Posted on 31 March 2021. Tags: Amazon, Bessemer, Dave Mertz, Oxfam, RWDSU, Yemen
I have discussed a number of times the union organizing campaign at Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. So, as the ballot counting is now underway, I thought today we could add two aspects to the conversation, while we await the final results which could take a number of days. First, people don’t really know how […]
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Posted in Audio, Economy, Labor, Podcast, Politics, Workers
Posted on 10 March 2021. Tags: Erica Smith, Fight for 15, Minimum Wage, North Carolina
< It’s all about North Carolina today—the fight for better wages and the campaign to get a progressive person in the U.S. Senate, all of which is connected to my two guests today who represent the theme of the just-marked International Womens Day. The sad outcome of the push to raise the federal minimum wage […]
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Posted in Audio, Economy, Labor, Politics, Workers
Posted on 03 March 2021. Tags: Amy Hanauer, COVID-19, Elizabeth Warren, IMF, Joe Biden, Mark Weisbrot, SDRs, Taxes, Union Organizing, Wealth Tax
The number that sticks in my mind today, and has since I heard it, is 40 percent. While over half a million people in the U.S. have died of COVID in one year, while millions of people have become sick, while millions of people have lost their jobs, savings and homes, and many people […]
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Posted in Audio, Economy, Labor, Podcast, Politics, Workers
Posted on 24 February 2021. Tags: Big PHARMA, COVID-19, Jan Schakowsky, Lori Wallach, Myanmar, WTO
You aren’t going to be surprised by this news: Big Pharma is killing people. All over the world. And the real kicker here is: after you, the taxpayer, gave billions of dollars to Big Pharma companies to come up with a vaccine for COVID-19, Big Pharma is keeping that vaccine from getting into the hands […]
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Posted in Audio, Economy, Labor, Podcast, Politics, Workers
Posted on 17 February 2021. Tags: Alabama, Amazon, Minimum Wage, RWDSU
Right before our eyes, in these very days and at this time of crisis, you can see so clearly this bankrupt system, defended and promoted by greedy CEOs and spineless politicians, but a system people are trying to rebel against and take down. And that’s the picture of two really important fights—the fight to get […]
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Posted in Audio, Economy, Labor, Podcast, Workers
Posted on 03 February 2021. Tags: Joe Biden, Matt Gardner, Michele Evermore, NELP, Netflix, Taxes, Unemployment Benefits
How many of you dealt with that chaos when it came to wrestling with the unemployment insurance system last year? Some of the rhetoric we heard was, “well that chaos was just the pandemic crush overwhelming the system”. Yes, that’s true in a very narrow sense—the system collapsed in many places, meaning people who were […]
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Posted in Audio, Economy, Podcast, Workers
Posted on 18 November 2020. Tags: Arizona, COVID-19, Poultry Workers, Pramila Jayapal, Teachers
Ideology is in the way of a simple plan to end the pandemic in 30 days. Yes, 30 days: Lock down the country and pay everyone up to an annual wage of $90,000 to stay home. I’m resurrecting the argument I made months ago because the debate about a stimulus is on the agenda again—after […]
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Posted in Audio, Current Events, Economy, Podcast, Workers
Posted on 12 November 2020. Tags: Amendment 2, Fight for 15, Florida, Joe Biden, Minimum Wage
Yawn. That’s my reaction to this perennial debate about whether a progressive agenda is a winning agenda. Of course, it is—and that has a lot to do with how you define “progressive”. At least, on economics, it’s clear: what puts more money in peoples’ pockets, what makes it possible for people to make a decent […]
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Posted in Economy, Labor, Politics, Workers
Posted on 30 September 2020. Tags: Climate Change, Darrell Roberts, Firefighters, IAFF, Wildfires
I’ve been thinking a lot about firefighters these days, what with the jaw-dropping video we see virtually every day of these monstrous wild fires scorching millions of acres of forests in California and Oregon. For the record, these fires are absolutely driven by climate change—so what we see today will be a feature every single […]
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Posted in Audio, Labor, Podcast, Workers
Posted on 23 September 2020. Tags: China, Climate Change, Elon Musk, Green Technologies, Tesla
CEOs like to play a three-card Monte shell game. They want everyone to focus on their rhetoric about all the supposed wonderful things they do—say, creating a “green” friendly product—and, at the same time, when people aren’t paying attention, they run their company using fear, sexism and racism. That sums up the world of Elon […]
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Posted in Audio, Current Events, Economy, Labor, Podcast, Workers