No Emergency Financial Manager For Detroit! City Council April 9, 2013         A No Struggle, No Development Production! By KennySnod

Posted April 10, 2013

Overturning Emergency Manager! We oppose Emergency Managers because they rob us of our right to elect our own local representatives and deny democratic self-rule at the local level. We are demanding our elected leadership remember that they were elected by the same people who voted in the referendum against PA4 Nov. 6th, 2012. We demand that you abide by their decision.

Protesters in downtown Detroit demand cancellation of Detroit’s debt to banks.

Now we’re working to “Overturn Emergency Manager In Detroit!” We ask you to sign our “White House Petition: 1) End the Consent Agreement/ No Emergency Manager. 2) Begin the Justice Department Intervention, and 3) Stop Voter Suppression and Constitutional Violations. At: http://wh.gov/wGJK. We also ask you to join us in our 1) Our Mass demonstration, rallies, press conferences to protest and denounce the actions of Governor Snyder and his collaborators; 2) To expose the criminal nature of the banks and the corporation who are at the root of the financial crisis in Detroit and throughout the State of Michigan; 3) We must link this struggle in Detroit with the plight of other cities throughout Michigan like Benton Harbor, Flint, Highland Park, Inkster, Ecorse, Muskegon. As well as dozens of other cities in the USA like California, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Rhode Island and many others facing similar crises.

A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass, Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of 1} From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913  eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com
2} The World As I’ve Seen It! My Greatest Experience! {Photo Book}
YouTube: I have over 390 Video’s, over 136,000 hits averaging 5,000 a month on my YouTube channel @ www.YouTube.com/KennySnod

PRES.PUGH INTRODUCES DISCUSSION WITH SHINOLA AWARD                 (VOD apologizes for use of racist graphic to make our point)

 CITY COUNCIL MOVES AHEAD WITH JONES DAY VULTURE CONTRACT 

By Diane Bukowski

April 13, 2013

DETROIT – Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh and his majority cadre apparently didn’t “know sh-t from Shinola” regarding the Jones Day law firm contract during meetings held April 9 and 10, which ended with their moving the costly contract for a vote at Council to be held April 16 in Council Chambers at 10 a.m.

(Definition–sh-t from Shinola: common saying in U.S. beginning 1950’s re: lack of knowledge, ignorance.)

Dameeko Williams of Project Save Detroit 2013.

“This is nothing but vulture capitalism,” Dameeko Williams of Project Save Detroit 2013, representing the city’s youth, told Council before their deliberations. “Jones Day only represents the banks and the bondholders, like Comerica, Wells Fargo and Chase which hold most of Detroit’s debt..” 

Pugh opened the session April 9 by introducing his friend from Shinola, LLC, Randy Montgomery, who said he and his partners will make watches, bicycles and other “cool Detroit” paraphernalia at the College for Creative Studies.  Pugh sponsored a special award ceremony for this white-owned business, whose officers he met at a meeting of the white-dominated Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, a corporate front for privatization. 

Charles Pugh with officers of Shinola, LLC at Council April 9, 2013.

Shinola? Apparently Pugh et. al. are not old enough to remember Shinola shoe polish. Incredibly, the owners of Shinola, LLC bought the rights to the name from that company, ignoring associations of black shoe polish with racist black face caricatures of old. (See racist Shinola ad above; VOD hereby apologizes for reprinting it to make our point.) 

But perhaps the symbolism was appropriate. 

Speakers say Kevyn Orr represents “vulture capitalism.”

Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr (African-American) is fronting for his alleged former employer Jones Day, a white-dominated law firm associated with right-wing racist causes and foundations.  Case in point, Shelby County v. Holder. a challenge to the Voting Rights Act just heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. (See earlier VOD stories on Jones Day; links at bottom of article.) 

Detroiters blasted Council throughout public comment (as seen in Kenny Snodgrass’ video above), before its discussion of Jones Day. VOD even brought copies of its latest article on Jones Day to educate the Council, but to no avail. Just as the majority evidently did not read the Consent Agreement, which gave away virtually all their powers, before approving it April 4, 2012, they prefer to read the sound-byte version of affairs from the big-business media to make their decisions 

Rev. Charles Williams II, representing Michigan chapter of National Action Network.

“We are here from the National Action Network because we believe that Jones Day is a destroyer of democracy, we are standing against it and asking you to vote NO,” Rev. Charles Williams II told the Council. “Jones Day in one month got almost 12 million of TARP (federal Troubled Asset Relief Funds) to restructure Chrysler under bankruptcy. They bailed out the big companies, but 40 creditors pulled away from Chrysler, as unions and others were left out of the bail-out.” 

Valerie Glenn of Free Detroit-No Consent said the Jones Day contract and others let to firms like Miller Canfield, Ernst & Young, Conway McKenzie and Milliman constitute corporatocacy and genocide. 

“You will go down in history as the administration that completely destroyed Detroit,” Glenn said. “We call for your resignation.” 

Theo Broughton of Hood Research speaks at City Council April 9, 2013.

Theo Broughton of Hood Research agreed. 

“If Jones Day partners are getting $1100 an hour, we urge you to vote NO,” she said. “All of these firms are sucking up the city’s money.” 

Cecily McClellan, a laid-off city worker and Vice-President of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees said, “Billionaires are trying to turn Detroit into a playground for the wealthy. They are the real criminals.” 

One woman asked Council members a simple question. 

Speaker asks: What does democracy mean to you, Gary Brown, James Tate and Saunteel Jenkins?

“Our democracy has been taken away, our constitutional rights have been violated,” she said. “I ask you Gary Brown, James Tate, Saunteel Jenkins—what does democracy mean to you?” Is anybody able to step up to the table and answer my question?” 

Saunteel Jenkins replied haughtily, “Those who are here to express disagreement with this body are showing our expression of democracy.” 

Ironically, a Council police officer present interfered with the First Amendment and this newspaper’s right to democracy during the session, preventing VOD videographer Kenneth Snodgrass from standing with other news photographers on the side of the Council table to take his videos and photos properly. When VOD editor Diane Bukowski’s camera malfunctioned, she was forced to borrow his camera to take photos, despite her protest to the officer that Snodgrass had VOD credentials and should be treated equally.

Pastor Willie Rideout speaks against Jones Day contract.

Pastor Willie J. Rideout of All God’s People summed up, “We are the people. We voted you in. You came to our churches to get you elected, and now we are telling you to vote no on Jones Day, say no to the creditors, stop this predatory movement. Push the Emergency Managers out and put the money back into our cities. Let the millionaires and billionaires pay their taxes.” 

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson agreed, “Detroit’s debt to the banks should be re-negotiated. Banks and bondholders should not be paid first.” 

The Jones Day contract was actually being referred to the Internal Operations Standing Committee for its meeting the following day. Councilwoman Brenda Jones, who chairs that committee, agreed to have a Committee of the Whole session then for the entire Council to ask questions about a contract they had just received in committee. 

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson at table April 9, 2013, gives telling look at Council members Saunteel Jenkins and Kenneth Cockrel, Jr.

Council Pres. Pro-Tem Gary Brown contradicted Adam Hollier of Mayor Dave Bing’s office about the bid process for the contract. Hollier claimed it went through regular bid channels, but Brown said he discovered it had not gone through the Purchasing Division, but through a special process. 

