(Reuters) – The proposed Michigan “right-to-work” law will not apply to existing union contracts, a leading sponsor of the proposal said on Friday, which may blunt its immediate impact on the huge auto industry in the state.
Michigan Republicans pushed through the state legislature on Thursday a law making the payment of union dues voluntary in the private sector. The state Senate also voted to apply this to the public sector except for police and fire unions.
Republican lawmakers, who hold majorities in both chambers of the legislature, could give final approval to the laws on Tuesday and Republican Governor Rick Snyder could immediately sign them, Amber McCann, spokeswoman for state Senate Majority Leader Richard Richardville, said on Friday.
“Right-to-work” could be signed into law within a week in the cradle of the U.S. auto industry, a stunning blow to organized labor in the United States.
The law would actually take effect at the end of March, Richardville said on Thursday.
But the legislation has a so-called “grandfather” clause exempting existing union contracts until they expire, said Republican state Senator Arlan Meekhoff, a sponsor of the plan.
[…]
“I don’t think this will hurt the UAW with the (Detroit automakers) as much as it will hurt unions trying to organize nonunion companies in Michigan,” Schwartz said.
Just the same, the whole idea of Government essentially blocking Union organizing rights is asinine. Which is why I no longer will be supporting the Republican Party.
I am going to forewarn you, this posting here is not something that you would normally read at a blog like mine. This blog never was about partisanship. As you know, it is called “Thinking Americanist” and it is called that for a very good reason. Because I do not happen to tow the so-called “part line” and I do not participate in the normal echo chamber of either side in the blogosphere. I speak the truth and if it angers either side, that is just too bad.
You want to know why the Republican Party is having so much trouble winning elections? It is because of mind-numbingly stupid stuff like this right here:
That was none other than Fox News’s resident House Negro and one man minstrel show, Charles Payne.
Transcript:
PAYNE: It is tragic. I don’t think something like this will happen again. Don’t think that the people in Bangladesh who perished didn’t want or need those jobs, as well. I know we like to victimize everyone in this country, particularly when it comes to for-profit motivation, which is being assaulted. But, you know, it is a tragedy but I think it is a stretch, an amazing stretch, to sort of try to pin this on Walmart but, of course, the unions in this country are desperate.
The Bangladeshi factory in question, Tazreen Factories, had no functioning extinguishers, locked the exits, and employed managers who told factory workers to go back to their stations when the fire alarm went off. Since 2006, over 200 people have died in Bangladeshi garment factories as a consequence of the substandard safety precautions prevalent in their factory.Some believe companies like Walmart — whose brands were found in the burnt factory — would move if production at the faculty were more expensive; that is, if things like basic safety precautions were implemented.
During his defense of the factory, Payne referred to himself as “a spokesman for capitalism and the American Dream” and said “for a lot of people, this [Walmart business practice] is a step in the right direction.”
This tragic event happens to remind me of another tragic event like this one that happened in New York back on March 25, 1911. I am referring to, of course, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
Some photos:
The building’s east side, with 40 bodies on the sidewalk. Two of the victims were found alive an hour after the photo was taken.
The Fire
The Triangle Waist Company was located one block east of Washington Square Park. There were over 500 employees – most were young women, most were recent immigrants. On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the 8th floor. Workers ran to the fire escape. It collapsed, dropping them to their deaths. On the 9th floor a critical exit was locked. People on the street watched as the workers began to jump out the windows. Fire trucks arrived but their ladders only reached the 6th floor. The elevators ran as long as they could as workers pressed into the cars; some tumbled down the elevator shaft.
In the end 146 people died. There was a trial but the owners, long known for their anti-union activities, got off. The fire became a rallying cry for the international labor movement. Many of our fire safety laws were created in response to this tragic event.
