Category: Economy

BY CRAIG NEWMAN: A lot of Americans go into service professions, but most have other means of employment, and need to find ways to help that complement their lives. To be really fair, this requires time and/or money that might be lacking; for example, a single parent putting kids through college is already more than busy. Here, I’m focusing on people who might have a little extra. Here are four possible aspects of “a craigslist for service,” and my suggestions for the Obama Administration.

The Pentagon’s three new rapid-response task forces will assist civil authorities during possible terrorist attacks or natural disasters, but they won’t perform law-enforcement missions, a senior Defense Department official said here yesterday.Some people have surfaced concerns that active-duty soldiers, who make up the core of the first 4,700-member joint task force established in early October, could be used to perform police functions, which would be in violation of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act.

They’ve taken their sleeping bags and pillows back home and hauled away their protest placards after ending a nearly weeklong sit-in at a Chicago factory that came to symbolize the plight of laid-off labor. But a day after dozens of protesting workers walked out of the Republic Windows & Doors plant with their demands met, they said they hope their triumph will inspire others nationwide to take similar stands against employers if need be.

Gay men and women across the country are taking part in today’s “Day Without a Gay” economic boycott. Outraged by the recent passage of California’s Proposition 8 to overturn state rules allowing same-sex couples to marry, they and their supporters want everyone to be clear on where they stand. Here is what’s happening in Huston.

New General Accounting Report serves as a peephole into the myriad internal problems of the executive branch, depicting a federal bureaucracy that is rife with mismanagement, inefficiency, and faulty communication practices—all of this combining to jeopardize both the nation’s health and security.

President-elect Barack Obama put himself on the side of the workers at the Republic Windows and Doors factory Sunday:“When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right,” Obama said Sunday at a news conference.

The worker occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Chicago’s Goose Island by members of UE Local 1110 went into its third day on Sunday, and workers have vowed to continue the occupation until they are paid back pay and benefits, or until the plant is re-opened. An rally was held Saturday in support of the occupying workers.

Workers who got three days’ notice that their factory was shutting its doors have occupied the building and say they won’t go home without assurances they’ll get severance and vacation pay.
About 250 union workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors plant in shifts Saturday while union leaders outside criticized a Wall Street bailout they say is leaving laborers behind.

In a meeting devoid of the drama that led up to it, the San Diego City Council resolved a dispute with the mayor Friday, agreeing to more than $22 million in midyear budget cuts. The council begrudgingly approved the staggered closure of six city customer service centers, but retained three painting jobs the mayor wanted to eliminate.

Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, shut down the country’s legislature yesterday until January 26, in an effort to avoid a no-confidence vote that he was about to lose. This has provoked a constitutional crisis. Canada’s parliamentary opposition reacted with outrage. The opposition accused Harper of undermining Canada’s democracy. Thousands demonstrated yesterday in protest of the shut-down.

Although the nation’s leading economists have determined that the national recession began in December 2007, regional economists are split over when San Diego County slipped into recession.
Some mark the beginning of the recession as early as spring 2007.

MICHAEL MOORE: You might assume that I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about these miserably inept crapmobile makers down the road in Detroit city. But I do care. I care about the millions whose lives and livelihoods depend on these car companies.