WHY ECONOMIC INEQUALITY CONTINUES TO GROW AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT

ABSTRACT: Despite many indicators that our economy is strong, most Americans are experiencing economic insecurity. Over half of US households have less than one month’s income in regular savings and median household income continues to decline. Low-wage workers at Walmart, McDonalds, and elsewhere are so poor they are receiving $45 billion in public assistance. This translates into the average US household paying $400 a year in taxes to support these workers.

So why are the majority of Americans falling behind economically? And why were things so different in the post-World War II period? The US job market has changed dramatically. Many full-time jobs have been replaced part-time jobs, contract work, and temporary work. Many large employers and some politicians have engaged in a conscious effort to undermine the bargaining power of workers and weaken the enforcement of labor laws. Policies that allow outsourcing of jobs overseas and high unemployment further undermine the availability of good jobs at good wages.

The ability of the public and voters to demand policies that support the middle class and workers has also been undermined. Wealthy individuals and corporations are now allowed to make huge contributions and expenditures in our elections, drowning out the voices of average voters. This means that economic inequality translates into political inequality and policies that favor the well-off. Furthermore, new barriers to voting and a strategy of paralyzing and denigrating government has fostered voter cynicism, which leads to “a downward spiral [of] depressed expectations and diminished participation.”

A genuine mass movement is needed to restore economic security and opportunity for the typical American worker. An opportunity to participate in building such a movement is available right now in the election of the Mayor of Chicago. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is unexpectedly giving incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a crony of wealthy business interests, a run for his money. You can learn more about Garcia and contribute to his campaign at http://www.chicagoforchuy.com/index.html. The success of candidates like Garcia is critical to turning around the direction of our politics and policies, and to re-establishing government of, by, and for the people.

FULL POST: As the stock market sets record highs, as unemployment falls, and as the economy grows, most Americans are experiencing economic insecurity. Since 2007, US wealth as grown by over $30 trillion, but the number of children in families receiving public assistance to buy food has grown by 6.5 million to 16 million children (20% of all kids). Over half of public school students are poor enough to qualify for lunch subsidies and over half of US households have less than one month’s income in regular savings (as opposed to retirement accounts or home equity). Median household income has continued to decline in the 5 years since the official recession ended; 95% of income growth since 2009 has gone to the richest 1%. The jobs that are being created pay, on average, 23% less than the jobs that were lost. [1]

Low-wage workers (those earning less than $10.10 per hour) at Walmart, McDonalds, and elsewhere are so poor they are receiving $45 billion in public assistance. This translates into the average US household paying $400 a year in taxes to support these workers. Walmart’s highly publicized $1 raise for its lowest paid workers will cost the company about $1 billion per year. Its profits last year were $25 billion and it spent about $6.5 billion to buy back its own stock, enriching its investors. It’s estimated that taxpayers spent about $6 billion providing public assistance to Walmart employees last year. [2]

So why are the majority of Americans falling behind economically when many measures indicate that our economy is doing well and when the wealthy are doing very well? And why were things so different in the post-World War II period when our economy was doing well and the majority of Americans were getting ahead? Bob Kuttner offers seven reasons, which I summarize below. [3]

The US job market has changed dramatically. Many full-time jobs with career opportunities have been replaced part-time jobs, contract work, temporary work, and so forth. Many large employers and some politicians have engaged in a conscious effort to undermine the bargaining power of workers and weaken the enforcement of labor laws. Policies that allow outsourcing of jobs overseas and high unemployment (while limiting unemployment benefits) further undermine market forces that would provide good jobs at good wages – and with benefits.

Pro-business Republicans and Democrats have supported these policies. Furthermore, the ability of the public and voters to demand policies that support the middle class and workers has been undermined. Laws and court decisions have allowed wealthy individuals and corporations to make huge contributions and expenditures in our elections, drowning out the voices of average voters. This means that economic inequality translates into political inequality, and wealthy special interests can promote their own good at the expense of the public.

Similarly, laws and court decisions have made it more difficult for many voters to vote. And finally, a strategy of paralyzing and denigrating government, particularly at the national level, has fostered voter cynicism. This leads to passivity and lack of involvement in political activity including voting – “a downward spiral [of] depressed expectations and diminished participation.”

