West Coast, Messed Coast™: 'It's the Economy, Stupid' Edition

Welcome to the special "It's the economy stupid" West Coast, Messed Coast™ report, where it's beginning to feel as if things are unraveling at the seams a bit.

An election and Christmas are around the corner, and both could be upended by two major strikes that impact the West Coast, Messed Coast™.

Joe, Kamala, and Mayor Pete are no shows.

Boing Boeing

Got word this week that a family member lost his Boeing job, what with the strike and all by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and the uncertainty of his department. And the ripple effect is ominous.

Production of Boeing's troubled but hottest-selling plane, the 737, has been shut down.

The company has begun furloughing workers and is expected to lose $3.5 billion in revenue from the strike by 33,000 workers.

Boeing has stopped all 737 production because of the continuing machinists strike.

"Airplane production in Washington state is temporarily paused including work on the 737 MAX, 767, 777/777X, P-8, KC-46A Tanker, E-7 Wedgetail," a spokesperson said. "Work at our Fabrication sites… pic.twitter.com/77ym2OPs6C
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) September 25, 2024

Those striking machinists and line workers who work in Washington and Oregon rejected the company's final offer.

When the strike was called, the union had just rejected a 25% raise over four years, plus a signing bonus. They won't even consider the defense company's latest offer, which is shockingly good.

Airline Geeks reports the details of the latest offer:

Boeing’s final contract offer would have bumped the company’s previous general wage increase offer of 25% to 30% and doubled the ratification bonus for employees from $3,000 to $6,000. It also would reinstate the AMPP performance and incentive plan for machinists while removing the proposed IAM 401(k) that was previously set to replace it.
Additionally, the offer would have increased Boeing’s 401(k) plan company match from 75% to 100% of the first 8% an employee contributed.

Though Kamala, Joe, and Mayor Pete are no shows to this drama, presidential candidate Jill Stein came out to give striking workers a pep talk and talk socialism.

Jill Stein speaks during a weekend visit to Boeing workers on the frontlines of the worker strike outside of the main Boeing plant in Everett, WA.

She calls for a $25 min wage, a 32 hour work week for same pay, end mandatory overtime and retroactively reinstate pensions. pic.twitter.com/ll4XZavsNa
— LeftMap 🩻 (@leftmapcs) September 23, 2024

Loose ships

It wasn't too long ago that Mayor Pete, the transportation chest-feeder, was not paying attention to all the ships stuck in line at the Port of Long Beach. Those ships are now stuck waiting in lines miles away at sea so we can't see them, but something more is about to visit itself on four of the country's largest ports on the West Coast, Messed Coast™.

Rick reports that East and Gulf Coast port longshoremen are threatening to strike on October 1, and this strike could play the role of the Grinch at Christmas.

Even though the strike talk concerns East Coast longshore workers, there will be a ripple effect on the West Coast, Messed Coast™ because shippers are beginning to divert their wares away from the East Coast and to Long Beach, LA, Oakland, and Tacoma and that will drive up the cost of whatever they're carrying.

Worse, even though the longshoreman's union struck a deal with the West Coast ports in 2023, history suggests their members might walk out in solidarity.

MSN/LA Times reported:

The last time the ILA struck, in 1977, longshoremen flew to San Francisco where they set up pickets that the ILWU honored, essentially halting some of the cargo-handling work in California.
Last month William Adams, the ILWU’s president, sent a letter to Daggett pledging solidarity with the ILA, but contract rules may make it harder this time for West Coast dockworkers to stop work should picket lines go up.

In fact, the West Coast, Messed Coast™ union has vowed to walk out with the East Coast workers to apply more pressure on the ports and shippers.

Hope this ends well. But if West Coast, Messed Coast™ ports go out on strike with the East Coast in solidarity, and Kamala, Joe, and Mayor Pete stay on the sidelines, it could be an interesting election and Christmas season. pic.twitter.com/zPe7Qd4Pu4
— Victoria Taft, The Adult in the Room, FITF Squad (@VictoriaTaft) September 27, 2024

Aaaaaaaaand Merry Christmas.

Gutsy move

There's a Trump house in San Francisco.

The Nelk boys setup a Trump house in liberal San Francisco 🤣 pic.twitter.com/4vOplyyBdA
— Clown World ™ 🤡 (@ClownWorld_) September 24, 2024

Censor THIS, Gavin

California Governor Gavin Newsom is working hard to shut down speech before the 2024 election. I reported last week that, being the ride-or-die for the Democrats that he is, Newsom signed a law in the past few days to immediately begin cracking down on AI-generated videos that are parodies, satire, or jokes. He's personally pointed to a hilarious video about Kamala Harris that no fool would ever think is real.

And he's being sued by the producer whose work Newsom targeted.

The producer, who goes by the name Mr. Reagan on social media, came back and made a similar, funny, and equally sophomoric video about Newsom. As was his video about Harris, this one is also marked "parody," a protected First Amendment form of speech.

Gavin Newsom Parody pic.twitter.com/LlcNzRCnGJ
— Mr Reagan 🇺🇸 (@MrReaganUSA) September 23, 2024

Newsom is being sued in federal court over his anti-speech operation.

Mailbag

Sometime back, I heard from Mark, a West Coast, Messed Coast™ reader, who told me he was headed out on a walk-about to see the natural beauty of the West Coast.

Here's part of Mark's report:

A few weeks ago in your 'West Coast Messed Coast' article you mentioned the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway in an article you wrote, and I mentioned I was there when I did a road trip this summer with my daughter. We were pressed for time so we saw Davis Lake then turned around. Our real goal was to get to Snoqualmie Falls and the surrounding area. We did stop at Odelle Lake close by, and saw the really impressive Salt Creek Falls also close by. We eventually travelled through 8 western states on the road trip. You wrote a note you would like to hear more about the trip.

What a great trip.

Here's a taste of Snoqualmie Falls, Mark, to hold you over until your next trip to the West Coast, Messed Coast™.