Category Archives: Economy

Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

Labor Unions And The ‘Occupy Everywhere’ Protests

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Sign says 'Abolish Capitalism, Fight for Socialism.' That's the agenda of the 'Workers World' bunch.

‘Occupy Wall Street’ was only the beginning for the United States. Now the same thing is happening all over the country.

But unlike the Tea Party movement which was a spontaneous reaction to just about everything the Obama administration is doing, this throwback to the demonstrations of the 1960’s these Marxist ‘demonstrators’ are trying to mimic Egypt in the so-called Arab Spring. Their intent is to force whatever changes they want if they just make enough trouble, like what happened in Egypt. In their short lives, they must think that what happened in Egypt can happen here.

There is one thing common between the Egyptian uprising and the ‘Occupy Everywhere’ protesters. Both were supported by BIG LABOR.

“We’re down with these protesters. We support the notion that rich folk are not paying their fair share,” said Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen. “Our bus operators are not going to be pressed into service to arrest protesters anywhere.”

It isn’t about jobs, work, or the economy in general. They are desperate to get their unfunded pensions bailed out and desperate to reverse the trend of a shrinking membership.

Try this . . .

Van Jones, now senior fellow at the George Soros backed Center for American Progress.

Update: Remember Van Jones, the former Green Jobs Czar? He is all about this manufactured civil unrest.

 

 

 

 

“I think everybody should hold onto your seats,” said Jones on Thursday’s MSNBC program “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell.”

“October is going to be the turning point when it comes to the progressive fight back,” he went on. “We are a part of something called the American Dream Movement. We`re having a huge summit on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Come—you can go to rebuildthedream.com and find out more about it. We are going to build a progressive counterbalance to the Tea Party.”

Progressives should fight back, Van Jones says. What, can’t handle an election?

He also says that what we are seeing on the evening news is a counterbalance to the Tea Party. Not sure if that means they will start bathing. Stark difference between the two ‘movements’ is that the Tea Party folks know why they are petitioning their government. These Occupy Wall Street hippies haven’t a clue.

I don’t understand the liberal perspective on what ‘normal’ is. Why would saving our country from a socialist regime need a counterbalance? One group is the cream of the crop, Americans who know of and respect the Constitution for what it is and what it means. The other group is the bottom of the barrel and don’t have a clue about their country. They believe that they can change our government by popular demand according to what’s cool in the world. As if our form of government is a fad.

The dirty little anarchists haven’t noticed the failure of the socialist laboratory called Europe. Those of us who bristle at the thought of the government growing in debt, size and scope, and rolling back freedom and the free-market economy are dismissed by these anarchists as being ‘old fashioned.’ Waiting for us to die off so they can have the socialist version.

The useful idiots, revolutionaries, will be coming to a public place near you. Pray for them if you happen to meet one. That’ll really piss them off.

Link: Who’s Behind The ‘Occupy Everywhere’ Faux-tests?

2012 Election, Economy, Politics

Obama Campaign Borrows From Bush ’04 Playbook

Well there’s a losing strategy. It depends on the electorate forgetting Bill Clinton’s ’92 campaign. It went something like ‘it’s the economy stupid.’

If you stop to consider that the word ‘economy’ in that slogan can be swapped for other words like, socialism, Obamacare, government over-reaching, the Constitution, and a few others, you quickly realize that the campaign is faced with a special challenge. A challenge that the Obama campaign can not overcome between now and election day.

According to John Harwood at the Times, “The last time an incumbent president faced re-election, George W. Bush exploited social and national security issues to offset his economic vulnerabilities.”

So instead of the economy and jobs, the Obama campaign is going to run on attacking republicans on social issues and national security issues?

In battleground states, “Obama’s strategists intend to use abortion, gay rights, the environment and successes in the fight against Al Qaeda to counter economic attacks and drive a wedge between Republicans and swing voters.”

On those issues, Harwood says that the Democrats have shifted from defense to offense. I have to disagree with the Times that the Democrats have shifted “from defense to offense on those issues stems from evolving public attitudes, intensifying Republican conservatism . . .” Democrats have never shifted from offense. They live to ‘fight for              ‘. Just fill in the blank.

What is important to note is the shift in public attitudes that are more in tune with Republican conservatism than with this administration. Not a pretty picture for Obama’s re-election chances.

