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...The windup, and there's the pitch (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
President Bush made his pitch to Congress and the American people last night. Despite some skepticism on the part of the public and an apparent loss of momentum in the Congress, the President seems to be staking his agenda on his proposed $1.6 billion tax cut. He's hoping that by going over the heads of Congress and convincing the American people that his tax cut plan is reasonable...and, as his father would say, "prudent at this juncture"...he's hoping to generate some political pressure and mind-changing in Congress. He's following up with a swing around the U.S. during the next couple of days, hoping to close the deal, and, in fact, initial polling indicates that his speech last night was fairly well-received by the public, which, as we reported yesterday, seemed to give only a modest endorsement of the job he's been doing so far, as reflected in an earlier poll. We're wondering if the President is beginning to benefit from the recent independent re-count of Florida votes conducted by a consortium of newspapers that might be perceived as adding to Bush's legitimacy as president.

There are many Democrats who remain to be convinced about the wisdom of his tax-cut plan, but the President might point to the fact that his budget calls for a $25.7 billion increase in federal spending, selectively applied, of course.

Incidentally, the Bush II budget includes less for agriculture, which may signal that the Administration is preparing to allow large numbers of additional family farms to disappear, considering this mode of production to be obsolete and incapable of supporting itself. An expected result would likely be the increasing consolidation of the American agricultural sector under corporate control.

As painful as it is for the individuals and families affected, some would argue that the transition from "Mom and Pop" operations to large corporations, which are able to operate with greater efficiency and enjoy economies of scale, has already occurred in most other sectors, and, in many cases, long ago. On the other hand, small business continues to be an important and viable part of the American economy. So far, the Bush administration has made no effort to put the conversation about American agriculture on the front page, but one can expect it to get a lot of attention during the months ahead.

What other elderly saxophone player gets this much attention? (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
Alan Greenspan seems capable of setting off reverberations around the world by simply relaxing his poker face a bit. He reports to the Congress again today on the state of the American economy, and you can be sure that nearly everybody will be listening. Jeannine Aversa's story seems to have been written and published by the Christian Science Monitor before the Chairman's report took place, which may be an example of "anticipatory reporting." At any rate, Ms. Aversa says the Greenspan doesn't believe the American economic slowdown is over yet. Marcy Gordon says that new numbers show that growth was slower during the final quarter of 2000 than during any quarter since 1995.

However, even 1995 WAS part of the historic expansion, of course, so it's important to keep things in perspective. Adam Geller reports on additional data supporting Chairman Greenspan's apparent assessment. Factory orders and home buying have been slumping, and consumer confidence is at its lowest point in more than four years, according to the Conference Board's measure. The Washington Post reports on why economists keep a close eye on the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, as well as the University of Michigan's latest Index of Consumer Sentiment, which hasn't been released yet.

Japan's economy slams on the brakes...again (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
Forget about that hoped-for strong recovery, for the moment, at least. Industrial production declined by 3.9 percent in January, setting off renewed expectations of more recession.

Hourly wages up a bit in Australia (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
The Australian News Network reports that hourly wages increased moderately during the final quarter of 2000.

Teachers strike in Israel (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
Secondary school teachers will are going on strike in Israel over pay issues. Elementary school teachers haven't yet decided whether they will join in. Here's more from Relly Sa'ar of Ha'aretz.

Bush supports expansion of regional trade agreement to help Colombia (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
Almost nobody has sufficient time to list or describe all of Colombia's political and economic problems. However, one major problem is that a lot of people in that country are dependent on the illegal drug industry. President Bush says he supports efforts that could offer those persons alternative employment.

Violence at World Economic Forum meeting (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
Protesters have clashed with police at a meeting of business and economic leaders in Cancun, Mexico.

Consumer organization attempts to head off move to change bankruptcy law (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
There has been a move in Congress for sometime to make it harder for individuals to walk away from their debts, and a Republican administration might be expected to increase the odds of a change in the law. However, the Consumer Federation of America claims that a change is less necessary now than it might have been during previous years, because personal bankruptcies have been on the decline anyway.

Dividing up a shrunken pie (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
Montgomery Ward has been a fixture of American life for a very long time, but it's now in the process of disappearing from the scene. The bankrupt company is left with few assets to distribute among those whom it owes, so workers have agreed to accept less-generous severance payouts, because, if the were not to do so, they would risk receiving nothing.

Coping with a volcanic boss (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
The Washington Post's Kenneth Bredemeier offers sympathy and advice for those who have a boss, if not from hell, then at least from the depths of the earth, or so it may seem.

Why the next 50 years are likely to be a lot different (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
Robert Samuelson has been thinking about some of the possible implications of demographic trends described in that new U.N. report. Expect the world's rich countries to shrink in population and get older, while the poorer countries continue to experience a population boom. A conspicuous exception to this new trend should be the United States which will continue to experience population growth, in large part because of immigration from some of those poorer countries. Incidentally, while a higher fertility rate is expected in the U.S. than in Europe and Japan, for instance, during recent years neither American whites nor American blacks have been reproducing at a sufficient rate to replace themselves.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Libraries on the Web (Wednesday, 2/28/01)
Libraries on the Web comes from the University of California, Berkeley, and lists public libraries throughout the United States.

The President will tell Congress that he's in favor of "fiscal sanity" (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
President Bush will be explaining to the Congress tonight why they should help him cut taxes by as much as he would like over the next ten years. He will present his budget, which will provide some specifics about his administration's priorities. He and members of the Congress will be considering the implications of his low approval rating, according to the polls, which can result in diminished popular support for his proposals. The new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows him with a 55 percent job approval rating, the lowest for any newly-elected president in nearly a half-century. The polls show that the American public is only mild rather than wild about tax cuts at the level supported by the President.

The upside of the downturn (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
Business Week explains why zero growth, which seems to be what is happening with the American economy at the moment, can be a good thing and why things are likely to begin getting better again soon. Meanwhile, Stephen Dunphy tells what we can expect from some of the economic reports coming out soon.

Supply/demand imbalance in the business Ph.D. market (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
Too few business Ph.D.s are being produced, and too few of the graduates are going into academic careers to satisfy the business schools, which are having difficulty staffing their faculties.

Work stress and health (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
Researchers at the University of Southern California have found that work stress puts middle-aged men at greater risk for the development of arteriosclerosis which puts them at greater risk of heart attack or stroke.

What American business is reading (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
Here's Business Week's latest list of best-selling business books. Meanwhile, Tsutomu Yamashita reports from Tokyo that there has been a sudden surge in demand for books outlining nightmarish scenarios for the Japanese economy.

Losses between jobs bring the averages down (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
An analysis conducted at Princeton University finds that, even though it has been easier for laid off workers to find new jobs at fairly comparable salaries during the record expansion, the loss of a job comes at a price anyway, even during a boom.

Strike ends at Domino (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
The strike that has gone on at Domino Sugar for 20 months has reached its end in what labor negotiators regard as a failed effort on the part of the union. The company now intends to cut 110 jobs. In other labor news, the Supreme Court has let stand a Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which, in effect, means that the pilots union at American Airlines still owes the company millions of dollars more than the union's total assets. Negotiations between the union and the airline have not been completed, so an implied willingness on the part of the company to cancel the debt in return for union concessions might be expected to amount to considerable leverage on the part of management.

More of the latest cuts (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
3Com will lay off 10 percent of its full-time workforce, and Mitsubishi intends to cut 9,500 jobs, while Texas Instruments will try to reduce its workforce by offering early retirement incentives.

Interest rates reduced in Israel (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
Israel's equivalent of the American Fed has cut interest rates by 0.2 percent, according to Moti Bassok, economics correspondent for Ha'aretz.

Bush to appoint panel to study Social Security (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
The Bush administration wants to do something about reworking Social Security for the long term, but needs some advice. The Washington Post reports that the President will put together a panel of experts to study the issues.

South Korean economy slows (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
South Korea has been making a good recovery from the financial crisis of a few years ago, but this year's growth rate is expected to be less than half of last year's.

New banker's hours (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
Woodforest National Bank in Texas will have some tellers available at two of its branches twenty-four hours per day.

Many younger Americans are working too hard too (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
There is much concern about work/life balance in the adult population, given that many Americans are working more hours per year and more years per career. Similarly, experts say many students are working too many hours, and the rest of their lives, including their studies, are suffering as a result.

Guest worker plan has the support of many growers (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
There is a movement in Congress and elsewhere to legalize many workers who are in the United States illegally. Some growers depend on these workers, and many of these support a move to grant amnesty to people who are already in the country.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: National Atlas of the United States (Tuesday, 2/27/01)
Here's a way of looking at the United States or locales within the country in terms of agricultural production or other attributes from a great variety of perspectives. The United States Department of the Interior presents the interactive version of the National Atlas of the United States. Maps, maps, maps, which can be useful to you in your business, in education, or just to satisfy your curiosity.

