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Texans Stage Mock Funeral To Mourn The ‘Death Of Good Jobs’ In GOP Congressman’s District

By Marie Diamond on Aug 23, 2011 at 6:05 pm

RIP Good Jobs

Staffers at the Houston office of GOP Rep. John Culberson (R) must have gotten quite a surprise on Thursday when they looked outside to see more than 100 constituents gathered for a funeral. But this wasn’t a typical funeral — these Texans were gathered to mourn the loss of good, high-wage jobs in their state.

Mourners circled around a mock casket for “Good Jobs,” and Taps played in the background while Rev. Louis Dorsey eulogized. “I used to be middle class!” one woman cried out during the ceremony. Constituents also chanted “Hey, hey, what do you say? How many jobs have you killed today?”

DORSEY: My brothers and my sisters, we are assembled here today to mourn the passing of the jobs in Texas. Jobs died because of a steady influx of minimum wage jobs, tax breaks for corporations and the super-rich, and the policies of politicians like Rep. John Culberson.

Watch it:

Dorsey went on to say, “Good jobs were much loved and appreciated by all here today. This loss is tragic because it is the result of reckless greed on Wall Street and in Congress. While the grief we endure for the loss of Good Jobs is great, we must not let this tragedy continue to happen.” A longer version of the video is available here.

The rally was organized by Good Jobs = Great Houston, and was intended to illustrate “how politicians like Culberson are deliberately pursuing policies that are killing jobs across Texas.” The constituents at Culberson’s office included unemployed workers who want the congressman to start prioritizing their needs over corporate balance sheets.

According to the organization, they seek to hold Culberson accountable “for voting for legislation that could kill 1.8 million jobs nationwide and over 200,000 in Texas.” Texas is currently tied with Mississippi for the highest percentage of minimum wage jobs in the nation, while “the median hourly earnings for all Texas workers was $11.20 per hour in 2010, compared to the national median of $12.50 per hour.”

NEWS FLASH

For-Profit College Enrollment Plummets | Enrollment at for-profit colleges has “plunged” in recent months, by more than 45 percent in some cases, the Wall Street Journal reports, as the empty promise of these “subprime schools” comes to light to potential students. The colleges “have pulled back on aggressive recruiting practices amid criticism over their high student-loan default rates,” and “many would-be students are questioning the potential pay-off for degrees that can cost considerably more than what’s available at local community colleges.” The Washington Post Co.’s Kaplan reports enrollment down 47 percent while large for-profit operator Corinthian Colleges Inc.’s stocks sank to an 11-year low. The schools receive millions in taxpayer subsidies via student loans, but often deliver a sub-standard education. For these reasons, the Justice Department has joined a lawsuit against the industry.

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Aug 23, 2011 at 5:10 pm

Justice

Why Rick Perry’s War On The 16th Amendment Is The Third Prong Of His War On Seniors

By Ian Millhiser posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Aug 23, 2011 at 4:35 pm

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is taking a lot of well-deserved criticism for his absurd claims that Medicare and Social Security violate the Constitution. But these are hardly the only part of Perry’s constitutional agenda, which seem designed to inflict unnecessary cruelty on America’s seniors. Perry also wants to repeal the federal government’s 16th Amendment authority to enact income taxes and replace it with a tax system that would slash millions of Americans life savings:

Perry declares that the 16th Amendment represents “the great milestone on the road to serfdom” because it represented “the birth of wealth redistribution in the United States.”

Perry clearly states that “we should restrict the unlimited source of revenue that the federal government has used to grow beyond its constitutionally prescribed powers.” How? Here’s what Perry suggests, in addition to scrapping the current tax code:

Another option would be to repeal the 16th Amendment to the Constitution (providing the power for the income tax) altogether, and then pursue an alternative model of taxation such as a national sales tax or the Fair Tax.

There are countless problems with Perry’s national sales tax proposal (“Fair Tax” is just a more Orwellian term for the national sales tax), but one of the biggest problems is its impact on seniors or anyone else with significant life savings. Perry’s plan would require millions of Americans to be taxed twice on much of the money they have saved for retirement.

Imagine that you earn $10,000, and are required to pay 25 percent income tax on those earnings. That means that you are left with $7,500 that you are free to spend or save however you choose. If Perry gets his way, however, Congress will suddenly enact a massive new sales tax after you have already paid income taxes on your earnings. The result is that every single one of your $7,500 will be taxed again when you make a purchase — causing nearly one in three dollars in your savings to be eaten up by sales taxes. Thanks to Rick Perry, you are left with only about $5,000 of your original $10,000 in income.

Admittedly, there are ways to temporarily shield retirement savings from taxation, but few if any Americans will be able to shield their entire savings and still be able to maintain the flexibility they need to live their lives. As a result, Rick Perry’s double tax will eviscerate the savings that millions of American seniors depend upon. Add to this the fact that Perry also believes that Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional, and it is unclear how he expects any but the wealthiest seniors to pay their medical bills and continue to put food on their tables.

