Re: State of the Union

[John Médaille <john@medaille.com>]

At 12:42 PM 2/4/2005 -0800, Michael Bindner wrote:
>One final thing that Labor can do:  it can point out that you can't eat 
>stock certificates anymore than you can eat or drive social security 
>checks.  Whether we raise taxes to keep social security solvent or rely on 
>private accounts, some portion of our children's efforts will be required 
>to be redirected toward our retirement income.  Now, if automation reigns 
>supreme this is not a problem - as Norm would cite, and he may be right.
>
>Anyway, what Labor can do is point out that if there is a problem, it is 
>demographic, not financial, and that the solution is to make raising a 
>child less scary.  It can do that by vigorously proposing:
>
>- a living wage tied to the number of children - both to save social 
>security and to make abortion rare.  Labor is losing strength and probably 
>membership due to its alliance with the pro-choicers in the Democratic 
>Party.  Coming out for a living wage to lessen abortion and challenging 
>the pro-lifers to support it may be a way to become relevant to its red 
>state members who don't vote with it anymore.

Amen. For the most part, its working against the beliefs of its own 
membership. The "Reagan Democrat" was invented by the unions and their 
ideological distance from their own memberships.

>
>- moving the responsibility for funding college and votech from the 
>parents to the employer or union.  One really scary thought that prevents 
>parents from having additional children is the cost of such training.  The 
>H-1B Technical Skills Training Grant program was a step in this 
>direction.  It is time to advocate the next step.

Good point!


John C. Médaille

"A dead thing can go with the stream...
but only a living thing can go against it."
         -G. K. Chesterton
http://www.medaille.com/distributivism.htm
john@medaille.com

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