The Political Discussion Thread

[mad_gater]

you have no concept of "conflict of interest" do you?

public sector workers being allowed to unionize would create a conflict of interest.....one that We the Taxpayer would ultimately bear the costs of

yeah.....don't feed me the bull**** about unions...as if workers aren't capable of representing themselves as individuals in a court of law if they have a grievance against their employer

[Annoyed]

No, if public sector can't have unions, than the private sector can't have unions either. Sorry!

Come back with more great ideas once your working 12h a day with little rest, and little to no payment. No rest on sunday, or saturday. No benefits. No extras. Nothing, nada...

Wait for it... oh yeah... let's go back to child labor to pay the bills which keep coming in.

Spoiler:

http://cobra.be/polopoly_fs/1.124534.../489172963.png

A country without labor unions!

The big difference between private and public sector unions is this: If private company "A"'s unions manage to a get the company to sign a contract which drives their prices too high, I can always go to private company B to buy that product.

I have a choice.

When the government unions get outrageous wage and benefit packages, I have no other choice but to continue to use that governments' services.

If you like, do some research on New York state, it's government and the cost of that government which is driven by the unbelievably generous compensation packages it's employee unions have gotten the state to sign off on. And then look into the business climate in NYS as a result of the taxes required to support this generosity. Exclude NYC from your data, though, because that is an animal unto itself, totally dissimilar from the rest of the state.

Regarding the huff post article you cited. The theory is nice.
But in practice, what you get is a situation where the unionized employees live like kings while those who are not in a union can't afford to buy the products produced by the union folks because the price of the product is too high.

Come to think of it, sorta sounds like NY state; it employees live like kings in comparison to most of the private sector jobholders in this state. (outside of NYC)

In the 1950s, the U.S. was prosperous, optimistic, and buoyant with confidence. And union membership was a staggering 35 percent. Today, we're not only struggling, we're polarized, pissed-off, overfed, underappreciated, pessimistic, and wrapped way too tight. And union membership barely moves the needle.

All true. But the decline in union membership is not the cause of the changes between then and now, rather it's an effect of what happened to the society as a whole. The boomers were indeed prosperous, fat, happy and most importantly, spoiled rotten.

When they assumed positions of power and leadership, their leftist / communist ideas they had as youngsters were put into place, and that is what started the decline of this once great country to the pitiful state she is in nowadays.

[SoulReaver]

No, if public sector can't have unions, than the private sector can't have unions either. Sorry!

actually it should be the other way around

[Falcon Horus]

I'm a proud union member. I can assure if my previous workplace didn't have a union in place, than working conditions would have been equal to slavery. And please, don't tell me an individual can accomplish the same thing a union can cause that's bull poop.

*****

Anyhow... moving on... Belgium has found a way to stick it to France as we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Waterloo Battle where Napoleon Bonaparte was spectacularly defeated by Prusian and British armies.

Euro coin row: France wins the battle, Belgium wins the war

[Annoyed]

Anyhow... moving on... Belgium has found a way to stick it to France as we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Waterloo Battle where Napoleon Bonaparte was spectacularly defeated by Prusian and British armies.

Euro coin row: France wins the battle, Belgium wins the war

They don't like you very much, do they?

[Annoyed]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/13/us...rats.html?_r=0

Just goes to show how seriously frakked up this country is. We have to depend upon the Democrats to stop a bill that a Democratic sorry excuse for a President championed. And this is good news! I expected it to pass.

WASHINGTON — House Democrats rebuffed a dramatic personal appeal from President Obama on Friday, torpedoing his ambitious push to expand his trade negotiating power — and, quite likely, his chance to secure a legacy-defining trade accord spanning the Pacific Ocean.

[Coco Pops]

At least you don't have a somewhat delusional leader who goes on public radio and rants about wind farms..

Our fearless idiot of a PM went on radio 2GB this week and ranted against wind farms. Clearly he and the govt. are in the pockets of mining companies and this is the result. Delusional rants.

Why can't the public eject a govt. when they are like this? Forcibly

[Annoyed]

At least you don't have a somewhat delusional leader who goes on public radio and rants about wind farms..

Our fearless idiot of a PM went on radio 2GB this week and ranted against wind farms. Clearly he and the govt. are in the pockets of mining companies and this is the result. Delusional rants.

Why can't the public eject a govt. when they are like this? Forcibly

I don't know your governmental system, but a few min. on Google indicates the PM is chsen by the party the voters elect.
Can the opposing party be voted in next time it's up for election?

As far as wind farms go, I have no problem with them directly, but in the US, they don't seem to do well unless they are subsidized by the taxpayers. They simply aren't economically competitive on their own. That right there is reason enough to dislike them.

[Falcon Horus]

They don't like you very much, do they?

Oh, it's not about not liking Belgium but more the reminder about their crushing defeat in Waterloo in 1815 when British and Prusian troops gave the Emperor Napoleon what for. He had it coming though. Besides, Belgium didn't even exist back then. Our country wasn't founded until 1830. At the time of that battle we were a part of The Netherlands.

[mad_gater]

At least you don't have a somewhat delusional leader who goes on public radio and rants about wind farms..

Our fearless idiot of a PM went on radio 2GB this week and ranted against wind farms. Clearly he and the govt. are in the pockets of mining companies and this is the result. Delusional rants.

Why can't the public eject a govt. when they are like this? Forcibly

right...there's plenty of arguments that can be made against wind farms that don't make one sound delusional

[Annoyed]

right...there's plenty of arguments that can be made against wind farms that don't make one sound delusional

Actually, as far as I can tell, it's the pro-wind farm folks that are delusional. They suffer the delusion that it's a practical source of energy. If it truly was one, it wouldn't need government subsidies to operate. Private enterprise would be building them so fast you'd have to walk around hunched over to keep from getting your head chopped off by the blades.

[Womble]

Wind turbines can be a practical source of energy, just ask the Chinese and the Indians. It just isn't a universally applicable energy source, and it is useful to supplement rather than replace other sources.

My favorite piece of news today:
Muslim Campaigner: "Mossad Stole My Shoe"
My favorite twitter response:
"When I read this story, I thought, what a croc! But I was wrong. It was a mocassin".

[mad_gater]

right....going 100% wind or 100% solar isn't very feasible because you'd be relying on notoriously transient weather conditions as your primary source of power.....not a good idea....I think the phrase "putting all your eggs in one basket" comes to mind

if only we could harness all the hot air the politicians spew as a source of energy and fuel

[Annoyed]

From what I've read, in the U.S. at least, even as a supplemental source, they aren't viable financially without government (read: taxpayer) assistance. Which is sufficient reason to oppose them.

[SoulReaver]

ditto for oil