Sunday, February 20, 2011
Budget Deficit Misdirection or Drinking the KoolAid
Have we drunk the deficit koolaid?
1. Public servants especially those in unions are overpaid. According to many media outlets: Employees in public service jobs (union) earn roughly 5% more than private sector jobs (roughly $2000). The average public serve worker earns $47,000 the average private sector worker $45,000 for comparable jobs. Many jobs have no private sector equivalent (fire, police) and vice versa--there are no public sector equivalent for Walmart greeter or part time after school burger flipper.
Though the Economic Policy Institute has figures that show that private sector workers earn 6,000 more per year than public sector workers, while public sector workers are better educated.
BUT, let us put this all into perspective--the average household earns less than $52,000 a year. When any of our politicians talk about tax breaks they are talking about households earning up to $250,000 (and over that if republican)...
http://www.wtma.com/rssItem.asp?feedid=114&itemid=29635274
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2011/02/working-in-america-public-vs-private-sector.html
Over 20 years comparison: http://www.slge.org/vertical/Sites/%7BA260E1DF-5AEE-459D-84C4-876EFE1E4032%7D/uploads/%7B03E820E8-F0F9-472F-98E2-F0AE1166D116%7D.PDF
2.Have Public service unions & collective bargaining power caused State deficits?
IF this was the case than we would expect that in Right to Work states (seen as the most business friendly)that do not allow collective bargaining for their public unions would be in the black. And, the five states that fit this category are running huge budget deficits.
There are 22 Right to Work* states (Ala,Ariz,Ark,Fl,GA,ID,IA,Ka,LA,MS,Neb,Nev,NC,ND,OK,SC.SD,Tenn,TX,Ut,VA,WY)
Of these Va, NC,SC, GA and TX prohibit collective bargaining (its explicitly illegal).
Of these 5 states, 4 have state deficits in billions (Va 2.3b,Tx 1.4b, NC 3.8b, GA 1.7b) (There are 16 states with deficits in the billions. The fifth state's deficit,SC is at 877m.
FYI: unemployment in these states
7% unemployment in VA
8.3 TX
9.7 NC
10 GA
11% SC
(see figure 3 & table 1)
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=711
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/6796/
3. SO, Why is Gov.Walker refusing to negotiate on collective bargaining? Why are public service employees being scapegoated? The questions may be answered In part by looking at how Wisconsin went from budget surplus to budget deficit: granting corporations tax breaks.
Why are public servants--teachers, in this case-- civil servants who provide us with the necessities of what we need --education (and an educated citizenry), transportation, safety, security--being held responsible for bringing down the economy, and not the corporations (financial institutions, energy companies, industries, etc) which lobbied for less regulation, lower taxes, etc.?
For some teacher/public servant bashing see:http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2011/02/20/watershed-moment-in-wisconsin/
4. Want a stable economy? Create jobs and make sure those who have worked can afford to live.
What happens when people do not have jobs? They do not spend money. Corporations are supposedly flush, yet they are not creating jobs, not spending, because people are not buying. So,perhaps the way to solve the budget deficits are to create and/or secure jobs so people will spend...
Instead, both sides are talking about cutting funds for things such as home heating programs--and energy costs are going up, energy costs are also not part of the equation for Cost of Living increases for Social Security increases, for instance.
5. Perhaps instead of drinking the koolaid offered, we should speak the truth, demand that corporations pay their fair share of taxes and demand that corporations give back to the public, for the public good.
*Right to Work--do not have to join union (if there is a union to join), can quit at any time, and likewise can be fired without cause or notice.
1. Public servants especially those in unions are overpaid. According to many media outlets: Employees in public service jobs (union) earn roughly 5% more than private sector jobs (roughly $2000). The average public serve worker earns $47,000 the average private sector worker $45,000 for comparable jobs. Many jobs have no private sector equivalent (fire, police) and vice versa--there are no public sector equivalent for Walmart greeter or part time after school burger flipper.
Though the Economic Policy Institute has figures that show that private sector workers earn 6,000 more per year than public sector workers, while public sector workers are better educated.
