"The Working Man Deserves a Fair Shake"

I know how union employees work. I’ve been in a union and around union employees. All they care about is there paycheck for the least amount of work possible and the big pension they will recieve when they retire. What about the working class that don’t have unions negotiating big wages for them? They have to foot the bill for the greedy union employees so they can retire at an early age and live a life of leasure. It’s time someone does something about it and I for one am totally for Scott Walker!!!!!

The “working class” IS the unions. And footing the bill for the unions? I don’t think so. You care about union workers fighting for their rights, but you DON’T care about the fact that 80 of the top 100 corporations paid NO taxes? When they make billions of dollars of profit? nnThe unions aren’t your enemy. The Koch Brothers who FUND Scott Walker ARE.

FYI: Union workers ARE the Working Class. Policemen, Firemen, EMTu2019s, Bus drivers, Teachers, Auto workers are all union workers; to name a few. None of them have a cushy job like the big CEOs; they do what they love for the love of people. I want them all to have the ability to be heard AND have larger pay. They are the bravest of the brave; choosing careers that are dangerous u2013 some literally putting their lives on the line to keep ALL PEOPLE safe. These workers are what America was built on and runs on. My mom, grandma, and great-grandma were all teachers; at NO point in their entire working life or during retirement were they “rollingu201d in dough. nAll the Unions have already agreed to pay cuts, paying for more of their health care, etc. u2013 basically everything in the bill proposed by Mr. Walker was acceptable and open to negotiation EXCEPT their right to bargain. Do people really think that their one lonely little voice will be heard by Walker and politicians like him if they wonu2019t even bend an ear to hear what hundreds of thousands of voices shouting? Democracy u2013 itu2019s all about compromise people and Unions have. nStep up and compromise yourself Mr. Walker, it should be easy you have been compromising yourself for years. n

In my State, teachers retire with all medical benefits paid for life.My ex-husband will retire at age 59 1/2 with a monthy income of $3,200 for life. I personally do not think that is fair to the shopkeepers, hospitality servers, garage maechanics, well drillers, carpenters, etc.,those whom I consider the backbone of America, I do appreciate the the policemen and firefighters who put their lives on the line every day but it is THEIR career choice. My son-in-law is a State Corrections Officer and will retire at 52 with all medical benefits paid for himself and my daughter for life as well as his other benefits. As I am happy for them I still do not believe it is fair to the underpaid non-union workers who bust their butts living from pay check to pay check just to make ends meet. Sorry, I do not feel that unions are a persons “right” especially when they are backed by corrupt, left leaning liberals.

it is called Union Busting and it’s nothing more….I was told today that unions were the reasons why companies went outside America to have things done and manufactured..I say BS!!!!! they went outside the US to make bigger profits , not have to concern themselves with the EPA, minimum wage guidelines, sexual discrimination or anything else that the unions have made better for the American worker over the last 50 or more yrs!!!!

Unions served a purpose years ago during the industrial age when they helped to eliminate “sweat shops”, help create safe work sites, assisted with “child labor laws” among other issues. They have grown in power, beyond their original purpose. They don’t believe in nor know much about free enterprise. It is obvious that most unions are self serving and not concerned about management, whether private sector or public(government).

Let me see if I get this right, a typical state worker who works for me as a public servant, gets paid more than I do for the same job. I pay their salary and with it their union dues. Their union then takes my money and gives tons of it to a political candidate that I don’t want in office just to get the politician to make sure that their union employees get a better deal than I can. With lifetime benefits multiplying for union retirees, pure economics says the budget is unsustainable and the state will go broke. Your collective bargaining for things beside pay is what has hurt us the most. As I said you work for me. If I feel you are cheating me, I will be campaigning and voting for someone that can control what happens to my money (and yours too). We are broke. Where will will get the money? Sorry union folks you have to back off and that doesn’t mean just giving up a few raises this time, but from here on, until it gets to be FAIR (something you keep talking about) for all of us. I am not mad at you but, please take a careful look at how your union bosses are USING YOU for their power and to buy politicians. nOh by the way, this is a Republic not a democracy. try to understand the difference.

