Working Life

   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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    This really got me infuriated. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported (as did other news outlets): Delphi Corp., the largest parts supplier to General Motors Corp., won court approval to terminate health benefits for thousands of retired salaried employees after arguing the move is critical to keeping its slow-going bankruptcy reorganization afloat. Ending the […]

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You break the law. You hide your money. You abandon any pretense to having any loyalty to your community. And, now, you sue to keep all the quiet. That’s what a group of rich Americans are doing.   I caught this in The New York Times and have yet to see it elsewhere but this […]

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  If you look back at virtually every large fraud uncovered in the past two decades (and probably more) you can find a direct link between the theft and political corruption–meaning, campaign contributions. The same is true with the massive investment fraud perpetuated by Allen Stanford.   In today’s Wall Street Journal there is this […]

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   This is news that is both somewhat expected and also worrisome, from The Wall Street Journal this morning: Outside advisers to the U.S. Treasury have started lining up the largest bankruptcy loan ever, talking with banks and other lenders about at least $40 billion in financing for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, in […]

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  I have to say this would all make for a great movie–thriller, farce, comedy?–if the plot lines didn’t actually mean that millions of people have been screwed by crooks, greedy elites and incompetent CEOs. Today, there is just a plethora of news on the "free market" scam front, all courtesy of The Wall Street […]

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  When many people voted for "change", they embraced the idea that the parameters and language of our policy debate had to be altered. Nowhere is that more evident than on the topic of trade. Now, there is legitimate concern that the president may not live up to his rhetoric when it comes to so-called […]

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   Today, the president will unveil his proposal to deal with the mortgage/housing crisis. At least from the initial reports, my first take is: it’s not enough. And that seems to be the general problem with the way in which the Administration is handling the economic collapse.    Things to consider: 1.4 trillion–that’s TRILLION–in household […]

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   Way back when the UAW negotiated with the Big Three in 2007, the union agreed to set up Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Associations (VEBA) to handle health care liabilities. It was a logical gamble pressed on the union by very difficult economic circumstances–which have only gotten tougher. And now the VEBA is at risk–or at […]

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  I suspect we are going to be distracted by an emerging debate between Congressional Democrats and The White House on how to handle the CEO pay caps written into the economic stimulus bill. This is a distraction because, in all honesty, the pay caps aren’t real.   Today, there is this news in The […]

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