Labor On

There is an element of poignancy surrounding this holiday weekend. Labor Day was first celebrated as a national holiday in 1894 after President Grover Cleveland signed legislation designating the first Monday of September as “dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.” The painful reality is that roughly 20% of our nation’s workforce is either unemployed or working part-time while seeking full-time employment. One out of 5 of our country’s workers are suffering from this devastating economy. An impact so grave and massive must radiate throughout the economy and negatively influence the lives and livelihoods of most of our citizens. Thus, even many enterprises that haven’t been directly impacted by the sputtering economy are experiencing lost business and revenues because of the huge number of workers who are not receiving their typical pay check.

Given the agenda of the Obama administration and the historic taxation and spending policies of Congress, maybe we should rename this day as Former Labor Day. A nation that works will prosper and a country “at ease” will falter. The regulatory and taxation environments in the United States are the antithesis of good policy for economic growth and by extension, job opportunities for willing workers. When everyone is working, the nation prospers. Oh yes, there are always pockets of the economy that may be in transition or decline, but active enterprise encourages innovation and development. When the government over-controls and over-regulates, the pace of the nation’s economy slows as manufacturers, distributors and retailers attempt to discern the impact of the government’s latest intervention. Rules, laws and regulations have direct influences on the producing sector, but many economists fail to detect or acknowledge the indirect aspects …. uncertainty, apprehension and frustration which, in turn, lead to a tentative approach.

It has often been stated that Government does not produce anything. I disagree. Government does produce chaos and confusion. In my rare moments of clarity I have wondered how a nation so rich, so vibrant and so innovative could allow its wealth-creation mechanism to be controlled by elected career politicians and appointed bureaucrats. They are not creators or generators of wealth and value. They are parasitic blood-sucking consumers of the labor and inspiration of others. In Atlas Shrugged the producers withdraw from the distorted market created by the insatiable government and its sycophantic corporate enablers. Scarily, we find ourselves in a similar environment today.

The ideological underpinnings of the United States’ labor movement are rooted in the “proletarian rights” movement of the late 19^th and early 20^th Centuries. These socialist/communist efforts capitalized on the glaring inequities in labor-management encounters. Local disputes were expanded to company-wide and sector-wide negotiating (demanding) units. As a result, entire sectors of the economy could be brought to a screeching halt because of some real or imaginary slight or rule violation in some plant in Peoria. The powerless worker of the 19^th Century has become the surly tail that wags the dog.

Although the increased power of organized labor has had a powerful influence in the private sector, the greatest and most ominous element is in the public sector of the United States. As the private enterprise union membership has been dwindling in market share throughout the country because of many corporations moving offshore or relying on hi-tech automation systems to control costs and enhance productivity, the public sector organizing has gained momentum. Even though fewer than one in six workers in the nation belong to either a private or public sector union or bargaining unit, their power and potential far exceed their true numerical proportion.

Their real power is based on the fact that they are organized and generally sympathetic with one another plus they have penetrated critical sectors of the economy and the government. If unions were dogs, I would compare them to Yorkies……with rabies. Certainly, organized labor has in many respects benefited workers and the nation by assuring safety and reasonable wages in the workplace. Too much of a good thing can topple the pyramid of prosperity, however as corporations are forced to downsize or move, and governments are trapped by unreasonable contractual commitments. The never-ending gravy train has run out of gravy.

Finally, this little Labor Day diatribe will conclude with my puzzled query. This is the United States of America….a nation founded on liberty and individual rights….how is it that so many of our work force have become dedicated to the collective control of our country while risking everything? At the risk of appearing calloused or insensitive, I suggest that those among you who are absolutely committed to your union under any and all circumstances are not worthy of liberty. True freedom requires responsibility, and anyone who voluntarily transfers your freedom to a union or the government deserves to be perpetually shackled in serfdom to your chosen master….and it seems that you are.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Tue. & Wed., 6-7pm 1370 WSPD, Toledo  www.wspd.com

UofA vs. EPA

In these perilous times for our nation and several of our states and communities, it seems as if new fissure points are deepening in our civil structure. For several decades union membership in the private sector has been declining as our heavy manufacturing industries have relocated to right-to-work states, moved offshore or upgraded to highly automated facilities. The labor unions, thirsting for the constant inflow of dues money, have shifted their focus toward retail establishments, service jobs and public sector employees to maintain their accustomed level of financial and political viability. Overall union membership continues to decline as a percentage of the population, but the militant unionization of the public sector has dramatically altered the dynamics of labor-management relations. Public sector employees negotiate their contracts with unelected supervisors and elected officials who can claim to be neutral even though many of them receive campaign contributions and union-based volunteers at election time.

