Working Life

   For at least three years, I’ve been arguing that one of the problems we have, in the larger economic scheme, is that the value of the dollar is too high. Yup–a high dollar basically helps American tourists traveling abroad (and I am sympathetic to that) and Wal-Mart (because a high dollar means, basically, that […]

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   Two things caught my eye this morning. Item #1: If you want to know how the power has shifted in the world of banking, The Financial Times has a fascinating full-page story entitled "The fearsome become the fallen". It compares the rankings of the leading banks in 1999 to the rankings right now, as […]

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  With the collapse of the financial system, we are witnessing one obvious spectacular failure of the wonders of the "free market". Let’s not forget, though, the other part of the wonderful "free market": the grueling hours, despicable conditions and substandard wages that half the world live in, all a product of the fine system […]

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   I’m breaking my no-weekend blogging rule for this: How about this for an example of what to do to get an economy going? China’s answer: $586 billion.   From The Wall Street Journal: SHANGHAI – China’s government announced a two-year stimulus exceeding a half-trillion dollars to offset the impact of slowing global growth and […]

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   I suppose I try to live by the credo that anyone can change. Everyone deserves another shot (okay, I don’t include Dick Cheney or Henry Kissinger in that category–mass murderers can’t be redeemed). But, I approach this news with a bit of skepticism: At a gathering of more than 1,000 suppliers, Chinese officials and […]

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   Let me start by wishing the Tampa Bay Rays good fortune and good luck–you gotta love youth and enthusiasm. That team is going to be a royal pain in the ass for the next few years.    In good news, some miscreants are getting a serious slap in the pocketbook: A federal judge has […]

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  Well, I’m only half serious. But, there is something interesting to watch when it comes to China and its labor movement. And a lesson to learn when a government says "you have to have unions".   China is wracked with labor strife literally every day, though we almost never read about it: work stoppages, […]

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   Other people are feeling the pain, so says The Wall Street Journal: The global economy — which had long remained resilient despite U.S. weakness — is now slowing significantly, with Europe offering the latest evidence of trouble. On Thursday, the European Union’s statistics agency said gross domestic product in the euro zone contracted 0.2% […]

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   With the backdrop of the collapse of the global trade talks (a good thing), here’s something to consider: the great, wonderful benefits of so-called "free trade" or "liberalization" have cost 2.3 million U.S. workers their jobs between 2001 and 2007, according to a very, detailed fact-based (as opposed to rhetorical promises from pro so-called […]

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   The world of the Beast of Bentonville is all abuzz with news of various kinds–not the kind of news that is fuzzy and warm to living creatures everywhere (a friend of mine says I should write more positive things…okay, I’ll try…he obviously didn’t read my recent baseball riff). So, where do we start? How […]

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