Greta brawner

Fox News tells women to 'be reasonable' and accept unequal pay
Daily Kos group
Fri Dec 12, 2014 at 07:41 AM PST
Laura Clawson
"Be reasonable," Fox News urged viewers Thursday in a segment about all the wacky stuff people for some reason believe. You know, stupid stuff like climate change and ghosts. And this:
“What about wage war?” [Elisabeth] Hasselbeck wondered, referring to gender inequality in the workplace.
“It’s true, you women earn less than we men do,” [John] Stossel replied. “But there are reasons for it. You, maybe, are more sensible. You have put more emphasis in not working in a horrible place, not working in dangerous places, you take time off to take care of a family. There’s a reason for that.”
Revel in your crappy pay, ladies! Embrace it as a personal virtue. If you're having trouble paying the bills, remind yourself that at least it's a sign you're more sensible than men.
Here's the reality: Women earn less than men straight out of college. The gap grows, even for women who don't "take time off to take care of a family." After you take out wage differences due to women having taken that time off to do the necessary work of raising children (work for which women in other countries get paid leave, by the way) and having different occupations than men (though it's not like there isn't discrimination in the fact that predominantly male occupations tend to pay more than predominantly female ones), 41 percent of the pay gap is still left to explain.
Hmm ... wage war, anyone?
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Fox News' Greta Van Susteren Obama Is Dividing America By Putting Harriet Tubman On $20 Dollar Bill The Intellectualist
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GAO U_S_ corporations pay average effective tax rate of 12_6% - Jul_ 1, 2013
By James O'Toole u/jtotoole July 1, 2013: 6:08 PM ET
Apple CEO Tim Cook testifies before senators last month on the company's tax strategies. A congressional report released last month said the tech giant used a complex system of international subsidiaries and tax avoidance efforts to shift at least $74 billion out of the reach of the IRS between 2009 and 2012.
U.S. companies face the highest official corporate tax rate in the world. But there's a big difference between the rates set out by law and the cash that's actually collected.
Large, profitable U.S. corporations paid an average effective federal tax rate of 12.6% in 2010, the Government Accountability Office said Monday.
The federal corporate tax rate stands at 35%, and jumps to 39.2% when state rates are taken into account. But thanks to things like tax credits, exemptions and offshore tax havens, the actual tax burden of American companies is much lower.
In a report commissioned by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Tom Coburn (R.-Okla.), the GAO looked at taxes paid by profitable U.S. corporations with at least $10 million in assets.
Even when foreign, state and local taxes were taken into account, the companies paid only 16.9% of their worldwide income in taxes in 2010.
Coburn said in a statement that the report "underscores the need for comprehensive tax reform."
"An individual's or corporation's tax rate shouldn't be dependent on their ability to hire a tax lobbyist," Coburn said. "It's especially wrong to ask families who are struggling to make ends meet to subsidize special breaks for corporations."
Republicans as well as President Obama have called for a lower statutory corporate rate along with the closing of loopholes. The prospects for such reform appear remote for now, given the fractious nature of the current Congress.
Related: The real reason corporate tax reform is going nowhere fast
The GAO's calculation for effective corporate tax rates is lower than a number of previous estimates. That's in part because the office excluded unprofitable firms, which pay little or no taxes, from its analysis.
Including those firms' losses would reduce the total net income from which the average tax rate is calculated, and would not "accurately represent the tax rate on the profitable corporations that actually pay the tax," the GAO said.
The GAO used figures on taxes paid from actual IRS returns, which it noted were "on the whole, lower than the tax liabilities reported in the corporate financial statements."
U.S. corporate tax collection totaled 2.6% of GDP in 2011, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That was the eleventh lowest in a ranking of 27 wealthy nations.
The Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has hauled several corporate executives to Capitol Hill over the past year for testimony on their tax practices.
A report released by the subcommittee last month charged that Apple (AAPL) used a complicated system of international subsidiaries and cost-shifting strategies to avoid paying taxes on some $74 billion in income from 2009 to 2012.
In September, the subcommittee heard from Microsoft (MSFT) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), whom Levin called "case studies of how U.S. multinational corporations... exploit the weaknesses in tax and accounting rules and lax enforcement."
