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The Federal Reserve does as expected (Wednesday, 6/30/04)
The Fed's Open Market Committee has raised the federal funds rate a quarter point to 1.25 percent. It's the first time that the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates in four years.

Is the increase likely to be disruptive or significantly change the direction of the American economy? Highly unlikely, according to Nell Henderson in Washington. Mark Landler writes from Frankfurt that other countries' central banks aren't likely to take any responsive action. Overall, the Fed's latest action is expected to generate a collective yawn.

Consumer confidence rises (Wednesday, 6/30/04)
The Conference Board's closely-watched measure of consumer confidence has reached its highest point in two years this month.

Saudi officials try to reassure oil workers (Wednesday, 6/30/04)
It's common knowledge in the Middle East and elsewhere that there are smart people who are willing to use violence against Americans and others in order to drive the American-led coalition from Iraq and prevent the development of a U.S.-friendly democratic government in that country. It's also common knowledge that like-minded people would like to destroy or at least further isolate Israel and also bring down the oppressive Saudi monarchy to which the Western industrial democracies have remained close for decades.

If these revolutionary forces are successful, it could mean that three adjacent countries and their oil--Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Iran--could be under the control of ideologues who hate the West and modernism in general, as well as the United States in particular. This could mean a tremendous disruption of the global economy, which, when combined with attacks within the various industrial democracies themselves, could result in a major redirection of global politics and economics, which is to say, a redirection of world history.

Other industrial economies are more dependent on Mideast oil than the United States, so, while Americans might have to try to get used to $10 or $15 gasoline, it's unlikely that most would have to park their cars, shut off the lights, and shut down their businesses altogether. However, in an increasingly integrated world, everybody, including Americans, would be profoundly affected.

The Saudi state oil company employs about 7,000 foreign workers, fewer than 20 percent of whom are Americans. Still, recent violence has driven some foreign workers out of the country, and there are growing security concerns. Saudi Aramco's President says that oil workers are being protected, and despite the loss of some foreigners, oil production has not been affected so far. Nearly 90 percent of the company's work force is made up of Saudis, not foreigners.

What sort of company will Wal-Mart become? (Wednesday, 6/30/04)
Constance Hays says that the world's largest retailer is being pulled in multiple directions, which the new class-action discrimination suit helps make clear.

Sara sends out pink slips (Wednesday, 6/30/04)
Sara Lee is intends to cut 306 jobs in the Dallas, Houston and San Antonio areas by closing two bakeries and trimming production elsewhere.

Why Malaysia needs to make the invisible "K-economy" visible (Wednesday, 6/30/04)
J. Phang writes in Malaysia's The Star about how the knowledge economy has been working its way globally for years, but in a manner that has remained largely unseen by Malaysian workers and managers. He says that it's time to increase awareness for the good of his country and its companies.

Many workers would like to give their two cents worth about scents (Wednesday, 6/30/04)
Climate-controlled offices with sealed windows can mean more vulnerability to scents and allergic reactions. The International Herald Tribune reports from Paris that the use of colognes and other scents has become a major issue in the modern white-collar workplace.

Can you do more things than you think you can do? (Wednesday, 6/30/04)
The Chicago Tribune's syndicated career columnist, Carol Kleiman, says that many people overlook transferable skills when they seek new employment.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Global Poverty and Development Economics (Wednesday, 6/30/04)
Here are many suggested references on Global Poverty and Development Economics from the famed Washington D.C.-based Brookings Institution.

Will you live long enough to see interest rates where they still are today? (Tuesday, 6/29/04)
Not if you don't plan on living another fifty years or so, according to many experts. The long-term trend for interest rates has been down since 1980, but don't expect that to be the case again anytime soon. The Federal Reserve is expected to set the nation's economy on a new course tomorrow.

If you're a member of a family that is drowning in debt, watch out, because your pain is likely to be increasing soon. Here's more from the New York Times' Louis Uchitelle from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

More indications that the U.S. economy continues to strengthen (Tuesday, 6/29/04)
Most of the closely-watched indicators are showing an economy that continues to build strength, but what about indicators that aren't so closely watched? They're telling essentially the same story, according to Matt Krantz of USA Today.

Auto workers strike in South Korea (Tuesday, 6/29/04)
Nationwide strikes have swept through South Korea's automotive industry. Here's more from Seoul.

The talks must go on (Tuesday, 6/29/04)
No, no, no, that's not it. It's the SHOW that must go on. Michael Kuchwara writes from New York that Broadway's shows are continuing, but labor talks aren't, at least for the moment.

In other labor news, workers at United Airlines are in a depressed mood following their company's failure to obtain federal assistance. More job cuts are likely to be in their future, they fear. Here's more from Dave Carpenter in Chicago.

Unemployment declines in Japan (Tuesday, 6/29/04)
May's unemployment rate in Japan slipped to 4.6 percent, the lowest in four years.

One reason consumer spending was higher in May (Tuesday, 6/29/04)
Well, yes, American consumers DID buy more last month, but they paid more for it too. The Commerce Department says that half of the rise in consumer spending was because of higher prices, something that probably hasn't escaped notice at the Federal Reserve. However, at least one Fed president wouldn't advocate going overboard with "inflation phobia." He thinks that we need to be concerned with the possibility of deflation in the new economy too.

Guess what happened while you weren't looking (Tuesday, 6/29/04)
In fact, many of you STILL aren't looking. Ron Scherer reports that, even though hiring has been on the increase, many people who essentially gave up and dropped out of the labor market during the worst of the job slump, apparently haven't heard that things have improved.

There's always a delay in public awareness once economic conditions begin improving, and, since perception is reality in politics, the President's campaign is hoping that many voters get the message before early November. Of course, one might say "It's NOT the economy this time, stupid!," because this may be the first foreign policy presidential election in a long time. Some big-timers in the Bush campaign are saying off the record that if things go well in Iraq, Bush will win. If they don't, he will lose. Economics may not be the determining factor this time.

Things are looking much more iffy for Republicans in a number of Congressional races, and, whatever happens in the presidential race, there is some slight chance that the Democrats could regain control of Congress this fall, with the Senate more likely than the House.

Bill Clinton, who, like Richard Nixon, is a brilliant analyst and probably at his best when he doesn't have to be in charge of anything that can be influenced by his personal quirks, has been saying fairly nice things on his book tour lately about President Bush's decisions in Iraq--unlike many of the puerile "Michael Moore Democrats." Since most major figures in the Clinton administration seemed to agree that Saddam was a pestilence in one of the most dangerous parts of the world and also seemed to believe during the late 1990s that he had WMD, this might not be surprising.

On the other hand, if you were Senator Hillary Clinton's career advisor, wouldn't you be MOST happy if the Democrats were to regain control of Congress and President Bush were re-elected? We'll leave it to your imagination to decide why this might be the case.

And, oh yes, you will remember that the Clintons during the Democratic primaries threw their support behind a candidate who was the most Republican of the Democrats and who probably had zero chance of winning the nomination. Is there any chance that they knew that? Of course, if their strategy really is as we're speculating, it will be very important for them not to give that appearance, because it would certainly end Senator Clinton's presidential possibilities if Democrats were to blame the Clintons for a John Kerry defeat in the fall.

Guess which Americans are buying a lot of homes (Tuesday, 6/29/04)
Janet Frankston writes for the Cox News Service from Atlanta, and reports that single African American women make up the second-largest group of home buyers in the United States. Moreover, single women are far more likely to buy homes than single men. Atlanta is a particularly interesting example, because it has a very large community of highly-educated middle- and upper-middle-class technical, managerial, and professional African Americans, a development that might have been surprising to many people in the Atlanta of the Old South.

A youngster on behalf of oldsters (Tuesday, 6/29/04)
Now that one-time Berkeley grad student and activist Jack Weinberg is in his mid-60s, does he trust anybody over thirty? In fact, should he trust anybody 40 or younger at this point? Jim Miller is 40 and has hit it big with his "Savvy Senior" column, which appears in 400 newspapers. He's also a regular on TV and has a book coming out--all this a quarter century before his own 65th birthday.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: National Institute on Aging (Tuesday, 6/29/04)
The National Institute on Aging is one of the National Institutes of Health and part of the Department of Health and Human Services

Spendy consumers (Monday, 6/28/04)
Two-thirds of the American economy is made up of consumer spending. The Commerce Department happily reports that consumer spending is at a two-year high.

Ratification at Saturn (Monday, 6/28/04)
With their approval of a new contract at the Spring Hill, Tennessee Saturn plant, workers have brought about an historic change in their union's relationship with General Motors.

More sucking up in China (Monday, 6/28/04)
China's booming economy has been sucking up energy and raw materials at rates that have been alarming many people throughout the world. Now, the Washington Times reports that, for the first time, China is attracting more foreign investment than the United States.

