Mitt Romney and the 1%
January 27, 2012
This entry by AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee is cross-posted from The Huffington Post and Firedoglake.
Mitt Romney has released some information on his income taxes over the past two years. Turns out he’s paid less than 14 percent on more than $40 million in income. He makes more in one day than most American makes all year, yet he pays a tax rate that is far less than what the vast majority of Americans pay. Keep in mind that Romney’s income rolled in while he did nothing but clip coupons and hit the campaign trail. It suggests that our once progressive income tax has been turned into a farce, where the very rich get away with paying less than bus drivers, construction crews and health care workers. That’s not right, and it’s why the tax laws need to be changed and changed soon.
It’s now obvious why Romney tried so hard for so long to hide his financial holdings. He’s stashed some of his money in tax havens like Luxemburg and the Cayman Islands. He’s even had a Swiss bank account. He says he’s paid taxes on all his foreign holdings, but The Los Angeles Times reports that Romney failed to disclose at least 23 funds and partnerships on his most recent financial disclosure forms, including 11 based in low-tax foreign countries. While he may not have broken any laws by funneling cash into off-shore accounts and companies, Romney has clearly broken faith with the American people. He amassed his wealth by hollowing-out companies, laying off employees, ruining communities and practicing what is kindly called “vulture capitalism.” He left thousands of families in hardship while he accrued hundreds of millions in wealth. He should be ashamed, but if we’ve learned anything over the past year, Mitt Romney has no shame.
Romney, after all, doesn’t hide that he wants a tax code that rewards the 1 percent and makes the rest of us pay far more than our fair share. He’s running for president with a plan to change the tax code to make rich Americans even richer. The Economist magazine describes his plan as “very progressive, by 15th century standards.” Romney’s “help the rich get richer” plan would reduce the taxes of the top 1 percent by more than $170,000, while adding $600 billion to the deficit. He gets defensive when his plan is attacked, just as he gets hot under the collar when people bring up his past career as a corporate raider. He claims that any criticism of his repugnant business practices is an attack on free enterprise. It is not. It’s an attack on ruthless behavior. He claims that his critics are engaging in “class warfare.” It is not that either. If anything, he’s demonstrated the truth in Warren Buffett’s statement about class warfare: “It’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
Unfortunately, Romney’s not the only candidate out there who is interested in making life easier for the well-to-do. Shockingly, Newt Gingrich’s tax proposals are even worse that Romney’s. He wants to eliminate completely the taxes on capital gains. His radical tax scheme would guarantee that most members of the 1 percent, including Romney, would pay little or no taxes at all. The middle class would be left to pay the country’s bills, including the cost of additional tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
Perhaps that’s why the GOP candidates spend their time distorting Pres. Obama’s record, rather than outlining their own hare-brained plans for our country. Rick Santorum goes even farther. He says talking about the middle class is misguided because, get this, it buys into “the class warfare arguments of Barack Obama.” Santorum scolded Romney for using the term in a recent debate: “The governor used a term earlier that I shrink from. And it’s one that I don’t think we should be using as Republicans: Middle class.” And why shouldn’t Republicans talk about the middle class? “There are no classes in America,” Santorum continued. Only a millionaire could believe this.
We shouldn’t be surprised that Romney, Gingrich and Santorum all support the unhinged agenda of their political allies who now control the U.S. House of Representatives. They’ve promised to support radical schemes like the Ryan Budget, which abandons programs that have helped to build and sustain the middle class, including Medicare, Social Security, education assistance, health research and job training programs. They ignore the damage done to the middle class as CEO pay skyrocketed 300% since 1990 and corporate profits doubled. These are the candidates of the 1%, for the 1% and by the 1%. If they have their way, Mitt Romney and the wealthiest people in America won’t have to release their tax returns. They won’t even have to file.
Fallen Corrections Officer Remembered
by Jon Melegrito | January 26, 2012
Sgt. Barbara Ester
Sgt. Barbara Ester was simply doing her job Friday morning last week, responding to a report that an inmate had contraband items. That was her duty as a property officer at the East Arkansas Regional Unit. But when she attempted to investigate, the inmate stabbed her with a sharp object. Sergeant Ester was rushed to the infirmary and later transported by helicopter to a hospital where she died. She was 47 years old.
