Housing costs are too damn high!

Homeownership, once considered the cornerstone of the American Dream, continues to slip away from more and more U.S. workers, a new report by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) states. But the document also states that rent costs are straining the middle class as well.


The "State of the Nation's Housing 2015" paper detailed that the nation's housing recovery slipped last year as homeownership rates continued to fall. Meanwhile, rental markets continue to grow, but soaring rents combined with flat incomes means more and more households are paying too much for the roof over their heads.

Chris Herbert, JCHS's managing director, said:

Perhaps the most telling indicator of the state of the nation's housing is the drop in the homeownership rate to just 64.5 percent last year. This erases nearly all of the increase from the previous two decades. In fact, the number of homeowners fell for the eighth straight year, and the trend does not appear to be abating.

That, in turn, has caused a surge in rental demand. As a result, the national vacancy rate fell to its lowest point in nearly 20 years and rents rose 3.2 percent last year. Households headed by those aged 45-64 led the renter growth "movement."

Not surprisingly, the surge in rents has created an increase in the number of cost-burdened households -- those paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing. According to the latest numbers, nearly half of all renters now fall into that category.

This is what income inequality has done to this country. Working families are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. And increasingly, lower rent options are being torn down, replaced with high-rent alternatives that leave few places for low-income families to go.

A Slate article explains:

Rents are rising for the simple reason that, thanks to the never-ending hangover of the housing bust, a larger share of Americans are renting their living places now than they have in 20 years. And while developers have responded by building apartment buildings like mad—last year, there were the most multifamily housing starts for rent since 1987—it hasn't quite been enough to keep up with demand. (Moreover, new construction is largely catering to wealthier buyers, while the families most burdened by rent tend to be lower-income.)

Workers should be able to live a life of dignity. That means being able to have a place to call their own. But due to corporate greed, salaries aren't keep up. It's time for lawmakers to push for sustainable wages so hardworking Americans can afford the basics of life.

