Read what Shamus Cooke has to say about an editorial in the New York Times and the Democrats’ attack on Social Security and Medicare. See also the article by Steve Kofahl in the February issue of The Retiree Advocate.
The following appeared in CounterPunch and is used with permission.
Obama's "Change" Drops Its Mask
The Democrats are Coming After Social Security
By SHAMUS COOKE
It’s official: the Democrats are coming after Social Security and Medicare. All the backroom scheming and political conspiring is finally out in the open.
In an unusually long, 1,800 word editorial, entitled The Truth about the Deficit, published February 7, The New York Times -- cheerleader for neoliberalism -- gives its solution to the country’s debt problems. The main idea is summed up thus:
“To truly tame deficits will require serious health care reform [Obama’s plan slashes Medicare], the sooner the better. Other aspects of the long-term fiscal problem — raising taxes and retooling [reducing] Social Security — must take place in earnest as the economy recovers.”
Later the article is clearer: “And then there is Social Security. What is needed is a combination of benefit cuts and tax increases that preserve the program’s essential nature.” Of course those surviving on Social Security already live in poverty and cannot afford “benefit cuts.” Also, to make a dent in the deficit, benefit cuts to social security will have to be quite substantial, to the point where the program’s “essential nature” will be destroyed.
The New York Times acknowledges that such a course of action will be completely undemocratic and unpopular, but that politicians “must gather the political will to do what must be done…”
How can politicians destroy these cherished social programs in the face of such popular resistance? By trickery, of course. And this is exactly what Obama has proposed with his “bi-partisan deficit-reduction commission.” This idea puts Democrats and Republicans together to create a plan to destroy social programs. This way both parties share the blame, so that no one is to blame. The New York Times reveals Obama’s hidden motives:
“The deficit commission that Mr. Obama intends to establish could be helpful in breaking this logjam [resistance to cutting social security], by calling for necessary changes that politicians would be loath to broach without political cover.”
Labor unions and community groups also understand Obama’s treacherous motives. Dozens of them — including the AFL-CIO and Change to Win — signed a statement condemning the goals behind Obama’s “deficit commission.” The statement included some politically savvy points, including the following:
“…the proposed budget commission — which will be viewed as a way to actually cut Medicare benefits, while insulating lawmakers from political fallout — could confuse people and undermine the reform effort. And an American public that only recently rejected privatization of Social Security will undoubtedly be suspicious of a process that shuts them out of all decisions regarding the future of a retirement system that's served them well in the current financial crisis.”
The statement concludes: “We urge you to act decisively to prevent the creation of such an extraordinary and undemocratic budget commission.”
However, it is not enough for only the leaders of unions and community groups to pressure the Democrats over this issue, especially when Obama has made it clear that he prefers the advice of Wall Street CEO’s. Unions and progressive groups must educate and mobilize their base to confront both the Democrats and Republicans over the protection of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
None of the major unions which signed the anti-commission statement have information about this plot on their websites; none are organizing their members to confront this plan — a plan that the entire political establishment is in agreement with. Nor are unions seriously proposing other ideas to fix the deficit, and the fixes are obvious.
The military budget must be slashed. Obama plans to spend over $700 billion in 2011 for the military. Both Democrats and Republicans are fine with this. Most Americans are not.
More importantly, taxes on the rich need to be increased. The nation’s tax structure changed drastically under Reagan and the two Bushes, with taxes on the wealthiest Americans dropping from 70 percent to the present day 35 percent. Under Eisenhower the richest Americans paid 90 percent of their income towards taxes. The loss in revenue that resulted from these giant tax reductions is one of the major contributors to the current deficit. It must be reversed in order to save Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
This is the solution that working-class Americans would prefer, rather than have their Medicare, Social Security, and public education destroyed. It is up to the union movement and community groups to unite and mobilize their members and all working people to demand this as a solution to the deficit and Great Recession.
Without a massive mobilization with rank and file participation, the corporate elite will continue to have their way unchallenged, with more bank bailouts and more war. A coalition of progressive groups with clear demands to address the recession will have the backing of the majority of Americans, while being resisted adamantly by both Democrats and Republicans.
------------------------------------------
Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org). He can be reached at shamuscook@yahoo.com
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Confronting elder abuse
By Will Parry
At least one million and possibly as many as two million people age 65 and above are subject to one form or another of elder abuse. Two thirds of the victims are women.
Adult Protective Services investigated 461,135 reports of abuse in 2004, but for every such report it’s estimated that at least five cases go unreported.
The vast majority of abusers are family members – adult children, spouses and partners, or other relatives. Abusers may have drug or alcohol problems, may be mentally troubled, or may simply be overwhelmed by the responsibilities of caregiving.
Those who are abused commonly suffer in silence, trapped in their abusive relationships by fear or shame or dementia.
OWL, “the Voice of Midlife and Older Women,” has spelled out the realities of this “growing, yet hidden” problem in a painstakingly documented report.
“OWL believes that the abuse of older women is an under-recognized crisis…exacerbated by the stigma related to abuse and the many types of oppression that continue to affect women during their lives, making them more vulnerable to the abuse,” the report said.
Repeated scholarly studies and reports have documented the ugly reality of abuse. Despite these findings, pathetically little is being done by any federal agency on elder abuse, and what activities do take place are not coordinated. Some examples:
• Adult Protective Services, the front line responder to abuse complaints, lacks a federal office, federal standards, oversight, training, data collection or reliable funding.
• The National Institute on Aging in 2008 spent only $1 million of its annual $1 billion budget on elder abuse issues.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent only $55,000 of its $8.8 billion budget on elder abuse.
• The Administration on Aging spends about $6 million on elder abuse issues, plus $16 million on the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program – a tiny fraction of its $1.4 billion budget.
• The Office on Violence Against Women spends only 1% of its funds on elders, who comprise 20% of the population, and who are especially subject to abuse.
Efforts in Congress to enact elder justice legislation have thus far been frustrated. In 2008, the House passed the Elder Abuse Victims Act, but the Senate failed to act.
