What is the AFL-CIO waiting for? by Ralph Nader + Obama Spends More Time on NCAA Brackets Than Workplace Safety

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
March 28, 2012

Image by duncan via Flickr

Dear Mr. Trumka,

You have come to your leadership position of our country’s labor federation of unions with 13 million members the hard way. Starting by working in the coal mines, then becoming a lawyer, heading the United Mine Workers, then becoming the Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO before assuming your present position in 2009, who can pull rank on you in the formal labor movement?

Yet, the AFL-CIO’s public leadership in three major areas has been far less effective than one would expect. I am referring to your less than assertive response to President Obama: 1) turning his back on raising the federal minimum wage; 2) failing to advance his card check promise to you in 2008; and 3) dropping the ball on backing long-overdue safety and health responsibilities of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Wall Street Confidence Trick: The Interest Rate Swaps that Are Bankrupting Local Governments by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
March 22, 2012

Far from reducing risk, derivatives increase risk, often with catastrophic results.  — Derivatives expert Satyajit Das, Extreme Money (2011)

The “toxic culture of greed” on Wall Street was highlighted again last week, when Greg Smith went public with his resignation from Goldman Sachs in a scathing oped published in the New York Times.