Are federal workers overpaid?

August 10, 2010 - 11:01am

WASHINGTON - When it comes to pay, federal workers receive benefits that averaged about $41,791 in 2009. When you factor in salaries and those benefits, which include pensions, federal civil servants earned about $123,049 in 2009.

By comparison, private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, tells USA TODAY the data are not useful in a direct public to private pay comparison.

Public union employees say the gap reflects the growing skill and education levels needed for most federal jobs, while the government farms out lower paid jobs to the private sector.

A budget analyst at the Cato Institute believes federal workers are overpaid.

House passes state aid bill; Obama signs into law

By Lisa Lambert – 33 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved, and President Barack Obama promptly signed into law, an election-year bill providing $26 billion to struggling states by closing taxloopholes for multinational companies and cutting food aid to the poor.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives gave final congressional approval to the bill on a largely party-line vote of 247 to 161.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the rare step of summoning House members back to Washington during their summer recess for a final vote on the measure after the Senate approved the legislation last week.

The bill will give states, hard-hit by the U.S. economic downturn, $16 billion more for Medicaid, the healthinsurance program for the poor, and $10 billion for education in the hopes they can avoid making steep cuts in already-lean budgets.

Budget gaps for the 50 U.S. states could total as much as $120 billion over the next year. States have slashed funding for everything from government employees to education since their revenues began collapsing in 2008 because of the weak U.S. economy.

"Economists have told us that if this legislation were not passed and these jobs were not saved and the budgets of the states were not stabilized we would go into another deep recession, like the one we inherited from the previous administration," Pelosi said, referring to the Republican Bush administration.

Republicans are trying to take back control of Congress from the Democrats in November's congressional elections. Republicans hope to build on voter anger over the size of the U.S. budget deficit, projected at $1.47 trillion this year, by emphasizing the measure's price tag.

"Everyone knows that state budgets have been hit hard and no one wants teachers or police officers to lose their jobs," said House Republican leader John Boehner, who opposed the bill. "But where do the bailouts end?"

Democrats want to convince voters they can strengthen a fragile economic recovery and bring down the country's unemployment rate, currently 9.5 percent.

A report from the research group the Rockefeller Institute of Government released on Tuesday showed that layoffs are hurting state and local governments, with their payrolls falling last month below pre-recession levels.

This is the only one of nine recessions since 1953 in which state government employment has fallen below its pre-recession level, the New York-based research group said.

Since the start of the year, state and local governments have shed 169,000 jobs, according to the congressional Joint Economic Committee.

TAX LOOPHOLES

"We can't stand by and do nothing while pink slips (termination notices) are given to the men and women who educate our children or keep our communities safe," Obama said in the White House Rose Garden earlier on Tuesday as he urged the House to pass the legislation.

Obama added, "This proposal is fully paid for -- in part by closing tax loopholes that encourage corporations to shift American jobs overseas, so it will not add to our deficit."

Democrats say figures from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office show the legislation will shave more than $1 billion from the U.S. budget deficit

The bill will be funded by tightening tax rules related to how companies allocate income between domestic and foreign subsidiaries.

It also cuts $11.9 billion from the food stamp program, ending part of last year's economic stimulus plan that temporarily increased the aid given to poor families each month to buy groceries. It rescinds advance refunds of the earned income tax credit, a break given to poor families, as well.

Last year's $862 billion economic stimulus law temporarily raised the federal reimbursements to states for Medicaid. States have been worried about how to fill the void when the money runs out in December.

The education funds contained in the bill will help retain 161,000 teachers and school staffers, according to the JEC.

But states are concerned about the education funds, which require them to maintain school spending at the same level as 2008. The recession had not hit many states then and few can now afford to return to that higher level of spending.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, a Republican, said his state will have to rewrite its budget to qualify for $98 million in education funds, moving at least $50 million into education spending from public safety and health.

"There is no justification for the federal government hijacking state budgets," Barbour said.

Upset that Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry put some of his state's stimulus money in reserve, Democrats stipulated that Texas can receive education money only if it spends some of the earlier stimulus funds. Congress is sending a message to Perry, said Representative Sheila Jackson Lee: "Don't fool with money for children and education.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Susan Cornwell, Jeff Mason and Caren Bohan; editing by Will Dunham and Alan Elsner)

Fears of al–Qaida return in Iraq as US–backed fighters defect

American allies the Sons of Iraq being offered more money by al–Qaida to switch sides

Martin Chulov in Baghdad       guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 August 2010 20.38 BST

Al-Qaida is attempting to make a comeback in Iraq by enticing scores of former Sunni allies to rejoin the terrorist group by paying them more than the monthly salary they currently receive from the government, two key US-backed militia leaders have told the Guardian.

They said al-Qaida leaders were exploiting the imminent departure of US fighting troops to ramp up a membership drive, in an attempt to show that they are still a powerful force in the country after seven years of war.

Al-Qaida is also thought to be moving to take advantage of a power vacuum created by continuing political instability in Iraq, which remains without a functional government more than five months after a general election.

Sheikh Sabah al-Janabi, a leader of the Awakening Council – also known as the Sons of Iraq – based in Hila, 60 miles south of Baghdad, told the Guardian that 100 out of 1,800 rank-and-file members had not collected their salaries for the last two months: a clear sign, he believes, that they are now taking money from their former enemies.

"Al-Qaida has made a big comeback here," he said. "This is my neighbourhood and I know every single person living here. And I know where their allegiances lie now."

The Sons of Iraq grew out of a series of mini-rebellions against militants associated with al-Qaida that started in late 2006. They soon grew into a success story in Iraq, which was capitalised on by the then commanding US general, David Petraeus, who agreed to pay each member a $300 monthly salary and used the rebels as a tool to quell the boiling insurgency.

The US handed over control of the Sons of Iraq to the Iraqi government in late-2008. The programme since has been plagued by complaints about distrust and delays in paying salaries, as well as almost daily bombings or shootings targeting Awakening Council leaders and members across Iraq this year, which have troubled US commanders as their combat troops steadily leave the country.

Sheikh al-Janabi's cousin, Malik Yassin al-Janabi, a joint leader in Hila, became the latest victim today when he was killed by gunmen who shot him dead while he was driving, also wounding two of his guards.

A second Awakening Council leader, Sheikh Moustafa al-Jabouri, said disaffection among his ranks had reached breaking point as US combat forces increasingly depart, with most of his men not having been paid for up to three months and now facing a relentless recruitment drive by local al-Qaida members.

"My people are being offered more money. It has happened throughout Arabi Jabour and Dora," he said of the two south Baghdad suburbs that he controls.

"I warned the Americans and the Iraqi government that if they continue neglecting us, the Awakening Council will become even more desperate and will look for other ways to make money.

"So it is an easy market for al-Qaida now. The Iraqi government has disappointed them and it is an easy choice to rejoin the terrorists."

He said approaches to his rank-and-file membership had become commonplace over the last month.

"They are trying every means they know, by threatening or offering money. Many members have no money or salaries and are living in difficult circumstances."

The director of the Awakening Council project inside the national Reconciliation Commission, Zuheir Chalabi, today dismissed claims that members were defecting in large numbers.

"I think this issue is fabricated and politicised by people who are against the government and are pro-Ba'athist," he said. "We have no indications that large numbers of Sons of Iraq have left their jobs. We are seeing [defections] of around four in 1,000."

However, Sheikh al-Janabi said he would give a list of names of the alleged defectors to both American and Iraqi officials. "He needs to accept the facts," he said.

Two long-term members of the Sons of Iraq revealed to the Guardian that they had been approached in recent weeks by local men whom they knew to be al-Qaida leaders and told they would be paid more to defect.

Both admitted to be entertaining the notion, largely because they feared what would happen if they did not.

