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A note from
Michael Morrow
Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism (Paperback)
by Kevin Phillips
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143114808/ref=pe_5050_11548480_snp_dp
Former CON--Nixon speechwriter--Phillips (until he opened his eyes, and grew a heart, to go with his brain), has done amazing work flipping rocks and explaining what is fatally wrong with modern American CONservatism, and mindless, greed-uber-alles American capitalism. See:
American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury
Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich
American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush
Arrogant Capital: Washington, Wall Street, and the Frustration of American Politics (he predicted much of the current CON crap-storm in 1995!!)
The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath
Clearly, Phillips is one who understands that we are neck deep in CLASS WARFARE, and that the rich are winning, aided and abetted by the brainwashed LimpBots, frightened old white guys, and religious fanatics (often the one-in-the-same).
I also heard an interview with Michael Lewis, who has an important piece in the new Vanity Fair, "Frozen Assets," which details the Iceland meltdown/econ implosion. (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/04/iceland200904)
Seems that Iceland is a microcosm of the mindless greed, insane borrowing, immoral leveraging, that turned a banking system with a couple billion in assets in 2003 into a $150 billion economic "powerhouse" in 2008. A "powerhouse" built solely on greed and paper and insane false expectations. We saw what happened to this formerly rock-solid little economy. Now we're seeing the same thing on a much, much larger scale in the U.S. and the "developed" (financially, NOT morally) world. As the article begins:
"Wall Street on the Tundra
Iceland�s de facto bankruptcy�its currency (the krona) is kaput, its debt is 850 percent of G.D.P., its people are hoarding food and cash and blowing up their new Range Rovers for the insurance�resulted from a stunning collective madness. What led a tiny fishing nation, population 300,000, to decide, around 2003, to re-invent itself as a global financial power? In Reykjavík, where men are men, and the women seem to have completely given up on them, the author follows the peculiarly Icelandic logic behind the meltdown.
by Michael Lewis April 2009
I'm sure Limp-bough and the Insane O'Reilly and Hatemonger Hanity will all be interviewing both of them about their recent work...
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First, the whole world celebrates May 1 as "Labor Day"--or International Workers' Day, so what's up with us?
Because the Haymarket Riot of May 4, 1886, following a worker strike in Chicago that began on May 1, for shorter work hours, saw a bomb go off in the crowd, killing one policeman and injuring several others. Police rounded up "radicals, agitators and labor leaders," and arrested eight--none of whom was ever connected, by evidence, to the bomb. Didn't matter, with the court saying that "inflammatory speeches and publications" of the eight incited the actions. The Illinois and U.S. Supreme Court upheld the verdict. FOUR were hanged and one committed suicide. The other three were pardoned by a new Illinois governor in 1893.
But the proximity of this tragedy to May 1 led to the determination that in the U.S. "Labor Day" had to be moved. Hence first Monday in September.
Interesting, no?
Tidbit two:
While most of us know that it was organized labor who brought us the weekend, and the 40-hour week (with more pay for work beyond 8 hours a day and 40 a week), and child labor laws, it was also organized labor that brought us employer-paid health care. Unfortunately, another two million Americans lost that paid health care last year, a consistent annual figure since Mr. Bush took over the White House in 2001. And many who still have it have seen much higher out-of-pocket payments with reduced employer coverage.
So the U.S. has, by far, the world's most expensive health care system, and one very beneficial to executives who have realized up to $1.5 billion--yep with a "B"--golden parachutes. So has that $2 TRILLION health care system bought us quality?
Not according to the latest issue of AFT-Retirees, below, who offer this most interesting information on life expectancy in the U.S.
(This said, and presented, Happy Labor Day to all of you. And again, kudos to our bargaining team, and to the Democrats in the Oregon Legislature who provided community colleges with adequate funding so that we were able to keep what's left of our health coverage and even add to our CAP a bit.)
Michael Morrow, Fed VP for Political Action (and labor trivia buff).
U.S. IS 42ND IN LIFE EXPECTANCY
Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries, the Associated Press reported on Aug.12. For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve healthcare, nutrition and lifestyles. A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years, giving America a rank of 42nd worldwide. That is down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics. The low U.S. ranking is attributed to the high uninsured rate among the population (45 million currently) in addition to rising obesity rates and racial disparities. Black U.S. residents have a shorter life span, at 73.3 years, than whites. The U.S. infant mortality rate is higher than 40 countries. Countries that surpass the U.S. in life expectancy include Japan, most of Europe, Jordan and the Cayman Islands. Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain, had the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years. It was followed by Japan, Macau, San Marino and Singapore. Swaziland, in sub-Saharan Africa -- part of a region that has been hit hard by an epidemic of HIV and AIDS, as well as famine and civil strife -- has the shortest lifespan, at 34.1 years.
The U.S. ranks near the bottom in healthy life expectancy at age 60, and 15th among 19 nations in avoiding deaths through timely treatment and effective care. The U.S. ranks first in providing the �right care� for a given condition and high for preventive care but performs poorly in coordinating the care of chronically ill patients and in protecting the safety of patients.
