Dr. Jack Rasmus has a Ph.D in Political Economy and currently teaches economics and politics at St. Mary’s College and Santa Clara University in California. He is the author and producer of various nonfiction and fictional works. Prior to his writing career, Jack was an economist and analyst for several global companies and before that, for more than a decade, a local union president, business representative, contract negotiator, and organizer for several labor unions.
Jack’s works include the 2006 released book, The War At Home: The Bush-Corporate Offensive Against American Workers and Their Unions, a 536 page analysis of corporate offensives and economic restructuring in the 20th century; and the forthcoming book, The Trillion Dollar Income Shift—Essays on Income Inequality in America, about the origins and causes of growing income inequality in America.
Jack’s most recent publication is the forthcoming book, EPIC Recession and Global Financial Crisis, about the increasing financial instability in the U.S. and the protracted ‘epic’ recession now emerging in the U.S. and globally.
Jack is also a freelance journalist writing widely on U.S. economic and domestic policy topics, and has published numerous articles in “Z” magazine, Critique, In These Times, Amandla,Against the Current, the Dispatcher, and other periodicals.
Jack is also a playwright and author of several stageplays, including 1934, a full length musical about the San Francisco waterfront during the 1934 maritime and general strikes; Fire on Pier 32, about the history of the West Coast International Lognshore Workers Union; Our Time, featuring U.S. Presidents and the ascendancy of the Radical Right in American politics from 1932 to 2012; Lockout, about contemporary labor conflicts; and Hold the Light, about a six-month labor strike. He is a lyricist and co-author of numerous songs with composer, Joyce Todd McBride.
Before undertaking a writing and speaking career, Jack was an economist and markets analyst for a number of years with various companies; and before that was an elected National 1st Vice President for the National Writers Union, as well as an elected local union President, business representative, and organizer for several labor unions, including the Communications Workers of America, Service Employees International Union, Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union, and United Steelworkers of America.
Jack is the owner and principal of Kyklos Productions LLC, which produces stage plays, videos, music CDs and books. Kyklos Productions also provides consulting and production services for video and music CD creation.
Jack is also available for keynote and other speaking events on various economic, political, and environmental topics. Jack may be contacted at rasmus@kyklosproductions.com or by calling the Kyklos Productions business line at 925-828-0792.
Very happy i found your site! Well documented and very interesting!
Good luck from Belgium!
Bernard
SOCIAL SECURITY
What’s it all about?
PREFACE: Before one is able to solve a problem, one must recognize, understand, and analyze the problem until one has the requisite information and facts to make the best conclusion to mitigate or resolve the problem.
PROBLEM: Regarding Social Security (SS), it appears that, given the current structure of the program, funds necessary to support the program will be insufficient within a given number of years.
WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM? The SS program was never actuarially sound due to its original structure (1% of first $3,000 wages) as a Ponzi scheme (FDR may have thought that over time, adjustments would be made to fix the program). Over the years, changes have been made, but only to enable a delay in the inevitable. The problem has been exacerbated by such phenomena as being entitled to receive SS after only being in the workforce for 40 quarters, not all workers paying into the program, et cetera.
SHOULD THIS PROBLEM BE RESOLVED BY ENDING IT? The question is whether or not this program is appropriate. Does it seem rational that the workers who have participated in the workforce for 40-45 years should be entitled to retirement benefits?
Congress, over many years, has issued its many stamps of approval of stimulating retirement funding, e.g., defined benefit and contribution programs, Individual Retirement Act, 401k program, et cetera.
Obviously, Congress is not perfect and may have been wrong in issuing these “stamps of approval”, but the probability is about 99.9% that our legislators were correct, thus a logical conclusion should be that the SS program should not be eliminated.
SHOULD THE SS PROGRAM BE MODIFIED? Although less so now than 40 years ago, the SS program remains a quasi-Ponzi-like situation, thus it must be modified.
HOW SHOULD THE SS PROGRAM BE MODIFIED?
The program includes revenue and obligations.
