Municipal Court Reforms Gaining Momentum, But How Far Will They Go?
St. Louis Post Dispatch - February 2, 2014, by Jeffrey Kohler - While law professors and activists call for dramatic reforms for municipal courts in St. Louis County — including getting rid of...
St. Louis Post Dispatch - February 2, 2014, by Jeffrey Kohler - While law professors and activists call for dramatic reforms for municipal courts in St. Louis County — including getting rid of them — more moderate changes are being pushed by an ad-hoc committee of municipal court officials.
The Municipal Court Improvement Committee, mostly judges, prosecutors and court officials, has introduced several proposed changes, according to a memo written by its chairman, Frank Vatterott, a defense attorney and veteran municipal court official who has been a judge in Overland since 1991.
But a rival group says the proposals do not go far enough and said the committee was “the foxes guarding the henhouse.”
The committee’s first change would be to encourage the courts to adopt uniform schedules for fines, Vatterott said. Several courts vary widely in the fines assessed for the same charge, which, he said, was unfair.
Next, the committee would push for a uniform schedule for bonds, although it still polling the courts to determine how significant the problem is.
Then the committee would make volunteer lawyers available to offer legal advice to municipal court defendants. The committee also would advocate for cities to establish municipal court fees to pay for public defenders.
The committee also proposes expanding the use of community service in lieu of fines for ordinance violations. The change could end the problem of poor people burdening their families with requests to help pay fines. The committee also proposes setting up a uniform system for allowing financially strapped defendants to pay fines in installments.
The changes would be voluntary, but in a memo to the county’s 79 municipal courts, Vatterott urged full participation. “Keep an open mind and consider the beauty of uniformity,” he wrote.
The next step would be getting courts to agree to the changes.
Vatterott said the courts should bring about the reforms, not activists, law professors or the state Supreme Court. “Our judges and our court personnel are the road warriors. We know best how to improve our courts.”
The committee’s ideas seem to have support from higher in the state courts.
In a letter to the committee, Maura B. McShane, presiding judge of the St. Louis County Circuit Court, which oversees the municipal courts, wrote that municipal court judges should support the committee “to bring integrity and fairness to the court.”
“I agree with your committee that our municipal courts should consider adopting changes voluntarily and as soon as possible wherever they need to be made to restore confidence in our courts,” she wrote.
Roy L. Richter, a judge with Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District who serves as chairman of a committee that trains municipal judges, wrote in a letter to the committee that most municipal courts were operating properly and the media’s coverage of them has been inaccurate. But he urged court officials to make a good system better.
Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, a grass-roots group that has rallied for municipal court changes, on Monday questioned the wisdom of leaving reform to the lawyers and judges who benefit most from the money-making aspects of the system.
Jeff Ordower, executive director of the group, said while Vatterott’s committee has offered some ideas that they agree with — such as creating standard fines and allowing people who cannot pay to do community service — the proposals do not go far enough.
“It starts with the police and how they profile and then it ends with the justice system, where you have a cabal of lawyers and judges who benefit from that,” he said. “We need to change the status quo, shake it up and abolish it.”
Ordower’s group held a press conference outside the office of St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, after releasing its own proposals in a five-page report: “Transforming St. Louis County’s Racist Municipal Courts.”
MORE has proposed eliminating “failure to appear” charges altogether, challenging the notion that “if you roll a stop sign you’re now a hardened criminal and should be facing jail time,” Ordower said.
The group is also calling on the courts to provide “real amnesty” by eliminating their backlog of fines on old traffic cases.
And jail time should not be an option for nonviolent municipal offenses, the group argued. MORE has also proposed that fines be proportionate to a person’s ability to pay.
While Vatterott’s committee wants to bring in volunteer lawyers to advise people on court days, MORE wants public defenders appointed routinely for indigent defendants, just like in state court.
Vatterott said he did not want to comment on the MORE report.
MORE pointed out that someone can be charged with failing to appear in one municipal court even if it was because they were already locked up on a charge from another municipal court.
“If I’m physically unable to appear because I’m in the custody of another court, then there should be some kind of dispensation for that — and there’s not, and that happens to many, many people,” said Derek Laney, an organizer with MORE who said it happened to him recently.
The group pointed out that it is impossible for a person who is arrested on a traffic warrant to take care of all their outstanding warrants from multiple municipalities without being shipped from one jail to the next.
MORE wants four regional courts to handle all of the county’s municipal cases, similar to the three courts that are now used for the county’s unincorporated regions.
The group held its press conference outside Stenger’s office to pressure him to pressure the courts.
Stenger responded with a statement: “During my campaign, I talked about the need for changes in the courts located in St. Louis County municipalities. Among other things, I would like to see these courts reduce fines and costs for indigent defendants. The courts also need to give some latitude regarding warrants issued for failure to appear. I will support any reasonable state legislation that addresses the current problems.”
