Pelosi Vs. Boeing — And Jobs

Policy Errors: The ex-House Speaker who promised millions of jobs from ObamaCare says that not creating jobs is better than creating nonunion jobs. But then she also believes unemployment checks grow the economy.

The Peter Principle applies to politics, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be its poster child, having risen to the level of her incompetence. Her latest pearl of wisdom came in an interview with CNBC in which she said if you can't be a union worker you should be unemployed.

"Do you think it's right that Boeing has to close down that plant in South Carolina because it's nonunion?" asked host Maria Bartiromo.

Pelosi's quick answer was "yes."

Pelosi said she preferred the plant in the right-to-work state would unionize; failing that, the National Labor Relations Board is right to shut down the plant where Boeing hopes to build its Dreamliner passenger aircraft.

Never mind that workers at the South Carolina plant were once unionized and voted to kick the union out. The Vought Aircraft plant, which Boeing purchased in 2009, was once one of Boeing's suppliers.

A strike at Boeing's Washington state plant forced the Vought facility to temporarily close and lay off its workers, who had narrowly voted to accept International Association of Machinists representation in 2007.

Dissatisfied with that representation, Vought workers voted to decertify the IAM in 2009.

Pelosi, who also supports card check legislation that would deny workers the secret ballot in voting on union representation, believes workers shouldn't have any choice in the matter.

Union representation must be forced on them so they can be forced to pay union dues, a big chunk of which is funneled into Democratic campaign coffers. Over the past two years, the IAM donated $1.98 million to Democratic candidates and $34,000 to Republicans.

Similarly, the trillion dollars in wasted stimulus and other legislation have gone mostly to projects using union workers, in particular teacher and construction unions. Stimulus money has also gone to failing but politically connected firms like Solyndra, whose major investors are big Democratic donors.

But, hey, getting an unemployment check is not all that bad.

"It injects demand into the economy," Pelosi said of unemployment checks when she was still House speaker, arguing that when families have money to spend, it keeps the economy churning. "It creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name."

We can name one — tax cuts, especially when combined with spending cuts.