Today's Teamster News 12.16.14

Teamster News
What the Cromnibus Law Means for Multiemployer Pension Plans  International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans   ...The law states that plans in "critical and declining status" can temporarily or permanently suspend current and future benefits...
Congress Rolls Back Trucker Rest Requirements  CBS12   …Fatigue is often a major factor in many crashes. So why are federal lawmakers saying its okay for big rig haulers to drive more and sleep less?...
CRomnibus Heads to Oval Office  U.S. News and World Report   ...the bill now heads to the Oval Office for approval...
Maine Senator Is Again Friend to Trucking as Rule Eased  Bloomberg   ...Susan Collins...got a rider attached to the spending bill approved over the weekend so truckers will no longer have to get two nights sleep in a row before starting a work week. Suspending year-old federal regulations means truckers will be allowed to work as many as 82 hours over eight days -- upending what safety advocates said was a key component of a 15-year effort to reduce deaths caused by drowsy long-haul drivers...
Two N.Y. State Senators Oppose Horse-Carriage Ban, Warn Of 'Real Battle'  New York Daily News   ...Two Democratic state senators are the latest to come out in opposition to Mayor de Blasio’s push to ban horse carriages in the city. Sens. Diane Savino, chairwoman of the Senate Labor Committee, and Jose Peralta, the panel’s ranking minority party member, have drafted a letter to de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito vehemently opposing to the Council bill on the mayor’s plan...
Entergy,Teamsters Union Agree On Contract For Indian Point Security Workers  Daily Voice   ... Entergy and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 456 have agreed on a new contract for the union’s approximately 186 security workers at the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan...
Keystone XL pipeline may no longer make economic sense, experts say  Los Angeles Times   ...plunging oil prices have analysts questioning whether the plan to link Canadian tar sands with Gulf Coast refineries still makes economic sense...
Trade
Hatch says trade an area where GOP, Obama can work together  The Hill   ...Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who is expected to take the helm of the Senate Finance Committee, said passing trade promotion authority (TPA) is not only an avenue to completing two massive trade deals — the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) — but is a place where Republicans can work with President Obama...
New Trade Agreements will Take Center Stage in 2015. So Will Bad Arguments Made on their Behalf.  Economic Policy Institute   ...while these trade-induced losses (which I estimated to be roughly $1,800 annually for a full-time worker without a college degree) do not explain all, or even the majority, of the rise in inequality over the past generation, they’re not trivial...
State Battles
Right-to-work would trim union clout, but broader economic impact unclear  Wisconsin State Journal   ...“We’re not purporting to prove that right-to-work produces superior economic performance,” Greer said. The more important argument, he said, is that workers should have the freedom to choose whether to pay union dues or not...
Florida senators relaunch bill to overhaul local pension plans  Tampa Bay Times   ...The measure would allow cities with faltering pension funds to use additional insurance premium tax revenues to shore up their accounts...
Public money for schools buys private property  Detroit Free Press   ...National Heritage Academies, Michigan's largest charter management company, has an unusual arrangement with its schools. The for-profit company — and not the schools — owns the contents of its school buildings, even though those desks, computers, books and supplies may have been purchased with taxpayer money...

Kansas Governor Proposes Using Pension Money to Cover Budget Gaps Created By His Tax Cuts  International Business Times   ...In 2012, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed a landmark bill that delivered big tax cuts to high income earners and businesses. Less than two years after that tax cut, the state's income tax revenues plummeted by a quarter-billion dollars -- and now Brownback is pushing to use money for public employees’ pensions to instead cover the state's ensuing budget shortfalls...

Inside The Koch-Backed History Lessons North Carolina Wants To Teach High School Students  ThinkProgress   ...Public high school students in North Carolina will be taught from a lesson plans and worksheets prepared by a organization closely tied to the billionaire Koch brothers, if the state’s Department of Public Instruction gets its way...

W.Va. Minimum Wage Rising In 2015 And 2016  WSAZ   ...Back in April, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed a bill raising minimum wage by 75 cents, which means it will soon rise to $8 an hour. The raise goes into effect January 1st. As part of the bill, minimum wage will go up another 75 cents in 2016...
Councilors Put Off Vote On Mayor’s Plan To Raise Portland’s Minimum Wage  Portland Press Herald   ...The Portland City Council’s Finance Committee listened to more than two hours of testimony Thursday on a measure that would raise the city’s minimum wage to a level above the state minimum, but postponed making a final recommendation until next year...
War on Workers
Pension Bill Seen as Model for Further Cuts  Wall Street Journal   ...A measure included in Congress’s mammoth spending bill permits benefit cuts for retirees in one type of pension plan, a big shift that lawmakers and others believe could set a precedent for other troubled retirement programs...
Kevin Yoder MIA After Tucking Wall Street Bailout Into Government Spending Bill  Huffington Post   ...For all the anger among progressives about a Wall Street bailout provision that made its way into the just-passed $1.1 trillion government spending bill, there's been little attention on the person who put it in there. Meet Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas). Yoder, a second-term congressman whose largest contributors are in the finance industry, introduced the provision last summer. It was literally written by Citigroup executives...
U.S. taxpayers help fund oil-train boom amid safety concerns  Reuters   ...States and the federal government have handed out tens of millions in public dollars to rail companies and government agencies to expand crude oil rail transportation across the country, a Reuters analysis has found...
Strikes across Belgium cause transport chaos  BBC News   ...The widespread industrial action is the latest in a series of strikes protesting against the new centre-right coalition's austerity policies. The government plans to save €11bn (£8.7bn) in the next five years. The 24-hour strike is the largest to have taken place in Belgium for many years. It has forced government offices and schools to close, and the country's ports have been blockaded...
Wealth inequality has widened along racial, ethnic lines since end of Great Recession  Pew Research Center   …The wealth of white households was 13 times the median wealth of black households in 2013, compared with eight times the wealth in 2010, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances. Likewise, the wealth of white households is now more than 10 times the wealth of Hispanic households, compared with nine times the wealth in 2010...
The Devalued American Worker  Washington Post   ...Green once held a middle-class job. Now, to make enough money to send his children to college, he works the equivalent of two full-time jobs: one maintaining highways for the state of North Carolina and one ushering fans and collecting trash for a variety of sports teams around Winston-Salem...
It's Going To Get A Little Easier For Workers To Unionize  Huffington Post   ...Federal officials unveiled new rules on Friday that will streamline and simplify the union election process, a reform long sought by labor unions and fiercely opposed by businesses...
Uber Backtracks After Jacking Up Prices During Sydney Hostage Crisis  Washington Post   ...After an armed gunman took patrons of a Sydney chocolate shop hostage during rush hour Monday morning, the transportation company Uber quadrupled its fares for panic-stricken customers fleeing the central business district...
MLGW worker dies after explosion  WREG.com   …A crew was trying to repair a gas line on the 4600 block of Winter Park Drive when there was a spark and an explosion…
Miscellaneous
The Supreme Court just made it easier for police to search your car  Vox   ...The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police officers can sometimes conduct a search and seizure of a car even if that search is the result of an unlawful stop...