Today's Teamster News 01.31.14

Hoffa Praises Bill to Discourage Excessive CEO Pay  teamster.org   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa praised U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, for introducing a bill to end a taxpayer subsidy for excessive CEO pay...
Teamsters Win First Contract at Kennedy Space Center  teamster.org   ...Badging clerks at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center ratified their first union contract on Tuesday as members of Teamsters Local 769. The new pact secures wage increases, improved vacation benefits and protection of full-time jobs in the 10-member bargaining unit...
Teamsters, Fast Track opponents making an impact. You can too.  TeamsterNation   ...Members of Congress are starting to listen to the thousands of Teamsters who are calling, emailing, rallying and telling them face-to-face: Vote NO on Fast Track...
Applications are now being accepted for the JRHMSF  teamster.org   ...The 2014-2015 scholarship for high school seniors has an application deadline of March 31, 2014. Visit the James R. Hoffa Scholarship Fund Information Center for eligibility requirements and application procedures...
Lunches seized from kids in debt at Salt Lake City elementary  The Salt Lake Tribune   ...Up to 40 kids at Uintah Elementary in Salt Lake City picked up their lunches Tuesday, then watched as the meals were taken and thrown away because of outstanding balances on their accounts — a move that shocked and angered parents...
The Danish Government Nearly Collapsed Today Over A Deal With Goldman Sachs  Business Insider   ...Denmark's government is in turmoil after the Socialist People's Party (SF) quit the ruling coalition over a deal with Goldman Sachs, Lars Eriksen of the Guardian reports. The deal involves Goldman purchasing a 19% stake in state-owned utility Dong Energy for $1.5 billion. Denmark’s shareholding would fall to about 60%...
Coal Markets Hit Hard as Emerging Economies Begin to Wobble  Oil Price   ...Slowing growth in developing countries has started to affect the commodities market, especially for coal, as orders are slashed and prices have fallen as much as 10 percent in a month...
Spy Agencies Work On Psychologically Profiling Everyone  Washington's Blog   ...Newly-released documents from Edward Snowden show that the NSA and other spy agencies are tracking people’s psychological and lifestyle traits such as sexual preference, extroversion-versus-introversion, and whether people are leaders or followers...
Beer buzz? FAA grounds plan to deliver 12-packs by drone  Minneapolis Star Tribune   ...The idea seemed ingenious: Delivering 12-packs of beer to the cold, windswept surfaces of popular ice fishing lakes — using a drone...
Lawsuit: KBR transported soldiers' ice in unsanitized morgue trailers  Military Times   ...The Justice Department is suing KBR and two foreign companies for allegedly defrauding the Army. The most shocking accusation: Workers used “refrigerated trailers to transport ice for consumption by the troops that had previously been used as temporary morgues without first sanitizing them.”...
Wall Street’s New Housing Bonanza  New York Times   ... Investment bankers and lawyers are now lining up to finance investors, from big private equity firms to plumbers and dentists moonlighting as landlords, who are buying up foreclosed houses and renting them out...
U.S. West Coast Labor Tensions Push Shippers to Look at Alternative Routes  Journal of Commerce ...Li & Fung Logistics is preparing alternatives to shipping through U.S. West Coast ports, as the global sourcing giant expects some type of International Longshore and Warehouse Union disruption tied to the negotiations for a contract to replace the current one that expires June 30...
States Have Lost $1.76 Billion After Long-Term Unemployment Benefits Lapsed  ThinkProgress   ...State economies have lost $1.76 billion after Congress let the benefits program for the long-term unemployed lapse at the end of last year, according to a calculation from the Democratic Policy & Communications Center...
Citigroup to limit work hours, force bankers to use vacation time  Bloomberg News   ...Citigroup Inc. will require junior bankers to take Saturdays off and use all of their vacation time each year as the firm joins an industry effort to improve working conditions...
State Moves To Make Sure Workers Don’t Lose Pay If They Get The Flu  ThinkProgress   ...On Wednesday, the Washington State House passed a bill that would guarantee workers paid time off for an illness or to care for a sick family member...
U.S. has launched criminal probe into Target cyberattack  Los Angeles Times   ...The Justice Department said Wednesday that it has launched a criminal investigation into the recent cybertheft of more than 110 million Target customers' personal data...
Union Members Overwhelmingly Vote to Ratify Caesars Entertainment Contract  unitehere.org   Members of the Culinary and Bartenders Unions voted yesterday to ratify a new five-year agreement with Caesars Entertainment. The contract covers 13,000 workers in Las Vegas...

