Three years into Ronald Reagan's first term, I wonder how things were going?For you drones: that's a rhetorical question.
Hat tip: @AACons.
Three years into Ronald Reagan's first term, I wonder how things were going?New York Times staffers unhappy with management are letting publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. know it...
...In recent days, more than 270 current and former Times employees have signed an open letter expressing their "profound dismay" with recent company decisions...
...Bill O'Meara, president of the New York Newspaper Guild, said some staffers had considered even "more dramatic" actions.
"There were people who wanted to storm Arthur Sulzberger's office," O'Meara told The Huffington Post...
"There were people who wanted to stage a walkout."
The letter calls attention to several grievances. Last week, Times brass notified foreign citizens employed in the paper's overseas bureaus that their pensions would be frozen. In the letter, Times staffers dismayed by this decision point out to Sulzberger that some of these foreign employees, working alongside Times reporters in war zones, have "risked their lives so that we can do our jobs."
The open letter may have been prompted by this and other recent decisions, but it brought to the surface long-simmering tensions. In the past several years, staffers have faced temporary pay cuts, layoffs, and buyouts. They have worked since March without a new contract. Regarding ongoing negotiations, the letter notes that Sulzberger's "negotiators have demanded a freeze of our pension plan and an end to our independent health insurance." O'Meara said staffers did not receive a raise this year...
How very true.There’s no guarantee the being a black father will stop this because they’re killing black fathers too. One of the tragedies of this [garbled] is that you don’t have to be guilty to be crucified – killing the innocent. Therefore we must overwhelm them with numbers. That becomes our strength to fight back.When I was younger I would say I wanted my children to get educated so that they wouldn’t have to go through what I’ve gone through. I’ve changed that position now. I want them to get a good education so they can have more tools with which to fight. The fight will not stop. I want them to have more tools. I want black fathers to have more tools with which to fight.
So when it’s time for Operation Black Vote to have massive registration, responsible black fathers vote to make a difference. They demonstrate. They march. They fight back.
So I say ‘fathers, teach your children how to fight for jobs and justice and healthcare using the weapons of your mind, your vote, and your marching feet.’
The White House says it's been flooded with responses to the question it posed Wednesday: "What does $40 mean to you?"
One day after the White House asked "working" people to "tell us what your family will give up if your (payroll) taxes increase," the stories are rolling in, including one from a person who worried about not having enough to pay the cable bill -- or continue family pizza nights.
In an effort to help the Obama administration, Cub Reporter Biff Spackle collected tales of woe from typical members of "the middle class", asking them what they could do with that $40.As Illinois citizens struggle with the severe economic downturn plaguing the state, [the state's] public school employees enjoy another record year of salaries, fringe benefits and pensions.
In 2011 an amazing 14,866 public school employees made more than $100,000, up 18% from 2010’s 12,588.
Apparently there is no tax money for the barren shelves at food pantries or the lack of beds at homeless shelters or to support the handicapped.
But there is enough tax money to pay for:
• A Phys. Ed teacher $203,154 for a 9 month work year.
• 14,866 teachers made more than $100,000 in 2011.
• 21 who made more over $1,000/day ($170,000/yr.)
• A Drivers Ed teacher who salary is $18,222/month to teach teenagers how to parallel park.
• 13 teachers make more than the Governor’s $177,500.
• Top 100 Teachers average $18,169 per month salary ($163,579/yr).
And all of that is for a 36-week work-year (182 day contracts).
These Top 100 Salaries Do Not Include Massive Amounts of Fringe BenefitsAdd about $48,000 each for state pension contribution (30% of salary) and at least $7,500/yr health insurance benefits. Then include 15 days sick leave payable at retirement if not used, 2 personal days [a year] and up to $300,000 payment to the Teachers Retirement System by the local school district if they decide to take early retirement (see "Anatomy of a Teachers Contract" here).
And what is the value of a guaranteed $100,000 job (called “Tenure”) for as long as you want it?
The email includes touching stories of families that really, really need that $2.85 a day.Gallup, which unlike the BLS, does not fudge, Birth/Die, or seasonally adjust its data, has just released its most recent u(n)employment data. And it's not pretty... Gallup which constantly pools 30,000 people on a weekly basis, has found that for the past 4 weeks, both underemployment and unemployment have risen for 4 weeks in a row...In summary, here is how Gallup debunks the BLS' propganda: "The sharp drop in the government-reported unemployment rate for November and the sharp drop in jobless claims during the most recent reporting week have combined to create the perception that the job market may be improving... Gallup's data suggest little improvement in the jobs situation... it may be wise to exercise caution in interpreting the drop in the government's most recent jobless claims numbers." Or, less diplomatically, the BLS is lying like a drunken sailor just as the economy is about to turn...
