Working Life

It’s a bit out of sight and out of mind–and obscured by the violence in Iraq–but there’s still a war going on in Afghanistan: 10 U.S. Soldiers Are Killed in Afghan Helicopter Crash By CARLOTTA GALL Published: May 7, 2006 KABUL, Afghanistan, May 6 — Ten American soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed Friday […]

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Back when NAFTA passed in 1993, a guy named Tom Sawyer was a so-called Democrat Congressmember from Ohio who voted for NAFTA. He was, then, beaten in a 2002 primary because of his NAFTA vote. Well, Tom tried for a comeback, running in the Democratic primary in the 13th Congressional District in Ohio to succeed […]

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I suspect no one reading this blog doubts the fact that the divide between rich and poor in the country is widening (if you do, well, you haven’t been paying attention). But, a couple of new pieces of evidence flew by my eyes this morning. First, David Cay Johnston of The New York Times (who […]

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Rep. William Jefferson, one of the CAFTA 15, just moved one step closer to indictment on corruption charges. Yes, he is innocent until proven guilty but both The New York Times and The Washington Post carry stories today that can’t make his day feel good, though the Post story is much more explicit about Jefferson’s […]

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The headline in The New York Times was kind of comic: “An Ugly Side of Free Trade: Sweatshops in Jordan.” It was almost as if The Times, which has been an unabashed editorial supporter of so-called “free trade,” was shocked, shocked, to find sweatshops spoiling the economic miracle promised by so-called “free trade.” Well, yes, […]

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I don’t want to overstate this but, if you look at what has happened in the past few weeks and months, the discontent at the economic conditions facing people here and around the world is bubbling up. Some of it has to do with the rising disparity between rich and poor, while some of the […]

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The buzz is, obviously, about the immigration rallies and walk-outs today. The focus should be on making sure that enough power is shown in the streets to push back any legislation that smells of the anti-immigrant House bill. But, there is a debate about the best tactics: demonstrations versus (or, in addition to) walking off […]

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I’m sure most folks in America are feeling a bit mystified–on the one hand, they are being told the economy is doing just fine, with the Gross Domestic Product rising at a rate of 4.8 percent in the first quarter. Certainly, the Bush Administration and the talking heads in the mainstream media are trying to […]

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The superwealthy are at it again–lead by those leading lights at the Wal-Mart family. They are trying to effectively rob every one of us of the chance to have decent housing, healthcare, parks…you name it, all the things the government makes possible because we can’t pay for that stuff on our own. Of course, the […]

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So, yours truly and 56 other people spent some time in jail yesterday for peacefully blocking a road near the campus of New York University. You may remember that NYU, one of the richest private universities in the country, has been refusing to recognize and negotiate with the graduate students’ union–even though it had already […]

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