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Economic Justice

RIPDA Endorses David Segal for Congress

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Today, the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats (RIPDA) announced their endorsement of David Segal for Congressional District 1, the seat being vacated by Patrick Kennedy.
“The endorsement vote went overwhelmingly for David Segal,” said Sam Smith, RIPDA member and moderator of the event. “Segal has a profound and thoughtful understanding of progressive issues and is committed [...]

Why the Alternative Flat Tax is a Scam

Friday, June 19th, 2009

Back in 2002, the Rhode Island General Assembly, in its infinite wisdom, passed what is known as the alternative flat tax option.  This special tax break went into effect in 2006, and is essentially a reduction of the top marginal income tax rate for the state.  Year after year this flat tax rate gets smaller [...]

Solving Rhode Island’s Budget Crisis: What Should be Done?

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

We are at a critical point for Rhode Island’s fiscal health. The newest update from the Revenue Estimating Conference shows Rhode Island’s deficit grew by $200 million to a total deficit of $590 million for FY 2010. Since 2004, the structural deficit has grown each year, despite the repeated claim that tax cuts will generate [...]

Draft Letter Calling for a Special Prosecutor to Investigate Financial Collapse

Friday, May 8th, 2009

RIPDA Position Statement on the Economic Crisis
The current economic crisis threatens to be worse than the Great Depression, yet our federal government hasn’t shown any indication that it will thoroughly investigate how it happened and why. Instead, we’ve only been told that our economy will collapse unless we give unprecedented amounts of public money to [...]

Welcome to Double-Standard America

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

By David Sirota, Salon.com.
United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard likes to say that Washington policymakers “treat the people who take a shower after work much differently than they treat the people who shower before they go to work.” In the 21st century Gilded Age, the blue-collar shower-after-work crowd is given the tough, while the white-collar shower-before-work [...]

Dems Introduce Vital Protections for Workers; Corporate America Responds With a Big Lie

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet.
On Tuesday, House Democrats introduced the Employee Free Choice Act, a vitally important package of protections that would help restore working people’s much-denuded right to join a union if they so desire.  
There’s nothing more terrifying to corporate America than the prospect of dealing with its workforce on an even playing field, [...]

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