This Is How It Begins

[nodoginnafight]

Unions are like so many other institutions in the U.S. In the beginning they filled a need that was very real. But many unions (maybe most) have grown far beyond filling that initial need.

When some of those unions started getting real power, they became intoxicated by that power and now spend 99% of their efforts maintaining and wielding that power without regard to that initial need.

If I own a business and I don't get to hire the employee I want - I can only accept the employee that the union sends me - then THAT goes waaaay too far.

The big shift came when unions started to focus on maintaining head count exclusively, and stopped weeding out those would couldn't cut it. Now they look after the worst workers more than the best workers.

IMHO: The early unions filled an important need in terms of workplace safety and worker exploitation. Moving into training wasn't so bad either. But "closed shop" is just way beyond the real needs. The guy who makes the call on who works here and who doesn't should be the guy who signs the darn paychecks imho.

 

[NLT]

Wage disparity and a shrinking consumer base. Harder and harder for working families to make ends meet. More and more wealth sequestered among the very few, and that wealth is not circulated through the economy.

And the Conservative approach? Eliminate unions!

When does that trickle down start?

In the year 2000, the GDP was about $10 Trillion, now it's what? $17 Trillion? Something like that.

But the point is, the people that have the money now -- They created it. We have gained Seven TRILLION Dollars in Domestic Product.

Because -- Certain People Created It.

If you're on the low end of the wage scale, it's your own fault. Not mine, not anybody else's -- Yours.

Period.

The money is there. You just have to have the skill to go and get it.

Oh, I see. You've got a worthless degree in a worthless field and you think you're entitled to make 'X' number of dollars because you Bees edumucated and smart? Is that it? You feel entitled and the world is leaving you behind?

No shit. It will. It will until you learn that you have to have something to offer.

Which is -- What, exactly?

I retired 15 years ago at the age of 52. I don't have a College Degree -- Although I hired plenty of people with them. Most of whom were dumb as a box of rocks

I had one thing -- A work ethic. I succeeded but I didn't get rich. I did okay. But not rich. Not by a LONG shot. Not bragging. I think a lot of it was luck but luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. What I'm trying to tell you is --

First things first. Get a work ethic.

It'll do wonders for you

That 'created' wealth is not from making things better but from making a killing in the market.

When we had innovators who created their goods right here in America, there was great wealth among the top earners as well as the vast middle class. There were ample opportunities for experienced and entry level workers to advance.

What's the more noble pursuit: making things here in America by American workers and then getting rich, or making a killing in the market and depositing that gain in off shore accounts?

When democrats make it impossible to make a profit by forcing mindless regulations on everything and trying to unionize everyone, I don't blame them for going off shore. People own a business to make money, not to make sure you have a nice cushy union job to fuck them over with.

So the repression of consumer spending and the elimination of collective bargaining are both means to an end, namely uplifting the middle class?

Why do Conservatives hate working Americans so much?

Average Union Worker

 

[NLT]

 

[The Rabbi]

Wage disparity and a shrinking consumer base. Harder and harder for working families to make ends meet. More and more wealth sequestered among the very few, and that wealth is not circulated through the economy.

And the Conservative approach? Eliminate unions!

When does that trickle down start?

And tje liberal approach: Make it worse!

Taking away the right to collective bargaining, taking away the power of the worker to strike for better conditions and benefits, taking away the buying power of the consumer (a power that drives better than 70% of our economy) is precisely what the Conservatives want to do. It ain't gonna get better with such policies.

Unions rob wages from non union workers just as they rob funds for modernization, research and development. In the public sector they are vampires, sucking the life out of municipalities and states. Union have contributed nothing except bankruptcy, corruption and misery for the last 50 years.

 

[Nosmo King]

Wage disparity and a shrinking consumer base. Harder and harder for working families to make ends meet. More and more wealth sequestered among the very few, and that wealth is not circulated through the economy.

And the Conservative approach? Eliminate unions!

When does that trickle down start?

In the year 2000, the GDP was about $10 Trillion, now it's what? $17 Trillion? Something like that.

