The Crocus Investment Fund

The Manitoba Federation of Labour created the Crocus Investment Fund in the early 1990's hoping to retain capital investments in Manitoba to save and create new jobs and protect the living standards of working people in Manitoba... especially in smaller communities.

Last defendant intends to settle in Manitoba Crocus Investment lawsuit

http://news.therecord.com/article/383730

July 15, 2008

THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Canadian Press, 2008

WINNIPEG - The final defendant in the lawsuit that resulted from the meltdown of Manitoba's Crocus Investment Fund has agreed to an out-of-court settlement.

Wellington West Capital has agreed in principle to a $500,000 payment that will end a lawsuit by former Crocus shareholders. Wellington West handled most of the underwriting for Crocus.

In a statement, Wellington West president Kish Kapoor said litigation would be expensive and would delay the distribution of Crocus assets to shareholders.

At the same time, Kapoor said Wellington West is confident that they would have prevailed in the case.

Other parties being sued, including the Manitoba government, had previously agreed to a $12-million settlement.

Crocus, a labour-sponsored venture fund that was set up by the government in 1992 and run by an arm's-length board, went into receivership in 2005 after its value plummeted through two multimillion-dollar writedowns.

The Fund ran into trouble and collapsed.

The Conservatives were thrilled, and wasted no time calling on the NDP government to pay everyone back and prosecute... and, of course, the media had a field day--- they couldn't wait to blame labour leaders for the Fund's failure.

But, now, the Conservatives have gone silent for some strange reason.

So, I sent this little message to my "Conservative" friends in Manitoba and to the media... for some reason I received no response:

The Conservatives in Manitoba demanded that all those who lost money in the labour-based Crocus Investment Fund should be compensated in full.



Why are these same Conservatives not, now, demanding complete compensation for all those losing money in the stock and bond markets as capitalism crashes?

Here are the e-mail addresses of some Winnipeg area media that clamored for pay-back for the investors in the Crocus Investment Fund; ask them why they aren't raising their voices for all who have lost so much money in the stock market crash... I notice also they haven't called for union pension funds to be compensated for their losses as capitalism continues on the skids to oblivion taking us all down the road to perdition:

Radio Station CJOB is the big right-wing talk radio in Winnipeg... with big-mouths Charles Adler and Larry Updike

'adleronline@gmail.com';
'cjobwebadmin@corusent.com';
'lupdike@cjob.com';
'obillson@cjob.com';

'jim.bender@sunmedia.ca'; Winnipeg Sun

'city.desk@freepress.mb.ca'; Winnipeg Free Press
'Gerald.Flood@freepress.mb.ca'; Winnipeg Free Press
'Steve.Pona@freepress.mb.ca'; Winnipeg Free Press
'Martin.Cash@freepress.mb.ca'; Winnipeg Free Press

Maybe these right-wing big-mouths should be asking the same question asked of guests on "Meet the Press" last Sunday:

What's the future of capitalism?

Working people always seem to come out holding the dirty end of the stick when they play around with capitalism no matter how noble the goal and intent... there is a lesson for us all as capitalism runs into newer and bigger problems every day.

The lesson is rather simple: Working people need socialism in order to survive.


Something to think about,

Alan L. Maki

What's the future of capitalism?

"Meet the Press" host David Gregory posed this question to his guests:

What's the future of capitalism?

Subject: "Meet the Press":... what's the future of capitalism?


From January 12, 2009 “Meet the Press”:



David Gregory: Let me ask a final question here in a conversation that will certainly go on. Mark Zandi, on the other end of all this, what’s the future of capitalism?



Mark Zandi: Oh, capitalism’s going to be fine. I mean, we’ve got a crisis of capitalism. We made a lot of mistakes as capitalists. And that’s why we have a government, and that’s why government has to be bold and step in the breach, and that’s what they’re doing. And on the other side of this, government will figure out a way to step out gracefully.



Paul Gigot: Well, I think capitalism will survive, but I think a good question now at this particular juncture is what kind of capitalism? Are we moving to a European brand; a, a much larger welfare state, a much larger entitlement state with slower growth, higher long-term unemployment? Or are we going to stick with what has been for the last 30 years, more or less, a relatively successful model? We’ve had this blowup. If we don’t make mistakes, we can get through this.

"We" made mistakes... give me a break; workers have had no part in the decision-making process.

"If we don't make mistakes, we can get through this." Capitalism is one big mistake.



Shouldn't we all be discussing this question?

What's the future of capitalism?

Here is how Marxist view the the problem:

From: Frederick Engels's--- Socialism: Utopian and Scientific/ (part of his /Anti-Dühring/), is a description of the crisis of capitalism that seems uncannily appropriate to today.


* * *

Commerce is at a standstill, the markets are glutted, products accumulate, as multitudinous as they are unsaleable, hard cash disappears, credit vanishes, factories are closed, the mass of the workers are in want of the means of subsistence, because they have produced too much of the means of subsistence; bankruptcy follows upon bankruptcy, execution upon execution. The stagnation lasts for years; productive forces and products are wasted and destroyed wholesale, until the accumulated mass of commodities finally filter off, more or less depreciated in value, until production and exchange gradually begin to move again. Little by little the pace quickens. It becomes a trot. The industrial trot breaks into a canter, the canter in turn grows into the headlong gallop of a perfect steeplechase of industry, commercial credit and speculation, which finally, after breakneck leaps, ends where it began--in the ditch of a crisis. And so over and over again. We have now, since the year 1825, gone through this five times, and at the present moment (1877) we are going through it for the sixth time.... The fact that the socialised organisation of production within the factory has developed so far that it has become incompatible with the anarchy of production in society, which exists side by side with and dominates it, is brought home to the capitalists themselves by the violent concentration of capital that occurs during crises, through the ruin of many large, and a still greater number of small, capitalists. The whole mechanism of the capitalist mode of production breaks down under the pressure of the productive forces, its own creations. It is no longer able to turn all this mass of means of production into capital. They lie fallow, and for that very reason the industrial reserve army must also lie fallow. Means of production, means of subsistence, available labourers, all the elements of production and of general wealth, are present in abundance. But "abundance becomes the source of distress and want" (Fourier), because it is the very thing that prevents the transformation of the means of production and subsistence into capital. For in capitalistic society the means of production can only function when they have undergone a preliminary transformation into capital, into the means of exploiting human labour power.

Frederick Engels's---
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific/
part of his...
Anti Dühring/
New York: International Publishers, 1935, pages 64-65

David Gregory probably won't be asking his guests to comment on Engel's observation any time soon.

However, as it becomes more obvious to many people that capitalism has failed and on the skids to oblivion David Gregory might start asking his guests how long we should remain on this capitalist road to perdition.

Something to think about around the kitchen table as you are trying to figure out how to make ends meet and pay your heating and health care bills while this rotten, corrupt government squanders billions of dollars subsidizing this Israeli slaughter of the children of Gaza which has turned into a full-fledged pogrom.

Alan L. Maki

Only in America... tears of joy over the election of a con-artist and flim-flam man...

... while there are no tears of sorrow from Obama's merry-makers for the children of Gaza being slaughtered by Israeli butchers as Barack Obama remains shamefully silent and the United States Congress encourages and cheers this Israeli genocidal killing spree in Gaza on.

We really are on the road to perdition with capitalism on the skids to oblivion... the only question now remaining is how long will the American working class allow this barbarity to continue.

Like Obama, his supporters in organized labor have been shamefully silent, too, as they think their silence is a requirement for securing the Employee Free Choice Act.

It will take much more than organizing more unions with class collaborationist union leaders like John Sweeney and Andy Stearn to turn this country around as they seek to manipulate and control the unions to be in complicity and support for this imperialist barbarity.

All of this takes place under the guise of the "politics of pragmatism" which turns its ugly head in indifference to human suffering in places like Gaza hoping to get a little "piece of the action"... this is a one-way, dead-end alley for working people.

The merchants of death and destruction have spun a powerful web of corruption and destruction... as the military-financial-industrial complex amasses great profits from war, misery and poverty.

The time has come for working people to bury this rotten system; not the children of Gaza... capitalism has become a cannibalistic, barbaric imperialist beast through which the Wall Street coupon clippers survive and thrive... no other face can be put to the problem other than that of the dead children of Gaza no matter how hard the capitalist soothsayers try.

Instead of cheering Obama on he should be met with the most militant outcry of protests when he is inaugurated.

Throw your shoes at Bush as he finally leaves office...

... shove pictures of the dead and wounded children of Gaza in Obama's face to let him see that while he arrogantly stuck his nose in the air as people plead with him to vigorously speak up and speak out along with the rest of the world in condemnation of this bestial and barbaric Israeli killing spree the children of Gaza died largely as a result of his disgraceful and shameful silence as he continues to embrace these Israeli butchers.

Alan L. Maki


Shame on Obama; shame on those who will celebrate his election with tears of joy as the children of Gaza die...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090115/pl_nm/us_usa_inauguration_people_2

Across U.S., parties, viewings set for inauguration

(Reuters) – Cincinnati is hosting a viewing party in the city's central square, Kansas City will open its civic center and churches across America have chartered buses so supporters can watch the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama in person.

In towns and cities far from Washington, Americans are gearing up to watch the swearing-in on Tuesday of the first black U.S. president at events both public and private, eager to mark the historic moment with more than the usual fanfare.

"I remember when the first man walked on the moon, watching it on television, and this is like that," said Caren Burger, a Cincinnati business owner. "I'll be glued to the TV."

While Burger plans to watch the event at home -- she said she'll be crying in joy at the inauguration of Democrat Obama and shunned by Republican friends -- others said they want to share the moment.

In Mission, Kansas, Lucky Brewgrille restaurant owner Greg Fuciu said he expected a packed house on inauguration day and planned to have several televisions showing the events.

"I think it is change we need," said Fuciu, who does not consider himself a Democrat but did vote for Obama. "The last eight years I don't think the Republican Party has led us in a great direction."

Newspapers are filled with reports of viewing parties at Starbucks shops, movie theaters, black churches, sports bars, schools and museums.

The official swearing-in ceremony on the steps of the Capitol will be followed by a parade to the White House and numerous inaugural balls -- amounting to hours of television coverage.

"TIME TO CELEBRATE"

Barbara Ikerd is helping organize an inauguration party at a civic center in downtown Kansas City, where at least 1,000 people were expected to turn out on Tuesday.

"We worked hard during the campaign and now it is time to celebrate," said 57-year-old Ikerd. Ikerd, who was laid off from General Motors, said she has high hopes the Obama can repair the economy.

"I'm unemployed, I have family that have been laid off, jobs are just disappearing," she said. "So I'm in tune to that message of hope."

In Texas, Sharon Johnson is organizing a bus trip from Houston to Washington so 55 people can join the crowds in the nation's capital for the inauguration. Johnson, 52, said the event had special resonance for her because she is the great-granddaughter of a slave.

"He still managed to send all of his grandchildren to college. So for us we had to get an education and vote," she told Reuters by phone, her voice cracking with emotion. She expects the bus trip to take about 26 hours.

Others will watch the events in private.

"I'm looking forward to it," retiree Karen von Herrmann told Reuters while walking her dog in a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. "I'm interested in seeing how different it is from the last one, to see if there are any protesters."

WATCHING HISTORY

Across the country, schools, churches, radio stations and congressional offices have launched contests to distribute coveted tickets to the inauguration, and overflow crowds are expected in Washington for the ceremony and parade.

Organizers of a special inauguration rail excursion from Chicago to Washington said they sold out and could have filled a second train if they had the cars to do it. Forty-four people paid $2,599 each for the trip in three 1950s-era restored sleeper cars and a vintage diner.

"We've turned a lot of people away and we're still getting calls," said Frank Corley, marketing manager for American Rail Excursions in Dearborn, Mich.

Others in Chicago, Obama's adopted hometown, said they may miss viewing the event on Tuesday because they have to work, but expect the city to stand still to mark the moment.

"I have a feeling when it happens I'm going to stop in my tracks -- the existential moment, is that what they call it?" said Gershon Mayer, 68, who operates a car service out of Hyde Park, Obama's home neighborhood.

In San Francisco, Filipina immigrant Vicky Refurzo said she will tune in to watch history.

"I'm just so excited -- I want to watch. I live here 48 years, 49. I arrived when it was President Kennedy -- it might be similar," said Refurzo, 79.

For many black Americans, the inauguration of Obama, the son of a white mother and a black Kenyan father, holds particular resonance.

"I honestly never thought I'd see that day that this would happen," said Ron Busby, the president of the Phoenix Black Chamber of Commerce. Busby said he considered going to Washington to see the event for himself, but has instead arranged an after-work party at a downtown sports bar.

"We are going to celebrate with a happy-hour party," Busby said. "I'll be elated."

(Additional reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City, Ed Stoddard in Fort Worth, Tim Gaynor in Phoenix, Peter Henderson in San Francisco, Mike Conlon and Andrew Stern in Chicago; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Here we go again with a bunch of liberal do-gooders telling working people what the Minimum Wage should be...

These "faith leaders" should be commended for grappling with the minimum wage issue...

However, here we go again with a bunch of well-heeled do-gooders telling working people what the minimum wage should be.

The time has come for the wealthiest country in the world to establish the Minimum Wage based upon the scientific calculations of the United States Department of Labor and its Bureau of Labor Statistics based upon real cost of living factors.

Any school child understand what these "leaders of faith" do not comprehend; and that is that you cannot eliminate poverty while paying people poverty wages.

Not one of these preachers would live on $10.00 an hour... nor, could they provide for their families on $10.00 an hour based salaries so why would they expect any working class family to have to try scraping buy on such a pittance?

Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council


National Faith Leaders Call for Lifting Economy by
Raising Minimum Wage

Living Wage events link MLK Dream to ending poverty
wages

From: Let Justice Roll

January 9, 2009

http://www.letjusticeroll.org/

Washington, DC

The leaders of 11 denominations and national faith
organizations are among the inaugural signers of Let
Justice Roll's letter in support of a $10 federal
minimum wage in 2010. Nearly 400 faith leaders from all
50 states have already endorsed $10 in 2010 and more
are signing on every day.

Let Justice Roll, a national coalition of faith,
community, labor and business organizations, will hold
Living Wage events this weekend and on the Martin
Luther King holiday weekend as part of the "$10 in
2010" campaign and in support of state and local living
wage campaigns.

"Well before the recession, growing numbers of employed
men and women sought help at food banks and homeless
shelters because they could not live on poverty wages,"
said Rev. Steve Copley, chair of Let Justice Roll. When
the federal minimum wage increased to $6.55 an hour
last July, it still left workers with less buying power
than they had in 1997, at the start of the longest
period without a raise since the minimum wage was
enacted in1938.

"Our economy wouldn't be in such a mess if wages had
not fallen so far behind the cost of living and income
inequality had not grown to levels last seen on the eve
of the Great Depression," said Holly Sklar, senior
policy adviser for Let Justice Roll and co-author of A
Just Minimum Wage: Good for Workers, Business and Our
Future. "As we are seeing so painfully, an economy
fueled by rising debt rather than rising wages is a
house of cards."

It would take about $10 to match the buying power of
the 1968 minimum wage. "It is immoral that the minimum
wage is worth less now than it was in 1968, the year
Dr. Martin Luther King was killed while fighting for
living wages for sanitation workers," said Rev. Copley.
"It's also bad for the economy. Minimum wage dollars go
right back to local business through spending on food,
healthcare and other necessities."

Most of the 27 states with minimum wages higher than
the federal level have unemployment rates that are
lower than the federal level.

Congregations and organizations in states such as
Tennessee, Georgia, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California
and Colorado will hold Living Wage services and events
this month. For example:

- In Nashville, TN, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and
Unitarian services will be part of a campaign for a
citywide living wage ordinance, and the interfaith
coalition will march in the annual Martin Luther King
Day parade with signs that say "Living Wage Was Part of
His Dream" and "Let Justice Roll."

- In Nashua, NH, the president of the Unitarian
Universalist Association, Rev. William G. Sinkford,
will preach at a Living Wage service.

In addition to federal work, Let Justice Roll is
currently organizing to raise state and local minimum
wages in Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma
and Tennessee. Recently, Let Justice Roll helped
workers in Kansas City, KS, more than double their pay
from the lowest-in-the-US state minimum of $2.65 an
hour. And Let Justice Roll is looking ahead to new
campaigns in the South, where so many workers suffer
the hardship of poverty wages.

Most of the ten occupations projected by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics to have the largest employment growth
during 2006-2016, such as retail salespersons, fast
food workers, home health aides and janitors, have
disproportionate numbers of minimum wage workers.

"A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in
it," said Holly Sklar. "The minimum wage sets the wage
floor, and we cannot build a strong economy on
downwardly mobile wages and rising poverty, inequality
and insecurity. As President Roosevelt understood, we
have to raise the floor to lift the economy."

Inaugural "$10 in 2010" faith leader signers include:

Rev. Steve Copley, Chair of the Board, Let Justice
Roll; Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National
Council of Churches USA; Dr. Sharon Watkins, General
Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) in US & Canada; Rev. John H. Thomas, General
Minister and President, United Church of Christ; Rev.
Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Rev. William G. Sinkford,
President, Unitarian Universalist Association; Rabbi
David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism; Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary,
American Friends Service Committee; Sister Simone
Campbell, Exec. Director, NETWORK: A National Catholic
Social Justice Lobby; James Winkler, General Secretary,
United Methodist General Board of Church & Society;
Rev. Alexander Sharp, Exec. Director, Protestants for
the Common Good; Rev. Kim Bobo, Exec. Director,
Interfaith Worker Justice.

For the full text of the $10 in 2010 letter,

as well as information on signing, please visit

http://www.letjusticeroll.org/

or call Rev. Steve Copley at 501-626-9220.

KKE demands, "an immediate end to Israel's attack" on Gaza

Following the meeting with the President of the Republic, the Secretary General of KKE (Communist Party of Greece) speaking to the journalists noted that real help and solidarity to the Palestinian people means demanding independent Palestinian State at the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital. She demanded an immediate end to Israel's attack, pointing out that the term “ceasefire” does not mean anything since it puts the victim and the aggressor on equal footing. “The Israeli raid must stop now; the Israelis must withdraw from all Arab territories without conditions. This is our position”, she concluded.

Communist Party of Greece, Aleka Papariga raises Palestinian issue in meeting with the President of the Republic.

-------------------------------------------------

From: Communist Party of Greece, Tuesday, January 13, 2009

http://inter.kke.gr

mailto: cpg@int.kke.gr



Aleka Papariga raises Palestinian issue in meeting with the President of the Republic. KKE (Communist Party of Greece)denounces the use of Greek port by the US to re-supply the Israeli army.





Yesterday, Monday December 12, KKE (Communist Party of Greece) Secretary General Aleka Papariga was received by the President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias and discussed the situation in Palestine. The President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias showed strong interest in the situation in Gaza and was briefed by Aleka Papariga about her recent visit to Palestine.


Following the meeting with the President of the Republic, the Secretary General of KKE (Communist Party of Greece) speaking to the journalists noted that real help and solidarity to the Palestinian people means demanding independent Palestinian State at the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital. She demanded an immediate end to Israel's attack, pointing out that the term “ceasefire” does not mean anything since it puts the victim and the aggressor on equal footing. “The Israeli raid must stop now; the Israelis must withdraw from all Arab territories without conditions. This is our position”, she concluded.


She also denounced the use of the port of Astakos for the re-supplying of the Israeli army by the US. Aleka Papariga rejected the denials of the Greek government and accused it of concealing real facts. She pointed out that there is a US Navy spokesman's statement that confirms the transfer of ammunition from Astakos port.


Aleka Papariga will visit the town of Astakos on Wednesday 14th of January, and will participate in a demonstration organized by the party’s branches in the area, against its use for the supply of the Israeli army.


On Sunday January 18th, KNE will also held a pan-hellenic mobilization at Astakos asking to be shut down for the supply of Israel. The parliamentary group of KKE submitted to the government a question on the issue.

The minimum wage and Employee Free Choice Act

Unfortunately, Carl Davidson and crew at "Progressives for Obama"--- in spite of their pronouncements of being so democratically progressive and their stated intent on making sure the Obama Administration does right by working people--- refuse to allow my postings to the "Progressives for Obama" list serve or in any of their other discussion boards... so, I am posting my response to this on my own blog and sending it along via-e-mail to several thousand activists inside and outside the Democratic Party where I have been elected to a variety of positions over the last thirty years--- including as convention delegate and to the state central committee of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (Democratic Party).

Note: I post Jonathan Tasini's complete essays: Conspiracy of Silence" and "An Emergency Bailout Plan That Americans Will Love" below. I think his essays offer a great opportunity for discussion, dialogue and debate.

I have included Jonathan's excellent suggestions which come from his linked post--- for now, I would like to offer some discussion on his minimum wage proposal and the Employee Free Choice Act--- numbers one and six:

1. Immediately raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour, with additional increases over the fives years following raising the minimum wage to $20, which will begin to return some justice and return to workers’ sweat of the brow.

2. Pass HR676, Medicare for All legislation to (Rep. John Conyers is the main sponsor of the bill). Aside from the moral issue of covering every single American and making health care a right not a privilege, it would save the economy hundreds of billions of dollars and immediately make American-based companies competitive around the world with companies operating from countries with national health care.

3. Create a national guaranteed universal pension plan, backed by the government, so people can be sure that their retirement years will not be threatened by the wild swings of Wall Street.

4. Repeal the Bush tax cuts now and raise the top two income tax rates to 40% and 45%, add a new 50% income tax bracket for those with taxable income over $1 million, and tax investment income as ordinary income. Frankly, that is pretty modest and should only be the first step in rediscovering a progressive taxation system—but it will still raise several hundred billion dollars this year to finance a variety of public investments. The very people who have enriched themselves in the deregulation orgy of the past couple of decades should pay to repair the country.

5. A couple of years ago, when I was involved in a little political race of my own, I latched on to this idea: a tiny transactions tax on stock sales. It would be so minuscule that the small investors would never feel it, say, 0.25 percent of the sale. It would raise about $150 billion. Wall Street benefits from government protections, not the least of which is a regulatory system (oh, there I go using that "regulation" word, which now seems to be back in vogue) that prevents, in theory, fraud and crazy speculation (ok, so that doesn’t always work out well). Plus, such a tax might also exercise some restraint, perhaps modest, on the wild and crazy big trades made on rumors and the thirst for a quick buck. But, the main point is shared responsibility. You live in this society and, so, you make a contribution. And that contribution is relatively modest and relatively painless.

