Speculation on a Mitt Romney Presidency

[Midway ®]

btw...airlines are barely profitable and they have all those federally-mandated departure/landing taxes....which funds things including Taj Mahal-like airport terminals....imagine if the same taxes could be placed on train travel!

Based on the bailouts of GM and Chrysler and the bankruptcies of American Airlines, and the post 9/11 hangover, I don't think there is 1 commercial or public transportation company you can point to in this global economy as being successful. Ford did not take bailout money, but they are not exactly thriving either.

What do they all have in common? High Labor Union infestation.

Thank you Mtrain for this AHA! moment. I suppose no one is entitled to a decent wage but you?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I suppose no one is entitled to a decent wage but you?

So now we're 'entitled' to decent wages?  Education, work ethic, determination be damned. 

You're late to work 6-7 times a month, you're productivity is in the bottom percentile of the company and you routinely smell like alcohol after lunch, BUT you have been with company for the past 12 years, so we're going to give you your annual raise per the union contract.  Thank you for your dues.

Edit below:

In the last 2 minutes, I gave this some more thought, walked into my boss' office and demanded more money, better benefits and a pension plan - you know, because I'm entitled to a 'decent' wage). 

If anyone out there has an opening for a Commercial Project Manager and are willing to pay the decent wage my previous employer didn't think I was 'entitled' to have, PM me so that I can forward my resume. 

[bill]

I suppose no one is entitled to a decent wage but you?

So now we're 'entitled' to decent wages?  Education, work ethic, determination be damned. 

You're late to work 6-7 times a month, you're productivity is in the bottom percentile of the company and you routinely smell like alcohol after lunch, BUT you have been with company for the past 12 years, so we're going to give you your annual raise per the union contract.  Thank you for your dues.

Edit below:

In the last 2 minutes, I gave this some more thought, walked into my boss' office and demanded more money, better benefits and a pension plan - you know, because I'm entitled to a 'decent' wage). 

If anyone out there has an opening for a Commercial Project Manager and are willing to pay the decent wage my previous employer didn't think I was 'entitled' to have, PM me so that I can forward my resume.

+1-Union jobs are great until they are inevitably destroyed.

[PeeJayEss]

So now we're 'entitled' to decent wages?  Education, work ethic, determination be damned. 

You're late to work 6-7 times a month, you're productivity is in the bottom percentile of the company and you routinely smell like alcohol after lunch, BUT you have been with company for the past 12 years, so we're going to give you your annual raise per the union contract.  Thank you for your dues.

Fun hypothetical, got any data to back it up? Even an anecdote?
Do you propose making the organization of labor illegal? How does restricting the rights of workers fit into your idea of small government?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

So now we're 'entitled' to decent wages?  Education, work ethic, determination be damned. 

You're late to work 6-7 times a month, you're productivity is in the bottom percentile of the company and you routinely smell like alcohol after lunch, BUT you have been with company for the past 12 years, so we're going to give you your annual raise per the union contract.  Thank you for your dues.

Fun hypothetical, got any data to back it up? Even an anecdote?
Do you propose making the organization of labor illegal? How does restricting the rights of workers fit into your idea of small government?

Well, PJ, once I back it up with data to support my claim it's no longer hypothetical, is it?

An anecdote?  Sure.

I was at the over at the electricians' shop today and as I passed by an office this is a converstaion that I overheard, "Jimbob, you're late to work 6-7 times a month, you're productivity is in the bottom percentile of the company and you routinely smell like alcohol after lunch, BUT you have been with company for the past 12 years, so we're going to give you your annual raise per the union contract."  I almost fell down in disbelief.

Nope.

Where did I claim to restrict workers' rights?

[Lunican]

So how do you explain profitable companies with unionized workforces?

[bill]

Which ones?

[PeeJayEss]

Which ones?

How about MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, and every team in them?
Or Exxon-Mobile?
UPS, Caterpillar,  Southwest and Alaksa Airlines, AT&T, Verizon, Costco, Safeway, Kroger, US Steeel, GE, Lockheed, Boeing, GM and Ford (yes, its true!), Disney, Kraft, General Mills, Kelloggs,  Exxon, Consol, Peabody, Kimberley-Clark, Pepsi, all the major movie studios, in fact any profitable company that creates or distributes media, and the list goes on (including Newscorp).

Is it because of the unions that the Big 3 needed to be bailed out? Then what about AIG, BoA, Wells Fargo, et al?

[BackinJax05]

I dunno. It seems to me EVERY politician has been trying to get rid of Amtrak since before 1971.  Gotta hand it to Amtrak, somehow they survive.

As for Carter, he was a p!$$ poor excuse for a president and a disgrace to the white house. Amtrak aside, under Carter we enjoyed stagflation, a second energy crisis, and a little dip sh!t 3rd world country (at the time) pushing us around.

How did ol' Jimmy respond? Enacted a grain embargo against the Soviet Union, and boycotted the 1980 Olympics. Im sure that made our 52 hostages, held by those sand fleas for 444 days, feel really good.

I hate to defend Jimmy Carter, but his grain embargo and Olympic boycott were in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. His response to the Iraq hostage crisis was initially to launch a rescue attempt, which failed. That wasn't his fault (I'd assume it was a fault of the military guys who planned it poorly).

As far as stagflation and the energy crisis - I doubt he was to blame for that.

I think he does share the blame, somewhat, for Osama bin Laden and the current situation in Afghanistan. Perhaps.

True, he cannot be blamed for the failed rescue attempt. As I remember, an unexpected sandstorm caused the deadly accidents that killed 8 of our servicemen.

BTW, it was Iran - not Iraq Ironically, we supported Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.

