Saturday, October 5, 2013

Progressive Rally Opposes All Cuts to Social Security

Progressives and Working Families Rally Against 'Chained' CPI and Other Safety Net Cuts

While the country remains shut down because of irresponsible House Republican hostage-taking, Progressive members of Congress and working families are looking ahead to fight against any proposed grand "bargain" that would include benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare. Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) spoke Thursday before working families and allies, specifically rejecting any such cuts.

While some politicians and pundits are proposing the use of the so-called "chained" CPI to determine Social Security cost-of-living adjustments over time, Progressives and working families realize that the "chained" CPI would actually cut the income of retirees and people with disabilities. Hostage-taking House Republicans keep changing their random demands to end the government shutdown, and their latest demand is for Democrats to agree to cut Social Security benefits or Republicans will keep hurting people through refusing to pass a clean continuing resolution.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) noted the problems with "chained" CPI: "The 'chained' CPI would result in very real and harmful cuts for seniors, the most vulnerable in our society. These cuts would only deepen over time while the cost of living goes up."

Pointing out a better policy option, Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) said: "Instead of talking about the 'chained' CPI or cutting benefits, my Mom would say you just need to make the pie bigger, we're just going to talk about one cut—and that's cut the crap....Cut the crap, scrap the cap."

Currently, wealthy Americans don't pay into Social Security on any income above $113,700. Scrapping that arbitrary cap would go a long way to shoring up Social Security's future.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) made it clear where the CPC stands on these issues: "We will vote against any and every cut to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid," he said. "If it ain't broke, don't break it."

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Gov. Brown Cancels Despised Federal NDAA

BREAKING: CALIFORNIA NULLIFIES NDAA INDEFINITE DETENTION

Posted by Michael Lotfi

California Governor Jerry Brown Signs NDAA Indefinite Detention Nullification Bill Into Law

Assembly Bill (AB) 351 was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown yesterday. California is the third state to have passed legislation, which nullifies the unpopular federal provision. A selection of AB 351 reads:

The United States Constitution and the California Constitution provide for various civil liberties and other individual rights for a citizen of the United States and the State of California, including the right of habeas corpus, the right to due process, the right to a speedy and public trial, and the right to be informed of criminal charges brought against him or her.

Certain provisions of federal law (NDAA -ed) affirm the authority of the President of the United States to use all necessary and appropriate force to detain specified persons who engaged in terrorist activities.

This bill would prohibit an agency in the State of California, a political subdivision of this state, an employee of an agency or a political subdivision of this state, as specified, or a member of the California National Guard, on official state duty, from knowingly aiding an agency of the Armed Forces of the United States in any investigation, prosecution, or detention of a person within California pursuant to (1) Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA), (2) the federal law known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force, enacted in 2001, or (3) any other federal law, except as specified, if the state agency, political subdivision, employee, or member of the California National Guard would violate the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, or any law of this state by providing that aid.

The bill would also prohibit local entities from knowingly using state funds and funds allocated by the state to those local entities on and after January 1, 2013, to engage in any activity that aids an agency of the Armed Forces of the United States in the detention of any person within California for purposes of implementing Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA or the federal law known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force , if that activity would violate the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, or any law of this state, as specified.

The bill’s common name is “The California Liberty Preservation Act.” California’s legislation takes things a step further than other states, which have implemented nullification legislation with regard to the NDAA.

The bill specifically states:
It is the policy of this state to refuse to provide material support for or to participate in any way with the implementation within this state of any federal law that purports to authorize indefinite detention of a person within California. (emphasis added)

This meaning the legislation takes aim at not only the NDAA provision, but any federal law, which seeks to disregard one’s Constitutional rights.Democrats and Republicans worked together to sponsor and pass the legislation. The bill was introduced by ultra-conservative Tim Donnelly, and managed by San Francisco liberal-democrat Mark Leno.

