As a young staff member in the office of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige, I was asked to help compile some documents for a senior staff meeting,who were going todiscuss the problems of the U.S. auto industry during the 1982 recession. When I asked my boss at the time if the focus of the discussion would be the auto industry’s constant caving-in to their labor unions, thus pricing low and moderate end autos out of the market in the face of heavy Japanese competition, he said, "oh no, we aren’t going to discuss labor; don’t include anything on the cost of labor, we are just going to talk about productivity."

Of course, productivity is labor. It is making labor more productive that creates better productivity. And the cost of laboris one of the biggest factors in whether it is ultimately productive.

But it was easier for the government to ignore the problem of high labor costs and the hard decisions needed to change union contracts, when they could have their meeting and talk about how robotscould help the ailing auto industry, rather than getting to the heart of the matter: a history of… Read More

After facing two rounds of devastation election defeats, tomorrow House Republicans will gather to elect their leaders.

I wish that I could tell you that after the drubbing we took, that the incumbent Leader of House Republicans, John Boehner of Ohio (a.k.a. “Mr. Nice Guy”) had done the appropriate and honorable thing (like the #2 and #3 members of his leadership team) and stepped aside.

I wish that I could tell you that there is a vibrant contest taking place for who will be our new leader, with the idea that whomever it would be would be able to present a new face, and new image, and a new commitment to returning the Republican policy agenda on Capitol Hill back to one of increasing freedom for Americans and putting the federal government on a diet.

I wish that I could tell you that with the election of a new Republican Leader, that would mean that a long over-due shuffling of Committee Ranking Members would be taking place, the kind of changes that only take place through the dynamics of a competitive race for leader.

I wish that I could tell you that the infamous pork-loving GOP… Read More

After facing two rounds of devastation election defeats, tomorrow House Republicans will gather to elect their leaders.

I wish that I could tell you that after the drubbing we took, that the incumbent Leader of House Republicans, John Boehner of Ohio (a.k.a. “Mr. Nice Guy”) had done the appropriate and honorable thing (like the #2 and #3 members of his leadership team) and stepped aside.

I wish that I could tell you that there is a vibrant contest taking place for who will be our new leader, with the idea that whomever it would be would be able to present a new face, and new image, and a new commitment to returning the Republican policy agenda on Capitol Hill back to one of increasing freedom for Americans and putting the federal government on a diet.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

The five official Proponents of Proposition 8, along with the ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8 campaign, today filed legal papers with the California Supreme Court asking the Court to accept original jurisdiction of three lawsuits challenging the measure’s validity, seeking to intervene in the lawsuits as Real Parties In Interest, and urging the Supreme Court to reject a stay of the initiative.

We are confident that we will prevail on the merits and that Proposition 8 will be upheld.

In calling for the Supreme Court to take original jurisdiction of three challenges to Proposition 8, we said in our legal papers, “The people of California are entitled to a prompt resolution of whether Proposition 8 properly amended their Constitution. Proposition 8 was the subject of a vigorous and expensive campaign that generated an intense debate and very strong feelings on both sides. The people have a right to know as quickly as possible the status and definition of marriage under the California Constitution.”

Three lawsuits have been filed with the California Supreme Court claiming that Proposition 8 is a “constitutional revision” and thus allegedly… Read More

With Governor Schwarzenegger and others calling for a "Federal Bail Out" of California State Government, I thought this letter from Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform to the Treasury Department to be very timely.

Perhaps we should all be applying for funds? I think the FlashReport could use a few hundred billion, myself!… Read More

Here is a submission from looooongtime FR friend Sean Loranger (hailing back to our YAF days)… REPUBLICAN MESSAGE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE By Sean Loranger Republicans must give Americans a message they can understand, trust and believe in. Those leaders incapable of delivering the message or living up to it should not be allowed to represent the Republican Party.

This message can be delivered utilizing these ten simple statements: … Read More

Submitted to us by FR reader Andrew Russo of Monterey County…

Whither the GOP? Barack Obama’s election and the concurrent loss of additional Republican seats in the House and Senate are the direct and inevitable result of the destruction George W. Bush and his merry band of neo-conservatives wreaked upon a once proud and principled political party. George W. Bush – like his father before him, but to a much greater and more dangerous degree — repudiated the traditional small government philosophy that elected Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 and led to the Republican sweep in the 1994 congressional elections.… Read More

The last couple of weeks, we have featured a dozen columns from GOP leaders around California, giving their input on the future of the Grand Old Party in the wake of this year’s Presidential Election defeats. We will continue to feature more of these columns. But we have also been getting quite a few submissions from FlashReport readers on the subject, and we’ll start to run some of those today. If you would like to join in on the discussion, just send me your thoughts (up to 400 words) for publication right here on the FR Blog. Please include a one-sentence bio, and if you have one, a .jpg format headshot of yourself.

Jump in — the water’s warm!

(If you want to go back and peruse the columns we’ve already run, most of them are here. And there is one here, here, and… Read More