Last March, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint against Boeing for its decision to set up a non-unionized production line in South Carolina. The complaint alleges that Boeing is locating a second production line in that state to retaliate against striking union workers in Washington State.
Since 1989, there have been four strikes at Boeing’s Washington facility. The last strike lasted eight weeks and cost the firm $2 billion.
In 2009, Boeing invested $1 billion in a new factory in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, and hired 1,000 local workers. Had Boeing then laid off 1,000 workers in Washington State, the NLRB might have had a case.
However, Boeing actually increased its Washington workforce by 2,000. Continue reading →
Change in Total Private Employment (in thousands), Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Update: Click here for the most recent jobs statistics.
I posted an article last month that compared the unemployment rate under President George W. Bush with the unemployment rate under President Obama at that time. I felt compelled to publish this article because some left-leaning sites were comparing Obama’s first two years and four months in office with Bush’s last and worst economic year (the above chart shows the most recent incarnation of this narrative).
In light of yesterday’s jobs numbers and the fact that both liberals and conservatives have been using my charts in flame wars, I decided to continue the tradition and post an update. Continue reading →
Yesterday, Mitt Romney officially declared his candidacy for President of the United States.
Because the Republican Party has traditionally supported the candidate it presumes has “paid the most dues”, it is likely that Romney will secure the Republican nomination.
On the one hand, Romney has some attractive qualities. For one, he looks Presidential. He also has decades of experience turning around businesses. For an economy with 9.0% unemployment, this expertise will be a valuable asset in the general election.
On the other hand, Romneycare has been a complete disaster. After the program’s implementation, healthcare costs now consume more than 30% of Massachusetts’ budget. Romney also has a well-earned reputation as a flip-flopper, which he will likely find hard to shake in the general election.
I would wish Romney luck if I thought it might help. But I don’t.
Nearly two weeks ago, I tried a brief experiment to test Eli Pariser’s contention from his recent book, that Google’s use of 57 signals to personalize someone’s search results leads to a filter bubble.
I also promised to include a second post with more results from readers. Below are their screenshots along with those posted on Saturday.
I also included some shameless plugs for their blogs.
Understanding the news cycle is critical for any blogger because potential readers are more likely to come to a blogger’s site if it offers content on a hot topic. As such, an important part of your blogging strategy should focus on generating content relevant to a trending news topic.
I discovered another fun application on the Pew Research Center website last week that is very similar to the Political Compass. The application administers a brief test that asks users a host of political questions. It then classifies them in one of 9 categories. Here are my results:
Source: Pew Research Center
I encourage folks to take this test and post the results on this site.
The cross-currents of individual lives can be interesting things. Through time we each follow our own paths. On occasion, these paths intersect unexpectedly with those of greater men and women.
During my life, my path crossed several times with one of my generation’s finest.
I met Jay in high school. He was a serious, quiet, and determined person. He was also one heck of an athlete, leading my high school soccer team to the State Championship as its all-star goalie.
Opting for a more serious life dedicated to service, Jay applied for and received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
After we graduated from high school, I never considered that my path might cross with Jay again during my military career.
But alas, the military community is a small one.
When Jay arrived at the National Training Center, I was happy to see him again.
Life has a funny way of timing things. Coincidentally, our daughters were born a day and one room apart in the same hospital ward.
During my last year of military service in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, I was thrilled to learn that Jay would command Echo Troop, Alpha Troop’s sister company, where I had served as an executive officer.
I knew the soldiers of Echo Troop well. At the National Training Center Alpha and Echo Troop served together every month as a Soviet-style Motorized Rifle Battalion. We ate together and we trained together.
Before leaving the high Mojave desert forever, I came to see Jay one last time to make sure he knew what great soldiers he would command.
It was the last time I would ever speak to him.
Twenty months later, while sitting in the comfort of a business school classroom in Massachusetts, I learned that Jay would not be returning home to his family.
Exemplifying the principle of leadership by example, Jay was personally inspecting a vehicle at a traffic control point in Iraq when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated.
He died on April 29, 2005.
Jay was a quiet and serious officer who cared deeply about his soldiers and his country. His integrity, loyalty and selfless service were impeccable. He made the ultimate sacrifice so that others may live in freedom and for that we all owe him a great debt.
Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) possesses evidence that the Iranians worked on nuclear triggering technology.
This technology has only one purpose: to set off a nuclear weapon.
More importantly, the inspectors concluded that Iran has started recovering from the Stuxnet cyber worm that infected its nuclear program two years ago. The country is now producing “low-enriched uranium at rates slightly exceeding what it produced before” the attack.
The IAEA also has evidence that Iran conducted “studies involving the removal of the conventional high explosive payload from the warhead of the Shahab-3 missile and replac[ing] it with a spherical nuclear payload.”
Now Western intelligence estimates Iran is at least a year, and most likely, several years away from assembling a nuclear weapon.
With American forces drawing down in Iraq, the United States is in a much better strategic position to deny Iran nuclear capability. Furthermore, there is widespread Arab support for a strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, especially among the Gulf Arabs.
Additionally, the Israelis will likely continue to push for military action on the basis that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose an existential threat to Israel.
Whether it is the right policy or not, I fear that the conditions are ripe for action against Iran in the next several years.
Earlier this week, liberal radio show host and MSNBC pundit Ed Schultz called right-wing darling Laura Ingraham a slut on his radio program.
Above is his apology followed by his original on-air comments.
The contrite groveling to which Schultz must subject himself seems a bit much, but I guess it is par for the course in an overly politically sensitive environment. Continue reading →
Reflections of a Rational Republican 