Working Life

When we come out of the immediate pandemic crisis, then, maybe we can have some accounting of who and what is responsible for the needless deaths of thousands of people—and among the “who” would be, say, politicians who are making themselves look like heroes today—I’ll just say, randomly, New York politicians—even though they sat on […]

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“Economic inequality is out of control. In 2019, the world’s billionaires, only 2,153 people, had more wealth than 4.6 billion people.” Those two sentences lead off Oxfam’s annual look at inequality. This year, Oxfam looks at unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis. I speak with Paul O’Brien, Vice President of Policy […]

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That guy in the Oval Office can’t stop making up fibs. Yesterday, he repeated a lie: “We’re the highest taxed nation in the world”. Not even close. Which inspired me to look at lies about the economy. Thea Lee, the incoming president of the Economic Policy Institute, stops by to talk the truth about trade, […]

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Courage and truth. Courage is what Bernie shows when, in the face of a candidate who is so desperate to win that she lies about Bernie’s relationship with Barack Obama (specifically, about Bernie’s views on Obamacare and how single-payer would actually build on the ACA), he still is resolute enough to say, yup, I disagree […]

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So, you really have to work hard at lying or fibbing or misstating the facts to get the traditional media elites to come down hard on you when it comes to so-called “Free trade”. Those elites have been cheerleaders for the rancid NAFTA-style trade deals going back three decades. But, the president has earned it when it comes to his claims about job benefits in the Trans Pacific Partnership: Four Pinocchios, considered “whoppers”, from The Washington Post

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C’mon, seriously, has it gotten to the point of such desperation to pass middle-class crushing, poverty-enhancing trade deals that drive inequality that the White House treats its allies, members of Congress and activists as if they are idiots? That’s a rhetorical question.

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Really, people are being grossly unfair to Max Baucus, wondering why someone who doesn’t speak Chinese would qualify to serve as ambassador. But, c’mon people, focus on the important lingo Baucus brings to the table: it would be hard to find another Democratic elected official who speaks such fluent corporate shillism…The man has got a perfect pitch. But, there is a silver lining.

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Where do you start to comment when you read a piece that is, at best, deeply spineless, and, at worse, completely clueless? We cease to be surprised by the relentless foolishness on the part of the transcribers of press releases (formerly called “journalists”). But, though I am not surprised, I can’t let these things go. In this case, it’s a dumb piece called, “Standard of Living Is in the Shadows as Election Issue”.

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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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    You may join me in the celebration of failure–a celebration I have been urging we look forward to for a very long time. Do not listen to the hand-wringing and whining about the implosion of the Catfood Commission II. This is a great thing. It is fabulous.    BUT…    Let us also pause, […]

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