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Remembering the Forsaken Written by Francis Slobodnik    Tuesday, 12 January 2010 18:51   A Review of the book The Forsaken, An American Tragedy In Stalin’s Russia by Tim Tzouliadis     In times of social and political turmoil, it is not uncommon for men to grasp for what appear to be easy solutions. Oftentimes, these impulsive decisions can have disastrous consequences. There is nothing meritorious about change in and of itself. The virtuous person prayerfully reasons through the options before making decisions. Men with little virtue grab desperately for anything that, on the surface, appears will improve their...

For more than 20 years, the Government Accountability Office has been warning that the varioius Social Security funds would go broke in a matter of decades unless something is done to shore up the program. Unfortunately, there are limited options when trying to address this crisis. You can employ a combination of raising the retirement age and/or increase the FICA tax. Other than that, you're rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic. But President Obama – who is fully aware of the threat of insolvency – is now proposing that Social Security benefits be increased and wants the "rich"...

A report from Pew Research Center reveals that between the third quarter of 2000 and the same period of last year, wages across the U.S. rose by an impressive 7.4 percent in real terms, driven largely by the oil and gas industry. Wages in energy-dependent communities rose by the most, in some cases more than twofold, such as in Texas. This shouldn’t be surprising as the period reviewed coincides with the peak of the shale boom in the country, even though it also covers two periods of recession. But those positive effects are starting to disappear. The energy industry is...

Apparently, the no-tipping test at Joe's Crab Shack isn't working out. The casual seafood chain announced in November that it had been trying out a no-tipping model in 18 of its restaurants across the country since August. But less than a year later, the company is moving back to the standard gratuity model in 14 of the test locations. ... "Our customers and staff spoke very loudly [about the policy], and a lot of them voted with their feet," he said.

In 2013, China Labor Watch (CLW) began investigating the labor conditions of workers at Pegatron Corporation factories in China making products for Apple... This year, CLW collected 1,261 pay stubs from Pegatron Shanghai workers, 13 times as many as stubs as last year. The documents were gathered with the assistance of 18 Pegatron workers coming from 12 departments... 1) Workers are paid at a rate of 1.82 USD/hour. 2) On average, overtime pay as a percentage of workers’ gross wages is 42.4%. 3) Workers work more than 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. 83.8% workers’ monthly overtime hours...

“The longest streak of private-sector job growth on record”! “U.S. businesses have now added 14.4 million jobs over 73 straight months”! “The labor force participation rate rose to 63% in March, the same level as in November 2013”! All those quotes — minus the exclamation points — came from White House top economist Jason Furman. And they are all accurate. What’s missing, however, is context.

. . . what's most striking to the chart above isn't the spread between Trumpists and Clintonistas (though it is stunning, to be sure), it's that only a bare majority of the latter feel things are better now than they were 50 years ago.

California lawmakers and union leaders have reached a tentative deal to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next several years, the Los Angeles Times reports. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is expected to make the formal announcement as early as Monday. According to the L.A. Times, the minimum wage will jump from $10 to $10.50 an hour in 2017 and will increase by $1 every year after that until reaching $15 an hour in 2022. Business with fewer than 25 employees will have an extra year to comply. "The governor and stakeholders have all been negotiating...

This is all video and, if you don't want to give the goon squad a hit, I'll summarize for you:A clip is shown from the most recent debate about a new twist on a very old story-- 30 years old.Trump is supposed to be responsible now for the sins of a contractor he hired 30 years ago, even though one of the cheated workers, then an illegal Polish immigrant and now a U.S. citizen, is quoted as seriously considering voting for him.This is their 8 seconds of balance in 4:15 minute hit piece. If you blink, you'll miss it!

Americans are quitting their jobs like crazy, and this is good news for wages. The latest monthly "Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey" (JOLTS) showed that in December, the total number of quits was 3.1 million, the highest level in a decade, while the quits rate was 2.1%, the highest since April 2008. This rate, which takes the number of quits divided by the number of employees who worked or were paid for work, is one of the labor-market metrics most closely watched by Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen. If people are quitting their jobs, it suggests that they are...

