by Gary S. Meyers and L. Steven Platt
Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), as reported in the Wall Street Journal, has introduced legislation that would put the burden of underfunded union pension plans on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the equivalent of the FDIC, and have taxpayers pick up the tab. However, Casey and the others [...]

by James Hendricks, Esq.
Business owners with union contracts, pay attention. Companies that lay off workers and have partial withdrawal liability may find themselves faced with a new but old weapon being resurrected by union pension fund counsel.
There is a little known provision in ERISA that allows a union pension fund to seek injunctive relief for [...]

by Gary S. Meyers and L. Steven Platt
The Meyers Report got it right again. Just as we had predicted in our June 14th, 2010 newsletter, Rod Blagojevich was convicted on only one minor count out of a 24 count indictment; his brother was convicted of none. The jury was hung on all other counts. Score [...]

by Gary S. Meyers and L. Steven Platt
The federal government has pumped almost two trillion dollars into the economy and yet unemployment is roughly at 10%. Job losses have been so severe that it would take us until 2012, or later, to recover the jobs lost in the last year even if the economy fully [...]

by Gary S. Meyers and L. Steven Platt
A “Fair Trade” bill is currently pending in Congress to make changes to this country’s open-ended free trade policy most visibly exemplified by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
This agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico took effect on January 1, 1994, with the “promise” of [...]

by Gary S. Meyers and L. Steven Platt
June was not a good month for the local steel industry. The word on the street in (Northwest Indiana) the mills is that they are out of orders. They are going to complete their projects and then cutback again. Orders for raw production of steel simply dried up [...]

by Gary S. Meyers and L. Steven Platt
It is nothing short of amazing how our government repeats past errors…and calls it change. Consider this history:
June 1973. While sitting with Max Eisenstein, an owner of Terminal Construction (aptly named), one of this column’s authors asked, “What market research and product planning did you do before starting [...]

by Gary S. Meyers and L. Steven Platt
Wonder why there are fewer ads promoting new homes for sale? Or, why more homebuilders are going out of business? The reason is the same all across the country; no one is buying new construction. According to the Greater Chicago Market Report, a 35-year old cooperative activity report [...]

For the past two years, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been acting with only two of its five slots filled: one by a Democrat and the other by a Republican. Where the two members could agree a decision was issued. Where they couldn’t no decision was issued. But last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NLRB had been acting without a quorum and that all of the Labor Board’s decisions were invalid. This ruling could impact about 600 decisions rendered during that period.

by Gary S. Meyers and L. Steven Platt
Municipalities The current recession has had an enormous impact on local municipalities. Local governments traditionally count on revenue from impact fees for residential and commercial real estate projects that are simply not happening. They also are getting hurt badly by reduced retail sales taxes as stores go out [...]