Survey says ADA hasn't helped (Monday, 6/28/04)
If the purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act has been to improve the lives of persons with disabilities, it has been a failure, according to results of a new survey conducted by the National Organization on Disability.

Fed official sees ongoing momentum (Monday, 6/28/04)
The President of the Kansas City Federal Reserve likes the look of America's economic numbers. Here's Business Week's brief interview with him.

Meanwhile, is it possible that the Federal Reserve will surprise the experts on Wednesday? Columnist Mathew Ingram of Toronto's Globe and Mail tells what forecasters are expecting when it comes to interest rate increases, and why the Fed's actions may be different this week.

Would 007 be "licensed to hack" in 2004? (Monday, 6/28/04)
Ben Berkowitz writes from Los Angeles about "Hacker College," what it takes to become a Certified Ethical Hacker, and why the word "ethical" is in its title.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Money Matters (Monday, 6/28/04)
Here's the Money Matters page from Senior Journal.com.

McCain supports naturalization (Sunday, 6/27/04)
Arizona's Senator John McCain spoke to a group of Hispanic leaders yesterday and said that it's time that the U.S. recognizes the importance to the American economy of undocumented workers and allows them an opportunity to become American citizens.

The perils of wrestling with a giant (Sunday, 6/27/04)
Jonathan Glater says that the plaintiffs and the lawyers representing them have plenty of hurdles to overcome in their big discrimination suit against Wal-Mart. The world's largest retailer is likely to be able to afford more lawyers than nearly anybody else, so it may be futile to bring a small case against them. If you're going to sue a giant, it's important that it be a big enough suit to make a huge, resource-rich law firm's partners salivate.

As a consequence, the current suit is a BIG one, maybe the biggest discrimination suit in American history. Nonetheless, it's far from a done deal from the plaintiffs' point of view. Mr. Glater has been talking to legal experts, some of whom have told him that the lawyers bringing the suit will have to keep it very simple.

Meanwhile, columnist Amy Joyce says that the big suit against Wal-Mart is bringing wage-gap issues back to the surface for all employers.

For many executives, it still pays to leave (Sunday, 6/27/04)
Bruce Meyerson writes from New York that parting can be such SWEET sorrow, even if it requires last-minute reinterpretations to make it so. Here's more about some of those big severance deals.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics (Sunday, 6/27/04)
What does it mean? Here's a glossary of international economics terms from University of Michigan economics professor Alan Deardorff.

German biz sentiment droops (Saturday, 6/26/04)
The closely-watched Ifo index of business sentiment fell for the second month in a row last month. Germany's economy is Europe's largest and the world's third-largest.

Why Alan isn't necessarily worry-free (Saturday, 6/26/04)
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve has been fairly sanguine in his public statements lately, but Business Week discusses some reasons why he might be experiencing at least a little anxiety about the U.S. economy during his private moments.

The downside of many of the new jobs (Saturday, 6/26/04)
Many of the jobs being created by the American economy now lack health benefits, and that's causing heartburn among people who run HMOs as well as many investors.

Helping minority entrepreneurs (Saturday, 6/26/04)
Ford Motor Company is teaming up with several academic institutions in order to develop an entrepreneurship curriculum to increase the likelihood that businesses established by African Americans will succeed. Meanwhile, a national meeting in Phoenix is focusing on how to remove some of the obstacles to Hispanic entrepreneurial success.

How are those corporate diversity programs doing? (Saturday, 6/26/04)
Not so well, in the opinion of many workers. A new study conducted by the National Urban League finds that fewer than a third of workers surveyed are impressed with their employers' diversity programs.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Russia's Economy (Saturday, 6/26/04)
Here is a collection of articles dealing with Russia's economy from The Economist magazine.

Norwegian government stops oil strike (Friday, 6/25/04)
An eight-day strike of Norwegian oil workers has been terminated by Norwegian government authorities in the wake of fears that oil supplies from the world's third-largest exporter could have shut down completely.

Growth numbers revised downward, inflation upward (Friday, 6/25/04)
It turns out that the U.S. economy grew more slowly during the first quarter than originally estimated, and inflation was greater. Slower growth should mean that the Fed won't raise interest rates very quickly, while higher inflation suggests that they will, so stay tuned. However, given that Alan Greenspan has been seen by some as an inflationphobe over the years, Federal Reserve analysts may be more moved by the inflation numbers.

Did the bosses know? (Friday, 6/25/04)
Lawyers representing plaintiffs in the big sex-discrimination suit against Wal-Mart will claim that company executives were not left in the dark about their own employment policies.

Consumers more confident this month (Friday, 6/25/04)
The University of Michigan's measure of consumer sentiment has risen to 95.6 in June from a 90.2 a month earlier.

France expected to do better (Friday, 6/25/04)
France has revised its economic growth estimates for the year. Instead of the 1.7 percent rate of growth expected earlier, forecasters now are saying that the French economy should grow at about 2.3 percent, which would be the highest rate since the year 2000.

Health care cost increases decline in Houston area (Friday, 6/25/04)
No, health costs have not declined, just the rate of increase. Still, it's good news. Instead of increasing at a rate that would double health care costs in about 5.8 years, as was the case last year, now costs are increasing at a rate that would double them in about 9.5 years. In the meantime, you'll probably be paying a larger proportion of the costs and your employer a smaller proportion. Here's more from Anjali Athavely.

Another government-run lottery (Friday, 6/25/04)
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has announced that the Administration will select 50,000 persons who will begin getting Medicare prescription drug coverage early. Ah, we really don't know why either.

Poll finds nearly three-way split on gay health benefits issue (Friday, 6/25/04)
According to a new poll, a third of employers surveyed indicate that they would extend health care benefits to same-sex couples following a ruling by a Massachusetts court. About 40 percent said they would not, and approximately 30 percent indicated that they weren't sure yet.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Is Your Job Going Offshore? (Friday, 6/25/04)
Is Your Job Going Offshore? is a site that claims to examine the effect of globalization on your career. It offers articles as well as forums to enable "members" and "guests" to exchange ideas and opinions.

Settlement at IBM (Thursday, 6/24/04)
The huge computer company has settled 50 lawsuits with former plant workers. Details of the settlements have not been disclosed.

Lockout in Norway? (Thursday, 6/24/04)
CNN reports from Oslo that the current oil strike is making employers think about locking out all workers from offshore oil platforms.

Wal-Mart will want to settle case quickly, expert says (Thursday, 6/24/04)
Kurt Barnard says that the world's largest retailer has every reason for wanting to settle the big class-action suit as soon as possible, and that it is likely to lead to major policy changes within the company as well as its competitors.

Jobless claims exceed expectations (Thursday, 6/24/04)
First-time jobless claims rose more last week than expected. Here's more about the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

"Offshoring" not popular among Canadian executives (Thursday, 6/24/04)
According to a recent survey, most of the more than 600 executives surveyed in Canada say that they are not prepared to send jobs overseas. Meanwhile, the Duluth News Tribune reports that Northwest Airlines employees are being warned not to engage in an informational picketing campaign in order to criticize their employer's outsourcing policies. Finally, a research and consulting firm in the U.S. is saying that the outrage over outsourcing will disappear within a couple of years.

No more food stamps (Thursday, 6/24/04)
No, it won't be the end of the service for persons who qualify, but it will be the end of the paper coupons. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has announced that the whole system is going electronic. Beneficiaries will carry debit cards inside of stamps.

Ambitioiusness is good, subtlety is good, author advises (Thursday, 6/24/04)
Teresa McAleavy interviews consultant and author Howard Goldman about his upcoming book, The Death of Loyalty, which will be published in 2005. Among other things, he offers suggestions for coping with outsourcing and layoffs.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Labor Cost Calculator (Thursday, 6/24/04)
What will it cost you to complete a project? North Carolina State University's William Deluca can help you answer that question with his Labor Cost Calculator.

Inflation in China (Wednesday, 6/23/04)
China's surging economic growth has been pushing prices up. Forbes has the latest on the most populous country's inflation problem, which government authorities are saying is still manageable.

Quantity, but is there quality? (Wednesday, 6/23/04)
The Bush campaign wants you to think about the rate at which the U.S. economy finally seems to be creating jobs, but the Kerry campaign would like you to wonder about how good those new jobs really are. Here's more from Jonathan Weisman and Nell Henderson of the Washington Post.

