Working Life

    Frankly, this is good news: WASHINGTON—The bipartisan commission examining how to cut the federal debt ended three days of closed-door meetings Thursday without a firm agreement among its 18 members, with several saying the panel was still at odds over how to contain the ballooning costs of health care.    The Commission should just […]

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I have to confess to being entirely bored by the House leadership drama. The idea that somehow shaking up the leadership would send a message that the party "has heard" the people is good satire but not serious debate–particularly when not a murmur is heard when the DCCC decides to throw a party under the […]

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    Let’s see. Republicans are trying to save us all from the phony deficit "crisis". So, they announce this: Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, drove the point home as soon as the Senate convened by announcing that he would support a proposed ban on Congressional earmarks, reversing his longtime practice of avidly […]

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   I know we are shocked by this (via The Wall Street Journal–subscription): Overall, median total direct compensation for CEOs in the sample rose 3.0% during their latest fiscal year, as total shareholder return came in at 29%. Total direct compensation includes salary, bonuses and the awarded value of stock, options and other long-term incentives. […]

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   Today is a day to celebrate–no kidding. The so-called "free trade" deal with South Korea is dead in the water–at least for now. There are a whole host of reasons these deals stink from top to bottom. But, little attention is ever given to this reason: the phony promises made about enforcing labor and […]

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   I am so tired of listening to the transcribers of press conferences (people we used to call "journalists") speaking about the debt or deficit "crisis". They just regurgitate crazy, phony stuff–and the height of all this came yesterday with the release of the proposals by the co-chairmen of the Commission appointed by the president. […]

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   This will be interesting. The Democratic Party loves to come to the labor movement when it needs help or money. Harry Reid, for example, doesn’t win re-election without the help of the Culinary Workers i.e., UNITEHERE. And so: A union representing hotel workers has asked the Democratic National Committee to rule out two of […]

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War is peace. Lies are truth. And, now, Melissa Bean is like Elizabeth Warren. That is the instant thought I had when reading about the rumors that the White House might consider appointing Melissa Bean to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if she ends up on the short end of the vote count in […]

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   Interesting: In what labor officials and lawyers view as a ground-breaking case involving workers and social media, the National Labor Relations Board has accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page. This is the first case in which the labor board has stepped in to […]

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   Look, I am not happy when wacky Republicans win. But, I am not feeling particularly sorry that Melissa Bean may lose her seat in Illinois: Vote counting is temporarily on hold for Illinois’ 8th Congressional District where Republican Joe Walsh has a razor-thin lead over Democratic Congresswoman Melissa Bean. The race has been too […]

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