We MUST work together for:
American Jobs That Will Stay in America. According to a recent Northwestern University study, right here in Illinois, we lost more than 50,000 jobs in manufacturing.
Our representatives have missed every opportunity to jump-start our economy, instead insisting that our economy has turned the corner. They MUST promote prosperity by creating new jobs, enacting middle class tax relief, and rewarding companies that create jobs here at home.
Free trade is not fair trade.
How do you stand?
Lowering Energy Costs and Our Dependence on Fossil Fuels. Home heating oil and gas prices have increased steadily and our elected officials have failed to address high energy costs, in fact they even passed and continue support an energy bill with billions of dollars in subsidies for big oil and gas companies.
Additionally, our elected officials refuse to regulate markets where traders participate in the unregulated derivative markets, buying and selling speculative products that are increasingly contributing to the skyrocketing price of oil. Excessive energy speculation today is at its highest levels ever, and even Goldman Sachs now admits that at least $27 of the price of crude oil is a result from reckless speculation rather than market fundamentals of supply and demand.
“The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty.
The activist is the man who cleans up the river”. ~Ross Perot
How do you stand?
Balancing the Budget. The national debt has increased to almost $15 trillion, but instead of returning to fiscal sanity, we have elected officials preparing to force through an extension of the capital gains and dividends tax break while blocking a 5% tax increase on those that have more than a $1,000,000.00 adjusted gross income.
They apparently don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them.
How do you stand?
Health Care System That Works for Everyone. According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2009 there were 50.7 million people in the US (16.7% of the population) who were without health insurance.
14.8% of Illinois’ population is uninsured and that translates into 1,998,934 people or 1 out of every 15 people that you pass in the street is uninsured. These are real people. They are the bagger at the grocery store, the crossing guard at your local school, the person that you speak to when your cable TV isn’t working, they are your neighbors.
We need elected officials who work and fight for a healthy America.
We need an America that has a “Universal Healthcare Program.
How do you stand?
Strong Public Education. If we want American jobs to stay in America, we have to have high quality early childhood education, strong public schools, and affordable college education. We must have schools and a society that stresses the importance of an educational system that emphasizes the S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering and math) curricula and provides a fertile atmosphere for the development of critical thought.
It’s because our elected officials have failed to provide the necessary funding for education reforms, at least 130,000 children in Illinois have gone without help in reading and math and 80,000 have gone without after-school programs that boost academic achievement and keep kids safe.
“What greater or better gift can we offer the republic than to teach and instruct our youth?”
~Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
How do you stand?
Retirement Security. Social Security provides financial security and peace of mind to over 2,000,000 people in Illinois. The move to undermine the guarantee of Social Security for people in Illinois and the nation continues, together we must fight to protect Social Security for everyone.
AP: “Social Security Has Built Up A $2.5 Trillion Surplus ... Benefits Will Be Safe Until That Money Runs Out ... In 2037.” A January 27 Associated Press article noted that while “Social Security will post nearly $600 billion in deficits over the next decade,” without any changes to the fund, “benefits will be safe until that money runs out. That is projected to happen in 2037.”
We often see people making reference to the idea that “younger workers” should divert some of their payroll tax money into some kind of private retirement account. At this point you must wonder how we’re going to pay current benefits of this happens. What privatizers are saying is that current retirees will keep getting benefits and future retirees will be okay despite the lack of benefits because they’ll have private accounts. But current retirees can’t get benefits if my money is in a private account. And my account can’t be funded if I’m paying benefits for current retirees.
It’s a further example of, “Figures lie and liars figure.”
This is especially true where Wall Street stands to benefit from the proposed change.
How do you stand?
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