An open letter in support of Norman Solomon
I want to tell you why I am so passionate about Norman Solomon’s campaign for Congress because I think you will want to help out too. It is not often that voters anywhere get the chance to elect someone who is already recognized as a national leader for democracy. This is a grassroots campaign that does not accept corporate money. Its success will depend on your efforts as well as mine. And so far we are doing well. More than 1,100 people have already contributed and more than 300 have volunteered. Please contribute what you can:
http://solomonforcongress.com/
Nearly everyone today believes that we have a broken government that responds only to the wishes of large donors. With over 25 million people unemployed or underemployed, our Congress deservedly has an 82% disapproval rating. This is especially justified, as the only argument we hear coming from Congress now is how much should be cut from the budget, instead of how they could be creating jobs. Every dollar cut from the budget deepens this recession and adds to unemployment. At a recent panel discussion, Norman compellingly made the case that Congress is moving in the wrong direction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd19rxhBcAM&feature=related
The Republican Party is openly calling for layoffs, treating labor as a commodity and reducing its cost to employers in part by attacking Social Security and Medicare*. Sadly, many in the Democratic Party are following their lead. In contrast, Norman is very clear that he stands with us. Please make this your campaign too. Some of us unfortunately have lots of time and no money, while others have money and very little time. You can be sure that Norman’s campaign will make good use of whatever you can offer. Please join us and help introduce Norman to your friends and family.
Visit the website to volunteer, to donate, or to contact us.
http://solomonforcongress.com/
Sincerely,
Dan Monte
*Republicans have put their jobs plan to lower our wages in writing.
“Spend Less, Owe Less, Grow the Economy,” Executive Summary, March 15, 2011
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) speaks to workers from the House floor, “…labor is a commodity just like corn or beans….” June 1, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
All cuts are jobs lost!
The way the trigger mechanism works if the committee of 12 recommendations do not become law protects the benefits of Medicare recipients but not the providers –doctors and pharma. They will be subject to a 2% cut in payments. That will have an impact on those that receive care, as there will be less offered.
Cutting or more accurately, changing the drug benefit of both Medicare and Medicaid would be a great thing. That could allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and save hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
It really all comes down to who Reid and Pelosi appoint to this “super-congress.” If one supports cuts to these programs then that will be an indication that the bill will pass and get signed into law.
There are lots of programs that will be cut in any event. And as we are now in the double part of that double dip we are headed for an extremely deep recession.
Cutting or more accurately, changing the drug benefit of both Medicare and Medicaid would be a great thing. That could allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and save hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
It really all comes down to who Reid and Pelosi appoint to this “super-congress.” If one supports cuts to these programs then that will be an indication that the bill will pass and get signed into law.
There are lots of programs that will be cut in any event. And as we are now in the double part of that double dip we are headed for an extremely deep recession.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Austerity Cuts into Unemployment
If you want to find out what is happening with the California State budget drive a bus delivering folks to their programs. Last week I stopped by a program that offers rehabilitation to the aging to help restore their mobility and other physical capabilities and the front desk person told me they are being shut down as a result of the $11.6 billion in state budget cuts. Yesterday it was an assistant teacher who received a pink slip and ask me to pray for her job. This is my prayer for her.
I know that teachers are planning a sit-in for the Capital Rotunda trying to highlight that another $15 billion in cuts will be coming if we don’t raise some taxes, but what about the first set of cut backs. California’s unemployment rate is one of the highest in the country at 12%, that’s 2,176,333 officially counted out of work Californians. The $11.6 billion in cuts will mean that another 100,000 plus will lose their jobs. That will move our UI rate back up to 12.5% where it was at the pinnacle of this recession.
Offering a referendum on raising $2 billion from the millionaires or $1 billion with a oil severance tax just won’t fix this crisis. We have a real need to change the course that our state government is heading. If we are to prevent an economic catastrophe we need to raise $26 billion and there is only one plan out there now that will do that. The 1.5% tax on business revenue compares well to the combined 1% sales tax increase, the 0.5% vehicle license fee increase, plus an income tax increase that only covers $15 billion.
