By Rap Lewis
Guess which state has the nation’s only state-run bank.
Now guess which state is not running a budget deficit despite today’s terrible economic climate.
If you guessed North Dakota – Bing
Since 1919, the state-owned Bank of North Dakota has faithfully lived up to its mission: To promote the development of agriculture, commerce and industry in North Dakota. To carry out that mission, the bank works cooperatively with other financial institutions to provide the necessary funds.
In the process, Bank of North Dakota makes a profit. In 1945, it began transferring part of that profit to the state’s General Fund. Since then, its capital transfers have become the norm, adding $500 million to state revenue. As a result, while other states (including Washington) are floundering in debt, North Dakota’s state budget is balanced.
And the bank’s wholesome lending practices have a good deal to do with the state’s unemployment rate, among the lowest in the nation.
The bank has bipartisan support, but North Dakota is a strongly Republican state. Bank of North Dakota is administered by the governor, the attorney general, and the commissioner of agriculture – all Republicans.
The broad range of its financing programs helps to explain its popularity: It provides farm and ranch financing, small business loans, and loan funds for community, rural and regional development.
In 1967, Bank of North Dakota made the nation’s first federally-insured student loan. It continues today to provide a variety of loans for students seeking post-secondary education.
The bank was born to address the crisis in North Dakota agriculture in the early 1900s. At that time, grain prices were suppressed by out-of-state grain dealers. Prices of farm supplies soared. So did the interest rates on farm loans. By 1919, state ownership and control of marketing and credit agencies was widely demanded. The legislature responded by establishing Bank of North Dakota and the North Dakota Mill and Elevator Association. They continue to flourish today.
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Wednesday, June 23, 2010
‘DISCLOSE’ Act would trace big contributions
Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate would blunt the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent grotesque ruling that a corporation is a human being with a First Amendment right to flood political campaigns with cash.
The “DISCLOSE Act,” an acronym for the “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections” Act, would partly restore a decades-old law banning political expenditures by corporate interests.
The Supreme Court, in a January 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case, overturned the old law, opening the way to unlimited special interest contributions in political campaigns. The DISCLOSE Act would bar foreign-controlled corporations, government contractors, and companies that have received government assistance from making such contributions.
It would also require corporations, unions and other organizations that contribute to political campaigns to disclose their donors and to stand by their ads.
“Our bill will follow the money,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), one of the four Senate sponsors. “When corporations try to mask their activities through shadow groups, we drill down so that the ultimate funder of the expenditure is exposed.
“If we don‘t act quickly to confront this ruling, we will have let the Supreme Court pre-detcrmine the outcome of next November’s elections. It won’t be Republicans or Democrats; it will be corporate America and other special interests,” Schumer said.
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The “DISCLOSE Act,” an acronym for the “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections” Act, would partly restore a decades-old law banning political expenditures by corporate interests.
The Supreme Court, in a January 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case, overturned the old law, opening the way to unlimited special interest contributions in political campaigns. The DISCLOSE Act would bar foreign-controlled corporations, government contractors, and companies that have received government assistance from making such contributions.
It would also require corporations, unions and other organizations that contribute to political campaigns to disclose their donors and to stand by their ads.
“Our bill will follow the money,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), one of the four Senate sponsors. “When corporations try to mask their activities through shadow groups, we drill down so that the ultimate funder of the expenditure is exposed.
“If we don‘t act quickly to confront this ruling, we will have let the Supreme Court pre-detcrmine the outcome of next November’s elections. It won’t be Republicans or Democrats; it will be corporate America and other special interests,” Schumer said.
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Will our state follow North Dakota’s lead?
One of the primary causes of the current deep recession was the unregulated and unscrupulous activities of major financial institutions. Given billions in bailout funds, the big banks are denying the communities the funding they need and are pouring hundreds of millions into executive salaries and bonuses.
That’s why Rep. Bob Hasegawa (D, 11th District) has introduced HR 3162 to make Washington the second state, after North Dakota, to charter a state-owned bank.
“A publicly-owned bank would mean we’d have full control of our tax dollars to work for our own communities, not to line out-of-state bankers’ pockets,” Hasegawa said. “It would mean public accountability and fiscal integrity. It would mean targeted investments in state priorities, such as supporting small business and local projects,” Hasegawa said.
He is working on the bill during the interim and seeking bipartisan support in the 2011 session.
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That’s why Rep. Bob Hasegawa (D, 11th District) has introduced HR 3162 to make Washington the second state, after North Dakota, to charter a state-owned bank.
“A publicly-owned bank would mean we’d have full control of our tax dollars to work for our own communities, not to line out-of-state bankers’ pockets,” Hasegawa said. “It would mean public accountability and fiscal integrity. It would mean targeted investments in state priorities, such as supporting small business and local projects,” Hasegawa said.
He is working on the bill during the interim and seeking bipartisan support in the 2011 session.
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Savory potluck, juicy agenda at July 22 membership meeting
Stimulating speakers. Informative reports on the campaigns for the good and bad ballot measures. Gearing up our Alliance for the coming battle to defend Social Security on the eve of its 75th Anniversary.
All that and a potluck lunch – deliciousness guaranteed – will enliven the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans Summer Membership Meeting Thursday, July 22. Lunch is served at 12:30 and the meeting will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Avenue S. in Seattle.
Jonathan Seib, the governor’s lead person on the new health care reform law, will discuss plans to implement the law in our state.
Representative Hans Dunshee (D, 44) will report on Referendum 52, referred to the voters by the legislature. The referendum would extend the sales tax on bottled water and would permit the sale of bonds, with the proceeds dedicated to the sorely-needed upgrading and retrofitting of our public schools and colleges, creating 30,000 to 40,000 jobs in the process.
Owen Linch, senior labor representative to the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Committee, will explain why I-1082, privatizing workers’ compensation, is a bad idea.
The agenda will also include updates on the fight for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and on our campaign for a city ordinance requiring employers to provide sick leave to all workers employed in Seattle. The Executive Board will make recommendations on the measures that appear headed for the ballot. Membership discussion and action will follow.
Serious business, sure – but membership meetings are fun as well. We practically guarantee a warm sunny day, with spectacular views of Lake Washington, Mount Rainier and the Cascades, in the company of some of our community’s very best people.
All that and a potluck lunch – deliciousness guaranteed – will enliven the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans Summer Membership Meeting Thursday, July 22. Lunch is served at 12:30 and the meeting will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Avenue S. in Seattle.
Jonathan Seib, the governor’s lead person on the new health care reform law, will discuss plans to implement the law in our state.
Representative Hans Dunshee (D, 44) will report on Referendum 52, referred to the voters by the legislature. The referendum would extend the sales tax on bottled water and would permit the sale of bonds, with the proceeds dedicated to the sorely-needed upgrading and retrofitting of our public schools and colleges, creating 30,000 to 40,000 jobs in the process.
Owen Linch, senior labor representative to the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Committee, will explain why I-1082, privatizing workers’ compensation, is a bad idea.
The agenda will also include updates on the fight for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and on our campaign for a city ordinance requiring employers to provide sick leave to all workers employed in Seattle. The Executive Board will make recommendations on the measures that appear headed for the ballot. Membership discussion and action will follow.
