I'm lovin' it!

The fight in fast food by Doug Henwood

So what are they really up to? Are [SEIU] using workers as pawns in some undisclosed game, to be discarded after some deals are made? Workers themselves are showing enormous courage in participating in the one-day strikes that have marked this campaign. People who are barely getting by are putting their jobs at risk, and one can feel nothing but admiration for their nerve. What does SEIU plan to do with them?

Iron Lady? Rust in Peace. The Witch is Dead blogging continued

Parliament Debates Thatcher Legacy, as Vitriol Flows Online and in Streets by John Burns and Alan Cowell

Her death has been received in many quarters with a vituperation that was notably absent in the United States with the passing of former President Ronald Reagan, her ideological counterpart and cold-war wingman, and much of that criticism has played out on Britain’s streets. “Death parties” have been held in cities including London, Belfast and Glasgow, with banners reading “Rejoice, Rejoice,” graffiti declaring “Rot in Hell, Maggie” and celebrants “dancing on the grave” of the former prime minister. 

Nor has the vitriol been confined to the streets. An arch-advocate of modernizing Britain, Mrs. Thatcher has effectively been put into the stocks of the Internet age, with a blizzard of hostile Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, blogs on leftist Web sites and comments on online newspaper articles about her death. 

A Facebook campaign was under way to drive the street protesters’ anthem, “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” to No. 1 in Britain’s popular music charts.

Fareed Zakaria Fails to Appreciate the Fruits of Thatcherism by Dean Baker

Actually, the problems that Zakaria identifies are largely the result of Thatcherism. A main reason that workers have to struggle to keep their wages up is that central banks have deliberately raised unemployment in order to keep inflation low. This weakens the bargaining power of workers, especially those in the bottom half of the wage distribution.

The high unemployment of recent years can be attributed to a policy of financial regulation that allowed for banks to grow large with the implicit subsidy of a government granted too big to fail guarantee. It also required central banks to conduct monetary and regulatory policy without regard to asset bubbles. 

Thatcher and her kindred spirits in the United States and elsewhere worked to weaken labor unions. This has also reduced the ability of workers to secure their share of gains from productivity growth.

The split between winners and losers in the current economy does not fit Zakaria's description. The median wage for college graduates has been virtually flat since the 1990s. This group includes many people who have very high skills.

The comment about globalization is bizarre. The fact that other countries have become wealthier should help the rich countries, not hurt them. It only poses a problem in a context of bad macroeconomic policy, like having an over-valued currency. It also can be a problem with selective protectionism of the sort used in the United States. Trade policy has deliberately put less-educated workers in direct competition with low-paid workers in the developing world. By contrast, highly educated professionals like doctors and lawyers, are largely protected from such competition.

It is remarkable that Zakaria somehow fails to recognize the extent to which the factors that he identifies as problems were the direct result of Thatcherism. In many cases, such as the weakening of workers bargaining power, this was an explicitly stated goal of many of her supporters.

Tim Cook Apologizes for Apple's Maps

A Political Football in the Classroom by A.O. Scott (review of "Won't Back Down")

Rahmbo caves

Why Wait a Year For It To Show Up in the New York Times? by Doug Henwood

Chicago Teachers Largely Prevail In Strike—Now How Will The City Pay? by Ygelsias

We should do international comparisons and look at the success stories of other countries as we do with health care systems and monetary/fiscal policy or demand management.

Catherine Rampell and Doug Henwood (above) had good pieces on this subject. Countries that perform well like Finland have strong unions and higher pay.

We Voted for Obama and Got Rahmney

Rahm is suing to end the Chicago teachers’ strike. Does he have a case? by Dylan Matthews

Rahm’s case, then, is anything but a slam dunk. And even if he wins in court, that won’t change the fact that a huge majority of Chicago public school teachers voted to strike, and presumably won’t stop making trouble for him after they return to work.

(via Henwood)

As Chicago Strike Goes On, the Mayor Digs In by Monica Davey

Emanuel pushed legislation through the Illinois legislature that hiked the percentage of votes teachers in the Chicago district need to call a strike to 75 percent. And the CTU got 90 percent to call for a work stoppage. Why would any Chicago unions back Ramney?

Can the Chicago Teachers’ Strike Fix Democratic Education Reform? by Richard D.Kahlenberg

If Labor Dies, What's Next? by Harold Meyerson

Yglesias seems to be flip-flopping here. First he posted how much teachers were getting paid as if it was excessive. Now he says they should get paid. I do think the financial industry has more of problem with rent-seeking than inner city teachers. As Kristof says, in the Chicago Public Schools "86 percent of the children are black or Hispanic and 87 percent come from low-income families."

Chicago's Teachers Are Pretty Well-Paid (As They Should Be) by Yglesias

Students over Unions by Nicholas Kristof

The Pay of Chicago School Teachers and Selected Others by Dean Baker

The New York Times Editorial Page and Yglesias harped on Chicago school teacher's pay.

Does It Pay to Become a Teacher? by Catherine Rampbell

Did Education Secretary Arne Duncan Really Leave Chicago Schools a Mess? by Dean Baker

That might be a good question for reporters to pose to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel given his strong stand against Chicago's public school teachers. (It is appropriate to refer to this as a battle between Emanuel and the teachers. Almost 90 percent of the members of the bargaining unit voted to authorize a strike. This is clearly not a case of a union imposing its will on its members.) Emanuel has insisted that the schools need a major overhaul because they are badly failing Chicago's students. 

Emanual's position is striking because Chicago's schools had been run for seven and half years, from June of 2001 until January of 2009, by Arne Duncan. Duncan then went on to become education secretary for President Obama, based on his performance as head of the Chicago public school system. Apparently Emanuel does not believe that Duncan was very successful in improving Chicago's schools since he claims that they are still in very bad shape. 

There is no dispute that students in Chicago public schools are not faring well. Only a bit over 60 percent graduate high school in five years or less. However, this doesn't mean that the reforms that Emanuel wants to impose will improve outcomes, just as Duncan's reforms apparently did not have much impact, if Emanuel is to be believed. 

As Diana Ravitch, a one-time leading school "reformer" and assistant education secretary in the Bush administration, argues that charter schools on average perform no better than the public schools they replace. The main determinants of childrens' performance continues to be the socioeconomic conditions of their parents. Those unwilling to take the steps necessary to address the latter (e.g. promote full employment) are the ones who do not care about our children.