Working Life

You have to maintain a sense of humor when you read the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. Though I tip my hat to the quality of the writing, the writers come up just short of self-parody. Today, the wing-nuts have two hand-wringing editorials about trade. The first deals with the tariffs slapped down […]

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Louis Uchitelle has a strong and heart-breaking story about the choices auto workers are having to make as tens of thousands of them leave the industry–the largest exodus of workers from one American industry in decades, according to the story. What caught my eye, within the wrenching stories, was this paragraph: Across America, more than […]

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This morning, The Wall Street Journal has a story about the slowing of productivity. But it misses the main point. First, here’s the main thesis: Productivity Lull Might Signal Growth Is Easing Ripples Could Confuse Interest-Rate Outlook; Fed Remains Optimistic By GREG IPMarch 31, 2007; Page A1 The U.S. productivity boom that began in the […]

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Alright, sports fans (since I’ve never done a reader poll, I have no idea how many of you even care). I’ve got my Opening Day tickets for Monday for Yankee Stadium (I like the idea that we start the season playing the Devil Rays, although they were pretty pesky two years ago). Here are my […]

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Thank god, I said–finally, a great juxtaposition of an argument I’ve made for lo these many years (and, not to great success, admittedly) that the Gross Domestic Product tells us very little about the general welfare of most people. The Bureau of Economic Analysis just dropped an e-mail to report that: Real gross domestic product […]

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This is an example of what a determined effort can do. The Beast of Bentonville is throwing in the towel in its efforts to get into the New York City market: Frustrated by a bruising, and so far unsuccessful battle to open its first discount store in the nation’s largest city, Wal-Mart’s chief executive said […]

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The folks at Global Labor Strategies have a new look at how corporations are trying to weaken and attack any semblance of workers’ power in China. Here are some points from the Executive Summary of the report, UNDUE INFLUENCE: Corporation Gain Ground in Battle Over China’s New Labor Law: 1. A behind-the-scenes battle is raging […]

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One way to judge that the war has gone on far too long–yes, it should never have started–is how death seems to become routine. Five soldiers were killed on Sunday due to car bombs exploding in Baghdad and areas near the capitol–yet their deaths only merit a short, buried story in The New York Times. […]

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I understand the rationale that people are giving for the vote on the supplemental appropriations bill–that it, for the first time, sets a deadline for withdrawal of the troops. But, I think those people who pushed for an end to the war this year are heroes, as the After Downing Street people show.

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This is going to be a tough fight for our sisters and brothers in the UAW (of which I am a member). The Wall Street Journal has a story previewing the bargaining convention taking place in Detroit next week: United Auto Workers union leaders will convene in Detroit next week for a critical collective bargaining […]

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