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Thursday,
February 13, 2003 “The tax cut plan proposed by President Bush is not the answer,” declared the economists in a full-page ad in the New York Times. “Passing these tax cuts will worsen the long-term budget outlook, adding to the nation’s projected chronic deficits.” In an interview with the BBC, Nobel laureate Joseph Steiglitz called the Bush tax cut proposal “fiscal madness.” Stiglitz is one of a growing number of financial experts who say the Bush proposal is the wrong plan at the wrong time and benefits the wrong people. Families earning more than $1 million a year would receive 60 percent of the $624.5 billion in tax cuts over the next decade. “You should get money out to people who will spend it and spend it quickly,” said Steiglitz. “That means getting money to the unemployed, who have had their consumption cut back ― that would make a big difference.”
Greenspan Flip-Flops on Tax Cuts The comments reversed Greenspan’s earlier endorsements of tax cuts as a means to stimulate economic growth and signaled new problems for Bush’s proposed $1.3 billion tax cut plan. Greenspan pointed to record deficits in the Bush budget, describing projected shortfalls of $304 billion this year and $307 next year as “sobering.” Greenspan also rejected the notion that the tax cuts will pay for themselves by boosting economic growth. “Difficult choices will be required to restore fiscal discipline,” intoned the aging Fed Chair, who caused the current recession when he recklessly raised interest rates in the late 1990s.
Bush Medicare Plan Hits GOP Snag Both the pharmaceutical industry and major insurance providers have strongly lobbied President Bush for measures that would force seniors to join health maintenance organizations or similar plans in order to get the prescription drug coverage. A draft being circulated to Hill leaders would require Medicare beneficiaries to move to a private health plan—PPOs, preferred provider organizations, which are a form of managed care—as a condition for obtaining drug coverage. “Because elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries are high users of medical care, companies that operate PPOs have looked on the program as a poor business risk,” said a report in Congress Daily. That premise “can be shown by the fact that when Medicare formally opened to PPOs in 1997, not one signed up,” the article noted. “The Alliance for Retired Americans is adamantly opposed to linking drug coverage to private plans,” stressed an ARA spokesman. “The President’s proposal is just another attempt to dismantle the existing Medicare program. The Alliance will do whatever is necessary to defeat this proposal.”
Democrats Offer Single-Payer Health Plan The plan would expand the current Medicare system to all U.S. citizens and fund it through both the existing Medicare tax and a new payroll tax. It would provide coverage for primary care, prescription drugs, dental and vision services. It would also keep the current system of private physicians and hospitals.
Senate Bill Expands Family Leave Act Under current law, workers may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for newborns, adopted children, or seriously ill family members. Although studies have shown the law is popular among workers, many of them cannot take advantage of it because they cannot afford to take unpaid leave, Dodd explained. The proposed measure marks the 10th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act. By contrast, Republicans marked the anniversary by pushing a so-called “comp time” plan that allows employers to offer unpaid compensatory time in lieu of paid overtime. “Here we go again,” scoffed IP Tom Buffenbarger. “This is just another backdoor assault on the 40-hour week and fair labor standards.”
IAM CARES For Airline Employees “Airline workers were among the first victims of the terrorist attacks,” said IAM Vice President Robert Roach, Jr. “Before the smoke cleared in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, more than 100,000 airline workers across the U.S. became economic casualties.” IAM CARES is the organization supported by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to help members and families in need. The airline employee program is in addition to the more than 26 IAM CARES programs already in place in the United States and Canada. For more information about IAM CARES and the new airline employee assistance programs, visit www.goiamnow.org/iamcares.
World Bank Applauds Union Membership In the just-released report, the Bank analyzed more than 1,000 studies on union pay and found U.S. workers covered by collective bargaining agreements typically earn 15 percent more than their non-union counterparts. Internationally, the report found union membership narrowed the wage gap between male and female workers and reduced discrimination among indigenous peoples. The report noted advantages to union membership in rich and poor countries alike. “What’s going on here?” asked IP Tom Buffenbarger. “First, we hear Fed Chair Alan Greenspan rebuking the Bush tax plan, then the World Bank embraces trade unions. These are strange times indeed."
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