A comprehensive Senate bill, the Elder Justice Act of 2009, (S. 795) has repeatedly cleared the Senate Finance Committee, has bipartisan sponsorship, but has yet to be debated on the Senate floor.
S. 795 would amend the Social Security Act. It would commit substantial federal resources to a coordinated attack on elder abuse. It would improve the quality and accessibility of information, provide victim assistance, step up prosecution of chronic abusers, implement special programs to support underserved populations, develop model state laws, and improve the security of long-term care residents.
An Office of Elder Abuse Prevention and Services would be charged with the development and implementation of “elder justice” programs in abuse prevention, detection, treatment, intervention and training of staff.
The Elder Justice Act defines “elder justice” as “efforts to prevent, detect, treat, intervene in and prosecute cases of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and to protect elders with diminished capacity while maximizing their autonomy,” as well as recognition of the individual elder’s “right to be free from abuse, neglect and exploitation.”
Robert Blancato, national coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition, summed it up:
“As a country we must develop an appropriate federal response to elder abuse; legislation such as the Elder Justice Act must be enacted. The problem of abuse, neglect and exploitation of seniors is growing. Our federal commitment is not. We hope 2010 will be the year of elder justice.”
Back to PSARA Home Page
At least one million and possibly as many as two million people age 65 and above are subject to one form or another of elder abuse. Two thirds of the victims are women.
Adult Protective Services investigated 461,135 reports of abuse in 2004, but for every such report it’s estimated that at least five cases go unreported.
The vast majority of abusers are family members – adult children, spouses and partners, or other relatives. Abusers may have drug or alcohol problems, may be mentally troubled, or may simply be overwhelmed by the responsibilities of caregiving.
Those who are abused commonly suffer in silence, trapped in their abusive relationships by fear or shame or dementia.
OWL, “the Voice of Midlife and Older Women,” has spelled out the realities of this “growing, yet hidden” problem in a painstakingly documented report.
“OWL believes that the abuse of older women is an under-recognized crisis…exacerbated by the stigma related to abuse and the many types of oppression that continue to affect women during their lives, making them more vulnerable to the abuse,” the report said.
Repeated scholarly studies and reports have documented the ugly reality of abuse. Despite these findings, pathetically little is being done by any federal agency on elder abuse, and what activities do take place are not coordinated. Some examples:
• Adult Protective Services, the front line responder to abuse complaints, lacks a federal office, federal standards, oversight, training, data collection or reliable funding.
• The National Institute on Aging in 2008 spent only $1 million of its annual $1 billion budget on elder abuse issues.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent only $55,000 of its $8.8 billion budget on elder abuse.
• The Administration on Aging spends about $6 million on elder abuse issues, plus $16 million on the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program – a tiny fraction of its $1.4 billion budget.
• The Office on Violence Against Women spends only 1% of its funds on elders, who comprise 20% of the population, and who are especially subject to abuse.
Efforts in Congress to enact elder justice legislation have thus far been frustrated. In 2008, the House passed the Elder Abuse Victims Act, but the Senate failed to act.
A comprehensive Senate bill, the Elder Justice Act of 2009, (S. 795) has repeatedly cleared the Senate Finance Committee, has bipartisan sponsorship, but has yet to be debated on the Senate floor.
S. 795 would amend the Social Security Act. It would commit substantial federal resources to a coordinated attack on elder abuse. It would improve the quality and accessibility of information, provide victim assistance, step up prosecution of chronic abusers, implement special programs to support underserved populations, develop model state laws, and improve the security of long-term care residents.
An Office of Elder Abuse Prevention and Services would be charged with the development and implementation of “elder justice” programs in abuse prevention, detection, treatment, intervention and training of staff.
The Elder Justice Act defines “elder justice” as “efforts to prevent, detect, treat, intervene in and prosecute cases of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and to protect elders with diminished capacity while maximizing their autonomy,” as well as recognition of the individual elder’s “right to be free from abuse, neglect and exploitation.”
Robert Blancato, national coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition, summed it up:
“As a country we must develop an appropriate federal response to elder abuse; legislation such as the Elder Justice Act must be enacted. The problem of abuse, neglect and exploitation of seniors is growing. Our federal commitment is not. We hope 2010 will be the year of elder justice.”
Back to PSARA Home Page
UnitedHealth offices branded ‘crime scene’
The Hartford, CT, headquarters of the UnitedHealth Group insurance behemoth was decorated with yellow “crime scene” tape at a rally organized by Connecticut Health Care for America Now, a coalition of labor, community and faith-based organizations.
UnitedHealth’s criminal actions are a matter of public record:
• It has a long history of securities fraud.
• Its president/CEO accumulated more than $1.6 billion in stock options.
• Its former CEO, who resigned under scrutiny by the U.S. Senate, got a multi-million dollar severance package.
• Members of its board have cashed in $160 million in stock options.
• It paid a record $7 million fine to the Securities Exchange Commission.
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UnitedHealth’s criminal actions are a matter of public record:
• It has a long history of securities fraud.
• Its president/CEO accumulated more than $1.6 billion in stock options.
• Its former CEO, who resigned under scrutiny by the U.S. Senate, got a multi-million dollar severance package.
• Members of its board have cashed in $160 million in stock options.
• It paid a record $7 million fine to the Securities Exchange Commission.
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Haiti: Amputations with no anesthetic
By Ann Ballard
In 2004 I began traveling to Haiti, briefly as a Peace Corps volunteer and later with Healing Hands for Haiti International. HHHI is dedicated to providing rehabilitation training, treatment, education and equipment to the physically disabled in Haiti.
During the January 12 earthquake, HHHI lost all seven buildings on their property. Among thousands of Haitians lost were three residents on campus, including Annia St. Louis, the wife of a staff member, a proud medical school graduate and an even prouder mother of two children, a 4 year old and a seven-month old baby.
The organization reeled with shock and quickly took action. High level meetings were held and a group was sent to treat emergencies, including Emergency Room doctors, family practice doctors, orthopedic and trauma surgeons, nurses and a rehabilitation doctor. Bandages, needles, syringes, surgical kits, IV fluids and as much medication as they could fit into their bags were loaded for travel.
