Word: blue-collar
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...both the best humor is rooted in personality. Lynda Barry, whose weekly comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek appears in 55 newspapers, shows that her truest metier may be the stage in THE GOOD TIMES ARE KILLING ME, a sometimes campy yet mostly poignant off-Broadway memoir of blue-collar life in the '60s. The plot crams in far too much -- infidelity and divorce, the random death of a child, teen sex, Volare, bygone rock dances, a misbegotten camping trip -- and the two dozen-plus characters are mostly stereotypes and sketches. But the core story is believably specific and disconcertingly...
...have computers made workers more productive? Stephen Roach, a senior economist at Morgan Stanley, says white-collar productivity has been stagnant since the 1960s. By contrast, blue-collar productivity has improved by a factor of four. "Companies thought that by simply buying boxes they would somehow make people work harder," says Roach. It didn't happen, Roach discovered, largely because the technology failed to reach the top: while back-office support jobs have been automated, less than 10% of senior executives even use personal computers...
...levy has been labeled the Robin Hood tax by one economist because it helps transfer money from the rich to the poor. Not everyone sees it that way, however. A rare chorus of blue-chip retailers and blue-collar workers denounces it as a disaster tax. At issue is the six-month-old "luxury tax" that Congress adopted last year as part of a comprehensive deficit-reduction plan. The new 10% excise tax was tacked onto such goods as pleasure boats, private airplanes, jewelry and fur. While the tax bite is not particularly severe -- a minuscule $25 million is expected...
...contends the National Marine Manufacturers Association, has been the layoffs of thousands of skilled boatbuilders. "In a nutshell, this tax has been devastating," says Carl Herndon, president of Blackfin Yacht in Fort Lauderdale. "The rich are still rich. But the people who are on the unemployment rolls are blue-collar workers...
...California, Berkeley, ITT's total return to shareholders during Araskog's 12- year tenure has been in the bottom 30% of America's 406 largest companies. Yet over the same period, he notes, Araskog's compensation has rocketed from a level that was 87 times as great as a blue-collar worker's to one that is more than 600 times as much. Asserting that Araskog "is one of the most overpaid CEOs in the world," Crystal blamed ITT directors for having "wasted the company's assets to a flagrant degree...