With their six-figure salaries and government-paid health care, members of Congress may not feel the pinch of a 9.6 percent unemployment rate. But millions of Americans are in pain, and on Sept. 15, they will shout loud and clear that we are in an emergency and Congress must act immediately to create good jobs.

Sept. 15 is the day workers, students and community and religious groups in dozens of cities across the country will revive one of the key demands of the 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” by calling for full and fair employment and demanding the government declare a national “jobs emergency.”

“It’s time for corporate apologists in the Senate, who are blocking a recovery for the rest of us, to recognize what workers already know: we are in a jobs emergency that requires a bold, emergency response,” says Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs with Justice, the main organizer of the protests.

Continue reading National Jobs Emergency Day of Action Sept. 15 – Noon at Cong. Altmire’s Aliquippa Office demand jobs and hands off social security →

by Ryan Grim

ryan@huffingtonpost.com

A major veterans organization called on President Obama to remove Alan Simpson from the deficit commission for questioning why veterans are not “helping us to save the country” by foregoing health care benefits promised in return for their military service.

On Tuesday, Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming and currently the co-chair of a deficit commission looking into spending cuts, decried “the irony that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess.”

Simpson wants to cut the national debt by slashing benefits for veterans. VoteVets.org, which represents 50,000 veterans and family members, has had enough. The group’s chairman, Jon Soltz, said that veterans had been concerned by comments Simpson made disparaging Social Security, calling it “a milk cow with 310 million tits!” and suggesting that military pay be frozen.

The “final straw,” writes Soltz, was Simpson calling for veterans’ benefits to be cut.

Continue reading Vets Call On Obama To Fire Alan Simpson →

S.African unions in talks to end 15-day walkout

(AFP) – 8 hours ago

JOHANNESBURG — Striking South African public sector unions were locked in talks Wednesday over a fresh wage offer to urgently end a 15-day-walkout, though some had already rejected it, officials said.

Unions were to report back to members on the improved offer put on the table after President Jacob Zuma ordered his ministers to negotiate a solution to the stoppage that has paralysed schools and hospitals.

“I know for a fact that some of the unions have rejected the offer, that they will not sign at all,” said Chris Klopper, chairman of the Independent Labour Caucus, one of the labour umbrellas representing 1.3 million workers.

The government and unions were to meet again later Wednesday to discuss a way forward, but one of the biggest striking unions said it has refused the latest proposal.

“We have rejected the offer,” said Sizwe Pamla, spokesman for the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), which has 244,000 members.

Continue reading Union Solidarity forces South Africa government back to negotiating table →

An Update on the US Economic Crisis

by Randy Shannon

Treasurer, PA 4th CD Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America

Rampant speculation, asset bubbles and corruption led to a crash of the Japanese economy in 1990. Like the U.S. government today, the government of Japan was controlled by the banks. The government of Japan liquidated the savings of the people of Japan, most of which were in Postal Savings accounts, to bail out the crooked banks. This bailout wrecked the economy and took ten years to overcome. The economy of Japan is still struggling at a very low growth rate.

The U.S. government bailed out the crooked banks with $13 trillion of debt that obligates future generations to a long term economic recession. The bankers oppose any measures that would require the U.S. government to increase its debt beyond the debt already incurred to rescue themselves.

Thus stimulus spending to get production and employment going is opposed or gutted with tax cuts. Businesses with debt that they are able to service are seeing their debt called by the banks, forcing the businesses into bankruptcy.  Infrastructure projects are not funded or underfunded while millions of construction workers are idle. Over 840 small and community banks are official “problem banks” facing foreclosure, not rescue. The Republican and Blue Dog Democrat neo-liberal majority is reluctant to extend unemployment benefits.

Continue reading Japan’s Lost Decades 1990-2010: The U.S. Sequel 2008-??? →

UAW’s Bob King, Jesse Jackson lead Detroit

Aug. 28 March for Jobs, Peace and Justice

August 28, 2010
http://detnews.com/article/20100828/METRO/8280383

SANTIAGO ESPARZA
The Detroit News

Detroit — The chants of thousands of people demanding jobs filled the air downtown as UAW President Bob King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson led the crowd to Grand Circus Park.

The UAW and Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition announced the Rebuild America: Jobs Justice Peace kickoff today at the downtown park.

Jackson said the focus of the initiative is to ensure policy makers put people first when making decisions. The initiative calls for a moratorium on home foreclosures, a push for job creation and for ending armed conflicts overseas.

