Today's Teamster News 01.26.14

Wal-Mart lays off 2,300 Sam's Club workers  USA Today   ...The layoffs, which cut 2% of the membership club's employee count of about 116,000, mark the largest since 2010, when the Sam's Club unit laid off 10,000 workers as it moved to outsource food demonstrations at its stores.
Bill Durling, a spokesman at Sam's Club, says that a little less than half of the cuts were aimed at salaried assistant managers...
Former Venture Capitalist Worth $8 Billion Compares Criticism Of Rich To Nazi Germany  Buzzfeed   ...Tom Perkins, a founder of the KPCB, compared the current wave of ostracism towards the uber-rich to attacks on Jewish people by the Nazis during World War II. Perkins, of course, is a member of the ultra-wealthy club, with an estimated net worth of $8 billion and ownership of a San Francisco penthouse he spent $9 million to construct.)...
They’re Fast-Tracking the Future, TPP Style – But We Can Stop Them  TradeReform   ...TheWikiLeaks documents show that every other country in the negotiations stood against American intellectual property demands...
Gender Wage Gap for Union Members Is Half the Size of Non-Union Workers' Wage Gap  National Women's Law Center   ...female union members earn over $200 per week more than women who are not represented by unions—an increase that represents a larger union premium than men receive...
Why are US corporate profits so high? Because wages are so low  Reuters   ...Companies have been unable to raise prices much because of the economic recovery has been fragile. But they’ve still managed to boost profits beyond anything ever seen before because they’ve got away with employing as few workers as possible at as low a rate as possible...
GDP By Industry for 2012  Economic Populist   ...Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing is an astounding 19.5% of GDP which is unchanged from before the recession.  Real estate and rental and leasing by itself actually grew, whereas finance and insurance shrank their percentage of the GDP pie.  Considering this sector was the cause of economic implosion, this is probably not a good thing to have it being almost 20% of the overall economy...
Swarms of drones could be the next frontier in emergency response  NBC News   ...a group at Carnegie Mellon University ... is building a swarm of cheap, small flying helicopters that could come to the aid of officers across the country who find themselves facing off against suspects they can’t always see...
Security Check Firm Said to Have Defrauded U.S.  New York Times   ...The company that conducted a background investigation on the contractor Edward J. Snowden fraudulently signed off on hundreds of thousands of incomplete security checks in recent years, the Justice Department said...
The Federal Government Shouldn’t Directly Contribute To America’s Job-Quality Problem  Economic Policy Institute   ...far too many people working for private firms— but for the benefit of the federal government, with their wages ultimately paid by the taxpayers—are likely working for poverty wages. This is unacceptable; it is damaging to those workers and their families, and it hurts the economy by reducing demand for goods and services—currently a problem of crisis proportions...

Today's Teamster News 11.08.13

Teamster Taxi Drivers Call On D.C. Mayor To Apologize For Offensive Comment  teamster.org   ...“District taxi drivers are calling on Mayor Vincent Gray to publicly apologize for the shameful and callous comment made by his spokesman yesterday in an online Washingtonian article about a lawsuit filed by the Teamster-affiliated Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association...
New lawsuit targets D.C. taxicab rules  Washington Post   ...D.C.’s new Teamsters-affilliated cab drivers group has wasted no time raising its profile. On Monday, less than a week after holding their first organization meeting, the members marched to deliver a letter to Mayor Vincent Gray protesting the city’s decision to impound taxis that failed to install new dome lights by Nov. 1...
Talks Begin Between A-B InBev, Teamsters  CBS KMOX News   ...It’s uncharted territory as the Teamsters begin contract talks with Anheuser-Busch InBev for the first talks since InBev purchased A-B five years ago...
A Message to our Active-Duty Military and Veterans from Jim Hoffa  teamster.org   ...On this Veteran’s Day, I want to say thank you for your service to our country. The Teamsters Union is so grateful to all the men and women in uniform, from recent active duty veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq to those who have served in previous years...
International Fact-Finding Mission To Probe IKEA’s Behavior In Canada  itfglobal.org   ...An international fact-finding team has arrived in Canada to examine an ongoing dispute at Swedish retail giant IKEA’s Richmond, British Columbia, store. The team is tasked with investigating the situation at the store, where 350 workers who are members of Teamsters Local 213, have been locked out by the company...
Greensburg City Council budget to call for no tax increase or service cuts, raises for public workers Pittsburgh Tribune-Review   ...Greensburg City Council will introduce a 2014 budget next week that calls for no increase in real estate taxes or cuts in services, and a contract that includes a pay increase for the public service workers represented by Teamsters Local 30 in Jeannette, Pennsylvania...
Tearing out asbestos with bare hands: Meet the boss from hell  Salon   ...A group of immigrants say their boss wielded their status as a weapon when they stood up to extreme abuses: from hanging from the top of a four-story building without scaffolding, to removing asbestos without gloves...
“They have blood on their hands”: Meet Wal-Mart’s worst nightmare  Salon   ...A top Bangladesh labor leader slams retailers, issues a plea to consumers, and explains why her life is in danger...
Anonymous Wal-Mart workers unload and urge protests on new website  Salon   ...On second day of a strike, a labor group unveils the latest tool for combining the web with old-fashioned organizing...
How Can the New York Times Endorse an Agreement the Public Can't Read?  Electronic Frontier Foundation   ...The New York Times' editorial board has made a disappointing endorsement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), even as the actual text of the agreement remains secret. That raises two distressing possibilities: either in an act of extraordinary subservience, the Times has endorsed an agreement that neither the public nor its editors have the ability to read. Or, in an act of extraordinary cowardice, it has obtained a copy of the secret text and hasn't yet fulfilled its duty to the public interest to publish it...
Exxon “disappointed” with $2.7 million fine for Arkansas pipeline spill  Salon   ...The company was found to have violated safety regulations in the 5,000-gallon spill in Arkansas that forced residents to evacuate their homes…
Senate bill targets corporations that deduct settlement payouts  Washington Post   ...JPMorgan Chase’s pending $13 billion settlement with the Justice Department has revived calls from some in Congress that corporations should be prevented from claiming tax deductions on such deals...
Wall Street Bonuses May Rise 10 Percent This Year  Reuters   ...Wall Street's biggest risk takers - its bond traders - will probably see their bonuses drop this year, while people in safer roles, such as money managers, will likely get a boost, according to a forecast by compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates...
Three Graphs That Show How Being A Young Adult In America Is A Financial Nightmare  The Atlantic   ...Poverty is an astonishingly common experience here in the world's richest country. Almost 40 percent of American adults experience it for at least a year by age 60...
The Cost Of Childcare Rose Last Year, Is More Than Rent Or Food  ThinkProgress   ...Families paid more for childcare in 2012 than in 2011, with the costs of center care rising by 2.7 percent for an infant and 2.6 percent for a four-year-old, which eat up a huge amount of families’ budgets, according to a new report...
FBI ‘Accidentally’ Investigated Anti-War Site For Six Years  Fire Dog Lake   ...When the managing editor of antiwar.com, sent an email to the FBI requesting help in dealing with threats to hack his website he probably didn’t realize HE was going to become the subject of the investigation. But that is exactly what happened. How do you "accidentally" do something for six years?...
C.I.A. Is Said to Pay AT&T for Call Data  New York Times   ...The C.I.A. is paying AT&T more than $10 million a year to assist with overseas counterterrorism investigations by exploiting the company’s vast database of phone records, which includes Americans’ international calls, according to government officials...
As Twitter Goes Public, Taxpayers Stand To Lose Billions On Tech Stocks  ThinkProgress   ...The hotly anticipated Twitter IPO calls attention to stock option tax breaks that cost taxpayers billions...
Wells Fargo to pay $335M to settle FHFA dispute  Associated Press   ...Wells Fargo will pay $335 million to resolve claims that it misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about risky mortgage securities that it sold them prior to the housing collapse...

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 01.17.13

Obama Warned On Social Security Reform By House Democrats   Huffington Post   ...White House Press Secretary Jay Carney recently said the president would be open to implementing chained Consumer Price Index (CPI), which would alter the annual adjustment in how benefits are paid to Social Security recipients by using a less generous baseline of inflation...
Equal Opportunity, Our National Myth (opinion)  New York Times   ...Today, the United States has less equality of opportunity than almost any other advanced industrial country...
Financial Crisis Cost Tops $22 Trillion, GAO Says  Huffington Post   ...The agency said the financial crisis toll on economic output may be as much as $13 trillion -- an entire year's gross domestic product. The office said paper wealth lost by U.S. homeowners totalled $9.1 billion. Additionally, the GAO noted, economic losses associated with increased mortgage foreclosures and higher unemployment since 2008 need to be considered as additional costs...
Kansas's Renewable Portfolio Standard Is Under Attack  Natural Resources Defense Council   ...the 19 wind farms currently operating in the state have created more than 12,300 jobs for Kansas citizens, $13.7 million in payments to landowners annually, and $10.4 million in contributions to communities each year. And, according to the Kansas Corporate Commission (Kansas’s public utilities commission), all this has been achieved without any significant increases in electricity costs for ratepayers...
Vorys: John Kasich’s sales tax expansion “a nightmare” for Ohio businesses  Plunderbund   ...“This tax expansion will hit Ohio businesses most directly and hardest.”...
Walker’s budget calls for selling state properties  Channel 3000   ...Walker spokeswoman Jocelyn Webster says proceeds will be used to pay off debt on the properties and raise $200 million to pay for renovations on Milwaukee's Zoo Interchange...
Assembly to drop fundraising prohibition during budget-writing process  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...The vote was taken not in front of television cameras but by a paper ballot with minimal public notice - a growing practice in the Legislature in recent years...
Georgia ALEC/Chamber Puppets Try to Wipe Out Labor (AGAIN)  Daily Kos   ...The minions of ALEC and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce are once again trying double down on "Right to work for less" laws in Georgia by introducing "the son of SB 469" dubbed House Bill 361...
Teamsters union again seeking AA mechanics' vote  Tulsa World   ...The Teamsters Union, which represents about 18,000 airline mechanics at 10 carriers, says it has nearly enough cards signed to bring a representation dispute to the National Labor Relations Board...

How a bunch of rich guys stole your money

Some rob you with a six gun, some with a fountain pen.

Great post today from The Burning Platform about how the financial industry stole a whole lot of money from the 99 percent.

It quantifies the catastrophe that's befallen the middle class:

• Median net worth fell 39 percent from 2007-2011.
• The real decline in median household income is in excess of 20% since 2001.
• Families are making 6.3% less today than they were a decade ago.

Trade deals and the Federal Reserve get most of the blame for this sad state of affairs:

The reality is the oligarchy has used foreign wage differentials and the perceived benefits of globalization to ship manufacturing and now service jobs to Asia while using their captured mainstream media to convince the average American that this has been beneficial to their lives. Using one of their 15 credit cards to buy cheap foreign goods made by people who took their jobs was never so easy.  I wonder if the benefits of being able to buy cheap Chinese electronics, toxic dog food, and slave labor produced igadgets outweighed the $2.3 trillion increase in consumer debt, 27% decline in real wages, 7 million manufacturing jobs lost since the mid-1970s, 46 million people on food stamps, $15 trillion increase in the National Debt since 1978, and a gutted decaying industrial base.

The mainstream media shares the blame too.

We certainly couldn’t expect business journalists at Bloomberg, CNBC, NYT, or CNN to actually analyze the data, produce an intelligent dialogue of the causes, and reach a conclusion that the affluent and influential on Wall Street and in Washington DC caused the average family in this country to endure tremendous hardship while the oligarchy plundered and pillaged the countryside, stuffing their pockets with ill-gotten gains.

As Charles Ferguson, who directed Inside Job (a must-see), concludes:

Over the last thirty years, the United States has been taken over by an amoral financial oligarchy, and the American dream of opportunity, education, and upward mobility is now largely confined to the top few percent of the population. Federal policy is increasingly dictated by the wealthy, by the financial sector, and by powerful (though sometimes badly mismanaged) industries such as telecommunications, health care, automobiles, and energy. These policies are implemented and praised by these groups’ willing servants, namely the increasingly bought-and-paid-for leadership of America’s political parties, academia, and lobbying industry.

Read the whole rant here.

Today's Teamster News 03.06.12

Rght-to-work hearing canceled  Post-Tribune   ...the vacation of the TRO doesn’t change anything for the time being. “The legislation will have its time in court, where both sides will have their chance for good debate,” Corbin said...
Kasich turns down federal disaster aid  Cincinnati Enquirer   ...his decision means tornado-ravaged towns in Ohio will not get federal aid now and are not eligible at this time for potentially millions of dollars in payments and loans...
Judge rules Michigan's PLA ban unconstitutional  AFL-CIO Now   ...A federal judge has ruled that Michigan’s ban on the use of project labor agreements—pushed by Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and anti-worker lawmakers—is unconstitutional...
Trial of Iceland ex-PM Haarde over 2008 crisis begins  BBC News   ...The trial of former Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde, on charges of negligence over the 2008 financial crisis, has begun in Reykjavik. Mr Haarde is thought to be the first world leader to face criminal charges over the crisis...
Spain's sovereign thunderclap and the end of Merkel's Europe  The Telegraph   ...Premier Mariano Rajoy has refused point blank to comply with the austerity demands of the European Commission and the European Council...There comes a point when a democracy can no longer sacrifice its citizens to please reactionary ideologues determined to impose 1930s scorched-earth policies...
Dartmouth Students Urge Trustee Diana Taylor To End Sotheby's Lockout  Teamsters Local 814   ...Teamsters art handlers are continuing their seven-month-long campaign to end their lockout by Sotheby's auction house...

Bank bailout: $16 trillion. And more to come.

Think of the upcoming "grand bargain" over the debt ceiling as Son of Bailout.

Thanks to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, we now know the true cost of the first bailout, of which TARP was only a small part. Sanders and Paul sponsored legislation that required the first-ever public audit of the Federal Reserve.

Michael Hudson.com reports the auditors' distressing conclusion:

...the Fed provided more than $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders responded to the audit by saying, quote, “This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you’re-on-your-own individualism for everyone else.”

But it wasn't real money. As Hudson points out, the "loans" were just pixels on a computer keyboard. And he raises an excellent question:

...if they can create a $13 trillion on a computer keyboard, taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Federal Reserve can simply give this money, why can’t they, over 50 years, pay the trillion dollars for the Medicare and the Social Security? It’s—obviously, it’s a charade.

Now, as Bernie Sanders points out, the billionaires and the banks always want more. And that's what this phony debt-ceiling crisis is all about.  Says Sanders,

...what is apparent is that the plan would result in devastating cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and many other programs that are of vital importance to working families in this country. Meanwhile, tax rates would be lowered for the wealthiest people and the largest, most profitable corporations.

The Teamsters agree.

Hudson doesn't see a pretty ending. He calls the Greek bailout and subsequent austerity a dress rehearsal for what's going to happen here.

You’ve seen the protests in Madison, Wisconsin. And in the Greek Parliament Square, in front of the parliament building, there were signs up to say, “We are Wisconsin.” There was a very clear connection they were making that this is a worldwide struggle. What’s happening across the world is an attempt by the financial sector to really make its move and say this is their opportunity for a power grab. And they’re creating this artificial crisis as an opportunity to carve up the public domain and to give themselves enough money. They’re taking the money and running, because they know that unemployment is going up. The game is over. They know that. And the only question is, how much can they take, how fast? 

Today's Teamster News 03.21.11

Emails obtained from Gov. Scott Walker show public wrote him in support of budget repair bill  The Isthmus   ...However, a significant number of these emails came from outside Wisconsin...
Gov. Mitch Daniels takes a page out of Gov. Scott Walker’s playbook The State Column   ...The Indiana Republican has backed a push by state Republican lawmakers to work around Democrats, who has fled the state in order to protest a vote against curbing union rights...
Preserve state parks  Toledo Blade   ...The new budget proposed by Gov. John Kasich authorizes private drilling for oil and gas in Ohio's state parks...
Collective Bargaining Rally in DBQ   Eastern Iowa Government   ...Unions have already lost much of their power in Wisconsin and now Iowa lawmakers are debating collective bargaining rights here...
Protesters greet Scott in Charlotte  Herald-Tribune   ...About 400 protesters were waiting for Gov. Rick Scott when he pulled up in Charlotte County to speak at a GOP fundraiser on Saturday night...
Unemployed facing new obstacle  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...The nation's payrolls seem to be expanding, but many worry that one group will be left behind - the unemployed themselves, as employers bypass them for people who already have jobs...
Welcome to Debtors' Prison, 2011 Edition  The Wall Street Journal   ...Some judges are worried that the jump in debt-related arrest warrants is creating a modern-day version of debtors' prison. The practice ended in 1833 after decades of controversy, since borrowers owing as little as 60 cents could be held indefinitely in squalid jails until they paid off their debt...
The FDIC Wants $900 Million From Former WaMu Exes, Their Wives   Dealbreaker   ... the FDIC has sued three former Washington Mutual execs ... whose “extreme and historically unprecedented risks with WaMu’s held-for-investment home loans portfolio” resulted in the bank’s collapse...

Today's Teamster News 11/14/10

Who Will Stand Up to the Superrich? (opinion)  New York Times   ...Inequality is instead the result of specific policies, including tax policies, championed by Washington Democrats and Republicans alike as they conducted a bidding war for high-rolling donors in election after election...

A Journey From Lawmaker to Lobbyist and Back  New York Times   ...When Cooper Industries, a century-old manufacturing company based in Texas, moved its headquarters to Bermuda to slash its American income tax bill, it had to turn to ... (lobbyist) Dan Coats ...a Republican from Indiana (who) will join the Senate again...
The Financial Crisis and America's Political Duopoly  Huffington Post 
How Beer Made Us Civilized  The Daily Dish
Six House Races Remain in Limbo  New York Times

Links 07/21/10

Fed in Hot Seat Again on Economic Stimulus New York Times

S.E.C. Pursuing More Cases Tied to Financial Crisis New York Times ...the S.E.C. is continuing to press for accountability and restitution for the upheaval in financial and housing markets in 2007 and 2008, which led to the sweeping regulatory bill that President Obama is scheduled to sign on Wednesday.

Wal-Mart Is Sued Over Care Wall Street Journal ...The lawsuit alleges that Wal-Mart broke state and federal laws by using a subsidiary to control the treatment for employees with workplace injuries.

AFL-CIO plugs Warren for consumer protection chief The Hill ...The nation's largest labor federation endorsed Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday to head the new consumer financial protection agency.

FedEx Increases Lobbying Spending to Fight FAA Union Provision Bloomberg ...FedEx Corp., trying to defeat legislation that would make it easier for its employees to unionize, almost doubled its lobbying spending in the first six months of this year compared with the same period a year ago. ...FedEx spent $11.6 million on lobbying between January and June...UPS spent $2.9 million to lobby between January and June.

Where are the prosecutions?

Economist James K. Galbraith tells the truth about the financial meltdown:

"I think it’s fair to say that so far, what we’re looking at here is a failure of the rule of law."

To be specific:

"...the crucial act of denial in the banking sector, in my view, is that it has not come to grips with the extent of fraud, abuse, and failures of documentation that underlay the crisis in the first place. We know from the evidence that we’ve seenso far that there were massively fraudulent practices in mortgage origination—that these practices were abetted by the underwriters and by the ratings agencies, which declined and even refused to look at the underlying loan documentation. And I think the failure to confront that problem—which was covered over by the “stress tests” and the revision of market-to-market accounting rules—remains an unresolved issue."

Read the whole thing here. Long, but worth it.