Working Life

   Sigh. Dumb economics again–promoted by a whole lot of good Democrats who just cannot embrace the idea that you cannot fix so-called "free trade" deals by pretending to retrain people for new jobs. It’s a false, cruel promise. At first glance, it looks like a hard fight on behalf of workers: Forty-one Senate Democrats […]

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   It’s bad enough that the global financial crisis has put millions of people out of work and trashed the future of the ranks of workers everywhere. But, let’s take a moment to consider an undercurrent of the economic crisis, fanned by fear, stupidity and the relentless drive to cut government (oh, that comes under […]

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    It’s a great time in America–if you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Not so much if you are a regular American. The profit gains of the Fortune 500 registered the third largest gain in history in 2010. By contrast, the people continue to struggle. Even the editors of Fortune recognize the […]

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   Guarantee you this won’t merit front-page news: Progress on a free trade deal with Colombia has cleared the way for the White House to seek Congressional approval of a package of trade agreements that includes pacts with South Korea and Panama, as Republicans have demanded. Obama administration officials said Wednesday that they expected technical […]

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    Why doesn’t Bill Daley, the White House Chief of Staff, just come right out and say it: we’re going to ram through these so-called "free trade" deals because, dammit, we need that corporate cash for the re-election campaign? Just be honest. Stop coloring it in the phony Republican-corporate rhetoric of "job creation". Then, at […]

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   A few days ago, I took part in a meeting organized by the AFL-CIO to launch a new publication called "Exiting From The Crisis"–a roadmap for a new global economy. The main speaker at the small meeting was Joseph Stiglitz. He outlined some great points and realities about the economic crisis with the bottom […]

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   It never ends. The robbery of the great wealth of the nation. The Audacity of Greed of the CEO class is never quenched. On Friday, I wrote about the huge pay increases sweeping through the CEO class in the financial community. It’s a cancer that is spreading again everywhere. Let me start with this […]

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   The answer is no, I’m not surprised. But, we must never lose the sense of outrage or simply shrug because "it’s just the way it is". Never. The absolute Audacity of Greed has to be challenged every moment.    In the Financial Times today: Jamie Dimon underlined Wall Street’s return to health after the […]

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   There is a deep, deep disconnect between how the political leaders, chattering classes and traditional media view what is happening in the economy versus how the rest of the people feel the economy in their everyday lives. This has been true for quite a long time. But, it is even more true today, at […]

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   I know there is an obvious answer to this question: does the Chamber of Commerce ever stop lying? Since you’ve answered that yourself, let’s consider for a moment the most immediate lie–and the truth about the economic reality facing most working people.   There is, as we know, a concerted effort by Republicans and […]

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