In what was one of the most depressing posts I've read here in all my years:
"Frank Reid © 2010" wrote in message
...
On Aug 30, 5:04 pm, jeff wrote:
We have a resurgence of the power of the labor unions, such as SEIU,
with government support. I had never heard of either ACORN or SEIU
till 3 years ago and now they have incredible power with the requisite
abuse.

while I'd agree that sometimes labor unions overplay their representation, I
have trouble seeing the current situation as any sort of resurgence. The
fact that
YOU haven't heard of Service Employees International, or ACORN(not a
union whatsoever) doesn't mean that they haven't been out there for years,
doing a solid job of representing workers who were for years vastly
underpaid,
and trying to provide liveable housing for the poor. The fact that you
suddenly
DID hear of them in the past 3 years is directly attributed to ideological
smear campaigns targetting both.

The rise in government workers is another thing that is scaring me.
More and more folks in the government and we all know that the most
costly thing in any business is the manpower. Who's going to pay for
this?

This has to be the most bizarre part of your entire post, Frank. What,
exactly
do you think is the source of pay for your employer? You might describe it
as 'private sector', but you represent quite possibly the most exhorbitant,
runaway expense our government faces: 'Private contractors' for the defense
and National security sector. Eisenhower warned the nation in the 50s about
a military/industrial complex and the dangers thereof, yet we, as a nation,
chose to ignore him. Now we have 1/2 of the defense budget which isn't
even subject to Congressional oversight, nor any public review of the
numbers.
This equates to 1/4 of the entire Federal budget. I read a treatise a few
months
back about the rise of secrecy, security and related expenditures since the
Manhatten Project, with the general premise that the exponential rise in the
complexity and cost of what amounts to a shadow government will eventually
bankrupt the US. You might do well to focus there, my friend, if the rise in
the
costs of government frightens you. Or, as Walt Kelly once put it, "we have
met
the enemy and he is us".


A few years ago, I was termed a "liberal." Now I'm considered right
wing. Why? I'm retired military so I must be some right wing nut.

in all the years I've known you, such thoughts never crossed my mind....
until this morning.

I'm so sick and tired of "big corporations and
banks are bad." Bull. They happen to make a lot of the useless crap
we buy. They employ tons of people.

increasingly, people in far off lands, but you do have a point, I think....

Bottom line is this: we've gotten so far off the tracks over the past 3
decades that
NO ONE is going to fix it fast, if at all. The point you make at the end
about
squabbling extremes is well taken. It is just that squabbling that allows
the control
to rest with the exact same folks that have sort of controlled things for,
say, the
past couple of centuries, to keep raking it in at the expense of most of the
rest of
the nation. Meanwhile the nation keeps polarizing, but I see that in two
different fashions.
Sure, the political polarization is obvious, but look at the economic trends
of the
past 30 or more years. A small percentage of folks is pulling further and
further away
from the rest. Eventually, you end up with an oligarchy, or worse. With
pressure from
some of those toward the top end for less government and less taxation, say
goodbye
to infrastructure, say goodbye to social safety nets and minimal medical
assistance to
all. It'll be just like the good old days, except with even less domestic
employment,
as we can build the sweatshops elsewhere and those collecting the dividends
will be
just as well off as ever.


Tom