The middle class deserves lawmakers' attention

America's middle-class majority is dead. And that's not likely to change unless dramatic economic changes are made, a new Pew Research Center report states.

The document shows that those making up the upper- and lower-income households overtook those in the middle in 2015, and Pew said it could be a tipping point for the U.S. demographically away from middle-class workers to the nation's most wealthy.

A summary of the survey tells the story:

[T]he nation's aggregate household income has substantially shifted from middle-income to upper-income households, driven by the growing size of the upper-income tier and more rapid gains in income at the top. Fully 49% of U.S. aggregate income went to upper-income households in 2014, up from 29% in 1970. The share accruing to middle-income households was 43% in 2014, down substantially from 62% in 1970.

And middle-income Americans have fallen further behind financially in the new century. In 2014, the median income of these households was 4% less than in 2000. Moreover, because of the housing market crisis and the Great Recession of 2007-09, their median wealth (assets minus debts) fell by 28% from 2001 to 2013.

This shouldn't be news to readers here. But this Pew study does detail the middle class's precipitous fall. In 1971, 61 percent of households made between two-thirds and double the nation's median income for a family of three. Now, it is just short of half.

Two major reasons for the demise of the middle class can be traced to the drop in unionization as well as lousy trade deals like NAFTA and the teed-up Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). As a result, there are fewer skilled labor jobs paying an honest wage that can support a family.

It's all part of the reason the Teamster debuted our "Let's Get America Working" platform back in September -- to push Congress to invest in this country so workers can get paid a good salary and the economy will benefit from the spending that results from increased incomes.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill took the first step last week when it approved a long-term transportation bill. But they have to follow that up by passing more policies that will help all Americans.

Cities take turn towards playground for rich

A generation ago, America's cities stood in a state of decay, largely abandoned by the wealthy for more suburban locales that sprawled across metropolitan areas that encircled urban centers.

Cities are increasingly home to only the wealthy.

But a funny thing happened in the last 20 years -- many children of those people who fled the city decided they wanted to live downtown, or at least closer to it. The result was places like New York City, Washington, Chicago and San Francisco became revitalized, but also insanely expensive. And many who had rode out the difficult times were now left to find someplace else to live.

Why is this? The population shift is a symptom of the times we live in. Many of those "making it" come from dual-income families that earn and therefore can spend more. But most everyday Americans don't fall into that category. In fact, for many of "the rest," pay has actually fallen in recent years.

A new National Bureau of Economic Research document details that shift. The more wealthy, increasingly white urban population can afford to buy homes close to their jobs. But most can't. As the Huffington Post details about the report:

This is primarily a story about time: Skilled workers, somewhat paradoxically, are working more than their unskilled counterparts. So gentrification becomes about moving to try to maximize the leisure time they have in the fraction of their lives that isn't spent sitting at a desk. 

But this is also a story about transportation and density, two things that American cities are notoriously poor at managing. If we built higher, more people could live closer to work for cheaper (empty foreign real estate purchases in New York aside). Similarly, if there were better public transportation from the city peripheries, there would be less need for the wealthy to crowd into the city centers.

The Teamsters agree that transportation plays a major role. That's why the union put forward it's "Let's Get America Working" platform earlier this year, and why a real investment in infrastructure is needed.

But with that said, neighborhoods are more vibrant when they are represented by a cross-section of this great country. People may not be able to live in their dream home, but they shouldn't be forced from the places they've called home for decades either. American cities should have a place for everyone to put down roots.

Finally, some are getting the message on wages

What is a middle-class wage? Evidently, the United Automobile Workers (UAW) have taken a significant step towards defining it in their latest contract agreement with Fiat Chrysler.

The deal would raise the salaries of both veteran workers and newer workers up towards $30 an hour over a four- and eight-year period, respectively. Those salaries, in turn, will set a standard that even non-union foreign carmakers in the U.S. will feel pressured to follow, as The New York Times stated. In short, the effort shows the power organized labor. But it also shows the importance of efforts like the Teamsters' "Let's Get America Working" campaign. As the Times points out:

Clearly, unions can lift middle-class wages to a point, but more needs to be done. Higher federal spending on necessary public projects would lift pay by creating jobs; stricter laws on worker classification would ensure that employees are not wrongly denied overtime and benefits.

Of course, there are others in the private sector who also realize more has to be done to combat income inequality in this country. Earlier this year, for example, Seattle-based Gravity Payments announced it would pay all of its 120 workers at least $70,000 a year. The move by founder Dan Price didn't bankrupt the company; in fact, profits soared.

Even some franchisers, like one who owns a handful of Qdoba Mexican Grill restaurants in northern Colorado, is raises wages. Steve Laurer told the Greeley Tribune the move will not only help his workers, but his businesses as well.

It is good to see that some employers are getting the message. But there is still a long ways to go for most workers. Misclassification, as the Times mentioned, is a huge problem for port truck drivers and workers in other industries like construction as well. Too many companies are still interested in pocketing all the profits at the expense of their employees.

As we enter the 2016 political campaign season, candidates and elected officials need to listen to the voices of everyday Americans. They are being treated unfairly and have had enough. Those who choose to oppose them do so at their own peril.

