WHY WE NEED STRONG REGULATION

ABSTRACT: A fierce battle is occurring over government regulation. Key arguments against regulation are that corporations will regulate themselves and that the discipline of free market capitalism will punish bad corporate behavior and reward good behavior. The series of scandals in our large banks have clearly proven these arguments are wrong. And there are many examples beyond the recent bad behavior in the financial industry.

The market is unable to detect, publicize, and punish bad behavior before very serious damage has been done. Corporations resist efforts to exert control or set standards from outside and our huge corporations have the power to successfully do so. As Robert Sherrill wrote, “thievery is what unregulated capitalism is all about.” “Trust but verify” seems applicable here. We need strong regulators and regulations to verify that large corporations are behaving in a legal and ethical manner. Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Deregulation is insanity; we’ve seen the results time and again. Strong regulation of corporations, particularly large corporations, by government is necessary.

FULL POST: A fierce battle is occurring in Congress and the federal government over regulation of the financial industry and over government regulation in general. Key arguments against regulation are that corporations will regulate themselves (with minimal standards from government) and that the discipline of free market capitalism will punish bad corporate behavior and reward good behavior. President George W. Bush asserted that these forces were effective and sufficient as he promoted deregulation.

Over the last couple of years, the series of scandals in our large banks have clearly proven these arguments are wrong. The large banks have not regulated themselves. The mortgage and LIBOR scandals (among others) have shown a pattern of behavior by many banks over many years where they clearly did not regulate themselves, but spun further and further out of control and into illegal and unethical behavior. The recent huge JPMorgan trading loss, currently estimated at $6 billion, shows that they simply cannot control internal behavior despite strong incentives to do so. And there are many examples beyond the recent bad behavior in the financial industry: for example, the Savings and Loan scandal of the late 1980s, Enron and WorldCom’s collapses of 2001 and 2002, and the “dot com” stock bubble of 2000. Our large corporations don’t even seem to be able to exert reasonable control over executive compensation.

The discipline of a competitive market place has also clearly not been effective as a deterrent for bad behavior. The recent scandals have shown as false the assumption that banks would behave honestly to protect their reputations with customers. Moreover, it is clear in all of the examples cited above that the market is unable to detect, publicize, and punish bad behavior before very serious damage has been done. [1]

Finally, corporate capitalism, where the goal is to maximize profits, clearly has strong incentives for promoting self-interest. Conversely, the corporations have strong incentives to resist the public interest, such as worker safety, fair employee compensation, and clean air and water, because they might increase costs and reduce profits. Therefore, corporations resist efforts to exert control or set standards from outside. And our huge corporations have the power to successfully do so, in the market place, in the courts, and in our elections and government.

As Robert Sherrill (the reporter and investigative journalist for The Nation, the Washington Post, and the New York Times Magazine, among others, and the author of numerous books on politics and society [2] ) wrote about the Savings and Loan scandal, “thievery is what unregulated capitalism is all about.” The recent behavior of our large banks seems to have proven this statement again.

“Trust but verify,” a phrase President Reagan popularized when he used it to describe relations with the Soviet Union, seems applicable here. [3] We need strong regulators and regulations to verify that large corporations are behaving in a legal and ethical manner.

Finally, Albert Einstein is quoted as defining insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” [4] Deregulation of the financial industry in particular, and corporate America in general, is insanity. We’ve seen the results time and again over the last 30 years of deregulation and in the events leading up to the Great Depression. We’re paying a very steep price right now in high unemployment, lost wealth in homes and investments, and over the longer haul in lower wages and reduced benefits for workers.

We need to push back against the large corporations and their special interests in the name of the public interest and the interests of we the people. Strong regulation of corporations, particularly large corporations, by government is necessary.

