by James Bovard
Since Barack Obama took office, the National Labor Relations Board
has become a hotbed of controversy. Republicans charge that the NLRB is
brazenly favoring unions and thwarting corporations on one bogus
pretext after another. Unfortunately, those controversies are simply the
latest chapter in a long history of federal subversion of freedom of
contract.
Prior to the 1930s, courts and legislatures generally refused to recognize that individual workers’ right to make their own contracts could be nullified by the demands of groups of other workers. Massachusetts judge Frederick Arnold ruled in 1912, “To enforce a collective contract would be to deny the individual’s liberty to make his own contract.” Judges at that time recognized and respected voluntary collective bargaining contracts but not collective bargaining contracts that prohibited other workers from making their own contracts. Since the essence of a contract is voluntary consent by every party to the agreement, a collective bargaining agreement could not forcibly impose contract terms on workers who did not support the agreement.
Prior to the 1930s, courts and legislatures generally refused to recognize that individual workers’ right to make their own contracts could be nullified by the demands of groups of other workers. Massachusetts judge Frederick Arnold ruled in 1912, “To enforce a collective contract would be to deny the individual’s liberty to make his own contract.” Judges at that time recognized and respected voluntary collective bargaining contracts but not collective bargaining contracts that prohibited other workers from making their own contracts. Since the essence of a contract is voluntary consent by every party to the agreement, a collective bargaining agreement could not forcibly impose contract terms on workers who did not support the agreement.
America’s Empire of Bases Gets More Expensive
America’s Empire of Bases Gets More Expensive
John Glaser
Most dramatically, in 2009, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev of Kyrgyzstan, host to the Manas Transit Center, initiated a bidding war between the United States and Russia by threatening to close the base. He extracted hundreds of millions of dollars from both sides, in the form of a Russian assistance package and a renewed lease at a higher rent with the United States. Since 2008, the United States also has paid transit fees, about $500 million annually, to the Uzbek and other Central Asian governments to ship equipment bound for Afghanistan through the Northern Distribution Network.
Romney the Businessman?
Romney the Businessman?
Mitt Romney has focused his run for the presidency on the superior skills he developed as a successful businessman, asserting that he alone has the knowledge, the experience, and the personal grit needed to repair the U.S. economy. Let us accept for a moment that Romney’s preferred narrative is true, i.e., that he actually was a respectable and honorable businessman, not just a predatory capitalist who bought up failing companies so he could enrich himself by stripping them of their assets and putting their employees out of work. If Mitt is the real thing, one should expect a president who will be a careful and cautious manager, making rational decisions based on available information, because whether businesses succeed or fail frequently depends on making the right judgments at the right time. Government admittedly provides services that do not exactly fit into a normal business model, but there nevertheless exists a broad consensus that a rational process should prevail that confers benefits on most of the citizens most of the time. As the dissatisfaction of most Americans with the status quo derives from the belief that the federal government is reckless and unresponsive and does not actually address the needs of the people, Romney’s claim that he can right what is wrong in the economy provides a compelling reason to vote for him.
Grover Norquist Takes On the War Party
Grover Norquist Takes On the War Party
Conservative leader attacks Romney-Ryan for refusing to cut the military budget
Grover Norquist is a bit of a punching bag for both the Hollywood-DC left and the neoconservative right. On the left, he’s often held up as an example of everything that’s supposedly wrong with the conservative movement and the GOP: his “no tax hike” pledge is excoriated by the Huffingtonpost-MSNBC-TPM axis of Obamaism as typical of “know-nothing” conservatism. On the neocon right, he’s viciously attacked as an “Islamist,” a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood far more dangerous than, say, Huma Abedin — in part because he’s an influential conservative married to an
The man with the plan
The man with the plan
Mitt Romney’s choice for vice-president is risky for him, but good for America
The economy. No miracle cure
The economy
No miracle cure
Bucking up this recovery is harder than it was in the past
WASHINGTON, DC
IF THERE is a theme to the American presidential campaign, it
may be: “Imagine the alternative”. President Barack Obama’s campaign
will argue that his actions prevented an economic catastrophe. Mitt
Romney, by contrast, will claim that Mr Obama’s missteps frustrated the
strong recovery that should have followed so deep a downturn. America,
Mr Romney recently claimed, “should be seeing 200-, 300-, 400,000 jobs
[added] a month to regain much of what has been lost. That is what
normally happens after a recession, but under this president we have not
seen that kind of pattern.”
