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Title: Cal Thomas: Unions, overregulation drove American Dream into a ditch
Source:
SacBee
URL Source: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/1920481.html
Published: Jun 5, 2009
Author: Cal Thomas
Post Date: 2009-06-05 16:06:01 by farmfriend
Keywords: None
Views: 1601
Comments: 137
By Cal Thomas America is asking you to call. Drive your Chevrolet through the USA America's the greatest land of all. Fifty years ago, those words set to music each week on NBC's "The Dinah Shore Show" reflected an America and an automobile industry that is no more. That time and that industry were laid to rest this week when General Motors filed for bankruptcy and the government effectively nationalized GM and Chrysler after wasting billions of our tax dollars on a failed bailout. Despite disclaimers from President Barack Obama that the government doesn't want to be in the car business, it is hard to see what it has bought with our tax dollars other than two of what used to be known as "the big three." Government by default or determination will choose the types of cars the companies it owns will make. Government will buy a lot of them because not enough customers will unless they are made offers they can't refuse, not by a car salesman in a loud sport coat, but by a government bureaucrat in a suit. It's difficult to let go of an American dream. When I was growing up, every kid wanted to drive his own car. Our frugal parents (who had just one car) would let us drive it, but with restrictions, including a set time to bring the car back in the same pristine condition in which we found it. A car was a rite of passage. It conveyed independence and status. Each September we salivated at the prospect of new models. There was always a big buildup and we'd go to the Chevy (or Ford) dealer early on the morning they were for sale. Sometimes they would be covered with sheets and a dramatic unveiling would take place. TV commercials would show parts of new models in a kind of striptease before their debut. Some believe the models between 1955 and 1959, especially the 1957 Chevy Bel Air and the 1958 Impala, are unsurpassed, though Ford devotees have their Mustangs and T-Birds. Pontiac's GTO and some Dodge and Plymouth models were also great. Chrysler had the Imperial, which resembled a boat with running lights, and the New Yorker for "old rich people." And then there was the one beyond our reach, but not beyond our dreams: the Cadillac. The song "Pink Cadillac" became a hit, in part because we saw Elvis in one. America's relationship with its cars has rightly been called a love affair. Though some have tried to replicate the smell of a new car in spray cans, there is nothing quite like the feeling of sinking into new faux leather and later, if you could afford it, the real thing. Much if not all of those thrills will be gone, thanks to greed by the unions, government overregulation and bad management. The customers, who once were always right, have been cheated. All one has to do is look at government-made cars to see they are about as attractive as government art, government architecture, or many other things government does poorly. The Skoda (when the Czechoslovakia communist party made them – they're nice now thanks to free-market capitalism) had its own jokes: "How much is a Skoda worth with a full tank of gas?" Answer: "Twice as much." East Germany's Trabant, a major polluter, was little more than a two-cycle engine encased in the thinnest veneer, and the old Soviet Union cars were about as appealing as a Siberian winter. These are the kinds of cars governments have produced. Obama says all of those laid-off autoworkers will have to "sacrifice" for the sake of their children and grandchildren. So much for their American Dream. If a Republican president had said that, he would have been denounced as insensitive and uncaring. Performance is sweeter Nothing can beat her Life is completer in a Chevy. Not anymore. Bye-bye Miss American Pie; drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry. This is the day GM died.Cal Thomas: Unions, overregulation drove American Dream into a ditch
Published: Friday, Jun. 5, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 19A See the USA in your Chevrolet
On a highway, or a road along the levee
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#24. To: tom007 (#22)
Caustic sarcasm is loved.
Having once been a Union member and employed by the government, I have a little knowledge on that subject. In the olde days we had no union, needed none and then after 1960 there abouts, things changed, the government was setting all the rules and we had no recourse. It was for self protection that Unions came about.
Freedom of assembly and association.
Federal government is a huge cancer and no doctor would work on the cancer without wearing rubber gloves.
Except the freedom to find a different job if you didn't like the one you had.
