The Senate is picking up the health care reform debate where the House left off. Make sure your senators hear from you and not just insurance industry lobbyists.
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Take action right now!Email your senators and ask them to support single-payer, "Medicare-for-All" reform.
Tell 10 friends how to take action, too.
Today, 120 Americans will die because they lack health insurance. That's 45,000 Americans every year. America is a pay or die country. If you can't afford to pay ever-rising insurance premiums, you could die.
It doesn't have to be this way.
But the legislation working its way through Congress will do little to change it. The best-case scenario will leave millions of Americans uninsured, costs will continue to spiral out of control, and insurance corporations will continue to generate obscene profits by denying coverage to the sick and injured.
Single-payer, "Medicare-for-All" reform will break the stranglehold insurance companies have on you and your family. It will cover everyone. Everybody in, nobody out.
We have to act now!
Email your senators and ask them to support single-payer, "Medicare-for-All" reform.
Tell 10 friends how to take action, too.
We just can't wait any longer. The body count is rising.
Together, we can win this fight.
Onward to "Medicare-for-All"!
Angela, Glenn & Rick
Your advocates at Public Citizen
feedback@citizen.org
Stay informed and speak out when it counts.
Sign up for the Public Citizen Action Network or other online announcement
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Great Depression History:“The name Richard Norris Williams II might not ring a bell to you,” Jim Nelson wrote
“The name Richard Norris Williams II might not ring a bell to you,” Jim Nelson wrote to his Lifetime Income Report readers yesterday. “But in the 1920s, everyone knew who he was. In 1912, 21-year-old Williams gained fame as a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Later that year, he went on to earn his first U.S. mixed tennis championship. Now a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, there wasn’t much Williams didn’t win. He was a 1924 Olympic gold medalist, Wimbledon champion and a five-time U.S. tennis champion.
“On top of all his accomplishments, he was also a highly successful investment broker. He became a partner in an investment firm called C. Clothier Jones & Co. in 1929. His business partners in the small $5 million ($61.5 million today) firm were some of the brightest, most successful investors in the world.
“Of course, after the stock market hit the skids in 1929, the company took a hit. But thanks to the rally in first half of 1930, C. Clothier Jones & Co. was in better shape than ever. He was on top of the world in the spring of 1930. But just like the year before, market speculators pushed stocks higher than they were worth. By late summer, the rally turned into another massive sell-off.
“When October came around, Williams and his partners were doing everything they could to stay in business. Their investments turned to dust, and they were so incredibly overleveraged the only course for them was to fudge some numbers and blatantly lie to shareholders. Williams left the country in mid-October to get married in Europe. By the time he returned, he was a wanted man, for market manipulation. Four of his colleagues and large investors in the company had ended their own lives in that single week…
“We’re fortunate to have history lessons when trying to figure out the market. But there are certain aspects of today’s market that just weren’t there in 1930. Some, like emerging economies, give us a serious advantage over our forefathers. Even if the average investor of 1930 were aware of a possible second downturn, his options would be incredibly limited. Only a millionaire in 1930 could invest in other, safer economies.
“Today, it’s as effortless as buying an ADR through your online broker. We’ve ramped up our portfolio to reflect our favorites: Asia, Africa and Latin America.” For these emerging market income opportunities, read Jim’s Lifetime Income Report.
“On top of all his accomplishments, he was also a highly successful investment broker. He became a partner in an investment firm called C. Clothier Jones & Co. in 1929. His business partners in the small $5 million ($61.5 million today) firm were some of the brightest, most successful investors in the world.
“Of course, after the stock market hit the skids in 1929, the company took a hit. But thanks to the rally in first half of 1930, C. Clothier Jones & Co. was in better shape than ever. He was on top of the world in the spring of 1930. But just like the year before, market speculators pushed stocks higher than they were worth. By late summer, the rally turned into another massive sell-off.
“When October came around, Williams and his partners were doing everything they could to stay in business. Their investments turned to dust, and they were so incredibly overleveraged the only course for them was to fudge some numbers and blatantly lie to shareholders. Williams left the country in mid-October to get married in Europe. By the time he returned, he was a wanted man, for market manipulation. Four of his colleagues and large investors in the company had ended their own lives in that single week…
“We’re fortunate to have history lessons when trying to figure out the market. But there are certain aspects of today’s market that just weren’t there in 1930. Some, like emerging economies, give us a serious advantage over our forefathers. Even if the average investor of 1930 were aware of a possible second downturn, his options would be incredibly limited. Only a millionaire in 1930 could invest in other, safer economies.
