Its Friday and I was thinking.... I did not sleep well last night. The coyotes were restless which meant our dogs were restless. Also Ive discovered that aging doesnt require as much sleep all at once as youth does. Aging requires sleep,it just comes at the damndest times. For some reason I found myself thinking of todays America and of yesterdays. Corporations, Unions, and Capitalism vied for attention in my sleep deprived brain. Despite how much the more liberal of my friends and associates wish it werent so, we are a Capitalistic society. Charles Beard, historian, in 1913 discussed at length that the Constitution of the United States is an economic document. In A COUNTRY MADE BY WAR, Geoffrey Perret, the author, discusses the part the military plays in our economic development and outlook. No matter whether we are waving the flag or bemoaning high prices, we are a Capitalistic Society. Ive no problem with that. Believe me, if I could figure out how to make any one of the millions of ideas I have daily make me a gazillionaire I would do so in a heart beat. I dont have a problem with CEOs making a couple of million dollars a minute. This is America, it is the American dream to make a billion here or there. We want a 50 room cottage, 14 cars in the garage, and a chicken in the stew pot. The problem I, and others, have with the system is making the money at the economic sacrafice of others. In the early stages of American growth immigrants flooded our young nation. After the Civil War the American economy began to come into its own. Manufacturing technology improved, goods abound, people wanted and needed tools, materials, and food to move West and make this nation grow. Labor was plentiful and cheap. If one didnt like the pay they received, they were certainly welcome to move along, there were plenty of people to take their place. If someone got hurt on the job, not to worry, there was someone ready to take their place, the company would survive and move on. This is the setting that gave birth to the Union. Someone needed to stand up for the workers rights. There had to be someone to level the playing field and give the common worker a way to get a fair shake. Collective bargaining was the tool and it was effective. In time though Unions became as corrupt as the corporations they were pitted against. The American worker was again in a hole. The American Government got involved and through numerous trade acts and laws sort of straightened things out. We owe a lot of the work place benefits we have today to Unions. We owe a lot of the crime in this nation to the Unions. It is a love hate relationship. This battle seems to be looming again. I hear a lot of demands for Unionizing now. Unionize college football players, college teachers, department store workers, all kinds of people are demanding unionization. I am a card carrying Union member. Okay I lost my card three of four decades and a couple of divorces ago. I am a member of the Teamsters, or the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. I joined that Union when I worked for a national trucking firm. When I resigned my position I paid my withdrawal fees to the union to remain in good standing and so I wouldnt have to pay an initiation fee if I ever needed to rejoin the Teamsters. I am not 100% a union man though. If I owned my own business, as I have in the past, I dont want my workers or outside people telling me how much Im going to pay or what benefits I have to give, or what reasons I can dismiss someone. I started the business with my thoughts, my money, my work. I dont see unions coming forth and helping business grow, investing, getting their hands dirty, no they come around after a business is successful and begins to dictate terms. Yet unions are still viable, a necessary evil. Today we have huge corporations employing lots of people at starvation wages. These huge corporations are accused of not paying their fair share of taxes. They wont provide benefits to their employees unless forced and then they provide the cheapest form possible. We have CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) of corporations making more in an hour than a lot of their workers make in a year. We have a large immigration culture, jobs are hard to come by, business can replace workers almost at whim. Once again the American economy seems ripe for unions. I am not to sure we arent trading the devil we know for the one we dont when unions get their feet in the door. Maybe with strict government oversight now Unions are more fair with dues collections, workplace negotiations, stike management and the such. However to much government control and unions become toothless. The same with government contorl of industry and business. To much government control and we slip into a socialistic type society. So what is the answer? Where it has always been in America. The answer, the power, is with the average American, that is to say, ....YOU. If we dont support, by that I mean purchase from, a business then they will lose money and eventually go out of business. All business require customers to stay afloat. If we arent happy with large retailers that skirt fair business practices by shady means, pay their employees poorly and treat them worse, then quit supporting those large retailers. There are plenty of mom and pop stores left in this nation that need us. Quit buying cars from corporations who use shady practices to stay in business and avoid paying taxes. Dont buy food from huge grocers. Of course it will cost more to go to a single owner establishment, but that is the price we pay. If we dont support big business, big business will fail, or will get the message. A CEO who is losing money wont make a trillion dollars a nanosecond, instead they will be on the breadline. Well, okay, they will have to go their villa in the Bahamas, but you get my point. That isnt going to happen though. These huge corporations make life to easy on us. We can go to one store and get our plumbing supplies, a light fixture, wind up doll for the kiddo, and a pound of baloney for supper. We buy our vehicles out of some misguided loyalty to brand. We arent going to change. We arent going to go downtown and go to six different stores to get what we need and pay more for it. Hell, we wont take an hour or two a year to drop by the voting booth and try to make a change for the folks ruining our lives. That isnt a misspelled word, I meant ruining. In an ideal world CEOs who make millions of dollars a month would share the wealth. They would live lavishly but you can only live in so many gold plated mansions, so they would share the wealth. In an ideal America they would share with those who dont have anything. I suspect most CEOs in the million dollar club profess to be Christian, while living anything but a Christian life. They are most likely in their pew every Sunday morning but their heart is still in the board room or Wall Street. We dont want our government regulating these people, we dont want the government setting a cap on salaries earned by CEOs. Do that and you open the door for the government to set a cap on every salary. Congress will be set high, you can bet on that. Its up to us. Go eat out at the family owned cafe. Buy your next copper tubing at the mom and pop hardware store, if you can find one. Buy your gas down at Als, maybe he will still wash your windshield. If you dont like Big Business and the way they treat their employees, quit supporting them. But let me ask you this: If that worked and Big Business went out of business, where are all those poorly paid employees going to find work? See what sleepless night will do to you. Have a great weekend.
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 13:15:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015