Growth has clearly been tepid. The American economy managed just 1.5%
annualised GDP growth in the second quarter, down from 2% growth at the
start of the year. Hiring is merely creeping along. On August 3rd the
Labour Department estimated that American employers added 163,000 jobs
in July, better than the 73,000 monthly average in the second quarter
but slower than the promising pace earlier in the year, when firms added
more than 225,000 jobs a month.
The euro
The euro
Tempted, Angela?
A controlled break-up of the euro would be hugely risky and expensive. So is waiting for a solution to turn up
But for this very practical woman there is also a practical reason to start contingency planning for a break-up: it is looking ever more likely. Greece is buckling (see article). Much of southern Europe is also in pain, while the northern creditor countries are becoming ever less forgiving: in a recent poll a narrow majority of Germans favoured bringing back the Deutschmark. A chaotic disintegration would be a calamity. Even as Mrs Merkel struggles to find a solution, her aides are surely also sensibly drawing up a plan to prepare for the worst.
Paul Ryan's Randianism
Democracy in America
American politics
Paul Ryan's Randianism
Is Paul Ryan a hypocrite?
by W.W. | HOUSTON
DUNCAN BLACK, blogging as Atrios, spies hypocrisy in Paul Ryan's bio:
survivor benefits received after the death of his father, Ms Walsh writes:
Public high school.Mr Ryan, you see, has admitted to a fondness for Ayn Rand, the author of the modern classics "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged", books loved and loathed in equal measure. Joan Walsh makes a point similar to Mr Black's in a Salon piece that dubs Mr Ryan a "Randian poseur" in its headline. After noting that Mr Ryan in part paid for his out-of state tuition at an Ohio public university with Social Security
Public university.
Worked for family business.
Congressional staffer, with service jobs for additional money.
Speechwriter for Jack Kemp.
Staffer for Sam Brownback.
Member of Congress.
Capitalism, just as [Ayn] Rand envisioned.
Standard Chartered and Iran
Schumpeter
Business and management
Standard Chartered and Iran
Hush money
by T.E. | NEW YORK
IT COULD have been disastrous. Standard Chartered was facing a hearing before New York state’s Department of Financial Services
(DFS) on August 15th that would have certainly aired embarrassing
information. Instead it will be expensive. The bank has acceded to a
fast settlement of the charges that it had illicitly processed $250
billion in transactions with Iran, paying $340m in civil penalties and
agreeing to various other provisions.
As a result of the deal, the bank's management is temporarily off the hook for personal liability. Just as important, they will not have to defend the bank's actions before the regulator. The agreement also appears to cap potential penalties which, in theory, could have included losing a critical license to operate in America and thus provide its vast emerging-markets network with cross-border dollar transactions.
As a result of the deal, the bank's management is temporarily off the hook for personal liability. Just as important, they will not have to defend the bank's actions before the regulator. The agreement also appears to cap potential penalties which, in theory, could have included losing a critical license to operate in America and thus provide its vast emerging-markets network with cross-border dollar transactions.
A moment of truth for Dilma
Brazil
A moment of truth for Dilma
The president needs to do more to tackle the “Brazil cost”
Ben Bernanke Could Lose for Same Reason as Olympic Sailor
Illustration by A. Babar
The rest of us can’t see what charts Ainslie follows or precisely what he does. We can’t even see him perform unless a TV camera uses the correct high-powered lens. But we know Ainslie knows which maps to use, and how to read them, even if he has a challenge ahead to win his fourth career gold medal.
If Only Conservatives Were More Like Libertarians
Have you ever wondered why
conservatives are so opposed to government interference in the
marketplace yet so tolerant, even welcoming, of its role in our
personal lives? You could say the same about liberals, whose
preferences for government involvement run in the opposite
direction.
Either way, it strikes me as inconsistent. If you believe in the principle of live-and-let-live, it shouldapply to all
aspects of your life. When the Wall Street Journal’s
conservative editorial page invokes “free markets, free
people,” I always wonder, what happened to the free-people
part?
Either way, it strikes me as inconsistent. If you believe in the principle of live-and-let-live, it should
Paul Ryan’s Democratic Fan Club
If Barack Obama’s campaign officials
were happy over the weekend about Mitt Romney’s selection of
Paul Ryan as his running mate, they’re ecstatic now.