Today's Teamster News 01.24.14

Teamsters Legislative Rep Discusses TPP, Dangers of Fast Track  teamster.org   ...Mike Dolan was interviewed on RT News about the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and how Americans are being silenced by fast-track authority. Watch the interview here...
Ariz. Lawmaker Sounds Off on Fast Track, TPP  Arizona Daily Star   ...Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) took aim at fast-track legislation and the Trans-Pacific Partnership in an op-ed appearing in the Arizona Daily Star, saying it would hurt working Americans and is "Congress' version of saying 'My way or the highway.'"...
Lawmakers Need to Match ‘Moral’ Movement  teamster.org   ...Residents of North Carolina in 2013 saw the actions of an oppressive state government come to life when lawmakers approved and Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed legislation that curbed long-term unemployment benefits, education spending, health care eligibility and voting rights...
The Workers' Scorecard on NAFTA  Truthout ...Twenty years later, workers have a scorecard. The promises of profits from increased investment and freer markets were kept. But the promises of jobs and benefits for working people were not...
How Amazon Continues to Get Away With Abusing Its Workers  The Salon   ...The inside story of how the retail giant has managed to remain union-free across the United States...
Where The American Dream Is Dead And Buried  The Huffington Post   ...If you dream of one day pulling yourself up by your bootstraps to become the next Bill Gates, there are some places in America where it's somewhat easier to do that than others, a new study reveals...
Apprenticeships Could Help Reduce Youth Unemployment, Business Leaders Say  New York Times   ...Leaders of manufacturing companies, facing an aging population of skilled employees, say apprenticeships and internships can help society avoid a “lost generation” of workers...
U.S. and Canada Urge New Safety Rules for Crude Oil Rail Shipments   New York Times   ...In a joint move that highlighted growing concerns about the safety of crude oil transportation by rail, officials from the United States and Canada issued a series of recommendations on Thursday, including that the trains avoid populated and sensitive areas...
U.S. investigates Arizona pension investment trust  Associated Press   ...Federal authorities are investigating a state retirement investment trust which has been accused of inflating the values of poor-performing real-estate holdings...
U.S. says 665,000 background checks performed by firm were flawed  Washington Post   ...Justice Dept. joins the suit against the firm that cleared Snowden and the Navy Yard shooter...
United offers jobs to furloughed flight attendants  Associated Press ...United Airlines said it has found a way to keep 688 flight attendants who are set to be furloughed on April 1...
Rich Man Calls Rising Income Inequality 'Fantastic'  Huffington Post   ...Canadian millionaire Kevin O’Leary couldn't have been more excited to learn that the 85 richest people on Earth are now worth as much half the world's population."It’s fantastic," Leary said...
U.S. Offshore Wind Farm, Made in Europe  New York Times   ...The promise of new jobs and work for American companies failed to come true, revealing shortcomings in the American offshore wind industry...
Neiman Marcus: 1.1M cards may be compromised  Associated Press   ...Neiman Marcus says that a security breach last year may have affected about 1.1 million cards...
U.S. attorney’s office subpoenas Chris Christie campaign  Politco   ...The U.S. Attorney’s office in New Jersey has subpoenaed Gov. Chris Christie’s reelection campaign and the state Republican party for documents related to the George Washington Bridge lane closure controversy, an attorney for the two groups confirmed Thursday...

Today's Teamster News 01.23.14

Midwest Foods Warehouse Workers Choose Teamsters  teamstersjc25.com   ...Thirty distribution employees and drivers at Midwest Foods overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters Local 703, which negotiated a strong, new five-year contract for their newest members... 
N.Y. Teamsters Join Anti-Fast Track Fight  teamster.org   ...The Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 553 in New York City, spoke out Tuesday against legislation that would force a quick up-or-down vote on bum trade deals like the TPP...
Unions coalesce against ‘paycheck protection’ legislation  Pennsylvania Independent   ...Unions across Pennsylvania are fighting a proposal that would end the practice of automatically deducting dues from public workers’ paychecks. The plan squelches the voice of organized labor, the labor groups say...
Thievery: How Congress Keeps Stealing From Our Retirement Benefits and Social Safety Net   AlterNet...Military pensions, unemployment, disability and Social Security are all targets...
Labor, business interests debate Missouri 'right to work' legislation  Colombia Missourian   ...Labor and business representatives turned out in large numbers Tuesday morning in the second public hearing for House Bills 1053 and 1143, popularly known as the "right to work" bills...
No, It’s About Profits, Not “Free Speech”  NH Labor News   ...Don’t be fooled. Tueday's Supreme Court hearing in Harris v. Quinn was about corporate profits – the cold, hard cash that employers can save when they break their workers’ union...
BP Employees, Outraged by Lack of Compensation, Warn Oil Spill Victims  Truthout   ...Long-term employees accuse oil giant BP of greed, exploitation and lying about their pensions...
Public Employees Are Transforming the Workplace  Jobs With Justice   ...As the 2014 state legislative sessions commence, an increasing number of elected officials have declared open season on public employees and their unions. Yet examples abound of productive labor-management relations in the public sector—even in the wake of government agencies reeling from the Great Recession...
NSA sets dangerous global trend for surveillance  The Raw Story   ...The U.S. is setting a dangerous example for the world with its sweeping surveillance programmes, giving governments an excuse for mass censorship of online communications, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report Tuesday...
Housing costs are killing the American Dream  Moyers & Company   ...Historically, economic and geographic mobility have been intertwined. Studies have shown that the number one reason that people pick up and move to another community is for work:. But something has happened. In the 1980s, we began to stay put...
West Virginia Governor On Safety Of Water Supply: ‘It’s Your Decision… I’m Not A Scientist’   ThinkProgress   ...Amid growing concern over whether or not West Virginia's water is actually safe, the state's governor said it was up to residents to decide whether they use it...
Company that contaminated WV water supply reaches bankruptcy deal, bemoans 'perception' problem
DailyKos   ...The spill is causing the spiller a "perception" problem...
The Myth of the Absent Black Father  ThinkProgress   ...CDC research dispels prevailing assumptions about black fathers, they're more involved with their children's lives than previously thought...
New study reveals major gaps in FDA’s ‘regulatory flexibility’  The Raw Story   ...Consumers may expect that medical treatments approved for the US market are safe and thoroughly tested, but a study out Tuesday said that is not always the case...
Ownership of WaPo by CIA Contractor Puts U.S. Journalism in Dangerous Terrain  The Real News   ...Norman Solomon: There is a major conflict of interest in the ownership of The Washington Post by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who holds a $600 million contract with the CIA...
Senator Warren: Let students refinance their loans  Associated Press   ...U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is planning to file a bill to let students refinance their old loans at a new lower rate...
Slumping Intel to cut more than 5,000 jobs in 2014  Associated Press   ...Intel plans to trim more than 5,000 jobs from its workforce this year in an effort to boost its earnings amid waning demand for its personal computer chips...
Texas Instruments cutting 1,100 jobs; 4Q profit up  Seattle Post-Intelligencer ...Chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. said Tuesday that it will cut 1,100 jobs worldwide, about 3 percent of its workforce, to trim costs and will reduce its investments in certain markets...

