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Click to see Sept Calendar Events |
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| Sara Horan and Bill Davis – NWSOFA Chapter Co-Leads |
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NOW, RUN FOR OFFICE!
The consolidated elections are upon us!
Are you ready for the municipal elections 2019? Candidates from Mayor to Trustee are getting their petitions in order to get on the April Ballot. They are boldly stepping forward to help organize their communities, school boards and local governments for the betterment of you and me. Give them a hand. Help them gather signatures to get on the ballot.
OR
Better yet if you’ve ever considered running for office there still may be time to dip your toe in. We’re behind you all the way!
Local politics is easy to get involved in and we need more progressives from top to bottom of all ballots to make 2019…the NEXT Year of the Big BLUE WAVE!
Join the NWSOFA Team as we protect the gains we made
over the last 8 years and move our Progressive social issues forward in 2018 .
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OUR UPCOMING EVENTS FOR DECEMBER:
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Click on image above to link to calendar |
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NWSOFA ACA Team Request for Volunteers ~ Sign-up for ACA ends on 12/15/18!
DECEMBER 4 @ 3:00 – 5:00 PM
DECEMBER 8 @ 1:00 – 3:00 PM
ACA: It’s Time to Get Covered!
You have until December 15th to sign up for health care coverage for 2019
You may qualify for financial assistance, Last year most people qualified for financial help
Also, we are looking for volunteers to help staff ACA information tables at:
Please contact Keith Moens at:
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NWSOFA
Partner Event: Carbon Pricing 101 hosted by CCL, LWV & Climate Reality Project
Sat Dec 1 from 10:00 – 11:30 AM
Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Ln.
Northbrook, IL
Hosted jointly by Climate Reality Project, League of Women Voters, and CCL.
There’s growing support for carbon pricing as a necessary step to address climate change. It’s supported by 88 countries and a broad array of public interest groups yet most Americans know very little about carbon pricing.
Come to learn:
* Why pricing is an effective policy for climate action
* How pricing will speed a transition to renewable energy
* Many co-benefits including employment and jobs
* The broad, diverse groups that support pricing
* How you can support a carbon pricing policy
About Our Speakers:
Rick Knight is Research Coordinator at Citizens’ Climate Education Corp. (CCE), a non-profit advocacy group headquartered in San Diego. He works with policy staff and independent experts to optimize CCE’s science, technology, and policy fundamentals, as well as doing volunteer work with CCE’s sister organization, Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL). Prior to CCL and CCE, Rick had a 40-year career in energy and pollution control research at the Gas Technology Institute. He received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago and later studied chemical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Eleanor Revelle is Chair of the Climate Change Task Force of the League of Women Voters of the US (LWVUS) and a member of the Steering Committee of the League’s Price on Carbon Network. She was a founding board member and four-year president of Citizens’ Greener Evanston, a nonprofit working to make Evanston a more sustainable community, with an emphasis on reducing the community’s greenhouse gas emissions. A freelance writer and editor, she has focused on issues related to sustainability and climate change. Revelle has served in leadership positions in a range of civic organizations, including as founding board member of Leadership Evanston, board chair of the Evanston Community Foundation, president of the Evanston and Illinois League of Women Voters, and eight-year board member of the LWVUS. She currently serves as Alderman of Evanston’s 7th Ward.
Mike Zanillo is a full-time volunteer and state co-coordinator for Illinois for the Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL). CCL is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. Mike is a retired Information Technology leader having held senior positions with McDonalds Corporation and Motorola, as well as, having been the CIO for WMS Gaming and Rexnord Inc. Mike’s education includes a degree in Economics from the University of Chicago and attended graduate-level business school programs with Loyola and Northern Illinois Universities.
We are planning to table at this event – please let me know if you are interested in helping with tabling.
Speakers will be Rick Knight (Research Coordinator for CCL), Eleanor Revelle (Chair of the Climate Change Task Force of the League of Women Voters of the US), and Mike Zanillo (Illinois co-coordinator for CCL).
Click HERE for Details and registration
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24 Hours of Realty Live Streaming from Around the World
December 3 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
“When we are united, we are unstoppable.” Ever wondered what it’s like to attend a Climate Reality Leadership Corps training? Here’s what the experience is like, straight from Climate Reality Leaders!
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NWSOFA
Partner Event: Palatine Cool Cities Team Meeting
Tues DEC 4 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Palatine Village Hall
200 E Wood Street
Palatine, IL
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NWSOFA Partner Event:
CCL Dec. Mtg.at Countryside Church, with guest speaker
Saturday DEC 8 @ 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Countryside Church Unitarian Universalist
1025 N Smith St.
Palatine, IL
Our speaker on December’s International Call will be Per Espen Stoknes, psychologist, author and Green Party representative to the Parliament of Norway. Details will be provided in a forthcoming notice.
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NWSOFA
December Fiscal and Economic Issues Meeting.
Monday Dec 10 @ 7:00 – 9:30 PM
Schaumburg Library
130 S. Roselle Road
Schaumburg, IL
We had a good meeting last month in Arlington Heights, including a discussion of the election results.
