Hurricane Sandy A Lesson In Failed Big Government

November 2, 2012 Leave a comment

New York City was hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. We’ve all seen pictures of the flooded subway and the burned out neighborhood in Queens. There are currently gas lines two hours long or more and food shortages throughout the city. There is traffic gridlock in Manhattan where the Mayor has ordered that each car entering must have at least three passengers. Police are located at each entrance to Manhattan to enforce the new rule. Out on Staten Island, there is a massive generator shortage. There’s no water and food is becoming scarce. FEMA is nowhere to be found

With all of the devastation in New York, with all of the shortages, the Mayor is going forward with the New York City Marathon. He’s diverting police, water, generators and food from where it’s needed in the city to the marathon. Looters abound in New York but the police are busy enforcing traffic laws and blocking streets for a marathon. Is anyone else noticing how absurd this is? In a city that has traffic problems, they’re going to block 26 miles of street for a running race. In a city where many are without water, people running a race get first priority for water. In a city where many are without power, generators are being diverted for a marathon. Where are the priorities?

The madness doesn’t stop in New York though. Just across the river in New Jersey non union electrical workers from Alabama showed up to help fix electrical problems. They were told to take a hike by the unions. Even in the face of disaster the unions are going to protect their ground, even if it means millions remain without power. Again, where are the priorities? What’s more important, getting people electricity so they can eat, have sanitation and live normal lives or protecting a union? In New Jersey the union is more important, though I’d bet the farm most of those without power don’t care who fixes it as long as the job gets done.

The problem in New York is that the residents there truly expect government to save them. They expect government to provide food, water, shelter and such despite the fact that the government clearly isn’t capable of it. New York City isn’t capable of caring for 20 million people in a disaster. Yet the people in New York expect it of the government. No doubt the folks on Staten Island will be outraged that the Marathon is continuing forward but the fact is that while the Mayor has misplaced priorities the water, generators, food and police wasted on the Marathon are nothing compared to what’s needed in Staten Island and other parts of the city. FEMA hasn’t even made it to Staten Island, government just isn’t capable.

The Red Cross isn’t much better than the government, they haven’t made it to Staten Island either. The Red Cross has long been a hit or miss bureaucracy. You’ll recall after 9-11 they received millions in donations, very little of it went to help victims. It went to feed the Red Cross bureaucracy. It doesn’t take large organizations to help people after a natural disaster. Bigger isn’t always better. It requires people in a local community to actually care about and look out for each other. It requires smaller charities and churches to be active in communities because by being active they’ll know who needs the most and where they are.

The disaster looming in New York borders on Katrina levels of incompetence by governments, including the Federal government. It won’t be reported as such because the press loves Obama and people in Manhattan will love seeing the Marathon go on because they frankly don’t give two hoots about people in Queens or Staten Island. We all know where the mainstream press is located, those folks don’t venture to Queens unless they’re going to the airport and most of them don’t really know where Staten Island is. As such they really don’t care about their plight, especially 4 days before an election.

The lesson to be learned in New York is clear. We cannot trust government to protect or save us when a natural disaster hits. We need to be prepared to take care of ourselves and we need to be prepared to help our neighbors. Big government does not equal big protection when a disaster hits. The folks dumpster diving in New York ought to provide a vivid testimony of this. Our hope and faith must never be placed in government because government simply isn’t capable of properly responding. They don’t have the resources and they tend to get distracted by shiny objects like the NYC Marathon. We must rely on ourselves and for those who cannot rely on themselves we who can must give to small charities and churches who will look out and care for those who cannot take care of themselves. Government is a failure.

UPDATE: New York finally decided to cancel the Marathon. This after already setting up the course and diverting resources away from hurricane relief. It’s clear Nanny Bloomberg only canceled the race after outside criticism.

