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To: PGR88

Really? Seriously? Do you understand the brutality of what was happening? It was slavery of workers in many places, all perfectly legal because the business owners had politicians and judges in their pockets.

The union movement brought about laws preventing predatory work laws that allowed a company to own an employee. It brought about anti-monopoly laws so that competition and freedom to start a business was allowed.

So yes, without unions, and the union movement of the early 20th century, there would not be the level playing field we have today.

That doesn’t excuse what unions have become, but the fact they are detrimental to economic freedom today doesn’t excuse the horrible political situations that forced them to evolve in the first place.


68 posted on 08/06/2010 9:38:31 AM PDT by Anitius Severinus Boethius
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius

The “brutality” you speak of and “slavery” (except for, of course, African Americans in the pre-industrial south) is from a greatly over-simplified view of what society was like in the 19th century (at least in the USA). This view is heavily influenced by Union propoganda.

Life was poor, short, and difficult, for sure. Unions didn’t improve it. Only technological advancement and economic growth allowed this to change. Unions played (and still play) NO PART in technological advancement, or increased economic productivity. In fact, unions are probably a net negative to overall increased productivity


83 posted on 08/06/2010 9:57:29 AM PDT by PGR88
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