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The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents May 2025 Autoworkers, the UAW, Trump, and Trade Tariffs and the Autoworkers Michael Righi Our orange king has put 25 percent tariffs on imported cars and trucks. Wait! They are suspended for a couple months, but not for all countries. Not for China, of course. And maybe special consideration for parts made in Canada and Mexico. By the time you read this, who knows what the situation will be? But a couple things are clear. While Trump and Miller and the rest of them blather on about bringing industry back to a bunkered USA, their broad and haphazard tariffs are leading straight to recession and job loss. Uncertainty will crash business investment. Intermediate goods that firms need will cost more, and they will cut back and lay workers off. Tariffs are a tax that falls most heavily on goods bought by working families. So they will feel both the inflation and the job loss. Trump says “we” will need to suffer a little pain in the short run. Except not Apple or purchasers of I- phones or computers, they are exempt. Blow Up Free Trade Fundamentalism We should not mourn the end of so- called “free trade." Neoliberal economists, corporate Democrats and many NY Times pundits are howling about the end of the postwar trading system. But we do not want the corporate trade model that is embodied in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the opening of trade with China. That has allowed multinational corporations to exploit foreign workers and environments, moving factories overseas and devastating working class communities in the US. NAFTA and trade with China have led to a loss of 70,000 manufacturing plants in the US and millions of jobs. To quote Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, “Our union is hell bent on ending the free trade disaster of the last 30 years.” It is workers who have borne the brunt of trade dislocations, not the auto companies. During the 1980’s the US Big Three – Ford, GM, and Chrysler (now Stellantis) – faced sharp competition from Japanese cars. Tariffs and quotas were enacted to stop imports and force foreign car companies to locate plants in the US. They built factories in non-union states. Then, with NAFTA in the 1990’s, the automobile corporations moved many parts and assembly factories to Mexico, and a little bit to Canada, setting up complex supply chains. A typical car sold in the US today has parts that have crossed borders several times. Most have 40 percent or more “foreign content.” The top 10 global automakers raked in $70 billion in profit in 2020. Now that has doubled, to $150 billion, as they raised prices 30 percent during the Covid crisis. Over the last 15 years, they have bought back $370 billion in stock from their wealthy investors. Meanwhile, workers’ wages were stagnating until the recent UAW con- tract made significant gains. But those wage increases apply only to union workers, and the majority are non-union. Now, 43 percent of car parts and assembly jobs are in Mexico, where workers average $3 an hour. That’s down from $6 an hour in 1993, before NAFTA. NAFTA opened up Mexican markets, especially corn, to US agribusiness, driving down prices and driving families off the land. Many headed north to maquiladora auto parts and assembly plants, pushing down wages. Moving jobs to Mexico, in this race to the bottom, is still going on. One example: Stellantis recently moved Ram truck production from Warren, Michigan, to Mexico. Instead of paying $37 an hour, the company pays $3. They don’t lower prices, they just send more profit to Wall Street. The UAW has calculated how much US factory capacity is sitting idle. Enough to build two million cars and hire 50,000 more workers. Every auto assembly job creates seven more in the supply chain. So Tariffs Would targeted tariffs on imported cars and trucks help bring autoworker jobs back? The UAW thinks so. (Just to be perfectly clear, Shawn Fain and the UAW, while in favor of auto tariffs, are opposed to 99 percent of the Trump agenda, including the detention of union members and protestors.). But tariffs are only a first step – the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada (formerly NAFTA) must be renegotiated. It must include provisions for a minimum manufacturing wage way above $3 an hour. It must have a labor board to enforce labor organizing and bargaining rights. In the long run, the UAW wants to be making the electric cars and batteries we need. That will require strong government action forbidding stock buybacks and excessive CEO compensation, and forcing the auto companies to invest and innovate. Trump wants trade chaos and scapegoats. Corporations want free trade and profit. We want fair trade, so that all workers can make a living on a living planet. 