California, New York, and IIlinois worst places to do business

Mike Shedlock has done an excellent article graphically pointing out the differences between the worst states to do business, and the States considered the best. California tops the list as the worst, followed by New York, and Illinois. Taxes and high costs were among the factors that contributed to the state's poor showing in the survey. California was deemed to have the worst business climate, followed by New York and Illinois.

Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina were viewed as having the best business climates, according to the survey.

Best and Worst States, Things in Common

• Illinois, New York, and California all have Democratic governors.
• Illinois, New York, and California all have governors beholden to public unions.
• Illinois, New York, and California are not right to work states.
• Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina are all right-to-work states.
• Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina do not have governors beholden to public unions.

Right to Work States 

Chart courtesy of National Right-to-Work legal defense foundation

Paul Krugman, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, others, Ignore Extortion, Bribery, Coercion, and Slavery; No One Should Own You!

Collective Bargaining neither a Privilege nor a Right

Even FDR Understood the Problem

Public unions get into bed with management and politicians and work out sweet deals for themselves at taxpayer expense. No one looks out for the taxpayer. Even FDR understood the problem.

Message from FDR

Inquiring minds are reading snips from a Letter from FDR Regarding Collective Bargaining of Public Unions written August 16, 1937.

All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.

The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations.

Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees.

A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable.

 The Heritage Foundation also points out that The Davis–Bacon Act (DBA) requires the government to pay construction wages that average 22 percent above market rates. This shields unions from competition on federal construction projects. It will also add $10.9 billion to the deficit in 2011.

Repealing The Davis -Bacon Act would save the taxpayers $10.9 billion dollars. So when the politicians say they cannot find things to cut from the budget it really means they just aren't looking hard enough.

"Pass This Bill " or I'll never shut up

Obama continued on the campaign trail in COLUMBUS, Ohio where he spoke, excuse me, campaigned on his so-called "Jobs Bill", and implored Congress to follow his lead off the cliff of fiscal insanity and adopt his nearly $450 billion jobs plan, promising it would help workers in the construction industry and rebuild schools in crumbling condition - and he added "My question to Congress is, what on earth are we waiting for ? "

Actually that is a very good question. One of the things we are waiting for is find out what happened to the billions of dollars in the first stimulus that was promised would go to "help workers in the construction industry and rebuild schools in crumbling condition" ?

Comrade Obama likes to come up with chants and slogans to memorize the masses, and his cult followers love them -- Who can forget the video of Obama being primed by his handlers and cued backstage on how to fire up the crowd with his ""Yes We Can" chant -- I knew we were in deep trouble when I saw that stunt, then there was the slogan from the first Stimulus "Shovel Ready" he actually laughed at us after he got the money and we were stupid enough to ask where the jobs were ? ha-ha-ha.

Then there were the Health-care slogans "It's not a Tax" well, yes it is, ha-ha-ha, and "You can keep your insurance if you want" well, maybe not, ha-ha-ha, and now we have "Pass This Bill"

At a high school in the critical electoral state of Ohio, Obama delivered a fiery campaign speech to plug his plan. The outdoor audience was more than willing follow their pop culture idol in adopting his refrain and chanting it back to him, shouting: "Pass this bill!" -- It's amazing how Obama can adopt almost any insane policy, create a slogan, and how many people will blindly chant and follow him, is this still America ?

Obama also asked congress "what on earth are we waiting for ?" But I have a feeling that Obama and his followers are not waiting for an answer, the question is meant only in the rhetorical sense, There is no desire to open the discussion or debate, or include other ideas -- and the reasons to wait are many.

If you are not a Kool Aid drinker, or Obama cult follower and are curious why this guy runs around stumping to promote such a piss poor excuse for an economic policy, the answer is simple, Obama watches the polls.38% of Americans are Kool Aid drinkers and support this so-called "Jobs Bill" 36 % oppose it, and a whopping 26 % are undecided. Obama is trying to swing those undecideds into his camp -- It doesn't matter if it's a good bill, effective bill, or just another pork and patronage bill to pay off the unions and his campaign donors - ITS MY BILL -- PASS IT DAMN IT !

How the hell can you be undecided at such a critical time as this, when the future of America, our jobs, our economy, and the future of our children hangs in the balance ? It's unforgivable.

Obama's list of ideas of how to pay for this all involve cutting future spending years from now or other sleight-of-hand magic like cutting programs that were not in the budget. Also possible are tax hike proposals that will be dead on arrival in the House.

Ultimately he will kick it down the road to the gang-of 12 to figure out how to make this plan balanced -- Good luck with that by the way.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas summed it very nicely when he said "It's not the role of this committee to spend more money we don't have on jobs we don't get."

