Union Boss: Businesses Want to ‘Scrape Every Ounce of Flesh From our Hides’
- Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:31pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka is slated to give a fiery speech today in Ohio that accuses companies of “economic treason” and calls out Republican lawmakers who he believes have contributed to workers’ problems.
According to the Daily Caller’s Jon Ward, “Trumka’s charge is centered on his anger at private sector business and corporations for sitting on capital — as much as $2 trillion by some estimates — instead of spending it to expand and create jobs, and at insurers for proposing rate hikes.”
Ward obtained Trumka’s prepared remarks, in which he lashes out at business: “All they want to do is scrape every ounce of flesh from our hides — for their profit.”
“That’s why I say to the hand-wringers, to the naysayers, to the detractors, to the Party of No: If you don’t believe in America, get out of the way!” Trumka is slated to say.
Lashing out at “the part of no” has been a popular theme for Trumka this summer. In June, he spoke to the International Trade Union Confederation where “Delegates also strongly rejected corporate and government voices calling for austerity programs that cut jobs, wages, and social programs for workers in the name of ‘balanced budgets.’”
A full text of Trumka’s speech is below, thanks to the Daily Caller:
Remarks by AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka
27th Ohio AFL-CIO Convention
Columbus, Ohio
September 14, 2010Hello, Ohio! It’s good to be back in the heartland with my brothers and sisters. Thank you, Joe [Rugola], for that introduction and for having me at this great gathering.
Most of you probably know that Joe and I go way back. He comes from my neck of the Pennsylvania woods, just one county over from my hometown. He’s a good man. He works hard. And he and Petee [Talley] know how to squeeze everything out of a dollar.
I know you’ll give them the support they need to keep the Ohio AFL-CIO strong for the future. And I know you’re ready to get to work now, too, because for the next 49 days we’d all better be ready to pitch-in, knock-down, and drag-out!
Our Ohio opponents are over-confident. They’re celebrating already. But if they want the election prize, they’ve got to come through us. Because the door to America’s future swings right here! Right through Ohio! They want to pass that threshold! But we’re standing in the way! Shoulder-to-shoulder!
Are you going to let them come back in our house? I didn’t think so!
This is where we live! Let’s stand together! Let’s fight together! And we’ll turn them back together!
Brothers and sisters, our vision for America is on the line. It’s a vision of a better, stronger future, a renewal of the American Dream — the dream that all of us can earn a fair portion of the good things in life, time with our families, an education for our children, a voice on the job, a comfortable retirement — even if we’re not rich.
It’s a vision of a society that honors work, respects every individual, and sows solidarity – not division.
Our best days are ahead of us! That’s what the American labor movement is all about.
But politicians on the other side—they don’t agree. They say what we seek is too much to ask. They say even with all our hard work and wealth, the richest nation on Earth can’t afford good wages anymore. That we can’t expect secure jobs or a good life for our children, or a decent retirement. That those days are behind us.
They say we can’t compete in the global economy. That we can’t aspire for better. That we’ve just got to take what’s given us, and like it.
Some of our politicians, and some of America’s biggest corporations have given up on America. Companies are sitting on $837 billion without creating jobs. Banks are clutching a trillion dollars in profits without lending to small businesses and consumers. Too many companies aren’t investing in the future, or in the country that made them great. All they want to do is scrape every ounce of flesh from our hides — for their profit.
Well I say that is economic treason!
The big health insurance companies – the same ones that racked up tens of billions in profits last year and paid their CEOs megabucks – they say they need premium increases of
20 percent or more for no reason at all – except guess what? Greed.That’s economic treason!
Listen to this: After a banner year — $555 million in profits, and millions in bonuses — the corporate bosses of Mott’s – a 168-year-old company that’s as American as applesauce – are demanding cuts in their workers’ pay and benefits, because, they say – quote – workers are nothing more than “commodities” like “soybeans or oil.” Hey, they say, in a recession, wages go down.
It’s pure profiteering. Economic treachery!
This recession isn’t a natural disaster like a storm over Kansas! It’s man-made! And one of the men who made it is running for governor of Ohio! John Kasich is the poster child for those paper-pushing, job-killing Wall Streeters who tanked our economy and stole our pensions! Kasich is the problem!
John Kasich pressured Ohio pension officials to gamble on his unstable financial company, Lehman Brothers. Lehman went down. Ohio’s pension funds lost $480 million. And Kasich walked away with $1.1 million.
