Across the land, Republicans weep

Romney in particular, as he mourns the wealth that was not created. Quoting

It is the first new labor pact for any of the Detroit carmakers since G.M. and Chrysler received government bailouts and went through bankruptcy in 2009. The deal will help G.M.’s 48,500 union workers share in the company’s turnaround and should give them more job security, two top priorities for the U.A.W., though the tenuous nature of the economic recovery will continue to inject some uncertainty.

G.M. said the deal would cover four years. The union declined to give details but said the agreement included improved profit-sharing and “significant improvements to health care benefits.” The deal was also expected to include so-called signing bonuses worth at least several thousand dollars. And the U.A.W. had been seeking a wage increase for entry-level workers, who earn about half as much as other workers.

The union said in a statement that it had successfully fought G.M.’s proposals to weaken retirement benefits and obtain major concessions to health benefits.

“In both pensions and health care, the U.A.W. was able to convince G.M. that far greater success could be achieved working together than by cutting pensions or health care,” it said.

From The New York Times:

U.A.W. Reaches Tentative Agreement With General Motors

http://nyti.ms/on66Mm

There is a moral to this story: never,ever forget. And never forget to vote.

The Economist
Republican governors
A collection of new governors in battleground states are stirring things up

COLUMBUS, OHIO

“HERE’S a great quote,” says John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, reading from an article about the cuts he instigated to the state’s subsidies for nursing homes, “‘It took a real bastard to change things.’” Mr Kasich (pictured) is one of a new crop of Republican governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey, Rick Scott of Florida and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who seem to relish putting noses out of joint. Their obstreperousness is all the more remarkable given that they are all from swing states, or, in the case of Mr Christie, a resolutely Democratic one. Whether their tactics will help to cement the Republicans’ new-found advantage in those places or doom them to transience is a subject of heated debate.