FW Clinto poverty tour - comments (fwd)
Excerpt from The Jobs Letter (with permission). So subscription info below V O I C E S -- ON THE CLINTON POVERTY TOUR " In a recent speech, Clinton compared himself to Franklin Roosevelt. Both of them, he said, were "people who were progressive, people who try to change things, people who keep pushing the envelope. "The difference is that Roosevelt was acting at the start of his presidency in a time of economic crisis, and was almost entirely willing to try any means that worked to achieve his ends. Clinton, by contrast, is acting at the end of his presidency in a period almost bereft of economic crisis, and will only try those means that pass muster with the stock markets..." -- Martin Kettle, Washington Diary, The Guardian "It's positive, and long overdue, that Clinton is addressing these issues, but to be saying that you want to deal with poverty while you're calling welfare 'reform' a success is rather disingenuous. While the US welfare rolls have dropped sharply, studies indicate that many have simply joined the ranks of the working poor. They now have jobs that are paying below poverty wages, without benefits or affordable child care; moreover, states have been 'forgetting' to tell them that they are still eligible for Medicaid and food stamps ..." -- Mimi Abramovitz, Professor at the School of Social Work at Hunter College and author of "Regulating the Lives of Women" "It is good that Clinton is going out and calling attention to these issues, but some of the suggestions are flawed. If you build a base of incomes and social and physical infrastructure, then business activity develops, but if you throw business activity in a region where that does not exist, then you have a sweatshop phenomenon. What is needed is housing assistance, public services, money to improve schools and the environment, and income support such as through the earned income tax credit and a higher minimum wage." -- James K. Galbraith, professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, "If it wasn't for NAFTA, hundreds of thousands of jobs would not have left the U.S., creating more poverty. If there were minimal protections for migrant workers, then we wouldn't have the depth of poverty that we have. If North Carolina, where I live, wasn't a 'right to work' state, people could do collective bargaining and have the guarantee of organized workplaces. As it is, they can be fired at will. What you have now are people who are afraid of losing jobs, so they don't push for better conditions and safety at their workplaces..." -- George Friday, a member of the Grassroots Policy Project and a low-income activist. "What the president's tour highlights is that there are really important pockets of poverty in the country. Full employment is the single most important thing in lifting people out of poverty, and the president seems to understand that. But a rising tide lifts boats unequally. While poverty is falling, income inequality remains at post-war highs ... Using tax incentives just moves investment around..." -- Robert J. S. Ross, author of the forthcoming "Hearts Starve: The New Sweatshops in Global Context" C R E D I T S --- Editor -- Vivian Hutchinson Associates - Rodger Smith, Dave Owens and Jo Howard Secretary - Shirley Vickery ISSN No. 1172-6695 S U B S C R I P T I O N S -- (annual, for 22 letters ... prices include GST) (a) posted, paper edition (4-6 pages) $79 this sub also includes a free email edition on request (b) emailed MS-Word edition $66 formatted for onscreen reading or printing, with hypertext links (c) emailed edition, raw text only$55 Bulk rates for all editions are available, contact us for details. An e-mail version of this letter is available to international friends and colleagues on an "exchange of information" basis and on the understanding that the Letter is not re-posted to New Zealand... this is because we need the paid subscriptions from our New Zealand colleagues in order to pay our way. Thanks. Subscription Enquiries -- Jobs Research Trust, P.O.Box 428, New Plymouth, New Zealand phone 06-753-4434 fax 06-759-4648 [EMAIL PROTECTED] J O B S R E S E A R C H W E B S I T E -- We also maintain an internet website with our back issues and key papers, and hotlinks to other internet resources. This can be visited at http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/ Our website resources are available freely to anyone with access to the internet. The most recent three months of Jobs Letter issues, however, will only be available to subscribers. M I S C E L L A N E O U S -- This is a subscriber-based publication -- ... which is how we pay our bills and keep going. If you are receiving this letter on a regular basis please subscribe. A Word on Spreading the Word -- We'd like you to let others know about the Jobs Letter and the work of the Jobs
Re: FW Clinto poverty tour - comments (fwd)
