by Maximillian Alvarez | Aug 13, 2026 | Economy, Economy and Inequality, health care, labor, Podcast, Working People
Frontline healthcare workers and the patients they serve are facing a major crisis at the University of Vermont Health network—the state’s leading healthcare provider. “In June, UVM Health eliminated over 140 positions across its network, a third of which were union positions,” Matt More reports at The Rake Vermont. “The cuts, which the hospital estimated will save $9.5 million, comes as the network faces a $300 million budget shortfall… Later that month, UVM Health handed down a speed-up order to its Medical Group, which includes outpatient clinics and more than 1,000 physicians, which practitioners say will result in briefer appointments with patients.”
How did Vermont’s flagship health network end up in this crisis? How is it affecting healthcare workers and their patients? And what can be done to fix it? In this episode of Working People, we speak with Melissa Lavallee, secretary of UVMMC Support Staff United and VP of healthcare for AFT-Vermont; and Teagan Cook, lead outpatient chemotherapy scheduler at her hospital and a chief steward in UVMMC Support Staff United.
Additional links/info:
UVMMC Support Staff Unitedwebsite, Facebook page, and Instagram
AFT-Vermont website, Facebook page, and Instagram
Matt Moore, The Rake Vermont, “UVM Health’s unions fight hospital cuts to protect their patients’ healthcare and their working conditions”
Town Meeting TV, “Put workers and patients first! – Solidarity town hall meeting with UVM Medical Center unions”
Olivia Gieger, VT Digger, “UVM Health cuts 142 jobs — an estimated $9.5 million in staff positions”
Featured Music:
Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Transcript
Maximillian Alvarez:
Alright. Welcome everyone to Working People, a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class today. Working People is a proud
by Steve Benen | Aug 13, 2026 | Economy, Maddowblog, News, Politics
On Tuesday night, Donald Trump spoke briefly to reporters on an airport tarmac and summarized why he’s so pleased with the state of the nation.
“The country’s doing well,” the president said. “The stock market, a fantastic record, and we have 79 records so far in a short period of time. More people are working right now in the United States than ever before, and prices are dropping fast. Iran is going fine, going just absolutely fine. We totally control the Strait of Hormuz. We have control over it. Nobody else, only us. Our Navy is unbelievable. And things are going great for our country.”
almost every single word Trump said to reporters tonight in this 53 second clip was a lie— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-08-12T03:16:46.595Z
Most of the claims in the Republican’s summary were brazenly untrue. Consumer prices in the United States are clearly not “dropping fast”; the reference to setting “79 records” appears to have been entirely made up; the war with Iran is not “going fine”; and the U.S. military most certainly does not have “control” over the Strait of Hormuz.
But there was one part of Trump’s celebration of the status quo that stood out for me: “More people are working right now in the United States than ever before.”
For those who keep an eye on the president’s rhetoric, the boast probably seemed familiar. In fact, earlier that same day, he said during an interview on Real America’s Voice, “We’re doing better than we’ve ever done. … We have more jobs than, you know that more people are working now than at any time in the history of our country
by Steve Benen | Aug 10, 2026 | Economy, Maddowblog, News, Politics
Those looking for good news in the latest job numbers will be hard-pressed to find anything. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest data, the U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, and while the unemployment rate inched lower, to 4.1%, even this was discouraging: The “improved” rate was the result of the labor force participation rate dropping, as opposed to additional hiring.
The fact that job growth turned negative was itself striking, especially since this was the sixth time this has happened since Donald Trump returned to the White House. (During Joe Biden’s presidency and Barack Obama’s second term, the total number of months in which the economy lost jobs was zero.)
All told, the U.S. economy has added 542,000 jobs over Trump’s 19-month second term, a dramatic decline from the nearly 2.7 million jobs that were added over the previous 19 months. Excluding the 2020 pandemic, the first year of Trump’s second term was the worst year for job creation since the Great Recession, and this year is on track to be the second-worst year for job creation since the Great Recession.
The White House basically has three options. It can (a) try to make excuses and hope the public buys it; (b) ask Americans for patience, saying that conditions will eventually improve; or (c) pitch an absurd alternate reality and hope for the best.
Take a wild guess which approach Team Trump prefers.
