Report Shows Unemployment Rate in Twin Cities 4x Higher for Blacks than Whites
InsightNews - March 18, 2015 - At a press conference and rally last week, NOC released a report as part of a national...
InsightNews - March 18, 2015 - At a press conference and rally last week, NOC released a report as part of a national day of action, showing that the unemployment rate for Blacks in the Twin Cities is four times higher than for whites, calling on the Federal Reserve to prioritize full employment in all communities. "Minnesota is a great place to live, if you're white," said NOC executive director Anthony Newby. "The unemployment rate is 2.8%. But for black folks, unemployment is over ten percent--crisis levels. The Federal Reserve is considering raising interest rates because Wall Street thinks the economy has recovered. But that would only increase unemployment, especially in communities of color."
"Historically, the African-American community has been cut out of opportunities the government was supposedly providing to everyone--for example, homeownership programs that African-Americans could not participate in, public education programs that African-Americans were either cut out of or cut short, livable wage jobs that African-Americans would not be considered for," said Pastor Paul Slack, pastor of New Creation Church in Minneapolis and President of ISAIAH. "It's time for the Federal Reserve to act specifically in the interest of the African-American community and other low-income communities, by keeping interest rates low so that we can rebuild the wealth that was stolen from us through this recent economic crisis."Joe Elliott worked at the Target Center for five years until he was unexpectedly laid off. "I liked the job--I met a lot of great people, and went to concerts and games. But I didn't like the money. I deserve more than $8.40/hour. It wasn't supporting my daily living--bills, kids, transportation. But it's hard looking for a job as an African-American male.""The Minneapolis Fed President, Narayana Kocherlakota, has expressed support for keeping interest rates low," said Anthony Newby. "That's great. But he's also retiring in a year. We need an open and transparent process for community input on the next Minneapolis Fed president."The Federal Reserve has a key policymaking meeting coming up in mid-March.
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Markets to Fed: See you next year
MARKETS TO FED: SEE YOU NEXT YEAR! — Asia followed Wall Street higher on hopes the Fed might take weak jobs data into...
MARKETS TO FED: SEE YOU NEXT YEAR! — Asia followed Wall Street higher on hopes the Fed might take weak jobs data into account and wait until next year to hike rates. … Reuters: “Fading expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year and a bounce in oil and commodity prices helped lift Asian stocks to two-week highs on Tuesday …
“‘One of the two big persistent concerns has faded, so investors are taking risks,’ said Masashi Oda, senior investment officer at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, referring to expectations of a near-term Fed hike. … Japanese shares garnered further momentum from speculation that the Bank of Japan might expand its massive stimulus program to support the flagging economy”http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/06/us-global-markets-idUSKCN0S001I20151006
M.M. SIDEBAR — Seems like wishful thinking. The FOMC is almost certain to hit the liftoff button by December unless jobs growth really falls off a cliff, which appears unlikely based on other data. It remains possible that both August and September jobs figures will get revised higher. And even a slightly sub-200K pace is enough to keep unemployment dropping to what the Fed generally considers full employment (though nobody actually knows exacly what full employment is). Of course a messy debt limit fight actually could push the Fed off into 2016 but it would likely take markets down with it.
“FED UP” PROTESTERS TO HIT PHILLY — POLITICO's Zachary Warmbrodt: “Activists lobbying against a Federal Reserve interest rate increase as part of the so-called ‘Fed Up’ campaign are planning to hold a protest targeting new Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia president Patrick Harker on Tuesday afternoon. Around 15-20 people including workers, small business owners and clergy are expected to participate in the protest, which is aimed at pressuring Harker to meet with the coalition and take a tour of low-income neighborhoods …
“Kendra Brooks, who leads the local Fed Up coalition and is an organizer for Action United, is attending Harker's event but says she has been urging him to meet with more members of the community beyond the heads of non-profits and corporations … Brooks tried to get a commitment from Harker at the Fed's symposium in Jackson Hole, and their chat is on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h-GN7cHDAc
WILL HILLARY FLIP FLOP ON TPP? — POLITICO's Victoria Guida: “Hillary Clinton has presented herself as a skeptic of the biggest trade deal in history, saying this summer that ‘we should prepared to walk away’ from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership unless it boosts Americans' wages and national security. But with a deal announced Monday after months of backstage wrangling, Clinton will be under intense pressure to take a stance.
