Free Republic

As Democrats in the U.S. Senate attempt to save the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376), passed by the House on Nov. 19, taxpayers, small business champions and climate change advocates should pressure the Senate to permanently eliminate controversial policies that will needlessly increase costs, reduce competition and undermine America’s swift transition to clean energy. Tucked in the House’s tax-and-spending package is language that forces private developers of solar, wind, hydrogen, carbon sequestration, electric vehicle charging stations and other clean energy projects to either hire union-signatory contractors and unionized construction workers or lose critical tax incentives that help grow America’s...

Labor unions fear that if Republicans win a majority in the lower house of New Mexico’s legislature, they will push for a right-to-work state. Democrats have only a three-seat majority in the New Mexico House of Representatives and if they lose those seats, the Republicans are more than likely going to make right-to-work a primary issue, Albuquerque Business First reports. Beverlee McClure of the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry has said that New Mexico’s lack of right-to-work policies hurt the state’s ability to recruit businesses.

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that Japanese automobile company Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY, 7201.TO) had won a 10-year, $1 billion contract to provide thousands of taxis to the city beginning in about two years.

For folks who remember the southern California grocery chain strike last year, a key to the grocers breaking the strike was a revenue sharing deal between the big chains-- thereby preventing the unions from easily reaching settlement with any of the firms individually. Sounds a lot like corporate collusion that should be barred by antitrust law, doesn't it? And yesterday, a federal judge allowed a lawsuit by the California Attorney General alleging antitrust violations to move forward. U.S. District Judge George H. King in Los Angeles wrote in his decision that the mutual-aid deal was "not protected from potential antitrust...