Cheap Labor and Loose Regulations

Weekend Reading

Fox News Host: What About Trump Destroying Top Secret Documents?

Enough With 'Smart Cities'—We Need Cities Done Right

The science behind Ja Morant's unreal vertical abilities

Man crashes pastor’s book burning event — throws a bible into the fire and yells: ‘Hail Satan!’

These Abandoned Olympic Venues Prove the Games Are a Giant Waste of Money

When Private Equity Becomes Your Landlord

Unions don’t call the shots any more – but we’d all be better off if they did

There Is No Labor Shortage!!!

Accomplices Reporters keep labeling shitty-paying jobs, that are supposedly going unfilled, as a labor shortage. Labor Shortage Transforming State Workforce

There is no labor shortage. This is about a living wage, health care, and a pension (retirement). Respectable pay for an honest day's work - the mantra America has been shoveling and selling for generations. 

Unions were the answer to the disparity between the Haves and the Have-Nots. Yet, for decades, Republicans have attacked government and the public sector, in general, along with unions. It's no coincidence that as unionization has declined so have the wages and benefits of workers. 

Business news bloviators talk about how CEOs have earned and must be paid millions - that's just the market working. At the same time, Republicans, along with the business news crowd, tell us how these same millionaires shouldn't pay taxes - that would be a disincentive to their genius.

But when everyday workers decide certain jobs (and the lack of pay and benefits associated with such) aren't worth it - you know, the market - Republicans and the business crowd declare these workers to be lazy and ungrateful. Workers don't deserve good pay and incentives will only make them lazier.

I guess when CEOs get to make policy and write the rules, there is a set of rules for them and a set of rules for workers. The market rules for millionaires are very different from the market rules for workers. 

So is it really a surprise that as workers have had to work harder for lower pay and less benefits, the workers have turned away from these lowest-paid and worst jobs? It's not a labor shortage, it's a pay shortage. The labor is here and willing to do the work, they just need to be paid a fair market wage.

More Weekend Reading

'Quiet Part Out Loud': RNC Lawyer Admits GOP Cheats To Win

Ron DeSantis Is Selling Vaccines To Rich Floridians

Trump’s Dismal Record on the Economy

Bill Requires National Anthem Before Games

Not Another Rich Guy for Senator

Wisconsin and local governments would receive $5.5 billion in COVID-19 aid under House bill

Elena Kagan Dismantled a Republican Lawyer and Might Have Saved Voting Rights Act in the Process

Linkages Between Labor Market Institutions and Inequality

Ronald Reagan and The Politics of Declining Union Organization

Labor Law Is Broken, Economist Says

Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining

$15 By 2025

Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 would lift the pay of 32 million workers

Weekend Reading

U.S. Herd Immunity

Rush Limbaugh captivated dads like mine and created America's modern fascist aesthetic

Newsmax Host Attacks Biden’s 12-Year-Old Dog Champ: “Looks Like It’s From a Junkyard”

Donald Trump Jr. Rips Teachers Unions In Front Of A Gun Wall; Critics Go Ballistic
The Green New Deal Threatens Republicans’ Bread and Butter, it’s Not Just Competition in the Battle of Ideas
The Failure of the Media in Responding to the Lying Right

Born to Run: U.S cannabis enters the sweet spot

LESSONS FROM MY 4-MONTH SOCIAL MEDIA BREAK AND WHY DIGITAL DETOX IS NECESSARY

Utilities Offer Yield and a Way to Play Green Energy. And Their Stocks Are Cheap.

The Notorious RBG & The Billionaire-Fueled, Republican Party's Last Gasp

Weekend Reading

The U.S. Only Pretends To Have Free Markets
So We're Supposed To Treat Donald Trump With Respect, After All This? Oh, Hell No
Elizabeth Warren's Plan To Pay For Medicare-For-All, Explained
Elizabeth Warren Proves She Does Her Homework With Impressive Plan To Fund Medicare For All
Senator Warren's Answer On Taxes And Medicare For All Is Exactly Right
How Elizabeth Warren Can Address The Medicare For All Question
The Happy, Healthy Capitalists Of Switzerland
Upgrade The New Deal, Riemer Declares
Everyone Deserves Clean Water
For Elizabeth Warren, The Wealth Tax Is About More Than Money
United States Spend Ten Times More On Fossil Fuel Subsidies Than Education
Thousands Of Scientists Around The World Declared A Climate Emergency And Warned Of "Untold Suffering"
The Debate Over Whether The Very Rich Pay Lower Taxes Than You, Explained
Unions Are Pushing Members To Run For Office - And It's Paying Off
We Get It, Rich Guys Are Not Into Elizabeth Warren
If Corporations Are Being Run To Maximize Returns To Shareholders, Why Are Returns So Low?
Did Warren Pass The Medicare Test? I Think So
Only A Global Green New Deal Can Save The Planet
Never-Before-Seen Trump Tax Documents Show Major Inconsistencies
If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? Turns Out It's Just Chance

