1. How are you going to pay for this Health Care Train Wreck (HCTW)?
2. Can you show the public a powerpoint presentation of precise facts and figures on exactly where the funds are going to come from to pay for the HCTW?
3. How is Barack Obama going to prevent illegal immigrants from benefiting from his HCTW.
4. How is Barack Obama going to prevent illegal immigrants from rushing over the border to sign up for his HCTW?
5. One of the methods that has been tabled is to tax health care benefits. If that method is chosen, will the healthcare benefits of the SEIU, UAW, United Steel workers and every other member of any union have their healthcare benefits taxed?
6. If Barack Obama’s HCTW passes and presents itself with a business model like Wal Mart, how will private healthcare survive? When Barack Obama says he want to provide “Affordable” healthcare, Describe affordable. 10 % less than average, 20% less than average, 50% less than average, 75% less than average, 85% less than average? Tell me.
7. If Barack Obama’s HCTW hammers the healthcare industry on costs much like Wal Mart does to it’s venders, what incentives do the healthcare industry have to expand and build facilities, hire personal and promote R&D in healthcare medicine?
8. Barack Obama’s HCTW proposes to cover 45 Million uninsured people with healthcare. At this time the healthcare industry does not have adequate facilities to take care of the people that have insurance now.
Do you think that people will be interested in going to medical school if they will not be able to earn more than $30,000 a year because of payment limits in the Obama HCTW?
9. Congressman Schiff besides your degree in law, do you have an MBA?
10. Congressman Schiff, do you have any kind of degree in economics?
Finally I command you to vote NO against Barack Obama’s Healthcare Train Wreck.
I command you to vote NO against Barack Obama’s “Cap and Tax” Train Wreck.
Today is the saddest day in the history of the United States. Again Barack Obama has driven yet another nail in the coffin containing manufacturing in the United States. Cap and Tax will artificially and dramatically drive up the cost of energy in the United States. This is yet another artificial manipulation of the free market as we know it. I have been writing about Bill Clinton’s 1997 expansion of Jimmy Carter’s 1977 Community Reinvestment Act. When Bill Clinton mandated this, it artificially infused millions of unqualified home owners into the home buying market. You can see today what that did to our economy.
Barack Obama’s Cap and Tax will artificially affect the supply and demand of energy, energy prices, taxes and the newly created “Energy Credits.”
Let’s face it. There are some manufacturing processes that require a lot of electricity, less than green chemical ingredients, and will use more “Energy Credits” than allocated to that company. The amount of “Energy Credits” that some politician that does not have a degree in chemistry or an MBA will determine that company will have.
So what happens here?’
Well the very first thing that comes to mind is this video of Barack Obama.
OK so now that this CAP and TAX has passed the house but not the senate. How will this affect the coal industry and the coal mines? Well I wrote about this topic on November 3, 2008.
This bill is so convoluted and complicated it is almost incomprehensible by the average home or business owner.
Also reading this it will require a huge amount of federal employees to enforce the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 H.R. 2454. Just a huge waste of tax payer dollars that will benefit the politicians way more than either the environment or the owners of businesses, residential houses, or factories.
OK so let’s all read this and see if you can make an “INTELLIGENT” decision on passing this tax assuming you know all the fact, figures, demographics of impact, caluculations of real results in say two years.
Please search for American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 H.R. 2454.EH in the Library of Congress Thomas
SEC. 204. BUILDING ENERGY PERFORMANCE LABELING PROGRAM. (Sec 204 (C) (3) (B) Residential Databases
(B) RESIDENTIAL DATABASES- The Administrator, in consultation with the Energy Information Administration and the Secretary of Energy, shall support improvements to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) as authorized by section 205(k) of the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7135(k)), or such other residential energy performance databases as the Administrator considers appropriate, to aid the development of achieved performance measurement protocols for residential building energy use for at least 90 percent of the residential market within 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
So what is this? Well it is an invasion of privacy. In a nut shell you will have to have your home inspected, probed, prodded and exposed to see if it meets Resnet specifications within 5 years of this act being passed.
