Less ride for your money on the T? – MBTA proposes unpopular weekend service cuts and fare hikes

On Jan. 3, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which operates Boston’s public train and bus systems, proposed two fare increase and service reduction plans that could raise the price of a single T trip to as much as $2.40 with a CharlieCard (up from the regular $1.70).
. . .

MBTA patrons were less forgiving than the state of Massachusetts. On Monday, the T Riders Union, Occupy Boston members, and local student activists rallied in front of the State House, holding signs saying “We need affordibiliT” and “MBTA: My Bus Taken Away.” During the public meeting that followed, a popular idea among attendees was to look to the state government for funding, as an alternative to service cuts.

http://tinyurl.com/87zbod3

The trouble with sellouts – Formerly ‘courageous’ law enforcement dissident will co-chair mortgage fraud committee comprised of fraud enablers

[Obama announced the creation of yet another federal investigative committee in his SOTU address that will further the cause of running out the clock on the statutes of limitation on mortgage and finance industry crimes, or the political will to do something about them. It will be co-chaired by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.]

Remember, as we discussed when the Roosevelt Institute accepted money from the Peterson Foundation and then repudiated FDR’s legacy by publishing policy papers on how to “reform” entitlements, the real prize for the neoliberals is to get trusted progressive organizations to do their dirty work.

It’s clear what the Administration is getting from getting Schneiderman aligned with them. It is much less clear why Schneiderman is signing up. He can investigate and prosecute NOW. He has subpoena powers, staff, and the Martin Act. He doesn’t need to join a Federal committee to get permission to do his job. And this is true for ALL the others agencies represented on this committee. They have investigative and enforcement powers they have chosen not to use. So we are supposed to believe that a group, ex Schneiderman, that has been remarkably complacent, will suddenly get religion on the mortgage front because they are all in a room and Schneiderman is a co-chair?

http://tinyurl.com/7a5pxmf

Global wave of activism comes in part because civil society groups and NGOs have failed to resist, to effect change

Many of today’s large mainstream NGOs started out as scrappy, confrontational groups of activists. Greenpeace, to take just one example, rose out of antinuclear protests in 1971. Today the group maintains offices in 40 countries. “If you look at any protest movement in the last 50 years, they have started off as challengers,” said Brayden King, an assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “But with success they have all become more institutionalized,” he added. “Now they are no longer really a movement anymore, but professional advocacy groups.”

That institutionalization entails compromise and inevitably requires professional staff, many of whom come from the private sector. King says that students in his MBA classes often say their goal is to make a lot of money and then pursue their passion by working for an NGO. “While that is great and noble, they don’t have the same background in activism and have little in common with the activists they end up working with,” King said. A perfect illustration of his point can be seen at Davos, where leading executives of mainstream NGOs have become fixtures. Last year, for instance, executives from Mercy Corps, Greenpeace, and World Vision International – a Christian humanitarian organization – were all in attendance.
. . .

The most recent data available from the Internal Revenue Service show that the top 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers earned a minimum of $343,927. Data provided by Guidestar, which collects information on nonprofit organizations, shows that the median compensation for the CEO or executive director of nonprofits – which includes museums, some universities, and hospitals – with budgets of more than $50 million rose 60 percent to $422,000 between 2000 and 2009.

http://tinyurl.com/7qcrpor

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 1/26/12” »

State of the (Occupied) Union

Remember the protesters who commandeered New York’s Zuccotti Park and clashed with Oakland police this fall, in the name of the “99 percent”? Tuesday’s speech was arguably their greatest accomplishment yet, as the president called economic fairness “the defining issue of our time.”

http://tinyurl.com/7gpuj2h

The Cost of Commuting: MBTA’s Fare Proposals

Bostonians have been expressing their outrage about these proposals all over the online world and the topic itself is being tackled by hundreds of bloggers, journalists, and commuters all over the metro Boston area!

Twitter has been at the front of this frenzy with thousands of users tweeting their comments to MBTA of?cials (@mbtaGM), State Officials (@MassGovernor ), or just out to the Twitterverse hoping that someone out there is listening. Several groups have also formed out of the frustration, such as Occupy MBTA (@OccupyMBTA) a Twitter adopting the moniker of the Occupy Boston movement and Students Against T Cuts, (@StudentsTCuts) a group that consists of college students from around Boston who believe that the proposed scenarios are a step backwards in the development of the city’s businesses, people, and institutions of higher education.

http://tinyurl.com/7adztw7

No Layoffs for Harvard Libraries

On January 19, Harvard University Library Executive Director Helen Shenton told stunned Harvard Library staff that their numbers were to shrink. She announced that the cuts would be accomplished by July, through voluntary and involuntary means. Officials would rewrite some job descriptions and eliminate other jobs completely, and staffers would have to apply for a smaller number of reconfigured positions.
. . .

During its last wave of mass layoffs, Harvard maintained, unpersuasively, that a drop in its huge endowment made job losses inevitable. After a 21.4 percent jump in the endowment during the last fiscal year, to $32 billion, Harvard cannot possibly make any such claims today. Union activists believe the University’s plans to cut costs come at the expense of local communities. In a particularly ominous development, 15 out of 22 employees at Harvard Health Publications learned on January 11 that they would lose their jobs in March. The devastated staffers of HHP must wonder how they will find new positions in the current bleak economy. As of last week, library workers must wonder the same thing.

However, since 2008, the ground has shifted. The Occupy Wall Street movement has pointed a glaring spotlight at social inequalities, the concentration of wealth, and widespread unemployment. Harvard’s workers have actively participated in Occupy Boston and Occupy Harvard. Important links have been built, and potentially powerful networks have risen up. Employees who stayed on the sidelines of past years’ pickets now boldly advocate direct action to fight the planned cuts. No Layoffs campaigners know they will have many more allies this time around.

http://tinyurl.com/7gljdv9

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 1/25/12” »