PROTEST AGAINST CHAINED CPI

by Tony Fransetta

We must protect seniors against the chained CPI

 Please join us: Protest against the Chained CPI

Join us and our affiliates as we protest against the Chained CPI.  Chained CPI is an immediate Social Security benefit cut!   We need a higher COLA - not a lower one!   The current COLA is not enough - it does not accurately account for the large health care cost increase faced by seniors and people with disabilities.

When:  Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013 @ 11:00 a.m.

Where:  Outside US Senator Marco Rubio's office, 4580 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens, FL

  

We refuse to be the last generation to retire! On July 2nd, just before we celebrate our national independence day, we will join hands to form human chain against the chained CPI Social Security benefit - a cut that would limit current and future retirees' ability to remain independent in their golden years. SHARE and INVITE your friends and allies to attend.

Click here to sign up to attend! http://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4055/t/14893/p/salsa/event/common/public/

 For additional information, please contact Tony Fransetta, President, Florida Alliance for Retired Americans 561-792-8799 or 561-386-7047.

 A Press Release: your early View!

Standing Up Against the Cuts to Social Security

by Tony Fransetta

On Tuesday, July 2nd, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans will join others across the country in a Day of Action protesting the chained CPI cut to Social Security benefits. We are doing this because some cuts never heal - and that includes a compounding cut to Social Security like the chained CPI.

If the chained CPI formula change were to be implemented, an average person retiring in 2011 at age 65 would lose over $6,000 in 15 years. Supporters of the chained CPI justify this by claiming that seniors should just buy cheaper products. In reality, many senior are already struggling to get by and don't have cheaper options for food, transportation, housing or utility costs. Additionally, this argument ignores the reality that seniors spend a large percentage of their income on health care costs, which do not allow for substitution. A senior cannot just substitute triple bypass surgery with a double because it's cheaper.

Despite the claims of some out-of-touch politicians in Washington, the chained CPI is not just a small benefit cut. Switching to the chained CPI cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) formula would result in an annual benefit that is roughly $1,000 (2012 dollars) lower by the time a beneficiary reaches age 85. The loss of this vital income will result in heartbreaking choices for many seniors, particularly the one-third of beneficiaries who rely on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income. Seniors cannot be asked to choose between buying food and buying lifesaving medication.

Retirement in America was once based on a three-legged stool of pensions, personal savings, and Social Security. Well the first two legs of the stool are no longer a reality for millions of Americans, who depend largely or solely on Social Security to provide for them in retirement. These Americans worked hard for decades and deserve to be able to retire without falling into poverty. They earned their Social Security benefits, and they are more important in this economy, not to mention for future generations the way things are going, than ever. That's why benefits need to be increased, not slashed.

Fortunately, there is a better alternative to the chained CPI. The Strengthening Social Security Act of 2013 (S. 567), sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), would require the establishment of a price index that accurately reflects costs for Social Security beneficiaries, among other improvements. Called the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), this alternative would be used when computing increases in the COLA and would consider typical seniors' costs, including medical care and housing costs, to ensure that retirees' Social Security benefits keep pace with inflation.

I urge anyone who cares about protecting Social Security benefits for ourselves and future generations to join with us in our fight against the chained CPI.

Tony Fransetta is president of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans (FLARA) a nonprofit, grass-roots organization that advocates for the rights and health of retirees and their families. FLARA has over 177,000 members. Contact him at 561-792-8799 / FloridaARA@aol.com

From John Debus

Hi Everyone,

A reminder of our event this Tuesday evening, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, 25 June 2013 at the

American Legion Post #40, 801 S US1, Fort Pierce, FL. 34950. Please use the front

entrance on US1. It is the large room on the right side of the entrance as you come

in the front door. Plenty of parking on the north side of the building.

It's movie night at TCPA with "Capitalism Hits the Fan" a documentary movie on

the economic meltdown from renowned University of Massachusetts Economics Professor

Richard Wolff. Come watch and listen to this film on the root causes of the economic crisis,

which was decades in the making and reflects seismic failures in our

American-style capitalist system. We should have plenty of time after the movie for a great

discussion which Kathy will moderate. 

