Today's Teamster News 01.24.15

Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership won't deliver jobs or curb China's power (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ...U.S. leaders promised [previous free-trade] deals would create high-paying jobs, reduce the trade deficit, increase GDP and raise living standards. But none of this came true...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal Isn't Secret, Says US Official, But Access To Text Is Highly Restricted  International Business Times   ...[U.S. Trade Representative] Michael From an and Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo, the director-general of the World Trade Organization, were asked at the World Economic Forum why the TPP is being kept secret by the U.S. at the same time the European Union has just published the full text of a separate proposed trade agreement with the United State….
Bipartisan push to stop currency cheats could derail TPP  Washington Post   …The latest news is that lawmakers will ask for any agreement to include a provision to stop foreign countries from manipulating their currencies at the expense of U.S. manufacturers...
America's Losing the Currency War (opinion)  Bloomberg  … Now the ball is in Japan's court again, and the U.S. is "just sitting here watching, being the one country whose currency is rallying because everyone else is trying to devalue."...
State Battles
Workers fight anti-worker local right-to-work laws in Kentucky  TeamsterNation   ...You can bet it isn't Kentucky workers who are passing right-to-work laws in six counties so far this year. The workers are fighting them...
Republicans vote to end Pay Equity Commission  Fox31 Denver   … Senate Republicans again reminded their Democratic colleagues what it’s like being in the minority as they voted Wednesday afternoon to do away with the Pay Equity Commission, arguing that it’s a feckless body that hasn’t accomplished much. Democrats …are already returning to their oft-used narrative that the GOP is hostile to women by scrapping a body charged with rooting out gender discrimination in the workplace...
AN ACT CONCERNING LARGE RETAIL STORES AND EMPLOYMENT OF WORKERS DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON.  Connecticut General Assembly   ...To require retail stores of five thousand square feet or more to close on certain holidays unless employees are given the option not to work holidays without penalty...
Rauner pulls plug on Quinn's last-minute moves  Chicago Tribune   ...Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has pulled the plug on Democratic predecessor Pat Quinn’s attempt to raise the minimum wage for state contractors, require the governor to release more details about his tax returns and stop Illinois State Police from detaining people based on their immigration status...
Prevailing wage emerges as unions' next big battle  CNHI   …The labor movement may be facing another high-stakes fight as sentiment grows to roll back the prevailing wage for workers on public projects. [in Indiana]...
“Right to Work” Is the Wrong Answer for Wisconsin’s Economy  Economic Policy Institute   ...What RTW laws do is to make it illegal for a group of unionized workers to negotiate a contract that requires each employee who enjoys the benefit of the contract to pay his or her share of the costs of negotiating and policing it...
War on Workers
Labor at a Crossroads: In Defense of Members-Only Unionism (opinion)  American Prospect   ...Allowing members-only unions would protect the rights of those who wish to bargain collectively even if they fail to surmount all the legal hurdles necessary to establish the union as the representative of all employees in the workplace. The decision of the United Auto Workers union to engage in members-only bargaining at the VW plant in Chattanooga is a potentially revolutionary experiment with a new approach to union representation...
Why the Energy Selloff Is So Dangerous to the U.S. Economy  Wall Street on Parade   ... Oil-related companies in the U.S. now account for between 35 to 40 percent of all capital spending. Announcements of sharp cutbacks in capital spending and job reductions by these companies create big ripples, forcing related companies to trim their own budgets, revenue assumptions, and payrolls accordingly...
Buying a Nominee  National Journal   ...The coming presidential contest is ushering in an epochal shift: the arrival of candidate-specific nonprofits, personalized vehicles for a politician's supporters to raise and spend unlimited cash—completely clandestinely. It is poised to yield a campaign season more dominated by secret money than any election since Watergate...
Bob Dylan wants billionaire ‘job creators’ to start actually creating some jobs  Raw Story   … “People have to create jobs, and these big billionaires are the ones who can do it. We don’t see that happening. We see crime and inner cities exploding with people who have nothing to do, turning to drink and drugs. They could all have work created for them by all these hotshot billionaires. For sure that would create lot of happiness.”...
Wells Fargo, JPMorgan loan officers took cash kickbacks  CNN Money   ...Regulators said more than 100 loan officers at Wells Fargo (WFC) locations in Maryland and Virginia steered thousands of loans to Genuine Title, which went out of business last year, in exchange for cash...
Number of NC workers killed on the job nearly doubled last year  Charlotte News & Observer   ...Forty-four people died in work-related accidents last year, up from 23 in 2013. It was the highest number of worker deaths since 2011, when 53 died, according to the Labor Department...
Worker killed in steel factory accident  Boston Globe   …the worker was struck by a piece of steel as it was swinging on a crane inside the warehouse...
Miscellaneous
Senate Sets Final Vote For Keystone XL After Long, Tense Night Of Amendment Voting  ThinkProgress   ...The Senate was in session until midnight Thursday night, debating and voting on fifteen amendments to a bill that would approve the construction of the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. At the end of it all, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed for cloture, a procedural move that effectively sets up a final vote on Keystone for next week...
Federal Court Order: Explosive DOT-111 "Bomb Train" Oil Tank Cars Can Continue to Roll  DeSmogBlog   …A U.S. federal court has ordered a halt in proceedings until May in a case centering around oil-by-rail tankers pitting the Sierra Club and ForestEthics against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). As a result, potentially explosive DOT-111 oil tank cars, dubbed “bomb trains” by activists, can continue to roll through towns and cities across the U.S. indefinitely...

Father of Michigan RTW gets his money from job-cutting corporation

Dick DeVos, the loony billionaire whose dollars bought right-to-work-for-less in Michigan, inherited his fortune from a company that sent American jobs overseas.

This should surprise no one.

DeVos is the son of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos. Amway in 2011 settled a class-action suit alleging the company is a Ponzi scheme. USA Today explained:

The lawsuit alleged Amway is a "pyramid scheme" — which was changed to "illegal scheme" in an amended version — in which distributors rarely sell products to outside customers, only to other new distributors they bring in, who must bring more recruits in to make money. New entrants, the lawsuit says, were "effectively required" to purchase products and event tickets from the high-level distributors.

But if Amway was ripping off people, at least it was doing it with American products. Not any more. Inbound Logistics recently interviewed an Amway executive, who said:

Until about 2010, most of our supply chain and manufacturing was U.S.-based. That has now changed. Amway has been moving home care manufacturing closer to the point of sale in different regions. We're making product in Belgium for Europe and Russia, and producing in China for Southeast Asia.

So, let's review: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said for months that right-to-work-for-less wasn't on his agenda. Then Amway heir Dick DeVos gathered some of his sociopath billionaire pals together to pressure Republicans to pass a right-to-work-for-less bill in the lame duck session of 2012. According to Mother Jones, 

They had formulated a single, all-encompassing strategy: They had a fusillade of TV, radio, and internet ads in the works. They'd crafted 15 pages of talking points to circulate to Republican lawmakers. They had even reserved the lawn around the state capitol for a month to keep protesters at bay. 

One of those talking points was that right-to-work-for-less would bring jobs to Michigan.

The Republicans, under intense pressure from the billionaires, caved.

We've known all along that billionaires like Dick DeVos don't care one bit about creating jobs in Michigan or anywhere else. All they want to do is to cut costs. When he was CEO of Amway, Dick DeVos cut over 1,300 jobs, mostly in Michigan.

So knowing that Amway moved jobs overseas just makes it more painful to think people actually believe Dick DeVos's lies.

