's no surprise that voters would reject two shady candidates with legal problems. Gargiulo had the full weight of the NH GOP establishment, AND the special interests behind him, and he still lost. There are a few more special elections coming up. Perhaps after a few more routs, these legislators will start hearing what the people are saying.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

The Hopelessness of Austerity

2011-07-07T12:06:00.004-04:00

From the NY Times:

WILMINGTON, N.C. — When Engine 5 pulled up to a burning house on Woodlawn Avenue early on March 19, the firefighters were told that a man might be trapped in the back left bedroom. As two firemen trained a hose toward that corner, Capt. Don Ragavage crawled through smoke and flames to search for the missing resident.

It was an inopportune moment for the water pressure to plummet. But that is what happened when Engine 5’s motor, strained to the limit by 16 years and more than 100,000 miles of hard service, abruptly sputtered and died.

Fortunately, another truck was available to replace the old one, and it turned out that the missing resident wasn't home. This time there were no injuries or deaths. The chief had been lobbying for a new truck for years.

As cities and towns make the decisions NOT to replace old, and failing equipment, it's only a matter of time before injuries and deaths occur. As the budget cuts get deeper, terrible decisions are being made in municipalities around the nation.

From MoJo:

To help close a budget gap, Philly announced it will shutter 26 elementary- and middle-school cafeteria kitchens, many of them "in the city's poorest neighborhoods," reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. The affected schools "will switch from food prepared in the school by cafeteria workers to meals cooked, plated, and frozen several days before consumption and trucked in from a warehouse in Brooklyn, N.Y."

Not having to maintain functioning kitchens and pay workers to staff them will shave $2.3 million from the city's budget—but won't go very far toward decreasing its $629 million deficit. And the collateral damage will likely be large. To wit:

• An untold number of kitchen workers are tossed off the city's payrolls and into the city's already-swollen ranks of the unemployed. They'll adjust their spending accordingly, putting yet more pressure on the local tax base.

This move also hurts local food suppliers and distributors. In a bad economy that might just be the tipping point for those companies going under. And of course the prepackaged food will be the kind of food that contributes to childhood obesity.

The most important point is this:

And as the University of Texas economist James K. Galbraith has demonstrated numerous times over the past year (most recently here), the most-dire problems facing the nation are the related ones of underemployment and underinvestment in vital infrastructure, not budget deficits or the national debt.

The spending cuts serve to put more people out of work. What we need is investment in the future - not a return to the breadlines of the Great Depression.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

More Work for Less Pay

2011-06-30T11:27:00.004-04:00

A look at the unspoken reality behind the so-called "jobless recovery." From MoJo:

Webster's defines speedup as "an employer's demand for accelerated output without increased pay," and it used to be a household word. Bosses would speed up the line to fill a big order, to goose profits, or to punish a restive workforce. Workers recognized it, unions (remember those?) watched for and negotiated over it—and, if necessary, walked out over it.

But now we no longer even acknowledge it—not in blue-collar work, not in white-collar or pink-collar work, not in economics texts, and certainly not in the media (except when journalists gripe about the staff-compacted-job-expanded newsroom). Now the word we use is "productivity," a term insidious in both its usage and creep. The not-so-subtle implication is always: Don't you want to be a productive member of society? Pundits across the political spectrum revel in the fact that US productivity (a.k.a. economic output per hour worked) consistently leads the world. Yes, year after year, Americans wring even more value out of each minute on the job than we did the year before. U-S-A! U-S-A!

Productivity creep is right. US workers are under pressure to do more in less time, and to thrive on it. Worker productivity is constantly touted in economic reports. Many of those who have jobs, are working longer hours with an expanded workload - without getting a raise. Merely being allowed to keep their jobs is enough of a reward. The question that is never asked is simple: who benefits?

In all the chatter about our "jobless recovery," how often does someone explain the simple feat by which this is actually accomplished? US productivity increased twice as fast in 2009 as it had in 2008, and twice as fast again in 2010: workforce down, output up, and voilá! No wonder corporate profits are up 22 percent since 2007, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute. To repeat: Up. Twenty-two. Percent.

and

Meanwhile, what's passed off as the growing pains of a modern economy is—not to go all Marxist on you—simply about redistribution. For 90 percent of American workers, incomes have stagnated or fallen for the past three decades, while they've ballooned at the top, and exploded at the very tippy-top: By 2008, the wealthiest 0.1 percent were making 6.4 times as much as they did in 1980 (adjusted for inflation). And just to further fuel your outrage, that 22 percent increase in profits? Most of it accrued to a single industry: finance.

All of that hard work isn't benefitting the worker, who isn't even getting a raise. It's going straight to the top. But, the lucky worker is allowed to keep their job. For now.

A year ago I wrote a piece here at Main St that included this statement:

This could be a frightening new US reality – companies holding workers hostage, in exchange for jobs.

The frightening new reality seems to have arrived.

cross- posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

NH Governor Vetoes Voter ID Bill

2011-06-28T15:41:00.006-04:00

NH Governor John Lynch has vetoed a bill that would force voters to show photo ID at the polls, before being allowed to cast their vote. From Reuters:

"An eligible voter who goes to the polls to vote on Election Day should be able to have his or her vote count on Election Day," said Lynch, a Democrat, in his veto message.
"SB 129 creates a real risk that New Hampshire voters will be denied their right to vote," he said, adding the state has consistently high voter turnout, no voter fraud problem and strong election laws already in place.

One of the bill's sponsors, state Senator Jack Barnes had this to say:

"I feel that there are people up here (in New Hampshire) voting that don't belong up here," said Barnes, adding that his phone rang "off the hook" with constituent support for the measure.

Therein lies the problem. Senator Barnes may "feel" that there are people voting in NH who shouldn't be, but his feelings aren't facts. The last documented case of voter fraud in NH involved a teenaged boy using his father's ID to vote Republican. Despite the myth of "busloads of people coming to vote in NH elections," there are no photos of these buses. There are no videos of these voters. There are no complaints to the Secretary of State.

The photo identification must be issued by the United States or by New Hampshire or be a valid state driver's license, according to the bill.
Voters could get a voucher to cover the $10 cost of a non-drivers identification under the legislation.

No word on who will be paying for these ID vouchers. For some people who live in rural counties, a visit to the DMV for a non-driver ID would mean taking a day off from work, because of the distance.

Voters who did not have proper ID, could cast a provisional ballot, and come back to a government official within 2.5 days to show photo ID. Of course by then, the votes will have been counted and the election decided, so that provisional vote is meaningless.