6. The Employee Free Choice Act. There is no better middle-class jobs program than unionization. Period.

First, the minimum wage...

Jonathan acknowledges that the minimum wage should be just over $19.00 an hour now if a small family is to escape poverty... so, why would he suggest anything less than a real, living, non-poverty wage as part of his suggestions?

It is time for progressives and others to stop pulling figures--- willy-nilly--- from a hat concerning the minimum wage while suggesting the wages of other workers be increased; this suggestion only serves to drive a wedge between working people when our objective is unity of the working class.

The solution to this is very simple; and, the solution unites the working class and anyone else considering themselves progressive... here it goes:

Legislatively tie the minimum wage to what the United States Department of Labor and its Bureau of Labor Statistics would determine a real living--- non-poverty--- wage to be, based upon real cost of living factors... if $19.00 is the where the minimum wage should be for a small family to live out of poverty, so be it; legislate it at that level.

And recalculate the minimum wage every three months there-after.

Suggesting a poverty-level minimum wage should be abhorrent to every progressive. As for the Employee Free Choice Act, many calling themselves progressive and supporting this act do so without considering that it will take twenty-eight state legislatures in this country rescinding "at-will hiring; at-will firing" legislation currently on the books in these twenty-eight states for workers to avail themselves of the benefits of the Employee Free Choice Act... but, as with the carnage of Palestinians in Gaza, the Democratic Party has refused to act--- and Barack Obama has remained silent; and, again, like with the Israeli killing spree in Gaza, the AFL-CIO and Change To Win remains silent.

Again, we see the "politics of pragmatism" playing out fully and working people are the ultimate losers--- and victims.

No matter how loudly those calling themselves "progressives" make the claim, calls for legislating a minimum wage that is anything but a living wage is very reactionary and divisive in the working class movement and calling for implementation of the Employee Free Choice Act while ignoring the very reactionary, anti-labor aspects of "at-will hiring; at-will firing" is nothing short of hypocritical... especially when a union contract is better than any government anti-poverty program with the exception of those union contracts which impose poverty wages on working people.

Its kind of like calling for justice for working people but excluding the two-million casino workers employed in the Indian Gaming Industry in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws... these right-to-work-for-less without-any-rights colonies created by these same Democrats like Barack Obama and his Democratic Party giving their full ascent to Israel to carry out a genocidal campaign of murder and mayhem... with progressives offering a few words in opposition but not organizing any real resistance... let alone initiate a real alternative to the two-party trap knowing we are like a dog chasing its tail... around and around we go, never getting anywhere.

Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council


***************************


Jonathan Tasini

Posted January 6, 2009 | 09:23 AM (EST)

Conspiracy of Silence: Wage Collapse Caused Crisis

Every day, there is another example of the conspiracy of silence that pervades the traditional media's description of the current economic crisis. Sure, de-regulation, greed and pure stupidity has a lot to do with it. But, in truth, the underlying reason for the collapse has been a persistent war on the wages of American workers.

Call it -- egads -- class warfare.What is astonishing, and aggravating, is that much of the traditional media continues to point the finger at workers -- those wild-spending people who just bought all those yachts, fur coats and mansions in far-away countries. And, now, shame on them, those wild-spending workers are doing something awful -- they are saving money.This morning brings another example, courtesy of The Wall Street Journal:

Rick and Noreen Capp recently reduced their credit-card debt, opened a savings account and stopped taking their two children to restaurants. Jessica and Alan Muir have started buying children's clothes at steep markdowns, splitting bulk-food purchases with other families and gathering their firewood instead of buying it for $200 a cord. As layoffs and store closures grip Boise, these two local families hope their newfound frugality will see them through the economic downturn. But this same thriftiness, embraced by families across the U.S., is also a major reason the downturn may not soon end. Americans, fresh off a decadeslong buying spree, are finally saving more and spending less -- just as the economy needs their dollars the most.Usually, frugality is good for individuals and for the economy. Savings serve as a reservoir of capital that can be used to finance investment, which helps raise a nation's standard of living. But in a recession, increased saving -- or its flip side, decreased spending -- can exacerbate the economy's woes. It's what economists call the "paradox of thrift."U.S. household debt, which has been growing steadily since the Federal Reserve began tracking it in 1952, declined for the first time in the third quarter of 2008. In the same quarter, U.S. consumer spending growth declined for the first time in 17 years.

The article goes on to describe how people are now pulling back from spending and doing with less. But, nowhere in the piece do we read about the most important factor that lead to people piling up debt: the lack of wage growth.I have been doing a presentation around the country about the short-term and long-term reasons for the economic crisis facing workers. Here is the slide (courtesy of the Economic Policy Institute and Change To Win) that I think is perhaps the most graphic, clear explanation of why we are where we are. It measures productivity versus wages:Basically, the basic bargain was roughly this -- if you worked hard and became more productive, you would see that sweat of the brow in your wages. And from the post-war era until the 1970s, that deal basically held -- as you can see from the lines that are basically close together until the 1970s.Then, the lines diverge -- dramatically. You can see it yourself. If the lines had continued to track closely together as they did prior to the 1970s, the minimum wage would be more than $19 an hour. The minimum wage!So, in short: people had no money coming in in their paychecks so they were forced to pay for their lives through credit -- either plastic or drawing down equity from their homes. There are lots of reasons that this happened -- greed, the attack against unions, de-regulation, dumb trade deals.But, the point is: we will never fix the economic crisis, whether through short-term economic stimulus and certainly not through tax cuts, until paychecks are re-inflated. Dramatically.I outlined a whole set of solutions to bailout American workers but the main one is simple: raise wages. Dramatically. And end -- and I know some people cringe at the term -- the class warfare that has been underway for the past three decades.




_____________________________


An Emergency Bailout Plan That Americans Will Love

by Jonathan Tasini

Tuesday 30 of September, 2008


There is a great economic emergency looming in our country. But, it seems to me that we—or at least our elected leaders—have only looked at one side of the crisis, that of the housing bubble-inspired financial credit crunch. By doing so, we’ve missed the bigger picture and the solutions needed. So, here is one person’s take on the Emergency Economic Bailout package that will heal the economy.

As quick background, let’s consider this:

24.5 all Americans earn poverty wages (9.60 or less)

10 percent of all Americans—15 million Americans—earn 6.79 or less

33.3 percent of African American works and 39.3 of Hispanic workers earn poverty wages.

The share of our entire national income hoarded by the top one percent is, as of 2005, 21.8 percent. The last time it was that high was in 1928 (23.9)—just as the Great Depression was about to hit with its full fury.

We accept poverty as a fact of life in this country—partly because workers have not gotten the fair share of their hard work over the past three decades (in Republican and Democratic Administrations). If productivity and wages had kept their historic link (meaning, as workers were more productive, that translated into higher paychecks), the MINIMUM WAGE in the country would be $19.12. Yes, $19.12.

At the recent new minimum wage of $6.55 an hour, if you worked every single day, 40 hours a week, with no vacations, no holidays, no health care and no pension, you would earn the grand sum of $13.624. The POVERTY LEVEL for a family of three is $17,600.

47 million Americans have no health care and tens of millions more have inadequate or costly health care that can bankrupt them.

Since 1978, the number of defined-benefit plans—that means, pensions that give retirees a promised monthly amount—plummeted from 128,041 plans covering some 41 percent of private-sector workers to only 26,000 today. It’s a Dog Food Retirement future for millions of people.

All those numbers above do relate to the more narrow crisis in a very specific way: without being able to rely on their paychecks to survive, a lot of people got sucked into the housing bubble mania as an economic coping mechanism. Home equity credit lines substituted for decent pay, retirement and affordable, quality health care. And we know the rest.

So, here is what I think is a more comprehensive economic rescue plan, all of which should be attached to any new "bailout" proposal:

1. Immediately raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour, with additional increases over the fives years following raising the minimum wage to $20, which will begin to return some justice and return to workers’ sweat of the brow.

2. Pass HR676, Medicare for All legislation to (Rep. John Conyers is the main sponsor of the bill). Aside from the moral issue of covering every single American and making health care a right not a privilege, it would save the economy hundreds of billions of dollars and immediately make American-based companies competitive around the world with companies operating from countries with national health care.

3. Create a national guaranteed universal pension plan, backed by the government, so people can be sure that their retirement years will not be threatened by the wild swings of Wall Street.

4. Repeal the Bush tax cuts now and raise the top two income tax rates to 40% and 45%, add a new 50% income tax bracket for those with taxable income over $1 million, and tax investment income as ordinary income. Frankly, that is pretty modest and should only be the first step in rediscovering a progressive taxation system—but it will still raise several hundred billion dollars this year to finance a variety of public investments. The very people who have enriched themselves in the deregulation orgy of the past couple of decades should pay to repair the country.

5. A couple of years ago, when I was involved in a little political race of my own, I latched on to this idea: a tiny transactions tax on stock sales. It would be so miniscule that the small investors would never feel it, say, 0.25 percent of the sale. It would raise about $150 billion. Wall Street benefits from government protections, not the least of which is a regulatory system (oh, there I go using that "regulation" word, which now seems to be back in vogue) that prevents, in theory, fraud and crazy speculation (ok, so that doesn’t always work out well). Plus, such a tax might also exercise some restraint, perhaps modest, on the wild and crazy big trades made on rumors and the thirst for a quick buck. But, the main point is shared responsibility. You live in this society and, so, you make a contribution. And that contribution is relatively modest and relatively painless.

6. The Employee Free Choice Act. There is no better middle-class jobs program than unionization. Period.

The point of these suggestions is not just moral but common, economic sense. The way to avoid, to some extent, speculation and crazy amounts of debt is to take away the victims that are preyed on by banks, unscrupulous investors and free-market pirates. If a person has a decent income, real health care, a secure retirement and a government that can invest in the country, he or she is less likely to feel the need to latch on to risky investments and get-rich-quick schemes (also known as day-trading).

My guess is the American people would feel pretty good about a deal that included the above. To those, I’d add two specific pieces about the current mess:

First, any investment of money in banks is done on a debt-for-equity swap. No bailouts. As Nouriel Roubini and my friend Dean Baker have both pointed out, there is no justification or economic logic to bailout banks as a solution to the crisis we find ourselves in. Roubini writes, in arguing that the buying up bad assets is the exception, not the rule, and:

So this rescue plan is a huge and massive bailout of the shareholders and the unsecured creditors of the financial firms (not just banks but also other non bank financial institutions); with $700 billion of taxpayer money the pockets of reckless bankers and investors have been made fatter under the fake argument that bailing out Wall Street was necessary to rescue Main Street from a severe recession. Instead, the restoration of the financial health of distressed financial firms could have been achieved with a cheaper and better use of public money.

Second, as I’ve argued, we should own Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. We need those two huge institutions to be boring and predictable, not participating in crazy leveraging and speculation. The only we guarantee that is by installing publicly accountable board members who will run the companies for the benefit of homeowners, not profiteers.

Why hasn't the AFL-CIO opposed the Israeli carnage of Palestinian people in Gaza?