And Kasich is not alone. Senate candidate Rob Portman helped the Bush administration off-shore 100,000 Ohio jobs, while supporting tax breaks for companies that shipped jobs overseas.
How do you like that?
It gets worse: Tom Ganley in Akron – running against our own Rep. Betty Sutton – promises to – and I quote – “cut the Dickens” out of government programs.
That’s the same Tom Ganley whose Mercedes dealership made millions off the Cash for Clunkers program, but when it comes to the rest of us – he’s all “You’re on your own.”
Kasich, Portman and Ganley, equal one ugly future for America! It’s a bleak vision of a weak nation in decline.
That’s their true promise for America, hidden behind a wall of false populism and
name-calling.We need economic patriots like Governor Ted Strickland, like U.S. Senate candidate and Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, and like Betty Sutton! Mary Jo Kilroy, Marcy Kaptur and the rest! And you’ve got real champions to fight for in the Ohio House and Senate.
We’re on the right path. Without the Obama recovery plan, we’d be in a full-blown depression. It’s small consolation to people sitting at home, or on the bench – but let’s remember the facts.
Obama reversed the Bush ban on PLAs, stood in the way of federal contractors who used government funds to block union organizing, passed a foundation for health insurance reform, and muscled Wall Street reform through a reluctant Congress. Our Secretary of Labor is hell-bent on stopping the misclassification of employees by cut-rate contractors, and we’ve seen job growth in the private sector for 8 straight months now – it’s not enough, but it’s a start.
A year ago, our president started safeguarding our tire industry from cheap Chinese imports, and it’s working. In one short year, domestic tire production increased almost 15 percent! That’s jobs! Right here in Ohio!
And tariffs have slammed shut the door on artificially cheapened foreign steel. We’ve seen workers called back to steel pipe mills, with more jobs on the way.
We’re on the right path—and we have to stick to the right path. Because good jobs are like a big snowball — when we get that ball rolling and the economy growing, we’ll see more good jobs. We’ll see blast furnaces coming back on line, manufacturing coming back to life with thousands of new jobs!
And with those good jobs, tax receipts will go up, cities, counties and states will have real budgets again!
This is no time to turn back to the corporate agenda that nearly created economic Armageddon— we’ve got to keep moving forward to rebuild our middle class, rebuild retirement security, and build a strong America for our children.
Brothers and sisters, there’s a way out of this mess, but it’s forward, not backward!
That’s why I say to the hand-wringers, to the naysayers, to the detractors, to the Party of No: If you don’t believe in America, get out of the way!
This election in Ohio isn’t just about 2010. It’s about who holds power – working people, or Wall Street and the big corporate interests — over the next decade, and beyond.
It’s 49 days until Election Day. It won’t be easy. But we understand hard work. We fight against the odds – and we win! That’s what we do. We’re union.
We know the anti-worker politicians and the corporations and the ideologues don’t want the union vote. They want us to stay home, frustrated and angry at Washington.
For two years that’s been the game plan from the Party of No – Stop all progress, stomp on hope, keep us down. But we’re still here.
We know what Rep. John Boehner will do if he gets the Speaker’s gavel – because he’s told us! He’ll privatize and cut Social Security, protect the corporations that send our jobs overseas, slash taxes for the super-rich. There will be no more extensions of unemployment benefits. No jobs legislation. No infrastructure spending. No Davis Bacon. No retirement security. No health care.
But Boehner won’t be Speaker of the House. Not on our watch! Because it’s going to come down to us and we’re going to make the difference — district by district, a few thousand votes, a few hundred votes. Those will be the margins — the difference we make.
Listen closely, it is solely within our control to re-elect Gov. Strickland. Period. We have the votes.
It won’t be the bankers who put America back together. It won’t be the Tea Partiers. It won’t be the Party of No.
It’ll be you. It’s going to be your vote. Your members. Your worksite leafleting. Your neighborhood walks. Your commitment to Labor 2010. Your programs.
It’ll be us. Are you ready to light a fire with your members? Are you ready to finish the job we started? Are you ready to fight for economic patriots and against the outsourcers and the corporate traitors?
Roll up your sleeves!
If you want it, you’ve got to work for it.If you want it Made in America, you’ve got to work for it.