The Obama camp is guarding against overconfidence and still betting the U.S. presidential race will be close. But aides traveling with Obama pointed with glee to headlines from Florida, Iowa and elsewhere that lash the Republican ticket to Ryan’s plan for deep cuts in Medicare, the nation’s most popularsocial program after Social Security.
The Obama camp is guarding against overconfidence and still betting the U.S. presidential race will be close. But aides traveling with Obama pointed with glee to headlines from Florida, Iowa and elsewhere that lash the Republican ticket to Ryan’s plan for deep cuts in Medicare, the nation’s most popular
How Obama Created the Greatest Threat to His Presidency
By Ezra Klein
It’s hard to remember now, but there was a time, not long ago, when Ryan was no better known than Democrat John Spratt of South Carolina, his predecessor as chairman of the House Budget Committee. And the Republican Party’s leadership was eager to keep it that way.
November’s unenviable choices
November’s unenviable choices
Both candidates bad on spending
We
are in terrible straits this presidential election. We have a choice
between a president who has posed more of a danger to personal freedom
than any in the past 150 years and a Republican team that wants to
return to Bush-style big government.
President Barack Obama has begun to show his hand at private fundraisers and in unscripted comments during his campaign. The essence of his revelations is dark. His vision of a shared prosperity should frighten everyone who believes in freedom because it is obvious that the president doesn’t. He believes the federal government somehow possesses power from some source other than the Constitution that enables it to take from the rich and give to the poor. He calls this “a new vision of an America in which prosperity is shared,” and he declared, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
President Barack Obama has begun to show his hand at private fundraisers and in unscripted comments during his campaign. The essence of his revelations is dark. His vision of a shared prosperity should frighten everyone who believes in freedom because it is obvious that the president doesn’t. He believes the federal government somehow possesses power from some source other than the Constitution that enables it to take from the rich and give to the poor. He calls this “a new vision of an America in which prosperity is shared,” and he declared, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
Europe in limbo
Europe in limbo
Germany balks, Greece teeters while Canada offers answers
Limbo does exist because Greece
is stuck in it. The Greek economy is shrinking for the fifth year in a
row, and no savior is in sight to pull it out. Unless Athens pursues
serious internal reform, the country won’t be able to stay in the
eurozone or renew economic growth.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for another bailout, but 54 percent of the German electorate is against throwing more money into Greece or taking on debt to provide more bailouts. She is likely to find an equally cool reception this week in Canada, where Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty refuse to contribute to further handouts engineered by the International Monetary Fund.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for another bailout, but 54 percent of the German electorate is against throwing more money into Greece or taking on debt to provide more bailouts. She is likely to find an equally cool reception this week in Canada, where Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty refuse to contribute to further handouts engineered by the International Monetary Fund.
Iran admits giving WMDs to terrorists
Iran admits giving WMDs to terrorists
Rogue state threatens Israel over Syria
Israel will be obliterated by chemical, microbial and nuclear bombs, Iran is warning, but those weapons of mass destruction will be used first on Tel Aviv by Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad at the start of a decades-old Muslim dream of destroying the Jewish state.
An alarming commentary last week in Mashregh, the media outlet of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, confirmed that the Islamic regime not only has WMDs but has armed its terrorist proxies with them. Mashregh speaks for the regime.
An alarming commentary last week in Mashregh, the media outlet of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, confirmed that the Islamic regime not only has WMDs but has armed its terrorist proxies with them. Mashregh speaks for the regime.
Helen Gurley Brown’s pernicious legacy
Helen Gurley Brown’s pernicious legacy
Working girl who worked the system
Helen Gurley Brown, former editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, passed away this week, but her toxic legacy for the American woman lives on.
To put it kindly, she lived a life focused on getting what she wanted by working the system. She was the embodiment of the worst female stereotype as a master manipulator. Her whole life was a stunning example of how the “me” generation flourished. Everything that Gurley Brown wrote in her extraordinarily prolific career as a celebrity author, glamorous New York personality and three-decade editor of Cosmopolitan promoted the idea that women have to look out for themselves, make their own rules and work the system in order to get ahead.
And work the system she did.