What do Martha Stewart and Wal-Mart have in common? (Wednesday, 6/23/04)
You already know about the business relationship between Martha and Kmart, but Stewart and Wal-Mart? No, it's not a business relationship and really no relationship at all, but, both ARE big targets. Shawn McCarthy of Toronto's Globe and Mail tells why we shouldn't be surprised that it is the world's largest retailer that has been slammed with the largest class-action discrimination suit in American history. At the very least, making Wal-Mart the target, however much it might be deserved, will certainly capture the attention of other retailers and make them take a close look at their own employment policies.

Wal-Mart has been sued a lot lately, and, given its huge profits, may consider legal fees and any awards that it has to pay out as simply costs of doing business. However, the latest suit, brought on behalf of more than 1.6 million current and former employees, may be different, although, given the company's enormous profits, it's unlikely to cause any fatal damage to Wal-Mart's finances. PR could be another matter, though. The Minneapolis Star Tribune's Melissa Levy and Adrienne Baker examine Wal-Mart's suffering image.

Less welfare, but not more marriage (Wednesday, 6/23/04)
Politicians and others who have been waiting for welfare reform to encourage more couples to stay together and tie the knot legally will have to wait a bit longer. New research published in Demography indicate that welfare reform hasn't produced more two-parent families.

Profiting from the nonprofitable (Wednesday, 6/23/04)
Mary Dalrymple reports from Washington that the Internal Revenue Service is more than curious about the levels of compensation enjoyed by people who head some of the 3 million tax-exempt organizations in the United States.

The IRS also wants to encourage corporate whistleblowers to tell them about tax-cheating employers. Legislation is being proposed that would provide substantial rewards to people who turn in their bosses. Similar encouragement is provided in Europe. Here's more from Doreen Carvajal in Paris for the International Herald Tribune.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Purple Ocean (Wednesday, 6/23/04)
The Internet makes it possible for people to get in touch with one another over huge areas, and, in fact, establish new kinds of communities. Purple Ocean, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, sees itself as a radically new way of organizing workers.

Huge class action suit certified (Tuesday, 6/22/04)
The world's largest retailer is facing what lawyers for the plaintiffs say is the largest civil rights class action lawsuit in U.S. history. The suit alleges that Wal-Mart has been discriminating against 1.6 million women employees.

Success seen in slowing the Chinese economy (Tuesday, 6/22/04)
Government officials in Beijing have been attempting to tap the brakes without slamming on them in order to cool an overheating economy just a bit. It's the sort of operation that's always delicate, because, rather than slowing slightly, the hot Chinese economy could over-respond. However, China's prime minister feels that a "soft landing" is looking increasingly probable.

Here are some Americans who feel they have more to worry about than the "offshoring" of U.S. jobs (Tuesday, 6/22/04)
Minnesota farmers are more worried about international competition for markets for agricultural products, particularly from Brazil. Here's more from Minneapolis.

Germans become somewhat more confident (Tuesday, 6/22/04)
A closely watched confidence index from the ZEW economic research institute has risen for the first time in six months, suggesting that Germans are expecting that their economy is improving. Many are still skeptical, though.

Overtime for part-timers? (Tuesday, 6/22/04)
Japan's Labor Ministry wants to require employers to pay part-time workers more for overtime work.

Advice to a career-changing engineer (Tuesday, 6/22/04)
Columnist Amy Lindgren advises an experienced electrical engineer who believes that career prospects will be better in construction management.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Chicago Metropolis 2020 (Tuesday, 6/22/04)
In the broad span of history, an event of 200 years ago is really like about a week ago Thursday. A stroll through somebody's living room in Pompeii, Italy, which was last occupied by the family that owned the house on August 24, AD 79, tends to put America's brief history into perspective. It may still seem as though that ancient Roman family has just stepped out for a few minutes and will return soon to wonder who in hell these strangers are and why they're wandering through their house.

At the time of the first U.S. Census in 1790, Philadelphia was the largest city in the United States with a population of about 28,000, essentially equal to the number of students that the University of Wisconsin system graduated in 2002. Similarly, when Abraham Lincoln was practicing law in Illinois, Chicago's population was fewer than 30,000 people, about twice the size of little Jamestown, North Dakota today, and there are Americans still living who have talked to people who knew the Lincolns in Springfield.

If you have visited or even tried to drive through the Chicago metropolitan region lately, you will know that things have changed profoundly during what really is a brief period of time. The Commercial Club of Chicago presented an influential plan for the city's development in 1909, and has developed a new plan recently. Here's what the Club envisions for the Chicago metropolis in 2020.

No term limits for him (Monday, 6/21/04)
A favorite Republican of both Republican and Democratic presidents, Alan Greenspan has been Chairman of the Federal Reserve for nearly 17 years. He's in his late 70s now, but doesn't appear to be slowing particularly. He begins his fifth term as head of the Fed today.

The increase in job insecurity for women (Monday, 6/21/04)
One commentator has called it the first "equal-opportunity recession." Whatever you call it, it appears that job security for women has been decreasing recently for the first time in years. Here's more from Alexandra Marks of the Christian Science Monitor.

A slight shortfall? (Monday, 6/21/04)
Many American pension plans are underfunded. In fact, the latest government data indicate that pensions are short $278 billion overall. However, that's a 9 percent decrease from the previous year.

Actually, concern about adequate financing for retirement isn't just an American thing. A survey conducted by the Principal Financial Group finds considerable pessimism about retirement funds in eight countries around the world.

Increased income makes Hispanic market more attractive (Monday, 6/21/04)
Brian Winter writes from Chicago about how American banks are stepping up efforts to woo Hispanic customers.

Helping the giving (Monday, 6/21/04)
Shannon Buggs reports that, while many people are more concerned about maintaining their pension and health benefits, some persons, as well as the nonprofits they have been supporting, need help in maintaining the continuity of their philanthropic activities . The collapse of Enron is offered as an example of how an entire community and its nonprofit sector can be affected.

Meanwhile, Stacy Teicher reports that charitable contributions are finally beginning to pick up as the economy's growth picks up.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Percent Change Calculator (Monday, 6/21/04)
The Percent Change Calculator from NewsEngin offers a very quick and simple way to determine how much any numerical amount has increased or decreased.

The jury's still out on Russia (Sunday, 6/20/04)
There is a sense in which the 19th century really ended for Europe in 1914 with the start of World War I. Within only a few years, several aristocratic families which had dominated European politics for centuries were gone from power, and a new European order was established. It was highly unstable equilibrium, though, and after an interregnum of only two decades, an even more devastating war engulfed, not only Europe, but most of the rest of the world. Among the families that were swept from power were the Romanoffs in Russia. Suddenly, the Russian monarchy was gone. In its place, the Soviet Union was established, which would last for nearly seventy-five years.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a question that has been more than interesting, given Russia's effect on the world over the past century, has been whether people who had been under the domination of an autocratic monarchy for centuries followed by three-quarters of a century of totalitarian Soviet rule can develop a genuine democracy and free-market economy. In recent years, many observers have seen a diminution of democracy after its initial promise, and Timothy O'Brien says that capitalism is still very much on trial too. Stay tuned.

Cambodia's uncertain economic future (Sunday, 6/20/04)
Miranda Leitsinger tells how the scheduled expiration of American trade privileges threatens to upset the Cambodian textile industry and scramble the lives of the people who work in it. Following a very painful modern history, the country's garment industry has been energizing its economy during recent years, and Cambodia has developed a strong reputation because of its anti-sweatshop efforts.

Snow expects more job growth (Sunday, 6/20/04)
The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury expects more new jobs to be created in the coming months. Here's more from William Mann in Washington.

Chao arrives in China tomorrow for talks (Sunday, 6/20/04)
U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is hoping that her talks with Chinese government officials will help insure that work conditions will "keep pace with" China's high rates of economic growth.

Many American seniors benefit from expected Fed action (Sunday, 6/20/04)
Tom Petruno of the Los Angeles Times writes about interest rate increases and how these are helping older Americans who depend on interest income to cover living expenses.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Globalisation Guide (Sunday, 6/20/04)
The Globalisation Guide from the Australian Apec Study Centre at Monash University in Melbourne has been prepared by people who believe that globalisation is a force for good in the world, but they attempt to provide information and arguments both pro an con.

Ralphs may face charges (Saturday, 6/19/04)
Ralphs Grocery Company is under investigation by federal authorities for allegedly employing locked-out workers during the recent 4 1/2-month labor conflict.

Free zone for outsourcing (Saturday, 6/19/04)
The Dubai Outsource Zone is intended to assist outsourcing companies and benefit both the local and regional economy. Here's more from Melbourne's The Age.

Stand by for re-entry (Saturday, 6/19/04)
Stephanie Armour writes about the difficulty that many American veterans of the Iraqi conflict are having when they return to civilian life.

The stress of not being in synch (Saturday, 6/19/04)
Marilyn Gardner writes about work schedules that challenge the whole family's circadian rhythms.