Some drivers interviewed Monday were unconvinced municipal courts were anything but revenue generators. Nerissa Grigsby of Olivette said she recently mailed in a check for a speeding ticket in St. Ann. She said she hadn’t been speeding, and said she couldn’t reach court officials to discuss the case. Speaking about proposals to abolish municipal court, she said, “I totally agree with that.”
Sean Bailey, 35, is homeless with a 3-year-old daughter. He just got a part-time job in the restaurant business and is staying with a friend in south St. Louis. While trying to get his life back on track, municipal court fines are both far from his mind and an unavoidable reality. He said any reforms of the municipal courts would be welcome, but they’d have to be far-reaching — like the ones MORE is proposing — to make a difference.
Bailey had tickets in Ferguson and Florissant for which he accumulated fines totaling $1,950.
Bailey said he’s tried to show up to court and pay when he could but missed court when he couldn’t and that just resulted in more fines. More recently he tried to participate in an amnesty program in Florissant, but the court “wouldn’t budge” from a $100 fee to cancel his arrest warrant.
He couldn’t afford it, so his warrant remains.
“The reason these people aren’t paying like everybody else is simply because they don’t have it,” he said. “Nobody wants to go to jail. I think a fresh start would definitely help.”
Steve Giegerich of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
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'All hands on deck': protesters to target healthcare bill at rallies across US
'All hands on deck': protesters to target healthcare bill at rallies across US
Activist groups praised John McCain for his promise to vote no on the Lindsey Graham-Bill Cassidy healthcare bill on Friday, but they warned against complacency as they said the fight to protect...
Activist groups praised John McCain for his promise to vote no on the Lindsey Graham-Bill Cassidy healthcare bill on Friday, but they warned against complacency as they said the fight to protect the Affordable Care Act was “not over”.
McCain’s pledge, which means Republicans can only afford to lose one more Senate vote in their quest to repeal the ACA, widely known as Obamacare, was met with celebration on the left.
Read the full article here.
SF Finalizes Settlement in Nevada ‘patient dumping’ Case
SF Finalizes Settlement in Nevada ‘patient dumping’ Case
A $400,000 “patient dumping” settlement with Nevada approved Tuesday by...
A $400,000 “patient dumping” settlement with Nevada approved Tuesday by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors also requires that state to regularly report to The City for the next five years regarding any patients sent to California.
The settlement establishes criteria for sending those patients to California in the first place.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera had sued Nevada two years ago over the state’s improperly discharging psychiatric patients and sending them on Greyhound buses to San Francisco with little means and nowhere to stay, a practice first exposed by the Sacramento Bee.
The Nevada Board of Examiners, which reviews claims for payment, approved the settlement Oct. 13 and on Tuesday the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved it, making it official.
As part of the settlement agreement, made public Tuesday, Nevada agreed to only provide travel assistance for released patients based on certain criteria. That would include, for example, cases where the patient was a California resident at the time they were admitted for treatment in Nevada.
Other criteria includes cases where a clinic has agreed to accept the patient in the destination city in California or an acquaintance or family member has agreed to care for the patient.. The agreement also requires the discharged patient to have a travel chaperone, like a family member, who must be present when released in Nevada and accompany the patient on the trip to California.
“I’m pleased we reached an agreement that will assure the well-being of psychiatric patients when they’re transported, and that also offers a model for how jurisdictions can work together to better protect our patients and taxpayers,” Herrera said in a statement released shortly after the Board of Supervisors vote.
When the proposed settlement was reported by the San Francisco Examiner on Oct. 5, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said in a statement, “We look forward to working with California to ensure all patient transfers to and from both states are managed using these best practices and adhering to conditions detailed in the agreement.”
The settlement agreement requires Nevada to provide San Francisco with a semi-annual report regarding any patients Nevada’s state mental health system sends to to California between January 1 and December 2019. The report must include patient information like date of discharge and eligibility for travel under the agreement.
Since April 2008, San Francisco identified 24 patients bused from the state-run Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas to San Francisco, with 20 in need of medical care “some within mere hours of getting off the bus,” said the lawsuit. Over the past five years, Nevada sent a total of 500 patients by Greyhound bus to cities and counties in California,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit sought $500,000 in expenses for the medical care of the patients.
Also on Tuesday, San Francisco increased gun control regulations, which has prompted the closure of the last remaining gun store.
Supervisor Mark Farrell, who introduced the legislation, offered no apologies for the pending closure of High Bridge Arms at 3185 Mission St., which plans to shutdown on Oct. 31.
“I believe all of us in San Francisco will be better off,” Farrell said of the anticipated gun shop closure. The store was opened by Bob Chow, a Chinese American who competed in the US Olympics, in 1952, operating primarily as a gunsmith. In 1987, it was sold to Andy Takahashi, who before coming to San Francisco via Alaska lived in Japan.
