Okay, now I understand the Twinkie reference. I never said private sector unions were guaranteed to calculate accurately how far they could push the line; miscalculations can and do happen, as the Twinkies clearly show. All I said was that private sector unions have an incentive to moderate their demands that public sector unions don’t, which is why I don’t consider the former to be as big of a threat as the latter. The union for Twinkie laborers has now put itself out of business as well, thus eliminating itself as a political force, and for every Twinkie-type bankruptcy there are dozens of unionized companies who are surviving this recession because their unions know better.
I’ve Googled the topic using several different search requests, looked at pro-union websites, anti-union websites, and neutral websites, and I can’t find anything that says unions are legally permitted to use violence during protests.
If you’ve worked your way up to a better job than the one you started with, then I’m happy for you. Just please understand that a) not everyone who is willing to work can find a job and b) not everyone is as fortunate as you in terms of hard work leading to promotion.
“I read a lot of hostility and frustration, class warfare stuff in your post. Personally, I never go there and refuse to let myself do that to my attitude. It’s poison. It’s the dark side. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Feel free to add your own Yoda quotes.”
I don’t consider myself a socialist or a class warfare advocate, just a realist who sees the world as it is rather than how I would like it to be. I simply haven’t seen any evidence that the world works as you seem to think it does, where hard work by itself ensures success. I have seen people who have worked hard their whole lives who are still not getting ahead and I have dated a guy who has skated by on his parents’ money and connections, without having any particular work ethic of his own, yet he has more money than they will ever have. My ex, by the way, is a die-hard Democrat. Don’t ask me how he squares that with his self-interest as an affluent Jew.
I’ll admit it irks me that a pro-abortion atheist (http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=objectivism_faq#obj_q5) is considered the be-all and end-all of conservatism by some on this forum but that is a topic for another thread. If I am pessimistic about economic issues it is for 1 reason: I am in my early 20s. That is to say, I will still be here when the fecal matter really hits the ventilation device and makes our current crisis look like a walk in the park. Not to play the generational warfare card but my generation is the one that’s going to have to pick up the tab of this deficit, and that includes the tax cuts for the rich, which are not being translated into jobs for people my age, not even for those with a decent work ethic. There are 3 ways we can deal with the deficit while cutting taxes for the rich: 1) Cut spending by a considerable margin 2) Raise taxes on the non-rich or 3) Ignore the deficit and keep pretending everything’s fine. Option 1 is not going to happen anytime soon, not unless there is a complete overhaul of the leadership of both parties and all politicians channeling federal money to their pet projects are thrown out of office simultaneously. What are the odds of that happening? Option 2 would raise taxes on those whose financial resources are already stretched to the breaking point from the recession, and could very well spark a French Revolution-style uprising, maybe not now, but 10-20 years down the road. I’m pretty sure neither of us wants that for our country. Option 3, which seems to be the one favored by our esteemed GOPe leaders, would saddle the younger generation with an even larger tab than we have already. The time to cut taxes is not during a multitrillion dollar deficit.
I'm among the first to agree with your experience, but am saddened that you haven't had reason to agree with mine. I guess that's why I can also understand why people would go elsewhere to start a business.
It wasn't always like this and we weren't always like we are now. We are cleaner now and more aware of our contributions to the environment, but elsewhere we've devolved and dumbed down while making promises and creating social systems to support our decline, thus accelerating it. We've made it too over regulated, too "socialized" and fair, politicized, etc. and are growing more so.
I still think the best plan is to find an island of sanity in an insane world and get back to being really good at helping others get what they want. This has always worked well as my secret to success.
I have a lot of experience in several fields and am good at learning new skills. Now that I'm finally back on my feet and have more or less shook it off, I'd like to start something of my own, only to have a second term of the obamanation to deal with.
Oh well, what can you do? Back to battening down the hatches around here and watching the weather, hoping the winter's not too bad and we get an early spring, so to speak. I've got things to do and I know that there are a lot of others here in the country like me who are ready, willing and able to get back to it once conditions are better and the chances of success aren't so stacked against us.