Illinois's plan to tax jobs out of the state is working

Illinois is doing a great job of "losing jobs" Since January, Illinois has dropped 89,000 people from its employment rolls.

Illinois lost more jobs during the month of July than any other state in the nation, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report. After losing 7,200 jobs in June, Illinois lost an additional 24,900 non-farm payroll jobs in July. The report also said Illinois’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 percent. This marks the third consecutive month of increases in the unemployment rate.

States that implement a combination of high taxes, overspending and red tape do nothing but chase away jobs and leave many of the poor, working class, middle class, people that they claim to be trying to help without jobs.

Pat Quinn,the worse Governor in the country,likes to tell the story about how he was forced to room with Governor Rick Perry from Texas on a governors trip to Iraq a few years ago, and jokes about how he had to submit himself to the harshest punishment known to man -- listening to Perry's philosophy -- well maybe he should not only have listened, but also have taken some notes, because Perry's philosophy is working, his isn't.

Illinois is a microcosm of what is happening federally, while governor Quinn is making fun of Texas, their approach has been pro free market, limited government, and less spending, and it's working. While states like Illinois continue to follow the Obama model of -- take more money -- spend more money -- run it through the government and create jobs -- It doesn't work.

Please listen to CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute John Tillman on WLS AM on the Fiasco in Illinois. It is an excellent interview about the economy and jobs situation in Illinois

Watch the Fight of the Century - Keynes & Hayek

From Econ Stories

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession ended almost two years ago, in the summer of 2009. But the economy is flat and threatening contraction.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has just released a report that there were mass layoffs in July, employers took 1,579 mass layoff actions in July involving 145,000 workers

Obama’s Keynesian economic policies have been catastrophic failure,The Government seems confused about what to say, much less do, to turn this around.

John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek never agreed on the answers to these questions and they still don’t. Let’s listen to the greats. See Keynes and Hayek throwing down in “Fight of the Century.”

-- produced by John Papola and Russ Roberts.

The new CAFE standards will cost U.S. Jobs

The Obama administration’s Department of Transportation (DOT) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are quietly moving to make another round of changes to CAFE standards. (That’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy) The changes would affect model years from 2017 to 2025.

They tried to push this through twice before and it fell flat with both manufacturers and consumers in the polls, the White House now is trying a different tactic. If you want to push through an unpopular program, you need a villain to blame, high gas prices, of course. “We’re doing it to save the consumers!

Okay, we all want more efficient cars. But there is a trade off here. By pushing manufacturers beyond reasonable, attainable goals we are sacrificing our safety. The Obama administration is bereft of even a basic knowledge of economics and physics. It is staffed with so-called experts and academics that are manipulated into "making" things happen. And those things are Obama's delusional fantasies. It's not only a half-witted management style, it's dangerous.

As car manufactures are pushed harder and harder to produce the governments desired results for fuel efficiency, they will have to compromise on the size, and weight of cars. Major structural and technology changes will have to be made to vehicles to achieve these absurd mileage goals, and we will become the guinea pigs for Obama's silly ideological adventures.

A 2002 National Research Council study found that the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards contributed to about 2,000 deaths per year through their restrictions on car size and weight. EPA official mission may be "to protect human health and the environment, and while it it fixates on minute risks such as radon in your drinking water, it cares little about whether or not you and/or your family are sacrificed for the "cause" in one of these small dangerous experimental vehicles, which by the way get great gas mileage !

There are a lot of questions about the wisdom of such foolish, self-serving legislation that the MSM is just NOT addressing. While fuel efficiency is important, we need to be realistic about our programs. Are they attainable ? Will they cost jobs ? Are they safe ?

Yes, it will cost many jobs. According to a new report by The Center for Automotive Research the number could be as high as 264,500 jobs lost just from new automobile fuel efficiency standards being considered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Meanwhile, the cost of a new vehicle could go up by nearly $10,000 and sales could be reduced by 5.5 million vehicles annually, not a good idea in this economy.

How do you define government overreach ? When the government takes over an entire private industry like the auto industry, then pushes, unrealistic, dangerous standards on the industry, and forces through market manipulation me and my family to buy and drive cars that are may be dangerous and deadly, that's too much.

While Obama traverses the country giving re-election speeches about creating jobs, jobs, jobs, his minions continue to kill jobs, and the economy. Obama and his boot licking followers at the EPA, DOT, NRLB, et al, need to be stopped from forcing new regulations on American business and consumers whether they like it or not, no matter the price.

Also consider :

Small Cars Are Dangerous Cars

The statists at the EPA have made their bid for control of the economy of the United States of America and destroy any semblance of rights of American citizens.