It's Time For Real Change

Nancy Pelosi Is Worried 2020 Candidates Are on Wrong Track

Those liberal ideas that fire up the party’s base are a big loser when it comes to beating President Donald Trump.

Pelosi believes most American don't want or don't support: improved health care (Medicare For All), improved infrastructure, public elections, taxing corporations and the rich, green (environmentally friendly) policies, getting rid of the electoral college, a higher minimum wage, and improved labor policies.  Just to name a few of the Sanders/Warren policy prescriptions.

Pelosi claims these are fringe, liberal, San Francisco, pipe-dream policies.  "What works in San Francisco does not necessarily work in Michigan,” Pelosi said.

Being a Midwesterner, I have to inform Pelosi she is way off.  In what has been referred to as the Rust Belt, deindustrialization has decimated many good paying jobs, left workers with less and less of a voice, and left many without decent health care or the hope of a stable retirement.

Most Midwesterners would be happy to see the playing field tilted in favor of workers rather than corporations and the rich.

As the article stated, "The speaker’s concerns reflect those of many Democratic leaders and donors who believe that left-wing policies will alienate swing voters and lead to defeat."

Translation - big moneyed donors like their power and wealth and they don't want to give any of either up.

Pelosi and the current Democratic leadership need to 'grow a pair' or get out the way.  We can't keep pushing climate change policies down the road; we can't keep taking from workers and giving to the already wealthy; all citizens deserve good health care; all citizens should be able to retire with dignity; we should all expect clear air and drinking water; our elections should be free, fair and representative.  If you don't have the spine or passion to fight for real change for the majority of Americans, you don't belong in politics.

Pelosi, Bill Clinton and the triangulation-gang got us to this point.  Always capitulating and cutting deals, slowly moving the Democratic party more and more to the right.  So much so, that the difference between the parties became almost indistinguishable.  Many former Democrats started voting for the Republicans - "Heck, they're not so different and the Republicans will cut taxes, so I might as well vote for them."

These triangulators made the Democratic party the Republican-light party.  Yet, we're supposed to let them keep driving the car?  These Pelosi Democrats are the ones who've been in power as wages have stagnated, unions have been destroyed, elections have been stolen and the standard of living for most working Americans has stagnated.  They have betrayed their Democratic base and the liberal policies that made this country great in the first place.

It's time for real change.  A new generation of Democratic leaders needs to take the wheel.

Weekend Reading: Economics Edition

Society-Wide Benefits of Raising The Minimum Wage
The Puzzle In The Labor Data
The Trump Tax Reform, As Seen In The U.S. Balance Of Payments Data
Why The 'Free-Market' Economy Is A Myth And How To Rebuild Public Power
The Failures of Neoliberalism Are Bigger Than Politics
What Kansas's Rebounding Economy Tells Us About The Farce of Republican Tax Cuts
How The Federal Government Rigs The Game Against Small Businesses
Make Corporations Pay For The Green New Deal
Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Not So Much In Record U.S. Expansion
Unions Did Great Things For The Working Class

Weekend Reading

Why And How Capitalism Needs To Be Reformed
The IRS Tried To Take On The Ultrawealthy. It Didn't Go Well.
The Tax Law's Big Winner Is The Millionaire CEO
Bernie Sanders's Fox News Town Hall Wasn't A Debate. Bernie Won Anyway.
Warren Has A Good Beginning For Ending Corporate Tax Avoidance
The Truth About U.S. Taxes Is That They Aren't High Enough
Yes, Graceland Actually Threatened To Move To Japan To Get $194 Million In Subsidies From Memphis
Ending The Economic War Among The States: A Strategic Proposal
Amazon's Next Frontier: Your City's Purchasing
The Undemocratic Making Of Indianapolis
The Future Of Unions Is White-Collar
Fun Fictions In Economics

