Friday, May 15, 2009

Obama Admits Not Enough Votes for EFCA

President Obama told a town hall meeting yesterday in New Mexico that "there aren't enough votes in the Senate to get it passed," referring to the controversial Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), or what's known as "card check."

“There may be areas of compromise to get this bill done,” Obama said at a town hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “That’s what we’re working on.”

Filmmaker and radical liberal Michael Moore suggested months ago that the card check provision, which allows unionization through the collection of a majority of employees' signatures, could be jettisoned, and the bill would still accomplish its goal of strengthening unions.

Reason? Fines on employers (but not unions) would skyrocket, and employers would also have a gun held to their heads to cave into a contract within 90 days of unionization or have one crammed down their throats by an arbitrator.

In fact, card check may have been thrown into the bill just to assure passage through compromise of the other measures. Recent statistics show that unions win 67 percent of unionization votes, but that employers stall on the negotiations front so that only 56 percent of new unions ever get a signed contract. EFCA would solve that dilemma tidily for the unions.

My suggestion: Scrap the whole sorry piece of legislation and read this article on why unions already hold the advantage.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Database Shows Scheduled California Layoffs

Amazing the things you can stumble upon. Today I was reading an article in the online edition of the San Jose Mercury-News when I noticed a sidebar link for a California Layoffs Database.

The database is aggregated from advance layoff notifications given under the WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Act. My curiosity was to see if my company was on the list (it wasn't, confirming what I thought), but I was struck by some of companies that are planning huge layoffs.

Such as: the San Francisco Chronicle, which by the numbers listed looks almost as if it is going out of business; JPMorgan Chase, which appears to be gutting every banking branch in the state; USAA, my insurer, which is planning a grand total of two layoffs in Sacramento; and retailer Gottschalks, which is actually shutting down, I believe.

The site also incorporates a search function, so you can enter your company's name and location, or you can search by either company or city.

The site provides a type of morbid satisfaction where one can say to oneself, "There but for the grace of (fill in your religion's deity) go I," or if the other shoe is falling, "Uh, oh! What do I do now?"

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Oh, Happy Day: Health Care Deform Pledged

President Obama and the Democrats announced yesterday that absolutely, certifiably and whether we need or like it or not, health care reform will be passed by July 31.

I've begun dubbing it "health care deform," as in deformation, since the consequences are going to be so awful. Read what Labor Law Guy wrote about the consequences of nationalized health care in Great Britain--if your treatment costs too much, you're on your own; the government won't pay for it. Oh, happy day, and this is exactly where we're headed.

Obama said the job must be done because "the stars are aligned." Yeah, and they were for Julius Caesar on the Ides of March.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Obama Budget: Punish Foes, Reward Supporters

There's probably nothing unusually (okay, let's take the "probably" out) about a president's slashing the budget in areas that his opponents favor and increasing it for items and programs his supporters favor. Witness Barack Obama, who has in his first budget has already cut defense, cut union oversight, cut abstinence education, and etc., etc. (though somehow the funding for E-Verify, bane of unions and liberals alike because it's so efficient and accurate in identifying illegals, got increased funding).

The author over at Sweetness and Light sums it up pretty well:
Defense, national security, prisons holding illegals, nuclear and coal production, farmers and those in rural areas – and anybody who might carp about his giveaways to his constituents are the ones having their funding slashed.
And this is just on-the-books funding. Think of all extra-budgetary funding for TARP and other programs that rely on conjured (i.e., printed or fake) money. And what about billions and billions every year to run Obama's new plaything, Government Motors (formerly General Motors) to proceed imaginary green cars that no one wants?

Welcome to the Great Repression (of freedom and capitalism).