By Will Parry
At our deadline it appears that the so-called debt reduction plan emerging from the secret deliberations of Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform will not get the 14-vote super-majority needed to send it to Congress for an up-or-down vote.
But hold the cheers. The plan is likely to get the support of a majority of the commission’s 18 members, and may become a blueprint for future action by Congress.
In any event, its destructive provisions will poison the political atmosphere as the nation grapples with stark economic realities: More than 25 million unemployed, and millions underwater in their mortgages or facing the prospect of losing their homes to foreclosure.
At the heart of the scheme released by commission Co-Chairs Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles is its attack on the integrity of Social Security. As economist Dean Baker points out:
“It is striking that the co-chairs felt the need to address Social Security, even though it was not part of their mandate. The commission’s mandate was to deal with the country’s fiscal problems. Since Social Security is legally prohibited from ever spending more than it has collected in taxes, it cannot under the law contribute to the deficit.
“Their proposal would cut benefits for tens of millions of middle class workers who are overwhelmingly dependent on Social Security for their retirement income. It would also raise the retirement age for lower income workers who have seen little increase in life expectancy.”
This august body has earned a reputation as “the Catfood Commission,” in view of the impact of its plan on seniors’ living standards.
The Simpson-Bowles scheme did not go unchallenged. The progressive policy organizations Demos, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Century Foundation released a proposal that “stabilizes debt as a share of the economy without demanding draconian cuts to national investments or to vital safety net programs.”
A separate coalition of labor leaders, liberal groups and economists – the Citizens’ Commission on Jobs, Deficits and America’s Economic Future – released a similar plan.
Both plans were comparable to that submitted by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), the one commission member to emerge as a staunch champion of Social Security. (See story on Schakowsky’s plan.)
All three progressive proposals call for immediate additional stimulus spending, for financing additional unemployment benefits, for public works projects, and for substantial aid to state and local governments, both to prevent further layoffs of teachers and other public employees and to finance “pro-growth” investments in education, infrastructure, child care and scientific research.
Such stimulus spending is absent from the Simpson-Bowles scheme, with its misguided focus on the federal deficit.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Our annual gala Holiday Party is December 16!
At this time of year, we wish for our cherished members and supporters an especially enjoyable holiday season – and a New Year of daily engagement in humanity’s struggle for peace and social justice!
We’ll celebrate our hard work during 2010 and pledge our continued solidarity throughout 2011 at our gala Annual Holiday Party from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, December 16. This year we’ll be at Cannon House, 113 22nd Avenue South in Seattle.
Marilyn Watkins, policy director for the Economic Opportunities Institute, will bring us up to date on the critical nationwide campaign to preserve Social Security in the face of multiple attacks by its enemies.
As always, our Holiday Party is coupled with our winter Membership Meeting, with the election of our Executive Board members, and with the traditional tasty holiday potluck. Please join the very cream of the retiree movement at this year’s lively and enjoyable Holiday Party!
We’ll celebrate our hard work during 2010 and pledge our continued solidarity throughout 2011 at our gala Annual Holiday Party from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, December 16. This year we’ll be at Cannon House, 113 22nd Avenue South in Seattle.
Marilyn Watkins, policy director for the Economic Opportunities Institute, will bring us up to date on the critical nationwide campaign to preserve Social Security in the face of multiple attacks by its enemies.
As always, our Holiday Party is coupled with our winter Membership Meeting, with the election of our Executive Board members, and with the traditional tasty holiday potluck. Please join the very cream of the retiree movement at this year’s lively and enjoyable Holiday Party!
A life-and-death need for new state revenue
Eighty determined advocates will be meeting with their state senators and representatives this month, following through on the issues discussed and approved at the Fourth Annual PSARA Legislative Conference November 19.
Always essential, active citizen participation in the legislative process has never been more crucial than it will be in the 2011 session, to be gaveled to order January 11, charged with producing a budget in the context of a severe recession and a devastating decline in state revenues.
PSARA’s activists and allied organizations will focus on budget and revenue issues in a struggle to minimize the human toll resulting from deep budget cuts. To generate more revenue, they will urge legislators to submit to the voters in March a referendum that would close specific targeted loopholes.
They will also support legislation to create a State Bank, similar to the highly successful State Bank of North Dakota, to allow the income earned from state funds to be directed into programs that support education and human services.
And they will support legislation addressing two separate housing needs:
• A measure to require mediation in foreclosure actions, to provide a means of challenging foreclosures and reducing their number.
• Legislation that mandates a fair screening process for renters, assuring that renters get a copy of their credit and rental history if such information is required by the landlord; and assuring that the renter’s credit and rental history remains valid for at least 60 days after receipt by the renter to avoid the renter facing multiple fees for these reports.
The overall budget outlook is grim indeed. Some $4.3 billion in cuts have already been imposed on vital state programs over the past two years. Any additional cuts will come from essential services, including those relied upon by seniors.
The home and community based services that keep the elderly out of nursing homes are vulnerable, even though cutting those services is costly in the long run. Florida placed 69,000 people on waiting lists for home and community services in 2009, and 5,700 ended up in nursing homes.