Councilwoman Jones, chair of the Internal Ops Committee, asked her fellow committee members James Tate and Andre Spivey on April 9 not to move the contract to the full Council yet, calling for due diligence. 

The Committee heard a presentation in support of Jones Day from Edward Keelean, Acting Corporation Counsel in the wake of the Mayor Dave Bing’s demotion of his predecessor Krystal Crittendon after she stood up against the consent agreement and the hiring of Miller Canfield, a co-author of Public Act 4. 

David Whitaker, head of the Council’s Research and Analysis Division, said they had done a partial report on the contract but had not been privy to numerous documents Keelean discussed during the meeting, despite asking for them repeatedly. 

Jones asked that RAD be given sufficient time to make a full report, but  she was outvoted by Tate and Spivey, leading to more blistering condemnation of those Council members during public comment. 

Long-time activist Ken Parks was to the point in his remarks. 

“We are big-time debt slaves to the masters of finance capital,” he said. “If we are going to restructure, we need to restructure our priorities, so that people are first and profits are second. The banks said from the start they knew their loans were not repayable; it’s up to them to take responsibility. It is time again for a Year of Jubilee, where our debts are forgiven.”

____________________

Related articles:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/04/08/costly-jones-day-em-contract-faces-council-vote-tues-apr-9-come-at-9-am/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/31/detroit-council-to-vote-on-jones-day-contract-firm-represents-criminal-banks-holding-citys-debt/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/27/detroiters-march-in-cleveland-tell-jones-day-and-banks-get-out/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/23/detroit-leaders-announce-drastic-direct-action-to-fight-em-banks/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/20/banks-behind-detroit-emergency-manager-takeover/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/17/detroit-efms-law-firm-advises-worlds-biggest-crooks-including-libor-banks/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/01/18/the-gang-rape-of-detroit/

Residents of South Korea call on U.S. Secy. of State John Kerry, who is currently in their country, to start peace talks with North Korea, instead of promoting war.

By Jay Janson

March 30th, 2013 — Dissident Voices

While staring at the New York Times front page photo of the bat-winged nuclear-capable B-2 Stealth Bombers up in the blue sky on their first non-stop long-range mission from the US on their way to a practice sortie to end in a mock bombing drop of inert munitions on a range off South Korea’s coast, I ponder.

U.S. warplane

The thought that ‘enough is enough’ will apparently never arise in the mind-set of those commanding the first planet-encompassing space-age military, blown up now to an uncontrollable magnitude and fueled by an uninterrupted flow of trillions of dollars by ledger line pre-occupied elite of the speculative investment banking community; a community possibly still being led by multi-war promoting confidants of ninety-eight year old David Rockefeller.¹

Koreans have been victims of U.S. war crimes for more than a century.

Former president of Korea, Lee Myung-bak dutifully bought loads of new US weapons of mass destruction. Does he ever remember watching his two tiny siblings begin to slowly die before his eyes during a US bombing raid on his family’s farm? As the nuclear capable black bat wings make their run over her beloved Korea, does the new President, Park Geun-hye, keep in mind her father’s point blank assassination by the head of the, allegedly American overseen, Korean CIA?

Following is a short history of homicidal crimes against humanity bitterly suffered in the Land of the Morning Calm from savage attack, conquest, and manipulation by the most recent of the many mindlessly brutal white colonial empires to one degree or another descendent from the barbaric Goths and savage raid-or-trade Vikings.

Painting of Koreas fighting U.S. invasion in 1871.

1871, June 10 — Adm. Rodgers, commanding five warships and a landing party of over 1,230 men armed with Remington carbines and Springfield muskets attack Choji Fortress of Kanghwa-do, and proceed to occupy the whole island (116.8 sq mi), killing 350 Korean defenders of the island while losing only three of their own, withdrawing to China when the Korean army sends in reinforcement armed with modern weapons. This war known in Korea as Sinmi-yangyo and as the 1871 US Korea Campaign in America.²

1905 — US President Theodore Roosevelt cuts all relations with Koreans, turns the American legation in Seoul over to the Japanese military, deletes the word “Korea” from the State Department’s Record of Foreign Relations and places it under the heading of “Japan,” approving of what will be a brutal, too often murderous, forty year occupation, during much of which, Koreans are forbidden even to speak their language; an unconstitutional act of the US president, said to have been in exchange for acceptance of the continuing US occupation of the Philippines by Japan, recognized as a half-brother empire of the European colonial powers.³

On March 1, 1919, Koreans gather at Tapgol Gong-won (current day Pagoda Park in Seoul) to protest Japanese rule and fight for independence.

1918 — President Woodrow Wilson officially recognizes Korea as territory of the Japanese Empire, refuses to receive delegations from Korea and Vietnam demanding restoration of sovereignty, delegations mistakenly hopeful for Wilson having proclaimed before both houses of Congress, as an addendum to his ‘Fourteen Points“ of a day earlier, “National aspirations must be respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent. Self determination is not a mere phrase; it is an imperative principle of action…. that peoples and provinces are not to be bartered about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were mere chattels and pawns in a game, even the great game, now forever discredited, of the balance of power; but that all well-defined national aspirations shall be accorded the utmost satisfaction that can be accorded them;” a promise become known in the third world as an infamous, cruel and preposterous lie (the Japanese occupiers were deadly in punishing all those involved in the country-wide March 1st Korean Independence Movement).

US troops arrive in Korea to partition the country 1945.

1945, September 8 — US State Department officials, arrive in Korea with the US Army, disband the government of the Korean People’s Republic created September 6, in Seoul, by delegates from local peoples’ offices from all provinces throughout the peninsula formed when Japan announced intention to surrender (August 10), proceed without any Korean authorization whatsoever, to immediately cut Korea into two parts to be occupied by US and Soviet troops and establishing a military government, flying in from Washington DC (in General MacArthur’s private plane), Singman Rhee, to head it; eventually installing him as president of a separate South Korea Government that will include collaborators, and will outlaw all strikes, declare the KPR and all its activities illegal and begin a deadly terror of persecution of members of the disallowed Korean Peoples Republic, communists, socialists, unionists and anyone against the the partition and demanding an independent Korea.⁴

Mass grave of Koreans slaughtered under U.S. backed regime.

1946-1949 — The US in effect declares war on the popular movement of Korea south of the 38th Parallel and sets in motion a repressive campaign dismantling the Peoples’ Committees and their supporters throughout the south, becoming massively homicidal as Rhee’s special forces and secret police take the lives of some 200,000 men, women and children as documented recently by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by the National Assembly of the Republic of (South) Korea; on the Island of Cheju alone, within a year, as many as 60,000 of its 300,000 residents are murdered, while another 40,000 fled by sea to nearby Japan some two years before the Koreans from the north invade the South. [Wikipedia]

U.S. bombs Korean city 1950.

1950, June 28 — The US attacks by, air, sea and land, aiming at the southward invading army of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North), which nevertheless unifies the peninsula in five short weeks (except for the US defended port city of Pusan); with little resistance from South Korea’s ROK military as most of its soldiers either defect or go home; over the next three years US will commit dozens of high death toll documented atrocities (some recently apologized for) as American planes level to the ground almost every city and town of any appreciable size in the entire peninsula, north and south, in the end threatening to drop the atomic bomb, and be charged with germ warfare by some not easily dismissed sources.

UN members vote to impose sanctions on North Korea.

