Join Damon Silvers , director of policy and special counsel for the AFL-CIO, June 5 from 3–4 p.m. EDT for a live Twitter chat that will explode the economic myths peddled by the “austerians” and offer a range of alternatives and an economic vision that will work for working families. 

The current U.S. process for reviewing incoming foreign investment is excessively narrow and needs to be both expanded and rethought. This is underscored by the current controversy over the proposed purchase of Smithfield Foods by a Chinese meat processing company.

Facing a barrage of challenges from AFT President Randi Weingarten and leaders of the United States Student Association ( USAA ), Sallie Mae CEO John Remondi today agreed to meet for talks on student loan debt.

Women are the only or primary breadwinners in 40% of households with children younger than 18 and 63% of those homes are headed by single mothers, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center . In 1960, women accounted for just 11% of the main or sole earners in homes with children.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued its economic outlook for the modern, democratic, industrialized economies at its annual meeting of member nation ministers. It was mostly gloom. The European members of the OECD are mired in a deep economic slump. In 2012, the European members had a drop in Gross Domestic Product (the combined value of goods and services produced) of 0.5% and is projected to have that same poor performance in 2013. Behind those numbers, however, are the lives of real people. When an economy shrinks, it means there are fewer jobs and that means growing stress on the day-to-day lives of people. Just as in the United States, the loss of job opportunities is being felt most keenly by young workers.

AFSCME President Lee Saunders finds some dangerous parallels between the crushing austerity measures that have “left the Greek economy dangling on a ledge, threatening to prolong the recession and sending unemployment skyrocketing,” and Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) economic prescription for Wisconsin. In a column at The Huffington Post , Saunders writes:

The National Academy of Social Insurance, a Washington-based organization of academics and policymakers who are experts on Social Security and other parts of the Social Security Act, released a recent survey of what Americans think about Social Security and how to “fix” it. Their report that came out last week is very telling of why Americans feel so disconnected from Washington.

Yesterday, the AFL-CIO hosted the first Youth Economic Forum in its Washington, D.C., headquarters. Young leaders in the labor movement gathered with leaders of youth organizations to discuss ways to improve the economic reality faced by the millennial workforce. The goal of the forum is to produce a shared economic policy platform for the millennial generation.

AFL-CIO's chief economist William Spriggs appeared on the Thom Hartmann show with Karen Nussbaum of Working America and author Stewart Acuff to talk about the big picture of labor in America.

Last summer, a respected policy expert from the Brookings Institution spoke at a large meeting. He introduced himself, saying that he works with a lot of brilliant economists who can't understand why the recovery is so slow.

Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman has an explanation ,"...corporations use their growing monopoly power to raise prices without passing the gains on to their employees."