When I entered the workforce as a callow teen, in the summer of 1966, I received my first minimum wage paycheck of roughly fifty dollars as if it was gold-plated.  Babysitting had only netted me .75 per hour, so $1.25 represented a huge raise for me.

A quick look at prices in that forgotten era tells me more about the actual value of that $1.25  wage.

A gallon of milk was .99.  A gallon of gas was .32.  First-class postage cost a nickel, and the average cost of a new house was around $15,000.   A brand new car was in the $2,600. range.

1966 was also the year in which, under a federal mandate from the Johnson administration, the University of Wisconsin created its “Institute on Poverty Research.”  Just three years later a social conscience was not yet unfashionable, and childhood poverty rates reached their lowest level ever, when only  14% of children lived in poverty.  That figure is now at roughly 22%.

In 1966, most qualified students could attend a public university for next to nothing, and even “Ivy League” privates charged only about $3,000. per year.

Just as today, we had an unpopular war in a strange foreign land; but we also were still a manufacturing powerhouse then, and upward mobility was an achievable goal.  Our cup was at least half-full.

So what exactly does the new minimum wage for Vermont, at $8.46 per hour (the third highest in the land) puchase in 2012’s economy?

It would buy you a lot more milk than it did in 1966, at an average price of $3.76 per gallon in 2011; but only a little more than two gallons of high-test as opposed to three in ’66.    Of course bizarre price-fixing schemes that profit everyone but the small, responsible farmer and the independent gas station account for the relatively low cost of food and fuel in today’s economy.  

The more substantial costs of living, like housing, education and transportation tell quite a different story.

A minimum wage earner in 1966 would make, from a 40-hour work-week, an annual salary of $2,600. Nonetheless, the average income in 1966 was $6,900 and significantly more low-wage earners could count on a full forty hours of work every week  while union membership and influence was at its strongest.  

In 2011 the average income was $26,364.  A single year of education at even a mid-tier private college or University  costs this much or more.  Even at an average public college, the average cost of four years for in-state students comes to more than $30,000.

AAA estimates that the average cost per year to own and operate a car in 2012 is $8,588, a cost that would consume fully half of a Vermont minimum wage earner’s annual salary, even if he or she were so lucky as to work a full 40-hour week.  

It’s no wonder that, in communities underserved by public transportation, some Vermonters are forced to choose between a roof over their heads and the car necessary to get them to their minimum wage job.

The VHFA found that affording a “modest” two-bedroom apartment in Vermont requires a household income of $39,595-more than twice the state’s minimum wage at full-time employment. And while some households have more than one wage earner, nearly two-thirds have only one or fewer.

So, while Vermont’s minimum wage increase is certainly better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick (or the federal minimum wage of $7.25), and will be welcome to the folks previously locked into $8.15 per hour, it won’t move anyone out of dire poverty.  

And you can bet there will be a fair number of crepe-hangers complaining that it disadvantages small businesses and the “job creators” they imagine to be lurking somewhere in the luxury shadows, just waiting for us to tempt them into action.

Now that we’re back from the black-out, it’s only appropriate to congratulate Bill McKibben of 350.org and, from a different perspective, President Obama, on rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline.

This one decision won’t turn-back time on Climate Change, and there is a very real threat that Keystone will ride again; but every victory is a step in the right direction and is to be celebrated.

If President Obama truly wants to put some air between him and his science-denying opponents, this is a good place to do it.  

So here’s “Hoping” for a kick-ass lame-duck presidency in which positive “Change” really does finally come to pass.  

You can count on us to be poised with pitchforks if it doesn’t.

With millions of other Americans, I tuned into the PBS’s documentary “Nuclear Aftershocks” Tuesday night on Frontline, hoping for a dose of plain truth from the lagging media; but after Nature’s “Radioactive Wolves of Chernobyl”  betrayed the heavy thumb of the nuclear industry working damage control, I kind of knew what to expect.

