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The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents March 2025 I Vaahnt to…Organize Your Workers! Mike Andrew You may remember Bela Lugosi in his iconic title role in Dracula. Or you may remember him as the evil Russian commissar inNinotchka. Or in his roles as the villain in a series of B grade hor- ror films. If you’re a Tim Burton fan, you may think of him as theloopy character played by Martin Landau in Ed Wood. The real-life Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary, on October 20, 1882. As an actor, hetook the stage name “Lugosi” in honor of his birth- place. As part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hungary entered World War I in 1914, and Lugosi, like other young men, volunteered forthe Hungarian army. Like other young men, he experienced the horror of war – at one point being an article praising the Soviet Union to the socialist magazine New Masses. Before long, Lugosi’s political activities caught the attention of J. Edgar Hoover. The FBI and CIA both opened files on theactor. The House Un-Amer- ican Activities Committee (HUAC) appointed the so-called “Dracula council” to keep tabs on Lugosi.INS even looked into deporting him, despite the fact that he had held American citizenship since 1931. Lugosi was not the only horror star to be targeted for their political activism. Fellow Hungarian refugee Peter Lorre, star of M, andVincent Price, who had appeared in the Invisible Man Returns, received scrutiny for participating in the anti-HUAC radiobroadcast “Hollywood Strikes Back.” The two spoke buried alive under the corpses of his fellow soldiers. And, like many other young men, he came out of the war as a firm supporter of socialism. The war led to the collapse of most` of the old European empires. The Bol- sheviks established the world’s first socialist state onthe ruins of the Russian Empire. The Kaiser fled Germany, and the new German government, with the help of right-wing militias,barely put down a communist-led insurrection. The Austro-Hungarian Empire broke up into its constituent parts. In Hungary, local communists attempted to replicate theRussian revolution, setting up the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919. Lugosi, by then already an activist in the Hungarian actor’sunion, supported the revolution. The Hungarian Soviet was short- lived. Britain and France encouraged Romania to invade Hungary and occupy a large part ofits territory. Admiral Miklós Horthy, a leftover from the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, set up a military dictatorship in the remainder of Hungary. Lugosi fled the country. He ended up in New York where he acted in Hungarian stage plays before being cast in the English language play The Red Poppy. In 1927, he was cast in the role that made him famous: Count Dracula. Lugosi’s charismatic stage performance and his persistent lobbying of Universal Studios got him the role in the 1931 film version. After his star-making film role in Dracula, Lugosi became a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Another founding member was Frankenstein star and frequent Lugosi costar Boris Karloff. The two actors worked to sign up the casts of their films, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Raven, and The Invisible Ray. Theirefforts paid off when SAG signed its first contract with the Hollywood studios in 1937. Lugosi’s solidarity extended beyond his fellow actors. During World War II, Bela Lugosi headed the Hungarian American Council for Democracy, an anti-fascist organization. In 1945 he signed a petition protesting the deportation proceedings against ILWU leader Harry Bridges. Lugosi also contributed out alongside Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and other stars. Lorre was also investigated because of his long-standing friendship with Marxist playwright Bertolt Brecht. Price was unable to find work for a year due to his outspokenness, and under pressure from the FBI had to sign a secret oath that he was not a communist. Socialist Themes in Lugosi’s Horror Films No one would say Lugosi made great films, but many of his movies contain memorable political and social themes. The 1932 film White Zombie, in which Lugosi played voodoo master Murder Legendre, dramatizes the exploitation of Black Haitians. Legendre uses his zombie slaves to work his sugar mill and increase his wealth. He offers his zombie workers to a plantation owner saying “They are not worried about long hours.” When one of the zombies falls into the mill and is crushed, work continues as usual. Nothing is allowed to delay the productionof profits. This scene is in- tended as a critique of the forced labor system that was actually introduced in Haiti during what was then a US military occupation. Another 1932 horror film, Island of the Lost Souls, an adaptation of the Island of Doctor Moreau, contains similar anti-colonial themes. Lugosi has the small, but important role of the Sayer of the Law, the mouthpiece of Dr. Moreau’slaws for the Beast Men. At the climax of the film, the Beast Men attack Moreau, after the Doctor has ordered one ofthem to commit murder. The purpose of the oppressor’s laws are revealed to be total control over the masses, and he is free to break his own laws whenconvenient. Moreau defends him- self with a whip, the tool of the slaver. This climax was so shocking that the film was banned in many countries. Tellingly, in Australia it was forbidden from being shown to Aboriginal audiences, lest they get any ideas of how to deal withtheir colonial overlords. The 1934 film The Black Cat was a highpoint in Lugosi’s filmography. The film was the first to team him with Boris Karloff and both actors give stunning performances. The plot follows Werdegast (Lugosi) and Poelzig (Karloff), both veterans of the Eastern front during World War I. Poelzig betrayed Werdegast and the other