Pacific Progressive

Investment Alternatives: Comparing What Budget Plans Mean for Our Economic Future

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Adam Hersh, Sarah Ayres 

Economists agree that the key to creating good jobs and a strong economy is investments—particularly investments in infrastructure, research innovation, and worker productivity. Nevertheless, House Republicans seem determined to do just the opposite of what America needs to promote economic growth. In the wee hours of the morning on February 19, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution, or CR, to fund the federal government through September 2011 on a party-line vote. This came just five days after President Barack Obama released his own budget request for fiscal year 2012. The contrast in governing styles and priorities for public investment could not be more striking.

Both plans would legislate substantial fiscal contractions and lay off public employees at a time when 14 million Americans remain unemployed and our economy still struggles with recovery from the Great Recession—moves that will inflict unnecessary hardship and slow economic growth. Goldman Sachs economists estimate that the Republican CR will shave 1.5 to 2 percentage points off U.S. economic growth, pushing us dangerously towards a double-dip recession. But while the Republican CR runs a scorched-earth policy over the federal budget, President Obama's budget actually expands critical investments in infrastructure, innovation, and education that will boost competitiveness and productivity of the U.S. economy for the long run.

Across the US, GOP Lawmakers Build States of Denial

by: Michael Winship, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

 

Forced at gunpoint this weekend to clean out a lot of old paper files in anticipation of some home improvements, I ran across some articles and obituaries I had saved following the death, a little more than five and a half years ago, of the late, great Ann Richards, former governor of Texas.

One of them related the story of how Governor Richards was approached by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which was disturbed by the presence of a Christmas creche on the grounds of the state capitol in Austin. "You know," she replied, "that's probably as close as three wise men will ever get to the Texas legislature, so why don't we just let them be."

Yet another late, great woman of Texas, journalist Molly Ivins once said of that same august body, "All anyone needs to enjoy the state legislature is a strong stomach and a complete insensitivity to the needs of the people. As long as you don't think about what that peculiar body should be doing and what it actually is doing to the quality of life in Texas, then it's all marvelous fun."

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These memories come to mind in the wake of this week's release of "Texas on the Brink," a pamphlet published annually by the Texas Legislative Study Group, a group of Democratic state lawmakers. According to their research, much of it corroborated by the US Census Bureau and the Texas Legislative Budget Board, in 2011, "Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured children in the nation. Texas is dead last in the percentage of residents with their high school diploma and near last in SAT [Standard Achievement Test] scores. Texas has America's dirtiest air.... Those who value tax cuts over children and budget cuts over college have put Texas at risk in her ability to compete and succeed."

Wisconsin: Health Care, Democracy and the Middle Class Are at Stake

by: Jeff Leys, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill Protest, February 19, 2011. (Photo: mrbula)

"Mom’s in intensive care. Mom says: Go to Madison."

Such was the conversation with my sister last week as demonstrations erupted across Wisconsin to stop Governor Walker’s union-busting, health-care-gutting, budget "repair" bill. My 88-year-old mother was admitted to the emergency room with heart problems just as a statewide emergency was being unleashed upon the heart of Wisconsin. An immediate and continuing response was, and is, required.

"Go to Madison." My dad walked the picket line in 1973 when teachers in Watertown went on strike for teachers’ dignity. As I drove to Madison last week, I learned that teachers in Watertown organized a sickout, resulting in the school district being closed for the day. Last November 75 percent of Watertown’s voters cast their ballot for Walker.

As in 1973, public workers today know that the heart of Wisconsin is at stake. Now, with the Wisconsin State Assembly passing the bill Friday morning, Wisconsin is on life support - dependent upon the commitment of 14 Democratic senators who left Wisconsin to prevent a vote on the bill.

Think Again: The Contours and Context of the Conservative Class War in Wisconsin

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Eric Alterman 

When Ian Murphy of the online newspaper Buffalo Beast prank-called Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, he was, as he admitted, “wildly unprepared.” But it didn’t really matter. All he had to say were the words “David Koch” and Walker was running off at the mouth about his plans to trick the missing Democrats from the legislature into returning for a phony-baloney negotiating session while the Republicans push through Gov. Walker’s bill to destroy the unions’ collective bargaining rights. (The Murphy/”Koch” suggestion that troublemakers be placed in the crowd is the newsmaker here, but not necessarily the most interesting news.) But whatever the eventual outcome of the Wisconsin struggle there’s no question that it represents a turning point in the shape and contour of American politics.

