Michigan Welfare Rights Organization

Ruth Williams Joins Freedom Fighters in the Heavens

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:36:00 +0000

It is with great sorrow that we share the news that our own Ruth Williams, was carried away by the angels last night.

Ruth has been the consummate organizer and housing champion for decades, learning HUD policies and making certain that these policies were applied to help low income families. She never tired of this task. I can remember calling her for client advice even while she was in the hospital waiting for this or that procedure, me insisting that she address the issue at hand. She always would, telling the medical team - you have to wait because I have this NUT on the phone.

There will not be another like her, and we are all so blessed to have had her in our lives for some 70 plus years. Ruth has been the membership chair of MI Welfare Rights, and a member of LRNA and will be sorely missed.

She left during the night at home with family, and her extended family close by. We loved her dearly, and she always knew it! Sleep well, sweet Ruth - you did good!

Maureen D. Taylor, State Chairperson - MWRO.

Stop the Attacks on the Poor! -- December 10

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Vitale) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:38:00 +0000

MWRO Calls its Members and the Metropolitan Community!

A Day of Deliberations and Decisions

Stop the Attack on the Poor!

Saturday, December 10

Central United Methodist Church • 23 E. Adams • Detroit

Morning • 10 am - 12 pm

Stop the Cuts!

Lawyers, judges, social workers, paralegals, and activists will gather to devise strategies that attack this form of genocide — the welfare cuts to mothers and children.

(See article below For Whom The Bell Tolls.)

Lunch • 12 pm — 1 pm for morning and afternoon sessions

Afternoon • 1 pm - 4 pm

Put Homeless Children and Veterans into Homes!

Community leaders and activists will gather to create a committee to put people back in their homes. (See article below Put Homeless Children and Veterans into Homes.)

For more information:

Please call the MWRO Office at 313-964-0618.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

By Maureen Taylor

Chairperson, Michigan WRO

For months, MI Welfare Rights has warned the residents of MI that the Governor was prepared to start programs that targeted children. No one ever imagined the horror that is about to be placed around the necks of low income children.

Effective immediately, mothers and children who depend on meager welfare benefits to pay for rent, mortgages and utilities have been cut off with no plan. Mothers with disabled children, disabled mothers, mothers in domestic violence circumstances, all who were supposed to be exempted, have received written notices informing them that their cash assistance cases have ended.

We are facing the most draconian series of events seen in the State, in the County, and most tragically in the City of Detroit. Some 40,000 welfare families living in Wayne County are the first to be killed-off, with some 15,000 of these living in Detroit.

The criteria for eligibility, is that families must have at least one minor child. With 40,000 families, we are looking at some 40,000, or 80,000, or 120,000 children who are being harmed.

Information you need to know.

1) If you receive a cut-off notice, you must file an in-person hearing within ten days of the date on that notice to maintain your benefits. You have a right to challenge a cut-off of benefits if the following has happened to you and your family:

You have a disabled child;

You are disabled;

You have been in a domestic violence situation;

File an IN-PERSON HEARING as soon as possible if you are or have been in any of these situations while receiving cash assistance. If you are outside the ten day date, file knowing that you will not be able to keep your assistance, but you will have your case heard in front of an Administrative Law Judge. FILE!! FILE!! FILE!!

Welfare Rights is proposing legal action to address these budget cuts aimed at making poor children homeless. To suggest that the State is “broke” and that Michigan can save $77 million each year by cutting off funds to the poorest and the littlest signifies that one has crossed over to the “dark side” already.

This “CALL TO ACTION” is to alert and to gather lawyers, judges, Social Workers, paralegals, and activists to devise strategies that attack this pattern of genocide.

This “CALL TO ACTION” is for all who read this article including welfare recipients who have received 48 month notices that claim their benefits have maxed out.

Call MWRO at (313) 964-0618 to be included in the first session, being planned before the end of December.

REMEMBER!! We march every Thursday, noon to 1pm, at the State Building – 3044 W. Grand Blvd – against these cuts.

We will meet at the MI Welfare Rights office, 23 E. Adams, near Comerica Park, Saturday, December 10, at 10 am. Call in your rsvp!

Put Homeless Children and Veterans into Homes!

The time has come to put homeless children and veterans into homes. Since the economic crisis began, people around Detroit have been talking about putting people into empty homes.

Now is the time to move from talking about it to seriously planning it and executing the plan.

No one organization or one community has been able to do this work to date.