“The deal is one of the most ambitious items left on President Barack Obama's White House bucket list. But his former secretary of state owns it too, even though she has expressed increasing ambivalence about its details and could soon disown it outright, as some in her circle have suggested. … [R]eacting to the polarizing TPP deal is one of the most excruciating policy decisions of her campaign thus far - and far more politically perilous with Democratic primary voters than her backing of Obama's Iran deal.” http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/hillary-clinton-trade-dilemma-214456
BIGGEST TPP WINNER: JAPANESE AUTO MAKERS — Per Bloomberg’s list of winners under the trade deal: “Japanese car and auto-parts makers may be the biggest winners, as they get cheaper access to the U.S., the industry’s biggest export market” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-06/tpp-trade-deal-who-stands-to-benefit-suffer-in-asia-pacific
FIRST LOOK: “TAX HAVEN SEX MANSION” — Can't resist a headline like that, eh? Bloomberg Businessweek piece up at 7:00 a.m. by Zeke Faux “investigates how Abe Zeines and Muir Hurwitz, two sons of an ultra-religious Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn piloted a shady new kind of finance — ‘merchant cash advance’ — made a fortune, and then saw it all come to an end.” The two now live in a "tax-haven sex mansion in Puerto Rico.” As one does. https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/AP5w7epl1Xo/zeke-faux
LITAN RESPONDS — Bob Litan writes in FORTUNE: “Sen. Warren clearly disagrees with our study, but rather than address its reasoning and facts, she claimed my disclosure was vague (which it was not) and that I was misusing my non-resident perch at Brookings by identifying that position in a footnote (a newly established Brookings rule of which I was unaware but promised Brookings I would not run afoul of again), though I never mentioned my Brookings affiliation at the hearing. …
“I can only speculate why Sen. Warren has been so interested in our research, but I suspect it is because, even with its disclosed sponsor, the study exposed two major weaknesses in Labor’s proposal — which the Department may correct when it issues its final rule. But if it does not, these two points, at least in my view, make the rule susceptible to being overturned by a court as being arbitrary and capricious (or failing a benefit-cost test) if it is legally challenged” http://fortune.com/2015/10/05/elizabeth-warren-robert-litan-u-s-department-of-labor/
Litan’s pithy email response to M.M. on the whole affair: “Life in the big city.”
GOOD TUESDAY MORNING — Crazy Monday Night Football game. The Lions had a surprising road victory over the Seahawks in their grasp only to have Kam Chancellor poke the ball out of Calvin Johnson’s hands at the goal line. The Seahawks then illegally batted the ball out of the end zone for the touchback but the refs missed it. Should have been Lions ball at the goal line. Crushing blow. Massive officiating mistake. Email me at bwhite@politico.com and follow me on Twitter (like Kam Chancellor does!) @morningmoneyben.
THIS MORNING ON POLITICO PRO FINANCIAL SERVICES — Adam Behsudi on the TPP currency side deal that Congress might not like – [https://www.politicopro.com/financial-services/story/2015/10/pro-trade-tppcurrency-behsudi-056469] and to get Morning Money every day before 6 a.m.-- please contact Pro Services at (703) 341-4600or info@politicopro.com
** A message from Grant Thornton LLP: The tax code puts U.S. companies at a disadvantage. Congress can’t address the problem if it excludes pass-throughs from an innovation box or tax reform. Congress should lower the effective business tax rates equitably for all U.S. businesses. https://www.grantthornton.com/issues/library/articles/public-policy/2015/policy-issues/support-the-BER.aspx?utm_medium=ad-partnership&utm_campaign=public-policy-issues&utm_term=Public-policy&utm_content=article **
BLOOMBERG EVENT TODAY — The Bloomberg Markets Most Influential Summit takes place in New York, London and Hong Kong featuring Tom Steyer, Mike Bloomberg, Bill Ackman, Cliff Asness, Barry Diller, Blythe Masters and more https://www.bloomberglive.com/markets-most-influential/new-york/agenda/
SOFTBALL REPORT: FERC TAKES THINK TANK CROWN — Per AEI’s Michael Pratt: “FERC defeated the defending champs AEI 13-7 in the Think Tank Softball League Championships in a game under the lights in a field by Pentagon City. Congrats to the winning team - over 40 teams are part of the league.”
POSTCARD FROM THE NEW YORKER FESTIVAL — POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman reports: “Homeland” actor Damian Lewis told the New Yorker festival on Saturday that he's met with hedge fund managers like Bill Ackman and Dan Loeb to prepare for his upcoming new show about Wall Street called "Billions" (on which Andrew Ross Sorkin is an executive producer).