Shrewdly avoiding a total gloss on Fukushima, “Nuclear Aftershocks” does raise a number of issues concerning the catastrophic experience in Japan and its implications for U.S. and worldwide nuclear energy, but emphasis falls on doubt that there is any real threat of disaster elsewhere; or even any increased probability of cancers in the region as a result of radiation from Fukushima.  

Anxious Japanese and Germans, now choosing to step away from nuclear energy, were clearly set-up in the editing process to look like irrational hysterics, over-reacting to an imagined threat.  

Every passage that examines a “concern” has been rounded out with an economic argument that seems to satisfy the narrator.  No question is raised about the environmental implications of dirty nuclear fuel production and virtually perpetual storage of radioactive waste.   No question is raised as to how those economic arguments can be valid when even Wall Street won’t buy them:

We believe these risks, combined with the higher capital costs and longer construction schedules of nuclear plants as compared to other generation facilities, will make lenders unwilling at present to extend long-term credit.

Was it purely coincidental that nearly all of the American scientists invited to express their views in the “Frontline” feature are connected with a single institution (M.I.T.) that is heavily invested in the future of nuclear energy?  

Choosing to ignore entirely the body of theoretical evidence to the contrary, this vehicle maintains the industry position that there is no real danger to human health from radiation that entered the atmosphere and the environment from releases at Fukushima.

In their latest video release Fairewinds Associates invites us to hear a very different and truly alarming perspective on the effects of radiation on human health…particularly that of women and little girls.

Cancer Risk To Young Children Near Fukushima Daiichi Underestimated from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

The headline reads:

Japan plans to scrap nuclear plants after 40 years to beef up safety after Fukushima disaster

But when we read the subtext, we learn that this is wildly overstating the development.

Unlike the U.S., where nuclear reactors for energy production are required to seek renewed licensing after 40-years in operation, no such requirements exist under law in Japan.

As you may recall, the reactors at Fukushima, which belong to the same generation as the one at Vermont Yankee, were several years past their 40-year design life-expectancy when disaster struck.

What the Japanese legislature is now considering is to enact a system similar to that in the U.S., where, after forty years in operation, a twenty year extension must be secured if a reactor is to continue operating.

This relicensing is presumed to involve rigorous safety checks, but as we know from the history of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the U.S.  cronyism “creep” tends to infect the process over time, as the regulators gain intimacy with the industry and their role evolves into a kind of enabling partnership.

Reading further, we are reminded that:

 Such renewals have been granted to 66 of 104 U.S. nuclear reactors. That process has been so routine that many in the industry are already planning for additional license extensions that could push the plants to operate for 80 years or even 100.

In point of fact, not a single U.S. plant has been denied re-licensing by the NRC.

The Japanese are gaining first-hand knowledge of the faulty economics of nuclear plant operation.  The 40-year life-expectancy is ironically juxtaposed with the 40 years that have been estimated to totally decommission the failed reactors at Fukushima…to say nothing of the collateral health risk, delivered exponentially to a population of unknown dimensions.

I think for sheer understatement, the following sentence deserves mention, too.

The government has already decided to scrap six reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi, where backup generators, some of them in basements, were destroyed by the March 11 tsunami – setting off the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

Oh really? You mean there’s no way Japan can get another twenty years of service from them?  Pity.

Mr. Lisman’s name has been clattering in our heads for a while now.  Finally, the penny has dropped…actually two pennies and a plugged nickel.

By the way; whatever happened to those bang-up great ideas?



……………………………………………………………………………………….

Early in December, jvwalt took a first  and second look at the so-called “Campaign for Vermont.”

What he found under the guise of “non-partisan” Vermont hugs, was a chorus of familiar dog whistles clearly intended to prick Republican ears while leaving everyone else none the wiser.  

It seems not so much a “Campaign for Vermont,”  as it does a “Campaign for Battleground Vermont” in the coming election year.

