I feel fully aware of the world's perception of American arrogance now that the representatives of upper midwestern yokels like Sherrod Brown and Chuck Schumer, whose unions bought and paid for their seats, call for changes to Chinese monetary policy, though Republicans are certainly not without their jaw-jacking brethren. Where once honor, pride, and loyalty reigned, the petulant cries for others to bend around their whims in order to liberate themselves of self-delivered local depressions smack of schoolyard exclamations, "that's not fair!" Let us now examine the increasingly speedy decline in union stronghold due to the greed in their mindset, the idiocy of angering America's single largest trading partner by populous, and finally, how the return of pride and austerity could reignite the flame of this country's blue collar economies.
When were labor unions born? During the Industrial Revolution, an era without safety standards set by OSHA and standard work weeks and minimum wages set by the Department of Labor, unions organized the often mistreated work force in order to wage war against the manufacturing elite primarily as a means of survival. A now antiquated institution, unions are nothing more than labor monopolies whose pyramid enriches their organizers, leadership, and elected public officials while relegating the workers, supplanting the role of the "robber barons" of old. Yes, in return for their solidarity, today's labor finds itself rewarded with a declining demand for jobs, pensions that won't pay, and the well-ingrained notion that few, if any, of these negative results are of their own making.
Without miring in the idea that this union idiocy continues unabated, let us look to just this past October in the case of the new Dreamliner assembly line to see the pragmatic backlash against the ever greedy fools, see article
here. Add to that that as a result of years of unchecked extortion against the auto companies UAW pensions, long-agreed spousal benefits, insurance programs, etc. cannot be met and are backed in part by government money, after being "reasonably" cut, of course. So where jobs in Seattle and practical UAW pensions once existed, the scorched earth policy of greed in union leadership has forced the hand of those otherwise seeking to maintain status quo.
The most interesting facet of greedy union cognition lies in the answer: who to blame? The incentivized laziness embodied by labor pools? The elected leadership that changed all reasonable mortgage lending practices to allow scumbags, liars, and thieves to borrow without intent to repay? The same jerks that signed on the line knowing they didn't have the money to make next month's conventional payment, and therefore paid interest only instead? No. The complaints lie with the bankers. Conjurers of wealth voodoo. Big bad companies with names, but no faces.
And now we witness the Democrat controlled Congress of this United States, catering to their electorate, the lowest common denominator with all the classic Washington DC stylings of living this way, but preaching that. Taking a page directly from the unions, rather than legislating the one consistency in this entire debacle (the yuan peg), the path of first choice seems to be scorching earth via name calling, with the potential to escalate import/export tariffs, and worst case, drive off the primary fiscal supporter of US debt. So where American "monetary policy" meets Chinese "currency manipulation" the strings of ethnocentrism find themselves harmoniously strummed in an effort to keep the public sufficiently fleeced. Only when the Chinese, with their enormous US debt and forex positions, have been pushed so far by cocky, undereducated, and seldom worldly Congressmen, and begin economic warfare on this country will the sheeple realize that we have mortgaged our future for Escalades and swimming pools. And thank you in advance to the vacuous mouthpieces on Capitol Hill for escalating the schedule of this next great war.
Though untenable for American manufacturing, the Chinese currency peg is not a new device in the economic landscape. Therefore, calling foul many years and many trillions of dollars later not only looks foolish, but highlights the tail-wagging decision making that uber-partisanship has crippled this country with. Where egos fail, economics succeed. In order to fight problems with solutions, I charge the legislative bodies to consider that on American soil where there also exists an unskilled and semi-skilled labor surplus, the (not necessarily government) fees of employment force mega-cap multinationals to look overseas because over there, unregulated unions cannot run roughshod over their manufacturing centers and threaten what should be an actuarial study in human production. Rather, we must encourage these people that college does not have to be the final answer.
Self-sufficiency, fiscal responsibility, and humble effort: these tenets shall bring about the new age in economic balance. A balance of white and blue collar jobs where the proportions of production and management align more closely with that of an exporting nation. Nearly complete in the process of destroying themselves, unions have shown us that letting the economics of a policy play out ultimately result in the sunsetting of out dated thinking. In conclusion, let us not concern ourselves with affairs over which we have no control. Let us focus on optimizing our existence and frame our future with sound policy and a spirit of cooperation. When everybody wins, everybody wins.
