Virgil's income has fallen from a high of more than $100,000 in 2003 to less than $20,000 today. His wants are simple; a full-time job and a place to call home.
Virgil's income has fallen from a high of more than $100,000 in 2003 to less than $20,000 today. His wants are simple; a full-time job and a place to call home.
Fourteen million Americans were unemployed in May. All the while, corporations rake in record profits. This disconnect between public need and public policy is causing widespread suffering. Why isn't our government serving us, and what can we do?
We've seen how a relatively small number of passionate people formed the Tea Party, able to impose their views on our country. The 39 million Americans out of work or not working full time constitute a potentially much more powerful force.
The unemployed are politically invisible. They don't make major campaign donations. They don't lobby Congress. There's no National Association of Unemployed People. This is why neither party seems to care that we're heading back towards a double-dip recession.
In politics, "nobody" is a tough opponent. Like my old boss the VP used to say, "don't compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative." This is especially germane on the economy. Obama's potential opponents will inevitably be singing from an economic policy songbook that's no different from the one that got us into this mess. More tax cuts, less regulation. These ideas tickle the base, no doubt. But it's hard to imagine this policy set resonating with the independents who may ultimately decide the next election. This is ultimately good news for the president.
Increased automation in fast food providers is likely to someday offer increased convenience, speed, and ordering accuracy, but if jobs in the fast food industry start to disappear, the implications will be dire.
Almost three years later, people are still hewing to the flawed philosophies that led to the financial crisis. That prevents the country from taking steps to end the permanent recession that enshrouds whole segments of our population.
We can smooth out the month-by-month data all we want, but the fact is that job growth in the United States is just too slow to provide working families with the job and income opportunities they need.
The May jobs report is a disaster -- the weakest reading since September. The recovery has stalled. And while we're not in a double-dip recession yet, the odds of it are increasing.
For the 54 million Americans with disabilities, the hardest part of making a living often isn't succeeding at work -- it's convincing employers to give you a chance.
Let's bring back the housing tax credit. Let's put a jobs program into budget talks. Let's promote buying American and rebuilding America. Let's not burden our children with bridges that collapse and cars that crash on roads that decay.
It used to be that having short stints at multiple companies was a red flag. These candidates can now market themselves as desirable hires if they don't present as an immediate flight risk.
The leaders of Wall Street and big business may now have to wake up to a reality they've tried to avoid telling our leaders in Washington -- that the central economic problem of our time isn't the long-term budget deficit but the immediate deficit in aggregate demand.
We have seen residential housing lose what little steam it had built up. Jobs numbers, due Friday, are likely to show moderation in the pace of new jo...
The Republicans, deeply dinged by a politically damaging foray in badly designed Medicare reform, are trying to shift the conversation to jobs. But there's nothing much in their proposals that we should expect to help.
Harnessing the web and mobile devices can help reach untapped populations of new workers, identify opportunities in less-competitive professions, and reveal markets with great potential for growth.
Before any of us start throwing burgers on the grill and popping open a beer or two, I humbly offer a short status report on America as of this holiday weekend, based on the most recent stats available.
Where are labor's allies? Where are Israel's friends? Where, exactly, are the supporters of civil rights, immigrant rights and women's rights? Each ...
In DC the elite are gathered around tables discussing budget cuts, but not jobs to cure a deficit largely caused by a lack of jobs and tax cuts. Not at the table: women, working people, the poor or any semblance of democracy.
While multinationals have prowled the planet to exploit the cheapest workforces they can find, advocates call for a common living wage standard to ensure workers from Shenzhen to Sri Lanka aren't working themselves deeper into poverty.
The Republicans repeatedly say "F you" to everyone in this country except for the elite wealthy and big corporations. The party has moved so far to the right, its core policies are far out of the American mainstream.