North Texans Have Awesome Challenge
The North Texas Jobs with Justice regular 2nd Wednesday meeting is 7 PM Sept 14 at 2218 E Main in Grand Prairie. Everybody is invited.
The jobs crisis continues to press down on all American working people, and politicians are making it a lot worse. Already, the unemployment numbers are growing because of layoffs at the state and local level of government. Federal cuts, much larger, will add far more people to the unemployment lines.
The biggest federal cuts are yet to come. A special 12-man "Super Congress" will decide on $1.5 trillion more cuts by November 23. Their proposal will then "fast track" through both houses of Congress and pass before December 23.
Some Americans are hoping that the SuperCong will fail, because the across-the-board $1.5 trillion in cuts, the alternative plan, may hit ordinary Americans less hard. Do not count on their failing! The alternative plan would involve big cuts in the military, which is not a likely choice for Democrats and Republicans alike, no matter how much they may disagree on everything else.
I attended the Legislative Conference for the Alliance for Retired Americans and put a couple of reports on their Texas website. Check it out for more explanation on the SuperCong.
Retirees are dead set against letting the SuperCong cut their benefits and steal the Social Security trust fund, which they are almost sure to do. Fortunately for North Texas Jobs with Justice, we've had a retiree outreach program going for a long time. National JwJ also has a "Reaching Across Generations" program for retirees. Consider this: if retirement gets more difficult or even less attractive, then seniors will not retire and even more younger workers will still be left in the streets! Everybody has a stake in defending retiree rights, both long term and short term!
The Co-Chair of the SuperCong, Congressman Jeb Hensarling, has a district that takes in East Dallas and Mesqujite. We need to think of some kind of public action in that area. A delegation of us went to his DC offices on Sept 8, but we need a much stronger approach.
Because Jeb Hensarling is so very important, Texans have a special responsibility right now. Please attend our planning meeting to pool our resources and see how we can meet this awesome challenge!
--Gene Lantz
join or donate to North Texas Jobs with Justice