Working Life

   Today, The White House is hosting a gathering of people who want to take part in shaping the future health care system. A lot of the participants simply want to keep the same basic system going: for-profit leeching from the pockets of the American people. Here’s a story they should listen to:   This […]

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    I suppose nothing should surprise us. But, here’s another one in a list of "let them eat cake" moments: CEOs are getting major boosts in their pensions, while the pensions of most Americans have either disappeared or take a major hit.   This article largely escaped notice in last week’s Wall Street Journal, whose […]

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  Yesterday, Tom Daschle testified in his confirmation hearing for secretary of health and human services. He promised "bi-partisanship", pledging "I really want to work in a collaborative way. It’s the only way we’re going to get this done." Which made me think: if that is the path we take, millions of Americans will be […]

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  When you are a pro at a scam–the definition of "scam" also can be found under the term "insurance industry"–you know how to try to pull a fast one. And AIG is trying to pull one–under covers of the holidays. Check this out.   You may remember that AIG–which is afloat only thanks to […]

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  Having crashed the financial system around the globe and consigned millions of people to severe hardship over the next several years, a few bankers are trying to save some face: they are giving back millions of dollars in pay.   I would note first that, personally, I think the whole coterie of Rubinites (those […]

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   On Friday, I observed that the Democrats were caving in too early on the question of what health care plan is the best plan to move to. It is obviously single-payer–no contest. Economically and morally. The leeches of the private insurance industry will always undercut any plan that keeps a role for for-profit health […]

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Just when you thought the greed and outrageous behavior of corporate America could get no worse, the leaders of companies have sunk to a new low: they are using workers’ pension money to fund CEO pensions. No this is not a joke.   The evidence is laid out today in The Wall Street Journal by […]

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   My first reaction looking at the grim news all around–say, that American is going to cut 7,000 jobs by the end of the year–was to write about the litany of awful crap coming down on workers around the country. But, it being the day before Independence Day (and, as a result, yours truly gets […]

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   A couple of weeks ago, I noted that corporations were now beginning to think that China, with its rising prices and increasing wages (relatively speaking), wasn’t cheap enough. And, so, comes another report via Reuters: The result is higher prices at U.S. stores like Wal-Mart and Target that have increasingly filled their shelves with […]

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    One of the under-reported stories in America is the way in which the corporate thugs in their executive suites come up with new ways to screw people out of their pensions. Normally, what we get when the press covers pensions is the sky-is-falling story, which translates into "workers’ pensions are too generous and should […]

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