March 9, 2013

by Randy Shannon
Progressive Democrats of America, PA Coordinator

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a large increase in jobs in February as compared to January. At the same time the January jobs data was revised lower, which gave a boost to the February number. Let’s look at what happened to the people behind the numbers.

This graph shows two sets of data: the Employment to Population ratio and the Labor Force Participation rate. These are updated with February data.

They show that the percent of the population employed has not changed in February. The Employment-Population ratio was unchanged at 58.6% in February (black line).

It also shows that fewer members of the labor force are working.The Labor Force Participation Rate decreased to 63.5% in February (blue line). This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.

How can this be true with all the jobs added and the drop in the unemployment rate that the corporate media is advertising?

The answer starts with the rise in the number of long term unemployed shown in this second graph. According to the BLS, there are 4.8 million workers who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks and still want a job. This is up from 4.71 million in January.

Long term unemployment is a violation of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Long term unemployment is the ugly reality of dead end capitalism. The media doesn’t like to talk about this issue. These folks don’t count when calculating the unemployment rate.

The composition of the new jobs also contributes to the happy headline numbers. The February report shows that the number of part-time workers increased while the number of full-time workers decreased. Voila! more jobs. In February according to the Household Survey, the number of full-time jobs declined by 77K from 115,918 to 115,841 while part-time workers rose from 27,467 to 27,569, or 102K.

The income disparity is getting worse and the spending power of working people is further declining while more jobs are being created. This is not the stuff that makes for an economic recovery. The impact on working families is shown in this graph of wages and salaries compared to the value of the fruits of our labor (GDP).

The point of sequestration and austerity is to drive this line lower and lower to make corporate profits higher and higher. This thinking is natural for owners of finance but it is flawed because profits can only be realized when workers consume the output of their own labor.

The graph titled ‘multiple job holders’ shows an interesting development raised by blogger Zero Hedge: “But the most surprising development in February from a quality standpoint was that the number of multiple job-holders rose by a massive 340K, which just happens to be a record. One wonders: how many actual people got new jobs, as opposed to how many qualified single individuals ended up getting more than one job in February in order to boost that much needed weekly income to sustainable levels.”

This last graph should be familiar to those who’ve read It’s Time to Fight for Full Employment. This shows the slow paced advance out of the depths of the employment recession that began in 2007. This is a much longer and deeper employment recession than any since the Great Depression. It is evidence that the system isn’t working any more and those in control have lost control.

The rise in jobs just this year has come at the cost of $1.2 trillion in US government debt. Most of this debt was transfers to the big global criminal banks that are speculating in stocks, bonds, and politicians while calling for more austerity for working people.

The political servants of the wealthy, now in power, must be replaced by political servants of the people. Then our capital can be invested in productive enterprises, our social fabric can be repaired, and the criminal banks can be liquidated.

A Congress controlled by Progressive Democrats can pass HR 1000, the 21st Century Full Employment Act, that will tax Wall Street speculation to create a jobs and training fund controlled by the Department of Labor. Such a Congress will pass HR 676, the Medicare for All Act that will put everyone on Medicare, save $billions and create 3 million new jobs in the healthcare sector. Such a Congress will pass S 332,the Climate Protection Act, that will tax carbon to fund consumer rebates and transfer energy production from climate killing carbon burning to renewable solar, wind, and geothermal energy, another huge job creation project.

Voters in the PA 12th Congressional District are ready for a progressive Democrat to represent them in Congress. They have shown that corporate Democrats who oppose equal rights for women, who don’t support the top of the ticket, who oppose EPA protection for our air and water, and who cater to the right, can’t win elections anymore. Union members, young people, minorities, and women want to move our district out of the past and into a future of jobs, healthcare, and a sustainable environment.

Thanks to Calculated Risk for some of the charts. To join Progressive Democrats of America, go to http://www.pdamerica.org.

Former One Term Congressman Mark Critz Joins Astroturfed Energy Firm

When will the revolving door in politics stop spinning?  No one may never know, but in the mean time, former Congressman Mark Critz just became the latest corporate democrat to sell out and become a lobbyist.  Mr. Critz has found a job with EIS Solutions, a “grassroots (according to PoliticsPA) energy lobbying firm”.  According to Politics PA, he’ll be a Senior VP in right smack in the middle Shale Country – or Johnstown, PA.   Here’s an excerpt from the article.

 “As a former Member of Congress and district director for Congressman John Murtha, Mark Critz has the experience and relationships at the local level to help difficult projects get approval,” EIS Solutions President Wade Haerle said. “Mark knows how to navigate local politics and governmental bureaucracies at the state and federal levels and will be an asset to clients seeking to build local support for energy related projects in the coal and natural gas industries.”

“It was an honor to serve the people of Western Pennsylvania in Congress where I had the opportunity fight for jobs and economic development,” Critz said in a company press release. “Development of our energy resources is vital to growing our regional economy and making our nation independent of foreign sources of energy. I look forward to working to make sure that our region develops these resources in a safe, responsible manner while working to grow our economy and meet our energy needs.”

What Politics PA fails to mention is that Mark Critz was fairly generous with the natural gas industry in PA.  While in the House, his voting record energy issues included him voting “yea” on the: “No More Solyndra Act,” “Stop the War On Coal Act,” extending the Keystone XL Pipeline, and to amend the Clean Water Act.     Over the past year I had a couple of twitter battles with Critz and one time he stated something along the lines that solar energy production is worse for the environment than fracking for natural gas.  So it looks like that this is a match made in heaven for the “democrat.”  Mr. Gibson also fails to mention that this “grassroots” effort that Critz is joining an astroturfed – an energy funded – lobbying group.

Continue reading Defeated Rep. Mark Critz to Work as Energy Lobbyist →

10 arrested as coal miners, supporters protest in St. Louis over Patriot bankruptcy case

AFSCME President Slams Pat Quinn, Michael Nutter As ‘Turncoats’ Who Must ‘Pay’

WASHINGTON — One of the top labor leaders in the country ripped into two prominent Democratic lawmakers Monday morning, calling them “turncoats” and unfavorably comparing them to high-profile anti-union Republicans.

Speaking at the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees’ Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., AFSCME President Lee Saunders devoted a large portion of his address to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, promising political retribution for the tough-on-labor policies both Democrats have imposed.

The remarks, delivered at a private gathering and sent over by a labor source, are below:

I am sick and tired of the fair-weather Democrats. They date us, take us to the prom, marry us, and then divorce us right after the honeymoon. I am sick and tired of the so-called friends who commend us when they’re running for election, but condemn us after they’ve won. I am sick and tired of the politicians who stand with us behind closed doors, but kick us to the curb in front of the cameras. I’m here to tell you that’s bullshit and we’re not gonna take it anymore.Many of you know some of the people I’m talking about. Mayor Michael Nutter in Philadelphia. Governor Pat Quinn in Illinois. We’ve come to expect union-busting, anti-worker tactics from ultra-conservatives like Scott Walker and John Kasich. But now, everybody’s on the bandwagon.

Look at Nutter. AFSCME members in Philadelphia haven’t had a contract in four years, and Sister Baylor knows it. What does the mayor do? He goes to the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Supreme Court to get a legal decision that would let him shove his contract down our throats. He’s no different from Governor Snyder in Michigan, who went to his state’s Supreme Court to get legal cover for cutting school employees’ pay. Different political parties, same political games.

Look at Governor Quinn. He has waged a relentless war on state employees – slashing pensions, driving down incomes and wiping out jobs. Last year he took the unprecedented step of terminating our contract. He is the first and only Illinois governor, Republican or Democrat, to take such a blatantly aggressive action.

I have had enough of these turncoats, and it’s time to make them pay.

Hostilities between organized labor and some of the nation’s most prominent, state-based Democrats are hardly a new phenomenon. Before Quinn and Nutter rankled AFSCME, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo did the same with unions in his state.

But the swipes in Saunders’ speech are notably sharp — especially the ominous pledge to “make them pay” — and they illustrate the extent to which these hostilities are no longer confined to closed-door budget fights. With states and cities feeling the pinch, lawmakers have been going after organized labor with greater frequency, altering pension plans to be less generous, changing retirement age laws, or, in several cases, targeting collective bargaining rights.

