Minnesota organizations offer ‘recipe’ for economic security

The “Minnesota Recipe for Economic Security, Fairness and Opportunity,” developed by a coalition of groups that includes the Blue Green Alliance and the Service Employees International Union’s Healthcare Minnesota local, is a progressive answer to the folksy “kitchen table” analogy Pawlenty often uses to justify slashing the state’s budget.

At a media event in the basement of St. Paul’s Christ Lutheran Church, just a block away from the Capitol, speakers emphasized that the debate among lawmakers this session must go beyond the current $5 billion budget deficit and seek long-term, sustainable solutions to the larger economic crisis.

Dan McGrath, executive director of the progressive network TakeAction Minnesota, said Minnesotans deserve more from their elected officials than a balanced budget.

“At his inauguration last month, President Obama said that the question we should ask is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works,” McGrath said. “So why is the debate here in Minnesota about how best to shrink government?”

Pawlenty’s proposed budget slashes public services – and, most likely, public-sector jobs. McGrath called that an “insufficient” response to the economic challenges at hand.

“We are economically and morally obligated to get people back on their feet and to provide a sustainable path for economic recovery for future generations,” McGrath said.

Among those offering a "recipe" for economic security was Steelworker Gerry Parzino (center). Union Advocate photo

The “Minnesota Recipe” put forth by the coalition uses five key ingredients for achieving economic security during a deepening recession:

• Good-paying jobs that offer workers a secure future.

Gerry Parzino, a Steelworker who serves on the steering committee of the Blue Green Alliance, a national labor-environmental partnership, said state lawmakers can create “tens of thousands of new jobs, from manufacturing to construction,” by implementing the recommendations made by the Legislature’s own Green Jobs Task Force last year.

Those recommendations include investing in mass transit, providing funds for making older building more energy efficient, giving tax credits to green manufacturers and creating a “green jobs corps” that serves as a pathway for workers to enter the green economy.

“We can create an economy that puts people back to work building energy-efficient buildings and renewable energy products like wind turbines and solar panels,” Parzino said.

• Access to health care for all Minnesotans.

Julie Schnell, president of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, a union of 17,000 health care workers statewide, urged lawmakers to pass the Minnesota Health Security Act, legislation that would provide health coverage for all Minnesotans, beginning with coverage for all children within the next two years.

Schnell pointed to Wisconsin, where Gov. Jim Doyle is expanding publicly subsidized health benefits despite a $5.8 billion budget deficit.

“People need health care now more than ever, and (Doyle) knows it’s a smart investment to create healthy residents,” Schnell said. “There is a strong and direct link between improving our state’s current economic situation and health care.”

• A fair tax structure.

In Minnesota, according to statistics from the think tank Growth and Justice, a household that earns $45,000 puts 12 percent of its income into state and local taxes. By contrast, a household that earns $450,000 puts just 8 percent of its income into state and local taxes.

Jeff Van Wychen, a fellow at the think tank Minnesota 2020, called on state leaders to reverse this “regressive” tax code by asking the wealthy to pay their fair share.

“This approach will not only make Minnesota’s tax system more fair, but it will balance the state’s budget in a way that does the least amount of damage to the state’s economy,” he said.

• Keeping Minnesota families in their homes.

Mike Ireland, supervising attorney for the Foreclosure Relief Project, said if lawmakers want to fix the economy, they need to fix the housing market. And the biggest threat to the housing market right now, he said, is foreclosure.

“The one thing we don’t want right now is more foreclosed homes on the market,” Ireland said. “It’s already depressing real estate prices.”

Ireland said 30,000 homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure last year, and another 30,000 are at risk of foreclosure this year.

“We had an opportunity last year to have a moratorium on foreclosures,” Ireland said. “It was vetoed. Now we have another opportunity, and the amazing thing about these bills is they don’t cost the state of Minnesota one penny.”

• Enforcing corporate accountability.

Rev. Grant Stevensen, president of the faith-based progressive organization ISAIAH, called for increased regulation of both the private and public sectors.

“Corporations were cut loose from the expectations that they would actually be good for the community,” Stevenson said. “The unchecked greed that followed blinded many CEOs, corporate boards, banks and elected officials to the pain that their practices were causing.”

Speakers acknowledged that serving up economic recovery won’t be cheap. But McGrath said that exactly how to fund the “Minnesota Recipe” is something “for legislative leaders and the governor to figure out.”

“What we’re saying today is there’s a conversation that hasn’t been happening here at the state level that needs to be happening, and that’s about economic recovery,” McGrath said.

For more information on the “Minnesota Recipe,” go to www.MNRecipeforSuccess.com.

Michael Moore edits The St. Paul Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation.