Articles tagged as

Economics

Stop the Swine!

  Know that feeling you get when you see a solid chunk of your paycheck missing because its been sent off to some obscure place in a federal district far, far away? You feel like your getting ripped-off by the man, but you convince yourself that its necessary to fund a strong military and protect … Read more

Attention Wal-Mart shoppers…

Wal-Mart
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In recent years, I have come to appreciate and admire the marvel of American logistics and ingenuity that is Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, others don’t see it in the same light. In a number of posts stretching back over the past year and more, I have written quite a bit about the ongoing campaign against Wal-Mart by labor unions and their friends in the Democratic Party . In a posting from last November, I reported:
The Democratic war against Wal Mart moves on. With the socialist-leaning party in power, one wonders if the assault on the premier American retailer/ logistics giant will intensify and begin to cause the company real damage.
As I said in this one,
Wal-Mart represents the latest target in the left’s war on successful American businesses.
Last October, I discussed the vehicle chosen by those joining in the assault: the WakeUpWalMart campaign. At the time, I was writing about the NEA teacher’s union’s joining with that group as they attacked Wal-Mart. As found on their website, one sees the union roots of the effort:

Participation in the campaign, which is organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), the AFL-CIO union with primary jurisdiction for employees of retail stores, was approved by the NEA Executive Committee in May 2005 and endorsed by the 2005 Representative Assembly in July 2005.

Of course, just because those on the outside looking in say something is bad, it turns out, sometimes, when you consult people actually having firsthand information, the real story turns out to be quite different. In this post about a group comprised of Wal-Mart employees (Working Families for Wal-Mart), I pointed out:

I know several people that work for Wal Mart, and they genuinely like their jobs. Nobody forces anybody to work there.

Followed by this:

Nobody forces anyone to shop there. Imagine that- willing employees serving willing customers- What a concept!

Indeed. Did you know that Wal-Mart, under constant attack by those who always claim to be for "the little guy," saves the average American family who willingly patronizes them more than $2,500 per year? And now, for those willing customers, there’s a way to get involved and help defend the company that provides such a level of satisfaction: Wal-Mart New England’s Customer Action Network (CAN).

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A union hack, apparently taking the “high road,”, decries American corporations and their “unmitigated exploitation” of workers. What, did they want them to actually work?

California union members assaulting Arnold supporter in 2005 . When it comes to pointing fingers at who’s to blame for the continuing exodus of manufacturing jobs to China and other such places, I have long believed that the hardcore union types should look in the mirror for a glimpse of at least one of the … Read more

A conversation with John Ratzenberger

. Following Tuesday’s "Keep it Made in America" town hall style meeting here in NH, I had an opportunity to spend a few minutes with John Ratzenberger. We discussed the value of children doing things with their hands, playing outside away from the computers and videos, getting up early, and nurturing a "work ethic." We … Read more

How do we compete with this?

This video, shot in a factory somewhere in China, shows a multiple- ton press making what appears to be metal pan-inserts one might find in a buffet-chafing dish. What you are watching is workers sitting in the press itself, in between the form punches & dies, moving the parts by hand in progression from start to finish. The press appears to be the type with the big counterweight wheel as opposed to hydraulic.
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Anyone even remotely familiar with industrial settings here in America knows that what you see– people sitting within a machine such as a press– isn’t in the least bit safe, nor legal. And, rightfully so. A press with the counterweight wheel cannot be quickly stopped, nor can it be retracted in the event of an emergency, like if the worker’s hand got caught in the pan. Hydraulic machines, the chosen method here, can be easily reversed and withdrawn. Additionally, most shops found here and in other free countries use very expensive automated progression type die machines that eliminate the need for people to move stuff through dangerous portions of the works.
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If the Youtube above had been shot at a factory here in the United States, you can be sure that the owner’s face would quickly appear on wanted posters in Post Offices all around the country. Geraldo would report in front of the offending place, tears flowing, on the cruel treatment of such hapless examples of downtrodden humanity. Public outrage would be the order of the day– again, rightfully so. In today’s world, there is no reason for people to have to work in such conditions. Safety for workers is the top order of the day throughout today’s business world, excepting places like China, of course.

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Liveblogging from the Palace Theater in Manchester: “Keep it Made in America” Town Hall Meeting.