In our vision, the committee is initially composed of community leaders, organizations and/or their representatives who can:

1. Reach out to bring families cut from welfare and homeless veterans into the struggle.

2. Marshal all the resources necessary to successfully put people in and keep them in homes.

These include legal teams to fight for justice in the courts, committees to supply food, furniture, clothing; education and training in the political struggle involved; skilled

trades to repair homes and maintain utilities and many others.

3. Strategize and develop the best plans to successfully put people in to homes.

At the meeting, many aspects of this struggle may be debated or explored but the goal is expressly clear — the creation of a community-supported committee to plan such actions.

(From page 6 of the Winter 2011 MWRO Newsletter)

Low-income people are the majority of the 99%

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Vitale) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:53:00 +0000

A new, more accurate measure of poverty shows the low income group is 47% of the society or nearly 150 million people.
Also, under this new measure, the rate of poverty for people older than 65 nearly doubles, from 9% to 16%.
Poverty means an income of less than $24,000 a year or four people ($11,000 for an individual). 49 million people, 16%, are poor.
Low income is defined as between $24,000 - $48,000 (100- 200% of poverty) for a family of four. This group is now 98 million people, or 32%.
Adding the poor and low-income groups together -- all families with incomes below $48,000 -- is 48% of the country.
The low-income section of the population is increasing not because people are being lifted up out of poverty because more and more people are falling in to poverty.
Finally, the well-off group falls from 35% of the society to 17%; families of four with incomes of $97,000 or greater. The drop is due to including medical costs and taxes which erode what appeared to be gains in income.
The new measurement shows a sharper and clearer picture of the United States -- much poorer, with a much smaller middle class.
All to benefit the 1% and the 0.1%. They are hoarding the wealth of the society at the expense of everyone else.
For Michigan Welfare Rights these numbers are closer to the truth. They show that we, and other welfare rights unions across the country have 150 million potential members and allies.

We are the majority of the 99%! (See NY Times, Sunday November 20 page 10)

Prof. Cornell West to Occupiers: We have deep love for poor people

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:36:00 +0000

Dr. West speaks at Occupy Seattle, November 17, 2011:

"When you've done all the things you set out to do -- raising your voice...raising our voices, our individual voices, our collective voices -- for what? Out of the deep love we have for poor people, working people, people of color, our gay brothers and lesbian sisters -- all of those who have been dehumanized, pushed to the margins and we say, 'Yes, it is a love movement!...In the last 30 years this class war against poor and working people -- pushing folk against the wall as if somehow they're just marginalized utilities in a profit margin analysis. No, those are human beings there -- losing their houses, jobs unavailable, wages stagnating with profits at the top, breaking records year in and year out. And when they get in trouble, even when they hard on folk and welfare on below, they get the corporate welfare from the top. Oh, yes! I call it corporate socialism. That's what it is: tax payers' money supporting the oligarchs when they get into trouble -- talking to me about personal responsibility...nobody going to jail given the criminal activity that's been going on on Wall Street for the past 15 years. Not one person's gone to jail!"

Hear the rest of his speech. Preach on, Professor!

Statistics on the 99% vs 1%

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:15:00 +0000

Want more evidence that the 99% are being screwed by the 1%? Check out these U.S. figures:

400 billionaires
The richest 1% owns 1/3 of the wealth
Luxury car sales are up 8.7%, jewelry 20%
1 in 6 people have no health insurance
1 in 7 people live below the poverty line
1 in 7 people are food insecure
1 in 17 earns below the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hr)

In fact, it looks like it's really the 99.99% vs .01%!

Update on judge's ruling -- Cuts beginning now!

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Vitale) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:10:00 +0000

Soon after a local judge ruled that welfare cuts had to be rescinded, an appeals court overturned his ruling last Friday, November 4 and cuts affecting tens of thousands of Michigan residents began Saturday.

Keep Up the Pressure! Resurrection March this Thursday!

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Vitale) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:09:00 +0000

Resurrection March
When: Thursday, November 10, 12 noon
Where:Detroit, State of Michigan Building, 3044 W. Grand Blvd (between Second and Cass)

Once again a judge has forced the state of Michigan to continue welfare payments; this is two months in a row and each time it has meant millions of dollars for low-income families.
Our Resurrection Marches have been part of the key reason for these rulings and victories — the struggle in the streets for justice for welfare recipients.
But these are very temporary victories. We need to keep up the pressure! Reach out and bring someone new to the Resurrection March.
The first 14,000 families who receive just over $5,000 per year are on still on the chopping block. Does it cost too much money to keep welfare families alive? We must RECLAIM the spirit of humanity in Michigan, especially now when decency and democracy both are under attack.

