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Similar questions can be asked about the foreign recipients of federal monies, especially those who control so much policy.
I'm in total agreement on this.
But a month before the new law goes into effect, some of the highest paid employees at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California have seemingly found a way around it – at least for the near future.
Their pathway required no public notice and no action by the powerful water district’s board of directors. All they did Monday was quietly join a labor union.
The group of employees is mostly comprised of top executives, attorneys and managerial staff who were unrepresented by a collective bargaining unit. We don’t have anything on paper outlining why the group decided to make the switch this week, but an anonymous tipster told the Watchdog that the group wanted to prevent the district from changing their retirement benefits.
http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2012/12/04/water-execs-join-labor-union-avoid-p- ension-cuts/164263/
Oh, and if you put an addition onto an older house that's more than 40% of the original square footage, they make you put a sprinkler system in the whole house! But, if you add on 40%, and after that's done, add on ANOTHER 50%, you don't have to! :confuse:
So, I can add a 442 square foot addition to my 1106 square foot house (it's actually about 1500, but the state considers it a "1 1/2 story", so they only count half of the upstairs), and then once that's done, add another addition of 619 square feet, and not have to put in a sprinkler system. BUT, if I only wanted to add a 500 square foot addition in the first place, I have to get a sprinkler system in the whole house.
**Edit: Just Googled it. Looks like the whole state of Maryland started requiring sprinkler systems starting in 2012, and my county has been requiring it since 1992.
Just wow. Talk about poor risk/reward. Of course somebody probably claimed that it would save some children, and then there you go.
Thank goodness that hasn't happened yet in the Republic of Kalifornia. Perhaps they're afraid the union firemen wouldn't have enough to do.
I think it is the Plumbers Union pushing it. CA mandates ALL buildings have sprinklers. So a standalone garage out away from the house has to have water run to it. Any remodel and it has to be brought up to code which includes sprinklers. To add misery for the homeowner if the water pressure at the sprinkler system is not 45 lbs you have to add a pump and pressure tank to raise it to 45 lbs. Our water district is only required to provide 30 lbs pressure. Next door neighbor had to spend an extra $2500 to make the sprinkler system work. The Fire department comes out and signs off before you get an occupancy permit.
I did not know that. I guess because I live in a non-remodeled house.
Where does it end? I'm wondering why we aren't required to wear helmets while driving a car. After all, it would save lives.
I believe it's insurance companies pushing it. The more upfront protection they can get the public to do, the less it costs in claims.
In new construction, it's pretty inexpensive to install - about $1.60 per sq. foot.
The requirement for sprinklers is in the 2009 residential building guide which local municipalities can adopt.
How about white, Asian and Hispanic kids with potential in rough neighborhoods? Does the same thing happen to them?
Here's a current mention of that to which I was alluding, even though you didn't want to think I had actually heard what I, well, heard. :grin
"LANSING — Like a scene out of the Hollywood film RoboCop without all the police department funding, Detroit and surrounding cities are nearly completely bankrupt. Police do not even patrol certain areas anymore, as crime is overwhelming.
In fact there has been talk of dissolving the cities altogether.
Now Michigan Senator Rick Jones is saying all options are on the table, including dissolving the city itself.
The idea of dissolving Detroit—and effectively merging it with Wayne County—has popped up occasionally in some business and political circles recently.
link title
I'm not sure doing that would be fair to Wayne County.
And this recent article from the News has several facts in it explaining why the powers that be running Detroit now shouldn't be allowed to run it further on the public's money rather than their own tax and other sources of income.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121115/OPINION03/211150331
Maybe the UAW will contribute to helping keep The Motor City liquid.
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The whites put their kids in private schools or just get the hell out of Dodge, the Asians get into the talented and gifted programs, the Hispanics work too many jobs to get into trouble, the Gays come in and pretty everything up and jack up home prices, and the Lesbians beat the crap out of anyone who messes with their kid.
There, did I miss any stereotype?
As for Detroit, I'm sure that just like any city, there are good parts and bad parts. Heck, even in my little podunk town, there are areas that I know not to go into at night unless I'm looking for trouble.
They tried that in the 1980s...if you were able-bodied on welfare, you could clean the streets and make the areas look better.............................the unions went berserk!!!...if there is a job cleaning streets, then why can't it be a union member doing it???...nobody stopped to think that the welfare recipient cost much less...
Anyway, you are looking at the long-term effect of stupid union policies and stupid politicans...the city of Detroit was a slum in the 80s...I would think it is more like Calcutta now...oh, the skyline with the Renaissance Center may look beautiful, but that is because you can't see anything below the 10th floor, like the slums and the people who populate them...