What it means is all that the Democrats have left to run on, or run with, is more class warfare, wealth envy, and the race card. All directed at Republicans. (about half the country) Not much about why he should be re-elected. It is more like, ‘they are worse than we are.’ Good luck with that one.

Link: Obama Campaign Borrows From Bush ’04 Playbook – NYTimes.com.

Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

Labor Movement And Wall Street Protesters

In case you had any doubt about the synergy between BIG LABOR and anarchists here and around the world, this should remove any doubt.

A large group of protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement attempt to cross and close the Brooklyn Bridge.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka was in Minneapolis today for the ‘Next Up Young Workers Summit.’  This is the group of ‘young workers’ and activists and students that just announced their strong support of the Occupy Wall Street protesters:

The world in which we live isn’t working for the vast majority of people. The top 1 percent controls the economy, makes profits at the expense of working people, and dominates the political debate. Wall Street symbolizes this simple truth: a small group of people have the lives and livelihoods of working Americans in their hands.

Their perspective of just who works for who is instructive in just how counter-productive this labor movement is to America, and other countries with even less freedom. People work for the companies that have jobs to get done. The companies don’t work for the employees. They work for their customers. Like it or not, the ‘workers’ work for the same customer. That’s life in the real world.

Then there’s the global labor movement that Trumpka is talking about.

Richard Trumka . . .

“America needs a good dose of critical imagination right about now. We need ideas and energy. We need enthusiasm, optimism, that sense that everything is possible. . . . You are the future of this movement, and all of us—all of America’s working people—need and your critical imagination in a big way.”

I get the distinct impression that Trumka isn’t pushing for America’s economic success. Instead, he is pushing for labor union membership growth. And if it means tearing the country down first, like our President and Trumka prefer, then they will surely do it. Or rather, continue to do it. Be imaginative, critically imaginative, he says.

China, Economy, Energy, Europe, Organized Labor, Politics

Stimulus Spending, For What? For Who?

With the economy still in recession, and the President still touting his American Jobs Act, Americans are becoming more skeptical about what all the stimulus spending has done for them. And the news about questionable stimulus spending and special deals is beginning to bubble up to the surface. Some new, some old.

Old news that is coming around again is the Fisker Automotive  (now Tesla Motors) luxury electric sports car that Vice President Al Gore invested in. That company got a half billion dollars for so-called green jobs. It is an electric car. It is a luxury car with a 50 mile range in total electric mode. Big investment for no market. But it did create jobs, in Britain and Finland.

The Fisker Karma sedan is priced at $87,400, with buyers eligible for a $7,500 credit on their Federal income tax returns.

Want one? Call them up and put down your $25,000 deposit. They’ll let you know when it is ready. Sell price? $87,400 to over $109,000.

So we subsidize a car company whose target market is “millionaires and billionaires,” then we give them $7,500 more of our tax dollars to incentivize them to buy it. All that from the guy that calls himself a ‘warrior for the middle class.’

Then there is the Solyndra scandal (Solar-Gate?) that wasted another half billion taxpayer dollars. That solar panel company declared bankruptcy not long after receiving your half billion dollars. Another big investment in an industry where there is no market. Officers of that company are big-time campaign fundraising bundlers for President Obama. Now those green jobs went directly to China. And Solyndra’s execs are pleading the 5th in Congressional hearings about it.

Are you seeing a pattern here of connected democrats and Big Labor being on the receiving end of millions and billions of your (and your grandkid’s) tax dollars? All in the name of stimulus and green jobs.

Economy, Florida, Media, Organized Labor, Pensacola, Politics

ECAT Drivers Are Driving

Carlton Proctor at the Pensacola News Journal spoke to Michael Lowery, president of Local 1395 about the ECAT union bus drivers going on strike. Lowery also spoke to PNJ reporter  Thyrie Bland.

He told Proctor

“This is all about fair treatment on the job, it’s not about wages. It’s about fair treatment.”

He told Bland

“The employees have gone over 1,000 days without a raise, and working conditions are the worst I’ve seen in 16 years.”

Which Mr. Lowery are we to believe? And does it matter? The evolving version of why they went on strike looks a bit unorganized. Certainly not characteristic of organized labor. Keyword ‘organized.’