1953-2013 — The US using its control over international financial institutions and its power over the financial policies of most of the nations on Earth, keeps in place economy crippling sanctions and trade blockades (only loosening them slightly from time to time in attempts to halt the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea production of nuclear weapons as it faces a US, constantly condemning it in intense belligerency, massively armed with ever new nuclear weapons. (US sanctions obviously violate Principle VI c. Crimes Against Humanity: “inhuman acts done against any civilian population.”)

U.S. and South Korean navy vessels in war exercises off the coast of Korea, March 18, 2013.

1945-2013 — The US Government, under control of its speculative investment banking elite, uses the gigantic world-wide reach of its likewise controlled US media cartel to manufacture an upside-down reality regarding US business and government intentions in Korea (and elsewhere), by blocking, slanting, omission, disinformation, misinformation and a virulent demonization of a nation once bombed flat, twice over, by US war planes; a six-decade propaganda campaign surely prosecutable as a media crime against peace under Principle VI c. of the universally signed on to Nuremberg Principles in the UN Charter.⁵

2010 May — An example of ‘sentence 8’ is the Russian Navy derided, and Chinese government ignored story of a old North Korean torpedo having cut in half a modern South Korean warship in an area where days before, US-ROK live fire exercise war games were menacingly taking place off the coast of North Korea; detailed investigation by Japanese found that a US minesweeper, known to have left the day before, might have been practicing with the newest US spider mine weapon, entirely capable, as most modern mines are indeed capable of, blowing a small warship into two pieces; though a discredited and fabulous US accusation, this media doctored widely broadcasted UN backed accusation has however, become accepted as fact by most of the entire Western media audience and will continue on into the future as the truth until the day it can no longer be of interest).⁶

2013 March — A second example of US media crimes against peace, is the present startling situation, as offered in US TV and print media, namely, that of the somewhat tiny nation, North Korea (size of US State of Pennsylvania), threatening the greatest military power the world has ever seen, possessing tens of thousands of nuclear weapons, with a nuclear attack, not for the sake of the bravely warning of its defense and retaliation power to ward of a feared attack from US planes and ships which periodically fire heavy weapons of mass destruction within earshot of its capital Pyongyang as part of frequent military exercises off its coast; the whole world is constantly ‘informed’ of what a madcap menace its leader is, by a Pentagon fed US media, which at the same time is justifying US bombings, invasions, occupations of some three dozen other small nations. (Citations and author bio follow.)  Continue reading →

Leamon WIlson, Pres. AFSCME Local 312, at right, with other bus mechanics at City Council hearing a few years ago. For a long time, Leamon was also President of the Presidents’ Council of the 17 AFSCME Citry of Detroit Locals. Leamon was 55 when he died yesterday.

From Diane Bukowski, editor of VOD, and for 20 years a union leader with AFSCME Local 457:  It is with a heavy heart that I publish this notice. I was just informed yesterday that Leamon Wilson, President of AFSCME Local 312, representing bus mechanics, and for many years President of the AFSCME City of Detroit Presidents Council, passed yesterday at the age of 55.

Leamon (;l) protests with others at the Mayor’s State of the City address in 2004.

Leamon was a beloved and militant leader, who at one point was fired by the Kilpatrick administration for his leadership of his local. We picketed with other AFSCME workers at DDOT headquarters to get him back.

Leamon was fearless, and loved his members and the City of Detroit. He fought for us tooth and nail, and was not afraid to be associated with “lefties” like myself and others. His heart was with the union, the workers, the people, and no doubt the toll the struggle took on him through all these years may have contributed to his death.

Leamon at WWTP protest.

Leamon was at every protest, he fought hard at the negotiating table for his members. He supported me absolutely when I was on trial for doing my job as a journalist for the Michigan Citizen, charged and convicted falsely of two felonies for taking photos of the aftermath of a fatal state trooper chase on Detroit’s east side in 2008. Not only did he come to my trial as a witness, he let my defense committee use his local union HQ for a rally.

LEAMON WILL BE SORELY MISSED. LONG LIVE LEAMON WILSON AND HIS SPIRIT! DOWN WITH THE FASCIST FORCES DESTROYING OUR CITY!

GOING HOME SERVICES:

Visitation

Sunday, April 14, 2013;     3 – 8 p.m.

O.H. PYE Funeral Home  

17600 Plymouth Rd. near Southfield and Jeffries Freeways    Detroit, MI

FUNERAL MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2013

Family hour   9:30 A.M.

Funeral            10 A.M.

KADESH MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH

20361 Plymouth Rd. Detroit, MI  48228

REPAST AFTER SERVICE:         AFSCME Council 25 Hall                     600 W. Lafayette @ Third             Downtown Detroit, MI 48226

VOD: The following essay by Leamon’s son Leamon E. Wilson won him the AFSCME Family Scholarship; it is published on the AFSCME Co. 25 website. Leamon E. Wilson will start college this year

WHAT AFSCME HAS MEANT TO OUR FAMILY

By Leamon E. Wilson

On July 19, 1995 I was born into the AFSCME Family. My father had recently been elected as President of AFSCME Local 312, the Local representing mechanics employed by the Detroit Department of Transportation. Dad had worked his way up through the ranks, serving as a steward, chief steward and grievance committeeman before accepting the nomination to run for President of the Local. Three years earlier he had met my mother, a union representative, when she successfully argued that the employment of one of the local’s members should be restored, primarily because of the employer’s misconduct. According to family legend, when the grievant received his job back and full compensation for the time he was out of work, Dad fell in love and the grievant – “Uncle Hank” – was best man at the wedding and later named as my godfather!

AFSCME workers in Labor Day Parade wearing green NO EM shirts Sept. 5, 2011.

This brief, albeit comical, history is important because all of my life I have been surrounded by the love and support of people who believe that caring for and service to others is a privilege given to each of us. I participated in my first Labor Day parade when I was just over one year old. My father pushed my stroller – shaped like a car – during the parade. Although I had taken a few steps two days after my first birthday, I really began walking after the parade, mimicking the marchers I had watched that morning. My mother swears that I marched around the living room for hours. I don’t remember this, but I do know that it was not my last march.

AFSCME and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists protest at CAYMC May 27, 2010

As the son of a union activist I have had the opportunity to participate in protests over collective bargaining agreements, violation of contract terms and job losses. As young as I can remember I have accompanied my father to grievance meetings, community meetings and union meetings. As a very young child I was usually handed to one of the female members who would care for me and protect me as my father argued (i.e. yelled) to get his point across. As I grew older, the task for ensuring my safety was turned over to “one of the guys,” which generally meant that I could have my fill of anything in the vending machines while my father argued (i.e. yelled) to get his point across.

During all of these years I have also had the privilege of meeting political, civic and religious leaders throughout the community, a unique opportunity not generally available to the average student. I’ve seen first hand the compassion and commitment demonstrated by members as they fought for the right to make a decent wage or to prevent non-union vendors from taking away their jobs altoegther. I’ve seen the stress and devastation families experience when layoffs or job eliminations force them to lose what most of us would think are basic life necessities – a home, food, transportation and the ability to support their children.

Detroit AFSCME workers in green shirts flooded April 13, 2011 Lansing rally against PA 4.

