Unions have been the real plague of society. There is not much they have not really destroyed. They wiped out New York City as a port. No ships dock in New York City any more. They serious reduced the American auto industry reducing quality that opened the door for foreign cars. The big three US auto manufactures are General Motors (NYSE:GM), with 17.9 percent market share, Ford (NYSE:F), with 15.9 percent market share, and Chrysler, with 11.5 percent market share. That is just 45.3% with the rest going to foreign. Toyota (NYSE:TM) alone has 14.3 percent market share.
The unions are probably worse in Philadelphia than anywhere. They are driving the city’s Convention Center into the brink of bankruptcy because of their arrogant demands. We had to cancel our conference there because we were not allowed to hire a video company that was not local Philadelphia Union. The German film crew that has been making this move would not be allowed to have their own people. We had to cancel and move. When we called the Marriott with just 1 week to the event, they asked why were we cancelling? The unions?
The Construction Unions are basically criminal organizations. They threaten people who do not use union labor and now a bunch of people are getting indicted for such violent activity. These unions have been destroying equipment of competing firms that are not union. They have goon squads that intimidate people.
The days when unions were necessary to ensure working conditions are long gone. There are all sorts of laws in place that unions are no longer necessary. Nevertheless, we are looking at a major rise in civil unrest coming primarily from state unions. These are teachers ro bureaucrats all demanding more and refusing to reduce their demands. This system is just unsustainable. They have attack advertisements in Pennsylvania blaming school violent on cutting teachers. Governor Christie cannot fund the pensions of state workers. When he said the unions have to give back, they said no – they want more.
The problem is that the only way to pay these unions is to raise taxes. That reduces the disposable income and robs the citizen of their future to fund state workers. It was the unfunded pensions that caused the collapse of the Roman Empire and it wiped out the city of Detroit. More than 50% of tax revenue went to pensions and that means you cannot fund government without it shrinking.
This is the poison pill that will destroy Western Society. This hunt for taxes will destroy the economy and will not save the day in the end game. Just do the math.
Unions are not the solution, at 11, 12, 13, 14, and not until 16 could i earn min wage. The smile on my face that i was earning a mans wage for doing a mans work. That was a sight to be hold. Recognition.
Without unions i would have been earning full wage at 8 for doing the same work, as other men working beside me. So ya think before you speak to highly of unions.
Unions are just a bunch of mobsters exerting their influence. Always have been. Always will be.
Both unions and mobsters were/are just tools of the Joos. The Joos were/are always in control of the mob......Remember Meyer Lansky?
This is absurd.
Article should get a -1.
Unions protect wages & safety for workers.
PUBLIC government worker unions can easily be called graft but no worse than all the rest of the government misspending.
The cure for that: stop starving the beast. Attacking only government unions to attack government waste is a monumental backward-step compared to what you could do. Stop paying taxes, government fines & don't let government agencies buy what you sell. Ever. Not food, not equipment, no services, nothing.
As for private-sector unions I guarantee when they are gone a regular feature of work will be missing fingers & exposure to hazardous chemicals with no recourse but unemployment, homelessness, poverty, or while it lasts welfare, foodstamps & disability (until governments are too broke to offer such things)
I never cared much for unions until I met a bankster
its been my observation in most cases union leadership looks out for itself and throws the employees under the bus, unions are behind amnesty, Obamacare, the Detroit bankruptcy and screwjob settlement, unions in many cases cost shift the employers expenses unto other union workers, unions also take their members dues for investment and use it against the members own economic best wishes (like lobbying for amnesty or loan fraud), unions financed the sub-prime fraud movement, then they financed a bailout and double bubble of municipal debt an dthey did it all with their members pension contributions.
I'm against "leadership" of all sorts, not just in unions. "leadership" and "followers" go hand in hand building the road to Failure one Fail-brick at a time, at the best of times.
As for amnesty, I'm 100% for it.
Immigration controls are statist and 100% anti-freemarket.
