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Jobs and Worker Rights
The United States needs to build a new economic engine by building the clean energy and "green" economy that goes with it. This is the foundation of a 21st Century economy. The federal government should set clear goals to create a carbon-free/nuclear free energy economy by 2030. The collective resources of the United States should be used to achieve this goal, e.g. provide tax credits and other support for "green" projects that can be done quickly, such as retrofitting homes and businesses for increased energy efficiency. These investments will create millions of green jobs and businesses especially in long-neglected urban areas. The United States needs to stop corporate welfare to fossil fuel (oil, coal and gas), corn-based fuel, and nuclear energy as these are counterproductive to transforming the nation to a sustainable energy economy. These tens of billions in revenue should be redirected to spurring the clean energy economy and at the same time leveling the playing field between old energy sources and new. The U.S. should put forward long-term plans to invest in the creation of the new energy economy. This will add momentum to the already rapidly expanding investment in new energy products.

Individuals, state and local governments are in risky financial positions. Individuals are losing jobs, home values, facing bankruptcy and foreclosure. Stem the damage of the recession by extending unemployment benefits and food stamps. Extension of unemployment insurance will help minimize the negative impact of the recession on unemployed workers. And, making food stamps available will reduce the most devastating impact of the recession, poverty. Governments are at risk due to the failing economy, the reduction of property taxes, increases in the cost of health care and the loss of jobs. Support to state and local governments is needed. But, as noted in the previous point, the federal government should direct its support so that it helps to build the new economy. More than two dozen states have developed plans to respond to climate change and the need for new energy sources. They should be aided in putting in place these policies by providing funds directed toward them.

Democratize the workplace by encouraging employee-owned businesses. It is time to replace wage-slaves with employee owners. Employee-owned businesses perform better not only in providing wages and benefits to employees, but larger profits and less bankruptcy. Several studies show the greater the level of employee participation the greater the level of productivity. Democratization of the workplace - giving employees more power as employee-owners is the future - a future that is better for employees and corporations.

Democratize corporate power by increasing shareholder rights, expanding the rights of shareholders to choose directors of corporations and submit resolutions to set the direction and priorities of the corporation they invest in and of which they are part owners. End corporate personhood, so that corporations do not have the rights of human beings. And, national corporations need to be chartered nationally to allow them to be properly regulated.

Reduce the work week with no reduction in pay. Seventy percent of the U.S. GDP is based on consumer buying. Since the mid-1970s wages have been flat in the U.S. and the consumer economy has continued because of two-income families, increasing personal debt and cheap goods from abroad. This is unsustainable. In a time when millions are losing jobs, and tens of millions more are working overtime and two jobs just to make ends meet, we can't afford to be putting people out of work. A reduction in the work week with no reduction in pay would spread the work around, keep people working and equally important, allow 'the overworked American' some additional, much needed leisure time. After 2000, the United States overcame Japan as the country with the most overworked employees. That's not an accomplishment to be proud of, but rather, a problem to solved. A root cause of the downturn in the U.S. economy is insufficient buying power - the economy has doubled in size, productivity has dramatically increased but workers have had no increase in buying power. One remedy for this is the 32 hour work week and increase in over time pay to double-time.

Establish a national guaranteed income for all Americans . Governments are already paying a heavy cost for poverty and homelessness, much of that would disappear with an income guarantee. Indeed, currently nearly as much is spent on poverty bureaucracy as on poverty, by simply sending a check that bureaucracy is no longer needed. The guaranteed income is paid by government to its citizens on an individual basis, sufficient to meet basic needs. Poverty has been rising in the United States since 1999, the rate of poverty was six percent in 2006 and 7 percent last year, according to the Census Bureau with 37 million living in poverty, a majority of Americans (58.5 percent) will spend at least one year below the poverty line at some point between ages 25 and 75. The United States has one of the highest poverty rates in the developed world. Moreover, the standard of living for those in the bottom 10 percent was lower in the U.S. than other developed nations except the United Kingdom, which has the lowest standard of living for impoverished children in the developed world. Economist Milton Friedman proposed a variation of guaranteed income known as the "negative income tax." In this model, income subsidies would be given through the tax system to persons or families with employment or other income below the poverty line. Guaranteed income is meant to cover basic needs, not life's luxuries.

Cut Social Security? Are they crazy in Washington, DC?
Jul 21, 2010 — KZeese

The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is sounding the alarm around deficit spending. While many economists are calling for more spending to energize the economy, this commission is using exaggerated rhetoric to heighten deficit fear. They are talking about cuts to Social Security, Medicare and middle class benefits like the home mortgage deduction.

The time is now to build opposition to these recommendations and urge Congress and the administration to cut programs that will not make the economy worse for most Americans.

Please write President Obama and Congress today



Time for a "People's Tax Cut"
Aug 24, 2010 — KZeese

Cut the Payroll Tax on Workers and More than Make it Up on Incomes Over $250,000

By Robert Reich
RobertReich.org

Republicans are calling the Democrat's proposal to end the Bush tax cuts on the richest 3 percent a "tax increase," and demagoging that it will hurt the economy and small business. This is baloney, to put it politely. Let me count the ways:

* Bush's ten-year tax cut was designed to end this year, so it's not a tax increase.



"Who Creates Jobs? Small vs. Large vs. Young"
Aug 24, 2010 — KZeese

Economists View

Those who argue that "small businesses create the most jobs" have it partly right, but they also destroy the most jobs so that the net contribution of small firms isn't so clear.



The Number Of Americans Receiving Long-Term Unemployment Benefits Has Risen A Whopping 60 Percent In Just One Year
Aug 24, 2010 — KZeese

We Killed The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg 

The Economic Collapse



So long, middle class
Aug 24, 2010 — KZeese

Dreams of average Americans dashed by taxes, higher costs and little job security

By MICHAEL T. SNYDER
New York Post

The 25 statistics below prove that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate.



Der Spiegel: US middle class vanishing
Aug 24, 2010 — KZeese

Press TV

The American middle class is on the verge of disappearing, while the United States, itself, is in danger of becoming a third world country, a leading German newspaper says.

According to an article appearing in the German newspaper, Der Spiegel, the negative consequences of the global financial crisis include a widened social class rift and the elimination of the middle class in the US.



Globalized Business Cares Little About Left or Right
Aug 24, 2010 — KZeese

By Chrystia Freeland
Huffington Post



When Wall Street Rules, We Get Wall Street Rules
Aug 24, 2010 — KZeese

By Dean Baker
Huffington Post

The middle class is getting whacked by the Great Recession. Fifteen million people are out of work, another 9 million workers can only find part-time jobs, and millions more have given up looking for work altogether. Those lucky enough to be employed are unlikely to see any substantial wage gains for years to come.



Economic forecaster: ‘Greatest Depression’ coming
Aug 24, 2010 — KZeese

Collapse of middle class means there's no fuel for recovery, Gerald Celente argues

By Daniel Tencer
Raw Story

The US economic recovery in recent quarters is little more than a "cover-up" and the world is headed for a "Greatest Depression," complete with social unrest and class warfare, says a renowned economic forecaster.

Gerald Celente, head of the Trends Research Institute, told Yahoo!News' Tech Ticker that there's no risk of a "double-dip recession" because the first "dip" never ended.



Romney Wrong on Job Creation, Supply Side Economics Will Not Create Jobs
Aug 18, 2010 — KZeese

By Robert B. Reich
Politcio

Mitt Romney is smart enough not to join Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin in using the proposed mosque at ground zero to to lauch a presidential bid. While Gingrich is busy comparing Muslims to Nazis (“Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the holocaust museum in Washington”), and Palin is calling on New Yorkers to “refudiate” the plan (she subsequently corrected her word choice), Romney is offering an economic plan.

That’s a wise choice. Mitt knows Americans don’t care about mosques in Manhattan. They care about money in their own mitts.



US matches Indian call centre costs
Aug 18, 2010 — KZeese

By James Lamont in New Delhi and Joe Leahy in Mumbai
Financial Times

Call centre workers are becoming as cheap to hire in the US as they are in India, according to the head of the country’s largest business process outsourcing company.

High unemployment levels have driven down wages for some low-skilled outsourcing services in some parts of the US, particularly among the Hispanic population.

At the same time, wages in India’s outsourcing sector have risen by 10 per cent this year and senior outsourcing managers based in the country command salaries above global averages.



Only the young despair! Get to Work on an Economic Agenda
Aug 18, 2010 — KZeese

By Robert Field
NewsLanc

An article “Past Peak Prosperity” from a prominent Sunday News columnist reflects:



Denmark Starts to Trim Its Admired Safety Net
Aug 18, 2010 — KZeese

By LIZ ALDERMAN
New York Times

COPENHAGEN — How long is too long to be paid to go without a job?

As extended unemployment swells almost everywhere across the advanced industrial world, that question is turning into a lightning rod for governments.

For years, Denmark was held out as a model to countries with high unemployment and as a progressive touchstone to liberals in the United States. The Danes, despite their lavish social welfare state, managed to keep joblessness remarkably low.



Plutonomy Rising
Aug 18, 2010 — KZeese

Popular Daily News

Who cares how the rich spend their money? Well, perhaps we should these days. Consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of United States. Gross domestic product or the value of all goods and services produced in the nation. And spending by the rich now accounts for the largest share of consumer outlays in at least 20 years.

The top 5% of Americans by income account for 37% of all consumer outlays. Outlays include consumer spending, interest payments on installment debt and transfer payments, according to new research from Moody’s Analytics.



Share the Wealth...Protect Retirement Creating a Real Ownership Society
Aug 18, 2010 — KZeese

By KEVIN ZEESE
Prosperity Agenda

President Bush has called for creating an "ownership society." In a true ownership society --where all Americans share a piece of the economic pie --there will be secure retirements, a more vibrant economy and more entrepreneurs creating things we cannot even imagine.



This Economy Stinks, Yes it Does
Aug 18, 2010 — KZeese

By Dean Baker
Truthout

If there were any doubts about the health of the economy, two reports issued in the last ten days should have eliminated them. First the second quarter GDP showed the economy growing at just a 2.4 percent annual rate. Then the Labor Department reported on Friday that the economy created just 12,000 jobs in July after removing the impact of temporary Census employees. Both reports are really bad news about the economy’s near-term prospects.



Canada: Stinker of a Jobs Report and Harper Focuses on Deficit
Aug 18, 2010 — KZeese

- if so, then how about following the advice of an honoured Canadian and "go where the money is"

By Paul Jay
Canada.com

"It's a stinker," says Bill Gross about the latest report on Canadian unemployment. As manager of the world's largest mutual fund (based in California), I guess Gross knows a thing or two about money. As reported in Bloomberg, Gross also said commodity-based economies like Canada's aren't doing as well as expected. The median forecast of 22 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for 12,500 more jobs.



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