The Educated Idiots Award (Vol. 1, No. 1): “Baby, You Can’t Drive My Car”

My late father had a phrase to describe the arrogant intellectuals unacquainted with real life who foist their insane ideas on the “unenlightened” rest of us: The phrase was “educated idiots.”

Sadly, today his words ring ever truer. To witless:

(In what is rarely a good sign) a New York Times blog reports the Harvard-based Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has determined fuel prices must rise significantly to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  Thus, in the name of discredited Leftist psuedo-science, your gas prices could reach $7 a gallon.

In this tepid spat of Think Tanks vs. Gas Tanks, we glean two things: these researchers have recession-proof jobs; and they are unconcerned you don’t.

How else to explain these researchers’ cavalier demand that your shrinking family budget must get smaller and your job must become more tenuous all so Goddess Gaia can keep her cool?

In our real world, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2009 annual summary reports that unemployment rates rose last year in all regions, divisions, and states.  And nowhere is the pain of this recessed economy deeper than in my Michigan, which had the largest increase in unemployment percentage from last year (5.3%); and has held the nation’s highest unemployment rate since this recession began (at times exceeding 15%).

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Tags: belfer center for science and international affairs, Bureau of Labor Statistics, educated idiots, gas taxes, Harvard University
Posted Mar 5th 2010 at 7:01 am in Culture, Education, Environment, News, Politics | 8481090 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/tgmccotter/2010/03/05/the-educated-idiots-award-vol-1-no-1-baby-you-cant-drive-my-car/The+Educated+Idiots+Award+%28Vol.+1%2C+No.+1%29%3A+%22Baby%2C+You+Can%27t+Drive+My+Car%222010-03-05+15%3A01%3A52Rep.+Thaddeus+G.+McCotter+%28R-MI%29

Who Wants to Work for the Labor Union Industry?

Based on this data , I am thinking that the good life starts the day one gets a job as an employee of your local Labor Union and in fact those overpaid financial sector people might want to change jobs!

This table, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows  the changes in the wages in three sectors: the private sector, the Labor Union industry and the financial industry. According to the BLS, the Labor Union industry “comprises establishments primarily engaged in promoting the interests of organized labor and union employees.” That’s basically all the guys who work in a Union.  The financial industry is “The Finance and Insurance sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in financial transactions (transactions involving the creation, liquidation, or change in ownership of financial assets) and/or in facilitating financial transactions.” So the Goldman Sacks, AIG and others.

As one can see clearly here since the beginning of the recession, private sector employees have seen their wages grown by 3.3 percent (roughly the rate of inflation.) The financial sector employees have been slightly better off with wages growing at a 4.1 percent rate.

Meanwhile, wages in the labor unions have continued to increase. And not by 5 percent or 7 percent but by over 24.9 percent!!!

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Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, pay raise, public sector employees, union boss, union employee
Posted Feb 24th 2010 at 12:50 pm in Big Labor | 7973483 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/vderugy/2010/02/24/who-wants-to-work-for-the-labor-union-industry/Who+Wants+to+Work+for+the+Labor+Union+Industry%3F2010-02-24+20%3A50%3A38Veronique++de+Rugy

More On My Public Sector Fat Cat Obsession

Okay, I will admit that I am obsessed with this one particular truth:  The stimulus bill and all the stops that the federal government pulled to save the economy and create jobs didn’t not help the private sector employees. On the other hand, it did show support for its own employees.

Encouraged by Reason Magazine’s founder Manny Klausner, I made this chart this morning based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data that shows the change in employment in the private and the public sectors during the last two years.

Warning: the number of public employees is on the right hand-side of the chart and the private employees are on the left.

Warning 2: This chart is not claiming that public employment was ever higher than private employment.

However, it is showing without a doubt that during the last two year the number of public employees has increased from 22.3 million in January 2008 to 22.4 million in January 2010, after peaking at 22.6 million in July 2009.  Not that impressive you will say. Well, excuse me but it certainly beats being a private employee during that same period of time. The number of private jobs decreased from 115.5 million in January 2008 to 107 million. That’s a lose of 8.7 million jobs in the private sector while the public sector gained almost 100,000 jobs.

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Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, manny klausner, public employees, Public Sector, Reason Foundation
Posted Feb 23rd 2010 at 12:03 pm in Big Labor, Congress, Economics, News, federal spending | 7909061 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/vderugy/2010/02/23/more-on-my-public-sector-fat-cat-obsession/More+On+My+Public+Sector+Fat+Cat+Obsession2010-02-23+20%3A03%3A55Veronique++de+Rugy

The Recession’s Fat Cats: Public Employees

Last week, the Huffington Post (here) was all over this  new study showing that low-income workers got hit more severely during the recession than high-income workers (low-income workers suffer an over 30 percent unemployment rate, workers making about $138,000, only a 3.2 percent.)

The data in this study, which turned out to be quite misleading, certainly makes for nice populist headlines. But it is hiding the true debate that we should be having. And that’s not that low-skill workers are vulnerable to recession (duh) but that public-sector employees still have jobs and private employees don’t.

