Tag: Special interest groups

Abundance or scarcity?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Abundance is a new book that has been attracting attention and debate among mainstream economists and politicians.  It aims to explain to Democrat members in the US why their party lost the election to Trump (narrow as that result was).  The authors, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, writers at very liberal mainstream The New York Times and The Atlantic, respectively, argue that it was because the Democrats and supporters of ‘liberal democracy’ have lost their ability in government to carry out great projects that could deliver the things and services that working people (called the ‘middle class’ in America) need.

Abundance or scarcity?

US Seeks “Super Weapons” to Reign as Sole Superpower

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

YouTube / Rumble

– The US realizes its window of opportunity following the Cold War to assert itself as sole global superpower is closing (if it hasn’t closed already);

– It seeks to find a way to match or exceed the military capabilities and industrial capacity of both Russia and China through “innovation;”

– The US refuses to recognize the fundamental flaws in its own system as well as the premise upon which it seeks primacy in the first place;

– Start-up companies seeking to out-innovate and/or out-produce China propose unrealistic measures that either won’t work or that China is already employing itself on a much larger scale;

References:

US Seeks “Super Weapons” to Reign as Sole Superpower

Previously:

US Seeks “Super Weapons” to Reign as Sole Superpower

Unions in Wisconsin sue to reverse collective bargaining restrictions on teachers, others

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Seven unions representing teachers and other public workers in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit Thursday attempting to end the state’s near-total ban on collective bargaining for most public employees.

Unions in Wisconsin sue to reverse collective bargaining restrictions on teachers, others

Related:

Wisconsin’s Act 10 Is in Jeopardy (WSJ)

The law, signed by former Gov. Scott Walker, has saved the Badger State from turning into Illinois or New York, where public unions essentially run the state government for their own benefit. According to the MacIver Institute, Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers $16.8 billion since it was passed in 2011, making public finances more manageable at every level of government.

Progressive mayors who publicly rail against the law know that repealing it would wreak havoc on municipal budgets. According to Wisconsin Right Now, Milwaukee’s budget says it has saved about $345.4 million in health insurance since 2012 because of Act 10’s requirement that public employees contribute to their health plans.

The lawsuit by teachers and other public unions focuses on a narrow part of the law that exempts public-safety employees. The unions say this creates a “favored” class of workers and imposes “severe burdens on employees in the disfavored group.” Act 10’s “anti-democratic regime,” the unions continue, subjects “general” employees “to a panoply of burdens and deprives them of important rights,” while exempting police officers and firefighters from “all its injurious provisions.”

Attacks on Public-Sector Unions Harm States: How Act 10 Has Affected Education in Wisconsin

A Decade After Act 10, It’s A Different World For Wisconsin Unions

WSJ quotes MacIver Institute, from the Atlas Network via State Policy Network, Bradley Foundation, and Americans for Prosperity (Kochtopus). Former WI Governor Scott Walker, another Atlas/Koch tool, does not rule out intervening.