soldiers to the enemy and left them for dead. Lugosi as Werdegast gives a powerful anti-war monologue saying, “Did we not both die here in Marmorus 15 years ago? Are we any the less victims of the war than those whose bodies were torn asunder? Are we not both the living dead?” Many of Lugosi's films are available on popular streaming services. They're worth a look. Mike Andrew is the Executive Director of PSARA and Editor of the Advocate < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents December 2025 Resistance In Washington State Grows Cindy Domingo Resistance is spreading across the US including the major cities whereTrump has sent federal troops and/or the National Guard. Washington State organizations and coalitions are organizing to protect their communities from a potential troop deployment. PSARA is focusing our work on the Free Washington Project (FWP). The Project has called for the formation of a Coordinating Council to grow a grassroots network in Washington State to resist authoritarian and anti-democratic actions of the Trump administration, and the agenda of Project 2025. FWP will coordinate efforts with other stakeholders to stand against military escalation and criminalization of protest. Initiated by Washington State Standing for Democracy, the Free Washington Project has been inspired by Free DC, Hands Off NYC, Bay Resistance, and organizations united in Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago. Discussions with activists and organizers from these cities have enabled the organizers at the center of FWP to glean important lessons in building a popular front. First, FWP seeks to prevent the sending of troops and second, if troops are sent, to build a coordinated response to protect vulnerable communities and to ensure our response is nonviolent. The FWP is building a Coordinating Council that is multi-racial and multi-sectoral that can grow resilience and mutual support across communities and the state. Through coordinated actions and events and sharing resources and announcements, we can broaden the base of resistance beyond those organizations that are the most active currently in the anti-fascist movement. The FWP is launching a website ( freeWAproject.org ) to act as a clearing house to amplify the efforts of those organizing around the state. It will be a resource to announce actions, events, and trainings, intended to build resistance to Project 2025, even more broadly than its attacks against immigrants. Trainings can include non-violent civil disobedience, building rapid response networks, and de-escalation tactics. The six points of unity for joining FWP are: Commitment to non-violence to ensure the success of actions; Commitment to building a coordinated response against the use of military or militarized units of federal or federalized forces in Washington State; Commitment to solidarity, based on respect for diverse tactics and plans by various groups, avoidance of public criticisms, or debates within our movements; Opposition to any state repression that seeks to surveil, infiltrate, disrupt, and cause violence to our movement; Build the broadest resistance to authoritarian actions of the administration by utilizing the website as a resource for members of FWP; Promoting community by building the broadest coalition that is multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-sectoral, multi-generational, and internationalist in composition and viewpoint. The coalition will honor the leadership of those most impacted by the policies currently being implemented under Project 2025. While Standing for Democracy’s main emphasis will be to build a Coordinating Council of FWP, it is important to continue to build ties with other organizational efforts that have intersecting interests with FWP. One important formation, chaired by One America, is the Statewide Immigration Table: Rapid Mobilization which is focusing on a plan should federal troops be deployed to Washington State. Composed mainly of immigrant rights groups, ACLU and Indivisible representatives, the Table focuses on attacks on immigrant communities. As a leader in immigrant justice, One America is also building a communications plan with elected officials and media. WAISN (Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network) is launching a statewide membership group focused on large-scale raids by ICE. Standing for Democracy continues its ongoing committee work through People’s Assemblies for Democracy, Affirmative Resistance, as well as a general membership education session on the last Wednesday of each month. If you are interested in attending Standing for Democracy meetings and/ or finding out more information about the Coordinating Council of the Free Washington Project, please contact Cindy Domingo at 206.856.0324 or standingfordemocracy053@gmail.com . Cindy Domingo is a veteran activist with LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership & Organizing) and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance), and PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents August 2025 GENIUSes at Work: Crypto Buys the Government Michael Righi The Big Beautiful Bill has been voted into law. Now we have the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, passed by the Senate, with the help of 18 Democrats. If this is genius, what are the idiots up to? Other than thinking up ridiculous names, that is. What is a “stablecoin”? It is a type of cryptocurrency. Crypto coins or tokens are privately created assets based on computer blockchain technologies (don’t ask). Boosters want them to be actual money to buy and sell stuff, but they aren’t. They are pure speculation, created out of thin air. Crypto is great for money launderers, illegal arms traders, drug dealers and anyone engaged in fraud or bribery, since it is anonymous, with no traceable bank account. It has no use for anyone with a bank card or a payment app. Yes, those have fees that go to tech firms or bloated banks, but they are a lot more efficient than trading crypto, which takes huge amounts of computer power, and uses outsized amounts of fuel and water. Cryptocurrencies are great for those companies that issue them and rake in fees from trading. Unregulated predatory operators pump up the value of their coins and then sell, leaving smaller purchasers with the losses. Crypto also works well for corrupt politicians like Trump. Used to be you had to furtively hand a bag of cash to the politician you needed a favor from. Now, Trump and family have issued a whole array of crypto assets that tycoons buy, pump up their value, then announce on X that they have put $100,000 into $TRUMP. (That’s an actual case, not a hypothetical. In return, the SEC pauses your fraud case.) They’re Stable, Right? But back to stablecoins. Stablecoins are supposedly backed up one-to-one by liquid dollar assets like government bonds. So they are stable and safe, right? And then traditional financial institutions like banks and insurance companies can lend money to them, and pools of pension and government funds can “invest” in them. Which gives the crypto industry legitimacy. To achieve that legitimacy, crypto super PACs put hundreds of millions into the 2024 election, nearly half of all corporate spending for political candidates that year. They defeated crypto skeptics and elected boosters. They brought in the Trump crime family. They bought the government. The result? The GENIUS Act. Which very lightly “regulates” stablecoin- issuing companies. It will allow banks to issue coins, and lend money to firms who do. It requires minimal reporting of reserve assets of stablecoin issuers, with weak oversight. What could go wrong? Does anyone remember the 2008 financial crisis? The GENIUS Act removes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from regulating or bringing fraud charges. It basically allows private issuers to create their own money, without any customer protections, such as deposit insurance. Maybe it is OK to allow speculative trading in crypto, although many unaware folks are being fleeced of their money. But if that fraud and manipulation finds its way into the banking system, it threatens a financial crisis that affects all of us. And then the GENIUS Act will ensure that crypto speculators get bailed out by the government. Socialism for the rich. Supporting an industry whose main contribution to the economy is to scam people. Monopoly Money The GENIUS Act would also allow big tech firms – Apple, Meta, X – to issue their own stablecoins/currency. Musk, Zuckerberg, and others would have their own private currencies, locking you into their platforms and having access to your data. The rich get richer, and more powerful and in control. We have had laws for 200 years separating commerce and finance; this begins to break that separation down. The huge surge in inequality at the very top (the 0.1%) we have experienced since the 1980’s has occurred in a couple of waves. The first was the rise of hedge funds and private equity. These are predators who buy and sell and break up productive firms, producing nothing themselves but accumulating wealth in fewer and fewer hands. This has come at the expense of jobs and wages, and you would think there’s a limit. But now, notice that private equity firms have moved hard into health care, housing, and even kids’ sports leagues. The second wave of tycoons is our tech overlords, who already control our data and our attention. Now they want a piece of crypto profits as well. This is privatization run amok: from private schools and health care and privately held firms, and now to private weather forecasts and private currencies like crypto. It’s clear who benefits from all this privatization; it’s where our greedy billionaires come from. Michael Righi is a retired economics professor and a member of the Retiree Advocate editorial board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents June 2025 We Remember Iris Rosechild Editor's Note: The Advocate mourns the passing of our friend and colleague Iris Rosechild. Iris volunteered as a proofreader for the Advocate for many years, and her way with words made the Advocate a better publication. She always kept us laughing and was a pleasure to work with. We'd like to share a remembrance of Iris by her friend Carla. Iris Rosechild, born Iris Chaya Golub in Brooklyn, New York, Oct. 27, 1943, died at the age of 81 in Seattle in the hospital, nine days after a fall in her apartment. Her father, Barry Golub, came from Russia when he was 11 to join his father here in America. He was an interior house painter, and his father was a tailor. Her mother, Rose Golub, was a housewife and the first generation from Austria. Rose and Barry spoke Yiddish to each other and were Socialists. Iris was the youngest of six daughters. Her Jewish identity was very important to her. Iris left home at 17 to be a bohemian with her boyfriend in Greenwich Village. Her favorite place was the Caricatura coffee house. She moved to the Haight Ashbury in San Francisco in the 60’s, became a flower child, and protested the Vietnam War. Eventually she moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington and graduated with a BA in Women’s Studies. She was the first coordinator of the Feminist Therapy Referral Service, which was started by her partner, Cameron Justam, in 1976. Before that she was a counselor at the YWCA. Iris had a small business selling fashionable hats called Mad about Hats in the Bon Marché in downtown Seattle. She also sold socks in a business called Café Socks in Pike Place Market and in the former Broadway Market on Capitol Hill. She returned to New York to take care of her father and her sister who were dying. She earned a Master’s in Grief Counseling at Pace University. She got a job as a counselor in New York helping the homeless find permanent housing. She loved her job but quit to return to Seattle and Cameron. She did proofreading since 2018 for the Retiree Advocate, where her keen sense of the rhythm of words was appreciated. This was just one of her many volunteer commitments. She volunteered for the Seattle International Film Festival, the Seattle Jewish Film Festival, as well as Seattle Town Hall. She and Cameron have been in a lesbian film group for five years. She had an inimitable sense of style in everything she did. She had a signature sense of humor. She made great chicken soup. She was a reader and big library user. She was warm and caring for other human beings. She was a big animal lover. Her most recent pet, Cozmo, was a three-legged orange female cat who Iris doted on. Iris is survived by two sisters, Dorian and Ruth, four nieces, one nephew, and her partner of 49 years, Cameron. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2025 Tariffs Are Not Evil, They Are Just a Tool Michael Righi Trump is “Tariff Man,” right? He appears to love them. Therefore, one would think, tariffs are wrongheaded. But then, what about Biden keeping and extending Trump’s tariffs? And why do several of our national unions support the judicious use of tariffs as part of a pro-worker economic policy? Let’s start at the beginning. A tariff is a tax collected by the government on imports from other countries. The tax is collected from the importer. But who really pays it? Controversy and simplistic claims start here. Does the exporter (from China, say) lower its prices and absorb a loss in profits in order to remain competitive? That is Trump’s assertion – since China is supposedly devastating our economy, along with immigrants and liberal elites, he is planning to punish China with even higher tariffs than the ones he and Biden have already implemented. Another possibility, the position usually taken by mainstream economists, is that, like any tax, the tariff is just passed on by, say, Walmart or whoever the importing corporation is, in the form of higher prices. That would mean consumers pay, not “China.” (We have to be careful here, since some imports are produced overseas by US corporations taking advantage of low wages, not by Chinese firms.) So, it’s complicated. Trump putting an across-the-board tariff on Mexico would likely raise grocery prices, since we import much of our fresh produce from Mexico, and production within the US or elsewhere could not immediately ramp up to replace Mexican avocados, for example. Much like the Washington State sales tax, those price hikes would disproportionally hurt lower-income families, who spend a much bigger percentage of their income on food. A Brief History of Tariffs Targeted tariffs are a different story. The early independent United States raised tariffs against British textiles and manufacturing in order to develop its own industry. A country doesn’t become prosperous for very long by just exporting raw materials and not diversifying into manufacturing. In the post-WWII period, developing countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, and then China used tariffs as part of their industrialization strategy. But US corporations, and neoliberal policymakers, used US financial and military power to “negotiate” low tariffs and free trade to give US capital access to markets and the ability to ship jobs to low-wage countries. But now that China produces 35 percent of the world’s manufactured goods, and the US share is down close to 10 percent, things have changed. Neoliberalism has been shown to benefit US corporations and elites and devastate working families. Now the US needs an industrial policy. Carefully targeted tariffs have to be part of that. To be clear, tariffs are only one tool. Industrial policies should include tax incentives and subsidies for research and innovation. The Inflation Reduction and Chips Acts, and infrastructure spending, all under Biden, have done some of that. But we have to do more – you cannot just shovel money and protection to US corporations. They will just raise prices and buy back stock and raise CEO pay and dividends to wealthy stockholders. There have to be targets for investment; goals for carbon reduction; requirements for unionization, wages, and job training; and worker participation in decision making. Yes, the list is long – the time of corporate plundering has been long. Back To Tariff Man None of that is what Trump has in mind, of course. He thinks he can restore US domination through intimidation. Or bluff and threaten and use tariffs as a symbolic “I’m on your side” to divert attention from tax and regulatory cuts. So he is threatening Mexico (and Canada?) with tariffs unless they do something about immigration and fentanyl exports. He threatens Brazil and others for moving away from using the US dollar in foreign transactions. Trump is telling other countries to play ball or get whacked. He is using US workers to support an America First agenda. But he has no intention of supporting unions or limiting the freedom of capital to do what it wants. We need fair trade, not free trade. Smart tariffs would penalize imports of nickel from toxic Indonesian mines, imported BMW’s from the factory that pays Mexican workers $1.50 an hour, and any import that contributes significantly to climate change. Tariffs are a tool that can be used judiciously, as part of an overall strategy to support working-class jobs and wages and training and innovation. But we do not want to buy into America First. We want trade policy that benefits all workers. Michael Righi is a retired economics professor and a member of the Retiree Advocate Editorial Board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2025 Trump and His Neighbors to the South Cindy Domingo Donald Trump announced that Florida Senator Marco Rubio is his choice for Secretary of State and Carlos Trujillo for Assistant Secretary of State. This