[Nsta-info] FW: SPALC News Updates

[Ms Linda Carter]

From: Marvin Goetz [mailto:marvingoetz at centurylink.net] 
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011 3:30 PM
To: mslindacarter
Subject: Fwd: SPALC News Updates
Please add to our web info site:
  _____  
From: "Larry Trahan" <ltrahan01 at embarqmail.com>
To: "Larry Trahan" <ltrahan01 at embarqmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011 9:52:26 AM
Subject: FW: SPALC  News Updates
Subject: SPALC News Updates
Folks, 
We are trying a new listserve system, so please be patient if you have requested to be added or deleted from the system - there is now a link at the bottom of this email that gives you various options.  Please feel free to forward or share this message with colleagues, as we want everyone to stay informed.  Remember we are just providing you with the information, you may interpret anyway you see fit.
The latest news clips:
Public schools hardest hit in September jobs report
The latest national snapshot on employment illustrates the beating that today's economy is exacting on teachers and school employees -- and points toward the need for quick congressional approval of job-generating legislation that the White House has sent to Capitol Hill. Late last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported that unemployment remained stuck at 9.1 percent in September and state and local education employment was a big reason why. Public schools lost 24,400 jobs in September, the biggest losses in any employment category. "State and local governments shed 90,000 jobs in the most recent quarter, the third largest loss on record. The sector has downsized for 27 of out of the past 33 months," CNN reports, citing an IHS Global Insight Report. September 2011 marks the third anniversary of job losses in education, and cuts have steepened in each year. Warning of a growing "teacher gap," the Economic Policy Institute estimates that school employment should have grown by 48,000 over that span in order to keep up with student enrollment. In September, President Obama sent Congress the American Jobs Act, which includes $30 billion to prevent 280,000 teacher layoffs and to allow districts to hire and rehire additional teachers and frontline staff. Although an initial attempt to bring up the comprehensive plan failed in a Senate vote Tuesday, the White House and congressional allies have vowed to keep this vital jobs-saving plan alive and on the Capitol Hill front burner. “Tonight's vote is by no means the end of this fight," Obama said Tuesday. "In the coming days, members of Congress will have to take a stand on whether they believe we should put teachers, construction workers, police officers and firefighters back on the job. … Ultimately, the American people won't take 'no' for an answer. It's time for Congress to meet their responsibility, put their party politics aside and take action on jobs right now."
·  THE SEVEN BIGGEST ECONOMIC LIES 
The President’s Jobs Bill doesn’t have a chance in Congress — and the Occupiers on Wall Street and elsewhere can’t become a national movement for a more equitable society - unless more Americans know the truth about the economy.  
Here’s a short (2 minute 30 second) effort to rebut the seven biggest whoppers now being told by those who want to take America backwards. The major points:
1. Tax cuts for the rich trickle down to everyone else. Baloney. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both sliced taxes on the rich and what happened? Most Americans’ wages (measured by the real median wage) began flattening under Reagan and have dropped since George W. Bush. Trickle-down economics is a cruel joke. 
 2. Higher taxes on the rich would hurt the economy and slow job growth. False. From the end of World War II until 1981, the richest Americans faced a top marginal tax rate of 70 percent or above. Under Dwight Eisenhower it was 91 percent. Even after all deductions and credits, the top taxes on the very rich were far higher than they’ve been since. Yet the economy grew faster during those years than it has since. (Don’t believe small businesses would be hurt by a higher marginal tax; fewer than 2 percent of small business owners are in the highest tax bracket.)  
 3. Shrinking government generates more jobs. Wrong again. It means fewer government workers - everyone from teachers, fire fighters, police officers, and social workers at the state and local levels to safety inspectors and military personnel at the federal. And fewer government contractors, who would employ fewer private-sector workers. According to Moody’s economist Mark Zandi (a campaign advisor to John McCain), the $61 billion in spending cuts proposed by the House GOP will cost the economy 700,000 jobs this year and next. 
