Daily update for 02/24/09

President Obama will address the nation tonight in a non-State of the Union address, days after he announced a $75 billion mortgage “rescue” plan and his goal of halving the federal deficit…after having pushed through a massive “stimulus” spending bill.
 
Congressional Democrats are reportedly at odds with one another over the political cost of pushing a union “card check” measure that would eliminate secret ballot voting on unionizing, subjecting workers to the scrutiny and pressure of union bosses.
 
President Obama and his friends in the media elite claim that the $787 stimulus spending bill will create so-called “green jobs.”

Issues in the News

1. ECONOMY

President Obama will address the nation tonight in a non-State of the Union address, days after he announced a $75 billion mortgage “rescue” plan and his goal of halving the federal deficit…after having pushed through a massive “stimulus” spending bill.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: CEI Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on why pork barrel spending is unrelated to economic recovery and what would be better, wealth-creating alternatives:

“Anyway, we’ve called for wealth-creating alternatives to mega-spending packages, and various other reforms; virtually everything in the Anti-Stimulus actually merely stimulates government and political power, and each has a pro-free-enterprise mirror image that would grow the private sector and wealth instead–from irresponsible federal involvement in schools to infrastructure expansion.”

2. LABOR

Congressional Democrats are reportedly at odds with one another over the political cost of pushing a union “card check” measure that would eliminate secret ballot voting on unionizing, subjecting workers to the scrutiny and pressure of union bosses.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Labor Policy Analyst Ivan Osorio on union card check:

“Were federal law to establish card check as union’s chief organizing tactic, Big Labor would find it easier to corral new members who might be reluctant or unwilling, but would no longer enjoy the privacy of the voting booth. So what would their dues money gain these thousands of new union members? An unfolding corruption scandal and a look at the state of union pension funds don’t paint a promising picture.”

3. ENVIRONMENT

President Obama and his friends in the media elite claim that the $787 stimulus spending bill will create so-called “green jobs.”

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray in the DC Examiner (The Green Jobs Scam – and Confusion) on why the Obama administration and other proponents of “green jobs” are far from making their case:

“With the massive $787-billion stimulus bill including provisions to encourage the creation of ‘green jobs,’ Americans deserve an honest appraisal of how such green jobs will work. So far, they aren’t getting it.

“In November 2008, the coal industry generated 155 million megawatt-hours of electricity, while wind generated only 1.3 million megawatt-hours. If wind really does employ more people than coal, it is doing so at a huge cost to American efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness.”

 

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