Serious business, sure – but membership meetings are fun as well. We practically guarantee a warm sunny day, with spectacular views of Lake Washington, Mount Rainier and the Cascades, in the company of some of our community’s very best people.
ARA ‘off and running’ In Tacoma, Pierce County
By Bill Johnston
The Tacoma-Pierce County ARA chapter is up and running. The group meets monthly at 11:30 a.m. on the third Thursday at Joeseppi’s in Tacoma’s West End Neighborhood – by the Narrows Bridge, for those unfamiliar with the City of Destiny.
The chapter has elected officers for the year, including Ron Richardson, the retired National Executive Vice President of UNITE-HERE, as chapter president.
The group has organized along a very social agenda. Meetings start with a time to reconnect socially, followed by a buffet lunch, a speaker and then a short business meeting. Committees have been formed. The group will spend the slow summer months working out committee goals and planning to involve the membership in achieving them.
ARA National President Barbara Easterly is expected to visit in the fall. The chapter plans to organize a meeting for her, possibly with a fund raising aspect.
Tacoma and Pierce County retirees are invited to call Membership Chair Bill Johnston at (253) 627-6860 – or simply show up at Joeseppi’s, at North Pearl and North 21ss t at 11:30 a.m. on the third Thursday. Not only will new members meet interesting union, progressive and involved retirees, but they’ll have a great time doing it!
The Tacoma-Pierce County ARA chapter is up and running. The group meets monthly at 11:30 a.m. on the third Thursday at Joeseppi’s in Tacoma’s West End Neighborhood – by the Narrows Bridge, for those unfamiliar with the City of Destiny.
The chapter has elected officers for the year, including Ron Richardson, the retired National Executive Vice President of UNITE-HERE, as chapter president.
The group has organized along a very social agenda. Meetings start with a time to reconnect socially, followed by a buffet lunch, a speaker and then a short business meeting. Committees have been formed. The group will spend the slow summer months working out committee goals and planning to involve the membership in achieving them.
ARA National President Barbara Easterly is expected to visit in the fall. The chapter plans to organize a meeting for her, possibly with a fund raising aspect.
Tacoma and Pierce County retirees are invited to call Membership Chair Bill Johnston at (253) 627-6860 – or simply show up at Joeseppi’s, at North Pearl and North 21ss t at 11:30 a.m. on the third Thursday. Not only will new members meet interesting union, progressive and involved retirees, but they’ll have a great time doing it!
Disability issues the province of a new Seattle commission
The 16-member Seattle Commission for People with Disabilities will soon be functioning, its mission to promote the full participation of people with disabilities in all aspects of the city’s economic, political and community life.
In 2009, the council passed an ordinance creating the commission and approved funding for it. The Seattle Office for Civil Rights will provide staff and support. Seven of its 16 members have been appointed by the council, another seven will be appointed by Mayor Mike McGinn; one will be appointed by the commission itself; and one age 18 to 29 will be appointed through the YMCA’s “Get Engaged” program.
Duties of the commission include informing the mayor and the council about issues of significance to people with disabilities; assuring access to city services and facilities; and recommending relevant policies and legislation to the city.
In 2009, the council passed an ordinance creating the commission and approved funding for it. The Seattle Office for Civil Rights will provide staff and support. Seven of its 16 members have been appointed by the council, another seven will be appointed by Mayor Mike McGinn; one will be appointed by the commission itself; and one age 18 to 29 will be appointed through the YMCA’s “Get Engaged” program.
Duties of the commission include informing the mayor and the council about issues of significance to people with disabilities; assuring access to city services and facilities; and recommending relevant policies and legislation to the city.
Siding with the boss: Dino Rossi’s record
Expect millions of corporate dollars to gush into the campaign war chest of Dino Rossi, recruited by the Republican National Committee to take on Democratic U. S. Senator Patty Murray in this year’s election.
The corporate folks know what they’re doing. During his six years in the State Senate, Rossi managed only five positive votes in 77 issues, the Washington State Labor Council reports. Delegates to the council’s Committee on Political Education (COPE) conference unanimously endorsed Murray for re-election.
Here in brief is Rossi’s record on issues of major concern to working people:
• Unemployed workers: Rossi voted for changes that cut benefits for workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own; voted against providing benefits to victims of domestic violence who are forced to quit their jobs to flee their attackers; voted against a retraining bill to assist laid-off Boeing and other workers; and voted against providing benefits to workers locked out of their jobs.
• Injured workers: Rossi voted to cut benefits for victims of job-related hearing loss; voted to repeal the workplace ergonomic safety rule; voted against empowering health care workers to prevent needle-stick injuries; voted to lower state standards protecting workers from second-hand smoke; voted for partial privatization of the worker’ comp system; and voted to grant legal immunity to job site contractors who negligently injure workers who are not their employees.
• Low-income workers: Rossi voted to freeze the state minimum wage; and voted against increasing home-care workers’ wages to an average of $8.50 an hour.
• Collective bargaining and union rights: Rossi voted against granting collective bargaining rights to state employees, four-year college faculty, and U.W. academic student employees; voted against allowing dues deduction for home-care workers who unionize; and voted against prohibiting public employers from firing or misclassifying employees to avoid providing benefits.
• Other telltale votes: Rossi voted against allowing use of sick leave or other paid leave to care for sick family members; voted for the privatization of certain ferry runs; voted against a “pay gap” measure to grant bigger raises to state employees whose pay lags behind that of private sector counterparts; voted against promoting apprenticeship on public workers projects; and voted against a bill to create a “buying pool” to negotiate lower drug prices.
Voting right on labor issues only 6% of the time, Rossi’s record “ranks among the worst and most partisan of any legislator during his 1997-2003 tenure in the State Senate,” the State Labor Council said.
The corporate folks know what they’re doing. During his six years in the State Senate, Rossi managed only five positive votes in 77 issues, the Washington State Labor Council reports. Delegates to the council’s Committee on Political Education (COPE) conference unanimously endorsed Murray for re-election.
Here in brief is Rossi’s record on issues of major concern to working people:
• Unemployed workers: Rossi voted for changes that cut benefits for workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own; voted against providing benefits to victims of domestic violence who are forced to quit their jobs to flee their attackers; voted against a retraining bill to assist laid-off Boeing and other workers; and voted against providing benefits to workers locked out of their jobs.
• Injured workers: Rossi voted to cut benefits for victims of job-related hearing loss; voted to repeal the workplace ergonomic safety rule; voted against empowering health care workers to prevent needle-stick injuries; voted to lower state standards protecting workers from second-hand smoke; voted for partial privatization of the worker’ comp system; and voted to grant legal immunity to job site contractors who negligently injure workers who are not their employees.
• Low-income workers: Rossi voted to freeze the state minimum wage; and voted against increasing home-care workers’ wages to an average of $8.50 an hour.
• Collective bargaining and union rights: Rossi voted against granting collective bargaining rights to state employees, four-year college faculty, and U.W. academic student employees; voted against allowing dues deduction for home-care workers who unionize; and voted against prohibiting public employers from firing or misclassifying employees to avoid providing benefits.