But the point is, the people that have the money now -- They created it. We have gained Seven TRILLION Dollars in Domestic Product.

Because -- Certain People Created It.

If you're on the low end of the wage scale, it's your own fault. Not mine, not anybody else's -- Yours.

Period.

The money is there. You just have to have the skill to go and get it.

Oh, I see. You've got a worthless degree in a worthless field and you think you're entitled to make 'X' number of dollars because you Bees edumucated and smart? Is that it? You feel entitled and the world is leaving you behind?

No shit. It will. It will until you learn that you have to have something to offer.

Which is -- What, exactly?

I retired 15 years ago at the age of 52. I don't have a College Degree -- Although I hired plenty of people with them. Most of whom were dumb as a box of rocks

I had one thing -- A work ethic. I succeeded but I didn't get rich. I did okay. But not rich. Not by a LONG shot. Not bragging. I think a lot of it was luck but luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. What I'm trying to tell you is --

First things first. Get a work ethic.

It'll do wonders for you

That 'created' wealth is not from making things better but from making a killing in the market.

When we had innovators who created their goods right here in America, there was great wealth among the top earners as well as the vast middle class. There were ample opportunities for experienced and entry level workers to advance.

What's the more noble pursuit: making things here in America by American workers and then getting rich, or making a killing in the market and depositing that gain in off shore accounts?

When democrats make it impossible to make a profit by forcing mindless regulations on everything and trying to unionize everyone, I don't blame them for going off shore. People own a business to make money, not to make sure you have a nice cushy union job to fuck them over with.

So the repression of consumer spending and the elimination of collective bargaining are both means to an end, namely uplifting the middle class?

Why do Conservatives hate working Americans so much?

Average Union Worker

What a sterling, well thought argument! You have me convinced! Workers are nothing more than Ken dolls asleep on the job.

To Hell with them! Where's my Capital Gains tax cut?

 

[The Rabbi]

In the year 2000, the GDP was about $10 Trillion, now it's what? $17 Trillion? Something like that.

But the point is, the people that have the money now -- They created it. We have gained Seven TRILLION Dollars in Domestic Product.

Because -- Certain People Created It.

If you're on the low end of the wage scale, it's your own fault. Not mine, not anybody else's -- Yours.

Period.

The money is there. You just have to have the skill to go and get it.

Oh, I see. You've got a worthless degree in a worthless field and you think you're entitled to make 'X' number of dollars because you Bees edumucated and smart? Is that it? You feel entitled and the world is leaving you behind?

No shit. It will. It will until you learn that you have to have something to offer.

Which is -- What, exactly?

I retired 15 years ago at the age of 52. I don't have a College Degree -- Although I hired plenty of people with them. Most of whom were dumb as a box of rocks

I had one thing -- A work ethic. I succeeded but I didn't get rich. I did okay. But not rich. Not by a LONG shot. Not bragging. I think a lot of it was luck but luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. What I'm trying to tell you is --

First things first. Get a work ethic.

It'll do wonders for you

That 'created' wealth is not from making things better but from making a killing in the market.

When we had innovators who created their goods right here in America, there was great wealth among the top earners as well as the vast middle class. There were ample opportunities for experienced and entry level workers to advance.

What's the more noble pursuit: making things here in America by American workers and then getting rich, or making a killing in the market and depositing that gain in off shore accounts?

When democrats make it impossible to make a profit by forcing mindless regulations on everything and trying to unionize everyone, I don't blame them for going off shore. People own a business to make money, not to make sure you have a nice cushy union job to fuck them over with.

So the repression of consumer spending and the elimination of collective bargaining are both means to an end, namely uplifting the middle class?

Why do Conservatives hate working Americans so much?

Average Union Worker

What a sterling, well thought argument! You have me convinced! Workers are nothing more than Ken dolls asleep on the job.

To Hell with them! Where's my Capital Gains tax cut?

They're union workers. And yes, anecdotal evidence suggests union workers are lazy good for nothigns enjoying union protection while they soak up salaries and benefits.

