one of the union’s biggest locals has begun a public war with Mr. Stern, accusing him of having a “growth at any cost” mentality that has shortchanged union members
and further
That official, Sal Rosselli, whose local represents 140,000 health care workers in California, says Mr. Stern has made too many concessions on benefits and working conditions in persuading employers to agree not to fight unionization drives. The union has organized hundreds of facilities and grown membership to 1.9 million.
I'm reading another of the recent rash of books which concern development policies in the third world over the past 50, or so, years. This one, "Bad Samaritans" by Ha-Joon Chang supports protective tariffs for countries trying to establish their own domestic industries without having to worry about the competition from already dominant foreign firms.
This is part of a small, but increasingly vocal, heterodox movement which disagrees with the conventional wisdom that "free trade" is the correct solution to all international economic issues. I'm not interested in rehashing the arguments, other than to point out that the "protectionists" can point to some rather successful examples that illustrate their thesis. In this book, it is the author's home country of South Korea.
Speaker Pelosi Determined to Give Millions of U.S. Jobs to Foreign Workers?
Wednesday, Feb. 26 -- "Incredible as it may seem amidst talk of recessions, job cuts and stagnant wages, NumbersUSA's Capitol Hill Team finds reports and signs everywhere that House Speaker Pelosi is negotiating to give millions of U.S. jobs to foreign workers," NumbersUSA President Roy Beck said today.
Public Citizen just release an analysis report on what any US administration would have to challenge in the WTO, specifically the GATS agreements to even offer the United States their policies on health care and environmental reforms.
Nominal new home prices plunge record -15.1% yr/yr to January yet sales plunge and inventories soar; durable goods orders also plunged in January.
The key finding in today’s Census Bureau report on new single-family home sales in January is that the median nominal price plunged -15.1% yr/yr, the worst decline on record back to 1963. New home prices were down -7.8% in the year ending December 2007.
Also very important is that the inventory of unsold new homes soared to a 9.9 month supply in January, the worst glut of empty new homes since October 1981. Unsold inventories represented a 9.5 month supply in December and a 7.2 month supply in January 2007.
This is my second story about OPIC – OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION – a Department of the United States Treasury. This one is based on the OPIC 2006 Annual Report. It contrasts my earlier report on OPIC 1999. Robert Mosbacher, Jr., CEO of Mosbacher Petroleum, is the new CEO of OPIC. Mosbacher Petroleum was skimming money off ENRON back in the 80’s. OPIC was giving money directly to the oil companies. Now banks are skimming money off the U.S. Treasury and lending it to the oil companies.
Over at Redstate a econ-wingnut named Pejman Yousefzadeh claims he is schooling David Leonhardt, a NY Times reporter who discussed economic conditions in Ohio, including the fact that:
Back in 2000, the typical Ohio family was still making more money than the typical American family, according to Moody’s Economy.com. But over the last eight years, real median income in Ohio has dropped almost 10 percent, to about $47,000, leaving it $2,300 below the national median.
Our Redstate blogger says Leonhardt owes a retraction, relying on a 2007 Cato institute study that claims: [my response in brackets]
Contrary to public perceptions:
Trade has had no discernible, negative effect on the number of jobs in the U.S. economy. Our economy today is at full employment, with 16.5 million more people working than a decade ago.
Like many people, I loathe the idea of a housing "bailout" for the greedy, the reckless, and the spendthrift. Certainly those bankers and borrowers had no problem "privatising their gains" in the early part of this decade. I see no reason why they should look to the prudent and the thrifty now, especially when so many millions of those prudent and thrifty are those whose own dreams of owning a home of their own at a reasonable price were frozen out by the housing mania.
But out of crisis comes opportunity. In this case, the opportunity for the Democratic party to show average Americans what a Democratic majority would do for them and their financial well-being. The opportunity to earn their trust and their votes for years to come. To show that a party that believes in governance for the average citizen can separate the wolves from the sheep, penalizing the former and acting with basic humanity to the latter.
7 year old Carpentersville Illinois resident is just the latest victim in identity theft. The seven year old received a letter from the IRS requested payment of taxes owed from past earning of $60,000. This second grader had his Social Security Number stolen and illegally used by a Cirilo Centeno, 29 of Streamwood, Illinois. Cirilio Centeno admits he purchased the Social Security Number for $50 in 2001. And has used the card number to obtain employment, a truck, utilities for his home, a credit card, and unemployment benefits.
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