Working Life

The Republicans, and Judd Gregg in particular, have handed the president a golden chance to make lemonade out of lemons. To do so, he has to enact some real change: put a progressive economist or political leader in charge of the renamed Department of Prosperity (formerly known as the Department of Commerce). Follow the argument […]

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   I don’t want to hold up George Soros as the great thinker of the modern era. But, since the guy has billions of dollars (partly made by betting that currencies will collapse so if you are getting some of his money think of it as a make-up payment for leaving lots of people in […]

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To the question "have they no shame?" we already know the answer. And as we dig deeper and scrape the bottom of the barrel where the bottom-feeders have been lurking, we learn more about the immoral behavior of the incompetent, greedy elites. Today, the the tally is $121 million for FOUR–count ’em, FOUR–Merrill Lynch executives. […]

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   On the one hand, this was one of the things that I, and others, worried about when the president announced his Cabinet (and let me just say that it is nice to listen to a president, even one who you disagree with on some fundamental issues of economic power, who can conduct a news […]

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Strap yourself in here because to get to the satisfying end, you’ll have to channel your inner numbers wonk. But, here’s the story: we can save ONE MILLION JOBS by investing about $16 billion. Save jobs…not just create new ones to try to re-employ people. And it would be fast, immediate and efficient.   As […]

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  With the collapse of the financial system, we are witnessing one obvious spectacular failure of the wonders of the "free market". Let’s not forget, though, the other part of the wonderful "free market": the grueling hours, despicable conditions and substandard wages that half the world live in, all a product of the fine system […]

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I’m all for a little rhetoric and bashing CEOs who, as a class, have lined their pockets while pillaging the country. But, if the point is to stop the legal looting of corporate treasuries and leave some money in the till for regular workers, when you get right down to it, the CEO pay caps […]

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    I would have put a "BREAKING" on this title but, in some ways, this is not a new story–just another twist to the same-old political as usual. I’m all for the cap on executive compensation announced by the president. But, the culture of Washington is not changing–and it’s getting worse.   Today, the Center […]

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   I know this would be a tough one for most everyone because, let’s face it, half a million dollars a year is not what it once was. Pity those poor executives who may have their pay capped if they come to taxpayers for a bailout: “That is pretty draconian — $500,000 is not a […]

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  Perhaps only the prospect of hanging at dawn focuses the mind more than money. And now that we have the attention of all those banks and other folks who salivate at getting OUR (taxpayer) money through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), why not get something real out of them: write into new legislation […]

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