People Before Profit blog

Auto union mobilizes to save the industry, but with tight strings attached

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:18:00 +0000

DETROIT — The prospect of 3 million jobs lost; pension and health care benefits cut for 1 million retirees, spouses and dependents; thousands of other businesses - dealers, suppliers and others - threatened; huge pension and health care costs tossed onto the federal government and taxpayers; a drop in revenues to federal, state and local governments forcing cuts in vital social services; a devastating blow to the entire economy, already in crisis — it’s a scenario that gets people's attention.

The United Auto Workers union says these would be the terrible consequences of the collapse of the domestic auto industry. In advance of the Dec. 2 deadline that Congress gave auto executives to spell out in detail how a government loan would be used, the union is mobilizing its membership to lobby Congress to support the loan request — but with meaningful strings attached.

In “talking points” posted on the UAW web site and circulated by e-mail, the union says the loan should include requirements that place tough limits on executive compensation, prohibit the auto companies from paying dividends, and give the government an 'equity stake' in the companies to protect the interests of taxpayers.

Interestingly, the union also says the loan should be accompanied by establishment of a 'government advisory board' to oversee the operations of the companies, to ensure that taxpayer funds are spent in the United States. The Detroit News reported last week that General Motors intended to use $1 billion of aid to retool a plant – in Brazil. News like that suggests the union and Congress are well advised to place such conditions on the loan.

The UAW says the loan approval should require the Obama administration to submit to Congress “a plan for the long-term revitalization of the domestic auto industry. This plan should involve all stakeholders, and should include commitments by the automakers to retool facilities in the United States to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles” — a call that mirrors Obama's own thinking.

Republicans have argued against a loan package and many of them support pushing GM to declare bankruptcy instead, because it would destroy labor contracts and almost certainly cripple the UAW, a union that played a big role in mobilizing votes for the Democrats in key Midwestern states.

'A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs,' proclaimed Republican Mitt Romney. He thinks autoworkers are paid too much but this multi-millionaire — or is it billionaire? — opposes “redistributive” restrictions on his own fortune.

Autoworkers here are disgusted with this trickle-down philosophy, which helped to create this mess in the first place. To end the economic crisis that is already ravaging Michigan, they are saying, we need to put more money in workers’ hands, not less. The union argues that calls for sacrifice by their members have already been met and they have the contracts to prove it. Last year’s national GM contract lowered wages by 50 percent for many new hires.

Of course, in addition to stipulations on loans to the auto companies, many are also wondering why the “sailing” is so easy for Citigroup and other financial giants? It's hard to imagine that the CEOs of Ford, GM and Chrysler are that much more inept than those of the floundering banks and Wall Street firms.

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote in his blog last week that 'there may be more reason to do the reverse' — bail out GM rather than Citigroup — as GM has a far greater impact on jobs and communities, and the number of jobs dependent on GM is “many multiples that of Citi.'

“Even if Citigroup were to go belly up, the real economy would not be seriously harmed,” Reich noted. “The mutual funds, pension funds, and deposits overseen by Citi would be safe; fund managers would find their way to other banks.” Citibank can easily get $300 billion because the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank see their role as keeping the financial economy 'sound,' by keeping Wall Street's investors and creditors happy, Reich wrote.

The UAW is asking: isn't the fate of autoworkers and their families a lot more important than making Citigroup investors happy?

jrummel@pww.org

Art exhibit illustrates the role of religion in the struggle for survival among African Americans

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:03:00 +0000

HOUSTON – The renowned University Museum of the Texas Southern University just opened an exhibit of faculty members’ art on Nov. 21. The opening was just preceded by a timely visit from newly-appointed Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Houston-Galveston Archdiocese. The overriding theme of the current exhibit is religion and its role in the survival of the African American community in this country.

Faculty members, current and former, were featured with an outstanding collection of paintings, photos and ceramic sculptures. These works depicted African American working people in various walks of life. There was an emphasis on elders and their role in the community, but similarly, the joy of children and their role was readily apparent as well. These works left me with a feeling of hope for the future of mankind.

Most people recognize the importance of religion in providing relief to working people from the pain of oppression, exploitation, alienation, discrimination and the assaults on dignity inherent in the capitalist system. African Americans have been acutely aware of this pain and relief. Religion, especially in the African American community, has provided comfort to those suffering from the abuses of capitalism.

It should also be recognized that religion has served a very progressive role as well in labor struggles throughout history. The most obvious examples would be the role of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s efforts to support the labor movement and the intersection between civil rights and union rights.

W.E.B. Du Bois, in his book “The Souls of Black Folk,” quotes a traditional African American song, “I walk through the churchyard – to lay this body down; I know moon-rise, I know star-rise; I walk in the moonlight, I walk in the starlight; I’ll lie in the grave and stretch out my arms, I’ll go to judgment in the evening of the day, And my soul and thy soul shall meet that day, When I lay this body down.” Music, art and religion have provided the hope and comfort necessary for working people to endure horrendous injustices visited upon them.

The exhibit features works by Museum Curator Dr. Alvia Wardlaw documenting her personal experience and reaction to the Obama campaign and eventual triumph. Her mixed media presentations clearly illustrate hope and progress from the Obama victory. Her collages show that Obama’s success is a success for the working class as a whole.

The pictures feature quotes from the beautiful song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” also known as the “African American National Anthem” such as “Sing a song of hope that the present has brought us”, and “Let us march on till victory is won”, “We have come treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered”, “We have come over a way that with tears has been watered” and she concludes with a work dated Nov. 4 “Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies - Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.” Her works feature multiple images of Obama in various stages of his campaign and beautiful young African American youth supporting him presumably in their first electoral experience. Images of other outstanding African American leaders such as Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandela, Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali were also featured in the collection.

PHill1917@comcast.net

The Election of Our Lifetime Where from Here? Annual Amistad Award presentation to be held Dec. 7

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:13:00 +0000

Three labor and community leaders will be honored with the Amistad Award on Sunday, December 7 at 4:00 p.m. at the New Haven Peoples Center at 37 Howe Street, New Haven.

The annual award, presented by the People’s Weekly World, will recognize the accomplishments of Alfred Marder, Kathleen Jackson and Juan Hernandez for social change.

