We believe that no one should be financially destroyed if they, or a family member, were to contract a terminal disease, and so we believe it is our responsibility to collectively support our citizens in such dire times, as we recognize the objective truth that humans have always lived and thrived in communities, and never as "lone wolves." The main ethics problem with universal healthcare is that doctors are not a commonly shared resource. They have sacrificed thousands of hours of their lives to learn the healing sciences, and they should not be penalized when we seek to provide universal healthcare for all citizens. To prevent penalizing doctors, a logical and fair proposal is hereby submitted: Tax Churches, Not Doctors. In order to provide universal healthcare, without effectively penalizing our #truehealers, does anyone have a problem with doctors not paying federal income taxes? We hope that churches will also contribute their fair share of taxes in order to live up to verses like, "But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" We believe the solution is simple: Tax Churches, Not Doctors.

Thousands of people in our community work hard but are struggling financially because they cannot access jobs that pay a living wage. Unfortunately, many of the same people can't access workforce programs because of limited English or formal education. The new Fund would help close these gaps and ensure that everyone has a chance to find a decent job and build a career.

I work at Dunkin Donuts – and our bosses steal from us. Not at gunpoint. They skip overtime payments – or simply erase hours from our checks. If I took $20 from the till, they'd fire me – or even call the police. When they take it straight off of our paychecks? Nothing. It's illegal, but it happens every day to thousands of workers across the country. Right now, we have a huge opportunity to end these illegal pay practices. Congress JUST introduced a bill cracking down on employers that steal from workers like me, and they need to hear from us that this is an urgent problem.

Inflation keeps going up and wages keep going down.

Mayor Bowser backed a $15 minimum wage in her State of the District address. This is huge news! Big business tried to tangle up our $15 ballot initiative in the courts and keep DC residents from having a say on our city's minimum wage. But now, thanks to our organizing efforts, the Mayor has come out strong for $15 and the real fight begins. The Mayor is sending legislation to the DC Council in April. We need to make sure they do the right thing and stand up to big business by giving DC a raise. SIGN THE PETITION: I support a $15 minimum wage for DC!

The Maryland General Assembly wanted to strengthen our state's Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which helps working people who struggle to make ends meet. But then, some legislators introduced language that would give a tax break to the wealthiest 1% of Marylanders while giving the rest of us almost nothing. We need to stop this corrupted version of the EITC before it passes the House of Delegates and pass one that helps those who are truly in need.

In 1946, U.S. coal miners faced the prospect of a long strike that could have hampered our nation’s post-war economic recovery. The government took action, signing the historic Krug-Lewis agreement, which created a welfare and retirement fund in cases of sickness, permanent disability, death or retirement. Knowing the dangers of the industry, Krug-Lewis also created a separate medical and hospital fund. Over the past century, nearly 105,000 miners were killed on the job and another 100,000-plus have died from black lung disease. These workers accepted less in wage increases and pensions so that more money could be dedicated to their health care in retirement. But as America’s coalfields face depression, companies are filing for bankruptcy and receiving approval to shed their retiree obligations. The United Mine Workers of America Pension Fund lost a significant portion of its value in the Great Recession. With approximately 13 retirees for every active union worker in the coal industry, the fund can’t rely on employee contributions to close its shortfall. To address the financial pain of the situation, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) have introduced legislation—S1714, the Miners Protection Act of 2015—that would amend the Coal Act once again to allow retirees from recently bankrupt companies to get health care from the UMWA Health and Retirement Funds. The bill also would repurpose the balance of an existing appropriation to provide funding to shore up the pension plan. Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) has introduced companion legislation in the House.

We stand with Charlotte, NC city workers who are fighting to raise wages to at least $15/hour , expand union rights, and to demand a city workers bill of rights that builds power and addresses the many issues facing city workers in Charlotte.

Before streaming obliterated CD sales, musicians could work hard and potentially sell CDs to maintain a modest career using CD Baby or Itunes. Now, Spotify and the major labels, as well as Apple Music, have destroyed the impetus to compensate musicians and the respect for the musician as the creator of works of art is eroding. Many accept that Music creation should be seen as a hobby. As professional musicians-We cannot accept this view of Music and Art creation. We want to be compensated fairly for our music! .10 per play adds up to $15 if each song on a CD is streamed 10x. Valuation of music at this rate encourages people to purchase a CD. This gives sustenance to the actual creator of the music! Streaming tends to devalue an entire industry by stripping musicians of profits and creating tech savvy billionaires by passing unfair copyright and usage laws. #wealththroughmusic seeks to keep musicians in the middle class! Streaming creates corporate piracy of our entire life source.

