All Posts Tagged With: "labor unions"
Corruption in Government? Shocking!
It’s funny how the people who push hardest for government intervention in more and more areas are the first to gripe that everything has become politicized. What were they expecting? Did they forget that government is a political institution? Paul Krugman and Chris Matthews, among other Progressives, are apoplectic because two senators of the minority [...]
20Apr2010 | Sheldon Richman | 3 comments | ContinuedHow We’ll Know When We’ve Won
“Are we winning?” That’s a query I hear almost every time I speak to an audience about liberty and the battle of ideas. Everyone wants to know if we should be upbeat or distraught about the course of events, as if the verdict should determine whether or not we continue the fight. Too many friends [...]
19Apr2010 | Lawrence W. Reed | 1 comment | ContinuedObamaCare and Unions
Last November 7, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962, crafted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and whimsically titled the Affordable Health Care for America Act (AHCAA). It was the House’s version of ObamaCare. American labor unions, whether representing government- or private-sector workers, enthusiastically endorsed the measure. Yet most unions have been effective at securing good [...]
24Mar2010 | Charles W. Baird | 1 comment | ContinuedOpaque by Design
“The House and Senate plan to put together the final health care reform bill behind closed doors, according to an agreement by top Democrats.” That less-than-startling piece of news was delivered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi back in January. She was at the White House when she said it, so it looks like it’s okay [...]
24Mar2010 | Sheldon Richman | 1 comment | ContinuedOrganizing and the Organized
Congress permits unions to bargain for workers who do not want such representation, and it compounds this violation of freedom of association by permitting unions to force workers they represent to pay union dues and fees as a condition of continued employment. So-called union security has given rise to a circus of legal disputes which [...]
24Apr2009 | Charles W. Baird | 4 comments | ContinuedOpening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink its Borders and Immigration Law
In recent years there have been numerous highly publicized federal raids against companies that had violated the law by employing illegal aliens. The hapless people were deported and the companies slapped with stiff penalties. Generally, the reaction has been, “Well, it’s about time the government got tough!” For the most part, the strident voices of [...]
22Jan2009 | George C. Leef | 3 comments | ContinuedHow Bad Can it Get?
In August the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) in Washington state released its State of Labor 2008 (the Report), which warns of several perils emanating from the growth of government-sector collective bargaining and offers suggestions for ameliorating them. (The Report is available in PDF here .) I predict these perils will soon be much more severe [...]
20Jan2009 | Charles W. Baird | 1 comment | ContinuedWorker Freedom in Peril
The Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF) recently published its 2007 Index of Worker Freedom (IWF).The index ranks each of the 50 states on the basis of ten variables that affect the freedom of workers. “Freedom” is defined properly as the absence of interferences with individual worker choices. After explaining the ten variables used and identifying [...]
1Oct2008 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | ContinuedFaculty Unions Versus Academic Legitimacy
The faculty at Montana State University in Bozeman will soon vote on whether to unionize. If a majority vote yes, the school will gradually descend into academic mediocrity or worse. The vast majority of unionized faculty in higher education are employed in government colleges and universities. This is because in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court, [...]
1Jun2008 | Charles W. Baird | 2 comments | ContinuedStealing for Union Bosses
Charles Baird is a professor of economics emeritus at California State University at East Bay. H. L. Mencken opined that “Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.” The November 2006 congressional elections are an excellent example of Mencken’s proposition. The attempts by the 110th Congress to steal property and other [...]
1Mar2008 | Charles W. Baird | 1 comment | ContinuedWildfires and State-Worship
Whenever wars or other tragedies rage, so too rage those who worship at the altar of government. In his World War I-era essay, “War Is the Health of the State,” writer Randolph Bourne argued that during peaceful times people concern themselves mostly with their own business, but that during war everything changes. “To most Americans [...]
1Jan2008 | Steven Greenhut | 1 comment | ContinuedBook Reviews – January 2008
- The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care
by David Gratzer Reviewed by Jane M. Orient
- Self-Determination: The Other Path for Native Americans
Edited by Terry L. Anderson, Bruce L. Benson, and Thomas F. Flanagan Reviewed by William L. Anderson, Jr.
- The Wal-Mart Revolution
by Richard Vedder and Wendell Cox Reviewed by George Leef - On the Wealth of Nations
by P.J. O’Rourke Reviewed by Raymond J. Keating
The Fear of Free Trade
It’s hard to think of an issue that is more polarized than the one between free traders and protectionists. Those of us who favor free trade believe in the ethical principle that people should be free to buy from whomever they choose, and in the economic truth that wealth and efficiency increase as prices fall. [...]
1Dec2007 | Mark W. Hendrickson | 1 comment | ContinuedPaycheck Protection: Much Less Than Meets the Eye
On June 14 the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its unanimous verdict in Davenport v. Washington Education Association (WEA) in which the Court upheld the constitutionality of the “paycheck protection” section of a Washington state campaign-finance-regulation initiative adopted in 1992 by 72 percent of the voters. That section required labor unions to get the permission [...]
1Nov2007 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | ContinuedBook Reviews – September 2007
- The Unknown Gulag: The Lost World of Stalin’s Special Settlements
by Lynne Viola Reviewed by Richard M. Ebeling
- In our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State
by Charles Murray Reviewed by Michael Tanner
- Actual Ethics
by James R. Otteson Reviewed by Tibor Machan
- Black Americans and Organized Labor: A New History
by Paul Moreno Reviewed by George C. Leef
1Sep2007 | George C. Leef | 0 comments | Continued
Hayek on Closed Shops and Yellow Dogs
Charles Baird is a professor of economics and the director of the Smith Center for Private Enterprise Studies at California State University at East Bay . In my December 2006 column I discussed some of Hayek’s classical-liberal views on the rule of law and labor unions. In brief, Hayek approved of voluntary unionism based on [...]
1Apr2007 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | ContinuedReason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America
By Robert Reich Reviewed by George C. Leef
1Mar2007 | George C. Leef | 0 comments | Continued-
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