WHEN we don’t get the results we want in our military endeavors, we don’t blame the soldiers. We don’t say, “It’s these lazy soldiers and their bloated benefits plans! That’s why we haven’t done better in Afghanistan!” No, if the results aren’t there, we blame the planners. We blame the generals, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No one contemplates blaming the men and women fighting every day in the trenches for little pay and scant recognition.
And yet in education we do just that. When we don’t like the way our students score on international standardized tests, we blame the teachers. When we don’t like the way particular schools perform, we blame the teachers and restrict their resources.
Compare this with our approach to our military: when results on the ground are not what we hoped, we think of ways to better support soldiers. We try to give them better tools, better weapons, better protection, better training. And when recruiting is down, we offer incentives. [continue reading]
By the way, the average teacher’s salary is 14% less than a professional with a similar education might earn.
FACT SHEET: The President's Framework for Shared Prosperity and Shared Fiscal Responsibility
The President believes that we need a comprehensive, pro-growth economic strategy that invests in winning the future, lays the foundation for strong private-sector job growth and ensures that shared prosperity will keep the American dream alive for generations to come. A key component of that strategy must be a commitment to fiscal responsibility and to living within our means. Today, the President is laying out a comprehensive, balanced deficit reduction framework to cut spending, bring down our debt and increase confidence in our nation’s fiscal strength, while supporting our economic recovery and ensuring we are making the investments we need to win the future.
Fri., Apr. 8 10:47 PM It looks like there will beIS a deal. Both a short-term resolution and a longer term funding bill. Waiting for Sen. Reid to make a statement.
House Speaker John Boehner outlined the parameters of a long-term funding deal, telling his members in a closed-door meeting, "This is the best deal we could get out of them," according to a lawmaker in the room who asked not to be identified. The deal is still not official, Boehner cautioned, but in a sign things are coming to a close, the House is preparing for a 5-6 day short-term continuing resolution with $3 billion in cuts, he told members according to the lawmaker. The meeting is still underway. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was scheduled to address the Senate at 10:30 p.m. EDT.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has informed Republican lawmakers that negotiators have a struck deal to avert a government shutdown, according to GOP Rep. Mike Rogers (Ala.).
Boehner told his conference Friday night that the House would likely vote on a short-term funding bill before midnight that would fund the government for four or five days.
The long-term bill would include $39 billion in spending cuts from current levels.
Adding…according to ABC's Jake Tapper, the "deal is done & signed off on.$38.5b in cuts, no elimination of Planned Parenthood funding".
Yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared on Fox Business Network to continue this war on labor rights, using his time on the station to attack unions and claim their pay and benefits are too high. At one point during the interview, the senator began attacking “government unions,” saying they are “going to have to” contribute to their pensions and health care plans, just like Paul has to as a senator, and that Kentuckians back home don’t have any sympathy for government union workers because they pay for their retirements:
PAUL: Federal employees have almost double the compensation that private employees have. [...] Maybe these government unions are going to have to contribute to their pension, maybe they’re going to have to pay something for their health care, like I’m having to pay, so when I hear regular taxpayers in Kentucky they don’t have a lot of sympathy because they’re paying high insurance premiums and they have to pay for their own retirements.
Let there now be no doubt that Wisconsin’s budget fight was not about the budget. Think Progress, emphasis mine:
State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) has already revealed that the true motivation behind the bill was to defund unions to make it “much more difficult” for Democrats, including President Obama, to get elected in Wisconsin. Now, attempting to fend off efforts to recall eight of his Senate colleagues, he’s mailed out a fundraising letter that removes any doubt about the GOP’s motive:
Fitzgerald in the fundraising letter:
(Unions have) ruined California and Illinois, but they’re not going to ruin Wisconsin. That is because Republicans faced down Big Labor’s bully tactics and a Democratic walk-out in the state Senate to break the power of unions like WEAC and AFSCME once and for all.
Well, hey, we knew that it was about union busting early on. But, it’s always nice to get it out in the open via the horses mouth. They now have no further ability to deny their real motivation.
