Watching the "Tea Party" backed Republicans in action, I've become convinced that rather than a shadowy monolithic conspiracy, they are an amalgam of reactionary social conservatives, economic supremacists and narcissists, which consciously or subconsciously seeks to create a rigid stratified society run by a subset of wealthy people. This society would be throwback economically to 1870s America and politically to 1830s France. It would be obtained by the disenfranchisement of much of the population and shifting the from a government answerable to elected representation to services and regulations run by private entities. More simply, they're anti-democracy.
Today in Ohio, the Republican-controlled House labor committee voted 9-6 to forward a bill to limit collective bargaining rights for 350,000 public workers, including police officers and firefighters
The senior citizen lobbying group AARP is suddenly under attack from Republicans due to its support for not just health care reform, but existing Medicare.
The Wisconsin Union-busting bill has been held up in court, nevertheless the Authoritarians have declared it to be in effect by publishing it in a public record, Legislative Reference Bureau. The LRB itself however declares that their record does not constitute putting a law into effect. As a result, the judge who issued the original stay reiterated in no uncertain terms and threatened sanctions for non-compliance. However, the Republicans are making noise that they may still ignore the court order.
The Republican House Speaker in Pennsylvania thinks there's too much representation in the Commonwealth, so he wants to cut the size of the lower house by 50 members. Sam Smith of Jefferson County says, "We would be a more efficient body if the House of Representatives was smaller," Constitutional scholar Bruce Ledewitz of Duquesne University says the legislature was increased in size in 1874 to help prevent corrupt lawmakers from passing bills favoring special interests and corporations. Similar bills have been proposed in other states.
The new governor of Florida, Rick Scott, is under fire for his shenanigans regarding the health care company Solantic. Scott was on the board of directors until this past January, but rather than divest himself to avoid a conflict of interest, he instead shifted his holdings to his wife. As Kris Boughton points out, the company may stand to gain form the new free-market health care and drug testing programs that Scott is pushing.
Showing posts with label labor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label labor. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
1919?
In Dennis Lehane's The Given Day, we are shown a picture of the lives of ordinary working Americans at the end of World War I. The story revolves around the struggle of Boston policemen (public servants) to obtain a living wage and work conditions. Their work situation was unthinkable by modern standards: wages frozen at 1905 levels despite massive wartime inflation, 75-83 hour work weeks (and no overtime), no money for uniforms or equipment, overnight on-call duty periods in run-down, unsanitary stations, no compensation for those felled by the flu and no collective bargaining rights. The police finally did strike, and consequently were labeled Bolsheviks and anarchists, even though they were just ordinary working Americans who wanted a fair deal for dangerous work that included dealing with real violent anarchists. It would take many decades for public servants and other Americans to be given decent pay, benefits and working conditions they tried unsuccessfully get then. Looking at life back then who the hell would want to return America to 1919?
The so-called "Tea Party", that's who. For 1919 was a time when rights and protection of the law was determined mainly by wealth (the antithesis of the Enlightenment ideals the country was founded on). Their tactics are the same used in that time period, strike fear into the bigoted and stupid by associating any reasonable request by groups of workers to the most extreme elements around, manufacture budget crises, demonize the opposition and use violent rhetoric and tough guy posturing, the last two are characteristics of authoritarian personalities BTW.
We are told by Wisconsin Governor Walker that the state faces a huge deficit due to to overpaid government employees who refuse to give up lavish salaries and benefits. BUT, it turns out that Wisconsin public employees make less than privately employed counterparts. How about that? And the projected budget shortfall there is not simply due to the economy, the tipping point was tax cuts the gov and new legislature enacted. Of course those cuts are what the majority of people who bother to turn out to vote wanted, of course those people probably also believe that taxes are higher than ever and there's not enough jobs cuz the Mex-a-cans take them all.
In reality the "....unions agreed to cuts in health care and retirement benefits that could reduce take-home pay for many workers by about 8 percent, and it was time for the Republican governor to compromise." Amazingly, in the commentsbelow immediately the article I link you to, some yahoo (whose avatar is a Obama as a monkey) writes, "Where is the cry for democrats to compromise and work with Republicans? I guess only Repubs and independents are supposed to always give in to the democracks, but it's never the other way around." Reading comprehension is not these folks strong suit, and the willful ignorance, bigotry, poor education (evidence by bad spelling and grammar), blustering posture and admiration for tough guys who put people in their place is classic authoritarian "Tea Party".
Anyone who reads this blog knows I have no patience for corruption, knee-jerk anti-Americanism, and laziness and incompetence in the field of education. My rant here then is not some unthinking reflexive response from a dilettante academic leftist. Ultimately this is not about unions and pensions, its about taking away rights of ordinary Americans. Many TP authoritarians would love to eliminate the 40 hour week, benefits, safety regulations and minimum wage laws, even child labor laws. Stripping unions of collective bargaining is the first step, the next is to overturn the laws on the state and then federal level. This affects everyone, not just unionized public workers.
The question then is not just which side are you on, but do you want to move ahead in the 21st century, or back to 1919?
