We are, they say, experiencing signs of an economic recovery. The future of the United States is looking bright and glorious, thanks to the bailout of major corporations and promotion of banks; as a country, we are rebuilding from the ashes of the economic collapse, and all indicators suggest a sunny trajectory. This is what …
Category Archives: economy
Scapegoating Teachers
Teachers have to be among the most simultaneously maligned and hero-worshiped group of public employees in the United States. One class of people seems to believe that teachers are everything that is wrong with our society, with these kids today, with the failure of US culture. Another group seems to think that teachers are fantastic …
Military Poverty, Personal Debt, and Financial Literacy
The United States military makes itself an appealing option for low-income people in the United States. It offers job training and security, housing, benefits, decent pay, and an opportunity, a chance at something larger than might be otherwise available to someone who can’t afford college or would struggle to survive in a series of low-wage …
Go Ahead, Say ‘Entitlement Programmes,’ It’s Not A Dirty Word
Of late, I’ve noticed a strong tendency to shy away from calling things like Social Security ‘entitlement programmes,’ and I’ve puzzled as to why. I suspect some of it has to do with a very specifically USian attitude about ‘entitlement,’ and the idea that people have to earn things, rather than being automatically entitled to …
Retail Workers Need Rights Too
Retail work is often not considered very taxing, nor is it regarded as an area in which employee rights are an urgent issue. Such workers, after all, aren’t toiling in the hot sun of the Central Valley, lugging heavy cleaning kits through hotels, or performing domestic work in the homes of abusive employers. Yet, this …
Pulling the Global Lost Generation Out of the Murk
Globally, we appear to be on track to create a new lost generation of youth. In Canada, Greece, the United Kingdom, the United States, and so many other nations, youth are facing extraordinary odds when it comes to meeting even the most basic of needs, and the perilous economy is grinding and difficult to endure. …
Forever Blowing Bubbles: Housing and the US Economy
Recent reports have suggested that the US housing market is recovering, with an uptick in the sales of new homes as well as rises in sales at home improvement and appliance firms, suggesting that people are buying homes and sticking things in them. This is being touted as a good sign for the economy, and …
A Part-Time World
While we talk about jobs as part of the economic recovery, one thing that often goes undiscussed is the deeper specifics of those jobs and what they actually mean for workers. There’s an ‘any job is a good job’ implication that goes along with how jobs are talked about, and that ignores the fact that …
Capitalism Wins Again: Hating Strikers, Not Their Employers
This has been a year of increased visibility of strikes in the media, by both public and private sector workers in a range of industries. From teachers to telecommunications professionals, workers are getting angry, they’re organising, and they’re taking their work to the streets when negotiation in other venues doesn’t work, not just in the …
Service Workers Deserve More
They’re all around you, often invisible. Not just the waiters and clerks and hotel desk workers, but the bussers and housekeepers, janitors and phone crews. They’re the people who make the world hum all around you, and they’re supposed to be as unobtrusive as possible while making your life as easy as possible. They are …
