By Pat Garofalo
Economic Policy Editor, Center for American Progress Action Fund ThinkProgress.org
As ThinkProgress reported yesterday, despite yet another outbreak of food-borne illness — this time stemming from listeria infected cantaloupes — congressional Republicans are still trying to cut back on the nation’s food safety regulations. The tainted melons have caused 16 deaths so far, making this the deadliest outbreak in more than a decade, and it comes just a month after salmonella-tainted turkey forced food-giant Cargill into the third-largest food recall on record.
Lost in the well-deserved focus on the listeria outbreak is the fact that another giant food-producer, Tyson Fresh Meats, was forced this week to recall more than 130,000 pounds of ground beef due to E. Coli contamination. And this particular breakdown in food safety should earn the attention of the man leading the GOP in its slash-and-burn approach to the budget, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), as four children in his districtwere sickened by the meat:
The recall of 65 tons of ground beef that might be contaminated with E. coli has hit close to home for House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.
Wall Street has shown Americans how they feel about protests. This video shows unidentified occupants watching protests from the balconies of Wall Street in amusement while sipping champagne.
The beginnings of a social movement are built on community and camaraderie, two things the participants of the OCCUPY WALL STREET effort have down to a science. “The people, united, will never be defeated.”
By Robert Reich
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor, Professor at Berkeley
Seems like only yesterday conservative nabobs of negativity predicted America’s ballooning budget deficit would generate soaring inflation and crippling costs of additional federal borrowing.
Remember Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the United States? Recall the intense worry about investors’ confidence in government bonds — America’s IOUs?
Hmmm.
Last week ten-year yields on U.S. Treasuries closed at 1.83 percent. (more…)
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was on MSNBC’s Morning Joe where he talked about a bill he is introducing next week to deal with China currency. Brown states, “We continue to lose ground to China because they don’t play fair.” He also mentions the right thing for America to do is to preserve American manufacturing.
During the session, Joe Scarborough asked the Senator what was on his lapel. Brown indicated that it was a canary in a bird cage which signified the mine workers of hundreds of years ago when they had no strong union.
Brown said, a baby born in this country 100 years ago lived about 45 years old but because of Medicare, Social Security, safe drinking water, civil rights and women’s rights, people in this society have a much better shot at the middle class. That’s what that signifies.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will kick off the second annual Next Up Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis tomorrow. Hundreds of young working people, including organizers and students from across the country, will meet in Minneapolis Sept. 29-Oct. 2 for the Summit, part of the AFL-CIO’s efforts, led by Shuler, to reach out to working people under age 35.
You can watch a live webcast of Shuler and Solis here this Thursday beginning at 5:00 p.m. CDT.
Another highlight of the summit will be appearances by actors Lucas Neff (left), star of the Fox sitcom “Raising Hope” and RJ Mitte (left) from the TV show “Breaking Bad.” Both are members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). In March Neff joined actors Susan Sarandon and Tony Shalhoub in Madison, Wis., for an all-day series of rallies that sent a message to Republican legislators and Gov. Scott Walker that the assault on working people will not stand and their struggle is far from over. Neff told the crowd:
By Pat Garofalo
Economic Policy Editor, Center for American Progress Action Fund ThinkProgress.org
Both Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) will speak before the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference in Michigan today. Michigan, of course, is the epicenter of the United States automobile industry, which was rescued by the Obama administration.
At the time, both Perry and Romney opposed rescuing the American auto industry, preferring to watch iconic American companies topple into an uncontrolled bankruptcy, not only destroying themselves, but all of the supplier and contractors that depend on them. In a November 2008 op-ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” Romney wrote:
If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
“And the question was asked, should we normalize trading with Cuba? Why would you normalize trading with a country that sponsors terror?” Bachmann said. “Cuba — there’s reports that have come out that Cuba has been working with another terrorist organization called Hezbollah. And Hezbollah is potentially looking at wanting to be part of missile sites in Iran.
“And, of course, when you’re 90 miles offshore from Florida, you don’t want to entertain the prospect of hosting bases or sites where Hezbollah could have training camps or perhaps have missile sites or weapons sites in Cuba. This would be foolish.”
Warren Buffett doesn’t think his secretary should pay a higher percentage of income in taxes than he does, and most Americans agree. Tell Congress it’s time for millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share!