A rather pointed editorial about what's behind this legislation, from the Nashua Telegraph:

We should be wary of enacting any law that makes it more difficult for some people to exercise their right to vote. And until we have some actual proof that voter fraud exists at any measurable level in New Hampshire, let’s call this bill what it is: a solution that is far worse than the problem.

and

Either way, we can’t help but wonder: Are some legislators using baseless allegations of fraud to make voting difficult enough that some people won’t even try?

It seems clear that the bill is aimed at disenfranchising low income, student, and elderly voters. NH learned earlier this year what Speaker O'Brien thinks about college students voting:

New Hampshire's new Republican state House speaker is pretty clear about what he thinks of college kids and how they vote. They're "foolish," Speaker William O'Brien said in a recent speech to a tea party group.

'Foolish' college kids 'just vote their feelings,' New Hampshire speaker says
"Voting as a liberal. That's what kids do," he added, his comments taped by a state Democratic Party staffer and posted on YouTube. Students lack "life experience," and "they just vote their feelings."

Governor Lynch's entire statement on the veto makes the case:

Seniors, students, those who are disabled or do not drive, and those who do not already have a state-issued or federal-issued photo ID, may not be able to arrange to obtain a valid photo ID within the tight 2 ½ day timeframe. Many town offices are closed or have only limited hours on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, when those voters who received a provisional ballot would be expected to return to produce a photo ID and have their vote counted. Voters in areas of the state where DMV offices have been consolidated will also be disadvantaged. Traveling to Concord or Manchester is not an option for everyone. These circumstances will present real hardships, especially for our seniors and disabled voters.

The New Hampshire City and Town Clerks Association, AARP, the League of Women Voters, and the Secretary of State have all opposed provisions of this bill. The bill's provisions for the length of time to produce a valid photo ID after an election and the types of photo IDs allowed are among the most restrictive voter identification provisions in the nation despite any evidence that current law is insufficient protection against voter fraud.

The NH legislature is solving a non-existant problem, in order to ensure fewer voters participate in our elections. The pressure to override the veto is high, but it may not be enough. A number of legislators are quite aware that this will cost their municipalities plenty, and further reduce their chances of reelection.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Pigs at the Trough

2011-06-28T13:53:00.007-04:00

Anti-union NH legislators load up their plates at an invitation only BBQ, sponsored by NH unions to thank the legislators who opposed the right to work bill. These freeloaders don't hesitate to chow down on food bought and cooked by "union thugs."

Impulse Control and Pledge Politics

2011-06-23T17:43:00.006-04:00

It has become increasingly obvious that the current NH legislature is not just trying to turn the state into a Randian/Dickensian paradise, but they’re also intent on repealing any law they can, just because.

A case in point would be the recent repeal of the NH minimum wage law. NH has had it’s own minimum wage law since 1949. The party that claims to be all about “states rights” just passed a bill that repealed a law that gave us the right to set the state’s minimum wage, rather than just abide by the federal minimum. Governor Lynch vetoed the repeal, and the Freebaglicans decided that it was so important to thumb their nose at the Governor (who was defending the actual right of the state) that they overturned the veto. This is the kind of brilliant thinking that’s been going on in Concord this year, in a legislature overrun with Tea Partiers, Free Staters, and John Birchers.

The current crop of Republicans is badly behaved. You’d see better impulse control in the ape house at the zoo. House Majority Leader D J Bettencourt calling Bishop McCormick “a pedophile and a pimp” comes to mind as an example. NH GOP Chairman Jack Kimball had this to say about the re-election of President Obama: ‘‘look at who we put in the White House. You think about that and we realize the profound responsibility that we have this time. In my view, if we re-elect this man, all that all of the people fought and died for is completely in vain.” In other words: if you die in the service of your country when the president is a dark skinned Democrat whom we like to pretend was born in Kenya; you’ve died in vain. A number of veterans groups are rightly unhappy with this statement. Those of us who remember being called traitors for questioning the invasion of Iraq are unsurprised by the level of hypocrisy shown by the leader of the NH GOP or his NH media stenographers.

Another badly behaved Republican recently in the news is our very own Ray Shakir, whose lack of impulse control has been on display for a number of years in the op-ed section of this newspaper. Ray achieved national fame for his brand of commentary in Mother Jones magazine, in a piece on his support for presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty. Writer Andy Kroll quotes Shakir’s description of President Obama: "a jungle alien. Because that's what he is—he's not an American. You can call me a birther if you want." A “jungle alien.” I’m sure old T-Paw is thrilled to have his association with a racist go national, especially given that Pawlenty himself has tried to avoid rolling in the stench of the birther cesspool.

The Freebaglican legislature passed their budget this week. As legislature discussed the bill, prior to the vote, the Republicans in the House got up and walked out when former Speaker Terrie Norelli spoke in opposition to the bill. The GOP majority has shown repeatedly that not only do they lack impulse control; they are incapable of common courtesy.

This budget makes drastic cuts in the few safety net programs our state has. NH will be returning to the GOP glory days of the wait list for services for people with developmental disabilities, always a source of pride for our state. There are further cuts to domestic violence programs, to mental health programs, and to substance abuse treatment programs. It’s hard to imagine that a state that uses alcohol as a source of revenue could spend any less than we have been on treatment, but we will be. Prison and jail will be the increasing source of treatment for addicts and the mentally ill. Despite the recent heap of baloney served up by DJ Bettencourt and Gene Chandler on the op-ed pages of this paper, be prepared for cost shifting to the counties and towns. Expect your property taxes to rise as a direct result of this reckless budget.

Another area of concern is NH’s failing infrastructure. The annual infrastructure report card gives NH a barely passing grade. NH has 142 bridges on the red list. Our roads, bridges, dams, schools, public water, and public sewer systems are all in need of attention. Pledge politics mean we’ve kicked that can down the road for decades. Pledge politics guarantee that we’ll continue to, and that we’ll pay the pound of cure when some kind of disaster occurs.

When the recent unemployment numbers came out for NH, showing that our state has among the lowest numbers in the country, the NH GOP took credit for it, saying it was their policies – even though those policies had yet to be enacted. When those numbers rise, as a direct result of the budget cuts, one wonders if they’ll be so eager to take credit for the increase.

This legislature has slashed programs carelessly, and has worked hard to cut revenue sources. This week, as Speaker O’Brien returned from meeting with special interest groups (including one funded by Big Tobacco) the House cut the NH tobacco tax. NH is the first state to decrease the tobacco tax in 50 years. This is expected to result in a $15 million loss in revenue over the next two years.