He asked the hedgies: "Give me your intellectual defense of being a hedge fund guy, of shorting companies and the one thing they could never really persuade me of, was that playing to a moral code that we might all conventionally understand, it wasn't possible for them to justify what they do. But if they just ever so slightly shifted the goal posts and created a new moral reality for themselves, which is essentially that as long as I don't break the law and as long as the game exists, I'm here to play the game and everything is fine."
BETTER MARKETS’ FUNDING QUESTIONED — National Review’s Brendan Bordelon goes long on hedge fund manager Michael Masters’ funding of pro-financial reform group Better Markets.” http://www.nationalreview.com/article/425063/elizabeth-warrens-wall-street-double-standard-brendan-bordelon
Better Markets’ Dennis Kelleher emails: “Wall Street has been trying to shut down, shut up or smear Better Markets since it was founded five years ago. Wall Street has little tolerance for anyone willing to stand up to them or who can’t be bought.
“Better Markets’ independence and effectiveness on the public’s behalf is what gets under Wall Street’s skin and why it has been shopping a fabricated story for months to anyone in the media who would listen. … [T]he story is so factually wrong it is laughable, as detailed here https://www.bettermarkets.com/blog/fact-sheet-better-markets%E2%80%99-response-wall-street%E2%80%99s-latest-attack”.
M.M. SIDEBAR — Anyone who knows Kelleher (agree or disagree with him on issues) knows he wouldn't be shilling for some hedge fund guy looking to tilt stock prices. But in an era when Bob Litan can get dumped from Bookings over a fully-disclosed source of research funding, everything seems to be fair game.
TOUGH ROAD FOR TPP IN CONGERSS — WP’s David Nakamura: “President Obama hailed the historic 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal … as an accord that ‘reflects America’s values,’ but within hours the administration had turned from the negotiating table to selling the agreement on Capitol Hill, a reflection of the harsh political climate the controversial pact is expected to face in Congress. Obama pledged that [TPP] … would open new markets for U.S. goods and services and establish rules of international commerce that give ‘our workers the fair shot at success they deserve.’
“But almost immediately there were signs of the tough fight ahead to win final ratification from Congress next year. Lawmakers from both parties criticized the pact as falling short in crucial areas, raising the prospect that the White House could lose the support of allies who had backed the president’s trade push earlier this year" http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/deal-reached-on-pacific-rim-trade-pact/2015/10/05/7c567f00-6b56-11e5-b31c-d80d62b53e28_story.html
SHARP PRICE INCREASES DRIVE DRUG COMPANY REVENUES — WSJ’s Joseph Walker: “Demand for a drug called Avonex has declined every year for the past 10. Not a problem for its manufacturer. U.S. revenue from the drug has more than doubled in that time, to $2 billion last year. The key: repeated price increases. The multiple sclerosis drug’s maker, Biogen Inc., raised its price an average of 16 percent a year throughout the decade — 21 times in all.
“It is an example of drug companies’ unusual ability to boost prices beyond the inflation rate to drive their revenue, even when demand for the drugs doesn’t cooperate. A result of this pricing power is that across 30 top-selling drugs sold by pharmacies, U.S. revenue growth has far outpaced demand in the past five years … Revenue growth averaged 61 percent, three times the increase in prescriptions” http://www.wsj.com/articles/for-prescription-drug-makers-price-increases-drive-revenue-1444096750
BERNANKE ADMITS MISLEADING ON LEHMAN — NYT’s Andrew Ross Sorkin: “It is astonishing to hear a former Federal Reserve chairman acknowledge that he may have misled the public as part of an agreement with another senior government official about one of the most crucial moments in recent financial history — and that he now questions whether he should have “been more forthcoming.” But that is what Ben S. Bernanke says in his new memoir …
“That crucial moment? The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. Mr. Bernanke, in perhaps the most candid explanation of Lehman’s 2008 collapse, writes that he and Henry M. Paulson, then the treasury secretary, purposely obfuscated when asked about Lehman’s demise early on, allowing a narrative to develop that the government had purposely let the firm fail
“In congressional testimony immediately after Lehman’s collapse, Paulson and I were deliberately quite vague when discussing whether we could have saved Lehman,’ Mr. Bernanke writes. ‘But we had agreed in advance to be vague because we were intensely concerned that acknowledging our inability to save Lehman would hurt market confidence and increase pressure on other vulnerable firms.’” https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/business/dealbook/in-ben-bernankes-memoir-a-candid-look-at-lehman-brothers-collapse.html?_r=0
GOOGLE BUYS INTO SYMPHONY — FT’s Joe Rennison and Richard Waters: “Alphabet, Google’s renamed parent company, is set to become the latest investor to back Symphony, joining a host of big banks in their attempt to dislodge Bloomberg’s dominant position in Wall Street messaging. Born out of the 2013 snooping scandal, where it came to light that Bloomberg News reporters had spied on bankers using its ubiquitous terminals, Symphony claims to offer a more secure way for people to communicate with each other.
