Tag Archives: factories

Exploring Trump’s “Manifesto of Mistruths”: Is our economy really “the best it has ever been”?

By Mark | February 9, 2020

I didn’t watch Donald Trump’s State of the Union a few days ago. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. And, apparently, I wasn’t alone. Viewership, it seems, was way down. Which, I guess, given what he had to say, was a good thing. Trump not only lied, but he lied a lot, even […]

Posted in Economics, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Arlo, Barack Obama, Bureau of Labor Statistics, deficit, deficit spending, Donald Trump, Dow Jones, economic growth, economic recovery, federal deficit, GDP, Gross Domestic Product, health care, job creation, jobs, manufacturing, Medicaid, Medicare, Nancy Pelosi, North By Northwest, Obamacare, Paul Krugman, preexisting conditions, Republican lies, S&P 500, social security, Social Security Disability Insurance, SSDI, Steven Rattner, stock market, stomach flu, tax cuts, The 39 Steps, Trump tax cuts, unemployment | 125 Comments

A now-profitable General Motors, having been bailed out by the people of Michigan, repays them with massive layoffs and the shuttering of facilities in Hamtramck and Warren

By Mark | November 26, 2018

Back in 2016, while on the campaign trail, Donald Trump made the following promise to Michigan’s automotive workers. “If I’m elected, you won’t lose one plant, you’ll have plants coming into this country, you’re going to have jobs again, you won’t lose one plant, I promise you that,” he said. Well, General Motors announced today […]

Posted in Corporate Crime, Michigan, Uncategorized | Also tagged Alternative Energy, automotive bailout, autonomous vehicles, bailout, Baltimore, beyond fossil fuel, cheap labor, Chevy Volt, China, Detroit, Donald Trump, electric vehicles, General Motors, global climate change, GM, greed, Hamtramck, Lordstown, manufacturing, Mary Barra, Mexico, mobility, offshore manufacturing, Ohio, outsourcing, Sherrod Brown, SUVs, tax cuts, Terry Dittes, UAW, Warren | 27 Comments

Reminiscing about cleaning the glory holes and peep shows of the old Michigan Avenue porn shop

By Mark | October 8, 2018

Back when I used to have the radio show, I would occasionally get messages from a listener in Colorado. For the purposes of this post, we’ll call him Jeff… Well, Jeff, in one of our conversations, let it be known that he’d not only spent a good part of the ‘70s in Ypsilanti, but that […]

Posted in History, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 16mm, 1972, 1976, 8mm, adult films, Alibi Bar, amyl nitrate, Art 1 and 2, Bill Clinton, Bimbo’s, blue collar, chronic masturbation, Cleveland, College Pharmacy, commissions, customer service, deep throat, Doc Johnson, Eruption, escort services, General Tom Thumb, glory holes, Green Room, Hungry Charlie’s, independent retail, John Holmes, Kroger, Larry’s Tropical Fish, Martha Washington Theater, masturbation, Michigan Avenue, Michigan Avenue Bookstore, mopping, oral history, peep shows, porn, prostitution, quarters, Reuben Sturman, Ron Braverman, semen, sex toys, Spaghetti Bender, Swedish Erotica, The Deuce, The Saturday Six Pack, The Velvet Touch | 27 Comments

The robots are coming, the robots are coming… Is now the time to start talking seriously about universal basic income? And what’s all this about our new Secretary of Labor not liking human beings?

By Mark | December 8, 2016

It seems like we might have turned a corner today relative to universal basic income. Or at least that’s the sense that I get as I’m sitting here in bed, scrolling through today’s headlines. I mean, it’s something that we’ve been discussing for a while, but it seems like it’s everywhere today, which is odd, […]

Posted in Corporate Crime, Uncategorized | Also tagged 2001: A Space Odyssey, Andy Puzder, automation, Carl's Jr., coal mines, Elon Musk, Hardee's, John Henry, robots, Secretary of Labor, threats to the middle class, universal basic income | 74 Comments

Merry Christmas from the people behind the scenes

By Mark | December 24, 2013

From the garment workers of Bangladesh who died to give you those ‘everyday low prices’ you love so much at Walmart to the religious prisoners of China who made those holiday decorations you bought on Black Friday at Kmart, the slave laborers of the world wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, […]