Tag: AFL-CIO

Obama supported company gets U.S. Loan and builds cars…. In Finland

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This ought to be a lesson to every last Democrat who voted for Obama and Biden.

The Video:

The Story:

With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.

Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department’s $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the job of assembling the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car has been outsourced to Finland.

“There was no contract manufacturer in the U.S. that could actually produce our vehicle,” the car company’s founder and namesake told ABC News. “They don’t exist here.”

Henrik Fisker said the U.S. money so far has been spent on engineering and design work that stayed in the U.S., not on the 500 manufacturing jobs that went to a rural Finnish firm, Valmet Automotive.

“We’re not in the business of failing; we’re in the business of winning. So we make the right decision for the business,” Fisker said. “That’s why we went to Finland.”

via Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland – ABC News.

Here is the real-world translation to that last line in that story; we did not want to have to deal with the labor unions in this United States, so we moved our manufacturing overseas.

Take note my Democratic Party friends who happen to read this blog, all two of you.  This is what happens to the Democrats and their union counterparts, when they elect internationalist Democrats, who really do not give a care about what happens to American workers.  Internationalist Democrats and their Republican counterparts, the globalists — like Richard Nixon, who do not care about American workers, they are corporatists, who support crony capitalism.

This right here is a perfect example of why the relations between the Democratic Party and the labor unions are frosty at best.  That is because the Democratic Party for the last few instances that they have won elections, have been putting internationalist Democrats into the White House.  This type of a Democrat talks a nice game, and puts out platitudes to the American autoworkers and their representatives in the unions; but when the “Rubber hits the road” so to speak, things change.  They begin showing their true colors and start doing things to kick dirt in the face of the American worker.

I do not write this as a Conservative mocking the left, goodness no.  I write this as someone who has a father, who is a retired General Motors worker, who is a member of the UAW.  If anyone would know how the Democratic Party has treated the American autoworker in the last 30 years, it would be me.  There was a time in this Country, when the Democratic Party used to respect the American autoworker and would literally step in front a train to defend them.  Sadly, that time has passed, as the unions have lost their influence amongst the Democratic Party.

The loss of that influence in the Democratic Party is partially due to the actions of the internationalist Democrats, like Bill Clinton, who signed into law NAFTA and TAFTA.  Some of that loss of influence is also due to the declining membership roles within the UAW and other said unions.  Either way, it is sad transition in America, when our politicians in Washington D.C. put interests abroad before interests here at home.

Some of my readers, all three of you, might be shocked to see that I do not take a more mocking tone on stories like this and here is why I do not; Pat Buchanan said it best once, on one issue that I actually agree with him on — the American worker.  Pat once said, “As goes Detroit, goes the Nation,” and you know what?  Pat Buchanan is right about that, the United States of America used to be a manufacturing marvel.  We produced everything ourselves, and other Countries used to come here to see how we did it all.  Sadly, those times have come and gone, due to many reasons, a list of which is longer than the length of this blog entry will permit.

What is solution you ask, I know what it is; but most of the people who will come here to read, will not agree with it.  However, I will give the solution.  Firstly, the solution is NOT to bust up the unions, as they have as much right to proper representation, as the company owners have a right to make a profit.  The solution to the problem is to get rid of these idiotic so-called “Free Trade” agreements.  Secondly, the solution is to impose strict tariffs on EVERYTHING and I do mean everything that is manufactured overseas and imported into our Country.

These actions would do a couple of things; firstly it would protect the American workers from the globalists who want to undercut the American worker to make a quick dollar on the backs of cheap sweatshop labor in foreign countries like China.  Secondly, it would solve our Nation’s revenue problem by creating a reliable source of income; one of which we did have in this Country for a very long time, before the globalists ripped it out, in favor of trade agreements.

Further, the solution is in whom we elect; Republicans and Democrats alike need to elect those who put America’s interests first, and not the interests who those abroad.  To be fair, Republicans have done this too in this past and we as Americans need to watch what these new crop of Republicans really represent; do they represent the interests of the crony capitalists or do they have the American people’s interests in mind?  Supposedly, the Tea Party movement brought some of this “America First” type of populism to the Conservative movement, but as of late, it seems that the Tea Party was nothing more than a passing fad.  I just hope the people, who went to these protests, use the principles that were promoted at the Tea Party rallies, at the ballot box come November 2012.

Others: Michelle Malkin, New York Times, New York Magazine, The Heritage Foundation, Questions and Observations, Fantastical Andrew Fox, RedState, The Strata-Sphere, Hot Air, Sky Dancing, Conservatives4Palin, americanthinker.com, Big Government, Weasel Zippers, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, JammieWearingFool and Betsy’s Page

The politicization of 9/11 by the left

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You remember a few days ago, when I said I did not want to really do anything special on 9/11;  because of the politicization of 9/11 by the left and the right?

Well, here’s an example of what I am a talking about…..from the left.

This is from the AFL-CIO website and this is the AFL-CIO’s President —

Sept. 11, 2011: A Day to Commit to Activism

A Message from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

All of us will remember the horror and anguish we experienced 10 years ago. Whether we lost loved ones ourselves—family members, union brothers and sisters—or felt the shock of a society that lost nearly 3,000 people and was forever changed, we need no reminding.

Instead, I would like to reflect on doors that were opened on Sept. 11, 2001, and what has come of them in the 10 years since.

Working men and women rushed through doors to danger and became America’s everyday heroes. Firefighters, construction workers, nurses and EMTs—all kinds of professionals and volunteers—were there not just on the fateful day but some for weeks and months and even years after. And we swore we would never forget.

Doors opened within us to each other. We came together. We flew the flag. We comforted one another. In our grief, we found the best in ourselves.

