Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (70539)	3/25/2009 5:42:59 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

Political Cartoons of Michael Ramirez Editorial Cartoonist for Investor's Business Daily ibdeditorials.com

To: Sully- who wrote (70539)	3/25/2009 6:28:35 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

California's Hefty Union Dues By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Tuesday, March 24, 2009 4:20 PM PT Organized Labor: The state that led the way in giving labor push-button power to organize against private-sector taxpayers now stands — if you can call it standing — as a cautionary tale. Jobs are fleeing the Golden State, where unemployment has spiked well above 10%. Taxes are soaring, and a new budget shortfall of $8 billion, following the $42 billion gap that was patched up earlier this year, could hike them even more. But California is still not a bad place to be — that is, as long as you have a secure job (which most are) on the public payroll. According to the latest salary survey by the American Federation of Teachers, California teachers are the highest paid in the nation. California also has America's highest-paid prison guards. A state agency's study last year found that the maximum pay of California's guards was 40% higher than that of the highest-paid guards in 10 other states and the federal government. Meanwhile, California's public schools have middling results at best. Its prison system is chronically overcrowded, with a hospital system so inadequate that a federal judge has ruled it in violation of constitutional rights. Private-sector workers and business owners in California get the worst of all deals. They pay some of the highest taxes in the country and get no more than mediocre public services. It's not just the unions that have pulled the state into the ditch. Voters share the blame for ill-advised decisions at the ballot box, such as approving too much debt and imposing budget rules that keep tax revenues from going where they are needed most. But public-union muscle has undeniably led the way in tilting the balance of power toward a self-serving, unaccountable governing class. California was a pioneer in push-button public-sector unionization — something like what Big Labor now wants to do in the private sector nationwide. A series of laws passed from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, with the most sweeping under Gov. Jerry Brown, gave unions collective-bargaining power in local government, schools and the state bureaucracy. Early on, the state granted recognition to unions on a card-check basis, without a requirement for secret-ballot elections. Not surprisingly, California's public-sector work force is now much more unionized than the nation's as a whole. A 2008 UCLA study found that 57% of government workers in the state were union members, compared with 37% for the U.S. And many other public workers who are not union members are represented by unions — and forced to pay at least partial dues — through so-called "agency shop" rules. The rise of public-sector unions in California has had an impact beyond just one state. If nothing else, it has added to the ranks of government unions in general and encouraged similar organizing in other union-friendly states. In doing so, it has helped alter the character and ideology of organized labor in general. The labor movement of old was dominated by private-sector unions that, out of necessity, shared some common interests with management. They knew that if they got too greedy, they would put their employers out of business and destroy their members' jobs. (Knowing the risk was not always enough to keep the worst from happening, as in steel and autos.) Public-sector unions are less afraid of killing the goose with the golden eggs because the goose is government and it really does look immortal. And though public union members are taxpayers like everyone else, they can always figure that their own raises or pension boosts will be worth more than the higher taxes they personally have to pay. With nearly half the nation's union members now on the public payroll, this more radical approach is bound to color attitudes at bargaining tables all over. So the public should be forewarned. California government is a test case for what might happen far more broadly if unions get their way in Congress. ibdeditorials.com

To: Sully- who wrote (70539)	3/28/2009 10:16:54 AM
From: Peter Dierks	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 90947

Business Beats Card Check—For Now But can Corporate America stay united? MARCH 26, 2009, 11:55 P.M. ET The business community is dancing a victory jig over Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's announcement that he'll provide the crucial vote to stop Big Labor's top priority, the "card check" bill. Fair enough, though the real test of corporate America is yet to come. Mr. Specter has been in the hot seat, the one Republican who had previously voted to debate card check -- legislation that would eliminate secret ballots ... Message 25529791