Get ready for the Bush II budget (Monday, 2/26/01)
President Bush has a plan for cutting taxes (significantly), reducing government spending, and paying down the national debt, all at the same time. But, as Abraham McLaughlin reports, he may have diffiiculty finding budget items to reduce. Some critics of the $1.6 trillion Bush tax cut proposal claim that upper-income people will reap most of the benefits. David Cay Johnston of the New York Times writes that, according to IRS data, wealthy Americans have been paying a smaller share of their incomes in taxes during recent years.

Growth forecast revised in Israel (Monday, 2/26/01)
The Israeli economy is expected to grow by only 2-3 percent his year, according to a revised forecast from the Finance Ministry. Here's more from Moti Bassok of Ha'aretz.

Change of plans in the Russian Arctic (Monday, 2/26/01)
The old Soviet Union's leaders had ambitious plans for developing the country's northernmost regions, and not just as a place to imprison more political dissidents. However, times certainly have changed. Fred Weir reports from Moscow on a World Bank-assisted effort to help large numbers of people get out of Russia's arctic and settle someplace else.

Growing skepticism about Bush's prescription drug plan (Monday, 2/26/01)
State health officials, legislators, and various policy experts aren't confident that the President's plan for helping America's elderly poor pay for their medicines will perform as he intends. Meanwhile, a biparisan group of state governors has its own radical plan for changing Medicare.

Minnesota governor wrestles with job-training programs (Monday, 2/26/01)
Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura wants to make major changes to Minnesota's job-training programs, including the dismantling of the Minnesota Department of Economic Security which employs about 1,700 people. The department's functions would be distributed to other state agencies. Incidenally, the governor speaks to the National Press Club in Washington today.

New economy, new stresses (Monday, 2/26/01)
Louis Aguilar of the Denver Post discusses the new kinds of stresses in a hi-tech-driven economy, and how these may be contributing to "desk rage."

The extreme health risks of economic and political powerlessness (Monday, 2/26/01)
Many women in Africa and India continue to suffer disastrously low status, and their poverty and powerlessness also increase their risk of AIDS, according to Barbara Crossette, who writes about the results of a study conducted by the United Nations.

Americans are working longer (Monday, 2/26/01)
Not just more hours, as we've reported numerous times, but also more years. For quite a long time, Americans were retiring earlier, but that trend has been reversed, according to Mary Williams Walsh of the New York Times.

Yes, you might be eligible for food stamps (Monday, 2/26/01)
Millions of Americans are eligible but haven't applied, according to Elizabeth Becker who reports from Cleveland for the New York Times.

Here's a really dangerous job (Monday, 2/26/01)
Mikola Melnichenko has taken it upon himself to shine a bright light on corruption at the highest levels in Ukraine, and he wisely stays out of sight.

Don't minimize the significance of running your own business (Monday, 2/26/01)
Daneen Skube assures a correspondent that being self-employed IS a real job.

The origins of Secretary Chao's positions (Monday, 2/26/01)
Elizabeth Becker reports that the new Secretary of Labor doesn't claim a position on every important labor issue yet, because she needs some time to study them. However, she knows how she feels about affirmative action, and she knows why.

Job market less inviting for new grads (Monday, 2/26/01)
The last half of the 1990s was a very good time for new college graduates. Things won't be quite so good this spring. Here's more from Lynn Franey of the Kansas City Star.

Genuine reality, as opposed to virtual reality (Monday, 2/26/01)
Considerable air has been let out of the over-inflated tech sector in recent weeks, including Austin, Texas' technology industry. Barbara Wray writes in the Austin Business Journal that it doesn't mean that technology is in trouble. In fact, the tech industry, as well as the increasingly tech-driven American economy, should be stronger as a consequence of the current adjustments.

Some dot-coms benefit from the problems of other dot-coms (Monday, 2/26/01)
These are good times for the Internet job sites, according to Laurie Flynn in today's New York Times.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Al Roth's Game Theory and Experimental Economics Page (Monday, 2/26/01)
If you think "game theory" is about how to clean up in Las Vegas or about how to play a better hand of bridge, you need to take a look at what Harvard economics professor Al Roth has put together on his theory and experimental economics page.

Bush to reassure Congress about debt (Sunday, 2/25/01)
President Bush makes his first State of the Union address to Congress and the nation on Tuesday, and is expected to say that, even with his proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut, the national debt should be gone within ten years.

Hasn't California heard the news? (Sunday, 2/25/01)
The American economy has been slowing, but, as Margaret Steen of the San Jose Mercury News reports, the latest data show that California has its lowest unemployment rate in more than 30 years.

One in seven Canadian workers is temporary (Sunday, 2/25/01)
Heather Royce-Roll writes in today's Toronto Star about the vast army of temporary workers who have become a major part of the Canadian economy.

What will alleviate the historic shortage of nurses? (Sunday, 2/25/01)
Victor Godinez of the Dallas Morning News reports that the American nursing profession is experiencing the greatest shortage in its history, and many nurses are not reluctant to explain why there is such a problem. Speaking of shortages, you may be finding it harder to get served in Denver-area restaurants too.

Overworked Americans (Sunday, 2/25/01)
Japan has an official category for cause of death: "Death from overwork." The Japanese, as well as the South Koreans, seem to have agreed on what it would take to build world-class industrial economies following the devastating condition in which both countries were left following major wars. Both the Japanese and the Koreans have international reputations for working harder and longer than people in many other countries can believe, and they also insist that their young people get in the habit by spending more time in school and more time studying than most American students would find believable. However, in Japan, at least, things may be shifting a bit, as Howard French reports from Tokyo. Students are getting a bit more time off for other things. Meanwhile, Americans seem to be on their way to becoming the world's most compulsive workaholics. A new survey conducted by Oxford Health Plans finds that more and more Americans are skipping lunch and not taking vacations. Will American authorities soon need a "death from overwork" category too?

The global economy doesn't imply a great deal of openness for their countries, Islamic leaders say (Sunday, 2/25/01)
Leaders of Eight of the world's developing countries have gathered for a summit in Cairo, complaining that globalization is tilted in a way that puts their countries at an unfair disadvantage.

Violent protests continue at Daewoo (Sunday, 2/25/01)
Protests have continued for five days in two South Korean cities over large-scale layoffs planned by the bankrupt automaker which is trying to make its financials look better to prospective investors. Meanwhile, Koreans in the nation immediately to the north have their own problems. Elisabeth Rosenthal offers a thoughtful article from Pyongyang about what kind of future the people of North Korea are likely to have.

A slowing economy makes older workers nervous (Sunday, 2/25/01)
When the American economy was hot, very hot, it boosted opportunities for older workers, but that may be changing now that things have cooled a bit. Here's more from Michael Rubinkam reporting from Philadelphia. Speaking of older workers, some at Chrysler are deciding to get out early so that they'll only have to read about DaimlerChrysler's problems in the newspapers. Incidentally, if the economy is going into the soup, it may be alphabet soup. Sarah Edmonds explores the various alphabetic metaphors for what the graph might look like. Will it be a "V," meaning a quick bounce, or a "U," or, shudder, an "L?"

Will you be flying this summer? (Sunday, 2/25/01)
Laura Goldberg of the Houston Chronicle reports that a lot of Americans may have difficulty getting around during the months ahead because of potential labor problems at several airlines.

Financial aid tips in favor of the middle-class (Sunday, 2/25/01)
It's getting harder for the poor to gain access to college again, according to this article in today's Washington Post.

Another way companies are trying to protect themselves (Sunday, 2/25/01)
We've reported that an increasing number of employers are offering more attractive severance terms to workers who will agree not to sue later, and nationally syndicated Chicago Tribune columnist Carol Kleiman says non-compete clauses are becoming more and more common too.

Higher productivity's unintended consequences (Sunday, 2/25/01)
The New York Times' Louis Uchitelle tells how the greater economic efficiencies that raise living standards can also increase unemployment during times of slower growth. Meanwhile in Ireland, Garret Fitzgerald examines a time of increasing economic output and slowing workforce growth.

A new market for specialized "headhunter" firms (Sunday, 2/25/01)
Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that central New Jersey has become a center of companies that find technical workers in India and place them with American firms.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Career Talk (Sunday, 2/25/01)
Career Talk is what it sounds like, or, more accurately, what it reads like. Look for articles and columns of interest to persons planning their careers or seeking jobs, as well as to educators and others interested in careers.

How things are going in some regions of the country (Saturday, 2/24/01)
Despite a general slowing of the U.S. economy, a Minnesota Department of Economic Security study finds twice as many job openings in the state as unemployed persons. Of course, this doesn't imply a good match of available jobs to all available workers. Job growth has been slowing a bit in the Fort Worth, Texas region, but unemployment is still low. Houston lost 40,000 jobs from December to January because of the impact of seasonal holiday employment. In Michigan, people are getting more concerned about the economy and have been feeling the downturn more than some regions because of its impact on the auto industry. Here's more from Alejando Bopido-Memba of the Detroit Free Press.

