Working Life

There really has been a war going on–one of those wars that doesn’t get written about much. It’s the war between the states…oh, the other one–to give away the economic store to businesses without much thinking about the consequences.

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One thing you won’t hear any chest-beating about from rabid patriots: the need for paid family and medical leave. See, too many of them care only about stuff that makes the country seem big by either (a) blowing up other countries or (b) just spouting hot air about “specialness”. How about this for special: The United States is the only high income country that does not mandate paid family and medical leave.

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It is either ironic or karmic that just as Iraq is interrupting into yet another spasm of civil war, Hillary Clinton steps into the public arena to promote her book–and her presidential campaign (be my guest if you want to believe that she is really deeply weighing this or not). A lot of attention has been paid to her interview yesterday on NPR, mostly because of her (dissembling) explanation of her views on gay marriage. But, far less attention is being paid to an entirely dishonest attempt to wash away the blood she helped spill in Iraq–a tragedy generations will pay for in many ways.

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Yesterday, I wrote about an example of the all-too often bi-partisan dumbness when it comes to taxes. So, today, a little glimmer–and it’s tiny. Sometimes, bi-partisanship on taxes yields a little sanity.

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When it comes to taxes, neither party has an exclusive claim to dumbness. Bi-partisanship on taxes is pretty common–and over the years it’s one of the central reasons we have such a deep hole in the public till. And it just keep coming.

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One of the dumbest, and pernicious, obsessions has to be trying to tag teachers for the bad state of a lot of schools. Seriously? It’s just mindless, blind ideological hatred that comes straight from a hostile right-wing that wants to eviscerate the political power of teachers’ unions. In the list of the assault add the bad decision coming out of the mouth of a mediocre Los Angeles judge.

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Well, it’s the usual report from the pig fest AKA the annual analysis of CEO pay. Each year brings a ceiling-shattering example of greed. This year, it’s Charif Souki. Oh, and there is another gem to share as well.

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It’s in the air. And it’s global. Even The Economist noticed.

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The vastness of global poverty is almost unfathomable–but, it’s gotten a bit better, according to the good people at the International Labour Organization, which just published its 2014 World of Work Report that focuses on “Developing With Jobs”. Even more astounding is the scale of the number of people who are in what is called “vulnerable employment”, which is a fancy way of saying you just can’t make ends meet.

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This is unfortunate. A federal appeals court overturned Hudge Jed Rakoff’s attempt to derail a deal with Citibank, a deal Rakoff had ruled essentially wasn’t in the public’s interest. It’s a bit complicated.

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