There are three things I cannot determine here.
1. Is there is going to be a fine or legal proceedings if you do not get your house inspected?
2. Will you have to have your house inspected and brought up to RESNET certification before it is sold?
3. Will there be an “Energy Tax, Fine, or Penalty” imposed until the house in question is upgraded to meet either additional federal standards that have not been written yet or to RESNET specifications?
It is obvious by these AOL polls that the majority of people do not want this bill to pass.
6/27/09
6/28/09
6/28/09 by state.
It’s not getting any more popular.
It seems that H. R. 2454 is not gaining any popularity anytime soon.
It still is not getting better as of 7:30 AM 6/29/09
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Still Not becoming more popular as of 6:41 PM PDT
H.R. 2454 has not become more popular as of 7:00 AM 7/1/09
Obama’s Bill H.R. 2454 is still not getting popular as of 7/1/09 3:30 PM PDT
Nope not yet. Still not popular at 8:30 AM PDT 7/2/09
Ok so it gain a a point as of 7/3/09 9:00 AM PDT. But it is still very unpopular by all means.
H. R. 2454 still is not getting any more popular as of 7/4/09 2:00 PM
Nope Still not any better as of 7-12-09
New AOL Poll 7-10-09 Cap and Tax is still not liked by the public.
Update to the AOL 7/10/09 Poll
Here is an update to an AOL Poll from 6/26/09 It still looks like people do not want a Cap and Tax Law. It appears that the Democratic party is not carrying out the will of the people. Rather the Democrats are executing their own agenda regardless of what the people want that voted for them in the first place.
It becomes very obvious that even with this small sample that the public has no desire to have this really bad legislation forced down their throats. In future days I will update this with new results of more votersof this poll until it drops off.
When the public talked about George Bush Jr being out of touch with the public, his lack of connection is paled by the disconnect between the people of this country and the socialist government that is running the country now. It would appear that the only people that want the “CAP AND TAX” legislation passed are Al Gore, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosie, Barney Franks, Harry Reid, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Rep. Edward J. Markey et al. So this boils down to “CAP AND TAX” legislation that is a personal mission by the formentioned people and is not “What the people of the United States want”
To me when a government decides what is best for the citizens of the United Sates is a not a government, it is a
So lets look at all the things that this will affect. Basically any industry that uses electricity, coal or fossil fuel such as gasoline, diesel, or natural gas. Hmm it seems that every company and citizen will be affected by this “CAP AND TAX” legislation. It would appear that H. R. 2454 will create financial chaos in this country.
One of the things that it will create are “Energy Credits.” The question is who will control, disperse and manage the “Evergy Credits”?
1. Will it be Wall Street? Will “Energy Credits” be a commodity that is bought and sold on the commodities market?
This could be problematic as we have seen with Crude Oil and the buying and selling of Crude Oil futures by speculative investors based on Supply and Demand. This could have a significant impact on the cost of running a business and the everyday lives of US citizens.
2, Will it be a huge socialist government bureaucracy that will practice “Pay to Play” tactics to control “Energy Credits” by legal taxes and illegal political contributions. We all know how this game is played. The more money you put in the socialist government coffers, the more “Extra” “Energy Credits” you are allowed for your business or special interest group like for example the UAW for American and American automobile manufacturers only.
The truth is that no one on the face of the earth can guess how much more this is going to cost the tax payer, business owner or anyone else in this country.
Yesterday I took a little drive and I ended up in Santa Paula, CA I parked my car, and began to look around at the demographics of what I saw on the street. This town is predominately Hispanic that votes for the socialist democrats based on the promise of Amnesty and the growth of the Farm Workers Union. In general these people are of low income and are having a tough time paying daily bills. If “CAP and TAX” passes these are the people that will be affected the most with increased costs on electricity, food and gasoline for their cars to get to and from work. This may be exacerbated by job loss when companies shutter their doors as cost of doing business forces the owners to either shut down and move their businesses off shore. In the case of the farmers, instead of growing food they may turn to importing food instead.
