My father worked in a factory
Posted By: sm on 2009-02-21
In Reply to: those bad ol' unions - mk
for 30 years at GM. He was a salvage worker so he wasn't one of those guys who sat on his butt all day long making a ridiculous amount of money. My dad retired in his 60s because his health didn't allow him to continue working or he would have. I know how unions work and how they "protect" the employees. I've also seen the proven statistics about how non-union states are more production and have higher job growth and as far as protecting your job.....no ones job is protected especially nowadays. People are getting fired left and right so where is the protection. What good was that auto bailout when all that money pretty much went to pay off the unions. Unions are nothing but democratic pushed BS.
Here is a tad bit on unions:
The truth is that unions are essentially parasitic organizations that thrive only by draining and ultimately destroying the companies and industries they control. The essential goal of the unions is to compel the payment of higher wages for the performance of less work and less productive work. Unions are notorious for their hostility to labor saving machinery and to any form of competition among workers, for featherbedding practices, indeed, for “making work” by deliberately and arbitrarily increasing the number of workers required to accomplish a given task and sometimes even by compelling the disassembly or destruction of products already produced.
It should be no wonder that the percentage of the labor force controlled by unions tends progressively to decline. Where the unions hold sway, companies cannot compete. Their market share falls and they ultimately go bankrupt. The only way that unions can maintain any given share of the labor force is by finding new victims to replace the ones they have sucked dry. The finding of new victims, by means of new government intervention is the unstated agenda of Mr. Stern, Ms. Milkman, and The New York Times.
The actual effects of labor unions are arbitrary inequalities in wage rates, mass unemployment, and substantially lower real wages for the average worker. Labor unions are aptly described as a leading vehicle of what von Mises called “destructionism.”
Whenever a union succeeds in obtaining above market wage rates for its members, it also reduces the number of workers who can be employed in its field. This is because of the operation of one of the best established principles of economics: Namely, the higher the price of anything, including the wage of any kind of labor, the smaller is the quantity demanded of that good or labor service.
Thus, workers who could have been employed in the lines controlled by labor unions are instead displaced and forced to seek work elsewhere. The added competition of these workers in other lines then serves either to depress wage rates in those other lines, thereby resulting in an arbitrary, union-imposed inequality in wage rates, or, if those other lines are also unionized or are forced to pay union wages in order to avoid becoming unionized (which is often the case), to cause still other workers to be displaced. It should be clear that to the extent that the effect of union activity is to depress wage rates in other fields, the union slogan “Live Better, Work Union” turns out to mean “Live Better by Forcing Other Workers to Live Worse.”
If wage rates in all lines of work are forced above the free-market level either because labor unions are able to impose their wage scales everywhere, or because upward union pressure on wage rates is joined by minimum-wage legislation, the effect is mass unemployment. In this case, there is simply no branch of the economic system that is allowed to pay wage rates low enough to make possible the absorption of workers displaced from elsewhere by the imposition of union wages. The result is the kind of situation presently existing in France and Germany, where unemployment is in excess of ten percent. And, of course, the cost of supporting the masses of unemployed falls mainly on the workers who manage to keep their jobs. Here higher taxes are their reward for “working union.”
For the full article: http://mises.org/story/1861
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It worked for me. It worked for LVMT. Must be something wrong with US, right?
From your attitude on this board, though, it's unlikely you would enjoy it anyway.
garment factory
My oldest grandparents would go down to the factory and they would draw a lottery for who worked that day. Between the two of them they said most days one was able to stay and work, so they actually felt like they had it made. They did not have indoor plumbing and a dirt floor in a house they built themselves. Later, when they were older, they always had money because they never spent what they earned, not because they earned a lot.
Do you work in the Kool Aid Factory?
Or just distribute its products?
Oh, except for Bosnia, Somalia, and the empty aspirin factory.
.
The book is titled "Dreams From My Father" not "Dreams of My Father."
The propaganda sent out and posted here yesterday with blatantly false and out-of-context racist quotes ignorantly referred to the book as "Dreams of My Father." Although you have repeated over and over and over again that Obama is a socialist, it was one of your cronies, ms, who stated that "Obama is a socialist and probably a closet communist, masquerading as the most liberal democrat in the senate."
what about a father's right?
Just curious if anybody even considers the father's rights?
If your father-in-law s/m
is making GROSS $250,000 from his business, he is definitely not wealthy in my book. On the other hand if his taxable income is $250,000 I see nothing wrong with him paying more taxes than someone with a taxable income of say $40,000.
