employment

Normally I skip the op-ed pages of the power-worshiping New York Times, but a recent piece by R.R. Reno caught my eye. Reno, a political and religious conservative, edits First Time, a neoconservative journal.

Anxiety and depression are at unprecedented levels worldwide and the numbers are growing. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes it as an epidemic, and estimates that 615 million people are suffering from one or other of these debilitating diseases. A staggering number, that in all likelihood is an indication only of the depth of the problem; anxiety as documented by the WHO, is primarily a developed nation’s issue.

In recent years, income inequality has become a major political and economic issue in America. It is true that, adjusted for inflation, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees in the private sector have barely changed between 1979 and 2015. But wages do not provide the full picture of workers’ earnings.

The U.S. political scene has been undergoing a facelift in an effort to restore the decreasing legitimacy of the transnationally-oriented capitalist class. This transformation has been characterized by a right wing that has sought to portray itself as economically nationalistic in an attempt to expand support among the working class (primarily, among working class whites) whose economic stability has dwindled during the neoliberal era.
Why is this the case?

In their latest book, William Mellor and Dick Carpenter from the Institute for Justice describe how special interests game the government for power and profit. Fortunately, the "bottleneckers" are losing in courts and in legislatures.

Our memory of manufacturing’s glorious past ignores just how much those who benefited from it wanted their kids and grandkids to escape it altogether.

From strengthening economies and family life, to improving gender equality and democracy, 10 ways a shorter working week could benefit us
The post 10 arguments for a shorter working week appeared first on Positive News.

The ‘wasted generation’ is but one of many global migrations, driven by a lack of economic freedom. How sad then that the United States, historically viewed as the country where poverty is cured and effort abundantly rewarded, is no longer open to the world’s ambitious in the way that it used to be.

Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destructiveness.
— Wilhelm Reich, The Function of the Orgasm (1927) (Ch. V: The Development of the Character-Analytic Technique)

A law that forces UK companies to publish details of their gender pay discrepancy came into force this week. Could it accelerate the closure of the 18.1 per cent gender pay gap?
The post UK gender pay gap law comes into force appeared first on Positive News.