"I mean, the whole conversation is rigged... The fact that we don't get to conversation before the break about what we're gonna do in the lame duck... It's just rigged."Watch the video here.
Now it's out of necessity. In times of financial distress, nobody wants to carry a balance. Where people can afford to pay things down, they do.Here's one reason people are feeling poorer (in addition to high unemployment and declining wages): housing prices are still falling. The Census Bureau reported that prices for new homes fell a whopping 13.9 percent from September to October.
everyone who pays taxes will see a tax hike in their first paycheck of the year.Here's how much:
Here’s where it gets ugly. Esterline had given the union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers union, the right of first refusal to buy the facility and operate it itself. But the company decided to renege on the deal when the union had to insist that the company obey Massachusetts law and pay for three months of medical care after employees were let go. Esterline started dealing in bad faith, and said it would cut the already-agreed-upon severance package by $143,000. That’s not kosher; it’s called “regressive bargaining” and the unions have filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board.UE's Northeastern district president Peter Knowlton told In These Times.
"They've rebuffed everything we proposed to save the jobs...Initially, Esterline gave us the right of first refusal on buying the equipment, but then they reneged on that...They also promised a list of all the equipment, but they reneged on that, too. "The Taunton Gazette reports that Haskon workers' last day on the job came Tuesday, Oct. 26, despite the company having previously told them they had until that Saturday to clear out their lockers. The union is still trying to buy the equipment (the company doesn't own the building).
This is the first-ever winner of Labour Start's annual photo contest. It was taken by Robert Day, a branch secretary with the British public sector PCS in Birmingham, England. The photo shows trade unionists marching through Birmingham on April 24, 2008. The mainstream media is almost unanimous in its support for job-killing trade deals, despite massive evidence that they hurt theHoffa doesn't spare his criticism of free trade. Citing Thom Hartmann's terrific new book, "Rebooting the American Economy," he describes how America transformed itself from a small, agrarian nation to an economic powerhouse behind a sturdy wall of protectionism. America was only following the example of Britain, which in the 15th century became a wealthy nation because it protected its textile industry. And protectionism changed South Korea from an exporter of fish and human hair for wigs to an economic power that ships cars, machinery and electronics overseas.economy. They recite the word “protectionism” as if it’s some sort of voodoo spell that will ward off all criticism. U.S.
...all the other trade deals that gave American workers the SHAFTA...
has been in plenty of tough spots and each time emerged as a stronger nation. We overcame British tyranny, reconciled after the Civil War, vanquished Hitler and rebuilt our economy after the Great Depression. America
players risk their lives for the game. An average football player's career lasts only three and a half seasons – but the injuries they face on the job aren't short-lived at all. Tackles, hits, and blocks result in intense physical trauma, impacting players' health, well-being, and medical expenses far into retirement.Further, a lockout would be disastrous for thousands of working families whose livelihood depends on professional football. Says American Rights at Work,
If there's no football season, it would impact 150,000 jobs – and cause more than $140 million in lost revenue – in each and every city with an NFL team.The Teamsters, by the way, have a long history of solidarity with the NFL players. In 1967, the great Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown distributed union cards in an effort to form a Teamsters affiliate. Most recently, the Teamsters and the Players Association delivered two tractor-trailers full of food and supplies to needy families in New Orleans.
“These reductions, along with the State’s proposals in bargaining, are simply unacceptable. Our members work side-by-side with some of society’s most dangerous criminals. We will not stand idly by and allow the State to dismantle protections that help keep them safe.”
There's a razor-thin line between safe and sorry inside state prisons and Kimberly Nichols thinks it's getting crossed — in the wrong direction. She's the wife of a prison guard at Monroe Correctional Complex and she's been telling anyone who will listen how planned budget cuts will mean less pay and more risk for her husband...
...Convicted sex offenders will get less treatment before release. Education, counseling and chemical dependency programs will be scaled back. There'll be complete lockdowns at some prisons each month. New officers will get less training. There'll be fewer officers on patrol in kitchens where inmates can pocket implements for later use as a weapon.Watch a video of the action here.