If you believe that America must invest in transportation and technology, education and the environment, work for it.
If you believe that Wall Street got us into this mess and now must pay its fair share of the costs to get us out, work for it.
Work for it. Stand for it. Stand together. March together. Fight together. Win together. And don’t let anyone—anyone—stand in our way.
Thank you…. God bless you…. and God bless America!
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Comments (120)
Sunnyr
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 4:59pmWrong, Trumka, it is not Business who wants to scrape off your stinkin’ hide, it’s ordinary American taxpayers who have had to foot the bill for YOUR EXCESSES! WE THE PEOPLE have had to bail out your over-inflated lard ass too many times and we are SICK of it. We are going to see that UNIONS are obliterated from this country, starting in November and continuing until every last one of you PARASITES are gone! Education will be returned to the States WITHOUT Unions! Better pack up and move to Venezuela, you might have better luck there. Maggot!!
Report Post »Dakota
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 4:38pmThis guy fits right in with Obama’s agenda. Look at his background…identical; Lawyer and basically another community organizer designed to agitate. That is all these people are. Pure and simple.
Report Post »Compete or Lose
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 4:24pmWhen I graduated from college with BMA and CPA my brother was a member of United Steelworkers working at Armco Steel in Kansas City and he made more than I did. He suggested that Price Waterhouse CPAs unionize so we could make more. A few years later the steel plant closed because the cost of their steel was more than the cost of non-union steel producers. My brother moved from Kansas City to Baltimore where there was another Armco Steel plant that his union seniority would apply. His trust in the union was so strong that for years he waited to be called back but it never happened. He beleived that the union was somehow going to work a miracle and he lost everything he had waiting for the union. In the later years of his life he worked and still does at age 62 as a handyman for an apartment complex. The lesson is very simple–the markets are maturing and becoming global. If we dont compete every where all the time someone else will and they will eat our lunch.
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 4:08pmIt sounds like hate speech and promoting violence to me. What a thug. The hogs are at the trough and constantly squealing for more. Oink oink oink. (he does sort of does look like a hog doesn’t he?)
Report Post »PA PATRIOT
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 4:27pm“Work for it. Stand for it. Stand together. March together. Fight together. Win together. And don’t let anyone—anyone—stand in our way.”
This final quote from his speech reflects a sentiment that he and the unions are ready to draw the line in the sand. Game ON!
Report Post »Patriot9094
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 4:01pmLet them keep talking…it’s sad that they think Americans are that stupid..sadder yet is the crowd that follows these idots blindly.
Report Post »TheWidowsSon
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 4:01pmThe playbook is familiar….I believe it orginated during the FDR administration. Wages did go up…but…unemployment went up with it. These are not new ideas like Obama would have us believe. It is the same old class warfare that FDR practiced. He gave us 15 years of 20 percent unemployment. We are at 10 now and Obama has just begun. He loves the Unions because he knows that Unions solidify his cause…..His cause is power….He could care less about the members…They fell for this rhetoric then…..my guess is they will fall for it again……..
Report Post »Citizen
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:51pmPull all the business out, that’s what I will do. All the working successful people should leave and let these people have their little socialist slumpit.
Report Post »COjohngalt
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 4:37pmWHO IS JOHN GALT?
It is already happening, the producers will not continue to produce if they have to carry the weight of the deadbeats on their back. Keep it up you socialist utopia dreamers and the productive members of society will all be moving to TX, hope they will take us.
Report Post »angelcat
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:48pmWhat he meant to say was that unions want to scrape every ounce of flesh from the companies they work for until they are making no profits and have to close. Then they will scream that they are closing.
Report Post »butterfly53
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:39pmHey Trumpka, you’re upset with big corporations, well, talk to your buddy obama. He’s in bed with them. Unions have outlived their usefulness as there are an over abundance of laws to protect workers. Unions are there to collect “dues” from the workers they are supposed to be protecting and then turn it over to the DNC or to their favorite democrat candidate. You aren’t fooling anyone Trumpka.
Report Post »t00nces2
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:38pmOddly, he seems to support the party that gave away the taxpayers money to the bankers.
Report Post »MarkBoabaca
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:27pmI hate to sound snarky, but Trumka looks like he could spare a couple hundred pounds of flesh from his hide. Must be all that lean living.