Nursing homes cost the state an average of $5,900 a month; home and community services costs $1,500 a month.
Washington State’s funding crisis was deepened by the outcome of the 2010 election, where revenue-raising measures were defeated and Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1053, requiring a two-thirds vote for any tax increase, was approved.
Governor Chris Gregoire has told state agencies to be prepared for cuts of 4 to 7 percent.. “We’re going to see…not the cutting of a program but the end of programs,” the governor said. “No more podiatry. No more dental services. No more vision services.”
Always essential, active citizen participation in the legislative process has never been more crucial than it will be in the 2011 session, to be gaveled to order January 11, charged with producing a budget in the context of a severe recession and a devastating decline in state revenues.
PSARA’s activists and allied organizations will focus on budget and revenue issues in a struggle to minimize the human toll resulting from deep budget cuts. To generate more revenue, they will urge legislators to submit to the voters in March a referendum that would close specific targeted loopholes.
They will also support legislation to create a State Bank, similar to the highly successful State Bank of North Dakota, to allow the income earned from state funds to be directed into programs that support education and human services.
And they will support legislation addressing two separate housing needs:
• A measure to require mediation in foreclosure actions, to provide a means of challenging foreclosures and reducing their number.
• Legislation that mandates a fair screening process for renters, assuring that renters get a copy of their credit and rental history if such information is required by the landlord; and assuring that the renter’s credit and rental history remains valid for at least 60 days after receipt by the renter to avoid the renter facing multiple fees for these reports.
The overall budget outlook is grim indeed. Some $4.3 billion in cuts have already been imposed on vital state programs over the past two years. Any additional cuts will come from essential services, including those relied upon by seniors.
The home and community based services that keep the elderly out of nursing homes are vulnerable, even though cutting those services is costly in the long run. Florida placed 69,000 people on waiting lists for home and community services in 2009, and 5,700 ended up in nursing homes.
Nursing homes cost the state an average of $5,900 a month; home and community services costs $1,500 a month.
Washington State’s funding crisis was deepened by the outcome of the 2010 election, where revenue-raising measures were defeated and Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1053, requiring a two-thirds vote for any tax increase, was approved.
Governor Chris Gregoire has told state agencies to be prepared for cuts of 4 to 7 percent.. “We’re going to see…not the cutting of a program but the end of programs,” the governor said. “No more podiatry. No more dental services. No more vision services.”
Over the top in December!
One month to go: One month to reach and exceed our goal of 250 new members in 2010!
As this is written, we’re at 220, tantalizingly close to victory. One final burst of activity can bring us over the top.
It’s a happy coincidence that December is the season of gift-giving. There’s no better time to give a year’s membership, and with it twelve lively issues of The Retiree Advocate. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, month after eventful month, all year long.
To encourage that final surge, your editor has earmarked $75 from his December Social Security check for gift memberships for five dear friends. Do the math: Five new memberships brings us 2% closer to our goal!
Whether it’s a brother, a sister, a cousin, a grandchild or an aunt, a union brother or sister, a neighbor or someone who shares your religious faith – someone close to you will welcome this year-long gift of news, analysis and commentary.
As this is written, we’re at 220, tantalizingly close to victory. One final burst of activity can bring us over the top.
It’s a happy coincidence that December is the season of gift-giving. There’s no better time to give a year’s membership, and with it twelve lively issues of The Retiree Advocate. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, month after eventful month, all year long.
To encourage that final surge, your editor has earmarked $75 from his December Social Security check for gift memberships for five dear friends. Do the math: Five new memberships brings us 2% closer to our goal!
Whether it’s a brother, a sister, a cousin, a grandchild or an aunt, a union brother or sister, a neighbor or someone who shares your religious faith – someone close to you will welcome this year-long gift of news, analysis and commentary.
Dave Niehaus
For maybe a million people, and for 34 seasons, baseball in the Northwest has meant Dave Niehaus. His voice was the background music of summer.
Our region and its up-and-down Major League franchise have been blessed all these years with one of the supremely gifted sports broadcasters of all time.
From Diego Segui’s first pitch in the 1977 season opener, year after year, right up to Ichiro Suzuki’s fly ball to end the sorry 2010 season, Dave Niehaus has lived in our homes and in our hearts.
Dave was family, and it was as family that fans were stricken with the word of his death November 10 at the age of 75. It was as family that the spontaneous tributes poured forth – the notes and flowers at the gates to the ball park, the thousands who came to view mementos of his career and to sign memory books.
Whether he was describing a strike-out pitch, a crisp double play, or a great catch in the outfield, what came through, in Dave’s marvelous voice, unspoken but unmistakable, was, “What a great game baseball is!”
Dave broadcast about 2,500 games, and I was with him for maybe a thousand or so. Not once did I find him less than respectful to a player. African American, Latin, Asian and white players were invariably accorded equal dignity. In the most important sense of the term, Dave was an all-American.