Kuttner says a genuine mass movement is needed to restore economic security and opportunity for the typical American worker, as well as democracy to our political process. He notes that the Roosevelt Revolution and New Deal of the 1930s accomplished this. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s also made major changes in economic justice and democratic processes. So it’s time again to throw off cynicism and apathy, and to activate and organize.

An opportunity to do so is available right now in the election of the Mayor of Chicago. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is polling within 4 percentage points of incumbent Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, a crony of wealthy business interests (and former Chief of Staff for President Obama and former US Representative). As Mayor, Emanuel closed 50 public schools, attacked teachers, and engaged in privatizing schools, parking meters, transit fare collection, and other public sector functions and jobs. He has focused on downtown development while ignoring the neighborhoods. He has raised taxes and fees on working people while providing sweetheart deals for business people, many of whom have contributed to his election campaign. Emanuel has raised over $13 million, ten times what Garcia has raised, and has a super PAC backing him as well. He is receiving substantial support from wealthy business people who are active Republicans. [4]

Garcia shocked everyone in the primary by keeping Emanuel from getting a majority of the vote, thereby forcing the run-off election on April 7. If you would like to contribute to the movement to restore democracy, reduce inequality, and support workers and the middle class, supporting Garcia is a good opportunity. You can learn more about him and contribute to his campaign at http://www.chicagoforchuy.com/index.html. Even if you contribute just a few dollars, the number of donors is an important indication of the breadth of support. You can sign-up to make calls from your home encouraging Chicago residents to get out and vote for him here: http://pol.moveon.org/2015/garcia_calls.html?rc=kos.

The success of candidates like Garcia is critical to turning around the direction of our politics and policies, and to re-establishing government of, by, and for the people. Even if they don’t ultimately win, they change the issues and policies that are discussed, and help build the movement for change.

P.S. I think it’s noteworthy that there hasn’t been much coverage by the mainstream (corporate) media of this unexpectedly contested mayoral race in our 3^rd largest city.

[1] Buchheit, P., 2/9/15, “New evidence that half of America is broke,” Common Dreams

[2] Buchheit, P., 3/16/15, “Four numbers that show the beating down of middle America,” Common Dreams

[3] Kuttner, R., 3/23/15, “Why the 99 percent keeps losing,” Huffington Post

[4] Perlstein, R., Feb. 2015, “How to sell off a city,” In These Times (http://inthesetimes.com/article/17533/how_to_sell_off_a_city)

STOP “TRADE” TREATIES THAT FAVOR BIG MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS

ABSTRACT: The Obama administration is in the final stages of negotiating two major “trade” treaties. It is pushing for Fast Track approval, which requires Congress to ratify them quickly (only 20 hours of debate on the thousands of pages in each treaty) with no amendments. These “trade” treaties primarily serve to enhance the power and profits of large multi-national corporations.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) has released a set of principles for trade including:

Trade treaties should promote balanced trade and reduction of the current US trade deficit;
Workers’ rights should be protected and assistance provided to those who are displaced;
Currency manipulation to gain unfair advantage in trade should be banned;
The environment should be protected and environmental laws should not be undermined;
Trade treaties must not supersede countries’ consumer protections;
Private court systems that bypass and supersede a countries’ court system must not be allowed;
Trade treaties must safeguard affordable access to essential medicine; and
Trade treaties should support the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I encourage you to contact your U.S. Representative and Senators to urge them to support the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s principles for trade, and to oppose these “trade” treaties and Fast Track approval of them.

FULL POST: The Obama administration is in the final stages of negotiating two major “trade” treaties, [1] the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). It is pushing for Fast Track approval, which requires Congress to ratify them quickly (only 20 hours of debate on the thousands of pages in each treaty) with no amendments to or filibustering of the language to which the administration has agreed. Despite the fact that a vote on the Fast Track approval process was delayed last week in Congress, it and these treaties will be back soon.

These “trade” treaties primarily serve to enhance the power and profits of large multi-national corporations. U.S. sovereignty and workers will be undermined, along with protections for our health, consumer and worker safety, the environment, and the stability of the financial system. Laws and regulations to protect public well-being are treated as illegal barriers to trade, although in reality it’s because they might be barriers to corporate profits. Multi-national corporations would be able to return to practices that were prohibited by the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts of the early 1970s and to the financial schemes that caused the 2008 Great Recession. [2] (See my posts of 1/13/14, 1/8/14, 9/13/13, 9/10/13, and 7/22/12 for more details.)

