08:07 – So, Republican Governor Pat McCrory, despite his campaign promise to oppose any further restrictions on abortion in North Carolina, now says he’ll sign the “compromise” NC Senate version of the anti-abortion bill. Weasel. He ran as a moderate Republican without ties to the Religious Right, but now here he is doing their bidding. Bastard.
Obama seems enamored of ruling via Executive Order. All he needs to do to solve the problems caused by Shiite Southern Baptists in North Carolina, Texas, and elsewhere is issue another Executive Order: any hospital or clinic that receives federal funding, directly or indirectly, must provide abortions on demand, in a timely manner, inexpensively, and without any restrictions whatsoever, or lose that federal funding.
09:33 – I was just reading an article in the paper about the US House splitting the farm subsidy and foodstamp programs into separate bills, for the first time in 40 years. Disregarding for a moment that both programs should be eliminated, I was struck by the absurdity of how much we’re spending on foodstamps. Apparently, about a fifth of North Carolinians receive foodstamps, although I don’t believe I’ve ever known someone who’d ever gotten them. If that ratio holds up nationwide, we’re spending $80 billion a year to give foodstamps to about 60 million people, or more than $1,300 annually per person. And those foodstamps can be spent on packaged foods, meat, and other foods that are expensive way out of proportion to their food value. There’s no way it costs more than $100/month to provide proper nutrition to one person, if we keep the choice of foods as inexpensive as possible.
We need to revisit what Republic Rome did to keep the head count fed. A subsidized grain dole, which any Roman citizen was entitled to, without means testing. Stand in line to get a chit, and then stand in another line to get the food package for the month. I’m guessing that if we distributed wheat, dry beans, and similarly cost-effective foods we could reduce the costs of this program by at least two thirds. Call it $30/month/person, or $1/day.
I agree. Those who live in location A must take a free, municipal bus ride of at least 4 hours duration to location B to wait in a 2 hour line for food stamps. Residents of location B must go to ……….
An observation of many years ago: “… a hippie couple was told at checkout that their package of hamburger, among the carton of cigarettes and fifth of bourbon, could not be obtained with food stamps as it contained Australian beef. They put it back and returned with T-bone steaks. No worries, mate….
RBT, you’re forgetting one major — nay, overwhelming — consideration: keeping the bureaucrats fed. It’s not uncommon in these “service” bureaucracies for half of their total expenses to be consumed as overhead. If you were to put in place your low-cost, non-means-tested system, there would not be enough room for padding and empire building, and that just will not do.
I get the feeling you don’t do the grocery shopping too often. More than once I’ve found myself behind someone that actually takes three transactions to get through. One EBT (I have no idea what that means but I’ve seen so many stores that have signs saying EBT Accepted I know it’s the food stamp card), one cash or bank card, and one for infant formula that still requires the clerk to fill out a coupon by hand. I’ve really learned to look ahead and see what I’m following into line.
The reason the USDA was involved in these programs was to help feed people while reducing the farm excess. Somehow I doubt the fact that 7/11 accepts EBT accomplishes that.
I know that. It’s just another form of welfare, intended (among other things) to make government “workers” believe they’re actually usefully employed. Probably 90% of them couldn’t get or hold a real job if their lives depended on it. And, if they did get a real job, they’d almost certainly be making much, much less money than they had been.
My wife is a government employee, keeping databases up and doing a bit of minor DB-related programming. Compared to me or my peers working in private industry or as consultants at government offices, she’s a trained monkey, and lazy to boot. Compared to her peers … she’s the office superstar.
My college friend Terri Mistarz worked summers in a city government office. I’ll never forget her description of her very first day on the job. First thing that morning, they gave her a stack of index cards to type. An hour or so later, she handed the finished stack back to her supervisor, who was horrified. She explained to Terri that that stack was intended to take Terri all day to complete, and that Terri was making the rest of them look bad.
“She explained to Terri that that stack was intended to take Terri all day to complete, and that Terri was making the rest of them look bad.”
I worked about a year in a paper mill in my home town after HS. My job was to tear the paper rings off of super calendar rollers (big rollers like an old washing machine, paper is run over to finish it). I used an overhead crane to move a roller into place and then a crowbar to pry the rings off. I finished my load by lunch and got scolded by my union super. “make the job last all day.”
Years late as a Major assigned to the Pentagon, the first thing my commander told me “We are the Dept. of the Army. We make the rules, we don’t have to follow them.” WTF, over! No wonder there are still so many suck ass officers in the Army.