The public is invited to the afternoon reception whose theme is “The Election of Our Lifetime – Where from Here?” Community and labor activists from around the state will come together to celebrate change and begin the work of organizing in a new political climate to meet the pressing economic and social needs facing working families

The Irish music group Rabble Rousers, with Bill Collins and Gary MacConnie. will perform labor songs. Hartford area labor leader Merrilee Milstein who passed away in June will be remembered. An international gift table and home made buffet will round out the program.

Al Marder, chair of the Amistad Committee, Connecticut African American Freedom Trail and City of New Haven Peace Commission is being honored for his vision and steadfast activism for equality, peace and social justice.

Kathleen Jackson, chairwoman of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists in Connecticut, is being recognized for consistent organizing which has inspired activism and brought forth new grassroots leaders.

Juan Hernandez, assistant district leader of SEIU 32 BJ Justice for Janitors, has organized low wage and immigrant workers to win union recognition, respect and dignity on the job with his leadership, persistence and courage.

The reception is hosted by the People’s Weekly World on the occasion of the 89th anniversary of the Communist Party USA. Tickets are $10 or what you can afford. For information call 203-624-8664.

Minnesota euphoria over Obama win tempered by Senate recount

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:45:00 +0000

Editor, WorkdayMinnesota.org and Press Associates

MINNEAPOLIS (PAI)--Whether Minnesota labor's massive effort to mobilize members in the 2008 elections was a success will ultimately turn on the results of a recount in the U.S. Senate race, Labor 2008 coordinators say.

And that recount has implications for workers around the whole country.

More than 2,000 Minnesota union members knocked on 250,000 doors, handed out more than 3 million worksite flyers and placed over 100,000 phone calls, the state AFL-CIO’s website reports. Their work played a role in Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's historic win and victories in many legislative and local contests.

'We had unprecedented numbers of volunteers for our get-out-the-vote efforts,' said Russell Hess, co-director of Minnesota Labor 2008, echoing statements that statewide union coordinators could make from coast to coast.

But while Hess feels good about the work the Minnesotans did, he can't help feeling 'if each local union could have convinced one more person to support” Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Al Franken, we wouldn't be having this recount.'

While most AFL-CIO and Change to Win unions backed Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) challenger Franken, a few labor organizations–notably the Carpenters and Pipe Trades--endorsed Coleman. After all the results were turned in, Coleman led Franken by only 215 votes out of just under 3 million cast. An official recount began Nov. 18 and could take a month, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said.

Franken’s race against GOP incumbent Norman Coleman is important nationally. To get pro-worker bills through the Senate, workers and their allies need 60 votes, out of 100 senators, to cut off GOP filibusters. That includes a presumed GOP talkathon against the Employee Free Choice Act, which is designed to help level the playing field between workers and bosses in union organizing and bargaining first contracts.

As of mid-November, the Democrats had 58 seats, when Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) was declared the winner over veteran Sen. Ted Stevens (R), two weeks after Stevens was convicted on seven felony charges. Whether the Democrats get to 60 depends on a Dec. 2 runoff in Georgia--and the recount in Minnesota.

St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Shar Knutson acknowledged that many Minnesotans will not be eager to see this election season prolonged, but what's most important, she added, is that the state gets the tally right.

'The Senate race is too close to call,' Knutson said. 'Minnesota law requires an automatic recount for these situations, and it is our duty to count all the votes. It's the American way and a Minnesota tradition.'

Scores of union volunteers, recruited by the Franken campaign, are watching the recount, said Liz McLoone, field representative for the Southeast Area Labor Council, based in Rochester. 'We need Al Franken to be in the Senate to work in partnership with representatives like Tim Walz to support working families,' McLoone said. 'Coleman has disappointed us time and time again.'

Besides Obama’s win, unions helped the DFL gain two more seats in the Minnesota House, but the party fell short of getting a 'veto-proof' majority that would enable lawmakers to override any veto by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty. 'Our goal was to have a veto-proof majority in the House, but everyone was realistic that that was going to be tough to achieve,' Hess said. There is already a veto-proof DFL majority in the Minnesota Senate.

Labor was also disappointed by re-election of two GOP U.S. representatives, Michele Bachmann and John Kline, and the election of Republican Erik Paulsen to the 3rd District seat vacated by GOPer Jim Ramstad. The state’s five Democrats, including the freshman Walz in the pro-GOP 1st District, all won easily. Walz is a member of Education Minnesota, the state’s joint AFT-NEA affiliate, a high school teacher, and an Iraq War veteran. Walz is one of several active union members in the U.S. House.

Independence Party candidates made the difference in the Bachmann and Paulsen races and definitely affected the Senate race, said Mark Froemke, president of the West Area Labor Council that spans the western half of the state. 'The Independence Party got a better number than I would have expected in this area,' he said. Negativity of campaign commercials in the final days of the Senate race also had an effect.

Chilling stories from Sri Lanka

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:40:00 +0000

From Frontline, India's national magazine from the publishers of The Hindu.

COLOMBO -- In the third week of November, it would be 11 weeks since the Sri Lankan government ordered United Nations agencies and international non-governmental organisations out of areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the North. The ostensible reason for the orders was that the government could not take any chances with the security of international aid workers following the escalation of hostilities between the government forces and the LTTE.

The government reasoning has raised concern about the well-being of innocent civilians trapped in the war zone. After all, if the all-out war posed a threat to the liberty and life of aid workers, what would be the fate of an estimated 2.5 to 3 lakh internally displaced people (IDP) in the Wanni?

Innumerable sanctimonious statements have come from government functionaries about the supreme focus of the Army to wage the war with zero human casualty and ensure a steady supply of essential commodities to the internally displaced, at the least at the minimum level of subsistence. But is it practicable? How has it worked on the ground in the last eight or so weeks? The Wanni has been deprived of independent observers to monitor the ground situation (barring the four forays by U.N. observers for a few hours accompanying food and medicine convoys).