Let me see if I get this right, a typical state worker, who works for me as a public servant, gets paid more than I do for the same job I do. I pay their salary and with it their union dues. Their union then takes my money and gives tons of it to a political candidate that I don’t want in office just to get the politician to make sure that their union employees get a better deal than I can. With lifetime benefits multiplying for state union retirees, pure economics says the budget is unsustainable and the state will go broke. Then no one has a job. Your collective bargaining for things beside pay in benefits is what has hurt us the most. As I said you work for me. If I feel you are cheating me, I will be campaigning and voting for someone that can control what happens to my money (and yours too). We are broke. Where will we get the money? You have a right to get fair pay and I believe the state will protect you by law, but if you don’t like it leave. Sorry union folks you have to back off and that doesn’t mean just giving up a few raises this time, but from here on, until it gets to be FAIR (something you keep talking about) for all of us. I am not mad at you but, please take a careful look at how your union bosses are USING YOU for their power and to buy politicians. I am an ex union employee for 7 years and they did nothing for me but take my money. Yes there are corrupt leaders in the business community too, Lets try to get them out too. nWe have to moderate ourselves and become a caring nation again. Let’s stop screaming at each other and listen. I am trying, are you?nOh by the way, this is a Republic not a democracy. Learn the difference. Having a job is not a right. You have a right to pursue happiness, not a guarantee to get it. God bless America.

If this is true then why don’t you get a public job and kick your low paying job to the curb…..You are either an Ignorant a$$ hole or the Koch bros are paying you make this outrageous comment or you are both….nHow early can a public worker retire & how do you know they are lazy???? nIsn’t picking up the check what its all about whether it’s a private or public worker..??? nnAnd don’t we all stride to live a life of leisure (not leasure)…nAre you still in union now???? Have you all got a raise lately??? If you did, did you take the raise or did you say to them I don’t deserve this raise…..ha ha ha nFools fools fools fools….

@spree123, are a brainwashed nerd, ignorant, stupid & a dame fool… Do you have a degree or an advance degree like most of the teachers have……Do you have to be confronted with a bunch of out of control kids everyday you go on your job…nDo you work around very dangerous people that have committed heinous crimes..nSo you are saying only liberals politicians are corrupt…OMG you are bias also….You probably didn’t vote for Obama did you & you probably think he is Muslim also..??.LMAOnDo you have any Black friends????? nWhat kind of work do you do???Are you happy what you are doing??????nYou must work at WalMart……..nSo if you are a public worker you are saying they got it made. nWhy don’t you kick your low paying job with limited benefits to the curb & go for a public job…n

What about if the public workers give back some of their pay on condition that wimpy Scott take back that 180 million dollars in tax breaks he gave to his friends (Koch bros, corporations, etc)….Do you think he could balance the budget then….????nHow many Wisconsinites give a dung about a dame state budget…Most people can not even balance their own budget….Most people can not even spell the word economic.n Most economist use voodoo theories to validate their opinions. Do your state have a state income tax?????n

So you are saying they have serve out their useful time…Do you want to go back to the industrial age…That’s just what would happen………nWhat I don’t understand is how are these unions able get these big raises and good benefits their workers….Ohh, I’m overlooking something, they go in with machine guns & tell management to give their union a raise or we will blow your pea brains out…nMan, there are no such thing as a free enterprise….Do you understand that concept, free enterprise…..nnFree enterprise: An economy that relies chiefly on market forces to allocate goods & resources & to determine prices..nThe market is being manipulated by commodity trader..the “market forces” have been replace by crap shooters, commodity traders…supply & demand no longer exist…nIgnorant is very dangerous especially when that ignorant person is a fool..

