Working Life

   You might remember that last week, I mused about the corporate visibility at the Democratic Convention in Denver. This isn’t a small thing–do we think that those folks are ponying up six- and seven-figure contributions just out of civic pride? This isn’t a new subject. But, it’s worth continually hammering home.    So, I’ve […]

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  Well, Happy Labor Day, at least for the American version of it. So, let me crow a bit. For a very long time, I have been making the argument that using Gross Domestic Product as a measure of the well-being of the nation is phony (I haven’t been the only one saying this, mind […]

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   A few thoughts about Sen. Obama’s speech last, mainly from the perspective, as usual, for what it means for workers and labor. I was at Invesco Field last night. It was an amazing night, something you can say thirty years from now that you witnessed. One of the hardest things to do at a […]

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   First, yours truly is supposed to be on CNBC today at 2:20 Eastern time debating the following: If Obama wins, unions will get a big boost.  Are unions bad or good for America?  You can come back here, if you see it, and keep the discussion going here (I emphasize "SUPPOSED TO BE" because […]

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Health care is in the air–and there are somewhat dueling camps here in Denver, which reflect what’s happening day-to-day in labor. Last night, I attended a lively reception hosted by a variety of groups–the California Nurses Association and Progressive Democrats of America–who support HR676, the bill that would enact essentially a single-payer system. The bill’s […]

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   No, I have not just been sleeping in bed. Yes, it was a long night–again…the hot party of the night was at The Samba Room, courtesy of Planned Parenthood, where a darn good DJ kept the place hopping (I, of course, participated in the close-contact sport of dancing). It’s just hard to blog here […]

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   So, friends, here in Denver, I’ve finally gotten strapped to my chair after a very busy morning (okay, it was a groggy one given the…eh…number of margaritas that I was forced to consume last night–only in the service of talking to people to bring you the best info).   Yesterday, I attended two briefings […]

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   Yesterday, I wrote about whether Joe Biden was good for labor. Relatively speaking, the answer is yes. Relative speaking because Paul Wellstone is not alive and, compared to the other people being considered, Biden was a decent choice.    In the analysis, I used a quick-and-dirty look at 12 years of the AFL-CIO’s legislative […]

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   As a whole, Joe Biden is considered a friend of labor. But, he doesn’t have a perfect voting record as far as labor is concerned. Lifetime, he has an 85 percent voting record on votes the AFL-CIO considers crucial over the past 12 years (that is the time period available on-line…and that’s the best […]

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  It’s not a hard intellectual or political lift to say that a President Obama would be leaps and bounds much better for working people than John "Third Bush Term" McCain–partly because the bar has been set so low in the past eight years. But, it’s worth being clear-eyed about what we can expect.   […]

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