Blog For Arizona

October Jobs report better than expected after GOP shutdown

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The GOP government Shutdown cost $2 billion in lost productivity, report finds. Send the bill to the RNC and every Tea-Publican in Congress.

The GOP government Shutdown furloughs will warp jobs report and economic picture for the month of October:

[T]he 16-day government shutdown last month will skew that picture when October’s numbers are released Friday.

The shutdown forced hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors out of work while Congress and the White House worked on a deal to fund federal operations, which means temporary impacts that could create a mirage of worsening conditions.

Debunking the GOPropaganda 'part-time' lie

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The key to GOPropaganda is the insidious "Big Lie" technique -- keep repeating the lie over and over again until in the minds of low information voters the repetition of the lie becomes ingrained in their consciousness as a fact -- "yeah, I remember hearing that somewhere."

One of the most prevalent GOPropaganda lies in recent years is the claim that the Affordable Care Act aka "ObamaCare" is making America a part-time employment country. There is not one GOPropagandist in the conservative media entertainment complex or GOP politician who has not repeated this claim.

Just this past Sunday, CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, a fluffer for Wall Street CEOs, was a guest on NBC's Meet the Press Gregory and claimed "As a result of Obamacare, we are becoming something of a part-time employment country." Of course, "Dancing Dave" did not challenge her to support her assertion.

But with the belated release of Labor Department statistics on Tuesday, there was a raft of reporting debunking the GOPropaganda "part-time" lie.

September Jobs Report (delayed by GOP government shutdown)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Steve Benen has the September jobs report, the release of which was delayed by the GOP government shutdown. As you might imagine, the impending GOP brinksmanship of a government shutdown and threatening default on the sovereign debt had a negative effect on the economy. This is likely to continue as long as this threat remains over the economy. Economy adds 148k jobs, jobless rate drops:

[T]he data seems somehow stale – we’re looking at month-old figures just as we’re nearing the end of October.

Nevertheless, as Nelson Schwartz noted earlier, this report “will be closely watched,” in part to see if there’s any evidence of progress in the job market, and in part because this is the last jobs report to cover the period before congressional Republicans shut down the government and sparked a new debt-ceiling crisis.

So, how’d we do? Not especially well. The new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the U.S. economy added 148,000 jobs in September, below modest expectations. After years of public-sector layoffs serving as a drag on the overall economy, we’re starting to see a slight turnaround – the private sector added 126,000 jobs last month, while the public sector added 22,000 jobs. That may seem like a fairly modest number, but it’s the most in recent memory.

Time to build the Grand Alliance

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last week i suggested "It is time for a Grand Alliance between Democrats, establishment Republicans, and centrist moderates in a united front" against the far-right radical extremist elements of the Tea Party.

Today I read that the GOP establishment business community shares this view. The New York Times reports today, Business Groups See Loss of Sway Over House G.O.P.:

As the government shutdown grinds toward a potential debt default, some of the country’s most influential business executives have come to a conclusion all but unthinkable a few years ago: Their voices are carrying little weight with the House majority that their millions of dollars in campaign contributions helped build and sustain.

Their frustration has grown so intense in recent days that several trade association officials warned in interviews on Wednesday that they were considering helping wage primary campaigns against Republican lawmakers who had worked to engineer the political standoff in Washington.

Such an effort would thrust Washington’s traditionally cautious and pragmatic business lobby into open warfare with the Tea Party faction, which has grown in influence since the 2010 election and won a series of skirmishes with the Republican establishment in the last two years.

“We are looking at ways to counter the rise of an ideological brand of conservatism that, for lack of a better word, is more anti-establishment than it has been in the past,” said David French, the top lobbyist at the National Retail Federation. “We have come to the conclusion that sitting on the sidelines is not good enough.”

Mr. President, order federal employees back to work

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

So let me get this right. The Tea-Publican anti-government insurgency that wants to destroy the federal government is suddenly concerned about federal government employees? The very same federal employees they despise and villify as blood-sucking parasites every chance they get? One has to have been living in a cave for the past 30 years to fall for this bullshit.