Herein lies the enormous significance of Special Report 31 of the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), or UTHR-J, released on October 28. The UTHR-J, whose reports are based on grassroots inputs from a band of relatively unbiased observers, has an impeccable track record in collating facts and figures to the extent possible in a battle situation. The organisation has acquired a reputation that is hard to tarnish. It is known to call a spade a spade and is never deterred by the Tigers’ terror tactics. Hence the latest UTHR-J report, titled “Pawns of an un-heroic war”, makes chilling reading. Neither the LTTE nor the Mahinda Rajapaksa government makes a pretty picture of itself, while the miseries of ordinary citizens are painted completely on the UTHR-J canvas.

“We give a few cases here to show that, if anything, the human rights situation is deteriorating with signs of it getting worse. We do not minimise the importance of complete documentation. But the task is so demanding that it needs to be undertaken by organisations with dedicated resources. It may not even be possible in the current climate of terror. Inquiring into an individual case is much more demanding and frustrating than it was two years ago and one is left with the uncomfortable feeling of being a source of danger to someone. One feels truly humble before those who are willing to expose violators under these perilous conditions,” the UTHR-J notes in its summary of the latest report. Despite the categorical and candid nature of the revelations, the contents of the report have to date not been contested either by the government or by the Tigers. That is cause for serious worry.

A question uppermost in the minds of Sri Lanka-watchers since the current state of siege in the Wanni is about the way civilians have coped with the Tigers, on the one hand, and the advancing military and its periodic aerial bombardment, on the other. The UTHR-J report makes some startling observations:

“The people’s relationship with the LTTE is complex. The general mood among the people was strongly anti-LTTE four months ago, and resistance continues. But with increased aerial bombing and shelling and stories of increasingly repressive treatment of minorities coming from other parts of the country, the mood is changing.

“We have seen this happen repeatedly from 1987. But the fact that a large number of unwilling persons have been conscripted to fight must have an adverse internal impact within the LTTE. Resistance to the LTTE is either passive or tragically fatalistic. Our sources affirmed that a few girl conscripts used their weapons to kill themselves, but were unable to give more details. The girls found the militaristic environment and the injunction to kill utterly unbearable. On further inquiry, we were assured that such things do happen, as people hear when they move around areas where battles are fought and meet LTTE cadre who talk. What is more significant, they said, was inexperienced new conscripts faced with the terrible sensation of battle and deafening explosions around them, taking refuge in their cyanide capsule or their own bullet.”

On the influential clergy, the report notes that a number of Christian churches in the Wanni are stridently pacifist. But as a group, they were unable to resist conscription of their young. When one of their young dies in battle, the ministers of the churches and the Pentecostal faith have preached at funerals that God in his mercy took away these young people to spare them the pain of killing others. “Young conscripts, who resist the LTTE as conscientious objectors, are liable for heavy punishment. For this reason, several of them have taken personal vows and informed their parents and guides not to worry on their account as in whatever situation they find themselves, they have sworn not to kill, but are ready to be killed instead,” the report says.

The UTHR-J further observes that the LTTE had a large camp at Moonru-Murippu, now overrun by government forces. The camp had scores of metal cages, with pointed wires extending inside. Conscripted persons who refused to fight were shut inside. “The pointed wires ensured that they had to stand in a bent position and get pricked if they tried to move. They were let out only when they agreed to the LTTE’s demands. These cages had, during the ceasefire, been used to coerce people, particularly businessmen abducted for extortion. By October 2008, the LTTE had once again become very aggressive in conscription. They visited families with lists provided by Village Headmen (GS [gram sevak] officers). For a family with three or four children, they demanded two fighters; one for a family with two; and none for a family with one. The general attitude of the populace now is not to quarrel with the LTTE. They figure that many of those who objected to conscription had been placed on the front line and are dead. But many of those who joined without resistance have been placed in safer areas and have survived. Since early September, sources from the Wanni say that the LTTE has conscripted 9,000 ‘very young’ persons who are now under training,” the report says.

It asserts that a large number of desertions have been reported from LTTE circles; recently about 250 cadre ran away and are hiding in the jungle. Three of them are very senior and as per the report, many of the LTTE conscripts are desperately trying to identify escape routes to the government-controlled area. The report observes:

“After the Army announced safe areas for civilians in East Wanni in Viswamadu (Vattakachchi and Dharmapuram) and Oddusuddan, by 9th October, the civilians were moving towards these areas. Yet their utility remains questionable without agreement from the LTTE and the absence of a sufficient number of neutral monitors. A section of the civilians, both natives of Kilinochchi district and those who came from further south, had plans of moving to Jaffna in fishing boats that came from Jaffna. Around September end, nearly 2,500 of them had gathered in Ruthirapuram, three miles north-west of Kilinochchi, with plans of crossing the lagoon to Jaffna. At this time, there was a wave of bombing and shelling around Kilinochchi, in which the LTTE political office was hit. A shell fell in Ruthirapuram, injuring a girl in her 30s.

“The LTTE came there and wanted to shift the people to the East Wanni. Some people objected saying that they want to go to the government-controlled area. The LTTE named a large sum of money adding that if anyone would pay that sum, they could pay and go. The people were then shifted to the east. Apart from the LTTE stopping them, there are other pressing reasons why families are reluctant to flee from the Wanni. Many of their children have been conscripted and are either dead or serving on the battle lines. As far as the government is concerned they are marked, irrespective of the fact that their children were forcibly removed. Once in the government-controlled area, they would be photographed, confined to camps and paraded before masked informants, often persons from their area who know their family history.”

The report also raises some disturbing questions about the excessive emphasis of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government on the military strategy with little or no attention paid to the resolution of the genuine grievances of the minorities in the island nation and the manner in which it has left innocent civilians stranded in the war zone at the mercy of the Tigers. It notes that in the North, as the Army advances along the western half of the Wanni and edges closer to Kilinochchi, an estimated 200,000 displaced civilians (the latest U.N. figures say the number of IDPs is close to 300,000) attempting to escape the ravages of the war, are getting hemmed in.

As per the report, the IDPs, forced to move at short notice owing to the continual bombing and shelling, had even stopped putting up temporary shelters. “The choices for them were never human. Initially they moved north to escape shelling from the advancing army. Then the LTTE prevented those who tried to move into government-controlled areas. The government in turn confines those escaping LTTE-controlled areas in mass detention centres from which they are not allowed to leave. Those in Vavuniya find themselves in a place of crime and lawlessness, where torture, murder, extortion, abduction and rape are routine and women are powerless. The blame lies mainly with the security forces and Tamil paramilitary elements working alongside them,” it says.

