I didn’t notice until this morning, but Monday’s entry was my 1000th. That adds up to almost three books, which is pretty good I guess, except there’s no plot, no hero, no villains, no cover and no binding, just lot’s of words on folk’s computer screens. There’s also one thing that’s for certain…I’m not going to print it all out.
As for today, I found a short item on Drudge, the source of which I can’t quite figure out, regarding the just-passed right to work law in Michigan saying: “As thousands of protestors gathered at the state capitol on Tuesday, (Jimmy) Hoffa called the legislation a ‘tremendous mistake’ and ‘a monumental decision to make’ by outgoing lawmakers in a lame duck session.”
The part that really got my attention though was Hoffa further saying, "What they're doing is basically betraying democracy. If there's any question here, let's put it on the ballot and let the people of Michigan decide what's good for Michigan."
Now, to my knowledge from personal experience, having worked for a couple of years on New Jersey’s waterfront managing longshoremen and teamsters in a Hudson River-side warehouse, there’s no democracy in unions at all. Especially those two.
The union guys I worked with couldn't even breathe on their own without some shop steward or boss telling them precisely what to do, when, and how. And as far as management went, they tolerated us because they had to, whereas that’s who owned the operation. However, if anyone on either side of the equation -member or management- got out of line in the union rep’s eyes, they’d shut the whole place down in a heartbeat.
What’s more they weren’t exactly civil or polite about how they handled disagreements. So if managers were squeamish or easily backed down by physical intimidation -although assault or weapons weren’t actually applied, only hinted at- they’d be better off finding a new line of work.
Therefore, if Hoffa really believes that unions permit democracy in any manner, he must also think that the KGB is a boy scout troop.
On another subject, according to Bloomberg on-line “Billionaire investors Warren Buffett and George Soros are calling on Congress to increase the estate tax as lawmakers near a decision on tax policies that expire Dec. 31.
In a joint statement today, Buffett, Soros and more than 20 other wealthy individuals asked Congress to lower the estate tax’s per-person exemption to $2 million from $5.12 million and raise the top rate to more than 45 percent from 35 percent.”
The preceding's an issue I’ve mentioned a few times before, but still irritates me because these two guys are tied at the hip to the administration. Buffet was bought with preferred shares in Citigroup and Soros via loan guarantees in Brazil.
However, even if they weren’t the incumbent’s stooges, I believe what others inherit and how much gets taxed, is none of their GD business. I also know that Buffett intends to give most of his wealth to charity after departure, unless he has some deathbed change of heart which obviously remains to be seen. And perhaps, Soros plans the same. But, if other folks wish to retain as much of what they’ve earned as possible, it’s their right to do so.
As for myself though, I’m certainly not in those guys financial position nor even close. But as far as my own situation’s concerned, if they pushed for my paying higher taxes for any reason and I had the chance to meet them…I’d be happy to show them some of the stuff I learned way back in warehouses, slugging it out with longshoremen and teamsters
That’s it for today folks
Adios
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