With businessman Bruce Lisman as the ubiquitous frontman, the Campaign for Vermont lists on its website a roster of businessmen that looks suspiciously like it might have been handed down directly from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and is described as “founding partners.”  

Now a second “Campaign for Vermont” voice has been heard from: one James Pizzagalli.

Appearing tonight in the Messenger (and, no doubt, coming soon to a paper near you)  Mr. Pizzagalli’s letter to the editor praises to the skies the founders of Campaign for Vermont, without mentioning his possible bias due to the fact that Angelo Pizzagalli  is listed on the website as one of those founders.  

If there could be any doubt left as to the legitimacy of “Campaign for Vermont”s “non-partisan” claim, the debut of this letter on Vermont Tiger let the cat and her whole litter of kittens out of the bag.

This iteration is much more to the point than Mr. Lisman’s rather innocuous debut.  Take a look at a few nuggets:

Perhaps without knowing it, but in countless ways, Vermonters in sufficient numbers to control the agenda of the State have taken us in a direction that is contrary to economic growth, job creation and economic prosperity.

Woof!

When job creators are prevented from growing, workers disappear. When entrepreneurship is not rewarded, others states reap those benefits.

Woof-woof!

We should ensure all citizens have some skin in the game. And we should ensure that the high standards of our environmental ethic continue to be achieved but not to the detriment of pragmatic outcomes.

Woof-woof-woof…SNAP!

Alpo time.

…Or could it be Super PAC time?

It seems to have been the “perfect storm” of natural disaster and gross negligence.  

For sheer long-term impact, perhaps the most under-appreciated event of 2011 is the nuclear accident at Fukushima.

That this convergence of worst-case scenarios continues to be compounded by decisions made to protect industry and political interests is a shame and a crime.  Witness: the Japanese government’s Nuclear Accident Interim Report which found that

Plans laid out by the Nuclear Disaster Special Measures Law did not function properly because the scale of the disaster was unimaginable.

Following a 2007 offshore earthquake at Niigata that damaged a nuclear facility, Japanese nuclear regulators began an investigation to determine the potential for a catastophic nuclear emergency precipitated by natural disaster. They were forced to terminate the effort for political reasons.

…local governments opposed this probe, saying that if a claim was made that the earthquake caused the nuclear accident, the public would be overly apprehensive. The agency then concluded, “There is virtually no possibility that a natural disaster could cause a nuclear disaster,” and the probe was terminated.

Fast forward to 2011, post-Fukushima, where damage control still seems to be the order of the day.

On December 16, the Japanese government declared that the situation at the crippled nuclear plant has been resolved, a statement that was endorsed with enthusiasm by U.S. nuclear interests.  

However, as we noted just days ago, the disaster at Fukushima may have been largely forgotten by the mainstream media, but it is hardly over.  

Arnie Gundersen explains in the latest Fairewinds Assoc. video why the “stability” of the plants is of an extremely tenuous nature, with makeshift fixes holding the line only so long as no further seismic upsets occur to topple them like a house of cards.

We are also told that, besides water-born contamination escaping from the crippled reactors, a conscious decision has been made to dump incinerated nuclear waste into Tokyo Bay.  

Furthermore, human exposures appear to have been (and continue to be) badly mismanaged.

TEPCO Believes Mission Accomplished & Regulators Allow Radioactive Dumping in Tokyo Bay from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

Once again,  I’d like to introduce an open thread of New Years resolutions that politicos might make for 2012.

I’ll begin with Peter Shumlin, who certainly should resolve not to appoint anymore Republicans to key positions in his administration.

The Governor might also resolve to abstain from exclusive luxury get-aways until he can find it in his heart to support a modest raise in taxes for his privileged economic class…

New Years advice to Tom Salmon, in the immortal words of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young: “Love the one you’re with.”  No one has demonstrated a shorter attention span for the position he was elected to than our state auditor.  Mr. Salmon should resolve to concentrate on his current job,  and forgoing higher ambitions, to sustain an interest in the mundanities of being auditor.

Randy Brock should resolve to get out more.  His voting record in Montpelier demonstrates that he is abysmally out-of-step with statewide attitudes and unlikely to make much of an impression in the 2012 governor’s race.  

While many on the left have some issues with Governor Shumlin, they will most decidedly NOT be voting for Randy Brock.  He is attempting to represent himself as a “centrist,” but that position has been more than locked-up by Shumlin, who, except for some high-profile positions on things like VY and same-sex marriage, has demonstrated an affinity for positions that are considered centerist-to-right-of-center in largely progressive Vermont.

Franklin County Sheriff, Robert Norris would be well-advised to resolve himself to a career change.  Having lost the contract for policing St. Albans City this year, Sheriff Norris has been vocally outraged, compounding the tempest by suing the City.  Now it seems the Town of Swanton will no longer be using his services, and will instead engage the Swanton Village police department.  Is this a trend? The Sheriff is approaching a county shut-out, having earlier lost contracts with Enosburgh Town, Enosburgh Village, Sheldon, Richford, Fairfax and Georgia.

Peter Welch should resolve to get more background before signing on to regressive stuff like extreme austerity measures and hamstringing ACORN.

Senator Leahy, should resolve daily to exit the Capitol building through a doorway inaccessible to industry lobbyists.

Bernie should resolve to carry a pocket comb.

I’ve got one for President Obama, too.  Facing an almost miraculous vacuum on the right, it looks as though Mr. Obama might get his fondest wish for a second term.  With that in mind, he should resolve that, the minute the polls close in November, he will seize his opportunity as a lame duck to make a final unbridled push for progressive reforms that are dear to the hearts of the folks who elected him in 2008.  I know this is nothing more than a pipe dream, but I had to get it in here.

I have been searching in vain for meaningful updates on efforts to bring the Fukushima Daiichi reactors under control.  

At last there is an article in the Mainichi Daily News which seems to confirm what we have long suspected: that no progress is being made there whatsoever.

A freelance journalist,  Tomohiko Suzuki, has succeeded in working undercover, for over a month, at the power station from which little factual information has been allowed to escape up to now.

Mr. Suzuki reports that

“Absolutely no progress is being made” toward the final resolution of the crisis.

And that

companies including plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) (are) playing fast and loose with their workers’ radiation doses.

Furthermore,  no-entry zones that have been established around the crippled plants are inadequate, and have been designed more for convenience than to effectively ensure safety.

“(Nuclear) technology experts I’ve spoken to say that there are people living in areas where no one should be. It’s almost as though they’re living inside a nuclear plant,” says Suzuki.

Suzuki also reports that conflicts in technology between two reactor makers (Toshiba and Hitachi) that were enlisted to assist in finding a resolution at Fukushima, are crippling  rather than helping recovery efforts.

“much of the work is simply “for show,” fraught with corporate jealousies and secretiveness and “completely different” from the “all-Japan” cooperative effort being presented by the government.”

Before he was discovered and fired, Suzuki’s observations, including on-site photos he captured secretly with the aid of a pinhole camera, recorded a grim reality.  

According to Suzuki, public representations about progress at the crippled plant have largely been false; and shoddy and rushed workmanship, substandard materials and a culture of irresponsibility in the recovery efforts make more problems in the near future very likely.  

Furthermore, worker safety is routinely and grossly ignored.

‘”Working at Fukushima is equivalent to being given an order to die,” Suzuki quoted one nuclear-related company source as saying…”The Japanese media have turned away from this issue,”

To which we might add that, from our perspective, worldwide media is doing little to challenge the illusion that the disastrous events at Fukushima are over and done with.

Meanwhile, I am told by a knowledgable source, that a flotilla twice the size of Texas, comprised of radiation contaminated debris, is making it’s way with unexpected speed toward the western shores of the Hawaiian Islands.