The reality was daunting. On day two, a trauma surgeon and orthopedist left in the morning on helicopter for Leogane, a hard-hit small town south of Port-au-Prince. They heard that one of the surgeons was doing amputations without anesthetic. The other surgeons and a trauma nurse went to the Sacre Coeur hospital. After a long hard day, they ran out of pins, screws and sterile gowns.
A homeless, parentless 13-year-old boy’s tibia fracture was treated and a plan set to treat his crushed femur. The next morning he was out on the lawn waiting with the other patients for the sun to come up and the doctors to return. In these circumstances the doctors work tirelessly and will do a good job for him. It’s what they are trained to do. The worry is: After the medical care, what will happen to him then?
That evening HHHI transported a girl to a French clinic and set her down in the street under an awning. Because she was frightened, they drove back to the chapel and brought her grandfather to stay with her.
A French team was using a private plastic surgery center as a makeshift trauma unit with their triage on the street and sidewalks. The cooperation was amazing, everyone sharing what they had, helping when they could, and working to ease suffering.
Noel, an HHHI driver, spoke to the founder of HHHI about the quake. The driver’s two daughters, age 18 and 8, were at the market when it hit. He ran to the area to find it demolished. Frantically, he crawled over the rubble calling his daughters’ names until finally he heard, “Papa, papa, help me!” He got as close as he could and spent the next three days and nights comforting them, urging them to feel around for food and water. They were rescued on the fourth day, both seriously injured, but alive. The anguish in his eyes as he described sleeping next to his daughters was indescribable.
Prosthetic organizations and charities worldwide have warned of the huge task facing Haiti as it struggles to rehabilitate hundreds of thousands of amputees. Doctors say they are already struggling to cope with the sheer numbers of people needing amputations after being trapped in the rubble.
Some surgeons estimate that as many as 200,000 Haitians will end up losing one or more limbs – in a country where the few rehabilitation facilities that existed before the earthquake have largely been destroyed.
In Haiti, where an estimated 800,000 people were already living with disabilities before the disaster struck, meeting the needs of the amputees will require years of international commitment.
Back to PSARA Home Page
In 2004 I began traveling to Haiti, briefly as a Peace Corps volunteer and later with Healing Hands for Haiti International. HHHI is dedicated to providing rehabilitation training, treatment, education and equipment to the physically disabled in Haiti.
During the January 12 earthquake, HHHI lost all seven buildings on their property. Among thousands of Haitians lost were three residents on campus, including Annia St. Louis, the wife of a staff member, a proud medical school graduate and an even prouder mother of two children, a 4 year old and a seven-month old baby.
The organization reeled with shock and quickly took action. High level meetings were held and a group was sent to treat emergencies, including Emergency Room doctors, family practice doctors, orthopedic and trauma surgeons, nurses and a rehabilitation doctor. Bandages, needles, syringes, surgical kits, IV fluids and as much medication as they could fit into their bags were loaded for travel.
The reality was daunting. On day two, a trauma surgeon and orthopedist left in the morning on helicopter for Leogane, a hard-hit small town south of Port-au-Prince. They heard that one of the surgeons was doing amputations without anesthetic. The other surgeons and a trauma nurse went to the Sacre Coeur hospital. After a long hard day, they ran out of pins, screws and sterile gowns.
A homeless, parentless 13-year-old boy’s tibia fracture was treated and a plan set to treat his crushed femur. The next morning he was out on the lawn waiting with the other patients for the sun to come up and the doctors to return. In these circumstances the doctors work tirelessly and will do a good job for him. It’s what they are trained to do. The worry is: After the medical care, what will happen to him then?
That evening HHHI transported a girl to a French clinic and set her down in the street under an awning. Because she was frightened, they drove back to the chapel and brought her grandfather to stay with her.
A French team was using a private plastic surgery center as a makeshift trauma unit with their triage on the street and sidewalks. The cooperation was amazing, everyone sharing what they had, helping when they could, and working to ease suffering.
Noel, an HHHI driver, spoke to the founder of HHHI about the quake. The driver’s two daughters, age 18 and 8, were at the market when it hit. He ran to the area to find it demolished. Frantically, he crawled over the rubble calling his daughters’ names until finally he heard, “Papa, papa, help me!” He got as close as he could and spent the next three days and nights comforting them, urging them to feel around for food and water. They were rescued on the fourth day, both seriously injured, but alive. The anguish in his eyes as he described sleeping next to his daughters was indescribable.
Prosthetic organizations and charities worldwide have warned of the huge task facing Haiti as it struggles to rehabilitate hundreds of thousands of amputees. Doctors say they are already struggling to cope with the sheer numbers of people needing amputations after being trapped in the rubble.
Some surgeons estimate that as many as 200,000 Haitians will end up losing one or more limbs – in a country where the few rehabilitation facilities that existed before the earthquake have largely been destroyed.
In Haiti, where an estimated 800,000 people were already living with disabilities before the disaster struck, meeting the needs of the amputees will require years of international commitment.
Back to PSARA Home Page
Need to reach us?
Here’s a directory of Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans email addresses:
PSARA or its President, Robby Stern: president@psara.org
Administrative Vice President Maureen Bo: adminvp@psara.org
Community Vice President and Outreach Committee Chair Bette Reed: outreachvp@psara.org
Treasurer Edyth Koch: treasurer@psara.org
Legislative Committee Chair Chuck Richards: csrichards@msn.com
Retiree Advocate Editor Will Parry: editor@psara.org
Our web page: www.psara.org
Webmaster Lorraine Pozzi: info@psara.org
Or phone our office at (206)448-9646. If necessary, leave a message and your phone number. We’ll call you back
Back to PSARA Home Page
PSARA or its President, Robby Stern: president@psara.org
Administrative Vice President Maureen Bo: adminvp@psara.org
Community Vice President and Outreach Committee Chair Bette Reed: outreachvp@psara.org
Treasurer Edyth Koch: treasurer@psara.org
Legislative Committee Chair Chuck Richards: csrichards@msn.com
Retiree Advocate Editor Will Parry: editor@psara.org
Our web page: www.psara.org
Webmaster Lorraine Pozzi: info@psara.org
Or phone our office at (206)448-9646. If necessary, leave a message and your phone number. We’ll call you back
Back to PSARA Home Page
Target for 2010: 250 new members!
