POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

TNR vs. Obama (And UPS vs. Fed Ex)

The New Republic is in high dudgeon about Obama's turn-about on executive compensation at banks. Obama's inconsistency is shocking, but then again he promised not to raise taxes "a dime" on Americans earning less than $250k/annum (though I'm not as shocked as Ace is). The arguments, though, are a little ridiculous. Is TNR main street America? I don't think so.

Take for example writer John Judis' rebuke to one of Obama's arguments:

Then Obama is asked about Dimon’s bonus:

BBW: Seventeen million is a lot for Main Street to stomach.

Obama: Listen. $17 million is an extraordinary amount of money. Of course, there are some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I am shocked by that as well.

If you have ever had an argument about excessive executive salaries with a rich Republican—I can recall one, for instance, with a downtown corporate tax lawyer—he will invariably compare CEO salaries to those that athletes and entertainers make. And here we have a Democratic president using this spurious ploy.

Is it necessary to make the obvious points? That the athletes who make $17 million have spent most of their waking life since they were four years old practicing their sport (if you don’t believe it, read Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open); that they possess unusual skill at what they do; that in some cases—like those among professional football players or prize fighters—they risk life and longevity; that their earning cycle, often only a few years, is very sharply limited compared to that of a banker; and that what they contribute to society—after all, athletics and entertainment have been an essential part of human life for thousands of years—is as valuable as, and probably more valuable than, what many a banker or trader contributes.

Obama's deploying a populist argument against a populist argument. Go to any sports bar where the hometown baseball team is sucking ass, and you'll hear people complaining about some veteran who's getting paid way more than he's worth and goldbricking, because his contract's not up at the end of the year. When a cash-strapped family of four can't go to the ballpark for a game without dropping $150 bucks, and they're paying taxes for the new stadium, the feel pretty strongly the conviction that they're getting a raw deal, and they're not too pleased with those salaries. I'd say main street feels just about the same regarding athletes' salaries and bankers' salaries: they're overpaid. Hell, there's a bus driver in Madison, WI, who made $160k last year. I'm pretty sure the locals feel that he was somewhat extravagantly rewarded, even though he put in long hours.

Anyway, I'm sure that the news that Wall Street has turned dramatically against him has nothing to do with his change of heart.

The writer then goes on to excoriate Obama's praise for Fed Ex CEO Fred Smith:

BBW: Do you want to weigh in on a specific CEO you admire?

Obama: There are a bunch of them. You know who I really enjoyed talking to at our last lunch was Fred Smith of FedEx (FDX). Very thoughtful. He’s an example of somebody who is thinking long-term. His industry is deeply sensitive to energy prices, and he’s the first one to say that if we don’t start getting an energy policy that’s smart, we’re going to lose. He’s also very thoughtful about trade and talks about the difficulties they’ve had in some cases with partners around the world...

What’s wrong with this? Well, Fred Smith is an odd choice for a Democratic president to make. He’s a well-known Republican, one of John McCain’s chief backers and a member of his kitchen cabinet. Between June 2006 and July 2009, he gave $82,100 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Moreover, he has a longtime record and reputation as an anti-union executive.

Most recently, Smith’s company threatened to cancel an order of planes from Boeing if Congress voted to include his company under the National Labor Relations Act, which would allow unions to organize individual FedEx plants, rather than the Railway Labor Act, which requires a union to organize all FedEx workers across the country at once—a near-impossible task. FedEx’s unionized rival, UPS, falls under the NLRA. When McCain was rumored to be considering Smith to be his running mate, Change to Win issued a statement about Smith that pretty much sums up labor’s attitude toward him:

In the 35 years that Fred Smith has been the CEO of FedEx he has repeatedly fought against workers joining together to have a voice on the job, openly stating that he 'doesn't intend to recognize any unions at Federal Express.' Less than 2% of the 200,000 American workers at FedEx are in a union. In contrast, UPS unionized workers make nearly 30 percent more than they non-union counterparts at FedEx. Despite organizing efforts, FedEx has filed appeal after appeal to deny their workers the right to bargain collectively, and has sought national legislation to thwart union organizing.

Is this a guy a Democratic president should hold up as a model CEO? Again, if you were talking to a class at Harvard Business School, and pointing out which CEOs had brought a good return to their stockholders, then Smith would be high on the list. But for a Democratic president to hold him up as a model reveals a shocking ignorance of what the party, and one of its most important constituencies, has stood for.

Sure, there are some in the labor movement whom he's alienating, but the unions and Obama misoverestimated their power, and Obama's belatedly coming around to the conclusion that maybe his special interest coalition isn't quite as broad-based as he'd thought. Keep on plucking that chicken, Judis.