Now Michigan Senator Rick Jones is saying all options are on the table, including dissolving the city itself...The idea of dissolving Detroit—and effectively merging it with Wayne County—has popped up occasionally in some business and political circles recently.
link title
I followed that link and it left out a bit of the story it quoted. They link to this:
http://www.michiganradio.org/post/state-lawmaker-says-dissolving-detroit-should-- be-option
and skipped this:
But mid-Michigan senator Rick Jones is the first official to publicly discuss that as an option. and Still, Jones acknowledges this merger scenario is “unlikely.” He says the prevailing discussion in Lansing is about bankruptcy versus some kind of state intervention.
One person has proposed the idea and even he knows that it's unlikely.
It's an idea but it's not a feasible one.
BTW - I find the idea of merging a city into a county a little odd. Counties don't mean much here in MA. Every bit of the state is broken up into distinct cities and towns without open space left to counties. So merging a city into the county can't happen. My in-laws live in Florida outside of Ocala in Marion County. I can't wrap my head around it not being a "place".
BTW - the site the first link took me to (beforeitsnews.com) is a little scary. The ads for "37 Things You Should Hoard", "Power Companies Fear This" and "I Cured My Yeast Infection in 12 Hours" don't give me the warm fuzzies.
There, did I miss any stereotype?
Good job!!
My point was more that only one racial group was pointed out in the OP. I believe that there are crappy and good people in every race and to pick on a single one is wrong.
Typically violent gang members are a product of a social economic position that makes crime a better paying job than actually working. There are gangs made up of Hispanics, Asians, Russians, et al that are just as violent. Here in Boston there used to be a pretty organized group of Irish and Italians guys that were involved in some violent crimes...
You are absolutely correct, however there ARE statistical differences brought on by cultural elements that do follow race to a significant degree. For example, most Asian cultures highly value education and this is usually emphasized. Largely the opposite in the Hispanic community. And other differences in other groups. I won't bring those up because the big R word gets used too easily. But we really should look for ways to help the cultures improve in any groups or people where it isn't the best.
Michigan GOP approves right to work amid protests
Governer Rick Snyder disagrees, saying, "I support the unions in many regards... This is about giving employees the right to choose who they associate with."
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Laid-off UAW workers galled that they can't get jobs at non-union Kia plant
ATLANTA — When Korean automaker Kia decided to build its first assembly plant in the U.S., it chose wide-open spaces on the Georgia-Alabama line, far from big cities and unions, even in those two right-to-work states.
In November, 1,300 newly minted autoworkers began turning out Kia Sorentos for the North American market. Not one of those new employees in the nonunionized plant was pulled from the pool of thousands of unemployed Atlanta-area General Motors and Ford autoworkers.
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/laid-off_uaw_workers_galled_th.html
ATLANTA — When Korean automaker Kia decided to build its first assembly plant in the U.S., it chose wide-open spaces on the Georgia-Alabama line, far from big cities and unions, even in those two right-to-work states.
In November, 1,300 newly minted autoworkers began turning out Kia Sorentos for the North American market. Not one of those new employees in the nonunionized plant was pulled from the pool of thousands of unemployed Atlanta-area General Motors and Ford autoworkers.
Oh yeah. fin - hey, watch it. I'm one of those Boeing union guys. Only I'm a former member of "that weaker Boeing Union, SPEEA." Hey, we could still act tough and walk out and strike, just because we could, back in March-ta April of 2000. We were out 45 days - an American white-collar strike record that still stands to this day as the longest white-collar strike in American labor history. When examining the Company's first offer up close and personal, though, it actually was worth more money than the one SPEEA eventually accepted - the 2nd offer.
Go figure. But I can't complain about the Boeing pension I'm going to get. That was helped by a strong SPEEA presence. I really believe SPEEA helped me there - I'm softening my once anti-Union stand. Apparently the gig I'm looking to get at a southern NM hospital is not Unionized.
So be it.
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But my thoughts DO seem to have "influenced" Kia:
" In November, 1,300 newly minted autoworkers began turning out Kia Sorentos for the North American market. Not one of those new employees in the nonunionized plant was pulled from the pool of thousands of unemployed Atlanta-area General Motors and Ford autoworkers."
I have said for years that any Japanese/Korean automaker would be suicidal to employ any former UAW worker, simply because their mindset for militant thinking is in their DNA...one should avoid UAW workers for at east 5 generations, maybe 10, before that stupid thinking of theirs evolves out of their heads...looks like they listened to me...:):):)
Sadly that Marxist collectivism has permeated our whole society. You have educated teachers refusing to work over the RTW law going through in Michigan. Of course I would challenge the education they got that would allow them to stray that direction. We have too much history in front of US that says collectivism is bad for all but the few on top. And they may say that is what is happening here. Well I told you so. It started with the FDR New Deal and has been like a slow growing cancer. We look a lot like the USSR before the fall of Communism. Fat cat government workers living way above the average American. Friends of the Regime being made Czars. That control EVERY aspect of our lives. I fear the only walls we will see at our borders are to keep people from leaving.