John Ratzenberger….Keep It Made in America….Granite Grok
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The GraniteGrok crew is here at the Palace Theater in Manchester, New Hampshire tonight where television and film star John Ratzenberger and the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) are hosting the ‘Keep it Made in America’ Town Hall Meeting.  This is the first in a series of events, which will travel to seven cities in twelve weeks to highlight the growing demand among voters that the presidential candidates address the challenges facing American workers and manufacturers.
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What I find intriguing about the AAM is that it is made up of both manufacturers AND labor union elements– working in concert with each other in common purpose as opposed to the more traditional stances in opposition to each other. Judging by the tee shirts, there is a good number of union related people here this evening. I’ve also spotted prez candidate Vern Wuensche in the crowd, along with some McCain people. Mayor Giunta is welcoming the crowd and making introductions. Scott Paul, the executive director of the AAM is now speaking. BAA Systems. Steelworkers of Manchester are represented. Bringing together Dems, Repubs, union, management,etc. in common cause for US manufacturing. Sen. Ted Gatsas & Sen.Betsy Devries are here also. Gatsas is recalling the history of the mills here in NH. "Made in USA" is still an important slogan. There is much excitement and enthusiasm here in the room.

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Not paying a mortgage, but paying the price.

As readers of the ‘Grok are aware, we have been selected to receive and forward reader questions for candidate Fred Thompson to answer at some point. While we are still awaiting something from the campaign, the questions continue to trickle in. We got an email yesterday that happened to overlap with my prior posting about a possible … Read more

Tax Payers Against a Wall Street and Mortgage Bailout

. A new group, "Tax Payers Against a Wall Street and Mortgage Bailout", has started an online petition drive asking Congress NOT to bailout the financially ailing mortgage industry. I am fully supportive of this action. To take MY money to give to unscrupulous (or uncaring, knowing the "fix" would come at the right time) money lenders who made … Read more

What a deal!

    . Next time you feel bad for those poor state employees toiling away at their difficult jobs with little to no thanks or appreciation from the public, take heart in knowing that they will at least be getting a fairly decent raise. 10% in two years. . "Oh but Doug, the poor workers … Read more

Not yours to give…

  Col. David Crockett . Several days back, I posted a piece about the Federal government giving out $40 coupons (my tax dollars!) to people in order to purchase digital-to analog converters for their TV sets rendered useless by the government-mandated switch to digital broadcast television. . It is apparent that our government is on an unrelenting … Read more

“[I]mposing taxes on us without our Consent”

  Boston Tea Party. Is it time for NH to dump the Democrats overboard? . Some arguments are just made to go beyond face value into the realm of high philosophical debate. Such is the union-building legislation passed by the New Hampshire state Senate, SB-88. Consider the details, as reported by Bob Cook of the … Read more

Spend it like you’ve got it!

. What does New Hampshire want? Responsible fiscal policy. What did the New Hampshire House deliver? A record $10.4 Billion state budget. More information at: NHelection.info

Dems to “fix” college loans. Uh-oh.

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As the Lambert family finds itself in the final stretch of its first foray into the financial quagmire of grants, loans, and scholarships involved with sending a child into college (Really now, who doesn’t love the FAFSA form?), we often find ourselves searching the web for something on the topic.
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In the course of such research, I stumbled across an interesting and somewhat disturbing story located on one of our favorite blogsites here at the ‘Grok– GOPProgress. It detailed a little-known battle taking place behind the scenes over private sector versus government distribution and administration of federal student aid loans. And, as one might guess, because it involves fundamentally opposing world views (public vs private), it becomes a partisan issue, thus proving again that party affiliation does, in fact matter. Jess Mahone writes
One reason Republicans lost in 2006 is that they stopped being reliable stewards of the public trust.  It is becoming clear, however, that the Democrats who now control Congress are much worse–whereas Republicans screwed up due to their ineptitude, the Democrats are wasting money as a matter of policy.
I don’t think you’d get much of an argument from anybody on that one. He continues, giving an excellent example that proves, once again, that no matter how bad the Republicans might have been, the Democrats are worse. Writes Jess,

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A warning for NH…

Our friend BDP at AnkleBitingPundits weighs in with another great piece on failing public employee pension funds. This time it’s New Jersey: I know that many of your eyes glaze over when I talk about the coming financial disaster due to the bill coming due for public employee pensions. But the fact is that it’s … Read more

A secret well kept: the good economy. Bush on the radio this week.