With your help we enrolled 170 new members in 2009 -- 20 more than our goal. Now the PSARA Executive Board has set the ambitious target of 250 new members in 2010. We’re counting on you to pitch in to help us reach that goal.
PSARA is an outstanding voice for progressive seniors and their allies in the Puget Sound region, in the state – yes, and because of our affiliation with the national Alliance for Retired Americans, in the halls of Congress as well.
For example, we’re planning (subject to Executive Board approval) to propose four resolutions for endorsement at the upcoming conventions of the Washington State Labor Council and the national ARA. One calls on Congress to eliminate the $106,800 cap on taxable income in funding Social Security; a second strongly opposes the proposed “entitlement commission”; a third calls for the elimination of the anti-democratic 60-vote rule in the Senate, and a fourth supports the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
When we speak for an organization of more than one thousand voluntary dues payers – as we will when we add 250 more members – we earn the respect of our elected representatives.
A growing organization is a vibrant, vigorous actor in the political arena. Invite your families, neighbors and friends to join. Carry The Retiree Advocate with you. Give the gift of news, comment and analysis that comes to your mailbox 12 times a year!
Back to PSARA Home Page
PSARA is an outstanding voice for progressive seniors and their allies in the Puget Sound region, in the state – yes, and because of our affiliation with the national Alliance for Retired Americans, in the halls of Congress as well.
For example, we’re planning (subject to Executive Board approval) to propose four resolutions for endorsement at the upcoming conventions of the Washington State Labor Council and the national ARA. One calls on Congress to eliminate the $106,800 cap on taxable income in funding Social Security; a second strongly opposes the proposed “entitlement commission”; a third calls for the elimination of the anti-democratic 60-vote rule in the Senate, and a fourth supports the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
When we speak for an organization of more than one thousand voluntary dues payers – as we will when we add 250 more members – we earn the respect of our elected representatives.
A growing organization is a vibrant, vigorous actor in the political arena. Invite your families, neighbors and friends to join. Carry The Retiree Advocate with you. Give the gift of news, comment and analysis that comes to your mailbox 12 times a year!
Back to PSARA Home Page
New revenue would save jobs
By Rap Lewis
Last year’s deep cuts in the state budget cost the state’s work force an estimated 44,000 private and public sector jobs. Further cuts could eliminate as many as 33,600 more.
The estimates are those of the Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI), the Seattle-based public policy research center.
In contrast, EOI reports, “a combination of new state taxes and federal aid to fill the state’s budget gap could save up to 33,000 jobs.”
EOI cites the estimate of economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com that every dollar of state spending generates $1.41 of economic activity. Private sector businesses benefit from expanded state purchases from suppliers and service providers, as well as from the added dollars workers with a regular paycheck are able to spend.
Restoring public sector jobs also sustains the important public services these workers perform, from park maintenance to help for the mentally ill.
To raise the essential revenue, EOI Policy Director Marilyn Watkins says the legislature should first tax profitable multi-state or multinational businesses, keeping money in this state that otherwise would have been spent elsewhere.
Then, Watkins says, legislators should extend the sales tax to those services used primarily by wealthy individuals and profitable corporations.
In the search for revenue, Watkins also calls for close scrutiny of business tax breaks.
“From 1994 to 2008, the Washington legislature passed 185 such special tax exemptions that now costs the state $2.5 billion in every biennial budget,” she notes.
Back to PSARA Home Page
Last year’s deep cuts in the state budget cost the state’s work force an estimated 44,000 private and public sector jobs. Further cuts could eliminate as many as 33,600 more.
The estimates are those of the Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI), the Seattle-based public policy research center.
In contrast, EOI reports, “a combination of new state taxes and federal aid to fill the state’s budget gap could save up to 33,000 jobs.”
EOI cites the estimate of economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com that every dollar of state spending generates $1.41 of economic activity. Private sector businesses benefit from expanded state purchases from suppliers and service providers, as well as from the added dollars workers with a regular paycheck are able to spend.
Restoring public sector jobs also sustains the important public services these workers perform, from park maintenance to help for the mentally ill.
To raise the essential revenue, EOI Policy Director Marilyn Watkins says the legislature should first tax profitable multi-state or multinational businesses, keeping money in this state that otherwise would have been spent elsewhere.
Then, Watkins says, legislators should extend the sales tax to those services used primarily by wealthy individuals and profitable corporations.
In the search for revenue, Watkins also calls for close scrutiny of business tax breaks.
“From 1994 to 2008, the Washington legislature passed 185 such special tax exemptions that now costs the state $2.5 billion in every biennial budget,” she notes.
Back to PSARA Home Page
Will Parry’s 90th birthday
An insert in this issue of The Retiree Advocate invites you to join the party Saturday, April 24, at the Best Western Executive Inn in Seattle, as Will Parry reaches the venerable age of 90.
The program will honor Will for his seven decades of work for social and economic justice. Music will be provided by Will’s son, Jon Parry, on fiddle, and John Nelson on guitar, and by the uplifting melodies of Rebel Voices, featuring Susan Lewis and Janet Stecher.
Please use the reservation form either to reserve your individual seat for $50; or to become a Table Captain by reserving a table of ten; or to become a PSARA Builder by both reserving a table of ten and making an additional contribution to cover the cost of the event and to advance the work of the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans.
Scholarships are available for those who find $50 too steep. Please fill out and mail the form to PSARA, 2800 First Ave., Room 262, Seattle 98121.
We’re looking for a volunteer to videotape the party. Call PSARA, (206) 448-9646, to volunteer, or to suggest someone. If you’d like to help arrange a display of Will’s life and times, contact Rachael Levine at levinepr@comcast.net.
Back to PSARA Home Page
The program will honor Will for his seven decades of work for social and economic justice. Music will be provided by Will’s son, Jon Parry, on fiddle, and John Nelson on guitar, and by the uplifting melodies of Rebel Voices, featuring Susan Lewis and Janet Stecher.