-----Original Message-----

From: Alan Maki [mailto:amaki000@centurytel.net]

Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 3:29 PM

To: 'jscannel@aflcio.org'

Cc: 'dom@milwaukeelabor.org'; 'mnaflcio@mnaflcio.org'; 'Michael Eisenscher'; 'debssoc@sbcglobal.net'; 'WCS-A@yahoogroups.com'; 'teresa_detrempe@klobuchar.senate.gov'; 'amy_berglund@levin.senate.gov'; 'elizabeth_reed@levin.senate.gov'; 'eliot.seide@afscmemn.org'; 'DLONG@uaw.net'; 'rgettel@uaw.net'; 'Joshua Frank'; 'carld717@aol.com'; 'Peter Rachleff'; 'mzweig@notes.cc.sunysb.edu'

Subject: Re: Our phone conversation regarding the situation in Gaza

Josh Scannell, Media Relations, AFL-CIO,

This is to confirm our phone conversation at about 3 p.m.Central Time on January 9, 2009 concerning Gaza.

I called the main National AFL-CIO phone number (202-637-500) asking to find out if the AFL-CIO has taken a position on the Israeli carnage of Palestinians in Gaza.

I was transferred to you.

You told me that if the AFL-CIO had taken a position you would have been informed; since you were not informed you concluded, therefore, the AFL-CIO has taken no position regarding the situation in Gaza.

You further said that this situation in Gaza was not something the AFL-CIO would take a position on usually because what is happening does not affect members of the AFL-CIO… please correct me if I am misstating what you told me.

I called to your attention that unions all over the world are taking a position on this issue; including the Canadian Labour Congress and the International Trade Union Confederation.

At present I am not a member of any union affiliated with the AFL-CIO but I have been in the past.

As I explained to you, it is mainly working people and their children and families suffering and dying in Gaza at the hands of these Israeli butchers.

As I pointed out to you, it becomes very hard to convince those who are not members of the AFL-CIO to support initiatives of the AFL-CIO when the AFL-CIO shows no concern or consideration for others in such matters.

Further, members of the AFL-CIO have a direct concern in this issue as their tax-dollars, too, are being used to fund this Israeli carnage of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Also, you must be aware that many members of AFL-CIO affiliated unions have family, relatives and friends living in Gaza and areas of Israel affected by this violence.

I do find it appalling that the AFL-CIO has delayed so long in considering this issue… certainly I am not the first person to make such an inquiry.

You said that you would pass my concerns along to the appropriate person/s and someone would contact me.

Please feel free to check out my blog on this issue:

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/canadian-labour-congress-calls-for-end.html

Thank you.

Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog:

Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/


Cc: Maggie Bird, President, Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

Canadian Labour Congress calls for an end to the bloodletting in Gaza

Please give this your immediate attention for widest distribution possible.



I urge everyone to circulate as widely as possible this important statement from the Canadian Labour Congress.

Please post on bulletin boards, distribute at union meetings, to church groups and community organizations.

Please also note the link to the “letter” contained in the statement.

We have the right to expect that Barack Obama will raise his voice in a similar manner.

Here are some concrete suggestions on what you can do:

First and foremost educate people because they are being lied to all the time by big-business politicians and the mainstream corporate media.

Organize and attend house meetings, church events, school programs where you offer education programs with films and speakers.




Second, help get goods and money to reputable aid organizations that you know and trust helping the people in Gaza.

Third, call your nearest Palestinian organization and meet with them to give support and get their input on how to help.

Fourth, organize "letter to the editor" nights in your home, school, church or union hall; organize petition drives and protests in your local community with messages for local, state, federal governments.

Fifth, help raise and collect money for huge media campaigns in support of ending this Israeli carnage of the Palestinian people.

Distribute copies of this statement and letter from the Canadian Labour Congress... get your local union or other organizations to issue similar statements and similar letters.

Local education and organizing is critical to halting the killing of the Palestinian people entrapped in Gaza.

Do not be afraid to speak out.

Do not be afraid to organize right from your own home.

We must reach out to all people in our own neighborhoods and communities while forming a network of solidarity with the people of Gaza.














Go to the nearest office of your Congressperson and U.S. Senator... take along a few friends and make it clear that Israel using our tax dollars to carry out this kind of murderous rampage in Gaza violates every norm of human decency.

Call on President-elect Barack Obama to speak out vigorously in opposition to Israel's barbaric actions. Too many children will be dead between now and the day Obama is sworn into office for him to put off taking the initiative to force this lame-duck President who is a pathetic excuse for a human being to start with to back off from his support for Israel, which only goads Israel on. Israel must understand that the American people will not stand for such a slaughter of the Palestinian people.

We must not allow Barack Obama to escape his responsibilities of adding his important voice to ours under the flimsy pretexts that "we only have one president at a time" because Bush should have been impeached by the Democrats long ago... nor, should we tolerate Obama's silence on the pretext that his worldly outlook and his politics are embodied in the time-worn and despicable "politics of pragmatism" which has seen president after president of the United States feign concern for the plight of the well-being of American people while perpetuating death and destruction abroad.

The time has come for the American people to stand in opposition to the Wall Street merchants of death and destruction who have spun a powerful web of state monopoly-capitalism to push the agenda of the military-financial-industrial complex which has but one aim no matter how many people will suffer: CORPORATE PROFITS.

You can contact Barack Obama through the link in the upper right-hand corner of my blog.

Please, as you gather around the dinner table this evening discuss what your family can do to stop the Israeli violence and killing spree in Gaza being financed with your tax dollars... the children of Gaza need your help and support.














Yours in the struggle for peace and social justice,
Alan L. Maki





-----Original Message-----
From: Lucien Royer [mailto:lroyer@clc-ctc.ca]
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 4:45 PM
To: Alan Maki; Hassan Yussuff
Subject: Re: violence in Gaza



Here is a copy of the CLC statement



http://canadianlabour.ca/en/canadian-labour-congress-calls-for-support-united-nations-peace-process-middle-east



Canadian Labour Congress Calls For Support of United Nations Peace Process in Middle East

2009-01-06 21:11



As the United Nations Security Council prepares to meet over the military assault by Israel in Gaza, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) calls on Prime Minister Harper to condemn the serious violations of humanitarian and international law and support a negotiated end to the violence in the Middle East.

"We support the United Nation's efforts to end hostilities by both sides", said CLC President Ken Georgetti in a letter addressed to the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to help strengthen UN efforts to bring about an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Palestine and open the way for a peace process in the region.

The CLC condemns both the actions of Hamas in launching rockets into Israel, ending a fragile six-month cease-fire, and Israel's military offensive into Gaza in response. With the death and injury toll rising daily, Georgetti says the Canadian government can play a leadership role in urging Israel to reopen the border crossings so that essential aid can reach the 1.5 million people suffering under a yearlong blockade of Gaza. The conflict has left Gaza's economy in shambles with an unemployment rate approaching 80%.

The CLC has joined with trade unions in Jordan and Palestine to launch an international appeal for food and medical relief for people affected by the conflict. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has also written to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for the UN to bring about an immediate cease-fire.

The UN Security Council will be meeting tonight to consider a resolution which could support an end to Israel's military assault, stop Hamas' rocket attacks against Israel, open Gaza's border crossings and involve international monitors in some capacity.

Georgetti said the CLC wants the Canadian government to support these measures and to urge UN Security Council to adopt them.







Lucien Royer

Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)

Director International Department

2841 Riverside Drivel, Ottawa

Canada KIV 8X7

lroyer@clc-ctc.ca

Roger Jourdain – Rudy Perpich – Floyd B. Olson – Elmer A. Benson Memorial Public Health Care System Act

Minnesota’s politicians have reneged on their repeated pre-election promises for health care reform for the last 60 years.



Quite frankly, we are fed up with this foot-dragging amid all kinds of phony schemes they have concocted in the name of reform which seek to put the burden of health care costs on the backs of the working class instead of where the primary burden belongs--- on those who profit from the labor of working people.



We thought we would help guide Minnesota politicians along in their efforts to achieve health care reform.



Health care is a human right.



Introducing a real solution to the present health care mess created by a profit driven system which places profits before the health care needs of people.



People before profits.



A proposal for real health care reform legislation from the working people of Minnesota.





Introducing the:



Roger Jourdain – Rudy Perpich – Floyd B. Olson – Elmer A. Benson Memorial Public Health Care System Act



From here on in this Act of the Minnesota Legislature shall be known as the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System.



The intent of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall be to provide Minnesotans with a world-class public health care system.



The sole purpose of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall be to keep people healthy and get them well when sick.



The Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall provide no-fee/no-premium universal health care for every single person present in Minnesota.



The Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall provide prenatal to burial health care which shall include, but not be limited to: eyes, dental, mental and general health care including any prescribed medications and shall include any physician directed physical therapy; home health care and nursing home care shall be included along with any hospitalization and the care associated with any hospital stay.



The Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall include public financing of the complete Health Care System.



The Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall be publicly administered with the only goals and objectives explicitly limited to providing Minnesotans with health care in accordance with the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.



All those employed in the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall be public employees protected under the terms of one collectively bargained labor-management agreement between the Administrators of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System and the Union freely chosen by majority vote of the members in accordance with the all labor laws and protections.



All and any discrimination in employment and in receiving health care under the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall be prohibited--- including, but not limited to, discrimination based on: race, sex, age, class, religious and political beliefs.



All health care professionals, from administrators and staff to doctors and nurses employed in the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall receive free education and training with any required subsidies through university and for any required periodic training associated with their employment and delivery of health care.



No restrictions shall be placed on any private health care providers who shall be free to compete with the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System.



Anyone is free to avail themselves of private health care for which they shall be liable for all payments except when required health care may not be available through the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System.



The Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall be paid for thusly:



A payroll tax on all workers which shall not exceed more than four-percent of income. Any worker making less than what the United States Department of Labor and its Bureau of Labor Statistics determines to be a real living income based upon cost of living factors shall be assessed one-percent of income and during periods of unemployment and/or income below the requirement no tax shall be collected.


Employers will be assessed a flat fee based upon the number of employees. One to ten employees: $600.00 per month. Eleven to thirty employees $650.00 per month. Thirty-one to eighty employees $750.00 per month. Eighty-one to two-hundred employees $800.00 per month. Over 201 employees, employers shall be required to pay $900.00 per month. These figures shall be base tax-rates subject to yearly adjustments to be determined by the Administrators of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System.


If additional revenue is required to finance the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System; this revenue shall be raised by specially designated increases in the taconite tax and stumpage fees from the mining and forestry industries respectively.


No funds collected for the purpose of funding the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall be used for any other purpose.


All funds presently designated for any other health care programs, whether local, state or federal shall herein after be designated for the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System.


All present local, state and federal health care programs operating in Minnesota shall be phased-into and merged into the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System.


Any and all health care education provided by public institutions shall be administered with the objective and goal of providing the required support for the success of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System with any duplication between colleges and universities to cease when it is possible to combine these educational services with the goal being to cut costs while providing the best possible training to maintain world class standards of health care for all Minnesotans.


Administrators of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall be appointed by a specially created Committee of Minnesota Legislators with the inclusion of one representative of the public, one representative from organized labor, one representative from the union representing employees of the Health Care System and one representative from business.



In order to initially secure the required staff for the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System all public university and college administrators together with all Administrators of any and all government programs in Minnesota shall have their pay and/or salaries cut by thirty percent to subsidize the training and education of the professional staff from doctors to nurses as required. This pay-cut shall remain in effect until the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System is fully staffed and therein after the responsibility of free education in the health care field shall be the responsibility of the State of Minnesota.



