Month: June 2012

Unions and Illinois

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Seeing a giant rat outside your business isn’t exactly a red carpet for enterprises considering locating in the state of Illinois, especially while states right next door like Indiana are “right to work” states.

Caterpillar is currently locked in a strike with their workers at a plant in Joliet.

Roughly 800 union members walked out of the Caterpillar Inc. plant in Joliet on May 1, rejecting a proposed six-year contract that would freeze their wages, double health care premiums and eliminate pensions and seniority rights.

Caterpillar has been battling unions in Illinois for decades. Caterpillar is very familiar with how to operate during a strike and they have retirees and trained engineers, replacement workers, and individuals who crossed the picket line to run the plant. Caterpillar claims that output hasn’t been impacted by the strike. Caterpillar recently closed a Canada plant after workers refused to accept reduced pay and benefits and… moved those jobs to Indiana.

Employers are incredibly leery about adding jobs that might be unionized; while they are often leery of leaving behind assets and customers that are on the ground, new and incremental investment is another matter, entirely.

When you go to Michigan today you can see the beautiful homes and the world-class universities that were funded by the industrial powerhouse that used to be the auto industry. Today the growth in that industry all happens in the south, in non-union states. Someday those states too will have the long term wealth, since industry spawns an entire ecosystem that you can see running in reverse in the heavily unionized “blue” states.

Unions used to say that their members provided higher quality products than non-union workers; in Illinois the construction unions still tout these supposed advantages (not that there is evidence that construction quality is higher in Illinois than in the non-union south). Today, however, union arguments move more towards “fairness” and this is not a convincing argument – it might work with public employers that often shy away from a fight, but for companies like Caterpillar with global operations and global competitors they need to strike a hard bargain else their competitiveness will slip away to foreign competition.

Cross posted at LITGM

Follow Up: Passing of an Internet Gem

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Following up on  Twilight of an Internet Gem, eschatological blogger  John J. Reilly passed away Wednesday, May 30, 2012 from a disease that unfortunately proved to be, as Wikipedia clinically observes, “incurable and invariably fatal”.

Mr. Reilly’s obituary from the  The Jersey Journal:

JOHN J. REILLY, JERSEY CITY, John J. Reilly of Jersey City, 58, passed away on May 30, 2012. Beloved son of Jean Reilly (nee Harkins) and the late John Reilly, dear brother of Donna Reilly (Dennis Goonan), Mary Spence (Jack Spence), Nancy Reilly Zollo (Louis Zollo) and Nora Reilly, and uncle to David, Jennifer, Elizabeth, Kathryn and Michael, he was also cherished by many compassionate friends, especially those with whom he worshiped at Holy Rosary Church. After graduating from St. Peter’s College and earning his law degree from Georgetown University, he embarked upon a career as a writer, editor and attorney. His keen intellect and wry sense of humor resulted in many publications and a world-wide network of correspondents. His intellectual preoccupations ranged from theology and in particular eschatology to politics, alternative history, and the philosophy of science and literature. He published four books includ-ing Apocalypse and Future, Notes on the Cultural History of the 21st Century. John regularly appeared in First Things, Kirkus Reviews, and had been an editor at Culture Wars before he withdrew in protest to a drift toward anti-Semitism which he  publicly  denounced. John also maintained a blog, The Long View, where John serenely surveyed the world and opined that, indeed, everything is going to be OK. John’s intellectual interests also expressed themselves in various societies in which he was active including The International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, the Center for Millennial Studies, the Simplified Spelling Society, and American Literacy Council. A man of breathtakingly ecumenical feeling, he was without compromise a true and devout Catholic. It must have been his faith and his character formed by it and by his loving family that made him without a doubt the most optimistic expert on apocalyptic movements and dystopias. John explained himself thus: After long thought, I realized that the most important thing in life is to be helpful. So, I have taken to explaining things, carefully and empathetically, and often at very great length. ‘Spengler with a Smile’ is how I usually characterize the organizing principle. The loss of John’s self-effacing cheerful genius has left the world a darker place and, for those who were privileged to share his company, a son, brother and friend whose absence will always be felt. A wake will be held on Friday, June 1, from 4 – 8PM at McLaughlin’s Funeral Home, Jersey City. A requiem mass will be held at 10AM on Saturday, June 2, at Holy Rosary Church followed by interment at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington. In lieu of flowers, John would have appreciated donations to Holy Rosary Church. McLaughlin Funeral Home 625 Pavonia Avenue Jersey City, NJ 07306  (201) 798-8700
Requiescat in pace.

