[Educationforall] spam con huevos, labor news, views and concerns, 1.06.12-I‏I

Fri Jan 6 23:05:28 UTC 2012

Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala Victim of Employment Racism  Nobody Understands Debt / Is the U.S. really in hock to China?‏ Black Unemployment Rate Was 15.8% in December; an Increase from November‏Jerry Brown budget would slash 3,000 state jobs, merge departments  See teacher staff cuts at every California school  America Beyond Capitalism: Is It Possible?  Migrants' New Paths Reshaping Latin AmericaBain, Barack and Jobs oaxaca's new government calls for migrant rights‏Longshore Workers Defend - Urgent 
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Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala Victim of Employment RacismIn a study conducted in November by the Association for Research and Social Studies (ASIES), an NGO, and the Presidential Commission on Discrimination and Racism Against Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala (CODISRA) titled “Racism and racial discrimination in the business sector” highlighted just how serious racism is in the workforce of Guatemala. In a country who’s overall population of 14 million is close to 40 percent according to official statistics, many of the indigenous people and mestizos (mixed race) are admitted paid less for their services. According to an article in the Guate ... Read More

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/opinion/krugman-nobody-understands-debt.html?_r=2
By PAUL KRUGMAN
n 2011, as in 2010, America was in a technical recovery but continued to suffer from disastrously high unemployment. And through most of 2011, as in 2010, almost all the conversation in Washington was about something else: the allegedly urgent issue of reducing the budget deficit.Fred R. Conrad/The New York TimesPaul KrugmanGo to Columnist Page »Blog: The Conscience of a LiberalRelatedTimes Topic: United States Economy
This misplaced focus said a lot about our political culture, in particular about how disconnected Congress is from the suffering of ordinary Americans. But it also revealed something else: when people in D.C. talk about deficits and debt, by and large they have no idea what they’re talking about — and the people who talk the most understand the least.Perhaps most obviously, the economic “experts” on whom much of Congress relies have been repeatedly, utterly wrong about the short-run effects of budget deficits. People who get their economic analysis from the likes of the Heritage Foundation have been waiting ever since President Obama took office for budget deficits to send interest rates soaring. Any day now!And while they’ve been waiting, those rates have dropped to historical lows. You might think that this would make politicians question their choice of experts — that is, you might think that if you didn’t know anything about our postmodern, fact-free politics.But Washington isn’t just confused about the short run; it’s also confused about the long run. For while debt can be a problem, the way our politicians and pundits think about debt is all wrong, and exaggerates the problem’s size.Deficit-worriers portray a future in which we’re impoverished by the need to pay back money we’ve been borrowing. They see America as being like a family that took out too large a mortgage, and will have a hard time making the monthly payments.This is, however, a really bad analogy in at least two ways.First, families have to pay back their debt. Governments don’t — all they need to do is ensure that debt grows more slowly than their tax base. The debt from World War II was never repaid; it just became increasingly irrelevant as the U.S. economy grew, and with it the income subject to taxation.Second — and this is the point almost nobody seems to get — an over-borrowed family owes money to someone else; U.S. debt is, to a large extent, money we owe to ourselves.This was clearly true of the debt incurred to win World War II. Taxpayers were on the hook for a debt that was significantly bigger, as a percentage of G.D.P., than debt today; but that debt was also owned by taxpayers, such as all the people who bought savings bonds. So the debt didn’t make postwar America poorer. In particular, the debt didn’t prevent the postwar generation from experiencing the biggest rise in incomes and living standards in our nation’s history.But isn’t this time different? Not as much as you think.It’s true that foreigners now hold large claims on the United States, including a fair amount of government debt. But every dollar’s worth of foreign claims on America is matched by 89 cents’ worth of U.S. claims on foreigners. And because foreigners tend to put their U.S. investments into safe, low-yield assets, America actually earns more from its assets abroad than it pays to foreign investors. If your image is of a nation that’s already deep in hock to the Chinese, you’ve been misinformed. Nor are we heading rapidly in that direction.Now, the fact that federal debt isn’t at all like a mortgage on America’s future doesn’t mean that the debt is harmless. Taxes must be levied to pay the interest, and you don’t have to be a right-wing ideologue to concede that taxes impose some cost on the economy, if nothing else by causing a diversion of resources away from productive activities into tax avoidance and evasion. But these costs are a lot less dramatic than the analogy with an overindebted family might suggest.And that’s why nations with stable, responsible governments — that is, governments that are willing to impose modestly higher taxes when the situation warrants it — have historically been able to live with much higher levels of debt than today’s conventional wisdom would lead you to believe. Britain, in particular, has had debt exceeding 100 percent of G.D.P. for 81 of the last 170 years. When Keynes was writing about the need to spend your way out of a depression, Britain was deeper in debt than any advanced nation today, with the exception of Japan.Of course, America, with its rabidly antitax conservative movement, may not have a government that is responsible in this sense. But in that case the fault lies not in our debt, but in ourselves.So yes, debt matters. But right now, other things matter more. We need more, not less, government spending to get us out of our unemployment trap. And the wrongheaded, ill-informed obsession with debt is standing in the way.============http://www.americablog.com/2012/01/is-us-really-in-hock-to-china.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Americablog+%28AMERICAblog%29Paul Krugman has written an excellent column recently ondebt and the deficit, a nice, broad "how to think about it" piece. 

It's a good read all round, but I want to focus on one small aspect of it, since this question constantly comes up, usually with raised voices. 

Is the U.S. in serious hock to the Chinese? ("Chinese" in this case is code for "foreigners" in that wonderful sinister sense.)

Krugman's answer, No. Here's why (my emphasis and paragraphing):It’s true that foreigners now hold large claims on the United States, including a fair amount of government debt. Butevery dollar’s worth of foreign claims on America is matched by 89 cents’ worth of U.S. claims on foreigners. 

And because foreigners tend to put their U.S. investments into safe, low-yield assets, America actually earns more from its assets abroad than it pays to foreign investors. 

If your image is of a nation that’s already deep in hock to the Chinese, you’ve been misinformed. Nor are we heading rapidly in that direction.Note that those are two separate reasons. 

To recap: Let's say you owe your neighbor $10,000. Sounds bad, right? But only if you ignore the fact that he owes you $9,000 back. The net debt ($1,000) is a lot less frightening. (And note that only the ignorant or scare-mongering quote that first number alone.)

Now apply the second piece of information on top of the first — His $10,000 is earning 0.5% at best (since he bought U.S. Treasuries at sky-high prices and almost no yield at shorter, safer maturities). 

Meanwhile, your $9,000 is earning, say, 3% (since you're invested in growth companies abroad). 

If you do the math (his $10K x .005 = $50; your $9K x .03 = $270), you'll see who's got the better deal, by far. Every year this setup continues, you make $220 more than your neighbor, doing nothing. Bottom line, you're earning a cool $270 on a net debt of $1000 (that's a sweet 27%, mind you); plus you've got his $10,000 to play with. 

This isn't hard to understand or remember. My suggestion — keep this logic handy the next time someone screams about Chinese ownership of the U.S. debt. If they're simply ignorant, they'll appreciate the information. 

We really are losing to the Chinese, of course; but it isn't because we're selling them our Treasuries; it's because the über-rich are selling off our jobs.@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 Leadership Schools · Workshops · Research Reports · Publications  Black Unemployment Rate Was 15.8% in December; an Increase from November Data Brief: Black Employment and Unemployment in December 2011January 6, 2012 » Data Brief  The unemployment rate for Blacks was 15.8 percent last month. This is according to the latest report on the nation’s employment situation released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly Employment Situation report. This rate was an increase from November, when unemployment in the Black community stood at 15.5 percent. For the nation as a whole, unemployment was 8.5 percent in the month of December; this was virtually unchanged from November when the national unemployment rate stood at 8.6 percent. Among whites, unemployment was 7.5 percent; among Latinos, unemployment was 11.0 percent. Comparable November 2011 figures were 7.6 percent and 11.4 percent respectively. Overall, total non-farm payroll employment increased by 200,000 jobs from last month.  If you were forwarded this e-mail and wish to subscribe to this publication, please click here To find out more about the Labor Center Black Worker Project, please visit http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/blackworkers/ Share this report on Facebook  Stay connected to the Labor Center     DonateJoin our mailing listFollow usBecome a fan Center for Labor Research and Education, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, University of California, Berkeley 2521 Channing Way # 5555 · Berkeley, CA 94720-5555 · TEL (510) 642-0323 · FAX (510) 642-6432
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Jerry Brown budget would slash 3,000 state jobs, merge departments

