News & Articles

 You can buy rolls of “Forever” stamps from your local post office, protecting you from future price increases. But We The People now need to put a “Forever” stamp on the post office itself.
A cabal of corporate predators, congressional anti-government ideologues, and pusillanimous postal officials are dismantling this invaluable public service, piece by piece – an agency that literally has delivered for America from the very start of our country. Yet, in the name of “saving” the US Postal Service, they’ve been gutting its services, intentionally driving away business. Having fewer customers will give the cabal an excuse to make more cuts... and ultimately to kill it as a public entity. This is like a boss telling workers: “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”
Post office workers, letter carriers, and mail handlers are tired of the beatings, so they’ve launched a nationwide campaign with dozens of other grassroots organizations to rally public support to Save Our Public Postal Service by revitalizing and expanding the services that this venerable American institution can and should provide. Under the uplifting banner of “I Stand with Postal Workers,” the American Postal Workers Union is coordinating a National Day of Action this Thursday, May 14.
Some 70 public demonstrations and rallies will take place Thursday at post offices in 30 states – from Alaska to Florida, Maine to California. To join this spirited stand for restoring the common good in America, you can find the exact location, time, and contact number for each local event at www.apwu.org.
This is Jim Hightower saying... Join me this Thursday in standing with postal workers – for the benefit of all the people. Each of us can be a symbolic “Forever” stamp to protect our public post offices from the privatizers. To join us, go to apwu.org.
American Postal Workers Union, APWU Fired up For National Day of Action, May 14, May 6, 2014, http://www.apwu.org/news/web-news-article/apwu-members-fired-national-day-action-may-14

Stop Postal executives from destroying our Postal Service

When a big-name retailer finds its sales in a slow downward spiral, the geniuses in the executive suite often try to keep their profits up by cheapening their product and delivering less to customers.

To see how well this strategy works, look no further than the declining sales at Walmart and McDonald’s. When the geniuses in charge of these behemoths applied the cut-back strategy, their slow decline turned into a perilous nose-dive. You’d think their experience would keep other executives from making the same mistake, but here comes an even bigger – and much more important – retail behemoth saying, “We have to cut to survive.”
That’s the pronouncement last year by the honcho of the US Postal Service, which has been eliminating employees, closing facilities, and reducing services for years. Each new round of reductions drives away more customers, which causes clueless executives to prescribe more cuts. In a January decree, USPS virtually eliminated overnight delivery of first-class mail, and it’s now planning to close or consolidate 82 regional mail processing plants. This means fewer workers handling the nation’s growing load of mail, creating further delays in delivery. The answer to this, say the slap happy executives, is – guess what? – to cut even more “service” out of postal service. They want to close hundreds of our local post offices and eliminate Saturday mail delivery (which is one of USPS’ major competitive advantages).

“APWU Asks Union Members to Build Support for Postal Bills,” American Postal Workers Union, February 19, 2015, http://www.apwu.org/news/web-news-article/apwu-asks-union-members-build-support-postal-bills

Media Barons shun major Populist meeting

Do America’s establishment media outlets exist to inform the general public about what’s going on – or to hide the goings-on that the establishment doesn’t like?
Years ago, many establishment newspapers effectively “disappeared” progressive groups by refusing to report on their meetings and actions, hoping to keep the general public from hearing anti-establishment messages or knowing about progressive alternatives. For example, the dominant paper in Dallas so totally excluded progressives that activists gave the daily a new slogan: “The Dallas Morning News – If It Happens In Dallas, It’s News To Us.”
That same slogan could fit most of our national media sources today. For example, you probably didn’t hear about a momentous political gathering of grassroots progressives that recently took place in Washington, DC. Called “Populism2015,” it was coordinated by National People’s Action – a fast-growing coalition of workers, environmentalists, low-income people, farmers, clergy and others. More than 1,000 experienced activists of every race, age, gender, and region attended. This was not just another conference of yackety-yakkers, but the construction crew of a new bottom-up politics that’s building a genuine grassroots movement around a bold populist agenda.
So, where were America’s news sources? National reporters and pundits, who give “in-depth” coverage to silly straw polls and other fabricated political “news,” shunned this real news. The fact that such a movement is organizing would give hope to many disenchanted voters and non-voters – yet the mass media utterly failed its basic duty: Inform the public about what’s happening.
This is Jim Hightower saying... While this grassroots reality is news to the media establishment, you can learn about Populism2015 at www.PeopleAndPlanetFirst.org.
“What progressive populists are looking for,” The Hill, April 18, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/10/us/wisconsin-agency-bans-activism-on-climate.html?_r=0
“Everyone’s hopping on the populist bandwagon. Will it lead to any actual policy change?” Washington Post, April 16, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/04/16/everyones-hopping-on-the-populist-bandwagon-will-it-lead-to-actual-policy-change/
“Can New Populist Agenda Harness Passions, Create Movement From Below,” Common Dreams, April 17, 2015, Common Dreams, April 17, 2015, http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/17/can-new-populist-agenda-harness-passions-create-movement-below
“Populism 2015 Conference launches campaign for ‘new’ economy,” www.peoplesworld.org, April 21, 2015, http://peoplesworld.org/populism-2015-conference-launches-campaign-for-new-economy/
“Progressive Coalition Tells Lawmakers: ‘Don’t Trade Away Our Future with Fast Track,” Common Dreams, April 20, 2015, http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/20/progressive-coalition-tells-lawmakers-dont-trade-away-our-future-fast-track
“The Left Battles Obama and Hillary on Trade, but Only She Seems to be Listening,” Bloomberg Politics, April 20, 2015, http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-21/the-left-battles-obama-and-hillary-on-trade-but-only-she-seems-to-be-listening