Our choices are clear, continue down this path of raising taxes primarily on the working poor while at the same time laying off over 100,000 workers and denying services to the elderly, children, and those in medical need, or raise a tax on all businesses that will be shared by all Californians.
For more information on the 1.5% business revenue tax read below.
I know that teachers are planning a sit-in for the Capital Rotunda trying to highlight that another $15 billion in cuts will be coming if we don’t raise some taxes, but what about the first set of cut backs. California’s unemployment rate is one of the highest in the country at 12%, that’s 2,176,333 officially counted out of work Californians. The $11.6 billion in cuts will mean that another 100,000 plus will lose their jobs. That will move our UI rate back up to 12.5% where it was at the pinnacle of this recession.
Offering a referendum on raising $2 billion from the millionaires or $1 billion with a oil severance tax just won’t fix this crisis. We have a real need to change the course that our state government is heading. If we are to prevent an economic catastrophe we need to raise $26 billion and there is only one plan out there now that will do that. The 1.5% tax on business revenue compares well to the combined 1% sales tax increase, the 0.5% vehicle license fee increase, plus an income tax increase that only covers $15 billion.
Our choices are clear, continue down this path of raising taxes primarily on the working poor while at the same time laying off over 100,000 workers and denying services to the elderly, children, and those in medical need, or raise a tax on all businesses that will be shared by all Californians.
For more information on the 1.5% business revenue tax read below.
Monday, May 2, 2011
California Democratic Convention
The California Democratic Party convention in Sacramento this weekend was to my mind a success. I had three concerns that I wanted addressed and accomplished them all. I wanted to support the Progressive Caucus inside the Democratic Party and press them on issues of my concern. Of the nearly 1800 delegates to the Democratic Party over 800 are members of the Progressive Caucus. Senator Bernie Sanders, the independent democratic socialist from Vermont, addressed the general session and then came to our caucus to keep fighting the good fight. As most readers of this will know the Democratic Party of California is not a progressive body, and certainly not the national party.
My second reason for attending was to connect with PDA national and local activists from around our state and measure the support for Norman Solomon’s campaign for congress. He addressed the Progressive Caucus with a new sense of urgency of mission. We have a new Norman, who can address a crowd of progressive activists and make them stand and shout. But he was also was attending many of the smaller caucuses including the Resolutions Committee. They were a tough sell. Three separate groups submitted resolutions that required the shut down of San Onofre and San Luis Obispo nuclear power plants. This event reinforced my commitment to bring progressives into the leadership of the California Democratic Party. The Resolution Committee was populated by labor representatives, three who represented workers at these plants. Regardless of all the right talk the committee submitted a resolution for the plant operators to study themselves whether or not their plants were safe.
Finally I wanted to attend and let everyone there know that we do not need to accept the austerity budget that was recently passed by our Democratically controlled legislature and signed by our Democratic Governor. The Democratic spin machine was out in full force suggesting that it was all the Republican’s fault, when in fact they were all opposed to the governor’s plan of 50% in cuts and 50% in tax increases. Those cuts mean that during this economic downturn whit a 12% unemployment rate in California, our state will be laying off thousands of employees. 400,000 college students won’t attend school for lack of teachers, subsidies for daycare for the working poor are to be eliminated, as will healthcare and other human services for elderly disabled and poor. I was able to put the Social Justice Center of Marin’s proposal for raising money to prevent these cuts into 200 hands including members of the State Senate and Assembly.
I love the California Democratic Party because it will let anyone in and the spoils of victory go to the better organized. That being said, the Progressive Caucus even with its gaudy numbers of nearly half the delegates, spoke not one word about our austerity budget and the pain it will inflict.
