Labor

Today is Labor Day, when we celebrate the wealth destroyers--at least if the libertarian right is to be believed.

Several years ago, I spoke on a panel where an audience member posed the rhetorical question, "Can any of you envision a robust progressive movement that doesn't have organized labor at the center of it?"

Can there be liberalism without labor? Can a progressive movement exist in a country in which organized labor has lost its political influence? My friend Mark Schmitt, the executive editor of the American Prospect, asks that question:

Samuel Sherraden from New America Foundation on why the government's $60 billion stimulus for green job creation hasn't worked. Original clip

For the last few months, the Obama White House has focused its attention on health care, and for good reason: Rising medical expenditures really do threaten to cripple the federal government and crowd out the investment we need to build a flourishing economy.

Low-wage workers are some of America's most vulnerable workers. In addition to the problem of having low wages, many have little input into the hours that they work and many have unpredictable work schedules, with the timing and amount of work hours fluctuating from week to week. A cascade of negative consequences can flow from being unable to alter work schedules or know them in advance - including unstable child care; difficulty accessing work supports and job training;… more

On June 3, 2003, the Treasury Department’s James Gilleran brought a chainsaw to a photo-op. While speaking to reporters, he promised to cut up piles of paper representing regulations of the financial sector. Joining him were representatives of four other U.S. regulatory agencies in charge of overseeing finance, armed with less formidable (but still sharp) gardening shears. The message was clear: The Bush Administration was tearing down the final pieces of the New Deal regulatory wall.