By ROBERT B. REICH

WE’RE sliding into recession, or worse, and Washington is turning to the normal remedies for economic downturns. But the normal remedies are not likely to work this time, because this isn’t a normal downturn.

The problem lies deeper. It is the culmination of three decades during which American consumers have spent beyond their means. That era is now coming to an end. Consumers have run out of ways to keep the spending binge going.

If you’re driving south on the I-5 or along Broadway near E Street in the coming weeks, you might notice a billboard asking “How would you spend $300 million in public money?”  Right now City Hall seems committed to giving this money to Gaylord Entertainment even though they refuse to commit to using local workers for the bayfront development.  If you think public money should directly benefit the local economy instead of an out-of-state mega-developer, I hope you can take the time to cast your vote at www.LocalJobsFirst.org.

Frankly, it’s almost impossible to believe how much Jerry has accomplished since he took over the Labor Council in 1996. Not only has the Council’s annual budget grown more that 1,200 percent(!) and the staff from four full-time employees to 34, but Jerry earned labor a seat at the table for all major regional projects. Considering the strong anti-union sentiment among San Diego’s prominent Republican politicians and developers and in the media, this was no easy accomplishment. Before Jerry, San Diego business had its way without question; the working people were a secondary consideration for politicians.

Six years ago, the Citizens Advisory Council – a group composed of real Chula Vistans, not just politicians and developers – proposed a great plan for the bayfront development.  Their vision unified environmental and economic concerns and recognized the needs of the community.  Too bad Mayor Cox chucked that plan out the window when she teamed up with Gaylord to ram their development down our throats.

The anti-union Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) likes to toss around the word “freedom.”  If you take a look at ABC’s Web site or listen to spokespeople like Eric Christen’s arguments about why unions are bad, they keep bringing up “freedom.”

Take a look at the facts, though, and you’ll probably be as disgusted as I am that they keep using this word — and even quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – to push their agenda.  The only kind of freedom that the ABC is fighting for is the freedom for contractors to pay their workers poverty-level wages with no benefits.

The Writers Guild of America strike is now well into week two.  The stagehands’ strike that has shut down Broadway is in full force.  CBS news writers are expected to authorize a strike later this week and the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America could also end up on the picket lines in 2008 when their contracts are up for renegotiation.

The Nation

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071119/cohen

Despite a tragic history of regular disasters--earthquakes, hurricanes, bridge collapses and fires--Americans seem unwilling to prepare for the inevitable. This may have something to do with the forty-year conservative assault on government and the resulting skepticism about things that can't be justified as fighting terrorism.

The San Diego Union-Tribune is losing readers faster than almost any other newspaper in the country.  The newspaper industry’s latest circulation report reveals that the U-T has lost  8.5 percent of its daily print readership and 7.9 percent of its Sunday print readership.  The most tragic thing about this turn of events, is that the U-T workers will bear the brunt of the financial down turn. It is the journalists and production workers who will be hit hardest by the inevitable cutbacks, not the executives at Copley Press.  This is just par for the course since folks working for the U-T have never really been treated fairly by this anti-labor paper.

This week’s City Council meeting was canceled, so we’re going to have to wait a few more days to find out if Mayor Cox still wants to close a fire station and lay off about 20 firefighters as part of her plan to deal with the budget crisis.  She’s been quiet since the wildfires broke out, but I’m hoping that this tragedy has caused the Mayor to change her mind about trimming the fire department.  Even though we disagree on many issues, if she’s willing to admit that proposal was a mistake, I’ll support her and give her credit for doing the right thing.

October 9, 2007

By Tanya Mannes

San Diego-based Pacifica Cos., which has been working since 2000 on a plan to build condos and at least one hotel on the Chula Vista bayfront, has agreed to scale down the project and move it to a new site - across from the Chula Vista Marina - to protect wetlands.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071009/news_1m9pacifica.html

Gaylord and its allies have tried to portray their labor and environmental opponents as out of step with the Chula Vista community. But who are the real outsiders here – the union members and environmentalists who are living and raising their families in the area? Or the Nashville developer with a track record of running roughshod over local communities all across America?

Let’s take a look at Eric Christen — the man who has become Gaylord’s public face in the community.

Christen’s official job title is Vice President of Government Affairs for the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of San Diego, but he’s really just an attack dog-for-hire, and he’s definitely proven that he’s more than willing to fight dirty.