Nullification has broken barriers in the political world not seen since Reagan won every state in the country in 1984 except Minnesota, home of challenger Mondale (D).

Nullification is able to do this because the Federal government has put its hands in far too many pies. Liberals passionate about marijuana legalization and privacy rights find refuge in nullification. Meanwhile, conservatives passionate about the Federal Reserve, taxes and guns find refuge as well.

The Tenth Amendment Center stands in as the moderator working to nullify all unConstitutional laws in every state. They have provided model legislation to nullify indefinite detention in each state.
Tenth Amendment Center’s national communications director Mike Mike Maharrey tells us-
“Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle came together and passed legislation to protect against Federal kidnapping,” adding that, “by saying, ‘No!’ to indefinite detention and refusing any state cooperation, the California legislature and Gov. Brown just ensured it will be very hard to whisk somebody away in the dead of night and hold them without due process.”

(Visited 4,223 times today)

Monday, September 30, 2013

Old Wall Street Predators Steal Pensions

Wall Street Predators Wage Secret War on American Retirements

Financiers are lying their way to another giant theft of public money.

Photo Credit: shutterstock.com

September 27, 2013 |

AlterNet / By Lynn Stuart Parramore

Lips are smacking on Wall Street. Today’s tasty treat? The pensions of hard-working people across America. Financial hustlers have been working overtime to convince the population that we are in the midst of an “unfunded liability crisis” in which states and cities can no longer afford to pay pensions to public workers. Here’s the truth: Wall Street predators have had their hands in the pension cookie jar for decades, and now they’re poised to gobble up the retirements of teachers and firefighters in yet another orgy of greed.

Unknown to much of the public, Wall Street has been soaking state and municipal coffers with derivatives schemes and various frauds for years. As Alexander Arapoglou and Jerri-Lynn Scofield have explained, not only have Wall Street banks screwed public finances with fancy credit default swaps and other "innovative" financial products that blow up in the faces of cities and states, they have also been engaged in widespread frauds that squeeze pension yields. This happened in the LIBOR rate-rigging scandal, in which big banks were found to be manipulating interest rates, which has resulted in lower returns on pension fund investments and has caused shortfalls in pension plans.

The lack of actions from authorities means this kind of hustling will surely continue.
Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi has just published an article outlining how this gigantic heist is going down. While Wall Street has been on its scam-a-licious rampage, no-good politicians have been taking taxpayer money meant for pensions and spending it on whatever they wanted, depleting funds. (This is actually securities fraud, but the nearly toothless SEC has barely lifted a finger to address it.) Even so, pensions were still in fairly decent shape when the crash of 2008 came and wrecked budgets across America. The Wall Street-driven financial crisis crushed state and local revenues, and the financiers decided this was the perfect moment to dive in for yet another helping of public money by seizing control of public pensions.

In Taibbi’s colorful words: “This is the third act in an improbable triple-fucking of ordinary people that Wall Street is seeking to pull off as a shocker epilogue to the crisis era.”

Wall Street has plenty of politicians in its pockets to grease the wheels. Taibbi hones in on the notorious example of Rhode Island treasurer Gina Raimondo, a former venture capitalist who made the war against pensions her raison d’etre and handed over a billion in pension funds to hedge funds that could charge the strapped state boatloads of hidden fees to manage them. Firms like Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital, along with predators like billionaire John Arnolds, formerly of Enron, are overwhelmed with joy and have filled Raimondo’s coffers for a 2014 gubernatorial run. They know a good thing when they see it.

Wall Street’s PR message? The country’s financial woes were the fault of hard-working elementary school teachers and cops. It’s an audacious, shockingly cynical lie, but with enough money thrown behind it, the lie has spread like a cancer through the media and the political world. Rapacious bankers have successfully pitted private sector workers who have been losing their pensions against public sector folks who were still hanging on to theirs—a tried and true divide-and-conquer tactic that means big money for criminal banksters.
The villains who have helped spread this lie include the folks at Pew Charitable Trusts, an organization known for its centrism and number-crunching. Starting in 2007, Pew started rolling out studies suggesting that pensions were unsustainable, and found an eager accomplice in the form of noxious billionaire John Arnold, a right-winger and former Enron commodities trader who, as Taibbi reports, was “helping himself to an $8 million bonus while the company's pension fund was vaporizing.”

