July 26, 2012
By Katy Grimes
I remember when Democrats were all about supporting hard working men and women. So were Republicans, but it was Democrats who were more closely associated with the working class.
And that’s the rub; Democrats no longer support the working class because they are so busy signing the masses up for welfare, disability, and unemployment benefits… and pushing tax increases to pay for it.
Yet, America is still made up of more working people than not. And it’s the working class, the middle class, and upper middle class who vote.
Entitlements are like a gateway drug–once people get a taste of being paid for just being alive and living in California, the rest is easy.
“Where’s my free car? Where’s my free home? Why should I have to pay for my kids school supplies? Why should I have to pay for my healthcare? Obama’s going to pay for my mortgage.”
Handing out welfare checks is like giving crack to kids–you know they will come back for more.
And that’s apparently the plan.
The Bureau of Labor statistics reported July 20, “Twenty-seven states recorded unemployment rate increases.”
California’s unemployment rate is currently at 10.7 percent, supposedly down from 11.9 percent.
Compare California’s high unemployment rate with the unemployment rates of Right-to-work states: Nebraska 3.3 percent unemployment, North Dakota 2.9 percent, Vermont 4.7, Oklahoma 4.7, Texas 7.0, Wyoming 5.0, Virginia 5.7.
The 1947 Taft Hartley Act allowed states to pass right-to-work laws, which now prohibit the union shop in 22 states.
In non right-to-work states like California, Federal labor laws allow unionized workplaces to fire employees for failing to pay union dues.
State right to work laws essentially require unionized workplaces to become “open shops.” Open shops must allow employees to work, whether or not they join the unions or pay regular dues.
Interestingly, employees of the Federal Government have the right to choose whether or not to join their respective unions.
A 2011 story in the Wall Street Journal by Robert Barro reported some very interesting information about the economic growth of right-to-work states:
“There is evidence that right-to-work laws—or, more broadly, the pro-business policies offered by right-to-work states—matter for economic growth. In research published in 2000, economist Thomas Holmes of the University of Minnesota compared counties close to the border between states with and without right-to-work laws (thereby holding constant an array of factors related to geography and climate). He found that the cumulative growth of employment in manufacturing (the traditional area of union strength prior to the rise of public-employee unions) in the right-to-work states was 26 percentage points greater than that in the non-right-to-work states.”
“If California were a separate country, it would have the world’s 9th largest economy, reports the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation,” reported Jan Norman in the Orange County Register this week.
“Sounds good until you read that in 1984 and 1985, California had the 5th largest economy and with those two exceptions, it had the 7th largest economy since the 1970s until 2010, says Econpost.com.”
California ranked again this year as one of the 10 worst states for business. “Hawaii and California are incredibly unfriendly towards business. Too many regulations, restrictions, and new taxes. Local government does not care about your problems,” Chief Executive Magazine reported.
In fact, California is dead last, with Texas as the number one state in which to do business. “It is perhaps no coincidence that Texas and Florida have the highest net migration of people to their states from 2001 to 2009. (By contrast, New York and California lost over 1.6 million and 1.5 million in net migration out of the states, respectively, over the same period.)” the magazine reported.
And the magazine found that most of the states in the top 20 are also right-to-work states, “as labor force flexibility is highly sought after when a business seeks a location.”
“Several economists, most notably Ohio State’s Richard Vedder and Harvard’s Robert Barro, have found that the economies in Right-to-Work areas grow faster than other states, have higher employment and attract more inward migration,” Chief Executive Magazine found.
“California’s enduring place of perpetual decline continues in this year’s ranking. Once the most attractive business environment, the Golden State appears to slip deeper into the ninth circle of business hell,” CEO magazine reported. “The economy, which used to outperform the rest of the country, now substantially underperforms.”
“And its status as the most ruinously contentious place to operate remains undisturbed in eight years.”
“With 12 percent of America’s population, California has one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients.”
“Each year, the evidence that businesses are leaving California or avoid locating there because of the high cost of doing business due to excessive state taxes and stringent regulations, grows. (See “Eastward Ho!”) According to Spectrum Location Solutions, 254 California companies moved some or all of their work and jobs out of state in 2011, an increase of 26 percent over the previous year and five times as many as in 2009.”
California is doing everything wrong with Democrats in charge. If you’re outta work, be sure to kiss a Democrat; it looks as if California will be dead last for years to come unless voters can replace liberals with some adults.
It was free-market economist Joseph Schumpeter who coined the phrase, “creative destruction.” He meant that a dynamic economy doesn’t stand
Steven Greenhut: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is not serious about reining in the abusive salaries and pensions at the local level.
What would Don Corleone say? Organized crime on Facebook? According to the Chronicle: “Raymond ‘Shrimp Boy’ Chow made an appearance in
