Working Life

   Every so-called "free trade" deal that has shimmied its way through Congress has been greased with legalized bribery, starting with NAFTA in 1993, which was the king of all "what will buy your vote" deals. But, the biggest scam, in my opinion, is the "retraining" workers are offered in return for…sacrificing their middle-class livelihood […]

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If you share the belief that the greatest economic challenge we face is stopping the stupefying global class warfare underway, then, we have to be quite clear about the tools that support the attack against decent living standards for people and a fair sharing of the wealth. So-called "free trade" is right up there on […]

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   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 […]

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Yes, to get back to some sane, healthy economic strategy we have to confront the Wall Street/Robert Rubins of the world, the corruption of the electoral system and a whole set of adversaries. But, I would put at the top of the list the false framing of the choices before us as a nation, and […]

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When you cut through the chase about the economic debate of the future, it really boils down to this: What is the standard we should use in setting the  standard for a decent living? Apparently, The New York Times has decided: don’t count on decent pensions, don’t count on health care, and forget decent wages. […]

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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 […]

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  Each day brings a stupefying new chapter in the class warfare underway in America. Today, it’s the unfathomable idea that regular people who had worked their entire lives serving the public should now be effectively cast out into the cold, their pensions ripped up. But, what we need to connect is this: there is […]

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We have an affliction that really undermines a decent society. It’s a tendency to want to ignore inconvenient facts, either explicitly or because we are encouraged to look quite narrowly and myopically at a problem. Which brings me to Wal-Mart’s new attempt to whitewash its practices, using the First Lady as a prop.   We […]

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You can’t find a better contrast between the vision for our country than those offered by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Goldman Sachs. One vision sees America as the land of equality and fairness. The other vision sees an America where greed is good.   Here is some of what Trumka will say today at […]

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The jobs crisis is really devastating. We all know the numbers on how many people are out of work. But, the truth is that just calling for more jobs is not enough–because what we lack in the country is GOOD-PAYING JOBS. And wages are not coming back.   The Wall Street Journal reports what many […]

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