“The service officially launched on September 15, unveiling tie-ups with McGraw Hill Financial, which will supply financial information from S&P Capital IQ, and News Corp’s Dow Jones unit, which will provide a live news feed to the platform. Symphony and Alphabet declined to comment. People familiar with the matter said the deal was yet to be finalised but one confirmed a WSJ.com report that the new funding round would value Symphony at about $650m.”https://www.ft.com/content/32dbcf1a-6ba1-11e5-aca9-d87542bf8673
ALSO FOR YOUR RADAR —
FIRST LOOK: MARANTIS JOINS VISA — Per release going out this morning: “Visa … day announced the appointment of former Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis as Senior Vice President, Global Government Relations. Marantis joins Visa from Square, where he led global policy, government, and regulatory affairs. Marantis will report directly to William Sheedy, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy, M&A, and Government Relations at Visa Inc., and be responsible for all facets of Visa’s government relations activities
JOIN US — WOMEN RULE: TAKING RISKS AND TAKING CHARGE Women Rule live event series returns Wednesday morning at 8 am with “Women Rule: Taking Risks and Taking Charge,” a series of conversations with women who have braved the odds in their lives and careers. Vian Dakhil, Iraqi MP and voice of the Yazidi people being attacked by ISIS and her sister, Dr. Deelan Dakhil, the co-director of the Sinjar Foundation will headline the event. Featured speakers also include Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.); Sarah LaFleur, Founder and CEO, MM. LaFleur, and former White House NSA and EVP of MacAndrews and Forbes, Frances Fragos Townsend. RSVP: http://www.politico.com/events/2015/10/women-rule-taking-risks-and-taking-charge-213943
NOW AVAILABLE: POLITICO PRO LEGISLATIVE COMPASS — POLITICO Pro, POLITICO’s premium subscription service, has released a first-of-its kind legislative data analytics and decision-making tool that helps policy professionals manage and act on legislation. Leveraging features such as a personalized dashboard, virtual whip count, bill text comparison and 20 years of data, users will not only save time but benefit from customizing and cross-referencing information, enabling them to make smarter and faster decisions. Schedule your demo today.
** A message from Grant Thornton LLP: When Congress fails to act, businesses suffer. More than 50 popular tax provisions expired at the end of 2014, including the R&D credit. Congress’s indecision on these provisions is impeding business planning and stifling growth. According to a Grant Thornton survey of top financial executives, more than half of companies that use the provisions do all their planning under the assumption that the extension will not occur. That’s a huge blow to the effectiveness of the provisions and a barrier to growth. The R&D credit is a major driver of entrepreneurial activity and high-paying jobs. Congress needs to act soon to reinstate these provisions and to make the R&D credit permanent. Find out what else Congress could do to strengthen the R&D credit and view survey findings at http://gt-us.co/1iOXJW5
Source: Politico
Ilhan Omar Romps In Minneapolis Democratic Primary, While Tim Walz And Keith Ellison Win Statewide
Ilhan Omar Romps In Minneapolis Democratic Primary, While Tim Walz And Keith Ellison Win Statewide
Omar had the backing of the bulk of the progressive and grassroots groups that weighed in on the race, including MoveOn...
Omar had the backing of the bulk of the progressive and grassroots groups that weighed in on the race, including MoveOn; Justice Democrats; the statewide and Twin Cities chapters of Our Revolution, the group that was formed from the remnants of the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign; and CPD Action, an arm of the Center for Popular Democracy.
Read the full article here.
Three profs arrested at D.C. protest
Three Yale professors were arrested in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for engaging in civil disobedience in support of...
Three Yale professors were arrested in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for engaging in civil disobedience in support of immigrant rights.
On Wednesday, over 10,000 people rallied at Upper Senate Park in Washington in support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act. Three University professors — Alicia Camacho, Zareena Grewal and Daniel HoShang — were among more than 180 protesters who were arrested after the two-hour protest for “crowding, obstructing or incommoding” by sitting on the steps leading to the U.S. Capitol.