Report Post »BehindBlueEyes
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:27pmDoesn‘t Trumka know we’re celebrating the summer of recovery? Just ask Joe Biden.
Report Post »AChristian
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:22pm“Dick Nixon, Before He Dicks You” That was a popular bumper sticker back in the 70′s.
“Dick Trumka, He Is Dicking You” should be the Next Bumper Sticker.
I am under the impression that Trumka was appointed by a board, not voted into power by union members. Is that true? Anyone know? Tricky Dick reminds me of Mongol ( played by Detroit Lions player, Alex Karas) from Blazing Saddles. But he squeels like a pig. Like the guy in Deliverance.
Horrible visual image. Eeww!
Report Post »Onward2Victory
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:09pmFunny Trumka would throw around the treason word after we now have this video of him:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/key-obama-ally-works-with-socialists-for-global-tax/
I say we go after him for sedition as soon as we get a real Attorney General appointed. That lard a—d loser belongs in an orange jumpsuit.
Report Post »NoMarxist
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:04pmUnions are all about taking.. Once they bankrupt business, they elect community organizers to bilk the public. Unions leaders are as corrupt as the Obama administration they help elect. They should all be arrested and tried for crimes against America. No, nevermind.. Forget the trial.. Just give them a plane ride half way to Hawaii.. Make sure they jump into shark infested waters.. See. I feel better already!!
Report Post »DanB
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 6:26pmAnd be merciful? I would sometimes wish they would actually live in the very sort of economy/government they seem to adore. Something like the old Soviet Union from The Cold War. But that would be a harsh punishment!!! And if you ask me, sometimes I think we Americans deserve to live under communism/fascism/whatever-ism that is currently our fancy. The only problem is that although Americans seem to love all these -isms with government as the be-all, do-all for their problems, that sort of place is the LAST place I would want to live. I think it is called h-e-double hockey sticks….
Report Post »SGTTAZ67
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:03pmWhat amazes me is that Unions are supporting this push towards socilaism. If I remeber correctly it was a Union in Poland that lead to the breakup of socialism there. I believe it was called Solidarity.
Report Post »There can be no other source of authority than the government in a Socialist society. The union bosses must have gurantees for positions already.
wingedwolf
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:22pmMy dear, we have a union thug in our white house already. No offense, in case you didn’t know, that’s what a “community organizer” is in places like chicago. The tactics of after-hours meetings and sliding people into positions of power without subjecting them to membership votes…all union thuggery tactics. The list of things this prez has done that smack out loud of union thuggery is too long to make here. The unions killed the entire steel industry in Pittsburgh. I lived through it and watched it happen. LOL
Report Post »Freelancer
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:48pmThe unions DESTROYED the steel industry, the tire industry and quite a bit of the automotive industry in Ohio. Now they are about to break the back of the public employee pension systems. Two of the three major state pension systems are in SERIOUS trouble.
Report Post »Freelancer
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:58pmLMAO!!! I live in Ohio, was a union member and Ohio has been nailed to the floor by both the democrat in the State House as well as the unions. The unions are the ones who have bankrupted their retirement accounts by demanding unreasonable retirement packages and hefty benefits packages that most can only dream of. Keep on spewing TrumpKissAss…. You are only trying to fight to hold on to your job. The unions have lost so many employees over the last few years that they have little to no influence any more. They are BORROWING to pay for the political ads on the backs on the union members.
Report Post »poppopschell
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:57pmI am a retired business professor having spent 30 years. During that time, I never feared expressing publicly my views on small govt and the Constitution. So don‘t flame what I’m about to say. Disgaree fine.
I have always said that IF a company treateds its employees fairly in terms of pay and working conditions and didn’t look down on them but sought their idea, THERE WOULD BE NO NEED FOR A LABOR UNION. THEREFORE, I TOOK IT AS A SIGTN OF POOR MANAGEMENT WHENEVER A LABOR UNION WON REPRESENTATION.
INSTEAD OF THE KNEE JERT REACTION AGAINST ALL LABOR UNIONS, FIRST FIND OUT IF THEIR GRIEVANCES HAVE SUBSTANCE. IN MOST CASES, YOU WILL FIND THEY DO.
Report Post »smugsmiley
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:17pmNope, Labor Union = evil. It’s such a simple equation. Sorry for wasting 30 years of your life dude.
