Posted on 02/26/2010 10:33:37 AM PST by American Dream 246
Perhaps Barack Obama picked Andy Stern for his bipartisan commission on the federal deficit just to get Stern out of the White House. After all, Obama may be getting tired of Stern’s weekly visits, but that hardly qualifies the SEIU chief to sit on a panel to make hard choices on federal budgeting. And with Stern on the panel, we can already guess how many job-cutting initiatives this panel will produce:
Honeywell International Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Cote and former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alice Rivlin were named by President Barack Obama today to serve on a commission on cutting the federal deficit. The president also appointed Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, and former Young & Rubicam Brands CEO Ann Fudge for the panel, to serve on the panel. …
Obama last week named former Democratic White House official Erskine Bowles and former Wyoming Republican Senator Alan Simpson as co-chairmen of the commission. The White House appointees will be joined by 12 other panel members chosen by Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate.
The 18-member National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility was created by Obama to come up with recommendations for steps to reduce the federal deficit, which is forecast to hit a record $1.6 trillion this year. The budget shortfall may be an issue in November elections that will determine control of Congress. Alice Rivlin is also a big donor to Democrats. In the present and previous cycle, the Brookings Institute economist donated over $47,000 to various Democrats. For that matter, so is Ann Fudge, who gave over $36,000. In contrast, Stern gave less than $6,000. (Cote only made one donation to a partisan recipient, a Republican, for $1000.) Is this change we can believe in?
But the larger problem is that Stern represents the problem that Congress faces in making tough budget decisions — not the solution. He has a vested interest in keeping federal employees on the job, as his union mainly represents public-sector workers. If this budget commission recommended cuts to staff, his union will lose dues — which will reduce the amount of funds available for his union to donate to Democrats. Public-sector unions gave 89% of their donations to Democrats in 2008, and so far in this cycle, 91%.
This “bipartisan” commission looks pretty stacked to me, in favor of maintaining the status quo for public-sector growth and the flow of cash to Democratic coffers. We can expect that this panel will recommend tax hikes in order to maintain that cash flow and to subsidize Democratic power.
Update: Rob Port connects the dots to Obama’s efforts to force government contractors into unionization.
Update II: CentristNet wonders whether marrying himself so closely to an increasingly unpopular labor movement will damage Obama even further with voters. (Geoff tipped me to the story, and I forgot to hat-tip him on this one. Sorry!)
Thanks.
I'm hoping that one catches on.
A union thug on a deficit commission? Obviously this commission’s purpose is to increase the deficit, talk about the fox gaurding the chicken coop!
Union Pensions in the Red - WSJ.com
The Wall Street Journal writes that union pensions are even more underfunded than corporate pensions. ... The SEIU fund that was put into a “red zone” in April was at 103.4% as recently as 1998.
online.wsj.com/ article/ SB10001424052970203946904574300113800780786.html - Proxy - Highlight
Earl Pomeroy Introduces Bailout For Union Pension Plans
Union pension funds in America are in a lot of trouble. Last year news broke about the ... to the 103% funding level of the fund for the SEIU’s union bosses) ...
www.sayanythingblog.com/ entry/ earl_pomeroy_introduces_bailout_for_union_pension_plans/ - Proxy - Highlight - 1 more top result from this site
I just called VISA and told them that we are working on the debt we owe them and that we have appointed a commission to study just exactly what to do.
Well, after all, it’s so easy a caveman can do it . . . .
;-)
Speaking of a caveman!
Washington State’s SEIU Bought Republican
Publius Forum ^ | 02/26/10 | Warner Todd Huston
Posted on Friday, February 26, 2010 11:41:03 AM by Mobile Vulgus
On February 24, Moe Lane posted a short piece alerting one and all to the fact that one of the Republican candidates for Washington State’s 3rd Congressional District is a favorite of the hard-core lefties in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — one of Obama’s favorite Big Labors cohorts. Mr. Lane, though, was sure that Jaime Herrera “regrets that endorsement now.” Unfortunately, I am not so sanguine because Herrera has been far more compliant with Big Labor’s goals than is evident from what Lane might have thought was a mere wayward endorsement.
There is a reason, it appears, that the SEIU endorsed Herrera. As a Republican she seems to be far more one of them than one of us at least as far as Big Labor’s needs go!
Moe Lane cited the Clark County Politics blog on the SEIU’s endorsement, but if you don’t want to believe the CCPblog — admittedly a right leaning site — here is a Progressive Voters Guide for Washington and here is the Voters Guide for Equal Rights Washington, both left-wing groups that show SEIU support for Herrera. On top of that here is SEIU Local 1199 NW’s endorsement page which also announces its endorsement of Herrera...
Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...
Putting old left-winger Stern on a deficit - or Federal debt - commission is like putting an advanced alcoholic on a temperance committee.
Now taking bets on the number of times Glenn Beck will show the clip of Andy Stern’s “workers of the world unite” statement during the month of March.
I pick 42.
Absolutely.
Isn’t the headline misleading?
Obama nominates, not already appointed, right?
Obama’s boss, Soros.
Obama has stacked the commission to obtain the desired solution: massive tax increases on the most productive. Obama indicated last week that Social Security can fixed with one simple change: lift the earnings cap on FICA taxes. Obama’s solution is dangerous deception. It will not fix the problem and plunge the country into a deep depression.
I suspected there was something scummy about Honeywell. There’s a VP up here in the Twin Cities who’s an arrogant SOB, known for road rage.
“...justify DHS and Justice to investigate Soros and strip him of his naturalized citizenship and his immediate deportation...”
Hot Air “ Blog Archive “ House passes resolution condemning
The above alone ought to justify DHS and Justice to investigate Soros and strip him of his naturalized citizenship and his immediate deportation.
www.hotair.com/ archives/ 2007/ 09/ 26/ house-passes-resolution-condemning-moveons-betray-us-as/ - Proxy - Highlight
Soros Still Suspect One | Defense of the Republic
George Soros continues to be the most likely character behind the $550 Billion Bank Run. According to Investigating Obama, (Rep. Kanjorski said) the ...
www.defenseoftherepublic.com/1282.html/ - Proxy - Highlight
Quite the oxymoron.
This is infuriating.
Unfrickenbelievable. Every day theres something more bizarre than the previous.
This discredits anything that comes out of this commission.
My only question is: How long are we going to wait?
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