Pro EFCA Ad Launch

Demonizing management, as they do in this ad below, isn't new to unions. According to TPM, unions expect to play an important role during Obama's tenure. I can see how their brand of populism might play to some working Americans. But put that in context with a Global economy and American business will suffer. Try organizing in China, or Russia, guys. Because they and others will benefit significantly and all the speeches Obama might give aren't going to get them to abandon a quest for wealth through industrial strength.

The big unions are hoping for a role more akin to the one they played during the campaign, staking out a populist left flank for the administration and helping push its evolving agenda.

In other words, the big unions are envisioning more of a cooperative role with the administration than during the Clinton years, when the battles over NAFTA set up more of a confrontational situation. The more cooperative spirit is born largely of a sobering sense of just how big an opportunity the left and Dems have on their hands, and a desire not to blow it.

Comments

[IslamoLlama]

It's funny, because unionizing is weakest during economic boom times, but tends to pick up a great deal of steam during economic bust. When people are getting fair wages, health care, and benefits they just don't see the point to collective bargaining.

And yet, under Republican Administrations, we inevitably have these massive economic blowouts, crippling the economy and making the country ripe for union push back. Don't get mad at Barack Obama when unions grow bolder and more successful in the coming years. You'll want to thank President Bush for delivering to recession over the course of one Presidency. I mean, even Reagen had to stretch his economic pitfall out into Bush Sr's term, but Junior - he's the real deal. Two bubbles in two terms. That's unionizing fodder you can believe in.

[mary]

If you read around on the internet, people aren't being so complimentary about unions and union members are the worst offenders. They are not happy campers. Wondering if MM is going to push for another letter writing and calling and faxing and emailing campaign to the representatives to tell them to let the car makers go belly up.

Hey have you seen what is going on with CITI?

[Dion]

So Bush created the dot com and housing bubbles? The dot com boom was a house of cards from the start and of course Barney Frank and Co. had nothing to do with the housing bubble. I suppose the next thing you'll be telling me is that Israelis flew the jets into the World Trade buildings and that Gore invented the internet. There are lots of conspiracy blogs out there, Islamollama, perhaps you should join. You can get tinfoil at the grocery store. Wear it with pride.

[mary]

Aren't those conspiracy sites a place where you can test run your new science fiction book, screen play or video game?

[IslamoLlama]

A quick look back at the last few years of unions.

Broadway Stagehand Strike: Success! Better benefits, higher pay, and a step back from hiring on non-union workers.

Writers Strike: Success! They won rights to royalties on internet distributed content and a modest boost to royalties from DVDs.

Boeing Machinists Strike: Success! Recently resolved, Boeing workers managed to keep their jobs from being outsourced while winning benefit and wage boosts for the coming years.

Yeah, those union folks must be pissed. I'd be pissed too if I was in a union getting me all these perks and benefits that my non-union buddies were missing out on.

[Lala]

The dot.com busted started when -

One thing that attracts as much news media and public attention as a stock boom, is a stock bust, such as the one that hit March 14 after White House spokesman Joe Lockhart mistakenly said a joint statement by President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to be released later that day, called for restricting gene patents. The statement actually endorsed the vital role played by patents on gene-based inventions in development of new health-care products. Clinton-Blair called for unencumbered public access to raw DNA sequence data, which already are freely available and are not patentable. The damage caused by the misstatement was real, however. The NASDAQ biotech stock index plummeted more than 12 percent March 14.

[Lala]

TWA, Eastern, PanAm, Braniff all union, all gone. Continental went into bankruptcy and voided its union contracts and survived.

[Lala]

Crooked union =

excerpt

The SEIU has come under scrutiny recently by federal criminal authorities, following Times reports last month that its largest California local and a related charity paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to firms owned by the wife and mother-in-law of the local's president, Tyrone Freeman.

The local spent similar sums on a golfing resort, expensive restaurants and a Beverly Hills cigar lounge. According to the union, Freeman also spent union money on his Hawaiian wedding.

Fallout from The Times' reports spread to other SEIU chapters, prompting Stern to call on all locals to impose a code of ethics similar to the national office's.

The SEIU has brought internal charges against Freeman, who was initially appointed by Stern. The union alleges that the payments could not be justified for the services received, and instead were part of a broad corruption scheme. Freeman, who has been removed from the union payroll pending a hearing, has denied any wrongdoing.

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:zPE7wORtHhAJ:www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-union26-2008sep26,0,225442,full.story+which+unionized+comp-anies+have+gone+out+of+business%3F&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us

Union paid millions to companies with family ties
An SEIU spokeswoman says there's nothing improper about the payments.
By Paul Pringle, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 26, 2008

[mary]

well a union might be a better alternative than sending your kid to art school: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=a_LUO3d0W_7I&refer=muse

[Dion]

Islamowhatsit said:

"And yet, under Republican Administrations, we inevitably have these massive economic blowouts, crippling the economy and making the country ripe for union push back."

I still fail to see a correlation between US presidential party affiliation and union activity. Try going back a few more years. Oh, wait, the economy under Carter was FABULOUS.

[Lala]

Star-Ledger union ratifies buyouts, wage freeze
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
BY ANICK JESDANUN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- A union representing 400 mailers at New Jersey's largest newspaper overwhelmingly agreed Monday to a three-year wage freeze and buyouts of a quarter of its members.

