NDN Blog

NDN minimum wage ads in National Journal

NDN's minimum wage campaign ads are featured in today's Ad Spotlight from the National Journal. Jane Roh writes:

Vote For A Pay Raise, Por Favor
NDN is continuing its Hispanic voter outreach effort this month by targeting two states with minimum wage increases on their ballots. Arizonans and Coloradans next month get to decide whether to give minimum wage earners a $1.60 and $1.70 raise, respectively; both measures also allow for annual revisions based on cost of living and inflation.

In the television spot running in both states, a woman whose husband has two jobs talks about the strain on her family. Her husband's rationale is that he is working overtime "for our kids," but "the sad irony is that, at the time he gets home, he doesn't even get the chance to see them awake."

The radio ad, set in a classroom, stars children telling their teacher about the various jobs their parents do. "My daddy works at the auto factory, teacher. And also at a toy factory," says little "Pedrito."

Congressional Democrats failed to get the first federal minimum wage increase in 10 years through before recess, and six states now have proposals on their ballots. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) surprised constituents in September when he signed a bill that would increase the minimum wage to $8 by 2008, making the state one of the most generous in the nation.

The Minimum Wage: Turning common knowledge on its head

Throw everything you thought you knew about raising the minimum wage out the window. Only benefits high school students working summer jobs? Not quite. Hurts small business? Nope. Results in more unemployment? Again, no.

Our friends at the Economic Policy Institute released a study today entitled, "Minimum wage trends: Understanding past and contemporary research." In the report, the "new economics of the minimum wage" is outlined, and it drastically alters how the minimum wage should be viewed. Some facts:

  • If the minimum wage were increased nationally to $7.25:
    o 14.9 million workers would receive a raise,
    o 80% of those affected are adults age 20 or over, and
    o 7.3 million children would see their parents income rise.
  • Families with affected workers rely on those workers for over half of their earnings.
  • 46% of all families with affected workers rely solely on the earnings from those workers.

Virtually all the general categories of dispute are addressed in this new research, including job growth, small business growth, and unemployment. In plain English, the report concludes, "The positive effects of the minimum wage are difficult to dispute. The minimum wage sets a floor for the value of work and lifts the living standards of low-wage workers." A common sense argument that's difficult to dispute.

 

New NPI Report shows Progressives Gaining in the Exurbs

Our New Politics Institute Director, Peter Leyden just sent this out. It's worth a good read, as it shows how progressives find new opportunities in Exurbia.

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Can progressives win in the exurbs? Today NPI releases a new Fall 2006 edition of our groundbreaking exurban report that argues – yes, we can.

Writing immediately after the 2004 election, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote an influential op-ed called “Take A Ride To Exurbia,” arguing that Conservatives were victorious because they won exurban voters: “the Republicans achieved huge turnout gains in exurbs .... [they] permeated those communities, and spread their message.”

But today our new report from NPI Fellow Ruy Teixeira shows Brooks is out of date: conservative exurban strongholds are breaking down, and the exurbs are up for grabs for progressives.

The Report, The Next Frontier: A New Study of Exurbia, shows why progressives can prosper as the exurbs become more diverse and less wealthy. It provides convincing evidence from a raft of recent polls that exurbans are today open to progressive messages and ideas.

There are three ways to absorb the report. First, you can check out the Highlights Version that just gives the executive summary and selected passages that are particularly relevant this fall. This includes an entirely new analysis with regional breakdowns of critical states like Ohio and Missouri.

Then you can read the full 34-page report, that includes all that highlighted material as well as a comprehensive analysis of the changing urban, suburban and exurban landscape of the 20th century that provides the foundation for some of today’s biggest political battles.

You can also watch our recently released video of Ruy Teixeira presenting a slide show version of the report at an event in Washington DC.

If progressives can take back the exurbs, we can also take back America. This report shows us the way. And you can help by reading it, passing it along and promoting it.

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The Catholic Church and Immigration

A visit to the website of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC), an affiliate of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, offers a fascinating look into official Church policy on immigration.  The introduction to their resources states: "Many proposals are currently pending in Congress and many more will likely be introduced that would allow certain undocumented persons to earn legal status in the United States."  This optimism belies their support for comprehensive immigration reform, but they are also taking steps to prepare for a post-reform America. 

CLINIC is providing advice and information in English and Spanish to documented and undocumented immigrants, as well as to non-profit groups and concerned Americans.  CLINIC advises that undocumented immigrants focus on proving "Identity, good moral character and physical presence or residency in the United States."  And there is information about how groups and individuals can become recognized by the Board of Immigration Appeals to work on behalf of immigrants. 

CLINIC's work is a good reminder, as Simon talked about on C-SPAN this morning, that there is a diverse coalition that supports comprehensive immigration reform.  That is why NDN will continue to be a leader in the progressive, political effort to provide real solutions on immigration.   