As for union dues, I've paid them & I can't say I got much for it. Considering a person needs to know their job & their contract as part of that I don't see why anyone is collecting dues on a regular basis. If you need to set up a meeting collect just a little in advance for funding the space & time you need it, that doesn't require the cash in amounts collected, plus now everyone has computers & can use email, online chat with each other, etc.
Unions didn't finance subprime: that was 100% banks. The biggest vampire squid morgue-cock sucking banks on Earth.
Again with Muni bonds, it's the big banks & the hedge funds, it is not the unions. Those unions have not a clue how to do such things.
Union=tribe
Fuck'em - fuck'em all.
Dont get me wrong. A man should have the right and ability to group up
and get a group rate or wage. Call it whole sale rate, group discount,
buying in volume.
But to take from some young kid that has only his morals and heart to
guild. Thats wrong.
Unions dont have the right to steal another wage only argue on their own account.
See the diffence?
No. I spent many years in the trades and made a good living. Non-union. There's a value problem with unions.
What's the difference between a Palestinian and a Union member?
Not much.
Both face extinction.
I hate saying this, but I generally avoid investing in companies that have union labor because union pensions have a nasty habit of causing bankruptcy. GM was spending more money on retirees than it was spending on steel. It was basically impossible for GM to make the same build quality as Honda and sell it at the same price. The same thing happened to US Steel and Bethlehem Steel. I would also never want to hold bonds issued by unionized companies. The GM bankruptcy showed that bonds issued by union companies are NOT secured by company assets. Unsecured loans would need to have a much higher interest rate to account for this added risk.
I support the theory of unions, but in practice, I've hated every union person I have ever talked to. Most don't even have a basic understanding of accounting. Pay your pension? With what money? The company is fucking bankrupt and you going on strike only makes it worse! It's also hilarious when they hold up signs saying don't shop at X store. Driving away business? And do you think that increases or decreases the probability of the company being able to pay you? Idiots.
The unions are the primary tool the progressive jihadist Joos used to raise money and Demoncrapic votes to perform their surreptitious undermining of the political, academic, and cultural/moral degradation of The West.
The Joos were behind the infestation of the voting booths by female nesters, who are instinctive, natural-born socialists, and the devolved parasitic Ebonic Plague that now infects the body politic and is hastening the advent of the final days of our constitutional republic.
All of the social, legal, and cultural elements that have brought about our demise were brought upon us by the faux-Hebrew/Babylonian/Khazarian/Talmudic/moneysucking deviants that pretend to be Joos. Progressivism is a Jooish nightmare fully intended to destroy The West and oppress all of mankind except the few who believe themselves to be of superior, Tribal, origins.
In the end, of course, the vast majority of them will be annihilated and consigned to an appropriate, eternal, fate.
The biggest union is government itself.
"Fuck the Unions!" = "FUCK the MIddle Class!"
You would have to be fairly dimwitted (or a author for ZH) or a paid shill for the oligarchs to not see the pattern of Union Decline lock step with the Decline of the Middle Class.
Pssst! In order to make good wage you need bargaining power. LEVERAGE! When we had unions, the peasants had a chance at a decent income for themselves and their children. That is over now for the majority of US citizens. Poverty and a loss of a dignified retirement is all that this stage of Capitalism has to offer.
Most young people don't even know what a union is.
Today we are experiencing Capitalism Cannibalism. Doesn't matter what any of us think. The system is eating itself and will do so until we stop it or we revolt.
RE
You know who curates those pensions? Wall St. And Hedge funds. And they work with government officials to steal as much as they can for themselves, just see the latest scandal with Christie, Charlie Baker, and the NJ pension scandal.
For example in MA, the MBTA union has their pensions run by J.P. Morgan (mistake #1). If they ever wanted to cash out, they'd have to fork over 100 million to J.P. Morgan. JUST TO ACCESS THEIR OWN MONEY. Who helped the MBTA form this pension plan? None other than Mitt Romney.
The unions are quite clearly the problem.
You know, the ones that represent only 11%* of the labor force (down from 40% in the 1960s...and the majority of the unions that do exist today are public sector unions).
*And that's DECLINING.
