Last month I wrote about key parts of the so-called sonogram law passed by the Texas Legislature during the last session were struck down as unconstitutional by a US District Judge. Early this summer the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a class action lawsuit against the new ultrasound requirements behalf of Texas medical providers performing abortions and their patients. US District Judge Sam Sparks ruled that the law violates doctors' and patients' free speech rights and said the state cannot impose penalties against doctors who fail to meet its requirements.
The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to let Texas enforce its new abortion sonogram law while the measure is under appeal, following a similar ruling from a federal appeals court on Wednesday.
The abortion sonogram law, which forces women to have a sonogram and hear a description of the fetus before terminating a pregnancy, was deemed unconstitutional by an Austin district judge in August, who blocked several of its key provisions.
This leaves state leaders little legal recourse to pursue while the law makes its way through the appeals system. The measure's opponents say that's as it should be.
“The district court’s decision to block portions of this new law, which is intrusive and unconstitutional, was well-supported. There is no basis for the state’s attempts to short-circuit the legal process by trying to nullify the court’s decision on an emergency basis,” said Julie Rikelman, senior staff attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Join the 1 in 3 Campaign. Share this story -- or your own -- with 3 people. It's time to support each other and assure access to legal and safe abortion in our communities.
Who are the women who obtain abortions in the United States? Why do they decide to end a pregnancy? What are their social and economic circumstances? This video was created by the Guttmacher Institute, a leading research and policy organization on sexual and reproductive health.
In the first six months of 2011, states enacted 162 new provisions related to reproductive health and rights. Fully 49% of these new laws seek to restrict access to abortion services, a sharp increase from 2010, when 26% of new laws restricted abortion. The 80 abortion restrictions enacted this year are more than double the previous record of 34 abortion restrictions enacted in 2005—and more than triple the 23 enacted in 2010. All of these new provisions were enacted in just 19 states.
1 in 3 women will have an abortion, but we almost never hear those voices. Join the 1 in 3 Campaign. Share this story -- or your own -- with 3 people. It's time to support each other and assure access to legal and safe abortion in our communities.
The anti-choice protest 40 Days for Life begins today. Twice a year so-called pro-life activists stage a 40 day protest outside reproductive health care clinics, and the protests often specifically target Planned Parenthood clinics. The protest where originally intended to be 24-hour vigils outside of the clinics, but rarely are the protests staged around the clock. For 40 days clients, staff, medical professionals, and volunteers of the clinics are subjected to harassment by the protesters. In few other places in our culture are private moments turned into such public spectacles.
The tactics of the protesters range from simply kneeling and praying in front of the clinic to aggressively targeting clients verbally while they enter the clinic. When clients enter the parking lots protesters attempt to pass them anti-literature through the window or engage them in conversation. When a client walks up to the front door of the clinic protesters often shout at them, trying to prevent them from entering the clinic. For the vast majority of the time these tactics do not work – and often harden the resolve of the clients that whatever decision they are making is the right one for them.
The organization claims that “excitement has NEVER been higher” and that the “fall’s campaign is BIG.” Reportedly just over 300 locations are participating in multiple countries, and thousands of people will take part in “prayer, fasting and vigil.” Already they are celebrating claims that the doctor who provided abortion service at the Planned Parenthood in Columbia, Missouri has quit – which would deprive the women of central Missouri of much needed services.
The anti-choice protests view the event as “spiritual warfare.” Jennifer Fulwiler wrote recently for the National Catholic Register online that “You get the sense that you’re truly on the front lines of the war between good and evil.” She went on to say that “I count the time I’ve spent as a 40 Days for Life prayer warrior as one of the most important things I’ve done recently — maybe ever.” It is that kind of rhetoric that makes those who work and volunteer at reproductive health care clinics nervous – as it is the same exact rhetoric that has been used by anti-choice terrorist in the past.
