Unleash Prosperity Hotline – Weekend Edition Issue #655
11/11/2022, 11/12/2022, 11/13/2022
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1) It STILL Isn’t A Pretty Picture
We LOVE to see a booming stock market as we did yesterday, but we suspect there is a lot of irrational exuberance on the inflation front.
Markets soared yesterday after the inflation report showed a slowing of inflation to the 4 to 5% range for the month of October. We’re not at all convinced that the worst is behind us. We still have nine months in a row of inflation at near or above 8% - which is hardly transitory. Meanwhile, energy costs are still very high – look at diesel and home heating costs. Diesel costs are twice what they were when Trump left office, and nearly every truck in America is fueled by diesel. Higher energy and transportation costs mean higher prices all up and down the supply chain.
More importantly, Biden boasted that much of his multi-trillion dollars of spending in the Inflation Acceleration Act and other bills haven’t even hit the marketplace yet. These dollars of demand will get spread around in the economy in 2023. You’d be a fool to think that saturating the economy with more government outlays is going to REDUCE the inflation rate – but that’s the line from the White House. We’re not buying it and you shouldn’t either. Bidenflation is here to stay until we get real spending CUTS out of Washington.
2) The Unions Duped Illinois Voters And Now They Will Try The Same In Other Blue States
On Tuesday Illinois voters approved a Big Labor initiative to prohibit Right to Work laws in the Land of Lincoln. Many voters may not have realized this because the unions poured powdered sugar on the language of the measure so that it read as though it would simply protect the right of public sector workers to collectively bargain.
No. This sneaky law effectively REQUIRES workers to join the union (and of course pay dues to the labor bosses) whether they want to or not.
We became aware of this bait-and-switch tactic by the unions when several of our Illinois members told us they voted for the ballot measure because they were misled (intentionally?). Here is the exact wording that appeared on Tuesday’s ballot:
PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE 1970
ILLINOIS CONSTITUTION
EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENT
The proposed amendment would guarantee workers the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively and to negotiate wages, hours, and working conditions, and to promote their economic welfare and safety at work. The new amendment would also prohibit from being passed any new law that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and workplace safety. “
In effect, this means no Right to Work laws can be enacted by the legislature or counties or localities.
But why not? Right to Work laws have been enacted in 27 states, and they DON’T interfere with any individual or group of workers' “right to organize and collectively bargain.” There ARE unions aplenty in Tennessee and Florida. The Right to Work laws simply allow workers to voluntarily opt out.
There are good reasons why individual workers may want to take a pass on union membership High performers may believe that they can get a better salary or a better deal from their employer if they negotiate on their own. They may oppose how the labor bosses spend their dues – and we have hundreds of examples of union fraud – just look at the rampant UAW scandals.
These are all valid worker concerns. We know, for example, that job growth over the past two decades has been roughly twice as rapid in right to work states than in forced-union states – like Illinois.
What is done is done in Illinois and it doesn’t augur at all well for a state that was once emblematic of America’s industrial leadership, but is sadly now the abandoned-factory capital of the country.
Our concern is that union bosses across the country have suddenly discovered a formula to impose coercive union power in other states. Illinois was the test case and now we are hearing that the teacher unions and other labor bosses are planning on copy-catting this in multiple states In 2024.
The media bias displayed in favor of John Fetterman during his race for Senate in Pennsylvania knows no boundaries.
First, the media let Fetterman off the hook for over six months after his stroke, letting him claim without the release of any records that he had recovered enough to hold the job.
Then the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer and its opinion columnists voted collectively that Fetterman had won the race’s only debate, despite his shambolic and halting performance. Remember this is the state’s largest newspaper,
After Fetterman’s stunning win, MSNBC hosts speculated on Fetterman “as a nominee at some point for president," before later going on to say that he surpassed President Biden and former President Trump's vote share in the state.
Jen Psaki, President Biden’s former press secretary and now an MSNBC contributor, then weighed in. She praised his authenticity. “You know who he is. You know who you are getting,” she proclaimed. This is a man who refused to release any of his medical records, claiming that one doctor of his said he was fit to serve.
4) Why Is Ballot Counting Slower Every Year, Rather Than Faster?
Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, claims it will need ”until early next week” to process the estimated 519,000 ballots remaining to be counted in the state’s close races for Senate and Governor. In Nevada, there are some 100,000 uncounted mail-in ballots, many dropped off by outside “ballot harvesters” on Election Day.
Florida and other states were able to count almost all of their votes by midnight of Election Day. How is it that some states have become so much worse at counting votes in an era when everything seems to be delivered faster and better?
Both states have switched to largely all mail-in voting. Not only does this slow down the vote count, but it also raises genuine security concerns. In Las Vegas, which has 60 percent of Nevada’s population, the potential for fraud when ballots are automatically mailed to voters who don’t request them (and maybe don’t even live at the address where they’re mailed any longer) is a major concern. This year, observers noted apartment buildings in Las Vegas where piles of undelivered ballots accumulated on tables in the lobby.
Even if nothing inappropriate happens, mail-in ballots generate suspicions of monkey business, especially in skin-tight races. The U.S. Supreme Court has noted that such doubts corrode confidence in institutions and officials.
Going forward, states with massive mail-in ballot programs should scale them back, and allow some early voting but focus voting on Election Day (not Election Month).