The Tea-Publican economic terrorists may have just thrown President Obama the card he needs to play to end this government shutdown. On Saturday, in a unanimous vote, the House passes bill to give federal workers back pay:

[M]embers of the House came together in a moment of rare bipartisanship to pass a bill, by a vote of 407 to 0, approving back pay for furloughed government workers.

One has to assume that the Tea-Publican anti-government insurgents clearly did not intend to give blood-sucking parasite federal employees a vacation for not working, right?

Why Unions Still Matter

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from I.A.T.S.E.:

'The Arizona Comeback,' Guv? Not so much

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last week the media villagers held their annual confab to give each other awards for the excellent work they are doing (cough!), and Governor Jan Brewer showed up to work the refs. This is how the Sierra Vista Herald described it. Our View: The governor's welcome words:

The annual National Newspaper Convention took place last week at the Grand Resort in Phoenix, bringing industry professionals from across the country to Arizona.

Brewer touted the state’s financial comeback, pointing to dramatic budget cuts, fewer regulations, and a rebounding economy as the key components of a plan that turned a $3 billion state budget deficit into a nearly $1 billion surplus.

You may recall that after President Obama's recent visit to the Phoenix area in August, Governor Brewer, while offering a gracious greeeting at the airport, later issued a Statement from Governor Jan Brewer on President Obama's Visit to Arizona (.pdf) in which she employed this bit of hyperbole: "The Arizona Comeback is in full-swing, and this was the President’s opportunity to witness firsthand a true economic success story."

Really? Perhaps the governor failed to see this recent eye-popping headline: AZ Among Highest Poverty Levels in Nation, Census Figures Say. This is "The Arizona Comeback"?

New figures from the Census Bureau show Arizona has some of the highest rates of poverty in the country.

Nineteen percent of the state's residents were 100 percent below the poverty line in 2012.

That was the fifth-highest rate behind only Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico and Arkansas.

Nearly 23 percent of Arizona's population was 125 percent below the poverty line, which is eight-highest among all states.

The figures released Tuesday show the national average is 15 percent for 100 percent below the poverty line and 20 percent for 125 percent below the poverty line.

Only four more states and we can be number one! 

Why Unions Still Matter

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from I.A.T.S.E.:

(Update) The Initiative to Bankrupt the City of Tucson (Prop. 201) has been struck by the Court of Appeals

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Baseball sage Yogi Berra was right! "It ain't over 'til it's over."

The Plaintiffs challenging the petitions of the Initiative to Bankrupt the City of Tucson (Prop. 201) filed an appeal from Pima County Superior Court Judge James Marner's order on September 3, 2013. (2 CA-CV 2013-0120).

On September 12, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the plaintiffs/appellants, rejected the cross-appeal by counsel for the initiative committee, and remanded the case back to Pima County Superior Court Judge James Marner with instructions to grant the injunctive relief requested by plaintiffs to prevent Prop. 201 from being printed on ballots:

Having considered the briefs filed by the parties and the oral arguments before this court in this expedited election appeal, see Ariz. R. Civ. App. P. 8.1, this court has determined that the trial court erred in rejecting the plaintiffs/appellants/cross-appellees’ challenge as to the validity of certain signatures obtained by circulators of City of Tucson Initiative Petition 2013-1004. We further conclude the cross-appeal raises no issues warranting relief. Accordingly, it is ORDERED: The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the case is remanded to the trial court which is directed by 2:00 p.m., September 12, 2013, to enter judgment in favor of plaintiffs/appellants/cross-appellees and to enter an injunction pursuant to A.R.S. § 19-122(C). A written opinion will follow. 

That mandate for injunction does not yet appear on the Pima County Superior Court docket for this case.

(Update) 401(k)s - economic stratification and inequality, less retirement security

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last week I posted about the report by Lydia DePillis at Ezra Klein's Wonkblog, 401(k)s are replacing pensions. That’s making inequality worse.

Joan McCarter at Daily Kos adds, New IRS report confirms upcoming retirement crisis:

The IRS recently released a first-time, and alarming, report on participation in retirement savings accounts, showing that the fewer and fewer workers are saving for retirement out of their paychecks, and the amount they are saving is shrinking too, down 6 percent in real dollars from 2008 to 2010.

David Cay Johnston, investigative journalist and author, and specialist in economics and tax issues, was one of very few in the traditional media to register the appearance of this report, and it's got him worried.

[T]he number of Americans deferring part of their wages into 401(k)-type plans fell in 2009 and again in 2010.

Two-thirds of taxpayers with jobs saved nothing in retirement plans.

Among twenty-somethings, only 1 in 8 or so saved. [...]

Overall, the IRS report and other official data show how government policy that favors individual savings in 401(k), IRA and similar plans simply are not meeting the needs of workers, or of American society.

Why Unions Still Matter

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from I.A.T.S.E.:

Disappointing August jobs report - sequester and GOP austerity having an effect

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Steve Benen breaks down the August jobs report, U.S. economy created 169k jobs in August, jobless rate dips:

The jobs reports are starting to get a little predictable, by virtue of the fact that over the last several months, they're effectively the same.

The new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the U.S. economy added 169,000 jobs in August, which is roughly in line with expectations. After years of public-sector layoffs serving as a drag on the overall economy, we're starting to see a slight turnaround -- the private sector added 152,000 jobs last month, while the public sector added 17,000 jobs. That may seem like a fairly modest number, but it's the most in recent memory.

The overall unemployment rate dropped to 7.3%, which is the lowest it's been in nearly five years, but it's not evidence of good news -- it ticked down largely because of people leaving the workforce.

How the model pension initiative (Prop. 201) is faring in California

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Yesterday I posted about Tucson and Cincinnati confront the same model pension initiative (Prop. 201): "[T]he ballot language was written by Maurice Thompson of the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law based on measures recently passed in San Diego and San Jose, Calif."

The Los Angeles Times reported in June 2012, 2 big cities OK cuts to worker pension costs:

Landslide victories on ballot measures to cut pension costs in two major California cities emboldened reform advocates, who said they expect a flurry of copycat initiatives. . .

In San Jose, nearly 70% of voters Tuesday approved a plan that gives workers the choice between increasing their pension contribution to 13% of their pay, currently 5% to 11%, or switching to a lower-cost plan with reduced benefits. It also steeply cuts benefits for new hires and tightens rules for disability retirements.

In San Diego, where pension cuts already have been implemented, voters opted to eliminate pensions for new workers. By a 66% to 34% margin, voters Tuesday endorsed Proposition B, which provides newly hired city employees with a 401(k) program, but preserves traditional pensions for new police officers.

* * *

Local pension measures have enjoyed resounding success at the ballot. Before Tuesday's vote, 18 measures to alter a pension system had passed, and only two had failed, both in San Francisco. On average, those measures passed with 62.7% of the vote, according to the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, a pension-reform advocacy group.

(Update) Who is really behind the Initiative to Bankrupt the City of Tucson (Prop. 201)?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted last week that this ruling was coming, (Update) Lawsuit to challenge the initiative to bankrupt the City of Tucson, but now it is official; the Pima County Superior Court entered its Order on Tuesday. Jim Nintzel at the Tucson Weekly writes, City Pension Initiative Headed For November Ballot:

The court battle over the proposed initiative to scrap the city’s pension system is over. Pima County Superior Court Judge James Marner issued a ruling today putting Prop 201 on the ballot, so voters will get to decide the issue in November.

The city’s unions had tried to strike enough signatures from the petitions to knock the Sustainable Retirement Benefits initiative off the ballot, but didn’t quite manage to get enough of them disqualified. After all was said and done, backers of the proposal had 13,777 valid signatures, which exceeded the required 12,730, according to Marner's ruling.

Meanwhile, the latest campaign-finance report from the Yes on 201 Committee shows that it’s not exactly a local effort. All but $1,900 of the $159,925 received by the committee has come from either the Liberty Initiative Fund or the National Taxpayers Union, two Virginia-based groups.

401(k)s - economic stratification and inequality, less retirement security

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Lydia DePillis at Ezra Klein's Wonkblog writes 401(k)s are replacing pensions. That’s making inequality worse.

The once-dominant defined benefit pension plan–which pays out a fixed amount after an employee retires–is on its way to becoming an historical artifact. More and more employers are offering 401(k) plans instead, which require employees to pay into their own accounts, sometimes with and sometimes without a matching contribution. And according to a new analysis from the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute, the effect has been a stratification of retirement savings by education, income, and race–which could deepen inequality among the elderly as the population ages.

It’s actually possible to tell [spin] a positive story here, in which the average size of retirement accounts has grown overall in recent decades, and aggregate saving and household net worth as a percentage of income have started to bounce back since the recession first hit in 2008.

But the moral starts to change as you look underneath the numbers. Those benefits split among a smaller share of the population: Overall, the percentage of workers participating in all employer-based retirement plans declined over the past couple decades, across all age groups.

That’s because the top-earning people are choosing to put a lot more money away, while those who earn less can’t afford to. Retirement savings by the top fifth of income earners have risen markedly, while they’ve declined or risen only slightly for most everyone else:

The Arizona Daily Star's suspect pension analysis

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I thought the The Brodesky/O'Dell tag team (AKA, the B&O Journalistic Railroad) had left the Arizona Daily Star for greener pastures? Rob O'Dell's classic "fun with facts and figures" that I made up style of reporting shows up in the Star this morning under the byline of Darren DaRonco. City pension plan could cost taxpayers more.

Some questions about this "Star analysis": Who exactly conducted this analysis? Just labeling it a "Star anlalysis" tells me nothing about the capabilities of the individual(s) who conducted the analysis. If it is Star employees, I am confident that they do not possess the background and experience in economics and pension fund management to know what the hell they are talking about.

And why is the "Star analysis" not linked online so that independent experts may peer review your economic analysis? I know some experts who would be happy to review it, as would I.

The article itself concedes that the "Star analysis" is flawed:

Dana Woolfrey, of Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Co., wrote in an email that while the Star’s projections aren’t “unreasonable,” there are variances between the city’s numbers and those the Star used. She described the Star figures, which were taken directly from city financial reports, as more conservative as they relate to employee contributions versus city contributions in future years.

She also said the Star’s projections fail to sufficiently account for savings the city would experience by extending the average time employees would pay into the system by five years.

She wasn’t sure a person could conclude the city would make up the difference.

We built that: thank the labor movement

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

Credit: The Other 98%

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

Why Unions Still Matter

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from I.A.T.S.E.:

PALF Labor Day Picnic (Tucson)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF):

Arizona AFL-CIO Labor Day Breakfast (Phoenix)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Arizona AFL-CIO:

The 'Freedom Budget' from the Civil Rights Movement

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Kathleen Geier wrote an important post at the Political Animal blog about the forgotten history of the Civil Rights Movement. After all, the March on Washington was The March on Washington was a march for “Jobs and Freedom” (excerpts):

Americans remember the march as an historic step forward in the battle for civil rights. But feel-good media celebrations of the march, and the civil rights era in general, often focus on the less controversial parts of the civil rights project: equal accommodations and the like. What they leave out is the more radical, still unfinished business of Dr. King’s and the civil rights movement’s agenda: the part that involved, in the words of Harold Meyerson, “massive structural changes to the economy.”

Meyerson has a wonderful piece in The American Prospect this week about the economic progressives who helped plan the March on Washington. Among them were activists Bayard Rustin and Ella Baker and labor leader A. Philip Randolph. Like MLK himself, they were democratic socialists. As Meyerson notes, as early as 1962, democratic socialist and writer Michael Harrington was worried about “the declining number of African Americans in manufacturing jobs.” He believed that ensuring the government’s commitment to full employment was crucial. Activists such as A. Philip Randolph raised similar concerns. Meyerson picks up the story:

An organization that Randolph chaired, the Negro American Labor Council, began discussing what action it could take to address the plight of urban black workers in 1961. Rustin started taking soundings for some kind of national demonstration in 1962, and in December of that year, he and Randolph began talking about a march on Washington. Randolph asked Rustin to write a prospectus for such a march, and with Kahn and Norman Hill, an African American socialist activist, he co-authored a paper calling for an “Emancipation March for Jobs” that he presented to Randolph in January 1963 (the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation).