On Friday, shortly after the job numbers were released, Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council and the top economist in the White House, told Fox News that if we exclude the part of the economy
by Helaine Olen | Aug 9, 2026 | Economy, Opinion, White House
Amid this week’s headlines about flatlining jobs numbers, confirmation votes and the Strait of Hormuz, conservatives on social media (including the vice president of the United States) sniped at each other over an entirely different topic: the humble burrito.
The ongoing imbroglio is part of a broader question for conservatives: A year and a half into Trump’s second term, what should they tell voters increasingly unhappy about rising inflation and sluggish job growth? For many Republicans, including the president, the answer is “Stuff it.”
At least some Republicans and conservatives are admitting the price of food is higher than many Americans can comfortably digest.
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, the conservative advocacy organization focusing on younger Americans, raised the issue of inflation in a way any college student — or, really, anyone — could understand: the price of Mexican food. “One of our TPUSA college students gave me his take on affordability: ‘A burrito shouldn’t cost $20,’ TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet tweeted. “It just feels like basic things cost too much.”
The problem is not inflation or affordability, responded a number of conservatives. It’s lazy — and young — Americans, who are refusing to cook or take responsibility for their own finances. “Stop whining, get a job, eat Ramen like the rest of us did in college,” tweeted Rep. Dan Crenshaw. Commentator Ben Shapiro, seemingly under the impression the student was looking for a handout, wrote, “We have enough problems as a country without insane expectations that the government is going to provide us with gourmet-quality burritos.”
Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen echoed Crenshaw’s dietary advice: “When I graduated I lived on
by Joseph Zeballos-Roig | Aug 8, 2026 | Economy, Opinion, White House, World
Long before becoming president of the United States, Donald Trump coveted other nations’ oil fields. In years past he’s talked about America seizing oil in Libya and Iraq after those wars ended, arguing that anything less than full-on resource acquisition was a boneheaded mistake. Trump seems determined to correct that supposed error in his second term — no matter the costs to his country and party.
At a rally in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Trump boasted that the U.S. is “taking a lot of oil from Venezuela.” Since the American military raid that deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and replaced him with a more obedient authoritarian in Delcy Rodríguez, the Trump administration has assumed effective control over the sale of Venezuelan oil and the revenue it generates.
“We paid for the war with what we’ve taken out many, many, many times. That’s the old-fashioned way,” he told the crowd. “To the victor belong the spoils, right?”
Politically, the president is struggling with his worst approval ratings of either term, due in no small part to his war with Iran raising gas prices.
The comments are a fresh reminder of a key principle of Trump’s foreign policy: Might makes right. It’s a modern spin on the 19th and early 20th century imperialism that exploited the resources of colonized regions and carved borders at a whim. It evokes the “jet-propelled technocrats” that Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano singled out as a key group managing “mechanisms of plunder” in his 1971 book “Open Veins of Latin America.”
Trump spelled out this same belief verbatim in April when asked about his endgame with Iran and its sizable oil reserves. “To
by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis | Aug 6, 2026 | AI, Economy, Economy and Inequality, Inequality Watch, Politics and Movements: US, video
Economist Dean Baker (Center for Economic and Policy Research, author of Rigged and creator of the AI Bubble Monitor) joins Taya Graham and Stephen Janis to break down why the productivity data doesn’t match the hype, why Palantir’s CEO seemed to be panicking on live TV, why Bernie Sanders’ AI sovereign wealth fund idea might backfire, and what signs to watch for if this bubble bursts.
Credits:
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Taya Graham:
Hello, my name is Taya Graham and welcome to the Inequality Watch Report, a show that examines government policy and action through the lens of extreme economic inequality, the existential issue of our time. Today, we’re going to discuss a technology which we’ve been told will transform our lives, an invention that has been touted as the ultimate arbiter of our collective futures, whether we like it or not. Of course, I’m talking about artificial intelligence, but with the promise also comes doubt and questions and most of all, a lack of clarity on how we’ll impact the working people of this country. AI leaders have casually warned us that their products could eliminate 40 to 50% of white collar jobs more than the losses in the Great Depression. They’ve promised that technology will be so disruptive that even staunch capitalists have discussed providing a UBI or universal basic income for Americans who will be left out.
They’ve borrowed money at such predigious rates to fund data centers that even Wall Street is beginning to just say no. And now some of the biggest names are saying it’s not working out as