Today's Teamster News 12.23.13

UPDATE: Adding S. Korea rail strike item.
Military pension cuts now unsure; changes likely  Washington Post   ...The Pentagon’s top civilian says it’s time to tame burgeoning military personnel costs, but he’s facing a test of wills with the nation’s powerful veterans groups, which want no cut in their benefits...
Diplomat's housekeeper kept 'like a slave'  New York Post   ...In India, Devyani Khobragade advocated for women’s rights. But in New York, she was a slave driver, says the family of Khobragade’s housekeeper...
50 educators sign letter to Catholic University protesting Koch Foundation’s $1 million gift  Washington Post   ...Fifty prominent Catholic educators have signed a letter protesting Catholic University of America’s recent acceptance of a $1 million grant from a foundation affiliated with the billionaire libertarian Koch brothers … It says the Koch brothers’ activism against unions and climate-change science, among other things, is in “stark contrast” to the church’s “traditional social justice teachings.”…
U.S. agriculture considering opposition to TPP trade deal  The Grand Island Independent   ...A coalition of agricultural organizations is likely to oppose a final Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement if Japan is included...
South Korean union vows all-out strike in sympathy with rail workers  Reuters   ...South Korea's militant labor federation announced a general strike from Saturday in sympathy with rail workers, after police hauled away scores of strikers in a two-week dispute that has hit President Park Geun-hye's popularity ratings...
Corporate Tribunals: A U.S. / EU Holiday Gift to Foreign Firms?  Public Citizen   ...A moratorium on fracking. A strong anti-smoking cigarette label. A requirement to clean up industrial pollution. A medicine patent policy that could tamp down health costs. A decision to phase out nuclear energy. Each of these has been attacked by a foreign corporation using "trade" and investment treaties that allow firms to circumvent domestic legal systems and directly challenge domestic public interest policies before private international tribunals...
This Chart Blows Up the Myth of the Welfare Queen  The Atlantic   ...On average, they spend $30,582 in a year, compared to $66,525 for families not on public assistance. Meanwhile, they spend a third less on food, half as much on housing, and 60 percent less on entertainment...
US Treasury signs anti-tax evasion pacts with six jurisdictions  Reuters   ...The agreements were completed this past week with Bermuda, Malta, the Netherlands and three UK Crown Dependencies: Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
The death of the American Dream in a single image  Hullabaloo   ... It is harder for the poor to get into the middle class, and for the middle class to become wealthy, in America than in almost any other industrialized country. Our income distribution is the most unequal of any industrialized country, and at the highest level since 1928...