 

[Nosmo King]

That 'created' wealth is not from making things better but from making a killing in the market.

When we had innovators who created their goods right here in America, there was great wealth among the top earners as well as the vast middle class. There were ample opportunities for experienced and entry level workers to advance.

What's the more noble pursuit: making things here in America by American workers and then getting rich, or making a killing in the market and depositing that gain in off shore accounts?

When democrats make it impossible to make a profit by forcing mindless regulations on everything and trying to unionize everyone, I don't blame them for going off shore. People own a business to make money, not to make sure you have a nice cushy union job to fuck them over with.

So the repression of consumer spending and the elimination of collective bargaining are both means to an end, namely uplifting the middle class?

Why do Conservatives hate working Americans so much?

Average Union Worker

What a sterling, well thought argument! You have me convinced! Workers are nothing more than Ken dolls asleep on the job.

To Hell with them! Where's my Capital Gains tax cut?

They're union workers. And yes, anecdotal evidence suggests union workers are lazy good for nothigns enjoying union protection while they soak up salaries and benefits.

well, they're workers and therefore scum. Workers only seek to draw wages which diminishes the amount of profit the true heroes make from their investments, not their efforts. Making an effort to earn is so passé. Wealth should be inherited of stolen through the Stock Market.

 

[The Rabbi]

When democrats make it impossible to make a profit by forcing mindless regulations on everything and trying to unionize everyone, I don't blame them for going off shore. People own a business to make money, not to make sure you have a nice cushy union job to fuck them over with.

So the repression of consumer spending and the elimination of collective bargaining are both means to an end, namely uplifting the middle class?

Why do Conservatives hate working Americans so much?

Average Union Worker

What a sterling, well thought argument! You have me convinced! Workers are nothing more than Ken dolls asleep on the job.

To Hell with them! Where's my Capital Gains tax cut?

They're union workers. And yes, anecdotal evidence suggests union workers are lazy good for nothigns enjoying union protection while they soak up salaries and benefits.

well, they're workers and therefore scum. Workers only seek to draw wages which diminishes the amount of profit the true heroes make from their investments, not their efforts. Making an effort to earn is so passé. Wealth should be inherited of stolen through the Stock Market.

I dont doubt you believe that.

Here among conservatives workers exchange their labor for benefit freely with employers, who need that labor to produce profits for owners. Workers benefit by earning money, managers benefit by producing profit. Owners benefit by reaping profit for the risk they took. It's a win win win situation. Until government pukes like you step in and fuck things up.

 

[Edgetho]

There is nothing in this that I disagree with:

Public Sector Unions: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed [CBD]
—Ace of Spades HQ
Government against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences by Daniel Disalvo is a book that actually takes sides. And the warmth in the cockles of your small black heart as you read the next sentence will tell you which side it takes. From the Wall Street Journal review of the book: "Trash disposal in Chicago costs $231 per ton, versus $74 in non-union Dallas."

It's simple, really. There are no adversaries in government union contract negotiations. Everything else is details.

There is something grotesque about public workers fighting for benefits whose provision will hurt the public. Citizens who vote Democratic may choose not to acknowledge the perversity out of party loyalty. But over the years a few well-known Democrats have sided against the public-sector unions. "The process of collective bargaining as usually understood cannot be transplanted into the public service," a Democratic politician once declared. His name? Franklin Roosevelt.

The power that public unions have accrued is startling. New York City's feckless and buffoonish mayor recently made a series of idiotic statements in support of the bad guys and critical of the cops. So who does the union go after? The people of the City of New York! Blue flu is not some arcane and complex negotiating technique; it hurts real people. Not upholding the law means not doing the job one is paid to do. In a sane world they would be suspended or fired. I would have been in every job I have ever held!

Perhaps the police union could have announced support for a "law and order" candidate in the next mayoral election, and lobbied their fellow union members in the FDNY etc. to support someone other than De Blasio. Instead they pitched a hissy-fit that hurt the people they claim to protect.