There is a solution to Illinois’ budget impasse, but the solution requires unity and a willingness to act. You see, a budget that calls for funding requires sufficient capital. Illinois simply has insufficient revenue to support the necessary funding, but Illinois can quickly generate upwards of ten billion dollars a year without raising any existing taxes. Rather, House Bill 106 assesses transactions not yet being taxed. Each of you pays a 6.25% tax for general merchandise transactions, 1% for qualifying food, drugs, and medical appliances, and wagering starts at 15%. Yet those financially able to gamble at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, while utilizing a wide variety of Illinois services, pay no tax at all to Illinois on their transactions. Nothing. The vast majority of trading is done by large banks, hedge funds, large businesses, and very wealthy individuals. There is an average $900 trillion traded per year on those exchanges, more than five billion contracts traded per year. Illinois Representative Mary Flowers proposed House Bill 106, for traders to pay a single dollar contract fee on agricultural futures and futures options traded, and a $2/contract fee on non-agricultural contracts. That averages 0.001 of 1 percent of average contract value. The bill is currently active in committee and subcommittee chaired by Representative John Bradley, and it absolutely needs a huge push by the public. Transactions involving securities held in retirement accounts or mutual funds are exempt. The tax would generate an estimated $10 billion in revenue annually, enough to avoid the currently projected cutbacks for everyone. Fast-track passage of House Bill 106 should be our single greatest imminent priority. The alternative is an ever increasing financial burden placed squarely on the financially weak, on public employees, retirees, students, educators, the disabled and infirm, the homeless, and the rest of us who desire, or depend upon, a state government capable of serving its core functions. People will tell you there is no point to making the effort. There is. Many people’s lives and livelihoods depend on it. People will say these exchanges will move out of Illinois. That is a particularly annoying deception. The exchanges’ owners and operators, the CME and CBOE Groups, are not the ones paying the transaction tax, so they have no incentive to move. The buyers and sellers will pay. Also, many products traded, like the S&P 500 index futures, are exclusively licensed to these exchanges so cannot be traded elsewhere. Critically, millions of dollars are sunk into the computer-based infrastructures in Illinois. The expense of relocating the hard-wired infrastructure would not be economically feasible. The Aurora facility alone spans 7.5 football fields in size. The setup of co-locators to matching engines along straight-line and fiber-optic and microwave transmission is such that major traders position their offices physically in close proximity to these exchanges; whereby, the transmission of information is described by them as almost at the speed of light. Traders would have little incentive to upset that setup as a result of HB 106 because that speed due to proximity substantially increases their profits. Please understand, taxes of this type are successfully implemented in more than 25 countries without causing any exchanges, or a significant volume of traders, to trade elsewhere. When thought through, arguments against passage of H.B. 106 are frivolous when compared to the benefits to every person in Illinois. Again, we all must take the initiative to instruct our legislators. Write a letter and mail it. Make contact with your legislators and the Governor demanding immediate passage of House Bill 106. It is the duty of those who have retained a moral compass and been made aware of this opportunity to solve the budget impasse.

The Poverty State University Campus-Community Fight for $15 is working to unite and coordinate union workers, non-union, and student workers to fight for a $15 minimum wage on the Portland State University campus! Workers at PSU are struggling with food and housing insecurity now. Workers need a raise now, not in six years! We are demanding the following from PSU President Wim Wiewel and the PSU Board of Trustees: 1. We demand a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers, including contract workers. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, the current living wage in Portland is $23.11 for one adult with a child. Due to rising housing costs and low vacancy rates, many of our community members are fighting to have basic necessities like food and shelter on low wages. 2. We demand a transparent and accountable public process to ensure economic equity on campus. In the U.S., for every dollar a White man makes, a Black man makes 75 cents, and a Latina makes 53 cents. We demand that the Portland State Office of Equity and Compliance release a statement in support of equal pay, and creates policies and procedures to document, reduce, and then eliminate inequitable pay gaps due to race or gender on campus. 3. We demand that the PSU Administration stop threatening student activists. Students do not lose their rights to free speech when they enroll in college. The right to join with fellow Portlanders in protest or peaceful assembly is critical to a functioning democracy and is at the core of the First Amendment. PSU does not have the right to threaten student activists and must stop these threats immediately. Join us in our fight for a living wage at Poverty State University!

The lucrative cannabis industry is a simple solution to our failing Public School System. End the war on weed. Teach our kids to read.