Living Wage : Building a Fair Economy

Book Description

An accessible and provocative argument for a national "living wage." "The living wage campaign is the most interesting (and under-reported) grassroots enterprise to emerge since the civil rights movement."--Robert Kuttner, editor of The American Prospect. With campaigns for a living wage sweeping the country, Robert Pollin and Stephanie Luce's timely and powerful defense of its practicality and success is now available in an updated paperback edition. Hailed as "the bible of the living wage movement," The Living Wage shows how living-wage proposals are affordable for both cities and employers, and reveals how they can play an important role in reversing the twenty-five-year decline in wages experienced by most working people in America. Written by leading experts, The Living Wage is a realistic and accessible examination of this vital--and growing--movement for economic justice in the United States.

Customer Reviews:

The Bible of the Living Wage Movement.......1999-08-21

Review of The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy by Robert Pollin and Stephanie Luce

Every so often a work of contemporary issue analysis comes along that illuminates the often-arcane world of professional activists in language that renders it accessible to the general public. In The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy (New Press), economists Robert Pollin and Stephanie Luce have not only provided a long-overdue assessment of the fifty-plus living wage campaigns across the country, they have created an invaluable tool for the organizers currently engaged in those efforts. Since the book's printing, I've found grateful readers and dog-eared copies in campaign offices from Montana to Maryland.

Since the modern living wage movement began with the passage of the Baltimore living wage ordinance in 1994, more than twenty-five cities and counties have passed living wage laws, and campaigns are underway in over two dozen more jurisdictions, making the effort "the most interesting (and under-reported) grassroots enterprise to emerge since the civil rights movement" according to the journalist Robert Kuttner. Defenders of other political movements of the last thirty years might disagree, but there's no question that the thousands of workers who have received a raise or new benefits due to a living wage law appreciate their significance.

The campaigns, which begin with the idea that no one working full time should be forced to live in poverty, require businesses receiving public dollars to pay wages significantly above the minimum wage, usually enough to raise a family at or above the poverty level. Many organizers would prefer to cover more workers by raising the minimum wage for all jobs, but where that is not legal or politically viable, the efforts target jobs created with public dollars -- namely public employees, employees working for public contractors, and in many jurisdictions, workers employed in businesses receiving public subsidies, whether industrial revenue bonds, low-interest loans, or tax abatements.

Most of the campaigns have met with fierce resistance from both the business community and elected officials, who have fought the passage of ordinances and worked to evade them after approval. Baltimore quickly moved to hire workfare workers for city contract work immediately after the passage of is ordinance. Minneapolis has found creative ways to distribute corporate subsidies without requiring recipients to comply with the laws. Pollin and Luce, who headed the economics team that researched the cost of the Los Angeles Living Wage Ordinance, convincingly debunk opponents' claims that living wage laws add enormous costs to financially strapped municipalities and create unemployment among the very populations they are intended to help. They cite an initial study of the effects of the Baltimore ordinance by the Preamble Center for Public Policy. Based on phone interviews with contractors, Mark Weisbrot and Michelle Sforza-Roderick found that the cost of winning city contract bids did not increase after the living wage ordinance took effect. Increased worker productivity and reduced absenteeism brought on by higher wages combined with market competition for contracts to hold steady the costs to the city. In addition, no companies reported laying off workers or hiring fewer than they would have without a living wage ordinance. Overall, after two years of experience, the predictions of living wage opponents that the law would increase unemployment and raise costs to the city were not borne out.

Pollin and Luce convincingly explain the methodology they use estimate the cost of a living wage ordinance, and prove that - despite opponents' claims - the costs of ordinances is restricted to a small percentage of a municipality's budget, and propose solutions to minimize the cost even more. They demonstrate the high social value by showing that the benefits of such laws - wage increases to the lowest-wage workers - are concentrated, while the costs are diffuse, spread over the entire tax base.

The authors also produce a withering critique of the conventional business subsidy approach to economic development practiced by the federal government and imitated by most cities and states, and they persuasively examine the social costs of outsourcing by municipalities. Instead, they propose a "high-road" alternative strategy that prioritizes high wages and high productivity by investing in public schools, worker training and retention, public safety, and efficient physical infrastructure. Living wage laws complement this strategy by removing firms' incentives to compete by paying poverty wages, forcing them to compete by increasing worker productivity.

Central labor councils and affiliated locals have invested in living wage campaigns, usually in conjunction with chapters of ACORN, the New Party, and civic and religious leaders, for a variety of reasons. The efforts have proven to be an effective vehicle to organize community and religious support for raising wages for workers in many of the lowest-paid sectors. Leaders of higher-paid locals whose workers are not directly affected realize that raising the wage floor strengthens their positions during bargaining. By covering all city contracts, the living wage laws erode municipalities' incentives for contracting out. By insisting that policy initiatives be judged by their effectiveness at creating good jobs, the campaigns raise an important challenge to the conventional business subsidy model of economic development. And they broadcast labor's role as the defenders of working families - both organized and unorganized - to the media and the general public.