Our events are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, so bring and/or invite friends and family.

Donations are welcome, but not necessary. Thanks to one of our loyal and dedicated

members, we will be giving sets of Occucards to all donations of $3.00 or more to our

brochure fund (they sell for $5.00 a set on line) . The set of 18 cards adress the top

progressive issues of our time with a colorful picture on front and information on that

issue on the back. This is a great gift for yourself or for others less informed. "May" turn Tea Party people into Progressive people. If you care to join and support our organization (not required) our membership fees are $15 per person and $20 per family annually. This helps maintain our programs and fund community outreaching, enabling us to inform friends and neighbors of pertinent ongoing issues that are in dire need of support. To join, see Erika at the Event or go to our web-site.

I received a request from one of our regular attending supporters, to have a protest/rally for

our dying Indian River Lagoon. A few of us were getting together that evening to discuss a

protest/rally for alternative energy and the Keystone pipeline, so I said we would discuss it.

According to the group, there is an article about the subject every day in the newspaper,

and a simple protest would not add a whole lot to the subject. We came out with the suggestion

to perhaps petition our elected officials to sign a pledge to work to protect and

restore the Indian River Lagoon. We could then have protest/rallies to collect signatures and

have other organizations also work on getting signatures. We would then take the petition to city and county meetings and request elected officials sign the pledge. We would need people

to volunteer to write-up and work on this petition. Please respond to this e-mail if you are

interested in forming a group/committee to work on this.

We also discussed an alternative energy and Keystone pipeline protest/rally. Our idea is to have

a couple electric cars, solar panel information, wind turbine info, etc. with the information about

the Keystone pipeline and gather signatures on a petition to President Obama and the State

Department to STOP the Keystone pipeline. We decided to meet again after some scheduled

training at the end of July and plan for the event in August when we need to put out the most

pressure. Again if anyone else interested in joining this committee, please respond to this

e-mail.

There will be a table set up for groups information, up coming events, and petitions at our event

Tuesday. All groups will also have 1-3 minutes at the beginning to tell us about yourself. You can

also contact Kathy or myself to have your events posted on our web-site.

Anyone needing to car pool to the event can contact me and I will do my best to get you a ride.

We have started to collect non-perishable foods to give to local food banks.

We are also taking a poll on having a fall picnic, please respond if interest in attending.

We will be having a board meeting in July, time and place will be announced.

"My Opinion" program is on going, choose a subject, limit it to 300 words or less and submit

it to be read at the end of our event. We want to know how you feel on issues and what you are

passionate about.

Erika, Jerry and I met with an AFL-CIO group on Saturday and discussed many issues. I'm hoping to get some of the other local union representatives together and have an event on labor issues in the near

future.

Our next Event in July will be on "NOW", National Organization for Woman.  Meredith Ockman,

Florida's Vice President of NOW, will be our speaker.

Please come out, we need your support to make a difference. We also welcome your feed-back

on our Events and Organization. So feel free to respond to this e-mail.

CHECK OUT OUR WEB-SITE; tcprogressivealliance.com

Take Care,

See you Tuesday,

John

HEALING OUR WORLD AND OURSELVES

from Gregory Wilson

Many of you are aware that we sponsored The Healing Our World and Ourselves conference last February. (http://healingourworldandourselves.org/) Irene Keim of The Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, (http://uuministryforearth.org/ ) recently wrote a review and summary of the conference:

Healing Our World and Ourselves

By Irene Keim, UU Church in the Pines, Brooksville, FL and UUMFE Board Chair (May 2013)

In February 2013, three accomplished keynote speakers from three different disciplines and participants from many UU congregations in Florida came together to explore ways we can connect the dots to heal ourselves and our world in the face of social, political, and environmental challenges. The speakers and their topics were:

•  “The Rights of Earth” – Patricia Siemen, Director of the Center for Earth Jurisprudence, Barry University School of Law;
•  “Maintaining the Right To Be Heard” – David Cobb, National Projects Director of Democracy Unlimited and the national spokesperson for Move to Amend; and
•  “Addictions in the Broadest Sense” – Bruce Alexander, professor and author of The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit.
  The speakers provided many ideas to ponder. For example:

• Real change happens when human beings raise hell. 
• Environmental law is based on property law, not rights of Nature.
• Social movements need to do homework and build coalitions BEFORE deciding strategies.
• We can’t win at Whack-A-Mole.
• There is no ‘away’ for all of our stuff.
• The faith community is one of the pillars of the movements founded in sustainable values.
• Humans must reclaim our ecological identity.
• It is important that we listen to Earth before we speak up for Earth.
• Two of the most damaging addictions in society are the addiction to money and to the media circus.

The unique learning experience of the conference was, however, the interaction of these creative leaders. None of the three had met or shared ideas before the conference, yet in a panel discussion after their individual presentations, they modeled for the audience how to begin to illuminate the intersection of their fields of concern and expertise, how to do some systems thinking. For many of us venturing out of our congregations into the wider community, this was a valuable exercise. Wisely, the conference planners allowed time later in the conference for the connecting to others, processing the ideas flowing around us, and planning the next steps. One session to facilitate this connection to action was a panel of activists from Florida including myself, who represented UU Ministry for Earth.

The creative exchange of information and ideas at the conference was the result of visioning by three different organizations: the UU Church of Brevard, Florida provided much of the planning and organizing; the UU Legislative Ministry of Florida participated in the planning and is supported in part from a grant from the Fund for UU Social Responsibility; and the members of the First Unitarian Church of Orlando hosted the event. The conference was so meaningful for the attendees that planning for the next conference began the very next week and a Facebook group has kept issues and information flowing across the state. The next conference is scheduled for Feb 21/21 2014 in Orlando. 

May 2013 Meeting Recap

from John Debus

Hi Everyone,

Another good event at our new location at the American Legion. The documentary was very educational and the discussion informing. I was told that the beginning of the meeting was taking to much time with our general information. I agree and will start giving the general information out in e-mails before and after meetings. We will start our Events with new people introductions, group introductions and information/petitions, then straight into our program to give us more time at the end for discussions and feed-back.  

We've make a book with information on minutes from last board meeting, financial statement, and state and federal corporate papers for any member to review at the meeting. We also have a book with the occucards for you to check out, guarantee to turn Tea Party people into Progressive people. These are a collection of 18 cards on progressive issues, that are free with minimum donation of $3.00 toward our brochure fund. They are normally sold for $5.00 a set on line and a great gift for friends and family or for yourself. We have used the information on the back for flyers to inform people on the issues. 

The bad news is our attendance has fallen again for the second month in a row and have not expanded our membership during that time. We were doing well through March with attendance growing every month and signing up new members. Our membership fees and donations are what pays our rent and keeps us going. I hope that it is just the Florida summer and that we are not losing our passion and focus. I'm hoping that we can grow large enough to pack a meeting room and invite leaders to come and talk issues where we can make a difference and be a voice, as well as put out information to help educate the public as well as ourselves. I'm asking all of you who haven't been to our Events, to come out and help us make a difference, get involved, make suggestions, and become part of our progressive family. I'm also asking everyone to help market our organization. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, etc. about us and encourage then to come and watch a movie or listen to a speaker. We are not able to get speakers like David Cobb or Sister Patricia Siemen every month so, some Events issues may not perk your interest as much as others, but I do guarantee you will still learn/pick-up something and still request your attendance and support. I also want to thank all whom have been supporting us and want you to know we really appreciate your dedication, passion and participation.

Our next Event will be a documentary; "Capitalism Hits The Fan" about the Economic Meltdown. We will be at the American Legion Post #40, 810 S. US1, Fort Pierce Fl. 34950. our new start time is 6:30 pm. Come on out and bring a friend.