Saturday, April 9, 2011

Contracting Inequality

The hypocrisy Republicans have towards contracts is astounding. Especially coming from the party that is so concerned with the constitution and law. [They're really not, but they like to say they are.] Michael Steele represented this warped view recently on Rachel Maddow. The typical line they use, paraphrasing, "Those [worker] contracts were negotiated in better times. We shouldn't have to honor those in bad times." Yet, in the next breath, when defending capitalism and the corporate world, Republicans have the nerve to say, "If we don't pay [CEOs] top dollar, we can't get good talent. Plus, they were promised such compensation, bonuses, etc. [contractually], so what can we do?"

Paying teachers, professors, health care workers, and other public workers low wages will have no effect on their performance, nor the type of worker attracted to the position. But with CEOs and executives just the opposite is true. At least that's what Republicans want us to believe. And, it's the $50,000 a-year worker that's causing our budget problems. It has nothing to do with low and non-existent corporate taxation and their CEOs making millions of dollars per year.

So - bargaining and contracts are good for the rich. But, if you're just a unionized worker, or a worker not high up enough on the ladder and your company is not entitled to a big bailout, you're on your own.

And, the Republicans continue to try and spread the lie that unionized workers make more than their private sector counterparts. This has been debunked recently in numerous studies.

To believe the Republicans on these issues is to agree with a completely delusional paradigm, falsified by reality.


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