Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 07/27/2014 4:30:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Hey, do you remember when Michigan shocked the nation and became a right to work state in 2012? That was supposed to usher in the end of the world, at least in the view of union leaders and their Democrat water carriers. As Thomas Lifson reminds us at The American Thinker, the predictions were nigh on to apocalyptic.
“There will be blood, there will be repercussions,” State Democratic Rep. Douglas Geiss, speaking on the House floor on Tuesday, warned ahead of the votes.
And of course, there were predictions of disaster for the “little guy” as ruthless bosses would exploit the defenseless workers.
Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, said that right-to-work legislation would lower employee wages.
Those poor, poor Michigan workers. One can only imagine how they must be struggling two years later after the nasty, wingnut conservatives threw them to the corporate wolves. So… how’s that working out?
Michigan’s per-capita personal income increased from $38,291 in 2012 (before right-to-work became law) to $39,215 in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. That increase was the ninth highest in the country. (snip)
“The dire predictions of right-to-work detractors have not come true — Michigan has been a leader in income growth since passage,” said James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
A study released this week by Richard Vedder, a distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University and an adjunct scholar with the American Enterprise Institute as well as with the Mackinac Center, found that “incomes rise following the passage of RTW laws, even after adjusting for substantial population growth that those laws also induce. RTW states tend to be vibrant and growing; non-RTW states tend to be stagnant and aging.”
I agree with Lifson that this isn’t a straight forward, apples to apples comparison. In an open, capitalist system there are a wide variety of factors which go into determining wages. These can include outside factors beyond the control of both industry and the state government, particularly in an interconnected, global marketplace. The study estimates that average wages might be $3K per year higher today had the unions not had their thumb on the scale, but that figure may be off a bit, either higher or lower. But overall, the trend still tends to bend in one direction or the other, and in Michigan’s case the trend is toward more competition and higher wages.
But the workers (and the voters) should be able to take one central theme from this information and other states can take notice of it. The unions have been taking a piece of their wages for decades – sometimes against their will – and applying it to political campaign coffers and advertising campaigns rather than spending it to better the working conditions and lives of the workers. And in exchange for this pound of flesh they received… less pay.
Go forth and prosper.
MI ping.
This would never work in Minnesota....they’d rig the statistics....
The thugs are hurting and that’s good. They may have to go out and get REAL jobs now.
How soon before mac daddy sic’s the DOJ, FBI, IRS, ATF, EPA, Rev. AL, and Jesse Jackas* on the state to find some way to punish it for not stopping these terrorist tax payers for voicing their freedom of choice?
He would have done something sooner but he just read about it today while there was a pause in his fundraising/vacation/golfing at the tax payers expense schedule.
This is hard to get a handle on. How many workers have said no or dropped out of let’s say one of the big 3? The Unions won’t tell you and frankly on the talk shows calling in anonymously some have noted they won’t do it yet for fear of a number of things let alone repeal. Tangent is the length of the contracts etc. A lot to this, so one may ask are we comparing apples to oranges to strawberries and more? So many moving parts.
Thanks for posting. The original article is more understandable with the block quotes. Makes it easier to understand whose words you’re reading, Shaw’s or Lifson’s.
The good news in Michigan keeps coming for the most part...
China does good because of our Capitalism, we'll have that revolt soon, the same
way we did against Japan. Buy American....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.