Jobs

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Liberal Arizona Republic columnist says Medicare exists because of LBJ’s “courage”

Writing in The Arizona Republic, liberal columnist Linda Valdez took the occasion of Medicare’s 50th anniversary to laud the “courage” of Lyndon Johnson, for signing it into law.

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President Johnson signed the Medicare Bill in Independence, Missouri in 1965 and gave the first signing pen to former President Harry Truman. (lbjlibrary.org)

Of course, she failed to mention that when he signed the Medicare bill in 1965, the initial cost was $3 billion, and it was estimated that the cost would increase to just $12 billion in 1990. Actually, it grew to $110 billion by 1990. Last year the cost went up to $511 billion. And a funding crisis looms.

We have spent some $15 trillion on LBJ’s war on poverty, however, 46 million people live in poverty today, and another 20 million live on less than half of the poverty level. His prediction of “victory of prosperity over poverty” is long forgotten. Continue reading →

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Finally, teachers are saying “no” to the NEA

rebecca frederichs (reason.com)

Orange County California teacher Rebecca Friedrichs’ name appears in the case to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. (reason.com)

Word that the Supreme Court will hear Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association in October was welcome news to this writer. For years I have been writing op-eds and letters to editors about the use of union dues to fund political candidates and issues. It amounts to political extortion.

In a piece I wrote four years ago, “Teachers Unite,” I included the following quote from a farewell speech given by National Education Association (NEA) retiring general counsel Bob Chanin. In view of the renewed effort by California teachers, it needs to be reprinted here.

Posing the question as to why the NEA has been such an effective organization, Chanin said,

“It is not because of creative ideas, it is not because of the merit of our position, it is not because we care about children, it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. The NEA and its affiliates are effective because we have power and we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year because they believe we are the union that can most effectively represent them, the union that can protect their rights and advance their interests as education employees.”

At the conclusion of his speech, I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach as teachers in the audience wildly applauded. You can see the speech by clicking here. Continue reading →

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Myth of no equal pay for women debunked

We have laws on the books to cover illegal immigration, the registration of guns, the use of marijuana and any number of issues of the day, but the government chooses not to enforce them, unless it suits them.

Now Hillary Clinton is picking up the Obama mantra that we need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. She blames its failure on Republicans who do not support equal pay for equal work for women. Not true. It’s just that Republicans recognize that equal pay for women has been the law of the land for more than a half-century.

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Typical of the low-information crowd, Patricia Arquette perpetuated the myth and needed a script at the Oscars to say, “It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.” (usmagazine.com)

While Democrats continue to support the myth that women earn just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, since 1963 it has been unlawful for an employer to pay a female less than a male employee for equal work. In addition, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits sex discrimination in wages. And, workers employed by a government contractor or subcontractor, like Boeing, are covered by Executive Order 11,246, which prohibits gender-based pay discrimination.

In addition, 46 states also have antidiscrimination laws mandating equal pay for equal work. Continue reading →

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The myth of the disappearing middle class

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the disappearing middle class, primarily in campaign speeches by candidates for president.

Hillary Clinton has begun using the term “everyday Americans,” most likely because she doesn’t want to spell out who she classifies as middle class. She’s not alone. Most candidates do not want to define how they determine middle class income because it depends on so many factors, and you can be thought of as “out of touch” if you float an income range as middle class.

Middle-Class(last resistancer.com)

Cartoon courtesy of lastresistance.com

Determining whether you are middle class comes down to self-identity. “The middle class label is as much about aspirations among Americans as it is about economics,” wrote Patricia Cohen, “but a perspective that was once characterized by comfort and optimism has increasingly been overlaid with stress and anxiety.” Continue reading →

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Hillary aims economic message at low-information crowd with renewed attack on business

It was vintage Hillary as she unveiled her “Growth and Fairness Economy” at New York’s progressive New School this week.

It was all there, designed to trigger further animosity toward business. The economy is stacked in favor of those at the top …. high corporate profits and CEO salaries … inequality … wage stagnation. And it’s those “mean-spirited” Republicans that are to blame.

images (business insider.com)

Hillary Clinton chose New York’s progressive New School as the venue to deliver her vision for the economy. (businessinsider.com)

Her message is directed at the low-information crowd, who like hearing someone attack “those greedy CEO’s,” who they believe are responsible for their lot in life. This is how she intends to be their “champion.”

It’s unfortunate that the average worker has little or no idea what makes the economy tick. Take the subject of profit, for instance. In numerous polls over the past five decades, people have been asked, “Just a rough guess, what percent profit on each dollar of sales do you think the average company makes after taxes?”

The average response in the most recent poll was 36 percent! Believe it. The average profit margin is just 6.5 to 7.5 percent. Continue reading →

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Kasich for president in 2016

What!  Has Kramer lost his mind … his conservative credentials?

No, but tell me which of the twenty odd Republican candidates out there is a true conservative?  None of them.  And none of them are going to get elected repeating what they’ve told us so far.

Kasich (newsmax.com)

Is Ohio Governor John Kasich the Republican presidential contender everyone’s overlooking? (newsmax.com)

You’re right.  John Kasich hasn’t even declared he’s in the race, and neither has Scott Walker, Jeb Bush and a few others.

I have been giving this piece some thought over the past month, and when I saw he took the tenth spot in the latest Quinnipiac University national poll and heard that his announcement could come on June 30, I figured now is as good of a time as ever.  An April Quinnipiac poll revealed Kasich has a 61 per cent approval rating compared to a 29 per cent disapproval.

I’ve personally been impressed with Kasich since 1998 when I heard him give a campaign speech in support of another candidate in Phoenix.  There was something about him I liked.  He stood there with his shirt sleeves rolled up and no tie.  No microphone.  His message was straight-forward without clichés.  Down to earth and believable. Continue reading →

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Hillary to continue dividing the nation

“ … the deck is still stacked in favor of those already at the top.  And there’s something wrong with that. There’s something wrong when CEOs make 300 times more than the typical worker.” – Hillary Clinton

While the latest news of corruption from the Clinton crime family is sorted out, and we are again told there’s no shred of evidence, let’s return to Hillary’s initial campaign charges in the above quote.… read more

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Did you hear the one about no scandals in the Obama White House?

   “I’m proud of the fact that basically you’ve had an administration that’s been in place for six years in which there hasn’t been a major scandal … and I think that says a lot about the ethical strictures of this administration.” – David Axelrod, former advisor to President Obama

Those were the words of Axelrod during a session at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. … read more

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A study to tell us what we already knew

Over the past few years, I have written extensively about my belief that extending the unemployment payments was a disincentive to work.  People who took advantage of the multiple extensions became the subject of pieces appearing in newspaper and magazines and television news.

“Too many Americans took advantage of a system that was meant to be a temporary cushion, and stopped looking for work as long as the free ride continued,” I wrote in my Nov.… read more