Today's Teamster News 02.01.14

Teamsters, techies, tens of thousands take action against Fast Track in intercontinental day of action  TeamsterNation   ...More than 50 rallies, teach-ins and news conferences are being held on the North American continent, from Edmonton, Canada, to Mexico City. By mid-afternoon, social media drove more than 12,000 phone calls and hundreds of thousands of emails to the U.S. Congress...
Anti-TPP Rally in San Francisco Pressures Pelosi to Take Bolder Stance  IndyBay   ...Protester numbers swelled during a march down Market Street, eventually reaching an estimated 500...One arrested as Teamsters protest Highway 101 project  The Press Democrat   ...The picketers were protesting the delivery of the concrete by Superior Supplies Inc., a company whose drivers they said are not in the Teamsters union. They were striking to encourage the company to allow its employees to be represented by the union, Teamsters Local 665 President Ralph Miranda said... 
Black History Is Teamster History  teamster.org   ...The contributions of black members to the success of the Teamsters Union are numerous, varied and as old as the union itself. Black team drivers attended the first Convention in 1903 and were active in all aspects of the union from the beginning. That commitment remains strong today...
Teamsters Local 657 to Host Training for Pipeline Construction Workers  teamster.org  ...The Teamsters National Pipeline Training Fund in collaboration with Teamsters Local 657 will sponsor a Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) training program on Feb. 16 in Brownswood, Texas...
Report Opens Way to Approval for Oil Pipeline  New York Times   ...The State Department released a report on Friday concluding that the Keystone XL pipeline would not substantially worsen carbon pollution, leaving an opening for President Obama to approve the politically divisive project...
Hated on the Left, the TPP Draws Conservative Foes  Trade Reform   ...the American Jobs Alliance and the United States Business and Industry Council—pro-business groups wary of trade’s impact on America’s national interests—joined with Tea Party Nation and the socially conservative Eagle Forum to rail against the TPP...
Walmart warns: Food stamp cuts hurt our profits  Raw Story   ...Walmart Friday said bad weather and cuts in food stamp support for the poor weighed on US sales and would hit earnings for its November-January fourth quarter...
America's Shopping Malls Are Dying A Slow, Ugly Death  Business Insider   ...Traffic-driving anchors like Sears and JCPenney are shutting down stores, and mall owners are having a hard time finding retailers large enough to replace them...
Corporate welfare costs more than pension obligations  Washington Post ...states often spend more on tax breaks and subsidies for businesses than funding their ... pension plans...
Goldman Awards Blankfein $14.7 Million in Stock Bonus  New York Times   ...Goldman Sachs’s board granted its chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, restricted shares worth $14.7 million as part of his pay package for 2013, according to a filing made public on Thursday..,
The Greedy Leading the Greedy - Multimillionaire Former Johnson and Johnson CEO Approved Huge Compensation for JP Morgan Chase CEO After Company Paid $20 Billion in Legal Settlements  Health Care Renewal   ...The current compensation set by the board of directors of JP Morgan Chase for CEO Jamie Dimon, $20 million a year, has attracted some attention ... especially given the contrast between his raise and the $20 billion or so the company had to pay out last year in settlements of allegations of unethical practices...
NY Judge Approves $8.5 Billion Bank of America Mortgage Settlement  Money News   ...A New York judge on Friday approved most of the $8.5 billion Bank of America settlement over investor losses from mortgage-backed securities ... Critics of the settlement had argued that it represented only a fraction of the losses...
Billionaires Attempt To Convince Society That They Are The Good Guys  In These Times   ...America’s rich see themselves as victims of Nazi-like persecution...
Koch-Tied Groups Funded GOP Effort to Mess With Electoral College Rules  Mother Jones   ...Last election season, a shadowy nonprofit pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign to change how electoral votes are counted...
Amazon wants to send stuff before you order it. Are other retailers doomed?  Washington Post   ...A couple weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal happened upon a 27-page patent for what Amazon.com calls "anticipatory" or "speculative" shipping, which sounds insane. Here's how it works, in a nutshell...
Reinhart and Rogoff: Great Recession may "surpass in severity" the Great Depression in many Countries  Calculated Risk   ...The policies of austerity in Europe have failed miserably and many countries there are experiencing a worse slump than during the Depression (austerity in the US has held back the recovery too...
Illinois company fires woman hours after learning she has cancer  New York Daily News   ...A Chicago-area women is filing a disability discrimination lawsuit, claiming her boss gave her the boot after realizing she’d have to take significant time off for cancer treatments...

Screw U: How For-Profit Colleges Rip You Off  Mother Jones   ...The for-profit college industry makes a killing while handing out expensive degrees that fizzle in the real world...
Where are the jobs? Indiana job numbers still don't add up  WTHR.com   ... Indiana is keeping secrets about hundreds of projects, thousands of missing jobs and millions in taxpayer dollars used to pay for them...
Appeals court allows secret probe into recall elections to proceed  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...The unanimous decision by the Madison-based 4th District Court of Appeals panel is a victory for prosecutors and comes just three weeks after they faced a separate setback by the judge overseeing the investigation. That earlier ruling quashed subpoenas to conservative groups supporting Gov. Scott Walker...
RI lawmakers want to stop banks from evicting tenants in foreclosed properties  Associated Press   ...Two Rhode Island lawmakers are sponsoring legislation to make it harder for banks to evict tenants from foreclosed properties...
Repeal of prevailing wage law would result in a weakened economy, University researchers say  The Daily Illini   ...Pressure from increasing state budget deficits, as well as debt from underfunded pensions, have caused critics to call for the repeal of Illinois’ prevailing wage law for government construction projects. However ... Illinois’ prevailing wage law creates many positive economic and social impacts, and repealing it would not result in any considerable savings for taxpayers or the state...
States Are Feeling the Pinch from Lost Unemployment Revenues  teamster.org   ...more than $1.76 billion has been stripped from state economies across the U.S. since the GOP denied the extension of unemployment insurance...

