How We Can & Why We Must Stave Off The Assaults On Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security & Public Assistance
With
. Joe Baker, Pres., Medicare Rights Center, serves on the US Dept. of Health and Human Services Medicare/Medicaid Advisory Panel, former NYS Deputy Sec'y for Health and Human Services under Gov. David Paterson
. Timothy Casey, Senior Staff Attorney with Legal Momentum
. Nancy Altman, Co-Chair, Strengthen Social Security Campaign

Sixteen years ago Pres. Clinton and a bipartisan Congress replaced Aid To Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) which has proven to be a disaster for poor parents and children, even more so in the midst of recession and economic downturn. The shredding of the safety net began with AFDC and is expanding with proposals to cut, to privatize, to block grant or set up vouchers for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Both political parties seem willing to sacrifice key elements of these programs at the altar of the budget deficit
*********************
http://archive.org/stream/BuildingBridgesAssaultsOnTheSafetyNet  play stream


http://archive.org/download/BuildingBridgesAssaultsOnTheSafetyNet/safetynetntl.mp3  download

Read More...

Corporations Say, Why Bargain With Free Labor When There’s A Captive Labor At Our Disposal?
with
Rania Khalek, independent journalist, AlterNet

Prison labor is every Corporation's dream - cheap labor, no sick leave, no
time off, no holidays and employees that can be easily replaced. Of course,
for human rights activists however, it's a nightmare, because the other side
of the coin is forced labor, no unions, low or no pay and no protections
whatsoever for the workers. Corporations have used or currently uses
prison labor for anything from holiday coffee for Starbucks to cutting
airplane components for Boeing, making Game Boys for Nintendo,
producing equipment for the war in Iraq, shrink wrapping mouse devices
for Microsoft, making dentures, down to sewing lingerie for Victoria
Secrets. The use of slave labor and now the use of prison labor is
a multi-billion dollar business.
********************
Medicare Is the Answer, Not the Problem
with
MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D., Congressional Fellow for the
18,000-member Physicians for a National Health Program.
Sara Somers, Senior Attorney, National Health Law Program

Both Democrats and Republicans are missing the point by putting the
emphasis on controlling Medicare and Medicaid costs without effectively
addressing the reasons for our rising health care costs. Rather than
embracing the Republican rhetoric which blames our public insurances,
Democrats would do well to call out the real reason for our health care
spending crisis: our current fragmented and profit-driven model, and
advocate for a national improved Medicare for all. Watching the actions
in D.C. is like watching the same political theater we have seen for each
issue. The crisis, manufactured, or real, becomes an excuse to pretend
to fight over the solutions, all the while continuing to move towards greater
austerity measures for necessities such as health care, housing, education,
jobs and pensions. We must address the root causes of the direction
this country is headed, corporatism and militarism, through unity and mass
acts of resistance. We will not email or elect ourselves out of this situation.

play stream or

download

Read More...

Prostrated At the Altar of the Balanced Budget: Sacrificing Social Security, Medicare, and Economic Recovery
with
James Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. Chair in Gov't/ Business Relations, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

The Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction Commission established by the president, will deliver an attack on Social Security and Medicare dressed up in the sanctimonious rhetoric of deficit reduction. The Obama spending freeze is another sacrifice to the deficit gods. But, the deficit phobia of Wall Street, the press, some economists and practically all politicians is one of the deepest dangers that we face. It's not just the old and the sick who are threatened; we all are. To cut federal budget deficits without first rebuilding the economy is a sure path to stagnation, to a double-dip recession--even to a second Great Depression.
***********************
It's Time to Play "Social Security Survivor"
with
Gerald W. McEntee, Pres., American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees

A broad coalition of groups has been formed to defend Social Security. Of all the ideas proposed this one comes from AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee: A new reality show starring the people who want to cut Social Security. He suggests having John Boehner, billionaire
benefit-cut advocate Peter G. Peterson, and Deficit Commission chairs Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles live for a year on the average Social Security benefit of $14,000.

play or download

click comments below to post to this blog

Read More...

African American Unemployment Skyrockets
with
Algernon Austin, Director of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program,
Economic Policy Institute

Happy Forty-Fourth Birthday Medicare: A Successful Model for Health Care Reform
with
. Mikuak Rai, Organizer, Coalition of the Uninsured and Under-insured for Single Payer, Washington, D.C.
. Katie Robbins, Asst National Coordinator, Health-Care Now!

play or download

click below for more information or to post to this blog



African American Unemployment Skyrockets
with
Algernon AustinDirector of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program,
Economic Policy Institute

As the U.S. struggles with the highest unemployment rate in a
generation, African Americans are especially hard pressed to find
jobs. Overall unemployment in June reached a new high of 9.5%,
but white unemployment was 8.7%, while the African American
unemployment rate was a staggering 14.7%. African American
male unemployment was at "recessionary” levels even when the
overall economy had been strong. In 2006, for example,
unemployment was 3.9% among white men and 9.7% among
black men.
*************
Happy Forty-Fourth Birthday Medicare: A Successful Model for Health Care Reform
with
. Mikuak Rai, Organizer, Coalition of the Uninsured and Under-insured for Single Payer, Washington, D.C.
. Katie Robbins, Asst National Coordinator, Health-Care Now!

On July 30th the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care
will rallied centrally in Washington, D.C. with concurrent actions around the country to bring the message to Congress that the people, unions, health care workers and faith groups support a single-payer system based on the same principles as Medicare which has successfully provided care to seniors and people with disabilities for almost half a century. With little over 3% administrative overhead, we must look tothis solution to our health care crisis and not the crazy quilt, inadequate, expensive so-called reform built on our failed private insurance system that the Obama Administration is pushing.

Read More...