Filed under culture Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Why No One Cares About Scab NFL Refs

August 25, 2012 Leave a comment

The NFL is using replacement referees during the preseason as the regular refs have been locked out. Apparently refs need a union and the union cannot come to an agreement with the NFL, thus the lockout. The replacement refs have been generally dreadful, though because no one really cares about the preseason complaints have been minimal. No doubt once the Lions get hosed by one of these replacement refs in a real game I’ll be outraged. Of course, I’d be equally outraged if the regular refs hosed the Lions. I suspect most fans are like that, which is one of the reasons why no one really cares about the replacement refs. It’s not like the regulars were highly respected.

Jeff MacGregor at ESPN can’t seem to figure out why fans don’t care about the replacement refs. He goes beyond the absurdity of having Division II and III college refs officiating pro games and looks at the political side of it. What he can’t figure out is why fans aren’t calling these replacements scabs and why there isn’t general outrage over the treatment unionized refs are receiving from the NFL. In short, MacGregor is living in a world long since left by the rest of us. What MacGregor and the folks at ESPN can’t seem to figure out is why Americans don’t care about unions anymore. It’s something the Democrats have been scratching their heads about for awhile.

Only 11.8% of American workers are part of a union. Only 6.9% of private sector workers are in a union. The rest of the folks in unions are public sector employees. After what happened in Wisconsin it seems pretty clear that the public has little to no respect for public sector unions. Between teachers unions demanding higher taxes, more wages and not providing a result and lazy government bureaucrats hiding behind obscene union work rules complete with salary and benefits greater than in the private sector, it’s no wonder unions are generally not trusted or held in high regard. So few workers are part of a private sector union these days that no one sees any need to feel “solidarity” with people in other unions. After all, most of us aren’t part of a union so we have no need or desire to have solidarity.

Just 30 years ago when the government started compiling union statistics 20% of Americans were in a union. Go back to the 50′s and it was likely over 33%. ESPN is shocked that people don’t feel any solidarity with the NFL referees union but the fact is we don’t feel solidarity with any union anymore. Unlike the 30′s-60′s, there isn’t a huge minority of Americans in a union so the unions can’t rally other union members like they used to. The Democrats and the media can’t seem to wrap their head around this fact, which is one of the reasons why they were so surprised when Scott Walker was successful in Wisconsin. The unions have tons of money but they don’t have the power to command 1/3 of the country to stand behind them anymore.

There is of course another explanation to the failure of fans to support the NFL refs. Most Americans hate sports unions because they consistently threaten to take away our entertainment. No body likes the owners but most fans react in horror at the thought of a millionaire athlete striking in order to make more millions. It’s a special sort of obscene reserved for players unions. Still, the refs aren’t threatening to take NFL football away, they’re only threatening to make the officiating marginally worse than it would have been. The fact is, with less than 7% of the country in a private sector union and less than 12% of the country over all, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone when we shrug our shoulders at “scab” workers. We just don’t care about unions anymore.

Filed under unions Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Did Democracy Die In Wisconsin On Tuesday?

June 7, 2012 Leave a comment

Perhaps the highlight of Scott Walker’s win in Wisconsin Tuesday was a weepy union liberal on CNN declaring it was the “death of democracy.” Howard Dean largely said the same thing, declaring this was the beginning of the undermining of democracy. This is so typical of Democrats. When they win it’s proof that democracy works, when they lose democracy has died. We’ll ignore the fact that we have a republic, not a democracy of course. The point of course is that America is a country to be proud of only when the left wins. When the left loses, they blame the people for being fooled by bogus scapegoats.

Democracy died according to the left because we’re told Scott Walker spent anywhere from seven to ten times the money Tom Barrett did. It is true that Scott Walker spent around $30 million on his recall election compared to around $4 million spent by Tom Barret’s campaign. But that’s not all the money that was spent on this campaign and thus if the liberal talking heads are listened to you’ll have a skewed view of spending on this race. What they haven’t told you is that unions spent $21 million on Barrett’s behalf. Around $63.5 million was spent on this campaign, nearly $30 of it by unions and the Barret campaign. Walker  and the Republicans hardly outspent Barret and the unions by ten times or even seven times. They didn’t even double them up.

Last year when State senators, a Supreme Court Justice and other officials in Wisconsin were recalled, the unions outspent the Republicans $23 million to $20 million. Yet the unions still lost. In 2008 Obama more than doubled the spending of John McCain, the liberals didn’t seem to mind that at all. In fact they highly praised Obama’s fundraising capabilities. The left wants to blame Citizens United for the Walker win but that case doesn’t even apply in Wisconsin. Wisconsin didn’t have to change any laws, PAC’s were already allowed.

What underlies all of the left-wing complaining about money in Wisconsin is a general distrust of not hatred for voters. They basically believe you cannot think for yourselves and will be swayed by slick television commercials. For all the money Walker spent, ten times more according to the left and not even close to double in reality, it only gained him one percentage point. People weren’t swayed by money or ads on television. It is insulting to the people of Wisconsin to assume that they were.

The difference in the election is that Walker was able to get the people who voted for him in 2010 back to the polls for his recall election. It shouldn’t be surprising that 18 months into a new governor’s term that the people who voted for him will vote for him in large numbers again. Especially when he’s largely balanced a problematic budget that was over $3 billion in the red when he took office.

The unions grossly overplayed their cards, they’re living in a world that died 30+ years ago, a world where large numbers of people were unionized and those who weren’t wanted to be or at least cared about the plight of unionized workers. The unions believed this world still exists, it’s clear that it doesn’t. Especially when we’re talking about government employee unions, no one likes them or has any sympathy for them whatsoever. This is why Tom Barrett lost. He got the same people who voted for him in 2010 and no more. His message doesn’t reach to the people in the 7 point gap between him and Walker.

The left loves to whine about money in politics but the fact is money played no role in the election on Tuesday. The complaining about money is really insulting to voters, as though they’re incapable of thinking for themselves. Voters aren’t as dumb as the losers of elections want to think they are. The people of Wisconsin were informed on the issues and chose Walker over Barrett. The results nearly mirrored the 2010 election. Hardly a shocking result. Democracy didn’t die on Tuesday. An informed electorate spoke and they decided they didn’t want unions and Democrats to control Wisconsin. The only thing that died Tuesday is government employee unions stranglehold on the Wisconsin treasury.

Filed under 2012 election Tagged with , , , , , ,

Big Walker Win But Don’t Misread The Results

June 6, 2012 4 Comments

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker won his recall election last night 53-46. This is a significant victory against union thuggery. It was the public sector unions that got all of this recall nonsense started. They spent millions on recall signatures and millions on Democrat Tom Barrett’s campaign. Yet they were soundly defeated. The taxpaying public is sick of paying through the nose for lavish public sector employee benefits that simply aren’t available to people working in the private sector. Taxpayers are tired of deficits because of these benefits. Wisconsin voters in particular are tired of the union thuggery and the overly dramatic complaints and protests that have engulfed the state for the last year and a half.

The Tea Party was well organized in Wisconsin and it directly led to Walker’s victory. The Tea Party did what the unions have been doing for years, they’ve organized and gotten directly involved in the political process. The Tea Party ground game matched, if not exceeded, the progressive left’s ground game. That’s significant because in Wisconsin, which doesn’t have a strong evangelical Christian community, conservative and Republican grassroots organization was significantly lacking. Until the Tea Party, now it’s an equal to the progressive, left-wing and union organization.

The progressive left is whining to no end about the amount of money spent in Wisconsin. Their claim is that Walker spent eight times what Barrett did. This is very true, if we’re only talking about the official campaigns themselves. What the boys at MSNBC don’t tell people is how much money the unions spent on this campaign, almost all of which was spent outside of Barrett’s official campaign coffers. For all the money spent though, it was the grassroots organization which got out the vote for Walker that really won the day. The left will whine and whine about all the money spent on ads, they weren’t the difference though. The difference was the organization of the Tea Party, which the progressives don’t wish to acknowledge because they believe they have a monopoly on organization.

