Working Life

   Yesterday, I stood with thousands of other people at the spot of one of the great workplace tragedies in the country’s history–the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. It was the 100th anniversary of the fire. The tragedy, though, helped usher in a movement for workplace safety and dignity on the job. I thought I’d share some […]

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    We have a real problem in the debate about pensions that is very closely connected to the financial implosion we’re still trying to dig our way out of: the criminals and fools on Wall Street are hiding and avoiding prosecution, or at the very least, they are managing to keep their jobs despite their […]

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    I am struck every day by the incredibly bizarre world we live in, where "up" is "down" and "down" is "up". I think many people are angry and confused because what they see in their daily lives–upheaval, struggle, fear–does not match much of the rhetoric coming from the people who have their hands on […]

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   You’ve heard (and, in some cases, unfortunately, been persuaded) that "generous" pensions given to public employees has caused great deficits in pensions and state budgets. It’s nonsense. And here are the facts to prove it.    The Center for Economic and Policy Research has a very important study out. It must be given wide […]

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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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  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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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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The political adage is correct: elections have consequences. We know about the takeover of the House by Republicans and the hit Democrats will take in the reapportionment process. But, the greatest threat to the American Dream is going to come from a determined assault on the labor movement.   The New York Times has this […]

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   My state is on the verge of a mass execution. It’s an execution that will be carried out by a Democratic governor on behalf of the richest people in the state. It will be applauded by the traditional press, which will, in its collective willingness to ignore facts, bless the execution as the path […]

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