The legislation requires the video recording of all firearms sales, which would be available to the police with a search warrant. The legislation would also require at least weekly reporting the Police Department of store bought ammo. The law was supported by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
“Even though our city and our state have some of the toughest gun control laws on the books there still remains more that we can do to protect public safety,” Farrell said.
The legislation was approved in a 9-0 vote. Supervisors Eric Mar and John Avalos were absent from the meeting. Both were attending the Local Progress convention in Los Angeles.
Source: San Francisco Examiner
Overnight Finance: Obama huddles with Yellen; Puerto Rico bill markup Wednesday
Overnight Finance: Obama huddles with Yellen; Puerto Rico bill markup Wednesday
TRADING NOTES: President Obama met with Federal Reserve Board Chairwoman Janet Yellen, but interest rates were apparently not on the agenda.
Obama did not plan to...
TRADING NOTES: President Obama met with Federal Reserve Board Chairwoman Janet Yellen, but interest rates were apparently not on the agenda.
Obama did not plan to discuss interest rates with Yellen, according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest. He argued such a conversation could undercut the chair's independence in setting monetary policy.
"I would not anticipate that, even in the confidential setting, that the president would have a conversation with the chair of the Fed that would undermine her ability to make these kinds of critical monetary policy decisions independently," Earnest told reporters ahead of the meeting.
The closed-door discussion is instead an opportunity to "trade notes" on broader economic trends in the U.S. and abroad, as well as on a new set of regulations on Wall Street financial firms.
Obama and Yellen talked about the growth outlook, "the state of the labor market, inequality and potential risks to the economy," the White House said after the meeting. The Hill's Jordan Fabian has more: http://bit.ly/25VuzIZ.
HOUSE TO MARKUP PUERTO RICO DEBT BILL: The House Natural Resources Committee will begin on Wednesday to mark up legislation aimed at saving Puerto Rico from a massive debt crisis.
Lawmakers have been working to make significant changes to the measure, which is expected to unveiled as early as Monday night, since the panel released a discussion draft on March 29.
The Puerto Rico measure, which put the island's finances under federal oversight and authorize a restructuring of some of its debt, will need to strike a balance and attract bipartisan support and the backing of the White House to move forward.
LEW MAKES CASE FOR GLOBAL ECONOMIC LEADERSHIP: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Monday made the case for the United States to continue its global economic leadership as the administration faces criticism from Donald Trump and other presidential candidates.
"We know that the global landscape of the next century will be very different than that of the post-war era," Lew said in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. "And if we want it to work for the American people, we need to embrace new players on the global economic stage and make sure they meet the standards of the system we created, and that we have a strong say in any new standards."
"The worst possible outcome would be to step away from our leadership role and let others fill in behind us," he added. The Hill's Naomi Jagoda fills us in: http://bit.ly/1qjTIwe.
GOLDMAN SACHS SETTLES MORTGAGE PROBE FOR $5 BILLION: Goldman Sachs will pay more than $5 billion to settle charges that it engaged in "serious misconduct" when selling risky mortgages leading up to the 2008 financial collapse.
The $5.06 billion civil settlement also saw the Wall Street giant admit it failed to properly inform investors of the risks in the subprime mortgage securities the bank was selling.
"This resolution holds Goldman Sachs accountable for its serious misconduct in falsely assuring investors that securities it sold were backed by sound mortgages, when it knew that they were full of mortgages that were likely to fail," acting associate attorney general Stuart Delery said in a statement.
One of the government charges, which Goldman has now acknowledged, was that the bank kept internal concerns about the strength of the mortgage market hidden from potential investors. Here's more from The Hill's Peter Schroeder: http://bit.ly/1qjTJQQ.
SANDERS SAYS GOLDMAN'S BUSINESS 'RIGGED': Bernie Sanders charged Monday that the settlement proves Goldman Sachs's business is "based on fraud."
The Justice Department announced Monday that the Wall Street giant would pay over $5 billion to settle charges it sold risky mortgage investments in the lead up to the financial crisis, and didn't tell investors enough about it.
Sanders, who has built his presidential campaign in large part on big bank bashing, said the settlement proves his point.
"What they have just acknowledged to the whole world is that their system ... is based on fraud," he told supporters in New York.
Sanders also complained that the civil settlement did not include any criminal charges, proving the "corruption of our criminal justice system." http://bit.ly/1TNk2Lm
HAPPY MONDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we're wondering why Herbert Hoover gets to join the racing presidents. I'm Sylvan Lane, and here's your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.
Tonight's highlights include securities fraud charges for Texas's attorney general, a trillion-dollar national pension gap and a Tax Day delay.
See something I missed? Let me know at slane@thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://www.thehill.com/signup/48.
ON TAP TOMORROW:
Senate Finance Committee: Hearing on examining cybersecurity and protecting taxpayer information, 10 a.m
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services: Hearings to examine proposed budget estimates and justification for fiscal year 2017 for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission., 10:30 a.m.