In a couple of months, when Mariner pitchers and catchers once again report to Arizona for spring training. some other voice will be at the microphone. We wish the new broadcaster well, but it just won’t be quite the same.
-- Will Parry
Our region and its up-and-down Major League franchise have been blessed all these years with one of the supremely gifted sports broadcasters of all time.
From Diego Segui’s first pitch in the 1977 season opener, year after year, right up to Ichiro Suzuki’s fly ball to end the sorry 2010 season, Dave Niehaus has lived in our homes and in our hearts.
Dave was family, and it was as family that fans were stricken with the word of his death November 10 at the age of 75. It was as family that the spontaneous tributes poured forth – the notes and flowers at the gates to the ball park, the thousands who came to view mementos of his career and to sign memory books.
Whether he was describing a strike-out pitch, a crisp double play, or a great catch in the outfield, what came through, in Dave’s marvelous voice, unspoken but unmistakable, was, “What a great game baseball is!”
Dave broadcast about 2,500 games, and I was with him for maybe a thousand or so. Not once did I find him less than respectful to a player. African American, Latin, Asian and white players were invariably accorded equal dignity. In the most important sense of the term, Dave was an all-American.
In a couple of months, when Mariner pitchers and catchers once again report to Arizona for spring training. some other voice will be at the microphone. We wish the new broadcaster well, but it just won’t be quite the same.
-- Will Parry
An honest conversation about the crisis
By Robby Stern
Heading into the 2011 Washington Legislative session, we need an honest conversation about the crisis we face, who is responsible, and how PSARA can and should respond. Work in coalition with other groups to address the cuts at the state level and the attacks at the federal level will be at the heart of what we do.
A $6 billion deficit is projected for the budget that will take effect July 1, covering state expenditures through June 30 of 2013. Last session, the legislature went out on a limb and passed some tax increases and, in addition, sent a referendum to the ballot that would have created up to 30,000 jobs and extended the bottled water tax.
The voters slapped them down. Under the influence of huge spending by corporations and wealthy individuals, the voters took positions counter to their own interests. They repealed the candy and pop tax the legislature had passed; they defeated Referendum 53, which would have extended the bottled water tax and created tens of thousands of jobs; they passed Eyman’s initiative making it nearly impossible for the legislature to raise revenue; and they defeated a progressive income tax measure. In general. they made the situation in our state far worse.
It would simply be wrong to blame the legislature for what the voters decided.
On the other hand, the legislature bears full responsibility for the tax breaks they have handed out like candy to some of these same corporations and wealthy individuals. These tax expenditures are now coming back to haunt us and the legislature can only undo them with a 60% majority vote that will be impossible to achieve, given the ideology of the Republicans and what are now self-called the “road kill’ Democrats.
Gov. Gregoire and the Legislature face a devastating situation. A significant shortfall in the present budget cycle requires cuts that will seriously hurt thousands of the most vulnerable among us. Recently, a number of PSARA members attended a candlelight vigil in Olympia to protest the cuts to long term care and to the Medicaid program that are taking place at this very moment. With us were people who will suffer and some of whom may very well die as a result of these cuts.
Sen. Ed Murray, the new chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, spoke at our November 19 PSARA Legislative Conference. Surprisingly, his message was one of hope, mixed with a very somber appraisal of the human toll in Washington if we do not address the issue of revenue. He pointed out that in 2002, after voters defeated a revenue package for transportation by 20 percent, the legislature’s Democratic majority raised the gas tax by 5 cents. In 2005, the legislature raised it by an additional 9.5 cents and when John Carlson tried to overturn the revenue increase, the voters rejected the Carlson initiative by 10 percentage points. In other words, things can be turned around, and quickly. Our job is to engage our members in the fight, and to clearly explain what is at stake.
PSARA will do everything we can to make life a little less difficult for poor and working people. We will join with others to see that the corporate and wealthy interests that misled the Washington voters are exposed and held accountable.
We will also join with others to enact the following program for the 2011 legislative session, adopted at our spirited Legislative Conference:
• Work to minimize the human toll resulting from the cuts. We will encourage the Legislature to send a referendum to the people in 2011 to close targeted tax loopholes as a way to raise the revenue needed to mitigate the cuts
.• Support the creation of a State Public Investment Bank that utilizes income generated by state revenue to benefit the people of our state. These revenues are now primarily deposited in multi-state banks, with the largest share in the Bank of America. We are supporting legislation based on a model that has worked for decades in North Dakota.
• Support legislation requiring mediation in foreclosure actions. The object is to reduce the number of foreclosures, and to give home owners a chance to remain in their homes.
• We will also support legislation that mandates a fair screening process for renters, assuring that renters receive a copy of their credit and rental history if such information is required by their landlord. The legislation also mandates that the credit and rental history remain valid for at least 60 days to protect the renter from facing multiple fees for the report.
We have a lot on our plate. PSARA members will be asked to help fight the effort to shift the cost of the federal deficit onto the backs of seniors and poor and working people. We will fiercely organize to stop the effort to cut Social Security. At the same time, we will be calling on our members to help us in holding the corporate and wealthy interests accountable and also engage with us in this state legislative session with phone calls and turn out. We are a feisty organization. Together we can make a significant difference.