A subcommittee report at the time alleged that Microsoft had saved nearly $7 billion off its U.S. tax bill since 2009 by using loopholes to shift profits offshore. H-P, the report said, avoided paying taxes through a series of loans that shifted billions of dollars between two offshore subsidiaries.
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GE CEO Immelt gets salary, cash bonus bump for 2014 Reuters
Tue Mar 10, 2015 6:01pm EDT
By Lewis Krauskopf
n"General Electric Co (GE.N) Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt earned roughly 8 percent increases in his salary and cash bonus in 2014, the U.S. conglomerate said in its proxy statement on Tuesday, despite a sluggish performance by GE's shares last year.
Immelt's salary rose to $3.75 million while his cash bonus increased to $5.4 million.
The GE board's management development and compensation committee "believes that Mr. Immelt performed very well in 2014 and, as a result, awarded him a $5.4 million cash bonus," GE said in its proxy statement.
Immelt is praised in the proxy for hitting company goals such as making progress in tilting GE's earnings toward industrial manufacturing and away from its finance operations, as well as for executing on financial goals in 2014 such as cash returned to investors.
According to the proxy, the compensation committee early in 2014 raised Immelt’s base salary, effective March 1 of last year, noting that it was Immelt's second salary increase since 2005. A 33-year GE veteran, Immelt became CEO in 2001.
Immelt's total compensation nearly doubled to $37.2 million, with much of the increase coming from a big jump in the value of his pension. Excluding the change in pension value, the CEO's compensation value slipped 2 percent from 2013 to $18.9 million.
GE shares fell some 10 percent in 2014, underperforming gains for the broader U.S. stock market. The steep drop in oil prices has worried investors about GE's business supplying equipment and services to the energy industry.
Barclays analyst Scott Davis said in a research note last week that although Immelt "has arguably had a good run" since the company struggled during the 2008 financial crisis, "most investors are ready for change at the top now."
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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Gillian Anderson Says She Was Offered Half the Salary David Duchovny Was For 'X-Fil
Elizabeth VanMetre
ETonline
January 23, 2016
It may be 2016, but Gillian Anderson had to deal with the same issues she faced when she was originally cast as FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the '90s TV hit, The X-Files.
The 47-year-old actress was initially offered half the pay that her co-star, David Duchovny, was to star in the upcoming series revival of the cult classic, she revealed to The Hollywood Reporter.
WATCH: Geena Davis on Closing the Gender Equality Gap in Hollywood
Anderson also spoke about the pay gap to the Daily Beast, admitting she was disappointed that she hasn't been asked about the issue more.
"Especially in this climate of women talking about the reality of [unequal pay] in this business, I think it's important that it gets heard and voiced," she said. "It was shocking to me, given all the work that I had done in the past to get us to be paid fairly. I worked really hard toward that and finally got somewhere with it."
WATCH: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson Open Up About Emotional and 'Nostalgic' Revival Series
Anderson explained that when the show first began in 1993, she was paid less than Duchovny for several seasons. It wasn't until she was told to walk behind him on camera, and never stand to his side, however, that sent her over the edge.
"I have such a knee-jerk reaction to that stuff, a very short tolerance for that s**t," she said. "I don't know how long it lasted or if it changed because I eventually said, 'F**k no! No!' I don't remember somebody saying, 'Okay, now you get to walk alongside him.' But I imagine it had more to do with my intolerance and spunk than it being an allowance that was made."
Anderson was shocked to deal with similar gender discrimination again over twenty years later.
WATCH: David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson Dish on Who Has the Tougher Job on 'The X-Files' Reboot
"People have said to me, 'I can't believe that happened, how did you feel about it, that is insane,'" she explained. "And my response always was, 'That was then, this is now.' And then it happened again! I don't even know what to say about it."
While a source told The Hollywood Reporter that Anderson will be receiving equal pay for The X-Files reboot, wage gap issues in Hollywood are far from over. See what Bradley Cooper said about the "double standard" in the video below.
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Goodbye Middle Class 51 Percent Of All American Workers Make Less Than 30,000 Dollars A Year
By Michael Snyder, on October 20th, 2015
We just got more evidence that the middle class in America is dying. According to brand new numbers that were just released by the Social Security Administration, 51 percent of all workers in the United States make less than $30,000 a year. Let that number sink in for a moment. You can’t support a middle class family in America today on just $2,500 a month – especially after taxes are taken out. And yet more than half of all workers in this country make less than that each month. In order to have a thriving middle class, you have got to have an economy that produces lots of middle class jobs, and that simply is not happening in America today.