House Rules Committee: Business Meeting: H.R. 2666: No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act; H.R. 3340: Financial Stability Oversight Council Reform Act; H.R. 3791: To raise the consolidated assets threshold under the small bank holding company policy statement and for other purposes.
Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act expected to be released.
"Getting Her Money's Worth: What Will It Take to Achieve Equal Pay?" discussion featuring Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), 11:45 am.
BERNIE FANS LEFT'S FLAMES AGAINST FED: Liberal activists are putting a target on the Federal Reserve for the 2016 elections, much to the delight of the Bernie Sanders campaign.
Denouncing an agenda that they say tilts toward Wall Street, members of the "Fed Up" coalition on Monday unveiled a set of reforms that would alter how the central bank does business.
"No longer are we focused only on fixing the Fed's monetary policy and internal governance positions," said Ady Barkan, the group's campaign director. "We are now beginning an effort to reform the Federal Reserve itself. Peter Schroeder breaks down the fight: http://bit.ly/23yMSBH.
YOU HAVE THREE MORE DAYS TO PROCRASTINATE: For most people, tax returns are due one week from today.
This year's due date for filing federal individual income tax returns is April 18, not April 15. This is because the District of Columbia is observing Emancipation Day on April 15, which falls on a Friday, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
People living in Massachusetts and Maine have until April 19 to file their tax returns because those states observe Patriots' Day on April 18.
Those who are serving in combat zones or contingency operations or become hospitalized due to injuries from their service can have additional time to pay their taxes. Those affected by federally declared disasters might also have more time, the IRS said: http://bit.ly/1Q3tzHk.
AG GROUPS PUSH FOR PACIFIC TRADE DEAL: The nation's farmers and ranchers are putting their weight behind efforts urging Congress to pass a sweeping Asia-Pacific deal this year.
In a letter to congressional leaders on Monday, 225 food and agricultural groups called on lawmakers to move forward on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership before President Obama leaves office.
"The TPP presents a valuable opportunity for U.S. agriculture; one that we cannot afford to miss," the groups wrote. The Hill's Vicki Needham explains why: http://bit.ly/1S5QCFD.
SEC CHARGES TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday charged Texas's top law enforcement official with civil securities fraud for allegedly deceiving investors in a computer company.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) received 100,000 shares of Servergy, a Nevada-based technology company, to pitch investors on a server it was selling between 2011 and 2013, according to the SEC complaint. Servergy officials allegedly marketed the server with incorrect information, and Paxton allegedly did not disclose to investors that he would be paid a commission: http://bit.ly/1RPHyG0.
US PUBLIC PENSIONS FACE $3 TRILLION HOLE: The nation's public pension system is facing a $3.4 trillion funding hole that may force cities and states to either cut spending or raise taxes to cover future shortfalls.
The deficit in pension funds is three times more than official figures and is growing, and without an overhaul could weigh on state and local budgets and lead to Detroit-like bankruptcies, according to research reported by the Financial Times.
Joshua Rauh, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution who put together the report, told the FT that "the pension problems are threatening to consume state and local budgets in the absence of some major changes."
"It is quite likely that over a 5- to 10-year horizon we are going to see more bankruptcies of cities where the unfunded pension liabilities will play a large role." Here's more from Vicki Needham: http://bit.ly/1Su85op.
CONSERVATIVES FIGHT ENERGY TAX BREAKS IN FAA BILL: Conservative groups that oppose a proposal to include energy tax breaks in the long-term reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration are vowing to take their fight to the House if the Senate moves ahead.
Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners said Monday that if the Senate ends up attaching energy tax provisions to the FAA bill, the organizations will ratchet up pressure on lawmakers across the Capitol to oppose the language or pass a clean-extension of FAA.
"If the Senate isn't going to do anything to stop this, we're going to put pressure on the House," Andy Koenig, senior policy advisor at Freedom Partners, said on a press call. "The House is under no obligation to take up a bunch of energy subsidies if they don't want to." The Hill's Melanie Zanona walks us through the battle: http://bit.ly/1RPHrKH.
DEMS CALL FOR GREATER NONBANK MORTGAGE OVERSIGHT: Two Democratic lawmakers are calling on the nation's top consumer protection agency to ramp up its oversight of nonbank mortgage servicers.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.) asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Monday to identify all of and collect more data on the growing number of financial institutions other than banks that service mortgages.
Warren and Cummings pointed to recommendations from a non-partisan government watchdog report published Monday. Warren, a long-time financial industry watchdog, and Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study. I'll fill you in on the rest here: http://bit.ly/1Sc3ldc.
Did you know 67% of all job growth comes from small businesses? Read More
NIGHTCAP: Five Starbucks locations in DC will start serving alcohol and "small plates," which is millennial for paying more money for less food: https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/04/08/5-dc-starbucks-will-sell-beer-wine-small-plates-next-week/.