ALL children and their families in Minnesota shall be informed that a free education through university/college will be provide to any student meeting minimum required grade standards established by the Administrators of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System provided they agree to work in the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System for salaries not to exceed base pay of $65,000.00 a year for no less than 12 years; this salary shall include, but not be limited to, doctors and all Administrators. A special effort shall be made to recruit students from Indian Reservations and working class communities in rural and urban areas based upon the assumption that these students will be the most caring for those in the communities they come from. The pay schedule shall be modified on a yearly basis in consideration of cost-of-living factors as scientifically calculated by the United States Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics.



The responsibility for placing the required number of employees and personnel in local communities shall be determined by the Administrators of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System based solely upon the health care requirements of the Community with providing Minnesotans with a world class health care System always in mind.



Public education centering on keeping people healthy shall be a primary responsibility of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System for two reasons:



Healthy people are a far less burden on the health care system;


To be healthy is a human right.


The Administrators of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System shall be empowered to order employers (public and private) to remedy any and all problems related to human health. The cost and expense of correcting any and all problems shall be the responsibility of the Employer. All workers, without fear of recrimination, shall be educated and encouraged to report all health related concerns in their place of employment and in the communities where they reside.



Whenever possible, people will be allowed to have their choice of doctors; however, the primary goal of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System is to provide everyone with quality health care through fully trained and caring health care professionals.



The intent of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System is to provide all Minnesotans a universal health care system where health care is once and for all placed over and above the profit system. The sole objective of the Jourdain-Perpich-Olson-Benson Public Health Care System is to provide people with health care; not the health care industry with profits.



Roger Jourdain was the long-time serving Chairman of the Red Lake Nation who pioneered bringing health care to a community of Native American people who previous to his advocacy of health care as a human right had no access to heath care.



Rudy Perpich was the Governor of Minnesota who proposed increasing the taconite tax to provide better government for people, which included adequate health care.



Floyd B. Olson and Elmer A. Benson were the socialist governors of Minnesota who were among the first to advocate for a comprehensive, all-inclusive public health care system.



The Roger Jourdain – Rudy Perpich – Floyd B. Olson – Elmer A. Benson Memorial Public Health Care System Act provides the only practical and pragmatic health care alternative to private, for-profit health care.



The time has come for Minnesotans to boldly move forward in the area of health care reform based upon progressive Minnesota traditions.



Minnesotans have soundly rejected the for profit health care system, and at every opportunity Minnesotans have articulated their desire for what is embodied in the Roger Jourdain – Rudy Perpich – Floyd B. Olson – Elmer A. Benson Memorial Public Health Care System Act.



The time has come for the democratic will of the majority of Minnesotans to prevail when it comes to health care reform.





Consideration for similar national health care reform should be brought forward as part of the country-wide discussions now underway.



We propose that a national health care act be brought forward based upon the Roger Jourdain – Rudy Perpich – Floyd B. Olson – Elmer A. Benson Memorial Public Health Care System Act.



We further propose that this national health care act become known as the Franklin D. Roosevelt – Frances Perkins National Health Care Act; so named in the memory of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, who courageously stood up to the American Medical Association and the wealthy few in defense of a public health care program serving the health care needs of the American people to be included as part of the “New Deal.”



Any country spending trillions of dollars on wars and death and destruction can meet the health care needs of its citizens--- it really is as simple as this.



Initiated and Proposed by:



Minnesotans for Peace and Social Justice



Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council



Red Lake Casino, Hotel and Restaurant Employees’ Union Organizing Committee



Grand Casino Workers for Justice



Mystic Lake Casino Workers Organizing Committee



100 Concerned Members of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party



Thief River Falls Political Action Committee



Iron Range Club of the Communist Party USA

Why Barack Obama's "stimulus" package won't work

Barack Obama is proposing a stimulus package designed around pumping almost one-trillion dollars of tax-payer money into the coffers of private industry in order to "save and create three million jobs" as he dumps many times that into wars.

Here are the problems with this:

Before a dime is spent big-business will suck at least one-third of this money out in the form of profits. If providing big-business with profits is the way to stimulate the economy one must ask another very fundamental question:

Big-business has had its most profitable reign in this country over the last twenty years. If profits are associated with a thriving economy in any way, shape or form--- or are in any way responsible for a healthy economy--- the American economy should be thriving beyond anyone's wildest dreams right now. So, why is the economy sinking into the worst depression in human history?

The answer is quite simple: Corporate America has sucked so much wealth out of our economy in the form of profits that big-business didn't leave anything for the rest of us. CEO's and Wall Street coupon clippers get fabulously wealthy by amassing huge huge profits from the labor of working people. The result is that most of us can no longer purchase back what has been produced.

What we have is "over-production" in the midst of massive human needs going unmet in many areas from health care and housing to food, clothing, education and public infra-structure... not to mention people who are unemployed, employed part-time and at poverty wages cannot purchase consumer goods like automobiles, stoves and refrigerators. What the heck, many people cannot even afford to heat their homes let alone pay the mortgage.

If we allow Barack Obama to now turn over another trillion dollars to these greedy titans of big-business after it has been admitted and acknowledged that the the government can't even keep track of how the present trillion dollar bailout is being spent by the Wall Street bankers, how the heck are we going to know what hundreds of big-businesses are doing with another trillion dollar "stimulus" package?

Is anyone so naive to think that there is not massive corruption going on as these greedy pigs feed at the public trough?

We have seen the massive corruption involved in just about every single government agency from Health and Human Services to the Department of Interior... not to mention the vast web of corruption associated with military and highway and infrastructure spending.

The I35-W Bridge collapse is directly attributable to this massive corruption. There is no other explanation for improper gusset plates to have been used in building a bridge that was under constant inspection by both state and federal inspectors and a bridge which was supposedly routinely "inspected." If one does not believe corruption to have been involved, how, then, do we explain that after so many inspections and even a report citing the problem nothing was done to fix the problem?

Let's get real here. We have a corrupt and lying United States Congressman, James Oberstar, looking after transportation... and he makes the boast that he is solely responsible for all the roads and highways we have in Minnesota and most of the country... the corrupt engineering firms and contractors along with the corrupt building trades unions bankroll James Oberstar to the hilt; along with the banking, mining and forestry industries.

All infrastructure work is being done by private contractors... our departments of transportation do little more than plow snow, grade gravel roads and fill a few pot-holes--- on occasion, as a trip down just about any highway or road in Minnesota demonstrates these pot-holes are only filled occasionally.

One-trillion dollars isn't even enough to fill half the potholes in this country given the present level of private corporate and governmental corruption; let alone fix-up our public schools.

Three-million jobs? No way. Not if left to the present Wall Street coupon clippers and bankers.

Think about this:

Where will this trillion dollars for Obama's "stimulus package" come from?

The answer is easy.

Obama will now borrow back the trillion dollars the tax-payers just handed over to these Wall Street bankers to finance his infrastructure program! Obviously, the bankers are not lending this money out to anyone else because they intend to lend it for big fat interest payments to Obama for his "stimulus package."

If this isn't the epitome of a "racket" I don't know what else to call it.

And, working class tax-payers are the ones being taken for a ride since the Wall Street coupon clippers "pay" capital gains taxes not income tax... and it doesn't look like these Wall Street coupon clippers will be paying much in the way of capital gains taxes for quite some time.

During the depression of the 1930's jobs were created through public works projects and programs; thus, there was little to no corruption involved... except a hungry and tired worker leaning on a shovel periodically.

But, this capitalist economy is now so far gone, and mired in corruption, that it would take no less than six to eight trillion dollars invested in public works programs just to begin to turn things around.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Secretary of Labor--- Frances Perkins--- had high hopes that creating a socialized health care program would be the catalyst of the kind of public works programs required to get our country out of a depression... this idea of socialized health care was smothered by the Wall Street crowd of business oriented right-wing Democrats and Republicans who saw in a successful socialized health care system the prelude to socializing other parts of our economy... namely banking, energy, forestry and steel... and probably agriculture.

Regionally there were massive socialized programs--- like in energy--- with the Tennessee Valley Authority... much, if not most, which has now been privatized... detrimental privatizations we, as tax-payers and consumers of energy, are paying through the nose for.

It was not the idea of socialized health care these well-heeled opponents of socialized health care were really so concerned with as they organized opposition to Roosevelt's and Perkin's socialized health care project. What was at stake is a private industry (health care) being successfully placed under public ownership which struck such fear into the capitalists and fomented such massive opposition from big-business who feared that one socialist success would lead people to conclude that socialism works better than capitalism.

It is interesting to note, that Barack Obama now raises high, once again, the banner of the "politics of pragmatism" as the means to evade the need for massive real public works programs.

Let us make no mistake; private industry working on public infrastructure as proposed by Barack Obama is not the same as public works programs and projects.

As in the 1930's era depression, again, we need to look at socialized health care as the way out to get us out of the current depression.

And make no mistake, we are now in the midst of a general break-down of the capitalist economic system... a full blown depression is at hand. This depression is only going to worsen if control is left in the hands of those who profited in the first place as this mess was coming to be.

If only the Wall Street bankers and their hand-picked politicians would have merely twiddled their thumbs rather than stick their greedy fingers in the public till and pull the strings of their political puppets we would have been better off.

The make-work programs and projects of the 1930's by the Roosevelt Administration alleviated a whole lot of misery for working people. But, these programs and projects never were intended nor designed to get the country out of the economic depression. Had it not been for World War Two which was accompanied by massive industrial production financed with massive government spending which created massive debt, our country would still be in that economic depression (unless, of course, there would have been a socialist revolution).

I don't think any sane person is looking for war as a solution to the present economic mess. But, we had better be looking for an alternative to capitalism real quick.

The time has come to consider the fact that capitalism is a system which enriches the few while leaving massive misery and problems for the many; while socialism is a system of cooperation where the problems, concerns and the needs of the many will be resolved using the wealth created by working people.

As long as we tolerate a few corporate pigs and the corrupt public officials they bring to public office to run our country things are not going to change for the better. This is only common sense.

We can already see the glow and sparkle in the eyes of these greedy Wall Street bankers and corporate CEO's as they drool waiting in line over getting their "share" of business from Obama's "stimulus package."

How much longer will we continue to allow the Wall Street coupon clippers to abscond with all the profits as the working class gets left with the problems and the mess?

The only thing Obama's "stimulus package" is going to "stimulate" is these big, fat pigs fighting over who will feed at the public trough and suck in the profits.

As usual, working people will get the bill and the problems along with what the sparrows leave behind.

No doubt a few workers will get thrown bones by Obama to keep them quiet; but, most of the working class will suffer.

If anyone doubts this, we need only look at the situation surrounding the closing of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant... all it took was the promise of a few jobs in the building trades constructing an upscale racially segregated "green community" for the corrupt leaderships of the Minnesota AFL-CIO and Change To Win to join in cahoots with the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce and the Ford Motor Company wanting to demolish the plant and send two-thousand jobs to Thailand manufacturing the popular Ford Rangers... of course, corrupt public officials in the Democratic and Republican Parties and even in the green Party were only too eager to serve their corporate masters.

To expect that Barack Obama and his "politics of pragmatism" will demonstrate any more concern for the plight of American workers than he does for the plight of the Palestinian people being slaughtered by a right-wing, warmongering, racist Israeli regime bent on expansion and control of the surrounding lands and resources is sheer stupidity. Israel intends to do to the Palestinian people what the United States government did to the American Indian... steal their land and repress and impoverish the remaining people their campaign of genocide cannot eliminate.

