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News Release Archive - The U.S. Economy

“Unnecessary Austerity”

April 8, 2011

Reversing tax giveaways to the super-rich and the nation’s largest corporations could raise $4 trillion within a decade and avert possible government closures, according to a newly released report.
 
Today the Institute for Policy Studies issued the report “Unnecessary Austerity,”  which states Congress could raise more than $4 trillion in revenue over the next decade by “reversing years of tax giveaways to the richest Americans and largest corporations.” 

The report examines massive shifts in the tax code since 1961, the year President Barack Obama was born. 

CHUCK COLLINS
    Collins, co-author of the report, said today: “This potential shutdown is an unnecessary exercise. Congress has prioritized tax cuts for the wealthy and failed to crack down on corporate tax dodgers, fueling a budget crisis.” He directs the Institute’s Inequality and the Common Good project.
 
    The report prescribes eight new potential revenue sources. Taken together, they would boost revenue by $4 trillion over the next decade. Policy recommendations include:

* Closing overseas tax havens ($90-100 billion)
* Adding new tax brackets for households with more than $1 million ($60-80 billion) in annual income
* Instituting a modest financial transaction tax ($150 billion)

    Collins added: “America’s increasingly concentrated income and wealth, coupled with historically low effective tax rates on the richest households, are fueling the deficit, according to this new report. For example, if U.S. corporations were taxed at the same effective rate that they paid in 1961, the additional tax revenue would total $485 billion.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

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Jobs Numbers, Cheered in Washington, “Reveal Weak Roots of Recovery”

April 1, 2011

MARK BRENNER
Brenner, labor economist and director of Labor Notes, said today: “Today’s better-than-expected jobs numbers are being trumpeted by the Obama administration and other beltway insiders, anxious for signs that the Great Recession is over and recovery underway. But examining the 230,000 new private sector jobs created last month offers less reason to cheer and reveal the weak roots of the recovery.

“If you dig into the numbers, I think there should be a lot more hand-wringing than backslapping. If you think you can build a recovery around more Home Depot cashiers and Wal-Mart greeters you need to have your head examined.

“Almost half of the new jobs in the private sector are in low-wage occupations like retail trade, food service, and temporary services, with few signs of life in higher wage occupations. If you’re looking for jobs that can help you pay for a mortgage or send your kids to college, you’re out of luck.”

Brenner also warned that “once the ax starts falling on state and local budgets, private sector growth is likely to stall, if not completely reverse in some sectors, most notably in healthcare where government funds account for one out of every two dollars spent.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: Tagged With: labor,

AFRICOM as Libya Bombing Motive

March 24, 2011

HORACE CAMPBELL
Campbell is professor of African American studies and political science at Syracuse University and is currently working on a book on AFRICOM (United States Africa Command). He said today: “U.S. involvement in the Libyan bombing is being turned into a public relations ploy for AFRICOM. AFRICOM is fundamentally a front for U.S. military contractors like Dyncorp, MPRI and KBR operating in Africa. U.S. military planners who benefit from the revolving door of privatization of warfare are delighted by the opportunity to give AFRICOM credibility under the facade of the Libyan intervention. No African country has agreed to let AFRICOM onto the continent. It has 1,500 people operating out of Stuttgart, Germany. If Libya is indeed partitioned, that new state could provide a base for AFRICOM.

“The U.S. needs to stop bombing Libya and meaningfully work with the African Union, which (less mailable to Western interests than the Arab League) has been pushed aside. Note that Egypt and Tunisia are not among the Arab states participating in the Libya bombing. The states participating are Saudi Arabia and others that are among the most repressive Arab countries. The attack on Libya is largely being used to undermine the revolutionary gains in Egypt and prevent such changes in other Arabic and African countries.” Campbell notes that the U.S. is continuing to back Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and other oppressive Arab regimes.

He added: “An additional problem has been racist attitudes in the discussion of so-called ‘African mercenaries’ in the Arab and Western media.”