Please use the reservation form either to reserve your individual seat for $50; or to become a Table Captain by reserving a table of ten; or to become a PSARA Builder by both reserving a table of ten and making an additional contribution to cover the cost of the event and to advance the work of the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans.
Scholarships are available for those who find $50 too steep. Please fill out and mail the form to PSARA, 2800 First Ave., Room 262, Seattle 98121.
We’re looking for a volunteer to videotape the party. Call PSARA, (206) 448-9646, to volunteer, or to suggest someone. If you’d like to help arrange a display of Will’s life and times, contact Rachael Levine at levinepr@comcast.net.
Back to PSARA Home Page
Legislative action week
By Chuck Richards
Operating in crisis mode this session, our state legislators need to hear from constituents on the urgency of holding the line on further program cuts while finding new sources of revenue to fund essential programs.
Puget Sound ARA members will have two chances to deliver that message during Legislative Action Week. Those who can’t be with us can help by using the toll-free Legislative Hotline, 1-800-562-6000, to leave a message with your senator, your two representatives, and Governor Gregoire.
• At noon Monday, February 15, PSARA members can join the rally on the Capitol steps sponsored by the “Rebuilding our Economic Future” coalition. The 109 organizations affiliated with the coalition are united in opposing further cuts in the safety net or in education, and in calling for a “balanced approach” – including new sources of revenue – to deal with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
To join PSARA at the February 15 rally, call the office at (206) 448-9646 before February 11. Mention “Monday Rally” and tell us if you can offer a ride or if you need one.
• On Thursday, February 18, Senior Lobby Day, advocates from across the state will gather for briefings on the critical issues, followed by face-to-face lobbying with legislators. It’s best to call your legislators’ offices ahead of time for appointments.
Senior Lobby Day begins at 8:30 a.m. with registration and coffee, and continues until 3 p.m. at United Churches, 110 11th Ave. S.E., directly across from the Capitol. Box lunches will be provided. We’re organizing carpools. Please RSVP no later than Tuesday, February 16, to Robby Stern at president@psara.org or call the office at (206) 448-9646 to offer rides or to find one. If necessary, leave a message. Mention “Senior Lobby Day,” and we’ll call you back.
See you in Olympia during Legislative Action Week!
(Chuck Richards chairs the PSARA Legislative Committee.)
Back to PSARA Home Page
Operating in crisis mode this session, our state legislators need to hear from constituents on the urgency of holding the line on further program cuts while finding new sources of revenue to fund essential programs.
Puget Sound ARA members will have two chances to deliver that message during Legislative Action Week. Those who can’t be with us can help by using the toll-free Legislative Hotline, 1-800-562-6000, to leave a message with your senator, your two representatives, and Governor Gregoire.
• At noon Monday, February 15, PSARA members can join the rally on the Capitol steps sponsored by the “Rebuilding our Economic Future” coalition. The 109 organizations affiliated with the coalition are united in opposing further cuts in the safety net or in education, and in calling for a “balanced approach” – including new sources of revenue – to deal with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
To join PSARA at the February 15 rally, call the office at (206) 448-9646 before February 11. Mention “Monday Rally” and tell us if you can offer a ride or if you need one.
• On Thursday, February 18, Senior Lobby Day, advocates from across the state will gather for briefings on the critical issues, followed by face-to-face lobbying with legislators. It’s best to call your legislators’ offices ahead of time for appointments.
Senior Lobby Day begins at 8:30 a.m. with registration and coffee, and continues until 3 p.m. at United Churches, 110 11th Ave. S.E., directly across from the Capitol. Box lunches will be provided. We’re organizing carpools. Please RSVP no later than Tuesday, February 16, to Robby Stern at president@psara.org or call the office at (206) 448-9646 to offer rides or to find one. If necessary, leave a message. Mention “Senior Lobby Day,” and we’ll call you back.
See you in Olympia during Legislative Action Week!
(Chuck Richards chairs the PSARA Legislative Committee.)
Back to PSARA Home Page
Robby on the issues… Sighted in Olympia: Milton Friedman’s ghost
By Robby Stern
A recent headline in the Washington State Labor Council “Legislative Update” reads: “There is blood in the water in Olympia.” David Groves, the talented editor of the weekly update, is referring to those corporations, business associations and politicians, both Republican AND Democratic, who view the present fiscal and economic crisis as an opportunity to privatize government services and significantly shrink the lifeline programs our state government provides.
Milton Friedman and his Chicago school of economics have provided the primary theoretical foundation upon which the ideologues of unfettered free market capitalism have built their movement over the last four decades. In her recent book, Shock Doctrine – the Rise of Disaster Capitalism,” Naomi Klein vividly spells out the suffering these free market ideologues have wrought around the world. From Indonesia to Chile, from Argentina to Poland, from China to England, and from Russia to South Africa to the United States, disasters and political upheavals have been deliberately exploited to impose economic conditions that lead to the upper crust reaping huge wealth while the vast majorities of the people suffer terrible declines in their standards of living.
Klein refers to the economic policies that produce these outcomes as shocks delivered at a time when the majority of the population is reeling from the disaster or political upheaval that has befallen them. We have experienced these disasters and subsequent shocks in the United States. The Bush regime used the 9/11 tragedy to impose new policies and laws to which we would never have agreed were it not for the attack on our country. The 9/11 tragedy was the pretext for significant privatization of our military, including the emergence of a whole new private army. It led to the Patriot Act, the stepped up use of private prisons, and on and on. This effort to privatize the functions of government continued with the privatization of the emergency response to hurricane Katrina, as more and more corporations took their profit and huge CEO salaries from the public coffers.
Today, we are experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. This crisis occurred as a result of the deregulation, by both Democrats and Republicans, of the financial industry. Financial institutions were allowed to consolidate functions and to speculate in highly risky financial instruments. When they ran into trouble, they were bailed out by taxpayer dollars that were desperately needed to provide services to the real victims of this crisis: the unemployed, the elderly, the fragile, and our children. We witness the deepening suffering of the majority, while the shifting of public resources to the private sector generates enormous profits, compensation and bonuses for Wall Street.