BUT, let us put this all into perspective--the average household earns less than $52,000 a year. When any of our politicians talk about tax breaks they are talking about households earning up to $250,000 (and over that if republican)...
http://www.wtma.com/rssItem.asp?feedid=114&itemid=29635274
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2011/02/working-in-america-public-vs-private-sector.html
Over 20 years comparison: http://www.slge.org/vertical/Sites/%7BA260E1DF-5AEE-459D-84C4-876EFE1E4032%7D/uploads/%7B03E820E8-F0F9-472F-98E2-F0AE1166D116%7D.PDF
2.Have Public service unions & collective bargaining power caused State deficits?
IF this was the case than we would expect that in Right to Work states (seen as the most business friendly)that do not allow collective bargaining for their public unions would be in the black. And, the five states that fit this category are running huge budget deficits.
There are 22 Right to Work* states (Ala,Ariz,Ark,Fl,GA,ID,IA,Ka,LA,MS,Neb,Nev,NC,ND,OK,SC.SD,Tenn,TX,Ut,VA,WY)
Of these Va, NC,SC, GA and TX prohibit collective bargaining (its explicitly illegal).
Of these 5 states, 4 have state deficits in billions (Va 2.3b,Tx 1.4b, NC 3.8b, GA 1.7b) (There are 16 states with deficits in the billions. The fifth state's deficit,SC is at 877m.
FYI: unemployment in these states
7% unemployment in VA
8.3 TX
9.7 NC
10 GA
11% SC
(see figure 3 & table 1)
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=711
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/6796/
3. SO, Why is Gov.Walker refusing to negotiate on collective bargaining? Why are public service employees being scapegoated? The questions may be answered In part by looking at how Wisconsin went from budget surplus to budget deficit: granting corporations tax breaks.
Why are public servants--teachers, in this case-- civil servants who provide us with the necessities of what we need --education (and an educated citizenry), transportation, safety, security--being held responsible for bringing down the economy, and not the corporations (financial institutions, energy companies, industries, etc) which lobbied for less regulation, lower taxes, etc.?
For some teacher/public servant bashing see:http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2011/02/20/watershed-moment-in-wisconsin/
4. Want a stable economy? Create jobs and make sure those who have worked can afford to live.
What happens when people do not have jobs? They do not spend money. Corporations are supposedly flush, yet they are not creating jobs, not spending, because people are not buying. So,perhaps the way to solve the budget deficits are to create and/or secure jobs so people will spend...
Instead, both sides are talking about cutting funds for things such as home heating programs--and energy costs are going up, energy costs are also not part of the equation for Cost of Living increases for Social Security increases, for instance.
5. Perhaps instead of drinking the koolaid offered, we should speak the truth, demand that corporations pay their fair share of taxes and demand that corporations give back to the public, for the public good.
*Right to Work--do not have to join union (if there is a union to join), can quit at any time, and likewise can be fired without cause or notice.
Labels: corporations, State Deficits, Unions
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Define: Person
I have slogged through the Citizens United v FEC opinion [558 US ___ 2010]. The majority opinion hinges on the conceit* that corporations are persons, and thus, must be given the same rights as natural persons (equal rights**), especially those rights of free speech in the political sphere.
Corporations (for profit and not for profit) are made up of persons, and the corporate structure protects those persons. So, pehaps corporations should give up these protections? Or, IMHO, perhaps we need to re-define "person(s)" in our constitution (as in an amendment to our constitution).
10 steps to curtail the corporate state from Fran Korten on Common Dreams:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/26-3
The problem with these are that they require Congress to act against their own self interest (to be re-elected using corporate $$$$$).
We need a real grassroots movement--perhaps a revolution to recapture the government that was supposed to be "We, the people."
* The term Justice Stevens used in his dissent, p.2
** The absurdist in me is thinking... If corporations have equal rights with persons, I guess they can marry--oh, they already can: there are marriages (aka mergers) between corporations--perhaps then hostile takeovers would be prohibited, since in the USA the concept of freedom of choice is very prevalent in our marriage laws. Exception alert: save the freedom of same sex couples to marry. Does that mean that corporations are more of a person than lesbians and gay men ??
Corporations (for profit and not for profit) are made up of persons, and the corporate structure protects those persons. So, pehaps corporations should give up these protections? Or, IMHO, perhaps we need to re-define "person(s)" in our constitution (as in an amendment to our constitution).
10 steps to curtail the corporate state from Fran Korten on Common Dreams:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/26-3
The problem with these are that they require Congress to act against their own self interest (to be re-elected using corporate $$$$$).
