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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Rules for Dictators
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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 —…
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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,…