Back to Olympia: The discussion today should be about generating the resources to provide assistance to those in need in Washington State. Instead, the advocates of shrinking and privatizing the education and human services purpose of government are exploiting the economic crisis to argue for closing public institutions for developmentally disabled children and adults and turning that function over to the private sector. They call for privatizing the liquor stores which provide dollars essential for the funding of human services in our state, and which provide employees, represented by the UFCW, with family wages and benefits.
Moreover, they are proposing to privatize our workers’ compensation system that provides an economic lifeline to injured workers. AIG and Liberty Mutual, two of the largest private insurers, “smell blood in the water.” The tax dollars are saved by lowering the wages and benefits of workers and their families. Meanwhile, corporations harvest huge profits and CEOs pull down their obscene compensation.
PSARA will fight these efforts. We’re joining with the very broad Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition, which believes that we should strengthen our public programs and raise the additional revenue needed to address and ameliorate the suffering created by this cruel economic crisis.
We’ve scheduled a “Legislative Action Week” beginning Monday, February 15 when we will join our coalition partners for a noon rally on the Capitol steps. The Teabaggers will be holding a rally at 10 a.m. that same day, promoting their anti-tax/anti-government agenda. Our coalition’s goal is to exceed their numbers with a massive turnout.
Then on Thursday, February 18, PSARA is organizing carpools to attend Senior Lobby Day. We’re making appointments with our legislators in advance. Please join us for this week of activity. Call us at (206) 448-9646 for information. If we’re not there, we’ll call you back.
Back to PSARA Home Page
A recent headline in the Washington State Labor Council “Legislative Update” reads: “There is blood in the water in Olympia.” David Groves, the talented editor of the weekly update, is referring to those corporations, business associations and politicians, both Republican AND Democratic, who view the present fiscal and economic crisis as an opportunity to privatize government services and significantly shrink the lifeline programs our state government provides.
Milton Friedman and his Chicago school of economics have provided the primary theoretical foundation upon which the ideologues of unfettered free market capitalism have built their movement over the last four decades. In her recent book, Shock Doctrine – the Rise of Disaster Capitalism,” Naomi Klein vividly spells out the suffering these free market ideologues have wrought around the world. From Indonesia to Chile, from Argentina to Poland, from China to England, and from Russia to South Africa to the United States, disasters and political upheavals have been deliberately exploited to impose economic conditions that lead to the upper crust reaping huge wealth while the vast majorities of the people suffer terrible declines in their standards of living.
Klein refers to the economic policies that produce these outcomes as shocks delivered at a time when the majority of the population is reeling from the disaster or political upheaval that has befallen them. We have experienced these disasters and subsequent shocks in the United States. The Bush regime used the 9/11 tragedy to impose new policies and laws to which we would never have agreed were it not for the attack on our country. The 9/11 tragedy was the pretext for significant privatization of our military, including the emergence of a whole new private army. It led to the Patriot Act, the stepped up use of private prisons, and on and on. This effort to privatize the functions of government continued with the privatization of the emergency response to hurricane Katrina, as more and more corporations took their profit and huge CEO salaries from the public coffers.
Today, we are experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. This crisis occurred as a result of the deregulation, by both Democrats and Republicans, of the financial industry. Financial institutions were allowed to consolidate functions and to speculate in highly risky financial instruments. When they ran into trouble, they were bailed out by taxpayer dollars that were desperately needed to provide services to the real victims of this crisis: the unemployed, the elderly, the fragile, and our children. We witness the deepening suffering of the majority, while the shifting of public resources to the private sector generates enormous profits, compensation and bonuses for Wall Street.
Back to Olympia: The discussion today should be about generating the resources to provide assistance to those in need in Washington State. Instead, the advocates of shrinking and privatizing the education and human services purpose of government are exploiting the economic crisis to argue for closing public institutions for developmentally disabled children and adults and turning that function over to the private sector. They call for privatizing the liquor stores which provide dollars essential for the funding of human services in our state, and which provide employees, represented by the UFCW, with family wages and benefits.
Moreover, they are proposing to privatize our workers’ compensation system that provides an economic lifeline to injured workers. AIG and Liberty Mutual, two of the largest private insurers, “smell blood in the water.” The tax dollars are saved by lowering the wages and benefits of workers and their families. Meanwhile, corporations harvest huge profits and CEOs pull down their obscene compensation.
PSARA will fight these efforts. We’re joining with the very broad Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition, which believes that we should strengthen our public programs and raise the additional revenue needed to address and ameliorate the suffering created by this cruel economic crisis.
We’ve scheduled a “Legislative Action Week” beginning Monday, February 15 when we will join our coalition partners for a noon rally on the Capitol steps. The Teabaggers will be holding a rally at 10 a.m. that same day, promoting their anti-tax/anti-government agenda. Our coalition’s goal is to exceed their numbers with a massive turnout.
Then on Thursday, February 18, PSARA is organizing carpools to attend Senior Lobby Day. We’re making appointments with our legislators in advance. Please join us for this week of activity. Call us at (206) 448-9646 for information. If we’re not there, we’ll call you back.
Back to PSARA Home Page
The widow’s mite
To: Editor, The Retiree Advocate:
The calamity that struck Haiti and the subsequent suffering has touched the hearts of all `of us, and none more than the low-income residents of the Seattle Housing Authority’s Blakeley Manor. Many seniors in this apartment building survived the ravages of the Second World War in Russia, so it is not too surprising that these folks eagerly joined their neighbors in donating to the aid of Haiti’s survivors.
At a recent meeting, the residents collected more than $300, matched with $100 from the house treasury, resulting in more than $400 going to Doctors Without Borders. Not a monumental donation, but considering the source, a generous one. Why am I reminded of the widow’s mite?
Bette Reed,
Blakeley resident
Back to PSARA Home Page
The calamity that struck Haiti and the subsequent suffering has touched the hearts of all `of us, and none more than the low-income residents of the Seattle Housing Authority’s Blakeley Manor. Many seniors in this apartment building survived the ravages of the Second World War in Russia, so it is not too surprising that these folks eagerly joined their neighbors in donating to the aid of Haiti’s survivors.