The report surmises that the south (the part of the island nation outside North and East) too will not escape unscathed as a very disproportionate burden of fighting the war is placed on the backs of rural Sinhalese youth, sowing the seeds of future discord. It maintains that for the poor everywhere it is their families that are their main source of joy, and accuses the government of treating their children as cheap cannon fodder for the sake of its perverted ideology instead of protecting them.

The report says: “The plight of the people of the Wanni, whose children are forced into military service by the LTTE and have suffered continuous death, deprivation and displacement because of the government’s heavy weaponry, has long been headline news. The U.N. and international agencies were the only ones present to provide reliable humanitarian capability as well as to witness. That the whole structure was dismantled literally overnight on an order from a government too well known for its disregard of the rule of law and humanitarian norms, should make us wonder at the fragility of international machinery we expect so much from. It raises questions about what the international order and agencies should realistically aim for. Have humanitarian norms fallen victim to the ‘war on terror’, whose rhetoric so many nation-states across the globe find useful? Are influential governments being soft on the Lankan government, because they were earlier soft on the LTTE?

“Since 1986 many people have posed the exasperating question, ‘How on earth does one deal with a phenomenon like the LTTE?’ It has over the years shown a capacity to descend to the lowest depths without any qualms in the treatment of its own people, do the unthinkable such as conscripting children as young as ten, exploit and betray the most intimate forms of trust and one could go on. To those who understand that this phenomenon grew out of a persistent denial of political rights to the Tamils, accompanied by humiliation and violence, it is in addressing these that the cure should begin,” the report says.

The predicament of the U.N. agencies and international NGOs (INGOs) is unenviable. For a variety of reasons, the government continues to view them as “suspects” and makes use of every opportunity to paint them in a bad light. A report posted on the Defence Ministry’s website on November 7 best illustrates the point. Under the heading, “A new twist - INGO vacancy ads with LTTE obituaries”, it reads: “According to available evidence, it appears that the local propaganda newspapers published by the LTTE carried advertisements from international aid and relief organisations such as the ICRC, Save the Children and the Danish Refugee Council for vacancies in their organisations, alongside LTTE obituaries for its terrorist cadre, in the Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts. ‘We are greatly concerned with this as the LTTE might have used the INGOs to shield its recruitment drive and lure youth for interviews and later to be abducted in due course,’ a defence observer said.

“The positions advertised by the ICRC [International Red Cross Committee], Save the Children and Danish Refugee Council are for field officer, project officer and radio operators in Kilinochchi. Defence analysts are not ruling out the possibility that some agents or individual members of these organisations, that are supportive of the LTTE, having these advertisements placed, in order to both attract youth to the dwindling LTTE cadre, and also funding the terrorist outfit either locally or abroad through these advertisements… .

“Recently the government took proactive measures to relocate INGOs and many aid agencies in safe quarters in Vavuniya, following clear assessments obtained of the possible danger to workers of these organisations by the LTTE. The government decision has minimised collateral damage and denied LTTE ‘aid canopies’ which it had used on many an occasion to divert aerial attacks.

“Earlier, it was found that LTTE terrorists have taken heavy earth-moving vehicles, trucks, tractors and several land cruiser jeeps from the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) in Kilinochchi, which was reported to the defence authorities much later, when it was said these were taken forcibly.”

What has been made out to be a grand conspiracy hatched by the INGOs in league with the Tigers turned out to be much ado about nothing. The advertisement in question appeared in a newspaper circulated in the Tiger-dominated areas and is a newspaper registered with the government agent. “How else can we recruit our local staff to man our missions in the LTTE areas? It is elementary and the government is fully conscious of the situation. Yet, some trigger-happy bureaucrat in the Defence Ministry was allowed to indulge in mud-slinging against the INGOs, including the ICRC. And they expect us to be the bridge between the people stranded in the war zone and the government. It cannot get more ironical,” lamented a senior official of an INGO.

If the government is really serious about defeating the LTTE militarily and winning the hearts of ordinary citizens, it should stop looking for motives behind the actions of every player in the troubled areas. In the words of the UTHR-J report, “A responsible government must think and do the political work it is there to do, in winning over the Tamils and to persuade the world that it has a viable plan to minimise the damage and loss of life, before sending in the armed forces. To conduct a war with the present chauvinistic outlook is utterly irresponsible with the Sinhalese youth being sacrificed, even if the state has no empathy for the Tamil victims. But what is to be gained by giving the Tamils the message that they would lose everything and have no place in this country if the LTTE is defeated?”

B. Muralidhar Reddy writes regularly from Sri Lanka for the Indian newspaper, The Hindu.

A Call to Action

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:44:00 +0000

Statement of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA at its November 15-16th 2008 meeting n New York

The National Committee of the Communist Party USA calls on all of those concerned about the economic crisis that has gripped our country and the world to unite and fight for the election mandate.

We hail the tens of millions who came to the polls and registered an historic defeat of the ultra right. These voters saw through the direct and indirect appeals to racism and voted for Obama. We salute those who rejected the Republican anti-communist, anti-immigrant attacks and numerous other slanders and voted their hopes and not their fears. Their votes represent the highest expression of patriotism.

Our party has a proud history in the fight against racism, for unity and equality. We fully appreciate what this election represents in terms of the ongoing freedom struggle.

The election of Barack Obama was indeed historic. While many of the pundits and other candidates rejected the idea, it was clear that the majority of voters were ready to elect our nation’s first African American President. The over 66 million votes cast for Obama represent a major blow against racism.

Obama’s grassroots election tactics created a new model of election campaigns, which will change; forever the way elections are run. The extraordinarily innovative use of the Internet helped build a powerful movement of millions and created a very effective ground operation.

While the Republicans ridiculed Obama’s background as a community organizer, it was those skills that made it possible to build a movement with thousands of dedicated volunteers, raise record amounts of money, draw record crowds and ultimately win the election.

