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Reframing the Debate to Make Health Insurers Look Poor

by Wendell Potter — March 15, 2011 - 10:53am
  • Topics: Corporations, Health, Public Relations

    • In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau delivered the troubling but hardly shocking news that almost 51 million Americans -- nearly one out of every six of us -- had fallen into the ranks of the uninsured. If you think that news would also be troubling for health insurance companies, think again. While the country was struggling to emerge from a recession, and more and more of us were struggling with no medical coverage, the big for-profit insurance companies were rolling in dough.

    Over the past few weeks, UnitedHealth, WellPoint, Aetna, CIGNA and Humana reported fourth quarter 2010 earnings, and all but Humana exceeded Wall Street's profit expectations, most by wide margins. The combined earnings of just those five companies were more than $11.7 billion last year, which was 17 percent more than they made in 2009. Since the end of 2008, their earnings have increased a Wall Street-pleasing 51 percent. Just imagine how much more they would have been able to reward their shareholders if the economy had been running on all cylinders.In fact, 2010 will go down in the history books as one of the most profitable ever for the five biggest for-profit health insurers.

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    Consider the Source: MacIver News Service

    by Anne Landman — March 15, 2011 - 6:51am
  • Topics: Right Wing, Ethics, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • The MacIver Institute, also known as the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, is a Wisconsin-based, free-market think tank formed in 2009 which also acts as a "news service," supplying videos and reports to media outlets, like newspapers and television broadcasters. But just who is the MacIver Institute?

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    Wisconsin Protests, Monday, March 14 - Sunday, March 20, 2011

    by PR Watch Admin — March 13, 2011 - 11:00pm
  • Topics: Activism, Democracy, Labor, Wisconsin Protests

    • SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 2010, NEWS ROUNDUP

    Wisconsin State Journal: STUDY: BUDGET COULD HURT STATE'S ECONOMY
    Gov. Scott Walker's plans to balance the state budget by cutting spending and public workers' take-home pay will slow the state's economic recovery, according to projections by a UW-Madison economist. An estimated 21,843 jobs will be lost over the next year or two as public agencies and workers are able to spend less in their communities, said Steven Deller, a professor of applied economics who studied the ripple effects of Walker's budget-repair bill and two-year budget proposal. "That's not just a bump in the road," Deller said. "That's a speed bump."

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    First They Came For the Labor Unions. Then They Came for the Immigrants. Who's Next?

    by Brendan Fischer — March 13, 2011 - 10:50am
  • Topics: Human Rights, Labor, Politics, Race / Ethnic Issues, Wisconsin Protests

    • The divide-and-conquer attack on working people by Wisconsin Republicans continues. After pitting private sector workers versus public employees, Walker and the GOP are now targeting Wisconsin's quickly-growing Latino and immigrant communities.

    The latest census numbers show that Wisconsin's Latino community has grown by 74 percent in recent years, and GOP lawmakers have responded aggressively to this shift in Wisconsin's ethnic composition. Walker's budget eliminates laws that had treated immigrants humanely, and a GOP bill circulating through the legislature seeks to impose a draconian racial profiling bill modeled after Arizona's SB1070. What's more, the anti-immigrant sentiment may be fueling the out-of-state effort to recall Wisconsin's Democratic Senators.

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    CMD Reports: Largest Crowd Yet to Protest Renegade Governor's Moves

    by Erica Pelzek — March 12, 2011 - 11:15am
  • Topics: Activism, Democracy, Labor, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • In what many called possibly the largest labor demonstration in U.S. history, Wisconsin state legislators rallied a crowd Saturday afternoon that rivaled previous weekends' protests of Gov. Scott Walkers radical budget repair bill.

    "Our fight to protect union rights has become a fight to protect all our rights -- a fight to protect democracy," said Minority Leader Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona. "You have inspired the nation with your passionate and peaceful protests."

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    Karl Rove's Secretly-Funded Crossroads GPS Attacks Unions in Nationwide Ad

    by Brendan Fischer — March 11, 2011 - 5:37pm
  • Topics: Corporations, Labor, Media, Politics, U.S. Government, Wisconsin Protests

    • Karl Rove's secretly-funded Crossroads GPS is spending $750,000 airing a terribly misleading ad attacking public-sector labor unions. With support declining for the GOP's anti-union stance, Rove's group is looking towards the 2012 elections and aiming to counteract that slide by unfairly demonizing unions.

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    Pro-Worker Ads Defend America's Middle Class

    by Anne Landman — March 11, 2011 - 8:02am
  • Topics: Activism, Democracy, Economy, Labor, Real Economy Project, Wisconsin Protests

    • MADISON--New political ads by corporate and CEO-funded groups have been flooding Wisconsin repeating misinformation from the controversial Walker administration about the budget and labor rights.  The total sum spent is not yet known.  Labor rights groups have responded to the crisis with some ads to make sure the people know that Walker and his corporate allies are refusing to negotiate and are determined to destroy labor rights.  Here are some of these ads: 

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    Wisconsin Protests, Friday, March 11 - Sunday, March 13, 2011

    by PR Watch Admin — March 11, 2011 - 12:00am
  • Topics: Activism, Democracy, Labor, Wisconsin Protests

    • REP. KUCINICH FIRES UP MADISON WORKERS' RIGHTS RALLY

    CMD REPORTS: P.O.W.E.R. WALKERS ARRIVE IN MADISON ON A SUNNY SUNDAY

    A new report from CMD's Jennifer Page:

    Walking over 84 miles from Milwaukee to Madison to make a point is no laughing matter. But no one would know that looking at the smiling, happy, albeit tired - looking, people who decided to make the journey to protest Governor Scott Walker's budget bill. "It's a great day for a walk," says one of the organizers of the P.O.W.E.R. Walkers event, Steve Whitlow, as the group gets ready to finish the last leg of their walk after stopping for lunch at a Williamson Street store that provided free food for everyone involved.

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    Out-of-State Republican Recall Efforts Confound

    by Erica Pelzek — March 10, 2011 - 11:29pm
  • Topics: Activism, Right Wing, Election Protection, Real Economy Project, Wisconsin Protests

    • The Utah-based "American Patriot Recall Coalition" (APRC) registered recall committees online February 18 for eight of the 14 "AWOL" Wisconsin Democratic senators, leaving the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) -- and many Wisconsinites -- with raised eyebrows.

    "Any group from anywhere can register a recall committee, however that group must have a local person who lives in the district of the officeholder who's being recalled," explained Wisconsin Government Accountability Board Public Information Officer Reid Magney.

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    Wisconsin Protests, Thursday, March 10, 2011

    by PR Watch Admin — March 10, 2011 - 12:00am
  • Topics: Activism, Democracy, Labor, Wisconsin Protests

    • AFTER WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE VOTES TO STRIP WORKERS OF THEIR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS, THURSDAY EVENING RALLY MAPS NEXT STEPS IN "PEOPLE'S FIGHT"

    7:30 p.m. -- Erica Pelzek reports:

    Hundreds of saddened—and livid—protesters gathered at a stage on State and Mifflin Streets outside the Wisconsin State Capitol Thursday evening after the state Assembly passed the budget repair bill eliminating collective bargaining rights for many of the state's unionized workers.

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