Turkey wants IMF help (Saturday, 2/24/01)
Turkey's currency has lost a lot of its value because of the political and economic crisis in that country, and economic officials are asking for assistance from the International Monetary Fund. President Bush has offered Turkey the support of the United States in helping get things back into balance. Douglas Frantz and David Sanger of the Washington Post report that the crisis is hitting Turkey's working people the hardest.

GM workers strike in Britain (Saturday, 2/24/01)
The walkout is intended to last one day as a protest of GM plans to close a plant in the London area next year.

How many workers does it take to count a billion people? (Saturday, 2/24/01)
India is employing two million census workers to count its vast population which is the second-largest in the world now, but is expected to pass China as the most populous country a bit later in the century. Moreover, India has more working poor than most of the rich industrialized countries have combined total population.

California may be in the lead again, but not so many are following...yet (Saturday, 2/24/01)
The President of the University of California wants to stop using SAT scores as a basis for making student selection decisions, but Jacques Steinberg reports that few major campuses around the country are prepared to jump on that bandwagon.

Taking some of the fun out of being a fund manager (Saturday, 2/24/01)
Christopher Noble reports that many mutual fund managers are about to take a major hit when it comes to their bonuses, much in contrast to recent experience.

Gap narrows (Saturday, 2/24/01)
The "digital divide" seems to be closing a bit, according to a new report from the General Accounting Office. Also, persons with Internet access tend to have more education and higher incomes than Americans in general, although this should not be interpreted to mean that the Internet access causes increases in the other factors. In fact, it may be more reasonable to assume that the cause-effect relationships are working in the other direction. The report also pointed out that, given the relatively early stage the Internet's commercial development, some of the "digital gaps" may be temporary.

Living up over the shop (Saturday, 2/24/01)
For centuries in many regions of the world, the family living quarters have been located upstairs over the family-run shop, factory, or cow barn. Ralph Bivins writes that at least one aspect of the new economy is beginning to look very similar to an attribute of the old, even VERY old economy. In fact, with the growing number of people working at home, a major builder has designed houses especially for these people with the office downstars and the living quarters upstairs.

On being a "freeter" in Japan (Saturday, 2/24/01)
The number of people in Japan who choose to work part-time rather than full-time has been increasing in recent years, but a new study finds that it has its downside.

What's it worth to you to give up your right to sue? (Saturday, 2/24/01)
Jonathan Glater of the New York Times reports that a growing number of companies are offering a sweeter severance package to workers who agree not to sue them later. In an increasingly litigious society, in which employment-related lawsuits have been increasingly common, some involving big awards from sympathetic juries, it's a form of protection that many companies consider to be worth the cost.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Sologig (Saturday, 2/24/01)
If you're a free-lancer, Sologig can help you market your talents and services nationwide.

Projections are too low, prez sez (Friday, 2/23/01)
President Bush believes that the American economy can achieve a higher level of growth than presently projected, given the right mix of policies, and he intends to fix the mix. Part of what the President wants, of course, is a very big tax cut, which Former Treasury Secretary Rubin says should be deferred until the projected surplus is a bit more secure. Meanwhile, the President has been attempting to make his proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut seem fairly modest by indicating that he will resist efforts to increase its size further.

Maybe no recession after all (Friday, 2/23/01)
The Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose last month and forecasts a comfortable level of economic activity over the months ahead. However, some economists disagree that this necessarily means that the U.S. will avoid a recession .

How public economic perceptions are shaped (Friday, 2/23/01)
Will Lester reports on the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index and how it is calculated. Among other things, they've found that people tend to generalize from their personal experiences, which probably won't shock most economic, sociological, and psychological researchers.

Strike authorized at American (Friday, 2/23/01)
Flight attendants at American Airlines have voted to authorize a strike. Ninety-six percent of the union membership said that a strike would be okay with them. American isn't the only airline with labor troubles, however. President Bush, fearing that strikes at multiple airlines might come at the same time, has indicated that he'll step in if mechanics at Northwest Airlines strike next month. Recent executive orders signed by the President have annoyed leaders in the labor movement, but Robert Reno writes that Bush doesn't care if he makes labor angry.

Polaroid lays off nearly a thousand workers (Friday, 2/23/01)
Polaroid Corporation is cutting about 11 percent of its worldwide labor force. General Motors will be cutting back too. The big automaker--now the third largest corporation in the U.S., rather than the largest, as it has been for many years--will be temporarily shutting down some of its plants over the next several months. One of GM's major competitors, Ford Motor Company wants to diminish its work force too, but will try to do it through attrition rather than outright cuts. Meanwhile, the latest Labor Department data indicate a slight increase in first-time jobless claims during the latest reporting week. Finally, Carol Vincent of the Washington Post says that investors no longer interpret layoffs as representing "lean and mean" corporate vitality that necessarily will translate into good things for people who hold the company's stock.

Freedom to what...? (Friday, 2/23/01)
The 1996 "freedom to farm" law hasn't produced the consequences that many expected, according to Jerry Heater of the Kansas City Star. Last year, half of all the farm income in the United States came, not from sale of farm products, but from federal payments to farmers. In Peru, farmers are having a very hard time too, but for different reasons. The government has been trying to get to them out of the coca business on which they have been dependent.

The exodus of North Carolina's jobs (Friday, 2/23/01)
Tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs are been exported from North Carolina to overseas locales where labor is less expensive. Here's more from David Firestone of the New York Times.

Getting the training needed for a second chance (Friday, 2/23/01)
Goodwill Industries has a good reputation as an organization that helps people acquire the skills necessary for becoming employable, according to the Detroit News' James Higgins.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Top Executive MBA Programs according to US News (Friday, 2/23/01)
Here's US News' year 2000 rankings of what the news magazine's editors consider to be the leading executive MBA programs in the United States.

Linked crises in Turkey (Thursday, 2/22/01)
Turkey has a financial crisis in large part because it has a political crisis, and many observers outside the country are concerned, including American government officials.

Russia implodes (Thursday, 2/22/01)
Many people in the West naively assumed that things could only get better for the Russian people if they could simply get rid of the old Soviet government. The end of the Cold War has been good for many people in the West, and, of course, reducing the likelihood of global nuclear annihilation is good for all living things on the planet, including Russians. However, John Dillin of the Christian Science Monitor reports on the historic decline of life quality in Russia since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, not the least of which is a population collapse.

Move to maintain tax exemption for India's hottest job-producer (Thursday, 2/22/01)
Narayanan Madhavan reports from New Delhi on efforts to convince Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha that India's information technology sector should not be taxed in order to encourage the creation of millions of high-quality jobs.

Alaska's dependence on environmental well-being (Thursday, 2/22/01)
A new study commissioned by the Alaska Conservation Foundation emphasizes the vital connection between economic well-being and environmental well-being. More than a quarter of all of the jobs in the huge state depend on a healthy environment, according to the study, and that adds up to 84,000 jobs. It points out that the perceived choice between economic and environmental priorities represents a false dichotomy. The economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment. If the environment really goes to hell, the economy will follow shortly. In their own enlightened self-interest, if nothing else, business and labor leaders should be among the most ardent environmentalists.

States cannot be sued by persons claiming discrimination (Thursday, 2/22/01)
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that, even though federal law protects Americans from discrimination, states cannot be sued for money damages.

Nike says it will make changes in Indonesian factories (Thursday, 2/22/01)
Nike, which sells popular footwear, contracts with 25 factories in Indonesia for the manufacturing of its products. A study paid for by the company has uncovered widespread abusive work practices in those factories, and Nike says it will see that changes are made.

Another tech magazine lays off workers (Thursday, 2/22/01)
The weekly Industry Standard is cutting 16 percent of its workforce. Magazines covering the technology sector are being hit hard by a major drop in advertising revenues because of the slump currently being suffered by many hi-tech companies. Also, while print media certainly haven't gone out of style, circulation for many technology-oriented publications has dipped during recent years because these publications are directed to audiences virtually all of whom probably make daily use of the Internet where technical news is readily available and can be distributed in a much more timely manner than in print.

More layoffs at Motorola (Thursday, 2/22/01)
Motorola cut 2,500 jobs last December, and will now cut another 300 jobs, this time in his cellular telephone division. Meanwhile, another electronics company, Tyco International, is putting 5,000 workers on unpaid leave.

Survival manual for the recently laid off (Thursday, 2/22/01)
Anita Bruzzese advises in the San Jose Mercury News on what to do if you become one of those statistics reported in the news with increasing frequency.

Recent gains threatened (Thursday, 2/22/01)
African Americans have benefited greatly from the longest economic expansion in American history, but experts worry that if the U.S. economy slumps long and hard, many gains could evaporate. Here's more from Laurent Belsie in the Christian Science Monitor.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: University of Phoenix (Thursday, 2/22/01)
CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" did a segment last Sunday night on the recent explosion of online higher educational programs, which, according to many educational leaders, including those who have deep reservations about this mode of learning, threaten all conventional academic institutions, including the famous ones. As a measure of how fast the changes have been occurring, which is the largest private university in the United States now? If you said the University of Phoenix, you probably watched the "60 Minutes" segment, and you would be right, according to CBS. The reason, they say, is that, almost overnight, the University of Phoenix has become a major leader in "distance education".