By Sylvan Lane
Source
Prominent Economists Question Fed Inflation Target
06.08.2017
Dear Chair Yellen and the Board of Governors,
The end of this year will mark ten years since the beginning of the Great Recession. This recession and the slow recovery...
06.08.2017
Dear Chair Yellen and the Board of Governors,
The end of this year will mark ten years since the beginning of the Great Recession. This recession and the slow recovery that followed was extraordinarily damaging to the livelihoods and financial security of tens of millions of American households. Accordingly, it should provoke a serious reappraisal of the key parameters governing macroeconomic policy.
One of these key parameters is the rate of inflation targeted by the Federal Reserve. In years past, a 2 percent inflation target seemed to give ample leverage with which the Fed could lower real interest rates. But given the evidence that the equilibrium interest rate had fallen substantially even prior to the financial crisis, and that the Fed’s short-term policy rate remained at zero for seven years without sparking any large acceleration of aggregate demand growth, a reassessment of this target seems warranted. Such a reassessment is particularly appropriate when the lack of evidence that moderately higher inflation would harm Americans’ standard of living is juxtaposed with the tremendous evidence that a tighter labor market would improve Americans’ standards of living.
Some Federal Reserve policymakers have acknowledged these shifting realities and indicated their willingness to reconsider the appropriate target level. For example, San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams noted the need for central banks to “adapt policy to changing economic circumstances,” in suggesting a higher inflation target, and Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren cited the different context in which the inflation target was set in emphasizing the need for debate about the right target. (1) (2) In May, Vice Chair Stanley Fischer highlighted the Canadian system of reconsidering the inflation target every five years, saying, “I can envisage – say, in the case of inflation targeting – a procedure in which you change the target or you change the other variables that are involved on some regular basis and through some regular participation.” (3)
The comments made by Fischer, Rosengren, and Williams all underscore the ample evidence that the long-term neutral rate of interest may have fallen. Even if a 2 percent inflation target set an appropriate balance a decade ago, it is increasingly clear that the underlying changes in the economy would mean that, whatever the correct rate was then, it would be higher today. To ensure the future effectiveness of monetary policy in stabilizing the economy after negative shocks – specifically, to avoid the zero lower bound on the funds rate – this fall in the neutral rate may well need to be met with an increase in the long-run inflation target set by the Fed.
More immediately, new, post-crisis economic conditions suggest that a reiteration of the meaning of the Fed’s current target is in order. In its 2016 statement of long-run goals and strategy, the Federal Open Market Committee wrote: “The Committee would be concerned if inflation were running persistently above or below this objective.” Some FOMC participants, however, appear to instead consider 2 percent a hard ceiling that should never be breached, and justify their decision-making on that basis. It is important that the Federal Reserve makes clear – and operates policy based on – its stated goal that it aims to avoid inflation being either below or above its target.
Economies change over time. Recent decades have seen growing evidence that developed economies have harder times generating faster growth in aggregate demand than in decades past. Policymakers must be willing to rigorously assess the costs and benefits of previously-accepted policy parameters in response to economic changes. One of these key parameters that should be rigorously reassessed is the very low inflation targets that have guided monetary policy in recent decades. We believe that the Fed should appoint a diverse and representative blue ribbon commission with expertise, integrity, and transparency to evaluate and expeditiously recommend a path forward on these questions. We believe such a process will strengthen the Fed as an institution and its conduct of monetary policy, and help ensure wise policymaking for the years and decades to come.
Sincerely,
Dean Baker Center for Economic and Policy Research Laurence Bell Johns Hopkins University Heather Boushey Washington Center for Equitable Growth Josh Bivens Economic Policy Institute Brad DeLong University of California, Berkeley Tim Duy University of Oregon Joseph Gagnon Peterson Institute Narayana Kocherlakota University of Rochester Lawrence Mishel Economic Policy Institute Manuel Pastor University of Southern California William Spriggs Howard University Mark Thoma University of Oregon Valerie Wilson Economic Policy Institute Justin Wolfers University of Michigan Gene Sperling Obama Administration Economist Joseph Stiglitz Columbia University Jared Bernstein Obama Administration Economist David Blanchflower Dartmouth College Jason Furman Peterson Institute Mike Konczal Roosevelt Institute Marc Jarsulic Center for American Progress Michael Madowitz Center for American Progress
(1) John Williams, “Monetary Policy in a Low R-Star World,” August 15, 2016.
(2) Sam Fleming, “Inflation Goal May Be Too Low, says Fed’s Rosengren,” Financial Times, April 20, 2015.
(3) Greg Robb, “Fed’s Williams Backs Changing Central Bank’s Strategy to Price-Level Targeting,” Market Watch, May 5, 2017.