You can find the report that the Social Security Administration just released right here. The following are some of the numbers that really stood out for me…
-38 percent of all American workers made less than $20,000 last year.
-51 percent of all American workers made less than $30,000 last year.
-62 percent of all American workers made less than $40,000 last year.
-71 percent of all American workers made less than $50,000 last year.
That first number is truly staggering. The federal poverty level for a family of five is $28,410, and yet almost 40 percent of all American workers do not even bring in $20,000 a year.
If you worked a full-time job at $10 an hour all year long with two weeks off, you would make approximately $20,000. This should tell you something about the quality of the jobs that our economy is producing at this point.
And of course the numbers above are only for those that are actually working. As I discussed just recently, there are 7.9 million working age Americans that are “officially unemployed” right now and another 94.7 million working age Americans that are considered to be “not in the labor force”. When you add those two numbers together, you get a grand total of 102.6 million working age Americans that do not have a job right now.
So many people that I know are barely scraping by right now. Many families have to fight tooth and nail just to make it from month to month, and there are lots of Americans that find themselves sinking deeper and deeper into debt.
If you can believe it, about a quarter of the country actually has a negative net worth right now.
What that means is that if you have no debt and you also have ten dollars in your pocket that gives you a greater net worth than about 25 percent of the entire country. The following comes from a recent piece by Simon Black…
Credit Suisse estimates that 25% of Americans are in this situation of having a negative net-worth.
“If you’ve no debts and have $10 in your pocket you have more wealth than 25% of Americans. More than 25% of Americans have collectively that is.”
The thing is– not only did the government create the incentives, but they set the standard.
With a net worth of negative $60 trillion, US citizens are just following dutifully in the government’s footsteps.
As a nation we are flat broke and most of us are living paycheck to paycheck. It has been estimated that it takes approximately $50,000 a year to support a middle class lifestyle for a family of four in the U.S. today, and so the fact that 71 percent of all workers make less than that amount shows how difficult it is for families that try to get by with just a single breadwinner.
Needless to say, a tremendous squeeze has been put on the middle class. In many families, both the husband and the wife are working as hard as they can, but it is still not enough. With each passing day, more Americans are losing their spots in the middle class and this has pushed government dependence to an all-time high. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans now live in a home that receives money from the government each month.
Sadly, the trends that are destroying the middle class in America just continue to accelerate.
With a huge assist from the Republican leadership in Congress, Barack Obama recently completed negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Also known as Obamatrade, this insidious new treaty is going to cover nations that collectively account for 40 percent of global GDP. Just like NAFTA, this treaty will result in the loss of thousands of businesses and millions of good paying American jobs. Let us hope and pray that Congress somehow votes it down.
Another thing that is working against the middle class is the fact that technology is increasingly taking over our jobs. With each passing year, it becomes cheaper and more efficient to have computers, robots and machines do things that humans once did.
Eventually, there will be very few things that humans will be able to do more cheaply and more efficiently than computers, robots and machines. How will most of us make a living when that happens?…
The robopocalypse for workers may be inevitable. In this vision of the future, super-smart machines will best humans in pretty much every task. A few of us will own the machines, a few will work a bit… while the rest will live off a government-provided income… the most common job in most U.S. states probably will no longer be truck driver.
For decades, we have been training our young people to have the goal of “getting a job” once they get out into the real world. But in America today there are not nearly enough good jobs to go around, and this crisis is only going to accelerate as we move into the future.
I do not believe that it is wise to pin your future on a corporation that could replace you with a foreign worker or a machine the moment that it becomes expedient to do so. We need to start thinking differently, because the paradigms that worked in the past are fundamentally breaking down.
So what advice would you give to a young adult today that is looking toward the future?