In order to win the Obama campaign had to battle racism and promote racial unity, and they did. The great strength of his campaign was its ability to unite people of all races and nationalities. Organized labor made an historic contribution to this effort. A quarter million workers trekked door to door, in state after state, convincing their fellow workers to “do the right thing,” including put aside racial prejudice, and elect a pro-labor president. This was very effective and will have long-term effects on the entire workingclass movement.

The Communist Party has always been confident that racial divisions, though entrenched, can be overcome when real class interests are understood -- and that’s what happened in this historic election.

We also want to emphasis the role of the African American vote, which made a massive move to the Obama camp after his primary victory in predominantly white Iowa. African Americans voted against the Republicans in the high ninety percent – in some areas, the vote was almost unanimous for Obama and the Democrats. This was historic, as was the massive majority support of youth. The huge Latino vote took on new political significance, and women came forward in large numbers. This broad electoral coalition included many independents and anti-Bush Republicans.

This election shows that our country may have never been a center-right country and is in fact moving towards politics that are far more progressive. It was a landslide victory that is realigning our nation politically.

President-elect Obama faces enormous challenges both domestically and internationally. There is much speculation as to what he will do. We believe that the key to success lies in Obama’s ongoing relationship with the magnificent coalition that won the day on November 4th and with continuing to expand that coalition.

That movement is still intact and will be present in massive numbers at the inauguration.

Throughout the campaign at his record-breaking rallies, Sen. Obama constantly emphasized that his all-people’s movement was built from the bottom up. We are very mindful of what the President-elect said in his acceptance speech, “This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change.”

As one union supporter said just days after the election, “Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. There is legislation to be drafted, there is organizing to be done. Obama can’t do it by himself.”

It’s time for post-election action to guarantee that the American people’s “great expectations” become reality. Again, the movement approach is needed, aimed at winning the grass roots and moving the labor and peoples movement to the next level.

There is still a tough fight ahead. The ultra right is down -- but not out.

With the sharpening economic crisis wreaking havoc, emergency measures are needed to help Main Street. With millions losing their homes and jobs, it is time for action.

A Chance to Make Change

Millions of people have responded to the Obama campaign’s request for input on what the priorities of the new administration should be. Labor, the women’s movement, and other people’s organizations are already making proposals that include the following:

-- A stimulus package of a half trillion dollars or more, to create millions of jobs, including a public works program.

-- Emergency help for the jobless and the victims of the sub prime mortgage crisis.

-- Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, so more workers can have unions.

-- A concrete timetable for pulling out our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan as rapidly as possible.

-- Step up the campaign for universal healthcare through such means as passing HR676; preserve and improve Medicare and Medicaid; extend children’s health care plans and unemployment compensation.

-- Emergency aid to cities and states.

In addition, there are calls to review and where necessary repeal Bush’s executive orders, as well as the Patriot Act. United action is called for, against California’s Proposition 8 (gay marriage ban), against racist violence and to end the ICE raids and deportations of immigrant workers, and for comprehensive, democratic immigration reform including a path towards citizenship.

While we participate in all of these struggles, we must take part in the important conversations on the future of our country, including the socialist alternative. Building the Communist Party is something positive and necessary; history shows that a large Communist contingent in the people’s movement, and a wide circulation of our press, contribute substantially to advancing the cause of democracy and social progress.

It is a new day. Great changes are possible. Yes, it’s time for action. On January 20th, big history will be made in our country. The mobilization by the labor and people’s movement for a People’s Inauguration will put the fight for the mandate on the mark and ready to go.

Prop. 8 passage mars election joy

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:45:00 +0000

Gains and setbacks on other ballot issues

OAKLAND, Calif. — Statewide protests against Proposition 8, a ballot measure approved by voters last week banning same-sex marriage in California, continued into their second week here, and marriage equality activists vowed to fight it out in court.

Vote tallies so far indicate the initiative was approved by a 500,000 vote margin. Opponents of marriage equality placed the measure on the ballot in response to a California Supreme Court decision in May overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

News of the vote brought thousands of protesters onto the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and other communities over the following days. In San Francisco, participants held a candlelight vigil outside City Hall, while Mayor Gavin Newsom vowed to continue the fight and said he expects Prop. 8 will be overturned in court. In Los Angeles, demonstrators marched through the streets of West Hollywood.

In legal challenges filed with the state Supreme Court Nov. 5, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights charged that using the initiative process to take away a right from one group violated the Constitution’s commitment to equality for everyone.

“We remain committed to ensuring full equality under the law, just as the thousands of same-sex couples who joyously married in California are committed to each other,” the No on Prop. 8 Campaign said in a statement. “So, disappointed as we are, we know that there is still hope and there is still love and, yes, there is still work to do. With our continued effort and by building on the support generated in this campaign, we will prevail. There will be equality for us all.”

Meanwhile, the status of some 18,000 same-sex couples who married in California following the state Supreme Court’s ruling in May remained uncertain. State Attorney General Jerry Brown said the marriages will remain valid, but others predicted they could be nullified.

Several other states approved related measures on Nov. 4. Arizona’s Prop. 102, a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, passed 56 percent to 43 percent. In Florida, a similar measure, Prop. 2, passed with 62 percent of the vote. In Arkansas, voters approved Initiative Act 1, which bars unmarried couples, whether same sex or opposite sex, from becoming adoptive or foster parents.

Donna Cartwright, spokesperson for Pride at Work, the voice of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the labor movement, commented, “The anti-LGBT votes show that although progressive forces are moving forward again around the country, mean-spirited right-wing forces remain active and can still inflict damage on ordinary working people, LGBT or straight.”

“Much education remains to be done, and we will have to work hard to do it,” she added.

In an e-mail message to supporters, Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese expressed hope despite the votes on these measures. Several important Republican congressional figures with anti-gay agendas lost their seats during the election, including Rep. Marilyn Musgrove (R-Colo.), who led the Republican effort to insert a ban on marriage equality in the U.S. Constitution, Solmonese reported.

Other LGBT civil rights activists also expressed disappointment over the outcome on these ballot initiatives, but said they are heartened by future possibilities. Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, said, “A new administration brings a promise for a sea change in the tenor of the national dialogue on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.”