Ultimately, the focus of the march expanded beyond economic rights to include civil rights and voting rights. But economic rights remained an important feature of the march and a linchpin of the civil rights struggle in the years ahead.

A Call to Action: President Obama marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

From the Washington Post, Transcript of Obama’s speech (excerpts):

Because they marched, America became more free and more fair, not just for African-Americans but for women and Latinos, Asians and Native Americans, for Catholics, Jews and Muslims, for gays, for Americans with disabilities.

America changed for you and for me.

And the entire world drew strength from that example, whether it be young people who watched from the other side of an Iron Curtain and would eventually tear down that wall, or the young people inside South Africa who would eventually end the scourge of apartheid. (Applause.) Those are the victories they won, with iron wills and hope in their hearts. That is the transformation that they wrought with each step of their well-worn shoes. That's the depth that I and millions of Americans owe those maids, those laborers, those porters, those secretaries -- folks who could have run a company, maybe, if they had ever had a chance; those white students who put themselves in harm's way even though they didn't have to -- (applause) -- those Japanese- Americans who recalled their own interment, those Jewish Americans who had survived the Holocaust, people who could have given up and given in but kept on keeping on, knowing that weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning -- (cheers, applause) -- on the battlefield of justice, men and women without rank or wealth or title or fame would liberate us all, in ways that our children now take for granted as people of all colors and creeds live together and learn together and walk together, and fight alongside one another and love one another, and judge one another by the content of our character in this greatest nation on Earth.

To dismiss the magnitude of this progress, to suggest, as some sometimes do, that little has changed -- that dishonors the courage and the sacrifice of those who paid the price to march in those years. (Applause.) Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, Martin Luther King Jr., they did not die in vain. (Applause.) Their victory was great.

(Video below the fold.)

Have humans mechanized and computerized ourselves into obsolescence?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A new economics study shows globalization increases joblessness, and technology increases inequality. Derek Thompson writes at The Atlantic, Bash Brothers: How Globalization and Technology Teamed Up to Crush Middle-Class Workers:

Profits have never been higher. Wages have never been lower.

Okay, that sounds like an awfully oversimplified analysis of the frustrating recovery. And it is sort of simplified. It's also sort of true.

Go back to 1960, and corporate profits have never been higher while salary income has never been lower, as a share of GDP. Take a look here (graph via Floyd Norris):

This isn't a new trend, but something really did change in the last generation. [Below] is a graph of the growth in corporate profits, labor income, and GDP since 1970. As you can see, corporate profits took off in the 1990s, returned to earth after the tech bubble burst and then, in the 2000s, started jumping around like a bouncy ball dropped from a helicopter. Meanwhile, labor income fell further and further behind overall growth.

The latest bullshit study from a Libertarian 'think tank' (sic)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

There's nothing like having billionaire wingnut benefactors to pay you to write propagandistic pseudo-scientific crap. Almost everything that comes out of right-wing think tanks starts with the predetermined conclusion they wish to make, and then they work backwards to fabricate a pseudo-scientific framework to give the study the veneer of credibility. The scientific method, however, requires systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses. You don't start with a conclusion.

The latest bullshit study from a Libertarian "think tank" (sic) comes from the Cato Institute, recycling a previous bullshit study from 1995 claiming that "welfare is better than work." Josh Barro at Business Insider, no socialist liberal, destroys this propagandistic pseudo-scientific crap. There's A New Study That Says Welfare Pays Better Than Work — Here's Why It's Total Nonsense:

The Cato Institute is out with an update to their 1995 study which purports to show that, in most states, welfare pays better than work.

They add up benefits available through eight programs to a low-income woman with two children, and find total benefit values well in excess of full-time minimum wage work, or even, in some states, middle-skill work.

