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The fourth quarter was better than originally thought (Thursday, 2/28/02)
The Commerce Department has revised upward the Gross Domestic Product numbers for the final quarter of 2001. As it turned out, growth was considerably higher than first thought, and it supports the notion that you'll soon be able to see the recession only in a rear-view mirror.

Many eyes are on the Supreme Court because of disability case (Thursday, 2/28/02)
The Supreme Court's decision in this case may make a gray area less gray. Here's more from the New York Times' Linda Greenhouse in Washington.

Germany struggles to rev up its economic engine (Thursday, 2/28/02)
Many Germans are puzzled about what happened. Why is Europe's largest economy sputtering so much and with no major improvement visible on the immediate horizon? Here's that story from Edmund Andrews in Frankfurt.

What will make you feel secure about taking the big leap into retirement? (Thursday, 2/28/02)
Amy Goldstein reports that President Bush is about to try to protect his flank, if you want to think in battlefield terms. Democrats feel that people's feelings of insecurity about their retirement, which have been exacerbated by the Enron mess, may offer a political opportunity. The movement in Congress to reduce employee vulnerability by limiting employer stock concentrations in their 401(k)s, is losing momentum, apparently. Meanwhile, despite everything, many Republicans, including one who lives in a mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue, still would like to see Americans linking their retirement finances to investments, but with additional safeguards.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Economics Departments on the Internet (Thursday, 2/28/02)
A lot of university departments of economics have web sites. Here they are listed by state as well as alphabetically.

Greenspan speaks again (Wednesday, 2/27/02)
In testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has indicated optimism about the immediate future of the U.S. economy, but cautions that recovery is likely to be moderate. The financial community has been more than curious about his thoughts, not only about the economy, but also about his own future. So far, he's the "silver medalist" in the longevity competition, so far as Fed Heads are concerned.

High Court makes some workplace suits easier (Wednesday, 2/27/02)
Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times reports that the Supreme Court has removed an obstacle which will help those who want to file discrimination suits against employers. Meanwhile, the Court has decided not to hear an Alabama discrimination case that's been going on for 17 years, while a Massachusetts woman has been awarded $200,000 in an age discrimination case. In another kind of suit, workers are alleging that birth defects are a result of employee exposure to solvents in a semiconductor plant in Vermont.

Efforts to free slaves is corrupted, monitors say (Wednesday, 2/27/02)
Westerners who intend to buy the freedom of Sudanese slaves are often tricked into paying for people who aren't slaves in the first place, according to reports.

Are all those H-1B visas still needed? (Wednesday, 2/27/02)
Even those with short memories will recall a time not long ago when a credible case could be made that there was a desperate shortage of people with high-level, hi-tech skills in the U.S. economy, although there were doubters, even then. At any rate, tech companies persuaded the government to increase the number of H-1B visas to allow foreign technical experts to come to the U.S. to work. Now that there has been a recession for a while and an increasing pool of American techies who can't find jobs, the case for needed H-1B visas has gotten weaker. Many are saying that it really was about hiring cheaper foreign labor all along.

Workers want union recognized without an election (Wednesday, 2/27/02)
Workers at Houston's Baker Concrete Construction demonstrated Monday in an effort to have the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America recognized by the company as their representative without the necessity of holding an election. The company says that the NLRB should supervise an official election. In other labor news, the Screen Actors Guild agrees that it's okay for talent agencies to have a closer economic relationship with production companies. Finally, the AFL-CIO intends to make a major effort to put worker-related issues back up toward the top of the Washington political agenda.

When the cookie jar runs dry (Wednesday, 2/27/02)
The Christian Science Monitor's Amanda Paulson reports that many laid-off workers used to middle-class security and privileged are surprised to find themselves unemployed with jobless benefits running out. Middle-aged persons in this situation are wondering if it will mean a permanent loss of living standard and status. Many former Enron workers may be finding themselves in this situation, although there is some chance that the government-supported Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation may replace some lost pension money.

Japanese university enters the private sector (Wednesday, 2/27/02)
Japan's Waseda University is the first higher education institution in the country to try to market its professors' work online throughout the world. The global recession has hurt most Japanese exports, but that's not the only reason the Japanese economy has been in trouble for so long. Many of its major banks are in genuine jeopardy because of huge bad loans, and this could threaten much of the economy of Asia, if not the world, given the Japanese economy's size and influence. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi came into office with a flourish not long ago, and expectations ran high, in part because of his unconventional style. However, as James Brooke reports from Tokyo, the government's long-awaited reform package doesn't look like the strong but bitter and politically unpopular medicine that may be required.

Spend that old money quickly (Wednesday, 2/27/02)
Beginning tomorrow, none of the famous old European currencies will buy anything in the dozen nations that have adopted the euro. Before long, what, until recently, was visible nearly everywhere will be seen only in museum displays or private collections.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Learning About Money (Wednesday, 2/27/02)
There's widespread agreement that financial illiteracy costs Americans a lot and that there is a need for a major educational initiative in order to create better informed future generations. Here are some suggested educational resources from the United States Treasury.

The Bush welfare plan (Tuesday, 2/26/02)
Most Washington big shots agree that the 1996 welfare reform law needs a second look, although--and here's a bulletin--there isn't unanimity about what should be done with it. Among other things, the President would like to see welfare recipients get more education or training, but also wants to increase the work requirement. The Bush administration thinks that it's a good idea for people to get married too, and columnist E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post has some thoughts about that.

South Korean strike spreads (Tuesday, 2/26/02)
Union workers stopped working for four hours at Hyundai and Kai plants in support of striking railway and power company workers. The strike comes at a rough time, and the South Korean government has been making retaliatory threats because it is illegal. It's in its second day so far.

Some union members line up with the Republicans on energy issue (Tuesday, 2/26/02)
Much of the time, but not always, the Democrats have been able to assume a high level of labor support. Maybe not this time. Karen Masterson reports from Houston on why many union members like the President's energy plan best. Hint: think of a well-known four-letter word that almost never offends anybody. It starts with "j."

Many of Argentina's government workers won't get paid this time (Tuesday, 2/26/02)
The Duhalde government says it doesn't have the money, but critics note that government officials just raised their own pay.

Angola gap (Tuesday, 2/26/02)
Angola's rich and powerful are surrounded by the desperately poor. Henri Cauvin reports on how the future looks now that rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is dead.

U.S. moms may be bucking a global trend (Tuesday, 2/26/02)
More mothers are going to work throughout developed countries with the apparent exception of the U.S. Here's more from Amanda Paulson on data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

We've seen quite a lot of artificial ethics lately; how about artificial intelligence? (Tuesday, 2/26/02)
If you don't think that artificial intelligence has reached the practical work world yet, look around you, says Tim McDonald.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Levy Economics Institute (Tuesday, 2/26/02)
The Levy Economics Institute is a nonprofit public policy research organization that has centers at multiple locations in New York state, but its headquarters are at Bard College north of New York City.

Another reason for the world to love the rich West (Monday, 2/25/02)
In general, old industrial-economy technologies tend to be more resource hungry and more polluting than new-economy technologies, but that difference can be exaggerated. For instance, the manufacture of circuit boards can depend on highly toxic solvents, and this is one of the reasons that many of these things are produced in countries with fairly casual environmental regulations. Also, when nearly everybody in the developed world has a computer and wants a new one every three years or so, what happens to the old ones, and do they contain toxic materials?

The answer to the second question is "yes," and, according to a new report from environmental organizations, a lot of this stuff is being sent to what are often euphemistically referred to as "developing countries"--euphemistic, because it isn't clear that they're all really developing--for disposal or recycling. And, again, it's because poorer countries often haven't been able to enjoy the luxury of environmental regulation yet, although it's not really a luxury. A result is that the environments of poor countries, which often have high population densities, as well, are being polluted by some of the unattractive residue from rich countries. Among these are China, India, and...hmmmmm...Pakistan.

Congress calls the coroner (Monday, 2/25/02)
Many in Congress will be asking for an official declaration that the recession is dead and gone when Fed Head Greenspan testifies this week. If the recovery really is underway, American consumers may deserve a thank-you card, but as things get better for businesses, they may get worse for consumers for a while, according to Ellen Freilich.

The FBI as a recruitment tool (Monday, 2/25/02)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation knows a lot about a lot of people. During a time when employers feel they have much more to worry about than hiring somebody who's not very competent, a growing number of organizations would like to gain the assistance of the big internal investigative agency. Silicon Valley is one strategic region in which terrorists might like to sign on, and, according to, USA Today there may be more opportunities now, because the job picture in that area is beginning to brighten. In fact, according to a new Manpower, Inc. survey, hiring throughout the country is expected to improve ever so slightly during the second quarter of 2002 which begins in April. Here's more from Melissa McCord in Milwaukee.

Reluctant or involuntary entrepreneurs (Monday, 2/25/02)
As we've said a number of times (and others probably have too), "consultant" means never having to say you're unemployed. Jim Buchta of the Minneapolis Star Tribune finds that there are also quite a number of entrepreneurs in Minnesota who didn't expect to be (entrepreneurs, that is, not in Minnesota), and for some of the same reasons. If you're actually serious about trying to start a business, rather than simply putting off the demoralizing task of searching for another job right now, you'll need all the help you can get, given the high fatality rate for startups. Yvette Armendariz of the Arizona Republic tells where to obtain advice and assistance, at least if you're in Arizona.

Impulse control (Monday, 2/25/02)
The cost of renting somebody else's money for the purpose of purchasing a home has been as low recently as current generations may ever see. This has provided a strong incentive for mortgage holders to refinance in order to reduce their monthly payments. Given that a lot of the same people have major debts elsewhere, it might mean that they will cash in their house equity to pay off other debts, thereby increasing the size of their mortgage. It might mean that, but it doesn't, according to a report from Freddie Mac.

Paid to leave (Monday, 2/25/02)
That OTHER huge bankruptcy hasn't gotten as much front-page attention as Enron and Kmart, but, nonetheless, the failure of Global Crossing is a huge economic event. Only your local palm reader knows what will happen to Enron, but it's clear that Kmart's bankruptcy isn't intended to end the company. Global Crossing would like to save itself too, and is offering buyouts to get workers to leave as part of the effort . However, indications are that it might be facing liquidation anyway. Of course, across the U.S. economy, the great majority of bankruptcies, personal and business, never make the papers, or, at least, not the front section. In fact, there were 1.45 million bankruptcies last year, which was a record. Incidentally, in business, Chapter 11 means obtaining a court's help in keeping your creditors away from you long enough to give you a chance to climb out of your hole financially alive. But, as Yuki Noguchi reports, it's never fun, and it isn't always successful. It's the corporate version of the un-dead.

Time off, whether you like it or not (Monday, 2/25/02)
When an employer has less need for labor and needs to cut costs, there are a limited number of options. One is to lay off people, which concentrates the misery in those directly affected. Another is "job sharing," an idea that has been more popular in Europe, meaning that everybody's hours are reduced. Another is to send people on vacation for a while without pay. Could you handle that okay, asks Clayton Collins? Overall, Amanda Paulson reports that many workers intend to cut back on vacations in order to save money. They still want to get away and think it's important to do so, but will try to tighten their budgets.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Business Graduate Programs (Monday, 2/25/02)
This site wants to help you find just the right MBA or other business graduate program among the two or three zillion available.

Empathy training (Sunday, 2/24/02)
In the United States, a citizen's right to say silly, stupid, ignorant, superficial, immature things is guaranteed by the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which is to say that the government cannot decide what is worth saying and what isn't. However, it's common for individuals to mistake their right to speak for a right to be taken seriously, or that, because they have a right to say whatever they like, it means that they necessarily know what they're talking about. This is particularly true on topics in which people tend to invest their sense of meaning and identity, such as politics and religion, which often share overlapping mind-space, incidentally.

However, economics is one of the things that nearly everybody believes they know more about than the experts, even though an elementary overview of the field is likely to require mastery of 600-700 pages of technical textbook material and more. All and all, it's very easy for a free people to be critical of public officials and their handling of responsibilities. A new game may help people empathize a bit with Brazil's economic minister during a tricky and dangerous time. Here's more from Patricia Costa in Brasilia.

What to do when there's nothing left to do (Sunday, 2/24/02)
Christine Romero writes about the feelings of helplessness that are being experienced by laid-off workers whose unemployment benefits are running out and whose job-search efforts have resulted in nothing whatever. Jobs aren't necessarily plentiful, but advice is easy to come by. If you have any questions or concerns, just ask anybody.

Penny wise and pound foolish. Well, maybe penny foolish too (Sunday, 2/24/02)
There are some good reasons for thinking that financial literacy should be part of everybody's basic education. The big tests come in life, where getting the wrong answer can mean much more than a low score on a report card.

Don't overlook half the human race when planning for the later years (Sunday, 2/24/02)
Reality check: most women will spend many years without husbands, and there are important financial implications of this fact, particularly when it comes to the late years. Rhonda Ecker, co-author of Winning Financial Strategies for Women says that it is particularly important for couples do work on retirement planning together so that both, together or separately, will be provided for.

It seemed like a good idea at the time (Sunday, 2/24/02)
President Clinton, many members of Congress, and many state governors were of common mind on the need for welfare reform, and the 1996 law has transformed the U.S. welfare system and has resulted in many people leaving the American dole to become self-sufficient. However, the statute contained some time-bombs too, and the current recession is complicating things. Robert Pear reports that many governors are asking that many welfare recipients be cut some slack on tough work rules. There aren't enough available jobs for a lot of people right now, particularly those with low-level skills. Welfare reform was written into law within the context of a very different U.S. economy.

Let's hear it for the spenders (Sunday, 2/24/02)
American consumers have been spending as though it's been somebody else's recession. As a consequence, it's getting harder to find experts who believe that the U.S. economy is still shrinking. Here's more from the New York Times' Louis Uchitelle.

No longer seen as a cool, glamorous career choice? (Sunday, 2/24/02)
Students have haven't been able to decide whether to become a rock star, a movie star, an NBA star, or an accountant may find that their choice has gotten simpler now because of Eronitis. Bill Sternberg of USA Today says that the accounting profession suddenly has a credibility problem, deserved or not.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Career Builder's Interviewing Guide (Sunday, 2/24/02)
You'll never have a second chance to make a first impression, as they say. The Career Builder site offers guidance and assistance on the whole process of interviewing, including a discussion of "interview types," each of which has its own set of purposes and requires its own approach.

An official's defense (Saturday, 2/23/02)
Jin Nyum, South Korea's finance minister, believes that it is up to lenders to impose discipline on companies that are deeply in debt, not the government, according to Don Kirk in Seoul.

Obstacle arises in talks between the IMF and Argentina (Saturday, 2/23/02)
Argentina is seeking new loans from the International Monetary Fund to help it out of its deep economic crisis. Larry Rohter reports from Buenos Aires that talks are underway again, but there is a problem.

New inflation measure (Saturday, 2/23/02)
For years, there have been complaints that the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index overestimates inflation in the U.S. economy. A new measure will be used starting this summer, but, as Jeannine Aversa reports, it won't replace the CPI, at least not yet.

Wal-Mart sued (Saturday, 2/23/02)
Two former workers are suing the big retail chain and alleging that workers have been forced to work extra hours without being paid for them. In somewhat related news, Fleetwood Enterprises in Idaho is settling a class-action suit for $7.35 million. Workers had alleged that they were compelled to engage in "off the clock" work.

SBA changes could affect minority businesses (Saturday, 2/23/02)
Minority-owned businesses could lose millions if a proposed change in way contracts are awarded goes through. Here's more from Yvette Armendariz of the Arizona Republic.

New recruiting tool (Saturday, 2/23/02)
Given the international situation and the prospect of having to fight more than one conflict at a time, America's all-volunteer military needs all the tools it can get to attract and hold the kinds of personnel it needs. John Fountain reports that the U.S. Army has started signing people up for the Green Berets directly.

What will happen to the 13-week jobless benefits extension? (Saturday, 2/23/02)
The Senate passed it, but House Republicans are holding it hostage in an effort to obtain more tax cuts. Here's more from USA Today.

Democrats expect to campaign on Social Security issue (Saturday, 2/23/02)
With control of both houses of Congress up for grabs this fall, Democrats are hoping that the President's high approval ratings either won't hold up or won't transfer to Republican candidates in the Senate or House. But, as Glenn Kessler writes, Democratic strategists are hoping that some of the Enron mess will stick and that the Administration's stance on Social Security will offer effective campaign opportunities.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Recruiters Online Network (Saturday, 2/23/02)
Recruiters Online Network connects recruiters, headhunters, and professional staffing firms and offers help to both jobs seekers and employers.

Stand back! (Friday, 2/22/02)
Well, no, that probably won't be necessary. However, there is evidence that the American economy either is taking off again or is about to, and this could turn out to be one of modern American history's shortest and mildest recessions. Will the recovery be tepid as well? Richard Stevenson says that the indications so far are unclear, but the Conference Board, which is best known for its Index of Leading Economic Indicators, seems optimistic.

Lindsey says Greenspan is staying (Friday, 2/22/02)
The Bush administration's top economic advisor is trying to head off rumors that Alan Greenspan will soon retire from the Fed. He's not going anywhere, according to Lawrence Lindsey.

Big year for discrimination complaints (Friday, 2/22/02)
Job discrimination complaints filed with the EEOC hit a six-year high during 2001.

Forced to volunteer (Friday, 2/22/02)
Columnist L. M. Sixel examines labor law's coverage of "volunteer" activities for an employer.

Why college tuition often increases during a recession (Friday, 2/22/02)
College endowments are slipping, so tuition increases are larger than they have been in several years in order to take the up the slack. Here's more from Yilu Zhao in Fort Worth. In other higher education news, Steven Greenhouse reports on the latest union organization drive on campuses. Finally, Lynnley Browning reports from Boston on the difficulties this spring's grads will be facing in the job market.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Nurse Advocate: Nurses and Workplace Violence (Friday, 2/22/02)
Nurses, like other human service professionals who deliberately expose themselves to situations most people try to avoid, are vulnerable to burnout, but there are other occupational hazards as well. For instance, nursing is a dangerous profession. Nurse Advocate offers news and access to resources on issues relating to workplace violence experienced by nurses.

Discrimination suit settled at American Express (Thursday, 2/21/02)
American Express will pay $31 million to thousands of women who have worked for the company to settle a sex discrimination suit.

New government numbers (Thursday, 2/21/02)
First-time jobless claims were up last week, according to the Labor Department, and consumer inflation was up 0.2 percent in January. .

Many citizens of Zimbabwe have more than their president's birthday on their minds (Thursday, 2/21/02)
President Mugabe has just turned 78 and is running for re-election under cloudy circumstances at a time when half a million people are on the verge of starvation.

Argentines march for jobs (Thursday, 2/21/02)
If President Duhalde has been thinking that the rapid succession of governments that preceded him were having too much fun, he may be ready to change his mind. So far, at least, the Duhalde government has lasted more than hours or days, at least, but getting Argentina's economic crisis under control hasn't been a slam-dunk. Brian Winter reports from Buenos Aires on angry demonstrations by thousands of unemployed persons.

O'Neill criticizes World Bank (Thursday, 2/21/02)
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill is a fabulously wealthy former corporate executive whose social origins were the most modest possible. He's given every indication of retaining a special interest in helping others, both in the U.S. and throughout the world, climb out of poverty and fulfill their potentialities. He doesn't think the World Bank has been doing a very good job of helping poor countries. In fact, much of the Bank's activity has been counterproductive in that regard, he says. Here's more from Joseph Kahn in Washington.

New York's huge debts (Thursday, 2/21/02)
Both the city and the state lead the nation in the size of their debt, and the recession plus the September 11 attack have made things a lot worse, according to Richard Perex Pena and James McKinley in the New York Times.

Another poll at HP (Thursday, 2/21/02)
If you're wondering how Hewlett-Packard's employees feel about the idea of HP's merging with Compaq, you have your choice of polls. An earlier one said most like the idea, but a new one says that most oppose it. Incidentally, the IRS has some ideas for protecting workers when companies merge.

Which American companies owe much of their success to slavery? (Thursday, 2/21/02)
This story is not about companies that depend on sweatshop or slave labor in other countries for the production of low-cost products. Instead, this is about slavery in the United States before 1865 and what companies that profited from it may owe to the descendants of people who worked but were never paid. A number of lawsuits are in preparation. A number of European companies have contributed to a settlement with persons who were forced to work as slaves during the Nazi period.

The problem with women scientists and engineers (Thursday, 2/21/02)
The principal problem is that there aren't enough of them twenty years after the start of a major initiative on the part of the National Science Foundation to draw more women into technical careers. Why have the results been so unimpressive? Does it have to do with gender differences? If so, what is responsible for these differences? Is it something inherent in the difference between males and females, or is it mostly a matter of gender-biased socialization? We don't know either, but traditionalists as well as arch-environmentalists will find quite a bit in contemporary research results that they may not like.

Bottom-line on "defined contribution plans" and the big boom (Thursday, 2/21/02)
Jeff Madrick has been looking into how many people actually have retirement resources beyond their dreams because of the 20th century's biggest bull market.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Institute for Higher Education Policy (Thursday, 2/21/02)
The Institute for Higher Education Policy was founded in 1993 as an independent research and advisory organization concerned with broadening access to higher education in the U.S. and abroad.

Pax Americana? (Wednesday, 2/20/02)
The Chinese have worried out loud for years about U.S. attempts to achieve "hegemony." Maybe it's too late, from their point of view. Columnist Charles Krauthammer has been watching the Olympics on TV and thinks that the cheering on of the U.S. may be getting a bit excessive, given that America already stands astride the world like a colossus to an extent unmatched since the days of the Roman Empire. How much is too much?

The world is being led across a tightrope by the U.S. and its current government. We can only hope that the Administration doesn't get so sure of itself that it begins to dance.

In part as a response to American dominance and at least perceived arrogance, international terrorism has become a threat to all of civilization, and not just in the West. The dangers are real and require an effective response from the Bush administration, which has both the responsibility and the opportunity to make an historic difference.

However, there can be other dangers, as well, if hubris sets in and the U.S. gets over-confident and reckless, either in its actions or its pronouncements. The President's very high approval rating at the moment, combined with America's enormous power and resources, is making the world very nervous, particularly when it hears overheated rhetoric. It's a very touchy situation.

True, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea apparently have been engaging in activities that not only threaten their neighbors but also encourage or even supply the global terrorists, even with weapons of mass construction. Something needs to be done. But, what? And how dangerous are the choices? How dangerous is unilateralism for the United States and the rest of the world?

This could not possibly be a more precarious time for the world, because, given the United States' dominance, it has no choice but to act, but all of its options carry high risk.

Meanwhile, the environmental crisis has not gone away, however much many Americans and many politicians have been led to feel that it can be dismissed because of the theatrical excesses of some of the movement's most visible figures.

During the early years of the 6th century, following a long period of struggle, the Roman Empire, centered at that time in Constantinople, appeared to be on the ascendancy again. It might have continued to the presend day. It might have come to dominate the world to an even greater extent than it had centuries before had not been for the eruption of Krakatoa in Southeast Asia in 535 AD. It now appears that this natural disaster set in motion processes that precipitated the long Dark Ages, which were very dark indeed, destroyed existing social and political structure throughout much of the world, and entirely changed the course of human history. Rome, despite its power and dominance for so long, ended up being consigned to the history books that people in very different societies centuries later would write.

How will the historians of 3500 AD view the United States, assuming that there are any--as the beacon of human liberty, the "last best hope of mankind," a place where Roosevelt's "four freedoms" predominated, or as a symbol of excess in most ways that word can be applied?

More thoughts on the new economy (Wednesday, 2/20/02)
Use your buying power as a large company that enables you to sell merchandise for less than local community retailers can buy it for, thus forcing them out of business. Use computer technology to enable "just-in-time" procedures to increase operating efficiencies far beyond what national competitors such as Kmart can accomplish. Keep your expenses low by successfully resisting unionization throughout most of your system and keeping wages low. Within only about 40 years, if you're Wal-Mart, you're not only the top retailer and a major employer, but you're also the largest company in the world. Laurent Belsie of the Christian Science Monitor has been thinking about the implications of a retailer's displacing a natural resource or energy company, symbolic of the "old economy," as the very biggest.

South Korean union opposes their company's takeover by U.S. firm (Wednesday, 2/20/02)
A trade union representing 10,000 of Hynix Semiconductor's workers intends to do what it can to block acquisition of their company by U.S.-owned Micron.

Enron may be trying to tell small businesses something (Wednesday, 2/20/02)
Enron may have provided the worst-case scenario so far, but it isn't only major business and its employees that should take heed, according to one major consultant. Small business might want to get some outside advice for themselves and their workers as well. Meanwhile, Kansas City Star columnist Diane Stafford says that the Enron mess has helped tip the national balance in favor of workers as opposed to corporations in the public mind. Major companies are sensitive to the new public relations challenges, she says. An example is Enron's accounting/consulting firm, Andersen, which has been trying to enlist the aid of people who once worked for them.

Record bankruptcies last year (Wednesday, 2/20/02)
Some corporate bankruptcies such as those of Enron and Kmart have been dominating the front pages lately, but the high-profile cases may obscure overall trends. Last year was a very big year for bankruptcies, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. In fact, 2001 was a record year, and not just for corporate crashes. It was a top year for individual bankruptcies as well. Here's more from Andrew Clark in Washington.

