Restoring California: Tax The Rich to Fund Public Education And Services
*By Joshua Pechthalt * California Federation of Teachers The California Federation of Teachers and its coalition partners Courage Campaign and California Calls have a simple proposal for the state’s voters: restore tax rates on people with incomes over one million dollars per year so that the rich pay their fair share to rebuild our schools and services. In November 2012 voters will have the opportunity to decide if this is a good idea. If current polling numbers hold up, chances are “The Millionaires’ Tax to Restore Funding for Education and Essential Services Act of 2012,” or... more »
A Glimmer of Good News for California’s Kids
*By Mike Odeh* Children Now With the state’s unemployment rate hovering above 11 percent, impending state budget triggers that are inciting rallies across the state, and 52% growth in health insurance premiums for California families over nearly the past decade, it's hard to find truly good news...but here's some: at a time when the economic recession hit hardest (2008 to 2010), over 97,000 fewer California children were uninsured, according to a new report by the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. read more
Bank Directors Will Remain Unaccountable Until The (Share) Owners Start Holding Them Personally Liable
*By Jack Ucciferri* If Americans have learned one concrete thing about our financial system over the past few years, it is that we can pretty much bank on the big banks screwing us over. From “mistakenly” foreclosing on active duty servicemembers (with pregnant wives), to systematically defrauding schools, non-profits, and hospitals, to misleading their own customers and investors, to submitting tens of thousands of improper foreclosure affidavits, to paying themselves outrageously after imploding our economy, the banksters seem utterly immune to moral suasion or legal sanction. ... more »
Trucking Industry Exposed for “Ripping Off” Workers and Tax Payers
*By Patricia Castellanos* LAANE What is the trucking industry response to claims that port drivers are actually employees who have been stripped of their basic rights by trucking companies? Robert Digges, a spokesman for the American Trucking Associations, tripped on his own tongue on a CBS national news segment when he tried protesting the idea that trucking companies are cheating workers – and it’s getting picked up on blogs like the Daily Kos. “They (trucking companies) believe they get a more productive employee – excuse me a more effective worker – a worker who is efficient... more »
Public or Private: Unemployment Hurts the Economy
*By Doug Moore* United Domestic Workers of America Homecare Providers Union When Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich proposed that students should take over the job of cleaning our schools, he was rightly denounced for wanting to eliminate what he called "stupid" child labor laws. But not a word has been said about the tens of thousands of low-wage janitors who would lose their jobs under Gingrich's plan or about what it would mean to their families and to our national and local economies. This is sad but not surprising. Tea Party extremists and other Republican ideol... more »
In Wake of Recession, Less Than Half of Californians Live in Middle-Income Families
*Public Policy Institute of California* In the Great Recession and its aftermath, the percentage of Californians living in middle-income families fell to a new low of less than 50 percent, according to a report released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). By 2010, 47.9 percent of Californians lived in families considered middle income, after adjusting for the state's cost of living. These are families with incomes between $44,000 and $155,000. In 1980, 60 percent of California families were middle income. Family incomes declined across the spectrum betwe... more »
Taxing the 1% in 2012: Why Not Reform Prop 13?
*By Paul Hogarth* Beyond Chron The Occupy movement has given progressives an incredible opportunity to focus public attention on Wall Street greed and income inequality. Yesterday, activists launched a national Occupy Our Homes campaign to re-take foreclosed houses. But as a long-term strategy, we need serious policy changes for the 1% to pay their fair share – and in California, the logical place is the November 2012 ballot. Progressives have complained for decades that our tax system is unfair, such as the fact that Prop 13 benefits big commercial landlords who bankrupt local t... more »
California Conundrum: Competing Ballot Measures on Taxes Could Undermine One Another
*By David Dayen * It is said that California is a harbinger for the nation. Since we’re having a national conversation about taxes for the wealthy, it’s natural that California would play a role in that conversation. But a difference of opinion in how to go about that conversation could result in a counter-productive disaster – or a bounty for the state, suddenly flush enough to pay for pressing priorities. read more
Southern California Edison, Tribes Fight Over Revenues from Shuttered Coal Power Plant
*By Ngoc Nguyen* New America Media The Mohave coal-fired power plant in Laughlin, Nevada shut down in 2005, but it’s still generating millions of dollars in revenue for its majority owner Southern California Edison. A fight is currently underway in California over who should benefit from those revenues – anyone other than Southern California ratepayers -- and how those proceeds should be distributed. Locked in the fight -- which has been winding through the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for the last five years -- are the utility, the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, th... more »
They're Sacrificing Us to Save Wall Street - But "Occupy Our Homes" Could Change That
*By Richard (RJ) Eskow * This week 60 Minutes gave viewers a good look at the widespread criminality that created the Wall Street mortgage boom and led to our ongoing financial crisis. They also saw some of the overwhelming evidence of illegal activity on the part of big banks, and were reminded that none of those banks' executives have been prosecuted. As ugly as the situation is, there is some logic behind the government's actions - and its inactions. They're acting on a tragically incorrect (but internally coherent) set of assumptions that can be summed up in one sentence. It ... more »
