Working Life

  A number of people–including your truly–have been making the point for a long time that there is no debt and deficit "crisis". The problem is that there is a bi-partisan obsession with the phony "crisis", helped by the transcribers of press releases (formerly known as "journalists") that has drowned out any rationale discussion–a discussion […]

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   I get ginned up as much as the next person when I read about any government action against the financial institutions that robbed millions of people of their jobs and retirement–and their dignity and respect. But, in some way, this is a game.    Unless the heads of these institutions go to jail, nothing […]

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   I cruise by the Central Park boathouse on my regular cycling trips up and down Manhattan. So, I’ve been able to cheer on the folks who are on strike to try to get a union. There’s some news on that today: Representatives from the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park and the New York Hotel […]

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   I’m going to start by saying something entirely unoriginal: the traditional press has its head up its ass, and is thoroughly incapable of looking at itself and understanding that most transcribers of press releases (formerly known as "journalists") are entirely not qualified to write about the economy or work and, indeed, are oiling the […]

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   Not surprisingly, Bank of America–one of the truly despicable actors in the mortgage scandal–has violated a deal it struck with the state of Nevada. And Nevada wants to sue.  Here you go: The attorney general of Nevada is accusing Bank of America of repeatedly violating a broad loan modification agreement it struck with state […]

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   Apparently, in the alternate universe Republicans inhabit, socialism is on the march and the attack against the "free market" is unrelenting. Where? At the National Labor Relations Board, of course. The truth is–shocking, I know–quite different, and it speaks volumes about the playing field for workers in the real world.    The NLRB has […]

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   Something positive to look forward to today: President Barack Obama on Monday will announce he has chosen Princeton University labor economist Alan Krueger to become the top White House economist, a White House official said.    It isn’t simply that Krueger believes in government action to create jobs. It’s that he is the co-author […]

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   What has been extraordinary to watch over the past 30-40 years is the way in which, when economic crisis strikes, the political and economic leadership of the country leaps into the breach to lend a hand–not to the regular people who suffered the most but, rather, to the very institutions and economic elites who […]

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    Not a day goes by when we don’t hear from the mouth of some talking head or read the words of a transcriber of press releases (formerly known as a "journalist") about the awful "partisanship" or bi-partisan "paralysis" and failure to "compromise". It’s now a macro embedded in the minds and computers of virtually […]

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   Over the last couple of days, I’ve written about the blatant ethical violations of Kathryn S. Wylde, a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. One thing struck me in particular about the Fed’s rules for its Class C directors: Class C directors are prohibited from owning bank stocks, for example,…    […]

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