Be honest. Since the industrial revolution, did you ever think you’d see the day where unions provided a truly competitive force? Well, that day is today. Of course, that “competitive force” is the drive for more government cheese, and it is a force only being inflicted on other segments of the same union, but that’s, at least, some kind of progress.
Hourly workers at Ford Motor Co. ratified sweeping cost-cutting changes in their labor contract, a development likely to increase pressure on struggling competitors General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to secure similar concessions.
Worker approval of the union concessions at Ford came as GM and Chrysler hosted President Barack Obama’s auto industry task force as part of their bids to win billions of dollars more in federal aid.
How wonderfully perverse. A sacrificial beauty contest. Who gave up the most? You? I see you’ve severed the last two fingers on your left hand. Excellent. Wait… is your entire arm gone? Outstanding! Your second born child? Wow, you people came ready to engage in joint sacrifice alright!
Maybe what we really need is two parallel systems. A free market system with normal competitive forces and a captive system where interest groups clamor over each other for government cheese. If we could just replace the currency in the second system with actual government cheese, or maybe something equally worthless like seashells or some other kind of primitive tokens (bottlecaps? red ochre? magic “the gathering” cards? massive, circular stone coins?)
UAW Says Ford Workers Ratified Concessions [The Wall Street Journal]
Well played, EP…
“Maybe what we really need is two parallel systems”
Interestingly enough, John Kenneth Galbraith has maintained that there are two economic systems already like this. The “little guys” are controlled by traditional market forces, and the “big uns” are controlled via countervailing power.
EP, can’t we just send them all to Yap? Or Bikini atoll?
YAP
50 drunk Teamsters take a bus to a 3 story whorehouse in Cleveland. The steward knocks on the front door and a scantily clad tart answers.
“I’ve got a lot of business for you, but I need to know if this is a “union” whore house?”
Hooker says, “No…we’re just a whorehouse…”
Steward turns around and shouts, “We’re outta here!! This ain’t no union house!” There is a large cheer and the Teamsters get back in the bus.
Meanwhile the rejected hooker calls the next whorehouse and tells the madam the story.
Bus shows up at the second whorehouse, the steward asks the same question and the Madam say, “Of course this is a Union house!!” 50 Temsters cheer in unison and they all walk in.
The steward says, “Since I am the steward, I’d like to be served first.” The madam says “No problem.” She returns with the oldest, skankiest woman in the house…the housekeeper.
The Madam tells the steward, “Here you go. This is a union house and she has seniority!”
OK, that’s it. I’m deleting dealbreaker from my bookmarks and going elsewhere.
EP, you are a sophomoric simpleton with a bad attitude. I’m tired of all your “jokes” that are just eye-rollingly bad. A friggin’ UofC undergrad could write more entertaining posts with better and more incisive analysis, even if she had to rely on Econ 101/Ayn Rand, “markets will solve all our problems” dogma as much as you do.
I miss Carney. I’ve been reading this blog since back in the day and it’s just horrible these days. The comments have gone to shit and the writing has become an embarassment.
Bess, I love ya but I’m done. The blog is over.
sayonara, beetches!
@6- is there something wrong with your keyboard that it prevents you from typing http://www.clusterstock.com? besides the dick in your mouth?
@6- don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
@6- why don’t you just do it? oh, right, because you’re a whiny little bitch who has to tell everyone he’s leaving instead of just leaving (which I suspect won’t even happen either).
mexican labor, the only labor.
love, tx
Think I hit a nerve.
I say we let @6 go. There is a shortage of jizz moppers at peep shows all around the country. It’s the free market at work.
@6 Something tells me that when it comes to blog viewership, EP is also of the free market paradigm. If you don’t like it, look elsewhere, see which blog wins. Perhaps there’s a blog that covers the Cuban economy?
6 who?
magic “the gathering” cards?
pfff, sure. But, like, they better be at least Unlimited Time Walks…
Props to @14 !! Well played!
@6 – Something tells me Timmy didn’t get any last night. Go home, get biblical with the missus, and come back when you feel refreshed and can be pleasant to the other children.
@13 – There are two:
my-cuban-cigars.com
jaimethecubanchromeguy.com
I don’t understand what “provided a competitive force” means in this context because … well, the usual meaning of competitive force makes no sense here. And I sure as nobonus do not want to endorse the UAW. But fuck, if EP feels she’d be better off without the union-forced benefits that have accrued to both union and non-union employees in the last 200 years, she’s either descended from the very rich or is herself surprisingly lacking in organized labor history.
“But fuck, if EP feels she’d be better off without the union-forced benefits that have accrued to both union and non-union employees in the last 200 years, she’s either descended from the very rich or is herself surprisingly lacking in organized labor history.”
False dilemma.
I’m quite pleased with where unions pushed labor practices. I’m less pleased with the parasites they have become. Your own mastery of labor relations must be quite limited if you think the unions of even 30 years ago even remotely resemble their descendants.
I get a kick out of this. Unions are finally realizing that, “Oh crap, if we don’t make concessions we’ll be out of a job!”. They’ve never felt pressure to work with the Big Three until now.
EP — 18 here
The combination of your original post and your comment here seem to be saying that the industrial revolution ended 30 years ago. Obviously that’s not the case, and obviously you didn’t intend to say that. Clarification?
And I’ll quit the snark if you will. (OK, I started it. And in fact, I’m off to sleep, so you can rampage all over my comments without even a hint of a reply for at least 6 hours. But I’d much rather just read a clarification.)
Tyranny comes from the left
Card check no secret ballot.
Never thought I’d live to see the day that an American President would support a bill that eliminates the right to a secret ballot. God save us from Obama.
Government cheese is not worthless. It slices and melts well and a 2-pound package provides 16 servings of 2 ounces each. It can be served “as is” in sandwiches, with fruit, in cooked dishes such as sauces, casseroles, or breads, and as a garnish for salads.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/facts/hhpfacts/FS-CheeseProcessed.pdf
“The combination of your original post and your comment here seem to be saying that the industrial revolution ended 30 years ago. Obviously that’s not the case, and obviously you didn’t intend to say that. Clarification?”
No, what I was saying is that unions were helpful, nay, critical during and immediately after the industrial revolution. Then I pointed out that today’s unions don’t even vaguely look like unions from 30 years ago, much less those from e.g., the 1800s. Trying to attribute to me, therefore, some statement on the benefits of the “last 200 years” both ignores these distinctions and betrays a poor understanding of history.
Being anti-union today is a far cry from wanting working conditions to return to those prevalent in the 1800s. (This is the false dilemma fallacy). You seem clever enough to realize this, so I have to conclude that you were just stirring up fecal matter with lazy argument, and that now, as you have absconded, everyone else has to clean up after you.
“Government cheese is not worthless. It slices and melts well and a 2-pound package provides 16 servings of 2 ounces each. It can be served “as is” in sandwiches, with fruit, in cooked dishes such as sauces, casseroles, or breads, and as a garnish for salads.”
I stand corrected. I’m long government cheese now.
I’m going long macaroni and short Kraft
I am long government fried chicken, short boston market.