I warned in two recent Nation columns of the onset of a new “class war” here and here. Conservatives and their billionaire allies, having won enormous victory in shifting the tax burden from the rich to the rest of us, would now seek to use state financial difficulties to destroy public unions who were among the last bastions of money and people-power for progressive candidates.

ACORN was taken down with remarkable ease with the help of a cowed mainstream media as I discussed here and here. Right-wing billionaires such as the Koch brothers were behind almost all of these efforts, among others. They funded phony organizations as well as directed their actions, often unbeknownst to the people holding the signs and chanting.

Wisconsin in Costa Mesa: 250 Employees Scheduled to be Laid Off Tomorrow so Their Jobs Can be Outsourced

Costa Mesa City Council, under the leadership of Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Righeimer, is scheduled to give 250 employees lay off notices tomorrow night so their jobs can be outsourced at will.  Tomorrow night's action is a long-standing goal of Righeimer, who was one of the authors of Prop 226, which would have severely restricted the ability of labor unions to collect political contributions from their members.  Righeimer also helped found the Education Alliance, an anti-public education group which has controlled Capistrano Unified, Orange Unified and the Orange County Board of Education at various times. Righeimer is also on the board of the Family Action PAC.

Download Agenda2011-03-01  Agenda for March 1 City Council Meeting

Download CCStaffRpt-OutsourcingCitySvcs_3-1-11 Staff Report on Outsourcing of City Services

The plan to lay off almost all the city employees as fast as possible was initially rejected by now-leaving City Attorney Kimberly Hall  Barlow.  There is speculation about why Barlow is suddenly leaving and what is happening at Costa Mesa City Hall. See A Bubbling Cauldron for the stories.

Like Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Righeimer and crew are using the budget as a reason to bust the union.  Here is the budget briefing given at the February 8, 2011 meeting.  Download 2011_MidYrBudgetReview   Go to the page that is titled "12 Year Historical - Revenues vs. Expenditures."  Expenditures have been higher than revenues since FY 07-08 and Costa Mesa needs to fix the problem this week by firing every city employee?  When Allan Mansoor was Mayor, there was never a problem spending more than what Costa Mesa took in.  This problem started under Mansoor and was caused by his failure of leadership during a budget crisis.  Mansoor was concerned about locking up allegedly undocumented workers and forcing businesses relocating to Costa Mesa to change their names before they could open up shop.

What to do:  Go to the City Council meeting tomorrow night at 6 PM, 77 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA. Get their early, there may be a crowd. Get a card and speak about Item 4 - Outsourcing of City Services under New Business.   Let Righeimer and company know you are watching them and know exactly what they are up to.  And be ready to help out the workers and residents any way you can.  

Citizens United vs. United Citizens: Building a Movement to Drive Money Out of Politics

by: Gideon Rosenblatt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

On January 21, 2011, activists in Washington, DC, rally for a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. (Photo: Public Citizen)

Friday, January 21, marked the one-year anniversary of "Citizens United," a Supreme Court case that dramatically accelerates the corruptive force of money in US politics.

When money flows in our economy, it's a fuel that helps businesses flourish and people make a living. When money flows in our political system, however, it's a cancer that infects politicians and through them our institutions of democracy. With Citizens United, the cancer is now metastasizing, and as the corruption accelerates, it generates a downward political spiral that threatens the very future of our country.

While this problem is shared by all Americans, the progressive community is frequently at the frontline fighting money's influence in public policy. As a collection of separate issues, it has struggled for relevance in broader American society, but as leaders in the fight to drive money out of politics, progressives have an opportunity to redefine themselves as restorers of American democracy.

Increasing Money's Influence in Elections

Last year's landmark Citizens United Supreme Court case struck down previous limitations on "outside spending" - the money channeled through organizations outside an official campaign, but which nonetheless run ads, make phone calls, and do lots of other things to support a campaign. With Citizens United, the Supreme Court not only made it easier to fund this kind of electioneering, but also made it much harder for citizens to know who's actually behind it.

Public Opinion Snapshot: Public Backs Collective Bargaining Rights for State Workers

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Ruy Teixeira 

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker seeks to eliminate collective bargaining rights for state workers. He claims this change is necessary to bring Wisconsin’s budget under control. But a simpler explanation is that he’s deeply conservative, doesn’t like unions, and sees a budget crisis as a perfect opportunity to get rid of them. The public, he reasoned, would take his side against the “greedy” unions. That doesn’t seem to be happening.

