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Millions of workers have lost their jobs due to union intransigence and greed, and that's an undeniable fact, and are a major cause of outsourcing.
That's why the Detroit 3 are still in much worse financial shape than the foreign automakers who've built plants in the deep South over the past twenty-plus years and as far away from Detroit & the Rust Belt as possible.
Millions of workers have lost their jobs due to union intransigence and greed, and that's an undeniable fact, and are a major cause of outsourcing.
That's why the Detroit 3 are still in much worse financial shape than the foreign automakers who've built plants in the deep South over the past twenty-plus years and as far away from Detroit & the Rust Belt as possible.
* Unions are responsible for outsourcing because "greed" dictates that they refuse to work for $3 a day? No worker, union or otherwise, can compete with foreign slave labor and survive in this country.
* Workers in RTW states are happier? Unions are responsible for the "going rates", workplace safety, working conditions, overtime pay, etc across the country. Let's wait and see how long they remain happy when these are eroded...
You've probably heard: The Obama administration is trying to drive business out of business.
[See who's gained and lost under Obama, so far.]
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce complains that Obama has "vilified industries" while destroying jobs. Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch says Obama has an "anti-business bias" that enables him to wreck business opportunities with a single utterance. Fox News runs regular "war on business" segments highlighting government strangulation of free enterprise. Obama's crusade against corporate America is a regular feature of Republican campaign ads.
Somewhat overlooked are these small factoids:
Obama has overseen corporate bailouts started under the Bush administration that have funneled $600 billion of taxpayer money into banks and automakers.
The Federal Reserve under Obama has inflated the stock market well above its natural level, to the great relief of the investor class.
The Fed has also kept interest rates at record lows, which punishes Main Street savers but benefits big businesses that have access to some of the cheapest money ever.
The much-derided stimulus plan kept the recession from being a lot worse, which saved many businesses on the edge and helped keep others healthy.
Obama has quietly let union-backed "card check" legislation, which would strengthen unions, drift down the Democrats' priority list.
Assessing Obama's true attitude toward business is obviously somewhat subjective, and on other matters, like regulation, he has clearly raised the burden on companies. But a couple of bottom-line facts suggest that big business has flourished under Obama, especially considering the financial swoon that was underway when he took office. On the day Obama was sworn in, for example, the S&P 500 stock index opened at a miserable 849. It's now around 1180. That's nearly a 40 percent surge in less than two years.
Corporate profits have risen for six straight quarters and hit $1.6 trillion in the second quarter of 2010, the most recent reporting period. That's 60 percent higher than in the 4th quarter of 2008, before Obama took office. Corporations are sitting on a record $1 trillion in cash, which they've been able to raise on account of improved business conditions, low interest rates, a credit sector that's been revived entirely through government intervention, and bailed-out banks that are once again happy to lend to their corporate customers.
If this is anti-business behavior, corporate America would welcome a lot more of it.
* Unions are responsible for outsourcing because "greed" dictates that they refuse to work for $3 a day? No worker, union or otherwise, can compete with foreign slave labor and survive in this country.
* Workers in RTW states are happier? Unions are responsible for the "going rates", workplace safety, working conditions, overtime pay, etc across the country. Let's wait and see how long they remain happy when these are eroded...
What a bull argument. Do you even read what you write? No worker makes $3 a day. No worker is a slave. The work environment will not erode with regards to working conditions, safety, etc.
Just more hysterical scare tactics from the progressives, who are terrified that their power and money will disappear with the unions. Where else will the Dems get their campaign cash, bought and paid for votes and thuggish muscle?
What a bull argument. Do you even read what you write? No worker makes $3 a day. No worker is a slave. The work environment will not erode with regards to working conditions, safety, etc.
Just more hysterical scare tactics from the progressives, who are terrified that their power and money will disappear with the unions. Where else will the Dems get their campaign cash, bought and paid for votes and thuggish muscle?
You really need to read up on the history of the labor movement.
Prior to labor organizing, it was the rule not the exception that workers were exploited by owners. They were required to work long hours at low pay. They had no safety protection and had no forum to redress grievances. Additionally, they couldn't quit since all employers acted the same and those employers kept lists of 'trouble makers.' In essence, they were at the mercy of their employer -- which is basically the definition of slavery.
When the labor movement started, it was the employers who used thugs to suppress labor.
In 1916, Everett, Washington was facing a bad depression. There was ongoing confrontation between business, commercial interests, labor, and labor organizers. There had been a number of labor organized rallies and speeches in the street. These were opposed by local law enforcement, which was firmly on the side of business. IWW organizers had gone into Everett to support a five-month long strike by shingle workers. Once there, vigilantes organized by business had beaten them up with axe handles and run them out of town. The Seattle IWW decided to go to Everett in numbers to hold a rally to show their support for the striking shingle workers.
...
Local business interests, knowing the Wobblies were coming, placed armed vigilantes on the dock and on at least one tugboat in the harbor, Edison, owned by the American Tug Boat Company.[2] As with previous labor demonstrations, the local business had also secured the aid of law enforcement, including the Snohomish County sheriff Donald McRae, who had targeted Wobblies for arbitrary arrests and beatings.[3]
What a bull argument. Do you even read what you write? No worker makes $3 a day. No worker is a slave. The work environment will not erode with regards to working conditions, safety, etc.
Just more hysterical scare tactics from the progressives, who are terrified that their power and money will disappear with the unions. Where else will the Dems get their campaign cash, bought and paid for votes and thuggish muscle?
And where do Republicans get their "bought and paid for votes", campaign cash, and thuggish muscle?
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