It's an invisible epidemic -- and because people are so desperate to have and keep a job, some employers are taking full advantage of the hard economic times. Lynn Stuart Parramore at Alternet:

Americans like to think that a fair day’s work brings a fair day’s pay. Cheating workers of their wages may seem like a problem of 19th-century sweatshops. But it’s back and taking a terrible toll. We’re talking billions of dollars in wages; millions of workers affected each year. A gigantic heist is being perpetrated against working people: they’re getting screwed on overtime, denied their tips, shortchanged on benefits, defrauded on payroll, and handed paychecks that bounce like rubber balls. A conservative estimate of unpaid overtime alone shows that it costs workers at least $19 billion per year.

The laws protecting workers are grossly inadequate, and wage thieves go unpunished. For giant companies like Walmart, Citigroup and UPS, getting fined is just the cost of doing business. You could even say that they're incentivized to cheat because punishment is so unlikely, and when it happens, so light. The protections we used to take for granted, like the right to receive at least the minimum wage, the right to workers’ compensation when hurt on the job, and the right to advocate for better working conditions, are nothing more than a quaint memory for many Americans. Activist Kim Bobo, author of Wage Theft in America,calls it a "national crime wave."

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Do you suppose it's people like this who are at the end of their rope and see no realistic help on the way?

A new analysis released by the National Employment Law Project today reveals that 1.2 million workers will be cut off of federal jobless benefits by year’s end if Congress fails to renew the federal emergency extensions that expire on November 30th.
...
Of the 1.2 million workers at risk of losing federal benefits, 387,000 are workers who were recently laid-off and are now receiving the six months (26 weeks) of regular state benefits. After exhausting state benefits, these workers would be left to fend for themselves in a job market with just one job opening for every five unemployed workers and an unemployment rate that has exceeded nine percent for 17 months in a row—with no federal unemployment assistance whatsoever.

This doesn't include the '99ers - the workers who have exhausted all available unemployment benefits.

Wonk alert! Official summaries and timelines for the rollout of health care reform are now posted on the Democratic Policy site. Presumably these do not yet include the changes made by the reconciliation bill now under debate.

One of the more striking highlights of this list: Each and every item on the list is a benefit to most Americans, which translates to an increase in disposable income or opportunity. It's going to be tough for Republicans to take this list to their constituents and threaten to repeal it.

2010 Provisions

Calendar year 2010

• Tax credit assistanceSmall businesses are eligible for a 35% tax credit; non-profits may receive up to a 25% credit.
• Medicare Part D "donut hole" begins to close. Seniors receive a $250 rebate for prescription expenses in excess of $2,830.00.
• Adoption Credit Increases adoption credit by $1,000, makes it refundable, and extends the credit through the 2011 tax year
• Health students' assistance - Expands student loan programs, scholarships and loan repayments for medical services students, also allows exclusions from gross incomes for health professionals serving in underserved areas.

March 23, 2010

Federal grants to states to implement consumer assistance for complaints

April 1, 2010

Medicaid - Allows states to opt to cover parents and childless adults up to 133% of the Federal Poverty Level and receive federal funds under the current (strengthened) formulas.

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Here are ten benefits which come online within six months of the President's signature on the health care bill:

1. Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 26th birthday
2. Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions
3. No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage
4. Free preventative care for all
5. Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
6. Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.
7. The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
8. Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
9. Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.
10. AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can't lose your insurance because you get sick.

In our community - half-rural and half-suburb -- 50 community health centers will receive funding to provide health and preventive services to people with no access right now. And that's just one benefit. They're all valuable.

cross-posted at USHealthCrisis.com

You keep saying that you'll bring the troops home with honor. When have they not been honored? Can you please give examples? C&L and many other sites fight everyday for the rights of our troops, their health care, benefits and the conditions of Walter Reed. And the best way I know how to fight for them is to never send them to war without a true cause and bring them home now so their families can see them alive and healthy. You are against Sen Webb's GI Bill not because it doesn't give them adequate compensation for their service, but as you say, it will lead to many more troops leaving the armed forces sooner:

They are very hard to replace. Encouraging people to choose to not become noncommissioned officers would hurt the military and our country very badly." McCain argues his bill would have a smaller impact on retention rates than the legislation that the Senate passed.

Is that an honorable argument?