Join us for Resurrection March
When:Thursday, November 10, 12 noon
Where:Detroit, State of Michigan Building, 3044 W. Grand Blvd (between Second and Cass)

Marine Tells NYPD to Stop Brutalizing Occupy Wall Street Protesters

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:01:00 +0000

Sgt. Shamar Thomas is a two tour Iraqi war veteran from a military family who was filmed on the streets of New York City chastising New York Police Department officers for attacking innocent, unarmed Occupy Wall Street protesters. See the amazing video for yourself.

Watch Sgt. Shamar Thomas speak with journalist Keith Olbermann about why he criticized NYPD officers for beating U.S. civilians who are exercising their right to protest against corporate greed and government corruption.

Occupy movement takes off in Michigan

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:26:00 +0000

Like hundreds of cities throughout the U.S. and across the globe, the Occupy movement has begun in Michigan! Thousands of people who are struggling to make ends meet, take care of their families and find ways to stay in school are coming together in their communities to say "enough is enough!"

We demand justice and accountability from corporations and our government for their abuses and threats to our lives. WE ARE THE 99% and we demand change!

Many of us are in poverty with no prospects for living wage jobs, health care or affordable housing. The government safety net that was created to protect people from the turmoil of capitalism is being annihilated by self-serving politicians and corporate greed. Many other families are on the edge of poverty -- just one measly paycheck away from homelessness, hunger and illness.

Michigan residents have begun occupations in several cities and more cities will start soon. Among the Occupy Michigan cities are:

The Occupy Michigan website has information and links to each Occupy city, plus a list of occupier needs for anyone who'd like to contribute. The occupations are more than just the people who camp out each night -- they are about all of us! The occupiers bring visibility to our concerns in Michigan about home foreclosures, joblessness, poverty, food insecurity, education, poor public transportation, unaffordable health care and other universal basic needs.

You can share your concerns at Occupy cities during the "General Assembly" meetings where everyone has a voice. Go to the Occupy city nearest you and make change happen!

Image from dmcd18 at Occupy Lansing tumbler

A People's Victory - Short Term!

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:53:00 +0000

OO-HA! Federal Judge Paul Borman moments ago issued a statement that stops Gov. Snyder's attempt to stop cash assistance to 40,000 welfare families!! He cites technical reasons for this decision, but we are so happy that these families will continue to receive cash assistance for now. Send letters and thank you messages to the Judge for his compassion.

More information coming soon...

Federal Judge Paul Borman

US Federal Court House

231 W. Lafayette Street,

Detroit, MI 48226

Phone #: (313) 234-5120

Benefits Shut Off for 41,000 Michigan Welfare Recipients

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 05:58:00 +0000

(repost from Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Fri, Sep 30, 2011)

On Saturday, Oct. 1, 41,000 Michigan welfare recipients will lose cash benefits in the amount of approximately $515 each. Gov. Rick Snyder capped maximum welfare payments at 48 months. Several Michigan recipients filed a class action lawsuit to overturn the four-year cap.

Five years was the original cap on cash assistance for welfare. In some cases, extensions were available for those in need. The lawsuit says that the welfare cap violates the due process clause of the 14th amendment. They claim that the cutoff notices were vague and generic. The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order against the cap.

Exemptions are available for those with disabilities that make them unable to work. Those over 65, caring for a disabled spouse or child, who don't qualify for social security or who receive low benefit payments may also get an extension.

There is some concern among taxpayers about what qualifies a person as unable to work. Chronic alcoholism, drug addicts and obesity are three problematic disabilities. These don't qualify specifically as handicaps, but some of the resulting health conditions do qualify them. There is also concern about how welfare payments, especially food stamps, are spent.

Welfare cash assistance cuts aren't the only economic issue plaguing Michigan. Cuts are happening everywhere. In August, 11.2 percent of Michiganders were unemployed. Let's look at Michigan's deteriorating economy, by the numbers.

2.5 million: People in Michigan who receive one or more form of welfare benefits.

220,000 thousand: People in Michigan who receive cash benefits. The four-year cap would reduce it to 180,000 people.

21,000-25,000: The number of welfare recipients in Detroit alone (Michigan's largest city) who had their cash benefits cut.

30,000: The number of children in Michigan who will lose welfare benefits.

Read the rest of this article at Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben | Yahoo! Contributor Network.

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes about people, places, events and issues in "Pure Michigan."

Screen shot from Michigan League for Human Services.

Resurrection Marches in Detroit Against Welfare Cuts

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 03:18:00 +0000

For seven weeks, we have marched in "Resurrection Marches" to call attention to the 40,000 welfare families that will be cut-off cash assistance Oct. 1, 2011. We have been in front of the Capital Plaza Bldg in Detroit at Governor Snyder's office.