Over the last several years, I have written extensively about 40 Days for Life and why it is actually 40 days of harassment. I have gotten up early on Saturday mornings and escorted clients and helped provide a welcoming, affirming, and safe environment for women. But here in Texas, as in other states, reproductive rights are under attack more than ever. Through demeaning waiting periods and insulting so-called counseling sessions, Republican legislators have continued to make a safe and legal medical procedure more and more difficult to obtain. It’s time to stand up for reproductive rights – and it starts by standing up at the fence.
For a movement that wears the label of “pro-life,” the anti-choice movement is celebrating the loss of access to reproductive and basic health care for women in Texas. Yesterday I wrote about effect on women that budget cuts to family planning will have, as well as the public policy failure of diverting those funds to so-called crisis pregnancy centers. The anti-choice community is actively promoting these cuts to women’s health care as a victory for their cause. Despite the mountains of data that shows that family planning services are indispensible to women health care, especially poor and marginalized women, anti-choice activist continue to hail this as a victory for life.
Since the budget cuts have taken affect with the beginning of the fiscal year, family planning clinics around the state have felt the budget crunch. Several clinics have either already closed their doors or are considering closing their doors. According to reporting by the American Independent, seven North Texas Planned Parenthood locations, including sites in Arlington and Plano, have closed due to funding cuts. Other clinics are being forced to no longer provide no cost services and having to charge low-income clients for those services. However, most clinics are still taking Medicaid.
While family planning clinics are closing and more and more poor and working women in Texas are losing access to reproductive and basic health care, the anti-choice movement in Texas is taking all the credit. The Texas Right to Life (TRL) claimed that during the 82nd Texas legislative session they “built the cornerstone by which the abortion industry suffered severe financial losses.” The blog went on to say that legislators embraced TRL’s “strategy to end the shell game of hiding and moving so-called family planning money around in these abortion clinics and their family planning affiliates.” However, most of the clinics that are being forced to close or suffering serve budget cuts don’t actually provide abortion serves.
Perhaps the most audacious claim from TRL was that budget cuts “will save countless lives since women can now seek and find medical care and support from organizations and health care agencies that offer a wide range of services and that do not specialize in selling abortion to Texan women and teens.” The truth is that according to the DSHS own reports the funding cuts will cause a reduction of 180,000 clients out of 220,000 that receive family planning services. Theses budget cuts will cause fewer women to have access to reproductive and basic health care, and it’s difficult to understand how missed well woman exams, cancer screenings, and sexual transmitted disease (STD) testing could save lives.
The Planned Parenthood in Sherman, Texas was forced to shut its doors due to funding cuts, and was part of the seven North Texas Planned Parenthood locations closed. The 40 Days for Life campaign, which begins tomorrow, took to the credit. “The closure was a direct result of the conversion and resignation of the manager of the facility (for which she credits 40 Days for Life) — and the 40 Days for Life prayer presence outside that reduced the organization’s customer traffic.” According to Life Site News the so-called conversation of Ramona Trevino occurred four months ago (which happens to be when the Texas legislature slashed funding for family planning),.Trevino says that she came to the realization that Planned Parenthood “treated women like cattle and how they only cared about making money.” The anti-choice community is comparing to conversion story to that of former Bryan Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson. If her conversation is anything like that of Johnson, she could have a lucrative career ahead of her as a “pro-life advocate.”
In the coming days the anti-choice movement will continue its assault on women’s reproductive health care, during the bi-annual 40 Days for Life protest. While the budget cuts to family planning clinics and the closures of reproductive health care facilities have a very measurable impact on women – the anti-choice protest impact are more difficult to measure. However, what is also difficult to measure is the impact that pro-choice activist can have. Not just on promoting sound public policy, but on the ground by supporting reproductive rights.
Third Wave Foundation has just released a new report on data gathered from their Emergency Abortion Fund (EAF). The fund helps folks with the cost of abortion.
This week on Left of College Station, Teddy asks how do you support reproductive rights? Left of College Station focuses on reproductive rights all these week as the anti-choice 40 Days for Life Protest begins. From the state of Texas funding so-called crisis pregnancy centers, to the defunding of Planned Parenthood in Texas.