Heading into the 2011 Washington Legislative session, we need an honest conversation about the crisis we face, who is responsible, and how PSARA can and should respond. Work in coalition with other groups to address the cuts at the state level and the attacks at the federal level will be at the heart of what we do.
A $6 billion deficit is projected for the budget that will take effect July 1, covering state expenditures through June 30 of 2013. Last session, the legislature went out on a limb and passed some tax increases and, in addition, sent a referendum to the ballot that would have created up to 30,000 jobs and extended the bottled water tax.
The voters slapped them down. Under the influence of huge spending by corporations and wealthy individuals, the voters took positions counter to their own interests. They repealed the candy and pop tax the legislature had passed; they defeated Referendum 53, which would have extended the bottled water tax and created tens of thousands of jobs; they passed Eyman’s initiative making it nearly impossible for the legislature to raise revenue; and they defeated a progressive income tax measure. In general. they made the situation in our state far worse.
It would simply be wrong to blame the legislature for what the voters decided.
On the other hand, the legislature bears full responsibility for the tax breaks they have handed out like candy to some of these same corporations and wealthy individuals. These tax expenditures are now coming back to haunt us and the legislature can only undo them with a 60% majority vote that will be impossible to achieve, given the ideology of the Republicans and what are now self-called the “road kill’ Democrats.
Gov. Gregoire and the Legislature face a devastating situation. A significant shortfall in the present budget cycle requires cuts that will seriously hurt thousands of the most vulnerable among us. Recently, a number of PSARA members attended a candlelight vigil in Olympia to protest the cuts to long term care and to the Medicaid program that are taking place at this very moment. With us were people who will suffer and some of whom may very well die as a result of these cuts.
Sen. Ed Murray, the new chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, spoke at our November 19 PSARA Legislative Conference. Surprisingly, his message was one of hope, mixed with a very somber appraisal of the human toll in Washington if we do not address the issue of revenue. He pointed out that in 2002, after voters defeated a revenue package for transportation by 20 percent, the legislature’s Democratic majority raised the gas tax by 5 cents. In 2005, the legislature raised it by an additional 9.5 cents and when John Carlson tried to overturn the revenue increase, the voters rejected the Carlson initiative by 10 percentage points. In other words, things can be turned around, and quickly. Our job is to engage our members in the fight, and to clearly explain what is at stake.
PSARA will do everything we can to make life a little less difficult for poor and working people. We will join with others to see that the corporate and wealthy interests that misled the Washington voters are exposed and held accountable.
We will also join with others to enact the following program for the 2011 legislative session, adopted at our spirited Legislative Conference:
• Work to minimize the human toll resulting from the cuts. We will encourage the Legislature to send a referendum to the people in 2011 to close targeted tax loopholes as a way to raise the revenue needed to mitigate the cuts
.• Support the creation of a State Public Investment Bank that utilizes income generated by state revenue to benefit the people of our state. These revenues are now primarily deposited in multi-state banks, with the largest share in the Bank of America. We are supporting legislation based on a model that has worked for decades in North Dakota.
• Support legislation requiring mediation in foreclosure actions. The object is to reduce the number of foreclosures, and to give home owners a chance to remain in their homes.
• We will also support legislation that mandates a fair screening process for renters, assuring that renters receive a copy of their credit and rental history if such information is required by their landlord. The legislation also mandates that the credit and rental history remain valid for at least 60 days to protect the renter from facing multiple fees for the report.
We have a lot on our plate. PSARA members will be asked to help fight the effort to shift the cost of the federal deficit onto the backs of seniors and poor and working people. We will fiercely organize to stop the effort to cut Social Security. At the same time, we will be calling on our members to help us in holding the corporate and wealthy interests accountable and also engage with us in this state legislative session with phone calls and turn out. We are a feisty organization. Together we can make a significant difference.
An election drowning in money
By Will Parry
Hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions from billionaires and corporations, much of it anonymous, corrupted the 2010 elections and swept a clutch of corporate-friendly politicians into office.
The unlimited spending was the ugly fruit of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case, overturning a century of law by ruling that corporations have the same free speech rights as human beings.
“The activist reactionary majority on the Supreme Court…has opened the floodgates for oligarchs and plutocrats to secretly buy our elections and consolidate their hold on the corporate state,” Bill Moyers warned.
One example among many: Right wing funding sources poured a staggering $65 million into no fewer than 161,203 attack ads aimed at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to research by the Campaign Media Analysis Group. Amazingly, Pelosi survived the assault.
“We face a Wild West campaign finance system that has degraded our democracy and shaken its foundations,” said Public Citizen President Robert Weissman. “Political insiders agree that the corporate and billionaire money spent in 2010 is just a warm-up for a much larger effort in 2012.”
Shadowy front groups with “patriotic” titles but no mass membership base were the funnels through which many of the millions poured: American Crossroads, American Solutions, American Future Fund, Americans for Job Security, Americans for Prosperity, American Action Network.