A founding member of Local 2899 (Arkansas Council 38), Ester was a 12-year veteran of the facility. Her husband and co-worker, Lathen Ester, said that his wife of six years was loved by everybody who knew her. “She was a mother to a lot of the younger inmates coming in who didn’t have the mother figure in their lives. She just cared about people.”
Local 2899 Pres. Willie Robinson asked for prayers for her family and fellow corrections officers. “Sister Ester went to work every day knowing she may not come home alive,” Robinson said. “Yet she went about her job with a great sense of pride, because she cared. She will be greatly missed by our AFSCME family.”
The alleged killer has been in jail since 2001, serving a sentence for first degree murder. He was immediately moved to a maximum security wing at the prison. Corrections officials say Ester’s killing is the first death of a corrections officer at the hands of an inmate since 1995.
Funeral services will be held at noon on Saturday at the Lee High School Auditorium in Marianna.
Tweets of the Union
by Kate Childs Graham | January 25, 2012
President Obama delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. He talked about jobs and education. He talked about Wall Street. He talked about fairness. And while he was talking about all that, Americans across the country were at home, tweeting their responses, hundreds by the second.
On jobs:
@CurlyKamiJami: #presidentobama #SOTU lets put our unemployment system into a re-employment system! PREACH!
@JBucknoff: @cspan #SOTU LOL. #Romney just told NBC News the programs and policies that create jobs don't create jobs. #GOP
On education:
@lizzylynngarcia: Dear @BarackObama I really want to see these education provisions go into effect. #sotu
@KeithOlbermann: Wait! High school until you're 18! But how does Gingrich recruit his Child Slave Labor Janitorial Force? #SOTU
On the payroll tax cut:
@ReneJSL: Pass the Payroll Cut. No one deserves to get #40DOLLARS off their hard-earned money. #sotu
@DavidCornDC: Was that Cantor clapping like Queen Elizabeth for extending the payroll tax cut? #SOTU
On equal pay:
@worleygirl: Equal pay for equal work! Amen! #SOTU
@JillFilipovic: Also sad that it's 2012 and our president still has to say, in the #SOTU, "Women should earn equal pay for equal work." #DUH
On Wall Street:
@lhugle: Best #SOTU development -- finally investigating Wall Street crooks.
@LuArguet: Deficit of trust between main street and wall street. Seems to get worse every year. #sotu
On fairness:
@SenatorReid: W/millions of middle-class families sacrificing daily, Ds r united behind the principle that millionaires should pay their fair share #SOTU
@MothTwiceborn: RT Obama: "We want a country where everyone gets a fair shot!" Not a single Republican applauded. There's your two Americas. #SOTU
Of course, the tweets weren’t confined to the substance of the speech. People had much to tweet about Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ emotional greeting with President Obama, Sen. John Kerry’s black eyes (hockey accident), applauses, ovations, Speaker John Boehner’s lack of poker face and the spilled milk jokes.
If Twitter is any indicator, though, the people overwhelmingly agreed with the President. The state of our union is indeed “getting stronger.”
Follow AFSCME on Twitter at twitter.com/AFSCME.
Tax Fairness Is Common Sense
by Clyde Weiss | January 25, 2012
Tuesday night, addressing the nation in his State of the Union speech, President Obama called on the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share of taxes.
Proof that they often don’t is found in GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s federal tax return for 2010 – which he only reluctantly agreed to release under pressure from Newt Gingrich, his rival for the GOP nomination. The tax papers, released yesterday, showed he and his wife paid an effective tax rate of just 13.9 percent on taxable income of $21.7 million. Is that fair?
Since more than half of his earnings are considered capital gains and dividends, they are taxed at a top rate of 15 percent. But for those of us whose income is derived from actual work – called ordinary income – the top federal tax rate is 35 percent. Romney calls it “entirely legal and fair.”
Legal? Perhaps – but why should investment income be treated differently than ordinary income?
“The most affluent Americans in recent years have pulled away from the rest of us, and the reason is at least in part that they are able to compound their wealth at very, very low tax rates,” University of Southern California law professor Edward Kleinbard says in a recent article in Bloomberg. “Romney’s tax return, with its heavy reliance on income taxed at low capital gains rates, demonstrates that.”
