Jobs & Tax Revenue

Union busting has been the political buzz over the last couple of weeks and the pros and cons of the argument have been debated vociferously. Each side lamenting the dreadful tenets of the opposing position. One side no less vitriolic than the other; each holding to their ideological position.

The debate began in the late 19th century. Workers made great progress from the post-depression era up until the 1980's. Since then the  power of workers  to bargain  has waned to the point where unions are now fighting existentially.

The turning point was the fall of the Soviet Union and the determination that  American industry no longer required American labor. Not long after that came  NAFTA and the giant "sucking sound" of U.S. industrial jobs being sent overseas. One man of diminutive stature yet of great courage warned of this result. His name was Ross Perot.

During the Ronald Reagan administration it was decided that to achieve some measure of competition in the telecommunications industry AT&T should be "busted" in smaller units. To a certain extent that "busting " achieved its goal. Along came MCI, Sprint, and followed by the growth of cell phone technology. The  power  of  such a large corporation to impede  competition had to be curtailed.

Corporations continued to grow in size in the 1980's through a gluttonous period of acquisitions and mergers of smaller companies resulting in further consolidation of economic power. These corporate interests continued to wryly wink at the spirit of our free market system all in the name of synergy. Their lobbying power and thus their ability to influence policy in Washington allowed these giants to become even larger. Hell, even AT&T is once again the megalith it once was.

In a multi-national and global economy I admit that our businesses must have huge resources to compete with government run economies like china and India. But do these multi-national corporate, executives and stockholders have to move their manufacturing out of this country?  Steal the livelihood of those who made them rich in the first place? Shaft the American worker?

Unions are not the threat to balanced budgets at the local and state level;  it's greed.  An "it's all mine," religion. Companies left this country for slave labor and tax avoidance. Jobs sent overseas & lost employment has led to the decline, not only in the American way of life, but in tax revenue that could cover a measure of government deficits.

Let's bring home some of those lost American jobs. Put people back to work and increase the tax base so we can "work" our way out of this mess.

What do you think?