Shutting Detroit Down = Should Be Named Shutting The Country Down !

Check out this Video Featuring Mickey Rourke and Kris Kristofferson

I urge you view the complete video and then multiply Big John, by thousands across the country and then, look closely at the end at the abandoned Tires !

Shutting Detroit Mi/Union City TN Down ! ?

Click on title of this article or the link below !

http://heavens-gates.com/usworkers/

Big Lies About Heathcare Reform...

Here Come the Big Lies About Health Care Reform
by Mike Hall, May 28, 2009

We noted a few days ago how the private insurance industry was set to unleash its attack dogs on health care reform to try to kill a public health insurance plan option as part of President Obama’s health care reform initiative. Those dogs have started to bark. Yesterday, the fake group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP)—another one of those astroturf names meant to appeal to All of Us—launched a $1.7 million TV ad campaign claiming we may all die if Obama’s health care reform proposals are enacted. The ads don’t even skirt the neighborhood of the truth, but then, as Robert Borosage wrote last week, the health care industry has a long history of “trying to scare the hell out of Americans” when it comes to health care reform.The ads conjure up the boogeyman of a “government-run” health care system where patients will die as their cancerous tumors grow to fatal stages while they wait months to receive care. Scary stuff. Phony, but meant to scare us all. A public health plan option has won the endorsement of major health care groups and many senators and representatives and is a key component of the AFL-CIO’s health care reform principles. It would provide workers who have private insurance and those without insurance a choice in coverage: Stay with their private plan or choose the public plan option. It would also—which scares the hay out of the private insurance industry—provide some competition for an industry that has secured a near-monopoly of the market and recorded record profits, while we are paying more for less care. The Wall Street Journal reports that another group, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, is buying air time for a 30-minute Sunday morning infomercial featuring “horror stories” about the Canadian and British health care systems and warning the U.S. government is about to take over health care here. Like AFP’s campaign, that message doesn’t even have a nodding acquaintance with the truth. But a key Republican strategist says the truth doesn’t matter when it comes to fighting health care reform. BTW, most Republican lawmakers have decried a public plan option with strikingly similar, and just as phony, arguments. Think Progress reports that lies about health care reform are not going to go away anytime soon. In an interview with The New York Times, conservative pollster Frank Luntz admitted that he would continue raising the false specter of a ”Washington takeover” of health care—whether or not that was Obama’s actual proposal. “I’m not a policy person. I’m a language person,” Luntz said. Click here for a detailed look at the blueprint for the propaganda campaign against health care reform. The truth may set you free, but a big lie just might protect Big Health Insurance Companies’ big profits.

United Auto Workers, Make Another Sacrifice...

UAW Likely to Approve Deal with General Motors

A majority of rank-and-file members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) will likely approve a ratified agreement with General Motors Corp. (GM) that will give the union a stake in the U.S. automaker in return for concessions, according to initial tallies. The company is expected to file bankruptcy in the next few days. Under the terms of the amended agreement, the UAW would receive half of the $20 billion GM owes a union-aligned healthcare trust in the form of stock and new debt, instead of cash. A trust fund run by the United Auto Workers union would have a 17.5% stake in the new GM. A concession included in the tentative deal is the elimination of dental, vision and some prescription drug coverage for hourly retirees. UAW also would hold a seat on the GM board of directors. However, the deal will leave hundreds of thousands of GM retirees paying higher out-of-pocket medical expenses, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Editorial : Once again, it is the on the floor hourly worker(UAW) making sacrifice`s to save GM, Thus saving America !! While Rome burns, Nero plays ! God Bless The United Auto Workers !

Beware of Insurance Co.`s Wanting to Help !

Be Careful When the Insurance Industry Says It Would Like to Help !

According to the AFL-CIO blog, profits at ten of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007, while consumers paid more for less coverage. One of the major reasons, according to a study by the group "Health Care for America Now," is the growing lack of competition in the private health insurance industry, which has led to near monopoly conditions in many markets. The report says such conditions warrant a Justice Department investigation, and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) says that it provides compelling evidence of the need for a public health insurance plan option as part of the health care reform initiative President Obama and Congress are developing. “A public health plan option is a key component of the Alliance’s health care reform principles,” said Barbara J. Easterling, President of the Alliance, agreeing with Sen. Schumer. Recently, the insurance industry has begun lobbying Congress to block the public plan option. Last Friday, Paul Krugman wrote in The New York Times about the “medical-industrial complex” making a big show of working with President Obama on health care reform, but then double-crossing those whom they pretended to support. “Even as they met with the president, pretending to be cooperative, insurers were gearing up to play the same destructive role they did the last time health reform was on the agenda,” Krugman wrote, referring to a May 11 meeting at the White House. White House officials had announced after the meeting that major players in health care, including the American Hospital Association and the lobbying group America's Health Insurance Plans, had united to support a national effort to control health care costs. However, just three days later, the hospital association insisted that it had not, in fact, promised what the president said it had promised. And the head of the insurance lobby said that the idea was merely to "ramp up" savings. Also last week, The Washington Post reported that Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina was preparing to run a series of ads attacking the public plan option. The ads show troubled Americans being denied their choice of doctor, or forced to wait months for appointments. "The insurance companies' interest groups came to the table pledging support, but are actually trying to block reform," said Ruben Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. The Wall Street Journal reports that another group, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, is buying air time for a 30-minute Sunday morning infomercial featuring “horror stories” about the Canadian and British health care systems and warning the U.S. government is about to take over health care here. For more on the insurance companies’ ads, visit the AFL-CIO blog at http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/05/28/here-come-the-big-lies-about-health-care-reform/#more-14523.

Weakley County Tennessee ~ Republicans Feeling Their Oats !

From My Friend Newscoma !

The Tennessee Election Commission
Posted by newscoma Posted in Politics, Tennessee Posted on 28-05-2009

Joe Lance takes a very detailed look at the Tennessee Election Commission.
Recently, a woman here who had been administrator of elections for a long while was replaced because she was a democrat. She’d been in office since the early 80s.
When we talked to the head of the local GOP party(DAVID HAWKS), he said simply, “It’s our time.”
Lance expands on this discussion. Here’s a question: Why are election commissions defined in partisan terms anyway? I get that it matters when one or the other party controls the actual legislative bodies, and, to a slightly lesser degree, the administration; and I understand that there’s a good chance that anyone interested in being a commissioner would likely have a personal party preference; but to spell out “there shall be one more of thesethan of those if these are in power in the House” and so forth seems wholly unnecessary in terms of selecting good, honest men and women to fill the role. And here’s the answer: The Tennessee Democratic Party, which did control the Legislature for generations, sought to extend its grip on power even further, and brought this partisan rule into existence. This occurred decades ago (citation needed, as the ‘pedia says), but, as surely all but the most optimistic realized, the tables would eventually turn; and now they have. The Republicans, for their part, are seeming just a little too eager to grab the electoral reins. Maybe they are hedging their bets against a possible loss in the 2010 elections. In that case, waiting until 2011 would do them no good. Maybe they’re just tired of waiting. It’s all a little disturbing, though. Do them no good ? What “good”? Why should either (no, make that any) political party expect an advantage to come out of the election commission? In many ways, it’s a game of chess. On the other hand, Lance questions the functionality of the election commission in his excellent post. Why should either party get to be the bully on the block? And here is a breakdown of the Tennessee Attorney General Ruling on the issue. The Tennessee attorney general issued an opinion last week that said “a court could find that the dismissal of a county administrator of elections solely on the basis of political party affiliation constitutes a violation of that individual’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.” The AG’s opinion went on to say, however, if a county election commission can show it has delegated “broad discretionary policy making authority” to the administrator of elections, a court could find that political affiliation is “an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of that particular administrator’s position.” I smell lawsuits for both sides of the aisle in the wind with that open-ended ruling from the AG.

Editorial : Mr. David Hawks is the current Chairman of the Republican party in Weakley County. The now in charge republicans re-placed the current election board administrator, with the former Republican County Chairwoman ! How is that for cronyism ? You would think that the Republicans would learn by now ?

Universal Health Care ~ YES !

