By:
Steve Falk
11/30/11 8:37 PM
Nationwide, Americans are angry about the economy, unemployment and economic inequality. The Occupy demonstrations in New York, San Francisco and many other cities have spotlighted these concerns and sparked heated dialogue about the many economic and social challenges facing our cities and our nation. Such discussion and debate is warranted. But Occupy San Francisco has become too expansive, dangerous and damaging to continue in its current form.
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The U.S. Labor Department alleges that the Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Springdale, Ark., discriminated against more than 4,000 qualified women and non-Asians who applied for entry-level jobs. Now, labor officials are moving to cut off more than $550 million in Department of Defense contracts with Cargill, one of the nation’s largest meatpackers. The Springdale plant also drew national notoriety this year when it recalled more than 36 million pounds of ground turkey after two salmonella outbreaks.
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Seventeen workers at a Detroit factory making armored parts for U.S. military vehicles were “suspended pending discharge” after a local TV station showed undercover tape of them seemingly smoking marijuana cigarettes and drinking alcohol during their lunch break. The Tower Defense plant makes parts for Humvees and Stryker combat vehicles in Afghanistan and Iraq. A factory spokesman announced that from now on, workers would not be allowed to leave the premises during the work day.
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Talk about a dirty scam. Federal prosecutors in Florida say at least three people working for a septic tank company duped customers into buying about $1 million in unnecessary products — in some cases enough toilet paper to last more than 70 years. More than a dozen customers were told they needed special toilet paper to avoid ruining their septic tanks because the federal government changed regulations on toilet paper. The federal government does not regulate septic tank products. The trio pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to commit wire fraud.
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Nine federal government agencies — including the departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agency — spent $18 million administering 47 different job training programs in 2009. An investigation by the Parthenon Group business consultants found that only 4 percent of program participants received classroom-based skills instruction that could lead to long-term income gains. The vast majority of money was spent on job referral services for temporary employment.
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The former boss of insurance giant AIG, Hank Greenberg, is suing the federal government for at least $25 billion. The lawsuit claims AIG was underpaid and charged too high interest when Washington spent $130 billion to bail out the company in 2008. However, even three years after the bailout, AIG’s market worth is still less than the money the feds paid to save it. The government’s remaining $50 billion stock holdings are only worth about $30 billion.
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The former boss of insurance giant AIG, Hank Greenberg, is suing the federal government for at least $25 billion. The lawsuit claims AIG was underpaid and charged too high interest when Washington spent $130 billion to bail out the company in 2008. However, even three years after the bailout, AIG’s market worth is still less than the money the feds paid to save it. The government’s remaining $50 billion stock holdings are only worth about $30 billion.
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The Labor Department has approved Trade Adjustment Assistance for the former employees of bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra. All the firm’s 1,100 ex-employees are now eligible for federal aid packages with income assistance, costing about $13,000 per person. This adds another $14.3 million to the $528 million in federal loan guarantees that taxpayers are already stuck with. Trade Adjustment Assistance is supposed to help American workers who lost jobs due to unfair trade practices of foreign countries.
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Over the past 30 years, middle-class jobs shrank from 75 percent to 68 percent of the U.S. workforce. Meanwhile, job growth shifted to high-paying jobs requiring a lot of education — such as legal, engineering and technology industries — and low-paying jobs requiring little schooling, such as food preparation, maintenance and personal care. A new Federal Reserve Bank of New York report warned that the middle-class consumer base that historically powered America’s economy is beginning to erode.
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A woman who wanted to work at a nightclub started searching for someone who could perform plastic surgery at a cheap price to give her a curvier body. Police say what she found was a woman posing as a doctor who filled her buttocks with cement, mineral oil and flat-tire sealant. The suspect — who police say was born a man and identifies as a woman — apparently performed the surgery on herself, and investigators say she may have victimized others. Oneal Ron Morris, 30, was arrested Friday.
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/archive/44227/44227?type[story]=story&quicktabs_1=0