Today's Teamster News 03.28.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: TPP Investor Language Will Leave Taxpayers On The Hook  Huffington Post   ...Language included in the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) chapter of the TPP would grant new rights to companies to challenge limitations and exceptions to copyrights, patents and other intellectual property. That means corporations could sue the U.S. or other countries included in the deal if they didn't like their laws. Such challenges would be handled by an unaccountable international arbitration forum. And taxpayers would end up paying the tab if the private sector wins...
Hoffa Addresses First Graduates Of Military Job Training Program  teamster.org   ...Today, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa took part in a ceremony recognizing the first graduates of a program that helps active military personnel transition to a career in transportation. The ceremony was held at the Army’s new Industrial Training Complex (ITC) in Fort Sill, Okla. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was also held to inaugurate the ITC...
Highway Chief Denies Any Wrongdoing In Legal Action Against Town  Hudson Register Star   ...It has been alleged the Hillsdale Highway Department has not fulfilled legal obligations to their local Teamsters union, a union official wrote in a letter to the town supervisor. The town board recently mediated the dispute at their March 17 board meeting...
Union organizers question wages at McKesson warehouse  Des Moines Register   ...Two Teamsters union organizers questioned Friday whether drug distributor McKesson Corp. would pay fair wages at a new warehouse in northern Iowa. "We as a local (union) and your brothers and sisters in Minnesota are concerned about the jobs being shipped down here at a discounted rate, to be honest with you," Troy Gustafson of Teamsters Local 120 told the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board Friday...
From the ranks of Microsoft’s permatemps  Washington Post   ...In Silicon Valley, contract workers are beginning to organize. Google and Facebook shuttle bus drivers have joined the Teamsters union...
Trade
Now We Know Why Huge TPP Trade Deal Is Kept Secret From the Public  Huffington Post   ...if corporations feel they have been denied "expected" profits by a government regulation, ISDS lets them circumvent a country's courts and go to an international corporate tribunal with their grievance. But if labor organizers are murdered, workers and their families have nowhere to go...
Trade Show: Today In What The Hell Is Going On With The TPP?  Esquire   ... It seems that in their desire to bless us all with the benefits of "free" trade, the negotiators have managed to outsource not only all the manufacturing jobs that are worth a damn, but also the job of domestic environmental spoilage...
State Battles
Plain Talk: Scott Walker a textbook case of why we don't trust politicians (opinion)  The Cap Times   ...Worse, though, is that Walker not only underhandedly cloaks his amibitions, he lies about them, too...
Mandatory Sick Leave Moves Forward In Capitol  Statesman Journal   ...Nearly every Oregon employee could have at least 40 hours of paid sick leave in the near future if the Oregon Legislature succeeds in passing one of two bills currently under discussion in the Capitol...
Minimum Wage, Equal Pay Bills Fail In House Subcommittee  Memphis Business Journal   ...A group of Democratic sponsored bills, including two to raise the state’s minimum wage and another to allow female employees recourse to sue over pay discrimination, failed in a Tennessee House subcommittee Wednesday. Votes on each piece of legislation were divided on party lines...
Buffalo Lawmaker Seeking Further Minimum Wage Hike  Buffalo Business First   ...The proposal would increase the state’s minimum wage to $10.50 now with staggered incremental increases leading to $15 in 2018. After three years of increases, the state’s minimum wage is set to reach $9 on Dec. 31, 2015. The current minimum wage in New York is set at $8.75. Panepinto said that number translates to $18,000 per year...
War on Workers
Metro workers say safety culture doesn’t exist  Washington Post   ...Metro train and bus operators, mechanics and other employees have lined up to criticize the agency’s safety culture nearly three months after a deadly smoke incident left one person dead and spurred new questions about the system’s management and training...
Amazon demands employees sign 18-month non-compete agreement to get a three-month-long job  Pando   ...The agreements last for up to 18 months. Seasonal workers can be employed by Amazon for as few as three. That’s a hell of a trade-off, especially considering that the non-compete agreements prevent Amazon’s employees from working “at any company where they ‘directly or indirectly’ support any good or service that competes with those they helped support at Amazon”...
Exclusive: Upset by Warren, U.S. banks debate halting some campaign donations  Reuters   ...Big Wall Street banks are so upset with U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren's call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said...
Wall Street isn’t happy with us  ElizabethWarren.com   ... They want a showy way to tell Democrats across the country to be scared of speaking out, to be timid about standing up, and to stay away from fighting for what’s right. Ok, they have taken their shot, but it will not work...
Middle Class Jobs Are Still Lagging  FiveThirtyEight   ...This U-shaped recovery – faster growth at the top and bottom, slower in the middle – isn’t a new phenomenon. What’s unclear is how long it will last. Mid-tier jobs are often the last to rebound in a recovery. It’s possible that with job growth now picking up, the pattern will begin to reverse, or perhaps has even begun to do so already...
Raleigh Scaffolding Collapse Kills 3 Construction Workers  Raleigh News and Observer   ...Three construction workers were killed and another seriously injured late Monday morning when an exterior lift system tore from the side of an office building under construction in downtown Raleigh...
Oil Trains Put US On Target For More Derailments, Warn Experts  Fox News   ...Activists call them “bomb trains,” and they’re likely rolling through a town near you. The oil boom in North Dakota and Alberta, Canada, has put a record number of train cars on tracks carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil each day all across the U.S. Several accidents have already happened, and local leaders say it is a matter of time until more occur...
Miscellaneous
NSA Doesn’t Need To Spy On Your Calls To Learn Your Secrets  Wired   ...Collecting metadata on people means putting them under surveillance...
The Shut-In Economy  Medium   ...the on-demand world isn’t about sharing at all. It’s about being served. This is an economy of shut-ins...

Today's Teamster News 02.09.15

Trade
Lies, damned lies, and the arguments for Fast-Tracking the TPP trade deal
  The Ecologist   …When US Trade Representative Michael Froman testified before Congress last week, he made impressive claims for the benefits of Fast-Tracking the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, writes Ben Beachy. Just one problem - all those claims were either untrue, or profoundly misleading...
War on Workers
Steelworkers Union Expands Walk Outs to Two BP Refineries  Wall Street Journal   …The striking United Steelworkers expanded walkouts to two more refineries over the weekend as talks between the union and energy companies continued into a second week. The strike now encompasses more than 5,000 workers at 11 U.S. fuel-making plants…
Republicans roll out right-to-work bills  The Washington Examiner   …Both right-to-work bills would amend the National Labor Relations Act to prohibit contracts between labor unions and businesses that force all of a company's workers to join a union or at least pay it a fee as a condition of employment. The legislation is certain to meet fierce Democratic resistance…
Stock Buybacks Are Killing the American Economy  The Atlantic   …Profits once flowed to higher wages or increased investment. Now, they enrich a small number of shareholders...
HSBC files show how Swiss bank helped clients dodge taxes and hide millions  The Guardian   …HSBC’s Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets, doling out bundles of untraceable cash and advising clients on how to circumvent domestic tax authorities, according to a huge cache of leaked secret bank account files…
It’s cheaper and easier to rent an MBA than to hire one  Quartz   …The on-demand economy, where people work when they want and get paid by the task, has redefined the roles of taxi drivers and created new jobs such as professional grocery store shoppers who are paid by the hour to run other people’s errands. Less well known is how the 1099 economy (named for the US tax forms filed by independent contractors), is now bleeding into the upper echelon of the workforce: The nation’s top business school graduates...
Income Inequality Is Ravaging America’s Middle Class  Economy In Crisis   …The median wage in the U.S. is $28,031, or approximately $13.50 per hour. This means that half of working Americans make less than that. The cost of living for one person in the U.S. is $20,194. After taxes and living expenses, most Americans are just getting by...

