Author: Mark Noonan

Report: Unions Kill Jobs

Mark Noonan29 Comments

From Investors Business Daily:

…The U.S. unemployment rate is 9.1%. In right-to-work states the average is 7.9% — 8.6% adjusted for population.

Between 1977-08, employment grew 100% in right-to-work states vs. the national average of 71% and 56.5% in non-right-to-work states. That’s according to a January study that Ohio University economics professor Richard Vedder did for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

In this period, real per capita income in the right-to-work states grew 62.3% vs. the national average of 54.7% and 52.8% for non-right-to-work states…

If unions would concentrate on actually helping workers, the story would be different.  I would be a backer and member of a union if they were in favor of workers – I’m not because unions are not for me:  they are for, first, the union bosses; second, for the Democrat party; third, for corrupt deals; fourth, for various anti-American, socialist/communist political groups.  There is no place in there for an average, working man who just wants a strong business climate and good wages and benefits.

It is wise and logical for working people to band together to look after their own interests.  But the primary interest of a employee union is in strong economic growth – it is only by such means that the workers gain real leverage over the employers.  When the economy is thundering ahead and labor is in high demand, that is when the workers can hold back and demand higher wages and benefits.  Our unions, however, have decided that economic growth is pointless:  the only thing which matters is keeping the union bosses rich, the Democrats in power and the economy so controlled that non-union companies are essentially forbidden to compete with union companies.  A huge amount of our current economic misery can be directly traced to the unions corruption, political hackery and restraint of trade.

A real union actually for the workers would be calling for less government spending (government spending takes money out of the private economy which could be used to employ workers); for lower taxes (higher taxes on a business means it can employ fewer people); for less government regulation (when you tie up new businesses in regulatory knots it means fewer get started and employ fewer people).  It is to be hoped that the current unions – especially the private-sector unions (the government sector unions are probably beyond redemption) – will wake up to this, or that the membership will wake up and, if necessary, form new unions.  The working man does need his own organization…but the current groups which claim that role are actually harming the working man every day.

 

Sen. Paul Threatens Debt Ceiling Filibuster

Mark Noonan21 Comments

From the Daily Caller:

Tea Party favorite Sen. Rand Paul is planning a filibuster sometime next week to bring the debt ceiling negotiations to the Senate, the Huffington Post is reporting.

“We’ve not had one minute of debate about the debt ceiling in any committee,” the Kentucky Republican told C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” in a Sunday interview. He said after not having a budget or an appropriations bill in two years, he’s “part of the freshmen group in the Senate that’s saying, ‘No more.’”…

What Paul and other TEA Party Senators would really like is to link an increase of the debt ceiling to a balanced budget amendment.  So far, McConnell, the GOP Leader, says that is a non-starter – not enough votes for it.  To which I answer, “yeah, so?”.  Put the pressure on the Democrats for once – it is quite reasonable, and in keeping with American opinion, to demand some really hard and fast fiscal discipline.  In fact, the people are more and more demanding it.  Put it right in Reid’s lap – tell him that you don’t have enough votes to pass an increase unless Reid can round up enough votes for an amendment.

The good news here is that I feel more confident that our side will prevail, in the long run, than ever before.  Usually when we get to these points it is time for the GOP to cave and liberals to get what they want…now, not quite like that.  Unless there is some serious debt reduction, no deal can pass the House.  Naturally, Obama, Reid and the rest of the Democrats are hoping that the old tried and true tactics of allowing the MSM – and its manufactured polling – to stampede the GOP in to going along…but I don’t think it will work this time.  I think that when push comes to shove both TEA Party principal as well as political survival will rule the day:  the GOP will stand firm.

Death of Europe Watch

Mark Noonan6 Comments

From the Telegraph – British government won’t celebrate the bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo:

The Government has decided not to celebrate the anniversary, on June 18th, 2015, for fear of upsetting the French. The Department of Culture has ruled out any official celebration, or a service of thanksgiving in Westminster Abbey.

It’s a pretty lily-livered decision. Would the French really care that much? Do we mind that the Americans celebrate Independence Day today – a commemoration, in part, of our ultimate defeat by American revolutionaries?…

The real notice of the Death of Europe is that Britain has a Department of Culture.  When you’ve got that, it means you have no culture left.  Culture isn’t made by government decree, it is made by people living.  Part of “living” for Europe means a vitally important battle was fought in 1815 which ended forever Napoleon’s dreams of continental domination.  It happened; it was important; it is an integral part of British and European culture…but the Department of Culture essentially says it didn’t happen.  So, no official marking of the date.

