Economic Report:
Does a sagging economy equal an increase in office politics? A new study from Accountemps says yes. With more employees feeling less secure in their jobs they often begin plotting ways to stay on top in the eyes of management. Fifty for percent of those surveyed said it is important to stay aware of politics playing out in the office, but to not get directly involved. Twenty nine percent said they prefer to stay completely out of office politics.
Economic Report:
Does a sagging economy equal an increase in office politics? A new study from Accountemps says yes. With more employees feeling less secure in their jobs they often begin plotting ways to stay on top in the eyes of management. Fifty for percent of those surveyed said it is important to stay aware of politics playing out in the office, but to not get directly involved. Twenty nine percent said they prefer to stay completely out of office politics.
A protest over the filming of an anti-Obama ad led to work at a West Virginia coal mine grinding to a halt. After Consol Energy allowed the National Rifle Association permission to film the ad at the Blacksville No. 2 coal mine the United Mine Workers Association called a “Memorial Day’ which allowed 440 mine workers the right to stay home to protest the filming of the ad. During production the NRA had sought to ask mine workers how they felt about “having your Second Amendment rights taken away if Obama become president.” As a result of the protest the company has asked the NRA not to use any Blacksville interviews in the ad.
A protest over the filming of an anti-Obama ad led to work at a West Virginia coal mine grinding to a halt. After Consol Energy allowed the National Rifle Association permission to film the ad at the Blacksville No. 2 coal mine the United Mine Workers Association called a “Memorial Day’ which allowed 440 mine workers the right to stay home to protest the filming of the ad. During production the NRA had sought to ask mine workers how they felt about “having your Second Amendment rights taken away if Obama become president.” As a result of the protest the company has asked the NRA not to use any Blacksville interviews in the ad.
Workers at a Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois ratified a new four year contract this weekend. The contract provides job security for the workers, but in exchange the 1200 employees had to take pay cuts. The contract establishes a two tier wage system at the plant. According to the United Auto Workers local 2488 the new contract requires the plant to stay open until the new contract expires in 2012.
Workers at a Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois ratified a new four year contract this weekend. The contract provides job security for the workers, but in exchange the 1200 employees had to take pay cuts. The contract establishes a two tier wage system at the plant. According to the United Auto Workers local 2488 the new contract requires the plant to stay open until the new contract expires in 2012.
Lede: With many millions of workers and their families feeling economic pressure, how many are really in economic distress? Doug Cunningham takes a look.
By Doug Cunningham
Most Americans are feeling the economic squeeze of higher prices and stagnating or falling wages. Add a bank meltdown ot that and you have families living in real distress. Professor Michael Zweig of the Center for Study of Working Class Life at the State University of New York the official poverty rate doesn’t begin to tell the real story.
[Zweig]: “According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the only measure of economic distress that they have is the poverty level. That’s what they count. That’s what they measure. And by official government poverty standards the poverty rate is around 12.2 percent, 12.3 percent. What we have found is that if you look at a broader understanding of economic distress, it’s around 21 percent of the households in the United States. Almost double.”
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If the efforts of union members and progressives across the country are successful, Sen. Barack Obama will be elected president this fall. He’d take office in January and face a set of extremely serious challenges and promising opportunities. Would he be able to turn the country around and make it work again?
Obama’s Challenge, a new book by Robert Kuttner, looks at the policy agenda and outcomes of the past eight years to answer this question. Kuttner asks how previous presidents have transformed the nation and what policies can be implemented to move us forward.
Only a president, Kuttner says, can assert a robust policy agenda and fix the failures of our economy through broad, comprehensive solutions. Small, micropolicy shifts are inadequate The next four years are an opportunity for real leadership—an opportunity that is as challenging as it is necessary.
Kuttner, co-founder of The American Prospect and author of The Squandering of America, discussed his new book this week at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne and EPI President Lawrence Mishel.
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