If “right to work” laws made states more economically competitive, Mississippi would be a paradise. The long-time “right to work” states, mostly in the South, have lower wages, higher rates of poverty, higher rates of unemployment, worse schools, worse opportunities for most folks. These are facts. All “right to work” does is give the plutocrats freedom to exploit their employees.
And the poor sap baggers today are chirping about “right to work” equaling freedom. I can hear Orwell smirking — toldja.
This snip from last night’s Hardball is worth watching —
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Tweety was hard on both the union guy and the Americans for Prosperity guy. But it was fun to watch the Tweetster repeatedly ask the AFP guy who pays your salary, and the AFP guy repeatedly saying Americans for Prosperity, not the Koch brothers.
From Sourcewatch:
Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a group fronting special interests started by oil billionaire David Koch and Richard Fink (a member of the board of directors of Koch Industries). AFP has been accused of funding astroturf operations but also has been fueling the “Tea Party” efforts. AFP’s messages are in sync with those of other groups funded by the Koch Family Foundations and the Koch’s other special interest groups that work against progressive or Democratic initiatives and protections for workers and the environment. Accordingly, AFP opposes labor unions, health care reform, stimulus spending, and cap-and-trade legislation, which is aimed at making industries pay for the air pollution that they create.
So, yeah, the Koch brother’s are paying the tool’s salary.
Ah yes, ‘bagger FREEDOM!
-The freedom of having low wages.
-The freedom to scrimp and scrimp until the next payday. And then the freedom to start that cycle all over again the day after payday, awaiting the next paycheck.
-The freedom to send your kids to sh*tty schools, to be taught by underpaid sh*tty teachers, while school district administrators, and education privatizers, live well-off, if not high-off-the-hog, lives.
-The freedom to put sh*tty, low cost, high-fat, high-carb, foods on the table.
-The freedom to have sh*tty benefits.
-The freedom to have no pension.
-The freedom to be laid-off or fired at any time, for any reason, and expect no money as severance – while bosses who drive businesses off a cliff get “Golden Parachutes!”
-And the freedom to die younger, sicker, and poorer than you otherwise would have, had you only been a generation or two younger, here, in America.
The people who worked from just after WWII until the Reagan years, those 30-40 some-odd years, were the ones who got to live “The American Dream.”
All we’re left with, is a growing nightmare.
To love the smell of ‘bagger freedom, is to love the smell of serfdom.
And just wait until, after this dose of “Freedom,” they start to pitch serfdom and indentured servitude as “LIBERTY!”
Coming soon to a TV station near you:
“Liberty and Freedom” for all!!!
Your company will have the ‘Liberty’ to lay you off or fire you at any time for any reason, and you and your family have the ‘Freedom’ to starve to death.
Ok am I the only one who is sick as hell of these guys?They are like dr.evil and mini me.
When you look at the people “behind the curtain” with the GOP it is terrifying.Your karl roves, your roger ailes, your sheldon adelsons,your norquists,your kochs,ect..WOW.It really gives one a creepy “shadow government” kinda feeling.
They couldn’t get elected dog catcher anywhere on earth themselves because they are so frightening, nor would they want to soil their hands having to deal with the lesser people(who are not really people but robots that will make themselves richer)..and why would they? They can just get puppets who seem less frightening and therefore more electable and then pull the strings. Stupid guys like my own Gov. braindead get to “feel” like they are in power and like they are someone but they are like a substitute teacher and all they do is implement the teachers lesson plan.
And we all saw what happened when one of “them” tried to get elected to office (see mittwitt romney’s campaign)..They know they need that face, that spokesperson and DC is full of em, as the cash Government pay checks and “claim” to work for “the people”
Someone said , during a conversation I was part of in recent days, “You gotta spend money to make money” and while the context of the conversation was not politics it got me to thinking about all the money guys like the kochs, adelson and even romney spent trying to get into the white house. They didn’t do it for power..they were spending money to make tons and tons and tons more.They expected to get huge financial returns. They wanted to come in like bank robbers and clean us out.Gotta spend money to make money.
Well the big bank is closed(for now, until they find a person who can trick the stupid people the way little bushie jr did)..so they are hitting the little banks, state by state.How do we stop that kinda terrorism?