The housing paradox (Wednesday, 2/20/02)
Economic writer Robert Samuelson acknowledges that housing prices have exceeded his expectations and forecasts more than once. A boom has been going on despite the recession. On the other hand, perhaps some persons feel that their money is more secure in a home than in stocks at the moment, given the post-Enron uncertainties about the realities of stock values. Also, individuals who file for bankruptcy can keep their homes, so the more money that's tied up in it, the better.

Fingerhut jobs may still be saved (Wednesday, 2/20/02)
Minnesota U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone reports that Federated Department Stores is saying that talks are going on with a prospective buyer of Fingerhut, which employs several thousand people in Minnesota. There has been some question as to whether it would be more to the financial advantage of Federated to liquidate Fingerhut or sell it off in pieces, which would destroy the jobs that it presently supports. The St. Cloud community is particularly dependent on Fingerhut's facility.

States lose (Wednesday, 2/20/02)
Several states say that they can't afford to pay overtime and have a right to set their own labor policies, but the Supreme Court has declined to rule in their favor. Gina Holland has details from Washington, D. C.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Student Guide (Wednesday, 2/20/02)
If you're wondering how you will pay for higher education, you can start by consulting The Student Guide from the U.S. Department of Education.

Agreement at United (Tuesday, 2/19/02)
A tentative agreement has been reached between United Airlines and its mechanics and aircraft cleaners, meaning that a strike apparently has been averted which would come at a very bad time for the airline as well as the U.S. economy. A ratification vote is scheduled for March 5. One airline that is doing well is Southwest, which intends to hire about 4,000 workers before the end of the year.

Why trade probably won't be the solution for Argentina (Tuesday, 2/19/02)
Often, nations that have undergone a devaluation of their currency find that foreign trade offers an opportunity to crawl out of the economic hole. Chris Kraul of the Los Angeles Times explains why this isn't likely to work for Argentina. Meanwhile, Paul Blustein tells how daily life is changing for average people now that international suppliers are reluctant to send their products to Argentina following the biggest sovereign default in history.

The counterproductive economic effects of terrorism (Tuesday, 2/19/02)
New research from the University of Minnesota suggests that declaring war on the rich certainly doesn't seem to be a way to help the world's poor.

Wall-to-wall Wal-Mart (Tuesday, 2/19/02)
Laurent Belsie of the Christian Science Monitor examines the "Wal-Martization" of the world now that the big discounter, after only about 40 years, is now officially the world's largest corporation. What have been the consequences for communities, jobs, and the homogenization of cultures, perhaps along lowest-common-denominator lines?

Why retention bonuses? (Tuesday, 2/19/02)
For struggling companies, the timing seems a bit odd for paying out millions of dollars in bonuses. Enron is an example, but not the only one. Here's more from USA Today. Speaking of Enron, the decision Thursday to appoint a committee to represent former employees could turn out to help the company restructure and survive, rather than having to liquidate, according to Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle.

Is Alan Greenspan preparing to retire...again? (Tuesday, 2/19/02)
Former Julliard student and dance band musician Alan Greenspan is slightly better known for a more recent career as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Signs are increasing that he may be preparing to set down his calculator, perhaps in order to pick up the saxophone again, for all we know, but the prospect that this 75-year-old may be preparing to retire is making much of the world nervous.

Progress certainly isn't inevitable (Tuesday, 2/19/02)
Shira Boss writes about the surveys conducted by Jump$tart Coalition which seem to show declining financial literacy among students.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Exploring Occupations (Tuesday, 2/19/02)
The counseling and career center at Canada's University of Manitoba offers access to a useful compilation of resources relating to a large number of lines of work. In each case, Exploring Occupations lists links to outside sites as well as the university's own offerings.

pp Bush emphasizes importance of Japan's economy (Monday, 2/18/02)
The United States has a stake in the well-being of the Japanese economy, but Asia even more so. The American President is in Japan conferring with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who is trying to get the world's second-largest economy to fire on all its cylinders again, perhaps with American help. It wasn't particularly helpful when President Bush said "devaluation" when he meant to say "deflation," however. A slip of the tongue from most people may be silly, amusing, or mildly embarrassing, but from a president, it can cause a collective gasp around the world. At least for a moment, Japanese officials may have been muttering to themselves, "We're in a real fix here Mr. President, so please don't try to help us."

Progress at United (Monday, 2/18/02)
Near the top of the list of things not needed by the U.S. government, the American public, United Airlines management, or its workers would be a strike right now. Mechanics and other workers at the big airline have voted to authorize it, but talks are continuing with the hope of preventing it, and progress is being made, according to the latest reports.

The shift toward nontraditional remuneration (Monday, 2/18/02)
Through most of history, workers mostly have received cash on the barrel head in exchange for their labors, often at the end of each work day. During recent years American business increasingly has adopted nontraditional ways of rewarding work. For example, in the executive ranks, there has been less emphasis on salary and more emphasis on stock options as part of an effort to more closely tie executive remuneration to performance, but this has had the unintended consequence of putting top executives in a conflict of interest situation because of their ability to influence stock prices in which they have a clear financial interest, and the Enron catastrophe appears to be an example. Meanwhile, outside the executive suite, companies have been experimenting with a variety of nontraditional benefit packages which may cost the company less than cash but may be of significant benefit to workers, as Beth Koblinger reports in today's New York Times.

The new pension changes (Monday, 2/18/02)
Last year's new tax law has changed the pension landscape and acts to the advantage of many people, writes Charles Delafuente. However, with the Enron mess in mind, David Leonardt says that the changes that took effect January 1 could exacerbate the problem of excessive employer stock concentrations in 401(k)s.

Boomerangs (Monday, 2/18/02)
Our columnist, Dr. Jane Lommel writes about boomerang workers this month, and emphasizes the advantages of trying to hook up with a former employer again. Many employers apparently agree that there can be advantages for them too. Today's Washington Post reports that many tech firms, in particular, are trying to re-hire people they let go previously.

Calling the fire department (Monday, 2/18/02)
...And that may be exactly what it is, because firing may be just what happens when a "turnaround expert" is called in an emergency with the hope of saving a sinking company. Here's more from Paul Adams of the Baltimore Sun.

Who will care for you if you live a lot longer than most of your ancestors? (Monday, 2/18/02)
Ninety percent of American nursing homes are understaffed, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Full-time nursing care costs more per year than most American households earn during their highest earning years, and full staffing would require an eight percent increase in costs, according to the report.

When you're trying to find your way through the thicket, it's nice to know somebody who's been there or knows where the paths are located (Monday, 2/18/02)
The term "mentoring" is too formal for some people, but, as Lisa Belkin reports, most people's careers can benefit from encouragement, wise advice, or a helping hand.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: EconomicsInternational (Monday, 2/18/02)
Emerging market economies around the world have a special need for economics education, and that's what EconomicsInternational is all about. It comes from the National Council on Economics Education.

Puzzlement on the South American continent (Sunday, 2/17/02)
Venezuelan President Chavez has quite a number of people scratching their heads wondering about his economic plan, or whether he has one, while many Argentines are trying to understand how a country with so many resources and advantages can end up in such an economic mess.

Guess which developed country is likely to have the highest growth rate this year? (Sunday, 2/17/02)
If you're saying that the leader among the leaders will be Ireland, you are saying what it would take to shock most previous generations of Irish, and you're also correct. Ireland's economic turnaround during recent years has been utterly historic. Here's more from Dublin.

Recovery won't necessarily mean immediate job growth (Sunday, 2/17/02)
Even if the American economy begins growing over the months ahead, many experts are expecting unemployment to reach about 6 percent and stay there through most of this year. Employers will be cautious about new hires until they see solid growth. They won't want to jump the gun.

After Enron, what? (Sunday, 2/17/02)
Bill Murphy and Pam Easton both look at laid-off Enron workers out on the job-search trail and how they're doing. For many, the recession has made the process of finding a new job slower than they had hoped.

Explaining the loss of 500,000 telecommunications jobs during the past two years (Sunday, 2/17/02)
Fiber optics technology may very well change the world sooner or later, but only after considerable economic carnage, apparently. Simon Romero and Seth Schiesel of the New York Times analyze the fallout from excess optimism, hubris, and fiber optics capacity, including the bankruptcy of Global Crossing, which might be dominating the news right now, if it were not for the perfectly fascinating Enron story.

Beyond the handshake award (Sunday, 2/17/02)
An important thing to remember about the American economy is that it is huge, so, despite trends expressed as averages, nearly anything you can think of is going on someplace. For instance, even during a time of recession and increasing unemployment, many companies are trying hard to hang on to highly valued employees. Toward this end, corporate gift giving has been on the increase, according to O. C. Tanner, a company that is in that business.

Atten-SHUN! Remember that business is still largely a paramilitary culture that respects tradition (Sunday, 2/17/02)
A period of rapid change and new possibility does require a certain number of nontraditional entrepreneurs who are creative individualists, but, still, not too many. The daily operations of business involve doing a lot of the same things over and over but doing them surely and efficiently, and this requires not squandering energies by reinventing the wheel each day. David Koeppel stays that many young job seekers, particularly from the free-wheeling, largely failed dot-com culture of a few years ago, need to brush up on their attitudes and communication skills if they hope to land a job in a competitive environment.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Cornell's Global Economic Trends (Sunday, 2/17/02)
Cornell's Global Economic Trends is a newsletter, the title of which describes its editorial focus. Subscribers include large corporations, libraries, and universities. No, it does not come from Cornell University, but, instead, from Edward Cornell.

Threat of strike costs United business (Saturday, 2/16/02)
Mechanics and other workers at United Airlines have rejected a contract offer and voted to authorize a strike that may or may not come. Nonetheless, many travelers aren't willing to take the chance and are making alternative arrangements.

Investors consider taking money out of stocks and putting it under the mattress (Saturday, 2/16/02)
The Mayor of New York City's news service reports on investor nervousness about corporate accounting. Bloomberg News tells about how the effects of Enron/Andersen seem to be rippling in all directions. Sooner or later, the value of just about everything depends on confidence, and this helps explain why the combination of competence and integrity are so important in business, in government, in education, in the professions, in nearly every region of life.

Silicon Valley time warp (Saturday, 2/16/02)
Time zones are one thing, but it still may be 1999 in some areas, judging from this story from Matt Richtel in San Francisco. An unprofitable dot-com goes public and its stock price increases 60 percent the first day. PayPall raised more than $70 million yesterday in its IPO.

Cheney quotes Council on effects of tax cut (Saturday, 2/16/02)
The Vice President told the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday that an analysis from the President's Council of Economic Advisers has determined that, without last year's rebate checks, the recession would have been more severe and would last longer. Many Democrats in Congress apparently disagree, including one named Daschle. However, two measures suggest that even with the tax cut, or because of it, or in spite of it (you choose), recovery could be fairly long and slow. However, the Washington Post puts a happier face on the industrial production part of the story.

Here's a clear message from Sprint (Saturday, 2/16/02)
Three-thousand customer service workers at Sprint PCS are about to lose their jobs. Verizon Wireless, which is the nation's largest cellular telephone service, also will make cuts.

Deferred compensation losses (Saturday, 2/16/02)
Dan Feldstein and Eric Berger, writing in Enron's home-town newspaper, tell about losses from deferred salary plans.

Global commodities competition (Saturday, 2/16/02)
Now that the world has become an increasingly integrated village with relatively inexpensive communication, travel, and transport, it's cost-effective to ship raw materials from the other side of the globe if the price is right, and it often is. Peter Kilborn tells about how this new reality of the new global economy is hitting many Americans in rural areas and may be destroying small towns.

Another try on Social Security (Saturday, 2/16/02)
President Bush's high approval ratings because of the war may provide political capital that can be used for other purposes and possibly even transferred to Republicans in Congress. House Majority Leader Dick Armey may have this in mind as he geared up to take another stab at providing a Republican solution to the long-term Social Security problem.

Ah...about those debts we stuck you with (Saturday, 2/16/02)
Quite a number of records have been set recently. Not only have we seen the largest corporate bankruptcy in American history, we've also seen the largest sovereign default ever. Argentina defaulted on $141 billion in public debt, but now wants to talk about it with its creditors. It's likely to need additional loans, you see.

Foreign brokerages cut back in Japan (Saturday, 2/16/02)
Foreign financial institutions doing business in Japan have been cutting back or pulling out altogether, which has presented an employment problem for many people. Here's more from Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun.

More new moms staying home (Saturday, 2/16/02)
U.S. Census data that more mothers of newborns are staying home than just a few years ago. One possible reason, according to an official of the National Partnership for Women and Families, may be that women with higher-level skills are taking longer leaves following childbirth.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Heritage Tax Calculator (Saturday, 2/16/02)
As debate continues over whether last year's tax cut benefited the American economy, you can determine whether or to what extent it benefited you personally. Here's the Heritage Tax Calculator from the Heritage Foundation.