Another entitled billionaire runs his yap

John Mack is the latest greedy billionaire (well, maybe he's just a multimillionaire) to whine that greedy billionaires aren't getting a fair shake. He thinks it's really, really time people laid off JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, two people who many Americans would love to see behind bars.

He told CNBC he wants people to “stop beating up on Lloyd and Jamie.” He added: “I think that would make a lot of sense, and I’m in favor of that.”

Who's John Mack, you ask? New York Magazine offers a pithy summary of his stewardship of Morgan Stanley, where he piled on so much debt the company borrowed $32 for every dollar it made:

In September 2008, the Federal Reserve accepted a last-minute bid from Morgan Stanley to become a bank holding company, which allowed them to borrow $107 billion. They later received $10 billion in TARP money. “John Mack saved Morgan Stanley to the extent that he got a giant government bailout,” says former TARP special inspector general Neil Barofsky. “Without that support, the company likely would have disappeared.” And, as others point out, had it not been for Mack, Morgan Stanley might not have needed saving in the first place. “He’s like the arsonist fireman,” a onetime colleague drily observes.

Here's why we won't stop beating up on Lloyd and Jamie (or Jack):

• Because the near-financial collapse of 2008 was caused by Jack and Lloyd and Jamie's recklessness, incompetence and possible criminal conduct. 
• Because millions of people are suffering from job loss and wiped-out savings as a result of Lloyd and Jack and Jamie's incompetence.
• Because the government spent billions on bailing out Jack and Lloyd and Jamie's banks, money that could be used for education, housing, decent roads, public transportation and jobs.
• Because Lloyd and Jamie aren't lending money to fund business expansion but looting governments and creating another speculative bubble that's bound to crash. 

Today's Teamster News 12.10.13

Teamsters Call On Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan To Stop Worker Abuse  Teamsters Canada   ...The demonstrators will publicly call on Teachers' to stop worker and human rights abuses at EXAL Corp., an aluminum bottle manufacturer in Youngstown, Ohio. EXAL is owned and actively managed by the Canadian pension plan...
Use of Phones on Planes Would Be More Than Just Annoying  teamster.org   ...President James P. Hoffa wrote to the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week asking the agency not to move forward with proposed changes that would allow passengers to speak on cell phones while in flight...
Sysco to buy rival US Foods Inc and become largest American distributor  The Guardian   ...Shareholders of US Foods, owned by affiliates of private equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and KKR & Co, will own about 13% of Sysco after the closing of the deal, which will create a company with revenue of $65bn...
Get a clue, McDonald’s: Chain tells workers how much to tip their pool cleaners, dog walkers, and masseuses  Salon   ...“In total, the tips add up to hundreds, if not more than a thousand dollars of gift suggestions for McDonald’s workers, many of whom earn just above minimum wage...”
A Record Number of Americans Can’t Afford Their Rent  ThinkProgress   ... low-income renters who make $15,000 or less would have to find housing that costs less than $375 a month, yet the median monthly cost for housing that was built in the last four years is more than $1,000...
More Than Three-Quarters of Workers Missing from the Labor Force Are Under Age 55  Economic Policy Institute   ...even if all of the missing workers age 55 and over are early retirees who will never reenter the labor force no matter how strong job opportunities are (a very strong assumption), that still leaves 4.3 million missing workers under the age of 55 who are likely to re-enter the labor force when job opportunities strengthen...
TPP Trade Pact Misses Deadline as More Talks Planned for January  Bloomberg   ...The TPP, which would link an area with about $28 trillion in annual economic output, has been bogged down by differences over issues from agricultural tariffs to intellectual property. Leaders from the U.S. to Malaysia and Japan face opposition to the deal from lawmakers at home, an obstacle that will have to be overcome once the agreement itself is finalized...
NAFTA’s Impact on U.S. Workers  Economic Policy Institute   ...NAFTA was the template for rules of the emerging global economy, in which the benefits would flow to capital and the costs to labor...
Eight bodies, some dismembered, found on Mexican highway  Reuters   ...Mexican authorities found the bodies of eight kidnap victims, some dismembered, on a highway in the troubled southern state of Guerrero where government troops have been deployed to stem violence, officials said on Monday...
Meet the 20 Percent: Wealthy Social Liberals Standing Against Efforts to Fight Income Inequality  Alternet   ...The "20 percent" don’t want their taxes raised in an effort to reduce inequality...
Let's get this straight: AIG execs got bailout bonuses, but pensioners get cuts (opinion)  The Guardian   ...No one has accused city workers in Chicago or Detroit of bringing down the economy, but they could face pension cuts...
Unionization Yields Significant Gains in Pay and Benefits for Women Workers  Center for Economic Policy Research   ...Unionized women workers on average make 12.9 percent more than their non-union counterparts, are 36.8 percent more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 53.4 percent more likely to have participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan...
“They’re getting away with murder”: East Coast takes Midwest to task over air pollution  Salon   ...The governors of eight Northeastern states petitioned the EPA to crack down on coal burning in the Midwest...
Detroit Bankruptcy Bankrupts Democracy  The Nation   ...The voters of Michigan sent a clear signal last fall. They rejected emergency-manager authoritarianism. Unfortunately, a federal bankruptcy judge has sided with a governor who could not win an election in Detroit and an approach that Detroit voters rejected...
Bad deals with Wall Street are costing the city as much as $1 billion a year: report  New York Daily News   ..."New York City could be saving $1 billion annually just by changing the way it does business with Wall Street," one of the report's authors, Connie Razza, director of strategic research initiatives at the Center for Popular Democracy, told the Daily News...

Five years after bailouts, the rich are even richer

The super-rich are doing super well -- and why not? They deserve it after sending financial markets into a tailspin, plunging the global economy into a deep recession, and bankrupting governments around the world.

Oh wait.

Over the last three years of recovery, income for the top five percent has grown more than five percent while income for the rest of us fell. 

Think Progress reports:

Overall income growth has been paltry since the recession, according to the Census report. After median household income fell for two years, it has leveled off, seeing virtually no growth over the past two. It was $51,017 in 2012, 8.3 percent lower than in 2007. 

But the rich are doing far better. The top 5 percent was making $191,157 or more in 2012, while the bottom fifth made $20,599 or less. 

It’s amazing how little has changed in five years. Economist Dean Baker writes:

As we mark the fifth anniversary of the Wall Street bailouts, it is clear that little has changed in the way they do business. They are still engaging in the same sorts of market manipulation and tax gaming as they did before the crisis.

The weak conditions on the bailout money had no lasting effect in areas like executive compensation. The industry itself is more concentrated than ever as the big banks used the crisis to merge with other banks, making them even bigger. And the Dodd-Frank reforms have been watered down to the extent that many are now pointless.

Five years ago, this seemed impossible. In September of 2008, the world was on the brink of economic meltdown. Governments scrambled to rescue big banks. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson gave grim reports to the nation. They said unprecedented intervention was needed and they assured us that sweeping regulatory reforms would follow.

That was right after huge debts that piled up in a shadow banking system popped the housing bubble. The iconic investment giant Lehman Brothers collapsed, sending shockwaves through the world financial system and taking down banks and corporations worldwide. There was long overdue rage directed at the greedy CEOs and bankers who made billions off of predatory subprime mortgages and complex financial instruments – literally betting on people losing their homes and lifesavings.

There was even talk of nationalizing the banks. At the very least, a system overhaul was promised, with tighter regulations to stop the reckless gambling of Wall Street’s “casino culture.”

But today the casino is still pulling in huge profits – thanks to taxpayer money that rescued it in the first place. Remember when we were told the taxpayer bailout program called TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) was necessary to help underwater homeowners? That didn't happen. It was supposed to help banks start lending again as well, and that didn't happen either. The banks sat on enormous stockpiles of money. Even up to the first three months of 2012, major banks cut lending by $24 million.

All of that free government money that went to Wall Street resulted in an unprecedented transfer of wealth from the middle class to the super-rich. As the government took on the colossal debts of the high finance fraudsters, it led to soaring deficits and the ensuing budget cuts that devastated public services and the social safety net – all in the name of austerity.

It was a grand heist by the rich against middle-class workers and the poor.

Five years after the 2008 crash, 95 percent of gains made since the recovery have gone to the top 1 percent. Meanwhile for the bottom 60 percent wages have been stagnant or declining. And almost 25 percent of homeowners with mortgages are underwater.

So that wonderful recovery we’ve all heard about since the onset of the Great Recession? It’s been a recovery almost exclusively for the Wall Street tycoons who engineered the economic crisis. The rest of us are still paying for it.

According to the Guardian:

Five years after the financial crisis, America's super-rich have recovered all their losses to see their wealth reach an all-time high.

According to Forbes magazine the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a record $2.02 trillion, up from $1.7tn in 2012, a collective fortune slightly bigger than Russia's economy. In another sign of fizziness at the top of the economy, the cost to enter the billionaires' club has also gone up to levels not seen since the 2008 crash. In 2013, an aspiring plutocrat needs at least $1.3bn to make the Forbes list

In the same five years that the rich have been getting richer and workers’ wages remain stagnant, we’ve seen an all-out war on American workers in the form of “right to work” for less laws and other anti-worker attacks by right-wing groups like ALEC and the Koch Brothers.

Five years is long enough. It’s time to fight back for workers and demand a recovery for the middle class.

Today's Teamster News 09.02.13

Labor Economics 101: Few Jobs Means Bad Jobs  Center for Economics and Policy Research   ...because the economy is not generating decent jobs in any reasonable number, workers are forced to take bad jobs...
Calls to raise minimum wage return with Labor Day  Associated Press   ...A recurring call to raise the minimum wage has returned in the run-up to Labor Day in the form of national rallies and a new report that finds Michigan ranks second-to-worst among states for wage growth during the past 30 years...
The Battle for a Living Wage Goes On  naked capitalism   ...The battle for a living wage for the nation’s poorest workers is set against the backdrop of mass unemployment and the highest level of economic inequality in the U.S. in almost a century...
10 fastest-growing jobs in the USA  USA Today   ...For both petroleum engineers and service unit operators in the resource industry, the nation's two fastest-growing jobs, growth likely is due largely to changes in the energy sector...