Throughout it all my parents have consistently reinforced the value of these experiences – the importance of standing in the gap for the disenfranchised; for being the voice for those who cannot speak for themselves; and for ensuring that the rights of all peoples are never diminished or eliminated. The obligation to serve and give back is as engrained in me as my name. The AFSCME Family Scholarship will help me reach my goals and continue a long standing tradition of being a gatekeeper for those in need. While I may or may not end up in a unionized profession, these experiences have taught me how to be a better person, to be compassionate, and, as my father would say, to always be caught doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do.

Thank you for the opportunity to walk proudly in the path he forged.         

VIDEO BELOW SHOWS PRES. LEAMON WILSON SPEAKING AT CITY COUNCIL HEARING, FIGHTING FOR HIS MEMBERS, BUS RIDERS               

Recent VOD stories featuring AFSCME Local 312 President Leamon Wilson:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/27/d-dot-deputy-dumped-will-feds-charge-nojay-bing-brown/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/22/regional-authority-will-likely-own-46-new-d-dot-buses-10-member-board-has-only-one-detroit-rep/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/09/bing-to-slash-bus-routes-d-dot-jobs-feb-24-contractor-gets-big/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/11/05/bing-keeps-buses-broken-drivers-and-riders-in-danger-blames-youth/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/11/05/bing-keeps-buses-broken-drivers-and-riders-in-danger-blames-youth/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/10/27/occupy-detroit-calls-for-march-for-ddot-workers-and-riders/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/20/bus-workers-riders-blast-bing/

Protest at Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.

 Contract includes unlimited charges for work, including asset sales

Brushes off “conflict of interest” re: Jones Day’s representation of most city creditors

Bars affirmative action in hiring, including U.S. EO 11246 compliance

Refuses to comply with  “ban the box” city ordinance re: ex-offenders 

By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT – The Detroit City Council is expected to vote on an open-ended, open cost “debt restructuring” contract with Jones Day  at its regular session Tues. April 9, 2013 at 10 a.m. Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr worked for the firm beginning in 1984, allegedly terminating his tenure when Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder anointed him EM. 

Tom Barrow, President of Citizens for Detroit’s Future

“My friends, why is this not an obvious conflict, obvious to even non-Detroiters who think an EM is a great idea for Detroit but not themselves?” Tom Barrow, President of Citizens for Detroit’s Future, asked. “Orr is so cold that he will now USE the Detroit city council to do what he could do by himself. . No, instead he wants the Detroit City Council to do it and thus make it appear and enable him to say “the city of Detroit hired” Jones Day. We have Miller Canfield, Buckfire and now Jones Day. I guarantee once they get their hooks into us, these folks will not let go until at least 100 million is charged. This is so wrong!!! So wrong!

Under the newly-minted EM act, PA 436, Detroit’s EM must approve everything city officials do. However, many Detroiters feel their Council could at least take a stand on behalf of the people, and vote a resounding NO! 

Snyder appoints EM Kevyn Orr as Mayor Dave Bing stands by, in Oreo arrangement.

The contract’s initial term of services is from March 15 to Sept. 15, 2013. But an attached letter to Mayor Dave Bing says it can last as long as Orr is EM. Under PA 436, he is supposed to stay 180 days, but only if Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder doesn’t want him to stay longer. Jones Day says it will charge $3.35 million for “Core Re-structuring.” 

To read the complete contract, click on Jones Day contract.

CONTRACT COULD COST DETROIT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS

However, the letter to Bing says the firm will charge additional costs for a massive amount of non-Core Restructuring work, which will be performed by its Managing Partner Stephen Brogan and partners David Heiman, Bruce Bennett, Corrine Ball, and Heather Lennox. (See profiles of these lawyers and their activities at the end of this article.) 

Rates quoted in the letter are: 

 JONES DAY PARTNERS COMING TO DETROIT

These Jones Day partners are specified in the contract. However, an unknown number of other staffers will also be hired. The contract specifically forbids the use of “affirmative action” in hiring.

That work includes “work related to Pension Certificates  Participation and related swap and interest agreements,” other than legal analysis. It will charge to handle litigation relating to labor or pension disputes or proposed changes to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, now before U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox.

DWSD workers on strike last September; Orr has said DWSD is “on the table” for monetization.

Jones Day will charge Detroit for work on “(a) any asset dispositions, privatization, or similar transactions, or any other capital-raising transactions; and (b) any transactions necessary to implement a negotiated financial restructuring, such as new debt instruments, new labor contract, or other agreements beyond restructuring term sheets.” 

It will charge for work relating to EM Acts PA 72 and 436 or challenges to Orr’s power, and for “contingency planning for a potential chapter 9 bankruptcy filing by the City, or the conduct or administration of such a case.” 

LIBOR scandal is massive.

Jones Day represents UBS AG and a partner of SBS Financial, the firms which sold Detroit a predatory “pension obligation certificate” (POC) loan of $1.5 billion in 2005. The city has had to pay an additional $1 billion to hedge funds for betting the wrong way on which way the market would go, prior to the great economic collapse of 2008. 

UBS AG just paid a $1.5 billion fine to the U.S. Department of Justice for interest-rate rigging in the LIBOR scandal and faces other related litigation globally. 

The firms are also involved in $474 million in fees Wall Street raked in as a result of interest swap deals. (See article below from Bloomberg Businessweek.) 

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings announces lawsuit against UBS, Citigroup, JP Morgan and numerous other banks for interest rate rigging. Why hasn’t Detroit joined in?

During Gov. Snyder’s press conference announcing Orr’s appointment March 16, VOD specifically questioned Orr about the UBS AG loan to the City of Detroit and the USDOJ fine, asking him what he would do about the banks. He responded only in generalities. 

Later, VOD emailed him asking him if he would investigate whether LIBOR banks including UBS AG have caused the city economic damage, and pursue legal action against them, as did the City of Baltimore and many other municipalities and pension funds around the U.S. Orr never responded to the email, and never admitted that Jones Day had UBS AG and SBS as clients. 

Jones Day admits in its letter to Bing, “Some of Jones Day’s clients may have, or develop, interests adverse to the City.  .  . We will promptly inform the City of any client relationships that may raise conflict concerns as such matters are identified over the course of our engagement. We will work with the City to address any conflicts as circumstances require.” 

Jones Day says further that it “will not represent any person or entity in any matter adverse to the City without its express written consent.” 

It appears to be a case of too little (or nothing), too late. As the Bloomberg Businessweek article points out, Wall Street firms including Jones Day clients are responsible to a great degree for Detroit’s economic decline, the matter which Jones Day is allegedly to address. 

Kevyn Orr was Jones Day’s minority recruitment director, but he appears not to have done a very thorough job, as evidenced by photos of partners on the Jones Day website. Jones Day further states in its contract that it “shall not be required to comply with any affirmative action provision or related employee data-gathering or auditing requirements . . . . ” It also refuses to comply with U.S. Executive Order 11246, which requires affirmative action in hiring. Jones Day claims it is not subject to this order because it is not a federal contractor paid out of federal funds.

Supporters of the Voting Rights Act at U.S. Supreme Court during hearings on Shelby County v. Holder.

The contract also refuses specifically to comply with Detroit’s new “ban the box” ordinance, which would eliminate questions about previous criminal offenses until later in the interview process.

Jones Day partner Michael Carvin opposed Voting Rights Act Sec.5 as well as HHS contraception mandate in Obamacare.

