Going Postal

Mommy? What is the difference between capitalism and socialism?

Well, Johnny, let me explain it to you by giving an example. The US post office has been a haven of the union movement for nearly a century, and every year the gov't gives them more and more money from the taxpayers so that they can stay in business and the union workers can vote for the government. Now the government has no more money to give the post office and their failing business model so they government is blaming the internet for hurting the post office.

But Mommy, since union workers and management make so much more than the average person in the street wouldn't they be able to have a better business model, or at the very least come up with a new plan that makes things right?

No Johnny, the manager at the post office cannot make more money, no matter how good she is, so over time the best and brightest people go to work for private enterprise where they know their hard work and spirit and innovation will be rewarded. Why, a lot of the people that would have worked at the post office now work for companies like Google and Amazon and others.

That is why Amazon was able to create better, faster and cheaper services like Amazon Prime. This program gives FREE shipping to Amazon customers who get their goods in a day or two, with a super duper return policy, flawless delivery and friendly associates. Companies like Google are creating even better delivery programs that partner with private delivery companies like UPS to give SAME DAY delivery for many goods and instant delivery of music, books and movies. These companies know that they will make more money, and the smart people that work there know THEY will make more money as well. This is what is called the "free market economy" and it works very, very well. When things get tough - private enterprise, motivated by competition and the prospect of individual wealth creates innovative solutions to vexing problems.

So Mommy - given all of what is happening to the post office, billions of dollars in the red, tough competition, shrinking demand for their services and over 600,000 employees, many of them unionized squeezing out more and more benefits from the system, surely even the dullest of government half-wits can see the writing on the wall and are going to make the changes required to survive?

No Johnny, they have been dulled by the union mentality for too long to become rational now. In fact, given all of the bad things you noted, the post office is responding to competition by LOWERING SERVICE STANDARDS, REDUCING DROP OFF LOCATIONS and INCREASING PRICES - and doing all that with only shedding a few thousand employees. It would seem that there is no hope of saving the post office, and we can only blame bloated unions, political interference and shameless vote pandering.

Mommy, I'm scared.

Why Johnny? Are you scared for the future of the Post Office and it's employees?

No Mommy, I'm scared that 600,000 Cliff Clavins are going to "Go Postal", and I don't mean union rallies......

Hate Working Weekends? Thank a union member - part 3 of 3

It is impossible to calculate the cost of the unions’ greed on the rest of us, but several recent studies provide some sobering, and frankly piss-offing (off-pissing?) indications. Policy Exchange, a conservative think-tank, calculates that people in the British private sector work 23% more hours than their public-sector counterparts over their lifetimes, thanks to public-sector strikes, sick days, fat holiday benefits and early retirement.

 Barry Bluestone, a left-wing economist, calculates that the price of America’s public services increased by 41% in 2000-08, while that of private services rose by just 27%.

Eric Hanushek, an economist at Stanford University, argues that replacing just the bottom 5-8% of American teachers with merely AVERAGE performers could move the United States from near the bottom to near the top of the international math and science rankings.

Public Sector Unions – death to thinking

The rigidity of the public sector does not merely reduce the quality of services. It also discourages innovation. In the private sector innovative firms routinely experiment with new business models, measure the success of those models and then expand the successful ones. But whenever public-sector managers have tried to do the same—by establishing magnet schools that focus on certain subjects, or charter schools with longer teaching days, for example—the unions have opposed them. Rabidly.

Greed Kills – How the Unions chewed off the teat that fed them.

Public-sector unions now face the biggest challenge in their history. Governments almost everywhere—particularly in the rich world—are being forced to cut back public spending. Many governments (for example in Ireland, Greece and Spain) are cutting public-sector pay. Others (for example in Japan and America) are freezing it. Greece is increasing the retirement age from 58 to 63 and making it possible to fire public servants. Britain is cutting government departments by as much as a quarter, and is reviewing pensions.

In the United States several rising Republican governors are keen to turn the short-term struggle over pay and benefits into a bigger battle about trade-union power. New Jersey’s Chris Christie and Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty have both eagerly taken on the new “privileged class” of public-sector workers. Do the public exist to serve public-sector workers with their high pay and inflated benefits, they ask, or do public-sector workers exist to serve the public?

Tellingly enough, even people on the left are beginning to echo these complaints. Andrew Cuomo, the incoming Democratic governor of New York, is rattling his sabre against public-sector unions despite the fact that they make up an important part of his base. Davis Guggenheim, an impeccably liberal film director whose credits include Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”, subjected the teachers’ unions to a merciless critique in “Waiting for Superman”, flagellating them for perpetuating a broken system and presenting Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, as “something of a foaming satanic beast”, as one reviewer put it.

The unions have responded by proclaiming war on cost-cutting governments. They have already organized strikes and protests. Millions of French workers marched against Nicolas Sarkozy’s modest plans to raise the retirement age by two years. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Ireland and Greece against austerity measures. London Underground workers have repeatedly paralyzed transport in the city. Cities across the US needed to be fumigated after the Occupy Whatever Flea Party came through town after town.

