Working Life

Okay, so, I’m off on the other side of the world, almost…Middle East. Just arrived after a 10-hour flight so a little bleary. Guess what? No Wal-Marts here!!! So, my posts next few days may be short until the whirlwind calms down. Though I do see a NYTimes piece predicting a global slowdown in the […]

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On and off, I’ve been writing about the tenuous nature of the economy. The pundits keep talking about low unemployment and moderate growth. But, something doesn’t seem right to me: all I hear about are average people worried about being in debt up the wazoo, huge health care costs (and going up) and no retirement. […]

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It’s always been a scandal: most people don’t know that the rich don’t pay their fair share into Social Security. The payroll tax that funds Social Security is capped at $90,000 per year—every bit of income above that level escapes the payroll tax. So, today, The Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece (subscription required) […]

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I thought the end of civilization had arrived with reality T.V. but this morning I’ve been once again reassured that our crazy country can come up with the ever-more bizarre. CNN carried a local video report from a TV station in Latham, New York reporting on a real special wedding (it’s on the CNN website […]

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So, the Wall Street Journal carried a story yesterday (followed up today by The New York Times) that reports, in part, a claim that Wal-Mart’s vice-chairman Thomas Coughlin had falsified expense reports to hide money he was using for anti-union activities. Coughlin, you may remember, was asked to leave the board after the company uncovered […]

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The Financial Times reported yesterday on a World Bank report that warns that a steep, continued decline in the value of the dollar will hurt developing countries, which have built up large dollar reserves. According to the Bank’s 2005 Global Development Finance Repor, developing countries hold $1.6 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, 70 precent of […]

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It was a hoot last night at the great debate over the question “Is Wal-Mart Good For America?” I’m not a good crowd numbers guesser so if I said there were 400 people, I might be off by fifty, one way or the other. Each combatant got to make an opening statement of 6 minutes […]

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I wasn’t there at the media-fest put on by Wal-Mart in Bentonville yesterday but it seemed like a swell affair, though none of the media accounts said anything about what food was served (C’mon, get to the important stuff!). I’ll leave most of my specific thoughts about the flaws in the company’s defense to tomorrow—after […]

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Just as Wal-Mart opens up its doors to a media-fest in Bentonville, it will get a letter from people living in Inglewood. The letter was just released: April 5, 2005 Mr. Lee Scott CEO Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611 Dear Mr. Scott: One year ago, Wal-Mart tried to deny the people of Inglewood their […]

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It isn’t surprising. Indeed, as predicted with the end of world wide quotas on textiles, China is now annihilating any other country even remotely involved in textiles. The Commerce Department reported on Friday (as reported in today’s New York Times) that imports on textiles and apparel products from China rose more than 63 precent in […]

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