[1] Surowiecki, J., 7/30/12, “Bankers gone wild,” The New Yorker

[2] Wikipedia, retrieved 7/25/12, “Robert Sherrill,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rovbert_Sherrill

[3] Wikipedia, retrieved 7/26/12, “Trust, but verify,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_but_verify

[4] BrainyQuote, retrieved 7/26/12, “Albert Einstein quotes,” http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html

DODD-FRANK & CFPB ANNIVERSARIES

ABSTRACT: We have just reached the second anniversary of the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the first anniversary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that it created. Much has been accomplished despite efforts of the financial industry and some in Congress to block, weaken, and/or delay progress. The CFPB, in its first major enforcement action, ordered Capital One Bank to pay $210 million to settle charges of deceptive marketing. The CFPB has received 45,000 complaints and projects over 200,000 per year. (To file a complaint go to http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint.)

For the Dodd-Frank law overall, it is estimated that 31% of the rule making required by the law has been finalized. This effort is extensive because Congress was unable to resolve many of the complex and controversial issues and instead passed them on to the regulators’ rulemaking process. The financial industry has been lobbying heavily (over $200 million over the last two years and 1,300 meetings with three key regulatory agencies) to delay, weaken, and complicate the rulemaking and implementation. Sheila Bair, the very effective former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) writes, “we see regulators who are too timid … they try to placate industry lobbyists … We need a regulatory system focused on the public interest, not the special interest. … and Congress needs to support them.” [1]

I urge you to let your representatives in or candidates for Congress know that you support strong regulation of the financial industry and strong penalties, including jail time, for violators.

FULL POST:We have just reached the second anniversary of the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the first anniversary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that it created. (The existence of a similar agency in Canada has been credited by some with having avoided the mortgage fraud and predatory lending that contributed to the financial and housing market collapse in the US. [2]) Much has been accomplished despite efforts of the financial industry and some in Congress to block, weaken, and/or delay progress. Most notably, Senate Republicans blocked President Obama’s appointment of anyone to head the CFPB to prevent it from functioning effectively. Obama eventually appointed a head of the CFPB in January 2012 without Senate approval when it was in recess.

The CFPB, in its first major enforcement action, ordered Capital One Bank to pay $210 million to settle charges of deceptive marketing to credit card customers. In addition, the CFPB has:

Engaged in lots of fact-finding and gathering of input from a wide range of constituencies
Undertaken its “Know Before You Owe” initiative to help people understand the consequences of debt
Proposed a redesign of mortgage forms to enhance disclosure and understanding
Started developing a range of mortgage regulations making them safer for borrowers and lenders, including a ban on balloon payments and prepayment penalties, and a cap on late fees
Jointly with the Education Department, issued a report on subprime-style lending in the private student loan market and created a model document on college costs and financing options [3]
Initiated oversight of companies reporting on individuals’ creditworthiness
Launched a database that tracks credit card complaints

The CFPB has received 45,000 complaints, many about credit cards and mortgages. The frequency is increasing and is projected to exceed 200,000 per year, perhaps by a lot. [4][5] (To file a complaint go to http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint.)

For the Dodd-Frank law overall, it is estimated that 31% of the rule making required by the law has been finalized (123 of 398 rules). To-date, 8,843 pages of rules and regulations have been created by 10 regulatory agencies. The CFPB is responsible for 1,013 of those pages and most of the 1,561 pages devoted to consumer protection. The other major contributors are the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) each with 3,200 pages and the Federal Reserve with 1,439 pages. [6] This effort is so extensive because Congress was unable to resolve many of the complex and controversial issues and instead passed them on to the regulators’ rulemaking process.

The financial industry has been lobbying heavily (over $200 million over the last two years and 1,300 meetings with three key regulatory agencies: the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the CFTC) to delay, weaken, and complicate the rulemaking and implementation. For example, new requirements for reserves to protect against losses won’t begin kicking in until January and won’t be fully implemented until 2019. New rules on trading of derivatives won’t start until later this year and will apply to many fewer companies than originally envisioned. The Volcker Rule, to prevent excessive, risky trading by federally insured banks, is still in the works with no draft released and nothing implemented, despite JPMorgan’s recent huge loss on such trading, estimated to be $6 billion. [7][8]