Former Enron employees appeal to bankruptcy court (Friday, 2/15/02)
A group of laid-off Enron workers, with the support of the AFL-CIO and Jesse Jackson, are seeking $100 million from a U.S. bankruptcy court. Workers whose 401(k) retirement accounts collapsed with the collapse of Enron stock values have limited options at this point, although there may be some possibility of recovering funds by suing top Enron executives or Enron's accounting firm.

Layoffs at GM (Friday, 2/15/02)
General Motors will lay off as many as 2,850 workers at assembly plants in Michigan and New Jersey.

Another stimulus plan is approved by the House (Friday, 2/15/02)
The House of Representatives has voted to approve a third stimulus plan. Democrats give the bill no more than the slimmest chance of reaching the President's desk.

The bolivar bounces back (Friday, 2/15/02)
Venezuela's currency is floating now, but in turbulent financial seas. Following heavy losses on Wednesday, the bolivar recovered yesterday, in large part because of efforts on the part of the country's central bank to prop it up.

UK labor unions are back (Friday, 2/15/02)
Thirty years ago, the British standard of living wasn't greatly different from what it was at the end of World War II, while Germany, which, according to persistent reports, lost the big war won by Britain and the U.S., had undergone an economic miracle, greatly surpassing its former enemy. British conservatives blamed it on the unions, and have credited Margaret Thatcher with breaking the labor movement's stranglehold in order to revitalize the British economy, which, during recent years has become one of the strongest in the world. Even Tony Blair has been impressed, and like "new Democrats" Clinton and Gore in the U.S., is economically more conservative than most of his party's predecessors. In fact, PM Blair has been moving toward some level of privatization of several public sector enterprises, and, as Warren Hoge reports from London, this is not going over well with many union activists. Widespread industrial action is threatened, and it could turn out to be the most severe since the days of Margaret Thatcher.

Circumventing the affirmative action battle (Friday, 2/15/02)
Tamar Lewin reports from Orlando on efforts at two Florida universities to produce more African American and Hispanic lawyers without affirmative action. Two new law schools have been created. But, is it a step back toward the old days when black Americans could get an education only at black colleges?

The needs of the working poor (Friday, 2/15/02)
Minnesota's Senator Paul Wellstone wants Congress to take additional action to make it more likely that people can successfully make the transition from welfare to work. He has been presiding over a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Incidentally, Senator Wellstone is up for re-election this fall, and both major parties will be focusing their national resources on the race, because, as one of the most "liberal" in the Senate, he is seen by Republicans as vulnerable. Also, Democratic control of the Senate hangs by a thread. In fact, control of both houses of Congress may be up for grabs this fall. It may also be the last national election not regulated by the new campaign finance reform law that is looking increasingly likely.

The accounting profession's contagious headache (Friday, 2/15/02)
Not long ago, Arthur Andersen was widely regarded as an elite accounting firm. Now, with the Enron mess, Andersen is trying to salvage its reputation, perhaps in order to preserve its existence. Client confidence is everything for an auditing or consulting firm, and Andersen is both. Their only hope is to bring in somebody who is expert and beyond reproach to try to clean things up. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker seems to fit the bill, and he has told the Senate Banking Committee about some iceberg of which Andersen and Enron may only be tips.

Incidentally, what do business, science, the law, medicine, Olympic skating, and government all have in common? In addition to whatever else you can think of, all depend on detection or measurement procedures that are both statistically reliable and valid.

It is in the nature of human beings to interpret sensory information. We have no choice. Our perceptions of ourselves and the world around us, in large part, are creations of our own neurological processes. Perceptions, judgments, and beliefs about "reality" are as much a matter of invention as discovery.

We bring a lot of our own stuff with us which influences our interpretation of everything, and, because we are also social creatures, we greatly influence each other. That is, many beliefs about "reality" are mostly "social construction;" i.e., we simply get together and make them up, particularly over generations.

All of this comes as a surprise to most students who begin their study of these processes, but it is easy to demonstrate in laboratories or classrooms. If you doubt it, simply think about vision itself. By what means or processes are you able to see something with your eyes? Do you think there are little men behind your eyes looking through transparent window glass, or do you think it is likely that visual processes influence how things look to you? If you're looking through the bottom of a beer bottle and tell people that the world is mostly brown and kind of "wavy" because that's the way it looks and, after all, seeing is believing, don't be surprised if somebody suggests that you be a bit skeptical of mere appearances.

Much of humanity's "progress" during recent centuries is attributable to our success in reducing the subjectivity ordinarily involved in making judgments, interpretations, or conclusions about ourselves and our world, particularly our social world. Not long ago, for instance, there wasn't a whole lot that physicians could do to help you if you were ill. Bedside manner and placebos were a doctor's principal tools. Once relatively precise detection and measurement procedures--"objective" procedures--entered the picture, modern medicine was able to become one of the supreme creative achievements of the species. Now, there is a LOT doctors can do to prolong your life, in many cases, and also to maintain its quality. Incidentally, in medicine or anything else, including politics, "objective" doesn't refer to end results or conclusions, but to the METHODS OR PROCEDURES that are used in producing results or conclusions.

In the law, the jury system for determining matters of fact certainly represents an advance over trial by ordeal, but it still reflects the knowledge base of about the 18th century and needs to be brought up to date again, considering that most genuine systematic verifiable knowledge about nature, including human nature, is a product of relatively recent years.

During the 2000 presidential election, we were reminded of just how imprecise are conventional means for measuring voter decisions. Traditional methods aren't capable of making reliable and valid determinations in an exceedingly close election. The "margin of error" (actually, "standard error of measurement") is simply too great, and it depends on the statistical reliability of the procedure. Moreover, modern Americans, who are used to a high degree of measurement precision in other areas of their lives--e.g., personal banking; when's the last time you were in disagreement about the amount of a deposit because of a "hanging chad?"--are less tolerant of slopping, imprecise measurement or detection in elections. DNA testing, which, for the first time, provides an "objective" means of testing the validity of jury verdicts, will make the public far less gullible of traditional procedures for determining matters of fact in a trial.

Similarly, a modern economy depends on statistically reliable and valid financial measurement, which is what accounting is all about. All this is necessary if anyone is to have confidence; without this confidence, an economy will fall apart. It's absolutely necessary, but, of course, not sufficient. The economy needs people who not only are able to measure and report accurately, but who are also willing to do it. Technical expertise, by itself, is not sufficient to prevent corruption. In the case of Enron, it certainly appears that SOMEBODY was derelict in his/her responsibilities, at the very least, even though it may be premature to decide on the identify of the perpetrator(s). However, given that Enron has been playing in the very big leagues, it's probably safe to say that those responsible are products of some of the world's greatest universities. What on earth have these schools been teaching?

Snacking as work (Friday, 2/15/02)
Some people eat on the job and get paid for it. Hal Mattern of the Arizona Republic. It's all part of the product testing process in a food company.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: American Accounting Association (Friday, 2/15/02)
The American Accounting Association was founded in 1916 and intends to "promote excellence in accounting education, research and practice." Its site comes to you from a server at Rutgers University.

Talks to re-start at United Airlines (Thursday, 2/14/02)
Under the circumstances, it would be difficult to find anyone who would like to see a mechanics' strike at United Airlines, least of all government officials who are hoping that the recession may be at the beginning of its end. Urgent talks have been scheduled now that a strike has been authorized by union members, but both sides would like the government to stay out of it.

Argentina says it will need billions (Thursday, 2/14/02)
Argentina's government estimates that it will need as much as $22 billion in assistance to put the Argentine economy right. IMF officials are saying that it's too early to talk numbers. Meanwhile, neighboring Venezuela has watched its currency lose a fifth of its value against the U.S. dollar after being set free to float.

Republicans will try again (Thursday, 2/14/02)
House Republicans intend to make a third try on getting a stimulus bill through the Congress. Here's more from Curt Anderson in Washington. Meanwhile, the Bush administration is pushing for compromise farm legislation that would differ from both Senate and House bills. The President wants something that is less expensive and also less inclined to produce further crop surpluses and lower farm product prices.

Democrats invoke Enron in privatization debate (Thursday, 2/14/02)
Congressional Democrats who are opposed to the Bush administration's plan to partially privatize the Social Security system are pointing to the Enron debacle as evidence of what can happen to retirement accounts in the private sector.

Japanese PM pledges a new economic package (Thursday, 2/14/02)
Prime Minister Koizumi says the government's new plan should stabilize the troubled Japanese banking system and prevent further deflation. The PM will be meeting with American President Bush soon.

The newest New Zealand stats (Thursday, 2/14/02)
Here's a summary of New Zealand employment statistics from The Jobs Letter. Among other things, the rates of both unemployment and employment have increased. It may sound like a contradiction, but it can happen, and it has, and there is an explanation.

Another sign of an improving U.S. job market (Thursday, 2/14/02)
First-time jobless claims declined last week, according the latest Labor Department data. So far, though, improvements have come very slowly, and significant improvement will require time. Theoden Janes of the Arizona Republic says that graduating college seniors can expect no more than a muted welcome from the job market this spring.

New jobs at Michelin (Thursday, 2/14/02)
The big French tire maker expects to hire at least 1,000 additional workers this year.

The burden shifts (Thursday, 2/14/02)
Medicare recipients who are members of HMOs are spending a lot more of their own money on their health care compared to three years ago, according to a new study from Mathematica Policy Research.

Despite Enron and everything else... (Thursday, 2/14/02)
...Many Americans felt better about the employers last year, according to the "Worktrends" survey conducted by Gantz Wiley Research.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Japanese Economy (Thursday, 2/14/02)
Here's a summary of the Japanese economy, as well as a collection of links to relevant Japanese-related sites, from the Japan-Guide.

Mayor Mike to cut Big City's payroll (Wednesday, 2/13/02)
New York City's Mayor Bloomberg has announced that 7,000 city jobs will be cut, including about 1,600 in the city's police department, where the cuts will be accomplished by attrition to the extent possible. The new mayor has inherited a major budget deficit because of 911 and the recession.

The airline sector continues to sputter (Wednesday, 2/13/02)
British Airways will cut an additional 5,800 jobs. With these reductions, the big UK airline will have sliced nearly a quarter of its workforce during only about five months, as it has struggled to climb out of the red. Meanwhile, west of the Atlantic, mechanics at United Airlines and other employees have voted to reject the company's latest offer and authorize a strike. Here's more from USA Today. In other labor news outside the airline industry, two key unions representing workers at AT & T have rejected a company offer to extend the current contracts, rather than engage in new negotiations in a difficult economy.

Slight mood elevation in Argentina (Wednesday, 2/13/02)
President Duhalde's government is encouraged by the fact that the peso has remained steady following its flotation, and has started negotiations with the International Monetary Fund which is prepared to offer help, but with conditions. Among the Latin American neighbors affected by Argentina's economic troubles has been Venezuela which also has decided to float its currency against the U.S. dollar.

Enron retirement programs to be run independently (Wednesday, 2/13/02)
The Labor Department will appoint an independent expert to administer Enron's retirement plans, which takes them out of the hands of company executives. If you're a bit confused about what has been happening at Enron, you're not alone. Most of it may remain unknown except to Enron executives. However, here's an overview and summary from the Washington Post which should help. Among the principal unknowns is just how much the Enron-type virus has infected other American companies, and this is making investors very nervous.

Consumers are still spending (Wednesday, 2/13/02)
Retails sales dipped a bit in January, if auto sales are averaged in. However, without the automobile sector, retail sales were up 1.2 percent last month.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Worktree (Wednesday, 2/13/02)
Worktree claims to be the largest job site in the world. Since there are thousands of them, we're unable to confirm or deny this. However, they say that you can take a look at millions of job listings on their site, and they also include access to other job sites and newspaper listings.

Mechanics prepare to strike (Tuesday, 2/12/02)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a strike vote is expected at United Airlines today. The airline's mechanics are likely to strike, according to the president of the United Association of Machinists.

Peso floats while many Argentines struggle to keep their heads above water (Tuesday, 2/12/02)
The expected plunge in the peso's value didn't occur, even though many people in Argentina are lined up to exchange currencies following the government's lifting of the foreign exchange holiday.

Bush's health care plan (Tuesday, 2/12/02)
President Bush is proposing a $300 billion overhaul of the U.S. health care system, which, among other things, would help the elderly buy prescription medications.

The trailing edge (Tuesday, 2/12/02)
Those of you who are still using rotary phones, watching the 1980 Olympics hockey finals on your Betamax, and listening to disco tunes, either on your quadraphonic system at home or your 8-track in your Studebaker on the way to work, will be happy to know that you're not alone. Some people are still trying to cope with the ballpoint pen, so relax. Also, many companies still aren't on and don't make use of the Internet, and many of these are concentrated in a few major sectors, including manufacturing, according to Lisa Gill. Is this really a problem, or does it simply offer opportunities for lame jokes implying claimed techie superiority. It really depends on whether you consider technology to be a means or an end. If it's a means, the emphasis should be on the APPROPRIATE use of technology, and there are some tasks for which a pencil still is precisely the right tool.