...
end of article
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Google's Eric Schmidt earned nearly $109m last year while stocks slumped Daily Mail Online
Google paid its billionaire Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt nearly $109 million last year
Most of the compensation consisted of stock valued at $100 million
Schmidt also pocketed a $1.25 million salary, a $6 million bonus and perks valued at nearly $1 million
His total pay last year soared by more than five-fold from 2013 when his Google compensation was valued at $19.3 million
The hefty raise came in a year that saw Google's stock drop by 5 percent amid investor concerns about the company's big spending on far-flung projects
By Associated Press
Published: 23:30 EST, 23 April 2015 Updated: 04:30 EST, 24 April 2015
Google paid its billionaire Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt nearly $109 million last year while the company's stock slumped.
Most of the compensation consisted of stock valued at $100 million. It was the largest stock package that Schmidt has received since 2011 when Google Inc. awarded him a bundle valued at $94 million at the time he relinquished the CEO's job to company co-founder Larry Page.
Documents filed with regulators Thursday also disclosed that Page and the company's other founder, Sergey Brin, limited their 2014 pay to $1 each, as has been their practice for years.
Payday: Google paid its billionaire Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt nearly $109 million last year while the company's stock slumped, it's been revealed
Schmidt also pocketed a $1.25 million salary, a $6 million bonus and perks valued at nearly $1 million. His total pay last year soared by more than five-fold from 2013 when his Google compensation was valued at $19.3 million.
The hefty raise came in a year that saw Google's stock drop by 5 percent amid investor concerns about the company's big spending on far-flung projects.
Analysts have also questioned whether Google will be able to maintain its dominance in Internet search as more people rely on smartphones instead of personal computers to access digital content.
The downturn in Google's stock contrasted with an 11 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 index last year.
Schmidt, 59, already is among the world's richest people with an estimated fortune of $9 billion, according to Forbes.
Most of his wealth has been built on the Google stock that he began accumulating when he became the Mountain View, California, company's CEO in 2001.
The Associated Press calculates executive compensation by including salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest that the company pays on deferred compensation, and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year.
It does not include changes in the present value of pension benefits, so the AP total can differ slightly from the total reported by company.
Most of Schmidt's compensation consisted of stock valued at $100 million. He also pocketed a $1.25 million salary, a $6 million bonus and perks valued at nearly $1 million
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GOP candidate John Kasich pushes cuts to Social Security ‘You’re going to have to get over it’
Arturo Garcia
09 Oct 2015 at 20:03 ET
Republican presidential candidate John Kasich brushed off criticism on Friday following his remark during an event promoting cuts to Social Security and other service programs, CNN reported.
“I’d rather have people be in a position where they’re aggravated with me so I can accomplish something, than have them love me and accomplish nothing,” Kasich told the audience during an event in Concord, New Hampshire. “I’m not there to run a popularity contest.”
The current governor of Ohio preceded the remarks by asking the crowd how many of them knew how much their initial Social Security payments would be. Two people raised their hands to indicate that they did know.
“What if I told you that your initial benefit was gonna be somewhat lower in order to save the program?” he asked. “Would that drive you crazy?”
When one audience member responded that it would “upset” them, Kasich told them, “Well, you’d get over it, and you’re going to have to get over it.”
Though the remark drew laughter from both the audience and the moderator, the state Democratic Party circulated the video online, accusing Kasich of “[threatening] our Granite State seniors.”
Kasich later made a similar statement about Medicare, saying that any voter wanting him to “ignore the fact that it’s going broke” would not like him.
In a brief interview later, he accused Democrats in turn of allowing Social Security to “get to a point where it could go bankrupt.”
“We’re getting close to Halloween, and they just want to scare people,” Kasich added.
Watch Kasich’s comments, as posted online, below.
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GOP Hypocrites Call Vets Benefits Too Expensive But Want a $600 Billion Tax Cut for Business
By: Jason Easley
Thursday, May, 29th, 2014, 4:36 pm
Senate Republicans blocked a $21 billion plan to build new VA clinics because they said it was too expensive, but today House Republicans advanced a $600 billion tax cut for business.
Back in February, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have expanded veterans’ benefits, and built 27 new VA clinics and facilities over the next ten years, because they thought the bill was too expensive. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) spoke for the group of 41 GOP obstructionists when he said, “This bill creates new veterans’ programs and it’s not paid for—it’s all borrowed money.”
The veterans benefits bill would have cost $21 billion over ten years.