As for the petroleum industry, they hands are tied as they are now and will not be allowed to drill for more crude oil as this will, in the eyes of the democrats, “Contribute to Global Warming.” So this industry may run into problems as they will not be able to afford to pay for “Energy Credits” and pass the costs down to the consumer.
Remember petroleum is not just about heating oil (yet another discussion on the effects of H. R. 2454 on the economy), gasoline, diesel fuel (trucking and rail industry), and Jet A fuel (Airlines) it is about plastics (Did you think about that?) also. These are all things that will be sharply affected by H. R. 2454. Do you now see how damaging this “CAP and TAX” bill will be?
Santa Paula, California has two basic industries: Farming agriculture and petroleum.
Farming uses a lot of fossil fuel for trucks, tractors and farming equipment in general. My next thought was that solar, electric or wind power can not be used for the aforementioned vehicles. Battery powered electric trucks, tractors, cultivators, generators and irrigation pumps. How can you possibly make this green? OK maybe Natural Compressed Gas (NCG) but it is way more dangerous and difficult to transport as it always has to me in high pressure tanks.
Farming also uses a lot of electricity in packing and processing. Lot’s of refrigeration for freshness and freezing foods.
So what happens to food prices if these farming and food processing companies exceed their “Energy Caps”?
These companies will have to buy addition energy credits if the processing plants do not become solar or wind powered.
Solution? Nuclear powered food packing plants. Hmm. Now that sounds safe.
Now let’s look at petroleum.
The argument for “CAP and TAX” is to create new jobs and eliminate out dependance on foreign oil.
So if petroleum is a bad thing because of carbon pollution and the utopian goal is to eliminate it all together then what happens to the petroleum industry in Santa Paula. CA? How many jobs will be lost because the Dictatorship of the Proletariat deemed that the petroleum industry was bad for the earth?
So once the windmills are built and the solar panel farms are built. Just how many jobs will there be to maintain and support these two energy sources? I bet this country losses more “Non-Green Jobs” compared to the “Green Jobs that will replace the “Non-Green” jobs.
So what does that mean for just this one town of Santa Paula, CA?
One would guess there will be a lot less petroleum jobs in the Santa Paula area this further destroying the economy in this area.
What about farming and agriculture? It may be to expensive for these farms to stay open because of the cost of energy and subsequent taxes that are imposed. This of course will lead to further job loss in the United States.
Where will we get our farm food? It is looking like now the US may loose out dependency on foreign out but it may dramatically increase for foreign food.
I saw a clip from C-Span that I cannot find yet. When I do I will post it.
The clip was Nancy Pelosie just bantering while selling the “CAP and TAX” bill in congress. She said something to the effect of “Basically this bill is about Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.”
What she failed to say was Job’s for Americans. She is right. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs for foreign countries as businesses leave this country if this H.R 2454 AKA the “CAP AND TAX” bill passes the Senate.
Please call, email or write to your senator and tell him or her not to pass this socially destructive H. R. 2454
The events that are unfolding in California today (5/23/09) are unprecedented and will affect every state in The United States of America. The people have spoken and they have said “NO MORE NEW TAXES” A catalyst for a perfect storm on Tea Party Day July 4th, 2009.
What has transpired over the years in California that I have been in here (1980) is nothing less than tragic.
I moved to a state that was relatively easy to get a job if you really wanted one. If you didn’t want to work and wanted to be on welfare it was a lot more difficult to accomplish that goal.
California was led by the Democratic party from a land of sunshine, plenty of work and an occasional earthquake to a land of excruciating high taxes, huge numbers of illegal immigrants, easy welfare accommodations for anyone, strong control by theEPA (Environmental Protection Agency) andSCAQMD (South Coast Air Quality Management District) and radically powerful, strong unions that have crippled the work force with a total disregard or understanding of how the economy works. Every day now there are protests in the streets by these unions demanding that their particular financial interests should be continually supported by the California government that is fiscally broken. They fail to see that the economy in California has completely collapsed.