Today's Teamster News 01.08.13

Teamster UPS Freight Local Union Leaders Recommend New Tentative Agreement  teamster.org   ...Teamster Local Union leaders representing UPS Freight workers across the country endorsed a new tentative national agreement that would provide for major economic improvements and protect work and jobs at a time when most LTL companies are cutting wages and benefits...
New Safety Recommendations for Maintenance of Way Rail Employees  teamster.org   ...The Fatality Analysis of Maintenance of Way Employees and Signalmen (FAMES) Committee has released a report on its analysis of “Fatal Accidents occurring under Train Approach Warning (Watchmen/Lookout Protection), and includes specific recommendations to improve safety...
Retirement Shouldn’t Be Sacrificed for Corporate Welfare  teamster.org   ...“The absolute last thing we should do … is allow [Social Security] to begin to be dismantled inch by inch.”...
Teamsters Continue to Stand in Solidarity with Korean Railway Workers  teamster.org   ...Teamsters are standing in solidarity with Korean workers as they prepare for general strikes on January 9 and 16...
Angry Workers Swarm Seoul’s Streets, Demand President Resign  In These Times   ...South Korea may best be known for slick electronics and saccharine pop tunes. Instead, the streets were filled with throngs of angry union workers, facing down riot police in a show of defiance against a government plan that they say would lead to layoffs and privatization...
Scalia’s golden chance to kill unions The Salon   ...A "sweeping" ruling could force right to work on every U.S. public sector worker, Harvard's Ben Sachs warns...
Senate moves ahead with measure to extend long-term unemployment benefits  Washington Post   ...The Senate voted Tuesday to move ahead with a measure to extend long-term federal unemployment benefits to more than 1 million Americans for three months…
What happened to US life expectancy?  Incidental Economist   ...Possible causes of this departure from international norms were highlighted in a 2013 Institute of Medicine report and have been ascribed to many factors, only some of which are attributed to medical care financing or delivery. These include differences in cultural norms that affect healthy behaviors (gun ownership, unprotected sex, drug use, seat belts), obesity, and risk of trauma...
Letter to My Elected Officials Regarding "Fast Track" on TPP (opinion)  OpEd News   ...The exclamation point on the demise of democracy in the once Superpower may well be the Trans Pacific Partnership, TPP, which has been devised by 600+ corporate attorneys, and will be monitored by the same, behind those closed doors that even YOU, our elected official, has been shut from knowing what is contained in the document, said to be some 26 Chapters with only three (3) having to do with "trade"...
Leaked Email Exposes Bank Of America's Social Media Spies  Popular Resistance   ...An email uncovered through a Washington state public records request has confirmed the existence of a Bank of America “social media trolling” spy team, used to carry out surveillance on multiple political groups...
JP Morgan Pulled $275 Million Of Its Own Money From Madoff Feeder Funds Months Before His Arrest  Business Insider   ...JP Morgan was aware of the Ponzi scheme before Madoff's arrest...
Boeing reports record orders and deliveries for 2013 BBC News   ...Boeing reports record orders and deliveries last year, showing they can definitely pay their workers more...
The U.S. Government Uses Sweatshops, Too  In These Times ...The collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in Bangladesh last April exposed the cruel link between abusive Global South factories and the Western brands they supply. But while consumers may have been shocked to learn of the Gap or Benetton's latest designs strewn amid the wreckage of “death trap” factories, they might have missed that much of the clothing churned out by overseas sweatshops is custom-made for Uncle Sam...
America declared an ‘unconditional war on poverty’ 50 years ago, but you’d never know it  The Guardian   ...This 8 January marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s declaration of “unconditional war on poverty.” But a half century later, it’s time to re-examine the case Johnson made in 1964 for remedying poverty in America...
Workplace Deaths Among Miners Rose In 2013  ThinkProgress   ...The number of deaths among miners caused by work-related accidents in 2013 increased to 42 last year, up from 36 in 2012, according to the latest Department of Labor (DOL) data...
Retirement Theft in 4 Despicable Steps  AlterNet   ...American workers are being cheated out of the retirement they've paid for all their lives...
Koch-backed political coalition, designed to shield donors, raised $400 million in 2012  Washington Post   ...The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch has expanded into a far-reaching operation of unrivaled complexity, built around a maze of groups that cloaks its donors…
Here’s Why Some Of The World’s Billionaires Dislike Pope Francis  carbonated.tv   ...How long were the rich going to remain silent and let the Pope Francis attack capitalism and consumerism? Not long. Billionaire feathers have been ruffled and they are making it known...
Wisconsin Lawmaker Wants To Take Away Workers’ Weekends  ThinkProgress   ...Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R) is pushing to undo the state’s law that employers have to provide their employees with at least one day off a week, the Huffington Post reports...
Oklahoma labor commissioner opposes OSHA proposal  Kansas City Star   ...Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello will testify against a proposed federal regulation made by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that Costello says is "fraught with peril."...