U.S. Update on US economy and fiscal situation.
The November update for the US can be found at HERE. We will get out a December update before the meeting after November results are released next Friday. Some highlights:
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Much of the government has been operating on continuing resolutions since the beginning of the fiscal year October 1st. That continuing resolution expires next week. Hopefully we won’t be discussing a government shutdown at our December meeting.
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Job creation in Trump’s first 21 months through October 2018 was 4.054 million (193,000/month), vs. 4.477 million in Obama’s last 21 months (213,000/month). Job creation has been positive each month starting in October 2010 (96 months). Private sector job growth has been positive since March 2010;
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The unemployment rate hit 3.7% in September 2018 and remained at 3.7% in October 2018, the lowest since the late 1960’s and below the April 2000 rate of 3.8%. The unemployment rate has fallen consistently since its peak of 10.0% in October 2010.
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Real wage growth has averaged 0.3% per month (measured vs. year-ago level) during the Trump Administration, vs. 0.8% per month during the Obama Administration. Higher inflation (due mainly to energy prices) has offset rising nominal wages.
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Treasury reported the budget deficit for FY2018 at $779 billion, up $113 billion (17%) vs. 2017 but up $292 billion (60%) vs. the January 2017 baseline estimate for FY2018. The deficit was 3.9% GDP in 2018 vs. 3.5% GDP in 2017. The debt addition trajectory for 2018-2027 has increased from $9.4 trillion (January 2017 baseline) to $13.7 trillion (April 2018 current policy baseline), an increase of $4.3 trillion or 46%. These increases are driven by tax cuts and spending increases and consider economic feedback.
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Real GDP growth was 3.5% in Q3 2018, down from 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Net imports were a sizable drag, inventory building was a significant boost, and business investment was a small negative contributor. Most forecasters predict the real GDP growth rate will continue to trend down to below 2% by 2020.
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David will explain why the fact that tax revenues grew does not mean that the tax cuts paid for themselves.
ILLINOIS
Illinois economy – Job growth was positive in October, changing growth since the beginning of the fiscal year in July from -1,200 in September to +8,900 in October.
Illinois Budget – Waiting for governor elect Pritzker’s first budget due in February.
NEW TOPIC – World Economic Trends
This is a topic Karl intended to talk about in November, but we ran out of time. Karl likes two recent books that highlight that the world is generally improving. He will be discussing:
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker and
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
“Factfulness” begins with a quiz testing knowledge of the world, that can be found at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_k86XBcqFGEJ6s2YFiWQjsir3uXsiPZ4 According to the author, most people do not do well on this quiz when he gives it at the beginning of a presentation. I think part of the problem is that most of us think in terms of how the 300 million people in the U.S. live when we think of upper, middle and lower income levels. The author thinks in terms of the seven billion people in the world and defines his use of these terms at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yLZDWz5jr02DLzoEa3yxcgwNinm7i7KTThe short version:
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Lower income equates to extreme poverty, i.e. less than $2 per day per person
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Middle income equates to between $2 and $32 per day per person
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Upper income equates to more than $32 per day per person, about $12,000 per year. Including government benefits, almost everyone in the U.S. falls into this category.
Karl will provide the answers to this quiz at our December 10th meeting. If you are curious before then, email me ( karl.faulstich@gmail.com) and I will provide them to you. Don’t be discouraged if you didn’t do well. The author claims that the average correct score on the first 12 questions is about two, which is lower than would be provided by random guessing. His point is that most of us do not know very much about the world at large and we are missing opportunities because of our lack of knowledge. I’m looking forward to this meeting. We have a larger room, so come join us.
After the meeting we will head to Lou Malnati’s where the OFA rules limiting political discussions don’t apply. Feel free to join us here as well.
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NWSOFA PARTNER EVENT
6th Annual National Vigil to #EndGunViolence in Commemoration of the 6th Anniversary of Sandy Hook Tragedy
Tuesday, Dec. 11, 7 – 8 pm
Countryside Church Unitarian Universalist,
Come join our vigil #EndGunViolence in commemoration of the 6th anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy, as well as the approximately 180,000 American victims of gun violence who have been killed since December 2012. The vigil will be part of the nationwide tribute also in partnership with Newtown Foundation, Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown Survivor Network and the Women’s March. Your presence at the vigil will help give a voice to the tens of thousands of victims and survivors of gun violence and allow you to play a vital part to help #EndGunViolence. A time of reflection and fellowship with light refreshments will follow from 8:00 pm to 8:45 pm.
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IN THE BOOKS: RECENT EVENTS
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IN THE BOOKS-RECENT EVENTS
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Notice: These are public meeting(s) / event(s)
NWSOFA is a 501(c)4, non-partisan organization.
All opinions are solely those of NWSOFA
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NWSOFA
is
Action..
“Hope is not blind optimism. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.” President Barack Obama
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Thank You to our NWSOFA Issue Leads in 2015
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| Click on the above Image to see each lead and the issues they work on .._ |
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MEET THE
NWSOFA
All Volunteer
CHAPTER LEADS
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Contact Information
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NWSOFA Co-Leaders Sara Horan & Bill Davis
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