The study is called "The Welfare-Versus-Work Tradeoff," and it's meant to show why people don't get off welfare. And it's B.S., for three reasons.

Why Unions Still Matter

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from I.A.T.S.E.:

PALF Labor Day Picnic (Tucson)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF):

Arizona AFL-CIO Labor Day Breakfast (Phoenix)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Arizona AFL-CIO:

Nationwide strike by fast-food employees on August 29

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

A coalition of labor, religious and other groups are calling for a nationwide strike by fast-food employees on August 29. Erik Sherman at CBS MoneyWatch reports, Fast-food workers urged to stage nationwide strike:

The call for a strike came this week from a public relations agency that counts both the Service Employees International Union and United Food & Commercial Workers as clients. Both labor groups are among dozens of local and national religious, political, and union groups supporting the call for strikes. Last month, the same groups supported walkouts in some fast-food restaurants across seven cities. Others that have supported the event are the United Auto Workers, the Presbyterian Church USA, individual churches and synagogues like St. John's Catholic Church of St. Louis, and some members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison.

The groups are calling for a minimum wage of $15 an hour for fast-food workers, along with more protections for employees wishing to unionize. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage last year for the nation's roughly 505,000 fast-food cooks was $9.03 an hour, which amounts to $18,780 per year. The 2.9 million food preparation and serving workers had an average hourly wage of $9, or annual income of $18,720.

For many fast-food employees, even those low wages overstate their pay. The annual wage estimates assume full-time employment of 2,080 hours a year, or 40 hours a week, for a full 52 weeks. Many franchises limit workers to working part-time, which keeps them from qualifying for health care and other benefits.

No wage growth in over a dozen years, while corporate profits soar

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The "one percent" über-rich plutocrats of The Predator Class are enjoying record corporate profits, even after the catastrophe of the "Bush Great Recession."

For the rest of us shlubs toiling in the working class, our increasing productivity has enured to the benefit of the same "one percent," not to us. Real wages have been stagnant since the "Dot Com Bubble Recession" of 2001, and have not recovered.

Dylan Matthews writes at Ezra Klein's Wonkblog, Between 2000 and 2012, American wages grew…not at all:

You can always rely on the Economic Policy Institute for really depressing charts about just how far behind the U.S. middle class is falling, and the latest report from EPI President Lawrence Mishel and economist Heidi Shierholz is no exception. The paper — titled “A Decade of Flat Wages” — finds exactly that. Real hourly wages for people at the middle of the wage distribution were no higher in 2012 than in 2000. While the early 2000s saw some growth, it’s all been wiped out since the recession hit, and hasn’t rebounded at all. [Note: Link to the study or article for interactive data charts.]

PALF Labor Day Picnic (Tucson)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF):

Arizona AFL-CIO Labor Day Breakfast (Phoenix)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Arizona AFL-CIO:

ALEC’s Legacy of Destruction: PDA Members Join Anti-ALEC Protesters in Chicago (video)

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Inside the 40th annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in Chicago, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and other right-wing big-wigs addressed ALEC members and on-the-dole politicians.

Outside, the people, who have been cut out of the legislative process by ALEC and big money donors, protested in the streets. (Photos here.)

In its 40-year history, ALEC has done more to destroy the American Dream than any other group. According to a report by the Center for Media and Democracy, 466 ALEC bills were introduced in 2013, and 84 of them became law. Every state and the District of Columbia considered ALEC bills this year. Read the highlights of this ALEC legislative report and watch a video of Chicago protesters after the jump.

Why Unions Still Matter

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from I.A.T.S.E.:

PALF Labor Day Picnic (Tucson)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF):

Arizona AFL-CIO Labor Day Breakfast (Phoenix)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Arizona AFL-CIO:

President Obama coming to Phoenix on Tuesday

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This event is not open to the general public, so unless you are an invited guest, you will have to watch it on the "tee-vee" like the rest of us. The Arizona Republic has the details, President Obama to speak at Phoenix high school Tuesday:

President Obama will travel to Desert Vista High School in Phoenix next week to highlight housing and the middle class.

