Working Life

  I continue to be amazed at the moral obscenity underway in our country. We are in a financial crisis, states are cutting education and health care, and we are wringing our hands over federal deficits–yet there is no serious discussion about significantly taxing the rich, who have reaped hundreds of billions of dollars in […]

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Every day, there is another example of the conspiracy of silence that pervades the traditional media’s description of the current economic crisis. Sure, de-regulation, greed and pure stupidity has a lot to do with it. But, in truth, the underlying reason for the collapse has been a persistent war on the wages of American workers. […]

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   Well, welcome back to all who have been kicking back for the past few days, including yours truly. This year is going to be quite interesting–and, unfortunately, not a happy one as far as the economy goes, or so I’m guessing. I’m not going to spend much time today on prognostications–I saw a bunch […]

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   So, I lied…well, not really…I said I might take a total blog break but…here I am in Los Angeles and was up early reading the LATimes and saw Ed Asner’s plea to support the strike authorization request from the leadership of the Screen Actors Guild, which is embroiled in a pretty intense internal fight […]

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   My brain is a little tired but I also find it hard to turn it off…which is to say that I am about to get on a plane for warmer parts to spoil my nieces, see some friends, play some golf. Blogging may or not happen between now and New Year’s. But, you never […]

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  I’ve watched the internal divisions at the Screen Actors Guild with sadness. A united SAG, and a strong creators’ labor movement, would be a great boon for all workers. But, it seems to be getting worse. Here is a short primer–and why you should care.   I’ve written about the building strife recently. The […]

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  The Beast of Bentonville–aka Wal-Mart–is slowly, but surely, letting go of the argument "we’re innocent" of widespread lawbreaking. And this just in: it will settle 63 lawsuits for a cool $640 million.   From The New York Times: Wal-Mart Stores, the nation’s largest retailer, said Tuesday that it would pay up to $640 million […]

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   I’ve made the point over the past many months that the current financial crisis will be used–and has been used–as a cover to attack workers and, particularly unions. There is a struggle going on over two visions of society: a decent standard of living vs. a Wal-Mart standard of living. I made that point […]

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This is not a post about why someone should not be the next U.S. Senator from New York. It’s advocating for someone who should: the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten.   If you want the full history and credentials for Randi, check it out here. Here are my basic reasons for […]

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   Nothing is keeping my anger quotient higher than the refusal by politicians in New York state–and across the nation–to tax the rich. It is nothing less than an obscenity. We’ve got mountains of money piled high in a few bank accounts–and, yet, no one wants to ask those fortunate few to stop cuts in […]

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