Wall Street Adviser Stole Teamsters Retirement

Teamsters Multiemployer Pensions On The Brink: DOL Asked To Investigate

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 18: Members of the Occupy Wall Street community join Teamsters in front of the auction house Sotheby's to protest the lockout of union art handlers in a contract dispute on October 18, 2011 in New York City.

Across the nation largely less-skilled older workers participating in multiemployer pension funds are at risk of losing the limited retirement security they had and slipping into poverty. Reductions or limitations on benefits–such as disability benefits–may spell doom for some workers, particularly those with physically demanding jobs. Too frail to work, too poor to retire will be their fate.

As the name suggests, a multiemployer plan is funded by more than one employer, typically in the same industry, such as retail, construction, mining and transportation. Each employer makes contributions to the plan on behalf of their employees, usually under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the government agency that protects pensions, insures more than 10 million Americans in multiemployer pension plans. Millions of participants in multiemployer plans have already received cryptic notices that their plans are underfunded and will likely be taken over by the PBGC within three to five years.

Just how much benefits will be slashed in the event of a PBGC takeover is not disclosed. Workers have to contact the PBGC to learn what impact the cuts will have on their retirement benefits—assuming PBGC “protection” even exists in the future. That’s a big assumption given what a recent report by the Government Accountability Office has to say about these plan insolvencies that threaten the PBGC’s multiemployer insurance fund.

The GAO report ominously entitled, “Multiemployer Plans and PBGC Face Urgent Challenges,” dated March 5, 2013 warns:

“The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) financial assistance to multiemployer plans continues to increase, and plan insolvencies threaten PBGC’s multiemployer insurance fund. As a result of current and anticipated financial assistance, the present value of PBGC’s liability for plans that are insolvent or expected to become insolvent within 10 years increased from $1.8 to $7.0 billion between fiscal years 2008 and 2012. Yet PBGC’s multiemployer insurance fund only had $1.8 billion in total assets in 2012. PBGC officials said that financial assistance to these plans would likely exhaust the fund in or about 2023. If the fund is exhausted, many retirees will see their pension benefits reduced to a small fraction of their original value because only a reduced stream of insurance premium payments will be available to pay benefits.”

Teamsters multiemployer pensions are particularly a risk. That means older blue-collar truck and bus drivers, warehouse and construction workers and others who are unemployable because they lack skills that employers seek today or who may, due to poor health or disability, be precluded from continuing to work, are out of luck. The elderly workers who have already retired may get hurt worst. With limited pensions and only Social Security to rely upon, these geriatrics will almost assuredly slip into poverty.

Some Teamsters want answers but aren’t getting them. What caused their pensions to plummet in the past decade? Was the demise of their pension entirely unforeseeable, due to unknowable market forces or was foul-play involved? (Wall Street Thieves perhaps - ed)

Louis J. Alimena, former President of the Local 707 Teamsters, a trucking and warehouse workers union, and former trustee of the Local 707 Pension Health Welfare Funds IBT says, “Many of these Teamsters multiemployer pensions could have locked in an 8% return for fifteen years on assets when the pensions were already overfunded in 2000. Instead they chose to take unnecessary risks hiring equity Investment Managers.

That worked just fine for Wall Street but killed our pensions. I’ve asked the Department of Labor to investigate but the DOL is doing nothing.” (Since publication, I have been informed that DOL is conducting a review of the Local 707 Teamsters pension, apparently in response to Mr. Alimena’s concerns.)

