Green Social Thought

Produce less. Distribute it fairly. Create a greener world for all.

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Topic: Labor / Economics

  • The Significance of Karl Marx

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    by

    fitzdon

    I often have occasion to think that, as an “intellectual,” I’m very lucky to be alive at this time in history, at the end of the long evolution from Herodotus and the pre-Socratic philosophers to Chomsky and modern science. One reason for my gratitude is simply that, as I wrote long ago in a moment…

  • India’s Public Banks are its Lifeline: Privatisation will Ruin Them

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    by

    fitzdon

    The world’s investment leader, Warren Buffett, once said, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you realise who has been swimming naked”. When the banking system hit the rocks and the tide turned, the naked were caught disrobed. Similarly, sometimes it takes a pitch-black economy to reveal who and what in the financial firmament…

  • Misleading Unemployment Numbers and the Neoliberal Ruse of “Labor Flexibility”

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    by

    rsburke

    An admirable corrective to the economic 'happy talk' coming out of the Trump regime.

  • Italian Debt Crisis Erupts

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    by

    rsburke

    Do recent political events in Italy herald another global economic crisis?

  • This job is killing me: Not a metaphor

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    by

    fitzdon

    You are more likely to be killed at work than in a terrorist attack or plane crash. On average, thirteen workers die on the job every day. Most of these deaths are completely preventable. And yet the complex web of state and federal agencies and insurance programs meant to protect worker’ssafety and incomes are persistently…

  • Why Workers Have the Power to Change Society

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    by

    henryr874

    The problem is that we can't just vote socialism into existence. Even if Sanders were elected president–and the bipartisan U.S. political system has and will continue to deploy every trick to make sure he's not–most of the wealth by far that could be redistributed is the private property of the 1 Percent. That's the biggest…

  • Purple Bullying, Ten Years Later: SEIU Trustees Trample Member Rights On Eve of Janus Decision

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    by

    fitzdon

    In Chicago this coming weekend, 2,500 rank-and-file activists, from the U.S. and abroad, will be meeting under the banner of Labor Notes to celebrate the revival of union militancy, including recent strike victories like the West Virginia teachers’ walk-out. This conference—nineteenth of its sort since 1981—will be the largest gathering ever hosted by the now…

  • Corporations, Labor, and the Need for Stronger Unions

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    by

    rsburke
    in

    Introduction Conservative economist Milton Friedman once said, “The [only] social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” Noam Chomsky was more blunt. He stated, “Corporations [have] no moral conscience. [They] are designed by law to be concerned only for their stockholders, and not…their stakeholders, like the community or the work force.” This essay will…

  • Germany’s 28-Hour Workweek

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    by

    fitzdon

    German metalworkers’ union IG Metall made international headlines last month after a twenty-four-hour “warning strike” compelled employers to sign a deal with the union giving its members the right to a twenty-eight-hour workweek. The deal — which covers 900,000 workers in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg — is seen as a landmark in European labor…

  • Which Path to National Improved Medicare for All?

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    by

    fitzdon

    State-level reforms for universal health care are laudable; they are not single payer. Two states with a long history of state-based healthcare reform efforts, California and New York, are hard at work organizing for state bills labeled as single payer healthcare plans. Other states are moving in that direction too. This raises questions by single…