American Production

Some interesting articles on US Manufacturing prowess and our place in the the world. First:

Per Capita GDP US vs China.

Second:

WSJ Article.

Mark Perry has a great blog as well.

Governments and Unions

A must read:


Lew Rockwell

Money and Politics

Just a sample of political donations from the side that says corporations are buying politicians:

Based on SEC filings as of September 13, 2010, here are how several large union PACs are donating to political candidates:


International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has donated $2,608,873 to political candidates. 98% of their donations have gone to Democrats.

Operating Engineers Union has donated $2,104,300 to political candidates. 89% of their donations have gone to Democrats.

American Federation of State/County/Municipal Employees has donated $1,914,500 to political candidates. 99% of their donations have done to Democrats.

Teamsters Union has donated $1,863,010 to political candidates. 98% of their donations have gone to Democrats.

American Federation of Teachers has donated $1,809,750 to political candidates. 100% of their donations have gone to Democrats.

Laborers Union has donated $1,807,500 to political candidates. 96% of their donations have gone to Democrats.

Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union has donated $1,726,500 to political candidates. 98% of their donations have gone to Democrats.

Carpenters & Joiners Union has donated $1,716,875 to political candidates. 84% of their donations have gone to Democrats.

National Air Traffic Controllers Association has donated $1,674,900 to political candidates. 83% have gone to Democrats.

State of the Union...

The state of events in Wisconsin are hopefully a turning point in American government. Johna Goldberg has an excellent column on why public sector unions are so bad for the tax payers of this country.

Even Roosevelt (the FDR variety) understood there was conflict of interest in public sector unions. While I am not a fan of labor unions, they have served a purpose over the years. However, the private sector unions could only go so far as to bankrupt a company. In the case of public sector unions, they can bankrupt states and that is a totally different matter.

I hope Wisconsin stays the course and doesn't cave like Indiana. We can only be so lucky as to replace B Hussein with someone who will be equally vigilant in DC post 2012.