In a column entitled “The Twinkie Manifesto”, Paul Krugman uses the demise of Hostess to make several economic points.  They seem to me to be just as nonsensical as his judgement that the destruction of 9/11 helped the country economically. [ See the Broken Window Fallacy.]

The lessons he thinks we should learn from the death of Twinkies include the following:

• We need stronger unions
• We need higher taxes on wealthy people.  He suggests 91%.
• People who think we live in a collapsing nation of moochers need to realize that,  ”the collapsing, moocher-infested nation [Ayn Rand] portrayed in “Atlas Shrugged … was basically Dwight Eisenhower’s America. “

Stronger unions and higher taxes.  That’s the answer.  Krugman says people won’t “go Galt” if you tax them at 91%.  He says they may “work harder than ever”.

Neal Boortz view of the death of Hostess seems to me to be much more sane than Krugman’s.  Boortz writes:

You know the Twinkie story .. and if you don’t, how about some bullet points.

1. Hostess bakeries file a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy petition.  You do not use a Chapter 11 petition to go out of business.  You use a Chapter 11 petition to reorganize your debts and your contracts with unions so that you can survive and stay IN business.

2. After hearings in which all parties, debtors, employees and employee unions have their say, the Bankruptcy Judge grants an order to Hostess allowing it impose wage and benefit changes on employee unions.

3. The Teamsters Union, which represents some Hostess workers, accepts the modifications to its contract with Hostess.

4. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union refuses to accept the changes and tells Hostess to go eat cake.

5. The Friday after Dear Ruler’s reelection the Bakery Union goes on strike.

6. Hostess tells the union that if it is unable to make or ship product from any of its 55 production facilities, it will close those facilities permanently.

7. Early the following week employees at three Hostess production facilities refuse to cross the picket lines.  Those facilities can neither produce nor ship product.

8. Hostess closes those three facilities permanently and fires over 600 employees.

9. Hostess then tells the union that if their workers do not return to work by last Thursday afternoon, it is going to shut down the company, fire 18,500 employees, and liquidate.  For you Obama voters, that means go out of business.

10. The Bakery union takes a vote .. not a private vote, as I understand it .. and decides that they’re going to continue with the strike.  They do not show up for work by the end of the day on Thursday.

11. Hostess files a motion with the Bankruptcy Judge on Friday morning to close down their entire business and to shut down the company. The judge will rule on that motion today.  There is no real legal basis upon which the Judge can refuse to grant’s Hostess’ motion.

12. Union Goon Richard Trumka holds a press conference and blames the entire Hostess mess on …. now get THIS!  … Mitt Romney and Bain Capital.

…[snip] The amazing thing here is that these union goons never seem to understand that they are part of the problem.  I mentioned this in the bullet points above, but here’s your case-in-poing. AFL-CIO goon Richard Trumka responded to the bankruptcy of Hostess and the subsequent loss of 18,500 jobs.  Take a look at his remarks:

What’s happening with Hostess Brands is a microcosm of what’s wrong with America, as Bain-style Wall Street vultures make themselves rich by making America poor. Crony capitalism and consistently poor management drove Hostess into the ground, but its workers are paying the price. These workers, who consistently make great products Americans love and have offered multiple concessions, want their company to succeed. They have bravely taken a stand against the corporate race-to-the-bottom. And now they and their communities are suffering the tragedy of a needless layoff. This is wrong. It has to stop. It’s wrecking America.

Isn’t it amazing?  In the mind of a union boss it’s always bad management that drives a company into the ground, not unions.  You do realize, don’t you, that this man Richard Trumka is the man that Obama chose to meet with about the fiscal cliff before bothering to meet with business leaders?  Last Tuesday, Obama met with labor leaders including Trumka about the fiscal cliff.  We will see results of that meeting as soon as this week.  Labor leaders are launching a major ad campaign urging members of Congress to support increasing taxes on the rich and to protect entitlements from cuts.  Here’s how CNN describes the ad campaign …

The groups will argue, using new polling data, that the public does not favor major cuts in entitlement programs like Medicaid, but wants to see a solution to curbing the nation’s deficit based on raising the tax burden on the wealthier parts of the population, as well as policies that encourage job growth.

Let’s raise taxes on those wealthy people, many of whom are small business owners who create the jobs .. yeah, THAT will “encourage” job growth!  Also, just remember what they say about democracy/majority rule: It’s like two wolves and a sheep trying to decide what’s for dinner.  Half of this country doesn’t pay income taxes as it is.  Only about two million American households earn more than $250,000 a year.  So it’s not usual that most people would support these tax increases because odds are it wouldn’t affect them!  Now are you starting to see why a true democracy is so dangerous?