On June 14, 2012, Alimena sent a letter to Jonathan Kay, Director of the New York Regional Office of the Department of Labor, asking for an investigation into the causes of the apparent impending demise of the Local 707 pension. Of greatest concern to him is the longstanding relationship between the pension and its investment consultant. According to Alimena, the consultant is a securities broker who may have been receiving commissions from the money managers he recommended to the fund. Alimena has repeatedly asked for a copy of the contract between the pension and the investment consultant to no avail, he says.

He ends his letter to Kay with the following plea: “We depend upon the Department of Labor to have oversight responsibilities and to at least inspect the failure of these trustees and advisors to secure these funds. To the best of my knowledge, there has been no DOL audit of these funds since 1997. In light of the lack of response from all parties to the fund, and my concern for the integrity of the fund’s management, I am requesting a fiduciary breach investigation by your department. All retirees including myself look forward to your help in this matter.”

Alimena’s concerns may be justified. I have conducted fiduciary breach investigations on behalf of pensions that retain conflicted “gatekeepers” to make recommendations regarding asset allocation and money management hires. My investigations have proven that conflicts of interest involving these advisers cause substantial, quantifiable harm. There are no harmless kickbacks.

Pervasive Investment industry scamming may not be the sole reason our nation’s pensions are failing but, in my opinion, it is a significant contributing factor—and one which regulators and law enforcement inexplicably choose to ignore.

GOP Myth - SocSec Robs Young for Old

Social Security Does Not Redistribute From Young to Old, It Is a Public Pension System

by Dean Baker, CEPR

Sunday, 29 September 2013 20:22

One of the most pernicious myths of the Fix the Debt Gang and other Peter Peterson type outfits is that Social Security redistributes money from the young to the old. This is bizarre because people pay for their benefits with the taxes they contribute during their working lifetimes. In fact, the average return current beneficiaries receive is not especially high
(less than 2.0 percent real).

If workers contributed the same amount to a privately managed pension fund and then collected an annuity in their retirement no one would call it a redistribution from young to old. It hard to see how it becomes a generational redistribution because Social Security is run by the government. But that is what Robert Samuelson is telling readers in today's column.

There is a bit more of a case of a redistribution with Medicare, but it is not from young to old. While the cost of Medicare benefits on average exceed what workers pay into the system this is not because of the generosity of the benefit but rather because the United States pays so much for its health care. If per person payments in the United States were comparable to those in other wealthy countries then the cost of Medicare benefits would not exceed the taxes paid in. Given the excessive cost of health care in the United States, Medicare can be seen as a redistribution to drug companies, doctors, medical equipment manufacturers and other health care providers.

Samuelson also refers to economists who believe that productivity growth will fall off sharply in the years ahead. While there are some prominent economists who argue this case it is worth noting that this view is still far from being accepted in the mainstream of the profession. It is also important to point out that it is 180 degrees at odds with the robots will replace all the workers view.

Since this one seems complicated for Washington policy wonk types, let me repeat. If you believe that productivity growth is slowing then you absolutely do not think that we will have a problem with robots replacing workers. These views are completely opposite to each other. If you don't understand this point, please refrain from discussing economic issues until you do.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

NSA Abuses Civilians for Romance

Clapper Lied, Alexander Lied - Close Criminal NSA

NSA employee spied on nine women without detection, internal file shows

Twelve cases of unauthorised surveillance documented in letter from NSA's inspector general to Senator Chuck Grassley

General Keith Alexander said abuse of the NSA's powerful monitoring tools were 'with very rare exception' unintentional mistakes.

Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

A National Security Agency employee was able to secretly intercept the phone calls of nine foreign women for six years without ever being detected by his managers, the agency's internal watchdog has revealed.

The unauthorised abuse of the NSA's surveillance tools only came to light after one of the women, who happened to be a US government employee, told a colleague that she suspected the man – with whom she was having a sexual relationship – was listening to her calls.

