Horns Up: Wal-Mart to stock more U.S.-made goods.
In a reversal of American businesses’ shift to cheaper labor markets overseas, discount retailer Wal-Mart has agreed to increase spending on U.S.-made goods by $50 billion over the next 10 years. According to The Wall Street Journal, the retail giant’s U.S. CEO, Bill Simon, told suppliers at a recent meeting in Orlando that Wal-Mart wanted to bring back “good middle-class jobs, [which] is exactly what our country needs.” Although the company’s spending plans will only affect 2 percent of its annual merchandise expenditures in the U.S., the renewed faith in and support for the American worker is an important first step in restoring the manufacturing middle class that has been hollowed out since the 1970s. Now, we just wish they’d extend that generosity to their own employees, who are notoriously underpaid and denied basic workers’ rights.
Horns Down: Postal service leaving UT.
We’ve mentioned before how enamored we are of the United States Postal Service, so you can imagine our disappointment when the USPS announced that it would be closing its office on the UT campus when its contract expires in February. There are still UPS and FedEx offices on the Drag, and the nearest USPS location is now only a few blocks south of campus on 17th Street, but we’ll miss being able to drop off a package in between classes without missing a beat.
Horns Up: Don't swim too close…
According to Politico, at a political fundraiser for a group promoting Social Conservatism in Richmond, Va. last Saturday, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli avoided being photographed with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Cuccinelli, who is currently trailing the Democratic frontrunner for the Virginia governorship, Terry McAuliffe, in the polls by about five points, is infamous for asking the Supreme Court to reconsider the constitutionality of bans on oral and anal sex that were overturned in the landmark case Lawrence v. Texas. That’s correct: The guy who didn’t anticipate the campaign fiasco that would result from trying to outlaw oral and anal sex thinks that appearing in a photograph with Cruz is just too much of a political liability. We’re glad that even the “Wacko Bird” wing of the Republican party is starting to feel that Cruz is the odd man out.
Horns Down: We miss "Big John."
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn released a new statewide campaign ad in advance of his 2014 reelection bid, despite the fact that no one has appeared to challenge him for his seat. The 30-second ad touts Cornyn’s conservatism as hard as it can, presumably to compensate for his decision not to support fellow Texas Republican Ted Cruz’s effort to derail the Affordable Care Act by bringing the government to a screeching halt. It’s a fairly well-crafted attempt to shore up Cornyn’s conservative credentials, but we still long for the thrift-shop fringed jacket and melodramatic choir Cornyn used in his infamous “Big John” ad campaign in 2008.
