It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
This week's videos are two shorts by PBS Frontline. The first is about workers falling from Cell Towers. At first you might think, that's an easy fix through safety and regulation. Think again. Literally young boys are climbing up cell towers for $10 bucks an hour. It's a poster child for what has happened to work in America. The cheapest price wins and training, safety, experience be damned. This short puts new meaning to the phrase working yourself to death.
Pay close attention to the description of contracts, the chain of subcontracts all the way down to the worker, who also are contractors, not employees. Use of contracts, contract law to subvert U.S. worker rights, deny benefits and remove any sort of liability is extremely common these days.
Frontline's Cell Tower Deaths Ch. 1
Frontline's Cell Tower Deaths Ch. 2
Frontline's Cell Tower Deaths Ch. 3
The next Frontline short is on MF Global's use of customer funds to play a $6 billion dollar bet on sovereign credit default swaps that went bad. It's clear Jon Corzine is guilty as sin from this documentary.
Frontline's $6 Billion Dollar Bet, Ch. 1
Frontline's $6 Billion Dollar Bet, Ch. 2
Comments
more horrific working conditions at Amazon
Anyone who has ordered temperature sensitive products from Amazon directly may suspect the warehouse is an oven when they get putrid products clearly stored above recommended temperatures.
Surprise employees were removed on stretchers and wheelchairs suffering from heat exhaustion. Just another example where workers are being treated so badly, literally they are at risk of dying or dying. Welcome to 1897.