VOICES

SCOTUS - Much ink has been spilled over Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s failure to recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 election, despite his wife’s participation in efforts to overthrow it.

SOCIAL MEDIA - Elon Musk, who has, as of this month, quietly amassed more than 9% of Twitter, just offered $43 billion to buy the whole company.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - So, some of the more idealistic members of the California's Legislature wants to allow--if not mandate--companies with over 500 employees to reduce employees' work week to 32 hours... 

...and for those working more than 32 hours per week to be paid no less than 1.5 times the employee's regular rate of pay. 

Pretty cool, huh? More free time, less miserable work hours to suffer through, and no reduction in productivity! And that "Great Resignation" makes it clear that workers are sick of their jobs, and bailing on their employers.

Except a few problems are in the way...and I'm sure we can get past those!  

#1. Getting the buy-in and approval of those silly employers at the California Chamber of Commerce. I mean, what do they know about labor costs and productivity? 

#2. Tell other American states to reduce the hours of their work week, too, just in case that productivity thing doesn't work out so well. After all, we wouldn't want to see California employers relocate to other states! 

#3. Tell other nations of the world to reduce the hours of their work week, as well! China, India, and other major global players whose productivity and economic power has exploded over the last several decades need to take a break, as well! Otherwise...it just wouldn't be fair! 

#4. Make the cost of gasoline cheaper so that Californians wouldn't have to work more than one job just to make ends meet if they commute, have kids, want basic mobility, etc. 

#5. Make the cost of utilities cheaper (see #4). Of course, we live in the Golden State--the ocean breeze and gentle weather patterns of our state really don't require heating or air-conditioning. And warm showers...who needs 'em? 

#6. Make the cost of groceries cheaper (see #4). Eating is for fat people. Top Ramen and Cup O' Noodles, anybody? 

#7. Make the cost of housing cheaper--maybe those foreign and domestic investors who work 40+ hours a week should be prevented from buying up all of housing stock. What...they already HAVE? 

#8. Create laws for Californians to not work more than one job to get ahead in life. Because if they're already as productive working 32 hours at their primary job, then that's ALL they should live with--vacations, nicer cars, college education for their kids...pssssshaw! Gimme a break! 

#9. Figure out ways to calculate all the tech, manufacturing, medical, and legal companies and practices so that their work hours allow their weekly, monthly, and quarterly deadlines can be delayed. I mean, fair is fair! 

#10. Mandate the pay and benefits of the privately-employed tax base of California, and lower the highest state taxes in the nation, so that Californians can actually keep some of their money, lower their taxes, and have the pension and retirement benefits that politicians and the public sector has! 

These are ten time-tested, proven ways to create a 32-hour work week, and they're certainly easily to implement! Just make a few more laws, and more laws, and yet even more laws when the earlier laws just don't add up.

I could just add an eleventh method: JUST BANISH THE LAWS OF TIME, SPACE, PHYSICS, AND ECONOMICS! 

...but I am pretty sure that the California State Legislature is already all over that one. 

And I can already see and hear the smiles and joyous laughter of Californians who will enjoy three-day work weeks every week...and who know they just WON'T need to work an extra job on that day off to pay for the ever-exploding cost of living in the Golden State.

(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 9, years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach, Planning, and Transportation/Infrastructure Committees for 10 years. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)

GUEST COMMENTARY - For many years I was the primary caregiver for my Mom, who died in November, age 101.

­ACCORDING TO LIZ - There has been a lot written about how the plutocracy has used its money, power and connections to reshape our country’s laws for its benefit.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Once again we are all paying our federal income taxes this month.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Jackson is 4 years old. His little sister, Isabella, is 3. They live with their mother, Rachel, a recovering heroin addict at Saint John’s Program for Real Change, a shelter for formerly homeless women and children that I head.

GUEST COMMENTARY - In former President Donald Trump's ongoing effort to dismantle democracy, his people gave Jim Marchant an important assignment. Marchant embraced it.