More cuts planned by DaimlerChrysler (Wednesday, 2/21/01)
This time, about 8,000 Mitsubishi jobs are expected to be cut from the Japanese company's worldwide operations, which amounts to about 12 percent of its workforce. Jon Hisenrath writes in today's Wall Street Journal that layoffs sometimes can hurt companies more than they help, according to some experts. Large-scale cuts are still occurring in the Internet sector, and Jennifer Lee writes that some of the people who are in charge of telling those affected might be able to use some basic human relations training. Today's Seattle Times contains a story about "pink slip parties" where laid-off dot-comers are seeking new employment. May Wong reports that one of the most influential tech companies in the world has decided to tighten its belt. Intel isn't announcing layoffs at the moment, but they're going to cut back on hiring for the time being. In Texas, despite some hi-tech layoffs, demand for technically-skilled workers is still strong, according to Kelley Shannon in Austin. Finally, the Washington Post's Kenneth Bredemeier tells a correspondent that a late 1980's law requiring advance notice of mass layoffs in the steel and auto industries has a lot of holes in it.

Slower growth doesn't have to mean trauma (Wednesday, 2/21/01)
According to Business Week, companies and the Federal Reserve are making a quicker response to the slowdown and adjusting quite nicely.

Business journal examines healthcare sector (Wednesday, 2/21/01)
Healthcare is big business in the United States and has major economic consequences. Today's Wall Street Journal contains a special report on health and medicine. Many articles, and, as usual, all worth reading.

Head of Navistar says the company has good security (Wednesday, 2/21/01)
Navistar's CEO John Horne said that the shooting a month ago at its suburban Chicago plant in which five people died didn't happen because of lax security procedures.

Helping Americans save more (Wednesday, 2/21/01)
Americans have an international reputation for being big spenders. That is, most Americans spend what they have to spend with the result that the rate of personal savings in the U.S. lags far behind that in most other major industrial countries. The Consumer Federation of America would like to see Americans change their ways for their own good, and is setting out to help them do it. Here's more from Marcy Gordon reporting who reports from Washington, D. C.

United Auto Workers lifts boycott (Wednesday, 2/21/01)
The newspaper strike in Detroit seemed to go on forever, and we reported on it at the time. In fact, it began in 1995 and lasted for 19 months, and new contracts with the six unions involved weren't completed until the end of 2000. The UAW offered its support by boycotting Detroit's major papers as well as USA Today, because it owns one of them. John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press reports that the boycott has been terminated. In automotive-related news of a different sort, Don Kirk reports from Seoul that deathly ill Daewoo Motors wants to sell itself to General Motors, but whether that--or any other good outcome--happens probably depends on whether Daewoo can deal effectively with its labor problems, which have turned violent.

One way in which the Bush II administration may not be in contact with reality (Wednesday, 2/21/01)
Marjorie Williams writes in today's Washington Post that the Administration seems to be encouraging the "have it all" delusion, when it comes to working a tremendous number of hours while still meeting the needs of one's family. It might be expected that being part of a president's team would be a demanding job, no matter what, and, in fact, former Clinton administration Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, says that he left the best job he's ever had because it was too hard on his family. However, wife-husband team Tara Parker-Pope and Kyle Pope write in the Wall Street Journal about how parents who stay at home also struggle with finding balance.

Appeals court says military must keep its promises (Wednesday, 2/21/01)
Recruiters promised some World War II and Korean War veterans lifetime health care if they served at least 20 years in the military, and a federal appeals court has ruled that the government has to keep its side of the bargain.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Wet Feet (Wednesday, 2/21/01)
There are thousands of job posting sites on the Internet, and Wet Feet is one of them. It contains listings for over 30,000 jobs and about 1,600 companies specializing mostly in finance, consulting, technology, and the Internet.

The perils of selectivity (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
If you focus your attention on only part of what is going on, you are likely to be left with an incomplete and possibly even highly distorted picture of the reality. Ron Scherer of the Christian Science Monitor writes about why the daily stories about layoffs may be misleading, and nationally syndicated columnist Jane Bryant Quinn writes in part one of a two-part series about an abundance of jobs in the American economy.

Working on the wilting edge (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
Factory workers in the Midwest are among the first to feel a downturn in the American economy. Here's more from Rex Huppke writing from Columbus, Indiana.

Black business leaders confer about their community's economy (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
Detroit has a large African American population and black business leaders have played a major role in the economy of the entire southeastern Michigan region. The Detroit Free Press recently brought 11 of them together to share thoughts about Detroit's economy, and Alejandro Bopipo-Memba tells about some of what they had to say.

Cuba's economy improves a bit (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
The decade of the 1990s was a rough time for the Cuban people after the disintegration of Cuba's patron, the Soviet Union. Anita Snow reports from Havana that things have been improving...slightly.

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse in North Korea... (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
The North Korean people have had to suffer under one of the most regimented, paranoid, and incompetent political regimes on earth while also being hit with a catastrophic economy compounded by natural disasters. Now, as Elisabeth Rosenthal reports form Yongsong, the North Korean healthcare system has blown up too.

It's good news to only some of the illegal immigrants in the U.S. (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
Jane Gross writes that many persons in the U.S. illegally are misinterpreting the implications of a little-known change in the immigration law that will allow some to remain in the United States legally.

Strong market for Ph.D.s in economics (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
Jon Hilsenrath of the Wall Street Journal reports today that persons with a Ph.D. in economics are in significant demand in a variety of work settings. Another strong market during the slowing of the U.S. economy is the one for bankruptcy attorneys, and some big business failures are causing many people to think about the American economy as a whole, according to Dan Margolies of the Kansas City Star.

The flood of legal troubles faced by dot-coms (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
Business Week reports that financial problems aren't the only problems for many Internet companies. The editorial writers at the Minneapolis Star Tribune write that it isn't only the Internet companies that have been neglecting labor law violations and wonders if the U.S. is a good example or a bad example for the rest of the world.

Return to reality (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
Carol Vinzant of the Washington Post reports that many formerly high-flying day traders have returned to the real world of real jobs.

Why casualness in the workplace isn't likely to disappear (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
The public tends to associate casualness of dress and work relationships with Internet startups, but these things have been part of the work culture in Silicon Valley for quite a number of years. This article in the Houston Chronicle tells why they are likely to remain a permanent part of the work culture in the new economy. For one thing, the regimentation associated with quasi-military organization was more functional in the old industrial economy.

Mormon entrepreneurs (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
Christy Karras writes from Salt Lake City about the disproportionate number of home-based businesses operated by Mormon women in Utah.

Money goes fast if you're old and need help (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
The market for assisted living services has increased with an aging population, but many older people are being priced out of that market, and it's important to read the fine print.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Cyber Tax Helpers (Tuesday, 2/20/01)
The Detroit Free Press offers a guide to the various computer programs that can be used to help you prepare your taxes.

Rebound ahead? (Monday, 2/19/01)
The Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators does a pretty good job of forecasting economic activity a few months ahead of time, and as columnist Jerry Heaster reports, Thursday's report is expected to point to renewed economic strength on the near-term horizon.

More on the why some of the rich don't want the estate tax abolished (Monday, 2/19/01)
The father of the richest man in the world is pretty rich himself, and he has been circulating a petition among some of America's most wealthy. More than 100 people have added their signatures so far, and they're urging that the estate tax be left intact. Shannon Buggs of the Houston Chronicle explains why.

A Keynesian in the White House? (Monday, 2/19/01)
Now, wait a minute--isn't it the Democrats who are supposed to support Keynesian approaches to stimulating the economy? Today's Washington Post tells how the current occupant of the White House has left "Reaganomics" far behind.

Sit-in of Daewoo workers ended (Monday, 2/19/01)
Laid off workers have occupied the automaker's main plant for four days, but riot police have ended the protest. Daewoo Motor Company is bankrupt and has been seeking investors. In order to make itself more attractive, it has been cutting costs by cutting jobs.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway has experts scratching their heads (Monday, 2/19/01)
The railway stopped its genetic testing program when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit, but ethicists and others are having difficulty understanding why the company got involved in the program in the first place. Speaking of privacy issues, Glen Fest of the Fort Worth Star Telegram writes about a bill that would give workers the right to see their personnel files. Finally, Ronald Lipman tells a correspondent that your credit history is not private when you're applying for a job.

Part of globalization's dark side (Monday, 2/19/01)
Filadelfo Aleman reports from Tipitapa, Nicaragua that workers are claiming that they have been blacklisted after protesting sweatshop conditions at foreign-owned factories.