Yesterday’s recall must not be read as a sign of things to come in November. No matter who won there would be a temptation to claim that a Wisconsin victory will lead to the same result in November. Democrats are backing off of claiming Wisconsin is important today while Republicans are crowing that it’s proof Romney is on his way to victory. The opposite would be the case if Barrett had won.

But the fact of the matter is that this recall involved highly charged local issues which don’t really translate into a Presidential election. People voting for Walker weren’t impressed by the 1 point drop in the unemployment rate since he took office. The national unemployment rate is down that much over the same period and we all know how that has been manipulated. People in Wisconsin voted for Walker because they supported his curb on union power and they liked the fact that he’s nearly balanced a budget that when he took office was $3 billion in the red. These are local issues which don’t particularly translate into a Presidential election.

The lesson for Romney is clear. It’s going to take more than ads to win this election. He needs to have a solid ground game, which means his people need to connect with and excite various Tea Party groups as well as evangelical Christian groups around the country. This idea that Super PAC’s are going to spend a billion dollars for Romney and that will somehow propel him to victory is ridiculous and a recipe for defeat. Obama is organized, he’s moved to the far left to energize his base and get them all out to the polls. Romney has to equal that effort. He cannot misread the Wisconsin recall and assume the tide is turning against Obama. Romney has a long, long way to go.

Filed under 2012 election Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Walker Poised For Victory; Unions, Democrats Play Blame Game

June 4, 2012 11 Comments

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker appears poised to win his recall election. Real Clear Politics shows Walker up 6.4% over his Democrat rival. The unions are losing big time in this election. If you’ll recall, it’s the public sector unions who pushed for this recall after Walker and Legislative Republicans passed a law limiting government employees collective bargaining rights and requiring them to pay a portion of their health insurance and pension. Just last year the unions were able to pull in tens of thousands to their rallies, perhaps even a hundred thousand at one rally.Today Bill Clinton couldn’t even draw 1,000.

Now that the unions and Democrats are poised to lose, we’re already hearing them start the blame game. Their biggest gripe will be about money. Scott Walker has received a good portion of his campaign cash from people outside of Wisconsin. His Democrat opponent has as well. But because Walker has received more, the left will whine to no end about it. They’ll also conveniently ignore that outside groups have aided the Democrats caused from the start. Many of the people who attended union rallies were bussed from out of state. It was out of state petition gatherers who helped obtain signatures for the recall. It was Democrat legislators who went out of state to avoid voting on the Walker bill. To blame money and particularly out of state money is a total cop out.

In fact, blaming money is also a cop out employed by losers of political elections. If Obama goes down in November, we’ll no doubt hear all about how Republican PAC’s funded ads in support of Romney’s candidacy. Supposedly Republican PAC’s are poised to spend a billion dollars this year, Democrat PAC’s only half a billion. We’re supposed to ignore that Democrats have PAC’s spending five hundred million on Obama’s behalf but we’re to be outraged over Republican PAC spending. Incidently both campaigns are expected to raise and spend around $750 million each. All of these campaigns and groups don’t spend all of their money on advertising. But let’s say they did, it would total only $3 billion. To put that into perspective Procter & Gamble, the nations largest advertiser, spends $3 billion every year hocking toothpaste and laundry detergent.

Speaking of Obama, he’s the other guy the left will blame for Scott Walker’s victory. Obama has done absolutely nothing for the unions or the Democrats. He hasn’t gone to Wisconsin, he’s recorded no ads and he’ll be blamed for the DNC not spending much time or money on the recall election. The left entered 2012 believing that the Wisconsin recall was the key to Obama winning in November. They’ve abandoned that now that it’s fairly clear Walker is going to win. They will however grumble about how Obama did nothing to help his biggest 2008 benefactors.