Despite all the bloviating “take them out” references by the likes of Hoffa and the putrid acts of the OWS fleabags, public-sector unions will find it hard to win these battles in the long run. Or even the short run.

They have not been particularly successful in mobilizing public anger, considering the scale of the cutbacks, nor have they notched up any notable victories. The Greek and Irish governments have implemented their austerity packages and Nicolas Sarkozy has raised the retirement age in France. They are also discovering that many people in the private sector regard their public-sector colleagues as an overprivileged, underworked remora on the belly of productive society. Spanish civil servants were shocked at how little support they got when, last June, they protested against a 5% cut in pay. And a recent poll showed that 65% of people in stick-in-the-mud Greece want civil servants to lose their job security.

 The pressure to rationalize the public sector is likely to continue in coming years. The debt level in OECD countries is expected to rise to 120% of GDP by 2014, thanks to a combination of ageing populations and inherited obligations, some of them driven by the public sector’s insatiable appetite for pensions. Joshua Rauh, of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, reckons that seven American states will have exhausted their pension assets by 2020. America itself will have its debt level over 108% of GDP – not far off from Greece in a year or two. 

Check your boots for cling on poop.

It would be a mistake to write off the public-sector unions. They are masters of diverting attention from strategic to tactical questions. Undoubtedly the unions will lose some of their privileges over the coming years; the scale of the debt crisis makes this inevitable. But will governments have the courage to tackle the root causes of the problem (such as pensions) rather than dealing with secondary problems (such as wages)? 

And will they dare to tackle questions of power rather than just pay and perks? If they are to claim victory in the coming fight, they need not just to restore the public finances to health - rather they need to remove the tiger grip of mediocrity placed around the necks of scociety by the uions and the limp souled politicians that support them.

Buy union made? I'd rather go without.

Poof - how to create wealth without taking it from others

For those of you tempted to even listen to these occupy fools, the union thugs and anarchists that back them, and the cadre of celebrity idiot endorsers let me give you some pointers. You know in your heart that wealth is not "re-distributable". It isn't easy to carve up and share - mostly because someone already owns it.

Like the Monty Python sketch when the two organ collectors show up at a prospective donor's door. "We're here for your liver!" The respondent looks at them and says quizzically, "but I'm still using it?"

So if their movement is based on the flawed premise that it is possible to re-distribute wealth, then they are dead in the water. These flat earthers, who shirk both responsibility and the work ethic, will fade away when the going gets tough. It is in their nature, and is genetic. They are unemployed, because they are unemployable, and it looks like the free ride on the backs of those who do work, and do create wealth is about over. But remember - once you stop feeding a wild animal it's food - YOU become the food.

Sorry about that hippy.

Here is the real truth - wealth is create-able. It can be built out of nothing. The best way to get wealth and the best way to "re-distribute" the wealth is to - MAKE MORE WEALTH. The ability is inside of you and anyone can do it. The following steps are something I put on my computer desktop, and they have served me well:

• Increase your appetite and aptitude for learning. When you increase your knowledge, you will eventually increase your wealth since you need knowledge to capitalize on opportunities. Sorry, Xbox won't make you smarter. Read a book.

• Take full responsibility for your present financial circumstances. This allows you to shift your consciousness from being a powerless victim to a powerful person, who is in control of his or her destiny. It will shift your consciousness from a reactive to a proactive one. It isn't the government's fault you are poor - it is YOUR fault, so fix it. 

• Have total belief in yourself despite the doubts and disbelief of others. Belief and confidence in yourself is very important as the lack of belief and confidence in yourself can lead to self sabotage and the thwarting of your financial success. The rest of the crabs in the barrel will always try to pull you back in. Resist.

• Having a commitment to succeed and a determination never to go back to a life of financial hardship. The pain of financial hardship can be used as a source of motivation and cause you to be determined and committed in creating and managing wealth. You can and will succeed. You have no other choice, your family is counting on you. Don't fail them.

• Give yourself permission to make mistakes while taking risks. You can learn from these mistakes later on and make improvements as you learn to take risks instead of being crippled by the fear of trying something new. You will fail, but it won't kill you. Get it out of the way early and move on.
• Do something NOW. Even if you go to a thrift store and try to find an item you can sell on Ebay to make a few dollars - DO IT NOW. It isn't the outcome of "present action" that will help you succeed - it is the fact that you are moving and doing something. Action creates opportunity. Opportunity creates possibilities. Possibilities create choices. Choices coupled with knowledge creates success. Success creates wealth.

This is the difference between YOU and the folks over at Occupy Wall Street. They want something given to them by taking from others. You want to create something out of your own sweat, smarts, spirit and guts.

99%?

99% babies.






#occupyracism


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