Could Rail Strike Next Week Bring Economy to a Grinding Halt?

[rainingcatzanddogs]

Think of the richest 1 percent whose combined wealth is greater than that of everyone else combined. Think of BlackRock.

In practice the board of directors is rarely independent. Members usually sit on the boards of multiple corporations and they work together to help executives maintain their positions and gain more power over workers and consumers.

The problem is not individual wealth. The problem is public-private partnerships where government officials seek to influence the course of businesses and where those private entities are far too willing to play along, sometimes under threat of harm.

Sometimes the inverse is true, where corporations lobby and wealthy individuals seek to influence legislation that benefits them.

The partnership either way is corrupt and, is caused by government sticking their fingers in a pie that they have no business being near. It is the natural side effect of a government that has grown too big and expanded its powers far beyond its original purpose.

You want to fix corruption and the little guy getting screwed, vote for people who are for smaller limited government. That would not be the Dems by the way.

This partnership is one of the major pillars of Fascism, known as National Socialism and a necessity for Socialism in general. It has no place in our Constitutional Republic.

It is one of many reasons I said Socialism sucks.

Really, the above is only an expansion of the Union system and organized crime.

 

[Rhian L'Arson]

By definition a corporation is a public-private partnership. Every limited liability corporation has a charter from the government that protects the owners from being personally sued for any wrongdoing committed by the corporation. Patents are the granting of monopoly privileges from the government. The government essentially licenses some groups of people to exploit segments of the population. Public-private partnership was always the name of the game.

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

By definition a corporation is a public-private partnership. Every limited liability corporation has a charter from the government that protects the owners from being personally sued for any wrongdoing committed by the corporation. Patents are the granting of monopoly privileges from the government. The government essentially licenses some groups of people to exploit segments of the population. Public-private partnership was always the name of the game.

Exactly my point. Tell me where in the constitution does the government have the power to say who and who cannot go into business for themselves or what form that must take?

It doesn't because that was what we fought a revolution for. You see in the old monarchy system, you could only have your town recognized for commerce by permission of the King. And towns were privately owned by other monarchs. That is why in many countries in Europe you will find town names that are also surnames. If you wanted to start a business in a town, you first had to get permission from the owner of the town, who then took his cut.

Serfs were only allowed to keep what the Lord/Duke/King said they were allowed to keep. This was the produce of their own labor. They were not paid in money by the owner of "the company", they were paid for the right to keep some of the fruits of their labor, nothing more.

It is for the purposes of taxing people unequally aka a progressive tax (also a socialist principle)

It is why I support the flat tax and limiting the Convening of the Congress to four months out of each year in addition to term limits.

The Federal government has "no mother may I?" status with marriage, business, or education; those are the purvey of the individual States (and really when it comes down to it, the churches, not the states have say over marriage since it is a religious ceremony; civil unions being the legal equivalent). The Federal Government has expanded their own powers and the result is massive corruption and a loss of individual freedoms.

 

[Rhian L'Arson]

United States Constitution Article I, Section 8, Clause 8

Congress shall have power ... to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries

Everyone else is excluded from going into business for themselves and competing in the market

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

That is patents and intellectual property. Tell me where it says you cannot start a business selling a product that anyone can produce with their own labor...wheat, corn, shoes, furs, meat, homes, land clearing, garbage removal....the Government, not the corporations control the fruits of your labor.

Again. You won't find it because that was what we fought a revolution for.

You see in the old monarchy system, you could only have your town recognized for commerce by permission of the King. And towns were privately owned by other monarchs. That is why in many countries in Europe you will find town names that are also surnames.

If you, as a citizen, wanted to start a business in a town, you first had to get permission from the owner of the town (charter), who had gotten permission from the king, all of whom then took their cut.

Serfs were only allowed to keep what the Lord/Duke/King said they were allowed to keep. This was the produce of their own labor. They were not paid in money by the owner of "the company", they were paid with the right to keep some of the fruits of their labor, nothing more.

That was what made America the land of opportunity. Anything was possible. For the first time in history, the fruits of their labor belonged to the common man and not the government. What has changed and why?

 

[Rhian L'Arson]

Believe me, there are patents on wheat, corn, shoes, furs, meat, homes, land clearing, and garbage removal. There are millions of things you are forbidden from making and selling. I may be able to make and sell something cheaper than anyone else but am legally prevented from doing it because it would infringe on someone's patent. They probably don't even produce the thing but are just waiting to sue whoever tries to.

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

That has nothing to do with having to ask permission to start a business from the Government. If I want to sell corn, seed that my father's, father developed...no one else has a patent on it, I have to still ask permission to have a business doing it. If I want to sell trees for timber, trees that occur naturally, created by no man, but by nature, no patents on them, I have to ask permission from the government to do it.

It is the process of making money that I am asking permission for, not a specific product.

It is obvious at this point you have never started a business.
When I started my LLC, one of the first steps was to request from the IRS a tax identification number. On the form, they asked what I would be selling. They did not ask if I was selling patented seed products. Fruits, nuts, grains, meat...ect. because they do not care. They are only after their money and to know what can be legally claimed as a deduction on my tax bill.

Of all of the behemoth corporations in this world, the one that most people never recognize, is the Federal Government. Those at the top (congress critters)/CEO's make all the rules and line their pockets off of all those below them...they have taken too much power from us "little people" and awarded it to themselves.

