Flint residents headed to Washington, D.C., for hearing on water crisis
Flint residents headed to Washington, D.C., for hearing on water crisis
FLINT, MI – A group of Flint residents who want to be heard in Washington, D.C., will leave Flint tonight. Organizers...
FLINT, MI – A group of Flint residents who want to be heard in Washington, D.C., will leave Flint tonight.
Organizers want people who are impacted by the Flint water crisis to be able to tell their stories during the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing.
"We are going to DC so our voices aren't lost in the middle of political posturing," the message on the signup form says.
There will be a prayer vigil and news conference after the hearing where Flint residents will be able to tell their stories to the media, organizers said.
There will be trainers on the bus to help residents on how to share their story with the media.
The group will leave from the parking lot of the former Kmart at Miller Road and Ballenger Highway.
There is no cost to ride the bus, but travelers must provide for their own meals.
Signup for the bus is on a first-come, first-served basis. The bus leaves at 7 p.m.
Online registration is available here and ends at 3 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 2.
The trip is sponsored by the National Action Network, Flint Democracy Defense League, Michigan Faith in Action, AFSCME SEIU, Michigan Nurses Association, Progress Michigan, National People's Action Advancement Project, National People's Action, Center for Popular Democracy and Michigan United.
Another bus charted by the Michigan chapter of the National Action Network also will leave from the same location.
Gov. Rick Snyder should have to testify before Congress, according to Michigan NAN President Rev. Charles Williams II. NAN also is calling for a $400 million appropriation from Congress to help fix Flint's toxic water.
"We're hoping that Congress will pull Snyder and the emergency managers in to find out what they've done," Williams said. "They're trying to deflect the conversation. This was under (Snyder's) house. Under his administration. He needs to answer for this."
Williams said buses carrying 100 people each from Detroit, Cleveland and New York also will head to the hearing.
"For a congressional committee meeting, people are invited to testify by the committee chairman," Snyder Spokesman Dave Murray said in an email to The Flint Journal. "Gov. Snyder has not been asked to testify. Keith Creagh, director of the Department of Environmental Quality, was invited and plans to speak before the committee this week, talking about challenges faced in Flint and what the department is doing moving forward to protect the health and safety of residents. That's our focus now."
Dominic Adams is a reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him atdadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803.
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Janet Yellen’s Future at the Fed Unresolved Heading Into Jackson Hole
Janet Yellen’s Future at the Fed Unresolved Heading Into Jackson Hole
The prospect of a second term for Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen won't be on the agenda at the central bank's...
The prospect of a second term for Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen won't be on the agenda at the central bank's annual retreat this week at Grand Teton National Park, but the question of whether she could be asked to stay on -- and whether she would accept -- will be hanging over the confab.
Read the full article here.
The Left's Fed Up Makes A Naked Power Grab For Control Of The Fed
The left is undertaking an amazing back door plan to dramatically increase its influence over the Fed’s interest-rate-...
The left is undertaking an amazing back door plan to dramatically increase its influence over the Fed’s interest-rate-setting Open Market Committee.
The key activist group, a division of the Center for Popular Democracy, is working to kick the bankers off the boards of directors of the district Federal Reserve banks. Those boards choose the presidents who serve, in rotation, as voting members on the FOMC. Brilliant.
In scope, the left’s plan makes trivial by comparison Auric Goldfinger’s “Operation Grand Slam” to contaminate America’s gold holdings at the US Treasury Depository at Fort Knox. Goldfinger planned to turn them radioactive. Those holdings amounted, in 1964, to about $14 billion. They are now valued at close to $200 billion.
Either way, a tidy sum. Yet it’s just a nickel compared to the Fed’s more than $4 trillion holdings.
Most impressive. The left is undertaking its own Operation Super Grand Slam.
It is doing so proficiently and systematically. Unfortunately for the left, fortunately for America, it has run into a real life James Bond: House Monetary Policy Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga (R-MI). The irresistible force has met its immovable object.
Fed Up, the left’s instrumentality, was repelled during the most recent skirmish. This occurred last week at a hearing of a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, “Federal Reserve Districts: Governance, Monetary Policy, and Economic Performance.”
Fed Up is a project of the Center for Popular Democracy, which, according to Wikipedia (citing a paywalled article by John Judis from the National Journal) is the successor, at least in part, to the somewhat notorious ACORN. According to the Center’s website:
The Federal Reserve has tremendous influence over our economy. Although our communities continue to suffer through a weak recovery and economic inequality keeps growing, corporate and financial interests are demanding that the Fed put the brakes on growth so wages don’t rise. There is a real danger that in early 2015 (sic), the Fed will cut the legs out from the recovery before the economy reaches full acceleration, costing our communities millions of jobs and workers tens of billions in wages.