Showing its racist tendencies, Jones Day has been an active supporter of Shelby County Alabama in recent hearings before the U.S. Supreme Court, in which it is trying to overturn Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act which requires many Southern states to obtain federal preclearance for all voting procedure changes before they are implemented.

Most recently, Jones Day partner Michael Carvin spoke at a Heritage Foundation briefing on the “(Un)Constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” in Washington, D.C, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Shelby County v. Holder.

White voters are “wide open to electing black Democrats … as much as white Democrats,” Carvin told the audience, according to a Feb. 24 article in the Roll Call newspaper.

Many protesters of the EM appointment, in signs and at Council, have advocated “debt re-structuring,” appearing to confuse it with a moratorium on payments of the city’s debt or actual cancellation, actions which have been demanded in Third World countries for years and which are now being demanded in France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Ireland and other European countries. 

“Debt re-structuring,” as it has been carried out in those countries, while getting the banks to back off some of their immediate demands for payment after massive general strikes and protests, is however, inextricably tied to austerity measures. 

In 2004, the Detroit Public Schools District “re-structured” a $220 million loan taken out by then state-appointed CEO Kenneth Burnley. It spread the debt out over 15 years, resulting in soaring interest rates. The agreement to “re-structure” the debt specified that payments would come directly from the state’s per-pupil aid to DPS. As a result, to ensure re-payment of that and other loans, a state trustee gets DPS per-pupil aid and parcels out 80 to 90 percent of it to the district’s creditors. (Click on  Banks take 90 cents of every state aid dollar for article by this author published in the Michigan Citizen in 2004.)

The devastation of DPS, and the destruction of the futures of Detroit’s children, is directly due to “debt restructuring.” DO NOT BE FOOLED.

PROFILES OF JONES DAY PARTNERS COMING TO DETROIT

STEPHEN BROGAN, JONES DAY MANAGING PARTNER 

Stephen Brogan in the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia, where Jones Day has three offices.

The current managing partner of Jones Day is Steve Brogan, a 1977 Notre Dame Law grad, and a current member of Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees. Brogan was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General during the Reagan Administration (1981-1983), Jones Day represented Brogan’s alma mater the University of Notre Dame, and other Catholic organizations, pro bono in their lawsuit challenging Obamacare’s contraception inclusion mandate. It has also represented the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland in its child abuse lawsuits. 

DAVID HEIMAN

Corporate cannibal Wilbur Ross

David Heiman has been part of teams representing WL Ross & Co., owned by billionaire Wilbur Ross, a conservative Mitt Romney supporter and global corporate buy-out specialist who was involved with the owners of Sago Mine in W. Virginia, where 12 miners died after numerous safety violation citations. Heiman has also been part of teams representing Lehman Brothers, whose collapse triggered the 2008 world-wide economic meltdown; the Chrysler LLC buyout by Fiat; Gould Electronics, accused of contamination at a site in Omaha, Nebraska by the US EPA, and USG Corporation, which went bankrupt settling asbestos personal injury liabilities. 

BRUCE BENNETT 

Enron’s CEO Kenneth Lay during trial.

“Prior to joining Jones Day in May 2012, Bennett was the lead debtor’s counsel in the country’s largest municipal bankruptcy (County of Orange, California), following a $1.7 billion loss in county investment pools. As counsel to the debtor, Bruce was the architect of the plan of adjustment that . . . .resulted in the recovery of more than $870 million for the county. . .,” says the Jones Day website. “Bruce also successfully resolved many other large bankruptcy cases for lenders, note holders, and equity interest owners, including Adelphia Communications, Enron, Fountainebleau Las Vegas, Green Valley Ranch, Hawaii Medical Centers, Lehman Brothers Treasury Co., Olympia & York, and Tribune Company. 

Corinne Ball  

Protest in London against cuts in pensions and public services.

Jones Day announced in April, 2011 that Ball would lead Jones Day’s restructuring effort in Europe, where it has dozens of offices.  She was the lead lawyer in the Chrysler bankruptcy and in the Dana Corporation global settlement in the UK which targeted the company’s pension systems, transferring them to Centerbridge and other investors. She obtained settlements to eliminate “an enormous accumulated liability for health and life insurance benefits for retirees from its unionized and nonunion workforces, and to modify its collective bargaining agreements with active employees, allowing Dana to compete in the troubled auto industry upon emergence from bankruptcy. This “Global Settlement” resulted in the elimination of almost $1.5 billion in accumulated post-retirement benefit obligations, and the creation and funding of Voluntary Employee Benefit Association (VEBA) trusts,” says the Jones Day website. 

She also helped WL Ross & Co. with numerous acquisitions of European-based companies. 

Heather Lennox 

According to Jones Day, “Heather Lennox has . . . substantial experience counseling clients in fraudulent conveyance, illegal dividend, fiduciary duty, piercing the corporate veil, and mass tort issues in bankruptcy. She has represented a number of entities in the structuring and consummation of spin-offs, secured financings, distressed sales and acquisitions, ring-fencing transactions, and other out-of-court restructuring transactions.

Heather has represented, among others: Copperweld Corporation, CSC Industries, Dana Corporation, Fruehauf Trailer Corporation, Great American Communications Company (a prepackaged case), Hostess Brands, Inc., LTV Steel Company, Metaldyne Corporation, and Oglebay Norton Company as debtors’ counsel, and significant creditors in the Delta Airlines, Forum Health, HomePlace Stores, Northwest Airlines, Pittsburgh Penguins, R.H. Macy, Southern Air Transport, United Airlines, US Airways, and Wornick Company bankruptcies.

For a formatted printout of this article, click on COSTLY JONES DAY CONTRACT.

Related articles:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/04/08/only-wall-street-wins-in-detroit-crisis-reaping-474-million-fee/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/04/08/reek-general-strike-battled-imf-austerity-measures-em-to-bring-same-to-detroit/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/04/07/privatizing-detroit-water-sewerage-dept-will-cost-customers-dearly/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/04/01/detroit-pension-systems-under-attack-actuary-disputes-milliman-report/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/04/01/afscme-local-457-called-for-moratorium-on-debt-to-banks-in-1992/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/31/detroit-council-to-vote-on-jones-day-contract-firm-represents-criminal-banks-holding-citys-debt/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/27/throw-out-detroits-em-power-to-the-people-not-the-banks/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/27/detroiters-march-in-cleveland-tell-jones-day-and-banks-get-out/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/26/vampire-capitalism-comes-to-detroit-mi-and-dekalb-county-ga/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/24/from-detroit-to-cyprus-banksters-in-search-of-prey/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/20/banks-behind-detroit-emergency-manager-takeover/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/20/detroit-water-dept-on-the-table-says-efm-commissioners-approve-report-rooted-in-lies/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/23/detroit-leaders-announce-drastic-direct-action-to-fight-em-banks/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/19/wall-street-v-woodward-ave-will-detroit-em-address-predatory-interest-rate-swaps/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/17/detroit-efms-law-firm-advises-worlds-biggest-crooks-including-libor-banks/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/12/grand-theft-of-detroits-water-dept-imminent-water-board-mtg-wed-march-13-2pm/

Much of Detroit’s streets look like this one in Highland Park, which shows Cassandra Cabil at her home after Highland Park cut a deal with DTE to remove half the city’s street lights. Under a new Public Lighting Authority, 40 percent of Detroit’s street lights, many already gone, will also be permanently removed. The blame lies with Wall Street. Photo: Carlos Osorio

 (VOD has taken the liberty of re-publishing this entire article, which clearly lays out the role Jones Day clients, including UBS AG, SBS Financial Services, BOA’s Merrill Lynch, and JP Morgan Chase, in what continues to amount to the gang rape of Detroit. Detroit’s City Council will vote Tues. April 9 on a costly “debt-restructuring” contract with Jones Day. Council members should read this and beware. The article confirms much of what VOD has already written over the last two years.)