At the same time, the new budget slashes state aid to higher education by 45%. NH already has the dubious distinction of ranking dead last amongst the 50 states in spending on post-secondary education. NH was firmly in 50th place – well behind states like Mississippi and Arkansas. We’re in 70th place now, behind the other 50 states. This means that sending a NH kid to a NH college is now going to be even more cost-prohibitive. In-state tuition at UNH is going to increase by 8.7 percent. If this budget becomes law, it’s going to be cheaper for NH kids to go to college in other states. When they do, the likelihood of their returning to NH is small. They’ll be helping to build the economy and the future of other states, while NH remains a hostage of the past.

Pledge politics combined with a tax system that designed in the 1800’s, but fails in the 21st century will continue to conspire to keep our state moving backwards. Businesses considering moving to our state will not find our property taxes and our negative attitude about education to be an enticement. The real NH advantage is being slowly destroyed by pledge politics.

“New Hampshire is not a poor state, NH is a cheap state.” Blue Hampshire blogger tchair.

© sbruce 2011
This was published as an op-ed in the July 1 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.

ht/ to NEA NH for the picture.

Privatizing and/or Arresting Charity

2011-06-23T13:57:00.006-04:00

Senator Bernie Sanders, chair of a Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, held a hearing this week on senior hunger. One would think that in a country like the US, our senators would be deeply concerned about hungry senior citizens. One would be wrong. From The Nation/Notion:

Kathy Greenlee, the Assistant Secretary for the Administration on Aging, began by assessing the problem. Of the millions of hungry senior citizens assisted by the federal government, 24 percent simply do not have enough money or food stamps to purchase enough food. Beyond poverty, millions of other seniors have trouble getting meals because they are either functionally impaired or live alone. Seniors in rural areas, far from grocery stores and perhaps family members, are particularly vulnerable. For around 60 percent of the seniors assisted by the government, the meals they are provided make up half or more of their daily food intake.

and

“From a moral perspective, it is clear to me that in this great nation, no one should go hungry, especially those that are old and frail and unable to take care of themselves,” Sanders said.

Thanks Senator. But there's more:

Mary Jane Koren, a geriatrician and vice-president of the Commonwealth Fund, noted that seniors often suffer health problems and are put in nursing homes after falling down. Poor nutrition leads to decreased muscle strength, meaning a higher chance of falling—and weaker seniors are more likely to be gravely injured in such a fall. Koren noted that by 2020, the annual cost of medical care for seniors who fall is expected to reach $54.9 billion—many magnitudes more than the approximately $2 billion per year the federal government spends on nutrition assistance for senior citizens.

Senator Paul, however, explicitly rejected this logic. “It’s curious that only in Washington can you spend $2 billion and claim that you’re saving money,” he said. “The idea or notion that spending money in Washington somehow is saving money really flies past most of the taxpayers.” Instead, Paul touted the “nobility of private charity” as opposed to government-funded “transfer programs.” He suggested privatizing Meals on Wheels and other government assistance for hungry seniors.

So, poor nutrition for seniors can lead to falls and broken bones which mean increased medical costs. That makes sense to me, and I expect to most of us. It does not make sense to Senator Rand Paul, who believes we should let the seniors eat charity. A privatized Meals on Wheels program will be in it for a profit, which means they'll be charging for their service, which defeats the entire purpose.

Charities are already stretched to their limits and beyond by the demand created by this economy. Non-profits, churches, and other charities aren't getting the kind of donations they need to deal with the demands, because people don't have the money to donate because of the economy. It's a neat little circle that is easy to understand, unless you're living in some Dickensian fantasy land. Just don't ask him for a refill of your bowl of gruel.

On the topic of hunger, the group known as Food Not Bombs has been in the news lately, because members of their group have been arrested on several occasions for feeding homeless and hungry people at Lake Eola Park in Orlando, FL. The city has a homeless feeding area: a cage under a bridge, that they would prefer the folks of Food Not Bombs use as a location. Nothing says dignity like eating in a cage under a bridge. The city of Orlando would prefer not to afflict the comfortable residents with the sight of homeless and hungry folks eating in the sunlight.

Food Not Bombs has been engaging in peaceful food activism, by feeding vegan meals to the hungry, and handing out literature on the costs of militarism and war, for over 30 years.

Keith McHenry, one of the founders of Food Not Bombs has an essay at the Tikkun Daily website:

The Mayor of Orlando is telling the media that all is under control. Everyone in Orlando has food and Food Not Bombs can move to the feeding cage if we “really want to feed the homeless.” While many of those eating with us are not homeless, they make a mockery of their own arrest warrants which accuse our volunteers of sharing meals with over 24 people. Many of the people that come to Food Not Bombs have jobs but need a free meal so they have enough to pay for their housing. Second Harvest in Orlando reported that over 55,000 people required food through their central Florida program. They also reported that 20.7% of the pantries, 10.1% of the kitchens and 33.0% of the shelters responded that they turned away clients during the past year. Their website also shows that 49% of the Central Florida Second Harvest clients had to choose between paying for food and paying for their rent or mortgage. The Orlando Regional Realtor Association announced that housing sales for May 2011 were 14.99 percent below May 2010. Housing foreclosures are also on the increase. The people eating with Food Not Bombs eat with us because they need food. Many must choose between food or housing. Mayor Buddy Dyer and other officials must come to terms with the fact that we are in a crisis and hiding the problem of hunger is not a solution.

A recent CNN poll reported that nearly half of all Americans they questioned believed the country will collapse into an economic depression within the next twelve months. For many the depression is already here. Nearly 1 billion people go without food every day world wide even though there is enough to feed everyone. Over 25,000 people die each day because they do not have enough to eat. Many of those going hungry live right here in cities like Orlando. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that over 15 percent of Americans were going with out food each month in 2009. That number has increased. Federal authorities also report that 387,849 new recipients were added to the food stamps program in March 2011. Over 44 million Americans rely on food stamps to feed their families and the number continues to grow. Efforts to end hunger and poverty should be supported by the City of Orlando. These staggering and painful statistics reflect the failure of priorities. No one should go hungry in the world’s wealthiest country. Arresting volunteers for doing all they can to encourage solutions to this crisis is criminal.

The whole essay is well worth reading.