True, and fair, enough. Let it be said that I, along with much of the right, also am highly critical of the Fed. I, a dues paying member of the AFL-CIO, am of the wing of the right wing that is in full solidarity with Fed Up’s commitment to wage growth.
We share identification of the Fed as a main perp in the failure of workers to thrive. From the right check out, for example, Put Growth First. Its website is headlined “End the Fed’s War on Wage Growth: Restore Prosperity for the Striving Majority.”
I, while opposing tokenism, am in sympathy with Fed Up’s stand that the Federal Reserve is unacceptably deficient in social, gender, and ethnic diversity. I have great admiration for Fed Up’s tactical proficiency, clarity of message, and decency in presenting that message. I, too, am fed up with the Fed.
That said, I am on record as dubious about the Fed’s power to “set” interest rates outside the trivial, and mostly symbolic, impact of setting the discount rate. I also am not part of the “raise interest rates” cheerleader squad on the right. I’m for allowing the credit markets to organically set interest rates based on … wait for it … supply and demand.
I part company with the left on its proposed solution of taking over district Federal Reserve Bank governance. Hola, Venezuela! Upon encountering Fed Up’s representatives while we were waiting to enter the Congressional hearing I requested the opportunity to engage in further conversation. Waiting, eagerly, to hear back.
Fed Up is a class act. Making the voices of the have-nots heard is commendable. Bring it on.
By Ralph Benko
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The financial reality facing America's 16 million retail workers
The financial reality facing America's 16 million retail workers
Shaheim Wright's house is falling apart. It's infested with bedbugs. The washing machine is broken. He needs a new sink...
Shaheim Wright's house is falling apart. It's infested with bedbugs. The washing machine is broken. He needs a new sink. Oh, and there's the crack in the bathtub.
"It's leaking out, and right near my door is a wet spot from water coming down," Wright said. "And it's like, well I can't pay for any of this."
Read the full article here.
Activists to Protest at Regional Feds Ahead of Jobs Data
Wall Street Journal - March 3, 2015, by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa - A network of liberal activists is planning a series...
Wall Street Journal - March 3, 2015, by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa - A network of liberal activists is planning a series of small demonstrations outside of several Federal Reserve district banks Thursday, intending to highlight elevated unemployment among minority communities and urging officials not to raise interest rates any time soon.
Fed officials have indicated they plan to lift their benchmark short-term interest rate from near zero, where it has been since late 2008, sometime this year if the economy continues to strengthen as expected.
The activists say the nation’s 5.7% jobless rate understates the underlying weakness of the labor market, pointing to high long-term and black unemployment as symptoms of an economy that is still ailing. The unemployment rate for blacks was 10.3% in January.
“The Federal Reserve has the power–and responsibility–to foster stronger economic conditions that create opportunity for all communities,” the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal Washington think tank backing the demonstrations, said in a statement.
The activists are planning actions outside the regional Fed banks of New York, San Francisco, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Charlotte, N.C. (home to a branch of the Richmond Fed) and Dallas.
The Labor Department releases its February employment report on Friday.
Becky Moeller, president of the Texas AFL-CIO, said she and other community leaders have been frustrated by what they see as an opaque process for selecting the next Dallas Fed president. The current chief, Richard Fisher, is set to step down March 19.
Ms. Moeller said instead of getting a meeting with members of the Dallas Fed’s board of directors, which is in charge of the search, she and her delegation met with the bank’s general counsel in a session she described as not very helpful.
“This has been a comedy of pass the buck,” she said. “We don’t have a candidate—we’re just trying to talk processes.”
The Dallas Fed said it had recently met with the following groups regarding the search for a new bank president: Texas AFL-CIO, Texas Organizing Project, Jobs With Justice, Fort Worth Building Trades and Ironworkers, Workers Defense Project, Communication Workers of America, Dallas Central Labor Council, Harris County Central Labor Council and American Federation of Teachers.
“We had a productive conversation with representatives from these groups,” said James Hoard, a spokesman for the Dallas Fed. “We were interested in hearing their views on the selection of a new Dallas Fed president, and hope we were able to provide useful information to them, as well.”
The Center for Popular Democracy and the Fed Up Coalition, the umbrella groups coordinating the protests, expressed dismay at the lack of transparency in the selection of Patrick Harker as the new Philadelphia Fed President.