As the linked article notes, would the French really care?  Descendants of Confederates and Yankees gather to mark the anniversary of Civil War battles – it is no longer about the hatreds of war, but about honoring brave men, on both sides, who fought well for what they thought was right.  It is part of history – part of what makes us a people.  So, too, Waterloo…it is part of France, it is part of Britain; it is part of Europe.  To not mark the date is to say that the men who fought did so in vain – and, I guess they did.  Europe is dying – I don’t see how they can recover.  They haven’t even the will to learn of themselves.

Welcome to the New Blogs for Victory!

Mark Noonan20 Comments

We appreciate greatly the patience you all have shown during this transition.  The move was made to better ensure us against down time and we look forward to not having as many outages as we had before.

Other than the technical side, we are looking forward to energizing the blog further for the 2012 campaign.  We are inviting more people to write for the blog to better cover all aspects of the conservative/libertarian/TEA Party march to victory in 2012.  Along with new written content, we are planning on doing weekly video updates on the campaign; these should start in the October time frame.

As always, we thank you for your loyal readership and great comments over the years and look forward to continuing it until the last liberal is thrown out of office.

S&P: Greek Bailout is a Default

Mark Noonan3 Comments

Nice of them to mention this after the S&P 500 went on a tear based on the assumption that the Greek bail out avoided a default – at any rate, the Financial Times is reporting that S&P is considering the bail out to be a “selective default”. In other words, it is just a bit of financial chicanery to keep people thinking that all is well as Greeks drops in to complete bankruptcy.

The one thing the Ruling Class doesn’t want is a gigantic financial melt down – not now, not with so many members of the Ruling Class up for re-election in 2012 (it isn’t just about Obama). Something needed to be done last week because if Greece went, it looked as though the whole, global financial system would go with it. That was and remains a correct assumption – if Greece goes, it all goes. But, also, if Spain goes, it all goes; if Portugal goes, it all goes; if Italy goes, it all goes. The problem is, as I’ve said, too much debt – governments owe far more than they can ever repay…and that is even if their people agree to be poor and work very hard for a generation to repay. It still wouldn’t work.

So, a melt down is inevitable – and anyone out there thinking that China can rescue the Euro or that China is an engine of real growth, think again: they, too, teeter on the brink of insolvency and only European and American bonds stand between them and the abyss. Its all good, if those bonds retain their value – if the Eurozone doesn’t have a default and if the United States doesn’t get a bout of inflation making our paper worth less. Not only is the melt down coming, but it is the most healthy, long term thing which can happen. We have to clear out the morass of bad debt, find out what things are really worth and then start to rebuild. The longer we keep up this extend and pretend fiction, the worse it will get.

Save money, get out of debt – and then just watch the show.

More on That “New Tone”

Mark Noonan1 Comment

From NJ.com:

Senate President Stephen Sweeney went to bed furious Thursday night after reviewing the governor’s line-item veto of the state budget.

He woke up Friday morning even angrier.

“This is all about him being a bully and a punk,” he said in an interview Friday.

“I wanted to punch him in his head.”…

Now, in Sweeney’s defense he claims that the Governor didn’t give him what he thinks the Governor agreed to…but it does seem that Christie and the legislative Democrats were supposed to get together to work out a single budge, but the Democrats went and voted on their own, instead. So, Christie just “line-item vetoed” everything he didn’t like. As it turns out, Republican Christie didn’t like a whole raft of things Democrat Sweeney liked – so, there’s the hurt feelings.

But, still, imagine if it were Christie who said he wanted to punch Sweeney in the head? If that had been the case, it would have resulted in a national news frenzy as the whole of the liberal power structure went in to overdrive to force a humiliating apology from Christie. No such thing will happen here – it was a Democrat offering violence, and so that is ok.