So, in conclusion, and I hate saying this, but I generally avoid investing in companies in general because the majority of them are run by lying shitbags who cook their books and use funny money from the Fed at near ZIRP to buyback stock to prop up their asset prices.
Without unions cars would not be recalled. You can't build a car without a recall. Just imagine if they built good cars they wouldnt need the government to bail them out so how would they ever make any money. Geez, crazy.
hangemhigh, so, it's the unions fault when GM's corporate board decides to cut corners, ignore safety issues, or makes cheap & convenient engineering design decisons?
You're saying the recent spate of faulty GM ignition designs is the Unions fault?....the decision to cover it up - unions fault?
The Ford/Firestone disaster, unions fault for cutting corners and hiding facts from the public & allowing people to die?
I've had the experience of working in both union and non-union shops of the same company, which provides about the closest thing you can get to a controlled experiment under real world conditions. There are pluses and minuses on both sides. The union offered much better benefits, but in general the non-union shops function better, provided they are competently managed (which sadly was not the case very often).
My main beef with the union was that it no longer did anything it claimed to do as far as protecting workers' rights was concerned. Nowadays they pretty much just take your money.
Would you like to tell the story about the process of leaving both employments.
How about the people who you worked with in both jobs?
I to worked in Union an non union places. But i was equaly young, innocent
and wanting to do my best in all the places i worked.
Till i came to Wallstreet; now my innocence dies by the hour.
"a round women who will cook me rabbits." That dream could have been mine.
" Dont do it your a young man!" yes but she will cook me rabbits :P
Also, we NEED these teachers to teach little johnny and jane how to read, oh they can't read? Know history. They only know history dating back to Justin Bieber's last album? Math? They can't add 2+2? Culture? Beethoven doesn't twerk? Gym Class? They're all obese? Science? They can build a meth lab? WTF are we paying these teachers for? Oh, it's jobs that keep the economy going so the teachers can shop. Got it. Do AWAY with public propaganda indoctrination centers.
Yep, labor laws were caused by unions. It's not like a non-union worker would ever support something like OSHA. Idiots.
bullshit. the execs are the ones looting the pension funds.
Banksterz, Politicians, Unions....In the end none of them "produce" and are ALL a parasitic drag on "The System".
"bullshit. the execs are the ones looting the pension funds."
I bet. Right now my mom is collecting pension. The pension is about 2/3 of her average income during her 5 highest income years. Her pension income is higher than the national median income. She gets paid more than average to not work and she will collect that until she dies. The women in my family tend to live until their late 80s. Now do you see why union pensions would be completely insolvent? This has been going on for decades. It's really amazing that more pension funds haven't gone completely bankrupt.
Blame the employers who wanted to pay stingy wages now with a promise to pay awesome pensions later, don't blame the people who collect them. If companies had any sense, they would have given the union the pension seed money to invest and washed their hands of it.
Doesn't sound like any company I know. Sounds like a public employee pension.
Spungo:Yep, labor laws were caused by unions. It's not like a non-union worker would ever support something like OSHA. Idiots.
Actually OSHA regs negate the reason for the existence of unions. You should be able to work as little or as much as you desire, which is not even connected to safety issues.
Let me see here
Martin Armstrong
Asshole
Can the next article from ZH be something like :
Out Of Control Jews Are The Real Poison Pill Of Western Societyor
Out Of Control Mexicans Are The Real Poison Pill Of Western Societyor
Out Of Control Homos Are The Real Poison Pill Of Western Societyor
Out Of Control Gun Owners Are The Real Poison Pill Of Western SocietySomething we call all fight really hard about.
Lol... How about out of control Jewish Mexican proud union gun owning homos ? That should just about cover it, don't you think?
You always take it too far.
;)
I seem to hear that a lot. Mostly from my wife.
I feel so sorry for all the wheel chair bound, elderly, LGBT, eskimo, midgets, looking for union jobs. It's so unfair. Profit is evil. Obama will guide us to a brighter future. /sarc off
Novictum: Pssst! In order to make good wage you need bargaining power.
bullshit. Just produce a decent amount of product for the alotted time and you'll have as close to job security as you can have EVEN in these times of flooding the country with turd werld werkersz
yep. the public sector unions. useless fucks. i am a union carpenter and earn every cent. the only way to fix this mess it to raise wages for the private sector and keep interest low. bill still money for a change.