What’s the alternative of a “right to work” state anyway? A “right to get paid” state?
off topic, but I must mention: The greatest Sitar player of all time, legend Ravi Shankar passed on Tue..his daughter carries on his talent. He was a wonderful, peaceful man who loved to teach and had a smile that started deep inside his soul.His music connected him with people all over the world and I believe even the Beatles found their way to him back in the day for a few music lessons.
He will be missed by music lovers everywhere and my hope is that his music will live on forever.
OT.
Today’s edition of, “What Taibbi said:”
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/jim-demint-the-fireman-ed-of-politics-20121207
justme, I was flabbergasted this morning to learn that Ravi Shankar has another musical daughter… Norah Jones! I had no idea she was his offspring. (Perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention.) Although, NPR called them “estranged.”
I like to think George Harrison will be waiting to greet Ravi “wherever.”
*Right to Work* makes paying for a service optional – even though you receive the benefits of collective bargaining, pension, medical, etc. The union is required by federal law to provide many benefits of union representation whether the worker pays union dues or not.
So if that’s legal, can we make other products or services – payment optional. We can do away withe the food stamps program in its entirety. payment at a grocery store is optional.
Energy? The cost of heating your home is *payment optional*. Heck – I need home owners insurance in Florida – with hurricanes, but why not make insurance *payment optional*. (To make it fair, anyone who submits a claim has to pay for the insurance in the month the claim is submitted.)
The Koch Brothers may be on to something.
Way OT – It occurred to me today – now that we are finally making progress on decriminalizing recreational pot – Twinkies are going off the market.
What happens when you get the munchies? This has ‘tragedy’ written all over it.
Doug – “Little Debbie” is still around… if you like eating candle wax.
Joan,
More like ear wax, mixed with corn syrup.
I was, back when I didn’t inhale also too, a huge fan of Freihofers chocolate cookies – which even that Amos who’s famous cookies couldn’t come close to.
But, maybe they’re a NE regional thing.
I found that good old peanut butter goes well on… well, just about ANYTHING!
Any sort of chips will also do in a pinch, if you’re not having sugar cravings.
Hmm… I never tried peanut butter on Wise potato chips.
Maybe when NY legalized pot…
Trader Joe’s sells these chocolate-covered potato chips that are nasty and yet totally addictive, which I would think makes them the ultimate munchies snack.
This will have to be figured out before all 50 states legalize!
(P.S. Jimmy Carter has come out for legalization! Boy does that explain the bunny-rabbit attack of the 1970s. Also a UFO sighting, I believe.)
First no twinkies and now no new Ravi to listen to while using legal pot…the young adullts today have it harder then we did…LOL.The good news is I bet by now they have bred weed to not give you munchies or cottonmouth..imagine that!
IF for no other reason I wish that there was heaven,, the concerts would rule and the weed would be “to die for”
On Morning Joe yesterday, professional douchebag Joe Scarborough asked, “why should someone be forced to pay union dues if they want to work in a union shop”? Not one of the so-called liberals on the show thought to respond, “Well then, why should an immigrant be required to pay taxes if they choose to work in America?”
Question – in Right-to-Work states do workers who do not join a union still have the right to stand with union members in collective-bargaining situations? It’s important because that is a basic fear of employers – whole factory floors appearing at the boss’s door to collectively bargain for rights they feel they deserve.
While I’m into questions, is the 250 grand and above determined on income or taxable income. There’s a giant difference since a guy can enjoy an income of 5 mill/year but his taxable income can be well below 250 grand.
(I’ve tried looking this stuff up but have been met with blank walls.)
Felicity — it’s my understanding that unions pretty much don’t exist in right-to-work states, because employees who try to form one are fired. If anyone knows of any exceptions, speak up.
I lived in Florida for many years. It’s a “right to work” state. I had friends in the I.B.E.W. and AFSCME. My best friend was a shop steward for many years and eventually president of his local. It was a fairly common occurrence for non-union members, often people who were anti-union, self styled “rugged individualists” would come running to him when the got canned or had some other serious issue arise. Suddenly they saw the light.
OT… blame the Twinkies, they make me hyper.