Economy, Florida, Organized Labor, Pensacola, Politics, Uncategorized

ECAT Working Conditions, Worst In 16 Years

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The raised fist (also known as the clenched fist) is a salute and logo most often used by left-wing activists, such as: Marxists, anarchists, socialists, communists, pacifists, trade unionists, the SEIU, and black nationalists.

Escambia County Area Transit (ECAT) bus drivers are on strike. Thyrie Bland at the Pensacola News Journal writes ECAT drivers on strike, Wage issue halts public transit for thousands.

The human aspect of the bus drivers going on strike is inescapable. Their riders are their customers. They are people who don’t have personal transportation and that includes the working poor. They also include physically handicapped folk like Mr. Freeman. Regardless, these are folks that need to get to their jobs so they can put food on the table and pay their bills, get to the store or the doctor.

Being responsible for creating a hardship on those with no alternative transportation is unconscionable. But is also standard fare for organized labor negotiating tactics. A lesson about labor unions and liberals in general is that they are liberals first, they are union first, and you are not on their list.

I bet these riders vote. And I also bet that they will remember who it was that caused them to miss work. It was a government labor union member who has a full-time job making from $12-16 an hour.

According to Michael Lowery, president of Local 1395 . . .

The employees have gone over 1,000 days without a raise, and working conditions are the worst I’ve seen in 16 years.

No raise in a couple of years huh? How does it feel (government labor union member) to be more like your neighbors? The ones that still have a job. Surprise! It happens in the private sector too! That’s life in the big city. The article brings to question a dispute of one half on one percent. If there’s a half of a percent in dispute in the current contract, then ‘work’ it out.

Working conditions? What working conditions? With all due respect to the drivers, you drive a bus.

Worst working conditions in 16 years? Which begs the question, when the head of my local labor union says that my working conditions are the worst that they’ve been in 16 years, just what am I paying my dues for?

Here’s an idea . . .

 

 

2012 Election, Economy, Media, Organized Labor, Politics

‘American Jobs Act’ Is Just That, An Act

Pass this bill right away. Now! Without delay! That’s what our President has been saying ever since he held up and waved his 155 199 page stimulus bill for the cameras. A stimulus bill that he calls the American Jobs Act.

From all the admonishing of Republicans (btw, some Democrats don’t like it either) he is doing to pass this bill quickly, one would think that he actually gave it to the House to be recorded so that it could be worked on. Fact is, no Democrat in the House of Representatives has presented the bill for consideration. So in fact, as of today, there is no American Jobs Act as proposed by President Obama.  Not to be confused with H.R.2911 American Jobs Act, which was introduced Sept. 14, 2011.

All we have is the President going on tour like a snake oil salesman asking the American people to ask their representatives to pass the bill. Will someone please inform the President that until it is delivered and recorded in the House, there is no bill? Forget the media. They haven’t noticed either.

Last month when he was on vacation, the President announced that when he got back to ‘work’ he would present his plan to create jobs. It was his top priority. Now we see that it is so low on anyones list of priorities (or so bad) that no one wants to deliver it. Everyone now knows that there is nothing new in what he has proposed. Just more of the same; mostly pumping your money into public sector labor union-type jobs and pensions.

If creating jobs is so urgent, what the president needs to do in front of a TV camera is to admonish some Democrat for not submitting it. Presuming of course that the President isn’t still sitting on it himself, like he is doing with those trade agreements he brings up in almost every news conference on jobs and the economy.

If it were introduced as a bill today, this is what it would look like:

[scribd id=65441495 key=key-1b73r5xin0y19umx7kmx mode=list]

Economy, Europe, Media, Politics

‘Real Ford Owner’ TV Ad

Check out this new TV ad from Ford. Their version of the man on the street press conference. The premise is that the subjects are real Ford owners using their own un-rehearsed response to a question from the ‘press corps.’

‘Chris’s’ response is golden. Took the words right out of my F150-owning mouth. Obviously Ford has the marketing sense to use this in their ad campaign because first of all, it is a popular sentiment, and, it is true. True about Ford. And true about the government’s handling of their competitors, Chrysler, now owned by Fiat, and GM, aka BM (Barack Motors). More jobs for Italy? That’s change you can step in.

