As noted elsewhere the actual details of the Employee Free Choice Act -- effective elimination of the secret ballot for workers; binding arbitration on contracts, one-sided penalties which allow unions to operate with impunity -- are so abhorrent that Big Labor groups are "trying to obfuscate the issue with claims that EFCA is an economic panacea." As is evident in that same Arena of discussion when Anna Burger from the SEIU says: "The solution is simple: create good jobs that support a family, so they buy more products and put money back into the economy. That's what the Employee Free Choice Act will do." No, EFCA will increase union membership at the expense of worker choice -- that is what EFCA will do.

But hey, it is an enticing argument and we want recovery too. So we took a look at the impact of EFCA's resulting increase in union membership and found this particular claim to fall short, way short, like negative short. Concerned about having their confidence game exposed the SEIU issued a "rebuttal" on Friday the 13th; it is, shall we say predictable.

First they seek to discredit the study by claiming bias, and then they go overseas, then back to the 1950's. The claim of bias is actually the most fun because they use Lawrence Mishel, the president of the Economic Policy Institute, to supply the "zinger." The funny part is the EPI gets a minimum of 29% of their funding from labor unions. As for the other two points: a) President Obama recognizes that we are not Sweden, the SEIU should too; b) I'm sure unions had a good run in the 1950s, but economic time-travel isn't going to happen, we need to move forward.