Topic: Economy

Conservatives Against Capitalism?

By Mark Naccarato | August 8, 2009 |

While Conservatives rail against their “big socialist government” boogeyman, an interesting new pattern seems to be developing that indicates that Republicans may be willing to thumb their nose at their corporate funders (and capitalism in general) in order to oppose the President who trounced them in the last election.

The evidence?  Well, the latest example comes from Rush Limbaugh, the voice of the Republican Party, and his right-wing copycats as they denounce the President’s “Cash for Clunkers” program. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Commentary | 4 Comments

The “Secret Ballot” Myth and the Employee Free Choice Act

By Mark Naccarato | April 22, 2009 |

With an economy in chaos, massive layoffs, and the skyrocketing cost of health insurance, one has to wonder… How can we save the American Way of Life? One that ensures peace, prosperity, and economic security in the post-Bush era? The answer to that question is the same now as it was when America was struggling to come out of the Great Depression: empower workers by giving them the right to form unions. There is a unique opportunity now to do just that as debate begins over one of the most important pieces of labor legislation to come through Washington in decades, the Employee Free Choice Act. This law, which some refer to as “EFCA”, would ensure that workers have a free choice to form a union and bargain with their employers for higher wages, benefits, and better working conditions. It would crack down on employers who routinely intimidate, bribe, and often fire pro-union workers as they try to form a union by addressing weaknesses in current U.S. labor law.

What you need to know right now, while the debate unfolds in Congress on the Employee Free Choice Act, is how right-wing conservatives, funded by corporate America, are lying to you about it. The big problem with EFCA, the Right tells us, is that it “takes away secret ballot elections” when a group of workers is deciding whether or not to form a union. Despite their hatred for secret ballot elections in their own boardrooms and shareholder meetings, America’s CEO’s now suddenly have a new appreciation for the democratic process when it comes to this law and are demanding that the “secret ballot” be preserved in union organizing drives. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Commentary | 3 Comments

Center for Community Change to facilitate community meeting.

By Terry McMoore | March 1, 2009 |

“How Will President Obama’s Economic Recovery Bill Affect the African American Community?” The answers can be found in community discussions to be held on  March 5 at the Montgomery County Public Library, 350 Pageant Lane, Clarksville, from 6-8 p.m.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is hosted by the Urban Resource Center and its director, Terry McMoore, in partnership with the Center for Community Change.

Over the next 5 years a half a billion dollars in job training money will be coming to Clarksville. Hemlock Semiconductor (HSC) will open a new plant in Clarksville that will hire over 1,000 construction workers to build, and provide over 800 permanent high paying jobs when they open. HSC will be one of the richest employers in Clarksville’s history since the arrival of Fort Campbell in the 1940s. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Events, News | No Comments

Senate GOP: Week in Review

By Tennessee Republicans | February 27, 2009 |

Legislation protecting children from child sexual predators advances in Senate

NASHVILLE, TN (2-26-09):  Several bills aimed at protecting children advanced in the State Senate this week, including legislation approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee that would prohibit sex offenders from loitering within 1,000 feet of certain places where children are likely to gather.   The bill, sponsored by Speaker Pro Tempore Jamie Woodson (R-Knoxville), would apply to schools, licensed day care centers, child care facilities, public parks, playgrounds, recreation centers or athletic fields when children under age 18 are present.

“This legislation greatly strengthens our laws to protect Tennessee children,” said Woodson.  “Parents deserve to know that their children are safe, and this bill will keep sexual offenders away from these areas where children are commonly present.” «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News, Politics | No Comments

Capitalism has corrupted the reason for which money was created!

February 16, 2009 |

Let’s remember how money, on which our economy is based, started out simply as a system of “trade.” Now days money is capital, and capital is for making more capital. It’s called capitalism. And it’s not the market with which my mother traded…not at all!

Too many years ago, when my mother would go to town from our farm, she didn’t go to the store. She went to “trade.”

I never thought twice about why she would say “trade,” and the rest of us would say we were going to buy something.