Samanta Viskovic, 32, began waitressing at the Oceano Greek Seafood Restaurant in May 2009 and within days was flooded with sexual innuendoes, the suit says.When he called her into the storage room and forced a kiss on her, she recorded it for posterity -- and the courts. Listen to it here.
Athanasios Papaspiros continuously suggested that he was "crazy" for his new employee, who constantly told him "his conduct was unwelcome," reads the suit, filed yesterday in Queens Supreme Court.
Ask Ms Florida how well she is doing after being involved in a horrific accident with a loaded refrigerated container (MARESK LINE). A forty foot container stacked inside to the ceiling with avocados toppled over on her Lincoln on I-95 outside Miami. Yes, it was a Florida permitted overweight(95,000lbs)import load. This is just one of hundreds of examples why not to increase the weight on these shipping containers.You'll see much more of this type accident in Carolina when a trucker has to make an emergency maneuver in heavy traffic on I-26 with an over weight box mounted on a junk marine chassis. I know first hand from experience. I have hauled many of these containers to & from the ports loaded with everything from frozen chickens, citrus, forestry products, to being overloaded with hazardous materials. Many scale out at well over the one-hundred thousand pound permit allowed on the highway. Get ready for the roadway carnage brought to you by the ports greedy shipping customers / profit verses your family's life. I have pulled this ocean freight out of the ports since the early seventies (that's when the legal gross weight was (73,280lbs) but then everyone wanted to change that to (80,000). Guess what - these are the same type chassis that were used back thirty-five years ago with no improvement ( actually many of the so-called new chassis are assembled with axle parts over twenty-five years old. They're just refurbished & tagged as a "reconditioned chassis". The chassis owners to this to get around government regulations requiring installation of newer braking systems on brand new factory equipment & without paying federal new heavy vehicle taxes. Allowing overloaded containers is a huge mistake for SC citizens, our roadways, & any trucker who will have to pull this dangerous increase in weight. BTW: When they say permitted for 100,000 gross the shippers will exceed that rating every chance they get just like they do on the 80,000 lb limit now. Check the port records to find out how many container are already over loaded now. This should tell you their track record. I witness even the short twenty footers loaded with 64,000 lb of just inside cargo weight policed by the very same folk that are asking for bigger increases.The Teamsters have long opposed heavier trucks because they're dangerous, they ruin roads and bridges and they require fewer drivers. General President Hoffa wrote last year that
Highway drivers are never happy to see a 120,000 pound, six-axle rig come barreling along side them at 70 mph. The reason is simple: they’re dangerous.
...we may come to see them together as the moment when the wealthy checked out of America and moved into physical and mental gated communities...Ricks has an interesting idea: reinstate the draft -- not the old draft, but a draft where you can do something useful for low pay for 18-24 months. Libertarians could choose to do nothing for their country, and in return they would get nothing:
Lifting truck weight and size limits would turn big rigs into time bombs.Our good friend Jackie Gillan, vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said lifting the weight limits would be like loosening airplane-safety standards after a bunch of airline crashes.
...The billionaires and their supporters in Congress are hell-bent on taking us back to the 1920s, and eliminating all traces of social legislation designed to protect working families, the elderly, children and the disabled. No "social contract" for them. They want it all.
They want to privatize or dismantle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and let the elderly, the sick and the poor fend for themselves.Read the whole thing here.
They want to expand our disastrous trade policies so that corporations can continue throwing American workers out on the street as they outsource jobs to China and other low-wage countries. Some also want to eliminate the minimum wage so that American workers can have the "freedom" to work for $3.00 an hour."
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| Women in the U.S. and Canada helped Hyatt housekeepers clean their rooms on Nov 18. |
The abysmal record prompted Hyatt housekeepers at twelve hotels in eight different cities to simultaneously file injury complaints a few weeks ago with the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA),
that's 15 minutes to make beds, scrub and clean the toilet bowl, bathtub and all bathroom surfaces, dust, vacuum, empty the trash, change linens-among other things.So if you have to stay at a Hyatt, at the very least be sure to give the housekeeper a generous tip.