In the end, no matter how much Sweeney was offended and no matter who violent he becomes, Christie did the right thing…we GOPers really have to learn that you can’t negotiate with Democrats. It really just doesn’t work – Democrats are only interested in paying off the special interests which bought them at election time, as well as ensuring their own wealth and power. Some GOPers are like that, too, but it is endemic to the Democrat party. It is better to just hammer them down – and if we have the power (and it appears that Christie does), then you just use it to maximum effect. In the long run, this is healthier for the nation because each chip away at the bloated, anti-democratic, un-American, liberal Big Government power structure is another step towards a restored America.

Why America is Different (and Better) Than Other Nations

Mark Noonan2 Comments

Other nation’s have their start lost in the mists of time. Some founded by the merest adventurers, others by conquerors and oppressors; some were just sort of made up by others. The United States is different – voluntarily people removed themselves from their native society and set up a new place where right from the beginning, regular folks would look after their own affairs. It took raw guts to even want to come here – the trip across the Atlantic was fraught with risk, and that was before you even set foot in North America and tried to carve a life out of the wilderness. Only the most stern, disciplined and motivated people would even try…and only the best among them would live. A nation founded by such people was bound to be unique – and better than any other nation out there; and so it has proved.

By the time our Founders gathered in 1776 we were 150 years a people…divided, to be sure; not at all certain as to just what sort of government we should have…but dead set upon the fact that they would rule themselves, or die fighting.

We here in 2011 have lost some of that. We’ve grown a bit fat and soft…and some people who claim the title of American would even fight to defend liberty under any circumstances. But, also, we are regaining some of that. As the forces out to destroy the American ideal advanced, it created a backlash…and now people realize that the precious inheritance is at risk. That we could, indeed, cease to be American and become some sort of besotted, bankrupt, dying copy of disintegrating Europe.

I think we will recover it all – I think we will prove to our Founders that we are worthy descendants. There will be a new birth of American freedom, and we will once again astound the world.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

Mark Noonan1 Comment

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness…

…We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Attacking the Racism of Abortion

Mark Noonan

From Life News:

The National Black Prolife Coalition released a new video today saying that, on the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the nation should recognize babies in the womb as a class of unprotected human beings targeted by abortion. Members of the coalition include Ryan Bomberg of the Radiance Foundation and Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr…

…Life Issues Institute, a nationwide pro-life educational group, is partnering with the National Black Prolife Coalition for the new video.

“The abortion industry kills 1,000 black babies every day in the United States and over 15,000,000 have been killed since 1973,” LII director Brad Mattes says. “That’s more than the entire populations of Los Angeles, Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Washington DC, Oakland, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, and Baltimore combined. In New York City, home of Planned Parenthood, 60% of all black pregnancies are aborted.”…

It must never be forgotten that Planned Parenthood was founded to prevent “inferior” people from breeding too much. A bunch of starry-eyed “Progressives” of the early 20th century looked around, noted the lower white fertility rate as compared to black and went in to a panic…some day there might be enough “inferior” black people to utterly swamp the “superior” Anglo-Saxons. Yes, people seriously believed nonsense like that…taking their cue from the fact that the most powerful nations in the world were Great Britain, Germany and the United States, there was “settled science” that those of northern European ancestry were simply superior to everyone else. You think someone as ignorant as Hitler or the members of the KKK thought that up? Whole libraries of books existed to “prove” that Anglo-Saxons were inherently better…and people like PP founder Sanger took it seriously and set out to do something about it.

15 million black people are not here today because of the efforts of PP and other abortion groups. 15 million. The worst days of the trans-Atlantic slave trade weren’t this costly of black lives!

Abortion is just wrong – wrong like slavery is wrong. It does no good; only evil comes of it…and it is high time we stopped it, and also stopped ignoring the racist nature of “birth control”. Hopefully this ad campaign will start some people thinking and perhaps start a shift away from supporting those politicians and groups who claim to be for black Americans, but who have actually presided over the mass murder of black babies.

Cross Posted: Noonan for Nevada

Obamunism! Consumer Confidence Dips to 2011 Low

Mark Noonan

From Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell another point on Sunday to its lowest of 2011. At 69.8, consumer confidence is down three points from a week ago, down 16 points from a month ago and down nine points from three months ago.

The Consumer Index is now just one-tenth of a point above its lowest level for all of 2010 and 2011….

No surprise – who can feel confident right now? After all, our Democrats are now on the talking point that the renewed recession was deliberately created by the GOP…showing that they haven’t got a clue what to do.

It will get worse before it gets better – but it will get better. Mostly likely after January 20th, 2013.