We need a real grassroots movement--perhaps a revolution to recapture the government that was supposed to be "We, the people."
* The term Justice Stevens used in his dissent, p.2
** The absurdist in me is thinking... If corporations have equal rights with persons, I guess they can marry--oh, they already can: there are marriages (aka mergers) between corporations--perhaps then hostile takeovers would be prohibited, since in the USA the concept of freedom of choice is very prevalent in our marriage laws. Exception alert: save the freedom of same sex couples to marry. Does that mean that corporations are more of a person than lesbians and gay men ??
Labels: Constitution, corporations, person
Friday, October 23, 2009
Corporations & Some Senators v Women
I wrote the following in response to a series of discussions about generalizations about people because someone wrote that 30% of Republican Senators voted against an amendment that would deny appropriations to corporations which denied their employees their day in court. There were many "Republicans are people,too" replies. Here is my response:
In the United States we as reasonable beings persuade others by facts.
And, what ALL of you are forgetting is that WOMEN are people, deserving of respect, dignity, the protection of law, taking article 78 action, and taking legal action against the corporation when raped, assaulted or discriminated against when the corporation is protecting such actions. Corporations are not people though they have had the standing of citizens ever since Chief Justice Waite made a pre-argument statement that was recorded by the court reporter in Santa Clara County vs Southern Pacific Railroad [118 U.S. 394 (1886)] . (I discussed this, and the implications at Constitution Day, which a lot of you missed).
What happened was Sen. Franken offered an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriation bill which would deny contracts to corporations which restrict their employees from having their day in court--due process.
Here are the details that prompted this from Think Progress :
In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad. She was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and "warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job." (Jones was not an isolated case.) Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration.
GOP Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions of Alabama called the Franken amendment a "political attack" of Halliburton, and was overreaching by ( somehow ) denying corporations due process. (Remember it was Halliburton/KBR which denies its employees due process in court.
Let me remind us all that there are stipulations about government appropriations that say if X happens or does not happen, appropriations will be withheld--for instance, if States want 100% of their Highway funds, they have to have alcohol drinking and purchase prohibitions on their books and enforced--aka the 21 year old drinking age; likewise States have to enforce the speed limit on federally funded interstates. . .
The Senators that voted against the amendment are listed below. Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Gregg (R-NH) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Kyl (R-AZ) McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS)
Reach your own conclusion. Mine is that women are not afforded the same equality, same protections of our Constitution as corporations by some members of the Senate, who are in this case male and Republican. You are free to have your opinions, but you just can't have your own set of facts.
In the United States we as reasonable beings persuade others by facts.
And, what ALL of you are forgetting is that WOMEN are people, deserving of respect, dignity, the protection of law, taking article 78 action, and taking legal action against the corporation when raped, assaulted or discriminated against when the corporation is protecting such actions. Corporations are not people though they have had the standing of citizens ever since Chief Justice Waite made a pre-argument statement that was recorded by the court reporter in Santa Clara County vs Southern Pacific Railroad [118 U.S. 394 (1886)] . (I discussed this, and the implications at Constitution Day, which a lot of you missed).
What happened was Sen. Franken offered an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriation bill which would deny contracts to corporations which restrict their employees from having their day in court--due process.
Here are the details that prompted this from Think Progress :
In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad. She was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and "warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job." (Jones was not an isolated case.) Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration.
GOP Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions of Alabama called the Franken amendment a "political attack" of Halliburton, and was overreaching by ( somehow ) denying corporations due process. (Remember it was Halliburton/KBR which denies its employees due process in court.
Let me remind us all that there are stipulations about government appropriations that say if X happens or does not happen, appropriations will be withheld--for instance, if States want 100% of their Highway funds, they have to have alcohol drinking and purchase prohibitions on their books and enforced--aka the 21 year old drinking age; likewise States have to enforce the speed limit on federally funded interstates. . .
The Senators that voted against the amendment are listed below. Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Gregg (R-NH) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Kyl (R-AZ) McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS)
Reach your own conclusion. Mine is that women are not afforded the same equality, same protections of our Constitution as corporations by some members of the Senate, who are in this case male and Republican. You are free to have your opinions, but you just can't have your own set of facts.
Labels: corporations, republicans, women's rights