[Adam W]

I dunno. It seems to me EVERY politician has been trying to get rid of Amtrak since before 1971.  Gotta hand it to Amtrak, somehow they survive.

As for Carter, he was a p!$$ poor excuse for a president and a disgrace to the white house. Amtrak aside, under Carter we enjoyed stagflation, a second energy crisis, and a little dip sh!t 3rd world country (at the time) pushing us around.

How did ol' Jimmy respond? Enacted a grain embargo against the Soviet Union, and boycotted the 1980 Olympics. Im sure that made our 52 hostages, held by those sand fleas for 444 days, feel really good.

I hate to defend Jimmy Carter, but his grain embargo and Olympic boycott were in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. His response to the Iraq hostage crisis was initially to launch a rescue attempt, which failed. That wasn't his fault (I'd assume it was a fault of the military guys who planned it poorly).

As far as stagflation and the energy crisis - I doubt he was to blame for that.

I think he does share the blame, somewhat, for Osama bin Laden and the current situation in Afghanistan. Perhaps.

True, he cannot be blamed for the failed rescue attempt. As I remember, an unexpected sandstorm caused the deadly accidents that killed 8 of our servicemen.

BTW, it was Iran - not Iraq Ironically, we supported Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.

D'oh. I cannot believe I typed "Iraq" 

Thanks for that!

[bill]

Which ones?

How about MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, and every team in them?
Or Exxon-Mobile?
UPS, Caterpillar,  Southwest and Alaksa Airlines, AT&T, Verizon, Costco, Safeway, Kroger, US Steeel, GE, Lockheed, Boeing, GM and Ford (yes, its true!), Disney, Kraft, General Mills, Kelloggs,  Exxon, Consol, Peabody, Kimberley-Clark, Pepsi, all the major movie studios, in fact any profitable company that creates or distributes media, and the list goes on (including Newscorp).

Is it because of the unions that the Big 3 needed to be bailed out? Then what about AIG, BoA, Wells Fargo, et al?

Good examples! Most of the (real) companies have shrunk their workforce, renegotiated union contracts, moved factories over seas, hired more part time and non-union workers, shuttered plants and moved them to right to work states. Hell, US Steel made more steel 100 years ago than they do today. Quite a success story for the unions.

[thelakelander]

How much does technological advances over the last century play in the reduction of workforces?  For example, Swisher's successful implementation of machine made cigars directly led to thousands of hand rollers losing their jobs in Tampa and Ybor going down the tubes.



You can find similar examples all over Detroit with the advances made in the auto industry.

[PeeJayEss]

Which ones?

How about MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, and every team in them?
Or Exxon-Mobile?
UPS, Caterpillar,  Southwest and Alaksa Airlines, AT&T, Verizon, Costco, Safeway, Kroger, US Steeel, GE, Lockheed, Boeing, GM and Ford (yes, its true!), Disney, Kraft, General Mills, Kelloggs,  Exxon, Consol, Peabody, Kimberley-Clark, Pepsi, all the major movie studios, in fact any profitable company that creates or distributes media, and the list goes on (including Newscorp).

Is it because of the unions that the Big 3 needed to be bailed out? Then what about AIG, BoA, Wells Fargo, et al?

Good examples! Most of the (real) companies have shrunk their workforce, renegotiated union contracts, moved factories over seas, hired more part time and non-union workers, shuttered plants and moved them to right to work states. Hell, US Steel made more steel 100 years ago than they do today. Quite a success story for the unions.

I like the throwaway implication that unions are the cause of the change in production of US Steel over a 100 year period. That seems well thought out and researched. Perhaps their steel production decline had something to do with being basically a steel monopoly in 1901, when they produced 2/3 of all steel. Competition (both domestic and foreign) dropped their share of the market to 50% by 1911, well before any organized unions. US Steel officially changed its stance to recognize unions in 1937. United Steel Workers was established in 1942. US Steel's production peaked in 1953. US Steel was on the decline (versus the market) from the day it was incorporated, well before it had organized labor. Their production rate peaked 10-15 years AFTER organized labor. Carnegie Steel was the most technologically advanced steel producers at the turn of the century. The decline in business was first to other unionized steel producers in America who were smaller and more capable of taking advantage of new technology. US Steel and the other enormous steel producers still dominated the industry through the 1970s. Newer furnace technology started to make steel from the old companies more expensive (obsolete). You see, there is a tremendous decline in the company that cannot be explained by "those friggin unions!" By the 1980s, US Steel was highly diversified away from steel production in that most of its revenue came through Marathon oil.

So, okay. US Steel has union workers and its no longer the biggest company in the world. I'm sure there's only one possible explanation! Nevermind that a considerable decline in its market share came before unions and the majority of its decline in production is a direct result of other factors. Those damn workers!

Which companies of those listed would you consider "fake" companies, as opposed to your select "real" companies?

[Midway ®]

I suppose no one is entitled to a decent wage but you?

So now we're 'entitled' to decent wages?  Education, work ethic, determination be damned. 

You're late to work 6-7 times a month, you're productivity is in the bottom percentile of the company and you routinely smell like alcohol after lunch, BUT you have been with company for the past 12 years, so we're going to give you your annual raise per the union contract.  Thank you for your dues.

Edit below:

In the last 2 minutes, I gave this some more thought, walked into my boss' office and demanded more money, better benefits and a pension plan - you know, because I'm entitled to a 'decent' wage). 

If anyone out there has an opening for a Commercial Project Manager and are willing to pay the decent wage my previous employer didn't think I was 'entitled' to have, PM me so that I can forward my resume. 

So stop your rampant drinking, show up on time, and actually work for a half day and all your problems will resolve themselves.

Thank you for your cry for help. We all care about you.

[finehoe]

Quite a success story for the unions.

Of course shitty management decisions had nothing to do with it.