“Despite repeated requests from community, consumer, labor and academic organizations and public officials within the region, the Philadelphia Fed refused to create any mechanisms for engagement with the public,” said Kendra Brooks of Action United in Philadelphia.
“Instead, the process was entirely opaque: nobody outside of the Federal Reserve knew who the candidates were or what the criteria were for selection. This process did a disservice to the Federal Reserve System and the people of the Philadelphia region.”
The Philadelphia Fed said in response: “Several of our staff members did meet with members from Action United to hear their concerns. The Philadelphia Fed also provided them the opportunity to provide names of potential candidates to our executive search firm.”
The same group of activists showed up at the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium last summer and held a meeting with Janet Yellen at the Fed in November.
Last week, Ms. Yellen met with a group of conservative activists who argued the Fed’s low-rate policies were hurting rather than boosting employment.
The Great Recession has brought increased political scrutiny on the Fed, with prominent Republican and Democratic politicians calling for various changes in the central bank’s governance.
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'Freedom city'? Going beyond 'sanctuary,' Austin, Texas, vows to curtail arrests
'Freedom city'? Going beyond 'sanctuary,' Austin, Texas, vows to curtail arrests
While Austin is among the country’s first so-called freedom cities, it’s part of a wider movement around...
While Austin is among the country’s first so-called freedom cities, it’s part of a wider movement around decriminalizing low-level offenses and decreasing arrests. According to Local Progress, a national network of progressive city officials, some council members in El Paso and Dallas are also considering “freedom city” proposals.
Read the full article here.
Language access order faces hurdles in implementation
Epoch Times – August 5, 2013, by Genevieve Belmaker - New York State residents with limited English language...
Epoch Times – August 5, 2013, by Genevieve Belmaker - New York State residents with limited English language proficiency still face problems with access to government services, according to a new study.
More than 2 million people in New York State have limited English proficiency (LEP), according to Make the Road New York (MRNY), an immigrant advocacy organization that has partnered with The Center for Popular Democracy to complete the study.
Despite the number of people with LEP and the 2011 executive order 26 issued by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo for better provision of services, they still face many barriers accessing services.
Cuomo’s order requires that all state agencies that have direct public contact translate vital documents into the state’s top six LEP languages. The order also requires that interpretation and transportation services be provided in native languages if needed. But the study found two years later, that requirement has still not been fully implemented.
“There’s a growing number of cases where they are asking people to bring someone [for interpretation],” said Cornelia Brown, founder and executive director of the Multicultural Association of Medical Interpreters. “The one exception might be the Child Protective Services.”
Brown, who was speaking as part of a Monday, Aug. 5 conference call about the report, added that in many cases LEP people are asked to bring their own interpreters with no arrangement for reimbursement of any cost incurred.
In general, the report states that despite New York State’s indisputable position as a national leader in pro-immigrant policies, a “significant amount of work remains to be done to dismantle language barriers at government agencies that dispense key benefits and services.”
Some of the report’s key findings include that the majority of LEP New York State residents don’t get translated documents when trying to get access to state benefits and interpretation services. Despite the implementation shortfalls, most people who got translated materials or interpretation services said it was helpful.
To gather the data, MRNY and The Center for Popular Democracy worked with partner organizations across New York State starting in the spring of 2012 to survey LEP individuals in New York City, Long Island, Albany, Central New York and Buffalo.
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If the Fed Raises the Interest Rate, I’m One of the Americans Who Will Lose
When I worked my way through college with a job at Chipotle, I often worked a so-called "clopen shift." I was closing...
When I worked my way through college with a job at Chipotle, I often worked a so-called "clopen shift." I was closing the store I managed at 2 a.m. and returning to open the restaurant at 6 a.m. The work schedule didn't leave much time for sleep, let alone schoolwork. But with graduation around the corner, I figured that soon everything was going to change.
I would graduate, and I would get a job that would allow me to pay the bills, take care of my 8-year old daughter, and sleep at night.
But, since graduating this past spring, I have sent out 75 resumés but have only been invited for one interview. I’m looking for jobs that just aren’t there.
When the Federal Reserve gathers Thursday at their Federal Open Market Committee meeting to decide whether or not they will raise the interest rate, I hope they will keep me and others like me in mind.
Congress created the Federal Reserve with a two-pronged mission: to control inflation andto promote maximum employment. All the data shows that there is no risk of inflation – in fact, inflation is still running well-below the Fed’s own conservative target. But the Fed is still considering raising the interest rates, even though raising rates would do real harm to American workers who are still looking for jobs or working for low-wages, like me.