Maybe we could pass a law.
Are you fucking serious?? "The unions are ruining everything" Oh fuck off.
Work in fucking Arizona; a right to work state and ask if unions suck, sure they suck to some degree, yeah the long shoremans union is run by the mofia, but worker representation is a necessary instrument in in protecting worker rights.
The price for construction services does not very by much in either state it is just in WA State the worker performing the fucking task that makes the money for the company shares more of the bid price.
I am no fan of unions but I didn't know they were behind exectuive salaries being through the roof and defense spending being through the roof along with all the other areas that unions don't factor into yet goverment spending is through the roof. Interesting to know that it's alllllll the fault of unions.
Armstrong, thy name is shit. A shit tool of the rich. They wipe their collective asses with him and he begs for more. NO THANKS!
Martin Armstrong...lol
Let's start with free trade unions
This is horseshit. Expenses are out of control for union employees because politicians and corporations alike traded lower wages today (then) for absurd and unsustainable benefits tomorrow, kicking the can until it could be kicked no more. Lay the blame where it's due: at the feet of the shitheads who bargained with the unions, not the unions themselves, and certainly not the workers who probably would have wanted higher wages and stingy benefits.
Focus on labor unions is a red herring. Labor unions are just groups of humans and groups always act to protect and favor their members, at the expense of the out-group if required.
The Fed is a union, the USA is a union, a state is a union, a mutual fund is a union, a community is a union, a sports team is a union, a family is a union.
Each union serves to favor its members and the more powerful the union, the more protection can be offered and the more favor can be delivered. This is only a problem when protection prevents justice being applied or benefit requires violence / theft against the out-group.
Unionisation is a bad thing when the formed group grows too powerful and abuses that power (the essence of gangsterism). Unionisation is a good thing when the union members are indeed being oppressed and require protection, the essence of united we stand, divided we fall).
A mature view of human group formation is to recognise the need for it AND the need to prevent it becoming abusive, then design a political framework with checks and balances to prevent excessive concentration of power that precedes abuse. Herein lies the eternal dilemma: such a system requires watchers and who watches the watchers? Our best answer to date is a functioning Democracy, despite its flaws (Switzerland being a good existing example).
Back to the matter at hand. The author's opinion fails to measure the cost:benefit of US labor unions. The facts are clear to those who care to look with a mind that is not clouded by dogma: erosion of US labor unions has stripped US workers of protection, leaving them exposed to abuse by capital unions:
See http://www.epi.org/blog/union-decline-rising-inequality-charts/
Yes, powerful unions (of any sort) can cause harm, but they can also prevent it and it pays to consider both angles. The key word is BALANCE and, with regard to US labor, the nation tripped and fell in the late 70's as the neoliberal international capital union took over and its gangsters began systematically disbanding all groups to which the 99% belonged (family, community, labor union, mutuals, state, nation, etc).
Out of control powerful unions (gangs/tribes) are indeed the poison pill of western society but the labor unions are not the primary culprits.
Unions are taking care of the problems they create by constantly wanting more. Right to Work states down South are picking up more factories while the Union North is losing them. Off shoring has gotten the lions share. The Chinese, Niets, Indonesians etc are not so far very union oriented. Pro-union guys are gonna downvote me mercilessly but financial reality is a harsh mistress and it has been shown that you can train a Vietnamese monkey to build an iPhone so, there go those union labor jobs.
OK, so "right to work states" are getting more mfg jobs, likely a large fraction of the rebound in employment.
So, what explains the $4K loss in median wages since 2007 despite the (partial) rebound in employment?
Is it possible that states are whoring themselves out to corporations for low wage jobs via tax preference, solely to lay claim to lower unemployment?
I didn't know so many posters here were union dick-riding meatheads! You fuckers are just as useless as banksters!
There is a lot of issues on both management and union side of the equation, but if you ask me the real poison pill of western society is greed.