Today's Teamster News 09.18.13

Teamsters VP Potter Calls Out NJ Gov. Christie for Misclassification Law Veto  Leslie Marshall Show   ...Teamsters International Vice President Fred Potter tells labor radio host Leslie Marshall that New Jersey Gov. Christie’s priority is not workers since port workers and others are being cheated by misclassification...
Teamsters Union Takes New Tack On Drayage Carriers  Journal of Commerce   ...When long-haul and local truck drivers at Toll Global Forwarding's Cartaret, N.J., location voted this summer in favor of representation by the Teamsters, it was the union's latest successful bid to organize workers on the waterfront...
Drive Up Standards Newsletter Now Available  driveupstandards.org   ...Read the latest issue of the Teamsters school bus campaign newsletter here...
U.S. to Include Home Care Workers in Wage and Overtime Law  New York Times   ...Advocates for low-wage workers have pushed for this change, asserting that home care workers, who care for elderly and disabled Americans, were wrongly classified into the same “companionship services” category as baby sitters — a group that is exempt from wage and overtime coverage...
Labor unions oppose privatizing TVA  Times Free Press   ...Organized labor may have backed President Obama, but America’s biggest unions don’t like the idea he floated in April to consider selling the Tennessee Valley Authority...
Youth takes on Moral Monday movement  Duke Chronicle   ...Demonstrators carrying three empty coffins led a long, silent procession of more than 200 to Gov. Pat McCrory’s executive mansion Monday...
Google Knows The WiFi Passwords Of Every Android User: Report  Huffington Post   ...Google might have access to WiFi passwords...
  U.S. must take tobacco out of global trade talks (opinion)  San Francisco Chronicle   ...Tobacco companies continue to aggressively market their deadly products across the country and around the world, through insidious ad campaigns. And they have found a new arena to exploit their deadly products: international trade agreements...
Hacker group in China linked to big cyber attacks  Reuters   ...Researchers have discovered a group of highly sophisticated hackers operating for hire out of China, a U.S. computer security company said on Tuesday, and it linked them to some of the best-known espionage attacks in recent years...
The typical American family makes less than it did in 1989  Washington Post   ...The Census Bureau is out with the annual report on incomes and poverty. And while you might think that after years of stagnant incomes and elevated poverty rates, we would be inured to the depressing facts contained therein, it still somehow has the power to shock...
U.S. Banks Say They Are Now Safer (By Their Own Measure)  Reuters   ...The biggest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp, said that by their own reckoning they are better equipped to withstand global downturns now than they were in March...
Greek Doctors Join Civil Service Strike As Workers Protest Austerity Cuts To Hospitals, Schools  Huffington Post   ...Greek hospital doctors have embarked on a three-day strike, joining high school teachers who walked off the job a day earlier in a week of public sector strikes protesting planned job cuts...
California Legislature votes to end retroactive tax on investors   Los Angeles Times   ...California lawmakers have sent the governor a bill that would end state efforts to collect a retroactive tax increase from investors. A signature by Gov. Jerry Brown would relieve about 2,000 taxpayers from having to pay $120 million in back taxes...
Americans Are 110 Times More Likely to Die from Contaminated Food Than Terrorism  Alternet   ...In 2011, the year of Osama bin Laden's death, the  State Department reported that 17 Americans were killed in all terrorist incidents worldwide. The same year, a single outbreak of listeriosis from  tainted cantaloupe killed 33 people in the United States. Foodborne pathogens also sickened 48.7 million, hospitalized 127,839 and caused a total of  3,037 deaths. This is a typical year, not an aberration...

