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DEC-Holiday-2009 :Holiday Issue 12/15/09 9:47 AM Page 3 AFL-CIO shares its job stimulus plan with Obama With unemployment officially top- ping 10 percent, and 15 million Amer- icans out of work, Congress and the White House are feeling pressure to do more to stimulate jobs. President Barack Obama put on a White House “Jobs Summit” Dec. 3, and invited labor and business leaders to share their ideas for how to create jobs. Labor had plenty. AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka outlined a five-point jobs creation plan that calls on the government to: • Extend the lifeline for jobless workers through one-year extension of unemployment benefits, food stamps and COBRA health insurance subsi- dies. • Rebuild America’s schools, roads and energy systems in a second stimu- lus bill focused just on jobs; • Increase aid to state and local gov- ernments to maintain services and pre- vent layoffs that might occur when money from the first stimulus bill runs out in the middle of next year; • Fund job creation through a 10 to 15 percent targeted jobs tax credit for the next two years; and • Put Wall Street bailout funds to work for Main Street. To pay for the effort, Trumka advo- cated taxing Wall Street transactions, a call echoed by Anna Burger, chair of the Change to Win labor federation. Congressman Peter DeFazio (D- Ore.) has introduced a bill to do that. The “Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Act” levies a 0.25 percent tax on stock transac- tions, and 0.02 percent on futures con- tracts, stock swaps, and credit default swaps. To exempt the middle class, the tax would be refunded for the first $100,000 of transactions, and would not be levied on transactions under- taken by retirement and other tax-de- ferred savings accounts. The bill’s aim is to raise money — and discourage high-volume short-term speculative trading. The tax could raise $150 bil- lion a year, of which the bill dedicates half to create jobs in infrastructure, and lion drop in demand in this economic downturn,” Wu told the Northwest La- bor Press. “The stimulus package was $787 billion, which is a lot, but it was less than one-third of the shortfall. I think the evidence is that the stimulus package was too small for the prob- lem.” If that’s the case, what are the chances a Round Two one-tenth that size will meet the need? The AFL-CIO estimates its “stimulus two” proposal would cost $400 billion to $500 bil- lion. Meanwhile, Congressman Phil Hare, (D-Illinois) is pushing legislation more closely modeled on FDR’s New (Turn to Page 14) half to paying down the federal debt. The United Kingdom currently has such a tax, and the United States had one from 1914 to 1966. The U.S. tax on sales or transfers of stock started out at 0.2 percent, and was more than dou- bled in 1932 to help with job creation during the Great Depression. DeFazio’s bill, HR 4191, had 27 co- sponsors in the House as of press time, though no others from Oregon or Washington. Perhaps more likely to pass is a pro- posal from the Democratic House leadership for a jobs-focused “second stimulus” bill that would use unallo- cated or returned bank bailout funds, as Trumka advocated. Congressman David Wu (D-Ore.) held a roundtable discussion on jobs Dec. 4 in Portland, and told participants that $70 billion is on the table from the bank bailout. At the urging of President George W. Bush, Democrats in Con- gress voted in October 2008 to author- ize up to $700 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The program used public money to recapi- talize banks. But not all the funds were used, and some banks have repaid the funds to get out of restrictions that were attached. Wu said there’s no appetite in Congress to borrow more money for stimulus efforts, but there is support for spending unused TARP funds. “Estimates are we’ve had a $2.5 tril- (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon as a voice of the labor movement. 4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150 Portland, Ore. 97213 Telephone: (503) 288-3311 Fax Number: (503) 288-3320 Editor: Michael Gutwig Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non- profit corporation owned by 20 AFL-CIO unions and councils includ- ing the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Oregon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year to AFL-CIO union members. Group rates available to trade union organizations. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old and new addresses and the name and number of your local union. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS, P.O. BOX 13150-0150, PORTLAND, OR 97213 DECEMBER 18, 2009 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PAGE 3