Mohammed Hussein al-Jumaili, 25, from Dora, said: "My salary is very low – it is about $300 per month and sometimes they delay paying me for two months or more.

"Ten days ago, I was in a cafe with another person from my neighbourhood. He was working with us also. Two people came to me. I knew them. They were from my area. They said: 'You know the Sons of Iraq experiment has failed and they will be slaughtered one after the other.

'If you work with us, we will support you. We will give you a good salary and you can do whatever operation you want to do. You will get extra money for anything that you do that hits the Americans, or the Iraqi forces.' "

The second member, Sabah al-Nouri, 32, from west Baghdad, said he too had been approached by Sons of Iraq members who were acting as double agents.

"I am responsible for leading a group in al-Haswa district in Abu Ghraib," he said. "Two months ago, al-Qaida contacted me through people who worked with me. They gave me a good offer, a reward for each operation and a pledge to support me and protect me.

"They said they would give me a weapon, a licence to carry one. There were a lot of promises. They said I would have more authority than I have now. They said: 'We have not hurt you, why are you working against us?' "

Major Mudher al-Mowla, who is in charge of the Sons of Iraq inside the Iraqi reconciliation ministry, said the government had recently learned of the cash offers and coercion. "We have learned about this, especially in Adhamiyeh [in West Baghdad] and we have started investigating. We are waiting for the results."

The US government has granted visas to many Sons of Iraq members and claims that future applications to emigrate to the US from Sons of Iraq leaders would be well received. Both the Pentagon and White House have hailed the Sons of Iraq experience as a triumph during seven difficult years of war.

Some commanders believe Sons of Iraq leaders are overstating an al-Qaida putsch because they fear the unknown once the Americans leave. But they remain warm in their praise of the people they claim helped pave a way for their exit.

"The Sons of Iraq have displayed personal and physical courage on behalf of their country," said Lieutenant Colonel Bob Owen, chief of the media operations centre at the US embassy in Baghdad. "When they partnered with the government of Iraq to counter the insurgency, they played a pivotal role in disrupting al-Qaida and reducing Iraqi civilian deaths.

"The people of Iraq and Iraqi leaders at every level of government are grateful for the courage and personal sacrifices the Sons of Iraq have made and continue to make for the safety, security and future success and prosperity of the country."

THE NEWS YOU DON'T READ! - DEBT BUYING - Weirmar Republic

Fed Looks to Spur Growth by Buying Government Debt

By Scott Lanman - Aug 10, 2010 1:14 PM CT

Federal Reserve officials decided to reinvest principal payments on mortgage holdings into long-term Treasury securities, making their first attempt to bolster growth since March 2009 to keep the slowing U.S. economy from relapsing into recession.

“The pace of economic recovery is likely to be more modest in the near term than had been anticipated,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement in Washington. “To help support the economic recovery in a context of price stability, the Committee will keep constant the Federal Reserve’s holdings of securities at their current level.” The Fed retained a commitment to keep its benchmark interest rate close to zero for an “extended period.”

With growth weakening in the second quarter and company job gains in July falling short of estimates, today’s step signals that risks of a downturn have increased enough for the Fed to delay its exit from unprecedented stimulus. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told Congress last month that the Fed was “prepared to take further policy actions as needed.”

The Fed said it will “continue to roll over the Federal Reserve’s holdings of Treasury securities as they mature.” The reinvestment policy applies to agency debt and agency mortgage- backed securities held by the central bank.

The central bank left the overnight interbank lending rate target unchanged in a range of zero to 0.25 percent, where it’s been since December 2008. High unemployment, low inflation and stable price expectations “are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period,” the Fed said, repeating language from every policy meeting since March 2009.

“The pace of recovery in output and employment has slowed in recent months,” the FOMC said. The Fed will “continue to monitor the economic outlook and financial developments and will employ its policy tools as necessary to promote economic recovery and price stability.”

U.S. central bankers repeated that inflation is “likely to be subdued for some time.” Prices in June rose 1.4 percent from a year earlier, the third straight month of slowing gains under the Fed’s preferred index, which excludes food and energy costs.

Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig dissented from the decision for the fifth straight meeting.

Fed policy makers, at their last meeting in June, judged that the central bank “would need to consider whether further policy stimulus might become appropriate if the outlook were to worsen appreciably,” according to minutes of the session. Records of today’s meeting will be released Aug. 31.

Bernanke said in an Aug. 2 speech that “we have a considerable way to go to achieve a full recovery in our economy.” Still, he avoided signaling that the central bank would reverse months of reductions in record stimulus and liquidity programs, including the end to $1.7 trillion in purchases of housing debt and Treasuries.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said July 29 that while he expects a continued recovery, policy makers should be ready to buy Treasuries if the economy slows further.

The Fed’s last move in favor of easier policy came in March 2009, when policy makers agreed to buy $300 billion of Treasuries and more than double planned mortgage-debt purchases to $1.45 trillion while starting a pledge to keep the benchmark rate close to zero for an “extended period.”

This year the central bank stopped buying assets, raised the rate on direct loans to banks and shut emergency-lending programs for corporations, bond dealers and money-market mutual funds. It’s also developed tools for raising rates with a near- record $2.3 trillion balance sheet.

Today’s decision defied easy prediction after a report Aug. 6 showed U.S. private employers added 71,000 jobs in July, below the 90,000 median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent. Including government workers, the U.S. lost 131,000 jobs in July, compared with the median estimate of 65,000.

The weak job market has inhibited growth in consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. Such expenditures rose at a 1.6 percent pace last quarter, down from a 1.9 percent rate in the previous three months that was smaller than previously estimated.

“They’re supposed to keep inflation under control, but they’re also supposed to promote full employment,” Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York, said in a Bloomberg Television interview before the announcement. “The Fed is starting to worry about hitting that full-employment goal any time in the next three or four years.”

Aeropostale Inc., a retailer to teenagers whose sales rose in July at one-seventh the pace analysts predicted, said changing consumer preferences and a “challenging” retail environment hampered spending. Sales at J.C. Penney Co., a department-store chain, fell 0.6 percent last month.

Still, Bernanke and other officials in recent weeks had maintained their outlook for a pickup in the economy over the next year. Corporate spending on equipment and software jumped at a 22 percent annual rate last quarter.

While weakness in housing and commercial real estate will restrain the recovery, and the job market’s “slow recovery” weighs on consumers, “rising demand from households and businesses should help sustain growth,” Bernanke said in a speech last week in Charleston, South Carolina.

United Parcel Service Inc., the world’s largest package- delivery company, raised its annual profit forecast last month and posted second-quarter earnings that climbed more than analysts estimated on increased demand overseas.

The S&P 500 Index has rebounded 12 percent as of yesterday from its low this year on July 1.

Investors don’t expect the Fed to raise the federal funds rate until late 2011, based on futures contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade.

The housing market has faltered since a federal tax incentive for first-time homebuyers expired in April. Sales of previously owned homes fell 5.1 percent in June from May, housing starts slid to the lowest level in eight months and the 330,000 annual pace of new-home sales was the second-lowest in data going back to 1963 after May’s 267,000 rate.

The National Bureau of Economic Research, an academic group with a committee that marks the start and end of recessions, has yet to announce a date for the end of the downturn that started in December 2007, even after four straight quarters of growth. Some panel members including Stanford University’s Robert Hall and Jeffrey Frankel of Harvard University have said it’s clear the contraction has probably ended.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Lanman in Washington at slanman@bloomberg.net.

President Obama, the BP Oil Spill - Leadership We Can Trust

Oil Spill Timeline from RightChange on Vimeo.

Where Did All The Commies Go?

