Working Life

I recently posted a column, which I talk a bit about in the opening of the episode, predicting that the recent teachers’ uprisings (which have been featured a lot on the podcast) will have far more lasting impact on the country’s economic policies than any one electoral race—and those uprisings may blow up the Big […]

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Because what has happened is robbery. Pure and simple. “Stagnation” is too passive. It makes it sound like a natural phenomena, like a sunset.

It makes it sound like there were never active players in the daily robbery of workers–either by outright breaking of the law or by using the so-called “free market” system to take from people the fruits of their labor.

I raise this because of two elite views expressed in the past couple of days that are pretty common repetitions of the myth of “gee, isn’t it terrible this thing just happened”.

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I certainly plead guilty to being in the large group of people who bang the traditional media for irresponsibility, ignorance, bad reporting and just plain laziness. So, it’s nice to point out outstanding work in the traditional media — and there is a piece in The New York Times magazine posted now that is really […]

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I can’t let Detroit go partly because there is so much to learn from the robbery that took place in the past and is continuing to this day. Today, let’s consider for a moment the price regular workers pay when something goes bad versus the price CEOs never pay when something goes askew. It’s a telling story about the deep corruption of the system.

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Detroit. The filing for bankruptcy is a sad, but, in a way, predictable event — if one is willing to see what this really means. It’s a deep metaphor for the failure of the so-called “free market”.

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I don’t claim to have a deep knowledge of current Egyptian politics. So, I start out by saying I’m cautious about falling in love quickly. But, heck, Hamdeen Sabahi has a big mark in his favor: he does not like the so-called “free market”.

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   I took a longer break from blogging than I thought–to think, observe a bit, rest the brain, cycle New Zealand’s spectacular South Island. But, what stirred me to break this hiatus, at the very moment that people are switching off their computers to turn to libations and debauchery, was, well, the modest observation that […]

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     Ah, it’s Monday, and I’m walking the tip-to-tip–from upper Manhattan all the way to Wall Street–support march for #OWS. So, I feel optimistic–and here’s another little tidbit of news: the youthful economists-of-the-future are giving a big thumbs down to the teachings of the so-called "free market". They staged a walkout last week–which only got […]

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    1.4 BILLION PEOPLE IN THE WORLD MAKE $1.25 A DAY.    That is a fact. That is a moral scandal.    Yesterday, I was at the United Nations for the unveiling of an important, if a bit boringly titled, "Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization". You should read this report but […]

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    You want a reason for the uprisings in Greece, where workers are on strike to protest the brutal austerity measures, or OccupyWallStreet or the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia fanned by the deep unemployment? Or are you looking for a reason people don’t believe the economy is getting better even when "growth" seems to […]

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