Who's working for whom? (Monday, 2/19/01)
In the old economy, there was little confusion about who was the employer and who was the employee. However, the new economy includes complex, fluid networks of temps, contract workers, subcontractors, and more. Things can get confusing, and the blurring of boundaries also offers opportunities for exploitation, according to Sarah Schafer.

Organized labor could become irrelevant, Sweeney says (Monday, 2/19/01)
The president of the AFL-CIO believes that the American organized labor movement is at a crisis point. There is a critical need for increasing labor's membership, he says.

New policies on workplace romance (Monday, 2/19/01)
More people are spending more time at work, which is making it more likely that soul mates will find each other in the workplace. Sally MacDonald reports that many companies are relaxing their rules a bit.

Looking behind the layoff headlines (Monday, 2/19/01)
David Leonhardt of the New York Times says that, despite almost daily stories about large layoffs, things aren't quite as bad as they may seem for many Americans. For one thing, many companies that Americans have always thought of as U.S. corporations are really global companies now, and many of the reported layoffs are happening in other regions of the world.

SSA needs upgrading, according to a report (Monday, 2/19/01)
An advisory panel is telling the Bush II administration that the quality of service provided by the Social Security Administration has been declining and is likely to get worse.

The new economy owes a lot to undocumented workers (Monday, 2/19/01)
New government reports say that persons working in the U.S. illegally have played an important role in creating the booming new American economy during recent years. Mexican President Fox has pointed out the contradictions inherent in U.S. policy and attitudes toward undocumented workers, and attitudes seem to be changing in Washington. Many Americans and their political representatives have been assuming that the flood of illegal workers has been harming the U.S. economy, when, in fact, the effects have been positive.

Paid leave bill in New Jersey (Monday, 2/19/01)
If the Paid Family Leave Act becomes law in New Jersey, new parents will be entitled to 12 weeks off with pay. Suzette Parmley of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that employers are worrying about the costs.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Tech Salary Survey (Monday, 2/19/01)
If you work in a technical field and would like to compare your income with others in comparable roles, take the Washington Post's tech salary survey.

Unions will attempt to turn executive orders around in court (Sunday, 2/18/01)
Four executive orders issued by President Bush have turned back policies supported by organized labor, and labor leaders are saying they will go to court. It shouldn't be a surprise that a Republican administration will tilt a bit more toward business, while Democratic administrations tend to be more supportive of labor, but this story is only part of a larger contest that may help determine a longer-term political power balance in the United States. Steven Thomma of the San Jose Mercury News says that unions are scrambling to increase membership so as to have more clout in future elections.

G7 puts on a happy collective face (Sunday, 2/18/01)
Finance ministers representing the world's wealthiest industrial nations haven't let the slowed U.S. economy get them down. While they expect global economic growth to be a bit slower that original thought--a view that they share with IMF officials--the future is looking generally good, they say. The G7 finance ministers are meeting in Palermo, Italy. Among the attendees are ministers from the U.S. and Japan, and Treasury Secretary O'Neill has decided that this wouldn't be a good time to lecture Japan on what it should be doing to get itself out of its long recession so that it can contribute to the global economy's well-being as the world's second-largest economy should be expected to do. The U.S. submarine's sinking of the Japanese fishing boat might have something to do with the U.S. feeling that it's not a good time for finger-pointing.

The Administration's real reasons for wanting a big tax cut (Sunday, 2/18/01)
President Bush has been using the economic slowdown as a reason for pushing for a big tax cut, saying that it is necessary for keeping the American economy out of recession, a view which may be a bit disingenuous and which he may have trouble expressing with a straight face. Columnist George Will gets closer to the truth by saying it's a matter of ending chronic over-taxation, which is why the surplus is so large and is likely to get larger. The American economy may have a slight case of the sniffles at the moment--although one writer sees the possibility of a return to "stagflation"--but, for many years, it has been operating according to principles that seem quite different from those in effect during most of the years following World War II. However, according to polls, many Americans seem to confuse the elimination of the deficit with the national debt. There is no longer a big deficit; in fact, the U.S. now has the opposite: a big surplus, which some Republicans say belongs to taxpayers and should be returned to them. The accumulated national debt is still very much present, though, and doesn't that belong to all Americans too? Economists differ on how important it is to use the surplus to pay down the debt.

Strong year 2000 ending for e-commerce (Sunday, 2/18/01)
The increasingly hi-tech-driven American economy has slowed a bit, and dot-com companies have been imploding and vaporizing at a furious rate. Still, online sales were strong during the final quarter of 2000, according to new Commerce Department data.

Still more hiring than firing (Sunday, 2/18/01)
Large-scale layoffs fill the news, but Linda Kulman writes in U.S. News that selective attention to these can be misleading. There is more hiring going on than firing in the enormous American economy. Still, it's a good idea to protect yourself if you can, because one of the next persons laid off could be you, writes Dave Murphy of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Do you want your employer to have REALLY personal information about you? (Sunday, 2/18/01)
How about basic information about what you're made of? The era of the human genome and hi-tech genetic engineering makes new abuses possible in the new economy. A growing number of people, including scientists associated with the human genome project, believe that new legislation is going to be necessary to protect workers and others from discrimination based on their personal genetic information. Sharon Schmickle reports on how a lawsuit filed against Burlington Northern Santa Fe fits in and what it may portend.

Last survivor dies (Sunday, 2/18/01)
A fire at Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York in 1911 killed 146 workers and helped bring about reforms which improved worker safety in industrial settings in the United States. The last survivor of that fire has died in California at age 107.

Columnist believes that some of the very rich are hypocrites (Sunday, 2/18/01)
Here's why Jerry Heaster of the Kansas City Star thinks that you should be careful how you interpret the fact that some of the world's richest individuals have come out in favor of leaving the estate tax intact.

Quick!--what is Cambridge, England best known for? (Sunday, 2/18/01)
Well, for many centuries, one of the world's great universities, of course, but as the Washington Post reports, Europe is not a museum. Cambridge is also a major venture capital, er, capital. Many other famous places also are becoming as well-known for things important to the new global economy as for things you'll find in history books.

Idaho silver mine closes (Sunday, 2/18/01)
An Idaho community has been hit hard by the closing of the Sunshine Mine, putting 130 miners out of work.

Prospects for newly minted grads glow a little less brightly (Sunday, 2/18/01)
Stephanie Feher reports in Ohio State University's The Lantern that the job market for new college graduates has slowed a bit, but is still strong by historical standards.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Teenvestor (Sunday, 2/18/01)
Surveys show that young Americans tend not to be the beneficiaries of a great deal of financial and economic sophistication, although this may be something that they share with their elders, not something that makes their generation stand out, particularly. Teenvestor to the rescue! This site is aimed at people within the 12- to 18-year age range, and provides much clear financial and entrepreneurial information as well as links to other financial sites for teens.

GM no longer number 1 (Saturday, 2/17/01)
The formerly largest American corporation now appears to be third behind Exxon-Mobil and Wal-Mart.

Odds of recession depend on consumer confidence (Saturday, 2/17/01)
Louis Uchitelle of the New York Times reports that consumer confidence has been slipping fast, and the head of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers says that another drop in March could mean a genuine recession. A variety of measures reflect an American economy that is sputtering, but not yet in recession, according to experts. Here's more from today's Houston Chronicle.

Four sticks in the eye to the labor movement (Saturday, 2/17/01)
Organized labor is not happy with President Bush's latest executive orders reversing Clinton-era policies supported by most union leaders. In addition, there are some aspects of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that the AFL-CIO doesn't like.

More legal problems for Microsoft (Saturday, 2/17/01)
Two more discrimination lawsuits have been filed against the world's largest computer software company. Here's more from Allison Linn reporting from Seattle. Ford Motor Company also faces an age and race discrimination suit, according to Alejandro Bopido-Mema of the Detroit Free Press.

Sex-change surgery to be covered under health benefit program (Saturday, 2/17/01)
From now on, employees of the city of San Francisco will be able to have the cost of sex-change surgery covered under their employer-provided health benefit package.

Delphi furloughs thousands of workers (Saturday, 2/17/01)
The world's largest auto-parts manufacturer is sending 4,200 workers home for a week in order to cut production in response to a slowing automotive sector.

No cost-of-living increase for judges (Saturday, 2/17/01)
A U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Congress.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Working Women: Equal Pay (Saturday, 2/17/01)
Here's the AFL-CIO site promoting equal pay for women.

Bush and Fox meet today (Friday, 2/16/01)
The new presidents of the United States and Mexico are meeting at President Fox's ranch south of Mexico City. They'll be talking about immigration issues, but also about energy. Meanwhile, the former President Bush will be visiting Venezuela, which is part of OPEC, incidentally, and the U.S. is that country's largest buyer of oil. Some people in the world regard the huge American economy as being gluttonous, not only in relation to energy, but also in relation to hi-tech workers and illegal drugs, among other things.