Tips for grads (Saturday, 6/19/04)
Writing in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, consultant Sue Morem has some workplace and career-related advice for graduating seniors and anyone else who wants to make the best of their career opportunities in a highly competitive market.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Trade-Related Issues (Saturday, 6/19/04)
The author of the Trade-Related Issues page from the Global Issues website attempts to make a case for the "misconceptions and unfairness in the current model for global trading."

South Korea seeks to stimulate its economy (Friday, 6/18/04)
Agence France-Presse reports that the South Korean government wants to dump $4 billion of additional funds into its economy this year in an effort to prime the pump and turn up the heat, to mix metaphors a bit.

A big UK bank organization intends to make itself a bit smaller (Friday, 6/18/04)
HSBC intends to cut 3,500 jobs, most at its London headquarters.

Hard times continue for American minorities (Friday, 6/18/04)
Sue Kirchhoff writes in USA Today that many of America's minorities haven't felt the benefits of recent economic growth. For instance, African American teens had an unemployment rate of 32.5 percent during the month of May.

A half-empty, half-full kind of story (Friday, 6/18/04)
Are American pensions in desperate shape? Well, yes and no. The Washington Post's Albert Crenshaw finds reason for alarm in the latest report from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, while Susan Cornwell looks at the same data and reports that the situation eased a bit in 2003.

Incidentally, beginning many years ago, the great Peter Drucker was writing about "American capitalism without capitalists," meaning that, while it was true that a few people with lots of money were funding American business during the late years of the 19th century and early part of the 20th, that's no longer been the case recently. The proportion of the American population with money in the stock market has increased tremendously over the past several decades, but, for many, it's because their pension money has been invested in the market. It may seem like delicious irony that we would like to be able to tell Marx about that American workers, through their pension funds, largely have been financing American business for years. But, what happens if pensions disappear? We don't know either.

Who's rich and who's poor in India; well, here's who's rich, anyway (Friday, 6/18/04)
According to the World Wealth Report that was released a few days ago, 61,000 Indians qualify as "high net worth individuals". India is the second most populous nation in the world with more than a billion people. More than one-third of the earth's population live in two countries: India and China. Slightly fewer than five percent of the world's people live in the United States.

Speaking of India, Business Standard reports that Infosys has announced that it is building the world's largest corporate training center and they expect it to be operating by October of this year. Infosys is a hi-tech giant that has been heavily involved in the "offshoring" controversy that has been raging in the United States and Western Europe.

Economist Joseph Schumpeter had a flair with words and is the person credited with the term "creative destruction" which has been resurrected lately in relation to outsourcing issues. Not to worry, it's just one of the things that free economies are free to do. Out with the old, in with the new. Jobs are being sent from Western Europe and the United States to regions of the world where people are willing to work for far less. That doesn't mean that Europeans and Americans won't have jobs in the long-run (during which we will all be dead, according to John Maynard Keynes).

However, the modern study of economics, including the concept of "economics," really isn't very old. It started with the growing influence of nation-states as well as the emphasis on individuality that came about with the American Revolution and other cultural changes that were brewing at about the same time. In fact, Adam Smith's seminal Wealth of Nations was published in 1776, of all years. Over the years since, the social systems that economists have been trying to explain have changed enormously in many ways. Just about the time some economic theorists seem to get a handle on how the system works, it becomes a much different kind of system, leading us to wonder if old concepts will still apply under dramatically different conditions.

At least three things might concern us about economics today. First, it appears that "information" has become one of the principal factors in production, and traditional economic theory doesn't know what to do with it. Unlike capital, natural resources, and labor, for instance, it doesn't seem to follow the same rules with respect to scarcity, and so on.

Secondly, most economic theories seem to assume something about human nature, but what does it take to reach trustworthy conclusions about nature, including human nature? We've learned what it takes only very recently, which is why we have seen an explosion of knowledge in recent years. Since most popular conclusions so far have not been based on what it takes, most have turned out to be simply wrong.

While it does seem to be true that "human nature hasn't changed," at least for a long time--i.e., Homo Sapiens Sapiens have had the same brains for tens of thousands of years--our KNOWLEGDE of human nature has changed enormously just within the past few years, because we have only recently come to understand what it takes. Human nature, as we can now best understand it, differs greatly from the human nature that most people, including economists, have assumed or believed in for centuries.

Thirdly, conventional economic theory has developed to explain national economies, for the most part, following the emergence of nation-states. When a system enlarges linearly, the number of relationships among elements in the system increases geometrically, which is to say that quantitative changes essentially can result in qualitative changes. What reason is there to expect that conventional economic theory should provide much insight into the functioning of a highly interconnected global economy which is unfamiliar to everybody and which nobody really understands at this point?

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Global Trade Negotiations Home Page (Friday, 6/18/04)
The Global Trade Negotiations Home Page from Harvard's Center for International Development offers news, perspective on issues, as well as an opportunity to contribute papers and other materials.

Additional evidence that inflation may be lurking around the next corner (Thursday, 6/17/04)
We reported Tuesday on the 0.6 percent increase of the Consumer Price Index. Now, there is additional evidence "upstream" that inflation may be creeping back into the American economy. Here's Tim Ahmann in Washington with information about the latest numbers from the core Producer Price Index, and here's more from Ellen Freilich in New York.

More benefit shrinkage (Thursday, 6/17/04)
For a while during the tech boom years, it appeared that many U.S. technology companies were adopting the paternalism that was characteristic of many Japanese companies during the booming days of "Japan, Inc." Times are changing now, though, as many employers in most sectors are attempting to cut back on benefits in order to cut costs. Michelle Quinn of the San Jose Mercury News reports that ailing Sun Microsystems is among those that are getting less generous.

Russian officials say more diversity is needed (Thursday, 6/17/04)
The Soviet Union lasted long enough so that, by the time it disintegrated, few Russians were still alive who remembered the pre-Soviet era. Building a democracy with a market-based economy under those conditions cannot be an easy or speedy task. For a time, it looked as though it wasn't working at all, and Russia's post-Soviet economy was seen as an international basket case. Recently, though, the Russian GDP has been growing at rates that the rich industrial countries might envy. That may not continue, however. Officials are saying that Russia is too dependent on the exportation of raw materials rather than finished products. A more diverse economy is needed, they say. Here's more from Washington Post writers in Moscow.

The U.S. lags? (Thursday, 6/17/04)
According to a report from the National Partnership for Women & Families, the United States follows behind much of the rest of the industrialized world in the amount of time off available to workers who are ill or who need to be able to take care of a sick family member. Meanwhile, there are efforts in Congress to get the Bush administration to make it harder for workers to take the time off to which they are presently legally entitled.

Japanese government to certify job skills (Thursday, 6/17/04)
Japan's Labor Ministry intends to begin certifying the qualifications of young people in order to help employers know who they're hiring.

It's worked for Bill Gates, why not for the world's poor? (Thursday, 6/17/04)
Is self-employment the answer to the world's grinding poverty? Many people think so, and some of them are G8 leaders. Problem is, it may be too much of a faith-based belief. Former World Bank economist William Easterly says there is no evidence that the promotion of new small businesses actually reduces poverty.

A day for "superfathers" (Thursday, 6/17/04)
Father's Day is coming up soon, and Jennifer Wolcott examines the ways in which expectations for dad's role have changed in recent years.

Choices, you want choices? (Thursday, 6/17/04)
One of the consequences of increased globalization and international trade is increased variety for consumers, and, of course, more decisions. Here's more from Virginia Postrel of the New York Times.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: International Fund for Agricultural Development (Thursday, 6/17/04)
The International Fund for Agricultural Development, an agency of the United Nations, was established 26 years ago in order to assist in the process of alleviating rural poverty and improving nutrition.

How big a threat is inflation? (Wednesday, 6/16/04)
It's certainly not gone as a concern, and the Christian Science Monitor's Ron Scherer believes that it's still the leading threat to the American economy. However, no matter what he may think in his most private moments, Alan Greenspan, in his Senate Testimony yesterday, downplayed its importance a bit, saying that it is one among several threats, but that the Fed can handle it as well as the others.

The latest from Asia (Wednesday, 6/16/04)
Governments of the nation with the world's second-largest economy and the nation that apparently intends to become number 1 sometime later this century have been issuing favorable reports about their economies. Samuel Shen writes from Beijing that Chinese government officials are saying that they have successfully cooled the booming and dangerously overheating Chinese economy and don't expect inflation to get out of control. Meanwhile, officials at the Bank of Japan are acting their most positive, according to Todd Zaun in Tokyo. Things are looking better for the Japanese economy than they have for more than a decade, according to them.