At bottom, most human beings are about fear.
Hat tip to the Great Albert Brooks.
Greed is the natural motivator for capitalism.
The problem is the wholesale assumption that greed can be trusted without checks & balances.
Namely, removing Glass-Steagall, the CFMA alowing limitless futures & derivatives trading without public disclosure, or entrusting corporations to self regulate. (banksters, etc)
Lowest wages for the average full-time worker in years and this shill expects us to believe it's cause of unions?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S2f76Kjx0c
Definitely not government deficit spending or free-trade agreements or inflation working in coordination with a tiered tax system.
The elite thinks you make too much money. So, never join a union and then beg for wage cuts.
Needs more banjo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRsjszrf8xA
The German National Socialist (NAZI) government didn’t want any Unions and neither does the U.S. Corporate-Fascist (Corporate-Socialist) government.
Was it the Unions that moved all the jobs overseas? Was it the Unions that deregulated the Financial / Banking conglomerates and threw the nation and the world into a financial crisis? Was it (Is it )the Unions that lied (lie) and faked (fake) to start wars that murder and displace millions of people to feed the greed of the Military Industrial Complex. Was it the Unions that stole the rights of U.S. citizens and shredded the Constitution so as to further augment the profits of the Military Security Complex.
The Corporate-Fascist U.S. government will continue to extract (loot) the resources of U.S. citizens and the rest of the world until it is called to account for its war crimes and financial frauds.
"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Musollini
While unions are by no means the first or the biggest carnivores to the kill they are one of the last vultures to stick their head deep into the rotten fetid corpse of enterprise to get that last little bit for themselves.
"Martin Armstrong Warns Out Of Control Unions Are The Real Poison Pill Of Western Society"
marten armstrongmust be an idiot.
:)
I moved to America from Germany 26 years ago, and have always been amused to watch Americans decimate the concept of union. That it was so incredibly obvious what was being done to them, and they were/are full tilt to help gut themselves. Every recession I've seen in this country, I expected to see the rise of a labor, or workers party, but americans are to busy stepping all over themselves that when this last one hit, I realized your finished. The "tea party"? Really? "OWS"? Good grief.
I stopped cheering for the underdog long ago ( engineers never go hungry ), and now I'll preach, America is still the greatest money making machine on the planet. There's alot less low hanging fruit on it's tree ( they're broke ), but it's still juicy up top.
It's nearly impossible to NOT make money in this country, lest your financial direction comes from sites like ZH. But otherwise, in a country filled with incredibly stupid, unenlightened, distracted, dooshbags, this site is perfect.
You may want to compare the work cultures of the US and Germany prior to making that statement. The results speak for themselves.
See Larry, this is what happens when you turn your kids over to govt schools for a centrury.
Martin is wrong. Banksters are the #1 problem.
I think what Martin meant to say was:
Unions + Demcrats = corruption, depravity and eventually bankruptcy.
He is 100% correct. This is happenning everywhere you have this equation. You are paying more for less, primarily due to union bribes to politicos who in turn promise the unions the moon. ANd the best part is.....you are going to be paying MUCH more for MUCH less in the future. Vast majority of liberals I know drive foreign, not domestics. Go to California and see for yourself. Those of you who love unions....go buy a GM car.
That's what I thought.....
Today's unions are NOT the unions of yesteryear.
They are nothing but PACs for liberal democrats, their elite handlers (Soros, et al) and do nothing to help the "little guy". In fact, they work against him.
They collect dues, then pay bribes to the likes of Clinton (who signed NAFTA), Obama (Obamacare "cadiilac tax" will obliterate expensive union-won healthcare), and incredulously, they support politicians that want tons more illegal immigration of low-skilled labor.
Gee....what happened to the construction unions, meatpackers, plumbers, etc. the last time we had an "amnesty" of illegals? And just think....unions PAY for politicians to do this.
Nope....unions are worthless. I was in a couple, and saw how all they really did was kill the golden goose by protecting workers who should have been fired daily. There is a reason why 2/3rds of the domestic auto industry went under, while foreign (ironically, who are unionized in their home countries) are doing fine.