Trust me when I tell you that this is the most tangled web you have ever seen in your life.
Last week Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed legislation giving him what many have called “dictatorial” powers. The much despised EFM law gives Snyder the power to hand pick emergency financial managers (or emergency financial "corporate persons"), who then have the authority to take the following actions:
Consolidate or dissolve local governments and dismiss the officials elected by the people.
Consolidate or dissolve school districts, close schools, and dismiss elected school board members.
Sell off public property. Public. Property. Parks, buildings, licenses, permits, and so forth. All of it.
Privatize government services, with all that entails.
Shred all contracts agreed to by local governments and schools, including union contracts.
Which people or what organizations are behind Snyder’s EFM law?
Since 2005, the Mackinac Center for Public Policyhas urged reforms to Michigan law giving more power and protection to emergency financial managers, state-appointed officials who parachute into ailing cities or school districts and employ drastic measures to fix budgets on the brink of collapse. In January, the free-market-loving center published four recommendations, including granting emergency managers the power to override elected officials (such as a mayor or school board member) and toss out union contracts. All four ended up in Snyder's legislation.
"The Mackinac Center has been tied at the hip with the Republican Party establishment for years," says Doug Pratt, public affairs director at the Michigan Education Association. "It goes to their funding sources; it goes to their ideology."
But wait, according to a statement on their "Purpose" page, the Mackinac Center is non-partisan, emphasis mine:
In response to the anti-Democratic martial law being enacted in Michigan, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) fired back, calling the bill unconstitutional, emphasis mine:
Worse yet, this bill raises serious constitutional concerns. Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibits any State from impairing a contract, which is exactly what this legislation does. As the Supreme Court has held in Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934), the sanctity of contracts cannot be impaired by a state law “which renders them invalid, or releases or extinguishes them . . . . Not only are existing laws read into contracts in order to fix obligations as between the parties, but the reservation of essential attributes of sovereign power is also read into contracts as a postulate of the legal order.”
Rep. Conyers also inferred that some parts of this bill may be racially motivated, something Karoli at Crooks and Liars has also suggested:
The takeover provision of the legislation – allowing the dissolution of locally elected bodies — implicitly targets minority communities that are disproportionately impacted by the economic downturn, without providing meaningful support for improved economic opportunity.
Finally, Conyers also pointed out that by forcing a community in to bankruptcy (which will likely be done to force union consessions for public sector workers or just to break the collective bargaining contracts which the EMF also has the legal authority to do), the financial situation of the community will actually become worse.
Further, the bill empowers this financial czar with the Governor’s approval to force a municipality into bankruptcy, a power that will surely be used to extract further concessions from hardworking public sector workers. And, by making the risk of bankruptcy a reality, the bill will make it more not less expensive for municipalities to obtain financing given this risk, which will make the financial circumstances of municipalities even worse.
Taking it through the courts could take years. In the meantime, thanks to the Republican controlled House and Senate in Michigan, along with our new Dictator Republican Governor Rick Snyder, the people of Michigan will suffer, because this bill is the most draconian, the most un-Democratic piece of legislation in this country right now.
LAST NIGHT, MAR. 9: As you likely already know, last night Republicans illegally rammed through the portion of Walker’s budget that deals with collective bargaining, enacting, in effect, the end of collective bargaining for public workers in Wisconsin. Congrats, Koch Bastards.
After that happened, the Wisconsin state capitol was closed, and according to a metro bus driver, his bus was commandeered to take Republican legislator – fascists, out of the immediate area.
TODAY, MAR. 10: Today, the capitol was closed to everyone, with the remaining (unresisting) protesters being dragged out of the building, leading to thousands chanting “Let us in!”
The capitol police were replaced today by Wisconsin State Police troopers. The image below, via @ACLUMadison, is of riot gear being unloaded—wonder if the tear gas is even made in America?
Also today, Wisconsin firefighters went in to the Capitol Square/Madison branch of M&I bank as a group, and withdrew $190,000. M&I was the largest of the banks to back Gov. Scott Walker. That branch was closed for the day shortly thereafter Image below via @mariyastrauss
Additionally, there is a boycott of M&I planned if they don’t publicly oppose Walker’s efforts:
Teachers, firefighters and police officers said they would begin a boycott of M&I Bank if the bank does not begin publicly opposing Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to curtail collective bargaining for public workers.
Unions representing those groups said they would start other boycotts of businesses that backed Walker in his campaign.
The letter to M&I President Tom Ellis said the boycott would begin March 17 if the bank hasn't opposed Walker's efforts by then.
Stay tuned. I’ll be updating until sometime tonight.
5:07 PM Update: Wisconsin lawmakers voted to approve the measure to strip collective bargaining rights from public employees.
Police state (Wisconsin capitol building). Via @thinkprogress twitter stream.
5:45 PM Update: About an hour ago, Wisconsin Minority Assembly Minority Leader , Peter Barca (D), addressed the crown in Madison:
We think this vote will not stand. We believe it violates the law.
6:02 PM Update: We just learned that about 5 hours ago, hundreds of students at Madison West High School walked out of school and began marching to the capitol building, with a Madison police escort.
In the capitol building, Wisconsin state troopers deny media access to the Assembly.
8:00 PM Update: A general strike in Wisconsin? Not yet, it seems.
Calls for a general strike are growing among union members and supporters as the state Legislature advanced a law stripping public sector unions of almost all bargaining rights, but it remains unclear whether strikes or pickets will appear soon.
Union leaders say the Republicans' fast-track passage of the bill has fueled strike talk, but for now most are urging legal measures such as recall of Republican legislators as a way to repeal the law.
"A general strike would be playing the trump card, and you don't play the trump right away, you build up to that," said Jim Cavanaugh, president of the 45,000-member South Central Federal of Labor in Madison.
Bastards. Hard to know how this will pan out. Keith Olbermann says that Republicans have committed suicide. We’ll see.
I will say that next up for reversal will be minimum wage laws, the 40 hour work week, and so on. This is what they’re working toward at the direction of their corporate masters.
Republicans in the Wisconsin state Senate passed the most controversial portions of Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill late on Wednesday, stripping out the sections that required the presence of their 14 absent Democratic colleagues in the upper chamber.
In an 18-to-1 vote, the Senate approved the curbs on collective bargaining by public employees that Walker has insisted are needed to help the state's cash-strapped municipalities deal with a projected $1.27 billion drop in state aid over the next two years.
Adding….Twitter is going crazy over this news. The hacker group known as “anonymous” appears to have decided to stand with the workers. The link on that tweet is to a chat room, currently inundated with 7000+ people.
On her show last night, Rachel Maddow talked directly to those fighting for their collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, telling them that they are now winning. And she’s right. But, I am seeing less vocal/open support for this battle, which is important to a vast majority of Americans, because when Wisconsin wins, all of the working people in America win.
SHOW your support, America! It is not time to stand down.
He promised to sign legislation if elected governor that prohibits the Legislature from voting after 10 p.m. or before 9 a.m.
Early this morning, the anti-union bill made it past Wisconsin’s Assembly, effectively stripping public sector workers of their collective bargaining rights. Think Progress, emphasis mine:.
Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly approved legislation stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights, in the face of ongoing protests that have gripped Madison for well over a week. The bill passed at 1:17 a.m., and Republicans only held the vote open for “seconds.” The vote was called while many Democrats were outside the Assembly chamber, preventing them from casting no votes. Only 13 of the Assembly’s 38 Democratic members got their votes in on time.Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) praised the Assembly’s action in a statement.
Gov. Walker, praised the Wisconsin lawmakers, never mentioning the trickery involved, nor the fact that Democrats were out of the Chamber when the vote was called:
Day after day Assembly Republicans and Assembly Democrats showed up and did the jobs they were elected to do. After an unprecedented amount of debate, they continued to do their jobs by casting their votes. Republicans should be commended for their willingness to cast a vote that will fix this budget and future budgets. Democrats should also be commended for coming to work every day and giving their constituents a voice at the State Capitol. Now all the attention is on the Senate. The fourteen Senate Democrats need to come home and do their jobs, just like the Assembly Democrats did
The bill still has to get through the Wisconsin Senate, and since the Democratic lawmakers remain out of state, they have no quorum for a vote.