In Nutter’s case, a battle over the mayor’s push to impose contract terms on the city’s largest union is being petitioned up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Saunders’ grievance against Quinn, meanwhile, is based on the governor’s decision not to renew Illinois’ contract with AFSCME this past November. Quinn had been pushing for a pay cut for state workers, as well as a wage freeze and a new policy that would have employees paying more for their own health insurance coverage.

Neither Quinn’s nor Nutter’s office immediately returned requests for comment.

Continue reading AFSCME President Criticizes Corporate Democrats →

You are probably hearing that the Post Office is “in crisis” and is cutting back Saturday delivery, laying people off, closing offices, etc. Like so many other “crises” imposed on us lately, there is a lot to the story that you are not hearing from the “mainstream” media. (Please click that link.) The story of the intentional destruction of the U.S. Postal Service is one more piece of the story of crisis-after-crisis, all manufactured to advance the strategic dismantling of our government and handing over the pieces to billionaires.

Here are a few things you need to know about the Postal Service “crisis”:

• The Postal Service is the second largest employer in the United States after Walmart. But unlike Walmart, which gets away with paying so little that employees qualify for government assistance, the Postal Services is unionized, pays reasonable wages and benefits and receives no government subsidies. (Good for them!)
• Republicans have been pushing schemes to privatize the Postal Service since at least 1996. In 2006 Republicans in the Congress pushed through a requirement that the Postal Service pre-fund 75 years of retiree costs. The Postal Service has to pay now for employees who are not even born yet. No other government agency – and certainly no company – has to do this.
• Unlike other government agencies (like the military) since 1970 the Postal Service is required to break even. Once more: the Department of Defense is not required to break even.
• While required to break even the Postal Service has to deliver mail to areas that are unprofitable for private companies to operate in. A letter sent from a small town in Alaska is picked up and transported across the country to a farm in Maine for 46 cents. While the Internet and recession have eaten into some of the Postal Services letter business, magazines, books, newsletters, prescriptions, advertising, DVD services like Netflix and many other services still depend on the Postal Service for delivery. And many people for one reason or another still send letters. In a democracy these people are supposed to count, too.
• But along with requiring the Postal Service to break even, Congress has restricted the Service’s ability to raise rates, enter new lines of business or take other steps to help it raise revenue. In fact, while detractors complain that the Postal Service is antiquated, inefficient and burdened by bureaucracy, the rules blocking the Postal Service from entering new lines of business do so because the Postal Service would have advantages over private companies.For example, Republicans in Congress forced the Postal Service to remove public-use copiers from Post Offices and even blocked the Postal Service from setting up a secure online system that allowed Americans to make monthly bill payments.

The Postal Service is a public service for We, the People, not a business. The Service is hamstrung by people who pretend it is supposed to compete and then won’t let it. They won’t help with taxpayer dollars and say it has to compete in the marketplace (again: the Department of Defense is not required to break even.) Then they give it rules that no private company could survive. Then when it gets into trouble, say that government doesn’t work, start laying people off, selling off the public assets, and saying it has to be “privatized” (so all the gains will go to a few already-wealthy people instead of to the public).

Continue reading Austerity: the Postal Service Outrage →

Robert Wade

The current dispute between China and Japan over a few barren islands inhabited by goats – called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese – looks at first sight to be a mere territorial spat. But it has escalated to a very dangerous level in recent months — first words, then actions of police forces, now actions of air forces, and, behind all these, both sides have mobilised all their military, political, economic, diplomatic, and cultural energies to engage in the dispute. It is more fundamental than normal territorial disputes, because the very identities of the two countries are at stake.

A strong narrative has taken hold in the West and much of East Asia about China’s behaviour, which starts with the proposition that China is the provocateur. Examples include, “China sows new seeds of conflict with neighbours”;^[1] China has adopted an “increasingly sharp-elbowed approach to its neighbors, especially  Japan”;^[2] “China…has launched a new campaign of attrition against Japan over the Senkaku islands…. Beijing has sought to challenge Japan’s decades-old control, despite the risk that an accident could spiral out of control”.^[3]

Continue reading China vs Japan Island Dispute →