If you've read bits and pieces of the blog, you may know at least parts of my story. Born in a little town in the piney woods of east Texas 62 years ago, Viet-Nam vet, non-practicing skeptical Southern Baptist, a little left, a little right and sometimes in the center with a lot of libertarian thrown in for good measure. I try to warn folks not to accept, as gospel, the propaganda from either the right or the left. I vote, pay taxes and I love my country and the American people! I'm curious by nature and I'm fortunate (or un, depending on your viewpoint) to have the time to read the news from around the world on a daily basis. I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack but I think I can tell right from wrong, perhaps from being in the wrong so many times in my sometimes ill-spent past.Some will say that I'm anti-union. I strongly deny that accusation. I'm actually pretty ambivalent toward the concept of a union but I'm strongly pro-America and American worker and it disgusts me to see the corruption and amoral self-serving actions of today's labor bosses and other politicians. I strongly believe that union members (and the general public for that matter) are doing a lousy job of policing their unions! I understand, I didn't do my due diligence for the two years I belonged to ATU Local 1001.
My disgust extends to the many industries where the crooks, hucksters and flim-flam artist have long been allowed to wreak havoc and now come crawling to the taxpayer with their hands out. Perhaps I'll live long enough to see the unions cleaned up and start in on the banking business. ROFL! At least I can hope, that if there is a God and a Hell, there is also a special place in that Hell for all the miscreants who have propelled us to this time of crisis.
Myself, nowadays, I'll continue to make the statement - the members are the union and the bosses, from Local to International, are nothing but the hired help! Without the member money, the union ceases to exist. Unions in themselves are neither good nor evil but the concept of a democratic workers organization has been bastardized to the point where unions exist only to keep unions in existence.
I've read the Bureau of Labor (BLS) statistics and I'll agree with what the unions proclaim so loudly - in a given industry, union members tend to earn more than their non-union counterparts. What the BLS warns, and the unions ignore, is that there are other socio-economic factors that must be taken into account before drawing any conclusions.
I also warn against a literal interpretation of the claim that in today's recession, the heavily unionized states have a higher unemployment rate than states that protect unions to a lessor degree. The same is true of the claims that right-to-work states have lower unemployment rates than states that allow the union protection clause (which ought to be sent straight to the darkest regions of hell where it belongs).
All the claims are true to a certain extent but do not stand alone as either an indictment or exoneration of labor unions. I believe, much like Will Rogers, a little common sense and watchfulness will lead a person to the truth much quicker than anyone's load of statistics.
Two other stories, both from Investor.com (Investor's Business Daily), caught my attention today:
In closing, I'd like to quote Mark Twain (one of my favorites):
"Figures often beguile me," he wrote, "particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
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Your best blogpost.
ReplyDeleteHave you read Atlas Shrugged?
Today's unions are not what they were intended to be.
Samuel Gompers would be rolling in his grave if he new that the movement he helped found has become an arm of the European socialist movement--the same ideological battles that he fought 100 years ago are being played out today.
Best wishes!