Working Life

   Rather than talk about deficit-reduction by cutting services, Oregonians are brave: Two ballot measures that would raise taxes on businesses and higher-income residents in Oregon appeared headed for approval late Tuesday. The tax increases, which would raise about $727 million largely for public education and social services, were approved last year by the Legislature, […]

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The Supreme Court recently determined that corporations are entitled to freedom of speech because they are legally persons. The ramifications of this decision, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, cannot be overstated:  it introduces an entirely new and untapped population into the dating pool. Chances are you’ve never dated a corporation before. But don’t be […]

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   I wonder if you feel this way. We face the greatest emergency in our adult lifetimes. It’s not the deficit. It’s the reality that one in five Americans does not have decent paying work and that one in four children are on food stamps–in the richest nation in human history. That is a five-alarm […]

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Solidarity is one of the bedrock principles of the labor movement. It has a pretty sound strategic and tactical basis: you can’t win if your ranks are divided. I don’t mean that you can’t have debate. I mean that we have to support certain general principles. Here is an example: public employees are not to […]

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Scott Brown’s victory was a truly historic moment. For the first time in recent history, a senator-elect announced the dating status of his daughters: "For anyone watching around the country, they’re both available." Well, that’s not entirely true. "Arianna’s definitely not available," he said. "But Ayla is!" (Check out the video here) In all fairness, […]

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   Yesterday, the president announced that it was time for a new deal with banks: The tougher approach to financial regulation that President Obama outlined on Thursday reflected a changed political climate, the rebound in big banks’ fortunes after their taxpayer bailout and a shift in power within the administration away from those who had […]

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   A quote worth remembering: Pleasing the investor class is no longer a route to political success.      Marx? Nope. A columnist for the Financial Times today.    Hmmmm…

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   Lesson from last night: if we had held accountable the Democrats who for the past 25 years did not act like Democrats–meaning, those people who were willing to engage in legalized corruption by pocketing corporate campaign cash, those people who voted for NAFTA and so-called "free trade" and those people who lost their voices […]

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   One reason people are angry–a sense that the elite still get away with what regular people can’t. You may not be able to deduct a penalty but the banks can (via The Financial Times): The planned new US levy on top financial institutions will be tax-deductible, a Treasury official told the Financial Times on […]

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They robbed Americans of their future. They cost perhaps a generation of hard-working people a decent pay check. And they left millions of people with empty 401(k)s, with some seniors being booted from their retirement homes because there was no money left. And, yet, they still don’t get it–or maybe they truly don’t care.   […]

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