Many of these sham groups were organized under a section of the tax code that gives corporations and the wealthy a legal way to contribute anonymously. And anonymous contributions translate into zero accountability.
The hand of Karl Rove was prominent in the campaign through his links to two third-party groups, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS. The latter group is favored by wealthy contributors because it is set up as a 501(c)(4) corporation to keep its donor list secret.
Crossroads GPS funneled $14 million into ads attacking Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Barbara Boxer as part of a concerted campaign to shift control of the Senate to the Republicans. The donors were not identified. Despite the attacks, the two senators won re-election.
The U. S. Chamber of Commerce “raised nearly $33 million in secret donations for political ads…almost all of which was used to elect Republicans who have vowed to repeal the health care law,” The New York Times reported. “Certainly the chamber, which lobbies Congress hard on behalf of big business, will make its demands known – health care repeal, no tax increases, reduced regulation and oversight.”
(In 2009, the health insurance lobby had given $86.2 million to the chamber to try to prevent enactment of the health care law.)
Apparently foreign money was also used in election spending. The Nation reports that contributions from U.S. based multinationals and from India and Bahrain were commingled and deposited “in the same 501(c) (6) account used to run an unprecedented $75 million attack campaign, mostly against Democrats.”
Operating from the shadows over the years have been David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who own Koch Industries, a conglomerate with annual earnings estimated at $100 billion.
“The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry – especially environmental regulation,” Jane Mayer wrote in The New Yorker.
Mayer quotes Charles Lewis, founder of the Center for Public Integrity: “The Kochs are on a whole different level. There’s no one else who has spent this much money….They have a pattern of lawbreaking, political manipulation and obfuscation. I’ve been in Washington since Watergate, and I’ve never seen anything like it. They are the Standard Oil of our times.”
Senior voters were not neglected. The so-called “60 Plus Association” spent $5,516,241 in pharmaceutical industry contributions for ads directed at older voters, spreading lies about the health reform law and supporting Republican candidates committed to its repeal.
The barrage of negative attack ads was effective. They began early in the campaign, battering Democratic candidates, helping to set the tone in key districts, forcing the Democrats into defensive spending. Even where the Democrats eventually won, the barrage was hardly wasted, since it diverted resources from other races.
In the first election after Citizens United, it has become clear that the big corporations, the Wall Street thieves and the bloated billionaires have been freed by the U.S. Supreme Court to spend whatever it takes to buy themselves a government.
Counter measures are in the works. The DISCLOSE Act would at least require that donors be identified, enabling the public to follow the money.
The House has passed this legislation (whose awkward title is “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections”). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is being urged to bring the DISCLOSE Act up for a vote in the lame duck session.
There will also be a renewed effort to enact legislation providing for the public financing of elections.
Vital as these immediate steps are, in the words of Public Citizen’s Robert Weissman, “We absolutely must overturn the Citizens United decision.” To this end, Public Citizen and other advocates have launched a long-haul drive for a constitutional amendment.
Public Citizen has already gathered more than 500,000 signatures of persons endorsing such an amendment, which would make it clear that our cherished free speech rights do not extend to corporations. Roughly 50 House members and ten senators have already indicated their support for such an amendment, Public Citizen reports, “and we’re going to get much more powerful, among the people and in Congress.” Public Citizen’s concluding statement is a clarion call to all of us:
“We refuse to sit back and watch our democracy be eviscerated.”
Hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions from billionaires and corporations, much of it anonymous, corrupted the 2010 elections and swept a clutch of corporate-friendly politicians into office.
The unlimited spending was the ugly fruit of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case, overturning a century of law by ruling that corporations have the same free speech rights as human beings.
“The activist reactionary majority on the Supreme Court…has opened the floodgates for oligarchs and plutocrats to secretly buy our elections and consolidate their hold on the corporate state,” Bill Moyers warned.
One example among many: Right wing funding sources poured a staggering $65 million into no fewer than 161,203 attack ads aimed at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to research by the Campaign Media Analysis Group. Amazingly, Pelosi survived the assault.
“We face a Wild West campaign finance system that has degraded our democracy and shaken its foundations,” said Public Citizen President Robert Weissman. “Political insiders agree that the corporate and billionaire money spent in 2010 is just a warm-up for a much larger effort in 2012.”
Shadowy front groups with “patriotic” titles but no mass membership base were the funnels through which many of the millions poured: American Crossroads, American Solutions, American Future Fund, Americans for Job Security, Americans for Prosperity, American Action Network.
Many of these sham groups were organized under a section of the tax code that gives corporations and the wealthy a legal way to contribute anonymously. And anonymous contributions translate into zero accountability.
The hand of Karl Rove was prominent in the campaign through his links to two third-party groups, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS. The latter group is favored by wealthy contributors because it is set up as a 501(c)(4) corporation to keep its donor list secret.
Crossroads GPS funneled $14 million into ads attacking Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Barbara Boxer as part of a concerted campaign to shift control of the Senate to the Republicans. The donors were not identified. Despite the attacks, the two senators won re-election.