signals that the Trump administration will pursue a foreign policy in the Caribbean and Latin America focused on increased sanctions, regime change, and increased economic suffering for the peoples to our south who have cho- sen an alternative form of government away from capitalism. Rubio and Trujillo are both Cuban Americans and have a long history of disdain for the leaders of Caribbean and Latin American countries who advocate for their country’s sovereignty. Trujillo was Trump’s US Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), an international body that has displayed hostility especially towards Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Rubio was Trump's lead advisor, along with Senator Bob Menendez, in crafting Cuba policy during Trump’s first term. During that term, Trump reversed many of former President Barack Obama’s Cuba policies that re-established diplomatic and people-to-people relations with Cuba. This included policies that relaxed the travel restrictions for US- people, which resulted in over 500,000 people from the US traveling to Cuba by expanded air travel and cruise ships. The most damaging policy that Trump and Rubio instituted was placing Cuba on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. This policy increases restrictions on Cuban trade and access to foreign markets and banking systems. It continues to devastate the Cuban economy. Despite international pressure for Biden to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Biden only announced on January 14, 2025, that Cuba would finally be removed on January 29, since there was no mate- rial basis for Cuba to remain on the list. This decision was made after a massive international campaign and the intervention of Pope Francis. (However, by the time this article goes to print, this policy will undoubtedly be reversed by Trump at the advice of Rubio and other conservative Cuban American Trump advisors before it can get implement- ed.) In 2019, Trump recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as its president, despite Nicholas Maduro’s election. Today, even though Maduro was recently elected president again, Biden has disputed the Venezuelan election and recognized Edmundo Gonzalez as president-elect, a move that Trump will also probably follow. And while Latin America has had new conservative leaders in Argentina and Paraguay since 2021 when Trump left office, many left governments re- main in power, including Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia. In Columbia, Gustavo Petro, Columbia’s first leftist leader, was elected in 2022. In 2023, Lula da Silva from the Workers’ Party was reelected as Brazil’s president. US hostility to our southern neighbors, including Mexico, will continue to intensify under Trump as the inter- national body BRICS gains momentum. BRICS is an intergovernmental organization that was formed in 2009 as an alternative to the G7 bloc of the world’s largest economies. The founding countries include Brazil, Russia, India, and China and has now expanded to 10 country members. Cuba and Bolivia are now partner countries along with 11 other partner countries who joined in October 2024. Mexico has been considering requesting membership for a few years. BRICS country members account for 46 percent of the world’s population. The developing countries are using BRICS as a method to use their local currencies on the international markets, thus weakening the US dollar. With China at the center of BRICS, they bring an economic clout unmatched by any other country, including the US. While Trump can continue to wage war against our southern neighbors through tariffs and increased sanctions, BRICS and its member countries will pursue building its alternative organization and becoming an alternative economic development resource for those developing countries. BRICS principles based on non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit run counter to Trump’s foreign policy, which seeks a return to the Monroe Doctrine where everything belongs to the US. This includes the Panama Canal, Greenland, and the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” At the same time, the continued harshening of sanctions will have the effect of increased economic refugees fleeing to the US. Since 2013, eight mil- lion Venezuelans have left the country. Many have gone to the US, due to the economic hardships created by US sanctions that include punishing other countries for trading with Venezuela. In the 2021-2023 period, one million Cubans left their country seeking better economic opportunities. Most of the Cubans who left have come to the US in the most significant migration wave in Cuban history. This massive migration presents another problem for Trump, who has promised to stop migrants coming into the US and to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants, the majority of whom come from coun- tries south of the US border. Like so many of Trump’s MAGA policies that he wants to implement, Trump’s Caribbean and Latin America policies will face heavy opposition in this ever-changing world, where US influence continues to decline. Cindy Domingo is PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach, and a long-time activist in LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership, and Organizing) and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance). < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2025 Pierce County PSARA Committee on the Move Richard Burton Our Pierce County PSARA chapter has gotten underway! We have with tremendous support from PSARA leaders Tim Burns, Karen Richter, Pam Crone, Jessica Bonebright, and Robby Stern. PSARA Executive Board member Lynne Dodson has been chairing the group and was elected to be our delegate to the Pierce County Central Labor Council (PCCLC). Anita Latch and Kit Burns are our alternates to the PCCLC. At our meetings, we’ve had prominent