I am a Demacrate,but i no that there are some Unions that do have power over everyone else, There members do work over time and there is no need to. there pay is out of control, People really need to see that there are people like us that arn’t in union’s that could never retier with the benafits that the Unions give there workers.Some people need to see that we are the middle class to and we do work from pay check to pay check. this is not fair,The people need to work only 40 hours a week that belong to unions, Live as we do and see how much we dont make.Quit yelling about what you will loose, and see what people really work for live like!

A “dame” state budget? “Do your state have … ?” And you’re correcting the spelling of @spree123? Now that’s funny. Judging from your spelling and grammar skills it looks like you may have received a Wisconsin public-school education. You must be very satisfied that your union “educators” will be able to retire comfortably on the backs of Wisconsin taxpayers while you stumble through life uneducated and unmotivated. Nice job.

No, unions aren’t a right, but the right I am speaking of is to be heard and have mediation. That is all the union workers are looking to keep, they have already agreed to every other part of the bill. Itu2019s Scott Walker who stated that he wouldnu2019t budge. I personally am grateful that there are people who feel enough of a civic duty to keep my streets safer; protecting and serving the people by choosing a line of work that puts their life on the line u2013 same for soldiers. Do you say u201coh wellu201d to the GI Bill too, thinking that soldiers who gave up 4 years of their life donu2019t deserve some compensation. The funds that you think that you pay for teachers’ benefits and pension, you are 100% wrong. Teachers choose, with a union, to defer a certain percentage of their salary to be paid later–as a pension; but it is their money–they have earned it for services rendered. nThe same is true for health-care–instead of taking the money in salary, teachers choose to collectively work with the union to purchase their health-care as a group, which saves a tremendous amount of $. Individually, teachers’ health-care would cost more, so they CHOOSE to use THEIR salary to PURCHASE health insurance collectively. They could choose as a union to NOT purchase health-care as a solidified entity and go their own way, but that would then mean they would get 12-15 thousand more dollars as salary. nOnce a worker has EARNED money, it is no longer anyone else’s money. Teachers do not get a salary and ON TOP of it A BONUS or FREE money for pension and health ins.–that is paid with the money they have already earned–it is THEIR money. nIt’s really a simple concept, but with what the power-mogul controlled media has been spewing, the nation is being fed lies. No one pays for teachers’ benefits–they pay for their own from their salary and conditions of their contract that they have AGREED to WITH THE MUNICIPALITY they work for. If their local gov’t does not like the conditions of the contract, they have the right to renegotiate EVERY 2 YEARSn

I think most of you are missing the point. Our government has forgotten that they work for US, not the other way around. This protest isn’t about the workings of the unions, it is about standing up for the right to choose. Slowly, but surely, our government is taking away our right to choose…anything. To quote Elizabeth Vacha, “All the Unions have already agreed to pay cuts, paying for more of their health care, etc. u2013 basically everything in the bill proposed by Mr. Walker was acceptable and open to negotiation EXCEPT their right to bargain. Do people really think that their one lonely little voice will be heard by Walker and politicians like him if they wonu2019t even bend an ear to hear what hundreds of thousands of voices shouting?”

I think most of you are missing the point. Americans and our government have forgotten that they (the government) are suppose to work for the American people, not the other way around. The protest isn’t about the inner workings of the union, entirely. It is about standing up for the RIGHT to CHOOSE. Slowly, but surely, the government is taking away our rights, and this is just the beginning. nnTaking a quote from an earlier post by Elizabeth Vacha, nn”All the Unions have already agreed to pay cuts, paying for more of their health care, etc. u2013 basically everything in the bill proposed by Mr. Walker was acceptable and open to negotiation EXCEPT their right to bargain. Do people really think that their one lonely little voice will be heard by Walker and politicians like him if they wonu2019t even bend an ear to hear what hundreds of thousands of voices shouting?”nnThe union exists, like it or not. The people who have CHOSEN jobs that are union have a right to negotiate, or “bargain.” Mr. Walker seems to be trying to take away that right. The constant bickering about who has the most toys is contributing to the “ignorance” of what is really going on here.