Due to the Democratic mantra of “Tax and Spend” California has become the most unfriendly environment for both small and large businesses to flourish in. Consequently a lot of businesses have closed or have left California for other states and more than likely other countries.
An example of this is when Lockeed closed down it’s Burbank facilities instantly putting 15,000 people out of work. That is the figure just for Lockeed. It doesn’t address all the subcontractors for small parts and materials that went into the building of the aircraft in that facility.
Another example of that is the General Motors Plant in Van Nuys, CA. Built in 1947 and closed in 1992.
This plant towards the end built some of the worst cars ever assembled by General Motors. The Chevrolet Corvair, Camaro, Nova and Firebird.
While it is true that the plant was old, the property and the location were ideal for GM to build cars specifically for the California market. With some effort the palnt could have been rebuilt and modified for newer assembly line could have been built. How ever the decision was made to move this assembly plant to Sainte-Thérèse Assembly in Quebec, Canada.
So the issue at hand is jobs. As I have written about in the past, government does not create jobs. private enterprise creates jobs. The Democrats have completely damaged the business environment here in California. In the process of damaging the business environment the Democrats have diminished the tax base dramatically at the same time they have tried to make up for the lack jobs by huge tax rates for the people that still have jobs and businesses that are still open. The squeeze has to end somewhere or sometime and that somewhere and sometime is now.
I voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) hoping that he could get the job done. In the beginning he was doing a great job. But the Democrats saw his power and popularity as a threat and stone walled his every move and he finally capitulated to the Democrats and agreed to raise State Income Taxes, DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) taxes, and State Sales Tax which is the most destructive tax a legislator could ever raise. This has exacerbated the crumbling economy here in California.
As long as California is a Democratically controlled state it will never ever regain the grand status that has left us in the late 70’s and the 80’s. The Democratic stranglehold on the State of California will be very hard to break because of two simple facts. 1. The number of business owners that would lobby against the Democrats is dwindling. The number of employees that expect their employers to provide all kind of services for free greatly out number the employers. 2. The number of people that expect the California Government to provide everything for free is in control of who is put in office.
In fact California is so damaged that there is serious discussion about rewriting the California Constitution. The California Constitution is not broken, the Democratic party that is interpreting the California Constitution is broken.
How is rewriting the California Constitution going to help the people of California get new jobs created by new companies that start and flourish and old companies that expand and grow and hire people?
I’m sure that with the state of California being run by Democrats, the “New and Improved” version of the California Constitution will be so severely flawed and skewed towards the Democratic mantra of “Tax & Spend” that the State of California will just continue to deteriorate at a much greatly increased speed.
Here is the next thing to think about. California has always been on the leading edge of trends that eventually move through out the rest of the states. If the California Constitution gets re-written will the following happen?
1. Will the Democrats in the other 49 states try to rewrite their own states constituion?
2. Will Barack Obama and the Obama Administration try to rewrite the US Constitution making the United States an even greater ‘Land of Entitlement”? Thus creating a land that contains a plethora of welfare available to anyone from the United States or any other country just by asking for it and not proving that an individual really needs welfare funds to begin with?
For some reason in past years there has been a fairly complex and sometimes efficient system of checks and balances between the Democrats and the Republicans. But all that has changed with the deteriorating economy.
I have a comment about education in California. I understand and I am in sympathy of what is happening in the schools with the cutbacks and overcrowding. But here is a question. Do you remember what John Kennedy said” “Ask not what your country can do for you, Rather ask what you can do for your country!” I have to admit for a Democrat he was connected to reality more than any other Democrat or Republican for that matter by saying this.
