Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, will offer a thought provoking probe into the implications of economic and demographic trends at the Sept. 16 general session. In his recent book, The Future of Work, Rifkin predicts a fundamental mismatch between the supply and demand for labor. At a time when many commentators are expecting shortages of qualified workers, Rifkin sees an oversupply. In his keynote address, Rifkin will outline the basis of his prediction, its implications for human resource and benefits management, and propose a bold national strategy to head off widespread underemployment.
Brochure for this “event” labels it:
"The premier professional learning and networking event of the year for employer executives with responsibility for employee benefits. Sponsored annually since 1988 by Employee Benefit News, the industry’s leading newsmagazine. Benefits Management Forum will draw more than a thousand decision makers from around the country seeking — and finding — practical knowledge, creative strategies and valuable resources to meet the business challenges they face every day."The EXHIBITORS LIST is extensive, and included: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Mother Jones, left-wing west coast affiliate of The Institute for Policy Studies, Nov/Dec 1976 issue published article titled: “Bust Your Boss” which endorsed Jeremy Rifkin’s Peoples Bicentennial Commission (PBC). PBC sent a form letter to ten thousand secretaries of corporate executives, offering a $25,000 reward to any recipient who could provide “concrete information that leads directly to the arrest, prosecution, conviction and imprisonment of a chief officer…for criminal activity relating to corporate operations. PBC circulated a similar letter to corporate executives wives encouraging them to blow the whistle on their husbands. PBC was (partially) funded by the STERN Foundation, which has also funded IPS and it’s affiliates. It was the STERN fund that funded the establishment of an organization of the public employed “Community Planners” network that can traced to numerous [anti] corporate activities in land use issues, including Wal-Mart “zoning” actions.
Subsequent to his PBC days, RIFKIN published “Beyond Beef” an attack on the meat industry. This was followed with yet another story in IPS affiliated Mother Jones, attacking the meat industry in general, and Monfort Meat Company in particular, featuring Government Accountability Project (GAP) whistle-blower USDA inspector Steve COCKERHAM, with a sidebar by Jeremy RIFKIN on E.coli.
Some months following the Mother Jones article, there was an E.coli outbreak in Seattle, in which children not only became ill, but some died. Mr. Rifkin moved on from his anti-meat crusade, to his current “labor/workforce” agenda after it was disclosed that Monfort Meat Company (the company featured in the Mother Jones article and where GAP whistle-blower USDA inspector COCKERHAM was assigned) was one of the suppliers of the meat thought to cause the Seattle Jack-in-the-Box E.coli outbreak.
Government Accountability Project (GAP) is an Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) spin-off. GAP was credited by Diane Sawyer for assistance in production of the network attack on FOOD LION.
Rifkin has long been associated with IPS.
· In November 1995, speaking at the International Forum on Globalization at Riverside Church, NYC, RIFKIN stated that worker’s pension funds are what has been “keeping the capitalist system alive all over the world…that’s the worker’s money…MARX got it right…”.
· Speaking at an IPS seminar in April 1984, RIFKIN attacked the biotech industry.. The following June, IPS/TNI fellow Susan GEORGE told a TNI conference titled: “Meeting the Corporate Challenge” (which resulted the TNI/TIE publication of the “Handbook on Corporate Campaigns”) that biotech should be nationalized because research funds come from “taxes and excess profits”.
Former RIFKIN/FET employee John STAUBER now operates out of Madison Wisconsin under “Center For Media and Democracy”, publishes “PR Watch” newsletter.
STAUBER has now picked up the anti-meat crusade, writing in the anti-corporate Boycott Quarterly on “Mad Cow Disease”. Previously STAUBER had written on the PR industry for left wing IPS-connected publication “Covert Action Quarterly”. In 1995, STAUBER received a $10,000 "grant" from the Stern Foundation which has funded IPS and many of the projects and affiliates of IPS. STAUBER is associated with Sheldon RAMPTON. In his America Online account "profile", RAMPTON lists his occupation as: writer, graphic designer, leftist activist; and personal quote as: "Worker's of the world, unite!".
Now, shareholders from “over a thousand companies” had HR personnel from their companies submitting expense accounts for hundreds of thousands of dollars to attend this New Orleans forum to hear RIFKIN “speak”.
Only in America!