Of course all of this assumes Walker wins tomorrow. For my Republican friends in Wisconsin, make sure you get out and vote. Victory is never a sure thing no matter what the polls say. But if the polls are correct this is going to be a big victory for the GOP and a huge defeat for the unions and Democrats. Whether it translates into a big Romney victory in November remains to be seen. If it’s a blowout, it signals that Obama is in serious trouble.

Filed under 2012 election Tagged with , , , , , , ,

States Face $4 Trillion In Debt; Unions Resist Cuts

October 25, 2011 Leave a comment

The 50 US states have debts totaling around $4 trillion. This to go with the nearly $15 trillion Federal deficit. One can only imagine how much in debt local governments are in. Part of the problem for states are massive salaries, health care and pension plans lavished on government employees. In Wisconsin there are bus drivers earning six figures. In Illinois two teachers union lobbyists gamed the system to earn six figure pensions for two days of substitute teaching. While Illinois may be more corrupt that most states, there are thousands of government employees set to earn massive pensions at taxpayers expense.

The average school teacher in Wisconsin earns $100,000 a year in salary and benefits. The same is true in Michigan and Ohio. In most states, government employees can retire after 30 years on the job and they receive a pension equalling 90% of their salary. Government employees who retire at the old age of 52 often go to work for another government agency and end up retiring with two lifetime pensions. Not to mention lifetime healthcare. Keep in mind, most of these people don’t produce anything. In the case of school teachers, they at best produce poor results.

Interestingly it’s the government employee unions who are aiding and abetting the Occupy Wall Street hooligans. The American Federation of Teachers is supporting the OWS folks by allowing them to use their property. Other government employee unions are also supporting OWS. It’s sort of interesting considering that some government employees receive pensions that put them into the dreaded 1% that we’re all supposed to hate.

What these government employee unions really want is to have rich capitalists pay for them to do essentially nothing. They want wealth redistributed from producers to non producers. Make no mistake, government employees don’t produce anything. Most who work for agencies are paper pushers and teachers, well, we all know the dreadful product the government schools produce. These people want to continue to be paid to do essentially nothing. Worse, they want those who actually produce something to pay an exorbitant amount for them to do nothing of value.

Taxpayers cannot afford this anymore. States are facing massive debts that total $4 trillion. Government employees simply cost to much money. We have two choices to get these costs under control. We can either cut salaries, benefits and pensions or we can cut a large number of government employees. We cannot raise taxes because Americans are already taxes at their limit.

Republican Governors in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana have all tried to do something about this problem. They’ve cut back on government union power and have required government employees to pay into their own healthcare and pension. It makes no sense for government employees to have bigger benefits than those in the private sector with no cost to boot. Government employees want us to view them as essential people who are sacrificing by serving the people. That’s a load of nonsense. These people not only aren’t essential, they aren’t sacrificing at all. They’re feeding off the taxpayer teet and they’re outraged that anyone would try to ween them.

But ween them taxpayers must. We cannot afford these lavish wages and benefits for people who do not produce. If working for the government is all about sacrifice, let the government employees sacrifice and earn less than their private sector counterparts. If they don’t like it, let them quit and enter the private sector. Most won’t because they can’t hack it in a competitive environment. With $4 trillion in state debts something needs to be done about government employee salaries and pensions. Gov. Walker got the ball rolling but more needs to be done.

Filed under unions Tagged with , , ,

SEIU’s Stephen Lerner Wants To Break Laws, Create A Crisis

September 20, 2011 1 Comment

SEIU Union leader Stephen Lerner is back in the news again. You’ll recall that just a few months ago Lerner was advocating taking over banks and Wall Street. Having failed at that last week, he’s now encouraging radical leftists and union members to break laws and create a crisis for the wealthy. Lerner also wants folks to ‘occupy’ abandoned houses. Apparently the union movement doesn’t just want its members to break laws and create a crisis, it also desires members to become squatters.

Lerner cannot be taken lightly despite the failure of last weekend’s Wall Street takeover which could only attract 5,000 upper middle class white college students. SEIU is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, they have mutual short term goals. Those goals include destroying capitalism and Israel and creating a socialist state. SEIU is inspired by what happened in Cairo last spring, just like the radical Wisconsin unions were inspired. Lerner desires to have a similar revolution here in America.

It may be easy to laugh at Lerner’s desire to bring about a revolution here in the United States. Surely the US isn’t as unstable as Egypt was. That would be a grave error on the part of those of us who love freedom. One year ago today most Egyptians would have thought it impossible that, barring death, Hosni Mubarak would be out of power. We sit in our living rooms and assume that the United State could never be overthrown. While it remains unlikely, it’s not impossible. We have a substantial economic problem and a sharply divided nation.

While the US may not be ripe for revolution, people like Stephen Lerner want to make us ripe for revolution. He’s encouraging people to break the law. He wants to manufacture a crisis for the wealthy. This is the basic progressive, leftist playbook. The very playbook that President Obama learned when he was a ‘community organizer’. Obama is doing his part, making Americans more dependant on the government. Welfare rolls are rising, the number of Americans on food stamps is at an all time high. Poverty rates in America are skyrocketing under Obama. And yet the President has no solution to the problem. Perhaps because he doesn’t view it as nearly the problem that those of us on the right or in the middle view it. The more people dependant on the state, the better as far as Obama is concerned.

Obama is doing his part and rabble rousers like Stephen Lerner are doing their part. Lerner is trying to rile up college students and union thugs. Where Lerner and the progressive left is off is that the American people aren’t behind them. The public has soured on Obama and they’ve soured on unions. Americans don’t view unions nearly as favorably as they did a generation ago. Obama’s poor poll numbers are well documented. Lerner’s movement is even having trouble gaining traction on college campuses because students have figured out that Obama’s policies aren’t creating jobs for them after they graduate. Rabble rousing may be fun times in college but there isn’t much demand out there for rabble rousers.

Lerner’s calls to break laws and create a crisis are dangerous if they are followed by a substantial number of people. They don’t have the numbers yet, fortunately. What Lerner and SEIU’s position does do for us is expose the radical nature of these unions for everyone to see. Unions are not the friend of the working class or of Americans. They’re out to gain power for themselves. They talk in populist language but who do you suppose will be in charge when they win their revolution? Do you really think Stephen Lerner is looking out for you? Hardly. We should hope Lerner and his gang of radicals keeps talking. The more we know about them, the more Americans will oppose their radical policies.

Filed under Obama, unions Tagged with , , , , ,

Radical Leftists Use Violent Rhetoric; Engage in Violence

June 17, 2011 Leave a comment

Radical union thugs are after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Apparently for having the audacity to want public sector union pay and benefits brought under control, Gov. Christie is worthy of being called Adolph Christie. According to the union thugs, it’s going to take World War Three to get rid of Gov. Christie. So much for not using violent language in political speech. The do as I say, not as I do liberals will of course not condemn such union language.

It’s sort of amusing to watch leftists in action. According the the New Jersey unions Chris Christie is like Hitler because the first thing Hitler did was go after the unions. In saying that they ignore the fact that Lenin and Stalin went after all the unions when they were in power in the Soviet Union. As is typical with the left, they ignore the fact that National Socialism and Communism’s only main difference is international outlook. They tear into Hitler as though he’s a Tea Party Republican when in fact he’s a radical leftist not much different from Richard Trumka and the rest of the leftist unions.

What’s interesting here is the violent rhetoric coming from the left. Sarah Palin’s crosshairs’ comments during the 2010 election were apparently outrageous to the left, but union thugs calling for war is no big deal. Meanwhile in San Francisco radical homosexual activists have thrown glitter on another GOP Presidential candidate. On the left it is acceptable to attack conservatives and other “enemies” with glitter. In Vancouver, officials blame the Stanley Cup riots on anarchists. Who are the anarchists? They’re anti-capitalist leftists who seek to bring about Marx’s anarchy.