The irony, of course, is inescapable. At one end of the spectrum, we have Kentucky Senator Rand Paul suggesting that we should let seniors eat charity, and at the other end, we have folks working for a charity getting arrested for feeding the hungry.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

A Felony for Health Care

2011-06-21T09:36:00.005-04:00

James Verone drove a truck for Coca-Cola for 17 years. When his job ended three years ago, he had a hard time finding work. Eventually he would up working in a convenience store. The bending, lifting, and standing took a toll on him. Back trouble, foot trouble, arthritis in his hands, and carpal tunnel were all making his life painful. He found a something sticking out of his chest, and tried to get financial help to deal with his medical situation. He didn't qualify. Verone chose not to ask his siblings for help. He chose a different direction. He decided to rob a bank.

From the Gaston Gazette in Gaston County, North Carolina:

He handed the teller a note demanding one dollar, and medical attention.
“I didn’t have any fears,” said Verone. “I told the teller that I would sit over here and wait for police.”

and

Verone expected to be charged with bank robbery.

Because he only demanded $1, he was charged with larceny from a person. Still a felony, the count doesn’t carry as much jail time as bank robbery.

The bearded, gray-haired man plans to represent himself in court. He’s trying not to get too confident about his knowledge of the legal system. He just wants to prepare a statement for the judge and then take whatever active sentence he is given.

Verone is considering an ultimatum if the penalty isn’t great enough, he said.

The crime will happen again.

It's impossible to read this story and not think about different choices that James Verone might have made. The real story here is the desperation that he was feeling; desperation shared by increasing numbers of people in the United States - the only industrialized nation in the world that does not provide universal health care to every citizen.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

The US Economy

2011-06-16T11:50:00.004-04:00

From moveon.org. - former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich explains what is wrong with the US economy in under 2 minutes.

Pass it on.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

5 Progressive Congressional Bills

2011-06-14T18:41:00.005-04:00

Five smart, progressive bills in Congress; bills you've probably never heard of. These aren't bills that are getting any media attention at all. Good ideas, going nowhere. From The Nation:

The Fairness in Taxation Act [H.R.1124]

Sponsored by Illinois Democrat Jan Schakowsky and co-sponsored by 20 other Democratic House members, the Fairness in Taxation Act [FTA] would create additional tax brackets at the top of the income ladder, starting with $1 million and ending at $1 billion. As things stand, the highest tax bracket is set at $373,000, meaning the top 20 hedge fund managers with an average annual income of over $1 billion pay the same marginal tax rate as those who make 2,500 times less than they do.

This would raise federal tax revenue by more than $78.9 billion in this year alone, and would cover some of the ugliest budget cuts the GOP wants to make, like cuts to Pell Grants.

The Foundations for Success Act [S.294]

This would address the crisis in affordable day care for families, while simultaneously addressing the fact that the US is falling behind in early childhood education.

Sanders’ plan establishes a grant program providing “universal, full day, full week, and full year programs” available to households with children age 6 weeks until Kindergarten. The program would initially serve 10 geographically diverse states across the country that fall significantly behind others in providing viable care services, but would ultimately expand to all 50 states in a long-term initiative to build upon existing efforts to improve the quality and affordability of early care.

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act [H.R.459]

Sponsored by Ron Paul in the House, with a similar bill [S. 202] sponsored by his son Rand Paul in the Senate, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (FRTA) lifts restrictions placed on the Government Accountability Office and mandates an external audit of the Fed’s books by the end of 2012.

Because their procedures, reasoning, and internal processes should be more transparent.

The Shortening Hours and Retaining Employees (SHARE) Credit Act [H.R.4179]

Michigan Congressman John Conyers has taken up the initiative by sponsoring the SHARE Act, a job-creation program that offers a tax credit of up to $3,000 to employers who shorten workers’ hours in the form of “paid sick days, paid family leave, shorter workweeks or longer vacations.

Workers would have more leisure time - and that translates into consumer spending. This is working well in Germany, where they're maintaining the pre-economic downturn unemployment rate during the recession.

The 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act [H.R.494]

Sponsored by Ohio Representative Marcy Kaptur, the 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act (CCCA) is a job creation program that re-establishes a Civilian Conservation Corp that puts to work unemployed and underemployed civilians to advance useful public works projects aimed at safeguarding natural resources and developing new transportation and infrastructure.

This is the best idea of all. There are so many public works and conservation projects that need attention across the country. Soil erosion, flooding in the midwest, repairs to levees and dams, maintenance projects in parks - the possibilities are endless. At a time when so many are out of work, this would be the best investment we could possibly make. Putting people to work solving America's infrastructure problems? That's something we could all be proud of.

cross posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Guinta, Bass, and the Ryan Plan

2011-06-09T12:09:00.004-04:00

Republican Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin came up with a budget plan that was applauded by his Teabaglican pals in the US House. NH Congressman Charlie Bass got behind it. Congressman Frank Guinta first complained that it didn’t cut enough – but then he got behind it, too. Senator Kelly Ayotte announced that if the Ryan plan came for a vote before the Senate, she’d support it. Then everything started to unravel, as more and more detail about the Ryan budget surfaced.

Republican economist Mark Zandi found that the Ryan budget would eliminate 1.7 million jobs in the first two years. Economists across the political spectrum warned that the Ryan plan would set back the long-term growth and competitiveness of the US economy. The Ryan plan makes deep cuts to education, training, science and technology R&D, and transportation infrastructure investment. One can see how this would further the “American exceptionalism” that these folks love to get all weepy about. A country with crumbling infrastructure, falling behind in science and technology, while cutting over a million jobs could only be described as exceptional.

Oh, but wait! There’s more. The Ryan plan also calls for turning Medicare into a voucher program. Those folks currently aged 55 or older would continue to get Medicare, as we know it. Everyone else would get a voucher from Medicare to buy private insurance from the many companies who are just dying to get in on insuring senior citizens. As insurance costs continue to rise, seniors would be paying the difference themselves, from their Social Security pension, which would also be privatized under the Ryan Plan. The vouchers would not increase to meet rising health costs. None of the doughty Republicans are using the term “rationing” or even “death panels,” though certainly both would apply.

Charlie Bass supports this plan to eliminate Medicare. He’s awfully upset though, that his support for a voucher program is being called support for a voucher program. A couple of groups paid for a TV ad that criticizes Bass’s support for the voucher program. In the ad, a former Bass supporter talks about what the changes in Medicare would mean to her family. The National Republican Congressional Committee tried to get the ad pulled off the airwaves, claiming it was a misrepresentation of the truth. The ad stayed. It’s the truth that Charlie Bass wishes to conceal. He’s not brave enough to stand up and tell the truth about what he’s supporting. His favorability ratings in NH CD-2 are at 29%.