• Other telltale votes: Rossi voted against allowing use of sick leave or other paid leave to care for sick family members; voted for the privatization of certain ferry runs; voted against a “pay gap” measure to grant bigger raises to state employees whose pay lags behind that of private sector counterparts; voted against promoting apprenticeship on public workers projects; and voted against a bill to create a “buying pool” to negotiate lower drug prices.
Voting right on labor issues only 6% of the time, Rossi’s record “ranks among the worst and most partisan of any legislator during his 1997-2003 tenure in the State Senate,” the State Labor Council said.
39 hours on a bus for immigration reform
Fifty Washington and Idaho residents rode a bus 39 hours on Memorial Day weekend to join an estimated 50,000 people in Phoenix in a protest against Senate Bill 1070, Arizona’s infamous anti-immigrant law.
The 50 from the Northwest peacefully occupied Senator John McCain’s Phoenix office until a McCain staffer met with them and promised to try to arrange a face-to-face meeing with the senator.
The delegation joined a massive march to the capitol, rallying for comprehensive immigration reform. It was one of 40 such actions taking place simultaneously in cities across the country during a “National Day of Action Against SB 1070.”
The delegation included members of OneAmerica, Casa Latina, Service Employees Local 775, Washington CAN and Idaho CAN.
The 50 from the Northwest peacefully occupied Senator John McCain’s Phoenix office until a McCain staffer met with them and promised to try to arrange a face-to-face meeing with the senator.
The delegation joined a massive march to the capitol, rallying for comprehensive immigration reform. It was one of 40 such actions taking place simultaneously in cities across the country during a “National Day of Action Against SB 1070.”
The delegation included members of OneAmerica, Casa Latina, Service Employees Local 775, Washington CAN and Idaho CAN.
Ombuds to help us deal with health care law
Every state, including Washington, is required under the recently-enacted federal health care law to establish an independent office to help consumers cope with their health insurance in the new circumstances.
The Northwest Health Law Advocates has called for a state Health Insurance Consumer Assistance or Ombudsman Program to meet the following principles:
• Independence: Provide the program through a private, nonprofit agency independent of insurance companies and government payers.
• Advocacy: Directly represent consumers in grievances, appeals and litigation, and refer seniors to appropriate legal representation.
• Education: Educate the public, including public agencies and the legislature, with regard to issues that emerge in the course of its advocacy work.
The Northwest Health Law Advocates recommends the state’s successful Long-Term Care Ombuds program as the appropriate model for the new program. The long-term care program is an independent non-profit agency with 20 paid staff in regional offices and 400 trained and certified volunteers throughout the state.
The Northwest Health Law Advocates has called for a state Health Insurance Consumer Assistance or Ombudsman Program to meet the following principles:
• Independence: Provide the program through a private, nonprofit agency independent of insurance companies and government payers.
• Advocacy: Directly represent consumers in grievances, appeals and litigation, and refer seniors to appropriate legal representation.
• Education: Educate the public, including public agencies and the legislature, with regard to issues that emerge in the course of its advocacy work.
The Northwest Health Law Advocates recommends the state’s successful Long-Term Care Ombuds program as the appropriate model for the new program. The long-term care program is an independent non-profit agency with 20 paid staff in regional offices and 400 trained and certified volunteers throughout the state.
Iraq and Afghanistan ‘are making you poor’
HR 5353 is a bill that ought to be enacted right now, but probably won’t even get a hearing. Introduced by Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, it’s called “The War Is Making You Poor Act.” Its purpose, says Grayson, is “to show people in a real and concrete way the cost of these endless wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Grayson points out that next year’s budget allocates $159 billion to perpetuate the occupations of those two countries. Grayson’s bill would eliminate the $159 billion for war and use those billions instead to eliminate income taxes for everybody’s first $35,000 of income -- $70,000 for couples. And there’d be $15 billion left over to help pay down the national debt.
“The costs of the war have been rendered invisible,” Grayson says. “There’s no draft. Instead, we take the most vulnerable elements of our population and give them a choice between unemployment and missile fodder… We don’t even put these wars on budget; they're still passed using ‘emergency supplemental.’
“Tell Congress that you like ‘The War Is Making You Poor Act.’ No, tell Congress you love it,” Grayson urged.
Grayson points out that next year’s budget allocates $159 billion to perpetuate the occupations of those two countries. Grayson’s bill would eliminate the $159 billion for war and use those billions instead to eliminate income taxes for everybody’s first $35,000 of income -- $70,000 for couples. And there’d be $15 billion left over to help pay down the national debt.
“The costs of the war have been rendered invisible,” Grayson says. “There’s no draft. Instead, we take the most vulnerable elements of our population and give them a choice between unemployment and missile fodder… We don’t even put these wars on budget; they're still passed using ‘emergency supplemental.’
“Tell Congress that you like ‘The War Is Making You Poor Act.’ No, tell Congress you love it,” Grayson urged.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
I-1098 cuts taxes for most, funds schools, health care
Initiative 1098, now being actively circulated for signatures, would provide tax cuts for most Washingtonians, create jobs and provide dedicated funding for quality schools and health care. The measure would materially improve the fairness of the state’s notoriously regressive tax system for the first time since food was exempted from the sales tax in 1987.
For homeowners, the initiative would roll back the state’s share of the property tax by 20%. About 375,000 of the state’s smallest businesses would be exempted from the business and occupation tax, enabling many businesses to add workers.
By placing a modest tax on incomes above $200,000 for individuals and above $400,000 for couples – about 3% of households in all -- I-1098 would raise enough new revenue both to provide the tax cuts and to ease the state’s ongoing budget crisis by an estimated $1 billion.
Seventy percent of this net new revenue would be earmarked for education and 30% for health care. The initiative requires regular reporting on how the revenues are spent. Future changes in the income tax could not be approved without a vote of the people.
The initiative is the work of a coalition of respected business, labor and community leaders like Bill Gates Sr., who support a careful, balanced reform of our state’s tax system intended to benefit the middle class and strengthen small business. I-1098 has been endorsed by the Main Street Alliance, an organization of 2,000 of the state’s small businesses, and by the Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition. The Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans is one of the coalition’s 130 affiliated organizations.
The campaign has set a target of 325,000 signatures by the July 2 filing deadline. The PSARA Executive Board immediately endorsed the measure and launched its own signature-getting campaign. Petition forms have been sent to every member, with a covering letter explaining the urgency of getting the measure on the November 2 ballot.
The measure is essentially the same as Initiative 1070, reported on in the May Retiree Advocate. The number was changed to I-1098 owing to last-minute changes in the wording of its title.
For homeowners, the initiative would roll back the state’s share of the property tax by 20%. About 375,000 of the state’s smallest businesses would be exempted from the business and occupation tax, enabling many businesses to add workers.
By placing a modest tax on incomes above $200,000 for individuals and above $400,000 for couples – about 3% of households in all -- I-1098 would raise enough new revenue both to provide the tax cuts and to ease the state’s ongoing budget crisis by an estimated $1 billion.
