The incoming Trump Administration has planned a litany of attacks on working families -- but its one neat-sounding idea is its infrastructure plan. When you look at his infrastructure plan and realize it's full of soup -- that it's a Rube Goldbergian contraption of a plan in which corporate tax breaks magically "attract" investment in infrastructure, and that the end result will be either boutique infrastructure projects in wealthy areas that don't need them or the privatization of projects in areas that do -- you'll no doubt say so to your Reps and Senators. And then they, or their "liberal" media lackeys, will demand that you "come up with a better idea." Of course, if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably already know a dozen better ideas off the top of your head, but in case you're new to this blog, Sign for Good presents this petition laying out a Real Agenda for Working People. The petition calls for (among other things) a real public works program that goes beyond infrastructure, a $15/hour minimum wage, ending forced arbitration in consumer contracts, fighting "free" trade deals that hurt workers and further enrich the already too-rich, institute a financial transaction tax (or Robin Hood Tax, or Wall Street Sales Tax), and raise the top income tax rate. All of these will do better than another round of crippling deregulation and tax cuts for the rich. So let's have at it!
Meanwhile, I've been passing along action alerts opposing various Trump Administration cabinet picks, but truth is they're all terrible, so Block Trump's Cabinet helps you tell your Senators to oppose all of Mr. Trump's Cabinet nominees. From the greedhead banksters at Treasury and Commerce to the practicing racist at Justice to the would-be Medicare destroyer at HHS to the would-be public school destroyer at Education (and here's a separate petition from MoveOn opposing Ms. DeVos, if you're so inclined) to the objectively pro-pollution politicians at State, Interior, and the EPA, it sure looks like Mr. Trump is actively trying to find the worst possible person for every single job -- even his most inoffensive nominee, Elaine Chao for Transportation Secretary, spent much of her tenure as Tha Bush Mobb's Labor Secretary trying to gut overtime and family leave rules. Of course, his nominees do face significant conflict of interest-related hurdles before they can take office, but the Office of Government Ethics has to enforce the relevant laws, and Congress could pull all kinds of shenanigans up to and including repealing the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 that created OGE. In the meantime, I suppose, Mr. Trump could try to intimidate OGE employees (all career civil servants except the Director, whose term doesn't end until January 2018) into leaving and packing OGE with his lackeys. In other words, sooner or later we're going to have to rely on ourselves.
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