Blog
RIP Prince Roy of Sealand, Seasteading Pioneer
For as long as there have been states, there have been people seeking to escape state authority. Throughout most of history, such escape has meant…
Blog
State Pension Bailout Threat
The state pension underfunding crisis has grown so severe that it has prompted most U.S. states to cut benefits, according to calculations by The…
Op-Eds
Best Practices for Reforming State Employee Pensions
Full Document Available in PDF Summary: Bloated pensions and retirement benefits for unionized government employees threaten the finances of states and localities…
Blog
California Pension Reform Plan A Step In The Right Direction But Not Enough
California Governor Jerry Brown (D) yesterday announced a pension reform agreement, which if approved by the legislature, likely will help narrow the Golden State’s…
Blog
New Moody’s Standards Give Clearer Picture Of Public Pension Crisis
The public pension funding crisis has led to a vigorous debate over how those pension liabilities are valued and how large they are. The debate…
Blog
Struggle Over Union-Owned Bank Is A Sign Of Union Weakness
Shifting deposits to the union-owned Amalgamated Bank has become a leftist cause celebre, as several Democratic and progressive groups try to be seen as…
Daily Caller
Left Banks With SEIU
Some prominent Democratic and progressive groups — including the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Governors Association, and America Votes — are shifting accounts, or at least…
Blog
The Great Hollywood Swindle
When is a market not a real market? When it trades in fake goods — products or services that could not exist if government didn’t…
Blog
Maryland’s Public Pension Debacle Is Likely to Repeat Itself
The Maryland public employee pension system announced this week that it had achieved a dismal return rate on its investments of 0.36 percent — a…
Blog
Pension Fund Activism Threatens Workers’ Retirement Security — And Taxpayers
While the underfunding of union pensions cannot be ascribed to any one cause, there is one that is troubling because it is so avoidable: pension…
Blog
To Fix The PBGC, Free Its Premiums
Setting the heavily underfunded Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on a sound financial footing has got to be one of the toughest jobs anywhere. The…
Blog
The Coming Public Pension Meltdown
While the impact of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s (GASB) new public pension reporting requirements won’t be known for some time, some indications of its…
Blog
Unions: Political by Nature
Two items in The Wall Street Journal today highlight a feature of organized labor that distinguish it from other special interests: Unions, as they have existed in…
Washington Post
Letter to the Editor: Why Politicians Answer to Unions
George F. Will’s discussion of grossly excessive public employee compensation [“Rahm and the teachers,” op-ed, July 5] rightly noted that unions exist to…
Blog
Politicians’ Incentives to Give in to Government Union Demands
In his column today, George Will identifies a key problem in addressing overly generous government employee compensation: incentives. While he rightly places the blame…
Blog
Former GAO Auditor: Public Pension Underfunding Worse than Pew Estimates
This week, GASB approved new standards that would require state pensions that are less than 80 percent funded to base income projections on lower — more…
Blog
Highway Bill Would Continue Pension Underfunding Shell Game
As if the Senate Highway Bill (S. 1813) could not become more of a lumbering monster, along comes its Section 40312, which allows "pension…
Blog
The Growing Threat of a PBGC Bailout
Everyone hates a bailout. Or at least that's what everyone says, until circumstances force some business leaders to seek them and politicians to grant them…
Blog
Will New GASB Rules End States’ Fuzzy Pension Math?
Today, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) voted to approve new government accounting standards that will provide a clearer picture of the liabilities taxpayers across the…
Daily Caller
Supreme Court Rules 7-2 Against SEIU
From Angelica Malik's article in The Daily Caller: Ivan Osorio, of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute said, “The Court’s ruling is a significant…
Blog
The Myopia of “Green” Business at Rio+20
If cliches carry a grain of truth, the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished,” carries a silo in the business world. One of the sorriest…
Blog
Supreme Court Rules against Union Forced Speech
Thomas Jefferson said that, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and…
Blog
To Reform Public Pensions, Reform GASB Rules
Many public pension plans in the United States make riskier investments than plans in Canada and Europe, according to a new study by researchers…
Blog
From One Nobel Prize Winner to Another: Vernon Smith on Elinor Ostrom’s Contribution to Economics
Blog
In New York, a Private/Public Sector Union Rift
The fact that government employee unions have been at the center of budget debates across the nation underscores their outsize influence on state and local…
Blog
Seasteading for Enterprise on the High Seas
Complete exit from the state has long been a dream of many libertarians. From the defunct Republic of Minerva (perhaps the only nation every to…
Blog
Union Leaders, Not Members, Determine Union Political Donations
Mother Jones blogger Kevin Drum dismisses the fact that 38 percent of Wisconsin union households voted to retain Governor Scott Walker as “exactly the…
Blog
Taxpayers Win as Dulles Rail Drops Pro-Union Contracting Rules
In a win for Old Dominion taxpayers, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) yesterday rescinded a pro-union project labor agreement (PLA) for the building of the Metro…
Blog
George Will Makes the Case for the REINS Act
In his column today, George Will makes the case for Congress to take responsibility for the enormous costs which regulation imposes on American businesses…
Blog
After Wisconsin, whither Government Unions ?
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s victory in a recall election at which organized labor threw everything but the kitchen sink will likely encourage lawmakers in other…
Blog
In Confronting Unions, Walker Further than Reagan
When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker first put forward his public sector labor reform, organized labor and its allies tried to portray the legislation -- especially…
Blog
Causes of Public Pension Underfunding Are Not Hard to Identify
As if on cue, nearly every time state and local government officials try to rein in public employee pension costs in order to bring their…
Blog
Is the Obama Administration Anti-Business?
If President Obama has found it hard in responding to critics who accuse him of being “anti-business,” he really only has his own administration’s policies…
Blog
Intellectuals Are the Shoeshine Boys of the Ruling Elite
“Why do so many intellectuals lean politically to the left?” CEI President Fred Smith has written extensively on that question. In today’s Wall Street Journal, Harvard…
Blog
The Deregulator Who Wasn’t
Washington Examiner columnist Conn Carroll refutes President Barack Obama’s attempt to blame the nation’s ongoing economic problems on his predecessor. In a recent interview,…
American Enterprise Institute
More Than Good Enough for Government Work
The American is the official magazine of the American Enterprise Institute. State lawmakers face an uphill battle in trying to bring their governments’…
Blog
Leon Panetta, Master Negotiator
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has admitted to racking up over $800,000 in government travel costs for weekend trips back to his home in California.
Blog
RIP Jim Marshall, Businessman, Innovator, Father of Loud
Culture and politics don’t mix. That was well illustrated by the Justice Department’s dubious raid on Gibson Guitar last year. The feds raided Gibson over alleged…
Blog
Multiemployer Pensions, the Tragedy of the Commons, and the “Last Man Standing” Rule
The “tragedy of the commons,” as described by the late ecologist Garrett Hardin, generally refers to the depletion of a finite resource caused by…
Forbes
Ma Bell’s Long Legacy of Unsustainable Pensions Is Alive and Well
“Communism,” comedian Lenny Bruce once quipped, “is like one big phone company.” This dated joke refers to the monolithic phone company known as “Ma Bell,”…
Blog
Rhode Island Pension Reform Shows Boldness Pays
Across the nation, large and growing budget deficits have forced politicians from across the political spectrum, including some Democrats, to seek to bring public employee…
Blog
Some Good News on Pensions, for a Change
Over the last four years, state governments across the nation have been trying to bring their labor costs under control, especially pensions, which are now…
Blog
If PBGC Cannot Go On Taking Over Pensions, It Will Stop
Herbert Stein’s law — “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop” — is being proven right once again. This time, what cannot go…
Blog
Structural Factors of the Municipal Pension Crisis
Public employee pensions are sinking local governments. Over the last four years, they have even pushed some municipalities into bankruptcy -- from Vallejo, California, to Central…
Blog
Ma Bell Is Long Gone, but Her Pension Costs Remain
AT&T is asking the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents a large segment of its workforce, for benefit concessions, as it tries to rein…
Capital Research
The Battle for New England
Full Document Available in PDF New England is generally considered among the most leftleaning regions of the country. This perception is largely…
Forbes
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s Real Crisis
On February 1, American Airlines—which declared bankruptcy last November—announced plans to end defined benefit pensions as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring plan. If approved…
Blog
Is the Obama Administration Trying to Expand Federal Collective Bargaining?