Dell cuts 1,700 jobs (Friday, 2/16/01)
The company that Michael Dell started in his University of Texas dorm room has become the largest manufacturer of personal computers, but it won't be quite as large for a while. Dell has announced 1,700 layoffs, according to Connie Mabin who reports from Austin, Texas. None of those cuts will come from its Asian manufacturing operations, however. Nortel, a hi-tech company headquartered in Canada also finds that business is down because of the slowing American economy, and will cut 10,000 jobs. Each day's news is filled with stories of job cuts throughout much of the American economy, but, as Stephanie Armour of USA Today reports, many workers don't seem as worried as you might expect.

Talks begin at Daewoo in effort to avert strike (Friday, 2/16/01)
The big South Korean auto maker is bankrupt and looking for foreign investors. In an effort to increase its attractiveness, the company plans to cut almost 5,000 jobs, but unions are threatening to strike if they follow through. Here's more form Jae-Suk Yoo from Seoul. On the other side of the globe, workers at a General Motors-owned company in Britain plan to strike over a scheduled plant closure.

Democrats gear up to head off Bush's big tax cut (Friday, 2/16/01)
Democrats in Congress are coordinating their efforts and referring to President Bush's proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut as "risky," which seems to borrow a little rhetoric from Al Gore's campaign, which, among other things, got him offices over a Blockbuster video store in Virginia. Steven Thomma of the Detroit Free Press say many Democrats aren't surprised, and they expect that organized labor's support of Al Gore will be held against it in the Bush II administration.

Chao says she's listening to labor, but maybe the President isn't listening to her (Friday, 2/16/01)
President Bush is issuing four executive orders today that have been opposed by organized labor. It is said that the new Labor Secretary urged the President to hold back for a while.

Europe gains on the U.S. (Friday, 2/16/01)
Some economists are predicting that Europe could overtake the U.S. this year as the world's economic leader.

Vietnamese workers allege abuse in Samoa, return home (Friday, 2/16/01)
The sixteen Vietnamese workers are among 200 who have claimed that they were abused at a clothing factory in American Samoa that had been supplying J. C. Penney with garments for sale in the United States.

Risks from mixing roles (Friday, 2/16/01)
A surgeon knows that it's a very bad idea to operate one his/her own child, and there are similar hazards associated with mixing roles in most areas of life, including work life. A new survey finds that many Americans disaprove of workplace romances for some of the same reasons.

Plastic paychecks (Friday, 2/16/01)
Comerica Bank has a new product that will enable employers to pay their workers by credit card. Lorene Yue explains why the old-fashioned paper paycheck isn't well-suited for the new global economy.

Talk is cheap (Friday, 2/16/01)
Columnist Diane Stafford tells about employees who are led to believe that they are more important to their employers than they may really be when it comes time to cut costs. It's probably a good idea not to believe everything you hear or to allow sweet words to mislead you into thinking that preparedness isn't necessary.

Door may open a crack for corporate farming in North Dakota (Friday, 2/16/01)
North Dakota has long had the strongest laws in the country aimed at preventing a corporate takeover of the state's family farms. Now, one legislator would like to see some changes that would allow limited corporate investment.

Homelessness on the increase in D. C. (Friday, 2/16/01)
We've reported during recent weeks that a growing number of persons, including many who are working full-time and not in the lowest income categories, are finding themselves priced out of the housing market in many U.S. communities. For example, in the nation's capital, homelessness seems to be increasing.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: SalaryExpert.com (Friday, 2/16/01)
If you're planning on relocating, SalaryExpert.com may be worth checking before you contract with the movers. They say that they provide salary, benefit, and cost-of-living information for 30,000 positions in over 45,000 locations.

Legalization of migrants might be coming (Thursday, 2/15/01)
Large numbers of poor Mexicans continue to risk their lives getting into the United States illegally in order to work, where they often find employers willing to exploit them by holding their illegal status against them, while also cheating the U.S. government out of taxes which they do not report. At the same time, the American economy needs these workers and provides tacit encouragement for them to come at the same time the government tries to track them down and deport them. The inherent contradictions don't appear to benefit anyone, and Mexico's President Fox has pointed out that it amounts to a type of corruption, so Americans who keep talking about how corrupt the Mexican system is probably could shut up once in a while. There has been a movement in the American Congress to legalize Mexican migrant workers, and now a binational panel also recommends it. The timing isn't accidental, because President Bush will be visiting President Fox tomorrow. Meanwhile, Sam Dillon of the New York Times reports that workers in American factories just below the border are asserting themselves more in relation to their conditions of work.

Bush could end up getting union support if... (Thursday, 2/15/01)
Some of organized labor's leaders are waiting to see if President Bush really will be the "uniter" that he says he wants to be. The AFL-CIO president is willing to accept as evidence Administration support for social programs favored by the unions. Meanwhile, the new Secretary of Labor is willing to listen to what unions have to say, but she doesn't expect to agree with everything she hears.

Uncle Sam's passbook savings (Thursday, 2/15/01)
Former Clinton administration economics official Laura D'Andrea Tyson says that the surplus should become a national savings account.

France's economic strength and resiliency (Thursday, 2/15/01)
It should be expected that Western Europe will be affected by a slowdown of that big economy across the Atlantic, but, to the astonishment of some, particularly in the U.S., France seems to be in better shape than many of its neighbors. The French have been criticized by a number of American economists for its approach to reducing its high unemployment rate, among other things. Sometimes nothing seems to work, and sometimes nearly anything seems to work. It all goes to show how little we really understand about how the new economy really functions.

Greenspan accused of cowardice (Thursday, 2/15/01)
Paul Krugman thinks that the Federal Reserve Chairman lost his nerve when he seemed to offer support for President Bush's tax plan, a position from which he appears to be trying to retreat more recently. Jeff Madrick agrees that the Bush tax cut plan is more politics than good economics. John Lancaster writes in today's Washington Post that Americans in general don't seem to have as much enthusiasm for a tax cut as the President, and possibly many of his high-income supporters. Not all Republicans in the Congress support the President's plan either. Here's at least one Republican Senator who is opposed to it. Meanwhile, others are offering their own plans, including this one from organized labor, which, as you might expect, doesn't provide for major benefits for those in the highest income categories.

German workers happier; business people less so (Thursday, 2/15/01)
It appears that German unions have won a round in their effort to strengthen the role of workers' councils in the management of German corporations. Here's more from Edmund Andrews reporting from Frankfurt.

Economic minister dies in plane crash (Thursday, 2/15/01)
Chad's Minister for Economic Development has been killed in a plane crash.

Needed catch-up time (Thursday, 2/15/01)
Wes George thinks the new tech-driven American economy has just gotten a little ahead of itself. After we get past the "speed bump," the boom should return, he says in this article in MacWeek.

Xerox needs more time to determine how many jobs will be cut (Thursday, 2/15/01)
After one company executive said that the big old hi-tech firm might cut 10,000 jobs, the official word now is that such an estimate is "premature." Xerox has played an historic role in the modern high-technology revolution that goes far beyond its copying technology, even though it's experiencing hard times now. For instance, the now-familiar iconographic computer interface was largely invented at Xerox PARC, the company's internal "think tank" and R&D center, but others exploited its commercial possibilities. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs saw the future on a tour of PARC facilities and Apple's Lisa and Macintosh machines were the result, and Microsoft Windows was inspired by Macintosh.

Jobless claims down last week (Thursday, 2/15/01)
First-time jobless claims declined last week, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

House Judiciary Committee adopts tougher bankruptcy legislation (Thursday, 2/15/01)
The Republican-dominated Congress failed to make it harder for individuals to walk away from debts during the Clinton administration, but they're trying again now. A new bill is on its way from the Judiciary Committee to the full House for a vote.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Net Worth Calculator (Thursday, 2/15/01)
You can calculate your net worth with the help of this calculator from the Washington Post.

Greenspan says that the economy isn't in recession yet (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan reported to the Senate Banking Committee yesterday, saying that, while the American economy isn't in recession yet, the road ahead is filled with dangerous potholes that could knock things out of alignment. Additional interest rate cuts could come soon, he hinted.

New momentum for Medicare changes (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
The two parties seem to be getting together in Congress on a plan for revising the Medicare system. Editorial writers at the Minneapolis Star Tribune say much is needed. Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress say that the proposed Republican "lockbox" might not really have a lock on it.

Germany argues about mitbestimmung (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
For years, workers have had a legal right to a say in how their companies are managed. Now that Germany is struggling to become a full participant in the new global information economy, which greatly values speed and flexibility, some fundamentals are being reconsidered. Edmund Andrews writes from Frankfurt about Chancellor Schroeder's impending decisions affecting "consensus capitalism."

Tax cut should come quickly, O'Neill says (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
The Treasury Secretary is trying to help his boss sell the Bush II tax cut plan, and, as Susan Page of USA Today reports, it still needs selling to the American people. Columnist Susan Tompor of the Detroit Free Press says we should not expect a big tax cut to be a big fix, and certainly not quickly. Meanwhile, in his testimony in Congress yesterday, Alan Greenspan seemed to try his best to stay out it, or get out of it, perhaps because he understands that the argument and motivations may be more political than economic, and the Chairman will lose much of his influence if he gives the appearance of becoming too politicized. Greenspan is a Republican and was first appointed by a Republican president, but he's been many Democrats' favorite Republican, including a man named Clinton.

