Gloomy Louie’s Liberal Solution to Corporate Layoffs
 

     Business and economics reporter Louis Uchitelle’s first book, “The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences,” goes on sale next week, but judging by the early reviews and official description, it will reliable track with Uchitelle’s liberal reporting on economics and business:

     “The award-winning New York Times economics writer Louis Uchitelle explains how, in the mid-1970s, the first major layoffs, initiated as a limited response to the inroads of foreign competition, spread and multiplied, in time destroying the notion of job security and the dignity of work.”

     Not only are layoffs a very bad thing in Uchitelle’s eyes, he insists it’s the federal government’s duty to limit their effect: “While recognizing that in today’s global economy some layoffs must occur, the author passionately argues that government must step in with policies that encourage companies to restrict layoffs and must generate jobs to supplement the present shortfall. There are specific recommendations for achieving these goals and persuasive arguments that workers, business, and the nation will benefit as a result.”

     One of those arguments apparently includes a doubling of the federal minimum wage, according to a less-than-glowing review from Publishers Weekly.

     “And Uchitelle's solutions are not entirely convincing: neither forcing companies to abide by a ‘just cause’ clause when they fire someone, for instance, nor doubling the minimum wage are likely to increase employment.”

     It’s an argument he’s pushed in the Times as well.