Today's Teamster News 03.26.12

On the Meaninglessness of Contracts and the New Optionality  nakd capitalism   ...the evidence is growing that when there is a meaningful power disparity between two parties to an agreement, the odds are high that the bigger player will elect to behave badly. This blog is rife with examples: pervasive contractual and regulatory violations in securitizations and foreclosures, banks exploiting not just ordinary consumers with “tricks and traps” but even billionaire clients; debt collection abuses; routine raiding of employee pensions while CEO pay and perquisites remain sacrosanct; and, of course, the pilfering of customer accounts at MF Global...
Student-Loan Debt Tops $1 Trillion  Wall Street Journal   ...The amount Americans owe on student loans is far higher than earlier estimates and could lead some consumers to postpone buying homes, potentially slowing the housing recovery, U.S. officials said...
John Doe investigation documents name sheriff’s comm. director  FOX 6 Now   ...Another name has surfaced in the ongoing John Doe investigation that has led to criminal charges against several aides to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker...
What stinks? Bizarre trash collects near oil patch  Associated Press   ...North Dakota has leapfrogged past a half-dozen states since 2006 to become the nation's No. 3 oil producer, and ... The number of trucking companies operating in North Dakota increased by 600 last year to about 6,000, with most working in the oil patch...
Teamsters strike at local waste company over contract dispute  AL.com   ...While the strike primarily affects operations in Mobile, Teamsters at Republic operations in Columbus, Ohio, and Buffalo, N.Y. have also manned picket lines in support of Mobile's workers...
Teamsters ready for TV   Boston Herald   ...“We want to focus on how we stand up for people and provide for our members,” O’Brien said, “What we do in the community, how we stand up to Wall Street, our battles in the Legislature to keep people working, and the individuals who work hard every day trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. These are stories that need to be told.”...

Here's how to create jobs

We're sick and tired of these Tea Party politicians who say the way to create jobs is to "liberate the free enterprise system from the shackles of government." That's code for "cutting taxes for our rich buddies the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers."

It's also whackadoodle economics.

Let's just see how well our favorite Tea Party governors have done with their state economies.

• In Wisconsin, Koch whore  Gov. Scott Walker promised to create 250,000 jobs. Since he's taken office, the unemployment rate in Wisconsin rose dramatically faster than the national average. 
•  In Ohio, Gov. John Kountry Klub Kasich's "jobs budget" led to rising unemployment since May.
• In Florida, Gov. Pink Slip Rick Scott is backing off his promise to create 700,000 jobs because he's unlikely to come anywhere near that goal. Florida's unemployment rate dropped by one-tenth of one percent since he was sworn in, though economists point out half of all new jobs suck and have nothing to do with his policies anyway. (Though the jobs lost through lay-offs and rejection of high-speed rail funds are his doing.)
• In New Jersey, Chris "David Koch's Kind of Guy" Christie has been governor for two years. You'll find the Garden State's economy in the toilet. Employment slid from June 2010 to June 2011, while 41 states saw growth.

Want to know how to create jobs? Teamster General President Jim Hoffa pointed out in the Detroit News that North Dakota (yup!) and Michigan are the No. 1 and No. 2 fastest growing states in the country. It wasn't because their free enterprise systems were unshackled. It's because the government invested wisely. In North Dakota, the state deposits its tax revenue in a state-owned bank that reinvests that money in North Dakota. In Michigan, federal government loans are bringing back manufacturing.

Writes Hoffa,

Michigan and North Dakota show that government can and should pick winners and losers.

They show that globalization isn't inevitable and that unions help create American jobs. And they demonstrate that economic growth doesn't rely on overcompensated executives at big, bailed-out Wall Street banks churning out complicated financial instruments.

Michigan especially shows how manufacturing is essential to our economic health. When the auto industry moved overseas, Michigan's economy collapsed. Now it's coming back, and so is Michigan's economy.

Read the whole thing here.

How one state creates jobs and prosperity

Pop quiz: Which U.S. state has the lowest unemployment, fastest job growth, lowest foreclosure rate and lowest credit card default rate?
a. Texas
b. Ohio
c. Wisconsin
d. Florida
e. North Dakota

If you answered e,  you are not only correct, but you can take a hint from obvious clues like giant letters that spell out "North Dakota."

Some people, like reporters at the New York Times, believe North Dakota's success has to do with oil. But as Ellen Brown points out in Common Dreams, Alaska and Montana also have oil, and their unemployment rate is 7.7 percent. North Dakota's is 3.3 percent.

Brown identifies the surprising North Dakota difference: The state is the only one in the country that has its own bank. (And why not? Green Bay can have its own football team.) Writes Brown,

North Dakota’s money and banking reserves are being kept within the state and invested there. 

That's something a lot of banks don't do. Brown notes that the Bank of North Dakota has a product called Flex PACE,

...which allows a local community to provide assistance to borrowers in areas of jobs retention, technology creation, retail, small business, and essential community services.

In 2010, according to the BND annual report:The need for Flex PACE funding was substantial, growing by 62 percent to help finance essential community services as energy development spiked in western North Dakota. Commercial bank participation loans grew to 64 percent of the entire $1.022 billion portfolio.

The Bank of North Dakota has contributed more to the state budget than oil taxes over the past 15 years. It's been so successful that North Dakota recently lowered the state income and property taxes by $400 million.
 
Timothy Canova at the New America Foundation points out that North Dakota's bank reinvests in North Dakota.  He writes,

At the state level, North Dakota has enjoyed the benefits of a public bank since 1919. The Bank of North Dakota, the model of a state-owned bank, has operated continuously at a profit and according to conservative banking practices (including relatively modest compensation for the bank’s management). The state deposits its tax revenues in the Bank which in turn ensures that a high portion of state funds are invested in the state economy. In addition, the Bank is able to remit a portion of its earnings back to the state treasury – more than $300 million in the past decade. Thanks in part to these institutional arrangements, North Dakota is the only state that has been in continuous budget surplus since before the financial crisis and it has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.

(Hat tip to gooznews.com.)