Frank Guinta also supports this plan. At his recent town hall meetings, he’s pointed out that this won’t apply to anyone over the age of 55, as if that makes him some sort of hero. There is no thought given to those who lost their savings when the economy tanked, no thought given to those older folks who lost their jobs, and still can’t find work, or are still underemployed. It would at least be honest if Frank and Charlie suggested rebuilding the poor houses we once had for the state’s future senior citizens.

Meanwhile, the US House continues to run much the same way the NH House is running, on the premise that cutting spending and revenue will magically restore our economy. Even though those spending cuts are eliminating jobs, the magic GOP budgets will make everything okay. All we need to do is destroy Medicare and Social Security and that will fix everything. Just don’t ask them to stop borrowing money to fund tax cuts for billionaires, or to stop borrowing to fund the many wars we’re currently embroiled in.

The Pentagon is the biggest entitlement program and none of the budget peacocks have any intention of doing anything about it. As I’ve pointed out before, the Pentagon can’t pass an audit, and can’t account for trillions of dollars. One would think that our deficit talkers would find that unconscionable. One would be wrong. There is no talk of making the Pentagon accountable. The only talk is of shoveling more money at them, and continuing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Every dollar we spend on war is a dollar we aren’t investing in the future of the nation. It’s a borrowed dollar at that – so it’s part of the debt we’ll be leaving our children. These Teabaglicans would further impoverish senior citizens, and rob them of health care to line the pockets of their friends in the insurance industry and Wall St. At the same time, they are desperate to keep on funding the tax cuts for the wealthy, since they themselves benefit from them of course, as do their donors.

Charlie Bass voted for every bloated Bush defense budget. He voted for every bloated military appropriations bill. He also voted seven times to increase the debt ceiling. Now, suddenly, he wishes to be seen as Mr. Fiscal Responsibility? The Republican facility for rewriting history is truly a wonder to behold. Or, as Sarah Palin might say, “Ring, Ring, Kaboom!”

© 2011 sbruce

This was published as an op-ed in the 6-10-11 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper

Fake Eviction Notices, Slums, Bridges and a Detroit Billionaire

2011-06-08T14:53:00.010-04:00

A number of people who live in the Delray district of Detroit found eviction notices on their houses when they got home yesterday. They were fake eviction notices, designed to scare homeowners in the Delray neighborhood. The notices came from the conservative group Americans for Prosperity:

From theDetroit Free Press:

Bearing the words “Eviction Notice” in large type, the bogus notices told homeowners their properties could be taken by the Michigan Department of Transportation to make way for the New International Trade Crossing bridge project. The NITC is the subject of debate in Lansing, and Americans for Prosperity is lobbying heavily against it.

“It was meant to startle people,” Scott Hagerstrom, the group’s state director, said today. “We really wanted people to take notice. This is the time that their opinions need to be heard. We wanted people to read it.”

Somehow scaring the heck out of folks with a fake eviction notice might not be the best tactic for winning people over to your side. The residents were not amused.

This is all about bridges. The Ambassador Bridge runs between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. The bridge is privately owned, by billionaire Matty Moroun, who purchased this border crossing thirty years ago. The bridge is now 81 years old, and needs to be replaced.

From dailyfinance.com:

Two months ago, Canadian officials took matters into their own hands and offered to loan Michigan $550 million to start construction on a new bridge a couple of miles downriver from the Ambassador to be called the Detroit River International Crossing (or DRIC). Such a plan did not sit well with Moroun who argues that a new bridge would unfairly compete with the Ambassador and could potentially burden taxpayers.

Yes, compete with.

But Moroun estimates that the state's bridge could take up to 75% of his commercial traffic, the biggest money maker for any bridge. The Ambassador is currently estimated to generate about $60 million a year in toll revenue, according to Crain's Detroit.

The Ambassador is a privately owned toll bridge. Mr. Moroun doesn't want to lose this very lucrative cash cow.

From Alternet:

Meet the proposed new Detroit River International River Crossing, DRIC for short, to be built two miles downriver from the Ambassador. DRIC would be jointly owned by the United States and Canada, funded partly by private investors, and enable us to meet the trade, transportation and security issues of this century.

The United States wants this bridge. The government of Canada needs it. Republicans like Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson are behind it. So are the Ford Motor Co. and the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce. In Ohio, where the economy is closely linked to Michigan and Canada, the GOP-controlled state Senate passed a resolution supporting DRIC — unanimously.

The new bridge is desperately needed. The US and the Canadians agree. It's a cooperatively financed project, which makes sense for both sides. So what's the problem?

Matty Moroun has spend millions lobbying the Michigan House and Senate. The DRIC bill passed the House, barely, last week. The GOP has control of the Michigan Senate, so far, they're supporting their buddy Matt. So are his buddies at the oxymoronically named Americans for Prosperity. That's why they're trying to scare people with fake eviction notices.

It's not as if the Detroit area doesn't desperately need the 10,000+ jobs that would be created.

It seems that Mr. Moroun is a less than stellar corporate citizen. In fact, he's widely regarded as a negligent slumlord. A report from a recent rally in Detroit, from People's World:

They believe that if a negligent slumlord did what he was supposed to do some of the worst urban blight in America could be used to generate good jobs.

People who love this economically battered city rallied last Friday in front of one of the nation's largest symbols of urban decay - the long-abandoned Michigan Central Train Depot - to demand that its billionaire owner fork up money for its rehabilitation. The rally was organized by the AFL-CIO "Good Jobs Now" committee, the Service Employees International Union, and religious and community organizations.

Moroun bought the train depot, promising to rehabilitate it. He's reneged on that promise. In fact he owns at least 500 decaying properties in Detroit.

Rev. Charles Williams, pastor of the historic King Solomon Baptist Church, said rehabilitation of the train depot and Moroun's homes would create many jobs. At the Detroit depot alone there could be jobs for maintenance workers, carpenters, laborers, and iron workers, he said.

Williams said it is wrong to blame problems faced by Detroit on its residents. He noted that right-wing talk radio personality Glen Beck recently smeared city residents by comparing Detroit to Hiroshima and said its residents and unions were to blame.