Read the full article here.
Vermont Workers’ Center at the Fore of Health Care Advocacy
VT Digger - January 12, 2014, by Morgan True - Last week’s pro-universal health care demonstration during Gov. Peter...
VT Digger - January 12, 2014, by Morgan True - Last week’s pro-universal health care demonstration during Gov. Peter Shumlin’s inaugural address drew attention locally and nationally, and left many wanting to know more about its organizers — the Vermont Workers’ Center, which has grown substantially in the past five years.
Founded nearly two decades ago as Central Vermonters for a Livable Wage, the nonprofit labor and human rights group has evolved into a substantial grassroots organization.
In 2001, as the Vermont Workers’ Center, the group affiliated with Jobs With Justice, a national pro-labor group, and is essentially that organization’s Vermont chapter. VWC founded the Health Care Is a Human Right campaign in 2008 because the cost of medical care and health insurance was creating crises for its members that “transcended” the workplace, according to the group’s website.
The campaign is viewed by some as a model for health care advocacy in other states.
Since launching the Health Care Is a Human Right Campaign, VWC’s annual budget has grown from $154,500 in 2008 to $638,700 in 2012, the latest publicly available tax filing from the group.
James Haslam, VWC’s director, said its current budget is close to $800,000, a more than fivefold increase since the campaign began. The money comes from donations and foundation grants in roughly equal parts, Haslam said.
The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation is its largest grantor, providing $50,000 this year, Haslam said. It has given the group $160,000 since 2010, including $35,000 to offer guidance to similar groups across the U.S. Grantees are voted on by a committee of Ben & Jerry’s workers, according to a statement.
“The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation supports grassroots organizations throughout the U.S. that are working for progressive social change and a more equitable society,” according to the foundation’s statement.
VWC also chose to start collecting dues from its members in 2014, Haslam added. The dues follow a sliding scale based on members’ ability to pay, he said.
The grassroots activists have strong affiliations with national labor and human rights groups including Health Care Now, Labor for Single Payer, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, The Center for Popular Democracy and the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, according to Haslam.
Kate Kanelstein, VWC’s lead organizer, is on Grassroots Global Justice Alliance’s national coordinating committee. Kanelstein was among those arrested during Thursday’s sit-in in the House chamber.
“We’re part of a broader people’s movement to turn things around for working people,” Haslam said.
Those connections have helped propel VWC to the forefront of national activism on universal public health care.
The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative provides strategic advice and training to VWC and similar groups throughout the U.S., said Anja Rudiger, director of programming for NESRI.
VWC has successfully, and appropriately, according to Rudiger, applied the principles of human rights advocacy to health policy by focusing on the hardship of individuals, rather than the “nitty-gritty” of policy debates.
By reframing access to health care as a human rights issue, VWC and others are able to highlight the injustices of the high cost of medical services and a for-profit health insurance system.
There are now Health Care Is a Human Right campaigns in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Maine. Groups in Oregon and Washington are also hoping to model health care advocacy work on the template created by VWC.
VWC is using the tactics and strategies of other human rights movements, including demonstrations and civil disobedience, which are well established, but have not previously been applied to health care, Rudiger said.
A ‘new environment’ and a national movement
Some have argued that last week’s demonstration hurt VWC’s credibility with the Legislature — one senator called the tactics “fascist” — but the demonstration has drawn increased attention from national groups and other advocates for universal health care.
Amnesty International, National Nurses United and more than 60 other labor and health care advocacy groups signed an open letter to the Vermont Legislature urging lawmakers to press on with Act 48, the state’s universal health care law. NESRI helped get many of the signatories to that letter, Rudiger said.
The Rev. William Barber, most famous for starting the Moral Monday movement, wrote a letter of solidarity, calling it immoral for people not to have access to medical care.
The backlash from lawmakers was anticipated, Haslam said, and he doesn’t think it hurts VWC’s ultimate goal of achieving universal access to health services.
“No one that truly supports universal health care is not going to support it because of a protest,” he said.
The visceral reaction from legislators may be partly because the Statehouse hasn’t been the venue for Occupy-esque demonstrations previously, said longtime State Curator David Schutz, though they’ve become increasingly common elsewhere in Vermont and nationally.
“It’s a new environment,” Schutz said, one ushered in by the October occupation of the governor’s offices in the nearby Pavilion Building.
