Biden Sets Leftist Tone for 2024 Re-Election Effort at Philadelphia Event

President Joe Biden held his first presidential re-election campaign event on Saturday at the Philadelphia Convention Center, making strong appeals to his left-wing base. 

Biden appeared alongside organized-labor activists and mentioned in the first few seconds of his oration that when he thinks of working Americans, he especially values the ones who associate with causes he finds politically congenial.

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Unemployment Rates Drop in Nearly Every Tennessee County

In a new release on Thursday, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) announced March 2023 decreases in the unemployment rates in all but one county. Meigs County, a rural area situated between Chattanooga and Knoxville with a population of around 13,000, was the only one of 95 counties that saw an increase in its unemployment figure – by 0.7 percent.

Meigs County also had the highest unemployment rate of any county, with 5.6 percent. Most of the other top ten highest unemployment rates were in rural counties, including Bledsoe, Haywood, Lake, Scott, Clay, Cocke, Decatur, Lauderdale, and Grundy Counties.

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Pennsylvania Is Missing 113,000 Workers

Pennsylvania is missing young workers and the problem is one that won’t simply go away.

While the commonwealth isn’t the only state struggling with a shrinking youth population, state-to-state comparisons are difficult to make due to data issues. What’s clear is that Pennsylvania has had a significant drop in its labor force participation rate. Rather than a story of older workers retiring, the majority of missing workers are under 45 rather than over.

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Ohio’s Buckeye Institute Takes Stand Against Vandalism by Unions

The Columbus-based Buckeye Institute submitted a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of cement manufacturer Glacier Northwest’s argument that workers’ unions cannot claim vandalism their members commit during labor disputes is “protected activity.”

Last December, the Supreme Court of the state of Washington, in which Glacier is based, ruled that employers could not invoke state law to sue labor organizations over some acts of vandalism committed during strikes which the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects. 

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Majority of Tennesseans Support the State’s Right-to-Work Amendment

A recent poll asking Tennessee voters whether they would support a proposed constitutional “right-to-work” amendment indicates the measure has strong backing.

According to a Cygnal survey of 500 likely voters conducted from October 7 through 9, 58 percent of respondents said they expect they will vote on November 8 to approve Amendment One which would enshrine the policy in the Tennessee Constitution. Only 22 percent anticipated they will vote against the proposal and 20 percent had not yet decided. Positivity toward the proposed amendment enlarged to 60 percent when only voters who indicate they “always” vote on ballot initiatives were examined.

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Reporting, Staff Turnover Contribute to Pennsylvania Audit Troubles

Recent audits show that poor accounting practices can cause Pennsylvania townships to lose out on thousands of dollars, either in interest from a pension fund or from state aid.

A September audit of Dunkard Township in Greene County, for example, found that administrative mistakes caused an overpayment from state aid, among other issues, and required the township to repay nearly $5,000. 

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Commentary: The World Does Not Run on Magic

At a recent hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, the CEO of Colonial Pipeline made an admission which illustrates quite well our negligence and improvidence. The company paid out nearly $5 million in blackmail money to an unknown hacker when the pipeline was shut down for several days. That, of course, was bad enough, and most of the man’s testimony had to do with the technicalities of which government agency was notified and when, and what the company’s computer experts did to remedy the situation. 

But there was another piece of his testimony, one that you had to look hard to find in the news reports. He testified that most of the men who could operate the controls on the pipeline have died or retired, so that the 5,500-mile line must rely almost wholly upon computerized systems for its operation. That means, of course, that we are vulnerable to attacks by people who do not have to take a guard at gunpoint, or dig a big hole somewhere that no one will notice.

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Proposal Would Let Connecticut Agencies Sue Employers and Bestow Proceeds on Unions

Michael Winkler

A bill in the Connecticut House of Representatives would allow the state to effectively nullify worker-employer agreements designed to prevent lawsuits and let state officials bestow some monetary awards on unions.

The legislation, sponsored by State Representative Michael Winkler (D-Vernon), would evade what it refers to as “forced arbitration agreements” and “allow employees to sue employers on behalf of the state after having waived their personal rights to sue.” 

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Inflation Hits Highest Level in 39 Years

Large crowd of people shopping during the holidays

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.9% in November, bringing the key inflation indicator’s year-over-year increase to 6.8%, the highest figure in four decades.

The CPI’s increase is the largest increase in four decades, up from October’s 6.2% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released Friday morning. Experts surveyed by CNBC projected inflation would increase 0.7% in November, translating to a 6.7% gain on a year-over-year basis.

“These are frighteningly high inflation numbers, the likes of which we haven’t seen for decades,” Allen Sinai, chief global economist and strategist at Decision Economics, Inc., told The Wall Street Journal.

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The U.S. Is Running Out of Warehouse Space, Intensifying Supply Chain Bottlenecks and Adding to Inflation

Man in blue polo and jeans working on a warehouse on his laptop

Available warehouse space near significant distribution hubs fell to historic lows in the third quarter of 2021, placing even more pressure on supply chain bottlenecks and increasing inflation, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Demand for industrial real estate in the third quarter outpaced supply by 41 million square feet, increasing the vacancy rate to 3.6%, down 0.7% from Q3 2020 and marking the lowest level since 2002, according to data from CBRE, the WSJ reported.

Warehouses near the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports in California, some of the most important distribution points of entry in the country, reached a vacancy rate of 1% in Q3 this year, according to the WSJ. During the same quarter in 2020, the vacancy rate was 2.3%.

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Commentary: The Democrats’ Topsy-Turvy Spin Machine

Joe Biden talking to staff members

The guessing game of how long the levitation of the Biden presidency can be taken seriously seems to be entering a new phase. The deluge of illegal entries into the United States at the southern border is now running at a rate of closer to 3 million than 2 million a year and yet we still see and hear the bobbling talking head of the Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas assuring us, “The southern border is closed.” 

The media has provided almost no coverage of this calamitous invasion. A recent Trafalgar poll found that 56 percent of Americans don’t think Joe Biden is “fully executing the duties of his office,” yet the docile White House press corps continues to ask him about his ice cream and other such probing questions of national interest. Apart from a rising stock market and a quieter atmosphere, the record of the new administration is one of almost complete failure. 

The oceanic influx of unskilled labor at the southern border cannot fail to aggravate unemployment and depress the incomes for the vulnerable sectors of what, under President Trump, was a fully employed workforce. The administration has reduced domestic oil production and squandered the country’s status as an energy self-sufficient state. These are all familiar issues to those who follow public affairs, but the 95 percent Democratic-supporting media preserve the cocoon of a fairyland Biden presidency, whose bumbling chief flatters himself with comparisons to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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At Least 40 Percent of NIAID and FDA Employees Have Not Been Vaccinated, According to Fauci and Marks

Doctor giving vaccination to patient

At least 40 percent of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) employees are refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine according to NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and FDA official Dr. Peter Marks.

During a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing Tuesday on efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Richard Burr (R-Va.) asked Fauci, Marks, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky what percentage of their own employees were vaccinated.

Both Fauci and Marks estimated that a little more than half—perhaps around 60 percent of their employees—have been vaccinated. Walensky waffled, saying only that she was “encouraging employees to get vaccinated,” but couldn’t say how many have actually done so.

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Analysis: Biden’s New Dawn of Net-Zero Is Looking Like a Dark Day for Labor

Last Labor Day, candidate Joe Biden made an impassioned pitch to leaders and members of the AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor federation. Stressing that “the great American middle class was built by unions,” he jabbed his finger in the air for emphasis as he promised, “I’m going to be the strongest labor president you have ever had,” drawing a smile from his longtime ally and friend, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

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Commentary: H-1B Visa Change is Good News for American Workers

Though his administration has been marked by setbacks and subversion, President Trump is looking to add a policy notch to his belt and, more importantly, a win for beleaguered American workers.