My second reason for attending was to connect with PDA national and local activists from around our state and measure the support for Norman Solomon’s campaign for congress. He addressed the Progressive Caucus with a new sense of urgency of mission. We have a new Norman, who can address a crowd of progressive activists and make them stand and shout. But he was also was attending many of the smaller caucuses including the Resolutions Committee. They were a tough sell. Three separate groups submitted resolutions that required the shut down of San Onofre and San Luis Obispo nuclear power plants. This event reinforced my commitment to bring progressives into the leadership of the California Democratic Party. The Resolution Committee was populated by labor representatives, three who represented workers at these plants. Regardless of all the right talk the committee submitted a resolution for the plant operators to study themselves whether or not their plants were safe.
Finally I wanted to attend and let everyone there know that we do not need to accept the austerity budget that was recently passed by our Democratically controlled legislature and signed by our Democratic Governor. The Democratic spin machine was out in full force suggesting that it was all the Republican’s fault, when in fact they were all opposed to the governor’s plan of 50% in cuts and 50% in tax increases. Those cuts mean that during this economic downturn whit a 12% unemployment rate in California, our state will be laying off thousands of employees. 400,000 college students won’t attend school for lack of teachers, subsidies for daycare for the working poor are to be eliminated, as will healthcare and other human services for elderly disabled and poor. I was able to put the Social Justice Center of Marin’s proposal for raising money to prevent these cuts into 200 hands including members of the State Senate and Assembly.
I love the California Democratic Party because it will let anyone in and the spoils of victory go to the better organized. That being said, the Progressive Caucus even with its gaudy numbers of nearly half the delegates, spoke not one word about our austerity budget and the pain it will inflict.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Less Government for More Fees Initiative
It is beyond my comprehension that California is in a budget crisis again. Our new governor got the constitutional amendment he asked for, the ability to pass a budget with 21 senators and 41 assembly members, and he got his austerity budget passed with $11.6 billion in cuts to health, social services, and education just mention a few. The rub is that Republicans have refused to allow an initiative on the ballot to raise $15.4 billion in taxes, or more accurately keep them at this temporarily elevated level. Now Brown is traveling the state trying to encourage voters to put an initiative on the ballot themselves. If government were a utility we could call this the “Less Government for More Fees Initiative.”
I don’t think that folks facing sever cuts will be voting for increased taxes. So why not ask us to raise taxes sufficiently to cover the whole $26 billion deficit? I have been promoting a 1.5% tax on all business revenue that would erase the deficit without cutting services. You can read the simple proposal below. But my proposal is just that, one proposal, nothing to fight about. However the concept of a fair tax on all sectors of society and spread to all sectors of the economy is the important point. I have been told that the Governor does not think much of my idea. Well here’s back to him. I don’t think much about a Democratic Party controlled state asking its residents to shut down government during this great recession. With an unemployment rate of over 12% this austerity budget relies on laying off tens of thousands of people. 400,000 college students will not be able to find places in school this coming year. Many state workers, those that can keep their jobs, will endure a 5% pay cut. In Home Health Service workers and their clients will have less hours. Whole classifications of medical recipients will lose care.
But it could be worse. And that is Brown’s message, if you don’t vote for these cuts by approving increases in taxes the alternative will be even more drastic cuts. I use to admire his political acumen and after the November election victory for the Democratic Party I was in awe. But not now, no Republicans will vote for Brown’s deal, and only half of the Independents and Democrats at most. My proposal, and I am sure there are others, will cost an average of $750 per resident but it will fall much more heavily on the wealthy and business. We would all pay something. And it would help keep California out of the coming second half of the double dip recession.
Hug a Republican today for slowing the process down, and then call our Democratic legislators and tell them we will only vote yes on a No Cuts Budget!
I don’t think that folks facing sever cuts will be voting for increased taxes. So why not ask us to raise taxes sufficiently to cover the whole $26 billion deficit? I have been promoting a 1.5% tax on all business revenue that would erase the deficit without cutting services. You can read the simple proposal below. But my proposal is just that, one proposal, nothing to fight about. However the concept of a fair tax on all sectors of society and spread to all sectors of the economy is the important point. I have been told that the Governor does not think much of my idea. Well here’s back to him. I don’t think much about a Democratic Party controlled state asking its residents to shut down government during this great recession. With an unemployment rate of over 12% this austerity budget relies on laying off tens of thousands of people. 400,000 college students will not be able to find places in school this coming year. Many state workers, those that can keep their jobs, will endure a 5% pay cut. In Home Health Service workers and their clients will have less hours. Whole classifications of medical recipients will lose care.
But it could be worse. And that is Brown’s message, if you don’t vote for these cuts by approving increases in taxes the alternative will be even more drastic cuts. I use to admire his political acumen and after the November election victory for the Democratic Party I was in awe. But not now, no Republicans will vote for Brown’s deal, and only half of the Independents and Democrats at most. My proposal, and I am sure there are others, will cost an average of $750 per resident but it will fall much more heavily on the wealthy and business. We would all pay something. And it would help keep California out of the coming second half of the double dip recession.
Hug a Republican today for slowing the process down, and then call our Democratic legislators and tell them we will only vote yes on a No Cuts Budget!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Your Fair Share: A Revenue Tax Proposal
Would you agree to a new tax if it were shared by all sectors of California’s economy? All Californians would pay for some, as would all businesses. Governor Jerry Brown and the Democratic Party-controlled State legislature have passed a budget that cuts $11.6 billion from the poor and the working people and proposes extending $15.4 billion in sales and other taxes due to expire by the end of this year. Grandma’s group home might be closing and certainly her day activities program, and her healthcare will be cut back. Community colleges, CSU and UC are all affected, as places for hundreds of thousands of students will disappear. Democrats have come up with a job-killing, recession-producing solution one would expect from a Republican-controlled state. But even with all these cuts, no Republican legislators would allow the people to vote on confirming this budget by extending taxes to pay the balance. We should all hug a Republican today for slowing the process down, and then call our Democratic legislators and tell them we will only vote yes on a No Cuts Budget!
Labor and progressives fought hard to have a Democratically controlled state; we should insist that they act the part. Just to cover some of the other $15 billion in an all-cuts budget, it will take $5 billion more from schools, another $1.7 from higher education, and another $1.2 billion from health and social services. Here’s an alternative progressive no-cuts tax proposal.
Impose a 1.5 % tax on all business income. This tax proposal relies on a small percentage but is applied to a very large base, shared equally as stated above. As California is the eighth largest economy in the world at $1.9 trillion, a 1.5% tax on that amount would collect $28 billion -- more than enough to cover our state budget deficit of $26 billion.
The tax would be applied to all business revenue: income prior to any deductions. It would be shared equally by all business sectors, not just the retail sector as sales taxes are. As a percentage of income, sales taxes fall mostly on people who earn less and are therefore regressive taxes. Sales taxes are limited to some forms of business transactions and amount to roughly 25% of the state general fund.
This revenue tax is a flat tax, something that should appeal to many populists because it sounds so fair, but it is a flat tax on business revenue, not on personal income. Flat taxes on personal earned income are regressive in that they consume a larger portion of income from those in the lower tiers of the income bracket. Folks in the higher tiers have more income from sources other than earnings from employment.
Whether a business is manufacturing or farming, finance or service, landlord or oil pumping, all revenue would be subjected to a 1.5% tax. Currently businesses are allowed to deduct their expenses prior to calculating their taxes. This is comparable to us deducting our ride to work and our lunch money prior to figuring our taxes. A tax on revenue prior to deducting expenses would more fairly reflect the use of our state infrastructure by each business. Businesses use our highways and courts, they benefit from our prisons and schools, they employ our residents and take advantage of our state’s vast natural and improved resources. And their use of this infrastructure is generally proportional to their business income.