EMIRA WOODS
Woods is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. She specializes in Africa. Woods said today: “AFRICOM makes its first major foray in Africa with massive air strikes on Libya. The velvet glove of humanitarian trainer has at last been taken off to reveal the fist of the military and its dominant role in U.S. Africa engagement. Established under the Bush administration and strengthened under Obama, AFRICOM has been rejected by African governments, scholars, and human rights champions. AFRICOM’s lead role in the assault on Libya will breed greater anti-Americanism while draining much needed monies and threatening civilian lives, with each bomb dropped.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , , Tagged With: Africa, AFRICOM, Libya,

Chernobyl Experts: Fukushima Could be Worse

March 23, 2011

Several experts on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (which took place 25 years ago on April 26) are in the U.S. and currently available for a limited number of interviews.

ALEXEY V. YABLOKOV, JANETTE D. SHERMAN, MD
Yablokov is senior co-author and Sherman is consulting editor of Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment, published by the New York Academy of Sciences in 2009. The book is the most in-depth study of the Chernobyl disaster. They said today: “It is possible for the Fukushima nuclear problem to be much worse then Chernobyl for the following reasons: There was about 30 tons of nuclear fuel at Chernobyl, while there is close to 60 tons at Fukushima. There is the additional [factor] of MOX fuel at Fukushima. There are many more people at Fukushima and a much more dense population in that part of Japan. We still don’t know the final outcome.” They warn that the risks of contamination to much of the northern hemisphere is still real.

Yablokov is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Sherman, a specialist in internal medicine and toxicology who is based in the U.S., wrote the piece “Chernobyl, 25 Years Later” a week before the recent disaster in Japan. Her other books include Life’s Delicate Balance: Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer.

NATALIYA MANZUROVA
Manzurova is one of the few survivors involved directly in the liquidation process at Chernobyl. In a recent interview, she said her advice to people in Japan was “Run away as quickly as possible. Don’t wait. Save yourself and don’t rely on the government because the government lies. They don’t want you to know the truth because the nuclear industry is so powerful.” http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/22/chernobyl-cleanup-survivors-message-for-japan-run-away-as-qui

NATALIA MIRONOVA
Mironova is founder of the Movement for Nuclear Safety and was one of the first organizers to press for government openness on pre-Chernobyl nuclear catastrophes. Through her work in the regional parliament, she made public information on the 500,000 victims affected by the activities of the first plutonium production in Russia and on the catastrophes in the Mayak plutonium production plant.

TATIANA MUCHAMEDYAROVA
Muchamedyarova has a member of the Movement for Nuclear Safety since 1992, she has worked with Russian and foreign journalists to cover the fate of the victims of radiation exposure. She took part in U.S.-Russia negotiations on nuclear issues and participated in international conferences against atomic bombs in Japan to draw attention to the victims of nuclear production.

Manzurova, Mironova  and Muchamedyarova are featured in a recent segment on New England Cable News, as they just visited Vermont, where the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently backed a license extension of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, which, like the Fukushima facility, is a GE Mark 1 reactor.

Interviews with the above experts and analysts can be arranged via the group Beyond Nuclear, which is organizing a speaking tour: Cindy Folkers, Linda Gunter

Full Beyond Nuclear news release

The Russian analysts will be speaking at a press conference at the The National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Friday at 9:30 a.m.; contact: Friends of the Earth, Kelly Trout

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , Tagged With: nuclear,

Backing Nuclear: Administration “Disconnected from Reality”

March 16, 2011

Bloomberg reports today: “The Obama administration will press ahead with efforts to expand loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors while investigating the failure of Japan’s power plants after an earthquake, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.”

NORMAN SOLOMON
Available for a limited number of interviews, Solomon is president of the Institute for Public Accuracy and a senior fellow at the new group RootsAction. He recently wrote the piece “Nuclear Power Madness,” which states: “Like every other president since the 1940s, Barack Obama has promoted nuclear power. Now, with reactors melting down in Japan, the official stance is more disconnected from reality than ever.” Solomon’s books include Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America’s Experience With Atomic Radiation (co-authored with Harvey Wasserman). He is also former director of the landmark National Citizens Hearings for Radiation Victims held in Washington, D.C. in 1980.

