Working Life

Some days, I find the whole thing ludicrous and immoral. Some days, I laugh. And sometimes it’s a little of both. As in today’s installment of fiscal Kabuki Theater.

Read the full story

This is no great shakes, which I will point out in an upcoming post. But, ok, it’s better than nothing.

Read the full story

Barack Obama will be re-elected president Tuesday night, and probably by a relatively comfortable electoral vote margin. The question for workers in the US, and around the world, is: does it matter who wins?

Read the full story

This is a simple straightforward post. I have argued that the election was over in the Spring. But, how much was that picture Obama had with Chris Christie worth? I reckon a 300-plus electoral vote win.

Read the full story

The fun part of an election is not listening to the idiots on television or obsessing about polling — those are not things that win elections. It’s the knocking on doors that matters. And that’s why, personally, I don’t worry much about Election Day.

Read the full story

I had a piece in today’s The Australian. Mainly geared to an Australian audience, it made one basic point: not much has changed in the presidential race.

Read the full story

Kind of funny but here’s a simple question: have any of the progressive pundits wringing their hands over the president’s lackluster debate showing ever actually worked on the grassroots part of a campaign? I think the answer is clear.

Read the full story

It’s not surprising that a growing number of workers around the globe are losing faith in political leaders. After all, the economic debate often seems completely divorced from the realities of workers’ lives, whether it’s blaming workers for national budget squeezes actually caused by bankers or CEOs imposing mass layoffs to cover up obscene executive compensation at the heart of bottom-line revenue shortfalls. The debate in the United States is a good example.

Read the full story

Right after the now-infamous debate (or, exchange of sounds bites), I wrote a bit about the fallacy of the exchange on taxes. Just a quick clean up here to underscore an important point — both candidates support, in one form or another, extending some or all of the Bush tax cuts. And that is sheer lunacy.

Read the full story

I guess it’s a function of inflation and/or a numbness to reality but the rhetoric about money isn’t what is used to be. Back in the day, Republican Senator Everett Dirksen (whose name probably means nothing to the shallow commentators who think political history started with Ronald Reagan) is alleged to have said, ” A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money”. Dirksen, who served in the 1950s and 1960s (and probably could never win a Republican primary in today’s wing-nut world), would have been a piker by today’s standards of throwing around figures without regard to reality. Which brings me to the Romney lie about taxes–which the president got right, admittedly, in a clumsy way, but most liberal-progressive pundits are getting wrong.

Read the full story