Of course, Tiny Town has been 1 of 2 of the highest unemployed cities in the state, and every time I am in line at Aldi or Walmart, you can always hear the person at the cash register asking “debit or EBT?” Nine times out of 10, it is EBT. And the loads they haul off with those EBT cards is phenomenal. Last time I was in Aldi, a young couple bought 2 grocery carts stuffed full of stuff. It was apparent from the conversation that it was all for a party. One transaction to pay: EBT.
My aunt (my mom’s sister) passed this morning. After my son and I spent the afternoon with her on Thursday, when she was conscious the whole time we were there, she was transferred to the hospice section of the nursing home owned by the same company as the “senior living” place where they resided. She went to sleep after that move, and never regained consciousness again. My cousin was with her, and said the passing was peaceful and quick when it happened. My cousin’s 4 boys and their wives have been here for nearly a week, so the funeral is on Monday, allowing them to return to life as normal.
My condolences to you and your family Chuck. I’m glad the family will have a normal life again.
Yes, our condolences also.
Thanks. Unfortunately, the passing was a relief.
My condolences too, Chuck.
“We need to revisit what Republic Rome did to keep the head count fed.”
Was the term “head count” used before Colleen McCullough used it?
All the best for you and your family Chuck.
– – – – –
Unions once had a purpose, and were genuinely needed. As always, when an organization outlives its usefulness, they have become a hindrance rather than a help. Corruption at the top and ridiculous work rules at the bottom make for horrendous labor costs to the business – but the individual employees don’t see a lot of benefit. Well, perhaps they do if they actually enjoy standing around doing nothing…
My introduction to unions: I spent a summer installing an automation system at a sewage plant in Minnesota. We needed to verify that cables had been properly installed and labelled, so one of us was at the computer site, and would send a signal down the wire. Two of us were being guided around the plant, from sensor to sensor. We had our cabling diagrams and knew what we needed to check. The idea was to verify which cable was hooked up to which sensor.
Now, the person who knew where all the sensors were was, iirc, the shift supervisor. So he took us around the plant. Now, the two of us were both electrical engineers (ok, I was still in school), so we could have done the electrical bit, but we weren’t allowed to touch anything. Neither was the shift supervisor.
To ensure that no one disturbed plant operations, a member of the operational crew had to be present, but also wasn’t allowed to touch anything. Of course, this was one of the guy working for the supervisor, but union rules required him to be present. There was an electrician who hooked up the cables where they attached to the sensor. The problem was, the sensors weren’t just exposed: you always had to remove a cover to get at the wiring. The electrician wasn’t allowed to open the cabinets, union rules.
So a screw turner (no idea what his official title was) would open the cabinet, under the watchful eyes of the operational guy, under the watchful eyes of the supervisor, so that the electrical guy could attach a meter to the wires we told him we were interested in. We would then radio back to the computer site to send the test signal.
But we aren’t done yet, because none of us were allowed to look at the meter. Union rules, don’t you know. Only an instrument guy was allowed to take reading, so we had yet another guy who would look at the meter and tell us what he saw.
I could tell stories like that too, but I still believe in unions, just not the insano rules and demarcation disputes with other unions. The answer is not to ban unions, but to prevent them taking over the workplace without having a stake. I believe in both right to work laws *and* right to join unions. They still do good, but they have much less influence here in Australia. Union membership has been falling here for about 40 years, partly as a reaction to the industrial vandalism of the more extreme unions. But I am still glad I was a member of the (don’t laugh!) CPSU up until I retired.
A lot of the problems the motor industry had with the UAW were from taking the path of least resistance. Unfortunately Bush and Obama bailed them out. I’m glad to see more states up north introducing right to work laws.
Chuck,
my condolences as well.
Perhaps it was a relief to her as well. A win, win is always nice.
Yes. The Romans called them capite censi.
Sure, unions do have a purpose. There were genuine, catastrophic abuses by companies (who read “The Jungle” – grotesque stuff). However, unions need to be kept lean and hungry – otherwise they rot like any other entrenched organization.
Seems to me you need to keep a healthy competition, as happens in right-to-work states, i.e, you want to avoid the situation where employees *must* join the union in order to get a job. If the union is genuinely useful to the employees, they will join; if it is just scraping off a portion of everyone’s salary for the union management, then they won’t.
