Obama tells unions that Card Check will pass this year
posted at 9:37 am on March 4, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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After telling Planned Parenthood that the Freedom of Choice Act was his first priority and the unions that the EFCA was his top issue, it seems as though Barack Obama has managed to avoid both in his first few weeks in office. Yesterday, though, the new president sent a video message to an AFL-CIO leadership meeting insisting that he had not forgotten about his union pals. Obama pledged to get Card Check passed this year:
“We will pass the Employee Free Choice Act,” President Obama told more than 100 top labor officials in a closed-door meeting at the labor federation’s winter gathering in Miami, according to people at the meeting.
The bill would make it easier for unions to recruit workers because it would let them join unions simply by signing cards rather than through secret-ballot elections in which companies can campaign against the union. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations have been campaigning against the legislation.
The president’s remarks were taped on Feb. 20, according to a White House spokesman. Following his remarks, AFL-CIO officials held a meeting with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
Separately, on Wednesday, the AFL-CIO is expected to ask the administration to take a controlling stake in banks that receive government funding and a more active role in restructuring their balance sheets. “We believe the debate over nationalization is delaying the inevitable bank restructuring, which is something our economy cannot afford,” reads a draft of an AFL-CIO statement. Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, is a member of the White House Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
After six weeks of market crashes, it’s hard to see how Obama could foul things up any further — but this would do it. Passing Card Check at this time, with its bypass of the secret ballot and the force of government arbitration behind labor disputes, would send the few capital venture groups screaming out of the marketplace. With assets losing value by the minute and consumer spending at a standstill, the last thing the private sector needs is a hike in labor costs, which is exactly what the EFCA would provide, even disregarding its abuse of American workers.
It’s interesting that Obama isn’t talking about this in public. In the context of today’s market turmoil, it’s understandable, but what does it mean? Does Obama intend on pushing Card Check and stripping American workers of the protection of the secret ballot? Or is Obama pandering to union leaders while keeping his powder dry on labor?
I’d bet that Obama isn’t quite foolish enough to push yet another market-killing bill, but then again, I had also thought that the principle of not raising taxes in a recession was pretty well established by now.
Previous posts on Card Check:
- Will Stern strong-arm unions to join the SEIU?
- Video: Labor officials can’t explain why they need to dump the secret ballot
- Card check a dead letter?
- Audio: Sharpton opposing Card Check?
- Card Check loses a vote? Perhaps
- Video: Blago, SEIU, and Card Check
- DeMint conference call: Card Check, bailouts
- Card Check: A direct pipeline to corruption and abuse
- Can Obama get Democrats to support Card Check?
- Video: The Card Check ad CBS doesn’t want you to see
- Irony escapes the House Democratic Caucus
- Guess who used the secret ballot … again?
- Video: Meet Union Boss Bill
- USA Today: Stop Card Check …
- Video: McGovern on Card Check
- George McGovern to fight Card Check in debate ad
- Video: What if Congress passed Card Check for all elections?
- FRC Action Summit: Barbara Comstock on EFCA
- George McGovern: Stop Card Check
- Where did the SEIU get $150 million for politics?
- Right Online Conference: John Fund
- Maybe this is why they need Card Check?
- Video: “I Hate Heroes”
- Johnny Sac takes on the unions
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Perfectly reasonable union members who sold out and bent over because they were threatened, intimidated, sold out. At what point will perfectly reasonable union members stand up and say “Enough!” At what point?????
We have come to this place in our nation,, because too many perfectly reasonable union members, republicans and others have closed their eyes, shut their mouths and just cashed the check.
I am not saying it doesn’t take courage to stand up and resist. It does. And it is not easy and it costs something. Sometimes a lot. Reputations, friends, your job. But who will do it??? When has it ever been easy to do what was right?????
JellyToast on March 4, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Which would be fine if Obama were offering “socialism.” But he’s not. He’s modeling policies produced by Social Democratic parties in Western Europe. We used to look at those countries and scoff at their unemployment rates (while ignoring their higher quality secondary education, healthier, longer lived populations, lower work hours, and a higher baseline standard of living for the poor). But now what can we point to after 30 years of Reaganomics that indicates they had the wrong idea?
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Businesses and union members overwhelmingly oppose this. Obama is beholden to the union bosses. He’s basicllay giving the workers the middle finger.