If the question is, which company's employees have it better---I assume that that's what Judis is on about, right?---then the comments section from this article might be informative. It seems that a lot of Fed Ex employees like working for the company.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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In Birmingham, They Love the Gov’ner

And Stacy's known to pick a song or two (yes, he do!):

Tim James was Tea Party before Tea Party was cool. Before the federal bailouts, before most Americans had heard of Barack Obama, before Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck became household names, James helped lead the 2003 effort to stop a tax increase proposed by Alabama's Republican Gov. Bob Riley.

The battle over Amendment One, as Riley's $1.3 billion tax measure was known, was a defining moment for the state's conservatives. James, who had challenged Riley in the 2002 Republican gubernatorial primary, sided with the anti-tax activists who organized an opposition campaign that became known as the "Alabama Tea Party."

Alabama voters rejected the proposal by more than a 2-to-1 margin in a September 2003 referendum and, if politics were logical, James would be the front-runner in this year's GOP gubernatorial contest. Instead, one recent poll showed that the early leader is Bradley Byrne who, as a state senator in 2003, voted for Riley's tax-hike plan.

It's a long way until the June 1 primary, however, and James believes Alabama's voters are ready for his low-tax, free-market message . . . .

Also over at The Weekly Standard, this being a slow news week, Washington-wise, Philip Klein considers the strange phenomena emitting from Sully's fractured brain. The truth is out there, but Sullivan is WAY out there. And if no man is an island, Sully's being one disproves nothing. I don't know whether you've ever noticed, but he puts the sap in sapphic.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Downfall: Catholic Edition

Hitler rails against Benedict XVI:

Yeah, yeah, I already know what the lefties are going to say.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Could the Bush Approach to Al-Qaeda Possibly Be Working?

In a fascinating article at Forbes, Nathan Vardi argues that al-Qaeda may be bankrupt. Now I know that this runs contrary to (lefty) common sense, that blowing them up with Hellfire missiles and interrupting their channels of funding actually causes problems for them that outweigh the stimulus it must obviously provide to their recruiting efforts. It must be one of those Freakonomics things. So crazy that it just. might. work!

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Choco-Jaculate?

I was cheered by the news that some beers may contribute to bone density, as it means that I am framed with adaf*ckinmantium. Recently, I haven't had enough money to buy beer (says my wife, who is firmly in charge of the purse strings). Still, though, I've had my share and more over my lifetime, I think. So, I've got that going for me.

Women everywhere are celebrating similar news regarding chocolate, to wit, it could lower the risk of death after stroke. So, keep some bon-bons on hand in case of emergency, and skip the nitro.

Related would be the question whether consuming chocolate might possibly make one's semen taste better. I've always assumed that mine was ambrosial, so the question's never crossed my mind, but now I think of it, this possibility is just begging for a research grant, don't you think?

It would seem that these economically depressed times would call for less waste, so it's a bit disappointing to read that 32% of men polled are jerking off more. I realize that this is less expensive than some other recreational pursuits, but I must say that on conservational grounds I deplore the squandering of protein by these spermicidal maniacs.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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To What Are My Blog Acquaintance Up?

I'm sorry that I didn't really post today, but I had things to do in the morning, and by the time noon rolled around I was in one of those "f*ck it, nobody reads the site, I need a break" moods. So, I slept for a few hours, then Aidan needed the computer, then Mary, then Mairead.

Anyway, Stacy has the story of Anne Hathaway's decision to become an un-Catholic, with illustrations.

Donald Douglas goes deep inside poll results, and concludes that a considerable majority of Americans just want government to do less, grow smaller, and get off their goddamn lawn.

William Jacobson posts about the Janus aspects of Sarah Palin, depending on her critics' rhetorical needs of the instant. It's really a re-run of Bush as addlepated moron/diabolical genius. Related to the former link is Tom Maguire's decryption of ancient right-wing dogwhistle language (via Insty).

Carol's posted on Rowland Martin's suggestion that Barack channel his inner gangsta, and also Da redoubtable Techguy, who's still short of funds to get to CPAC.

Dan Riehl also reports the information that according to at least one inside Democratic source, Patches Kennedy won't seek re-election, presumably so he can devote himself to drinking full time. Da Techguy reacts.

Michael van der Galien extracts from Horowitz's Radical Son to show how leftists cover for murderous tyrants.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Ay, ay ay ay

Oh, she is the Frito Bandita!

A Serr8d joint!

She hates Fritos corn chips, so look what she did:
She took all the snack food away from your kid!

[Serr8d's snark, photoshops, and wisdom can be found at The Cutting Edge]

I'm not sure this is what he had in mind:

Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price.

Holy crap, these people are stupid.

This is more like it.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Obama’s Inner Circle

There's a great article in the Financial Times that I've meant to blog about all day, but Neo-neocon saves me the trouble. It explains a lot of things about the administration, and it's one of those few times that I'm going to tag something "must read"---both the article and Neo-neo's analysis.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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The Terrorists Have Won

Economy sags, Hooters close . . . s.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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