Do you really expect that anyone who has just been elected to the presidency of the United States on a message of "the change we need" and then sits in silence in the face of such bestial and ruthless Israeli carnage of the Palestinian people in the name of the "politics of pragmatism" really cares about anyone or anything besides the interests of the Wall street bankers and coupon clippers who comprise the military-financial-industrial complex?

Something to think about and discuss around the dinner table as you contemplate the relationship between why you can't afford to go to a doctor and Obama's shameful silence in the face of the Israeli carnage of the Palestinian people--- most of whom are working people and their families--- taking place right now in Gaza.

Then think about why we don't have the resources needed to help American workers through this economic depression with real socially useful and necessary public works programs and projects like the Roosevelt Administration undertook so successfully.

What is our financing a worthless warmongering Israeli government to slaughter innocent Palestinian people really costing you?

A job? Health care? An education? Good roads and safe bridges?

What is this campaign of carnage in Gaza "stimulating" besides more war, death, destruction and hate?

By the time we are done paying for this carnage in Gaza there isn't going to be any money left to "stimulate" anything... we would be better off if we all just took our wallets and purses out to the nearest lake and tossed them out from the end of a dock to sink.

Only a complete fool would say they are trying to stimulate the economy on the one hand while on the other hand spending much more on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and funding the Israeli carnage of the Palestinian people. We are all being played for suckers and fools.

Alan L. Maki

Barack Obama and the politics and philosophy of "pragmatism"

We now see what kind of president Barack Obama will be now that he has clearly articulated his philosophical world view as being defined by the "politics of pragmatism."

As the brutal and beastial carnage of the Palestinian people by the U.S. backed Israeli government continues, Barack Obama continues to frollick in silence on the beautiful, moonlit, sun-warmed, sandy beaches of Hawaii in complete indifference to the Gaza bloodshed.

Indifference to human suffering is a basic and fundamental hallmark of the "politics of pragmatism."

And, during this same period of continuing bloodletting in Gaza, Barack Obama and his handlers along with his sleazy apologists like those muddle-headed middle class intellectuals associated with the outfit "Progressives for Obama" have shamefully chosen this time to define Obama's politics as "the politics of pragmatism."

In the name of the "politics of pragmatism" Obama and his handlers excuse his indifference to the bloodletting taking place in Gaza.

The "politics of pragmatism" has been used to cover-up and excuse the crimes of imperialism and capitalist exploitation for over one-hundred years.

For over one-hundred years, the "politics of pragmatism" has been the official philosophy and world view (in opposition to socialism and Marxism) of the imperialist camp and the warmongers of every nation including those in the United States of America.

The muddle-headed middle class intellectuals like Carl Davidson, Tom Hayden and Bill Fletcher try to hide Obama's imperialist aims behind a cover of the "politics of pragmatism."

Just one more "inkling" that Obama will be no different from George Bush with whom he shares this imperialist world view of the "politics of prgamatism;" a philosophical world view of capitalism's "dog-eat-dog" system of competition which Obama also shares with the likes of Henry Ford, Harry Truman, Rockefellar, DuPont, George Wallace, Ronald Reagan, Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, Francisco Franco, Hirohito and the rest of the most despised exploiters, warmongers and fascists of the world.

The "politics of pragmatism" is the world outlook of choice for all the capitalist soothsayers.

Is Obama's "politics of pragmatism" the change we need?

I think not.

Should we ask the inhabitants of Gaza?

Something to think about and discuss around the dinner table.

Controversy continues to swirl around the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant

I have blogged several articles about this story making its rounds on the Internet:

How Closing Manufacturing Plants Can Be Transformed into Community-Saving Business Ventures

By Angela Walker , AlterNet. Posted November 12, 2008.


http://www.alternet.org/story/106425/


This was one of my blog postings:


http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/green-jobs.html


I have been getting numerous responses to my blog posting. Many of the people I am hearing from agree with me about using public ownership to save the Ford Plant, others do not.

First, allow me to apologize for something I published which is inaccurate along with an e-mail I received this morning.

Regarding the high-priced, upscale Lund's Supermarket next to the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant.

I made the statement that Lund's Supermarket is non-union.

I heard from four people now about this including a person in Lund's Supermarket management who assures me that Lund's Supermarket is a union store and workers are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 (UFCW). I heard from two members of UFCW Local 789 and a member of another union who first brought this concern to my attention.

I walked the strip of businesses from the Ford Plant on Ford Parkway for four days about two years ago asking people how much they made and if they were in a union.

I spoke with 13 employees of Lund's Supermarket... one butcher told me how much he made was none of my business... two were management, while the others were baggers and employees carrying groceries out for people. So, after now being informed that Lund's is union I began to wonder how it was that no one told me they were in the union when I asked them.

Then I open my e-mail this morning and I have this e-mail in my in-box from a woman who works at Lund's Supermarket which might explain some of this. She asked that I not use her name:

Mr. Maki- a friend forwarded me your blog posting. I work at the Lunds next to Fords. We do have a union if you can call it that. Most of us working here get so low wages we might as well not have a union for all the good the union does us. Let me put it to you this way my full time job at Lunds can't support a family. I have another part time job and my husband works seven days a week. It is possible that the employees you spoke to dont know they were in a union because the union wont do nothing for us. I hope the Ford plant can be saved.

I also heard from Brandon Knight who covers the Midwest for Global Exchange out of Lansing, Michigan. Brandon tells me that he is sure he can trust all information provided by Lynn Hinkle even though he never read S.F. 607 nor does he know if UAW Local 879 has ever informed its membership that they are part of this "ARISE" coalition. As an explanation as to why the twenty or so students from the local college, McAllister University, working through Global Exchange never bothered to ask the past or present workers at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant what they wanted to see happen, Brandon explained that the students weren't aware they should or needed to do this. Brandon chalks up all the inaccuracies in the story to Angela Walker being a volunteer reporter.

Brandon also insists that the proposal for this new green community that ARISE is advocating does not call for the demolition of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant even though he can't explain how this new "green" development can be constructed with the plant not being removed.

Nor can Brandon Knight explain why Global Exchange did not get behind the effort to push S.F. 607 through the Minnesota State Legislature.

I spoke with Angela Walker, also, she cannot explain how it is that she did not report the fate of S.F. 607 having been defeated in committee long, long before her story was written.

With this out of the way, let's look at the issue about this article originating from Global Exchange and disseminated by Alternet.org and spread all over by organizations like "Progressives for Obama" headed up by Carl Davidson, Tom Hayden and Bill Fletcher, Jr. who is also aware of the developing movement to save the Ford Plant through public ownership.

I would point out that Carl Davidson went ahead and posted this article knowing that there were problems with this article since he has been kept fully informed of the developments around the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant--- but, Davidson went ahead and posted this article anyways on the "Progressives for Obama" web site. What motivated him to post it is for Davidson to explain... perhaps simply because it fit in with the kind of skewed and convoluted progressivism he advocates on behalf of Barack Obama, I don't know.

I am glad to hear from so many people no matter what their views because I think that discussion is healthy and controversy helps to build movements with people bringing forward all kinds of ideas.

My primary concern in writing what I did centers on one specific paragraph written by Angela Walker of Global Exchange:

"Yet something unusual is in the works that could change the future of this 140-acre manufacturing site and convert it into a model for green manufacturing. A coalition of the local UAW 879, McAllister University students, and affordable housing and environmental groups have formed the Alliance to Reindustrialize for a Sustainable Economy (ARISE) to design a green manufacturing site. The ARISE project is currently being considered by the Minnesota Legislature under Senate File 607 as a way to transition workers into a mixed-use facility for green manufacturing."

This paragraph, as I am sure everyone will agree, is the crux of this entire article. If there is anything not true in this paragraph, the entire pretext for writing this article is obviously flawed.

Now, I don't know if Angela Walker set out to intentionally write an article intended to mislead her readers... only she can explain if she did this or not.

Nor do I know if someone put her up to writing an article filled with misinformation.

Nor do I know if Lynn Hinkle used this group, Global Exchange, to promote misinformation.

One thing for certain though, I haven't heard an explanation from Lynn Hinkle even though I sent him everything I wrote.

Let me go through this paragraph once more, point by point, so we all understand exactly what is at issue:

"Yet something unusual is in the works that could change the future of this 140-acre manufacturing site and convert it into a model for green manufacturing. A coalition of the local UAW 879, McAllister University students, and affordable housing and environmental groups have formed the Alliance to Reindustrialize for a Sustainable Economy (ARISE) to design a green manufacturing site. The ARISE project is currently being considered by the Minnesota Legislature under Senate File 607 as a way to transition workers into a mixed-use facility for green manufacturing."

If any of the following is actually true, yes, something unusual is definitely in the works:

"Yet something unusual is in the works that could change the future of this 140-acre manufacturing site and convert it into a model for green manufacturing."

But, is this statement true: "A coalition of the local UAW 879, McAllister University students, and affordable housing and environmental groups have formed the Alliance to Reindustrialize for a Sustainable Economy (ARISE) to design a green manufacturing site."

Is UAW Local 879 part of this coalition? If it is, none of the elected leaders will own up to it. And for good reason they will not own up to this even if it is true. The elected leaders of UAW Local 879 have a responsibility to work to protect the jobs of the members first and foremost. The elected union leaders never even bothered to inform the members of Local 879 that the Ford Motor Company had taken the profits made from working them ten hour days and invested those profits building a new Ford Ranger plant in Thailand. And, Lynn Hinkle and Global Exchange have omitted this one small detail as did Angela Walker in her article.

In fact, it was Lynn Hinkle who pushed for ten-hour days at this plant in the name of "green manufacturing." Any progressive union leader would have pushed to shorten the work week to thirty or thirty-two hours with forty hours pay so employment could be created for more workers... anyone who thinks ten hour days working in this factory or any other factory can be construed as "progress" has never worked in a factory. There is a reason the working class in this country led the international struggle for the eight-hour day.

Isn't it nice to go around advocating the building of nice new green communities built at the expense of the present workers losing their jobs! All in the name of "green."

Before I go any further, for the record, let it be noted that S.F. 607 was killed in Committee over a year before Angela Walker wrote her article for Global Exchange which is now being distributed by Alternet.org and posted on a myriad of web sites and blogs like "Progressives for Obama."

It is kind of strange and it would seem to me difficult to explain how this "ARISE" coalition could be now claiming to be working with the very same legislators who killed S.F. 607.

And, anyone taking the time to read S.F. 607 clearly sees that the unambiguous language of S.F. 607 is in complete contradiction to what this "ARISE" coalition is pushing for as S.F. 607 clearly calls for keeping the plant and hydro dam intact as an industrial unit; in no way, shape or form can anyone--- not even Lynn Hinkle--- twist S.F. 607 to mean that this plant should be demolished and replaced with some kind of "green community."

In fact, if it is a "green community" that "ARISE" wants to create in an urban environment; why don't they choose a run-down, dilapidated, rat-infested slum area of the Twin Cities of which there are many areas far larger than the 140 acres the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is located on to construct their new "green community"--- where the creation of such a visionary community would actually do people some good.