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See teacher staff cuts at every California school
• More sacbee.com databases

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America Beyond Capitalism: Is It Possible?Thousands of co-ops, worker-owned businesses, land trusts, and municipal enterprises are quietly beginning to democratize the deep substructure of the American economic system.READ MOREGar Alperovitz / Dollars and Sense
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IMMIGRATION UPENDEDMigrants' New Paths Reshaping Latin AmericaBy DAMIEN CAVEIn Mexico and Latin America, old migratory patterns are changing as migrants move to a wider range of cities and countries, creating regional challenges and opportunities.
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Bain, Barack and JobsBy PAUL KRUGMANMitt Romney says that President Obama has been a job destroyer, while he was a job-creating businessman. But those claims border on dishonesty.
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OAXACA'S NEW GOVERNMENT CALLS FOR MIGRANT RIGHTSStory and Photographs by David BaconTruthOut Report, 1/5/12http://www.truth-out.org/oaxacas-new-government-calls-migrant-rights/1325614305OAXACA, MEXICO  - The Oaxacan Institute for Attention to Migrants, and its director Rufino Dominguez, called for a new era of respect for the rights of migrants, in commorating the International Day of the Migrant in the Palacio del Gobierno, Oaxaca's state capitol building.  Representing the newly-elected state government, Dominguez paid tribute to the contributions of the braceros, the first of Oaxaca's migrant workers to travel to the United States. from 1942 to 1964, and to the women who cared for the families they left behind. 
Around the balconies of the palacio's courtyard hung photographs showing the lives of current migrants from Oaxaca, working as farm laborers in California.  Migrant rights activists, artisans and public officials spoke about the important role migration continues to play in Oaxaca's economic, social, political and family life.  The state, in southern Mexico, is the source of one of the largest waves of migration from Mexico to the U.S.Dominguez, the former coordinator of the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations, which organizes indigenous migrants in both Mexico and the U.S., was appointed director of the IOAM by Oaxaca's new governor, Gabino Cue Monteagudo.  Cue defeated the PRI, the party that governed Oaxaca for the previous 80 years.  In an interview with David Bacon, Dominguez described the different road the new government is taking to ensure social justice for Oaxacan migrants today:
We can't tell the U.S. government, or the governments of California and other states, to respect the rights of our people who are living there, if we ourselves are not respecting the rights of migrants here in Oaxaca.  Many migrants passing through Oaxaca from Central America and other places suffer systematic violations of their human rights.  Have we just paid attention to migrants in the U.S. because they send dollars home?  Sometimes the problems of migrants within Mexico are even greater than those we have in the U.S. 
Oaxacans are also migrants within our own state, like those who work in the coconut palms on the coast.  About 30,000 Oaxacans migrate for work without leaving the state, and we've never paid attention to them.  Another 300,000 live in Mexico City and states in the north, like Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California.  The Institute hasn't paid attention to them in the past either. 