“Today, it’s as effortless as buying an ADR through your online broker. We’ve ramped up our portfolio to reflect our favorites: Asia, Africa and Latin America.” For these emerging market income opportunities, read Jim’s Lifetime Income Report.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
"Obama pay cuts a good start, but more is needed" says Public Citizen
October 22, 2009 by Robert Weissman
For the first time, the government appears to be set to take some meaningful action against business fat cats who a) run companies that exist only because of billions of dollars of taxpayer supports and b) still see fit to pay themselves obscene salaries.
The New York Times and other outlets report that Obama administration pay czar Kenneth Feinberg will require executives and top employees at the most bailed-out firms to cut back on salary by 50 percent. If these reports are true, Mr. Feinberg and the Obama administration deserve applause – with one big caveat.
Until now, there has been no systemic mechanism of accountability imposed on top-paid executives and employees at the bailed-out firms. They destroyed their own businesses, not to mention the national economy, but felt entitled nonetheless to hyper-compensation. And the government has done little to discipline them. Now, it appears Feinberg is prepared to do that – for a narrow category of bailout recipients.
Notably, Feinberg reportedly will cap salary and bonuses at AIG Financial Products, the division that brought down a giant multinational and led the government to shovel tens of billions of dollars into AIG, at $200,000. This is an extraordinarily high salary for most people in America, but by the standards of Wall Street it is modest to the point of humbling.
Feinberg has authority only to limit pay at seven bailed-out companies. However, Wall Street itself would likely be out of business but for the trillions of dollars of federal supports it has received, including an array of ongoing supports from the Federal Reserve.
Wall Street firms outside of the Feinberg Seven apparently have no compunction about returning to the outrageous pay practices that helped create the financial crisis. Wall Street is on track to pay an obscene $140 billion in bonuses and compensation, according to Wall Street Journal calculations.
Congress and the administration have demanded no reciprocity for saving the financial system from the financiers outside of the Feinberg Seven. Now is the time to start.
Congress should act immediately to impose a windfall bonus and profits tax on Wall Street. Some substantial portion of the funds that Wall Street aims to pocket as bonus payments and profit-taking should be returned to the public treasury.
Hyper-pay for executives and top traders is not just a symbolic issue. Crazy bonuses linked to this year’s performance helped incentivize dangerous, short-term betting – making it rational to bet on the housing bubble to continue to inflate, even in the face of certainty that it would eventually pop with devastating effects for financial firms (not to mention homeowners, communities and the national and global economy). Separate from addressing the scale of bonus compensation, it is imperative that Congress mandate that bonus payments be based on long-term performance over the course of a business cycle – ideally 10 years, but not less than seven.
Robert Weissman is president of Public Citizen.
For the first time, the government appears to be set to take some meaningful action against business fat cats who a) run companies that exist only because of billions of dollars of taxpayer supports and b) still see fit to pay themselves obscene salaries.
The New York Times and other outlets report that Obama administration pay czar Kenneth Feinberg will require executives and top employees at the most bailed-out firms to cut back on salary by 50 percent. If these reports are true, Mr. Feinberg and the Obama administration deserve applause – with one big caveat.
Until now, there has been no systemic mechanism of accountability imposed on top-paid executives and employees at the bailed-out firms. They destroyed their own businesses, not to mention the national economy, but felt entitled nonetheless to hyper-compensation. And the government has done little to discipline them. Now, it appears Feinberg is prepared to do that – for a narrow category of bailout recipients.
Notably, Feinberg reportedly will cap salary and bonuses at AIG Financial Products, the division that brought down a giant multinational and led the government to shovel tens of billions of dollars into AIG, at $200,000. This is an extraordinarily high salary for most people in America, but by the standards of Wall Street it is modest to the point of humbling.
Feinberg has authority only to limit pay at seven bailed-out companies. However, Wall Street itself would likely be out of business but for the trillions of dollars of federal supports it has received, including an array of ongoing supports from the Federal Reserve.
Wall Street firms outside of the Feinberg Seven apparently have no compunction about returning to the outrageous pay practices that helped create the financial crisis. Wall Street is on track to pay an obscene $140 billion in bonuses and compensation, according to Wall Street Journal calculations.
Congress and the administration have demanded no reciprocity for saving the financial system from the financiers outside of the Feinberg Seven. Now is the time to start.
Congress should act immediately to impose a windfall bonus and profits tax on Wall Street. Some substantial portion of the funds that Wall Street aims to pocket as bonus payments and profit-taking should be returned to the public treasury.