Weekend Reading

Shopko Creditors: $117 Million In Dividends Paid To Owners 'Fraudulent,' 'Illegal'
401(K)s Versus 403(B)s
Sigh....No, Tax Cuts Won't Boost Growth
Supreme Court Sides With Union Giving Milwaukee County Employees $6.8 Million Pension Benefit
Make Corporations Pay For Green New Deal
The Rapid Decline Of The Natural World Is A Crisis Even Bigger Than Climate Change
Study Finds Racial Gap Between Who Causes Air Pollution And Who Breathes It
Here's What Republicans And Billionaires Really Mean When They Talk About 'Freedom'
Wisconsin Judge Blocks Republicans' Lame-Duck Power Grab
Study Cited In Wisconsin Debate On Expanding Medicaid And Taking Federal Money Called 'Garbage'
Make America Great Again By Raising The Minimum Wage

Weekend Reading

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Tax Hike Idea Is Not About Soaking The Rich
Unions Did Great Things For The Working Class
Economists Get Serious About Harm From Monopolies
If Only Obama Had Done The Things Obama Actually Did
Antitrust And The Financial Sector
Cory Booker's Baby Bonds Nearly Close The Racial Wealth Gap For Young Adults
All Of The Extremist Killings In The US In 2018 Had Links To Right-Wing Extremism
How Elizabeth Warren's Wealth Tax Would Remake America
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Crusher Of Sacred Cows
Progressive Labor Standards
What Do We Actually Know About The Economy?
Yes, Polarization Is Asymmetric - And Conservatives Are Worse
Should Billionaires Even Exist?
How Frigid Polar Vortex Blasts Are Connected To Global Warming
The Wealth Gap And Miller Park's Deal
Republicans Cynically Demonized Government For Decades. The Shutdown Belongs To Them.

Weekend Reading

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wants To Raise Taxes On The Rich - And Americans Agree
Economists Get Serious About Harm From Monopolies
Declining Birth Rates: Are We In Danger Of Running Out Of People?
The House Democrats' Colossal Election Reform Bill Could Save American Democracy
Why You're Wrong About Communism: Here Are 7 Huge Misconceptions About It - And Capitalism
Why Scott Walker's Welfare Legacy Will Outlast Him
The Future Of The Great Lakes
Anticompetitive Mergers In Labor Markets
Labor Market Concentration
Beware of Consultants Bearing Rosy News About Mergers

Unions Did Great Things For The Working Class

Weekend Reading

Trump Proposes $100 Billion Gift To Richest 1%
Giving Government Workers The Shaft
We Are All Accumulating Mountains Of Things
Unions In The 21st Century: A Potent Weapon Against Inequality
Taxpayers Are Footing The Bill For Sky-High CEO Salaries
Withheld Emails Show Brett Kavanaugh May Have Perjured Himself
Where Labor Unions Aren't Going Away
Where Will The Next Crisis Come From?
The Housing Bubble And Financial Crisis Was Easy To See Coming
Bernanke, Geithner and Paulson Still Don't Have A Clue About The Housing Bubble
The Dangerous Myth We Still Believe About The Lehman Brothers Bust
Misunderstanding Credit And Housing Crises: Blaming The CRA, GSEs
He Was The Resistance Inside The Obama Administration
Many Lawmakers And Aides Who Crafted Financial Regulations After The 2008 Crisis Now Work For Wall Street
An Alternative View Of Boom And Bust Cycles
What Does The Current Slope Of The Yield Curve Tell Us?

Sunday Reading

Wisconsin Jobs Agency Writes Off $1.1 Million Loan Owed By DePere Businessman Jailed For Defrauding Investors
Three Reason Why The U.S. Is Vulnerable To Big Disasters - And Getting More Vulnerable All The Time
U.S Coal Industry Shows No Signs Of Comeback
High Court Sticks It To Milwaukee
Justice Kennedy Wasn't A Moderate
A Trade Tutorial For Trump
Which Anti-Poverty Programs Work
The Mind-Bendy Weirdness Of The Number Zero, Explained
In Many States, The End Of Roe V. Wade Is Already Here
Growth Benefits Of U.S. Tax Cuts May Be Overestimated: Fed Study
Fresh Proof That Strong Unions Help Reduce Income Inequality
New Study Confirms That American Workers Are Getting Ripped Off
Walker Protected Polluters Who Illegally Dumped Human Waste
How The Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around The Country