The damage he’s doing in so short a period of time may be irreversible. But the media ignores this to tell us how some new poll says how wonderful he is. Of course the idiots agree since they’re not getting the truth.
JammieWearingFool on March 4, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Do you really not see anything horribly incorrect with that statement? Think real hard, and see if you can figure out who you left out of your equation.
Weight of Glory on March 4, 2009 at 10:16 AM
We can point to the $60 trillion hole of Social Security and Medicare you fools dug us to get to Europe.
And that’s just the old people.
Chuck Schick on March 4, 2009 at 10:16 AM
The way Hussein is running things,…one might think he’s a puppet for the devil.
christene on March 4, 2009 at 10:17 AM
The same idiot pushing Card Check also “encouraged” people to go out and buy stock this morning. “A lot of good deals out there”. Too bad he wasn’t wearing white shoes while hawking stock purchases. The man is an idiot when it comes to the economy. When it finally bites him in the ass, you can bet it will all be laid at someone else’s feet.
GarandFan on March 4, 2009 at 10:17 AM
And I’m sure I could round up people who 100% belive in Obama’s economic agenda and who opposed the war, but just can’t get past what their pastors tell them about abortion and gay marriage. It’s insulting for you to assume that just because union members may not like Obama personally doesn’t mean that Reaganomics (because that’s what’s finally being undone here) is actually good for those individuals bottom line. It’s not “inexplicable” that people voted for the candidate whose policies most help out the working person rather than the elite fat cat.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:17 AM
There is something brown stuck between your teeth.
csdeven on March 4, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Obama said on Election Night and again in his Inaugural address that he promised to be “our president too” (i.e. those who did not vote for him.) We do not want massive tax increases, massive new debt, “shock and awe” restructuring of the tax code and the economy. We are tired of watching our retirement funds disappear and the value of our homes continue to slide.
A real leader would know that it’s time to put aside the utopian dreams and union payoffs and FIX WHAT IS BROKEN. The markets continue to tank because they see he is not doing anything to fix what is broken. Investors are beginning to fear that he is perfectly happy to watch the markets burn and investors lose everything.
rockmom on March 4, 2009 at 10:18 AM
You seriously think people sign those cards because they want to? There is no threat to their families and their livelyhood involved? How can you be so naive? Unions have the potential to do good or bad. They give unelected individuals power over peoples lives. They are a hot bed of corrupt power hungry criminals!
You have to have free and independent secret ballots when anyone has power over another person. When anyone claims to speak for a group the group has to use a secret ballot. It is the only way to assure some measure of honesty.
petunia on March 4, 2009 at 10:18 AM
What an absurd statement. Of course it’s coercive. The signatures on the card are not secret. Those who have not signed will be subject to intimidation from the union thugs.
AZCoyote on March 4, 2009 at 10:18 AM
christene on March 4, 2009 at 10:17 AM
Devil or Nazi Collaborator Soros, same guy.
PimFortuynsGhost on March 4, 2009 at 10:18 AM
I am with you on that. But we do no control congress. We can call for all of the investigations we want, but so far it hasn’t done any good on little fish like Murtha and Rangle.
We need to take back congress.
myrenovations on March 4, 2009 at 10:18 AM
If Card Check passes I will NEVER hire a union contractor or ever purchase anything from any unionized company.
chromium on March 4, 2009 at 10:19 AM
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:15 AM
encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com
This is what Mr. President wants. NO THANK YOU.
kingsjester on March 4, 2009 at 10:21 AM
You finally figured it out, huh?
Vashta.Nerada on March 4, 2009 at 10:22 AM
So much for transparency.
csdeven on March 4, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Did you hear of Denny’s Octomom special?
16 eggs, no sausage, and the guy at the next table pays for it all!
Mr. Joe on March 4, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Off topic:
Wow folks, go look at the headline story at Drudge…
Keemo on March 4, 2009 at 10:22 AM
It will apply to all states since it is a federal law. You cannot force people to join a union, but you can make it extremely lucrative to join one. The reason unions are still around is that they promise things like higher wages, better benefits, more vacation time etc to their members. This sounds very good on paper, so why are they in the decline? They hurt business. The unions demand more and more until the business goes bankrupt then everyone loses their job. The only way a business can get rid of a union is to shut down. You can’t close and reopen or move to another state. You have to go out of business permanently. If you are a small business owner and your workers unionize with a major union than you are forced to pay higher everything or else they are able to take you to court.
