Economics
Why We Need Labor Unions in Our Community
By John Spiegelhoff and Dale Moerke
What exactly is a Labor Union and why should I care about them? If you would ask a random person on the street you would get probably some interesting answers.
Here is one textbook definition of a Labor Union: An association, combination, or organization of employees who band together to secure favorable wages, improved working conditions, and better work hours.
But a Labor Union is much more than a textbook definition. Union members are your family members and your neighbors. They live in the same community as you. Union ...
A Business Owes Nothing in Taxes & Gets a State Check?
A Business Owes Nothing in Taxes & Gets a State Check?
"Why doesn’t the press cover what’s happening with refundable tax credits?” I asked the journalist. We were chatting about what I found in the state budget. “Because the press doesn’t understand them,” she told me.“Doesn’t understand them?” I thought. “There has to be an easy way to describe what’s happening...”Imagine if you had no state tax taken out of your paycheck. You filed your tax return but you owed nothing. Now imagine the state sent you a refund check. Wow!
This is like ...
WORKERS’ MEMORIAL DAY – APRIL 28TH
Unless you are a labor historian, you probably wouldn’t know who Mary “Mother” Jones was. But her legacy in the labor movement is immense.
Mary Mother Jones was born Mary Harris in 1837 in Cork, Ireland. She moved to Toronto, Canada at ten years old due to the potato famine in Ireland. In her early adulthood she moved to the United States, married and had four children. In 1867 yellow fever struck her entire family leaving her a widow. She moved to Chicago where her small dressmaking shop eventually burned in the 1871 Chicago fire.
In her later years, Mary ...
Worker Exploitation Laws
A group of people decide to go out to eat. Everyone in the group knows that they will receive a bill when they finish eating. Two people in the group decide that the others will need to pay their dinner bill despite partaking in the benefits of the meal.
After reading this hypothetical situation did you perhaps say to yourself “I would never think about doing something like that!”
This hypothetical situation is similar to what people commonly and unfortunately call “Right to Work” laws. “Right to Work” is a name or slogan that can be accurately described ...
Blue Jean Nation
American democracy is caught on the horns of a dilemma. Most Americans are feeling fed up with the Republicans and let down by the Democrats — with good reason — as both major parties are failing the country. Yet a third party isn't the answer. Like it or not, America has a two-party system.
Ours was not set up as a parliamentary democracy, where competing factions can join forces and form coalition governments. We don't have fusion voting, or instant runoff voting, or proportional representation, or any of the mechanisms that would allow third parties or independ...
RE-PURPOSING GOVERNMENT
REPURPOSING GOVERNMENT
This commentary is a distillation of Mike McCabe’s keynote speech at the Wisconsin Grassroots Network festival in Mazomanie on March 28. It was first published as an opinion column by the online news site Wistopia on April 3. It is reprinted from the Blue Jean Nation website at: http://www.bluejeannation.com/commentary04-13-2015/
It’s easy to be consumed by what or who we are against rather than what we are for. But if we are going to get Wisconsin and our nation out of the rut we are in politically, we cannot afford to dwell on what ...
Corporate Colonization of Wisconsin – Part VI: Free Markets don’t make Free People
This is the sixth in a series of articles by Dr. Keith Roberts discussing the corporate colonization of the state of Wisconsin. In this segment Dr. Roberts discusses the fallacy of “Free Markets” and how plutocrats have taken over national economies and political parties. Previous articles in this series can be found archived under the author’s name.
You can always tell if an organization or think tank is trying to pick your pocket if it has “free market” in its title or as one of its goals. Organizations like the Club for Growth, The Heritage Foundation, ...
TAXES BUILD COMMUNITIES
Philip Anderson has been working with Duluth, MN activists to organize events for the week of Tax Day. They are planning a teach-in, a rally, and have created the following survey to show REAL people's public spending priorities. Please take the online survey! It is important that many people take the survey. This will be the message for the April 15 rally. Congress is doing this.... but people want better priorities! "How would you spend $1 trillion?” www.surveymonkey.com/s/V5LYJQK Please pass this survey on to your contacts.
Everyone loves to hate taxes ...
CRITICAL PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN
Elected Congressional officials must act soon in order for CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) and several child nutrition programs to continue beyond this year.
CHIP provides affordable health insurance coverage to millions of kids in the US, and over 150,000 in Wisconsin. Thanks in part to CHIP, 93 percent of children in America have health coverage with low premiums, deductibles, and the preventive care children need.
Nutrition programs like school breakfast and lunch and WIC provide nourishing meals to low- and moderate-income children both in and out of ...
VOTE “YES” FOR OUR CHILDREN’S AND COMMUNITY’S FUTURE
Tuesday, April 7th, voters in the Wausau School District get a chance to approve some much needed repairs and upgrades for our children in the Wausau School District. As a result of four years of community involvement and planning, two referendum questions will be on the ballot.
Question #1* allows the school district to raise money for needed maintenance and neighborhood school building renovations. The bond money will be used to:
Provide additional space for students at overcrowded John Marshal, Rib Mountain, Hewitt-Texas, and South Mountain elementary schools,...