9/29/11 Resurrection March speakers included: MWRO State Chair Maureen Taylor, NWRU Co-President Marian Kramer, U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Ed Rowe & State Representative Alberta Tinsli-Talabi.

We recognize how unconscionable it is for a State government to even suggest that the cost is TOO high to shelter poor people. Today’s demonstration confirmed that people are totally offended by this Draconian action!

Working people in Michigan and, especially, the militant union workers in Detroit and Highland Park are under a full court press as our standard of living and now even our lives are under attack.

How bad is it?

Seniors are receiving letters telling them that if they ever had any assistance from the Welfare Dept., their life insurance policies should be turned over to them as they believe themselves to be the real holders of that policy.
All Social Security numbers in families that are being cutoff of assistance are being sent to Lansing so the State Police can cross-match those numbers and determine if anyone has an outstanding warrant.
The Food Assistance program will be reviewed by case workers performing the food asset test -– they will be looking for those nice items in your home that can be sold if you are going to continue receiving food assistance.

The only conclusion left is that “THESE PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO KILL YOU!!”

WORKING PEOPLE –- wake up! The world has changed and these corporations don’t need us anymore! If we are not needed, why feed us? Why house us? Why educate us? Why provide medical support for us? Because the world has changed and continues to throw off millions of laborers out into the streets each day, we MUST envision what kind of world we have to have. We will design the change, or they will.

We march to Washington, D.C., June 30^th, 2012. get involved and find your place as we amass millions toward the fight to eliminate poverty. Reach us at: endpoverty2012@gmail.com or call us at: (313) 964-0618. You have 278 days left.

Image from MWRO member Fred Vitale. See more Resurrection March photos.

Reverend Pinkney Speaks of Negative Impact of Governmental Emergency Financial Managers (EFM)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:11:00 +0000

MWRO Friends and Members:

Russ Bellant is looking for volunteers to help collect signatures for the critical petition drive against Public Act 4.
The petition drive campaign to create a referendum on Public Act 4 ( the Emergency Manager/Dictator law) is growing and has a need for volunteers to check signature validity and input the data.

Please reply and let me know whether you can join us for any two hour period of time (or longer) this Wednesday from 4pm to 9 pm or on Saturday during the day for a focused effort to get this work done. This will allow an accurate count of valid signatures. Please remember that once the valid number is certified, the law is suspended. We need volunteers to reach that status.

Volunteers can also work Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.

If you are available, please contact him at russbellant@yahoocom

Thank you!

and Rachel Maddow blasts the EMF for repealing "Constitution Week" (Michael Moore)

Sacrificing Children to Enrich Corporations and Politicians

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 23:05:00 +0000

Our good friends at the Sierra Club in Detroit have been following up on the public assistance cuts to families signed by Michigan Governor Snyder and have learned several more distressing facts:

As of October 1, 2011: 11,000 people will be cut off from welfare benefits, and that will continue through until 40,000 people are eliminated from the system. 75% THOSE PEOPLE WILL BE CHILDREN WITH THE AVERAGE AGE OF 7 YEARS OLD.
Unemployment insurance was cut from a 24 weeks to 20 by the state.
The Low Income Energy Efficiency Fund which gave DHS, THAW and Salvation Army energy assistance funding every year -- adding to $575million in help for the poor since 2002 -- has been completely eliminated by ABATE and the Attorney General and the Michigan Court of Appeals; although federal money is still available, it is not enough to cover the gap.
College students are no longer eligible for food aid, a much needed subsidy.
There is now a lifelong cap of 48 months for those who receive assistance.
Most of the assistance cuts will be to renters, disproportionately effecting women.
These cuts have a secondary effect of increasing domestic violence.
If utility service is cut from the home, children must be removed by law from the family and home. And, yes, the foster care system is hiring.
NO ONE IS EXEMPT: Persons with mental disabilities are not exempt from the cuts, recent mothers are exempt for only 2 months after birth, victims of domestic violence exempt for 3 months and caretakers of persons with disabilities for 12 months.
THE STATE OF MICHIGAN WILL SAVE $68 MILLION IN TAX DOLLARS FROM STARVING CHILDREN.