Meet Three Billionaires Asking Taxpayers To Buy Them New Stadiums  Think Progress   ...The NFL has 14 owners on the list, more than any other league. And three of the names should be notable, because they are asking taxpayers in their city to help foot the bill for new stadiums or massive renovation projects...
US super-rich hit new wealth record five years after financial crisis  The Guardian   ...the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a record $2.02tn, up from $1.7tn in 2012...
Progress on Predatory Lending  New York Times   ...Payday loans have long been huge financial traps for cash-strapped, low-income borrowers. Several states have clamped down on these “quick fix” loans, which sometimes carry annual interest rates of 400 percent or more. But a lot more needs to be done...
U.S. Judge: CCA Violated Idaho Contract When It Understaffed Private Prison  Boise Weekly   ...Following years of controversy, private prison Operator Corrections Corporation of America, which operates Idaho's private prison, was told by a federal judge that it was in contempt of court for understaffing the Idaho Correctional Center...
Kansas won't require citizenship proof for driver's license renewals  Associated Press   ...Kansas no longer plans to require people renewing driver’s licenses to produce proof that they are living in the U.S. legally, Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan said Monday, confirming a policy shift with implications for the state’s administration of a separate proof-of-citizenship requirement for new voters...

Meet the billionaires Gov. Christie hung with in 2011

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie partied like a billionaire in 2011. Or at least with billionaires, he reports in a new book soon to be released about the 2012 presidential election.

Christie, who is currently running for a second term as governor, told Washington Post reporter Dan Balz that he attracted a lot of attention from the super-rich in the lead up to last year's campaign. Although many of them had already thrown their support behind eventual Republican nominee Mitt Romney, people like Nancy Reagan and Barbara and George W. Bush urged him to get into the race.

When Christie said no, they decided to throw Christie a party and invited all their friends. Hosted by Ken Langone, the founder of Home Depot, the governor said it was a who's who of GOP heavy hitters:

All of a sudden you hear John Mack [ former CEO of Morgan Stanley] on the phone. [Langone] says ‘David Koch is out of the county. David, are you there?'

Getting down with one of the leading funders of the American Legislative Exchange Council might give some politicians pause. But not when you are also getting private calls from former President George W. Bush:

He kind of asked me then what I was thinking, what were the impediments in my mind, what were the concerns. It was an amazing conversation.

Alex Pareene at Salon wonders, however, if this is something a governor seeking re-election and possibility a run at the White House in 2016 should be sharing:

We all already know that in the United States since around just before the Reagan era the top one percent of earners have gotten much richer than everyone else, and the top one percent of the top one percent — people like the sorts of people Christie met at that wonderful party — have done so fantastically well for themselves that even the rest of the one percent has reason to feel resentful. Meanwhile life basically sucks for everyone else, with stagnating wages and a hallowing out of the middle class, not to mention the in-progress gutting of the safety net for those never lucky enough to actually join the middle class. And here’s Chris Christie bragging that sixty representatives of the ultra-elite really, really wanted him to be president.

It looks like the governor may want to get back in touch with the other 99.9 percent while he campaigns around the Garden State.

Today's Teamster News 05.21.13

Business groups step up push for fast-track authority The Hill   ...Business groups are stepping up their efforts in pushing for a renewal of fast-track authority to negotiate trade agreements. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable  ... teamed up on Monday to launch the Trade Benefits America Coalition...
Trans-Pacific Partnership deal unlikely this year  Stuff.co.nz   ...A heavyweight lineup of former United States trade representatives have delivered a gloomy prognosis on the likelihood of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal being wrapped up this year...
Foreclosure Fraud Failures Come To A Head In Justice Department Protest   ThinkProgress   ...Frustration with the failed execution of various weakly-constructed legal settlements stemming from widespread foreclosure fraud bubbled over today into a protest at Justice Department headquarters that culminated in homeowners being arrested...
White-collar workers are turning to labor unions  Los Angeles Times   ...The next wave of union protesters isn't blue collar. It's lawyers, paralegals, secretaries, helicopter pilots, judges, insurance agents and podiatrists...
Employee Abuse Runs Rampant In America  Economic Populist   ...The Workplace Bullying Institute documents just how widespread employee abuse is in America. ... the WBI site describes who gets targeted for workplace abuse.... The people most targeted are the ones most capable....
Billionaires Now Own American Politics  TomDispatch   ...Billionaires with an axe to grind, now is your time. Not since the days before a bumbling crew of would-be break-in artists set into motion the fabled Watergate scandal, leading to the first far-reaching restrictions on money in American politics, have you been so free to meddle...
Former Sen. Judd Gregg Named CEO Of Top Wall Street Lobbying Group  Huffington Post   ...As the onetime ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Gregg was a staunch defender of Wall Street and the financial sector throughout the 2008 financial crisis, helping to author the bill that bailed out the nation's largest banks. The finance, insurance and real estate sector was a top contributor to his campaigns...

