Working Life

   The deficit hawks are on the march–and this is a bi-partisan din. And it is basically nonsense designed to open the door to some very draconian cuts in our basic social safety net. Here is Dean Baker: Relative to the size of the economy, the deficits that we are running are large and the […]

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   There has been a lot of handwringing about the long-term debt forecasted by the Administration (a quick observation, in case there is confusion: the fiscal deficit is the annual gap between what comes into the government and what is paid out; the country’s debt is the accumulated gaps from the annual deficits). For example: […]

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   I’ve been a pessimist about the chatter about "recovery" and the foragers who seem to keep finding "green shoots" everywhere. I understand why the Administration has to trumpet any hopeful signs–it’s a political neccessity. But, I have pointed out repeatedly that I don’t see how we have a "recovery" given how deeply stressed out […]

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   On a plane here soon this morning so just a quick post…you will recall that I am a skeptic about the "recovery" rhetoric, largely because people are just hammered so hard now, after years of no real wage increases, that the concept of when the "recovery" comes will be mostly relevant for government statisticians […]

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   Henry Ford used to say that he wanted his workers to have enough money to buy his cars. Our current business leaders seem to have forgotten that simple economic idea. That is why, for their own self-interest, business, and their Republican allies in Congress, should embrace broad unionization.   The sound you just heard […]

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   Ah, yes, another chapter in the saga of the great financial guru, Robert Rubin–you know, the guy who the entire political and media establishment fawned over for almost two decades as the all-knowing, all-seeing, wise man of the global financial world…until, of course, the entire financial house of cards collapsed in large part because […]

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  Back in November, I asked the question: is Robert Rubin a liar or a coward or both? Today, in what should be a welcome sight to every working American, Rubin is effectively being run out of Citigroup, his reputation sullied. And, yet, he continues to obfuscate his role in the financial crisis we face. […]

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Every day, there is another example of the conspiracy of silence that pervades the traditional media’s description of the current economic crisis. Sure, de-regulation, greed and pure stupidity has a lot to do with it. But, in truth, the underlying reason for the collapse has been a persistent war on the wages of American workers. […]

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  The inevitable is happening: the people who lead us over cliff and helped spark the collapse of our financial system are running for cover. They want to avoid responsibility for the debacle. And among those running to hide is Robert Rubin.   In an extraordinary interview published today in The Wall Street Journal, Rubin […]

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    I don’t want to be negative all the time but, folks, I just don’t see a way out of the economic mess without some more serious pain being inflicted. And this pain might last a long, long time. Note that I say MORE serious pain because, unlike the talking heads and the economists who […]

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