The speech, scheduled for Tuesday morning, would be the latest in a series of talks on the progress made and the challenges that remain as the U.S. slowly recovers from a recession. It revisits themes that Obama spoke about during his first presidential visit to Arizona in February 2009.

Desert Vista High School is at 16440 S. 32nd St., south of Chandler Boulevard, in the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix.

* * *

The president will travel to Phoenix “to continue talking with Americans about his better bargain for the middle class,” White House spokesman Keith Maley told The Arizona Republic earlier this week.

* * *

“Next week in Arizona, the President will lay out his plan to continue to help responsible homeowners and those Americans who seek to own their own homes as another cornerstone of how we strengthen the middle class in America.”

'Tenther' Tea-Publican Senators want to repeal the 20th Century

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A century ago this country permitted child labor and sweatshop labor, and did not regulate the hours and conditions of employment because of U.S. Supreme Court decisions like Kidd v. Pearson (1888) (intra-state commerce), Locher v. New York (1905) (economic liberty and private contract rights), Adair v. U.S. (1908) (labor unions), and Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918) (child labor). The Reel Foto: Lewis Hine: The Littlest Laborers (h/t photo).

"Tentherism" is a dormant and long-discredited legal theory today, but tenthers dominated the Supreme Court from the late 1800s until 1937, when a majority of the Court finally recognized that national leaders must be empowered to solve a national economic crisis like the Great Depression.

Now our "Tenther" Tea-Publican Senators want to repeal the advances of the 20th Century. Think Progress reports, 36 Senators Introduce Bill Prohibiting Virtually Any New Law Helping Workers:

More than three-quarters of the Senate Republican caucus signed onto legislation introduced Wednesday by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Rand Paul (R-KY) that could render it virtually impossible for Congress to enact any legislation intended to improve working conditions or otherwise regulate the workplace. Had their bill been in effect during the Twentieth Century, for example, there would likely be no nationwide minimum wage, no national ban on workplace discrimination, no national labor law and no overtime in most industries.

July jobs report - job creation leveling off

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

GOP austerity economics and their self-destructive sequestration policy are a drag on economic recovery and job growth, as any credible economist could have predicted. “Sequestration — and its unrealistic and ill-conceived discretionary cuts — must be brought to an end,” said Hal Rogers, the Republican chair of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. GDP grew at only 1.7 percent in the second quarter, which we are told was better than expected. U.S. Growth Beats Forecasts Despite Federal Cuts. I'm sorry, this is lowering expectations: this GDP number is not nearly enough to create job growth. GOP economic policies are sabotaging the economy.

There were projections by private sector economists earlier this week that the job market was improving. Which makes today's underwhelming report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that much more disappointing. Steve Benen breaks ot down in U.S. economy created 162k jobs in July, unemployment rate dips:

The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in July, below expectations. In a rare sight, public-sector layoffs were not a drag on the overall totals -- the private sector added 161,000 jobs, while the public sector added 1,000 jobs. (In recent years, the public sector ordinarily sheds several thousand jobs per month). The overall unemployment rate dropped to 7.4%, but largely because of people leaving the workforce.

Even more discouraging were the revisions from the previous two months -- May's totals were revised down from 195,000 to 176,000, while June's totals were revised down from 195,000 to 188,000. Combined, that's 26,000 jobs we thought were created, but weren't.

The new 'compromise caucus' holds in the Senate: NLRB nominees approved

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The new "compromise caucus" of GOP Senators who reached an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a couple of weeks ago to end the Senate filibusters of executive department nominees has withstood its toughest test: President Obama's nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which Republicans have been trying to neuter for years.

As Vice President Joe Biden would say, "This is a big effin' deal!" It means there may now be a new governing majority in the Senate. The Septegenarian Ninja Turtle Mitch McConnell no longer has an iron grip on the Senate for his scorched earth policy of total obstruction.

The Washington Post reports, No-nukes deal in Senate holds:

Guess we can climb out of the fallout shelter now?