I would have no problems with unions if the government kept their hands off things. That is, companies should have the right to refuse to recognize or deal with a union, fire employees who organize or join a union, blacklist such employees, and so on. And if a union strikes, companies should have the right to use whatever force they deem appropriate to keep unions from interfering with their business, damaging their plant, and so on.
Oh, and I *do* have a problem with any employee on the public payroll being permitted to organize or join a union. Public employee unions are anathema.
I never had to join a union, and for the first 15.5 years of my working life I wasn’t in one. I freely decided to join one at the end of 1995.
If employees join a union I don’t see how that is any business of the employer, nor do I see why public servants should be forbidden to join unions. If I choose to join, or not to join a union that is nobody’s business except mine.
Speaking for myself and not for RBT, I oppose unionization of government employees because the government is “special”: it claims monopoly authority and power over wide areas of life and it claims to be working solely in the public interest. Government is not subject to competition or profitability and it coerces both payment and obedience. Representatives of government (and I phrased that with malice aforethought; “our” representatives in the legislatures represent the concerns of the government more than they ever concern themselves with the citizenry) routinely exempt government operations from the rules they inflict on businesses and citizens.
Government employees should not be allowed to unionize because the game is already slanted in favor of increased government power and decreased government responsibility.
Government employees should not be allowed to unionize because, by their own pious homilies, everyone working for the government is a public servant, dedicated solely to the good of the public.
Government employees should not be allowed to unionize because I want government to be as minimal and ineffective as possible. If that takes a heavily politicized workforce which is selected for relationships rather than for competence, that’s good. If it means that the work environment is so terrible that no one with any ability is willing to work for the government, then that’s a price I’m willing for them to pay.
Public servants need unions to protect themselves from the same things that the general population does: the government.
Government and the higher levels of management can and do try to work over lower level peons like myself, and unions are helpful in representing the latter in disciplinary cases and many other kinds of disputes. If you don’t want to join a union, that’s fine. Just don’t deny that privilege to others. The right to join a union is the flip side of the right not to join. Just as the right to have an abortion is the flip side of the right not to have one, etc.
Of course you have the right to join a union, just as your employer has the right to fire you for no reason or any reason, including you joining a union.
I don’t care if you join a union. I care only that unions have absolutely zero power to compel employers in any way.
Exactly. If the unions really do represent all of the workforce, as they almost always claim, then if the union leadership calls a strike all of the workers and potential workers will refuse to work and the employer will have to give in. On the other hand, if there are enough workers, in the union or not, who are willing to work despite the strike, then the union is effectively powerless…
… Until the union takes some of its buckets of money and buys a law or two.
Oh, and any union members committing any kind of violence or threats of violence should be prosecuted. Or killed. I’d be perfectly fine with shooting up a picket line if they tried to prevent me from crossing. And if the violence was done in the name of the union or by suggestion of the union leadership, go full RICO on them.
I agree that employers should be able to sack whoever they want for whatever reason, whether that is wise is another matter. I also don’t think unions should be able to compel employees, but sometimes the peons have good ideas and it would be smart for employers to listen to them on occasions. I object to a fad we had in Australia in the Seventies called “Industrial Democracy”, whereby unions had a seat on the board without having purchased equity in the business. That’s dumb.
I’m okay with picket lines so long as they don’t actually block people from coming or going.
I’m okay with picket lines so long as they don’t actually block people from coming or going.
My late 1980s boss got a baseball bat through his car windshield in 1982??? while crossing a picket line here in the Great State of Texas at a power plant. The union was talking about going out on strike in 1987 and we central office engineers were going to be helicoptered into the power plants to run them. No cars passing the picket line this time. Would have been a freaking disaster as none of us were trained to operate the specific power plants.
I have no objection if the victims responded with force of their own, or the picketers using violence got jail time or a heavy fine.
The problem with government employees joining a union is this: Often the people responsible for negotiating with the union are themselves members of the union. This is not a problem for companies, because – in the worst case – the company would go bankrupt. In the case of public sector unions, this limitation doesn’t exist, because they are looting the taxpayers.
If you want to allow public sector unions, then you have to somehow prevent the conflict of interest.
The government here has guidelines that are non negotiable for these sorts of of deals. And they like to impose “efficiency dividends”: across the board reductions in a department’s budget without reduction in services provided. Of course, efficiency dividends don’t apply to politicians.
Well, I don’t have to worry about this stuff any more. I no longer have to pay union fees, or superannuation, or a mortgage, so my nett income has basically increased.