 4. Cutting the budget deficit now is more important than boosting the economy. Untrue. With so many Americans out of work, budget cuts now will shrink the economy. They’ll increase unemployment and reduce tax revenues. That will worsen the ratio of the debt to the total economy. The first priority must be getting jobs and growth back by boosting the economy. Only then, when jobs and growth are returning vigorously, should we turn to cutting the deficit. 
 5. Medicare and Medicaid are the major drivers of budget deficits. Wrong. Medicare and Medicaid spending is rising quickly, to be sure. But that’s because the nation’s health-care costs are rising so fast. One of the best ways of slowing these costs is to use Medicare and Medicaid’s bargaining power over drug companies and hospitals to reduce costs, and to move from a fee-for-service system to a fee-for-healthy outcomes system. And since Medicare has far lower administrative costs than private health insurers, we should make Medicare available to everyone. 
 6. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. Don’t believe it. Social Security is solvent for the next 26 years. It could be solvent for the next century if we raised the ceiling on income subject to the Social Security payroll tax. That ceiling is now $106,800.  
 7. It’s unfair that lower-income Americans don’t pay income tax. Wrong. There’s nothing unfair about it. Lower-income Americans pay out a larger share of their paychecks in payroll taxes, sales taxes, user fees, and tolls than everyone else. 
Demagogues through history have known that big lies, repeated often enough,  start being believed — unless they’re rebutted. These seven economic whoppers are just plain wrong. Make sure you know the truth - and spread it on. 
 To see the videos go to  <http://robertreich.org/post/11329289033> http://robertreich.org/post/11329289033
Here is a brief summary of FEA’s current lawsuits.
SB 736 Violates State Constitution on Bargaining Rights 
The case states that the merit pay system imposed by the passing of SB 736, is unconstitutional because they deny teachers their right to effective collective bargaining on wages and terms and conditions of employment.
This is the first of multiple lawsuits in relation to the passage of SB 736
Blaine Amendment Lawsuit
In this year’s session, the Legislature approved a constitutional amendment (Amendment 7) for voters to decide on in the November 2012 election that would substantially alter the no-aid provision of the Florida Constitution, which has been in effect for more than 125 years. The provision, which is in Article 1, section 3 of the Florida Constitution, which has been in effect more than 125 years, protects the religious freedom rights of all Floridians by barring taxpayer-funded aid to religious institutions. Pure and simple it is an expansion of VOUCHERS
·       The ballot title “Religious Freedom” is misleading because it suggests Amendment 7 expands religious freedom. In fact, it promotes the spending of tax dollars to support religious institutions to which taxpayers may not subscribe. Amendment 7 would permit funneling more public money to these religious institutions, government becomes more involved in the organizations it is helping to fund. 
·       In some cases, the changes proposed in Amendment 7 would actually require state funding of religious individuals or institutions.
·       The language in the amendment goes further than any provision in the U.S. Constitution. In fact, federal courts have repeatedly held that the U.S. Constitution permits government bodies to decline to provide public funding to religious institutions.
·       The lawsuit also tackles another piece of legislation passed by the Legislature this year that authorizes the state attorney general may rewrite a ballot title or summary if the court kicks it off ballot. Under the Florida Constitution, the Legislature may not delegate its expressed duties to another branch of government.
.
FRS Legal Challenge
When the Legislature mandated that active members of the Florida Retirement System must give up 3 percent of their salary as “contributions” to their retirement benefits, they impaired a contractual agreement with current employees in violation of the Florida Constitution.
•    The Florida Retirement System is set up as a noncontributory plan and making unilateral plan changes violates the contract with employees.
•    The Constitution also says that the government cannot take private property without full compensation. Mandating a 3 percent “contribution” does just that.
•    FEA is also challenging the reduction in the cost-of-living adjustments for those retiring after July 1. Florida law requires a 3 percent cost-of-living increase during retirement regardless of years of service or dates of service. The changes made in Senate Bill 2100 violate this contract with current state employees in the Florida Retirement System and constitutes taking private property without full compensation
Have a great week.
Bob
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