To put it kindly, she lived a life focused on getting what she wanted by working the system. She was the embodiment of the worst female stereotype as a master manipulator. Her whole life was a stunning example of how the “me” generation flourished. Everything that Gurley Brown wrote in her extraordinarily prolific career as a celebrity author, glamorous New York personality and three-decade editor of Cosmopolitan promoted the idea that women have to look out for themselves, make their own rules and work the system in order to get ahead.
And work the system she did.
Afghan attacks on allies alarm departing nations
By Ashish Kumar Sen and Rowan Scarborough
Western nations preparing to withdraw from combat in Afghanistan increasingly are alarmed by Afghan security forces turning their weapons on allied troops, attacks that the Taliban claim as proof of their sway over local troops.
Five such attacks have occurred in the past week — the deadliest on Friday, when six U.S. troops were killed by Afghan security personnel in two separate incidents.
The so-called green-on-blue attacks have heightened tensions and frayed nerves among coalition troops as international forces aim to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Tax on God
Tax on God
D.C. wants to bilk companies that use parks
It took God six days to create the earth, but it took only one vote for the District to charge you for using it. Mayor Vincent C. Gray
proposed taxing people who use public parks for things like popular
boot camps, tennis lessons or baseball camp. While the city’s leaders
are always thinking of creative ways to bilk residents, charging for use
of the air and earth has taken things too far.
Obama’s fuel follies
Obama’s fuel follies
‘We can’t wait’ for cheaper gas, Mr. President
Don’t
look now, but gas prices are beginning to bite hard again. That’s bad
news for President Obama, who, until now, might have thought he had
gotten lucky when prices dropped earlier in this critical election year.
As the energy issue makes the campaign trail bumpier, Mr. Obama has no
one to blame but himself.
The average price of a gallon of gas at the pump has jumped to $3.70, more than 30 cents higher than just six weeks ago. This means the cost has climbed more than halfway back to its high for the year, which was $3.94 in April. Market analysts point the finger at a host of factors for the rapid escalation, including fears of conflict with Iran, summer-driving-season increases, a better-than-expected July jobs report that boosted oil futures and, most recently, a California refinery fire that could reduce West Coast gas supplies by nearly 10 percent. Some gas stations in the Los Angeles area already are selling fuel at $4.50 a gallon.
The average price of a gallon of gas at the pump has jumped to $3.70, more than 30 cents higher than just six weeks ago. This means the cost has climbed more than halfway back to its high for the year, which was $3.94 in April. Market analysts point the finger at a host of factors for the rapid escalation, including fears of conflict with Iran, summer-driving-season increases, a better-than-expected July jobs report that boosted oil futures and, most recently, a California refinery fire that could reduce West Coast gas supplies by nearly 10 percent. Some gas stations in the Los Angeles area already are selling fuel at $4.50 a gallon.
Ecuador grants Assange asylum; UK vows to ‘carry out’ extradition anyway
Ecuador grants Assange asylum; UK vows to ‘carry out’ extradition anyway
(AP)"We have decided to grant political asylum to him," Ricardo Patino said at the end of a long televised statement from the Ecuadorean capital of Quito, where he criticized the U.S. and U.K. governments for failing to protect Assange from political persecution.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Rove: The GOP's Medicare Advantage
Rove: The GOP's Medicare Advantage
Democrats have long had an issue edge on Medicare. Republicans cowered in fear. Here's why it's different in 2012.
By KARL ROVE
Predictably, Democrats went after Mitt Romney's new running mate immediately, describing Paul Ryan as a "certifiable right-wing ideologue" whose views are "extreme" and "radical." They focused on Medicare, warning that Republicans "would end Medicare as we know it," making it "a voucher system" that costs seniors "thousands of dollars in health care costs."Some Republican hand-wringers moaned. They failed to consider that Democrats were going to level these charges no matter whom Mr. Romney picked as his running mate. And they ignored the ammunition the party has to turn the issue against Democrats.
What If Public Schools Were Abolished?
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.
The Apocalyptic Vision of The Road
by Ben O'Neill
These are questions that economists and political philosophers have considered throughout the history of economic thought. If you have ever enquired into the differences between capitalism and socialism you will have heard of the means of production, and you will be aware that this is very important to the organization of society. You might have heard of this, but you might not have spent much thought on the relationship between capital and moral order. Indeed, why should ordinary people care about such things? Isn't the means of production just something that one reads about between bong hits in the dorm rooms at university? Or is it perhaps something that is the
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