Teamsters Local 1100 ratified the revised contract by a vote of 183-18 during a meeting in Piscataway, N.J., leaving The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., with just one union still in negotiation. The Star-Ledger's publisher has threatened to close or sell the paper in early January if it cannot reach a deal by Oct. 8 with its drivers' union as well.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/aroundnj/Star-Ledger_union_ratifies_buyouts_wage_freeze.html

[IslamoLlama]

"-- I still fail to see a correlation between US presidential party affiliation and union activity. Try going back a few more years. Oh, wait, the economy under Carter was FABULOUS. --"

Hehe. Yes. And the economy under Nixon and Ford was even better. I do so love to see people rip on one-term Carter when Ford got tossed for his failed "Whip Inflation Now!" efforts and Reagen managed to tank the economy with his Savings and Loan bank job.

If you guys weren't such historical liars, perhaps you'd have better luck getting your history in the books. Carter took over a failing economy from Nixon / Ford. Reagen and Bush managed to tank it - which is what lead to Clinton's ascendancy in '92.

It's the economy, stupid.

[IslamoLlama]

In other news:

"--
Nicolas Sarkozy saved the President of Georgia from being hanged "by the balls" — a threat made last summer by Vladimir Putin, according to an account that emerged yesterday from the Élysée Palace. . . .

The Russian seemed unconcerned by international reaction. "I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls," Mr Putin declared.

Mr Sarkozy thought he had misheard. "Hang him?" — he asked.

"Why not?" Mr Putin replied. "The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein."

Mr Sarkozy, using the familiar tu, tried to reason with him: "Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?"

Mr Putin was briefly lost for words, then said: "Ah -- you have scored a point there."
--"

[Dion]

Islamowhatsit:

Your sophistry is beautiful. Let me see if I have it right: Republican president=bad economy. Democrat president=good economy. When the economy is bad under a Democrat he inherited it from a Republican. When the economy is good under a Republican he inherited from a Democrat. That's it? You're an economic genius. I suggest you sign up with the Obama administration.

"It's the economy, stupid."

Wow! Brilliant!

[WBestPresidentEver]

OFF TOPIC...
SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOR IS TAKING OFF IN UNDER 2 MINUTES.
GOD SPEED TO THEM.
I just thought I would share. I love to watch the take offs and landings.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html

[WBestPresidentEver]

The Unions in this country have and always will be a thorn in companies sides. No wonder so many companies are in dire straights.

Has any Union ever donated any money to a Republican campaign ?

They are greedy and power hungry scumbags.

Communist Party hails role of labor unions in Obama win
Socialist activist pledges 'no let down' in helping White House bring 'change we need'

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80925

[Dion]

Another off topic:

Sorry to disappoint, Islamowhatsit, but there are no head/hand choppings, hangings of teenage adulterers and stonings or barbaric executions of apostates in this video:

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23661&Itemid=128

Perhaps you could work your "historical accuracy" magic and tell me how much better off Iraqis were under Saddam. You lefties are so tolerant. Ayers, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao are testimonies to that. Peace and love dude.

[Fred Beloit]

Now Moe, you know you shouldn't make repeat crazy Big Lies like this and expect to get away with it: "You'll want to thank President Bush for delivering to recession over the course of one Presidency."

Before we can accept that Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and the President-elect were not responsible for the Fred/Fan meltdown, you will have to explain how a sitting president can "deliver a recession".

[Lala]

I'll go with IBD -

The Myths Of Clintonomics

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Friday, November 14, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Fiscal Policy: President-elect Obama says he's modeling his recovery plan on Clintonomics because it pulled the economy out of a ditch last decade. But that's an old myth — and a dangerous one at that.

"I've got an economic plan similar to Bill Clinton's," Obama has said, including tax hikes on the rich and Keynesian pump-priming, among other new government spending.

He rationalizes that Clinton raised taxes during a recession, and look what happened — average wages went up, along with economic growth and the stock market. And eventually the Treasury reported surpluses after decades of deficits.

Obama is even recycling Clinton's old economic team. Standing behind him at his first press conference were old Clinton hands Bob Reich, Laura Tyson, Larry Summers and Bob Rubin. The show of support was designed to calm the markets after the post-election stock sell-off.

read more at
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=311558492117605

[WBestPresidentEver]

Obama will continue the push for a New World Order.

New World Order Socialists became more public during Bill Clinton's US Presidency. A powerful lobby, the Progressive Caucus, began openly promoting the principles of socialism and signed onto the agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America. Clinton quite successfully pushed toward 'big government' involvement into American private life. This paved the way for subtle, democratic freedoms to slip away as more and more governmental control was established.

New World Order: What does this term mean?
New World Order is a term used to describe an accord of the world's superpowers to rule, secure, and maintain the premise of "global peace." The concept is to bring the world under submission to one supreme government, enforce one controlled common religion and one worldwide economic system. (The EU has already instituted this with the 'Euro' currency.) In reality, it is a move toward a socialistic, controlled, and godless world.

New World Order: Who is involved?
New World Order advocates believe the cause is a worthy one, after all, who wouldn't want world peace? While many university students, professors, and others adhere to the schema, the highest echelon of NWO engineers are said to include many of the world's wealthiest people, top political leaders, and the corporate elite.

New World Order: What Would This Mean?
As the world becomes increasingly secularized and atheistic, we find many other influences moving people toward a New World Order agenda. False Political Correctness and desensitization (to crime, violence, genocide, godlessness, occultism, etc.) have taken place while persecution against Christians and Jews run rampant worldwide.

[WBestPresidentEver]

You should really look at these videos. In time in will all fall into place.
There aint no stopping them now. LOL

CNN reports: The New World Order and the elimination of America sovereignty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdxI0zClV_Y

New World Order: From the mouths of the elite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkKbE9qCzQo

[gocart mozart]

"Try organizing in China, or Russia, guys. Because they and others will benefit significantly and all the speeches Obama might give aren't going to get them to abandon a quest for wealth through industrial strength."

Shorter Dan: "America should be more like Russia and China."