Fewer women in computer science (Tuesday, 2/12/02)
For whatever reason, a lot of women don't seem to be nearly so fascinated with technology for its own sake as many men are. Also, for whatever reason, there has been a decline in the percentage of computer science graduates who are women since 1984. Among the possible factors responsible are that women may m ay tend be more interested in people than things and may not see the relevance of technology as a tool for enhancing lives or relationships, according to a San Jose Mercury News story.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: 401(k) Wire (Tuesday, 2/12/02)
If you think BraveNewWorkWorld & New Work News is an extreme example of the specialized "narrowcasting" that is made possible by the Internet, check out 401(k) Wire. It is the opposite of a general news service. Instead, it intends to keep you informed about events affecting, well, your 401(k). That's it. However, if that's what you're interested in, they may give you precisely what you want to know.

Germany may violate EU deficit limits (Monday, 2/11/02)
Even Europe's largest economy is unable to go its own way anymore, given the reduction in sovereignty that has come from membership in the European Union. Edmund Andrews writes from Frankfurt that Germany's recessionary economy is putting its government in a tight spot with EU officials.

How widespread is Enron-type 401(k) vulnerability? (Monday, 2/11/02)
It appears that not-at-all-humorous funny business has been going on at Enron, but, even if your company is managed in a totally competent and responsible manner, success isn't guaranteed, and your retirement could be on shaky ground if your 401(k) is too heavily loaded with your own company's stock. Columnist Susan Tompor reports that a survey conducted by the Detroit Free Press finds plenty of Michigan people are heavily invested in their own companies, but that doesn't necessarily mean they want their investment choices limited by federal government efforts to "protect them." Many people want to be free to make their own choices, even if the results could be catastrophic.

Advice for the Bank of Japan (Monday, 2/11/02)
Marcus Noland of the Institute for International Economics suggests that the Bank of Japan fight deflation by buying foreign assets and not spend quite so much time focusing on domestic monetary policy. In other Japanese news, Paul Murphy reports on the efforts of employees to take matters into their own hands, trying to resurrect bankrupt businesses on their own.

911 may have led many people to answer a call, rather than seeking a career (Monday, 2/11/02)
When the huge baby boomer generation hit the public schools, it resulted in a greatly increased need for classrooms and teachers. As a consequence, a large number of people entered the education profession at about the same time, and that means that a lot of teachers will be retiring at about the same time. For this reason plus others, a tremendous shortage of teachers is expected over the next several years. However, Abby Goodnough reports that a completely unanticipated event may have helped ease the problem a bit. More qualified people have been seeking teaching jobs than was expected, and the recession has driven some science and technology people toward education as more lucrative job opportunities have dried up in the tech sector.

CEOs earn less in 2001 (Monday, 2/11/02)
A survey from the Investor Responsibility Research Center finds that many companies reduced top executive pay and bonuses last year. There appears to have been somewhat of a pull-back on stock options as well. Incidentally, some experts believe that the increased reliance on stock options to reward executives, while intended to make management's pay depend more on performance, may contribute to Enron-type disasters by putting executives in a conflict of interest situation. It appears that Enron's management was in a position to fiddle with numbers which in turn inflated stock values. This may have been with the help of their accounting firm which also appeared to be caught in a conflict of interest as both auditor and consultant.

Whatever happened to Bob Rubin? (Monday, 2/11/02)
Robert Rubin was Secretary of the Treasury before Larry Summers took the job in the Clinton administration. Rubin got quite a lot of credit for helping to create the conditions that made the 1990s boom possible, and continues to have an enviable international reputation. Larry Summers went on to become president at Harvard after he left government. Joseph Kahn and Alessandra Stanley report that Robert Rubin is paid tens of millions of dollars yearly by Citigroup, but that he also continues to spend considerable time as a statesman and advisor to powerful politicians. He was in the news recently because he apparently contacted officials in the Bush administration suggesting that some help in saving Enron might not have been un-called for. By that time, however, Enron had become "radioactive," and nobody in the government wanted to be seen touching it.

Sexual harassment persists (Monday, 2/11/02)
A new survey conducted by the Employment Law Alliance finds that three times as many women as men report having experienced sexual harassment on the job, despite legal prohibitions.

Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery (Monday, 2/11/02)
Jack Paar is credited for that remark, and it seems to be more true now than ever. Kris Axtman reports on the increased number of people who have been applying for naturalization. A vast migration has been going on during recent years, of course, and the U.S. hasn't been the only favored destination. Large numbers of people from poor or troubled regions have been drawn toward Canada, Australia, and Western Europe, among other places, in addition to America. At the moment, some of the people who have been seeking opportunity and security elsewhere are citizens of Argentina. Howard LaFranchi writes from Buenos Aires about how several families have been coping with an unpleasant surprise: a country that has been one of the world's rich and privileged but now with an economy that seems to be circling the drain.

Type or stereotype? (Monday, 2/11/02)
Author Rhonda Abrams says that there isn't a single "entrepreneurial type," but many. Here are some of the different ones she has seen.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Profitsharing (Monday, 2/11/02)
Profitsharing comes to you from the National Association of Retirement Plan Sponsors and is intended to provide help with your retirement investments.

Half-full, half-empty forecasts from G7 (Sunday, 2/10/02)
Finance ministers from the world's richest industrial countries are getting together for a chat in Ottawa. Janet Guttsman reports that they're expecting (or hoping for) a short global economic slump, but, as the Washington Post reports, they also expect that more needs to be done to insure a sustained recovery.

Real arguments about real issues (Sunday, 2/10/02)
Professional politicians are often people who have gotten good at using oversimplified rhetoric capable of influencing voters whose thinking about politics seems to make use of most of the traditional logical fallacies on some professor's list. However, many professional politicians are also more sophisticated than their campaign rhetoric. Words like "liberal" and "conservative" mean what people want them to mean. At their worst, they can refer to simple-headed stereotypes, caricatures, and irrational B.S.. At their best, they can refer to high-level thinking about issues on which history has not yet reached consensus. Genuinely smart politicians in either major party will be wise to pay full attention to the brightest lights, not only in their own party, but also in the opposing camp. Richard Stevenson reports from Washington that the return of budget deficits is stimulating a real debate about questions which may not have clear answers yet.

The search for work in more recession-proof industries (Sunday, 2/10/02)
Some industries, companies, and jobs are more sensitive to economic upturns and downturns than others. USA Today reports on the growing number of persons laid off from higher-risk sectors who are seeking more safety elsewhere. Also, during a period of layoffs and scarce jobs, many executives are finding that they are acting as magnets for job-seekers. Here's more on some of the people who are feeling harassed from Melinda Ligos in the New York Times. Finally, Senator Dayton of Minnesota has introduced a bill that would help the laid-off pay for health coverage.

Awareness of debt (Sunday, 2/10/02)
Richard Chang reports that many Americans seem to be getting more aware that they can improve their financial situation either by earning more or by getting rid of debt and interest. According to at least one consultant, many Americans also aren't aware of just how much debt they really have and how much it's costing them. For many, one of the biggest expenses each month is simply the rent they pay on somebody else's money.

Bush intends to increase aid to minority higher ed (Sunday, 2/10/02)
The President believes that his budget serves his administration's goal of increasing federal assistance by 30 percent over the next four years to colleges and universities that mainly serve African Americans. Education offers opportunity, he says.

The new year brings changes to 401(k)s (Sunday, 2/10/02)
Your 401(k) may not be your father's 401(k). For one thing, you can contribute more money to your retirement account this year, and the changes will keep on coming for awhile.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: BBB's Safe Shopping Site (Sunday, 2/10/02)
The Better Business Bureau's new Safe Shopping Site can help consumers preserve their privacy, as well as protect themselves in other ways when shopping online. The site identifies 11,000 sites that have met the Bureau's standards.

G7 meeting in Ottawa (Saturday, 2/9/02)
Following closely behind the World Economic Forum in New York City, finance ministers from the largest industrial countries will be meeting in Ottawa, and, as Irene Marushko reports, and it's expected that the economies of Argentina, Japan, and Germany will be high on the agenda. As has been the case at all recent international economic meetings, protesters are expected to do their best to gain public attention as well as the attention of conference delegates.

Target hit with bias suit (Saturday, 2/9/02)
An EEOC suit alleges that Target Corporation has engaged in hiring practices in Wisconsin which have discriminated against African American job applicants.

Japanese workers expect to pay a larger percentage of their health care costs (Saturday, 2/9/02)
The government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has managed to gain reluctant support from the ruling coalition for revision of the Japanese medical care system which will include an increase in salaried workers' share of the cost of health care. Instead of 20 percent, affected employees will pay 30 percent of health care costs beginning in April.

Allowing the peso to sink? (Saturday, 2/9/02)
Whether the Duhalde government's plan to float Argentina's peso will work is still an open question, but, even it does, don't expect the Argentine economy to recover right away. Here's more analysis from The Economist.

The valley is deeper than it's ever been (Saturday, 2/9/02)
America's Silicon Valley was in a big boom only a short time ago; now, it's in a big bust. Here's more on how bad things have gotten in the big hi-tech corridor connecting San Francisco and San Jose. Moreover, the region's problems are long-term.

Enron's bright side (Saturday, 2/9/02)
David Ignatius writes in the International Herald Tribune that Enron's sudden collapse shows why American capitalism works so well. It really is possible to fail in a way that usually doesn't happen in most countries. For instance, if Enron were a Japanese bank, he says, Ken Lay might have held on for at least another decade, despite the realities.

Making change (Saturday, 2/9/02)
Britain may or may not join the euro a bit later. However, for the time being, it appears that change of a different kind may be coming to the UK's currency. The government is considering "privatizing the pound."

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Careers in Accounting and Finance (Saturday, 2/9/02)
The Enron and Arthur Andersen mess should be interpreted to mean that the solution for bad accounting is not no accounting, but, instead, good accounting. Modern economies depend entirely on numbers that everyone can trust as accurately reflecting realities, as well as on the people who are able and willing to provide those numbers. Here's a look at Careers in Accounting and Finance, including educational preparation and opportunities for graduates, from an Australian perspective. The information comes from CPA Australia.

Beer and politics (Friday, 2/8/02)
Now, this may require some explanation. Once upon a time, there was something called "mass marketing." TV and radio were interested in HOW MANY audience members they had, not so much in who those listeners or viewers were. In large part, this was because advertisers were also interested in the mass market during a time before much emphasis was given to targeting according to demographic segments or other criteria. The big national breweries, for instance, were chasing essentially the same broad market, so they all tended to aim at the middle of the "normal curve" when designing their products. Like toothpaste or detergent, American beer became essentially a "homogeneous product," meaning that "their stuff" was basically the same as "our stuff." The task of advertising, then, was to create the PERCEPTION of differences, not only of the brands, but also of the people who were identified with them, so that consumers would buy ours rather than theirs.

Consumer research at the time found that if you presented a sample of consumers with, say, four glasses of beer without any indication of brand, and asked "which tastes better?", preferences would be about equally distributed. That is, about 25% of the respondents were prefer each of the four alternatives, about the same as if you flipped a coin. However, if you did the experiment with another group of consumers, this time with each beer in its characteristic bottle, but with no labels included, clear preferences would begin to show themselves. Then, do it with yet another group, this time including the labels, and brand preferences would come blazing through. Moreover, these preferences would correlate highly with the relative advertising expenditures of the companies; i.e., the most advertised beer would tend to be preferred by the greatest number of people, the second-most advertised by the second-largest group of people, and so on. In other words, first, you tell me what brand it is, and, then, I'll tell you whether I like it or not.

Is this still the case with American beer? Much less so, because, in an era of extreme market segmentation, beer is not nearly so much a homogeneous product as it once was. Some "micro-brewery" beers even have honey or other extra flavors added, for instance.

The tendency of people's attitudes or judgments to be influenced by contextual elements, even irrelevant ones, also provides the basis for one of the best-known and most common logical fallacies. First, tell me who said it, and, then, I'll tell you whether I agree or not. For instance, people who like President Bush will tend to like the things he says or does. People who don't like him, will tend to dislike the things he says or does. The same thing said or done by somebody else might elicit very different expressions of attitudes from the same observers.

Now, consider these news stories: The Washington Post reports that Census Bureau data indicate that the number of first- and second-generation Americans is the highest in U.S. history, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the number of U.S. residents born outside the United States has tripled since 1970. We're in a period of very rapid immigration, and, although it is not the only such period--the ancestors of many third- and fourth-generation Americans came to the U.S. during the period from the 1880s to the 1920s--the current rate of immigration, legal and illegal, does appear to be higher than at any other time in American history.