Health Insurance Profits Soar as Industry Mergers Create Near-Monopoly
by Mike Hall, May 27, 2009

Profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007, while consumers paid more for less coverage. One of the major reasons, according to a new study, is the growing lack of competition in the private health insurance industry that has led to near monopoly conditions in many markets. The report says such conditions warrant a Justice Department investigation and, says Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), provide compelling evidence of the need for a public health insurance plan option as part of the health care reform initiative President Obama and Congress are developing. Schumer says the report from Health Care for America Now! (HCAN)
is the starkest evidence yet that the private health care insurance market is in bad need of some healthy competition. A public health insurance option is critical to ensure the greatest amount of choice possible for consumers. According to the recently released HCAN report, “Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market“: In the past 13 years, more than 400 corporate mergers have involved health insurers, and a small number of companies now dominate local markets but haven’t delivered on promises of increased efficiency. According to the American Medical Association, 94 percent of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated, and insurers are thriving in the anti-competitive marketplace, raking in enormous profits and paying out huge CEO salaries. These mergers and consolidations have created a marketplace where a small number of larger companies use their power to raise premiums—an average of 87 percent over the past six years—restrict and reduce benefit packages and control and cut provider payments. In a letter to the Department of Justice’s Anti-Trust Division, Richard Kirsch, HCAN national campaign manager, and David Balto, former policy director of the Federal Trade Commission and now senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, write: Simply put, the private insurance companies have secured monopolies or tight oligopolies and exercised that power to put profits ahead of patients….There were no actions taken against anticompetitive conduct by health insurers in the last administration, in spite of the fact that cases by state attorneys general have secured massive fines against these insurers. A lack of antitrust enforcement has enabled insurers to acquire dominant positions in almost every metropolitan market. They ask for an investigation of the already consummated mergers that “harm competition or create an anticompetitive market structure.” They also urge the Justice Department to conduct investigations of “anticompetitive conduct by dominant insurance companies and challenge that conduct where appropriate.” Many dominant insurers limit the ability of providers to choose rival insurers or inform patients about more efficient and comprehensive coverage. The DOJ should investigate tools used to stifle competition such as physician gag clauses, most favored nations provisions, all-products clauses, and silent networks, which prevent providers and consumers from having the full range of competitive alternatives. Schumer last week co-sponsored a Senate resolution urging the creation of a public health plan option and says a public health plan “is critical to ensure the greatest amount of choice possible for consumers.” We believe that it is fully possible to create a public health insurance plan that delivers all the benefits of increased competition without relying on unfair, built-in advantages. If a level playing field exists, then private insurers will have to compete based on quality of care and pricing, instead of just competing for the healthiest consumers. Click here for a copy of the full report. Tell us what you think should be included in comprehensive health care reform. Take the 2009 Health Care for America Survey. The survey gives you the opportunity to make your voice heard and helps shape health care reform to meet the needs of working families.
Tags: Charles Schumer, HCAN, health care, Health Care for America Now, health care reform, labor, private insurance, public plan option, union, union blogs, unions Channels: Legislation & Politics

Editorial : I thought the following comment said it all ! It seems that Senator Schumer (D) New York, Knows !

1 Comment
True Democrat on 28.05.2009 at 14:36 (Reply)
HR 676:The United States National Health Care Act (USNHC) establishes a unique American universal health insurance program with single payer financing. The bill would create a publicly financed, privately delivered health care system that improves and expands the already existing Medicare program to all U.S. residents, and all residents living in U.S. territories. The goal of the legislation is to ensure that all Americans will have access, guaranteed by law, to the highest quality and most cost effective health care services regardless of their employment, income or health care status. In short, health care becomes a human right. With 47 million uninsured Americans, and another 50 million who are underinsured, the time has come to change our inefficient and costly fragmented non-system of health care.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber...Continues to Move ! Abroad That Is !

Associated Press
Goodyear scales back operations at French plant
5-26-09

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. on Tuesday said it will cease consumer tire production at its plant in Amiens, France, and dismiss 820 of the facility's 1,200 workers, saying it is too costly to operate.The company said the plant will continue to produce farm tires. The reduction will be complete by the third quarter in 2010, it said."This action is a result of the plant's uncompetitive costs," said Serge Lussier, Goodyear's vice president of manufacturing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in a statement. "Reaching a union agreement to modernize the operation proved impossible." Goodyear will take a charge of $55 million and produce 6 million fewer tires as part of the move. Most of the charge will be taken in the second quarter of 2009. Goodyear is aiming to remove between 15 million and 25 million units from its production capacity over the next two years as part of cost-cutting efforts. Separately, the company said it is considering discontinuing its farm tire business in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The company's Asia Pacific division will continue to produce farm tires. Goodyear has been suffering from weaker tire sales and higher raw materials costs recently. In April, the company posted a $333 million first-quarter loss. Shares of Goodyear fell 7 cents to $11.38 in pre-market trading.