Susan Rice has withdrawn her nomination for State? (Please please please don’t take John Kerry out of the Senate, Mr. President!)
And my non-malignant Republican homie Chuck Hagel for Defense? (I actually like him, when it comes to military stuff. He stood up to Dubya and it cost him his political career.)
OT.
The wrong Rice lost her chance to be the SoS!
Susan Rice has pulled her name to be considered for the position.
Well, the Republicans got their pound of flesh.
Wrongly, viciously, and misogynistically.
Congrat, boyz and ghouls!!!
Sadly, now, they want for a couple of limbs – if not all of them.
America’s oldest, bitterest, worst feckin’ pilot of his era, and one of the lowest non-legacy graduates in Naval Academy in history, has won.
He doesn’t have to debate his female better in confirmation hearings.
A moronic male “Twit,” doesn’t want to be shown-up by some superior female “Tw*t!
And Limpseed Graham-crackers can rest easy, he beat a better ‘man’ than him.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!
This was supposed to be pay back for John Bolton.
Iowa is a right to work state. John Deere and firestone as well as some other smaller tire companies in town Local 310 Steel workers(USW) . We also have UAW and AFSCME(they are located on my street).
The freedom to send your kids to sh*tty schools, to be taught by underpaid sh*tty teachers…
…that Jesus rode a brontosaurus into Jerusalem, because the Earth is only 10,000 years old.
It would be interesting to see the South secede, if only to see what kind of backward third-world hellhole it would become with right-wing authoritarian fundamentalism unleashed, and without the prop of federal subsidies.
http://healthyliving.msn.com/health-wellness/men/sex/america%e2%80%99s-most-std-infested-states-2
There seems to be a correlation with other issues concerning right to work states. Probably due to poverty and lower education levels, but the STD maps looks eerily similar to baggerland. Could it be the strong family values that reign supreme in baggerstan?
To follow up on Goatherd’s comment, when I moved back to Florida from California in the early 90’s, I sought work through the Carpenters union here in Orlando. I had just returned from a union diving job is Seattle (through my California local. Divers are part of the Piledrivers Union on the West coast, and The Piledrivers are part of the Carpenters).
Sadly, the Carpenters union here wasn’t worth a crap. I was dispatched to a cruise ship terminal construction job at Port Canaveral. I showed up with all the equipment needed to perform underwater burning and welding and to do whatever else was required.
The kid I replaced on the job was a laborer who the company had sent to a basic scuba course. He was diving on scuba, wearing an ill fitting wet suit. The water temp was around 50 degrees, and the kid was freezing his ass off, and doing REALLY stupid things that almost got him killed. I think they were paying him a buck or two more per hour to go underwater. There was no safety diver or any back up in case something went wrong, and the job superintendent was an ignorant old red neck who couldn’t care less.
I was making $60.00 per hr on the Seattle job, the Port Canaveral job was paying $25.00. At the end of the job, I was informed by the Superintendent that they didn’t pay into my union fund, so I lost 6 months worth of benefits. The union business rep showed up on the job at least once a week, so I’m sure he was aware of the situation. The union was hoping to get more work with the contractor, so they didn’t “make waves”; that’s the problem with “right to work”. Needless to say, at the end of the Job, the contractor hauled ass, and there was no more work to be had by the union anyway.
I also worked a union carpenter job at Disney world for a while, the pay was pretty low and they worked the crew like rented mules. I have a friend who works for the Mouse through a union doing food and beverage work, he has not always gotten his 40 hrs over the past several years, but he seems to be making ends meet.
Bottom line; right to work is death to unions.
“Tweety was hard on both the union guy and the Americans for Prosperity guy”
Tweety is a fucking idiot, he fell hard for the phony edited FAUX news stooge getting punched in the face. How many times will they fall for the phony crab that comes from FAUX? I can hardly stand to watch his show, the more I tune in it becomes apparent how little he knows about American politics, it really amazing, the man has had a television show about American politics for decades and still understands almost nothing. Why is he even on the air? It’s time for msnbc to clean house, they need to fire the entire prime time lineup with exception of Maddow and Lawrence. The rest: Tweety, REV-A-hole and Ed need to go.