Libby Shaw over at TexasKaos brings us up to date on Rick Perry's limelight moment. Called upon to demonstrate his cool under fire before a national audience at the last Republican debate, he showed his true mettle. He melted down. See all the details here: Rick Perry Bombs Presidential Debate.
While Texas has some of the nation’s toughest restrictions on reproductive health care, it has also drastically cut funding to family planning centers. At the same time the state has increased funding to so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPC), which has decreased the access women have to reproductive health care in the state. In Rick Perry’s Texas, women are not trusted to make their own reproductive health care decisions.
As the Texas Tribune reported, the Texas Legislature cut $73.6 million from the Department of State Health Services budget for family planning programs. The budget for family planning went from $111.5 million from 2010-11 to $37.9 million for 2012-13. According to the DSHS own reports the funding cuts will cause a reduction of 180,000 client out of 220,000 that receive family planning services. The Legislative Budget Board estimates that the cuts could lead to 20,500 additional births.
Dorothy Reno, Director of Clinics of Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region, explains below in an interview with Thanh Tan of the Texas Tribune what effect the cuts in family planning will have on Texas women. These effects could include women not detecting breast or cervical cancer until the later stages, or not detecting a sexual transmitted disease (STD) until after transmission to a sexual partner or it having an effect on their fertility.
When taken in the context of a legislative session that saw the Texas budget slashed, especially in areas such as health and human services, it is easy to consider the move to cut family planning as part of a general program of austerity. Except that while the legislature was cutting funds to provide low income women in Texas with access to basic reproductive health care, it was increasing funding for ideological driven CPC’s.
According to reporting by the Texas Tribune, the legislature increased the budget of the Alternatives to Abortion program by $300,000. The $8.3 million budget for the program goes to fund Texas Pregnancy Care Network (TPCN), a nonprofit organization that contracts with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. These funds fund CPC’s, adoption agencies, social service agencies and maternity homes. While the legislature cut funds for women’s reproductive health care, it increased funds for a program that has been a public policy failure.
As the Texas Independent reported, the data shows that by any measure the Alterative to Abortion program has not met its goals and policy objectives. While the state funded family planning programs served approximately 220,000 women annually, the Alternatives to Abortion program only serves 18,000. In 2010, the program fell nearly 20% short of its projected client goal but was rewarded a 60% budget increase in 2009. The program also funnels funds to urban areas while ignoring rural areas that have less access to health care.
Not only are COC’s a policy failure – but they are Constitutional failure as well. Investigative reporting by the Texas Independent shows that CPC’s “routinely blur the line between counseling and religious proselytizing.” This investigation shows that TPCN’s own documents of inspections showed a failure to label and separate “spiritual materials from its education materials.” The investigation also showed that volunteers are told to invoked God when clients want an abortion and to “tell them to trust God, he’s got a bigger plan.”
While conflating religion and medical information, CPC’s has also been found to provide misleading and false information. A federal report commissioned by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) showed that “federally funded ‘pregnancy resource centers’ are incorrectly telling women that abortion results in an increased risk of breast cancer, infertility and deep psychological trauma.” The report found that 20 of 23 federally funded centers told clients misleading or false information about abortion, including the dubious assertion that there is a link between abortion and breast cancer.
The NARAL Pro-Choice Texas Foundation laid out the failures of the Alternatives to Abortion program in a report earlier this year. “The Alternatives to Abortion program provides no recommended health services, does nothing to reduce the rate of unintended pregnancy (and thus the need for abortion), and uses millions of taxpayer dollars to fund a limited network of controversial, unlicensed, and unregulated social service providers.”
At a time when America is facing the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression, when poverty rates in Texas are rising, and the uninsured rate in Texas is the highest in the nation, the Republican dominated Texas legislature cut funding for programs prove to helping working women while increasing funding for religious organizations that do nothing for women’s health care.