All citizens from NY to Mississippi should be doing the same thing. Repectful, Peaceful, demistrations to let their local Governments know how they feel about what is going on in there state. Stand up for your rights before you don’t have any left!

Typical, cannot communicate without calling names. Nice to know how you really feel about the kids you teach.

Corporations do not pay taxes when they don’t make any money. Laura, you need to calm down. What do you think a corporation is? Just a group of people who pool their money to invest in what they hope is a good idea that will sell at a profit. Okay, I said the liberal equivalent of the N-word – profit. Do you have a job? Do you take home a paycheck? If you do then that is your profit. You are trading your time and skills for money. The money you take home is profit. You could choose to hunt for your meat and gather your vegetables. In fact, that is what you must do if is you don’t make a profit. Civilization exists because people make a profit. Farmers grow grain, store it for winter and then they have the time to make furniture. Fisherman catch fish and build ships in the winter. All profit. Corporations take this to another level. Corporations raise capital (money from investors) and build railroads. No single person could raise enough money to build a railroad. Now, I completely agree that when workers had no rights under the law, unions were a must. Noone should ever mistreat, take advantage of, or use another man. Now workers are protected by the law as they should be. But public employee unions are now demanding that non-union labor pay taxes so they don’t have to work after age 50. There is a radio commercial running in NY from the public employees union that insists that if a public union member has to work until he is 65, a private sector worker must work until he is 85 so the private worker can pay taxes for the retirement of the union guy! Is that fair? n If you drive a car – a corporation made it employing union labor. If you need pharmaceutical drugs – a corporation made them employing union labor. If you travel in a plane – a corporation made it employing union. Give thanks for corporations! Without them, we would be lucky to have a mule.

Great job, Patriot Jim!

@spree123 I’m not sure I follow. While I agree that it’s not fair that some people have better compensation than others, my suggestion is that we work together to raise the standards for those at the lower end. Are you arguing that we should lower anyone not “living from pay check to pay check just to make ends meet”? Doesn’t sound like the American Dream that my parents told to me and that I tell to my children.

@spree123 Sounds like your using a lot of rhetoric with few facts. I’m challenging you to critically think about what you are saying. nnTo begin, you’re quoting an argument that was made over 100 years ago (“Unions were good at one time but haven’t they outlived their usefulness? ~ The Toronto Globe and Mail (May 6, 1886). Since that original headline, organized labor has managed to abolish child labor, as well as institute an 8 hour work day, 40 hour work week, mandatory breaks, safety guidelines, grievance procedures, a minimum wage, the concept of a work free weekend, workers comp, pensions, health safeguards, and paid sick days, vacation days, and holidays.nnExplain to me how that’s a bad thing.

You are right, spree123! The union bosses aren’t worried about the collective bargaining – they just want the union dues to buy democrat pols who will continue to spend the taxpayers into oblivion!

Olin, you need to take a class in economics. You are so confused.

Three people are sitting at a table: a corporate CEO, a public employee and a private employee. On the table is a plate of a dozen cookies. The CEO takes 11 cookies, nudges the private worker and whispers “Hey, that unionized public bastard wants a part of your cookie . . . “nnHey everyone, just keep fighting over that one cookie while the top 1% joyfully steal the rest. This whole “middle class” thing was a mistake anyway, anyone who isn’t a banker, senator or CEO doesn’t deserve things like health care, education or safe housing. Anyone who demands more than what they absolutely need to survive for 30 years or so (old people cost too much to keep alive) is a horrible greedy monster for taking away money from our most industrious and important citizens, the rich.