participation from activists in Tacoma Indivisible, UFCW local 367, League of Women Voters of Tacoma- Pierce County, and Retired Public Employees Council (RPEC) of Washing- ton. We are excited about building and adding to these alliances. At our most recent meeting, we made decisions about programs we can put on and campaigns we can help support. These include: Leveling the Playing Field Work- shop. We plan to put on a workshop on this vital topic on March 8. Stay tuned for details. March 18 Lobby Day. We have begun making legislative appointments for Pierce County–area lawmakers for the March 18 PSARA lob- by day and will be turning out as many PSARA activist members as possible. Meetings with Congressmembers. We will be meeting with Congress- members Randall, Strickland, and Schrier – or their office staff – over the next months. We will be pressing them on PSARA’s federal concerns around Social Security and Medicare. As mentioned above, we also plan to articulate our concerns with the contract between ICE and the GEO Group, pertaining to the Northwest Immigrant Detention Center. Social Security Works. A number of members from our new chapter have participated in the strategy meetings about efforts to defend and strengthen both Medicare and Social Security. Tacoma Bill of Rights. UFCW local 367 is likely going to be pushing a municipal initiative in Tacoma, calling for a Workers' Bill of Rights in Tacoma. We hope to help support this effort, which will of course start with signature-gathering. Fighting Senior Center Closures. The City of Tacoma has announced plans to close two senior centers. A campaign to stop the closures at Lighthouse Senior Center and Beacon Activity Center has been launched and PSARA activists will be supporting their efforts. Sadly, Lighthouse, though still open, has no programming. Northwest Immigrant Detention Center. La Resistencia is a wonderful group that has been fighting the ongoing human rights abuses at the Northwest Immigrant Detention Center in Tacoma. The group put on a powerful event in early December– “Melting ICE” – featuring a spectacular and thought-provoking exhibit. The contract between ICE and the GEO group (the private corpo- ration that runs the detention center)is going to expire this September. We will be urging that it not be renewed in meetings with Pierce County Congress- members. Our meetings are held on the second Thursday of the month. New members are always welcome. Richard Burton is PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents December 2025 Letter from State Medical Associations: "The WISeR Model expands the burdensome prior authorization processes that physicians already experience in Medicare Advantage" October 31, 2025 Dr. Mehmet Oz Administrator Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 7500 Security Boulevard Baltimore, MD 21244 Dear Dr. Oz, On behalf of the undersigned state medical associations, we write to raise concerns about the prior authorization (PA) pilot under the WISeR model as it relates to Medicare. While our organizations appreciate the aim of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to increase accountability, value in healthcare delivery for Medicare beneficiaries, and reduce spending on services deemed low-value or wasteful, we believe the current design of this pilot risks unintended consequences including delayed care, reduced access, and increased burdens on both patients and physicians. Moreover, we are deeply concerned by both the lack of operational details released to date and the pace at which CMS is advancing a program of this magnitude, particularly one that shifts critical decisions away from physicians and patients – without sufficient transparency, stakeholder input, or evidence it will improve patient care. Administrative burden placing barriers to patient access Our organizations are concerned that the WISeR Model expands the burdensome PA processes that physicians already experience in Medicare Advantage (MA) and the commercial insurance markets into Traditional Medicare. The demonstration represents significant departures from current standards and seems to conflict with CMS’ recent, highly laudable achievement of securing a commitment from the health insurance industry to fix the broken PA process, to include reducing the overall volume of PA requirements. PA has consistently been identified by physicians as one of the most burdensome and disruptive administrative requirements they face in providing quality care to patients. In a 2024 American Medical Association survey, 93 percent of physicians reported that PA causes care delays, 82 percent indicated that the process can lead to treatment abandonment, and an alarming 29 percent said that PA had led to a serious adverse event (hospitalization, disability, or even death) for a patient in their care. Beyond the risk for patient harm, expansion of PA requirements under the WISeR model will exacerbate the administrative burdens already associated with PA. Surveyed physicians reported major burdens associated with this process, with practices completing an average of 39 PAs per physician, per week. This significant workload requires practices to hire additional personnel, with 40 percent of the surveyed physicians reporting that their practice employs staff who work exclusively on PA. Growing evidence linking practice burdens to professional burnout for physicians and other health care professionals underscores the importance of addressing administrative workloads. The introduction of such PA protocols in Traditional Medicare also risks creating unnecessary delays in patient care, increasing practice expenses, and diverting time and resources away from direct patient care. Our organizations recognize that CMS intends to use artificial intelligence and machine learning tools in the WISeR Model to help identify potentially unnecessary services more efficiently and consistently than