Today's Teamster News 10.26.13

Missouri First Student School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters  teamster.org   ...School bus drivers and monitors with First Student in Sedalia, Mo., have voted overwhelmingly to join Teamsters Local 833 in Jefferson City, Mo. There 45 school bus workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters Ratify Contract At Yogurt Plant  WNYF News   ...Unionized workers at the Upstate Niagara Cooperative yogurt plant in North Lawrence have ratified a new three-year contract extension by "an overwhelming majority." The 36 workers in the bargaining unit are represented by Teamsters Local 687...
Teamsters, Republic Airline Representatives Resume Negotiations  teamster.org   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ Airline Division and representatives of Republic Airways held talks Thursday in Washington, D.C...
Union lawyers build case against Detroit early in bankruptcy trial  Reuters   ...Attorneys for Detroit unions and retirees sought to build a case on Thursday that Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr did not negotiate in good faith before Detroit filed for bankruptcy so they could block the city from getting court protection...
Puget Sound grocery workers’ contract-ratification votes set for next week  Associated Press   ...Ratification votes are scheduled next week on a tentative contract agreement that averted a strike by 21,000 grocery workers at four major grocery chains in the Puget Sound region...
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Up From Prior Month  Campaign for America's Future   ...$38.8 billion more, drained from the economy, in just one month...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Legalizes Corporate Rights Prevailing Over Human Rights  Truthout   ...Ever since the current juggernaut of "free trade" agreements began to be negotiated under President George Herbert Walker Bush (which resulted in the signing of NAFTA under President Bill Clinton), jobs have been fleeing America as corporations have become engorged with greater profits...
Canadian grocery giant Loblaw to compensate victims' families of Bangladesh factory collapse Seattle Times   ...Canadian grocery giant Loblaw Companies Ltd. said Thursday that it will provide long-term financial assistance to the surviving victims and families affected by a deadly factory collapse in Bangladesh...
Students Demand College-Logo Brands Join Fire and Safety Agreement  The Nation   ...This week United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is holding demonstrations at more than thirty colleges and universities across the country as part of an International Week of Action to End Deathtraps commemorating the six-month anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh...
Ruling opens door to U.S. sales of China-processed chicken  Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...Coming soon maybe to a grocery store near you — chicken from China. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ruled recently that poultry processed in China can be sold in the U.S...
Shutdown And Debt Ceiling Fights Cost 120,000 Jobs In Two Weeks  ThinkProgress   ...The fights over the government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling reduced economic output by 0.25 percent in the fourth quarter of this year and cost about 120,000 private sector jobs in the first two weeks of October...
Drop in teen driving tracks with teen unemployment, HLDI study finds  Insurance Institute for Highway Safety   ...the proportion of high school seniors with a driver's license fell from 85 percent in 1996 to 73 percent in 2010. The proportion of seniors who reported that they didn't drive during an average week rose from 15 percent to 22 percent over the same period...
The American Dream Might As Well Be Dead: Here's Proof  Huffington Post   ...only 43 percent of survey respondents said that achieving the American Dream is possible in this economy...
A Huge Billion Dollar Slumlord  Huffington Post   ...Here's What Happens When Wall St. Builds A Rental Empire...renovations they were assured were comprehensive amounted to little more than a fresh coat of paint and new carpeting. Tenants said they immediately discovered major mechanical and plumbing problems: broken water heaters and air conditioners, broken toilets and in some cases even vermin infestations, including fleas, silverfish and rodents. Attempts to get the issues fixed usually end in frustration...
"Cash for Kids": Firms Behind Juvenile Prison Bribes Reach $2.5 Million Settlement in Civil Suit   Democracy Now   ...Here's the latest news in the so-called "kids-for-cash" scandal in Pennsylvania, in which judges took money in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to for-profit youth jails...
GOP Official Resigns After Saying Purpose Of Voter ID Is To Suppress Votes Of Democrats, ‘Lazy Blacks’   ThinkProgress   ...Until Thursday, Don Yelton was a precinct chair in the Buncombe County, North Carolina Republican Party. That ended after an interview riddled with racism and candid admissions about the purpose of a voter suppression bill enacted by Republican lawmakers in his state...
California to levy massive fine against Koch brothers groups  Washington Post   ...Two groups that are part of a conservative political network maintained by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have agreed to a record $1 million civil settlement with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the largest campaign fine in state history...
ALEC and TIAA-CREF Join the Assault on Public Pensions (opinion)  Truthout   ...The right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council has jumped into the conservative effort to dismantle public pension systems in a big way, making it one of its top 2014 legislative priorities, a public pension advocacy group has warned...
Strikes Shutdown Chile’s Public Sector Ahead of Presidential Election  PanAm Post   ...With less than a month before Chile’s presidential and parliamentary elections, its largest labor alliance, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), instigated a nationwide strike on Wednesday involving thousands of public sector workers...
Citi forecasts Greek devastation, unstoppable debt spirals in Italy and Portugal  The Telegraph   ...If Citigroup is broadly correct, Europe faces a lost decade that is far worse than anything suffered by Japan, which will render the region marginal in coming world affairs, and is likely to have non-linear political consequences...
Mexico clown convention condemns fancy-dress drug cartel killing  The Guardian   ...Delegates to a three-day Latin American clown convention in Mexico City have distanced themselves from the murder last week of a drug lord by a hitman in fancy dress, insisting no genuine member of their profession would have committed the crime...