With these data visualizations, Remapping Debate identifies all of the many restrictions on abortion that have been legislated in various states. Various pro-choice advocates contacted by Remapping Debate focused on “targeted regulation of abortion providers,” or “TRAP” laws, as the restrictions with significant impact, although they were unable to provide specific studies on the extent of the impact.
Hat-tip to Feministing: "We cannot afford to have a movement just focused on the legal right to abortion when that right is increasingly irrelevant to a growing number of people who need the procedure. If you can’t actually get an abortion who gives a shit if it’s technically legal? We must have a movement focused on abortion access. Because if people can’t actually access abortion, we’ve lost."
Reproductive rights are under attack. According to a recent report by the Guttmacher Institute, “in the first six months of 2011, states enacted 162 new provisions related to reproductive health and rights. Fully 49% of these new laws seek to restrict access to abortion services, a sharp increase from 2010, when 26% of new laws restricted abortion. The 80 abortion restrictions enacted this year are more than double the previous record of 34 abortion restrictions enacted in 2005—and more than triple the 23 enacted in 2010. All of these new provisions were enacted in just 19 states.”
Not only are reproductive rights under attack in state legislatures, but they are also under attack on street level. The bi-annual 40 Days for Life begins next week, and for the 40 days women will be under assault from anti-choice protesters. Protesters will line the streets in front of reproductive health clinics across the nation, and a particular focus will be on Planned Parenthood clinics. This protest began in Bryan-College Station in front of the Bryan Planned Parenthood. If you have ever wanted to support reproductive rights in a hands on way, and if you have ever wanted to make a real difference in women’s lives – now is the time.
Planned Parenthood needs volunteers to escort patients during the protests to help provide a welcoming, affirming, and safe environment. If you would like to volunteer you will be asked to go through a short amount of training, and fill out some paper work. This is will have a direct impact on the lives of women, and you will be directly supporting reproductive rights. If you are looking to make an impact – now is your chance. Send emails to leftofcollegestation@gmail.com if you are interested in volunteering. Stay tuned to Left of College Station for updates from the front lines of the protest and the battle for reproductive rights.
There's a difference between what Michele Bachmann is calling 'PerryCare' and actual peri-care, but there's not as much difference as you might think. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs elaborates.
Rob Bluey at the Heritage Foundation posted a chart showing that entitlements will “consume all tax revenues by 2049.” It appears to show the cost of Medicare, Medicaid (and other health care programs), and Social Security all increasing over time. Looking at that chart you would probably think that we need to reform all of our entitlement programs to avoid systemic long term deficits.
Now look at a chart published by Ezra Klein showing the different government programs over time. Notice something different? This chart shows that the real driving force behind our long term fiscal problems is not government spending in general or Social Security, but the rising cost of health care through Medicare and Medicaid (although Medicare is a more significant problem than Medicaid).
A movement to bring a Wisconsin style battle over collective bargaining rights is coming to Texas. As the Austin American-Statesman reported, a “group of high-powered Houston business leaders is starting a statewide campaign to overhaul retirement for future teachers, firefighters, police officers, judges and other state and local government workers.”
This is a curious battle to fight, and seems like a waste of resources. While unions have traditionally been a center of political power for the Democratic Party, in Texas that power has always been with the trail lawyers. Also, Texas is a so-called right to work state, meaning that most workers do not have the same protections as in other states. According to statistics from the AFL-CIO, Texas has among the lowest percentage of unionized workers in the United States. At 5.4% unionization, only eight other states have a lower percentage of workers in unions.
Stranger still is that Bill King , who is forming Texans for Public Pension Reform with others from the Greater Houston Partnership, isn’t exactly a far right conservative. In his regular columns in the Houston Chronicle, King has criticized S&P’s downgrade of US debt because of their role in the financial collapse, debunked the idea that tax cuts are simulative to the economy, and most recently criticized Rick Perry for his characterization of Social Security as a Ponzi scheme.
