Working Life

A confluence of two ideas: the Democrats are not being serious about hiking the minimum wage AND Bernie Sanders makes a more formal presidential campaign announcement today. These are connected ideas.

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Sometimes, you just got to connect the dots–even when the stuff is so obvious and screams out with the truth. In this case, some evidence on why these so-called “free trade” agreements are so destructive, though, I have to say I chuckled when I read that the very forum consisting of the planet’s wealthy countries has discovered, shockingly, that global inequality is at record levels.

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This is a picture I’d turn into a “Wanted” poster, maybe circulate in every election district in the 13 states represented by these folks. It says it all–thanks to the AFL-CIO.

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The Senate has voted to proceed to debating fast track, which essentially ensures its eventual passage. The vote is still taking place but with 60 votes needed to invoke cloture and pass the motion, there are already 62 votes SUPPORTING THE MOTION to proceeding. Final vote 62-38 (Vote specifics in a moment).

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I’ve previously written that the president is a coward, hiding behind Nike and a whole host of other corporate sponsors in his pitch to pass the Trans Pacific Partnership. Probably the lowest he’s gone is accusing people of “making stuff up”, specifically when it comes to the view that, oh, pshaw, the TPP and so-called “free trade” deals will not undermine American regulations.

So, Mr. President, what dismissive comments can you conjure up now, in light of YESTERDAY’S undermining of an important food safety regulation because of the very secretive and corporate-friendly trade deals that TPP is a bad seed of? When Americans eat tainted meat, fall sick and die, what will you say?

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From inside the belly of the beast on trade comes an illuminating view on the secrecy around the Trans Pacific Partnership. From an insider. Who knows. And he says: Sens. Warren and Sanders, and a whole host of others, are right on the mark about the secrecy.

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Now it boils down to this: can the White House and its corporate supporters find a sliver of votes in the House to pass fast track and, close on its heels, the Trans Pacific Partnership? To do that end, the president and his allies are going to rely on tried-and-true phony promises conjured up by Bill Clinton and Robert Reich when they squeezed NAFTA through by a handful of votes in 1993–the Clinton-Reich playbook is back on display again.

Today’s false promise: retraining.

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Yeah, so, this is decidedly NOT new. CEOs are raking in vast riches yet again, using the usual confidence schemes they’ve used for a few decades. While inequality grows, it’s still really, really good times in the CEO suite.

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The gloves have to come off when it comes to individual members of Congress who vote for “fast track” and the Trans Pacific Partnership. I’m talking seriously funded primaries in 2016. I’m going to start laying out the case for specific challenges (and a little plan is percolating in my brain) and I know there will be a debate about this.

BUT…a no-brainer has to be this: Debbie Wasserman Schultz cannot vote in favor of “fast track”–which she has declared her support for–and remain head of the Democratic National Committee. Impossible.

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I’m not here to give too much of a wet-kiss to Facebook, which, to my way of thinking, plays a misleading game about its “social networking” process (i.e., its algorithm requires that you basically have to buy ads to actually move content to your own “Friends”). That said, today, at least it gets credit for pushing at least some pay standards higher–and showing, yet again, how Democrats are pathetically behind the energy in the streets on pay.

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