So here is my point. When some one decides to have a child, the responsibility of education should be partially funded by the individuals that have children that are being taught in the primarily the K-12 education system. Junior Colleges and State colleges are already paying tuition. To believe that education can be completely funded by state and local property taxes is absurd. I believe that the parents of these children should pay something towards enrollment for students. This tuition payed can only be used in that school that the tuition was payed to. Not to all the schools in the district. Maybe it is a small amount to subsidize, but it is something that that will help ease the financial burden of the California educational system. Which leads to why I brought up John Kennedy’s famous statement. Not all property tax payers have children in the educational system especially older citizens. Why should the burden of funding people that have children in the system be places on people that are not using the system. This is not to say that people that do not have children in the education system should not pay anything. That is not what I am saying. What I’m saying is that the people that do have children in the education system have to pay some kind of a tuition to offset the shrinking tax revenue do to loss of jobs, poorer paying jobs that does not generate high volumes of income tax and of course the number of foreclosure on homes that is diminishing property taxes. I do not know the numbers exactly but the logic is that the greater majority of people with children are renters and do not pay any property tax yet their children are in the schools. The amount of property tax on a commercial apartment building doesn’t even come close to paying for all the kids in that building. OK so you ask why doesn’t the landlord pay higher taxes? Well the local county could raise taxes…..but guess what? You are right. Rent would go through the roof and people would not be able to afford the apartment that they are renting nor would they have a big enough deposit to move to a different building. In general raising taxes is always a bad thing.
It all goes back to what I believe.
If the Democrats can keep people poor, uneducated, unemployed and desperate they will always have a voter base.
There has been some concern about the build quality and the cost of labor to assemble automobiles. One if the first things that Government Motors will do is duplicate the IKEA business model. Government Motors will offer an economic and efficient “Kit Car” that will save everyone a lot of money however, it will save no time at all in any way, shape or form. This “Kit Car” will come in several containers both big and small with complete easy to read assembly instructions. In accordance with Federal Law the “Kit Car” will come with tools to assist in the assembly of the automobile. These tools will include two screwdrivers (Philips and flat blade), an adjustable “C” wrench, a small hammer and pair of channel locks. Additional specialty tools required to assemble the car are available starting at $99.00 each at KitCarSpecieltyTool.gov. Barack Obama’s Kit car will save you money and really piss off the UAW, but oh well such is life.
Here is what is included in the “Kit Car” package starting at $9995.00 (European Model) and $39,000.00 (USA Cap and Trade exhaust emission certified version.)
Just what America wanted and needed.
Some years back General Motors, Chrysler and to some degree Ford manufactured the worst automobiles ever made in the United States.
There were many reasons for the bad quality that I do not need to rehash here. Suffice to say that the reasons were primarily the manufacturing techniques and the quality of the union mentality that the employees applied to the manufacturing of the car. But thanks to the pressures of higher quality Asian and German automobiles the big three American manufactures dramatically increased the quality of the cars they built, but fell far short in amenities and what the American car buyers really wanted.
So here are the questions and then a statement.
1. Would you buy a car from a company like Government Motors or Chrysler (Ford did not take TARP money and will survive quite well.) that has a real good chance of not existing in 5 years or less?
2. Would you buy a car that is not as safe due to paring down of materials to make cars lighter and more fuel efficient?
3. Would you buy a car that from a company that is owned and operated buy the government that is manned by really unhappy union workers that had to take a lot of cuts to keep their jobs?
It is reported today that The Obama administration will give GMAC another 7.5 billion dollars effectively giving the Treasury a 35.4% holding of the common equity of GMAC.
The Federal Government now owns approximately 50% of General Motors.
How is Government Motors ever going to be profitable enough to payback all the debit and become a free enterprise corporation again. Simple they will never be able to do that. Again Government Motors will not make cars that people want because the Obama Administration now dictates the specifications for car model built. Other manufacturers will still make less fuel efficient safer cars but The Obama Administration will tax those vehicles with vigor making them undesireable to the middle class what is left of it.
So what is my point? I do not believe that GM will ever be a big player in at least the US Market…. unless, unless the cars are built overseas with much lower labor costs. Then they will be profitable as Government Motors will be competing in a world market just like Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi etc.
