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Inflation is eating into wages, says Mick Lynch, the head of Britain's Rail Maritime and Transport Workers Union. He is gaining support in the UK as the union stages a rail strike after rejecting a 3% wage increase offer in the middle of 9% inflation in Britain. This report in WSJ says he is a media star after appearing on TV shows and responding to interviewer questions. There is a similar interest in the US labor movement as workers get support for wage increases in Britain, France, Germany and the US to tackle high inflation, and after years of depressed wages in which labor had lost the power to negotiate higher wages.

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Nelson Schwartz provides an exceptional indepth account on the changing leadership role of James Gorman at Morgan Stanley. Gorman is from Melbourne, Australia. He studied law before joining Columbia Business School. Consulting with McKinsey was followed with a job at Merrill Lynch. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2006 before the collapse of Merrill. Compared to his predecessor John Mack in the CEO role, James Gorman is a quiet type who prefers to stay out of the limelight.

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Thomas Frank writing about the public outrage about executive compensation quotes Bill Black, a Professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, who makes an important point. Beyond the size of this compensation there was something else happening that was perverse in its design and in its effects. Black says that at each point in the development of the disaster of mortgage securitization, it was the pay for performance systems that sent the wrong signals to loan officers, real estate appraisers, accountants, and bond rating agencies. The compensation or reward systems actually encouraged wrong, unethical and ultimately disastrous behaviours for the companies and the economy. Another way to look at it, the way it happened on Wall Street- especially at Merrill Lynch and some other financial institutions- the bonuses and other compensation was a way for executives to recklessly milk (loot is the other word) the companies for all they could yield regardless of the results afterwards. And as Black says, to do this through normal corporate mechanisms. A whole range of behaviours of this type took place in the final years of the boom. See other articles by Thomas Frank. ...

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About 6 million workers are in worker Unions in Britain in 2022 compared to 12 million in 1979. Unions have fallen into deep decline over three decades. About 4 million British workers today are in public sector unions and 2 million in private sector unions.

Worker wages have fallen behind inflation making it possible for Mick Lynch, head of the Rail Maritime and Transport Workers Union, to carry an effective message to the public. The government and employers of Britain's Rail network offered a 3% wage increase inadequate for tackling 9% inflation in Britain, leading to the rail strike. 

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How Hiroshi Harunari is changing the way Mitsubishi is doing business. He personally answers emails from employees and dealers from 7 to 9 am every day to know what frustrated employees and dealers are thinking and have to deal with. He flies into Dallas and personally drives an Outlander to dealers in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and other cities to talk to them and listen to what they are struggling with and what their customers are telling them. In 2 months in early 2006 his first 2 months on the job, Hiroshi visited 139 Mitsubishi dealerships in 29 states. He has launched a dealer co-op program to help dealers with advertising (as dealers had suggested) and Mitsubishi uses an upbeat advertising slogan " the next 25 years begin today" suggesting a completely new way of doing things. Hiroshi came from the Mitsubishi Group which financed struggling Mitsubishi Motors with $3 billion infusion after Daimler Chrysler pulled out in 1995. As part of the new plan for Mitsubishi it decided to get out of the old situation where younger drivers with bad credit had been targeted resulting in bad consumer loan losses. It now targeted more financially able customers with the Lancer sedan. It had Merrill Lynch do the financing of customer loans. For the year ending March 31, 2007 Misubishi sold 124,000 cars up 8% over the previous year with sales at dealerships increasing 24%, reversing a 4 year decline in sales, and pulling Mitsubishi USA to a $5 million profit. In 2005 Mitsubishi had lost nearly $2 billion so its quite a reversal. Hiroshi says he had to show that he was ready to pick up the chestnut from the flames, that he had the courage and energy to go out and listen to hundreds of dealers and customers and employees in 29 states in the USA and act immediately to satisfy their concerns. ...

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How the Simpson-Bowles Commission recommendations on reducting tax expenditures and the Romney, Feldstein proposals to limit tax deductions and loopholes to make the rich pay more- at the same time as the tax code is simplified with lower rates- offer a basis for moving towards a deficit reduction plan that has support on both sides of the aisle in Congress, of Democrats and Republicans. Jeb Hensarling and Pat Toomey are the Republican members on the Supercommittee to address deficit reduction, who support a balanced approach to raise revenue from taxes and spending. Obama advisor, Chrisitina Romer sees the Simpson-Bowles approach to limting tax deductions as a good starting point for building an agreement. Romer goes so far as to say let the Republicans in Congress decide on infrastructure project selection as there so many worthy infrastructure improvement projects that getting started would be the main objective.

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The skills to navigate different personalities and work patiently on the issues surrounding changes to the U.S. tax system of Rep. Dave Camp (MI), chairman of the U.S House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, will be immensely useful in the effort to make changes to the U.S. tax system. Camp works well with fellow House Republican leaders Boehner, Ryan, Cantor, and his Democratic counterpart in the U.S. Senate Max Baucus. Camp is a good listener, refuses to engage in partisan criticism, and has the patience to work through difficult issues of achieving savings and keeping fairness in the the tax changes. Earlier efforts to achieve consensus in late 2011 failed, making it even more important to have leadership which can create productive debate and bridge the differences. The tax changes are part of the overall effort for U.S. economic recovery by reducing the deficit.