Sounds familiar does it not? You see, as an Americanist, I am all for good old fashioned capitalism, which is why I have so many ads on this site. What I am forcefully against, is corny capitalism or capitalism that exploits, represses and hurts others. I have always been against that sort of thing, even when I was on the left. This is why unions came to be folks, because of crony capitalism. I happen to know a great deal about the labor movement; because my Father is a retired General Motors worker, who worked for the Clark Street Assembly Plant in southwest Detroit and later at the Poletown Assembly Plant as well. My Father, who is now retired also is a member of the UAW, Local 22.
Now about that site that I mentioned; I realize that there is some things on that site that might offend some Conservatives, especially the communist section of the archive.However, I believe that this sort of thing is important; there is nothing wrong with workers wanting safe working conditions. Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with a worker wanting a decent living wage. I believe that at one point in America, unions served a legitimate purpose, and this was to keep the crony capitalists honest and to force them to take better care of their workers, with better working conditions. However, my biggest gripe with the unions, is that they became greedy themselves, they began to associate with elements of the communist movement, they began to make unreasonable demands — the recent instance with Hostess being a perfect example.
However, as a free-thinking American, I do not believe that the answer is to proverbially, “Toss out the baby with the bath water” as they say; but rather to stop with the labor movements overreach. The labor movement needs to realize that this is not the 1940’s and the 1950’s anymore. The industrial revolution is already passed us by, and there are times when concessions are needed to save jobs. You would think that with a labor movement friendly President like Barack Obama, that American labor killing things, like the so-called “American free trade agreement” would be stricken off the books and large scale tariffs put into place to prevent China and other Countries from stealing our market share. However, not everything is as it seems. Barack Obama is not an “American First” democrat, Obama is an “Internationalist Democrat,” who sees American through the lens of the World and believe it is quite small. This is why the relationship between the President and the labor movement has been frosty at best.
In closing: To my Republican friends and conservative ones too: This is what needs to change. Indifference toward tragic events like this one and making idiotic statements like this too. When conservatives makes statements like this, the rest of America, you know, people like me? We tend to see you as heartless thugs, who care only about making money and not about those who actually help you make that money. It is simply all in messaging. The conservative movement, while not perfect, has some really great ideas; but has always had this message problem and also the Republican establishment problem as well. Those things need to change and messaging needs to be changed too. If we can do that, we can win elections again.
Seriously? I rarely, if ever, eat the things. They are way to sweet for me. In fact, the last time I tried eating a pack of ho-ho’s and a bottle of mountain dew, I ended up feeling a bit sick.
Hostess, the makers of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, is going out of business after striking workers failed to heed a Thursday deadline to return to work, the company said.
“We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike,” Hostess CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said in announcing that the firm had filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to shutter its business. “Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”
The reason?:
The Irving, Texas-based company had already reached a contract agreement with its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. But thousands of members in its second-biggest union went on strike late last week after rejecting in September a contract offer that cut wages and benefits. Officials for the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union say the company stopped contributing to workers’ pensions last year.
NBC’s Savannah Guthrie read a statement on “Today” from the bakers’ union that said: “Despite Greg Rayburn’s insulting and disingenuous statements of the last several months, the truth is that Hostess workers and the union have absolutely no responsibility for the failure of this company. That responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of the company’s decision makers.”
Rayburn responded that he had been “pretty straightforward in all the town hall meetings I’ve done at our plants to say that in this situation I think there is blame that goes around for everyone.”
As the Son of a retired G.M. worker and a retired UAW member; I can empathize with the union’s position. However, I have always said and have always believed that sometimes unions can be a double-edged sword. Speaking of which, the fine folks over at HotAir.com have some very interesting information as to what is really going on:
Update II: Like I said, I haven’t paid much attention to this fight, so I don’t have a lot of insight into whether labor or management has been more unreasonable. However, the Teamsters’ web site seems to lay the blame on the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) for refusing to go along with the Teamsters to accept the last offer from Hostess:
In fact, when Hostess attempted to throw out its collective bargaining agreement with the Teamsters in court, the Teamsters fought back and won, ensuring that Hostess could not unilaterally make changes to working conditions during the several months’ long legal process that recently ended. Teamster Hostess members were allowed to decide their fate by voting on the final offer conducted by a secret mail ballot. More than two-thirds of Hostess Teamsters members voted with 53 percent voting to approve the final offer.