“Detroit and Michigan are ground zero of the urban crisis,” Jackson said. “It’s time to enact real change for working families and all America.”

About 30 percent of Detroit is unemployed, Jackson said. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., also said Detroit was chosen as the kickoff site for the campaign because it is at the heart of the nation’s economic fight.

Continue reading Detroit Mass March for Jobs with UAW and Jesse Jackson →

Dear Alliance Member:

Social Security is turning 75 years old this month, and we are throwing a party to celebrate! Additionally, we will be releasing a report on the impact of Social Security here in Pennsylvania. You are invited to attend the event on Wednesday, September 1st at 2:30pm at the Community College of Beaver County’s Learning Resource Center, in Monaca, PA.

Congressman Jason Altmire will be in attendance to join the celebration.  Birthday Cake will be served! You are welcome and encouraged to bring your family and friends of all ages who support Social Security!

Celebrating this milestone for Social Security is important, as there is a growing chorus among politicians and the media to cut Social Security benefits in order to reduce the deficit – or to privatize the program – each of which will hurt seniors, people with disabilities and children. Of course, Social Security did not cause the deficit; it is paid for with special taxes on our wages. If you paid in, then you and your family earn the right to benefits. This is an excellent chance to show Congressman Altmire that seniors in Western Pennsylvania support Social Security, and we won’t stand to see it cut!  We look forward to you joining us.  Please RSVP to Alliance staff member Adam Swope at 202-341-7821 or aswope@retiredamericans.org, if you plan to attend, or have any questions.

*WHO:* The Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans and like-minded seniors, with special guest Jason Altmire
*WHAT:* A Birthday Party for Social Security
*WHEN:* Wednesday, September 1st at 2:30pm
*WHERE:* The Conference Room of the Learning Resources Center
Community College of Beaver County
1 Campus Dr.
Monaca, PA 15061
Campus Map:   http://www.ccbc.edu/nu_upload/CampusMap2010.pdf
*WHY:* Because Social Security is under attack and needs our support!

I hope to see you there.

In solidarity,

Jean Friday
President
PA Alliance for Retired Americans

Follow the Alliance online:
Become part of a progressive grassroots movement!. Join the
Alliance:
http://www.retiredamericans.org/index.php?tg=articles&topics=6&new=0&newc=0

———————————-
Alliance for Retired Americans
815 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
http://www.retiredamericans.org
———————————-

Note: PDA members wishing to attend please contact Randy Shannon 724 462 3469.

“If any of the recommendations cut or diminish 
Social Security in any way, 
we will stand firmly against them.”

Dear Friend,

As PDA continues its work through summer 2010, we are pursuing an aggressive progressive agenda in support of economic and social justice and a call for the end to war funding. We have joined with our allies to fight for this nation’s social insurance safety net programs—Social Security and Medicare—in the face of cries by conservative groups and other non-progressive types to cut benefits and raise the retirement age as a mechanism to somehow put a dent in the federal deficit.

In July, Medicare celebrated its 45th anniversary, and in August 2010, Social Security turned 75. We joined a group of our single-payer, Medicare for all allies in contacting every Congressional office with information about the incredible success and viability of Medicare. Then we targeted our progressive friends in Congress and asked more of them. We asked for clear and public support for protecting and strengthening both Social Security and Medicare.

Continue reading Congressional Progressive Caucus Pledges to Defend Social Security →

Ryan Grim

ryan@huffingtonpost.com

Alan Simpson: Social Security Is ‘A Milk Cow With 310 Million Tits’

Alan Simpson believes that Social Security is “like a milk cow with 310 million tits,” according to an email he sent to the executive director of National Older Women’s League Tuesday morning. Simpson co-chairs the deficit commission, which is considering various proposals to cut Social Security benefits.

Simpson’s email, which OWL chief Ashley Carson released publicly, (PDF) was sent in response to an April blog post Carson wrote for the Huffington Post. Carson criticized Simpson for repeatedly describing his Social Security opponents as “Pink Panthers,” arguing that the description had sexist connotations.

His email is peppered with exclamation points and condescension. At one point he urged Carson to read a certain graph, “which I hope you are able to discern if you are any good at reading graphs.”

Simpson concludes by implying that leading a major organization dedicated to the interests of middle-aged and elderly women is not “honest work.”

Continue reading Friends of Jason Altmire: “Social Security is a Milk Cow with 310 Million Tits” →