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 November 2025 Please Make an End-of-Year Donation to the PSARA Education Fund Robby Stern When you consider End-of-Year donations, we hope you will decide to donate to the PSARA Education Fund, a 501c3 organization. Your financial support will assist the Education Fund with our work in 2026. The Retiree Advocate , a publication of the Education Fund, has continued to provide information and the type of analysis that would be difficult to find elsewhere. Although we are a regional organization and address issues impacting residents of Washington, increasingly the information we are providing is used by organizations in other parts of the country. In 2025, many of us suffered varying levels of shock at the attacks by the Trump administration on democracy, immigrants, the environment, health care, and on programs won by mass activism like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Republican members of Congress and a few Democrats have collaborated or stood by. While a number of the lower courts are resisting the attack on the rule of law, a majority of the Supreme Court appears to be in the pocket of the autocrats. Fortunately, the resistance to autocracy and fascism is growing. Unfortunately, we can anticipate willful attacks on the resisters by the fascists and their allies. It will take more determination, hope, and bravery to build the movement we need to stop this march to eliminate our democratic rights and the programs we hold dear. The PSARA Education Fund intends to help build our knowledge and spirit to resist, with good information and analysis and even some levity. (Remember the articles about Jello?) Besides the Retiree Advocate , the Education Fund finances presentations, meetings, and webinars, all designed to give our members and the broader community the information they need. We utilize the knowledge of national and state experts. We draw attention to the attacks and what we can do. Besides the fight to preserve and expand Social Security and Medicare in which we play a leading role, we stand with allies in the fight for democracy. We stand with working people in their fights for the right to organize and to be treated with respect and dignity. We join with allies to fight for racial justice and climate justice. We also focus on what we want to build after we defeat this attack on our lives, our families, our neighbors, and our communities. Remember, things were not so great before the MAGAs gained power. We will discuss what we and our allies can build that is better as we resist the horror that is being unleashed. We will, with many others, develop a vision of how things should be. We do not want to go back to the old ways of the wealthy and corporations deciding what is best for all the rest of us. There is so much to do and so much we can do, and your donations help to pave the way for the work this time in history demands of us. We keep plugging away, and your support financially and morally is the wind behind our organization’s sails. Please make a donation to the PSARA Education Fund of any size prior to the end of the year by either writing a check and mailing it to the PSARA office or going to www.psara.org and making an online donation. Together we will resist and carry on. Robby Stern is president of the PSARA Education Fund and a member of PSARA's < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents June 2025 Chaos Monkey Goes After the Federal Reserve Michael Righi Trump wants lower interest rates. Probably so he and his family can borrow cheap money to pump up the value of their crypto coins, then dump them and leave ordinary investors with the losses. Maybe he needs money to build a golf course in Dubai. Or wait, maybe that’s going to be a “gift.” So call me cynical. He is also worried that his tariff chaos is going to slow production and the economy. Lower interest rates might encourage more spending and support the economy he is effectively tanking. Trump the autocrat wants the same power over interest rates that he has over tariffs. So he is threatening the Federal Reserve and its chair, Jerome Powell. Firing Powell would be illegal; his term is not up, but this is Trump, right? And the Federal Reserve system was created to function independently of the president and Congress, on purpose, supposedly to insulate the Fed from political pressure. The Fed was initially created in 1913 to stop the financial crises private banks kept causing. Bankers would make riskier and riskier loans to pump up profit, some loans would go bad, banks would collapse and production and jobs would disappear. The Fed, once created, then lent money to bail the banks (and depositors) out, and prevent depressions. How to Make Money That is a crucial understanding – the Federal Reserve Bank creates money, out of thin air. You write a check, you draw down your account. The Fed writes a check by changing some numbers on a computer – only based on their authority as the country’s central bank. The Fed works through the private banking system. The Fed buys financial assets, Treasury bonds, or lately even mortgage-backed securities. That money winds up in the banking system, enabling banks to make loans. That’s more money in the economy. So the Fed enables banks to create our money supply. The Humphrey-Hawkins law passed by Congress mandates that the Fed keep both inflation and unemployment low. The Fed does this by controlling short-term interest rates. Those are often conflicting goals. Low interest rates (“easy money”) encourage borrowing and spending and so more jobs. But that also allows businesses to raise prices. High interest rates (“tight money”) have the opposite effect, slowing the economy. This all sounds technical and value- neutral. That’s what the Fed and Wall Street and financial elites want us to think, that Fed policy is apolitical and technocratic. Tell that to homeowners who lost their homes in the 2008 financial crisis while the Fed bailed out big insurance and bank corporations. Or to cardholders and small businesses now as the Powell Fed allows Capital One and Dis- cover to merge and raise their charges. The Fed Is Not Independent The Fed is run by bankers and Wall Street financiers, and influenced by what the corporate elite wants. High interest rates protect the assets of the financial elite from inflation, reducing their value. High rates also keep the economy from creating jobs, because then workers’ wages and willingness to organize might interfere with corporate profit. But financial crisis might call for extended periods of low interest rates, to keep Wall Street afloat, as after 2008. As wages have stagnated or fallen for decades, low rates also encouraged families to run up debt to maintain living standards. Whatever the capitalists in power need, the Fed tries to provide. Its power is relatively easy to access for the wealthy, easier than going through the somewhat more democratic legislative process. With Trump going after him, it is tempting to defend Powell and the Fed. That just puts us back into the space of bad choices. Neither represents what the working class needs. The Fed itself is soon likely to face both inflation and unemployment, a result of Trumpian chaos and uncertainty. If leaving it to the Fed is not the answer, then what is? That also should be up for discussion. There are ideas out there. Regional and local public banks could loan money for public infrastructure, such as transit and clean energy. Postal banking would enable those shut out of banks to borrow and make transactions. 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 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 September 2025 Lawmakers Oppose WISeR Program Expanding Prior Authorization in Medicare Wendell Potter and Rachel Madley In a previous post in HEALTH CARE un-covered, the newsletter from the Center for Health & Democracy (CHD), Rachel Madley, PhD, Director of Policy and Advocacy for the CHD, laid out why the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ new Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model is bad news for patients in Traditional Medicare. She warned that it would import one of the worst aspects of Medicare Advantage -- aggressive prior authorization run by private, profit-driven contractors -- into a program that has long prided itself on letting doctors, not algorithms, decide what’s medically necessary. Madley’s piece explained why WISeR is dangerous: It hands prior authorization in Traditional Medicare to private companies that profit by denying care -- exactly as they do in MA. It uses AI and “technology-enhanced” reviews that have been shown to spike denial rates. It offers companies a cut of the “savings” they generate, creating a built-in incentive to say no. It paves the way for more and more services to be put behind prior authorization walls. And now, there’s a sign that her warning is resonating and that momentum is building against CMS’s latest experiment. Last month, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) led 40 of their colleagues in a letter to CMS urging them not to start the model. The law makers wrote, “We are concerned that this effort could erode the quality of coverage provided by Traditional Medicare and result in the delay and denial of necessary health care." And “Giving private for-profit actors a veto over care provided to seniors and people with disabilities in Traditional Medicare, even as a pilot program, opens the door to further erosion of our Medicare system. We therefore strongly urge you to immediately halt the proposed WISeR model and instead consider steps to address the well-documented waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare Ad- vantage program.” And just last week, a bloc of House members sent a letter to CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz urging the agency to cancel WISeR before it starts. The letter, led by Representative Suzan DelBene (D-Washington) and signed by 19 other members, pulls no punches: WISeR, they wrote, will “likely limit beneficiaries’ access to care, increase burden on our already overburdened health care workforce, and create perverse incentives to put profit over patients." The political significance of this is hard to overstate. The members of Congress who signed these letters have, in some cases, been reliable defenders of Medicare Advantage, an industry that now takes more than half of all Medicare dollars (plus billions in overpayments each year) while using prior authorization to deny necessary care at alarming rates. For them to publicly oppose a CMS initiative that so closely mirrors MA practices suggests some- thing important: insurers may be losing some of their go-to allies on Capitol Hill. And it’s not just the Dems. The letters’ concerns echo those raised by Republicans in recent years, too. And that’s including some of Medicare Advantage’s biggest boosters. Former Representative Mark Greene, MD (R-Tennessee) led a bill with Representative Kim Schrier that would require physicians of the same specialty to review prior