Look at the data:

In this chart, I compare seasonally adjusted unemployment rates across segments of the economy, dividing these segments using the super-categories designated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The chart compares the unemployment rates in January of 2009 (blue) with the unemployment rates in these same sectors a year later (yellow). (FYI, the difference would be even more dramatic if I had used not seasonally adjusted data)

In both years, the unemployment rate within the government has been small relative to the level of unemployment within the entire economy, and particularly so relative to the private sector.   In the course of a year, government employment has decreased by 296,000 jobs to 4.3% unemployment; during the same period, employment in the private, non-agricultural, sector has decreased by 2.3 million jobs to 11.1%. (And if you look at not seasonally adjusted unemployment data, the lose of private jobs reached 3.1 million and the lose of public jobs is roughly 70,000. That’s quite a gap.)

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Tags: ariana huffington, Bureau of Labor Statistics, government jobs, Huffington Post, job losses
Posted Feb 17th 2010 at 1:09 pm in Economics, News, Obama, Politics, Tea Party | 7661087 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/vderugy/2010/02/17/the-recessions-fat-cats-public-employees/The+Recession%27s+Fat+Cats%3A+Public+Employees2010-02-17+21%3A09%3A30Veronique++de+Rugy

Common Sense vs. the CBO on ObamaCare

Both the House and Senate versions of the healthcare reform bill would require employers above a certain size to provide health insurance for their workers or face some sort of penalty. The House bill that passed last month would require employers to pay an 8% additional payroll tax for not insuring their workers. The Senate bill now under consideration is much less punitive, requiring employers who do not provide insurance to pay a $750 annual fee per full-time worker, but only if one or more of their employees receive a government subsidy in the insurance exchange.

Quite a difference between the two bills. By way of example, take an employee earning $50,000 per year. Under the House bill, an employer who did not provide insurance would be required to pay an additional tax of $4,000 to the federal government. Compared to only $750 under the Senate bill – a difference of more than 500%.

Now consider whether it would make more sense financially for the employer to provide insurance or pay the penalty. In our example above, under the House bill it would probably be close to a break-even if the employer is providing coverage only for the employee. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average monthly insurance premium for private industry employers across all worker categories was $317.63. Or just over $3800 annualized (compared to the $4,000 penalty). However, it would be quite a bit more expensive if the employer was providing family coverage (BLS data: $737.68/mo – $8850/yr).

Obviously under the Senate bill it would be far less expensive for the employer to just pay the $750 penalty rather than provide the insurance.

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Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Congressional Budget Office, employer provided health care, employer-based coverage, federal health subsidy
Posted Dec 2nd 2009 at 10:37 am in Healthcare | 3978626 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mrichmond/2009/12/02/common-sense-vs-the-cbo-on-obamacare/Common+Sense+vs.+the+CBO+on+ObamaCare2009-12-02+17%3A37%3A06Morgen++Richmond

FCC Playing the Wrong Tune: New Opposition to Net Neutrality

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski is facing fresh opposition in his push for controversial “net neutrality” rules, it emerged Monday.

The Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) announced that its President, Rick Carnes, and well-known songwriters Phil Galdston and Gordon Chambers, had recently testified before the New York City Council in opposition to a resolution expressing support for net neutrality.  The trio, each prominent figures within the arts community, are concerned that net neutrality rules would do little combat online music piracy.

According to an SGA release, “Net Neutrality rules… would restrain Internet service providers from fighting illegal file sharing on their networks.”  Furthermore, according to the release, “70% of the volume of traffic on broadband networks is Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing, generated by 5% of network users. An astonishing 90% of such traffic represents stealing of copyrighted works.”  The SGA blames such file sharing for noteworthy declines in the songwriting industry, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data as well as anecdotal evidence obtained by Carnes himself.  According to Carnes, “Every major music publisher tells me they have laid off at least half, and sometimes all, of their songwriters.”

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Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Communications Commission, Gordon Chambers, Julius Genachowski, net neutrality
Posted Nov 28th 2009 at 10:14 pm in Politics, Technology | 3814236 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2009/11/28/fcc-playing-the-wrong-tune-new-opposition-to-net-neutrality/FCC+Playing+the+Wrong+Tune%3A+New+Opposition+to+Net+Neutrality2009-11-29+05%3A14%3A31Capitol++Confidential

The Economy is Growing. Right. And I Don’t Have a French Accent.

We should be happy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a 3.5 percent growth in this year 3rd quarter. Yet, most of us aren’t. At least I know I am not. Why? Because I have no faith in the numbers.

First, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers include government spending. So, when the government pumps thousands of billions of dollars into the economy it will look as if GDP is growing.

What’s more, the way the GDP accounts for government spending is totally biased: It assumes that if the government is spending $200,000 on a contractor to repave a road in the middle of nowhere that it will create $200,000 of genuine economic value.  By contrast, GDP measures are tougher on private-sector spending. As my George Mason university colleague Garett Jones explained to me recently “So if Exxon Mobil pays an engineer $200,000 per year, that only shows up in GDP if the engineer finds an extra $200,000 of oil to sell, or builds a new machine that sells for $200,000, something like that.  So our GDP measures of “government spending” are awful–and when the government is in a race to spend money as quickly as possible, these measures are going to be even worse than usual.”

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Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economy, executive compensation, GDP, George Mason University
Posted Oct 30th 2009 at 10:43 am in Economics, News | 2293431 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/vderugy/2009/10/30/the-economy-is-growing-right-and-i-dont-have-a-french-accent/The+Economy+is+Growing.+Right.+And+I+Don%27t+Have+a+French+Accent.2009-10-30+17%3A43%3A59Veronique++de+Rugy