Sheila Bair, the very effective, former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), writes, “Yet, still, we see regulators who are too timid … they try to placate industry lobbyists by creating this clarification or that exception, resulting in indecipherable rules that are hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of pages long. … And the irony is that once the rules have ballooned … the lobbyists who sought all the clarifications and exceptions ridicule the regulators for … red tape. … We need a regulatory system focused on the public interest, not the special interest. And we need strong, credible voices who will weigh into the debate on the side of the population at large. … The system is not getting fixed and we need to send a message to Washington. … We need regulators to write rules that the public can understand and the [bank] examiners can enforce. … and Congress needs to support them.” [9]

I hope this information and that in previous posts will help you do anything you can to support strong regulation of the financial industry. I urge you to let your representatives in or candidates for Congress know that you support strong regulation of the financial industry and strong penalties, including jail time, for violators. Tell them your personal stories about how the financial collapse has affected you and your family. Only strong grassroots pressure by voters will ultimately make the difference.

[1] Bair, S., 7/20/12, “Two years after Dodd-Frank, why isn’t anything fixed?” Yahoo! Finance

[2] Krugman, P., 2/1/10, “Good and boring,” The New York Times

[3] Dougherty, C., & Lorin, J., 7/20/12, “CFPB says students victimized by ‘subprime-style’ lending,” Bloomberg Businessweek

[4] Singletary, M., 7/11/12, “Consumer protection bureau nears its first anniversary,” The Boston Globe

[5] Puzzanghera, J., 7/23/12, “Cordray marks consumer protection agency’s 1^st year,” Los Angeles Times

[6] Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (law firm), 7/20/12, “Dodd-Frank progress report,” http://www.davispolk.com/dodd-frank-rulemaking-progress-report

[7] Liberto, J., 7/21/12, “Two-thirds of Dodd-Frank still not in place,” CNN Money

[8] Drutman, L., 7/19/12, “Big banks dominate Dodd-Frank meetings with regulators,” Sunlight Foundation

[9] Bair, S., 7/20/12, “Two years after Dodd-Frank, why isn’t anything fixed?” Yahoo! Finance

CORPORATE RIGHTS IN TRADE TREATIES

ABSTRACT: The “Investor State Dispute Settlement” provisions in the draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty (TPP) give an investor (generally a multi-national corporation) the right to sue a government directly for compensation for any negative effect on its profits of any law or regulation. These suits are decided by international tribunals and raise significant concern that they can undermine public health, environmental protection, human rights, and management of economic activity. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), these tribunals have required governments to pay more than $350 million to corporations and there are more than $12 billion in pending cases. Cases involve food and cigarette labeling; pesticides, drugs, and health care; and pollution and toxic waste. Australia has announced it will stop supporting the inclusion of investor state dispute settlement provisions in trade treaties.

We need openness and debate during the development of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty to ensure that protections for workers and the middle class are at least as strong as they are for corporations and the investor class. “At stake is nothing less than a democratic society’s ability to regulate a market economy in the broad public interest.” [1]

FULL POST: The “Investor State Dispute Settlement” provisions in the draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty (TPP), as well as in North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and numerous other treaties, give an investor (generally a multi-national corporation) the right to sue a government directly for compensation for any negative effect on its profits of any law or regulation. These suits are decided by international tribunals made up of three trade lawyers from the private sector who hear the cases and have the power to order trade sanctions or unlimited amounts in fines payable by governments to corporations. The lawyers rotate between serving as the tribunals’ judges and representing the corporations bringing the suits, thereby earning income from the corporations bringing the suits. The tribunals are conducted in secret with no accountability to the public and taking into account only the claim to profits, not health, environmental, or other concerns. [2][3]

Traditionally, international law has been used to settle disputes between countries, while a corporation was required to pursue a dispute in the courts of the country concerned. However, trade and investment treaties, of which there are now over 2,000 worldwide, typically give foreign investors (generally corporations) the right to bypass local court systems and directly sue governments. NAFTA expanded these rights and the TPP draft expands them further. (Note that these treaties allow companies to sue governments but not the reverse.) [4]

The investor state dispute settlement provisions in these treaties raise significant concern that they can undermine the ability of democratically elected governments to implement policies on public health, environmental protection, human rights, and management of economic activity. [5] Laws and regulations that could be attacked include Buy American provisions in government contracting, requirements that energy come from renewable sources, regulation of financial products and companies, and anti-sweat shops rules.

