calif. democratic senate candidate on unions

[Azazello1313]

sure seems like he raises some pretty good points

 

an excerpt...

 

Keep in mind that Detroit's union, the United Auto Workers, is one of our best. It's democratic. It's not corrupt. Its leadership has often been visionary. Yet working within our archaic union system, it still helped bring our greatest industry to its knees. And the taxpayers were stuck with the bill for bailing it out, while UAW members didn't even take a cut of $1 an hour in their $28-an-hour basic pay. How many Californians would like $27-an-hour manufacturing jobs? Actually, there was a good auto factory in California, the NUMMI plant in Fremont. It got sucked under when GM went broke. Those 4,500 jobs are gone.

 

Yet the answer of most union leaders to the failure of 1950s unionism has been more 1950s unionism. This isn't how we're going to get prosperity back. But it's the official Democratic Party dogma. No dissent allowed.

 

Government unions are even more problematic (and as private sector unions have failed in the marketplace, government unions are increasingly dominant). If there are limits on what private unions can demand — when they win too much, as we've seen, their employers tend to disappear — there is no such limit on what government unions can demand. They just have to get the politicians to raise your taxes to pay for it, and by funding the Democratic machine they acquire just the politicians they need.

 

No wonder that in our biggest school systems, it's become virtually impossible to fight the teachers unions and fire bad teachers. The giant Los Angeles Unified school system, with 33,000 teachers, fires only about 21 a year, or fewer than 1 in 1,000, according to the findings of an L.A. Times investigation. Now either Los Angeles has the greatest teachers in the world or something is very wrong. Talk to parents and you'll know the answer.

...

As the private economy has faltered, we increasingly have a two-tier economy: If you're an insider, a unionized government employee, you're in good shape. Even if you don't do a very good job, you won't be fired. Even in hard times, Washington will spend billions in stimulus funds so that you don't get laid off. You won't even have to take much of a pay cut. And you can retire like an aristocrat at taxpayer expense. But if you're an outsider, trying to survive in a world of $10-an-hour jobs, competing with immigrant labor, paying for your own healthcare, forced to send your children to lousy public schools run by unfireable teachers and $100,000-a-year bureaucrats — well, good luck to you. But be sure to vote Democratic.

 

"The deal used to be that civil servants were paid less than private sector workers in exchange for an understanding that they had job security for life. But we politicians, pushed by our friends in labor, gradually expanded pay and benefits … while keeping the job protections and layering on incredibly generous retirement packages that pay ex-workers almost as much as current workers. Talking about this is politically unpopular and potentially even career suicide … but at some point, someone is going to have to get honest about the fact."

 

That quote is from Willie Brown, a Democratic hero, explaining why the state may go the way of Vallejo and General Motors. Easy for him to say; he's retired. But you won't catch any Democrats who are running for office saying it. They're too dependent on organized labor's money and muscle.

 

We need nonretired Democrats who tell the unions no. Or else, perhaps after more bankruptcies and bailouts, Republicans will do it for them.

Edited May 4, 2010 by Azazello1313

[westvirginia]

What was PJ O'rourke's quote? Something like: "When buying and selling are controlled by legislature the first things to be bought and sold are legislators"?

[bpwallace49]

Great article!

[Perchoutofwater]

You know it's bad when Willie Brown is throwing organized labor under the bus.

[dmarc117]

amen.

[tosberg34]

And the truth shall set you free.

[detlef]

well said

[millerx]

I'd love to hear the spin placed on this reasoning from those actively running for democratic seats in California.

[wiegie]

I'd love to hear the spin placed on this reasoning from those actively running for democratic seats in California.

 

uh...

 

America's lead weight

Unions have benefited the country, but changes in the economy have made mainstream unionism itself an impediment to growth.

 

(by) Robert "Mickey" Kaus

May 3, 2010 | 7:55 a.m.

 

...

 

Robert "Mickey" Kaus, a blogger and the author of the End of Equality, is a candidate for U.S. senator in the Democratic primary.

[Azazello1313]

uh...

 

yeah it's not like that's in the thread title or anything..

 

but still, kaus is, to put it mildly, a longshot. he's a guy with absolutely no chance running in the dem primary against barbara boxer, primarily just to ratle the trees and say stuff like the above. I couldn't even find a poll that mentions him, just polls listing boxer against various potential republican challengers. kaus' own fringe candidacy doesn't refute his point about "Democratic dogma, no dissent allowed", it bolsters it.

[bpwallace49]

yeah it's not like that's in the thread title or anything..

 

but still, kaus is, to put it mildly, a longshot. he's a guy with absolutely no chance running in the dem primary against barbara boxer, primarily just to ratle the trees and say stuff like the above. I couldn't even find a poll that mentions him, just polls listing boxer against various potential republican challengers. kaus' own fringe candidacy doesn't refute his point about "Democratic dogma, no dissent allowed", it bolsters it.

 

so it TOTALLY doesnt even count . . . .

[Azazello1313]

so it TOTALLY doesnt even count . . . .

 

I don't see your point.