Well, troll, we are in total agreement that the 8ggod life* has been defined by marketers and lots of folks get caught up in that trap, borrow way too much money for SUV's, big houses they don't need and the like. And most of those folks will work well past retirement age paying for them. Sad state of affairs. I drive a 1990 Toyota with rust and 192,000 miles on it and will probably drive it another 192,000 miles. My wife any I cut coupons and live frugally and with any luck will be able to retire by age 62 without any debt.

But I do know a bit about unions and I know a bit about 14B states (Taft-Hartley Act.) After my life a social worker I worked driving a truck for a living. I brought home $92 a week. This was in 1980 and since I lived and worked in a "Right to Work" state I lived in near poverty. I would occasionally talk with other truckersx waitin' to unload and discovered that union truckers were bringing home close to $300 a week, which for 1980 wouldn't qualify as well off but also not qualify as poverty. Same truck, same job. Hmmmmmmm?

Yeah, all one has to really know about unions can be learned in any of the 14B states, my friend. When you have lived in a state where unions are pretty much *outlawed* (as in most of the South) you find real poverty. Yeah, people still get up at 4:30 in the morning, pack a peanut buttter sandwich, and head off into the dark to work their butts off for next to nothing.

So, yeah, I'm aq union man. When the CEO's are earning 5 or 6 million and all the management is in 6 figures, I think the working man should make enough to at least pay his danged bills.

I am so sick of hearing just how well off the American worker is! It's a lie! In terms of real spending power he was better off 25 years ago. The American worker is now working longer and harder than any time in the last three decades and not being fairly compensated for his loyalty or his labor.

I'm real glad, Troll, that the union was able to provide you and your family with a decent living. And I mean this sincerely for I'm sure you were a hard working loyal worker. But in these days take a guess what the main *benefit* that unions are pushing for? Jobs! Not wages. Not vacations! Not money! But JOBS! Yeah, in your day the job was an assumption. These days are different. Where-ever you look. Name the industry. Take the UAW for instance. GM is gonna lay off a boat load of folks this year. All the union has been asking for is JOBS!

You may think that I don't know anything because I was not a "Shop Stewerd" but in the words of Bob Dylan, "You don't have to be a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows!". I do read a lot and I know a lot of people and I know that the American worker has gotten the short end of the stcik for a logn time. Want proof? Find out how much the CEO is getting paid for any of the companies that complain that labor costs are so great that the company may have to go out of business. Thene check the salaries of the managers in that company...

I'm not going to argue with you any more about this issue, Troll.m If younreally think that the American working man has it made, there is nothing that I'm going to say that will ever get you to see it from our point....

Bobert