The case is among 12 documented in a letter from the NSA's Inspector\ General to a leading member of Congress, who asked for a breakdown of cases in which the agency's powerful surveillance apparatus was deliberately abused by staff. One relates to a member of the US military who, on the first day he gained access to the surveillance system, used it to spy on six email addresses belonging to former girlfriends.

The letter, from Dr George Ellard, only lists cases that were investigated and later "substantiated" by his office. But it raises the possibility that there are many more cases that go undetected. In a quarter of the cases, the NSA only found out about the misconduct after the employee confessed.

It also reveals limited disciplinary action taken against NSA staff found to have abused the system. In seven cases, individuals guilty of abusing their powers resigned or retired before disciplinary action could be taken. Two civilian employees kept their jobs – and, it appears, their security clearance – and escaped with only a written warning after they were found to have conducted unauthorised interceptions.

The abuses – technically breaches of the law – did not result in a single prosecution, even though more than half of the cases were referred to the Department of Justice. The DoJ did not respond to a request for information about why no charges were brought.

The NSA's director, Gen Keith Alexander, referred to the 12 cases in testimony to a congressional hearing on Thursday. He told Senators on the intelligence committee that abuse of the NSA's powerful monitoring tools were "with very rare exception" unintentional mistakes.
"The press claimed evidence of thousands of privacy violations. This is false and misleading," he said.

"According to NSA's independent inspector general, there have been only 12 substantiated case of willful violation over 10 years. Essentially, one per year."

He added: "Today, NSA has a privacy compliance program any leader of a large, complex organization would be proud of."

However, the small number cases depicted in the inspector general's letter, which was published by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, could betray a far larger number that NSA managers never uncovered.

One of the cases emerged in 2011, when an NSA employee based abroad admitted during a lie-detector case that he had obtained details about his girlfriend's telephone calls "out of curiosity". He retired last year.

In a similar case, from 2005, an NSA employee admitted to obtaining his partner's phone data to determine whether she was "involved" with any foreign government officials. In a third, a female NSA employee said she listened to calls on an unknown foreign telephone number she discovered stored on his cell phone, suspecting he "had been unfaithful".

In another case, from two years ago, which was only discovered during an investigation another matter, a woman employee of the agency confessed that she had obtained information about the phone of "her foreign-national boyfriend and other foreign nationals". She later told investigators she often used the NSA's surveillance tools to investigate the phone numbers of people she met socially, to ensure they were "not shady characters".

The case of the male NSA employee who spied on nine women occurred between 1998 and 2003. The letter states that the member of staff twice collected communications of an American, and "tasked nine telephone numbers of female foreign nationals, without a valid foreign intelligence purpose, and listened to collected phone conversations".

Seniors Do Not Panic, SocSec, Medicare Will Pay

Government Shutdown Impact: Tourists, Homebuyers Would Be Hit Quickly

By SAM HANANEL

WASHINGTON -- A government shutdown would have far-reaching consequences for some, but minimal impact on others.

Mail would be delivered. Social Security and Medicare benefits would continue to flow.
But vacationers would be turned away from national parks and Smithsonian museums. Low-to-moderate income borrowers and first-time homebuyers seeking government-backed mortgages could face delays.
A look at how services would or would not be affected if Congress fails to reach an agreement averting a government shutdown at midnight Monday.

AIR TRAVEL
Federal air traffic controllers would remain on the job and airport screeners would keep funneling passengers through security checkpoints. Federal inspectors would continue enforcing safety rules.
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
The State Department would continue processing foreign applications for visas and U.S. applications for passports, since fees are collected to finance those services. Embassies and consulates overseas would continue to provide services to American citizens.
BENEFIT PAYMENTS

