Working Life

    This is a catch-up with an interesting, and not surprising report, from the good folks at the Center for Economic and Policy Research: After decades of disappointing wage growth for many American workers, a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) shows that unionization significantly boosts the wages of low-wage […]

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   Over the never-ending primary season (I recently picked up a not-so-old old New Yorker issue that had a New Hampshire primary and realized that wasn’t so long ago and it seems like ancient history), I’ve pointed numerous times that on the question of so-called "free trade" I wasn’t entirely sure that there would be a […]

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    One of the very under-the-radar things that happened when the Democrats took the seat in Mississippi was that the newly-elected Congresscritter, Travis Childers is a "fair trade" proponent and won’t support any so-called "free trade" deals: Childers has signed a pledge not to approve any international trade agreements if he’s elected, saying that deals […]

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    Not something we should be thrilled to hear: Imagine Houston being populated only by Wal-Mart workers. Houston proper, with its population of just over 2 million, has about the same number of people as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. now employs worldwide. Put another way, if a city had only families of four and one member […]

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   [a technical glitz made this post invisible–until now].    Maybe it’s the beautiful spring air but my mind is off in other directions than usual. So, here are two seemingly unrelated things that caught my attention that are actually related. First, is it just me or did anyone else pick up on the stark […]

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    I ended up pondering the issues of taxes this morning–a, finally, fine nice spring morning here in NYC.  The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the government’s receipts from corporate taxes have fallen. The Journal ascribes this to the "turmoil rocking financial markets and housing woes slowing the economy", just another way that […]

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    A year and a half ago, I wrote about the scam that is Goldman Sachs–a company that was about to shower billions of dollars on its executives after it had gotten stupendous tax breaks from New York’s city and state governments; a few days later, we also learned that the company’s top dog was […]

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    For some politicians, the deaths of workers are either almost invisible or convenient props for getting attention. Recently, during yet another carnage of constructions workers in New York, politicians rushed to the scene to express their concern–the same politicians that do very little day-to-day and actually collect campaign contributions from people who endanger workers’ […]

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    I know…the faithful readers were wondering "where is our morning blog?" Well, it is the afternoon but your busy dude here has been…well, busy–panel in the morning and, then, there was lunch…but I digress…    Yesterday, there was a fascinating column in The New York Times–fascinating in showing out truly out of touch the […]

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    It’s no secret that undocumented workers are some of the most vulnerable workers in society. Employers ruthlessly exploit them. I don’t think that most people can understand–deeply understand in your gut–the fear that undocumented workers have to live with every day. Well, here’s as close as you might get to understanding what it feels […]

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