This ad reminds me of the ‘Joe the plumber’ moment that President Obama had when his handlers let him talk to un-screened Americans for the first time. Now, it’s ‘Chris the Real Ford Owner.’ And Obama presses on down his yellow brick road.

Kudos to Ford Motor Company. It was to Chrysler and GM’s disadvantage for not standing up to the president. For not supporting their shareholders. For not supporting freedom, liberty, and free-market capitalism. Instead, they let the government roll them.

UPDATE 9/29/2011: Since the above ad, along with all their other ads are now no longer available online, below is a transcript of what it said. Ford’s explanation is that the ads run their cycles and that’s it. Their marketing people apparently don’t want to become a political news topic.

[Kristien] Source: LYBIO.net

Hi, I’m Kristien

[Real Ford Owner] Source: LYBIO.net

Chris, hi

Kristien]

We are gonna head on into the inteview

[Reporters]

Chris, was it buying America important to you?

[Chris] Source: LYBIO.net

I wasn’t going to buy any other car, that was bailed out by our government. I was going to buy from a manufactuerer that’s standing on their own, win, lose or draw, that’s what America’s about is taking the chance to succeed and understanding when you failed that you gotta pick yourself up and go back to work. Ah, Ford, is that company for me. Ford (Drive One)

Economy, Media, Pensacola, Politics, War On Terror

Remembering 9/11

Reflecting back on the 9/11 attack is easy for me, because I’ve never forgotten it or the aftermath. The prayers and sympathy for the victims and their families goes without saying.

I remember vividly how that horrific attack galvanized America as one unit focused on helping the victims and, at the same time, finally fighting back at those who had been killing Americans for years.

 

Our enemy had a good day. Aside from killing innocent Americans, they hurt our economy so badly that it took years to recover.

Feeling eerily uncomfortable with pro-American unity in both political parties, Sen. Ted Kennedy must have felt his party was threatened to minority party status for decades unless he could do something to stop it. Sadly, I remember how America’s unity ended when Sen. Ted Kennedy made the false accusation that the Bush administration believed Saddam Hussein had “planned the 9/11 attack.” I remember how quickly the political Left ate that up, buttressed by a willing media. It was the ‘lion of the senate’ who politicized what was called the ‘war on terror.’ For that strategy alone, Ted Kennedy deserves credit for being the one person most responsible for prolonging the war to a tenth anniversary, and counting. That’s what I remember.

The reason I’ll never forget it goes to survival. Because the people in charge of the war on terror now, all Ted Kennedy acolytes, want to give the enemy our constitutional protections, lowering the bar to a criminal matter. They want to scrap the ‘war on terror’ and the most effective parts of the ‘Patriot Act,’ calling it an ‘overseas contingency operation.’ And we have Ted Kennedy to thank for it.

There’s a saying, “what goes around comes around.” This applies to Sen. Ted Kennedy too. He went from the lion of the senate to a maggot in hell. A small consolation in the fight that continues to this day.

Link: Schneider: Tell us what you remember, why you will never forget  | Media Research Center video

Update 9/11/2011: This is a repost from August 14, 2011. Didn’t make the cut for today’s edition of the Pensacola News Journal. And so it is that the political aspect of the aftermath will only be found here. Just added a video “Tribute To The Media” put together by the Media Research Center.

Economy, Politics

Obama’s Jobs Plan, WPA v2.0

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If you missed the president’s address to the joint session of congress last night, here’s the short version. He wants to spend a half trillion dollars more, ostensibly believing that what didn’t work the last time, and the time before that, will work this time. To build roads, bridges, and infrastructure.

Is the country suffering from amnesia? That’s what the first $785 billion so-called stimulus bill was supposed to have been used for.  And it wasn’t. And we are just supposed to ignore the failure of his plan and the fraud that it was?

What President Obama’s problem is, well, aside from not having a clue about capitalism and free-market economics, is that he is a victim of FDR syndrome. His only plan is to spend money on temporary make-work projects (remember that shovel-ready pitch?) while waiting for the economy to rebound. Recovering from the worst economy since the Great Depression is a “slow process,” the president said. Like the WPA, the economy would improve faster if the president would just get government out of the way. It’s like the WPA version 2.0.