In a just-released USA Today/Gallup poll, an overwhelming majority (61-33) say they would oppose a bill in their state to take away public union bargaining rights as Walker aims to do in Wisconsin.

Clearly the public isn’t buying the rationale that taking away collective bargaining rights is somehow a necessary part of reducing budget deficits. Respondents in a just-released Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll of Wisconsin residents were asked whether state workers should also have their collective bargaining rights taken away if they were willing to pay more for health and retirement benefits. The answer was no by a thunderous 71-24.

Gov. Scott Walker should wake up and realize that what he’s trying to do is a bridge too far in the public’s eyes. Sure, public workers should be willing to make some sacrifices in a budget crunch—we all should be willing to—but taking away their bargaining rights is not fair and the public knows it.

Ruy Teixeira is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. To learn more about his public opinion analysis go to the Media and Progressive Values page and theProgressive Studies program page of our website.

 

 

Invest and Grow: President Obama's Energy Budget Builds for the Future

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Daniel J. Weiss, Valeri Vasquez 

View a comparison between the president's and House Republicans' plans for energy spending

President Barack Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2012 budget reaffirms his commitment to American innovation and ingenuity by proposing to increase investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies, science, and clean energy research, development, and deployment. This stands in sharp contrast to the House Republican Appropriations Committee’s continuing resolution for the remainder of 2011, which slashes vital programsthat would increase our economic competitiveness and create long-term growth. The president’s budget would win the future while the House Republicans’ plan would lose it (see table).

The Wisconsin Fight: What People of Color Have at Stake

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Folayemi Agbede 

Images of Latino, Native American, black, and Asian Wisconsinites are proving elusive in the media coverage of the fight for workers' rights beyond a week-old appearance by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Despite this visual absence it remains evident to many that people of color have much to lose in Gov. Scott Walker’s recently passed state “repair” bill. The bill unnecessarily eliminates workers’ collective bargaining rights while cutting state health care contributions, pensions contributions, and protected leave. This fateful move will especially affect people of color, as with all legislated inequalities. A blow to any group’s rights always hits those facing other structural disadvantages the hardest.

A look at some Wisconsin demographics underscores the state’s growing populations of color. Wisconsin is home to 135,058 Asian-descended people, 332,660 black people, and 276,244 Latinos according to American Community Survey estimates. The Latino community has grown 70 percent since 2000, from 192, 921. The number of Asian descendants in Wisconsin has also increased from 111,428 in 2000.

But the argument that much is at stake for people of color in Wisconsin is less about demographic statistics than what disadvantages these communities will face without workplace protections and fair, competitive benefits. The governor’s attack on workers’ rights is clearly an attack on all people in the public sector. But curbing the right of workers to bargain for better pay and working conditions will have a multiplier effect in communities of color.

Taking Care of Different Priorities: A Comparison of Competing Health Budget Plans

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Nicole Cafarella, Karen Davenport 

President Obama’s continued efforts to bring our nation’s soaring health care costs under control in his budget for fiscal year 2012 and House Republican efforts to gut health care spending without any consideration for the patient—the American people—says it all about the competing budget priorities in Washington today.

The president earlier this week outlined a plan for tackling real problems in our nation’s health care system in FY 2012, which begins in October. These efforts build on strategies in the Affordable Care Act enacted last year that are designed to improve the integrity of government health care programs and reduce wasteful spending across the health care sector.

The Obama administration’s plans stand in stark contrast to the House Republicans’ proposed continuing resolution proposal for the remaining seven months of FY 2011, which is being taken up in the House this week. Those efforts, which will soon become part of the debate about health care spending for FY 2012, would make existing health care problems far worse.

Ronald Reagan, Enemy of the American Worker

by: Dick Meister, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

The 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth is coming up in February, and before the inevitable gushing over what a wonderful leader he was begins, let me get in a few words about what sort of a leader he really was.

Ronald Reagan was, above all, one of the most viciously anti-labor presidents in American history, one of the worst enemies the country's working people ever faced.

Republican presidents never have had much regard for unions, but until Reagan, no Republican president had dared challenge the firm legal standing labor gained through Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt in the mid-1930's.

Reagan's Republican predecessors treated union leaders much as they treated Democratic members of Congress - at times, as adversaries to be fought with, and, at others, as people to be bargained with. Reagan, however, engaged in precious little bargaining. He waged almost continuous war against organized labor and the country's workers from the time he assumed office in 1980 until leaving the presidency in 1988.