"...Gallup's data suggest little improvement in the jobs situation. December unemployment is up slightly on an unadjusted basis. In fact, the government is likely to report essentially no change in the unemployment rate when it issues its report on December unemployment in the first week of 2012. Of course, this assumes that the labor force doesn't continue to shrink at so rapid a pace that it drives down the unemployment rate, as it did last month."

The largest private employer in Saginaw, Michigan will soon be the city government of Beijing, as a 104-year-old unit of General Motors will be sold to new owners from China. The $450M purchase received little attention this summer, but it is a landmark deal - the first time Chinese investors have bought a U.S. industrial operation of such scale and history.
People won't work for nothing. Even without unions, companies must offer an overall package (wages, benefits, working conditions) sufficient to attract and retain the workers that they need. The interaction between the company's needs and the workers' alternatives sets the "market wage".
Unless workers are held at gunpoint, it is not possible to "exploit" them for any length of time... The logic of the free market is for companies to pay market wages, earn high profits, and reinvest their earnings in more factories.
...The purpose of a union is to extract from its employer more than the market wage. If it doesn't do this, then there is no reason for workers to support it or to pay dues to it. Because companies must sell their output at market prices and pay market returns for the capital that they employ, they cannot afford to pay more than "market" for any major input. Accordingly, any unionized company for which labor is a significant part of its cost structure will eventually be destroyed.
...Figures obtained by Hawaii Reporter reveal the trip is expected to run taxpayers about $4 million. It has already cost taxpayers about $100,000 extra just so first lady Michelle Obama and the president’s daughters, Sasha and Malia, could leave Friday before the president, according to White House Dossier...
...Hawaii Reporter’s comprehensive breakdown uses government data to calculate travel, housing, hotel and local costs...
...White House press secretary Jay Carney was asked about the vacation’s cost at a briefing last week. He dodged questions about Michelle Obama’s desire to travel separately from the president.
The Illinois Teachers' Retirement System — the worst-funded major pension plan in the U.S. — is pumping more of its assets into higher-risk investments while using accounting methods that some pension experts say understate its funding shortfall.
Springfield-based TRS, the state's largest pension provider, plans to allocate about a third of its $37.8-billion portfolio to alternative investments such as private-equity and hedge funds, a four-month Crain's investigation of TRS holdings and practices finds. These unconventional assets typically dangle the potential for higher returns, but only because they also carry greater risks and fees. TRS is shifting its portfolio while it's still developing an in-house risk-management system.
Gunning for bigger returns exposes the plan to the possibility of bigger losses, further jeopardizing the pensions of 362,121 former and current teachers. The system, which has just 46.5% of the assets it needs to cover promised payments to retirees, is counting on an 8.5% annual return, which many portfolio managers and investors, including Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Warren Buffett, say is unrealistically high. If TRS banked on a 7.75% return — the rate that two other Illinois public pensions lowered their forecasts to this year — its assets would equal only 43% of obligations. That would swell its shortfall to $50.1 billion from $43.5 billion.' Their solution seems to be going to Vegas with our money.'— Neil Mott, chemistry teacher,
Rolling Meadows High School......The plan also is dabbling in volatile derivatives, including wagers on Brazilian interest rates, and credit default swaps on sovereign debt from Italy and Spain... Illinois taxpayers are already on the hook for most of the $81.3 billion in TRS' long-term obligations because the state is required to fund the lion's share of TRS benefits. That liability will keep expanding, likely at a faster rate than assets, unless fund administrators and lawmakers can make up the $43.5-billion shortfall. If the plan defaults, the state will be lobbied hard to come to the rescue.
...The state's pension system in general is teetering. Moody's Investors Service in September 2010 revised Illinois A1-rated debt to add a negative outlook, its worst credit rating among states, partly because of the state's inability to address pension liabilities. Illinois had the largest unfunded pension liabilities of any state, with $85 billion owed for its five state-funded plans, as of June 30, 2010, Moody's says. Those plans' assets come to less than half that amount, according to the state's annual report.
...Illinois' public pension plans owe their troubles to broken promises by the Legislature. To preserve labor peace, the state routinely offered generous pension benefits. But to avoid hiking taxes and upsetting even more people, it didn't pay its share to cover these payments. Lawmakers could get away with this because the pension bills didn't come due for years or even decades...