An Obama-created board within the federal Office of Personnel Management's recently approved "an outline of a report due to President Obama in May on personnel issues…
The American Spectator
Busting Union Reform
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is touting the recent passage of his "compromise" bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency that oversees U.S. air…
Blog
Yes, Pensions Did Help Push American Airlines into Bankruptcy
I generally hold John Tamny’s analysis of economic matters in high regard, so I was surprised to find his take on the American Airlines bankruptcy…
Blog
U.S. Economic Freedom Declines as Regulations Increase
Economic Freedom in the United States declined over the past year, according to the newly released 2012 edition of the Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal global…
Blog
Rules for Dictators
Blog
New York MTA Contract Negotiations Show Dangers of Binding Arbitration
In most jurisdictions, government employees responsible for public safety and other essential government services are not allowed to strike. In exchange for unions giving up…
Blog
Judge Upholds Michigan Union Power Grab
A federal judge in Michigan has denied class action status to a lawsuit brought by a group of independent child care workers who objected to…
Blog
Rhode Island’s Bold Pension Reforms Point the Way Forward
To describe pension reform, Utah State Senator Dan Liljenquist put it best: "This is not a conservative-versus-liberal issue, this is a reality issue." Liljenquist…
Blog
Public Pensions Fuel Government Growth
The straitened finances afflicting state and local governments across the nation have brought unprecedented scrutiny to government employees’ compensation, particularly pensions. As pro-market critics have…
The American Spectator
Obama’s Big Labor Wins a Big One
Unions have been disappointed by the Obama administration's inability to move their agenda forward. But they finally won a victory last week. This is bad…
Blog
NLRB Drops Case against Boeing – Finally
Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it has decided to drop its case against Boeing, over the airplane manufacturer’s opening of…
The American Spectator
Ambush Election Prevention
Imagine voting in a presidential election where one candidate can campaign for a year and the other is only told he is running a week…
Blog
California Supreme Court Rejects Union Suit to Bar Private Contractors from Golden Gate Project
Last week, the California Supreme Court rejected a suit by a government employee union, the Professional Engineers in California Government, that sought to…
Blog
Barone is Right: Appeasing Protectionists Is a Bad Idea
President Obama is finally sending three pending trade agreements — with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama — to Congress for a vote. The three trade…
Forbes
Two Cheers For A Big U.S. Trade Deficit
News that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed this summer has brought the usual cheers from commentators. The Associated Press celebrated, noting, “[A] narrowing…
Blog
Infrastructure Si, Infrastructure Bank No
In his Forbes column, James Glassman provides a counterpoint to the Obama proposal to create a national infrastructure bank. Rather than direct funds through…
Blog
Union vs. Union Fight
A band I was in years ago had a song titled, “Sheet Rockers vs. Aluminum Siders,” about a fight our singer saw at work on…
Blog
NLRB’s Pro-Big Labor Ruling Trifecta is Bad News for the Economy
Earlier this year, President Obama proudly touted his executive order calling for federal agencies to review regulations on their books and identify obsolete rules for…
Blog
NLRB to Businesses: Tell Employees they Can Unionize
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a new rule “requiring most private-sector employers to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor…
The American Spectator
Obama’s Favorite Union Heavies
Unions thrive on workplace conflict. The AFL-CIO, for example, sponsors a "Bad Boss Contest," which awards the employee who submits the best story…
Blog
Judge Rules against SEIU in Fight with another Union
A judge has ruled that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) improperly benefited from an employer threatening workers with loss of raises in a 2010 election in California…
Blog
Massachusetts’ Collective Bargaining Law: A Worry for the Obama Administration?
