Employers often fail to pay the wages workers have earned: they commit wage theft, affecting millions of American workers.   Kim Bobo is the author of Wage Theft in America, and in this interview she talks with the Old Mole's Bill Resnick  about the many ways this happens, why companies get away with it, and what we can do about it.  

Bobo will be speaking at an event for Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon this Thursday evening at the Friends' Meeting House, SE 43d and Stark; and on the topic of wage theft at SEIU Local 503, SE Foster and 64th Avenue on Friday evening.  

 What is wage slavery?  Why are even well-paid workers nevertheless slaves?  Could work be abolished?   What is the real value of work?  These are the questions pondered by Old Moles Clayton Morgareidge and Frann Michel, and Poet Marge Piercy in this portmanteau segment with musical breaks by Thelonious Monk and Stephan Grapelli.  The image here is a Mural at the Frederick Douglass Library/ University of Maryland by Mike Alewitz, "The Creation of Wealth."  And you can find Frann's text and her sources by clicking here.  

 Having returned from Haiti just before the Earthquake, human rights activist Stuart Hammond has a good idea of the impact that the earthquake and the incursion of military personnel is having on the political climate.  Here he talks with the Old Mole's Laurie Mercier about the various NGOs working in Haiti and which ones we should support in KBOO's February 18 all-day Fundraiser, as well as Haiti's recent history with the US and Canada.    Hammond himself is with the Canada-Haiti Action Network.

 The Old Mole's Bill Resnick surveys a wide range of progressive writers and media for their take on the Obama presidency so far, covering regulatory agencies, finance reform, and foreign policy.  It's not all bad.  Bill asks whether he could have been all that progressives wanted him to be without being destroyed by the establishment.  

Hosted by Clayton Morgareidge, this show begins with several  discussions of work: how its wages are stolen, why it can be called slavery, whether work is necessary, and the value of "real" work.  In the second half of the program, we hear from a human rights activist just returned from Haiti, and Bill Resnick provides an assessment of the Obama presidency and its limitations.