This week President Bush talks about the biggest untold story of the Bush II era: the robust economy. It’s a good thing he mentions it, because Lord knows the MainStreamMedia won’t. Why, that might reflect well on the Bush Administration, and we can’t have that now, can we…
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.
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This week was filled with more good news about America’s economy. We learned that our economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. Overall, our economy grew 3.4 percent in 2006 — up from 3.1 percent in 2005. The Dow Jones reached an all-time high this week for the 27th time in the past four months. And we learned that America created 111,000 new jobs in January, which means we have added over 7.4 million jobs in the past three-and-a-half years.
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This good news is a result of the hard work of the American people and pro-growth economic policies like tax relief. By cutting taxes, we put more money into the hands of American families and small businesses. You have used this money to produce strong and lasting economic growth. And now Congress needs to make this tax relief permanent, so we can keep America’s economy growing.
This really is the very essence of the difference between a President like Bush, who believes WE THE PEOPLE know how to best spend our own money, versus the liberal Democrat viewpoint, as exemplified by the Clintons, who think only government knows how to best do that. Unfortunately, with the new Congress, tax cuts will only be a fond memory of days gone by…
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President Bush continues:
Pro-growth economic policies also play a vital role in our plan to balance the Federal budget. Our growing economy has produced record levels of tax revenue. This increase in tax revenue has helped us cut the deficit in half three years ahead of schedule. And on Monday, we will take the next step when I submit to Congress a budget that will eliminate the deficit by 2012.
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To meet this goal, we must set priorities for government spending. My top priority will continue to be keeping America safe and winning the war against extremists who want to destroy our way of life. The budget I will submit to Congress includes the cost of funding the global war on terror, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our troops deserve our full support, and this budget gives them the resources they need.
I hope he has a few bucks tucked away somewhere in there for dealing with Iran, too. He then discusses the need for restraint in spending in other areas in order to get a handle on the budget. It’s too bad he didn’t try this when the GOP was in control of Congress. Perhaps some restraint might have helped in the past election. Now it’s too little, too late. He then suggests this:
Cutting the deficit during a time of war requires us to restrain spending in other areas. One good way to help eliminate wasteful spending is to pass earmark reform.
Hmmm. Why now? Why not when the Republicans were in charge? Oh, that’s right- the Republicans in Congress were addicted to these. Now they’re out. It seems strange that this might have a better chance of actually getting fixed with big-spending Democrats, but, whatever– just do it! The President tells us what these are and why they must go:

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Jealous of… Massachusetts?

Here in central NH, most residents are held "hostage" by a single cable company that offers TV and broadband services. While they try as hard as any monopoly would to provide good service at a good price, they sometimes fall short. Friends and co-workers living to the south in NH, while still serviced by a … Read more

NOW he targets “earmarks”

President Bush discussed the economy and the topic of so-called federal "earmarks" in this week’s radio address.
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Christmas is fast approaching, and I know many of you are busy trying to finish up your holiday shopping. This week, we received good news about the economy that should brighten the season and keep us optimistic about the year ahead.
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First, the Commerce Department released figures showing that sales for America’s retailers were up in November and that the increase is much larger than expected. These figures are important because for many American businesses November and December are their highest sales months for the year. So the healthy increase in retail sales is a good sign for American employers and workers.
Of course, if you’re anti-business, anti-free marketplace liberal (socialist?) Democrats Jonathan Edwards or Barak Hussein Obama, this is bad news. After all, they’ve worked hard in the recent past to encourage people NOT to shop at Wal Mart. President Bush continues…
America’s working families also received another bit of holiday cheer this week: We learned that real hourly wages rose by 2.3 percent over the past year. That may not sound like a lot, but for the typical family of four with both parents working, it means an extra $1,350 for this year. At the same time, our growing economy continues to create jobs and that has brought unemployment down to just 4.5 percent. These numbers give all Americans a reason to celebrate: More people are working than ever before, and paychecks are going further than they used to.
Of course, if the big spenders at the local, state, and federal levels of government get their way, they’ll take every bit of that $1350 and then some in increased taxes. President Bush alludes to this next. It’s just too bad he doesn’t sound very credible when preaching spending restraint in Congress, given the past 6-year track record of wasteful budgets laden with pork…

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Is NH’s Public Employee Retirement System at the Brink of Failure?