The U. S. Chamber of Commerce “raised nearly $33 million in secret donations for political ads…almost all of which was used to elect Republicans who have vowed to repeal the health care law,” The New York Times reported. “Certainly the chamber, which lobbies Congress hard on behalf of big business, will make its demands known – health care repeal, no tax increases, reduced regulation and oversight.”
(In 2009, the health insurance lobby had given $86.2 million to the chamber to try to prevent enactment of the health care law.)
Apparently foreign money was also used in election spending. The Nation reports that contributions from U.S. based multinationals and from India and Bahrain were commingled and deposited “in the same 501(c) (6) account used to run an unprecedented $75 million attack campaign, mostly against Democrats.”
Operating from the shadows over the years have been David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who own Koch Industries, a conglomerate with annual earnings estimated at $100 billion.
“The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry – especially environmental regulation,” Jane Mayer wrote in The New Yorker.
Mayer quotes Charles Lewis, founder of the Center for Public Integrity: “The Kochs are on a whole different level. There’s no one else who has spent this much money….They have a pattern of lawbreaking, political manipulation and obfuscation. I’ve been in Washington since Watergate, and I’ve never seen anything like it. They are the Standard Oil of our times.”
Senior voters were not neglected. The so-called “60 Plus Association” spent $5,516,241 in pharmaceutical industry contributions for ads directed at older voters, spreading lies about the health reform law and supporting Republican candidates committed to its repeal.
The barrage of negative attack ads was effective. They began early in the campaign, battering Democratic candidates, helping to set the tone in key districts, forcing the Democrats into defensive spending. Even where the Democrats eventually won, the barrage was hardly wasted, since it diverted resources from other races.
In the first election after Citizens United, it has become clear that the big corporations, the Wall Street thieves and the bloated billionaires have been freed by the U.S. Supreme Court to spend whatever it takes to buy themselves a government.
Counter measures are in the works. The DISCLOSE Act would at least require that donors be identified, enabling the public to follow the money.
The House has passed this legislation (whose awkward title is “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections”). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is being urged to bring the DISCLOSE Act up for a vote in the lame duck session.
There will also be a renewed effort to enact legislation providing for the public financing of elections.
Vital as these immediate steps are, in the words of Public Citizen’s Robert Weissman, “We absolutely must overturn the Citizens United decision.” To this end, Public Citizen and other advocates have launched a long-haul drive for a constitutional amendment.
Public Citizen has already gathered more than 500,000 signatures of persons endorsing such an amendment, which would make it clear that our cherished free speech rights do not extend to corporations. Roughly 50 House members and ten senators have already indicated their support for such an amendment, Public Citizen reports, “and we’re going to get much more powerful, among the people and in Congress.” Public Citizen’s concluding statement is a clarion call to all of us:
“We refuse to sit back and watch our democracy be eviscerated.”
PSARA enlists in ‘Fair Trade’ battle
A breakthrough victory was achieved this year when the City of Seattle formally resolved to purchase only “sweat free” clothing, including the uniforms for its police and fire departments. The campaign was initiated by the Washington Fair Trade Coalition (WFTC). Councilmember Nick Licata sponsored the resolution and led the successful effort to pass it.
The PSARA Executive Board welcomed the opportunity to join the fifty organizations of the coalition in fighting for U.S. trade policies that foster labor and human rights, rather than promoting a race to the bottom for workers and the environment, while filling the corporate coffers of multinational corporations.
On November 30, the eleventh anniversary of the WTO, PSARA hosted a year-end wrap-up and fundraiser for the Fair Trade Coalition. Approximately 40 activists from organizations associated with the WFTC heard a review of the coalition’s accomplishments during 2010. WFTC Director Kristen Beifus eloquently reviewed the coalition’s work and spoke of the challenges ahead. These include stopping the Korea/US Free Trade Agreement (supported by the Obama administration) and continuing the effort to pass the Trade Act, which would help establish fair trade standards for all trade agreements to which the U.S. is a party.
Jeff Johnson from the Washington State Labor Council traced the policies that led to the current situation where corporate profiteers set the terms of trade agreements and workers, family farmers, and the environment suffer. Johnson spoke of the need to create a fair trading system but added that we also have to think beyond fair trade. We can escape the present economic vise, he said, if we commit our country to an industrial policy that creates incentives for investment in the production of goods that people around the world want and that also provide family-wage jobs.
Kathleen Story of the Sierra Club emphasized the need and the opportunity for labor, environmental advocates, and community-based groups to work together on fair trade issues.
The fundraiser was necessitated by a loss of revenue from the national Fair Trade Campaign. Impressed by the achievements of the WFTC, the audience took up a substantial collection to enable the coalition to continue its outstanding work.
The PSARA Executive Board welcomed the opportunity to join the fifty organizations of the coalition in fighting for U.S. trade policies that foster labor and human rights, rather than promoting a race to the bottom for workers and the environment, while filling the corporate coffers of multinational corporations.
