In an admirable bit of reporting, Nelson Schwartz and Eric Dash of the New York Times did us all a favor by asking bankers, hedge fund and money managers what they think about the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Said one top hedge fund director who wished to remain anonymous: “Most people view it as...
President Obama’s much anticipated speech outlining his jobs agenda for the 2012 election year will sound a lot like a tiny mouse trying to make a loud roar. Instead of clarity, we’ll get hedging; instead of “bold,” we’ll get wishy-washy. The principal aim of the speech will be to divert attention away from his...
For many years now in California we’ve witnessed an extremist Republican minority in the legislature hold the state budget hostage through manipulating the “two-thirds rule” that allows a legislative minority to dictate to the majority whether any new revenues can be raised. The debt ceiling gambit that Republicans in the House of Representatives have...
Once again the United States Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has shown the nation it will always favor corporations over people even if it means conjuring new law out of thin air. Like Citizens United, the recent 5-4 ruling in AT&T’s favor gutting the power of consumers to file class-action lawsuits against...
Even with Libya and Muammar Gaddafi dominating the news and journalists from MSNBC, CNN, and other news outlets each evening patting themselves on the back for their courageous coverage (leaving one to wonder why they checked out of Afghanistan and Iraq so quickly) our domestic politics are teeming with aggrieved Republicans and Tea Partiers...
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Municipal Workers
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life fighting for the collective bargaining rights of municipal workers in the city of Memphis. The garbage collectors who were striking were responding to unsafe conditions (a worker was crushed by a truck), a sub-minimum wage, non-existent benefits, zero bargaining rights. Mayor Henry Loeb beat the workers down...
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