Collecting bargaining rights have been more on the radar in Texas recently. The Brownsville Herald reported that the Cameron County Commissioners Court voted to allow voters to decide on whether to allow collective bargaining for employees of the Sheriff’s Department. In Bexar County, the San Antonio Current reports that County Commissioner Kevin Wolff is “openly trying to quash the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County, claiming its heavy influence over department policy has kept the county from running a tighter ship at the jail.”
So, while it is unclear what the motivations behind the push to privatize public workers pensions in Texas are, it’s clear that it could becoming a political issue.
The Four Horseman is a independent cinematic feature documentary which lifts the lid on how the global economy really works. Living in the age of consequence unfettered growth and profit seeking have pushed humanity to the brink.
Today’s Four Horsemen – socially organised violence, debt, iniquity and poverty control all of our lives. They’re gathering momentum, decimating communities and compromising future generations if they are not arrested the planet will gallop to a logical conclusion.
By dispelling the myth that capitalism has failed the Four Horsemen charts how a vast majority of the world’s population have been made to pay for the greatest heist in history. Capitalism hasn’t failed – it has worked perfectly according to the rules the systems creators have established at the detriment to those who can least afford it.
Younger generations sense innately that something is wrong. Disillusionment and unhappiness are far reaching throughout the developed world where almost everyone has got to the end of the benefits of economic growth.
Four Horsemen film pulls together for the first time 23 of the world’s leading thinkers who have held jobs at the highest level and explain where we go from here and how we can begin to re-engage.
Are we headed for a double dip recession? The signs do not look good. The New York Times reports that “economies have a strong self-reinforcing nature. When people are optimistic, they spend, which begets hiring and then more spending. When people are anxious, they pull back, which leads to a cycle of hiring freezes and further anxiety that often lasts for months. The United States appears to have entered some version of the vicious cycle. Most ominously, job growth has slowed to a pace that typically signals the start of a recession.”
Weak Unions, Weak Economy
What connects the weak middle class with the weak economy? Unions. Amy Traub at the Policy Shop writes that “a lack of consumer demand means substantial investment and hiring in the U.S. are often irrational from a business perspective. The nation’s sky-high unemployment and underemployment rates are the biggest immediate cause of the anemic demand. But a closer look at the long-term trends underlying consumer spending power suggests another, less recognized culprit lurking in the weeds: union busting.”
The Limping Middle Class
America will not have a real economic recovery until wealth inequality is addressed. Robert Reich writes in the New York Times that “the economy won’t really bounce back until America’s surge toward inequality is reversed. Even if by some miracle President Obama gets support for a second big stimulus while Ben S. Bernanke’s Fed keeps interest rates near zero, neither will do the trick without a middle class capable of spending. Pump-priming works only when a well contains enough water.”
Still Here, Still Poor
When did the discussion about the economy shift away from the poor and focus solely on the middle class? Katha Pollitt writes in the Nation that “the failure to talk about the poor, male or female, doesn’t mean they’ve gone away. In 2009 the official poverty rate was 14.3 percent—43.6 million people, up from 39.8 million in 2008. One in three Americans is low income (below 200 percent of the poverty line). What kind of American dream leaves them out?”
The Second Death of John Maynard Keynes
Eric Alterman writes in the Nation that “the consequence of Tea Party anti-Keynesianism has been, in Johnson’s words, ‘to reduce publicly funded social benefits—including pensions and Medicare—even as its methods dramatically reduce the value of private wealth now and in the future.’”
Advancement Project, in partnership with Michigan Forward and New Media Advocacy Project, has released a video detailing Michigan's attack on democracy, voting rights and people of color.
Michigan's state legislature passed Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act on March 16,2011. Also known as Public Act 4, this law greatly increases the power and authority of Emergency Managers who can be appointed by the Governor to deal with financial emergencies in schools, cities, villages and townships.
Across Michigan voters have been disenfranchised in Detroit, Benton Harbor, Ecorse and Pontiac under this new legislation. More communities under the threat of Emergency Management are Flint, Highland Park and a potential 150 + school districts across Michigan.