Because of the dwindling private sector union base, the public sector organization efforts have become more robust and intense. This development, I believe, will become a self-defeating movement for public sector labor and for taxpayer-supported government. By unionizing public sector employees at a dizzying rate, unions have placed the civil service rules of the past century on steroids regarding the government’s ability to remove ineffective or corrupt workers. Many union contracts have constructed various hurdles and barriers to protect the unworthy employee, thereby requiring that others be hired to do the work that doesn’t get completed.

In addition, by funneling millions of dollars of campaign contributions and thousands of campaign “volunteers” into the election efforts of liberals and progressives (primarily), the unions are contributors toward the massive growth of government that so many of them are lusting for. Growing governments yield exploding bureaucracies that exceed the abilities of the political class or the people to control them. The union, nevertheless, is somewhat satiated because of their increasing rolls in the public sector even though their numbers for growth appear to lag behind the private sector losses. So, how many “good-paying middle class jobs” has an overzealous Environmental Protection Agency cost our nation, our local communities….and the unions who organized the laborers? How many union jobs have nit-picking bureaucracies from the entire spectrum of government, controlling departments lost because of their senseless oversight policies? While union leaders and their fundraisers scamper to expand their reach in the public sector, they continue to place private sector jobs at risk. Union members should ask their elitist, socialist-leaning organizers why they insist on killing or maiming hefty private sector jobs so they can squeeze more money for their political cronies.

Private sector workers must realize that their “leaders” are not looking out for them or their welfare. They are merely exchanging public and service dues-paying members for the losers who built their organizations. Every time some big-government rule from the bureaucracy impedes a private sector employer from growing or functioning well, a laid-off or ‘pink-slipped” union employee may be the ultimate recipient of the Big Brother overreach. Big government increases the tax burden for private sector union workers and places their jobs in jeopardy by over-regulating, over-licensing and bureaucratic foot dragging. Big Government’s inherent hostility toward the private sector has undermined its capacity for growth and prosperity…thus diminishing good job opportunities for the workforce.

It should be noted that a labor union wields the most power when it represents skilled workers in a labor-shortage environment. The union leadership’s efforts to organize service and retail workers will fill their financial coffers, but will not result in significant gains for the members. Maids, clerks and wait staff can be hired off the street after a couple of day’s work stoppage. It is more difficult to hire machinists and mechanics because so few people possess the requisite skill set. It seems, therefore, the modern movement to bolster union membership in the public sector could be the saving grace for a dwindling private sector group. The unions may be signing their own death knell with their new emphasis. Private sector workers may finally get a clue, and ignore or dismiss the leaders who have undermined them by promoting big government and massive bureaucracies. The public, the taxpayers, the people may withdraw or resist the expansionist efforts of the unions and big-government advocates.  The basket of tolerance can hold only so many eggs of higher taxes, government indebtedness and bureaucratic meddling before the eggs begin to break. The people’s discontent may rise to the point that the entire public sector will be either radically restructured or become so powerful that there will be no one remaining to pay the freight. Either way, the Marxist-leaning unionist’s strategy may backfire….as it should.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com      or     www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Tail, Meet Dog.

The late nineteenth and the twentieth century was a period of amazing global economic growth. Resources were discovered and new industries blossomed as the world, and particularly the United States, became powerful industrial enterprises. The drilling of the oil well at Titusville, Pennsylvania, added a new dimension to the coal-fired industrial movement already in progress. Mining, manufacturing, drilling, smelting, assembly and transportation all experienced phenomenal growth. New workers migrated from the farms and small villages of America to seek jobs in the new industrial environment. Although the jobs were plentiful as the economy accelerated, some of the titans of industry abused their workers as they sought to capitalize on the growth and secure near-monopolistic market share.

If you are familiar with the Tennessee Ernie Ford song, “Sixteen Tons,” you probably recall the line “and I owe my soul to the company store.” Some manufacturing and mining companies constructed entire villages complete with stores nearby the worksite. These developments were constructed for the hordes of workers who arrived from the towns and farms of rural America. A worker could receive staples and other items from the store, and his purchases would be deducted from his weekly paycheck. Some of the “company stores” charged exorbitant prices, and the workers would find themselves in debt to the store…a position of virtual bondage.

Workplace safety was a huge issue in the early days of the United States’ economic expansion. The old technologies and some of the newer ones were extremely dangerous, and workers would suffer debilitating injuries or even die. Though the owners of the mining and industrial appear to be insensitive and calloused, their recognition of the dangers associated with their work places may have been somewhat blunted by the steady stream of new workers arriving from offshore and rural America. There were some workers or their advocates who rightly recognized that many of the working conditions in industrial America were deplorable and dangerous. As a result, they sought to organize the workers to achieve safer conditions at the worksites and better contracts for the employees. There are several nuanced elements of the early labor movement in the United States that I have left out of this little flashback…such as some of the international unions’ affiliations with the socialists or communists. My purpose was to provide a thumbnail sketch of the environment when industrial unionization began.

Zoom forward to the present time. For the most part unionization of the industrial and extraction industries has been successful. Conditions have dramatically improved as technology and contracts have provided safer, more humane worksites and conditions. In addition the unionization movement has spread to other sectors of the national scene such as retail workers, the craft trades and government employees. The unions’ efforts have been so successful and pervasive that it is difficult to identify a sector of the national economy that has not been impacted by them. The power of the labor movement has been assisted by various states allowing the “closed shop” rules that make it mandatory for an employee to join the union at a given company. The forced membership has generated huge amounts of money to underwrite full-time union officers and employees and provides vast sums for political activities to assure that union-friendly politicians are elected to office in local, state and national positions.

Just like a government program that seeks to over regulate within its sphere after its original mandate has been achieved, the labor movement has morphed beyond its initial purpose. Nonsensical workplace rules, restrictive prevailing wage laws and massive political power have transformed the union movement from that which protects the abused into one which often is the abuser. The public good and the community’s, state’s and nation’s best interests have been thrust aside to protect the greedy interests of the “working people.” Incompetent or slothful employees are protected by the system while energetic and creative ones are discouraged. As a result, the balance has shifted from insensitive industrial barons to greedy, power hungry union bosses and capos whose primary interest is their own self-interest. They do not serve the nation, and consequently they do not serve their membership. If the nation falters or fails, so do the “workers.” The bosses will slink off to their island retreats, smoke their high-priced stogies and enjoy the good life. Our country, our people and our children will be left holding the bag. The new dangerous alliance in America is the government, big weak-willed corporations, and huge immoral unions. It is a mixture and a recipe for disaster.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com     or   www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.co     

The Stadium....

As a child, I had the good fortune to be reared on a Seneca County, Ohio farm. During my elementary school years the district was comprised of our small village and the surrounding townships, but just prior to my entering junior high school, our little local school consolidated with two other small country districts to form a much larger new school district (I should note that the new school was and is still a “small” school). Our little village school had competed athletically with the others for years (perhaps decades), and there was considerable dating and intermarriage among the families of each of them, so the new culture was not much different from the old…just larger. There was some hangover from the historic rivalries as they newly-formed school board sought to find a location for building the new high school complex. The three older schools would continue as elementary and junior high facilities. 

Despite the lingering sense of loss by the old timers, many in the new district worked together to forge a new identity. Their small town, farm values would not allow them to indifferently stand by as the new community developed its own unique persona. As a youngster in the system, I was thrilled about the prospects for the new school. I was a football fan, and the original three schools did not play football…just basketball, track and baseball (pre Title IX). My mother’s brothers played at a nearby district, and I enjoyed the opportunity to attend my youngest uncle’s games. Also when I was eight years old, one my uncles took me to see my first Ohio State game at Ohio Stadium. It was sleeting, snowing and windy as we sat in “C” Deck (way up in the nose bleed section) and cheered for the Buckeyes as they battled Wisconsin. I was a football fan…and our new school was seriously considering adding football. They did add the sport, but I faced some difficulty as I attempted to get on the field. Our family was a farm family, and my Dad suspected that football would interfere with my chores at home.

We ganged up on my Dad. My uncles, my mother and I reasoned, pleaded, promised and begged so that I could put on the pads and follow my heart. The summer before my sophomore year Dad relented. He did more than merely give in because he took his truck and moved our new coach into the area. In the previous two years our school had not yet won while playing a JV schedule, but our new coach brought organization and optimism to the program and the district. We went 1-9 my sophomore year. Our first season with a varsity schedule. Bad? Certainly, but we won the first game in school history. Woo hoo. Our junior year we were 6-3-1 and shared a three-way tie for first place in the conference, and our senior year we finished at 7-2-1…good enough for 2^nd place. We NEVER played a home game because we did not have a stadium. Every Friday or Saturday game included a bus ride.

During the winter of my senior year, the school’s booster club announced that they were going to construct a football stadium. In today’s world we would tap the business community for big bucks to do it, but it didn’t work that way in the farm culture. Yes, they raised funds, but not very much. They raised enough to buy unassembled bleachers for home and visitors and lights to brighten the field. Then they began to work. Volunteers surveyed the field and set grades, and other volunteers moved the dirt and sowed the grass seed. A convoy of farm trucks drove to the manufacturing plant to pick up the stands to save shipping costs. Boosters used hammers, squares and donated lumber to construct a press box/coaches perch, concession stand and ticket booth. Farmers, merchants and factory workers assembled bleachers, erected the donated light poles, strung electrical wire, ran the plumbing and equipped the concession stand. The fall after my graduation was the inaugural season for the new stadium.