NOW on PBS:

Temporary workers and independent contractors make up nearly a third of the U.S. workforce, and represent a growing asset to companies who rely on freelance flexibility. But corporations are using the designation "freelancer" to avoid paying health care and other benefits, even though many of these workers put in the same hours as their covered counterparts. This week, NOW looks at the effect of this tactic on the lives and personal economy of freelance workers.

We also examine an Enterprising Idea to help independent workers manage their personal needs, including benefits, networking, and investment help. Freelancers Union, founded by former labor lawyer and MacArthur grant recipient Sara Horowitz, provides a safety net for over 60,000 workers, but how is it viewed by the traditional labor movement?

This is part of NOW's series on social entrepreneurs called "Enterprising Ideas".

At NOW's website, learn more about the issue, read personal stories of freelance workers, and watch recent more NOW reports of America's hard-pressed workforce.

I've been freelancing for several years in order to be able to be at home with my kids. Luckily, we have health insurance through my husband's employer because a private account would be completely cost prohibitive. While my situation is extraordinarily lucky, it is gratifying to see a recognition that freelancers and temp employees deserve benefits as well.

Download | play Download | play YouTube (h/t FiredUpMissouri) (Gov. Blunt channels GHWBush)

Gov. Blunt's website:

Gov. Matt Blunt today released a television address to Missourians announcing that having achieved virtually everything he set out to accomplish when he ran for governor he will not seek a second term.

The habit of politicians is to remain in office and the desire to prove oneself in the next election is strong. After a great deal of thought and prayer, and with the knowledge that we have achieved virtually everything I set out to accomplish, and more, I will not seek a second term in the upcoming election. Because I feel we have changed what I wanted to change in the first term there is not the same sense of mission for a second. Read on...

Gee Matt, could the real reason be that pesky e-mail problem you have? Could it be because you're down in the polls and see the writing on the wall? Perhaps he's finally realized that the citizens of Missouri just aren't that into him and prefer not to see Missouri turned into a theocratic state. At least he didn't use the "spend more time with my family" as his main reason for jumping ship, I'll give him credit for creativity. Howie Klein has more:

Then he proceeded to kick more than 100,000 low income Missourians off of the state's health care program at the same time he dramatically slashed health care benefits for another 300,000 Missourians. And that doesn't even get into why his administration is being investigated for corruption.

For all of the misguided talk about Mike Huckabee being a "populist," his enthusiastic support for a regressive national sales tax should effectively end the discussion.

In case there's any lingering confusion about just how ridiculous this policy is, Jon Chait sets the record straight:

Basically, trying to explain why the Fairtax is a bad idea is like trying to explain why having trained elephants perform open-heart surgery on every first-grader in America is a bad idea. The whole idea is one bit of lunacy stacked upon another, so when you focus on any one element of it, you let the other side suck you into into arguments about details -- Maybe there could be benefits to preemptively fixing the hearts of six year olds! Perhaps elephants do have the potential intelligence to one day perform this task!! -- that inadvertently make the plan sound semi-credible.

If you're still not convinced, take a look at Brad DeLong's piece in Salon this week.

AP Via The Huffington Post:

With large swaths of the Gulf Coast still in ruins from Hurricane Katrina, rich federal tax breaks designed to spur rebuilding are flowing hundreds of miles inland to investors who are buying up luxury condos near the University of Alabama's football stadium.About 10 condominium projects are going up in and around Tuscaloosa, and builders are asking up to $1 million for units with granite countertops, king-size bathtubs and 'Bama decor, including crimson couches and Bear Bryant wall art.

While many of the buyers are Crimson Tide alumni or ardent football fans not entitled to any special Katrina-related tax breaks, many others are real estate investors who are purchasing the condos with plans to rent them out.

And they intend to take full advantage of the generous tax benefits available to investors under the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005, or GO Zone, according to Associated Press interviews with buyers and real estate officials. Read more...

Here's a worthwhile project from the AFL-CIO -- it's called "Ask a Lawyer."

Can my boss really do that? How many of us find ourselves asking that very question on a weekly, if not daily basis? Well now we just may get the answers we seek. Because Working America, the 1.6 million-member community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, which provides a voice for those of us denied the right to union membership on the job, has started its “Ask a Lawyer” program.

First of all, who benefits from Working America? Well, only those of us who don’t have stock options in Halliburton or stay up nights uncontrollably excited about the next day’s bank merger. The silenced majority, if you will.

It's never been easier for workers to learn about their rights. Good for the AFL-CIO.