The BCTGM chose a different path, as is their prerogative, to not substantively look for a solution or engage in the process. BCTGM members were told there were better solutions than the final offer, although Judge Drain stated in his decision in bankruptcy court that no such solutions exist. Without complete information, BCTGM members voted by voice votes in union halls. The BCTGM reported that over 90 percent rejected the final offer and three of its units ratified the final offer.
On Friday, Nov. 9, the BCTGM began to strike at some Hostess production facilities without notice to the Teamsters despite assurances they would not proceed with job actions without contacting the Teamsters Union. This unannounced action put Teamster members in the difficult position of facing picket lines without knowing their right to honor such a line without being disciplined.
As is our longstanding tradition, Teamster members by and large are honoring Bakery Worker picket lines when encountered and complying with their contractual obligations when not encountering picket lines. The BCTGM leaders are putting Teamster members in a horrible position – asking them to support a strike that will put them out of a job when they haven’t even asked all their members to go on strike.
That strike is now on the verge of forcing the company to liquidate – it is difficult for Teamster members to believe that is what the BCTGM Hostess members ultimately wanted to accomplish when they went out on strike. We may never know unless the BCTGM members, based on the facts they know today, get to determine their fate in a secret ballot vote. Teamster members would understand that the will of the BCTGM Hostess membership was truly heard if that was the case.
That’s a pretty remarkable statement from the Teamsters.
Update (MKH): Just a little background. There’s a lot going on, here, though the bakers union strike was certainly the last straw for Hostess. The company has been in bankruptcy twice in the last decade, and as Allahpundit notes, the culture of organics and calorie-counting was working against them.
But the bakers union deserved to get thrown under the bus by the Teamsters because it looks like they threw the Teamsters under the bus, first. The Teamsters and the bakers worked together to come to a deal with Hostess in September. The bakers were quiet during negotiations, and apparently pulled a surprise move when they rejected the deal.
Now, I believe that people who wish to have organized labor should be allowed to have such a thing. But when organized labor closes a plant or a bunch of plants; because one union decides it is not going to play ball. Then that union ought to be decertified. However, knowing this President, and his fitness crazy wife; that will never happen.
Again, this is a very sad situation and one that could be rectified easily, but instead these unions decided to dig in and that my friends is a real shame.
This video is quite damning to the President. In last night’s debate, President Obama basically said that he was not going to fight for so-called “Low Skill” jobs. Here is a newsflash for the President; a good part of Michigan is filled with people who would work these “low-skill” so-called “low-income” jobs. Not everyone in America has the skills or the ability to get the skills to work those high-tech jobs. There are people, like me; who have disabilities, like A.D.H.D. which affect their ability to do math very well and because of this, we are unable to get a high school diploma.
This video is damning for a number of reasons; first, when he said, “Some jobs are not coming back.” It makes the President sound as if he really does not give care about those who cannot get, because of lack of education; one of these sort of jobs. Those who are on the far-right would say that basically the President wants these people to be on the Government dole. Furthermore, it also makes the President sound like he is basically saying that he is not going to fight to bring general labor jobs back to the United States; and with as many people as we have that are out of work, some of which do take those “low-wage” and “low-skill” jobs — that just sounds very bad.
You can try and spin this and try to wrap it up into a contextual argument or even try to say that the President is being realistic. But, as far as this voter is concerned, Obama just threw in the towel for the average, everyday, unemployed, general laborer. Something that I have been for a good part of my life. Which is why I plan to vote for Mitt Romney in November. Romney might not be perfect, but, he knows what makes this economy work and that there people who do not have degrees, like me; who simply need a 40 hour a week or more job. The only workers that President Obama cares about, are the Unionized workers at the big three, something my Father was, he also wants to tax their pensions as well, something my Father is not happy about too.
But for the non-unionized workers, like me. President Obama simply does not care; Obama would rather focus on the high tech jobs, because those people would be more inclined to vote for him. This is the difference between President Obama, and Governor Mitt Romney — Governor Romney knows that it takes ALL kinds of workers and getting those workers back to work is what he wants to carry out.
Here is Mitt Romney’s message to the middle class: (Via HotAir.com)
Most of the people that come here and read, know that I have been unemployed now for 8 years. Some of that, is my fault; a career change that did not work out like I planned it. But the majority of it is due to the piss poor economy in Michigan. The President has helped take care of my Father and seen to it, that his pension is preserved and that he will get everything that he needs — for this I am very grateful. My question to the President and to the Democrats, as an American, is this: What has President Obama done for people, like me? What has President Obama done for people, who do not have the unions standing in their corner? What has the President done for those who are “low-skill” workers, who are not minorities?
The truth is, The President has done nothing and will do absolutely nothing for us. Which is why, if you are a general laborer and you are voting for President Obama again; you are a fool. Trust me, as the above video shows, President Obama does not give a remote damn about we, who use our backs and our bodies to work. This is because he never had to do it, ever.
I close on this note here: I realize that many working class folk might not like Romney. He is far from perfect, I know what Bush did; and I cannot change that — But, I believe that with Romney it will be much different. So, I ask you, as Americans:
Great and wonderful news, right? Wrong. Just another bogus headline from a company that is about ready for bankruptcy. This story comes via MLive.com.
General Motors Co. and the state are expected to announce today that GM will create 2,000 new jobs in Michigan, beginning with up to 1,500 at a new information technology innovation center in Warren.
The automaker and the Governor’s Office are expected to make formal announcements later today.
It’s unclear where GM would add the other 500 jobs, but the state says the innovation center is the first of three projects the company will announce.
GM will invest $300 million combined for the three. The state said GM plans no major investment spending on the information technology center; it will be housed in an existing building undergoing renovation on the Warren Tech Center campus.
The center will hire 1,500 new employees within four years and will add to information technology employment already in Warren, Randy Mott, GM’s vice president of information technology and chief information officer, said in a Friday interview.
This is where I am going to get accused of sounding like a Democrat or something worse.
This headline is the biggest stinking joke, since the election Barack Obama. These jobs above here? There are not jobs that anyone could do, you know, like me? These jobs are one that would need some serious degrees —- none of which I honestly have at all. So, these are not 2000 jobs for the public, like labor jobs; as the labor jobs are protected by the unions. These are tech jobs that will end up being filled by immigrants, legal or otherwise from foreign countries; who have the degrees to get these jobs. The rest will go to protected minorities, who happen to have those degrees as well.
I just have to ask aloud; how much of this investment, came from the taxpayers dollars that ended up bailing out this failed business? I really do not know if I really want to know the answer to that or not. However, what I will say is this here; the local Detroit media needs to stop with the dishonest headlines and get out of tank for the big three. I mean, do not get me wrong, I want to see General Motor succeed, as their success personally affects my family, namely my Father, who retired from that company after 31 years. But, when I see dishonest headlines like this, it disgusts me. People scanning through, think GM is mass hiring workers for the plants. Which they are not, they are hiring salaried employees, that they really do not need and doing this, will most likely make them go broke again.
It is time, that the local Detroit media started telling the complete truth about the big three.
(Reuters) – Private employers added 162,000 jobs in September, topping economists’ expectations, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.
Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 143,000 jobs.
August’s private payrolls were revised down to an increase of 189,000 from the previously reported 201,000.
If the best that the economists are shooting for is 150-160K jobs per month; that is setting the bar awful low.
What happened to all the jobs that were supposed to be created by the President’s stimulus program? I thought that when a Democrat was elected into the White House that all of the World’s problems would end for everyone? That the oceans would rise and the World would come together as one?