By Darrell Preston & Chris Christoff – Mar 13, 2013 8:24 PM ET

The only winners in the financial crisis that brought Detroit  to the brink of state takeover are Wall Street bankers who reaped more than $474 million from a city too poor to keep street lights working.

The city started borrowing to plug budget holes in 2005 under former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was convicted this week on corruption charges. That year, it issued $1.4 billion in securities to fund pension payments. Last year, it added $129.5 million in debt, 9.3 percent of its general-fund budget, in part to repay loans taken to service other bonds.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announces appointment of Kevyn Orr as Detroit EM March 14, 2013.

Detroit, which is trying to avoid becoming the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy, struggles to serve residents after revenue declined when the auto industry collapsed and the city began to empty. Michigan ’s Republican governor, Rick Snyder, [has named] an emergency manager, who will have to address debt and derivatives taken on in the last eight years.

“We have no lights, no buses, poor streets and now we’re paying millions of dollars a year on our debt,” said David Sole, a retired municipal worker and advocate for Moratorium Now Coalition, a Detroit group that fights foreclosures and evictions. “The banks said they need to be paid first. But there is no money.”

Dave Sole of Moratoriun Now! speaks at rally against EM March 6, 2013.

The city, which peaked at 1.85 million residents in 1950, has lost more than a quarter of its population since 2000. The 700,000 inhabitants who remain endure unreliable buses, inadequate police and fire protection and broken street lights that have darkened entire blocks.

Covering Shortfalls

Banks including UBS AG (UBS), Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) have enabled about $3.7 billion of bond issues to cover deficits, pension shortfalls and debt payments since 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Liabilities rose to almost $15 billion, including money owed retirees, according to a state treasurer’s review.

The debt sales cost Detroit $474 million, including underwriting expenses, bond-insurance premiums and fees for wrong-way bets on swaps, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That almost equals the city’s 2013 budget for police and fire protection.

Protesters rally outside CAYMC in Detroit as EM takes office March 25, 2013.

The largest part is $350 million owed for derivatives meant to lower borrowing costs on variable-rate debt.

Municipal borrowers from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have paid billions to banks to end interest-rate swaps that didn’t protect them. In the bets, a municipal issuer and another party exchange payments tied to interest-rate indexes.

‘Pay Later’

“The banks promise to get you the money and say you can pay later,” said Greg Bowens, spokesman for Stand Up For Democracy, a Lansing group that campaigned last year to repeal the law allowing appointment of a financial manager. “They get their fees off the top, and you trust that they’re doing what’s in your taxpayers’ best interest.”

Moratoriun Now and Occupy Detroit protect the home of a Detroiter facing foreclosure.

As banks were collecting fees from bonds, some targeted city homeowners with subprime loans that led to foreclosures, depressing real-estate values and tax revenue, Sole said. About one-quarter of Detroit’s housing units are vacant, according to Detroit Future City, a 50-year blueprint for recovery. In some areas, entire blocks are deserted. Properties have been stripped of plumbing, wiring and whatever can be sold.

The home town of General Motors Co. (GM) has been running general-fund deficits of $155.4 million to $331.9 million since 2005, when Kilpatrick was mayor, and has been firing workers to save money.

Killing Fields

Last year, it cut police staffing by 11.6 percent to 2,836, according to budget documents. Killings spiked. Detroit had 411 homicides last year, up 9 percent from 2011.

Stephen Murphy of Standard and Poor’s (r) and Joe O’Keefe of Fitch Ratings sell Detroit City Council on %1.5 billion UBS AG loan in 2004.

On March 11, Kilpatrick, a Democrat, was convicted on corruption and fraud charges. He and co-conspirators executed a “wide-ranging racketeering conspiracy involving extortion, bribery and fraud,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in a statement.

Kilpatrick’s attorney, James Thomas of Detroit, declined to comment.

While his client ran Detroit, the city embarked on two of its most expensive bond issues, first paying $46.4 million in fees to UBS and others to borrow $1.4 billion for pension obligations.

A year later, the city paid $61.8 million, including insurance costs, for UBS to sell $948.5 million in bonds, replacing two-thirds of the debt sold the previous year.

Some pension debt traded at about 65 cents on the dollar in the most recent trade Feb. 12, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Wrong-Way Bets

Detroit also entered into swaps contracts with UBS and SBS Financial Products Co., which serves as a counterparty on swaps transactions.

The arrangements are a bet on the direction of interest rates and can raise costs if they move unexpectedly.

Detroit CFO Jack Martin Aug. , 2012.

Rates fell, leaving a liability of $439 million on June 30, 2012, according to a city report. That has fallen to about $350 million as rates went back up, said Jack Martin, Detroit’s chief financial officer.

The borrowing “likely contributed to our current problems,” said Martin, who took his job in May, 2012. “It was the way people did business back then. We are where we are now and working hard to right the ship.”

The city makes periodic swap payments from money generated by casinos.

Public Interest

Wall Street firms could end the deals and call for full payment because Moody’s Investors Service last March cut unlimited general-obligation bond ratings to B2, five levels below investment grade, according to the city’s 2012 financial statement. In November, Moody’s cut the rating again, sending it down two levels to Caa1.

The cuts mean there is “significant risk in connection with the city’s ability to meet the cash demands” under the swap, according to Detroit’s financial report. Continue reading →

General strike in Greece against austerity including “debt-restructuring” IMF policies. Banner reads: Stop Austerity, Growth Now. Greeks protested is every major city.

By G. Dunkel on March 1, 2013

(VOD: The Detroit City Council is to vote Tues. April 9 at 10 a.m. on a costly “debt-restructuring” contract with Jones Day, the world’s third largest law firm, whose clients include most of the major banks which hold the city’s debt. In Greece, Italy, Spain, France and other countries, people have held general strikes and mass shutdowns to protest similar policies.)

Just days before an inspection team was due to check that Greece’s new austerity measures were in place, tens of thousands of workers took to the streets on Feb. 20 and shut the country down. The strikers made it clear that “reforms” that leave patients without health care and drugs, students without education, taxpayers without money, families with no one employed, workers without labor rights and 68 percent of the youth without jobs are really attacks on the Greek people and their standard of living. (Greek Reporter, Feb. 20)

Police hold Greek farmers back during protest in Patras, Greece Feb. 20, 2013

The inspection team is from the Troika — the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank — which offered its first bailout to Greece in 2010 after three years of recession. The Troika offers only more austerity.

As an example, the minimum wage was cut by 22 percent in 2012 from $989 a month to $772 and just $673 for youth, with another 10 to 15 percent decrease due in 2013.

Protest in Athens at Parliament Building Feb. 20, 2013

What’s worse is that, according to the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) relying on official statistics, only 600,000 workers out of 1.5 million employed in the private sector get a regular paycheck. Most employers in Greece pay anywhere from 3 to 15 months late; workers keep on working in the hopes of getting back pay or at least severance.