If Newt Gingrich had his way, he’d entirely eliminate taxes on investment income (stock dividends and capital gains). Under that plan, Romney said during the Jan. 23 GOP presidential debate in Tampa, “I’d have paid no taxes in the last two years.”
Even a senior adviser to Romney realized the unfairness of that approach. Stuart Stevens, quoted in a story in The Washington Post, says, “Governor Romney thinks that’s unfair.”
So do we. The current tax code is unfair to the working middle class – a group that at least some in the GOP Presidential field would like to argue doesn’t even exist. We don’t need to keep enriching the richest 1 percent. We need to help the 99% whose spending is the engine of our economy.
“We need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of members of Congress, pay our fair share,” President Obama said in his State of the Union speech. He went on to explain:
“Tax reform should follow the Buffett Rule. If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes. And my Republican friend Tom Coburn is right: Washington should stop subsidizing millionaires. In fact, if you’re earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn’t get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn’t go up. You’re the ones struggling with rising costs and stagnant wages. You’re the ones who need relief.”
Gingrich and Romney call this talk of fairness and economic inequality “class warfare.’ Obama had this to say about that:
“Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.”
‘Our Democracy is Not for Sale’
by Jon Melegrito | January 25, 2012
Arizona public service workers, retirees and community activists gathered in front of the statehouse in Phoenix last week to protest corruption and corporate money in politics. Their message to lawmakers: "Our democracy is not for sale!" (Photo by Allison Padgett)
Gathered this past week in front of the Phoenix Statehouse, AFSCME members, community supporters and MoveOn activists were loud and clear about what they thought of Gov. Jan Brewer’s budget proposal. They are ready to take on politicians who have turned their backs on constituents and the 99% to do the bidding of outside organizations and corporate funders, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Goldwater Institute.
“Through ALEC and the Goldwater Institute, corporations and state politicians are voting behind closed doors to re-write laws that protect workers and middle class families,” said Sheri Van Horsen, president of Local 3111. “We are taking a stand against corruption and demanding accountability from our government to the people it is supposed to represent: Arizona citizens.”
The press conference was a follow-up to a demonstration that occurred last month in Scottsdale to coincide with the annual meeting of ALEC. During these meetings, Arizona state legislators and corporate lobbyists get together behind closed doors to deal with issues like cutting taxes, outsourcing, gutting pensions and union busting. Right-wing politicians then draft ALEC-inspired bills and push them at the next legislative session.
Last year, Arizona lawmakers passed numerous “ALEC model” bills. One was a brazen attempt to take away workers’ right to voluntarily contribute to their unions’ political action funds. AFSCME and other labor and civil rights groups sued. A judge later ruled the law unconstitutional as it unfairly targeted unions and union members.
This year, Governor Brewer has been vocal about her plans to take away civil service protections for 30,000 state workers – another idea from ALEC – and is attempting to bribe workers with a 5 percent raise if they opt out of the state personnel system. That system gives them the right to file an appeal if they get fired or demoted.
“We reject the governor’s bribe attempt,” Van Horsen said. “We will not give up our rights and protections.”
Other ALEC and Goldwater Institute inspired legislation that have directly impacted families and communities in the state include measures aimed at enriching specific industries by privatizing city services and prisons, suppressing the vote and eliminating collective bargaining rights for public service workers.
Also at the press conference were city workers from Peoria, who were energized from their recent victory against corporate profiteers when an attempt to privatize city sanitation services was dropped.
“This move would have cost good jobs and hurt our close-knit community,” said Randy Cordero, a city utility worker for more than 23 years and president of Local 3282. “With this victory we are empowered to take on anyone who wants to put profits over people.”
For more information on the voice of corporate special interests in the halls of Arizona’s Legislature, see the joint report of People For the American Way Foundation and Common Cause, “ALEC in Arizona: The Voice of Corporate Special Interests in the Halls of Arizona’s Legislature.”
Video: State of the Anti-Union
January 24, 2012
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN) was chosen to deliver the response to Pres. Obama's State of the Union address. Here's why that's so scary.
Middle Class Surprised to Hear Santorum Say They Don’t Exist
by Clyde Weiss | January 23, 2012
In a laughable attempt to reframe a crucial debate occurring in America today about the unfairness of America’s tax system that unjustly benefits the extremely wealthy, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum recently claimed the middle class doesn’t exist:
“There may be middle-income people, but the idea that somehow or another we're going to buy into the class-warfare arguments of Barack Obama is something that should not be part of the Republican lexicon.”
In fact, it’s the Republican presidential candidates and their billionaire financial backers who like to raise the “class warfare” argument every time someone suggests that they pay their fair share of taxes. They raise it when people point to the widening gap between the 99% of Americans who work for a living and the extremely rich 1 percent, such as Mitt Romney, who live off their investments and benefit from lower federal tax rates than most workers.
Yet, when asked recently about anti-Wall Street protestors who point out the discrepancy between Wall Street and Main Street, Romney calls it class warfare. He said, “I think it’s dangerous, this class warfare.” Romney also accuses President Obama of fanning the flames of class warfare.
But it’s Romney and the rest of the GOP presidential field who are inciting class warfare. How? Through their attacks on workers’ rights, like collective bargaining, that helped build the middle class in the first place. For instance, Santorum says if he becomes President he will deny public workers an opportunity to improve their lives through a union:
“I would actually support a bill that says that we should not have public employee unions for the purposes of wages and benefits to be negotiated.”
Romney has his own anti-worker agenda, and his record makes clear he is no friend of working middle-class families. Take his support of Ohio’s anti-worker law Senate Bill 5, which would have deprived public service workers of their right to have a voice on the job through collective bargaining. Voters last November were not persuaded by his arguments, however, and sided with workers to repeal the law by an overwhelming margin.
Americans say they believe there is already a war between the classes. That’s no surprise. Inequality has resulted in a middle class that’s actually shrunk, according to Alan B. Krueger, who chairs the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He explains:
“The share of all income accruing to the top 1 percent increased by 13.5 percentage points from 1979 to 2007. This is the equivalent of shifting $1.1 trillion of annual income to the top 1 percent of families. Put another way, the increase in the share of income going to the top 1 percent over this period exceeds the total amount of income that the entire bottom 40 percent of households receives.”
Krueger blames this downward shift partly on the decline in union membership, which he said dropped from 20 percent of employees in 1983 to just 12 percent. He also cited tax changes in the early 2000s that “benefited the very wealthy by much more than other taxpayers, compounding the widening gap in pre-tax earnings.”
That’s why the fight to preserve the middle class depends on winning the fight to preserve collective bargaining. As AFSCME members already know, strong unions “are a critical factor in creating a middle-class society,” says a report from the Center for American Progress. “Restoring the strength of unions would go a long way toward rebuilding the middle class.”
That’s why AFSCME’s International Executive Board has endorsed President Obama for re-election. “President Obama is the only choice for the 99%,” said AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee. We must put people back to work, make the 1 percent pay their fair share, and protect Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. President Obama will stand up for working families.”
Policy Experts: Public Pensions Should Be Strengthened, Not Eliminated
by Jon Melegrito | January 20, 2012
The panel includes, from left, AFSCME Council 94 Retiree Delores Bresette; Exec. Dir. Hank Kim of the National Conference on Public Employment Retirement Systems; North Carolina State Treasurer Janet Cowell; New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli; Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Jordan Marks, moderator. (Photo by Jon Melegrito)
Traditional pensions are still the most efficient way of guaranteeing retirement security for workers. The economy benefits too, as pensions are a highly efficient source of financing that ultimately provides income and jobs for others. If states go the route of replacing them with 401(k)-style plans, it will end up costing them more in the long run. There’s also an adverse impact to society when Americans, after a career of working hard to provide for their families, become vulnerable and angry because they could not retire with dignity.
These are the conclusions shared by a panel of state leaders and policy experts at a press briefing yesterday at the National Press Club. Participants took turns separating fact from fiction on budget and policy proposals regarding defined benefit pensions.
Leading the panel was New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli who called Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to create a new pension system – including an optional 401(k)-style account for newly hired workers – “unacceptable.”
“I am a firm believer that defined contribution systems are simply not adequate,” he said. “In times of fiscal distress, we should be focusing on ways to strengthen public pension plans, not take them away.” He reminded everyone that “New York has one of the strongest pension funds in the country because it has been managed and funded responsibly over the years.”