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Federal Reserve Board of Governors Constitution Ave NW & 20th Street Northwest Washington, D.C. 20551
Activists: US Justice Department Response to Baltimore Police Racism Falls Short
Activists: US Justice Department Response to Baltimore Police Racism Falls Short
The response by the US Department of Justice to exposing Baltimore Police Department (BPD) violations of citizens’ constitutional rights falls short of addressing the systemic problem of racism in...
The response by the US Department of Justice to exposing Baltimore Police Department (BPD) violations of citizens’ constitutional rights falls short of addressing the systemic problem of racism in US policing, activists said.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — "[The Department of Justice] is being forced to look like it is responsive, so to speak, but it also can’t deal with the systemic nature of things," Pan-African Community Action activist Netfa Freeman told Sputnik.
On Wednesday, the Justice Department released a report concluding that the BPD systematically engaged in conduct that violates the US Constitution, and disproportionately targets African-Americans. In response, the Justice Department entered into a consent agreement with the BPD to reform the latter.
"We know it is not just Baltimore and it’s not just ‘bad apples’," Freeman said. The report is still "treating things like they are isolated incidents, not like it is a systemic problem or an epidemic," he said of anti-black police misconduct.
In a forum hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies, policy advocate at the Center for Popular Democracy, Marbre Stahly-Butts, said that while it was "important" for the federal government to articulate the problem of police abuses, Justice Department's actions did not go far enough.
An anti-terrorism rehearsal is held targeting a possible bomb attack during the Olympic Games at the main bus station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on May 12, 2016
Stahly-Butts argued the Justice Department should leverage the findings of the report to cut off funding to local law enforcement caught violating federal law.
"If we find… that you are violating the basic human rights of people in this city, we, as the government, will not give you taxpayer money to do that," Stahly-Butts said.
The Justice Department report covered police misconduct that took place from January 2010 through May 2015. The investigation was launched in 2015 following the widely publicized death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American who died from wounds he sustained while in BPD custody.
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Immigration Advocates Praise de Blasio's Proposal for Municipal ID Program
Immigration advocates are praising Mayor Bill de Blasio's proposal for a municipal ID program.
In his State of the City address, de Blasio said that the city would make ID...
Immigration advocates are praising Mayor Bill de Blasio's proposal for a municipal ID program.
In his State of the City address, de Blasio said that the city would make ID cards available to all New Yorkers.
That includes people who usually can't get other forms of identification, like the homeless and undocumented immigrants.
On Tuesday, the Center for Popular Democracy released a report analyzing similar programs in other cities.
Advocates say that the program could be a big help to vulnerable populations.
"Without this ID, it can be difficult to register to a child for school. It can be difficult to open a bank account. It can be difficult to even exercise your right to vote, to file a complaint with the police department," said Brittny Saunders of the Center for Popular Democracy.
"We also want to make sure that this card is available to multiple constituencies in this city," said City Councilman Carlos Menchaca of Brooklyn. "There's so many constituencies in this city that can benefit from this card, so we want to make sure that we know all those so we design the best cards that everyone has it."
Menchaca, who is the immigration chair for the City Council, also said that the Council plans to hold hearings in the next month about the best way to design the program.
Source
This is how protesters plan to take on the Federal Reserve
Main Street activists and community groups plan to turn up the pressure on the Federal Reserve at an annual conference of the economic elite this month, in hopes of convincing the central bank to...
Main Street activists and community groups plan to turn up the pressure on the Federal Reserve at an annual conference of the economic elite this month, in hopes of convincing the central bank to maintain its support of the American recovery.
The campaign, known as Fed Up, is staging a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., that will run at the same time as the invite-only gathering of the world’s top financial and economic policymakers and academics hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The campaign’s organizers said they expect at least 50 people -- ranging from workers to economists -- to attend the so-called “teach in,” which will be held in the same hotel as the Fed’s gathering. Topics include income inequality, efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and whether the Fed should invest in municipal bonds.
The conference in Jackson Hole comes as the Fed nears an historic crossroads. The central bank has kept the target for its benchmark interest at zero since 2008, a legacy of the darkest days of the financial crisis and a reflection of the lumbering economic recovery since then. Over the past year and a half, amid faster economic growth and a rapid improvement in the job market, the Fed has taken small steps toward reducing its support.
But the big decision to raise its target interest rate still looms ahead, and Fed officials are seriously considering whether to finally abandon its crisis-era stance at its meeting next month.
“For inexplicable reasons, the Fed seems primed to intentionally slow down the economy in September,” said Ady Barkan, campaign director for Fed Up. “ The real crisis in America is stagnant wages and a lack of good jobs. We are going to Jackson Hole to remind the Fed of this stark reality: slowing the economy down now will leave African-American and Hispanic communities permanently mired in a Great Recession.”