manual reviews alone. We appreciate that technological advances can appropriately create efficiencies when applied responsibly and transparently. However, reliance on AI and other automated tools raise significant risks if not governed properly. We are also concerned that the vendor incentive structure within the WISeR Model could result in excessive denials motivated more by the potential for vendor profit than by fair and balanced clinical judgment. When third-party entities are paid based on the volume of denied services, there is a clear risk that care that is medically necessary for certain patients will be inappropriately denied in pursuit of savings. Physicians are committed to delivering high-quality, evidence-based care to Medicare beneficiaries. However, the prior authorization pilot risks creating barriers to care, undermining patient outcomes, and imposing unsustainable administrative demands on practices. We respectfully urge CMS to cease implementation and work collaboratively with stakeholders to design payment processes that protect the Medicare Trust Fund while achieving value, without jeopardizing patient access. Sincerely, James Jameson, MD President, Arizona State Medical Association John Bastulli, MD, FASA President, Ohio State Medical Association Bridget Bush, MD, FASA President, Washington State Medical Association Peter Blumenthal, MD President, Medical Society of New Jersey Sumit Nanda, MD President, Oklahoma State Medical Association < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents May 2025 A Letter to the Editor Kris Melroe I have been lucky enough to be part of a groundbreaking study on diabetes since 1996. But on March 10th, without warning or reason, this research was abruptIly stopped. The so-called reasonable audits and cuts by DOGE are in fact harmful and are just one more lie among many. This arbitrary cut didn’t consider the long- term implications. The Diabetes Prevention Project Outcome Study (DPPOS) has been funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with a grant that was to continue until 2027, at a minimum. The termination had nothing to do with safety issues, procedures, or personnel. In fact, Dr. Kahn, the lead investigator, just received a national award from the American Diabetes Association. This is the longest continuous study in the US, with seven different sites, including one right here in Seattle, at the VA hospital on Beacon Hill. The study has already had major impacts on the diagnosis, medications (i.e., Metformin), and care of diabetes. Long-term studies are valuable because they allow researchers to examine cause-and-effect relationships more effectively than a study that only collects data at one point in time. They provide insights into the long-term consequences of disease and its treatment. Evaluating the long- term effects and characteristics leads to breakthroughs in prevention for people all over the world. I question if this is an extension of cuts related to DEI. Why? Studies indicate that Black adults are nearly twice as likely as white adults to develop type 2 diabetes. When I worked as an educational trainer on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, 60 percent of the staff had diabetes. For 30 years, all of the participants in the study have spent hundreds of volunteer hours undergoing various tests. Why? Because we were dedicated to creating a healthier world. Does DOGE think our time and efforts were not valuable? It will be another 30-plus years before this information can be replicated. Please call your representative and senators and demand that the staff at least be given the time and money to do a summary wrap-up of the results. THIS STUDY NEEDS TO BE CONTINUED. Sincerely, Kris Melroe Kris Melroe is a longtime member of PSARA and a veteran activist. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents May 2025 No Power Greater: The Life and Times of George Meyers Mike Andrew Those of us who know Tim Wheeler know how much he loves a good story. And with No Power Greater, he’s offered us a whole book full of good stories. The main narrative follows the life of George Aloysius Meyers from his birth into a mine worker’s family in 1912 to his death in 1999. Other stories inter- sect with and branch off of Meyers’ story, so by the time we’ve finished the book we realize we’ve read a history of the 20th Century American labor movement. As a boy, Meyers met Mother Jones, the legendary mine worker organizer. As a young man, he worked as a CIO organizer under John L. Lewis. On his travels for the CIO, he met and befriended Florence Reese, the author of the classic labor song “Which Side Are You On?” and her husband, Sam. Later, as Labor Secretary of the Communist Party (CPUSA), he met often with William Winpisinger, the militant president of the Machinists Union (IAM). Tim Wheeler himself is part of Meyers’ story. Along with his wife, Joyce Provost Wheeler, a teacher and AFT activist, Tim lived just down the street from Meyers in Baltimore. Tim was then the Washington, DC, Bureau Chief of CPUSA’s Daily World newspaper. Our own Will Parry, his wife, Louise, and Irene Hull are part of Meyers’ story too. Hundreds of rank-and-file labor leaders filled Meyers’ life and they come to life again in the pages of Tim’s book. George Meyers had a gift for friendship, but not every labor leader was his friend. George Meany, the AFL-CIO president who liked to brag that he’d never walked a picket line, is a looming, hostile presence throughout the later chapters of the book. So is Al Shanker, the divisive president of the AFT. Did I mention that George Meyers was a Communist? Had he been anything else, a Republican maybe, his life would have been much different. Meyers joined the CPUSA in 1939. Although he was still young, only 27, he was by then an experienced labor organizer and the first president of the Maryland CIO. Looking back at Meyers’ early life, it seems