Pride at Work’s Donna Cartwright said, “In the coming few years, we look forward to the enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act, a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the removal of barriers to full access for LGBT people to government service and immigration, and continued progress on marriage equality.”

Ballot measures dealing with another set of “social issues” fared quite differently. Voters in California, South Dakota and Colorado rejected constraints on women’s right to make their own reproductive decisions.

Colorado voters also rejected ballot measures that would have banned affirmative action and imposed “right-to-work” laws. But in Nebraska an anti-affirmative-action initiative passed, 58 percent to 42 percent.

Voters in Oregon rejected an “English-only” measure.

In Massachusetts, a referendum to abolish the state’s income tax went down in defeat.

In Michigan, voters approved the use of medical marijuana and stem cell research.

OPINION: To save auto jobs, and our planet, dont leave CEOs in the drivers seat

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:57:00 +0000

The Big Three auto companies may not like unions, consumers, environmentalists and the government having input into how their business is run, but with sales at a 25-year low, they would be in a much better position if they did.

General Motors is said to be facing bankruptcy. That would have large repercussions for the U.S. economy, particularly for the workers involved, and that's no small number: The grand total of jobs directly and indirectly created by auto manufacturing has been estimated between 5 and 8 million.

A loan to retool the companies to make energy-efficient cars gained congressional approval in September. It made good sense. Now larger loans are being considered. But they should only be provided if more stakeholders are brought to the decision-making table. Until now, a handful of owners have been disastrously guiding this core American industry.

In fact, what the auto companies’ bailout request shows is the need for more public input and control over the direction of industries that have such a large impact on our nation and world. If that had taken place with the auto industry 30 years ago, we likely wouldn't be in the position we are today. Government regulation has made GM and Ford successful — in Europe!

In the 1970s, after the oil embargo, with gasoline rationed and prices rising, U.S. auto companies finally started producing smaller cars. But as gas prices fell, they went back to making bigger cars and then began producing the SUV, whose size both foreign and domestic makers have continued to expand. They claim they were just building what the public demanded, but wasn't it the quick profits they reaped from selling heavily marketed, gas-guzzling SUVs that really dictated their decisions?

This gets to the heart of the problem.

Ignoring the harmful effects on the environment, they lobbied to waive or lower fuel economy standards for SUVs and trucks. The U.S. and Canada have the lowest fleet-average fuel economy standards and the highest greenhouse gas emission rates among “first world” nations. And the companies ignored the interests of autoworkers by shopping their jobs around the world to the lowest bidders.

The United Auto Workers union feels any additional loans should guarantee its recently negotiated retiree health care fund, and who can blame them? It’s a necessary ingredient, though we must also move toward guaranteeing health care and a decent retirement for all.

But fundamentally, even if gas prices remain low — and that’s doubtful — our economy and our planet require us to move away from reliance on oil, towards alternative energy sources and mass transit. Al Gore has drawn the link between restoring manufacturing jobs and urgent action to prevent global environmental catastrophe. In a New York Times op ed last week, outlining a plan to get all our energy from carbon-free sources in 10 years, Gore wrote, 'We should help America's automobile industry … convert quickly to plug-in hybrids' that can run on renewable electricity available from a nationwide grid he foresees being built.

Gore argues that a major jobs-intensive infrastructure initiative is the best way to revive our economy quickly and sustainably. That goes against the grain of capitalism’s profits-before-people approach. Can the decisions required to rebuild our country, save auto and other manufacturing jobs and stop global warming be solely left to the CEOs? Doesn’t real democracy require the public to have a say in how our money is spent?

Any auto industry bailout must prioritize the twin goals of restoring manufacturing jobs and greening our economy.

In the national interest, any loans to the Big Three need to include requirements such as: 1) this money be used to develop and produce energy-efficient and alternative energy vehicles here in the U.S.; 2) Parts going into these vehicles be 70 percent or more U.S.-made; 3) priority be given to states with high unemployment where the workforce has long experience in the industry; 4) establishment of a 'corporate responsibility board' with labor, consumer, community and government representatives.

John Rummel (MichiganPWW@gmail.com) writes frequently for the People’s Weekly World and is the Michigan organizer for the Communist Party USA.

Veterans sue to end benefit delays

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:44:00 +0000

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two groups representing thousands of American veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) and Veterans of Modern Warfare (VMW), recently announced that they have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to end delays experienced by veterans applying for disability benefits. The lawsuit demands that the VA provide an initial decision on disability benefits within 90 days after claims are filed and resolve appeals within 180 days.

The groups are also asking for interim benefit awards in the event that the VA decision making process extends beyond the allowable time periods. The interim benefits, they say, will provide veterans with a lifeline of support when it is most needed.

“The failure to expedite veterans’ compensation claims creates, at best, the impression that the nation does not respect its veterans,” said John Rowan, national president of the VVA. “America’s veterans deserve more, and the VA’s failure to fulfill its responsibilities brings dishonor to our nation and can only make the call of military service more challenging.”

The VA acknowledges that it takes an average of at least six months to reach an initial decision on a typical benefits claim; the actual delay is closer to a year. Appeals of these initial decisions, which are reversed more than 50 percent of the time, take, on average, more than four years, with some stretching 10 years or more. In contrast, civilian health care plans – which process more than 30 billion claims a year – process them and their related appeals in less than three months.

“As a matter of both policy and practice, the VA subjects veterans to long delays before receiving any of the benefits to which they are entitled,” said Donald Overton, executive director of VMW. “Our hope is that this lawsuit will compel the VA to process veterans’ benefits claims more quickly and honor our nation’s commitment to those that have defended and served.”

There are approximately 25 million veterans alive today. More than 7 million are enrolled in the VA’s health care system, and approximately 3.4 million receive benefits. More than 600,000 VA benefits claims are backlogged – this number will only increase as the 1.7 million troops that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to return home.

“A soldier’s transition to civilian life is challenging. The VA’s failure to diagnose post traumatic stress syndrome promptly and accurately, and the corresponding delay in the award of benefits, plainly results in veterans being denied this critical lifeline,” said Dr. Charles R. Figley, a Tulane University specialist in the disorder.

