News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
A Wealthy Few Pick Up The Cash, We Pay The Costs by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | April 14, 2010
A few weeks back I wrote about Whirlpool closing their Evansville, Indiana plant and moving the work to Mexico. I wrote about the lunacy of an economic system that encourages companies to destroy lives, communities and the very economy that the Whirlpools depend on. This company was taking stimulus dollars with one hand and laying people off with the other. read more »Report: Whirlpool Closing Will Cost Indiana Millions of $$$ by James Parks, OurFuture.org | April 14, 2010
Whirlpool’s decision to abandon U.S. workers and send 1,100 production jobs out of Evansville, Ind., to a new plant in Mexico will create a ripple effect that will cost thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in lost income, according to a report released today. read more »Some Workers The Free Market Just Won't Hire by Mike Elk, OurFuture.org | April 13, 2010
With the Local Jobs for America Act putting the possibility of direct government hiring back on the table, we must make sure any hiring programs actually reach the communities that need help most. In this recession, there are four distinct groups of people that have been hit the hardest: read more »Rebuilding U.S. Manufacturing Must Be Bipartisan Cause by Edwin Hill, Huffington Post | April 13, 2010
Trade Deficit Grows by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | April 13, 2010
Where I previously wrote that some things were getting worse more slowly, the trade deficit is just getting worse again. read more »Green Jobs Must Remain in This Country by James Parks, OurFuture.org | April 12, 2010
We need to develop strong policies promoting clean energy, train workers in green technologies and ensure that the green jobs of the future are good jobs that remain in this country, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Friday. read more »The Future of American Jobs by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | April 12, 2010
The likelihood, therefore, is that as the economy struggles to recover and today’s jobless begin to find work, the median wage will continue to fall — as it did between 2001 and 2007, during the last so-called recovery. More Americans will be working, but for pay they consider inadequate. The approaching recovery will be tepid because so many people will lack the money needed to buy all the goods and services the economy can produce. read more »China Shocks World With Trade Deficit Claim. Heh. by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | April 12, 2010
"China posted a $7.24-billion trade deficit in March, its first in almost six years" read more »The Jobs Picture Still Looks Bleak by Robert Reich, The Wall Street Journal | April 12, 2010
Why Working People Are Angry and Why Politicians Should Listen by Richard Trumka, OurFuture.org | April 9, 2010
At this moment of economic pain and anger, political intellectuals face a great choice — whether to be servants or critics of economic privilege. The economic elites at JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and the other big Wall Street banks are happy to hire intellectual servants wherever they can find them. But the stronger the alliance between intellectuals and economic elites, the more the forces of hatred — of anti-intellectualism — will grow. If you want to fight the forces of hatred, you have to help empower the forces of righteous anger. And at this moment, the labor movement is working to give voice to the justified anger of the American people. We need help. We need public intellectuals who will help design the policies that will replace the bubble economy with a real, sustainable economy that works for all of us. read more »
The Latest
Smoother Ride for Auto-Parts Makers , The Wall Street Journal | August 4, 2010
A year ago the U.S. auto-supplier industry was all but left for dead. Companies such as Lear Corp. were filing for bankruptcy, demand for parts was plummeting and investors were abandoning the sector as General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC grappled with Chapter 11 reorganizations. read more »
U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers , informationweek.com | August 4, 2010
Despite President Obama's pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $22 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia. read more »
New Democratic Strategy for Creating Jobs Focuses on a Boost in Manufacturing, The Washington Post | August 4, 2010
When Jobs Go Away for Good, stateline.org | August 3, 2010
99 Weeks Later, Jobless Have Only Desperation, The New York Times | August 3, 2010
Ms. Jarrin, 49, wound up at a motel here, putting down $260 she had managed to scrape together from friends and from selling her living room set, enough for a weeklong stay. It was essentially all the money she had left after her unemployment benefits expired in March. read more »
Will The GOP Senators Whose States Face Thousands Of Teacher Layoffs Vote Against Teacher Funding? , wonkroom.thinkprogress.org | August 3, 2010
Today, the Senate will be taking a procedural vote on a bill providing $26 billion in aid to state and local governments, $10 billion of which is dedicated to preventing teacher layoffs. This particular batch of funding has been included in, and then cut from, multiple bills, as each time conservatives have objected. read more »
Budget Woes Snare State Aid Bill, dyn.politico.com | August 3, 2010
While scrambling to save pre-election jobs assistance, Senate Democrats are quietly conceding that Republicans have already won and big swaths of President Barack Obama’s 2011 budget will be cut when Congress returns after its summer recess. read more »
Few in U.S. Move For New Jobs, Fueling Fear the Economy Might Get Stuck, Too, The Washington Post | July 30, 2010
Labor mobility has nearly ground to a halt in the past two years, and policymakers are increasingly worried that the slowdown is not just a symptom of the nation's economic struggles but also a barrier to overcoming them. read more »
Netroots Nation: Channeling the Power of Jobs, Populism and the Angry Voter, blog.aflcio.org | July 23, 2010
Where does populist anger over the economy go—left or right? It’s a question Working America has focused a great deal on as it relates to both policy and politics, in our discussions of a “working class at the tipping point,” in our daily work and as it relates specifically to this fall’s elections. This morning, a Netroots Nation panel also took up the question. read more »
Checks are Coming: Obama Signs Unemployment Bill, salon.com | July 23, 2010
Federal checks could begin flowing again as early as next week to millions of jobless people who lost up to seven weeks of unemployment benefits in a congressional standoff. read more »