Navymum – in 2005 Exxon netted 36.1 BILLION dollars. That year they had 83,700 employees. In 2006 it netted 39.5 BILLION dollars. That year it’s number of employees dropped to 82,100. In 2007 it netted 40.6 BILLION and the number of employees dropped to 80,800. In 2008 it netted 45.2 BILLION and the number of employees it had dropped again to 79,900. On top of all of this – we’ve given Exxon and the other four top oil companies over 40 BILLION in tax subsidies in the past ten years. Are you OK with them taking our money and pocketing it and not contributing to the fiscal health of our country? I’m assuming because of your moniker that you have kid(s) in the Navy. What are they fighting for? freedom or corporate profit?

It’s not really about whether anyone likes what any particular union does. It’s about whether workers, citizens, people have the right to bargain collectively.nWhether you are in a union or not, if you work for someone else for a living you benefit from the fact that if you had to, you could organize and bargain collectively.nIf you want to eliminate collective bargaining to save money on your taxes, you’re selling your freedom, and you’re selling it cheap, because whatever it saves in taxes in the short term, it will cost much more in wages and benefits in the long term.n

You people voted them in and are responsible for the havoc that the ‘repressives’ are unleashing against the middle-class and the working poor. nnYou were all too impatient to let Obama do what he wanted, and too eager to listen to the fear mongering that the repressives put forward.nnWhat did you think would happen? They always do the same thing, why did you all think the results would be different?nnWhen will you learn?

Don’t think any quality business owner or manager would not talk to and work with there employees. The reason the private sector unions are going away is companies do take care of and work with there employees. To be held hostage by a group of people that doesn’t want to be paid on quality of work, get more holidays, sick leave, and vacation than the average American. Do not have to contribute to there own benefits and retirement is just not right.

I don’t believe in spreading or sharing the wealth. We all make choices in life and have to live with those choices. nI do believe unions have gone past the point of their original purpose and are over compensating union employees. nnOlin and Elizabeth:nI do not work at Walmart, I am for our police and firemen, I believe in the GI Bill and totally feel our Veterans deserve more then we give them.nGod Bless America!

Sorry to disagree Laura but the working class are the farmers who put food on your table, store owners where you go to get your food, carpenters who build the home you take your food into, barbers/hairdressers who cut and do your hair, garage mechanics who fix your car, hospitality servers who wait on you, daycare workers who take care of your children and nursing home employees who take care of your aging parents….need I go on?

They agreed to the cuts because they think they can wait till they have the democrats in the office again to get it all back through ” collective bargaining”. Are you in agreement that unions takes the cuts and then fired the teachers based on when they were hired and not their performance? Can you be a teacher in public school and not join the union? I don’t think so. Where is the choice for people that wants to teach but not join the union? Will union allow individual teachers to be responsible for negotiating their own wages and benefits?

“fair shake” …I think that’s what Scott Walker is doing. Union has been unfair. I don’t know any private jobs where workers don’t have to contribute to their benefits. No where else can workers vote someone in the office so they can get a raise.

I really like the message, except for the heading. It is about working women and men, or working citizens, or workers. It is not just the working man who deserves a fair shake. Our language should not communicate a gender bias.

The message is well presented, except for the heading. The workers, women and men, deserve the right to negotiate as organized groups. We should avoid gender biased language.

Spree123, I’m not sure I understand your logic. On the one hand, you believe that “We all make choices in life and have to live with those choices.” nnOn the other hand, you seem to not believe in people living with their choices if that choice is to join a union, and use collective bargaining so that you don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck.

@spree123, why did you change your name to USAPatriotforFreedom. Shift change?

Paula, would you really settle for others having less instead of demanding that you deserve more? Seems apathetic.

Oh it’s the old “Hey, Iu2019m paying their salaries!” argument.n nYes, you are. And every time you buy a loaf of bread at the local supermarket, youu2019re paying the salaries of every employee in the store. Every time you fill up at the gas station, youu2019re paying all the salaries at the oil company. This is how capitalism works. Everybody is always paying everybody elseu2019s salary. That doesnu2019t give you the right to demand that the produce manager take a pay cut to keep the price of cabbage low, or the guy behind the counter at the gas station doesnu2019t deserve a health plan.