At a recent meeting, the residents collected more than $300, matched with $100 from the house treasury, resulting in more than $400 going to Doctors Without Borders. Not a monumental donation, but considering the source, a generous one. Why am I reminded of the widow’s mite?
Bette Reed,
Blakeley resident
Back to PSARA Home Page
Haiti’s agony
By Alfredo Peppard
Once again the people of Haiti suffer untold death and misery. The source this time was a force 7 earthquake which devastated the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as Cite Soleil. A thumbnail sketch of Haitian history is in order before going further.
Haiti won its freedom from slavery and French rule after a prolonged and bloody struggle from 1791 to 1804, when it became the second independent republic in the Western Hemisphere. They maintained their independence until 1915, in which year President Woodrow Wilson ordered the invasion of Haiti on the pretext that the German navy was going to build a coaling station there.
Since that time, U.S. dominance of the island has made a once prosperous country into the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. The poverty and deforestation for which we bear the major responsibility deepened the disastrous impact of the earthquake. Concrete buildings that collapsed due to the absence of reinforcing steel and shanty towns on naked slopes that slid, burying untold numbers, both caused tens of thousands of avoidable deaths. The lack of a functioning government owing to recent U.S.-supported coups and invasions under Clinton and Bush II have meant no emergency services.
In keeping with this tragic history, the present U.S. aid to earthquake victims amounts to an armed invasion that has tied up both the airport and the seaport of Port-au-Prince for its own use, which is bringing in more troops and evacuating Americans. Amy Goodman, reporting from Port-au-Prince, sees the U.S. and U.N. military presence as preventing aid from getting to the people. As this is written, they are keeping food and medicine at the airport, even though there is no violence. Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico are doing far more for the victims.
Haiti needs heavy equipment, food and medicine, not airborne infantry and marines. Right wing organizations such as the American Heritage Foundation are calling this a golden opportunity to rebuild Haiti along the lines of neo-liberalism. This is Disaster Capitalism at its worst.
There is far more to be said about this situation than space allows. To hear Haitian voices speak out, go to the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (“HLLN”) on the internet. You will get a radically different view from that of our government and media.
Back to Home Page
Once again the people of Haiti suffer untold death and misery. The source this time was a force 7 earthquake which devastated the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as Cite Soleil. A thumbnail sketch of Haitian history is in order before going further.
Haiti won its freedom from slavery and French rule after a prolonged and bloody struggle from 1791 to 1804, when it became the second independent republic in the Western Hemisphere. They maintained their independence until 1915, in which year President Woodrow Wilson ordered the invasion of Haiti on the pretext that the German navy was going to build a coaling station there.
Since that time, U.S. dominance of the island has made a once prosperous country into the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. The poverty and deforestation for which we bear the major responsibility deepened the disastrous impact of the earthquake. Concrete buildings that collapsed due to the absence of reinforcing steel and shanty towns on naked slopes that slid, burying untold numbers, both caused tens of thousands of avoidable deaths. The lack of a functioning government owing to recent U.S.-supported coups and invasions under Clinton and Bush II have meant no emergency services.
In keeping with this tragic history, the present U.S. aid to earthquake victims amounts to an armed invasion that has tied up both the airport and the seaport of Port-au-Prince for its own use, which is bringing in more troops and evacuating Americans. Amy Goodman, reporting from Port-au-Prince, sees the U.S. and U.N. military presence as preventing aid from getting to the people. As this is written, they are keeping food and medicine at the airport, even though there is no violence. Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico are doing far more for the victims.
Haiti needs heavy equipment, food and medicine, not airborne infantry and marines. Right wing organizations such as the American Heritage Foundation are calling this a golden opportunity to rebuild Haiti along the lines of neo-liberalism. This is Disaster Capitalism at its worst.
There is far more to be said about this situation than space allows. To hear Haitian voices speak out, go to the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (“HLLN”) on the internet. You will get a radically different view from that of our government and media.
Back to Home Page
Drowning elections in corporate cash
By Steve Dzielak
January 21 may join December 7, November 22 and September 11 as dates that changed America forever, and not for the better. On January 21, 2010, the five conservative justices of the United States Supreme Court granted corporations the right to spend unrestricted amounts of money supporting or opposing candidates in federal elections.
“The rule announced today,” wrote Justice John Paul Stevens in dissent, “that Congress must treat corporations exactly like speakers in the political realm, represents a radical change in the law. The court’s decision is at war with the views of generations of Americans.”
Justice Stevens added that “if taken seriously, our colleagues’ assumption that the identity of a speaker has no relevance to the government’s ability to regulate political speech would lead to some remarkable conclusions. Such an assumption would have accorded the propaganda broadcasts to our troops by ‘Tokyo Rose’ during World War II the same protection as speech by Allied commanders. More pertinently, it would appear to afford the same protection to multinational corporations controlled by foreigners as to individual Americans.”
Republicans will benefit, of course. Corporations have vastly more money than unions, and corporations by and large prefer to support the G.O.P.
Corporations will now be able either to contribute millions to the campaign funds of preferred candidates, or to spend millions on media advertising to drown the campaigns of disfavored candidates – or both.
The decision will also provide the rationale for overturning state and local electoral regulations based on federal law. At a time when U.S. politics are increasingly chaotic, it will further undermine the influence of the two major parties.
Corporate interests have a huge stake in the outcome of judicial elections, because most personal-injury lawsuits and other civil cases are handled at the state level. The notion of electing judges is tawdry and awful; Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has devoted her energies in retirement to urging states to move to appointive systems. The court’s decision now frees corporations to dump untold amounts of money into judicial races, making a bad system worse.
Conservatives have long harangued against “judicial activism” – the practice of unelected judges imposing their own policy judgments to overrule the will of representatives elected by the people. But it is hard to imagine a more activist decision than this one. Congress passed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform and President George W. Bush signed it in the knowledge that the Supreme Court had repeatedly endorsed restrictions on corporate political activity.
But Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion blithely overturned Supreme Court precedent and rejected the work of the elected branches – all in service to the bizarre legal theories that (1) corporations have the same rights as human beings, and (2) spending money is the same thing as speaking.