Based on suits under NAFTA, international tribunals have required governments to pay more than $350 million to corporations based on issues such as bans on toxic substances and land-use policies. There are more than $12 billion in pending cases under US trade treaties. [6] Through 2011, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development had identified 450 lawsuits brought by companies against governments under trade and investment treaties. These are the known cases (see some examples below); most are kept secret. Argentina had the most cases (51), many related to its financial crisis and the privatization of water. It has been required to pay over $1 billion to multi-national corporations. [7]

Based on its experiences, Australia announced in 2011 it would stop supporting the inclusion of investor state dispute settlement provisions in trade treaties. It stated that it supported equal treatment of domestic and foreign business, but felt that these provisions provided greater legal rights to foreign businesses. Furthermore, it stated that it would not support these provisions because they constrained its ability to make laws on social, environmental, and economic matters. Finally, it noted that these provisions had been included at the behest of Australian businesses seeking protections when they entered foreign markets. It stated that if Australian businesses had concerns about investing in foreign countries, they should make there own assessments and decisions and not look to trade treaties for protection. [8]

In the US, concerns about previous trade and investment treaties led to press coverage, debate, and stopping them: the 1998 Multilateral Agreement on Investment, the 2005 Free Trade Area of the Americas, and the original efforts at an Asian-Pacific free trade area. We need openness and debate during the development of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty. We need to ensure that protections for workers and the middle class are at least as strong as they are for corporations and the investor class. [9] “At stake is nothing less than a democratic society’s ability to regulate a market economy in the broad public interest.” [10]

Examples of investor state dispute settlements include:

The World Trade Organization (WTO) recently ruled that the US cannot require country of origin labeling on meat. Canada and Mexico brought suit against the policy and now will be able to impose trade sanctions on the US if it does not comply with the ruling. Not only will consumers not know where their meat is coming from but public health personnel will have a harder time tracking down the source if health problems occur. [11]
In 2012, the WTO ruled against US dolphin-safe tuna labeling and against a US ban on clove, candy, and cola flavored cigarettes.
Foreign manufacturers of generic drugs have sued the US government claiming US patent laws and court decisions have prevented them from marketing their generic versions of drugs.
A US health care provider has sued Canada, challenging its Canada Health Act, as interfering with its ability to provide services and make profits in Canada.
Two US manufacturers of pesticides have sued Canada based on its ban of certain pesticides.
Philip Morris, the multi-national tobacco company, has sued Australia and Uruguay over health warnings and advertizing on cigarette packages, even though their regulations are in compliance with and encouraged by the World Health Organization’s convention on tobacco control.
Ecuador was required to pay Chevron $78 million because its efforts to protect the Amazon from pollution were found to have negatively affected Chevron’s profits.
A Swedish energy company is threatening to sue Germany for its decision to phase out nuclear energy. It previously challenged a German standard on the increase in river water temperatures at its coal-fired power plant and got Germany to relax the standard.
Mexico was required to pay $17 million to US-based Metalclad because a local government refused to give it a permit to build a toxic waste dump.

[1] Wallach, L., 3/13/12, “A stealth attack on democratic governance,” The American Prospect

[2] Wikipedia, retrieved 7/18/12, “Investor state dispute settlement,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investor_state_dispute_settlement

[3] Wallach, L., 3/13/12, “A stealth attack on democratic governance,” The American Prospect

[4] Wikipedia, retrieved 7/18/12, see above

[5] Wallach, L., 3/13/12, see above

[6] Wallach, L., 3/13/12, see above

[7] Agazzi, I., 5/7/12, “Global corporations undermining democracy worldwide,” Inter Press Service

[8] Wikipedia, retrieved 7/18/12, see above

[9] Faux, J., 3/13/12, “The myth of the level playing field,” The American Prospect

[10] Wallach, L., 3/13/12, see above

[11] Public Citizen, 6/29/12, “WTO rules against yet another US consumer protection policy,” Public Citizen

TRADE AGREEMENTS PAST AND PRESENT

ABSTRACT: Past trade agreements have not lived up to their promises of new, good jobs for Americans and increased exports. While they have provided cheaper goods for us to buy, they have reduced jobs and put downward pressure on wages in the U.S., while increasing our trade deficit. [1] They have undermined U.S. laws protecting workers, the environment, and public health.