Seventy percent of this net new revenue would be earmarked for education and 30% for health care. The initiative requires regular reporting on how the revenues are spent. Future changes in the income tax could not be approved without a vote of the people.
The initiative is the work of a coalition of respected business, labor and community leaders like Bill Gates Sr., who support a careful, balanced reform of our state’s tax system intended to benefit the middle class and strengthen small business. I-1098 has been endorsed by the Main Street Alliance, an organization of 2,000 of the state’s small businesses, and by the Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition. The Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans is one of the coalition’s 130 affiliated organizations.
The campaign has set a target of 325,000 signatures by the July 2 filing deadline. The PSARA Executive Board immediately endorsed the measure and launched its own signature-getting campaign. Petition forms have been sent to every member, with a covering letter explaining the urgency of getting the measure on the November 2 ballot.
The measure is essentially the same as Initiative 1070, reported on in the May Retiree Advocate. The number was changed to I-1098 owing to last-minute changes in the wording of its title.
Turning up the heat for immigration reform
Comprehensive immigration reform! In the national spotlight because of the recent racist enactment in Arizona, the issue has already sent hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets of Seattle and other U.S. cities, including our nation’s capital.
Yet immigrants continue to be deported at the rate of a thousand a day, tearing families apart and compelling millions to live in fear.
And with honorable exceptions, most members of Congress have barely stirred -- and President Obama has yet to provide the necessary aggressive leadership.
Accordingly, the reform movement nationally, and the Washington Immigration Reform Coalition (WIRC) in this state, are ratcheting up the pressure, bringing into play a tactic that created the climate for the enactment of the Civil Rights Act: Non-violent civil disobedience.
Seattle advocates joined their counterparts in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Tucson, Detroit, San Francisco and Washington, DC, in inviting arrest for blocking traffic on busy streets and disrupting business in buildings that house immigration-related government offices.
“Throughout history,” WIRC declared, “advocates have used civil disobedience – or peaceful, non-violent action – to bring about change in the face of injustice, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and Ceaar Chavez.”
In Seattle, the police for undisclosed reasons refrained from arresting the 30 or so activists who first blocked the elevators leading to the immigrant courts in a building at 2009 2nd Avenue, and then blocked traffic at three busy intersections on Madison Street.
Among those who vainly invited arrest was Puget Sound Alliance President Robby Stern. A dozen other PSARA members were among the 250 who rallied at the nearby Federal Building before marching to support those who planned civil disobedience.
“We tried,” said Pramila Jayapal, executive director of the immigrant advocacy organization OneAmerioca. “Next time, we’ll be looking at something bigger.”
At our deadline, “something bigger” was already in the works. A delegation from Washington and Idaho was en route to Phoenix for a weekend of events challenging SB 1070, the anti-immigrant bill signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer on April 23. The Northwest delegation will join tens of thousands from throughout Arizona and the rest of the country In a 5-mile march to the state capitol for a huge protest rally with music and a roster of speakers from the faith, labor and civil rights movements.
Yet immigrants continue to be deported at the rate of a thousand a day, tearing families apart and compelling millions to live in fear.
And with honorable exceptions, most members of Congress have barely stirred -- and President Obama has yet to provide the necessary aggressive leadership.
Accordingly, the reform movement nationally, and the Washington Immigration Reform Coalition (WIRC) in this state, are ratcheting up the pressure, bringing into play a tactic that created the climate for the enactment of the Civil Rights Act: Non-violent civil disobedience.
Seattle advocates joined their counterparts in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Tucson, Detroit, San Francisco and Washington, DC, in inviting arrest for blocking traffic on busy streets and disrupting business in buildings that house immigration-related government offices.
“Throughout history,” WIRC declared, “advocates have used civil disobedience – or peaceful, non-violent action – to bring about change in the face of injustice, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and Ceaar Chavez.”
In Seattle, the police for undisclosed reasons refrained from arresting the 30 or so activists who first blocked the elevators leading to the immigrant courts in a building at 2009 2nd Avenue, and then blocked traffic at three busy intersections on Madison Street.
Among those who vainly invited arrest was Puget Sound Alliance President Robby Stern. A dozen other PSARA members were among the 250 who rallied at the nearby Federal Building before marching to support those who planned civil disobedience.
“We tried,” said Pramila Jayapal, executive director of the immigrant advocacy organization OneAmerioca. “Next time, we’ll be looking at something bigger.”
At our deadline, “something bigger” was already in the works. A delegation from Washington and Idaho was en route to Phoenix for a weekend of events challenging SB 1070, the anti-immigrant bill signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer on April 23. The Northwest delegation will join tens of thousands from throughout Arizona and the rest of the country In a 5-mile march to the state capitol for a huge protest rally with music and a roster of speakers from the faith, labor and civil rights movements.
Oil gushes endlessly as hurricane season nears
By Will Parry
As these words are written, oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill continues for the 35th day to gush out of the sea floor into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate estimated by scientists at from 56,000 to 84,000 barrels a day.
The flow has been continuous, night and day, since April 20, and neither BP nor anyone else knows for sure when the leak will be capped and the gushing checked.
Now hurricane season is at hand, and weather scientists are predicting a season worse than usual. The effect of hurricanes under these circumstances is simply unknown. There is no record of a hurricane having crossed paths with an oil spill.
Already, the Deepwater Horizon spill is the largest on record, bigger even than the 1999 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. It’s bigger, and it’s much more destructive. The Exxon Valdez spill coated mostly rocky coastline. This one is already invading a spongelike coast, entering the pores of mangrove forests and sea-grass beds and the breeding grounds for crabs, shrimps and oysters.
Birds are imperiled as well. The coastal wetlands are a refuge for migrating geese and ducks and for hundreds of songbirds. Pelicans are especially vulnerable, at risk of eating tainted fish and feeding it to their young. Soaked in oil, they drown or die of hypothermia.
Oil disasters don’t just kill birds. This one took the lives of eleven men, and another 17 were seriously injured, facts that tend to be buried in the flood of media coverage and conjecture that gushes out endlessly, like the oil itself. Memorial services for the eleven were conducted May 24 in Jackson, Mississippi.
Survivors describe a scene from hell. Steven Davis, 36, was flung against a wall by the powerful explosion. He saw screaming workers sliding through mud, searching for their assigned lifeboats. Exploding reserves of helicopter fuel and diesel created a blazing inferno. Davis escaped by jumping 60 feet into the water, where he was pulled into a lifeboat.
As these words are written, oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill continues for the 35th day to gush out of the sea floor into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate estimated by scientists at from 56,000 to 84,000 barrels a day.
The flow has been continuous, night and day, since April 20, and neither BP nor anyone else knows for sure when the leak will be capped and the gushing checked.
Now hurricane season is at hand, and weather scientists are predicting a season worse than usual. The effect of hurricanes under these circumstances is simply unknown. There is no record of a hurricane having crossed paths with an oil spill.
Already, the Deepwater Horizon spill is the largest on record, bigger even than the 1999 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. It’s bigger, and it’s much more destructive. The Exxon Valdez spill coated mostly rocky coastline. This one is already invading a spongelike coast, entering the pores of mangrove forests and sea-grass beds and the breeding grounds for crabs, shrimps and oysters.
