Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate

We have passed by Longview, Washington many times on our way to Seattle or Mt. Rainier. We never knew about its rich labor history, and we would never have guessed that it would become the center of a struggle that is as important for the future of the labor movement as the uprising in Wisconsin. Read More

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The Obama administration and powerful Democrats have been so consistently supportive of the demands of business, especially in finance, that their most liberal adherents have expressed disillusion. For example, some of our top labor leaders, whose unions spent hundreds of millions of dollars helping Obama and Democrats get elected, have recently criticized through deed and word their supposed political allies. James Hoffa, Jr., president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the nation’s fourth largest union (with about 1.4 million members), filed suit on September 2, 2011 against the federal government to block the end of a U.S. ban on Mexican trucks entering the United States. Much to the chagrin of labor, Obama has pushed for more “free trade” agreements, and the end of the truck ban is part of a deal with the Mexican government, which had filed and won a complaint against the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA mandates access to U.S. markets by Mexican companies, including trucking firms, and when the United States forbade the entry of Mexican trucks on safety grounds, Mexico sued to force U.S. compliance with the agreement. Read More

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Estes Park, Colorado, is the gateway town to Rocky Mountain National Park. Much of its downtown was destroyed by flood in July 1982 when the Lawn Lake Dam burst. It was soon rebuilt, and those who oversaw the reconstruction did a good job. People still live in or close to the central business district, and while Estes Park obviously caters to tourists–there are fudge, ice cream, pizza, tee shirt, rock, souvenir, and antique shops; miniature golf courses; water slides and bumper cars–it does so while keeping the charm of a small town in a beautiful setting. Streets are tree- and flower-lined, and the Big Thompson River flows along a walking path behind the stores on the south side of the main street. We think that the outside seating at the Starbucks is the prettiest of any coffee shop in the country. Read More

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In 2010, about 139 million people, on average, were employed in the United States.  What kind of work did they do? Here is an interesting table constructed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Read More

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Every time we visit Pennsylvania, we notice the air pollution. According to a recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Physicians for Social Responsibility, Pennsylvania’s air is the second most toxic in the nation.  Much of the pollution comes from coal and oil-fired power plants in Pennsylvania and nearby states, but there are other sources as well. The coal trucks that rumble noisily through towns as they make their way from strip mines to power plants spew noxious smoke. The fly ash (the residue from the coal burned at the power plants) often hauled by these same trucks may also pollute the air. Now the widespread Marcellus shale natural gas drilling generates one more source of air contamination, both from truck traffic and the compressor stations that move the gas. And, there is still plenty of damage done by other industries. Drive along any of Pittsburgh’s famous three rivers, and you will see plants spewing smoke from their stacks. Read More

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