Business Hostile, Race Relations Edition

Picture this (and I am speaking out of personal experience). You have a team of co-workers. The racial makeup (which is not at all relevant to the performance of the individuals) is 1 black, 1 Hispanic and 5 white. Now of those 7 people the top positions are held by the black and Hispanic who have oversight over the entire branch (not just the team). One of those two people performs in an above-and-beyond manner consistently. The other one shows new standards for sub-standard performance and results on a consistent basis. The union protects the sub-performer and has for over a decade. While this would be another example of why unions suck that is not the concern of this post.

Now imagine what the performance reviews would look like for years upon years. What would the disparity in the merit raises be? What kind of a gap in pay would there be after 5 years? 10 years?

Thanks to the shortsightedness of 1/2 of the country this year Obama will now get the chance to create another business hostile policy.

President Obama intends to close "persistent gaps" between whites and minorities in everything from credit scores and homeownership to test scores and graduation rates.

His remedy — short of new affirmative-action legislation — is to sue financial companies, schools and employers based on "disparate impact" complaints — a stealthy way to achieve racial preferences, opposed 2 to 1 by Americans.

Under this broad interpretation of civil-rights law, virtually any organization can be held liable for race bias if it maintains a policy that negatively impacts one racial group more than another — even if it has no racist motive and applies the policy evenly across all groups.

This means that even race-neutral rules for mortgage underwriting and consumer credit scoring potentially can be deemed racist if prosecutors can produce statistics showing they tend to result in adverse outcomes for blacks or Latinos.

What this means is that in the above real life example when the chronically under-performing employee complains about the salaries between her and the other person in a top position there could now be a case for the Obama Administration to pursue it.

Disparate outcomes are a part of a free society. In fact, to try to get rid of disparate outcomes (when opportunities are equal) is the absolute antithesis of a free society.

Let's extend the example now. Because of either threat of lawsuits or fear of lawsuits the employer decides to match the salaries. What is the motivation of the super performer to not only continue to super perform but to even meet minimum standards when sub-standard is going to get the same pay?

The take away from this story (and the example) is two-fold.

First, Obama's administration and his supporters are hostile to business. This was known by a few before the 2008 election but it was en vogue to vote based on race (and fear of being called racist by dishonest intolerant people likely effected quite a few people as well). This was known very well by 2012 and yet people still supported him. The rational conclusion is that the business hostility was a trait that Obama 2012 supporters wanted (and why they accepted the idea that their votes were "Revenge" as Obama stated).

Second, Obama's leanings are not capitalist but more towards a Chinese or Soviet communist/Marxist beliefs. Everyone must be equal and if everyone is not then beat down the ones who are performing too well. Fits very nicely into the union mentality as well.

Lynch having baby...update on the other girl

Remember PoW Jessica Lynch? All the stories. All the hype.

And it continues. Guess what? She's pregnant.

THE American soldier who became a national icon after she was captured in Iraq revealed yesterday that she is expecting her first child.

Jessica Lynch once worried that the injuries she suffered were so severe they might stop her from having a baby.

Ms Lynch, 23, who has rarely spoken publicly since her return home to West Virginia, let the news slip in an e-mail to the television interviewer Diane Sawyer. “Learning to walk again and coping with the internal injuries that I still deal with pale in comparison to the tremendous joy of carrying this child,” she wrote. The father is her boyfriend, Wes Robinson, 25.

Now, does anyone remember the OTHER PoW, whose injuries in the same event were worse? She is black. Remember her yet? Doubt it, mostly because the media, for some reason (racism?) would not cover both women close to equally...and still don't.

The other PoW is Shoshana Johnson.

Shoshana Nyree Johnson (born 1971) was the first black female prisoner of war in the military history of the United States. She was held hostage in Iraq for 22 days after being captured with four other members of the U.S. Army 507th Maintenance Company, 5/52 ADA BN, 11th ADA Brigade. Johnson was a Specialist at the time and suffered bullet wounds to both of her ankles. She survived the ordeal as a result of a successful rescue mission conducted by U.S. Marines on April 13, 2003.

Aside from announcing that Johnson signed a book deal (years after Lynch signed one...and for less? Don't know, can't find details on the amount), and aside from a CNN Where are they Now type of deal (and a couple of similar interviews in the same 'you used to be known' vein) last year there has been nothing said about her.

Watch the releases and coverage over the next few weeks. Lynch is pregnant, Johnson gets a book deal. Somehow I have a feeling if you see one you will not see the other. I have a hunch that the one you will see on the news reports is Lynch, and maybe a quick sentence about Johnson, just to keep it fair.

So, while the media continues acting as if they have some kind of moral high ground over everyone, and that they are better than everyone else you can keep in mind that they are no better than the average person. Worse even, because to be racist is to be worse than the average person.