Erin Kelly
@elkelly.bsky.social
sociologist, MIT Sloan, work, inequalities, future of work but not tech obsessed, gender-work-family, etc
Most regular folks don't wake up worrying about institutions. They have more immediate concerns. But once you live through a period when core institutions fail, you start paying attention, and historical memory is rebuilt for a time. We're going through one of those moments now.
What to make of POTUS's attempt to fire the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)? Let's run down what knowledgable people are saying...
A contender for the most “Show me your budget and I’ll tell you who you are” bills in modern history. An act of breathtaking moral monstrosity and nearly unprecedented self-sabotage for the country.
Glad to be part of this conversation. Thanks @equitablegrowth.bsky.social for pulling us together.
Washington Center for Equitable Growth@equitablegrowth.bsky.social · last yr."The crisis of poor job quality has encouraged right-wing populist leaders to pitch divisive rhetoric to struggling workers and their families..." @elkelly.bsky.social on drivers of poor job quality and concrete policy responses to address them 👇 #EssaySeries equitablegrowth.org/americas-job...
Join us 5/13 at the National Union Building for "The Rise of Populism and Economic Policy." The event previews a new essay series on how people have experienced economic policy over the decades, plus ideas for the future. See @awhf.bsky.social share what to expect: www.youtube.com/watch?v=M44L...
Populism and the U.S. economy
YouTube video by Washington Center for Equitable Growth
youtube.com
It's all fun and games until … "Professor Gina Neff of Queen Mary University London told the BBC #ChatGPT is "burning through energy", and the data centres used to power it consume more electricity in a year than 117 countries." www.bbc.com/news/article...
ChatGPT action dolls: What are the concerns?
As online users create Barbie-like dolls of themselves, experts urge caution over AI's energy and data use.
bbc.com
No human being belongs there, and no one should have been sent there. We need to keep repeating those parts, too.
60 Minutes@60minutes.bsky.social · 2y ago60 Minutes could find no criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans the U.S. sent to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador. https://cbsn.ws/4clubLP
- Rumeysa Öztürk has never been charged with a crime. - Mahmoud Khalil has never been charged with a crime. - Momodou Taal has never been charged with a crime. - Badar Khan Suri has never been charged with a crime.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2y agoState Department spox Tammy Bruce just blatantly lies and says that students are getting visas revoked for "illegal activity" (Rumeysa Ozturk was not charged with a crime)
It’s worth stating this simply: For literally anyone in the US Govt from 1945 to 2025, Signalgate would require an instant resignation—and a criminal investigation. It would be a matter of personal *honor* to resign. The fact Mike Waltz & Pete Hegseth are choosing to fight it out is a terrible omen.
By accepting Trump’s anti-Black premise and regurgitating the narrative that equates anything Black as DEI, the NY Times has become part of the propaganda machine
Here are some facts about "facilities and administrative" (F&A) costs, what we in the business call "indirects" and what Musk is calling "overhead" as he tries to convince Americans with being ok with cutting billions on dollars from medical and public health research at universities & hospitals 1/
DOGE plans to slash about as much ($4B) from NIH, and hence from universities and medical centers, as the government gave SpaceX ($3.8B) last year. It's not about the money and government "waste." It's never been about the money or government "waste." www.usatoday.com/story/money/...
Elon Musk wants to cut government spending. Tesla and SpaceX benefit from it
Over the last 16 years, Musk's business deals with the government total nearly $20 billion, according to federal contracting data.
usatoday.com
As someone who has studied autocratization elsewhere, I can tell you that you need to keep your eyes on THIS. Changes to the partisan balance of bodies overseeing elections or changes to the electoral system is key to how wannabe autocrats become actual autocrats. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/u...
Federal Election Commission Chair Says Trump Has Moved to Fire Her
Ellen L. Weintraub, who has served as a commissioner for the nation’s top elections watchdog since 2002, said she did not recognize a letter from President Trump relieving her from her post as legally...
nytimes.com
There are critics of DEI who point to its historic use as a way to capture the rhetoric of social justice movements and mitigate the transformative potential of anti discrimination law, and then there are critics of DEI who think race and sex discrimination is good.
jamelle@jamellebouie.net · 2y agodo i roll my eyes at a lot of DEI stuff? yeah, i wrote a whole essay about why i thought it was bullshit back in 2020. but trump et al aren’t saying, “corporate DEI policies mainly exist to protect corporate interests from discrimination lawsuits.” they’re saying “get the blacks out”
I want to spell out the basic reason it’s so dangerous for Elon to have control of the U.S. payments system. It may seem like a technical matter, but the dynamics are simple. 1/x
Elon Musk’s Team Now Has Access to Treasury’s Payments System
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Mr. Musk’s representatives at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending.
nytimes.com
EPA has 8,500 employees in total. Cutting 1,100 probationary employees would be a massive blow. If all probationary employees are going to be fired (and given what Musk is saying, this sounds more likely) it will kill federal recruiting www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-emp...
More than 1,100 EPA employees warned of immediate termination
"It's bad. I've been with the agency for over 33 years and I've never seen anything like this," said Marie Owens-Powell, president of the union that represents more than 8,500 EPA employees.
cbsnews.com
This morning, we learned that President Trump fired Board Member Gwynne Wilcox, whose Senate-confirmed term runs until 2028. This move must be called out for what it is—a frontal assault on the NLRB, its employees, workers, and the very idea of an independent civil service. 🚨
🚨 Applications are still open for the rest of the week 🚨 (full review begins Monday, Jan 20)
Fabian Pfeffer@fabianpfeffer.bsky.social · 2y agoSociologists working on inequality: Still time to apply for this 3yr+ postdoc position in beautiful Munich (no German required) EN: job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/5... DE: job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/f... Applications are 01/15, but let me know if you need another 1-2 days to put in your materials
Fascinating. I had no idea.
Keri Blakinger@keribla.bsky.social · 2y agoHow many incarcerated firefighters are fighting the LA wildfires? What type of work are they doing? And how do they feel about it? I teamed up with @themarshallproject.org to answer all these questions we've been seeing online: www.themarshallproject.org/2025/01/11/l...
Our update went deeper on how to implement work redesign strategies and on strategies particularly useful for older workers (but likely valuable to all). Excited to have the updated Toolkit out!
MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research (IWER)@mitiwer.bsky.social · 2y agoLooking for ways to foster workplace well-being in 2025? We've updated the "Work Design for Health" employer toolkit, created by researchers from @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social & @harvardpopcenter.bsky.social. Learn more: tinyurl.com/9z9x5dkf
@mitiwer.bsky.social is delighted to offer a warm welcome home to Richard M. Locke, newly announced as the incoming Dean of @mitsloan.bsky.social: news.mit.edu/2025/richard...
Richard Locke PhD ’89 named dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management
Richard Locke, a prominent scholar and academic administrator with a wide range of leadership experience, has been named the new dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management.
news.mit.edu
How can policy confront minimum wage non-compliance? Using the case of the US and the UK, @annastansbury.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social @mitiwer.bsky.social argues that improved enforcement alone is insufficient & expected penalties must increase substantially. doi.org/10.1177/0019...
Fascinating write up on community coalitions bargaining and building for the common good.
Aaron Sojourner@aaronsojourner.org · 3y ago"...city of Minneapolis had about 250,000 minimum wage workers and three labor standards investigators. The United Nations International Labor Organization recommends cities have one investigator for every 10,000 workers." www.startribune.com/wage-theft-i...
Wage theft in Twin Cities costs low-wage workers $86M a year, study finds
Rutgers University analyzed five years of data from the metro area to come to its conclusions.
startribune.com
