Working Life

   There is a whole lot of whining coming from the corporate sector about the great "burden" entailed in the health care bill just passed. Citizens for Tax Justice digs into the topic: A new analysis from CTJ shows that many of the companies protesting a tax-loophole-closing reform enacted in the new health care reform […]

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   Yesterday, Robert Rubin testified before the commission investigating the financial crisis: But Robert E. Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, faced withering questions from the panel, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, for his spare expressions of remorse. Repeatedly playing down his role as chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup’s board, he was met with […]

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   Ummm…There are reasons to walk out, and, then, there are reasons to walk out: Scores of Carlsberg A/S workers walked off their jobs Thursday to protest the Danish brewer’s new limits on beer drinking at work. Carlsberg spokesman Jens Bekke said 250 warehouse and production workers and truck drivers went on strike Thursday on […]

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   The Wall Street Journal has an illiuminating piece about Jamie Dimon, the CEO of J.P. Morgan, today. It is both astounding and revealing because it shows exactly what we, the people, are up against when it comes to taking back the country from the people who gambled away–for their own enrichment and/or because of […]

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   As soon as I read about the mine explosion, my first thought was: bet it was non-union. Indeed: The death toll from a blast at a coal mine here rose to 25 on Tuesday, federal safety officials said, making it the worst mining accident in the United States in 25 years. Four miners were […]

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   Some random notes on the debate over reforming the financial system. The Brits continue to lead the charge on the bank tax–perhaps driven by the fast-approaching elections in which, if you believe the polls, the ruling Labor Party is going to lose its governing majority…perhaps a harbinger of things to come here. So, Gordon […]

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The danger in a blip of good news is that it’s simply that: a blip. It is certainly a good thing that the data shows that 162,000 jobs were added in March. But, the truth is that this is not much to celebrate. And it actually should be a siren to move dramatically to embrace […]

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   This just in, via The Wall Street Journal: Germany on Wednesday moved toward a new bank levy to cover the cost of future bailouts, and France said it would pursue a parallel effort as leading world economies weigh strategies for curbing speculation and preventing future crises. A proposal approved by the German cabinet would […]

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   Bob Herbert makes a point that I’ve been making repeatedly for many, many months: Those who think some kind of robust recovery is hiding around the corner, just waiting to spring a pleasant surprise on us, are deluded. Too many families and individuals are tapped out. They’re struggling from week to week and month […]

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   The momentum for a worldwide agreement to tax banks is apparently on the rise: The U.S. and European governments are moving toward a consensus on taxing large banks to cover the cost of any future bailouts rather than asking taxpayers to foot the bill, as happened regularly in past banking crises. The tax proposals […]

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