Working Life

There are lots of reasons to oppose the Senate bill in its current form, and hope that, if the Senate does pass a bill, that the final form of the bill is closer to the House version (I am leaving aside for the moment the argument, pro or con, that anything short of "Medicare For […]

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   There is a poll out today that shows the fortune of the Democratic Party sliding dramatically. I am not a big believer that polls tell you much beyond a monetary snapshot–and we know how quickly those polls can change. But, this was the more interesting–and worrisome, from the party’s point of view: Julie Edwards, […]

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   The French should be thrilled that the Republicans do not control the Congress because we would certainly see another landmark "Freedom Fries" bill become law after this: French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Wednesday that France will slap a one-off 50% tax on bonuses awarded to bank employees next year. "Banks will be taxed […]

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   To understand how out of touch some of the people at the helm of large businesses are, consider the following contrast today. First, the nation’s ranks of unemployed–which have been swelled by the irresponsible behavior of, if I may quote the president, "fat-cat bankers"–are in dire straights: More than half of the nation’s unemployed […]

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   The drumbeat about the long-term debt is continuing. But, we are not having a serious debate about the origins of the debt or its solutions. If you want to address the long-term debt, the only solution is a "Medicare For All" system that kills the private health insurance industry.   The newest alarm is […]

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   I will have a lot more to say next week about the whole executive compensation issue and how it fits into the larger picture of our economy. But, for today, I think we should not get too excited about this news: Bowing to calls for restraint in tough economic times, Goldman said that its […]

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Today is Human Right Day. This morning, I paused to think about the soaring notion of human rights and, at the same time, the many challenges we face to achieve human rights.   Here is the preamble to the 1948 United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of […]

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A note to the British: you should thank your lucky stars that the Republicans are not running the Congress because fish and chips would now be renamed Freemarket Delight to protest your government’s decision to levy a tax on bankers’ bonuses. Seriously, here is one small step forward to a rationale response to the obscene […]

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   Over to Copenhagen (A lovely city to visit): how exactly do we adjust the global economy to save the planet from catastrophic changes AND do so in a way that is fair to workers. The process is called "Just Transition". The international labor movement–there is a delegation in Copenhagen drawing from labor around the […]

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   Free speech rights…for corporations: Montana voters, fed up with the grip of out-of-state mining interests on local politicians, passed an initiative in 1912 banning corporate spending on candidates for state office. As soon as Tuesday, that law — and similar ones in nearly half the states — could be struck down by the U.S. […]

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