I wholeheartedly believed unions were a necessary part of the economy until ~1945. After that they became parasitic. Today’s businesses have almost nothing in common with those that were around 100 years ago. A strike is not the worse thing that can happen to a company. The worse thing is bad PR. If you are a business and have bad press you will lose market share, new opportunities, and employees. This makes unions obsolete in my opinion.
txaggie on March 4, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Under card check employees can, if they so choose, conduct a secret ballot election. That doesn’t go away with the legislation. That poll represents a falsehood about card check and polls THAT, not the actual bill.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Stupid…try to be a non-union member in a union shop…try to be a non-union teacher…if it exists, it demands you pay. And some states make it mandatory to take bids from only union shops.
You poor naive fool…try to build a building in New York with non-union workers…and see how many show up for work at the end of the first 30 days. See how many homes are shot at, fire-bombed, at the end of 60 days…and see how many inspectors refuse your work at the end of 120 days. You and your family, would be lucky to be alive…
That is a fact, and that is what you are supporting…union terrorists.
And just to give you perspective, one of the worst days of my life was going to the hospital to console one of my truck drivers who delivered a pallet of sauce to a grocery company during a strike, pulled out of his truck (after a bat broke his window), and he was dragged out and beaten, beaten by hired thugs. His wife was devastated…especially after receiving the heartfelt note that “next time it will be him visiting you”…and this was just a typical union grocery strike.
right2bright on March 4, 2009 at 10:23 AM
I would like to purchase some “Rezko Home and Garden” stock, can Obama tell me how to do that?
I’m way out in front of you, because in my experience, union labor is shoddy, surely, does a half job and costs twice as much as non-union labor.
Union labor sucks.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Your right, the last 30 years of prosperity have been so heinous, lets take the Dow back to 1980 and start all over again.
Dumb Ass
PappaMac on March 4, 2009 at 10:23 AM
You have a serious case of class envy.
sherry on March 4, 2009 at 10:23 AM
In the Obama
administrationrulling party,, that may be considered discrimination and the penalty imprisonment with loss of all property!JellyToast on March 4, 2009 at 10:24 AM
It’s been 60 years, why isn’t Germany socialist yet?
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Link please…
right2bright on March 4, 2009 at 10:24 AM
You are officially a fool now.
Vashta.Nerada on March 4, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Prepare to go bankrupt…
right2bright on March 4, 2009 at 10:25 AM
What experience have you had with unions and union membership drives, or do they not have unions for ferris wheel operators?
AubieJon on March 4, 2009 at 10:25 AM
If that takeover was then followed by a takeover of all manufacturing, agriculture, the entire service sector, the NFL, NASCAR, all private education, etc etc etc…then yes, that would be marxist.
apples and oranges…socialism is an economic structure, democracy a political one.
ernesto on March 4, 2009 at 10:26 AM
The engine that allowed Europe to function even while they took on socialism was Captitalism. Wall Street and America are the source of the world’s weatlth. That can not continue when our government is socialist too.
This drives the world into poverty.
The GDP of our socialist countries never gets very high. No wealth is produced.
Freedom has to exist somewhere. Now it won’t. We will all be poor together.
petunia on March 4, 2009 at 10:27 AM
He has a serious case of “little balls of shit rolling out of his mouth”.
csdeven on March 4, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Probably because Mr. Gorbachev tore down that wall.
Freedom is a great and marvelous thing. Our Founding Fathers sure thought so.
kingsjester on March 4, 2009 at 10:27 AM
“We will pass the Employee Free Choice Act,”
Isn’t the premise of the bill/legislation a misnomer????
Who do these idiots think they’re fooling?
Rovin on March 4, 2009 at 10:27 AM
What will the Socialists do when people finally get fed up enough to stop working unless they get to keep their income, which is rightfully theirs in the first place?
Saltysam on March 4, 2009 at 10:28 AM
True, but you can require them to pay dues even if they elect to not join the local protection racket, er, union. Some choice.
patriette on March 4, 2009 at 10:28 AM
You still believe Obama and the dems actually want to help the economy? How much more evidence to the contrary do you need? Not only with their policies but with their constant talking down of the economy it is hard not to think that this is by design. Destroy the free market, eliminate the middle class, nationalize finances, weaken federalism, and the road is pretty well paved for a radically increased dependency on the federal government.
neuquenguy on March 4, 2009 at 10:28 AM
Mr Gorbachev didn’t tear down the wall. He just told his soldiers to stop shooting at the people who did.
