The other night, a group of bloggers got to sit down with Richard Trumka, the newly elected President of the AFL-CIO, as part of the Building the New Economy conference. In the meeting he focused on how the economic engine of the last 30 years, essentially debt-financed consumer spending, asset bubbles and Wall Street casino [...]

At the Building the New Economy conference, Leo Gerard, the head of the United Steelworker’s, made a very powerful argument about the closure of the San Francisco Bay Bridge after a steel beam and two rods collapsed from high winds. “They segmented out the work to retrofit the bridge, to avoid the Buy American provisions. [...]

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) made some pretty interesting remarks at the Building the New Economy conference today. While the topic was manufacturing and industrial policy, Brown opened by talking about the current obsession in Washington, health care and the public option. He praised the “inside/outside” strategy of activism that eventually convinced Harry Reid to add [...]

Sorry to be away for so long, gentle reader. Had a good day in DC huddling with bloggers and progressive types and talking with the AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka and the United Steelworkers’ Leo Gerard about building the new economy. Will have more on all that in a bit. I’m sitting in a press conference to [...]