Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 47 stations) with an admonishment to the nation’s labor unions that fought hard to support passage of Obamacare only to back away once it passed and now are begging Obama for a waiver from the legislation they helped pass. This is something beyond the capability of the rest of us, noted Neal.
“So the unions have a private meeting with Obama to tell him that union members can’t afford his healthcare program. How ironic. They went from Obamacare’s biggest boosters to its biggest critics,” said Dr. Rich Roffman, Neal’s cohost on Made in America,
Made in America welcomed back return guest David Bego, President and CEO of EMS, an industry leader in the field of environmental workplace maintenance, who took on Andy Stern and the SEIU from late 2006 until the present day. His battle with unions is chronicled in two books: “Devil at my Doorstep” and “Devil at Our Doorstep.”
Bego noted that there are two big cases coming before the Supreme Court that have far reaching implications in reducing the power of unions to coerce employees to join unions, such as card check.
“An employee has brought suit against a union that will be heard in an Atlanta district court because he does not want to join the union, and objects to their heavy handed methods. This could put a crimp in the union’s tactics to end secret ballots, force a gag order on employers so they can’t talk to employees; and worst of all, give unions the addresses and private contact information for employees so they can strong arm them into joining,” said Bego, who reminded listeners that only 6.7 percent of private sector workers belong to unions.
Bego revealed that his company was forced out of a contract with an auto company because the union forced the company to fire them. As a result of the new union contract, 11 employees were laid off.
“Big labor bosses are terrified that they are losing power, and more importantly the big money that they make,” concluded Bego.
Neal and Dr. Roffman segued to a discussion about the way the White House acted once the shutdown ended.
“The president could have come off as a reconciler, but he went small. He tried to inspire people to vote to get their voices heard, ignoring the fact that while he was re-elected President, Republicans won more House seats than Democrats, and in 2014, they may win even more, and even have a shot at taking the Senate,” said Neal.
Dr. Roffman agreed, wondering why Obama was “spiking the football” as if he won some kind of victory, when it’s apparent that nobody won, and that Obama could never be characterized as a “statesman.”
“The central core of governance is to be willing to negotiate and offer concessions. But we have a president who doesn’t do either. The House proposed many bills to end the budget wars, but the Senate and president ignored them, and in most cases, didn’t even read them. We’re facing the ‘Incredible Shrinking President’,” proposed Dr. Roffman.
“Obama doesn’t even talk about jobs anymore. We’re at a five-year low in job creation. Only 13 percent of Americans say we are headed in the right direction. That’s why we have 26 million under-employed and unemployed Americans. Yet, he’s walking around like he just won the Super Bowl,” concluded Neal.
Made in America’s next guest was first-time guest Marita Noon, writing for
Townhall Finance.com, in an article entitled, “Get Rid of Ethanol Exchanges Too,” which suggests that while the Affordable Care Act sounded good initially, so did the government’s ethanol program. But both are seriously flawed.
“Growing our gasoline—converting corn from the heartland into ethanol—sounded good when Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. But today, corn that was once used for feed and in food is being allocated to produce ethanol. The result is that dairy farmers are seeing a 200+ percent increase in feed costs. The livestock industry is up in arms, and even environmentalists don’t like ethanol because it doesn’t actually reduce CO2 emissions,” said Noon.
The final guest on Made in America was return guest Paul Anderson, CEO of the Tampa Port Authority, who applauded Congress for a rare bipartisan agreement to pass the “Water Resources and Development Act,” which will create jobs and expand our economy.
“Our gateway seaports are critical to the U.S. economy. They bring in 99 percent of our products (by weight) and 65 percent by value. More than 13,000 jobs are created through our seaports, and they generate $210 billion in taxes. Every American, every day, benefits from something that was shipped through our seaports,” said Anderson. Anderson noted funding seaports are important today because they face a $16 billion gap in infrastructure funding, which could result in a $4 trillion loss in GDP if not resolved.
“Without this funding the U.S., will be at competitive disadvantage, which affects everyone from the average consumer to the farmer who needs to export his goods overseas,” concluded Anderson.
Neal and co-host Dr. Rich Roffman concluded the show by returning to the topic of cronyism and its impact on enriching friends of the White House.
“You may remember that the World War II memorial was closed down during the government shutdown, but the government miraculously allowed illegal alien advocates to hold a demonstration in the mall,” said Dr. Roffman, recognizing that Democrats have been courting the Hispanic vote leading up to the next election.
He also noted that ACORN, which was defunded by the government, has found a way to help roll out Obamacare, even while one of their employees was found guilty of stealing ID information.
“And let’s not overlook the magnanimous Mitch McConnell taking a bow for ending the shutdown, even though he forgot to mention that he received a $2.9 billion earmark to build a dam in his home state of Kentucky. And we can’t overlook the $30 million that went to Richard Trumka and the AFL-CIO for not publicly attacking Obamacare even while he was trying to get a waiver for his members,” said Dr. Roffman.
Each week Neal Asbury’s Made in America provides Neal’s insights into the week’s top news stories and their impact on the worlds of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and the overall economy. Neal’s analysis, together with co-host Dr. Richard Roffman, a veteran 30-year publisher with extensive domestic and international experience, takes a non-biased approach based on real life experience in business as an American manufacturer and exporter. Made in America airs nationally each Saturday from 7-8:00 PM on Radio America. Link to Made in America at http://www.nealasburysmadeinamerica.com.
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