17 Comments

I’m always amazed by the fact that union workers vote against their own self interests.

No blue collar workers should ever have voted for trump.

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Many were misled on cultural issues.

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Crucial reading for the Harris-Walz campaign!

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Of there’s a big new layoff, she will seize it.

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Brilliant economist relative once reminded me, corporations are so detached, they will do whatever the government allows. Wages are the most flexible cost, so if workers are not valued as people, and can be used as leverage, out they go.

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Most flexible and also biggest cost.

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Thinkers who cared, like Noam Chomsky, were so right. Appreciate this insightful interview, which gave me valuable facts to share with those too busy working to get facts for themselves.

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Sep 2·edited Sep 2

There is a distinct impression to be gathered from Les that corporate C-suite practices are a stink hole that seems to be getting smellier every year. I agree.

Thanks to Republican presidents Reagan, Bush, Trump, and their collaborating congressional enablers, American corporations have become a honeypot for greedy financial engineering techno-wizards. The workers' union movement and the Democratic party are the only forces that can reasonably combat the ethically bankrupt corporate finance scourge. Hooray for Shawn Fain and his troops and Harris-Walz!

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This is a pretty good example of why I’m proud to call myself an independent, not a Democrat. Just as I part ways with democrats on education policy, I part ways on LBOs and buybacks. While examples of excess of both activities are legendary, as essential tools to allocate, reallocate capital to most efficient uses they are essential, and contribute to the creation of the most dynamic and successful economy in the world. The human cost of an evolving economy (what happened to the farmers and the buggy whip industries in the 19th century) is real. Government has key roles to play to help workers in transition, support education etc. to soften the inevitable blows of an economy in a constant state of reinventing itself. But government shouldn’t mess with the essential capitalist mechanisms of allocating and reallocating capital to its most efficient uses. Many will disagree in this crowd. Food for a more detailed discussion for another day.

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I agree with a lot of what you’re saying but would stress the distinction between regulating stock buybacks, which I favor, and banning them, which I don’t. That is the mainstream Dem position, btw.

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Food for a good discussion. Thanks.

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One should charge WHATEVER the "market" will allow!

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WHAT, exactly, does the phrase "price-gouging" mean? Who gets to decide the diff between "gouging" and raising prices to cover increased COSTS?

Utter nonsense, I think.

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That’s what the 111-year-old FTC is for—to curb predatory behavior.

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Do we really want unelected bureaucrats deciding what "gouging" means?

I don't.

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"Gouging":

STINKS of self-righteous indignation.

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Trump:

"Col. Layoff Bonespur"

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