Hyper-pay for executives and top traders is not just a symbolic issue. Crazy bonuses linked to this year’s performance helped incentivize dangerous, short-term betting – making it rational to bet on the housing bubble to continue to inflate, even in the face of certainty that it would eventually pop with devastating effects for financial firms (not to mention homeowners, communities and the national and global economy). Separate from addressing the scale of bonus compensation, it is imperative that Congress mandate that bonus payments be based on long-term performance over the course of a business cycle – ideally 10 years, but not less than seven.
Robert Weissman is president of Public Citizen.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Ten Years After Seattle, It's Time For a WTO Turnaround!
Ten years ago next month, 50,000 global activists shut down the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial in Seattle. Public Citizen played a key role, going so far as to open up a temporary Seattle office to help organize the protests. History was made when a devastating plan to expand the WTO's reign of corporate globalization was derailed.
On November 30, 2009 - ten years to the day of the Seattle protests - trade ministers and their corporate allies will meet in Geneva to try once again to expand the WTO, in spite of the global economic disaster caused by their failed policies. We can't let that happen. Instead, we must join activists worldwide in demanding that the existing damaging WTO regime be fundamentally transformed!
That's why we're launching a new WTO Turnaround campaign today. We must remind President Obama that true change requires him to deliver on his campaign commitments to create a new American trade model and to fix the old agreements now causing so much harm. Visit the campaign website WTOturnaround.org and sign the petition to President Obama.
Public Citizen started working on "trade" when we realized that agreements like the WTO weren't about tariffs and quotas anymore, but instead were a backdoor attack on key public interest policies. From imported food and product safety to environmental protection and financial services regulation, the WTO places limits on what we can do to solve these problems.
Following the historic events in Seattle in 1999, our work to expose the current globalization model gained widespread prominence and acceptance. We can once again harness the spirit of Seattle to remind our friends and neighbors, as well as President Obama, that the existing WTO terms still are having a devastating impact on our jobs, economic security, food safety and the environment. Rather than expand the WTO's corporate agenda, we must change the existing rules.
To deliver on just about every important issue of our day, from solving the climate crisis to reregulating the financial industry, President Obama will need to repair existing WTO rules to make sure the WTO doesn't get in the way of fixing these urgent problems.
Tell President Obama we're ready to fight for a WTO turnaround plan and to work with him to create rules for a global economy that, as he put it, works for all of us not just large corporate interests. Then, ask your friends to join us.
Support Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
Thanks for all that you do,
Lori Wallach
Director, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch division
P.S. Over the next few weeks, you'll hear more about our WTOturnaround.org efforts. We'll be organizing house parties to view the film Battle in Seattle, grassroots rallies and more. But first, you can sign our petition to Obama and urge your friends to do so as well.
On November 30, 2009 - ten years to the day of the Seattle protests - trade ministers and their corporate allies will meet in Geneva to try once again to expand the WTO, in spite of the global economic disaster caused by their failed policies. We can't let that happen. Instead, we must join activists worldwide in demanding that the existing damaging WTO regime be fundamentally transformed!
That's why we're launching a new WTO Turnaround campaign today. We must remind President Obama that true change requires him to deliver on his campaign commitments to create a new American trade model and to fix the old agreements now causing so much harm. Visit the campaign website WTOturnaround.org and sign the petition to President Obama.
Public Citizen started working on "trade" when we realized that agreements like the WTO weren't about tariffs and quotas anymore, but instead were a backdoor attack on key public interest policies. From imported food and product safety to environmental protection and financial services regulation, the WTO places limits on what we can do to solve these problems.
Following the historic events in Seattle in 1999, our work to expose the current globalization model gained widespread prominence and acceptance. We can once again harness the spirit of Seattle to remind our friends and neighbors, as well as President Obama, that the existing WTO terms still are having a devastating impact on our jobs, economic security, food safety and the environment. Rather than expand the WTO's corporate agenda, we must change the existing rules.
To deliver on just about every important issue of our day, from solving the climate crisis to reregulating the financial industry, President Obama will need to repair existing WTO rules to make sure the WTO doesn't get in the way of fixing these urgent problems.
Tell President Obama we're ready to fight for a WTO turnaround plan and to work with him to create rules for a global economy that, as he put it, works for all of us not just large corporate interests. Then, ask your friends to join us.
Support Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
Thanks for all that you do,
Lori Wallach
Director, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch division
P.S. Over the next few weeks, you'll hear more about our WTOturnaround.org efforts. We'll be organizing house parties to view the film Battle in Seattle, grassroots rallies and more. But first, you can sign our petition to Obama and urge your friends to do so as well.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Final DOD Appropriations bill MUST include the Franken Amendment, S.A. 2588.