We should give this new tax an appropriate name, “Your Fair Share,” as business will resist it. But this tax is fair to all business in that it does not penalize the more efficient and profitable. Whether a business operates on a 5% or 10% or 25% profit margin, it would be taxed 1.5% on its revenue and not on how best it can maximize profit or divert profit to overseas subsidiaries. This tax would also be paid for by all sectors of our economy, not just business.
Some businesses will be able to pass this tax along to the consumer as a price increase. Monopolies will certainly do this. But not all firms operate with the power of monopolies. Some firms will have to pay for this tax by reducing the profit they share with their stockholders or from their managers' salaries, and some will take it from employee paychecks. This revenue tax proposal is only 1.5% and it saves tens of thousands of jobs without cutting services.
When the people write the budget, progressive alternatives are considered. The People’s Budget Task Force.
Labor and progressives fought hard to have a Democratically controlled state; we should insist that they act the part. Just to cover some of the other $15 billion in an all-cuts budget, it will take $5 billion more from schools, another $1.7 from higher education, and another $1.2 billion from health and social services. Here’s an alternative progressive no-cuts tax proposal.
Impose a 1.5 % tax on all business income. This tax proposal relies on a small percentage but is applied to a very large base, shared equally as stated above. As California is the eighth largest economy in the world at $1.9 trillion, a 1.5% tax on that amount would collect $28 billion -- more than enough to cover our state budget deficit of $26 billion.
The tax would be applied to all business revenue: income prior to any deductions. It would be shared equally by all business sectors, not just the retail sector as sales taxes are. As a percentage of income, sales taxes fall mostly on people who earn less and are therefore regressive taxes. Sales taxes are limited to some forms of business transactions and amount to roughly 25% of the state general fund.
This revenue tax is a flat tax, something that should appeal to many populists because it sounds so fair, but it is a flat tax on business revenue, not on personal income. Flat taxes on personal earned income are regressive in that they consume a larger portion of income from those in the lower tiers of the income bracket. Folks in the higher tiers have more income from sources other than earnings from employment.
Whether a business is manufacturing or farming, finance or service, landlord or oil pumping, all revenue would be subjected to a 1.5% tax. Currently businesses are allowed to deduct their expenses prior to calculating their taxes. This is comparable to us deducting our ride to work and our lunch money prior to figuring our taxes. A tax on revenue prior to deducting expenses would more fairly reflect the use of our state infrastructure by each business. Businesses use our highways and courts, they benefit from our prisons and schools, they employ our residents and take advantage of our state’s vast natural and improved resources. And their use of this infrastructure is generally proportional to their business income.
We should give this new tax an appropriate name, “Your Fair Share,” as business will resist it. But this tax is fair to all business in that it does not penalize the more efficient and profitable. Whether a business operates on a 5% or 10% or 25% profit margin, it would be taxed 1.5% on its revenue and not on how best it can maximize profit or divert profit to overseas subsidiaries. This tax would also be paid for by all sectors of our economy, not just business.
Some businesses will be able to pass this tax along to the consumer as a price increase. Monopolies will certainly do this. But not all firms operate with the power of monopolies. Some firms will have to pay for this tax by reducing the profit they share with their stockholders or from their managers' salaries, and some will take it from employee paychecks. This revenue tax proposal is only 1.5% and it saves tens of thousands of jobs without cutting services.
When the people write the budget, progressive alternatives are considered. The People’s Budget Task Force.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Colective bargaining as political action
At a time when the major talking heads are all about attacking pensions including social security, minimum wages, worker’s rights and in the same conversation spending hundreds of billions on tax cuts for corporations is it time to take another look at collective bargaining? Might we expand the field of competition from the market place of labor to the ballot box.
Many factors have contributed to the increase of the supply of labor in America since the 70’s to such an extent that employers no longer compete for workers. It’s a take it or leave it environment for most workers seeking work. If you are lucky enough to be in a field that has some union presence your position is somewhat better but even that is now under severe attack.
