no third solution » Employment & Labor
Bank of America Receives Bailout, Promptly Lays Off Thousands
A slew of layoffs have been announced recently. And it’s not just the precious auto manufacturing jobs, either. It’s half a million jobs, including white-collar, financial layoffs. Bank of America plans to axe 35,000 jobs. Google it. I find it interesting that Bank of America is going to receive billions of dollars from the federal government, with little to no oversight, yet late last year (after the toxic financial instruments had been revealed) they bought subprime lender, Countrywide Financial. And they just finalized a deal to purchase Merrill Lynch, for $50 Billion, with a Federal guarantee (If I remember correctly, the reason they didn’t buy Lehman Bros is because the Feds weren’t willing to back it). Bank of America’s strategy, it seems, has been to become … Read entire article »
Filed under: American Politics, bailout, Employment & Labor
Rent Seeking and Minimum Wage
It’s bad enough that the electorate believe that they must pick the “lesser of two evils” in political races – compounded by the fact that the two evils are so centrist as to be almost indiscernably different. It’s completely another thing when the elected officials choose between the lesser of two evils, considering that the third option, i.e., doing nothing is available. But Leviathan isn’t satisfied by inaction. His hunger is only satiated by arbitrary mandates, restrictions and regulations. Governor Granholm is expected to sign into law the iniative that would significantly raise Michgan’s Minimum Wage. Now, when the ballot proposal mandating a 44% increase in the minimum wage is “much more resposible” than amending the State Constitution to include annual COL increases – you know that the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Employment & Labor, Michigan