Free Republic

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin has signed a measure freeing workers in his state from having to pay union dues if they want to keep their jobs, naturally enough upsetting labor honchos wanting to grab every worker nickel they can. Not the least of them: Randi Weingarten, chief of the American Federation of Teachers. “Scott Walker fails the test of common decency and common sense,” said Weingarten, who represents teacher unions that commonly abet youths in failing standardized tests. Her comments came after Walker signed a bill making his state the 25th to enact a right-to-work law that does exactly...

Being a tech professional is a good career with plenty of high-paying jobs. But it's an ever-changing job market. One day a skill is hot and the next it's not. Job site Dice.com recently published its 2015 Salary Survey, which named the highest-paying tech skills. Dice, a tech-job-hunting site, surveyed 23,470 IT professionals in the fall of 2014 to come up with this list. Of course, skills alone won't always lead to a high salary. Work experience counts, too. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ No. 30: RDBMS is worth $114,100 RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) is the full-jargon term for the thing otherwise known...

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose marginally last week, indicating the labor market remained on solid footing despite slowing economic growth. Output has slowed in the first quarter, undercut by a harsh winter, a strong dollar, weaker overseas growth and a now-settled labor dispute at West Coast ports, mostly transitory factors that should fade by the second quarter. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday acknowledged the moderation in growth, but maintained its upbeat view of the jobs market and signaled it was nearing an interest rate increase by dropping the reference to being "patient" from its...

Tax credits issued through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation while Jennifer Granholm was governor are beginning to scoop dollars out of state coffers by the bucketful. The total cost of businesses claiming these credits against taxes due or cashing them in has been tagged at $9.38 billion. This isn’t happening all at once, but is expected to continue into the future with significant budgetary impacts for years to come. With all that’s taking place, it is not surprising that the MEDC, Michigan’s corporate welfare arm, is now probably about as popular with many lawmakers and state officials as the measles....

Curious which jobs pay the most and are in high demand right now? Glassdoor has released its inaugural 25 Highest Paying Jobs In Demand report, identifying top jobs that pay the most and are in high demand by employers nationwide. Job seekers: While these jobs pay handsomely, it’s important to note that most also require a high level of experience, skills and education to get hired. Check out the complete results: 1. Physician Average Base Salary: $212,270 Number of Job Openings: 7984 2. Pharmacy Manager Average Base Salary: $131,099 Number of Job Openings: 1787 3. Software Architect Average Base Salary:...

An older generation complaining that an emerging one will be the death of civilization as we know it is a cliche and constant as the North Star. However, based on some rather troubling data regarding today’s millennials, it could turn out to be true this time. In his first inaugural address as governor of California 47 years ago, Ronald Reagan warned us that “freedom is a fragile thing, and is never more than one generation away from extinction.” He also reminded us that freedom “is not ours by inheritance but must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation,...

|| By FITSNEWS || Wisconsin governor Scott Walker scored a big win in early-voting South Carolina this week … No, it wasn’t a major endorsement … or a smart staffing move … or another solid early polling performance in the Palmetto State. Walker – whose national profile was built by battling Big Labor – won thanks to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ petition to unionize Boeing’s North Charleston, S.C. plant. All of a sudden South Carolina – which boasts one of the nation’s lowest unionization rates – finds itself in the thick of a major organized labor...

"... “Had norms not changed, the growth of childbearing outside of marriage that we have recently seen among today’s unmarried low-educated and moderately educated young adults would not have occurred, even given the rise in income inequality,” Cherlin writes. College-educated Americans were able to adapt to changing mores because the economy was kind to them. But a shifting job market and easing taboos combined to tear a hole in the rest of the country's social fabric. This is all in keeping with what researchers find when they actually go out and talk to single mothers. Women in low-income communities say...

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Republican opposition to “Obamacare” spawned the GOP wave in 2014 and can buoy his party in 2016. The possible presidential hopeful said Monday that the GOP should keep a bulls-eye on the health care law to energize and mobilize voters. “The biggest job-killer in the country is ‘Obamacare,’” said Cruz, speaking at “Politics & Eggs” at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. Cruz repeatedly criticized the Affordable Care Act during his two-day visit to New Hampshire. On Sunday, at a Strafford County GOP event in Barrington and at the Grafton...

A so-called “war on the American worker” has intensified in the Golden State. Massive layoffs are being spearheaded by the multi-billion dollar Southern California Edison utilities company, which is terminating scores of American IT workers and replacing them with immigrant IT workers, from a slew of foreign counties, who are willing to work for far less compensation. These immigrants are in the U.S. on an H-1B visa program. “We don’t need foreign workers. We have plenty of Americans who are fully capable and equipped to carry out these jobs. It’s an absolute issue of corporate greed; nothing more nothing less,”...

