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Friday, January 28
Human Rights Watch Condemns U.S. Meatpackers
by
Chad Thompson
on Fri 28 Jan 2005 12:31 PM CST
 Human Rights Watch Condemns U.S. Meatpackers
This
week brought a new first: Human Rights Watch - an international
human rights watchdog agency - accused a specific U.S. industry of
violating basic human rights.
In a summary from the New York Times:
For
the first time, Human Rights Watch has issued a report that harshly
criticizes a single industry in the United States, concluding that
working conditions among the nation's meatpackers and slaughterhouses
are so bad that they violate basic human rights.
...
"Meatpacking
is the most dangerous factory job in America," said the report's
author, Lance Compa, who teaches industrial and labor relations at
Cornell and is a former union organizer and negotiator. "Dangerous conditions are cheaper for companies, and the government does next to nothing."
Responding
to that criticism, Richard Fairfax, director of enforcement for the
federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said the agency
vigorously oversaw the industry for excessive line speed and other
problems.
"We have a strong enforcement program" in meatpacking, Mr. Fairfax said, "and a strong compliance assistance program."
....
"Nearly every worker interviewed for this report bore physical
signs of a serious injury suffered from working in a meat or poultry
plant," the report says. "Meat and poultry industry employers set up
the workplaces and practices that create these dangers, but they treat
the resulting mayhem as a normal, natural part of the production
process, not as what it is - repeated violations of international human
rights standards."
The report also says that to save themselves money, companies
frequently pressure injured employees not to file workers' compensation
claims.
Something
to keep in mind - "repeated violations of international human rights
standards" is describing the process used to bring the majority of meat
products to your dinner plate. Meat packing has also been a
traditional Iowa industry - and many towns can tell you of their
experiences with meatpacking companies bent on paying the lowest wage
and ensuring the worst conditions possible just to boost profit margins.
Thursday, January 27
Chile's Social Security Phase-Out Experience
by
Chad Thompson
on Thu 27 Jan 2005 01:21 PM CST
 Chile's Social Security Phase-Out Experience
In the
"talking points" that the GOP puts out about Social Security, one of
the big examples they cite is the "success" that Chile has experience
in privatizing their Social Security system.
Today, the New York Times takes a look at this so-called success.
"What we have is a system that is good for Chile but bad for most
Chileans," said a government official who specializes in pension issues
and who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation from
corporate interests. "If people really had freedom of choice, 90
percent of them would opt to go back to the old system."
...
For those remaining in the government's original pay-as-you-go system,
the maximum retirement benefit is now about $1,250 a month. The
National Center for Alternative Development Studies, a research
institute here, calculates that to get that same amount from a private
pension fund, workers would have to contribute more than $250,000 over
their careers, a target that has been reached by fewer than 500 of the
private system's 7 million past and present contributors.
This
leaves many Chileans in a situation that has led to the coining of a
phrase: "pension damage." There is now even an Association of People
With Pension Damage, 157,000 members and growing, that consists of
Chileans, mostly former government employees, who find that their
pensions, based on contributions to the private system, are
significantly less than if they had remained in the old system.
"They
come to us in desperation," said Yasmir Fariña, the group's president,
"because those who stayed in the government system are often retiring
with monthly pensions twice as large as everyone else's."
The
article does discuss the investment capital that has resulted in
capital investments in the Chilean economy, but overall the system has
not benefited the population as a whole.
Something
else to consider: Chile's old system was being systematically
looted by the corrupt Pinochet dictatorship - outside of snarky
comments, is this administration seriously looking to the Pinochet government for inspiration?
Take a look at other experiences - namely the Thatcher-lead UK privatization schemes - in an earlier post.
UPDATE: Another phase-out proponent tool, the Cato "Social Security Calculator" is a crock.
Wednesday, January 26
Iowa: Don't Tax Under 30?
by
Chad Thompson
on Wed 26 Jan 2005 12:22 PM CST
 Iowa: Don't Tax Under 30?
This morning the Des Moines Register ran with the headline "Don't Tax Anyone Under 30" - naturally above the fold in big, bold words.
The story revolves around Iowa Senate Repubicans revealing their take on stopping the "Brain Drain" of our college graduates:
Iowans younger than 30 would pay no state income taxes under an
economic-growth plan unveiled Tuesday by Senate Republicans - an idea
that drew cheers and jeers from young and old.
"More than half
of our college graduates leave the state after graduation. We want to
reverse Iowa's brain drain and make our state a more attractive place
for our young people," said Senate Republican Co-President Jeff
Lamberti of Ankeny.