Actually, unionized workers do contribute to their benefits – their benefits are considered 5% of their total wages. Basically, instead of getting $1.05, they get $1.00 and 5 cents is put towards their benefits. It’s not a “gift”, it’s a deduction from their actual wages.

Never changed! Always have been! Always will be!

No jim, a public sector worker does NOT get paid more than you do for the same job in the private sector. That is a lie. Now, we understand that you are upset that you make less now than you did in the past but, sorry, it is your own fault for supporting the uber rich who convinced you to argue against your own self-interest by telling you to over and over on the radio and TV. nnAs far as the budget, there was no budget problem until Walker gave his corporate benefactors almost $150,000,000 in gifts when he came into office. nnAnd as far as you paying a public worker – you paid the BILLIONS in bailouts to Wallstreet. This is just as much your money as what is paid to the teachers, nurses, police, firefighters, bus drivers, garbage men and others who make your city and state work and yet you don’t rail against them. Wy is that? Maybe if the public workers had the money to hire themselves a Rush Limbaugh or float a FOX Lies then maybe you’d believe them. nnDestroying the unions will not help you. WIthout the unions you will lose more than you already have. The union that you were in didn’t help you because most of their power was stripped from them in the first round of corporate attacks. nnWake up! Take a look around you! THINK for once. Turn off the FOX BS and THINK about who is profiting off of you. It’s not your fellow middle classers!

The reason workers have any rights at all is the trade union’s work over the years. You are either a union member and have a union represent you or you are a non-union worker and have benefited over the years by the work of the unions in many states.nFlorida is a “right to work” state, we have little or no union activity here and it shows.nOur jobs are being exported not because the corporations are going broke, but because they have realized that they don’t have to share their profit with those who make their profits possible. The quality of life of working Americans is at stake here.nIf we let radical governors, congress and senate members continue their attack on the working class we will become just another third world country where a decent wage, a home, an education for our children, taking nice vacations, being able to save for the future will be a thing of the past and only reserved for the rich and corporations who will be allowed to squirrel away their “profits” the way they are doing now without doing anything to help workers or the economy.nThe battle lines are being drawn every day.nIf you think the war against the unions is not your war and you work for a living you could not be more wrong.nOur rights are slipping away fast and have been for years, the difference now is that politicians have found an easy target to blame all the Nation’s ills on: the worker.nNever mind that previous administrations wrecked the budget and lied us into a war that seems to go on forever, never mind that we bailed out banks and financial institutions who now refuse to help anyone with a problem mortgate, never mind that we have been de-funding education for yeare, we can blame the problems on the teachers.nPublic workers make lower salaries than people performing similar work in the private sector, they always have and they knew it, but they were willing to trade a higher salary for better retirement and benefits, so now that it’s time to pay up everyone wants to blame them for everything.nKarl Rove is alive and well and providing material for the war on Americans.

The attack against working americans is working on you, you don’t know who’s on your side.

So when the changes come we will be represented by corrupt right leaning republicans and tea party members whose base after the latest supreme court decision is not working americans, but the rich and the corporations who can contribute to their campaigns without limit.nWe will then have the best government money can buy, how hard do you think any of them will look after the working class?nAny progress working americans have made through the years can be attributed to direct action by unions or corporation’s reaction to union action elsewhere in order to prevent their own workers to unionize. nOur working conditions as americans are what they are because of unions and those pesky government regulations encouraged by union pressure.nI have never worked in an industry where unions are a rule and I see the result now after 37 years, I wish I had.nUnions are not the problem, corporate greed is the problem, corporations and the politicians they own.nYears ago all airlines were unionized except Delta. They did not have to be, they treated their employees like royalty.nAfter all the other airlines cried poor after deregulation and at one time or another went bankrupt to destroy the union everything has changed. Airline employees have no job security, their salaries and benefits have declined and when you call an airline now with the exception of Southwes or Continental you get a call center overseas.nThe airlines did not have to outsource call centers, the customers hate it. They did it because they can keep more money by firing hundreds of employees.nAmerican workers can never compete with oversea workers, our cost of living is much, much higher.nBefore you trash the union workers and praise capitalism, take a really close look at what is going on and wake up.

