Yeh, unions! Ugh! The more I learn about them, the less I want anything to do with them. I knew a family when I lived in Louisiana (1977) that had to have an armed guard at their house, and kept a Thompson machine gun in their dining room. They owned a fabrication company that made tanks for chemical/fuel refineries, and they dared to take on a contract without the help of the AFL/CIO. He had a price on his head, had two attemps on his life, and had to have his family in hiding for awhile.
Yeh, let's hear it for unions.

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past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

ASCAP is not an "employees union". It exists to track and ensure the proper distribution of royalty payments to recording and performing artists, songwriters, producers, publishers, etc., the majority of whom are self-employed. So there is no "employer" for them to harass. I think it is pretty inefficient, but they do get the job done, eventually.

There is an actual "musician's union", with local chapters, etc...but I am not a member, never will be. However, they function as more of a "job-finding" service for players than they do as a "traditional" union.

If the tax system weren't the unfair and inefficient monstrosity that it has become, tax evasion would not be the issue that it is. A national retail sales tax in lieu of the current system would make evasion pretty much impossible.

I can sympathise with the migrant workers' plight...but one can also choose NOT to be a migrant worker.

Mike

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1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
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1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
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1985 300TD
270,000 miles
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1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

If no minimum wage, no social programs, no unions, no labour rights, no human rights, and complete freedom for business sound appealing to you, I can not understand why you choose to live in the US.

Mexico offers all of those things. Free Trade zones exist in many Asian nations, The Phillipines, and elsewhere.

There is no shortage of "perfect" countries by your own definitions. Why stick around and wreck the one you live in?

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Nobody wants to do the hard labor. In the Restaurant industry we can't pay legal workers enough money to do the dishes. Wages aren't low for dishwashers, it's just a terrible job.

America needs to face the fact that in our search for greater productivity, labor intensive jobs have to go elsewhere, but since we can't move our restaurant industry to Mexico, we bring a little bit of Mexico to our kitchens. (Guatemala, Cuba, Domincan Republic, etc.)

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

The key is education. As more and more people get educated, they get better equipped for non-manual labor jobs and those jobs can be sent elsewhere. Think about it: how many people in this country have jobs where they actually make something with their hands. I know, you think a lot, but think about it relative to 60 years ago. We're a service economy now. It is possible to ship jobs out of the country and still be prosperous.

Alex

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1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside