A word about the locked-out NFL officials.

It turns out that workers have something in common with the locked-out NFL officials. All across America, corporations are seeing record profits yet asking their workers to take cuts in pay and benefits. Usually, this includes substituting a defined-contribution (401k) retirement plan for the defined-benefit traditional pension.

The NFL is no exception. According to Timothy Egan's column, Zebra-nomics,  in today's NY Times: "... an incredibly prosperous cartel wants its longtime workers to take a cut in pension benefits — this at a time when the cartel is earning more money than at any time in its history, and has the greatest audience in American television."

Let's put the dispute into dollar terms. "The National Football League, which took in more than $9 billion in revenue last year and owned 23 of the 25 most watched telecasts last year, wants to cut the pension contribution by about 60 percent, moving the refs from a defined benefit into something closer to a 401(k)."

"What’s $3 million to the N.F.L.? It’s the price of a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl. So, to be clear, the most popular entertainment commodity in the land is willing to seriously tarnish its name, its reputation and the validity of its games for the price of a single half-minute ad."

But hey, why not? Every business seems to be doing it. They're feeling the power of the tide of the national mood. There's almost nobody left to stand up for labor. Any mention of unions in a newspaper will result in dozens of comments claiming that unions are the cause of the decline of western civilization.

The depressing thing about those comments is that they very often come from middle class workers whose 8-hour days and weekends off are the result of unions. Think about what it will be like if unions are eliminated. Or, read a history book about the rise of organized labor in America and the conditions that brought it on.

Maybe employers--released from the bonds of dealing with their organized workers--will be reasonable and ethical. And maybe pigs will fly.