Today, the House Ways and Means Committee advanced a bill that would give businesses a $600 billion tax cut. Democrats have been opposed to the Republican plan to add nearly $300 billion to the deficit without paying for it. According to The Hill, “As with the research tax break, Democrats said they generally supported the incentives considered by the committee. But none of them voted for any of the tax breaks, insisting they couldn’t get on board with clearing another slate of tax breaks that would add more than $300 billion to the deficit. In all, the dozen preferences approved by the Ways and Means panel over the last four weeks cost $600 billion over a decade.”
$2.1 billion a year over ten years to provide better care for our veterans is too expensive, but $60 billion a year over the same time period is affordable as long as the money is going to the business sector. This is a case of blatant Republican hypocrisy. Republicans are refusing to pay for their tax cuts for business, but they have the nerve to tell people who fought and bled for their country that they can’t have better medical care.
Veterans didn’t risk their lives so that the Koch brothers could have another tax cut. Republicans would rather take from veterans and give to the business community. One year of the business tax cuts could pay for the veterans benefits nearly three times over. It’s a matter of priorities, and in the Republican mind, tax cuts are more important than veterans.
GOP Hypocrites Call Vets Benefits Too Expensive But Want a $600 Billion Tax Cut for Business was written by Jason Easley for PoliticusUSA.
© PoliticusUSA, Thu, May 29th, 2014 — All Rights Reserved
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GOP Lawmaker Reveals ALEC-style Group Pushing Model Anti-Worker Bills Political Research Associates_dpbs
By Mariya Strauss, on September 11, 2015
Co-authored by Eli Lee
Even as ALEC, the infamous bill-mill that produces right-wing model legislation for state lawmakers, hemorrhages corporate members and is discredited as a neutral voice in politics, other groups are adopting its tactics. PRA interviewed one conservative California lawmaker who said that SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, has begun using ALEC’s playbook to court lawmakers and push anti-worker policies.
SHRM, which PRA has reported on in recent months, has spent several years building a lobbying infrastructure on the state level, and—especially in California—it is seeing those efforts bear fruit in the form of close relationships with lawmakers and legislative victories over organized labor and workers’ rights.
SHRM deploys its full-time lobbyists and nationwide network of member lobbyists to push back against any expansion of the overtime laws that would ensure workers putting in more than 40 hours actually receive their due overtime pay. They’re also fighting against paid sick days laws (which have repeatedly been shown to have a low-cost public health benefit to employers, workers and communities), and against any expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). For example, in 2013, SHRM testified against a proposal in Pennsylvania that would have allowed workers to use unpaid FMLA leave to care for their ailing siblings as well as parents or children.
Now, it appears that SHRM is not only opposing workers’ rights, but it is also taking a page out of the ALEC playbook and beginning to use model bills.
California Assemblymember Brian Jones, a Republican from eastern San Diego County, spoke with us about how SHRM’s lobbyists are not only advocating for employer-friendly policies, but are actually offering legislation to lawmakers to change workplace rules to give employers more control over their employees. According to Jones, the association for human resources professionals engages in intense lobbying to try to tilt the public policy playing field more in employers’ favor.
“The first step is they contact my office, and they ask if I would be interested in sponsoring the legislation, and if I say yes, then we introduce the legislation,” says Jones.
“We change the language a little bit … we really tried to package it as an employee bill, so that it benefits employees, whereas previously it had been packaged as an employer bill.” -CA Assemblymember Brian Jones
Pictured left to right: CalSHRM Director-elect Patti Blosser, California Assemblyman Brian Jones (R-Santee), SHRM A-team Captain Hector Moncada and Mike Letizia, CalSHRM’s state director.
According to Jones, in recent years these efforts have included working on a bill that would relax the overtime rules to allow for an”employee-selected” schedule of ten hours a day, four days per week instead of five eight-hour days.
Workers’ rights advocates have pointed to two types of problems that could arise from such legislation.The National Partnership for Women and Families cautioned that workers might be coerced into adopting this schedule, explaining that “employers would be able to implement this schedule without any obligation to pay overtime.” Teamsters Joint Council 7 of California agreed in a statement, saying that “This would allow an employer to circumvent the 8-hour day as long as an individual employee ‘voluntarily’ agrees to work more than 8 hours without overtime pay. We know how this would go in workplaces where workers are routinely exploited … everybody would be forced to work extra hours and nobody would be paid overtime.”
