The Woman who NEARLY won healthcare for all

She’s no household name, but Frances Perkins ought to be on everyone’s minds this year, as US Sen. Bernie Sanders introduces a Medicare for All bill. Who is Perkins? Only the  first woman ever appointed to a presidential cabinet, joining Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Labor Secretary in 1933. It so happened that Perkins, raised by a strict Republican family and educated at Mt. Holyoke when few women went to college, in 1911 had witnessed a young woman jumping to her death at the Triangle shirtwaist fire. She became an eloquent advocate for common, working people.
 
Perkins took the cabinet position only under condition that FDR support her bold agenda that became The New Deal. It included a 40-hour work week, a minimum wage, workers’ compensation and other labor protections, abolition of child labor, unemployment aid, a federal employment service, and Social Security pension insurance—all of which she won, and which we all take for granted. She also sought universal healthcare—the one big measure she lost.
 
Why? The American Medical Society threatened to kill Social Security unless the provision for healthcare insurance for all, originally included, was removed. She compromised to win what she could.
 
Her remarkable record of achievements earned her the naming of the Labor Department’s office building in Washington DC—but unlike confederate generals, no statue was raised to remind us that Frances was female and powerful in an un-bloody way.
 
Biographer Kirsten Downey says that Perkins’ ideas were essentially socialist ones, though she left the Socialist party in 1909 to become a Democrat. Unexpectedly, this year’s bill by Independent/Socialist Sanders is joined by Democratic Senators supporting it, notably Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, and the numbers are growing. Rachel Maddow considers it a marker of those considering running for President in 2020. Is there something new in the air? www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/warren-throws-support-behind-sanders-single-payer-plan

You can learn more about Perkins at the center dedicated to her history as architect of the New Deal. EconoGirlfriends, let’s make her a household name. francesperkinscenter.org/life-new/

Women, Investing, and Truth

We love finding  Lenny Letter in our mailbox, its Point of View young and savvy and female. We admire the interview of Sallie Krawcheck  by Laia Garcia , just out. It's titled "How to Invest Better: A Guide for Young Women." Young women need to know about the world of money. Krawcheck's  advice is sage, and hers is the voice of experience. 

Writes Garcia: "Sallie is a total powerhouse. Currently, she is the CEO and co-founder of Ellevest, a website that helps women invest and plan for their future. Before that, she worked as a CEO and CFO of a variety of investment firms. Most notably, she was ousted as CEO of Citigroup's wealth-management business because she thought Citi should reimburse its clients for money it lost due to bad investment decisions by the company. So, you know, she is legit." 

Krawcheck says about the way investments on Wall Street work: "The research I did when I was at Smith Barney showed that neither men nor women understand. It just is what it is."  She goes on to advise  young women: 

"What I would say to you is, number one, pay down the credit-card debt. Number two, pay down your high-interest-rate student-loan debt. Number three, get some cash and put it aside, at least one month of take-home pay. Number four, I want you to choose an amount that you can invest every month. I don't want you to start with your expenses and then decide how much you can invest, because the answer will be zero. I want you to have a target of maybe 10 percent of your salary. I want you to see if you can adjust your expenses."

These are wise admonishments, but easier said than done by most young women, particularly women of color or from working class backgrounds. And god help her, if she's  a woman with dependent children, or a divorce in her past....?  We love you, Sallie. But we don't agree that  "It Just is what it is."

We need women like you to squawk loud about "it"--not leave out pesky details. Women's unequal pay, rampant everywhere including Wall Street, leaves her less surplus income to "adjust"  and invest. And Sallie's being fired was not just about her financial ideas, but Wall Street EconoMan's integral sexism that rewards domination and punishes girly-morality.  "it" wages war. We  need an economy that wages life.

Read more of Laia's interview with Sallie here: www.lennyletter.com/life/interviews/a970/investment-guide-for-young-women/

Six States Now Family-Friendlier, Washington the Best Yet

This summer of 2017, Washington joined five other states with a family-friendly family-leave policy, reports IWPR (Institute for Women’s Policy Research). Its key features improve on the leave policy of five states already on the books: California (2004), New Jersey (2009), Rhode Island (2014), New York (2018), and District of Columbia (2020).
 
What additions are promising? Washington State did not have a TDI(Temporary Disability Insurance) program, the vehicle other states have used, so they created a new trust fund and a new administration to collect insurance premiums and distribute benefits. AND the premiums are shared by employees (63 percent) and by employers (37 percent). Doesn’t everyone benefit from a healthier future?
 
Second, eligibility for leave is based on hours worked, not on money earned, which enables low-income and part-time workers to participate. Employees who average at least 15 hours/week are eligible, as are self-employed workers if they choose to opt in for at least three years.
 