Merry Christmas, Mr. President.

“Gift” is the German word for poison.  That bit of trivia sprang to mind when I came across a piece in the, “oh by the way” section of today’s Free Press (corner pocket, 3c) informing us that, just in time for Christmas, “a small amount” of tritium has been found in the Connecticut river.

The nuclear plant says it learned Tuesday that a small amount of tritium was found in a sample taken near the plant on Nov. 3. The amount was significantly below the federal drinking water limit, and samples taken Nov. 7 and 10 showed no signs of tritium.

Absent from this statement is whether or not those benign samples taken November 7 and 10 were the only other samples taken since that date.

As the mandated closing approaches in March, there is a sense of desperation to VY’s PR efforts.  Like an aging spinster she wraps her boney frame in economic illusion and insists you’ll miss her when she’s gone.

Don’t look now dear, but your slip is showing.

In the coming election year, we are going to hear more than enough from Republican candidates about “American exceptionalism;” and even Obama has been known more than once to dip into this reliquary when his rhetoric needs just the right patriotic burnish.

I thought I’d get ahead of the rush and have my say about what American EXCEPTionalism means to me.

“Americans get the best healthcare in the world!”



How many times has that one been trotted out in opposition to healthcare reform?  We don’t need any changes to the current system because “it’s the best healthcare in the world.”

EXCEPT when you can’t afford the astronomical cost.

EXCEPTional it is, indeed, if judged soley on the amount of money we annually invest in it.  When outcomes are considered?  Not so much.

It’s true that we have some EXCEPTional physicians and facilities.

EXCEPT that they are not available to anyone who can’t afford the skyrocketing cost of maintaining private health insurance.

The upshot of our EXCEPTional healthcare is that we have one of the highest infant mortality rates and shortest life-expectancies in the Western industrialized world.

And let’s not forget that great American educational system!  

Once again, our math and literacy skills now fall well below those of much of the educated world.  In fact, we are EXCEPTionally mediocre on that score; and with Tea Party hostility to federal spending and an organized effort by players like the Koch Bros. and the Waltons (of Walmart fame) to end public education, we are likely to fall further down that well.

How about our EXCEPTional American-style democracy?  

We have vigorously sought to export it for decades now.  Former president and humanitarian Jimmy Carter has made something of a latter-day career of invigilating democratic elections in other countries.

So, we must still be an EXCEPTional example of democracy in action.

EXCEPT when gerrymandering takes place, as it most famously did recently in Texas.  But nowhere EXCEPT in Texas, right? Nope. The gerrymandering model is playing out in re-districting dramas all over the map.

But our democracy is still EXCEPTional.

EXCEPT when voter suppression takes place, as is currently being attempted in the state of Florida

EXCEPT when the media declare a winner before the polling places are even closed; and that false winner is carried to victory soley by the expectations created through the premature announcement, and even though the final balloting invalidates it. (Bush v. Gore, 2000.)

EXCEPT when you belong to the poorer classes in America.  

Democracy doesn’t work out so well for poor people.  Since Citizens United equated money to free speech, what many had long suspected was the operational reality of American democracy became officially so.

In closing, I’d like to take EXCEPTion to the whole tone of superiority.  

Those EXCEPTional claims are just a bunch of old wheezes that now raise the merest flutter from our blushing national banner…and that flag is probably made in China from Saudi oil products.  

We would do well to learn a little history of bravado.

Claims of British EXCEPTIONalism in the nineteenth century didn’t save her empire from slow decline and dissolution.

Nazi Germany was so convicted of its EXCEPTionalism that it extinguished itself with the sheer fury of insistence.

For better or worse, global fortunes rise and fall more or less in tandem now.  

Believing without question that the “market” will somehow miraculously do the right thing, we’ve privatized everything but the kitchen sink in America; then watched placidly as the profits went overseas and our jobs were out-sourced.

American EXCEPTionalism?  It’s time to get over ourselves.