Tara Malloy, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, DC, says corporations will now have more rights than people. Only U.S. citizens may donate or influence campaigns, but now any foreign government, veiled behind a corporate treasury, can dump money into a U.S. election.
A relevant slice of political history: The 1994 GOP takeover of Congress that brought Newt Gingrich to power was funded by a very strange source. Congressional investigators found that in crucial swing states, Democrats had fallen victim to a flood of last-minute attack ads funded by a group called “Coalition for Our Children’s Future.” The $25 million that paid for those ads came, not from concerned parents, but from a corporation called “Triad Inc.” Evidence suggests that “Triad” was the front for the ultra-rightwing billionaire Koch brothers and their private petroleum company, Koch Industries.
Hidden money of this kind, whether domestic or foreign, is the new venom that the Supreme Court has injected into our electoral system with its glaringly activist decision of January 21.
Back to Home Page
January 21 may join December 7, November 22 and September 11 as dates that changed America forever, and not for the better. On January 21, 2010, the five conservative justices of the United States Supreme Court granted corporations the right to spend unrestricted amounts of money supporting or opposing candidates in federal elections.
“The rule announced today,” wrote Justice John Paul Stevens in dissent, “that Congress must treat corporations exactly like speakers in the political realm, represents a radical change in the law. The court’s decision is at war with the views of generations of Americans.”
Justice Stevens added that “if taken seriously, our colleagues’ assumption that the identity of a speaker has no relevance to the government’s ability to regulate political speech would lead to some remarkable conclusions. Such an assumption would have accorded the propaganda broadcasts to our troops by ‘Tokyo Rose’ during World War II the same protection as speech by Allied commanders. More pertinently, it would appear to afford the same protection to multinational corporations controlled by foreigners as to individual Americans.”
Republicans will benefit, of course. Corporations have vastly more money than unions, and corporations by and large prefer to support the G.O.P.
Corporations will now be able either to contribute millions to the campaign funds of preferred candidates, or to spend millions on media advertising to drown the campaigns of disfavored candidates – or both.
The decision will also provide the rationale for overturning state and local electoral regulations based on federal law. At a time when U.S. politics are increasingly chaotic, it will further undermine the influence of the two major parties.
Corporate interests have a huge stake in the outcome of judicial elections, because most personal-injury lawsuits and other civil cases are handled at the state level. The notion of electing judges is tawdry and awful; Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has devoted her energies in retirement to urging states to move to appointive systems. The court’s decision now frees corporations to dump untold amounts of money into judicial races, making a bad system worse.
Conservatives have long harangued against “judicial activism” – the practice of unelected judges imposing their own policy judgments to overrule the will of representatives elected by the people. But it is hard to imagine a more activist decision than this one. Congress passed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform and President George W. Bush signed it in the knowledge that the Supreme Court had repeatedly endorsed restrictions on corporate political activity.
But Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion blithely overturned Supreme Court precedent and rejected the work of the elected branches – all in service to the bizarre legal theories that (1) corporations have the same rights as human beings, and (2) spending money is the same thing as speaking.
Tara Malloy, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, DC, says corporations will now have more rights than people. Only U.S. citizens may donate or influence campaigns, but now any foreign government, veiled behind a corporate treasury, can dump money into a U.S. election.
A relevant slice of political history: The 1994 GOP takeover of Congress that brought Newt Gingrich to power was funded by a very strange source. Congressional investigators found that in crucial swing states, Democrats had fallen victim to a flood of last-minute attack ads funded by a group called “Coalition for Our Children’s Future.” The $25 million that paid for those ads came, not from concerned parents, but from a corporation called “Triad Inc.” Evidence suggests that “Triad” was the front for the ultra-rightwing billionaire Koch brothers and their private petroleum company, Koch Industries.
Hidden money of this kind, whether domestic or foreign, is the new venom that the Supreme Court has injected into our electoral system with its glaringly activist decision of January 21.
Back to Home Page
Faking news to attack Social Security
As readers of The Retiree Advocate know, Wall Street billionaire Peter G. Peterson is bankrolling an attack on Social Security, disguised as an entitlement reform commission. We now learn that the Washington Post has sacrificed its journalistic integrity to assist him. In the January 4 issue of The Nation, William Greider tells us that Peterson has hired eight veteran reporters to run “The Fiscal Times,” a digital news agency that he has created to peddle his ideas. Peterson and the Post agreed to “jointly produce content focusing on the budget and fiscal issues.” That means that political propaganda from The Fiscal Times is printed in a major newspaper as though it were real news.
The first dispatch was headlined, “Support grows for tackling nation’s debit.” Not surprisingly, it calls for creation of an undemocratic commission, to be pushed through Congress with little if any debate. The real causes of the deficit, including two wars and the bailouts of Wall Street and the big banks, are not mentioned in this story. Nor is it pointed out that Social Security has large surpluses and is in good shape for decades to come.
Greider reminds us that workers have paid extra Social Security taxes since 1983 to fund their own future benefits, and that the federal government has borrowed from the Trust Funds to finance war, corporate welfare and tax cuts for the rich. Peterson and his ilk simply don’t want to pay all of the money back, to be used for its intended purpose. To protect Social Security, we should demand that President Obama and our Congressional delegation oppose any entitlement reform commission.
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See also the CounterPunch article about the attack on Social Security.
The first dispatch was headlined, “Support grows for tackling nation’s debit.” Not surprisingly, it calls for creation of an undemocratic commission, to be pushed through Congress with little if any debate. The real causes of the deficit, including two wars and the bailouts of Wall Street and the big banks, are not mentioned in this story. Nor is it pointed out that Social Security has large surpluses and is in good shape for decades to come.
Greider reminds us that workers have paid extra Social Security taxes since 1983 to fund their own future benefits, and that the federal government has borrowed from the Trust Funds to finance war, corporate welfare and tax cuts for the rich. Peterson and his ilk simply don’t want to pay all of the money back, to be used for its intended purpose. To protect Social Security, we should demand that President Obama and our Congressional delegation oppose any entitlement reform commission.
---------------------------------------------
See also the CounterPunch article about the attack on Social Security.
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