Today's Teamster News 02.02.15

Teamsters
Battle between Anheuser-Busch and craft beer makers spilling over into Kentucky legislature  Kentucky.com   …While craft brewers, such as Lexington's Country Boy and West Sixth Brewery, have the support of Lexington-based distributor Kentucky Eagle, the Kentucky Guild of Brewers and the National Beer Wholesalers Association, AB InBev has the backing of Greater Louisville Inc. (Louisville's chamber of commerce) and the Teamsters...
Trade
The Secret Trade Deal That Allows US Corporations To Outsource Even More Jobs Abroad  Sky Valley Chronicle …The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is being called the largest and worst trade deal "you've never heard of." And why haven't you heard about something that may have a major impact on your life and your job? Curiously the mainstream news media has been eerily silent when it comes to this story...
The Global Fight Against Corporate Rule  The Nation   …Activists are challenging rules that grant corporations the right to sue governments...
Why we're protesting against TTIP  Herald Scotland   …This week a trainload of protestors will be heading for Brussels to raise their voices against TTIP - the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - which is beginning its crucial next round of negotiations. It's a big business deal between the European Union and the United States that will determine how goods are traded across the world…
State Battles
Union membership nearing pre-right-to-work totals in Indiana  News and Tribune   ... Despite becoming a right-to-work state, union memberships rose by about 50,000 in Indiana from 2013 to 2014, a study released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed. But opponents of the law still believe the true impact of the legislation can’t yet be measured...
War on Workers
Bernie Sanders Shows How Reagan Helped Destroy The Middle Class  Huffington Post   … in the decades after World War II, the bottom 90 percent of the country captured most of the growth in income during rebounds from tough times. But then came the Reagan era, and what George H. W. Bush once dubbed "voodoo economics." After Reagan implemented his policies, the top 10 percent grabbed nearly 80 percent of the growth in incomes coming out of the oil crises of the late '70s...
Boomers Vindicated in "Aging Work Force" Myth  Economic Populist   …the decline in the work force was mostly due to a lack of jobs being created (for those who wanted to join the labor force)...
National Oil Bargaining Talks Break Down: USW Calls for Work Stoppage at Nine Oil Refineries, Plants  United Steelworkers   …“Shell refused to provide us with a counter-offer and left the bargaining table,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “We had no choice but to give notice of a work stoppage.”...
First U.S. doctor's strike in decades  San Diego Union-Tribune   ...A handful of doctors providing medical services to students at UC San Diego — and their colleagues at nine other University of California campuses — went on strike Tuesday...
Can Fast Food Afford a $15 Minimum Wage Without Cutting Jobs?  naked capitalism   …Having a minimum wage that was more like a living wage would reduce employee churn, offsetting some of the cost of the pay increase. Costco has demonstrated that this approach works...
Worker killed in accident at Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo  KOAA  …A Denver man died in an industrial accident at the Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo police confirmed Sunday night. According to Pueblo police, workers were moving a large transformer when the contractor got caught up in the equipment…
Miscellaneous
Ratings Now Cut Both Ways, So Don’t Sass Your Uber Driver  New York Times   …People routinely use the Internet to review services from plumbers to hairdressers. Now the tables are turned. Companies are rating their customers, shunning those who do not make the grade...

The death of the middle class, by the numbers

In the first three years of recovery from the recession, average U.S. workers' wages didn't recover. They fell.

Meanwhile, the top 1 percent got a raise of 36.8 percent, according to a new report.

Falling wages for the majority of Americans is something new to generations of Americans who grew up with a sense of rising expectations. U.S. citizens are not used to living in a banana republic.

The United States was once a country with a strong middle class that consumed an increasing share of the products it manufactured. Now the U.S. is dominated by finance and services as manufacturing was sent overseas by trade deals like NAFTA, CAFTA and KORUS. That transformation has changed the country's demographic and income contours.

Income inequality has now reached the levels of the Roaring '20s, which preceded the stock market crash, bank failures and the Great Depression, according to a new report by our friends at the Economic Policy Institute.

Chart courtesy Economic Policy Institute.

Here's another illustration of what happened:

Abandoned shopping mall in Toledo, Ohio

The death of America's middle class is causing the death of middle-class shopping malls. Hundreds are closing around the country. Half are predicted to close within 15 years.

The New York Times reported yesterday that the American middle class has been shrinking for 50 years. That wasn't a problem until 2000. Until then, the middle class declined because people were rising up out of it into higher income brackets. For the past 15 years, people have been falling out of the middle class into poverty.

The Times reports the composition of the middle-class is changing as well,

...with people 65 and older making up the fastest-growing segment. Meanwhile, married couples with children, who have seen their incomes grow, have diminished as a share of the middle class.

Workers fare worse in some states than others, EPI reported.

The most unequal states?  New York and Connecticut. Average income for the top one percent was more than 48 times the average income for the 99 percent. Why? Because Wall Street is in New York City.

The most equal state? Hawaii, where average income for the one percent was 14.6 times average income for the 99 percent.

There are 16 states where the only people who increased their wealth between 2009-12 were the one percent. Is your state one of them? They are:

• California
• Colorado 
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Idaho
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts
• Missouri 
• New York
• North Carolina
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island 
• South Carolina
• Virginia
• Washington

Fittingly, the one percent got all the new wealth created in the District of Columbia. 

Today's Teamster News 01.28.15

Teamsters
Robert Morales  IBT   ...We are saddened to report the death of Robert Morales, who passed away on January 26, 2015...
Credentialing Crunch  American Legion   ...Starting this winter, the Teamsters – with logistical support and backing from The American Legion – will begin offering civilian CDL training to enlisted military truck drivers. The training-to-placement program will set up shop on military bases and offer drivers the opportunity to earn their civilian CDLs before they are discharged...
Turbulance Ahead At Allegiant Air As Pilots Prepare For Strike  Global Travel Industry News   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters will host a call to update Allegiant Travel Company investors, industry analysts, customers and press regarding the current status of contract negotiations for Allegiant Air pilots, their recent strike authorization vote and the union's request for a proffer of arbitration from the National Mediation Board...
Teamsters Protest Labatt Beer At NHL All-Star Game  teamster.org   ...At the National Hockey League’s All-Star Game on Sunday, Teamsters who work at Heidelberg Distributing provided information to fans about anti-worker behavior by the company, which distributes Labatt Beer products in Ohio...
Leaked Memo: YRC Seeks To Outsource Unprofitable Runs  Kansas City Business Journal   ...A Dec. 18, 2014, memo obtained by the Kansas City Business Journal, details a change-of-operations request to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that would allow the company to increase its use of interline carriers — third-party transportation providers — in areas currently served by YRC Worldwide Inc. employees...
Trade
TTIP Is Sputtering, But Other 'Trade' Deals Threaten Our Sovereignty  Ecologist   ...So far the talks have achieved little in terms of reaching agreement for specific market sectors. And they are facing increasing scepticism because of TTIP's plans to deregulate goods and services like health through 'harmonisation' of EU and US standards - something that in practice usually means levelling down...
Anti-Trade Deal Protesters Hijack Senate TPP Hearing  RT   ...Protesters opposed to a major, multi-national trade deal being negotiated in secret by a dozen countries – including the United States – hijacked a US Senate hearing early Tuesday to speak out against the proposal. Capitol Police removed no fewer than three demonstrators Tuesday morning during testimony delivered before the Senate Committee on Finance by US Trade Representative Michael Froman concerning the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP...
State Battles
Ky. attorney talks right-to-work  Politico   ...The conservative push to pass right-to-work ordinances at the county level has as its ultimate aim passage of right-to-work at the state level, according to Warren County, Kentucky’s public attorney...
Union says it won’t stand by as GOP attacks collective bargaining  Las Vegas Sun   ...Republicans are attacking working families with their proposals to upend collective bargaining in Nevada, Danny Thompson, executive vice treasurer of the Nevada AFL-CIO, said at a press conference this morning...
War on Workers
Middle Class Shrinks Further As More Fall Out Instead Of Climbing Up  New York Times   ...In the late 1960s, more than half of the households in the United States were squarely in the middle, earning, in today’s dollars, $35,000 to $100,000 a year. Few people noticed or cared as the size of that group began to fall, because the shift was primarily caused by more Americans climbing the economic ladder into upper-income brackets. But since 2000, the middle-class share of households has continued to narrow, the main reason being that more people have fallen to the bottom...
This Map Reveals Just How Unequal The So-Called Recovery Is  Huffington Post   ...In 39 U.S. states, the top 1 percent of earners gobbled up at least half of all of the income gains between 2009 and 2012. And in 17 of those states, the top earners got every bit of the income growth in those years...
Wall Street's Threat To The American Middle Class (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Presidential aspirants in both parties are talking about saving the middle class. But the middle class can't be saved unless Wall Street is tamed. The Street's excesses pose a continuing danger to average Americans. And its ongoing use of confidential corporate information is defrauding millions of middle-class investors. Yet most presidential aspirants don't want to talk about taming the Street because Wall Street is one of their largest sources of campaign money...
Miscellaneous
CBO: Deficit To Narrow, Then Widen In ’18  Wall Street Journal   ...Existing budget restraints and stronger economic growth will chip away at the federal deficit into 2017 before the gap begins to widen again, the Congressional Budget Office said, providing ammunition for both parties ahead of the White House’s first budget proposal to the Republican-controlled Congress...

