The Congressional Progressive Caucus proposal is good but could be better
San José, CA – A proposal for a federal budget that serves working people and not the rich and corporations needs to include four points. First, a budget proposal for the people needs to recognize that the biggest economic problem right now is not the federal budget deficit, but rather an unemployment rate of almost 10% more than two years after the recession officially ended. Second, given the fact that the public debt is mainly due to wars, tax cuts for the wealthy and recessions, balancing the budget must be done in a way that cuts military spending, raises taxes on the well-to-do and increases spending in the short run to get more people back to work. Third, future funding problems for Social Security and Medicare must protect the programs by increasing funding, not by cutting back on the safety net for seniors.
Plan would cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations while cutting Social Security
The Bipartisan Senate Proposal is being pushed by the so-called Gang of Six – Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), and Mark Warner (D-Virginia). Four of them were members of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform which was unable to pass a proposal to cut the Federal Budget deficit. This proposal has been welcomed by President Obama, who said that he endorsed the thrust of the proposal.
San José, CA – On July 8, the U.S. Department of Labor released its report on unemployment and new job creation for the month June. The report said that the unemployment rate rose for the third month in a row to 9.2%, while only 18,000 new jobs were created. The job creation was much worse than most mainstream economists expected, and was less than one-tenth as many new jobs as in February, March and April. The number of new jobs created in May was revised down from a weak 54,000 to an even worse 25,000.
Minneapolis, MN – The framework agreement reached by Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and Republican politicians is a victory for big corporations and Minnesota’s wealthy. For the rest of us, it is a setback. It is the opposite of what a progressive solution to the state budget crisis should be. The Republican shutdown of state government appears to be ending with a Republican solution to the budget short fall – the burden of the crisis will be shifted onto the backs poor and working people. Again.
St. Paul, MN – On July 13, members of the Welfare Rights Committee rolled out a huge banner on the steps of the Minnesota state capitol building. The Republicans have pushed the state into a shutdown, throwing more than 22,000 state employees out of work and causing dramatic cuts to state services. The banner reads, “Tax the rich! No cuts to poor and working people!”
On June 21, the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, Ben Bernanke, gave a very downbeat report on the U.S. economy following a two day meeting of the Fed. Bernanke, who is also a professor of economics, admitted that he didn’t have a good explanation for why economic growth in the United States was so weak and the unemployment rate stuck at about 9%. But Marxist political economy does have an explanation: that economic stagnation is a natural outcome of a capitalist economy.
On June 19th the *Washington Post* published “With Executive Pay, Rich Pull Away from Rest of America” by Peter Whoriskey. This very informative article connected the rise in corporate executive’s pay with the growing economic inequality in the United States, using the example of a large U.S. dairy company combined with recent research by economists on high incomes. At the same time the article only offered very vague explanations for *why* the rich are winning out at the expense of almost everyone else.
Chicago, IL – Over 3000 teachers, healthcare workers, janitors and community activists descended on the corporate leaders meeting here, June 14 outside the Midwest CEO/CFO conference. The protesters demanded jobs, homes and schools.
San José, CA – In the first week of June, two important reports showed a sharp slowdown in the U.S. economy. On Friday, June 3, the Department of Labor said that unemployment in May rose to 9.1%, while only 54,000 new jobs were created, far less than what mainstream economists were predicting. Two days earlier, on June 1, a report on home prices showed another drop of 4.2% in the first three months of 2011, bringing home prices to a new low since the housing market began to tank in 2006.
Newark, NJ – The People's Organization for Progress held a protest at the busy Bergen Street and South Orange Avenue intersection, April 16. The call for the demo was “Gas Prices Are too Damn High!” It was a small rally but one of the noisiest ever. “If you think gas prices are too high,” said POP Chairman Lawrence Hamm over the bullhorn, “honk your horn!” Beep! Beep! Be-beep!
Madison, WI – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led a student contingent in the March 12 Madison, Wisconsin rally of 150,000. SDS chapters from Wisconsin, Illinois and Maryland marched in support of workers. Milwaukee students showed solidarity with their teachers and other campus workers, joining their buses to Madison and holding a giant banner demanding “No cuts to education!”
Lansing, MI – Taking their lead from Wisconsin, 1200 protesters rallied against attacks on unions and democracy at the Michigan State Capitol, Feb. 22. Union fire fighters were out in force and in uniform, carrying signs reading, “Support Act 312,” a 1969 law establishing binding arbitration. Binding arbitration requires towns and cities to work out their differences with the workers.
San José, CA – On Nov. 18, Republicans in the House of Representatives blocked an attempt by the House Democrats to extend funding for Federal Unemployment Insurance, which expires on Nov. 30. If funding is not extended, almost a million jobless workers will be cut off from their benefits immediately. Over a million more will lose their benefits by the end of December.
Chicago, IL – About twenty students from the University of Illinois campuses in Chicago and Urbana-Champaign attempted to speak out at a Board of Trustees meeting, Nov. 18. The students are organizing against tuition increases and the re-segregation of higher education.
On Nov. 10, former Colorado Republican Senator Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, investment banker and Morgan Stanley board member, released a draft report on deficit reduction. Both are co-chairs of the bipartisan deficit reduction commission appointed by President Obama. Their recommendations have been widely slammed by labor union and other progressives for good reason: The recommendations open the doors to even more austerity for working people while proposing lower tax rates for the well-to-do.
San José, CA – On Oct. 8, the Department of Labor reported that local public schools had cut 49,800 jobs in September. Included in the layoffs this fall was kindergarten teacher Amanda VanNess, who stood with President Obama when he signed a bill giving $26 billion to local schools in August of 2009. While this federal stimulus money did save Ms. VanNess’ job in the Toledo (Ohio) Public School District in 2009, she was laid off this fall as the district’s drop in students led to another round of cuts.
Fight Back News is circulating the following call from the Network to Fight for Economic Justice to join the massive protest set for Oct. 2 in Washington, D.C.
Minneapolis, MN – As the candidates for governor were preparing to debate inside the Pantages Theater here Sept. 15, about 30 members of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, including folks from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee and the Welfare Rights Committee were on the street out front.