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently moved one step closer to changes that would give employers much less time to react to union organizing efforts... and make it easier for organizers to gain a toehold in your workplace.
The NLRB is racing to finalize those new election rules—which opponents call “quickie” or “ambush” elections—before an end-of-December deadline. Why the rush? The currently three-member NLRB will likely lose its quorum status with the Jan. 1 term expiration of Craig Becker, a pro-union member of the board.
...the board [forward with its man revision to] shorten the time from the filing of the election petition until the actual election is held.
It’s estimated that the time between an organizing petition and a full union election—currently averaging about 38 days—could be cut in half if this NLRB proposal is finalized.
Advice: If these NLRB rules become final this month, unions will feel emboldened to start organizing drives in previously union-free workplaces
Gov. Rick Perry is double-dipping, drawing retirement income from the state in addition to his salary as governor since late January, newly released records show.
Perry's move to begin drawing from his pension early this year while remaining governor, which his staff says is legal and consistent with state retirement rules, was unknown to the public until federal financial disclosures were made public on Friday.
...The governor's gross annual salary is $150,000; his net salary is $133,000. The net monthly annuity check Perry started receiving Jan. 31 is $7,698. Combined, his net pay from the state is now more than $225,000 annually.
In 2002, Michelle Obama was hired by the University of Chicago Hospital as its "Executive Director for Community Affairs" at a salary of approximately $120,000.House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that extending unemployment benefits would add “600,000 jobs to our economy.”
She also said that the money from unemployment benefits creates a “safety net” for the U.S. economy because it “injects demand into the economy -- creating jobs.”...“The unemployment insurance extension is not only good for individuals. It has a macroeconomic impact. As macroeconomic advisers have stated, it would make a difference of 600,000 jobs to our economy.”
Pelosi did not name those “macroeconomic advisers.”...
As if life wasn't already tense enough for Americans who can't pay their debts, collection agencies are now taking advantage of archaic state laws to have some debtors arrested and sent to jail. More than one-third of US states allow debtors to be arrested and jailed, says Jessica Silver-Greenberg in the Wall Street Journal....Of course, the reason debtors have failed to make court-ordered payments is often the same reason they didn't pay their debts in the first place: They don't have any money... In September, a 53 year-old woman named Vivian Joy was stopped for a broken tail-light in Champaign, Illinois. And then, because the cops discovered that she still hadn't paid $2,200 to a collection agency, she was cuffed and carted off to jail.
Joy's excuse? She doesn't have any money.
Jailing debtors for not paying their debts is apparently especially popular in Illinois...
John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, decent human beings though they may be, haven't even raised this issue with the public. They don't have the spine to enact the drastic cuts this country requires to survive.In an environment where jobs are hard to find, the Obama administration has thrown more than 100,000 health insurance agents and brokers under the bus and given them the gift of an unemployment line just before the holidays. To make matters worse, a large number of insurance agents, known in the trade as producers, are self-employed and under the prevailing laws may have difficulty receiving unemployment insurance.
It all stems from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), known colloquially as Obamacare. PPACA dictates [price controls for insurers including commission payments]... Insurance agents were recently able to get backing from National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to exclude their commissions from [these price controls].
...Led by National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU), which claims to represent 100,000 health insurance agents, brokers, and related professionals, the Obama administration was lobbied hard to provide relief to insurance agents. The hope of the insurance agents had risen because of the recent backing by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
In a recent ruling, the Department of Health and Human Services dashed all hopes.
"Layoffs and a brief company shutdown is what employees face at Welspun Tubular Company, which makes steel pipes for the oil industry."
The economy may be weak, unemployment strong and the first family soon to vacate the White House for another half-month of vacation in Hawaii.
But the Obamas have gone all out in decorating their house this year, including a nearly quarter-ton gingerbread White House.
They have also installed 37 different Christmas trees. Thirty of the trees are live, or were, including one nearly 19-feet tall from Wisconsin. Seven of the three dozen Christmas trees are artificial or homemade including, of course, one from recyclables.
"We have 37 Christmas trees here at the White House--37!" Michelle Obama excitedly told a recent group of visitors. "That's a lot, right? Yes, that's a lot of trees. And we also have a 400-pound White House gingerbread house."
• The increasing calls for Eric Holder's resignation and/or impeachment for Operation Fast and Furious, etc.