Yeah, Hobo, I know you're going to get in on this.

An article about unions has an interesting portion. Something I've been saying for some time. They talk about stagnant wages for the last 30 years.

ARE UNION REFORMS GOOD FOR U.S. ECONOMY? YES: Better salaries means more purchases | ajc.com

So, for those of you that blame the last administration, that was only 8 out of the last 30. It's not a matter of bad loans, but loans that went bad because of the lack of "cost of living" increases. One of the reasons was that food and energy were taken out of the equation. And, YES... Businesses giving golden parachutes to the executives, and not giving wages to the employees. They did it to themselves, and you're going to blame the President. It took us a lot of years to get into this mess, and you think this President is going to find the answers in the next 4 years? I don't think so. He's "feeling" his way too. He does not have all the answers because he doesn't have a list of all the questions yet. And, he may not when this 4 year term is up, either.



I will give him credit, though... Right, wrong, or indifferent, he is trying something. And, as he sees things not working, I expect he'll be changing course about 5 or 6 times over the next 4 years.



So, if you want to "FLAME" me for posting something from a "news blog" or something like that, go ahead. Give me a double dose... :flame::flame:I can take it.


But, I DARE you to try something different. For every critical remark you have toward this article, or me for posting it, come up with a concept that would provide a solution to the spiral of the economy and help turn it around. Like something that would reduce production costs without reducing quality or quantity. Something that would make American Industry competitive with foreign manufacturing, and bring our job market back up.

 

I will say this much. I 100% agree that the current mess has been building for a long, long time and there are not going to be any quick fixes.


As the proverb goes it is a foolish man who builds his house upon the sand, and looking back it would seem the house was not only built upon the sand but made of cards as well.

I will give it a year, 18 months tops, and Obama is going to learn what Bush learned all too well and that is just how fickle the American people are. Everyone wants their Big Mac 5 minutes ago and even though the hold up is for fresh fries they still can not stand to wait.

 

Right on WW. One guy didnt break it and one guy aint gonna fix it. People think the President can wave a magic wand but it aint gonna happen no matter who's in charge.

 

ADA’s study shows that CEO pay has grown over the last 30 years to 411 times that of the average worker. CEOs got this great deal because they signed contracts guaranteeing compensation, benefits and retirement —- the sort of contracts a majority of Americans would like to sign, but lacking collective bargaining power, can’t.

That kind of thing is nothing more than abuse of power. The rich get richer and the middle class is dissapearing. Those in power will abuse the followers until they get mad enough to do something about it. It's human nature. Some people like to call it capitalism. But there are extremes to everything. The scales are tipped the wrong way and we need some balance.

 

It's not going to get fixed, as long as corporations continue to operate the way they do. Foreign corporations need to be taxed on the profits they extract from America. Foreign corporations need to lose the right to own and extract natural resources from American soil. It has been just the last 30 years, that foreign companies could drill for oil and mine for copper, coal, iron ore, silver and gold, on our soil.

When our oil and mining companies work in foreign countries, they pay a steep price to be there. Even after OPEC was formed, American companyies continued to pay the rates that countries required them to pay. Now foreign corporations have been in America for the last 30 years...and they walk off with the profit, and invest just enough to be legal and meet government safety requirements. Sometimes times they don't even do that.

 

Foreigners and foreign owned companies can come to the U.S. and own 100% of any American company. No other country will allow a foreigner or foreign company to buy their industry or take their natural resources without partnering with home country majority ownership. In other words, other countries will not give control of their natural resources or industry to foreign ownership.

Allowing unions free reign will not solve the problem of raising U.S. wages. It will reduce the choice of U.S. workers to work without a union. It will also reduce our competitiveness in foreign markets. There are a couple of reasons why so much of our industry have abandoned the United States. I hate repeating myself but in this case I will. Unreasonable demands by unions and unreasonable regulations and high taxes imposed by government have driven many industries abroad.

It may sound great to have every worker be unionized. Where there is a strong union presence prices will be higher. To give you an example, some years ago I moved from my home state to Ohio. I bought a pound of bacon at home from Kroger for $1.89. When I got to Ohio I went to the local Kroger and paid $3.89 for the same brand. The only difference were the unions. The local Kroger wasn't unionized. The one in Ohio was union. Higher wages do result in companies having to charge more for their products. By the way, unions attempted to unionize the local Krogers and they had to close due to not being able to be competitive in the market.

We need to pay people what they are worth. Unions extort money from companies and the workers they represent. We need a system which rewards those who are most productive. Unions penalize workers who are most productive. Unions reward mediocrity. Unions are big business themselves. I find it ironic that they talk about being for the working man when they are ripping them off out of every paycheck. Unions have robbed pension funds for years.

Workers need to learn to take responsibility for themselves. There are so many who want the union, company or government to take care of their every need. American workers don't need a union. Americans don't need a big company to take care of them. Americans don't need the government to take care of them. Americans need to learn to once again take responsibility for themselves and their families.

Windwalker you are correct, this president is doing something. He is pushing socialism down our throat at an alarming rate. I would say most people don't even understand what socialism is or what it means. Sometimes inaction is better than the wrong action. I don't believe that government is the answer. It is the wrong answer. The government should allow these companies to fail. Sell off their assets and get back as much of our money as possible and forget about giving any more money out to states or any other companies. Reducing taxes and providing tax incentives for putting people back to work is one way to help bolster the economy.

I think this problem has a simple solution. Reduce taxes, reintroduce excise tax on imported products. Tax companies with foreign manufacturing at a higher rate than those in the U.S. Prevent foreign ownership of our industries and natural resources. You can have investment without giving over control. Stop non citizens from collecting social services or welfare. Get rid of welfare altogether. People used to help one another before government got so involved in our lives. Immediately start cutting the government payroll. Go back to a constitutional government. That means cutting any government agency not specifically called for in the U.S. Constitution. That in itself would greatly reduce the need for higher taxes. In fact, it should result in lower taxes. Have a constitutional amendment that requires the government to have a balanced budget. No money may be spent unless those funds are already in place. Pay off our national debt. Dissolve the Federal Reserve System. Don't allow attorneys to hold office at the state or federal level that is responsible for passing legislation. It is a conflict of interest. Dissolve the EPA. We don't need it and it would relieve a big cost of doing business in this country. Stop all foreign aid. I suppose that I should stop here.