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Middle Class Issues

POSTS

  • Feds Spend 5x More on Illegal Immigrants than on Appalachian Citizens Feds Spend 5x More on Illegal Immigrants than on Appalachian Citizens
      “Rich Men North of Richmond,” the protest song that soared to No. 1 on iTunes during the August 12 weekend, is an ode to forgotten blue-collar America. The hit is sung by Christopher Anthony Lunsford, aka Oliver Anthony, a former factory worker who lives in Appalachia, an area dotted with abandoned factories. It’s also a ...
  • For Los Angeles Unified $18 Billion Won’t Save District For Los Angeles Unified $18 Billion Won’t Save District
    In what is certain to be financial history’s worst-ever return on investment, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) unanimously approved an $18.8 billion budget. The district’s central budget will be $12.9 billion, but separate funds will contribute to the $18.8 billion total that will also be designated for adult education, the ...
  • Teachers Quitting over COVID Fallout, Overcrowding Teachers Quitting over COVID Fallout, Overcrowding
    The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the most trusted barometer of children’s classroom progress, has just delivered bad but expected news. Post COVID-19 lockdown testing found that kids are going backwards in both reading and math. Thirteen-year-olds who took the NAEP test during the 2022-2023 school year performed at ...
  • Senate Introduces E-Verify – Again! Senate Introduces E-Verify – Again!
    Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reintroduced legislation to help businesses comply with immigration laws by certifying that their employees are legally authorized to work in the United States. The “Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act” would permanently authorize and expand the E-Verify program, an internet-based program. The bill requires employers to use the ...
  • Manipulated January BLS Report Lacks Credibility Manipulated January BLS Report Lacks Credibility
    Delved into, the January Bureau of Labor Statistics report isn’t credible. Wall Street analysts had projected that the economy would add 185,000 jobs, but the announced 517,000 new jobs totally stunned market watchers. Skeptics included Forbes Magazine experts who pointed to several eyebrow-raising variables. Citing reliable sources, most or all of the ...
  • Corporate America Gets Richer on the Backs of U.S. Workers Corporate America Gets Richer on the Backs of U.S. Workers
    In August, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced that corporate profit margins during the previous three months established a new record. In all, corporate profits for 2022’s second quarter hit $2 trillion. BEA released its data after oil companies, food giants, agriculture and other major industries also ...
  • DeSantis Trolls America And That’s a Good Thing! DeSantis Trolls America And That’s a Good Thing!
    Founder's Corner Dear All, Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking at the National Conservatism Conference, NatCon3, in Miami. It was a personal political journey filled with twists and turns and for some I’m sure it’s hard to imagine how I’ve gone from a very well-known Progressive and former Executive Board member of the California ...
  • Biden Agenda Excludes ‘Equity’ for Black Workers Biden Agenda Excludes ‘Equity’ for Black Workers
    On his first day in office, President Biden signed an Executive Order to advance racial equity and to support underserved communities, an admirable goal, and one that most Americans share. Unfortunately for residents of those struggling communities, many of them African-American, on the same day, Biden signed several other Executive Orders ...
  • The real meaning of the Statue of Liberty The real meaning of the Statue of Liberty
    Executive Director's Corner Dear All: Given the numerous attempts to pack immigration provisions into current spending bills, there’s probably no better time to talk about the real meaning of the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty has long been a beacon for immigrants, and not just any immigrants, but the poorest and most destitute around the globe. ...
  • Overpopulation Is No Laughing Matter Overpopulation Is No Laughing Matter
    Executive Director’s Corner Dear All: In The People Who Hate People, Jerusalem Demsas of the Atlantic writes: “Although major organizations have abandoned population management as an explicit policy goal, the underlying fear that too many people are running up on the limits of too few resources and Well shouldn’t someone do something about that? has never fully been rooted ...
  • On MLK Day, Congressional Black Caucus Ignores Wage Gap Solutions On MLK Day, Congressional Black Caucus Ignores Wage Gap Solutions
      The Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday came and went, as it always does, without a peep from the Congressional Black Caucus about how the influential U.S. representatives could most help African-Americans. If the powerful Caucus, 58 members strong, would demand an immigration pause, black Americans could close the earnings gap between them and other ethnic ...
  • Frivolous White House Neglects National Security Frivolous White House Neglects National Security
    To learn first-hand how negligent the federal government is about national security, book an airline reservation to any destination. By comparison to the open Southwest border, airports are locked down tight. The pre-boarding drill is too familiar. Travelers, once at the football-field long Transportation Safety Administration pre-boarding line, must remove shoes. ...
  • Displacing American Workers a Norm for Polite Society Displacing American Workers a Norm for Polite Society
    In an article titled, Decline in Immigration Threatens Growth of Regions on the Rise, New York Times columnist Miriam Jordan states that “Immigrants helped make places like Northwest Arkansas economic dynamos. But their dwindling numbers, a big factor in slower population growth, could have long-term repercussions.” Her claim is predicated on the assumption that in a ...
  • Rigid Time versus Flowing Time Rigid Time versus Flowing Time
    I often complain about my children’s apparent disregard for time. For them, time seems to be irrelevant in their daily lives. Have an appointment? It’s OK to be late. Need to be at work at 8:00 AM? 8:05 is OK. Granddaughter’s bedtime? What’s that? For me as a member of the ...
  • Southern California’s Neoliberal Impacts During the Pandemic Southern California’s Neoliberal Impacts During the Pandemic
    I live in Southern California, where generations of my family have lived since the 1880s. All I know about the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1919 I learned through history books in university. My grandmother wouldn’t talk about it. Oddly, in the case of a pandemic, the past to me is not so very helpful. In the ...
  • STEM and Foreign Dollars STEM and Foreign Dollars
    Dear All: Once again, I am at a loss to shed any light on the much-anticipated H-1B visa rule changes. As of yesterday, they appear to be making their requisite bureaucratic rounds and are now at the Office of Management and Budget. Fingers crossed that what will eventually emerge will be something to celebrate. Earlier this week, ...
  • Which Party is Labor’s Friend Which Party is Labor's Friend
    Dear All: Fred Stafford’s article in the Jacobin “How Trump Got His Right-Wing New Deal Victory” provides much of the fodder for this week’s Founder’s Corner.  Excluding the slights and backhanded compliments directed at “yours truly,” his commentary is best summed up in these words: “And just like that, Trump had saved two hundred union workers at ...
  • August BLS Report Omits Key Data Revealing Future Worker Challenges, including Immigration and Robotics August BLS Report Omits Key Data Revealing Future Worker Challenges, including Immigration and Robotics
    Shortly after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its August report which showed that the economy had created a middling 130,000 new jobs, the White House issued an effusive statement. Pointing to record low unemployment rates for black Americans, 5.5 percent, and for Hispanics, 4.2 percent, the White House report written by the Council of Economic Advisors ...
  • Senate to Consider American Job-Busting Bill Senate to Consider American Job-Busting Bill
    Shortly before Congress adjourned for its summer break, what it aggrandizingly likes to refer to as “constituent work days,” the House of Representatives passed a horrible immigration bill, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act. U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who never met a bill to expand the foreign-born labor pool at American workers’ expense she ...
  • Fallacy of Training ‘Reskilling’ Shibboleth Meme Fallacy of Training ‘Reskilling’ Shibboleth Meme
    shibboleth: a word or saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning (Merriam-Webster)   In July 2018, President Trump announced an initiative to train and “reskill” Americans for jobs. Hey, I believed him when he declared Buy American, Hire American in April 2017. Why not this? The ...