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Winn-Dixie intends to shrink its work force by 10 percent (Friday, 4/30/04)
As additional evidence of the struggles of America's supermarket sector, Winn-Dixie has announced that it will shut down 156 stores as well as other facilities and cut 10,000 jobs.

However, all the struggles aren't to be found in the retail food business. Hi-tech is still having its problems too, or, at least, some companies. For instance, Gateway has decided to cut another 1,500 jobs in its attempt to switch from being an unhealthy large company to a healthy smaller company.

Growth in the Midwest is beginning to boost hiring (Friday, 4/30/04)
The economic statistics that are most often reported in the news represent national averages, and may remind you of that old thing about how if you have your head in the refrigerator and your feet in the oven, on the average, you're comfortable. Sometimes national averages can conceal regional or local realities. Every once in a while, it's important to take a look at different parts of the country in order to get a sense of what's really happening. Along those lines, a new report says that business activity in and around Chicago has picked up and hiring is beginning to increase too. Here's more from Ros Krasny in the Big Windy.

Another disappointment for forecasting economists (Friday, 4/30/04)
As we reported yesterday, the American GDP's first-quarter growth was respectable, but not as great as many experts had expected. Now, the Commerce Department reports that consumer spending last month was more tepid than expected too.

Who understands Japan's pension system? (Friday, 4/30/04)
Maybe nobody, according to Yotaro Hamada of Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun.

It's costing more to become part of the United States (Friday, 4/30/04)
The fees for becoming an American citizen or a legal resident are going up today. Here's more from Suzanne Gamboa in Washington.

The era of imperial CEOs...isn't quite over (Friday, 4/30/04)
Even though a shareholders' revolt has led many companies to try to bring executive pay more into alignment with job performance, Edward Iwata and Barbara Hansen report that there are still plenty of overpaid managers.

If you're facing foreclosure, here are some things you can do (Friday, 4/30/04)
Alan Heavens reports that the Mortgage Bankers Association of America says that, while foreclosures were up a bit increased a bit during last year's fourth quarter, they're still down from a year earlier. If you're in danger of losing your home, here are some suggestions from Mr. Heavens, and if any of them help you, well, you can thank Heavens.

Relief for caffeine addiction (Friday, 4/30/04)
Despite the American popular culture's preoccupation with sex, there's good reason to belief that, if people are hungry enough, they tend to forget all about sex. Similarly, if you've been trying to cut back on your coffee intake, maybe you need to get hooked on the Internet. A recent poll finds that many workers, when given the choice, would rather go online, and this is worrying many employers.

Incidentally, if you have a very bad cold, trying slamming your great toe with a claw hammer. It won't help the cold at all, but it will make you forget about it.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Prescription Drug and Other Assistance Programs (Friday, 4/30/04)
Medicare now offers information about discount cards and drug comparisons on its Prescription Drug and Other Assistance Programs page.

Good but not explosive growth during the first quarter (Thursday, 4/29/04)
The Commerce Department reports that the American economy grew at an annualized rate of 4.2 percent during the first three months of 2004. It's seen as solid growth, but not as strong as many had expected.

Dow plans big cuts (Thursday, 4/29/04)
Dow Chemical has announced that it will slice 6.5 percent of its global work force this year, which amounts to 3,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, Dixons plans to close 106 of its electrical products stores in Britain, and 1,000 workers will be affected. Here's more from London.

First-time claims decline last week (Thursday, 4/29/04)
The latest data on first-time claims for jobless benefits from the U.S. Department of Labor shows a sharp drop last week.

A bit too much of a very good thing in China (Thursday, 4/29/04)
China's economy remains the fastest-growing in the world at nearly 10 percent on an annual basis, and is beginning to influence the global economy in a variety of ways. However, Government officials fear that the hot Chinese economy is overheating dangerously, and, so, is taking steps to cool it a bit. Interestingly, though, as David Francis reports, environmental factors may turn out to be most influential in limiting China's economic boom.

Meanwhile American critics of China's treatment of its workers have been hoping that the U.S. government would decide to impose tariffs on Chinese products, but, as Paul Blustein reports from Washington, they will have to keep on hoping for a later time.

American workers get more expensive (Thursday, 4/29/04)
Wages haven't been growing much but the cost of benefits has been heading relentlessly upward, which means that you're probably costing your employer more without its making you feel better about it. Does the general situation provide even stronger incentives for many employers to send more jobs to areas of the world where labor costs less?

What the world's poor young people need (Thursday, 4/29/04)
More education and more jobs, according to a new report from the United Nations. Here's more about the UN's first World Youth Report.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Poverty Guidelines, Research, and Measurement (Thursday, 4/29/04)
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services explains how the federal government defines and measures poverty in the United States on its Poverty Guidelines, Research, and Measurement page.

Shell out (Wednesday, 4/28/04)
Twenty-eight-hundred people in the Netherlands, U.S., and UK will be out of their jobs soon, as Royal Dutch Shell begins to move its IT operations to Asia.

Indian entrepreneur in the U.S. brings jobs back to the U.S. from India (Wednesday, 4/28/04)
Eduardo Porter reports that some American companies are finding that some tech jobs are better done in the U.S., even at several times the cost, and offers an ironic example.

Continental loses more altitude (Wednesday, 4/28/04)
Continental Airlines didn't need the 9-11 terrorist attack to give it trouble; it already had plenty before that infamous day. Moreover, things haven't improved greatly since. In fact, they're expecting that they will need approximately 500 fewer reservationists by the end of the third quarter. Here's more form Bill Hensel in Houston.

The fight over overtime goes into overtime (Wednesday, 4/28/04)
Congressional Democrats are still intending to resist certain central features of the Administrations revised overtime regulations, according to David Espo in Washington.

Beware of "tax deniers" (Wednesday, 4/28/04)
David Kay Johnston reports that the number of Americans suffering from the delusion that they are not legally required to pay taxes seems to be on the increase. A meeting of payroll managers in Tennessee has been told that efforts to falsify W-4 forms may be only the most benign actions one can expect from some of these individuals. In fact, some may be dangerous, according to Michael O'Toole of the American Payroll Association.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Employment by Occupation (Wednesday, 4/28/04)
Here are employment statistics and income estimates for over 700 occupations from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of labor.

Consumer confidence rises in April (Tuesday, 4/27/04)
Americans are willing to spend more if they feel that their jobs are more secure. Even though the American economy has a long way to go before it contains as many jobs as when the current Bush Administration took office, March was a good month for job creation. Anne D'Innocenzio reports that the Conference Board's widely-watched Consumer Confidence Index has responded with strong improvement in April.

Booming export? (Tuesday, 4/27/04)
Will one of America's major exports over the years ahead be jobs? Tim Johnson and Mike Joseph tell about one case in which, not only the jobs, but the entire factory is being moved from Pennsylvania to China.

Pension funds challenge election of corporate directors and more (Tuesday, 4/27/04)
Several state pension funds are cranking up their activism and insisting on the accountability of corporate directors after becoming weary of suffering investments. Here's more from USA Today.

Flexible work schedules attract workers (Tuesday, 4/27/04)
Flex time is becoming more popular among American workers, according to a new report from the Families and Work Institute in New York.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: IMF Working Papers (Tuesday, 4/27/04)
The International Monetary Fund has made its working papers available in full-text versions on the Internet.

Inflation is in the wind, so button up your overcoat (Monday, 4/26/04)
On television the other night, an economist said that inflation is like sunburn. By the time you notice it, you already have the problem. According to Alan Greenspan, there aren't clear indications that broad-based inflation has become a problem, but he's picked up enough of a whiff of it, not only the cost of some products, but also in the cost of labor, to suggest what everybody already knows--that the cost of money is going up. Among things that have been inflating rapidly is the cost of health care, and Julie Appleby says you're probably going to be paying a larger share yourself starting soon.

If you're an investor, Ilana Polyak has some thoughts about the cost of inflation and the cost of protecting against it.

Finance ministers say their countries will try to do more (Monday, 4/26/04)
One-hundred-eighty-four nations belong to the International Monetary Fund, and some of these are a lot richer than others. Harry Dunphy reports from Washington that attendees at a weekend meeting have agreed to try to do more to reduce poverty, combat AIDS, and so forth, but some are wondering where the money is going to come from. To put things into perspective, many privileged individuals are spending as much for a week on a cruise ship right now as many other individuals would earn in ten years of work with no days off.