So what does this all mean? First of all, the lack of knowledge about what the National Socialists were and where they came from is almost completely dominate in our culture. The left has done a great job lying about Fascism and painting it as a right-wing phenomenon when it in fact was birthed by the far left. Be that as it may, there seems to be a growing trend on the left toward not only violent rhetoric but violent action. Whether it’s throwing glitter at Republican Presidential candidates, throwing pies at conservative commentators or anarchist riots, there seems to be an acceptance on the left for these sorts of behaviors.

That leads me to wonder why the left puts up with this sort of nonsense. The far left wants to create chaos in this country and really throughout the world. They  understand that the only way for them to truly seize power is for there to be chaos.  When violent actions become acceptable, when riots take over it becomes easier for the most organized group to take power. Just look at the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. They were the most organized before the spring uprising and they are likely going to win the upcoming Egyptian elections.

Make no mistake, the far left in the United States is by far the most organized group. They’re plotting and planning, whether we’re talking about George Soros or Richard Trumka. The conservatives haven’t even started planning in comparison. We aren’t driven by Marx’s theory of history and so we don’t have a need to organize and plan for an eventual outcome. The far left does have a need to organize, at least in their minds. And of course they are organized. The more chaos there is, whether it’s a growing acceptance for throwing objects and Republicans or riots in the streets, the closer we get to the revolution the left so desires.

There will be more violence coming up over the next several years. Whether it’s random events like these glitter attacks or more organized events like the Vancouver riots. If Obama loses next year, even James Carville has suggested there will be unrest. Look for the radical left to not only organize the unrest but look for them to try to take advantage of the unrest they have created by seizing political power or in the least stepping closer to seizing power via revolution. We on the right must be aware of this and we must be prepared. We aren’t talking about harmless wild west gun rhetoric, we’re talking about actual violent actions. All of the political violence in this country has come from the left recently, we must be prepared for more.

Filed under 2012 election, socialism Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Right to Work States See Increased Job Creation

May 19, 2011 Leave a comment

Our country has a union problem. This is of course no secret to those who followed the union protests in Wisconsin a few months back. But the problem extends beyond government employee unions. There are 22 states that are right to work states, meaning union membership cannot be compulsory for employment. Those 22 states are largely in the south and west and account for around 40% of the nation’s population. Yet they accounted for 60% of the nation’s job growth over the last 20 years. With decade long double digit unemployment, Michigan ought to seriously consider passing right to work legislation.

This fact is unsurprising to those of us who understand the free market. Our nation became powerful not through military might but because of our freedom. Freedom led to Henry Ford’s assembly line, it led to the rise of Standard Oil, US Steel and any number of other companies. When there is less freedom, there is less innovation and ultimately less job growth.

Forced union membership drives businesses away because the costs of doing business with a union outweight the benefits of location. Dealing with unions is expensive and time consuming. It forces employers to focus on labor agreements rather than innovations. Union shops are notoriously inefficient, largely because of union rules. It has only been recently that GM has finally gotten rid of their sitting rooms where hundreds of full time employees came to sit around all day doing nothing. GM couldn’t fire those people because of union rules and contracts.

Surely those sitting rooms and other union rules were noticed by employers around the country who chose to build plants in the 22 right to work states rather than my state of Michigan. Michigan has had double digit unemployment for nearly a decade. Eliminating compulsory union laws would go a long way in relieving Michigan’s economic problems. Manufacturers would be able to return to our state and offer jobs again without the costs of dealing with unions. The jobs may pay a little less but that sure beats double digit unemployment for a decade straight.