What an overwhelming sense of unity we shared, all across our nation. And it was this unity that allowed us to begin healing and rebuilding. There is no time in my memory of a more proud example of what we can accomplish when we work together. Solidarity, the cornerstone of the union movement, flowed through all of us and carried us through.

But other doors opened, too—doors to hate, suspicion of “others” and self-centered greed. Our fear was twisted into something much more dangerous.

The unity that had helped us survive faded as divisiveness took root. I look around today in amazement at just how far apart our nation has become—the endless possibilities that came with our unity have all but vanished.

Just 10 years after 9/11, despite our vows, the public servants, construction workers and others who lost their lives or still suffer with the cancerous remnants of the Twin Towers haven’t just been forgotten. They’ve been vilified. The extremist small government posse has turned them into public enemy No. 1, as though teachers and firefighters, EMTs and nurses and union construction workers ruined America’s economy.

In state after state this year—with the heroism of 9/11 less than a decade behind us—politicians targeted the paychecks, benefits and basic rights of these workers in a rabid campaign to shift government support to tax breaks for the wealthy and already profitable corporations.

Wealthy CEOs, anti-government extremist front groups and frothing talk show hosts—from the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks to the Koch brothers, Karl Rove’s American Crossroads group, Americans for Prosperity, the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and the American Legislative Exchange Council—also pushed open the door to hate.

Make no mistake—setting workers against workers is a highly profitable endeavor. How many times during the vilest state attacks on public workers did we hear the question: “Other people don’t have pensions. Why should he?” Prompting that question required twisting the American psyche—which, by its founding nature, seeks to lift the common good. The appropriate question should have been, “Why doesn’t everybody have a pension?” followed by collective action for retirement security.

We’ve seen the costs of hatred in ill-thought wars, in shameful attacks on immigrants and our LGBT neighbors. We saw it in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. We saw it in the racism that has found overt and covert expression since Barack Obama began his run for office—from outright declarations of people who said out loud they would never vote for a black man to the ridiculously persistent obsession with our president’s birth certificate. Regardless of his policies or priorities, President Obama is shadowed by the drumbeat of suspicion based on his “other”-ness. And those suspicions are fed and watered constantly by forces that were threatened by his message of “hope and change.”

We’ve seen the cost of greed in the recklessness of financial institutions that created the greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression and the devastating jobs crisis that persists today.

But I remember that other door that opened on 9/11—the door to our better selves, to our understanding that we are one and our values require us to care for one another.

That’s what sent 347 firefighters to their death at the Twin Towers 10 years ago. It’s also what sent firefighters to stand with teachers in Wisconsin even though Gov. Scott Walker had exempted them from his attack on public employees. It’s what moves employed people now to demand good jobs for the 26 million Americans who are looking for work. It’s what gives us the courage to take on a crumbling economy and the politicians preaching austerity and ignoring our jobs crisis—to take them on and say, “We are America. We are better than this. And we are one.”

Brothers and sisters, friends, I hope you will join me in marking this solemn anniversary by committing to redouble your activism on behalf of America’s everyday working heroes. We will rise or fall together.

If I were a relative of a 9/11 victim — I would be wanted to this self-centered asshole’s head on a platter. 😡

 

AFL-CIO Boss says, “We have enough of Democrats crap”

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Normally, I would rip on something like this; but because I come from a union family and because I have a very long memory, I get it.

Via The Hill:

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka amplified his call for a politically independent labor movement Tuesday and said unions too often are holding “a canceled check” after Election Day.

Trumka rallied hundreds of nurses at a conference hosted by the National Nurses United. The nurses are in Washington this week to lobby lawmakers for a financial transactions tax that could help pay for social services.

Trumka said unions want “an independent labor movement” that doesn’t support just one political party or candidate. Labor has often been unhappy with its traditional allies in the Democratic Party, and Trumka said friends of unions in Congress have often paid little heed to workers’ needs.

“For too long, we have been left after Election Day holding a canceled check waving it about — ‘Remember us? Remember us? Remember us?’ — asking someone to pay a little attention to us. Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a snootful of that s–t,” Trumka said to cheers.

Now, there are some on my far right, that would say, ” See? This proves that labor controls the Democratic Party!” Well, there is much more to this than that.

You see, I happen to remember the 1990’s and the era of the Clinton Administration. I also remember the signing of the NAFTA bill. I also remember the labor movement; especially the UAW and related unions never forgave Bill Clinton for signing that bill.

Because you see, to the labor movement, Clinton’s signing of that bill was the ultimate abdication of the progressive principles that the Democratic Party. To them, Clinton sold the unions and the members who work in the auto plants here in Detroit up the river.

So, what you are seeing here is simply “blowback” from those actions. Also too, it has been reported that the attitude of the Obama Administration is; or at least was, “f—- the big three!” That sort of attitude, does not bode very well amongst the union members or with the labor movement at all.

Now, for the realist “right of center” view of this; any attempt by the labor movement to create a new political party will be an abject flop and could be a disaster for the labor movement. My reasons for thinking this are:

1. The Democratic Party is very highly financed. Not to mention Party bosses carry a good deal weight and are known to use questionable tactics to get what they want. I predict a “Battle of the overpass” style of attack, if this plan of the AFL-CIO goes through with such a plan.

2. The second most important reason that this approach will flop is this; the labor movement simply does not have the numbers anymore

Way back in the 1940’s; before, during, and after World War 2, union membership was at its zenith and on into the 1950 and 1960’s union membership blossomed. However, those days of union growth and strength are over. They simply do not have the clout anymore in the progressive movement anymore.

Because if this; I personally believe that this idea would be a foolish move. While I greatly admire those who strongly believe in their convictions; I believe this would do more to hurt the labor movement, than it would ever help.

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