On October 6, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced reforms of the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program. The H-1B allows foreign nationals to enter the country to work in “specialty occupations”—but that term, like the program itself, is riddled with problems. These visa workers are commonly used to replace Americans, doing the same job for less pay and often without the same level of skill. Americans are often compelled to train their foreign replacements.

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Commentary: Economic Bounce Back Continues with 14.1 Million More Jobs Recovered Since April

Another 275,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in the month of September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) household survey, and 661,000 in the establishment survey, adding to the miraculous economic recovery that has taken place since COVID-19 lockdowns this spring as now states and businesses continue reopening at a rapid clip.

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Commentary: Pelosi Holds Millions of Small Businesses Hostage While Working Families Struggle

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a lot less was known about the virus and how to counter it, and while the nation was still ramping up production of testing and hospital resources including ventilators needed, 25 million jobs were lost across the country, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Since labor markets bottomed in April, 13.8 million jobs have been recovered, as states have begun steadily reopening in the months since.

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Commentary: Reviving The Conservative Heart of Organized Labor

It is no coincidence that what finally broke the Soviet Union was a Catholic trade union — a group of shipyard workers, led by an electrician and motivated by a faith that their oppressors deemed an opiate.

Christianity and its sweeping social vision enlivened the workers in Gdansk and their entire nation and, a decade later, a totalitarian superpower claiming to speak on behalf of all workers around the world had vanished. The forbidden revolution of workers bound together in solidarity around a shared vision of dignity, work, and the common good did what tanks and armed divisions had failed to do: it ended communism and gained freedom for millions.

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Three Major Unions Sue Michigan Over New Labor Laws

Three of the country’s largest unions sued the State of Michigan on Thursday over new union regulations, which they called “anti-worker.”

The United Auto Workers (UAW), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) sued the state over new laws, according to a joint statement. In July, the four-person Michigan Civil Service Commission (MCSC) approved the law changes in a 3-1 vote mandating that union workers manually reauthorize their union membership every year.

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Michigan Unemployment Claims Reach Record High

The economic fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic includes massive unemployment caused by government-mandated shutdowns of businesses throughout Michigan.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reported 129,298 Michigan employees filed unemployment claims last week. Government figures indicate that number has increased from nearly 5,338 people filing unemployment claims reported March 14, a difference of more than 123,960.

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3.3 Million File Unemployment Claims in U.S. – a Record Number

Nearly 3.3 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week, a record number as businesses were forced to shut down to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that 3.28 million claims were filed in the week that ended March 21. That marked an increase of more than 3 million claims over the week prior, when 282,000 claims were filed.

The previous high in a single week, according to the department, was in October 1982, when about 695,000 claims were filed. The nearly 3.3 million claims filed last week is nearly five times the prior record.

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Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party Is ‘Clear Winner’ In UK European Parliament Elections

by Evie Fordham   Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party snagged 29 of the United Kingdom’s European Parliament seats in Sunday’s election just days after Prime Minister Theresa May announced her resignation. The Brexit Party was the “clear winner” of the UK’s European elections according to BBC, especially when compared with May’s Tories, which earned only four seats. “With a big, simple message — which is we’ve been badly let down by two parties who have broken their promises — we have topped the poll in a fairly dramatic style,” Farage told BBC Radio 4 on the “Today” program. “The two party system now serves nothing but itself. I think they are an obstruction to the modernizing of politics… and we are going to take them on.” The Brexit Party will stun everybody again if the UK does not leave the EU by 31st October. pic.twitter.com/n5DnVxkkQ7 — Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) May 27, 2019 Members of the Brexit Party want to leave the European Union (EU), but the party with the next biggest chunk of votes, the Liberal Democrats, want to remain. The Lib Dems took 16 seats, according to BBC. Labour took 10, Greens seven, Tories four, the Scottish National Party three and…