In the 47 years since the stadium was built, the wooden bleacher seats have been replaced by metal ones, the press box was improved and enlarged, the concession was made bigger, and a new work out locker-room facility has been added. The original bleacher structure still stands. In the past 47 years no one has been injured by collapsing bleachers, nor has anyone been electrocuted due to faulty wiring. The press has remained on top of the stadium, and no one has suffered from unsanitary food or conditions in the concession stand. And there have been some darn good football teams and players on that field. My dad was an instrumental force behind the community action for the stadium. He was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame for his efforts to build the field. Unfortunately, he passed on before his recognition, but he was a tremendous example of what our people and our communities can do if government stays out of the way.

By the way although I never played on the new field, I did broadcast games from the press box, sat in the stands as my daughter was a statistician for the football team, and prowled the sidelines when my son played. Also I frequented the concession stand without encountering the scourge of ptomaine.

Tomorrow I will discuss the outhouse. The stadium and the outhouse illustrate our changing nation.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com     or   www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Littlestuff Weekender-4-2-2011

As a person who was reared on a farm, April is always a month of demarcation for me. Back in the day when we used the moldboard plow for everything, April is when the plowing and ground work would begin with fury. Also, depending on the weather, we might consider allowing the cows to roam out to pasture during the daylight hours. Easter usually was celebrated in April, and the “sunrise” services were special. One of my former preachers used to say “without the resurrection, the New Testament of the Word has no meaning. With the Resurrection, it means everything.”

Things are a little different in Libya than they were a week ago. Supposedly, we are no longer providing air power (at $700,000 per ordinance), but we now have CIA and SEALS on the ground there. Also, there are some rumblings that at Camp Lejeune, the Marines are being readied for some action. We shall see.

It seems unproductive to have such ferocious battles over two or three weeks funding for the federal government. My sense is that the Democrats are fighting every nickel of cuts in order to prevent their being “rolled” for the 2012 budget which is due by September 30^th. On the flip side, the House leadership wants to prove that they can “work” with Democrats by proposing token budget cuts and not attempting anything to severe. Then there is the minority of the Republican caucus who wants to have the showdown as early as possible in order to set the tone for going forward and to set the base for fiscal responsibility. The loudest and most vicious battle, by far, is the war of words. Personally, I believe the Democrats want to spend our nation into collapse (many of them doubt that it will happen because they get their training in economics from the backs of granola boxes), while the Republican leadership wants to display how “reasonable” they are. If one reads the second paragraph of The Declaration of Independence, you will find a passionate argument for shutting it down and building anew. As each day goes by, I become more committed to that point of view. Certainly a long term shut down would be painful and disruptive, but we might emerge with a more efficient and free government on the other side. Then again, perhaps not. Shoot, let’s give it a shot and see what happens.

Here in the Buckeye state Senate Bill 5 (re: public sector unions) has passed and been signed by Governor Kasich. The Democrats offered no amendments and made no attempts to change the bill as it wound its way through the process. It’s a two-pronged strategy: they can totally blame the GOP for attempting to destroy the public sector unions, thus securing their undying gratitude and dollars for perpetuity; and they can make the argument in the next election cycle for more Democrats in the legislature to stop the steamrolling Republicans. I believe that the D’s and their union pals have miscalculated the public sentiment. They have already begun to gather signatures to place the repeal of SB 5 on the ballot which will lead to a showdown of raw political power. The Ohio version of the “O.K. Corral” is coming soon to a street and polling place near you.

Don’t forget: Finding Common Ground Rally and Seminar

                        Saturday, April 9^th, 2011

                         Lyman Harbor Event Center, Sandusky, Ohio

                         Begins at 10:00am and goes to 7:00pm

Featuring a number of speakers and organizations who are working to restore representative government. Food and beverages are available.

I am honored to have the 10:15am to 10:45am slot at the podium. My topic is “Liberty unites us.”

Go to:  www.freedominstituteevents.org    for additional information.

Our progress on the first commentary of our Commentaries on Liberty series is being printed as we write and/or read. The second one is currently undergoing editing.

Book One: The Cornerstone of Liberty

Book Two: The Case for Liberty

We will be providing them for groups that want to resell to make some “dinero” for local operations. If your organization is interested, contact us at the email address listed at the bottom of the page. We are hoping that the printer will have some done in time for the April 9^th event in Sandusky. Our plan is for ten of the smaller books which will be merged into one massive door stop-sized tome.

Have a super, wonderful, fantabulistic  remainder of your weekend. Littlestuff –minoosha will return on Monday if God wills.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com       or    www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Face Book:  www.facebook.com/pages/Earl-for-Ohio/