True cost of the union label - Read it and weep

Protectionist causes could cost Americans trillions

Here's a Labor Day factoid: The total economic loss we'd feel from labor bosses' and environmental activists' joint "cap-and-trade" tax scheme - $10 trillion from 2012 to 2035 - is roughly the same as all of America deciding to completely cease all economic activity from New Year's Day to, well, Labor Day next year.
That's just the beginning.
While some consider American unions a dinosaur of a bygone era, they are far from extinct. Now instead of flexing their muscle on the picket lines, they are stuffing campaign coffers for friendly politicians and teaming up with environmental activists to seek special rules to avoid the rigors of the competitive market that has produced so much wealth.
Time after time, union bosses have held one hand out while curling the other into a fist, ready to punish politicians who don't toe their line. (Perhaps that's why President Obama is spending the holiday with his biggest special interest.)
Americans nationwide are increasingly aware of the major state fiscal burdens being imposed by organized labor's public-sector unions. In California for one, the state's projected total of underfunded liabilities for public employee retirement is as much as a half-trillion dollars, while the nation's total tab rings in closer to $3.5 trillion. That, by the way, approaches $12,000 per person (not all of whom will pay taxes to reduce that amount).
It's not just public pensions that are in the sights of labor bosses, though. They are seeking a special bailout that would put taxpayers directly on the hook for failing union pension funds, which would create a brand new entitlement. Cost: Billions.
But what's a few billion or trillion among friends, right?
According to a study by Dr. Anne Layne-Farrar, the "card-check" bill known sneeringly as the "Employee Free Choice Act" (EFCA), would kill 600,000 jobs the first year after it is enacted and destroy as many as 5 million jobs over the course of the time period examined. That's trillions in lost wages.
And, sadly, don't forget the as-yet-unknown trillions lost in economic activity to the health care "reform" bill union lobbyists were instrumental in pushing through. Even then, the AFL-CIO sought to exempt its members from a heavy, new tax while being only too willing to throw under the bus the vast majority of Americans who have chosen not to join a union. (Apparently, membership has its privileges - while nonmembership has its punishments.)

By Andrew Langer

The Washington Times