People of Faith Rally for Unemployment Benefits
Center for American Progress
Posted December 10, 2011
Faith groups rallied in a park next to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., yesterday to call on Congress to extend unemployment benefits for the nearly 14 million Americans out of work this winter. Reverends, rabbis, and imams joined labor groups and unemployed citizens from across the country in a prayer vigil and a march to the office of Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH). Along the way, they sang, prayed, and tossed white carnations onto the Capitol steps in a symbolic gesture of the thousands of jobless Americans who rely on unemployment benefits.

If approved, a long-term federally funded unemployment benefit extension would continue to provide benefits for up to 99 weeks to the roughly 6 million Americans who have exhausted their 26-week-long state unemployment benefits after losing their jobs and, despite their best efforts, are unable to find new employment. These individuals rely on an average benefit of $295 a week to keep themselves out of poverty. The first benefit extension is set to expire on December 31, meaning that if Congress fails to act, millions of Americans could be much worse off in 2012, causing untold suffering to them and their families and seriously harming our fragile economy.

Faith groups say that extending unemployment benefits is one pressing issue among many when it comes to economic inequality and poverty. Many of those at the prayer vigil dismissed the argument that services for the poor are “too costly” for a government saddled in debt. Instead, they pointed to the “immoral” misallocation of federal funds, such as tax cuts for millionaires.
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House Plan Attacks 99%, Benefits 1%
AFL-CIO Now Blog
Posted December 10, 2011
House Republican leaders unveiled a budget plan today in which “once again rushed to the rescue of the 1 percent” by insisting that millionaires should not have to pay one penny in taxes, according to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Instead,

the House Republican proposal would cut benefits for jobless workers, cut pay for public employees, cut preventive health services, reduce premium assistance for low- and middle-income individuals buying health insurance, and raise premiums for many Medicare beneficiaries. House Republicans obviously have more sympathy for millionaires than for the jobless.

AFGE President John Gage also blasted the Republicans leaders” Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act, introduced by House Speaker John Boehner.

This is just another attack on the 99% on behalf of their good friends—the 1%. They are targeting a small segment of people who make $30,000 to $70,000 a year, rather than asking their millionaire and billionaire supporters to pay a little more. It’s not right, and the American people should be outraged.

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NLRB Drops Boeing Case as Machinists Requested
AFL-CIO Now Blog
Posted December 10, 2011
After months of contention that drew the attention of presidential candidates and members of Congress, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today announced that the Machinists (IAM) District 751 dropped its charge against the Boeing Co. after negotiating agreeable terms with the company.

Lafe Solomon, the NLRB’s acting general counsel, announced the closing of the case after Machinists in Washington State voted to accept a four-year contract extension and commitments from Boeing to expand manufacturing operations in the state.

Earlier this year, the NLRB agreed to hear the union’s complaint that claimed Boeing’s decision to produce its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft in South Carolina, an anti-union state, was made in retaliation for the union’s 2008 strike against Boeing. A Republican NLRB threatened to quit the board—which would have prevented the case from going forward—and Republican presidential candidates made the labor board a campaign-trail target.

District 751 also won raises described as “substantial” for its members, as well as job security measures deemed “unusual” by the New York Times.
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It wasn't about Boeing; it's about destroying Unions...
Republicans not letting up on NLRB
Politico
Posted December 10, 2011
Congressional Republicans are still on the attack against the National Labor Relations Board – even though the agency dropped a case against Boeing that had become a rallying cry for conservatives.

A clearly unsatisfied Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the loudest congressional critics of the NLRB, on Friday called for an investigation into the labor board. And Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who had subpoenaed the board for information on the NLRB-Boeing fight, said Friday that his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wouldn’t halt the investigation and instead continue to seek information into the labor board’s actions.
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Occupy Everywhere: Removing Physical Occupation Sites Only Grows Movement
Firedog Lake
Posted December 10, 2011
With the commencement of crackdowns on Occupy movement protest sites, the assumption was that the movement faced a fatal blow from which they would not recover. The physical occupation kept the protests at top of mind and in the news, the theory goes, and without the reclaiming of public space the movement would just fade away.

The fact that the President delivered a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas mirroring many of the themes of the Occupy movement aside, the theory about the physical occupation being central to the protest movement has not borne out. In fact, activists have generated lots of attention through direct actions that have nothing to do with sleeping in a tent.
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New Organizing Institute Launches 2,012 for 2012 Local Candidate Recruitment Campaign
Crooks and Liars
Posted December 10, 2011
Progressive training organization New Organizing Institute launched a new program "2,012 for 2012," designed to recruit 2,012 new candidates to run for local offices in the 2012 elections. NOI's efforts have been so successful leading up to the official launch of the campaign, with 2020 pledges as of Friday morning, that they have already revised their goal upward to now target 5,000 new progressives running for local offices in next year's election.

Across America there are more than half a million local elected offices -- that's more than 500,000 ways to influence whether government serves the 99% or just the 1%. We need progressive voices at every table where decisions are made that impact our families, from state legislatures to utility commissions.