Social Security and Medicare benefits would keep coming, but there could be delays in processing new disability applications. Unemployment benefits would still go out.
FEDERAL COURTS
Federal courts would continue operating normally for about 10 business days after the start of a shutdown, roughly until the middle of October. If the shutdown continues, the judiciary would have to begin furloughs of employees whose work is not considered essential. But cases would continue to be heard.
MAIL
Deliveries would continue as usual because the U.S. Postal Service receives no tax dollars for day-to-day operations. It relies on income from stamps and other postal fees to keep running.
RECREATION
All national parks would be closed, as would the Smithsonian museums, including the National Zoo in Washington. Visitors using overnight campgrounds or other park facilities would be given 48 hours to make alternate arrangements and leave the park. Among the visitor centers that would be closed: the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Alcatraz Island near San Francisco and the Washington Monument.
HEALTH
New patients would not be accepted into clinical research at the National Institutes of Health, but current patients would continue to receive care. Medical research at the NIH would be disrupted and some studies would be delayed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be severely limited in spotting or investigating disease outbreaks, from flu to that mysterious MERS virus from the Middle East.
FOOD SAFETY
The Food and Drug Administration would handle high-risk recalls suspend most routine safety inspections. Federal meat inspections would be expected to proceed as usual.
HEAD START
A small number of Head Start programs, about 20 out of 1,600 nationally, would feel the impact right away. The federal Administration for Children and Families says grants expiring about Oct. 1 would not be renewed. Over time more programs would be affected. Several of the Head Start programs that would immediately feel the pinch are in Florida. It's unclear if they would continue serving children.
FOOD ASSISTANCE
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, could shut down. The program provides supplemental food, health care referrals and nutrition education for pregnant women, mothers and their children.
School lunches and breakfasts would continue to be served, and food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, would continue to be distributed. But several smaller feeding programs would not have the money to operate.
TAXES
Americans would still have to pay their taxes and file federal tax returns, but the Internal Revenue Service says it would suspend all audits. Got questions? Sorry, the IRS says taxpayer services, including toll-free help lines, would be shut as well.
LOANS
Many low-to-moderate incomes borrowers and first-time homebuyers seeking government-backed mortgages could face delays during the shutdown. The Federal Housing Administration, which guarantees about 30 percent of home mortgages, wouldn't underwrite or approve any new loans during the shutdown. Action on government-backed loans to small businesses would be suspended.
SCIENCE
NASA will continue to keep workers at Mission Control in Houston and elsewhere to support the International Space station, where two Americans and four others are deployed. The National Weather Service would keep forecasting weather and issuing warnings and the National Hurricane Center would continue to track storms. The scientific work of the U.S. Geological Survey would be halted.
HOMELAND SECURITY
The majority of the Department of Homeland Security's employees are expected to stay on the job, including uniformed agents and officers at the country's borders and ports of entry, members of the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration officers, Secret Service personnel and other law enforcement agents and officers. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees would continue to process green card applications.
MILITARY
The military's 1.4 million active duty personnel would stay on duty, but their paychecks would be delayed. About half of the Defense Department's civilian employees would be furloughed.
PRISONS
All 116 federal prisons would remain open, and criminal litigation would proceed.
VETERANS SERVICES
Most services offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs will continue because lawmakers approve money one year in advance for the VA's health programs. Veterans would still be able to visit hospitals for inpatient care, get mental health counseling at vet centers or get prescriptions filled at VA health clinics. Operators would still staff the crisis hotline and claims workers would still process payments to cover disability and pension benefits. But those veterans appealing the denial of disability benefits to the Board of Veterans Appeals will have to wait longer for a decision because the board would not issue any decisions during a shutdown.
WORK SAFETY
Federal occupational safety and health inspectors would stop workplace inspections except in cases of imminent danger.
___
Associated Press writers Matthew Daly, Frederic J. Frommer, Kevin Freking, Andrew Miga, Deb Riechmann, Lauran Neergaard, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Mark Sherman, Stephen Ohlemacher, Lolita Baldor, Jesse Holland, Seth Borenstein, Mary Clare Jalonick and Alicia Caldwell contributed to this report.

Also on HuffPost:



Iconic Photos Of The U.S. Capitol





1 of 21



