Sunday, November 30, 2008

December meeting 08

Not too much on agenda this month.

We will continue to follow politics. We shall continue to document insurance woes.

Note: HB 676 is not a hot issue with current folks on the hill. We need to start again pushing for Universal Health Care in America.

We shall also reintroduce our "history" project to the folks.

For those whom cannot make it: Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and your family.

Friday, November 14, 2008


This is a page from World War Two canco newsletter. Bottom photo is of the front of the St. Louis plant at 3200 South Kingshighway.
Plant produced torpedos for the Navy. After the war it was
reconverted to a container plant producing food and beverage cans. Plant stayed open for container production until 1998.
American Can Company also had a plant in Pevely, Missouri. It closed in late 90s. It was a two-piece beverage can facility making cans for AB and varied soda cans.

083 american can plant


above is a schetch of 083 St. Louis American Can Plant. portions were torn down in the late 90s

Monday, November 10, 2008

Times article on GM retirees

A lot of GM retirees are quite frankly worried. Many autoworkers in the metro St. Louis area and some are kinfolks and friends.

This is recent New york Times article on the retiree aspect. Again, this is copyrighted story and I shall withdraw if copyright holders object. Article fair and one to keep in mind over the woes faced by retirees.

As a retired can worker whom got shafted by company after retirement, I have some empathy with these folks. Note: my ex-masters making money hand over fist and not in any cash trouble at all (Silgan containers). So are the other can masters whom closed operations in St. Louis like Rexam and Crown-Cork-Seal.

Note: when I started work at can makers in the 70s, American Can was a class act in comparision to the folks now.


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November 10, 2008
Some G.M. Retirees Are in a Health Care Squeeze
By NICK BUNKLEY
DETROIT — General Motors is living on borrowed time, spending more than $2 billion in cash a month and lobbying for a government bailout to keep it out of bankruptcy.
And for about 100,000 of its white-collar retirees, time is about to run out on G.M.’s gold-plated medical benefits.
To conserve its dwindling cash reserves, G.M. is eliminating lifetime health care coverage for its legions of retirees at the end of this year, leaving people like Ken Hewitt to fend for themselves in deciding how to cover their doctor’s bills and prescription drug costs.
“Everybody felt like they were set for life,” said Mr. Hewitt, 81, who retired from the former Chevrolet Engineering Center in 1982 and lives north of Detroit. “It’s been difficult, but the information they’ve given us has been beneficial. Still, when you get to be our age, it’s tough to make any big changes like that.”
G.M. has had little choice this year but to make deep cuts wherever it can, including benefits that were long considered sacred.
The move was announced in July as part of a package of broad cutbacks to increase the company’s liquidity, including a 20 percent reduction in payroll for salaried workers and suspension of G.M.’s annual stock dividend of $1 a share.
But even these and other measures have not been enough to stabilize the company’s finances, as the auto industry suffers from a weakening economy and tight credit that makes it hard for shoppers to get loans.
On Friday, G.M. warned that it might run short of cash by mid-2009, and it is asking for federal help with greater urgency.
G.M. has estimated that eliminating the white-collar retiree medical benefits, in addition to pay and staffing cuts in its current white-collar work force, will save the company about $1.5 billion annually. Union contracts prevent the company from revoking coverage for former factory workers. Ford and Chrysler already have cut health coverage for salaried retirees.
In fact, paying the cost of hospital stays, surgeries and expensive drugs for retirees, a group now larger than G.M.’s active work force, is a major reason the company’s financial woes are so great. G.M. says it spent $4.6 billion in 2007 on health care for its one million employees and retirees and their dependents.
Many retirees say they are aware of the burden these costs represent to the company, so they do not blame G.M. for cutting them off. Even so, they lament the demise of such a valuable perk.
“If the company goes out of business, we’ll lose everything anyway,” said Richard J. Moore, 70, who held management positions at G.M. plants in New York and Illinois before retiring in 1991 to suburban Phoenix. “You can’t survive by giving away everything.”
G.M.’s decision to halt health care benefits for salaried retirees at age 65 means that nationwide, former engineers, plant managers and executives are anxiously trying to decipher various combinations of Medicare and other insurance plans.
For months they have been poring over stacks of brochures and sitting through sometimes-baffling sales pitches ahead of an enrollment window that opens this month and ends Dec. 31. Because G.M. told them it would cover their health care for life, few studied up on Medicare and other coverage options as they approached retirement.
“Some of these people have been on G.M.’s plan for 40 or 50 years, and now all of this is thrown at them,” said Jack Dickinson, a G.M. retiree who runs the Web site OverTheHillCarPeople.com. “People are highly upset, confused and totally lost. The Medicare system is very hard for older people to tackle.”
Eliminating that confusion has been a major undertaking. G.M. scheduled 150 informational meetings in cities where its retirees are concentrated and hired a company called Extend Health to answer questions and help with Medicare enrollment. A company in Tennessee, My Part D USA, which provides personalized comparisons of different plans, has met with groups of G.M. retirees and is working with OverTheHillCarPeople.com to ease the transition.
“These people have never had to deal with Medicare at all,” said Karyn Blake of My Part D USA, a Detroit-area native whose uncles owned Cadillac and Oldsmobile dealerships. “They’re hearing different things from different salespeople, and they’re totally overwhelmed. I think they kind of feel abandoned.”
Many G.M. retirees have simply turned to one another for help, by getting together with former co-workers who live down the street, sharing information on Internet message boards, or discussing the issue at meetings of the numerous G.M. retiree clubs in Michigan, Florida and other states.
“It’s nothing that we ever had to think about before,” Barbara Spencer, 77, who worked in payroll for Buick and retired in 1988. On Thursday, she attended a meeting of the Buick retirees club to discuss health care options. “You don’t want to make a mistake,” she added.
To help retirees pay for their new coverage, G.M. is raising monthly pension payments by $300, which typically means $240 or $255 after taxes.
The cost of replacement coverage varies, depending on a person’s needs. Some find that they can get adequate benefits for about the same amount as their pension increase, but others must now find several hundred dollars more in their monthly budget.
“Anyone that thinks they can go out and replace insurance that you had with General Motors for $255 and get the same kind of coverage, I’d like to sell them a bridge in Wisconsin somewhere,” said Mr. Dickinson, 65, whose irritation with G.M.’s move is apparent in the headline “G.M. Robs Their Elderly Retirees” on his Web site atop information about the changeover.
In recent months, he said, the number of visitors to the site has doubled and its membership — for a one-time $25 fee — has grown rapidly, keeping him and a small team of volunteers busy for many hours each day.
Mr. Dickinson said G.M., regardless of its financial woes, was ignoring the steadfast loyalty that its retirees showed to the company by exclusively buying its vehicles and toiling there for decades.
“Many of these people had other jobs offered to them,” he said. “In 34 years with General Motors, I had many opportunities to go in other directions that were much more lucrative, but the promise of health care and pension for life was something that I had to consider.”
None, though, can look at the uncertainty confronting those who work for G.M., Ford and Chrysler today — along with the thousands whose jobs were eliminated — and feel they are the only ones being squeezed.
“I just hope they can recover and come back,” said Kenneth Shear Jr., 70, a former plant supervisor who retired in 1992 and now lives in Summerfield, Fla., in a community with a handful of other G.M. retirees. Mr. Shear was billed $52 to get a pacemaker several years ago, a $148,000 procedure, and never had to pay a health care bill in 31 years at G.M.
“I used to tell some of the guys that worked for me that this job is not going to be available to your kids,” he said. “I’m glad I had my career when I did.”