The 7 Best Paying Jobs With Only High School Diploma  24/7 Wall Street   ...Subway and streetcar conductors, fashion designers, power distributors and dispatchers...
Taxpayer Dollars Paid A Third Of Richest Corporate CEOs: Report  Huffington Post   ...More than one-third of the nation's highest-paid CEOs from the past two decades led companies that were subsidized by American taxpayers, according to a report released Wednesday by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think tank...
The Hazard of Free-Trade Tobacco  New York Times   ...Give thanks to Malaysia for heading off, at least temporarily, an American effort to weaken the ability of countries to impose stiff rules on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products within their own borders...
Eurozone unemployment steady at 12.1% in July - as it happened  The Guardian   ...Eurozone figures show youth unemployment edging higher...
Federal Court Sides With ACLU in No Fly List Lawsuit  ACLU   ...The suit challenges the process for attempting to get off the list as unfair, inadequate, and unconstitutional. The decision also asked the ACLU and the government to submit additional information about the No Fly List redress procedure in order to help the court decide the ultimate question of whether it satisfies the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of due process...
State budget is gold mine for rich, shaft for all others (opinion)  Toledo Blade   ...the richest one percent of Ohioans will net a yearly tax cut of nearly $6,000, Middle class taxpayers who earn $51,000 will see a whopping cut of $9. And some of the poorest Ohioans will see their taxes go up...
Floridians finding jobs, but often at low wages  Sun-Sentinel   ...wages are stagnant or dropping, except for the top 10 percent of households, while health-care and other costs are rising...

Today's Teamster News 03.26.13

Resolved That in Order to Create Millions of New Jobs In the United States, Our Government Should Set A National Goal to Balance Our Trade Account by January 1, 2020  Virginia 8th Congressional District Democratic Committee   ...It is hereby RESOLVED that the 2012 8th District Democratic Convention should take the lead in helping grow jobs in our Commonwealth and our nation by adopting this resolution that the United States set a goal and commit itself to balancing its trade no later than January 1, 2020...
Why Don’t Politicians Care about the Working Class? (opinion)  Fiscal Times   ...the indifference of both parties to the problems of the unemployed – the failure to take any real action to help after it became clear the initial stimulus package was far, far from enough – speaks to the lack of political power of the majority of people in the U.S. today...
Markets take fright at idea that Cyprus savings raid could become bailout model  The Guardian   ...Fears that bank accounts could be raided in any future eurozone bailouts spooked markets on Monday, as Cypriots prepared for their banks to reopen for the first time in over a week on Thursday following a deal to secure a €10bn lifeline...
Unions brace before Michigan right-to-work law takes effect  Detroit Free Press   ...On Thursday, Michigan's right-to-work law takes effect, a stunning shift in this symbolic capital of organized labor...
Hey, Pa., let's have a drink! (opinion)  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...a sober citizen might think soft issues of consumer convenience and market-driven ideology should take a back seat to real-world issues wrapped around jobs, education, pension crises and transportation/infrastructure...
Budget fight likely means Ohioans won't get proposed income tax cut  Plain Dealer   ...Kasich's fellow Republicans who control the Ohio General Assembly aren't buying his plan to extend the sales tax to nearly all services...
Florida House pension limits rooted in controversial group  The Palm Beach Post   ...Jonathan Williams, a policy director for the American Legislative Exchange Council, told The Palm Beach Post that the organization’s three days of meetings in August 2011 helped affirm the need among many legislators to take a hard look at public employee benefits...
Indiana government, sponsored by Koch   NUVO   ...The pundits who keep wondering where Republicans are headed should pay attention to what's happening in Indiana. Indiana legislators, armed with prefab bills written by ALEC, and talking points manufactured in think tanks, are acting as shills for corporate power...
Indiana jobless payment cuts kick in April 8  journalgazette.net   ...Due to automatic federal spending cuts, known as sequestration, beginning Monday, April 8, 2013, weekly payments of Federally Extended Unemployment Insurance benefits, also known as EEUC or weeks 27-63 of benefits, will be reduced by 10.7% as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor...
Utah’s real ‘land grab’ The Salt Lake Tribune   ...many of our elected officials, including Gov. Gary Herbert, advocate the transfer to state ownership of up to 30 million acres of federally owned land in Utah ... the main proponents of this idea are fine with leasing or selling off the lands because their real agenda is to make those lands available for mineral extraction or for sale to private interests...

Bankster: 'That's why I'm richer than you'

Bailed-out bank CEO Jamie Dimon actually bragged that he's richer than an investor analyst -- to his face.

During an investor conference for JP Morgan Chase earlier this week, Dimon said, "That's why I'm richer than you."

Stay classy, Jamie.

Here's the transcript if you can't watch the video.

Mike Mayo, an analyst at CLSA, asked if JPMorgan Chase wasn’t at a competitive disadvantage compared to banks with more money in reserve. 

Mayo: I think what I hear UBS saying in the presentation is that if I’m an affluent customer I’ll feel a lot better going to UBS if they have 13.5 (percent) capital ratio than another big bank with a 10 percent ratio. Do you agree with that? 

Dimon: You would go to UBS and not JPMorgan? 

Mayo: I didn’t say that. That’s their argument. 

Dimon: That’s why I’m richer than you.

The real reason Jamie Dimon is richer than we are? Because taxpayers bailed him out.  And because we're still bailing him out.

What a swine.