Report Post »Corinthian in TN
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:24pmAS a Conservative Union Member, I HAVE to agree with your assessment. I firmly believe their should be a UNION between an Employer and it’s Employees. A properly run Company forms this Union with out a “Third Party Activist in the way” I agree that in situations where Employees are being mis-treated or abused that their should be intervention.
I would have to say, lest I be corrected, that the Majority of Conservatives feel as I do, that NO union should become larger than the one’s they purport to represent or work with. In My case, our Union has enveloped so many other organizations that they no longer listen to what we want them to do on our behalf, they simply ignore us, and tell us it’s the best they can do. Unions themselves have become the Corrupt Corporations they purport to defend us against….. unlike the Companies we work for, the Unions keep growing…… unbalancing the equation.
Report Post »Banter
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:27pmPoppopschell-I have worked in the automotive safety industry for 24 years. We had a run on our company many years ago by the local chemical workers union. The run was unsuccessful. As a company, all we could do was provide factual information on what a union is, what it will try and do for the employee, and they are offering versus what they already get in benefits. The employees shot the union down. They understood that union dues were what they were after, and that they could offer them nothing better. There is NO reason to have mediation between management and workers if the company treats employees right, and understands that they are the only ones adding value. Unions destroy a company and its workers, like welfare destroys families.
Report Post »Randjet
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:58pmSome professor.
Report Post »DanB
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 6:09pmThe fun part with this is:
Sometimes the reason the company gets away with treating employees like manure is that they have no fear of losing employees.
Wait?! What did I just say? They have no fear of losing employees. In other words, they know you’ll stick and suck it up. So why would you do that?
One, they might be paying you what you are really worth. For example, they have a competitor but you cannot work there because you do not have the work ethics/skills to get that job. Or they know their competitor doesn’t want their employees. Or perhaps you signed some non-disclosure agreement so you cannot use what you know here to go work for the next company…. I hate to break it to people but we often are where we are because that is where we want to be–even if that means we are broke. We don’t like being told that. When I first heard that, I had already reached a similar thought that I was where I was because that is where I wanted to be–and I was poor/broke. I knew I had to change my ways if I wanted different. When I heard that saying, it was from someone who claimed they first heard before they wanted to hear it. In their case, they had to mull it over for a period before they realized that the speaker they heard it from what was right. Now the person I heard this from applied the second part of the principle which is something along the lines that if you don’t want to be where you are then YOU have to change….
Two, perhaps there is no competition for you to work for. Unless the competition is real local, a business can be assured that if you own a home, have a family, then you aren’t moving easily. If you job skills relate only to their industry, then so much the better. All they need to do is just enough to keep you from thinking that moving cross country to a competitor is worth your time and effort. In fact, if their only competitor is half way across the world, even better. This is where businesses partners with GOVERNMENT. Government passes a regulation that only that business can meet the requirement. This cuts out their competition and assures them that their employees will find it harder to get better jobs too…. In fact, the harder it gets for small businesses, the more perks politicians get from the big businesses because it is small businesses that someday can become big business and threaten the existing giants. Big businesses have reason to fear small business, but they also have an advantage. Big business has the money to pay lobbyists and shower upon politicians to get the regulations that they can easily comply with but the little guy cannot.
So to those who seem to think the corporations are evil, here’s a thought or two for you. If you really want a different system.
1. Instead we all run small businesses. You are contractor for your company. You have to compete with your fellow employees for work. Lowest bidder might win. Or best workmanship. Either way, you are responsible for your own benefits–medical, dental, & the works. You are also responsible for your own taxes–all of them!!! Including your unemployment….
2. Instead of corporations, you all work for the government. Everyone seems to look for government to fix all their problems, but the ultimate end of this road is the government really does do everything for you. History has a great example of this. It was called serfdom. You had the peasants who owned nothing and the royalty who owned everything. The royalty were the politicians of their day–the educated elite. You will work the job they say, when they, and how they say. If you don’t, then no food, shelter or clothing. Produce or else.
And those who want to compare benefits in Europe to here, well, the money is running out and GOVERNMENT (not those evil execs?) is cutting the benefits. And how are the people reacting? Riots in Greece? Is that what I read? If you produce enough as an individual, or as a nation, that they can afford nice benefits. But if you don’t manage that money, it will manage you and the bill WILL come due! No free lunch truly exists.