That action was primarily the work of Rising Tide Vermont, the local affiliate of a national climate advocacy group, to protest the expansion of a Vermont Gas pipeline. The Workers’ Center helped organize that demonstration, which resulted in 64 arrests, though charges were later dropped.
Keith Brunner, the communication coordinator for the center, was among those arrested at the pipeline demonstration. Though he was present at the Statehouse last week, he was not arrested.
The only comparable event to Thursday’s demonstrations that took place in the Statehouse during the past 30 years was during the debate over civil unions in 2000, Schutz said.
It was necessary to rile official Vermont, Rudiger said, because it appears Shumlin has unilaterally stalled the state’s movement toward universal health care.
“It’s not about being disrespectful to lawmakers, it’s about highlighting the conditions in people’s lives that bring about those actions and that’s always what civil disobedience has been about,” she said.
Nationally, advocates for public universal health care were aware of the movement in Vermont, but few had received the news of Shumlin’s “wavering,” Haslam said.
Last week’s demonstration was an opportunity to get that message out and put Vermont back in the national spotlight in order to keep the momentum behind a universal health care program for the state, Haslam said.
VWC workers among those arrested last week
Many in Vermont’s political Twittersphere expressed surprise — or consternation — that several of Thursday’s demonstrators, including some who were arrested, are paid employees for the Workers’ Center.
In addition to Kanelstein, field organizers Shela Linton, Elizabeth Beatty-Owens, Avery Pittman and campaign coordinator Matt McGrath were among the 29 arrested.
Members, volunteers and staff were told at a planning meeting that the sit-in carried the risk of arrest, Haslam said. Those who participated in the sit-in chose to take that risk in order to push for legislative hearings on the governor’s single payer report.
The Workers’ Center employees who were arrested had “personal experiences with health care crises,” Haslam said. Many got involved because of that experience, and started out as members or volunteers before being hired.
Lobbying only a small part of what VWC does
The Workers’ Center is limited in its ability to lobby elected officials because it is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The organization is aware of that line, and takes steps to make sure it’s not crossed, according to Haslam.
Its field organizers are registered lobbyists, Haslam said, which is corroborated by the Secretary of State’s database.
The IRS threshold for tax-exempt nonprofits is whether lobbying activities constitute “a substantial part of its overall activities,” with expenditures on lobbying capped at 20 percent for a group the size of VWC.
The Vermont Workers’ Center keeps time sheets and records expenditures to ensure they meet the expense limits, Haslam said. Its 2012 990 tax filing, the most recent available, says those expenditures are available on request and does not list them.
Lobbying as part of the Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign is not a substantial portion of the center’s overall operation, Haslam added.
The group is involved in community organizing and leadership development, and helps build grassroots networks and coalitions on a broad array of issues, primarily labor-related, he said.
The Workers’ Center has supported striking FairPoint workers, recently unionized home care workers and workers at the University of Vermont who are trying to form a union.
They operate a workers’ hotline to field workplace complaints and employ an accountability monitor to help enforce Burlington’s livable wage ordinance.
The Workers’ Center also runs the People’s University for Learning and Liberation with a staffer dedicated to preparing workshops, skill building, continuing education for its members and affiliated groups.
Source
150 Restaurants Are Donating Proceeds to Puerto Rico for World Central Kitchen’s 'World Food Day'
150 Restaurants Are Donating Proceeds to Puerto Rico for World Central Kitchen’s 'World Food Day'
World Central Kitchen will host its fourth annual World Food Day on October 13, and so far 150 restaurants nationwide...
World Central Kitchen will host its fourth annual World Food Day on October 13, and so far 150 restaurants nationwide have agreed to donate 10 percent of their proceeds to WCK’s Puerto Rico aid and to a new culinary school in Haiti.
Read the full article here.
Grupos cívicos en EE.UU. piden investigar los incidentes del 1 de mayo
Grupos cívicos en EE.UU. piden investigar los incidentes del 1 de mayo
Los grupos, encabezados por el "Center for Popular Democracy", pidieron al gobierno y a grupos pro derechos civiles que...
Los grupos, encabezados por el "Center for Popular Democracy", pidieron al gobierno y a grupos pro derechos civiles que investiguen de forma transparente el comportamiento de agentes de la Policía.
Lea el artículo completo aquí.
Report: Anti-gay Laws Drive Up Poverty Rates for LGBT People
Miami Herald - September 30, 2014, by Steve Rothaus - A report issued Tuesday shows that LGBT Americans face added...