According to the VA, the suicide rate among individuals in the agency’s care may be as high as 7.5 times the national average.

Veterans put their issues up front and center in the recent elections.

The AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council focused on issues including education and health care benefits, housing, jobs and retirement security.

More than 2 million union members and even more union retirees are veterans, making veterans’ issues critical to a large percentage of union members.

In reaching out to millions of union veterans across the country, the Council focused on President-elect Obama’s support for increased veterans’ health funding and the 21st Century GI Bill, and contrasted it with McCain’s poor record on this issue. Obama pledged to strengthen and expand VA health care, and, the Council noted, he had the record to back it up.

Council President Mark Ayers, who is also president of the AFL-CIO Building and Trades Construction Department, said that the efforts of the Council helped engage and energize union veterans.

He said, “The Council united over 2 million veterans and union veterans in the effort to turn around America and create an economy that works for all. Our first effort was to engage veterans in the election through education and mobilization on the candidates’ stances on economics and veterans’ issues. Veterans, hand in hand with all Americans, chose a new direction for our country.”

Un momento histrico

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:55:00 +0000

Fue el 4 de noviembre que pasó, Barack Obama fue elegido el primer presidente afroestadounidense. Este fue un momento histórico. En un país en la cual se mantuvo a la gente de decendencia africana en la esclavitud por tres ciento años y les negaron los derechos básicos de un ciudadano por cien años más eligió a un negro para presidente.

Yo nunca pensé que vería la elección de un presidente negro, no durante me vida. Los afroestadounidenses que votaron en números históricos y le dieron a Obama casi el 100 por ciento de sus votos están extáticos como deben de sentirse. No porque creen que la elección de Obama en si pondrá fin a la opresión racial en nuestro país, sino por que entienden que la elección de Obama y Biden abre el camino al pueblo a tener verdadera democracia y libertad.

¿Por qué pasó? ¿Como pasó? ¿Qué significa? ¿Cual será el porvenir?

Obama lo entendió mejor. Él vio que el pueblo estaba listo para un cambio verdadero. El pueblo sufrió más que suficiente por más de cuarto siglo bajo gobiernos derechistas. Una forma especial de capitalismo cruel fue lanzado, sin derechos a beneficios ni derechos básicos democráticos – un capitalismo que estaba reemplazando a la gobernación democrática con gobernación por las corporaciones, que protege el comportamiento corrupto, racista y criminal de las corporaciones después que saquen beneficios.

Por los últimos ocho años hemos tenido un presidente seleccionado y no elegido, que tomó poder dos veces a través de supresión de votos más masivo en nuestra historia. Un presidente que nos mintió para llevarnos a la guerra y que regresó a la política exterior más primitiva, bélica desde lo pero de la Guerra Fría.

El gobierno desreguló los mercados financieros y impuso políticas económicas que resultaron en la transferencia masiva de riqueza del pueblo trabajador a los más ricos. Destruyeron el sector financiero, aumentando drásticamente las filas de los pobre y les robaron a la gente sus hogares, pensiones, empleos y el futuro de sus niños.

Durante este reino de terror económico, no quitaron lo que habíamos ganado tras décadas de lucha. La organización sindical y hacer cumplir las leyes de derechos civiles fueron virtualmente ilegalizados. Para decir la verdad, era más que el olor a fascismo que corría por el país. Estabamos en camino a la destrucción de la democracia como la conocemos.

Estas elecciones llegaron cuando ya el pueblo estaba cansado de la política del gobierno. El pueblo usó estas elecciones para retomar a su país y poner fin al gobierno de esta forma de capitalismo cruel. La oposición a McCain-Palin fue histórico porque tomó la forma de un movimiento y no simplemente una campaña electoral. Las manifestaciones masivas pro Obama eran más como manifestaciones por la paz, empleo y libertad. Y ese carácter de movimiento, que los republicanos ridiculizaron y algunos demócratas no vieron, fue bien entendido por la campaña Obama-Biden.

Este es un momento de orgullo para los norteamericanos negros. Su historial como víctimas de opresión racial, abuso, insultos y política genocida ha producido a un pueblo con una fuerte fuerza de voluntad y cultura de lucha. La elección de Obama continuó la grande lucha por los derechos civiles del siglo pasado. Sin la Ley de Derecho del Votante ni la Ley de Derechos Civiles, victorias de las grandes luchas de los 1960s, su victoria no hubiese sido posible.

Yo me recuerdo del como se sentían en el país después de la gran Marcha por Empleo y Libertad en Washington en 1963. Para esa época fue la marcha más grande en la historia de Estados Unidos, con más de cuarto millón de personas participando. Los oponente decían que iba haber todo tipo de violencia y caos. En vez, la marcha fue pacífica y disciplinada y unió a negros y blancos y gente de todas razas y conmovió a la nación.

Después de la marcha se sentía la confianza popular que “podemos ganar” en la comunidad negra como se siente hoy. Esta victoria fue aun más grande. Un presidente negro progresista tomará el poder en enero. Lo que está en juego es más grande porque cambios históricos sin precedencia pueden tomar lugar.

El pueblo respondió al llamado de Obama a construir un movimiento desde la base para arriba el Día de las Elecciones. Ahora ese movimiento tiene que seguir la lucha para poner fin a la guerra y en favor de la lucha para tener victorias en cuidado de salud, derechos democráticos, derechos civiles, derechos femeninos, derechos de homosexuales y lesbianas. Tiene que lanzar una nueva ofensiva para hacer realidad la Ley de Libre Escoger para Empleados y el proyecto de ley pro seguro médico universal, HR 676.

Las consecuencias humanas graves del colapso económico, la crisis energética y el impacto de la globalización son problemas a los cuales tenemos que dirigirnos con programas como los del Nuevo Trato en tamaño y amplitud. Eso fue por lo que votó el pueblo.

Hay lágrimas de orgullo en nuestra comunidad porque los elementos racistas y bélicos fueron derrotados hoy en las urnas. Estas también son lágrimas de felicidad porque la gente ven la llegada de un nuevo día – un día donde la justicia económica, la paz y la igualdad pueden ser realidad.

El pueblo ha usado estas elecciones para retomar a su país.

