Working Life

Back when he ran for governor, I wrote about Tim Kaine and his apparent anti-union bent. People assured me that because he was running in Virginia, he had no choice but to talk a certain way but his heart was really okay when it came to unions. I just don’t buy that. Just this week […]

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It used to be that when the government ran budget deficits, it would finance that debt by selling bonds to Americans–so, most interest payments went to people in this country who had invested in the future of the nation. Quick, blink a few times and look down the road just a few years. As the […]

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When the attacks on pensions hit blue-collar workers, people shrug. But, increasingly, the disappearing pensions are a fact of life for white-collar workers. GM is now going after its white-collar workforce. The General Motors Corporation announced extensive changes to the retirement plans of its salaried employees on Tuesday, a decision that will cut its pension […]

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This is a bit amusing. Turns out that the Beast of Bentonville is now writing copy for bloggers. The New York Times has a story today that reveals that the company has been sending out talking points and other information for pro-Wal-Mart bloggers (I wonder why I didn’t get those emails?). Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest […]

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This is something I think many people worry about and rightly criticize the Democratic Party for. Today, The New York Times has a front-page piece entitled, “For Democrats, Many Verses, but No Chorus.” I don’t generally think much of Adam Nagourney as a reporter–can you say “conventional wisdom?”–but this piece does expose what I think […]

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I haven’t see this anywhere in the mainstream press: the Financial Times had a piece on Feb, 27th (yeah, sorry, it sat on my desk and I just liberated it from the pile) which reported that the Central American Free Trade Agreement might be headed for tough times in Costa Rica: The leader of Costa […]

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As if we didn’t know, the Economic Policy Institute gives us this news: The median household income rose just 1.6% between 2001 and 2004 (from $42,500 to $43,200 in 2004 dollars) compared to an 11.7% rise in productivity. Simply put, workers aren’t reaping the rewards of their labor: real wages are trailing productivity gains because […]

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I meant to write about this when it first surfaced but I wanted to try to figure out the background. Andrew Young, who many people still view as a civil rights leader, has sold his soul to Wal-Mart. He’s made a deal to become the public spokesperson for Working Familes For Wal-Mart. Truly shameful. Young […]

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Here’s an interesting pairing of events. Even though there have been a spate of deaths and accidents at mines, the Bush Administration has “decreased major fines for safety violations since 2001,” as The New York Times reports today. The Mine Safety and Health Administration’s response: last year’s fatalities of 22 miners was “the lowest number […]

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Almost every city or state has to deal with it: a company comes with its hand held out, saying it will only move in or stick around if it gets tax breaks, subsidies or other special deals. Some people call this “economic development.” Mostly, though, it’s highway robbery and we, the taxpayers, end up paying […]

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