Sorry when everyone claims to be a "victim" you start getting numb to the word. We have too many victims and not enough people taking responsibility for their future. Again there are those that truely in need but when everyone else gets into that line please place the blame where it is due. If those that weren't gaming the system would take care of themselves you'd see a whole new attitude for those in true need. But it simply a case where we no longer can afford to save thousands to help the one in true need. Jamie
You can thank Barney Frank and his cohorts for encouraging people to buy homes the could not possibly afford. The truth is, the only way I know of to maintain employment through thick and thin is to make yourself too valuable to be let go. That means working harder, learning more and being better at what you do than everyone else. I made it through a series of layoffs by doing this and I am sticking to it. However if I were laid off I can guarantee that I would have employment again in short order. It may not be for the same money, or in the same area but I will be working and providing for my family rather than waiting for the Gov to "help".
All good points but there are usually three sides to every story. All lot of good honest people lost their jobs in the recent crisis. It wouldn't be right to lump them in with the "Career Welfare" lot. I would like to see unions make a concerted effort to get established in countries like China, India, etc.. Right now it seems the only way for our corporations to compete is to go there for labor or stay home and reduce our standard of living. Of course, that is if the CEO want to maintain struggling along at 700 times the average income of the employees. "According to Business Week, the average CEO of a major corporation made 42 times the average hourly worker's pay in 1980. By 1990 that had almost doubled to 85 times. In 2000, the average CEO salary reached an unbelievable 531 times that of the average hourly worker." I have never been a union guy and I don't believe in killing the golden goose or chasing her away. But things appear to be getting pretty ridiculous out there these days. Maybe it's time for Woody Guthrie to make a come back. "Free trade" was a scam on all of us. You need only look back to the early 1900's and the Triangle Building fire, to see unregulated free enterprise at it's finest.
We've all said that there are those in true need, it's just sorting them from those that see the free ride that has overwhelmed the system and people's tolerance. And yeah, the Unions are really making a big deal over the 110 year anniversary of a terrible fire. But come on.. that was over a century ago. Yes, at one time Unions had their place and were totally necessary. But I think that time has passed to the point where they now exist so a few can live off the wages of many claiming to be taking care of them. Times have changed. People are no longer being met as they come off the boat and told who they can work for and who they must vote for if they want a job... or are they..... Why stop at what happen a century ago.. let's go back 3 centuries and talk about Kings and Lords and Surfs! Jamie
That's the truth. Free trade isnt free when the country your dealing with has no labour or environmental laws. I would like to see a US president that gave the Chicoms the finger
I would have been writing the same thing a couple of years ago, Jamie. "Unions have outgrown the usefulness. Their primary role is to ask for more. Wages skyrocketed, choking the automotive industry. Six government workers at the side of a road watching one fill a hole." That was me a couple of years ago. The pendulum had swung too far left. It seems to me though it's on the way back and gaining speed. Just as Unions will ask for the world by nature, business will maximize profits at the expense of workers, if left unchecked. But Unions gave us a lot of things we should all be grateful for. Weekends and paid vacations for example! lol I think employment in the developing world is a good thing. But I think our unions should be organizing over there, ensuring that we are all competing on a level playing field. I prefer that to having us go down to their standard of living.
By all means.. let's make our countries dominate again.. send the unions overseas! I work for a hugh corporation. Only the factory workers are unionized. I'm not. I still get paid, I still rasies, I still have benefits. In fact those joining today, one might say, have better benefits than I did when I joined. All part of the ongoing competition for the best workers. That is what really makes the difference today. Jamie
Hamilton in Ontario is a steel town. The two dominant players were Stelco and Dofasco, both Canadian companies. Stelco was unionized and Dofasco was not. But the Dofasco employees received all the benefits Stelco employees received, in order for Dofasco to be competitive in the job market. If we were to outlaw unions we no doubt see both companies employees standard of living drop dramatically. Sadly, for Canada, both are now "victims" of free trade. Stelco was bought by US Steel and Dofasco went to Arcelor Mittal. Go down the list and most of the big Canadian companies are now gone. Hurray for Free Trade! We still have Tim Horton's (coffee shops) and Canadian Tire (Kind of a Home Depot with more household and sporting goods and less building supplies). I absolutely agree that Unions went too far. But if we were to lose them we would eventually all lose and have to form them again. I think the best approach is to raise the labor and environmental standards in China and India, so they are competing fairly and their people earn a decent living and not pouring crap in their rivers, etc.. Unions can do that.
Well now for another Canadian offering their southern cousins a new take on things! Lol A really BIG problem on the south side of the 49th is the spiraling debt. You are the only country that can keep printing money to cover your debts. As a result there has being nothing but lip service to debt reduction. As the extra greenbacks get printed you end up devaluing your currency. As a result all the defaults. You can do this cause right now all the world and there by all trade is measured against the greenback. Trouble with that is you have let china now hold most of your debt. IMF is considering moving from a the greenback as the standard. Just check on how China is dumping their cash holdings by buying assests with them. Past year they have dropped 12% of there buck holdings and accounted for 10% of the company accusitions world wide. I don't want to sound like henny penny but when that sky falls you are likely to take your neighbors to the north with you.
I have to agree with you Bonez. Our debt continues out of sight and will continue to spiral because neither party is willing to provide leadership. Both US parties are so busy pandering to their core supporters that they refuse to face reality. Two things need to happen if we are to get out of this mess. We need tax increases and benefit decreases. Unless we can get some leadership from either party it will never happen and the North American dream will go the route of the Edsel. I'm a CPA and my practice is very mixed. It spans from those paying millions in taxes to those who get the poverty credits. Over the last 15 years I have seen those making over $100,000 a year having their incomes go up, those from $50,000 to $100,000 stay the same, and those under $50,000 go down. No nation can thrive without a strong middle class and we are destroying ours with foreign competition and domestic debt. Where, oh where is Ross Perot when we really need him?