...in the 1990s the average commercial TV station received about 3 percent of its revenues from campaign ads, this year campaign money could account for as much as 20 percent ... thirty-second spots that went for $2,000 in 2008 were jacked up to $5,000 this year... Much of this money will go to stations owned by a handful of Fortune 500 firms...
...wiped away a century of campaign finance regulations designed to prevent corporations and business alliances from using their immense resources to buy the results that best serve their interests...The corporate-owned media serves the corporate interests by restricting debate and participation, which, the Nation points out, makes it easier to buy the government. And yet broadcasters receive free monopoly licenses from the government -- under the condition that they serve the public interest.
...if they are creating jobs, it isn't here. The money is flowing out of the country and into developing markets at an incredible rate.The Bush tax cuts amounted to $1.3 trillion between 2002 and 2008. During that time $1.9 trillion left the U.S. to invest in developing countries.
How about instead of giving the money to the rich and hoping that they create jobs, we just create the jobs! Imagine what we could build and how much good we could do for the country if we used that extra $700 billion to actually hire people directly. Imagine how many jobs that could create. ($700 billion is what the top tier would receive from a tax cut over 10 years).
It might be worth it if we just hired people to do what would otherwise be volunteer work. It might be worth it if we just built a whole new green energy sector. It might be worth it if we just hired an enormous number of teachers to give our kids the best education in the world...Good thinking.
...we are eager to do our fair share. We don’t need more tax cuts, and we understand that cutting our taxes will increase the deficit and the debt burden carried by other taxpayers. The country needs to meet its financial obligations in a just and responsible way.Joe Conasen at Salon reports that some millionaires scoffed at the project.
At least two airily dismissed the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and above -- which will cost well over $700 billion over the coming decade -- as "small potatoes."One super-rich investor said "anyone who has money is made to feel that they're bad" (our hearts are bleeding).
The House of Representatives on Thursday voted down a measure that would have reauthorized extended unemployment insurance for another three months, leaving no clear path forward to prevent the benefits from lapsing as scheduled on Nov. 30.
Without a reauthorization, the Labor Department estimates that two million long-term unemployed will prematurely stop receiving benefits before the end of the year.
...inequality in the United States has soared to levels comparable to those in Argentina six decades ago — with 1 percent controlling 24 percent of American income in 2007.Here's another stunning statistic from our friends at the Economic Policy Institute: The top 1 percent of Americans owns 34 percent of America’s private net worth.
a significant number of members owned shares of major players in the health-care and financial-services sectors, which were the subject of major reform legislation during the period.Check out this slide show on the richest members of Congress.
The spending reflects the insurers’ attempts to influence the bill after Democrats in Congress and the White House put more focus on regulation of the insurance industry.The ginormous contribution to the Chamber was revealed in tax returns filed recently.
For too many Republicans, the aim is to ... trash the institutions of government.Pearlstein doesn't even mention that Congress probably won't extend unemployment benefits. David Dayen at firedoglake reports that it's going to be very, very difficult for the Senate to vote on an extension by the deadline -- which is Friday. Two million people will lose their benefits.
“I think it’s a crime for our elected officials to borrow money today, to spend money today and push the repayment of that loan out into the future on people who are not even born yet.”Joe's son Tom is chairman of the Cubs. He wants Illinois taxpayers to assume the risk for hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs for Wrigley Field, which his family owns along with the team.
reacted incredulously when informed that federal law mandated that his government-subsidized health care policy would take effect on Feb. 1 – 28 days after his Jan. 3rd swearing-in.The irony, of course, is that what Harris wanted was a public option, which he had strongly opposed -- at least on the campaign trail. As Talking Points Memo points out,
“He stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care,” said a congressional staffer who saw the exchange....“Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap,” added the aide.
Harris told voters, "the answer to the ever-rising cost of insurance is not the expansion of government-run or government-mandated insurance but, instead, common-sense market based solutions that ensure decisions are made by patients and their doctors."