By Paul Krehbiel The economy is rigged and meant to benefit those on top, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said to a cheering crowd that packed the LA Sport Arena on Mon., Aug. 10. Almost all the wealth created since the great recession went to the top 1%. We have more billionaires, and also the highest rate of child poverty. There's something profoundly wrong. We're going to do something about that. The day [...]
By Paul Krehbiel No Justice, No Peace: Confronting the crisis of capitalism and democracy was the theme of the Left Forum, held May 29-31 in NYC at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The venue and title were appropriate for the 5,000 who attended, as many panels and plenaries focused on the uprisings in Ferguson, Baltimore and elsewhere to protest wanton murders of Black youth by police and the criminal justice system [...]
By Paul Krehbiel People of all ages will gather in Los Angeles and scores of other cities across the country on July 30, 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Medicare and demand that it be protected, improved and expanded for everyone. Medicare is the popular government-run health care program that serves 50 million Americans, primarily those over 65 and people with disabilities. It’s the largest and most successful health insurance program [...]
The AFL-CIO must now break all ties with the Democratic Party! By Jeremy Wells The historic low voter turnout in November dramatically confirmed what the low popularity poll numbers for Obama and Congressional politicians of both parties, have indicated. Neither corporate corrupted Democratic nor reactionary Republican parties, Democratic and Republican millionaire politicians, ever represent or fight for the economic interests of the working class majority of voters. The AFL-CIO-supported Democratic Party candidate [...]
By Paul Krehbiel Thousands of fast food workers in 190 cities walked off their jobs from coast to coast Thursday, December 4, 2014 in the largest strike of fast food workers in US history. Workers are demanding a minimum wage of $15 an hour and the right to form a union without interference from management. In Los Angeles workers and community supporters gathered in front of a McDonald's restaurant in the downtown [...]
By Paul Krehbiel Over 40 young Vietnamese-Americans and six US labor activists met at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center Oct. 25 to discuss relationships between workers in the US and Vietnam, under the auspices of the Vietnam Solidarity Network, in alliance with the Asian-Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and the So. Cal. Viet Gathering (SCVG). Natalie Newton, a Vietnamese-American with SEIU-721, and a leader of Los Angeles APALA and SCVG, chaired. Kent [...]
By Paul Krehbiel Over 200 labor and community activists met at Holman United Methodist Church in central Los Angeles October 2 to fight for a $15 an hour minimum wage for over 800,000 low paid workers in Los Angeles. The majority are people of color. Experts say at least $15 an hour is needed to get out of poverty. The Los Angeles City Council recently passed a law mandating the larger LA [...]
By Paul Krehbiel "The capitalist class is in a serious crisis without solution," said David Schweikart at the Moving Beyond Capitalism conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, organized by the Center for Global Justice (July 30-Aug. 5, 2014). "But there is a solution," he said, "economic democracy, democratic socialism." Over 200 people from 15 countries discussed how to make this happen. Chronic high unemployment, depressed wages and benefits, cuts in social [...]
Fix Economic Crisis: Tax the Rich! By Paul Krehbiel The US government budget deficit is now $1.5 trillion, and most states are running out of money too. Political leaders are wringing their hands and crying in unison: “There’s just no money.” Led by Republicans, the only solution, they say, is to cut, cut, cut. They’re on a slash and burn rampage, pushing draconian cuts in education, health care, pensions, public workers, Social [...]