Editorial : Surprise, surprise, Goodyear will build those tires in China ! Our race to the bottom continues !

Universal Health Care...Washington State...

Washington State to March for Universal Health Care on May 30
People throughout Washington State are answering President Obama’s call to be part of the movement to enact health care for all in 2009. In Seattle, that response will come in the form of one of the state’s largest marches for health care ever, drawing participants from all corners of the state, on Saturday, May 30. The event will include prominent community leaders, live music, and a march through the streets of Seattle. For more information, go to http://may30march.org.

Your Elected Official`s...Stay in Touch

Get in Touch with Your Elected Official

To find your Senator, click here.

To find your Representative, click here.

Or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121

Tennessee > http://tennesseeanytime.org/government/elected.html

Vice-President Biden Secretary of Labor Solis for Employees Freedom of Choice

Employee Free Choice Act...

The Obama administration is committed to leveling the playing field for workers and giving them the bargaining power they need to rebuild the middle class. That was the message Vice President Biden and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis brought to the 2009 AFSCME legislative conference in Washington, D.C., this week. Biden said current labor law isn’t protecting workers’ critical freedoms:
You’ve got to climb up a hill with so many roadblocks on the way to organize that it’s just out of whack. If a union is what you want, then a union is what you should get. Labor built this country and labor should get a share of the benefits.
On the economy, Biden said the Obama administration will not consider itself a success simply by restoring the gross domestic product (GDP), a benchmark of economic growth. From 2001 to 2008, the economy grew, but middle class Americans-they actually lost over that period $2,000 in income. If we’re not creating good, sustainable jobs, we’re not meeting our obligations.
Solis called on the union members to support the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to form a union without being harassed and intimidated by employers. The way to “put trust and faith” back into a system of employer-employee relations that has for years favored management “is by making sure we pass [Employee Free Choice Act],” Solis said. She added that President Obama intends to reverse the “dramatic cuts” by the Bush administration in funding for programs that favor workers. Under the Bush administration, the Labor Department “lost so many good people,” she noted, particularly within Wage and Hour Division and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). She declared the Obama administration will hire more people in the Labor Department to make sure “all our laws are respected and enforced.” So I’m telling you, there is a new sheriff in town-a sheriff who cares about working-class people, brings respect back into the workplace and allows more people to associate with unions if they want to collectively bargain. I’m talking about the Employee Free Choice Act. I’m talking about the opportunities for that bill to pass. And I’m talking about the means for us to strengthen our unions.The 700 delegates then took that message to Capitol Hill yesterday, telling lawmakers to restore America’s economy, guarantee quality health care for all and rebuild the middle class by making it easier for workers to form a union.
Workers should “remind elected officials that you helped put them in Congress. Let them know the issues that are important to you and other members of the union,” AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy told the delegates.
AFSCME members from across the country told their members of Congress why the nation must invest in: Public services that Americans can count on in good times and bad. That means ensuring that federal stimulus funds are spent as intended-to maintain and create jobs at the federal, state and local levels.
Comprehensive health care reform that guarantees a choice of coverage, including the choice of a new public health insurance option. Rebuilding the middle class, which means passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

Republicans Want to Torpedo Health-Care !