Israel's tech sector enjoys major immunity to dot-com flu (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
Israel has done an effective job of leapfrogging from an essentially agrarian to a hi-tech driven economy during recent years, and, as Oded Hermoni reports, its tech sector expects continued enthusiasm from foreign investors because of its dominance by engineering firms, as opposed to Internet e-commerce companies.

Here's a count during the year 2000 that came out pretty well (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
To people who understand the technical measurement issues, it still isn't very clear who really got the most votes in the last presidential election, but, according to Genaro Armas, we at least have a better idea of how many people there are in the United States than before. There is reason to believe that the 2000 census contained fewer glitches than the one in 1990.

Look who's urging Congress to leave the estate tax alone (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
A number of very wealthy people whom we might expect to benefit from a repeal of the estate tax are coming down on the other side of the issue. Here's more from today's New York Times.

Another reason farmers are in trouble (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
During much of the boom of the 1990s, much of American agriculture was in a depression which has persisted into the 21st century. Farm product prices have been at or near record lows, but now, as Philip Brasher reports, Congress is being told by university researchers that the agricultural sector has been put in even greater jeopardy by soaring costs of doing business, particularly in relation to energy and fertilizer. Craig Savoye reports that many farmers feel that it would help a lot if it were legal for them to grow hemp. There is continued resistance because of lingering misunderstanding. They're not talking about marijuana here.

And nobody noticed? (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
Often, companies announce job cuts in advance. However, it appears that the big auto parts supplier, Dana Corporation, has already cut about 10,000 jobs during recent months. However, additional cuts are in the news today. Goodyear has been persuaded by a $65 million loss during the fourth quarter of 2000 to cut 7,200 jobs.

Those doing good would like to do better (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
Many nonprofits are staffed by a lot of people who believe in their organizations' mission, but "nonprofit" means only "tax exempt" and that operating surpluses must be handled in specified ways that do not benefit shareholders. It doesn't mean that people who work for them are obligated to remain in poverty themselves. Karin Schill Rives of Raleigh's News & Observer reports that a growing number of people working for nonprofits are changing their minds about unionization possibilities. Speaking of unions, Leigh Strope reports from Los Angeles that organized labor is preparing for a fight with the Bush II administration, if it becomes necessary.

Who makes more than a lot of movie and sports stars? (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
The chief executives of America's largest public corporations now average more than $10 million in yearly remuneration, according to a Pearl Meyer & Partners survey.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Tax Help from Smart Money (Wednesday, 2/14/01)
A lot of tax help is available, some of it from credible sources. Here's one: It's Smart Money magazine's tax page on the web.

Greenspan reports to Congress (Tuesday, 2/13/01)
According to what Alan Greenspan is telling Congress today, there are strong signs of a worsening American economy. On the other hand, there are signs that it's going to get better soon too. Is that clear? The Federal Reserve Chairman is known for being deliberately ambiguous as he attempts to walk a tightrope, because, if he isn't, there is always a good chance of an over-reaction in the financial markets or maybe even a little wobbling of the earth in its orbit. Like the President, it isn't possible for him to make simple descriptive statements without also influencing the things he's describing, although President Bush seems to have become aware of how different his new job is from his old one only quite recently. It's sort of like an politico-economic version of the Heisenberg principle, or something. Nonetheless, the Fed does seem to be preparing for an upturn already and also preparing to worry about inflation again. Don't blink, or you may miss several cycles. Incidentally, Business Week expects that the American slump may be sharp but is likely to be short.

Bush and Putin may schedule a meeting soon (Tuesday, 2/13/01)
The G8 summit is scheduled for July, and the presidents of Russia and the United States might try to get together before that meeting, according to high officials in the Russian government. The "G8" refers to the seven richest industrialized countries in the world, plus Russia.

Another consequence of the Bush tax-cut plan (Tuesday, 2/13/01)
Allan Sloan of the Washington Post writes that the 31-year old Alternative Minimum Tax, that was intended to keep the very rich from avoiding the payment of any tax at all, would kick in and affect large numbers of people in much lower tax brackets, if President Bush gets his way on the tax-cut question.

Meanwhile, according to this New York Times article, the President's dread about the American economy's condition and prospects seems a bit irrational. It might help explain Mr. Bush's attitude if one were to consider the possibility that his reasons for wanting a large tax cut aren't simply about providing a boost to a sagging economy that might otherwise head into recession. He knows that "you gotta dance with the one who brung ya." He needs to please the various constituencies that helped him get into the White House in the first place.

For instance, as part of an effort to protect his right flank, the nation got John Ashcroft as its new Attorney General. Similarly, a big tax cut that returns most of the money to high-income people, will personally please many of the people who also supported the President throughout the campaign. Cynics might see a similarity between this sort of "payback" and President Clinton's pardoning of a man who probably wouldn't have gotten a pardon if he were Marc Poor rather than Marc Rich, even though there's no apparent possibility of illegality in President Bush's action.

Incidentally, how many dumb things can Bill Clinton do before people start to get tired of hearing how smart he is? At any rate, according to their supporters, both of these guys are supposed to be as charming and personable as all get-out, but one might wonder about truth-in-packaging issues in either case.

Historian denies allegations against IBM (Tuesday, 2/13/01)
As we reported yesterday, a new book will allege that IBM helped the Nazis carry out the Holocaust, but a leading Polish historian says there's no evidence to support that assertion.

How poor nations can best help the UN help them (Tuesday, 2/13/01)
They won't be able to do everything at once, so poor nations will have to establish strict priorities for economic development, according to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Bush wants American military personnel to get a raise (Tuesday, 2/13/01)
The President wants $5.7 billion for increased military pay and benefits, but following campaign claims that the Clinton administration had been neglecting the military, the current Administration's proposals aren't greatly different from what the former White House was advocating. Military personnel are likely to welcome larger paychecks, but, as Abraham McLaughlin of the Christian Science Monitor reports, morale in the armed services isn't only about money.

A slowing economy needs less office furniture too (Tuesday, 2/13/01)
The nation's largest manufacturer of office furniture is planning to cut 1,200 jobs . Michigan-based Steelcase plans to close two factories. Chris Lester of the Kansas City Star reports that large numbers of laid off workers whose lives are being made fairly miserable at the moment might not appreciate the fact that the overall numbers for the American economy still look pretty good.

The gender gap among professors (Tuesday, 2/13/01)
You're likely to be hearing more about a pay gap among men and women professors during the months ahead. Dean Paton reports on a class-action suit at one of the nation's large state universities.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Gender Equity in Higher Education Resource Page (Tuesday, 2/13/01)
The Gender Equity in Higher Education Resource Page comes to you from Gonzaga University in Washington and offers links to other sites with a similar focus.

Will they be speaking Spanish or English? (Monday, 2/12/01)
Two new bilingual presidents will meet on Friday. President Bush visits President Fox at the latter's ranch in Mexico, and we can be almost certain that economic issues of one kind or another will come up in their conversations. There may be no other place in the world where such a long border is shared by two countries contrasting so much with respect to overall standard of living. President Fox is intent upon narrowing that gap, however, and he himself might be symbolic of what the new Mexico will look like within a few years, if Fox has his way. Incidentally, quite a number of Democrats in the United States have expressed enthusiasm for Fox's election and his prospects as a leader. Ideologically, though, he's probably closer to many American Republicans, at least economically, and has been called a Reagan-like figure.

The downturn seems to have slipped into the past already (Monday, 2/12/01)
Tired of hearing about the slumping American economy? Well, as the Washington Post's Steven Pearlstein reports, many Wall Street economists are already speculating about the nature and strength of the rebound. Greg Ip writes in today's Wall Street Journal about the many economists who don't expect the slight slump to turn into a full-blown recession, and, even if it does, a recession, by technical definition, requires no more than two consecutive quarters of negative growth, and even that can be slight. So, Chicken Little, get a life.

Something that may not be mentioned in IBM's sales brochures (Monday, 2/12/01)
The new Edwin Black book, IBM and the Holocaust, alleges that IBM helped the Nazis bring modern 20th century industrial efficiency to the process of killing. The company has notified its workers of the wash of bad publicity to come.