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Elizabeth Warren Introduces Legislation to Create a Government-Run Pharmaceutical Manufacturer

by Molly Prince   Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation on Tuesday that would establish a government-run pharmaceutical manufacturer to effectively compete with the private market. The Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act seeks to address the increasing prices of prescription drugs by injecting competition into the marketplace, consequently lowering the cost of mass-produced generic drugs. The bill would create the Office of Drug Manufacturing, which would be housed within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Warren said that adding the agency would increase competition. “In market after market, competition is dying as a handful of giant companies spend millions to rig the rules, insulate themselves from accountability, and line their pockets at the expense of American families,” Warren said in a statement. “The solution here is not to replace markets, but to fix them.” According to the bill, the Office of Drug Manufacturing would be tasked with producing drugs in cases where the market has been deemed to have failed. For example, in addition to requiring the agency to produce generic insulin within one year of authorization, it will be permitted to manufacture any prescription drug that the government has licensed. Moreover, the office can manufacture generic drugs if: No company…

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Jobless Welfare Claims Near a Five-Decade Low

by Tim Pearce   The number of Americans claiming unemployment insurance fell unexpectedly in late September after economists anticipated destruction from Hurricane Florence to hold claim numbers steady. The number of unemployment filings edged back toward the lowest rate in nearly five decades. The four-week moving average fell to the lowest rate since October 1973, according to data released by the Department of Labor Thursday. Roughly 207,000 people filed for initial jobless claims. The amount fell 8,000 from the week prior and outpaced economists’ expectations that the number would continue to sit around 215,000, signaling a stronger labor market that can absorb new workers quickly, according to The Wall Street Journal. “In the week ending September 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 207,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised level,” according to the Labor Department. North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky posted the largest unemployment numbers, likely due to Hurricane Florence. Many residents in the area might have not filed for benefits yet, which could lead to higher unemployment numbers in those states in the short-term. The unemployment rate for August measured at 3.9 percent. Economists predict the rate will fall slightly to 3.8 percent in September. September’s initial jobs numbers will be…

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Report: Machines to Handle Over Half Workplace Tasks by 2025

More than half of all workplace tasks will be carried out by machines by 2025, organizers of the Davos economic forum said in a report released Monday that highlights the speed with which the labor market will change in coming years. The World Economic Forum estimates that machines will be responsible for 52 percent of the division of labor as share of hours within seven years, up from just 29 percent today. By 2022, the report says, roughly 75 million jobs worldwide will be lost, but that could be more than offset by the creation of 133 million new jobs. A major challenge, however, will be training and re-training employees for that new world of work. “By 2025, the majority of workplace tasks in existence today will be performed by machines or algorithms. At the same time a greater number of new jobs will be created,” said Saadia Zahidi, a WEF board member. “Our research suggests that neither businesses nor governments have fully grasped the size of this key challenge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” The “Future of Jobs 2018” report, the second of its kind, is based on a survey of executives representing 15 million employees in 20 economies.…

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Commentary: President Trump’s Pro-American Worker Push Makes Labor Day a Time to Celebrate

Tennessee Star

by Jeffery Rendall   Perhaps it’s fitting heading into Labor Day weekend that we should talk about jobs – not necessarily how many Americans have them versus those that don’t and are still searching, but how conditions are improving in the employment market and who’s reaping the benefits. First came the announcement earlier this week that the United States and Mexico had agreed to ditch the old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in favor of a new pact that will help even out trade imbalances between the two countries and hopefully put smiles on the faces of workers above and below the southern border. Naturally President Donald Trump turned the significant occasion into a “must see” TV moment. Jordan Fabian and Vicki Needham reported at The Hill, “President Trump said Monday the U.S. has reached an agreement with Mexico amid contentious talks on revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)… “’It’s a big day for trade. It’s a big day for our country,’ the president told reporters in the Oval Office, who were summoned to watch Trump speak by phone with outgoing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. “Trump cast doubt on whether Canada would be party to a new trade agreement,…

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Contrary to Nervous Nellie ‘Economic Experts,’ the Trump Economy is Booming with Elevated Aluminum and Steel Prices