Diamond Jubilee

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This is a tough post for a guy like me. I am sure I will boot this somehow. I am a hayseed, born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, USA. Living now in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

We don’t have people like the Queen over here. Us Yanks seldom show much reverence toward our political leaders. I have a feeling that the services and memorials for when Reagan died may be the last in my lifetime that I see that have any real meaning – to me anyway. I almost cried when I saw Reagan’s caisson being drawn down the street that day. Almost. But not quite. He wouldn’t have wanted it that way.

But this isn’t about Ron. This is about Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. What an extraordinary example of decency, panache, and grace. I might as well capitalize the word Grace.

Not many know that the Queen served as a mechanic during WW2.

I am sure that she was sheltered in that role, but she still didn’t really have to pick up the wrench. She did anyways.

Over the years I have always been impressed with the Queen and the way she conducts herself. I already mentioned that I am a Midwest boy. I would never even think of bowing to a Saudi like our President did. It is sort of bred in me not to kowtow to any man. I am an American, after all. If you are not, you may not understand.

However, if I was in the presence of the Queen, I would surely bow my head – and she isn’t even my monarch. Of course the Queen doesn’t hold much real power now, and her role is mostly ceremonial – but that doesn’t detract from the fact that she is simply a fantastic, Graceful, wonderful woman and has been so for sixty years now on the throne.

Please forgive me, our guests from across the pond if I say this wrong. Happy Jubilee to the Queen and Happy Celebrations to her subjects. Long Live the Queen!

The Polish “gaffe.”

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The nation of Poland and hundreds of thousands of Polish-Americans were outraged when President Obama referred last week to “Polish Death Camps” in a speech awarding a medal of freedom to a Polish American named Jan Kozielewski who was smuggled into a death camp and brought evidence of the Holocaust to President Roosevelt. Evidence that was ignored.

There is a back story to this controversy that is only now starting to come out. In 2009, President Obama cancelled US missile sites that were intended to defend Poland and Czech Republic against Iranian missiles. The action was taken at the Russians’ request without even notifying the Polish government. That crisis began when the US promised to install such a missile site in 2008. After Obama took office, He cancelled the agreement without bothering to notify the Poles.

Subsequently, Walesa refused to meet with Obama when he was on a visit to Poland. He said,” ‘It’s difficult to tell journalists what you’d like to say to the president of a superpower. This time I won’t tell him, I won’t meet him, it doesn’t suit me,’ Walesa told news station TVN24.”

The European reaction was negative.

The president hadn’t even had a chance to redecorate the Oval Office before he felt the need, in fall of 2009, to appease Moscow by scrapping plans to build a missile defense shield protecting Poland and the Czech Republic from attack by Russia, Iran or any other aggressor.

At the time, the Polish minister of defense said, “This is catastrophic for Poland.”

The message, once again, delivered loud and clear to America’s friends, allies and enemies alike, is that the U.S. can’t be relied on.

This is what American voters get when they elect to the presidency an underexperienced man weighed down by an oversized ego.

Now, Obama, who has been shown to be a petty man,

got his revenge on Walesa by barring him from the ceremony.That was no gaffe. TelePrompTers don’t make gaffes.

Food Groups

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ChicagoBoyz recommends you get at least two servings per day of each of the food groups for a healthy and happy life.
Fries
Fresh Hot Coffee
Mini Donuts
Hot and Cold Drinks
Jumbo Hot Dogs