While us working folk don’t have a lot of clout in the market place on the supply side of employment we still have an advantage in that we are the majority of voters and we can, given the right form of organization, enact laws that can change the balance of power. But that would take those organizations that we do have, that have common cause on many fronts, to unite not with outstretched palms but with raised clenched fists.
And we are now seeing such conditions unfold across this country and internationally. The burning uprisings in the Middle East are not about civil freedom detached of economic justice.
We need living wages not minimum wages. Don’t get me wrong I strongly support increasing minimum wages; keep up the good fight on that front. But what are the components of such a living wage? What is it that most workers want? We need affordable food, housing, transportation, healthcare, education, and more.
“Necessitous men are not free men. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made,” Franklin Roosevelt on the Economic Bill of Rights, 1944 State of the Union address.
While we lack power in the workplace we have the power to elect representatives that will propose fully funded budgets that fulfill our social needs. And then tax those that are profiting from our collective efforts. It is the workers and not the corporate officials and financiers that create wealth. As a share holder of a S-Corporation construction collective I created absolutely no wealth. Yet as a carpenter for that collective I created lots. The same is true for service sector work. As a collective member of a food co-op no wealth was created. But when I purchased food from local farmers and sold them at affordable prices to my neighbors I created great wealth.
In a like manner it is the workers that create the economy of California and we have the right to demand that those who come to profit from our efforts and investment pay for that privilege. Our current “budget crisis” could be completely solved with a 1.5% tax on all business income. Californians have created a $1.9 trillion economy and 1.5% of that is roughly $28 billion dollars. No teachers cops and or firefighters laid off. No social services cut for disabled and elderly.
Jerry Brown insisted on a ballot measure that gave the legislator the power to pass a budget with a simple majority. He argued against the same for raising taxes. Pass the budget we want let the Governor and the recalcitrant Republicans veto the ability to pay for it.
Many factors have contributed to the increase of the supply of labor in America since the 70’s to such an extent that employers no longer compete for workers. It’s a take it or leave it environment for most workers seeking work. If you are lucky enough to be in a field that has some union presence your position is somewhat better but even that is now under severe attack.
While us working folk don’t have a lot of clout in the market place on the supply side of employment we still have an advantage in that we are the majority of voters and we can, given the right form of organization, enact laws that can change the balance of power. But that would take those organizations that we do have, that have common cause on many fronts, to unite not with outstretched palms but with raised clenched fists.
And we are now seeing such conditions unfold across this country and internationally. The burning uprisings in the Middle East are not about civil freedom detached of economic justice.
We need living wages not minimum wages. Don’t get me wrong I strongly support increasing minimum wages; keep up the good fight on that front. But what are the components of such a living wage? What is it that most workers want? We need affordable food, housing, transportation, healthcare, education, and more.
“Necessitous men are not free men. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made,” Franklin Roosevelt on the Economic Bill of Rights, 1944 State of the Union address.
While we lack power in the workplace we have the power to elect representatives that will propose fully funded budgets that fulfill our social needs. And then tax those that are profiting from our collective efforts. It is the workers and not the corporate officials and financiers that create wealth. As a share holder of a S-Corporation construction collective I created absolutely no wealth. Yet as a carpenter for that collective I created lots. The same is true for service sector work. As a collective member of a food co-op no wealth was created. But when I purchased food from local farmers and sold them at affordable prices to my neighbors I created great wealth.
In a like manner it is the workers that create the economy of California and we have the right to demand that those who come to profit from our efforts and investment pay for that privilege. Our current “budget crisis” could be completely solved with a 1.5% tax on all business income. Californians have created a $1.9 trillion economy and 1.5% of that is roughly $28 billion dollars. No teachers cops and or firefighters laid off. No social services cut for disabled and elderly.
Jerry Brown insisted on a ballot measure that gave the legislator the power to pass a budget with a simple majority. He argued against the same for raising taxes. Pass the budget we want let the Governor and the recalcitrant Republicans veto the ability to pay for it.
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