Monday, April 9, 2012

Today's Teamster News 04.09.12

Study Shows House Members Profit  New York Times   ...A nonprofit ethics group here spent the last nine months examining every member of the House — for campaign spending, budget earmarks, office accounts and lobbying by any relatives — and found that the families of more than half of all the House lawmakers have received payments or otherwise benefited financially from their affiliation with a lawmaker in the two previous election cycles...
The Secret Source of Economic Weakness: The Trade Deficit  Beat the Press   ...The key to reducing the trade deficit is of course getting the dollar down. That will make our goods more competitive internationally...
The 401(k): Americans ‘just not prepared’ to manage their own retirement funds  Bloomberg   ...the rise of the 401(k), dating to the early 1980s, has steadily shifted more financial responsibility onto the shoulders of many Americans who are — let’s face it — clueless...
Food Banks Fear They Will Fall Short in Efforts to Feed the Nation's Hungry  Feeding America   ...Higher food costs and rising gas prices could prove to be damaging to the nation's food banks and their ability to provide adequate emergency food to the nearly 49 million Americans who are currently living at risk of hunger...
It’s much, much worse in Michigan than we even realized  eclectablog   ... Since January 2011, 566 bills have been signed into law passed by the House. Of those, 546 of them, 96.5% were passed under “immediate effect”. ... immediate effect can only happen if 2/3 of the members of the House vote for it. But Republicans do not HAVE 2/3 of the House...
Toll's LA drivers to vote in historic Teamsters union campaign  The Australian   ...The vote is believed to be one of the first private sector union elections held by the US port trucking industry since it was deregulated in 1980 and a victory for the workers will open the door to other American truck drivers joining unions...