A higher interest rate means that fewer jobs will be created, and that the wages of workers at the bottom will remain too low to live on. That’s because when the Fed raises rates, they are deliberately trying to slow down the economy. They’re saying that there are too many jobs and wages are too high. They’re saying that the economy is exactly where it should be, that people like me are exactly where we should be.
It was not supposed to be this way – after all, I have a business management degree. If the Fed chooses to slow down the economy I may have to give up on getting a job I'm qualified for – the kind of job that I went to school for. I could find a job at McDonalds or Taco Bell, and go back to a work life that will leave me sleepless and struggling to support my daughter. That would be painful for me and my family and bad for the economy. I cannot imagine that this is what Fed officials are looking to do.
And yet, the Fed is considering a rate increase, even though working families – especially Black and Latino working families –are still struggling. Today, 19.5 percent of Black people are unemployed or underemployed, and 15.8 percent of Latinos are unemployed and underemployed. For Black high school graduates in the 17-20-year-old range who haven’t enrolled in college, the unemployment rate is over 50 percent.
If the Fed raises interest rates, we are ones who lose.
That the conservative powers in the Federal Reserve would even consider raising the interest rates shows us a lot about who they’re prioritizing in their decision. It shows us who the Fed is looking out for: the wealthy, Wall Street, and bankers. They are willing to sacrifice the livelihoods and aspirations of young people like me, whole communities of color, and low-income workers all purportedly to fight an inflation threat that doesn’t even exist.
The Fed’s decision on Thursday should be simple. One of the Fed’s mandates is to foster full employment, and wages still have not shown signs of significant growth since the financial crash. That’s a clear sign that America is far from full employment — and the Fed has not yet fulfilled its mandate.
Many in the Fed are claiming that our economy is in recovery, but for who? For Black and Latino Americans, the recovery hasn’t come yet. This week, we’ll see if the Fed is serious about promoting maximum employment for all Americans or just watching out for the few who are already doing well.
Source: CommonDreams
Liberals and conservatives blast the Fed
WISN 12 ABC - November 11, 2014, by Patrick Gillespie - The economy might be improving, but Federal Reserve chair Janet...
WISN 12 ABC - November 11, 2014, by Patrick Gillespie - The economy might be improving, but Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen can't catch a break.
Conservatives in Congress demanded an audit of the Fed last month. Now liberals have their list of grievances.
A coalition led by the left-leaning Center for Popular Democracy has launched a "Fed Up" campaign. They say the Fed is out of touch with Main Street and isn't focusing enough on getting people back to work.
America's central bank has a dual mandate to keep prices of goods stable and get the economy to full employment.
The coalition sent a public letter to Yellen on Tuesday calling for "public engagement" in the selection of the replacements for two regional Fed Presidents who are resigning. Dallas Fed President Richard Fischer and Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser are leaving their posts soon.
Yellen will meet with three dozen coalition representatives on Friday.
The timing of the demands is a bit odd. Since taking over as Fed chair in early 2014, Yellen has repeatedly stressed that full employment and higher wages are among her top goals.
America's unemployment rate is now at a six-year low. The economy added another 214,000 jobs in October and is on track for its best year of jobs gains since 1999. Wages, however, have not improved since the recession.
"We continue to hear reports that the economy is recovering, but millions of workers and their families are still struggling, whether from involuntarily part-time hours, poverty wages, or a lack of earned sick time," said Ady Barkan, a staff attorney at the Center for Popular Democracy.
Both conservative and liberal groups say their aim is simply for more transparency at the Fed, although there is concern about politics impacting the central bank.
The Fed's decisions on interest rates which influence everything from mortgage rates to the bond market are intended to be free of outside influence.
In October, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, led the conservative critics and said the Fed should be audited by a Congressional oversight office. Two auditors already look at the Fed's finances every year, but Cruz wants closer scrutiny of whether the Fed made the right monetary policy choices.
Yellen and Cruz have not scheduled a meeting, although Yellen appears before Congress twice a year.
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“Neoliberalism” isn’t an empty epithet. It’s a real, powerful set of ideas.
“Neoliberalism” isn’t an empty epithet. It’s a real, powerful set of ideas.
It’s hard to think of a term that causes more confusion, yet is more frequently used in political debate, than “...
It’s hard to think of a term that causes more confusion, yet is more frequently used in political debate, than “neoliberalism.” It’s one thing to argue that the term should be discouraged or retired from public discussions, because it generates heat instead of light, but it is another to say that it doesn’t have any meaning or use. Jonathan Chait makes the second case in New York magazine.
Read the full article here.
3 days ago
3 days ago