Thursday, June 28, 2012

Today's Teamster News 06.28.12

Single Payer Fight to Intensify in States if Court Strikes Down Health Care Law  firedoglake   ... if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act, is that this will afford an opportunity to return to the public with a full-throated call for “Medicare for All,” a single-payer system that would use taxes to fund health coverage for all of the country’s citizens, as is done throughout the world. This would reduce administrative costs and create added bargaining power to lower costs throughout the system...
JPMorgan Trading Loss May Reach $9 Billion  DealBook   ...the sharply higher loss totals will feed a debate over how strictly large financial institutions should be regulated and whether some of the behemoth banks are capitalizing on their status as too big to fail to make risky trades....
Uninsured and fighting blazes: Welcome to the life of a federal firefighter  Wonkblog   ...many federal firefighters are temporary employees, who only work six months out of the year (although as Lauer describes it, they can often work a full year’s worth of hours with the long shifts). Under federal regulations, temporary employees of the Forest Service do not receive benefits. That means no health care and no retirement pension...
Atwater hopes to reform flawed contracting process by exposing it to sunlight  Miami Herald   ...Florida will spend $47 billion this year hiring outsiders to provide goods and services for the state but hundreds of the contractors will not be required to show they provided services they agreed to and their documentation will be rife with errors...
Stockton, California’s Bankruptcy Makes 'Normal' Cities Nervous  Governing   ...Unlike many high-profile bankruptcies, Stockton’s financial woes are the result of many different factors that are not unusual for many localities....
Bill aims to prevent loss of auto jobs  Detroit News   ...nternational Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa — on a conference call with Brown and a Ford Motor Co. trade executive — said the administration should be careful about new trade agreements...