Will Congress come to your rescue before the next tax trauma day? Don't count on it (Monday, 4/26/04)
AMT can be thought of as more-or-less the opposite of ATM, in a way. It's a governmental machine that sucks up your cash, rather than dishing it out. AMT stands for "alternative minimum tax," and Business Week explains why Congress is working to cut the business version of it, but not the version that affects individuals.

Here's many poor Americans' answer to "Why don't you get a job?" (Monday, 4/26/04)
For many, the answer is "I've got one; I work full-time, but I still can't make a living." If you think that all of America's homeless people or the Americans who rely on food shelves are either mentally ill, drug dependent, or lazy, think again. Tim Jones of the Chicago Tribune has quite a lot more.

AARP reports on the growing number of older entrepreneurs (Monday, 4/26/04)
For boomers who have spent many years working for somebody else, the lure of being one's own boss can be strong. Here's more from Michael Martinez in New York. However, if you're starting your own business, it might be a good idea to resolve not to fall into the common trap of neglecting your personal finances. Here's more about that from Joyce Rosenberg, who is also in New York.

Why are so many older people moving to Nevada? (Monday, 4/26/04)
Here's a hint. It's a five-letter word that starts with "t" and has an "x" in it. Scott Burns reports from Las Vegas on how seniors are being welcomed to a state that wants to help them lower their cost of living.

You CAN go back to school, and, for the moment, at least, you won't have to go to Bangalore to do it (Monday, 4/26/04)
If your job has been sent to India, it may be time to consider the preparation for other employment or for independence that a good American community college can offer.

If not the "paperless office," then maybe the "paperless store" (Monday, 4/26/04)
Some years ago, hi-tech enthusiasts were telling us that paper wouldn't be used much anymore in most American offices, because everything could be done and stored with electronic zeros and ones. That was just before offices became inundated with inexpensive copy machines, fax machines, and printers of all kinds. However, as Steve Dinnen reports from Des Moines, Iowa, paper money is becoming increasing scarce in many retail stores as more and more transactions are done electronically.

Ceridian wants to become a one-stop shop for businesses (Monday, 4/26/04)
Ceridian Corporation is part of what used to be called Control Data Corporation. It is one of the companies to which many other companies are outsourcing many of their human resource functions. H. J. Cummins reports that they have acquired Recruiting Solutions International in order to help them add web-based hiring to their line of services.

The three Rs and an M (Monday, 4/26/04)
Many people have commented in recent years about the financial illiteracy of so many Americans. Eileen Alt Powell has been talking to experts who agree that training in personal finance should begin as early as your children are able to understand what you're talking about.

Galbraith thinks that many people misunderstand economic realities (Monday, 4/26/04)
Can that BE? Can it also be true that the Sun first appears in the east in the morning, and that there are beer trucks in Germany? People have been paying attention to John Kenneth Galbraith for a major portion of his 95 years. He has a new book out called The Economics of Innocent Fraud in which he suggests, among many other things, that the distinction between public and private sectors is, to some extent, at least, a false dichotomy. Here's part of a recent conversation with Professor Galbraith.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: John Kenneth Galbraith (Monday, 4/26/04)
Many Americans who are merely about 60 or so may best remember economist John Kenneth Galbraith arguing with his friend William F. Buckley, Jr. on television in the 1960s and 1970s. However, he was famous and influential long before that. Dr. Galbraith was born in 1908 and, not only is he still living, he has written a new book. Here's more about John Kenneth Galbraith.

Factory sector heats up (Sunday, 4/25/04)
The latest data on durable goods orders from the Commerce Department suggests that the factory sector is stronger than expected and that the American economy is shifting into a higher gear.

Consensus on growth (Sunday, 4/25/04)
The G7 finance ministers ended their meeting this weekend mostly agreeing that the global economy is having a good 2004 and is likely to have a good 2005. Meanwhile, World Bank President James Wolfensohn has called attention to the huge gap between what the world spends on armaments as opposed to what it spends on relieving global poverty.

China's central bank taps the brakes (Sunday, 4/25/04)
Keith Bradsher reports from Hong Kong that China is attempting to slow its overheating economy a bit, but wonders if the action will be strong enough.

How the long deployments are affecting families back home (Sunday, 4/25/04)
It's probably safe to say that, except for paying their taxes, most Americans aren't even having to sacrifice their convenience in support of their country's war effort. A relatively small proportion of the U.S. population is carrying all of the burden, and it's particularly hard on the families that National Guard personnel and reservists have left at home. Here's more from Andrew Jacobs in Nashville.

Who's worrying most about "off-shoring?" (Sunday, 4/25/04)
Not most national political leaders, according to Jim Geraghty in Washington. However, outside the Beltway, Americans seem quite concerned about shipping American jobs overseas, and the gap between their attitudes and those of their leaders seems to be growing. Meanwhile, Arizona Republic columnist Jon Talton says that the "sea change" is about much more than outsourcing.

One solution is to make sure you don't get sick and old at the same time (Sunday, 4/25/04)
Otherwise, your options for dealing with the gap between employer health coverage and Medicare may be fairly limited. However, Scott Burns has some suggestions on what you can do.

There's less sense of dread this spring as students approach graduation (Sunday, 4/25/04)
The Boston Globe's Diane Lewis reports that America's graduating college seniors seem more optimistic about the job market.

What you can do about your car insurance (Sunday, 4/25/04)
There are ways to reduce auto insurance costs, according to Kathy Kristof of Delaware's The News Journal.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: SmallStep (Sunday, 4/25/04)
Guess what-- tobacco use may soon no longer be the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Instead, it may be poor diet and lack of exercise before long, given that deaths due to these factors increased by a third during the past decade. The Department of Health and Human Service has set up SmallStep.gov to help you do something about it and stay alive for a while.

Annual meeting to focus on global poverty (Saturday, 4/24/04)
The global economy is looking its best in years, according to G7 finance ministers, so, during its annual meeting this weekend, the World Bank intends to focus on what can be done to alleviate poverty, particular in regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, where conditions have not been improving.

FAQ on the new EEOC ruling (Saturday, 4/24/04)
Here are some answers to common questions about the new ruling from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on employer-sponsored health benefits for retirees.

Strike authorized, but talks continue (Saturday, 4/24/04)
Representatives of Kroger and the United Food and Commercial Workers in the Houston area continue their negotiations, despite the overwhelming authorization of a strike. The principal stickler issue is--guess what--health insurance.

In other labor news, a labor union in Connecticut has hired private investigators to follow SBC managers with the hope of observing them violating company policies.

Halliburton recruits workers in Iraq (Saturday, 4/24/04)
Despite the dangers, the big federal contractor is finding considerable enthusiasm among people who want to take jobs in Iraq.

Agonizing over the plight of executives may be premature (Saturday, 4/24/04)
If you're thinking that all the bad publicity has resulted in an end to executive perks, think again. Here's more from Ellen Simon in New York.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Countries and Regions (Saturday, 4/24/04)
Here's an opportunity to check on what the World Bank is doing in various countries and regions of the world to alleviate poverty and improve living standards through the use of loans, technical assistance, and advice on policy.

Anxiety deferred (Friday, 4/23/04)
Business Week reports that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan isn't worried about inflation yet, although worry and action could come before long.

Those who stand to lose under Labor Department changes (Friday, 4/23/04)
Houston Chronicle columnist L. M. Sixel has been looking into which workers are likely to lose their overtime pay under new government rules, and finds that you might be among them.

EEOC wants employers to be able to cut retiree benefits, past a point (Friday, 4/23/04)
Once retired workers qualify for Medicare, their former employers would be able to drop their health benefits under a proposal from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Here's more from Emily Gersema and still more from Robert Pear, both of whom are in Washington.

Aid agencies say many poverty-alleviation efforts aren't working well (Friday, 4/23/04)
Since the combined populations of China and India make up about a third of the earth's total population, the progress those two countries have made in reducing poverty is not something to be taken lightly. However, things aren't going nearly so well in other regions of the world, where, despite efforts, poverty has been intractable. Here's some of what a new report from several aid agencies says about the problem.