There has been much talk about the looming crisis in the public employee retirement systems nationwide. Well- maybe saying that there is "much" talk is an overstatement- there has been precious little on the part of the governments involved. Most of what we hear on the subject is coming from lone "voices in the wilderness" writing in various newspapers and magazines. To discover a politician warning of the coming financial crackup of these retirement systems would be a find indeed. At the local levels of government, we see the problem firsthand, as the amounts of money needed to pay into the system have sharply spiked upward.
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A regular ‘Grok reader forwarded the following piece on the retirement issue as it relates to us here in NH. It was written by Mike Murray who has given permission to share it here on the blog…
Little attention has been paid to the New Hampshire Retirement System, the 4.5 billion dollar public pension system on which fireman, policemen, teachers and municipal workers depend for retirement income. When Governor Benson was in Concord he tried to reform the system but was ignored. Many times over the last 5 years I have wondered when the obvious problems with the pension system would come home to roost. 
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Only about 2/3rds of the present value of the promises made to public employees have been met. The story is one of human error, bad judgment, hubris, arrogance and ignorance. In short, the problems with the pension system start with very poor assumptions about return expectations that any prudent person would know are too high. From there the contributions from employees are too small, particularly when compared to the contribution rates that private investors are taught are adequate in their own un-guaranteed plans.  Return assumptions should be lower and contributions higher.
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The fees the NHRS has paid its investment managers over the years are excessive. Here are the fees other pensions have paid, using 2002 as an example (as a percentage of net assets):
• NH: .70 percent
• WV: .20 percent
• MT: .10 percent
• NE:  .20 percent
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It’s also important to note that during this year each of the above paid much less and got higher returns.
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This might not sound like much until going over an actual example. Say the 4.5 billion dollar fund pays .65 percent (as NH did in 2002), or about 30 million dollars per year as investment fees. Ok, so what that this is .40% too much? Nebraska would have paid 9 million per year. That’s almost 20 million per year less. Well, over 20 years this equals a simple figure of 400 million dollars. This is a simplistic analysis and does not take into account the growth of the fund over time, but certainly if the NHRS had been paying what other like pensions were paying the problem today would be much smaller. Why has the NHRS continuously paid so much in extra fees?

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What, me worry? For some Republicans, it’s business as usual.

As the dumbstruck Republicans continue their search for someone other than themselves to blame for their poor showing in the recent elections up and down the political food chain, evidence continues to mount that they might never figure it out. Call it "being unable to see the forest for the trees." Let’s review…
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In 1994, the Republicans ended 40 years of Democratic rule in the US House with a promise to change the culture of sleeze and corruption that had embedded itself deep within a majority that came to believe they could get away with anything. One of the principle architects of the GOP win, former congressman and majority leader Dick Armey, wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal last week following the election. In it he writes of how they won with a philosophy of limited government and personal responsibility, which greatly influenced how they ran the show.
Our primary question in those early years was: How do we reform government and return money and power back to the American people?
Those were heady days for the conservative movement as they became dominant within the Republican party. Unfortunately, it came unraveled. Dick Armey continues in his WSJ piece:
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Eventually, the policy innovators and the "Spirit of ’94" were largely replaced by political bureaucrats driven by a narrow vision. Their question became: How do we hold onto political power? The aberrant behavior and scandals that ended up defining the Republican majority in 2006 were a direct consequence of this shift in choice criteria from policy to political power.

Nowhere was this turn more evident than in the complete collapse of fiscal discipline in the budgeting process. For most Republican candidates, fiscal responsibility is our political bread and butter. No matter how voters view other, more divisive issues from abortion to stem-cell research, Republicans have traditionally enjoyed a clear advantage with a majority of Americans on basic pocketbook issues. "We will spend your money carefully and we will keep your taxes low." That was our commitment.
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This year, no incumbent Republican (even those who fought for restraint) could credibly make that claim. The national vision — less government and lower taxes — was replaced with what Jack Abramoff infamously called his "favor factory." One Republican leader actually defended a questionable appropriation of taxpayer dollars, saying it was a reasonable price to pay for holding a Republican seat. What was most remarkable was not even the admission itself, but that it was acknowledged so openly. Wasn’t that the attitude we were fighting against in 1994?
Armey is 100% correct. The Republicans lost credibilty on their signature issues. The Democrats, eager to regain power, used every opportunity to make hay from every misstep, and their comrades in the mainstream media happily joined in. Who can blame them? The Republicans couldn’t give their opponents enough rope fast enough, it seemed, to "hang" them with.
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Missteps. Corruption. Ineptness. All are commonly associated with any sort of unchallenged ruling entity, government or otherwise. The problem for the Republicans is that they threw away their main check that had kept such behaviors at bay: tight fiscal practices. When money is tight, there’s less to throw around and get in trouble with. At the point it becomes over-abundent, decadence rears its ugly head.
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At least now, given the results of the election, the Republicans are going to mend their ways, right? Hello? I said REPUBLICANS ARE GOING TO BECOME FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE, AGAIN, RIGHT!? [insert cricket sounds here]…

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