The Detroit coalition group Good Jobs Now has put together a slideshow called Matty Moroun's Parade of Slums

It is truly amazing that the Michigan Legislature would turn their backs on the future of their state, and the creation of badly needed jobs, in order to allow an 83 year old billionaire to keep his stranglehold on border transportation and the tolls his bridge generates.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Ten Years of Tax Cuts

2011-06-07T13:09:00.004-04:00

From MoJo:

You probably didn't realize it, but June 7, 2011, is a momentous day in US history. It marks the 10-year anniversary of the signing into law of the Bush tax cuts, a day when President George W. Bush helped replace an unprecedented federal budget surplus with a mountain of debt in order to slash taxes for rich people (including dead ones).

and

Big debt: Between 2001 and 2010, the Bush tax cuts added $2.6 trillion to the public debt, 50 percent of the total debt accrued during that time. Over the past 10 years, the country has spent more than $400 billion just servicing the debt created by the cuts.

Yet when the deficit peacocks began to preen about the deficit, they weren't willing to eliminate those tax cuts, which is in itself the ultimate illustration of the depth of their concern for the deficit. They said these cuts were important, because they CREATE JOBS. Except, as we all know: they don't. They haven't, and they aren't going to.

No jobs: Between 2002 and 2007, employment increased by less than 1 percent when the economy was supposed to be expanding. Employment growth barely kept pace with population growth. Between the end of 2001, when the country was in a recession, and the peak of the real estate bubble, er, economic expansion in 2007, the US economy performed worse than at any time since the end of World War II.

Essentially, the Bush tax cuts made the rich richer, and helped empty our treasury and build the very deficit that we hear so much about. Ending the tax cuts isn't an option. The options all seem to involve cutting existing jobs, social programs, and slashing education spending:

...in 2001, before the tax cuts went into effect, the federal government invested $8,634 in inflation-adjusted dollars for every four-year-old in Head Start, the Great Society-era early childhood program designed to help prepare poor kids to do well in school. In 2011, that investment declined to $7,824 per child. Funding for the Social Services Block Grant, which funds programs that combat child abuse and neglect, among other things, has dropped more than 20 percent in real dollars.

Not only are we leaving the next generation a dismal legacy, we're not doing even a decent job of providing them with the kind of tools they're going to need to fix this mess.

Cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

The Economic Recovery that Wasn't

2011-06-02T14:34:00.006-04:00

From the WaPo

Two bright spots over the past few months — manufacturing and job creation by private companies — both slowed in May, according to new reports this week. The data come amid other reports of falling home prices, declining auto sales, weaker consumer spending and a rising pace of layoffs.

and

Instead of accelerating, the U.S. economy is puttering along at a growth rate of 2 to 3 percent — barely enough to bring down joblessness, if at all.

Despite the talk of economic recovery, it seems that not enough jobs are being created to bring down the unemployment numbers.

On Thursday the Labor Department reported that fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, falling by 6,000 to 422,000.
But that level is still too high to sustain job creation, which slowed sharply last month at private businesses, according to ADP, the payroll processing company. Firms added 38,000 jobs, ADP estimated, compared with 179,000 jobs added in April.

On Friday, the Labor Department will release its report on May job growth and the unemployment rate. Economists expect that about 180,000 jobs were created last month, dropping from 244,000 in April, and that the unemployment rate has edged down to 8.9 percent from 9 percent.

This doesn't begin to employ the numbers of already unemployed, never mind the new college grads and the about to be unemployed.

Speaking of the about to be unemployed:

The government and non-profit sector continues to dominate monthly job-cut announcements, the firm's monthly report said.
Government and non-profits firms announced 14,755 layoffs in May, about 40 percent of the month's total.

The budget cuts we've seen on the state and national level are going to mean higher unemployment numbers - something that the peppy economic forecasters would like to ignore. It's difficult to imagine how we can claim an economic recovery when so many are still out of work, and so many are about to be.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

New College Grads

2011-06-01T08:41:00.003-04:00

The grim realities being faced by new college graduates. From Alternet:

Young people between the ages of 16 and 24 face an unemployment rate nearly twice that of the rest of the population, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. 2010's 18.4 percent rate for youth was the worst in the 60 years that economists have collected such data. ColorLines notes that in 2010, 8.4 percent of white college graduates were unemployed, 13.8 percent of Latino graduates, and a dismal 19 percent of black graduates.

Then came this startling statement (emphasis mine):

The cost of a college degree is up some 3,400 percent since 1972, but as we all know too well, household incomes haven't increased by anything close to that number -- not for the bottom 99 percent of us, anyway.

Pell Grants have been steadily cut, and the Ryan budget in the US House would cut them even further. This means more students will get loans from private companies that have little in the way of accountability. As it stands now, those private and government issued loans will stick with a graduate even in the event of a bankruptcy. New legislation would allow those debts to be discharged during a bankruptcy proceeding.

In other words, a new college graduate may be facing bankruptcy and destroyed credit before finding a job.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Alabama Legislator Tired of Hurting Workers

2011-05-27T09:59:00.009-04:00

In Alabama, a state representative changed political parties over his frustration with a bill to change laws affecting teachers. From the Tuscaloosa News:

Boman, a 36-year-old lawyer from Sulligent, said Wednesday’s vote on a bill to change the state’s tenure and fair dismissal laws for educators convinced him he was in the wrong party.
Boman, elected as a Republican last November, voted against the tenure and fair dismissal bill that Democrats said removes much of the due process for teachers facing discipline or firing.

At a press conference Rep. Borman had this to say"

"During this current session I have seen this legislative body pass bills that I feel adversely affect what my people back home want, need, and deserve…

The move to blame and punish teachers, and other state and public employees has gone too far - at least for this legislator, who hasn't forgotten that he's in office to represent the voters of his district.

A look at the bill itself, from HuffPo:

The Alabama House of Representatives voted to pass the Students First Act, which does not do away entirely with teacher tenure but does streamline the teacher dismissal process. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) signed the bill on Thursday.

Here's what probably motivated Rep. Borman:

The bill keeps both tenure and the timeline for achieving it in place for teachers but eliminates the lengthy federal arbitration process for firing tenured teachers. Under the new law, teachers would be unable to appeal layoffs. School districts and community colleges would be empowered to terminate teachers "at any time" and for various reasons, such as a reduction in the number of positions available, incompetency, and "immorality."

Any time an appeals process is eliminated, justice for the worker is eliminated. Incompetence is an easy claim to make, but what does it look like, exactly? And termination any time for "immorality?" That's a deadly weapon to deploy. No wonder Representative Borman decided it was time to speak out.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Threats, Bribes - and Still No Override

2011-05-26T17:46:00.003-04:00

The battle over the so-called right to work law has been going on for months now. If you read Mark Hounsell’s editorial piece, you know that that right to work legislation has been coming back to haunt NH since the 1980’s when it first appeared. In 1985, Nackey Loeb wrote an editorial opposing RTW, calling it the “right to low pay” bill. It has been voted down every single time, but it keeps on coming back. The out of state special interest group behind the law is relentless and well financed.

