NEWS ROUNDUP
‘No cost’ Boeing, march for $15, shilling Kochs, EBTG…
Friday, December 6, 2013
BOEING
Other factors that will be “significant” when Boeing makes its choice: Low overall cost of doing business, “including local wages, utility rates, logistics costs, real estate occupancy costs, construction costs, applicable tax structure obligations;” the quality, cost and productivity of the available workforce; and the predictability of utilities pricing and government regulation.
► From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary — Entitlement — Definition: The condition of having a right to have, do, or get something; the feeling or belief that you deserve to be given something (such as special privileges); a type of financial help provided by the government for members of a particular group.
► In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch — Boeing to states: What we want for 777X — St. Louis appears to meet most of the requirements Boeing Co. is looking for in a place to build its new 777X plant. But it would sure help if Missouri were on the ocean.
► In the News Tribune — St. Louis union chief backtracks after comments on Boeing, Seattle — The president of Boeing’s St. Louis Machinists union is now walking back statements he made to a Seattle radio station Wednesday in which he said the 777X should be built in Washington.
LOCAL
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Valley Hospital turns away nurses, others after strike — Valley Hospital has locked out at least 80 nurses and other employees in the aftermath of Wednesday’s one-day strike and the hiring of temporary replacement workers. The lockout will be lifted Saturday, but the problems dividing unionized staff and hospital administrators will linger. The issue comes down to a question being posed across the country: How many nurses does it take to staff a hospital? Several states are grappling with possible answers as they look at regulating hospitals.
ALSO at The Stand — Spokane nurses return to work, but Valley Hospital locks out 74
► MUST-READ in today’s Seattle Times — Tackling inequity: Easier said than done (by Jon Talton) — Changing the trajectory of policy and change that has caused the worst inequality since the Gilded Age won’t be easy. Technology has played a role, but policy is responsible for most of the problem. Policy made it easier to bust unions and more difficult for workers to unionize. Court decisions have tilted the balance away from worker rights and protections. Policy created unbalanced trade deals that sent millions of well-paid manufacturing jobs overseas, as well as encouraging American corporations to set up operations abroad.
KOCHS COME TO WASHINGTON
► A related story today in the Guardian — State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax — Conservative groups across the U.S. are planning a coordinated assault against public sector rights and services in the key areas of education, healthcare, income tax, workers’ compensation and the environment, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal. The strategy for the state-level organizations, which describe themselves as “free-market think tanks,” includes proposals from six different states for cuts in public sector pensions, campaigns to reduce the wages of government workers and eliminate income taxes, school voucher schemes to counter public education, opposition to Medicaid, and a campaign against regional efforts to combat greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
STATE GOVERNMENT
ALSO at The Stand — As feds criticize cutbacks, state considers more RHC closures (Dec. 2)
► In today’s News Tribune — Legislature getting a slew of new members — Legislators are playing a slow game of musical chairs after November’s election.
NATIONAL
► In today’s NY Times — Congress nears modest accord on the budget — House and Senate negotiators on Thursday closed in on a budget deal that, while modest in scope, could break the cycle of fiscal crises and brinkmanship that has hampered the economic recovery and driven public opinion of Congress to an all-time low. But the leaders of the House and Senate budget committees — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) — encountered last-minute resistance from House Democratic leaders who said any deal should be accompanied by an extension of expiring unemployment benefits for 1.3 million workers.
► In today’s NY Times — Coalition of liberals strikes back against ‘centrist Democrats’ — In a sign of the left’s new aggressiveness, a coalition of liberals is trying to marginalize a centrist Democratic policy group that was responsible for a Wall Street Journal op-ed article this week that said economic populism was “disastrous” for the party.
► In today’s Detroit Free Press — Gov. Snyder must uphold state’s constitutional protection of Detroit pensions (editorial) — The City of Detroit made promises to its workers, promises it can no longer keep. And in 1963, the residents of Michigan chose to approve a constitution that protected pensions. Gov. Rick Snyder took an oath to uphold that constitution. And now he must.
T.G.I.F.
► Today, the Entire Staff of The Stand™ wishes a happy birthday to Ben Watt of Everything But the Girl. Most of you know this dynamic duo by their one radio hit from 1994, a House remix of “Missing.” To be sure, after Watt went electronic in the ’90s, they made many great songs and performed them beautifully live. (Here’s evidence.) But we still prefer the earlier jazzy version of EBTG that spotlighted the uniquely sultry voice of Tracey Thorn. So, despite a few audio hiccups, we give you this rare gem of EBTG performing live during their acoustic years. Enjoy.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.