Washington’s law allows for 12 weeks of paid family leave, and 12 weeks of medical leave, with total benefits capped at 16 weeks (or 18 weeks for women with pregnancy-related complications. That’s more generous than other states with only 4-6 weeks of family leave. Their new Family Leave Administration also provides more stringent job protections, and supports for small businesses, where so many women are often employed. Small businesses with fewer than 150 employees are not required to pay premiums, but if a business chooses to opt in, they may apply for a grant to help with associated costs, backed by the new insurance trust fund.
 
Read about the details of Washington’s new law at IWPR’s Fem-Chat, with links that might help you to do what’s needed in your state, here: femchat-iwpr.org/2017/08/10/five-ways-washington-states-recent-paid-leave-law-breaks-new-ground/

Title IX Faces Rollbacks and ERA Resistance

Thanks to Women's eNews for its recent story on the effects of rape on women's education, a young woman's doorway into economic prosperity. Imagine having to graduate with your rapist because your college hasn't taken your report of assault seriously, or having to drop out because of the trauma. Christina  Shaman's terrific story tracks the tales of two students, one who got help with Title IX, and one who didn't know it existed. The latter has since created an organization called Know Your IX  www.knowyourix.org. Since 2015, 100 plaintiffs have filed lawsuits, alleging their schools "violate their rights in the pursuit of investigating and adjudicating sexual assault," according to Title IX For All, which keeps a data base ( www.titleixforall.com). 

Women's eNews documents the Trump administration's steady rollback of protections. First came the withdrawal of protection under Title IX for transgender students; then came the news that budget constraints at the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) , which administers Title IX, meant cut backs on investigations, followed by the news that Candice Jackson, Acting Ass't. Sec'y of OCR, planned to hide from the public the list of schools under investigation. Then came the news that Betsy DeVos planned to meet with "men's rights" organizations to discuss Title IX.  Know Your IX calls these groups "right-wing hate groups," and says their members are outraged at DeVos choosing to spend time with these groups rather than with women's groups. 

Said the young woman who had been helped by Title IX when she was raped: "That those are the people she's choosing to meet with, from the get-go, sends a message that she does not care about survivors and....she doesn't believe survivors. The idea that they are going to make it even harder for survivors is just, truthfully, dangerous. It really, really scares the shit out of me." 

Some good news from the same article  is a resurgence in young women's support of the ERA. It would make it harder to undermine Title IX, among other really basic issues. Nevada became the 36th state to ratify the amendment in March and the ERA Coalition and NOW (National Organization for Women) have included ratification in their mission. Find links to all these outrages and courageous responses here: womensenews.org/2017/08/update-the-era-and-title-ix/ 

Our daughters deserve protection, just as our sons need education about rape in a game culture that celebrates it. It's not sex without consent. 

"...dance another kind of revolution and sing urges larger than fear."

From an interview with Rickey Gard Diamond on Vermont Public Radio in 2013 celebrating the 30th anniversary of Vermont Woman newspaper's first issue.  She was, already, more than thirty years ago, proposing another kind of "revolution" and ways to do it without utilizing fear. It is in these ideas and inspirations that Screwnomics was born.   Read the rest of the interview here.

No to Oligarchs' Back Room Deals

The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which affects fully one-sixth of the US economy. Fair enough, if they can get the votes. But their replacement bill is being created behind closed doors without any hearings or the chance for amendments—just the way EconoMan likes it. 

EconoMan is Screwnomic’s name for the insider club of men of a particular class and a particular race, who control American economic policy. They grow so brazen, they apparently believe their wealth and position entitles them to govern  without pesky hindrances like debate, hearings, democratic process, and the like. Despite the American constitution, today’s EconoMan appears to believe that money alone measures a person’s true worth. He forgets our national agreement to tend the commonwealth, which surely includes our health. He wants health insurance socialism for the wealthy, not for you.  

The new Republican health care bill repeals $600 billion in taxes on the richest Americans, like Warren Buffet, who called it “a huge tax cut for guys like me.” It won’t cut health care costs—so without the rich paying their fair share, who do you think will be left with the bill? EconoMan can afford to fund toadies in Congress and buy ads to convince you all his ideas are the only American ones. We could use a lot more women like Senator Claire McCaskill who here calls out EconoMan’s Republican politicians who serve the few, not the many. 

All of us need health care at some point in our life—all of us need to share the costs fairly and figure out ways to get healthier and bring down outsized US healthcare bills. So let’s talk out in public like we hear Republicans and Democrats have done in generation’s past. Want to know more about EconoMan and his ways?  Watch for future posts and news about our coming book: Screwnomics: How our Economy Works Against Women and What We Can Do to Make Real and Lasting Change.