Those looking for excellent news in the midst of a clearly-souring global economy can find it in Wisconsin.

I am pleased to report Federal appeals court upholds Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s restrictions on public unions

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Mike Shedlock

Mike Shedlock

Mike Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for Sitka Pacific Capital Management.

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Bill110 Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:21 PM
Walker and those who stood with him can now say "We told you so".
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James Carroll Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 3:57 PM
Please show me the provenance of the term "collective bargaining rights."
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Ress Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 7:21 PM
It sounds nicer than "gangster-style extortion racket."
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aschaper Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 3:44 PM
Way to go, Governor Walker!

Come to California! Jerry Brown has neither the guts nor the ruts to make the cuts to the Public Sector Union sl------, er, Lobbies.

A 2016 run in the running for Governor Walker, perhaps? He's better than Chris Christie.
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Delta Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 12:52 PM
Watch for any comment by a union official; it ALWAYS has the word "fight" in it. And immediately following that is usually a scream for their "rights."
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andrew299 Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 10:17 AM
Why is no one writing about the story that Obama and Hagle conspired to rig the election?
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Original Saepe_Expertus Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 12:39 PM
Andrew....whatta ya got? Fill us in!
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BalanceSeeker Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:44 AM
. . . one step at a time. Let's be patient ! ! !
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Ray from Bloombergia Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:22 AM
..........and the leeches weep.

Ray
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Slicker Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 7:39 AM
jimmylynn/fletchforfreedom & Mike:
to sum "it all-up" we'd have jobs if it wasn't for all the crying liberals and so called conservatives getting away from our US, Constitution and having no more morals or eithics about what decisions they should make for the people that put them there in office in the first place..Look what happened in the first place all the jobs are given the illegals that come to our country 22,000,000 and whats left of jobs have gone over-sea's because companies want to pay as little as possible for labor and can get them fools across sea's to work for little or nothing "FELLA'S" this B.S. has nothing to do with the "Right to Work Law" as you stated...there will be no economic success until
we clean out Washington D.C.
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FletchforFreedom Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 8:43 AM
To "sum it all up" Slicker, we'd have more and higher paying jobs if the US Constitution, which gives government NO POWER WHATSOEVER to grant favors to unions, require collective bargaining or enter into labor contracts with anyone but individuals. No doubt the failure of government to adhere to the Constitution is a major problem but neither immigration of any kind (which does not "take jobs away" from citizens - that nonsense has been long debunked) or the decline of unions (for good reason) or some magical ability of companies to pay below market wages (which doesn't exist) has anything to do with it.
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Colonialgirl Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 8:38 PM
Liberal Union Troll spew from Slicker.
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jwilson804 Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 7:22 AM
Finally,the federal court did something right.
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Slicker Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 7:19 AM
You see, it's all greed (money), At one time we had 400 oil companies, Now we have 6 major ones controlling oil and it's prices...We used to have allot of Mom&Pop stores (independent) operations now big business's have bought everyone out, We used to have hundred's & hundred's of dairy farms their all gone..I can go on and on but this is a start of "Big govt Control" take a look at your freedom, it's all but gone down the drain, because "big-daddy" wants it all for their self...And you are waving an American idea that has done nothing to this country of ours but buckle it to their knees..Partner wake up and "smell-the-coffee" We don't need job loss, we need labor reorganized and the jobs sent over-seas brought back to the US.
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FletchforFreedom Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 8:36 AM
You see, it's all ignorance of basic history, econiomcs and ... reality that takes this pro-union stance. That it is economically more efficient for there to be six oil companies rather than 400 doesn't tell you anything (particularly if you follow the Standard Oil monopoly myth). And that "Mom and Pop" stores have largely vanished is due to the FACT that consumers want lower prices and patronize businesses that provide them, creating economic efficiencies and considerably MORE jobs than were in those failed "Mom and Pops". It is the disastrous combination of unions and big government that has undermined our liberties and harmed the economy. Unions have always been and continue to be job and economy killers.
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FletchforFreedom Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 8:39 AM
In FACT, one of the key reasons that jobs are sent overseas (albeit "outsourcing" results in MORE and HIGHER PAYING jobs being "insourced into the US) is that unions price their members out of the workforce - think Flint, Michigan. This results in greater incentives for companies to outsource, automate or streamline workflows REDUCING the number of jobs available in union businesses - the exception, of course, being government, where no market force works to improve efficiency.
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jfoster Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:26 AM
It is truly amazing the way that people can be brainwashed by this pro-union garbage. Forget about the fact that the greed of the unions and the simplistic thinking of people whose unions have priced them out of the labor market by unintelligent demands highlighting their greed and avarice can think that government can make the American public buy products and services too many times way too expensive or inferior, just by electing a Communist (sorry, Socialist) as president. Truth be told for those of you who like your Ipods, Ipads and Droids, if they were made in this country at "prevailing" union wage scale, they would cost the consumer thousands (not hundreds) of dollars. Quote Al-gore-zeera Gore "an inconvenient Truth!"
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MadisonWannabe Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:52 AM
You are right, it is all greed. The greed of the union members who want a large pay check and not working for it. You have got to think beyond the employee entrance and look at your own consumer behavior. A business has to balance between their employee costs and the consumer price. If the employees demand too much, you as a consumer go else where. That prices are virtually the same does not mean the businesses are in cahoots, it means the consumers are. If I am selling gas at 3.00 and it is 2.95 across the street, where do you go?
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Slicker Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 7:03 AM
jimmylynn:
Well, my friend, I'm not sure how old you are now but, if you talk to people of the earlier generation, back to when unions where strong you will find out this country (and the middle class) was built on Organized Labor...The "Right to Work Law" as most people define it is just that the "right to have a job" but, when it comes to protecting that job of yours where does that job protection come from. Don't forget a company can fire you for "any reason" and let me know that when your terminated for one reason or another we can go futher into details of why this country is in such of a turmoil...If we had union's we would all be better off, because the companies and there upper-level just couldn't keep all the raises for them selves
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FletchforFreedom Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 8:31 AM
Sorry, Slicker, but you are completely ignorant of actual history and are spouting complete drivel. In actual FACT, the middle calss LONG pre-dates unions and compensation and working conditions improved steadily and substantially since the beginning of the Industrial Revoultion due to CAPITALISM. Not only did unions have nothing to do with it, but, in FACT, the improvements were greatest and fastest in the less unionized US vs. Europe and in states where union power was least. Companies can fire for any reason but DON'T because it is in their best interests to find and keep good workers in an environment where they must compete for labor.