Plouffe warns of 'swiftboat' attacks on health reform
By: Sam Youngman
Posted: 05/16/09

Days after President Obama and members of Congress said they were confident they can pass health care reform this year, Obama's former campaign manager warned supporters Saturday that opposing forces are lining up to "torpedo" the plan.David Plouffe, the man who ran Obama's historic and ultimately successful run for the White House, wrote in a fundraising e-mail to Obama's massive supporter e-mail list that the same operatives behind the swiftboat campaign that helped end Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) quest to unseat President George W. Bush are regrouping to target Obama's healthcare efforts. Rick Scott, who helped fund the swiftboat ads during Kerry's run, is helping to fund a new group that is targeting what he and some Republicans consider an effort by Obama to socialize medicine. "As we speak, the same people behind the notorious 'swiftboat' ads of 2004 are already pumping millions of dollars into deceptive television ads," Plouffe wrote. "Their plan is simple: torpedo healthcare reform before it sees the light of day by scaring the public and distorting the president's approach."In his e-mail through Organizing for American, Obama's semi-dormant campaign operation at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Plouffe asked supporters to donate money and organize to urge Congress to act on legislation."The swiftboaters are once again trying to sell the American people short," Plouffe wrote. "As during the election, we deserve a serious conversation -- not fear-mongering and deceit. You and I see the importance of healthcare reform every day."Plouffe was spotted recently at the White House when his beloved Philadelphia Phillies were honored by the president for winning the World Series last year.

Editorial : You gotta give the Republicans credit, there is nothing they will stop short of, to support Big Money ! No matter how despicable !

U.S. vs. China...Labor Cost is the Difference...We can`t Compete.

China’s April Auto Sales Jump 37 Percent...

China’s passenger-vehicle sales rose 37 percent in April, the most in three years, as government subsidies spurred demand for minivans and small cars, according to news reports. Motorists bought 831,000 cars, minivans and other passenger vehicles in April, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. Vehicle sales, including buses and trucks, rose 25 percent to 1.15 million. The Chinese government, in response to weak economic conditions, cut retail taxes and gave out $733 million in subsidies to help boost demand. General Motors Corp., the biggest foreign automaker in China, boosted sales in the country 50 percent last month on demand for minivans, which account for 63 percent of its sales. In the first four months of the year, China’s vehicle sales rose 9.4 percent to 3.83 million. That compares with 3 million units in the U.S., where sales fell 37 percent.

Editorial : perhaps GM should move lock stock and barrel to China ? That would just about end our race to the bottom, we will have arrived !

America`s Biggest Problem = GREED !

Saving America...

By : Don Jones

Most of my life, I have been an optimist. America was the land of opportunity and wealth, if that was your utmost desire ? I grew up in Detroit Michigan, on the west side ! I went to School there, graduated from Northwestern High School on Grand River and the Blvd. I worked 13 years for the Detroit Board of Education. I worked at Thomas M. Cooley High School on Hubbell and Chalfonte, just off Fenkell(5 mi. Rd.) I got married while working there, my wife and I bought a house in Nankin Township, now called Westland. We had two sons. We decided to move back to Tennessee, my roots ! I went to the University of Tennessee at Martin to try and obtain a job, related to my job in Michigan. There was no budget at that time for that kind of job. I went to Union City Tennessee one day to complete some business, I stopped at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and put in an application for employment, two days later I was called and went to work there the following Monday, November 30, 1970 ! The first few days, I did`nt think, I was going to make it. The work was extremely heavy and I came out of an office. However, I did make it, I was making a whopping $2.05 per hour. The United Rubber Workers Union, was just establishing itself. When asked, I joined. I came out of a Union state, it was the correct thing to do ! Goodyear created one of the best unions in Tennessee. Remember Tennessee is a right to work state. Translated, that is (Right to Work for Less)! open shop, not closed ! I`m proud to say that the entire hourly work force joined, with the exception of approximately 15 people ! that's over 2000 people who became the union, out of necessity ! Goodyear supervisors were relentless in their quest to be plant managers. They drove you with whips and guns, well almost. We worked 6 days a week 8 hours per day, and you could get all the overtime you wanted. You could work Sundays if you wished too. There were many employee`s who did. There were no retirees to support, Health Insurance was dirt cheap for your entire family. It was a family mans place to be, you could make a little money and cover your family with insurance... and if you stayed long enough, you could retire with the same benefits for you and your spouse. Now, they are talking about closing the plant and making these tires in China ! Why ? Because, they can make them in China without union labor for almost nothing in labor cost, they then ship the tires back to the good ole USA for sale. They make a ton of money and have no obligation to their workers ! GREED ! Now for my number#1 question, once all the descent paying union jobs leave and everything is built off-shore, who buy`s the product(tire/cars/ etc.) I believe, that is where we are now. The market(people with jobs) that's purchasing power, can`t buy the products. Our politicians do not seem to care ! General Motors is now contracting out whole automobiles for import to the USA ! Chrysler is merging with a foreign auto company. Ford seems to be doing ok ! At least they have not taken any tax-payer money, yet ? Mr Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, said it best, "When my Ford employees cannot purchase the product we/they build, I`m out of business" ! There is a bill pending congress now, called Employees Freedom of Choice Act ! Such a hullabaloo about it coming from the Republican party, it makes you sick. It gives the employee the right to form/join a union, without interference from union busters/company's and other very greedy CEO`S and top officials of company's. I`m not sure, what they are so afraid of ? I believe they are driven by pure greed ! It really does`nt matter, soon there will be no manufacturing jobs remaining in our once great manufacturing country ! Our politicians have sold us out to the highest foreign bidder and then, we tax-payers give the tax dollars to move! As a friend of mine said recently, Jones, everybody has gone crazy. No, it is not crazy, it is pure unadulterated GREED ! Better think about it folks ! ? We need to take our country back ! I write in relation to Goodyear, it could be any large manufacturer ! "God Bless America" !