Is China's booming economy about to go boom? (Friday, 4/23/04)
Editorial writers at the Financial Times believe that China's rapidly growing and increasingly influential economy is overheating. Here's their analysis of what the Chinese government may be able to do about it.

IMF acknowledges making mistakes in the past, but... (Friday, 4/23/04)
...Little else has changed, according to critics of the International Monetary Fund. Here's more from Malcolm Foster in New York.

When you're really sick, stay home (Friday, 4/23/04)
A new Cornell University study finds that when people come to work sick, it is costly to their employers.

You may not recognize the new factories (Friday, 4/23/04)
American manufacturing has been in a long, dark period, which may be ending. However, the industrial sector that is coming out of the recession isn't the same as the one that went in. Moreover, manufacturing of the future is likely to be something that many Americans may still have difficulty imagining.

How employers can help (Friday, 4/23/04)
There are ways that employers can help low-wage workers without having to turn them into high-wage workers. Here's more from new research at Boston College.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Harvard Family Research Project (Friday, 4/23/04)
The Harvard Family Research Project began in 1983 to promote child, family, and community development. Many of its publications are available online.

Job cuts at Baxter (Thursday, 4/22/04)
Baxter International is a large medical products company, but it isn't as large as it used to be. First, Baxter cut 3,000 jobs; now, it has announced that another 3,500 will go. Here's more from Dave Carpenter in Chicago.

However, across the American economy overall, job cuts appear to be diminishing. Jeannine Aversa reports from Washington that first-time jobless claims dropped by 9,000 last week.

China brings Minnesota mines back to life (Thursday, 4/22/04)
China's flourishing economy has a tremendous appetite for energy and raw materials. In fact, the world's fastest-growing economy has been influencing the price and availability of steel throughout the world. Amanda Paulson reports from the little town of Eveleth on how this is influencing the lives of people on Minnesota's Iron Range. Northeastern Minnesota provided much of the iron for the American industrial revolution, but has been experiencing hard times for many years now.

Would you like variable rates on your student loans? (Thursday, 4/22/04)
Congressional debate is beginning on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Columnist Michelle Singletary tells why she's concerned about a proposal for switching from fixed interest rates to variable rates on student loans.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Health Care & Medical Employment (Thursday, 4/22/04)
Pam Pohly provides an Internet guide for persons seeking employment in the healthcare industry.

News flash: we should expect higher interest rates...sometime (Wednesday, 4/21/04)
Not right away, necessarily, but sometime fairly soon as the economy grows. Perhaps Chairman Greespan is thinking that by providing unspecified advance notice, it will enable the stock market to soak up the news gradually rather than reacting violently to the shock of a sudden increase later. The Dow did slip considerably yesterday, even though, by saying that rates will have to rise as the economy strengthens, the Chairman said nothing that nearly everybody did not already know. At any rate, Mr. Greenspan sees no broad inflation in the economy, and he has indicated that we can all safely stop worrying about deflation now too. Alan Greenspan reported to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress yesterday.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund, which expects 2004 and 2005 to be good years for the global economy, worries about the effect of rising interest rates.

Democrats critique the Administration's new overtime rules (Wednesday, 4/21/04)
The White House claims that changes in overtime pay criteria to take effect in 120 days impact on white collar voters, er, workers only minimally, but many Democrats don't believe it. Reminder: this is a presidential election year.

What the richest society in human history seems incapable of doing and why (Wednesday, 4/21/04)
It's not because Americans don't want to provide health care for everybody, and it's not because the U.S. can't afford it. It's because most of the people who vote already have coverage. Here's more from Business Week.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Panel Study of Income Dynamics (Wednesday, 4/21/04)
The famed Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan has been conducting a longitudinal survey of 8,700 households since 1968 in order to examine the economic behavior of individual family members in relation to their total families. Here's information about the Institute for Social Research's Panel Study of Income Dynamics.

Bush changes his mind on overtime changes (Tuesday, 4/20/04)
Perhaps in an effort to deprive his Democratic opponent of at least one campaign issue during the next few months, President Bush has decided to be more flexible on overtime changes than originally intended. White-collar workers earning as much as $100,000 per year will be able to collect overtime pay for more than 40 hours per week. Here's more from Kirstin Downey of the Washington Post.

Update on the outsourcing backlash (Tuesday, 4/20/04)
It's probably fair to say that, beginning about a year and a half ago with SUNY Professor William Raynor's series of articles on the subject (accessible on our front page), we played a significant role in bringing media and governmental attention to the growing tendency to send high-value American jobs overseas. To non-economists, it may not be entirely clear whether this trend is bad or good for the American economy in the long-run. However, for individuals affected, it can be traumatizing, and, of course, American workers are potential voters whom, in a close election, could be critical in helping to determine who will occupy the White House a year from now. Before Dr. Raynor's articles ran on BNWW, no one seemed to be talking about the issue; now nearly everyone is, including the respective presidential campaign organization people.

Television's Lou Dobbs has been leading an anti-outsourcing campaign on his CNN program, "Lou Dobbs Tonight," and now has written a book on the subject. Also, Stephanie Armour reports on grass-roots efforts to resist "offshoring," and Marilyn Gardner tells about one man whose last work assignment was to train his own replacement from overseas. Now, he's running for Congress with the intention of fighting the trend in Washington.

Meanwhile, here are some call-center jobs that will stay in the United States, but move into Arizonans' homes.

More choices, more decisions (Tuesday, 4/20/04)
Medication discount cards can save you some money, but you'll have to decide which one is right for you, and there are a lot to choose from. Here's more from Robert Hershey. Here's still more from David Phelps of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Check-cashing problems for the working poor (Tuesday, 4/20/04)
Shweta Govindarajan writes from Washington about how low-income families without bank accounts cope when they try to cash tax refund checks. Check cashing services are available, but at fees that may remind you of those loan companies that are willing to break your knees.

Five people tell about retiring to medical service professions (Tuesday, 4/20/04)
Laura Novak reports that a growing number of people for whom retirement is a transition to a calling.

RV economics (Tuesday, 4/20/04)
The price of new motorhomes can be absolutely breathtaking. Nonetheless, Scott Burns explains how an RV can save you money.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Big Mac Index (Tuesday, 4/20/04)
Economist magazine attempts to determine if a country's currency is undervalued or overvalued through the use of its Big Mac Index.

Top management exodus (Monday, 4/19/04)
Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports that 70 corporate CEOs left their jobs during the month of March.

Quick calculation exercise: what's zero tax on $3.5 trillion? (Monday, 4/19/04)
Why, it's zero, indeed. David Francis reports that a solid majority of American corporations have been paying no tax at all on a combined $3.5 trillion of revenues. Steven Pearlstein says that it may be time to scrap corporate income taxes and start over with VAT.

Alan the acrobat (Monday, 4/19/04)
Many analysts fear that the Federal Reserve is "falling behind the curve" in heading off inflation. Business Week says that Alan Greenspan is trying to maintain his footing in a "high-wire act." Still, a former Fed governor thinks that inflation already is stabilizing. Here's a Business Week Q&A with Laurence Meyer, now a consultant with Macroeconomic Advisers.

Why are so many economic forecasts so far off? (Monday, 4/19/04)
Gregg Fields is beginning to suspect that a "sea change" has been going on. We've been talking for several years about how "new economy" is likely to mean, among many other things, novelty that is incompatible with traditional models and concepts that arose out of the old economy. Nobody fully understands how something the world has never seen before really works.

However, one tool that still seems to do a pretty job of forecasting economic activity several months ahead is the Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators, and it gained a little in March.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Foreign Labor Statistics (Monday, 4/19/04)
There is no standardized use of statistical concepts or methods across countries, so the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics does what it can to make meaningful comparisons on its Foreign Labor Statistics site. The site concentrates on major industrial countries, but some other countries are included as well.

Why there are relatively few new jobs (Sunday, 4/18/04)
The creation of 308,000 new jobs in March is encouraging, but there are still a couple of million fewer jobs than when President Bush took office. With the American economy beginning to fire on all its cylinders, why is that? Some of the reasons may seem obvious, particularly if you're a regular reader of NewWork News, but they're also complicated. Here's some clarification from Adam Geller in Libertyville, Illinois.

Will home prices take down the U.S. economy? (Sunday, 4/18/04)
The editor of Washington Monthly tells why he expects home prices to decline precipitously and what it could mean for the entire American economy.