Since a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, after the warm-glow of what we all thought was the death of the Communist beast had worn off, I wondered ... "what happened to all the Communists in Europe, in American, all around the world?" As time progressed and I learned more and more about the so-called "environmental movement" and payed closer attention to the labor unions and leftist politics in our country, the more likely it seemed to me that the new home of Communism, although it really wasn't "new", just my awareness, was the extreme environmental movement and the labor movement.

No, not that all those who want to save a baby seal or breath clean air, after all, don't we all? ... but the really crazy ones, the ones who advocate a return to 13th century living as the only way to save the baby seals and the air we breath. And, not all those who still see a value in "organizing" for the betterment of the "working man" but rather a large majority of their leadership. All it takes is a cursory search for what they say and way they advocate. It's not hidden. It's not a secret. It's not that they advocate for the destruction of the Capitalist system and the American Republic under our Constitution under the cover of darkness or in secret meetings in basements. The openly say what they believe and those statements are all over the Internet for those who care.

The biggest problem we face as those who sorta enjoy living in the "land of the free and the home of the brave" is that we've been sitting on our fat butts for the last 100 years thinking that despite the bumper stickers and what our grandfathers and in some cases fathers told us, "Freedom isn't Free". If you care, take a few minutes when you have them and read the little bit of info here and visit the links. From there, you can continue to read and see what is happening in our country today.

Maybe with a little extra digging, you may find a few rather disturbing connections ... any highlights are mine ...

U.S. Communists plan 29th convention, call to action
Print Email to a Friend
by: JOHN RUMMEL
january 25 2010

The Communist Party USA is making plans for its 29th National Convention to be held the weekend of May 21-23 at its national headquarters in New York City.

The convention takes place at what has the potential to be a turning point in the history of our nation. Whether or not that turning point is reached, and the hopes of the 2008 elections are fulfilled, will depend on the building of a broad progressive labor-led democratic movement able to defeat Republican obstructionism and the far-right forces of reaction.

Thus this cannot be an ordinary convention. The four months between now and the convention will see a flurry of activity by the party involving both discussion and action whose goal is to help build such a movement.

New technology including use of video and teleconferences will make it easier to have a very inclusive convention discussion. Not just the written word but the spoken word will be part of our pre-convention discussion, making it easier for all members and friends to participate.
The kickoff took place with a splash last Thursday, January 21, with a nationwide live streaming web presentation by the party's national chair, Sam Webb, of our main convention discussion document, "No easy road to the future - but we'll get there," followed by a lively question and answer session. The web broadcast is available at cpusa.org.
The main discussion document is a call to build a far-reaching, labor-led coalition for jobs, peace and equality, to win progressive reforms from health care to immigrant rights.

In particular it is a call to action on the economic crisis. Our pre-convention period is occurring during the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and the party feels its documents and discussions must be turned into action.

Working to build the national the Jobs 4 America Now (see below) campaign being organized by labor, civil rights and democratic organizations is seen as a priority.

The document is also a call to expand the Communist Party and Young Communist League, organizations committed to building the widest possible unity for democratic and socialist change.

The next Communist Party USA live web presentation will be in February. It will feature the party's vice-chair, Jarvis Tyner, on African American equality. In March, Scott Marshal, the party's Labor Commission chair, will lead a discussion on the fight for jobs. The web events are open to all who wish to participate. Membership in the Communist Party is not a requirement.

Other discussions and documents are being prepared, such as a recent submission by our commission on religion. Discussions are also being organized throughout the country. For more information, contact cpusa@cpusa.org

In addition to workshops and plenary sessions on a range of topics, the May convention will review the party's work and policy and elect new leadership.

The convention will be an exciting affair with an evening cultural celebration and rally, greetings from elected officials, labor and other mass leaders and a multimedia celebration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party.

Over 200 delegates and guests from Alaska to Maine and from Texas to North Dakota are expected.

Discussion documents are available on the party's web site. A printed booklet with Spanish translation will be ready by February.


http://www.jobs4americanow.org/

The following is from the "call to action" page on the web-site, www.jobs4americanow.org. Link follows:
http://www.jobs4americanow.org/

Participating organizations
About us

A list of national organizations participating in this coalition are listed below. To get in contact with us, emailinfo@jobs4americanow.org.