Even though we're a nation of immigrants, some of whom first came tens of thousands of years ago, is there a limit to how rapidly newcomers can be absorbed into American society without changing the very things about America which tend to attract people from throughout the world? Is this a legitimate question, and does asking it necessarily imply that one is racist, anti-immigrant, or xenophobic? Can there be too many immigrants in too short a period of time? Is this a reasonable question?

Well, this is what Pat Buchanan has been arguing on TV talk shows and in his new book. What do you think about the issue now? How would you feel about it if someone else were calling attention to the question, rather than Pat? Are you able to distinguish between the message and the messenger?

Labor Secretary pushes Bush pension plan in Congress (Friday, 2/8/02)
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao spoke to Congress Wednesday about the President's plans for strengthening pension laws to protect retirement accounts. Robin Toner reports that Democrats and Republicans tend to be split on the issue in fairly predictable ways, and, given the preceding story, you might not be surprised.

How to overcome advantages (Friday, 2/8/02)
It's easy to understand how a country that lacks natural resources, has a poorly educated population, and has been a victim of lengthy wars and droughts could have economic problems. But, what about countries that don't suffer from any of those handicaps? Larry Rohter reports on one country with lots of resources of all kinds and which, not long ago, had one of the highest standards of living in the world, but, which, nonetheless, is in the middle of a world-class economic disaster. It's Argentina, a country that might write the handbook on how to overcome advantages. Times are very tough for most Argentines, including many who have been used to middle-class or upper-middle-class privileges. However, as Jenalia Moreno writes from Buenos Aires, American tourists are having a wonderful time. Incidentally, the IMF expects Argentina's economic problems to slop over the border into Brazil.

Job cuts at 3M (Friday, 2/8/02)
3M Corporation has been a staple of the St. Paul economy for generations, and, for most of its history, has been regarded as a good company to work for. The recession and a changing market are taking their toll, though. 3M has announced that it will cut 500 jobs in Minnesota's capital city.

The Senate puts a lid on it (Friday, 2/8/02)
The U.S. Senate has voted to limit the size of government subsidy payments to farmers. It's part of an effort to help keep family farmers in business without giving a lot of the money to large operators who aren't in jeopardy, or who may even earn their primary living outside agriculture.

Fewer Americans are running into malls yelling "Charge!" (Friday, 2/8/02)
Americans have an international reputation for being spenders, not savers, but there has been a fairly dramatic decrease in borrowing, according to new data.

Un-retiring boomers (Friday, 2/8/02)
Many members of the baby boomer generation--i.e., Americans born between 1946 and 1964--who have already retired are not finding idleness to their liking and want to resume their work lives. Here's more from Maureen West of the Arizona Republic. Incidentally, for many boomers, this may be a fortunate urge, because numerous analyses question whether this generation will have the economic resources necessary to support the retirement they hope for. Incidentally, former President Clinton is a boomer and he left office with a lot of debt. While he doesn't appear to be looking for a job, he does seem to be busy on the top-dollar international lecture circuit. Of course, boomers who are already retired are really still quite young.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: BrassRing (Friday, 2/8/02)
After being gone for awhile, BrassRing is back in renewed form. Here's its career advice page, including tips on IT certification which has been big in recent years. In fact, for career purposes, the right IT certificate can be more important than many university degrees.

Blame is tossed around for failure of stimulus legislation (Thursday, 2/7/02)
If you're wondering who's responsible for the failure to pass a stimulus bill, it may come as no surprise that it will depend on whom you ask. As we've been reporting, there certainly hasn't been consensus among economists on how advisable stimulus legislation would be at this point. There is still a chance that an extension of unemployment benefits will manage to get past both houses of Congress and to the President's desk. The Senate passed a bill that would provide another 13 weeks of benefits for jobless persons, and it now goes to the House.

Meanwhile, it appears that a deal has been reached on legislation intended to encourage charitable giving. Libertarians and many conservatives generally favor moving as much economic and social activity out of the control of government and into the private sector. Will Americans respond sufficiently with contributions of both money and time to handle the society's social service needs, given cut-backs in government involvement? Alan Krueger has been thinking about these issues, and here's what he has to say in today's New York Times.

Argentina gives itself a little more time (Thursday, 2/7/02)
The Argentine government still intends to cut the peso loose from the U.S. dollar and allow it to find its own level, but they've decided to delay it a week.

Senate workers report health problems (Thursday, 2/7/02)
Seventy-three Senate employees who have handled irradiated mail have reported various kinds of ailments, suggesting that efforts to protect workers from anthrax contamination may carry some health risks too.

Kmart acknowledges that "a number of stores" will close (Thursday, 2/7/02)
As reported here following Kmart's bankruptcy, there have been unconfirmed reports that the big discount chain will close hundreds of stores. The company is saying that some will close, but they won't be more specific at this time.

Looking up from the bottom (Thursday, 2/7/02)
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Ken Dam believes that the U.S. economy has bottomed out, and is beginning its climb out of recession. However, despite recession, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that wages and benefits have been increasing, at least in some regions and sectors. Productivity also increased during the 4th quarter, but largely because of layoffs which resulted in doing the same or more work with fewer people. Here's more from USA Today's Barbara Hagenbaugh. Of course, with fewer people and higher productivity, employers are able to pay surviving workers more without raising prices for their customers, and this can help explain some of the wage-increase data.

But how are those new millionaires doing now? (Thursday, 2/7/02)
IRS data from the second half of the 90s show that there were twice as many people with yearly income of $1 million or more paying a smaller proportion of their income in taxes. However, though these are the most recent data available, it might be reasonable to assume that they no longer reflect present realities. Not only has the U.S. economy been in recession, but the new IRS data extend only up until about the time the dot-com collapse was beginning. Incidentally, the tremendously inflated stock values of the dot-com era may have had quite a lot in common with Enron's inflated stock values, in that some of the same things may have been going on, all of which call the integrity of the American financial system into question and cause suspicion that the government may not have been fulfilling its regulatory responsibilities. Stephen Labaton reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission is going to be revamped as a consequence. Finally, Mike Blahnik of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that a University of Minnesota professor has been studying the elements of corporate culture that make it less likely that a company will get itself into an Enron-type mess.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: American Immigration Lawyers Association (Thursday, 2/7/02)
The American Immigration Lawyers Association was founded in 1946. It is an organization of more than 7,500 lawyers and law professors who specialize in immigration law. Many are willing to provide services pro bono. A directory is available on the site.

Stimulus plan all but dead (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
It does not appear that President Bush will get his economic stimulus plan, although some members of Congress hope to be able to extend unemployment benefits anyway.

More than 4 million are unemployed in Germany (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
Fiona Shaikh reports from Nuremberg that the latest unemployed data from the month of January will not be welcome news for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that he is seeking re-election. How do you say "It's the economy, stupid" in German? In the U.S., estimates are that a million jobs have been lost since the 911 attack, but President Bush told Congress yesterday that he expects the American economy to improve soon.

Miners die in Poland (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
A gas explosion in a coal mine has taken the lives of at least 10 miners.

Enron's gift to higher education (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
The Enron debacle may provide instructive case material in business courses for generations. Here's more from Sana Siwolop in the New York Times. Fed Head Greenspan has been talking about the need for improved financial education for a long time, and the Enron mess apparently has reinforced his views, given what he told Congress yesterday. There are some in Congress who would like to pass legislation that might be intended to protect people from themselves, but there is a limit to how much government can do that without no longer being "of the people, by the people." A viable democracy depends upon a certain minimal level of knowledge on the part of its citizens, because, ultimately, the citizens are responsible and have to be prepared to take care of themselves. As life's issues get more complicated, that minimal level of knowledge increases.

"Enron" becomes a four-letter word with five letters (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
Many people in Houston don't want the big stadium there to be named after Enron anymore, and political contributions with Enron's name on them are about as sought after right now as the bid Laden scholarship at Harvard. Actually, if any Washington politicians still have Enron checks lying around, they can safely burn them in order to avoid contamination, because they'd probably bounce anyway. Albert Crenshaw writes in today's Washington Post about greatly contrasting testimony from two Enron employees yesterday, one current, the other former. The Secretary of Labor will testify today. Many other people have been invited, and some have been given offers they can't refuse, although they will be able to refuse to saying anything once they get there. Former Enron chief Ken Lay is one who will receive a subpoena but who is expected to "take the 5th." Interestingly, the right of every American to say perfectly silly, stupid, illiterate things that might harm other people is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, which also guarantees that we don't have to say anything under oath that might harm ourselves.

Bush administration says it wants to help former welfare recipients (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
Many Americans who used to be welfare recipients are no longer collecting benefits, but the recession has increased the difficulty of finding and holding jobs. Moreover, many of those who are working continue to be stuck in poverty. Laura Meckler reports from Washington that officials in the Administration say that they want to help these people get into higher-paying jobs, but no specific plans have been announced, and the President's budget doesn't provide money for this purpose.

Debate over whether to front-load farm assistance (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
The President's budget would provide $73.5 billion for farmers over the next ten years, but, as Philip Rasher reports, Senate Democrats would like to see more than half used during the first five years. The Administration would like to see it paid out evenly over the ten-year period.

Post-mortem on the WEF (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
The Los Angeles Times reports that three issues predominated at the World Economic Forum in New York City: the Enron mess and the Argentina mess, neither of which is likely to have been on purpose, plus the mess that Al Qaida would like deliberately to create for the developed world. The British Prime Minister has joined the UN Secretary General and the United States Secretary of State in urging the rich world to put the alleviation of global poverty up near the top of its agenda from now on because of poverty's connection to international terrorism. True, there do exist essentially medieval people who, for their own various reasons, would repeal the Renaissance, if they could. But, in addition to that, the fact that there are about 1 billion relatively rich people in the world, more than a quarter of whom are Americans, and about 5 billion poor people tends by itself to create a volatile situation for human life on earth.

Armey clashes with Bush (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
If you think it's easy to tell who's a "liberal" and who's a "conservative," or even that these terms have clear and consistent meanings, you may be living mostly in your own world of stereotypes and caricatures. It's just easier for human beings to think in terms of categories or "types" than to deal with all of the complexity that's really part of the world outside our skins. For instance, "conservative" President Bush has been blasted by "conservative" House Majority Leader Dick Armey because of the President's "liberal" position on AmeriCorps. Is everything clear now?

Gender gap among the working marrieds (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
According to government data, married men are working 9 percent less than 50 years ago, but married women are working 171 percent more.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The World's Richest People (Wednesday, 2/6/02)
We know that the world's wealthiest person attended the World Economic Forum in New York City during five recent days. We don't know how many more of the world's richest were on hand at the meetings. However, Forbes magazine, which, among other things, is famous for its lists, can at least tell us who the richest are. Here's the latest list of the world's richest people. Incidentally, the slump of the economy and the stock market has bumped 46 Americans out of the billionaires' club.

Another "Enron?" (Tuesday, 2/5/02)
Global Crossing's bankruptcy is the fourth-largest in American history, and a former vice president of finance is alleging that the company's unorthodox accounting practices have artificiallly inflated earnings. The Securities and Exchange Commission as well as an independent panel will be looking into it. Many people, including investors, are nervous about how common efforts to inflate profits, and, thus, stock values, may be, and how much of the value in the U.S. economy, including the value of pension funds, essentially rests on a "house of cards." Take a deep breath, and stay tuned.

UN chief says not to forget the world's poor (Tuesday, 2/5/02)
Many of the MOST privileged of the world's privileged have been meeting at the World Economic Forum in New York City for several days. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan emphasized to representatives of the world's wealthy nations that globalization could backfire and create a world very different from what the proponents of a more open global economy envision. While the "new economy" may benefit most people who really are part of it, it's possible for it to function while a major portion of the world's population remains left out, and these multitudes aren't likely to tolerate such a situation forever.

The experience of the past several thousand years indicates that it is not in the enlightened self-interest of the privileged to ignore the poor. Sooner or later, a widening gap can be expected to result in social and political upheaval, possibly with destructive consequences that can alter the entire course of history. There have been numerous examples from the time of Homer down to modern times with the French Revolution of the 18th century and the Communist Revolution of the 20th century. During the conference, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell emphasized the connection between the current global terrorism threat and poverty throughout the world. Eileen Alt Powell reports that, judging from what was being said at the closing of the conference, delegates seemed to get the message. It remains to be seen what will happen.

How an unstable medium of exchange encourages economic regression (Tuesday, 2/5/02)
Currencies were a wonderful invention that made modern economies possible, and it all works nicely if people can trust the value of their currency. However, when that trust is undermined, many people find it advisable to return a more primitive form of economic activity. Jeanalia Moreno reports on the resurrgence of bartering in Argentina.

