wow. hyperbole much?

[netmouse]

Just got an email from the democratic party about the primary election. At the bottom they have this to say:

BEWARE OF "RIGHT TO WORK" PETITION
At your polling site you may be asked to sign a petition to put Right to Work legislation on the november ballot.
Right to Work means Right to Work for Less. This legislation would:
Reduce wages and benefits
Weaken labor unions
Destroy the middle class
Please do not sign these petitions. This is an attempt by Corporations and out-of-state millionaires to further weaken Michigan's economy.

(emphasis mine)

this article reports that, "According to the U.S. government, poverty rates are 16 percent higher in right-to-work states. Due to poverty rates, these states have the worst infant mortality rates in the nation. Personal bankruptcies are also higher in right-to-work states."

That's not destroying the middle class, that's hurting the lower classes. at best the lower middle class...

Anyway, I'm not supporting or opposing the "Right to work" movement (here's another article against it) but I'm tired of people trying to play with my fear. I'm not afraid, people. Not more than is reasonable anyway.

Comments

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

well, in my mind, the rapidity with which we are exporting manufacturing away from this country is an issue. Just like the country gets overly dependent on foreign powers when it imports a resource like oil, once we aren't manufacturing anything and our younger generations start growing up without knowing how physical things work and are built (this is already happening), we put our entire nation into the sort of fragile state of dependency many upper classes find themselves in.

[nicegeek.livejournal.com]

In my view, it's actually a good thing for countries to become more interdependent, as it provides a really strong disincentive for a country to start a half-cocked war that the rest of the world thinks is unjustified.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

well, one would think. yet that has not worked so far... in fact it has worked rather the opposite way, where a certain country has felt the need to impose its power on countries it is dependent upon. Of course, that probably wouldn't work with China, but we'll have to see, won't we?

I guess I'm just can't stand watching our country become populated with a majority of spoiled brats who can't apply logic and don't know how to make things, only how to consume them.

[nicegeek.livejournal.com]

I think it's working with China, but yes, we'll have to wait and see on that front. The U.S. has been able to get away with a belligerent foreign policy because of its unilateral economic clout, but I think that that will eventually change as the rest of the world develops, as long as the U.S. doesn't shut down trade and try to make itself an island. Islands are dangerous, because they don't have to care what anyone else thinks of them.

As for the people who don't know how to make things, I think that even if they're not making physical widgets, people in other sectors of the economy (say, nurses) are still 'making' something valuable, even if it's intangible.