The currently under-negotiation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) appears to be taking all of this a step further. TPP negotiations are being kept secret, although corporate representatives are fully involved. The big winners under past trade agreements and the TPP (as drafted) are multi-national corporations. The TPP negotiations and draft documents must be open to the public and Congress. This will ensure that various interests are appropriately balanced and that corporate interests don’t dominate.

FULL POST: First, a little history. NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, was signed in 1993. The best estimates are that NAFTA has resulted in the loss of almost 700,000 jobs in the US. Our trade deficit with the other participants, Canada and Mexico, has increased from $9 billion to $101 billion. [2][3] In the 20 years since China joined the World Trade Organization, 2.9 million jobs have been offshored to China, many of them well-paying manufacturing jobs. “[S]tate-subsidized Chinese production [has] decimated American industry and reduced the incomes of American workers.” [4] Our trade deficit with China has grown from $13 billion in 1991 to $295 billion in 2011. [5] “[I]n the past, the U.S. trade imbalance has widened after each new agreement. … U.S. businesses … profit immensely from outsourcing and offshoring … Nor is there any apparent economic benefit to the United States.” [6] “Historically, trade deals like NAFTA … are associated with economic displacement and instability, the erosion of labor and human rights standards, and the subordination of national sovereignty to foreign investors.” [7]

The current Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations (13 negotiating meetings over two years) involve Australia, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and other countries. TPP is actually much more than a traditional trade agreement and the negotiations have been conducted in secret because US Trade Representative Ron Kirk has indicated that he believes the only way to complete the deal is to keep it secret. (Negotiators have agreed not to release negotiating documents until four years after the deal is completed or abandoned.) Although 600 corporate representatives serve as official US trade advisors and have full access to the negotiations, the US Senate committee with jurisdiction over TPP has been denied access to the negotiations. [8][9]

Recently, two of the 26 chapters of the draft agreement were leaked. The TPP draft text includes:

International rights for pharmaceutical corporations that would prohibit generic versions of drugs in developing countries, dramatically increasing drug prices and reducing access [10]
Further financial industry deregulation
Prohibition on controlling the flow of money among countries and other measures designed to limit negative effects of financial speculation
Increased protection for foreign investors
Incentives for US firms to offshore jobs and investment
Provisions that favor foreign corporations (including government subsidized ones) over domestic ones
Provisions allowing corporations, including foreign corporations, to assert control over natural resources
Expansion of NAFTA’s international tribunals where corporations can sue governments if laws or regulations that protect the public interest (e.g., health, safety, and the environment) might have a negative affect on profits (More on this in my next post.)

Wallach sums up TPP with these words: “Countries would be obliged to conform all their domestic laws and regulations to TPP’s rules – in effect a corporate coup d’état.” [11]

We need to know more about the TPP draft. And we need to apply what we’ve learned from past experience with trade agreements so intended results are achieved and various interests are more appropriately balanced. The US is a democracy; therefore the TPP negotiations and draft documents must be open to the public and to Congress. Then, there can be open discussion and debate about its provisions and its balancing of various interests – those of the public, workers, corporations, investors, local communities, and countries. We need to ensure that corporate power doesn’t run roughshod over other interests.