On November 30, the eleventh anniversary of the WTO, PSARA hosted a year-end wrap-up and fundraiser for the Fair Trade Coalition. Approximately 40 activists from organizations associated with the WFTC heard a review of the coalition’s accomplishments during 2010. WFTC Director Kristen Beifus eloquently reviewed the coalition’s work and spoke of the challenges ahead. These include stopping the Korea/US Free Trade Agreement (supported by the Obama administration) and continuing the effort to pass the Trade Act, which would help establish fair trade standards for all trade agreements to which the U.S. is a party.
Jeff Johnson from the Washington State Labor Council traced the policies that led to the current situation where corporate profiteers set the terms of trade agreements and workers, family farmers, and the environment suffer. Johnson spoke of the need to create a fair trading system but added that we also have to think beyond fair trade. We can escape the present economic vise, he said, if we commit our country to an industrial policy that creates incentives for investment in the production of goods that people around the world want and that also provide family-wage jobs.
Kathleen Story of the Sierra Club emphasized the need and the opportunity for labor, environmental advocates, and community-based groups to work together on fair trade issues.
The fundraiser was necessitated by a loss of revenue from the national Fair Trade Campaign. Impressed by the achievements of the WFTC, the audience took up a substantial collection to enable the coalition to continue its outstanding work.
Health care law in peril in the courts
The federal health care law, enacted after a bruising battle in Congress, is now imperiled in the federal courts.
Republican officials in 20 states are challenging the constitutionality of the requirement that all Americans have health insurance by 2014.
Attorneys for the federal government argue that the commerce clause of the Constitution allows Congress to regulate “activities that substantially affect interstate commerce,” including the health care market. They contend that the law’s provisions cannot work unless the requirement to be insured applies to everyone, because otherwise people will simply wait until they get sick to buy coverage.
Judge Henry E. Hudson in Federal District Court in Richmond expressed misgivings about the constitutionality of the requirement. He has promised to issue his ruling by the end of the year.
Enemies of the law in Congress and the insurance industry could be expected to exploit an adverse ruling in federal court to sow confusion and mistrust. Such a ruling might also delay or block the steps that insurers, government agencies and the medical professions are taking to implement the many provisions of the law.
It’s expected that any rulings at the district court level would be appealed, ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court. Given the 5-4 majority of conservative justices, the outcome there is also uncertain.
Republican officials in 20 states are challenging the constitutionality of the requirement that all Americans have health insurance by 2014.
Attorneys for the federal government argue that the commerce clause of the Constitution allows Congress to regulate “activities that substantially affect interstate commerce,” including the health care market. They contend that the law’s provisions cannot work unless the requirement to be insured applies to everyone, because otherwise people will simply wait until they get sick to buy coverage.
Judge Henry E. Hudson in Federal District Court in Richmond expressed misgivings about the constitutionality of the requirement. He has promised to issue his ruling by the end of the year.
Enemies of the law in Congress and the insurance industry could be expected to exploit an adverse ruling in federal court to sow confusion and mistrust. Such a ruling might also delay or block the steps that insurers, government agencies and the medical professions are taking to implement the many provisions of the law.
It’s expected that any rulings at the district court level would be appealed, ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court. Given the 5-4 majority of conservative justices, the outcome there is also uncertain.
A new voice to defend Public Health
By Nancy Amidei
When the City of Seattle or King County takes up the budget, the hearing room is sure to be crowded. Lining up at the microphones are people angry about paying taxes, about the state of their roads or sidewalks, or about some personal issue.
Thanks to the Seattle Human Services Coalition and the King County Alliance for Human Services, there are always people on hand to speak up for human services – for child care, for domestic violence prevention, for senior programs. But until recently, there was never anyone on hand to speak up for Public Health.
Now there is: A small but growing group called simply People for Public Health. And the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans was in on its creation.
When things are going well, we don’t think about our Public Health agencies. We take for granted that somebody is:
*Protecting our food and water supplies,
*Maintaining emergency medical services,
*Providing vaccines (for example, for children during flu season),
*Preventing injury and violence,
*Promoting healthy eating and exercise,
*Controlling communicable diseases…and more.
If those functions were NOT being attended to, we’d all be at risk.
And that could happen. In 1999, when the old, progressive Motor Vehicle Excise tax was replaced by a flat $30 tax per car, Public Health agencies across the state lost their major source of funding. The “backfill account” later established by the legislature never did fully replace it. And since 2009 – when needs are rising and more people are seeking health care from a Public Health clinic – Public Health has had to absorb still deeper cuts – everything from staff layoffs to reduction or elimination of basic health services.
Like local governments across the state, Seattle and King County now face still another round of cuts in Public Health staffing and functions. Being considered for possible reductions are the HIV/AIDS program, public health visits to pregnant women, jail-related health services (chiefly, how medications are dispensed), adult health visits at the East Gate Health clinic and nearly 90 full-time equivalent staff.
That’s why we’ve formed People for Public Health, a Seattle-King County grassroots group committed to safe and healthy communities. Our members are social and health professionals, retirees, health sciences students, people working with low-income populations and people from the community.
