Today's Teamster News 12.03.12

Why Raising the Eligibility Age is the 'Single Worst Idea' for Medicare Reform  The Nation   ...The key facts to understand about raising the Medicare eligibility age: not only does it shift substantial costs onto seniors, it also doesn’t save the federal government any notable amount of money...
Stealth Class Warfare (opinion)  Angry Bear   ...arrogance is at work in the class warfare that the radical right is waging against the social programs that have been partof the great stabilization of the middle class and a singular pathway to a more sustainable lifestyle for those who are underprivileged in America--Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid...
Next Up For A "Recovering" Europe: A 30-50% Collapse In Wages In Spain, Italy And... France  zero hedge   ... how will the long-suffering workers of Greece, Spain, and Italy (and also France), who are confident they have gone to the 9th circle of hell in the past 4 years, react when they realize that none of the needed internal devaluation has actually taken place yet?...
Spain's disabled protest austerity cuts  Associated Press   ...More than 10,000 people, many in wheelchairs or being led by guide dogs, marched in a demonstration with the slogan "SOS Disability: Save our Rights, Inclusion and Welfare..."
Lines Blur as Texas Gives Industries a Bonanza  New York Times   ...Texas gives out more of the incentives than any other state, around $19 billion a year ... Yet the raw numbers mask a more complicated reality behind the flood of incentives, the examination shows, and raise questions about who benefits more, the businesses or the people of Texas. Along with the huge job growth, the state has the third-highest proportion of hourly jobs paying at or below minimum wage. And despite its low level of unemployment, Texas has the 11th-highest poverty rate among states...
Kasich’s ODOT “considers” spending turnpike money in Southern Ohio  Plunderbund   ... the Kasich Administration is trying to gain statewide support for their soon-to-be released Ohio Turnpike plan by teasing Ohioans with the possibility that turnpike lease/bonding money could be used to help solve all of their transportation woes...

Buy union, buy American for the holidays

We don't need to explain why. The question is how? So many U.S. products are now made by low-paid workers outside of our borders.

Here's one way to buy products made by American union members: Go to the Labor 411 website. Starting tomorrow, they'll be spotlighting union-made, American-made gift ideas.

Labor 411 tells us lots of games, for example, are still made here, including Yahtzee, Candyland and Monopoly.

And here's a shock: You can actually buy union-made consumer electronics. A company called Union Built PC makes desktop computers, notebooks and tablets. Who knew?

Labor 411 also lists 86 unionized makers of apparel and accessories, from the All-American Clothing Co. to Winston Leather.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing is also promoting Christmas gifts that were made in America. They're already on Day 9, directing us to a website offering American-made greeting cards. Teamsters can support their brothers and sisters in the Graphic Communications Conference (GCC) by looking for cards they make with the "GCC" or "Allied Printing Trades" label. And you can get union-made and union-themed cards at Homestead Cards here.

AAM has other suggestions for American-made gifts: bags and totes from the Hero Bag company, flannel clothing from Vermont Flannel, woollen blankets from Faribault Mill and vintage notebooks from Field Notes (we like the County Fair series).

The AAM's manufacture this blog also features products unique to American cities, such as Louisville Sluggers,  Made in Newark backpacks and Chelsea (Mass.) clocks.

Go to American Made Matters and you can buy ornaments, hats and T-shirts that say (wait for it) "American Made Matters." You'll also find a long list of companies that make or market products in America. OhSayUSA, for example, features vintage toys like the Slinky, the Duncan Yo-Yo and Sam the Rubber Duck. Wigwam makes socks for sport, work and diabetics. Stormy Kromer makes hats and warm clothing -- and has been since 1903 when George "Stormy" Kromer designed his own while working as an engineer on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.

We'll keep suggesting ways to buy union and buy American over the next few weeks. But here's a website to tide you over: a complete guide to American-made toys (you'd be surprised) at americansworking.com.

Today's Teamster News 12.02.12

The Insourcing Boom  The Atlantic   ...Just five years ago, not to mention 10 or 20 years ago, the unchallenged logic of the global economy was that you couldn’t manufacture much besides a fast-food hamburger in the United States. Now the CEO of America’s leading industrial manufacturing company says it’s not Appliance Park that’s obsolete—it’s offshoring that is...
Walmart's New Health Care Policy Shifts Burden To Medicaid, Obamacare  Huffington Post   ...Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, plans to begin denying health insurance to newly hired employees who work fewer than 30 hours a week, according to a copy of the company’s policy obtained by The Huffington Post...
Fast-food striker fired — but not for long  Salon   ...A Wendy's worker is fired -- then reinstated -- and the surprise strike by NYC workers sparks little backlash...
How will Kasich play the turnpike? (opinion)  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...Kasich is considering privatizing Ohio's best-maintained highway to plug a hole in the transportation budget and raise funds for infrastructure projects throughout the state...
No, the Social Security Trust Fund Isn't a Fiction  Mother Jones   ... When wealthy pundits like Krauthammer claim that the trust fund is a fiction, they're trying to renege on a deal halfway through because they don't want to pay back the loans they got...
Meet the Four Companies That Together Provided Most of 2012 Earnings Growth in the S&P 500  Slate   ...Just four companies—Apple, AIG, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America—together provided a majority of overall earnings growth among large-cap companies...