authorizations. And Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, stated that prior authorization is being “abused” by health insurance companies. The fact that opposition is now coming from both sides of the aisle demonstrates that this model may not be the antidote to prior authorization concerns that its proponents are touting it as. Both letters reinforce those warnings, citing data from HHS’s Office of Inspector General showing that 75% of denied prior authorization requests in MA were overturned on appeal, which is proof that many initial denials were inappropriate. They also question why CMS would contract with the very companies (often MA insurers them- selves) that have been caught breaking Medicare rules to boost profits. For years, insurers have been able to rely on a bipartisan wall of protection for Medicare Advantage. With Democrats and Republicans saying “enough," that could mean that the wall is starting to crack, and it’s not just WISeR that’s in jeopardy. It’s the whole model of using private contractors to ration care in the name of “cost control.” WISeR is scheduled to launch in January 2026 in six states: New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and Washington. If CMS doesn’t reverse course, it will mark a turning point and Traditional Medicare will begin to look and feel like private Medicare Advantage plans. But if the growing opposition is any sign, CMS may find itself pursuing other models to improve Traditional Medicare without using flawed methods from MA. Postscript : Thank you to Reps. Jayapal and Smith for signing the letter initiated by Reps. Ocasio Cortez and Doggett. Thank you to Rep. DelBene for initiating a second letter and to Reps. Randall and Strickland for signing that letter. Both letters called for cancellation of the WISeR program which tar- gets Washington Medicare beneficiaries. Wendell Potter is a former high ranking insurance executive and founder of the Center for Health & Democracy (CHD). Rachel Madley was the former health care policy staff person for Rep. Pramila Jayapal and now serves as Director of Policy and Advocacy for CHD. To subscribe to CHD’s newsletter, google search HEALTH CARE un-covered. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2025 20 Lessons from the 20th Century on How to Survive in Trump’s America Timothy Snyder Editor's Note: We distributed this article at PSARA's Winter Membership Meeting in 2016 to help our members prepare for the first Donald Trump administration. The suggestions are still good. Thanks to Bobby Righi for rediscovering it. Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so. Here are 20 lessons from across the fearful 20th century, adapted to the circumstances of today. Do not obey in advance . Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You've already done this, haven't you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom. Defend an institution . Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don't protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning. Recall professional ethics . When the leaders of state set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become much more important. It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without lawyers, and it is hard to have show trials without judges. When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of “terrorism” and “extremism.” Be alive to the fatal notions of “exception” and “emergency.” Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives . When the terrorist attack comes, remember that all authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. Think of the Reichstag fire. The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition par- ties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Don't fall for it. Be kind to our language . Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. (Don't use the Internet before bed. Charge your gadgets away from your bedroom, and read.) What to read? Perhaps The Power of the Powerless by Václav Havel, 1984 by George Orwell, The Captive Mind by Czesław Milosz, The Rebel by Albert Camus, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, or Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev. Stand out. Someone has to . It is easy, in words and deeds, to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. And the moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow. Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights. Investigate. Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on your screen is there to harm you. Bookmark PropOrNot and other sites that investigate foreign propaganda pushes. Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them. Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down unnecessary social barriers, and come to understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life. Take responsibility for the face of the world. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so. Hinder the one-party state. The parties that took over states were once something else. They exploited a historical moment to make political life impossible for their rivals. Vote in local and state elections while you can Give regularly to good causes, if you can. Pick a charity and set up autopay. Then you will know that you have made a free choice that is supporting civil society helping others doing something good. Establish a private life. Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the Internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Authoritarianism works as a blackmail state, looking for the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have too many hooks. Learn from others in other countries. Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends abroad. The present difficulties here are an element of a general trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports. Watch out for the paramilitaries . When the men with guns who have al- ways claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-Leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the game is over. Be reflective if you must be armed. If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding them- selves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no. (If you do not know what this means, contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and ask about training in professional ethics.) Be as courageous as you can. If none of us is prepared to die for free- dom, then all of us will die in unfree- dom. Be a patriot. The incoming president is not. Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it. A history professor looks to the past to remind us to do what we can in the face of the unthinkable. (This article first appeared as a post on the author’s Facebook page) < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents December 2025 ICE Considers Raiding the Local Sandwich Shop The Barbed Wire < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents October 2025 Sanders and Wyden Introduce “Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act” Steve Kofahl Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden and Senate Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy Ranking Member Bernie Sanders introduced this legislation on September 10. A bill number is not yet assigned. They were joined by 28 original Senate co-sponsors, including Senator Murray, none of them Republicans. Senator Cantwell (Finance Committee) has not yet signed-on, so please give her office a call. The legislation is endorsed by Social Security Works; American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; Alliance for Retired Americans; National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare; and 7 other organizations. The 40-page bill is designed to reverse staff and service cuts at the Social Security Administration (SSA), and respond to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) activity at the SSA, thereby making it much easier for the public to receive their earned benefits, and protecting sensitive personal information. It consists of 12 sections. Section 1 states that the bill would amend the Social Security Act to permanently appropriate funding for the administrative expenses of the SSA, and for other purposes. Section 2 exempts the SSA from the jurisdiction of DOGE and certain Trump executive orders. Section 3 prohibits access to beneficiary data systems by political appointees and special government employees, except for those appointed to or employed by the SSA. Violators can be subject to criminal and civil penalties. The Comptroller of the U.S. is tasked with reporting to the Senate Finance and House Ways & Means Committees. Section 4 requires consent of SSA employees for transfers from the competitive civil service to excepted (at-will) employment. It requires the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to consent to such transfers, and to report to Congress. Section 5 prohibits living individuals from being added to SSA’s Death Master File. Section 6 prohibits SSA from reducing the numbers of field offices and hearing offices below the January 1, 2025 numbers. SSA must maintain meaningful and efficient access to live toll-free number agents. Staff- ing reductions below 2024 levels are prohibited. Section 7 re-establishes SSA’s Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity; the Office of Transformation; and the Office of Analytics, Review, and Oversight. Section 8 permanently funds SSA administration of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and parts of Medicare at the level of 1.2% of Social Security benefits payable per year. It excludes benefit and administrative costs from discretionary spending caps and the 1974 Congressional Budget Act. Section 9 provides for up to $2 billion in Treasury funds not otherwise appropriated to be devoted to increasing awareness of SSI eligibility for disabled children, reducing disability claims and appeals backlogs, improving SSA technology and infrastructure, and offering an online SSI application. Section 10 reduces overpayment withholding to 10% of a monthly benefit for overpayment decisions made after March 25, 2024. Section 11 provides that states may receive payments from the SSA Commissioner to protect the legal rights of disabled applicants and recipients. Section 12 establishes at least 10 annual Social Security Assistance and Representation Grants over the next 5 years to assist applicants and benefit recipients. Steve Kofahl is a retired President of AFGE 3937, representing Social Security workers, and a member of PSARA's Ecutive Board < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2026 Book Review: The Trees are Speaking: Dispatches from the Salmon Forests, by Lynda V. Mapes Lisa Dekker Recent efforts in Clallam County, and elsewhere, to protect our remaining legacy forests from logging, led me to this recently published book. Per Stephen Kropp, founder of the Center for Responsible Forestry, coined the term, ‘legacy forest’ means a “naturally regrown, mature forest that preserves the biological, functional, and structural legacies of the forests they replaced.” Although not everyone respects this relatively new term, we know that there are other legacy forests scattered throughout the publicly-owned lands in Washington, managed by the Department of Natural Resources. In fact, these legacy forests already have great value as they cool the air, hold carbon, and harbor wildlife. Precisely why these forests matter is eloquently described in the first part of Mapes’ book as she travels to regions in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. Through interviews on site and forest walks with luminaries like Dr. Jerry Franklin, often called the "father of modern forestry" through his work at the University of Washington, we learn how research has radically changed our understanding in the space of just 60 years. Likely due to their dark understories with little sun, older forests with big trees went from once being described as “biological deserts,” to currently being recognized as the complex, life-giving, carbon-capturing, watershed- preserving treasures we know them to be today. In the chapter titled “Salmon Forests,” she travels for a week among both the remaining healthy forests and the desolate clearcuts of Vancouver Island, with Teresa Ryan (traditional name Sm’hayetsk) an indigenous knowledge and natural science lecturer at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and Susan Simard, an eminent forest ecologist, also at UBC. Both Ryan and Simard are part of the Mother Tree Project, a crew of researchers looking at the changes in soils, especially the decline in the amount of carbon in soils of areas that have been clearcut. Simard has also led the project’s deep dive into examining the richly complex soils of the uncut forests, bringing insight into how the trees connect via the mycorrhizal fungi network between them. Also evidence of the value of older forests are the proven, "sustainable" traditions of the Tribes, stewards of these lands and forests for centuries before colonization. Their practices and protocols recognized that care for the forests meant that the forests would care for them. New evidence for this appeared in a paper published in 2022, based on an archeologic study done in the land of the Nuun-chah-nulth peoples of British Columbia, (whose family ties and culture extend down to the Makah reservation in northwest Clallam County.) Botanists and archaeologists found that “old growth trees [still there] are witnesses” to the fact that these people were more than hunter-gatherers and that they “took care of and managed…forest gardens abundant with crab apples, berry patches, and wild rice root crops.” At the same time, because they stripped off only narrow pieces of cedar bark for shelter and clothing, these same cedar trees lived on for centuries. In the preface, Mapes declares that “The need for a paradigm shift is readily apparent.” After presenting data and real-world accounts to justify that shift, she ends with examples of successful restoration projects, new ideas for community solutions, and a belief in the potential for people to change their way of thinking. This should encourage the reader to hope, as does the author, for a “new ethos of conservation, based on reciprocity and respect in our relations with one another, and with nature.” < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents March 2025 Organizing for Immigrant Human Rights Cindy Domingo Every day for the last month we have been assaulted by the Trump administration’s coup and the dismantling of our government that upholds our US democracy. However, nothing is more heart breaking than the media coverage of handcuffed and shackled immigrants, many of them children, being loaded onto planes for deportation. US citizens are being questioned and asked for birth certificates and pass- ports because they spoke Spanish in public or looked like they were Mexican or Latino. Weare again hearing about parents being deported leaving their children behind. Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents sit outside nonprofits that serve predominantly Latinos merely to intimidate clients, striking fear in employees that one day they won’t see particular beloved people because they were deported. On the legal front, Trump has cut legal aid funding that assists immigrants in their asylum requests. They fled countries where they faced economic hardships and violence. Funding has even been cut for lawyers of children unaccompanied by parents when they crossed the US southern border, leaving them vulnerable to human and sex trafficking. Trump ran on a platform blaming the ills of our society on undocumented immigrants of color. Unemployment, the housing crisis, lack of money for social services, gang and gun violence, and drug addiction are all a result of our southern border not being secure. According to Trump, President Biden and Vice President Harris