Trumka ‘Personally Outraged’ by Obama-Backed JOBS Act

[xchrom]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/13017/trumka_personally_outraged_by_obama-backed_jobs_act/

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Last month, the AFL-CIO's Executive Council endorsed President Barack Obama for re-election. About a week later, Congress passed the "Jumpstart Our Business Startup," or JOBS Act—a bill backed by President Obama and his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and strongly opposed by organized labor. President Obama signed it into law last week.

"President Trumka is personally outraged by the JOBS Act and the implication that this administration thinks that it’s going to be good for the country to re-inflate a stock market bubble," a top AFL-CIO official told In These Times Monday night, speaking only on condition of anonymity.

Developed by the Jobs Council—the chair of which, GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, said late last month he wouldn't endorse anyone for president—the JOBS Act would rollback many of the measures enacted to protect investors and stockholders in the wake of the dot.com bubble and Enron scandal. It would allow companies with less than $1 billion in assets called “emerging growth companies” (like tech start-ups) to not provide audited financial statement for five years after going public. Among other things, It would also weaken rules barring research analysts working for firms that could gain from the sale of a stock to promote the stocks of these “emerging growth companies,” a practice previously disallowed.

Trumka was so outraged with the prospect of the JOBS Act passing that he and other major union leaders insisted on issuing a statement condemning the bill during the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting's agenda last month in Florida (where the organization endorsed the president), even though the issue wasn't on the agenda. The labor leaders wrote:

'America needs jobs. Yet Congress cannot enact such basic legislation as the reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Bill that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Instead, this week Congress once again is looking to deregulate Wall Street—this time in the form of the cynically named JOBS Act, which would weaken the ability of the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate our capital markets and allow companies to sell stock to the public without providing three years of audited financial statements, without having adequate internal controls and without complying with key corporate governance reforms in the recently passed Dodd-Frank Act.'

[sendero]

1. This truly is.

.... a completely odious piece of legislation. Face palm.

[WCGreen]

2. This is an affront to all those people who watched their futures go up in smoke...

They are behaving like they have a bad case of battered spouse syndrome.

[banned from Kos]

3. Bullshit. Its like the lottery - if you don't want to lose

DON'T PLAY IT!

Dumb people throw their money away on Lotto all the time.

[banned from Kos]

7. That is so naive - you PREFER the system where Wall St controls

EVERY SINGLE public offering?

Every single IPO is book run by Goldman, Morgan, Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch, etc?

Do you know how much they take off the top? Do you know how many IPOs "work" now? About 3-5%.

And a book-runner gets about 10% of the company just for the road show.

You know NOTHING about this subject.

[flamingdem]

10. Thanks for adding this needed information

What is going on with Trumka then -- not aware of how the markets work?

[banned from Kos]

11. There is a symbiotic relationship between Labor and Big Corporations

It takes a Big Corporation to host a union.

Boeing and the Machinists for example.
UPS and the Teamsters.


There is nothing wrong with this relationship at all. But small start-ups threaten the status quo.

Imagine where all films are crowdfunded - the studio system would suffer along with SAG and writers unions.

[JDPriestly]

13. We could improve the way our Big Corporations are run.

Germany, which has particularly successful Big Corporations considering the size of the country, has a system in which Big Corporations include ordinary employees on their board of directors for rendering certain decisions. Their corporate management is more open and more employee-friendly than ours.

And Germany, unlike some other developed countries, is doing quite well so far but for its involvement in countries in which workers do not enjoy the rights and protection that German workers enjoy.

[banned from Kos]

23. I agree 100% with you. We have a dysfunctional Board/shareholder relation.

Barney Frank offered legislation to empower shareholders and the GOP fought it.

I AM A BARNEY FRANK fan on everything - legalize pot and sex and regulate corporations.

I will miss B. Frank more than anyone. I love the guy and I am straight.

[Bluenorthwest]

35. Why would alternate funding mean films would hire Non Union workers?

The funding does not dictate who makes the film, and no 'crowd' can make that script for you. Apparently you are anti Union. The way a film is funded has nothing to do with the choice to use Union workers, none at all. None. Zip. Zero.

[obxhead]

6. What about all the 401K accounts that are wrapped up in the market.

Companies no longer offer pensions as they once did. Many people count on the stability of the market.

Add to that everything else that is attached to the market. Market crashes lead to job loss.

It's nothing like the lotto as you imply.

[nonoxy9]

8. It's nothing like the lotto!

When people have put into a company or union pension for years and then some corrupt wall street manager steals and squanders it all, that's "bullshit"!

[banned from Kos]

9. No EXISTING company would ever finance this way

Crowdfunding is for the little guy who wants to BYPASS Wall Street.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdfunding

Its like a flash mob!

Crowdfunding is ANTI Wall Street.

[Dragonfli]

20. people with 401k's have no choice but to "play the lottery" as you so cheerfully suggest

Many would rather not place their futures on the roll of a die or the turn of a numbered ball.

Another thing you fail to consider is that because of the made up "too big to fail rule", we will end up paying the gambling debts of the whales that have serious gambling addictions, how do you suggest we continue to support their addiction? More gambling?

[banned from Kos]

22. Absurdly wrong! Put your 401K into fixed income, the S&P 500, the Dow 30

just utilities, just foreign companies, etc!

Piss-ass little "crowdfunding" is for SMALL STARTUPS ONLY!

[Dragonfli]

25. I had no such contol over my 401k, it matters little if companies can just lie now for 5 years anywa

even if one could assume personal control over a group investment as you suggest.