And we've never consulted the people who actually live in the U.S. about  our activity there, or asked for their opinions.  We want a different vision, a more level or equal relationship where we're not dictating policies because we're the government, but asking people for their input and opinions.Our starting point is to understand the need for economic development, because the reason for migration is the lack of work and opportunity in people's communities of origin.  If we don't attack the roots of migration, it will continue to grow. There's a fear of investing in our own people, but there's no other way.  We have to have economic development, and respect for the human rights of migrants as they come and go.We also have to tell people about the risks of migrating.  In Durango and Tamaulipas they've found hidden graves of many migrants, and the surprising thing is that the big majority killed with such cruelty are Mexicans.  It's not just a risk to cross the border into the U.S..  You're risking your life migrating here in your own country.  People also need to understand that the economic crisis in the U.S. hasn't gotten any better.  When you get there, your chance of finding work is worse than ever, and there's a lot of competition for jobs. So we have to work on implementing the right to not migrate, while protecting the ability to migrate safely, making sure that people's dignity and human rights are respected. In March alone, four thousand migrants were sent back after trying to cross into the U.S.  That tells us that there's still a huge number of people trying to cross, and that the number isn't getting any smaller.  The economic pressure on people to migrate, and the violation of human rights on the border, are still part of our reality.  Migrants are raped and beaten, and recruited into criminal gangs.  Over 300 Oaxacans have disappeared, and we don't know if they're alive or dead.  Their families haven't heard from them.  Our state is responsible for them, along with the Federal government.  Yet we don't accept responsibility for the economic development that could change it.  This silence is a disgrace, at the same time we've become so dependent on the remittances migrant send back to their families..The labor of migrants in the U.S. has been used throughout history.  They tell us to come work, and then when there's an economic crisis, we're blamed for it.  They accuse us of robbing other people's jobs, and our rights are not respected.  These new state laws in Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Arizona and elsewhere are not just anti-immigrant but inhuman.  Meanwhile, the current U.S. administration has hardened its policy of detaining and deporting immigrants unjustly, which accomplishes nothing.  In IOAM we feel like we're just shouting at the wall -- they don't hear us. I don't believe that a program of guest workers or braceros will resolve these problems of migration.  First, it perpetuates a dependence on remittances.  We also know from our experience with the bracero program in the 1950s and 60s that these programs don't work.  We have many former braceros who are still fighting to get the 10% of their wages that was withheld during those years.  Current H2A and H2B programs give people a work visa, but the rights of workers in these programs are not respected.  Often they aren't paid legal wages, they live in terrible conditions in substandard housing, and they have no right to organize or make demands on their employers. With a green card, or residence visa, people migrating have some security.  That doesn't exist with a guest worker visa or crossing with a coyote.  If people's rights are violated, if they're not paid adequately, if they can't earn Social Security to allow them to eventually retire, then this system is worthless.  It's just producing throw-away workers, whose labor gets used but who have no benefits.  So why are we talking about more programs that fail to respect human and labor rights, and which don't guarantee housing, education and healthcare?
If we begin by talking about rights and decent wages and conditions, maybe we can see a way forward.  But if it's just "come sell your labor" with no respect for your rights, these programs are worthless.  The governments of both Mexico and the U.S. must prioritize human and labor rights.We will work with everyone.  We are a government of everyone.  We say, we are all Oaxaca, with a government for all of us.  So we have to implement this idea in practice.

