December 2010

Unemployed Carolers Visit Senator Nelson's Office

Submitted by Denise Diaz on December 9, 2010

The Central Florida Jobs with Justice Disappointed Citizens Chorus paid a visit to Senator Bill Nelson's (FL-D) Orlando office to express their disappointment in not hearing his position on extending the tax cuts. Organizations have been trying to meet with the Senator's people for weeks now without any luck, so they decided to come in with a more festive tone and demand some clarity on the Senator's position during the lame duck session. After hearing the carols with lyrics like, "On the first day of Christmas, Congress gave to me, a job that went overseas" and "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, The unemployed need extensions, help us right away - HEY!" the Senator's staff agreed to a meeting right away!

The Senator's staff heard from a 99er who has exhausted her unemployment and has no income coming in. She mentioned that she didn't want tax cuts or unemployment, instead she wanted a job.

The Caroling came at an urgent time when Florida's unemployment remains stagnant at 11.4%, yet elected leaders are spending the Congressional session compromising to keep the richest 2% happy. Nelson has always been in favor of extending unemployment, but now he says he will be voting in favor of the newest proposed tax cut deal which would extend tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% for the next two years.

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Pell Grant Underfunded as Tuition Costs Continue to Rise

Submitted by Caleen Carter on December 7, 2010

On November 18th, a group of students from University of Illinois-Chicago and University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign gathered at the Board of Trustees meeting in Chicago to voice their concern with the rapidly growing cost of tuition. After being denied a one-on-one meeting, a student stood up at the end of the Board of Trustees meeting and yelled, “Our concerns haven’t been addressed!” As other students started to chant “Tuition freeze now!” security guards rushed towards the bandanna-covered students to quiet them down. As the students refused to budge, the security guards got physical—pushing a student outside.

All over the nation, students are being denied an education because they can’t afford tuition costs. Student debt has surpassed all other forms of debt, but the Pell Grant will be underfunded by $5.5 billion in the coming year—denying hundreds of thousands of students a right to an education. As Pell Grants are targeted towards students from low-income families, underfunding is another way to discriminate against students.

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GOP Holds Unemployed Hostage; Demands $700 Billion Ransom

Submitted by Allison Fletche... on December 6, 2010

Congress allowed extended unemployment benefits to run out last week. Today, more than one million unemployed have lost their benefits, and without an extension, that number will swell to 3 million by the end of January.

On Saturday, the Senate rejected a plan to extend unemployment benefits and to extend the tax cuts to families making less than $250,000 passed under George W. Bush. Yesterday, GOP leaders said they were in talks to cut a deal that would extend tax cuts people who make over $250,000 per year and that in exchange they “would probably agree to extend jobless aid for the long-term unemployed.

The GOP says they don’t want to extend jobless benefits because doing so could add $35 billion to the federal deficit, yet they’ll consider extending benefits if Democrats agree to add $700 billion to the deficit by extending the Bush tax cuts to the country’s wealthiest 2%.

If you’re having trouble following the logic here, it’s because this debate isn’t really about the budget deficit. The GOP wants more money to go to the country’s wealthiest people, and they don’t care who they have to hurt to get it.

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"Deficit Report" Answers Wrong Question

Submitted by Erica Smiley on December 3, 2010

Right-wingers have historically cried about the deficit when it is convenient to them, and most potently when they are aiming to put more money into the pockets of their wealthy, corporate buddies—all of course while increasing the burden on working people (i.e. “cutting spending”).

So the report coming from the “deficit commission” should come as no surprise, proposing trillions of dollars in cuts and even slicing jobs, including 200,000 government workers. Meanwhile there was no mention of any tax on the corporate fat cats who got our economy into this mess when it is widely understood that a modest fee on Wall Street’s daily financial transactions would bring in more than enough to say existing jobs, provide new jobs and, yes, get rid of the deficit. In fact, Republicans are now pitting the extension of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans against unemployment benefits for the rest of us.

In all of its attempts to “solve the deficit”, the Commission—which did not even get the full 14 votes required to make it an official report to Congress—answered the wrong question.

The real question is how are we going to re-build our economy after decades of deregulation, privatization, outsourcing, and the damage of a financial sector that’s been allowed to gamble with our homes, healthcare, retirement, education, and…well you get the picture.

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Opinion: Cutting Spending is A Means to a Grim End

Submitted by Naomi Demsas on December 3, 2010

President Obama created the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility identify policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run. Specifically, the Commission attempted to propose recommendations designed to balance the budget, excluding interest payments on the debt, by 2015. Today, the Commission approved the report but failed to reach consensus that would have pressured congressional leaders to vote on the proposal.

The proposals that the Commission has drafted fail to address the causes of either the current or projected budget deficits. What's more, they fail to recognize that a healthy government budget depends on a healthy economy, and a healthy economy depends on jobs.

During the Great Depression, this nation was in a similar situation to the what we’re experiencing now. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal reduced unemployment from 25 percent to 10 percent in three years, but he was then pressured to reduce spending before the economy was fully stabilized, just as President Obama is being pressured to reduce spending now. The result was another sharp increase in unemployment and a weakened economy that only improved when the nation entered World War II.

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Vote Now for the National Scrooge of the Year

Submitted by JwJNational on December 2, 2010

Each year, national Jobs with Justice gives an “award” to the greediest, most cold-hearted company or person of the year. Nominations for the 2010 Scrooge of the Year are in, and it's time to vote.