Meltdown

Pointless
At this point, however, Mr. Obama and his political team don’t seem to have much choice. They can point with pride to some big economic achievements, above all the successful rescue of the auto industry, which is responsible for a large part of whatever job growth we are managing to get. (Paul Krugman, NYT, 6/3/2012)


Oh Krugman, Krugman, Krugman.... The sum total of Obama's successful rescue of the auto industry is that he bailed them out with taxpayer dollars. Anybody could have done that. Your dog could have bailed out the auto industry. Krugman's dog could have done it.


Over Dues
Mr. Walker and his fellow Republicans challenged that status quo, and the unions have reacted with such vitriol because they realize the threat to their long-unchallenged clout. They're especially incensed that the reforms ended the state's practice of automatically collecting union dues. Now dues are voluntary—and lo, many government workers are finding they don't want to join the union after all.


Since Mr. Walker's reforms went into effect, membership in government unions has dropped. At the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (Afscme), membership fell to 28,745 in February from 62,818 in March 2011, according to a Journal report. If the union can no longer guarantee monopoly wages and benefits, workers are better off keeping dues that can add up to several hundred dollars a year. (WSJ, 6/3/2012)


Union membership falls by 55% once the government stops collecting union dues? This is incredible news! Why isn't it the lead story....everywhere?


Demised
Some colleges are dropping student health-insurance plans for the coming academic year and others are telling students to expect sharp premium increases because of a provision in the federal health law requiring plans to beef up coverage.


The demise of low-cost, low-benefit health plans for students is a consequence of the 2010 health-care overhaul. The law is intended to expand coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans, but it is also eliminating some insurance options. (WSJ, 6/3/2012)


"If you want to keep the healthcare plan you have now, you can. Unless it is not offered anymore in which case: Gotcha!" (Barack Hussein Obama)


Socialista
The Heritage Foundation’s Lachlan Markay reported this week that President Obama has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dolores Huerta, a labor activist and honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America.


As Markay notes, DSA describes itself as “the largest socialist organization in the United States, and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International.”


This is a story the mainstream media declined to cover. (MyHeritage.org, 6/1/2012)


Keep repeating: Obama is not a socialist, Obama is not a socialist......


Foundational
“I think the civil rights movement is no longer advocating from the outside,” he said. “It’s economic civil rights. You get people a job, you build their economic foundation, and then, if you set the right tone, they will start helping you build communities. We can’t do it with government-funded programs. We have do it with the private sector.” (San Francisco Mayor Edwin M, Lee, quoted in the NYT, 6/3/2012)


If a San Francisco mayor can see it, why can't the president of the United States?


Artsy
About 50 people paid $40,000 each to crowd into an art-filled room to hear the two presidents in the Upper East Side residence of Marc Lasry, a founder of the hedge fund Avenue Capital Group. (NYT, 6/4/2012)


Oh to be a Democrat! It's Hollywood celebrities one, day and the titans of Wall Street the next.