Of course, none of this comes for free:
Eliminating the income tax for those under 30 would reduce state
revenue by an estimated $200 million a year, according to the
nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency.
A few points:
1)
As a former 'college graduate who left the state', trust me: this
won't make a difference. It's job quality and cultural options
that are more important - plus the draw of embarking on a new
adventure. We can improve job quality and cultural options, but
there really isn't much we can do abotu the 'new adventure' seekers.
2)
As we already know - state finances are drawn as tight as they can be
in the current circumstances, plus other programs are being burdened
with growing costs - most often due to the ever-increasing costs of
health care. Because the constitution requires the state to run a
balanced budget - a loss in revenue from one source will have to be
balanced by a gain elsewhere.
Quite
frankly, I'm a little shocked that anyone would treat this proposal
seriously, given the financial conditions the legislature has to face.
The more interesting proposal got "B-Side" coverage:
The GOP plan, an alternative to the Grow Iowa Values Fund created
two years ago, would give businesses a tax credit for newly created
jobs paying at least $10 an hour. The tax credit would be available for
up to five years, with a maximum annual credit of 20 percent of the
salary.
"This is a market-based approach to drive economic development," said Lamberti, 42, the Senate Republican co-president.
"We
don't need the government in the business of picking winners and losers
and handing out money only to select companies. We want any company to
consider growing in Iowa," he said. "So we don't care if you're a small
business in Iowa that the Values Fund would never touch, or a Wells
Fargo."
Senate Republicans also proposed setting aside $25
million per year to help companies with the cost of building or
renovating business facilities.
Another proposal is to enlarge a
state fund for assisting local governments with the development of
community attractions. The fund would increase from $12 million to $25
million annually over five years.
Business groups applauded the plan.
"I
think it's a creative, private-sector approach, and it seems to be
comprehensive. It's not just looking at one silver bullet," said John
Gilliland, a vice president of the Iowa Association of Business and
Industry.
There is
something to be said about making sure that "Grow Iowa Values" money is
equitably spread - but on the flipside there needs to be the
realization that two major needs to start a new business are startup
capital and risk management. Tax credits likely won't help in new
(or small) business situations.
Thursday, January 20
Four Years After Start of Bush Recession, Iowa Remains 17,300 Jobs Behind
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 20 Jan 2005 06:04 PM CST
 Four Years After Start of Bush Recession, Iowa Remains 17,300 Jobs Behind
Iowa Policy Project
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (Jan.
20, 2005) – Iowa’s sluggish recovery ended 2004 on the right track as
the roller-coaster job performance through the year finished with a
1,600-job gain.
December
figures from Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) showed a slight decrease
in the unemployment rate, to 4.7 percent from the 12-year high of 4.8
percent recorded in both October and November.
Independent
Iowa analysts agreed with IWD Director Richard Running that the good
news of nonfarm job growth “is still not strong enough to substantially
reduce unemployment.”
“Hopefully
at some point during the year we will be able to say we have reached
the number of jobs we had before the recession,” said David Osterberg,
executive director of the Iowa Policy Project (IPP). “That will be a
reason to celebrate, but only briefly, because we have to be focused on
what will make the economy actually grow.”
Osterberg
noted nonfarm jobs remain 17,300 behind the level of March 2001, when
the last recession started. To reach that level this year, Iowa would
have to gain about 1,400 jobs per month, compared with the 2004 average
of about 1,000 per month. Iowa’s net gain from December 2003 to
December 2004 was 12,400 jobs.
Elaine
Ditsler, research associate for the IPP, said a long-term perspective
will keep in mind job quality, not just the overall number of nonfarm
jobs, and the rate at which Iowa is gaining jobs to reach that
pre-recession level.
“A full
45 months after the start of the 2001 recession, we’re still 17,300
jobs behind,” Ditsler said. “To see how slow a recovery we’re in,
compare that with our recovery from the 1990 recession. At this same
point – the 45-month mark – we were almost 82,000 jobs ahead. That’s a
staggering difference.”
The
1,600-nonfarm job increase in December follows a 700-job decline in
November that ended a four-month string of job increases. Iowa has had
net job gains in eight of the past 12 months, and the nonfarm job
number of 1,456,900 for December beat the previous high for the year,
in October, by 300. It also put nonfarm jobs at their highest level
since September 2001.
The
largest single increase for December came in construction, a gain of
1,500, with a 400-job increase in professional and business services
and 300 in information. The only declines for the month were in
government, 400, and manufacturing, 300.
Key numbers following Thursday’s release from the state:
-- The unemployment rate fell to 4.7 percent in December
from a revised 4.8 percent in November. In December 2003, the rate was
4.6 percent.