As part of the deal struck earlier this month by Senate Republicans and Democrats to stave off the “nuclear” option, the Senate on Tuesday approved all five pending nominees to the National Labor Relations Board.

Myths about American manufacturing jobs

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You have heard much over the years about the deindustrialization of America, the outsourcing and offshoring of American jobs (and capital) overseas, the financialization of the American economy, and the rise of the service economy.

People often confuse two different metrics: manufacturing output, and manufacturing jobs. These two metrics have been moving in inverse directions for decades.

You may have heard recently of a "manufacturing renaissance" with an uptick in American manufacturing jobs. Matthew Yglesias recently posted some useful charts at Slate in The Mythical American Manufacturing Renaissance in Three Charts:

But consider this chart which takes [the long] view:

My last chart really drives it home, by showing manufacturing jobs as a share of all jobs:

PALF Labor Day Picnic (Tucson)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF):

Arizona AFL-CIO Labor Day Breakfast (Phoenix)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Arizona AFL-CIO:

PALF Labor Day Picnic (Tucson)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF):

Arizona AFL-CIO Labor Day Breakfast (Phoenix)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Arizona AFL-CIO:

PDA Street Heat: Robin Hood Ready

Don't forget the Prosperity Not Austerity Rally at Raul's today.

10:30-12 noon, 738 N. 5th Ave.

Brings signs.

We will thank Congressman Raul Grijalva for his progressive leadership while promoting the Robin Hood Tax, jobs, and universal healthcare. More background here.

We'll also celebrate the 48th birthday of Medicare with cupcakes and "Happy Birthday."

PALF Labor Day Picnic (Tucson)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF):

Arizona AFL-CIO Labor Day Breakfast (Phoenix)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Arizona AFL-CIO:

Union Appreciation Day at Chase Field

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Arizona AFL-CIO:

The Arizona Diamondbacks are sponsoring a Union Appreciation Day at Chase Field with discounted tickets available to union members who pre-order. The deadline to order tickets in July 19.

PDA Street Heat: Prosperity Not Austerity Rally at Raul's

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Progressives in Congress and across the country are fighting the tide of right wing extremism on multiple fronts-- from food stamps to cuts in Social Security to stalled immigration reform to anti-woman legislation to austerity for the middle class, while the wealthy live high on the hog.

Congressman Raul Grijalva has been at the forefront of the progressive movement in Congress. As another budget battle heats up in the House of Representatives, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) want to thank our stalwarts like Grijalva, and at the same time want to celebrate Medicare's 48th birthday.

This rally at Grijalva's office  is part of a nationwide action at multiple Congressional offices by PDA and National Nurses United (NNU). The event is 10:30 a.m.-12 noon at the old YWCA (738 N. 5th Ave.)

At some locations-- like Congressman Ron Barber's-- PDA members will do letter drops urging Congressional representatives to support certain bills or issues. This month the focus is on prosperity vs austerity, Medicare expansion, jobs, and progressive financial legislation like the Robin Hood Tax. (More details below.) At Grijalva's office and others, there will be street heat rallies, as there were last month when PDA members were protesting cuts to food stamps nationwide and helped stop the Farm Bill.

Details are still being formulated; so, watch this blog and the PDA Tucson Facebook page for updates. Details after the jump.

June jobs report exceeds expectations

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The slow but steady progress in creating jobs -- things would be going better but for GOP austerity measures -- continued in June with a jobs report that exceeded most economists expectations, and previous months were revised upwards. Steve Benen reports, U.S. job growth improves, exceeds expectations:

Going into this morning, most economists projected job growth from June to be about 155,000 new jobs. With this in mind, the new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows not only good news, but unexpectedly good news.

The U.S. economy added a better-than-expected 195,000 jobs in June and employment gains for May and April were revised sharply higher, the U.S. government said Friday. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.6%, but the size of the labor force increased by 177,000, according to the Labor Department said.

As is usually the case, there was a gap between the two major sectors -- America's private sector added 202,000 jobs last month, while spending cuts caused the public sector shed 7,000 jobs.