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I hate how the Democratic party's ties to big labor befoul its existence as a party. Hell, if it weren't for big labor, 50% of my problems with democrats would be gone. Not that there are only 2 problems I see with Democrats, just that fully 1/2 of the list, when weighted for importance, centers around this connection.
Chicago - this weekend. Dominick, owned by Chi-based Safeway, foods workers voted 80% to strike. Dominick had offered what one unioneer said was "fair" contract offers. Dominick said it would fold as a Co. if it couldn't work this out. The union responded, assholes that they are, "we have a buyer or two lined up." Well, it's going to fold by the end of this week. Now, workers will be out-of-work for a minimum of months. So, in my view they paid parts of their salaries to a labor union that, in the end, got them in the rear end. Who cares if they didn't get a 20% raise now?
And Dominick is a perfect example of how bloated labor kills a business. They had the nicest groceries in Chicago. I didn't shop there, though. Their labor costs and hot-bar-la-te-da-yuppie-food section drove the prices on regular GROCERIES too high, so I shopped at the cheaper competitor. Now, the labor union will find some sucker to buy up the business so it can again fail for the same reasons?
Anyway, labor unions had their heyday and their time and place. And association with them was about safety as much as anything - plus a fair length to the work day (as an attorney I ROFLMAO at people who think 60 hours is a long work week). But, IMHO, the creation of OSHA obviated the need for labor unions. And, their current existence, a la Dominick, et al, pisses me off.
The political schizophrenia I mentioned is the flip-flopping of the parties. The conventional wisdom I grew up with was that the Rep party was smart money-wise and made the country richer, while the Dem party had the little man in mind and tried to lift up the poor.
What crap. The Reagan/Bush1 years certainly proved that Reps can run a deficit and be as fiscally irresponsible as anyone, and the Clinton years proved that even a trailor-park-trash administration (if we get off on a trailor park tangent again - I swear I'll scream) could make the country money. While the current actions of Dem parties nation-wide to be in bed with big labor, which stands on the broken backs of its members, certainly shows that party no longer has the little man in mind as anything other than a false icon and source of revenue.
[img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] off.
[ 11-11-2002, 10:27 AM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]
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