Not often we get such synergy in our stories, but the first three articles hang together....#1 is how American corporations are wringing their employees dry to get productivity gains, the second is how the Supreme Court has of course sided with Wal-Mart in a major lawsuit, and the third explains the culture at Wal-Mart that makes them so profitable, and so powerful.....
If you have limited time, make sure you read #1.......
1/ This is one of the best articles I have read for a long time, and it's called "The Speedup", Working More, Earning Less".
If you are working [or have worked] in a white-collar job for a large corporation you will immediately recognise what has happened to you over the last few years - you are working harder for the same or less pay, and happy to have the job because your company has almost certainly downsized, maybe multiple times, eliminating positions but still expect the survivors to get the work done. So you work more hours.
Productivity is up, the company is more profitable but the largesse never seems to trickle down past the corporate officer level [top 5%!].....this is America today folks.....
ON A BRIGHT SPRING DAY in a wisteria-bedecked courtyard full of earnest, if half-drunk, conference attendees, we were commiserating with a fellow journalist about all the jobs we knew of that were going unfilled, being absorbed or handled "on the side." It was tough for all concerned, but necessary—you know, doing more with less.
"Ah," he said, "the speedup."
His old-school phrase gave form to something we'd been noticing with increasing apprehension—and it extended far beyond journalism. We'd hear from creative professionals in what seemed to be dream jobs who were crumbling under ever-expanding to-do lists; from bus drivers, hospital technicians, construction workers, doctors, and lawyers who shame-facedly whispered that no matter how hard they tried to keep up with the extra hours and extra tasks, they just couldn't hold it together. (And don't even ask about family time.)
Webster's defines speedup as "an employer's demand for accelerated output without increased pay," and it used to be a household word. Bosses would speed up the line to fill a big order, to goose profits, or to punish a restive workforce. Workers recognized it, unions (remember those?) watched for and negotiated over it—and, if necessary, walked out over it.
But now we no longer even acknowledge it—not in blue-collar work, not in white-collar or pink-collar work, not in economics texts, and certainly not in the media (except when journalists gripe about the staff-compacted-job-expanded newsroom). Now the word we use is "productivity," a term insidious in both its usage and creep. The not-so-subtle implication is always: Don't you want to be a productive member of society? Pundits across the political spectrum revel in the fact that US productivity (a.k.a. economic output per hour worked) consistently leads the world. Yes, year after year, Americans wring even more value out of each minute on the job than we did the year before. U-S-A! U-S-A!
Except what's good for American business isn't necessarily good for Americans. We're not just working smarter, but harder. And harder. And harder, to the point where the driver is no longer American industriousness, but something much more predatory.
2/ I am sure you saw the news the Supreme Court dismissed a class action suit against Wal-Mart, and this is a story about this action. Wal-Mart has been officially defined as "too big to sue,", but you could also say "way too powerful to sue".
The oligarchs win again in their war on women.....but it also leads into the next story about Wal-Mart's corporate culture.....
The Roberts court decision to block the class action lawsuit for sex discrimination effectively defines Walmart as 'too big to sue.'
et's get this right: the world's biggest boss, supported by companies as diverse as Altria, Bank of America, Microsoft and General Electric and backed up by the godfather of big business (the US Chamber of Commerce) has persuaded the US supreme court that thousands of women workers can't possibly share enough of an interest to constitute a class?It's hard to know which part of the court's decision in Dukes v Walmart hurts equity most: the assault on class-action jurisprudence generally, at a time of shrinking tools for workers seeking redress, or the defeat of history's biggest gender-based claim before a court that, for the first time, includes two women, one of whom (Ruth Bader Ginsburg) made her reputation in sex discrimination law.
3/ Wal-Mart, like every other corporation and institution has a culture, and theirs is defined by top down management, an authoritarian style and squeezing every ounce of productivity out of all their employees.
Although I have never been in a Wal-Mart and never will, you can't ignore the largest company in the world that has bankrupted countless rural American businesses, driven our jobs to China in their lust for ever lower costs and generally coarsened our culture....
So if you read this, the next time you traverse the 3 acre parking lot, dodging the fat, ugly rednecks in your quest for cheap Chinese junk you don't need, give a thought to the employees suffering inside......
MONDAY’S Supreme Court decision to block a class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart was a huge setback for as many as 1.6 million current and former female employees of the world’s largest retailer. But the decision has consequences that range far beyond sex discrimination or the viability of class-action suits.
The underlying issue, which the Supreme Court has now ratified, is Wal-Mart’s authoritarian style, by which executives pressure store-level management to squeeze more and more from millions of clerks, stockers and lower-tier managers.
Indeed, the sex discrimination at Wal-Mart that drove the recent suit is the product not merely of managerial bias and prejudice, but also of a corporate culture and business model that sustains it, rooted in the company’s very beginnings.
4/ If you watched the full 24 minute interview with Jon Stewart on Fox News Sunday you may be amused by this commentary on the interview from two MSNBC hosts.....2 minutes.....
n O'Donnell's Monday show--and both pronounced themselves surprised and more than a bit confused with how the talk turned out.
"It was such a strange interview," Maddow, who has conducted her own lengthy sit-down with Stewart, said. "I can't believe that that went as ["Fox News Sunday" host] Chris Wallace intended it to."
O'Donnell said he was baffled by Wallace's decision to play clips of Comedy Central when Stewart attacked Fox News.
"He was comparing Fox News to Comedy Central," he said. "That was his choice ... not understanding that the word Fox News needs to defend in its name is 'news.
5/ More on that interview - here Jon has some commentary on Fox's editing....5 minutes.....
Since Jon Stewart appeared on Fox News Sundaylast weekend, "The Daily Show" has devoted two segments to skewering the network's biases. On Monday night Stewart cried foul on Fox News' edit of his interview, and on Tuesday night's show he settled the score by listing dozens of false statements made by Fox News, as reported by Politifact.
Before he could do any skewering, however, Stewart first had to apologize to Politifact for a false statement HE made during his Chris Wallace interview. Stewart had inaccurately called Fox News viewers, "The most consistently misinformed media viewers," but the fact-checking group reports that not every poll lists them as such (Stewart blames his ignorance on watching too much Fox News, naturally).
6/ Rob Zombie, the music video director has made his first actual commercial for........Woolite? Huh?
So strange....30 seconds.......
7/ Excellent Robyn Blumner column on how the future for our kids graduating this year will be a lot different than the world we [boomers] inherited.
She also makes an excellent point - what would have happened to Richard Nixon if he had a Fox News organisation behind him....
A good read that makes one think.....
When I try to look out again through my 21-year-old eyes, I don't see the future for my nation that I'd hoped for back in 1982. My generation came of age when justice and fairness could be obtained through mass social movements. People mobilized around powerful, humanist ideas. I was a direct beneficiary of the women's movement.
At that time I thought Richard Nixon would be the worst president in my lifetime. Who could be any worse? He cravenly used the power of his office against political opponents, including an illegal political spying operation.
But then the press rode to the rescue, uncovering the cover-up. Congress responded. The courts did their duty, holding the president to the law. A rogue American president was out. There were safeguards in America's check and balance structure, and a strong Fourth Estate watchdogging government.
It would have been inconceivable at the time to have a Fox News equivalent blaring an opposing narrative — one in which the Supreme Court is "activist" for questioning executive privilege, all the president's men are really national heroes and, as to the break-in at Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office, the real question is: Why is this doctor treating a traitor, anyway?
8/ Great 3 minute video on the myths about Social Security being endlessly repeated by the "right-wing echo chambers", all funded by the Koch Brothers......
Features Bernie Sanders, one of the very, very few Senators with integrity.....
9/ Keith Olbermann's top ten reasons why you should watch his show....on Letterman.....3 minutes....
Let me add one - he isn't the corporate media!
The format and his own segments are the same as he used to have......
By the way Countdown is on Comcast in Lake County, Current TV channel 107......you don't have to call them and complain about censorship.....
Keith Olbermann returned to the "Late Show" on Tuesday to deliver David Letterman's patented Top Ten List. The topic? "Reasons To Watch The New 'Countdown With Keith Olbermann,'" appropriately. Olbermann delivered the zingers with gusto, even the slightly disturbing top reason.
It's Olbermann's second appearance on Letterman's show in recent months; in May, he chose the show to make his first television appearance since leaving NBC.
10/ I'm just putting this in here so you know what's happening, because as we know noone in government really gives a damn.....
Ocean Life on the Brink of Mass Extinctions
By Reuters
21 June 11
ife in the oceans is at imminent risk of the worst spate of extinctions in millions of years due to threats such as climate change and over-fishing, a study showed on Tuesday.Time was running short to counter hazards such as a collapse of coral reefs or a spread of low-oxygen "dead zones," according to the study led by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO).
"We now face losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, within a single generation," according to the study by 27 experts to be presented to the United Nations.
"Unless action is taken now, the consequences of our activities are at a high risk of causing, through the combined effects of climate change, over-exploitation, pollution and habitat loss, the next globally significant extinction event in the ocean," it said.
11/ The Tourism Board of Canada has incorporated the recent hockey loss riots into a new ad........funny Jimmy Kimmel......1 minute......
12/ Wow. Someone wrote in to the Sentinel defending Rick Scott......read the letter, and Scott Maxwell's response.....
A letter from a fan of Rick Scott
Political Insider, Talk About it — posted by scottmaxwell on June, 21 2011 10:24 AM
Political Insider, Talk About it — posted by scottmaxwell on June, 21 2011 10:24 AM
Since this blog was filled with so many letters against the governor yesterday, I thought I’d include one from a fan of Rick Scott.
While I may not agree with her (as you’ll see from my response), I give her credit for penning her thoughts herself … and actually fleshing them out a bit.
Scott, Scott, Scott. I usually laugh at you – knowing that SOMEONE has to” dis “the governor and you were elected from the limited editorial pool.
Just so you will know …. there ARE those of us out here who respect and support what Gov. Scott is trying to do for our state. You must admit, we ARE in a substantial mess on a number of fronts. He didn’t create the mess. We elected him to fix it.
Todays video - Homemade breast implants with France Dilorinzo
Todays retiree joke.....
This is what happens when you're retired....
Yesterday I was at my local Target buying a large bag of Purina dog chow
for my loyal pet, Sheriff the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line
when woman behind me asked if I had a dog.
What did she think I had, an elephant? So, since I'm retired and have
little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was
starting the Purina Diet again.
Yesterday I was at my local Target buying a large bag of Purina dog chow
for my loyal pet, Sheriff the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line
when woman behind me asked if I had a dog.
What did she think I had, an elephant? So, since I'm retired and have
little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was
starting the Purina Diet again.
I added that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that
it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat
one or two every time you feel hungry.
The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to
try it again.
(I have to mention here that practically everyone in line
was now enthralled with my story.)
Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food
poisoned me.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that
it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat
one or two every time you feel hungry.
The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to
try it again.
(I have to mention here that practically everyone in line
was now enthralled with my story.)
Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food
poisoned me.
I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both.
I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was
laughing so hard.
I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was
laughing so hard.
Target won't let me shop there anymore.
Better watch what you ask retired people.
They have all the time in the world to think of crazy things to say.
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