Not sure I buy the analogy to the old Soviet Union though, because there is a big difference here - American business has a lot of power and money, and consumers have a lot more freedom. I also think that as the recession resolves over the next five years or so, the resurgence of the economy will offset a big chunk of this current deficit issue. The current arguments are artificially stagnant on both sides for political reasons. We need to get more realistic as a country, but I'm still willing to invest in stocks here. If the fiscal cliff hits and the market tanks - Ill be in there buying. I think it will pay off down the road after all this Fox and MSNBC nonsense gets discredited down the road.
Maybe the earlier Unions before the UAW. Walter Reuther was a card carrying Socialist. He left Ford and went to the Soviet Union with his brothers and worked in an auto factory. He came back and was part of the Communist party in the US. Socialism and communism can share many of the same collective goals as laid out by Marx. He did not join the Democrat party until FDR started implementing socialist types programs into our government. I am not saying the business people are not brutal task masters because many are. I just think unions like the UAW went over the top and killed the goose laying the golden eggs.
union ones seemed to be battlefields with constant sniping between labor and management causing a tense atmosphere
I agree there. I was a shop steward in the Teamsters for about 20 years. I also agree about the pendulum. The businesses now have the upper hand with way more workers than jobs. Problem is too many companies said screw it, I can get someone in Mexico or China to do the job for less and not give me a big hassle. Now workers are whining about all the jobs that are gone. The UAW did not worry about that in 1998 when they went on strike against GM while they were bleeding red ink. They are lucky any jobs are left in the USA.
Not sure I buy the analogy to the old Soviet Union though, because there is a big difference here
Is there really? It looks to me like a few at the top have manipulated our government to the point where it becomes an oligarchy. Maybe not as brutal to dissenters, but still total power over the masses. Instead of brutal dictators you have academic elitist telling the masses how they will give them all they need as soon as they pilfer the money from the rich.
I really don't stress as much as you might think from my posts. Just enjoy the debate. As long as it does not get hateful.
PS
I agree on term limits for sure.
With the worst economy in the Midwest you would think those idiots in the Unions would want to try something to get their state and largest city kick started. RTW does not threaten their Union jobs. It will attract other companies..
Michigan has both the highest unionization and unemployment rates in the Midwest.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2515629#.UMdr3qyWQuK
This commentator in the Detroit Free Press has a good slant on the Michigan squabble.
Tom Walsh: What's the brawling about? Right-to-work is wrong issue for our passion
This sentence about sums it up:
"In today’s world of unprecedented mobility and instant communication, investment and jobs go to places with the top talent, the best educate and most skilled workers."
(and yeah, I noticed he misspelled "educate").
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_F3oev06i0&feature=youtu.be
http://www.fredsburgers.com/events/events.html
"Indiana's public school teachers have been right to work since 1995 law that allowed teachers to opt out of union membership and union dues.
Mark Shoup a spokesman for the Indiana State Teacher's Association, or ISTA, the largest union representing public school teachers, said of the nearly 75,000 teachers in the state, around 60,000 are in unions. The ISTA represents about 50,000 of them." (watchdog.org)
Davis escalated salaries and benefits for 164,000 state workers, including a 34 percent raise for prison guards, the first of a series of steps in which he and successors saddled California with a legacy of dysfunction. Today, the state’s highest-paid employees make far more than comparable workers elsewhere in almost all job and wage categories, from public safety to health care, base pay to overtime.
Payroll data compiled by Bloomberg on 1.4 million public employees in the 12 most populous states show that California has set a pattern of lax management, inefficient operations and out-of-control costs. From coast to coast, states are cutting funding for schools, public safety and the poor as they struggle with fallout left by politicians who made pay-and-pension promises that taxpayers couldn’t afford.
“It was completely avoidable,” said David Crane, a public-policy lecturer at Stanford University.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-11/-822-000-worker-shows-california-leads-- u-s-pay-giveaway.html
Comments from 13 Chrysler workers at the Jefferson North factory included "gnarly dude" and "why didn't we get a paid break to listen to the news conference?".
It took a while to track Bob King down for comment. He was busy applying for one of the new jobs that are pouring into Michigan. King noted that due to his skill set, he was hopeful to skip right past the $8 an hour position and go right into an assistant manager slot at Walmart for 8.35 an hour.