Donald Trump

By Robert Romano   One of the conventional wisdoms to do with the tariffs and duties levied by the Trump administration on steel, aluminum and lumber is that they will lead to higher prices and inflation, hurting producers and consumers, thus stunting economic growth. For example, billionaire Charles Koch warned on July 30 that the tariffs would lead to a recession. So far, however, that does not appear to be the case. In the second quarter of 2018, the U.S. economy boomed at an inflation-adjusted 4.1 percent annualized. And the latest consumer and producer prices, taking into account the period when many of the tariffs were levied, do not show the predicted price hikes. Consumer inflation is up 0.8 percent the past six months, below the Fed’s 2 percent 12-month target. As for producer prices, if you look at finished goods for final demand by commodity less energy and food, you see a 1.44 percent increase the last six months, averaging 0.24 percent a month. That is slightly below the historical average of 0.27 percent a month dating back to 1974. Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning commented on the numbers, saying, “the six-month tracking demonstrates that the economic growth spurt generated through President Trump’s…

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How Restrictive Labor Laws Keep Puerto Rico’s Economy Down

Puerto Rico

by Rachel Greszler   An economic crisis has engulfed Puerto Rico. The Financial Oversight Management Board, a federally-mandated advisory group, has worked to help Puerto Rico deal with its financial crisis and establish policies that will lead to long-run growth. The board says Puerto Rico must reform its labor market to have a bright future. While the oversight board has direct authority to enact certain fiscal reforms, it needs the Puerto Rican legislature’s approval to enact most of its proposed labor market reforms. Puerto Rico’s governor has agreed to most of the board’s proposed reforms, but the island’s legislature is trying to block the labor reforms that Puerto Rico’s people need. The board recommends several essential reforms: implementing “at-will employment” (allowing employers to fire employees without excessive legal hurdles or significant severance pay); making Puerto Rico the equivalent of a right-to-work state; and reducing unwarranted employee compensation requirements such as mandatory Christmas bonuses and excessive amounts of paid leave. The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more >> Even with all of these changes, Puerto Rico would still have more onerous labor market regulations than the rest…

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Commentary: Pell Grant Reform Could Mean Good Paying Jobs for Middle America

By Natalia Castro   President Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan won’t just be looking to refurbish the nation’s bridges and roads but is also aiming at reforming our nation’s educational institutions. To combat some of the most significant problems within our labor force and education system, President Trump has included a provision in his infrastructure plan that could increase access to non-college job training programs without increasing spending. As the legislative outline for Trump’s infrastructure proposal explains, the American workforce is integral to a properly running country and economy. But with nearly seven million individuals around the country looking for work and six million unfilled jobs, America’s skills gaps are leaving workers behind. Despite jobs growth and decreasing unemployment, while a disproportionate share of Americans go to college, jobs that require more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree, called middle-skilled jobs, are not being filled. In states like Iowa, more than half of all available jobs are middle-skilled jobs, which leaves both jobs unfilled and skilled workers unemployed. In Palm Beach County, Florida jobs for welders and mechanics are going continually unfilled.  Jeff Ostrowski of the Palm Beach Post notes how strange this phenomenon is in their area, considering top…

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Big Labor Wants Tens Of Thousands Of California Pot Workers Paying Union Dues

Labor unions are vying for new, dues-paying members from California’s growing cannabis industry as a state law legalizing recreational pot is only days away from taking full effect. After California residents passed Proposition 64 in 2016, the Golden State became the largest market in the U.S. for recreational marijuana and boosted the already growing weed industry. Proposition 64 will be fully implemented in a matter of days at the start of 2018, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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Businesses Claim That Without H-2B Visa Expansion, Lawns Will Be Left Unmowed

lawn, gardener, landscaper

Landscaping businesses who heavily depend on foreign labor are begging the government to expand the number of visas available for workers, as lawns are apparently going unmowed. In a call Thursday with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, these businesses said without a big increase in the number of H-2B visas available for low-skilled seasonal workers,…

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