Participating national organizations

5MillionGreenJobs.org

AFL-CIO

African American Ministers In Action

AFSCME

American Rights at Work

Americans for Democratic Action, Inc.

Americans United for Change

Blue Green Alliance

Campaign for America’s Future

Center for Community Change

Center for Law and Social Policy

Change to Win

Coalition on Human Needs

Community Action Partnership

Demos

Direct Care Alliance

Economic Justice Coalition

Economic Policy Institute

Every Child Matters Education Fund

Food Research and Action Center

Half in Ten Campaign

Hispanic Federation

Inequality and the Common Good Program of the Institute for Policy Studies

Insight Center for Community Economic Development

Interfaith Worker Justice

Japanese American Citizens League

Jobs with Justice

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

Legal Momentum

NAACP

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

National Association for State Community Services Programs

National Association of Social Workers

National Community Reinvestment Coalition

National Council of Jewish Women

National Council of La Raza

National Council on Aging

National Employment Law Project

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund

National Partnership for Women and Families

National Priorities Project

National Urban League

National Women’s Law Center

NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

A New Way Forward

Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute

ProgressNOW

Project Community, Inc.

SCLC

SEIU

Student Association for Voter Empowerment

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries

United for a Fair Economy

United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society

United Neighborhood Centers of America

United States Student Association

USAction

Wider Opportunities for Women

WiLL-Women Legislators’ Lobby

Women’s Action for New Directions

The Workforce Alliance

Working America

YouthBuild USA

Organizations current as of May 12, 2010



From the The Communist Party USA web-site: http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/8248/

The Employee Free Choice Act was introduced in Congress on March 5th. The struggle to pass it will be huge and all hands on deck will be required to pass it.

PoliticalAffairs.net and the People's Weekly World are in the campaign to win passage of the bill. Check back for regular updates on the struggle as well as for analysis of the bill, the right-wing media's bias against it, and the corporate interests that have collected huge piles of cash to try to defeat it.

We will update this resource list in the days and weeks to come, as the battle to win democracy in the workplace develops.

Please share these resources with your friends.

the following is from the same www.jobs4americanow.org ... golly, weren't these the same demands of many members of the Progressive Caucus in congress? You know that it was ...

JAN Press Conference to Demand Restoration of Unemployment Benefits, Pass Tax Extenders Bill
For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 10, 2010

Contact: Germonique R. Ulmer, 202.339.9331; gulmer@communitychange.org

Jobs for America Now Brings Unemployed Workers to Capitol Hill to Demand Restoration of Critical Unemployment Benefits, Pass Tax Extenders Bill


Who: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sen. Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Alan Charney, campaign manager, Jobs for America Now Campaign, and unemployed workers.

What: Press conference on the future of our nation’s job security and vital unemployment benefits

When: TODAY!! Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. EST

Where: U.S. Capitol Room S-115


Washington – One week after the House failed to include and extend critical unemployment benefits in the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, the Senate has an opportunity to fix the bill and finish the job by passing it. For the millions of unemployed Americans unable to find the jobs they so desperately need, unemployment benefits are critical to their survival and that of their families’.

Key senators in the debate will be joined by unemployed workers who will share their personal stories of how they will be impacted if the Senate does not take a final vote on this important legislation. Of particular concern is the restoration of the COBRA subsidy that was stripped out in the House version and that would allow unemployed Americans to maintain private insurance. Without this important benefit, millions of unemployed workers, through no fault of their own, would have no insurance and have no choice but to depend on public care.

This bill includes other key benefits to our economic recovery including FMAP that would provide higher Medicaid reimbursements to states, providing much needed fiscal relief and preserving jobs, TANF ECF and summer jobs. Congress must listen to the voices of the American people, pass this bill and keep unemployment benefits in place for the long haul. The tax extenders bill is just a beginning, Congress must also move forward with robust jobs legislation to directly create jobs in communities and get us on a road to economic recovery.

##


The Jobs for America Now coalition is a nationwide campaign of more than 60 groups organizing to put America back to work. For a complete list of participating organizations visit www.jobs4americanow.org.

http://www.jobs4americanow.org/jan-press-conference-to-demand-restoration-of-unemployment-benefits-pass-tax-extenders-bill/

Here is a bit more info on the jobs4americanow group.Oddly enough, there appears to be a connection to George Soros. Imagine that...
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/jobs-for-america-now-new-soros-front


From the CPUSA.org webiste ...

Obama State of the Union: He got the ball rolling

January 29 2010
In some ways last night's State of the Union address by President Obama was a virtuoso performance. There were stirring moments, memorable turns of phrase, humor, a defense of activist government, and proposals that will be welcomed, and surely help, millions of people in need.

With the scent of Massachusetts still in the air, the president reasserted his reform agenda and took the fight to the party of obstruction. In polite, nuanced but forceful terms, he chastised the Republican Party.

In powerful oratory, he challenged some of the main ideological talking points of right-wing extremism, reminded everyone that he inherited record deficits and an unprecedented economic mess, and defended the stimulus bill and other recovery measures, including, and unfortunately the unconditional bank bailouts.

One of the high points of the evening was when the president called out the right-wing (and maybe worse) dominated Supreme Court whose members were sitting directly in front of him for their recent decision saying it's OK for corporations to throw money into the election process.

One of the low points was his defense of the escalation of troops in Afghanistan and his threatening tone toward Iran and other "adversaries."

Overall, I'd say that if the leaders of the "Party of No" came into the legislative chamber last night with wind in their sails, they left with their sails trimmed and a dour look on their faces. The evening for them turned out to be a "bummer."

They had hoped to hear President Obama repeat what President Clinton said in his State of the Union address in 1994: "The era of big government is over." But the president disappointed them.

While the broad people's coalition that elected him will not, I'm sure, be entirely happy with the president's speech, all signs are that his fighting tone ("I will not quit"), his focus on the economy, his defense of democratic rights (civil, labor, women, immigrant, gay and lesbian), his insistence on financial reform, and his policy initiatives outlined in the speech, including a health care bill, will reenergize this coalition, which, as of late, has been understandably dismayed by the pace and depth of change.

But this new energy will quickly dissipate if the White House and congressional Democrats go back to ignoring the rumbling from below and bending over backwards to satisfy Republicans and conservatives in their own party.

Working people expect them to draw a line in the sand, show more partisanship, push the legislative process, and tenaciously fight for the American people. If the Republicans obstruct and filibuster so be it. At least everybody will know who is blocking legislative measures that would ease the economic crisis when they go to the polls this fall.

But as good as many parts of Obama's speech were, it didn't fully rise in substantive terms to the challenges of our times and this era. The president could have knocked the ball out of the ballpark, but he settled for less. He had a chance to make the case for deep-going political, economic and social reform, including radical reform, but he came up short of that.

His speech didn't have the programmatic depth that is objectively necessary at this moment. It took us an important step closer to solving the awful economic mess and relieving the human toll that comes with it, but only a step.

Politics is an art as well as a science. And part of that art includes knowing when to advance and when to retreat. Last night President Obama didn't retreat, but he didn't advance the people's agenda to the degree that was possible and necessary. He roused the nation, but he didn't hit the high note.

We would probably have to go back to Franklin Roosevelt to find a president who has the trust of our nation's multi-racial, multi-national, male-female, young and old working class as President Obama does.

But the people's trust has to be constantly renewed - and on the basis of practical performance, on the basis of systematically fighting for the crying needs of the American people. This president can be a transformative leader (he has that potential in my view), but only if he embraces and fights for a transformative agenda.