GUEST COMMENTARY - The soul of humanity cries out from the crowded streets of Moscow, from steps near the Kremlin,

VIRTUAL REALITY - In a society that seems addicted to the “new, new thing,” it is easy to pass off talk about the “metaverse” as classic techie hype.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Russian atrocities in Ukraine horrify us all, particularly knowing many Russians consider Ukrainians family. 

THE DOCTOR IS IN - Most of us who pay attention to the news are quite aware that President Joe Biden, so very soon after taking office, allowed a surge of illegal immigration into the United States within days to weeks after succeeding President Donald Trump in the White House.

LABOR WATCH - It seems impolite to say “we told you so,” but the working class and labor unions were so unjustly maligned more than two decades ago

THE DOCTOR IS IN - There's a reason or ten why Tolkien despised allegory in his or other mythological or fantasy works,

CHILD CARE –  LaToya Brown-Clayton is struggling financially as the owner and operator of Connecting the Pieces, a family child care program in Hartford, Connecticut. 

GUEST COMMENTARY - The United States had the Great Recession; Europe had PIIGS. 

EDUCATION POLITICS - The organization behind some of California’s most out-there education initiatives announced it’s splitting from the national group that helped it promote the “parents are terrorists” campaign.

GUEST COMMENTARY - It’s A Dangerous World Out There.

SCOTUS - Your life could get a lot more dangerous. Republican appointees on the Supreme Court seem poised to strip away basic safety standards for our workplaces, our food, our air and water. 

Congress gives federal agencies the authority to enact regulations that protect us in our daily lives. Congress defines the goals, but leaves it up to the health and safety experts in those agencies to craft and enforce regulations. I know regulations don’t sound very exciting, but they’re how our government keeps us safe.

Watch:

Remember when lots of romaine lettuce was recalled because it was causing E.coli outbreaks? That was the Food and Drug Administration protecting us from getting sick. Working in a warehouse? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration sets standards to ensure you don’t breathe in dangerous chemicals like asbestos. Enjoying the fresh air on a clear, sunny day? Thank the Environmental Protection Agency for limiting the amount of pollution that can go into our air.

These agencies save lives. Since OSHA was established a half-century ago, its workplace safety regulations have saved more than 618,000 workers’ lives.

Republicans have been trying to gut these agencies for decades. Now, with the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority solidly in place, they have their best chance yet.

In January 2022, the Supreme Court blocked OSHA’s vaccine-or-testing mandate from going into effect, which was estimated to prevent a quarter-million hospitalizations.

The Court claimed that Covid isn’t an “occupational hazard” because people can become infected outside of work, and that allowing OSHA to regulate in this manner “would significantly expand” its authority without clear Congressional authorization.

This is absurd on its face. Section 2 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970clearly spells out OSHA’s authority to enact and enforce regulations that protect workers from illness, injury, and death in the workplace. Congress doesn’t need to list every specific workplace hazard before OSHA can protect workers.

What this ruling tells us is that the Republican appointees on the Supreme Court are intent on gutting the power of agencies to issue regulations.

This term, the Court will also hear a case regarding the EPA’s authority to enforce the Clean Water Act. If the Court undermines the EPA’s authority, it will put our environment – and our health – at risk. Remember when the Cuyahoga River caught on fire because it was brimming with oil, acid, and factory chemicals? That’s what we may be returning to.

And what’s next? Will they gut the Federal Trade Commission and put us all at risk of being defrauded? Target the Securities and Exchange Commission and deregulate the financial sector, sparking another financial crisis?

Beware. If Republican appointees on the Supreme Court succeed in gutting regulatory agencies, we all lose. This agenda is anti-worker, anti-consumer, and anti-environment. The only thing it’s good for is corporate profits.

(Robert Reich, is the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now. This article was featured in CommonDreams.)

GUEST COMMENTARY - The notion that “the arc of history” favors humanity extends across the political spectrum from George W. Bush to Barack Obama.

MY THOUGHTS - I really look forward to the comments you make on my articles.  One of my lifelong mantras has been, I do not have the market on good ideas.