allowing thousands of “bad” immigrants into our country. Congress followed suit in late January when they passed the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan man. That act, passed with bipartisan support, including Washington State Congresswomen Marie Gluesencamp Perez and Kim Schrier. It is a broad sweeping law that allows for the detainment of non-citizens for almost any crime, including shoplifting. Non-citizens can include DACA students and people on special visas, like the Temporary Status Program. Trump has also canceled funding for refugee resettlement programs that are impact- ing Ukrainian, Sudanese, and other peoples fleeing war torn countries. In Washington State, this is having a devastating impact even though we have one of the best refugee resettlement programs, initiated by Republican Governor Dan Evans in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Washington State's legal aid programs have already been cut due to Trump and Elon Musk’s cuts to federal funding, and ICE has stepped up the numbers of deportees flown out of King County International Airport. However, Trump’s mass deportation of immigrants and refugees has not gone without a response by the immigrant rights communities, labor movement, legal community, and others. But it will take a mass movement, a broad united front, to both protect immigrants and refugees and project a vision of a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Standing for Democracy (see February issue of The Retiree Advocate) aims to build that united front by calling for a conference in April/May to bring together all those who want to stop the mass deportations, and to support immigrants and refugees who are the target of Trump’s inhumane immigration policies. Building for this conference has already begun enabling groups who work in their own silos to work together. Participants for planning include Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), Casa Latina, Washington Immigrant Rights Network (WAISN), One America, LELO/A Legacy for Equality Leadership and Organizing, Pride At Work, PSARA, Washington State Labor Council, King County Labor Council, AFT Washington, UFCW 3000, SEIU Local 6, Unite Here Local 8, APALA Seattle, Communities for Colleges, the Offices of King County Councilmembers Teresa Mosqueda, Jorge Baron, and Rod Dembowski, the Office of Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Community to Community, and other community organizations. If you are interested in planning this conference and ongoing work with Standing for Democracy, please contact Cindy Domingo at cindydomingo@gmail.com or Moon Vazquez at jmoom57@earthlink.net Committee meetings have been scheduled for program, site/logistics, and outreach. Cindy Domingo is PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach and a veteran activist with LELO/A Legacy for Equality Leadership and Organizing and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance). < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2026 Trump Administration Abandons Attack on Older Disabled Americans Steve Kofahl Late last month, the Social Security Administration (SSA) withdrew a proposed rule that would have made it far more difficult for older workers to access their earned Social Security Disability (SSDI) and Medicare benefits. The rule would have also denied Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid benefits to older low-in-come individuals. The rule would have directly affected entitlement to cash SSDI and SSI payments, but the loss of Medicare and Medicaid benefit eligibility for disabled individuals would have constituted severe collateral damage. SSA disability determinations are based on medical evidence, work history, jobs available in the U.S., education, and age. The rule would have limited age consideration to applicants over age 60, or eliminated age as a factor altogether. A September 18 analysis by Jack Smalligan, of the Urban Institute, estimated that eligibility for SSDI applicants alone could be reduced by as much as 20% overall, and by up to 30% for older workers. Even a 10% reduction could cause 500,000 people to lose access to $82 billion in benefits over 10 years, including 80,000 widows and children. Many older workers, denied SSDI benefits, would likely claim early retirement benefits at age 62, reducing their lifetime benefits by 30 percent compared to what they would have received in SSDI, which converts to unreduced retirement benefits at full retirement age (67). House Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member John Larson and Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz led the effort by only 165 (should have been more) Democratic members in calling on SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano to halt the plan. Their October 20 press release identified the proposed rule as a priority of Project 2025 architect Russell Vought, Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget. It noted that the average SSDI beneficiary is 56 years old, many had worked physically demanding jobs, and that nearly 42% were found to be eligible because age was considered in the decision. They noted that adaptability to new skills and jobs generally decreases with age, as do the effects of disabling impairments. The letter closed with an appeal to