Social Security ~ Secure !

Health Care Reform, Revived Economy Best Rx for Social Security, Medicare
by Mike Hall, May 12, 2009

Brace yourselves. With today’s release of the Social Security and Medicare trustees’ annual reports showing the nation’s sinking economy has had an impact on the Social Security Trust Fund, doomsayers will be crying for drastic medicine that’s not needed. The trustees 2009 report on Medicare paints a compelling case for comprehensive health care reform to rein in the skyrocketing health care costs that are driving Medicare closer to the financial brink and weighing down the entire economy. A closer look at the Social Security 2009 report shows the program continues to run large surpluses and remains capable of paying scheduled benefits in full for the next three decades. The trustees reaffirm that the Social Security system is sound and faces no immediate danger, says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. No doubt, Social Security alarmists and doomsday prognosticators will use these projections to justify dramatic “reforms” such as benefit cuts and raising the retirement age. However, the Social Security system remains structurally sound. Radical changes are not necessary to bridge short-term revenue decreases or to address the program’s long-term solvency. According to the report, the recession has marginally reduced the size of the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) trust funds in the near term, but Social Security continues to run significant surpluses to meet its projected obligations for years to come. Edward F. Coyle, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, says current and future retirees should be “suspicious of sky is falling” predictions because such warnings mask an ongoing ideological agenda to cut benefits to current and future retirees. In a statement this afternoon, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) says: It is not surprising that Social Security’s annual financial picture deteriorates in a downturn….This short-term falloff in revenue has a relatively limited effect on the program’s finances as indicated by the limited movement in the projected date of the Trust Fund’s depletion. …Retirees and near retirees have lost more than $10 trillion in housing and stock wealth in the last two years. It would be incredibly malicious policy to amplify the impact of these losses by cutting Social Security benefits, especially since people in these age cohorts already paid for these benefits through their Social Security taxes. But Medicare faces a more troubled future. The costs of the Medicare program are expected to grow fivefold over the next 75 years, driven in large part by surging health care costs. President Obama repeatedly has said that bringing health care costs under control through comprehensive health care reform is vital to rebuilding the economy. The same holds true for Medicare, says Sweeney. Skyrocketing Medicare costs cannot be brought under control without national comprehensive health care reform. We urge the president and Congress to move swiftly to address this great crisis. In a statement accompanying the reports, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said: The Medicare Trustees Report makes clear today there is no more important long-term fiscal policy measure than gaining control of the growth of Medicare costs by delivering health care services more efficiently. These savings can only be achieved in the context of a larger effort to control health care costs and improve quality more generally.
Says Coyle: The impact of the recession on the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds underscores the critical need to support President Obama’s plans to reform health care and create a lasting economic recovery. Putting more Americans back to work will send more money into these Trust Funds, and a universal, more efficient health care system will alleviate the severe strain that our health care crisis imposes on both families and employers.

Editorial : And to think, if George W. Had his way...it would all be on wall-street with his buddy`s ! Thank God, he did`nt get his way !

More Jobs Leaving The USA !