05/13/2009 11:53:22 AM Cope Archives
The $12.7 BILLION cut to student loans by Congress--to fund tax cuts primarily benefiting the richest 1-2% of Americans--is NOT a done deal. Many "moderate" Republicans, especially those in districts with a union presence, are feeling the heat. This Higher Ed reauthorization bill will cause interest rates on student loans--which more and more college students have to take due to flat financial aid since 2001, and annually accelerating costs of attendance--to more than double, adding an estimated $5-7,000 in interest to the average student's borrowing.
Check the stories and, if you want to, contact your Senators and Congressperson about how this will negatively affect our students' ability to get an education.
The second article highlights the shutdown of 26 GM and Ford plants, with a loss of 60,000 jobs--many of them good paying, benefited, union jobs. This is about 1/5 of the U.S. auto workforce. Think where these laid off workers, many with no more than a high school education, will work. Wal-Mart? At $7 an hour and no benefits? Consider this when Mr. Bush, on Tuesday evening, tells us how wonderfully the U.S. economy is doing. Think about how your raise is one of the better ones working people will see nationwide--how our 2-3% raises annually puts us, and most U.S. workers--further and further behind inflation and skyrocketing home and energy prices.
If you think it is time to become active--and when better than an election year--contact David Rives (x4482) or Michael Cannarella (x4180) at the Federation office, or me, Michael Morrow (x4366). We've got a full slate of important activities over the next nine months, focusing on electing pro-education candidates to the Oregon legislature and defeating initiatives that will hurt working people and public education, like "TABOR," the so-called "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" sponsored by Grover Norquist's national anti-tax organization. A similar law passed a few years ago in Colorado so devastated the state's public infrastructure, especially education, that the voters just repealed it--urged to do so by the state's Republican governor. A petition is currently being circulated to put the same law on the ballot in Oregon, and we urge members not to sign, and to encourage others to read the fine print.
But we'll also be working proactively, to pass initiatives--like statewide health care--that will benefit all of us. And we'll find a little time to stay involved with what's happening in D.C., and to educate our students about these issues--part of PCC's commitment to promoting civic awareness among students.
Please consider pledging to COPE, our Committee on Public Education," and becoming active with the PCC Federations' Election 06 drive.
It is going to be a pivotal year, and your participation will make a difference.
Thanks
Michael Morrow
FacFed COPE vp
BUDGET BILL: CONGRESS FEELS THE HEAT FROM AFT MEMBERS
Two new AFT grass-roots initiatives to give our members a stronger presence on Capitol Hill are already showing results. In the days leading up to an expected House of Representatives vote Feb. 1 on the budget reconciliation bill, House members have been hearing from their AFT constituents who object to the bill's deep cuts in student loans, Medicaid and other vital domestic programs while preserving tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans (see our full story). Our members' voices are being heard, thanks to the AFT's lobbying efforts supported by two programs launched last summer: the 13,500-strong AFT e-Activist network and the union's Activists for Congressional Education (ACE) program, which connects AFT members with their representatives and senators through personal visits and contacts. After receiving numerous letters from AFT activists and meeting with AFT constituents through ACE, Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.) announced on Jan. 25 that he will be breaking with his party and voting against the budget reconciliation bill. In his press release, Simmons specifically cited the concerns expressed by his AFT constituents in influencing his decision to vote against the bill. AFT suggests members contact their members of Congress to oppose the bill and educate them about the ramifications of this bill on our students.
JOB LOSSES AT FORD SIGNIFY GROWING THREAT TO MIDDLE CLASS
This month's announcement by the Ford Motor Co. that it is shutting down 14 plants and slashing up to 30,000 hourly jobs about a quarter of its North American workforce "is tragic for the employees who have invested their lives in Ford and devastating for all working people," said AFL-CIO president John Sweeney Jan. 24. "For decades, autoworkers have defined what it means to have a middle-class job in America. The evisceration of good, middle-class jobs is the single biggest crisis facing our nation today." Ford's economic woes stem from a number of problems, say industry experts, including over-reliance on sport-utility vehicles, global competition and the cost of pensions and healthcare benefits for its unionized workforce. In November, rival General Motors announced similar drastic measures, closing 12 plants and cutting some 30,000 jobs. Workers "cannot and should not be expected to bear the burden of the competitive pressures on the auto industry," said Sweeney. Instead of trying to shrink to profitability, Ford should innovate developing new products and technologies to regain market dominance. Sweeney also called for Congress to enact a national health plan that would provide the affordable healthcare working families need, while helping companies compete in the global marketplace.
If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Inside AFT.
And for the political junkies, www.opensecrets.org has some interesting coverage of the Abramoff bribery scandal.
And a very provocative article on funding in higher ed, especially as it applies to low-income and community college
students, is from Inside Higher Ed: Questions from a Provocateur
By Wick Sloane http://insidehighered.com/views/2006/01/10/sloane
Enjoy, have a great term, and I hope to see many of you at Larry's gathering on the 26th.
Michael Morrow
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