The Fed Up campaign made history last year when about a dozen demonstrators showed up at the conference to draw attention to the country’s uneven economic progress, particularly among minority communities. The protest led to meetings with top Fed officials over the past year, starting off with Kansas City Fed President Esther George, one of the central bank’s most vocal supporters of tightening the reins on the economy, who met with the group for two hours in Jackson Hole. In the fall, Fed Chair Janet Yellenhosted the group, and organizers have reached out to other officials since then with mixed success.
The campaign is returning this year with a more concrete agenda and the backing of a growing number of established left-leaning academics and think tanks, including the Roosevelt Institute, the AFL-CIO and the Economic Policy Institute. The campaign is led by the Center for Popular Democracy.
The group is also slated to release a report touting the economic benefits of an economy at full employment, which it pegged at a jobless rate of 4 percent -- significantly lower than the Fed’s estimate of about 5 to 5.2 percent. The lower rate would amount to 14.3 million more jobs, boost the economy by $1.3 trillion and generate an additional $261 billion in tax revenue, according to the analysis by PolicyLink and the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity at the University of Southern California.
True full employment, the report argues, would translate into a much lower jobless rate among minorities. The study estimated the impact of a 4 percent unemployment rate for every gender and racial group, adjusted for disparities in age. Black households, for example, would see their income jump by 23 percent, from $37,025 to $45,568. While Fed policy is not going to be the only solution to getting to full employment for all, we see it as a critical component of a broad policy agenda,” said Sarah Treuhaft, a director at PolicyLink. “We know that we need more growth and we need more jobs to stimulate hiring of people who have been left behind.”
Treuhaft said that the report does not estimate what inflation would be under this scenario but pointed out that it remained relatively stable in 2000, the last time the labor market hovered around full employment. But many analysts believe that a 4 percent jobless rate would cause the economy to overheat and inflation to spike. And some economists -- including a vocal minority within the Fed -- believe the central bank is already in the danger zone.
Those groups are also taking their message to Jackson Hole in hopes of bending the ear of policymakers ahead of their crucial decision in September. The conservative American Principles Project is staging a conference in the shadows of the Grand Tetons that coincides with the Fed’s gathering. The group has been skeptical of the benefits of the Fed’s easy-money stance and the reach of its powers, Several members have called on the central bank to rely on prescribed rules for conducting monetary policy, a recommendation the Fed has opposed.
Steve Lonegan, director of monetary policy at APP, said the group hopes its conference will reinvigorate the public conversation about monetary policy, which he argues deserves as much attention among conservatives as cutting taxes and reducing regulations.
“This is a recent phenomenon that Americans are disconnected from the value of their money. It’s the third leg of an economic growth plan for America,” Lonegan said. “It’s their savings. It’s their wages. It’s their life’s work.”
The Jackson Hole conferences will take place Aug. 27 to 29. The theme of the official Fed meeting this year is inflation. The central bank has set a 2 percent target for price-level increases, but it has consistently undershot that goal in recent years and wage growth has been stagnant
The Fed Up campaign has called on the Fed to set a target for wage growth as well. It is also calling for reforms of the selection process for presidents and boards of directors at the Fed’s 12 regional banks.
Source: Washington Post
Who will win America's worst employer contest?
As pageants go, here's one whose contestants might want Steve Harvey to spare them the crown.
The Center for Popular Democracy on Wednesday debuted the Worst Employer in America Pageant ...
As pageants go, here's one whose contestants might want Steve Harvey to spare them the crown.
The Center for Popular Democracy on Wednesday debuted the Worst Employer in America Pageant theworstemployers.com. Eight companies, including Deerfield-based Walgreens, were selected as nominees, and people are being asked to vote on which is worst "based on such bad behaviors as a poor CEO to median worker pay ratio, failure to pay minimum wage and overtime, worker lawsuits against companies, or forcing workers to work through breaks, among other egregious practices."
A "winner" will be named Feb. 29. No word yet on the "prize," which will be announced the same day.
The nonprofit, which advocates for low-wage workers and immigrants among other progressive causes, is pitting two employers against each other in four categories. In banking, voters choose between Bank of America and Wells Fargo. In supermarkets, it's Sam's Club vs. Whole Foods. Among drugstores, Walgreens is up against CVS. And among pizza chains, Papa John's competes with Yum! Brands, owner of Pizza Hut.
"America's most recognizable brands are some of our biggest employers and we want to highlight their poor treatment of employees," JoEllen Chernow, director of economic justice at the Center for Popular Democracy, said in a statement. "Consumers are no longer just judging companies on how much they like their products or the efficiency of their services. In 2016, customers care about how companies treat their workers full stop. Yup, it's a thing."
In selecting the nominees, the group considered national corporations that provide everyday services to consumers, have at least 20,000 employees, are ubiquitous brands and have recently been in the news for employee-related issues.
As they click through the contest, voters will find short explanations of what landed each company on the podium.