Birds are imperiled as well. The coastal wetlands are a refuge for migrating geese and ducks and for hundreds of songbirds. Pelicans are especially vulnerable, at risk of eating tainted fish and feeding it to their young. Soaked in oil, they drown or die of hypothermia.
Oil disasters don’t just kill birds. This one took the lives of eleven men, and another 17 were seriously injured, facts that tend to be buried in the flood of media coverage and conjecture that gushes out endlessly, like the oil itself. Memorial services for the eleven were conducted May 24 in Jackson, Mississippi.
Survivors describe a scene from hell. Steven Davis, 36, was flung against a wall by the powerful explosion. He saw screaming workers sliding through mud, searching for their assigned lifeboats. Exploding reserves of helicopter fuel and diesel created a blazing inferno. Davis escaped by jumping 60 feet into the water, where he was pulled into a lifeboat.
Seib to speak at membership meeting
Jonathan Seib, Governor Gregoire’s choice to coordinate the state’s implementation of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will be the featured speaker at the July22 membership meeting of the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans.
The meeting will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, July 22, at the Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Avenue South in Seattle. The agenda will include a discussion of all measures that have qualified for the November 2 election ballot. As always, the meeting will offer a tasty potluck lunch. Members who’d like to help can let us know at (206) 448-9646 what dish they’re bringing.
Seib served for 18 years on the committee services staff of the state Senate. As counsel to the Commerce and Labor Committee from 1988 to 1997, he was responsible for issues of labor relations and employment standards. Later he served as counsel to the Health and Long Term Care Committee, with responsibility for issues of health care financing, insurance regulation and public program design.
He received his undergraduate degree in government from Georgetown University, and a law degree and master’s degree in public administration from the University of Washington. We’re happy to have him with us, and to benefit from his extensive background in government service.
The meeting will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, July 22, at the Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Avenue South in Seattle. The agenda will include a discussion of all measures that have qualified for the November 2 election ballot. As always, the meeting will offer a tasty potluck lunch. Members who’d like to help can let us know at (206) 448-9646 what dish they’re bringing.
Seib served for 18 years on the committee services staff of the state Senate. As counsel to the Commerce and Labor Committee from 1988 to 1997, he was responsible for issues of labor relations and employment standards. Later he served as counsel to the Health and Long Term Care Committee, with responsibility for issues of health care financing, insurance regulation and public program design.
He received his undergraduate degree in government from Georgetown University, and a law degree and master’s degree in public administration from the University of Washington. We’re happy to have him with us, and to benefit from his extensive background in government service.
Pride Parade June 27
PSARA members are invited to join the labor contingent in Seattle’s annual Pride Parade on Sunday, June 27. The contingent will assemble at noon at 4th Avenue and Columbia Street and march north to the Seattle Center. The labor contingent is again being sponsored by Pride at Work, an organization of union members who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Wear your Alliance T-shirt and bring water and sunscreen!
What’s the plan for Afghanistan?
Seattle Rep. Jim McDermott is one of the 82 co-sponsors of HR 5015, requiring the administration to provide a timetable for troop redeployment from Afghanistan.
The President has promised a drawdown starting in July, 2011. Since the Constitution puts Congress in charge of writing the checks to spend our tax dollars, isn’t it only reasonable that Congress – and the people – should get to see a specific plan?
The President has promised a drawdown starting in July, 2011. Since the Constitution puts Congress in charge of writing the checks to spend our tax dollars, isn’t it only reasonable that Congress – and the people – should get to see a specific plan?
What you WON’T get from PSARA
In our campaign for 250 new members in 2010, we feel impelled to list some of the things retirees and boomers will NOT get with their $15 membership in the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans.
They will not get a glossy 70-page magazine with a couple hundred short feature articles and hundreds of splashy photos and drawings, lightly seasoned with about 1.2% of social content.
They will not get features on youthfully aging glamour queens and other celebrities.
They will not get tips on adventurous travel to destinations they probably can’t afford anyway.
They won’t get multiple pitches for insurance or pharmaceutical products. In fact, they won’t get any paid advertising at all.
What they WILL get is The Retiree Advocate, month after month, in the tradition of Mother Jones setting crowds afire with her passion, and of Tom Paine writing furiously on the drumhead.
Our country and our people – including our millions of retirees and boomers – confront problems that are real and substantive. They can’t be addressed, much less resolved, with brightly illustrated diversionary froth.
Help your friends and neighbors keep focused on today’s realities. Use the coupon on page 7.
Think of us as today’s Mother Jones, today’s Tom Paine, rousing the countryside to address today’s crisis. Let your heart quicken as you join us in responding to today’s challenges. Strengthen our ranks, strengthen our voice. Add that new member. Today!
They will not get a glossy 70-page magazine with a couple hundred short feature articles and hundreds of splashy photos and drawings, lightly seasoned with about 1.2% of social content.
They will not get features on youthfully aging glamour queens and other celebrities.
They will not get tips on adventurous travel to destinations they probably can’t afford anyway.
They won’t get multiple pitches for insurance or pharmaceutical products. In fact, they won’t get any paid advertising at all.
What they WILL get is The Retiree Advocate, month after month, in the tradition of Mother Jones setting crowds afire with her passion, and of Tom Paine writing furiously on the drumhead.
Our country and our people – including our millions of retirees and boomers – confront problems that are real and substantive. They can’t be addressed, much less resolved, with brightly illustrated diversionary froth.
Help your friends and neighbors keep focused on today’s realities. Use the coupon on page 7.
Think of us as today’s Mother Jones, today’s Tom Paine, rousing the countryside to address today’s crisis. Let your heart quicken as you join us in responding to today’s challenges. Strengthen our ranks, strengthen our voice. Add that new member. Today!
A million workers with no sick leave
By Marilyn Watkins, Ph. D.
Megan, a server at a Tacoma restaurant, was fired because she had the flu. When she tried to call in sick, her supervisor told her the restaurant was busy and she had to come in. When she did, one of her customers complained to the health department. Three weeks later, Megan was fired. Now she works at a bar – and still doesn’t have sick leave.
Stories like Megan’s are all too common. While many union members and white collar employees enjoy benefits, 42% of the workforce – 190,000 workers in Seattle and more than one million in Washington State – do not have any paid sick days. Only 12% of restaurants provide sick leave to full-time employees, and only 4% to part-timers. Low-wage workers are the least likely to receive benefits, the least able to afford unpaid time off, and the most vulnerable to retaliation if forced to miss work.
Even some workers who in theory have sick leave are strongly discouraged from using it. For example, many grocery and hospital employees don’t get paid leave until the third day they are out – and they get demerits for every day they call in sick.
In times of pandemics like H1N1, the lack of across-the-board standards for paid sick days is a clear public health problem. But we’re all at risk when workers who handle our food and care for the most vulnerable are forced to be on the job sick with any communicable disease.
Studies show that children recover more quickly from illness and do better in school when their parents have paid leave. Ailing seniors suffer when their working adult children can’t use paid sick days to care for them and help them get to the doctor.