Another giant sucking sound (Monday, 2/12/01)
It's the sound of zillions of millions going down the drain and taking the dreams of so many Internet entrepreneurs with them. Michael Liedtke tells about Internet entrepreneurs who, such a short time ago, were in danger of being trampled by venture capitalists wanting to throw money at them, but who can't get their telephone calls returned now (Quick! Call them before their phones are disconnected). However, as Todd Krieger reports in today's New York Times, being among the vast multitude of recently laid-off Internet workers isn't necessarily all bad, at least for a while. Stephanie Stoughton of the Boston Globe reports that Internet movers and shakers (who may be danger of becoming just shakers) have been attending this year's Cyberposium at Harvard Business School, and, despite everything, see a rosy future ahead. The irony, of course, is that while so many Internet companies are failing, the Internet itself continues to grow and investors aren't reluctant to provide the fuel. With impeccable timing, today's Wall Street Journal contains a special section on e-commerce. Many articles, and, as always, all are worth reading. Incidentally, Benard Stamler reports that many people are finding that the wind has changed direction, and that it's a bit chilly. Suddenly, former employers are finding that they are able to enforce confidentiality and noncompetition clauses which weren't taken too seriously before things began to turn sour in the Internet economy.

If not a CEO, maybe you can become a CPO (Monday, 2/12/01)
That's "chief privacy officer," and, as John Schwartz reports, we're not kidding. Some companies have them in the new economy.

Migrant workers leave Ivory Coast in large numbers (Monday, 2/12/01)
For decades, workers from other regions came to Ivory Coast and found jobs. Not so much nowadays, and Vincent t'Sas reports from Abidjan on the economic and political reasons why.

Is Greenspan really "God on a good day?" (Monday, 2/12/01)
At least one writer thinks the Fed Chairman's reputation really hasn't been justified by the facts. Here's more from the Washington Post.

Another region with a power crisis (Monday, 2/12/01)
No, not North Korea and not California. This time, we're referring to Russia's far east, where conditions for average people have been almost infinitely worse than for most of the folks in California, but may be about as bad as for the citizens of North Korea.

A takeover in Russia (Monday, 2/12/01)
Sabrina Tavernise writes about some Russian entrepreneurs who have taken control of a regional government.

Investing isn't just about making money anymore (Monday, 2/12/01)
Danny Hakim writes about the growing number of investors who are pursuing social and well as financial goals.

Hasn't economics always been about SOMEBODY'S behavior? (Monday, 2/12/01)
Actually, as Louis Uchitelle reports, the factoring of psychological variables into economic theory is a fairly new and not necessarily universally popular thing, although "behavioral economics" is growing. Psychological researchers have long regarded the psychological assumptions of economists as being almost as naive, outdated, and limited as the psychological assumptions of people in the law. However, it isn't quite that simple. Economic theorists understand that psychological factors play a role in how economies function, but many have also regarded these as tending to randomly cancel each other out, or, at least, as being among the tremendous number of "ripples" that can safely be ignored when trying to assess larger economic trends. There are many things that economists feel it is rational to ignore. Surely, if the heel of Mrs. Jones' shoe comes off as she is on her way to the bus stop, which results in her missing her bus, which results in her not getting to the store today, which results in her not making purchases she might otherwise make, this does have economic consequences. However, it's probably safe to leave her and her heel out of the economic equations.

Enjoy pleasant thoughts about the surplus while you can (Monday, 2/12/01)
Richard Stevenson urges long-term perspective when considering what to do about the federal government's having too much money. It ain't gonna last, he says, but consequences of ill-considered actions might.

Uncle Sam, the management trainer (Monday, 2/12/01)
Melinda West Seifert of the Austin Business Journal says that people who have worked in the military might be very well-prepared to work in the new civilian economy.

What to do when the economy is new but you aren't (Monday, 2/12/01)
The Seattle Times' Sara Jean Green tells about the Seattle Mayor's Office for Senior Citizens and how it has helped hundreds of older people find jobs.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Art Hire (Monday, 2/12/01)
Art Hire is a specialized jobs site for artists and people who want to employ artists. As is the case on many jobs sites, you can post your resume free. This site differs from most of its genre, though, in that it also offers an opportunity to buy and sell art work.

Well, for American military personnel, help may be on the way after all (Sunday, 2/11/01)
During the recent presidential campaign, Vice President Cheney often was heard to claim that the Clinton administration had neglected the U.S. armed forces, followed by "help is on the way." Recently, though, the Bush administration has been backtracking a bit, indicating that it doesn't intend to give the Pentagon the money it has been expecting without a close-up examination of its needs and mission in the post-Cold War world. This change of direction may have come as a surprise even to Bush's own Secretary of Defense, and, given the reaction that's been generated, may produce yet another "mid-course correction" on the part of the White House. For instance, President Bush has been quick to emphasize that his administration hasn't changed its mind about increasing the pay of military personnel, some of whom have had to rely on food stamps during recent years. Here's more from Patricia Wilson who reports from Washington.

Strike at Northwest could come by March 12 (Sunday, 2/11/01)
The National Mediation Board has ruled that mechanics at Northwest Airlines will be free to strike March 12 or thereafter. Since strikes could conceivably occur at other airlines at about the same time, the Bush administration has suggested that it might intervene somehow, and Senator Wellstone, among others, has been trying to persuade the Administration to stay out of it. Speaking of travel, airlines are likely to be feeling a bit of a crunch because of the cutback on business travel as a result of the slowing American economy.

More than you may want your boss to know about you (Sunday, 2/11/01)
Knowledge is one thing, but the use of knowledge is something else. The opposite of knowledge is ignorance, which has had a terrible record over many centuries. Ignorance usually leads to destructive consequences, while knowledge only makes good things possible, but doesn't guarantee them. Knowledge of how to build a fire has been enormously beneficial to the human race over tens of thousands of years, but, all along, one could use this knowledge either to cook one's food or to burn somebody's house down. Knowledge about nature's fundamentals makes a greater number of very powerful uses possible, both good and bad. Thus, it should be no surprise that it's possible to make very abusive use of DNA information. Along these lines, Greg Toppo reports on the new suit brought by the EEOC against Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad because of the genetic testing of employees. In other railroad news of a very different sort, Union Pacific will offer an early retirement option to 1,800 workers by the middle of this year as part of the company's job-cut program.

What the EU needs in order to really get going and keep going (Sunday, 2/11/01)
Much of Europe has an aging population and a declining birth rate, so some leaders, such as German Chancellor Schroeder, who heads a large economy that is trying to make the transition from one dominated by heavy industry to one driven by hi-tech, wants more skilled immigrants to enter the European workforce, contrary to the feelings of many of his countrymen. Britain's Tony Blair, on the other hand, thinks that economic growth in the European Union will require a closing of the gender gap, so far as pay and opportunity are concerned. There will be an informal summit in Stockholm next month, and these are some of the issues that leaders will be discussing. At the moment, the U.S. is the high-technology leader and its huge economy influences all of the world, so European leaders aren't able to avoid thinking about American influence and American competition for long. However, as David Crane of the Toronto Star writes, they had better be thinking about Asia too, because the tech center of gravity could shift in that direction.

There are two kinds of "marriage penalties" (Sunday, 2/11/01)
Democrats have been claiming that President Bush's tax cut proposal favors many of the people who supported him during the campaign, which, in a sense, then, could be considered a "payoff" similar to former President Clinton's pardoning of Marc Rich. According to today's Minneapolis Star Tribune, his plan for eliminating the so-called "marriage penalty" would help higher-income couples, but wouldn't address a second type of marriage penalty affecting lower-income people.

An energy shortage worsens and help may or may not be coming from a neighbor (Sunday, 2/11/01)
No, we're not referring to California. In this case, it's North Korea, and help may come from South Korea, but not immediately. Sang-Hun Choe reports from Seoul on the reasons.

Motorola to cut more than Delphi (Sunday, 2/11/01)
Motorola intends to cut 4,000 jobs by the end of this year, but Delphi, the big auto parts company, intends to lay off only 3,700 workers, and they hope it will be temporary.

Mood change (Sunday, 2/11/01)
Fed Head Greenspan reports to Congress twice per year, and his next appearance will be Tuesday. What a difference six months can make. Marjorie Olster has more on what the Chairman is likely to be saying this week. Pierre Belec thinks that Alan may not have his eyes on the road that lies ahead, but may be glancing in the rear-view mirror too much. However, there is a more fundamental problem. The new economy moves on down the superhighway at a very high rate of speed, but the steering system is as loose as it's always been. The trick lies in trying to turn the steering wheel so as not to end up in either ditch. But, turn the wheel now, and the vehicle doesn't respond until sometime later. Some persons believe that the Chairman cranked it too much in one direction last year in order to avoid the inflation ditch, but, whether that's true or not, it's all a matter of hindsight. The President, on the other hand, wants to give the wheel a crank with his proposed tax cut. However, the economy isn't likely to respond to that action for a while either, and, by the time it does, it could already be heading toward the other ditch. As 19th century philosopher Soren Kierkegaard pointed out, life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.

Surviving in an unforgiving hi-tech world (Sunday, 2/11/01)
If you've noticed a lot of crashing and shattering sounds all around you, it may be the accumulating wreckage of hi-tech Internet startups, including ones that have burned so much startup capital, it's hard to believe. Alwyn Scott of the Seattle Times tells how one company is managing to survive during a time when the sky seems to be falling.

Why it makes a difference, not only who is president, but also who is Secretary of Lab