I do not believe that Obama is going to tax the rich to give to the poor. I have not heard that a single time from his MOUTH. IF and I say IF, he is successful, your father-in-law would most likely get a reduction in taxes. This thing of Obama the modern day Robin Hood is so far out in left field it doesn't even deserve serious consideration. People seem to believe McCain whatever he says.
Father Jonathan Gets It
Culture: The Battleground for the American Soul
by Father Jonathan Morris
I don't know if anyone cares how I feel after Election Day. In case you do, here's the scoop; I'm happy, with some reservation.
I'm happy to live in a democracy where my vote counts, and no more than the next guy's. I'm happy to be able to trust government workers to tally the ballots. I'm happy there are winners and losers, and happy to hear concession speeches peppered with “I'll be back” and “Don't lose hope.” Yes, today I'm happy — I'm very happy to be an American.
My reservation is deeply seeded. My concern has little to do with partisan politics, with house or Senate control. I could care less about red or blue or right or left. And for goodness sake, I'm rather indifferent to the emotional pull of a clunky elephant or a rickety donkey.
Having followed the major issues and the hottest campaigns of this midterm election, I'm concerned that Americans — on both sides of the aisle — are losing the ability to know what they are fighting for, and why it matters. I'm concerned we are losing the battle for the American soul.
“A Battle for the American Soul?” To some, the phrase itself may sound like simplistic punditry — mouth-candy, cliché, and passé, altogether juvenile.
If I didn't live in Europe, I might agree. But a few years on this side of the Atlantic, combined with regular glances back at the history books, I am convinced America has possessed and still possesses a unique, positive and powerful soul, carried in the hearts of her citizens. In this century alone, it has saved the world more than once.
I am also convinced that now, as never before, the American soul is the target of heavy and deadly fire. The sharpshooters, this time, come primarily from within.
Sordid politics can't take the full blame for our predicament. The real battleground for the American soul is CULTURE.
The word is not easy to define. I think it is a nation's portfolio of values — her priorities, ethics, conceptions, and traditions. It is the common philosophy of life, a mindset, and mentality, a way of judging, acting, and reacting. Culture, we can say, creates in us a collective understanding of who we are and what we are about.
While culture is bigger than politics, in a representative democracy like ours, the quality of politics is a cultural bellwether, a group bill of health. From the sight of all things political these days, I would say our culture is sick.
Some have said the outcome of this election was all about Iraq. I don't think it is so simple. Large numbers of Republicans have proven themselves untrustworthy in character and policy. In their tenure as majority leaders in Congress, they have done some good things, but they have vacillated in their stated priorities. They have failed to push forward the confirmation of important judgeships, truncated integral immigration reform, and most recently, were weak on social ballot initiatives like the Missouri stem cell research amendment and mandatory parental consent for minors seeking abortions.
The deeper problem is not policy. It is the superficial nature of political discourse. Republicans have set themselves up as the pro-life, pro-family party, and its platform promises to protect both. But much like the Democrats, its members have been unconvincing in explaining why they believe what they do. When is the last time you have heard a politician explain why life is precious, and why it is sacred? When is the last time you heard a politician give a discourse on the origin and foundation of human rights? When have you heard a Congressman or Senator lay out a reasoned explanation of a just war, given the new type of unconventional enemies?
This dumbing-down of politics is both a consequence and cause of cultural decline.
Democrats are now in the spotlight and we are watching. On Wednesday, new House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi pointed to a painting behind her, hanging on the wall of the Library of Congress. She signaled a figure burning a scroll of learning and trampling on the Bible. The title of the painting was “Corrupt Government.” She explained:
“It is a harsh image to see a Bible underfoot, but it makes a powerful point: corrupt government undermines our values. We come here today to support those values, and to lay out an agenda for a new era of honest, open, and transparent government.”
It would seem Nancy Pelosi is saying the values of America can be found in the Bible. I am impressed. Maybe she knows America was founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs and plans on entering the battle to save the American soul. To do this, she will have to hold Democratic policy up to that very high standard. I'm not holding my breath.
If there is one thing to remember, it is this: culture, not politics alone, determines our national identity, and building culture is the responsibility of us all. We can do it in our homes, schools, and places of work, even as politicians fumble around on Capitol Hill. If you need a guidebook, ask Nancy Pelosi. She just might point to the Bible.