Today's Teamster News 02.13.13

Fired America  Economic Populist   ... a full 23% of Americans have been fired in the last four years... a full 22% (of those) cannot find another job...
The One Percent Gobbled Up the Recovery, Too  The New Republic   ...the one percent didn’t just gobble up all of the recovery during 2010 and 2011; it put the 99 percent back into recession...
TARP: The bailout success story that wasn’t (opinion)  MarketWatch   ...As of Dec. 30, TARP was still owed $67.3 billion, including $27 billion in realized losses — which is to say, that money is gone and is never coming back...
State Of The Union: Obama Calls For Controversial Trade Deals  Huffington Post   ...President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address Tuesday night to urge the United States to pass two key trade agreements, including the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership and a new deal with the European Union that human rights say will impede access to medicines and degrade labor standards...
Obama announces voting rights commission to tackle broken system  The Guardian   ...Obama has ordered the creation of a non-partisan commission on voting rights in the US in an attempt to remove the hurdles to democratic participation that dogged the 2012 presidential election...
Slower Growth of Health Costs Eases Budget Deficit  New York Times   ...A sharp and surprisingly persistent slowdown in the growth of health care costs is helping to narrow the federal deficit, leaving budget experts trying to figure out whether the trend will last and how much the slower growth could help alleviate the country’s long-term fiscal problems...
Greek Factory Under Workers Control  The Nation   ...after a series of general assemblies the workers convened, they've started occupying the factory and operating it under direct democratic workers’ control...
General Assembly may be divided on future of “right to work” legislation  MO Politics   ...the Senate Majority Floor Leader, said there is “a lot of talk” in the House about legislation that would prevent union membership from being a condition of employment, but believes it would be a hard sell in the Senate...
Two years since Walker 'dropped the bomb,' and state economy is still shattered  The Capital Times   ...On Feb. 11, 2011, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, in his own words, "dropped the bomb" when he announced that he would eliminate collective bargaining for public workers in the state...Walker promised to create 250,000 jobs during his tenure, but is well short of that total...
Mich. Gov. Rick Snyder's approval rating down sharply since right-to-work law passed  Detroit Free Press   ...A poll released to the Free Press today suggests that support for Gov. Rick Snyder dropped sharply after he did an about-face in December and backed the speedy passage of controversial right-to-work legislation...
Could Washington state trucker reclassification be near?  Land Line Magazine   ...On the move at the Washington statehouse is a bill that could soon result in many truck drivers being reclassified as employees...Supporters say that some employers classify people as subcontractors to avoid paying insurance and other benefits due employees...
Dems decry ALEC influence on working Kansans  Capital Journal   ...Kansas Democrats say Republicans in charge of the House and Senate have loaded the legislative session with "anti-worker" bills straight out of the American Legislative Exchange Council's playbook...
Rhinebeck school bus drivers reject contract offer but defer strike  Daily Freeman   ...bus drivers who take Rhinebeck school district students to and from school have rejected a contract offer but do not plan to strike immediately...Rather, the Durham Student Services drivers in Teamsters Local 445 plan to continue negotiations...
Teamsters Bring Protest, Inflable Rat To SuperInvestor  PEHub.com   ...Members of the Teamsters union who transport chemicals for Nexeo Solutions showed up in front of San Francisco’s famous Fairmont Hotel, site of this week’s SuperInvestor private equity conference...The Teamsters said that TPG Capital “loaded” the company with $600 million in debt and then quickly slashed the retirement and health care benefits of Nexeo employees...
Gettysburg police union files complaint against the borough  The Evening Sun   ...A complaint has been filed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Number 776 against the borough and Police Chief Joseph Dougherty, claiming that they violated police department employees' First and 14th Amendment rights...

Jon Stewart: DC protects banks at all costs (mostly to us)

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Jon Stewart interviews Neil Barofsky, who was the watchdog over the TARP from 2008-11. Barofsky explains how the bailout was supposed to help 4 million homeowners, but didn't.

Watch the second part of the interview here.

Today's Teamster News 01.10.13

Hilda Solis Resigns  Talking Points Memo   ...Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is stepping down, having served since 2009...
Americans less healthy than others  AFP   ...Americans are in worse health, die earlier and suffer from more disease than residents of other wealthy nations, according to a new study out Wednesday...
Wal-Mart teams with UPS to fight Amazon  The Slant   ...Big-box giant offers same-day delivery to fend off e-commerce nemesis...
AIG Generously Decides Not To Sue The Country That Bailed It Out  zero hedge   ...American International Group Inc.'s directors decided Wednesday not to participate in a lawsuit that accuses the U.S. government of taking advantage of the company in its rescue from the financial crisis...
A dozen inmates from controversial work release facility sent back to prison  Tampa Bay Times   ...A dozen inmates living at a Goodwill-run work release center were sent back to prison this week after state authorities conducted a surprise security audit...
State ranked 42nd in job creation at midyear, census report shows  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...The data, which covers the 12 months from June 2011 to June 2012, shows that Wisconsin's position worsened from a rank of 37 in the previous period from March 2011 to March 2012...
Horizon Air, Teamsters Ratify Six-Year Contract  Benzinga   ...Horizon Air and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced today that the carrier's 610 pilots ratified an agreement to extend the current contract for three years, creating a new six-year pact. Among pilots who voted, 77 percent approved ratification...
Teamsters Hail Fact-Finder's Report To End Concord Furloughs, Raise Pay  Local 856   ...City workers' union urges city council to take control of the process...

