Quote:
Originally posted by Not Bob
I think that every person who spouts off on the "free market" as the be-all and end-all should try to live as a worker in such a "free market" system.
I'm sure that you will have a new appreciation for the worker's freedom of job choice after a period of time making Nike sneakers for $2 a day in Indonesia.
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there's no question that unions allowed the middle class to be created here. without the labor movement most of us would not be college educated, and it is likely there would be much less legal work since most people would be too poor to buy anything. That said, unions have become too focused on helping the unions move forward at all cost rather than considering market realities.
Example: the UAW defending people's right to fuck off all day at $30/hour. This hamstrings the big 3 into being non-competitive and they really have no way out. Delphi (formally GM's parts division) just went bankrupt. a main reason is unskilled workers were being paid $28/hour from old GM contracts. Meanwhile Delphi is competing against companies making parts in Mexico at next to nothing per hour. the unions wouldn't get real and help Delphi deal with this so it goes into bankruptcy to get out of its contracts. I like the American worker making money, but there are real world realities.