Let’s be clear. Right to work is not a NH initiative. Both Governor Lynch and Labor Commissioner George Copadis state emphatically that no business has ever suggested that NH enact right to work legislation. No company interested in locating in NH has ever mentioned it as a concern. So, if business doesn’t want it – what is this all about? Who does want it?

The Teabaglicans want it. That term includes the Teahaddis, Republicans, Free Staters, and John Birchers who are currently the majority in the NH House, as led by Speaker O’Brien. Some of the highlights of the Speaker’s tenure thus far include: trying to oust a state rep. for being a Democrat, failing NOT to oust his second in command for calling Roman Catholic Bishop McCormick a pedophile and a pimp, attempting to change voter laws because student voters are “foolish” and “emotional,” and vote for liberals. The Speaker’s reign thus far has a triumph of ideology over what is actually best for the state, or what voters actually want. Instead of making good on their campaign promises of “balancing the budget, and jobs, jobs, jobs” this majority has concerned itself with overturning nearly every piece of legislature voted in during the last session, no matter how inconsequential. O’Brien has proven to be a vindictive leader who apparently thinks he pulled the sword from the stone. Those who cross him are punished. Representatives Tony Soltani, Susan Emerson, and Lee Quandt were all removed from their committee assignments for voting incorrectly. Only Emerson was reassigned. Soltani and Quandt are still both in punitive legislative limbo.

Nowhere has the ideology and lack of principle been more obvious than in the right to work battle. O’Brien was infuriated by Governor Lynch’s veto of the bill. He complained to the Union Leader that the Republicans were not going to allow the Governor to function as “a third branch of the legislature.” Then the O’Brien junta set about persuading those members of the Republican caucus who voted against right to work to vote to override the Governor’s veto.

The pressure has been fierce. Tom Fahey reported in the Union Leader that members of the caucus who weren’t going to vote to override were being urged to “talk a walk” when that vote game up. That’s right. They were asked to avoid doing their jobs as duly elected representatives of the people. Threats were made. Rep. Susan Emerson reported being “bullied” in a private meeting with the Speaker, where he threatened to kick her out of the caucus. Rep. Steve Vallaincourt (who sits on the House Special Committee on Redistricting) penned a vindictive post on the right wing blog NH Insider, where he wrote: “Maybe if she wants to get re-elected in 2012, she better start thinking of coming back. Hey, who knows what her district will even look like next year.”

The outspoken Lee Quandt mentions threats and bribes on his blog. Apparently some legislators were offered campaign money in exchange for their vote to override this bill. Lee Quandt is what Republicans used to be in our state. He’s conservative but not an ideologue. He’s a reasonable man, and he’s also his own man. No wonder the leadership hates him. This kind of old-school Republican is being purged from their own party for not being willing to march in jackbooted lockstep.

The greatest irony of all is that the mighty override vote was supposed to take place on May 25, this week. Attendance was high, one of the highest rates of attendance in a legislative session this year, yet O’Brien chose not to go forward with the override vote. All of his bluster, threats, and bribes hadn’t been enough to get him the votes he needed. When Rep. Soltani called upon him to put it up for a vote, O’Brien became so enraged he had Soltani escorted to his seat by the House Sergeant-at-Arms.

This means that the vote to override the veto can be held at any time between now and December. A two-thirds majority of those present is the requirement for the override. Given what we’ve seen from the Speaker, it’s likely that there will be some sort of attempt at rigging this vote in the future.

This is not about what is best for NH. Workers in right to work states earn lower pay, especially women – and the pay gap for women in NH is so great that we currently rank 10th in the nation. The poverty rates in right to work states are double those in NH. We have a low unemployment rate as it is – lower than the right to work states. Nevada is a right to work state and has the highest unemployment rate in the country. No one is forced to join a union or pay full union dues. The talking points issued by folks like Frank McCarthy are just not true.

So what’s it really all about? It’s all about the benjamins. In a speech to the Belknap County Republicans, O'Brien told them that the bill “The bill "is good for our party." He claimed that the unions were the biggest donors to Democrats in 2010. He also singled out the State Employees Association: "They're not our friends. They cycle public money to the Democratic Party."

Don’t let all the high-flown rhetoric about job creation, “freedom”, or Frank McCarthy’s bizarre rhetoric about Russia fool you. This group doesn’t care about any of that. This bill is all about consolidating power and money for the Republican Party. If that means they have to stick it to NH workers in the process, well, that’s okay with them.

Once again I ask: is this what you voted for?

© 2011 sbruce

published as an op-ed in the May 27 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper

All NH and VT Share is a Border

2011-05-26T15:53:00.005-04:00

New Hampshire and Vermont could not be further apart in terms of general outlook and governance. Yesterday, the big right-to-work veto override vote did not take place in NH. From NHPR:

House Speaker says he didn't have needed 2/3rds to override Lynch veto and says it would be "perilous" to announce when vote may take place.

After all of the threats adn bribes Speaker O'Brien still didn't have enough votes to override Governor Lynch's veto. Another man might have gotten the message. Not O'Brien.

The turnout for the vote was high, 380 out of 397 representatives were present. Some were pretty annoyed that the vote was going to be delayed. Representative Tony Soltani (a Republican from Epsom) tried to force the issue. The Speaker became so irate that he had the House Sergeant-at-Arms escort Representative Soltani back to his seat.

Speaker O’Brien, for his part, said numbers dictated his decision making. He says he would have preferred maintain his schedule but wasn’t sure he had the votes.
“It would have been close. It depends who shows up. Without having, for example, I was missing five votes, five yes votes, and I wasn’t going to take that chance.”

It seems the Speaker needs more time to game this vote. It's entirely possible that he will schedule this vote on a day when many members are absent. It takes a 2/3 majority to pass, but that is 2/3 of those present. He has until December to schedule this vote.

