Working Life

Where do you start to comment when you read a piece that is, at best, deeply spineless, and, at worse, completely clueless? We cease to be surprised by the relentless foolishness on the part of the transcribers of press releases (formerly called “journalists”). But, though I am not surprised, I can’t let these things go. In this case, it’s a dumb piece called, “Standard of Living Is in the Shadows as Election Issue”.

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   I took a longer break from blogging than I thought–to think, observe a bit, rest the brain, cycle New Zealand’s spectacular South Island. But, what stirred me to break this hiatus, at the very moment that people are switching off their computers to turn to libations and debauchery, was, well, the modest observation that [...]

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    You may join me in the celebration of failure–a celebration I have been urging we look forward to for a very long time. Do not listen to the hand-wringing and whining about the implosion of the Catfood Commission II. This is a great thing. It is fabulous.    BUT…    Let us also pause, [...]

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   It’s a full-time job–actually, five full-time jobs–to keep track of how the economic elites screw working people. Just when everyone is excited–rightly so–about the demonstrations breaking out all over the country, in the back door slides more horror: Congress prepared Wednesday to pass free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, showing unusual bipartisan [...]

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   For all of those people who criticize empire and for those out there who correctly worry about the unequal distribution of economic power, come close and absorb another truth: the obsession around keeping the dollar high is not healthy. In fact, a lower dollar would be better for most of us–and for the environment… [...]

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    Let’s go back in history briefly to the 1990s. In 1993, Bill Clinton pushed through NAFTA, over the objection of a large number of Democrats, with a large number of Republicans joining with the Democratic president to get NAFTA through the House (The Senate has always been far more receptive to so-called "free trade"). [...]

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   This was from a few days ago in Congress Daily (it’s a subscription only publication): The fallout from a decision by Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., to take his name off of a union-backed trade bill continues to roil his 2010 Senate bid. Meek on Oct. 15 signed on as a co-sponsor to legislation sponsored [...]

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   The G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh provided what those meetings usually provide–rhetoric and not much chance. I wanted to highlight one point from the president’s press conference there: Q: Thank you, Mr. President. Let me ask you, while we were inside this very safe and secure and beautiful convention center, some 5,000 at least demonstrators [...]

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   In our newest installment of false choices, from The Wall Street Journal: President Barack Obama’s decision to side with the United Steelworkers and impose temporary tariffs on Chinese car tires implies a potentially costly trade-off for the administration, trade and political experts said. In the near term, the move should consolidate the support of [...]

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   Last week, I wrote about the energy bill and passages that impose penalties on countries that violate the bill. The president thinks this is "protectionism": “At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we’ve seen a significant drop in global trade,” Mr. Obama said, “I think we have to [...]

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   Trade and climate change are closely connected issues. Think just about the carbon emissions of planes and ships traversing the globe carrying stuff that we consume. I’ll come back to that in a sec.    Yesterday, Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine introduced the House version of the TRADE Act; the Senate’s sponsor is Sherrod [...]

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   Yesterday, I was back doing the hard stuff…not in the drinking area (though, actually, I did have a bit of Glenlivet later in the day). No, the hard stuff is trying to have an intelligent conversation with anyone associated with the so-called "free trade" wing of the world. In this case, I was asked [...]

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   As I noted yesterday in connection with the bankruptcy of General Motors, I am in favor of spending money on trying to save peoples’ jobs–we are talking about the survival of communities and the lives of thousands of people. But, having now spent the morning reading various media reports about the GM bankruptcy, it’s [...]

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   Change has to begin with the transformation of the economy: a rejection of the marketing phrase of the "free market". The president has made some very strong proposals in this area. A large group of Members of Congress is now pushing him to declare a new era in trade.   I just received the [...]

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   I keep my promises. I’ve just been given the language on trade that will likely be in the Democratic Party’s platform. Here it is, followed by some commentary (the numbers to the left of the language are from the draft pages…too lazy to take them out):   Smart, Strong, and Fair Trade Policies 20 [...]

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   Now that the platform committee has met a  number of times, we should learn what the Democratic Party’s platform will say about trade. I’m told the language may be finalized today. In the meantime, consider a couple of nuggets of information:    The Citizens Trade Campaign came up with proposed language, which you can [...]

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