Education

Gov. Corbett’s Education Cuts Force Pennsylvania School District To Use Sheep To Cut Grass

By Travis Waldron on Aug 23, 2011 at 3:25 pm

When Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) unveiled his budget in April, students and parents protested the $1.2 billion in education cuts it contained by holding a mock bake sale at the state capitol, where they estimated they would have to sell 2.4 billion cookies to make up the cost of the cuts. Corbett eventually signed into law a budget, with $900 million in education cuts, reducing the amount of cookies the parents needed to sell but still forcing school to districts to find creative ways to fill their budget gaps.

In Carlisle, Pennsylvania, those cuts meant putting an end to traditional means of cutting grass at two local schools. Instead of lawnmowers, the schools are using sheep:

Rather than spend money on cutting grass, the Carlisle School District has brought in 7 Romney sheep to tend the fields. “They’ve done a good job so far,” says Superintendent John Friend.

The sheep come free of charge, since they belong to the principal of the middle school. Friend estimates that they will save the district about $15,000 this year in mowing costs.

While the $15,000 saved will barely make a dent in Carlisle’s $2 million budget gap, Pennsylvania could render the draconian education cuts unnecessary if it ended special interest tax breaks benefiting corporations and natural gas companies. Pennsylvania is currently the only one of the top 15 gas producers that doesn’t tax companies that use fracking to extract natural gas, when doing so could earn the state $400 million annually. Unfortunately, Corbett, who received more than $835,000 from oil and natural gas companies during his campaign, refuses to go that route. Instead, he’s chosen to force school districts to layoff teachers, cut extracurricular programs, and replace basic landscaping services with animals.

Education

Report: U.S. College Dropout Rate Resulted In $4.5 Billion In Lost Earnings And Tax Revenues Last Year

By Zaid Jilani on Aug 23, 2011 at 2:15 pm

Yesterday, the American Institutes for Research released a new report titled “The High Cost of Low Graduation Rates: How Much Does Dropping Out of College Really Cost?” that examined the economic impact of the college dropout rate. The researchers looked at students who started college in fall of 2002, but failed to graduate six years later, and found that the cost to the nation of these dropouts amounted to $4.5 billion in lost earnings and taxes to state and federal governments:

For students who started in fall 2002 as full-time students seeking a bachelor’s degree but failed to graduate six years later, the cost to the nation was
approximately:

• $3.8 billion in lost income;

• $566 million in lost federal income taxes; and

• $164 million in lost state income taxes.

These estimated losses are for one year and for one class of students. Because the losses for these students accumulate year after year, these estimates understate the overall costs of low college graduation rates.

The report also estimated the lifetime costs of the college dropout rate state by state. In California, for example, “college dropouts are losing nearly $15 billion in earnings over their work lives, costing the federal government more than $3 billion in lost income taxes.” Meanwhile, states such as Texas and New York “are losing more than $13 billion in earnings over their lifetime and more than $2.5 billion in federal taxes.”

It’s estimated that only around half of students who enroll in college actually end up graduating with a bachelor’s degree. There are also racial disparities in the college dropout rate, with 62 percent of white students who start college earning their bachelor’s degrees and only 42 percent of black students doing the same.

The cause of college dropout rates is frequently debated, but students’ academic readiness and the often crushing cost of higher education are frequently cited as likely culprits.

McCain To Constituent Calling For Cuts To Oil Subsidies: ‘You Make A Very Good Point’

By Pat Garofalo on Aug 23, 2011 at 11:40 am

Since the Obama administration came into office, it has been unsuccessfully trying to wrangle conservative congressmen into cutting the $4 billion in subsidies that are doled out every year to oil companies. Time and time again, Obama and the Democrats have proposed cuts to these unwarranted taxpayer giveaways, only to be rebuffed every time.

During a town hall in Prescott, Arizona, yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) recited a list of subsidies that he would like to eliminate from the federal budget, including those for ethanol and sugar. He failed to put oil subsidies on the list, but when challenged by a constituent, he conceded “you make a very good point” and said that he’s “for looking at everything”:

He called for a moratorium on federal regulations, a cut in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, a payroll tax holiday, a tax holiday for corporations that bring their money back to the U.S. and use it, and simplification of the tax code that gets rid of subsidies on products such as ethanol and sugar.

Two citizens said he should add oil subsidies to that list. “You make a very good point,” he told one of them. “I’m for looking at everything,” except home loan mortgage deductions.