Another potential problem with AB 1038 was that it could introduce confusion about which workers are eligible to receive overtime pay, potentially undermining the more stringent federal laws governing the right to receive overtime. “We opposed it and so did the California Labor Federation and other unions,” said Jenya Cassidy, director of the California Work & Family Coalition. “It is what we in the work-family world call ‘bad flex’ because it is designed to chip away at overtime rights. A lot of employer groups support ‘flex’ that benefits employers more than workers.”
But with the help of Corporate Right lawmakers such as Jones, SHRM managed to spin this bill, deceptively called the Workplace Flexibility Act, as a boon to workers. Jones introduced the bill in its present form in 2012 and 2013, but it has yet to pass. Jones said that even before 2012, he and SHRM already had support from “the different pro-business associations” for the bill. “CalChamber—California Chamber of Commerce, they’re the big one, CMTA, the manufacturer’s association… a lot of the associations are helping out with it.”
Jones described how SHRM and lawmakers market such bills to Democrats and others in the CA legislature who may be more labor-friendly. “We change the language a little bit,” Jones says. “The main thing that we did in 2012, compared to prior attempts at the legislation, is we really tried to package it as an employee bill, so that it benefits employees, whereas previously it had been packaged as an employer bill. So that’s kind of how we were able to get more press this time and more notice from interest groups who hadn’t taken a look at it before.”
SHRM has recently taken a lead role nationally on other workplace policy issues, siding firmly with the employer community against workers’ right to unionize and earn overtime. As PRA reported in July, SHRM has pressured the Department of Labor to stop promulgating its new rule expanding overtime protections to a greater number of workers. And in California, according to Jones (who says he is a member of ALEC himself), SHRM is actively working the statehouse, promoting bills that would restrict workers’ rights and leave them open to employer abuses. “There’s lots of conversations that take place between their legislative director and my legislative director, on tactics and how we’re going to get it publicized, how we’re going to get it noticed by the members, who’s going to talk to which members about getting votes, and that sort of thing,” Jones said.
One may not think of a professional association for human resources specialists as having ALEC’s level of access to, and influence over, lawmakers. But, if California is indicative of how SHRM lobbies nationwide, SHRM does appear to be moving in that direction.
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Eli Lee is a junior at Harvard University, currently studying history. He was a PRA research intern during the summer of 2015, investigating labor rights and economic justice.
Mariya Strauss is PRA's economic justice researcher and a former guest editor for The Public Eye magazine. A Maryland-based freelance writer, her investigative journalism and commentary have been published in The Nation, at the GlobalComment blog, and The Public Eye magazine, among others.
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GOP rep_ Keep minimum wage low ‘for minorities’ who aren’t worth more than $7 an hour
David Edwards
22 Jan 2015 at 12:10 ET
California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock said on Thursday that the minimum wage should not be raised because low pay was necessary for minorities and other unskilled workers who were not worth more than $7 an hour.
During an appearance on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, host Greta Brawner asked McClintock if he could get behind a presidential candidate like Mitt Romney, who is one of an increasing number of Republicans saying that the minimum wage should be at least $10.10 an hour.
But McClintock argued that raising the minimum wage would “rip the first rung in the ladder of opportunity for teenagers, for minorities, for people who are trying to get into the job market for their first job.”
The California Republican explained that the minimum wage was not supposed to be a living wage that could support families.
“It’s not supposed to support a family. The minimum wage is that first job when you have no skills, no experience, no working history. That’s how you get into the job market, that’s how you develop that experience, develop that work record, get your first raise, then your next raise, then your promotion.”
McClintock continued: “If your labor is an unskilled person just entering the workforce is worth say $7 an hour at a job and the minimum wage is $10, you have just been made permanently unemployable. That first rung of the economic ladder has been ripped out and you can’t get on it. That is a tragedy.”
Watch the video below from C-SPAN, broadcast Jan. 22, 2015.