Pollin and Luce have produced an excellent work; reading this book and engaging in a local living wage campaign are worthy New Years' resolutions for any labor activist.

Other resources (partial list)

National contacts: ACORN, Jen Kern: (202) 547-2500 AFL-CIO, Christine Silvia: (202) 637-5177 New Party, Adam Glickman: (718) 246-3713

Local contacts: Boston Jobs and Living Wage Campaign, Lisa Clauson, (617) 436-7100 Solidarity Sponsoring Committee, Kerry Miciotto, (410) 837-3458 Chicago Living Wage Campaign, Jon Green: (312) 939-4136 Cleveland SEIU Local 47, Willie Howard, (216) 621-0995 Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO, Joyce Lartigue, (313) 896-2600 Duluth Coalition for a Living Wage, Erik Peterson: (218) 722-0577 Los Angeles Living Wage Coalition, Madeline Janis-Aparicio: (213) 486-9880 Maryland State Living Wage Campaign, Steve Smitson, (301) 270-0442 Campaign for a Sustainable Milwaukee, Bill Dempsey, (414) 444-0525 Minneapolis/St. Paul Living Wage Campaigns, Progressive Minnesota: (612) 641-6199 Montgomery County (MD) Living Wage Campaign, Ann Swinburn, (301) 495-7004 Missoula (MT) Living Wage Campaign, Derek Birnie: (406) 728-5297 New Haven Living Wage Campaign, Andrea Cole, (203) 624-5161 Oakland Living Wage Campaign, Jim DuPont, (510) 893-3181 Portland Jobs with Justice, Nancy Haque: (503) 236-5573 Working Partnerships USA (San Jose, CA), Robert Dhondrup: (408) 269-7872

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Sojourners, published by Sojourners on January 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1046 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy.(Review) (book reviews)
Author: Chuck Collins
Publication: Sojourners (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2000
Publisher: Sojourners
Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Page: 57

Article Type: Book Review

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The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy

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The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy
Robert Pollin
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K1HFPM

Book Description

Based on Managing the Adoption of New Technology David Preece extends the study to assess the nature of technology strategy and the way it impacts on organizational change. It describes key management techniques needed for effective adoption of technology covering: * the development of strategy * the implementation of objectives * the importance of employee involvement Four case studies examine in detail a variety of managemnet approaches and show adoption of technology and the issues involved have changed since the 1980's. This book is essential reading for students and researchers in technology management and related areas.

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

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very well done
Intriguing, gripping and educational reading...

The Epic History of Biology
Anthony Serafini
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 073820577X

Customer Reviews:

very well done.......2006-12-06

This fascingating and readable account of the history of biology, from ancient times through genetic engineering, should be really inspirational to those with an interest in the science. The author does a great job of giving the right amount of detail, with coverage of people and concepts brief enough to make it highly readable. Also high marks to the author for writing in an accessible style that is inviting and unintimidating. This is one of the best and most enjoyable history of biology books available, and for those who want to understand how we got to where we are in the field, this is a great place to start looking.

Intriguing, gripping and educational reading..........2006-06-27

This book offers a fast-paced dive into the players and cultural influences throughout the ages that contributed to biology. Anthony Serafini captures reader interest with vignettes that include the major accomplishments coupled with peripheral factors that offer the reader a better understanding of the thinking and influences rampant so many years ago, e.g., Aristotlean philosophy and how it influenced the views of such luminaries as Anton van Leeuwenhoek. This book caused me to step outside my usual thinking - rather like when I travel to a foreign country - except Serafini was taking me into the past. He made me wonder just what influences today are propelling us forward, holding us in limbo, and even causing us to slide back. It is a book that appeals to me on many levels as I gained from it greater insight into history, science, and creativity.

Blood: An Epic History Of Medicine And Commerce

Average customer rating:

Good book but makes many omissions
Cookies, juice and money
Even human natural resources can be exploited
epic yet concise
Non-fiction at its best.

Blood: An Epic History Of Medicine And Commerce
Douglas Starr
Manufacturer: Diane Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0756774284

Amazon.com

Don't faint! Blood may be a highly charged substance, symbolic of our spirit and essential for life, but we can gain much from reflecting on its power over us. Science journalist Douglas Starr has examined the history of blood's medical uses, and his report is at once intellectually engaging and emotionally compelling. Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce covers the late 17th century to the present, detailing experiments with animal blood (one violent madman was briefly calmed by infused calf's blood), the long ban on transfusions, direct artery-to-vein suture between donor and recipient, and today's global blood-banking industry. It's a great story that shows the long climb from great risk and heroism to relative safety.

