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Labor Day Ya’ll! Who’s Gettin Paid!?

Hopefully everyone got their beach and BBQ on yesterday for the holiday. Now that we’re all back to work (we’re lucky enough to have jobs these days) let’s take some time out to see what’s really going on out there. The Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University released its yearly State of Working Florida report yesterday. The report outlines the economic situation for Florida and describes how workers are surviving out there.

Here are some of the facts from the report: Wages fell by $1,000 over the last year for the average worker. Unemployment and underemployment negatively affect Hispanic and Black workers more than white workers. Florida still hasn’t created enough jobs to catch up to where we were in 2008, and the jobs that are being created (to employ the unemployed) are overwhelmingly low/minimum wage jobs.

If you have a job, or you’re looking for one, and if you plan to vote this November based on the economy and jobs, you gotta check this report.

State of Working Florida

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Why YOU won’t be able to vote this November

Have ya’ll been listening to the news the last several weeks? Politicians (especially Florida Governor Rick Scott) have been ramping up efforts to deny citizens the ability to vote this year. The tactics being implemented disproportionately affect minority voters and also seem to target swing states where a lack of minority vote could possibly swing a state to the other side of the political divide. These officials argue they are fighting voter fraud, but research shows that voter fraud is very rare (less than 3% has been the commonly reported number). Some pundits claim that these tactics are aimed at limiting Black and Hispanic votes in order to get an advantage over the Obama campaign. Check out this story from DemocracyNow.org

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/28/comedian_author_baratunde_thurston_on_vote