Stuff happens, right? I mean, who could’ve thought that in these modern times of digital monitoring of everything, something as... Read more...
No one needs another outrage to worry about, but here’s one that could literally be your last worry. Our hospitals... Read more...
Should the future of America's ag economy be controlled by industrializers and monopolizers who view food strictly as a profit center to be manipulated by and for the few? Or, should the future be modeled on the principles of grassroots producers, artisans, chefs, and consumers who understand that food is an essential element of life, community, and culture to be shared for the Common Good? Read more...
When looking for a sign of the times, sometimes it might literally be on a sign. That was true in Lincoln, NE, on July 9, when the tall billboard in front of a Burger King boldly informed customers: "We all quit. Sorry for the inconvenience." The impetus for the workers' mass public resignation was the "We're not gonna take it anymore" rebellion that is sweeping across workaday America and fueling a rejuvenation of unionization. Read more...
Today's Exxon executives have ambushed Golden Triangle unions. In a little-reported maneuver, they launched a crude attack this spring on the Steelworkers, attempting to bust the union, disempower the middle-class workforce, and entrench corporate autocracy in the oil industry. What's occurring in Beaumont is not a union strike, but a corporate lockout. Read more...
"Thinking" robots promise economic and social devastation. Is this our chance to liberate ourselves from hundreds of years of corporate servitude? With concepts like Universal Basic Income coming to the forefront, we may have the opportunity to finally focus on getting a life, not just getting a "job." Read more...
The invasion of today's workplaces by these digital hordes is much bigger, far more sweeping in scope, and coming at us much faster than last century's invasion of factory assembly lines by mechanical robots. This change portends an economic-cultural-political earthquake, fracturing our society's assumptions about the value (and virtue) of work, the possibility of upward mobility, America's commitment to egalitarianism, and even how we humans define ourselves. Read more...
LEGEND HAS IT that Amazon is a classic story of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. In 1994, a bright,... Read more...
Working. Poor. In our US of A, those words ought never be juxtaposed. The very concept of paying poverty wages in... Read more...
Until her death last summer, Margaret Mary Vojtkotaught French for 25 years at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, earning high marks from... Read more...
By gollies, McDonald’s cares. Despite being a corporate behemoth (more than 14,000 stores in the US, $27 billion a year... Read more...
In 2002, it was reported that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had told a friend an amusing tale about our man George W.... Read more...
You’re not likely to have known Robert Clark, Ruth West, Chet Newall, Webb Kamp, or Darrell Odom, but I wouldn’t be... Read more...
By gollies, when the economic going gets toughfor America’s workaday people, you can always count on our tough-minded political leaders... Read more...
Their names probably won’t mean mean anything to you, but these people ought to have some modicum of personal recognition: Jason... Read more...
Having just graduated from the University of North Texas in June 1965, I headed east to Washington, D.C., for a few... Read more...
Last October, Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus blew a gasket, spewing outrage in all directions. “This is the demise of civilization,”... Read more...
IRONICALLY, AT THE VERY TIME that boneheaded senators in Washington were working furiously to impose their anti-union extremism on our country, most... Read more...
THE 8,000-MEMBER GREATER GRACE TEMPLE in Detroit is the home church of many autoworkers, and its Sunday service on December 7... Read more...
Harry Truman said, “No man should be allowed to be president who doesn’t understand hogs.” That’s never been more true... Read more...
WASHINGTON WAS EXCITED. The media establishment applauded. Wall Street smiled. Somewhere, a bluebird of happiness chirped. In a celebrated display... Read more...
THE WAILING IN OUR COUNTRY ABOUT the “invasion of immigrants” has been long and loud. As one complainant put it, “Few... Read more...