Time for fiscal conservatives to put in a supply of aspirin (Tuesday, 2/5/02)
If you believe that fiscal restraint is a high priority for government, you may want to think about something else for a while, because, as Glenn Kessler reports, it's suddenly gotten very hard for the current administration--and also, perhaps, for any administration that might have been--to hold the line. During a time when it's possible for an individual with a suitcase, not necessarily representing any of the world's states, to blow up an American city or contaminate millions of people with life-threatening illness, any reasonable person should expect more American treasure to be set aside for defense and necessary proactive military operations. It's going to be hard to do all of this without making changes that can essentially alter fundamental patterns of American life, which, among other things, is what the world's terrorist organizations would like to see us do to ourselves.

You may be happy to know that youth is optimistic after all (Tuesday, 2/5/02)
Well, sometimes maybe a bit TOO optimistic, in fact. A new study conducted by Junior Achievement finds that two-thirds of the boys surveyed say they expect to earn $1 million per year by the time they turn 40. Incidentally, many of the adults who are already earning that much or more aren't quite so optimistic about the prospects for renewed economic growth this year. Many expect recovery to come no earlier than 2003.

The search for career wisdom (Tuesday, 2/5/02)
Given that each of us comes through the world only once, should you follow your dreams, even if they take you into uncharted territory where others are better prepared, or should you stick with what you know and can do well, as author Lorna Harrison advises in her book, Me Inc.? Clayton Collins takes up this question in the current edition of the Christian Science Monitor.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Labor and Labor Movements (Tuesday, 2/5/02)
Here's the Labor and Labor Movements page from the American Sociological Association. It comes to you from Bowling Green State University's Department of Sociology.

The President's budget for fiscal year 2003 (Monday, 2/4/02)
You wouldn't want to drop the printout of the federal budget on your foot. Numerically, it's hefty as well. Martin Crutsinger reports from Washington that President Bush is proposing a $2.12 trillion federal budget for the next fiscal year which begins in October. To put things into perspective, according to our calculations, if you were to position 2.12 trillion dollar bills end-to-end, they should reach from the earth to the moon and back about 418 times. That's about 418 round-trips!

The Bush budget proposes significant increases in defense spending, more money for "homeland security," and what the Administration hopes will be a stimulating tax cut. It all adds up to deficit spending, and Kevin Diaz of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wonders how long the deficits will last. Also, what are the implications of the government's spending more than it takes in? It means that the government will be borrowing more. Among other things, it means that the feds will be in greater competition with private business for available capital, thus making capital more scarce and probably pushing the cost of borrowing money up again. It also means that a lot of taxpayer money will go to pay interest on more debt. Incidentally, for that brief shining moment during which there was a surplus, it didn't mean that the government no longer owed money. It simply meant that more was being brought in than was being paid out. A balanced budget doesn't mean the elimination of accumulated federal debt.

At any rate, despite the return of deficit spending, Senator Mark Dayton, for one, is optimistic that a prescription medication benefit as part of Medicare could happen this year. Momentum seems to be building, he says. That's interesting, because, as you may remember, this was one of the most talked about issues during the 2000 presidential campaign when the major presidential candidates were competing on ways to spend the surplus. If you were to go back and listen to those debates now, it might seem that Bush and Gore were in a contest to manage some other country. Voters were asked to choose between the candidates based on the issues they were talking about then, even though political grownups in both parties realized at the time that virtually none of what either candidate was offering was likely to be enacted. So what are elections really all about?

Incidentally, by historical standards, there was not a whole lot of difference between the presidential candidates in 2000 on issues central to that campaign, and this can help explain why the result was essentially a tie. Of course, some voters bring a lot of their own stuff to the process and will respond in ways that are highly predictable, no matter who the candidates or, what the issues, or what the candidates' positions are issues are, and, of course, there is always a psychiatric component to politics, just as there always has been throughout human history. While partisans on both sides tended to demonize the opposition, responding to ideological stereotypes and caricatures mostly in their own minds, rather than reflecting genuine realities, many other Americans seemed to flip a mental coin. Millions of votes acted like millions of coin flips, and if you do that, you'll get about the same number of heads and tails.

Divorce becomes official this week (Monday, 2/4/02)
Argentina's peso will be de-linked from the U.S. dollar this week. Here's more from Bill Cormier in Buenos Aires. Meanwhile the Argentine government is trying to find a way around the Supreme Court's ruling on the unconstitutionality of the bank freeze. Banks and the foreign exchange market are closed today.

What are the chances that former Enron workers will recover lost retirement funds? (Monday, 2/4/02)
"Slim to none" may be a slight exaggeration, but only slight, even though it would seem that their case should be nearly air-tight. Richard Willing describes the obstacles that make recovery of funds highly unlikely.

Now, look--have we been in a recession or haven't we? (Monday, 2/4/02)
We've already called attention to this peculiarity. However, here's more about why it makes sense to say there has been a recession, even though there have not been two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Or, at least, it makes sense to a lot of experts. Of course, as psycholinguists have said for decades, words don't have meaning; people have meanings for words. So, the question is not "What is a recession?" but "How shall we choose to define it, and what are the consequences of defining it one way vs. another?" Incidentally, Billionaire Bill is among those delegates to the World Economic Forum in New York City who isn't expecting a global economic recovery this year. Speaking of the Forum, Serge Schmemann tells why it seems to be such a magnet for the world's powerful people each year.

Not the best time to be young, educated, and seeking work (Monday, 2/4/02)
Of course, it's much harder to be young, UNEDUCATED, and seeking work. Nonetheless, James Hannah reports from Springfield, Ohio on the tough job market for students and recent graduates. Overall, the unemployment rate for young people is alarming experts. Here's more on that from USA Today. Incidentally, many students facing an unwelcoming job market will carry the additional burden of great debt, not all of it from student loans, according to Shannon Buggs of the Houston Chronicle.

Boomers still expect a lot (Monday, 2/4/02)
Deserved or not, the baby-boomer generation has had a reputation for being self-obsessed and somehow believing that it deserves some sort of divine entitlement. Maybe that hasn't changed. Many are expecting too much from retirement, given the reality of their resources, according to numerous studies, including a new one from Zogby International. Incidentally, if you have boomer parents, you may want to start planning for how you'll pay for your own wedding.

The 90s are over, and it's time for some realistic long-term planning (Monday, 2/4/02)
With fundamental structural changes underway and jobs suddenly less plentiful, many people are re-thinking their careers. Here's more from Sara Terry of the Christian Science Monitor.

Nonprofits by design (Monday, 2/4/02)
Many corporations are "non-profit" at the moment, even though they certainly haven't intended to be. On the other hand, there are numerous organizations that are nonprofit by their nature, meaning that they do not generate taxable surpluses. Are they feeling the recession too? You can bet your unfulfilled pledges they certainly are, according to today's Washington Post.

Doctoral dropouts drop back in (Monday, 2/4/02)
During the dot-com boom, many advanced students felt that becoming a billionaire quickly might be better than completing their Ph.D. degrees. With the air all but gone from the dot-com bubble now, though, many of those people are heading back to the campuses, perhaps with the hope that the recession and big tech slump will be over by the time they seek employment off campus again. Actually, some might be able to find work right now in computer security, because that sector seems to be doing just fine, according to the San Jose Mercury News. However, whatever the sub-sector of the tech sector, women remain relatively scarce, according to the authors of Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing.

Incidentally, if you've been confusing the recent dot-com collapse with a collapse of the Internet itself, it's time to make some important distinctions. All the time, the Internet has continued to develop and change life on the planet. In the U.S., more than half of the population is now online, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. What the dot-com bust demonstrated was not that the technology isn't historic, but that simply throwing money at it will not necessarily produce overnight riches.

Well, then, how about hi-tech generally? Is it running out of steam? Is the era of faster-better-cheaper about over, including technology's capacity for boosting productivity? On the contrary, this New York Times report indicates that forecasts of the death of Moore's Law have been highly premature. Moreover, even if Moore's Law begins to run out of gas later, given familiar chip designs, there will still be the revolutions in computing expected to come from moving it all to the molecular or even atomic levels. And how about "organic computers?" What will be the implications of microscopic supercomputers constructed of organic materials? We believe that we're still in the early stages of the revolution that is transforming the world and nearly all aspects of life.

What's wrong with conventional wisdom about competition? (Monday, 2/4/02)
Author Rhonda Abrams explains what the Olympics can tell us about productive competition in business life.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Annual Budget Process (Monday, 2/4/02)
Each year, the President submits a budget to Congress, but that's just the beginning. Here's a description of the Annual Budget Process from the United States House of Representatives.

Large but nonviolent protests in New York (Sunday, 2/3/02)
Thousands of people have been in the streets expressing their displeasure with globalization and other issues while the World Economic Forum conducts its meetings, but, so far, for the most part, the protests have been peaceful. Inside the meetings, there is not so much concern about the demonstrators as about terrorists and the increased vulnerabilities of a more open and interconnected world. Of course, there is the awareness that highly malignant terrorists could be mixed in with the multitude of serious but peaceful protesters in the streets outside. Security in New York City, like security at the Super Bowl and the Olympics, is as tight as any during modern times. Incidentally, many foreign delegates to the Forum aren't as optimistic about an American economic recovery as many Americans seem to be, according to this New York Times report from noted columnist Louis Uchitelle.

Supreme Court displeases President (Sunday, 2/3/02)
In this case, it is the Supreme Court and President of Argentina that are of issue. The new Argentine government's banking freeze has been ruled unconstitutional, and President Duhalde doesn't like it. Larry Rohter reports from Buenos Aires that Argentina's middle class is becoming aroused and involved in their country's current economic, and, as a consequence, its political crisis. In part, this may be because of a fear of soon being less than middle class.

If you think you have an undesirable job, consider this (Sunday, 2/3/02)
One of the more bleak work lives imaginable may be that of the typical Chinese coal miner. Here's more from the Los Angeles Times.

Boeing workers to get bonuses despite 911-related losses (Sunday, 2/3/02)
Eighty-thousand employees of Boeing Corporation will receive bonuses. Here's more from Seattle, the home of the huge aerospace manufacturer.

Bush will seek a half-trillion dollars in tax cuts (Sunday, 2/3/02)
The Associated Press says it has obtained documents indicating that the Bush administration budget will call for tax reductions of nearly $600 billion over the next ten years, even though most forecasters expect significant deficits during at least the remainder of the current administration.

Traditionally, Democrats have exhibited less concern about deficit spending than Republicans, although one major Democrat last night said he's worried about the return to deficits in the Bush administration. He is, of course, the man who expected the current administration to be named after himself rather than after George W. Bush. Speaking the Democrats in his home state of Tennessee, Al Gore said that he is rejoining the national debate, but declined to indicate whether he will be a candidate for the presidency in 2004.

For most of the past year or so, there has been little enthusiasm among major Democrats for a second Gore run for the presidency, considering that he was not able to win by a landslide last time, given what was widely considered to be a strong basis for an effective campaign. Mr. Gore chose to stay out of sight for a long time, in part, so as to avoid being too much on the minds of leading Democrats around the country who were still mad at him for what they regarded as a mismanaged campaign which should never even have been close, let alone a tie within the "margin of error" in a highly imprecise measurement system.

However, a rearrangement of primaries next time will mean that the Democratic candidate will be determined early, and this will mean a tremendous advantage to people who are already well-known to American voters. This means that, despite strong interest on the part of several other leading Democrats, including Gore's running mate in 2000, Al Gore should have a significant advantage in obtaining the nomination again, and this may mean that party leaders are likely to begin clustering around him over the months ahead, knowing that they may have no place else to go.

Given this scenario, we should be hearing quite a lot from Al Gore from now on, and we should expect him to spend most of his time criticizing the Bush administration's handling of the economy, but not the war. A prolonged recession or a feeble recovery would work to the political advantage of Mr. Gore, providing the best chance for Bush' current popularity to erode in time for the 2004 campaign and make him vulnerable to defeat in 2004.

Under current conditions, if there were a presidential election this fall, we would expect to Democrats to look for somebody to simply sacrifice. However, two years can be a very long time in politics. There will be time for nearly anything to happen, and Al Gore, whom one can safely assume still wants to be president, will want to be in position if it does. He started to position himself last night and he will do all he can to keep economic issues on the front page. Whether he is able to do this will depend in large part on what the terrorists do from now on.

Incidentally, conservative Republicans traditionally haven't been allergic to all types of government spending. Increased defense spending doesn't bother them much, and there is broad bipartisan support for that right now. But, this, combined with big tax cuts, plus the traditional Republican desire for balanced budgets, means something probably will have to give. With more defense spending and lower taxes, how can the budget be brought back into balance? By reducing spending in other areas, of course, and that would mean less governmental involvement in American life, much to the chagrin of many Democrats who see government more as a potential solver of people's problems rather than a source of them.

