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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   This should be an amusing sideshow: In the speech, Camp will describe Obama as a recent and largely disingenuous convert to a pro-trade agenda, according to excerpts of his remarks reviewed by POLITICO. “Under the Democrats’ control, we did not hold a single hearing on our pending trade agreements since they were signed three […]

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Jay Gould, the 19th Century dastardly Robber Baron, once said, "I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half." He’d be smiling right now. We see people being pitted against each other every day–whether its private sector workers complaining about public sector workers’ pensions, or parents and teachers tussling over […]

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So-called "free trade" is part of the relentless class warfare under way in America. And the so-called "free trade" deal with South Korea is no exception. That said, a lot of the shallow criticism of the UAW’s support for the deal is–well, shallow. Here’s my view about how we should engage the UAW–my union–via an […]

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   Today is a day to celebrate–no kidding. The so-called "free trade" deal with South Korea is dead in the water–at least for now. There are a whole host of reasons these deals stink from top to bottom. But, little attention is ever given to this reason: the phony promises made about enforcing labor and […]

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    Let’s go back in history briefly to the 1990s. In 1993, Bill Clinton pushed through NAFTA, over the objection of a large number of Democrats, with a large number of Republicans joining with the Democratic president to get NAFTA through the House (The Senate has always been far more receptive to so-called "free trade"). […]

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There is a cruel economic hoax being played on millions of American workers, a hoax that unfortunately is being promoted by too many Democrats. The hoax is this: that workers who lose their jobs to so-called "free trade" can simply be retrained to do something else that will be a good substitute for what they […]

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    As I said the other day, though the environment is the best it has been in a long time for those of us who are advocating for a saner, fairer trade policy, no one should think that so-called “free trade” is off the table. Now, Japan may be stepping up to the trough, according […]

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    We still need to read the fine print regarding the trade deal that was struck yesterday between the Administration and House Democrats (or, to be more precise, Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel). But, I’m always struck by the way in which liberals and even a few progressives (note: there is a difference) still […]

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