QUOTE OF THE DAY
Detroit Free Press: Michigan lawmakers fast-track right-to-work legislation during chaotic day at the Capitol
Michigan, considered the birthplace of the American organized labor movement, was on a fast track to becoming the nation’s 24th right-to-work state late today after the state House and Senate passed bills as part of a package to pass the law.
Labor and Democrats were pushing back hard against the Workplace Fairness and Equity Act, but the efforts seemed futile as the controversial measures moved like greased lightning — and without going through committees or public debate — and could land on Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk by next week.
AEI: 10 charts showing America’s stunning entitlements explosion
AEI scholar Nick Eberstadt’s latest book, A Nation of Takers, provides a sobering analysis of the entitlements explosion and its effect on the American economy and culture.
It’s a reminder that without significant, Reagan-style growth and/or massive spending cuts, our entitlement system threatens to sink the American economy.
WSJ: Sen. Jim DeMint to head Heritage Foundation
South Carolina U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will replace Ed Feulner as president of the Heritage Foundation. Mr. DeMint will leave his post as South Carolina's junior senator in early January to take control of the Washington think tank, which has an annual budget of about $80 million.
Points and Figures: Some Reasons Jobs Go To China
Some people think the answer to economic difficulties is simply take all the jobs from outside the US and force them to come here. They say things like, “Apple should bring all those jobs back from China.”. I recall after the US NAFTA agreement with Mexico, Ross Perot saying, “there is a giant sucking sound” of American jobs to Mexico.
Individually, one could point to an isolated plant that moved from an American state to Mexico and the loss of jobs. But in sum, more total jobs were created in the US than existed before. Free trade lifts all boats.
Zero Hedge: 540,000 people dropped from US labor force
Confused why the unemployment rate dropped? The same, favorite BLS
adjustment - a drop in the labor force participation rate which declined
by 0.2% to 63.6% once again, as the number of people out of the labor increased by over 540K to 88,883,000.
Free Beacon: Judge Set to Rule on Case that Could Reverse Auto Bailout
A New York federal judge may rule imminently on a case that could reverse the General Motors (GM) bailout and send the company back into bankruptcy, according to sources close to the case.
At issue is a backroom deal hatched by GM to fulfill the Obama administration’s demand for a quick bankruptcy, draining the automaker of nearly all of its cash on hand and leaving it in worse shape than it was when it collapsed in 2009.
Real Clear Politics: Rand Paul, We Should Let Dems Raise Taxes And Then Let Them Own It
SEN. RAND PAUL: I have yet another thought on how we can fix this. Why don't we let the Democrats pass whatever they want? If they are the party of higher taxes, all the Republicans vote present and let the Democrats raise taxes as high as they want to raise them, let Democrats in the Senate raise taxes, let the president sign it and then make them own the tax increase. And when the economy stalls, when the economy sputters, when people lose their jobs, they know which party to blame, the party of high taxes. Let's don't be the party of just almost as high taxes.
WSJ: The Opening for a Fresh ObamaCare Challenge
ObamaCare is being implemented, having been upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court in June in a series of cases now known as National Federation of Independent Business v. HHS. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that the court took a law that was flawed but potentially workable and transformed it into one that is almost certainly unworkable. More important, the justices also may have created new and fatal constitutional problems.
