"Words that make actions speak louder."
This Labor Day feels gloomy. It’s a celebration of work when there is not enough of it, a day off when too many desperately seek a day on. America has commemorated two Labor Days since this brutal recession began near the end of George Bush’s presidency in December of 2007. Now the relentless high unemployment, […]
America was formed as a government of, by and for We, the People. It says so right in the first words of our Constitution. To get that Constitution we rebelled against the King and England’s aristocracy and their corporations, with their concentrated wealth and power. And we continued that fight and over time we extended […]
In the news today, a familiar story: imports increased, exports declined. About $50 billion in one month alone. The trade gap isn’t just costing jobs, it’s a significant factor in the slow recovery as well. See below. In 2005, when we were halfway down to where we went, I wrote a post at my own […]
We, the People have fought hard to build and strengthen our democracy. We built up laws and institutions and protections. It has been a particularly hard fight to build a middle class with weekends off, good wages, worker protections and some degree of protection of our environment. Step by step we fought and built, fought […]
“Everyone knows Americans are lazy, shiftless, always looking for a way to shirk their responsibilities. People don’t want to work so we have to make them work. And good dose of humiliation is good for the soul. If you let them have any dignity they might get uppity.” That is what conservatives sound like when […]
July 4, 1776, Independence Day celebrates our fight to cast off colonial rule by a wealthy elite who were keeping the benefits of our labors for themselves. We fought this system and we won our independence. In the years since We, the People have built up solid public structures like our system of laws and […]
The change agenda at America’s Future NOW! REGISTER NOW for AFN 2010 The deficit fear mongers are right that America faces a deficit that threatens to cripple our economy and foreclose on the futures of millions of Americans. They just have the wrong deficit. That’s the reality we’ll address at America’s Future Now!: America faces […]
They are popping the bubbly on Wall Street. Million-dollar bonuses, the Dow at 10,000, the casino is open again. Forget President Obama, who says we can’t go back to an economy where finance pockets 40 percent of the profits. We’re already headed there. The current-account deficit is down as Americans have cut back spending. But […]
My union, the United Steelworkers (USW), and three paper manufacturers will have free traders and editorial boards across the nation sputtering, spitting and name calling again this week. They started labeling us “protectionist” last week when President Obama made what should have been considered a straightforward decision. He implemented a recommendation from the independent, bi-partisan […]
The G-20 Summit is wrapping up today. We can compare its performance to promises made in advance. Leaders discussed financial markets, of course, but they also made promises about jobs and work. Some highlights: “3. We must promote employment through structural policies, active labour market policies, and training and education.” In other words, leading economies […]