Working Life

     Forget the criminals on Wall Street. What is more telling, troubling and almost bizarre is how quickly the chattering classes and political power brokers have shaken off the stain of the financial crisis, inviting back to center stage some of the very people responsible for destroying trillions of dollars in wealth and costing millions […]

Read the full story

   I happened to catch a fairly dumb, back-patting panel run by the Democratic Governors Association (DGA)–ok, sure, it was to be expected to be of low level. Why? Here is a dumb question that unfortunately reflects the on-going rhetoric in the country: John Podesta, uber-lobbyist/insider/head of the Center for American Progress, asked: how important […]

Read the full story

   It’s official. The president’s stroll to the Chamber of Commerce marks the handing over of the keys to the future of the middle class to the business world (not to mention the complete airbrushing out of the entire economic picture anyone considered poor). And it really has happened with not much struggle.   For […]

Read the full story

I think we are making a mistake, both economically and politically, by confining our defense of Social Security to an argument about simply preserving current benefits. We should be pushing for an INCREASE in Social Security benefits as both a social and economic necessity.   Let me start with the hardest challenge facing people who […]

Read the full story

I just got off the phone with a reporter who wanted my thoughts on the appointment of Bruce Reed as Joe Biden’s chief of staff. My first though, sarcastically, was that I wondered whether Bernie Madoff would now be brought in to oversee Consumer Protection…of course, an exaggerated observation but I wonder: Who will speak […]

Read the full story

   For those of you who might remember the days of the Carter Administration when the U.S. embassy workers in Teheran were held under lock and key for a very long time–"Nightline" got its ratings boost, and made its name, from the nightly graphic trumpeting how many days America had been "held hostage". Well, we […]

Read the full story

   Last night, I appeared on Capital Tonight with Liz Benjamin to speak about the censure vote of Charlie Rangel.  

Read the full story

    Politics, and the maneuvering in politics that so many of our citizens despise, has a way of muddying the waters and clouding the truth. The combatants in politics, aided by the shallowness of media coverage, engage in tussles that leave the voters scratching their heads. The average, normal person thinks: “Wait, my basic values […]

Read the full story

I have to confess to being entirely bored by the House leadership drama. The idea that somehow shaking up the leadership would send a message that the party "has heard" the people is good satire but not serious debate–particularly when not a murmur is heard when the DCCC decides to throw a party under the […]

Read the full story

   This will be interesting. The Democratic Party loves to come to the labor movement when it needs help or money. Harry Reid, for example, doesn’t win re-election without the help of the Culinary Workers i.e., UNITEHERE. And so: A union representing hotel workers has asked the Democratic National Committee to rule out two of […]

Read the full story