Take Islam, there are conditions to be lived by for salvation. Take Christianity, depending on the faith, the preaching of the details may vary but even the most basic beliefs seem to imply that Christ may only ask for faith and a declaration of belief–although many of us believe that if you truly have faith in Christ it will change what you do, or in other words there is an initial cost even if we believe you will gain far more than you pay in. Maybe there is a religion that believes everyone will be “saved,” but even those don’t typically create granite monuments using nothing. No free lunch seems to apply everywhere you go. Even the sun “burns” to create the light and energy it puts out.
Report Post »mtnclimberjim
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 7:05pmwe have labor laws to deal with those issues. Unions are wacked in the head. Their time is over
Report Post »poppopschell
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 8:34pmI appreciate the thoughtful comments from those who have worked for companies with unions and without unions. Others who see unions as always evil are simply dumb. Perhaps I did waste 30 years but that’s OK because I was trying to teach future managers to be fair and concerned with those not management. I proposed to them as future managers to apply the GOLDEN RULE towards that reported to them. IF that is stupid of me, so be it.
Report Post »anigmanm
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:51pmI used to be a teamster, but the union put the trucking company I worked for out of business. I was a union plumber, no longer as the union did absolutely nothing to help. If the company wanted to change work hours, work conditions the unions said GO AHEAD, the people don’t matter only the collection of dues is what count. I did own a business for a time but the union wanted to come in and ruin my business so I did the only logical thing to do at the time, close shop, now thanks to the unions wanting to control everything, well I am retired, my employees, who knows, probably on unemployment thanks to the unions and Oblunder and the boys…………..yes that includes pelosi and hillary
Report Post »sabichan
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:59pmAbsolutely right. Union leaders don’t care about you. Just keep paying dues or else you’re out of the union. Once you’re out of the union, good luck getting a job because everything you know how to do is controlled by unions.
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:14pmI was in a union and they forced several strikes during a downturn in the economy. Company filed chapter 11 and never did come back online. I loved that job…. but I had NO CHOICE.You HAD to be a member and if you were labeled a SCAB, you had a target on your back for evermore. :(
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:51pmTHIS IS THE BEST SITE EVER TO GET INFORMATION ABOUT THE UNIONS AND THE CORRUPTION ASSOCIATED WITH THEM. PLEASE SHARE! http://www.laborunionreport.com/portal/
Report Post »taxedenuf
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:45pmSo why are Trumpka and gang spending millions on bribing congresspeople instead of buying businesses and showing all us idiot capitalists how communism works. It’s the owners money, and if these (_*_) union folks want to be bosses, put your money where your big fat mouth is!
Report Post »quickone
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:14pmI think the new GM will show us a bit on how it will go.
Report Post »butterfly53
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:43pmYeah, especially with that new Volt! I bet the middle class is lining up to buy that overpriced piece of crap. I’ll NEVER buy another GM product.
Report Post »RealityCheck
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:42pmTaxing on exports and waiving taxes on imports, this is what killed our auto industry. Japan puts a tax on all imported cars which goes to their car manufacturers. Our great lawmakers in America want to reduce and waive taxes on imported cars. It was only a matter of time and now the companies responsable for allowing us to have the ability to claim victory in WW2 and created our middle class is now majority owned by our Government. GM didn’t skin workers, our government skinned those people.
Report Post »ClassicalLiberal
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:41pmI believe in America. That every INDIVIDUAL can make their own decisions without government interference.
“You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.” -Adrian Rogers
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:47pmI didn‘t know the Green Bay Packers’ star quarterback was such an eloquent socio-political philosopher.
Report Post »ClassicalLiberal
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:01pmThe author of the quote is not a quarterback. You must be thinking of a different person.
Report Post »smugsmiley
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:10pmYep, look at all those European hellholes. See what social programs do for them! High happiness levels? Pshaw! What do you need happiness for if some other guy gets my money!
Report Post »ClassicalLiberal
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:25pmEuropean corporatism and socialism mix? Mussolini had a name for it….
“I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more if they had known they were slaves.” – Harriet Tubman
Report Post »smugsmiley
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 5:46pmAnd Stalin had a name for America, so had Hitler. Are we going to listen to what fascists have to say now? Aaaalright!
Report Post »LadyVet
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 8:55pmVERY well said!!! Trumka needs to turn the light on himself, how much hide does he and the other unions scrape off the bodies of union workers to finance their huge salaries and big benefit packages??? Bet it’s a pretty penny.