For Walgreens, the group claims "part-time workers can't afford to get sick," because only workers who average 30 hours or more a week are eligible for paid sick time. It also claims that the CEO's 2014 pay was 540 times the median pay of Walgreens workers. Total compensation for then-Walgreens CEO Gregory Wassonwas $16.7 million, the Tribune has reported.
Walgreens declined to comment. But a spokesperson clarified that its policy is that anyone who averages 20 hours a week qualifies for paid sick leave.
As for Walgreens' opponent, the group claims CVS' CEO got a 26 percent raise in 2014 that brought his salary to $23 million, while workers making $9 an hour got less than a 5 percent bump. It also accused the company of not offering part-timers paid sick leave and mentioned a lawsuit in New York alleging that workers were ordered to racially profile nonwhite shoppers.
In an emailed statement accusing the "pageant" of relying on inaccurate and incomplete information, CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis countered that its CEO pay is in line with industry standards and that workers who average 30 hours a week are eligible for benefits. He added that the company has firm nondiscrimination policies and is vigorously defending itself against the lawsuit.
Whole Foods spokesperson Allison Phelps noted that the company has been named one of Fortune's 100 best companies to work for for 18 consecutive years, a contest based on employee surveys.
Yum! Brands said it pays employees above the applicable minimum wage on average at its company-owned restaurants. Among the group's gripes with Yum was that it doesn't reimburse drivers for costs associated with delivery work, resulting in their receiving less than minimum wage.
Wells Fargo declined to comment. The other companies listed in the pageant did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Source: Chicago Tribune
De Blasio’s Executive Order Increases, Expands Living Wage
Amsterdam News - October 9, 2014, by Stephon Johnson - Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order to increase and expand the living wage to benefit more New Yorkers....
Amsterdam News - October 9, 2014, by Stephon Johnson - Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order to increase and expand the living wage to benefit more New Yorkers.
At City Hall, while announcing the signing of his executive order, De Blasio said “$13.13 for those without benefits, $11.50 for those who have health insurance and other benefits. This applies to employers, excuse me, employees, I should say, of large groups of employers who do business with the city. Meaning, there’s a lot of companies that do business with the city, that come to the city for subsidies. We think if you want a subsidy, you can prove the need for a subsidy. We want to help you achieve your goals, but we have a standard we hold.”
De Blasio continued, “We need to make sure people are paid a living wage. That’s a fair exchange for that subsidy. What it means—let me put this in real terms—what this means, is the difference between the $8-an-hour minimum wage right now, and the $13.13 that will take effect immediately for those employees of companies that get subsidies going forward. That is a difference of over $10,000 dollars in earnings a year. $10,000. Someone who would have made $16,000—not enough to get by—will now make over $27,000 a year. And that’s a difference maker.”
According to de Blasio, any project that gets more than a million dollars in city subsidies qualifies, stating that it will reach people in lines of work like retail, food services and construction.
Advocates for a raise in the minimum wage have said this action was a long time coming. Shantel Walker, a Papa John’s employee who makes $8.50 an hour and who is a member of Fast Food Forward, praised de Blasio’s actions.
“Nearly two years ago, 200 fast-food workers in New York City walked off our jobs, calling for $15 and union rights,” said Walker in a statement. “Our demand may have sounded crazy at the time, but more and more, $15 is becoming a reality for workers across the country. As we’ve gone on strike again and again and a movement that started here in New York has spread to 150 cities, $15 suddenly doesn’t seem so impossible. From Seattle to Los Angeles to San Francisco and now New York, cities are raising wages so we don’t have to rely on public assistance to support our families.”
Walker also stated that the recent developments are a sign, to her, that minimum wage advocates are on the right side of history.
“While he works with Gov. Cuomo to raise wages for all New Yorkers, Mayor de Blasio’s move today to put workers at city-subsidized projects on a path to $15 is a sign that we are winning,” Walker said. “It’s a step in the right direction and helps push us forward in our fight for $15 for workers across the entire country.”
While the city’s working class has achieved a major victory, the state’s working class is still making the push collectively. Andrew Friedman, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, pushed for Albany to follow suit in a statement.
“The Albany wage board should eliminate the tipped minimum wage to make this vision a reality and end the wage segregation that traps workers in poverty—workers who are overwhelmingly female and of color,” said Friedman. “Partnering with progressive local, state and federal leadership means we can work together to afford a dignified life for all residents, which means comprehensive policies that include a $15 minimum hourly wage, a predictable and fair workweek, paid sick days and a healthy macro-economy that nurtures equity, creates viable new jobs and protects us from risk-taking by financial institutions.”
Back in the five boroughs, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams praised de Blasio for the executive order, citing it as another example of New York City leading the pack. He said that de Blasio had “reaffirmed his commitment to civic innovation and our residents’ welfare by raising the living wage and furthering its reach to thousands more workers. This is a measure that recognizes the cost of living challenges that New Yorkers face and builds a meaningful bridge over the inequality gap we have sought to close across Brooklyn and the rest of the five boroughs.
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