In the pre-WWI days, sure, they were needed. These are not the pre-WWI days anymore. Times have changed but unions have not. Tell me, how many Government Accountants need self-protection? 90%+ of Union members today are Government Employees. How many of them need self-protection and from what?
When monopolies control access to labor, the people struggle to find a way to deal with the situation. I prefer not to work union, but I understand why people have gone that way, and stayed. It becomes a family tradition. Abuse of the workers is what brought out the need. The right has only served to protect the monopolies with its union busting. Break up the multinational conglomerates, and the need for unions would probably subside. What passes for the American left or the right: it doesn't matter. The traditional language used to describe political factions and viewpoints all lead back to the same thing: great masses of power and wealth accumulated where it doesn't belong, and moving away from the citizens quickly.
You do realize that Unions are monopolies.
Good point. But I will say that one bad deed begets another.
Unions started in the pre-WWI era. Are you really arguing that everything is the same now that it was One Hundred Years ago?
Worse, because the dollar is even less reliable than it was then.
So why are you arguing to keep things 100 years in the past and saying "Its probably a good idea" ?
Absolutely true. Abusive labor practices generated labor unions. And yes the unions abused the system.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" No one can "keep" a union except the workers. It's really up to them. If they think it helps them, they'll probably do it. It may hurt them in the long run, but that's how it goes. I'll point out that unions took root after the industrial revolution had turned to militarization, and when we had committed to empire. Around the same time, the Fabians nationalized our public lands and curtailed homesteading. We talk about the symptoms. They just don't matter as much as the root causes do.
That is a profound and accurate observation.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" True... With that view, you surprise me. It is not a knowledgeable, self disciplined, well thought out position to abide. Public servants are just that, working at the will and whim of politicians and their minions. Long ago it was called the "spoils system", a system kept afloat by widespread corruption that used public money as their own private piggy bank. The people demanded change and a promise was made to civil servants, work for so many years and certain age, and you will receive a pension, in return we demand loyalty, we set your wages and working criteria. That left open the opportunity for mischief, in that one could work to near pension time and end up with nothing. Thus Unions.
Mark If America is destroyed, it may be by Americans who salute the flag, sing the national anthem, march in patriotic parades, cheer Fourth of July speakers - normally good Americans who fail to comprehend what is required to keep our country strong and free - Americans who have been lulled into a false security (April 1968).---Ezra Taft Benson, US Secretary of Agriculture 1953-1961 under Eisenhower
thanks for the insult.
We've seen the concept of "working for a living" (you know, for sustenance and prosperity throughout one's life) turned to dust. I've heard so-called "conservatives" lambasting workers who demand a decent retirement pension. If we respect the value of life and property, then we must be willing to compensate people for the portion of their lives they give up in work. To do otherwise is theft. And that's what we see now creeping upward from the poorer classes (who are often the ones to experience it) to the middle class.
That is incorrect given the NLRB and how Union Bosses operate through intimidation. Federal Law protects and enhances Unions. You should look into it some time. In many States, workers have no choice but to join a union and then have little say in what happens to the union dues that they are then forced to pay. For example, the 'benefits' that unions negotiate are typically of a one-size-fits-all type. Like Health Insurance. Where I am, the local teachers' union did a marvelous job of it. You pay $1000 per month or more regardless of how many people you place on the policy. Single people pay $1000. Families of 20 pay $1000. Oh, and did I mention its a closed shop so you have no choice in the matter but to sign on for the whole kit and kaboodle?
You can always look for a job somewhere else, or start your own company.
Funny thing, that. I actually tried that once. The price tag was over $50k before we actually did anything - and that was in Government fees, regulatory compliance matters, and such. Still think that throwing a lot of people "in the way" is a good idea?
So we're back to the original problem, aren't we? You can't fix the problem by addressing the symptoms. Unions are a symptom.