Some American civilians change their minds about working in Iraq (Sunday, 4/18/04)
The risks are too great, they say. Here's more from Kris Axtman in Houston.

The special risks of working on the sordid side of the American economy (Sunday, 4/18/04)
Robert Jablon reports from Los Angeles that a dozen companies that produce pornographic films have halted filming after two people have tested HIV positive. Nonetheless, many actors indicate that they intend to continue working in the industry.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Rural Areas and the Internet (Sunday, 4/18/04)
Peter Bell of the Pew Internet & American Life Project offers a report on the uses of the Internet by Americans in rural areas of the United States.

California workers' comp bill passes overwhelmingly (Saturday, 4/17/04)
The compromise workers' compensation bill negotiated by Governor Schwarzenegger has been passed in both the Assembly and the California Senate by wide margins. Here's more from Jim Wasserman in Sacramento on what amounts to a major victory for the Governor.

Another nominally "communist" country builds economic success (Saturday, 4/17/04)
We've commented several times on how China really is no longer a communist country, despite the name of its ruling party, even though its government continues to be autocratic. Some American ideologues have long claimed that increases in economic freedom will lead to increased political freedom, because "freedom is indivisible." We believe that this remains to be seen, and that nobody really knows at this point. There is so much novelty in the new global economy that we should not be surprised to find that many traditional interpretations no longer apply. No one fully understands how the unfamiliar global economy works. China appears to be in no danger of becoming a liberal democracy at this point, even though it has the fastest-growing economy in the world.

Now, there's another one to watch: "communist" Vietnam's GDP appears to be growing at an annual rate of about 7.5 percent this year.

Class-action suit against Kmart (Saturday, 4/17/04)
A federal judge in Detroit has granted class-action status to a lawsuit brought against Kmart in which workers hope to recover losses associated with their 401(k)s when Kmart went bankrupt.

Struggling American Airlines is hit with a big bill (Saturday, 4/17/04)
Pilots at American Airlines will be paid $23.2 million by their company according to an arbitrator's decision. The pilots have been disputing the company's policy of shifting flights to lower-cost commuter subsidiaries.

"Family farm" redefinition (Saturday, 4/17/04)
Devlin Barrett writes from Washington that the Department of Agriculture's plan to define "family farm" strictly in terms of dollar amounts is feared by many farmers and wannabes.

Wave good-bye to personal privacy on the job (Saturday, 4/17/04)
Futurist Faith Popcorn expects that employers will soon monitor everything about workers, including bodily processes, in order to improve productivity.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Women's Rights and Democracy in the Arab World (Saturday, 4/17/04)
Marina Ottaway of the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace examines what an outside country such as the United States can hope to accomplish with respect to women's rights and democracy in Arab countries.

Global economy surges (Friday, 4/16/04)
World economic growth is expected to be 4 percent or greater this year. Here's more from David Francis of the Christian Science Monitor.

Why the skewed jobs data? (Friday, 4/16/04)
The increase in first-time jobless claims last week was more than four times what most experts had expected. One might be interested in why they expected an increase of about 7,000 claims last week in the first place, instead of the 30,000 that occurred. Nonetheless, today's post-mortems are focusing on why the great increase occurred, as if they had reason to expect it all the time. Generally, many analysts feel that last week's numbers were an anomaly from which we should not draw broad conclusions.

Michigan measure shows some consumer skepticism (Friday, 4/16/04)
The University of Michigan's widely-watched measure of consumer confidence appears to have declined during the month from early March to early April. Some of the change of attitude may reflect anxieties about the situation in Iraq, according to experts.

Is China beginning to export inflation? (Friday, 4/16/04)
The world's most populous country has the world's fastest-growing economy, and its appetite for raw materials and energy seems to be getting more ravenous. Keith Bradsher tells why this may mean rising prices for Americans, Europeans, and others throughout the world.

Unemployment unchanged in the UK (Friday, 4/16/04)
Unemployment in Britain remained at 4.8 percent during the three months ending in February, the lowest since 1984.

Government hiring improves Houston's statistics (Friday, 4/16/04)
For 25 consecutive months, Houston lost jobs. That finally changed in March, but it was because of state and local government hiring, not because ofd actions in the private sector.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Victorian Economics (Friday, 4/16/04)
An overview of Victorian economics, including major economic thinkers of the period, is part of the ambitious and instructive Victorian Web, and is funded by the University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore.

Many happy returns? (Thursday, 4/15/04)
Actually, tax trauma day isn't raising the blood pressure of as many people as it used to, unless you've been expecting a larger refund than you'll get, or unless you're using one of those tax scams that the IRS already know about. Russ Wiles reports that many taxpayers send in their returns early, while an increasing number take advantage of the no-questions-asked automatic four-month filing extension. However, if you owe the IRS money, they'll be expecting you to send it today, even if you don't file your return until August. On the other hand, if the government owes YOU money, expect to wait several weeks for it.

Schwarzenegger wins another one in California (Thursday, 4/15/04)
"The Terminator" who ended Gray Davis' political career has been having a good run so far as California's governor. Tom Chorneau writes from Sacramento about Governor Schwarzenegger's successful effort to reach a deal on a compromise bill to reform the state's huge workers' compensation program.

Jobless claims increase (Thursday, 4/15/04)
What are first-time jobless claims saying about the U.S. economy? It's hard to say. First, they were at their lowest level in four years, but last week they increased by 30,000, the greatest amount since 2002.

Prepare to say good-bye to historically low interest rates (Thursday, 4/15/04)
For sometime now, the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates at their lowest levels since the Eisenhower administration. Mike Meyers, the Minneapolis Star Tribune's National Economics Correspondent, tells why that may be about to change.

The Chinese economy continues to be blazingly hot (Thursday, 4/15/04)
China's gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 9.7 percent during the first quarter of 2004. If it maintains that rate of growth, its GDP will be twice its present size in about 7 1/2 years, or four times as large in about 15 years.

Infosys sells a billion (Thursday, 4/15/04)
India's Infosys Technologies does a lot of outsourced work for American companies. The company's sales have reached a billion dollars for the first time, leading its chief executive to say that Infosys ready to become a next-generation company. We might interpret that to mean that they expect to break new ground, lead, and so on, not simply rely on doing other people's work because of their relatively inexpensive labor. Stay tuned.

Pension shortfall at United Way (Thursday, 4/15/04)
The United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast has a $14 million deficit in its pension system which could affect employees as well as thousands of people in the region who rely on United Way services. Here's more from L. M. Sixel of the Houston Chronicle.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Retirement Special Report (Thursday, 4/15/04)
Here's an ambitious special section on retirement from the New York Times.

Inflation fears rekindled (Wednesday, 4/14/04)
The Consumer Price Index was up 0.5 percent in March. This, plus a big jump in retail sales during the same month, has investors worrying about interest rate increases.

Dell now has more employees overseas than in the United States (Wednesday, 4/14/04)
Michael Dell started his computer company twenty years ago or so in his University of Texas dorm room, saying that in a large, complex organization, nobody really knows what you're doing. Now, he heads one of the world's largest computer companies, and does seem to know what he's doing. He's been sending a lot of work out of the country, for one thing. Almost 52 percent of Dell's 46,000 employees work outside the United States. Here's more from Business Week.

Meanwhile, an opinion article in Forbes claims that there is much more that major companies could do to rebut criticism of outsourcing from TV's Lou Dobbs and others, but they continue to be too cautious.

The gay marriage issue at work (Wednesday, 4/14/04)
Stephanie Armour reports on the increased push to extend traditional worker benefits, such as healthcare, family leave, and so on, to gay couples.

Things are looking up for this year's crop of graduates (Wednesday, 4/14/04)
USA Today's Barbara Hagenbaugh says that a turnaround seems to be brewing in the job market for freshly-minted university graduates.

New Wal-Mart store draws thousands of job-seekers (Wednesday, 4/14/04)
A new Wal-Mart store in Glendale, Arizona is creating 525 jobs for which 8,000 people have applied. Here's more from Christine Romero of the Arizona Republic.

How much will they have to pay you in order to paint a target on your back? (Wednesday, 4/14/04)
Some Americans have been drawn to jobs in Iraq because of the high pay, but, as Andrew Jacobs and Simon Romero report, the dangers for American civilians working in Iraq have become nearly unprecedented.

