Toyota has announced it will build a new plant in Alabama. Right to Work states like Alabama are popular destinations for automakers who want to build cars in the United States without the negative influences of the UAW. the Wall Street Journal's Adrienne Roberts reports: Toyota Motor Corp. TM +0.13% on Thursday raised its planned investment in its U.S. operations through 2021 by about a third to nearly $13 billion to build more models and parts in the country, a move that comes as the Trump administration considers imposing tariffs of up to 25% on auto imports. The Japanese auto maker … [Read more...]
Government’s Fidelity Probe Looks to be a Non-Starter
There is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal about a government probe into Fidelity regarding a fee charged to some mutual funds. It’s called an “infrastructure fee,” and is charged by Fidelity Investments to certain mutual fund companies (not Vanguard) to list their funds on Fidelity’s FundsNetwork. Most funds on Fidelity’s FundsNetwork are accessed through retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and/or 403(b)s. As such, they are governed by ERISA laws which are overseen by the Department of Labor. The article references a fee of 0.15%, which is misleading because not all companies … [Read more...]
National Right to Work Could Help States That Can’t Help Themselves
Many states are hostage to the powerful public sector unions they employ. These unions are the largest, most organized group of voters in many forced-union states. They wield their massive power to lobby for higher wages. Paying those wages demands higher taxation, which can cripple private industry in the states. State governments that have been captured by union interests are powerless to fight back. Some states have seen the damage unionized public sector employees can cause, and have set into place Right to Work laws, protecting employees from forced unionism. The laws don't end unions, … [Read more...]
Can America Afford the Green New Deal?
The short answer is, no. The Green New Deal is a pie in the sky statement of Utopian dreams. The resolution calls for rebuilding every American building, ending all traditional forms of energy production within ten years, building trains across the oceans with capacity great enough to replace all air travel, and other similarly unachievable measures. The renewable energy generation measures alone would cost around $5.7 trillion. The 14 page resolution's other demands would cost many trillions of dollars more, and would impose hardship on every American family by forcing them to renovate … [Read more...]
Can Businesses Survive California’s Rapid-Fire Law Creation?
In 2019, 1,016 new laws will take effect in California. How are businesses supposed to navigate such rapid fire law creation? With the nation's second highest minimum wage (tied with Massachusetts at $11.00/hour), its highest income tax rates at 13.3%, and a dead last ranking in the Small Business Policy Index for the least friendly laws for business, California is already a tough place to pursue the American dream. Now businesses and citizens of the Golden State will have an even greater regulatory burden to navigate. At The Hill, Timothy Snowball writes: The California Legislature’s … [Read more...]
Can New and Old Tobacco Succeed Together?
With a 35% holding in e-cigarette maker Juul, Altria is betting it can turn its older consumers into fans of vaping. Altria's expertise in dealing with the FDA is a major asset that Juul lacks, and its access to a cohort of longtime tobacco using customers is exactly what the start-up needs to avoid more scrutiny from regulators worried about kids vaping. Jennifer Maloney reports on the business tie-up in The Wall Street Journal: The tobacco giant has agreed to provide Juul with a range of services expected to include help to smooth over the e-cigarette maker’s rocky relationship with the … [Read more...]
Xi Fails to Move China forward in Speech
At a speech honoring the 40th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms in China, President Xi Jinping was given the opportunity to build on that legacy by announcing new steps forward for China. He failed to deliver, as reported here by Gabriel Wildau of the Financial Times: “To promote reform and development in China — a large country with a more than 5,000-year history of civilisation and more than 1.3bn people — there is no textbook that can be regarded as a golden rule, and there is no great master who can dictate to the Chinese people,” Mr Xi told party leaders at the Great Hall … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: Cost of Living Higher in These States Part I
Take a look back at this post from April 25, 2018 for a view into the power of the Right to Work. A recent study by the Jefferson City-based Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC) estimates the average annual cost of living in 2017 for all 50 states. The National Institute for Labor Relations Research used MERIC’s data to calculate the average annual cost of living in Right to Work States and forced-unionism states. As of last year, 28 states are Right to Work—protecting employees from federal labor law provisions authorizing forced union dues and fees. Here are the … [Read more...]
The Clear Value of the Right-to-Work
You have clear evidence in the table below that allowing workers to choose whether or not to join a union really does matter. Take a look at the 10-year trend of workers in their peak earning years leaving New England—a region with forced unionism. Workers simply don't want to be forced to pay dues to fund efforts by the unions which they don't support. Whether that be political speech or contract negotiations that could put the corporations employing the union members in jeopardy. The National Right to Work Committee explains the correlation between forced unionism and population … [Read more...]
Here’s a Better Fix than Elizabeth Warren’s Buyback Ban
The heavy hand of government wants to regulate common stock repurchases. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling for an outright ban. Her colleague from New York wants to give the SEC the authority to reject buybacks that hurt workers. An additional ban or burdensome regulation on common stock buybacks is of course misguided. Almost as misguided as the 1993 limit on the deductibility of executive compensation that helped spawn the surge in common stock buybacks in the first place. The problem with buybacks is not that they deprive companies of capital as some in the political class contend. The … [Read more...]