natural he would join the CPUSA. His father was a miner who would die of black lung disease. Meyers himself started out working in a textile mill and developed brown lung from breathing in cotton fibers and toxic chemicals. Labor organizing was a dangerous business when Meyers was young. Mine owners used both Baldwin-Felts “detectives” and the Ku Klux Klan as strike breakers. Meyers remembered that the Klan paraded through their neighborhood every Saturday night, while his family sat on their front porch and taunted them. Young labor organizers like Meyers faced down those threats to build the CIO, fight for social legislation like the Social Security Act, and against grow- ing fascism. In 1942, Meyers volunteered to fight fascism in World War II. After the war, with fascism defeated – only temporarily, as we now see – and the USA emerging as the world’s leading capitalist power, the US government abandoned its wartime alliance with the USSR and turned on American communists. Leftist-led unions were expelled from the CIO and activists were hunted by the FBI and HUAC (the House Un- American Activities Committee). Meyers served 38 months in federal prison after a conviction under the Smith Act, allegedly for advocating the overthrow of the US government. Nevertheless, No Power Greater is a book full of optimism. After leaving federal prison, Meyers immediately set about rebuilding communist organizations throughout the South. New union leaders stepped forward. For every George Meany, there’s a hundred George Meyers. For every Al Shanker, there’s a hundred Joyce Provost Wheelers. According to Tim, we owe this remarkable book to an impulse to “put his affairs in order” after his 82nd birthday. While looking for old sneakers to toss out, Tim discovered a half-forgotten box of Meyers’ papers, all typed by Tim’s wife, Joyce. “I decided then and there that putting my personal affairs in order can wait,” Tim writes. “I am still of sound mind and body. Before I die, I must write this book.” And so he did. The book’s title comes from the labor anthem “Solidarity Forever.” When the union’s inspiration Through the workers’ blood shall run There can be no power greater Anywhere beneath the sun… Mike Andrew is the Editor of the Advocate and Executive Director of PSARA < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents November 2025 Stunning New Report From PNHP No Real Choices: How Medicare Advantage Fails Seniors of Color In a stunning new report, PNHP (Physicians for a National Health Program) reveals that Medicare Advantage (MA) plans fail to deliver on their promises of equity for seniors of color. According to the report, seniors of color continue to face all the disparities in health care that characterize the US health care system. the disparities MA plans still impose on seniors of color. "The Medicare Advantage ('MA') program, through which health insurance corporations contract with the federal government to deliver Medicare benefits, offers enrollees few upfront costs, an out-of-pocket maximum, extra benefits, and a simple enrollment process. However, these advertised benefits show themselves to be hollow when carefully studied, revealing a program that compromises access, equity, and quality of care. Evidence from an exhaustive literature review and new research reveals that MA enrollees often encounter steep barriers to the physicians and hospitals people with complex conditions need for medically necessary care. "Contrary to claims from the insurance industry that MA is a solution to inequity, racial and ethnic minorities enrolled in MA continue to face many of the longstanding disparities that are common in American healthcare. The financial model of MA does little to mitigate existing inequities – and often exacerbates them by disproportionately offering communities of color inferior insurance products. At the same time, MA places a heavier burden on federal spending than Traditional Medicare (TM), which raises doubts about whether the program truly provides worthwhile returns for the people it is meant to serve." This graph from the PNHP report shows that people of color are less likely than white patients to have their own primary careprovider (PCP), far less likely to be referred to a specialist when they are ill, and less likely to get flu or pneumonia vaccines. The only area where patients of color are on par with white patients seems to be in referrals for colon cancerscreenings. See Johnston KJ, Hammond G, Meyers DJ, Joynt Maddox KE, Association of Race and Ethnicity and Medicare Program Type With Ambulatory Care Access and Quality Measures . August 17, 2021. This graph shows that seniors of color enrolled in MA plans generally experience less favorable health outcomes than whiteseniors enrolled in similar MA plans. Click here to read the entire PNHP report: Medicare Advantage Equity Repo rt Summary of PNHP Report How Medicare Advantage Fails Seniors of Color < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents December 2025 PSARA Education Fund End-of-Year Donations What a year it has been, and 2026 is shaping up to be even more challenging for so many of us. As you think about end-of-year giving, please consider donating to the PSARA Education Fund. The Ed Fund, a 501c3 nonprofit organization, produces the Retiree Advocate every month and is filled with information you won’t find anywhere else. The educational work we do has had a national impact. For more details on our work this past year, please read Robby Stern’s article on the front page of the November, 2025 Advocate . You can donate by either mailing a check to the PSARA Education Fund, 321 16th Ave South, Seattle, WA 98144, or click here to donate from our webpage , and donate to the Education Fund. If you are doing a required minimum distribution from your retirement account, please remember us. Thank you for your membership and your support! < Back to Table of Contents