That agenda in a full-blown sense has yet to be articulated by him. If President Obama and the Democrats want to hail the private sector as the engine of growth, I wouldn't quibble too much as long as they recognize that the private sector at this moment (big or small business) isn't generating jobs and probably won't for a long time. In these circumstances, only direct and indirect government intervention in the form of a massive public works jobs program, infrastructure repair and renewal, aid for state and local governments, and special measures for the hardest hit communities, and especially communities of racial minorities and immigrants, stands a chance of lowering unemployment in any kind of meaningful way.

In other words, the economy still has to be re-inflated and restructured along democratic, sustainable, nonmilitary, and worker-friendly lines, but the likelihood of the private sector doing that is zero. To a degree, the president is moving in this direction, but the pace and nature of the economic reforms that he prescribes is far too limited for the scope and depth of this crisis.

One of the serious missteps that he made last night was his call for a freeze on domestic discretionary spending, beginning in 2011. Hopefully the freeze is only a political calculation to ward off the Republican wolves who accuse him of being a "spend and tax" liberal. But in any case, it comes with a price insofar as it entrenches in the public mind that deficit spending is inherently bad and that our budgetary woes are caused by "handouts" to the poor and vulnerable, especially people of color and immigrants - not to mention aid to developing countries.

This is an unmitigated falsehood that ruptures our sense of social solidarity, of connectedness to every other human being. The truth of the matter is that the current budget deficit, as the president said, began during the Bush years as a result of two wars of aggression, mammoth tax breaks to the top income tier, and a bulging military budget.

Fiscal discipline and balanced budgeting are not an article of faith that has to be adhered to no matter what the circumstances. If that were the case, the U.S. and world economy could easily have tumbled into a full-blown depression last year. Capitalism isn't a self-correcting system. Market failure and crisis are as much a reality as sustained economic growth. Vicious and reinforcing contractions of the economy can easily leave an economy stagnating at a far from optimum level or in complete ruin unless they are counteracted by aggressive government action and spending measures. The stimulus and anti-crisis measures of the Obama administration acted as a tourniquet; it stopped the hemorrhaging.

But it didn't heal the wound.

If the president looks to the Depression years he will see more than one Roosevelt. There was the Roosevelt of 1934-1936 and the Roosevelt of 1937. The 1934-1936 Roosevelt had hit a wall as far as his reform efforts were concerned and he was faced with a moment of decision as to how to proceed - should he stay the course, retreat, or enlarge his vision. He chose the latter and thus the New Deal.

Or Obama could look to the 1937 incarnation of Roosevelt who, when seeing a surge of economic activity, decided to cut back on spending and balance the budget, which, as it turned out, was exactly the wrong medicine for an economy in its early stages of recovery.

From President Obama's speech it seems like he hasn't definitively decided which Roosevelt he will emulate, although I believe he leans toward the 1934-1936 Roosevelt. Which is what we need. Admittedly a bold anti-right, anti-corporate course of action won't be easy. The opponents are many and powerful. Resist they will.

Thus to level and tilt the playing field in a progressive/radical direction, the president has to be joined, prodded, and where necessary differed with by the labor-led coalition that elected him. So far it hasn't carried its share of the load; it is not even strong and united enough to enact even the program that the president outlined last night - let alone win more fundamental reforms. Too many of us have been content to watch, offer opinions, criticize, express our frustrations, and feel disappointed in the president.

But aren't we part of the problem too, indeed a big part? An era of reform - and especially radical reforms - combines popular, sustained, and united action from below with new political openings from above. Both are necessary.

Last night the president got the ball rolling, but he didn't roll it far enough or always in the right direction. So now it's our turn to get a lot more players involved, roll the ball further and roll in the direction of economic security, equality, democracy and peace.

http://cpusa.org/obama-state-of-the-union-he-got-the-ball-rolling


Regarding Illegal Immigration from www.politicalaffairsonline.org "Marxist Thought Online". They are working for the "Obama plan" ...

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/9405/

Marxist plans for what your children are taught ... Don’t Burn the Books: Ban the Courses that Use Them http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/9376/1/392/