Our greatest stumble during this climb--the AIDS crisis of the 1980s--is the meat of the book. How could it have happened? Why were so many people given contaminated blood products after clear warnings about the risks of infection? Starr is unafraid to name names and lay bare the political and financial decisions that condemned so many thousands of hemophiliacs and surgical patients to early deaths. Those who don't learn from the past are bound to repeat it; Starr aims to help us keep the blood off of our hands. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

Powerfully involving narrative and incisive detail, clarity and inherent drama: Blood offers in abundance the qualities that define the best popular science writing. Here is the sweeping story of a substance that has been feared, revered, mythologized, and used in magic and medicine from earliest times--a substance that has become the center of a huge, secretive, and often dangerous worldwide commerce.

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Blood was described by judges as "a gripping page-turner, a significant contribution to the history of medicine and technology and a cautionary tale. Meticulously reported and exhaustively documented."

Customer Reviews:

Good book but makes many omissions.......2003-09-29

I borrowed this book from the library to help me with a lengthy article that I am writing on the history of blood banking. If I wasn't doing in-depth research, like combing through medical journals and scientific papers, I would have given this book 5 stars. However, Starr makes many omissions and skips vital facts, and I fail to understand why. For example, he credits Richard Lewisohn with discovering the use of sodium citrate, to keep blood from coagulating. However, nowhere does he mention that Lewisohn was not the first to use it in a successful transfusion. Two doctors published results right before he did, and another one gave a talk to the Nationl Acaademy of Sciences a month before Lewisohn published his results. Lewisohn is credited with finding the perfect formulation, and that is where credit is due. But Starr makes it seem that Lewisohn was the only one doing this research.

He completely leaves out the work of Rous and Turner, who first used glucose to expand the life of red blood cells--a necessity in blood banking. He also completely omitted WW I--amazing! That's when the very first blood depot was set up and stored blood was used for the first time.

I've found that he has embellished some personalities and downplayed others. He made it sound like no one was doing blood transfusions until Carrel's fateful night when he saved the baby, but in fact, they were being performed.

Anyway, this is a good book and I am surprised to find these glaring flaws in it. I found it useful as a background for my research, but I don't understand why he chose to write it this way.

Cookies, juice and money.......2003-04-23

This book makes the history of medicine, especially blood, interesting, and accessible to anyone. It also exposes the blood industry, GOOD and BAD, with names and dates of the people who moved it along: the medics in World Wars who risked their lives, the brilliant and tempermental researchers, and the greedy. Starr gives you well-documented facts and lets the reader decide, as a good writer should, who is the bad guy. This book doesn't tug as much at your heartstrings as Bad Blood: Crisis in the American Red Cross by Judith Reitman, but that's by far an advantage. She would have you believe that just because people died (of AIDS, and Hepatitis), there must be someone in the blood industry at fault. There certainly is some fault to go around, but this book helps you decide who and why there is fault, and tells both sides of the story without leaving Reitman's huge empty gaps in the evidence.

Even human natural resources can be exploited.......2003-03-17

Intriguing compilation of facts about how the human natural resource called BLOOD can be exploited like any other. From the discovery of the different components of blood (in which he bravely sheds a different light on the popular urban legend of the death of African-American scientist Dr. Drew), to how greed and pride brought about the HIV tainted blood crisis, Starr weaves a very readable science tale.

epic yet concise.......2002-07-31

Although I defer to Mr.Haschka's expertise in the field of blood, I must take issue with his snippy comment about Mr.Starr's affinity for bad news. I found Blood to be well-balanced-- he labors mightily to present good news and noble accomplishments alongside the tales of negligence, ignorance, and good old-fashioned greed. Yes, he does report on the tainted blood in great depth but let's face it-- mistakes advance science as much as, or even more than, successes, and should be accorded the appropriate amount of space. As far as repetition is concerned, I admit that I haven't read Mr.Shilts' tome, but Blood is perfect for those of us who are interested in the HIV crisis in the larger context of the industry as a whole, and in light of earlier discoveries. The book lost me a bit in its lengthy discussion of the business complex, but the information is important in order to understand how the impact of new discoveries (and mistakes) are felt worldwide. The history of blood is nothing less than riveting, how mysticism and individual hubris has given way to science-- and how they have simultaneously coexisted and been at loggerheads ever since. A formidable subject, nicely covered in a single volume.

Non-fiction at its best........2001-12-06

From to animal-human blood transfusions to the mobilizations of donated blood for Normandy to the battle for blood-as-commodity, this riveting, epic history of medicine and commerce promises to keep you reading all day and night. You will gain a new respect for the Red Cross and for modern medicine, and you will most likely rush out to donate blood after cringing through the pages describing the problems in the Blood Services Complex. Incredibly well-researched, fascinating and enlightening.

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The Epic History of Biology
Anthony Serafini
Manufacturer: Plenum Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OSR8OO

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