Seeking to shore-up of his more important core constituencies, organized labor, for his 2012 reelection, our "Dear Beloved Leader", Barry "Almighty", came out swinging on Monday as he accused Republicans of seeking to dismantle unions and of being willing to let America “fall further behind” other countries by rejecting his brilliantly conceived infrastructure-spending proposals. “Up on Capitol Hill right now they (Republicans) seem to have exactly the opposite view,” said Obama in a speech before the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department in Washington, D.C. “They voted to cut spending on transportation infrastructure by almost 30 percent. That means instead of putting more construction workers back on the job, they want to lay more off.” He went on, “Instead of breaking ground on new projects, they want to let existing projects grind to a halt,” he said. “Instead of making the investments we need to get ahead, they’re willing to let us all fall further behind.” Who else but those to whom he was speaking would be buying any of this ridiculous election year crap? Probably not very many. At least I'd like to think that's the case. We can no longer afford to fall for such idiotic nonsense.
But our buddy Barry was far from being finished as he went on to say that the GOP wants to maintain tax cuts for the wealthy instead of spend more on infrastructure. “Republicans in Congress would rather put fewer of you to work building fewer things than ask millionaires and billionaires to live without massive new tax cuts,” Barry said. Adding, “They’ve also set their sights on dismantling unions like yours.” And he actually went so far as to say, “After all you’ve done to build and protect the middle class, they make the argument you’re responsible for the problems facing the middle class. Somehow that makes sense to them.” Republicans have opposed Democratic measures in Congress to eliminate the secret ballot in union elections through the proposed “card check,” arguing the lack of a secret ballot would most assuredly allow intimidation of workers by corrupt union bosses desperate to increase union membership. Furthermore, Republicans have supported legislation that would eliminate compulsory union membership as a condition of employment, better known as “right to work” laws. Both are measures that make sense if we are to have any hope of getting this country back on sound economic footing.
“I believe our economy is stronger when workers are getting paid good wages and good benefits,” Barry said. “I believe the economy is stronger when collective bargaining rights are protected. I believe all of us are better off when we have broad-based prosperity that grows outward from a strong middle class, I believe when folks try and take collective bargaining rights away by passing so-called ‘right to work’ laws that might also be called ‘right to work for less laws,’ that’s not about economics – it’s about politics.” So-called 'right to work' laws? What's so-called about such laws? Barry also took the opportunity to boast that he has taken action in lieu of Congress backing his proposal for more infrastructure spending. “But we can’t wait for Congress to do its job. You can’t afford to wait,” Barry said. “And where Congress won’t act, I will. That’s why I’ve taken steps on my own to speed up loans and competitive grants for projects across the country that will support thousands of jobs. And that’s why we’re cutting through red tape and launching several existing projects faster and more efficiently." I'm sure this all serves as being music to the ears of those in attendance, but it's the death knell to the rest of us.
So once again Barry very clearly demonstrated that he is not only willing, but eager, to throw hard working Americans under the bus if it will help get the unions behind him in the coming election. I think that many Americans recognize the fact that today's unions have now pretty much outlived their usefulness. They've morphed beyond what their initial charters once mandated to become, today, nothing more than the official goon squad of the Democrat Party. Union membership in the private sector is now at an all time low and still shrinking, while in the public sector union membership has continued to remains steady or to grow. In 2011, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of a union--was 11.8 percent, essentially unchanged from 11.9 percent in 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.8 million, also showed little movement over the year. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent and there were 17.7 million union workers. So we can see the incentive here for gaining such things as "card check".
According to the labor bureau, 7.2 percent of private-sector workers were union members last year, and that's down from 7.6 percent the previous year. That, labor historians said, was the lowest percentage of private-sector workers in unions since 1900. So hence the rationale for union leadership's current full court press to boost the union ranks, and Barry is only too happy to assist in any way he can. But at what expense to our already struggling economy? I know Barry is wanting us all to now be focused "Forward", but what we need to be doing is looking back, so that we can understand how it is that we got here. And unions have played a very big role in our now essentially drowning under the weight of having to cover the costs of what are exorbitant pay and benefits packages for unionized public sector employees. When those in the public sector are already making more than double that of those picking up the tab, I think it very safe to say that the time has now arrived for a course correction. And part of that course correction is ridding ourselves of Barry "Almighty", attaining a Republican majority in the Senate while maintaining or building upon the current majority in the House.
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