Today's Teamster News 12.04.14

Teamster News
Lackluster Support For de Blasio’s Horse Carriage Ban  New York Post   ...A majority of council members told The Post on Monday that they’re either undecided on the measure or don’t agree that the plan to offer a green-taxi permit — worth about $6,000 — in exchange for a horse-drawn carriage license is fair...
ICS Workers Vote To Join Teamsters Local 117  teamster.org   ...Workers at Industrial Container Services (ICS) have voted, via an NLRB election, to join Teamsters Local 117!  The vote took place on December 1st at the company's facility in Seattle.  ICS is one of the largest suppliers of reusable containers in the U.S...
NetJets Slammed By Teamsters Union In Contract Fight  ValueWalk   ...Teamsters Local 284 in Columbus, Ohio is duking it out with fractional aircraft ownership company Netjets in a compensation and benefits contract dispute...
Former GCC General Counsel Pens Novel about Teamsters  teamster.org   ...“Cannons for the Cause,” a novel written by Martin R. Ganzglass, who for 40 years was General Counsel to what is today the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters Union, was recently published by Peace Corps Worldwide and is available from Amazon...
Trade
TTIP: One million protestors sign petition against controversial EU and US trade deal  International Business Times   ...The World Development Movement (WDM) has raked in over a million online and "hard copy" signatures urging EU member states to stop the TTIP negotiations, as public concern grows over the protection of the NHS, employment rights, and a provision in the small print that would allow investors to sue governments...
Strange Bedfellows Are Blocking The McConnell-Obama Trade Deal  Huffington Post   ...Prior to 2011, it was rare for a Republican Congress to block government perks for major corporations. But tea party-backed members have bucked the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with the lobbying group's top congressional supporters, McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), almost as a matter of routine...
Tea Party Takes Aim at Obama-Republican Accord on Trade Policy  Bloomberg News   ...The Tea Party is aiming to stop one of the few initiatives President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress say they both want in the coming year: more free trade...
President Obama Presses Democrats to Support Trade Deals  Wall Street Journal   ...Efforts in Congress to move legislation that would smooth passage of an agreement—a measure known as fast track or trade promotion authority—foundered in January after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) eschewed a bill hammered out by committee leaders in the House and Senate and supported by Mr. Obama. Since then, Republican leaders, who support the administration’s trade policy, have criticized Mr. Obama for not doing more to get support from Democratic lawmakers...
State Battles
Legislator To Introduce Right-To-Work Legislation  Associated Press   ...A Republican lawmaker promised Tuesday to introduce a right-to-work bill, prompting warnings from a Democratic leader that the state could see a round of protests reminiscent of the massive demonstrations against Gov. Scott Walker’s law stripping public workers of their union rights...
Florida's Minimum Wage Will Rise To $8.05 On Jan. 1  Sun Sentinel   ...The state's minimum wage will increase to $8.05, up 12 cents from $7.93 in 2014. For tipped employees, the minimum wage required is at least $5.03 an hour...
Gov. Scott Walker To Blame For Budgetary Problems (opinion)  Badger Herald   ...We will be eight years removed from the last recession and due for another when the disastrous effects of Walker’s inane budgeting will manifest, leaving Wisconsin with nothing to absorb the shock of potential revenue shortfalls...Walker and company still have a $1.4 billion deficit to deal with...
Nikki Haley Wants To Know What Medicines You’re Taking  Fits News   ...Onetime Tea Party darling Nikki Haley is endorsing a plan that would require doctors to provide state government with their patients’ prescription records – part of her administration’s efforts to combat so-called “rampant prescription drug abuse” in South Carolina...
Proposal To Rig The Electoral College Triggers Backlash From Michigan Residents  Think Progress   ...Today, the Republican-controlled state legislature held a second hearing on a bill that would change the way the state’s 16 electoral votes are awarded, giving more to the candidate that loses the popular vote in a presidential race...
War on Workers
An Assortment of Data Shows a Resurgent U.S. Economy, but Wages Continue to Lag  Reuters   ...The nation’s private businesses added workers at a fairly brisk clip in November and the services sector grew strongly, suggesting a slowing global economy is having a limited impact on domestic activity. Strengthening labor market conditions, however, have yet to spur faster wage growth...
Airport Workers At 10 Airports To Join With $15 Hour Fast Food Strikers December 4  Forbes   ...Airport workers at 10 major airports – including JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Seattle – have written to the CEOs of the six major US Airlines – Delta, American, JetBlue, United, Southwest and Alaska – stating that “as airport workers we have pledged to stand together with people who work in home care and fast food to fight for $15 an hour wages...
Debt Collectors Paying To Use Prosecutors’ Letterheads To Get People To Pay  Consumerist   ...There are programs around the country through which for-profit debt collectors can be allowed to use prosecutors’ letterhead in correspondence with consumers about debts or allegations of writing bad checks...
Middle Class Families Will Have The Hardest Time Paying Off Holiday Debt  FiveThirtyEight   ...When they first got married in 2008, Deacon and Kim Hayes were carried away by their holiday shopping. With two incomes from their sales and teaching jobs, the Arizona couple wasn’t worried about finances — which is how they ended up with holiday debt that took months to pay off...
Striking FairPoint Workers Go Without Paychecks for 7 Weeks  NECN   ...As of Dec. 2, it's been 47 days since more than 2,000 FairPoint workers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont walked off the job. The striking workers haven't seen a paycheck in seven weeks and the company cut off their health care benefits at the end of Oct...
Transit workers and riders, unite!  AlJazeera America   ...U.S. cities are facing tight budgets in maintaining their networks of buses, trains and light rail. As with other publicly funded services, such as education, city managers and elected officials are trying to scapegoat public employees rather than fight to secure the resources needed to protect both quality public service and living-wage jobs...
Farm Worker Dies In Grain Bin Accident  Dexter Daily Statesman   ...A farm worker died Tuesday afternoon after being buried in a grain bin on property north of Idalia in Stoddard County...
Construction worker struck and killed on Route 422 in Chester County  WPVI TV   ...Police say 60-year-old Lee Boyer of Liberty, Pennsylvania was helping set cones for a lane closure when he was struck by a Jeep Liberty SUV...
Miscellaneous
End is near for red light cameras in New Jersey  WPVI TV   ...During the five years of the red light camera pilot program, drivers have complained bitterly about yellow lights that are so short you couldn't help but run the red...

