Unionized States of America

By Ed Lasky and Richard Baehr

The issue that never got adequately covered in the debate over the Stimulus Bill was that near a third of the money went to the states to protect unionized jobs in bloated local and state governments (think Todd Stroger and Cook County, or Mayor Daley and Chicago).

There was almost zilch -- 6% -- for shovel ready jobs in infrastructure.

The government workforce is expanding, while the private work force is dropping 600,000 jobs or more a month. We know the key groups which Obama's polices favor: teacher unions, SEIU, AFSCME, the environmental lobby, and the coastal states.

Unionized manufacturing jobs eventually will all go overseas; the only union members will be government employees and in service jobs, the SEIU's turf. You can't outsource nurses, clean up crews, hospitality workers, and the like. Government employees will enjoy outsized benefits, generous and early retirement, and comparative job security, all courtesy of the taxpayers.

It is really troubvling. We are going to be taxed or fee'd to death one way or another. The dollar will be worth next to nothing when the Fed creates money to pay for the deficit. It will cease being the world's reserve currency, forever changing our economy.

Obama is doing lasting damage.