On GM bankruptcy could hurt local retirees, employees
Posted on December 1 at 3:12 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I remember all the compassion UAW members had for all those non-union workers who have had to find new jobs whenever GM cancelled contracts with non-union suppliers at the union's insistence to protect union jobs. It's difficult to have compassion for those who have had so little compassion for others. But the issue here isn't so much having compassion for out of work automakers as much as it is should our government supply GM with enough capital to let the gravy train continue to roll both for the advantage of those greedy executives and their less than innocent union workers .
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RUSerious was quick to characterize my contention that union workers get paid "considerably more that the average pay for tightening a bolt or moving a pallet across an isle" as " that bit 'o sh**" but I noticed he didn't deny the truth of it, but then that would be futile, hence the disparagement.
On GM bankruptcy could hurt local retirees, employees
Posted on December 1 at 1:07 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
American union workers live in a paradox. They rail against corporate greed and executive pay ceaselessly. They find easy justification for their generous compensation simply by saying the “big shots” make so much more. Yet, when some question their compensation as being excessive, those who make such a claim are excoriated as jealous while the excessive compensation is defended as “earned”. It’s strange that they can so clearly see the immorality and unfairness in executive compensation while being so blind to the similarity of their own motivations since they do seem to make considerably more that the average pay for tightening a bolt or moving a pallet across an isle.
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GM employees have been blessed, either because they were born into a family of GM workers or because they happened to be at the right place at the right time to become a GM employee. They’ve been blessed because they work for one of the world’s largest and most profitable companies, until now. Some of them claim that they’ve earned their compensation and benefits, which is true, to a point. But now that this mega-employer can’t pay its bills, these employees want the compensation level to continue never the less. They want the federal government, now under complete control of their friends the democrats, to front them the money to carry on with only a minimum of compensation concessions.
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Most Americans know very well that when disaster strikes, most of us have very little to fall back on, such as the homeowner who lost his non-union job and now can’t make his payments. The banker understands that the homeowner isn’t a deadbeat, but business is business and the banker has his own problems so the foreclosure must proceed. GM workers want someone to stop the “foreclosure” that their employer is heading for. For most of us, that is a difficult sell as such a bailout is unavailable to us, particularly since we get stuck with the bill should GM fail anyway which is a strong possibility.
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GM’s retirees are understandably alarmed. They expected GM to be able to uphold its obligations to them ad infinitum, or at least until they passed on. But those obligations are only as dependable as the company that agreed to them. I realize that when a person expects something like this to happen, he begins to feel that he has a right to it, but such is not the case. However, the government already has furnished an alternative, social security and Medicare. No, it’s not as good as what they’ve had until now, but it beats starving and living on the streets.
On Reason for the season: Making time for Advent
Posted on November 29 at 4:56 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Imagine that, an atheist adopting Christian morals (as he perceives them). I suppose they have to adopt someone’s morals, why not Christians’.
As for those instructions on what the “horrid swine” should do, print ‘em up and send them to:
Wheekoodnt Karless
% Itdoont Meennuttin
P.O. Box 666
Uthinkwekarwhatuthink, WY 82666
Feel free to send it postage due.
Posted on November 29 at 4:32 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Maye he'll put Wisconsin in for the federal Bailout-O-Rama.
On UW system considering halving raises
Posted on November 29 at 12:35 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Try to remember that in government, when they increase spending less than they want to it's a cut back, and if they don't increase spending at all, it's referred to as irresponsible draconian cuts. We don't now what an actual decrease in spending would be called as we have never had one.
On Reason for the season: Making time for Advent
Posted on November 29 at 12:21 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
It looks like Testerrific has been shoveling out some of that "fourth guarantee" in life that he so cleverly cited about a month ago.
It seems to me that if one is going to complain about those filthy christian swine, then one ought not be a stranger to cleanliness (of the soul) as Testerrific appears to be in his frequently discourteous posts.
I wonder if he has ever heard of the secularization of Christmas? I guess that detail doesn't fit the point of view he so zealously propounds.
On Put on another sweater: Heating costs may rise
Posted on November 28 at 10:54 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
The fact is that public utilities such as MG&E are regulated monopolies. If they charge more than a consumer wants to pay, too bad, there is no one else to buy that product and service from. Either pay their price of go without.
As a monopoly, the government guarantees a specific profit margin for MG&E so that if their costs rise enough, the PSC must allow rate hikes. Yes, as Janesvillean wrote, the only way a unionized company like that can avoid its rising pension obligations is to have some kind of legal intervention such as bankruptcy. But, a pension obligation is only as good as the company that funds it. The government will not allow MG&E to go bankrupt, but they could intervene with legislation relieving MG&E of some or even all of its pension obligations, but it won’t do that of course, so higher prices are inevitable.
In the private unregulated sector, such as GM, when they raise prices customers need not buy. In fact, with healthy competition in the market place, a company that raises its prices without considering what their customers will think or do usually go bankrupt in spite of Janesvillean’s assumptions of corporate arrogance. Consider the case of a common consumer item, the large screen T.V. How much were they 5 years ago? Last year? How about personal computers? There is lots of competition, no one controls those markets and the prices don’t rise, they fall. A lot.
Now let’s consider GM. They are losing lots of money with each car they sell. They can’t raise their prices to cover their costs (including some impressive pension obligations) as they can barely compete as things are with Toyota et.al. They must cut costs. But they are locked in to those costs with signed contracts, contracts they willing entered into but are now destroying them.
In the final analysis, nothing in life is certain, including pensions.
Why is it that some think that its only fair for everyone to chip in, either with higher taxes or higher prices, to guarantee a high rate of benefits to some, particularly when those benefits are much better than are generally available to those who are expected to foot the bill?
Some people have a warped sense of fairness, it seems.
On Money for Milwaukee Street project not a certainty
Posted on November 26 at 10:11 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
"I don't think there's any hurry to get it done," Brunner said of the tunnel. He nailed that one. I propose they put it off until the twelfth of never.
On System repaired, but work is needed
Posted on November 26 at 10:02 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
tjncj:
It looks like they fixed the story to read 9 1/2 hours now. I wonder why those parents haven't considered the obvious solution to a lengthy bus ride, drive 'em yourself. By law, we (the taxpayers) have to supply students transport who live a certain distance or more from the school, but it doesn't have to be express service. If these bus routes are too inconvenient, why is it the school district's responsibility to relieve that inconvenience? There's no law that says these students have to take the bus.
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On GM bankruptcy could hurt local retirees, employees
Posted on December 1 at 3:47 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
And just what is it that you think they do on an assembly line, RUSerious? It ain't brain surgery.
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By the way, in spite of the typical UAW member's opinion, GM's employees do not represent the typical American worker. In fact, union workers have little more than contempt for typical American workers who are largely non-union and as such, unworthy of consideration for compassion in the opinion of the majority of the union brotherhood.