Many of the workers getting minimum wages are in the private sector.

Protest marches took place in 70 cities, with large demonstrations on the island of Crete, and one action attracting 18,000 participants in Thessaloníki, Greece’s second largest city. Farmers, whose access to credit is under attack by the Troika, actively blocked, in particular, the highway between Athens and Thessaloníki.

Youg woman in Feb. 20, 2013 protest in Greece.

In Athens, two demonstrations followed the same route, ending at Syntagma Square in front of the Greek Parliament, both with similar demands. The Greek Communist Party (KKE) supported the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) union confederation’s march and the other march by the GSEE, together with the Civil Servants’ Confederation. The main press services of France and Germany both reported significantly from 50,000 to 60,000 participants.

According to AFP, the main banner carried by PAME read, “No to modern sweatshops, hands off collective labor agreements.”

KKE General Secretary Aleka Papariga led a large KKE delegation at PAME’s demonstration. She told the crowd: “The working people who are suffering must take a decision. To discover their strength and advance combatively, towards the rupture and overthrow, to the very end. Otherwise, they will find themselves trapped against the wall.”

At the other march, the GSEE, the union movement close to social democratic parties, explained: “We are fighting for collective bargaining agreements, for measures to be finally taken against unemployment and to ensure our democratic and working rights.” Some of PAME’s demands made the same points.

One of hundreds of protests in Greece over the last several years.

Syriza, a major presence in the GSEE/ADEDY march, is an electoral coalition of social democratic and left parties which heads the opposition. Syriza said it wanted to use the strike as a springboard to force out the coalition government led by the conservative prime minister, Antonis Samaras. “The general strike aims to bring down the government and annul (the austerity) agreement and measures,” Syriza said in leaflets handed out this week.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias, whose role is symbolic, commented, “We are faced with a societal explosion if any more pressure is put on society,” ruminating, perhaps, over the constant barrage of pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions that he nonetheless supports. (Greek Reporter, Feb. 20)

Uploaded by DetroitEvolution

(VOD editor Diane Bukowski: Thanks to those brave souls who held this slowdown on Tigers’ opening day April 5. I have personal sympathies based on the fact that I work part-time in a downtown location squarely in the midst of tail-gating and drunken suburban mobs, on Bagley near Grand Circus Park. From 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. that night, Tigers fans spent the day in parking lots and streets and sidewalks around our building getting completely blasted, openly drinking alcohol (illegal), urinating in the streets and on our building, then coming INTO our building. Someone kicked down the locked door to a non-functioning toilet on my floor, and defecated in it anyway, leaving a terrible odor. If this had been a BLACK mob, police would have hauled away hundreds, cracked heads, and probably shot a few.  But there were no police to be seen. This added insult to injury on top of the EM appointment, and made it difficult for me to leave the office to service my homeless clients.)

By Richard (RJ) Eskow 04/07/2013

Falling income. Unaffordable colleges. A dying middle class. Young people without hope. The greatest economic inequality in modern history.

And yet, in the midst of the Long Depression, we’re told that the president intends to cuts Social Security.

Pres. Barack Obama proposes cuts in Social Security, Medicare

According to reports, the new presidential budget proposal will also include job-killing spending cuts and a Medicare cost hike that will increasingly affect the middle class with every passing year.

The president says this isn’t his “ideal plan,” but he doesn’t say what his ideal plan would look like — and he certainly isn’t fighting for a better one. He also claims his budget offers “tough reforms,” which rings of self-satisfaction rather than sorrow.

He’s decided on his next move. What’s yours?

This budget represents a moral challenge for everyone, especially those of us who voted for him. I’ve already gone here to let my elected officials know that I unconditionally oppose these budget cuts.

Death by a Thousand Cuts

Call it ‘the unkindest cut of all.’ What makes the chained CPI particularly unkind is the fact that millions of Americans have already had their Social Security benefits cut. Benefits are determined based on a person’s lifetime earnings, so any significant loss in income now results in a benefit cut later. (More details here.)

Long-term unemployment is a benefit cut. A stagnating wage is a benefit cut. Wealth inequity is a benefit cut.

How many more cuts can the American people stand?

A Deep Cut

How big is the president’s chained CPI cut? For someone who retires at 65, it would be:

a 3.7 percent cut at age 75;
a 6.5 percent cut at age 85;
and a 9.2 percent cut at 95.

What about the dollar cost of the president’s cut? For the average earner, cumulative benefits would be cut by:

$4,631 — more than three months of benefits — by age 75;
$13,910 — nearly a year of benefits — by age 85;
and $28,004 — more than a year and a half of benefits — by age 95.

Unless the president’s budget excludes the chained CPI from IRS calculation, it would also lead to tax increases for all income except that in the highest tax bracket. So his Social Security cut would also be a middle-class tax hike.

All the President’s Cuts

Despite its severity, reports tell us that the chained CPI isn’t this budget’s only harsh austerity measure. The president will also propose increasing Medicare premiums for higher earners. The figure that’s been reported is $47,000 per year. That targets comfortable seniors, not just the wealthy.

In less than 25 years, that more than one retired person in four would be paying an increased Medicare premium. (See the Kaiser Family Foundation’s analysis for more.) This cost hike wouldn’t do anything to reduce runaway health care costs. It’s just cost-shifting.

The president’s budget also includes some plain, old-fashioned austerity. According to reports, the new Obama budget calls for $400 billion in cuts to health programs, along with cuts to federal employees’ retirement programs, the Post Office, and farm programs.

That follows the European model of cutting budgets during a Long Depression. Hey, what could go wrong? Continue reading →

New Food & Water Watch Analysis Highlights Public Costs Associated With Water System Privatization Deals

April 4, 2013

Contact: Tia Lebherz, Food & Water Watch, (313) 486-1356 tlebherz@fwwatch.org

Detroit, Mich. – As Emergency Financial Manager Kevyn Orr works to balance Detroit’s budget in the wake of a state-declared financial emergency, reports indicate he may attempt to raise cash by privatizing Detroit’s drinking water and wastewater systems.

Tia Lebherz

But Borrowing Trouble: Water Privatization Is a False Solution for Municipal Budget Shortfalls, released today by the consumer advocacy organization Food & Water Watch, shows that taxpayers ultimately suffer when water systems are privatized, and that leasing or selling these essential systems simply masks, not alleviates, local budget shortfalls.

“Privatizing Detroit’s water and sewer system will do nothing to alleviate the city’s financial problems,” said Tia Lebherz, a Detroit-based organizer for Food & Water Watch. “Doing so would amount to a one-shot ploy to obscure larger money woes, and would ultimately come back to haunt residents in the form of higher bills.”

Although more than 80 percent of water systems worldwide are publically owned and controlled, the collapse of global financial markets in the 2000s has led many governments around the world to consider privatizing these assets through arrangements such as concession contracts, where a municipality retains ownership of a system, but the corporation that has assumed control is responsible for setting rates and financing system upkeep.

People’s Water Board Coalition protest outside Detroit Water Board building Aug. 21, 2012.

In these deals, the private company will give a local government what is effectively an upfront loan for control of its water system, while ratepayers, not the municipality, are expected to repay the loan through rate increases and other fees.

Because ratepayers must repay the loan from the company leasing their water system, water bills will increase. The more money a local government receives from the deal, the more households and local businesses will pay through their water bills.

