So Michigan becomes the latest state with “right to work” laws, making it the 26th in the nation to do so (Arizona, of course, has always been a right-to-work state).

One of the arguments proponents of this law use is that union wages depress economic growth, that right to work will create more jobs and grow state economies.

Not so, say a couple of recent studies.

One, by Lonnie Stevens of Hofstra University (you can read  the full report here), is summarized by Washington Post  columnist Harold Meyerson this way:

“But an exhaustive study by economist Lonnie K. Stevans of Hofstra University found that states that have enacted such laws reported no increase in business start-ups or rates of employment. Wages and personal income are lower in those states than in those without such laws, Stevans concluded, though proprietors’ incomes are higher. In short, right-to-work laws simply redistribute income from workers to owners.”

In other words, states with right to work laws practice what the Republicans claim they abhor:  income redistribution.

Yep, taking from the workers and giving to the owners.

Corporate profits?  At an all-time high.

Workers’ pay?  As a percent of the economy, at an all-time low.

So while the Republicans continue to be horrified by “income redistribution” and frightened that a 4% increase on the so-called “job creators” will tank the economy, states with right to work actually practice that scary concept, much to the economic pleasure of the job creators and to the consternation of everyone else.

Nice scam.