"so called" conservatives? Why is a company required to give you a retirement system? Isn't that your own responsibility? Isn't that what 401Ks are for? Now if a company adds money into a retirement system as part of your wage package fine but to see this as something you are "owed" is ridiculous. Worse if we are talking about government. If a company can't get decent workers at the wage they are offering they will raise the pay. To force this with a union is wrong and to then close it to workers who don't want to join the unions compounds the wrong.
History is replete with volumes written about serfdom and slavery. Something most of us care not to envision.
I didn't offer any details as to how workers should be supported after retirement. It doesn't really matter how it works to me. What's obvious is that more and more people are going into retirement in poverty, and more and more organizations are actively searching for ways they can avoid the problem. It's really just a symptom of a larger issue. We don't hear any real solutions from the left or the right about it, because they have a vested interest in keeping people divided and their attention off the real sources of our problems.
That will be me.
Yet that is what government unions make of me, a slave. I can not put money away for my own retirement because I have to pay for your union coerced retirement. On top of that I'm supposed to believe that the unions were good by protecting you. Sorry, ain't gonna happen.
You and millions of other Americans who were promised the "American dream" if they only worked hard.
Unions are not a symptom. Unions pressure Government to put into place ridiculous rules that restrict competition. They CAUSE problems. Going back, the real solution is to whack Government back to practically nothing, but, over time, it would simply grow back again because pressure groups like Unions would simply re-invent the same crap we have today. Thus, you have to deal with the problems as they arise while chopping back Government. My hope is that the current collapse in tax revenues will cause Government to shrink.
I disagree, and I think this position is part of the phony left/right divide. The left inculcates its adherents that unions are their only recourse to hated capitalists who are out to deprive them of the value of their labor. The right inculcates its adherents into believing that companies have a right to defend themselves against organized labor. Meanwhile, America's industries are collapsing. You all can act out on the stage, pointing fingers at each other, but I'm looking for the man behind the curtain.
You won't find one. There is no single 'man' to track down with all of this. What you will find is a basic fact of human nature; people want others to obey them. Its that simple and it is historical. The SYMPTOM of the problem is the result of this. The CAUSE is people getting together, acting like a biker gang, and shaking others down - legally, of course. The CURE is Liberty. Unions are just gangs of organized thugs.
Until the advent of ...UNIONS...there was but a tiny middle class, very tiny. I can only say I did not enjoy working for 25 cents a day as a child. Oh Yes, I was eight years old and could quit if I did'nt like the pay and working conditions. Indeed. Capitalism and socialism are one and the same, the ruling elite own and operate both to their advantage.
Yeahs, but were you really worth anything more than that Reason the middle-class was so small was very few pepole fit into it.
on a mission from todd.
Summers, during the depression, my dad worked at a family friend's CO ranch for a dollar a day plus his room and board. And thought himself very fortunate to have the job.
And what, all because of "unbridled exuberance?"
I see a more complex variation of this analogy. Some powerful people who own and control the press, can afford to lobby congress, steer the direction of public education, and even influence foreign trade and diplomacy, create the illusion that shakedowns are going to help the ordinary people. They got their wealth by analyzing how our system works and gaming it for a century and a half. Where the shakedown bureaucracies are established, more power is transferred to the powerful people, who manage to steer the shakedown machine toward their affiliated banks when the shakedown machines run out of money. Given a choice between strictly limited government and what we have today, I will take limited government. But I fully understand that the cycle will repeat itself given conditions of "pure liberty." Pure liberty can easily be gamed. What's more, partisan politics can easily distract people from that fact on both sides. The left wants one type of freedom and the right wants another. Meanwhile, we're not really free. We won't be until we learn to think in new ways.
Buggy whips were useful in their day as well.
Farm... Your analogies seem to not hold water.
The managed trade, open borders crowd uses those analogies.
I am NOT a managed trade open borders person. I have a very long reputation for being otherwise. I'm insulted that you would think I was. Instead of arguing the points you have both resorted to insults. Thanks, appreciate it.
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestThank god management and government is free of that mind set.