God bless, Father Jonathan
I love Father Jonanthan, but I don't believe Nancy Pelosi is going to be pointing anyone toward the Bible, because she would have to throw the Democratic party platform right out the window wtith the other hand. But, I believe the Bible is the guidebook. And, in God's own words, (paraphrasing), Let ye who are called by my name turn from your sin and pray, I will hear from Heaven, forgive you and heal your land. Ye who are called by my name, I believe that to be Christians. Let it start with me, then, because I love my country and the principles she was founded on, and I would love to see her restored. God bless!
Ok here is a better example...my father is Christian
x
Well his father's methods must be used in just about
every sort of rally, sporting event, etc. known then. Did anyone actually read it? Am I the only 1 who doesn't understand how gathering a large group of people, who all support the same thing, having them cheer for it, etc. has anything to do with communism? Please explain.
Father died at age 70 nm
nm
No, how about Father Phleger! LOL
nm
His father lived with him...
And he felt different feelings than just wanting a male friend. He struggled with it from age 8 to 16 and finally came out. He is 19 years old and openly gay now and was a VIRGIN by the way the last I heard, yep he has relationships with guys with no "sodomizing" involved, amazing huh, that it can be about something other than sex. God forbid it just be that he actually has FEELINGS for the same sex.
SO WHAT. My father is an alcoholic, doesn't
looking for reasons to hate someone. IT's sad. Grow up.
obama was abandoned by his father
yet he worked through his adolescent problems and worked his way to first black president of the Harvard Law Review. What an extraordinary man.
cnn - palin's father and sister
to speak about her. Why won't she be interviewed? What are the repubs hiding by keeping her in a cocoon?
A Letter to My Republican Father...sm
Here is a link to "A Letter to My Republican Father" that I came across yesterday. I think it makes some awfully good points about John McCain. It may be helpful for anyone who is undecided about him:
http://web.me.com/davidvwhite/Site/Welcome.html
Hubby's father told him we would
see a depression in our lifetime that would be 10 times worse than the great depression. This was back in the ླྀs. My husband always hung on to that statement and believes this is it. It's coming and there is nothing that will stop it. That's why we have been buying extra canned and dried goods when possible. We always made sausage and smoked a lot of pork but of course, we can't have animals here because of zoning, so we buy from a local farmer.
I know how to make bread and butter and have plenty of flour stored, but butter is going to be another issue since we don't have a cow and the last dairy farmer went out of business 10 years ago.
His father was a Kenyan citizen. We all know that. What is ...sm
your point. He was not adopted by his Kenyan father. The point is that his mother was an American citizen. It doesn't matter where he was born. What is it that you don't understand about that? Mexicans and Canadians, as well as students and others from many other foreign citizens give birth every year and their children are American citizens. If what you say is true, and I do not believe it for a minute, why would you think that an American citizen giving birth in a foreign country would not automatically convey citizenship onto her baby? Get real. This is not what the constitution intends. This is just a diversionary tactic by desperate people.
If you know who the father is - you need his permission for adoption also -
I don't think I would want to go to the man who raped me and say I want to give our child up, is that okay with you? I don't think when he says no, I will raise this child that I would want to turn over a child to that man to raise... and that is what would happen!
Would you want to take a child to prison to see his "daddy" for visitation because the court ordered it? Would you want to have to deal with him about child support?
I don't think so...
and just because the child was conceived in rape, believe me, as messed up as our court systems are, they would give that man visitation and the poor woman he had victimized would be victimized again and again and again!
The father of the Marine daughter also said the same thing. sm
I guess they are all just misguided and brainwashed. In fact, a lot of the military is saying this. But it doesn't shut people up, does it. Didn't in Vietnam either. Well, freedom of speech works both ways. But the left never seems to get that either.
Well, since by your own admission Obama was abandoned by his father....
and was raised by a single mother...but somehow that makes her a hero and these other women not so much?
Double standard lately???
My father in the 40s and 50s (not so long ago in the scope of things) sm
Was a white child growing up with no mother and an alcoholic father. A black woman who lived nearby with her own children used to let him come and eat with them. If not, he would not have survived. As he grew up, he didn't see race as a boundary...he had many friends both black and white. He loved to dance and in those days there were "black" dance halls and "white" dance halls. He liked the music and dancing better in the "black" dance halls and loved to go there and dance with his friends. The KKK came to our house one day in the late 60s and stomped my father while wearing golf cleats all over his body. We have come soooo far since then, but there are still people who bear the scars of those days. I think for the majority, prejudice is dying off. We are realizing how utterly ridiculous it is to judge someone by their skin color, blue, purple or orange. But I do agree there are still some who are hurt and cannot trust. The only racists or bigots I see these days are very uneducated and unintelligent people. I hope and pray we can all just get along and that no one hurts anyone else over all of this. My 11-year-old son said to me months ago, before Obama was even nominated, that he was afraid if Obama was elected someone would try to assassinate him, and that the same thing might even happen if Hillary was elected. My 11-year-old child could see that with his own eyes, even before I saw for myself the hatred that some people have. God help us protect whichever candidate wins, because there will be enemies either way.