Act Now to Stop Chrysler Jobs from Going to Mexico

The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO has issued an urgent appeal for workers across the country to write President Obama urging him to stop Chrysler from shutting down an engine plant in Kenosha, Wis., and shipping the 800 jobs to Mexico.
Workers and supporters from the Kenosha community rallied yesterday at the local UAW hall to protest the closing. Adding insult to injury, these 800 jobs are being exported as part of a taxpayer funded bailout, according to the state federation.The state federation is asking that you act today and copy and send the following message to President Obama by e-mail or regular mail:

Dear President Obama,

I call on you today to intervene to save the Chrysler Kenosha Engine Plant from closing at the same time that Chrysler will be opening an engine plant in Mexico. It would be a betrayal of your goal of investing in America if Chrysler is allowed to close the Kenosha plant and import the very same engine from Mexico.
You did the right thing by standing up to the wealthy investors to protect the pensions and health care of Chrysler retirees. Please do the right thing for 800 Wisconsin workers and force Chrysler to keep the Kenosha Engine Plant open.
[Sign and print your name.]
[Include your address for verification purposes.]
Mail letters to: President Barack Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500.

Or you can send the Obama administration an e-mail message here.

Editorial : Remember, Goodyear has already committed to building a $1.1 billion dollar plant in China. The market is quickly diminishing ! Our Race to the bottom continues !

Bad Times for Unions...

Freeport, Ill.

United Steelworkers Local 745 voted Thursday, April 30, 2009, to elect Kevin Kirk as the union president, ending the term of Steve Vanderheyden and responding to concerns voiced by local officials that Titan Tire CEO Morry Taylor would close the Freeport plant unless the local union changed its leadership. A press release issued at 10:45 p.m. by the Local 745 Election Committee announced Kirk as president, Rich Hofmaster as Vice President, Don Hill as Financial Secretary, John Fuller as Treasurer, and David Swanson as Recording Secretary. Fuller and Swanson were re-elected to union officer positions, however Hofmaster will replace Dale Sandell as union Vice President and Hill will replace Larry Timms as the Financial Secretary. Others elected Thursday in all-day balloting include Trustees Mark Steele, Lon Feary, and Ann Coan; guards Don Frisbie and Kip Kuhlemeier, and guide Kirk Knoup. Each of the elected offices will begin their term May 17, and will serve three years. Local 745 also elected a new Grievance and Negotiating committee for Titan Tire. That group will include the offices of president, vice president and four others, including: Dale Sandell, Kip Kuhlemeier, Steve Bamberg, and Frank Wool.The election represented the culmination of a public dispute between Titan Chairman and CEO Taylor, and Vanderheyden. Local officials, including Mayor George Gaulrapp, real estate and private businessman John Zijcek, FHN Hospital Administor Dr. Michael Perry, and others were outspoken in their concern that the dispute might lead to a decision to close the Freeport Titan plant and eliminate the company’s 500 jobs and $50 million local annual payroll.Taylor said publicly he would not tell anyone how to vote in Thursday’s election, but he was equally outspoken in his dislike for Vanderheyden and his belief that labor costs at the Freeport tire plant were unreasonably high, compared to Titan plants in Bryan, Ohio, and DeMoines, Iowa.“If that (union) contract does not change, now, then the decision about whether the plant stays open will have already been made by next November (2010),” Taylor said in an interview last month. “The union leadership there has no say on whether the plant closes, or not.” Vanderheyden stayed away from the dispute in public, pointing to the productivity of Titan Freeport employees and stating that the company’s issues were not related to labor costs.“Our (Freeport) plant continues to be the corporate leader in the productivity of the workforce,” Vanderheyden said last month. Thursday, after the election outcome, Vanderheyden was gracious in accepting the result.“I have been blessed with the tremendous privilege to work for our union members and their families for the last 24 years. I first became a union rep in 1985 after being asked by co-workers to get involved. After being elected eight consecutive times to positions such as Grievance and Negotiating Committee, Vice President, and President for the last five terms, it is time for me to enjoy some time with my family at a much slower pace.” Vanderheyden reported approximately 660 members voted in the election Thursday.

Editorial : This same tactic was tried in Union City ! Roach vs. Stanley, it did`nt work ! Thanks Mike Stanley for this one !