Three U.S. cities have led the way in adopting minimum standards for paid sick days. San Francisco and Milwaukee passed initiatives with 61% and 69% of the vote, respectively, and Washington, D.C.’s council adopted a similar statute. Coalitions across the country have introduced bills in city councils and state legislatures, The Healthy Families Act, now before Congress, would establish a national standard.
More than three years’ experience in San Francisco has shown that businesses as well as families prosper when employers are required to provide paid sick days. In San Francisco all employees must accrue at least an hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours for the very smallest companies and up to 72 hours in firms with at least 10 employees. That results in higher morale, less spread of disease among coworkers, and better customer satisfaction. Jobs – including restaurant jobs – grew faster in San Francisco than in the surrounding counties or state as a whole in the two years following adoption of paid sick days. Jobs shrank less in that city during the deep recession year of 2009.
The Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce is working to make Seattle the next city to adopt paid sick days. The Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans has joined with other labor, senior, women’s, faith, employer, and community groups to endorse the campaign. A similar coalition, Healthy Tacoma, is organizing in our sister city.
Contact Lily at 206-465-4835 or lilymadeline@yahoo.com for more information – and to get involved. No one should be fired for having the flu. No one should have to risk being fired for taking their mother to the doctor.
(Marilyn Watkins is Policy Director with the Economic Opportunity Institute.)
Megan, a server at a Tacoma restaurant, was fired because she had the flu. When she tried to call in sick, her supervisor told her the restaurant was busy and she had to come in. When she did, one of her customers complained to the health department. Three weeks later, Megan was fired. Now she works at a bar – and still doesn’t have sick leave.
Stories like Megan’s are all too common. While many union members and white collar employees enjoy benefits, 42% of the workforce – 190,000 workers in Seattle and more than one million in Washington State – do not have any paid sick days. Only 12% of restaurants provide sick leave to full-time employees, and only 4% to part-timers. Low-wage workers are the least likely to receive benefits, the least able to afford unpaid time off, and the most vulnerable to retaliation if forced to miss work.
Even some workers who in theory have sick leave are strongly discouraged from using it. For example, many grocery and hospital employees don’t get paid leave until the third day they are out – and they get demerits for every day they call in sick.
In times of pandemics like H1N1, the lack of across-the-board standards for paid sick days is a clear public health problem. But we’re all at risk when workers who handle our food and care for the most vulnerable are forced to be on the job sick with any communicable disease.
Studies show that children recover more quickly from illness and do better in school when their parents have paid leave. Ailing seniors suffer when their working adult children can’t use paid sick days to care for them and help them get to the doctor.
Three U.S. cities have led the way in adopting minimum standards for paid sick days. San Francisco and Milwaukee passed initiatives with 61% and 69% of the vote, respectively, and Washington, D.C.’s council adopted a similar statute. Coalitions across the country have introduced bills in city councils and state legislatures, The Healthy Families Act, now before Congress, would establish a national standard.
More than three years’ experience in San Francisco has shown that businesses as well as families prosper when employers are required to provide paid sick days. In San Francisco all employees must accrue at least an hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours for the very smallest companies and up to 72 hours in firms with at least 10 employees. That results in higher morale, less spread of disease among coworkers, and better customer satisfaction. Jobs – including restaurant jobs – grew faster in San Francisco than in the surrounding counties or state as a whole in the two years following adoption of paid sick days. Jobs shrank less in that city during the deep recession year of 2009.
The Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce is working to make Seattle the next city to adopt paid sick days. The Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans has joined with other labor, senior, women’s, faith, employer, and community groups to endorse the campaign. A similar coalition, Healthy Tacoma, is organizing in our sister city.
Contact Lily at 206-465-4835 or lilymadeline@yahoo.com for more information – and to get involved. No one should be fired for having the flu. No one should have to risk being fired for taking their mother to the doctor.
(Marilyn Watkins is Policy Director with the Economic Opportunity Institute.)
Women have cause to celebrate
By Roberta Riley, JD
It seems fitting that this summer, as landmark health reform legislation unfolds, three women in my family will celebrate milestone birthdays. As we turn 80, 15 and 50 respectively, my mother, daughter and I will relish this historic moment. Our little trio has survived heart attack, cancers and a perilously complicated pregnancy. Without quality medical care, none of us would be alive. Yet we’ve also felt the sting of wrongs inflicted on women in our current system, so we’re very pleased that health reform, at long last, will address many serious disparities. To commemorate this sweet, hard fought victory, our birthday cake will be big, delicious and chocolate. Grandma gets the first slice since her decades of community service epitomize the tenacity demanded of this epic effort.
A veteran of many political battles, she was never fooled by the Republican propaganda that “health reform will rip away Grandma’s Medicare.” Knowing that older women are far more likely than their male counterparts to live in poverty, she realized reform opponents were simply preying on fear. In reality, by trimming the corporate subsidies in the Medicare Advantage program, health reform will strengthen the long term solvency of Medicare.
So, rejecting the scare tactics, we will celebrate the many good things health reform will bring to older women and men. Co-pays for preventive care will be eliminated next year, which means seniors will no longer be forced to choose between seeing the doctor and buying food. Measures to address the shortage of family physicians will soon kick in. And seniors now saddled with high drug costs as a result of the infamous Medicare Part D “donut hole” will benefit immediately as those costs taper off and are eventually eliminated. Early retirees will benefit from the new subsidies to firms that offer health coverage to retirees between age 55 and 65.
We will also celebrate the benefits health reform brings to younger women who, even today, typically earn lower salaries than men yet must pay higher health premiums. Insurers are now banned from this form of sex discrimination, Hallelujah!
When Medicaid coverage is expanded to those earning up to 133% of the federal poverty level, or roughly $29,000 a year for a family of four, up to 4.5 million women will be newly eligible.
In 2014, families earning too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford good health insurance now, will benefit from health insurance exchanges which will enable people to choose the quality health plan that best fits their needs. Approximately 11 million women will receive subsidies to help pay for exchange-based health plans.
Women are more likely than men to work for small businesses that don't offer health insurance now, so they will benefit from the new tax credits to help small businesses provide coverage. And starting this summer, those under age 26 will be allowed to remain on their parents’ health insurance policy.
We will celebrate the new CLASS program, which will help alleviate burdens on family caregivers, who are predominantly female; direct access to obstetrical and gynecological care; and provisions allowing nursing mothers who work for employers with over 50 workers a reasonable break time and location to express breast milk.
Presumably, once the Obama administration spells out the pending regulations governing preventive care, contraceptives will be covered. Stay tuned.
Unfortunately, our scrumptious birthday cake will feature a bittersweet frosting. Health reform marginalizes one key component of women's health care: Abortion. Some states will forbid abortion coverage altogether. Anyone fortunate enough to purchase a health plan with abortion coverage through an exchange is required to make two separate payments: one for abortion coverage, another for the remainder of the premium. This burdensome requirement will almost certainly deter health insurers from offering abortion coverage. And that is a real setback for my daughter’s generation, since most plans now cover abortion.