Miami Herald - September 30, 2014, by Steve Rothaus - A report issued Tuesday shows that LGBT Americans face added financial burdens — and often higher poverty rates — because of antigay national, state and local legislation.
NBC News has covered the story, with a video of Arlene Goldberg, the Fort Myers widow who is suing Florida to recognize her marriage to longtime partner Carol Goldwasser.
Goldberg’s primary income is Social Security. Because Florida doesn’t recognize Goldberg’s marriage, she is unable to qualify as Goldwasser’s widow and collect her Social Security payments, which were $700 more each month than Goldberg’s.
Here’s a news release from the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) and the Center for American Progress (CAP):
Washington, D.C. — A landmark report released today paints a stark picture of the added financial burdens faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans because of anti-LGBT laws at the national, state and local levels. According to the report, these laws contribute to significantly higher rates of poverty among LGBT Americans and create unfair financial penalties in the form of higher taxes, reduced wages and Social Security income, increased healthcare costs, and more.
The momentum of recent court rulings overturning marriage bans across the country has created the impression that LGBT Americans are on the cusp of achieving full equality from coast-to-coast. But the new report, Paying an Unfair Price: The Financial Penalty for Being LGBT in America, documents how inequitable laws harm the economic well-being of LGBT people in three key ways: by enabling legal discrimination in jobs, housing, credit and other areas; by failing to recognize LGBT families, both in general and across a range of programs and laws designed to help American families; and by creating barriers to safe and affordable education for LGBT students and the children of LGBT parents.
Paying an Unfair Pricewas co-authored by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) and the Center for American Progress (CAP), in partnership with Center for Community Change, Center for Popular Democracy, National Association of Social Workers, and the National Education Association. It is available online at www.lgbtmap.org/unfair-price.
“Unfair laws deliver a one-two punch. They both drive poverty within the LGBT community and then hit people when they are down,” said Ineke Mushovic, Executive Director of MAP. “While families with means might be able to withstand the costs of extra taxation or the unfair denial of Social Security benefits, for an already-struggling family these financial penalties can mean the difference between getting by and getting evicted. Anti-LGBT laws do the most harm to the most vulnerable in the LGBT community, including those who are barely making ends meet, families with children, older adults, and people of color.”
The report documents the often-devastating consequences when the law fails LGBT families. For example, children raised by same-sex parents are almost twice as likely to be poor as children raised by married opposite-sex parents. Additionally, 15 percent of transgender workers have incomes of less than $10,000 per year; among the population as a whole, the comparable figure is just four percent. To demonstrate the connection between anti-LGBT laws and the finances of LGBT Americans and their families, the report outlines how LGBT people living in states with low levels of equality are more likely to be poor, both compared to their non-LGBT neighbors, and compared to their LGBT counterparts in state with high levels of equality. For example, the denial of marriage costs gay and lesbian families money; same-sex couples with children had just $689 less in household income than married opposite-sex couples in states with marriage and relationship recognition for same-sex couples, but had an astounding $8,912 less in household income in states lacking such protections.
DISCRIMINATORY LAWS CREATE A DEVASTATING CYCLE OF POVERTY
How do inequitable laws contribute to higher rates of poverty for LGBT people? The report documents how LGBT people in the United States face clear financial penalties because of three primary failures in the law.
1. Lack of protection from discrimination means that LGBT people can be fired, denied housing and credit, and refused medically-necessary healthcare simply because they are LGBT. The financial penalty: LGBT people can struggle to find work, make less on the job, and have higher housing and medical costs than their non-LGBT peers.
2. Refusal to recognize LGBT families means that LGBT families are denied many of thesame benefits afforded to non-LGBT families when it comes to health insurance, taxes, vital safety-net programs, and retirement planning. The financial penalty: LGBT families pay more for health insurance, taxes, and legal assistance, and may be unable to access essential protections for their families in times of crisis.
3. Failure to adequately protect LGBT students means that LGBT people and their families often face a hostile, unsafe, and unwelcoming environment in local schools, as well as discrimination in accessing financial aid and other support. The financial penalty: LGBT youth are more likely to perform poorly in school and to face challenges pursuing postsecondary educational opportunities, as can youth with LGBT parents. This, in turn, can reduce their earnings over time, as well as their chances of having successful jobs and careers.
