Working Life

   [a technical glitz made this post invisible–until now].    Maybe it’s the beautiful spring air but my mind is off in other directions than usual. So, here are two seemingly unrelated things that caught my attention that are actually related. First, is it just me or did anyone else pick up on the stark […]

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    I ended up pondering the issues of taxes this morning–a, finally, fine nice spring morning here in NYC.  The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the government’s receipts from corporate taxes have fallen. The Journal ascribes this to the "turmoil rocking financial markets and housing woes slowing the economy", just another way that […]

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    A year and a half ago, I wrote about the scam that is Goldman Sachs–a company that was about to shower billions of dollars on its executives after it had gotten stupendous tax breaks from New York’s city and state governments; a few days later, we also learned that the company’s top dog was […]

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    For some politicians, the deaths of workers are either almost invisible or convenient props for getting attention. Recently, during yet another carnage of constructions workers in New York, politicians rushed to the scene to express their concern–the same politicians that do very little day-to-day and actually collect campaign contributions from people who endanger workers’ […]

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    I know…the faithful readers were wondering "where is our morning blog?" Well, it is the afternoon but your busy dude here has been…well, busy–panel in the morning and, then, there was lunch…but I digress…    Yesterday, there was a fascinating column in The New York Times–fascinating in showing out truly out of touch the […]

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    It’s no secret that undocumented workers are some of the most vulnerable workers in society. Employers ruthlessly exploit them. I don’t think that most people can understand–deeply understand in your gut–the fear that undocumented workers have to live with every day. Well, here’s as close as you might get to understanding what it feels […]

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    I’m a little surprised that this story has become more than it should be. Apparently, yesterday’s story in The Wall Street Journal that related Barack Obama’s pledge that he would work to end the government control over the Teamsters has caused a bit of a hoo-hah. It elicited this story today in The New […]

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    The Wall Street Journal has this interesting story today: Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign.     And… Neither Sen. Obama nor […]

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    You may recall that 13 workers died on February 7th in an explosion at a sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia. Today, The Wall Street Journal has a fine story looking at the disaster and the dangers from dust and the failure of federal and safety officials to do much about the risks. First, […]

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  I’ve said before that I believe that the Democratic nomination fight is over, though the hype may drag on for a bit. But, a nice chunk of super delegates–perhaps as many as a dozen or more–may make their choice based on where the candidates stand on trade. And that’s a good sign for people […]

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