But I will not end without giving the unions credit for their achievements like driving the steel industry overseas and the textile industry and the tire industry and bankrupting the auto industry and putting the budgets of almost every city and state into huge deficits just to name a few, thanks unions for all that…
Trumka and his girlfriend Soros need to run off to Europe where their ilk are welcome.
Report Post »rickroland
Posted on September 15, 2010 at 11:43amFor those making the quarterback comments, the person that made the quote is this person:
Adrian Pierce Rogers (September 12, 1931 – November 15, 2005) was an American pastor, conservative, author, and a three-term president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1979–1980 and 1986–1988).
Report Post »Rock Knutne ND
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:40pmHey Trumka…The Party of No??
LOL – The Party of HELL NO!
Report Post »ClassicalLiberal
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:44pmPerhaps the party of “Hell yes” when it comes to repealing government programs and freeing our markets.
Report Post »timeisnow
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:54pmRock
The Unions are killing this country, who the hell get free benefits and pensions until they die in the private sector? Look at Ca, NJ, NY and many other states..Obama is in bed with Trumka and they will take over this Cournty if we let them…. Go Tea Party!!!!!
Report Post »Rock Knutne ND
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:03pmYou guys misunderstand…
Like Rush says…
Not just the party of No…”The Party of HELL NO!”
Report Post »ClassicalLiberal
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:13pmI understand your point, just giving a spin on it.
Report Post »smugsmiley
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:14pmYep, if change is the enemy, blocking any and all change is the perfect route to take! Why not disband the political system altogether? We’ve already reached the apex, the highest point possible, haven’t we? Being America and all. I mean, sure, some people could call that “taking the ball and going home”, but since when do politics require participation?
Report Post »Bril
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:18pmLook at what the unions have already done to this country, and especially look at the boondoggles they’ve created over in Europe. Yes we are headed that way with all of our public sector unions.
Report Post »smugsmiley
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:26pmYes, all the horrors Unions have brought upon Europe. A middle class, health insurance, fair wages, 38.5 hour work weeks, 6 weeks of paid holidays, overtime pay, high job security, a working pension system. Living there must be hell on earth.
Report Post »Bril
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 5:51pmYou must not be paying attention then, they have bankrupted Greece already, and looking for more.
Seriously, the only way the public workers get a raise is to raise taxes. Lets get those greedy rich people. Seriously. before long we will be worse than Cuba. When the government runs everything and we ration the food on everyones table, that is change you can believe in!
Report Post »booger71
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 10:09pmThis guy is playing his members like fools. His salary has quadrupled inn 4 years, and under his “leadership”, the AFL-CIO is now broke when it had a 66 million surplus. I guess this happens when you try and buy every election.
Report Post »ConnieG
Posted on September 15, 2010 at 9:24amYou got that right!
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:34pmI know, as business owner myself, that I have prospered over the long-term by, “Scrap(ing) every ounce of flesh from (my employees) hides.” My customers’ too, for that matter.
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:45pmyou skin people? what line of business are you in?
Report Post »sabichan
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 2:57pmInsert circumcision joke here
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:11pmhaha!
Report Post »smugsmiley
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:16pmI didn’t know there was a market for male Dominatrixes. Ah well, guess it takes all kinds. Do you usually have male customers or is it mixed?
Report Post »klstj
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 3:46pmLet the pay cut start with this guy, my family is working its ass off to survive right now, while these people collect unheard of benefits being provided by tax payer funded big union, special interest, backdoor deals. These people are militant…not most workers, but their organizers. They are pushing for violence, fights, using inflammatory language. They pay to bus protesters. They provide inflammatory signs. They attack liberty and the freedom to succeed and prosper. When the taxpayers can‘t pay the government what they don’t have and the big bosses can’t afford their hefty promises, all hell will break loose, like Greece or France, it will be the unions and government employees in the streets, militant and lighting the towns on fire as payment for the lies they’ve been fed.
Report Post »PeterBreitholtz
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 4:31pmTo some degree it matters who’s in office, but it matters more how much pressure they’re under from the public.
Report Post »~Noam Chomsky
DayByDay
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 7:11pmTaxidermist?
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on September 14, 2010 at 10:38pmGrad Student : Wanna Be Perfesser Prob Ivy Leeg
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