-- The labor force fell over the month from 1,631,700 to
1,630,200 – people working or looking for work. The figure is up by
30,000 from a year earlier.
-- Total nonfarm employment rose from 1,455,300 to 1,456,900, an increase of 1,600 jobs.
-- The nonfarm employment number is up 12,400 from December
2003, but is 17,300 below the level of March 2001, at the start of the
last recession.
-- From June 2003 to December 2004, 49,800 jobs were
supposed to have been created in Iowa under the federal “Jobs &
Growth” tax cut; that plan has fallen 28,200 jobs short in Iowa. To
meet the goals of that program by the end of this year, Iowa would have
to gain almost 2,400 jobs each month, in comparison to the 1,600
increase in December.
IPP reports about job and income trends are on the web at www.iowapolicyproject.org. The Iowa Policy Project is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization based in Mount Vernon.
Social Security: A Question Of Numbers
by
Chad Thompson
on Thu 20 Jan 2005 11:58 AM CST
 Social Security: A Question Of Numbers
I
finally got around to reading the article from this Sunday's New York
Times Magazine. The 30 minutes you'll spend reading it is well
worth the time invested.
Read It Here
Wednesday, January 19
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Fair Lending Task Force Meets January 20th (and other meetings of interest)
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 19 Jan 2005 04:11 PM CST
 Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Fair Lending Task Force Meets January 20th (and other meetings of interest)
ICCI
The first meeting of CCI's Fair Lending Task Force will be Thursday, January 20th at 6:00 pm.
This new
task force will combine members who have been working and winning on
predatory mortgage lending and the Community Reinvestment Act.
These issues both deal with getting lenders to make good loans in our
neighborhoods. By doing this we are improving our neighborhoods
and the financial future of our communities. All CCI members are
invited to join us as we begin a new era in the fight for fair lending.
CCI's Fast Track is a home ownership workshop meeting on Thursday, January 20th from 5:30-9:30 pm.
This
overview of the home ownership process is ideal for future buyers who
have minimal credit and budgeting issues and who want to learn how to
take the best steps and avoid predatory practices. The workshop
is free and free childcare is provided with two days notice.
The Fast
Track class is located at Des Moines Citizens for Community
Improvement, 2005 Forest Avenue. To register, call Jerri at
515-255-0800.
Training Workshop on Media & Public Meetings
The Des
Moines Chapter of Iowa CCI will be hosting a training workshop for Des
Moines CCI members on Monday, January 24 from 6-8:30 pm at the Des
Moines CCI Office. The training will consist of information and
instruction on:
How to use the media to your advantage:
--Writing effective letters to the editor
--How to give an interview to the media
--Running effective public meetings
This is
a unique opportunity to develop and improve your skills in different
areas that will make Des Moines CCI stronger. If you are
interested in attending this workshop, RSVP to Danny,
515-255-0800. Refreshments will be provided.
Please join us on January 24th!
The next Predatory Car Sales Task Force Meeting is Wednesday, January 26, at 6:00 pm.
Following
our public meeting on January 11, we will be moving forward on concerns
and issues addressed. If you are interested in learning more
about and working on this issue, we encourage you to attend.
For questions or more information on predatory car sales, contact Danny at 515-255-0800.
Kristin Vick
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
Membership and Communications Coordinator
515-255-0800
We talk. We act. We get it done.
Friday, January 14
Chronic Budget Crisis Building in Iowa
by
Linda Thieman
on Fri 14 Jan 2005 04:44 PM CST
 Chronic Budget Crisis Building in Iowa
Iowa Policy Project
DES MOINES, Iowa (Jan.
13, 2005) -- Iowa will be hobbled by budget deficits as long as
legislators keep avoiding a long-term solution, researchers said today.
In the
final report in a five-part series, the Iowa Fiscal Partnership (IFP)
examines how Iowa has balanced its budget and suggests changes that
could help the state meet its obligations year to year. Iowa could
modernize its tax system by closing tax loopholes, broadening the sales
tax base and fixing the personal income tax, researchers said.
"Iowa
lawmakers are returning to a chronic budget crisis, but they shouldn't
be surprised," said Charles Bruner, executive director of the Child
& Family Policy Center and co-author of the report for the IFP. "By
raiding special funds, they have shoved budget responsibilities to the
next year. It gives the illusion of balancing the budget, when in fact
it's building up a structural deficit.
"In short, it's time for a long-range look at Iowa's tax policies."
Elaine
Ditsler, research associate for the Iowa Policy Project (IPP) and also
an author of the report, said the state's budget practices have hurt
education and human services, at the same time pushing responsibilities
off to local governments.