North Carolina State Treasurer Janet Cowell decried the fearmongering and the tendency by some states “to react with broad, drastic changes that could negatively impact defined benefit systems that are working well.” She called for “thoughtful, fact-based conversations on a state by state basis to determine what the best plan is for public workers.”
“The existing public pension system has provided retirement security for tens of millions of workers,” added Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “There is no reason that it cannot continue to do so for decades into the future.”
Hank Kim, executive director of the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems, pointed out that the public pension model is “a key pillar for retirement security” and can be extended to the private sector.
Lending an eloquent voice to those who don’t have retirement security was Dolores Bresette, a retired Rhode Island state worker and a member of AFSCME Retiree Chapter 94.
“I contributed 9 percent of my salary to my pension fund during the 37 years I worked for the state,” she said. “Now, after years of saving and preparing for my retirement, so much of what I and thousands of other public workers were promised by the state is being taken away. I am angry – angry that something like this could happen when I played by the rules all of my life.”
Rhode Island cut the cost of living adjustments to state workers’ pensions. To Bresette, that adds up to approximately $70 a month.
The press briefing was sponsored by the National Public Pension Coalition of which AFSCME is a leading member. The Coalition engages in state-based activities in support of public employee defined benefit pension systems.
Union Plus Scholarship Deadline: Jan. 31
by Tiffanie Bright | January 20, 2012
Irrawaddy Lamouth of Long Beach, CA, daughter of AFSCME Local 685 (District Council 36) member Molly Lamouth, was one of 18 AFSCME recipients of the 2011 Union Plus scholarships.
Need money for college? You could get a job wearing a pirate’s hat and selling fish dinners to tourists in T-shirts. Or you can apply for a Union Plus scholarship. It’s a process that just takes a few minutes.
What you need to apply: a union sponsor – you, your parent or spouse who is or was a union member (make sure the union participates in Union Plus); and acceptance in a U.S. accredited school.
Just last year, 130 union families received scholarships ranging from $500 to $4,000. And 18 of those winners came from AFSCME families. One scholarship recipient said, “This scholarship enabled me to go to the school of my dreams. I highly encourage any prospective applicants to take advantage of this opportunity.”
You’ve got everything to gain.
What you need to do: Submit a letter of reference and an essay on your career goals and community service.
Fill out the application online. Need to take a break? Don’t worry. You can save your work and return later. But don’t take too long. The deadline to submit is Tuesday, Jan. 31.
Caution, @GovWalker, Roads Are Slippery When Anti-Worker
by Kate Childs Graham | January 19, 2012
Early Tuesday morning, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin tweeted, “Be careful today. The roads are slick.” Indeed, Tuesday proved that when you stand against the rights of workers, you are on a slippery slope.
A few minutes after the news was confirmed that more than 1 million Wisconsin voters signed petitions to have the governor recalled, “Scott Walker” was trending on Twitter.
Natives of the Badger State celebrated:
@vahamaa: Dear Scott Walker, welcome to Recallville.
@DefeatVos: 1,000,000+ Wisconsin voters say: "I love teachers, firefighters, police..." (but NOT Scott Walker) #wiunion
@mcwheelz: Scott Walker, we have your pink slip ready for you.
@Spudlovr: Gov. Scott Walker lives in public housing. Landlords' about to evict him #wiunion
@BrewCityBrawler: Strange how Friends of Scott Walker ads dont call out his awesome job creation record. Oh, wait ... #wiunion #recallwalker
Politicians and journalists weighed in:
@AndrewKroll: The 1mln #recallwalker signatures gathered by organizers adds up to 46 percent of #wisconsin's total electorate
@BrianFair: Let's remove Gov. Scott Walker from office. Then let's convince the singer Scott Walker to tour again & obliterate the memory of Gov. Scott.
@donnabrazile: Recall fever 2.0! RT @HuffPostPol Organizers collect 1 million signatures in favor of recalling WI Gov. Scott Walker
@mcmullenforus: Scott Walker is being recalled, let's hope this happens to Rick Scott in Florida.
And even Arsenio Hall had a character or two for the governor:
@ArsenioOFFICIAL: In addition to the states troubles, i also blame Wisconsin governor Scott Walker for the Green Bay Packer loss. #recall
Meanwhile, @GovWalker has soothed himself with some “American Idol.”
