Today's Teamster News 11.28.12

Durbin Outlines Democratic Approach on Grand Bargain  firedoglake   ...Durbin took Social Security almost entirely off the table...And he sought to line up with the Administration’s viewpoint that any changes to Medicare and Medicaid can happen without cuts to benefits, through payment reforms or provider cuts...
9 Greedy CEOs Trying to Shred the Safety Net While Pigging Out on Corporate Welfare  Alternet   ...A gang of brazen CEOs has joined forces to promote economically disastrous and socially irresponsible austerity policies. Many of those same CEOs were bailed out by the American taxpayer after a Wall Street-driven financial crash. Instead of a thank-you, they are showing their appreciation in the form of a coordinated effort to rob Americans of hard-earned retirements, decent medical care and relief for the poorest...
Highway Grants: Roads to Prosperity?  Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter   ...each dollar of federal highway grants received by a state raises that state’s annual economic output by at least two dollars, a relatively large multiplier...
Michigan Chamber of Commerce says no to "right-to-work"  youtube   ...Rich Studley, Michigan Chamber of Commerce: "The Governor doesn't support right to work, at the Michigan Chamber, we don't support right to work..."
Phil Power: Legislature poised to act on Right to Work  MLive.com   ...A bunch of Republican heavyweights, mostly business types from the west side of the state, are fiercely lobbying legislators to take quick advantage of big GOP majorities in both the House and Senate and pass it once and for all. Other Republican lawmakers -- those who have to face future elections -- are squirming. If they vote “yes,” they most certainly will be the objects of fierce opposition from Democrats and their allies in organized labor come election time. If they vote “no,” they almost certainly will face opposition in primary elections in 2014...
Obama quietly signs bill shielding airlines from carbon fees in Europe  The Hill   ...Environmentalists had framed the bill as the first test of the president's commitment to fighting climate change in his second term and urged him to veto it. Obama quietly signed it Tuesday over their objections...
Walmart Paved the Way for Poverty Wages  The Nation   ...Walmart is not only slashing prices on flat-screen TVs—they’re suppressing wages and costing tax payers millions of dollars...
Teamsters President James Hoffa: Go Off Fiscal Cliff If Necessary  Real Clear Politics   ...We won the election, and now we have to stand tall to make sure to protect the safety net, Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid...

Today's Teamster News 11.12.12

Hostess Member Update  IBT   ...On Friday, November 9th the Bakery Confectionary Tobacco Grain Millers (“BCTGM”) International Union put out a press release and related statements that its Local Unions were striking Hostess Brands at several facilities that would be expanded over the coming days...
The Grand Bargain Under the Fiscal Cliff  Economic Populist   ...Right after the election, which in part was about protecting social security and Medicare from being gutted, we have the threat of that actually happening under the guise of the Fiscal cliff... this great betrayal would actually throw the U.S. into a recession just as much as the fiscal cliff would...
Lying to Push Their Agenda on the Budget: There Was No Bowles-Simpson Commission Report  Beat the Press   ... there was no report that had the approval of 14 of the 18 members of the commission. Therefore there was no commission report...
U.S. in talks with dozens of nations on anti-tax dodge pacts  Reuters   ...In a step toward reining in offshore tax evasion, the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday said it was close to finalizing tax information-sharing pacts with countries ranging from Canada to islands such as Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
Analysis from Princeton finds GOP kept control of House but lost popular vote  examiner   ...It was predicted before the elections that Democrats would win the popular vote in the House but still not regain the majority. That is exactly what happened...
Airlines Face Acute Shortage of Pilots  Wall Street Journal   ...U.S. airlines are facing what threatens to be their most serious pilot shortage since the 1960s, with higher experience requirements for new hires about to take hold just as the industry braces for a wave of retirements...

Today's Teamster News 11.11.12

Noda seizes on TPP as way to steer forthcoming election  Th Asahi Shimbun   ...Charles Lake, the chairman of the U.S.-Japan Business Council ... said it should happen soon. "With U.S. President Barack Obama's re-election, there is the possibility the U.S. administration will accelerate the TPP negotiations next year," said Lake, who is also chairman of Aflac Japan. "It would be desirable if Japan was participating at that time..."
If the Dems got a backbone (opinion)   ataxingmatter   ...Given that the "fiscal cliff" deal doesn't require cuts to social welfare programs, it might be advisable to let the fiscal cliff occur.  Let the spending cuts go through and let the Bush tax cuts expire.  The result will be that we will have taken a much needed first stab at cutting back on the exorbitant military spending that provides rentier profits to the military-industrial complex...
The Gerrymander Triumph  Global Economic Intersection   ...The US house elections have very undemocratic election results in many states, largely in favour of Republicans. In Ohio 52% of the total vote cast gained Republicans 80% of the seats. In Pennsylvania 49% of the vote gave Republicans 72% of the seats...
Sanitation Workers Move Mountains for the City's Recovery  WNYC News   ...While most New Yorkers were trapped at home without mass transit in the aftermath of Sandy, an army of 6,000 sanitation workers had to go right back to their jobs - even though many sustained great losses themselves...
Janitors slated for Christmas layoff swamp City Hall  People's World   ...Hundreds of O'Hare Airport workers slated to lose their jobs just before Christmas marched through City Hall today, chanting and waving banners, flags and signs. The janitors and window washers, holding their brooms, mops and squeegees up high, shouted "Shame Emanuel"...
Spackenkill, Rhinebeck bus talks at critical stage  Poughkeepsie Journal   ...If Teamsters Union Local 445 is unable to come to terms with contractor Durham School Services, the employees are prepared to strike...

Bonus story: David Koch Is the Worst Tipper at 740 Park  Vanity Fair   ...We interviewed a guy who used to work as a doorman at 740 Park. I asked him to rank the tippers at the building, and he said the absolute worst was David Koch...