MEANWHILE, corporations will receive $1.8 billion in tax breaks to ensure major profits keep flowing in -- while putting an end to Michigan’s practice of not taxing retirement income and seeking to increase taxes on Michigan's working poor! (download pdf)

"Currently, someone in the poorest 20 percent of Michigan taxpayers pays a tax rate of 8.9 percent, while someone in the richest one percent pays 5.3 percent. In addition to trying to make an unfair tax system even more problematic for Michigan’s low-income residents, Snyder has also asked that the state be given the power to dismiss local government and appoint emergency 'town managers' who could break contracts and 'strip powers from elected officials.'"

When we can no longer count on government to stand up for the weakest and sickest among us, we must determine --at all costs -- how to ensure that our children, elders and the infirmed are protected. What are you prepared to do?

Sources: Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, NAACP-Detroit, Wayne County Social Services, Coalition to Keep Michigan Warm, and Michigan League of Human Services.

Children's Press Conference Postponed till Sep 15

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:09:00 +0000

The MWRO Press Conference, Don't Throw 25,000 Children Off Welfare and Into the Streets, scheduled for Thursday, September 8 has been POSTPONED until Thursday, September 15 at Noon. It will still be held at Cadillac Place, 3044 W. Grand Blvd (between Cass and Second).

Several community organizations and elected officials have contacted us to appear. Please join us!

What Have Poor People Done to Deserve Such Hatred?

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 03:26:00 +0000

The foundation on which society rests has been permanently altered. The question is this: What Have Poor People Done To Deserve Such Hatred?

The State House of Michigan has passed House Bill #4409 to separate welfare families from cash assistance if they have reached their lifetime cap of 48 months, retroactively. In the worst job market, the worst housing market, the worst spike in violence in decades, and the worst spike up in suicides as well, is this the time to kick poor people off? They will no longer be able to pay for rent, mortgages, lights, gas and water.

Yesterday, yet another dagger was pushed into the frail bodies of these low income families, also supported by a gang of demonic public officials. As these families are identified as no longer eligible for cash, their Social Security numbers will be sent to the State Police so they can cross-checked with existing open warrants.

If a family member has an outstanding warrant for jay walking, child support, a moving traffic violation that has not been addressed, they can expect to found and arrested and held until that court matter is settled. That person's component of the family Food Stamps will be removed and will not be retroactively restored when and if the court case is settled.

As the foundation of society is crumbling, workers must work harder to understand these new dynamics that will forever more control our lives. There is no middle class -- the middle of what? There is one working class, some earn this much while others earn that much and some earn no money at all, but we are all still one class.

Technology that used to enhance labor now replaces it. Think about the U.S. Post Office, self-check out counters at grocery stores, ATM cards that replaced our visits with tellers inside banks, etc. Think of the new "zip rental car" that has streamlined the process of renting cars without agents to manage that task. Enterprise, Avis, Hertz, Dollar employees and the rest will soon feel the sting of
mass layoffs as soon as these mega-agencies perfect this procedure and install this newest technology in place of human beings.

People-workers have to envision what kind of new world we want to see, who it should care for, how it should care for us, and make certain that we put steps in place to "make it so." The needs of the many must always outweigh the needs of the few!

The June 30th, 2012, March To Washington will underscore that theme: One Class,
One Cause! We are organizing across the country for this mega-event that will be the beginning of eliminating poverty. You only have 298 days left to get involved. Do something today!! http://www.end-poverty.org/ Email: endpoverty2012@gmail.com, or call: (313) 964-0618.

Image screen shot from Media Voices for Children

Press Release: Don't Throw 25,000 Children Off Welfare and Into the Streets

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:11:00 +0000

Michigan Welfare Rights invites the public to join us at this Press Conference on September 8, 2011 at noon (press release below) to denounce the upcoming welfare cuts against children. You are also invited to speak up about about other major state issues that your family is facing due to cutbacks by politicians and this wretched economy.

Local organizations and elected officials who oppose the cuts are invited to participate in this press conference, too.

Download Press Release

Contact Maureen Taylor, State Chair, MWRO for more information (313) 964-0618.

There are Only 2 Classes in America

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:58:00 +0000

The Middle Class is a fallacy the Rich created to inspire the bottom to dream, to strive, to in fact work harder (for their employers) toward the goal of someday achieving their same status and heights!

Oh, I understand why they’re fighting to remain Middle Class, and I forgive them. As when you fall, it seems like the ground is coming up to meet you. Those who think they're Middle Class hope that by being in the middle, they are protected from hitting the bottom. It’s because the bottom is rapidly coming up to meet them!

Instead, they realize that what they’ve been taught all their lives has been proven to be a lie. In fact, it is causing a myriad of medical problems -- physical and mental -- and the lies are just another avenue for the Rich to continue (still at our expense) to line their pockets, as we continue to starve and die!