Incidentally, until very recently, American officials have insisted that more U.S. troops are not needed for dealing effectively with the mess in Iraq, while, at the same time, the number of civilian private security people has been on the increase. These are not grandfatherly night-watchman types with badges, but, in many cases, former military personnel who are equipped like Rambo.

All this is to say that in order to avoid too many comparisons with America's escalation experience in Vietnam during a presidential election year, the Administration has been turning over quite a lot of the responsibility in Iraq to mercenaries. In part, this may be because of its enthusiasm for "privatizing," but it's almost certainly driven by a desire to avoid acknowledging that current policy hasn't been working, while all the time hoping that voters will tend to think "truck driver" or "construction worker," rather than "soldier" when they think "civilian employee."

Taxpayers' most common mistake (Wednesday, 4/14/04)
The improper calculation of the child tax credit is the most common error on this year's tax returns, according to the IRS. Many people are forgetting to subtract the $400 advance that 25 million American households already have received.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: HCUPnet (Wednesday, 4/14/04)
The United States Department of Health and Human Services maintains the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (KCUPnet), a tool for "identifying, tracking, analyzing, and comparing statistics on hospitals at the national, regional, and State level."

India begins to encourage entrepreneurs (Tuesday, 4/13/04)
There is a persistent self-serving myth in the United States that, while other countries may be good at the "grunt work" of manufacturing or service, hi-tech or otherwise, it takes American ingenuity to make the creative breakthroughs, and that's why, if Americans simply get enough education and keep their skills current, the U.S. won't have to worry much about fundamental economic competition from overseas. The operative word in the preceding super-sentence is "myth." For instance, David Lynch reports that the India is beginning to make things much easier for entrepreneurs now.

The dot-comedy lingers on (Tuesday, 4/13/04)
All the air hasn't been let out of the dot-com balloon quite yet, according to Michelle Kessler of USA Today. Some tech companies are still cutting staff.

Biz students increasingly focus on big pictures (Tuesday, 4/13/04)
The stereotype that MBA students are in school because of a single-minded pursuit of wealth is just that. Martha Irvine reports that the current reality, or, at least, the emerging reality, is quite different from the stereotype. In fact, an increasing number of young business wannabes have broad societal concerns, according to a survey conducted by the World Resources Institute.

Online help with your will (Tuesday, 4/13/04)
Many Americans end their lives without wills, which can leave a mess for descendants. Stacy Teicher reports on the various options available online for helping you produce a will, although caution is suggested. If what you've done isn't right and doesn't hold up, you won't be around to demand your money back from whatever online firm you've paid to help you.

The health concerns of the business traveler (Tuesday, 4/13/04)
Many business people spend a great deal of their time traveling. Patricia Olsen that there can be health hazards on most routes.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Business Travel Center (Tuesday, 4/13/04)
The Business Travel Center is where to go before you go, they say.

Democratic disagreement over new pension relief law (Monday, 4/12/04)
The new $80 billion pension relief bill, which has been signed into law by President Bush, split Senate Democrats because there have been large numbers of union members on both sides of the issue, according to David Espo in Washington.

Death toll rises in Russian mine explosion (Monday, 4/12/04)
The latest report is that more than 40 miners have died in that explosion in the Siberian coal mine. Some are still missing.

More layoffs at Dupont (Monday, 4/12/04)
Originally, it was reported that the big chemical company intends to cut 2,500 jobs, but now it seems that 3,500 are set to go.

Confidence and anxiety (Monday, 4/12/04)
A new survey finds that many corporate CEO are optimistic about the U.S. economy, while another finds that many executives are nervous about their own job security.

The NSA may be looking for you (Monday, 4/12/04)
Of course, if you want to be a spy, and they're having difficulty finding you, it may say something about the National Security Agency. Seriously, though, the super-secret hi-tech agency of the Defense Department wants to hire 7,500 of the right people, including those who are fluent in foreign languages. If you are fluent in Arabic, you might have to take care so as not to be trampled by people wanting to hire you.

You're either more or less likely to get audited by the IRS, depending... (Monday, 4/12/04)
...On whether you are an individual or a business. Fewer corporations are being audited now, but that may be because companies are less likely than individuals to ask for information or advice from Internal Revenue Service help centers.

Workplace religious discrimination complaints rise (Monday, 4/12/04)
Neal Learner in Washington reports that the number of religious discrimination complaints in work settings has increased by three-quarters during the past ten years. This may not be a measure of increased religiosity on the part of workers or of decreased sensitivity on the part of employers, but, instead, a measure of the increasing complexity of the problem.

At one time, it was possible for many Americans in relatively isolated regions of the American Midwest to pretend that the entire civilized world was, say, Lutheran, because they spent all their time with Lutherans. However, not only has geography become largely irrelevant in today's highly connected world, it's going to be harder for an American to believe that non-Christians are primitives, if his/her physician is a Muslim and his/her Ph.D. financial analyst is Buddhist.

There may still be more Jews in New York City than in Israel and more Irish in Boston than in Ireland, but, in addition to that, there has been a tremendous increase in the Islamic population in the United States, as well as increased numbers of Buddhists, and there are even more than 1.5 million Hindus in the U.S. now, according to recent data. Employers have a harder time satisfying and avoiding offense in a highly diverse workforce now than, say, when virtually everybody in the community as well as at the factory was Irish Catholic.

Incidentally, with all the attention Mel Gibson's movie is stimulating, it's easy to assume that American society is undergoing a major religious awakening, and that this makes the U.S. different from other parts of the world. First, on average, Americans have always been more religious, during modern times, at least, than, say, Europeans.

Nonetheless, there are a variety of indicators suggesting that a resurgence of religiosity has been going on in the United States, but, only those who have been under a rock during recent years will have failed to notice that Islam, for example, has been undergoing a major surge as well.

Also, while Islam and Christianity probably have been the most fervent international proselytizers over the centuries, as well as the most aggressive politically and militarily, American author Paul Courtright has stirred the wrath of many Hindus in India and elsewhere, some of whom either want him extradited for prosecution or want to kill him. Moreover, there certainly has been plenty of religious warfare in South Asia in recent years. Many ideas of ancient origin have undergone a resurgence, including ancient superstitions, some of which originated in the Middle East long before any of the three major monotheistic religions were born in that region. A lot is going on in the world.

We might hypothesize that, because change is a powerful stressor, many people throughout the world are trying to cope with it by reasserting familiar interpretations and symbols, particularly in those cases where ideologies have sufficiently ancient and perhaps obscure origins so as to seem unquestionable true, because "everybody" just knows they are. If I say something louder or more repetitively, it may make it seem more true somehow. During periods of rapid and fundamental change, the decibel level does seem to increase.

In an interconnected world in which geography is becoming increasingly irrelevant, it's important to look at things within large contexts and from expanded perspectives. Some years ago, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan pointed out that the increased teen pregnancy of the time, the increasing number of children born out of wedlock, the increase in the number of unmarried couples cohabiting, and so on, should not be interpreted as characteristic only of the United States. Instead, these appeared to be trends throughout much of the Western world, particularly within nations across the North Atlantic. Something larger and more important seemed to be going on than many Americans were suspecting at the time.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Things You Should Know About Telework (Monday, 4/12/04)
InteleWorks.com, a private consulting and training organization specializing in telecommuting, offers a few things they think you should know about telework.

President Bush signs new pension bill into law (Sunday, 4/11/04)
Under the new law, companies will save $80 billion in contributions to their pension plans over the next two years, while Congress works on permanent changes in pension law.

DuPont to cut 2,500 jobs (Sunday, 4/11/04)
According to David Gibson, president of Local 1186 of the International Brotherhood of DuPont Workers, the big chemical company intends to eliminate 2,500 jobs.

A shortage of foreign workers in the United States? (Sunday, 4/11/04)
Whatever the case in hi-tech or professional occupations, and to whatever extent American workers are losing jobs to workers in regions of the world where labor is much less expensive, there is growing concern that there will be a shortage of temporary foreign workers in the United States this summer. Here's more from Eduardo Porter in the New York Times.

