Not many Americans realize that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote and talked about the economy, not just about non-violence and racial peace. He knew that there could be no harmony without people having enough money to meet their basic needs. That is why a few months before his death he was talking about economic justice [...]
It seems to me there was a time when our elected officials only stopped to pat themselves on the back after accomplishing something good. Now they pat themselves on the back just for avoiding something bad. It is time to raise our expectations of our elected officials; otherwise, they will continue to do nothing and [...]
Today was my last day as an employee at one of NYC's public hospitals. You probably remember that a few days ago the Daily News told you that the president of these hospitals, Alan Aviles, makes $360,000 a year. Alan Aviles also gets a $7,000 a year car allowance; and he got a 20 percent raise [...]
Now that that pesky billboard bearing awful news about the frequency of abortion among black women (59% of all pregnancies, according to the website it leads you to) has been removed, we can all go back to treating abortion as a sacred cow, not open for discussion lest the right to it be taken away. [...]
Dear State Senator John Bonacic (New York): Thank you for your reply on October 8th to my letter regarding the distribution of a bit of extra to welfare recipients this summer. In response, I begin by drawing your attention to the opinion of prominent economists working at the international and national levels who are far [...]
September 22, 2010Public Employee Press125 Barclay StreetNew York, NY 10005Dear Public Employee Press Editor:I am a local 768 social worker working in pediatrics, and am troubled to read about the deal to cut $12 billion from the Food Stamp program in order to fund the $26 billion Jobs Bill. This deal was aggressively advocated for [...]
Toward Full Unemployment: Moving Beyond Wage Slavery By Robert Theobald The movement to abolish chattel slavery took fire when we began to realize how demeaning it was for people to be owned by another person who held the power of life and death over them. Uncle Tom's Cabin opened up a fiery debate which led [...]
Author's note: I wrote and mailed this letter in January via regular mail (NYC Housing central office does not give out its fax numbers). I am still awaiting response. January 6, 2011 John Rhea, Chairman New York City Housing Authority 250 Broadway New York, NY 10007 Dear Mr. Rhea: I am writing because I have [...]
I was real tickled to see Tim Pawlenty on Jon Stewart this week, since it was only a few months ago that I wrote about him and his disconnect from the policy realities of the United States. Pawlenty is just one more ordinary person who has no talent for policymaking, managed to convince a lot [...]
Michael J. Keegan, Managing Editor The Business of Management Magazine IBM Center for the Business of Government 1301 K Street NW Washington, D.C. 20005 Dear Mr. Keegan: I was very interested in your interview with Mr. Robert Doar of the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) in your Spring 2010 edition, thanks, since I [...]