“Imagine losing your job or your home simply because of who you are or whom you love. Imagine having to choose between paying the rent and finding legal help so you can establish parenting rights for the child you have been raising from birth,” said Laura E. Durso, Director LGBT Progress at the Center for American Progress at CAP. “These are just a couple of the added costs that are harming the economic security of LGBT people across the country. It is unfair and un-American that LGBT people are penalized because of who they are, and it has real and profound effects on their ability to stay out of poverty and provide for their families.”
Paying an Unfair Price offers broad recommendations for helping strengthen economic security for LGBT Americans. Recommendations include: instituting basic nondiscrimination protections at the federal and state level; allowing same-sex couples to marry in all states; allowing LGBT parents to form legal ties with the children they are raising; andprotecting students from discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
“At a time when so many American families are struggling to make ends meet, the report's findings point to an even bleaker reality for those who are both LGBT and people of color," said Connie Razza, Director of Strategic Research at the Center for Popular Democracy. "Unchecked employment discrimination and laws that needlessly increase the costs of healthcare, housing and childcare are doing profound harm to our economic strength as a nation. This report offers real-life policy solutions that, if implemented, would protect some of our most vulnerable individuals and families."
“Reducing the unfair financial penalties that LGBT people face in this country because they are LGBT is not that complicated. It is a simple matter of treating LGBT Americans equally under the law. For example, extending the freedom to marry, including LGBT students in safe schools laws, and ending the exclusion of LGBT people from laws meant to protect families when a parent dies or becomes disabled,” said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change.
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City Governments Spend More For Policing Than Social Services
City Governments Spend More For Policing Than Social Services
Watch a discussion about how governments spend more money on policing than they do on social services....
Watch a discussion about how governments spend more money on policing than they do on social services.
Watch the video here.
Rivera and Camara Push 'Ambitious' Bill for Noncitizen Voting
Capital NY - June 16, 2014, By Nidhi Prakash - With just four remaining days in the state legislative session, sponsors...
Capital NY - June 16, 2014, By Nidhi Prakash - With just four remaining days in the state legislative session, sponsors of a new bill to grant citizenship rights to undocumented immigrants said they hope to begin building momentum for next session.
“First of all, this is obviously not something that is going to pass by the end of this week," said State Senator Gustavo Rivera, at a press conference in Battery Park City. "This was never about this particular legislative session. We’ve been working on it for almost two years, it’s a bold idea and we wanted to make sure it was thought out."
The bill, titled the New York is Home Act, would make it legal for undocumented immigrants in New York State to vote in local and state elections, get professional and drivers' licenses, and make them eligible for state-funded Medicaid and financial aid for higher education.
“What we’re doing today is we’re starting a conversation not only in New York, but hopefully across the country,” said Rivera, who was joined at the press conference by representatives from the Center for Popular Democracy and Make the Road New York.
Senator Rivera said he was choosing this moment to introduce the bill, despite nearing the end of the legislative session, partly because of a lack of movement in Washington on immigration reform. He pointed to the defeat last week of Republican House majority leader Eric Cantor by a Tea Party candidate who criticized Cantor's support for limited immigration reform.
But some progressives have also balked at provisions in the proposed bill. Mayor Bill de Blasio has called for municipal ID cards for undocumented immigrants, but said last year he's "not comfortable" with the idea of noncitizen voting.
“We are certainly asking for everyone in the Senate and the Assembly as well as in other sectors—the mayor and the governor—to support it, and we will have conversations with them going forward," Rivera said. "We are just starting the conversation."
Assembly Member Karim Camara, the bill’s sponsor in the Assembly, said the broad scope of the bill could help other stalled measures, like the Dream Act and a bill to allow undocumented immigrants access to drivers' licenses.
“We’re hoping that by looking at this big picture, and this is probably one of the most ambitious efforts over at least the last decade or two, maybe those smaller pieces now seem like they’re not that big of a deal,” said Camara.
Camara said he hoped the bill would create momentum for other immigration reform initiatives by the start of the next legislative session.
“We didn’t break it into priorities in this bill, but we’re hoping that by looking at this overarching bill it’ll perhaps make those other smaller bills easier—drivers' license, Dream Act, et cetera,” he said.
Camara blamed the balance of power in the Senate for those bills being unsuccessful in the past, and said if that was to change there may be more hope for immigration reform on a state level.
“The Republican-led Senate has been a main challenge," he said. "We would have passed it this year if it was not for that. So of course there is that elephant in the room, that political dynamic that we can’t avoid, and if that’s not the case then we’ll appeal to individuals’ reason."
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5 days ago
5 days ago