Obama can make quick, modest gains on health care

The following editorial is from the Mercury News. It is copyrighted and I shall withdraw if objected to by the owners.

As a matter of fact, I believe some of should be done and done within a few days of Obama moving into the White House. I do have some reservations about electronic record keeping (given the dismal records that even credit card data is hacked everyday--can you see the loss of confidential medical data?)

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Editorial: Obama can make quick, modest gains on health care
Mercury News Editorial
Article Launched: 11/09/2008 08:01:00 PM PST

The hardest choices for Barack Obama in the weeks to come won't be deciding what to do in his first months in office, but rather what he shouldn't try to do.

In Friday's news conference, he implied he still hoped to tackle everything he'd promised. Bill and Hillary Clinton can tell him a thing or two about that. Their early, botched attempt to pass comprehensive health care reform buried the cause for 16 years. While Obama feels pressured to move quickly, rushing into this one could again set reform back. If he believes, as we do, that it's extremely important, he won't take the chance.

But without stirring controversy, the new president can make an immediate, substantial down payment on improving health care to keep faith with his supporters and improve the lives of millions of Americans. Here's how:

Expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover as many children as possible when it comes up for renewal in March. The program has broad support in Congress, but it was cut during its last renewal to win President Bush's signature. As more families lose insurance in this recession, providing health care for kids will grow in importance.

Authorize the federal government to negotiate bulk purchases of Medicare prescription drugs.

Bush opposed this, but the Veterans Affairs already does it with great success. Using the federal government's bulk purchasing power will reduce Americans' costs by
billions of dollars.

Accelerate Bush's wise push for electronic medical records, which will save lives as well as cut costs.