Proposal gives Scott Walker administration more power to sell state property  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Gov. Scott Walker's administration would gain broad authority to sell state property - including prisons, highways, heating plants and university dormitories - under a plan legislators will take up Tuesday...Senator’s plan would make Washington a right-to-work state  Olympia Report   ...Sen. Michael Baumgartner (R-Spokane) on Wednesday announced a strategy  ... to make Washington a right-to-work state if worker’s compensation insurance rates continue to increase...
Pension vote puts some House Republicans in awkward position  Tampa Bay Times ...Florida House Republicans tried to close the state's pension system to new employees this year, saying it's a ticking time bomb that could cripple the state's budget for years to come. But many of those same GOP lawmakers are members of the state pension system themselves...
In Florida, Incentives Only the Beginning for Favored Companies  Florida Center for Investigative Reporting   ...Enterprise Florida is picking winners, and most small businesses cannot imagine being successful in securing these awards,” said Dan Krassner, executive director of the Tallahassee-based watchdog group Integrity Florida. “The whole incentives strategy needs further review to see if it is truly in the public interest.”...
State workers anxious as Illinois lawmakers debate pensions  Associated Press   ...An Illinois agency manager might have to delay retirement. A former university secretary wonders where she’ll have to cancel vacations. A state office assistant fears he won’t be able to afford the medical care his wife needs...
GUEST COMMENTARY: The hidden agenda in Jefferson City  Columbia Missourian   ...the real goal of Missouri's legislative leaders is to continue the shift of wealth and power upward to their friends at the American Legislative Exchange Council. Using ALEC's principles of free markets, limited government and federalism, Missouri's legislative leaders scored at the top of the list of states working to dismantle all public programs and services...
My Voice: No tax dollars for ALEC dues  Argus Leader   ...Do you want your tax dollars to support higher perks, out-of-state travel and membership dues for state legislators to a conservative organization funded by corporate special interests? That’s what is happening now in South Dakota under the leadership of Republican legislators...
ABF Local Leaders Unanimously Approve Tentative Agreement  IBT   ...Leaders from about 160 Teamster local unions that represent ABF members unanimously endorsed a tentative master agreement and supplements today that covers 7,500 workers. The vote to support the tentative agreement and supplements paves the way for a vote by the members...
Teamsters Help 'Stamp Out Hunger'  The Morning Call   ...On May 11, members of National Association of Letter Carriers Locals 389, 254 and 274; the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association; the AFL-CIO and Teamsters Local 778; AARP; the U.S. Postal Service ... collected, sorted and delivered food donated along postal routes, writes Ann B. McManus, director of the Second Harvest Food Bank, in her letter to the editor...

Bold Growth Plans at Hollywood Studios  New York Times   ...Film counts are down. Production is going elsewhere. And yet big Hollywood studios are planning to expand...

Handout hypocrite trying to buy the election for Romney

This is too much. Joe Ricketts is the loony billionaire who wants the government to pay to renovate Wrigley Field for the Chicago Cubs, which his family happens to own.

But Ricketts says he's against government spending. (As Elizabeth Warren says, "Republicans say they don’t believe in government. Sure they do. They believe in government to help themselves and their powerful friends.")

Ricketts is funding his own super PAC, which he calls the Ending Spending Action Fund. And he's planning on spending $10 million to help Mitt Romney win the presidential election.

The Wall Street Journal has the story:

A billionaire investor whose family owns the Chicago Cubs is pressing ahead with a multimillion-dollar pro-Republican political campaign, bucking a political furor that emerged when the effort first become public. 

Joe Ricketts, the founder of what became online brokerage TD Ameritrade Inc., plans to spend $10 million airing ads supporting GOP nominee Mitt Romney and another $2 million to help Republicans running for Congress. The ads will begin airing this week. 

