New York State and GM

Just another week in Uniontown. New York State, whose government is now solely in the hands of democrats and their union buddies, just announced a 9% budget increase in the midst of a semi-depression. Meanwhile, in Michigan, Rick Waggoner gets canned by Obama when he can't bring GM's unions into a state of sanity about their predicament.

New York's governor asked the state employee unions to forgo their 3% increase because state revenues have been hammered by the Wall Street collapse - not a chance! How could anyone possibly expect those who have guaranteed retirements and medical coverage to have mercy on the citizens who don't?

Michigan's governor doesn't dare mention the sad truth of GM; that its unions screwed the company 50 ways on the road to near-bankruptcy. No auto company with a brain would go anywhere near Michigan, the state of "entitlement". There are way too many people there who spent a career playing cards on the shop floor after completing their daily quota in two hours.

You'd conclude from the above rant that I detest unions. Not so. I think workers should band together to negotiate with management for fair wages, benefits, and work rules. However, I also think that unions share, with management, responsiblity for keeping companies competitive. That means they must stay competitive with whatever competition comes along, so they can stay in the game a long, long time.

Sadly, neither New York's nor GM's unions paid attention to the handwriting on the wall; they wanted their money now, and in retirement. So GM's employees and retirees will soon pay the price for their greed, and New York's unions will not be far behind. "New York in Bankruptcy" sounds OK to me; we've got lots of contracts to fix. But this didn't have to happen. Or, did it?