JellyToast on March 4, 2009 at 10:29 AM
Which one, contributing nothing to national defense, while allowing the American military to protect your country?
See how well that works once the Obama-Mugabe regime bankrupts the country.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 10:29 AM
It’s one thing to raise the price of labor in response to demand. That represents the natural flow of “capital” and is actually good for the economy since it sends the signal that a labor shortage exists.
This crap simply raises the unit costs of anything produced for reasons tha have nothing to do with the market. The unit cost incrrease reduces competitive pricing. As a consumer, I’ll go with the lower price and these new unionized businesses will be SOL.
Who benefits? Foreign producers, or any business that avoids this crap.
Nice going…
karl9000 on March 4, 2009 at 10:29 AM
Back that up or dummy up. Link, please.
JammieWearingFool on March 4, 2009 at 10:30 AM
I love ya Ed, but you’re viewing this all wrong. You see Obama as a political enemy making mistakes. From that angle all his actions just don’t make sense. No one, regardless of ideology, could be stupid enough to believe all these actions will help the economy. This kind of stupid is beyond explanation. The way you need to be looking at Obama is as a radical leftist hell bent on destroying America so he can gain complete despotic control and remake America in his image. From this angle everything makes sense. All the puzzle pieces fit. The more that things go wrong the more the useful idiot populace turn to the government to help. The more institutions are wrecked, the more the government can take over. We own many of the banks. When his forced abortion bill goes through most of the Catholic hospitals will close. Now we have to go to the government health clinics to get socialist healthcare. The more chaos, the more control. We are going to jump over the soft socialism of Europe Ed. Obama and his ilk will intentionally push us into economic and cultural collapse so he can gain tyrannical control. For a long time I assumed it would be nation defined and fascist. But now, with all the ‘global new deal’ new world order catch phrases being thrown around think Communism. An international socialist regime of evil and oppression. Sadly, from this angle everything Obama and his ilk do makes perfect and horrifying sense. Everyone has to look at it from this perspective if we are to defeat it. And its hard. Good people can’t grasp the true depths of evil. But we must try if we are to succeed.
chicagojedi on March 4, 2009 at 10:30 AM
That would be the keg of powder that finally throws down.
Either this would be the “tea party” that would lead to and American Revolution 2.0, or the leftards would finally learn, once and for all, how socialism leads to forced labor.
Saltysam on March 4, 2009 at 10:30 AM
When I was a graduate student I was part of a drive to expand the membership of the GEO and worked as part of the bargaining team for the contract with the University. I went door to door, I passed out fliers, I got people to sign cards and I never threatened anyone with a baseball bat or anything. The one “big union” person who came to campus was an organizer for the AFT and he was incredibly helpful in framing our stance against the Administration. As a result, grad students saw a larger pay increase than non-unionized workforces on campus and an expansion in child care benefits for grad students with kids. The world did not end.
Will you dismiss any link associated with a union? The news media merely presents the labor side and the management side of the interpretation of the bill. The bill itself HAS language that allows for workers to choose whether they’d like to have an NRLB election.
http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?article_1_198
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:31 AM
No, Socialism forbids Democracy. Once you vote to go Socialist you can’t unvote it. (If you have people voting on how they want their leadership to act it’s not socialist…)
Skywise on March 4, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Purchase foreign goods exclusively and hire labor under the table.
The American people will find a way to bypass union thug labor.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 10:33 AM
The goal is California style liberal domination where the unions are bribed and pandered too in exchange for huge TV ad campaigns and a permanent majority.
Speakup on March 4, 2009 at 10:33 AM
chicagojedi on March 4, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Very good post comrade…
Keemo on March 4, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Let’s pay attention to the last 30 years on these subjects:
- Education: The Dept of Education was created ~30 years ago. Hmmmmm. America has the best universities in the world. Why? Our universities resemble a free market system (less so lately). In many countries in Europe they have school. choice below the university level. So I agree with you on this, let’s emulate Europe…are you on board?
- Health: If there is life expectency difference between the USA and Europe, I very much doubt it has to do with Health care. It is most likely our diet (soda, fatty foods, etc.).