The ads stack up as one of the biggest electioneering efforts by an individual in the 2012 election. National cable television spots will feature disaffected Obama supporters talking about ...

We think Ricketts should just put that money toward an impact player for the Cubs.

This loony billionaire hates government spending unless it's for him

No Joe, greed isn't good.

Joe Ricketts is contributing a small fortune to attacks on President Obama, alleging his "overspending" of taxpayer money. Note:  deficit spending under President George W. Bush was three times as high as under Obama.

One guess as to where Ricketts does want the government to spend taxpayer money. Hint: he owns the Chicago Cubs.

Yup, Ricketts think taxpayers should pony up for a new ballpark for him rather than roads, schools or police protection.

ThinkProgress tells us more,

This week, the New York Times reported that Joe Ricketts, a right-wing billionaire and founder of TD Ameritrade, is soliciting multi-million dollar ad proposals to attack President Obama. One such proposal, leaked to the paper, was a $10 million, racially-charged campaign entitled “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: The Ricketts Plan to End his Spending for Good.” The proposal, which center on Rev. Jeremiah Wright, suggests hiring an “extremely literate conservative African-American” to break down Obama’s image as a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln.”

(The immortal words of Joseph Welch come to mind: "Have you no sense of decency?")

Anyhoo, Ricketts backed off the plan after it was exposed. But he hasn't backed off his plan to soak Chicago taxpayers for $150 million right off the bat. Crain's Chicago Business reports:

...$300 million is needed for the ballpark proper.

Half would come from the team, presumably in increased revenue from more signage inside Wrigley and retail and other entertainment...

And half would come from $150 million or so in bonds to be retired with increased revenue from the existing city and Cook County amusement taxes on ticket sales. Specifically, debt service would get the first 6 percent in growth above a base level of around $15 million a year now...

The team also wants a 50 percent cut of any increase in amusement tax revenue growth above 6 percent. And unlike the bonds, which would be retired in 30 or 35 years, that would be forever.

Now there's nothing wrong with a new ballpark. But there is something wrong with attacking government spending for others but not for you.

Maybe Joe Ricketts isn't loony. Maybe he's greedy, selfish and hypocritical.

Today's Teamster News 01.13.12

Indiana anti-union bill to get vote next week as Republicans and Democrats make a deal  DailyKos   ...With or without amendments, though, Republicans are overwhelmingly likely to have the votes they need to pass the bill, forcing union members to pay the costs of union representation for their coworkers who don't belong to the union...
3 billionaires who'll drag out the race  Politico   ...Meet the three billionaires who could drag out the GOP presidential primary, bloody up front-runner Mitt Romney and weaken the odds of defeating President Barack Obama: Sheldon Adelson, Foster Friess and Jon Huntsman, Sr...
Virginia Bill to Consider Establishing a State-Owned Bank  American Banker   ...A Virginia lawmaker is urging his colleagues in Richmond to consider creating a state-owned bank that would use deposits from residents and state agencies to lend to local businesses and stimulate economic growth...
Bank of America Prepares Emergency Plans at Fed Behest, May Need to Amputate on Geographic Basis  naked capitalism   ...no one should cry at the prospect that Bank of America might have to shrink to if it continues to be in financial and litigation hot water...
Occupy Wall Street reclaims Zuccotti Park  Washington Post   ...Occupy Wall Street protesters flooded into their former dwelling space at Zuccotti Park Tuesday night after police removed the metal barricades that had blocked their entrance since a police raid in November...
Several Teamsters Locals Are Striking, Some For Over a Year, But Nobody Seems to Notice  The Indypendent   ...in 2010, a total of 11 strikes were documented; this compared to as many as 300 at any given time in the 1970s...

"Roll back this orgy of greed"

Here's a great rant from Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont, compliments (again) of Buzzflash:

"The billionaires are on the warpath. They want more, more, more....

 ...The billionaires and their supporters in Congress are hell-bent on taking us back to the 1920s, and eliminating all traces of social legislation designed to protect working families, the elderly, children and the disabled. No "social contract" for them. They want it all.

They want to privatize or dismantle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and let the elderly, the sick and the poor fend for themselves.

They want to expand our disastrous trade policies so that corporations can continue throwing American workers out on the street as they outsource jobs to China and other low-wage countries. Some also want to eliminate the minimum wage so that American workers can have the "freedom" to work for $3.00 an hour."

Read the whole thing here.