#1428 Labor Shortages and the War to Keep Wages Low and Profits High
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 7 July 2021
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 7/6/2021
Today we take a look at the talking points and policy pushes that have kept wages in America artificially low for decades. The circumstances today are almost entirely new with unprecedented, COVID-related upheaval shocking the economy and labor market but the tactics used the demean workers and undermine their rights are as old as the hills.
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Michael Hiltzik on No One Wants to Work! Part 1 - CounterSpin - Air Date 5-14-21
Data doesn’t support a connection between unemployment benefits and difficulty in hiring is beside the point. That work “ethic” equals the willingness to work in whatever conditions at whatever wage is an unchallenged with Michael Hiltzik.
Industry lobbying groups constantly whine about "labor shortages," knowing the media will mindlessly repeat these claims without any skepticism as to why they're reporting the exact same "labor shortages" each year for 40 years. Guest CEPR's Kevin Cashman
Ch. 3: Why Do We Work So Damn Much - The Ezra Klein Show - Air Date 6-29-21
This is a conversation with James Suzman about the past, present and future of humanity’s relationship to work and to want.
Ch. 4: Michael Hiltzik on No One Wants to Work! Part 2 - CounterSpin - Air Date 5-14-21
Data doesn’t support a connection between unemployment benefits and difficulty in hiring is beside the point. That work “ethic” equals the willingness to work in whatever conditions at whatever wage is an unchallenged with Michael Hiltzik.
Larry Mishel and Josh Bivens, explain how their work reveals that massive upward redistribution of income our nation has suffered these past four decades can largely be attributed to policies intentionally designed to suppress wages of American workers.
An important part of a counter-narrative is provided by worker co-operatives: the way they treat workers, and productivity, and the balance of worker health and company success, in a pandemic and every day. Today we speak with Jaisal Noor.
Ch. 7: Insurgent Working Class and Organization - Economic Updates with Richard D. Wolff - Air Date 6-17-21
Wolff is joined by Professor Manny Ness to discuss worker insurgencies and political organizations in the global South today.
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
Ch. 10: Why Do We Work So Damn Much Part 2 - The Ezra Klein Show - Air Date 6-29-21
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 11: Blog renaissance - Dave from Olympia, WA
Ch. 12: On the etiquette of difficult names - Bud from Boise
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 13: Final comments on the etiquette of difficult names
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
- Activism Music: This Fickle World by Theo Bard (https://theobard.bandcamp.com/track/this-fickle-world)
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: Close up photograph of a tip jar on a counter. A handwritten sign taped to the jar says "Tips are how we make a living wage! xoxo".
Credit: "Tips are how we make a living wage" by Tony Webster, Flickr | License | Changes: Cropped and enhanced brightness and contrast
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of Left podcast in which we shall take |
| 0:07.3 | a look at the talking points and policy pushes that have kept wages in America artificially |
| 0:12.4 | low for decades. |
| 0:14.7 | The circumstances today are almost entirely new with unprecedented COVID-related upheaval |
| 0:20.6 | shocking the economy and labor market, but the tactics used to demonize workers and undermine |
| 0:26.7 | their rights are as old as the hills. |
| 0:29.9 | Whoops today are from a counter-spin, citations needed, the Ezra Klein show, Pitchfork economics |
| 0:36.0 | and economic update. |
| 0:43.5 | Like I say, my beef with news media's frequent presentation of economics is that it's a dry, |
| 0:51.4 | kind of analytical field where there's a right and a wrong and everyone knows what it is |
| 0:57.5 | and it's just a question of how we get to it. |
| 1:01.2 | When really there's visions involved, it's about how much you value people and how you create |
| 1:08.8 | an idea of what's acceptable for an economy around that vision of people. |
| 1:15.8 | So I just want to drop you right in to this question that we're now talking about, |
| 1:22.0 | nobody wants to work. |
| 1:23.8 | Let's start with just the data. |
| 1:26.6 | Are there more people looking for jobs than confying them or is there a labor shortage? |
| 1:32.4 | Because if I just pick up a newspaper, media are telling me both things. |
| 1:37.6 | Sure. |
| 1:38.6 | I think that it's fair to say that there's a labor shortage. |
| 1:41.8 | What the real debate is about is why there's a labor shortage, why there are businesses |
| 1:48.3 | that are unable to find the workers that they want. |
... |
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