I think the Chrysler name along with all of it’s subsidiaries will go away. Here is why I think that. The Chrysler name does not have any credibility as Daimler-Benz found out the hard way. Even with some infusion of great German engineering, Daimler-Benz could not make Chrysler profitable. I imagine the Chrysler brand names will go away and maybe the car line will be called FIAT (Fix It Again Tony) or FIAT may come up with a whole new brand name and never seen before car lines. That is a possibility.
Have you noticed that Ford did not take any TARP money, did not allow the Obama Administration to run Ford Motor Company and they do not have any problems. It is true that Ford did a much much better job developing energy saving cars along with the SUVs that Ford eventually cut back on.
In the end there will be only one true American car company and they will be Ford. I’m eating crow now because in the past I have always been a Chevy man. But for me for the rest of my life it will always be a Honda or a Toyota as they have both been just flawless compared to the Chevys that I have owned in the past.
OK let’s discuss this. First of all I am a former union teamster and union auto mechanic.
I never benefitted by being in either union. In fact my paycheck was smaller because I had to have union benefits with held from my paycheck against my will. I never received any benefits back. All lost money.
So Barack has some very valid points however they are very, very outdated. Unions have out lived their usefulness. At one time, there was no one watching out for the employee and unions did a lot to correct long hours, unsafe working conditions, very low wages and a host of other problems that were rampant in the labor market.
He mentions 40 hour work week and overtime. Yes, in the early 1900’s this was a problem. But today it is state law in all states. No union needed.
He mentions safe working conditions. Yes in the early 1900’s this was a problem. Now we have OSHA (http://www.osha.gov/index.html) and we no longer need to have unions for that reason.
He mentions health benefits. Ever since I started working I always viewed health benefits provided by the company as a perk for working for that company. I viewed it as a privilege not a right. After all, this is a big cost to the company. Even with the companies that I had to pay up to half of the premium I was very happy to have that as I knew how much is would cost to pay for it myself outside of a company policy. The unions believe that the company should pay for 100% of all healthcare costs. That is so wrong. When companies can afford it they will help with paying a portion of health care for their employees.
So we have to look at previous years and what Unions have done to various industries like the steel industry. Due to a relentless, crippling union labor strikes, the steel industry has shrunk dramatically as manufacturers can buy higher quality steel at a much lower price from other countries. It costs less to buy and ship the steel from overseas than it does buy manufacturing here in a union steel plant.
We are now seeing what unions have done to the three big American automakers. The union over head has made the American cars non competitive with foreign automakers. This overhead includes Health for retirees and big pensions that are paid to retirees for life. Paying for retirees is a huge cost added to american cars. Pensions have been replaced by 401Ks. When you are done working at a company, the company owes the worker nothing. He/she is not a beneficial asset to the profitability of the company. The retiree is no longer generating any revenue for the company. I know this sounds cold and harsh but that is the way it has to be. It is the employees responsibility to save for his/her retirement, not the union’s or the companies responsibility. Foreign companies are a lot more profitable building cars here in either non-union assembly plants or much modified union contracts.
An Article in the Wall Street journal by Logan Robinson who is a professor of law at the University of Detroit Mercy. He is former general counsel of Delphi, ITT Automotive and Metaldyne, and former head international and commercial lawyer for Chrysler.
So here is the hypocrisy of Barack Obama. Barack tells people that he wants GM, Ford and Chrysler to go back to being successful, profitable and rehiring people. In the mean time he want to empower the bullying United Auto Workers that brought the big three to the brink of extinction. Does this make sense to you?
Barack Obama wants to take away the rights of the owners of ANY company to run a company non-union.
OK let’s look at the effect of that. Most importantly it will dramatically drive wages up through union contract negotiations. Keep in mind this is the number one reason for outsourcing manufacturing jobs to other places all over the world.
The next effect that this would have is rampant inflation. When goods are made under union contracts it dramatically raises the purchase price of either labor or the finished product. When unions were in their strongest days during the 70’s in the Billy Carter administration, the United States was being crushed by 13.5% inflation.