Like Clinton, Al Gore is a so-called "new" Democrat, more conservative on some economic issues than some of the largely extinct moderate Republicans of thirty-five years ago or more, and it's also going to be politically advantageous for him to complain about the loss of surpluses during this particular Republican administration. Ordinarily, Republicans tend not to like surpluses, because it means that the government is collecting too much money, from their point of view, and, if government has it, it will spend it, they think.

Women are expected to change the management culture of American business (Sunday, 2/3/02)
Sherwood Ross reports that a new survey finds, not only an increase in the number of women managers, but also a new generation committed to doing things more their own way, rather than emulating men.

Why is a strong economy's currency weakening? (Sunday, 2/3/02)
We don't know either. Unlike its huge neighbor to the south, Canada has a balanced budget and a big trade surplus. Yet, the Canadian dollar continues to lose strength against the U.S. dollar, and, among other things, this encourages more U.S. purchases of Canadian companies as part of what many Canadians regard as a gradual erosion of their country's sovereignty. During the years that a full split between English-speaking and French-speaking Canada was looking fairly likely, some experts were forecasting that Canada's western provinces might eventually become part of the United States. Despite a huge land area, the total Canadian population is less than that of California, and a large proportion of Canadians live within a few miles of United States border.

H. L. Mencken would be well-advised to think again (Sunday, 2/3/02)
The great newspaperman, H. L. Mencken, had an astringent wit, and sometimes demonstrated how much easier it is to be cynical than accurate. Daniel Akst says that it certainly IS possible to go broke underestimating the taste of the American public, and he thinks the recent filing for Chapter 11 protection by Kmart is a case in point. Incidentally, Chapter 11 bankruptcy means obtaining court-ordered protection from creditors with the hope that they will be able to reorganize so as to get the corporate act together and take it back out on the road. It doesn't mean liquidation. Personal bankruptcy doesn't mean liquidation either. It means a chance to carry on, but it may not be a well-advised strategy, as many people who have declared bankruptcy have found. Steve Rhode and Mike Kidwell respond to a correspondent and outline some of the reasons for regret if you obtain a court's help in telling your creditors to buzz off. In short, most persons really shouldn't go bankrupt unless they really have to, and most people really don't have to, according to them.

Avoiding age bias (Sunday, 2/3/02)
Many marketers have an almost reflexive tendency to go after the young. Commercial broadcasting, for instance, greatly prefers youthful demographics, because advertisers want to deliver their messages to younger people whom they assume will be better sales prospects. Older people already have most of the things that younger people may still need to buy. Many network TV shows with large audiences have been canceled, for instance, because most of their viewers have been over 50. However, Fred Brock says that you can do very nicely by targeting the huge senior market in the U.S. Just don't try to sell them the things that younger people are interested in. Older people have huge buying power, and many companies are learning how to tap into it. While older people often have smaller incomes than during their most productive years, they may have much smaller expenses, which can mean more discretionary income. For one thing, the elderly may not be paying anybody's college tuition anymore. Jacques Steinberg reports that many middle-aged people who are still doing that have been coming up short during the recession. Here's more on the overwhelming response to what was regarded as an opportunity to extend tuition payments.

The big move to postpone retirement (Sunday, 2/3/02)
Many Americans are finding, for a variety of reasons, some of them financial, that retirement is beginning closer to age 70 than to 60 or 65. Of course, as a greater proportion of the economy has become more service-oriented, white collar, or professional, fewer jobs involve a lot of "heavy lifting" that older people can't handle very well. If you're a "knowledge worker" and healthy, the idea of simply "going fishing" may not be too appealing. An increasing number of Americans are remaining in their careers even on into their 80s.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Enron (Sunday, 2/3/02)
You might wonder if Enron has a web site and also, under the circumstances, whether it's still available on the Internet. The answers are yes and yes, respectively, and here it is. It contains access to the latest court news for former Enron employees as well as some offered career services.

Powell tells economic leaders about the root causes of terrorism (Saturday, 2/2/02)
If someone is pointing a loaded shotgun at you, it is true that you must deal effectively with the immediate situation if you are to have a future. However, if, after having done that, you do not try to do something about the conditions that led to his wanting to do you harm in the first place, you may very well be faced with the same kind of emergency over and over again.

A common social response is simply to prescribe violence in response to violence without attempting to examine its root causes. In fact, social scientists often find that their desire to understand crime, for instance, is met with hostility. In part, this may be because people often associate "understanding" with sympathy or, at least, empathy, and, during emergencies, particularly, it's hard for people either to sympathize or empathize with perpetrators.

Most basically, though, scholars often are interested in achieving the kind of understanding that comes with knowledge, thinking that the only alternative is ignorance, which has had a perfectly deplorable record over many centuries. Simply getting angry usually isn't a satisfactory solution for anything; you'll certainly want your surgeon to bring something other than anger into the operating room before slicing into you. Cool understanding would be better. Moreover, knowledge doesn't imply tolerance of destructive behavior.

The American Secretary of State, whose responsibility is quite different from that of the Secretary of Defense, is in New York City telling world economic leaders that military action is not a sufficient long-term antidote for global terrorism. Moreover, he's likely to be emphasizing that they may be among the only ones in the world who can do something to alleviate terrorism's root causes.

Argentina as a case example (Saturday, 2/2/02)
Opponents of globalization are offering Argentina's mess as an example of what can happen as a result of unregulated global capitalism. Tony Smith reports from the counter-forum going on in Brazil while the World Economic Forum goes on in New York City.

Reform school (Saturday, 2/2/02)
President Bush is trying to teach members of Congress what he thinks they need to know about 401(k) retirement accounts and how to protect the interests of corporate employees. Republicans generally like his ideas, but Democrats generally don't, and Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times says that a party-line split on the issue shouldn't surprise us.

Kmart begins to close stores (Saturday, 2/2/02)
Many jobs will vaporize as Kmart reorganizes under bankruptcy protection. A business publisher claims that it has obtained a list of 291 stores set for closure, but Kmart executives have declined to confirm or deny its accuracy. Speaking of disappearing jobs, Lear Corporation plans to close 21 stores and cut about 6 percent of its worldwide workforce. Approximately 6,500 jobs are affected.

Magically, when you give up looking for work, you're no longer unemployed (Saturday, 2/2/02)
To be counted officially among the "unemployed," you must be actively seeking employment. If you give up, you're no longer in the labor force, and you're no longer counted among the unemployed. This story from the Houston Chronicle says this is mostly what happened to reduce the unemployment rate last month. Still, layoff are occurring at a reduced rate and the U.S. economy appears to be healing its wounds a bit, according to David Leonhardt and Daniel Altman. Few economic leaders are expecting a robust or rapid recovery, though. Incidentally, if any of those who are about to lose their jobs are wondering what it will be like, many former employees of Enron would have plenty to share with them. Lisa Falkenberg reports from Houston on a struggle shared by large numbers of people who used to work for what they thought was one of the nation's greatest companies.

Now that the shortage of tech workers has subsided, there are fewer H-1B visas, right? (Saturday, 2/2/02)
No, not right. The demand for so-called "tech visas" that enable foreigners with technical skills to work in the U.S. increased last year, despite the overall economic downturn which has included a real skid in the tech sector. If American techies are available for hiring, why would a company want to hire similar experts from, say, India? Thinking about the relative standard of living in the U.S. vs. India might suggest a clue. Immigrant workers are likely to be less expensive. Here's more from the Los Angeles Times. Illegal immigrants in the U.S. may soon face swifter departure. Erick Schmitt reports that the federal government wants to reduce the backlog by speeding up immigration appeals.

How nations rank in terms of environmental health (Saturday, 2/2/02)
Katharine Seelye reports from Washington on a new survey that finds that Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada and Switzerland, respectively, score highest in environmental health. The U.S. came out at 51st in the ranking.

Medicaid reduction (Saturday, 2/2/02)
The President's budget would reduce Medicaid payments to public hospitals and also result in more restrictive distribution of federal funds to states to cover the cost of health care for the poor, according to Robert Pear of the New York Times.

A discrimination suit lingers at Ford (Saturday, 2/2/02)
The new head of Ford Motor Company has settled a number of discrimination suits, as he said he would, but there is a significant exception, according to John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press.

Delta's flight attendants decide not to unionize (Saturday, 2/2/02)
The Association of Flight Attendants, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, apparently has lost its battle to organize flight attendants at Delta Airline, at least for now. Here's more from Laurence Zuckerman.

A steel-collar worker will be with you in a moment (Saturday, 2/2/02)
Robots probably don't care what you call them, but companies are finding that humans seeking customer service would rather interact with somebody, er, something with a name.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: World Economic Forum (Saturday, 2/2/02)
The current World Economic Forum has been moved out of Davos, Switzerland and into New York City in 2002 for the first time, in part as a symbolic response to the destruction of the World Trade Center, but also because of security concerns in the Swiss resort. Here's the World Economic Forum web site.

Unemployment down 0.2 percent in January compared to the previous month (Friday, 2/1/02)
The U.S. unemployment rate declined to 5.6 percent in January, and it was the first decline in eight months. Meanwhile, the President still isn't satisfied with the rate at which the U.S. economy is creating jobs. He still wants a stimulus package.

Seeking alternatives to an Enron-type retirement plan (Friday, 2/1/02)
The Enron catastrophe has garnered most of the press coverage because of the size of the debacle and the number of people affected. However, it hasn't been the only major corporate bankruptcy in recent months, nor has it been the only case in which employees have taken a painful hit on their retirement accounts. Kevin Drawbaugh and Chris Baltimore report from Washington that President Bush has a plan for reforming pensions. Here's more from Ron Fournier of the Associated Press. Among other things, according to Richard Stevenson and Stephan Labaton of the New York Times, the President will propose reforms intended to provide workers with more flexibility if they want to sell their company's stock in their 401(k)s. A USA Today columnist explains what can happen if you hold too much of your own company's stock, even if you haven't been working for Enron.

Oil workers reconsider strike plan (Friday, 2/1/02)
The Paper, Allied-Industrial Chemical and Energy Workers International union could have been on strike as of today, but they've decided to rescind their strike notice and wait for another offer from the oil companies. In other labor news, Aer Lingus pilots have called a one-day strike. The Irish airline says it is likely to go bankrupt without significant cutbacks.

Union makes case for the inhumane side of globalization (Friday, 2/1/02)
In addition to collective concerns about terrorism and other currently hot issues, delegates at the World Economic Forum in New York City are likely to spend quite a lot of time discussing the benefits of a more open and integrated global economy. Even some of the people who do not believe that globalization is an unqualified good may believe that it's largely inevitable. Throughout most of the time modern humans have spent on this planet, communities and cultures in some parts of the world didn't even know about the existence of communities and cultures in other parts of the world. However, in a world in which geography has become increasingly irrelevant, it seems unlikely that we will be able to return to a time when societies and economies were largely isolated from one another. If globalization IS going to continue, we may as well accept it, try to reap its benefits, but also do what we can to be sure that all of the world's people are brought along into the new era. So far, many do seem to be left out. Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times reports that the AFL-CIO has brought witnesses to the Forum in New York in order to convince delegates that, just because they and the people they represent are benefiting from globalization doesn't mean that there can't be victims.

Harvard's President Summers supports increase for low-pay staff (Friday, 2/1/02)
One of the continuing sore points about Harvard has been that one of the world's richest universities that tends to be heavily populated with many of the world's most privileged people who spend a lot of time talking about social justice nonetheless employs a lot of people who can barely make a living by working there. Harvard's new president, former Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, seems to agree that it's time for an increase. Here's more from Pam Belluck in Boston.

Hiring the wrong person has taken on new meaning (Friday, 2/1/02)
It used to be that "hiring the wrong person" simply meant ending up with somebody who couldn't do the job or who might turn out to be a pain to have around. However, following 911, employers have become sensitive to the possibility of REALLY bringing the wrong person on board. Ron Scherer reports that many employers are enlisting the aid of government agencies, including the FBI, as part of the recruitment and hiring process. Of course, among the objectives of Osama bin Laden has been to terrorize Americans sufficiently so that we will destroy comfortable patterns of life and eventually make the U.S. an alien place without our familiar freedoms.

When companies are no longer doing well, will they continue doing good? (Friday, 2/1/02)
Laurent Belsie of the Christian Science Monitor says that new social responsibility standards may be at risk. Perhaps the recession is ending just in time.

Gender gap in the world of finance (Friday, 2/1/02)
Amanda Paulson reports that a greater number of women are obtaining stock-trading licenses, but, despite some gains, fewer women than men end up on the trading floor.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: SmartMoney 401(k) Planner (Friday, 2/1/02)
You can perform a variety of "what if" calculations to assist your planning for a 401(k) retirement account on the SmartMoney site. In addition to the 401(k) planner, informative resources are provided.

Here are NewWork News stories from previous months

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