When I talk to union workers about the issues I just raised, they are completely clueless. They are sheep. UNlike sheep, they pay for their own demise.
I think the formula can also be expressed this way:
union busters + republicans = corruption, depravity and eventually bankruptcy
I'm sure you (and everyone who agrees with you) buy domestic union-made vehicles only, right?
Suggest you move to a union oasis like Chicago, Detroit, etc.
You'll love it.
Dingle,
Corporations outspend unions by a ratio of 15 to 1.
( http://www.opensecrets.org/overview/blio.php )
I agree, there's no denying the special interest influence money has in politics, I thought you should factor that into your partisan bashing episode.
Also, not that empirical fact has any bearing, but unions opposed NAFTA.
Unions opposed NAFTA.....and paid Clinton millions.....and was the worst piece of legislation (if you are union) that has been passed in your lifetime. WHICH CONFIRMED MY ARGUMENT.
As for corporations and campaign money, once you dig into the money, you can spin it anyway you want. I learned that in a policy class I took. Big money is counted one way. Little money another. Bottom line is both parties get about equal money. This is well known and a fact. Hence, the "republicrat" or "demican".
Besides, tons of corporations give to both parties. The banksters did. They hedge their bets. Just like microsoft, etc.
Unions in essence give to one party and one party ONLY. And that party fucks the workers over routinely.
The bosses are taken care of though.
Now pay your fucking dues.
Dingle, so if unions opposing NAFTA after endorsing Clinton means Unions are pro-NAFTA...well....what does it mean that Bush is a republican and spent like a drunken sailor?
Are you saying that all Republicans are tax & spend?!?
To me, it looks like you're tossing a bunch of "stuff" together to make an argument - "See, unions are so evil that they're even pro-NAFTA!"
I can think of plenty of reasons unions have issue's, being pro-NAFTA isn't one of them.
I say this because of the ridiculousness I experienced throughout the healthcare reform debates...rather than empirically factual discussions, I spent most of the time disproving Fox lies, like "death panels", "government takeovers" & my personal favorite - "get government away from my medicare".
Clinton was NOT supposed to sign NAFTA. He took union cash. Then he LIED and signed it. And unions paid some lip service....but still support democrats straight line.
NAFTA opened the floodgates, along with Clinton letting China into the WTO. Everything else is window dressing. Unions, the real ones like auto and steel, were permanently busted then. NO OTHER LAWS FUCKED UNIONS OVER AS MUCH AS NAFTA/WTO DID.....COMBINED. Ross Perot was very prescient in his predictions.
Ok Dingle, I get your point...the NAFTA/Clinton reference didn't make sense at first.
I might also add, despite the bulk of the blame falling on Bush for the recession, Clinton's signing the CFMA and removing Glass Steagall in 1999 was more at fault for 2008.
The problem for the GOP was deciding to blame unions for the effect that had on Detroit auto mfg & municipal budget shortfalls blamed on unions, deciding austerity for the poor atop tax cuts for the wealthy was the best course of action at the exact wrong time in the aftermath of the worse recession in 80 years.
I'm sick of blame games & false equivalences that only serve to distract, unions have become one of the biggest scapegoats in that arena.
The premise of this blog is a perfect example, the decline of the Roman empire, apparently, was caused by unions...or...something.
The problem is that there are fewer unions negotiating with private industry. And fewer in North America valuable jobs. If the unions and jobs had stayed and increased. Then the tax base would be broader and easier to bear. Inequality would be less. Wages and the quick steady circulation of money would be better.
This concept has to include all the people, workers, employers ( who are workers ) and government ( who are workers ), being reasonable, informed, moral, and not greedy.
Hmmmm. Maybe not unions, employers or governement is to blame. Just the majority of people in all walks of life, that are dumb asses.
Congressmen and Senators should unionize themselves. That way their jobs could be shipped overseas. Union administrators should get together and form a union administrator union and drive themselves out of business. Unions are efficevely a taxing entity with their own tax and enforcement strategy added to the governmental layers of excess taxation and are even more corrupt than congress. China loves american unions, it gives them many of their exports.