Watch your wallet! Congress to hold lame duck sesson

The billionaires and corporate CEOs want to cut your Social Security and Medicare over the next two months. Don't let them do it!

The peerless Dean Baker explains how they're creating a phony crisis to force Congress and the president to cut our earned benefits:

There are of course many political figures, such as the corporate CEOs in the Campaign to Fix the Debt, who are trying to create a crisis atmosphere in order to force an early deal. They hope that this crisis atmosphere can create an environment in which hugely unpopular actions, like cutting Social Security and Medicare, will be possible.

This is why you're hearing about a "fiscal cliff" and a "grand betrayal," also known as a "grand bargain."

For example, Peter Orszag, a shill for corporate welfare queen Citigroup, wrote a Bloomberg piece claiming the grown-up thing to do is to "reform" Social Security to reach a budget deal. Even though he admits Social Security isn't a real problem.

The Washington Post is just as bad. As Baker points out:

The Washington Post has repeatedly used its news section ... to hype fears about the budget dispute that it likes to call the "fiscal cliff." (Since the actual impact of waiting until after the end of the year to reach a deal is minor, most objective commentators would not use the term "cliff" to refer to the deadline.) If the consequences of waiting until after the end of the year to make a deal, when the politics shift to President Obama's favor, can be portrayed as sufficiently dire then the Post presumably hopes that it can force a deal that will be closer to the Republicans' terms.

The blogger digby warns:

...watch your wallet kids. Guys like Orszag think they can sneak this through because nobody will be "affected" until years later and then, so what? But what will happen to you is what's happening to me: you get older and you realize that the system is insecure, that the wingnuts are carving it away little by little, and that even though you made the sacrifice to pay more and reitre later, you still stand to have necessary benefits disappearing gradually after you are too old to work. Don't buy it. This is a rich country that's creating billionaires by the bucketful and running history's most expensive military empire. We can afford for our elderly, disabled and sick to be decently taken care of. It's just a matter of priorities. 

Today's Teamster News 11.09.12

Let’s Not Make a Deal (opinion)  New York Times   ...Mr. Obama should hang tough, declaring himself willing, if necessary, to hold his ground even at the cost of letting his opponents inflict damage on a still-shaky economy. And this is definitely no time to negotiate a “grand bargain” on the budget that snatches defeat from the jaws of victory...
Simpson-Bowles 'Grand Bargain' Candidates Lose on Tuesday  AFL-CIO   ...losing candidates were outspoken in their support of the Bowles-Simpson plan and their endorsement by the plan's authors. Voters made it clear that they don't want to cut benefits for Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. An election-night poll conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates also showed strong opposition to elements of the Bowles-Simpson plan...
Made in America markets create communities of like-minded consumers  CNN   ...NorthernGRADE (is) a pop-up menswear market of American-made goods making its Chicago debut two years after launching in Minnesota. Meeting the crafters, designers and small-business owners behind the brands added to the appeal…It's a phenomenon that draws comparisons to the slow food movement, farmers' markets and food and wine festivals as venues for showcasing artisanal approaches to crafting goods. By allowing consumers to touch the materials and talk to vendors about where the products came from, brands can educate them on why they're worth the markup...
The Importance Of Elizabeth Warren  The Baseline Scenario   ...Her victory matters not only because it helps the Democrats keep control of the Senate but because Ms. Warren has a proven track record of speaking truth to authority on financial issues – both to officials in Washington and to powerful people on Wall Street...
New York rations gasoline as electric outages mount  AFP   ...New York announced gasoline rationing Thursday to address a fuel crisis sparked by superstorm Sandy, as tens of thousands more people lost electricity and officials prepared to deploy emergency mobile homes...
Raley's-Nob Hill Rally at Alameda Nob Hill Draws Hundreds  Union City Patch   ...From teamsters to teachers, unions from across the Bay Area rallied at Alameda's Nob Hill supermarket Wednesday evening in support of employees who have been on strike since Sunday over wages and medical benefits...

Today's Teamster News 11.08.12

The People Who Elected Obama Don't Want Cuts to Social Security and Medicare  Alternet   ...The president should heed the message voters sent as negotiations for a so-called “Grand Bargain” (what white-collar criminologist Bill Black has more properly called a “Grand Betrayal”) heat up in the face of another phony crisis meant to give the fatcats a new shot at redistributing income upward...
Greek parliament narrowly approves €13.5bn austerity package after mass protests  Guardian   ...The vote took place after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Greek capital to protest about the package. Initially peaceful, the protests were marred by violent scenes and clashes between riot police and a small group of protesters. ..
Obama, Romney and Congressional Candidates Nationwide Used Trade-Themed Ads to Appeal to U.S. Majority Opposing Trade Status Quo, Reinforcing Public Anger and Building Expectations for Reform  Public Citizen   ...An analysis of the 2012 election reveals a bipartisan race to align campaign positions with the American public’s opposition to current U.S. trade policies and the job offshoring they cause...
Continuing Sandy Aftermath, New Nor’Easter Underscore Complex System Fragility  naked capitalism   ...If you see worries about fragile delivery systems and the risks of extended supply chains fade quickly from financial news, it’s likely that even after Sandy, companies and officials lack will to take issues like infrastructure risk seriously...
Teamsters' Largest GOTV Effort In History Helps Re-Elect Obama  IBT   ..."Working people proved something last night: When they fight, they can win against a corporate, anti-middle-class candidate, even after the Citizens' United decision," said Jim Hoffa, General President...
Election 2012: Teamsters send cease and desist to god knows where  Missoula Independent   ...Late last week, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters sent a cease and desist order to the 501(c)(4) Taxpayers for Liberty requesting that it stop using the union's logo on political attack mailers in Montana...