Thanks to help from activists like you, lawmakers passed Sen. Al Franken's (D-Minn.) amendment to bar defense contractors from forcing employees with sexual assault and discrimination claims into arbitration. But now, as the House and Senate negotiate a final version of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (DOD Appropriations bill, H.R. 3326), Senate leaders are considering weakening the amendment by leaving discrimination victims unprotected.
A man crawling across an endless field of contracts toward the scales of justice far in the distance,
Call Sen. Reid today!
Stand up to corporate defense contractors on behalf of victims of discrimination and assault! Call Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) TODAY and tell him the final DOD Appropriations bill MUST include the Franken Amendment, S.A. 2588.
No one -- especially a victim of a heinous, violent crime -- should be denied access to a judge and jury because of a binding mandatory arbitration clause in a contract. Please help ensure that this important amendment is passed and this abuse of power by government defense contractors ends.
Call Sen. Reid today and tell him not to strip out or water down the Franken Amendment! You'll find instructions and talking points on our Web site. Please don't forget to let us know what you hear!
donate Thank you for all you do,
Rick, Angela and Glenn
Your Advocates at Public Citizen
action@citizen.org
P.S. After you speak with your senators or their staff, let us know how it went! Complete the easy form on our Web page after dialing, or send us an email at action@citizen.org.
A man crawling across an endless field of contracts toward the scales of justice far in the distance,
Call Sen. Reid today!
Stand up to corporate defense contractors on behalf of victims of discrimination and assault! Call Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) TODAY and tell him the final DOD Appropriations bill MUST include the Franken Amendment, S.A. 2588.
No one -- especially a victim of a heinous, violent crime -- should be denied access to a judge and jury because of a binding mandatory arbitration clause in a contract. Please help ensure that this important amendment is passed and this abuse of power by government defense contractors ends.
Call Sen. Reid today and tell him not to strip out or water down the Franken Amendment! You'll find instructions and talking points on our Web site. Please don't forget to let us know what you hear!
donate Thank you for all you do,
Rick, Angela and Glenn
Your Advocates at Public Citizen
action@citizen.org
P.S. After you speak with your senators or their staff, let us know how it went! Complete the easy form on our Web page after dialing, or send us an email at action@citizen.org.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Last call? House single payer vote this week Oct.15 !
This is the week!
The Weiner Amendment for Single Payer is expected to go to a floor vote in the House of Representatives on Thursday, October 15.
Please--get busy, get to the phone, and call on your Representative to support single payer. Thanks for all you've done to date... now, we are coming down to the wire!
The Weiner Amendment substitutes a single payer bill for the complicated and fiscally unsustainable legislation being considered by the House. For information on the current single payer bill, HR 676, see this page on Rep. John Conyers's website. Rep. Conyers is the primary sponsor of HR 676, which currently has 88 co-sponsors. Rep. Joe Baca (CA-43) signed up last week, so it is not too late to ask your representative to co-sponsor too!
Don't just get mad that the health [sic] care industry has spent $380 million-plus on lobbying and advertising in just the last few months.... or that the Senate Finance Committee bill was written by a former Wellpoint V.P., now Baucus' principle staffer on health care reform... or that a recent study documented that more than 44,000 Americans die each year for lack of insurance.
Get busy!
* Call your representative and ask that he or she vote to support the Weiner Amendment.
* Ask your rep to also support the Kucinich amendment so state governments can create their own single payer programs.
* On the Senate side, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will introduce two single-payer amendments to the Senate health care bill. One to create a national single-payer plan, the other to allow states to adopt single-payer. Your senators need to hear from you as well. Call them now!
* Finally, forward this email. Tell everyone on your lists to let their voices be heard before it's too late.
As Leonard Rodberg has written, we're being presented with a false choice. Some Democrats and pundits claim we need to pass a plan--any plan--to avoid a Gingrich-style House takeover next year. But the plan, he writes, "is a DOG... Relatively few people will benefit from it, while everyone who has to use health care will continue to experience the mess that is, and will continue to be, the American health care system."
As long as money drives politics, politicians will follow the lead of donors, not voters. As long as health care is a for-profit business for investors, premiums will rise and insurers will cherry-pick the healthiest and wealthiest subscribers.
We say health care is a right and our government should respond to our call for a health care system that respects the people's right to decent, affordable care. We demand single payer, the real cure for ailing health care and a damaged democracy.
Make your call today! Thank you!
