An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for 6 January 2012
Obama’s Priorities
Better late than never. 
Beneath Growth, a Sea of Poison
The Foundry
Today’s jobs report from the Department of Labor was encouraging news for the U.S. economy. It shows that 200,000 jobs were created and the unemployment rate ticked down from 8.7 percent to 8.5 percent. Jobs were created in every sector of the economy save one — government! This report is consistent with other economic indicators and shows that the economy is finally coming out of its malaise. But like any reports, they must be put into context. The creation of 200,000 new jobs is solid growth and above the 130,000 to 150,000 new jobs that must be created to keep up with population growth. However, this doesn’t mean happy times are here again.
There are not enough Americans working or looking for work. In fact participation in the labor force is at its lowest point in 30 years as many potential workers are not yet even attempting to find jobs. Moreover, at this stage in a recovery, new jobs should be surging instead of averaging less than 140,000 for the last three months. So all is not well and President Obama should not check the “mission accomplished” box. In fact, Obama’s painful economic policies will only serve to further hamstring America’s economic engine, thereby preventing a truly strong, vibrant economy that the country is capable of having.
The President single-handedly unleashed another poison pill on Wednesday with the White House’s announcement that he will exact another illegal, unconstitutional end-run around Congress with the appointment of three new members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) without Senate approval, all of whom are union officials. Here’s why that matters.
Killing The “RIGHT” To Work
What the New Obama Labor Board Means for Workers and Employers
by James Shark
The framers of the Constitution required the President to get the consent of the Senate before appointing senior government officials. They wanted to prevent the President from appointing those who would abuse the public trust. President Obama’s purported appointment of Richard Griffin to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) yesterday illustrates the importance of this constitutional restraint.
One thing this administration has NOT shown, is ANY kind of restraint. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t appear that D’Bama even knows what’s in the Constitution, or, if he does, he doesn’t give a flip, and believes himself to be above said vital American document!
The union movement has a problem: Just one in 10 nonunion workers wants to join a union. Few workers believe that unions have much to offer, and even fewer want their company to wind up like General Motors. Consequently, private-sector union membership has fallen below 7 percent.
Fortunately in the right to work states, no one is required to join one of those increasingly communist organizations. However, it appears that the Obama adminstration is doing it’s best to change that.
The union movement wants to reverse this decline, but it does not want to fundamentally reform itself to appeal to today’s workers. So it has turned to the government to make it difficult for workers to decline its services. Unions lobbied Congress to end the secret ballot in union elections, forcing workers to publicly tell union organizers whether or not they wanted to join. Fortunately, that bill went nowhere.
When there are more non union workers, than union members, you’d think someone would get the BIG picture. Evidently, the nose on their faces has been blocked by their RED colored glasses.
Unions have now turned to the NLRB to boost their ranks—even though the NLRB is supposed to serve as a neutral arbitrator between unions and employers. President Obama appointed Craig Becker—former counsel for the AFL–CIO—to the board. Becker had an already-developed plan to use the board’s powers to increase union membership, and the board has been implementing this agenda.
It’s the National Labor Relations Board, NOT the Nationalized Union Board. This organization is suppose to concern itself with ALL laborers, not just the unions, but apparently, Obama has done his darnedest to change that fact. How is that Constitutional?
Unionized companies create fewer new jobs than nonunion companies. Union dues cost hundreds of dollars a year. Workers have the right to unionize if they want, but a government agency should not press them into it—and certainly not when former officials of those unions run that agency.
Unionized companies can’t afford to create more jobs due to the ever increasing demands of the unions, and their cradle to grave mentality. They want to be taken care of, instead of planning for their own emergencies, and retirement. You know, like in the REAL world.
Becker’s recess appointment expired at the end of the last session of Congress, and with it the activist majority on the NLRB. To replace Becker, President Obama nominated Richard Griffin, the general counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers. Another union lawyer would continue the board’s agenda-driven activism.
I wonder if there is any way the Congress can dissolve this organization, considering there is no one, or too few representing ALL of the workers in this country? The non union workers far outnumber the union workers, which means there is a HUGE portion of the population whose concerns are NOT being addressed.
The Senate’s advice and consent powers exist to check such appointments. Senate conservatives are right to demand that the President nominate board members who see their mission as protecting workers’ rights, not increasing union membership. The President cannot constitutionally ignore their advice.
And yet….he does….on a regular basis. This administration has turned this country into a laughing stock by his blatant disregard of her Constitution, and the general laws of the land. It is definitely time to take our country back, and restore her to her previously proud Republic.