We’re showing up at hearings on the city and county budgets, using our two minutes at the microphone to ask that public health agencies be kept strong enough to carry out their mission.
All of us have a vested interest in public health. Today, more than ever, public health needs strong voices. If you wish to be such a voice, or simply to keep in touch with our work by email, send your contract information to People for Public Health: amidei@drizzle.com.
When the City of Seattle or King County takes up the budget, the hearing room is sure to be crowded. Lining up at the microphones are people angry about paying taxes, about the state of their roads or sidewalks, or about some personal issue.
Thanks to the Seattle Human Services Coalition and the King County Alliance for Human Services, there are always people on hand to speak up for human services – for child care, for domestic violence prevention, for senior programs. But until recently, there was never anyone on hand to speak up for Public Health.
Now there is: A small but growing group called simply People for Public Health. And the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans was in on its creation.
When things are going well, we don’t think about our Public Health agencies. We take for granted that somebody is:
*Protecting our food and water supplies,
*Maintaining emergency medical services,
*Providing vaccines (for example, for children during flu season),
*Preventing injury and violence,
*Promoting healthy eating and exercise,
*Controlling communicable diseases…and more.
If those functions were NOT being attended to, we’d all be at risk.
And that could happen. In 1999, when the old, progressive Motor Vehicle Excise tax was replaced by a flat $30 tax per car, Public Health agencies across the state lost their major source of funding. The “backfill account” later established by the legislature never did fully replace it. And since 2009 – when needs are rising and more people are seeking health care from a Public Health clinic – Public Health has had to absorb still deeper cuts – everything from staff layoffs to reduction or elimination of basic health services.
Like local governments across the state, Seattle and King County now face still another round of cuts in Public Health staffing and functions. Being considered for possible reductions are the HIV/AIDS program, public health visits to pregnant women, jail-related health services (chiefly, how medications are dispensed), adult health visits at the East Gate Health clinic and nearly 90 full-time equivalent staff.
That’s why we’ve formed People for Public Health, a Seattle-King County grassroots group committed to safe and healthy communities. Our members are social and health professionals, retirees, health sciences students, people working with low-income populations and people from the community.
We’re showing up at hearings on the city and county budgets, using our two minutes at the microphone to ask that public health agencies be kept strong enough to carry out their mission.
All of us have a vested interest in public health. Today, more than ever, public health needs strong voices. If you wish to be such a voice, or simply to keep in touch with our work by email, send your contract information to People for Public Health: amidei@drizzle.com.
To tackle the deficit, sock it to the rich
By Rap Lewis
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the federal deficit commission, has proposed a plan to tackle the federal budget deficit without weakening Social Security or socking it to workers and the middle class.
Her plan gives labor and its community allies a specific rallying point in the campaign to prevent Congress from adopting a plan along the lines of the proposal issued by commission co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson.
“Their proposal would have serious consequences for middle-class Americans, and that is why I cannot support it,” Schakowsky said. The Bowles-Simpson plan would cut Social Security benefits and extend the retirement age.
Schakowsky would keep Social Security benefits intact while making deep reductions in the Pentagon budget by eliminating unnecessary weapons systems and reducing troop levels. She said her plan would ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security by raising the cap on taxable income and by “establishing a modest legacy tax on wealthier Americans.”
Her plan would eliminate corporate tax breaks, end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and at the same time create a $200 billion stimulus directed at tackling unemployment and creating jobs.
“Rep. Schakowsky plans to close the deficit by 2015 without doing so on the backs of America’s seniors, middle class, people with disabilities, and the poor,” said Barbara J. Easterling, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans. “This proposal will bring the deficit under control without jeopardizing retired workers.”
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the federal deficit commission, has proposed a plan to tackle the federal budget deficit without weakening Social Security or socking it to workers and the middle class.
Her plan gives labor and its community allies a specific rallying point in the campaign to prevent Congress from adopting a plan along the lines of the proposal issued by commission co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson.
“Their proposal would have serious consequences for middle-class Americans, and that is why I cannot support it,” Schakowsky said. The Bowles-Simpson plan would cut Social Security benefits and extend the retirement age.
Schakowsky would keep Social Security benefits intact while making deep reductions in the Pentagon budget by eliminating unnecessary weapons systems and reducing troop levels. She said her plan would ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security by raising the cap on taxable income and by “establishing a modest legacy tax on wealthier Americans.”
Her plan would eliminate corporate tax breaks, end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and at the same time create a $200 billion stimulus directed at tackling unemployment and creating jobs.
“Rep. Schakowsky plans to close the deficit by 2015 without doing so on the backs of America’s seniors, middle class, people with disabilities, and the poor,” said Barbara J. Easterling, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans. “This proposal will bring the deficit under control without jeopardizing retired workers.”
The Write Stuff
Letters to the editor are as widely read as any feature in your local paper. The national ARA will send a U.S. union-made pen to any member who has a letter published on any retiree issue. Just clip the letter, send it to the ARA at 815 16th St., N.W., 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20006. Hurry, while stamps are still only 44 cents!
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