I guess not. 🙄
Anyone that votes for this President again, is a dad-blasted idiot. I mean, what the hell has he honestly done for the unemployed in this Country? I mean, the only people who have made out like bandits, and I do mean quite literally there; are the damned unions and special interest groups. (READ: Minorities, Green Energy and the like…)
It is a damned disgrace; which is why I am casting my lot with Romney. Neoconservative or not, I am voting for him. Because we can do better than this nimrod who is in there now.
It seems that in Ohio, there has been a decline in voter registration, especially in Democratic Party strongholds. This is also signaling a national trend. Here is the Story and Video via Fox News Channel:
The Video:
The Story:
“Don’t boo, vote,” President Obama often says in his stump speech whenever crowds boo a Romney plan.
The off-hand call to vote may be by design. It comes amid a precipitous decline in Democratic voter registration in key swing states — nowhere more apparent than in Ohio.
Voter registration in the Buckeye State is down by 490,000 people from four years ago. Of that reduction, 44 percent is in Cleveland and surrounding Cuyahoga County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one.
“I think what we’re seeing is a lot of spin and hype on the part of the Obama campaign to try to make it appear that they’re going to cruise to victory in Ohio,” Cuyahoga County Republican Chairman Rob Frost said. “It’s not just Cuyahoga County. Nearly 350,000 of those voters are the decrease in the rolls in the three largest counties, Cuyahoga, Hamilton and Franklin.”
Frost points out that those three counties all contain urban centers, where the largest Democrat vote traditionally has been.
Ohio is not alone. An August study by the left-leaning think tank Third Way showed that the Democratic voter registration decline in eight key swing states outnumbered the Republican decline by a 10-to-one ratio. In Florida, Democratic registration is down 4.9 percent, in Iowa down 9.5 percent. And in New Hampshire, it’s down down 19.7 percent.
“It’s understandable that enthusiasm is going to wane a little bit from that historic moment (in 2008),” says Michelle Diggles, the study co-author and senior policy adviser for Third Way. “You can only elect the first African-American president of this country once.
Of course, there are other reasons why people are just not happy anymore with the Democrats:
One Democratic Party consultant told Fox News that independents in Ohio may be leaning Democratic – an effect that may be tied to the bailout of Chrysler and GM. One of eight people in Ohio work in businesses directly tied to the auto industry. The state has been carpeted with Obama ads that point to his bailout of the industry and it’s managed bankruptcy.
I do not mean to toot my own horn; but in this case, I must. I predicted that stuff like this would happen on my old blog. When the bailouts happened, and when the healthcare bill was pushed through. The truth is Independents are simply running away from Obama. Another thing too that this report did not cover; is that some Democrats are simply not happy with the Obama Administration. This is for a number for reasons: The continuation of Bush’s polices on the war on terror and the war is one. The failure to close the prisons in Gitmo is another. The continuing of the war in Afghanistan is another. Also too, Ohio is also a union State and when Obama’s chief of staff at the time, said “F*** the big three!”, many in Ohio heard about that too. This all makes for a unpopular President.
Also too; the economy in Ohio, here in Michigan; and nationally, just plain sucks. There are many small businesses in Ohio, many of whom are faithful Democrats; and they are just looking at their bottom lines and are looking at this President and wondering, “What on earth are they doing to us?” To be fair, it is not all of Obama’s fault. The Federal Reserve with it’s QE1, QE2 and now QE3 is not helping the situation at all. When the fed prints more money, inflation happens, which drives the prices of everything up and this, in turn, hurts businesses. Which, in turn, hurts the economy. Bill Clinton learned this lesson early on, and made adjustments. Jimmy Carter and this President, did not. For that, they are paying a price at the polls.
I should also mention that this current foreign policy debacle in Libya, and Egypt and the rest of the Arab World is also weighing heavy on the minds of people as well. As it was in 1979, with the Iran hostage crisis. Now, Iran is being a problem again. Which is very ironic.
History has such a strange way of repeating itself.
Please note: When reading this, try to imagine someone speaking in a slight southern accent; like I do. It will help to make it sound funnier.
