Senate Fails to Pass Three-Month Extension of Jobless Aid New York Times ...The Senate failed to move forward on a three-month extension of assistance for the long-term unemployed on Thursday, leaving it unlikely that Congress would approve the measure soon while undercutting a key aspect of President Obama’s economic recovery plan...
Fast-Track Bill’s Path in Congress Gets Bumpier Wall Street Journal ...In 2002, 27 of 222 House Republicans voted “no” on whether to give President George W. Bush fast-track authority. This time, some 60 House Republicans might oppose the legislation, according to estimates from two people following the matter...
Annual U.S. trade deficit with China sets new record in 2013 manufacture this ...Since 2009, the trade deficit with China has risen by 40%...
Report: For-profit probation industry hurts America’s poorest Salon ...in several states, private firms with little-to-no oversight or regulation supervise draconian probation plans, which hits the poorest the hardest. Many of these probation cases relate to unpaid fees in the first, rendering the probation charges disproportionately punitive for the poorest offenders...
Why Walmart is getting too expensive for the middle class Yahoo Finance ...Walmart is struggling with weak sales and an underperforming stock price. The company recently cut its profit outlook...
The Highly Educated Working Poor, Toiling at a University Near You AlterNet ...They're strategizing, organizing and mobilizing against the immoral economics of inequality being hung around America's neck by the likes of Wal-Mart, McDonald's and colleges...
Private construction payrolls continue to show resilience Sober Look ...Over the past 5 months the proportion of jobs from construction has remained unusually stable - from 10 to 15% of total new monthly private payrolls...
Elizabeth Warren: Let's Stop Scamming Our Vets Mother Jones ...This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that would protect elderly veterans from financial scams and sketchy financial advisers...
The Top Priority in the Missouri State Legislature? Lowering Your Wages AFSCME ...The very first bill to receive a hearing in this year’s legislative session in Jefferson City was HB 1099, a so-called “right-to-work” measure aimed at undermining unions. It’s just one of many union-busting bills on the calendar this year...
California Drought Impact Seen Spreading From Fires to Food Cost Bloomberg ...The drought that’s gripping California may soon have the rest of the country seeking relief. The emergency, which follows the state’s driest year on record, is likely to boost the prices of everything from broccoli to cauliflower nationwide. Farmers and truckers stand to lose billions in revenue, weakening an already fragile recovery in the nation’s most-populous state...
Duke Energy plant reports coal-ash spill Charlotte Observer ...Duke Energy said Monday that 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of water were released from a pond at its retired power plant in Eden into the Dan River, and were still flowing...
Candidate opposes right-to-work step The Tribune-Democrat ...“I don’t really understand the logic behind it. In a democratic system, where the majority of workers vote to join a union, I’m not sure what gives a minority the right to say ‘we’ll take advantage of the benefits of the union, but we’re not going to pay for the cost.’...
Michigan governor's budget includes money for Detroit pensions Reuters ...In what would be a major step toward resolving Detroit's historic bankruptcy case, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday unveiled plans to use
state funds to help pay for Detroit worker pensions in his proposed
$52.1 billion state budget...
Vermont Students, Workers Object to Tuition Dollars Being Used to Fund Poverty Wages
Truthout ...Rising tuition, faculty cuts and non-living wages for
janitors and food workers in Vermont institutions of higher learning are
prompting student labor organizers to ask if tuition dollars should be
used to exacerbate inequality...
