July 2012

Right to Work States Are Great Places to Retire — And to Raise a Family

10 Worst-Rated States for Retirement – AARP Best and Worst States for Retirement 2011 – Money Rates Recently, Institute Executive Vice President and Treasurer Mark Mix called to my attention a short article that was posted on the web site of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) a few months ago. Citing research by MoneyRates.com, the AARP…

‘Shroom Producers Get 1st Amendment Rights, not U.S. employees

First Amendment Equally Protects Rights of Independent-Minded Workers, Business Owners Dissenting Workers Should Be Free to Refuse to Bankroll ‘Messages . . . Favored by a Majority’ (Download Fact Sheet) Last month, in hismajorityopinion inKnox v. Service Employees International Union Local 1000, U.S. Supreme Court Justice SamAlitoobserved that, invirtuallyall casesconcerningprivate organizations other than labor unions,…

‘Expect Firms Both American and Foreign to Look to Open Plants’ in Right to Work States

Jobs coming home http://bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=70&step=1&isuri=1&acrdn=1 If you relied on Capitol Hill politicians and union officials for all your information on manufacturing in the U.S., you might well believe it has been rapidly disappearing in recent years. But data from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis tell a very different story. They show that,…

Union Violence, Then and Now

“The Right to Work”, by Ray Stannard Baker, McClure’s Magazine … Limitations on violence under law tested anew … – The Buffalo News Last week a Bloomberg commentary by Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, a history professor at Loyola University Chicago, steered curious readers to a gripping piece of journalism that is over a century old. The issues raised…

Tennessee’s Right to Work Law Makes it a Good Bet for Business

Bill Hagarty writes about Tennessee’s Right to Work and other freedoms for both workers and businesses has boosted its place in the global market, as well as being the eighth state in recent job growth. Other states should sit up and take notice. Tennessee as a state benefits from having one of the lowest debt…

Fight Over the Future of Government Unions ‘May Be the Most Important Political Battle’ in the U.S. Today

Public Unions: The Largest Political Machine– Walter Russell Mead, TAI The perceptive public-policy and political commentator Walter Russell Mead has many good insights in a post today (linked above) for his blog on the American Interest web site. After recapping and analyzing a Wall Street Journal news story that documents the extraordinarily wide range of…

Mike Antonucci Looks at Membership Numbers After Officials “. . .Tried Every Tactic Imaginable”

Mike Antonucci Looks at Membership Numbers After Officials “. . .Tried Every Tactic Imaginable” NEA hada total of 3,166,761 members of all types, of whom 2,807,332 were active and employed in the public school system. Be aware that these are individual souls, not full-time equivalents. Forty-four state affiliates lost active members in 2010-11. The following…

Larry Sand: The Nation’s Biggest Union Finds Itself in a Big Hole and Keeps Digging

With his impeccable insight, Larry Sand has tied up the problems with the NEA into a neat little package. He references two of the most notable names in education reform scene today, Terry Moe and Mike Antonucci. While Terry Moe’s book, Special Interest, predicts an earthquake which will completely change the fact of education reform,…

Labor Emancipation No Imposition on States’ Rights

FACT SHEET July 6, 2012 ‘Freedom Rests on Choice, and Where Choice Is Denied Freedom Is Destroyed as Well’ (Download .pdf file click here) S.2173 and H.R.2040, the National Right to Work Act, would not add a single word to federal labor law. This legislation would simply repeal all sections of the National Labor Relations…

The Best Government Money Can Buy – The Top Union-Paid Politicians

Did you ever wonder where your taxpayer money goes, what union bosses do with all the forced dues they demand? US Action News examines public and private sector union political spending and the politicians who underwrite union power.