The so-called "Tea Party", that's who. For 1919 was a time when rights and protection of the law was determined mainly by wealth (the antithesis of the Enlightenment ideals the country was founded on). Their tactics are the same used in that time period, strike fear into the bigoted and stupid by associating any reasonable request by groups of workers to the most extreme elements around, manufacture budget crises, demonize the opposition and use violent rhetoric and tough guy posturing, the last two are characteristics of authoritarian personalities BTW.
We are told by Wisconsin Governor Walker that the state faces a huge deficit due to to overpaid government employees who refuse to give up lavish salaries and benefits. BUT, it turns out that Wisconsin public employees make less than privately employed counterparts. How about that? And the projected budget shortfall there is not simply due to the economy, the tipping point was tax cuts the gov and new legislature enacted. Of course those cuts are what the majority of people who bother to turn out to vote wanted, of course those people probably also believe that taxes are higher than ever and there's not enough jobs cuz the Mex-a-cans take them all.
In reality the "....unions agreed to cuts in health care and retirement benefits that could reduce take-home pay for many workers by about 8 percent, and it was time for the Republican governor to compromise." Amazingly, in the commentsbelow immediately the article I link you to, some yahoo (whose avatar is a Obama as a monkey) writes, "Where is the cry for democrats to compromise and work with Republicans? I guess only Repubs and independents are supposed to always give in to the democracks, but it's never the other way around." Reading comprehension is not these folks strong suit, and the willful ignorance, bigotry, poor education (evidence by bad spelling and grammar), blustering posture and admiration for tough guys who put people in their place is classic authoritarian "Tea Party".
Anyone who reads this blog knows I have no patience for corruption, knee-jerk anti-Americanism, and laziness and incompetence in the field of education. My rant here then is not some unthinking reflexive response from a dilettante academic leftist. Ultimately this is not about unions and pensions, its about taking away rights of ordinary Americans. Many TP authoritarians would love to eliminate the 40 hour week, benefits, safety regulations and minimum wage laws, even child labor laws. Stripping unions of collective bargaining is the first step, the next is to overturn the laws on the state and then federal level. This affects everyone, not just unionized public workers.
The question then is not just which side are you on, but do you want to move ahead in the 21st century, or back to 1919?
Monday, August 30, 2010
Gas Shale News for the Keystone state
Since I was away last week, I did not post the weekly rouns-up on Friday. Let's get to it:
Not quite PA, but the Albany Times-Union reports on proposals to sequester greenhouse gases in the Marcellus Shale.
Another story on the vulnerability of PA state parks to Marcellus development and more on the pooling issue. I predict that in Pennsylvania these two issues will be as big as contamination from fracking.
Speaking of which, Senator Bob Casey called for full disclosure of all chemicals used in hydrofracking.
State pols claim that unlike resource rushes in the past, this time Pennsylvania is going to get the gas rush right.
A consortium of community colleges plan to start programs to provide training for working in the gas industry, thanks to a $4.9 million grant form the U.S. Labor Dept.
The Gerson Lehrman Group includes the Marcellus in a summary of various unconventional "plays", neatly ignoring the environmental and property rights issues. Guess those are not part of cost analysis for professional investors.
SM Energy may be selling off its Marcellus assets. I wouldn't read too much into this yet, other than routine business wheeling and dealing, buying and selling.
The Norwegians are coming....
One apparent beneficiary of the gas boom has been shortline and regional railroads.
The state DEP is now enforcing stricter waste-water rules, although the gas industry feels it is being unfairly targeted. Meanwhile, over half the drillers have missed the DEP deadline for reporting their production.
Thomas Gentzel, the executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, is pushing the idea that Marcellus play will provide a windfall for PA schools. The labor unions want in as well.
Not quite PA, but the Albany Times-Union reports on proposals to sequester greenhouse gases in the Marcellus Shale.
Another story on the vulnerability of PA state parks to Marcellus development and more on the pooling issue. I predict that in Pennsylvania these two issues will be as big as contamination from fracking.
Speaking of which, Senator Bob Casey called for full disclosure of all chemicals used in hydrofracking.
State pols claim that unlike resource rushes in the past, this time Pennsylvania is going to get the gas rush right.
A consortium of community colleges plan to start programs to provide training for working in the gas industry, thanks to a $4.9 million grant form the U.S. Labor Dept.
The Gerson Lehrman Group includes the Marcellus in a summary of various unconventional "plays", neatly ignoring the environmental and property rights issues. Guess those are not part of cost analysis for professional investors.
SM Energy may be selling off its Marcellus assets. I wouldn't read too much into this yet, other than routine business wheeling and dealing, buying and selling.
The Norwegians are coming....
One apparent beneficiary of the gas boom has been shortline and regional railroads.
The state DEP is now enforcing stricter waste-water rules, although the gas industry feels it is being unfairly targeted. Meanwhile, over half the drillers have missed the DEP deadline for reporting their production.
Thomas Gentzel, the executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, is pushing the idea that Marcellus play will provide a windfall for PA schools. The labor unions want in as well.
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