LLOYD DUMAS
Dumas is professor of political economy, economics and public policy at the University of Texas at Dallas. Formerly a professor of engineering at Columbia University, he is an expert on technological disaster. His most recent book is The Technology Trap. Dumas just wrote the piece “Shadow Elite: ‘Safe’ Nuclear Power? No Such Thing.”

TYSON SLOCUM
Slocum is director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, which recently issued a statement: “Despite the assurances of our elected officials and the industry, there is no way to guarantee the public’s safety when a natural disaster or terrorism strikes commercial reactors. The Japanese are arguably the best prepared to deal with earthquakes, yet they failed to adequately plan for the impact of a tsunami. This demonstrates the difficulty in planning for both the ‘known unknowns’ and ‘unknown unknowns’ that impact nuclear reactors from natural disaster and terrorism. There are alternatives. Had Japan invested in rooftop solar and wind turbines to the degree it spent maintaining and building nuclear reactors, the country wouldn’t be grappling with the potential of a full-scale nuclear meltdown.

“U.S. policymakers should watch events in Japan closely and understand the implications to public safety of committing U.S. taxpayer resources to building new nuclear plants. We call on the federal government to do the following:

1) Immediately stop activity relating to re-licensing aging U.S. reactors;
2) Halt all activity geared toward building new reactors; and
3) End federal subsidies — such as loan guarantees — for commercial nuclear power, which total $500 billion to date.

“Instead, the U.S. should focus on developing wind power and assisting families in the installation of rooftop solar systems.”

CHRIS WILLIAMS
Williams just wrote the piece “The Risks of Nuclear Roulette,” which states: “Sentiment in this country remains solidly anti-nuclear. A recent poll in the Wall Street Journal showed that three-quarters of Americans back the elimination of tax credit for oil and gas companies to reduce the federal deficit, and 57 percent deem it ‘mostly’ or ‘totally’ acceptable to ‘significantly cut’ subsidies to new nuclear power plants. This is in direct contrast to President Barack Obama’s offer of new loan guarantees to the nuclear industry.”

Williams is author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis and is a professor of physics and chemistry at Pace University.

More resources: commondreams.org/japan-earthquake

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: Tagged With: nuclear,

Japan Nuclear Disaster

March 14, 2011

ARJUN MAKHIJANI
Makhijani is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, which has just released a paper “Post-Tsunami Situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan: Facts, Analysis, and Some Potential Outcome.” In addition to meltdowns, the paper highlights the problem of the storage pools, which could be even more dire.

AILEEN MIOKO SMITH
Aileen Mioko Smith is executive director of Green Action, a Japanese environmental group. She happens to be on vacation in San Francisco. She states that the Japanese government has not been making public critical information. She also says that lawsuits have been ongoing, attempting to scrutinize many of the facilities that have now failed. She is analyzing the situation and has been translating reports from Japanese to English

ROBERT ALVAREZ
Alvarez is a former senior policy adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Energy and now a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies. See two recent pieces by him.

ARNIE GUNDERSEN
Gundersen is a former nuclear industry insider. He was cited in an AP article last month on the controversy around the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which is, like the Fukushima facility, a GE Mark 1 facility.

HARVEY WASSERMAN
Wasserman wrote a piece titled “An 8.9 Quake Could Have Irradiated the Entire U.S.”
He notes the Obama administration has been backing the nucear industry. He is posting regularly at: nukefree.org
Wasserman is author of Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth, AD 2030 (which includes an introduction by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.).

KEVIN KAMPS
Kamps is a specialist in nuclear waste at Beyond Nuclear. Last year he was in Japan assessing the state of nuclear facilities there. He questions the assessment by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the U.S. is safe from radiation from the Japanese crisis. He was on democracynow.org this morning.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: Tagged With: enviornment, nuclear,

Wisconsin Struggle: Now Come the Tractors

March 10, 2011

The Wisconsin State Journal reports: “‘General Strike!’ Thousands Storm, Reoccupy Wisconsin Capitol in Response to Legislative Votes.”

ROBERT KRAIG
Kraig is executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. He has been at the Capitol in Madison and is closely following developments. He said today: “[Gov. Scott] Walker has been claiming that this is about the budget, but he’s trying to ram this union-busting legislation through by removing the budget portions of it.”
Kraig wrote the piece “Walker’s National Guard comments a thinly veiled threat against workers.”