Today's Teamster News 10.01.13

Teamsters: House GOP's Political Games Endanger Economy, Jobs  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union blasted extremist House Republicans today for endangering the U.S. economy and threatening the livelihood of millions of public and private sector workers with a possible government shutdown...
Teamsters reject Wegmans contract offer  Rochester Democrat & Chronicle   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 118 has rejected Wegmans "last, best and final" contract offer. The grocery company says the move authorizes union members to go on strike...
Hospital, union deserve praise (opinion)  Montana Standard   ...Congratulations are in order for St. James Healthcare and Teamsters Local 2, who reached a last-minute deal late on Sept. 19 to avoid a strike...
U.S. Wealth Is Now the Most Concentrated at the Top Since 1916  AlterNet   ...The top ten-thousandth of the U.S. population have done very well under President Obama’s leadership, even if they had predominantly voted and contributed to Mitt Romney...
US Chamber of Commerce: TPP is one month away  CNBC   ..."I think we are getting close. The [U.S.] President will be able to announce, as will other world leaders, progress in the right direction [at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting], but my guess is that it's got another month in it," Donohue told CNBC Asia's Squawk Box on Tuesday...
FHA to get $1.7 billion in its first taxpayer-funded bailout  Los Angeles Times   ...The Federal Housing Administration dramatically expanded its role after the subprime market collapsed, but at the expense of its own finances. Now, the government agency will get a first-ever bailout of $1.7 billion...
Google Paid $55 Million In UK Taxes On $5.5 Billion Sales In 2012  Reuters   ...Google, which has been grilled twice in the past year by a UK parliamentary committee over its tax practices, had a UK tax bill of 35 million pounds ($55 million) in 2012, on sales of $5.5 billion to British customers, its accounts showed...
A Wave of U.S. Sewing Jobs as Orders Pile Up  New York Times   ...Factories are finding that years of doing business overseas has shrunk what once was a thriving textile and apparel work force...
Toyota says it will export U.S.-built Corollas to Latin America  Los Angeles Times ...The new Toyota Corolla has barely hit car dealers but Toyota is already saying it plans to export the U.S.-built version of the compact sedan to 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean starting next year...
NYC inmate almost as costly as Ivy League tuition  Associated Press   ...New York is indeed an expensive place, but experts say that alone doesn't explain a recent report that found the city's annual cost per inmate was $167,731 last year — nearly as much as it costs to pay for four years of tuition at an Ivy League university...
Huge Spike In Poverty Among Elderly Women Catches Analysts By Surprise  Think Progress   ...The number of women over the age of 65 living in extreme poverty jumped by 18 percent last year after having held steady for most of the previous decade the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) reported Thursday...
Wall Street Predators Wage Secret War on American Retirements  AlterNet   ...Financiers are lying their way to another giant theft of public money...
BP returns to court over Deepwater Horizon spill as $18 billion in fines loom  The Guardian   ...Penalties against BP for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster could add up to $18 billion – five times the $3.5 billion originally set aside for fines...
Airlines shift focus from baggage fees to new services to make flying better, boosting revenue  Associated Press ...Airlines are introducing a new bevy of fees, but this time passengers might actually like them...
American Airlines plans to hire 1,500 pilots  Reuters   ...American Airlines plans to hire 1,500 pilots over the next five years as it expands international flying and takes delivery of new planes, the carrier said on Monday...
Indiana, Illinois governors endorse Illiana Expressway  Associated Press   ...The governors of Indiana and Illinois have given their endorsement to a planned 47-mile expressway aimed at relieving traffic congestion in the Chicago area and creating jobs in both states...
Consultants' contracts soar to more than $62 million for Detroit bankruptcy  Detroit Free Press   ...Contracts approved for consultants and lawyers advising emergency manager Kevyn Orr’s team as it restructures city government and prepares for a likely Chapter 9 bankruptcy have skyrocketed to at least $62 million, with some firms getting more than $10-million increases, according to records reviewed by the Free Press...