The late Mary Shumake protests with the Michigan Welfare Rights Coalition in Detroit.

“Water privatization would disproportionately affect poor and working class families across Southeast Michigan who are already unable to keep up with water rate increases,” said Ann Rall of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization. “Our water system should provide the highest quality service at the most affordable price to ensure that all can have access to safe drinking water and sanitation. The regressive rate hikes that would occur with privatization would place an unfair burden on those less able to pay. Privatization would also increase the already-staggering level of unemployment in this region.”

Concession contracts are far more expensive than the common form of government borrowing on the municipal bond market. The upfront loan can have an interest rate of 14 percent or higher, while local government debt typically has an interest rate of about 4 percent. For similar reasons, concession contracts have also been shown to drive up the cost of system improvements, adding $0.8 million to $2.5 million onto the total cost of every $1 million investment.

Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant workers on strike Sept. 30, 2012

“In Detroit, both the Emergency Financial Manager and the Board of Water Commissioners have expressed that they are interested in pursuing the privatization of DWSD, either through the sale or lease of the system,” said Ken Gray, member of AFSCME Local 207. “However, we know, and this report confirms, that such an irresponsible and short sighted decision will not create a balanced budget but rather will dig Detroit into a deeper hole of long term financial instability.”

Food & Water Watch recommends that Kevyn Orr reject the idea of privatizing Detroit’s local water and sewer systems, as doing so will not provide a real, sustainable and responsible solution for the city’s financial shortfall. Policymakers should grant the public access to all information regarding potential privatization contracts, encourage public input and require a referendum on any proposed lease, concession or sale of a public drinking or wastewater system.

Borrowing Trouble: Water Privatization Is a False Solution for Municipal Budget Shortfalls is available here:

http://foodandwaterwatch.org/reports/borrowing-trouble-water-privatization-is-a-false-solution-for-municipal-budget-shortfalls/

Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.

Tia Lebherz
Organizer
Food & Water Watch
2727 2nd Ave, Suite 136
Detroit, MI 48201

Office: 313.486.1356
Cell: 310.963.0789
Fax: 313.486.1357
tlebherz@fwwatch.org

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/

Related articles:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/20/detroit-water-dept-on-the-table-says-efm-commissioners-approve-report-rooted-in-lies/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/03/12/grand-theft-of-detroits-water-dept-imminent-water-board-mtg-wed-march-13-2pm/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/09/27/detroit-dwsd-debt-shows-wall-street-never-loses-on-bad-swaps/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/11/19/detroiters-outraged-over-top-council-members-complicity-in-ema-water-dept-takeover-hearings-tues-nov-20/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/11/19/pro-tem-brown-in-bed-with-bowc-water-contractors/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/10/21/epa-wants-45-day-halt-to-ema-detroit-water-contract-council-presses-ahead/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/10/02/an-eye-witness-report-from-detroits-afscme-local-207-water-strike/’

 OCCUPY THE US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 2.0

The Battle for Public Schools

From United Opt Out National

April 4, 2013

Helen Moore, leader of Keep the Vote No Takeover, at press conference against Detroit EM takeover, March 22, 2013

Folks can tune in to Detroit’s participation on Saturday April 6 (Helen Moore, leader of Keep the Vote No Takeover, will be speaking at 2 pm). March to the White House at 3 pm.

All four days for the entire event April 4-7  http://www.livestream.com/califather

All other info re: the event can be found here:
http://unitedoptout.com/occupy-doe-2-0-the-battle-for-public-schools-last-minute-details

Administrators of the public education advocacy group UNITED OPT OUT NATIONAL are hosting the second annual event on the grounds of the US Department of Education in Washington, DC on April 4-7, 2013. We ask all of those in support of teachers, students and public schools to attend. The third day will include an organized march to the White House.

Child at DOE protests standardized testing.

The event is a four-day gathering of progressive education activists endeavoring to resist the destructive influences of corporate and for-profit education reforms, which began in previous administrations and persist with the current one. We cannot and will not stand silent as the threats to dismantle our system of public education continue. These threats include the erosion of the teaching profession, excessive use of standardized testing, mandated scripted curriculum, the absolute disregard of child poverty, and reforms which disproportionately impact minority communities.

CTU Pres. Karen Lewis and Chicago teachers have led a massive strike, and are in the forefront of current school closings protests there.

We ask that you join us, stand tall, and meet your responsibility as citizens to be heard above the din corporate influence. You will have the opportunity to hear speakers and converse with public school advocates from across the country, including Diane Ravitch, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, Stephen Krashen, Brian Jones, Deborah Meier, Helen Moore, and many other students, teachers, and community members (visit the link below for full schedule details1).

1 Occupy2.0 Full Schedule: http://unitedoptout.com/the-official-schedule-for-occupy-doe-2-0-the-battle-for-public-schools/

Do not miss this free and unique opportunity to connect with like-minded public school advocates. Come gather information and strategies that can be used to fight corporate education reform in your own community. Join us and make your voice heard.

If you require more information about the event, or to schedule interviews with the Administrators of United Opt Out National, please contact Peggy Robertson at (720)810-5593 or via email writepeg@juno.com.

Email: unitedoptoutnational@gmail.com Website: http://unitedoptout.com

Helen Moore (center) with Detroit Journey for Justice delegation on Capitol Hll Jan. 29, 2013.

VOD: The U.S. Department of Civil Rights just announced that it is opening an investigation into disproportionate closings of schools in communities of color in Michigan, as a result of the events below. Click on DOE letter to Helen Moore to read letter sent to Elder Helen Moore.

Video below is from National Journey for Justice event Sept. 12, 2013; a busload attended to protest destruction of Detroit Public Schools.

  

 

 

School Closures Violate Civil Rights, Protestors Tell Arne Duncan

Posted: 01/29/2013 7:01 pm EST | Updated: 02/01/2013 2:12 pm EST

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON — The standards-based education reform movement calls school change “the civil rights issue of our time.” But about 220 mostly African American community organizers, parents and students from 21 cities from New York to Oakland, Calif., converged on Washington Tuesday to tell U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan he’s getting it backwards on school closures.

Members of the group, a patchwork of community organizations called the Journey for Justice Movement, have filed several Title VI civil rights complaints with the Education Department Office of Civil Rights, claiming that school districts that shut schools are hurting minority students. While most school closures are decided locally, the Education Department’s School Improvement Grant gives underperforming school districts money for shakeups or turnarounds, including closures.

Chicago students march through the Loop protesting the city’s plan to close more than 50 elementary schools on March 25, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Last week the city announced the plan claiming it was necessary to rein in a looming $1 billion budget deficit. The closings would shift about 30,000 students to new schools and leave more than 1,000 teachers with uncertain futures. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The meeting became heated at times. “The voices of the people directly impacted can no longer be ignored,” said Jitu Brown, an organizer from the South Side of Chicago. “This type of mediocrity is only accepted because of the race of the students who are being served.” He called school closures “a violation of our human rights,” since many communities are left without neighborhood schools after districts shut them down.

“We are not Astroturf groups,” Brown continued. “We are not people who are paid by private interests to appear.”

Helen Moore, an organizer from Detroit, said the current reform movement is tantamount to racism. “We are now reverting back to slavery,” she said. “All the things that are happening are by design, by design, by design. They don’t want our children to have an education, but we’ll fight to the death.” Continue reading →