But alas, here is part of a letter from the former Secretary-Treasurer of UAW Local 879 to me:

Alan Maki. I have been reading some of the Green Party propaganda you have been been espousing. These types of attacks lend no credibility to your cause by accusing good people of bad things. Your accusations against Senator Metzen are both untrue and uncalled for. Jim has had a long standing relationship with the UAW which continued with his full support of our Ford Plant Legislation that called for the Fo Mo Co to keep TCAP in saleble condition for a period of 2 years after its' closing. This bill would have given us time to find other manufacturers to take over the property and keep good paying jobs in St Paul. If you had asked I would have told you our legislation was doomed because of pressure the St Paul Building Trades put on legislators to oppose our bill. Their goal, although shortsited, was to create short term building trades jobs by tearing down our plant and building condos. The St Paul Mayor was a huge ally of theirs in shooting down our bill. Other Senators who helped us were Tomassoni and Sparks. The true culprits were all Republicans on the committee - Bonoff, who is running for Congress in the 3rd district, and Saltzman. Murphy and Bakk got up and left the hearing just before the vote.My point is please refrain from attacking Senator Metzen. He is a good freind of the UAW and our family of members.

Bob Killeen Secretary-Treasurer UAW Local 879

First of all, does this sound like someone representing a union local who would now be pushing "green?"

Second, why didn't UAW Local 879 form a massive coalition with community organizations, church groups and other unions to get S.F. 607 pushed through the Minnesota Legislature? This is a question requiring an answer to; and why does the leadership of UAW Local 879 continue to drag its feet on such an initiative while this plant is still operating? One might ask Lynn Hinkle why he has not sought to develop nation-wide support for such an undertaking as he now makes presentations across the country on "greening" what is left of America's industrial base." Presentations that Brandon Knight of Global Exchange is so enamored with that he will take every word uttered by Lynn Hinkle as the gospel truth.

This was my response to Robert Killeen:

Brother Killeen;



Thanks for this letter. I was by your office several times to talk about this vote. You weren’t in.



I am sorry about any confusion. I do not take back anything I have said about Senator Metzen.



I did not “accuse” anyone of “bad things.” I simply have written and spoken based upon information I received from Senator Metzen’s office. I sent several e-mails, made numerous phone calls; and stopped at Senator Metzen’s office twice before I ever wrote or spoke a single word to anyone about this. I can asure you, if there is any confusion it is of Senator Metzen’s own making.



Since I notice this e-mail from you was not Cc’ed to Senator Metzen I have not sent it to him. You may send it to him if you chose; or with your permission I will forward this entire correspondence to him.



You should also know that two members of Senator Metzen’s staff have contacted me claiming that I am not telling the truth. Again, I asked them to provide me with minutes from this hearing which would clarify things. They refused. And I am not going to go through the trouble of suing a State Senator to obtain records which should be public and provided to the public upon request to begin with.



In fact, Metzen’s Committee is overwhelmingly dominated by Democrats… all of whom your local has supported.



I have in fact noted numerous times Senator Tomassoni’s support for this important legislation; in fact, the record of this hearing clearly shows that he was the one and only Democrat to support this legislation… The record clearly shows one thing: Tomassoni moved for support of this proposed legislation and the record states the motion failed. If you have any written record of the proceedings from Sen. Metzen’s Committee Hearing in question to substantiate what you are now saying, please provide me with the official minutes of this hearing as recorded by the Committee Clerk/Secretary. The only Senator’s name I find in writing from the minutes of this hearing, such as they are, is that Senator Tomassoni was the lone, sole supporter of this legislation. This is based upon the records I received from Senator Metzen’s own Legislative Assistant.



I have charged that the minutes of this particular Senate Hearing were probably kept in such a shoddy fashion so that no one would be able to tell from reading the minutes what went on in this hearing. If this is the case it raises an even larger issue which goes right to the heart of attempting to subvert democracy and the right of people to expect honest and open government from those whom they elect. Again, I stated all of this in an e-mail to Senator Metzen to which he never responded.



I find it strange that, at this late date, you are providing an account of this Senate Hearing that the clerk should have noted in the official minutes from the hearing at the time she provided me with the minutes.



Please feel free to request that Senator Metzen provide you with all correspondence I made with his office and that which was sent to me. I give him the right to release all such documents to you provided he releases everything without any omissions.



For the record, I have not been espousing any “Green Party propaganda.” Nor do I support the Green Party, even though I am strongly leaning towards supporting who I consider to be the best Democrat in the Presidential race, Cynthia McKinney; who, as you know was forced from Congress largely by the same grouping of business oriented Democrats who are pushing for the closing of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant.



The St. Paul mayor you refer to is a Democrat. Representative Paymar is a Democrat. Murphy is a Democrat. Rod Skoe is a Democrat.



There is something seriously wrong with a Democrat who you say is a big supporter of the UAW when he is the Chair of the Committee and he can not control his own Caucus members when it comes to such an important vote. In fact, the UAW has supported every single DFL member of this Committee. I do not have to draw any conclusions from this; the facts speak for themselves.



I have worked in the Democratic Party in several states over a period of some thirty years--- since I could vote, in fact; never have I seen such betrayal except over these “Compacts” creating casinos sending 20,000 Minnesotans to jobs in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any of the rights your own members enjoy protected under state or federal labor laws.



You can call me when ever you like about any issue or concern you have; I have been to the Plant often. I have left every leaflet I have distributed at the Plant at your office.



I am a member of the Minnesota DFL State Central Committee, not a member of the Green Party. You will not find anything that I have written contrary to this. In no way, shape, or form have I distributed anything in the nature of “Green Party propaganda;” nor anything which approximates such.



I do not understand how you can say the “The true culprits were all Republicans on the committee…” when all the evidence in the minutes of the meeting as recorded by the clerk of the Committee clearly shows it was Democrats who are the culprits. In fact, even if all Republicans had refused to attend the hearing and refrain from voting, the Democrats would not have voted for this legislation.



Again, what I write and what I say is based upon the minutes I received from Senator Metzen’s own Legislative Assistant.



In fact, the building trades unions provide Metzen with more campaign contributions than does the UAW. I am very concerned about the role of the building trades unions in all of this; however, I know from experience that their position on this issue can easily be reversed should your local clearly articulate the issue involved here in a way that people understand. If you choose to do this, by the time you are done, the building trades leaders will be hanging their heads in shame; seen by everyone as very pathetic as they pander for jobs by taking away the jobs of other working people.



I have tried to speak with Senator Metzen about this prior to the Committee Hearing, the day after the Committee Hearing, and as recent as yesterday. Senator Metzen, if he is concerned about anything that I am saying or writing can call me, sit down and talk with me, or send me an e-mail just as you have done.



I would be more than happy to sit down with you and Senator Metzen to discuss where we go from here.



I talked with Senator Cohen’s Legislative Assistants on several occasions, including yesterday; she tells me Senator Cohen plans no further legislative action. This is not right that the Democrats are dropping the ball in trying to save the Ford Plant.



As long as this Plant is still standing this will not be a “done deal” no matter how loudly the proverbial fat lady sings. Working people never give up, and working people never give in to corporate domination and greed; if they do, they lose.



If the Democrats snooze; working people lose. If the Democrats acquiesce, working people lose. There needs to be accountability here; there is no accountability; not from Senator Metzen, not from Representative Paymar; not even from Ron Gettelfinger or Bob King.



I would encourage you to invite the leadership of the Minnesota DFL and all DFL legislators and the U.S. Senate candidates to tour the plant with you so they know exactly what is at stake; and, encourage them to talk with rank and file workers about what a job means to a worker and his/her family. I think one of the very big problems is that most of the politicians with the power to save this Plant are so far removed from the life of working class families and their daily struggles to survive that they can look the other way, and then later say, “I didn’t know.”



I would also encourage you to insist that the Minnesota DFL take a position in support of public ownership of this plant; there is simply no other way to save it. This is not a “far out idea” as some of those looking for excuses to take the wrecking ball to this plant have stated. Public ownership has been very successfully used as a tool by the labor movement to save plants and jobs all over the world, including in Canada… the huge bus plant in Winnipeg being one very good example. I would also encourage you to talk with Bob King and Ron Gettelfinger about supporting public ownership of this plant… we can’t do any worse than the legislation which failed.



WE haven’t even explored the possibility of a joint China-Minnesota government venture to save this plant. Why not? Your Local supported Mark Dayton, you mean to tell me that Mark Dayton can not broach this issue with the Chinese; the Chinese aren’t afraid of public ownership. What about George Lattimore? Your local supported him for years; he has all kinds of connections in China.



As long as we are talking about some differences of opinion we may have over this entire matter of what happened in Metzen’s Committee where this legislation was defeated; I am of the opinion that you should have mobilized your entire membership including those working and those retired to turn out for this hearing in support of this legislation since you knew there was going to be strenuous opposition. Large numbers do not always assure legislative victories over the well-heeled, corrupt Summit Hill crowd; however, it never hurts to bring along a great big crowd… your dad must have agreed with this concept as he was a big supporter of the demonstrations aimed at closing down the Schools of the Americas… something that really should be shut down.



Yes, close the “School of the Americas”--- this killing machine--- and fund the continuing operation of the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant; tax-payers would be the real winners and humanity would be the better for it.



I think if we sat down and talked about all of this and tried to work out a common strategy aimed at saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant we would be further ahead.



In case you missed my letter to the editor in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on saving the Plant (Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007; Page OP 4), here it is:



Your excellent editorial (Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007) on saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant missed one important point.

For all practical purposes there is little chance of saving this plant unless it is brought under public ownership; free enterprise has failed to save the plant and the jobs.

Tax-payers already have a huge investment in this plant. More tax-dollars should be invested to save this plant and these important manufacturing jobs.

What tax-payers finance they should own.

Minnesota legislators have a fiduciary responsibility to see to it that this plant survives through public ownership.

Alan L. Maki

Warroad, Minnesota



Our approach to saving the Ford Plant is that we are willing to work with anyone and everyone towards this end; this includes you, your local, the Greens, the Democrats, the Reds, Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists and those who have no party or organizational affiliations at all.



Saving this Plant is an issue dear to many, many Minnesotans; not only the members of your local.



As a result of my activities I have had people contacting me from all over Minnesota, the country, Canada and other parts of the world wanting to know how they can help. Just last week I heard from an eighty-seven year old former St. Paul resident, now retired and living in Arizona, who broke down and cried when she told me what this plant meant to her family and her family’s friends--- a lifetime of a decent life won through struggle. And our conversation ended with her saying: “Why did our families fight so hard; just to end up losing it all.”



We are working with very limited resources in order to encourage dialogue, debate and discussion on this issue while working towards creating the greatest possible unity on this issue; it is not my intent to burn any bridges; I would much rather build bridges of open communication… towards these ends I would be happy to sit down and discuss this issue with you, Senator Metzen and any other interested parties, and adjust tactics as called for.



I will be in the Cities early next week if you would like to meet.



Yours in the struggle to save the Ford Plant through public ownership,



Alan



Alan L. Maki

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

The paragraph in question goes on to state:

A coalition of the local UAW 879, McAllister University students, and affordable housing and environmental groups have formed the Alliance to Reindustrialize for a Sustainable Economy (ARISE) to design a green manufacturing site.

First of all, Lynn Hinkle, Leo Gerard, President of the United Steel Workers, and none other than top-dog environmentalist, Carl Pope who heads up the Sierra Club, have all assured us that the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is a certifiable green manufacturing operation and the largest green industrial manufacturing operation in the world which is powered by, according to Carl Pope, "clean, green, hydro."

