Working Life

   I recall walking the picket lines in the sleet and rain in 2007-2008 during the Writer Guild strike. And now it seems like we might be in for another round: Bitter disputes over health and pension payments to union members have created plenty of drama in states and cities this year. But do not […]

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   How many times a day do you shake your head at the farces that jump out of the business world every day? Raise your hand if it’s at least twice day. Here you go for your list: Lawmakers on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, who are conducting the hearing, also plan to home in […]

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   Oh, I get it–so, when democracy threatens to advance in a very tiny way the rights of workers, the Republican member of the National Labor Relations Board takes a page from his ideological co-horts in the Senate and threatens to freeze any votes by going home: The National Labor Relations Board’s sole Republican member […]

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   Willie Sutton, the infamous bank robber, could not have said it better than Hassan Heikal. And Heikal is no bank robber—he’s the chief executive of EFG Hermes, which describes itself as the premier investment bank in the Middle East. But, like Sutton, he kows where the money is—and that’s where he wants to go […]

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   On the face of it, it’s a good thing when the labor movement leverages the trillions of dollars–yes, that’s TRILLIONS–that sit in pension funds. It’s been a topic of debate for a long time. The question is: what do we get? Here is the example, via The Wall Street Journal: New York Gov. Andrew […]

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    You may join me in the celebration of failure–a celebration I have been urging we look forward to for a very long time. Do not listen to the hand-wringing and whining about the implosion of the Catfood Commission II. This is a great thing. It is fabulous.    BUT…    Let us also pause, […]

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   One of the things I’ve said, only half-jokingly, to a bunch of radio stations and in numerous posts (including just a couple of days ago) is that I am not a religious person but I get down on my hands and knees every day and pray, pray, pray that the Catfood Commission II fails […]

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    It won’t be long before you hear–because it’s part of the framing of Democrats and Republicans alike, and traditional media "analysts" who haven’t a clue what they are taking about when it comes to economics–that unions are in trouble because of the "new economy" (which means, to some people, the industrial base is […]

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   As I have said in a number of recent radio interviews, I am not a religious person but I get down on my knees every day and pray that the Catfood Commission II collapses, does nothing and goes home. A glimmer of hope for that: Democrats said they were dismayed to see Republicans rallying […]

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   If this is true, Obama is done: The parties are looking for ways to include smaller tax increases than Democrats had previously sought but more than Republicans want. In addition, Democrats last week proposed keeping upper-income tax rates at 35%, the level set in the Bush-era tax cuts.    And it’s absurd at the […]

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