Working Life

   With the backdrop of the collapse of the global trade talks (a good thing), here’s something to consider: the great, wonderful benefits of so-called "free trade" or "liberalization" have cost 2.3 million U.S. workers their jobs between 2001 and 2007, according to a very, detailed fact-based (as opposed to rhetorical promises from pro so-called […]

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  There seems to be an emerging consensus that so-called "free trade" is dead. Even the business press is beginning to accept the inevitable. So, maybe we can now begin a rationale debate about trade, without meaningless marketing phrases like "free trade".   Yesterday, Bloomberg ran this piece: The liberalization of global trade has come […]

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   I do like those ironic coincidences that happen in the media. Generally speaking, when it comes to economic issues, I don’t think the editors have a clue that they have captured unintentionally the gist of our crisis. And, so, let me turn to today’s New York Times. The front page has two stories headlined: […]

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   A couple of weeks ago, I noted that corporations were now beginning to think that China, with its rising prices and increasing wages (relatively speaking), wasn’t cheap enough. And, so, comes another report via Reuters: The result is higher prices at U.S. stores like Wal-Mart and Target that have increasingly filled their shelves with […]

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   I meant the "breaking" as a snark, in case it wasn’t obvious. For everyone but the pro- so-called "free trade" crowd (economists, elites and too many Democrats), it’s been crystal-clear that the driving force behind trade is wages, not efficiency, a better product, lower prices for consumers and all the other nonsense you read. […]

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    A pet peeve of mine has been the way in which government statistics mislead us–and that is even without actual lying by politicians and their operatives. Take the Gross Domestic Product–it only tells you that stuff is being made, not whether the average person can pay their bills. Even when the GDP goes up, […]

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    This is a catch-up with an interesting, and not surprising report, from the good folks at the Center for Economic and Policy Research: After decades of disappointing wage growth for many American workers, a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) shows that unionization significantly boosts the wages of low-wage […]

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    Not something we should be thrilled to hear: Imagine Houston being populated only by Wal-Mart workers. Houston proper, with its population of just over 2 million, has about the same number of people as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. now employs worldwide. Put another way, if a city had only families of four and one member […]

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    There has been a movement growing among truckers nationwide to protest not just high gasoline prices but the general attack against workers. It’s an interesting movement in large part because it’s truly grassroots–it has been driven (no pun intended) by a loosely-knit group that has found allies throughout the country but it has no […]

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    Two quick hits on strike news. Last week, I wrote about the UAW strike at American Axle, in the context of how African-American workers, in particular, are being hurt in the attack on decent manufacturing jobs. There seems to be some talking going on, according to The Detroit News: American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings […]

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