Today's Teamster News 01.09.13

Senator Elizabeth Warren Is Outraged That AIG Is Considering Suing The US Government  Business Insider   ..."in 2008, the federal government poured billions of dollars into AIG to save it from bankruptcy. AIG’s reckless bets nearly crashed our entire economy. Taxpayers across this country saved AIG from ruin, and it would be outrageous for this company to turn around and sue the federal government because they think the deal wasn’t generous enough..."
Secret Goldman Team Sidesteps Volcker After Blankfein Vow  Bloomberg   ...Goldman Sachs has worked around regulations curbing proprietary bets at banks...
Consumer Credit 7.0% Increase Driven By Student Loans for November 2012  Economic Populist   ...Student loans continue to soar...
Attorneys General in NY, CA, ID, ME, MT Take Aim at Campaign Finance Disclosure (Since the Federal Government Won’t)  We Party Patriots   ...(They) are going to court in order to have tax-exempt groups comply with state campaign finance disclosure laws...
Indiana reaction belies pro-right to work claims  Bridge   ...Android Industries, in fact, laid plans for the Indiana expansion well before it became law in February 2012. An official at the plant confirmed as much to a reporter last month. “Right to Work has nothing do with us being here...”
Wisconsin again increases spending on outside contractors in fiscal 2012  Isthmus   ...the amount spent by state agencies and the University of Wisconsin System on outside contractors increased by more than 5 percent over the prior year, to a total of $515.8 million...
Group formed in anti-Walker uprising delivers Christmas to homeless children  The Cap Times   ...Social justice advocates, trade unionists and community-minded people who met each other during the weeks of occupation of the Capitol ... (brought) Santa Claus to about 100 children in 30 families...
UNFI Back in Mediation With Teamsters  Supermarket News   ...United Natural Foods Inc. was in discussions Tuesday with Teamsters Local 117 in an effort to end the strike at its warehouse here, the company said...
Local truckers provide Christmas gifts for children with Teamsters for Tots  CatWalkChat   ...A group of local truck drivers recently brought smiles to the faces of numerous area children Christmas morning after they assisted needy families with more than $5,000 worth of presents for youngsters who otherwise might not have received gifts this year...

Today's Teamster News 01.06.12

Payrolls Tread Water Once Again in December 2012  Economic Populist   ...The United States is now down -3.961 million jobs from December 2007, five years ago. The ongoing employment crisis just hit the half decade anniversary...
Secret and Lies of the Bailout   Rolling Stone   ...The federal rescue of Wall Street didn’t fix the economy – it created a permanent bailout state based on a Ponzi-like confidence scheme. And the worst may be yet to come...
Freedom of Speech vs. Wall Street’s Interests  All Things Democrat   ...even if you hate OWS (Occupy Wall Street( and you want to scream at them because you think they’re selfish, dirty hippies who just need to get a job, if you consider yourself an American, you should be appalled by Wall Street’s role in the violent crackdown...
CTJ: Poorest 60% of Americans Get Just 18% of the Tax Cuts in the Fiscal Cliff Deal  Tax Justice Network   ...the richest one percent of Americans will receive the same share of the tax cuts as the poorest 60 percent of Americans...
Labor Groups Pan Walmart Plan to Bring Oversight Approach Used in Bangladesh to the US  The Nation   "...it makes perfect sense that now that they’re facing public relations problems anew around treatment of workers in their domestic distribution system, that they would choose to apply the same public relations scam to that problem that they’ve applied internationally...”
New twist in stricken rig saga: Shell was moving it to avoid tax  The Independent   ...The oil giant will instead suffer a multi-million dollar loss on the exercise after the rig ran aground off the Alaskan coast...
US Army joins battle to save stricken Shell rig  The Telegraph   ...The US Army has been called in to help with the battle to salvage Royal Dutch Shell’s stricken Kulluk Arctic drilling rig, which has now been beached in environmentally delicate waters for nearly a week...
Health Insurers Raise Some Rates by Double Digits  New York Times   ...Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers...
Army Corps tamps down barge worries on Mississippi  Associated Press   ...Efforts taken to keep a crucial stretch of the drought-starved Mississippi River open to barge traffic should be sufficient to avert a shipping shutdown that the industry fears is imminent, Army Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard officials said...

Teamsters take the fight to the $116B bailout queen

First, let's review a little history about Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise that is now a ward of the state. Daniel Mudd drove Fannie Mae into the ground during his tenure as CEO from 2005-08 by buying risky mortgages. As a result, Fannie got a bailout from the taxpayers totaling $116 billion. Mudd was paid $13.4 million in 2007. The Securities and Exchange Commission has since charged Mudd with fraud.

Now, let's talk about Mark Harris. He worked at UPS as a member of  Teamster Local 728 and an Army Reservist. He was called up to serve in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. In  1995 he started his own trucking businesses, and in 1996 he bought his house in suburban Atlanta with a VA-backed loan. Then the economy went south and his service-related disability kicked in. He fell behind in his mortgage payments. But he started receiving disability checks from the VA and can afford to catch up with his mortgage.

Mark Harris did not get a $116 billion bailout. He didn't even get $13.4 million. He got a cold shoulder from Fannie Mae, which auctioned off his house without warning. Now Teamster Local 728, Jobs with Justice and Occupy Our Homes Atlanta are fighting to keep him in his home. That's what the video taken yesterday is all about. In addition to protesting outside of Fannie Mae's Atlanta office, they're urging people to call Fannie executives (try Andrew Wilson at 202-752-5168) to demand that Fannie work out a deal with Mark Harris.

Fannie has reached out to him with an offer of a one-year lease in his home. Harris rejected it and is waiting to see what happens next.

Because we don't need more homeless veterans.

Stay tuned.

Today's Teamster News 11.05.12

New York region struggles to move on a week after Sandy  Reuters   ...Hundreds of thousands of commuters faced a frustrating journey into the city as public transportation remained spotty. Service on many rail lines was reduced and the subway was running at about 80 percent of its normal service. The challenges were more severe for tens of thousands of people unable to return to their homes and many more than that living without power or heat...
China's economic destiny in doubt after leadership shock  The Telegraph   ...If reports from the Hong Kong press and China's blogosphere are correct, a remarkable upset has occurred on the eve of the ten-year power shift next week -- the greatest turn-over of top cadres since Mao's revolution...
Too Big To Fail Remains Very Real  Baseline Scenario   ...the government is providing a form of insurance that encourages financial institutions to become even bigger – and thus even more likely to be protected by some combination of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and other agencies. This is an unfair, nontransparent government subsidy that encourages excessive risk taking and creates a very large potential downside for the nonfinancial side of our economy...
Pete Peterson and the Deficit Hawks Teach Lawmakers Deep Fiscal Irresponsibility  New Economic Perspectives   ...Utilizing strategies reminiscent of the mid-20th Century American Communist Party, Peterson’s overall tactic has been to found and/or fund a number of front organizations to create the illusion of a broad consensus arrayed in favor of his personal views, which are shared for the most part by a wealthy few within the financial and political elites.  These views in turn are extremely unpopular with the electorate, particularly as regards cutting or partially privatizing universal social programs like Social Security and Medicare...
A voting debacle in Doral causes chaos and confusion  Miami Herald   ...Elections officials, overwhelmed with voters, locked the doors to their Doral headquarters and temporarily shut down the operation, angering nearly 200 voters standing in line outside — only to resume the proceedings an hour later... (and this: Judge orders early voting extended in Florida's Orange, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties)
Eleventh-Hour GOP Voter Suppression Could Swing Ohio  The Nation   ...Any provisional ballot with incorrect information will not be counted, Husted maintains. This seemingly innocuous change has the potential to impact the counting of thousands of votes in Ohio and could swing the election in this closely contested battleground...

Today's Teamster News 11.04.12

Payroll Growth Shows U.S. Labor Market Healing Before Election  Bloomberg   ...The broad-based job gains -- from positions at car dealers and hospitals to factories and construction sites -- indicate consumers will likely spend more freely, shoring up the three- year expansion in the face of a global economic slowdown and political gridlock in Washington over taxes and spending...
Storm Sandy: Frustration at NY's slow pace of recovery  BBC News   ...Nearly a million people in New York state remain without power after Storm Sandy, as frustration grows over the slow pace of recovery. Power returned to large parts of Manhattan on Saturday, but on Staten Island people were still struggling without electricity and with a huge shortage of fuel...
One Safety Net That Needs to Shrink  New York Times   ...Election Day is upon us, and neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney has really addressed one of the nation’s most pressing economic issues: the risk that one day taxpayers might have to bail out swashbuckling financial institutions again...
FEMA has 9,106 disaster assistance employees. Only 770 get federal health insurance.  Washington Post   ...disaster assistance employees “generally do not have access to employer-provided health insurance and must carry their own private insurance...”
Mexican Cartels Enslave Engineers to Build Radio Network  Wired   ...The Mexican military is trying to dismantle an extensive network of radio antennas built and operated by the notorious Zeta drug cartel...the cartel has also apparently found some unwilling — and alarming — assistance by kidnapping and enslaving technicians to help build it...
Ohio provisional ballot voting order criticized  Associated Press   ...Voter advocates on Saturday criticized an order by Ohio's elections chief dealing with the casting of provisional ballots, saying it increases the likelihood that votes could be wrongly rejected...

Today's Teamster News 10.14.12

JPMorgan Chase's Debt Collection Agency's Sleazy Tactics to Squeeze Student Loans Debtors of Their Last Cash  Alternet   ...First, the big banks create debt. Then they get paid to collect it...
Questions From a Bailout Eyewitness  New York Times   ...“The balance of power has shifted too far in favor of large financial interests in Washington,” she said in the interview. “The bailouts, and the quantitative easing that continues, have overwhelmingly benefited the upper classes. Workers, homeowners, small businesses have by and large been left to fend for themselves...”
William Koch, Billionaire Koch Brother, Accused Of Imprisoning Executive  Huffington Post   ...Billionaire William Koch is facing a lawsuit in federal court from a former top-level employee who claims the energy mogul lured him to a secluded property, where he was imprisoned and interrogated for a period of time, according to a report in Courthouse News...
Soda Industry Sues to Stop Bloomberg's Sales Limits  New York Times   ...The American soft-drink industry, joined by several New York restaurant and business groups, filed a lawsuit on Friday that aims to overturn restrictions, proposed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and approved by the Board of Health, on sales of large sugary drinks at many dining locations in the city...
Vote to join Teamsters throws off Hamiltonban contract renewal  The Evening Sun   ...The Hamiltonban Township Board of Supervisors doesn't plan to renew its police department contract at the end of this year because the department's lone officer has decided to join the Teamsters union, board chairman Robert Gordon said...
Hoffa Rocks Cleveland At GOTV Rally  IBT   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa called on hundreds of members of the Teamsters to get out the vote on Nov. 6 and do their part to protect the middle class during a rally today at Teamsters Local 436 in Valley View, Ohio...

