Links, 9-6-11

Liberals and environmental groups are fuming after Obama backtracked on his promise to have the EPA enforce stricter ozone pollution limits.  Said the director of moveon.org, a leading liberal group, “Stuff like this is devastating to the hope and passion that fuels the volunteers that made the president’s 2008 campaign so unique and successful.”

The US Postal Service is on the verge of bankruptcy due to a confluence of factors.  Law mandates that they must have post offices, and deliver mail to, even the most isolated, rural locations, that postage can be raised no faster than inflation, and that mail must be delivered 6 days per week.  Meanwhile, contracts with postal workers' unions and a massive decline in mail (due to both the internet and the recession) have reduced business without reducing payrolls.

Robert Reich discusses perhaps the largest economic question for the future of America: what should we do about the declining middle class?  Over the past 30 years, the incomes of the wealthiest Americans have skyrocketed while the rest of the workers' wages have been virtually flat.  In the past, increases in productivity yielded increases in wages, but the two have split the last 30 or so years -- due, mostly, to a combination of globalization, computers, and the decline of unions.

For related reasons, Jim Hoffa -- a major union leader -- over the weekend called many American companies unpatriotic for not spending money on American workers.

A recent poll found that 8 in 10 Americans believe we're currently in a recession (officially, we're not), which might be related to the job numbers released last week . . .