I did notice that you appear to think that one small portion of the bill is it's entirety. This bill is about deregulation first and foremost. A GOP dream come true if ever I heard of one (or perhaps all the R's voted against this pristine Democratic bill).

Why do you favor a Republican bill so much anyway, I find GOP ideas toxic myself, why the Paul like conversion to their side?

[AtomicKitten]

4. Labor was also split on the Keystone pipeline.

So, there's that.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/203917-afl-cio-divided-on-keystone-pipelin

“The AFL-CIO has not taken a position on the Keystone pipeline — unions don’t agree among ourselves,” Trumka said.

But Trumka nonetheless lamented the ultra-politicized debate unfolding around the pipeline, urging stakeholders on both sides of the issue to seek common ground.

“We cannot have a trust-building conversation about it unless opponents of the pipeline recognize that construction jobs are real jobs — good jobs — and supporters of the pipeline recognize that tar sands oil raises real issues in terms of climate change,” he said.

Unions — a key part of President Obama’s support base — are divided on the pipeline.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Teamsters, the Laborers’ International Union, the United Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters for the United States and Canada and others support the pipeline. But other labor groups, including the Amalgamated Transit Union and the Transport Workers Union, oppose the proposed pipeline.

Nonetheless, union support for the pipeline is one of a number of politically thorny issues Obama will have to weigh when making a final decision on the project. At the same time, environmental groups — another key source of support for Obama — are vehemently opposed to the pipeline, raising concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and oil spills, among other things.

[fascisthunter]

12. Hey New "Dems"... your corporate Game is Over

to me, you are just a bunch of right wingers. Go join the GOP.

[A Simple Game]

15. And in other news, DU membership plummets. n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. New Dems are running the show and there is nothing that you can do to stop it

[Occulus]

18. Warms the cockles of your Blue Dog heart, doesn't it?

How's it feel to be the problem, Freddie?

[Freddie Stubbs]

28. New Democrats are the only thing stopping the Democratic Party from being a permanent minority

[Dragonfli]

32. Yes, it would be tragic to veer away from Reagan towards FDR, look at the minority that fringer had

It is far better to get Corporate money and pass Republican laws as "New Democrats".
FDR could barely get Democrats elected on his meager coat tails.

[Freddie Stubbs]

33. You are confusing Reagan with Kennedy

[Dragonfli]

34. I thought we were talking about "New Democrats", if we were, Reagan fits far better,

Actually Gingrich early nineties may be more accurate than both. Most of what they propose is vintage Heritage Foundation mixed with contemporary US Chamber of Commerce, lots of trickle down "job growth", de-regulation, and privatization.

You should know this stuff, you hold many of their views if I remember correctly the POV of your posts over the years (I may also have you confused with a different Blue Dog, if so, I apologize).

[girl gone mad]

26. New Dems couldn't run a mini-mart..

they sure as hell aren't capable of running a first world economic and military superpower.

[Freddie Stubbs]

29. Who do you think is running the Executive Branch?

[Dragonfli]

31. The same foxes that are running the hen house, Reaganites. Next Question? /nt

[fascisthunter]

37. your arrogance is your own undoing

and because we know your type has done much to rid the party of the left wing, we are not going to give you any mercy. Go to the GOP where you belong.

[Dragonfli]

19. Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of infiltrating a party to change it's position on issues to

match opinions held by the Heritage Foundation and the US Chamber of Commerce perfectly?

They are causing far more damage with the false flag operation, I doubt they will take your advice to join their ideological twins on the other side of the aisle.

It is working very, very, well. They have passed the 93 Republican health plan that they on the right prefer and are busy filling out this list for The Chamber http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/images/110905_jobs_letter.pdf


Also do you really expect the Koch bros. to waste their investment?

Koch Industries gave funding to the DLC and served on its Executive Council

http://www.correntewire.com/why_its_feature_not_bug_koch_family_funds_dlc

[KG]

14. rec.

[blackspade]

16. Congress once again makes a shit sandwich that Obama

feels the need to eat.

This has got to be one of the worst political situations in this nations history.

[MisterP]

21. just an FYI to the AFL-CIO, boy anglerfish don't have a say in where the girl anglerfish takes them

[Starry Messenger]

24. Where's the DUer that always posts that he "stands with labor"? nt.

[fasttense]

27. Trumka wasn't the only person who thinks deregulation of Wall Street

will create no jobs. Pelosi thought it would be meager too.

"But the bill was pushed so hard by President Obama that an aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), told the Huffington Post that “his boss called the White House to complain, saying the aggressive White House support had hampered Reid's ability to improve the bill, putting him in a bind with Democrats who didn't like the legislation and forcing him to choose between his loyalty to Obama and the commitments he had already made to interest groups.”"

"The JOBS Act was the third example in as many months of new legislation or regulatory action opposed by organized labor that President Obama supports. The others include a Federal Aviation Administration bill that makes it more difficult for airline workers to unionize and a more recent push proposed by Obama’s Department of Agriculture to privatize poultry inspection."

Obama giveth and Obama taketh away. He always does 3 RepubliCON things for every 1 liberal thing. I think the 1 liberal thing is what you call a bone. He ain't going to change just because he will get reelected. Clinton did some of his worse RepubliCON crap during the end of his 2nd term. Stand by for more tax cuts for the uber rich

[Dragonfli]

30. People would rather blindly follow a lie, than admit they have been fooled /nt

[Bluenorthwest]

36. The thing is crap. Trumka is correct.

This is not the Party I was raised in....