- Lower Work hours: Wippy-doo. FOr many people, and may be a majority, work makes you feels good and productive.
- Higher baseline standard of living: Very debateable. Our per capita income is higher than the major European countries. But I would venture to guess that our country provides more income mobility than the European countries.
WashJeff on March 4, 2009 at 10:34 AM
No, it forbids CHOICE. You still get to vote yes or no, not that the no means anything. Unless, of course, no is the desired answer by the state.
karl9000 on March 4, 2009 at 10:34 AM
Of course it does and that’s a public choice too…
And the same coercion that will be used to force people to sign the “public cards” is the same coercion that will be used to check the box saying “I don’t want a secret election”.
Yeah you just forced US to pay higher education costs.
Skywise on March 4, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Well….that’s a link to a non-biased source to back up your statement. You have never been outside of academia, have you? You have no idea how the world works. They have web sites that you can build your perfect world. Please use these and leave the rest of us alone.
genso on March 4, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Would that be the same thing as a community organizer?
AubieJon on March 4, 2009 at 10:36 AM
JellyToast on March 4, 2009 at 10:29 AM
Well, that’s true, too. I just want to reference the Gipper’s great oratory. If he had not put Gorbachev on the spot, who knows what would have happened?
kingsjester on March 4, 2009 at 10:36 AM
I would love to hear from an expert about the ability of our military to protect the citizens from our government if/when the government is harming the citizens on purpose.
Government of the people, by the people, and for the people… At what point does protective measure kick in?
Keemo on March 4, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Yeah, that worked so well, didn’t it?????
“For decades Sweden was the premier welfare state. Progressives touted its smorgasbord of subsidies that ranged from government-run day care to nearly unlimited sick leave. But to pay for all that Sweden imposed taxes that at one point consumed 56 percent of the nation’s output. The Swedish people, saddled with inefficient monopoly services and two decades of low growth, finally voted the Socialists out of power last fall.
Carl Bildt, Sweden’s new 42-year-old conservative prime minister, aims to steer Sweden back into the family of freemarket nations. “Collectivism and socialism have been thrown on the scrap heap of history,” he told us during a recent visit. “There is no compromise worth having between state control and capitalism.”
After only six months in power, Mr. Bildt has already abolished taxes on wealth and inheritance, cut government spending by two percent in real terms, and begun an aggressive privatization program. Services from medicine to child care are being opened up to private competition.”
Why our “educated” patrons
hereacross this nation that think this model has any merit while it’s been tried and failed is beyond stupidity.Rovin on March 4, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Our military members will never harm the American people.
They will turn on the federal government long before then.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Very onerous. This administration has demonstrated an anti-business agenda and a willingness to curb economic vitality for political and idological reasons. There is absolutely no reason to believe that this administration will be an impartial actor when it compels arbitration.
moxie_neanderthal on March 4, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Ben Smith has done a series of reports at Politico about the union feuds going on. They should be more widely read.
The AFL-CIO is accusing Stern of interfering in their democratic process. Earlier this year, the health care workers accused Stern’s people of thuggery and intimidation.
This from the guy pushing for card check to protect employees from employer intimidation.
Stern is trying to buy card check, and then he’ll turn his bullying tactics on the rest of the country.
It has to be stopped, and it can be if more people know about Stern.
MayBee on March 4, 2009 at 10:40 AM
DTMH’s
At what point will any of this be O’s responsibility? 6 mos, 12 mos, 2 years? At what point should we expect his actions to produce results? Not until 2012? If you think that people won’t be affected by 10+% UE and DOW sub-$5k then your’e as nutty as O and his clan are. He’s rushing this stuff through b/c he has to know that the Dems stand a chance (greater every day) that they’ll get killed in 2010. And that’s just on the domestic issues, and it assumes no major int’l missteps from the WH.
Make no mistake, O is still in his honeymoon period and since he hasn’t really produced anything tangible (save massive spending) in terms of economic growth then he’ll get a pass for now (I’d say until YE 2009). BUT, if he doesn’t create (or save-whatever that means) 4MM jobs by 2012, he’s cooked. He’s simply spent too much to not produce big results. That’s why card check is a loser – it will be detrimental to the aggregate economy. O knows this or he’d pump this issue publically instead of in private. I’ll give O this, he’s not afraid to gamble – he’d better hope that he hasn’t dealt himself a losing hand though.
volnation on March 4, 2009 at 10:41 AM
Exactly, in Belgium, there are no public schools. Primary education is funded publicly (as it should be), but all education is provided privately.
