Working Life

Each year, I pause on this day to remember Paul Wellstone, one of the truly great Senators in my lifetime. Eight years ago, Paul died in a plane crash. I will always remember where I was when I heard the news, in the way we all remember momentous events. And his absence seems even more […]

Read the full story

Today is Human Right Day. This morning, I paused to think about the soaring notion of human rights and, at the same time, the many challenges we face to achieve human rights.   Here is the preamble to the 1948 United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of […]

Read the full story

I fear for our country. Medicare has been one of the most successful programs in the history of our country. But, there is apparently a push to "curb the cost" (read: cut) Medicare, even though there is plenty of money to keep it robust–if our political leaders stop trying to appease the wrong people.   […]

Read the full story

  One of the ugliest fights for worker justice has taken place in Tar Heel, North Carolina, which is about 80 miles south of Raleigh. For 17 years, thousands of workers, who labor under some pretty brutal conditions in the largest pork processing plant, have sought a modicum of justice and dignity. And they just […]

Read the full story

   When last seen on the American political scene in 1995, Bob Packwood was forced to resign from the U.S. Senate because of charges of sexual harassment, assault and abuse–charges he continued to deny even though the evidence was pretty compelling (for those of you with political recall, you might remember the endless struggle over […]

Read the full story

Now, c’mon, this is entirely absurd. We already have the widest gap between rich and poor in many generations. Republicans (and some Democrats) are trying to cut the Administration’s proper and wise investments in infrastructure and wise energy efficiency programs. And, in the midst of all that, the Senate does what? Votes to cut the […]

Read the full story

Probably the toughest mountain to climb in this country is reversing the three-decade Reagan-era damage to the notion that paying taxes is part of what we do to live in a decent society. One of the cornerstones of the anti-responsibility meme is rich people will flee a state that raises taxes. The problem is that […]

Read the full story

  I am watching the parade of outraged leaders–especially Democrats–who are railing about the AIG bonuses and, to be honest, I’m far more disgusted by the outrage then the chump change being argued over. Because the outrage masks this fact: virtually our entire political and economic leadership has turned a blind eye, and actually endorsed, […]

Read the full story

   Yes, as the president said, the bonuses taken by Wall Street bankers are shameful. But, there is an even larger shame happening in the country: the plundering of America by the richest Americans and our unwillingness to call for significantly higher taxes on the elite.   Buried in the business section of The New […]

Read the full story

I’ve been pretty clear that we should be significantly raising the taxes on the richest Americans–much higher than the top rates that were in place during the Clinton Administration, which is where the president-elect believes they should go. But, I’m happy at least to see some lines being drawn on estate taxes.   The Wall […]

Read the full story