Critics have suggested that leaders of the labor movement suffer from economic illiteracy that has made them the architects of their own demise. The unwillingness of unions to make concessions in the face of global competition starting in the 1960′s was a major factor in Americans losing millions of union jobs. In the present day, unions push for minimum wage hikes well beyond what inflation might justify (about $9.00 to $10.00 per hour), with “fight for fifteen” campaigns which, if successful, will carry the unintended consequences of higher unemployment and accelerated small-business failures. Today only about 7% of America’s private sector workers belong to unions.

One can also make the case that unions are becoming irrelevant because much of what they fought for is now enshrined in law. Labor laws protect workers from wrongful termination. OSHA standards ensure workplace safety. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and a host of other social welfare programs all provide a safety net for the aged, disabled and unemployed. The Affordable Care Act, fraught with flaws that will hopefully either get repealed or replaced, at least guarantees anyone can purchase… Read More

A stark demonstration of the uneven nature of our “recovery” from the longest recession since the Great Depression. Texas is carrying the nation!

http://www.aei-ideas.org/2014/09/dallas-morning-news-editorial-writer-william-ruggles-coined-the-term-right-to-work-on-labor-day-in-1941/ Since 2007, employment in the state of Texas has increased by more than 1.3 million jobs (and by 12%), compared to a net deficit of more than 1.2 million jobs over that same period in the rest of the country.

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Once again, Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg has thumbed his nose at the working class and other Californians of modest means by blocking legislation that would have slightly delayed implementation of carbon emission fees charged to oil companies. The fees are part of the state’s “cap-and-trade” program, California’s one-of-a-kind effort to reduce word wide carbon emissions. These fees are really taxes that will be passed on to consumers.

California drivers need to brace… Read More

The Friday wrap-up of the 2014 legislative session brought passage of the ban on plastic bags, mandatory paid sick days,new groundwater regulations, more gun control, expanded tax breaks for Hollywood,and bilingual education bills. The Democrat-majority of the California Legislature has made it clear it honors only the interests of labor unions, trial lawyers, environmentalists and liberals politicians. And that’s it.

Gone is any pretext of concern for taxpayers, business owners and employers, or any respect for free enterprise and free markets.

The left has shown an historic distrust in free enterprise and free markets, and instead relied on socialism to artificially make market “corrections” following downturns, largely due to government intervention, heavy-handed regulations and manipulations.

California is a state whose politicians,… Read More

Surprisingly, Canada is the BEST major country when it comes to total corporate tax burden — by a LOT. Hence Burger King’s decision to relocate to the Frozen North. See the short article and tax table below. And keep in mind that total CALIFORNIA tax costs increase this tax differential substantially for our Golden State businesses.

Obama’s response to Burger King’s move (a move because of our punitively high U.S. tax structure) was predictable — further restrictions on American companies leaving. It’s the usual thuggish response of a Chicago community organizer against those who do not bend to his will.

Well, I have a wry suggestion: Obama’s plan to keep companies from moving to low-tax Canada should include installing along our Canadian border a 3,000 miles long string of machine gun towers and mine fields (a laEast Germany) to keep Ahmericans in AMERICA (well, wherever) — Land of the Free!

Think about it –it would… Read More

Instead of addressing the degrading hook-up culture young people have come to accept, the Legislature declared sex “a contractual event,” and redefined consensual sexual relations as “rape” if it occurs on a college campus.

Rather than promoting the education of college students about abstinence and self-respect, Senate Bill 967, by Sen. Kevin de Leon, will allow California colleges and universities to deal internally with campus sexual violence by requiring each school to adopt Legislature-approved “victim-centered sexual assault response policies and protocols that… Read More

Representatives of the State of Jefferson movement plan to submit declarations at the Capitol today, from Modoc and Siskiyou counties to withdraw from the State of California.

This historical move by the State of Jefferson shows the California State Legislature that the citizens of Modoc and Siskiyou counties are serious and have formally petitioned for appropriate representation.

The effort provides these counties with standing in the future to challenge the State of California in a federal lawsuit.

Differences between State of Jefferson and 6 States Initiative

This is not the 6 States ballot initiative, Silicon Valley resident Tim Draper’s effort. They are trying to split the Northern part of California off. It’s different than . There are major differences: 1. This is a grass roots effort – there … Read More

It appears there has been some back room deal-making between the United Food and Commercial Workers labor union and the California Grocers Association, over Senator Alex Padilla’s legislation, SB 270, that would put in place a ban on plastic grocery bags, and require a tax of at least ten cents on paper backs, the proceeds of the tax going into the pockets of the grocers. The legislature and people of California deserve to know what the “agreement” is between the Grocers Association and United Food and Commercial Workers labor union. First, the UFCW was in support of the plastic bag ban along with the ten cent paper bag tax. Then they were against it. Today, the UFCW is back in support of SB 270, but there aren’t any new amendments in the bill to precipitate a change of heart, making many wonder if a … Read More