WAKE THE HELL UP PEOPLE! The WORKING CLASS is and CAN BE the MOST POWERFUL WEAPON EVER WIELDED against the CAPITALIST SYSTEM!! We just need to accept that we are who we are, and the process of taking back what is ours anyway can begin in earnest! We NEED to GET 'ER GOIN' FOLKS, the TIME HAS COME!!

1) THE RICH...

2) The WORKING CLASS = ANY class which HAS to exchange LABOR (physical or mental cerebral) for a living wage.

(Working Class hyphen everybody else!)

WORKING CLASS-Information Technology (IT)
WORKING CLASS-Medical
WORKING CLASS-Educational
WORKING CLASS-Skilled Trades
WORKING CLASS-Factory/Assembly line
WORKING CLASS-Social Worker/Public Service
WORKING CLASS-Municipal/State/City worker
WORKING CLASS-Food Service
WORKING CLASS-Cashier/Counter help
WORKING CLASS-Stock/Warehouse worker
WORKING CLASS-Private Owned-Airlines/Trains/Bus Lines wkr
WORKING CLASS-STAY AT HOME MOMS (Work without SALARIES!)
WORKING CLASS-Self Employed(Entrepreneurial/Cottage industry)
WORKING CLASS-Working poor (2-3 jobs still not enough to maintain self/family)
WORKING CLASS-Unemployed (no jobs are available!)
WORKING CLASS-Permanently unemployable (mentally ill, disabled/unable)

Ann Grimmett
STOP the INSANITY!! (studying as we all should!)

Image from AlJazeera

We're a Hungry and Broke Nation

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:08:00 +0000

A recent news story declared the U.S. a "Food Stamp Nation" after reporting that 46 million people -- or 15% of the population -- receive food stamp assistance. Moreover, 40% of these recipients are people with jobs but their jobs don't pay enough to live on. This might be remarkable in some corners but not here.

When the Smiley-West Poverty Tour rolled into Detroit on August 8th, they pointed out that conversations about family poverty in the U.S. are not on anyone's radar. In fact, as welfare recipients know well, people avoid talking about the poor unless they've got something disparaging to say.

While Washington politicians mull over which low income programs to cut next, we know SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) -- aka food stamps -- will be on the table. It doesn't matter that there's been an increase of 74% in food stamp recipients since 2007 due to the economic calamities that these scoundrels created.

You see, Washington politicians don't know what it's like to live on meager part-time, minimum wage jobs with no benefits, or how to make ends meet on inadequate disability, veterans or unemployment benefits. These so-called leaders have never had to decide between buying food for their children or paying their light bill. And forget about going to the doctor for annual exams -- what's that?

Politicians don't know how to create living-wage jobs either. Michigan has been hit especially hard during this recession (we know it's really a depression). The state's unemployment rates continues to be high at 10.9%, and in the Detroit metro area it's 12.5% (download PDF).

Our neighbors to the south in Alabama continue to have food security worries worse than us where 1/3 of Alabama residents are on food stamps. Plus, from 2006 to 2008, Michigan is one of 10 states (IL, KY, ME, MO, OR, TN, WA, WV, MI and DC) that continue to have significantly higher participation rates in SNAP.

Despite the criticism, food stamps keep low income families fed and alive, and they help support what few jobs we have left in our communities. Don't let any politician choose between corporate tax breaks for their friends or food for your family.

Image from NewsOne.

Coddle the Rich, Mistreat the Poor

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:32:00 +0000

This Sunday, The New York Times printed an opinion piece by Warren Buffet penned, "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich." The billionaire investor took the extraordinary step of outing fellow billionaires by openly acknowledging that his filthy rich class of friends receive such extraordinary tax breaks from the federal government -- many of which they didn't ask for and don't need -- that they think its time to give some back, pay a little more. He candidly states:

"These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places."

Nice friends, indeed.

Meanwhile, a recent study on the effects of the recession and national foreclosure crisis on the well-being of children found that their financial insecurity is resulting in long-term health consequences. Researchers concluded that "low-income children will likely suffer academically, economically and socially long after their parents have recovered," in part, due to unstable environments and often changing schools.

It's a travesty how services and assistance for low-income families continue to be slashed while mega-rich billionaires rake in tax breaks that they don't need or want. Sadly, the poor will always be scapegoats for greedy, postulating politicians looking to fill their own pockets.

We agree that Warren Buffet and his billionaire friends have been coddled long enough and they should pay their fair share of taxes. But theirs is no crisis of conscience. They know history and the consequences that ensue when poor people continue to be mistreated, suffer and grow desperate. London knows this well, too.

