Subj : Re: Recession to Depressi To : Kaelon From : Dr. What Date : Sun Jul 24 2022 09:17:00 -=> Kaelon wrote to Dr. What <=- Ka> Yes. Unions in the Northeast are a disaster, largely because they have Ka> outlived their longevity. Long out lived their usefulness. Ka> I don't disagree that new Unions are needed Ka> to help workers organize and engage in collective bargaining in cases Ka> where there is limited competition and corporations aren't engaging Ka> with a long-term vision in mind (such as Starbucks, Amazon, and the Ka> like). Unions are needed when pretty much all business owners are colluding to kee wages down. But those day are long gone. There's nothing stopping someone who hates their job from getting another one. The only thing holding a worker back is education and experience - and if a worker doesn't have those, then they are going to get a low paying job. We need to move away from the socialistic concept of "everyone needs to make a living wage" because that idea is simply untrue. Ka> But construction work is notoriously corrupt, and construction Ka> unions are an absurd abuse by and large because union management - not Ka> the workers - skim the real deals struck with government and big Ka> business. I will argue that the corruption started with the corrupt gov'ts who demanded some sort of kickback for "approving" the construction project, plus all the "zoning regulations" and "inspections" that needed to be done - all of which required some sort of "grease" to be done. Ka> There is no doubt that Elitists remain in power thanks in large part to Ka> Roman-style bread-and-circuses. I mentioned elsewhere that if we Ka> managed to break down the cycle of junk-food entertainment Ka> ("infotainment") and genuine malnutrition of the vast majority of the Ka> population, conditions would start to change quickly. And those things have already started to happen. Case in point: Disney's latest woke flop Lightyear. The only group I feel sorry for are the independent theaters who have nothing worthwhile to put on their big screens. Ka> I am less concerned about Russia's capability to match the United Ka> States, let alone the entirety of the Western Alliance, with military Ka> or economic means. It is, by and large, a third-rate power that has Ka> been exposed being geopolitically beholden to second-world countries. Ka> It is a tremendous humiliation for Putin. China, on the other hand, Ka> has what it takes and has been embarking on a very concerted push. Ya, China is more worrying. But they are heading for their own economic collapse now. So I think if we can hold out for a while longer, China will fall on its own. Ka> You think there's "wokeness" in the military? I would love to Ka> understand why you think that. I'd have to go back and hunt down those articles. Wokeness in any organization is mainly pushing a form of CRT, plus the promotion of the incompetent based on their skin color/sexual orientation/etc. And that's what I've read is happening. Ka> I think there is an absolute Ka> authoritarian and fascist bent, especially among junior officers and Ka> rank-and-file who have not really been thoroughly indoctrinated into Ka> the civic virtues that the Armed Forces are renowned for instilling in Ka> their organization. I think you could make the argument that the military has always been a safe haven for those people. But the military leaders were of a different mind set and kept the authoritatian and fascist people from rising too far up. A long time ago, I worked for a company who's leader left. He, of course, too a couple levels of high management with him when he left to start a new company. That left a "management vacuum" in the old company which then promoted people who probably should not have been promoted to those positions. The end result was predictable. I don't watch what's happening in the military, so I don't have the details. But to me, it looks like something similar happened: People were promoted into positions they should never have been promoted into. .... Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go EVERYwhere. ___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52 --- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32) * Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi .