Observations on Wisconsin
I’m noticing that the media is being somewhat slow to pickup on the real story happening in Wisconsin and not spreading to Indiana and Ohio. It’s not about fixing state deficits or finances. It’s about...
View ArticlePublic Sector Unions: U.S, Canada Compared
From Stephen Williamson (emphasis mine): One simple way to look at unions comes from Econ 101, where we just apply standard monopoly power arguments. Labor law gives workers the right to effectively...
View ArticlePrank Phone Call Reveals the Real Wisconsin Governor
Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin gets totally pranked and reveals a lot. No, it’s not about the money. It’s about busting the unions and he’ll lie if he has to. From Yves Smith, the author of...
View ArticleWhere’s Obama?
The President is missing. Could we get the candidate back? The concerted effort to eliminate collective bargaining rights has spread well beyond Wisconsin. So have the protests. Reports have protests...
View ArticleWisconsin Rolls On (Over Workers)
In the dead of the night Republicans in Wisconsin vote to end collective bargaining rights of unions who were not supportive of Governor Walker’s election. The state assembly (the lower house of the...
View ArticleMichigan IS Wisconsin – Just Different Tactics
Rick Snyder, Michigan governor, claims “Michigan is not Wisconsin”. People take this to mean Snyder doesn’t want to bust unions. That’s wrong. What Snyder means is he’s going to use a different...
View ArticleUnion-busting In The Past
Since unions and collective bargaining rights are in the news lately, here’s an event of interest for students of economic history. Ninety-seven years ago, union-busting meant murdering. Twenty-five...
View ArticleHow Come Conservatives Only Hate Some “Unions”?
Michael Perelman writes an excellent post on the roots of the current conservative efforts to roll-back collective bargaining rights for public workers. (See the Michael’s full post after the ‘more”...
View ArticleFinally Clarity on Wisconsin’s Real Objective: Bust Unions
Menzie Chinn reports more dispatches from Wisconsin, this time on recent Congressional testimony by Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker. It’s clear the union-busting efforting in Wisconsin is NOT about...
View ArticleMr. Daisey Goes to the Apple Factory – A Lesson in Comparative Economic Systems
One of the core lessons that I try to get across in my introductory Comparative Economic Systems classes is that economic systems are complex. Reality is much more complex than either simple theory or...
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