Thousands of nurses to march at G8 summit in Chicago, 18 May

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

Thousands of nurses to march at G8 summit in Chicago, 18 May

Nurses from across the U.S., joined by healthcare, labor and other community activists, as well as activists from G-8 nations, will hold a large march and rally Friday, May 18 to greet the G-8 summit of world leaders in Chicago.

The marchers will travel along portions of Michigan Avenue, East Wacker Drive, and North State Street before ending at Daley Plaza for a noon rally. More than 85 community, environmental, labour and health groups will be participating in this action in favour of the Robin Hood tax and against government austerity measures. ...

... Grammy Award winning artist Tom Morello, who rocked out with bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave will also be present. ...

http://www.world-psi.org/en/thousands-nurses-march-g8-summit-chicago-18-may

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Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

Austerity measures. Isn't that what responsible people do when they don't have enough money to spend?

Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

When we were struggling financially we choose to make sure our kids did not go without needed food, a home, medicasl care, and education. We chose to forego luxuries rather than go bankrupt.

And public schools, libraries, and parks made life worthwhile.

When banks gamble and lose our taxes bail them out. Wall Street executives are offered a tax cut balaned by cuts to Social Security cuts.

If they paid taxes on their transaxtions like we do when we buy goods and services maybe they would be less inclined to take such risks. If, for example, JP Morgan chase had not gambled as they did they wouldn't have lose $2 billion. American tax payers bailed them out in 2008 but they didn't learn anything.

.New York Times columnist Paul Krugman writes that that failure undercuts any argument that the austerity doctrine - prominent in elite circles in both Europe and the US for the last two years - will address economic demise and gross inequality it perpetuates. Britain has been pushing "expansionary austerity."

But, asks Krugman, "How could the economy thrive when unemployment was already high, and government policies were directly reducing employment even further?"

State and local governments in the US, have slashed spending and employment which, Krugman maintains, "has been a major drag on the overall economy.

Without those spending cuts, we might already have been on the road to self-sustaining growth; as it is, recovery still hangs in the balance."

Of Taxes and Real Entitlement | National Nurses United

Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

"I've been asked many, many times ... 'What are you doing here as nurses? ... What do you have to do with the economy?'" Karen Higgins, a registered nurse and co-president of NNU, said to the crowd in Chicago's Daley Plaza.

"We're watching this every day. We're watching patients suffer," she said, noting that nurses were seeing people without insurance or those who couldn't afford their co-pays, as well as a spike of children who had adult diseases due to eating poorly because their parents couldn't afford healthy food. "This is serious and in some cases it is actually deadly."

"We know the solution .. we are watching and seeing Wall Street throwing our money away as we see people suffer and die. It will not continue," she said. "We pay sales tax. It is time for Wall Street to start paying back what they owe the rest of the country and they need to pay sales tax."

U.S. News - Nurses (yes, nurses) lead charge for Wall Street 'sin' tax

Hopefully the general public will soon get the big picture of this. Have we, as a nation become so clueless and oblivious. Perhaps this oblivion is how corporate America has been able to take over

That is why I say- don't get angry with the families- educate, educate educate. Tell these patient families who is the 1 employee who is reaping the profits from healthcare.

The only way to turn this runaway health care train and economic disaster around is by getting the word out. Unemployment, no insurance, increased crime and increased disease acutity. Our entire American way of life is indanger of dying by these Wall Street, CEO gansters.

Go NNU!!

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