Chris Christie is a piece of shit.
I have rarely seen an idea that I generally agree with written and expressed so poorly and so narrowly focused...
Tax paid workers have a union? That's really bizarre.
Public unions are certainly a problem, even FDR thought it was a bad idea to give them collective bargaining, private sector though you gotta evaluate case-by-case.
Marty got his ass kicked one to many times in prison. He has turned into a flaming idiot.
Dear Martin Armstrong, FUCK YOU!! Yeah, Unions are the real problem with the USSA. Get the fuck off of my planet!!
All those words to state the obvious, and few words about their cohorts in destruction - banksters and corrupt politicians? Sorry, that was redundant.
Hmmm, concern trolling about a locically fallacious poison pill for a walking corpse.
Psst hey union guys. They thru you under the bus too! That pension was toast when they set rates at 0.
Next time dont hitch yur wagon to a pack of thieves.
If you read more of Mr. Armstrong articles you will find out he is highly critical of ... what not? To me he seems to be a very smart but very degraded narcist. A Hawking of the political and financial world. These people are actually most foolish. Just on a high level of presentation and communication, that's all.
labor is stupid for not organizing and management is stupid if they don't oppose unions. management has won the srgument for the last thirty years but l;abor is struggling to come back.
Martin Armstrong is offically an idiot...
Nice polemic. 8 pages worth (thus far)
Gentlemen, we've been had.
What a piece of crap of an article really...
Throw the baby along with the bathtube water as we say...
Unions eventhough they are nowaday in pretty terrible state are the only remain of our attempts to create a free employement market...
Poor America, birthplace of the "labor day"... USSR and the cold war have sucessfully wipe away any understanding of the dynamic of power within the civil society.
I think he must be some kind of economist. Very few have any clue.
Who is writing this stuff...the 1%? It is amazing to me that some would target Unions as the source of our problems when organized workers are at an all time low of 11.3%. That is a little bit higher than 1 out of 10 workers. Big business would like to complete the cycle and turn us all into slaves. The working class doesn't have very much economic opportunity left. Even the teenagers at McDonalds have figured this scheme out. Decent paying jobs are gone. Only the crumbs are left. Wise up!! Band together as best You can and try to improve your own personal situation. God knows that is what everyone else is doing. Wake up and Wise up!! Your Master is making all the money, not You. (And You are the one doing the work! What's wrong with that picture?)
Oh yeah, man, spot on! The top 1% of the 1% absolutely loves the idea of workers on welfare, public housing, food stamps, no benefits. The executives of these crooked companies make the money, the US government borrows to give the workers food and housing. Just because the unions are crooked doesn't mean getting rid of them has had anything but a very large negative effect on our country.
Martin Armstrong is an idiot. He would have people work 7 days a week, 14 hours a day, with no benefits, no health insurance, and in debt to the 'company store' as it was in the 1800's and before. As crooked as the unions are, they are a much needed balance to the crooks on the other end of the spectrum.
Who writes this garbage:
"The problem is that the only way to pay these unions is to raise taxes. That reduces the disposable income and robs the citizen of their future to fund state workers. It was the unfunded pensions that caused the collapse of the Roman Empire and it wiped out the city of Detroit. More than 50% of tax revenue went to pensions and that means you cannot fund government without it shrinking."
Raise taxes? You mean the government pays the unions? This guy is just completely out to lunch.
Armstrong: you haven't got a clue, so lets give you a few.
- pay workers high enough wages so that they can AFFORD TO EAT, PAY RENT, BUY A CAR, GO TO THE DOCTOR, GET THEIR TEETH FIXED, PAY FOR COLLEGE AND RETIREMENT *WITHOUT* GOING ON GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE. Sorry for yelling, but you apparently are a little slow.
- When some foreign government with a billion and a half unemployed farmers undercuts your labor rate YOU RAISE TARRIFFS SO THAT YOU DON"T HAVE TO DESTROY YOUR MIDDLE CLASS with garbge imports, made by slave labor.
Unions are made up of people. That's the solution... kill the people.