EFCA in context

"Third generation union organizer" Mike Elk's piece confirming EFCA is dead started it by suggesting the EFCA battle is one with larger themes and objectives than, uh, EFCA. Then came the crying "fowl" in this post by J. Justin Wilson claiming the EFCA fight is war by proxy in "a larger conflict about political sway, public opinion, and economic ideology." One is forced to pause here and consider whether Wilson is referring to Galliformes or  Anseriformes, or as is likely, neither, but I digress. Elk retorts at Firedoglake calling Wilson "the corporate version of that creepy hit man from No Country for Old Men." Elk's position? Wilson, tool of Wall Street, needs to continue destroying unions to continue destroying the economy. You can't make this stuff up . . .

Ten years - zero net job growth.

Each new year like each new baseball season begins with hope. May 2010 and the remainder of the decade that follows help us put aside the harsh memories of the last decade.  The Washington Post has a piece on the "aughts" which illustrates the utter lack of job growth during the past decade.

"There has been zero net job creation since December 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had job growth of less than 20 percent. Economic output rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s as well.

And the net worth of American households -- the value of their houses, retirement funds and other assets minus debts -- has also declined when adjusted for inflation, compared with sharp gains in every previous decade since data were initially collected in the 1950s."

We are a little better off in Louisiana. It appears we may be a little ahead of the nation's recovery.  Nevertheless, many here and throughout the country would be hard pressed to say they are better off now than they were in 2000. And those that do likely belong in the Wall Street camp, rather than the Main Street camp.

Mr. Trumka goes to Wall Street

The New York Times reports that AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka speaking to a "modest" audience excoriated Wall Street "Apostles of Greed."