It hurts to witness the erosion of a right that women of Grandma’s generation struggled to attain. But I take comfort in knowing it is easier to improve major legislation by amendment than it is to start from scratch. So three generations of my family will celebrate, and then forge on until the job is done.
***
Roberta Riley, JD is an attorney and health care consumer advocate. In 2001 she argued and won a groundbreaking federal court decision requiring employers to cover prescription contraception in worker health plans. In recognition of her achievements on behalf of women, she has received several honors, including a Ms. Magazine Women of the Year Award. Recently appointed to the Washington State Health Reform Realization Panel, she lives in Seattle with her husband and daughter.
It seems fitting that this summer, as landmark health reform legislation unfolds, three women in my family will celebrate milestone birthdays. As we turn 80, 15 and 50 respectively, my mother, daughter and I will relish this historic moment. Our little trio has survived heart attack, cancers and a perilously complicated pregnancy. Without quality medical care, none of us would be alive. Yet we’ve also felt the sting of wrongs inflicted on women in our current system, so we’re very pleased that health reform, at long last, will address many serious disparities. To commemorate this sweet, hard fought victory, our birthday cake will be big, delicious and chocolate. Grandma gets the first slice since her decades of community service epitomize the tenacity demanded of this epic effort.
A veteran of many political battles, she was never fooled by the Republican propaganda that “health reform will rip away Grandma’s Medicare.” Knowing that older women are far more likely than their male counterparts to live in poverty, she realized reform opponents were simply preying on fear. In reality, by trimming the corporate subsidies in the Medicare Advantage program, health reform will strengthen the long term solvency of Medicare.
So, rejecting the scare tactics, we will celebrate the many good things health reform will bring to older women and men. Co-pays for preventive care will be eliminated next year, which means seniors will no longer be forced to choose between seeing the doctor and buying food. Measures to address the shortage of family physicians will soon kick in. And seniors now saddled with high drug costs as a result of the infamous Medicare Part D “donut hole” will benefit immediately as those costs taper off and are eventually eliminated. Early retirees will benefit from the new subsidies to firms that offer health coverage to retirees between age 55 and 65.
We will also celebrate the benefits health reform brings to younger women who, even today, typically earn lower salaries than men yet must pay higher health premiums. Insurers are now banned from this form of sex discrimination, Hallelujah!
When Medicaid coverage is expanded to those earning up to 133% of the federal poverty level, or roughly $29,000 a year for a family of four, up to 4.5 million women will be newly eligible.
In 2014, families earning too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford good health insurance now, will benefit from health insurance exchanges which will enable people to choose the quality health plan that best fits their needs. Approximately 11 million women will receive subsidies to help pay for exchange-based health plans.
Women are more likely than men to work for small businesses that don't offer health insurance now, so they will benefit from the new tax credits to help small businesses provide coverage. And starting this summer, those under age 26 will be allowed to remain on their parents’ health insurance policy.
We will celebrate the new CLASS program, which will help alleviate burdens on family caregivers, who are predominantly female; direct access to obstetrical and gynecological care; and provisions allowing nursing mothers who work for employers with over 50 workers a reasonable break time and location to express breast milk.
Presumably, once the Obama administration spells out the pending regulations governing preventive care, contraceptives will be covered. Stay tuned.
Unfortunately, our scrumptious birthday cake will feature a bittersweet frosting. Health reform marginalizes one key component of women's health care: Abortion. Some states will forbid abortion coverage altogether. Anyone fortunate enough to purchase a health plan with abortion coverage through an exchange is required to make two separate payments: one for abortion coverage, another for the remainder of the premium. This burdensome requirement will almost certainly deter health insurers from offering abortion coverage. And that is a real setback for my daughter’s generation, since most plans now cover abortion.
It hurts to witness the erosion of a right that women of Grandma’s generation struggled to attain. But I take comfort in knowing it is easier to improve major legislation by amendment than it is to start from scratch. So three generations of my family will celebrate, and then forge on until the job is done.
***
Roberta Riley, JD is an attorney and health care consumer advocate. In 2001 she argued and won a groundbreaking federal court decision requiring employers to cover prescription contraception in worker health plans. In recognition of her achievements on behalf of women, she has received several honors, including a Ms. Magazine Women of the Year Award. Recently appointed to the Washington State Health Reform Realization Panel, she lives in Seattle with her husband and daughter.
Open Up Those Hearings!
By Robby Stern
“Whatever adjustments we make and whatever has been suggested for the last 10 years in Social Security reform … none of that affects anybody over 57. Where do I get my mail? From these old cats 70 and 80 years old who are not affected one whiff. People who live in gated communities and drive their Lexux to the Perkins restaurant to get the AARP discount. This is madness.” Thus spoke Alan Simpson on April 25th on FOX News in an interview that included his Fiscal Commission co-chair, Chester Bowles..
Evidently, former Sen. Alan Simpson in unaware that the vast majority of Social Security recipients do not fit his profile. More than one third of people 65 and older rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income. Without Social Security, 55% of severely disabled workers and their families would live in poverty; 47% of elderly households would live in poverty; another 1.3 million children would fall into poverty. Women make up 60% of Social Security beneficiaries and they depend more heavily than men on Social Security for income in their retirement. Additionally, 75% of older Latinos and almost 80% of African Americans rely on Social security for more than half of their total income.
The Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform had its first meeting on April 27th. The President addressed the Commission presenting his argument concerning the grave danger facing our country posed by the fiscal deficit. Ben Bernanke, the chief of the Federal Reserve called for a combination of modifications to Medicare and Social Security. At his confirmation hearing for his second term as Federal Reserve Chair this year, Bernanke had recommended cuts to Social Security by quoting notorious bank robber, Willie Sutton, who, when asked why he robbed banks, replied “because that’s where the money is”.
To quote Nancy Altman, Co-Director of Social Security Works at her recent talk at the national ARA convention, “What a revealing picture – bank robbers, Ben Bernanke, and like-minded politicians, all eager to get their hands on the money hardworking Americans trustingly hand over every payday to what they believe is a safe institution. Americans should not be robbed of their Social security protections in order to pay for other government spending.”
The Commissioners, many of whom made statements during the meeting, are split on whether Social Security and Medicare should be targeted with several clearly calling for raising the age when seniors would be entitled to full Social Security benefits. There were also calls for reducing the indexing for the most affluent and changing the CPI (Consumer Price Index) to indexing that grows more slowly and possibly below the rate of inflation.
We will take the creation and work of the Commission very seriously. The Social Security Trust Fund is very healthy. There is a surplus of more than $2.4 trillion in the trust fund. Stories like a recent NY Time article stating that pay outs will exceed collections in 2010 fail to mention that there is another very significant source of revenue for the fund, i.e. the interest earned on the surplus. Social security is a target precisely because that is” where the money is”. It would be a big deficit reduction boon to write off some of the debt to the Social Security Trust Fund instead of dealing with the real causes: the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, two wars, and the unemployment caused by Wall Street produced recession. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire and putting people back to work would have an enormous effect in reducing the deficit to 3% of the national economy, the stated goal of the Commission.
