Monday, November 5, 2012

Today's Teamster News 11.05.12

New York region struggles to move on a week after Sandy  Reuters   ...Hundreds of thousands of commuters faced a frustrating journey into the city as public transportation remained spotty. Service on many rail lines was reduced and the subway was running at about 80 percent of its normal service. The challenges were more severe for tens of thousands of people unable to return to their homes and many more than that living without power or heat...
China's economic destiny in doubt after leadership shock  The Telegraph   ...If reports from the Hong Kong press and China's blogosphere are correct, a remarkable upset has occurred on the eve of the ten-year power shift next week -- the greatest turn-over of top cadres since Mao's revolution...
Too Big To Fail Remains Very Real  Baseline Scenario   ...the government is providing a form of insurance that encourages financial institutions to become even bigger – and thus even more likely to be protected by some combination of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and other agencies. This is an unfair, nontransparent government subsidy that encourages excessive risk taking and creates a very large potential downside for the nonfinancial side of our economy...
Pete Peterson and the Deficit Hawks Teach Lawmakers Deep Fiscal Irresponsibility  New Economic Perspectives   ...Utilizing strategies reminiscent of the mid-20th Century American Communist Party, Peterson’s overall tactic has been to found and/or fund a number of front organizations to create the illusion of a broad consensus arrayed in favor of his personal views, which are shared for the most part by a wealthy few within the financial and political elites.  These views in turn are extremely unpopular with the electorate, particularly as regards cutting or partially privatizing universal social programs like Social Security and Medicare...
A voting debacle in Doral causes chaos and confusion  Miami Herald   ...Elections officials, overwhelmed with voters, locked the doors to their Doral headquarters and temporarily shut down the operation, angering nearly 200 voters standing in line outside — only to resume the proceedings an hour later... (and this: Judge orders early voting extended in Florida's Orange, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties)
Eleventh-Hour GOP Voter Suppression Could Swing Ohio  The Nation   ...Any provisional ballot with incorrect information will not be counted, Husted maintains. This seemingly innocuous change has the potential to impact the counting of thousands of votes in Ohio and could swing the election in this closely contested battleground...