Costly flat tire (Wednesday, 6/16/04)
Some former Halliburton workers tell about a very pricey truck that was abandoned because it had a flat tire. David Ivanovcich in Washington has more on what some of the whistle-blowers are saying about the big government contractor.

Will they have to change their name to "Walk" or "Stroll?" (Wednesday, 6/16/04)
Sprint has been cutting a lot of workers lately. The latest decision to slice 1,100 additional jobs brings total cuts to about 7 percent of the company's workforce since November.

If you're highly-skilled, are you safe from having to try to chase your job to India? (Wednesday, 6/16/04)
Steve Lohr says that recently-examined documents from the world's largest software company don't offer much encouragement to people who have been assuming that highly-sophisticated jobs are unlikely to be outsourced. Also, there is disagreement about the meaning of the U.S. government's latest numbers suggesting that the outsourcing threat has been overblown. According to the International Herald Tribune, outsourcing in the European banking and insurance industries has been continuing at a fairly rapid pace.

On the other hand, there are storm clouds in India too. Australia's The Age reports that poor infrastructure and other problems may make it difficult for India to keep accepting imported jobs from the U.S., Western Europe, and other regions at current rates. Meanwhile, rather than sending jobs to Mexico, Canada is trying to bring Mexican workers to the jobs.

Big demand for some specialized lawyers (Wednesday, 6/16/04)
If you're an attorney, and if you have expertise in one of the hot specialties, major firms are likely to be looking for you. Carrie Johnson reports that the rewards can be considerable in today's booming market.

Not getting enough sleep? (Wednesday, 6/16/04)
Here's a new product from Japan that may be able to help.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: 2004 Wealth Report (Wednesday, 6/16/04)
The 2004 Wealth Report from Merrill Lynch and Capgemini finds that the number of people in the world who have assets worth U.S. $1 million, excluding the value of their homes, increased by 7 percent during 2003.

May's CPI increases by 0.6 percent (Tuesday, 6/15/04)
The most closely-watched measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, was up by 0.6 percent in May, which may mean a stronger and quicker response from the Federal Reserve than had been expected a few weeks ago. Even though it was the biggest one-month increase in more than three years, most of it was due to food and energy costs. The core CPI increased by 0.2 percent.

Incidentally, Allan Sloan explains why interest rates have been rising for a year, even without the Federal Reserve raising them. What's going on? It's a matter of market action vs. governmental action, he says.

American consumers regain their confidence (Tuesday, 6/15/04)
The University of Michigan's measure of consumer sentiment has recovered, according to preliminary data.

One of the reasons that consumers seem be getting more confident may be because of the improving jobs picture. According to a report from Manpower, Inc., many manufacturers and other employers intend to add jobs during the third quarter of this year. Here's more from Melissa McCord in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

New York City's strong rebound (Tuesday, 6/15/04)
Mary Spicuzza reports that the Big City's economic growth is exceeding that of the American economy as a whole.

Rawling and Elizabeth lead the way in Britain (Tuesday, 6/15/04)
Harry Potter's mom, J. K. Rawling, is now the richest woman in Great Britain, with Queen Elizabeth II following in the number two slot. However, as Susan Palmquist reports, they aren't the only ones. A larger proportion of the UK's wealthiest people now are woman rather than men.

On being minority AND female (Tuesday, 6/15/04)
If you're a minority woman, your corporation's "glass ceiling" may be particularly impenetrable--and low--and for two reasons, according to the Christian Science Monitor's Stacy Teicher.

On the other hand, there are more women than men enrolled in American colleges right now, and, among those who are students, women seem to be outperforming men overall. Also, African American women seem to be doing better on many "quality of life" criteria than African American men.

Making the case for flextime (Tuesday, 6/15/04)
Cheryl Dahle tells how you may be able to make a convincing case that what is good for you is also good for your employer.

A win-win situation for seniors: learning to help others manage their money (Tuesday, 6/15/04)
Structured mental activity and learning can help delay or prevent the onset of dementia, according to research, and many are finding that they can help themselves by learning to help others with technical issues. Here's more from Shannon Buggs of the Houston Chronicle.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The International Economics Study Center (Tuesday, 6/15/04)
Here's George Washington University economics professor Steve Suranovic's International Economics Study Center.

Productivity cooks (Monday, 6/14/04)
Labor productivity has been increasing at its fastest rate in nearly a third of a century, according to the latest government statistics. It means that the economy is doing more with fewer workers, which may be bad news if you're looking for a job, but good news for the nation's overall standard of living.

Fewer businesses are going broke in Japan (Monday, 6/14/04)
Corporate bankruptcies in Japan have hit their lowest point in five years, according to a new report from Tokyo Shoko Research.

Child slavery in the 21st century (Monday, 6/14/04)
Slavery, in various forms, is alive and well in the world, and may affect more people than at any other time, given that the world's population is six times as large as it was only about 160 years ago and that it was always fewer than 1 billion people before that. Jonathan Fowler reports from Geneva on the new report from the International Labor Organization that estimates that 10 million children throughout the world are working under slave-like conditions.

Speaking of the unspeakable, Michael Kahn writes from San Francisco about sweatshops in Los Angeles.

How many times can you refinance your debt? (Monday, 6/14/04)
If it's your home's mortgage we're talking about, there doesn't appear to be any limit. However, consolidated student loan debt is something else. The irony is that many young people finish school with enough debt that they may be kept out of the housing market for decades. There may be enough money to pay the student loan payment or a house payment, but not both. Here's more from Kenneth Aaron of the Albany Times Union.

How to prepare for a life of very hard times in the United States (Monday, 6/14/04)
Just drop out of school. Martha Irvine in Chicago has more about the grim employment prospects for dropouts and how we can expect them only to get worse.

Don't depend too much on your employer (Monday, 6/14/04)
Jeff Bliss reports that your benefits are likely to be reduced over the next ten years, and Bruce Meyerson says that it's probably unwise to own too much of your company's stock too. Finally, Gail MarksJarvis tells what is happening to retirees whose former companies have gone bankrupt.

How's Social Security REALLY doing? We don't know either (Monday, 6/14/04)
Alan Fram reports from Washington that a new report from the CBO may re-ignite the debate over Social Security's future, particularly considering that this is a presidential election year. According to the report, the system's shortfall may be considerably less over the next 75 years than previously estimated.

What there is to worry about if you have a lot of money (Monday, 6/14/04)
U.S. Trust Corporation's new research indicates that nearly 90 percent of the wealthiest people in the United States worry about the effects of terrorism on their finances.

Here's how to turn your interior office into one with a large window (Monday, 6/14/04)
Actually, new technology may be able to make your entire office wall seem to disappear. Here's more from BBC News.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Causes of Poverty (Monday, 6/14/04)
Anup Shah of Global Issues.org examines what he regards as the causes of poverty.

Good things expected from Iraq's economy (Sunday, 6/13/04)
Iraq is a very dangerous place, and may continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, its resources are substantial, and, if it were not for the fact that a ravenously exploitive crime family dominated its politics for so many years and that it's been involved in several wars during the past two decades, it should be a modern, wealthy country. Despite everything, it is expected that the Iraqi economy will have expanded significantly during the year 2004.

Greenspan to address the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday (Sunday, 6/13/04)
Tim Ahmann in Washington says that the Federal Reserve Chairman intends to try to reassure Congress on the economy and the Fed's commitments and intentions.

Major retailers attempt to attract boomers (Sunday, 6/13/04)
If you're a member of the huge boomer generation and are thinking of retiring, or thinking that you may not be able to afford to retire, you may be in luck. Ritu Kalra writes from New York about the interest that major retail chains are taking in hiring people 50 and over.

Incidentally, overall, are older workers well-off financially? Many indicators would say that they are, but Mary Williams Walsh says you may change your mind after taking a close look at this generation's circumstances. Hint: think "pensions" and what has been happening to them.

The multiple connotations of the term "Reaganomics" (Sunday, 6/13/04)
Whether you regard "Reaganomics" as a four-letter word may depend as much on whether you are a Democrat or a Republican as on your ability to count. Still, Jules Tygiel of the San Francisco Chronicle says that a case can be made for the effectiveness of the late president's economic policies.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (Sunday, 6/13/04)
Name three relatively new, wealthy, industrialized countries which still have major identifiable indigenous populations plus vast land areas which tend to attract immigrants from much of the world. Also, which of these countries has a Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs?

Here are the answers: 1) Australia, Canada, and the United States, and 2) Australia.

China's economy slows a bit (Saturday, 6/12/04)
Concerns about overheating have resulted in new governmental policies intended to slow China's breathtaking economic growth, and they seem to be working. However, as Keith Bradsher reports, there are other concerns.