But of course the sages in Lansing are unlikely to pass a right to work law. Even though we have a faux Republican Governor, a Republican House and a veto proof Republican Senate, the Legislature is unlikely to pass right to work legislation. Fear of the unions is to strong in Lansing to overcome. Gov. Snyder and GOP Legislature will pass all sorts of tax and spending bills that they allege will make the business climate better in Michigan. No doubt our business taxes have been difficult to figure out and burdensome but taxes are only a small part of the problem. The biggest reason why we’re losing our manufacturing base is unions.

The only way Michigan and other midwest and northeastern states can increase their manufacturing base is to pass right to work legislation. It’s very clear that the states who have passed right to work laws have less unemployment and increased job creation. Michigan has a shot to be a leader in the midwest and a regional magnet for new manufacturing jobs. If we pass right to work we’ll get jobs from businesses looking to move out of union friendly Illinois, Ohi0 and Wisconsin. We have the base in place for manufacturing, all we need now is the business climate.

Filed under economy, Michigan, unions Tagged with , , , , ,

Walker Vindicated: Mass. Democrats Restrict Union Power

April 28, 2011 Leave a comment

The Massachusetts State House has voted to restrict government employee unions collective bargaining rights. It appears headed for victory in the State Senate and the Governor has vowed to sign the bill. Doesn’t this sound like a familiar these during the first four months of 2011? It’s similar but it isn’t quite the same in Massachusetts as it was in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana. The difference is that the Republican Party barely exists in Massachusetts. The State House and Senate are dominated by Democrats, who have a veto proof majority. The Governor is a very liberal Democrat.

I’m sure you’re thinking that Massachusetts is heading for Wisconsin style union rallies and protests over these restrictions in government employee bargaining power. While the unions are apparently irate over the bill, they aren’t planning any massive rallies ala Wisconsin. It’s not politically expedient to protest in Massachusetts as it would destroy the narrative that Republicans want to restrict union rights. The unions will no doubt fight these changes but they’ll do it by quietly targeting yes votes in Democrat primaries. The unions may stage some token rallies supporting the no voters but they aren’t going to overtake the Capitol building with 10,000 crazed teachers and bozo socialist college students.

The Massachusetts bill proves that Scott Walker was right in Wisconsin. Government employee benefits are out of control. It is an outrage that the average government employee makes more money in salary and benefits than the average private sector worker. Government employees don’t produce anything of value, they simply take from others. We cannot have a successful economic recovery so long as it is more lucrative to work for the government not producing anything than it is to work in the private sector. The fact that liberal Democrats in one of the most liberal states in the union recognize that government employee contracts are out of control says a lot.

Taxpayers cannot afford to pay for lavish union benefits for government employees. American taxpayers are being taxed to death. Like it or not, there isn’t any more money to squeeze out of the so-called rich and the middle class is currently being killed by taxes and inflation. It is absurd that bus drivers in Madison, Wisconsin are earning over $100,000 in salary and benefits. It is absurd that school teachers in some of the worst performing schools in the country are earning an average of $100,000. This sort of nonsense can only happen in government or when government interferes with private contracts.

Taxpayers in Wisconsin pushed back against out of control spending by electing Republicans in 2010. They backed those Republicans by re-electing a conservative Supreme Court judge last month, in what was seen as a referendum on Walker’s union law. Democrat Legislators in Massachusetts are finally pushing back against the out of control spending they helped create. They recognize that their state can no longer afford to pay lavish union salaries, benefits and pensions for government employees.

This issue was never about Republicans destroying unions. The issue was always about bringing state budgets under control. The fact that we now have extremely liberal Democrats doing the same thing as Scott Walker vindicates his position. It also exposes the unions as little more than the thuggish stuntmen they are. It also exposes the hypocrisy of the Wisconsin Democrats who left the state, as well as the media who of course isn’t reporting that Democrats are passing the same bill Walker signed in Wisconsin. In the end, state budgets must be balanced. Taxpayers cannot afford to pay anymore and it’s time for government employees to see their lavish benefits cut.

Filed under unions Tagged with , , , , , , ,

← Older posts

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 140 other followers