Working Life

   I’ve made the point a lot that productivity has, over the past 30 years, soared while wages have remained flat in real terms over that period of time. That is important because when people are more productive at work that, in theory, should translate into wage increase.    Well, here is a productivity number […]

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   I’ve been banging this drum for many weeks–we cannot take seriously the talk about "recovery" when the vast crisis of unemployment and under-employment is not being dealt with. Bob Herbert picks up this theme today: The official jobless rate is now more than twice as high — 9.4 percent — and even more wildly […]

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   I’ve been a pessimist about the chatter about "recovery" and the foragers who seem to keep finding "green shoots" everywhere. I understand why the Administration has to trumpet any hopeful signs–it’s a political neccessity. But, I have pointed out repeatedly that I don’t see how we have a "recovery" given how deeply stressed out […]

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   On a plane here soon this morning so just a quick post…you will recall that I am a skeptic about the "recovery" rhetoric, largely because people are just hammered so hard now, after years of no real wage increases, that the concept of when the "recovery" comes will be mostly relevant for government statisticians […]

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   Today brings news of more greed wafting across the country, as well as a tiny step towards sweeping out the stalls soiled by corrupt politicians. The bad, though typical news, finds yet another payday for Wall Street banks and lawyers who will reap almost a billion dollars for cleaning up the mess of AIG: […]

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A tried-and-true political tactic in this country to scuttle progressive progress is to explicitly or implicitly tar one’s opponent as "un-American". One can either do it in the darkest of ways–cue Sen. Joe McCarthy. Or, one can do it in a more subtle way by accusing one’s opponents of perhaps one of the worst transgressions–listening […]

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    Apparently, Timothy Geithner threw a fit. Fascinating. Mainly because it says a lot about the power struggle underway for control over the economic system. Here is a snippet from The Wall Street Journal article: Friday’s roughly hourlong meeting was described as unusual, not only because of Mr. Geithner’s repeated use of obscenities, but because […]

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   In today’s installment of The Audacity of Greed, we bring you the story of Andrew Hall: In a few weeks, the Treasury Department’s czar of executive pay will have to answer this $100 million question: Should Andrew J. Hall get his bonus? Mr. Hall, the 58-year-old head of Phibro, a small commodities trading firm […]

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   I remain astonished–perhaps I shouldn’t be–about the extent to which the people who destroyed the financial system still have jobs. It is truly a comment on the emptiness of the rhetoric of the "free market" ideologues and the business world, who demand accountability, efficiency and profitability–except when it comes to their own actions. After […]

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   Yesterday, I asked the question about whether members of the House progressive caucus might vote "no" on a health care bill that emerges from the insurance industry-driven rollback on the promise of a public option. That is becoming more real today after concessions to the "Blue Dogs" in the House further weakened the public […]

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