MADISON (WKOW) -- Two executives who run a Texas-based sand mining company - which paid $52,500 in fines to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in 2014 - are major backers of Gov. Scott Walker's political action committee Our American Revival (OAR), according to CNN. In an article detailing several big money donors published on Monday, CNN lists Bob Rasmus and James Whipkey - who run Hi-Crush Partners - as two of OAR's major supporters in Texas. In August of 2014, 27 News reported the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered Hi-Crush Partners to pay $52,500 in July for...

For some time, I've been collecting news stories about robots and jobs. By robots, I mean almost any automated process that substitutes machines for people. Here are some examples: ● The restaurant chain Chili's installed 45,000 computer tablets in its U.S. locations, says The Post. The tablets enable customers to pay their bills, play games and place some orders. ● One hotel is introducing a robot bellhop that delivers items to guests' rooms, reports the New York Times. The same story mentions automated golf caddies. Another Times story reports that the German firm Daimler has demonstrated a self-driving truck. ●...

Brian Smith wrote: Since Ransom was kind enough to respond to me I will respond to him. The support that Obama has given for rebels Libya, Egypt, and Iran was necessary and wise because the conclusion is inevitable (the dictators are falling) and the sad fact is we (The United States and our policies) are largely resposible for putting them there. As far as Iraq as concerned we were also responsible for propping up Saddam Hussien. As the Russians learned in Afghanistan a military victory in the region is meaningless. - Kerry, Obama Seek Regime Change for Syria, Egypt...But Not...

While it’s becoming common to hear Scott Walker dismissed as a flash-in-the-pan or Flavor of the Month or Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time gaffmeister sure to be pushed aside to make way for Jeb’s Brinks truck of cash or Rubio’s glamor, there are less-apparent aspects of his appeal worth noting. That intrepid translator of the Christian Right’s codes, Sarah Posner, has a fascinating take at Religion Dispatches about Walker perfectly matching a growing mood among politically active conservative evangelicals who want a less showy but more reliable champion: >>>>Should he run for president, Walker may very well turn out to be the 2016 cycle’s...

Last Friday, we learned that the official “unemployment rate” has fallen to 5.5 percent. Since an unemployment rate of 5 percent is considered to be “full employment” by many economists, many in the mainstream media took this as a sign that the U.S. economy has almost fully “recovered” since the last recession. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, some Federal Reserve officials believe that “the U.S. economy is already at full employment“. But how can this possibly be? It certainly does not square with reality. Personally, I know people that have been struggling with unemployment for years and...

As the European Coal and Steel Community of Jean Monnet evolved into the EU, we were told a "United States of Europe" was at hand, modeled on the USA. And other countries and continents will inevitably follow Europe's example. There will be a North American Union of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and a Latin America Union of the Mercosur trade partnership. In an essay, "The E.U. Experiment Has Failed," Bruce Thornton of Hoover Institution makes the case that the verdict is in, the dream is dead, the EU is unraveling, One Europe is finished. Consider, first, economics. In 2013,...

Much is being written today about the Republican party’s urgent need to find “the next Ronald Reagan.” With Governor Scott Walker’s recent rise in the polls, many pundits have rushed to dismiss his chances because “Walker is no Reagan.” But, hold on a minute. Are the pundits missing something here? The two most successful Republican presidents in the last century were Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan. A serious look at the two of them sheds light on the current question of Walker’s viability as a presidential candidate. Different as Coolidge and Reagan were in looks and personality, there were striking...

New claims for US unemployment insurance fell last week after two weeks of gains amid severe winter weather, Labor Department data showed Thursday. Initial jobless claims fell 11 percent to 289,000 in the week ending March 7. The previous week's level was revised up by 5,000 to 325,000. "Harsher-than-usual winter weather likely boosted the level in the previous two weeks," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics, in a research note. "We doubt the underlying trend in claims has changed significantly. A sub-300K trend in claims implies continued strong employment growth and no let-up in the downtrend...

The popular but controversial taxi service Uber has set an ambitious goal of having 1 million female drivers worldwide by the year 2020. The company announced Tuesday that it was partnering with UN Women on the initiative, with the goal of “accelerating economic opportunity for women.”

In what could be a significant opening for the Republican Party, working-class Americans have largely abandoned President Obama and rejected his economic policies as they continue to suffer from the historically weak economic recovery, a new analysis of IBD/TIPP Poll data finds. By wide margins, this group is more likely than any other income class to say the country is headed in the wrong direction, the economy is getting worse, and they fear losing their jobs. Just 36% approve of the job that Obama is doing, compared with 43% overall, and vast majorities say his policies haven't helped the middle...