At serious risk are the generations behind us who are dutifully paying their taxes to fund their retirement. It is for our children and grand children and the legacy of Social Security as a progressive and essential social insurance program that we must wage a fierce campaign.
Our first task is to exert as much pressure as possible to create transparency in the Commission proceedings. Other than the first session, the Commission will be meeting privately with advocates having little or no access to the deliberations other than what is communicated to them by friendly Commissioners. Private deliberations and decision making is intolerable. We must make our voices heard in demanding openness and transparency.
PSARA will engage in an educational campaign and a determined defense of Social Security. Combining our efforts with genuine suggestions on how to improve what is already one of the best government program in our country, we will need the help and support of all of our members.
“Whatever adjustments we make and whatever has been suggested for the last 10 years in Social Security reform … none of that affects anybody over 57. Where do I get my mail? From these old cats 70 and 80 years old who are not affected one whiff. People who live in gated communities and drive their Lexux to the Perkins restaurant to get the AARP discount. This is madness.” Thus spoke Alan Simpson on April 25th on FOX News in an interview that included his Fiscal Commission co-chair, Chester Bowles..
Evidently, former Sen. Alan Simpson in unaware that the vast majority of Social Security recipients do not fit his profile. More than one third of people 65 and older rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income. Without Social Security, 55% of severely disabled workers and their families would live in poverty; 47% of elderly households would live in poverty; another 1.3 million children would fall into poverty. Women make up 60% of Social Security beneficiaries and they depend more heavily than men on Social Security for income in their retirement. Additionally, 75% of older Latinos and almost 80% of African Americans rely on Social security for more than half of their total income.
The Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform had its first meeting on April 27th. The President addressed the Commission presenting his argument concerning the grave danger facing our country posed by the fiscal deficit. Ben Bernanke, the chief of the Federal Reserve called for a combination of modifications to Medicare and Social Security. At his confirmation hearing for his second term as Federal Reserve Chair this year, Bernanke had recommended cuts to Social Security by quoting notorious bank robber, Willie Sutton, who, when asked why he robbed banks, replied “because that’s where the money is”.
To quote Nancy Altman, Co-Director of Social Security Works at her recent talk at the national ARA convention, “What a revealing picture – bank robbers, Ben Bernanke, and like-minded politicians, all eager to get their hands on the money hardworking Americans trustingly hand over every payday to what they believe is a safe institution. Americans should not be robbed of their Social security protections in order to pay for other government spending.”
The Commissioners, many of whom made statements during the meeting, are split on whether Social Security and Medicare should be targeted with several clearly calling for raising the age when seniors would be entitled to full Social Security benefits. There were also calls for reducing the indexing for the most affluent and changing the CPI (Consumer Price Index) to indexing that grows more slowly and possibly below the rate of inflation.
We will take the creation and work of the Commission very seriously. The Social Security Trust Fund is very healthy. There is a surplus of more than $2.4 trillion in the trust fund. Stories like a recent NY Time article stating that pay outs will exceed collections in 2010 fail to mention that there is another very significant source of revenue for the fund, i.e. the interest earned on the surplus. Social security is a target precisely because that is” where the money is”. It would be a big deficit reduction boon to write off some of the debt to the Social Security Trust Fund instead of dealing with the real causes: the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, two wars, and the unemployment caused by Wall Street produced recession. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire and putting people back to work would have an enormous effect in reducing the deficit to 3% of the national economy, the stated goal of the Commission.
At serious risk are the generations behind us who are dutifully paying their taxes to fund their retirement. It is for our children and grand children and the legacy of Social Security as a progressive and essential social insurance program that we must wage a fierce campaign.
Our first task is to exert as much pressure as possible to create transparency in the Commission proceedings. Other than the first session, the Commission will be meeting privately with advocates having little or no access to the deliberations other than what is communicated to them by friendly Commissioners. Private deliberations and decision making is intolerable. We must make our voices heard in demanding openness and transparency.
PSARA will engage in an educational campaign and a determined defense of Social Security. Combining our efforts with genuine suggestions on how to improve what is already one of the best government program in our country, we will need the help and support of all of our members.
Looming crisis in transit funding
Without new funding, Metro will be forced to slash 600,000 hours of service.
A new “Transportation 2040” plan calls for the expenditure of $100 billion in the next 30 years on transit in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties. The plan was developed by Puget Sound Regional Council staff, working to shape Metro’s future with a 31-member stakeholder task force.
Of the $100 billion total, $40 billion would go to Sound Transit and $57 billion to bus services in the four counties. Let’s focus on the outlook for buses.
Current taxes and fares will leave the bus transit systems in the four counties $13 billion short of the $57 billion projected for the 30-year plan. So instead of the urgently needed expansion of service, the riding public will confront declining service and rising fares – unless there’s a massive infusion of new funding that’s nowhere in sight.
Without that funding, Metro’s declining revenues and rising costs will force it, by 2015, to slash an estimated 600,000 annual hours of service. That’s no small reduction. It’s one-sixth of the current 3.6 million annual hours of service. In addition, 400,000 hours of expanded service that were promised by 2015 won’t materialize.
The transit funding epidemic is by no means confined to the Puget Sound area. Transit systems facing similarly dire budget outlooks include C-Train in Vancouver, Pierce Transit, Community Transit and Spokane Transit in Washington State; and Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Orange County, Sacramento and Denver in the western U.S.
Bus and train service is especially needed in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area, where more than 30% of commuters leave their cars at home and go to work by vanpool, carpool, bicycle, ferry, on foot – or by bus.
And for elderly persons, dependable and affordable bus service is precious. It’s a means of running errands, a way to reach the family or the physician, and a ticket to the great world outside the four walls of home.
A new “Transportation 2040” plan calls for the expenditure of $100 billion in the next 30 years on transit in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties. The plan was developed by Puget Sound Regional Council staff, working to shape Metro’s future with a 31-member stakeholder task force.
Of the $100 billion total, $40 billion would go to Sound Transit and $57 billion to bus services in the four counties. Let’s focus on the outlook for buses.
Current taxes and fares will leave the bus transit systems in the four counties $13 billion short of the $57 billion projected for the 30-year plan. So instead of the urgently needed expansion of service, the riding public will confront declining service and rising fares – unless there’s a massive infusion of new funding that’s nowhere in sight.
Without that funding, Metro’s declining revenues and rising costs will force it, by 2015, to slash an estimated 600,000 annual hours of service. That’s no small reduction. It’s one-sixth of the current 3.6 million annual hours of service. In addition, 400,000 hours of expanded service that were promised by 2015 won’t materialize.
The transit funding epidemic is by no means confined to the Puget Sound area. Transit systems facing similarly dire budget outlooks include C-Train in Vancouver, Pierce Transit, Community Transit and Spokane Transit in Washington State; and Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Orange County, Sacramento and Denver in the western U.S.
Bus and train service is especially needed in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area, where more than 30% of commuters leave their cars at home and go to work by vanpool, carpool, bicycle, ferry, on foot – or by bus.
And for elderly persons, dependable and affordable bus service is precious. It’s a means of running errands, a way to reach the family or the physician, and a ticket to the great world outside the four walls of home.
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