Reagan had little apparent reason to fear labor politically. Opinion polls at the time showed that unions were opposed by nearly half of all Americans, and that nearly half of those who belonged to unions had voted for Reagan in both of his presidential campaigns.

State Budget Cuts: Starting at the Top

by: Dean Baker, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

The elite media are on yet another jihad. They are determined to cut the pay and benefits of public-sector workers who can still enjoy a middle-class lifestyle.

The idea that a schoolteacher or highway worker can retire with a pension of $2,000-$3,000 a month is directly at odds with their view of government. They believe that government exists to redistribute income from everyone else to those who already are rich and powerful. To these people, the money that is going to pay the wages and pensions of ordinary workers is money that could be in the pockets of the rich.

The economic crisis caused by the collapse of the housing bubble has created a great opportunity. State and local tax revenues plummeted as employment fell. Lower property values also meant lower property taxes. This meant that governments across the country suddenly faced severe budget shortfalls. This provided the opportunity to attack the pay and pension packages of public-sector workers.

It is difficult not to admire the brilliance of this attack. The country's elite, with the Wall Street high rollers at the forefront, wrecked the economy through a combination of incompetence, greed and outright fraud.

As tens of millions of workers are still struggling with unemployment, underemployment and underwater mortgages, this gang now turns around and starts demanding that middle-income workers take pay cuts and give up part of their pensions. This is like a child setting fire to his parents' house and then complaining because dinner isn't ready on time. But this is the way America now works, with the spoiled children on Wall Street calling the shots.

States Seeking To Cut Medicaid Rolls Get Some Help - From the Feds

This article was published by Kaiser Health News.

By Marilyn Werber Serafini

KHN Staff Writer

By telling Arizona Tuesday it can effectively end Medicaid coverage of a quarter million people, the Obama administration has pointed out a potential escape hatch for other financially strapped states seeking to cut people from the program.

It’s just not clear how big the hatch is.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer had asked for a waiver from a requirement in the new health care law that states maintain current eligibility levels for Medicaid between now and 2014, when a huge expansion of the program begins. But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told Brewer that she didn’t need Washington’s permission to cut the state’s Medicaid rolls.

Related Story

 

States May Face Showdown With Feds Over Cutting Medicaid Rolls

 

Justice for All: President Reverses DOMA Policy

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Danielle Moodie-Mills, Aisha C. Moodie-Mills 

Remember that piece of paper called the Constitution with that little section called the Bill of Rights that’s supposed to ensure that all Americans are treated equally under the law? Well, the Obama administration signaled this week that same-sex married couples are entitled to the same protections guaranteed in the Constitution such as Social Security benefits, joint taxes, and health insurance coverage as their heterosexual counterparts.

In an extraordinary shift in policy this week, the president announced the Department of Justice will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA. Under DOMA, which was passed in 1996, the federal government has the right not to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples.

Some say, “Big deal. Gays can still get married somewhere.” And yes, gays and lesbians are currently allowed to be married in 5 out of 50 states in the union as well as the District of Columbia. But this means the gay and lesbian community is subjected to a patchwork of protections and vulnerabilities that heterosexual families don’t have to face.

Hypocrisy Unmasked: Continuing Resolution Exposes Conservatives as Pro-Politics and Anti-Solutions

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Marshall Fitz , Angela Maria Kelley 

The continuing resolution, or CR, proposal unveiled by House Republicans brings in to sharp focus the conservative strategy on immigration: use the issue as a political cudgel to excite their restrictionist base while blocking all efforts to fix the system.

Conservatives have blocked progress on immigration reform for years with calls to “just enforce the law” and “secure the border first.” But the border and interior enforcement budgets have exploded and the government’s sustained commitment to immigration enforcement can no longer reasonably be questioned.

Now, by substantially cutting border security funding in their CR proposal, conservatives demonstrate that their seemingly insatiable desire for more immigration enforcement was always about politics, never about solutions. If they truly believed that more enforcement resources alone would do the trick, we suspect they would have found the money by defunding more programs that benefit women and children.

There’s no doubt that dramatic, exponential increases in resources focused on ending illegal immigration over the last 20 years have enhanced our enforcement capacities at the border and in the interior in important ways. Our southern border is far more fortified and secure—shrill claims to the contrary notwithstanding—and we currently deport more unauthorized immigrants than ever before.