Having grown up on the reservation which was the number one toxic waste dump in America (Super-fund), where the houses just dropped into cave-ins with people in them and where the largest Indian nation West of the Mississippi River and who had owned the state of Arkansas (correct pronunciation Oogapah) was down to 200 people with four language speakers left on the earth, I have a feeling for Clinton or any President visiting Pine Ridge. Since the Oogapah are Southern Sioux, what they called the River Sioux, it is appropriate that Clinton raised and nurtured in the land of the ancient Oogapah should visit the small country where their Northern relatives are still held in a ghetto prison. (Yes I can hear it now: "They don't have to stay, they could move into the city ghetto and really be alone." Right!) Pine Ridge is a place where Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is rampant and where they die young or end up on death row (as in California). Unlike the Fetal Alcohol Syndromes from the last generation in New York who now teaches in the nations colleges and inhabit the board rooms of the family corporations. "Yes dahling, Diana and Lional did drink themselves silly while she was pregnant but only the poor children deserve to be labeled and subject to the 'rule of law.' After all why should we care when THOSE STATES in New England have so MUCH incest. They just ahre that way you know!" (No, it doesn't make sense, why should it?) So I was grateful that this pragmatist who was abused because he didn't share the rigid orthodoxy of the Milton Friedman Kulture Revolution. A man who knew how to "tack" as they say in sailing or "switchback" if you are a climber, finally had the political power to visit Pine Ridge. I do not consider him to blame for the legal bills of his underlings or his playmate. I do not consider their treatment moral and frankly blame those who weat the label of cultural rigidity and bear the subpoenas. The people who complain about the Sioux have never been there and have on more than one occasion expressed to me the opinion that they (the Sioux) deserve what has happened to them. An opinion worthy of Julius Streicher. But that is just my opinion. REH S. Lerner wrote: Excerpt from The Jobs Letter (with permission). So subscription info below V O I C E S -- ON THE CLINTON POVERTY TOUR " In a recent speech, Clinton compared himself to Franklin Roosevelt. Both of them, he said, were "people who were progressive, people who try to change things, people who keep pushing the envelope. "The difference is that Roosevelt was acting at the start of his presidency in a time of economic crisis, and was almost entirely willing to try any means that worked to achieve his ends. Clinton, by contrast, is acting at the end of his presidency in a period almost bereft of economic crisis, and will only try those means that pass muster with the stock markets..." -- Martin Kettle, Washington Diary, The Guardian "It's positive, and long overdue, that Clinton is addressing these issues, but to be saying that you want to deal with poverty while you're calling welfare 'reform' a success is rather disingenuous. While the US welfare rolls have dropped sharply, studies indicate that many have simply joined the ranks of the working poor. They now have jobs that are paying below poverty wages, without benefits or affordable child care; moreover, states have been 'forgetting' to tell them that they are still eligible for Medicaid and food stamps ..." -- Mimi Abramovitz, Professor at the School of Social Work at Hunter College and author of "Regulating the Lives of Women" "It is good that Clinton is going out and calling attention to these issues, but some of the suggestions are flawed. If you build a base of incomes and social and physical infrastructure, then business activity develops, but if you throw business activity in a region where that does not exist, then you have a sweatshop phenomenon. What is needed is housing assistance, public services, money to improve schools and the environment, and income support such as through the earned income tax credit and a higher minimum wage." -- James K. Galbraith, professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, "If it wasn't for NAFTA, hundreds of thousands of jobs would not have left the U.S., creating more poverty. If there were minimal protections for migrant workers, then we wouldn't have the depth of poverty that we have. If North Carolina, where I live, wasn't a 'right to work' state, people could do collective bargaining and have the guarantee of organized workplaces. As it is, they can be fired at will. What you have now are people who are afraid of losing jobs, so they don't push for better conditions and safety at their workplaces..." -- George Friday, a member of the Grassroots Policy Project and a low-income activist. "What the president's tour highlights is that