C-SPAN "Newsmakers" spoke with four incoming members of the 116th Congress. Representative-elect Veronica Escobar (D-TX), one of the first two Hispanic women ever elected to Congress from Texas, replaces Representative Beto O'Rourke, who ran for the U.S. Senate. Representative-elect Mark Green (R-TN) replaces Marsha Blackburn (R), who won the seat of former Senator Bob Corker. Representative-elect Dean Phillips (D-MN) defeated five-term Republican Representative Erik Paulsen. Representative-elect Jim Baird (R-IN) replaces Representative Todd Rokita (R). They were interviewed by C-SPAN host Greta Brawner.
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Jonathan Turley on the Trump Administration and Russia Investigation
Jonathan Turley, Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University Law School, talked about the latest developments in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
Representative Brian Higgins on Democratic Leadership and Agenda
Representative Brian Higgins (D-NY) talked about Democratic leadership and the future of the party.
Open Phones
Telephone lines and social media were open for viewer comments on the week in Washington, D.C.
Host: Greta Brawner.
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Eugene Mulero on Infrastructure Reform
Eugene Mulero, Senior Congressional Reporter for Transport Topics, spoke by phone about the infrastructure agenda for the lame duck session and 116th Congress.
Mark Holden on Criminal Justice Reform Efforts
Mark Holden, Chairman of Freedom Partners and Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Koch Industries, discussed bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation that was recently endorsed by President Trump.
Chris Whipple on Trump Administration Personnel Changes
Documentary filmmaker and author Chris Whipple talked about President Trump's consideration of a post-midterm shakeup among White House staff and cabinet members. He spoke via video link from New York.
Lisa Davis on Childhood Hunger in the U.S.
Lisa Davis, Senior Vice President of Share Our Strength, talked about the group's "No Kid Hungry" campaign to combat childhood hunger in the U.S.
Open Phones
Telephone lines and social media were open for viewer comments on the question, "Should the U.S. cut ties with Saudi Arabia?"
Host: Greta Brawner.
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Newsmakers guest Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) is ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and might become committee chair in the new Congress. He will talk about the potential for an infrastructure bill, a gas tax, and transportation priorities. Rep. DeFazio was interviewed by Tanya Snyder, Transportation Reporter for Politico, Kellie Mejdrich, Congressional Reporter for CQ Roll Call, and C-SPAN host Greta Brawner.
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Craig Gilbert and Charlie Sykes on Paul Ryan's Career and Legacy
Craig Gilbert, Washington Bureau Chief of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Charlie Sykes, Contributing Editor of the Weekly Standard, talked about Congressman Paul Ryan's congressional career and legacy as House Speaker.
Open Phones
Telephone lines and social media were open for viewer comments on news of the day.
Host: Greta Brawner.
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Carrie Johnson on Attorney General Sessions' Resignation
Carrie Johnson, Correspondent Justice for NPR, spoke by phone about the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and its impact on the Mueller investigation.
David Hawkings and Francine Kiefer on Leadership Changes in Congress
Former CQ Roll Call senior editor David Hawkings and Christian Science Monitor congressional correspondent Francine Kiefer talked about potential congressional leadership changes.
Open Phones
Telephone lines and social media were open for viewer comments on President Trump's decision to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions and on the question "What's the message to Washington following the 2018 midterm elections?"
Host: Greta Brawner.
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John Fortier on Voting and Campaign 2018
John Fortier, Director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, talked about how states have improved voting systems since 2016.
Adam Smith on Key House Races in Florida
Tampa Bay Times political editor Adam Smith spoke via Skype about key House races in Florida during the 2018 midterm elections.
Susan MacManus on the Political Dynamics of Florida
Susan MacManus, Professor at the Department of Government and International Affairs at the University of South Florida, discusses Florida's electoral history and current political dynamics.
25th Anniversary of C-SPAN's Bus Program
Heath Neiderer, Marketing Manager at C-SPAN, and Richard Weinstein, Vice President of C-SPAN Digital Media, talked about the 25th anniversary of C-SPAN's bus program.
Tour of C-SPAN Bus
C-SPAN's Jenae Green toured the C-SPAN bus and highlighted the amenities available to visitors.
Open Phones
Telephone lines and social media were open for viewer comments on President Trump's immigration rhetoric and its effects on voting in the 2018 midterm elections as well as on news of the day.
Host: Greta Brawner.
