So, Which Swine Invented the H1N1 Flu?

I'm referring to human swine, of course. I've read all kinds of conspiracy theories about the current flu "pandemic," which, for a pandemic, seems to have panned at the box office. Let's see--100 "confirmed" cases in the United States, 10 or so in Europe, and that's a pandemic?

Worse, there is only one lab in the United States that can even test patients to see if they actually have the swine, oops, H1N1 flu, and that's the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Mexico has no lab that can test for it and relies also on the CDC.

Very interesting, isn't it, all these dire warnings? I betcha of the 100 U.S. victims, most don't have the H1N1 virus, and probably a lot of them don't even have the flu. Many probably developed sympathy symptoms when they heard of the flu's going round.

Now, for those conspiracy theories, here goes: 1) Baxter Laboratories developed the strain and tested it out in Mexico in anticipation of the day when the world's population needs to be reduced drastically; 2) Obama owns stock in Tamiflu; 3) The scare was fabricated to take the heat off governments as their citizens go broke, homeless and hungry; 5) The pandemic was engineered to coincide with the sale of U.S. Treasuries to create a flight to the safety of the almighty dollar during a global crisis. Got more?

I think there's a bit of truth in all these assertions, but it all brings me back to my original assertion--someone(s) invented all this--so the question remains:

Which swine invented the H1N1 flu?

It's Your Money (Debt), But Biden Takes Credit

The story at Chicago's Republic Windows and Doors actually is a good one, a victory for the workers that is all too rare in these days of massive layoffs and job destruction.

However, it sticks in my craw when someone as blatantly disingenuous as our Veep, Joe Biden, manages to take credit for saving the plant. He showed up there on Monday to boast about the admin's stimulus plan.

In fact, funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are behind the resurrection of the factory. New owner Kevin Surace of Serious Materials eyed $8 billion in ARRA for weatherization and energy efficiency, hoping for a slice of the action, when he purchased Republic this year. Surace now intends to use the plant on Goose Island and another in Pittsburgh to churn out energy-efficient doors and windows and other weatherization products using ARRA bucks.

It's great news for the laid-off employees, who are now returning to work:

"We would have liked to run the factory ourselves, but things don't really work that way in this country," said Vicente Rangel, 35, who worked at the factory for 15 years. Since the factory closing he looked for work with little luck and took classes in computer skills. "There are not too many jobs out there," he said. "I'm a little bit surprised and glad to be back here. The workers stayed united and we were able to do this."

A good story, but Biden should butt out and go study the Constitution for the first time in his life.

Merging and Purging Their Way to Billions

I'm no fan of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), but the principle of organizing for better wages and benefits is a sound one--until it's abused. And union abuse is largely what doomed (along with better products from foreign competition) the so-called Big Three automakers in Detroit.

So, in unions you have a good thing in principle, and a bad thing in practice. Look at the routine corruption and power hunger at just about every union in America, and you'll see that the free pot of cash that unions blackmail out of the employees they bargain for affirms Lord Acton's observation that "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Anyway, the picture on the other side isn't any prettier. As much damage as the unions have done to industry in America, corporate chieftains have sent to their workplace graves millions of employees over the years.

Joseph Schumpeter called capitalism "creative destruction," and in any act of destruction, something is obviously destroyed--and that something in capitalism is workers' lives and livelihoods.

The sad fact is, for CEOs, destroying workers' lives through downsizing pays off big time. A study by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy (admittedly, two left-leaning groups) shows that CEOs for the 50 companies that did the most downsizing in 2001 averaged 44-percent pay raises the next year. In fact, compensation for downsizing CEOs grew seven times faster than for CEOs in general.

The CEO for Hewlett-Packard since 2005, Mark Hurd, over the years eliminated 40,000 jobs through 31 mergers and acquisitions and reaped a cool $60 million-plus in 2008 alone. Larry Ellison of Oracle, with a personal net worth of $22.5 billion, eliminated 5,000 good jobs with his acquisition of PeopleSoft in 2005 and looks to axe another 5,000-10,000 this year through his acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

Now, to change the subject a bit and return to the plight of the Big Three: When I read over the weekend that the government would end up owning 50 percent of General Motors and the United Auto Workers most of the rest, it brought to mind this perceptive observation of Ronald Reagan's:

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

In the case of the Big Three, Washington and the Democrats not only ruined them with taxes but also with ridiculous regulations like CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy), which forced the automakers to build cars no Americans wanted to buy. Now with the Obamacrats owning GM, we'll end up with an American version of the Yugo--and with an automaker (or two) that will be forever subsidized by the federal government (in reality, by you, me and all the taxpayers, who will have no say whatsoever in the matter).

Reagan was and always will be right about taxes and government.

To preview GM's future, just take a gander at these Soviet-mandated cars for the masses now lying in a Russian boneyard:

Card Check Rears Its Ugly Head in California

I guess that headline shows my bias. Anyway, turns out that the Golden State (doesn't glitter too much anymore, though) legislature will soon send a bill to Ahnold's desk that would allow agricultural workers to form unions by card check.

Card check is the now-infamous method proposed in the federal Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) that allows organizers to form unions by collecting signatures from 50 percent-plus-one of a firm's employees. The EFCA would enshrine the method nationwide, but that bill is locked in a pitched battle in the Senate.

New Jersey has a card check law, but it applies only to businesses that have no interstate commerce connections, such as race tracks, so its impact is limited. Similarly, the California law slips through the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by confining itself to in-state agriculture (though I'm sure the food is sold in other states--so a questionable bill at best).

The Governator has three times vetoed similar measures, and hopefully he will this time too.

In the meantime, catch a load of this surreal debate:

"How many summers do we have to go through of heat-related deaths? How many farm-related accidents...before we recognize that unions are most important for people who are the most vulnerable?" said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said his bill would prevent farm owners and labor contractors from intimidating workers before secret-ballot elections. But farm and business groups say the legislation could let the United Farm Workers pressure employees into signing the union cards.

Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, questioned whether workers are any safer with union representation.

"I was unaware of the fact that under union contracts we have less heat-related deaths. Do you have statistics to back that up?" Denham said.

Steinberg did not produce statistics but said he was unaware of any unionized farmworkers dying from a heat-related ailment.

Hostage-Taking Trumps Card Check Anyday

As is their wont, the French reject American culture while embracing and perfecting it, in their own inimitable way.

Take the example of unionization. France is widely unionized. You can hardly visit there without the garbage collectors or air traffic controllers or railway operators going on strike for this or that. They all work for publicly operated entities, which are in turn union strangled, oops, I mean controlled. Anyway, a one- or two-day strike makes for a nice little holiday, n'est-ce pas?

Here in the United States, we argue over card check and whether that should be allowed as the preferred option for union organizing.

In France, they don't argue--they take hostages.

The latest example comes from the Molex Inc. plant in Villemur-sur-Tam. Owners are threatening to close the plant and have been negotiating with the union, but the union smells a rat, sensing that Molex wants to shift operations to China.

Hence the logical thing to do is take two executives hostage until the company agrees to leave the equipment and workers all in place.

So far, this sounds like a Gallic version of the Republic Windows and Doors stand-off in Chicago of late last year. There, employees staged a sit-down until they got their severance packages.

In France, we'll just have to wait to see what happens.

Hostages are, however, treated civilly during these stand-offs. Last month, an executive held hostage at 3M was even treated to moules et frites (mussels and fries, a traditional dish) as a snack.

Like I said before, why check cards when you can just hold some hostages until you get what you want?

"Sign here to recognize our union, or we'll keep you hostage until you do" works faster than gathering all those signatures.

Employment Increases in D.C.-- and North Dakota?

One can easily understand how employment continues to rise in Washington, D.C., even as every other state in the union continues to stay even (three states) or lose workers to unemployment (the rest save one), but the Peace Garden State (aka Flickertail State and Roughrider State)?

Yup, North Dakota has evidently managed to live both frugally and well to survive and prosper in our current economic turmoil. Hats off to you, North Dakotans. (But if you're seeking work, your best bet still is Obamaland, which is on a hiring binge--or orgy--following the trillions of dollars in conjured money flooding the place.)

But do you know which state has the highest unemployment (hint: it ain't California)?

Go to this interactive unemployment map and find the answer.

GM Out of Luck in a Canadian Bankruptcy

If (and it should) General Motors ends up in bankruptcy court in the U.S., it can bust the union contracts that have a stranglehold over it, but in Canada, GM faces a stiffer challenge.

Canadian bankruptcy law is federally written, but the constitution reserves civil rights and property settlements to the provinces in bankruptcy proceedings. These areas include employment, so GM would have to present its case for altering its Canadian union contracts to a provincial (maybe several provincial) Labour Board(s). Fat chance of victory, eh?

One final caveat: If you buy a unionized company in Canada, you inherit the union contract, for better or worse, till death do you part.

Canada--a good place to work, a bad place to employ.