Today's Teamster News 11.27.14

Teamsters
Ho-Ho-Kus resident in third decade driving Thanksgiving parade floats  NorthJersey.com   ...While millions watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from the comfort of their couch or in the crowds along Manhattan streets, Eddie Devereaux has had a unique perspective for the past 22 years. The Ho-Ho-Kus resident drives a float each year. He got the gig as a member of Teamsters Theatrical Union Local 817, which provides all of the drivers for the annual event...
Trade
NAFTA doesn’t benefit working people (LTE)  The Windsor Star   ...If NAFTA and all the other free-trade deals since have been so good for us, why is it that current unemployment is so stubbornly high, that child poverty is higher than ever in Canada and that food bank use is at an all-time high?...
State Battles
The Koch Brothers' Next Frontier  National Journal   ...Over the past two years, at least 40 bills aimed at weakening or repealing clean-energy mandates have been introduced in legislatures across the country, according to Colorado State University's Center for the New Energy Economy. But not a single state has done away with its renewable-energy standard. Ohio came the closest...
Downgraded: The Macro Outlook in Wisconsin  Econbrowser   ...The Department of Revenue’s Wisconsin Economic Outlook, released last week, details a noticeable deterioration in forecasted economic performance, in just the past eight months...
War on Workers
The Absurdity of How Walmart Treats Employees, in One Viral Thanksgiving Photo  News.Mic   ...An Oklahoma City Walmart is allegedly asking employees to donate food to help their coworkers make ends meet during the holiday season. A sign on the collection bin reads, "Let's succeed by donating to associates in need!!!"...
A Landmark Retail Workers 'Bill of Rights' Passes Unanimously In San Francisco  Huffington Post   ...the law, which passed the 11-member, all-Democratic board unanimously, requires the city's large chain retailers to post workers' schedules at least two weeks ahead of time. Workers will be owed supplemental pay if unexpected changes are made to their schedules, or if they're required to be "on call" and their shifts are suddenly canceled. The law, championed by Supervisor David Chiu, also requires that the employers offer any extra hours they have to their current workforces, rather than bringing on more part-time or temporary workers...
Hundreds of University of California students walk out over proposed tuition hike  Reuters   ...Hundreds of University of California students walked out of classes on Monday to protest a planned 25 percent tuition increase they say will make the cost of education across the 10-campus system too expensive...
Wall Street is taking over America's pension plans  The Intercept   ...Wall Street spent upwards of $300M to influence the election results. And a key part of its agenda has been a plan to move more and more of the $3 trillion dollars in unguarded government pension funds into privately managed, high-fee investments — a shift that may well constitute the biggest financial story of our generation that you’ve never heard of...
Senate Report: Scale of Wall Street Holdings Are “Unprecedented in U.S. History”  Wall Street on Parade   ...Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Carl Levin, released an alarming 396-page report that details how Wall Street’s too-big-to-fail banks have quietly, and often stealthily through shell companies, gained ownership of a stunning amount of the nation’s critical industrial commodities like oil, aluminum, copper, natural gas, and even uranium. The report said the scale of these bank holdings “appears to be unprecedented in U.S. history...”
The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats (opinion)  Politico   ...The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution...
Troubling Questions on Role of Military in Ayotzinapa Case as National Crisis Builds; Political Class and Governing Institutions Discredited on a Scale Not Seen for Generations  Popular Resistance   ...When Iguala, Guerrero municipal police and masked men in unmarked black uniforms opened fire on unarmed students from the Ayotzinapa teachers college last September, killing six people and kidnapping 43 students, they lit the fuse of a national crisis...
Unions Are Among the Very Few Interest Groups that Represent the Middle Class  Center for American Progress Action Fund  ...the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the United Automobile Workers, and the National Education Association, or NEA—and a few other groups, such as AARP, the National Governors Association, or NGA, and the collective advocacy efforts of universities, are among the only groups that more often than not lobby for policies the middle class supports...
W-S Sanitation Worker Hit By Car Dies  WFMY News   ...A Winston-Salem sanitation worker that was hit by a car while on the job died early Tuesday morning...