Love your post and agree with everything. I wish more people “got it”.

Whose freedom?

I’m more comfortable with his confusion than your certainty. After the latest supreme court decision about election contributions the only voices heard will be those of the wealthy and corporations, they can contribute the most money.nnYou will benefit (or not) from government action or lack of it depending on how much money you can donate to their campaigns.nnThe result? less government for the rich, more government for the poor and disappearing middle class.

You really don’t see that over the years the unions have been pushed back and that is why not all of us have benefited?nThe unions have made working conditions better for everyone, as their power has waned, the corporations have stepped into the gaps and pushed back. That is why our working conditions have changed for the worst.nThe corporations do not want to pay a fair wage or provide benefits so they can make more BILLIONS of dollars. There is no such thing as trickle down economy, it trickles up, always, and they have discovered that they don’t have to share with the working class. All they have to do is divide us by teaching us to hate each other and fear the “corrupt” unions.nThe middle class is being destroyed not because of the unions but because that is the plan.nThis is how it works: Buy the government, destroy the middle class. Simple.n

The fact that you are impressed with a monthly income of $3200 says it all. Instead of railing against a teacher who may get $3200 per month (only $38,400 per year) in retirement, how about railing against the thieves that stole our livelihoods and demanded and got BILLIONS in bailouts and then gave themselves HUGE bonuses? Instead of demanding that someone receiving a pension of $3200 a month, why don’t you demand that EVERYONE get that AND MORE? You have been brainwashed into thinking that THEY don’t deserve it because they’ve beaten you down into thinking that YOU don’t deserve it and how come THEY deserve it when YOU don’t!?! WAKE UP! YOU deserve to be paid better! WE deserve an explanation as to why we are giving the Wall street Banksters BILLIONS of our tax dollars instead of putting them IN JAIL!

Everyone, yours, mine, my kids, their kids, etc. etc

Blah blah blah… gimme gimme gimme. I deserve…I deserve… I deserve. Get off your ass and go back to work.nnNice they have so much time on their hands. I am sick of these maggots expecting the American’s to foot their bills. Enough is Enough. “Large corporations have to pay……” is their mantra but in reality it is the taxpayers. And these people, particularly the teachers do NOT have a good track record in their schools.

So we need to return to sweat shops, unsafe work sites, have child labor laws repealed, and then we would be back on track?nThere are corrupt labor leaders and corrupt politicians of every stripe, but that doesn’t mean they are ALL corrupt. In my mind, unions and their ilk are a counter balance to the other exreme.

I never advocated to return to sweatshops, etc. You are reading too may things into my statement. What is the “other extreme”?

“other extreme” is the sweatshops, etc. I have worked in both union shops and non-union shops (and been an employer as well); each has good and bad points; without unions, there would be no reason to not have sweatshops, and child labor – the same arguments I am hearing today are the same that were put forth 100 years ago, and the same predictions of the destruction of civilization.

We have similar backgrounds. Good luck to you!

With all the talk about “Obamacare” and wanting to undo what the Pres. has done, why doesn’t Congress give up the health insurance we buy for them. They might sing a different tune if they have to pay for thier own health insurance. My husband and I are paying $1,030.00 a month for health insurance. Why should we also pay for cadillac insurance for those who want to take away Medicare and health reform? How much money would we save then?

Poor Margaret,rnTypical liberal, more content with confusion than certainty. I think thatrnsays it all. Please never figure out what you truly believe. It might bernrnembarrassing for you.