Image from janinsanfran, Creative Commons

Maureen Taylor on Mark Steiner Show

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:55:00 +0000

"Do the volatile financial markets, weak economy, rising inequality, and global protests mean that capitalism is failing us? Do we need a new system, or just reform of our current economic structures?"

Listen to The Mark Steiner Show on the nature and the future of capitalism. This August 15, 2011, podcast includes discussion and analysis by Maureen Taylor, State Chair, MWRO; and Sam Pizzigati, author of Greed and Good, a book on the looting of the U.S. from the top.

Taylor and Pizzigati discuss whether capitalism in the U.S. is fundamentally flawed or simply in need of reform, plus the role of technology and the state of workers. The Mark Steiner Show is broadcast on WEAA 88.9FM, Baltimore, Maryland.

Listen to the podcast or download the mp3.

Image from The Mark Steiner Show.

Why We March June 2012: Welfare Recipients Are Expendable

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:38:00 +0000

The foundation on which society rests has been changed forever.

Picture Leonardo DiCaprio perched on the balcony of the Titanic, holding on to Rose's hand as the ship which has broken in half, stands straight up just before it goes into the the icy waters. He yells out, "THIS IS IT!!"

Today, the State of Michigan shouted out the same thing: Letters went out across the State alerting all Family Independence Program (FIP) recipients that they may have reached the limit of welfare support. A second letter will go out at a later date to select which families will be culled out of cash assistance forever -- along with a second note informing them where to go for the limited help they still may qualify for.

Governor Rick Snyder has determined that $64m dollars can be saved if MI stops caring for poor families. The death warrant was signed by the Governor on August 9th, 2011, shoving some 14,000 poor families -- all with minor children -- into some kind of "hell" where they will be killed off a little at a time.

These first 14,000 will be followed by more and more until all the poor families who have been on welfare assistance for 4 years are kicked out. They are on a train headed toward the concentration camps of wont:

First stop, Public Shelter Avenue where some get off and seek living arrangements in local shelters. Girls go to the left, boys go to the right...train keeps moving toward its final destination.

Next stop, Foster Care Junction where some of the children are taken away from mostly mothers too poor to care for them any longer.

Third stop, Suicide Canyon where some moms so stressed, saddened and crushed by the loss of their home, their property, their support, will decide they are "bad" parents and the children would be better off without them. Or, some of the older children in these stressed families -- separated from friends, separated from school activities, can't go to the Prom -- will consider suicide-pacts as a viable option.

Fourth Stop, Murderer's Cave where some will resort to inward violence like we are witnessing on Channel 2,4, and 7 daily -- shootings, knifings, clubbings, killing in every shape and form committed by people already on the edge.

Final stop, the Burning Fields where the message is clear: it costs too much money to keep your family alive. Governors across the nation are examining this strategy that saves State dollars.

The ASSEMBLY TO END POVERTY has called for a National MARCH ON WASHINGTON, June 30th 2011. Get involved asap. Email endpoverty2012@gmail.com, or call: (313) 964-0618. There are 323 days left. Do Something!!!

Image from State of Michigan

Why We March June 2012: Politicians Live High on the Hog at our Expense

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 21:03:00 +0000

The foundation on which society rests has changed forever. Let’s take a look at these elected officials that live high on the hog at our expense.

How can Federal elected officials, even those who call themselves “our friends,” make recommendations on the future of our lives as they keep collecting checks written in six-figures? Sure, they all claim heritages of immigrant forefathers, grandpa and grandma couldn’t even speak English, blue-collar histories of remarkable fortitude that produced this or that politician. But how has this now given them the “right” to live well at our expense? They all have health care, clinics where they work, free gas, free trips for themselves and their families, and other perks that would make the average working family blush with shame.

A fireman in Lansing, MI, who was distraught about attacks on his pension stood alone and away from the others in front of the Capitol Bldg. with a sign that read, “It takes elected officials 5 years to earn a pension. It takes me 25 years to get mine.” Could that be true?

Pensions under attack, stabilized salaries under attack, haven’t heard one politician step up and demand that their salary be cut in half, have you? Many believe that poverty and wont are all right for much of the country as long as they are not included in this statistics.

Technology again has an answer for us based on common sense: we don’t need high-paid politicians to rule and lord over us because we can construct gadgets to do a better job, and we don’t have to pay gadgets at all. Some workers, somewhere are already thinking about ways to collect government statistics, how to glean information and make appropriate adjustments based on those facts. How hard is it to construct a computer generated devise that can manage the needs of the many, and not the needs of the few?