The schools compete for students, by pleasing their customers.
Whereas here, we’re forced to pay sky high taxes to support crappy, unimaginative, unproductive public “schools”.
I’d like to ask Obama-Mugabe why he sends his kids to a private school. At least Jimmy Carter had the integrity to send Amy to DC public schools.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 10:43 AM
No question European nations have benefited from foreign, wall street investment and are suffering a bit now as our markets freeze up. But that, to me, is part of the problem. Instead of having policies that ensured more Americans can consume products, we’ve spent the last 30 years bolstering foreign markets that no longer buy any goods made in the U.S. Until we start manufacturing again it doesn’t make sense to prop up consumers in other markets. Considering how excited European nations are about green technologies it certainly makes sense to take a few years to ensure that this nation controls the manufacture of alternative energy products and produces them domestically.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Never, according to the Dems.
Their only real “plan” is to blame Republicans forever.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 10:44 AM
I think it will take a decade for this economy to fully recover. Two terms and Hillary in 2016 should do it. It took about that long to get out of the Depression and establish the social safety net/public-private partnerships/keynesian programs that created the suburbs, the middle class, the interstate highway system and a new wave of American manufacturing. Transformation doesn’t happen by March of a new Administration.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Unfortunately, this radical liberal government (President and huge Congress majorities) were elected by our fellow citizens. We really do not want the military to decide whether a government is following the will of the people or not.
This country’s democracy is in big trouble and I fear that it is the result of the deterioration of our culture, concertedly helped along by our liberal media and educational institutions.
That is what needs to be reversed, not the will of the people.
neuquenguy on March 4, 2009 at 10:47 AM
Our rate of manufacturing eclipses Europe, you’re an idiot.
We just don’t make cheap crap here, like t-shirts and the other trinkets you can buy from third-world hellholes like China.
No one in America raises their kids to sew t-shirts for a living.
We have the most productive workers in the world, we have the best technology and we invent more than any other country.
But because the Obama-Mugabe regime wants to take us back to the times of the Industrial Revolution with women bent over sewing machines again, he’s on a mission to destroy our economy.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 10:47 AM
By 2016 the Democrat Party will cease to exist and it will be destroyed by enraged American citizens.
Whatever country Hillary is in by 2016, Russia or whatever, can elect that idiot all that they like.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 10:49 AM
What will they pay the “employees” with…rationed cheese?
How excited are you about nuclear energy? The government controls the manufacture of this…where the hell is it?
Saltysam on March 4, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Once again-
you idiots already sold our futures down the river on the social safety nets called Medicare and Social Security.
$60 trillion in the hole and growing by 2-3 trillion each year.
You simply don’t have the money to turn us into Europe.
And Europe doesn’t have the money to continue being Europe.
Utopia is all fun and games to you little rascals, till the bill comes due.
Chuck Schick on March 4, 2009 at 10:50 AM
I’m trying to change my focus from arguing and criticizing to thinking about strategies to survive this insanity. For example, I’m planning to add wood heat as a backup for next winter. It’s cheap insurance against a disruption in energy supplies. Many of the survivalist’s ideas that once appeared a bit kooky are starting to seem much more rational to me now.
Bugler on March 4, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Good luck in your new world. How, BTW, are you planning on paying for this utopia? It certainly won’t be with Dear Leader’s program. You don’t like having an elite class of capitalists but you will be okay with an elite class of socialists? Do you think you will be among that elite? LOL…Stalin purged academia. Seems there was no room for people that could think.
genso on March 4, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Obama supports public funds for chater schools and expanding charter schools, do you even pay attention to him. But let’s also look at how Belgium and other nations treat the job of teaching. It’s an incredibly well paid position in these countries and, as a result, attracts the best and brightest. Teachers must go through rigorour multi-year training processes and must constantly be retrained. I’ve never seen unions resist those kinds of methods. What they resist is using test scores as “incentive” in the absence of a serious investment in teacher quality.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Their only real “plan” is to blame
Republicansthe Declaration of Independence forever.NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 10:44 AM
Saltysam on March 4, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Don’t have time for those who compare Obama to Stalin, it’s a stupid attempt at baiting. Be smarter.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Perhaps you missed, Obama is working on medicaire reform via his healthcare bill.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Man…this web site is sloooooow. I’ve got 5 open and all are very quick except this one.
genso on March 4, 2009 at 10:52 AM
I thought we’d make it to August before someone advocated a military coup.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:53 AM
Or we could just take a cue from Europe and make our own damn nuclear power plants instead of wasting money on inefficient boondoggles like wind and solar.
