How solving an Iron Range problem could deliver 94 electoral votes to Barack Obama

On Thursday, Iron Range miners and retirees affected by the 2003 bankruptcy of National Steel met in Keewatin to demand action from local leaders and representatives of federal leaders on the workers’ decimated pensions. The Hibbing Daily Tribune has the story, and summaries of the comments of the local leaders. I wish I could say that everyone heard what they needed to hear, but most of the miners there say they didn’t. Essentially, pensions earned fairly through collective bargaining and a career of mining hard rock taconite were gutted to allow a corporation to reorganize and walk away from unprofitable ventures. This has been happening all over the Iron Range and the entire Rust Belt for the last ten years.

The miners blame the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, the federal entity set up to ensure that no pensioners are cut off from their benefits, for their reduced payout and extended retirement age. In truth, the problems go much higher than the PBGC. The real issue is that bankruptcy laws allow corporations to do this legally and that the federal government can’t afford to pay out all the pensions offered by the steel and related industries. This is a vast problem that affects the lives of retired steelworkers and others like them in deeply profound ways that transcend typical politics.

My proposal (though shared by others) is this.

Barack Obama should, as soon as possible, announce that any future bailout of any part of the banking sector must also include stopgap measures to provide for full retirement benefits of any company that has declared bankruptcy under the new laws. The government can’t do this forever, so it must be made clear that this is the first step in a process that will completely overhaul bankruptcy laws to put pension guarantees for American workers ahead of the stock prices of any and all corporations. A company’s debt to its retired workers should be of equal importance to its debt to stockholders.

The real reason people have reacted so negatively to the federal banking “rescue” plan passed recently is that, while inane amounts of “Main Street” references were bandied about, the plan really serves to bolster the banking sector. Vitally important, yes, but tell it to a retiree living on 70 percent of what they planned on five years ago. They’ve got real problems.

This is a Democratic issue at its heart. Conservative Republicans will certainly recoil at the notion of federal pension bailouts, but that’s what’s needed … just like with the banking “rescue.” John McCain won’t touch it. So that’s why Obama could own this issue, offering tangible hope for the very “white, working class” voters the pundits say he’s having trouble with. I think this is worth a notable amount of votes on the Iron Range, which would easily deliver Minnesota to the blue column. But that’s not the only reason I bring this up. Some spill over in Wisconsin could tilt a close race there. Michigan looks like Obama’s now, but this would solidify it for good. Pennsylvania, same thing. The big electoral advantage would come in Ohio and Indiana, where just a tiny bump in the margins could turn a state red to blue. Even West Virginia, though not a steel state, could go from long shot to miracle Obama win if the miners and industrial workers there — most of them Democrats — are reassured that Obama means what he says when he says “hope.”

It is unfortunate to talk about this in terms of electoral votes, but my real mission is policy, not politics. This problem must be solved and a President Obama is the only one who will. If pensions are shored up, the quality of life for real people — like the ones depicted in those political ads we keep seeing — will improve. And promises made, just like the promise of America, will be kept.

UPDATE: After I posted this, I turned on the TV and PBS’s “NOW” addressed this very issue. Yes, I watch PBS on Friday night at age 28. That earns me the right to ask you to think seriously about this issue. Even John McCain says that “workers are the fundamentals of the American economy.” Really? Let’s prove it.

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