Uaw Jobs Bank

Economy makes sense to those who understand liberty

From consumer confidence to home sales, jobs figures to casino winnings, the news about the economy reported by newspapers and TV networks around the country has suddenly turned bad in recent weeks.

Until now the media were telling us that the $3 trillion (that’s $3,000,000,000,000) we borrowed and spent during the past three years on the Wall Street, UAW, Fannie Mae and government employee bailouts had “saved” jobs, the economy, and that the “recovery” had begun.

Now they tell us that politicians, from Obama on down, and their highly paid economic “experts” are “surprised” by this “unexpected” bad news, and puzzled as to what to do now. Some media websites even asked the public for suggestions on how to “fix” the economy.

But for the past two years, ordinary citizens at tea party and LibertyAndProsperity.org Saturday breakfast meetings talked about how all these bad things had to happen.

We also talked of how to change our personal investments to protect ourselves. Many of us unloaded paper dollars in banks and Wall Street stock funds to buy gold and silver coins and bars. We also bought gold and silver funds, mining stocks, real estate in low-tax states, and stocks and bonds in other countries with more economic freedom, like Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Canada.

How could we “tea party” outsiders be so much better informed about the economy than smart, highly educated “experts” with inside information?

The short answer is that we tea party people are experts on liberty. And our ideas on liberty were developed by men like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin – true geniuses who were much smarter than the people running our government today.

The Declaration of Independence they wrote for us in 1776 says that each of us is created equal with certain unalienable rights and that we institute governments for the specific and limited purpose of securing those rights with the consent of the governed. The Constitution they gave us made sure government worked that way.

People in New Jersey knew this government of liberty brought prosperity, which is why they made “Liberty and Prosperity” the state motto in 1776.

Mexico is blessed with just as much gold, silver, oil, and rich farmland as Texas. But the people of Texas are far more prosperous because they have far more liberty than the people of Mexico.

Liberty creates prosperity because it rewards people who work, save, and make good choices. At the same time, it makes people responsible for the consequences of their bad choices.

UAW closes Job Bank to help General Motors, Ford, Chrysler secure ...

Local leaders of the United Auto Workers agreed to suspend the program where laid-off workers can get up to 95 percent of their wages and benefits, a concept that came to symbolize the stereotype of overpaid, underworked factory workers.

Other potential concessions include delaying funds to the union-controlled healthcare system and possible wage cuts. According to Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, the changes will result in future union members possessing a third of the prior generation’s benefits.

Full details can be found at the Detroit News . My take? Mixed. On the one hand, I can see why the union negotiated for the job bank and other benefits; unlike Japan and Germany and its generous social support nets, the U.S. offers little to protect its employees in the event of economic downturns. On the other hand, such costs effectively stymied GM, Ford , and Chrysler from ever matching their more flush competitors. Ultimately, I think the concessions, however painful, is a step in the right direction for Detroit to at least stay in the race as it continues to win American hearts with its more fuel-efficient vehicles.

When unskilled workers are making $30+/hour with a whole week of UNEXCUSED and pay just screwing-off on the clock, someone is eating that cost… Skilled laborers are a different story, but UAW and others tend to protect the lazy and unskilled the way I understand. My father used to work for GM (as an electrical engineer), and he said what went on there was a joke… The whole union thing — among other issues — has gotten quite out of hand and has made the whole industry unhealthy. It think the current moves are in the right direction. We will see how the D3 fare, but I have hope.

UAW solidarity

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U. S. Motor Vehicle Industry, Federal Financial Assistance and Restructuring

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