Archive
The Lineup: Week of September 6-12, 2010
Here’s what you’ll find in the latest OtherWords editorial package, which includes an op-ed by Jason Salzman about the tea party’s desire to scrap the Department of Education. Get all this and more in your inbox by subscribing to our weekly newsletter. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do.
Planet CEO vs. Planet Worker
Remember the Great Recession? For most Americans, it’s an unforgettable nightmare that lives on. But for the CEOs of some of our nation’s biggest companies, it’s a distant memory.
Know-Nothing Party
As America’s kids get used to school again, American education spending and policies are under attack. Tea party-backed candidates around the country, particularly in the West, are dredging up the old GOP idea to shut down the Department of Education.
Jobs Emergency
It’s been two years since the Lehman Brothers collapse set off a global financial meltdown. The government bailed out big Wall Street banks and they’re now making bumper earnings. Major corporations are sitting on $8 trillion in cash reserves, the biggest pile since 1963.
Egg Recall Reveals our Broken Food System
This mind-boggling egg recall, involving half a billion eggs from Iowa, is no fluke. It’s just the latest example of how the consolidation of our nation’s food production puts consumers at risk. The recall involves 30 different brands but only two factory farms–Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. Massive egg facilities on this scale are prone to frequent disease outbreaks.
Setting the Record Straight
Increasingly we live in a world–alas–of deliberate misrepresentation and mischaracterization. Or you could call them lies.
A Gentler Name for Psychic Warfare
Adopting an alias has also been tried as a public relations strategy by corporations that find themselves struck with an image problem. Most recently, this deception has been employed by Blackwater, the infamous government contractor involved in so many nefarious deeds that it now disguises itself with an inscrutable new moniker: Xe. Fittingly, Xe is the abbreviation for xenon, a chemical defined as a colorless gaseous element.
Pumped CEOs
Riled West
For a Yankee, driving to the West can painfully confirm many previously unverified suspicions. First, of course, one must stifle guilt for driving at all. This burden is fortuitously lightened by discovering that the car, which normally gets 40 mpg around home, ramps up to 45 on the road.
Killing Jobs is Bad for Business
Corporate America loves layoffs. No matter the cost to the affected workers, many investors see job cuts as an encouraging sign that CEOs are making the tough decisions necessary to make their company “lean and mean.”