Also keep in mind that all three GM, Ford and Chrysler built the very worst quality automobiles ever to roll off of any assembly line in the world during the 70’s and early 80’s. It was during that period that the Asian auto manufactures started introducing much better built cars at a much lower price as those cars were built in non-Union shops over seas.
A short comment about that as I was a GM trained mechanic from 1968 through 1973 when I had to quit as the poor quality of the Chevys and Olds that I was working on was just disgusting. As I took a trip through the now closed Janesville plant in Wisconsin. I could see that the workers were there just for the money. I didn’t see a lot of PRIDE going into the cars. That is where the Asian, especially the Japanese, had it all over the US manufacturers. For the Asian worker they took a lot of personal pride in what they were building. How do I know that? Very simple. When I would look around in the American Cars that I was working on. I’d see a round dot saying “inspected by #45.”
When I bought my first new Toyota Supra that was made in Japan. I noticed Inspected by stickers also. But guess what? The people that manufactured my car were so proud of their work, there was no #45. There was a person’s name…. yes the person who built the car and inspected it along the way put their name on it. They knew that they had built the finest automobile that they could and would put their name on it. I guarantee that would never happen in a UAW plant. OK, enough about work ethic.
The next thing Unions do is take away the ability of the worker to negotiate their own wages. Basically the Unions turn employees in to mass non desrcript numbers. All people get paid the same no mater what their productivity level is. The only way a person can make more money for better, more competent work is through a new Union contract. Here is the problem with that:
One of the things that is making our education system in K-12 a disaster are the unions. First of all. I will be the very very first one to say and admit that that most important people in out education system are very, very underpaid. I mean that. Teachers should get payed a lot more than they do…. but there is a clause here. It must be based on performance in the grades of the children that they are teaching just like any other job. The teacher unions prevent that.
Here is an example: Four teachers in two schools in the same district. John and Mary in one school and Bill and Ann in another school.
John and Mary’s students are all getting A’s, B’s and C’s and Bill and Ann’s Students are getting C’s D’s and F’s. Yet because they are all in the same contract they all get paid the same. Tell me what incentive does Bill and Ann have to do any better because they will get paid the same as John and Mary anyway.
If the teachers that were turning out better educated students got paid more then the underperforming teachers would either have to get better and get a raise or they will be terminated. Union contracts prevent that from ever happening. So out education system with Union teachers will continue to be a disaster. There are many examples of this.
Here is another example of the industry that I am involved with now and that is the entertainment industry. California has a huge problem with “Runaway Production” Why? Well it is very simple. A producer and shoot a theatrical movie off shore or even in another state that is a “Right to work State.” Shooting in a non-union environment can get a producer very hight quality people without the huge over head of Unions like IATSE and IBEW.
OK so what do I think is the answer if not unions: It is so easy my friend. Employee owned companies that are called ESOPs. That stands for “Employee Stock Ownership Plan.”
Here is a PDF file that was written by Judy Waggoner explaining what an ESOP is.
I can guarantee you that Hansen Plastics has no use or desire to have a union on it premises as they know that the company will not be profitable with a union.
When a company is employee owned every one of the employees from the CEO on down has a stake in the well being of the company. There is no reason why the Unions can not be booted out of the big three American Auto Manufacturers and the companies become employee owned (ESOP). I think you would see much more efficient companies and better automobiles because the employees would all benefit by the operational efficiency of the company. Employees often complain about not sharing in the profit that the companies are making and that is why they need unions. Well if the companies were employee owned they would all get a “Profit Sharing Check” at the end of the year or quarterly. Not practical to dole out profit checks every pay period. So if the company is run right then everyone makes money. If the company has any screw ups for employees then the other employees will want to get rid of them so that the company is efficient and profitable.
OK again Barack Obama just does not get it. His “Change” is what we had in the Carter administration. There is absolutely nothing new that Barack Obama is doing. NOTHING.
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