Virginia surplus doubles thanks to federal stimulus money
In fact, without the $2.5 billion it received in stimulus funds, Virginia would not have been able to beat the odds, according to the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis.
via Virginia surplus doubles estimate – Aug. 19, 2010.
Well Bob McDonell looks good right now thanks to the stimulus money playing a major factor. Sure, VA slashed spending and cut jobs but it is ugly to balance a budget on the backs of people. As one commenter to this article said “I was a state employee who got laid off.” “I’m sure glad they saved millions of dollars.” Therein lies the rub. At least most of the money from the surplus is mandated to go and fund state needs. I’m not against fiscal responsibility but often times that means spending on social programs gets slashed while other programs, funding and tax cuts are allowed to happen. This goes for both sides of the aisle.
Toys “R” Toxic for Us
Despite promises to reduce toxic chemicals in toys, new testing shows that Toys “R” Us continues to sell products made out of polyvinyl chloride or PVC, the poison plastic, without adequate cautionary labeling for parents. Chemicals released during PVC’s lifecycle are linked to chronic diseases on the rise in children including asthma, learning disabilities, obesity and cancer.
Now Wall Street bankers are set to profit from the sale of this toxic asset! KKR, the private equity firm that owns Toys “R” Us, is planning to sell $800 million worth of Toys “R” Us stock. But offloading Toys “R” Us without putting an end to toxic toys will further entrench irresponsible business practices at Toys “R” Us that put children’s health at risk.
via Stop Profiting From Toxic Toys:.
I have to say it is kind of cool to see the Teamsters partnering with the Center for Health Environment and Justice on this e-Action they set up.
We need more Romanoff-like candidates running
Considering Bennet’s wealth, corporate fundraising, incumbency and presidential support, it is astounding that a whopping 46 percent of this bellwether state’s Democratic voters cast their ballots against him, against their own party’s establishment and against their own party’s president.
For those who care about a progressive economic agenda and about injecting democracy into the Democratic Party, this is encouraging when put next to the similarly impressive results of White House-thwarting Democratic primary challengers in Pennsylvania and Arkansas. And that trend explains the increasingly fierce pushback from Washington.
Yes, this is why President Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, so vociferously berated the progressive movement on the eve of Colorado’s primary, and why DNC powerbrokers moved so forcefully against Romanoff. He was the latest candidate to represent what those elites know to be an ascendant national progressive uprising inside the Democratic Party — one that keenly understands money’s corrosive effects on public policy and that, therefore, rejects the Beltway’s corporatist model.
via Elites’ Democratic Days Are Numbered — In These Times.
Thank you Bill Halter and thank you Andrew Romanoff. Also I don’t know how progressive Joe Sestak is but he was clearly more favorable than Specter in PA.
Avandia and Paxil settlements
Only a week after Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) agreed to pay $460 million to settle over 10,000 personal injury lawsuits related to Avandia, it was reported that GSK has agreed to pay $1 billion dollars to settle 800 cases related to birth defects caused by the GSK anti-depressant Paxil, taken by pregnant women. Both of these settlements are part of the $2.4 billion GSK has set aside to resolve pending litigation, according to corporate filings last week.
This is what happens when there is lax regulation.
Too Big Not To Organize – I totally agree organize the US Financial sector
When Santander acquired Sovereign, it immediately laid off 23 percent of its new subsidiary’s workers. The company cut pay, slashed hours and doubled the cost of healthcare for workers. Sovereign workers knew they had to do something, so they approached SEIU last spring to help them organize.
via Too Big Not To Organize — In These Times.
Santander has responded to efforts at organizing by firings and union-busting activities.
I think this paragraph really says it all:
Santander bank branches are on average 75-percent unionized outside the United States, according to UNI Global Union Finance Director Oliver Roethig because most other industrialized nations have unionized banking sectors. In the United States, however, less than 1 percent of all front-office bank workers are organized. In fact, the unionized janitors working for contractors that clean Sovereign Bank’s headquarters in Boston, Mass., often make more than the bank tellers and personal bankers, whose average wage is $10-$12 dollars per hour, despite individually producing millions of dollars in profits for the bank each year.
We must go to war with the US beef industry and food makers in general
In the last few months, at least 155 people in several states have become ill from a pair of rare strains of salmonella. And according to authorities, the source of the salmonella is food served at Taco Bell.
via Outbreak Of Rare Salmonella Strains Linked To Taco Bell – The Consumerist.
The lack of regulation over the past decade has made these sorts of things even worse.
Then there’s the beef industry.
Alright, you know the drill: go to your freezer and look for meat products labeled “EST. 8268,” which is now code for everybody’s favorite stomach bug: E. coli. The Valley Meat Company of California announced this week that they plan to recall nearly one million pounds of ground beef contaminated with the icky stomach bug.
Oprah was right to take the beef industry on in the past. Upton Sinclair’s jungle still grows. It’s more than just beef and it is putting people in danger. Down with factory-farms and huge monolithic agri-businesses who shun regulation!
Why is the Obama administration training 3,000 offshore IT workers?
U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers
Despite President Obama’s pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $22 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia.
Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent’s low labor costs…
How pathetic and sad is this?
I have to agree with David Sirota when he says.
Now look, I’m all for a robust foreign aid budget – we don’t do nearly enough to help the developing world. However, using foreign aid money to specifically help private corporations “take advantage of low labor costs” in the developing world – that’s absolutely grotesque.
I know thousands of people right in the President’s backyard in Southeast DC who could use this training! WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?!!
Why you can’t balance budgets on the backs of people
Mr Simpson agreed that addressing the countrys record £155bn budget deficit was necessary, but favoured Labours approach of making the cuts over a longer period.”If you care about ordinary people, you do it over a properly planned period,” he said.He said the Conservatives should expect a backlash from voters at the next election, once the impact of the cuts had been felt.
via BBC News – Unites Derek Simpson plays down strikes threat.
The Conservatives in the UK have got to realize that making people swallow too tough a pill could possibly have consequences.
AFL-CIO, AFSCME want Michael Dell to step down from Dell
The AFL-CIO and AFSCME are asking Dell Inc. shareholders to withhold their votes from Michael Dell, the company’s chairman and CEO, at the annual shareholder meeting Aug. 12. The AFL-CIO and AFSCME, which both own Dell shares, say the company would be better served by removing Michael Dell as chairman.
Last month, Dell postponed its annual meeting to give shareholders time to consider a proposed settlement of a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC. The SEC complaint alleged that payments from microprocessor manufacturer Intel were improperly disclosed to shareholders and that “cookie jar” reserve accounts had been manipulated. Under the proposed settlement, Dell Inc. agreed to pay a $100 million penalty and Michael Dell agreed to pay a $4 million penalty.
via AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | AFL-CIO, AFSCME Call for Removal of Dell Chairman.
Dude, you are so not getting a Dell.
Why is the MTA allowing its bus drivers to be mugged?
Two drivers who have been assaulted say that theyve been telling bosses for years there should be extra security but that the requests have fallen on deaf ears at the cash-strapped agency. “As soon as I put my car key into my pocket, three people came from behind me, knocked me to the ground and started punching and kicking me,” said Diane Monges, 49, a bus operator for 21 years.
via Facebook | TWU Local 100: Bus drivers sideswiped by muggers.
I don’t care how cash-strapped you are. There are certain things that must be done. Ensuring the safety of your employees is one of those things. If the MTA can’t afford it can the NYPD patrol the area?
