I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band

Yes, I'm on something of a Moody Blues kick.  How could you tell?

Obsidian Wings is running an interesting symposium on wages, labor, MBAs, profit, and what has gone wrong with business since the '80s, beginning with an essay by Doctor Science and running through the comment section (only one attempt at standard conservative victim-blaming), viewpoints, history, etc.  A chunk of business woes seems to be bad management and being rewarded for bad management, for example the Hostess bankruptcy:

But what’s the big risk for Hostess if it doesn’t offer bonuses that average about $100,000 per person? That they’ll quit and the company will go broke? That business will suffer? That the Hostess image could be tarnished?

Hostess is already bankrupt. All that’s happening is a sell-off and winding up. It has no image other than as a once-profitable enterprise with universally-recognized brands that was driven into bankruptcy through a combination of lousy management and bitter unions. While managers may blame workers for driving the ultimate stake through its heart, it would be more than a little disingenuous to suppose management actions had nothing whatever to do with the decline. Unions, dumb as they can be, don’t kill healthy companies for fun.

While requesting permission for the bonuses, Hostess’s lawyers also reported that it can’t pay retiree benefits, and quit contributing to the pension plan more than a year ago.

(Kelly McParland at National Post.com; emphasis in original.  Via skippy.)

Additionally, education seems to be unnecessary for many jobs (although it's not really the education; it's the hiring filter).

Hmmmmm.  The impression one might get is that corporate America only wants to hire young healthy kids fresh out of college/university with advanced degrees for $10/hour.

It's one of the reasons strong unions are needed.  Another has to do with how labor gets organized in the US; Jane McAlevey talks about that and other matters in an interview with Sarah Jaffe at AlterNet.  (I managed to mislay the URL; thankfully, Avedon linked to it today.)

And incidentally?  Florida Republicans come clean; they don't want you to vote.