More union power has always made the economy (and workers) WORSE off.
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jfoster Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:35 AM
Just in case your care....."Middle Class" came right out of Karl Marx and "Das Kapital'. Class warfare is a Communist convention eagerly embraced by the party of Roosevelt (albeit without most Democrats understanding). The same for the labor movement (proletariat) and on and on. So, here we are, post Gramsci embracing pure (yes, pure) Communism, the rhetoric of the "Post Modern" labor movement ala Trumpka, etc. Saul Allinsky, Frankfort School, New School for Social thought, and on and on to destruction!
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Mike28 Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 1:42 PM
You are so wrong it's mind boggling. You need to read some history my friend. I lived it.
I'm not a supporter of today's unions, in fact I believe they need to be dismantled. The corruption is worse then ever.
However, labor organized to protect themselves, the worker. There was no OSHA setting work place safety, companies normally refused common sense safe guards on equipment reguardless of cost. If a forman's nephew or friend needed a job you were terminated and replaced.
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Mike28 Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 1:44 PM
back then they called it progressive, not socialism. Today it is the same thing, just 70 years later.
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FletchforFreedom Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 1:46 PM
Your position is largely correct. Actually, reference to the middle class dates back to earlier socialists than Marx who, in the 1840s, complained about the "attacks" on the middle class. Obviously it existed before that.
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FletchforFreedom Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 1:53 PM
The ACTUAL history shows that organized labor was an offshoot of the socialist movement - NOT any actual need for protections. In actual FACT, working cinditions and compensation improved dramatically WITHOUT union or governmental involvement. There was no OSHA, but, then, workplace safety improved at a BETTER rate before OSHA than it did afterward. And companies routinely improved working conditions to attract and keep the best workers making disasters like Triangle absolutely RARE (as the nepotism case you cite).

You are so wrong (ignorant of the facts) it's mind-boggling.
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jimmylynn Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:05 AM
Slicker,
You trying to be "slick". I have been a member of one of the largest unions in this country, the Teamsters. They are corrupt and a sore full of puss on this country.
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jimmylynn Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:08 AM
Slicker,
"Don't forget a company can fire you for "any reason" ...."

You mean like being "lazy" and slowing down production? That is one tactic that unions draw upon to intimidate companies to give them what they want, but even more it's standard operating practice in most unionized companies.
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MadisonWannabe Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:39 AM
Slicker--- what ignorance. You as a consumer can "fire" a company if you are not happy with their product, service, prices, or employees. Why should employees be able to keep their jobs at inflated prices while you, as the customer walk down the street searching for better at another company? You are the reason jobs are being deported--because you will not put up with this from another company but want laws enacted to protect you. This is why unions exist in areas (construction and government) that can not escape.
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FletchforFreedom Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 1:09 AM
One small step for Wisconsin; one giant leap for economic success.

Let's hope its only the beginning.
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jimmylynn Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 1:09 AM
Mike,
I firmly agree with you that we need a national right to work law and a President that will uphold the law. It is time our federal employees were deniecd union representation. We need to get labor unions out of government and repeal all of their sweet heart government contracts and exemptions.
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kday Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:16 AM
I hope you're not holding your breath waiting on the Kenyan Mu-slime terrorist in the WH to do anything except suck up big time to f the labor unions. Obozo owes the slimy unions big-time
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jimmylynn Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 9:58 AM
kday,
No, I'm not holding my breath. My point was that even if you pass a federal Right-to-Work law, you also need a President that will not instruct the Dept. of Justice to ignore that law as Obama has done on the Defense of Marriage Act and immigration prosecution.
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Don3026 Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 2:37 PM
A couple of things: The fed employees have unions but do not have collective bargaining privileges... the 2nd thing is how will you get right to work past all the DEMs in the Senate & House? Obama won't entertain ANY right-to-work laws.

So while I agree with many of the comments here, there are some problems... plus let's remember that there are some real you know what's, who are employers, who are bosses, in the private sector and the public sector.
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FletchforFreedom Wrote: Jan 20, 2013 3:06 PM
A couple of things. Federal unions collectively bargain for their members. The way to get right to work laws past the Dems is to keep pushing the worthwhile until it passes.

It makes no difference whether or not employers are "you know whats". What matters is that employers have no choice but to offer market wgaes, benefits, etc. or else the competitive labor market will penalize those employers and have people work elsewhere.
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