Working Life

I honestly don’t care if Chris Christie is fat. I don’t care much about him in general. But, it is fascinating that the media discussion over his weight issues fails to make what seems to be a logical point about the danger of handing someone like Christie any power: he shows a pattern of lack of self control.

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Of all the surrenders to corporate power health care has got to rank right up at the top of the list. Obamacare’s failures come down to an unwillingness to consign the insurance industry to the trash heap of history and a deal which guaranteed the drug companies billions of dollars in profits. Which makes the news about slowing health care costs even more infuriating.

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Bodies. More bodies. More horror.

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Earlier today, I wrote about Leslie Stahl’s serious breach of basic journalistic standards due to her service on the advisory board of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. I’ve followed this up with a letter to CBS’ management seeking an explanation.

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Why is Leslie Stahl sitting on the Advisory Board of an organization deeply involved in a contentious political debate? And is her service on that Advisory Board blessed by “60 Minutes”? Or were Stahl’s superiors even aware of her service? In any case, if “60 Minutes” has any inclination to adhere to CBS’ ethical guidelines, Stahl must be forced to resign from the board.

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May Day doesn’t get any respect in the U.S. which prefers to ignore the day. But, rumblings around the world, mostly in opposition to the mindless imposition of austerity, are on the menu — and makes one think that it’s about time the streets heated up in the same way in the U.S., not just in one Occupy Wall Street square but far more broadly.

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I’m not sure what the ILO has in mind or can do — it is hostage to the politics of inertia. But, at least there is a chance this will keep the pressure on.

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Any job is not always the best job. So, here’s something to think about.

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In the horror of the collapse of the garment factory building in Bangladesh, I’m left to thinking how many people have died over many years of exploitation in garment factories and others factories in places like Bangladesh — and the unfortunate reality that the people most responsible for those deaths will never be held accountable: CEOs of U.S. corporations.

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At what point will shills for corporate greed ever say, “hey, you know, we can’t continue to lie about corporate taxes”. Seriously, will it be when every CEO can each buy a villa on the French Riveria — those that don’t already have one? Will it be when say the death rate for seniors who can’t afford food anymore because Medicare has been cut because of the rampant, mindless budget-cutting mania driven by deficits — deficits partly driven by corporate robbery of the Treasury — reaches say 10,000 people a week? When? Because right now there seems to be no boundary for the lying.

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