You..ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones

Monday May 25, 1903
Chicago, Illinois - Company seeks court injunction against Teamsters' Boycott
The Kellog Switchboard and Supply Co. of Illinois has been granted an injunction in state court today to stop the boycott declared by the Teamsters' Union against them. 800 Teamsters employed by the firm have been on strike since May 7th. When the company refused to sign a close-shop agreement, the boycott was declared.

The American Anti-Boycott Association has been advising employers on the use of litigation to fight union boycotts. Once an injunction is granted against union activities, then union leaders can be charged with contempt for conducting union business. This includes advocating boycotts through union newspapers, or in speeches.

One would think that freedom of speech would cover advising unionist and union sympathizers on where to shop or not shop. But apparently freedom of speech is not applied equally between the company and the workers. The manufacturer's journals are free to print any sort of diatribe against the union without fear of legal consequences. They are also free to strongly advise their employees not to join a union.

When Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission, called for more research on the effects of homophobia, the Agency for Fundamental Rights stepped forward.

The result is the EU LGBT survey. As always, I have read the relevant pdf so that you do not have to do so.

In the past decade, a growing number of international and national developments have addressed the fundamental rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. Standards on non-discrimination and equality for LGBT persons have been further developed or reinforced by the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe and the United Nations (UN). Sexual orientation and gender identity have increasingly been recognised as grounds of discrimination in European and national legislation. Today, the situation of LGBT persons in the EU is no longer a marginalised issue but a recognised human rights concern.

--Morton Kjærum, Director of the Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

You..ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones

Saturday May 23, 1903
Chicago, Illinois - 40,000 Workers Threaten to Strike
The city of Chicago is bracing itself for strikes and lockouts which may soon involve 40,000 workers. 12,00 restaurant and hotel employees, women and well as men, have issued demands and stand ready to strike. 8,000 barbers may be on strike next week, Stockyard men numbering 10,000, including teamsters and laborers, as well as the skilled tradesmen, have issued demands and threatened to strike if those demands are not met. Railroad men and freight handlers may soon shut down the flow of goods to and from the city.

Employers are discussing the possibility of attacking the unions through the courts.

In the real world and the reality based community, there is talk about austerity from people who understand the nuances of it and macroeconomic accounting identities. They point out the undeniable fact that there is austerity in the UK, the Eurozone, and yes, the United States. This interactive chart will show this, though I can't embed it here. So instead, I will add a small snapshot of some of the data.

Net spending in the United States has steadily declined since it rose from 2008 to 2009 when the inadequate stimulus(only $500 billion of direct spending at about 1.5 percent of GDP) was passed. Stimulus packages don't exist in a vacuum, and you have to count all government spending, which basically shows how exactly the numbers, including the stimulus as this does, didn't close the output gap. And since the numbers didn't, that is actually austerity. After all, spending went up in the UK and Eurozone from 2008 to 2009 as well, and since then, their spending has declined. Even though it is on a higher level, it is being cut at an even more alarming rate with its fate set to go below our miserable level by 2017.

I have pointed this out before. Sometimes I get frustrated, and point this out harshly, because some pride themselves on denying this established data to support whatever a politician in their party says or does. I don't know why. Denying reality is not going to give resources to people who need them. There is a reason my last diary has been cited by the reality based Post Keynesian MMT community, in which I am truly grateful for and humbled by; it is the truth.

The real economy of jobs and wages continues to go nowhere thanks to the lack of deficit spending and an illogical debate in DC about how much austerity we need to appease the invisible bond vigilantes and confidence fairies. It is neoliberal deficit terrorist economic insanity based on lies. And on that note, it is my pleasure to republish a piece by someone in the reality based economic community whom I can now proudly say is a friend of mine, Post Keynesian MMT economist John T. Harvey. He, once again, brings clarity to these matters in a way that only he can.