Economics
WEALTH AND MONEY PART XXXI THE FRIGHTENING IGNORANCE OF THE “BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT”
A dangerous assault on the United States of America is now well underway. It hardly makes the news. Under the guidance of the billionaire Koch brothers funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other corporately supported think tanks, 29 states have passed a resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention for the purpose of passing a federal “Balanced Budget Amendment.” Only 5 more states are needed to reach the 34 required to force the holding of this historically unprecedented event (the original Constitutional Convention was held in 1787). Led by ...
THE WAGE GAP
Laura Dresser, Ph.D, the Associate Director of COWS (Center on Wisconsin Strategy) spoke at the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice Breakfast February 13th, 2017 in Madison. Laura Dresser is a co-editor of The Gloves-Off Economy: Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America’s Labor Market. She is addressing issues on the connection between quality care, quality jobs, and minimum wages.
In her speech, Laura Dresser addressed the issue of the wage inequity working women face in the labor force.
***Women are paid less than a man for doing the exact same job.
...
WEALTH AND MONEY Part XXX: THE CONQUERING (AND RESCUE) OF AMERICA
The Wall Street Bank System
Washington Public Banking Coalition
Public Banking Institute
One of the first actions President Donald Trump and his newly appointed cabinet members ( several of whom are former employees of Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs) plan to take in “Making America Great Again” is to substantially increase our already destructively bloated military budget. It will do nothing to make us more safe. While our corporately directed armed forces are manipulated to pursue pre-emptive, imperialist wars abroad, we as American citizens are being impoveri...
Real Solutions for Budget Problems
The Wisconsin state budget is short-sighted with politically motivated band-aids being proposed. Real, long term, sustainable budget solutions are possible. Wisconsin doesn't have to go through these battles every two years. But this would require real leadership and a willingness to address the actual causes of the fiscal problems.
For too many years the state budget problems have been kicked down the road by both parties. No one wants to address the simple fact that essential public services (sewers, water, law enforcement, courts, roads, schools, and necessary ...
TAX GIVEAWAY FOR THE RICH
The House Republicans, under Representative Paul Ryan's leadership, recently attempted to quickly push their bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), through congressional committees to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Only two days after the AHCA was unveiled, House Committees were voting on it, before the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) even had a chance to release a report analyzing the bill's projected effect on consumers, health care providers, insurance companies, and the federal budget.
Joe Baker of the Medicare Rights Center (MRC), is troubled by ...
OPEN LETTER REGARDING POTENTIAL SELF-INSURANCE PLAN
OPEN LETTER TO WISCONSIN JOINT FINANCE COMMITTEE
REGARDING POTENTIAL SELF-INSURANCE PLAN
POWRS (Protect Our Wisconsin Retirement Security), February 19, 2017
Dear Joint Finance Committee Members:
POWRS has closely followed events leading to the Wisconsin Group Insurance Board (GIB) approval of the self-insurance program proposal. We have been and continue to be deeply skeptical of this proposal. We believe that since the health insurance marketplace is already in turmoil due to dismantling of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), conducting such a radical change ...
WEALTH AND MONEY PART XXIX: PUBLIC BANKING AND INFRASTRUCTURE
The last edition of Wealth and Money discussed how Public – Private investment schemes were likely to be used under the Trump administration to finance the rebuilding of America’s infrastructure. Due to 40 years of tax cuts for the rich and corporations, along with deregulation of the financial industry, our federal and state governments have been defunded. This massive transferal of the nation’s claim to wealth, money, to the richest .01 percent has left government in debt and opened the door for complete predation on the people of America. Rather than paying for ...
WEALTH AND MONEY PART XXVIII: THE WRONG WAY TO FINANCE INFRASTRUCTURE
On June 29th, 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 and the U.S. interstate highway system, the greatest public works project in world history, was born. This occurred only a few short years after America had invested millions upon millions of dollars in World War II and government debt was at an all-time high.
But dollars and wealth are not the same thing. Following the war America was the unquestioned industrial leader of the world. We had unprecedented capacity to produce true wealth – the products and services of an ...
WEALTH AND MONEY PART XXVII: WAR, TAXES, BANKING AND THE LOOTING OF AMERICA
“Our roads and bridges are crumbling, our airports are out of date and the vast majority of our seaports are in danger of becoming obsolete. All the result of decades of neglect. None of this is really in dispute. Business leaders, labor unions, governors, mayors, congressmen and presidents have complained about a lack of funding for years, but aside from a onetime cash infusion from the stimulus program, nothing much has changed. There is still no consensus on how to solve the problem or where to get the massive amounts of money needed to fix it.” - - - CBS 60 Minutes ...
The Retirement Crisis
One of the annoying aspects of our broken electoral system is that issues of real importance are often ignored. Our elections are a money driven media circus of personal attacks, misleading sound bites, and ideological slogans. The real problems facing citizens and the country are not discussed in any rational, substantive way. Retirement security is one of these issues. Yes, there was some mention of Social Security in the last election. The misleading, party line talking points were reiterated during the “debates.” But the broader issue of retirement security for ...