And Obama calls this man his political father, his
who got him interested in politics. Why is that? You can believe there isn't racism there if you want, but I can't put my head in the sand.
His Indonesian father adopted him who lived ONLY
nm
In this case, when the father is a rapist, EVERYTHING IS WRONG..
one has to be honest and disclose to the adoptive parents that the father is a rapist! Wow!
Or are you going to keep this a secret?
Well, it all worked out in the end
We aren't living high on the hog, and we've opened our home to those less fortunate. Over the past 25 years, we've had 10 people (friends not strangers) live with us until they could get back on their feet, rent-free, taking none of the money they could make, all meals provided.
Yes, welfare is very backwards, but if I knew of anyone abusing the system, I would report them. I don't know anyone on welfare or living in Section 8 housing since I now live in the country. If other people would do that, it would soon straighten out.
I worked
at the polling place yesterday. Then we had a party. There were only 4 present who voted for Obama and my husband and I were 2 of them. We had an enjoyable time and on one thing all of us agreed. ALL of us must get involved if we want to save this country.
I'm glad it's over.
I worked for a guy once
who neatly solved that problem.
He owned the company and he when quit smoking (or more accurately, he quit buying) any time he wanted a cigarette, he would 'bum' it from one of his employees. Since O cannot nip out and get a pack of smokes now, maybe he gets by this way. Would some secret service guy or Whitehouse domestic employee refuse him?
My old boss should have run for Congress, so out of touch was he with his 'little people.' Payday was Friday and the checks were locked in his desk until 4:30 Friday afternoon. (This was to prevent someone from going to the bank at lunch and never returning, I guess.) And I might add this was back when bankers hours were truly that, not open until 6 on Friday, and until noon Saturday.
Trouble was, sometimes he would not return from lunch, or at all on Friday, so we did not get paid until Monday. But he helpfully said that nobody should be living so hand-to-mouth that they absolutely needed their 2-week check before the weekend. I mean, if you can't go to the grocery and therefore cannot feed your kids, you obviously are not budgeting properly. Another neat solution, don't you think? If only I had listened to this man, I would be wealthy today.
Did you get this worked up when
the Bush administration eviscerated the Bill of Rights? When they targeted any vocal opposition in a position to be heard using clandestine means and government resources? When they doled out multimillion dollar no-bid contracts to their cronies paid for by taxpayer money and loans from foreign countries?
Let's see how worked up we can get now -
Did you see that President Obama is going to get to appoint a Supreme Court judge already? 
Why would that get anyone worked up.
Isn't that one of his responsibilities as President?
Why would that get anyone worked up.
Isn't that one of his responsibilities as President?
Serious question for you - Are you serious about your statement or are you trying to start something so more people will be bickering.
Worked for me
Don't put a space between American and solution, just americansolutions.com
So what? JFKs father thought Hitler was a great man. sm
So did Charles Lindberg. This doesn't MEAN anything. You are really going off the deep deep end.
Raised by a Muslim father and Christian mother
It is a crock, it was refuted. You live in a very small world with no understanding of other cultures. That picture shows me that when he returned to Kenya to meet his father's family, he put on clothing that other Kenyan men wear...Christians and Muslims alike. When I lived in the Middle East with my husband and his family, I wore Hijab and covered my head out of RESPECT for them and for the people whose country I was visiting. Respect obviously is a foreign concept to you. Christiane Amanpour is a Christian who travels to the Middle East and when she does, she covers her head and wears hijab, like she did when she made God's Warriors. Barbara Walters wears a head cover when traveling in the Middle East. She is a Christian. I will not waste my time citing any other examples to support my claim that you are so small minded, bigoted and misinformed it borders on the criminal.
Thjis proves exactly Kaydie's father's philosophy...nm
nm
Looks like a loving father thanking his kids for inspiring him
getting them ready for their journey there with him, talking about where they have been, how they got to where they are and where they are going from here.