Last month, the Vermont legislature passed a bill that would create a single payer health care system for the entire state. Today, Governor Peter Shumlin signed that bill into law. Vermont is the first state in the nation to pass this kind of legislation. The state will spend the next 4 years setting up the system. What I found most remarkable about this brief story is the quote from Governor Shumlin. From ThinkProgress:

n a statement provided to ThinkProgress, Shumlin explained that he had an economic and moral imperative to champion Vermont's new health care law: "This law recognizes an economic and fiscal imperative – that we must control the growth in health care costs that are putting families at economic risk and making it harder for small employers to do business. We have a moral imperative to fix this problem, with 47,000 Vermonters uninsured and another 150,000 underinsured and worried about how to afford keeping their families healthy"

Vermonters feel they have a moral imperative to take care of families and business. The NH legislature feels they have a moral imperative to destroy unions and ensure lower wages for NH workers. Truly, all we share is a border.

cross posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

Right to Work Vote in NH This Week

2011-05-23T11:41:00.004-04:00

This week the NH House votes to override Governor Lynch's veto of the so-called Right to Work bill. Speaker O'Brien is pressuring representatives to vote to overturn. From the NH Union Leader:

Those Republicans who won’t come along are being asked to “take a walk” when the vote is taken. The more lawmakers who wander away during the vote, the fewer votes O’Brien needs to get to two-thirds.

In short, they're being asked NOT to represent their constituents or vote their consciences.

There are rumors of arm twisting, threats, and bribes. From Rep. Ray Gagnon:

Among the stories being circulated is that the more fervent radical republicans are threatening to have any member evicted from their caucus if they don’t support and vote the republican leadership position. It would seem that the party of Lincoln, T. Roosevelt and Eisenhower has no tolerance for individual opinion and principle. What is especially sad is they frame the RTW argument with contradictions and use words like personal liberty and freedom, but to their members the hidden message is –do what you are told or else! Of course the bill’s title – Right to Work – fits nicely with this double speak as it really means workers have the right to work for less money.

Governor Lynch sent out a rationale for his veto of RTW to all House members. More from Rep. Gagnon:

The governor was a successful corporate CEO before being elected – so I was especially interested to learn how “in his many years in the private sector turning around companies, as well as governor” – he has “never seen the RTW law serve as a valuable economic development tool.” Also, how in the past seven years as governor – not one business leader interested in locating here has ever asked him if New Hampshire has a right-to-work law!

Governor Lynch further stated that “no New Hampshire business leaders” has ever told him that the “lack of a so called RTW law prevented them from expanding or hiring new workers here in New Hampshire.” He then went on to share with us that no NH worker has ever told him they could not get a job because we do not have a so called right-to-work law.

Republican Representative Lee Quandt was kicked off the House Finance Committee by Speaker O'Brien. Quandt voted against the budget, and for daring to disagree with O'Brien and the party, he was ousted from his committee. Three GOP state reps have been punished in this way, thus far, for the same reasons. Only one has been reassigned. Rep. Quandt is living in a committee-less limbo still. Rep. Quandt has been outspoken in his opposition to the right to work bill.

From Rep. Quandt's blog:

What is happening now is state reps are being, as close as I can figure bribed and threatened all in the same day. I have been told that the speaker is promising money for your campaign if you stick with him and vote for RTW by voting against the Governors Veto. Then I hear that the majority leader is calling state reps and threatening them to vote with leadership to override the governor’s veto. Couple this with some far right wingers that are crazier than an out house mouse directing calls to those republicans that are sticking by their constituents trying to get them to change their votes and you have a remake of the movie “One flew over the Cuckoos Nest”.

First they were asking and leaning on republicans to take a walk on the vote if they couldn’t support leadership. Then they reverted to the dirty, MA style of politics by threats and borderline bribes. The growing discomfort with our so called leadership team, is only going to split the house more and make it more difficult, if not impossible to hold a veto proof majority and may put the governor in a better position to negotiate a budget he is more comfortable with, due to the hard feelings and loss of respect for the current house leadership. In fact our leadership group is making their own case for why they should be removed.

Legislators are being pressured, and asked to walk away from voting. It's rumored that legislators are being threatened. Last month I wrote about NH State Senator Sharon Carson going to the police after being threatened by her local GOP town chair. Her neighbors were also getting harassed. It's not difficult to believe that the NH House leadership is doing serious arm twisting and offering bribes, while spreading nonsense about "union thugs." This legislature is the worst I've seen in my 27 years of living in this state.

The House will be in session on Wednesday, May 25. They will be voting to override this veto on that day. Stay tuned.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org

"Womancession" About to Begin

2011-05-17T11:36:00.004-04:00

In January, I wrote about the end of the so-called "Mancession." I commented then that the term was a media device for pitting the genders against one another to minimize the full impact of the recession on everyone.

Job growth is still terrible. It's marginally better for men right now. Women are just about to lose whatever ground they've been gaining in employment.

From Alternet:

The "mancession" is behind us. Men suffered 69 percent of the job losses between the onset of the recession in December 2007 and last February, when the labor market hit bottom. Job growth in the 14 months since has been anemic, though men have fared noticeably better than women. While men have regained only a fifth of the jobs they lost, women have done even worse, recovering less than a tenth.

The job situation for women is poised to deteriorate further. Cuts in K-12 schooling and in services at the state and local levels have already begun, and public officials are proposing ever more draconian measures. More and more states and municipalities are making plans to shortchange the education of our youth and to deny vulnerable children, the disabled and the frail elderly access to Medicaid, health and personal care services. When these cuts are made, it’s women’s jobs that will be on the chopping block.

It was construction and manufacturing jobs that were lost in the earlier parts of the recession, jobs that are traditionally more male dominated, which was where all the talk of the "mancession" came from. Women, who traditionally work in teaching, health care, and service related jobs were not hit hard at the beginning. Or to look at it another way, the higher paying jobs were the first to go.

Working in different occupations made women less vulnerable to job losses during the crash, but it now threatens to penalize them as the economy recovers. Since the expansion began, men gained back 263,000 jobs in manufacturing, and are beginning to gain jobs in construction. Women, in contrast, continue to lose jobs in both sectors. In private education and health services, expansion of women’s jobs has slowed. Men held 23 percent of jobs in this sector when the recession began, but gained 37 percent of the additional jobs created. The bigger story, however, is playing out in the public sector. After holding up well during the economic contraction, employment in the public sector has defied the recovery and declined by 284,000 jobs through April, all of them at state and local levels. Three quarters of the public sector job decline was due to jobs lost by women, mostly in K-12 education and other local government jobs. The news for women is likely to get even worse as the school year ends and pink slips go out.

For those families who are hanging on by a thread on the income generated by a teaching job, this has the potential to be a disaster. Out there in the land of working families, the cutesy terms created by the media are meaningless. What these families know is that if both partners lose their jobs foreclosure and homelessness are moving ever closer.

cross-posted at MainSt/workingamerica.org