George Rebane

Happy Saint Paddy’s Day to all!  Kinda wish folks from Estonia also had enough of a presence in America to have an annual celebration of our ethnicity and contribution to the country.  But we are such a minority that if we were to be recognized, so would the folks from East Timor - and then where would we be?  Every day we’d have to pay homage to another foreign culture, leaving little time for our own.  Someone recently reminded me that we Americans don’t have a culture any more; at least not one that you’re supposed to celebrate.

Everyone’s frothing about the $165M of AIG bonuses.  Seeping out bit by piece, it now turns out that our government, with the loyal MSM in tow, has been doing a big cover-up on the real AIG story – how they got into the mess, what they did there, and how the bail out is being conducted.  The Capitol Hill hooligans and their regulators have a lot to answer for since at least 2005, and now they’re wanting us to keep focused on the bonuses so we don’t accidentally look under the wrong rocks.  Good overview here.

The full court press by the unions today on the country’s workplaces is cause for concern according to a retired executive from the US Postal Service.  He cites chapter and verse – ‘Going Postal with the Economy’ – how the USPS has been permanently done in by its employees’ union, and warns of initiatives like ‘card check’ (aka Employee Free Choice Act) that will ease the spread of the disease into other segments of American industry.  The basic game is the same, decouple reward from performance.  It doesn’t matter where it is played – private or public sector – the result is always the same, more money for minimal output.  Here the retired USPS executive writes, “If the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law the experience of the USPS will be magnified throughout the economy, creating a rigid labor market not unlike what is found in Europe.”  Don’t you love the way the ‘honorables’ in Washington name their handywork?  You can bet the ranch that if it includes ‘free choice’ in the name, it is designed to eliminate the same.

Here’s one that gets two birds with one stone.  Increase the H1-B visa quotas to attract more foreigners educated in the needed skills our kids now avoid, and ease their way into permanent residency if they purchase a home here.  A couple of capitalists, LeFrak and Shilling, detail the benefits here.  What do you think the chances are that the congressional clowns will actually make this happen?

White House comment line – 202/456-1414; Sen Diane Feinstein – 202-224-3841; Sen Barbara Boxer – 202/224-3553.