You still remember the financial services meltdown of 2008, right? Well, the Securities and Exchange Commission (or SEC) often seems to have forgotten, as they're currently mulling a rule change that would "streamline" the process by which corporations that have actually admitted to crimes would still get "trusted institution" privileges, like less regulatory scrutiny when they raise capital. Does that sound like the kind of process that needs "streamlining"? It sounds to me more like a process that needs to be thrown out entirely. But the rule is now up for public comment, so CREDO helps you call the SEC and tell them you oppose the rule. SEC Chair Mary Jo White has said she prefers giving treating law-breaking banksters this way because failing to do so "could destabilize a large financial services firm." To which I respond: we can only hope! After all, Americans do like making money and doing business, and if a great banking house falls, a hundred small ones will fill the hole. Why would anyone want us to believe differently, I wonder?
Meanwhile, Trans-Pacific "Partnership" negotiations have momentarily stalled -- maybe because the people of the world hate it and because its defenders' arguments have become absurdly desperate? Perhaps. But we must steel ourselves for that moment when our government starts peddling booga-booga about China and empty promises to get "free" trade right in the next "free" trade deal. You recall that the notorious "free" trade "fast-tracking" bill forbidding trade deals with nations that routinely use or permit human slavery? And you recall, also, that the State Department elevated Malaysia's status on its human trafficking scale, despite little evidence that Malaysia's government gives a damn about the matter? The story's even worse: the illegal palm oil trade in Malaysia, which already depends on slave workers and already displaces indigenous peoples, has caused enough deforestation in Malaysia that the Sumatran rhino just became extinct, and other rare species may follow. The Sierra Club helps you demand answers about Malaysia's human trafficking status and about the TPP.
Finally, if you've missed previous opportunities to tell Congress to pass H.R. 3071/S. 1772, the Schedules That Work Act, then CREDO still helps you do that. The Schedules That Work Act would help low-income, hourly-wage workers get that measure of stability from their work schedules that we all deserve, by permitting workers to request a change in their terms of employment and requiring employers to grant such requests if they relate to health or caregiving matters, unless the employer has a "bona fide business reason" for denying it. Note well, also, that the bill would help higher-income employees, too, since their employers frequently make them stay on-call 24/7 when there's no reason to do that except for managerial paranoia and/or incompetence. No doubt Republicans stand at the ready to tell us that the bill would do nothing for anyone but trial lawyers. Silly Republicans, saying the words "trial lawyers" like they're bad words to anyone but a corporate ideologue! If Republicans and their paymasters want to keep trial lawyers out of their lives, they might try treating workers better.
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