For more articles and images, see  http://dbacon.igc.orgSee also Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants  (Beacon Press, 2008)Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2002See also the photodocumentary on indigenous migration to the USCommunities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006)http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4575See also The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9989.html   -- 
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David Bacon, Photographs and Stories
http://dbacon.igc.org  

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Dear FriendsPlease take action. There is an official request for Solidarity from the Central Labor Council in the area of Longview, Washington WHERE Struggle is crucial this unfolding. Act now gathering support and messages of Solidarity action planning at EGT / Bunge facilities THROUGHOUT the world! Tell this to no international agribusiness Union busting monster. Food for people, not for profit!In Solidarity,Cheryl, forUS / Cuba Labor Exchange  Trouble viewing this email, click HERE .   Please Post WidelySign Up to Join the Solidarity Caravan!For Further information and updates, visit:Occupy Oakland websiteDefend ILWU FaceBook pageLongview Occupy FaceBook pageJoin the Solidarity Caravan to Longview, WashingtonILWU rank and file, Occupied in Longview, Portland, Seattle, Oakland, LA and other West Coast Occupied blockade are organizing in a grain ship to coming to Longview. This ship is Intended to load scab over from the EGT terminal. The date will not be Known Until 3-4 days in advance, But is Anticipated to be sometime in January.DEFEND AGAINST ILWU LOCAL 21 UNION BY busting EGTThere's a war going on Against dockworkers and Their Families in Longview, Washington.Members of International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 21 Have Been Arrested, beaten and Their homes raided Have Been. They are fighting to Protect Against Their union, EGT jobs, Which is Trying to break the ILWU's coast-wide contract, Established After the 1934 San Francisco general strike and West Coast Maritime strike.EGT, and Their Majority partner, Bunge NA, want to bust the ILWU, one of the MOST militant, progressive unions in the U.S. EGT have defied the Contract with the Port of Longview and Used STI scab labor to load grain terminal. On Sept. Hundreds of angry longshore 8 charged Workers Through the gates of the new EGT export grain terminal at Longview. Claims That WAS EGT grain dumped from a 107-car train, and a cyclone fence torn down.At a time when to have membership National Union dropped to a 70 year low of 11.9%, and Private Sector Workers in unions Fell to 6.9%, this is part of the 1% 's attack to drive us all to the bottom. Even at These low membership rates, Nationally, median weekly Wages for Union Members are $ 917, compare to $ 717 for Workers not in unions. The 1% not only wants to take away That extra $ 200 million from the 14.7 Remaining, Who are unionized, But wants to destroy all unions, Especially the militant ILWU, to keep us from organizing in to take back what's rightfully ours.WALL STREET FIGHTING ON THE WATERFRONTEGT is part of "the 1%" - a joint venture Between US-based Bunge North America, Japanese-based Itochu, and Korean-based STX Pan Ocean. A ship load Hoping to scab over from the terminal is expected to EGT arrive early in 2012 in Longview. If EGT is Successful in STI attack on the ILWU in Longview, It Will Have a ripple effect on all Port Workers on the West Coast.The ILWU is a Democratic, bottom-up union, With An activist rank and file, Which Has A strong history of support for community issues, standing up against apartheid South Africa, Against the War in Iraq, for the Wisconsin state Workers' Struggle Against Union busting.ILWU Local 10 Bay Area community backed Protests About the police murder of Oscar Grant. They picket lines in Occupy Honored Oakland's 11 / 2 General Strike and West Coast Port Shutdown 12/12.HOW YOU CAN HELP DEFEND LONGVIEW ILWU Longshore Local 21 WORKERSCaravans to Longview and support actions are Being Organized up and down the West Coast, Nationally and Internationally, to arrive in Longview to greet the ship STX scab coming to load the grain. The Bay Area's ILWU Local 10 ILWU have Pledged support for Local 21's Struggle Against EGT and Their Union busting drive Funding to bus to Longview. The San Francisco Labor Council is on board.If you want to be part of This Struggle critical working class, please fill out the sign up form . We need you and your organization to commit to join the caravan, or other Solidarity actions, and Contribute to this important campaign of Solidarity.Again, the date will not be Known Until 3-4 days in advance, But is Anticipated to be sometime in January. As soon as official word of We have the ship's pending arrival, We Will contact you, by email and phone, to let you know it's time to Mobilize to Longview. If You have a car, and are Able to take Others, please Indicate this on the form. Supporters Will Also be renting vans and buses. If you want to be a passenger, so again Indicate on the form.Note: Bunge, NA, one of EGT's parent companies, is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, With offices in Washington, DC If you are in These areas, ask your local Occupy to organize Solidarity actions in conjunction With The ship's arrival in Longview . Also EGT have facilities in Chester and Kintyre Flats, Montana. They are building a high capacity Also train shuttle loader in Carter, Montana. Bunge have locations all over the Midwest and South. To see if There Is a location near you, see www.bungenorthamerica.com / locations / usa / index.shtmlBail Out the People MovementSolidarity Center 
55 West 17th St 5C 
New York, NY 10010 
1-212-633-6646 www.bailoutpeople.org email: bailoutpeople.org / cmnt.shtml

Join the Network Occupy 4 JobsDemand for Massive Public Works Program 
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