Meanwhile, protests are planned throughout the country to fight the Republican goal of ending the middle class in America.
In Indiana, as state legislators debate “right-to-work” legislation that would destroy the ability of unions to organize, thousands protested at the Indiana state capitol, and Democratic legislators havewalked out in order to protect the right of workers to engage in collective bargaining.
In Ohio, thousands of public sector workers gathered at the state capitol today to protest legislation which would cost workers their right to collectively bargain.
In Wisconsin today, protests continued, and Democratic legislators remained absent, as Gov. Scott Walker threatened layoffs. Act Blue has raised $357,000 in support of Wisconsin’s stand-up Democratic lawmakers, and if you’d like to contribute, just click on the Act Blue link.
According to pro-labor protesters in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R) may be taking a page from former Egyptian Dictator Hosni Mubarak and cutting off internet access to key protest organizers within the state Capitol building.
If you are in the Capitol attempting to access the internet from a free wifi connection labeled “guest,” you cannot access the site defendwisconsin.org. The site has been used to provide updates on what is happening, where you can volunteer, and where supplies and goods are needed to support protesters. Administrators of the website were notified on Monday that the page is being blocked. Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate says that the site was put on a blacklist typically used to filter out pornography sites so that protestors inside the Capitol could not access this key site.
On Saturday, February 26, in solidarity with Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio, protests will be held in all fifty states at the respective state capitols. Go here to get the specifics for your states protest.
Now Walker is threatening to begin sending out lay-off notices to state employees if they don’t do what he wants. What an asshat.
MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker warned Tuesday that state employees could start receiving layoff notices as early as next week if a bill eliminating most collective bargaining rights isn't passed soon.
Walker said in a statement to The Associated Press that the layoffs wouldn't take effect immediately. He didn't say which workers would be targeted but he has repeatedly warned that up to 1,500 workers could lose their jobs by July if his proposal isn't passed.
Honestly, I think Walker needs to reassess because I do not think he is going to win this fight.
First of all, just to ensure that we’re on the same page, when I say “paid” in this piece, I am referring to total compensation which includes not only salary, but health care plans, and so forth.
That said, a ubiquitous Republican meme is the one where in their world, public sector employees get paid wayyy more than than they’re worth in the real world, and wayyy more than their counterparts in the private sector are paid, which they also rant, is totally unfair and against all that is righteous. Sigh.
The chart depicts the results of a study by the Economic Policy Institute which should lay this stupid meme to rest, although of course it won’t, the right wing will keep spewing the lies, but at least you’ll know exactly how to respond.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the exact opposite is true; public sector workers in Wisconsin are compensated less than their counterparts in the private sector.
In Wisconsin, which has become a focal point in this debate, public servants already take a pretty hefty pay cut just for the opportunity to serve their communities (Keefe 2010). The figure below shows that when comparing the total compensation (which includes non-wage benefits such as health care and pensions) of workers with similar education, public-sector workers consistently make less than their private–sector peers. Workers with a bachelor’s degree or more—which constitute nearly 60% of the state and local workforce in Wisconsin—are compensated between $20,000 less (if they just have a bachelor’s degree) to over $82,000 a year less (if they have a professional degree, such as in law or medicine).
It is necessary for making true apples-to-apples comparisons to control for worker characteristics such as education in order to best measure a worker’s potential earnings in a different sector or industry. Controlling for a larger range of earnings predictors—including not just education but also age, experience, gender, race, etc., Wisconsin public-sector workers face an annual compensation penalty of 11%. Adjusting for the slightly fewer hours worked per week on average, these public workers still face a compensation penalty of 5% for choosing to work in the public sector.
For Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) to attempt to blame his budget woes on public sector workers, to force them not only to take pay cuts, but to give up their collective bargaining rights, is wrong. And if you know that this same Republican governor created his own budget crisis via tax cuts for corporations the minute he took office, you know he has no moral ground to stand on in this face-off.
Adding....According to Stark Reports, the cuts Walker is demanding amount to about $100 per week for public sector workers in Wisconsin. That is one hell of a lot to cut for someone earning $52k, which is what Stark says is the median teacher's salary in Wisconsin.
I mean, when all is said and done, the Governor is reaching into these workers’ pockets and taking out about $100 from every week’s paycheck.
ERIC CANTOR'S BOUNDLESS CAPACITY FOR CONFUSION.... In his remarks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week, President Obama committed to an agenda in which the public sector would lay a foundation for private-sector growth. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) wasn't quite sharp enough to understand the concept.
On Tuesday, the House failed to reauthorize the Patriot Act [don’t get your hopes up as it was simply a temporary failure of House leadership]. Think Progress:
….the vote is also a significant defeat for the new Republican leadership in the House. Bills are typically only brought up under suspension rules if it’s assumed the vote will be non-controversial, but it’s clear that Republican leaders did not anticipate the opposition from within their party….
Paul Krugman takes on Republicans whining about their underrepresentation in academic circles.
First, a little background on the Chamber from Think Progress:
Despite bloated rhetoric about the virtues of “free enterprise,” the Chamber demanded taxpayer bailouts for its bank members (AIG, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, etc.), billions in taxpayer money for its defense contract members, taxpayer money for cleaning up BP’s oil spill, and preferential tax cuts for its millionaire executives.
As ThinkProgress has documented, the Chamber has a history of being singularly focused on boosting profits, not creating American jobs. The Chamber has pushed for unfettered free trade deals, sponsored a series of conferences to teach businesses how to outsource jobs to China, and even lobbied against legislation that would have created over 1.7 million jobs.
Watch President Obama’s address to the U.S. Chamber today. Personally, I felt he chastised them. Full transcript of the president’s remarks to the chamber after the jump
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FULL TRANSCRIPT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S REMARKS TO THE US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ON FEB. 7, 2011
Watch President Obama’s State of the Union address, or read the full text transcript below the video:
Remarks by the President in State of Union Address
United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.
9:12 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:
Tonight I want to begin by congratulating the men and women of the 112th Congress, as well as your new Speaker, John Boehner. (Applause.) And as we mark this occasion, we’re also mindful of the empty chair in this chamber, and we pray for the health of our colleague -- and our friend -– Gabby Giffords. (Applause.)
This was an amazing press conference, with an engaged, fiesty, caring president.Transcript below the video.
Press Conference by the President
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
2:25 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Before I answer a few questions, I just wanted to say a few words about the agreement we’ve reached on tax cuts.
My number one priority is to do what’s right for the American people, for jobs, and for economic growth. I’m focused on making sure that tens of millions of hardworking Americans are not seeing their paychecks shrink on January 1st just because the folks here in Washington are busy trying to score political points.
Jon Stewart: Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the President of the United States, Barack Obama. ["Hail to the Chief," audience cheers] President Barack Obama: Thank you! Thank you very much. Stewart: Please have a seat. PRESIDENT: Thank you. [audience cheers and applause] Thank you. Stewart: I'm sorry; that's all the time we have. [laughter] Thank you for joining us. PRESIDENT: This is a nice set. Stewart: Thank you very much. PRESIDENT: It reminds me of the convention. Stewart: We actually bought it. It was in a warehouse and we bought it. We had it chiseled. Let me give you "Mug Force One." This is yours. PRESIDENT: Oh, nice.
America’s small businesses are essential to our nation’s economy and its recovery. They create two out or every three new jobs in the private sector. Their ability to hire and expand is crucial to putting our economy back on the right track. But in the wake of this recession, too many small businesses are struggling to find the loans they need to strengthen their companies.
And that’s why President Obama has called on the Senate to swiftly approve the Small Business Jobs Act – a set of tax breaks and lending incentives designed to spur hiring and growth at small businesses.
As we continue to fight for essential assistance to small businesses we know there will be a lot of misinformation and given what is at stake we want to provide the real facts.
Below is a point by point fact check of a story about the small business legislation the AP ran this weekend:
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