What's wrong with this picture?

The red line is corporate profit. The blue line is wages.

It'sretty obvious what's wrong.

Thanks to digby.

This is what we union thuggs do on the pipeline

We collect more than 1,100 toys for "Toys for Tots."

Teamsters took time away from working on  on construction of a gas pipeline project near Sarver, Pa., to collect the massive amount of toys, plus more than $700 in cash.

They were helped by members of the Laborers, Welders, and Operators unions.

“This is just one example of how our pipeline members contribute back to the communities they work in,” said Marion Davis, Director of the Teamsters Building Material and Construction Trades Division.

The “Toys for Tots” program is run by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and benefits underprivileged children.  For more information see http://www.toysfortots.org/.

And remember, "thuggs" stands for "those helpful union guys and gals."

Will Goldman Sachs take over America, too?

We were a little taken aback last week by the effrontery of greedy putz Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein coming to Washington to demand cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

After all, Goldman Sachs has received billions (if not trillions) of dollars in entitlements from the American taxpayer, while paying little in taxes. In 2008 alone, Goldman Sachs paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes when it made $2.3 billion and got almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve.

For Blankfein to say that ordinary taxpayers must have less, and he and his Wall Street buddies must have more -- well, that's over the top.

But then we realized that Goldman Sachs already took over Europe. So no wonder Blankfein feels entitled to take over America.

Earlier this week, the great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money Goldman Sachs completed its European conquest when Mark Carney was named the new governor of the Bank of England -- one of the most important positions in the stewardship of the British economy.

Current reports on Carney's resume:

Carney is a former 13-year veteran of Goldman Sachs and was involved in the 1998 Russian financial crisis which was exacerbated by Goldman advising Russia while simultaneously betting against the country’s ability to pay its debt.

Look who else is running Europe's economy into the dumpster (where Spaniards are now hunting for food):

• Former EU Commissioner Mario Monti was picked (not elected) to replace Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (who was elected) last year. Monti was an international advisor for Goldman Sachs.  “This is the band of criminals who brought us this financial disaster. It is like asking arsonists to put out the fire,” commented Alessandro Sallusti, a Milan newspaper editor. 
• Lucas Papademos was appointed (not elected) to replace Prime Minister George Papandreou (who was elected). Papandreou  was ousted because he wanted to put the question of the Greek bailout to a popular referendum. Papademos was governor of the Bank of Greece when it oversaw deals with Goldman Sachs to hide the size of Greece's debt.
• Petros Christodoulou, head of Greece's debt management agency, began his career at Goldman Sachs.
• Mario Draghi, former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, is now head of the European Central Bank.
• Peter Sutherland is the former attorney general of Ireland, prominent supporter of Ireland's bailout of the banks (at taxpayers' expense) and chairman of Goldman Sachs International.
• Otmar Issing is an advisor to Goldman Sachs, former director of the Deutsche Bundesbank and the European Central Bank. Also creator of the euro (and that's working out well).



Eating out of a dumpster in Spain.

• Antonio Borges, formerly head of the IMF's European Department, is a former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International.

Now you may think our fears are overblown that vampire squid Goldman Sachs will take over America and send us into a Europe-like recession. But remember this: President George W. Bush's treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, was the firm's CEO. The chief of staff for the current Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, used to be a Goldman Sachs lobbyist. Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, made nearly $1 million in the year he worked for Goldman Sachs.

Be very, very afraid.

Today's Teamster New 12.01.12

Study: American Households Hit 43-Year Low In Net Worth  CBS News   ...The median net worth of American households has dropped to a 43-year low as the lower and middle classes appear poorer and less stable than they have been since 1969.The median net worth of American households has dropped to a 43-year low as the lower and middle classes appear poorer and less stable than they have been since 1969...
Small union is causing big problems for ports  Los Angeles Times   ...The small band of strikers that has effectively shut down the nation's busiest shipping complex forced two huge cargo ships to head for other ports Thursday and kept at least three others away, hobbling an economic powerhouse in Southern California.
Right-to-work struggle: GOP can't find consensus; unions get twitchy  MLive   ...Michigan Republicans are having a tough time finding consensus on whether to pursue a right-to-work law. And that’s why no action was taken on the touchy subject during the first week of the state Legislature’s year-end session...
Florida judge questions state prison privitzation plan  Associated Press   ...Circuit Judge John Cooper did not immediately rule but promised a quick decision after the second of two hearings in the case. The $58 million outsourcing plan is being challenged by two unions representing many of some 3,000 prison health care employees who stand to lose their jobs...
Walkergate: Four down, one to go, ? Pending  Cognitive Dissdence   ...buckle up your seatbelts and get a good grip on your popcorn. This ride ain't anywhere close to being over...
WEDC hires outside help after losing track of millions of dollars in loans  Wisconsin State Journal   ...The state's top jobs agency said Friday that it has hired a financial institution and an accounting company to review its financial practices after it failed to track loans totaling about $12 million....
Teamsters get representation approval  Merced Sun-Star   ...The Merced County Board of Supervisors has approved the registration of Teamsters Local No. 856 as an employee organization for the county's correctional officers and security system workers...