[quote=CA renter][quote=sdduuuude][quote=CA renter]Not true. A public union’s #1 adversary would be the private corporations/entities who want to take over all public assets and services. [/quote]
Again – you ignore the fact that a union is a private entity. Corporation. Union. Same thing. Both highly profit-oriented and, most certainly, capitalists.[/quote]
You missed the entire point of the post, SDD, which was that the unions are one of many parties lined up at the trough. If you take one away, the void will be filled by another. The attacks on unions are not coming from “taxpayer advocates,” but from those other parties whose slice of the pie would become larger if one of their competitors were taken out.
Again, the privatization of public assets and services has been going on for decades…have your taxes gone down as a result?
In most small departments, there are no paid union/association employees. They are all volunteers, so not profit oriented, and they are certainly not capitalists. Are you talking about the heads of the large national unions? If so, how are they capitalists?[/quote]
Unions sell their services for cash. That’s pretty capitalistic. (Can’t say the same about volunteers, of course.)
They are also pyramid structures. The top brass makes alot of money and they protect the higher-level members first. Those last to join are thrown to the wolves when it benefits the rest of the union because they demand higher wages, which reduces the number of available jobs.
I agree with you that the term “privatization” – as it is used to describe a practice where the government hires private companies using taxpayer money – is not necessarily a way to reduce government spending, as usually touted by the right wing. I think the same incestuous relationship that exists between the unions and the politicians also exists between the private corporations and the politicians.
So, I’m not a big “privitization” guy, but a big “spend less money” guy, which would definitely not be something the unions would like. They have a vested interest in increased government spending. While the corporations are their biggest competitor for the money, the money has to be there to compete. So, their biggest enemy is lower taxes.
The practice of disallowing non-unionized workers from working for the government in certain fields is a heinous crime.
I completely agree that we need to funnel less money through the government, which would solve both problems, as well as all the special-interest lobbying.