Unlike government, which never has a bottom line and seems not to care one whit for economic consequences in U.S. deficit spending and counting)--such is not the case for any business or any rational person managing a household budget Apparently the liberal MSM and politicians confuse the name Walmart with the concept of welfare. The first is a publicly-traded retailer with stockholders that expect the company to remain profitable. The second is a government-sponsored entitlement program for the needy. The two are examples of entirely different economic animals: the first provides purpose, the semblance of independence and potential upward mobility,...

CARSON CITY — A state judge Wednesday rejected arguments challenging language in a proposed constitutional amendment to gradually raise Nevada's minimum wage. District Judge James Wilson said a coalition of business groups failed to show that a required description of effect was misleading or that language setting dates for when new minimum wage rules must be posted are inappropriate. Attorneys Matt Griffin and Kevin Benson, arguing on behalf of the Committee to Preserve Nevada Jobs, argued that the explanation on what the initiative would do was misleading because it didn't explain that employers who violated minimum wage laws would be...

We needed some good news in an otherwise grim week for the economy and stocks and got it in a blockbuster report showing 292,000 new hires in December and a 50,000 upward revision from previous months. The alternative measure used by the Department of Labor based on the household survey, showed job growth was even swifter, with a gain of 485,000. Best of all, nearly half a million Americans on net entered the labor force, helping reverse for now a horrid slide in labor market participation. The participation rate now stands at 62.6%, up from 62.4% in September. But we're...

U.S. cities that implemented big minimum-wage hikes to $10 an hour or more in 2015 have seen a strikingly similar aftermath: Job gains have fallen to multiyear lows at restaurants, hotels and other leisure and hospitality venues. The data aren't, for the most part, stark and reliable enough to amount to smoking-gun proof. But Chicago, Oakland, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — all on the leading edge of the push for big minimum wage hikes — all show worrisome job trends.

Some 63% of people can't deal with a $500 emergency. Americans are starting 2016 with more job security, but most are still theoretically only one paycheck away from the street. Approximately 63% of Americans have no emergency savings for things such as a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to a survey released Wednesday of 1,000 adults by personal finance website Bankrate.com, up slightly from 62% last year. Faced with an emergency, they say they would raise the money by reducing spending elsewhere (23%), borrowing from family and/or friends (15%) or using credit cards to bridge...

Preposterous. They’re nothing alike. Sanders is an unorthodox Democrat who supports universal health care and trade protectionism but also tighter borders and stronger gun rights than most liberals do. Trump, on the other hand, is … wait a sec. Hmmm. Where was I going with this again? The strangest thing: I've met a number of Trump rally attendees who say their top two are Trump and Sanders. Seriously. Or in reverse.— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) December 28, 2015 We’re in a weird place when Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz are both competing to be the second choice of another guy’s base,...

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has appeared to take a new position on US wages. After previously saying wages were "too high," Trump instead stressed Sunday and again Monday that they were actually "too low." "Wages in are country are too low, good jobs are too few, and people have lost faith in our leaders. We need smart and strong leadership now!" Trump tweeted Monday morning. The apparent shift came after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), a Democratic presidential candidate, said in a Sunday interview that his message would resonate among Trump's working-class supporters. "Look, many of Trump's supporters are a...

Immigration to the U.S. is an "economic calamity," according to Ted Cruz -- but only if it happens to you....

Trump: I never said wages are too high By ELIZA COLLINS 11/12/15 06:53 PM EST Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Donald Trump on Thursday clarified his comments from Tuesday night's GOP debate about wages being too high, saying the blowback has been misguided. The billionaire businessman was asked during the Fox Business debate about whether he was sympathetic to protesters who have been pushing for the minimum wage to be raised to $15 an hour. “I can’t be…and the reason I can’t be is because we are a country that is being beaten on every front,” Trump said on...

Donald Trump on Wednesday doubled down on his argument that American wages are “too high” after making a similar claim during Tuesday night’s GOP presidential debate. “We have to become competitive with the world. Our taxes are too high, our wages are too high, everything is too high,” he said Wednesday morning during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “What's going to happen is now people are going to start firing people.” Trump’s comments came when asked about the minimum wage, which he explained during Tuesday night’s debate on Fox Business News and reiterated on Wednesday. He said both times...