"These
are really hidden deficits built into the structure of Iowas budget,"
Ditsler said. "Sooner or later, the bills come due. Iowans deserve a
tax system that will adequately fund the Legislature's budget promises,
during good economic times and bad."
Among findings in the report by Ditsler, Bruner and IPP Research Director Peter Fisher:
--
Faced with general-fund gaps of over $3 billion between 2001 and 2005,
the state cut $1.4 billion in services and made $2 billion in transfers
from other sources. In turn, services funded by the other sources had
to be scaled back.
--
The number of full-time state workers decreased by 1,585 employees
between FY2001 and FY2003 - and additional workers were laid off in
private industry due to the spinoff effects of the state budget crisis.
--
By 2005, cuts to key programs and services had not been fully restored
in education or child and family services. Cuts have caused both
increases in property taxes and an inability to meet service needs. For
example, while child abuse cases grew by 20 percent, the child welfare
budget remained flat; furthermore, over one-third of the state's mental
health institute beds had been closed.
--
The structural deficit will worsen as previously enacted tax cuts
continue to be phased in, and service needs and costs will continue to
rise, and federal budget impacts increasingly put new burdens on state
government.
--
The Senior Living Trust Fund has been particularly hurt by the state's
budget choices. Established in 2001 to provide services to help the
elderly stay in their homes, it has instead been used to pay for
programs previously supported out of the general fund.
"A lack
of revenue is behind Iowa's chronic budget crisis," Fisher said.
"Iowa's tax structure and rainy day fund have not allowed the state to
keep its promises in an economic downturn. They need to be updated."
Specific proposals for Iowa included:
--
Adopt "combined reporting" to close loopholes in corporate income
taxes, to assure that firms conducting business in Iowa cannot shift
income on paper to another state just to avoid taxes.
--
Modernize the sales-tax structure to reflect the move from a
goods-based to service-based economy, and encourage adoption of taxes
on internet commerce to allow Iowa-based retailers to remain
competitive.
--
Hold the line on repeal of Iowa's taxes on retirement income, which
would erode Iowa's revenue base with the aging of the population, and
also would make the tax system even less fair to working families than
it is now. Less than one-third of Social Security recipients are taxed
on their benefits, and for those taxpayers, the tax is not a
substantial burden or an encouragement to leave the state, as some
claim.
--
Encourage a more proportional overall state and local tax system by
making the individual income tax more progressive.
--
Regularly review tax expenditures - business tax "incentives" - to
examine their effectiveness and public benefit, and to allow better
public scrutiny of their impact on the budget situation. Their eventual
cost often is far greater than originally estimated.
The Iowa
Fiscal Partnership is a joint initiative of two nonprofit, nonpartisan
policy research organizations, the Iowa Policy Project in Mount Vernon
and the Child & Family Policy Center in Des Moines. Reports from
the IFP are available on the web at www.iowafiscal.org.
The Social Security Political Game
by
Chad Thompson
on Fri 14 Jan 2005 12:44 PM CST
The Social Security Political Game
A few items from the past two days regarding the "political game" surrounding the Social Security Phase-Out.
The Washington Post reports on the tactics we can expect to see in the coming weeks:
White
House allies are launching a market-research project to figure out how
to sell the plan in the most comprehensible and appealing way, and
Republican marketing and public-relations gurus are building teams of
consultants to promote it, the strategists said.
The
campaign will use Bush's campaign-honed techniques of mass repetition,
never deviating from the script and using the politics of fear to build
support -- contending that a Social Security financial crisis is
imminent when even Republican figures show it is decades away.
Of
course, there are several Congressmen who are still not buying
it. Steve Soto of The Left Coaster points out that this debate
over Social Security could be the springboard the Democratic Party
needs:
By using Social Security as a springboard, Democrats can begin making
their case in each district for reform, fiscal sanity, and a smart and
efficient foreign and national security policy.
Soto points to a few sitting House Representatives who are particularly on the political hot seat in regards to Social Security:
Iowa 1-Jim Nussle, who is very strong but may run for Iowa
governor in 2006; a strong Democratic push on Social Security now in
his district may help him make up his mind. Nussle also has nearly 70,000 Social Security retirees in his district, making his district third out of state’s five districts.
Iowa 2-Jim Leach, who is levelheaded and moderate but
nonetheless votes with Bush way too much. Again, at the very least he
should be pressured to vote against Bush’s privatization plan through a
strong Democratic effort now.
In addition, Tom Latham and Steve King represent districts that are rapidly aging and have real concerns about the health of the Social Security system.
We
should also work to make it clear that supporting a Social Security
phase-out would be the end of Terrace Hill ambitions for Mr. Nussle.
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