2,012 for 2012 is a non-partisan initiative to recruit a new generation of progressive candidates for local office. The initiative is a movement-wide effort driven by some of the most effective and creative progressive non-profits in the country, and hosted by the Candidate Project (a program of the New Organizing Institute).

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These Corps Skirt Taxes, Cough Up Millions for Lobbyists
AFK-CIO Now Blog
Posted December 10, 2011
What do conglomerates that pay no corporate income taxes do with all that extra dough? A new report from Public Campaign offers an answer: they pay millions to lobbyists to ensure they pay no taxes in the future. The corporations still come out ahead, their execs pocket obscene levels of “compensation” and the lobbyists get a windfall—a win-win for everybody, except, of course, the American worker and taxpayer.

The report, “For Hire: Lobbyists or the 99%? How Corporations Pay More for Lobbyists Than in Taxes,” details the lobbying expenditures, executive pay, U.S. profits and tax profiles of 30 top corporations between 2008 and 2010, finding that the companies—whose combined profits amount to $164 billion—received combined tax rebates of nearly $11 billion, some of which they spent this way, according to the report:

• Altogether, these companies spent nearly half a billion dollars ($476 million) over three years to lobby Congress—that’s about $400,000 each day, including weekends.

• In the three-year period beginning in 2009 through most of 2011, these large firms spent more than $22 million altogether on federal campaigns.

• These corporations also have spent lavishly on compensation for their top executives ($706 million altogether in 2010).

Among the top offenders on the lobbying front are—surprise!—the very same companies we’ve highlighted in our recent reporting on corporate tax-dodgers, including Verizon (whose workers toil without a contract), Dupont (a major polluter), Boeing (which tried to force a geographic poison pill down the throats of unionized workers) and Pepco Holdings (a major utility provider).
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Americans Got Much Poorer Last Quarter
The New York Times
Posted December 10, 2011
Americans got much poorer last quarter, as their collective household net worth suffered the biggest decline in three years.

The total net worth of American households and nonprofit groups fell by $2.4 trillion in the third quarter of this year, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve. That was a decline of 4.1 percent compared with the second quarter.
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Jobless and hopeless in America
The LA Times
Posted December 10, 2011
Thousands of long-term unemployed Americans from across the country have converged on Washington this week to dramatize their plight and to urge Congress to extend federal unemployment insurance benefits and the payroll tax cut, and to pass President Obama's jobs bill.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13.3 million Americans are unemployed. Nearly half have been jobless for more than six months — a record. If you add workers who are so discouraged that they've given up looking for work, and people who are underemployed (working part time but who want full-time jobs), the number of jobless Americans skyrockets to more than 25 million.

After remaining at or over 9% since March 2009, the nation's jobless rate dipped to 8.6% in November. But in California, the rate is 11.7%. For more than 21/2 years, the number of jobless Americans has outstripped the number of available job openings by more than 4 to 1.

In such dire circumstances, the least Congress can do is extend unemployment benefits.
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The Epic Failure of Republican Trickle Down Economics
Crooks and Liars
Posted December 10, 2011
When President Obama on Tuesday declared that decades of Republican trickle-down economics "never worked," conservatives were predictably apoplectic.

But for all of their protests of "class warfare", "socialism" and worse, Obama was being kind to the Republican ideologues. After all, as the historical record shows, from economic growth and job creation to stock market performance and just about every other indicator of the health of American capitalism, the modern U.S. economy has almost always done better under Democratic presidents. Despite GOP mythology to the contrary, America generally gained more jobs and grew faster when taxes were higher (even much higher) and income inequality lower. And while the U.S. recovery from the Bush recession remains painfully slow, most economists - including the nonpartisan CBO and some of John McCain's own 2008 advisers - believe President Obama saved it from the abyss.
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GOP tries to split the 99 percent
The Maddow Blog
Posted December 10, 2011
Congressional Republicans have a new way to brighten the holidays back home:

GOP leaders hope to build momentum for an end-of-year tax package with sweeping reforms to federal unemployment benefits.

The Republican proposal is expected to reduce the total number of weeks unemployed workers are eligible for aid by as much as 40 weeks and tighten rules for eligibility.

The Republican strategy here is to horse trade cuts in unemployment benefits for extending the payroll tax break for Americans who have jobs. They're dividing the 99 percent, pitting the have-nots against the have-somes, and not very subtly.

In any case, with at least 5,691,000 Americans out of work for 27 weeks or more -- 43 percent of the total counted as unemployed -- cutting off the unemployment insurance that people paid for when they were working seems like a spectacularly bad idea.
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House GOP Unemployment Benefits Bill Includes Provision Allowing Mandatory Drug Tests
Think Progress
Posted December 10, 2011
Yesterday, ThinkProgress reported that House Republicans were considering subjecting the unemployed to drug tests before they would pass a necessary extension of unemployment benefits. Today, House Ways & Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) released the House GOP’s actual proposal, and it does indeed include a provision on mandatory drug testing. Rather than mandate drug tests in all 50 states, however, the bill permits states to mandate drug tests on their own. It’s not clear how House Republicans expect states to get around the fact that conditioning benefits on drug testing has consistently been struck down by courts as unconstitutional.
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We are the .00000002 percent!
The Maddow Blog
Posted December 10, 2011
UC Berkeley economist Sylvia Allegretto draws a straight and bright line from the Forbes 400 to the Wal-Mart fortune.