China makes some products less expensive for Americans, some more (Sunday, 4/11/04)
In a land where hundreds of millions of people regard $2 per day as welcome pay, manufacturing plants are producing a wide range of products which Americans will buy in discount stores at what they regard as very low prices. At the same time, the booming Chinese economy's huge appetite for resources is driving up the price of steel throughout the world, meaning that Americans can expect to spend more on products that require it.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Cross Cultural Training Bibliography (Sunday, 4/11/04)
The College of William and Mary's Office of Career Services operates the William and Mary Career Services site.

For years, William and Mary and Harvard argued over which is the oldest college in the United States. However, it appears that W&M has conceded, judging from their description of themselves.

Is it harder to get into William and than the United States Senate? Probably not, but the College of William and Mary has been providing world-class higher educational opportunities for more than three centuries. Its campus is located at the end of the main street at Colonial Williamsburg near where Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, built one of the nation's first enlightened psychiatric hospitals. William and Mary is also where Thomas Jefferson studied the law for five years under George Wythe.

Twenty-two die in Russian coal mine explosion (Saturday, 4/10/04)
Over much of the world, coal mining is among the most dangerous of occupations, a fact that has been reinforced once again with a methane explosion in Siberia which has taken 22 lives, while trapping at least 25 other miners. Here's more from Steve Gutterman in Moscow.

Consumer confidence takes a big hit (Saturday, 4/10/04)
According to the AP-Ipsos index, consumer confidence declined significantly during the past month. Jeannine Aversa has details from Washington.

Fewer tech cuts (Saturday, 4/10/04)
Chicago's Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports that America's tech sector cut 29,513 jobs during the first quarter of this year, as opposed to the 82,328 cut during the preceding quarter.

Two important tax days are coming up next week (Saturday, 4/10/04)
Thursday is when your taxes are due, but tomorrow is the first day you begin working for yourself this year. Rachel Raskin-Zhihen of the Vallejo, California Times-Herald has more about "tax freedom day." If you think that figuring out what you owe and why is nearly as painful and paying, you're not alone. USA Today's Sandra Block writes that many Americans find tax laws to be complicated, difficult, and often irrational. Of course, laws that seem excessively complex, inconsistent, even contradictory, reflect that they are products of a democracy with its inevitable dealing and compromises. If you want legal wisdom, consistency, and clarity, forget about Election Day and join a country run by Plato's idealized philosopher kings, who never have been and never will be.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Cross Cultural Training Bibliography (Saturday, 4/10/04)
The Cross Cultural Training Bibliography is developed and maintained by Bill Weech.

Indian firm to send jobs to the U.S. (Friday, 4/9/04)
Giant Indian software company Infosys will create 500 consulting jobs in the United States to assist American firms with their plans for outsourcing jobs to India.

Meanwhile, as a sign of the times, Jon Kamman reports that the state of Arizona has set up call centers in India and Mexico to assist Arizonans with their welfare or food stamp questions. The Governor wants to change the policy so that these jobs will stay in the United States.

Pension relief bill heads toward the White House (Friday, 4/9/04)
A bill intended to keep many company-sponsored pension plans afloat while Congress works on long-term solutions has passed both the House and the Senate and is on its way to the President for his signature.

Japan's recovery may last this time (Friday, 4/9/04)
According to their definitional formulas, the world's second-largest economy has been in and out of recessions for more than a decade, which also means that there have been several recoveries that have started, but haven't lasted. This time may be different. There are signs that the current recovery may be real and durable, and that Japan's long struggle to repair its economy may be successful this time. Here's more from Todd Zaun in Tokyo.

Many Hispanics not taking advantage of tax-break opportunity (Friday, 4/9/04)
A new study has found that a majority of California Hispanic households surveyed are not receiving tax credits to which they are entitled. Juliana Barbassa reports that the EITC could save eligible households about $4,000 per year.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The New Americans (Friday, 4/9/04)
The New Americans is intended to complement the widely-acclaimed PBS series of the same name.

First-time jobless claims hit lowest level in more than three years (Thursday, 4/8/04)
Glenn Somerville reports from Washington that jobless claims last week hit their lowest level since mid-January 2001. Here's more on the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Consumer borrowing declines in February (Thursday, 4/8/04)
American consumers acquired more debt in January, but decreased debt in February. Here's more from Jeannine Aversa in Washington.

IBM to buy Indian outsourcing firm (Thursday, 4/8/04)
IBM will increase its Indian staff by 50 percent with its purchase of Daksh eServices, which employs 6,000 people

Meanwhile, H.J. Cummins reports that a new survey of 32 companies that have been outsourcing human resource functions finds that many are satisfied with the short-term cost savings, but dissatisfied with the quality of service.

Despite Democratic resistance, pension bill will pass the Senate (Thursday, 4/8/04)
Mary Dalrymple reports that Democrats have decided that they cannot stop the new pension bill in the Senate. The bill provides a new formula for calculating corporate pension contributions which would save companies an extra $80 billion.

More women enter high-pay occupations (Thursday, 4/8/04)
The Boston Globe's Kimberly Blanton reports that the number of American women earning $100,000 or more has tripled during the past ten years.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The New Georgia Encyclopedia (Thursday, 4/8/04)
The New Georgia Encyclopedia intends to become a comprehensive online resource covering hundreds of topics relating to the Peach State.

GAO finds majority of U.S. corporations don't pay taxes (Wednesday, 4/7/04)
Almost two-thirds of American companies found ways to avoid paying corporate taxes between 1996 and 2000. Here's more from Ryan Donmoyer of Bloomberg News.

Obsolete measures? (Wednesday, 4/7/04)
Tim Kane tells about why the Labor Department's 1939 labor survey gives a misleading picture of the U.S. economy in 2004.

Pay in another way (Wednesday, 4/7/04)
Ben White reports that, even though stock options as a major component of executive pay seem to be declining, total CEO pay has been on the rise.

Incidentally, many Americans still seem to be upset at how much many CEOs are paid, but they may be missing the principal issue, which probably doesn't have to do with HOW MUCH they're paid, but how the remuneration decisions are made. After all, for several years, A-list movie stars have been guaranteed $20 million per picture, plus a percentage, for work that usually requires 3-4 months of their time. Big-time athlete contracts totallying $125 million or more are not uncommon anymore. Even David Letterman is paid nearly $3 million PER MONTH for an hour of silly television five nights per week, with quite a few nights off per year. Also, it appears that Bill Gates is still the richest individual in the world, able to give away about as much per year as Oprah, one of the world's newest billionaires, has in total assets. Most Americans don't seem as upset about these pay levels as about highly publicized corporate CEO pay.

Who should decide what a product or service is worth? With some exceptions (e.g., the federal minimum wage, etc.), traditionally, buyer and seller in the United States have been free to agree on a price acceptable to themselves, and what they agree on is very much determined by the competitive market. A system in which a central authority--e.g., government--determines what sellers can offer and buyers can accept already has been tried in several totalitarian Communist countries during the 20th century, and it turned out to be one of history's most colossal failtures.

While there is some argument on this issue, many experts believe that the single most important factor in a corporation's success or failure is the CEO, and this is why talented senior managers have been so much in demand. There continues to be much competition for their services. Why should any of the rest of us care what stockholders are willing to pay for management if they're using their own money? We probably shouldn't, so long as their informed decisions are freely made. The problem in recent years hasn't been the AMOUNT that many CEOs have been paid, but that the process has been rigged in many cases.

Japan's conflicts over its gaijin (Wednesday, 4/7/04)
Japan's labor force is shrinking as its population ages. It's likely to need workers brought in from other countries if it is to have any hope of rekindling the "Japanese economic miracle" of years past. Moreover, many Asians want to come. However, Japan has been a relatively homogeneous society for as long as anyone can remember, and even though immigrants can become Americans in relatively short order, even foreigners living in Japan for decades will always be perceived as non-Japanese. Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun reports on the nation's reluctance to open its labor markets, which is likely to be a major topic of discussion at meetings with Thai officials this week and with Philippine officials next week.

What more money doesn't necessarily buy (Wednesday, 4/7/04)
Researchers at Dartmouth College have found that increased Medicare spending on medical specialists seems to be associated with diminished care.