BEN MANSKI
Manski is executive director of the Liberty Tree Foundation and a spokesperson for the new umbrella group Wisconsin Wave. He is a lifelong Wisconsinite and a public interest attorney. Manski said today: “Some who are claiming that the vote means things are over — like the New York Times today — could not be more out of touch. The resistance to what Walker is doing is broadening.”

JOHN PECK
Peck is with Family Farm Defenders, which has announced that on Saturday: “Farmers from across the dairyland will bring tractors and solidarity to the [Wisconsin] capitol to fight for labor rights and a just state budget. Rural communities will be disproportionately hurt by the cuts to education and BadgerCare, as well as Gov. Walker’s decision to eliminate funding for other sustainable agriculture initiatives such as the Buy Local Buy Wisconsin program.”

KABZUAG VAJ
Vaj is a co-founder and current co-executive director of the group Freedom Inc. She is a long-time advocate for women of color and a Hmong refugee. Vaj and her family have been active community members in Madison for more than 25 years. She said today: “In the past few weeks we have been fighting for more than just workers rights. For Wisconsin’s most vulnerable communities, i.e (communities of color, immigrants, children, and poor people), Walker’s agenda eliminates services and creates laws that will destroy our quality of life in Wisconsin. Overturning current racial profiling laws, mascot laws and creating an Arizona-like [immigration] law in Wisconsin, Walker is indeed waging war on all of us.”

Resource page, which includes a video feed: commondreams.org/wisconsin_rising

Community radio in Madison: http://www.wort-fm.org

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , Tagged With: Wisconsin,

Who is the Government Jailing? * Environmentalists * Whistleblowers * Peace Activists

March 8, 2011

In response to the question: “Is it illegitimate for people to say that some of those CEOs on Wall Street should have gone to jail?” White House Chief of Staff William Daley said Sunday: “Well, I — look at, I don’t know if it’s illegitimate or not. People have a right to say what they want. But I think if you’re an elected official, you should allow the justice system to take over and move forward. And when there are prosecutions, that’s up to that system.”

BILL McKIBBEN, via Jamie Henn
McKibben is the author of a dozen books on the environment, a scholar in residence at Middlebury College, and founder of 350.org. He recently wrote the piece “As climate crime continues, who are we sending to jail? Tim DeChristopher?” which states: “Let’s consider for a moment the targets the federal government chooses to make an example of. So far, no bankers have been charged, despite the unmitigated greed that nearly brought the world economy down. No coal or oil execs have been charged, despite fouling the entire atmosphere and putting civilization as we know it at risk. But engage in creative protest that mildly disrupts the efficient sell-off of our landscape to oil and gas barons? As [environmental activist] Tim DeChristopher found out [last week], that’ll get you not just a week in court, but potentially a long stretch in the pen.”

JESSELYN RADACK
Radack is homeland security and human rights director of the Government Accountability Project. She said today: “The Obama administration is prosecuting whistleblowers in droves, more than all previous administrations combined. Some of them went through all the ‘proper channels’ to report problems internally [and are being prosecuted] under the Espionage Act, which is meant to go after spies, not truth-tellers. The Government Accountability Project knows of seven ‘leak’ investigations or prosecutions, the most egregious of which is that of Thomas Drake. This is a disturbing trend that sends a chilling message to public servants — especially from an administration that is supposedly devoted to openness and transparency.”

Radack recently wrote a piece titled “War on Whistleblowers Escalating,” which also notes the “Prosecution of FBI linguist Shamai Leibowitz under the Espionage Act; Prosecution of accused Wikileaks source Bradley Manning; Prosecution of former State Department employee Stephen Kim under the Espionage Act; Indictment of former CIA employee Jeffery Sterling under the Espionage Act” and others.

The Project has set up a petition for Drake’s case.

BILL BICHSEL, also via Leonard Eiger, gzcenter.org
Bichsel is an 82-year-old Jesuit priest from Tacoma, Washington. He is one of the “Disarm Now Plowshares,” five activists who were convicted of federal charges in December because they cut through fences where nuclear weapons are stored on Nov. 2, 2009. According to their webpage, each defendant faces possible sentences of up to ten years in prison; they are scheduled to be sentenced on March 28. Once arrested, the five were cuffed and hooded with sand bags because the marine in charge testified “when we secure prisoners anywhere in Iraq or Afghanistan we hood them …so we did it to them.”

