The Post-Special Interest Era - Part XXIV

George F. Will - UPS-FedEx Dispute Shows Labor's Control Over the White House - washingtonpost.com: "It has given the United Auto Workers majority ownership of Chrysler. It has sent $135 billion of supposed stimulus money to state governments to protect unionized public-sector employees from layoffs and other sacrifices that private-sector workers are making. It has sedated the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards, which protects workers against misbehavior by union leaders. Cap-and-trade legislation might please unions with protectionism -- tariffs on imports from countries not foolish enough to similarly burden their manufacturers. If Congress, seeking money for more socialized medicine, decides that some employer-paid health insurance should be taxed as employees' compensation -- which it obviously is -- generous union-negotiated benefits might be exempted.

Now it is the Teamsters' turn at the trough. Congress might change labor law to assist UPS, a Teamsters stronghold, by hindering its principal competitor, FedEx."

Yet another installment in the chronicle of union pay-offs from this president and his party. I have been tracking it in this blog (search on the tags at the bottom of this post). Have you seen this covered by the MSM?

Here's a quiz: what do the state of California, Delphi, and the Detroit school system have in common?

a) They are all essentially bankrupt
b) They are all heavily unionized

Now the Dems want to cripple another national treausre, FedEx.

The Era of Special Interest Payoffs Is Over...

Delphi and PBGC settle pension dispute - WSJ.com: "When the PBGC was created in 1974, Democrats running Congress assured everyone there was no taxpayer risk because the agency would be funded by fees from pension plans, as well as by the assets of plans the company takes over. But like Fannie Mae, we are learning that sooner or later these government guarantees always come due. Now the PBGC has a $33.5 billion deficit even before Delphi, and more bankruptcies are headed its way. Mark it down as one more way the taxpayers are being put on the hook for GM, the UAW and Michigan’s 17 electoral votes in 2012."

... RIGHT...

It's much worse than I realized when I first posted on this multi-billion political payoff (I know what you're thinking, why are you wasting your time on multi-billion dollar corruption in a new era of trillion dollar corruption?), under the name of saving the auto industry. Read the column - not only are we now on the hook to the tune of $6B for Delphi's pension obligations, but in a stunning display of a political cronyism, the UAW members are being put at the front of the line for yet another bailout. UAW retirees are slated to get 100% of their benefits, while members of other unions, and former non-unionized employees will have to settle for a fraction of what they are owed.

That Giant Sucking Sound - Another $6B of YOUR Money Sucked Into the Black Hole of Detroit

Delphi Gets $6.2 Billion Bailout of Pensions - WSJ.com: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. agreed to take on $6.2 billion in pension liabilities from bankrupt auto supplier Delphi Corp., putting in place a key piece in the bailout of the car industry but renewing pressure on a government agency facing huge burdens as more companies fail.

The pension rescue is the PBGC's second-largest ever, ranked by dollars, after that of United Airlines in 2005, which totaled $7.5 billion. As a result, the government will take over payments for 70,000 workers and retirees that Delphi says it can't afford under its restructuring plan."

Another payoff to the UAW, and Obama digs the US auto industry bailout hole another $6B deeper.

Want A Fair Shake From the Dems Health Plan?

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Illegals Freed From Dictates Of ObamaCare: "the Senate Finance Committee plan creates a new preference for illegal aliens by exempting them from the mandate to buy insurance. That's right. Law-abiding, uninsured Americans would be fined if they didn't submit to the Obama-Care prescription. Law-breaking border-crossers, visa overstayers and deportation fugitives would be spared."

...Better be a union employee or an illegal alien. The Dems refuse to impose citizenship verification on health care under their plan - so all you seriously ill Mexicans, better start hoofing it to your nearest US hospital! And unlike US citizens, you won't be subject to fine for not having an "Obama-approved" health care plan.

Thuggery and Corruption

The Obama administration is bold. It also is careless regarding constitutional values and is acquiring a tincture of lawlessness...

"The administration's central activity -- the political allocation of wealth and opportunity -- is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption."

Devastating column from George Will. He makes a great point. The Obama administration is holding California's federal stimulus funds hostage because Obama's sugar daddies - the public employee unions - are supposedly having their contractual rights stepped upon by the California state legislature (see my earlier post on the matter). Never mind mind that the contracts specifically leave an out for the state in dire circumstances such as these.

On the other hand, his auto czar has engineered a massive transfer of wealth from investors and creditors of Chrysler to the United Auto Workers (see earlier post). This despite the fact that the investors and creditors have a legally binding right to stand in line in front of the UAW when Chrysler's assets are divvied up in bankruptcy. Apparently, it's not contracts or the rule of law that are sacred, it is the unions.

I shudder to think of where we will end up, as the administration is emboldened by getting away with ever more outrageous abuses of presidential power.

Chrysler lenders give in on restructuring - Washington Times

Chrysler lenders give in on restructuring - Washington Times:

"'After a great deal of soul-searching and quite frankly agony, they concluded they just don't have critical mass to withstand the enormous pressure and machinery of the U.S. government,' said Thomas Lauria, the group's lead attorney.

The White House's auto task force asked the lenders to accept about 33 cents on the dollar for $6.9 billion of loans and offered them no equity in the company, while unions were given a 55 percent majority stake in exchange for expunging $4.6 billion of debt to a retirement fund."

If this doesn't scare you, it should. The abusive treatment of law abiding citizens (both those who ran these funds and those who invested in them), the demagoguery, and the disdain for two of the sacred pillars of our civil society- personal property and contracts - certainly cause me to question whether this administration recognizes any constraints on its power.

Chrysler Bankruptcy - This Deal Stinks to High Heaven

Property Rights Trumped By UAW In First Episode Of Gangster Gov't:

"Think carefully about what's happening here. The White House, presumably car czar Steven Rattner and deputy Ron Bloom, is seeking to transfer the property of one group of people to another group that is politically favored."

Politically connected junior creditors (UAW) being given precedence over more senior creditors
Politically disadvantaged creditors being strong-armed into settling for pennies on the dollar while the UAW gets 100%
TARP-funded creditors having no choice but to play ball
The President himself participating in the demonization of creditors who dare to demand their contractually-guaranteed rights
Taxpayer billions tossed around to buy time and sweeten the pot for a deal
A forced marriage with a weakling foreign car company

Is your stomach turning yet?

Obama team reverses union transparency - Washington Times

Obama team reverses union transparency - Washington Times:

"The Obama administration, which has boasted about its efforts to make government more transparent, is rolling back rules requiring labor unions and their leaders to report information about their finances and compensation."

I kid you not, last night, I came across the following WSJ article while looking for info on how much money the teacher unions spent buying off the Democrat party in the 2008 elections:

If we told you that an organization gave away more than $65 million last year to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Amnesty International, AIDS Walk Washington and dozens of other such advocacy groups, you'd probably assume we were describing a liberal philanthropy. In fact, those expenditures have all turned up on the financial disclosure report of the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union.

Under new federal rules pushed through by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, large unions must now disclose in much more detail how they spend members' dues money. Big Labor fought hard (if unsuccessfully) against the new accountability standards, and even a cursory glance at the NEA's recent filings--the first under the new rules--helps explain why. They expose the union as a honey pot for left-wing political causes that have nothing to do with teachers, much less students.

I decided not to use it, because it was about contributions to other leftist organizations, not the Dem party, and also it is a few years old. But I thought to myself, I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP, "it won't be long before I read about these transparency rules for unions going away..."

Seems to me since we are bailing out teacher jobs, and police jobs, and fireman jobs, and autoworker jobs that we should all know exactly how much every union official makes, and be able to cap their earnings, shouldn't we?