Nervousness about inflation increases at the Fed (Saturday, 6/12/04)
Several Federal Reserve officials have been sending out signals that America's big central bank may increase interest rates more rapidly than many have been led to expect.

Concern about "offshoring" may be subsiding in the U.S. (Saturday, 6/12/04)
Perhaps in response to new statistics from the United States Department of Labor, argument about international outsourcing seems to be moderating in the UnitedStates, according to the head of India's Infosys Technologies, and the issue may not play as large a role in the presidential campaign as once thought. However, according to Sam Fleming of Bloomberg News, there seems to be increased concern about the loss of jobs in the UK to overseas regions because of a skills drought.

Strength in numbers (Saturday, 6/12/04)
Fifty large American companies are creating a buyers' club in order to negotiate better prescription medication prices for their employees. Here's more from Milt Freudenheim of the New York Times.

The President doesn't seem to be benefiting from the jobs numbers (Saturday, 6/12/04)
Ron Fournier writes from Washington that many undecided voters seem unimpressed that the American economy has created more than a million new jobs in the past six months and aren't giving the President credit for it.

The argument over farm subsidies (Saturday, 6/12/04)
Farmers in many of the world's richest countries receive a lot of their income from government subsidies, which does not please other agricultural members of the World Trade Organization. Meanwhile, the richer countries want the poorer ones to open their markets. A new agreement is likely to hinge on whether this issue can be resolved, according to James Cox of USA Today.

Europe's ambivalence toward immigration (Saturday, 6/12/04)
Forecasts indicate that many European countries can expect their populations to shrink over the years ahead, unless they promote immigration. But, there is much cultural resistance to that idea. Here's more from Floyd Norris in Marrakesh, Morocco where European business and political leaders have been meeting.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Online (Saturday, 6/12/04)
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Online from the Canadian government is intended to promote security in the food system as well as environmental quality and economic growth.

Outsourcing fears may be exaggerated (Friday, 6/11/04)
A new report from the U.S. Department of Labor finds that 2.5 percent of layoffs during the first quarter of 2004 were due to outsourcing overseas. Here's more from Ken Moritsugu in Washington. While outsourcing accounted for 9 percent of layoffs, most involved domestic outsourcing, according to the New York Times.

Strike at Maytag (Friday, 6/11/04)
More then 1,500 union members at a Maytag washer and dryer plant in Iowa have walked off their jobs following the breakdown of contract talks.

In other labor news, agreement has been reached on the reduction of benefits at struggling United Airlines.

John Stearns and Ginger Richardson of the Arizona Republic report that the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union want employees of a proposed Phoenix hotel to decide whether they want to belong to a union.

Finally, petitions are favored over union elections in many settings to determine representation, and the National Labor Relations Board wants to take a close look at the procedure.

Australia lost more jobs in May than during any of the past fourteen months (Friday, 6/11/04)
The Australian Bureau of Statistics report that job losses in May signal a cooling of the nation's economy.

Even though President Reagan is gone, "Reaganomics" lives on (Friday, 6/11/04)
Sue Kirchhoff, Barbara Hagenbaugh and Sandra Block of USA Today examine the continuing impact of Ronald Reagan's economic policies over much of the world.

The Fed needs to defend its jobs description, according to official (Friday, 6/11/04)
Recent remarks from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Jack Guynn seem to strengthen expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates toward the end of this month.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Economic Research and Data (Friday, 6/11/04)
Here's the Economic Research and Data from the Federal Reserve Board.

Chinese workers killed in Afghanistan (Thursday, 6/10/04)
Eleven workers were killed in an armed attack Thursday. Here's more from Hanan Habibzai in Kunduz.

HP adds jobs again (Thursday, 6/10/04)
When Hewlett-Packard merged with Compaq, 26,800 jobs were cut. Now, the company is hiring again. Five-thousand jobs will be added, according to Bloomberg News.

Bush doesn't seem to be benefiting from the latest economic numbers (Thursday, 6/10/04)
Usually, Americans tend to "vote their pocketbooks," as the old saying goes. This might imply that President Bush's approval ratings should be improving as the American economy improves, but that isn't happening this time.

Of course, a week can be an eternity in politics, and it's nearly five months until the presidential election. It's far too early to predict the outcome with any hope of accuracy. Will it be razor-close again, as in 2000, or will it be a blowout for the Democrats or a blowout for the Republicans? We don't know either, and much is likely to depend on events over the months ahead which neither candidate will be able to control.

Also, Paul Craig Roberts doesn't believe that the latest job creation numbers necessarily provide the good news that we might assume, either for American workers or for the President. While a lot of jobs have been created during the past three months, most of them aren't the types of jobs that can be expected to make too many voters happy, according to Mr. Roberts.

Incidentally, according the latest poll, if the election were held tomorrow---well, it would take quite a lot of folks by surprise. Tee-hee.

IMF expects global economic growth, in spite of everything (Thursday, 6/10/04)
Oil prices are high and U.S. interest rates are likely to go higher. Nonetheless, Rodrigo Rato, who heads the International Monetary Fund, still expects strong economic growth.

In the United States, Jeannine Aversa reports from Washington that the latest increase in first-time jobless claims hasn't changed the minds of experts who expect the recovery to continue. Import prices are up too, and this is making more economists worry about inflation.

WTO expects farm reforms (Thursday, 6/10/04)
World Trade Organization officials believe that changes capable of addressing restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets will be needed in order for the international organization to make progress on core issues. But, it appears that this may be possible now, according to leaders meeting at the G8 conference in Georgia, USA.

Unhappy IT workers (Thursday, 6/10/04)
Research from the Meta Group finds low morale among U.S. information technology workers and examines some of the possible consequences.

The Fed reports on household wealth (Thursday, 6/10/04)
Altogether, Americans are worth a lot. A new report from the Federal Reserve places American household wealth at more than $45 trillion, and that's "trillion" with a "t." To put things into perspective, 45 trillion dollar bills laid end to end would extend more than 470 times around the earth.

Meanwhile, Keith Bradsher reports that many Chinese have become fabulously wealthy because of the boom in that country, but, of course, far more continue to be among the poorest people on the planet.

Anyone who doubts that vast wealth and income gaps can mean highly combustible social and political dynamite need only glance at history beginning with the Greeks of Homer's time and extending over the centuries to modern times, including the French Revolution, the rise of communism in response to conditions during the early years of the Industrial Revolution, and more.

Of more than casual interest to all of us should be the fact that, while the have vs. have-not gap in China is among the most vivid at the moment, the gap also has been widening in the United States as well as among the nations of the world. The latter fact seems particularly significant during a period of globalization as geography becomes increasingly irrelevant. Peoples, cultures, and economies which, for millennia, have been separated by thousands of miles or thousands of years now come into daily collision.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: International Labour Standards (Thursday, 6/10/04)
The International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations, says that its original raison d'etre as an organization was the establishment of international labour standards. Here's what the ILO says about the origin, nature, and purposes, among other things.

The Iraq war and the American economy (Wednesday, 6/9/04)
One of the reasons for the American economy's increasingly robust growth is defense spending. Here's more from Sue Kirchhoff, Barbara Hagenbaugh and Adam Shell.

The working poor who aren't feeling the recovery (Wednesday, 6/9/04)
It's been noted by a number of economists that the U.S. economy is now undergoing mostly a business recovery, and, that even though a large number of jobs have been created in recent months, many are lower-pay service jobs. Many people have been finding that obtaining employment hasn't moved them out of poverty. USA Today's Stephanie Armour writes about the struggles of America's working poor.

Managers mostly in name only? (Wednesday, 6/9/04)
Two Starbucks managers are suing the coffee shop chain, claiming that their employer has given them titles as part of an effort to avoid paying overtime.

Corporate softball league (Wednesday, 6/9/04)
Anne Bagamery writes about companies which expect that making their workers into amateur athletes may contribute to job performance, or, at least, job satisfaction.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Research Center Update (Wednesday, 6/9/04)
The National Education Association higher education section's Research Center Update enables you to download a number of full-length research reports.

Greenspan says that the Fed will do what it takes (Tuesday, 6/8/04)
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says that the big American central bank isn't committed to gradual interest rate increases no matter what. The Fed is prepared to do whatever it takes to keep inflation under control, he says.

What overseas outsourcing means for American unions (Tuesday, 6/8/04)
Job cuts in the United States often mean reduction in union membership as well, so American unions are stepping up their recruitment efforts. Here's more from T. A. Badger in the Houston Chronicle.

Speaking of job cuts, Shell Oil is planning to eliminate between 600 and 800 information technology jobs in the U.S.