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Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman on Top Issues in Vermont
Vermont Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (D) discussed the top issues facing the state. This interview was part of C-SPAN's 50 Capitals Tour. Mr. Zuckerman was interviewed from aboard the C-SPAN Bus in Montpelier.
Steven Brill on Distinguishing Between Journalism and "Fake News"
Steven Brill, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of NewsGuard, talked about efforts to distinguish between journalism and "fake news."
Daniel Yudkin on Political Polarization and Tribalism in the U.S.
Daniel Yudkin, Research Associate of More in Common and co-author of "The Hidden Tribes of America," discussed their recent study of political polarization in the U.S.
Open Phones
Telephone lines and social media were open for viewer comments from seniors on their votes in the 2018 midterm elections.
Hosts: Greta Brawner & Peter Slen.
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Corey Lewandowski on President Trump's Role in Campaign 2018
Corey Lewandowski, 2016 Trump presidential campaign manager and the author of "Let Trump Be Trump: The Inside Story of His Rise to the Presidency," talked about the 45th president and the 2018 midterm elections.
Max Boot on the State of Conservatism
Max Boot, Senior Fellow of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, talked about his most recent book, "The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right."
Open Phones
Telephone lines were open for viewer calls and social media comments on news of the day and on a question on the cost of the growing number of natural disasters in recent year: "Who should pay for the cost of natural disasters?"
Host: Greta Brawner.
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Greg Miller on Russia's Interference in the 2016 Election
Greg Miller, National Security Correspondent for The Washington Post and author of "The Apprentice: Trump, Russia & the Subversion of American Democracy," talked about his book examining Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.
Open Phones
Telephone lines and social media were open for viewer comments on the Senate debate and potential vote on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Host: Greta Brawner.
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Telephone lines and social media were open for viewer comments on the question "Did the Ford-Kavanaugh hearing change your mind?" Hosted by Greta Brawner. Download from this folder.

Charlie Kelly, the Executive Director of the Democratic-affiliated House Majority PAC, talked about his group's efforts to win back control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections. Democrats need to gain 23 seats to win a majority in the House. Topics included congressional campaign issues, the amount of money the PAC was spending, and some of the races that had taken unexpected turns. Mr. Kelly also talked about whether the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court was affecting races. He was interviewed by Alexis Levinson, Politics Reporter at BuzzFeed, Sean Sullivan, National Politics Correspondent at The Washington Post, and C-SPAN host Greta Brawner.
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Victoria Toensing on Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court Nomination
Victoria Toensing, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department Criminal Division, talked about the latest on the confirmation process for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to replace former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Joshua Geltzer on Election Security
Georgetown University Law School Professor Joshua Geltzer, former Senior Director of Counterterrorism at the National Security Council in the Obama administration, talked about increasing election security preparedness and preventing foreign interference.
Ramona Giwargis on President Trump's Las Vegas Campaign Rally
Ramona Giwargis, State Government Reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, spoke by phone about President Trump's campaign rally later that day for Senator Dean Heller (R-NV).
Hosts: Greta Brawner & John McArdle.
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Russel Honoré on the Government Response to Hurricane Florence
Lieutenant General Russel Honoré (Retired), who commanded the military's response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, talked about the government response to Hurricane Florence.
Emily Atkin on Potential Impacts from Hurricane Florence
The New Republic staff writer Emily Atkin discussed Hurricane Florence's potential public health and environmental impacts.
Host: Greta Brawner.
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Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, talked about the push to pass federal funding bills by a September 30 deadline, as well as Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. Senator Leahy is the Judiciary Committee's former chair and ranking member, and he remains on the committee, which now is expected to vote on the Kavanaugh nomination next week. Senator Leahy was interviewed by Kate Irby, Congressional Reporter for McClatchy Newspapers, Kellie Mejdrich, Staff Writer for CQ Roll Call, and C-SPAN host Greta Brawner.
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F.H. Buckley on the Republican Party
Francis H. Buckley, Law Foundation Professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School of George Mason University, talked about his new book on redefining the Republican Party following Donald Trump's election as president in 2016.
Jeff Weaver on the Democratic Party
Jeff Weaver, former manager of the Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign, talked about the future of the Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee's recent rule change regarding superdelegates.
Host: Greta Brawner.
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Edit: This is the "Washington Journal" for August 30, 2018. Sorry about that.