Friday Reading

Is Foxconn Double Crossing Walker?
Unions Will Try To Thwart Supreme Court Janus Ruling - That's What They Did In Michigan
Meet The Economist Behind The One Percent's Stealth Takeover Of America
The Second Amendment's History
Is It Great To Be A Worker In The U.S.? Not Compared With The Rest Of The World
A 30-Year Alarm On The Reality Of Climate Change
Crude Oil Through Port Of Milwaukee Creates Risks For Lakefront, Water Supply
Business' Complaints Over Pressure For Donations Prompted Ouster of Ald. Tony Zielinski As Licenses Committee Head
No President Has Tied Themselves Closer To The Stock Market Than Trump - Now The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost
Scott Walker Is Donald Trumps Most Dangerous Enabler

Wisconsin Reading

34% Of Walker Donations From Outside State
Highway Debt Up 87% Under Walker
Reality Differs From Walker's Economic Claims
What Walker Says, And What's Really Happening With The Wisconsin Economy
Scott Walker Is A Failed Governor
Gov. Scott Walker's Promise To Create 250,000 Jobs In Wisconsin Remains Elusive
Does Cutting Taxes And Spending And Beating Up Unions Spur Growth: The Story From Wisconsin And Minnesota

Decline of Unions Has Hurt All Workers

Decline of unions has hurt all workers

The steep decline in union membership in recent decades has had an outsize effect on the American workforce, tamping down wage increases for nonunion workers, a new study says. 

Average weekly earnings for nonunion private-sector male workers would have been 5%, or $52, higher in 2013 if the share of union workers had remained at 1979 levels, according to the study out Tuesday from the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute ahead of Labor Day. That’s tantamount to a loss of $2,704 annually for the average nonunion worker. 

The paper was authored by Washington University sociologists Jake Rosenfeld and Patrick Denice, and Jennifer Laird, a research scientist at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy. 

The earnings loss is smaller for women because they were not as unionized as men in 1979. Weekly wages would be about 2% to 3% higher for women if union membership had stayed at 1979 levels, the report says. 

About 10% of male private-sector workers were union members in 2013, down from 34% in 1979. In that period, the share of women who belong to unions fell to 6% from 16%. 

The report argues the dwindling influence of unions is a significant but often ignored reason for wage stagnation, along with globalization, technological change and the slowdown in educational achievement gains. 

The prevalence of unions affects the pay of nonunion workers in various ways, the study says. Nonunion employers often raise their workers’ pay to foster loyalty and head off an organizing drive. Kodak deployed that strategy in highly organized New York State, the study says. 

The fatter paychecks of union workers also creates a more competitive labor market that forces nonunion companies to lift wages to prevent employees from jumping ship. And unions often establish labor-friendly policies that generally promote fairness in pay, benefits and worker treatment, according to the report. 

The gains of yesteryear were not limited to nonunion workers at risk of joining unions, the study says. When those workers received raises, their higher-level supervisors who couldn't join unions also saw sharper pay increases to maintain salary hierarchies, the paper says. 

But the losses engendered by shrinking union participation are most pronounced for nonunion private-sector male workers who lack a Bachelor's degree. Wages for that group would be 8% higher in 2013 if union membership had stayed at 1979 levels, translating into an annual wage loss of $3,016.

Walker Signs Vocational Education Teacher Measure

Walker Signs Vocational Education Teacher Measure

Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation Tuesday that will let districts hire vocational education teachers who do not hold traditional teachers licenses. ...

Critics, including the state Department of Public Instruction, the state's largest teachers union and university schools of education have raised concerns, saying the measure would lower the bar on teacher standards and create an uneven licensing system around the state.

How does lowering the bar for teacher licensing do anything to impact job growth in Wisconsin? So we can hire more under-qualified "teachers"? (But wouldn't this also imply that we'll be hiring less properly-licensed teachers?) Licensing standards are in place for a reason. We want teachers that have met certain requirements. 

Is this another Republican divide and conquer strategy aimed at the teachers union?

Through defunding and lowering qualification standards, Scott Walker is diminishing the quality of Wisconsin education.

Yet again, Wisconsin Republican policy choices seem to have nothing to do with moving Wisconsin forward. Rather, their legislation is a continual sludge of favors, paybacks, posturing and cronyism.

Union Dues