Desmond Tutu wrote recently: “I fully support the nonviolent disarmament witness that took place in the United States on Nov. 2, 2009 to begin to disarm the Trident nuclear weapons. The first strike Trident nuclear missiles are a real threat to all nations, including South Africa. During the struggle against apartheid in South Africa we often used civil resistance and other nonviolent methods. These methods are equally relevant when it comes to the struggle against war and nuclear weapons.” PDF

Bichsel said today: “I see more homelessness — that’s what we deal with here at the Tacoma Catholic Worker. Meanwhile, massive resources are going to war and destruction. Nuclear weapons also contribute to proliferation as others look on in fear and dread of the U.S. and its having the biggest stockpile.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , Tagged With: Environmentalists, Peace, war, Whistleblowers,

Environmentalist Faces 10 Years for Bids to Stop Drilling

March 4, 2011

AP reports today: “Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher knew what he was doing when he made $1.8 million in false oil and gas drilling bids at a federal auction. He knew he couldn’t possibly pay for them. And he knew he could end up behind bars.

“But he did it for the cause. On Thursday, a federal jury convicted him on two felony counts of interfering with and making false representations at a government auction. He now faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $750,000 at his June 23 sentencing. …

“A University of Utah economics student at the time of the bids, DeChristopher offered to cover the bill with an Internet fundraising campaign, but the government refused to accept any of the money.

“DeChristopher testified during the trial that he didn’t intend to actually bid on the leases but decided during the auction that he wanted to delay the sale so the new Obama administration could reconsider the move.

“A federal judge later blocked many of the leases from being issued.

“Fellow environmentalists and supporters have made DeChristopher a folk hero of the movement, insisting he was standing up to a federal agency that violated environmental laws by holding the auction in the first place.”

TIM DeCHRISTOPHER, via Flora Bernard
DeChristopher is available for a limited number of interviews. In an interview this morning with Democracy Now, he states that he was not allowed to tell the jury that he was able to raise the money for the bids or that the government ultimately blocked most of the leases.

He made a statement after the verdict: “We know that now I’ll have to go to prison. We know that now that’s reality, but that’s just the job I have to do. That’s the role that I face, and many before me have gone to jail for justice. If we’re going to keep our vision, many after me will have to join me as well. Nobody ever told us that this battle would be easy. Nobody ever told us that we wouldn’t have to make sacrifices. We knew that when we started this fight.” Video

BROOKE JARVIS
Jarvis is web editor of YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization whose coverage includes grassroots responses to global climate disruption. She interviewed DeChristopher about the potential impact of civil disobedience for environmental activism. During the trial, the YES! interview was cited by the prosecution.

The interview with Jarvis is available here: Part 1, Part 2

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: Tagged With: drilling, enviornment,

More Cuts — Or Make Rich, Corporations Pay Up

March 2, 2011

RICHARD WOLFFHistorical tax rates for the highest and lowest income earners
Wolff just wrote the piece “How the rich soaked the rest of us,” which states: “The richest Americans have dramatically lowered their income tax burden since 1945, both absolutely and relative to the tax burdens of middle income groups and the poor.”

Wolff is author of the book Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. He is professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and currently a visiting professor in the Graduate Program for International Affairs at the New School University in New York City. See video of his talk “Capitalism Hits the Fan.”

CHUCK COLLINS
Collins recently wrote the piece “Pay Up, Corporate Tax Dodgers,” which states: “Instead of cutting state and federal budgets, the United States should crack down on the corporate tax dodgers thumbing their noses at us.

“Across the nation, states are making deep cuts that will wreck the quality of life for everyone to close budget gaps that total more than $100 billion.

“But there’s a more sensible option. Overseas tax havens enable companies to pretend their profits are earned in other countries like the Cayman Islands. Simply making that ruse illegal would bring home an estimated $100 billion a year. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tagged With: corporations, rich, taxes,
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