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Moorestown New Jersey Unions Highlight Union Arrogance

In a scene that I expect to play out in every city across the country, Unions won't reopen talks in Moorestown New Jersey.

Township officials expressed frustration that several unions representing Moorestown government workers have not agreed to reopen contract negotiations.

Last month, township council asked the unions to consider making wage and health benefit concessions this year even though they have contracts that continue through 2012 and guarantee annual pay raises of 3.75 percent.

At Monday night's council meeting, Township Manager Christopher Schultz disclosed to the public the specifics of council proposals to the unions -- a wage freeze and a payroll contribution to health care benefits to help cut costs to the township.

As of Monday night's deadline to respond, township officials said none of the unions had agreed to reopen negotiations.

Regional Employment Report: Unemployment Rate up in 30 States, Down in 9; Manufacturing States Benefit Most

In a headline trumpeting the wrong thing, Bloomberg is reporting Unemployment Decreased in Nine U.S. States in January.

The unemployment rate decreased in nine U.S. states in January and climbed in 30, signaling the thawing of the labor market is not broad-based.

The jobless rate in Michigan showed the biggest drop, falling to 14.3 percent, still the highest in the nation, from 14.5 percent in December, according to figures issued today by the Labor Department in Washington. New York and New Jersey were among eight states where unemployment decreased by a tenth of a point.

A national unemployment projected to average 9.8 percent this year signals state budgets will be strained by decreases in tax revenue and rising jobless insurance payments. The loss of 8.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007 means the labor market in the world’s largest economy will take years to rebound.

Pelosi: We have to pass the health care bill so that you can find out what is in it

Please consider this one sentence video clip from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoE1R-xH5To
"We have to pass the health care bill so that you can find out what is in it." That unfortunately is the sad state of affairs, not just with healthcare, but with virtually any bill passed by Congress.

The only people who know what is in these bills are the lobbyists who write them.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Bragging About Census Hiring Starts Already; I'll Take The Under

Fresh on the heels of a snow job where Bernanke warned economists to disregard effects that did not happen (and anyone doing any semblance of research should have known would not happen) we now see media trumpeting up census hiring as if it was not temporary.

In case you missed the snow job analysis please see ...

Having expected to see job losses up to 220,000 in last Friday's report, economists have now gone the other direction trumpeting part-time census jobs that will vanish by June or July.

Census Hiring Hype

Citizens' Initiative Puts Spotlight On SF Muni Pay Schedule

In my post San Francisco Infested with Union Parasites and Pestilence; Outrage Over Transit Worker Pay I noted how greedy public unions finally overplayed their hand by rejecting an 8% pay raise with a contract that guarantees they get the second highest pay in the nation.

In a followup story, Supervisor Sean Elsbernd is now going ahead with his initiative to address Muni pay, because the city council wimps did not have the courage or the decency to take on the unions. Please consider Proposed initiative aims at Muni drivers' pay

A San Francisco supervisor is following through on his plan to curb Muni's labor costs and on Monday submitted a proposed initiative for the November ballot.

The plan takes direct aim at a controversial salary formula enshrined in the city charter that for more than four decades has guaranteed Muni drivers their spot as the second highest-paid transit operators in the nation.

Obama's Housing Shell Game; Short Sales and Relocation Assistance

We've now come full circle. Instead of trying to get people to stay in their homes, Obama is willing to pay them to leave. Please consider Program Will Pay Homeowners to Sell at a Loss.

In an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes. Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave.

This latest program, which will allow owners to sell for less than they owe and will give them a little cash to speed them on their way, is one of the administration’s most aggressive attempts to grapple with a problem that has defied solutions.

Under the new program, the servicing bank, as with all modifications, will get $1,000. Another $1,000 can go toward a second loan, if there is one. And for the first time the government would give money to the distressed homeowners themselves. They will get $1,500 in “relocation assistance.”

Short sales are “tailor-made for fraud,” said Mr. Lawler, a former executive at the mortgage finance company Fannie Mae.

Mutual Fund Cash Depletion Highest Since 1991

In what can best be described as a contrarian indicator with an uncertain timing trigger, Mutual Fund Cash Depletion Highest Since 1991.

Equity mutual funds are burning through cash at the fastest rate in 18 years, leaving them with the smallest reserves since 2007 in a sign that gains for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may slow.

Cash dropped to 3.6 percent of assets from 5.7 percent in January 2009, leaving managers with $172 billion in the quickest decrease since 1991, Investment Company Institute data show. The last time stock managers held such a small proportion was September 2007, a month before the S&P 500 began a 57 percent drop, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Debt for Diploma Schemes and the Cookie Monster Principle

Inquiring minds are investigating a 44 page PDF by the Center for College Affordability on why financial aid is ineffective. Please consider Financial Aid in Theory and Practice.

Executive Summary

Financial aid programs are supposed to improve access and affordability in higher education. The effectiveness of these programs is increasingly being questioned as college attainment figures stagnate and the financial burden on students and families continues to climb year after year. This report identifies the main culprit for this unsatisfactory state of affairs as a misunderstanding of the effect of financial aid on schools.

Papandreou, Sarkozy, Merkel Blame Speculators; French President Sarkozy Says EU Must Support Greece or Risk Destroying Euro; Sarkozy Employs Bazooka

When all else fails blame the speculators and the shorts. That is the action the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel took today.

Let's kick the discussion off with a rant from the Greek Prime Minister. Please consider Papandreou Warns Crisis Could Spread Unless Speculation Curbed.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said his country’s fiscal crisis could spread beyond Europe unless “unprincipled speculators” and “ill- regulated” financial markets are reined in.

“Europe and America must say ‘enough is enough’ to those speculators who only place value on immediate returns, with utter disregard for the consequences on the larger economic system,” he said in a speech text today in Washington. “An ongoing euro crisis could cause a domino effect, driving up borrowing costs for other countries with large deficits and causing volatility in bond and currency rates across the world.”

University of California Campus Erupts In Riots; Student Loan Scam Drives Up Cost Of Education; Expect More Riots

Inquiring minds are reading about student riots at the University of California.

Students at the University of California’s flagship Berkeley campus took to the streets on Friday night, vandalizing university buildings, burning trash cans and clashing with police in the latest expression of frustration over cuts to the educational budget in California.

In November, the University of California Board of Regents voted to raise tuition by 32 percent. At the same time, professors were asked to take pay cuts or be furloughed, classes were eliminated and class size increased. Protests erupted across the University of California system, particularly at UC Davis and UCLA.

Thomas Jefferson Quote of the Day

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."

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