Paper is in the Midwestern news these days -- specifically the paper grown, pulped and produced from forests and mills in states like Wisconsin and Minnesota. Most of this news, alas, isn't good, because it describes a once mighty industry under assault from digital technology and (like so many other Midwestern industries) China.
If there's a silver lining here, it's that some of this paper is going to put out newspapers like the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Neither paper is immune to the financial problems plaguing the American press, but both still employ first-rate reporters and are willing to give them the time, money and space to do stories on the economic forces transforming the economies of their states.
If you're going to kick someone when he's down, it's a good idea to make sure he'll stay down.
Over the howls of organized labor, the Republican majority in the Michigan legislature this week will pass right-to-work legislation. Until now, unions in unionized companies could require that all workers pay union dues as a condition of employment, to prevent them from getting a free ride on gains won by the unions. Right-to-work laws eliminate that requirement, leaving employees free to pay dues or not.
Business groups say right-to-work laws are a blow for worker freedom. Union supporters say they just weaken unions and should be known as right-to-work-for-less laws. The unions have a point: average wages in right-to-work states are usually lower than in states without these laws.
