News & Commentary

July 13, 2015

Presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton got into a Twitter war over the weekend about economic growth and worker productivity, reports Bloomberg Politics.  Last week, campaigning in New Hampshire, Bush said “that people to need to work longer hours” in order for the nation’s economy to grow. Quick to comment on Bush’s cold sound bite, Clinton tweeted “Anyone who believes Americans aren’t working hard enough hasn’t met enough American workers.”  Bush, whose comment spoke to the need for greater worker participation, retorted with “Anyone who discounts 6.5 million people stuck in part-time work & seeking full-time jobs hasn’t listened to working Americans.”

Sticking with the oval office contenders, Hillary Clinton now has the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers.  AFT, the first union to endorse Clinton, hopes to help her “shape a powerful platform” that focuses on the “issues that matter” to its constituents.  According to an AFT press release, members voted to back Hillary 3 to 1 and 79 percent of members who will vote in the Democratic primary wanted the union to endorse Clinton.  “In vision, in experience and in leadership, Hillary Clinton is the champion working families need in the White House,” said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president. “Hillary is the champion we need to help us reclaim the promise of America.”

Latino workers at the construction site of the Trump International Hotel shared with the Washington Post their thoughts on Donald Trump’s recent remarks.  When Trump announced his bid for the presidency he described the people who cross the U.S.-Mexican border as drug dealers and “rapists.”  According to the Post many of the laborers working to build the hotel have crossed the U.S.-Mexican border and some are undocumented.  Many of those laborers related their fears that they might lose their jobs.  Others expressed anger at how the billionaire-developer demeaned the honest living they have made in the states. “Do you think that when we’re hanging out there from the eighth floor that we’re raping or selling drugs?”  According to Trump’s executive vice president and legal counsel, Michael D. Cohen, there has never before been a question of illegal hiring practices at a Trump work site.

The Post is also reporting that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced that the number of federal workers whose personal data fell victim to a cyber theft is greater than previously reported.  In addition to the 4.2 million stolen files reported on June 4, the agency has now revealed that the information of another 21.5 million federal employees, their relatives, contractors, and applicants is also at risk.  The pilfered material includes social security numbers, addresses, employment history, health, and other intimate details.  To ease the concerns of the victims, OPM has made credit monitoring, identity theft assurance, 3-year fraud surveillance, and an online resource enter available to them.  Some legislators are asking for more. Senate democrats in the mid-Atlantic are calling for free lifetime identity protection and $5 million in identity theft insurance.

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