Stop Me Before I Vote Again

The poli-econ green-eyeshade pinkos strike back! Corporate boardrooms tremble:

"[F]rom 2000 to 2007, the income of the median working-age household fell by $2,000-an unprecedented decline. In that time, virtually all of the nation’s economic growth went to a small number of wealthy Americans. An important reason for the shift from broadly-shared prosperity to growing inequality is the erosion of workers’ ability to form unions and bargain collectively....

The problem is that the election process overseen by the National Labor Relations Board has become drawn out and acrimonious, with management campaigning fiercely to deter unionization, sometimes to the extent of violating the labor law....

To remedy this situation, the Congress is considering the Employee Free Choice Act....

As economists, we believe this is a critically important step in rebuilding our economy and strengthening our democracy by enhancing the voice of working people in the workplace. "

Honor roll of class struggle stalwarts includes this mixed bag of notables:

• Kenneth Arrow, Stanford University
• Dean Baker, Center for Economic Policy and Research
• Jagdish Bhagwati, Columbia University
• Alan S. Blinder, Princeton University
• Brad DeLong, University of California/Berkeley
• Robert H. Frank, Cornell University
• Richard Freeman, Harvard University
• James K. Galbraith, University of Texas
• Robert J. Gordon, Northwestern University
• Dani Rodrik, Harvard University
• Jeffrey D. Sachs, Columbia University
• Robert M. Solow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Lester C. Thurow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

In an e-mail, my pal Herb N Sorrell III cites this particular passage:

" The institutions that govern the labor market have also failed, producing the unusual and unhealthy situation in which hourly compensation for American workers has stagnated even as their productivity soared"

Then adds -- kinda side of the mouth-like -- to hell with a vanguard party. This is pure fire water Now we got these Ivy boys all lined up to general-staff us -- why, this means war, Paine, all-out class war. We're goin' for the whole ball of wax this go-round. Toe to toe, to the finish!