Right to work? Sounds great!

In Michigan yesterday, Governor signed two 'Right to Work' laws, which is the culmination of an intense debate about the future of union domination in the state.  Read about it here.  Detroit News Article

This is such an interesting story to me because of its location:  Automobile USA (at least at one time).  If a state like Michigan, that would not even support its native son, Mitt Romney, last month in the Presidential election, can become the 24th state to enact this type of legislation, I still see hope for the future of our economy and society.

For those unaware, the basic premise of the laws is to allow employees of an organization that is a 'union shop' to choose whether or not they want to join the union.  They will no longer be required to do so.  This workplace freedom will grant more power, not less, to employees.  They now can decide if the union dues are worth what they cost, and (at least in terms of the law) won't be forced to join if they do not wish to.  This is a big victory for freedom and a blow to the power of the UAW specifically.  Many union members have protested and decried this as a way to push down wages by employers.  Honestly, that could happen, and actually should, in many cases.  Let the free market determine wage value rather than setting artificial wage guarantees that can destroy a business's ability to turn a profit.  President Obama chose to bail out our largest auto makers a few years ago, and while he won't say it, this union wage establishment was a primary reason for why this happened.   

My favorite aspect of this is the view of liberals in Michigan that this will create a new wave of freeloaders.  From the article linked above:

Democrats said the law will create a class of "freeloader" workers who enjoy the pay and fringe benefits negotiated by unions without paying the costs of union representation.

"We expect everyone in an organization to pay their fair share. Let's call this legislation what it is-- the right to freeload," said state Rep. Bob Constan, D-Dearborn Heights.

So, Representative Constan is against freeloading?  That is hysterical.  This man's party has pushed through legislation that is the embodiment of freeloading.  How about ObamaCare?  Is he against food stamp and welfare programs?  I doubt it.  I guess its only ok to freeload through government programs in his worldview.

I would argue that this is not freeloading at all.  The workers will be paid a market-based wage that is competitive and based on the value of what they produce.  In most cases, the cost of business will be reduced, and prices will go down.  Additionally, more businesses will flock to Michigan because of this cost reduction, meaning MORE JOBS for a state whose unemployment rate is significantly higher than the national average (Michigan's unemployment rate is 9.1%, and Detroit's is 19%!!).  This is good news for the state's workers.

Seeing this happen here keeps me hopeful that we can turn things around across the country.  We have ample opportunity to do so.  This is one of many small steps on the road back to prosperity, and more importantly, real freedom.

Quid Pro Quo, Baby!!

This morning, I saw a news clip that blew my mind. Well, it blew my mind for about 2 seconds, until I realized the state of our culture here in the United States. Detroit is facing a disastrous fiscal situation right now, with a projected shortfall of $47 million deficit for this year. People have left the city in droves over the past few years, and city revenues have plummeted. This leads to the following clip, in which City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson called upon President Obama to provide a bailout for the city. She said, among other things,


"Our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president and there ought to be a quid pro quo and you ought to exercise leadership on that. Of course, not just that, but why not?"


Link to Video


Hmm, let me think about this one. First, who is 'our people'? Is that the city of Detroit? They did in fact vote over 75% to re-elect the President. So, should every city or county that voted for the President get preferential treatment and receive bailout money? And what does she mean by quid pro quo? Latin for 'this for that', I understand this to mean votes for bailout. Great idea JoAnn. How can we expect the average citizen to understand how to build an efficient culture and economy when our elected officials don't even get it? My favorite part of this, though, is her statement, 'why not?' Really JoAnn, why not. How about because it doesn't work. If Detroit were to receive a bailout like this, they would be asking for it again next year. Their economy is decimated right now and needs to be fixed from the ground up, through business investment and reduced public spending. With leaders like her, what viable business would want to invest millions and/or billions of dollars into establishing themselves in that jurisdiction?


The irony is, her request isn't much different than representatives and senators allocating federal funds for pork projects to take back home to benefit their core supporters and constituents. This is an attitude and expectation that runs across party lines, unfortunately. This is why I have such a problem with the current Republican party, because so much of our federal spending is on programs that should be managed and paid for at the state and local levels.


I'm just glad someone was brave (or dumb) enough to vocalize it the way she did, so that we can see what is going on with our government spending first-hand. Thanks JoAnn.