Benton Harbor has seen the most extreme situation where an Emergency Manager has now seized total control of the entire. The order went into effect on April 14,2011 and has virtually stripped citizens of their voting power! In Pontiac, a past manager sold the treasured and historic Pontiac Silverdome stadium for only $583,000 when it cost over $55 million to build.
In Ecorse, emergency managers in both cities made major layoffs to the firefighter and police departments,outsourcing many of the jobs to neighboring cities. Lastly in Detroit, the emergency manager for the largest school system in Michigan has closed schools, and threatens to increase class sizes to 60 students, and completely ignored parent and student voices!
Eric "Illegal Signs" Dick gets nailed to a utility pole the wall once more, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggslaughs and points.
Bay Area Houston notices that a new flavor of ice cream has been created for the Tea Party. Schwetty Balls.
Don't use 9/11 to promote Bush or Cheney. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is appalled at the thought that anyone would give them credit for good actions.
Neil at Texas Liberal made note of his growing appreciation for Rick Perry. With the Governor's lack of any second-guessing over all the people who have been executed while he has been Governor, at least Mr. Perry embraces our culture of violence and death with open arms. The Governor offers voters a clear choice. We'll see what people want in 2012 and we'll move ahead from that point.
President Obama laid out his jobs plan on Thursday night, and I laid out what I thought of the politics. Now, I wanted to look at the policy, and politics aside what I think of the American Jobs Act. My initial impressions are favorable – I think it is an important first step. But I agree with Matthew Yglesias that action by the Federal Reserve might be more important than this plan.
Overall most of the policy wonks I trust are giving the plan high marks, and I think the boldness of the plan surprised many people. Jonathan Cohn at the New Republic breaks down the three essential elements of what makes a stimulus plan successful: size, speed, and smarts. To paraphrase Cohn’s analysis, the plan is the right size because it’s large enough to move the unemployment dial; the plan is the right speed because the majority of the plan goes into effect within the first year; and the plan is smart because the tax breaks are targeted and it’s paid for.
What I like most about the plan is the infrastructure spending. America’s infrastructure is crumbling – and there is no better way to put Americans back to work than having them rebuild our roads and bridges. The plan includes $50 billion in investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation. While $50 billion is rather small compared to the about $2 trillion investment it would take to completely repair our infrastructure – it’s a start.
Most economists will tell you that generally speaking tax cuts are not as simulative for the economy as government spending. However, there are targeted tax cuts that can be simulative. The President’s plan calls to cut in half taxes paid by businesses on their first $5 million in payroll, which the White House claims will affect 98% of business below that threshold. This is a way to prevent larger firms from just pocketing the cash. The plan also calls for a complete payroll tax holiday for added workers or increased wages. In other words if firms hire someone or give someone a raise in the next year they will get a tax break.
There are other small things to like. There are incentives for hiring veterans, whose unemployment rate is hire than the national average. There is $35 billion to prevent layoffs of 280,000 teachers, which would be beneficial in states like Texas where thousands of teachers have been laid off. There is $25 billion to modernize 35,000 schools, and another $5 billion to modernize community colleges. There are plenty of other important components of this plan that are good policy on their own merit. Next week I will look at a few of the parts of the plan individually.
So, how would the plan affect the jobs picture? According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, “the package would increase employment by about 4.3 million jobs over the next couple of years. The new initiatives would boost employment by about 2.6 million jobs, while the continuation of the two temporary provisions (EUI and the payroll tax holiday) would prevent a backslide of over 1.6 million jobs.” The President did not include any estimated numbers on job creation – a political lesson learn from the American Recovery Act.
So, overall it’s not bad. I share Paul Krugman’s take: “The plan would be a lot better than nothing, and some of its measures, which are specifically aimed at providing incentives for hiring, might produce relatively a large employment bang for the buck. As I said, it’s much bolder and better than I expected. President Obama’s hair may not be on fire, but it’s definitely smoking; clearly and gratifyingly, he does grasp how desperate the jobs situation is.”