reverse recent SSA staff losses, and to present a plan to rebuild frontline and adjudicative capacity in order to eliminate backlogs and meet statutory obligations to claimants and beneficiaries. President Trump has repeatedly assured Americans that he will not cut, or even touch, Social Security. He has demonstrated, however, through his remarks and actions, that he has little regard for disabled Americans. Nevertheless, in this case, advocates and enough House Democrats pushed back hard, and prevailed rather quickly. The great Social Security Act programs are a principal focus of PSARA efforts. The 1935 Social Security Act that established retirement benefits (Title 2) has been amended since that date to add SSDI in 1956, Medicare (Title 18) and Medicaid (Title 19) in 1965, and SSI (Title 16) in 1972. Another amendment extended coverage to self employed individuals in 1951, and there have been many other expansions and improvements over the 90 years since FDR signed the first iteration of the Act. However, there have been no improvements for 43 years, which was when President Nixon signed the 1972 amendment that created SSI, establishing Federal benefits for low-income aged, blind, and disabled individuals. It is time for additional improvements. Not only do we need to protect existing programs, let's collectively determine to expand these vital programs and ensure that wealthy individuals pay their fair share. We must not allow discouragement and despair to defeat our efforts to make a better America for ourselves, neighbors, children, and grandchildren. Whether it’s addressing environmental degradation, race and gender discrimination, homelessness, health care, income inequality, immigration, oligarchy, or any of our priorities, we need to educate ourselves and others, and push back hard against the cruel and incompetent elected and appointed officials who plague us. We can win these battles, and we must. Steve Kofahl is a retired President of AFGE 3937, representing Social Security workers, and a member of PSARA's Executive Board. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents January 2025 We Remember Norma Kelsey Contributions from Maureen Bo, Cindy Schu, Nancy Greenup, and David Kelsey The Puget Sound area labor and social justice movements lost a fierce activist with the passing of Norma Kelsey on September 21, 2024, at age 89. Norma was a leader of the Office and Professional Employees Union Local 8 (Secretary-Treasurer 1985-1989, President 1989-2001) and worked for Plumbers Local 32 and Laborers Local 440 for many years. Norma also held various leadership positions with El Centro de la Raza, Mothers for Police Accountability, Coalition of Labor Union Women, and the Martin Luther King County Labor Council. Norma served on a citizens’ panel of the Seattle City Council’s World Trade Organization Accountability Review Committee and was a member of Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans (now PSARA). Norma was a true trade unionist and believed in the movement with her heart and soul. Norma was born September 19, 1935, in Independence, Kansas. Her grandparents settled there years before, having arrived in a covered wagon. In her youth she was a member of the Salvation Army Church where she was taught that her role in life should be to help others. Later, when she began to work for unions, she recognized a familiar belief system of helping and giving to others. She brought those values full strength to her work for unions and the community. Norma was married at age 16, but this brutal first marriage ended in divorce. She later married Bob Kelsey and moved to California and eventually to Washington, where they raised four children and several adopted and foster children. Norma and Bob, usually with their son Jack, traveled extensively to Nicaragua, Venezuela, the Philippines, Haiti, and throughout Europe and Central America. The travel often involved reconnecting with former refugees who had fled violence in their home countries and who had been aided by Bob and Norma when seeking housing and assistance in the United States. Norma provided a key leadership role in the mid-1980’s, when a group of women, led by former Local 8 Board Member Maureen Bo (who after the revolution was elected Business Manager), decided their union was headed in the wrong direction. Norma’s kindness, vision, and belief in social justice and creating a humane community helped to provide a focus for their shared work. Maureen, Norma, Nancy Greenup, and Janet Graham, along with others, ousted Local 8’s leadership at the time. They fought off a hard push for an ill-advised merger with another union, which would have stripped Local 8 of its own direction. Instead, they reshaped their local into the vibrant, progressive labor union it is today. These founding mothers focused on building a transparent, fiscally responsible, and democratically run local with organizing made a top priority. Norma’s labor friends remember her passion and kindness, which will live on in so many of the hearts she touched. Her determination was unmatched. And she never lost sight of the important goals she had for a more just world. Norma taught us endless lessons in perseverance with dignity. She was truly one of a kind. The world is a better place because of her. < Back to Table of Contents