—
As I told you all, I went out with my Dad today. I went with him to his retirees meeting at the UAW Local that he is a member of. It is in Southwest Detroit, where I grew up; a bit closer to downtown Detroit, than where I lived. However, because I want to continue to live in this house, I will not get into the specifics of what happened down there.
What I can tell you is this:
It rained. As in, it rained hard; by the time we got to the union hall, I thought we were going to have to ditch the truck and grab a canoe! My Dad was nice enough to drop me and Dad’s friend Irvin off at the door; and you should have seen me come out of that truck! I come out of that truck, like a lost cat that realized that he had wandered into the dog section of the animal pound —- around lunchtime. Yes, it was like that. Ever watch Scooby Doo? You know, when he stumbles upon a ghost and get the wits scared out of him? Yeah, like that. It came complete sound effects too, with “ooh’s eek’s and aah’s.” Oh, it was a wonderful time. I also, when I made it inside, kindly informed the people in the office that whomever was doing the rain dance, really needed to stop. Because the rain was here, in buckets!
So, finally the meeting was over. My Dad stopped at Vernor Coney Island and picked up some Coney Dogs for lunch for Him and Me and rest of the family here. So, I grabbed me a Diet Pepsi out of the fridge, came back down here to what my Mother calls my dungeon, and proceeded to devour me a couple of coney dogs and catch up on what was happening in the political world, while I was out cavorting with the organized labor movement. (Please Note: When I say cavorting, I don’t mean screwing. Hell, they were a bunch of grey-headed old people. Mostly men, and I do not swing that way, sorry. 😉 I mean hanging around them. It is an attempt at humor. Please, laugh. 😀 )
So, anyhow; I ate my dogs and fiddled around, and putted around and read a little here and little there. The next thing I know, an hour had passed and I realized that I was getting rather tired. So, I figured I would grab me a little nap; and nap I did….:
For Six Long Freaking Hours!
I woke up, and rolled over at looked at the iPod touch and said aloud, “7 o’clock?!?!” I got up, and stumbled around; and went up stairs. Mom was fixing TV dinners. My Father, ever the funny man; greeted me with the normal greeting: “Well, Hello there, Sleeping Beauty!” I grinned, mumbled a little and went to the bathroom. Six hours of sleeping adds up to lot of urine storage. (Yes, I know, yuck. But, hey, it’s all true.)
So, there you have it. What I have done for most of the day. I hope you have enjoyed this rather funny story, as much as I have writing it. It is all true; my parents will verify it. I like going out with my Dad and his friend Irvin, I could write a book, about those two, when they get together. As well, as the funny stuff that goes on, when my Dad and his fishing friends, get together. Someday, I might write about that stuff. now, I live here, and I do not really want to get sued.
I hate to be the one to say it, but I told you so. I even wrote it early this morning; that Obama’s rhetoric in his speeches does not match realities on the ground and that includes his performance.
Buzzfeed even noticed the lack of mention of the Unemployed:
CHARLOTTE, NC — President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night didn’t include language targeted at the nation’s unemployed.
Despite boilerplate language about the job losses four years ago and his plans to create jobs, Obama did not specifically address the millions of Americans still struggling to find a job or a job that meets their needs.
Obama’s speech also avoided any mention of the unemployment rate, which is still above 8 percent and fell in August because 368,000 Americans left the workforce. Obama was briefed on the August jobs report yesterday afternoon, hours before he took the stage in Charlotte.
The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the nation created only 96,000 jobs in August, well below what analysts expected, while the previous two months of job gains were also revised downward. On the surface the jobs report is a mixed bag for Obama, but nearly every underlying statistic reveals lingering economic weakness.
“If last night was the party, this morning is the hangover. For every net new job created, nearly four Americans gave up looking for work entirely. This is more of the same for middle-class families, who are suffering through the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. After 43 straight months of unemployment above 8 percent, it is clear that President Obama just hasn’t lived up to his promises, and his policies haven’t worked. They aren’t better off than they were four years ago. My plan for a stronger middle class will create 12 million new jobs by the end of my first term. America deserves new leadership that will get our economy moving again.”
– Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 96,000 in August, the Labor Department said, versus expectations of 125,000 jobs or more. The manufacturing sector, much touted by the president in his convention speech, lost 15,000 jobs.
– Since the start of the year, job growth has averaged 139,000 per month vs. an average monthly gain of 153,000 in 2011.
– As the chart at the top shows, the unemployment rate remains far above the rate predicted by Team Obama if Congress passed the stimulus. (This is the Romer-Bernstein chart.)
– While the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1% from 8.3% in July, it was due to a big drop in the labor force participation rate (the share of Americans with a job or looking for one). If fewer Americans hadn’t given up looking for work, the unemployment rate would have risen.
– Reuters notes that the participation rate is now at its lowest level since September 1981.
– If the labor force participation rate was the same as when Obama took office in January 2009, the unemployment rate would be 11.2%.
– If the participation rate had just stayed the same as last month, the unemployment rate would be 8.4%.
– The Labor Department also said that 41,000 fewer jobs were created in June and July than previously reported. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised from 64,000 to 45,000, and the change for July was revised from 163,000 to 141,000.
– The broader U-6 unemployment rate, which includes part-time workers who want full-time work, is at 14.7%.
– The employment-population ratio is perhaps the broadest measure of the health of the labor market. It just shows how many Americans — not in the military or in prison — as a share of the population actually have some sort of a job. That number fell last month to 58.3%, just off its Great Recession lows.
– Each month, The Hamilton Project examines the “jobs gap” — the number of jobs that the U.S. economy needs to create in order to return to pre-recession employment levels while also absorbing the people who enter the labor force each month. If we added 96,000 jobs every month, we would not close the jobs gap until after 2025, as this chart shows.
– The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.4 hours in August. The manufacturing workweek declined by 0.2 hour to 40.5 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 3.2 hours.
– The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.7 hours.
– In August, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 1 cent to $23.52. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings rose by just 1.7 percent.
– In August, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees edged down by 1 cent to $19.75.
As President Obama likes to say on in his campaign speeches; when his supporters boo Mitt Romney or the Republicans — “Don’t Boo, VOTE!” Well, I think it is quite obvious that it is time for Americans to vote differently. Because it is quite obvious to this writer that President Obama has done nothing to match his flowing rhetoric in his speeches.
We can surmise that Obama’s lackluster performance last night was due in part to an early look at a jobs report that not even his most dogged media shills can spin. Mitt Romney put out a statement that read: “If last night was the party, this morning is the hangover. For every net new job created, nearly four Americans gave up looking for work entirely. This is more of the same for middle class families who are suffering through the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. After 43 straight months of unemployment above 8%, it is clear that President Obama just hasn’t lived up to his promises and his policies haven’t worked. We aren’t better off than they were four years ago. My plan for a stronger middle class will create 12 million new jobs by the end of my first term. America deserves new leadership that will get our economy moving again.”
The job numbers will likely harden the perception that the president is in over his head. The voters do not see a “recovery.” A call for “more time” is unconvincing if one has the sense neither that four nor 40 years would make a difference under this president.
Romney will continue to hammer away at the president’s failures. But he would be wise to push (as he is doing in 15 new ads in eight states) his own plans for middle-class Americans, and most especially domestic energy development. Voters are certain things are bad; they now need to be reassured Romney will be better. With these jobs numbers the public might well conclude: How could he do any worse?
To this I can only add a very hearty Gentile Protestant Christian —- Amen. 😉 😀
Hostess, the makers of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, is going out of business after striking workers failed to heed a Thursday deadline to return to work, the company said.
Update II: Like I said, I haven’t paid much attention to this fight, so I don’t have a lot of insight into whether labor or management has been more unreasonable. However, the Teamsters’ web site seems to 
strike.
But the bakers union deserved to get thrown under the bus by the Teamsters because it looks like they threw the Teamsters under the bus, first. The Teamsters and the bakers worked together to come to a deal with Hostess in September. The bakers were quiet during negotiations, 
