Working Life

Today brings in stark relief the economic chasm in America: the Depression is here, if you measure what real people are going through, but, on Wall Street, the party continues as, in Marie Antoinette style, financial executives reap millions while the rest of the people grasp for crumbs.   Today, David Leonhardt has an excellent […]

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   If you are relying on the media or politicians to tell you when the "recession" will be over, you have a right to feel confused. One day it’s a story or pronouncement about the "green shoots" sprouting up in the economy, only to have those "green shoots" trampled the next day by gloom-and-doom over […]

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   It is curious, if not maddening, to observe the unwillingness of our economic and political leaders to admit that the bankruptcy of General Motors is a verdict on a much broader failure of the economic vision of the country. Sure, the incompetence of GM management, over a long period of time, is stunning. But, […]

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   It is one of the great hypocritical aspects of the public debate in America–on the one hand, the politicians and talking heads who strut around bragging about how great our country is and, on the other hand, the complete thirst and glee so many of them seem to have for the weakening of unions. […]

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   In the bigger sense, these two things are related. First, a week ago, I asked whether the president will keep his campaign promise about renegotating NAFTA. The answer seems to be "no": The administration has no present plans to reopen negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement to add labor and environmental protections, […]

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   When do things get better? That is all in the eye of the beholder.  The issue is: what and who defines "better"? For example, there is no doubt there are more hotel rooms open in the city. But, does that mean because all of a sudden the industry isn’t making money hand-over-fist that the […]

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This is not a post about the auto industry. The attack against the decent standard of living fought for and won by auto workers over many generations is just one of the most visible assaults on the American Dream–an assault that is sweeping through every corner of the economy as workers have to pay for […]

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   The Wall Street Journal has a story today looking at what a modern depression would look like. The story asserts: There is no consensus definition for "depression." Harvard University economist Robert Barro defines it as a decline in per-person economic output or consumption of more than 10%, and puts the odds of a depression […]

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   It is endlessly fascinating and grotesque at the same time (I have these combined feelings a lot these days–maybe I need professional help) to read media reports about the cuts that the UAW is agreeing to. Here’s another example in The New York Times from today: Ford Motor said Wednesday that its new agreement […]

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If you believe that a society cannot be truly democratic without a strong labor movement, and if you believe that the only way to build a fair economy is by making sure people can belong to unions, then, this is where a line must be drawn: Democratic Senators who block or undercut the Employee Free […]

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