Working Life

   Yesterday, I asked the question about whether members of the House progressive caucus might vote "no" on a health care bill that emerges from the insurance industry-driven rollback on the promise of a public option. That is becoming more real today after concessions to the "Blue Dogs" in the House further weakened the public […]

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   I’ll be in route this morning and here and there so just a quick post. If the health care bill comes out without a pubic option, will progressive members of Congress vote "no"? Interesting question: In the House, liberal lawmakers have adopted a strategy of countering almost every statement against a public option with […]

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   I remember quite clearly a very honest discussion I had with a Member of Congress at an event about six months before the 2008 mid-term elections. I’ve known this person for a few years and I remarked that it looked like the Democratic Party was poised to make significant gains in the House in […]

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   I’m getting increasingly pissed off about the debate about health care, and the larger obscenity that our states are collapsing, services are being cut, millions of people are losing jobs–and the richest Americans just can’t step out and say, "yes, we should pay more to have a decent society". If you want to see […]

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  Even though single-payer, "Medicare for All" is the most effective economic solution to the health care crisis (I’m putting aside the moral question for the sake of this discussion), our political leaders (with the exception of HR676 advocates) and traditional media chattering ideologues do their best to ignore the basic facts. Which is why […]

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I just finished reading the Congressional Budget Office’s report to Sen. Ted Kennedy which looked at the Affordable Health Choices Act. And the report makes clear why single-payer is the only logical economic choice for health care.   Respectfully, none of the best Democratic bills are going to solve the coverage crisis nor the economic […]

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   As I noted yesterday in connection with the bankruptcy of General Motors, I am in favor of spending money on trying to save peoples’ jobs–we are talking about the survival of communities and the lives of thousands of people. But, having now spent the morning reading various media reports about the GM bankruptcy, it’s […]

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   Yesterday, I was back at CNBC debating the topic of unions and the auto industry. I don’t mind debating people who disagree with me based on solids facts. But, the discussion was entirely ludicrous. The premise of the debate: the UAW is employing a "double standard" because the auto industry is collapsing but, oh […]

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The bankruptcy of Chrysler crystallized a pretty straightforward choice about which side you are on in our society: do you care about what happens to workers and their communities or are you more interested in making a few more dollars? The Administration made its choice. A few hedge funds made their choice and, along with […]

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   There are really two things that jump out of the details about the Chrysler deal, via The Wall Street Journal: The United Auto Workers union would eventually own 55% of the stock in a restructured Chrysler LLC under the deal reached by the union and the auto maker, according to a summary of the […]

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