Working Life

   It’s one thing for progressive economists and activists to see the emptiness and complete foolishness of Tim Pawlenty’s "economic plan". It’s another thing for perhaps the globe’s leading financial newspaper to dismiss it as something that is "difficult to describe without seeming to parody it." But, The Financial Times Clive Crook makes a valiant […]

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    Ten years ago, the plundering of the nation’s wealth got a boost of legislative steroids when George W. Bush signed his tax cuts into law. It was pure insanity, at least if you believe in a country of fairness. But, aside from the economic and social wreckage left by these immoral tax cuts, what […]

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    This is so absurd it made be burst out laughing in the midst of a sip of coffee this morning–and fittingly the coffee splashed over the idiotic front-page article in The New York Times (yes, I still read the actual paper version) that hails the newest words from the mountaintop, wisdom passed down from […]

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    Yesterday, Bill Clinton foolishly called on the country to use the bank robber Willie Sutton’s maxim to address the debt "crisis" (which, in my opinion, is a phony crisis) by going where the money is. Foolish because Clinton pointed the finger at entitlements. But, the real place where the money is lies with […]

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    It is easy if you are a billionaire to get attention. You spend a ton of money on some idea–even it’s sheer lunacy–and you can buy attention. Donald Trump did it–but his  "pursuit" of the presidency was just another comical vanity play in his comical life. Pete Peterson is another story–and the outcome of […]

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    Tomorrow, Peter Peterson is going to hold another one of his dumb national "fiscal summits" to further fan the flames of the phony debt and deficit "crisis"–a non-existent crisis that covers up the bigger problem of the widening divide between rich and poor. Since people want to talk about saving money, let’s start by […]

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   I have a good friend who is always sputtering about "how terrible our educational system is because how can people think this?", whatever the preposterous "this" of the moment is. But, I see it differently. Sure, the stupid, mindless invective streaming from FOX News and much of the traditional press is central to framing […]

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    Ha! You wonder, why I would praise one of the people most determined to destroy a decent government? Because he may have single-handidly cratered the idiotic "Gang of Six". So, for that, he deserves praise.    The whole premise of the "Gang of Six"–Democratic Sens. Mark Warner, Dick Durbin and Kent Conrad and Republican […]

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    I have been arguing for some time now that the deficit and debt "crisis" are completely made up and phony. There is no crisis. But, at the very least, if you want to get rid of deficits, there is a simple path: spend MORE on jobs and raise incomes by promoting broad unionization. California […]

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   Rhetoric is a good thing–except when you have the facts wrong. And, boy, the relentless, daily idiocy spewed out of the mouths of our elected officials about the economic crisis is astonishing. Consider, this morning, Speaker of the House John Boehner. Two days ago, Boehner gave a speech to the Economic Club of New […]

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