Today's Teamster News 09.17.12

Obama to launch auto trade case against China: official  Reuters   ...President Barack Obama will launch a trade complaint against China over what his administration says is Beijing's unfair government backing of its auto industry, a White House official said on Sunday...
Wis. AG Aims to Enforce Union Law During Appeals  Associated Press   ...Wisconsin's attorney general said Saturday he would seek court permission to keep enforcing a state law that effectively ended collective bargaining for public employees while his office appeals a judge's ruling striking it down...
Walmart Warehouse Workers Pilgrimage For 50 Miles Over 6 Days To Protest Working Conditions  Huffington Post   ...Sleeping each night along the way on church floors and relying on supporters for meals (see photos below), the marchers will deliver a letter outlining the alleged abuses they have suffered...
Chicago Teachers Strike Enters 2nd Week  Associated Press   ...Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is turning to the courts to try to put an end to a teachers strike that's entering its second week and has left parents scrambling to make alternative child care arrangements for at least two more days...
Don’t Tell Anyone, but the Stimulus Worked (opinion)  New York Times   ...On the most basic level, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is responsible for saving and creating 2.5 million jobs...
Is QE3 Yet Another Stealth Bank Bailout?  naked capitalism   ...there has not been a peep out of the Fed on the failure of the banks to lower borrower rates to reflect their cheaper funding costs...

JP Morgan: Too big to bail

JP Morgan – the big bank that just lost more than $2 billon on a bad derivatives deal – receives up to $14 billion a year in government subsidies, according to a  new study from the International Monetary Fund. 
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It was just the other week when predatory vampire capitalist presidential candidate Mitt Romney said that we need to cut back on government spending because, you know, we have too many public workers. Not because too-big-to-fail banks are gambling billions while collecting taxpayer money.

In fact, this is what Mr. 1% said after the JP Morgan loss:

That’s the way…America works. Some people experienced a loss in this case because of a bad decision. By the way, there was someone who made a gain, all right. The $2 billion J.P. Morgan lost someone else gained.

But Romney wasn't concerned that ordinary American taxpayers experienced some of that loss. As Bloomberg News reported:

When JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon testifies in the U.S. House today, he will present himself as a champion of free-market capitalism in opposition to an overweening government. His position would be more convincing if his bank weren’t such a beneficiary of corporate welfare…U.S. taxpayers helped foot the bill for the multibillion-dollar trading loss that is the focus of today’s hearing.

Once again we are reminded that politicians like Romney who represent the interests of Wall Street are not interested in “shared sacrifice.” They insist working Americans need to cut back, but not the super-rich. Banks like JP Morgan should be considered too big for bailouts and subsidies.

Working-class homeowners are the ones who deserve help. People like Deborah Harris – whose home has been taken away from her by JP Morgan. Or the residents of Jefferson County, Ala., who got ripped off by the bank.

Harris confronted Dimon when he appeared before Congress last week. Watch the video here (starts at around 4:00).

And here's the story of how JP Morgan bribed friends of Jefferson County officials so it could arrange the funding for a new sewer system. The funding deal backfired and sewer rates rose fourfold. Of course it's government spending that gets blamed, not JP Morgan's avarice.

Today's Teamster News 04.25.12

TARP: Billions in Loans in Doubt  Wall Street Journal   ...Hundreds of small banks can't afford to repay federal bailout loans, a top watchdog will warn Wednesday in a report that challenges the government's upbeat assessment of its financial-system rescue...
Jon Corzine Is the Original George Zimmerman  Rolling Stone   ...For almost anyone who isn’t Jon Corzine, it’s no joke to get caught stealing in America. But these people stole over a billion dollars, right out in the open, and nobody is doing anything about it...
The Biggest Student Uprising You’ve Never Heard Of  Chronicle of Higher Education   ...On an unseasonably warm day in late March, a quarter of a million postsecondary students and their supporters gathered in the streets of Montreal to protest against the Liberal government’s plan to raise tuition fees by 75% over five years...
ALEC Says It Plans To Craft Legislation To Take Down State Renewable Energy Targets  ThinkProgress   ...The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — a “stealth business lobbyist” that works with corporate interests to help them write and implement “model” legislation — says it may soon start crafting laws designed to kill or weaken state targets for renewable electricity, heating and fuels...
Maddow unveils ALEC’s replacement: The National Center for Public Policy  Raw Story   ... the National Center for Public Policy was expected to take over the role of the embattled American Legislative Exchange Council...
Teamsters Applaud Support for NLRB's Reform of Election Process  IBT   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today said he is pleased a majority of U.S. senators voted to uphold National Labor Relations Board reforms that make union representation elections more efficient...
City to pay $50,000 to settle teamsters suit  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...Legislation introduced last Tuesday in Pittsburgh City Council would pay $50,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that the city incorrectly managed health benefits for 12 employees eligible for coverage through the Western Pennsylvania Teamsters and Employers Health and Welfare Fund...

Today's Teamster News 02.07.12

Gov. Walker says DA requested talks on John Doe probe  Associated Press   ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he voluntarily agreed to the Milwaukee County district attorney's request to meet with him about a secret investigation that so far has led to charges against five of Walker's former close aides and associates...
Critics right: No evidence to support privatizing state prisons  (opinion)  Palm Beach Post   ...This plan, believed to be the largest prison privatization in U.S. history, is being rushed through without nearly the amount of study an overhaul of this magnitude merits...
Company Faces Forgery Charges in Mo. Foreclosures  New York Times   ...One of the largest companies that provided home foreclosure services to lenders across the nation, DocX, has been indicted on forgery charges by a Missouri grand jury — one of the few criminal actions to follow reports of widespread improprieties against homeowners...
For Sale: AIG's Subprime Bonds  Wall Street Journal   ...Five Wall Street banks have been invited to bid this week for another multibillion-dollar bundle of risky mortgage bonds held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a result of its 2008 rescue of American International Group Inc....
Greek protesters, police clash outside Parliament  Associated Press   ...Riot police fired tear gas to repel hundreds of anti-austerity protesters trying to break a cordon outside Parliament, but no arrests or injuries were reported and the clashes quickly subsided...
Danbury Moves Away from Traditional Pension Plans  Danbury Patch   ...The city's Teamster Union agreed to take raises of 0 percent, 2.25 percent, 2.75 percent and 2.75 percent for the contract it radified through July 1, 2015...