I have not been impressed by a speech that President Obama (or anything other politician) has given in quite some time. Tonight the President gave a speech in front of a joint session of Congress and surprised me. The style of the speech (I will get to the substance later) about action as opposed to reaction – it was forward looking and visionary. The broad idea of job creation was simple – and the details of the plan where uncomplicated.
More than anything there was a certain amount of energy that was present in his speech that has not been there since the 2008 campaign. I’m not sure how much of the credit should go to the quality of the speechwriting or to quality of the deliver. But, it’s clear that something is different.
This speech also brought into stark relief the difference between his vision and style and that of the Republicans candidates for President. During the Reagan Debate last night most of the Republican candidates regurgitated the same old conservative talk points and their disagreements were mostly over the details of each other’s records and not policy proposals.
Which brings me to what I think is the political implications of the speech, and why I think it is a game changer. It is politically easy to run against something. In 2008 then Senator Obama successful ran against Senator John McCain by running against President Bush’s record. In 2010 the Republicans successfully rain against President Obama behind the enthusiasm of the Tea Party.
In 2012 it is a given that the Republican candidate will use the same strategy – they will run against President Obama’s record. That is unless the President can make the change the conversation. If the President can make the conversation about this policy proposal, and force the Republicans to campaign against a jobs bill it changes things.
It doesn’t matter that the bill will have no chance to pass the Tea Party dominate House, and that Republicans in the Senate will filibuster it. They have to explain why they are against taking action to create jobs – especially since taking control of the House the Congressional Republicans have taken no action on the jobs crisis.
The bottom line was that this was as much about addressing America’s job crisis as it was making a clear distinction between President Obama and the Republican candidates. So, how will this play out? We will wait and see.
I guess my favorite Rick Perry getup is "tough cowboy who shoots coyote with laser pistol". Libby Shaw has some of the others at TexasKaos. Read all about it in her piece: Rick Perry's Colorful Costumes.
With the beginning of the college football season this weekend, Citizen Andy asks "Why does Rice play Texas?" And how does it relate to the wildfires, Obama's cave-in on the EPA's smog rules, the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline protests, Hurricane Irene, and our continued drought and economic malaise, clean air, climate change, and a switch to a clean energy economy? Read up at TexasVox.
"According to statistics from the Texas Workforce Commission, the annual median wage in 2010 for all occupations in Texas was $31,500, or 7 percent less than the national median. The most common occupation sectors in Texas were office and administrative service, sales, and food service. Of the three, office jobs had the highest median wage, at $29,300. Food service had the lowest median wage of all occupation groups, at $17,700 annually. Together these occupational groups made up more than a third of employed Texans."
“The American Dream is about working hard in return for decent wages, economic stability, and being able to provide a better life for your kids. But the kinds of jobs that can provide a solid middle-class life in return for hard work are in short supply in Texas. Unemployment is still high, earnings have been stagnant for a decade, and many workers lack health insurance and retirement savings to protect them financially during a serious illness or when they can no longer work.”
This is from a new report from the Austin-based progressive think tank Center for Public Policy Priorities entitled Texas’ Middle Class and the Opportunity Crisis. The report makes it clear that the Great Recession and Texas’ weak social safety net have had a devastating effect on the middle class in Texas.
The report finds that workers at all levels of education have faced stagnant or declining wages over the last ten years. In all sectors of the Texas economy, employers are also less likely than in other states to provide benefits such as health insurance or pensions. It has also become more costly to raise a family as child care, housing, and gas prices have all become more expensive.
The report notes that the state lost 320,000 due to the Great Recession, and estimates that the recession reduced revenue to the state by $540 million. The lost revenue could have paid the salaries of over 4,700 teachers or nearly 3,900 nurses. The budget cuts made during the 82nd session of the Texas Legislature will also make the job losses worse, and further hurt the middle class.
Instead of taking the steps necessary to protect and strength the middle class, Governor Rick Perry and Republican legislators in Austin have made decisions that will further weaken the middle class and ensure that the so-called Texas Miracle is nothing but a mirage for all but the most affluent Texans.
Posts