ONE Campaign Stresses GOTV

ONE, the campaign to make poverty history, came out with a new TV spot yesterday:

 

To quote the ad, "Saving lives in the world's poorest countries, winning the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty. There aren't two sides to these issues. There is only one--please vote." And somehow, I think there's only one party that's willing to take on these challenges...

12-18 months doesn't pass the laugh test

The new formulation offered by a "general on the ground" in Iraq yesterday, that Iraqi troops and police would be ready to assume responsibility for the country in 12-18 months, is not taken seriously even in the front page news account in the NYTimes today:

"In trying to build support for the American strategy in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. said Tuesday that the Iraqi military could be expected to take over the primary responsibility for securing the country within 12 to 18 months.

But that laudable goal seems far removed from the violence-plagued streets of Iraq’s capital, where American forces have taken the lead in trying to protect the city and American soldiers substantially outnumber Iraqi ones.

Given the rise in sectarian killings, a Sunni-based insurgency that appears to be as potent as ever and an Iraqi security establishment that continues to have difficulties deploying sufficient numbers of motivated and proficient forces in Baghdad, General Casey’s target seems to be an increasingly heroic assumption."

Friends, since the President declared "Mission Accomplished," our time in Iraq has been longer than our entire engagement in WWII.  Under pressure to show that we have a plan to change the course, the President's team rolls out this laughable 12-18 months timetable, even though our Ambassador acknowledged in the press conference yesterday that they were still working on the plan itself and that it would not be ready by the end of the year. 

And once again the assumption to all this is that our problem there can be solved through force, and not diplomacy and politics.  This comical press conference - which had to cease at one point as the electricity went out - confirms that the Administration has lost its way in Iraq, and has no real idea what to do now. 

As the nation tries to understand what went wrong in Iraq, a great deal of attention must be given to the lack of a plan for the occupation.  Our troops have performed with great effectiveness.  It was the lack of any kind of plan for building civil society and helping secure the peace - as the Marshall Plan so effectively did in Post-War Europe - that has been our undoing.  But the scale of the mess of the occupation is only just coming to light, and yet another tragic story, again in the Times today, details how little the Iraqis have gotten from our "reconstruction," and documents the utterly irresponsible contracting bonanza that Iraq has become:

"Overhead costs have consumed more than half the budget of some reconstruction projects in Iraq, according to a government estimate released yesterday, leaving far less money than expected to provide the oil, water and electricity needed to improve the lives of Iraqis.

The report provided the first official estimate that, in some cases, more money was being spent on housing and feeding employees, completing paperwork and providing security than on actual construction.

Those overhead costs have ranged from under 20 percent to as much as 55 percent of the budgets, according to the report, by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. On similar projects in the United States, those costs generally run to a few percent.

The highest proportion of overhead was incurred in oil-facility contracts won by KBR Inc., the Halliburton subsidiary formerly known as Kellogg Brown & Root, which has frequently been challenged by critics in Congress and elsewhere.

The actual costs for many projects could be even higher than the estimates, the report said, because the United States has not properly tracked how much such expenses have taken from the $18.4 billion of taxpayer-financed reconstruction approved by Congress two years ago.

The report said the prime reason was not the need to provide security, though those costs have clearly risen in the perilous environment, and are a burden that both contractors and American officials routinely blame for such increases.

Instead, the inspector general pointed to a simple bureaucratic flaw: the United States ordered the contractors and their equipment to Iraq and then let them sit idle for months at a time."

Good new essay on immigration reform, and C-Span tomorrow am

For those looking to learn more about immigration reform I strongly recommend an essay by Tamar Jacoby in the new issue of Foreign Affairs.  You can also find lots of good information at the site of the National Immigration Forum, and at our blog here and on our site.   Look for a new project we are involved to launch Thursday, www.immigration2006.org, which will also have good information. 

And watch C-Span tomorrow am at 8am eastern to watch me debate this important topic. 

PA-SEN: Santorum + WWF = WTF???

Normally i wouldn't do anything to give him publicity. But he is 10 points down, and this is so indescribably weird i just can't stop myself. He has already come close to running the most odious ad this cycle, in which he exploits his children for electoral gain. But this is just a whole new level of strangeness. I sent the clip to a friend. His response: "Surely not. Surely this is some kind of brilliant joke? No, it simply can't be real." But, yes, it is:

 

Simon on C-SPAN and Air America

Wake up early and watch Simon on C-SPAN tomorrow at 8:00am.  He'll be talking about immigration and taking phone calls.

And at 10:30am Simon will on the Sam Seder Show on Air America Radio discussing NDN's Campaign to Get Condi to Come Clean

Despicable

"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease...He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act."

- Rush Limbaugh on Michael J. Fox's ad for Claire McCaskill

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Watch the ad

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