I find it ironic that so many on the left hate the corrupt corporations but, love them the largest most corrupt one of all, the Federal Government Machine.

 

[Rhian L'Arson]

Starting a business sounds too hard. Easier to vote for Bernie Sanders and get free Healthcare, free education, and universal basic income. Or join a union and slack off all day.

 

[Rhian L'Arson]

Google says 18.4% of businesses in the U.S. fail within the first year. After five years, 49.7% fail and after 10 years, 65.5% of fail.

I don't like my odds.

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

Basically. I don't think it was ever intended when this country was founded to make working for yourself so convoluted. It really shouldn't be, and I can say it takes away from the joy of it. You spend a lot of your precious little time working to please the federal government (and avoid going to prison) and messing with paperwork, that should be spent with your family.

 

[rainingcatzanddogs]

Google says 18.4% of businesses in the U.S. fail within the first year. After five years, 49.7% fail and after 10 years, 65.5% of fail.

I don't like my odds.

It is a risk no doubt and that is why "owners" get paid way more than the common worker. It is your ### on the line. You could become wealthy or you could lose everything...work like crazy for three years only to see those thousands of hours flushed down the toilet because the government decides you forgot to cross a T or dot an I on some obscure requirement you didn't even know existed.

Or the government telling you that you have to close your business while others get to remain open during COVID.

No matter if someone owns a big business or a small one (which is how most big businesses start), it is your baby. You made sacrifices of yourself to feed it, clothe it, give it medical care and change its poopie diapers. You got up at all hours of the night because it was crying and you had to figure out what was wrong. You have been barfed on, peed on and functioned many a day on an hour of sleep and still you love it because it is a part of you.

If you go into business for yourself only with the purpose to make money, it will probably fail. It takes a very special person to start a business in your garage that becomes a global success.

It isn't all about the money. It is about making all of the hours you and your spouse spent sweating out whether or not you can make the mortgage payment this month, afford to pay for your kid to get braces or fix the machine that just broke down...it is about all of the baseball games and piano concerts you missed, all of the vacations you forewent, all of those hours of your life you spent trying to make something wonderful, where there once was nothing.

If you happen to "inherit" the business from your father, mother, grands...the pressure is even worse because it is not just your time and work that you are blowing, it is all of theirs as well.

People who have never been there, will never understand.

 

[JimCosta]

Bernie Sanders Blocks Proposal Which Would Avoid Rail Strike​

by Tyler Durden: Article

 

[Arcticdude]

I've been investing in the stock market since I was a teenager. My only concern is how much my investment will return. I don't give a crap about the employees, I only care about how profitable the management team can make it. Some of the comments here sound pretty socilist to me.

 

[Dave2001]

The labor market is like other markets where supply and demand determine the price. Those with market power influence the price by manipulating supply and demand. They are price makers. They dictate the price for their product. Those with no market power just have to accept the price. Since no individual workers have market power alone, they cooperate as a union to get collective market power and set their price. You personally may not like it, but the market doesn't care about your feelings.

FIRE EVERYONE of them that walks out!!!! There are lots of replacements looking for work out there that would be glad to work for what the railroad pays!!!!

 

[Cindyd]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-reaches-tentative-agreement-with-rail-workers-strike-2022-09-15/

 

[Arcticdude]

These bums already have the best pay, benefits, retirement and working conditions by far than most people. GD union cry baby's.

 

[Tyler520]

the last rail strike 30 years ended after 3 days, and Congress intervened to give them everything they wanted.

Is anyone expected to believe that every industry that appears to be falling apart at the seams just happens to be majority controlled by two of the largest investment companies in the world? Are they really that inept? No - they know this manufactured chaos will kill off small free market competition and give them an even bigger monopoly once the Feds step in. History has proven this to be true EVERY SINGLE TIME.

It is also rumored that Port workers and even UPS workers will join them.

Given current circumstances, if these parasites think the Average Joe will sympathize with them, they're in for a world of hurt. At least 50% of this country - including myself - will consider and treat them as nothing short of domestic terrorists.

 

[Rhian L'Arson]

Apes together strong

 

[Arcticdude]

the last rail strike 30 years ended after 3 days, and Congress intervened to give them everything they wanted.

Is anyone expected to believe that every industry that appears to be falling apart at the seams just happens to be majority controlled by two of the largest investment companies in the world? Are they really that inept? No - they know this manufactured chaos will kill off small free market competition and give them an even bigger monopoly once the Feds step in. History has proven this to be true EVERY SINGLE TIME.

It is also rumored that Port workers and even UPS workers will join them.

Given current circumstances, if these parasites think the Average Joe will sympathize with them, they're in for a world of hurt. At least 50% of this country - including myself - will consider and treat them as nothing short of domestic terrorists.

You do realize that "investment companies" are made up of large and small investors just like us? Anyone with a 401k or IRA are part of these investment companies. I live off the returns of my investments, so I expect them to make the most money possible.

 

[Rhian L'Arson]

BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street have over $15 trillion in combined global assets under management, an amount more than three-quarters of U.S. gross domestic product. Those assets are ultimately owned by their clients but they exercise shareholder votes without client input. You may think you're making a killing on your investments but they take away more with one hand than they give with the other. Finance, insurance, and real estate, the FIRE sector, siphons wealth and income upward to the richest 1% while impoverishing the middle class.
Not only are they too big to fail, competing businesses are really commonly owned by the same investors. They are the real central planners of the economy.