Save Our Schools Initiative
By Duane CampbellThe Sacramento Bee in both its editorial position on Sunday, July 8, and its news reporting name the fall initiative tax measure to preserve funding for our schools Governor Brown's Tax proposal. This naming, this framing, is selected to defeat the proposal. It is not Governor Brown's proposal- it is a proposal from all of us who worked on the Millionaires Tax, from teachers, union members, the majority in the California legislature and all of those who wish to save our schools from further devastation.
The legal title is the Temporary Taxes to Fund Education. Guaranteed Local Public Safety Funding. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. It will be Proposition 30. We should insist that the press use the proper title for this tax initiative. If passed it would prevent $4.8 billion in cuts from our k-12 schools and $1.3 billion in cuts from our colleges and universities.
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Destroying Communities, Abusing Workers: What's Still the Matter With Walmart
By Sarah JaffeAlterNet
This past week marked the 50th anniversary of the opening of the first Wal-Mart store. From Rogers, Arkansas, Wal-Mart has sprawled across the globe, opening some 10,000 stores and becoming the world's second-largest corporation—amassing a fortune for the Walton family, and gutting the American middle class.
With all their money and power, it might seem that Wal-Mart's hold on the country is unshakeable. Yet the retail giant is facing a bit of a perfect storm in terms of its reputation right now. Revelations of horrific abuses at one of its U.S. suppliers and of bribes the company paid in Mexico, as well as communities fighting fiercely against Wal-Marts in their neighborhoods, are pushing the big-box giant into damage control mode.
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Jobs Emergency Hollowing Out The Middle Class
By Dave JohnsonWe have a jobs emergency that is hollowing out the middle class. Some say automation is the cause of our high unemployment and that it will get worse. Others say there are other structural problems and that our high unemployment is a "new normal." Perhaps these are contributing to the problems. But let's do the things that we know we can do and need to do today, and then we can talk about how to restructure our economy to help us deal with these changes.
The Discussion
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