Prediction for 2011

Republicans are planning to make union busting their number one priority this year beginning at the state level.

But in some cases — mostly in states with Republican governors and Republican statehouse majorities — officials are seeking more far-reaching, structural changes that would weaken the bargaining power and political influence of unions, including private sector ones.

For example, Republican lawmakers in Indiana, Maine, Missouri and seven other states plan to introduce legislation that would bar private sector unions from forcing workers they represent to pay dues or fees, reducing the flow of funds into union treasuries. In Ohio, the new Republican governor, following the precedent of many other states, wants to ban strikes by public school teachers.

We all know Republicans love to beat up on unions. And of course everyone hates public employees. And since the previous Democratic President already pretty much eliminated "welfare as we know it" it's well past time to bring out the next group of lower-working class stiffs perceived to be getting better than what they deserve so we can scapegoat the hell out of them. Look for this to become cause 1 or 1-A for the GOP in 2012.

Thank God for that too. Otherwise, we'd have to figure how to go after some people (or machines, even) with money and power for once and... well we know how hard that is.

Another detail here: for those of you wondering why so many localities are broke, here's one small factor in the revenue drain. Counties typically charge a small fee for mortgage registration, roughly $30. But with MERS, just like with Pop and his pickup truck, you don't need to pay the fee every time there's an ownership transfer. Multiply that by 67 million mortgages and you're talking about billions in lost fees for local governments (some estimates place the total at about $200 billion).

Anyway, back to that whole prediction business I started with here. As soon as the GOP controlled House finds an excuse to take their union-busting cause to the Federal legislative agenda, look for Obama to make it his next big "bipartisan" compromise issue. Crazy liberals like me will get angry and say something snarky about that. And then Patrick will tell us we are being unproductive and damaging the discourse. Which is, you know, what I thought we were here to do anyway.

Also Happy New Year.