[quote=Shadowfax]O’Donnell is a joke. And I love how these unqualified idiots decide to stop giving interviews and withdraw from the media once they have had their a$$es handed to them in any kind of challenging debate. I am all for women in government, but Palin and O’Donnell are cut from the same lackluster cloth and have nothing of value to offer as leadership or even an understanding of the issues. But they look so darn cute spouting those folksy-isms and talking points!
Unions: they served a purpose once, long ago, but now they seem to have become as corrupt as the robber barons and industrialists they used to fight against. I think the goal of having a united workforce has its time and place, but it’s unfortunate that union has become synonymous with corruption, extortion and laziness. The migrant farm workers could really use some old school unionizing right now, but every one is so turned off by what unions have become that it’s an uphill battle.[/quote]
Shadowfax: You make an excellent point about unions having their time and place. With the creation of organizations like OSHA (and CalOSHA) and labor laws preventing child labor, discrimination based on race, color, and creed, the need for unions is long past.
I remember listening to a union supervisor explaining why I should pay for an iron worker and a welder (each at around $100/hr with burden), plus a $75/hr supervisor, to install a chain link fence, versus paying a qualified fence crew (two guys at $30/hr each). When I brought up the obvious disparity in cost, he started in on all the value that unions have brought to America over the years, and that this is how we “protect our jobs” (implying that its un-American not to hire union workers). Its a freakin’ shakedown, nothing more.
If you want to look at why GM, Ford and Mopar melted down, look no further than inept management and self-destructive collective bargaining agreements negotiated by the UAW and AFL-CIO. When it costs $70k per year to have an unskilled worker put a bolt into a hole, you know something’s gone seriously wrong.
