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By jwjnational, on September 26th, 2011
 The so-called deficit “Super Committee” – only 12 members of Congress – will have unprecedented power to shape federal budget priorities. It’s no surprise that Wall Street is leading the pack of big corporate donors flocking to these dozen, aiming to influence how $1,500,000,000,000 is cut from projected budget deficits, who will lose services and who will pay.
But America is not broke, the economy is broken.
Sign the petition today!
We know how to fix the economy:
Create good jobs – Full and Fair Employment
Rebuild public and community infrastructure
Make Wall Street and the corporate CEOs that broke the economy pay to fix it, starting with a Financial Speculation Tax (FST) and other provisions to make taxes fair.
Even a modest Financial Speculation Tax could generate enough revenue to cover the entire deficit-reduction mandate. That’s right, just one little thing, (which would be a good idea anyway) and the Committee can be done.
Several organizations are delivering petitions to all the Super Committee members this week.
Sign the petition today!
Continue reading Tell the Super-Committee: Make Wall Street Pay!
By jwjnational, on September 2nd, 2011
Today’s dismal jobs report reminds us that we’re in a jobs emergency requiring bold federal action.
Tell Congress: Tax Wall Street to heal Main Street, and put America back to work
Our communities are devastated by foreclosures and unemployment. Corporate-funded politicians are gutting services and attacking worker rights, claiming our state and national governments are broke – while Wall Street and corporate CEOs are getting record bonuses and sitting on record cash reserves (and often paying little or nothing in taxes). Despite massive fraud and reckless greed that wrecked our economy, throwing millions of Americans out of work and out of their homes, not a single Wall Street “bankster” has gone to jail.
 The fight back is growing!
Yesterday, National Nurses United (NNU) led a National Day of Action in more than 60 cities, supported by Jobs with Justice coalitions and other allies, demanding a Financial Speculation Tax (FST) which could pay for millions of good jobs, making Wall Street speculators pay for some of the damage they caused and restraining some of the more dangerous speculative trading. One part of breaking the grip of Wall Street,
Continue reading We need jobs! Tell Congress: Tax Wall Street to Heal Main Street
By Matthew Bruenig, on July 14th, 2011
Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and MASSPIRG released a report the consumer costs of financial speculation on oil futures. According to the report, for the month of May, Wall Street speculation drove the price of a gallon of gasoline up 83 cents from $3.13 to $3.96. The total cost of the speculation for consumers was $1 billion for the month, and the average cost for a two-car family was $82.
In the wake of what economist Andrew Sum has dubbed the “Jobless and Wageless Recovery,” working people are already struggling with a 9.1% unemployment rate and an unbalanced recovery in which 88 percent of national income growth flowed to corporate profits. Making working families – who are already strapped for money – pay a $1 billion dollar gasoline premium to the same Wall Street bankers who are responsible for their current suffering is completely unconscionable.
On the heels of this new report, actions must be taken to ensure that Wall Street speculation does not continue to siphon money away from the already low, insufficient wages of working families in the present economy. Senate Bill 1200, the End Excessive Oil Speculation Now Act of 2011 has already
Continue reading Speculation on Gas Costs Consumers
In a step towards reining in the Wall Street gamblers who caused the financial meltdown, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) introduced a financial speculation tax on oil markets. H.R. 2003, the Taxing Speculators Out of the Oil Market Act, would target the Wall Street speculation that is responsible for unnecessarily inflating the price of gas up to 80 cents a gallon. DeFazio’s bill would immediately penalize speculative market manipulation and would simultaneously lower the cost of gas.
“This Memorial Day weekend, families all across America are digging deep to pay $60 for a fill up at the gas station. And $12 of that $60 will go to speculators on Wall Street,” DeFazio said. “Today I introduced legislation that would bring immediate relief to Americans struggling to fill up their tanks.”
H.R. 2003 will deter speculation by raising the cost to bet on oil markets. Just by charging a tiny 0.01% tax on each transaction, excessive speculation would become too expensive and risky for Wall Street.
By jwjnational, on September 10th, 2010
 People are angry, and for good reason. Corporate greed and recklessness have driven the country into a crisis, and leaders in Washington have yet to offer any real solutions.
Banks are making bumper earnings and corporations are raking in record profits and sitting on more than $8 Trillion in cash reserves. Meanwhile, 15 million Americans are out of work, and without a major federal investment in creating jobs, (official) jobless rates will be 8-13% into the next decade.
There is no such thing as a jobless recovery!
On Wednesday, September 15, we are taking action in cities across the country to send a message to Congress: If you won’t act to create jobs, maybe you don’t deserve to have a job.
OUR DEMANDS:
Full and Fair Employment. Congress must recognize the jobs emergency. Pass legislation like the Local Jobs for America Act, extend the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families emergency fund jobs subsidies program, extend unemployment insurance, heed President Obama’s call to renew the countries’ infrastructure and create a national infrastructure bank, and other bills that will create jobs, protect public services, and help
Continue reading This is a jobs emergency. Join us September 15th… and beyond!
By Rev. Jim Sessions, on September 3rd, 2010
The labor movement is the largest and most powerful economic justice organization in the world. From its beginning, the union movement and some parts of the religious community have worked together to help bring justice to our society. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1909 recognized this connection by designating the Sunday before Labor Day as Labor Sunday, a day dedicated to the spiritual and educational dimensions of the labor movement.
Labor organizers have often drawn from the deep wells of religious imagery to lead struggles for economic justice. As scholar and author Perry Bush points out, “They have been able to do so because a great mass of U.S. workers have held religious convictions that were not easily stripped away or transmuted into mindless obeisance to the power of the wealthy.”
Labor Day and Labor Sunday are times for the religious community and the labor movement to not only celebrate working people and their contributions to society. It also is a time to remember the struggles that workers endured to achieve the many benefits we now enjoy but take for granted. Benefits such as the eight-hour day, workers’ compensation, overtime pay, pensions, health and safety laws, Social Security,
Continue reading Labor Day: Recommit to Full Employment
By Allison Fletcher Acosta, on August 27th, 2010
 Dozens of protests planned for September 15
Reviving a core demand from the August 28, 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” Jobs with Justice is declaring a national “jobs emergency” and calling for Full and Fair Employment. Protests are expected in dozens of cities across the country on September 15.
“It’s time for corporate apologists in the Senate, who are blocking a recovery for the rest of us, to recognize what workers already know: we are in a jobs emergency that requires a bold, emergency response,” said Sarita Gupta, Jobs with Justice Executive Director. “With record long-term unemployment and communities losing vital public services, it is time to put Full and Fair Employment and a massive federal works program, core demands from the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom that Glenn Beck wants us to forget, back on the national agenda.”
The demands of the September 15 protests are full and fair employment – including passage of legislation like Local Jobs for America Act which would save or create 1 million jobs, extension of the emergency Temporary
Continue reading 47 Years After King’s March, JwJ Revives Call for Full & Fair Employment
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