YOU just ignored the question I put to Dr. House in order to spew your ignorance as to how the New Deal and unions affected your life. So if you want to play games, fine...I'll officially put the question to YOU, Publius: given the dubious circumstances that brought about all of this.....would you be so accepting of the turnout here if the roles were reversed and it was Kloppenburg coming out on top?
And as to your obvious ignorance regarding the New Deal and unions, here are a few points for your education:
1. Unions Gave Us The Weekend: Even the ultra-conservative Mises Institute notes that the relatively labor-free 1870, the average workweek for most Americans was 61 hours — almost double what most Americans work now. Yet in the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century, labor unions engaged in massive strikes in order to demand shorter workweeks so that Americans could be home with their loved ones instead of constantly toiling for their employers with no leisure time. By 1937, these labor actions created enough political momentum to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act, which helped create a federal framework for a shorter workweek that included room for leisure time.
2. Unions Gave Us Fair Wages And Relative Income Equality: As ThinkProgress reported earlier in the week, the relative decline of unions over the past 35 years has mirrored a decline in the middle class’s share of national income. It is also true that at the time when most Americans belonged to a union — a period of time between the 1940′s and 1950′s — income inequality in the U.S. was at its lowest point in the history of the country.
3. Unions Helped End Child Labor: “Union organizing and child labor reform were often intertwined” in U.S. history, with organization’s like the “National Consumers’ League” and the National Child Labor Committee” working together in the early 20th century to ban child labor. The very first American Federation of Labor (AFL) national convention passed “a resolution calling on states to ban children under 14 from all gainful employment” in 1881, and soon after states across the country adopted similar recommendations, leading up to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act which regulated child labor on the federal level for the first time.
4. Unions Won Widespread Employer-Based Health Coverage: “The rise of unions in the 1930′s and 1940′s led to the first great expansion of health care” for all Americans, as labor unions banded workers together to negotiate for health coverage plans from employers. In 1942, “the US set up a National War Labor Board. It had the power to set a cap on all wage increases. But it let employers circumvent the cap by offering “fringe benefits” – notably, health insurance.” By 1950, “half of all companies with fewer than 250 workers and two-thirds of all companies with more than 250 workers offered health insurance of one kind or another.”
5. Unions Spearheaded The Fight For The Family And Medical Leave Act: Labor unions like the AFL-CIO federation led the fight for this 1993 law, which “requires state agencies and private employers with more than 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave annually for workers to care for a newborn, newly adopted child, seriously ill family member or for the worker’s own illness.”
ThinkProgress » REPORT: Five Things Unions Have Done For All Americans
Top 10 New Deal Programs
Top 10 New Deal Programs
1. CCC - Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was created in 1933 by Franklin D. Roosevelt to combat unemployment. This work relief program had the desired effect and provided jobs for many Americans during the Great Depression. The CCC was responsible for building many public works and created structures and trails in parks across the nation.
2. CWA - Civil Works Administration
The Civil Works Administration was created in 1933 to create jobs for the unemployed. Its focus on high paying jobs in the construction arena resulted in a much greater expense to the federal government than originally anticipated. The CWA ended in 1934 in large part due to opposition to its cost.
3. FHA - Federal Housing Administration
The Federal Housing Administration was a government agency created to combat the housing crisis of the Great Depression. The large number of unemployed workers combined with the banking crisis created a situation in which banks recalled loans. The FHA was designed to regulate mortgages and housing conditions.
4. FSA - Federal Security Agency
The Federal Security Agency established in 1939 had the responsibility for several important government entities. Until it was abolished in 1953, it administered social security, federal education funding, and food and drug safety.
5. HOLC - Home Owner's Loan Corporation
The Home Owner's Loan Corporation was created in 1933 to assist in the refinancing of homes. The housing crisis created a great many foreclosures, and Franklin Roosevelt hoped this new agency would stem the tide. In fact, between 1933 and 1935 one million people received long term loans through the agency that saved their homes from foreclosure.
6. NRA - National Recovery Act
The National Recovery Act was designed to bring the interests of working class Americans and business together. Through hearings and government intervention the hope was to balance the needs of all involved in the economy. However, the NRA was declared unconstitutional in the landmark Supreme Court case Schechter Poultry Corp. v. US. The Supreme Court ruled that the NRA violated the separation of powers.
7. PWA - Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration was a program created to provide economic stimulus and jobs during the Great Depression. The PWA was designed to create public works and continued until the US ramped up wartime production for World War II. It ended in 1941.
8. SSA - Social Security Act
The Social Security Act was designed to combat the widespread poverty among senior citizens. The government program provided income to retired wage earners. The program has become one of the most popular government programs and is funded by current wage earners and their employers. However, in recent years concerns have arisen about the viability of continuing to fund the program as the Baby Boom generation reaches retirement age.
9. TVA - Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority was established in 1933 to develop the economy in the Tennessee Valley region which had been hit extremely hard by the Great Depression. The TVA was and is a federally owned corporation that works in this region to this day. It is the largest public provider of electricity in the United States.
10. WPA - Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was created in 1935. As the largest New Deal Agency, the WPA impacted millions of Americans. It provided jobs across the nation. Because of it, numerous roads, buildings, and other projects were completed. It was renamed the Works Projects Administration in 1939. It officially ended in 1943.
What can I say.
You could give an honest answer to the question, and then acknowledge the validity of the information regarding the New Deal & unions in making your current standard of living better...but somehow I doubt you have the cojones to do so. I could write a book about how the majority of those programs hurt america and had the exact opposit of their intended effect.
No, if you're so assured of your convictions, you could merely give a short, point for point response to the information I provided. But as with all intellectually bankrupt neocon blowhards, you'll just bluff and bluster. So instead of you loading the thread down with information so that a response would be impossible (impossible because when I speak economics and the fundamentals ofliberty I break it down so far that any idiot could understand it. Extreamly necessary in this forum).
Yeah, just what I thought...another neocon blowhard trying to bluff past his ignorance. YOU opened the door, genius...if you're such a scholar, you should have laid out your case instead of trying to take cheap shots...TFB if you got shown up. How about you just pick whatever one you want to go on that you think benefits us the most and I will show you how its bogus?
How about you grow a pair and give an honest answer to the question, and then TRY to demonstrate to us all how ANY of the points I laid forth have IMPEDED the benefits and progress in YOUR life? I made my case, bunky...if you can counter it, do so and quit blowing smoke. Oh, and think progress isnt exactly the most reliable source.
Really? Because so far YOU haven't been able to disprove or logically/factually refute ONE ITEM of information they gave here. Bitching about the political slant of a source is one thing, disproving their information is a whole other smoke. It would be like a conservative quoting a dumbed down version of Newsmax. Infact, after that tea party video I'm surprised that anyone gives them any credebility.