Early retirees win one at the Court (Tuesday, 6/8/04)
If you retire early with full pension benefits, then take another job, your former employer cannot change the rules affecting your benefits. The Supreme Court ruled yesterday on the case of two Illinois construction workers, according to Anne Gearan in Washington. Here's more from the New York Times on the implications of the High Court's unanimous decision.

Reagan's effect on the U.S. economy persists (Tuesday, 6/8/04)
Adam Geller says that experts seem to agree that the late President Reagan's effect on the American economy has been lasting, and is likely to last longer.

Black progress in South Africa (Tuesday, 6/8/04)
Sharon LaFraniere says that blacks have made more progress in the South African job market than in corporate boardrooms.

Stalinism finally begins to fade in the last place on earth (Tuesday, 6/8/04)
Heejin Koo and Seyoon Kim report from Seoul that North Korea's economy grew for the fifth year in a row in 2003. Market principles are being applied, but only gradually, according to former Myong Ji University professor Lee Dong Bok. Drastic change, as has occurred in China, isn't likely to be promoted by Kim Jong Il for reasons of self-preservation, according to Lee Dong Bok.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization (Tuesday, 6/8/04)
The World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization was established by the International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations, in 2002.

G8 to discuss small remittances (Monday, 6/7/04)
For centuries, people working in prosperous countries have been sending small amounts of money to their families in their home countries. While each remittance usually is small, they do add up, and, altogether, play an important role in helping the world's poor. Elizabeth Becker reports that the G8 summit at Sea Island, Georgia will take up the issue this week.

Will it continue? (Monday, 6/7/04)
The American economy has created more than a million jobs during the past three months. What could bring it to a halt? Another attack on the United States could do it quite nicely, according to risk analyst Daniel Wagner. In fact, as so many people have pointed out during recent months, the fifteen intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security have to be right every time, while terrorists need to be right only once in order to slam the U.S. economy with an instant recession, plus a lot of other bad consequences.

Also, while there have been persistent indications that the Fed has been intending to raise interest rates toward the end of this month anyway, the strong growth in jobs makes it more likely. Here's more from Sue Kirchhoff and Barbara Hagenbaugh.

Why you should care about how people talk (Monday, 6/7/04)
"Gossiper" could be part of the definition of a human being, if it were not for the fact that so many individuals simply don't gossip about others (or themselves, for that matter). At any rate, many people DO talk, and quite a number of them probably are talking about you right now. The Chicago Tribune's Barbara Rose tells how gossip can influence your career. A major part of the reason, of course, is that, in general, much of people's "reality" is a product of "social construction." People simply get together and make it up, without realizing that this is what they are doing, of course. In fact, many of most people's most cherished beliefs are unsupported by facts, and, instead, are simply products of social construction, particularly over generations or centuries.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: American President (Monday, 6/7/04)
If you're interested in learning more about President Reagan now that he and his presidency are very much on a lot of American minds, a good place to go is American President on the web, developed at the University of Virginia. While you're there, you can check out the 42 other men who have served as president.

Whoops, no, that's not right. There were 41, because one of the men had non-consecutive presidential terms. If you know which one, you are entitled to the coveted NewWork News handshake award. Hint: His last name is the same as the name of a large American city. No, he was not President Minneapolis.

Also, Regis, here's a "fastest finger" question for you to use: Four American presidents were assassinated. Listed here in alphabetical order by last name, they were James Garfield, John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and William McKinley. Arrange them in the order of their ages at their deaths, beginning with the youngest. If you get this right, you're entitled to the NewWork News handshake with both hands.

Oh, okay, since you insist, here's the answer: Kennedy (46), Garfield (50), Lincoln (56), and McKinley (58).

President Reagan's economic legacy (Sunday, 6/6/04)
Ronald Reagan wasn't the first Hollywood actor to become a politician, nor was he the last. For instance, George Murphy preceded him, and Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger have followed him. However, Reagan did much to make millions of people forget that he had been "only" an actor and to stop holding it against him.

Although performance skills are important to any contemporary politician's career, particularly during this age of television, the fact that Reagan appeared in some fifty feature films as well as in dozens of television dramas simply was something he did on the way to his main career, not something that defined him. Similarly, the jobs people hold while in college have little to do with determining what they are capable of in their forties or beyond. Reagan simply was a very high-achiever at all stages of his career.

Reagan's college degree was in economics, not theater or communications, and it is clear now that he spent most of his adult life thinking, writing about, and discussing political issues, as well as playing political roles, beginning fairly early when he was president of the Screen Actors Guild. Then, he was Governor of California for eight years. By the time he assumed the presidency, he was no more a show-biz personality than Jack Kemp is still a football player or Bill Bradley a basketball player at this point.

As it turned out, Ronald Reagan became a major president who is likely to be treated fairly well in the history books a century from now. While it's unlikely that anyone other than the most rabid partisans will ever group him in the first rank along with Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt, columnist George Will's assessment of him at the end of his presidency may turn out to be about right: that he is best regarded as being toward the front of the second rank of American presidents.

The Iran-Contra debacle during his second term certainly diminished his reputation, and still causes some to question, quietly, whether the precursors of Alzheimer's disease were already beginning to appear. Still, it is likely that he will be given his share of the credit, along with Pope John Paul, as well as other influential figures such as Lech Walesa, in weakening and, then, bringing about the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Like Eisenhower, Reagan often left the impression during his presidency, particularly to his political enemies, of being disengaged and perhaps not very bright (Yes, many Americans during the 1950s actually managed to convince themselves that the commander of the Normandy Invasion, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe was dumb!). However, also like Eisenhower, documents which have become available following the end of his administration clearly show that the opposite was the case.

All in all, while future histories of America may not contain an entire section on Reagan, he won't be a brief footnote either. He was a major 20th century American president. Glenn Somerville in Washington examines Ronald Reagan's economic legacy.

Barrett warns against protectionism (Sunday, 6/6/04)
Political efforts to restrict trade are not the answer to the offshoring problem, according to Intel's CEO. Instead, competitiveness is the only thing that will make U.S. jobs secure, according to him. Meanwhile, William Holstein interviews the chairman of an electronics company and asks about his reasons for not wanting to send jobs overseas, and why he thinks many companies lose something when they do it.

Allen Breed is in Everetts, North Carolina where he has been talking to people about the advisability of sending taxpayer-supported jobs to regions of the world which have lower labor costs. It's a tricky question, he says, because, while some people want the jobs to remain in the U.S., American taxpayers probably prefer the lower costs.

Finally, the International Herald Tribune's Shelley Emling writes about the outsourcing issue from the perspective of the recipients, and what Ireland is doing to keep foreign companies in the country. During the 1990s, Ireland's economy was one of the hottest in Europe, even to the point of attracting people of Irish ancestry back from the United States and other regions where millions of impoverished people once moved from Ireland in search of the bare necessities and economic opportunity.

Employers continue to be hammered by the rising cost of employee benefits (Sunday, 6/6/04)
Every time health care costs undergo another double-digit increase, large numbers of U.S. employers suddenly get another blazing headache. Jim Hopkins of USA Today examines the impact on small businesses.

While employers are shifting an increasing proportion of health care costs to employees, L. M. Sixel writes that many workers, in turn, are shifting their co-payments to hospitals in the form of bad debts.

More age-discrimination suits expected (Sunday, 6/6/04)
Will the boomers produce an explosion of age-discrimination lawsuits now that about half of the U.S. workforce is 40 or more? May experts think so.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Nobel Peace Prize Laureates (Sunday, 6/6/04)
Here are all of the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize from Henri Dunant and Frederic Passy in 1901 to Shirin Ebadi in 2003.

New pay structure at Wal-Mart? (Saturday, 6/5/04)
Wal-Mart officials announced yesterday that the company will establish new pay classes that will result in raises for some of its 1.3 million U.S. workers.

Jobs picture looks better (Saturday, 6/5/04)
The U.S. economy has generated a million jobs in the past three months, and that's changing many people's moods. If it keeps up, it could largely defuse what, until now, has been a potentially hot presidential campaign issue. Here's more from Kenneth Gilpin of the New York Times. Meanwhile, Jeannine Aversa reports that a Fed official believes that the U.S. economy is not about to embark on a period of inflation, despite rising prices of some products, including energy.

New findings from Monster (Saturday, 6/5/04)
The new Monster Employment Index which is discussed by Dr. Jane Lommel in her NetWorking column this month shows increased online demand for workers during the month of May.

Here are some stories the UN thinks you should know about (Saturday, 6/5/04)
The United Nations would like you to be aware of some important things going on in the world which have not been on the front pages recently, for the most part. Here are "10 stories the world needs to hear about." One story that probably should be near the top of anybody's list is the huge humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan where the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are threatened.