Today's Teamster News 11.23.14

Teamsters
Teamsters: Port Truck Drivers At Pacer Cartage, Harbor Rail Transport Return To Work  teamster.org   ...On Friday, port truck drivers from the Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport in Long Beach, Calif., who had struck to protest wage theft caused by their misclassificaton as "independent contractors", took down their picket lines and made an unconditional offer to return to work after both companies pledged to continue talks...
Trade
Trading Up?  Politico   ...A separate Pew Research poll found that similar shares of both Republicans and Democrats are more or less in agreement that trade destroys jobs (54 percent in the GOP say so, and 50 percent of Democrats) and lowers wages (44 percent in the GOP and 49 percent of Democrats). Moreover, one of the TPP’s main goals is to spur foreign investment. On that score, Republicans are more wary than Democrats: 75 percent in the GOP think foreign companies buying U.S. companies is bad for the country, compared with 66 percent of Democrats...
Mládek: TTIP could become US election football  Prague Post   ...The talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), an extensive agreement between the European Union and the United States, should be completed by the end of next year, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mládek said. Then the complicated talks might fall victim to the campaign ahead of the presidential election in the United States...
State Battles
A Dozen Greedy, Inhumane and Cruel Policies That Top Corporate Lobbyists Will Push In 2015  Center for Media and Democracy   ...ALEC seeks to kill minimum wage increases, ban union organizing, deprive poor people of Medicaid-delivered health care, block shareholder advocacy, stop e-cigarette regulations, sabotage new rules for ride-share companies, lower medical training standards for dental assistants, and more, according to a legislative blueprint that will be discussed at an upcoming States & Nation Policy Summit in Washington, DC....
War on Workers
Amazing Black Friday Deals, Brought to You by the American Taxpayer  Economic Policy Institute   ...Nearly one in three retail workers or their families (31.5 percent) receives support from at least one means-tested public assistance program—such as food stamps (SNAP), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or Medicaid4—compared with less than one in four (22.2 percent) workers or their families in all other industries. Public assistance to families of workers in retail can be conservatively estimated to top $13.4 billion each year...
...
Wal-Mart workers plan Black Friday protests for higher pay  Los Angeles Times   ...Organizers say rallies and marches will occur at 1,600 Wal-Mart locations on the day after Thanksgiving in what they say will be the largest protests ever against the nation's biggest retailer...
Malled: The Hollowing Out of an American Institution. 'We Surrender'  Bloomberg   ...Steeplegate is one of about 300 U.S. malls facing a choice between re-invention and oblivion. Most are middle-market shopping centers being squeezed between big-box chains catering to low-income Americans and luxury malls lavishing white-glove service on One Percenters...
Yes, bankers lie more than the rest of us. Wall Street reforms aren’t likely to change that culture.  Washington Post   ... the group who were primed to think of themselves as bankers tended to lie significantly more — they misrepresented their results about 16 percent of the time and more than a quarter of the “bankers” group cheated...
Teeth and Bones: Mass Abduction Reveals a Decaying Mexican State  der Spiegel   ...More than 100,000 people have been killed in the ongoing drug war since 2006 with upwards of 25,000 more listed as missing. The bloodletting, the mass graves, the beheadings and the arrests of drug bosses have become so normal that they hardly manage to make it onto the front pages anymore...

Today's Teamster News 07.27.14

Trade
GOP congressman rips Chamber of Commerce and gives back award  Washington Post   ...The Chamber of Commerce is beholden to special interests and has long since forgotten the main street businesses that struggle everyday to make payroll and keep their company afloat,” said Bentivolio. “It is with great pride that I reject their award, and call on them to stand on the side of America, instead of on the side of China and corporate interests seeking to exploit people for profit....”
State Battles
ALEC Picked Up Tab for Texas Lawmakers' Junkets Common Cause ...Five Texas lawmakers have accepted more than $7,600 in corporate-funded “scholarships” to cover the cost of air fares, hotel rooms and other travel expenses to attend meetings of the American Legislative Exchange Council, (ALEC), a corporate lobbying group, according to new research by Common Cause...
Right-to-work may get new life next year WMUR ...Right-to-work, a measure that allows workers to get union benefits without joining or paying dues, could come up again in the Legislature next session, depending on what happens in the November elections...
Ohio tries to diffuse controversy over charter-school whistle-blowers Akron Beacon Journal ...he four former teachers, who worked at Horizon Science Academy Dayton from 2004 to 2013, alleged at the July 15 state school board meeting that sexual games were played by students and condoned by other educators, and surveillance footage captured students having oral sex at a school function...
Koch brothers’ new racial gambit: What’s really behind a quiet battle with AFSCME Salon ...“The Koch brothers want a government-free society,” Saunders says. “Public service has enabled African-Americans to move into the middle class, but the Kochs are trying to dismantle that...”
State to pay nearly $1.7 million to identify buildings to sell Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...The idea has been controversial, with critics saying they fear the state could make a short-term gain but a long-term loss. They fear getting rid of the heating and cooling plants could be costly because state prisons and University of Wisconsin campuses would have buy heating and cooling on the private market...
War on Workers
Federal regulators let utilities gouge customers David Cay Johnston ...Now the first in a raft of cases asserting that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is letting utilities gouge customers by setting egregiously high rates of return may finally get a hearing...
Private Equity's Free Pass New York Times ...But while private equity firms often operate like Goldman and Morgan Stanley, they are not uniformly subject to the same broker-dealer regulatory regime...
The Typical Household, Now Worth a Third Less New York Times ...The inflation-adjusted net worth for the typical household was $87,992 in 2003. Ten years later, it was only $56,335, or a 36 percent decline, according to a study financed by the Russell Sage Foundation...
NLRB ruling further expands 'micro unions' Washington Examiner ...In a case involving a Macy's department store cosmetics counter, the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday further expanded its recent precedents allowing for so-called "micro-unions." The ruling will make it easier for unions to organize individual parts of an employer's workforce...
WHY THE ECONOMY SUCKS: Because American Companies And Their Owners Are Greedier Now Than At Any Time In History Business Insider ...Five years after the recovery began, unemployment remains high. And the Americans who are lucky enough to be working are getting paid less as a percent of the economy than they ever have in history. Meanwhile, America's corporations and their owners have never had it better...

Connoisseur, bon vivant, raconteur, patron of the arts, Teamster?

An After Six tuxedo can do nice things to a guy, whether he drives a truck or pushes a pencil.  

It kind of makes him feel part of the upper crust. He goes to better restaurants. He tries expensive wines. Gets adventuresome with menus. Takes cabs instead of buses. Sees the biggest Broadway hits.  

Why, under the influence of a tuxedo, men have even been known to open doors for their wives. 

That's the ad copy on this vintage 1969 After Six tuxedo ad. We found it in our files, and we've been told he's a Teamster by some of our retirees.

The ad ran five years after Jimmy Hoffa's greatest achievement: The National Master Freight Agreement. The NMFA covered 400,000 union members and 16,000 carriers.  It raised wages, improved working conditions and increased pension and health care benefits. The New York Times called it “one of the most significant labor developments of the post-war period.”

It's a lot harder now for workers to feel part of the upper crust. Today, American workers just want to feel part of the middle class.

As the New York Times pointed out in April:

The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction... 

While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades. 

After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans...

One big reason for our declining middle class: Companies are giving more of their wealth to CEOs and much less of it to their workers.

And, deregulation...