[1] Faux, J., 3/13/12, “The myth of the level playing field,” The American Prospect

[2] Hindery, L., 5/1/12, “Free trade run amok: the TPP,” The Huffington Post

[3] D’Amico, S.J., 7/10/11, “Trade deals are no deals for the US,” The Boston Globe

[4] Lind, M., Dec. 2011, “The cost of free trade,” The American Prospect

[5] U.S. Census Bureau, retrieved 7/16/12, “Trade in goods with China,” http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html

[6] Prestowitz, C., 3/13/12, “The pacific pivot,” The American Prospect

[7] Chen, M., 6/21/12, “Backdoor talks on trans-Pacific trade deal aim to globalize corporatocracy,” In These Times

[8] Wallach, L., 7/3/12, “NAFTA on steroids: The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a global coup d’état,” The Nation

[9] Chen, M., 6/21/12, see above

[10] Common Dreams, 7/10/12, “Obama’s trade policy ensures big pharma profit at expense of world’s poor,” http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/07/10-2

[11] Wallach, L., 7/3/12, see above

BAD BEHAVIOR AT THE BIG BANKS

Abstract: Two “new” major, multi-bank scandals have gotten attention recently: the manipulation of the LIBOR interest rate index from 2005 – 2009 and the rigging of interest rates on municipal deposits over at least ten years. These far-reaching scandals are but the tip of the iceberg, which includes the endemic fraudulent mortgage practices that led to the 2008 financial collapse and more. JPMorgan Chase, among others, is involved in all of the above. It has also paid a $153 million fine for fraud in securities trading and a $700 million penalty for its misbehavior in municipal finance.

Despite overwhelming evidence of serious, chronic criminal behavior at the big banks, penalties are mere slaps on the wrist, no senior executive has been prosecuted, and the banks continue to do business as if they had done nothing wrong. This behavior and the unhealthy economic and political power of the big banks must be stopped. The only way to do so is to prosecute bankers and send some of them to jail.

Full post: On the heels of the large trading losses at JPMorgan Chase (somewhere between $2 and $9 billion) comes news of two major, multi-bank scandals: the manipulation of the LIBOR interest rate and the rigging of interest rates on municipal deposits.

Barclays Bank, based in London, has paid British and American regulators a fine of $450 million for rigging the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) from 2005 through 2009. This is a big deal because LIBOR is used worldwide to set the variable interest rates on an estimated $500 trillion worth of financial contracts, including mortgages, credit cards, and many commercial and personal loans. The rate rigging helped Barclays’ traders make more money and made their bank look stronger in the midst of the financial crisis. Other banks were clearly involved in the scheme and more penalties are expected. [1]

The second scandal, rigging interest rates on municipal deposits, has, at least so far, received far less attention. Three low level employees at GE Capital (the financial services subsidiary of General Electric) have been convicted in a scheme that involved virtually every major bank and finance company on Wall St. They conspired to skim billions from cities and towns across the country by paying them lower interest rates on their deposits. The cities and towns are generally legally required to get competitive bids from at least three banks. The bidding is managed by a broker. In this scheme, the banks divvied up the business so there was a prearranged winner of the bidding. The broker was bribed to tell the prearranged winner what the other two bids were, so it could come in just over those bids. [2]

This conspiracy had been going on for at least ten years. The municipalities’ deposits were the multi-million proceeds of bonds that were sold to finance major projects and were spent over the multiple years those projects, such as building a school or sewer system, took to complete. Therefore, lowering the interest rate the municipality is paid by just a 100^th of a percent (e.g., 5.00% instead of 5.01%) could cheat a city or town out of tens of thousands of dollars, and save the bank the same amount. Overall, municipalities lost tens of millions of dollars on tens of billions of dollars of municipal deposits. To-date, four banks – UBS, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo – have admitted involvement and have paid $673 million in restitution and fines.

These two new scandals, amazingly, are but the tip of the iceberg in terms of fraud in the financial industry. Fraudulent writing of mortgages, fraudulent packaging and selling of them as supposedly safe AAA-rated securities, and fraudulent mortgage foreclosures (see blog post / newsletter issue #19, 2/20/12) led to the 2008 financial collapse.