Food would cost this much based on the average salary in a particular neighborhood. Gas would cost this much, based on the same criteria. Utilities would be capped at a percentage of the earned income per household, maybe around 5-6% of the total household income. Housing, the same standard rule, new cars and used cars, and everything else we need to purchase, etc. What would happen if we passed a national referendum capping what House & Senate members, Governors, Mayors, County Commissioners, City Council Persons and the rest of the lot were able to earn on our dime?

THE ASSEMBLY TO END POVERTY is calling for a NATIONAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON, June 30^th, 2012. Get involved – call: (313) 964-0618 or email endpoverty2010@gmail.com. You have 326 days left to get busy!

Image from WillBlogForFood

Why We March June 2012: Corporations Define What's Important

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:49:00 +0000

The foundation on which society rests has been changed forever. Visionaries from all sectors of working society must now caucus and take those necessary steps to ensure that the planet lives despite this vicious corporate assault that knows no end.

From where should advice come to help guide our steps? When you want to learn about domestic abuse, don’t go to the partner who rules with violence – the solution offered will be skewed. The remedy for slaves will not be found at the dinner table of the Master’s house. All the Master can suggest are ways to protect and continue the system of slavery.

Why do we allow the water carriers for these corporations to define what is important to us?

Your arms held up the debt ceiling and as soon as President Obama signed the joint agreement the stock market plunged. All this drama was supposed to avoid a bond-rating decline but the country’s rating was lowered anyway.

You and your colleagues get laid off and the stock market goes up because that means your former “company” is now leaner and meaner. How is that logic working out for you and your family, especially since unemployment pays so close to what you were earning – RIGHT?

Exxon/Mobile earned 41% more in profit over this last quarter than the quarter before. We are talking billions in profit yet the employee roster shows a consistently steady decline in Exxon workers over the last six years. If they keep more money, they will trickle it down to new workers, remember?

The “haves” are sitting on $1 trillion dollars of ours in bank accounts/cash/under the mattress money and they won’t hire workers because they can’t see what will happen five years from now? HOGWASH!! If you take direction and advice from these sick people you will need psychotropic drugs to manage your schizophrenia and bi-polar manifestations.

ASSEMBLY TO END POVERTY has called for a MARCH ON WASHINGTON, June 30^th, 2012 to raise this poverty question for the final time. Get involved in some way – endpoverty2012@gmail.com, or call: (313) 964-0618. You have 328 days left to get busy.

Image from ClipArtist.net through Creative Commons

Detroiters Speak Out at Poverty Tour

noreply@blogger.com (MWRO) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:38:00 +0000

Today, members of Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and others joined forces and met Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornell West’s "The Poverty Tour" with our point of view.

The session was electric with some 200-300 residents in attendance. A loud and well organized small group came to shout down the speakers with cat-calls of "sell-out and traitor" being slung toward both Tavis Smiley and Prof. West but they each held their own.

Prof. West started his remarks by commenting on the many fundraising and public events he sponsored for President Obama and recanted how he had remarked early on in the campaign that he would not be silent should the President falter.

The anger from some in the audience was about the false rumor that "The Poverty Tour" is being sponsored by the Tea Party or some Republican operatives; and that the intent of the Tour is to denounce Pres. Obama. Many people stood at the microphones to speak. When it was our turn, we all suggested to those loud folk that since we voted the President in we had every right to criticize what we didn't like and will continue to do so.

Dr. West talked about “too much Geitner,” “too much Larry Summers,” and “too much Ben Bernanke” -- all operatives working in Wall Street and for Wall Street.

We all agree and wish that our dear President had selected others to fill those seats. The loud group represents the antithesis to what we are all about. Class warfare was introduced and some folk wanted to turn the fight into ‘do you or don't you support the President?’ That is not the fight. They were summarily shouted down by those who came to describe both the plight of the poor and the fight of the poor.

We won a political victory because we were able to demonstrate through our comments that the poverty issue was systemic and needed to be solved in a systemic fashion. The level of anger also exists because people are looking for answers to their problems, most immediate and some long term.

Answers were in short order so some people left unfulfilled. The answer of course is that systematic poverty based on the rise in technological production means that a new system must be created where the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Folks are almost ready to hear this message as the only conclusion.

MWRO, one of the founding members of THE ASSEMBLY TO END POVERTY, announced the March On Washington set for June 30th, 2012. Both Tavis and Prof. West were very warm and receptive to MWRO so they left on their way to Akron with a belly full of Detroit and the ASSEMBLY!

Image from The Poverty Tour