Today's Teamster News 11.24.11

As Work Goes Global, Will Holidays Disappear?  Bloomberg   ...With more and more business conducted across borders, workers find it increasingly difficult to rest on national or religious holidays...
Teamsters sue to keep Mexican trucks out  Detroit News   ..."Opening the border to these dangerous, dirty trucks is an attack on highway safety, an attack on American truckers and warehouse workers, an attack on border security and an attack on our environment," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Wisconsin led nation in Oct job losses  The Cap Times   ...No press release from the Governor's office on this one...
Fatalism and the American Dream  New York TImes   ...(A) report, which examined economic and social mobility in 10 Western countries, found that Americans actually appear to have less control over their success in life than their counterparts do...
The Average Bush Tax Cut For The 1 Percent This Year Will Be Greater Than The Average Income Of The Other 99 Percent  Think Progress   ... congress’ fiscal super committee failed to craft a deficit reduction package due to Republican refusal to consider tax increases on the super wealthy...
Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Protests, Events Planned for Black Friday & Thanksgiving  firedoglake   ...With many encampments still setup around the country, it is to be expected that there will be stories of occupations having Thanksgiving at their camps...

Inspiration Wednesday: 'This Land Is Your Land'

From the Man in Black, circa 1969.

VIDEO: The American Dream

The American Dream used to mean something....

NJ gov bails out American Dream -- the shopping mall, that is

New Jersey needs good jobs and education funding. Instead, residents of the Garden State are getting another ugly mall.

The Xanadu Meadowlands complex, a monster retail and entertainment boondoggle, has been in the works since 2003. The tacky, multi-colored facility boasts an indoor water park and a 600-foot ski slope. Already, $1.9 billion has been spent on the project under the past three governors, and its development is back on under Gov. Chris Christie, as ThinkProgress reports:

"Though the Christie administration has criticized Xanadu, once calling it a 'failed business model,' and the governor said he was uncomfortable getting the state involved in private development, the state would provide $180 million to $200 million in low-interest financing and forfeit a similar amount in future sales-tax revenue. The administration has argued that the project is too big and too far along to let it lie fallow."

Adding insult to injury for New Jersey taxpayers, Xanadu was recently renamed the American Dream Meadowlands.

The real American Dream stood for something: that if you put in a hard day's work, you could expect good American wagers, benefits and a better life for your kids. It meant that when products were made in America, people knew they were getting the highest quality manufactured goods money could buy.

The real American Dream is what New Jersey residents would certainly prefer. Already, they've seen hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to education funding, impacting some of the state's poorest communities. Christie wants to institute cuts that would quadruple public workers' health care costs. He has already cut funding for women's health programs, mental health services and more.

It looks like New Jersey will be getting the American Dream after all. Just the wrong one.