Jarvis Tyner vicepresidente ejecutivo del Partido Comunista y un afroestadounidense.

Mining for minerals fuels Congo conflict

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:15:00 +0000

LONDON (AP) – The Democratic Republic of Congo has been in a ceaseless war for some 10 years with a mind-numbing toll: 5.5 million dead and 300,000 women raped.

Some say the most recent conflict in eastern Congo is being fueled and funded by a tussle for mineral resources that end up in cell phones, laptops and other electronics — deepening the stakes in a war that sprung out of the Rwandan genocide.

Rebel militias and Congolese army troops are fighting each other for control of mineral-rich land. They can then sell the raw materials they mine and use the proceeds to fund their activities and arms — which prolongs the conflict.

“The links are very clear between the mining activity going to finance these groups, and these armed groups we know have been benefiting financially from the mining areas,” said Lizzie Parsons, a member of the Congo team at London-based Global Witness, a non-governmental organization that investigates natural resource exploitation.

Congo’s present conflict stems from a rebellion started four years ago by renegade general Laurent Nkunda, who claimed the country’s transition to democracy had excluded the Tutsi ethnic group. Despite agreeing in January to a UN-brokered cease-fire, he resumed fighting in August.

He alleges the Congolese government has not protected ethnic Tutsis from the Rwandan Hutu militia that escaped to Congo after helping slaughter half a million Rwandan Tutsis in 1994.

But analysts say that the heart of conflict is the struggle for minerals.

“In some ways (mineral exploitation) has become the means and the ends of the conflict,” said Jennifer Cooke, the director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in New York.

“There’s virtually no government control over the eastern Congo and much of the conflict there is a scramble at the local level and at the regional level for access to land and the minerals underneath them.”

Congo is awash with gold, diamonds and metals such as cassiterite and coltan used to weld small pieces together in electronics.

The area around the eastern provincial capital city of Goma, from which thousands of people fled and government soldiers retreated this week after Nkunda and his forces besieged it, is particularly mineral-rich.

There are several paths to the international market — mostly bound for Asian factories for use in electronics and devices such as mobile phones and portable music players, said Colin Thomas-Jensen of Enough Project, a Washington-based human rights organization that carries out field research into various African conflicts including Congo.

“Basically, the rebels control the mines. They are selling them to middlemen who sell them to the next buyer and it goes up the chain,” he said.

“There have been instances where minerals are simply backpacked ... taken to a small airstrip and taken out of the country by a small plane and presumably sold to a small dealer across the border,” he added.

The international value of Congo’s raw materials is demonstrated by a $9 billion deal between Congo’s state-owned mining company and a consortium of Chinese companies to extract 10.6 million tons of copper and 626,000 tons of cobalt in return for improving infrastructure.

During the 1998-2002 war, current President Joseph Kabila and his father Laurent, who was then president, sold off copper and diamond mining rights to Zimbabwe and Angola in exchange for their support. At that time, the government held the west of the country, while rebels led by Uganda and Rwanda controlled the northeast and east.

Parsons said Global Witness was trying to get companies in Congo and around the world to ask questions about the source of minerals and to get paper records.

Calif. the poster child for states economic woes

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:47:00 +0000

As the nation’s economic crisis deepens, more states are struggling with huge and escalating budget gaps. Unless they receive substantial help soon from the federal government, many will be forced to make further cuts in health and human services programs just when these are needed more than ever by growing numbers of laid-off workers and their families.

As usual, California is the poster child for the growing distress. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last week called the legislature into a post-election special session to deal with an escalating budget crisis that analysts say could result in as much as a $12.5 billion shortfall in the current fiscal 2009 budget. Calling the deficit “a state of emergency,” Schwarzenegger said he would propose more cuts to health, education and other human services on top of those made when the state budget was finalized in September, a record 85 days late.

But California is far from alone. The Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said late last month that 39 states are experiencing or will experience new gaps in current budgets, while 17 states already see gaps growing in their 2010 budgets. “Based on the rate at which states’ revenue bases are deteriorating and the history of prior recessions, the total 2010 state budget gaps will likely be about $100 billion,” the Center said.

Total tax revenues were down 5.5 percent in July through September, the Center reported, with sales taxes hardest hit but income and corporate taxes also sinking. In response, many states are cutting funds for education and for health care programs serving low income people, the elderly and disabled, and many are also cutting their workforces.

An “alternative possibility” to the cuts “is for the federal government to provide direct assistance to state governments” so they could reduce the extent of cuts and revenue increases, the Center said.

In an Oct. 27 letter to leaders of the House and Senate, Governors Edward Rendell (D-Penn.) and James Douglas (R-Vt.) called on Congress to “pass an economic recovery package this session that includes additional funding for Medicaid and investments in our nation’s infrastructure.” They highlighted a two-year temporary increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, which they called “a particularly effective countercyclical tool” because it enables states “to continue services for those with the greatest need.”

Proposals for federal aid to states form part of stimulus proposals being put forward by the AFL-CIO and other progressive forces. The labor-community Campaign for America’s Future last month called for federal help so states can avoid “catastrophic cuts” to human services. Commenting in September on proposed state cuts in health care for low income families, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee observed, “When the economy goes south, the demand for services goes up. This is a time when families need help the most.”

Last week Schwarzenegger said he will call for up to $4 billion in cuts to education, and unspecified further cuts to health care programs, when the legislature reconvenes on Nov. 5. State officials said he will also propose unspecified ways to increase revenue.

In an Oct. 22 statement Assembly Rules Committee head Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) reiterated his insistence that a special legislative session on the budget must deal at the same time with the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Lieu, a former Banking and Finance Committee chair, said California now accounts for a third of U.S. foreclosures and warned that the state can’t start recovering economically “until we begin to staunch the colossal wave of foreclosures and reform the shady lending practices that resulted in this crisis.”

Lieu said the foreclosure crisis caused over $4 billion of last year’s budget gap, “and billions more will be lost for this year’s state budget as a result of the housing mess.” Pointing to Schwarzenegger’s veto of legislation to help foreclosed homeowners, Lieu added that “the governor can still help fix a dysfunctional mortgage system through new reform legislation that the legislature intends to introduce.”

mbechtel@pww.org