JPMorgan Chase, to focus on one of the big banks, is involved in all of the wrongdoing mentioned above. It has also paid a $153 million fine for fraud in the trading of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and a $700 million penalty for its misbehavior in the funding of a $300 million sewer system in Birmingham and Jefferson County Alabama. In this latter scandal, it bribed Goldman Sachs with $3 million not to compete with it and bribed local officials (some of whom are now in jail) to accept a complex financial deal that means the $300 million sewer system will cost $3 billion. This provided profits to JPMorgan while saddling local households, some of them quite poor, with sewer bills of at least $50 month. [3]

The pattern of repeated misbehavior in the financial system is clear. Our big banks’ executives are more interested in their profits and bonuses than serving their customers or playing by the rules. The fines and penalties they’ve paid are mere slaps on the wrist given their size and profitability. None of these payments have meant even one quarter where a bank reported a loss instead of a profit. Despite the overwhelming evidence of serious, repeated criminal behavior, there has been no prosecution of any senior official – not a one, and the banks continue to do business, including with local, state, and the federal governments, as if they had done nothing wrong. [4] (In the Savings and Loan collapse, which was truly miniscule by comparison, over 1,000 senior officials were convicted of felonies.)

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner and former World Bank economist, believes we must break the unhealthy economic and political power of the financial sector in order to have a more just and prosperous society. He believes the only way to do this is to prosecute bankers and send some of them to jail. [5]

[1] Morgenson, G., 7/7/12, “The British, at least, are getting tough,” The New York Times

[2] Taibbi, M., 7/5/12, “The scam Wall Street learned from the Mafia,” Rolling Stone

[3] Moyers & Company, 6/22/12, “How big banks victimize our democracy,” Public Affairs Television, Inc.

[4] Eskow, R., ???, “Wall Street’s unpunished crimes,” Huffington Post

[5] Common Dreams staff, 7/2/12, “Following Barclays’ scandal, Stiglitz says, ‘Send bankers to jail’,” http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/07/02-4

Hello world!

I’ve been very frustrated that important information and context for our national policy making and politics is not being provided by our mainstream media. Although the information is available, most people don’t have the time to do the searching to find it. Often it is buried in pieces that are too long and cumbersome for most people to wade through to find the kernels of important information.

Therefore, I started a policy and politics newsletter in Novemeber, and am now turning it into a blog. I write concise, focused pieces that you can read in a few minutes. Key points are bolded so you can skim the posts very quickly. I will provide links to sources and to more detail, so if there is a topic you are particularly interested in you can pursue it in more depth.

Each issue of my newsletter has been migrated to this blog as a post.

Please sign up to “FOLLOW” my blog, which means you’ll get an email of each new post.

I encourage you to comment on the posts, current and past ones, thereby becoming a participant in the discussion of these issues. I and other readers are interested in your reactions and thoughts.

If you would like to contact me personally, you can email me at john@lippittpolicyandpolitics.org.

WHY THE DECLINE IN LABOR UNIONS

Here’s issue #38 of my Policy and Politics Newsletter, written 7/3/12. The previous newsletter described the role of unions. This newsletter outlines the reasons for the decline in private sector union membership.

Private sector union membership has dropped from 34% of the workforce in 1954 to 7% today. (Public sector union membership has grown from 10% to 37%, so that’s a different story for another day.) [1]

The Wagner Act of 1935 (also know as the National Labor Relations Act) created the basis for current labor unions. It was part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal. It gave workers rights and protections in organizing unions and bargaining collectively. [2]

Employers, especially large corporations, have been pushing back ever since. Initial efforts to weaken the Act failed, until the Taft-Hartley Act was passed in 1947. It was vetoed by President Truman but the Republican Congress overrode his veto. Previously, employers were expected to remain neutral during union organizing efforts. Now employers were allowed to actively oppose unionization. Taft-Hartley also gave flexibility to states to regulate unions and prohibited secondary boycotts (where a union encourages customers not to buy the employers products). Requiring all employees of a unionized workplace to become union members was outlawed. It made union organizing much more difficult and is generally seen as the turning point in unionization in the US [3] (although membership continued to increase for 8 more years before beginning its long decline). In the last 30 years, labor laws have been weakened and the ones that remain are often not vigilantly enforced. [4]

Since the early 1980s, large employers have increasingly aggressively opposed unions. One strategy has been to increase competition among workers for jobs, particularly in the manufacturing and industrial sector that was the heart of middle class union jobs. For example:

Trade agreements, developed with corporate input, have few if any worker protections, which means US workers must compete against much cheaper labor in other countries
Differences in state labor laws and practices are used to make workers compete against workers in other states where unions are weaker, the standard of living and pay is lower, and state and local governments provide financial incentives for relocation of jobs
Threats to replace workers if they strike pit current workers against non-union and unemployed workers. Employers were emboldened in the use of this tactic by President Reagan’s firing and replacing of air traffic controllers when they went on strike [5]

Wal-Mart in particular is well known for it aggressive anti-union tactics, both in attacking any efforts to unionize (including eliminating business components where unionization seemed likely) and using part-time workers that are harder to unionize. [6] The widespread, increased use of part-time workers, contractors, and consultants effectively undermines the use of full-time, potentially union workers. The presence and hiring of immigrant workers, often undocumented ones, also weakens unions.

Weakened labor laws and weak enforcement undermines unions. For example, workers who engage in organizing efforts are not infrequently, illegally fired. However, the enforcement process typically takes many months if not years and if the firing is found to be illegal, typically the company is ordered to reinstate the worker with back pay. This provides only a small financial penalty to the employer and means the worker has to subsist for an extended period of time without the job. Under current law, there is a 45 to 90 day waiting period between the request for and occurrence of the secret ballot voting by employees for a union, and employers work to delay this even longer. In that time, the some employers retaliate against, fire, harass, and generally make life miserable for the pro-union employees, while actively campaigning against the union in mandatory meetings with employees, intimidating them into rejecting the union. [7] [8]

Finally, employers lobby and make campaign contributions to encourage public policies that weaken labor laws, unions, and their power. They band together for these activities and for media campaigns against unions through groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, Associated Builders and Contractors, The Center for Union Facts, and the National Right to Work Committee and Foundation. [9]

There are other factors, including unions’ internal problems (e.g., corruption and lack of democracy) and unions suffering from their success. For example, their success in improving pay, benefits, and working conditions left some workers feeling that union membership was not necessary, and through their success in advocacy and standard setting, government policies have addressed many of the issues that unions originally tackled, such as limits on working hours, overtime pay requirements, and health and safety issues. [10] [11]

In the US, since 1947, our politics and policies have given employers more clout in the balance of power between employers and employees. One of the effects has been the decline of private sector union membership from 34% to 7%. It doesn’t have to be this way. In Europe, although there has been some decline in union membership, it has been nowhere near as great as in the US and union membership currently ranges between 20% and 71% (in Sweden). [12] Corporations are more likely to work with their unions than to be aggressively anti-union as they are in theUS.

[1] Bureau of LaborStatistics,US Dept. of Labor, 1/27/12, “Union members – 2011,” http://www.bls.gov

[2] Wikipedia, retrieved 7/1/12, “National Labor Relations Act,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_Labor_Relations_Act

[3] Clark, B., retrieved 7/1/12, “The decline of unions – Why?” http://www.old-yankee.com/blog/decline-of-unions

[4] Cassidy, J., 6/8/12, “America’s class war,” The New Yorker

[5] About.com Economics, retrieved 7/1/12, “The decline of union power,” economics.about.com/od/laborinamerica/a/union_decline.htm

[6] Wikipedia, retrieved 7/2/12, “Criticism of Walmart,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart

[7] Wikipedia, retrieved 4/23/12, “Labor unions in the United Sates,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_unions_in_the_United_States

[8] Reich, R., 6/14/11, “Why the Republican war on workers’ rights undermines the American economy,” robertreaich.org

[9] Johnson, D., 9/1/10, “How companies turn people against unions,” Campaign forAmerica’s Future

[10] Macaray, D., 1/10/08, “Three big reasons for the decline of labor unions,” CounterPunch

[11] Hunter, R.P., 8/24/99, “Four reasons for the decrease in union membership,” http://www.mackinac.org

[12] Fischer, C., 9/11/10, “Why has union membership declined?’ Economist’s View