Obama's campaign succeeded largely because of his disciplined, intelligent approach to the task at hand. When he becomes president, the economy has to be his first, second and third priorities. When times improve, health care reform will fare better.
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political forecasting

Hello

Although I am somewhat pleased at the results of the election, much work needs to be done. In Missouri, a lot of work will not be possible. Missouri is still a red state for the most part.

One way that the GOP will attempt next election success is simple---block anything and everything that does not give them political advantage. It had limited success this last congress and will most certainly be a tactic tried.

Divide and conquer is another tactic that will be tried. Not all those congress folks are liberals and more than a handful are conservative as a matter of fact.

Obama and Jay Nixon will have to come out forcefully. Bipartisanship is a myth and if they do not achieve some vast successes in their first year, reelection will become very difficult.

Soar 11-3 in St. Louis will monitor some of the political bills and progress. Do not hold your breath for things like "universal health care", justise for American workers and much more.
It will be a fight all the way.

Universal Health Care (Hb 676 type) is still a major goal for the group. We will do our part and we certainly hope others will do the same.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

meeting notes Nov 08

We helt election. The current officers won reelection. Trustees whom won: Jerry, Bill and John D.

We did talk abit about the elections: McCain won in Missouri by a couple thousand votes (less than the totals for Ralph Nader by the way). Nixon won governer by wide majority. Good job folks whom voted and our thanks.

We did vote to "reup" our membership with the Alliance of Retired Americans.

December meeting will see our renewal of "goals" for the next couple years.

Note: although we did do well in elections, we should not take change for granted. Change will only occur if folks have the will to continue to reform. Far too often things of importance fall by the wayside because we are complacient.

We will have to double down and demand a universal health bill be passed like Hb 676. We are going to have to demand justice in insurance. Our work is far from done.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Trickle Down Economics

Thinking about voting Tuesday. Keep this article in mind when folks talk about those poor corporations whom have to shell out their hard earned money.

That corporations even "pay their fair share" is a myth. I am certain they passed all that savings to their customers.

One way that a company can "pay no taxes" is not to make any money. The other is to have buddies in congress. This of course is on top of corporate welfare, another Washington perk for our businesses.


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Most firms pay no income taxes -

Study finds that the majority of domestic and foreign corporations in the United States avoid paying federal income taxes.
By David Goldman, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: August 12, 2008: 4:38 PM EDT
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/12/news/economy/corporate_taxes/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly two-thirds of U.S. companies and 68% of foreign corporations do not pay federal income taxes, according to a congressional report released Tuesday.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined samples of corporate tax returns filed between 1998 and 2005. In that time period, an annual average of 1.3 million U.S. companies and 39,000 foreign companies doing business in the United States paid no income taxes - despite having a combined $2.5 trillion in revenue.
The study showed that 28% of foreign companies and 25% of U.S. corporations with more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in sales paid no federal income taxes in 2005. Those companies totaled a combined $372 billion in sales for the largest foreign companies and $1.1 trillion in revenue for the biggest U.S. companies.
The GAO report, which did not name any specific companies, said that some corporations reported zero income before deducting expenses while others said they had zero net income after deducting expenses. Either way, those companies reported no tax liability, the GAO said.
But many of the companies the report found had paid no tax were likely small businesses that pay other taxes. Generally, many small firms, because they do not have shareholders, are able to shift corporate income to individual income.
"Small businesses that are going to be liable for a lot of income tax are likely to use other tax forms so they only pay individual income taxes," said Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.
The study was requested by Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D, and Carl Levin, D-Mich., in an attempt to determine if corporations are abusing so-called transfer prices.
Transfer prices are charges on transactions between subsidiary companies within a larger corporate group. Companies may try to lessen their U.S. tax hit by improperly transferring income to foreign subsidiaries in countries with lower rates.
The GAO study did not attempt to determine if companies were abusing transfer prices, but it said that potential abuse of transfers could reduce the amount of taxes companies pay in the United States.
"The tax system that allows this wholesale tax avoidance is an embarrassment and unfair to hardworking Americans who pay their fair share of taxes," Dorgan said in a statement.
U.S. politicians disagree about how much income tax the government should levy on corporations. Currently the rate is 35%, but most foreign governments have set their rates below the U.S. level.
"The U.S. corporate tax rate stayed the same while foreign countries have drifted down, which increases the incentive for companies to report income in other countries," said Toder. "If the U.S. drops the rate to 30% but closes other tax loopholes, that may ultimately generate more tax revenue for the government."


First Published: August 12, 2008: 3:46 PM EDT

(used under fair use doctrine. Should copyright holders object, I shall remove this immediately)