Of course, Mom wasn’t a dummy. Maybe she was more of an economist than the guys who deal with capitalism for the Federal Reserve. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Opinion, Politics | No Comments

Economic Recovery Bill and the African-American community

By Terry McMoore | February 13, 2009 |

Over the next 5 years a half a billion dollars in job training money will be coming to Clarksville. Hemlock Semiconductor (HSC) will open a new plant in Clarksville that will hire over 1,000 construction workers to build, and provide over 800 permanent high paying jobs when they open. HSC will be one of the richest employers in Clarksville’s history since the arrival of Fort Campbell in the 1940s.

Under the President’s Economic Recovery Bill, states and counties are poised to receive significant federal funding to stimulate the economy and put people back to work.

To learn more about the coming opportunities, join in a Community Discussion titled  “How Will President Obama’s Economic Recovery Bill Affect the African American Community?” to be held on  March 5 at the Montgomery County Public Library, 350 Pageant Lane, Clarksville, from 6-8 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, is hosted by the Urban Resource Center and its director,   Terry McMoore, in partnership with the Center for Community Change. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Events, News | No Comments

Money woes crimp retirement plans

By Rev. Charles Moreland | January 11, 2009 |

The probing question “Are you ready to retire?” is more perplexing today in the light of our financial plight. There is uncertainty about the place we call retirement. As I write I have a “happy face” coffee cup staring at me; one that has been diverted to a container of pencils, markers and pens. I wish we could don a happy face as we ponder our retirement and a secure financial future. Instead, for many our dreams for that better future had taken on a sad face.

It’s hard to maintain a happy face about our future when our personal finances and monetary worth for retirement are steadily declining, when our retirement plans are going bankrupt. In our communities, cities and states are raiding their rainy day funds to prevent raising taxes. International governments and their citizens are also in financial straits. Presently, places from our own Clarksville,  to Mexico City, to Heidleberg, London, Asian cities are all experiencing financial world. Such unfortunate events precipitate the “sad face” facing retirees. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Opinion, Spirituality | No Comments

Retailers offering significant discounts in the last sale days before Christmas

By Christine Anne Piesyk | December 21, 2008 |

Christmas shopping. I did a bit of it on Sunday — for Christmas, 2009.

In the absence of throngs of shoppers at many stores, I found myself eyeing lovely $8.00 boxes of holiday greeting cards (18 per box) for a mere $1.60 a box. Lovely extra ornaments (box of 24 in the colors and finishes I love) also $1.60. Another snowman for my collection: 67 cents. A funky purple hat and a funkier stuffed turtle  for one granddaughter, total price $1 each. Even the suet cakes for my bird feeders were discounted to 50 cents apiece. Half price. And this was Sunday, the last weekend shopping day before Christmas. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Opinion | No Comments

Re-thinking values in the wake of tragedy

By Christine Anne Piesyk | December 7, 2008 |

In reading about the crushing death of a security guard at Wal-Mart on Black Friday, combined with the number of injuries, and now a lawsuit against the retailer, and then reading of the shooting at a Toys ‘r Us store, I began to feel as if I were moving through an episode of The Twilight Zone. All this tragedy for a TV? A Computer? The latest video game components?

My stomach churns, and I realize again why the sheer lunacy of queuing up in the wee hours of morning for a bargain has never been on my agenda. Never will be. This statement of the American consumer mindset is appalling, and as a nation, we should collectively be ashamed of ourselves. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Opinion, Spirituality | No Comments

It’s official: We are in a recession. Is anyone surprised?

By Christine Anne Piesyk | December 2, 2008 |

The National Bureau of Economic Research announced today what Americans have known, or at least suspected, for the past year: the United States is in a recession. It’s official.The recession, according to the NBES, began in 2007, again, no earth-shattering news to many Americans.

The statement came even as the stock market, which had a rebound last week, tanked on the news, dropping 400 points by noon Monday and closing the day down by 680. With a public still reeling from months of soaring gas prices and the fallout of higher food and other retail items (due in part to exploding transportation costs), the reality of recession with or without documentation from a national bureau. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, News | No Comments

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