Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) led an attempt to defund the National Labor Relations Board in the U.S. House earlier this year, and he continues to vigorously criticize the board following the NLRB’s complaint against Boeing for locating new production facilities in South Carolina. In a statement, Rep. Price says:

The decision by the NLRB to attack a company trying to create American jobs is emblematic of the current administration and its attempts to punish success and pick winners and losers in our economy.  This is an absolutely reckless effort to placate a political ally at a time when we should be encouraging companies to invest and grow.

Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, also identifies political solicitude as the impetus for the NLRB move against the aircraft manufacturer. In a Forbes.com column, “Federal Government Attacks on Boeing Fuel Our National Economic Suicide,” Shapiro writes:

Sometimes by favoring a narrow constituency, the federal government can cause economic devastation for a company or a state and even encourage companies to manufacture outside the United States. In terms of sheer economic stupidity, the Obama Administration committed an economic felony when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered Boeing to shutter a spanking new $2 billion facility that would have created 1,000 much-needed new jobs in South Carolina.

In addition, the letter from nine attorneys general to the NLRB’s acting general counsel calling on him to withdrawn the complaint continues to draw attention.

• Charleston Regional Business, “Attorneys general ask NLRB to withdraw complaint against Boeing“
• Washington Examiner (blog), “Cuccinelli joins Boeing labor fray”
• Sunshine State News, “Defending Boeing, Pam Bondi Stands Up for Right to Work”

From George Ou at Digital Society, “California vehicle standard blocks cell, radio, and GPS“:

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) just passed a new regulation that requires glazed glass in automobiles that is supposed to reduce the need to use air conditioning.  The catch is that the same properties that block electromagnetic sunlight radiation also blocks lower frequency electromagnetic radio waves.  That means radios, satellite radios, GPS, garage door openers, and cell phones will be severely degraded.  Even more surprising is that it requires this glass even for jeeps that have soft covers, plastic windows, and no air conditioning.  Furthermore, the rules are so stringent that they effectively make sunroofs black, even though many consumers use the covers.

Here’s some background on CARB.  This is the same group of regulators who passed a controversial regulation that would require completely new diesel engines which will cause the state tremendous economic loss, and the same group who mandated the costly use of carcinogenic MTBE in California’s reformulated gasoline.

Meanwhile, the California State Energy Commission is getting ready to ban larger flatscreen televisions because of their energy consumption. But there surely will be no unintended consequences from this latest regulatory fiat, right? (continue reading…)

It’s not a coupon. It’s a plastic debit card, with a security hologram.  Just little personal piece of $650 million in the stimulus bill.

From the Wall Street Journal, “Converter Shortage May Hamper Digital-TV Switch“:

Congress set aside $650 million in the economic stimulus bill to pay for more coupons and earlier this week, the government said it has cleared its backlog of 4.2 million requests and those consumers should receive coupons by next week. Consumers who didn’t use the coupons before they expired can now apply for replacement coupons, federal officials say.

Pero, “Los cupones no pueden ser reemplazados.” Says so right on the sheet.

We belong to the subset of consumers who used analog TVs without cable or satellite, but upon hitting the first conversion date, just decided to buy a digital broadcast TV. So it’s “Rockford Files” every night at 10.

What do with the coupon? Package it with White House Easter egg roll tickets in an E-bay deal? (the Easter egg event is turning into a big mess.)

Nope. No sales. Verboten. You have to buy the converter box and THEN sell it.

The House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a hearing yesterday entitled, “Oversight of the Digital Television Transition.” Gary Shapiro, the head of the Consumer Electronics Association, led his prepared statement by offering this assessment:

There are three main points that I wish to make before this DTV transition oversight hearing. First, the DTV transition has been and will continue to be perhaps the most successful partnership of any kind between government and industry in our nation’s history. Second, as the experience of February 17th demonstrates, consumer experience with the DTV transition looks much more like Y2K than Hurricane Katrina. With our most recent survey of the market, we see ample evidnece to suggest that manufacturers and retailers will continue to meet consumer demand for converter boxes and antennas. Finally, in light of the program’s success and the enormous benefits arising from broadcasters’ migration to digital spectrum, Congress must not again delay the transition beyond June 12th.

The most successful partnership? Well, WWII’s arsenal of democracy might slip into first place on that list. Or the 19th century’s expansion of the railroads. Or the vast extension of Americans’ lifespan in the 20th century.

But as far as no more delays, RIGHT!

Missed this from earlier in the week, a new survey released during a Consumer Electronics Association event at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. From CEA:

Fifty-eight percent of those polled said they consider trade a good thing because it has reduced the costs of goods such as electronics and clothing while at the same time helping Americans to become more competitive with workers overseas. The survey released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)^® was conducted by Zogby International.

A vast majority, 69 percent, report that they personally benefit from trade. Support for trade has particularly been drawn from the technology and consumer electronics fields. Sixty-nine percent of Americans called said they support overseas trade in those sectors. In addition, 74 percent said that it was a “good thing” that overseas trade and global manufacturing had reduced the costs of consumer electronics goods in the United States. Fifty-seven percent said that America would not be the economic leader it is today without overseas trade. Only 25 percent disagreed with this statement.

“The verdict is in and the people have spoken. Now it’s time for Congress to grasp what the American people firmly understand – that trade benefits our country,” said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. “It’s time for Congress to listen to the American people and not the protectionists in the media and do what’s right for our economy, which is passage of trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.”

The event in Minnesota, which featured Commerce Secretary Gutierrez, was part of the CEA’s month-long “America Wins with Trade” bus tour. Washington Times story here.

(Note: NAM’s Executive Vice President Jay Timmons is blogging from the National Democratic Convention in Denver this week.)

The capstone event the NAM team attended on Wednesday was a reception hosted by the Third Way Democrats. Third Way is a group of thoughtful policy professionals who believe partisan politics get in the way of creative solutions.

NAM is a proud supporter of Third Way. Although we won’t always totally see eye-to-eye on all issues, the organization is one of the few in Washington willing to look past campaign rhetoric in order to bring together non-traditional allies to devise policy proposals to help real people in the real world, and make America more competitive.

Senator Tom Carper (DE) was in attendance. NAM’s CEO, John Engler, worked closely with Senator Carper when the two were Governors. That productive relationship has extended into their new leadership roles as they have collaborated on common sense proposals to reform our litigious legal system in order to reduce the cost of doing business in the United States.

Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR), another attendee, is expected to be a major player in the next Congress when tax reform proposals are offered. Senator Lincoln has a history of reaching out to stakeholders, and the NAM expects to work closely with the Senator and her staff next year on tax policies that will enable U.S. manufacturers to better compete and succeed against our major trading partners.

Free trade, in particular, is an area where the Third Way can make an extraordinarily positive impact next year. The NAM has been actively working with the group to craft meaningful proposals to advance pending trade agreements, pursue new agreements that would open additional markets to U.S. products, reduce non-tariff barriers, and enforce our existing agreements.

Third Way is clearly in touch with members of their party: Fully 62 percent of Democrats say they benefit from free trade, according to a nationwide poll conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association this month. Data released today by the Commerce Department explains why this perception is a reality. Second quarter Gross Domestic Product figures show a stronger than expected 3.3 percent annual rate of increase in real GDP. Exports contributed 1.65 percentage points of that 3.3 percent growth. And “net exports” (trade balance – exports minus imports) contributed 3.1 percentage points of that 3.3 percent growth, because real imports (price-adjusted) fell.

Third Way Democrats understand free trade works. Hopefully their philosophy and the realities of the positive impact of free trade will prevail after the campaign rhetoric subsides.