So, one has to ask, "Why would this "coalition" want to demolish the largest, greenest manufacturing operation in existence in the world and "design a green manufacturing site?" Should not these "environmentalists" be interested in fighting to keep this plant in operation and saving two-thousand jobs while bringing those environmentalists from all over the world to see that green manufacturing in a huge industrial operation is really possible?

One would think that this ARISE "coalition" (if there is really even such a coalition) would choose a more appropriate manufacturing facility to turn "green." Perhaps they should take a look at Alliant Tech and how they could turn a war industry "green;" "swords into ploughshares."

In closing I would just like to point out what most people already know; fighting against these huge corporations for what is right and to save jobs is a very difficult struggle.

Organizations like Global Exchange should understand that struggling against these global capitalist giants requires more than a vision.

Winning requires the building of real coalitions focused on solving real problems impacting the lives of real living, breathing human beings.

Saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and two-thousand jobs is a struggle which can be won.

I find it very interesting that those groups bringing forward such sweeping visions for change are so focused on demanding of the rest of us that we pause from our daily struggles for justice to share their vision of what they think our vision should be, that they remain on the sidelines of the real struggles of the people for justice and dignity.

Lynn Hinkle and Global Exchange are entitled to their visions of "green communities," but, the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is located in a residential community which includes very good housing, there are all the shopping and amenities one would want and expect in such a "green community;" all anchored with a modern public library, a huge Planned Parenthood facility, doctor's offices, restaurants... all situated along the banks of the Mighty Mississippi River with beautiful huge parks part of the landscape where people fish, swim and lay in the sun; and most importantly, the people of this community and of the Twin Cities and people from all over Minnesota understand how important saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is to saving all of this.

There might be a more diverse, greener community in America than the Highland Park community of St. Paul, but I don't know where.

Why would the advocates of "green communities" not want to fight and struggle to save this very important model of a "green community?"

The "vision" of the "green community" is here. All that Global Exchange members and others have to do is wake up from their dreams and open their eyes and the community they are talking about is before them... it just needs to be saved from the wrecking ball the real-estate speculators can't wait to bring in.

The problem is this: "free enterprise" has failed to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant. Public ownership of this plant is the only alternative.

Now, it is time to take real concrete action to save this plant.

We have been working diligently with very limited resources to save this Plant; and, in the process, save an existing model green community.

The Ford Motor Company should not be allowed to sell pick-up trucks in the United States if they do not keep this Plant open. Congress can see to that. It is time for James Oberstar to shut his big mouth for once and put action behind his words. We are sick and tired of hearing him talk about, "Jobs, jobs, jobs" as miners on the Iron Range and auto workers in the Twin Cities continue to lose their jobs by the tens of thousands.

Outfits like Global Exchange and the Campaign for America's Future should put up the resources to organize a real fight to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant. The UAW needs to flex its muscle and we need to ask where the AFL-CIO has been hiding out as this plant goes down.

Certainly John Sweeney understands the difficulty of such struggles and the resources required to wage such a struggle if we are going to save jobs. Let Sweeney put some money and resources where his mouth is, too.

John Sweeney knows something about "arm-twisting" when it comes to politics even if the president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO and the leaders of Local 789 do not... let the "arm-twisting" begin starting with Democratic Minnesota State Senator James Metzen who Chairs the powerful Committee on Business, Industry and Jobs... modify S.F. 607 to ten years to give this all a chance to work as we go through the hoops to bring the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant under public ownership.

The hydro dam should be placed under public ownership immediately and without any further delay. The Ford Motor Company should have to pay their electric bill just like the rest of us do. Excess power should be provided to the public schools for free.

It makes no sense to demolish a perfectly good factory.

Who is Lynn Hinkle and Global Exchange expecting to bank-roll their vision of an alternative "green community?" You got it, tax-payers, of course. Tax-payers who still owe millions for refurbishing the hydro dam and building the UAW-Ford-MnScu Training Center and who have subsidized Ford's production--- even to the extent of paying wages and for training its employees who they now want to throw out on the street.

It is almost a joke to have to win the battle to convince politicians that public ownership is the only feasible alternative left to saving this plant because the entire operation of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant has been so thoroughly subsidized by the public already who have picked up the tab repeatedly for any of the problems while the Ford Motor Company has walked off with all the profits including enough profits to build new plants in Thailand, Brazil and China.

Former leader of the Minnesota Senate, Democrat Roger Moe, while campaigning for governor declared that the tax-payer subsidies he had pushed through the state legislature assured continued operation of the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant "for the next seventy-five years." Well, Ford no longer wants to keep this Plant in production so legislators should take the appropriate action to bring the plant under public ownership--- workers at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant assure me that they don't mind getting a pay-check signed by the Governor of Minnesota.

Not only are we talking about saving a model green community here built around what has become a model of green manufacturing... we are talking about creating a model for saving America's industrial base which includes first and foremost the auto and steel industries... after all, isn't this the direction real progressives claim they want to see our country move towards?

In conclusion I quote the final sentence of the paragraph in question:

"The ARISE project is currently being considered by the Minnesota Legislature under Senate File 607 as a way to transition workers into a mixed-use facility for green manufacturing."

I think I have explained that this is an outright lie. Why would any politician put forward S.F. 607 if they were working with this "ARISE" coalition to demolish the Plant?

If, in fact, such a scheme is taking place, let us all here the complete details, including who is involved so that everyone can take part in the decision-making process for a change.

In closing, let me point out one very important fact:

At one time the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant was one of the dirtiest most unhealthy workplaces in the world. There were no homes or other businesses located anywhere near this plant.

From the inside of this plant the workers fought like hell to force better working conditions and for a better working environment against a money-grubbing greedy employer motivated only out of profit while outside the plant the community fought tooth and nail to force the Ford Motor Company to clean up its act; often the struggles of the workers and the community merged as labor and the community came together to fight this huge corporate giant.

As conditions in and around the plant began to improve an entire community, the community of Highland Park, sprung into existance around this plant... until today the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and the entire Highand Park community in the City of St. Paul is a very liveable community and the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant is one of the more decent places for human beings to work--- all of this a product of successful struggles of workers and the community against a corporate giant... struggles which many predicted would fail... the people won some very important battles... now comes the greatest challenge of all, to protect what THE PEOPLE have created, a truly complete green community; today, the struggle which continues is over ownership and control of what has been created from the struggles of the past.

Karl Marx observed that all history is the history of class struggle... need we say more.

Just something for everyone to think about as you re-read this article by Angela Walker written for Global Exchange and distributed by Alternet.org:


http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/green-jobs.html

http://www.alternet.org/story/106425/

How Closing Manufacturing Plants Can Be Transformed into Community-Saving Business Ventures

By Angela Walker , AlterNet. Posted November 12, 2008.

Ford's oldest plant in operation, which is set to close in 2011 will be the epitome of the changes to come.


Hit hard by the slowdown in the marketplace and higher fuel prices, Ford Motor Company recently experienced its largest quarterly loss in its 105-year history. With people evacuating their fuel-inefficient vehicles, Ford is experiencing its delayed rude awakening about the unsustainability of an auto industry geared towards producing pickups and sport utility vehicles. Despite plans to introduce six small cars made in Europe to the U.S. market, Ford today announced another 10 percent reduction in salaried payroll costs and will cut as many as 2,200 salaried jobs by January.

The oldest Ford plant still in operation -- the Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St. Paul, Minnesota -- will be the epitome of the changes to come. With plans to shut down in 2011, an additional 900 jobs will be lost in a plant that used to employ 2,000 workers. Communities throughout the state have already experienced the brunt of the country's economic downturn, Minnesota having lost 50,000 manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2006 alone, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

"We're just hemorrhaging," states former United Auto Worker (UAW) official, Lynn Hinkle, who retired over a year ago from a 30-year career at the Twin Cities Ford plant.

Yet something unusual is in the works that could change the future of this 140-acre manufacturing site and convert it into a model for green manufacturing. A coalition of the local UAW 879, McAllister University students, and affordable housing and environmental groups have formed the Alliance to Reindustrialize for a Sustainable Economy (ARISE) to design a green manufacturing site. The ARISE project is currently being considered by the Minnesota Legislature under Senate File 607 as a way to transition workers into a mixed-use facility for green manufacturing.

ARISE is re-envisioning how people look at industry, which historically has collided with the environmental movement. Their reindustrialization plans serve as an opportunity for industry to play a key role in the green economy.

"It is becoming increasingly clear to people in the union movement that our job security is dependent upon the new energy economy," states Hinkle. "If you're about family sustaining jobs, you have to connect global warming solutions and jobs otherwise you're going to have neither."

Ford's current training center would be converted into a green jobs training program for onsite wind turbine manufacturing and installation, and light rail car production. A plan to expand the light rail system is in the works to reach out to surrounding, traditionally low-income communities, which have been working with ARISE on the reindustrialization plans.

The Ford plant, located on the Mississippi River, is already connected to a hydroelectric system, which produces 18 megawatts of hydropower, and has powered the plant for over 80 years. Additionally, there exists a maze of tunnels onsite that were originally dug out for silica, used in making glass for windshields. These tunnels may be used for ground-source heating.

"We believe there's enough green energy sources on site to go totally noncarbon," says Hinkle.

With 140 acres, the coalition has the space to get creative with its envisioning and holistic approach. Businesses would be brought in to develop retail shops on the lower levels of buildings with affordable, residential units above. Walkways up and over the buildings would connect rooftop restaurants and bars to urban gardens with beautiful views of the Mississippi River. To connect the shops to the light rail, small electric vehicles would be produced onsite.

Throughout the last century, manufacturing jobs and industry have played a significant role in the growth of cities and development of communities by providing families with low entry-level jobs. Communities cannot afford to continue experiencing the off-shoring of their manufacturing jobs, especially during the current economic downturn. ARISE's plan is to develop this site as a prototype for turning brown fields, or old industrial grounds, into green manufacturing sites to support green jobs and sustainable community development.

Student group Summer of Solutions -- in partnership with economic justice organization, Global Exchange -- sees the future of their generation invested in this project.

"If we're going to build the green economy, we have to start here," says McAllister graduate Joseph Adamji. "The green jobs movement and the whole idea of shifting and expanding economic opportunity are to make social changes happen. As much as this project is about the Ford site, we need to use it as a model for how we develop communities, intentionally and sustainably."

City planners hope to see this space used as a central hub for sustainability projects for St. Paul and beyond.

"We could redevelop old manufacturing cities like Detroit and bring economic opportunities and prosperity," states Adamji. "We're trying to say that industry can play a role in the green economy."

Decarbonize, reindustrialize, equalize, is what ARISE is saying. The new energy economy can be used to battle lagging economic opportunities and social inequity. ARISE hopes to inspire communities -- from Flint, Michigan to Richmond, California -- to decide how they want to develop a new sense of community. Reindustrialization can be part of this process by formulating ways to generate green energy, mass transit, higher density and energy efficient buildings, and affordable housing.

"This is an opportunity to change the landscape literally and figuratively," says Hinkle. "What a great basis to rebuild the union movement. It's an opportunity for the green union movement to emerge, where unions can stand center stage and create aspirations for our entire society."



Angela Walker is the media director for Global Exchange.