This is not the first time that McCain’s constituents have voiced displeasure at his failure to include oil subsidies on the list of items he’d like to see on the chopping block. As Marie Diamond noted, during a town hall in Tuscon earlier this month, “someone shouted ‘oil!’ when [McCain] failed to include it in his list of subsidies that should be ended.” As recently as May, McCain voted with the vast majority of his Senate GOP caucus to preserve oil subsidies, despite having “expressed openness to the bill” that would have ended them.

Several other Republicans have reacted to outrage over oil subsidies at their town halls by simply denying that those subsidies exist at all. At least McCain is willing to admit that they’re real, but it’d be even better if he would put his money where his mouth is and work to end them.

NEWS FLASH

Private Sector Economists: Lawmakers Should Raise Taxes To Fix Deficit | Republican lawmakers consistently insist that new revenue should not be a part of deficit reduction, on the premise that such a move would hurt private sector job creation. Private sector economists, however, disagree. A new National Association for Business Economics (NABE) poll found that “three-quarters of economists who do forecasting for the private sector say tax revenue should rise as a part of efforts to tame unsustainable budget deficits.” Of the 250 business economists who participated in the survey, only 19 percent said tax reform should be done in a “revenue-neutral” way. Indeed, a majority of these economists argued that part of the deficit challenge “stems from low tax revenue.” Revenues are currently at a 60-year low.

By Tanya Somanader on Aug 23, 2011 at 10:40 am

At Town Hall, GOP Rep. Hultgren Can’t Explain How Bush Tax Cuts Created Jobs

By Zaid Jilani on Aug 23, 2011 at 9:30 am

Last week, Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) held a town hall meeting in Geneva, Illinois where he was peppered with questions about the Bush tax cuts. A woman stood up and asked him to explain how the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy created jobs for Americans.

Hultgren repeatedly avoided answering the question, instead choosing to bash the stimulus or claim Illinois’ economy was hurt by higher taxes. Members of the audience continually asked him “Where’s the evidence?” but he avoided providing any answer:

WOMAN: When the Bush tax cuts took effect in 2003 the unemployment rate was 6.2 percent. Now, in the ninth year of those cuts, the unemployment rate is 9.2 percent, so where is the evidence that these cuts for the most affluent actually create jobs? [...]

(Audience applauds)

HULTGREN: I think clearly the evidence, uh, well, let me say this. I get back to the stimulus, which was another thing which –

MAN: We want the tax cuts?

WOMAN: Where’s the evidence?

ANOTHER WOMAN: Where are the jobs?

HULTGREN: Good question. Let’s keep goin’. We got three minutes.

(MULTIPLE AUDIENCE MEMBERS): No answer! [...]

HULTGREN: I believe we’ve got a tax system that discourages productivity. We have to adjust that. It has to be flatter. [...] Not too long ago we raised taxes in Illinois, just in the past eight months, they already told us they spent all that money. [...] My evidence is Illinois being the number one job creator for Indiana, Iowa.

Watch it:

One reason Hultgren may have been unable to explain to his constituents how the Bush tax cuts created jobs is because they mostly haven’t. From 2001 to 2007, the economy endured “the slowest rate of jobs growth on record since World War II, and just one-fifth the pace of the 1990s.”

Econ 101: August 23, 2011

By Pat Garofalo on Aug 23, 2011 at 8:30 am

Welcome to ThinkProgress Economy’s morning link roundup. This is what we’re reading. Have you seen any interesting news? Let us know in the comments section. You can also follow ThinkProgress Economy on Twitter.

  • “This summer there has been a drumbeat of food-related illnesses,” but the Food and Drug Administration is not likely to receive enough funding to implement a landmark food safety law passed last December. [The New York Times]
  • Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein “has hired high-profile Washington defense attorney Reid Weingarten, according to a government source, as the Justice Department continues to investigate the bank.” [Reuters]
  • According to a new survey, “salaried U.S. workers can expect another year of modest raises in 2012.” [Associated Press]
  • The White House today will release plans “for ending or cutting back hundreds of regulations, an effort to reduce the burden on business and counter criticism that the White House is tone-deaf to business concerns.” [Wall Street Journal]
  • The president of the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s is stepping down “only weeks after the rating agency issued an unprecedented downgrade of the credit of the United States.” [Financial Times]
  • The percentage of U.S. mortgages that are overdue by one month “rose to the highest level in a year in the second quarter as homeowners who lost jobs were unable to make their payments.” [Bloomberg]
  • Nearly 750,000 disability cases are “awaiting a hearing and decision by the Social Security Administration,” up 7.5 percent from a year ago. [ProPublica]
  • 2012 presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said yesterday that he’ll unveil a job plan on Sept. 6 in Nevada. [The Hill]
  • Mega-bank UBS, following in Bank of America’s footsteps, will lay off 3,500 workers. [CNBC]
  • House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) “has a penchant for creating [tax] loopholes when it comes to helping out his biggest donors.” [Huffington Post]

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