My sympathy to those not able to come along for the ride.
My "messiah" is Jesus, and he is with the Heavenly Father; the President.....sm
is very hard at work trying to please everyone because he can seem to do no right to the right, and also he is trying to build a ladder so we can climb out of the gigantic chasm that he inherited and sincerely wants to mend...with time, patience, sacrifice, perseverance, bipartisan help, and by implementing new rules, regulations, and spending investments that will take time to turn things around, but he is BEING A PRESIDENT and not a trained chimp, looking the other way on difficult issues. OK, I know this will be flamed, but I don't see the EAGERNESS that many folk have about seeing our President fail....if HE fails, WE fail, and excuse me, it has only been a month. What did President Bush accomplish in 8 years besides spending trillions in a meansingless, unwinnable war, and making Cheney, Halliburton, and all his friends more money, while securing all their oil interests? I am trying so hard not to be partisan here, but these one-liners that are posted that do nothing but doom and ridicule a brand new president...why so intent on that???
Worked for me; thanks, LVMT
Posts to get you worked up
are obviously not what 'liberals' are about, any more than posts comparing Hillary to Hitler are what 'conservatives' are all about. The terms 'liberal' and 'conservative' are pretty much useless anyway because everyone has their own definitions. It's lumping together people that are not necessarily the same.
You might want to ask Obama how it worked for him....
coming out calling the NRL and others liars (saw the video where he said it, "Hate to call them liars but they are liars" and now is having to back up because...whoops. He is the one who lied. He should have taken your good advice and kept a low profile...
Okay, worked together. He was friends with Rev.
nm
You certainly have worked yourself up into a lather
Perhaps you may considering reserving your judgment of the situation until the story and the facts come to the light of day. If the woman shuns the limelight, papers her walls with photos of her nephew and sends small contributions to his campaign when she can, she obviously holds him in very high regard and is bearing no grudges over what you refer to a hording his wealth. Again, it taked a LOT of gall to sit in judgment of something you know absolutely nothing about. Get over yourself.
Dad (pharmacist) worked at
was Cunningham Drug Store. He was the manager at the store from 1969-1981.
Did you see the one about the young guy who worked
at McDonald's for 4 1/2 years? He couldn't get another job and wanted to know what O was going to do about it. I was absolutely shocked!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TptsP4ryido&feature=related
We know a guy who never worked a day in his life
and collects SSD for his "mental illness." He checks himself into a state hospital when it comes close to the time when he has a review coming up. This is what I heard from my son, so I don't know how true it is, but I do know that he is healthy and doesn't seem to have any mental health issues.
His one brother is on disability because he was on the drugs so much, they fried his brain and another brother had cirrhosis. He couldn't get help and died.
If her hubby worked an outside job
or paid into the system, she could collect half of his SS.
thanks, JTBB, now it worked....
I wished I could zoom in into those testimonies whciha re in teh mail to the court!
thanks, JTBB, now it worked....
I tried to zoom in into those testimonies in the mail to the court! Didn't work!
Newsletter: MADONNA SAYS SHE OFFERED DAVID'S FATHER MONEY..sm
Madonna appeared on NBC's Today show yesterday (Wednesday, November 1st) to talk about her plans to adopt 13-month-old David Banda of Malawi. She told host Meredith Viera that the boy's father, Yohane Banda, refused her financial offer to help raise his son. Madge said, When I met (Yohane), I said I would be happy to bring (David) back to your village and help you financially raise him. And he said no. She added, I think he truly felt in his heart of hearts that -- and who knows if he was telling me the truth -- that he would have a better life with me. So, when he said no, that was my sign that it was my responsibility to look after him.
Madonna also said that she was saddened by all of the criticism surrounding her decision to adopt David, adding that a week ago she was in the depths of my depression about the negativity and the state of the world. She thinks that racism has something to do with the reaction as well, saying, I think a lot of people have a problem with the fact that I've adopted an African child, a child who has a different color skin than I do...I think it's still considered taboo. You know, I have people say to me on the streets, 'Why did you adopt a black child?'
As for David, Madonna said he's doing well, describing him as very flirtatious and hysterically funny. He also has a temper.
More of Madonna's interview will air today (Thursday, November 2nd).
Meanwhile, David's father said in a recent interview, Madonna was like a bulldozer who has cleared the way for a better life for my son, according to the Associated Press.
Madonna's new children's book, The English Roses, Too Good To Be True, came out last week.
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