How to keep workers on the job after the IPO (Saturday, 6/5/04)
Hundreds of Google workers stand to become instant millionaires following the company's Initial Public Offering. Verne Kopytoff ofd the San Francisco Chronicle says that company officials are trying to find ways to discourage needed workers from taking their money and going home.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Centre for Economic Performance (Saturday, 6/5/04)
Since its founding in 1990, the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and Political Science has been focusing on the relationships among globalization, technology, and institutions, among other things. Incidentally, the London School of Economics is where that great economist, Mick Jagger, went to school. At least, he seems to know something about money.

Nearly a quarter-million new jobs added in May (Friday, 6/4/04)
May was a very good month for jobs creation. While the unemployment rate held at 5.6 percent, 248,000 new jobs were added during the month, and that was more than many experts had expected. Here's more on the big story of the day from the New York Times.

HMO rate of increase decreased a bit (Friday, 6/4/04)
Perhaps the only thing that can make a 13.7 percent increase seem good is that HMO rate increases have been greater in previous years.

Cuts at Michelin and Maytag (Friday, 6/4/04)
Michelin tire intends to eliminate 2,900 jobs in France over a three-year period, but by attrition. Meanwhile, Maytag intends to cut 20 percent of its salaried workers.

Wal-Mart urges its workers to say nice things (Friday, 6/4/04)
The world's largest retailer is hoping that its employees will help the company overcome its image as the "most sued employer." Emily Kaiser has more from Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Thrown out at Home Depot (Friday, 6/4/04)
A former subcontractor has filed suit against Home Depot charging that he was fired because he blew the whistle on accounting irregularities.

Men still earn more (Friday, 6/4/04)
An analysis from the Bureau of the Census finds only five occupations in which women routinely earn at least as much as men. Here's more from Genaro Armas in Washington.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Employment Resources in the Earth, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (Friday, 6/4/04)
If you're seeking employment in any of the multitude of scientific fields relating to our planet, you may want to begin your search at Employment Resources in the Earth, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from Syracuse University.

New economic data (Thursday, 6/3/04)
During the first quarter of 2004, productivity increased more than initial estimates, but labor costs were up too. Also, Pedro Nicolaci da Costa reports that service-sector growth slowed in May, but new jobs were still created last month.

Don't expect abrupt shocks from the Fed (Thursday, 6/3/04)
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says that, given current conditions, interest rates can be raised slowly. By making the announcement, it appears that Greenspan would like to see the economy factor in the rate increase before it happens, but not overdo it.

Friedman examines outsourcing on TV tonight (Thursday, 6/3/04)
Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New York Times columnist, Thomas L. Friedman, presents his latest special on The Discovery Channel. Look for The Other Side of Outsourcing at 10 PM Eastern and Pacific time, 9 PM Central.

The national assault on family life (Thursday, 6/3/04)
According to research, it appears that at least 40 percent of Americans have work schedules that make healthy family life problematical. Among other things, Marilyn Gardner of the Christian Science Monitor discusses the new book from University of Maryland Professor Harriet Presser, Working in a 24/7 Economy: Challenges for American Families.

Is your boss a stress generator or carrier? (Thursday, 6/3/04)
Cheryl Dahle writes in the International Herald Tribune on how to cope with bosses who are always in "fire alarm" mode.

Social mobility in Vegas (Thursday, 6/3/04)
The New York Times' Steven Greenhouse says that it's relatively easy to move from the economic bottom into the middle class in Las Vegas.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Center for Trade Policy Studies (Thursday, 6/3/04)
Here's the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute which claims to exist in order to increase "public understanding of the benefits of free trade and the cost of protectionism," which implies that this is a "think-tank" that starts with answers rather than with questions. At any rate, the Cato Institute has been identified more with libertarian than conservative ideology. Presumably, it was named after the Roman politician who, during the second and third centuries B.C.E., attempted to bring simplicity to Roman life.

Australia's economy loses momentum (Wednesday, 6/2/04)
Growth of the Australian economy slowed during the first quarter of this year. Here's more from Victoria Batchelor of Bloomberg News.

Manufacturing and construction continue their strength (Wednesday, 6/2/04)
While U.S. manufacturing is finishing up a solid year of growth, construction spending has been setting records, according to the Commerce Department. Both are helping to propel the U.S. economy. However, according to the Hudson Employment Index, hiring weakened a bit in May.

How to feel better about making out your taxes (Wednesday, 6/2/04)
It's a little like that old thing about hitting your thumb with a hammer if you have a bad cold. It won't make the cold better, but it will make you forget about it. Similarly, if you wade through the Medicare site that is supposed to help you select the right prescription discount card, tax preparation won't seem so bad anymore. Jodie Snyder reports that only about 500,000 people have signed up for the cards so far.

More evidence that hell really has frozen over (Wednesday, 6/2/04)
Look who has been saying nice things about profit: North Korea's Great Leader, Kim Jong-il, known not only for running the tightest Stalinist ship still on earth but also for more than a little lunacy.

Communism certainly isn't what it used to be. Thirty-five years ago, the big Chinese feature film of the year was a Maoist propaganda flick called "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy." Now, Britney Spears is scheduled to perform in Beijing and Shanghai, and word is that she will not be wearing a Mao suit on stage. Even Vietnam has its own version of the "Wheel of Fortune" TV program.

Sick system (Wednesday, 6/2/04)
The American health care system's current condition is enough to make you sick. Loren Steffy of the Houston Chronicle looks at some of the depressing numbers.

For many American techies, despair would be premature (Wednesday, 6/2/04)
Julie Forster of the St. Paul Pioneer Press says that, despite all you've been hearing, there are tech jobs available, and not just in Bangalore.

Ex-cons find work (Wednesday, 6/2/04)
Christopher Stewart reports in today's International Herald Tribune that many white-collar criminals are in big-money demand on the lecture circuit once they get out of jail.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The UN & Business (Wednesday, 6/2/04)
The United Nations cultivates partnerships with the private sector as well as foundations. Here's their UN & Business site.

Dooh Nibor? (Tuesday, 6/1/04)
No, this is not the name of the CEO of an outsourcing company in India. It's "Robin Hood" spelled backwards. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says that's what Bush administration economic policy amounts to. He believes that, despite earlier announcements, the Administration is in the process of starving government programs that benefit poorer people in order to sustain its tax cuts, and that this amounts to a massive transfer of wealth to the rich.

Come to think of it, is it possible that by behaving like "the gang that can't shoot straight," the Administration is trying to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of government so that people won't think it's worth paying for? Hmmmmm.

A growing number of Republicans seem to be concerned about the competence of the present administration and may be thinking that, if it were earlier in the year, there might be challenges to President Bush for the Republican nomination.

Many also seem concerned about the President's tendency to try to do everything the opposite of what his father did and whether the country is caught up in some sort of Freudian father-son thing.

Former Senator Robert Dole has been on television lately because of the dedication of the World War II Memorial, and, of course, given the opportunity, has been asked about current Administration policy in Iraq and elsewhere. Dole, who was severely injured while serving in the Second World War, spent YEARS recuperating in government-run hospitals. He's never indicated that he feels that government is every American's enemy or that America should be turned back to the Articles of Confederation.

Neither Bob Dole nor his wife, the current Senator Dole, have been enthusiastic supporters of the current President Bush or of the ideologues who seem to have the greatest influence on his thinking. On television the other day, when asked whether his thinking was more consistent with that of Bush 43 or Bush 41, Mr. Dole indicated that it's probably the latter, which may be one of his greater understatements.

It's one thing to find that most Democrats oppose most of the Administration's policies and also worry about its competence. Partisan politics is, well, partisan politics, and this is a presidential election year. However, it's something else when a growing number of Republicans seem to be worried that the current Administration could end up doing for the image of the Republican Party what Presidents Nixon and Harding were able to do so effectively.

Getting a start in college (Tuesday, 6/1/04)
Nearly 800 of Japan's venture companies have arisen out of research conducted at Japanese universities. Here's more from Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun.

The permanence of temps (Tuesday, 6/1/04)
Jonathan Higuera of the Arizona Republic says that structural changes in the economy seem to be encouraging employers to rely on temporary and contract workers on a permanent basis, not simply until things pick up enough to justify full-time permanent hires. It also suggests that a growing number of individuals are likely to have to make a career of temporary work.

Paid in plastic (Tuesday, 6/1/04)
Bill Bergstrom writes about the growing number of companies that are paying employees by crediting their Visa cards, rather than by issuing checks.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Administration for Children and Families (Tuesday, 6/1/04)
The United States Department of Health & Human Services maintains the Administration for Children and Families for the purpose of administering federal programs for the economic and social well-being of families and children.

Here are NewWork News stories from previous months

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