Where do entrepreneurs come from? (Wednesday, 4/7/04)
Jim Hopkins says that there is much in Richard Branson's background to explain why he has become such a successful entrepreneur, but wonders if entrepreneurism is something that can be taught. Incidentally, in relation to Branson and his companies, one might also wonder if misogynists are born or made.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Building the Suburban Dream (Wednesday, 4/7/04)
After the long period of uncertainty and deprivation because of the Great Depression followed by the Second World War, many Americans regarded the three Levittowns as dreams, even though many architects thought they were nightmares. They marked the beginnings of suburban life in the 1950s when Americans were looking for a little relief and comfort.

Ironically, many younger people since have regarded the 1950s as a naive and innocent time, an idea that has been reinforced by many of the TV programs of the period that still run on late-night cable. However, the 1950s began with the grueling Korean War, and, only a few years before, every community and virtually every family had been touched by the least innocent events of all human history--the Nazis with their death camps and World War II. Americans were anything but innocent or naive during the 1950s, but they were exhausted.

That great hero of the Second World War, Dwight David Eisenhower, seemed to sense what Americans needed, and even allowed himself to be perceived as a doddering old man who was disengaged as president. However, given papers and other sources of information that have become available since his presidency, we now know that he was anything but disengaged behind the scenes. Much of the decade of the 1950s was a quiet, prosperous time when Americans tried to catch their breath with the help of their President who had been a major player in the events of the brutal decade of the 1940s.

The State Museum of Pennsylvania presents an online museum to help you recall a time when the Levittowns helped to define the suburban dream in the United States when peace, prosperity, and quiet family life were of special importance to so many Americans.

Job cuts you can bank on (Tuesday, 4/6/04)
The big merger of Bank of America with FleetBoston Financial Corporation has resulted in considerable redundancy, according to company executives. Twelve-thousand-five-hundred jobs will be sliced, but about two-thirds of them will be eliminated by attrition.

First injury, then insult? (Tuesday, 4/6/04)
Stephanie Armour reports that many American workers are being replaced by people from other countries, and some of them are finding that their last assignment is to train their own replacements.

Spreading the pain (Tuesday, 4/6/04)
Elizabeth Macdonald of Forbes magazine says that outsourcing can be painful for employers as well as the employees who lose their jobs.

Kerry's new battlefield (Tuesday, 4/6/04)
Democratic presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry says, if he moves to the White House, he will create 10 million new jobs in five years. Here's why some believe that his plan may become hopelessly snarled in international taxes.

Is an adjustment coming? (Tuesday, 4/6/04)
Business Week wonders if there is something wrong with the Bureau of Labor Statistics' new job statistics. Is it possible that things weren't as good as they seemed last month? Despite the encouraging job-creation numbers, public confidence in the economy seems to have slipped a bit. Nonetheless, even though many companies are still reluctant to hire to workers, layoff plans last month were at a nine-month low.

Employers search for ineligible family members (Tuesday, 4/6/04)
For whatever reason, cost-conscious companies are finding that many of their employees are keeping family members on their employer-sponsored health plans even after their eligibility has expired.

Japan moves its electronics sector upscale (Tuesday, 4/6/04)
Japan's economic leaders apparently have decided that conventional consumer electronics has become a commodity business that won't help the country's economy sustain its recovery. So, their focus has shifted to the high-end part of the electronics market. Here's more from Anthony Faiola in Kameyama, Japan

Hi-tech plagiarism detection moves to business (Tuesday, 4/6/04)
Many university professors have stopped assigning conventional term papers, because they can have no idea where the submitted documents really come from. A whole bogus papers industry has grown up on the Internet and another industry has developed to help academic personnel identify instances of plagiarism. May Wong reports that the technology is now widely used in business as well.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: New England Economic Indicators (Tuesday, 4/6/04)
New England Economic Indicators is published each month by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and covers both current and historical data from 1969 for six states in the New England region.

Bush wants to double the number of government-assisted job trainees (Monday, 4/5/04)
No, this doesn't mean that he wants to go from one to two. While the latest job numbers MAY make the President less vulnerable during the many lonnnnnnng months of election-year campaigning that still lie ahead, President Bush is still intending to do what he can to grab the initiative on what is likely to continue to be one of the major campaign issues. Scott Lindlaw has more about the President's proposal for helping Americans adapt to the new economy's demands. Pete Yost reports from Washington that the President will make his proposal today at a North Carolina community college. In general, according to Mary Vanis in the Arizona Republic, community colleges are playing a key role in preparing Americans for high-value jobs in the new economy.

Meanwhile, the Democratic presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry, is trying to turn the tables on the President by suggesting that Bush's spending plans will add $6 trillion to the deficit over the next ten years. In TV ads presently running in several states, the Bush campaign has been claiming that Kerry wants to raise taxes by $900 billion over ten years.

Whom should you believe? It's probably a good idea to ignore most campaign rhetoric and attempt to get independent information elsewhere, and also to remember that Nicolo Machiavelli's ideas and advice continue to influence virtually all sophisticated big-time political strategists. Some of the same ad agencies do attack ads for both Republican and Democratic candidates, and they know that the research shows that people tend to remember messages or incorporate them into their own interpretations longer than they remember where the messages came from. This helps explain why there are so many negative attack ads, although the legally-mandated "I have approved this message" has tapped the brakes to some extent.

At the moment, both campaigns are attempting to help voters define their own candidate as well as their opponent, and they won't mind if your attitudes are selective or distorted, as attitudes tend to be anyway. Your political leader isn't your minister or priest or rabbi or teacher or counselor or doctor or parent, but, instead, well, your politician, and politicians necessarily have to play a ruthless, "hardball" game.

If that bothers you or if you find it unacceptable, remember Winston Churchill's wisecrack about how democracy is the world's worst political system--except for all the others. It's the way it has always been, except that in American- or British- or Canadian- or Australian-style (etc., etc.) democracy, politicians say bad things about one another and try to propagandize you without too much regard for truth or fairness, rather than killing each other and their opposition's supporters. Given a sufficiently large perspective, despite its annoying shrillness, there is a sense in which campaign rhetoric is part of the sweet music of a vigorous democracy.

Too much reform? (Monday, 4/5/04)
At what point does the government move from preventing wrong-doing to interfering with the market's natural job? That point has been reached, according to many business leaders. Here's more from John Oslund And Patrick Kennedy of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

A partnership to assist minority farmers (Monday, 4/5/04)
The Washington Post's Anitha Reddy reports that a major hotel chain is teaming up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help minority farmers learn how to market more of their products to the hotel industry .

Being a CEO may be fun again (Monday, 4/5/04)
Glenn Rifkin reports that the revolving doors on top corporate management offices are beginning to spin at a lower rate again.

What's an "important" job? (Monday, 4/5/04)
Columnist Michelle Singletary says that her grandmother knew what the protagonist in Mitch Albom's new book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, didn't understand before he died: when it gets right down to it, work is work if it is useful and honest, and many people's jobs are more useful than they may think.

Ways to increase your chances of an audit (Monday, 4/5/04)
It's tax return season, and Carrie Coolidge of Forbes magazine has identified nine things that can easily gain the attention of the Internal Revenue Service. Moreover, it isn't just the IRS that is alert to signs of tax evasion. Martin Finucane tells about new software that state revenue agencies are using to identify you if you're trying to cheat them.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Tax Center (Monday, 4/5/04)
Yahoo's Tax Center provides nearly everything you need as well as what you need to know in order to prepare your tax returns and file online.

Will the Fed change its mind about rates? (Sunday, 4/4/04)
Interest rates are at their lowest level in 46 years, and until the new job numbers came out, many experts expected them to stay there until sometime next year. Now, they're not so sure.

Some boomers working on those construction crews may just stay on once the job is done (Sunday, 4/4/04)
During the 1960s, there were an enormous number of young people in the United States. Before long, there will be an enormous number of old people, and they'll be the same people. Darrin Schlegel writes that hospital administrators haven't missed noticing that the need for more hospital facilities will balloon as the aging population does the same. Hospital construction is going on nearly every place you look, according to Mr. Schlegel.

A price of productivity (Sunday, 4/4/04)
Worker productivity has been increasing at impressive rates in the United States, and that's a good thing for most Americans, because it means a higher overall standard of living. Higher productivity means that more is being done by fewer people. Part of the reason is that, after years of investing heavily in hi-tech gear without much effect, American business finally learned how to use the technology to increase worker efficiency. On the other hand, in addition to working smarter, many Americans also have been working harder, and longer. The Minneapolis Star Tribune's H.J. Cummins tells about the widespread burnout that has been occurring as a consequence.