As a member or supporter of the Alliance for Democracy, you'll receive a monthly e-mail newsletter to update you on our work and alert you to ways you can act to support it. We will also send you periodic "Action Alerts" that pertain to our campaigns and those of allied groups.
The Alliance for Democracy
PO Box 540115, Waltham, MA 02454
781-894-1179 * JOIN www.thealliancefordemocracy.org
The Weiner Amendment for Single Payer is expected to go to a floor vote in the House of Representatives on Thursday, October 15.
Please--get busy, get to the phone, and call on your Representative to support single payer. Thanks for all you've done to date... now, we are coming down to the wire!
The Weiner Amendment substitutes a single payer bill for the complicated and fiscally unsustainable legislation being considered by the House. For information on the current single payer bill, HR 676, see this page on Rep. John Conyers's website. Rep. Conyers is the primary sponsor of HR 676, which currently has 88 co-sponsors. Rep. Joe Baca (CA-43) signed up last week, so it is not too late to ask your representative to co-sponsor too!
Don't just get mad that the health [sic] care industry has spent $380 million-plus on lobbying and advertising in just the last few months.... or that the Senate Finance Committee bill was written by a former Wellpoint V.P., now Baucus' principle staffer on health care reform... or that a recent study documented that more than 44,000 Americans die each year for lack of insurance.
Get busy!
* Call your representative and ask that he or she vote to support the Weiner Amendment.
* Ask your rep to also support the Kucinich amendment so state governments can create their own single payer programs.
* On the Senate side, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will introduce two single-payer amendments to the Senate health care bill. One to create a national single-payer plan, the other to allow states to adopt single-payer. Your senators need to hear from you as well. Call them now!
* Finally, forward this email. Tell everyone on your lists to let their voices be heard before it's too late.
As Leonard Rodberg has written, we're being presented with a false choice. Some Democrats and pundits claim we need to pass a plan--any plan--to avoid a Gingrich-style House takeover next year. But the plan, he writes, "is a DOG... Relatively few people will benefit from it, while everyone who has to use health care will continue to experience the mess that is, and will continue to be, the American health care system."
As long as money drives politics, politicians will follow the lead of donors, not voters. As long as health care is a for-profit business for investors, premiums will rise and insurers will cherry-pick the healthiest and wealthiest subscribers.
We say health care is a right and our government should respond to our call for a health care system that respects the people's right to decent, affordable care. We demand single payer, the real cure for ailing health care and a damaged democracy.
Make your call today! Thank you!
As a member or supporter of the Alliance for Democracy, you'll receive a monthly e-mail newsletter to update you on our work and alert you to ways you can act to support it. We will also send you periodic "Action Alerts" that pertain to our campaigns and those of allied groups.
The Alliance for Democracy
PO Box 540115, Waltham, MA 02454
781-894-1179 * JOIN www.thealliancefordemocracy.org
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Support Relief for Earthquakes & Tsunamis in Indonesia & Pacific
According to estimates, the most recent earthquake in Indonesia killed upward of 500, and the number is expected to rise. In addition, tens of thousands were forced to leave their homes.
Support relief efforts in Asia and the Pacific. »
Take Action!
Because of the back-to-back emergencies, there's been a significant strain on resources and humanitarian assistance groups need your support.
Their relief and recovery efforts will need to take into account the immediate needs of the children and families affected along with long-term effects of the disasters, including health risks posed by contaminated water, poor nutrition, and psychosocial trauma.
Every day 24,000 children die of preventable causes -- let's make sure these emergencies don't further compound the tragedy of these unnecessary deaths. Pledge to support the humanitarian aid agencies helping the people affected by the spate of natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific. »
Thanks for taking action!
Samer
ThePetitionSite
Support Relief Efforts in Asia and the Pacific
Back-toback emergencies have devastated several parts of the Asia-Pacific region.
Take Action!
Support relief efforts in Asia and the Pacific. »
Take Action!
Because of the back-to-back emergencies, there's been a significant strain on resources and humanitarian assistance groups need your support.
Their relief and recovery efforts will need to take into account the immediate needs of the children and families affected along with long-term effects of the disasters, including health risks posed by contaminated water, poor nutrition, and psychosocial trauma.
Every day 24,000 children die of preventable causes -- let's make sure these emergencies don't further compound the tragedy of these unnecessary deaths. Pledge to support the humanitarian aid agencies helping the people affected by the spate of natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific. »
Thanks for taking action!
Samer
ThePetitionSite
Support Relief Efforts in Asia and the Pacific
Back-toback emergencies have devastated several parts of the Asia-Pacific region.
Take Action!
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