#25. To: mirage (#23)
So tell me, with the vast majority (read: 90%+) of union members being Government employees, are they truly still needed to protect the IRS agent who just stole your house, the cop who planted a bag of weed on your child, and the teacher who was caught sleeping with your son?
#26. To: Cynicom (#25)
#27. To: Deasy (#26)
#28. To: Cynicom, mirage (#25)
things changed, the government was setting all the rules and we had no recourse.
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
#29. To: Cynicom (#25)
It was for self protection that Unions came about.
#30. To: farmfriend, mirage, tom007, wbales, bluegrass (#28)
#31. To: Deasy (#30)
The right has only served to protect the monopolies with its union busting.
#32. To: mirage (#31)
#33. To: Deasy (#32)
Good point. But I will say that one bad deed begets another.
#34. To: mirage (#33)
#35. To: Deasy (#34)
Worse, because the dollar is even less reliable than it was then.
#36. To: Cynicom (#25)
It was for self protection that Unions came about.
#37. To: mirage (#35)
#38. To: Deasy (#30)
What passes for the American left or the right: it doesn't matter. The traditional language used to describe political factions and viewpoints all lead back to the same thing: great masses of power and wealth accumulated where it doesn't belong, and moving away from the citizens quickly.
#39. To: farmfriend (#28)
Except the freedom to find a different job if you didn't like the one you had.
#40. To: farmfriend (#0)
#41. To: Cynicom (#39)
It is not a knowledgeable, self disciplined, well thought out position to abide.
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
#42. To: Cynicom, farmfriend (#39)
#43. To: Deasy (#37)
No one can "keep" a union except the workers.
#44. To: mirage, farmfriend, Cynicom (#43)
Oh, and did I mention its a closed shop so you have no choice in the matter but to sign on for the whole kit and kaboodle?
#45. To: Deasy (#44)
You can always look for a job somewhere else, or start your own company.
#46. To: mirage (#45)
The price tag was over $50k before we actually did anything - and that was in Government fees, regulatory compliance matters, and such.
#47. To: Deasy, Cynicom (#42)
I've heard so-called "conservatives" lambasting workers who demand a decent retirement pension.
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
#48. To: farmfriend (#47)
#49. To: farmfriend (#47)
Why is a company required to give you a retirement system?
#50. To: Deasy (#49)
What's obvious is that more and more people are going into retirement in poverty,
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
#51. To: Cynicom (#48)
History is replete with volumes written about serfdom and slavery. Something most of us care not to envision.
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
#52. To: farmfriend (#50)
#53. To: Deasy (#46)
You can't fix the problem by addressing the symptoms. Unions are a symptom.
#54. To: mirage (#53)
Unions are not a symptom.
#55. To: Deasy (#54)
You all can act out on the stage, pointing fingers at each other, but I'm looking for the man behind the curtain.
#56. To: farmfriend (#51)
Yet that is what government unions make of me, a slave.
#57. To: Cynicom (#56)
I can only say I did not enjoy working for 25 cents a day as a child. Oh Yes, I was eight years old and could quit if I did'nt like the pay and working conditions. Indeed.
#58. To: Cynicom. fellow slaves (#56)
#59. To: lodwick (#58)
#60. To: mirage (#55)
The CAUSE is people getting together, acting like a biker gang, and shaking others down - legally, of course.
The CURE is Liberty.
Liberty without protection for the interests of the people, will only lead to the same place we are today. The old saying that a democratic society will only remain free until the people discover that they can vote benefits for themselves is incomplete. The main threat in any free society is corporatism. It's a dilemma because no matter who is in power, wealth transfer becomes a part of the process, all in the name of democratic values.
#61. To: Cynicom (#56)
Until the advent of ...UNIONS...there was but a tiny middle class, very tiny.
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
#62. To: farmfriend (#61)
#63. To: Cynicom, farmfriend (#62)
#64. To: Deasy, Cynicom, lodwick, IndieTX, Original_Intent, christine, critter, turtle (#63)
The managed trade, open borders crowd uses those analogies.
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
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