It's not easy being a governor or state legislator these days. With states facing deep budget deficits, state lawmakers around the nation are working to…
One News Now
Unions ‘Have Nowhere Else To Go’
Blog
Chicago Mayor Emanuel Gives Unions a Choice: Concessions or Layoffs
Leaders of government employee unions must be feeling lonely these days. Across the country, Democratic state and local elected officials — traditional union allies —…
Study
Labor Unions and the Democratic Party
Full Document Available in PDF Recently AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka compared…
Blog
In Wisconsin, Smaller Class Sizes through Fiscal Restraint
Of the various hyperbolic leftist talking points against the recently enacted Wisconsin collective bargaining law, the “war on teachers” was easily the most shrill, dumb,…
Blog
Official Time: Union Activity on the Taxpayers’ Dime
Government Executive summarizes the Office of Personnel Management’s report on the use of official time, whereby unionized federal employees carry out union business…
Blog
Activist Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Law — For Now
Government employee unions and their allies have tried just about everything to stop the efforts by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Republicans in the legislature…
Blog
NLRB Targets Boeing, Ignores Congress
It is now well known that the Obama administration is trying to use the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as a battering ram to…
Blog
Mark Haines RIP
The American Spectator
Unionization Via Regulation
Are unions desperate? When it comes to reviving their fortunes in the private sector, it certainly seems that way. Union leaders, unable to reverse…
Blog
The Politics of Public Pension Underfunding
To date, the debate over public pensions has focused largely on accounting methods — how best to estimate the level of current funding needed to…
Blog
Trumka’s Empty Threat to Democrats
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is warning Democratic politicians today: Push our agenda, or we won’t support you in the 2012 election. It’s hard to imagine…
Blog
Unionization by Regulation: House Oversight Committee Seeks Answers from Politicized NLRB, NMB
As unions continue to decline in their private sector membership, union leaders are seeking political solutions to their problems. President Obama will need organized labor’s support…
Blog
Senators Introduce Bill to Push Back against NLRB Overreach
Reacting to the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) blatant efforts to promote organized labor’s agenda, Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)…
Blog
Who’s Afraid of Walmart?
As surely as summer follows spring, it seems like every new Walmart store opening announcement in a major city is now followed by protests. The…
Blog
New CBO Pension Report: Underfunding Could Be Higher
That state and local governments face serious pension funding problems isn't a particularly controversial contention. However, the question of how much they're underfunded by is…
Real Clear Markets
The NLRB Overreaches – Once Again
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has gone lawsuit crazy. With the U.S. House of Representatives now under Republican control, the Board is now…
Blog
Political Bailouts for Underfunded Union Pensions
While the nation's attention has focused on government employee unions' fight to retain their collective bargaining privileges, unions in the private sector are in an…
Blog
Faulty Public Pension Accounting: A Problem too Big to Ignore
One reason the ongoing debate over collective bargaining for government employees has been so loud is that the stakes are so high -- for unionized…
Blog
UN Embarrassed as “Climate Refugees” Fail to Show
It’s hardly novel to compare global warming alarmism to a doomsday cult, but it’s hard to avoid the comparison whenever yet another doomsday scenario is…
The American Spectator
How Regulations Add to the Cost of Government
As many of us rush to finish filling out our tax returns, we should remember that what we pay out in taxes — and how…
Washington Examiner
Regulations are Politicians’ (and Lobbyists’) Best Friends
The annual ritual of calculating taxes and rushing to file is upon us today. And it is hardly news that the ever-increasing complexity of the…
Blog
Dulles Rail Union Giveaway to Increase Costs
An expensive rail line for passengers traveling in and out of the Washington, D.C. region's Dulles International Airport never struck me as a good use…
The American Spectator
Unionization Through Regulation
Changing election rules to favor one side is something we usually associate with dictatorships. Yet a U.S. federal agency did just that recently, as…
Study
The Case for Reform of the Railway Labor Act
End Unionization through Regulation and Allow Workers to Decertify Unions…
Blog
Thomas Sowell on the Value of Consumer Choice
One of Thomas Sowell’s greatest insights is that in public policy, there are no solutions, only trade-offs. That extends to deciding what to spend money…
Blog
Full Employment, Motherhood, and Apple Pie
These are not good economic times for labor unions, whose membership continues a long decline in the private sector. However, they remain a potent…
One News Now
UAW unhappy with success of foreign businesses
Washington Times
UAW Doesn’t Care What You Think
United Auto Workers (UAW) President Bob King recently pledged $60 million of his union’s money to pressure foreign automakers into unionizing their employees. He…
Blog
Harper’s vs. UAW
When can one expect leftists to oppose unionization of a business? When it’s their own. That’s the case at Harper‘s magazine right now, where some…
Blog
Will UAW Seek Foreign Help to Unionize American Workers?
America has a vibrant and successful auto industry — just largely outside of Detroit. For years, many foreign automakers’ American divisions have been successful at…
Study