Presently, the revenue is generated by charging workers 6.2% of his or her wages, up to a maximum of $106,800 per year plus a matched amount by the employer. http://www.ssa.gov/planners/maxtax.htm#maxEarnings
Had the maximum limits, per the hyperlink, been $106,800 since inception, there would be trillions of additional funds within the SS trust fund. Further, if there had been no maximum, the fund would have benefited by additional trillions. Lastly, had all income been subjected to this “tax on income”, there would be even more trillions.
There must be a substantial reason why only earned income has been subjected to this “tax upon income” and why there has been and remains a limit upon the amount subject to this “tax upon income”.
Another “interesting” factor is that not all wage earners are subject to this “income tax”.
If the above had been done, every retiree would have an account that was fully funded to the extent his or choices could be: rollover into a self-directed IRA, an annuity, etc.. This “asset” would not disappear upon death, i.e., it would be included in one’s estate.
The bulk of the obligations are paid to retirees who have reached the applicable ages.
In December 2009, 64% were retired workers, while 15% were disabled workers, 8% were children, 8% were widows, widowers, and parents, and 5% were spouses.
There could be an excellent argument that only payments to retired workers should be paid from the fund, while these other payments should come from the general fund.
NOTE: If it were appropriate for a company to fund retirement obligations for its employees, why would a nation not fund the retirement of its workers?
The obligations would be no less valid than those for defense, education, et cetera.
As a competitive benefit, if the funds were an obligation of the federal government, the cost of producing goods and services would be reduced, which would enable companies to be more competitive regarding Japan, Inc., China, Inc., Brazil, Inc., et cetera. This would, also, be valid regarding the delivery of health care, i.e., any costs, which can be shifted from above the line to below the line would enable companies to be more competitive.
CONCLUSION: By far, the best modification would be for a change from charging workers and employers to single-payer government funding.
Until the change can be effected, legislation should be passed, which would assess this taxation on all income, earned and unearned, without limitation.
The answer to the above question regarding the reason why only earned income has been subjected to this “income tax” and why there has been and remains a limit upon the amount subject to this “income tax” should be apparent and intuitive, i.e., the upper income earners would pay more. This, in essence, is why politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, and “talking heads” have been “tenderizing” the People.
I ask everyone to contact his or her Representative and both Senators to inquire as to how much of our massive current federal deficit of approximately $1.6 trillion is attributable to Social Security. The answers will astound most.
HINT: The answer is ZERO!
mz
April 12, 2011
Modified June 15, 2011
mikiesmoky@aol.com
Re: Medicare
Medicare is funded by collecting 1.45% from wages of employees and another 1.45% from the employees’ employers.
No taxation is charged against passive income such as rents, dividends, interest income, capital gains, et cetera. It doesn’t appear equitable that only earned income is assessed this tax.
I recommend that Congress legislate that 2.9% will be assessed to all income.
Further, I recommend that your office contact the CBO to ascertain what effect this would have upon the financial condition of the Medicare Trust Fund.
Thank you,
Michael Z
Sherman Oaks, Ca.
mikiesmoky@aol.com
June 5, 2011
KABUKI THEATRE: GOOD COP, BAD COP
The Democrats (“playing” the “role” of the good cops, but are just a different degree of bad) and the Republicans are starring in a playful farce designed to tenderize the People by inundating them with poorly designed scripts, but sadly these poorly designed scripts should be sufficient to accomplish the “immorality” of the play.
Sometime, prior to August 2, 2011 (the date that our esteemed Treasury Secretary has suggested will be the Armageddon date regarding the extension of the federal debt ceiling), our “leaders” will present a plan to mesmerize the People into a numbing acceptance as a coup de grace.
This presentation will include “adjustments” to Social Security, which has nothing to do with our federal deficit, dramatic reductions in Medicare and Medicaid, and more layoffs.
If this immorality and poor economics is accepted and ensconced into legislation, our economic woes, which I characterize as “economic erosion”, will worsen.
There are simple solutions to our economic malaise, but unbridled greed is blocking rational solutions from even being discussed.
My own Congressman, Brad Sherman (D), appears to be complicit in this Kabuki Theatre.
mz
mikiesmoky@aol.com
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