The Forbes list reveals that six Waltons—all children (one daughter-in-law) of Sam or James “Bud” Walton the founders of Wal-Mart—were on the list. The combined worth of the Walton six was $69.7 billion in 2007—which equated to the total wealth of the entire bottom thirty percent!

Rachel did some calculating on it and sent us all this e-mail:

There are 307 million Americans. So, 10% of America is about 31 million people. 30% of America is three times that -- about 93 million people. 93 million Americans, collectively, have the same amount of money as six members of the Walton family.

Laura Clawson at Daily Kos gives the kaleidoscope another turn:

Six people. As much wealth as 30 percent of people. In 2007, the population of the United States was 302.2 million people. Six people had as much wealth as 90.7 million of those people. Or, to put it in another way, we're not talking about the top 1 percent. We're talking about the top .00000002 percent.

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Today's Lies from Scott Walker
Teamster Nation
Posted December 10, 2011
Wisconsin's Scott Walker is at it again.

• He claimed recall petitioners are being paid. They aren't. 
• He claimed the recall effort started before he took office. It didn't. 
• He claimed his budget prevented teachers from getting laid off and class sizes from growing. It didn't. 

So ends today's edition of "Lies from Scott Walker."
Read the source story here.

Victory in Ohio! Voter Suppression Law Deferred To Referendum in '12
The Political Carnival
Posted December 10, 2011
Well, that at least makes the playing field level in Ohio. I cannot think of an election in my lifetime where each vote counts more.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Voters will decide whether to approve another key piece of legislation passed by Republican lawmakers, this time an election reform bill that Democrats have called a “voter suppression” bill.

A referendum on House Bill 194, a sweeping reform of election laws, will appear on the November 2012 ballot, Secretary of State Jon Husted’s office announced Friday.

Opponents of the bill, largely Democrats and voting rights activists, collected 307,358 valid signatures, according to the secretary of state’s office. Petitioners needed 231,150 signatures to put the law on the ballot.

The successful petition drive comes on the heels of Democrats’ victory in overturning Senate Bill 5, a controversial collective bargaining law. That law, supported by Republican Gov. John Kasich and GOP legislative leaders, was overwhelmingly rejected in the November election.

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NAACP warns black and Hispanic Americans could lose right to vote
The Guardian (UK)
Posted December 10, 2011
The largest civil rights group in America, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is petitioning the UN over what it sees as a concerted efforted to disenfranchise black and Latino voters ahead of next year's presidential election.

The organisation will this week present evidence to the UN high commissioner on human rights of what it contends is a conscious attempt to "block the vote" on the part of state legislatures across the US. Next March the NAACP will send a delegation of legal experts to Geneva to enlist the support of the UN human rights council.

The NAACP contends that the America in the throes of a consciously conceived and orchestrated move to strip black and other ethnic minority groups of the right to vote. William Barber, a member of the association's national board, said it was the "most vicious, co-ordinated and sinister attack to narrow participation in our democracy since the early 20th century".

In its report, Defending Democracy: Confronting Modern Barriers to Voting Rights in America, the NAACP explores the voter supression measures taking place particularly in southern and western states.
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Romney Admits All His Income Comes From Investments, Which Helps Him Pay A Low Tax Rate
Think Progress
Posted December 10, 2011
When President Obama introduced the “Buffett rule,” aimed at ensuring that millionaires and billionaires can’t pay a lower tax rate than middle-class families, 2012 GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney called it “class warfare,” adding that it is “simply the wrong way to go.” At the time, we noted that Romney may be sensitive to the Buffett Rule because it likely applies to him.

[...] A Citizens for Tax Justice analysis found that Romney would have paid about a 14 percent tax rate in 2010, because of his millions in capital gains income.

Romney won’t release his tax returns, so it’s impossible to tell with complete precision what his tax rate actually is. However, during an interview today with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register, Romney said that all of his income is from interest, dividends and capital gains, meaning that the CTJ analysis of his tax plan likely has a lot of truth to it, if it doesn’t overestimate how much he paid:

My own calculation is, if that were the case, for anybody, no taxes on interest, dividends, and capital gains, I would have paid no taxes in the last ten years, because all my income is from dividends, interest, and capital gains.

Read the source story here.

Why no one's investigating Wall Street
Salon
Posted December 10, 2011
When it comes to our government’s collective refusal to aggressively investigate — much less prosecute — Wall Street crime, one prevailing line of apologism implies that it’s all about resources. As the general fable goes, Wall Street is so sprawling and so lawyered up that public law enforcement agencies simply don’t have the resources to make sure justice is served, especially at a time of budget deficits. In this story, Wall Street is not simply too big to fail; it’s too big to even police.

The motivation for such myth-making is obvious: It wholly absolves elected officials for their decisions to let their financial-industry campaign contributors off the hook. Yet thanks to recent events, the whole “Too Big to Police” rationale is being exposed for the farce that it is.
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