Wind and solar will NEVER be viable for mass energy production. Their problem is not efficiency, it’s output and distribution. Oil is portable, sunshine and wind are not. Oil works regardless of outside conditions, solar and wind do not. Oil has an immense output but bad efficiency, solar and wind have incredible efficiency but laughable output.
“Green technology” is a scam to inflate the price of corn-based products.
BKennedy on March 4, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Oh, some esoteric future generation will pay for it…
Saltysam on March 4, 2009 at 10:54 AM
No….you just have no defense for it. The truth must not see the light of day for you. Tell me that you don’t want a socialist state and I’ll stop. In the meantime, Ostalin has a nice ring to it.
genso on March 4, 2009 at 10:54 AM
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:53 AM
As usual, you were wrong…
Keemo on March 4, 2009 at 10:54 AM
It’s spelled Medicare, and Obama just expanded it by another hundred billion. Who could miss that?
Chuck Schick on March 4, 2009 at 10:55 AM
I think manufacturing is given too much focus when it relates to jobs. Watching shows like How It’s Made you see that there are not many jobs involved with manufacturing many items nowadays. These manufacturing plants are highly automated. Many jobs I do not think people could mental survive for more than a month (e.g., Holding a bag so insulation can slide into it).
I am all for manufacturing stuff in the US, and we do make a lot of stuff. More manufacturing does not equate to numerous well paying jobs.
WashJeff on March 4, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Maobama.
Saltysam on March 4, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Good grief, are you willfully ignorant, or just stupid? Nothing in your list was due to FDR or Keynesian economics. Nevermind, I just answered my own question.
Vashta.Nerada on March 4, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Trashing the country, the rotten s.o.b.
petefrt on March 4, 2009 at 10:56 AM
What evidence do you have to support that statement? (that people in academia can think ;o0)
neuquenguy on March 4, 2009 at 10:56 AM
I just got it,..lol…pretty good.
christene on March 4, 2009 at 10:56 AM
I’ll go with willfully stupid. He is the definition of a useful idiot.
genso on March 4, 2009 at 10:58 AM
I stand corrected and justifiably chastised. ;]
genso on March 4, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Really? Bull.
Will he stop Turbin Durbin from nixing the voucher program in DC? The one that allows kids to attend Sidwell Friends along with the precious Obama offspring who are too good to attend public schools with the grubby urchins of DC?
Obama is a hypocrite for sending his children to a private school and he’s too balless to stop Durbin.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 11:00 AM
I completely agree. The day Americans raise their kids to work on assembly lines are completely over and I say good riddance.
What we do manufacture, requires highly specialized, highly trained individuals.
Yes, you can’t buy cheap trinkets in the US and most things you buy say “Made in China”. So what?
The expensive, high-tech stuff we buy is invented, designed, supported and serviced in the US and that’s what matters.
Not more t-shirt sewing jobs, like the Democrats want.
NoDonkey on March 4, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Because the students have choice of schools, the teachers have choice. The good teachers can pick the place of employment that suits their economic and social needs. This employment competition increases the pay that the good teachers receive. Simple supply and demand.
WashJeff on March 4, 2009 at 11:05 AM
It’s not “inexplicable” that people voted for the candidate whose policies most help out the working person rather than the elite fat cat.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 10:17 AM
If that were truly the case, how come unemployment is going up, the market is dropping and yet somehow the Obama elites are getting cushy govt jobs and bailouts the likes we have never seen? AIG getting more money, UAW, er GM, getting more money, I’m out of work and will not be hired to build a road or fix a bridge, so where is my bailout? Oh that’s right, I played by the rules and lived within my means so that means I’m screwed so that Peggy the Moocher doesn’t have to worry about putting gas in her car or paying her mortgage. F’it, I think I’ll just move to the hills and stock up on ammo.
Jamewah on March 4, 2009 at 11:09 AM
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