US Senator Elizabeth Warren has focused her opposition to the TPP on a provision called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). It gives foreign corporations special rights to challenge U.S. laws, rules, and regulations in international tribunals, instead of the normal process of going through the U.S. courts. They could win large financial awards for alleged loss of potential profits. Such awards would have to be paid by U.S. taxpayers without ever going to a U.S. court. This significantly undermines U.S. sovereignty. [3]

This ISDS provision is already in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and some other existing trade treaties. As a result, governments have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to multi-national corporations under decisions by international tribunals where high-priced corporate lawyers serve as the judges. The number of cases brought to these tribunals is growing and there were 58 cases in 2012 alone. For example, a French corporation sued Egypt because it raised its minimum wage, a Swedish corporation sued Germany because it is phasing out nuclear power after the Japanese Fukushima disaster, and Philip Morris is suing Uruguay to stop new tobacco regulations. Eli Lilly is suing Canada to overturn a decision by its Supreme Court that limits drug prices. [4]

As a candidate for President, Obama criticized ISDS provisions in NAFTA. He promised to oppose foreign corporations’ rights to sue governments over laws or regulations that protect public safety or promote the public interest. He has done an about face on this issue.

Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, has a great, 2 ½ minute video explaining why we should oppose Fast Track and the TPP. [5] He notes that although it is the largest trade treaty in history, involving almost 800 million people and 40% of the world’s economy, it is being negotiated in secret. The public, the media, and even Congress have been shut out from the process and denied access to draft documents. However, corporate leaders have been extensively involved. The leaked information that has come out indicates that the TPP will exacerbate inequality and the undermining of the middle class by facilitating the outsourcing of jobs. It will also undermine rules and regulations that protect people (but might reduce profits) and make drugs more costly by lengthening patent protections.

The TPP and TTIP will provide few if any benefits to the economy, jobs, wages, or our balance of trade. Past trade treaties, such as NAFTA, have resulted in documented job losses, declining wages for middle class workers, increased trade deficits, and increasing inequality. [6] (See my posts of 1/20/14 and 7/17/12 for more information.)

The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) has released a set of principles for trade. [7] Those principles include the following:

Trade treaties must allow open debate with full disclosure of their provisions, sufficient time to discuss them, and the opportunity to amend them;
Trade treaties should promote balanced trade and reduction of the current US trade deficit;
Workers’ rights should be protected and assistance provided to those who are displaced;
Currency manipulation to gain unfair advantage in trade should be banned;
Trade treaties must not limit the United States government’s ability to set contract guidelines, including giving a preference to domestic producers when making purchasing decisions;
The environment should be protected and countries’ environmental laws should not be undermined;
Trade treaties must not supersede countries’ food and safety standards, financial regulations, or other consumer protections;
Private court systems, such as Investor State Dispute Settlement tribunals, that bypass and supersede a countries’ court system must not be allowed;
Trade treaties must safeguard affordable access to essential medicine and not establish unfair drug patent protections that delay access to affordable generic drugs; and
Trade treaties should require signatory countries to implement and enforce domestic laws consistent with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and should not prevent the U.S. or other nations from using trade benefits to promote human rights.

I encourage you to contact your U.S. Representative and Senators to urge them to support the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s principles for trade. In addition, I encourage you to urge your elected representatives to oppose these “trade” treaties and the Fast Track approval process for them.

[1] I put trade in quotes because these and other recent “trade” treaties, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), actually do little to reduce trade barriers (which are already quite low) or increase trade (which is already quite extensive). They primarily address a broad range of legal and regulatory issues.

[2] Stiglitz, J., 3/15/14, “On the Wrong Side of Globalization,” The New York Times

[3] Warren, E., 2/25/15, “The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose,” The Washington Post

[4] Gallagher, K.P., 3/4/15, “Saving Obama from a bad trade deal,” The American Prospect

[5] Reich, R., 1/29/15, “Robert Reich takes on the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O_Sbbeqfdw

[6] Meyerson, H., 1/14/14, “Free trade and the loss of U.S. jobs,” The Washington Post

[7] Congressional Progressive Caucus, 3/6/15, “Principles for trade: A model for global progress,” http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/uploads/Final%20Principles%20for%20Trade%203-4-151.pdf