Today's Teamster News 04.23.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Urge Buffalo Common Council To Keep Rural Metro Contract  The Buffalo News   ...The unionized workforce of Buffalo's exclusive ambulance provider came to city hall today to urge the common council not to change providers...
Trade
Obama Faces Headwinds On Trans-Pacific Partnership In East Asia Trip  South China Morning Post   ...As US President Barack Obama embarks on a four-nation Asian tour, his effort to push the economic side of the US "rebalancing" towards the Asia-Pacific faces hurdles...
Abe-Obama Deal On TPP Unlikely  The Japan Times   ...Japan and the United States are not expected to announce a broad bilateral agreement for a Pacific trade pact when their leaders meet Thursday in Tokyo, as they remain considerably apart over the issue of market access for agricultural products and automobiles...
State Battles
Missouri Considers Right-To-Work Law  The Patriot Post   ...Following on the heels of some of its Midwest regional neighbors, Missouri's legislature is considering right-to-work legislation. With a heavily Republican legislature it seemed like passage would be a slam dunk. But that hasn't turned out to be the case...
Ohio Labor Supporters Gain Valuable Lesson From Missouri Right To Work Fight  PR News Channel   ...In Ohio, union supporters have so far kept the legislature off the ballot and are working tirelessly to ensure Right to Work doesn’t gain a foothold in their state....
War on Workers
The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World’s Richest  New York Times   ...After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans...
Moving in with parents becomes more common for the middle-aged  Los Angeles Times   ...For seven years through 2012, the number of Californians aged 50 to 64 who live in their parents' homes swelled 67.6% to about 194,000, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development. The jump is almost exclusively the result of financial hardship caused by the recession...
Cabdrivers Seek To Unionize To Push Case For Fair Hike  Chicago Sun Times   ...Tired of waiting nine years for a fair increase and being pushed around as independent contractors, Chicago cab drivers are trying a different tack to press their case for a "living wage"...
White House approves stricter coal dust rule  The Hill   ...The rule was proposed in 2010 by the Mine Health and Safety Administration in an attempt to reduce black lung disease, a deadly condition that kills hundreds of miners each year and is caused by coal dust...
Sherpas Move to Shut Everest in Labor Fight  New York Times   ...The avalanche that killed at least 13 Sherpas last Friday has prompted an extraordinary labor dispute, as Mount Everest’s quiet workhorses took steps on Tuesday to shut down the mountain for the season, demanding that the government share proceeds from what has become a multimillion-dollar business...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Michigan Affirmative Action Ban  Think Progress   ...The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Michigan's ban on affirmative action in higher education Tuesday morning, in the latest ruling to effectively weaken affirmative action without killing it...

Mortgage applications at lowest level in 20 years

Mortgage applications are at their lowest levels in 20 years, according to this chart brought to us by The Center of the Universe blog.

People can't afford to buy houses, especially all those millennials living with their parents.

This is what the decline of the middle class looks like.

Today's Teamster News 02.11.14

Contract Negotiations Continue at Bay Valley Foods  23 WIFR   ...It's back to the bargaining table Sunday for union leaders and representatives of Bay Valley Foods in Dixon, Illinois. Teamsters Local 722 are on strike, but they and the company met with a federal mediator Friday to try to work out a deal...
North Carolina’s Moral Monday Movement Kicks Off 2014 With a Massive Rally in Raleigh  The Nation   ...Tens of thousands of activists—from all backgrounds, races and causes—marched from Shaw to the North Carolina State Capitol, where they held an exuberant rally protesting the right-wing policies of the North Carolina government...
Missouri is leading the country for technology start-ups  KPLR St. Louis   ...For the second year running, Missouri leads the country in the percentage increase in technology jobs. Most of that is due to the growing boom in technology start-ups in St. Louis. And most of that is being done in spite of state lawmakers in Missouri who are pushing right-to-work, tax cuts, and more recycled voodoo economics...
Committee sides with special interests over families  The St. Louis Powercast   ...The party-line vote on HB1053, HB1143, HB1306 and HB1617 was the latest to move the tired agenda backed by extremists and out-of-state interest groups including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
Tennessee legislators threaten to withhold incentives if VW workers choose UAW  Lansing State Journal   ...Not only are Republican legislators accusing Volkswagen of backing the UAW, some of their leaders on Monday threatened to withhold tax incentives for future expansion of the three-year-old assembly plant in Chattanooga if workers vote this week to join the UAW...
Why Volkswagen is helping a union organize its own plant  Washington Post   ...The German company is campaigning for the UAW, not against it, in a kind of employer-union partnership America has seldom seen. What gives?...
Lights Out for NSA? Maryland Lawmakers Push to Cut Water, Electricity to Spy Agency Headquarters  US News   ...The National Security Agency’s headquarters in Ft. Meade, Md., will go dark if a cohort of Maryland lawmakers has its way. Eight Republicans in the 141-member Maryland House of Delegates introduced legislation Thursday that would deny the electronic spy agency “material support, participation or assistance in any form” from the state, its political subdivisions or companies with state contracts...
Barclays to cut 12,000 jobs, pays bigger bonuses  Reuters   ...Barclays said it would axe up to 12,000 jobs this year even as it raised bonuses for investment bankers, prompting fury among politicians and unions who said it had not learned the lessons of the financial crisis. Stepping up efforts to cut costs, Barclays said up to 9 percent of employees could go, including 7,000 in Britain...
Union-Backed Candidate Wins First Round in El Salvador Election  Truthout   ...At the end of January, representatives from 83 unions across El Salvador gathered in the Casa Sindical (a shared union hall) in San Salvador to greet a delegation of international election observers to ensure that the presidential election would be free of fraud, violence, and intimidation...
The Threat Of Defaulting On U.S. Debt And Other Crises Have Cost 750,000 Jobs  ThinkProgress ...The threat of defaulting on American federal debt thanks to lawmakers bickering over raising the debt ceiling — a situation that has now taken place twice, once in the summer of 2011 and again toward the end of last year — and other instances of governing by crisis increased unemployment by 0.5 percent, or in other words, meant the loss of 750,000 jobs, according to a new report...
Workers threaten strike at World Cup stadium  Associated Press   ...Workers at a World Cup stadium in the jungle city of Manaus are threatening to go on strike to demand better conditions following a third recent construction-related death at the venue...
Walmart’s Labor Practices Backfire  ThinkProgress   ...An equities research firm, downgraded Walmart in a new research report, citing understaffing, among other problems...
Man Fired After Employer Learns of Trespassing Misdemeanor 40 Years Ago  AlterNet   ...Donel Fuller is just one out of potentially millions discriminated against because of a criminal history. But the Ban the Box campaign is changing that...
The Company Behind West Virginia's Chemical Spill Skips Congressional Hearing  Huffington Post ...The company that owns the facility that leaked 10,000 gallons of chemicals into the water supply of hundreds of thousands of West Virginians last month was a no-show at a congressional hearing on the spill Monday...
Tipping the Scales of Inequality (Opinion)  Truthout  ...Stagnating wages for tipped workers is part of a bigger story of rising inequality in America...
5 “entitlements” for the wealthy that make things worse for everyone else   Salon   ...From $1 trillion in subsidies to a tax system rigged in their favor, the rich are getting a bargain at our expense...
Gov. Rick Scott’s Administration Gets Between Florida College Students and Voting  truthdig   ...Secretary of State Ken Detzner blocked an effort to ease the congestion of voters at polling places by using the University of Florida’s student union facility...

More signs the middle class is collapsing. Thanks, Walmart.

Wow. Working people are so broke these days that Walmart is losing out to Dollar General because it's merchandise is too expensive.

(Maybe Walmart should have thought of that when it started impoverishing entire communities by paying low wages and destroying locally owned businesses.)

Yahoo tell us Walmart is getting too expensive for the middle class. Sales are declining and its stock is slumping. And Congress is taking money away from working people:

At the start of 2013, Congress repealed a payroll tax cut that had been in effect for two years, effectively taking about $80 per month from the typical household budget. In November the government cut back on food-stamp benefits, which had also been beefed up during the recession. And effective January 1 of this year, Congress zeroed out enhanced jobless benefits that had been in effect since 2008, leaving less money for 1.3 million unemployed people already struggling to get by.

(Maybe the Waltons should have thought of that before financing stink tanks that promote subsidies for the rich but none for the poor under the guise of the 'free market.')

But guess what kinds of retailers are doing well? You guessed it:

Mostly high-end merchants such as Nordstrom (JWN) and Michael Kors (KORS), luxury automakers such as BMW and Mercedes, upscale appliance manufacturers including General Electric (GE) and even yacht manufacturers. As the New York Times noted in a recent article, demand is much stronger for GE’s top-of-the-line dishwashers and refrigerators than for cheaper, mass-market models.

It's a tiny comfort to know Walmart is getting hoisted by its own petard.

Today's Teamster News 02.04.14

Teamsters join thousands in action against Fast Track  TeamsterNation   ...Teamsters, techies and tens of thousands of people took action Friday to oppose a Fast Track bill that would grease the Congressional skids for so-called 'trade deals' like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
'Strongest' union head: Put Sanitation plows on the streets, not private plowers  Staten Island Advance   ...(Teamsters Local 631) Union chief Harry Nespoli called the expense of hiring private contractors and paying them to be on stand-by "foolish" and "a waste taxpayer money."...
New York liquor warehousing law in the works, may cost small dealers big  New York Daily News   ...George Miranda, president of Teamsters Joint Council 16, said the bill could create up to 1,000 warehouse jobs in the state. “It is just the right thing to do,” Miranda said...
De Blasio’s horse-carriage ban stalls  Capital New York   ...as the Council holds its second meeting of the new year under the leadership of de Blasio's ally and fellow carriage opponent, Melissa Mark-Viverito, a bill to ban them has yet to appear on the Council's agenda. A spokesman for Mark-Viverito would not say when the bill will be introduced...
YRC announces $300 million debt reduction plan after Teamsters labor agreement  CCJ   ...YRC Worldwide (No. 3 in CCJ’s Top 250) has closed a deal to attempt to reduce its debt by $300 million, per an announcement from the company Jan. 31, in which it will issue $250 million in new stock and convert $50 million in convertible notes to common stock and use the proceeds to reduce its roughly $1 billion of debt...
CN Rail to meet with union over stalled labor deal  Reuters Canada   ...Union members have "a lot of mistrust" with Canada's largest railway, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference General Chairman Roland Hackl told Reuters, and will need assurances that CN will respect rest provisions for workers in the current agreement...
V & V Supremo Workers Benefit from Teamsters Local 703 Contract  teamster.org   ...Represented by the Teamsters since 2001, the workers at V&V Supremo continue to receive annual wage increases, fair and equitable benefits and the protection of the Teamsters’ grievance procedure due to their contract with Local 703...
Teamsters Applaud Green Light for Keystone XL Pipeline  teamster.org   ...Following the U.S. State Department’s analysis that the Keystone XL pipeline project provides a safe and correct process for the transport of Canadian oil to the U.S. Gulf region, the Teamsters Union is pleased that the project, which will directly create 20,000 good jobs for American workers, is one step closer to reality...
Allegheny County workers to strike  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...Nearly 50 Allegheny County workers, mainly truck drivers in the Public Works Department, will strike after members of Teamsters Local 249 overwhelmingly voted Sunday to reject the county's proposals for a new contract, their union leader said...
States Are Feeling the Pinch from Lost Unemployment Revenues  teamster.org   ...Americans who want to work but can’t find a job after months of unemployment are being hit hard by the cut off of long-term unemployment benefits by Republicans in Congress. But their epic policy blunder is hurting everyone, even if they don’t realize it...
New National Poll: Voters Blame Lawmakers for Weak Job Growth  Trade Reform   ...By an overwhelming margin, voters say job creation should be a top priority, beating out deficit reduction by a 2-1 margin (65% vs. 31%)...
2014 stock market selloff intensifies  USA Today   ...The financial turbulence that began in emerging markets and engulfed Wall Street intensified Monday, leaving U.S. stock investors bracing for the possibility of the first 10% market drop since 2011...
Wall Street Journal Exposes Entirely New Private Equity Tax Scam  naked capitalism   ...so-called “monitoring fees” that PE firms levy on the companies they’ve bought should actually be recognized as dividends for corporate tax purposes. This is is significant because fees are a tax deductible expense to the companies while the dividends aren’t, so the effect of this ruse is to shortchange Uncle Sam, and hence ordinary taxpayers to the PE funds’ benefit...
A Rash of Deaths and a Missing Reporter – With Ties to Wall Street Investigations  Wall Street On Parade   ...In a span of four days last week, two current executives and one recently retired top ranking executive of major financial firms were found dead. Both media and police have been quick to label the deaths as likely suicides. Missing from the reports is the salient fact that all three of the financial firms the executives worked for are under investigation for potentially serious financial fraud...
Businesses gather more information than they need from consumers  Los Angeles Times ...Strong rules for collection and use of people's personal data should be enacted...
Edward Snowden speaks: US blackout of interview  Jonathan Turley   ... the interview appears to have been blocked intentionally by US government authorities. In fact, the media in the US appears to have gone to ‘radio silence’ about it. … He says his “breaking point” was “seeing Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress.”...
Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Yahoo release US surveillance requests  The Guardian   ...Tens of thousands of accounts associated with customers of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo have their data turned over to US government authorities every six months as the result of secret court orders, the tech giants disclosed for the first time on Monday.... 
Newly Wary, Shoppers Trust Cash    ...New York Times ...Like dieters vowing to trade cupcakes for carrots, a number of American shoppers are making a new pledge: cash only...
Factory, construction spending data hint at slowing economy  Reuters   ...U.S. manufacturing activity slowed sharply in January on the back of the biggest drop in new orders in 33 years while construction spending barely rose in December, pointing to some loss of steam in the economy...
Calif. Bill Targets Discrimination Against Caregivers  Associated Press   ...If you don't get a job because you're a woman, or you get fired because you're black, or you get transferred to the night shift because you're gay, there's a law for that. But if you're punished at work because you need time to take your child to the doctor or talk to your confused elderly mother, you might be out of luck...
Olive Garden offers free babysitting to increase sales  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...The "Italian dining experience" inspired restaurant chain has worked on revamping its menu, but on Friday is offering something not many other dining establishments offer: free babysitting...
VW Workers to Decide Whether to Join UAW  uaw.org   From Feb. 12-14, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., will decide the issue of union representation by the United Auto Workers in a secret ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board...