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| Caterpillar Strikes Deal to Build Georgia Plant | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 18 2012, 08:31 PM (1,540 Views) | |
| Sea Dog | Feb 19 2012, 01:16 AM Post #61 |
Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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I suppose the simple minded ones will vote Republican. |
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| tomdrobin | Feb 19 2012, 03:25 AM Post #62 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Caterpillar has a history of aggressively fighting union demands. But, I don't see that as a bad thing. You have to have a balance of power for the union management relationship to work IMO. One of the big downfalls of the domestic auto industry was when they decided it was not in their economic best interest to take on the UAW. From then on it was capitulaton after capitulation, with the thinking they could just keep on raising prices and/or cutting money out of the product (reduce quality) to stay in business. The error in that thinking was they didn't realize the competition they were going to get from foreign manufacturers, particularly foreign companies with non union plants right here in the US. That placed them on precarious financial footing and when the financial meltdown and resulting recession occurred it pushed them over the edge. The government bailouts would never have been necessary had they not let the UAW have their way for so many years. Ford didn't need to be bailed out, but that was only because they had borrowed heavily before the meltdown and had enough cash to survive on. More a matter of luck than forsight. Some say locating manufacturing to a state with right to work laws is just a ploy to get cheap labor. From what I've heard many of the transplants in the south pay around $18 an hour for unskilled labor. If you ran an ad for unskilled labor at the that pay, even here in Michigan you would get deluged with applicants. Certainly not the $30 an hour UAW rate, but even that has been undercut by the new two tier wage agreements that have people starting at $14 an hour. Seems to me it would be fairer to pay them all the $18 an hour, but apparently the older workers don't want to budge on the fruits of extortion. Seems they would be more concerned about killing the goose that layed the golden eggs (economic security). I hear if often stated that strong unionization raises the standard of living for everyone. I don't agree. Perhaps it would if everyone belonged to a union, but I hate to think what that would do to the economic health of our industries. Our experience here in Michigan is that it just creates an economically elite segment of the population that creates upward inflationary pressure on everything from professional services to housing. And, the non union fold just get driven deeper in the hole. Seems to me the laws of supply and demand would be a better determinant of wage rates. |
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| Chris | Feb 19 2012, 03:57 AM Post #63 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Explain what, rivers, I know what countries are, like the US and Lichtenstein. What I think you need to explain is what that has to do with companies which was what we had been discussing. |
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| Mountainrivers | Feb 19 2012, 04:06 AM Post #64 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Nevermind, Chris! |
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| Chris | Feb 19 2012, 04:15 AM Post #65 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Your mention of Lichtenstein reminds me of...new thread... |
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| Tim from AL | Feb 19 2012, 04:19 AM Post #66 |
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I'm simple minded, I guess. But, it's OK. Simple is better. |
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| Chris | Feb 19 2012, 07:17 AM Post #67 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Let's get this topic back on cat track... Contrary to telco and brewster's liberal beliefs, economics just doesn't work that way. How Taxing the Rich Harms the Middle Class
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| tomdrobin | Feb 19 2012, 07:31 AM Post #68 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Not necessarily. Why would you vote for a political party that is dedicated to taking away the very entitlements you depend on to survive? Death wish? To be fair we see the same phenomenon with the majority of old folks living on social security. The libertarian leaning GOP make no bones about vouchers for medicare and cutting SS. Their excuse is we have to cut it to save it. The real diehards call it a ponzi scheme. Yet old farts in droves vote for them. The disconnect is hard to understand. Perhaps they are living under the delusions that it's just those getting food stamps and unemployment that are on the right wing screw list. |
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| Chris | Feb 19 2012, 07:33 AM Post #69 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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"The libertarian leaning GOP" Oxymoron. The GOP merely pays lip service to libertarian fiscal conservatism. |
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| Stoney | Feb 19 2012, 07:35 AM Post #70 |
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You're far from simple minded, AL.
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