FactChecking the GOP Response 

FactChecking the GOP Response
Ryan and Bachmann made two new false claims, and repeated other talking points, in their responses to the president's State of the Union address

State investments in  Florida Retirement System have bounced back

State investments supporting the Florida Retirement System have bounced back to within about $1 billion of their pre-market collapse level, the state's top money manager told state legislators Wednesday

Florida lawmakers turning toward pension plan cuts 

TALLAHASSEE - With a state shortfall likely to top $3.6 billion in the coming fiscal year and pledges from legislative leaders not to raise taxes to fill the shortfall, lawmakers are increasingly looking at the state's pension plan as one avenue to reduce spending

CNBC's Erin Burnett Douses Debt Hysteria: "We Don't Have A Crisis Right This Second On Debt" 

Amy Chua’s ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’ 

“There are all these new books out there portraying Asian mothers as scheming, callous, overdriven people indifferent to their kids’ true interests,” Amy Chua writes. 

Articles available at Space Coast Working News

Scott proposes Department of Commerce

Activists to Protest as Billionaires’ Caucus

Plans Political Agenda

First Issue Tackled  GOP  Gutting the  Health Care System

U.S. Chamber Attacks FCIC as "Job-killing" Wikileakers

Big Things and the Workforce  to Get Them Done

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Report Shows How to Protect Public in Privatization Schemes 

In response to the fiscal crisis, many cash-starved state and local governments are considering privatizing core public assets, potentially costing thousands of jobs and decreasing the quality of service to the public

If Only Employees Enjoyed the Same Rights as Criminals

Union-haters want to make public employees public enemiesIn the United States, employers can legally fire employees without cause, and no amount of evidence can save that employee's job. 

Since the November elections attacks on public employees and their unions have exploded.

Raising False Alarms

 Without Social Security today, nearly half of all Americans aged 65 or older would be poor. With it, fewer than 10 percent live in poverty.

Private Funerals Now Streamed Online

In an age of commemorating birthdays, weddings and anniversaries on Facebook and Twitter, it was perhaps inevitable that live Web-streaming funerals for friends and loved ones would be next

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Governor breaks with unions on health insurance 

For much of his first term, Governor Deval Patrick helped protect public employee unions from dramatic increases in their members’ health care insurance costs.

What Do Americans Really Think Of Health Care Reform Repeal? | TPMDC

Rasmussen is perhaps the biggest culprit here, as they ask a direct repeal or no repeal question and allow respondents to say only whether they "strongly" or "somewhat" fall to either side

Insurance Execs Not Happy with Vermont's Single Payer Ideas 

Harvard Professor William Hsiao is a single payer supporter. Twenty years ago, he helped push through a single payer system for Taiwan. And now, he wants to do something similar in Vermont.

Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, Inc. (FLARA) Videos

In Florida, a slow start to early health-reform insurance perk | jacksonville.com

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For the thousands of Floridians who can’t get health insurance because they are already sick, the new health-reform law promises a lifeline: an insurance plan designed just for them priced at standard market rates.

Message to FLARA members and supporters:

As the nation gets ready for the State of the Union address, retirees are urging the President and Congress to not cut Social Security. Social Security does not add one cent to the federal budget deficit. As the President and Congress consider ways to lower the deficit, they should not cut benefits or raise the retirement age. Senator Harry Reid got it exactly right when he recently said that we should not try to balance the budget on the backs of seniors. Reid rightly said, “One of the things that always troubles me is when we start talking about the debt, the first thing people do is run to Social Security. Social Security is a program that works. … It's fully funded for the next forty years. Stop picking on Social Security.”

Other issues of great concern to Florida retirees will be discussed in his national statement on the evening of Tuesday, January 25^th.

***FLARA will hold a conference call during the State of the Union and, perhaps more importantly, directly after the State of the Union address so that you – FLARA members – can discuss your reactions to the President’s speech and proposals. President Fransetta asks that as you call in to the number listed below, immediately place your phone on mute. If you are watching the President’s comments with a large group, please try to use a speakerphone during the discussion portion of the call.

As your President, I am excited that technology offers us new opportunities to interact with each other and engage our membership at every level. I hope you will join us on the conference call next Tuesday, January 25^th, beginning at 9:00 pm. After the State of the Union address, we will also be inviting members of the press across Florida to call in and ask questions and listen to responses from Florida retirees.

The toll free number to call is as follows ~ Call-in #: 888-363-4735; when prompted enter Access Code: 2343607

If you have questions about the watch parties OR the conference call, please contact Jenny at 321-277-9385 or call the FLARA office at 561-792-8799.

You can watch the speech on your television or stream it online at any number of news sites including http://www.c-span.org/.

Patrick may trim legislators’ salaries - The Boston Globe

www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/01/02/patrick_may_trim_leg...

An amendment to the state Constitution gives the governor the authority to set

 legislators’ salaries every two years, based on what has happened to typical

 household incomes in Massachusetts. And while Patrick will not say what he

 plans to do, several signs, including official wage data from the state, point to

 at least a slight cut in legislators’ base salary of $61,440.

Public Employee Unions Face Rising Public Anger - NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/business/02showdown.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

A new regime in state politics is venting frustration less at Goldman Sachs executives (Governor Christie

 vetoed a proposed “millionaire’s tax” this year) than at unions. Newark recently laid off

 police officers after they refused to accept cuts, and Camden has threatened to lay 

off half of its officers in January.

Robert Reich: New Year's Prediction

www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/new-years-prediction_b_802637.html?utm_sourc...

What will happen to the US economy in 2011? If you're referring to profits of big corporations

 and Wall Street, next year is likely to be a good one. But if you're referring to average

 American workers, far from good.

That "Sanders for President" Talk is Real Enough,

 But Bernie's Not Going There | CommonDreams.org

www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/12/29-0

While Obama agreement to extend tax breaks for billionaires while establishing

 a massive estate-tax exemption for millionaires steered his presidency further 

and further from the moorings of the New Deal, Sanders – though he serves as

 an Independent member of the Senate Democratic Caucus rather than an

 actual member of the president’s party – maintained a fierce and unyielding

 commitment to the values outlined by Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman

 and the Democrats who once defined their party as the champion of working Americans.

World stocks eye two-year high | Reuters

www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69K04L20101230?feedType=nl&feedName=usbusinessearly

(Reuters) - World stocks approached their highest level since September 2008

 on Thursday on optimism about global growth next year, while the dollar fell on

 expectations of further money printing in 2011 by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Recession Creates Spike in Multifamily Households - NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/us/29families.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlin...

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — For the three generations of the Maggi family crowded into

 a recession-beaten three-bedroom ranch house here, the tension from living on

 top of one another for the last 10 months sometimes erupts at unexpected moments.