Browse Month

April 2019

Janus vs. AFSCME: A New Beginning

New interpretation of workers’ rights
By Dr. Larry Fedewa (April 13, 2019)
My first experience with a union came when I represented the newsroom’s intention to hold a vote for a union to the publisher of a national weekly newspaper. I had a summer job there after my first year as a high school teacher.
Later, as a training developer, I wrote, produced, and oversaw one of the largest industrial training programs in history for the Railway Labor Executives’ Association (a council of all major rail union presidents). I also executed major projects for the Federal Railroad Administration, AMTRAK, Conrail, and others. Still later, I worked very closely with the National Education Association, the professional teachers’ union in a major joint venture, a national research project, and addresses to two national conventions.

The Wealth Gap (continued): Back to basics

The middle class share of American wealth has gone to the very rich
By Dr. Larry Fedewa (April 8, 2019)
For the past three weeks, The Dr. Larry Show
(www.blogtalkradio.com/LA-Batchelor/or at 646-929-0130; 7 -8 pm every Wednesday) has been discussing the “wealth gap” in 2019 America. Now, it’s time to get back to basics.
 
Q. What is the “wealth gap”?
 
A. This term refers to the present and growing concentration of financial assets (cash, stock, real estate, intellectual properties such as patents, copyrights, and royalties, etc.), and all forms of passive income to the control of fewer and fewer people (1% of the population) while the middle-class controls less and less of the nation’s wealth. The word, “wealth”, is used instead of “income”, because the value of assets is frequently allowed to appreciate untouched ( e.g. to avoid taxable income). Money comes and goes in the form of income; assets are for long-term welfare.

I Walk This Shallow Earth

Today would have been my brother Stan’s birthday. May he rest in peace.
I walk this shallow earth
hollowed out by death and grief,
knowing that my brother lies beneath.
The days of sun and youth and vigor
have vanished into times
of gray much bigger
than the memories of all those years
we shared our joy and tears and fears,
knowing always we could stand together
in any kind of troubled weather
if no one else was there
to help and understand and care.
Now my brother lies at rest
beyond every trial and test
beyond the bonds of life and bother
beyond the reach and touch of me,
his brother.
LJF
August, 2014