The unreality of "The Donald's" reality show (Sunday, 4/4/04)
Donald Trump might be a candidate himself, maybe even a finalist, if there were a "reality" TV show for picking the "most boring person in the world." He may even be the sort of individual whom Oscar Wilde had in mind during the 19th century when he wrote about people who know "the price of everything and the value of nothing." Many of these are people who are willing to squander precious life in order to acquire excess expensive junk, as well as push other people around, of course.

Nonetheless, American TV viewers seem to have an insatiable voyeuristic appetite for watching the humiliation of their fellow human beings in dehumanizing situations. "The Apprentice" is a genuine hit, so much so that we may expect a spin-off--perhaps one in which we will be able to watch the torture of small animals.

What's unreal about "The Apprentice," other than the avaricious young people who aspire to emulate Donald so that they can show what people with no sense of value at all can do with essentially unlimited money? Well, for one thing, according to John Pain (sic), most bosses aren't as direct as Donald when they fire people. Moreover, in reality life, as opposed to reality television, people usually don't get a chance to beg before they're fired.

More hi-tech cheating (Sunday, 4/4/04)
Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times says that more employers than you may imagine are engaging in the illegal practice of "shaving" time from worker records.

Hey, boss, where am I and what am I doing? (Sunday, 4/4/04)
Workplace surveillance has gotten a lot more sophisticated. Here's more from Patti Bond in Atlanta.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Cost of a Bad Hire (Sunday, 4/4/04)
What does it really cost you to make a single bad hiring decision? Here's a calculator from Advantage Hiring to help you assess the cost of a bad hire.

Guess what--the candidates disagree (Saturday, 4/3/04)
Jennifer Loven reports that candidates Bush and Kerry are sparring over the meaning of the latest job creation figures. More than 300,000 new jobs were created in March, but, on the other hand, that's just one month and we don't know yet whether those rates are sustainable, but on the other hand, the numbers for January and February were also stronger than first estimated, but on the other hand, most of the new jobs are in the service sector and pay less than manufacturing jobs, which are showing no sign of recovery, but on the other hand...

House approves pension formula (Saturday, 4/3/04)
A temporary formula for calculating employer pension contributions was passed by the House yesterday. The new formula would save employers $80 billion over the next two years while Congress attempts to overhaul the pension system.

Pay freeze at Delta (Saturday, 4/3/04)
Delta Airlines has told many of it workers that there won't be any pay raises this year, because they're already among the highest paid personnel in their industry. Here's more from Lynne Marek in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Many information technology managers see outsourcing as a necessity (Saturday, 4/3/04)
While arguments rage, particularly during a presidential election year, David Bard reports that an increasing number of I. T. managers believe they have no choice but to send some kinds of work overseas, but it needs to be done intelligently, he says.

Workplace ministries (Saturday, 4/3/04)
According to a directory, there are more than twice as many groups engaged in workplace ministry as there were five years ago. Here's more from the New York Times' John Leland and religion at work in North America.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Forced Migration Review (Saturday, 4/3/04)
Oxford University's Refugee Studies Centre has published its Forced Migration Review three times per year in three languages since 1998, both in print and online, with the hope of improving policy and practice as these relate to refugees and internally displaced people.

Better than expected job growth last month (Friday, 4/2/04)
March was a good month for job creation with the best monthly numbers in almost four years. A total of about 308,000 new jobs were added to the economy. Here's more from Washington. Also, January and February were better than first estimated, bringing average monthly job growth for the first quarter of 2004 to 171,000.

At least one commentator believes that too much attention is given to a single month's reports, which probably won't tell economists anything they did not know already. Politically, though, the numbers are important, and one can be sure that there is some degree of rejoicing going on among Bush campaign strategists. In politics, perception is reality.

However, unemployment also increased by 0.1 percent during the month. Some think that a sufficient number of people have given up and quit looking, that the "real" unemployment rate is over 7 percent. With the relative strength of the job market during the first three months of this year, we might expect the official unemployment rate to rise as more people begin looking for work again. Moreover, many firms are likely to experience increased turnover as the job market gains strength. Many people are feeling burned out where they are--some taking frequent "mental health" days--and are likely to look for different jobs as soon as they believe that their chances are good.

The latest tech cuts (Friday, 4/2/04)
Sun Microsystems is expecting a huge quarterly loss, so has decided to eliminate 3,300 jobs. Meanwhile, troubled Gateway which has expanded from computers to consumer products such as digital cameras, has decided to get out of the retail store business. They will close all of their stores and cut nearly 40 percent of their workforce, which amounts to 2,500 jobs.

Optimism spreads among Japanese executives (Friday, 4/2/04)
Todd Zaun reports from Tokyo that Japanese business leaders are becoming more confident that the recovery of Japan's economy is real and strengthening.

Welfare bill snags on minimum wage issue (Friday, 4/2/04)
Despite strong bipartisan support, the U.S. Senate has set aside a major welfare bill. Democrats wanted but have been denied a separate vote on an amendment to increase the minimum wage.

The benefits of outsourcing (Friday, 4/2/04)
There seems to be little doubt that outsourcing is helping the Indian and Chinese economies, as well as those of other developing countries. Many experts believe that free trade is a win-win proposition which will benefit everybody who participates in it. As a consequence, they expect that outsourcing of U.S. jobs to other regions will benefit the U.S. economy as well, at least in the long run. However, during a presidential election year, you may not hear too many political leaders saying it. MIT economist Frank Levy tries to put outsourcing into historical perspective. You can read his remarks online in the Wall Street Journal, but you must be a subscriber.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Fatal Occupational Injuries to Government Workers (Friday, 4/2/04)
Stephen Pegula of the Bureau of Labor Statistics examines the cases of the 6,455 government workers who died from work-related injuries between 1992 and 2001.

U.S. factories get busier (Thursday, 4/1/04)
March was a better month for American factories. In other economic news, jobless claims declined last week, but construction did too, according to Jeannine Aversa in Washington.

India surpasses China (Thursday, 4/1/04)
Not in total population; at least, not yet. However, during the fourth quarter of 2003, the Indian economy grew at an annualized rate of 10.4 percent, which made it the fastest growing in the world, at least during that quarter. China's economy has been the world's fastest growing overall for several years.

More good news about outsourcing (Thursday, 4/1/04)
If your job has been sent to India recently, perhaps you're ready for some good news. Despite the great public attention given to "offshroring" during a presidential election year--which we had something to do with stimulating, apparently--there may be paradoxical reason to believe that its long-term effects will be beneficial to the American economy, as well as American workers. At least, that's what a new report commissioned by the Information Technology Association of America asserts.

Treasury looks at Kerry's tax ideas (Thursday, 4/1/04)
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's tax proposals have been examined by career employees in the Department of the Treasury after attorneys in the department decided that such actions were not illegal. Here's more from Mary Dalrymple in Washington.

The workplace vulnerability of young women (Thursday, 4/1/04)
The Minneapolis Star Tribune's H.J. Cummins writes about how the very young are often targets of overt sexual harassment.

University entrepreneurship programs gain stature (Thursday, 4/1/04)
Famous universities have had a reputation as places where professors either try to clone themselves, or, if they are business professors, try to pretend that they're training only the next generation of Fortune 500 company executives. At the big schools, small business has been left out traditionally, as have people who intend to start their own businesses. However, times have changed. For instance, Harvard now celebrates its entrepreneurship program. Still, it's important to select your school carefully, according to Julie Flaherty.

Incidentally, not all entrepreneurs are nearer the beginning of their lives than the end. Here are older workers who have traded one boss for another--themselves.

Finally, the glass is slightly more than half full (Thursday, 4/1/04)
"Money talks, but it don't sing or dance," according to that great economist, Neil Diamond. Maybe high school seniors are more interested in singing and dancing. Jeannine Aversa reports that students still display fairly dismal understanding of the dismal science, as well as personal finance, even though things seem to be improving ever so slightly.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Worklore: Brooklyn Workers Speak (Thursday, 4/1/04)
Brooklyn workers speak for themselves in Worklore, which also offers an opportunity to compare work in the Big City borough during the late 19th century with work in the early 21st century.

Here are NewWork News stories from previous months

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